The Regent made answer to the Deputies, That they must obey and pay, and that then they would see what could be done. This Answer did not satisfy the uneasy Bretons, and the Parliament of the Province sent their Deputies to Paris. When they were admitted to the King's Audience, M. de Blossac, who was their Spokesman, made much the same Representation as the Deputies of
the Nobility had done before. All the Answer they had was a Declaration from the King, by the Keeper of the Seals, who was present, That the Privileges of their Province should not be infring'd. The same Deputies presented a long Petition to his Majesty, wherein they discover'd not less Love and Respect to the King than Zeal for their Privileges, but still insisted on the Impossibility of paying the Free Gift so soon. These Remonstrances, however, were as ineffectual as those of the States; and the Regent, who was resolv'd to be obey'd, made use of his Authority, by banishing the most mutinous of the Gentry from the Province, and others of 'em he caus'd to be summon'd to Paris, as well as several of their Members of Parliament, in order to give an Account of their Conduct.
Such, Madame, was the State of Affairs when I arriv'd at Paris. There was no Talk of any thing but Disturbances, and every thing seem'd to tend to a Revolt. The Duke Regent, in order to obviate any Enterprize of that sort, thought fit to secure the Soldiery in his Interest; and for this end he caus'd them to be paid punctually, gave Gratuities to the Officers, and to put Feathers in their Caps he made a numerous Promotion of the Knights of St. Lewis. There was a Creation of about four hundred in a few days, so that go where one would, there was nothing to be seen but the Crosses of St. Lewis. It were to be wish'd that the Species had been as common, but of this there was less Probability than ever. The Regent had just undertaken a general Recoinage of the Money, which seem'd to be a Thing of great Consequence to private People. His Royal Highness caus'd the Edict for this purpose to be register'd, and foreseeing that the Parliament would not come
into his Measures, he caus'd the same to be publish'd by the Officers of the Mint. The Parliament was stung to the quick by the Publication of this Edict, and pretended that, in order to its being register'd, it ought to have been first communicated to them. The Chambers met upon this Occasion, and 'twas agreed that all the Sovereign Courts mould be invited to join with the Parliament in an Affair of such Importance.
M. L. C. P. P. D. L. C. D. A. when the Invitation was sent to his Company, took the advantage of it to make his court to the Regent, and went and inquir'd at the Royal Palace how he had best act. The Regent took this well at his hands, and his Royal Highness sent an immediate Prohibition to the Court of Aids, the Chamber of Accounts, and the Officers of the Mint to take any notice of the Parliament's Invitation.
Nevertheless the Parliament still continu'd its Assemblies, and sent a Deputation to the Royal Palace, confiding of the First President, the President d'Aligre, and several Counsellors, to engage the Regent to revoke the aforesaid Edict; and they represented in a very long Discourse, That the Rise of the Species could not but be prejudicial to the French and profitable to Foreigners, who would get sixty Livres by a Mark of Silver, which intrinsically would not be worth twenty five Livres; and that this would circulate an infinite number of counterfeit Species in the Kingdom, considering the immense Profit that Foreigners would make by it. They then complain'd of the Edict's being register'd at the Court of the Mint, and not in the Parliament, to whom it ought, at least, to have been communicated. The Duke Regent made answer to the Deputies,
That he did not think he ought to send the last Edict to the Parliament, because the Court of the Mint was establish'd a superior and competent Court in Matters of that kind; that there had been no Edict sent to Parliament concerning the Mints, since the Year 1659, except one which was sent thither in 1715, out of pure Respect to that Company; that as to the Inconveniencies, he had maturely weighed them, but that he could not excuse himself from issuing the Edict, and that as to the Suspension of the Edict, 'twas not to be thought of, the Work being so far advanc'd, and a great Quantity of Species already given out, besides Debts that must necessarily be paid off.
The Parliament not being satisfy'd with this Answer, there was another Assembly, to the Number of 165 Members, next day, viz. the 20th of June, from 8 o'clock in the Morning till 2 in the Afternoon, when they pass'd an Arrêt, by which it was agreed to make most humble Remonstrances to the King to obtain Letters Patent for censuring the last Edict of the Mint, not register'd in Parliament, as prejudicial to the King, to Trade, to the Government, and to the Fortunes of private People; that in consequence thereof all Persons should be prohibited to receive the new-coin'd Species, and to make Payments in any other Species than those which had their Currency, by virtue of the Edict of 1715, and all Notarys should likewise be prohibited to pass any Act for Payments or Reimbursements made with the new Species. This Arrêt was set up in Writing within the Palais or Parliament-House, and the Parliament took care to have several written Copies of it dispers'd, because of the Prohibition which their
own Printer was laid under, not to commit it to the Press.
The Regent, who was sensible how prejudicial this Arrêt was to his Authority, assembled the Council, when they pass'd an Arrêt declaring that of the Parliament to be an Incroachment upon the Regal Authority, and that his Majesty revok'd and annull'd it, as well as all the Resolutions taken in that Body. All Mankind was alarm'd, and they fear'd, not without Reason, what would be the Consequences of so violent a Proceeding. The Parliament on their part did not abate one jot of their State; and when the King's Council laid upon the Table a Letter de Cachet, with the Arrêt of the Council of State, they agreed to send the Whole back again without reading one Word of it; and that the Arrêt pass'd the day before should be put in execution according to its Form and Tenor. Hereupon the Council of State pass'd another Arrêt, by which the King claim'd to himself and his Council the Cognizance of all the Differences which might arise with regard to the Coin. This done, the Regent sent two Companies of French Guards to the Mint, and another Detachment to the Bank: And after having, by this means, made every thing secure, he gave the Parliament leave to come and make their Remonstrances to the King. The Person who spoke in the Name of the rest was M. de Mesmes the First President, at the Head of seven Presidents a Mortier, thirty-two Counsellors, and the King's Council. His Speech was long and well study'd. He began with extolling the Qualities observable in the young King. Then he said, That tho' the Parliament only wish'd for the Opportunity of coming into his Presence