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Etienne
de Silhouette
Silhouette took its name, from Louis XV.'s the miserly finance
minister, Etienne de Silhouette 1709-1767). Born at Limoges on
July 8th, he received as good an education as could then be
obtained in a provincial town, studying such books on finance and
administration as he could obtain. After traveling in Europe, he
settled in London for a year to examine our practice of public
economy (the Progressive of our present County Council had not yet
been born); he then determined that one day France should have the
same sound financial system. On returning to Paris, he translated
some English works, which made his name known, and, becoming
attached to the household of Marshal Nivelles, was appointed
Secretary to the Duc d'Orleans, the son of the Regent, who in s
short time made him his Chancellor. At this time costly wars were
depleting the treasury of France, and ministers were rapidly
succeeding each other as head of the finance department of the
State. Silhouette had always preached economy, s most uncommon
plank in the political platform of those days of huge personal and
State expenditure, Disgusted at the extremes of the Grand Monarque
and the Regency, a section of thinking men gathered round
Silhouette, seeing in him the controller who would straighten out
the finances of the State. A party headed by the Prince de Conde
opposed him, on the ground that he had committed s crime by
translating English books into French. Silhouette, however,
possessed the powerful influence of Madame de Pompadour, and was,
through her, elected Controleur-General in March 1757. It is said
that he saved the treasury seventy-two millions of francs before
he had been in office twenty-four hours. " This is the more
remarkable," naively comments the old biographer Michaud,
" because many of his relations were amongst those whose
salaries he cut down." Economies next came in the household
expenditure of Louis XV, and it is owing to Silhouette's policy
that so many of the splendid masterpieces of the goldsmith's and
silversmith's art of that epoch found their way into the
melting-pot. Silhouette next proposed a novel system of banking.
This led to the unpopularity, which centrally brought about his
downfall. He was forced to resign after s term of office lasting
eight months, and on retiring he spent his time in regulating his
estate on economical lines, and in silhouette cutting at Brie sur
Marne.
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John Miers Lavater
Augustin Edouart Silhouette
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