764 FRANCE. 
of the king and the people ; but when the edict for re. 
giltering the loan at the conclufion of 1785, which 
amounted to tlie fttm of 3.,330,000!. was laid before the 
parliament, the murmurs of that aflembly prefented a 
formidable oppofition. The king, however, fignified. to 
the deputation that was commiffioned to convey to him 
their remonftrances, that he expeBed to be obeyed \ accord¬ 
ingly the ceremony of the regiftering took place on the 
next day; but was accompanied with a refolution, im¬ 
porting, “ that public economy was the only genuine 
i'ource of abundant revenue, the only means of providing 
for the necefiities of the hate, and reftoring that credit, 
which borrowing had reduced to the brink of ruin.” 
This proceeding was no fooner known, than the king 
required the attendance of the grand deputation of par¬ 
liament ; he erafed from their records the relolution that 
had been .adopted ; and obferved, though it was his 
pleafure that the parliament fliould communicate by its 
rel'peCtful reprefentations whatever might intereft the 
good of the public, yet he never would confent that they 
fliould fo far abufe his confidence and clemency as to ereCt 
themfelves into the cenl’ors of his adminiftration ; he ex¬ 
pedited in future that they fliould confine their exprefiions 
within the limits of wifdom and loyalty ; and, more 
ftrongly to mark his difpleafure at their expoftulations, 
he direfted the difmiflion from further fervice, of one 
of their officers, who had appeared mod aCtive in for¬ 
warding the late refolution. Though themeafures of the 
fovereign were thus far decifive ; yet Calonne, the minif- 
ter of finance, could not help feeling deeply mortified by 
the oppofition of the parliament. Under thpfe circum- 
flances, the only alternative that feemed to remain was to 
have recourfe to fome other aflembly, more dignified in 
its character, and that (hould confilt in a greater degree 
of members from the various orders of the Hate, and the 
different provinces of the kingdom. This promifed to 
be a popular meafure ; it implied a deference to the peo¬ 
ple at large, and might be expedited to prove greatly ac¬ 
ceptable; but the true and legitimate aflembly ?of the 
nation, the States-gcneral, had not met lince the year 1614; 
nor could the minifter flatter himfelf with the hope of 
obtaining the royal aflent to a meeting which a delpotic 
fovereign could not but regard with fecret jealoufy. 
Another aflembly had occalionally been fubftituted in the 
room of the ftates-general ; this was diftinguifhed by the 
title of the notables , and confifted of a number of perfons 
from all parts of the kingdom, chiefly feleCted from the 
higher orders of the ftate, and nominated by the king 
himfelf. This aflembly had been convened by Henry 
IV. and again by Louis XIII. and was now once more to 
be fummoned by the authority of Louis XVI. 
The writs for calling together the aflembly of the no¬ 
tables were dated on.the 29th of December, 1786 ; they 
we re addrefled to feven princes of the blood, nine dukes 
ar*d peers of France, eight field-marefchals, twenty-two 
nobles, eight counfellors of ftate, four mailers of requefts, 
eleven archbifhops and bifhops, thirty-feVen heads of the 
law, twelve deputies of the pays d’etats, the lieutenants 
civil, and twenty-five magiftrates of the different towns 
of the kingdom. The number of members was 144; 
and the 29th of January, 1787, was the period appointed 
for their opening. It was at the moment when the mem¬ 
bers of the notables had arrived at Paris, and that the at¬ 
tention of all clafi'es in the kingdom was fixed upon their 
meeting as an important era in the national hiftory, that 
the minifter found himfelf yet unprepared to fubmit his 
lyftem to their infpeftion, and postponed the opening of 
the council to the 22d of February, when be met the af- 
feinbly of the notables, and opened his long-expeCted 
plan. He began by ftating that the public expenditure 
bad for centuries pad exceeded the revenue ; that under 
the economical adminiftration of cardinal Fleut i the defi¬ 
cit ftill exifted ; that the progrefs of this derangement 
under the laft- reign had been extreme ; at the appoint¬ 
ment of the abbe Terray it had amounted to 3,000,000 
flerling; that minifter bad reduced it to 1,673,0001. it 
became fomewhat lefs under the fliort adminiftrations that 
followed ; it rofe again in confequence of the war, under 
the adminiftration of Necker ; and at his own acceflion to 
office, it was 3,330,0001. To remedy this evil the comp¬ 
troller-general recommended a territorial fmpoft, in the 
nature of the Englilh land-tax, from which no rank or 
order of men were to be exempted ; an enquiry into the 
pofleflions of the clergy, which hitherto had been deemed 
facred from their proportion of the public burthens; the 
various branches of internal taxation were alio to undergo 
a drift examination ; and a conliderable refource was 
prefented in mortgaging the demefne lands of the crown. 
