Why name a street after a man who was essentially France’s Monsieur Déficit? This is the story of Rue Calon. It is a street named after Charles Alexandre de Calonne. Calonne was Louis XVI’s Controller-General of Finances. He held this office in the years leading up to the French Revolution.
Rue Calon bears the name of a man who was born in Douai. He came from an upper-class family. Calonne entered the legal profession. He became a lawyer to the general council of Artois. He later became procureur to the parlement of Douai. Calonne also served as Master of Requests. He was intendant of Metz in 1768. Later, he became intendant of Lille in 1774.
Calonne was known for his business abilities. He had an entrepreneurial spirit. Some considered him unscrupulous in his political actions. He was summoned as Controller-General of Finances during the crisis preceding the French Revolution. He assumed the office on November 3, 1783.
Calonne owed his position to the Comte de Vergennes. The Comte supported him for over three years. Calonne’s public image was poor. He immediately tried to fix the fiscal crisis. He found enough support from Louis XVI. Together they created an ambitious plan. The plan involved raising revenue and administrative centralization. Calonne focused on maintaining public confidence. He initiated building projects and spending. This maintained the Crown’s capacity to borrow funds.
Calonne presented his plan to the king on August 20, 1786. At the plan’s heart was a new land value tax. It replaced the old vingtième taxes. This swept away the fiscal exemptions of the privileged orders. Provincial assemblies administered the new tax. Local property owners elected these assemblies. They were elected at parish, district, and provincial levels. Other reforms accompanied this central proposal. These reforms further rationalized the French economy. The reforms included free trade in grain. They also included the abolition of France’s internal customs barriers. It was a comprehensive attempt at enlightened reform.
After taking office, Calonne discovered the nation had significant debts. The debts totaled 110 million livres. France’s involvement in the American Revolution partly caused this. There was no means of paying them. He tried to get credit. He supported the government with loans. This maintained public confidence in its solvency.
In October 1785, he reissued gold coinage. He developed the Caisse d’Escompte. Knowing the Parlement of Paris would veto a single land tax, Calonne persuaded Louis XVI to call an assembly of notables. They would vote on his referendum. Calonne’s reform package consisted of five major points. It aimed to cut government spending. The package also revived free trade methods. It authorized the sale of Church property. It equalized salt and tobacco taxes. The reforms established a universal land value tax. All these measures failed.
As a last resort, Calonne proposed the king abolish internal customs duties. He suggested implementing a property tax on nobles and clergy. Anne Robert Jacques Turgot and Jacques Necker had tried this before. They had failed to get these reforms adopted. Calonne attributed their failure to the opposition of the parlements. So, he called another Assemblée des notables in February 1787. He proposed the establishment of a subvention territoriale. It would be levied on all property.
The Assembly of Notables balked at the deficit presented to them. They suspected Calonne was responsible for the financial strains. Protests erupted against Calonne. People burned effigies of Calonne. Louis XVI dismissed him on April 8, 1787. He exiled him to Lorraine.
Calonne soon left for Great Britain. He kept up a polemical correspondence with Necker. In 1789, he was forbidden to enter France. He joined the émigré group at Coblenz. In 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte allowed him to return to France. He died about a month after his arrival.
So Rue Calonne is named after a man who tried to fix France’s finances. But, his efforts were too little, too late. The street serves as a reminder of the complex history leading up to the French Revolution. It reminds us of the man known as Monsieur Déficit.