were
called in. Admonitions being disregarded, they were of necessity fired
on, and a regular action ensued, in which about one hundred of them were
killed, before the rest would disperse. There had rarely passed a year
without such a riot, in some part or other of the kingdom; and this
is distinguished only as cotemporary with the Revolution, although not
produced by it.

The States General were opened on the 5th of May, '89, by speeches from
the King, the Garde des Sceaux, Lamoignon, and Mr. Necker. The last was
thought to trip too lightly over the constitutional reformations which
were expected. His notices of them in this speech, were not as full
as in his previous _Rapport au Roi_. This was observed, to his
disadvantage: but much allowance should have been made for the situation
in which he was placed, between his own counsels and those of the
ministers and party of the court. Overruled in his own opinions,
compelled to deliver, and to gloss over those of his opponents, and even
to keep their secrets, he could not come forward in his own attitude.

The composition of the Assembly, although equivalent, on the whole, to
what had been expected, was something different in its elements. It had
been supposed, that a superior education would carry into the scale
of the Commons, a respectable portion of the Noblesse. It did so as to
those of Paris, of its vicinity, and of the other considerable cities,
whose greater intercourse with enlightened society had liberalized their
minds, and prepared them to advance up to the measure of the times. But
the Noblesse of the country, which constituted two thirds of that body,
were far in their rear. Residing constantly on their patrimonial feuds,
and familiarized, by daily habit, with Seigneurial powers and practices,
they had not yet learned to suspect their inconsistence with reason and
right. They were willing to submit to equality of taxation, but not to
descend from their rank and prerogatives to be incorporated in session
with the _Tiers Etat_. Among the Clergy, on the other hand, it had been
apprehended that the higher orders of the Hierarchy, by their wealth and
connections, would have carried the elections generally; but it turned
out, that in most cases, the lower clergy had obtained the popular
majorities. These consisted of the Curees sons of the peasantry, who
had been employed to do all the drudgery of parochial services for ten,
twenty, or thirty louis a year; while t