on their own domains, as well as other invidious privi leges which have been long abolished in England. It is believed by many people in this country, that the lands of the noblesse were entirely free from taxes. This is a mistake; they are subject to the vingtieme, which, as there are three, is equivalent to a dixieme and a half; the noblesse also were subject to the capitation; but as they certainly were free from the taille, and had many advantages in other respects as well as in the article of taxation, this tended to render them unpopular and odious to their fellow-subjects who did not enjoy the same privileges.

Letters of noblesse were not very difficult to be ob tained in France; and when obtained, the same dignity and all the privileges were transmitted to all the descendants of the person ennobled.

They were by no means, it is true, considered as on a footing with the ancient nobility; but they immediately entered into the possession of every odious privilege, which they were apt to exercise in the most odious manner. The consciousness of belonging to an ancient and honourable family, and the respect that is spontaneously accorded to those who enjoy that advantage, preclude all jealousy or solicitude on the subject, and in general render their behaviour natural and polite: but new and unaccustomed dignities often inspire weak minds with a disposition to display supercilious airs and a ridiculous deportment towards those whom they then consider as their inferiors, and from whom they are jealous of a want of respect, because of their late equality.

Something of this kind is observable even in England, particularly in the wives of new-created baronets, and the families of new-created peers; but in England airs of this kind are received with such contempt, and sometimes repelled with such severity, that they are seldom assum

ed.

But the exuberant plantation of noblesse in France was so extensive, and the branches sometimes so extravagant

"

and cumbersome, that it tended to check and depress the natural and most useful vegetation of the soil; for in that country the airs of superiority, which the most petulant part of the nobility were apt to assume, were more difficult to repress, and were apparent in every place. Even at the table of the citizen, the deportment of monsieur le comte or marquis often reminded the entertainer of the honour done him by their condescending to accept of his entertainment. The smile of protection, the proud politeness, the gesture, the tone, and a thousand circumstances, marked the vast distance that was conceived to be between them, and told him as distinctly as any language, that, although he had dug a fortune from the dirty mines of commerce, he must still preserve a slavish submission in the company of gentlemen. The lowest of the noblesse disclaimed all connection with the highest roturier; no cordial bond of union, no reciprocation of good offices, no friendship, could subsist between the two ranks. They were two distinct planets, one of which disdained to be connected with, or influenced by, the motions of the other; the interval between them being filled with an atmosphere of repulsive particles which kept the two spheres asunder, and prevented their moving harmoniously in the same system.

The comparative moderation and unassuming behaviour observable in the British nobility towards their fellow citizens, is not to be imputed so much to any original dif, ference in their disposition from that of those of the same cast in France or other countries, as to the government and customs of England, which do not tolerate that degree of insolence that was formerly displayed with impunity in France, and still continues in other countries in Europe: for although we see men in this country of high rank, who take as warm an interest in the general rights of their countrymen, and in the maintenance of the British constitution, as in any private rights of their own-men who have such a horror at oppression that no degree of power could render them tyrannical-yet we are not certain that

even these men would have possessed this degree of equity, if they had not been educated under impartial laws.

The usual effect of a tyrannical and partial government is to render the powerful unfeeling, and the weak abject, Les esclaves,' says Rousseau,' perdent tout dans leur servitude, jusqu'au desir d'en sortir; comme les compagnons d'Ulisse aimoient leur abrutissement.'*

That this natural effect did not continue to operate in France, was owing to the numerous writings which have appeared in the language of that country, and particularly those of Rousseau himself. Those writings, in which the debasing influence of despotism and the happy effects of liberty were exhibited in the most glowing language, with other incidental causes, continuing to act on the heated and elastic minds of Frenchmen, at last overcame all compression, and produced an explosion of wide and lamentable devastation.

To arrest the ruinous effects of this, and prevent other events of the same nature, requires more wisdom and delicacy than any thing which ever engaged the attention of those who are intrusted with the government of the different nations of Europe.

The embers of this eruption, which have been thrown, for example, on a soil fortunately so ill adapted to their reception as that of England, would, it is probable, cool of themselves without any other mischief than the detested odour of their exhalation; whereas, if, from an imprudent zeal to disperse them, they should be stirred with violence, they may communicate their fire and spread new flames.

To return to our subject. It may reasonably be believed, that the numbers of the noblesse of France might have been restricted, and some of their privileges remov-. ed, with more security to the constitution which was afterwards established, than was produced by abolishing the

Slaves, says Rousseau, are so debased by their situation, that they lose all sentiment, even the desire of being emancipated; like the companions of Ulysses, who loved the brutal state into which they were sunk.

order altogether. But it is evident, that there was so great a difference between the situation of the peerage of Great Britain and that of the noblesse of France, that the same person who is of opinion that the abolition of the privileges of the latter was necessary for the freedom and happiness of France, may also be convinced, that the maintenance of those of the former is a security for the freedom and happiness of Great Britain.

CHAPTER VII.

The Assembly of the States-General-Jealousies-Disputes respecting the Verification of the Powers of the Deputies-The King attempts to conciliate the Three Orders-The Tiers-Etat postpone his Compromise-Artful Proposal of the ClergyEluded by the Commons-The Solicitude of the King-The Tiers-Etat proceed to the Verification of the Returns without the other two Orders, and assume the Legislative Government -Dispute concerning the Name the Assembly should assumeObservations and Discourses of Mirabeau.

A LITTLE before the meeting of the states-general, and during the heat and commotion which elections and party animosity always produce in a populous city, a catastrophe of a melancholy nature took place, the source of which has never been clearly ascertained.

A man of an excellent character, of the name of Reveillon, carried on an immense paper manufactory in the suburb of St. Antoine, by which he employed a great number of the poor in that quarter. A report was spread that he intended to diminish the wages of the workmen ; and what rendered this more alarming to these poor people and their families, there was a scarcity of bread at the time in which this rumour arose. The bare falsehood was soon accompanied with many additional and aggravating circumstances, and particularly certain expressions of an insulting nature to the distresses of the poor were repeated as having been used by M. Reveillon.

gene

Although nothing could be more opposite to the ral conduct and character of the man, these rumours were readily believed by the unthinking multitude.

They dragged the figure of a man with a label around the neck, inscribed with the name of Reveillon and with the offensive words he was said to have uttered, to the Place de Greve, and there performed the ceremony of an execution. Having passed the night in drinking and riot, they went the following day and burst into M. Reveillon's house, destroyed his furniture, burnt his books and papers, broke into his cellars, increasing their fury by renewed intoxication.

There had been a relaxation in the police of Paris unknown before that period, during the whole time occupied in the elections. The lieutentant of police, from timidity or negligence, had taken no measure for crushing this insurrection at the beginning. A party of soldiers, too weak for the purpose, were sent when it was too late, to protect the house of M. Reveillon; they were repulsed by the pillagers. A large body of the French and Swiss guards then marched against them with two pieces of artillery. After having in vain summoned the mob around the house to retire, the commanding officer ordered the soldiers to fire over the heads of the multitude, in the hope that it would have intimidated and dispersed them. It had a contrary effect: the multitude pelted the guards with stones from the streets, the windows, and the top of the house. By a second fire the enraged soldiers killed a considerable number of the rabble; and then, rushing into the house, put all to the sword whom they found in the rooms or in the cellars. The scene was horrible; above one hundred of the populace are said to have been slaughtered; a considerable number of the military were wounded, and a few killed.

It has been repeatedly asserted by one party, that the source of this melancholy affair was a manœuvre of the court, to furnish a pretext for ordering so large a body of