15991 — Paris, Imprimerie Royale, 1788. 6 pieces bound in one volume. 7, (1) pp.; (8) pp.; 18 pp.; 7, (1) pp.; (4), 505 pp.; 14 pp. 4to. Modern half calf. All original editions. The Assembly of Notables was an advisory body of the Old Regime, including nearly 150 of the most prestigious nobles and public officials of France. The first Assembly of Notables, convened by Louis XVI to approve the last great reform program of the Bourbon monarchy, rejected unexpectedly the most important reforms, initiating the crisis leading to the revolution in 1789. The government's program, conceived by the controller general, C.-A. de Calonne, intended to eliminate the mounting deficit through a combination of financial and institutional reform. A new land tax and provincial assemblees were the centerpieces. Other reforms included the taille (tax on commoners, mainly peasants), a money payment replacing the corvée (peasant road service), a more equitable salt tax (gabelle), free internal trade in grain, and removal of tariff barriers within the national borders. The Notables had several reasons to oppose most of the proposed reforms and close analysis of their debates and of their role in ancien régime society helps to explain why they opposed royal reforms and why their example sparked broader opposition, which succeeded ultimately in undermining the monarchy and forcing it to convene an Estates General in 1789. The major theme in the first Assembly was the nation controlling and participating in government and from the spring of 1787 until the autumn of 1788, calls resounded for the convening of an Estates General and for extending the powers of provincial assemblees. The crown finally succumbed to financial stringency and public pressure and in August 1788 an Estates General was summoned. In the same year, 1788, a second Assembly of Notables was convened with the task of advising the king on procedures for electing the Estates General. During this session, of which the proceedings were edited by P.S. Dupont de Nemours and Hennin, the decision was made to convoke the États-Généraux in 1789 and the rules of the elections were established. The debate centered, among other things, on equal representation for each order and separate deliberation and vote by order. The public demanded the 'doubling of the Third' and 'vote by head', aimed at ensuring greater influence for the Third Estate in the Estates General. These issues dominated debates in 1789, until June, when the three orders merged into a National Assembly, marking the first victory of the Revolution.
