7.56 FRA 
both nations (hould be again placed upon the footing of 
a peace eftablifliment. This was willingly acceded to by 
the court of Verfaiiles ; a ftiott inftrument was figned by 
M. de Montmorin and the duke of Dorfct, in the names 
of their refpeCtive Sovereigns ; and that harmony which 
had been tranfiently interrupted, was reftored between 
France and Great-Britain. 
Though Louis could not but (everely feel the mortifi¬ 
cation of thus relinqui(hing the afcendancy that lie had at¬ 
tained in the councils of fdolland, and was not infenfible 
to the difgrace of abandoning a people who had implicit¬ 
ly relied on his faith, yet every other confideration was 
abforbed by the date of his own domefiic concerns, and 
the internal diforders of his kingdom, which, threatened 
with famine from the fcarcity of corn, and menaced with 
rebellion from the difcontents of his people, furnifhed 
matter for deep and ferious reflection. The dil'miflal of 
M. Calonne had left France without a minilter, and al- 
moll without a fyfiem; and the king with a view to the 
relief of his mod urgent necefllties, ha 3 convened a meet¬ 
ing of the notables, for the purpofe of obtaining a general 
land-tax. The notables had conducted themfelves with 
refpeCt and moderation, but at the fame time they had 
not been deficient in firmnefs ; the appointment of Bri- 
enne archbifliop of Thouloufe, the vigorous adverfary of 
Calonne, to the office of comptroller-general, probably 
contributed to preferve the appearance of good humour 
in that alfembly; yet the propofed import, or general land- 
tax, which was an objeCt fo ardently coveted by the king, 
was rejected ; and on this occafion the attorney-general 
of Provence was bold enough to declare, that neither that 
aflembly, the parliaments, nor the king himfelf, could 
art'efs any fuch import in the country which he reprefent- 
ed, fince it was direCtly contrary to the fpecific and inde- 
feafible rights of the people. Louis, thus difappointed 
of thole advantages which he had flattered himfelf of deriv¬ 
ing from a land-tax, was obliged to recur to the ufual mode 
of raifing money by the royal edicts; among the mea¬ 
sures propoled for this purpofe was tbe doubling of the 
poll tax, the re-ertabliffiment of the third twentieth, and a 
ftamp duty ; the whole was llrongly difapproved by the 
parliament of Paris, but the laft in particular was the im¬ 
mediate object of contention; and that afiembly in the 
moft pofitive terms refufed to regirter the ediCL The 
king was obliged to apply, as the la It refort, to his abfo- 
lute authority, and by holding what is called “a bed of 
jujlice,” compelled them to enroll the import. 
The parliament, though defeated, were far from fub- 
dued ; on the day after the king had held his bed of juf- 
tice, they entered a formal pvoteft againft the conceffion 
that had been extorted from them. They declared, “ that 
the edict had been regirtered againft their approbation and 
confent, by the king’s exprefs command ; that it neither 
ought, nor /hould have any force ; and that the firft per- 
fon who (hould prefume to attempt to carry it into exe¬ 
cution, fliould be adjudged a traitor and condemned to 
the galleys.” This declaration left to the crown no other 
alternative than either proceeding to extremities in fup- 
port of its authority, or giving up for ever after the power 
of raifing money upon any occafion, without the confent 
of the parliament; painful as every appearance of vio¬ 
lence mu ft have proved to the mild dilpofition of Louis, 
he could not confent to furrender, without a rtruggle, 
that authority which had been fo long exercifcd by his 
predeccrt'ors. Since the commencement of the prefent 
difcontents, the capital had been gradually filled with 
confiderable bodies of troops ; and about a week after the 
parliament had entered the proteft, an officer of the 
•French guards, with a party of foldiers, went at break of 
day to the houfeof each individual member, to fignify to 
him the king’s command, that he (hould immediately get 
into liis carriage, and proceed to Troyes, a city of Cham¬ 
pagne, about (evenly miles from Paris, without writing 
or fpeaking to any perfon out of his own houfe before his 
departure ; thefe orders were Served at the lame inrtant ; 
N C E. 
and before the citizens of Paris were acquainted with the 
tranfa&ion, the parliament were already on the road to 
the fcene of their banifhment. 
