7526. REVOLUTION (French), Monarchy and parliaments.—[continued].
This nation is * * *
under great internal agitation. The authority
of the crown on one part, and that of the parliaments
on the other, are fairly at issue.
Good men take part with neither, but have
raised an opposition, the object of which is to
obtain a fixed and temperate constitution.
There was a moment when this opposition ran
so high as to endanger an appeal to arms, in
which case, perhaps, it would have been
crushed. The moderation of government has
avoided this, and they are yielding daily one
right after another. They have given them
Provincial Assemblies, which will be very perfect
representatives of the nation, and stand
somewhat in the place of our State Assemblies.
They have reformed the criminal laws; acknowledged
the King cannot lay a new tax,
without the consent of the States General; and
they will call the States General the next year.—
To Colonel Monroe. Washington ed. ii, 457.
(P.
1788)
