ministers, and finding that his difficulties were becoming every day more dangerous and insupportable, determined to throw himself upon the wisdom and affection of the nation for succour and advice.

The disgrace of Neckar bereaved the state of a minister whose integrity acquired the confidence of the monied men, and Calonne, his rival and enemy, who affected a felicitous union of business and pleasure, succeeded to the administration of the finances. Bold, original, and daring, he projected gigantic plans which endangered the happiness of the people, while his pliant temper and subservient manners, rendered him the favourite of the noblesse. By his advice, amidst the wreck of public credit, Rambouillet and St. Cloud were purchased for the royal family, and the debts of the king's brothers were discharged. To accomplish these objects, some of the domains of the crown were mortgaged, loans were once more recurred to, a variety of taxes were devised; and such was the presumption of the new minister, that he pledged himself to pay off the whole national debt within the period of twenty years. But the plans of Calonne were as unsuccessful as they were enterprising ; his imposts were regarded with abhorrence, his pecuniary schemes became inefficient; and the king, exhausted by difficulties and delays, at length determined that no new loans nor taxes should be demanded. The new financier, ever fertile in resources, determined therefore to have recourse to an expedient which had often been adopted during the reigns of Francis I. and Henry IV. Although so much time had elapsed since the convocation of the states-general, and these assemblies were almost obsolete, yet the French nation never entirely lost sight of that remnant of the antient constitution. Their wisest patriots, and the most spirited of their governors, often looked back to a measure which in former times had been attended with the most salutary effects. In that period of alternate insurrection, tyranny, and foreign glory, which distinguished the administration of cardinal Richelieu, the nation was never reduced to the necessity of deliberating in common,

nor qualified so to do by its temper and its intelligence. During the troubles which attended the minority of Lewis XIV. the queen regent frequently announced her intention of calling together the states-general. During the splendid vicissitudes and the final disasters of that reign, the power of the monarch was too absolute to permit even the apparent interference of any subordinate legislative body. The duke of Burgundy, the pupil of the author of Telemachus, to whom his grandfather had begun to delegate a portion of his authority, to whom the fondest hopes of the nation had been directed, and who promised to unite the qualities of the Christian, the philosopher, and the king, had formed a design among many other projects, for the advantage of the kingdom and the relief of his people, to convene the states. This amiable and intelligent prince dying immaturely, the sovereign power on the demise of Lewis XIV. devolved to feebler and polluted hands. It is not improbable that the veneration in which the character of this prince remained in the memory of the French, and particularly of his family, infused similar sentiments into the mind of the dauphin (son of Lewis XV. and father of Lewis XVI.) who formed himself on the model of the duke of Burgundy. The reverence, approaching to adoration, which Lewis XVI. entertained for the opinions and attachments of his father, were the ruling principles of his character and his conduct. It is therefore a curious and not improbable speculation to suppose, that the approximation to the body of the nation, and the partiality to public councils, which distinguished the present reign, derived their origin from these remote and successive causes.

It became, however, a question of difficulty, in what manner to obtain the sense or aid of the nation in the present exigence. The antient assemblies of the states of the kingdom had been so long disused, that not only their forms were forgotten, but the extent of their rights and power was so much unknown, that all information on the subject was to be sought amidst the rubbish of the antiquariau, or in the obscure

and faithless pages of vague and ignorant historians. It was generally known, how ever, that the antient assemblies of the states resembled the English parliaments in the most important points of their institution of which, the first was the power of granting the public money for the public service, or of withholding it, if the purpose for which it was required by the crown did not appear advantageous or necessary to the welfare of the kingdom.

In this state of darkness and uncertainty, the first effort made by the court, for the accomplishment of its purpose, was to summon a convention of principal persons from the different classes of the people, and from all parts of the kingdom, who were to receive from the king a communication of his intentions for the relief of his subjects, and information respecting the present state of the finances, and provide the most efficacious remedies against several abuses. The members of this assembly were distinguished by the appellation of notables, being the name of a convention of the same nature which had been held in the year 1626.

