Since your letter of last December 10, I have not received any others from you; you must have had one from me of February 20, and you will receive through M. Jefferson most of the books that you and Monsieur your grandson desire. MM. Grand must have sent you the bill. M. Grand has been very ill; we were afraid of losing him. He is out of danger now, and getting better and better.

We are finally on the eve of the Estates General. When you were with us, if someone had only said that they were possible, he would have run the risk of sleeping at the Bastille. I do not know the good that they will bring, but at least one can say and print everything now, and no one is imprisoned. The majority of the requests of the different deputations are public; many of them impose the narrowest limits on the Royal authority, and all of them, without exception, demand that before doing anything else, a constitution be established which gives to the nation legislative authority, either conjointly with the King, or independently. This constitution will fix the form of the composition and actions of a permanent Estates General, to occur at fixed and regular intervals, allowing them to assemble without convocation. Furthermore, the requests ask that individual security and property be protected from any danger; that the press should be free, under the warrant of the publisher, who is obliged to put his name on the work to be distributed; and that all forms of exemptions and privileges for the paying of taxes, etc. be abolished. A multitude of other matters are also demanded, like the reform of civil and criminal laws, the responsibilities of the ministers, etc. This is not yet all, but upon these bases, if we are able to establish them, we will reach, not perfection, for which humanity does not allow, but a degree of well-being with which all reasonable men should be contented.

Unfortunately, the prelates and the nobles are not yet moderate enough, [nor] the last ranks well enough informed. The intermediate states, who are perfectly informed, are for this reason odious to the former, and only understood with difficulty by the latter, who are dazzled and blinded by the first rays of a liberty, of which they had no idea, and which inebriates them and renders them incapable of listening to reason. A sense of the civic-mindedness can only establish itself under the influence of a good constitution, but to create the kind of constitution we would need to make laws at the present moment would require a mechanism which can only be a consequence of that constitution. The nobility seems to hold on to the distressing pretension of voting by order and not as an electorate, one man, one vote. This would render useless to the third estate the number of its deputies, which the regulations made equal to that of the first two orders. The third estate wishes, with reason, to deliberate together and to resort to one man, one vote, which is the only way to put the public will in the place of the privileged bodies. It is to be feared that this difficulty will lead to a disastrous schism.

Despite the recent calamities due to the hail, the grain shortage, and the great [?], and although we are in complete anarchy and no one is sure enough to be obeyed on anything, the nation is so peaceful that there are few disorders. The troubles which erupted in Brittany, in Provence where M. de Mirabeau plays a large role, in Dauphiné, and in Franche-Comté, have calmed down by themselves. There were not a hundred men killed in all, and if we arrive at a reasonable constitution, we will obtain a better one perhaps than that of the English, and we will have purchased it at a far lower price than you or them.

Among those who appear in a striking manner, a man has risen up, whom you would perhaps not have suspected; by his position, his rank, his riches, and his independence, he will either cover himself with glory in completing the revolution, or with contempt if he fails to do so or if he leaves it flawed by not upholding the principles that he has officially declared—this is the Duc d'Orléans. He doubtless has great faults, but he has virtues that no one suspected, and that he demonstrated rather well in the latest public calamities. His character, in truth mixed with bizarreness and peculiarity, promises nonetheless to be firm; and the abuse of power which, for the most unjust motives, has deprived him for so long of his liberty, must inspire in him a desire for vengeance that he could not satisfy more delightfully than by reestablishing, as soundly as possible, individual liberty and consequently the liberty of the nation.

Several deputies have not yet arrived, and those from Paris and the surrounding area have not been elected; the opening of the Estates, which should have occurred last Monday, April 27, has been put off until Monday May 4. Meanwhile we have had our fair share of public disturbances. The majority of the assemblies in Paris and the surrounding areas were [quite?] tumultuous, so much so that a large number of them, after having spent a long time clamoring in vain, were obliged to disband, without having begun anything. However they seem to be calming down and heading towards some kind of conclusion, but the masses, especially the workers, either on their own or in the pay of malcontents, have caused great disturbances, pillaged houses, burned furniture, mistreated and even killed individuals. Some troops stationed in the area came to the rescue, and were obliged to fire upon them, and the evening before yesterday, it is believed that there were close to a hundred [killed] and at least as many wounded. Today the calm seems to be re-established. Among the deaths there are twenty-five or thirty who perished in horrible torment while laying waste to a paper manufactory; in the cellars they [found] nitric acid and vitriolic oil, which they drank, mistaking it for wine or liquor.

