taining the most virulent invectives, and accusing the King of prodigality and despo tism, some of the most essential parts of which they must have known to be false, that the deficiency was chiefly brought on since the peace by the profusion of the court. A small part of the debt had been occasioned by the negligence and profusion of the court and the princes, but the far greater part of it bad evidently been contracted in the national service. These libels being circulated with impunity, were highly dangerous and inflammatory, for they shewed the people that after setting the power of the crown at defiance, it might be treated with abuse and contempt. It is from that period that that fermentation may be dated, which afterwards terminated in the French revolution. The same dissatisfaction with the court had likewise continued in the higher ranks; the peers and sometimes the princes of the blood, had attended at the most violent of the parliamentary sessions, the former had served upon parliamentary com. mittees, and supported their reports. In such a state of public affairs, a favourable issue was not to be expected without an administration of great weight and ability; but, since the meeting of the notables there had been repeated changes in the ministry, during the last troubles hardly a week had passed without a resignation, almost every man of rank, consequence, and connexion had retired; and, at last, the Archbishop of Thoulouse was appointed prime minister. It was evident that the disorders of the state were such as to require a radical cure. Such too was the temper of the nation, that it must have been hazardous for any ministry to have made use of strong measures immediately, and the minister might by that time have been satisfied, that without them nothing was to be expected from the parliaments. If the state was to be saved, subord nation must be restored, and activity infused into the administration: it was perhaps, nccessary to find means to enable government to go on independent of the parliaments long enough for that purpose to be effected. By a few retrenchments which would have effected only the amusements of the court, by changing that part of the national debt which was upon temporary or life-rent annuities into perpetual funds, and by improving the customs (a part of the French finances entirely neglected) with very small loans that object might probably have been attained. But, imperious as the

circumstances were, the views of the minister seem not to have extended further than palliatives, procrastination, or merely to re

| lieve the difficulty of the moment. Some. negotiations had evidently taken place with the parliament of Paris, for upon a sort of petition from them, and their agreeing to register an edict postponing the new taxes. for two years, they were recalled; when he likewise announced loans for four years to come, to cover the deficiency of the finances, with a strong insinuation almost amounting to a declaration that the statesgeneral would be held at the end of that period. This was a weak compromise for the past, and, if he had been led to believe that the parliament had agreed to carry this arrangement into execution, he was completely overreached: or, if he took for granted that they were to agree to it, he as much deceived himself. For, in a few days after they had again assembled, the King ordered the registration of a loan; they entered into a long debate upon it in his presence, during which, he likewise ordered the registration of an edict in favour of the Protestants As soon as the King had retired, the parliament as before, declared the negotiation null; on which two of the most refractory members, were arrested; the Duke of Orleans who had protested beforehand against the expect ed proceedings of the day was exiled, and, the princes and peers were desired not to assist at the meetings. The peers reluctantly. obeyed, but the parliament then refusing to proceed in the edict respecting the Protes-, tants, the King in a few days allowed the peers to return; the first ase they made of that condescension was to join in an application for the recall of the Duke of Orleans, in which the King after giving a refusal, so far acquiesced, as to permit him to come to the neighbourhood of Paris. The parliament had already made some slight attempts to act in a legislative capacity, by proposing alterations in laws, but when they came to take the edict in favour of the Protestants into consideration, they appointed a committee, of which the peers made a part, to examine and report upon it. It was at last registered, but they likewise voted an arrêt in respect to lettres de cachet, which bore a strong resemblance to a law.

During the whole of the e disputes with the parliaments, the manner in which they were conducted was highly injurious to the royal authority: the King had almost upiformly told the parliaments at every step, that he was firmly resolved to be obeyed; and, as certainly upon their adhering steadily to the purpose he had yielded. Nor was the language in which his intercourse with them was expressed less dangerous; instead of that simple, dignified, and concise

stile which every government ought to preServe with the subject, he entered into arguments about their submission. No government can be too careful to shew that the motives by which it is actuated are pure, but that government which trusts to argument instead of authority for obedience, is travelling fast to its own destruction. While these transactions had taken place with the parliament of Paris, the provincial parliaments had, if possible, exceeded them in violence. Some of them had registered the edicts for the provincial assemblies, others refused; some reprobated the compromise on the part of the parliament of Paris, some had submitted in part, some were in open hostility to the administration, and some were exiled.

