The
States General were opened on the 4th instant, by a speech from the
throne, one by the _Garde des Sceaux_, and one from Mr. Necker. I hope
they will be printed in time to send you herewith: lest they should not,
I will observe, that that of Mr, Necker stated the real and ordinary
deficit to be fifty-six millions, and that he showed that this could
be made up without a new tax, by economies and bonifications which he
specified. Several articles of the latter are liable to the objection,
that they are proposed on branches of the revenue, of which the nation
has demanded a suppression. He tripped too lightly over the great
articles of constitutional reformation, these being not as clearly
announced in this discourse as they were in his _Rapport au Roy_, which
I sent you some time ago. On the whole, his discourse has not satisfied
the patriotic party. It is now, for the first time, that their
revolution is likely to receive a serious check, and begins to wear a
fearful appearance. The progress of light and liberality in the order
of the _Noblesse_ has equalled expectation in Paris only, and its
vicinities.
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