1
:
ARTES
1837
SCIENTIA
LIBRARY
VERITAS
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
E-PLURIBUS UNUM
BO
QUAERIS PENINSULAM AMOENAM
CIRCUMSPICE
八​人
​1
فا
1 Me 3 to
DC
146
M7
A z 2 3
SPEECHES
OF
M. DE MIRABEA U.
*
Darabean, Honore Stabriel Bequette, crute de
SPEECHES
O F
5-613-6
M. DE M
MIRABEAU
THE ELDER,
PRONOUNCED IN THE
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
OF FRANCE.
TO WHICH IS PREFIXED,
A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND CHARACTER.
I have been, I am, I will be to my grave, the man of public liberty,
the man of the conftitution. Woe to the privileged orders, if privileges
conſtitute the man of the people, and not rather the man of the nobles;
for privileges fhall have an end, but the people is eternal. MIRABEAU.
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH EDITION OF M. MEJAN.
BY JAMES WHITE, Esq.
LON D O N:
PRINTED FOR J. DEBRETT, OPPOSITE BURLINGTON-
HOUSE, PICCADILLY.
M.DCC.XCII.
All DC 3 19 34
CONTENT S.
FIRST Speech to prevail on the Commons
to conſtitute themſelves under the Title of
Repreſentatives of the People of France
Second Speech on the fame Subject
Answer to the Grand Master of the Cere-
monies
Decree declaring the Inviolability of the
Members of the National Aſſembly
Speech on the Motion for an Address to the
Page.
38
66
68
King, to entreat him to difmifs the Troops 69
Addreſs to the King
The King's Anſwer
Speech on the King's Anfwer
Speech to the third Deputation intended to be
92
103
106
Sent to request the Difmiffion of the Troops 112
I
Addres
CONTENTS.
Addrefs to the King, requesting the Difmiffion
agea
of his Minifters
Speech on the fame Subject
Speech on the Royal Sanction
First Speech on Ecclefiaftical Property
Second Speech on the ſame Subject
Anfwer to the Proteft made in the Name of
the Prelates and the Nobles poffeffing Fiefs
in Provence
115
131
141
182
210
261
PREFACE.
THE Speeches of M. de Mi-
rabeau, here preſented to the
public, and which are an extract
from a voluminous collection,
may be conſidered as having
gained, rather than loft, by tranſ-
lation; fince they are now
adopted into a language which,
for ages, hath been the language
of liberty.
Few
(
ii
PREFACE.
Few literary operations are
more delightful than that of na-
turalizing a noble piece of elo-
quence, and diſplaying, in their
full luftre, the ftrength and
beauty of the original.
•
Whether I have done this
juſtice to the celebrated French
patriot, the judgment of the
reader muft determine. But,
even if I have not, there will be
found, in the ideas and fenti-
ments of Mirabeau, a recom-
penſe for the trouble of perufing
the following pages.
Mirabeau is, in my mind, an
orator
PREFACE.
iii
orator of the firſt rank. He ap-
pcars to me to be, in many parts
of his orations, highly Cicero-
nian, and, in ſome paragraphs,
even towers to a pitch of ſplen-
dour and fublimity, which ſeems
to equalize him with Demofthenes.
(The period quoted in the title-
page is fuch a one as Demofthenes
might have gloried in deliver-
ing.) I think I find in him, at
times, the fatirical energy of
Grattan, the imperious logic of
Flood, the grand and irreſiſtible
enthuſiaſm of Chatham.
If, as Cicero ſo juſtly obſerves,
h
the
iv
PREFACE.
the whole buſineſs of an orator
is compriſed in theſe three
points, to inform, to pleaſe, to
agitate, docere, delectare, permovere;
the laft of which, he affirms, is
infinitely the moſt important, M.
de Mirabeau is an orator in the
completeſt ſenſe. The two for-
mer of theſe three qualities, in-
fifts the Roman orator, are of
little avail without the third;
but the third, without the for-
mer two, is very frequently ade-
quate to the acquifition of vic-
tory.
Had Mirabeau been a mere
man
PREFACE.
man of argument, or had he been
only a pretty ſpeaker, he never
could have fo powerfully in-
fluenced the French nation, as
we know he did. Like De-
mofthenes, he spoke to the feel-
ings of his fellow-citizens, as
well as to their reafon: while he
informed their underſtandings,
he animated their hearts.
It is this two-edged eloquence.
which kindles up the ardent and
perfevering ſpirit in great af
femblies, elevates the public
foul, leads to virtuous revolu-
tion, and purifies political fo-
ciety.
b 2
vi
PREFACE
ciety. It is this which difcom-
fits court-favourites, overthrows
adminiſtrations, ſeats integrity at
the council-table, and gives ca-
pacity her due place. I hope
that none of my readers will fuf-
pect me of wiſhing to infinuate
that revolution is requifite in
this country. Some things there
are, at leaſt in our ecclefiafti-
cal œconomy, wnich, doubtleſs,
might be put in a condition
more confiftent with reaſon,
with found policy, with huma-
nity, with religion---but we re-
quire no revolution.
The
1
PREFACE.
vii
The French editor of The
Labours of M. de Mirabeau at the
National Affembly (for ſuch is the
title of the book from which
theſe ſpeeches have been ex-
tracted) acquaints us, in his ad-
vertiſement to the reader, that
Mirabeau was ſometimes faulty
in his ftyle.
CC
Mirabeau," fays he, "for the
"moſt part fpoke extempore;
and, indeed, his thoughts
"ruſhed upon him fo rapidly,
"that he gave himſelf little
CC
66
concern as to the elegance
and purity of the words in
b 3
"which
viii
PREFA C E.
"which he clothed them. It
"was fufficient for him that they
were expreffive. I have ſcru-
pulouſly preferved the inaccu-
"racies of Mirabeau. They are
"the fruit of genius; they will
"inſtruct orators yet unborn."
It does not appear to me, how
the inaccuracies of any orator,
or any author, can prove a mo-
del for the inftruction of others.
If Homer ſometimes happens to
nod, it does not follow, that
thoſe who defire to excel in
poetry ſhould taŝe pains to nod.
For my part, I have taken one
liberty
PREFACE.
ix
liberty with M. de Mirabeau;
which is, that, where he ſeemed
to be deficient in dignity of ex-
preffion, I have endeavoured to
help him to that mode of ſpeech
which he himſelf would, in all
likelihood, have wiſhed to uſe,
had he been ſpeaking in our lan-
guage, to that mode of ſpeech
which he would have fnatched
at, if, at the moment, it had been
whiſpered to him by a col-
league. Wherever this liberty
hath been taken, I have been
careful to give, in the margin,
the expreffions made uſe of in
b 4
the
X
PREFACE.
f
the original. This, I thought,
might not prove unacceptable
to fuch of my readers as culti-
vate the French tongue. Nay,
in one or two places, where
there is little or no variation
from the original, but where the
native words of Mirabeau are
forcible, I have fubjoined a mar-
ginal quotation of them.
The introductory paragraphs
of the French editor to the feve-
ral ſpeeches, with his notes, and
thofe of M. de Mirabeau, will,
it is hoped, appear to be no un-
neceffary addition.
As
PREFACE.
xi
As the character of the French
patriot hath been the object of
much ſeverity, in this kingdom,
as well as on the continent, let
me conclude this preface with
the following paffages from the
Preliminary Diſcourſe of his edi-
tor, M. Mejan. Perhaps they
are written with the partiality
of a friend; unquestionably
with the animation of a French-
man.
"I am about to ſpeak of Mi-
rabeau, of that man fo calum-
niated, fo hated, fo adored; of
that man ſo juſtly celebrated, on
this
xii
PREFA CE.
this ſingle account, that he could
at once merit calumny, hatred,
and adoration; of that man,
whoſe writings, whoſe actions,
whoſe words, were invariably fo
many benefits conferred on hu-
man kind; of that man, in fine,
of whom it may be faid, with
more truth than he himſelf faid
of his father: HE WAS NOT
ONLY
SERVICEABLE TO HIS
COUNTRY, BUT WAS ALSO A
RESPECTABLE CITIZEN OF THE
WORLD.
"And Mirabeau is dead!
Which of my readers will not
at
PREFACE.
xiii
at this moment ſay to himſelf :
The lofs which France, which
the world hath juſt ſuſtained, is
immenſe, irreparable!
Yes, affuredly, it is irrepa-
rable: it is particularly ſo for
thoſe who were intimately ac-
quainted with that univerſal le-
giflator.
"How mild and candid was
that heart, which envy hath
taken a pleaſure in repreſenting
in the blackeft colours! Men of
letters, who, neglected by for-
tune, have had accefs to Mira-
beau, let me afk you, is there
one
xiv
PREFACE
1
one amongſt you whofe efforts
he did not encourage, whoſe
wants he did not prevent, did
not fatisfy? Men of obſcurity,
who have preſented yourſelves
before him in the facred garb of
adverſity, with what refpectful
zeal did he not haften to hear
your ftory! Hear your ftory,
did I fay? He had done every
thing for you, before you
had yet
opened your lips! Men defti-
tute of principle *, who, alter-
nately
*In the original, hommes facrilèges. The reader
is to underſtand that the author of the above paffages
affects to confider his friend as one of thofe inter-
mediate
PREFACE.
XV
nately flatterers and villains, ap-
proached him only that you
might be able, afterwards, to
fhew yourſelves his detractors
with more fuccefs and more au-
dacity, you know full well, that
not one of your vile artifices
eſcaped his obſervation: let me
afk you, did his countenance
ever lower at the fight of you?
Did reproach ever iffue from
his lips? You held out the hand
to him; he confidered you as
mediate beings, who are fuppofed to be placed be,
tween the Creator and the creature, to facilitate the
intercourfe between heaven and earth. The ancients
ftyled them Demi-gods.
7
peni-
xvi
PREFACE.
1
penitent: to be beloved was
his firſt object: you ſmiled, and
he forgot all your crimes.
"O my friend! (for thou
waſt my friend, great as the dif-
tance was at which nature had
placed me from thee)-O my
friend! bitter are the tears I fhed
while ſpeaking of thy foul!-
I knew it! And who is he that
could have approached thee for
a ſingle moment, and not know
the precious value of thy foul?
Indubitably, thou didft poffefs,
in the higheſt degree, the diffi-
cult ſcience of mankind: and
yet
PREFACE.
xvii
yet thy heart, ftill more imperial
than thy underſtanding, bade
thee confider as ſo many friends
all thoſe beings, whether ſtately
or forlorn, philofophers or men
of the world, whom thy glory,
thy talents, and thy renown,
attracted in eager multitudes
around thee*.
66
Mirabeau is dead!_Never
did he know what it was to take
* Mirabeau one day came from the National Af-
fembly, accompanied by the Abbé Sieyes. On the
terrace of the Feuillans the people furrounded Mira-
beau, and hailed him with fhouts of applaufe, gra-
titude, and joy.-Live, live for ever, thou Hercules of
liberty!-Mirabeau anfwered, Here is Thefeus, point-
ing to his illuſtrious friend.
4
revenge;
xviii
PREFACE.
revenge; never did he refuſe
to put his truft in friendſhip;
never did he repulfe misfortune;
never did he flatter kings; never
did he ceaſe to be the defender
of nations. Nations, philofo-
phers, kings, LAMENT!"
SPEECHES
OF
M. DE MIRABEAU.
JUNE, 15, 1789.
ALREADY had the nobility and the
clergy been, for the laſt time, invited to
repair to the hall of the National Affem-
bly; the deputies of all the bailiwicks had
been fummoned; the nobles and the ec-
clefiaftics had neglected to appear, except-
ing ſeven or eight members of the latter
order. The powers of the deputies of
B
the
2
SPEECHES OF
the commons, then, had been verified,
and nothing further was wanting than that
thefe deputies ſhould form themſelves into
fuch an affembly as correfponded with the
dignity of their commiffion.
The Abbé Sieyes was of opinion, that
they fhould conftitute themſelves under
the title of Aſſembly of the acknowledged
and verified Reprefentatives of the French
Nation.
First Speech of M. DE MIRABEAU to perfuade
the Commons to conſtitute themſelves under the
title of Reprefentatives of the People of France.
GENTLEMEN,
"I HAVE never been lefs capable,
than on this day, to difcufs an important
queſtion in your prefence. Attacked, for
thefe
M. DE MIRABEAU.
3
theſe ſeveral days, by an obftinate fever,
which at this very moment torments me,
I folicit much indulgence for what I am
going to ſay: if my heart ſpeaks to your
hearts, your vigour will fupply the place
of mine; but I make bold, at the fame
time, to requeft your profound attention
to the ftring of refolutions which I fhall
have the honour to lay before
you. The
reſult of mature reflection, and drawn up
at a more favourable juncture, they are
now ſubmitted to your wiſdom with more
confidence than the few words which I
am attempting to ftammer out.
"We feem to be on the point of depart-
ing from that circle within which your
wiſdom hath ſo long circumfcribed itſelf.
If, with an uncommon degree of firmneſs,
you have perfevered in a fyftem of political
inaction, a fyftem extravagantly decried
B 2
by
}
4
SPEECHES OF
by thoſe who were deeply intereſted in
leading you to adopt wrong meaſures, it
was to allow time for calming the tumult
in the breaſts of men, and for the friends
of the public welfare to ſecond the views
of juſtice and reafon; it was in order to
affure yourſelves the more ftrongly, that,
even in the purfuit of excellence, you
would confine yourſelves within bounds;
in a word, it was in order to diſplay a mo-
deration which is particularly the con-
comitant of courage, or rather without
which there is no courage truly durable
and invincible.
"Time, however, hath glided away;
the pretenfions, the ufurpations of the two
orders have augmented; your prudent tar-
dineſs hath been interpreted as weakneſs;
and hopes have been entertained, that
wearinefs, reſtleffneſs, public mifery, un-
ceaſingly
M. DE MIRABEAU.
5
ceaſingly aggravated by circumſtances al-
moſt unheard-of, would extort from you
ſome meaſure ſtampt with raſhneſs, or pu-
fillanimity. This, then, is the moment for
reanimating your hearts, and ſtriking your
adverfaries with awe, with fear, I had al-
moſt faid with terror, by manifefting, in
the very commencement of your opera-
tions, the forecaſt of policy, in conjunction
with the mild but unſhakeable ſway of
reafon *
"There is not one of you, gentlemen,
who is not aware how eaſy it would be,
this day, by a vehement harangue, to pre-
vail on you to come to extremities in your
refolutions; fo evident are your rights, fo
plain and ſimple your requifitions, and ſo
manifeftly irregular are the proceedings of
* La prévoyance de l'habilité jointe à la fermeté
douce de la raiſon.
B 3
the
6
SPEECHES OF
the two orders, fo untenable their princi
ples, that the parallel would go far beyond
the public expectation.
"That, in circumftances where the
king himſelf hath acknowledged the ne-
ceffity of giving France a fixed form of go-
vernment, that is to ſay, a conftitution,
they ſhould oppoſe to his will, and to the
wiſhes of the people, the antique preju-
dices, the Gothic oppreffion of
ages funk
in barbariſm; that, at the cloſe of the
eighteenth century, a faction of citizens
ſhould unmaſk and purſue the project of
replunging us in that barbariſm, claim the
right of arreſting every thing in its pro-
grefs, when every thing ought to proceed,
that is to ſay, of governing every thing in
their own way, and dignify this mad pre-
tenfion with the name of property; that
fome perfons, fome characters belonging
to
M. DE MIRABEAU.
7
to the three eftates, fhould, becauſe in mo→
dern language they have been ſtyled or
ders, fhameleſsly oppofe to the general in
tereft the magic of that unmeaning ex-
preffion, without deigning to diffemble
that their private interefts are at open en-
mity with that general intereft; that they
ſhould defire to bring back the people of
France to thofe forms which claffed the
nation into two diſtinct kinds of men, the
oppreffors and the oppreffed; that they
ſhould ſtruggle to perpetuate a pretended
conſtitution, where a fingle word, pro-
nounced by a hundred and fifty-one in-
dividuals, might ſhackle the king and four-
and-twenty millions of men; a conftitu-
tion where two orders, which are neither
the people nor the prince, employ the ſe-
cond to conſtrain the firſt, the firſt to in-
timidate the ſecond, and circumſtances to
anni-
В 4
8
SPEECHES OF
annihilate every thing that belongs not to
themſelves; that, in fine, while you are
teſtifying no principles, no object, but the
profperity of the whole, rather than rivet
on yourſelves the fetters of the ariftocracy,
they ſhould loudly invoke the aid of mi-
nifterial defpotifm, under the notion that,
by cabal, they can at any time cauſe it to
degenerate into minifterial anarchy-is un-
queſtionably the higheſt pitch of arrogant
ſtupidity; and it is unneceffary for me to
colour this faint ſketch, in order to de-
monſtrate that the divifion of the orders,
that the veto of the orders, that debate and
deliberation by ſeparate orders, were a truly
fublime invention for conftitutionally eſta-
bliſhing a dictatorial and overbearing in-
fluence in the priesthood *, pride in the ari-
* L'égoifme dans le facerdoce.
ftocracy,
M. DE MIRABEAU.
9
ftocracy, meanneſs of ſpirit in the people,
a univerſal diviſion of intereſts, corruption
in all the claſſes which compoſe the great
family, cupidity in every heart, infigni-
ficance in the nation, fubjection in the
prince, and defpotiſm in the miniſtry.
"What conclufion, gentlemen, are we
to draw from theſe melancholy truths?
The neceffity for redoubling your wiſdom
and perſeverance, in order to come at a
conftitution which may extricate us from
fo deplorable a condition, and to propor-
tion our emulation and our exertions to
the difficulties attending an enterpriſe un-
doubtedly fublime, yet fimple, and which
requires only a concurrence of abilities and
inclinations; for to reaſon, in its emanci-
pated and improved ſtate, hath nature com-
mitted the eternal deſtiny of all human fo-
cieties; and reafon alone can make laws
that
10
SPEECHES OF
that are obligatory and durable; and rea-
fon and laws alone ſhould govern mankind
in fociety.
"Far, then, from difcouraging our-
felves, gentlemen, let us hope, and proceed
with firm fteps towards an object which
cannot eſcape us,
"But all gentle means are exhauſted;
all conference is at end; nothing now re-
mains but meaſures which are decifive,
and, perhaps, extreme.-Extreme! No,
gentlemen, juftice and truth are ever
found in a wife medium: extremities are
never reſorted to but in the laſt efforts of
deſpair; and who can reduce the people
of France to fuch a condition?
"We muſt conftitute ourſelves, we are
all agreed upon that point; but how? un-
der what form, under what denomina-,
tion?
"As
M. DE MIRABEAU.
11
"As States-General ?—The term would
be improper; you are all fenfible of that:
it ſuppoſes three orders, three eftates; and
certainly thoſe three orders are not here.
"Would any propoſe that we ſhould
conſtitute ourſelves under fome other de-
nomination, fynonimous to that of States-
General? My conftant queftion then
would be: Are you to have the royal
fanction? And can you do without it?
Can the authority of the monarch fleep
but for an inſtant? Muſt he not give his
concurrence to your decree, were it only
in order to be bound by it? And though,
contrary to all principles, it fhould be de-
nied that his fanction was neceffary to ren-
der
every exterior act of this affembly obli-
gatory, will he give to the ſubſequent de-
crees a fanction which is admitted to be
indiſpenſable, when they proceed from a
form
I 2
SPEECHES OF
form of conſtitution which he refuſes to
acknowledge?
“Are you
fure of the approbation of
your conftituents? You are not to ima-
gine that the people takes an intereſt in
the metaphyſical difcuffions which hi-
therto have agitated this affembly. They
poffefs more importance than will, doubt-
lefs, be ascribed to them: they develope
and are the confequence of the principle
of the national repreſentation, the baſis of
the whole conſtitution. But the people
is yet far, very far, from underſtanding
the ſyſtem of its own rights, and the found
theory of liberty. The people pants for
relief, fince it hath no longer ftrength for
fufferance; the people ſhakes off oppref-
fion, fince it is no longer able to breathe
under the horrible burthen which is cruſh-
ing it: but all it aſks, is, to pay only what it
is
M. DE MIRABEAU.
13
is able to pay, and to bear its mifery un-
diſturbedly. We, undoubtedly, ought to
entertain more elevated views, and form
wiſhes more worthy of men who afpire
to liberty: but we must accommodate our-
felves to circumſtances, and avail ourſelves
of the inftruments which deſtiny hath en-
trufted to us.
It is then only that your
operations will directly reach the chief in-
tereſts of thoſe who are fubject to contri-
butions*, a claſs the moſt uſeful and the
moft unfortunate; it is then only that you
may rely on their fupport, that you will
be inveſted with the irreſiſtible power of
public opinion, and will find the confi-
dence and attachment of the people to you
unlimited. Until that happens, it will be
but too eafy to create divifions amongſt
* Contribuables.
them
14
SPEECHES OF
them by tranſitory fuccours, by occafional
donatives, by wild accufations, and by the
fecret machinations of the courtiers. It is
but too eafy to induce the people to fell the
conftitution for bread.
