FRANCE. 365 



the provinces, had reluctantly been brought to draw their swords 

 against their countrymen ; and many of those officers, who had re- 

 cently served in America, publicly proclaimed their abhorrence of 

 despotism. 



It was under these impressions, in the beginning of August, an 

 arret was published, which fixed the meeting of the states-general 

 to the first of May in the ensuing year, viz. 1789 ; at the same time 

 every step was taken to secure the favourable opinion of the public. 

 New arrangements look place in the administration ; and monsieur 

 Necker, whom the confidence of the people had long followed, was 

 again introduced into the management ol the finances ; the torture, 

 which by a former edict had been restricted in part, was entirely- 

 abolished ; every person accused was allowed the assistance of coun- 

 sel, and permitted to avail himself of any point of law ; and it was 

 decreed, that, in future, sentence of death should not be passed or* 

 any person, unless the party accused should be pronounced guilty by 

 a majority at least of three judges. 



The eyes of all Europe were now turned on the states-general, or 

 national assembly, whose re-establishment, in the month of May, 

 1789, presented a new sera in the government of France. But the 

 moment of this meeting was far from auspicious to the court, but 

 greatly so to the interests of the nation. The minds of the French 

 had long been agitated by various rumours ; the unanimity that had 

 been expected from the different orders of the states was extinguish- 

 ed by the jarring pretensions of each ; and their mutual jealousies 

 were attributed by the suspicions of the people to the intrigues of 

 the court, who were supposed already to repent of the hasty assent 

 that had been extorted. A dearth that pervaded the kingdom in- 

 creased the general gloom and discontent ; and the people, press- 

 ed by hunger and inflamed by resentment, were ripe for revolt. The 

 sovereign also, equally impatient of the obstacles he incessantly 

 encountered, could not conceal his chagrin ; the influence of the 

 queen in the cabinet was again established, and was attended by the 

 immediate removal of monsieur Necker. This step,_which evinced 

 a total change of resolutions, and which, from the popularity of the 

 minister, was likely to produce a violent fermentation in every order 

 of men, %vas followed by others equally injudicious. The states-ge- 

 neral were driven into the Salle des Etats, where they held their 

 meetings, by detachments of the guards, who surrounded them, and 

 who waited only the orders of the court to proceed to greater extre- 

 mities against the obnoxious representatives of the nation. 



Had these manifestations of vigour been only sustained by instantly 

 attacking and entering Paris, it is not to be doubted, that, unprepared 

 as it still was, and unwilling to expose to the licence of an incensed 

 soldiery the lives and properties of its citizens, the capital would have 

 been without difficulty reduced to obedience. But the delay which 

 succeeded gave the inhabitants time to recover from their first 

 emotions of surprise and apprehension. They say the timidity and 

 imbecility of the government, which, having sounded the charge, 

 dared not advance to the attack. They profited by this want of exer- 

 tion ; and passing from one extreme rapidly to another, they almos; 

 unanimously took up arms against their rulers. Joined by the French 

 guards, who, from a long residence in the capital, had been pecu- 

 liarly exposed to seduction, and who at this decisive moment aban- 

 doned their sovereign, the Parisians broke through every obstacle 



