CHAP. III. 1787. of the French flag; and the means of public education generally diffused." The Duke of Orleans, from the commencement of the assembly, had been observed to evince marks of the utmost agitation; and at length he said, "Sire! I venture to ask your majesty if this sitting is a lit de justice?"-"It is a séance royale," answered the King. "Nevertheless," replied the duke, "I see nothing around me which does not characterise a lit de justice; and your faithful subjects ventured to hope that your majesty would not again have had recourse to a step contrary to the laws of the kingdom. I supplicate you, sire to permit me to lay on the table of the court a declaration that I regard this registration as illegal. It will be necessary, to relieve the persons present at the deliberation, to add that it is done by the express command of your majesty." "Who can hear," said Sallier, "of a proposal to register at once loans to so enormous an amount as four hundred and twenty millions? This is a combination of all that is most disastrous in perpetual and liferent loans. Can we expect that the parliament will consent to such a measure, when, if done by any son of a family, it would immediately be annulled by the courts of law? Can we hope for any stability in a plan of finance, when, within the last eight years, no less than four finance ministers have been called to the helm? Sire! the remedy for the wounds of the state has been pointed out by your parliament: it is to be found in the convocation of the States-general; and, to be of any avail, they must be assembled immediately." After a long and stormy discussion, the parliament resolved that they could not register the edict for establishing the loans. This was a mortal stroke to the court, for it deprived them at once. of resources now become indispensable. Next day the Duke of Orleans was exiled to his estate of Villers- 1 Soul. vi. 43,45. Lac. Cotterets; and Freteau and the Abbé Sabatier were vi. 231, 233. sent to the Bastile, on the charge of having assisted at 42, 44. conferences at the Palais Royal tending to dethrone 1 Droz, ii. CHAP. the reigning family, and substitute the Duke of Orleans in its room. III. 1788. 103. Further measures on This severity was keenly felt by the Duke of Orleans, whose ambition never made him forget his pleasures, and both sides. Who sighed in the seclusion of Villers-Cotterets for the society of Madame Buffon, with whom he had long had a liaison, and the pleasures of the Folie de Chartres, at Paris. But the parliament was not discouraged. Next day Duport introduced a motion to declare lettres-decachet illegal, null, and contrary alike to national law and Jan. 4,1788. natural right, which was carried by acclamation. A resolution was adopted soon after, loudly demanding guaran tees for personal freedom; the King, by Brienne's direction, March 11. annulled that decree, upon which the parliament passed other resolutions still more stringent, declaring arbitrary imprisonments contrary to imprescriptible right, and demanding the recall of the exiled members, not as men of rank, but as men and French citizens.* Other addresses followed, in which it was stated that the parliament were well aware that those measures did not originate with the King, but emanated from another source; designating thus, by an oblique insinuation, the Queen as the author of the public divisions. Meanwhile the edict for the protection of the Protestants, which was again brought forward, met with the most violent opposition, especially from d'Espréménil and the other zealous patriots, though it went no further than authorising the registry of their births, marriages, and deaths, without removing any of their other civil disabilities. But at length it was registered by a large majority. Before this the Duke of Orleans had been permitted to return, first to the neigh Jan. 19. * "Plusieurs faits assez connus," said they, in their address to the King, "prouvent que la nation, plus éclairée sur ses vraies intérêts, même dans les classes les moins élevées, est disposée à recevoir des mains de votre Majesté le plus grand bien qu'un roi puisse rendre à ses sujets-la liberté. C'est ce bien que votre parlement vient vous redemander, Sire, au nom d'un peuple généreux et fidèle. Ce n'est plus un prince de votre sang, ce ne sont plus deux magistrats, que votre parlement redemande au nom des lois et de la raison; ce sont trois Français-ce sont trois hommes."-DROZ, ii. 48. III. 1788. bourhood of Paris, and at length to the Palais Royal; and CHAP. the imprisonment of Freteau and Sabatier was commuted into exile from Paris to the charming Isles d'Hieres in the Mediterranean, near Toulon. But the beneficial Jan. 19. effect of all these lenient measures was obviated by the cupidity of Brienne, who exchanged his archbishopric of Toulouse for that of Sens, which was much more lucrative, and the incumbent of which had recently died. His ecclesiastical appointments had now reached the Droz. ii. enormous amount of 678,000 francs (£27,000) a-year-a vi. 235, 237. scandalous accumulation for a single prelate, especially 183, 184. when disposing of the patronage of the crown.1* 1 51,52. Lac. Soul. vi. 104. plan of a ad- Cour Pléa nière. Still, however, no money was got, and the condition of the finances daily rendered it more indispensable. The Brienne's compte rendu for 1788 was published in May, and mitted a deficit of 161,000,000 francs (£6,440,000) in period of profound peace.