"In fine, is the principle unqueftion-
ably in
your favour? We are all here af-
fembled under the mode of convocation
given us by the king. Indubitably you
may and ought to change it hereafter,
when your powers fhall be brought into
action: but can you do it at preſent?
do it before you are conſtituted?
Can you
Can you
do it at the time when you are
conftituting yourſelves? By what right
would you at preſent tranfgrefs the limits
of your title? Are you not fummoned un-
der the name of States? Hath not the
provifional act of legiſlation fuppofed three
orders, although it hath convened them in
I
one
M. DE MIRABEAU.
15
one affembly? Are you authoriſed by your
inſtructions to declare yourſelves the af-
fembly of the only reprefentatives acknow-
ledged and confirmed? And do not ſay,
that the ſituation in which you find your-
felves was not foreſeen; it was but too
well foreſeen, fince fome of
your inftruc-
tions, luckily a very few, enjoin you to
withdraw, if it fhould be found impoffible
to come to a deliberation in common with
the other orders; while there is not one
which authoriſes you to call yourſelves
the only reprefentatives acknowledged and
confirmed. It will not, then, be fufficient
that you give yourſelves this title, in order
to enjoy the effect of it, and to be confi-
déred as legally invefted with it.
"But ſhould you happen to receive a
fhock, fhould the king refuſe his fanc-
tion, fhould the orders call out for the in-
terpofition
16
SPEECHES OF
terpofition of his authority, what will fol
low? Diffolution or prorogation.- -The
undoubted confequence of that will be the
letting looſe of vengeance in all its forms,
the coalition of all the branches of the
ariftocracy, and that dreadful ftate of
anarchy which always hurries a nation
back to defpotifm. You will have pillage
before your eyes, you will have maffacre;
you
will not have even the execrable ho-
nour of a civil war; for, in this country,
we have always fought for perſons, not
for things; we fought for fuch or fuch
an individual; and the banners of private
intereſt never, at any period, permitted the
Oriflame * of liberty to be hoiſted.
"Moreover, is this title of reprefenta-
tives acknowledged and confirmed fuffi-
* The great ftandard of the ancient kings of
France. W.
6
ciently
M. DE MIRABEAU.
17
ciently intelligible? Will it ftrike your
conſtituents, who know of no other affem-
bly than that of the States-General ?.
Will the concealments which it is meant
to effectuate be confiftent with your dig-
nity?-Does the motion of the Abbé
Sieyes afford you a fufficient hold?-Is
it not clearly a primary determination;
which hath conſequences that ought to be
developed ?—Is it proper to fend you at
full ſpeed over the courſe, without firſt
ſhewing you the goal to which they mean
you ſhould be conducted?-Can you,
without a degree of precipitation unwor→
thy of your prudence, and truly danger-
ous in the prefent circumftances, omit
adopting a fettled plan of fucceffive ope-
rations, which may be the warrant of
your
wiſdom, and the fpring that puts your
powers in motion ?
C
"The
18
SPEECHES OF
"The title of acknowledged and con-
firmed deputies of the French nation, is
fuitable neither to your dignity, nor to the
train of your operations, fince the re-union
which you are willing to hope for and fa-
cilitate at all times, would lay you under
the neceffity of changing it.
“Affume not an alarming appellation.
Look out for one which cannot be diſputed
with you, one which, more mild, and no
lefs impoſing in its plenitude, may be appli-
cable to all times, may agree with every im-
provement which events will fuffer you to
make, and may, in the hour of need, ferve
as a weapon to defend the rights and prin-
ciples of the nation.
"Such is, in my opinion, the follow-
ing formulary: Reprefentatives of the
People of France.
"Who can diſpute this title with you?
What
M. DE MIRABEAU.
19
What will it not become, when your prin-
ciples ſhall be known, when you fhall have
propoſed good laws, when you ſhall have
acquired the confidence of the public?
How will the other two orders then con-
duct themſelves?-Will they join you?
They muſt do it; and, if they are ſenſible
of that neceffity, what more will it coſt
them to join you in regular form ?—Will
they refuſe to join you?-We will give
ſentence againſt them, when the world at
large ſhall be able to form an opinion of
both parties.
"But it is not enough to conſtitute our
affembly, to give it an appellation (the
only one which fuits it), as long as the two
other orders fhall refufe to unite with us
under the title of States-General. We
muſt eſtabliſh our principles, thoſe wife
and enlightened principles which hitherto
have
C 2
20
SPEECHES OF
have directed us. We muft fhew that, not
to us, but to the two orders, muſt be at-
tributed this difunion of the three eftates
which his majeſty hath convened in one
affembly. We muft fhew why and in
what manner we are going to bring our
powers into action; why and in what
manner we maintain that the two orders
cannot act while they remain feparated
from us. We muſt fhew that they have
no veto, no right to come to refolutions,
in which we have had no fhare. We muſt
proclaim our intentions and our views;
we muſt infure the ftability of our mea-
fures, by a progrefs equally wife, legal,
and gradual; uphold the reſources of go-
vernment, as long as they ſhall be made
fubfervient to the welfare of the ſtate; and
preſent to the public creditors the hope of
that fecurity which they fo ardently de-
fire,
M. DE MIRABEAU.
2 I
fire, and which the national honour re-
quires that we ſhould offer them; but ftill
making it depend on the fuccefs of that
national regeneration, which is the great
and prime object of our convention and
our wiſhes.
"It was with this view that I drew up
the refolutions which I am now going to
have the honour of reading to you.
"The deputies of the commons hav-
ing, in confequence of their deliberations
on the 10th of June, fignified to the de-
puties of the clergy and of the nobility,
a final invitation to repair on that fame
day, as well individually as collectively, to
the National Affembly, in order that their
powers may be confirmed conjointly with
thoſe of the deputies of the commons,
purſuant to the fummons of all the baili-
wicks convoked by his majeſty in the faid
affem-
C 3
22
SPEECHES OF
affembly; and the aforefaid fummons hav-
ing been attended by only a ſmall number
of the deputies of the clergy, the majority
of the deputies of that clafs, as well as
thoſe of the nobility, appearing to perfift
in the fatal deſign of ſeparation and de-
parture, which they have on divers occa-
ſions manifeſted fince the opening of the
States-General; the deputies of the com-
mons have found themſelves obliged, pur-
fuant to their deliberations aforefaid, to
proceed to the verification of their powers
in the abſence of the majority of the de-
puties of the clergy, and of the whole of
the deputies of the nobles. The verbal
procefs of the verification of the aforefaid
powers, dated the 13th and 14th of June,
having been read, the deputies, whoſe
powers were then verified, penetrated with
a fenfe of the unhappy effects which
might
M. DE MIRABEAU.
23
;
might reſult from a further continuance of
the inaction in which hitherto they have
been neceffitated to remain, by the perfe-
verance of the deputies of the privileged
claffes in their refufal to unite with them
and being defirous, as far as in them lies,
to put themſelves in a condition to co-
operate with the beneficent intentions of
his majeſty, and with the general wiſh of
the nation, for the regeneration of the
kingdom, have come to the following re-
folutions :
1. "Refolved, That the king having
deemed himſelf incapable of accompliſh-
ing the views of his wiſdom, juſtice, and
goodneſs towards his people, otherwiſe
than by convoking a National Affembly
compoſed of the deputies of the three
orders, nominated reſpectively in the dif-
ferent bailiwicks, fenefchalties, cities, and
C 4
pro-
24
SPEECHES OF
provinces of the kingdom, the deputies
aforefaid, of what order foever they be,
have a right, individual and common, to
fit together in this National Affembly, and
there verify the powers of their confti-
tuents: as much have they the right to
infift, that the powers of their co-deputies,
of what order foever they may be, ſhould
be produced and verified in the fame af
fembly, which alone is qualified to pro-
nounce definitively upon all difficulties or
conteſts which may ariſe, or be ſtarted,
with reſpect to the powers of any of the
faid deputies.
(6
2. Refolved, That, after the refuſal
given by the other deputies to confent to the
required union, and to the verification in
common, to which they have been ſo often
invited, it is now indifpenfable to declare,
that the deputies, whoſe powers have been
veri-
M. DE MIRABEAU.
25
verified on the faid 13th and 14th days
of June, can confider the verification of
powers which the other deputies may
have made, or may hereafter make, out of
the National Affembly, only as an act in-
fufficient and incomplete, which can re-
ceive its legal force and its completion
only by the confirmation of the National
Affembly, or, which comes to the fame
thing, an affembly to which the deputies
of the three orders have been duly in-
vited, and at which they have been at li-
berty to affift.
3. "Refolved, That the verification of
the powers of the deputies, made on the
13th and 14th of June, after the deputies
of the privileged claffes had been duly
fummoned, to the end that they might
give their concurrence as to what relates
to thoſe powers, is competent to authoriſe
the
26
SPEECHES OF
the aforefaid deputies to form and confti-
tute themſelves, as they do in the preſent
debate, in the form and under the name
of Affembly of the Repreſentatives of the
People of France, to begin, as fuch, im-
mediately to bring their powers into ac-
tion, and confequently to proceed to appoint
a preſident, and other officers, neceffary to
maintain good order in the ſaid aſſembly.
4. "Refolved, That in conftituting
themſelves in the form and quality of an
affembly of the repreſentatives of the peo-
ple of France, the affembly means not to
raiſe obſtacles to the fo much wifhed-for
union of the other deputies with the re-
preſentatives of the people in the National
Affembly; that this body will be ever
ready to receive them as foon as they fhew
a defire to join it in the only capacity
which reaſon and the national intereft af-
fign
M. DE MIRABEAU.
27
fign to them, and to be legally acknow-
ledged in the National Affembly, by the
verification of their powers.
ર
5. Reſolved, That the affembly of
the reprefentatives of the people of France
will employ without intermiffion, and with
all the activity of which it is capable,
means of ſeconding the great and noble
intentions of the king, and of fulfilling
the expectations of his people for the
profperity of the kingdom, by communi-
cating directly to his majeſty the different
meaſures which fhall feem to it moft
pro-
per to accompliſh that object; but that it
will never acknowledge in the deputies of
the privileged claffes, be their number
what it may, any veto, that is to ſay, any
right of oppofing by feparate deliberations,
not held in the National Aſſembly, what
ſhall be deemed neceffary for the general
wel-
28
SPEECHES OF
welfare of France; inafmuch as it depends
upon themſelves alone, by their individual
preſence, and their fuffrages in the ſaid af-
ſembly, to contribute to the general good,
in the only manner which is compatible
with juſtice, reaſon, and the unanimous
wiſhes of the people of France.
6. "Refolved, That in the preſent
circumſtances, what the affembly owes to
the ſecurity of its conſtituents, to its at-
tachment to the king, to the true prin-
ciples of the conftitution, and to the ne-
ceffity of providing, during the holding
of the States-General, for the public wants
in a legal manner, which may be con-
formable to the wiſhes of the nation, and
may prevent the too active effects of a
zeal miſled by public calamities, requires on
its part the following declaration :-For-
afmuch as no impoft, that is to ſay, no le-
vying
M. DE MIRABEAU.
29
vying of money for the public fervice, un-
der what form or denomination foever it
be eſtabliſhed, can legally exift without
the expreſs conſent of the people by its
repreſentatives in the States-General, and
that only for fuch time as they ſhall have
thought fit to limit it; forafmuch alſo as
this facred principle of every conftitution
where the people is accounted any thing,
hath been recognized by his majeſty him-
ſelf, by the ſovereign courts, and by the
unanimous wiſhes of the people, as one
of the effential foundations of the monar-
chy; forafmuch, in fine, as there is not
one of the preſent impofts which is not
illegal, either in its origin, or in the extent
to which it may have been carried-the af-
fembly of the repreſentatives of the people
declares them all to be null and ſuppreſt
of right, by the neceffary confequence of
the
30
SPEECHES OF
the want of the people's confent to the
ſaid impoſts: and confidering, however,
that it will require time to create a new
order of things in this part of the affairs of
the nation, and to the end, likewiſe, that
we may avoid the inconveniencies which
muſt reſult to public credit and to future
taxes, by an abfolute ceſſation of all con-
nections between the treafury and perfons
liable to be taxed, the affembly confents,
conditionally, in the name of its confti-
tuents, and decrees under the good plea-
fure of his majeſty, that all the impofts
received to this day be authoriſed for the
moment, and continue to be paid in the
fame manner as heretofore, and according
to the terms of the arrêts which have
eſtabliſhed or prolonged them, but only
during the prefent feffion of the States-
General, and no longer, unleſs there be a
freſh
M. DE MIRABEAU.
31
freſh prolongation, freely confented to and
expreſsly voted by the repreſentatives of
the people in the faid States-General.
..
7. Reſolved, That as ſoon as the
principles upon which the regeneration
of the kingdom is to be effectuated, fhall
have been legally agreed upon and efta-
bliſhed, the rights of the people fecured,
the foundations of a wife and happy con-
ftitution laid, and fheltered from all at-
tempts under the fafeguard of the legiſla-
tive power of the king and the National
Affembly, the repreſentatives of the people
of France will take every meaſure necef-
fary for the ſecurity of the public creditors,
and to affign, as a pledge for the king's
debt, which will then become the debt of
the nation, henceforward the honour and
fidelity of the nation itſelf, and the in-
ſpection of its reprefentatives, who are the
organ
32
SPEECHES OF
organ and depofitary of the facred treaſure
of public faith.
8. "Refolved, That the refult of the
deliberations already held fhall be forth-
with preſented to his majefty, with an
humble addreſs, wherein fhall be explained
the motives of the conduct of the repre-
fentatives of the people fince their laſt ad-
dreſs, their invariable difpofition to an-
fwer, by their refpect, by their love for
the facred perfon of the king, and by
their conftant application to all the duties
ariſing from the miſſion with which they
are honoured, the truly magnanimous in-
tentions of his majefty for the common
benefit of his people, and that theſe reſo-
lutions and that addrefs fhall be imme-
diately printed and publiſhed.
"You have now heard, gentlemen, the
ſtring of reſolutions with which I think
we
M. DE MIRABEAU.
33
we muſt ſupport the title under which I
propofe to you to conſtitute our aſſembly:
if they appear to you to merit a particular
diſcuſſion, I ſhall have the honour to lay
before you the reaſons which render them
neceffary. For the prefent, I confine my-
ſelf to infiſting on the propriety of the
appellation of reprefentatives of the people
of France, which I have adopted. I fay
the propriety; for I admit that the mo-
tion of the Abbé Sieyes is confiftent with
the rigour of principles, and fuch as one
might expect from a citizen who is a phi-
lofopher. But, gentlemen, it is not always
expedient, it is not always proper to con-
fult right only, without making any al-
lowance for circumftances.
"There is this effential difference be-
tween the metaphyfician, who, meditating
in his cloſet, ſeizes truth in its energetic
purity,
D
34
SPEECHES OF
purity, and the ſtateſman who is obliged
to pay reſpect to precedents, and to lay
his account for meeting with difficulties
and obſtacles; there is, I fay, this differ-
ence between the inftructor of the peo-
ple and the practical politician, that the
one thinks only of what is, and the other
attends to what can be.
"The metaphyfician, travelling over the
map, clears every thing with eaſe, is em-
barraffed neither by mountains, nor de
ferts, nor rivers, nor vaft chafms: but
when we come to realize the journey,
when we would arrive at a given point,
we muſt conſtantly recollect that we are
travelling upon the earth, and are no
longer in the ideal world.
"Here then, gentlemen, is one of the
principal reaſons for preferring the appel-
lation which I have maturely reflected on.
Should
M. DE MIRABEAU.
35
Should we adopt any other, we ſhall create
a novelty, which will furniſh abundant
matter for the declamations of thoſe who
calumniate us: we fhall have in oppofi-
tion to us every precedent, every uſage,
every thing which cuftom hath confe-
crated, every thing which is under the
powerful protection of prejudice and the
ariftocracy. Should we adopt the title of
Repreſentatives of the People, who can take
it away from us? Who can difpute it
with us? Who can tax this affembly
with innovation, with exorbitant preten-
fions, with dangerous ambition? Who
can hinder us from being what we are?
And yet this appellation, fo unalarming,
ſo unpretending, ſo indiſpenſable, contains
every thing, includes every thing, anſwers
for every thing. It will readily find ad-
mittance to the throne, it will deprive our
adver-
D 2
36
SPEECHES OF
adverſaries of every pretext, it will not
expofe us to any conflicts, to any fhocks
(dangerous at all times), which might
prove fatal to us in our preſent fituation,
and before we have taken root deep
enough this fimple, peaceable, inconteſt-
able appellation will become every thing
to us in time; it fits us at our birth, it
will fit us at our maturity, it will “ grow
with our growth, and ſtrengthen with our
ftrength*:" and if, at the preſent day,
it is not fo ftately, becauſe the privileged
claffes have undervalued the maſs of the
nation, how grand it will become, how
impofing, how majeſtic! it will be every
thing, when the people, upraiſed by our
efforts, fhall have attained that rank which
the eternal nature of things now deſtines
for it."
mêmes.
* Elle prendra les mêmes degrés de force que nous-
M. Mou-
M. DE MIRABEAU.
37
M. Mounier wished that they ſhould
conſtitute themſelves a lawful aſſembly of
the reprefentatives of the majority of the na-
tion, acting in the abfence of the minority.
M. Rabaud de Saint-Etienne was de-
firous that they fhould conftitute them-
felves an affembly of the reprefentatives of
the people of France, verified by their col-
leagues, authorifed by their conftituents to
take care of their interefts, and competent to
execute the commiffion with which they have
been charged.
M. Malonet fupported the propoſition
of M. de Mirabeau.
M. le Grand thought that the moſt con-
venient title they could affume, would be
that of National Aſſembly.
In the debate of the evening of the fame
day, Meffieurs Target and Bergaffe fup-
ported the opinion advanced in the morn-
ing by the Abbé Sieyes.
D 3
The
38
SPEECHES OF
The Second Speech of M. DE MIRABEAU to
perfuade the Commons to form themselves under
the title of Reprefentatives of the People of
France.
JUNE 16.
M. Thouret oppoſed the propofition of
M. Mirabeau, and adopted that of M.
Mounier.
M. DE MIRABEA U.
་
"GENTLEMEN,
"THE manner in which an honourable
member hath ſpoken, I will not ſay againſt
my motion, that remains untouched, but
againſt the appellation of reprefentatives of
the people of France, which I have recom-
mended;
1
M. DE MIRA.BEAU.
39
mended; the approbation given to the
objections by feveral of thoſe who have
ſpoken after the honourable member, have
filled me, I confefs, with much aſtoniſh-
ment. I thought I had declared, in the
cleareſt terms, my opinion with reſpect to
the feparation of the orders; and yet I am
accuſed of having favoured the feparation
of the orders. I thought I had preſented
a ſtring of reſolutions, which might de-
monſtrate the rights and the dignity of
the people; and I am now told, that this
word people hath a low acceptation, which
might be excluſively applied to us. I am
not much diftreffed about the fignification
of words, in the abfurd language of pre-
judice; I fpoke here the language of li-
berty, and ſtood propped by the example
of the Engliſh, by the example of the
Americans, who have always honoured
D 4
the
40
SPEECHES OF
the word people, who have ever con-
fecrated it in their declarations, in their
laws, in their polity. When Chatham
included the charter of nations in a ſingle
word, and faid the majesty of the people;
when the Americans oppofed the natural
rights of the people to all the nonſenſe of
the civilians on the conventions fet up
againſt them; they recognized the whole
fignification, the whole energy of that
expreffion, on which liberty ſets ſo high a
value. Was it, gentlemen, at the ſchool
of the Engliſh and of the Americans, that
I learnt to employ that word in a manner
fo fufpicious as to wound the delicacy of
the national reprefentatives? Was it there
that I learnt to be lefs jealous than your-
felves of the dignity of fuch an affembly?
No, I think not: I do not even imagine
that I can be accuſed of degrading the
people,
M. DE MIRABEAU.
41
people, if I refute the opinion hazarded
by a member who ſpoke before me, whofe
youth may well increaſe my eſteem for
his abilities, but does not intitle him to
impofe on me.
"His anſwer to what I have urged as
to the neceffity of the royal fanction, is,
that, when the people hath ſpoken, he
does not think the fanction neceſſary.
For my own part, gentlemen, I confider
the veto of the king to be ſo neceſſary, that
I would much rather live at Conftantinople
than in France, if the king had no fuch ne-
gative: yes, I declare, I know of nothing
fo terrible as the fovereign ariftocracy
of fix hundred perfons, who to-morrow
might render themſelves unremoveable,
the day after hereditary, and conclude,
like the aristocrats of every country in the
world, with a grand ufurpation of all the
powers
42
SPEECHES OF
powers of the ftate *. However, gen-
tlemen, fince my motion hath been mif-
underſtood, I ſhould defend it with argu-
ments rather than with recriminations, or
examples drawn from foreign languages.