It was suspected very soon after the last resistance of the parliament, and the arrest of the members, that the minister had some changes in contemplation; the suspicion proved to be well founded, a few months produced the cour plenière. It was evidently intended as an imitation of the change in the courts by Mons. Maupoux, but it was the imitation of a man of ability by an ignorant pretender. Mons. Maupoux, before proceeding to the execution of his plan, had been indefatigable in securing by promises, persuasions, and bribes, a sufficient number of the robe; he brought the new courts into immediate activity, and removed the parlia ments from any competition with them. The minister, although the state of the kingdom required infinitely greater preparation, took no precaution to engage the men of the law, he left the parliaments in existence, and their powers undefined. In critical situations, it is to be doubted, if even want of judgment be more fatal than want of firmness. There was no necessity for proceeding to such lengths so rashly, for superficial as had been the object and the means of the minister, the loan contrary to expectation had been filled, notwithstanding the opposition of the parliament, which made him independent of them for a year, and might have made him so for a much longer time. Prematurely however, as this crisis had been brought on, and injudiciously as it had been conducted, it is not impossible, but it might have been so far successful as to have made the parliaments more tractable if it had been pursued with perseverance. In a short time judges had been found for the inferior courts, in several parts of the kingdom, they had begun to administer justice, and others were following their example. Concession and condescension only add to presumption; yet the minister seemed to think that

never

he could gain the object he had in view by forbearance, and granting every other demand. When the minds of men are unhinged, if the government cannot withdraw their attention from dangerous novelties, they at least should not direct it that way, and if they cannot prevent, they should not countenance new assemblies of the people, for there can be few such that will not be a focus of edition. The minister on the contrary, kept their expectations constantly alive with the prospect of the states-general, and readily agreed to renew the ancient states of most of the provinces. Tumults were to be expected, and there could be but one way for the government to act in regard to them; to avoid giving cause for them as much as possible, but when they did happen to enforce the laws of every civilized society, and punish the authors of a breach of the peace. A tumult took place at Grenoble, in which the military force retired before the popalace, the leaders were left unpunished; this was followed by an anomalons meeting of the noblesse and tiers etat to the number of about five hundred, after which, Dauphiny was quiet. In Brittany there were disturbances in which the army and the po pulace had nearly come to blows; there they remained unpunished, and there the same consequences followed. On another tumult happening soon after in Navarre, the King at once gave up the cause and dismissed his minister, although the greatest part of the kingdom still remained undisturbed. He immediately resolved to recall the parlia ments, and assemble the states-general. It is much doubted, if the states-general was ever properly a legislative body; they had been repeatedly summoned to sanction laws prepared by the crown, and had sometimes presented petitions or remonstrances, but rarely had any business originated with them. They had not met for near two centuries, and so little was clearly ascertained, that all the antiquaries of France had already been encouraged to collect information concerning them. But, whatever they had been in times past, they were now loudly called for as an assembly that was to regenerate the state. The people had already been taught to treat the crown with contempt, they were now led to look for the authority of govern ment in other hands. Among the evils resulting from the disorder of the finances, one of the greatest was, that the minister of that department had begun to be esteemed the principal member of the cabinet, by which means the administration had been in a great measure committed to bankers, lawyers, and priests. Now, at one of the most critical

periods that the kingdom had ever seen, which demanded an administration of the first influence and ability, the fate of France, and, it is to be feared, of more thin France, was intrusted to a man who had not a ra tional political concept on beyond the treasury, and whose passion was popular applause; the latter, which ought to have been an insuperable objection to him in the state the nation then was, was that which brought hi n back to office. The notables were again called to consider of the form in which the states-general should be constituted. A difference of opinion st li appeared; one of the chambers presided by the first prince of the blood, was of opinion, that the representa tives of the tiers etat should be equal to those of the other two orders; but the other chambers decided that the members of each of the three should be equal. While this question was in agitation, the effect of impunity in those provinces where the troubles had taken place was strongly shown. In Dauphiny the states met with a representation of the tiers etat equal to both the others, and did not conceal their intention of claiming a legislative power. In Brittany the tiers etat met by themselves, and with a list of grievances and innovations, demanded that they should have a double representation. The noblesse at last were alarmed. The Prince of Conti presented a note almost prophetic to the united commissioners of the chambers of the notables, representing the danger of the monarchy, and the alarming state of the nation: the note was transmitted to the King, but it was so little congenial to the sentiments of his minister, that it was ordered not to be taken into consideration. However, upon a division of the whole notables, an equal representation of each of the orders was carried by a great majority. So determined, however, was the minister in his own projects, that he resolved to give the tiers etat a representation equal to both the other orders, and so infatuated was the King as to permit it. From the form that had been adopted, and still more from the state of the public mind, the elections became of the first importance. Had the noblesse been united and active, it is probable they might have prevented the dangerous effects of the numbers of the tiers etat, and, perhaps, have entirely changed the spirit of that part of the states-general. A question had arisen whether the order of noblesse, as forming part of the states-general, should not be confined to those holding fiets; had they admitted this principle, it would have given that order some distant resemblance to our House of Peers, and had the rest of the no

