290

NECKER AND THE COMPTE RENDU.

[CHAP. LI. several pages. The questions at issue were, whether the Queen had really ordered the necklace and wished to evade paying for it; whether Madame de La Motte had falsely used the Queen's name, with a view to appropriate the jewels for herself; or whether Rohan was the swindler.' The Cardinal was notoriously expensive, profligate, and unscrupulous. He openly professed that his enormous income of 1,200,000 francs sufficed not for a gentleman; and he paid his mistresses by defrauding the poor of the money which passed through his hands as almoner. But the Court took an imprudent step in dragging the matter before the Parliament of Paris. Rohan, Bishop of Strasburg and Grand-Almoner of the Crown, a member of the family of Condé, was seized at Versailles in his pontifical robes as he was about to enter the chapel, and conducted to the Bastille (August, 1785). He, and Madame de La Motte and her husband, were then arraigned before the Parliament; the first time that a Prince of the Church had been brought before a secular judge. The trial, a great public scandal, lasted nine months, affording a rich treat to curiosity and malice. The efforts of the Court to procure the acquittal of Madame de La Motte had only the effect of turning public opinion the other way. The Parliament, glad of an opportunity to avenge the affronts it had received, acquitted Rohan by a majority of five, and condemned Madame de La Motte and her husband to be whipped and branded; after which the latter was to be sent to the galleys, and the lady to the Salpêtrière. The public hailed with frantic joy a decree that degraded the Throne, while the Cardinal was honoured with a complete ovation. The Queen avenged herself by banishing Rohan to Auvergne by a lettre de cachet.

While the Court was thus plunging deeper into public odium, the ever-declining state of the finances threatened a national bankruptcy. Necker had for some time made head against the deficit by reforms, reductions of expenditure, and especially by loans. Credit, however, the only support of the last method, began to get exhausted; and in order to revive the public confidence, Necker persuaded Louis XVI. to publish the celebrated Compte rendu (January, 1781). The effect at first was prodigious. The public was overwhelmed with joy at being for the first time intrusted with the secret of the national balance-sheet. The statement, too, seemed really satisfactory. The receipts appeared to exceed the ordinary

1 M. L. Blanc, in his Hist. de la Révol. Franç. t. ii. ch. 4, has produced some fresh evidence against the Queen, whom

he considers guilty. Yet, on his own showing, the probabilities are, we think, in her favour.

CHAP. LI.]

ASSEMBLY OF NOTABLES.

291

disbursements by eighteen million livres ; while the promise of extinguishing a great part of the enormous sum paid in pensions, of reforming the system of taxation, &c., showed a sincere disposition to amend past disorders. In the first moments of enthusiasm Necker succeeded in raising an enormous loan. But gradually the enchanting visions of the Compte rendu began to melt away. The statement was found to be anything but trustworthy, and the asserted surplus a pure delusion. On the other hand, the persons interested in the abuses denounced, with De Vergennes at the head of them, began to league themselves against Necker, and in May, 1781, he found himself compelled to tender his resignation. The management of the finances, after passing through two or three hands, came, in October, 1783, into those of Calonne, a frivolous man of profligate morals, with a reputation for talent. During two or three years, by clever expedients, and especially by loans, Calonne contrived to keep the machine in motion, and even to carry on a reckless expenditure. But at length his subterfuges were exhausted; he was compelled to acknowledge a deficit of 100 millions (four millions sterling) per annum, and to consider the alternative of a national bankruptcy or a thorough reform of the State. The first of these, in the state of public feeling, could not be contemplated a moment. On the other hand, reform seemed almost equally dangerous. It could not be effected through the Parliaments, the only constitutional bodies in the State, as they would resist the diminution of their privileges which it involved; while an appeal to the people, and the assembling of the Etats généraux, seemed fraught with danger. In this perplexity Calonne hit upon a middle term, an Assembly of Notables, which had sometimes been convoked in the exigencies of the Kingdom.

The Notables, to the number of 144, were accordingly assembled at Versailles, January 29th, 1787. The Tiers état, or commons, was represented by only six or seven municipal magistrates; all the rest were clergy and nobles, or persons having the privileges of nobles. The Assembly had been announced in the Journal de Paris in the most offensive terms, intimating that the nation should be transported with joy at the condescension of the King in appealing to it.' The Count de Vergennes died before the Assembly proceeded to business. He was succeeded by the Count de Montmorin, a respectable man, but quite unequal to the position. The Assembly was opened by the King, 1 "La nation verra avec transport que son souverain daigne s'approcher d'elle."

292

PLANS OF COLONNE.

[CHAP. LI. February 22nd. Calonne, in an elaborate and clever, but indiscreet and presumptuous address, communicated his plans to the Notables. The main feature of them was the abolition or reform of some obnoxious imposts, and the substitution for them of a landtax, varying from one-fortieth to one-twentieth, to be received in kind, and to which all orders alike were to be liable, including the clergy and even the royal domains. On the other hand, the privileged classes were to be relieved from the capitation, or polltax, to which roturiers were still to be subject, as well as to the taille, but at a largely reduced rate. Calonne also proposed a stamp act, and a reduction of the public expenditure, including that of the King's household. It was soon evident, however, that the proceedings of an Assembly not based upon popular representation could never be satisfactory. Irritated by the opposition of the Notables, Calonne threatened them with an appeal to the people. This threat produced an almost universal coalition against him, which was joined by the Queen. The King's brother, afterwards Louis XVIII., had made himself conspicuous by his opposition; and almost the only supporter of Calonne was the Count d'Artois, afterwards Charles X. Among his most formidable adversaries was Necker, whose Compte rendu he had attacked. That document was not invulnerable; but Necker proved that Calonne had wrongfully accused him of not having left a sufficient sum in the treasury to cover the expenses of 1781. The result of the league against Calonne was, that, at the instigation of Marie Antoinette, he was dismissed. Necker's turn, however, was not yet come. In fact he also was banished twenty leagues from Paris, for having ventured to publish without permission an apologetic memoir.

