rienne had become chief minister.
MM. de Segur and de Castries had retired, refusing to serve under a man
whom they did not esteem. Alone, shut up in his closet, the archbishop
listened without emotion to the low murmur of legal protests, the noisy
tumult of insurrections. "I have foreseen all, even civil war. The king
shall be obeyed, the king knows how to make himself obeyed," he kept
repeating in the assured tones of an oracle. Resolved not to share the
responsibility of the reverse he foresaw, Baron de Breteuil sent in his
resignation.

Meanwhile the treasury was found to be empty; Brienne appealed to the
clergy, hoping to obtain from ecclesiastical wealth one of those
gratuitous gifts which had often come in aid of the State's necessities.
The Church herself was feeling the influence of the times. Without
relaxing in her pretensions to the maintenance of privileges, the
ecclesiastical assembly thought itself bound to plead the cause of that
magistracy which it had so, often fought. "Our silence," said the
remonstrances, "would be a crime, of which the nation and posterity would
never absolve us. Your Majesty has just effected at the bed of justice
of May 8, a great movement as regards things and persons. Such ought to
be a consequence rather than a preliminary of the States-general; the
will of a prince which has not been enlightened by his courts may be
regarded as a momentary will. Your Majesty has issued an edict carrying
the restoration of the plenary court, but that court has recalled an
ancient reign without recalling ancient ideas. Even if it had been once
the supreme tribunal of our kings, it now presents no longer that
numerous assemblage of prelates, barons, and lieges united together. The
nation sees nothing in it but a court-tribunal whose complaisance it
would be afraid of, and whose movements and intrigues it would dread in
times of minority and regency. . . . Our functions are sacred, when,
from the height of the altars, we pray heaven to send down blessings on
kings and on their subjects; they are still so, when, after teaching
people their duties, we represent their rights and make solicitations on
behalf of the afflicted, on behalf of the absent despoiled of their
position and their liberty. The clergy of France, Sir, stretch forth to
you their suppliant hands; it is so beautiful to see might and puissance
yielding to prayer! The glory of your Majesty is not in being King of
Franc