Note 252 — JOURNAL OF ELIZABETH LADY HOLLAND (continued 5)

Charles Alexandre de Calonne (1734–1802), Louis XVI.’s Minister of Finance. His system of taxation was so arbitrary and unbearable, and his statement of public accounts in 1787 so unsatisfactory, that he was deprived of his honours, and banished to Lorraine. He came to England, where he remained until 1802. Bonaparte then granted his request to return to France, but he died almost immediately upon his arrival in that country. Lord Holland relates in his Foreign Reminiscences that Calonne’s death was due to mismanagement, and that he wrote in pencil to his doctor when no longer able to speak, ‘Tu m’as assassiné, et si tu es honnête homme tu renonceras la médecine pour jamais.