to regard as a right the immediate com- | privileged orders. It was small wonmunication to them of what had been der, then, that the newly devised asdone, and the Archbishop of Paris was semblies were opposed by the notables, insulted for refusing to reply to such and also by the Parlement of Paris, questions. Thus a precedent was es- which only registered by compulsion tablished for those tumultuous demon- the decree establishing them. They strations whereby the mob influenced also encountered a strenuous local and sometimes intimidated members opposition. Thus Hainault protested of subsequent governing assemblies.

against the decree, and demanded the restoration of their ancient provincial estates, which had been arbitrarily suppressed. If, they said, Louis XVI. wished to undo the faults of his predecessors, it would be best to restore the old order. The prayer was acceded to, and on the 8th of February, 1788, a royal declaration was registered by the Parlement of Douay, restoring the estates, but ordering them to deliberate in common and vote by counting heads, the members of the Third Estate being also made to equal in number the two higher orders taken together.

It is unnecessary here to portray or discuss the struggles which ensued between the government and the Parlement. Great and important changes had taken place in the provincial organization and administration of France -changes which served to show, on the one hand, the persistence of the higher orders in seeking to maintain their privileges; and on the other the fruitful and beneficent results of more moderate and patriotic conduct on their part, as in the province of Dauphiny. The idea put forth by Turgot of giving Provincial Assemblies to the whole of The province of Guyenne never posFrance, had been modified and submit- sessed "estates," but the Parlement of ted to the Assembly of Notables by Bordeaux none the less opposed the Calonne in February, 1787. His prop-institution of the new Provincial Asosition was that a local assembly should sembly, as a violation of their privibe instituted in every province which leges. Though exiled, it defied the had not preserved its ancient Provin- government, refused to register the cial Estates. In these new Provincial royal decree, and invoked an Assembly Assemblies, though there were to be of the States-General. Nevertheless, members of all the three "orders," towards the end of 1787, the Provincial they were to deliberate in common, and Assemblies began to meet in those votes were to be taken, not by order, provinces in which their union had not but by counting heads. The history of been prevented by opposition on the these provincial assemblies has been part of the local Parlements. The armore accurately examined by M. Che-rangement was that half the members rest than by preceding writers, and should, at first, be nominated by the therefore deserves a fuller considera- king, and these were to elect the other tion than we have given to the previous events, which are better known.

half. Then, every year, one quarter of the members were to retire, to be replaced by others chosen according to a very complex system of elections.

The clergy and noblesse were very well disposed to welcome provincial estates which might enable them to But the system of royal nomination hold in check the intendant of each disappointed its authors. It was not province, who was appointed by the from members of the Third Estate that king. They also desired the convoca- any special opposition came. It was tion of the States-General, that they the clergy and noblesse that offered opmight be enabled effectually to over- position on the ground of the power come the despotism of the government. exercised by the royal intendant of But the estates or assemblies they each province. Thus the Duc d'Ayen, wished for were bodies organized in from Haute-Guyenne, and the archthe traditional fashion, so as to give a bishop and Duc of Rheims, protested preponderance of two to one to the vehemently against the presence of the

ing.

