, that the votes
for the enregistry had not been legally taken, and that they gave no
sanction to the loans proposed. This was enough to discredit and defeat
them. Hereupon issued another edict, for the establishment of a _cour
pleniere_ and the suspension of all the Parliaments in the kingdom.
This being opposed, as might be expected, by reclamations from all the
Parliaments and Provinces, the King gave way, and by an edict of July
5th,'88, renounced his _cour pleniere_, and promised the States General
for the first of May, of the ensuing year: and the Archbishop, finding
the times beyond his faculties, accepted the promise of a Cardinal's
hat, was removed (September '88) from the Ministry, and Mr. Necker was
called to the department of finance. The innocent rejoicings of the
people of Paris on this change, provoked the interference of an officer
of the city guards, whose order for their dispersion not being obeyed,
he charged them with fixed bayonets, killed two or three, and wounded
many. This dispersed them for the moment, but they collected the next
day in great numbers, burnt ten or twelve guardhouses, killed two or
three of the guards, and lost six or eight more of their own number. The
city was hereupon put under martial law, and after a while the tumult
subsided. The effect of this change of ministers, and the promise of the
States General at an early day tranquillized the nation. But two
great questions now occurred. 1st. What proportion shall the number of
deputies of the _Tiers Etat_ bear to those of the Nobles and Clergy?
And, 2nd. Shall they sit in the same or in distinct apartments? Mr.
Necker, desirous of avoiding himself these knotty questions, proposed a
second call of the same Notables, and that their advice should be asked
on the subject. They met, November 9, '88, and, by five bureaux against
one, they recommended the forms of the States General of 1614; wherein
the Houses were separate, and voted by orders, not by persons. But the
whole nation declaring at once against this, and that the _Tiers
Etat_ should be, in numbers, equal to both the other orders, and the
Parliament deciding for the same proportion, it was determined so to be,
by a declaration of December 27th, '88. A Report of Mr. Necker, to
the King, of about the same date, contained other very important
concessions. 1. That the King could neither lay a new tax, nor prolong
an old one. 2. It expressed a readiness to agree on the periodical