insufficient. Duties were reduced or abolished, and they yielded scarcely
anything, owing to the difficulty of collecting them. It became useless to
have recourse to public confidence, which refused its aid; and in
September, Necker had proposed, as the only means, an extraordinary
contribution of a fourth of the revenue, to be paid at once. Each citizen
was to fix his proportion himself, making use of that simple form of oath,
which well expressed these first days of honour and patriotism:--"_I
declare with truth._"

Mirabeau now caused Necker to be invested with a complete financial
dictatorship. He spoke of the urgent wants of the state, of the labours of
the assembly which did not permit it to discuss the plan of the minister,
and which at the same time prevented its examining any other; of Necker's
skill, which ensured the success of his own measure; and urged the
assembly to leave with him the responsibility of its success, by
confidently adopting it. As some did not approve of the views of the
minister, and others suspected the intentions of Mirabeau with respect to
him, he closed his speech, one of the most eloquent he ever delivered, by
displaying bankruptcy impending, and exclaiming, "Vote this extraordinary
subsidy, and may it prove sufficient! Vote it; for if you have doubts
respecting the means, you have none respecting the want, and our inability
to supply it. Vote it, for the public circumstances will not bear delay,
and we shall be accountable for all postponement. Beware of asking for
time; misfortune never grants it. Gentlemen, on the occasion of a
ridiculous motion at the Palais Royal, an absurd incursion, which had
never had any importance, save in feeble imaginations, or the minds of men
of ill designs and bad faith, you once heard these words, '_Catiline is at
the gates of Rome, and yet they deliberate!_' And yet there were around us
neither Catiline, nor perils, nor factions, nor Rome. But now bankruptcy,
hideous bankruptcy, is there; it threatens to consume you, your