Gentlemen, I thought I had done everything in my power for the welfare of my people when I resolved to assemble you, when I surmounted all the difficulties attendant upon your convocation, when I anticipated, so to speak, the will of the nation by manifesting in advance my wishes for its happiness.
          It appeared that you had only to finish my work; and the nation impatiently awaited the moment when, through the concurrence of the beneficent views of its sovereign and the enlightened zeal of its representatives, it could enjoy the prosperity that such a union was to procure for it.
          The Estates General has been in session nearly two months, and it has not yet been able to agree upon the preliminaries of its operations. {90}
          A perfect understanding ought to have resulted from love of the Patrie alone, but a disastrous disunion engenders anxiety in the minds of all. I want to believe and I like to think that Frenchmen have not changed. But, in order to avoid reproaching any of you, I appreciate that the renewal of the Estates General after so long a time, the agitation preceding it, the purpose of this convocation, so different from that which rallied your ancestors, the restriction in powers, and several other circumstances have necessarily occasioned oppositions, debates, and exaggerated claims.
          I owe it to the general welfare of my kingdom and to myself to terminate these calamitous divisions. It is for that purpose, Gentlemen, that I reassemble you about me; it is as the common father of all my subjects, as the defender of the laws of my kingdom, that I come to recount to you the true spirit thereof, and to repress the attacks which have been made upon them.
          But, Gentlemen, after having clearly established the respective rights of the several orders, I expect from the zeal of the first two orders for the Patrie, I expect from their devotion to my person, I expect from their knowledge of the pressing ills of the State, that in matters concerning the general welfare they will be the first to propose a union of opinions and sentiments, which I regard as necessary in the present crisis, and which is to effect the salvation of the State.
 

          1.   The King desires that the former distinction of the three orders of the State be preserved in its entirety as essentially inherent in the constitution of his kingdom; that the deputies, freely elected by each one of the three orders, forming three chambers, deliberating by order, and being able, with the approval of the Sovereign, to agree to {91} deliberate in common, alone be considered as constituting the body of the representatives of the nation. Accordingly, the King has declared void the resolutions made by the deputies of the order of the third estate on the 17th of this month, and all subsequent ones, as illegal and unconstitutional.
          2.   His Majesty declares valid all powers, verified or to be verified in every chamber, upon which no objection has been or may be raised; His Majesty orders that communication respective thereto take place among the orders.
As for powers contested in each order and on which the interested parties might appeal, they shall be enacted, for the present session of the Estates General only, as hereinafter prescribed.
          3.   The King rescinds and annuls, as unconstitutional, contrary to the letters of convocation, and opposed to the interest of the State, restrictions of power, which, by restraining the liberty of deputies to the Estates General, might hinder them from adopting the forms of deliberation taken separately, by order or in common, by separate vote of the three orders.
          4.   If, contrary to the intention of the King, some deputies have taken the rash oath not to deviate from some particular form of deliberation, His Majesty leaves it to their conscience to consider whether the arrangements that he is about to order deviate from the letter or from the spirit of the obligation they have assumed.
          5.   The King permits deputies who believe themselves restrained by their mandates to request their constituents for new authority; but His Majesty enjoins them to remain, meanwhile, in the Estates General, in order to be present at all deliberations on urgent affairs of State, and to give a consultative opinion thereon.
          6.   His Majesty declares that in subsequent sessions of the Estates General he will not permit cahiers or mandates ever to be considered imperative; they must be only simple instructions, entrusted to the conscience and free opinion of the deputies chosen.
          7.   His Majesty, having exhorted the three orders to reassemble for the safety of the State, during this session of Estates only, in order to deliberate in common upon matters of general welfare, wishes to make known his intentions concerning the manner of procedure.
          8.   Matters concerning the ancient and constitutional rights of the three orders, the constitutional form to be given the next Estates General, feudal and seigneurial property, and the useful rights and honorary prerogatives of the first two orders, shall be particularly excepted from those which may be treated in common.{92}
          9.   The special consent of the clergy shall be necessary for all provisions which are of interest to religion, ecclesiastical discipline, and the administration of secular and regular orders and bodies.
          10.  Decisions by the united three orders concerning the contested powers, and on which the interested parties petition the Estates General, shall be determined by majority vote; but if two-thirds of the votes in one of the three orders protest the decision of the assembly, the matter shall be referred to the King in order to be enacted definitively by His Majesty.
          11.  If, with a view to facilitating the union of the three orders, they desire that decisions in common be determined only by a two-thirds majority, His Majesty is disposed to authorize such a procedure.
          12.  If one hundred members of the assembly request it, matters decided in the assemblies of the three orders united shall be reconsidered on the following day.
          13.  The King desires that, under such circumstances, in order to effect conciliation, the three chambers separately begin the appointment of a commission composed of as many deputies as they deem suitable, to arrange the form and disposition of the conference bureaux which are to deal with the divers matters.
          14.  The general assembly of deputies of the three orders shall be presided over by presidents chosen by each one of the orders, according to their customary rank.
          15.  Good order, decency, and the very liberty of suffrage require that His Majesty prohibit, as he expressly does, that any person, other than the members of the three orders composing the Estates General, be present at their deliberations, whether they hold them in common or separately.
 