But a formidable adverfary prefented himfelf in the 
perfon of count de Mirabeau. This extraordinary man 
boldly impeached the- integrity of M. de Calonne ; he 
helitated not to rank him among thofe who preferred their 
fortune to their honour; and who*had augmented their 
wealth by the mod dilhonourable fpeculations in the 
funds ; he added, that all his operations bore the ftamp 
of defpotifm and pmfonal intereft; and he called upon 
the notables to affdrefs their fovereign in the honeft lan¬ 
guage of truth : “ Let them tell him, (faid he,) that a 
man, who was eftranged to every principle of good faith, 
of fidelity in engagements, of refpeft to property, was 
unfit to remain at the helm of commerce, of contraCfs, 
and of law.” The eloquence of Calonne at once funk 
under the influence of the three great bodies of the na¬ 
tion ; the grand and effential objeCt of reform, was to 
equalize the pubiic burthens, and, by rendering the taxes 
general, to diminilh the load of the lower and mod ufeful 
clafles of the people. The ancient nobility and the clergy 
had ever been free from all public afleffments ; and, had 
the evil gone no further, it might have been ftill perhaps 
borne with patience ; but, through the lhameful cuftom 
of felling patents of nobility, fuch crowds of new nobleffe 
ftarted up, that every province in the kingdom was filled 
with them ; the firft objeCt with thofe who had acquired 
fortunes rapidly, was to purchafe a patent, which, befides 
gratifying their vanity, afforded an exemption to them 
and their pofterity from contributing proportionabiy 
to the exigencies of the ftate ; the magiftracies likewife 
throughout the kingdom enjoyed their fhare of thefe 
exemptions ; fo that the,.whole weight of the taxes fell 
on thofe who were leaf! able to bear them. The defign of 
equalizing the public burthens, though undoubtedly 
great, thus united againft the minifter, the nobility, the 
clergy, and the magiftracy, and the event was fuch as 
might have been expected ; the intrigues of thofe three 
bodies raifed fo loud and unexpected a clamour, that the 
meafure fell to the ground, and terminated the minifterial 
influence of Calonne. The king, thus deprived of any 
further hope of rendering the convention of the notables 
the inftrumentof extricating him from his embarralfments, 
immediately difmiffed them ; and thus paved the way to 
the ereftion of the National Aflembly, and all the hor¬ 
rors of the Revolution. 
The wonderful fpeCtacle which we are now to unfold, 
is that of a mild and poliftied people becoming in an in. 
ftant fanguinary and fierce ; a well-eltablifhed government, 
celebrated for its weight and importance among the ftates 
of Europe, overturned almoft without a ftruggle ; a whole 
nation apparently uniting to deftroy every inftitution 
which antiquity had hallowed, or education taught them 
to refpeft ; a l'uperftitious community treating the reli¬ 
gion of their fathers with contempt ; a long enftaved 
people, whole very chains had become dear to them, oc¬ 
cupied in their public counfels in the difeuffion of refined, 
and even vilionary, fchemes of freedom : in fhort, twenty- 
five millions of perfons fuddenly treading under loot every 
fentiment and every prejudice that they themfelves had 
once regarded as facred and venerable. 
Long previous to this ever-memorable epoch, the nobles 
of France, within their own territories, enjoyed privileges 
alruoft royal; they made peace and warj'they coined 
money j 