intendant, which excited the disgust of | proprietors fears of arbitrary taxation, its members. Often aristocratic influ- and secondly, assembling in great force ence succeeded in overcoming that of within the city. They were quickly the prime minister. Thus the royal followed by bands of mountaineers, intendant of Lyons, having become en- who seized the guns, broke open the gaged in an acrimonious dispute with court of justice, and loudly demanded the Assembly of that province, the the restoration of the Parlement. great lords and prelates made such use Thereupon the syndic entered in state, of their influence at Versailles that he and brought with him a decree of the was compelled to submit. nobility of Béarn, declaring infamous The most interesting and instruc- whoever should obey the newly registive local conflicts between the waning tered laws, and asking the king to reroyal power, the aggressive aristocratic voke them. The nobility had no legal domination, and the nascent modern right so to meet or to pass any decree. spirit, were those which took place in It was a purely revolutionary proceedBéarn, Brittany, Dauphiny, Franche Comté, Languedoc, and Provence. The king, who passed his days in The provincial nobility of the more re- hunting, and abandoned the task of mote provinces were especially united governing to his ministers, on condiin spirit; and amongst them the dis- tion that he was not called on for untinction between the sword and the congenial efforts, recoiled, as usual, gown, which was jealously maintained from enforcing a command which met at Versailles, was very much less with resistance. So it was that the marked,1 while they agreed in a feeling Duc de Guiche, of the house of Gramof hostility to the favored circle of the mont, one of the nobility of the provcourt and the despotism of the ministry.ince of Béarn, was despatched on a That such sentiments should be felt mission of conciliation. But the navery strongly at Béarn, was the more natural, since it constituted a larger part of that kingdom which formed a separate part of the sovereign's title Louis XVI., like his predecessors since Henry IV., being "king of France and of Navarre." In 1788, that province still enjoyed a written constitution, to the maintenance intact of which each successive king had sworn at his accession. Having been unofficially informed of the royal decree establishing the new Provincial Assemblies, the Parlement of Navarre made haste to protest beforehand against any change in the ancient constitution. This done, they quietly awaited the action of the central power. That action soon took place; registration was enforced, and the Parlement was compelled to evacuate the court of justice.

Yet the city of Pau remained calm; the bulk of the middle class there, as in Paris, remaining but passive spectators. But the nobility acted energetically, first by exciting in the peasant

1 Cherest, vol. i., p. 505.

ture of his mission was not suspected, and accordingly, when he arrived at Pau on the 13th of July, 1788, he was met by a dense and sullen crowd, from which not one cry of Vive le roi proceeded. Then he at once explained to the people that he had told the king he would have no part in any act of rigor, and that his mission was entirely pacific. Thereupon acclamations broke forth as he was escorted to his lodgings, and, in true French fashion, the cradle of Henry IV. was taken from the castle, surrounded with garlands, and borne to him in triumph.

The next day he attended a meeting of the Parlement, and, in the king's name, surrendered all the points demanded, on the sole condition that a formal pretence of submission should be made. This sole condition was that some persons should be sent to Versailles to ask the king's pardon, while the Parlement should suspend its action till the royal authorization for a convocation of the Provincial Estates was received. But even this concession was refused, and the duke, after employing

in vain the most conciliatory and flat- under the new royal ordinances, and tering expressions, was forced to return the capital of the province became in absolutely unsuccessful. There was a state of incipient insurrection. The nothing left for the ministry to do but times had indeed changed; under to command the Parlement to come to Louis XV., in 1771, similar decrees Versailles. The long journey of the were carried out with difficulty. M. de magistrates across France was taken Thiard called out his troops, but not only to find Brienne replaced by only forbade firing, but ordered them to Necker, and all the local parlements show the people, with their ramrods, restored to the plenitude of their that the muskets were not loaded. powers. Thus the aristocracy and Thereupon not a few of them were peasantry of Béarn gained a complete snatched away from the soldiers' hands victory over the king's government. and broken. Meantime analogous events were oc- On May 10th Thiard and De Mollecurring in Brittany. That provinceville went to the Parlement, and had was almost fanatically attached to its the decrees registered, but were inancient institutions, and all classes sulted on their return home, and then were, save for a single disputed point, for a time kept prisoners in their exceptionally united. Fully aware of quarters. Encouraged by their powerthis, the government had provided a lessness and inactivity, the disorder inconsiderable number of troops. They creased, soldiers were assaulted, and a were, however, worse than useless, caricature of a "bed of justice" was owing to the character of the military paraded. commander of the province, the Count de Thiard. Devoted to society, and full of sympathy for the errors and even the violence of men of his own class, he detested the work he had to do, and desired to get through it as quickly as possible. Bertrand de Molleville, who was second in command, was more independent of social influences, though he also disliked the position given to him.

