564 FRANCE. 



sieur de Calonne not only resigned his place on the 12th of April, 

 but soon after retired to England from the storm of persecution. 



The notables proceeded in their inquiries ; and it was now sug- 

 gested that an assembly of the states should be called, as the notables 

 were not competent to impose a new tax. As the deliberations of 

 the notables were not carried on in secret, this proposal was instantly 

 circulated through the capital, and supposed to be a new discovery. 

 The notables were soon after dissolved, without having accomplished 

 any thing except the justification of monsieur Necker. 



The stamp-act, however, was established, and a bed of justice was 

 held by the king on the 5th of August, 1787, at which the parliament 

 of Paris was obliged to attend, and the edict was registered, notwith-- 

 standing their protest to the contrary. But the parliament, though 

 defeated, were far from subdued : on the day after the king had held 

 his bed of justice, they entered a formal protest against the conces- 

 sion that had been extorted from them. 



Painful as every appearance of violence must have proved to the 

 mild disposition of Lewis, he could not consent to surrender, without 

 a struggle, that authority which had been so long exercised by his 

 predecessors. Since the commencement of the present discontents, 

 the capital had been gradually filled with considerable bodies of 

 troops j and about a week after the parliament had entered the pro- 

 test, an officer of the French guards, with a party of soldiers, went at 

 break of day to the house of each individual member, to signify to 

 him the king's command, that he should immediately, get into his 

 carriage and proceed to Troyes, a city of Champagne, about seventy 

 miles from Paris, without writing or speaking to any person out of 

 his own house before his departure. These orders were served at 

 the same instant; and before the citizens of Paris were acquainted 

 with the transaction, the parliament were already on the road to the 

 scene of their banishment. 



So great was the resentment of the whole nation on account of the 

 banishment of the parliament, that after a month's exile it was re- 

 called. This was scarcely done, when they were desired to register 

 a loan; at which they hesitated, notwithstanding all the manoeuvres 

 of the ministers. At last the king came to the house, and held what 

 is called a royal session. The edicts were now registered ; but the 

 duke of Orleans protested, in the presence of the king, against the 

 legality of the proceeding. The parliament protested against the le- 

 gality of the session itself, but to no purpose. The duke of Orleans, 

 with four others, were banished ; the king called for the journals of 

 the house, destroyed the protest, and forbade it to be inserted again, 

 Great clamours were raised by the banishment of the duke of Or- 

 leans, and the other members of parliament ; remonstrances were 

 presented by the parliaments of Paris, Bordeaux, and Rennes ; but 

 the exiles were not recalled till the spring of 178S. 



No alternative remained now to Lewis, but to plunge his country 

 into all the calamity of civil war, or to comply with the wishes of his 

 people, and re-establish the states-general. In the first case, he must 

 have expected to encounter the majority of the people, animated by 

 the exhortations and examples of their magistrates : the peers of the 

 realm had expressed the strongest disapprobation of his measures, 

 por could he even depend any longer on the princes of his blood ; 

 but what afforded the most serious matter of alarm, was the spirit 

 lately displayed among the military, who, during the disturbances in 