The notables were accordingly summoned by means of a circular letter signed by the king, in which he appointed to meet them at Versailles; but the meeting was prorogued in consequence of the death of Vergennes. At length his majesty repaired to the place where they were solemnly assembled, accompanied by the princes of the blood, and attended by all the ministers and principal officers of the royal household. On this occasion M. de Calonne displayed his usual address by descanting on the deplorable state of the finances previous to his entrance into office he also alluded to the immense expenditure occasioned by a glorious and successful war, the creation of a fleet, and the great naval works carrying on at Havre, Rochelle, Dunkirk, and Cherburg. To supply the deficiency of the revenue, it was recommended that neither the clergy nor the nobility should be any longer exempted from the territorial impost, or landtax; all the domains of the crown were to be mortgaged. and it was intended that the

landed property of the church should be subject to certain regulations in aid of the public burdens. Notwithstanding M. de Calonne had employed every means of conciliation to gain the assembly, Monsieur the king's brother. strenuously opposed the propositions; M. de Brienne, archbishop of Thoulouse attacked all his plans, and the attorney-general of Provence contended that neither the notables, the parliament, nor the king himself, could assess the proposed imposts in the province which he represented such imposts being expressly in violation of the specific and indefeasible rights of the people. This assembly, from whose labours the nation had the mortification of learning the alarming deficiency in the old taxes, to the amount of 110,000,000 of livres, and the scandalous and vexatious manner in which all the imposts were levied, was dissolved on the 25th of May, 1787; soon after which the projector himself was dismissed, and found it advisable to repair to England, where he might shelter himself from the vengeance of the parliament.

M. de Brienne, who had so decidedly opposed the plans of Calonne, now succeeded to his office, and in some degree adopted the very measures which he had so vehemently reprobated. It was proposed to raise money by virtue of the king's edict alone, and the doubling of the landtax, the re-establishment of a third twentieth, and a stamp-duty were immediately proposed. To render these effective, it was absolutely necessary that they should be registered by the parliament of Paris. That body strenuously opposed the measures adopted, and insisted that a true account of the state of the finances, and of the purposes to which the sums intended to be levied were applied, should be presented before they acceded to the king's request. No sooner was Lewis informed that the parliament had refused to register the edict than he had recourse to a bed of justice. On this occasion the duke of Orleans contributed to exasperate that hatred which he had already provoked by his shameless and public immoralities. He informed the parliament, that if he were

monarch, the members should be forced to comply." If you were monarch," replied the president, "I should repeat what I have now asserted: my heart is the people's, my understanding is my own, and my head is the king's." It was one of the great misfortunes of Lewis XVI. that the resentment which he provoked by unjust severity, he encouraged to insulting triumph by premature retractation or obvious indecision. In a few days, after receiving a protest from the parliament against the edict, he ordered the hall in which they sat, to be surrounded by a body of troops, and banished the members to Troyes; yet, in consequence of their vehement and energetic remonstrance, he was intimidated into their recal, and withdrew the unpopular edicts relative to the stamp-duty and the land-tax. While the public mind was thus agitated by successive hopes and fears, the king was persuaded by the ministers to visit, at nine o'clock in the morning, the parliament of Paris, and produce two edicts which were required to be enforced; one of which demanded a new loan to the amount of 450, 000,000 of livres. After a speech of considerable length, in which his majesty, departing from his accustomed moderation, claimed the exercise of the royal prerogative, with a zeal unsuitable to the times, he added, that he had paid them a visit on purpose to hear any objections that might be made in opposition to his will. Permission being thus given, a. debate ensued in the royal presence, which continued during nine hours, at the end of which period the king suddenly arose and commanded the edicts to be immediately registered. This singular and injudicious mode of conduct excited the indignation of the assembly, and the duke of Orleans having protested against the proceedings, as rendered null by the unprecedented conduct of the sovereign, the parliament was encouraged by his example, remained firm, and declared the business of the day to have been conducted with irregularity, and to convey no pledge of the opinions or intentions of the parliament.

The duke of Orleans was immediately sent into exile; a circumstance which

would have excited the general exultation of the people of Paris, had not the impo litic conduct of the sovereign elevated him to some degree of temporary popularity. Lettres de cachet were issued against two other members, and several arbitrary pro ceedings on the part of the monarch produced the most spirited remonstrances from the parliament. They claimed not the indulgence of their sovereign but his justice, which was subject, they asserted, to regulations independent of the will of men; and they concluded with observing, that his glorious ancestor, Henry IV. acknowledged his subjection to two sovereigns, "God and the laws." The answer of the king, that they could not demand from his justice what solely depended upon his will, tended only to irritate the members, who, recurring to the antient principles of the constitution, at length declared, that it was not in their power, in that of the crown, nor of both united, to grant or to levy any new taxes upon the people.