Calonne was succeeded by Brienne, Archbishop of Toulouse, with the title of Chief of the Council of Finance; while the Controller Fourqueux was little more than a head clerk. Brienne had been among the foremost of Calonne's opponents; yet he found himself compelled to bring forward several of his plans. Amid the stormy discussions which ensued, La Fayette proposed the convocation of a National Assembly within five years. The

1 Mirabeau's father characterized the Assembly vigorously, though somewhat coarsely, as follows: "Cet homme (Calonne) assemble une troupe de guillots" (guillemots? a sort of stupid-looking bird.-Bouillet)" qu'il appelle nation, pour leur donner la vache par les cornes, et leur dire: Messieurs, nous tirons tout,

et le par-de-là; et nous allons tâcher de trouver le moyen de ce par-de-là sur les riches, dont l'argent n'a rien de commun avec les pauvres; et nous vous avertissons que les riches, c'est vous; dites-nous maintenant votre avis sur la manière. Mém. de Mirabeau, ap. Martin, t. xvi. p. 568.

CHAP. LI.]

THE PARLIAMENT BANISHED.

293 Notables would not take upon themselves the responsibility of voting the taxes proposed. They left the decision to the King; in other words, they resigned their functions. The Government now proceeded to publish edicts in conformity with the plans of taxation proposed by Colonne. When the edict for raising stamp duties was brought before the Parliament of Paris, that body refused to register it without first receiving a statement of the public accounts; and ended by beseeching the King to withdraw the edict, and by declaring that the Etats généraux alone were entitled to grant the King the necessary supplies. Such was the extraordinary change in public opinion! The Parliament, formerly so opposed to these National Assemblies, now declared them indispensable. The King frustrated the opposition of the Parliament by causing the different edicts to be registered in a Lit de Justice, and when they protested against this step, he banished them to Troies; where, however, their opposition only became more violent. The feeling which animated them spread through all ranks of the people. It was taken up by the clubs recently established in Paris in imitation of the English. The Minister caused them to be closed. Popular hatred had fixed itself on the Queen more than the King. The irritation against her had reached so high a pitch that Louis XVI. forbade her to show herself in Paris.

The fermentation spread through the Kingdom. The provincial Parliaments loudly denounced the banishment of that of Paris, demanded the convocation of the Etats généraux, and the indictment of Calonne. Brienne compromised matters by allowing the Parliament to return, and engaging to call the Etats in 1792. The return of the Parliament to Paris was celebrated by an illumination, accompanied with serious riots, in which Calonne, who had escaped to England, was burnt in effigy. Brienne hoped in four years to re-establish the finances, so that the meeting of the Etats in 1792 should be a mere parade and spectacle. But Count de Mirabeau, who now began to play a prominent part, incited the Parliament to demand that they should be assembled in 1789; and a loan of 120 millions was agreed to by the Parliament only on this condition. The King was present at the sitting, which was suddenly converted into a Lit de Justice, and Louis decreed the registry of the edict for the loan in the usual forms, amid the murmurs of the Assembly. The Duke of Orleans rose, and ventured to observe that the step appeared to him illegal. Louis hesitated, stammered, and at length faltered out-" Yes;

294

ROYAL EDICTS.

[CHAP. LI. it is legal, if it is my will." The protest of the Duke was recorded, but he was banished to Viller Cotterets, and two counsellors, supposed to have incited him, were imprisoned.

The disputes between the Court and Parliament continued more violently than ever. Among the parliamentary agitators, Duport and D'Eprémesnil were conspicuous. The boldest sentiments were uttered in the name of law and liberty. It having been discovered that the Court was preparing edicts, intended to strike a blow at the Parliaments, of which proof-sheets were obtained by means of a printer's boy, meetings to organize resistance were held at Duport's house, and were attended by La Fayette, Condorcet, the Duke de la Rochefoucauld, TalleyrandPérigord, the famous Bishop of Autun, and others. On May 3rd, 1788, the Parliament, having drawn up a sort of Remonstrance and Declaration of Rights, the King, two days after, caused Goislard and D'Eprémesnil, the chief promoters of them, to be seized in their places and thrown into prison. On the 8th the Parliament was summoned to Versailles to hear the edicts read. Their effect was, in a great measure, to supersede the Parliaments, by substituting other Courts for them, and especially a Cour plénière. At the same time resort was to be had to Etats généraux whenever the public necessities should require it. It was, in fact, a new Constitution, many of the features of which were excellent. But it was clearly perceived that the object of the Court was only to temporize, and to cover despotism under the veil of progress and reform. The provincial Parliaments, and especially those of Brittany and Dauphiné, displayed the most violent resistance against the edicts. The latter may be said to have initiated the Revolution by the first act of the sovereignty of the people. The Parliament, having been banished by the Government, the citizens of Grenoble assembled at the Hôtel de Ville in August and decreed the spontaneous Assembly of the States of Dauphiné, which had fallen into desuetude for many generations. They were accordingly held at the Château de Vizille, and the Government found itself compelled to come to a compromise with them. Everything seemed to threaten universal anarchy. As a last resource, Brienne assembled the clergy, in hope that the danger with which their order was threatened by a meeting of the Etats généraux would induce them to grant him a loan, and thus obviate the necessity for that Assembly. Vain hope the clergy sided with the Parliaments, their ancient adversaries, and demanded the Etats; at the same time protesting,