The emperor has been quite ill and is doing better, but his illness is believed to be incurable. The Dauphin seems to be not far from his end as well.

The whole Chaumont household has dispersed; M. de Ch. is at his estate with his two unmarried daughters. Poor Madame de Ch. is going to court with her husband for a separation of assets. In a few days she is going to live in a convent. The houses in Passy have actually been seized by the creditors.

M. Jefferson will likely bring you this letter, and must come back here after the autumn equinox. I would be distraught if he returned empty-handed and if he did not bring back all, or at least almost all of the memoir that you have so often and so solemnly promised me.

Monday the 4th, the Most Holy St. Sacrament left the Parish of Morts-dame in Versailles, followed by the King, the Queen, all of the Royal family and the court in the greatest pomp, and the deputies of the three orders, each order dressed in a different garb which they kindly accepted on the sole decision of the Grand Master of Ceremonies of France. This procession went to the Parish of St. Louis where there was a Great Mass, sermon, etc., after which each of them, including the Seigneur St. Sacrament, returned separately to their abodes. It was felt that in this august ceremony the Good Lord held a far too subordinate role.

The next day was the opening of the Estates. The King made a speech which was much and sincerely applauded, both for what it contained and for the manner in which the King delivered it. You will, however, find in it several expressions disturbing and which still reek of the old ways. The speech of the keeper of the seals was not heard; M. Necker read or had a speech read for him, which lasted two and three-quarters hours; it has not yet been printed. Meanwhile, it is being judged anyhow as nothing being more fickle, so cruel and so benign.

M. de Mirabeau, deputy of the Estates General for the third estate of Provence, who threatens the most intransigent turbulence, had conceived of proposing a one-page newspaper of the Estates, at a subscription of 3 l.t. a month, which would have appeared daily. The first two were distributed, and there is nothing more licentious and more exaggerated against the enemies of the author, or rather those of whom he is the enemy. They do not think that our heads are sufficiently prepared for so much liberty, and as laws governing the press still exist, the newspaper has been seized. But such clamors, such cries, such maledictions against tyranny!

First difficulty: schism of the Estates. The order of the nobility wishes to examine its powers by itself, without the intervention of the two others, and the Third Estate wants with reason the totality of powers to be examined together. However, opinions are divided among the nobility; 45 voted for the position of the Third Estate; but after this, there was nothing but inactivity and confusion of the King, of M. Necker, of the ministers, and of everyone.

Many troops are arriving in the surrounding areas around Paris, but without causing much disturbance. The current affairs and the high cost of bread are causing such unrest that the people need to be contained.

The deputies of Paris for the Third Estate are not yet named; those for the nobility were named as of this morning. I received a courier from M. the Duc de la Rochefoucauld which informs me that he has been elected second. There are ten of them, M. de Tollendal is one as well, and what is the most pleasing is that M. Deprémenil (?), his implacable adversary, is also deputy of the nobility outside the walls of Paris. M. de Lafayette was elected for a bailiwick of Auvergne, also for the nobility.

M. the Comte d'Artois was elected for the nobility of a bailiwick of Bearn. The [ ] did not think that he could accept, and he refused.

All the deputies from Paris and the surrounding areas were presented to the King and joined to the others.

The same difficulty regarding the examination of powers still remains, however absurd, despite the conciliatory commissioners and the opinion of the clergy which appears to conform to that of the third estate. The nobility, without giving reasonable motives, persists in wanting to be sole judge of the validity of its powers. I dined yesterday at the home of Madame Helvétius with M. Jefferson and the Doctor James, and you can judge that we mainly talked of you.