The affairs of the kingdom were now in such a situation that the crown was subjected to the absolute necessity of proceeding to extremities in support of its authority; or of resigning for ever the power of raising money on any occasion, however immediate or urgent, without the consent of the parliament. No prince could have found it easy to surrender an authority which had been so long exercised by his predecessors. Paris, since the commencement of the disputes, had been so filled with troops, that it carried more the appearance of a military camp, under military law, than that of a great and peaceable capital, under the government of a civil magistrate and its own municipal laws. All the avenues to the palais, where the different chambers of parliament held their meetings, were perpetually and continually occupied by soldiers; and the members had the mortification of passing through rows of bayonets in the way to and from their dwelling-houses. The Parisians afforded, in some degree, a colour to this measure, by the extraordinary license which they assumed in words, in writing, and in acting on public and political affairs. The interèst

which they now displayed on subjects of this nature was so great, that a stranger might well have supposed himself to be surrounded by republicans. This licence was carried to such an extremity by the populace, that even a military force could not protect the count D'Artois from meeting with the strongest indications of public indignation and animadversion: at the same time Monsieur, the next brother to the king, by pursuing a different line of conduct, was loaded with the benedictions and the eulogies of the populace.

Commotions of the most serious kind, and a repetition of similar proceedings, at length alarmed the feelings of the court, and completed the triumph of the people. M. de Brienne was reluctantly dismissed, and was enabled to console himself with the archbishopric of Sens, a cardinal's hat, and a retreat in Italy.

The public, disappointed in their hopes, again cast their eyes on Mr. Neckar. The prime minister himself advised his recal. He wished to place him under his own direction in the department of the finances. The pride of Neckar, however, which suffered no equal near him, could not accept a master. Convinced that necessity would restore him to undivided power, he would listen to no alternative.

He had not deceived himself. He received a complimentary letter from the queen, informing him that the king had placed him at the head of the finances. From that moment his ambition knew no bounds. The readiness of the queen to convince him that she was deeply interested in his return, his warm reception on his arrival at Versailles, the general applause of the court, the capital, and the provinces, all conspired to elevate his hopes, and confirm his confidence.

Neckar, a native of Geneva, the most turbulent of republics, a cashier in Thelluson's banking-house, afterwards his partner, and a banker himself, had, by his skill in the management of money, early acquired a brilliant fortune. Several pamphlets, and among others the panygeric on Colbert, gained him the reputation of superior talents in finance and in government At the

moment of his first elevation to the direc tion of the finances, his introduction into the ministry, as he was a Calvinist, required the utmost circumspection, and he was elevated to office under the title of Director of the Royal Treasury. He was appointed, as we have seen, minister of the finances, and the administration was confided to him alone.

The king, who disliked M. Neckar personally, yielded to the pressure of cir cumstances, without feeling any change of sentiment, in his favour. Of this anti pathy Neckar was aware. Hence originated his project of attempting to be nominated by the nation as the nation's minister : hence his intrigues to divide, and, if possible, disorganize the orders of the clergy and nobility, and to ruin the parliaments. Hence the invariable principle of using every means to enervate the royal power, to strengthen the pretensions of the tiers etat, to render himself, through the influence of the public opinion, and the positive will of the nation, sufficiently powerful to defy the jealousy of the court, and to change the government at his pleasure.

At the earnest entreaty of the new minister of finance, his majesty reluctantly cousented to the convocation of the statesgeneral, which had been promised by Brienne. They were called for by the clergy, the princes of the blood, the privileged provinces, the parliament of Paris, and all the sovereign courts. Neckar, fearless of the consequences, hastened the convocation of the states. cation of the states. He caused it to be announced for the year 1789. The notables, again called together, were consulted on the formation of these states, and on the mode of their deliberation. The opinions of the members were various, and terminated in no effectual and authoritative decision. The present Lewis XVIII. observed, that the laws had determined nothing on this important question, “The letters of convocation have always been silent on this subject; if my reason condemns me, my heart absolves me." At length the king issued a declaration, in which he announced to his people, that having heard the report made to his council