The first two volumes and several chapters of the third were found in the state in which they were intended for the press. Some other chapters were transcribed but not revised by the Author; but others were only composed in the outline, with marginal notes written or dictated by Madame de Staël, indicating the points on which she proposed to dilate.
The first feeling, as the first duty of her children, has been to evince the most sacred respect for the slightest indications of her thoughts; and it is almost superfluous to say that we have permitted ourselves to make not only no addition, but no change, and that the work about to be read is perfectly conformable to the corrected manuscript of Madame de Staël.
The labor of the Editors has been therefore confined entirely to the revisal of the proofs, and to the correction of those slight inaccuracies of style which escape observation even in manuscripts the most carefully revised. This has been performed under the eye of M. A. W. de Schlegel, whose rare superiority of parts and knowledge justifies the confidence with which Madame de Staël consulted him in all her literary labors, as his most honorable character merits the esteem and friendship which she constantly entertained for him during an intimacy of thirteen years.
Mr. de Staël hereafter proposes to fulfill intentions most sacred to him in publishing a complete edition of the works of his mother, and of those of Mr. Necker. The works of Madame de Staël will comprise some inedited compositions; amongst others, the fragments of a work begun under the title Ten Years of Exile. A Biographical Notice will precede each collection; but a feeling, which those who knew Madame de Staël will appreciate with indulgence, has not yet permitted her children to commence an undertaking which comes so home to their dearest as to their most sorrowful recollections.
Advertisement of the Author
I began this work with an intention of confining it to an examination of the political actions and writings of my father. But, as I advanced in my labor, I was led by the subject itself to trace, on one hand, the principal events of the French Revolution and to present, on the other, a picture of England, as a justification of the opinion of M. Necker relative to the political institutions of that country. My plan being therefore enlarged, I judged it proper to alter the title, although I had not changed the object. Nevertheless, there will remain in this work more details relative to my father, and even to myself, than I should have inserted if I had originally conceived it in a general point of view; but, perhaps, circumstances of a private nature are conducive to a clearer knowledge of the spirit and character of the times we are about to describe.
Contents 1
CHAP. II. Considerations on the History of France
CHAP. III. On the State of Public Opinion in France at the Accession of Louis XVI
CHAP. IV. Of the Character of M. Necker as a Public Man
CHAP. V. M. Necker’s Plans of Finance
CHAP. VI. M. Necker’s Plans of Administration
CHAP. VII. Of the American War
CHAP. VIII. M. Necker’s Retirement from Office in 1781
CHAP. X. Sequel of the Preceding.—Ministry of the Archbishop of Toulouse
CHAP. XI. Did France Possess a Constitution Before the Revolution?
CHAP. XII. On the Recall of M. Necker in 1788
CHAP. XIII. Conduct of the Last Estates General, Held at Paris in 1614
CHAP. XIV. The Division of the Estates General into Orders
CHAP. XV. What Was the Public Feeling of Europe at the Time of Convening the Estates General?
CHAP. XVI. Opening of the Estates General on the 5th of May, 1789
CHAP. XVII. Of the Resistance of the Privileged Orders to the Demands of the Third Estate in 1789
CHAP. XIX. Means Possessed by the Crown in 1789 of Opposing the Revolution
CHAP. XX. The Royal Session of 23d June, 1789
CHAP. XXI. Events Caused by the Royal Session of 23d June, 1789
CHAP. XXII. Revolution of the 14th of July (1789)
CHAP. XXIII. Return of M. Necker