Against the Parliaments the sentence went forth. Next followed the punishment of individuals:--40,000_l._ a-year, the King’s pension to the Duc d’Orleans, were withdrawn; and soon afterwards the command of the Swiss Guards was taken from Choiseul: it brought him in 5000_l._ a-year, and was for life; but the King demanded his resignation, and perpetual imprisonment would have attended the refusal. Yet that dauntless man dared to stipulate for terms with his master. He insisted on a promise of not being made a prisoner, and demanded an indemnification of what he had paid for the regiment, 300,000 livres. He was comforted with hopes of preserving his liberty; 200,000 livres were granted, and a pension of 50,000 livres a-year for the joint lives of him and the Duchess, to which 10,000 more were soon added,--a fall extremely mitigated by these indulgences, and gentle if compared with the insolence of his conduct. To the city of Paris, and to the ruined counsellors of the Parliaments, the Duke remained still dear. They coupled his cause with their own, from the unity of the time. The Chancellor adopted the same idea to incense the King against both. The depopulation of Paris ensued. So many families were undone by the new edicts and stoppages of payments, and so many persons attached to the late Parliament had quitted the capital, that in less than twelve months one hundred thousand persons were computed to have retired into the provinces, and such as could escape into other countries. The King’s servants were unpaid; trade at a stand; distress and dissatisfaction in every countenance. Daggers threatened the King and Chancellor: the Comptroller-General threatened to plunder everybody else to prevent a national bankruptcy.