The first decree of _the National Assembly_ was an act of sovereignty. It
placed the privileged classes under its dependence, by proclaiming the
indivisibility of the legislative power. The court remained to be
restrained by means of taxation. The assembly declared the illegality of
previous imposts, voted them provisionally, as long as it continued to
sit, and their cessation on its dissolution; it restored the confidence of
capitalists by consolidating the public debt, and provided for the
necessities of the people, by appointing a committee of subsistence.

Such firmness and foresight excited the enthusiasm of the nation. But
those who directed the court saw that the divisions thus excited between
the orders had failed in their object; and that it was necessary to resort
to other means to obtain it. They considered the royal authority alone
adequate to prescribe the continuance of the orders, which the opposition
of the nobles could no longer preserve. They took advantage of a journey
to Marly to remove Louis XVI. from the influences of the prudent and
pacific counsels of Necker, and to induce him to adopt hostile measures.
This prince, alike accessible to good and bad counsels, surrounded by a
court given up to party spirit, and entreated for the interests of his
crown and in the name of religion to stop the pernicious progress of the
commons, yielded at last, and promised everything. It was decided that he
should go in state to the assembly, annul its decrees, command the
separation of the orders as constitutive of the monarchy, and himself fix
the reforms to be effected by the states-general. From that moment the
privy council held the government, acting no longer secretly, but in the
most open manner. Barentin, the keeper of the seals, the count d'Artois,
the prince de Conde, and the prince de Conti conducted alone the projects
they had concerted. Necker lost all his influence; he had proposed to the
king a conciliatory plan, which might have succeeded before the struggle
attained this degree of animosity, but could do so no longer. He had