They began
to lay the foundation for caviling at the legality of that body, if its
measures should be hostile to them. The court, to clear itself of the
dispute, convened the _Notables_, who had acted with general approbation
on the former occasion, and referred to them the forms of calling and
organizing the States General. These _Notables_ consist principally
of Nobility and Clergy; the few of the _Tiers Etat_ among them, being
either parliament men, or other privileged persons. The court wished,
that, in the future States General, the members of the _Tiers Etat_
should equal those of both the other orders, and that they should form
but one House, all together, and vote by persons, not by orders. But the
_Notables_, in the true spirit of Priests and Nobles, combining together
against the people, have voted, by five bureaux out of six, that the
people, or _Tiers Etat_, shall have no greater number of deputies, than
each of the other orders separately, and that they shall vote by orders:
so that two orders concurring in a vote, the third will be overruled;
for it is not here as in England, where each of the three branches has
a negative on the other two.
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