          I wish also, Gentlemen, to draw your attention to the diverse benefits I am granting my people. I do not wish to limit your zeal to the sphere that I am about to indicate, for I shall adopt with pleasure whatever other suggestions regarding public welfare may be proposed by the Estates General. I can say, without self-deception, that never has a king done so much for any one nation; but what other nation has been more deserving because of its sentiments than the French nation! I am not afraid to say it: those who, by exaggerated pretensions or {93} irrelevant objections, would still retard the effect of my paternal intentions, would render themselves unworthy of being regarded as Frenchmen.
 

          1.   No new tax shall be established, no old one extended beyond the term stated by law, without the consent of the representatives of the nation.
          2.   Newly established taxes, or old ones which have been extended, shall be effective only until the next session of the Estates General.
          3.   Since loans may become the necessary occasion for increasing taxes, none shall be contracted without the consent of the Estates General, upon condition always that, in case of war or other national danger, the Sovereign have the power to borrow, without delay, to the amount of 100,000,000; for it is the King’s formal intention never to make the safety of the State dependent upon anyone.
          4.   The Estates General shall examine carefully the state of the finances, and shall request all information necessary to inform it completely thereon.
          5.   The statement of revenues and expenditures shall be made public annually, in a form proposed by the Estates General and approved by His Majesty.
          6.   The sums assigned to each and every department [of the Government] shall be determined invariably, and the King submits to this general rule even the funds destined for the maintenance of his household. {94}
          7.   In order to assure this stability of the divers expenditures of the State, the King desires that suitable provisions be recommended therefore by the Estates General; His Majesty will adopt them if they are in accord with royal dignity and the indispensable dispatch of public service.
          8.   The representatives of a nation faithful to the laws of honor and integrity will make no attack upon public confidence, and the King expects them to assure and strengthen the confidence of creditors of the State in the most incontestable manner.
          9.   When the formal intentions announced by the clergy and the nobility of renouncing their pecuniary privileges have been realized through their deliberations, the King intends to sanction them, and proposes that no privileges or distinctions shall exist henceforth in the payment of pecuniary taxes.
          10.  In order to indorse such an important resolution, the King desires that the name of taille be abolished in his kingdom, and that said impost be combined with either the vingtième or any other territorial assessment, or, finally, that it be replaced in some manner, but always in just and equal proportion and without distinction of status, rank, or birth.
          11.  The King desires that the right of franc-fief be abolished as soon as the revenues and fixed expenditures of the State are equally balanced.
          12.  All property, without exception, shall be respected at all times, and His Majesty expressly includes under the name of property the tithes, cens,[1] rentes, feudal and seigneurial rights and duties, and, in general, all rights and prerogatives, useful or honorary, connected with lands and fiefs or appertaining to persons.
          13.  The first two orders of the State shall continue to enjoy exemption from personal obligations; but the King is willing that the Estates General apply itself to providing means of converting such obligations into pecuniary contributions, and, this accomplished, that all orders of the State be equally subject thereto.
          14.  His Majesty intends to determine, upon the advice of the Estates General, what positions and offices shall henceforth preserve the privilege of conferring and transmitting nobility. Nevertheless, according to the right inherent in his crown, His Majesty will grant patents of nobility to those of his subjects who, by services rendered the King and the State, show themselves worthy of such reward.
          15.  The King, wishing to assure permanently the individual liberty of all citizens, invites the Estates General to seek for and to propose {95} to him the most suitable means of reconciling the abolition of the warrants known as lettres de cachet with the maintenance of public security and the precautions necessary to safeguard the honor of families in certain cases, to repress promptly the first indications of sedition, and to guarantee the State against the effects of criminal correspondence with foreign powers.
          16.  The Estates General shall investigate and make known to His Majesty the most suitable means of reconciling liberty of the press with the respect due religion, morals, and the honor of citizens.
          17.  In the several provinces or généralités of the kingdom, provincial Estates shall be established, composed in the ratio of two-tenths clergy, some of whom will necessarily be chosen from the episcopal order, three-tenths nobility, and five-tenths third estate.
          18.  The members of such provincial Estates shall be freely elected by their respective orders, and property shall be a prerequisite for electors and eligibles.
          19.  The deputies to said provincial Estates shall deliberate in common upon all matters; according to the usage observed in the provincial assemblies, which the said Estates shall replace.
          20.  An intermediate commission, chosen by the said Estates, shall administer the affairs of the province during the interval between sessions; and such intermediate commissions, alone responsible for their administration, shall have as delegates persons chosen only by them, or by the provincial Estates.
