FRA 
am! all vicars and curates were required to read it in their 
refpeftive churches to their parilhioners, and to exhort 
them to obferve and obey it.” 
This declaration called up the illuftrious comte de 
Noailles, who had long efpoufed the popular party, and 
difplayed a zeal in retraining the royal influence, fully 
equal to that which his anceftors had manifefted in ex¬ 
tending it. His fpeech on the declaration, in the evening 
fitting of the 4th of Augnft, 1789, opened one of the 
mod important fcenes in the French revolution; or in 
the liiftory of any country : “The end ((aid he) to which 
this declaration tends, is to allay that fermentation which 
rejgns throughout the provinces; to allure the freedom 
of the fubjeCl, and to confirm the true right of the pro¬ 
prietor. But how is it poilible for us to attain this ob¬ 
ject, without clearly ascertaining the fource of infurrec- 
tion, and underfkmding the nature of the difeafe to which 
we would apply a remedy ? The commons have pro¬ 
claimed their demands to this affembly in too audible a 
voice not to have been clearly underftcod. It is not a 
new conllitution which they require ; but it is the aboli¬ 
tion of the excife ; the fupnreflion of vexatious inferior 
officers ; and the mitigation, or extinction, of leignorial 
rights, which they expect, from your juftice. For three 
months the commons have beheld their reprefentatives 
exclufively occupied in what they themfelves have called, 
and what truly are, the affairs of the public ; but to the 
commons, the affairs of the public appear only thdfe ob¬ 
jects which, they defire, and molt ardently wi(h to obtain. 
After all the different opinions which have exifted among 
the reprefentatives of the nation, the provinces have call 
their eyes only on two defcriptions of people ; the one 
who have armed in their fupport, and who have endea¬ 
voured to promote their happinefs ; the other, thofe of 
rank and diftinCtion, who have exerted themfelves to op- 
pofe it. In thefe c ire urn fiances they conceived it a duty 
to repel force by force; and, indulged in liberty, they 
will no longer bear the rein. There remains but one 
method to reftore tranquillity, and to reconcile them to 
civil government; it is by giving them folid proofs, that 
we only refill their defires when they might prove dan¬ 
gerous to their own profperity. To reftore therefore 
that confidence which they once repofed in this affembly, 
and to re-eftablilh that tranquillity which every true 
Frenchman pants after, I propofe, ift, That in the pre¬ 
amble to the declaration intended, it fhall be exprefted, 
that the public taxes fhall be paid by every individual of 
the kingdom in proportion to his revenue. 2dly, That 
the burden of the ftate fhall in future be equally diftci- 
buted among all. 3dly, That the feudal rights (hould 
be redeemed at a certain price : and, qtlily. That thofe 
feignorial claims which fall under the defeription of per- 
fonal fervitude, fhall be for ever aboliflied without any 
compenfation whatfoever.”—Thefe motions received the 
unanimous approbation both of the afiembly and the 
people. 
But while the bold and decifive meafures of the na¬ 
tional afiembly commanded general attention, the influ¬ 
ence of the king was daily diminifhed ; his grandeur was 
over-fhadowed ; his authority Was eclipfed ; his French 
and Swifs guards had abandoned all duty ; and retiring 
from their pofts at Verfailies, had marched with their 
arms and colours to join their difloyal companions, who 
had already united themfelves on the popular fide. Each 
hour was marked with Come new delertion, or fome bold 
and fphited queftion of reform; whilft, by nature inca¬ 
pable of energy or enterprife, Louis himfelf fieemed the 
only calm fpeCfator of a tempeft which (hook his king¬ 
dom to the very foundations. To improve the confidence 
between himfelf and the legiflative body, he difmiffed his 
former minifters, and beftowed the feals on the archbifttop 
ot Bourdeaux ; entrufted to the archbifhop of Vienne the 
difpofal of ecclefiaftical promotions; appointed to the 
department of war M. de la Tour du Pin ; and called to 
his council the marefchal de Beauveau 3 all of whom 
Vol.VII. No.467, 
N C E. 7 69 
had been eminently diftinguiftied for their patriotic zeal 
and eloquence. It was the king’s intention to have con. 
ferred the dignity of prime minifter on M. Necker; but 
that eminent ftatefman thought proper to decline the invi¬ 
dious diftindtion; requeftingthat hisinfluencemightnotbe 
accompanied by any public mark or title ; and that M. Lam¬ 
bert, who had formerly occupied the poft of comptroller- 
general, might be affociated to his labours in the finances. 