I ſhould demonftrate to you in what re-
ſpect it reſembles all the reft, and prove to
you that, in the points wherein it differs
from them, it offers great advantagés. As
we are here individuals declaring our re-
ſpective ſentiments, it is a duty incum-
bent on me to defend mine, and it belongs
to this affembly alone to impoſe filence
on me.
"The more I confider the different
motions between which you are to de-
termine, the more am I convinced of this
inconteſtable truth, that they reſemble one
* Par tout envahir.
another,
M. DE MIRABEAU.
43
another, that they coincide in the follow-
ing effential points :
* 1. The neceffity for conftituting our-
felves immediately into an active affem-
bly; this neceffity is acknowledged by
the Abbé Sieyes, by M. Mounier, and by
my motion, which hath for its object, to
preferve us from the unhappy effects which
might arife from a longer duration of the
inactive state, to which we have been hi-
therto confined by the perfeverance of the
privileged claffes in their refufal to unite
with us.
"2. The declaration, that our affembly
neither is nor can be the States-General.
Not one of us hath the boldness to give us
this appellation. Each is fenfible that it be-
longs only to an affembly of the deputies
of the ſtates of the three orders. Here
again the Abbé Sieyes, M. Mounier, and
myfelf,
7
SPEECHES OF
44
myſelf, meet the ideas of one another
completely.
(6
3. The advantage that would refult
from choofing fome other denomination, un-
der which this affembly might be conftituted,
and which, without being equivalent to that
of States-General, might nevertheless be com-
petent to put us in a state of action.
"Here alſo we agree; for, whether
we call ourſelves the acknowledged and
verified repreſentatives of the nation, the
reprefentatives of the majority of the nation,
or the reprefentatives of the people, our
object is the fame; we ftill unite in op-
pofing the abfurd and mifapplied title of
States-General; we ftill feek, in excluding
theſe appellations, for one that may go
to the great object of activity, without
having the fatal inconvenience of appear-
ing to defpoil the two other orders, whoſe
exiſtence,
M. DE MIRABEAU.
45
exiſtence, do what we may, we cannot
deny, although we agree in thinking that
they can do nothing without us.
(C
4. The fourth point in which we
agree, is, the neceffity of preventing all
debate by ſeparate houfes, all fciffion of
the National Affembly, all veto of the pri-
vileged orders.
"Here again I am glad to pay homage
to the other motions; but without ima-
gining that they have provided againſt the
evil which we all dread, with greater ener→
gy than I have. Is there any one of thoſe
motions that hath more forcibly expreffed
than mine the intention of communicating,
not to the other orders, but directly to his
majesty, the meaſures that we deem ne-
ceffary to the regeneration of the king-
dom? Is there one of them that rejects
more forcibly than mine all weto, that is
5
to
46
SPEECHES OF
to ſay, all right whereby the deputies of
the privileged claffes, whatever number they
may confift of, would oppofe, by Separate
deliberations not held in the National Af-
fembly, what may be judged neceſſary for the
general welfare of France?
“We are agreed, then, upon theſe four
points; points truly cardinal, truly necef-
fary; points which fhould ferve us all for
a fignal to rally by.
"In what refpect do we differ? What
can juftify this heat, this averfion which
we fhew for the opinions of one another?
How comes it that my motion, fo clearly
founded upon principles which place it
beyond the reach of every affault, fo ex-
plicit, fo fatisfactory to every man who
detefts, as I do, every fpecies of arifto-
cracy-how comes it that this motion hath
been confidered as fo ftrange, fo little
worthy
M. DE MIRABEAU.
47
-
worthy of an aſſembly of the friends, the
fervants of that people which hath com-
miffioned us to defend it?
((
1. A defect common to the ap-
pellations which I attack, is, that they
are long, that they are unintelligi-
ble to that immenfe portion of the
French who have honoured us with
their confidence: is there one of them
who could form a juft idea of what is
meant by the acknowledged and verified
repreſentatives of the nation? Is there one
of them who could comprehend you,
when you ſhould tell him that you are
the aſſembly formed by the repreſentatives of
the greatest part of the nation, and by
the majority of all the deputies fent to the
States-General, duly fummoned, debating in
the abfence of the minority duly fummoned?
"In place of theſe enigmatical appella-
tions,
48
SPEECHES OF
tions, theſe ambiguous titles, fubftitute
the reprefentatives of the people of France,
and fee which denomination preſents the
cleareſt definition, the moſt rational, the
beſt adapted to create harmony between
us and our conftituents.
66
2. A defect peculiar to one of thoſe
two motions, is, that it gives us a name
which does not confine the defcription to
ourſelves, which confequently does not
diſtinguiſh us, which is applicable to the
deputies of the other orders, of the other
chambers, to the deputies of the privileged
claffes, or whatever you pleafe to call
them: for they alſo may ſtyle themſelves
the acknowledged reprefentatives of the
nation. Suppofe you had occafion to ad-
dreſs the king, would you prefume to tell
him that you were the only reprefentatives
of the nation recognized by his majeſty?
Would
M. DE MIRABEAU.
49
Would you tell him that he did not recog-
nize the deputies of the clergy, that he did
not recognize thoſe of the nobility as
reprefentatives of the nation? Would you
fay fo to him who hath convened them
in that capacity, to him who hath de-
fired that they ſhould be prefented to
him as fuch, to him who hath caufed
them to be fummoned as fuch, to him
who hath prefided amongſt them as well
as amongſt us, in the National Affem-
bly; to him, in fine, who hath liftened
to their ſpeeches, received their addreffes
as well as ours, and who hath conſtantly
applied to them terms equivalent to thoſe
which he hath made uſe of towards
ourfelves?
"The title I recommend, this title
which you cenfure, hath not the inconve-
nience of being applicable to others as
well as to ourſelves; it fuits us alone, it
will
E
50
SPEECHES OF
will not be difputed with us by any.
The Reprefentatives of the People of
France! What a title for men, who, like
you, love the people, who, like you, feel
what they owe to the people!
66 3.
This fame motion which I com-
bat, even while I avow my efteem, my
reſpect for him who made it, ſtyles you
the verified repreſentatives of the nation,
as if the other repreſentatives had not like-
wife been verified; as if they might be
prohibited from calling themſelves, like
us, the verified reprefentatives, becauſe
they have not been verified in the fame
manner that we have been.
CO
4. This fame motion draws a con-
clufion which has no relation to the pre-
miſes. Examine it, one would think that
you were going to form yourſelves into
a National Affembly, into States-General.
For fuch is the refult of this remarkable
ſentence:
1
I
M. DE MIRABEAU.
51
fentence: It belongs to this affembly, it be-
longs to it alone, to interpret and make
known the general wishes of the nation. Is
that what we propoſe to do? Is that the
conclufion which, according to the mo-
tion, you ought to draw from the prin-
ciple? No; you are going to declare your-
felves the acknowledged and verified repre-
fentatives of the nation. You are leaving
to thoſe whom it may be your pleaſure to
ftyle the unacknowledged and non-verified
reprefentatives, the care of determining, in
their turn, the title with which it may be
their pleaſure to adorn themſelves.
5. This fame appellation refts merely
upon a fimple difpute with regard to form,
in which our right is founded only upon
very refined, though very folid argu-
ments, and not upon a poſitive law.
"Mine refts upon a fact, a fact au-
thentic
E 2
52
SPEECHES OF
thentic and undeniable; which is, that
we are the repreſentatives of the people of
France.
}
"6. This fame appellation, which I
oppofe, is fo weak, as a member
who
hath already ſpoken obſerved, that, were
the deputies of the clergy and the nobi-
lity (a thing not at all unlikely) to repair
to our hall in order to verify their powers,
and then return to
to their reſpective
chambers, there to debate as feparate or-
ders, this appellation would no longer be
fuitable to us.
"That which I am recommending to
you is fuitable to us at all times, in all
cafes, and even in that where, as we all
deſire, the deputies of the three orders
ſhould formally re-unite in this hall as
* M. Thouret.
States
M. DE MIRABEAU.
53
States-General, to vote man by man, and
not as diftinct orders.
"You have been told, gentlemen, the
public hath been told, a fort of hue and
cry hath been raiſed againſt my motion,
that it tended to divide the States-Gene-
ral into chambers, to authorize the dif
tinction of the orders. But I aſk you, I
afk all thoſe who have heard me, all
thoſe who have read, or fhall read my
motion, where they find this diftinction.
of the orders, this neceffity for ſeparate
chambers? Should they thus, while taking
one part of the motion, paſs the other
over in filence? I have already reminded
you of the terms which I have made uſe
of; I have told you, and have declared in
the ſtrongeſt expreffions, that the two
orders which are defirous of ftanding aloof
from the people, are of no account in the
солт
E 3
54
SPEECHES OF
conftitution, as long as they wish to re-
main ſtrangers to the people; that they
can have no ſeparate will of their own;
that they can neither affemble, nor exer-
cife a veto, nor come to any feparate re-'
folutions.
which my
"This then is the principle upon
motion is founded; this is the
object to which it tends; this is what
every man of common fenfe will find in
it, unleſs he voluntarily fhuts his eyes.
"Were I inclined to employ againſt
the other motions the weapons which have
been made ufe of in order to attack mine,
might I not ſay in my turn, With what-
ever title
you dignify yourſelves, whether
as the acknowledged and verified repre-
fentatives of the nation, or as the repre-
fentatives of five-and-twenty millions of men,
☛r as the repreſentatives of the majority of
the
1
M. DE MIRABEAU.
55
the people, were you even to ſtyle your-
felves the National Aſſembly, or the States-
General, could you prevent the privileged
claffes from continuing the affemblies
which his majeſty hath recognized? Could
you prevent them from debating? Could
you prevent them from arrogating to
themſelves the veto? Could you prevent
the king from receiving them, from re-
cognizing them, from continuing to give
them the fame titles which he hath hither-
to given to them? In fine, could you pre-
vent the nation from calling the clergy
the clergy, the nobility the nobility?
"Some have thought to embarraſs mẹ
with a moſt terrible dilemma, by telling
me that the word people neceffarily fig-
nifies either too much or too little; that,
if it be explained, in the ſame ſenſe as the
Latin populus, it fignifies the nation; and
E 4
that
56
SPEECHES OF
that then it hath an acceptation more ex-
tenfive than the title to which the gene-
rality of this aſſembly aſpires; that if we
underſtand it in a more confined ſenſe,
like the Latin plebs, it then ſuppoſes or-
ders, diſtinctions of orders, and that that
is what we wiſh to prevent. Some have
even gone
fo far, as to give way to an ap-
prehenfion that this word might fignify
what the Latins called vulgus, what the
English call the mob *, what the arifto-
crats, as well noble as plebeian, infolently
call the canaille.
"To this argument I can only anſwer;
that it is exceedingly fortunate that our
language, fterile as it is, fhould have fup-
plied us with a word which other lan-
guages could not have furniſhed, notwith-
He might have added tag rag, an appellation in
ufe with fome of our English patricians. W.
י}
ſtanding
M. DE MIRABEAU.
57
ſtanding their fertility; a word which ad-
mits of fo many different acceptations; a
word which, at this moment when the
queſtion is to conftitute ourſelves without
rifking the public welfare, names us with-
out degrading us, defcribes us without
rendering us terrible; a word which can-
not be diſputed with us, and which, in
its exquifite fimplicity, endears us to
our conſtituents, without affrighting thoſe
whoſe haughtineſs and preſumption we
have to combat; a word which accom-
modates itſelf to every thing, which, mo-
deft at the preſent day, may enlarge the
term of our exiſtence in proportion as cir-
cumſtances ſhall render it neceffary, in
proportion as the privileged claffes fhall,
by their obftinacy, by their miſconduct,
compel us to undertake the defence of the
nation's rights, of the people's liberty.
"I per-
58
SPEECHES OF
*
(
"I perfevere in my motion, and in the
only expreffion in it which my adverſaries
have attacked; I adhere to the title of
The People of France. I adopt it, I
defend it, I proclaim it, for the very
reaſon which hath caufed this oppoſition
to it.
"Yes; it is becauſe the word people is
not fufficiently reſpected in France; be-
cauſe it is obfcured, covered over with
the ruft of prejudice; becauſe it preſents
us with an idea at which pride takes the
alarm, and at which vanity revolts; be-
cauſe it is pronounced contemptuouſly in
the chamber of the aristocrats-for that
very reafon is it, gentlemen, that I would
cheriſh it; it is for that very reaſon that
we ought to take it to ourſelves, not only
to upraiſe it, but likewiſe to ennoble it,
to render it henceforward refpectable to
the
M. DE MIRABEAU.
59
the miniſtry, and dear to every heart *.
Were this name not ours, it would be
incumbent on us to chooſe it from amongſt
all others, to look upon it as affording us
the moſt precious opportunity of ſerving
that people which hath a real exiſtence,
that people which is every thing, that
people which we reprefent, whofe rights
we are defending, from whom we have
received our own, and from whom we are
borrowing our appellation and our titles,
a circumſtance which feems to put fome
of you to the bluſh. Oh that the adoption
of this name were to reſtore courage and
reſolution to the downcaft people !-My
foul is elevated while looking forward to
the happy confequences which this name
may bring along with it! The people
* I think this whole paragraph hath much of Grat-
tan's manner.
W.
will
ба
SPEECHES OF
will behold no other object but ourſelves,
and we ſhall behold no other object but
the people; our title will remind us both
of our duty and our force. Under the
ſhelter of a name which infpires no terror,
which creates no alarm, we are planting
a young ſhoot; we will cultivate it, we
will remove all noxious boughs that
would overshadow and choke it up, we
will protect it, our lateſt poſterity will fit
beneath the comfortable ſhade of its vaſt
branches.
66
Repreſentatives of the people, con-
defcend to anſwer me: will you go, and
tell your conftituents that you have re-
jected the name of people? that, if you
have not been afhamed of them, you have,
however, fought to elude that appellation,
which did not feem to you to be fuffi-
ciently illuſtrious? that you muſt have a
more
M. DE MIRABEAU.
61
more lofty title than that which they have
conferred on you? What! Are you not
aware that the name of Reprefentatives of
the People is neceffary to you, fince it at-
taches the people to you, that important
maſs, without which you would be mere
individuals, feeble twigs that might be
broken one by one? Are you not aware
that the name of people is neceffary to you,
ſince it gives the people to underſtand that
we have linked our lot with theirs? a cir-
cumftance which will teach them to reſt
all their thoughts, all their hopes upon
ourſelves.
"More politic than us, the heroes of
Holland, who laid the foundations of the
liberty of their country, affumed the name
of gueux*; they would have no other
* Beggars.
title,
62
SPEECHES OF
title, becauſe their contemptuous tyrants
had affected to turn it into a term of re-
proach; and that title, by attaching to
them that numerous clafs which arifto-
cracy and defpotiſm intended to degrade,
was at once their ftrength, their glory,
and the pledge of their fuccefs. The
friends of liberty fingle out that name
which ferves them beft, not that which
flatters them moft: in America they will
call themſelves remonftrators, in Switzer-
land pâtres*, in the Netherlands gueux ;
they will decorate themſelves with the in-
jurious epithets of their enemies; they
will deprive them of the power of hum-
bling their antagoniſts by expreffions
which the latter fhall know how to turn
to their own honour."
*
Shepherds.
The
M. DE MIRABEAU.
63
The difcuffion was continued; it lafted
till the feventeenth, and on that day the
commons conftituted themſelves the Na-
tional Affembly.
The iffue hath perhaps fhewn, not that
the commons had acted right, but that it
is fortunate that they acted as they did.
Pofterity, which will judge without paſ-
fion, will perhaps fay with us, that the
motion of M. Mirabeau was, in the then
circumftances, the wifeft, the beſt ima-
gined, the only one which ought to have
been adopted.
JUNE 23.
SINCE the 20th, the national hall was
ſhut againſt the commons, under pretence
of the preparations for the king's coming
to the affembly.
Having
64
SPEECHES OF
1
Having taken refuge in the tennis-
court, the reprefentatives of the nation
there took a folemn oath never to ſepa-
rate, and to re-affemble wherefoever cir-
cumſtances might require, until the con-
ftitution of the kingdom, and the public
regeneration, were eſtabliſhed and con-
firmed.
On the 21ft they re-affembled in the
church of St. Louis, where they received
the majority of the clergy.
The doors of the national hall were
opened on the 23d. The deputies of all
the orders repaired thither; the king made
his appearance with a degree of pomp
which might very well be confidered as
fomewhat faftidious, but which, furely,
had nothing of dignity in it.
The king ſpoke; his miniſters ſpoke:
may the pencil of hiſtory carefully throw
a veil
M. DE MIRABEAU.
65
a veil over what was uttered both by the
king and by his minifters. They had all
miſtaken the juncture; then leſs than
ever had government a right to ſuppoſe
itſelf reigning at Conftantinople.
*
The king concluded his ſpeech with
faying, I COMMAND you, gentlemen, to
break up immediately, and to repair to-mor-
row morning to the chambers appointed for
your refpective orders, there to refume your
deliberations. I COMMAND † the grand
mafter of the ceremonies to prepare the halls
accordingly.
The majority of the nobles and the
minority of the clergy obeyed the king's
injunctions, and went out along with
him.
* Un fimple délégué de la nation, ordonner à la
nation affemblée !-Note, or rather exclamation, of
the French editor.
† Paffe pour cette fois !————Id.
F
The
66
SPEECHES OF
The members of the National Affem-
bly remained immoveable, and obferved,
for fome minutes, a filence more menacing
and more terrific than all the It is our
pleaſure's, and all the I command you's of
the court had been.
M. de Brezé, grand mafter of the ce-
remonies, made his appearance, and, ad-
dreffing himſelf to the preſident, reminded
him, from the king, of the injunction to
quit the hall.
M. DE MIRABEAU.
(Addreffing himſelf to M. DE Breze.)
"THE commons of France have de-
termined to debate: We have heard the
intentions which have been fuggefted to
the king; and you who cannot be his in-
ſtrument at the National Affembly, you
who
M. DE MIRABEAU.
67
who have here neither place, nor voice, nor
right to ſpeak, are not the kind of perfon
to remind us of his fpeech. Go tell your
maſter, that we are here by the power of
the people, and that nothing fhall expel
us but the power of the bayonet."
It is not eaſy to paint the enthuſiaſm
excited by this heroic anſwer of M.
de Mirabeau. Each, calculating both
the wiſhes, and the ardour, and the ne-
ceffities of the people, and the agitation in
which it had lived for ſo long a ſpace of
time (thanks to the mal-adminiſtration of
the court, and the obftinacy of ſome
amongſt the nobles and the priesthood),
faid within himſelf, Mirabeau hath juſt
ſpoken, and the words which he hath ut-
tered have confummated the revolution fo
neceffary to France. The times have
proved,
F 2
F
68
SPEECHES OF
proved, that they who thought in this
manner were right in their opinion.
On the ſame day, Mirabeau was once
again a benefactor to his country: he
propofed the following decree, which was
carried by a majority of 493 voices to 34.
"The National Affembly declares, that
the perſon of each of the deputies is in-
violable; that every individual, every cor-
poration, tribunal, court, or commiffion,
which ſhall prefume, during or after the
preſent feffion, to profecute, call to an ac-
count, arreft, or cauſe to be arreſted, de-
tain, or cauſe to be detained, any deputy,
on account of any propofitions, opinions,
fentiments, or ſpeeches by him uttered at
the States-General; and alſo all perſons who
fhall be aiding and abetting to the ſaid out-
rages, at whofe command foever they may
act,
1
M. DE MIRABEAU.
69
act, are infamous, are traitors to the na-
tion, and guilty of a capital crime.
"The National Affembly decrees that,
in the caſes aforementioned, it will take
every ſtep requifite, in order to proſecute
and puniſh thoſe who fhall be the au-
thors, inftigators, or perpetrators of ſuch
offences."
Speech of M. DE MIRABEAU, recommending
that the King fhould be addreffed to withdraw
the troops.
JULY 8, 1789.
"GENTLEMEN,
"TO determine me to interrupt the
order of the motions which the commit-
tee intends to lay before you, it was ne-
F 3
ceffary
70
SPEECHES OF
ceffary that I ſhould be thoroughly con-
vinced that the fubject on which I have
afked permiffion to addrefs you, is of the
moſt intereſting and moft urgent com-
plexion. But, gentlemen, if the peril
which I dare announce to you menaces
at once the peace of the kingdom and the
National Aſſembly, and the ſafety of the
monarch, you will approve my zeal. The
few moments which I have had to collect
my ideas will, doubtlefs, not permit me
to unfold them with as much clearneſs as
may be neceſſary; but I ſhall ſay enough
on the ſubject to awaken your attention,
while your intelligence will compenſate
for my infufficiency.
