and as he knew the sturdy disposition of the Parliaments with respect to new taxes, he ingeniously sought either to approach them by a more gentle means than that of direct authority, or to get over their heads by a manoeuvre;and for this purpose he revived the project of assembling a body of men from the several provinces, under the style of an "Assembly of the Notables,"or men of note, who met in 1787, and who were either to recommend taxes to the Parliaments, or to act as a Parliament themselves.An Assembly under this name had been called in 1617.
As we are to view this as the first practical step towards the Revolution, it will be proper to enter into some particulars respecting it.The Assembly of the Notables has in some places been mistaken for the States-General, but was wholly a different body, the States-General being always by election.
The persons who composed the Assembly of the Notables were all nominated by the king, and consisted of one hundred and forty members.But as M.
Calonne could not depend upon a majority of this Assembly in his favour, he very ingeniously arranged them in such a manner as to make forty-four a majority of one hundred and forty; to effect this he disposed of them into seven separate committees, of twenty members each.Every general question was to be decided, not by a majority of persons, but by a majority of committee, and as eleven votes would make a majority in a committee, and four committees a majority of seven, M.Calonne had good reason to conclude that as forty-four would determine any general question he could not be outvoted.But all his plans deceived him, and in the event became his overthrow.
The then Marquis de la Fayette was placed in the second committee, of which the Count D'Artois was president, and as money matters were the object, it naturally brought into view every circumstance connected with it.M.
de la Fayette made a verbal charge against Calonne for selling crown lands to the amount of two millions of livres, in a manner that appeared to be unknown to the king.The Count D'Artois (as if to intimidate, for the Bastille was then in being) asked the Marquis if he would render the charge in writing?
He replied that he would.The Count D'Artois did not demand it, but brought a message from the king to that purport.M.de la Fayette then delivered in his charge in writing, to be given to the king, undertaking to support it.No farther proceedings were had upon this affair, but M.Calonne was soon after dismissed by the king and set off to England.
As M.de la Fayette, from the experience of what he had seen in America, was better acquainted with the science of civil government than the generality of the members who composed the Assembly of the Notables could then be, the brunt of the business fell considerably to his share.The plan of those who had a constitution in view was to contend with the Court on the ground of taxes, and some of them openly professed their object.Disputes frequently arose between Count D'Artois and M.de la Fayette upon various subjects.
With respect to the arrears already incurred the latter proposed to remedy them by accommodating the expenses to the revenue instead of the revenue to the expenses; and as objects of reform he proposed to abolish the Bastille and all the State prisons throughout the nation (the keeping of which was attended with great expense), and to suppress Lettres de Cachet; but those matters were not then much attended to, and with respect to Lettres de Cachet, a majority of the Nobles appeared to be in favour of them.
On the subject of supplying the Treasury by new taxes the Assembly declined taking the matter on themselves, concurring in the opinion that they had not authority.In a debate on this subject M.de la Fayette said that raising money by taxes could only be done by a National Assembly, freely elected by the people, and acting as their representatives.Do you mean, said the Count D'Artois, the States-General? M.de la Fayette replied that he did.
Will you, said the Count D'Artois, sign what you say to be given to the king? The other replied that he would not only do this but that he would go farther, and say that the effectual mode would be for the king to agree to the establishment of a constitution.
As one of the plans had thus failed, that of getting the Assembly to act as a Parliament, the other came into view, that of recommending.On this subject the Assembly agreed to recommend two new taxes to be unregistered by the Parliament: the one a stamp-tax and the other a territorial tax, or sort of land-tax.The two have been estimated at about five millions sterling per annum.We have now to turn our attention to the Parliaments, on whom the business was again devolving.
The Archbishop of Thoulouse (since Archbishop of Sens, and now a Cardinal), was appointed to the administration of the finances soon after the dismission of Calonne.He was also made Prime Minister, an office that did not always exist in France.When this office did not exist, the chief of each of the principal departments transacted business immediately with the King, but when a Prime Minister was appointed they did business only with him.The Archbishop arrived to more state authority than any minister since the Duke de Choiseul, and the nation was strongly disposed in his favour; but by a line of conduct scarcely to be accounted for he perverted every opportunity, turned out a despot, and sunk into disgrace, and a Cardinal.
