,
without consulting even his own Council, to issue orders by himself to
his Generals, to march twenty thousand men, to revenge the insult
supposed to be offered to his sister. With a pride and egotism planted
in the heart of every King, he considers her being stopped in the road,
as a sufficient cause to sacrifice a hundred or two thousand of his own
subjects, and as many of his enemies, and to spread fire, sword and
desolation, over the half of Europe. This hasty measure has embarrassed
England, undesirous of war if it can be avoided, yet unwilling to
separate from the power who is to render its success probable. Still
you may be assured, that that court is going on in concurrence with
this, to prevent extremities, if possible; always understood, that if
the war cannot be prevented, they will enter into it as parties, and in
opposition to one another. This event is, in my opinion, to be
deprecated by the friends of France. She never was equal to such a war
by land, and such a one by sea; and less so now, than in any moment of
the present reign. You remember that the nation was in a delirium of
joy on the convocation of the Notables, and on the various reformations
agreed on between them and the government. The picture of the distress
of their finances was indeed frightful, but the intentions to reduce
them to order seemed serious. The constitutional reformations have gone
on well, but those of expenses make little progress. Some of the most
obviously useless have indeed been lopped off, but the remainder is a
heavy mass, difficult to be reduced. Despair has seized every mind, and
they have passed from an extreme of joy to one of discontent. The
parliament, therefore, oppose the registering any new tax, and insist
on an Assembly of the States General. The object of this is to limit
expenses, and dictate a constitution. The edict for the stamp tax has
been the subject of reiterated orders and refusals to register. At
length, the King has summoned the parliament to Versailles to hold a
bed of justice, in which he will order them, in person, to register the
edict. At the moment of my writing, they are gone to Versailles for
this purpose. There will yet remain to them, to protest against the
register, as forced, and to issue orders against its execution on pain
of death. But as the King would have no peaceable mode of opposition
left, it remains to be seen whether they will push the matter to this
extremity. It is evident,