blesse offered themselves for representations of the tiers etat, it was to be expected from their interest and connexions, that many of them would have been elected, and excluded a great part of the most violent of their members. The noblesse, however, except a few who were attached to the popular opinions herded together, with that apathy and inaction which must make any description of men or any nation, fall before an active enemy, that with vigour and exertion they. might have easily resisted. But, if no other means were to be made use of for tempering the heat of the tiers etat, it became the duty of the crown, and every person attached to order and good government, to endeavour to make the choice fall upon men of discernment and moderate principles; but, such, was the philosophical spirit of the minister, that he thought the elections could not be left too free, by which means they were abandoned to the populace, who returned a great part of the representatives of the tiers etat of the retainers of the law, inflamed with all the fury of the parliaments, most of the rest were physicians and literary men, whose heads were filled with Utopian schemes bred in the closet. Most of the electors drew up instructions for their repre sentatives: those of the tiers etat in general contained a variety of projects relating to the administration and civil liberty, some included changes in the government itself; but, the tiers etat of Paris exceeded all the rest, for they appointed separate committees for the constitution, and all the principal branches of administration. When the states general met, the King in his speech at the opening of the session called upon them to restore order and tranquillity in the kingdom, which amounted to a declaration that government had escaped from his hands. The speech of the keeper of the seals, which the King said was to explain his intentions, was an invitation to them to new model the state, but, at the same time contained an insinuation, that it was expected they would confine themselves to the liberty of the press, the finances, and lettres de cachet. The speech or rather dissertation of Mr. Necker, exclusive of the finances, which occupy a great part of it, was a sentimental homily, in which, through the whining and academic phrases in which it is composed, may be discovered that that apostle of the revolution had made the representatives of the tiers etat equal to those of both the other orders, that he might by their means insure the innovations that he intended, that in regard to their voting by orders or by numbers, he thought he could play them one

against the other as he pleased; and that he fancied that while he made them his puppets to new model the government at his pleasure, he could reserve such a share of power to the crown, and no more than he in his wisdom thought proper. The tiers etat were not deficient in the part he had assigned them. From the first they assumed a superiority over the other orders, and demanded that they should come to them to try their powers or returns of election in common. The thing was in itself of very little consequence, if it had not become so from being considered by all parties what it really was, a trial whether the states should vote by orders or by numbers. If the public affairs had been in the hands of a man of discernment and sound principles, he could not have wished for a better preliminary means of judging of the temper of the dif ferent orders, and discovering how to act in regard to them. The tiers etat would not proceed to any business unless the other orders complied with their demands; at last commissioners were appointed by the three orders to endeavour to settle the point; but, as the tiers etat or the commons, as they then stiled themselves, would abate nothing of their pretensions the meeting was fruitless. The next day the commons sent a message to the clergy, requesting them to join them, which occasioned long and warm debates in that order, without coming to any decision. In consequence, however, of that message, the noblesse resolved that the monarchy was threatened by that step, that they were determined to defend it, and maintain the voting by orders. Mr. Necker, who wished not to fix any general rule, but to make use of either way, as best suited his own views upon every occasion, seems to have been a good deal at a loss how to act; the King merely sent an order to renew the con ferences, which was not agreed to by the commons without a remonstrance, in which they say, the inactivity of the states was owing to the noblesse, and hypocritically add, in the tone of the sixteenth century, that they are the natural ailies of the crown against the higher orders, and the most faithful subjects in its defence, At the renewed conferences the minister endeavoured to evade the question, by suggesting that the reports of the different orders should be laid before the commissioners of the other orders; but this had no better success. the conferences failing the commons decreed to proceed to business, and to call over all the returns themselves. If the court had not before seen or not adverted to what the arrogance of the tiers etat might lead, this

