of
notables, he had addressed Monsieur, the most favorable of all the
princes to the liberal movement. "The very existence of the monarchy is
threatened," he said, "its annihilation is desired, and we are close upon
that fatal moment. It is impossible that the king should not at last
open his eyes, and that the princes his brothers should not co-operate
with him; be pleased, therefore, to represent to the king how important
it is for the stability of his throne, for the laws, and for good order,
that the new systems be forever put away, and that the constitution and
ancient forms be maintained in their integrity." Louis XVI. having shown
some ill-humor at the Prince of Conti's remarks, the latter sent him a
letter signed by all the princes of the royal family except Monsieur and
the Duke of Orleans. The perils with which the state was threatened were
evident and even greater than the prince's letter made out; the remedies
they indicated were as insufficient in substance as they were
contemptuous in form. "Let the third estate," they said, cease to attack
the rights of the two upper orders, rights which, not less ancient than
the monarchy, ought to be as unalterable as the constitution; but let it
confine itself to asking for diminution of the imposts with which it may
be surcharged; then the two upper orders might, in the generosity of
their feelings, give up prerogatives which have pecuniary interests for
their object." . . . Whilst demanding on the part of the third estate
this modest attitude, the princes let fall threatening expressions, the
use of which had been a lost practice to the royal house since the days
of the Fronde. "In a kingdom in which for so long a time there have been
no civil dissensions, the word schism cannot be uttered without regret,"
they said; "such an event, however, would have to be expected if the
rights of the two upper orders suffered any alteration, and what
confidence would not be felt in the mind of the people in protests which
tended to release them from payment of imposts agreed upon in the
states?"

Thirty dukes and peers had beforehand proposed to the king the
renunciation of all their pecuniary privileges, assuring him that the
whole French noblesse would follow the example if they were consulted.
Passions were too violently excited, and the disorder of ideas was too
general to admit of the proper sense being given to this generous and
fruitless proceeding. The third es