Jacques Necker

On April 9, 1804, Jacques Necker, the French finance director and banker of Louis XVI, died.

1732 Born in Geneva to a Protestant family. Settled in France at the age of 15. Started in banking. He praised Jean-Baptiste Colbert's mercantilist policies and opposed free trade in grain. 1776 Head of the Treasury. 1777 Changed to Treasurer. Cancelled the reform experiments of Ann-Robert Jacques Turgo and resorted to borrowing to cover the fiscal deficit. 1781 Published the government's financial report, revealing the budget deficit and the amount of the annual salary of the privileged class, which caused dissatisfaction in the court and forced him to resign. 1784 Written "On the Management of Finance in France" to defend his policies. 1788 Reinstated as Treasurer, supported the convening of the three-level council, which promoted the number of representatives in the third class to be equal to the number of representatives in the privileged class, and advocated equal taxation of all classes, thus angering the king and the privileged class, and was removed from office on July 11, 1789. After the revolution broke out on July 14, Louis XVI recalled Necker to serve as treasurer again. He opposed the confiscation of church property and the issuance of vouchers, advocated moderate reforms, and contradicted the policies of the Constituent Assembly. He resigned the following September and retired to Geneva. He wrote books such as "The Administrative Law on M. Necker" and "The French Revolution".

Necker was appointed Treasurer in 1776. In 1777, he was appointed Financial Controller. As a foreigner and Protestant, Necker was authorized to take charge of finance, but did not have the title of "Financial Director." In order to relieve the urgent need for the palace's financial expenditures and alleviate the increasingly serious domestic financial crisis, he used his reputation as a banker to borrow money from various places when he came to power and successfully raised several huge sums, initially stabilizing his position. In 1781, Necker published the "Financial Report" to the King on the budget of the royal government. The report revealed to the society the huge amount of money awarded and graciously given by the king, making it impossible for the royal family and dignitaries who received large annuities to tolerate it. Necker was forced to resign.

His wife encouraged him to seek a public position. He thus became one of the managers of the French East India Company. This incident led to a heated debate among the company's managers, shareholders, and government departments over the autonomy of the company in the 1760s. "The Ministry of Finance, concerned about the financial stability of the company, hired André Morley to shift the debate from the rights of shareholders to the issue of commercial freedom over the company's trade monopoly." Jacques Necker showed his ability during his tenure, defending the autonomy of the company and successfully fending off Morley's attacks in a memorandum in 1769.

During this time, Jacques Necker also took out loans from the French government and was appointed representative to Paris by the Republic of Geneva. His wife interacted with political, economic, and literary leaders in Paris, and Claude Adrian Ailquieu and others frequented her salon. In 1773, Jacques Necker was awarded a prize by the French Academy of Sciences for writing an essay in defense of the state company, led by a eulogy by Jean-Baptiste Colbert, a minister of Louis XIV. In 1775, he published "Essai sur la législation et le commerce des grains" (on grain legislation and trade), opposing the free trade policies advocated by Ann-Robert Jacques Turgo. His wife felt that he could now enter the official establishment, so she advised him to give up his banking partnership. Jacques Necker ceded his partnership to his brother Louis.

1788 Necker was reinstated as treasurer and chief advisor to the king. He supported the convening of a three-level council to equalize the number of representatives of the third class and the privileged class, and advocated equal taxation of all classes, thus angering the king and the privileged class. He was removed from office on July 11, 1789. After the revolution broke out on July 14, Louis XVI recalled Necker to serve as treasurer again. His reforms contradicted the policies of the Constituent Assembly, so he resigned the following September and retired to Geneva.

Jacques Necker was regarded as the savior of France, but his policies could not prevent the outbreak of the French Revolution. He legalized the parliament in Dauphine, thereby quelling the local uprising. He then began to organize and convene the Third Level Conference of 1789. He advocated doubling the number of representatives from the third class to meet the demands of the people. However, he did not adopt the people's requirement that the number of votes be determined according to the number of heads, but maintained the practice of one vote for each class. His speech at the meeting was inappropriate: his speech was several hours long. Many hoped he could implement political reforms to save the country, but he only released fiscal data. This incident greatly affected Jacques Necker's reputation. He seems to view the three-level meeting as an institution to mentor the government, rather than as an institution to reform it.

The dismissal of Jacques Necker on July 12, 1789 caused public outrage in France, and the revolution broke out on July 14. So the king had to call Jacques Necker back. He was welcomed in every city he passed. But in Paris he proved to lack statesmanship. Believing that only he could save France, he refused to cooperate with Lafayette and others. In September he sacrificed his privileges and persuaded the king to accept the pending veto power. By designing the decree issued on November 7, ministers and their officials did not have to be determined by assembly. By doing so, he eliminated any possibility of suggesting a strong executive. Jacques Necker was also unable to solve fiscal problems in times of crisis. He could not understand the extreme measure of issuing paper money to ensure the security of the state. He served as treasurer until 1790, but his attempts to ensure fiscal balance were ineffective.