authority should be exercised in their name and on their behalf, in
parliaments of legists.

The states-general, which they convoked on pressing occasions, for the
purpose of obtaining subsidies, and which were composed of the three
orders of the nation, the clergy, the nobility, and the third estate or
commons, had no regular existence. Originated while the royal prerogative
was in progress, they were at first controlled, and finally suppressed by
it. The strongest and most determined opposition the kings had to
encounter in their projects of aggrandizement, proceeded much less from
these assemblies, which they authorized or annulled at pleasure, than from
the nobles vindicating against them, first their sovereignty, and then
their political importance. From Philip Augustus to Louis XI. the object
of all their efforts was to preserve their own power; from Louis XI. to
Louis XIV. to become the ministers of that of royalty. The Fronde was the
last campaign of the aristocracy. Under Louis XIV. absolute monarchy
definitively established itself, and dominated without dispute.

The government of France, from Louis XIV. to the revolution, was still
more arbitrary than despotic; for the monarchs had much more power than
they exercised. The barriers that opposed the encroachments of this
immense authority were exceedingly feeble. The crown disposed of persons
by _lettres de cachet_, of property by confiscation, of the public revenue
by imposts. Certain bodies, it is true, possessed means of defence, which
were termed privileges, but these privileges were rarely respected. The
parliament had that of ratifying or of refusing an impost, but the king
could compel its assent, by a _lit de justice_, and punish its members by
exile. The nobility were exempt from taxation; the clergy were entitled to
the privilege of taxing themselves, in the form of free gifts; some
provinces enjoyed the right of compounding the taxes, and others made the