7537. REVOLUTION (French), Notables called.—[further continued].
The first step of the deputies
to the Assemblée des Notables should be
to get themselves divided into two chambers
instead of seven; the noblesse and the commons
separately. The second, to persuade the King,
instead of choosing the deputies of the Commons
himself, to summon those chosen by the
people for the Provincial administrations. The
third, as the noblesse is too numerous to be of
the Assemblée, to obtain permission for that
body to choose its own deputies. Two houses,
so elected, would contain a mass of wisdom
which would make the people happy, and the
King great; would place him in history where
no other act can possibly place him. They
would thus put themselves in the track of the
best guide they can follow; they would soon
overtake it, become its guide in turn and lead
to the wholesome modifications wanting in that
model and necessary to constitute a rational
government. Should they attempt more than
the established habits of the people are ripe for,
they may lose all, and retard indefinitely the
ultimate object of their aim.—
To Madame la Comtesse de Tesse. Washington ed. ii, 133.
(N.,
1787)
