390 Readings in European History these statutes has been carried out to the excluding of women even from the trades the most suitable to their sex, such as embroidery, which they are forbidden to exercise on their own account. . . . God, by giving to man wants, and making his recourse to work necessary to supply them, has made the right to work the property of every man, and this property is the first, the most sacred, the most imprescriptible of all. The first paragraph of the edict itself provides that : It shall be free to all persons, of whatever quality or con- dition they may be, even to all foreigners, to undertake and to exercise in all our kingdom, and particularly in our good city of Paris, whatever kind of trade and whatever profession of art or industry may seem good to them ; for which pur- pose we now extinguish and suppress all corporations and communities of merchants and artisans, as well as all mas- terships and guild directories. We abrogate all privileges, statutes, and regulations of the said corporations, so that none of our subjects shall be troubled in the exercise of his trade or profession by any cause or under any pretext whatever. Shortly after his retirement in 1 78 1, Necker set to work to write A Treatise on the Administration of the Finances of Fi'ance. In the introduction to this he speaks of his recent experiences as minister of finance. 392. Necker The review I take of my past administration occasions, reviews his ft j s true, neither remorse nor repentance : possibly I may ownadminis- c . . . . , , c w i even find in it some actions the remembrance of which will shed a happy influence over the remainder of my days ; possibly I may think that, if it had not been for the revival and support of public confidence, the enemies of the king, who relied on the effects of the former disorder and low state of public credit in France, might have gained advantages that have escaped them ; possibly I may think that if, in the first years of the war, I had been obliged to furnish the resources of a prudent government by taxes or rigorous tration.