          21.  The Estates General shall propose to the King its views on all other aspects of the internal organization of the provincial Estates, and on the choice of forms applicable to the election of members of such assemblies.
          22.  Apart from the administrative matters for which the provincial assemblies are responsible, the King will entrust the provincial Estates with the administration of hospitals, prisons, poorhouses, foundling hospitals, the supervision of the expenditures of cities, the superintendence of the maintenance of forests, the custody and sale of wood, and other matters that might be more usefully administered by the provinces.
          23.  Disputes occurring in provinces where former Estates exist, and objections raised against the establishment of such assemblies, will have to be considered by the Estates General; it shall inform His Majesty of just and wise provisions suitable for the establishment of permanent order in the administration of said same provinces.
          24.  The King invites the Estates General to direct its efforts {96} towards seeking appropriate means of turning his domains to most advantageous account, and likewise to propose to him its views on suitable action relative to indentured domains.
          25.  The Estates General shall concern itself with the project, conceived long since by His Majesty, of transferring customhouses to the frontiers of the kingdom, in order that the most perfect freedom may prevail in the internal circulation of national or foreign merchandise.
          26.  His Majesty desires that the unfortunate effects of the tax on salt [la gabelle] and the importance of such revenue be carefully discussed, and that, in all postulations, at least means of mitigating the collection thereof be proposed.
          27.  His Majesty desires also that the advantages and disadvantages of the rights of aides and other imposts be carefully examined, but without losing sight of the absolute necessity of assuring an exact balance between the revenues and the expenditures of the State.
          28.  According to the wish manifested by the King in his declaration of 23 September last, His Majesty will give serious attention to projects presented to him relative to the administration of justice, and to means of perfecting the civil and criminal laws.
          29.  The King desires that the laws promulgated during the session, and according to the advice or desire of the Estates General, experience no delay or impediment in their registration and execution throughout his kingdom.
          30.  His Majesty desires that the use of the corvée for the construction and maintenance of roads be abolished in his kingdom entirely and forever.
          31.  The King desires that the abolition of the right of mainmorte, the example of which His Majesty has given in his domains, be extended to all France, and that means be proposed for providing the indemnity due seigneurs who possess such right.
          32.  His Majesty will apprise the Estates General immediately of the regulations which he is preparing for the restriction of capitaineries, thus giving, in this connection, which pertains more closely to his personal enjoyment, a new proof of his love for his people.
          33.  The King invites the Estates General to consider all aspects of the drafting of militia, and to devise means of reconciling what is due the defence of the State with the alleviations which His Majesty wishes to procure for his subjects.
          34.  The King desires that all provisions of public order and {97} beneficence authorized by His Majesty on behalf of his people during the present session of the Estates General, among others those relative to personal liberty, equality of taxation, and the establishment of provincial Estates, never be changed without the consent of the three orders given separately. His Majesty classifies them, in anticipation, with national property, which, like all other property, he wishes to place under the most assured protection.
          35. His Majesty, having called upon the Estates General to concern itself, in concert with him, with important matters of public welfare, and with whatever may contribute to the happiness of his people, declares most expressly that he wishes to preserve completely, and without the slightest impairment, the institution of the army, and every authority, police, and power over the military that French monarchs have continually enjoyed.

[1] The cens was a tax placed upon those who wished to become electors.
 

          Gentlemen, you have just heard the substance of my intentions and opinions; they are consistent with my earnest desire to effectuate the public weal; and if, by a calamity remote from my mind, you abandon me in so worthy an undertaking, alone I will effect the happiness of my people, alone I will consider myself their true representative; and knowing your cahiers, knowing the perfect accord that exists between the most generous wish of the nation and my beneficent intentions, I shall have all the confidence which so rare a harmony must create, and, with all the courage and resolution that it must inspire in me, I will advance towards the goal I desire to achieve.
          Consider, Gentlemen, that none of your projects, none of your resolutions can have the force of law without my special approval. {98}
          Thus, I am the natural guarantor of your respective rights; and all the Orders of the State may rely upon my equitable impartiality. Any distrust on your part would be a great injustice. It is I who, hitherto, have accomplished everything for the happiness of my people; and it is doubtless rare that the only ambition of a sovereign is to reach an understanding with his subjects so that at last they may accept his benefits.
          I order you, Gentlemen, to separate immediately, and to go tomorrow morning to the chambers allotted to your respective orders to resume your sessions. Accordingly, I order the Grand Master of Ceremonies to have the halls prepared.