1
"Be pleaſed, gentlemen, to carry your
attention back to the moment when the
violation of the prifons of the abbey of
Saint-Germain occafioned your decree of
the
M. DE MIRABEAU.
71
the firſt of this month. In invoking the
king's clemency towards the perſons who
had rendered themſelves guilty in that af-
fair, the affembly decreed, that the king
ſhould be fupplicated to employ, for the re-
eſtabliſhment of order, the infallible means
of that clemency, aud that goodneſs, ſo con-
genial to his heart, and of that confidence
which his good people will for ever de-
ferve.
"The king, in his anſwer, hath de-
clared that this decree appeared to him a
very wife one; he hath beftowed enco-
miums on the difpofitions manifeſted by
this affembly, and made uſe of theſe re-
markable words: As long as you ſhall con-
tinue to give me proofs of your confidence,
I hope that all will go well.
"In fine, gentlemen, the king's letter to
the archbiſhop of Paris, dated the ſecond
F 4
of
72
SPEECHES OF
A
of July, after having expreffed the paternal
intentions of his majefty, with reſpect to
the priſoners whofe enlargement ſhould
immediately follow the re-eſtabliſhment
of order, announces that he is about to take
meaſures for restoring order in the capital;
and that he entertains no doubt that the af
fembly looks on the fuccefs of thofe meafures
to be of the utmost importance.
"In confidering thefe expreffions in
the king's letter, the firft idea which na-
turally preſented itſelf to the mind, was
that of doubt and uneafinefs as to the na-
ture of theſe meaſures.
"This uneafineſs might ſince have led
the affembly to beſeech the king, that he
would be pleaſed to explain himſelf upon
this head, and ſpecify and particularizę
thoſe meaſures as to which he feemed to
defire the approbation of the aſſembly.
"At
M. DE MIRABEAU.
73
"At that very moment, then, I would
have brought forward a motion tending to
this object, had I not, in comparing thoſe
expreffions of the king's letter with the
goodneſs which breathes through every
part of it, with the precious terms which
have been made ufe of to fignify the pa-
ternal affection of the monarch, YOUR
DECREE APPEARS TO ME A VERY WISE
ONE, imagined that I perceived in the paral-
lel freſh reaſons for that confidence, proofs
of which every Frenchman makes it his
boaft to diſplay to the firſt magiftrate of
the nation.
"Nevertheleſs, what hath been the
iffue of thofe declarations, and of our re-
fpectful behaviour? Already are we fur-
rounded by a multitude of foldiers. More
are arrived, are arriving every day; they
are haftening hither from all quarters.
Five-
74
SPEECHES OF
Five-and-thirty thouſand men are already
cantoned in Paris and Verfailles. Twenty
thouſand more are expected. They are
followed by trains of artillery. Spots are
marked out for batteries. Every commu-
nication is fecured. Every paſs is blocked
up; our ſtreets, our bridges, our public
walks are converted into military ſtations.
Events of public notoriety, concealed facts,
fecret orders, precipitate counter-orders, in
a word, preparations for war, ſtrike every
eye, and fill every heart with indignation,
"It was not, then, enough that the
fanctuary of freedom had been polluted
by the foldiery! It was not enough that
the unheard-of fpectacle had been ex-
hibited, of a National Affembly furren-
dered up to military affignees, and ſub-
jected to an armed force! It was not
enough that to this outrage was added
every
M. DE MIRABEAU.
75
*
every diſagreeable circumſtance, every
mark of diſreſpect, in a word, the bru-
tality of oriental government! It was
found neceffary to diſplay the whole ap-
paratus of defpotifm, and call out more
foldiers to overawe the nation, the very
day on which the king himſelf convened
it for the purpoſe of demanding its advice
and its affiftance, than would, perhaps,
have been employed to repel a foreign
invafion; and a thouſand times more
foldiers, at leaft, than could have been
collected to fuccour thoſe friends who are
now martyrs to their fidelity towards us,
to fulfil our moſt facred engagements, to
preferve our political confequence, and
that alliance with Holland, that import-
ant, but dear-bought and ſhamefully loft
alliance!
"Gentlemen, though the queftion here
related
76
SPEECHES OF
related to ourſelves alone, though the dig-
nity of the National Affembly alone were
wounded, it were not the leſs expedient,
juft, neceffary, important for the king
himſelf, that we ſhould be treated with
decorum, fince, in fine, we are the de-
puties of that fame nation, which alone
conftitutes his glory, which alone is the
fource of the ſplendour which illuminates
the throne of that nation, which will ren-
der the perſon of the king honourable in
proportion as he himſelf ſhall augment the
honour of the nation. Since it is over
freemen he would reign, it is time that
thofe odious forms fhould diſappear, thoſe
infulting modes of procedure, which too
eafily perſuade thoſe by whom the fove-
reign is encompaſſed, that royal majeſty
confiſts in the humiliating relations of
maſter and flave; that a lawful and be-
loved
M. DE MIRABEAU.
77
loved prince ſhould, in every place, and
upon every occafion, appear only with
the aſpect of an irritated tyrant, or of
thoſe ufurpers unfortunately condemned
never to feel the delicious and honourable
fentiment of confidence *.
"And let us not be told that circum-
ſtances have rendered theſe threatening
meaſures neceffary; for I am going to prove,
that, alike uſeleſs and dangerous, whether
with refpect to good order, or to the pa-
cifying the minds of men, or to the ſe-
curity of the throne, far from being con-
fidered as the fruit of a fincere attachment
to the public good, and to the perſon of the
fovereign, they can only be fubfervient to
* I experience the higheſt pleaſure in transfuſing
the fpirit of this patriot out of his language into
mine.Let me cry, almoſt in the words of Cor-
reggio, " Anch' Io fono oratore.”
the
9878
SPEECHES OF
.
the paffions of individuals, and to the
concealment of perfidious views.
"Theſe meaſures are uſeleſs. I will fup-
poſe that the diſorders which have occa-
fioned all this dread are of a nature to be
repreffed by the foldiery; and I affert,
that, even upon this fuppofition, that fol-
diery was uſeleſs. The people, after a tu-
mult in the capital, hath fhewn an example
of fubordination exceedingly remarkable
in the circumftances alluded to. A
priſon had been broke open, the priſoners
dragged out and fet at liberty; a moſt
violent ferment threatened univerſal infur-
rection-an expreffion of clemency, a
fummons from the king appeafed the up-
roar, and effected what could never have
been obtained by armed force: the pri-
foners refumed their fetters, the people re-
turned to order; fo powerful is reaſon
alone!
6
M. DE MIRABEAU.
79
་
alone! fo well inclined is the people to do
whatever is required, when, inſtead of me-
naces and humiliation, it is treated with
marks of goodneſs and confidence!
"What occafion, at this moment, for
the foldiery? Never had the people more
reaſon to be calm, to be tranquil, to be
confident; every thing announces to them
the end of their calamities; every thing
promiſes them the regeneration of the
kingdom: their eyes, their hopes, their
wiſhes reft on us. Ought we not to be
confidered as the beft fecurity to the fo-
vereign, for the confidence, the obedience,
the fidelity of his people? If he ever could
have doubted them, he can no longer do
ſo now: our preſence is the pledge of
public peace, and undoubtedly there néver
will exiſt a better. Yes, let them aſſemble
troops in order to fubjugate the people to
the
80
SPEECHES OF
the dreadful deſigns of defpotiſm! but let
them not drag the beſt of princes to com-
mence the proſperity, the liberty of the na
tion, with the inaufpicious apparatus of
tyranny!
Indeed, I am not yet acquainted with
all the pretexts, all the artifices of the ene-
mies of the people, as I cannot divine with
what plauſible reaſon they can colour over
the pretended neceffity for the troops, at
the moment when not only the uſeleſs-
nefs, but the danger of them alſo makes
an impreffion upon every heart. With
what eyes will a people, affailed by ſo
many miſeries, fee that multitude of idle
foldiers coming to difpute with it the
relics of its fubfiftence? The contraft
created by the plenty on the one fide
(bread, in the eyes of him who is famiſh-
ing, is plenty), the contraft of plenty on
the
M. DE MIRABEAU.
81
the one fide, and of indigence on the
other, of the unconcern of the foldier,
into whofe lap manna falls while he hath
never any occafion for thinking of the
morrow, and the anguiſh of the people,
that obtains nothing but at the price of
irkſome labour, and of painful ſweat, is
calculated to infpire every bofom with
deſpair!
"Add to this, gentlemen, that the pre-
fence of the military, ftriking the imagi-
nation of the multitude, fuggefting to it
the idea of danger, connecting itſelf with
fears, with alarms, excites a univerfal
ferment: the peaceful citizens, around
their domeftic hearths, are a prey to ter-
rors of
every kind. The people, agitated,
provoked, gathering together in gangs,
delivers itſelf up to the moſt impetuous
movements, precipitates itſelf blindly into
G
peril,
82
SPEECHES OF
peril, and fear neither calculates nor rea-
fons. Here facts witneſs in our behalf.
"What is the date of this effervefcence?
The appearance of the troops, the mili-
tary pageant of the king going to the hall
of the affembly: before that, all was
quiet; the agitation began upon that
mournful and memorable day. Are we,
then, to blame, if the people, that looks
up to us, hath murmured-if it hath taken
the alarm when it faw the inftruments of
violence pointed, not only againſt itſelf,
but likewiſe againſt an affembly which
ought to be free, in order to attend freely
to all the cauſes of the public forrow?
How could the people be otherwiſe than
agitated, when inſpired with apprehenſion
for the fafety of the fole refuge that is left
remaining for it? Is it not aware, that, if
we do not break its chains, we ſhall have
rer dered
M. DE MIRABEAU.
83
rendered them more heavy, fhall have ce-
mented oppreffion, ſhall have delivered
up our defenceleſs fellow-citizens to the
iron rod of their enemies, fhall have in-
creaſed the infolent triumph of thoſe who
pillage and tread them down?
"Let the adviſers of theſe calamitous
meaſures now inform us, whether they are
fure of preſerving military diſcipline in its
full ſeverity, of preventing all the effects
of the eternal jealouſy ſubſiſting between
the national and the foreign troops, of re-
ducing the French foldiers to the ftate
of mere automata, to have ſeparate in-
terefts, feparate thoughts, feparate fenti-
ments from their fellow-citizens. What
imprudence in their fyftem, to march the
foldiers to the ſcene of our affemblies, to
electrify them by the contact of the ca-
pital, to intereft them in our political
G 2
dif
84
SPEECHES OF
difcuffions! No; fpite of the blind devotion
of military obedience, they will not forget
what we are; they will view in us their
relations, their friends, their family, tak-
ing care of their deareſt intereſts; for they
form a part of that nation which hath en-
truſted to our care its liberty, its property,
its honour. No; fuch men, fuch French-
men, will never totally abandon their in-
tellectual faculties; they will never believe
that duty confifts in ftriking without in-
quiring who are the victims.
"Thefe foldiers, foon united and foon
feparated by appellations which become
the fignals of parties; theſe foldiers, whofe
trade it is to handle arms, know of no
other reſource in all their fquabbles, than
the fole inſtrument whoſe power they are
acquainted with. Thence arife battles be-
tween man and man, foon after between
regiment
7
M. DE MIRABEAU.
85
regiment and regiment, foon after be-
tween the national troops and the foreign
foldiery; infurrection is in every heart,
fedition marches with her head erect; it
then becomes neceffary, through weakneſs,
to veil the military code, and difcipline is
utterly enervated. Society is threatened
with the most terrible confuſion; every
thing is to be dreaded from legions which,
after having renounced duty, fee no longer
any fafety but in the terror which they
infpire.
"In fine, have the adviſers of thefe mea-
fures foreſeen what confequences would
refult from them even with reſpect to the
fecurity of the throne? Have they ftudied,
in the hiftory of all nations, the manner
in which revolutions have begun, the
manner in which they have been con-
ducted? Have they obferved by what fatal
G 3
con-
86
SPEECHES OF
concatenation of circumſtances the wiſeſt
were hurried beyond all bounds of mode-
ration, and by how terrible an impulſe an
intoxicated people is precipitated into ex-
ceffes, the firft idea of which would have
made it ſhudder? Have they read the heart
of our gracious fovereign? Do they know
with what horror he would behold thoſe
who had kindled the flames of a fedition,
perhaps of a revolt (I tremble while I
mention it, and yet mention it I muſt),
thoſe who had induced him to fhed the
blood of his people, thoſe who were the
original cauſe of the rigours, the violences,
the puniſhments of which a crowd of
wretches would be the victims?
"But, gentlemen, time preffes; I re-
proach myſelf for every moment which
my diſcourſe may raviſh from your wife
debates; and I hope that thofe confide-
rations,
M. DE MIRABEAU.
87
rations, rather intimated than prefented to
your view, but the evidence of which ap-
pears to me irreſiſtible, will fuffice to form
the baſis of the motion which I have now
the honour to propoſe to you.
"That a moſt humble addreſs be pre-
fented to his majefty, to depict to him the
lively alarm felt by the National Affembly,
at the abuſe which, for fome time, hath
been made of the name of a good prince,
in order to bring to the capital and to this
town of Verſailles a train of artillery, and
numerous bodies of troops, as well foreign
as national, ſeveral of which are already
cantoned in the villages adjacent, and for
the avowed purpoſe of forming different
camps
in the environs of thoſe two cities.
"That it be reprefented to the king not
only how much theſe meaſures contravene
G 4
the
88
SPEECHES OF
the beneficent intentions of his majeſty
for the relief of his people, in the
prefent diftreffing circumftance of dear-
neſs and ſcarcity of grain, but likewiſe
how inimical they are to the liberty and
the honour of the National Affembly, cal-
culated to deſtroy that confidence between
the fovereign and his people, a confidence
which is the glory and fecurity of the
king, which alone can affure the repofe and
tranquillity of the kingdom, and, in fine,
procure for the nation thoſe ineftimable
fruits which it expects from the labours
and the zeal of this affembly.
"That his majeſty be moſt reſpectfully
entreated to remove the fears of his faith-
ful fubjects, by giving the neceffary orders
for the immediate ceffation of thoſe mea-
fures equally uſeleſs, dangerous, and alarm-
ing,
M. DE MIRABEAU.
89
ing, and for the prompt diſmiſſion of the
troops and the artillery to the places
whence they have been taken.
“And foraſmuch as it may be
expe-
dient, in confequence of the uneafineffes
and the apprehenſions with which thoſe
meaſures have impreffed the public mind,
to provide for the future maintenance of
quiet and tranquillity, his majeſty ſhall be
entreated to order that, in the two cities of
Paris and Verſailles, guards confifting of
citizens fhould be raiſed forthwith, who,
fubfervient to the king's orders, will amply
fuffice to accompliſh the defired end, with-
out augmenting the number of confumers
in two cities labouring under the miſeries
of famine.'
""
The moſt unequivocal marks of
appro-
bation were manifefted by the animated
applauſe of the whole affembly.
The
90
SPEECHES OF
The motion was powerfully fupported
by Meffieurs de la Fayette, the Abbé Sieyes,
Chapelier, &c.
This laſt orator reminded the affembly
that a fimilar requifition had been fuccefs-
fully made at the ftates of Bretagne, and
that it had originated with the nobility.
M. DE MIRABEAU.
"I never entertained a doubt that the
nobility would throw itſelf between us and
the bayonet: it is not that body which I
look upon as formidable. I know who
are the traitorous adviſers of theſe outrages
againſt public liberty; and I ſwear by ho-
nour and by my country to profecute
them.'
""
M. de Biauzat, in fupport of the mo-
tion, required, as an amendment, that that
part
M. DE MIRABEAU.
9.1
part which related to the appointment of
national guards fhould be left out.
The motion and the amendment were
carried by a vaſt majority *.
M. de Mirabeau was unanimoufly re
queſted to draw up the addrefs.
JULY 9.
M. de Mirabeau produced the form of
an addreſs to be preſented to the king.
* It is allowed, that there was not a word faid in
the addrefs, relating to guards compoſed of citizens.
It must, however, be obferved, that what the orator
had advanced in his ſpeech produced the effect fully.
The next day Paris and Verſailles were in arms; in
a few days after, the whole kingdom was in the fame
condition.
:
Here
go
SPEECHES OF
Here it follows, fuch as it was read, ad-
mired, applauded, adopted.
ADDRESS to the KING.
"SIRE,
"YOU have invited the National
Affembly to give you proofs of its confi-
dence: this was even going beyond their
moſt ardent wiſhes.
"We are come to acquaint your ma-
jeſty with the cruel alarms at prefent exiſt-
ing: were we ourſelves the object of
them, had we the weakneſs to be appre-
henſive for ourſelves, your goodneſs would
vouchſafe to rid us of those fears, and
even, while blaming us for having doubted
of your intentions, would attend to our
uneafineffes; you would difpel the cauſe
of them; you would not leave the leaft
uncer-
M. DE MIRABEAU.
93
uncertainty with reſpect to the fituation
of the National Affembly.
"But, fire, we are not imploring your
protection; that would be an offence
againſt your juftice: we have entertained
fears, and, we are bold to ſay, they are
connected with the pureft patriotiſm, with
the intereſt of our conftituents, with the
public tranquillity, with the happineſs of
the beloved fovereign, who, while ſmooth-
ing for us the road to felicity, well de-
ſerves to find an unobstructed paſſage to it
himſelf.
"In the emotions of your own heart,
fire, we look for the true fafety of the
French. When troops advance from every
quarter, when camps are forming around
us, when the capital is befieged, we afk
one another with aſtoniſhment: Hath the
king diftruſted the fidelity of his people?
Had
94
SPEECHES OF
Had it been poffible for him to have
doubted of it, would he not have made
our hearts the depoſitary of his fatherly
affliction? What mean thefe menacing pre-
parations? Where are the enemies of the
ſtate and of the king that are to be ſub-
dued? Where are the rebels, the leaguers,
that are to be reduced?—It is unanimouſly
anſwered, in the capital, and throughout
the kingdom: We have an affection for our
king; we blefs Heaven for the gift which
in its love it hath bestowed on us.
Sire, the piety of your majefty can
never be impoſed upon, unleſs under the
pretext of the public good.
"Had they who have given thoſe coun-
fels to our fovereign, fufficient confidence
in their own principles to lay them before
us, this moment would confer the moſt
glorious triumph upon truth.
"The
M. DE MIRABEAU.
95
"The ſtate hath nothing to dread, ex-
cept from the wicked principles which da-
ringly beſiege the throne itſelf, and reſpect
not the confidence of the pureft, the moſt
virtuous of princes. And upon what
grounds, fire, would they induce you to
doubt the attachment and the affection of
your fubjects? Have you been prodigal of
their blood? Are you cruel, are you im-
placable? Have you perverted the courſe
of juſtice? Does the people impute its mi-
fery to you? Does it mention your name
in the midſt of its calamities? Can they
have told you that the people is impatient
of your yoke, that it is weary of the
fceptre of the Bourbons? No-no; they
have not told you fo; calumny is at leaſt
not abfurd; fhe looks for ſome verifimi-
litude to colour her bafe practices.
"Your majeſty hath had a recent in-
5
ftance
96
SPEECHES OF
ſtance of your power over your people
ſubordination is re-inſtated in the agitated
capital; the priſoners, to whom the po-
pulace had given liberty, have of them-
felves reſumed their fetters; a ſingle word
from your mouth hath reſtored that public
order, which perhaps, had force been
uſed, it would have coft torrents of blood
to re-eſtabliſh. But that word was a word
of peace; it was the expreffion of your
heart; and your fubjects glory in having
never made reſiſtance to it. How delight-
ful to exerciſe ſuch ſway! It was the fway
of Louis IX, of Louis XII, of Henry IV;
it is the only fway worthy of you.
"We ſhould deceive you, fire, if,
forced as we are by circumftances, we neg-
lected to add, that fuch a fway is the only
one which, at the preſent day, it is poffible
to exerciſe in France. France will not en-
dure
M. DE MIRABEAU.
97
dure that the beſt of kings ſhould be im-
pofed on, and drawn aſide, by finiſter
views, from the noble plan which he him-
felf hath traced out. You have fummoned
us to act in concert with you in ſettling
the conſtitution, in labouring at the rege-
neration of the kingdom: the National
Affembly approaches you, in order to de-
clare folemnly that your wiſhes ſhall be ac-
compliſhed, that your promiſes ſhall not
be vain, that no fnares, no difficulties, no
terrors fhall retard its progrefs, nor inti-
midate its courage.
"Where then, our enemies will affect
to fay, is the danger to be apprehended
from the foldiery? What mean they by
theſe complaints, if they are inacceffible
to diſcouragement?
"The danger, fire, is urgent, is uni
verfal,
H
98
SPEECHES OF
verfal, is beyond all the calculations of
human prudence.
"The danger is for the inhabitants of
the provinces. Should they once be alarm-
ed for our liberty, we ſhould no longer
have it in our power to reftrain their im-
petuofity. Diſtance alone magnifies every
thing, exaggerates every thing, doubles
the difquiet, angers it, envenoms it.