The count de Montmorin was replaced as minifter for fo¬ 
reign affairs; to M. de St. Prieft was allotted the home 
department; and the count de la Luzerne was placed at 
the head of the marine; at the fame time the king de¬ 
clared his intention, in all promotions in the army or 
navy, the royal houfehold or magiftracy, to be in future 
guided by the majority of his council. 
Yet notwithftanding all the facrifices and fubmiffions 
of the king, the terrors of famine and the contempt of 
authority failed not to produce confequences the molt 
fatal. The militia of Louvier attacked a convoy of corn 
w hich was afeending the Seine, under the effort of the 
militia of Elboeuf; the boats were ffiized ; the corn was 
conveyed to Louvier; and the citizen who commanded 
the detachment from Bllbocuf was thrown into a dun¬ 
geon, and conceived himfelf fortunate in eluding with 
life the feditious fury of the multitude. Circuinftunces 
nearly fimilar, produced at Provins fimilar eftetts : two 
electors of Paris had been commiflioned by the committee 
of fubfiftence to purchafe in that town a quantity of corn, 
where the grain in the magazines was well known to ex¬ 
ceed the wants of the inhabitants; but the people, ap- 
prehenfive of being involved in the diftrefs of their 
neighbours, were no fooner informed of the object ot the 
electors, than they made themfelves mailers of their per- 
fons ; they perfifted in refufing their liberty to the de¬ 
mands of the Hotel de Ville ; and to procure their releafe 
the marquis de la Fayette was obliged to order a detach¬ 
ment of eight hundred men, with, cannon, to march to 
Provins ; and an arret was pnbliftied, in which it was de¬ 
clared the duty of all the municipalities, and of the mi¬ 
litia, to reftrain by force thofe afts of violence which 
diftionoured the kingdom, and annihilated perfonal fecu- 
rity. At the fame time, the regular troops were called 
upon to aflift wherever it was neceflary, and to contribute 
their efforts to re-eftabli(h the fafety of the citizen, the 
liberty of commerce, and the public tranquillity. 
Even the celebrated abolition of the feudal tenures in 
France, produced very diiTimilar effects to thofe which 
occurred in England by a fimilar abolition in the reign of 
Charles II. The peafants, brutal and ignorant, con¬ 
ceived themfelves releafed from every reftraint, and 
plunged into the moft daring exceffes ; the feats of t*he 
nobility were devoted to the flames; the tribunals of 
juftice were defpifed and infulted ; and even the harveft, 
the future hopes of the nation, was threatened by the 
blind fury of the inconfiderate multitude. Nor did the 
internal ftate of the finances prefent an objeCt of lefs fe- 
rious and painful deliberation. In the picture that was 
fubjeCted to the eyes of the national affembly by the ce¬ 
lebrated Necker, that ftatefman ufferted, That on re-en¬ 
tering the adminiftration, he found that the deficit be¬ 
tween the revenue and the expenditure was immenfe, and 
that the public credit had been nearly extingtiifhed. In 
Hie mean time, extraordinary expences and unexpected 
deficiencies in the revenue daily augmented the deficiency 
of the treafury ; the quantities of grain that the king 
had been obliged to purchafe for the fubfiftence of his 
fubjeCfs; the works he had thought it expedient taerert 
in-the neighbourhood of Paris in order to give bread to 
twelve thoufand labourers at ten pence a-day ; were com¬ 
bined with the defalcation of the duties on fait and to¬ 
bacco; which were fallen to one half of their original 
value by the increafe of firmgglers, who, confident in 
their numbers, openly carried on their illegal commerce ; 
that the-curtoms had fuffered in proportion to the excife; 
that feveral barriers or embankments were deftroyed, the 
9 K houies 
