The work of Richelieu, Mazarin, and Louis XIV.

would be undone; for it would involve an acknowledgment of the right of the people to dictate to the king, and to participate in the government of the nation.

The whole revolutionary contention was vindicated in this act.
The call was issued; and when Louis, in 1789, convoked the States General, he made his last concession to the demands of his subjects.
That almost-forgotten body had not been seen since Richelieu effaced all the auxiliary functions of government.

Nobles, ecclesiastics, and _Tiers Etat_ (or commons) found themselves face to face once more.

The courtly contemptuous nobles, the princely ecclesiastics were unchanged, but there was a new expression in the pale faces of the commons.