"The danger is for the capital. With
what ſenſations will the people, in the lap
of indigence, and tortured with the keeneſt
anguiſh, ſee the relics of its fubfiftence
difputed for by a throng of threatening
foldiers? The prefence of the military
will cauſe heats and animofities, will
provoke the people, will produce a uni-
verfal ferment, and the firſt act of vio-
lence, exerciſed under pretence of police,
may
M. DE MIRABEAU,
99
may commence a train of evils truly
horrible.
"The danger is for the troops. French
foldiers drawn cloſe to the very centre of
our difcuffions, partaking of the paffions
and the intereſts of the people, may forget
that the ceremony of enliſting made them
foldiers, and recollect that nature made
them men.
"The danger, fire, menaces thoſe la-
bours, which are our primary duty, and
which will only obtain their full fuccefs,
and a real permanency, as long as the
people looks on them to be altogether
free. There is, moreover, a contagion in
commotions where the paffions take the
lead: we are but men; diftruſt of our-
felves, the fear of appearing weak, may
drive us beyond our object; we ſhall be
beſieged by counfels violent and immode-
H 2
rate;
3
}
3
ร
}
100
SPEECHES OF
rate; and calm reafon, tranquil wiſdom,
utter not their oracles amidft fcenes of dif
order, faction, and tumult.
"The danger, fire, is yet more terrible,
and judge of its extent by the alarms
which bring us before you. Mighty re-
volutions have arifen from caufes far lefs
illuftrious; more than one enterpriſe fatal
to the
of nations hath been uſhered
peace
in in a manner lefs inauſpicious and lefs
formidable.
"Believe not thofe who talk to you
difreſpectfully of the nation, and who, ac-
cording to their own views, repreſent it
to you, one while as infolent, rebellious,
feditious; one while as fubmiffive, docile
for the yoke, ready to bow down the head
to receive it. Theſe two pictures are alike
unfaithful.
"Ever ready to obey you, fire, be-
caufe
M. DE MIRABEAU.
IOI
<
cauſe you command in the name of the
laws, our fidelity is unbounded, as it is
untainted.
"Ready to reſiſt all the arbitrary com-
mands of thoſe who mifufe your name,
becauſe they are hoftile to the laws, our
fidelity itſelf enjoins us fuch reſiſtance;
and we ſhall ever confider it an honour
to us to merit the reproaches which our
firmneſs brings upon us.
"Sire, we conjure you, in the name
of our country, in the name of your own
happineſs, and your own glory, to fend
back your foldiers to the poſts from which
your counſellors have drawn them; ſend
back that artillery, deſtined to cover your
frontiers; above all, fend back the foreign
troops, thofe allies of the nation, whom
we pay to defend, and not to trouble our
币
​H
[ 3
do-
102
SPEECHES OF
domeftic peace. Your majefty hath no
need of them why fhould a monarch,
adored by five-and-twenty millions of
Frenchmen, affemble round the throne,
in a hurry, and at vaft expence, fome
thouſands of mere foreigners?
"Sire, amidſt your children, be guard-
ed by their love. The deputies of the
nation are fummoned to confecrate
with you, the lofty rights of royalty
upon the immoveable baſis of the liberty
of the people: but, while they are per-
forming their duty, while they are giv-
ing way to their reaſon, to their ſenti-
ments, would you expofe them to the
fufpicion of having yielded only to
fear? The authority which is delegated
to you by every heart, is the only
pure, the only unshakeable authority;
it
M. DE MIRABEAU.
103
it is the juft return for your benefits, and
the immortal appanage of the princes to
whom you will be a model *"
*.
JULY 11.
The prefident reported the anfwer given
by the king to the deputation appointed
to beſeech him to fend away the troops.
This anfwer was as follows:
"NO perfon is ignorant of the difor-
"ders and the fcandalous ſcenes which
"have been acted and repeated at Paris
* It was decreed that this immortal addreſs ſhould
be carried inſtantly to the king. Four-and-twenty
deputies were named for that purpoſe; and perhaps
it is not unneceffary to obferve, that M. de Mira-
beau was one of the members of the deputation.
H 4
"and
104
SPEECHES OF
66
and Verſailles, before my eyes, and be-
"fore the eyes of the States-General. It is
"neceffary that I fhould make uſe of the
<6
means which are in my power, to re-
"ftore and maintain order in the capital
" and the environs. It is one of my prin-
66
66
cipal duties to watch over the public
fafety. Theſe were the motives which
"determined me to affemble the troops
"round Paris. You may affure the af-
fembly of the States-General, that thoſe
66
66
troops are deſtined only to reprefs, or ra-
"ther prevent, freſh commotions, to main-
"tain good order, and the exerciſe of the
"laws. To fecure and protect, likewife,
"the freedom which ſhould reign in its
"deliberations, every fort of conſtraint
"fhould be banished from it, as well as
66
every apprehenfion of tumult and vio-
"lence ſhould be laid afide. They could
(C
only
M. DE MIRABEAU.
105
€6
only have been evil-minded perfons,
"who would fet the people aftray, with
(
regard to the true motives of the pre-
"cautions which I have employed. I
"have made it my conftant endeavour
to do every thing which could tend
"to their happineſs, and I have ever had
"reafon to be affured of their love and
"their fidelity.
"If, however, the needful preſence of
"the troops in the neighbourhood of Pa-
"ris ftill gives umbrage, I am ready, at
"the defire of the affembly, to transfer the
"States-General to Noyon, or to Soiffons,
"and fhall then repair to Compiégne, in
"order to maintain the communication
"which ought to fubfift between the af-
ſembly and myſelf."
66
This anſwer was of no fignification
whatever, or rather, and in the final refult,
it
106
SPEECHES OF
it fignified formally that the king would
not diſmiſs the troops. However, it met
with ſome applauſe.
M. de Mirabeau alone had the refolu-
tion to attack it.
"Gentlemen," faid he, " undoubtedly
the king's word is deferving of the higheft
confidence; we all owe it to the known
goodneſs of the fovereign; we may rely
upon his virtues.
"But, gentlemen, the king's word, all
comfortable as it ought to be, is never-
theleſs a bad ſecurity for the conduct of
an adminiſtration which hath left nothing
unattempted to impoſe upon his piety.
"We all know that, by more reſerve,
we might have avoided great diforders.
We all know that the habitual confidence
of the French for their king, is leſs a vir-
tue than a vice, particularly when it is
extended
M. DE MIRABEAU,
107
extended to every part of the admi-
niſtration.
"Indeed, what man amongſt us does
not know that our inconfiderate blind-
nefs hath led us on from
age to age, and
from blunder to blunder, to the crifis
which at the preſent day afflicts us, and
which at length ought to open our eyes,
if we have not refolved to continue,
"to the laſt fyllable of recorded time*,
children ever refractory, and ever flaves?
""
"The king's anſwer is a downright
refufal: the miniſtry hath confidered it as
only a fimple formulary of encouragement
and goodneſs; they ſeem to think that we
have made the requifition, without being
much intereſted in its fuccefs, and merely
for the fhew of the matter.
*
Jufqu'à la confommation des tems.
" We
108
SPEECHES OF
$
"We muſt undeceive the miniftry.
EC
Undoubtedly my opinion is not that
we ſhould fail in that confidence, and that
reſpect, which are due to the king's vir-
tues; but neither is it my opinion, that
we ſhould be inconfiftent, timid, unde-
termined in our progreſs.
Indeed, there is no room to deli-
berate on the tranflation which they pro-
poſe to us; for in fhort, even after the
king's anfwer, we will go neither to Noy-
ons, nor to Soiffons; that was not the ob-
ject of our requifition, and it never ſhall
be the object of our requifition; becaufe,
in all probability, we ſhall never defire to
place ourſelves between two or three di-
vifions of troops, namely, thoſe who are
beſieging Paris, and thoſe which may,
every moment, fall upon us, and upon
Flanders and Alface.
" We
M. DE MIRABEAU.
109
"We have requeſted the difmiffion of
the troops.
That was the object of our
addrefs. We have not afked leave to run
away from the troops, but merely defired
that the troops ſhould be at a diſtance
from the capital. Nor was it for ourſelves
that we made fuch a requeft; fear certainly
was not the motive of our conduct; that
is a thing well known; the general intereſt
was our motive. Now, the preſence of
the troops is injurious to all order and to
occafion the moſt
public peace, and may
unhappy diſaſters; difafters, which our
tranflation, ſo far from warding off, would,
on the contrary, only aggravate.
"We muſt therefore bring back peace,
in deſpite of the friends of miſchief; we
muſt be confiftent with ourſelves, and, to
attain that, we have but one courſe to
fteer, which is, to infift indefatigably on
the
110
SPEECHES OF
the difmiffion of the troops, the only in
fallible means of obtaining it."
The opinion of M. de Mirabeau was, in
fact, adopted, for no contrary refolution
was taken.
JULY 15.
Saturday 11th, M. Necker was dif
miffed.
Sunday 12th, Breteuil, la Galaifiére, de
Broglie, la Porte, and Foulon, took their
feats in the council.
The fame day, M. de Lambefc exhibited
at Paris a moft ftriking example of the
power of ferocity over a pufillanimous
heart.
In the evening, the barriers on the
north fide were burnt.
On
•
M. DE MIRABEAU.
111
On the 13th, was paffed the memorable
decree, declaring that M. Necker and the
other difmiffed minifters were regretted
by the affembly, and making the new mi-
nifters, and all the adviſers of his majefty,
of what rank and ftation foever they might
be, perfonally refponfible for the troubles
then exiſting, and for all thoſe which might
enfue.
On the 14th, the Baftile was taken.
The governor of that fort, and the pro-
voft of Paris, had been made cruel ex-
amples of what the people was capable of
inflicting upon thoſe who wiſhed, either
by force or cunning, to prevent it from
being free.
All the citizens of Paris were in arms,
and preparing to attack in front the camp
which government had formed at the Mi-
litary School.
Ver-
112
SPEECHES OF
Verſailles was filled with foreign fol-
diery.
Two deputations had been fent to the
king to reiterate the requeſt for the dif-
miffion of the troops, whofe mere preſence
was the cauſe of all the infurrections.
Both the king's anſwers were in the ne-
gative.
On the 15th, the aſſembly, which had
been fitting fince the morning of the
13th, determined upon fending a third de-
putation to the king. It was on the point
of fetting out.
M. DE MIRABEAU.
"TELL him that the foreign hordes
by which we are befieged, received a
viſit yeſterday from the princes, the prin-
ceffes, the favourites, male and female;
and their careffes, and their exhortations,
and
M. DE MIRABEAU.
113
and their prefents *; tell him that, the
whole night, thoſe foreign fatellites, gorged
with gold and wine, were predicting in
their impious camps the ſlavery of France,
and that their brutal vows were directed
to the deftruction of the National Af-
fembly; tell him that, in his very palace,
the courtiers danced to that barbarous mu-
fic, and that fuch was once the prologue
to the tragedy of Saint Bartholomew *
"Tell him that that Henry whoſe me-
mory the world adores, the man of all his
anceſtors whom he would ſet up as his mo
del, let provifions pafs into Paris then in
actual rebellion, which he was befieging
in perfon; and that the inhuman counſel-
* The queen, M. d'Artois, Mad. de Polignac, &c.
had been in the evening to vifit the huffars quar-
tered in the Orangery.
+ L'avant fcène de la St. Barthelemy.
I
lors
2
T
114
SPEECHES OF
lors of his prefent majefty repulfe the fup-
plies of grain which commerce is carrying
to his faithful and famiſhing capital *."
The deputation did not fet out; the
king came himſelf to give notice that he
had juft ordered the troops to remove
from Paris and Verfailles.
JULY 16.
Tranquillity was re-eſtabliſhed. The
deputation which, the evening before,
carried to Paris the news of the king's
viſit to the affembly, had brought back
both the promiſes and the hopes of peace.
But could that peace be durable, as long
* Some corn, already on the road from Verfailles
to Paris, was ſent back to Verfailles by order of the
miniftry.
as
M. DE MIRABEAU.
115
as the new miniſters remained in place?
No, unquestionably; and M. de Mirabeau
was well aware of it. He propoſed the
following form of an addreſs:
Form of an Addrefs to the King, for the
Difmiffion of the Ministry, prefented to
the National Aſſembly on the 16th of
July.
“SIRE,
"WE are come to lay at the foot of
the throne our reſpectful acknowledgments
for the ever-glorious confidence which
your majeſty hath placed in us, and the
homage which we render to the purity of
your intentions, to that love of juftice
which fo eminently diftinguiſhes you, and
which founds your people's attachment to
your
I 2
116
SPEECHES OF
4
your facred perſon upon the moſt upright
and moſt durable motives.
"The difmiffion of the troops is an
ineftimable benefit; we perceive the full
extent of it but it ſeems to acquire a
new value, fince we owe it folely to your
own heart, to your own fatherly folicitude.
Truly worthy of holding the reins of go-
vernment, you have not, in the moment
of greateſt difficulty, abandoned them to
thoſe who endeavoured, by a multiplicity
of artifices, to perfuade you to leave that
government to their direction.
"You have obtained a triumph, the
more precious to your people, as you were
neceffitated to make head againſt opinions
and affections, which it is honourable
and delightful to give way to in private
life. One of the moſt painful duties of
the exalted ſtation which you fill, is to
wreſtle
"M. DE MIRABEAU.
117
wreſtle with the dominion of habit and
partiality.
“But, fire, a fatal experience hath juſt
fhewn us, that finifter counfels, although
they may have afforded your majefty an op-
portunity of exerciſing a great and uncom-
mon virtue, have obliged us to purchaſe at
the price of public quiet, at the price of the
blood of our fellow-citizens, that benefit
which we might have obtained from the
juſtneſs of your underſtanding, and from
the goodneſs of your heart.
"It is even a matter of certainty, that,
only for thoſe perfidious counfels, the
troops, which your majeſty hath conde-
fcended to difmifs, would never have
been fummoned hither.
<c
They have deceived your majefty;
their deteftable policy expected to have
involved you in a quarrel with your fub-
I 3
jects;
118
SPEECHES OF
•
jects; our enemies hoped that exceffes on
our part, or fome angry tranfports of
the people, would juſtify the ufe of thoſe
means with which they had provided
your
themſelves; they hoped to make crimi-
nals, that they might thereby acquire
right to puniſh the nation, or to puniſh
us; they would have betrayed your piety,
love of order, into commands which,
could they, at that inftant, have been ex-
ecuted, would have plunged this kingdom
into a deplorable condition, put alienation
in the place of confidence, and rendered
all your generous intentions abortive,
fince, happy in the continuation of con-
fufion and anarchy, thoſe haughty and
independent men dreaded laws and a
conftitution which, fooner or later, they
muft fubmit to.
“Sire, whither did they pretend to lead
you?
M. DE MIRABEAU.
119
you? What was the object of that fatal
plan which they had had the audacity to
meditate?
"There is not one of us who can doubt
that they propoſed to diſperſe the National
Affembly, and even lay their facrilegious
hands on the repreſentatives of the nation;
they would fain have effaced, annihilated
thoſe noble, thofe affecting declarations
which have fallen from your lips, decla-
rations known and admired by the uni-
verſe; they would willingly have replaced
in your hands the power of taxation,
which you have declared to belong to the
people; they would have endeavoured to
intereft the parliaments to lend you their
affiſtance; they would have affociated, in
the midft of your capital, with money-
jobbing adventurers, whoſe whole art con-
fifts in haraffing your people, in order to
I A
pour
120
SPEECHES OF
pour into your treaſury that metal, the pof-
feffion of which is the fole end of this
atrocious policy: in fine, they would,
through impotence, and after a long train
of calamities, have violated public faith,
and brought diſhonour upon your reign.
-You interrupt us, fire; your humanity
revolts; you accufe us of depicturing, in
gloomy colours, projects which you think
no man would have had the temerity to
approach you with,
"But, fire, we judged of what they
wiſhed to do, by what they have done al-
ready; they have defamed us; they have
made you imagine that the National Af-
ſembly would not attend to the taſk af
figned to it; they have prevailed on you
to declare, that the wiſhes of the people
being known to you by their liſt of griev-
ances, you would of yourſelf effect the
pur
M. DE MIRABEAU.
121
purpoſes for which we were called toge-
ther. Such is the fecret of their hearts, and
fuch the ſole object of their deſires. They
wiſhed to render us ufelefs; they wifhed
to diffolve us; they wished to repulſe the
conſtitution, and ftrangle it in its cradle.
"Let them affert it, if they dare: but
would the nation have placed any confi-
dence in the labours of the miniſtry?
Who elfe but the minifters have plunged
the nation into the diſaſters which at pre-
fent overwhelm her? Could ſhe have for-
gotten that no tax can be legal without
her confent; that borrowing on the ſup-
pofition of taxes, can deferve no confi-
dence if it hath not her fanction; that
force is nothing but robbery, when em-
ployed to levy contributions not only con-
demned by principles, but folemnly de-
clared illegal by your majeſty?
"They
122
SPEECHES OF
66
They muſt, therefore, have been foon
obliged to convene a new affembly: but
what grounds had adminiſtration for ſup-
poſing that our fucceffors would be lefs
fteady than ourſelves, that they would
combat lefs vigorously all feudal ufurpa-
tions, that they would affert leſs cou-
rageouſly the people's rights, that they
would betray the cauſe of liberty? That
fecond National Affembly might either
have proved weak and timid; and then,
confidered as a nullity, it would have met
with nothing but contempt; or, firm in
its principles, unſhakeable in its demands,
your minifters muſt have diffolved it, and
dared to plan new outrages.
"If adminiſtration hoped that bank-
ruptcy would exempt them from having
recourſe to the nation, the firſt, the moſt
facred of your majeſty's intentions would
thereby
M. DE MIRABEAU.
123
thereby have been betrayed. But what
would have been the confequence? The
deſpair of fome, the indignation of all, the
general hatred to authority, would have
driven them into expences which no arith-
metic could calculate *: the ſtate would
have been relieved from one burthen, only
to bear another ftill more grievous; for
we may conceive the idea of labour and
courage uniting to repair with ufury the
facrifices required by the public good;
but laborious and productive induſtry gives
place to dejection and to idlenefs where-
foever nothing reigns but murmuring and
mifery. Bankruptcy, therefore, at ſuch
a fatal conjuncture, would only have dried
up all the fources of profperity, and added
to poverty a more melancholy and op-
preffive degree of indigence.
* Dépenfes incalculables.
6C
Judge,
124
SPEECHES OF
..
Judge, fire, of the future by the paft,
and vouchfafe to reprefent to your ima-
gination the mode in which the authors of
fuch villany would condu& themſelves in
that cataſtrophe. Would they diminiſh
their prodigality? Would they fet the ex-
ample of obedience to the laws, of reſpect
for a generous nation? Was it with a view
of regenerating the kingdom, that they
endeavoured to ftrangle public fpirit in its
birth, to breed diſtruft between you and the
National Affembly, to interrupt that com-
merce of wiſdom and good counſels, which
ought ever to fubfift between the people
and the king?
"We have hitherto forborne to touch
upon the worſt evil of all; but we will
diffemble it no longer: thefe minifters
would facrifice the comfort of your reign.
But were theſe fabricators of violence right
fure
M. DE MIRABEAU.
125
fure that every thing would have bent
under the impetuofity of their moverents;
that the deſpair of the people would have
been eaſily kept down; that five-and-
twenty millions of Frenchmen would have
fubmitted to their defpotifm; that the na-
tional foldiers, indifferent about liberty,
indifferent about thoſe laws which, never-
theleſs, protect them, would not, when
after their diſcharge they re-entered into
civil order, have made their option be-
tween the obedience of the foldier and the
patriot zeal of the citizen?
"Had they entered into compacts with
foreign princes? Were they certain that
offenfive policy, pretenfions, ancient rights,
jealouſies, vengeance would have flum-
bered? Have they not expoſed the king-
dom to all thofe evils that never fail to af-
fault a country which difcord hath dif
tracted,
126
SPEECHES OF
tracted, which its weakneſs and difunion
feem to mark out for a prey to the in-
vader?
"You have vouchfafed, fire, to fum-
mon us, in order to confult with you upon
the welfare of the ftate: we have, there-
fore, the facred pledge of your confidence
and of our commiffion from the nation,
and cannot be fufpected, fince we cannot
be ſuppoſed to have any other intereſt
than the public good, which is effentially
your own. Surely, fire, in this twofold
relation in which we ftand, we ſhould be
traitors, were we to conceal from you a
fingle particle of the truth.
"Your wiſdom hath prevented the moſt
alarming calamities; but your indulgence
ought not to protect thoſe who have dug
under our feet the abyfs which you your-
felf have juſt clofed up.
