The Life of Louis XVI by John Hardman

Author:John Hardman
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780300220421
Publisher: Yale University Press

The Assembly of Notables

The Assembly of Notables was to meet in a newly constructed hall in the Hotel des Menus Plaisirs, in the town which had grown up round Versailles. Louis himself made an inspection of the work, asking sniffily what all the galleries and boxes were for. On being told they were for the queen, her attendants, the courtiers and the public, he replied that it was not a ‘public entertainment’; that ‘the queen was perfectly free to attend if she so desired but on her own’ and that ‘his own retinue would be the bare minimum to support the royal majesty’. His decision came as a great relief to the organizers, who were being solicited for tickets.53

But the king had little control over court ceremonial, which was elaborate when he opened the Assembly on 22 February 1787. Seated on a throne covered in purple velvet strewn with gold fleurs-de-lys, beneath a canopy of purple satin, both feet resting on cushions, he was flanked on the dais by his brothers, Provence and Artois, and the princes of the blood, but was not accompanied by the queen, who had found this way to distance herself from the proceedings.54 At a quarter to twelve the king doffed and replaced his hat and delivered himself of a short speech. It was a compilation of the king’s and Calonne’s words.55

Gentlemen, I have chosen you from among the different orders of the state and I have gathered you around me to intimate my plans to you.

This is a usage which has been employed by several of my predecessors and notably by the first of my branch [Henri IV], whose name has remained dear to all Frenchmen and whose example I shall always take a pride in following.

The plans which will be communicated to you in my name are great and important. On the one hand they [aim at] improving the revenue of the state and assuring a stable surplus by a more equitable assessment of taxation; on the other, at freeing commerce from the various impediments which restrict its circulation, and so far as circumstances permit me, in alleviating the poorest section of my subjects. Such, gentlemen, are the measures which have exercised me and which I have decided upon after a thorough examination. As they all tend to the common weal and as I know the zeal for my service of you all, I have no fear in consulting you about their implementation; I shall listen to and examine your observations carefully. I trust that your opinions, all tending towards the same goal, will easily harmonize and that no sectional interest will stand out against the general.

It was customary on these occasions for the keeper of the seals to ‘develop the king’s thoughts more fully’, but Miromesnil’s speech was short and ambiguous and on this occasion the task fell to Calonne who gave a speech lasting an hour and six minutes. There was a résumé of his proposals but the notables were most

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