Finances and Revolutionary Responsibilities: Lorient’s Municipal Government, 1789-1790

Abstract

On the 2nd of August 1789, Lorient’s permanent committee received word from their deputy to the National Assembly that France’s finance minister, Jacques Necker, had been reinstated in office. Widely viewed as the savior of France, Necker’s dismissal the previous month had sparked unease and unrest, most visibly in the storming of the Bastille on July 14th. The merchants who dominated Lorient’s permanent committee were distraught by his dismissal in part because they were hoping for his support to dismantle the privileges of mercantilism. “At the very instant” that the news was announced, Ledoux, the city’s representative of painters, sculptures, and engravers, “entered and offered to the assembly the large portrait of Mr. Necker” for the city hall. After thanking him “from their hearts,” the committee immediately wrote to Necker relating their joy at his return and their everlasting friendship.