C
" It
M. DE MIRABEAU.
127
"It is enough that they would have
robbed us of your majeſty's affection; it is
enough that they would have run the riſk
of letting your name appear in that ſyſtem
of calamity which they were preparing for
the people, for us never to behold, in
them, perſons worthy to co-operate with
you in your
fublime exertions.
cr
"*It is impoffible for us to repoſe any
confidence in a man, who, after acquiring
a right to immortality by defending the
ſtate, hath fhewn himſelf ready to employ,
in enflaving the people, that art which is
the guardian of liberty, and who hath
cauſed us to fear for our country all the
miſchiefs which war fhould repel from it.
"It is impoffible for us to repofe any
confidence in a head of the law, who hath
*He hath hitherto attacked the minifters con-
jointly; he now begins to attack them feverally. W.
fhewn
I
128
SPEECHES OF
ſhewn himſelf the most active enemy of
a conſtitution, without which all judicial
proceedings, even amongſt virtuous ma-
giſtrates, are but a formidable game of ha-
zard, and who, abufing the power which,
in confequence of his place, he exerciſes
over every printing-prefs in the kingdom,
hath exerted all his influence to ſtop the
circulation of knowledge.
"It is impoffible for us to repofe confi-
dence in a minifter, who, contrary to the
known intentions of the king, hath not
fcrupled, in the fight of the affembled na-
tion, to laviſh arbitrary commands to that
active inquifition which looks for the fafe-
ty of empires in the perfection of a fpy.
"Will the nation ever believe that për-
fect harmony fubfifts between your ma-
jefty and us, if the miniftry is ſuſpected,
if it is confidered as the enemy of our la-
bours,
M. DE MIRABEAU.
129
bours, if it is ſuppoſed to have yielded, for
a moment, to neceffity and to your wif-
dom, for no other end than to entangle
us unceaſingly in new fnares?
"Inconveniencies of every kind refult
from the open diſtruſt between us and the
adminiſtration; we have more than fuf-
picion of their hoftile deſigns; they have
ſomething more than doubt of the ſenti-
ments which they have provoked within
our bofoms: ought a prince, who is the
friend of his people, to be ſurrounded with
our enemies?
"We pretend not to dictate to you the
choice of your miniſters; they ought to
be fuch as pleaſe you: to be agreeable to
your inclinations, is a neceffary condition
in order to become your fervants: but,
fire, when you come to conſider the fatal
courſe into which your adviſers would
have
K
130
SPEECHES OF
have feduced you; when you reflect on
the diſcontent of the capital, which they
befieged and would have ftarved, on the
blood with which they drenched it, on the
horrors which can be imputed to them-
felves alone, all Europe will think you
clement if you deign to pardon them."
""
This addreſs, earneſtly applauded, ear-
neftly fupported, was, however, not adopt-
ed, as news arrived, while the affembly
was fitting, that Meffieurs de Broglio, de
Villedeuil, and the keeper of the feals,
were difmiffed from the adminiſtration.
It was only decreed, that a deputation
ſhould requeft the difmiffion of fuch of
the new minifters as ftill remained in
place, and the recall of M. Necker.
In the course of the debate, M. Mou-
nier had afferted that the National Affem-
bly ought not to have any influence, ei-
ther
M. DE MIRABEAU.
131
ther with regard to the difmiffion or the
recall of minifters; and adduced the ex-
ample of England, where the parliament
had never been able, although defirous of
fo doing, to interfere in the appoint-
ment of an adminiſtration, and that any
attempts of that kind had always given
rife to factions and difturbances which
were highly cenfurable.
M. DE MIRABEAU.
"IN a cafe fo urgent, I might avoid all
controverfy, fince the member who ſpoke
laft, being obliged to admit that, as the
king hath conſulted us, it is our right and
our duty to propofe to him what we deem
expedient, makes no oppofition to the ad-
drefs for the difiiffion of the miniftry.
But I do not think that any one ſhould be
fuffered, in this affembly, to violate prin-
ciples,
K 2
132
SPEECHES OF
ciples, even in a ſpeech, and to compound
with felf-love at the expence of verity.
"If there is an impious and deteſtable
maxim exifting, it muſt be that which
would interdict the National Affembly
from declaring to the fovereign that his
people hath no confidence in his minifters.
Such an opinion attacks at once both the
nature of things, and the effential rights of
the people, and the law of miniſterial re-
fponfibility, a law which we are com-
miffioned to enact; a law ftill more im-
portant, if poffible, to the king than to his
people; a law which never will be freely
executed, unleſs the repreſentatives of the
people have the first blow, in all matters
of accufation *, if I may be allowed fo to
expreſs myſelf.
"What? How long is it fince the
L'initiative de l'accufation.
leffings
M. DE MIRABEAU.
133
bleffings and the curfes of the people have
ceaſed to proclaim its judgment reſpecting
good or guilty minifters? Why ſhould a
nation which is reprefented, weary itfelf
out with vain murmurs, with barren im-
precations, rather than make its voice be
heard through organs which are fworn to
convey
it? Hath not the people placed the
throne between heaven and itſelf, in order
to realize, as far as human kind can do it,
eternal juſtice, and anticipate its decrees,
at leaſt for the happineſs of this world?
"But do you wish to confound the dif-
ferent powers?————
"We fhall foon have occafion to ex-
amine this theory of the three powers,
which, when exactly analyfed, will per-
haps fhew the aptitude of the human mind
to take words for things, formularies for
arguments, and follow the routine of a
certain
K 3
134
SPEECHES OF
certain order of ideas, without ever ſtop-
ping to confider the intelligible defini-
tion which it hath taken for an axiom.
The valorous champions of the three
powers will then endeavour to make us
comprehend what they mean by this
grand diftribution of three powers; and,
for example, how they conceive the ju-
diciary power to be diſtinct from the ex-
ecutive power; or likewife the legiſlative
power without any ſhare in the executive.
"It is fufficient for me at preſent to
fay to them: You forget that that very
people, to which you oppoſe the limits of
the three powers, is itſelf the fource of
all thoſe powers, and alone enabled to de-
legate them. You forget that it is with
the fovereign you are difputing the con-
trol of the adminiftrators. You forget,
in fine, that we, the repreſentatives of that
fovereign;
M. DE MIRABEAU.
135
ſovereign; we, in whoſe preſence all the
powers are ſuſpended, and even thoſe of
the head of the nation, if his conduct
agrees not with our own-you forget, I
ſay, that we pretend not either to place or
diſplace the minifters by virtue of our de-
crees, but merely to make known the opi-
nion of our conſtituents with refpect to ſuch
or ſuch a miniſter. With what face can you
refuſe us this fimple right of declaration,
when you allow us that of accuſing them,
of profecuting them, and of creating the tri-
bunal which is to puniſh thoſe fabricators of
iniquity, whoſe works, with a palpable in-
conſiſtency, you propofe that we ſhould con-
template in reſpectful ſilence? Do you not
perceive, then, in how much better a ſtate
I place the
governors than you do? how
much more moderation I diſplay? You
allow no medium between a melancholy
filence
K 4
136
SPEECHES OF
filence and a bloody profecution. To hold
your peace, or to puniſh; to obey, or to
ftrike; therein confifts your whole ſyſtem.
For my own part, I give notice before I
proceed to profecution; I make excep-
tions before I hurl reproach; I offer a re-
treat to raſhneſs or incapacity, before I
purfue them as crimes. Is there
Is there any one
amongst us who fhews more moderation
and equity?
"But look, you fay, at Great-Britain !
What popular commotions are not cauſed
in that kingdom, by this very right which
you lay claim to? It is this that hath
ruined England-England ruined!
Mighty God! What unfortunate intelli-
gence! From what quarter did the mif-
chief come? What earthquake, what con-
vulſion of nature hath fwallowed up that
famous iſland, that inexhauſtible treaſury
of
M. DE MIRABEAU.
137
of illuftrious examples, that claffic country
of the friends of liberty?-- But you give
me comfort-England ftill flouriſhes for
the eternal inftruction of the world: Eng-
land, in a glorious filence, is now healing
thoſe wounds which in the height of a
burning fever ſhe inflicted on herſelf!
England diſplays all the various arts of
induſtry, explores every fource of human
proſperity, and even now hath juſt filled
up a vaft chafm in her conftitution,
with all the vigour of the moſt energetic
youth, and the impoſing maturity of a
people grown old in ftate affairs.--You
are thinking, then, merely of fome par-
liamentary diffenfions (there, as in other
places, it is often no more than talk, which
hath no other importance than the intereſt
of loquacity); or rather, it ſeems to be the
laft
138
SPEECHES OF
laft diffolution of parliament which af
frights you to this degree.
"I will not fay, that, according to what
you have advanced, it is evident that you
are unacquainted with the cauſes and the
particulars of that great event, which is
not a revolution, as you are pleaſed to call
it; but I will ſay, that that example af-
fords a proof irreſiſtible, that the influence
of a national affembly over an adminiftra-
tion can never be calamitous, fince that
influence is null, the very moment the fe-
nate abufes it.
"In fact, what hath been the iffue, in
this uncommon circumſtance, where the
king of England, fupported by a very weak
minority, did not heſitate to cope with the
national affembly, formidable as it was,
and diffolve it? On a fuddèn, the fan-
taftic
M. DE MIRABEAU.
139
taſtic edifice of a coloffal oppofition tot-
tered on its frail foundation, on that afpir-
ing and factious coalition which feemed to
threaten a univerfal ufurpation *. And
what was the cauſe of this fo fudden
change? The cauſe was, that the people
was of the king's opinion, and not of that
of the parliament. The fupreme magi-
ſtrate of the nation quelled the legiſlative
aristocracy by a fimple appeal to the
people, to that people which hath never
but one intereft; becauſe the public wel-
fare is effentially its own. Its reprefenta-
tives, inveſted with an invifible power, and
with almoſt a real dictatorship when they
are the organs of the general inclination,
* I thought the French patriots and the Engliſh
oppofition were better friends than this oration feems
to indicate. W.
are
140
SPEECHES OF
are no more than powerleſs pigmies when
they dare to fubftitute, in place of their
facred miffion, the intereſted views and
paffions of private individuals.
"Let us yield ourſelves, then, fearlessly,
to the impulſe of public opinion; far from
fhrinking back, let us call out inceffantly
for the univerſal control; it is the incor-
ruptible ſentinel of our country; it is the
firſt auxiliary inftrument of every good
conftitution; it is the only watch, the ſole
and powerful compenſation, for every vi-
cious conftitution; it is the facred gua-
rantee of the peace of civil fociety, with
which peace no individual, no intereft, no
confideration can be weighed in the ba
lance,"
SEP-
M. DE MIRABEAU.
141
SEPTEMBER 1, 1789.
ON this day was difcuffed the grand
queſtion of the VETO; and we muſt ſay,
that it had never been known that the af-
fembly contained ſo many men of talents,
as appeared in the tribune on this import-
ant occafion.
Already had Meffieurs de Liancour,
Salle, Rabaut de Saint-Etienne, Malouet,
and Pethion de Villeneuve, delivered their
opinions.
M. DE MIRABEAU.
"GENTLEMEN * 2
"IN the beſt organized monarchies,
the royal authority is always an object of
fear
* "When I delivered my fentiments upon the royal
fanction, I partly fpoke, and partly read: if every
thing I faid is not to be found here, at leaſt nothing
will
1
142
SPEECHES OF
fear to the beft citizens: he whom the law
places over all, eaſily becomes the rival of
the
will be found here which I have not faid. The in-
dulgence of an affembly is much greater than that of
readers; I am therefore really making a facrifice of
my ſelf-love in obedience to the affembly, by ſuffering
this ſpeech to be printed. It is become impoffible,
from the courſe followed by the National Affembly,
to write any thing carefully, or even to organize any
work. It is equally impoffible to meditate matter,
unleſs one hath a great deal of time beforehand.
Whoever goes to the National Affembly without prin-
ciples ready fixed, will run the riſk of embracing no
opinions there but ſuch as are exceedingly unwiſe.
"There hath appeared, however, upon the noble
ſubject of the royal fanction, a book written by the
Marquis de Cazaux, entitled, A clear Idea of a Cons
ftitution, which is an inexhauſtible mine of found and
profound notions, by which I have much profited;
for example, all that part of my ſpeech relating to the
permanence of the National Affemblies, is an extract
from it.
"I look
}
M. DE MIRABEAU.
143
"
the law. Sufficiently powerful to protec
the conftitution, he is frequently tempted
to deſtroy it. The uniform progreſs of
regal authority every where, hath taught
us but too well the neceffity of watching
it. This diftruft, falutary in itſelf, leads
us naturally to deſire to reſtrain a power
fo formidable. In ſpite of ourſelves, a fe-
cret terror prevents us from approaching
"I look upon this book of M. de Cazaux to be that
work of genius which hath produced the revolution-
I do not know a fingle journal that hath mentioned it,
and, to judge of it by the principles folemnly laid
down on this occaſion in the affembly, it hath been
very little read by the reprefentatives of the nation.-
Note of M. de Mirabeau.
What is here faid of the fate of this production of
M. de Cazaux, puts me in mind of an obfervation
made on the French reviewers by the author of the
Tableau de Paris: "On employera un filence perfide
et prémédité." W.
2
the
144
SPEECHES OF
the means with which the fupreme head
of the nation muſt be armed, to the end
that he may perform the functions which
are affigned to him.
"However, if we coolly confider the
principles and the nature of monarchical
government, erected upon the baſis of the
people's fovereignty; if we attentively
examine the circumſtances which occafion
its formation, we fhall find that the mo-
narch ought to be confidered rather as the
protector of the people, than as the enemy
of their profperity.
"Two powers are neceffary to the ex-
iftence and to the functions of the body
politic; that of willing, and that of acting.
By the firſt, fociety enacts the laws which
are to lead her to the end propofed, which
is, incontrovertibly, the good of the whole.
By the fecond, thofe laws are executed;
1
and
M. DE MIRABEAU.
145
and the public force enables fociety to
triumph over the obftacles, which that
executive power might meet in the oppo-
fition arifing from the private intereſt of
individuals.
"In a great nation, theſe two powers
cannot be exercifed by itſelf; hence the
neceffity for reprefentatives of the people, to
exerciſe the faculty of willing, or the le-
giſlative power; hence alfo the neceffity for
another kind of repreſentatives, to exerciſe
the faculty of acting, or the executive
power.
"The more confiderable the nation is,
the more does it import that this latter
power ſhould be active; hence the ne-
ceffity of one fole and fupreme chief, of
a monarchical government in extenſive
ftates, where convulfions, difmember-
ments would be extremely to be appre-
hended, if there did not exift a force fuf-
L
ficient
146
SPEECHES OF
ficient to unite the ſeveral parts, and turn
their activity towards one common centre.
"Theſe two powers are equally necef-
fary, equally precious to the nation. This,
however, is worthy of remark; that the
executive power, acting continually upon
the people, is more immediately connected
with it; that, charged as this power is
with the care of maintaining the equili-
brium, of counteracting the partialities,
the preferences towards which the ſmaller
number continually tends, to the prejudice
of the greater, it is of importance to that
people, that that power ſhould conſtantly
poffefs effectual means of fupporting itſelf.
"Theſe means conſiſt in the right con-
ferred on the fupreme head of the nation,
of examining the acts of the legislative
power, and of granting or refufing them
the facred ftamp of law.
"Called upon by the very nature of his
7
inftitu-
M. DE MIRABEAU.
147
inftitution, to be at once the executor of
the law, and the protector of the people,
the monarch might be compelled to turn
the public force againſt the people, if his
intervention was not requifite for com-
pleting the acts of legiſlation, by declar-
ing them conformable to the will of the
community.
"This prerogative of the monarch is
particularly effential in every ſtate, where
the people, incapable of exerciſing, in any
fhape, the legiſlative power, is obliged to
entruſt it to reprefentatives.
"As, from the nature of things, it muſt
neceffarily happen, that, in the election
of repreſentatives, the choice will not bẹ
directed to the moſt worthy, but to thoſe
whom fituation, fortune, and particular
circumſtances ſeem to mark out as perfons
L 2
who
148
SPEECHES OF
who can willingly facrifice their time to
the buſineſs of the public, there will al-
ways refult from the election of thoſe re-
preſentatives of the people, a kind of vir-
tual aristocracy, which, inceffantly tending
to acquire a legal conſiſtence, will become
alike hoftile to the monarch, with whom
it will wish to put itſelf on an equality,
and to the people, whom it will conſtantly
endeavour to abaſe.
"Hence that alliance, fo natural and
fo neceffary, between the prince and the
people againſt every ſpecies of ariftocracy;
and as this alliance is founded upon their
having the fame interefts, the fame appre-
henfions, they muſt have the fame object,
and confequently the fame will.
66
If, on one hand, the greatneſs of the
prince depends on the profperity of the
people,
M. DE MIRABEAU.
149
people, on the other, the happineſs of the
people refts chiefly upon the tutelary
power of the prince.
"It is not, therefore, for his particular
advantage that the monarch interferes in
legiſlation, but for the intereſt of the
people; and in this fenſe it is, that we
can and ought to ſay, that the royal fanc-
tion is not the prerogative of the monarch,
but the property, the domain of the na-
tion.
"I have hitherto fuppofed an order of
things to which we are making great
ftrides, I mean an organifed and confti-
tuted monarchy; but, as we are not yet
arrived at fuch an order of things, I muſt
explain myſelf clearly. It is my opinion,
that the right of fufpending, and even of
putting a ſtop to the action of the legifla-
tive body, ought to belong to the king
when
L 3
150
SPEECHES OF
when the conſtitution ſhall be ſettled, and
the fole queftion be the prefervation of it.
But this right of ſtopping, this veto, muft
not be exerciſed, when the queftion is con-
cerning the formation of the conſtitution :
I do not ſee how you could diſpute the
people's right of giving itſelf a conftitu-
tion, by which it chooſes to be governed
henceforward.
"Let this point, therefore, be the fole
object of our inquiry, whether, in the
conftitution which we are about to form,
the royal fanction ought to enter as an in-
gredient in the legiſlature.
Undoubtedly, to him who feizes only
the furface, ftrong objections will preſent
themſelves againſt the idea of a veto, ex-
ercifed by any individual whatſoever, in
oppofition to the wishes of the reprefen-´
tatives of the people. When we fuppofe
the
M. DE MIRABEAU.
151
the National Affembly, compofed of its
true elements, prefenting to the prince the
fruits of its deliberations, offering up to
him the reſult of the moſt free and moſt
enlightened difcuffion, the produce of all
the knowledge and information it could
gather together, that, one would think, is
all that human prudence requires for ſtat-
ing, I will fay not only the general will,
but likewiſe the general underſtanding;
and, undoubtedly, in this abftract point of
view, it may feem repugnant to good ſenſe
to allow that a ſingle perſon fhould have a
right to anſwer: I oppoſe this general
will, this general underſtanding. This
idea even becomes ſtill more unpalatable,
when it is to be fettled by the conſtitution,
that the man armed with this terrible veto
fhall be likewife armed with the whole
public force, without which the general
I. 4
will
152
SPEECHES OF
will can never be certain of being exe-
cuted.
"All theſe objections vaniſh before this
important truth, that, without the right of
reſiſtance in the hands of the depofitary
of the public force, that force might fre-
quently be employed, in ſpite of him, to
execute a will that was contrary to the ge-
neral will.
4
"Now, to prove, by an example, that
this danger would exiſt, were the prince
deſpoiled of the veto upon all legiſlative
propofitions which might be preſented to
him by the National Aſſembly, I aſk you
only to ſuppoſe an improper choice of re-
prefentatives, and two interior regulations,
already propoſed and authorized by the
example of England; namely:
"The excluding the public from the
houſe of aſſembly upon the fimple requi-
fition
M. DE MIRABEAU.
153
fition of a member; and the interdicting
the public papers to give an account of
the debates.
“Theſe two regulations once obtained,
it is evident that the next ſtep, and that ve-
ry quickly, would be the expulfion of every
indifcreet member; and the terror of the
defpotiſm of the National Affembly ope-
rating upon the affembly itſelf, nothing
further would be wanting, under a weak
prince, than a little time and addreſs to
eſtabliſh by law the domination of twelve
hundred aristocrats, reduce the royal au-
thority to be nothing but the paffive in-
ftrument of their will, and replunge the
people into that ſtate of degradation, which
ever accompanies the fervitude of the
prince.
"The prince is the perpetual reprefen-
tative of the people, as the deputies are its
repreſentatives elected for a certain term.
The
154
SPEECHES OF
The rights of the one, like thofe of the
others, are founded only on the intereſt of
thofe who gave them their political exiſtence.
"None exclaims againſt the veto of the
National Affembly, which, in fact, is only
the right of the people intrufted to its re-
prefentatives, in order to be oppofed to
every propoſition which might tend to the
re-eſtabliſhment of minifterial defpotifm.
Wherefore, then, exclaim againſt the veto
of the prince, which is likewiſe but a right
of the people intrufted fpecially to the
prince, fince the prince is as much inter-
efted as the people in preventing the eſta-
bliſhment of ariſtocracy?