The cabinet of Louis was now extremely divided, and 
changes and contentions took place in every department 
of the (late. The king, naturally averleto rigorouscoun- 
(els, wifhed to allay the growing difcontents by every con- 
ceffions that was confident with his dignity; "but it was 
generally believed that his royal confort ftrongly difTuad- 
ed him from any ftep that might tend to the diminution 
ot the regal authority ; the influence of that princefs in 
the cabinet was undoubtedly great ; but the popularity 
which once had accompanied her was no more ; and feme 
imputations of private levity, which had been rumoured 
through the capital, were tar from rendering her accep¬ 
table to the majority of the people; while the count d’Ar- 
tois, the king’s brother, who had exprefted himfelf in the 
moft unguarded terms againft the perfeverance of the par¬ 
liament, flood expofed to all the hatred of an opprelfed 
and inhilted people. It was not only in Paris that the 
flame of liberty burlt forth ; the provincial parliaments 
imitated that of the capital; among various inftances of 
this nature, the parliament of Grenoble parted a decree 
againft Lettres de Cachet, the moft odious engine of arbi¬ 
trary power, and declared the execution of them, within 
their j urifdiCtion, by any perfon, and under any autho¬ 
rity, to be a capital crime. 
The king had endeavoured to foothe the difeontented 
minds of the Parifians by new regulations of economy, 
and by continual retrenchments in his houlehold ; but 
thefe proofs ot attention, which once would have been 
received with the loudeft acclamations, were now loft in 
their open affliction for the abfence of their parliament ; 
and the monarch, to regain the affeCrions of his fubjeCts, 
after an exile of a month, confented to reftorothat atfem- 
bly ; the fottrees of difpute in the territorial import, and 
ftamp duty, were abandoned by Louis; and the parlia¬ 
ment on their fide confented to regirter an ediCt, by which 
the archbifliop of Thouloufe was conftituted firft mi- 
nifter of (late. But this harmony was not of long dura¬ 
tion ; the necefllties of the date ftill continued, nor could 
the deficiency of the revenue be Supplied but by extra¬ 
ordinary refources. About the middle of November, in 
a full meeting of the parliament attended by all the 
princes of the blood and the peers of France, the king 
entered the aflembly and propofed two edicts for their 
approbation ; the firft was for a new loan for four hun¬ 
dred and fifty millions, near nineteen millions fterling ; 
the fecond was for the re-eftabli(hment of the proteftants 
in all their ancient civil rights, a meafure which had long- 
been warmly recommended by the parliament, and which 
was probably now introduced to procure a better recep¬ 
tion to the loan. In ufflering in thefe edicts, the king 
had delivered himfelf in a fpeech replete with every Sen- 
timent of regard for the people, but at the fame time full 
of intimations to the parliament of the obedience he ex¬ 
pected. An animated debate was continued for nine 
hours, when the king, wearied by inceftant oppolition, 
luddenly role, and commanded the ediCt to be regiftered 
without further delay. This meafure was moft unex¬ 
pectedly oppofed by the duke of Orleans, firft prince, of 
the blood, who, confidering it as an infringement of the 
rights of parliament, protefted againft the whole pro¬ 
ceedings of the day as being thereby null and void. 
Though Louis could not conceal his 7 difpleafure at this 
decifive ftep, he contented himfelf with repeating his or¬ 
ders, and immediately quitting the aflembly retired to 
Verfaiiles. 
On the Sovereign’s departure, the parliament confirmed 
the proteft of the duke of Orleans ; but it was not to be 
luppoled that Louis would filent 1 y pals over Co bold an 
attack on the authority of the crown. The baron de 
Breteuil next day delivered a letter to the duke of Or¬ 
leans, in which he was commanded to retire to Villars 
Cotterel, one of his feats about nlteen leagues.from Paris, 
and 
