eign policy, ever conciliatory and sometimes
daring, M. de Vergennes, timid and weak as he was in home affairs, was
nevertheless esteemed: he had often served as a connect ing link between
the different elements of the government. The king gave his place to
M. de Montmorin, an honest but insignificant man, without influence in
France as well as in Europe.

On the 29th of December, 1786, at the close of the despatch-council, the
king at last broke the silence he had so long kept even as regarded the
queen herself. "Gentlemen," he said, "I shall convoke for the 29th of
January an assembly composed of persons of different conditions and the
best qualified in the state, in order to communicate to them my views for
the relief of my people, the ordering of the finances, and the
reformation of several abuses." Louis XVI.'s hesitations had
disappeared: he was full of hope. "I have not slept a wink all night,"
he wrote on the morning of the 30th of December to M. de Calonne, "but it
was for joy."

The sentiments of the public were very diverse: the court was in
consternation. "What penalty would King Louis XIV. have inflicted upon
a minister who spoke of convoking an assembly of notables?" asked old
Marshal Richelieu, ever witty, frivolous, and corrupt. "The king sends
in his resignation," said the young Viscount de Segur. At Paris
curiosity was the prevalent feeling; but the jokes were bitter. "The
comptroller-general has raised a new troop of comedians; the first
performance will take place on Monday the 20th instant," said a sham
play-bill: "they will give us the principal piece _False Confidences,_
followed by _Forced Consent_ and an allegorical ballot, composed by M. de
Calonne, entitled _The Tub of the Danaids_."

The convocation of the notables was better received in the provinces: it
was the first time for a hundred and sixty years that the nation had been
called upon to take a part, even nominally, in the government of its
affairs; it already began to feel powerful and proud. A note had been
sent to the _Journal de Paris_ to announce the convocation of the
Assembly. "The nation," it said, "will see with transport that the king
deigns to draw near to her." The day of excessive humiliation was no
more, even in forms; M. de Calonne modified the expression thus: "The
nation will see with transport that the king draws near to her."

Indisposition on the part of the comptroller-general had retarded the
preparato