Brienne, to whom office had been the chief object of life, who with, the
difficulties of his position combined slenderness of means attempted
everything, and succeeded in nothing. His mind was active, but it wanted
strength; and his character rash without firmness. Daring, previous to
action, but weak afterwards, he ruined himself by his irresolution, want
of foresight, and constant variation of means. There remained only bad
measures to adopt, but he could not decide upon one, and follow that one;
this was his real error.

The assembly of notables was but little submissive and very parsimonious.
After having sanctioned the establishment of provincial assemblies, a
regulation of the corn trade, the abolition of corvees, and a new stamp
tax, it broke up on the 25th of May, 1787. It spread throughout France
what it had discovered respecting the necessities of the throne, the
errors of the ministers, the dilapidation of the court, and the
irremediable miseries of the people.

Brienne, deprived of this assistance, had recourse to taxation, as a
resource, the use of which had for some time been abandoned. He demanded
the enrolment of two edicts--that of the stamps and that of the
territorial subsidies. But parliament, which was then in the full vigour
of its existence and in all the ardour of its ambition, and to which the
financial embarrassment of the ministry offered a means of augmenting its
power, refused the enrolment. Banished to Troyes, it grew weary of exile,
and the minister recalled it on condition that the two edicts should be
accepted. But this was only a suspension of hostilities; the necessities
of the crown soon rendered the struggle more obstinate and violent. The
minister had to make fresh applications for money; his existence depended
on the issue of several successive loans to the amount of four hundred and
forty millions. It was necessary to obtain the enrolment of them.