He had explained his reasons to the king in an intelligent and able note.
"Such a plan," said the comptroller-general, after having unfolded his projects, "demands undoubtedly the most solemn examination and the most authentic sanction.

It must be presented in the form most calculated.
to place it beyond reach of any retardation and to acquire for it unassailable strength by uniting all the suffrages of the nation.

Now, there is nothing but an assembly of notables that can fulfil this aim.
It is the only means of preventing all parliamentary resistance, imposing silence on the clergy, and so clinching public opinion that no special interest dare raise a voice against the overwhelming evidence of the general interest.

Assemblies of notables were held in 1558, in 1583, in 1596, in 1617, and in 1626; none was convoked for objects so important as those in question now, and never were circumstances' more favorable to success; as the situation requires strong measures, so it permits of the employment of strong means." The king hesitated, from instinctive repugnance and the traditions of absolutism, at anything that resembled an appeal to the people.

He was won, however, by the precedent of Henry IV.