Add to this, that the court itself is for the
_Tiers-Etat_, as the only agent which can relieve their wants: not by
giving money themselves (they are squeezed to the last drop), but by
pressing it from the non-contributing orders. The King stands engaged
to pretend no more to the power of laying, continuing, or appropriating
taxes; to call the States General periodically; to submit _lettres de
cachet_ to legal restrictions; to consent to freedom of the press; and
that all this shall be fixed by a fundamental constitution, which
shall bind his successors. He has not offered a participation in the
legislature, but it will surely be insisted on. The public mind is
so ripened on all these subjects, that there seems to be now but one
opinion. The clergy, indeed, think separately, and the old men among the
Nobles: but their voice is suppressed by the general one of the
nation. The writings published on this occasion are, some of them, very
valuable; because, unfettered by the prejudices under which the English
labor, they give a full scope to reason, and strike out truths, as
yet unperceived and unacknowledged on the other side the channel.
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