ally exhibited in the British parliament to the measures of government; and his vanity was flattered with the idea of transmitting this practice, with other novelties, to France; thinking that, during the present tide of popular opinion, he might with personal safety lead that fashion.

The duke of Orleans, however, was banished to one of his estates near Paris; and two counsellors of the parliament, who had spoken in support of his protest, were seized, and sent to separate prisons.

After the declaration which the parliament of Paris had made, there was very small probability that the public would be satisfied without the assembling of the states. The court, however, was exceedingly averse to this measure, and used every device to evade it; but it was not likely that what had been attempted in vain under the direction of M. de Calonne, in times of less turbulency, would be accomplished at the present moment by a minister of less shrewdness and capacity. It was not in the power of the court to sharpen his wit, or enlarge his capacity; but what was possible to do was done for him. The archbishop of Toulouse was declared principal minister; and encouraged by this new dignity, he formed a scheme which he hoped would enable the government to dispense with the parliament as well as the states-general.

This scheme was to establish a number of courts of justice in France, and at the same time to create a grand court under the title of Cour pleniere, all the members of which were to be named by the crown; and the express purpose of this last court was to enregister the king's edicts.

The edict ordaining this important innovation, with some others, was printed at Versailles; the whole being intended to be kept secret, until it should be laid before the different parliaments at the same moment in the beginning of May.

There is no question that, if this scheme had been submitted to, it must have had the effect proposed. The credit of defeating it has been generally attributed to M.

d'Espremenil, a member of the parliament of Paris, who had the address to procure a copy of the intended edicts, which he immediately communicated to that body, among whom they excited great indignation and the spirit of resistance. It seems exceedingly probable, however, that they would have excited the same indignation and as effectual a resistance as soon as they appeared, although the publication had not taken place until the time fixed on by the minister. I cannot give the same importance, therefore, that some have done, to M. d'Espremenil's discovery; nor do I think the policy of keeping the project secret wonderfully profound: for before the copy of the edicts was obtained, it was known that a paper was printing by orders of the administration at Versailles, instead of being printed at the usual press at Paris; that sentries were placed in the printing-house, to prevent those employed from conversing with any other persons. Those circumstances, with the mysterious conduct of ministers, could not fail to create a prejudice against the edicts, before the nature of them could be known. Men are usually more afraid of objects in the dark than in the light. Ordonnances, concealed with so much care, created, it is probable, more terror than if they had been published in the usual way without any air of mystery or concealment. Violent harangues were pronounced in the parliament against those edicts, and stronger insinuations were risked against the conduct of the minister, than had been heard in that assembly since the days of the Fronde.

M. d'Espremenil became the peculiar object of ministerial resentment, for having brought the project to light a little sooner than was intended. A lettre de cachet was issued against him; he escaped from the exempt, and took refuge in the parliament, which immediately decreed that he was under the safeguard of the king and of the law; and at the same time sent a deputation of their members to Versailles, with a petition to the king in favour of D'Espremenil, and another member of their body against whom an order of arrest had been also issued. It was decreed

at the same time, that the court should continue their sitting until the deputation, which consisted of the first president and four counsellors, should return.

They arrived at Versailles at seven in the evening; at midnight they were given to understand, that they could not be received by his majesty. And the next day a body of troops surrounded the hall of parliament, and no person was allowed to enter or go out. At eleven in the morning, an officer who commanded the troops entered, and required that M. d'Espremenil should be delivered up to him. The whole court, answered one of the members, is composed of Espremenils.

The officer not knowing how to proceed in circumstan→ ces so new and so delicate, retired, and sent a message for fresh orders. In this state things remained for the space of twelve hours, the parliament surrounded with troops, while a vast concourse of the inhabitants of Paris viewed the scene with indignation, and might, by the slightest incident, have been provoked to attack the troops, and begun a scene of mutual bloodshed and slaughter.

This was prevented by the prudence of M. d'Espremenil and his friend; who seeing there was a determination in the minister to seize them, delivered themselves into the hands of the officer; and one was carried to the state prison in the isle of St. Marguerite; the other, M. Monsabert, to that of Pierre Encise.

This open rupture between the court and the parliament, while it tended to weaken the influence of each, fostered a third power which had not hitherto been properly attended to by either, and has finally proved the destruction of both.

CHAPTER IV.

Discontents-Parliament remonstrates-Cour Pleniere-Bed of Justice at Versailles-Members of the Parliament of Paris protest-Certain Peers address the King-Mild Answer of the King-Other Courts imitate the Example of the Parliament of Paris-The Minister resigns-Instances of Bigotry and Persecution-Reflections.

In the present disposition of the public, nothing could be more imprudent than giving a spectacle so likely to rouse indignation, as the sight of two magistrates in their robes carried through the streets by a military force; and that it passed without bloodshed before the eyes of a multitude of exasperated Frenchmen is not the least extraordinary circumstance.

But what seemed to have been prevented, as if by miracle, on this remarkable occasion, was threatened on many trifling occurrences afterwards. The hatred against the archbishop was so great, that his name could not be mentioned, nor any thing that could be constrained into an allusion to him uttered, without exciting symptoms of fury against him.

The tragedy of Athalie was advertised at the Comedie Françoise. It is a religious piece; and many were surprised to find the house crowded: but they understood the reason, when they recollected, that there is a wicked priest, who is also a favourite at court, among the dramatis personæ, and when they observed in what manner the following verses which he pronounces were applied by the audience.

Qu'importe qu'au hazard un sang vil soit versé ?
Est-ce aux Rois à garder cette lente justice ?
Leur sureté souvent depend d'un prompt supplice,
N'allons point les géner d'un soin embarrassant,
Dès qu'on leur est suspect, on n'est plus innocent.

To this it is answered,

Hé quoi, Mathan? D'un prêtre est-cela le langage ? And the whole house resounded with applause, which was

VOL. IV.

followed by many curses directed against Mathan: and nobody mistook who was meant by Mathan.

The parliament, encouraged by the spirit which the people displayed not only at Paris, but all over the kingdom, so far from being intimidated by the violent steps taken against them by the court, manifested more courage than ever. They prepared a remonstrance to the king, on the violence of invading the seat of justice with armed men, the tyranny exercised in the seizure of two of their members, and the refusal of receiving their deputation. They proceed to state their apprehensions of a design of overthrowing the established constitution, in such terms as convey an idea, that France was possessed of a very free and excellent form of government; for they insinuate that there has existed, ever since the year 1771, a plan to overturn it, and introduce an arbitrary goverment in its stead; but that the king's authority would be respected only in proportion to its being regulated by law and equity.

The parliament were much to be praised for doing all they could to obtain freedom to their country; but if they required no more than she possessed in the year 1771, their demand was certainly too moderate. If the parliament imagined, that stoutly asserting that the government had been formerly free would contribute to its being in future what they declared it to have formerly been, the assertion was one of the most excusable, not to say laudable, deviations from truth, that ever was made by a body of men.

The minister, in the meantime, proceeded in his favourite scheme of established the cour pleniere, which was to be composed not of lawyers only, but also of persons of higher rank and other professions, and intended in many respects as a substitute for the parliament, particularly in the office of registering the king's edicts. For the formation of this court, a bed justice was held at Versailles on the 8th of May, to which the parliament of Paris was summoned, and attended accordingly.