hostile parliament by one devoted to power, and subjected to a similar
operation the entire magistracy of France, who were following the example
of that of Paris.

But the time had passed for coups d'etat. The current had set in against
arbitrary rule so decidedly that the king resorted to it with doubt and
hesitation, and even encountered the disapprobation of his court. A new
power had arisen--that of opinion; which, though not recognised, was not
the less influential, and whose decrees were beginning to assume sovereign
authority. The nation, hitherto a nonentity, gradually asserted its
rights, and without sharing power influenced it. Such is the course of all
rising powers; they watch over it from without, before they are admitted
into the government; then, from the right of control they pass to that of
co-operation. The epoch at which the third estate was to share the sway
had at last arrived. It had at former periods attempted to effect this,
but in vain, because its efforts were premature. It was then but just
emancipated, and possessed not that which establishes superiority, and
leads to the acquisition of power; for right is only obtained by might.
Accordingly, in insurrections as in the states-general, it had held but
the third rank; everything was done with its aid, but nothing for it. In
times of feudal tyranny, it had served the kings against the nobles; when
ministerial and fiscal despotism prevailed, it assisted the nobles against
the kings; but, in the first instance, it was nothing more than the
servant of the crown; in the second, than that of the aristocracy. The
struggle took place in a sphere, and on the part of interests, with which
it was reputed to have no connexion. When the nobles were definitively
beaten in the time of the Fronde, it laid down its arms; a clear proof how
secondary was the part it had played.

At length, after a century of absolute submission, it reappeared in the