“But, it is ſaid, the deputies of the
people in the National Affembly, being
inveſted with power for a limited time
only, and having no ſhare in the executive
power, the ill uſe which they might make
of their veto can never be attended with
fuch
M. DE MIRABEAU.
155
fuch fatal confequences, as thoſe which
would enfue where an unremoveable
prince oppoſed a law that was juſt and
reaſonable.
repre-
"In the firſt place, if the prince hath
not the veto, who ſhall hinder the
fentatives of the people from prolonging,
and, ſoon after, from eternizing their du-
ration? (It was thus that the Long Par-
liament overturned the political liberty of
Great-Britain, and not, as you have been
told, by fuppreffing the Houfe of Peers.)
Nay, who ſhall hinder them from appro-
priating to themſelves that part of the ex-
ecutive power which diſpoſes of employ-
ments and favours? Will there be want-
ing pretexts to juftify this ufurpation?
Places filled fo fcandaloufly! Favours pro-
ſtituted fo unworthily! &c.
(6
Secondly, the veto, whether of the
prince or of the deputies to the National
Affembly,
156
SPEECHES OF
Affembly, poffeffes no other virtue than
that of quaſhing a ſingle propoſition :
there can refult, then, from the veto, of
whatever kind it be, only an inaction of
the executive power with reſpect to the
meaſure in queſtion.
<<
Thirdly, the veto of the prince may,
doubtlefs, oppofe the paffing of a good law;
but it may likewiſe preſerve us from a bad
one, the poffibility of which laft is incon-
teſtable.
"Fourthly, I will fuppofe that the veto
of the prince does actually prevent the
enaction of a law framed with the deepeſt
wiſdom, and moſt advantageous to the na-
tion; what will be the confequence, if the
ANNUAL return of the National Affembly be
as folidly fecured as the crown upon the head
of him who wears it; that is to fay, if the
annual return of the National Affembly
be fecured by a law truly conftitutional,
which
M. DE MIRABEAU.
157.
which forbids, under pain of conviction of
incapability, the propoſing either the grant
of
any kind of impoft, or of the military
eſtabliſhment, for more than one year?
Let us ſuppoſe that the prince hath made
uſe of his veto; the affembly will firſt de-
termine, whether the ufe which he hath
made of it is, or is not, followed by con-
fequences inimical to liberty. In the fe-
cond cafe, the difficulty raiſed by the in-
terpofition of the veto being found of no
avail, or of very flight importance, the Na-
tional Affembly will vote the impoſt and
the
army for the ordinary term, and then
all will remain in the order already eſta-
bliſhed.
"In the firſt cafe, the affembly will have
divers means of influencing the king's
will; it may refuſe the taxes it
may re-
fuſe the army; it may refuſe both one
and
158
SPEECHES OF
and the other, or merely vote them for a
very ſhort term. Whatever may be the
meaſure adopted by the affembly, the
prince, threatened with a paralytic ftroke
to the executive power at a certain pe-
riod, is reduced to the fole expedient of
appealing to his people by a diffolution
of the affembly.
“If, then, at ſuch a juncture the people
fhould return the fame deputies to the af
fembly, will it not neceffarily follow that
the prince must obey? for that is the true
word, whatever idea he may hitherto have
conceived of his pretended fovereignty,
when he ceaſes to agree in opinion with
his people, and the people knows what it
is about.
CC
Suppoſe now the right of the veto
taken away from the prince, and the prince
obliged to fanction an unjuft law; you
have
M. DE MIRABEAU.
159
have no longer any hope but in a general
inſurrection, the happieft iffue of which
would probably prove more fatal to the
unworthy repreſentatives of the people
than the diffolution of their affembly. But
is it
very certain that fuch an infurrection
would prove fatal only to the unworthy re-
preſentatives of the people?—I fee there
ftill arefource for the partifans of minifterial
defpotifm. I ſee there the imminent danger
to the public peace difturbed, and perhaps
violated. I fee there the almoft inevitable
combuftion, but too long dreaded in a ſtate
where a revolution fo neceffary, but yet fo
rapid, hath fown the feeds of diviſion and
hatred, which the eſtabliſhment of the
conftitution, by the fucceffive labours of
the affembly, alone can ſtifle in their birth.
"You fee, gentlemen, I have all along
fuppofed the permanence of the National
Aſſembly, and have even drawn from it all
my
160
SPEECHES OF
my arguments in favour of the royal
fanction, which appears to me the impreg-
nable rampart of political liberty, provided
the king can never perfift in his veto with-
out diffolving, nor diffolve without imme-
diately convening another affembly; be-
cauſe the conftitution muſt not fuffer the
community to be at any time without re-
preſentatives; provided that a conſtitu-
tional law declares all the taxes, and even
the army, annulled of right, three months
after the diffolution of the National Af-
fembly; provided, in fine, that the refpon-
fibility of the minifters fhould always
be infifted on with the moft inflexible ri-
gour; and, although the affairs of the
public were not to improve, each year, by
the progreſs of the public underſtanding,
would it not yet be fufficient to glance our
eyes upon the formidable extent of our
duties, in order to determine us to declare
the
M. DE MIRABEAU.
161
the annuality
of the National Af-
fembly.
"The finances alone demand, perhaps
for half a century, our legiſlative labours.
"Which of us, I will be bold to aſk,
hath calculated the immediate action; and
the more remote re-action of that multi-
tude of taxes which is cruſhing us under
its weight, upon the general opulence,
taxes which we are now fenfible that we
can no longer do without?
"Is there any one of our taxes, the in-
fluence of which upon the comfort of the
labourer we have dreamt of examining
into, comfort without which no nation
can ever be rich?
"Do you know to what extent inqui-
fitors, fpies, and informers fecure the pro-
* I cannot find this word in Johnſon's Dictionary;
nevertheleſs, I adopt it for want of a better. W.
M
duct
162
SPEECHES OF
duct of fome? Are you fufficiently aware,
that it is the genius of the treaſury to have
recourfe only to the mufket, the gibbet,
and the galleys, to prevent the diminution
of the reft?
"Is it impoffible to imagine any thing
lefs ridiculouſly abfurd, lefs horribly par-
tial, than this ſyſtem of finance, which our
grand financiers have hitherto confidered
as fo well balanced?
"Have we clear ideas of property? and.
are theſe ideas fufficiently fpread abroad
amongſt men, to affure the laws that they
will produce that fort of obedience which
the thinking man never refufes, and which
the honeft man holds in honour?
66 Will
you ever have any public credit
in this kingdom, as long as you have no
law to affure you, that the nation annually
affembled fhall receive from the minifters
of
M. DE MIRABEAU.
163
of the finances an exact account of their
ſtewardſhip; that all the creditors of the
ſtate may, every year, demand from the
nation the payment of the intereft due to
them; that, in fine, every year the ſtranger
may know where to look for that nation,
which will always be afraid of difhonour-
ing itſelf, a circumſtance which will never
give the miniſtry any diſquiet ?
" If
you paſs from the finances to the
code civil and criminal, do you not per-
ceive that the impoffibility, at leaſt before
a long time hath elapfed, of drawing up
one which may prove worthy of you, can-
not exempt you from profiting by that
knowledge which will be the acquifition
of each year? Will you likewife rely, for
thoſe proviſional improvements which may
be adapted to circumftances, on miniſters
who will imagine that they have done all,
when
M 2
164
SPEECHES OF
when they fhall have faid, The king is
acquainted with the whole business, for
I have apprifed him of the whole bufinefs,
and I have only executed his pofitive orders,
which I myſelf told him to give me?
Perhaps, to remove to a greater dif-
tance the return of National Affemblies,
they will propofe to you an interme-
diate commiffion. But this intermediate
commiffion will either do what the Na-
tional Affembly would have done, and, in
that cafe, I do not fee why the latter
fhould not be re-affembled; or it will not
be able to do what the affembly would
have done, and, in that cafe, will not prove
a fuccedaneum. Do you not perceive
alſo, that this commiffion would become
the body from which the miniftry would
be recruited, and that, in order to attain
promotion, the members would infenfibly
become
5
M. DE MIRABEAU.
165
become the docile inftruments of court
intrigue?
"It hath been infifted, that the want of
public ſpirit is an obſtacle to the annual
return of the National Affembly. But
how are you to form that public ſpirit bet-
ter, than by approximating the periods at
which each citizen will be called upon to
give proofs of it? Was it poffible for that
public ſpirit to exift, when the fatal divi-
fion of the orders was abforbing every
thing which it did not degrade; when
all the citizens, high and low, had no
other refources againſt humiliations and
contempt, and no other compenfation for
their political infignificance *, than the
theatre, the chaſe, intrigue, cabal, gaming,
every vice under the cope of heaven?
+
* Leur nullité.
M 3
"The
166
SPEECHES OF
"The immenfe expence attending an
election and an annual National Affem-
bly, hath been urged as an objection
againſt them!
"The whole is calculated; three mil-
lions form the groundwork of this grand
objection. And what are three millions
to a nation that pays fix hundred, and
which would not have three hundred and
fifty to pay, if for thefe thirty years paſt
ſhe had had an annual National Aſſembly?
"It hath even been faid to me, Who
will wish to become a member of the Na-
tional Aſſembly, if it is to have annual ſeſ-
fions? And to theſe extraordinary words
I anfwer, Not you, who afk the queſtion
--but every worthy member of the clergy,
who ſhall be willing and able to prove to
the unfortunate, how uſeful is the clergy
-every worthy member of the nobility,
wha
M. DE MIRABEAU.
167
who ſhall be willing and able to prove to
the nation, that the nobles likewife can
ſerve it in more ways than one—every
member of the commons, who may with
to ſay to every nobleman, proud of his
title, How often have you fate amongſt
the legiſlators?
"In fine, the Engliſh, who have done
every thing, yet affemble every year, and
always find ſomething to do-and the
French, who have every thing to do, are
not to affemble every year!
"We fhall have, then, a permanent af-
fembly; and this fublime inftitution will,
in itſelf alone, become a fufficient coun-
terpoife to the royal veto,
"What! fay thoſe who take alarm at a
great power, becauſe they judge of it only
by its abuſes, the royal veto to be unli-
mited! Should there not be a moment de-
termined
M 4
168
SPEECHES OF
termined by the conftitution, when this
veto could no longer fhackle the legiſla-
tive power? Would not that government
be a defpotiſm, where the king could ſay:
This is the will of my people; but mine
is contrary to it, and it is mine that ſhall
prevail?
66
}
They who are troubled with this ap-
prehenfion, propoſe what they term a veto
fufpenfive: that is to fay, that the king
ſhall have the power of refufing his fanc-
tion to a legiſlative project which he dif-
approves; he ſhall have the power of dif-
folving the National Affembly, or of
waiting for a new one; but, if that new
affembly re-propoſe to him the ſame law
which he hath already rejected, he ſhall be
obliged to receive it.
"Herein confifts the whole force of
their argumentation. When the king re-
fufes
M. DE MIRABEAU.
169
fuſes to fan&tion the law which the Na-
tional Affembly hath propofed to him, it
is to be fuppofed that he deems that law
to be contrary to the intereſts of the
peo-
ple, or that it encroaches on the executive
power, which refides in him, and which
it is his duty to defend: in this cafe, he
appeals to the nation, the nation elects a
new legiſlature, intrufts its wiſhes to its
new repreſentatives, confequently it de-
clares its will; the king then muſt either
ſubmit, or deny the authority of that fu-
preme tribunal, to which he himſelf had
appealed.
"This objection is very fpecious, and
if I am able to perceive the falfity of it, it
is only from having examined the queſtion
under all its aſpects: but we have already
had an opportunity of ſeeing, and it will
become
170
SPEECHES OF
become ſtill more obfervable in the courſe
of the debate, that,
(C
1. It fuppofes falfely that it is impof-
fible that a ſecond legiſlature ſhould not
convey the wiſhes of the people.
"2. It fuppofes falfely that the king
will be tempted to prolong his veto, in
oppofition to the known wifh of the
nation.
c 3. It fuppofes that the veto fufpen-
five is attended with no inconveniences ;
whereas, in many refpects, it hath the
fame inconveniences as if the king were
allowed no veto
Τ
66 It
* This arrangement is certainly not what
fhould be expected in a well-digeſted ſpeech. But
when, in confequence of a very defective mode of
difcuffion, they have, among us, rendered it phyfi-
cally impoſſible to debate, and laid each author of
an
M. DE MIRABEAU.
171
1
"It was neceffary to render the crown
hereditary, in order that it might not
prove
an opinion under the neceffity of waiting three days,
in order to refute objections which are ſometimes
forgotten by thoſe who made them (lucky if he
gets an opportunity even then), the man who loves
the public welfare better than his own reputation,
is obliged thus to anticipate, and, as far as in him
lies, to get poffeffion of the affembly beforehand, or
he will not have it in his power to reply. I demand-
ed yeſterday the liberty of replying; it was refuſed
me: I dare believe, however, that I had driven the
partiſans of the veto ſuſpenſive to their laſt entrench-
ments,
"I venture to promiſe that I will invincibly eſta-
bliſh theſe three points againſt every objection which
the partifans of the veto fufpenfive may raiſe againſt
the royal fanction, when at the conclufion of the
debate I ſhall have liberty to anſwer them. At
prefent, I only afk them to reflect on the formida«
ble power with which the king of a great empire is
neceffarily inveſted, and how dangerous it is to
provoke
172
SPEECHES OF
prove a perpetual caufe of civil diffen-
fions; thence refulted the neceffity of ren-
dering the king's perſon unblameable and
facred, without which the throne could
never have been fheltered from the at-
tempts of the ambitious. Now what power
is there not already in the hands of a
chief, who is rendered hereditary and in-
violable? Shall his refufing to execute a
law, which he deems contrary to thoſe
interefts, of which his character of head
of the executive power makes him guar-
dian-ſhall ſuch a refufal, I ſay, fuffice
to hurl him from his high prerogatives?
provoke him to turn it againſt the legislature, as
muft infallibly happen, if they determine upon any
one moment whatever, when he fees no way of
eſcaping the neceffity of promulgating a law to
which he hath not conſented."—Note of M. de Mi-
rabeau.
That
M. DE MIRABEAU.
173
1
That would be deftroying with one hand
what you had built up with the other;
it would be coupling to a precaution of
peace and ſecurity, the means moſt pro-
per to raiſe continually the moſt dreadful
tempefts.
"Let us pafs from this confideration to
the inftruments of power, which ought to
be in the hands of the fupreme head of
the nation. It is over five-and-twenty
millions of men that he is appointed to
command; it is over every point of an ex-
tent of thirty thoufand fquare miles that
his power muſt be, without intermifſion,
ready to ſhew itſelf for the purpoſes of pro-
tection or defence: and will any one pre-
tend, that the chief, the lawful depoſitary
of the means which fuch a power requires,
may be obliged to execute laws to which
he hath not given confent? But, through
what
174
SPEECHES OF
what dreadful troubles, through what conta
vulfive and fanguinary infurrections would
they ſend us to combat the reſiſtance of
the royal power? When the law is under
the fafeguard of public opinion, its fway is
truly imperious over the ruler whom you
have armed with the whole public force:
but which is the moment when we may
reckon upon this empire of public opinion?
Is it not when the head of the executive
power hath himſelf given his confent to the
law, and when that confent is known to all
the citizens? Is it not then, and then alone,
that public opinion fets the law irrevo-
cably above him, and compels him, under
pain of becoming an object of general
horror, to perform what he hath promiſed;
for his confent, in quality of head of the
executive power, is nothing elſe than a
folemn engagement to execute that law
on
}
M. DE MIRABEAU.
175
on which he hath juſt conferred his
fanction?
"And let it not be ſaid, that the gene-
rals of armies are depofitaries of very
important powers, and are, nevertheleſs,
obliged to obey the orders of their ſupe-
riors, be their opinion what it may with
reſpect to the nature of thoſe orders. The
generals of armies are not hereditary
chiefs; their perfons are not inviolable ;
their authority ceaſes in the prefence of
him whoſe orders they perform; and, if
the compariſon is to be pushed ftill fur-
ther, we muſt neceffarily admit that thoſe
are,
for the moft part, but very indifferent
generals, who carry into execution difpo-
fitions which they have not approved.
Such then are the dangers which you are.
going to riſk. And for what object?
Where
176
SPEECHES OF
Where is the real efficacy of the veto fuf
penfive?
"Is it not expedient, as in my fyftem,
that the conftitution ſhould take certain
precautions againſt the royal veto? Should
the king overturn thofe precautions, will
he not eaſily ſet himſelf above the law?
Your plan, therefore, is uſeleſs, even in
your own theory; and I will prove it to
be dangerous in mine.
"The refufal of the royal fanction can
be ſuppoſed only in two cafes:
"In that where the monarch fhould
deem that the propofed law would
prove
injurious to the interefts of the nation; and
in that where, deceived by his miniſters,
he ſhould refift laws that were contrary to
their private views.
"Now, in both the one and the other
of
M. DE MIRABEAU.
177
12
of theſe fuppofitions, the king, or his mi-
niſters, being deprived of the capability of
obſtructing the law by the peaceful means
of a legal veto, would they not have re-
courſe to an illegal and violent reſiſtance,
according as they confidered the law to be
of more or lefs importance? Can it be
doubted that they would prepare their
means long beforehand? For it is always
eafy to form a notion of the degree of at-
tachment which the legiſlature will enter-
tain for its law. It might happen, then,
that the legiſlature might find itſelf chained
down, at the very moment marked by the
conſtitution for rendering the royal veto
ineffectual; whereas, if that veto remains
always in force, illegal and violent reſiſt-
ance becoming ufelefs to the prince, he
can no longer employ it, without revolt-
ing, in fight of the whole nation, againſt
N
the
178
SPEECHES OF
the conſtitution; a circumftance which
foon renders fuch reſiſtance extremely dan-
gerous for the king himſelf, and parti-
cularly for his minifters. Obferve that
this danger is no longer the fame, when
the prince hath only oppofed a law to
which he hath not confented.
"In this latter cafe, as violent and ille-
gal refiftance may always be fupported
by plauſible pretexts, the revolt of the ex-
ecutive power againſt the conſtitution al-
ways finds partiſans, particularly when it
is the meaſure of the monarch. With
what facility did not Sweden return into
the arms of defpotiſm, by defiring that her
king, although hereditary, fhould be only
the paffive and blind inftrument of the
will of the fenate!
"Let us not, then, arm the king againſt
the legiſlative power, by letting him per-
ceive
I
M. DE MIRABEAU.
179
ceive any moment whatſoever when his
confent might be difpenfed with, and
when, confequently, he would be no more
than a blind and forced executor. Let us
be convinced, that the nation will find
more fafety and tranquillity in laws ex-
prefsly confented to by its ruler, than in
refolutions in which he had no fhare, and
which were repugnant to that power
wherewith, in every ſtate of the cafe, he
ſhould be inveſted. Let us be convinced,
that, from the moment we have placed the
crown in a particular family, from the
moment we have made it the patrimony
of the eldeſt fons, it becomes imprudent
to alarm them, by fubjecting them to a le-
giſlative power, the force of which remains
in their hands, and where, nevertheleſs,
their opinion might be contemned. This
contempt at length attaches to the perfon;
and
N 2
180
SPEECHES OF
and the depofitary of all the force, of the
French empire cannot be contemned,
without the greateſt danger.
"By a confequence of theſe confidera-
tions, which are warranted by the human
heart, and by experience, the king ought
to have the power of acting upon the Na-
tional Aſſembly, by fending it back to a re-
election. This kind of action is necef-
fary, in order to leave the king a legal and
peaceful method of carrying through, in
his turn, thofe laws which he may deem
beneficial to the nation, and which the
National Affembly might be inclined to
obftruct nothing would be lefs danger-
ous; for the king muſt be perfectly fure
of the diſpoſition of the nation, before, in
order to paſs a law, he hath recourſe to
an election of new members: and when
the nation and the king unite in defiring
a law,
}
M. DE MIRABEAU.
181
a law, the reſiſtance of the legiſlature can
be afcribed but to two caufes; either the
corruption of its members, and in that cafe
their removal is a benefit; or a doubt with
reſpect to the public opinion; and then the
beſt mode of coming to a knowledge of
it is, unquestionably, an election of new
members,
"I fum up all, gentlemen, in one fingle
word: annuality of the National Affem-
bly; annuality of the army; annuality
of the taxes; reſponſibility of the miniſters;
and the royal fanction, without any writ-
ten reſtriction, but completely limited in
fact, will be the palladium of national free-
dom, and the moſt valuable exerciſe of the
liberty of the people."
It was ordered, that this fpeech fhould be
printed; after which the houſe broke up.
N 3
درء
Остат
182
SPEECHES OF
OCTOBER 30, 1789.
On this day was refumed the motion of
M. de Mirabeau relative to the non-pro-
perty of the clergy.