The house of the Parlement being meantime occupied by the soldiery, the magistrates met elsewhere, and passed a decree declaring the edicts registered to be void and of no effect. On receiving, however, lettres de cachet ordering them to go into exile, they obeyed; but disorder still continued. These disorders were fomented by the nobility, the middle class generally holding itself aloof. So incensed were the

On the 5th of May the Parlement of nobles with M. Thiard for even the Brittany met, and protested in advance (like that of Béarn) against any invasion of the ancient provincial customs, invoking the treaty by virtue of which Brittany had passed under the sway of Francis I. That evening leading members of the nobility, headed by their dean, went to M. Thiard to express their confident hope that the king would withdraw his edict concerning the new Provincial Assemblies. The movement quickly spread, dignified ecclesiastics (such as the canons of the Chapter of Rennes) joined it, and even such members of the tiers état as were in touch with the two higher orders. Thus encouraged, the Parlement declared itself en permanence, while the nobility met and passed a decree declaring any one "infamous" who should accept a post

feeble action he had taken against them, that on the pretence of his having threatened one of their number with his cane, he and other officers were forced to fight a succession of duels. Evidently they considered that the first duty of an officer (necessarily a noble) was to his class, not to his colors. When the common soldiers, later on, acted against discipline, and sided with their class, they only followed the example which had been set them by their social superiors. The soldiers had been abused by M. de Caradeuc as "vile satellites of despotism," little thinking how soon would wish in vain for such "satellites" to save his class from the horrors of Jacobinism. At last the central government lost patience, and Thiard

he

was replaced by Maréchal de Stainville In this somewhat critical state of a much more resolute man. Soon affairs the nobility had the extreme imthe mob learned that this time the prudence to hold a preliminary meeting, muskets were loaded, and would be wherein it was resolved that no preceused against the first tumultuous as- dence should be given to any demand semblage. Then order was at once of the commons. At the opening of restored. This well shows how true it the Estates, the nobility assembled to is that the first thing necessary in dealing with a mob is to show no fear, and the second, to make it evident that authority is firm and determined.

Meantime Léoménie de Brienne fell, and Necker assumed power, with the result that the old Provincial Estates were restored. Those of Brittany were convoked for the 29th of December. But now a very long standing grievance cropped up; namely, that single disputed point before referred to as marring the harmony between the commons and the two higher orders.

the number of twelve hundred (each with a right to vote), with a crowd of enthusiastic youths belonging to their class. The commons were but fortytwo in number, but by their dogged determination to persist in an attitude of absolute passivity they frustrated all the efforts of their opponents. Thereupon the Estates were prorogued till February 3rd, but the decree of prorogation was, in its terms, so sympathetic with the commons, that it was received with loud cries of Vive le roi! and the city of Rennes illumiuated. But the members of the two privileged orders refused to adjourn, resolving to prolong the sitting night and day till the 3rd of February.

Since the year 1541 the Provincial Estates had, without any royal assent, imposed a tax upon the members of the third order, known as "extraordinary forage." The proceeds of this charge, The commons having appealed to borne exclusively by the tiers état, Versailles, Necker sent a decree perserved to defray the general expenses mitting the doubling of the commons, of the province. This injustice had should the clergy and nobility consent been brought to the notice of the king, thereto. The decree was doubly vain, who charged his commissaries to de- seeing that even were such consent acmand its repeal in favor of a charge corded they would still be enormously levied on all three orders alike. At outvoted by the higher orders. But this the commons were naturally de- those orders did not confine themlighted, but the suggestion was pas- selves to refusing consent, they initisionately repelled by the nobility. The ated an appeal to force. By their excitement occasioned by this dispute instigation two thousand people, for had been so great that a decision was the most part directly or indirectly deferred till the next assemblage of the their dependants, assembled outside estate that, namely, which was now about to take place. But the chance of carrying through the reform successfully was small, seeing that the commons were so very sparsely represented in the estates of Brittany. On this account the municipality of Rennes charged its deputies on no account to take part in any other deliberation till this rectification had been effected, and a demand was made, far and wide, that the number of the deputies of the tiers état should be made equal to that of the clergy and nobles combined, according to the new royal decree about Provincial Assemblies.

