d not
taken the trouble to disguise the vast consequences of it; he had not
thought any the more about pre-securing a majority in the assembly. The
members were divided into seven committees presided over by the princes;
each committee disposed of one single vote; the comptroller-general had
not taken exception to the selections designated by his adversaries.
"I have made it a point of conscience," he said, "to give suitable
nominations according to the morality, and talent, and importance of
individuals." He had burned his ships, and without a care for the
defective composition of the assembly, he set forth, one after the other,
projects calculated to alarm the privileged orders. "More will be paid,"
he said in the preamble printed at the head of his notes and circulated
in profusion over the whole of France, "undoubtedly more will be paid,
but by whom? . . . By those only who do not pay enough; they will pay
what they ought, according to a just proportionment, and nobody will be
aggrieved. Privileges will be sacrificed! Yes! Justice wills it,
necessity requires it! Would it be better to surcharge the
non-privileged, the people?"

The struggle was about to begin, with all the ardor of personal interest;
the principle of provincial assemblies had been favorably received by the
notables; the committees (_bureaux_) had even granted to the third estate
a representation therein equal to that of the two upper orders, on
condition that the presidents of the delegates should be chosen from the
nobility or the clergy. The recognition of a civil status for
Protestants did not seem likely to encounter any difficulty. For more
than twenty years past the parliaments, especially the parliament of
Toulouse, had established the ruling of the inadmissibility of any one
who disputed the legitimacy of children issue of Protestant marriages.
In 1778, the parliament of Paris had deliberated as to presenting to the
king a resolution in favor of authentic verification of non-Catholic
marriages, births, and deaths; after a long interval, on, the 2d of
February, 1787, this resolution had been formally, promulgated.

It was M. de Lafayette who had the honor of supporting in the assembly of
notables the royal project announced by M. de Calonne and advised by the
Parliament. In the ministry, MM. de Castries and De Breteuil had
supported the equitable measure so long demanded by Protestants. M. de
Rulhieres had drawn up for the king