ry labors; the session opened on the 22d of February, 1787.
The Assembly numbered one hundred and forty-four members, all nominated
by the king: to wit, seven princes of the blood; fourteen archbishops and
bishops; thirty-six dukes and peers, marshals of France and noblemen;
twelve councillors of state and masters of requests; thirty-eight
magistrates of sovereign courts; twelve deputies of states-districts, the
only ones allowed to present to the king memorials of grievances; and
twenty-five municipal officers of the large towns. In this Assembly,
intended to sanction the abolition of privileges, a few municipal
officers alone represented the third estate and the classes intended to
profit by the abolition. The old Marquis of Mirabeau said facetiously:
"This Calonne assembles a troop of Guillots, which he calls the nation,
to present them with the cow by the horns, and say to them, 'Gentlemen,
we take all the milk and what not, we devour all the meat and what not,
and we are going to try and get that what not out of the rich, whose
money has no connection with the poor, and we give you notice that the
rich means you. Now, give us your opinion as to the manner of
proceeding.'"

The king's speech was short and unimportant. Though honestly impressed
with reminiscences of Henry IV., he could not manage, like him, to say to
the notables he had just convoked, "I have had you assemble to take your
counsels, to trust in them, to follow them, in short, to place myself
under tutelage in your hands,--a feeling which is scarcely natural to
kings, graybeards, and conquerors; but the violent love I bear my
subjects, the extreme desire I have to add the title of liberator and
restorer of this realm to that of king, make me find everything easy and
honorable." M. de Calonne had reserved to himself the duty of explaining
the great projects he had suggested to the king. "Gentle men," said he
in his exordium, "the orders I am under at present do me the more honor
in that the views of which the king has charged me to set before you the
sum and the motives have been entirely adopted by him personally." Henry
IV. might have said to the notables assembled by his successor, as he had
said regarding his predecessors: "You were summoned hither not long ago
to approve of the king's wishes."

The state was prosperous, at any rate in appearance; the
comptroller-general assumed the credit for it. "The economy of a
minister of finance," he s