On

might have warned them so far at least, as to have kept the noblesse distinct, to balance them, and to have prevented any concessions on the part of that order, till it was known how far the commons would go. But the noblesse were allowed to depart from their former resolutions, and accede to the mode proposed by the King's commissioners, although the commons had treated it with utter contempt. In a few days after the tiers etat declared themselves the national assembly, annulled all the taxes, but re-esta blished them provisionally till the end of the session, or till they should be granted by the consent of the King and the nation. The decrees of those two days having been moved by the Abbé Sieyés, has induced a belief that the tiers etat were at that time led by the speculative members; but, the fact was, that decrees had been suggested, and even motions partly to the same effect made, long before by the members from Dauphiny, which was the first field of sedition; but the assembly not being then sufficiently prepared for so bold a procedure they fell to the ground. The monarchy was overthrown by practical politicians, educated by the parliaments and bred in the popular disturbances, nor was much attention paid to the lucubrations of the metaphysicians, till after the revolution was completed. By annulling the imposts, and afterwards re-establishing them by their own authority, the tiers etat had assumed a great part of the powers of government, and given strong reason to think that they intended to assume the rest. It was very little if any thing short of high treason, by the laws of the freest as well as the most arbitrary governments. It is probable, that they would never have proceeded to the lengths or taken the rash steps that they did, if it had not been an opinion prevalent, and almost established in France ever since the wars of the Fronde, that, if acting with a constitutional assembly indivi duals ran no risk, further than banishment or imprisonment for a short time. When affairs had arrived at such a crisis, it would be presumptuous in any person who did not thoroughly know the principal actors, and was not intimately acquainted with their intrigues, to pretend to decide what the precise line of conduct of the court should have been, but there is little hazard in saying, that it ought not to have been that of concession. The good of the state no less than the safety of the crown, required that the commons should be obliged to relinquish their usurpations. So unwarrantable were their proceedings, that it is reasonable to think that they must have defeated their

was to contest it with them, they soon recovered their former insolence, and treated the commands of the King with insult, although delivered in person. It has never been ascertained by whom the proceedings of that day were advised; there were many things in them contrary to the sentiments of the minister, and there were many others conformable to his known opinions. He did not attend the King, and it was expected that he was to resiga, but after a conference in the closet, it was declared that he was to remain in office. The next day a majority of the clergy joined the tiers etat in a regular meeting; the minority of the noblesse resolved to follow their example. The day after the minority of the noblesse had joined the commons, the electors of Paris, which city afterwards acted so conspicuous a part in the revolution, sent a deputation to congratulate the assembly on the wisdom and firmness of their proceedings; and the King held a council which terminated this, like every other crisis of his reign, by giving up every thing that he had so pompously announced he was determined to maintain. The two privileged orders were requested to join the tiers etat, which was, in fact, constituting them the states-general, as they had a strong party among the clergy, and no contemptible one among the noblesse, while the other orders had no adherents among them.

own object, and revolted the nation against them if the court had been commonly prudent; but they do not appear to have had a perception of the actual state of the nation. The long continued disputes with the parliaments had introduced a routine which they seemed to think must be adapted to all public assemblies, and to all circumstances. It was resolved that the King should go to the states-general, and hold what in the language of the parliaments was called a lit de justice. If the court had not been then sensible of the situation in which they stood, transactions took place in the few days that intervened before it was put in execution that might have informed them. As soon as it was seen that the commons received no effectual check, the minority of the clergy by a trick after the sitting was raised, procured a false majority, and such was the impression produced by the weakness of the court, that an actual majority of one, of that order joined the tiers etat, and that too in the most violent of their proceedings. When it was determined that the lit de justice should be held, the place in which the commons met was unaccountably ordered to be shut up to prepare for it, without giving them regular notice. When they were refused admittance, they immediately went to a tennis court, where they entered into an obligation under an oath, not to separate till they had formed a constitution: they next day met in a church, where they were joined by that part of the clergy. Notwithstanding such reiterated resistance and unceasing defection, the court were not only incapable of seeing themselves, but even of being warned by others. A resolution of the noblesse occasioned by the first decree of the commons, was presented to the King, stating in pointed terms that the monarchy was aimed at, and the state in danger; to which he returned for answer, that he knew the rights of the noblesse, and that he would protect them; and that he hoped the noblesse would comply with the terms of reconciliation that he was to prescribe. He went to the states, laid down rules for their meeting jointly and separately, cancelled the proceedings of the commons, stated the privileges he intended to grant, and the powers he was to reserve, as deliberately as if his authority had never been disputed. Again the total want of foresight was striking. The assembly had been ordered and was expected immediately to retire, but no provision had been made in case of hesitation or resistance: they sat mite and apparently undetermined, after the Telt them but at last finding that they ful to themselves, and that nobody

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Hitherto the obedience, if not the discipline of the army had been preserved ; even the French guards who were so much connected with the citizens of Paris, had quelled the riots in that city; but, so strong was the last instance of imbecillity, that it began to be shaken. The populace of Paris had for some time been endeavouring to debauch the soldiers, and some of the French guards having been absent from quarters, were put in confinement; their friends in the city collected in great numbers, forced the place of confinement, and set them at liberty; not satisfied with this, they and the electors of Paris, who had already begun to be active in the cause of anarchy, sent a deputation to the statesgeneral to request them to intercede with the King in their favour, which too well suited their own views, not to be readily complied with. When their note to that effect was presented to the King, he is said to have made a reply which baffles all comment; that their resolutions were wise, and it is added, that Mr. Necker applauded that reply. A species of fatality seems to have attended Louis the XVIth.; the army had been neglected for many years, and, at