Capable and far-sighted in his foreign policy, ever conciliatory and sometimes daring, M.de Vergennes, timid and weak as he was in home affairs, was nevertheless esteemed: he had often served as a connect ing link between the different elements of the government.

The king gave his place to M.de Montmorin, an honest but insignificant man, without influence in France as well as in Europe.
On the 29th of December, 1786, at the close of the despatch-council, the king at last broke the silence he had so long kept even as regarded the queen herself.

"Gentlemen," he said, "I shall convoke for the 29th of January an assembly composed of persons of different conditions and the best qualified in the state, in order to communicate to them my views for the relief of my people, the ordering of the finances, and the reformation of several abuses." Louis XVI.'s hesitations had disappeared: he was full of hope.

"I have not slept a wink all night," he wrote on the morning of the 30th of December to M.de Calonne, "but it was for joy." The sentiments of the public were very diverse: the court was in consternation.

"What penalty would King Louis XIV.