Charles Alexandre de Calonne, portrait by Marie Louise Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun.

Charles Alexandre, vicomte de Calonne (1734 - October 30, 1802) was a French statesman. Image File history File links Calonne_by_lebrun. ... Image File history File links Calonne_by_lebrun. ... Self Portrait in a Straw Hat, 1782 Elisabeth-Louise Vigee-LeBrun (April 16, 1755 - March 30, 1842) was a French painter, the most famous woman painter of the 18th century. ... A viscount is a member of the European nobility whose comital title ranks usually, as in the British peerage, above a baron, below an earl (in Britain) or a count (his continental equivalent). ... Events January 8 - Premiere of George Frideric Handels opera Ariodante at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. ... October 30 is the 303rd day of the year (304th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 62 days remaining. ... --69. ...

Life

Rise to prominence

Born at Douai of an upper-class family, he entered the legal profession and became successively lawyer to the general council of Artois, procureur to the parlement of Douai, maître des requêtes, intendant of Metz (1768) and of Lille (1774). He seems to have been a man with notable business abilities and an entrepreneurial spirit, while generally unscrupulous in his political actions. In the terrible crisis preceding the French Revolution, when successive ministers tried in vain to replenish the exhausted royal treasury, Calonne was summoned as Controller-General of Finances, an office he assumed on November 3, 1783. Douai is a city and commune in the north of France in the département of Nord, of which it is a sous-préfecture. ... English barrister 16th century painting of a civil law notary, by Flemish painter Quentin Massys. ... Artois is a former province of northern France. ... Parlements (pronounced in French) in ancien régime France — contrary to what their name would suggest to the modern reader — were not democratic or political institutions, but law courts . ... Maître des requêtes (in French, literally, master of petitions (the term maître is an honorific title for lawyers); plural: maîtres des requêtes) is an official title carried by certain high-level magistrates and adminstrators in France and some other European countries since the Middle Ages. ... New France was governed by three rulers: the governor, the bishop and the intendant, all appointed by the King, and sent from France. ... For other uses of Metz, see Metz (disambiguation) City motto: Si paix dedans, paix dehors (French: If peace inside, peace outside) City proper (commune) Région Lorraine Département Moselle (57) Mayor Jean-Marie Rausch Area 41. ... t* Autoroute A22 : Lille - Antwerp - Netherlands A sixth oher ejt weoitjh w newr0tipew roj40=9 dfiojg b o4it orpitre royieoy i53 -y035 3[49430ne — the proposed A24 — will link Amiens to Lille if built, but there is opposition to its route. ... The French Revolution (1789–1799) was a pivotal period in the history of French, European and Western civilization. ... The term treasury was first used in classical times to describe the votive buildings erected to house gifts to the gods, such as the Siphnian Treasury in Delphi or the many buildings put up in Olympia, Greece by competing city-states, to impress each other during the Ancient Olympic Games. ... This page is a list of French finance ministers. ... November 3 is the 307th day of the year (308th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 58 days remaining. ... 1783 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

He owed the position to the Comte de Vergennes, who for over three years continued to support him. However, King Louis XVI disliked Calonne, and, according to the Habsburg ambassador, his public image was extremely poor. Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes (December 20, 1717—February 13, 1787) was a French statesman and diplomat. ... Coronation of Louis VIII and Blanche of Castile at Reims in 1223; a miniature from the Grandes Chroniques de France, painted in the 1450s, kept at the National Library of France The monarchs of France ruled, first as kings and later as emperors, from the Middle Ages to 1848. ... Louis XVI of France Louis XVI (23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was King of France and Navarre from 1774 until 1791, and then King of the French from 1791 to 1792. ... The Habsburg Monarchy, often called Austrian Monarchy or simply Austria, are the territories ruled by the Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg, and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine, between 1526 and 1867/1918. ...

Measures

In taking office he found debts of 600 million, and no means of paying them. At first he attempted to obtain credit, and to support the government by means of loans so as to maintain public confidence in its solvency. In October 1785 he recoined the gold coinage, and he developed the caisse d'escompte (dealing in cash discounts). This page is a candidate to be moved to Wiktionary. ... Gold coins are one of the oldest forms of money. ... Discounts and allowances are modifications to the basic price. ...

As all these measures failed, he proposed to the king the suppression of internal customs, duties, and argued in favor of the taxation of the property of nobles and clergy. Anne Robert Jacques Turgot and Jacques Necker had attempted these reforms, and Calonne attributed their failure to the ill-willing opposition of the parlements. Therefore, he called an Assemblée des notables in January 1787, to which he presented the deficit in the treasury, and proposed the establishment of a subvention territoriale, which should be levied on all property without distinction. A customs duty is a tariff or tax on the import or export of goods. ... In economics, a duty is a kind of tax, often associated with customs, a payment due to the revenue of a state, levied by force of law. ... // Property tax is an ad valorem tax that an owner of real estate or other property pays on the value of the thing taxed. ... In several different regions of medieval Europe, and continuing in some countries down to the present day, the estates of the realm were broad divisions of society, usually distinguishing nobility, clergy, and commoners; this last group was, in some regions, further divided into burghers (also known as bourgeoisie) and peasants. ... Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune, often referred to as Turgot (10 May 1727 – 18 March 1781), was a French economist and statesman. ... Jacques Necker Jacques Necker (September 30, 1732 – April 9, 1804) was a French statesman and finance minister of Louis XVI. // Early life Necker was Geneva, Switzerland. ... 1787 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... A budget deficit occurs when an entity (often a government) spends more money than it takes in. ...

Deposition and exile

This suppression of privileges was badly received. Calonne, angered, printed his reports and so alienated the court. Louis XVI dismissed him on April 8, 1787 and exiled him to Lorraine. The joy was general in Paris, where Calonne, accused of wishing to augment the imposts, was known as Monsieur Déficit. In reality his audacious plan of reforms, which Necker took up later, could have probably saved the monarchy had it been supported by the king. Calonne soon afterwards left for Great Britain, and during his residence there kept up a polemical correspondence with Necker. April 8 is the 98th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (99th in leap years). ... Lorraine coat of arms location of the Lorraine province Lorraine (French: Lorraine; German: Lothringen) is a historical area in present-day northeast France. ...

In 1789, when the Estates-General were about to assemble, he crossed to Flanders in the hope of offering himself for election, but he was forbidden to enter France. In revenge he joined the émigré group at Coblenz, wrote in their favour, and spent nearly all the fortune brought him by his wife, a wealthy widow. In 1802, having again settled in London, he received permission from Napoleon Bonaparte to return to France. He died about a month after his arrival in his native country. 1789 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... The Estates-General (or States-General) of 1789 (French: Les États-Généraux de 1789) was the first meeting since 1614 of the French Estates-General, a general assembly consisting of representatives from all but the poorest segment of the French citizenry. ... Extent of Flemish in the Arrondissement of Dunkirk, 1874 and 1972 Nord (French: North) is a département in the north of France. ... Émigré is a French term that shows how Martin B. loves stephanie. ... This article is about the German city Koblenz. ... Napoleon I Bonaparte, Emperor of the French, King of Italy, Mediator of the Swiss Confederation and Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a general of the French Revolution, the ruler of France as First Consul (Premier Consul) of the French Republic from...

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.