Bureaux of the _Notables_ have voted by very great
majorities, that they should have only an equal number with each of the
other orders singly. One bureau, by a majority of a single voice, had
agreed to give the Commons the double number of representatives. This
is the first symptom of a decided combination between the Nobility and
Clergy, and will necessarily throw the people into the scale of the
King. It is doubted, whether the States can be called so early as
January, though the government, urged by the want of money, is for
pressing the convocation. It is still more uncertain what the States
will do when they meet: there are three objects which they may attain,
probably without opposition from the court; 1. A periodical meeting
of the States; 2. their exclusive right of taxation; 3. the right of
en-registering laws and proposing amendments to them, as now exercised
by the parliaments. This would lead, as it did in England, to the right
of originating laws. The parliament would, by the last measure, be
reduced to a mere judiciary body, and would probably oppose it. But
against the King and nation their opposition could not succeed. If the
States stop here, for the present moment, all will probably end well,
and they may, in future sessions, obtain a suppression of _lettres de
cachet_, a free press, a civil list, and other valuable mollifications
of their government. But it is to be feared, that an impatience to
rectify every thing at once, which prevails in some minds, may terrify
the court, and lead them to appeal to force, and to depend on that
alone.

Before this can reach you, you will probably have heard of an _Arret_,
passed the 28th of September, for prohibiting the introduction of
foreign whale-oils, without exception. The English had glutted the
markets of this country with their oils: it was proposed to exclude
them, and an _Arret_ was drawn, with an exception for us: in the last
stage of the _Arret_, the exception was struck out, without my having
any warning, or even suspicion of this. I suspect this stroke came from
the Count de la Luzerne, minister of marine; but I cannot affirm it
positively. As soon as I was apprized of this, which was several days
after it passed (because it was kept secret till published in their
seaports), I wrote to the Count de Montmorin a letter, of which the
enclosed is a copy, and had conferences on the subject, from time to
time, with him and the other ministers. I found th