Guy-Marie Sallier

Guy-Marie Sallier, known in French as, Sallier-Chaumont de la Roehe, is a prominent figure in the history of France during the time of the French Revolution. Sallier was a magistrate for the Parlement of Paris. Sallier is the author of Annales francoises, published in 1813, which is an encyclopedia written in response to all of the events that happened during the French Revolution. Although little is known about Sallier himself, his book Annales francoises is cited often in reference to events during the Ancien régime. Sallier wrote "Recollections of a Parlementary Magistrate" a retrospective account of the events that happened during the critical year of 1788. In this article Sallier interprets the actions of Jacques Necker.

Jacques Necker, a Swiss banker, came in originally to serve as a mediator between the King and the nation. On August 25th 1788 he was appointed director general of finances. Once in this position Necker stated his point that there would be no hope for the reform of the nation by the government alone. [ Stone, Bailey. The Parlement of Paris, 1774-1789. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina P, 1981.] Because of this the Estates General became the “vehicle” for reform.

Necker contradicted himself many times throughout his power in the Ancien Regime. At first he had been against despotism, but in August 1788 suddenly welcomed it. Necker then switched political parties and rather than his enemies being right winged political party members, they were switched to the left. Necker tried to cater to his own needs, and in doing this, created uproar in France. Sallier saw through Necker’s scheme.

In his "Recollections of a Parlementary Magistrate", Guy- Marie Sallier expresses disgust for Necker’s attitude towards the French Constitution. Sallier was supportive of an organic constitution and felt there was no need to record a written constitution because it was already understood in tradition. Sallier states, “ Scorning the French constitution, which he claimed did not exist because he could not see it written in a solemn legal agreement, he turned his gaze, his desires, and his hopes towards the English constitution. That was the goal toward which all his efforts were directed; he thought he would be able to achieve it by giving the Third Estate a preponderance in the Estates General that would, according to him, result in a representative body composed only of two chambers…”. [Guy-Marie Sallier, "Recollections of a Parlementary Magistrate" ed. Keith Michael Baker, vol. 7 of University of Chicago in Western Civilization, ed. John W. Boyer and Julius Kirshner (Chicago: University of Chicago press, 1987), 145.] Necker had always admired the English Constitution and scorned the French’s attempt at establishing its own constitution. He insisted that the only path to a successful nation would be a model similar to that of the British, with the fruitful collaboration between the English executive and the representatives of Parliament. In his essay, Sallier proves every reason why Necker is incorrect in his approach. Sallier makes the accusation that none of the facts presented by Necker are accurate and calls him deceiving because he keeps changing his political parties. Sallier states that Necker is greedy for public favor and, jealous of his influence, he will do anything for the support of the popular party. [Campbell, Peter R. The Origins of the French Revolution. New York: Palgrave Macmillian, 2006]

This furthers Sallier’s point that a constitution for the French must have been organic and had to be based on the traditions the French had already laid down. The entirety of Sallier’s essay is to prove his point as correct by negating Jacques Necker. In his final line he refers to Necker as a criminal.

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