This speech displayed little knowledge of the wishes of the nation, or it
sought openly to combat them. The dissatisfied assembly looked to M.
Necker, from whom it expected different language. He was the popular
minister, had obtained the double representation, and it was hoped he
would approve of the vote by poll, the only way of enabling the third
estate to turn its numbers to account. But he spoke as comptroller-general
and as a man of caution. His speech, which lasted three hours, was a
lengthened budget; and when, after tiring the assembly, he touched on the
topic of interest, he spoke undecidedly, in order to avoid committing
himself either with the court or the people.

The government ought to have better understood the importance of the
states-general. The restoration of this assembly alone announced a great
revolution. Looked for with hope by the nation, it reappeared at an epoch
when the ancient monarchy was sinking, and when it alone was capable of
reforming the state and providing for the necessities of royalty. The
difficulties of the time, the nature of their mission, the choice of their
members, everything announced that the states were not assembled as tax-
payers, but as legislators. The right of regenerating France had been
granted them by opinion, was devolved on them by public resolutions, and
they found in the enormity of the abuses and the public encouragement,
strength to undertake and accomplish this great task.

It behoved the king to associate himself with their labours. In this way
he would have been able to restore his power, and ensure himself from the
excesses of a revolution, by himself assisting in bringing it about. If,
taking the lead in these changes, he had fixed the new order of things
with firmness, but with justice; if, realizing the wishes of France, he
had determined the rights of her citizens, the province of the states-
general and the limits of royalty; if, on his own part, he had renounced