+ It was no ways surprising that the deficiency had so rapidly increased, when it is recollected that both the Notables and parliaments constantly refused their sanction to any new taxes, and had done so for ten years, even to pay the interest of the loans which had been contracted during the American war, which they themselves had forced upon an unwilling sovereign. The time had now arrived when it had become necessary either to discover some practicable mode of levying taxes to meet the public exigencies, or to proclaim a national bankruptcy. Temporary expedients had been exhausted; an entire change in the mode of obtaining supplies was indispensable. The plan which Brienne had matured, in conjunction with Lamoignon, an able and intrepiḍ old man, who was the keeper * In addition to this, he received from a single cutting of wood on one of his benefices 900,000 francs, (£36,000,) in the year 1788.-DROZ, i. 52, note. + So entirely had the public now lost confidence in the comptes rendus, published by the court, that though this one admitted so large a deficit, yet government, to make it credited that it was not still larger, were obliged to submit the public accounts, with all the vouchers, to three accountants of the capital, Didelot, St Amand, and Salverte, who reported in favour of the accuracy of the financial statement.-SOULAVIE, vi. 186. VOL. I. 2 A III. 1788. 61, 62. Soul. vi. 185. Lac. Weber, i. 198. young council CHAP. of the seals, was this: he proposed to establish a new court at Paris, to be called the Cour Plénière, which was alone to be intrusted with the registration of edicts over the whole kingdom. This court was to be composed of the chancellor, the keeper of the seals of the highest chamber of the parliament of Paris, of some other elevated functionaries, the princes of the blood, the peers, ten councillors of state, and of a member of every provincial parliament, and two from the parliament of Paris. The members of the court were to be nominated by the King, but to hold their appointments for life, and be irremovable. The court was to have power to remonstrate on edicts proposed for its consideration, and the 1 Droz, ii. King was to determine on the objections submitted to him. At the same time, the parliament of Paris was to vi. 238, 239. be reduced to seventy-six members, less than half its present number, in order to exclude the lors, with whom the chief opposition originated.1 The utmost pains were taken to keep this design secret, Protest of in order that it might be put in force at once by a lit de justice at Versailles, before the parliament had time to take measures for rousing the nation to resist it. A printing-press was established in the most secret manner, at that town, to throw off the requisite proclamations announcing this great change to the public; and a double row of guards surrounded the building, to prevent any communication with the outside. But in spite of all this vigilance, one of the workmen employed succeeded in throwing a proof of the proposed edict, enclosed in a ball of clay, to an emissary of d'Espréménil who was in attendance to receive intelligence on the outside. The project thus got wind, and the parliament took fire. D'Espréménil unfolded the designs of the court in an impassioned speech. "We have only," said he, "a few hours left to protest: let us do so with the energy of men of honour, with the valour of courageous and faithful subjects. When a reason for terror is about to be spread 105. the parliament of Paris. May 2. III. 1788. abroad through the land, let the nation at least have the CHAP. consolation of knowing that none of us will be severed You have seen from the companions of our labours. from the edict which has been read, what a ridiculous representation the ministers have given of their proposed assembly, where our kings are to confer with their great vassals. It is by the aid of such a phantom that they have persuaded the King to disengage himself from his solemn promises, and elude the convocation of the Statesgeneral. The nation, however, will not forget the monarch's words; it will not forget what we have done to restore to it its rights. After the honour of having made so noble an attempt, there remains still a higher one before us that of suffering punishment for our fidelity to the constitution of the kingdom." He then proposed that they should all take an oath never to form a part of any assembly but the parliament, composed of the same persons, and enjoying the same privileges as at present. The oath was unanimously taken, and served as the prelude to the celebrated Jeu de Paume, which convulsed France eleven months afterwards. Moved by the general enthusiasm and these generous sentiments, 1 Weber, i. the united chambers of the parliament adopted and 204, 205. recorded a dignified protest, which deserves a place in 241,243. history, as an authentic record of what, in the estimation 185, 187. of the friends of freedom, and probably in truth, was the old constitution of France.1* The government was confounded by this intrepid and * "Avertis par la notoriété publique des coups qui menaçaient la nation en frappant la magistrature, et considérant que la résistance du parlement aux deux impôts, sa déclaration d'incompétence pour accorder les subsides, ses sollicitations pour obtenir les états-généraux, et ses réclamations sur la liberté individuelle des citoyens, étaient les causes des entreprises des ministres contre la magistrature; considérant que ces entreprises n'avaient d'autre but que de couvrir les anciennes dissipations sans recourir aux états-généraux, s'il était possible, et que le système de la seule volonté manifestée par les ministres annonçait le funeste projet d'anéantir les principes de la monarchie : Décident que la France est une monarchie gouvernée par le roi suivant les lois - dont plusieurs fondamentales embrassent et concernent les droits de la maison régnante, à ses descendans, de mâle en mâle, par ordre de primogéniture; le droit de la nation d'accorder librement les subsides par l'organe des Lac. vi. Soul. vi. |