the city, and then marched in procession to the Parlement, where they were gravely received and listened to. So encouraged, and inflamed with drink, they noisily traversed the streets and violently assaulted and seriously wounded a number of students. Then members of the clergy and nobility ran to prevent further outrage, but it was too late to effect more than a momentary pacification. The youths of the middle class sympathized with the students, and planned retaliation, while many of their sires became tired of seeing the privileged orders in continuous session in spite of the prohibition

of the king. They attempted to stop | riages, and then rushed towards the the noblesse from going to their hall. house of the Duke of Clermont-TonThe latter then drew their swords, but nerre, commandant of the province. the students were provided with fire- On their way they encountered some arms, and two of the nobles fell. The troops, whose commander forbade them members of the higher orders were to fire on the citizens, with whom the then besieged in their place of meeting, soldiers then fraternized. One officer which the students threatened to set alone sternly held aloof - - it was Bernafire to; and it was only through the dotte, the future king of Sweden. The intervention of M. Thiard that the Duke of Clermont-Tonnerre, whose clergy and nobles were able to retire in feebleness had allowed the revolt to safety. When the 3rd of February ap- begin, gained nothing by his weakness. proached, the nobility again began to Though defended by three hundred assemble. But a royal decree defini- men, the insurgents effected an entively closing the Estates was read, and trance, and forced him, with an axe such stringent orders were given to M. held over his head, to nullify the letters Thiard that the meeting was effectually of exile, and to confide the task of redispersed, though not without a display storing order to M. de Bérulle and his of artillery and a serious threat of its brother magistrates. employment.

A few days later a permanent committee of the nobility, who remained at the head of affairs, invited the dignified clergy, the municipality, and the most distinguished citizens to a consultation, with a view to themselves solemnly convoking the three orders of the Estates of Dauphiny. The meeting took place at the Hôtel de Ville at Grenoble, and refused to dissolve at a summons from a royal officer. The

another meeting, one of the nobility, in the name of his order, declared it to be well understood that the Third Estate should have a double number of representatives, and that votes should be taken by counting heads. Then all difficulties vanished, and it was resolved to convoke the Estates for the 21st of July.

Thus the imprudence and selfishness of the privileged orders excited revolutionary passions, in what had been a most patient province, and one exceptionally attached to both Church and king. The resistance of these orders in Brittany to all liberal modifications continued to the last. Both clergy and nobility refused to attend the king's summons to elect deputies to the States-General, whereby were lost commons for a time held aloof till, at thirty-one votes, which might have supported the moderate party. It was a similar abstention in the province of Artois which led to the election there of Charles de Lamotte and Robespierre. Dauphiny had preserved its Provincial Estates till 1628, when they were suppressed by Richelieu. In 1787 the Duke of Orleans (afterwards Philippe Egalité) was governor, and wrote to The Assembly met at eight o'clock at the prime minister in support of their Vizille in the castle of the ancient restoration with some modifications, Dauphins. There were fifty dignified but in vain. On May 20th, the hall of clergy, one hundred and sixty-five the Parlement at Grenoble being occu- nobles, and four hundred commons, pied by soldiers, the magistrates met at amongst whom were many parish the house of their president, M. de priests. Dauphiny thus presented a Bérulle, and passed a resolution con- happy contrast to the rest of France in demning the ministerial edicts and all the union between its orders. At the who should act on them. For this they conclusion of this meeting, one of the received lettres de cachet exiling them, commons complimented the members and they prepared to depart on the of the two higher orders on the loyalty morning of June 7th. But an insurrec-with which, putting aside ancient prejtion broke out, the tocsin sounded; audices, they had by justice maintained crowd unloaded the magistrates' car-the union of all classes.