He showed himself equally capable in every department of his duties; as a financial reformer, as an administrator, and as a legislator.

No minister in the history of the nation had ever so united large-minded genius with disinterested integrity.

He had not accepted office without a full perception of its difficulties.

He saw all that had to be done, and applied himself to putting the finances of the nation on a healthy footing, as an indispensable preface to other reforms equally necessary.

He easily secured the co-operation of the king and queen, Louis cheerfully adopting the retrenchments which he recommended, though some of them, such as the reduction in the hunting establishment, touched his personal tastes.