IX.] THE GREAT REVOLUTION. 163 starvation of many of the nobles, who, debarred from all professions save the clerical and the military, lived on these court pensions. 2. Maurepas, 1775. — Lewis began by abolishing torture, and making the wse and excellent Turco t controller- general of the finances. But the old Co unt de Maurepas, the minister, who was only bent on patching~things up to last his own time, had all the habits of of^ce and know- ledge of business which made him necessary to a new king. He set himself to prevent change, showing all the difficulties of suppressing offices which people's forefathers had bought for their families for ever, Lewis had said, " Nobody loves my people but M. Turgot and myself:" but he became alarmed by Maurepas's representations, and let Turgot be dismissed, taking in his stead, in 1777, Necker, a banker from Geneva, who was thought to undersfend money matters better than any one else in Europe. He was an honest man, and there was so much trust in him that large loans were made to govern- ment, for which he managed to pay interest regularly, while endeavours were made to lessen the expenses, but not enough to be of any real service. 3. The American War, 1778. — The longing for change was fed by the sight of what was going on in America, where the endeavour of England to enforce taxes and duties had led to armed resistance on the part of the colonists. The Margins Gilbei't de la Fayette, an ardent young- man, fled from home to fight in the ranks of the Ameri- cans, in whose valour and simplicity the French enthusi- asts beheld a return to the heroism of ancient Greece and Rome. The government, after some hesitation, concluded an alliance with the Americans, and thus became engaged in a war with England, in which France was joined by Spain and the United Provinces. Off the Isle of Ushant a doubtful naval engagement was claimed as a victory by France; but at St. Lucie, in the West Indies, Count de la Crasse's fleet was broken by Lord Rodney, and in the East Indies Foiidicherry, the chief French factory, was taken. But the steady resistance of the Americans made the English at length decide on acknowledging their independence, and on the 20th of January, 1783, a general peace was signed. Benjamin Franklin, the American printer, a man of much science as well as plain sturdy wisdom, came to France as ambassador, and the Parisians, perfectly sick ot their unnatural life of M 2