Meffieurs le Brun and Mirabeau the
younger first delivered their fentiments.
Both were of opinion that the motion
fhould be rejected.
M. DE MIRABEAU.
"GENTLEMEN,
"WHEN a great nation is affembled,
and examines a queftion which intereſts
a confiderable portion of its members, an
entire claſs of the community, and a claſs
exceedingly refpectable; when this quef-
tion feems to affect at once the inviolable
J
laws of property, public worſhip, political
order,
M. DE MIRABEAU.
183
order, and the primary foundations of civil
fociety; it is of the utmoft confequence
that it ſhould be handled with religious
caution, diſcuſſed with a wife fcrupulofity,
above all confidered, in order to do away
even the fufpicion of error, under the moft
remote points of view.
"The queſtion concerning the property
of the clergy is certainly of this number.
A multitude of members hath already dif-
cuffed it with a folemnity worthy of its
importance. I do not think, however,
that the ſubject is yet exhauſted.
"Some amongſt them have confidered
it only as relative to the public intereft:
but this motive, however important it may
be, would not warrant our decreeing that
the eſtates of the clergy belonged to the
nation, if by that we were to violate the
property of a great many of its members.
NA
You
184
SPEECHES OF
You have been told, that nothing is uſeful
which is not juſt; and certainly we all ad-
mit the principle.
"Others have talked of the influence
which fuch a decree would acquire over
public credit; of the immenſe mortgage
that it would offer to the creditors of the
ftate; of the confidence that it would re-
vive, at a juncture when confidence feems
daily to remove farther and farther from
our hopes: but take care, gentlemen, how
you imagine that fuch a motive were fuf-
ficient, if the declaration propofed to you
was deſtined only to fanction a ufurpa-
tion. True credit is but the refult of every
kind of confidence; and no confidence
could be durable where the violation of a
fingle, but immenfe property, by that
fole circumftance threatened all the reft.
Sooner than fave the empire by fuch an
expe-
M. DE MIRABEAU.
185
expedient, it were better for us, be the
dangers which furround us what they
There-
may, to truft ourſelves to that eternal Pro-
vidence alone which watches over nations,
and over thoſe who rule them.
fore, it is not merely in this point of view
that I intend to confider the faid queſtion.
"The latter have argued it only upon
the ground of its connections with thoſe
political corporations, which the law
alone gives birth to, which the law alone
deſtroys, and which, linked by that very
circumftance to all the viciffitudes of le-
giſlation, cannot have fecure property,
fince even their exiſtence is not fecure.
But this confideration leaves ftill unde-
termined the point whether, on diffolving
the body of the clergy in order to reduce
it to its primary elements, in order to form
of it but one collection of individuals and
citizens,
186
SPEECHES OF
citizens, the eſtates of the church may not
be confidered as the property of private
perfons.
"The former have more directly dif
cuffed the queſtion of property, but ob-
ferving, at the ſame time, that he who pof-
feffes by that title hath the right of dif-
pofing and tranfmitting, whereas no ec-
cleſiaſtic can ſell; that the clergy, even as
a body, cannot alienate; and that, if cer-
tain individuals be poffeffed of wealth, not
one of them, at least in the order preſcribed
by law, hath a right to inherit wealth ;
thefe perhaps are not aware, that the prin-
ciple which puts all property under the
guardianship of public faith, fhould be ex-
tended to every thing which a citizen hath
a right to enjoy; and that, in this point of
view, poffefſion is alſo a right, and enjoy-
ment civil property.
" In
!
M. DE MIRABEAU.
187
"In fine, others have difcuffed the quef-
tion, by diſtinguiſhing different claſſes of
ecclefiaftical eſtates; they have endea-
voured to fhew, that there is not one of
thoſe forts of eſtates, to which the name
of property is applicable. But they have
not, perhaps, fufficiently examined whe-
ther the religious foundations ought not
to continue in exiſtence, from this ſingle
reaſon, that they are foundations, and that,
purſuant to the rules of our civil law, the
founders had a right to the free diſpoſal of
their fortunes, and to direct in what man-
ner they ſhould in future be adminiftered.
"It is, gentlemen, in this laſt point of
view that I mean to treat the queſtion.
The opinion of one of the greateſt ſtateſ-
men which modern times have produced,
hath been already quoted to you upon this
fubject. I can neither wholly approve,
nor
188
SPEECHES OF
nor yet combat that opinion: but I think
I ought to begin by recalling it to your
memory.
"There is no doubt, faid he, as to the
inconteſtable right of government, in civil
affairs, and of government and the church,
in matters belonging to religion, to dif
poſe of ancient foundations, to direct the
revenues of thoſe foundations to new ob-
jects, or, better ftill, to fupprefs them al-
together. Public utility is the fupreme
law, and ought not to be weighed in the
balance either with a fuperftitious refpect
for what is called the intention of the
founders (as if ignorant and fhallow in-
dividuals had had a right to bind down to
their capricious will generations then un-
born), nor with the fear of injuring the pre-
tended rights of certain corporations, as if
particular bodies could have rights in op-
pofition
M. DE MIRABEAU.
189
pofition to the ſtate. The citizens have
rights, and facred rights, which even ſo-
ciety cannot violate; they exiſt independ-
ent of her; they are the neceffary ele-
ments of which he is compofed; and,
when they enter into ſociety, it is only to
put themſelves and all their rights under
the protection of thoſe fame laws to which
they facrifice their liberty. But particular
corporations exift neither by themſelves,
nor for themſelves: they have been formed
by fociety, and their exiſtence ought to
ceaſe the moment they ceaſe to be uſeful.
No human work is made for immortality.
Since foundations, ftill multiplied by va-
nity, would at length abſorb all the eſtates
and all the properties of individuals, we
muft, and may, at laft, fupprefs that va-
nity. If every perſon that ever lived had
had a fepulchre, there would have been a
neceffity
198
SPEECHES OF
neceffity for overthrowing thoſe barren
monuments, in order to find lands to cul-
tivate, and for removing the ashes of the
dead, in order to fupport the living.
"For my part, gentlemen, I diſtinguiſh
foundations into three forts: thoſe which
have been made by our kings, thoſe which
are the work of bodies and aggregations
politic, and thoſe of fimple individuals.
"The foundations of our kings could
have been made only in the name of the
nation; a diſmembering of the domains
of the ftate, or a mode of employing the
public revenue and the taxes paid by the
people. It was, then, with this fort of
property that they acquitted themfelves
of an important duty, and affuredly moſt
of the church eftates have had no other
origin. Now, befides that kings are only
the organs of the people; befides that na-
tions
M. DE MIRABEAU.
191
tions are the heirs of kings, that they may
reſume whatever their kings have alien-
ated, and are not in any wife bound by
thoſe auguſt delegates of their powers; it is
ſtill more evident that our kings have not
endowed the church in the fame fenfe in
which they have enriched the nobility,
and that all they meant was, to provide for
a public expenditure. As chriftians and
heads of the ftate, they owe us the example
of their piety; but, doubtless, it was as
kings that they were fo liberal in their
piety.
"It hath been already afferted, that the
nation had a right to refume the domains
of the crown, for this fole reaſon, that the
principle upon which thofe eftates were
confecrated, was to provide for the general
expences of the regal dignity. Why then
might
1
SPEECHES OF
might not the nation declare herſelf pros
prietor of her own eftates, granted out in
her name for the fervice of the church?
Kings have private virtues; but their juf-
tice and their liberalities belong folely to
the nation.
"What I have been juft faying with
reſpect to royal foundations, I may equally
apply to thoſe which were the work of
aggregate bodies. It is by uniting theſe
bodies that the nation is formed, and each
owes as a part what the nation owes as a
whole. Now, if it is true that the ftate
owes to each of its members the expence
of public worſhip; if it is true that reli-
gion is amongſt the number of thoſe ne
ceffities which appertain to the whole fo
ciety, and which are only the refult of each
of its parts in particular, the monuments
of
M. DE MIRABEAU.
193
of the piety of the bodies which compoſe
the ſtate, can no longer be confidered but
as a part of the public charge.
"What have thofe aggregations politic
done, in building temples, and in found-
ing churches? They were only paying
their portion of a common debt; they
were only furniſhing their contingent of a
national charge: their piety might have
ftruck out a more uniform plan of contri-
bution; but it could not deprive the na-
tion of the right of appointing that contri-
bution. Every foundation, therefore, of
this kind, is like thofe of our kings, the
undoubted deed, that is to ſay, the un-
doubted property of the nation.
4
"As to the eſtates derived from foun-
dations made by fimple individuals, it is
equally eaſy to prove, that, in appropri-
ating them to herſelf upon the inviola-
O
ble
194
SPEECHES OF
ble condition of furniſhing the neceffary
charges, the nation commits no outrage
againſt the right of property, nor againſt
the will of the founders, fuch as we muſt
ſuppoſe it to be in the order preſcribed by
law.
"In fact, gentlemen, what is property
in general? It is the right which all have
given to a ſingle perfon to poffefs exclu
fively a thing, to which, in its natural
ftate, all had an equal right: and, after
this general definition, what is private
property? It is an eſtate acquired by vir-
tue of the laws.
"I return to this principle, becauſe an
honourable member who ſpoke, fome days
ago, upon this queſtion, did not ſtate it
perhaps with the fame preciſion as thoſe
other truths, the principles and confe-
quences of which he hath fo ably unfolded.
7
Yes,
M. DE MIRABEAU.
195
Yes, gentlemen, it is the law alone which
conſtitutes property, fince it is only the
public will which can effect the renun
ciation of all, and give a title, as the war-
rant of enjoyment, to a ſingle perſon.
"If we be fuppofed out of the protec-
tion of law, what is the confequence?
"Either all poffefs, and then, nothing
being peculiar to any one perfon, there is
no fuch thing as property :
پر
"Or ufurpation is the cafe, and ufurpa-
tion is no title:
“Or the poffeffion is only phyſical and
material, if one may fo exprefs it ; and, in
that cafe, no law warranting fuch a pof-
feffion, it could not be confidered as civil
property.
"Such are, gentlemen, the ecclefiaftical
foundations. No law of the nation hath
conftituted the clergy a permanent body
O 2
in
196
SPEECHES OF
in the ftate. No law hath deprived the
nation of the right of examining whether
the minifters of her religion form an ag-
gregation politic, exiſting by itſelf, and
capable of acquiring and poſſeſſing.
66
Now, hence alfo ariſe two other con-
fequences. The firft is, That the clergy,
when accepting thofe foundations, muſt
have expected that the nation might one
day deſtroy that corporate and political ex-
iſtence, without which the clergy is inca-
pable of poffeffing any thing. The fecond
is, That every founder muſt have equally
foreſeen that it was not in his power to
treſpaſs upon the rights of the nation; that
the clergy might one day ceafe to be a
body in the ſtate; that the minifters of re-
ligion collectively would then no longer
have any diſtinct property, any ſeparate
adminiſtration; and that, accordingly, no
law
M. DE MIRABEAU.
197
law would warrant the perpetuity of the
foundations in the precife form wherein
they were eſtabliſhed.
"Take notice, gentlemen, that, if you do
not admit theſe principles, all your decrees
with respect to the property of the nobles,
the proportional contribution, and the
abolition of privileges, would be no more
than a vain parade of legiſlation *. When
you were of opinion that your decrees
upon theſe important queftions were no
infringement on the right of property,
you grounded that opinion upon the no-
tion that the word property appertained
not to prerogatives, and to exemptions
which the laws had not authoriſed, or
which it was the intereft of the public to
* De vaines loix.
Q 3
deſtroy.
fg8
SPEECHES OF
deſtroy. Now, do not the fame prin-
ciples apply to the particular foundations
of the church?
"If you imagine that the founders,
that is to ſay, private citizens, in be-
ftowing their fortunes on the clergy,
and the clergy in accepting them, could
create a body in the ftate, give it the
capacity of acquiring, deprive the nation
of the right of diffolving it, compel the
nation to receive, in the quality of pro-
prietor, a great body, to which ſo many
fources of credit already give fo much
power, then reſpect the property of the
clergy; the decree which I propofe would
prove a violation of it.
"But if, notwithſtanding particular
foundations, the nation hath continued in
poffeffion of all her rights; if you can de-
clare
M. DE MIRABEAU.
199
•
clare that the clergy is not an order, that
the clergy is not a body, that the clergy,
in a well-organized nation, ought not to
be proprietary; it thence follows, that its
poffeffion was but precarious and tem-
porary; that its eftates have never been,
truly ſpeaking, a property; that, in ac-
cepting them from the founders, it was
for religion, the poor, and the ſervice of
the altar, that they accepted them; and
that the intention of the donors will not
be diſappointed, fince they must have
foreſeen that the adminiſtration of thoſe
eftates would pafs into other hands, fhould
the nation refume her rights.
"I might confider the property of ec-
cleſiaſtical eſtates in a great many other
points of view, if, the queftion was not
already fufficiently perfpicuous.,
"I might ſay, that the eccleſiaſtic hath
0 4
not
200
SPEECHES OF
not even the ufufruct; but is merely a
fteward. I might add, if prefcription
could be fet up againſt nations, that the
poffeffors of moft of the church-eſtates
having been from time immemorial no-
minated by the king, the nation hath con-
tinually preſerved, by her chief, the rights
which ſhe had always had to the property
of thoſe eſtates.
"I might fay, moreover, that, if the
cftates of the church are confecrated to
public worſhip, the temples and the altars
belong to the community, and not to their
minifters; that, if they are deftined for
the poor, the poor and their calamities
belong to the ſtate; that, if they are de-
voted to the maintenance of the prieſts,
every clafs of the community may prefent
miniſters for the prieſthood.
"I might remark, that every member
of
M. DE MIRABEAU.
201
of the clergy is an officer of the ftate;
that the ſervice of the altar is a public
function; and that, as religion is the con-
cern of all, for that fole reafon its mi-
niſters ſhould be paid by the nation, like
the judge who gives ſentence in the name
of the law, like the foldier who, in the
name of the community, defends the com-
mon property.
"I might conclude from this principle,
that, if the clergy had no revenue, the
ftate would be obliged to fupply one:
now, an eſtate which ferves only to pay
our debts, is certainly our property.
"I might conclude, moreover, that the
clergy could acquire eftates for no other
purpoſe than the diſcharge of the ſtate,
fince, in granting theſe eftates, the found-
ers have done what, in their place, and
in
102
SPEECHES OF
in their default, the nation muſt have
done.
"I might fay, that, if the reflections
which I have juft offered apply com-
pletely to the eftates given by founders,
they must apply ftill more forcibly to
the eftates acquired by the ecclefiaftics
themſelves, with the produce of the eftates
of the church: the commiffioner can only
make acquifitions for his principal, and
the violation of the will of the founders
cannot confer rights more real than that
will itſelf can.
¨“I might obſerve, that, although the
priefthood, among us, is not united to
L
t
the empire, religion ought, nevertheleſs,
to be blended and confounded with it; if
the empire profpers by her, it is ready to
defend her. What would become of re-
ligion,
M. DE MIRABEAU.
203
ligion, if the ſtate were to be ruined?
Should the grievous diftreffes of a nation
be unfelt by thoſe miniſters of peace and
charity, who daily beſeech the Deity to
bleſs a faithful people? Should the clergy
preſerve its eſtates, if the nation were no
longer able to protect thoſe of the other
citizens? Would their pretended property
be left untouched, if all other property
was to be violated?
"I might ſay, the feamen never ap-
propriated to themſelves the ſhips which
the people built in order to defend the
ftate: never, according to our preſent
cuſtoms, will an army divide amongſt the
foldiers the country which it hath con-
quered. Shall the clergy alone be allowed
to fay, that the conquefts made by its
piety over that of the faithful, are to be-
long to it, and remain inviolable, inftead
of
204
SPEECHES OF
1
of forming a part of the indivifible do-
main of the ſtate?
"In fine, were I difpofed to furvey a
queſtion of fuch magnitude in all the
points of view which connect it with the
new conſtitution of the kingdom, with the
principles of morality, with thoſe of po-
litical œconomy, I would firft examine,
whether it be confiftent with the new or-
der of things which we have eſtabliſhed,
that government, which diftributes all ec-
clefiaftical wealth by nominating the dig
nitaries, ſhould preſerve, by that circum-
ftance, unbounded means of action, cor-
ruption, and influence.
f
"I would aſk, whether, for the intereft
of religion itſelf and of public morality,
thofe two benefactreffes of humankind, it
be not of importance, that a more equal
diftribution of the eſtates of the church
fhould
譬
​M. DE MIRABEAU.
205
ſhould henceforward reftrain the luxury of
thoſe who are only ſtewards of the eftates
of the poor, the licentiouſneſs of thofe
whom religion and fociety preſent before
the people as an ever-living example of
purity of morals *.
"I would ſay to thoſe who perfiſt in
confidering a proprietary clergy as a uſeful
inftitution, Examine well, whether, in the
countries bordering upon ours, the officers
of public worſhip are the leſs reſpected, for
not being proprietaries; whether they ac-
quire, and whether they deſerve, leſs con-
fidence; whether their morals are lefs
pure, their information lefs extenfive,
their influence over the people leſs active,
I would almoſt fay, lefs beneficent and
lefs falutary. It is not that I mean to
1
* Bravo,
compare
206
SPEECHES OF
compare either our holy religion, or its
celeſtial precepts, with the ritual of error*;
I am ſpeaking only of the men; I am
confidering the minifters of worſhip
merely in the relation which they bear
to civil fociety and indeed, when I ex-
preſs myſelf in this manner before the
cream and flower † of the French clergy,
before thoſe paftor-citizens who have ſe-
conded us with fo many efforts, who have
edified us by fo many facrifices, I am very
certain that no falſe interpretation will be
put either upon my intentions or my ſen-
timents.
"I return now to the point whence I
originally fet out. What have I proved,
gentlemen, by the particulars which I have
entered into?
* Avec des erreurs.
+ L'élite du clergé de France.
"My
M. DE MIRABEA U.
207
"My object hath not been to fhew
that the clergy ought to be pillaged of its
eftates, nor that other citizens, nor that
purchaſers ſhould be put into its place.
"No more have I meant to contend,
that the creditors of the ſtate ought to bę
paid with the eſtates of the clergy; fince
no debt is more facred than the expences
requifite for public worſhip, for keeping
the temples in good condition, and for
providing alms for the poor.
“No more was it my intention to ſay,
that the eccleſiaſtics ought to be deprived
of the adminiſtration of the eftates and in-
comes, the produce of which ſhould be
fecured to them. What intereft fhould
we have in fubftituting, in the room of
thoſe faithful ſtewards, the agents of the
treaſury, and hands fo often fufpected, in-
ftead of hands ever immaculate?
j
"What,
208
SPEECHES OF
"What, then, have I wiſhed to prove,
gentlemen? One thing only: that it is,
and ought to be, a principle, that every na-
tion is the fole and true proprietor of the
eftates of her clergy. All that I have
afked of you, is to confecrate this prin-
ciple, fince errors or truths are the de-
ftroyers or the faviours of nations. But,
at the fame time, in order that none may
doubt the generoſity of the French nation
towards a portion of her members the
moſt neceſſary and moſt reſpected, I
have required that it ſhould be decreed,
that no pariſh-minifter, not even thoſe in
the country, fhould have lefs than twelve
hundred livres per annum.
This fpeech was loudly applauded;
and yet it was attacked, the moment after,
by the Abbé Maury, the Abbé de Mon
tefquiou, &c.
NOVEM-
M. DE MIRABEAU.
209
NOVEMBER 2, 1789.
The debate upon the motion of M. de
Mirabeau was continued, and the decree,
drawn up by the author of the motion,
preſented in the following terms:
"The National Affembly declares,
"1. That all the eftates of the eccle-
fiaftics are at the difpofal of the nation,
which undertakes to provide, in a ſuitable
manner, for the expences of religious
worſhip, for the maintenance of its mi-
nifters, and for the relief of the poor, un-
der the fuperintendance, and purſuant to
the inftructions, of the provinces,
<6
2. That, in the difpofitions to be
made, in order to ſupply a proper main-
tenance for the minifters of religion, there
may not be appointed, for the endow-
ment of any pariſh, leſs than 1200 livres
P
per
210
SPEECHES OF
per annum, exclufive of the habitation
and the gardens belonging to it."
On the fame day, and previous to the
paffing of the decree, M. de Mirabeau
afked leave to ſpeak; but did not perſiſt
in his requeſt, as he wished not to retard
the judgment in that important cauſe
which, for fo many days, had engaged
the whole attention of the affembly.
Had he obtained an opportunity, he
would have ſpoken as follows:
"You are going to decide a queſtion
of great magnitude. It is a queſtion in
which the religion of the ftate is intereft-
ed; the nation and all Europe are atten-
tive, and we have hitherto given heed to
frivolous and puerile objections.
"It was I, gentlemen, who had the
honour to propofe to you to declare the
nation
M. DE MIRABEAU.
211
nation proprietor of the eftates of the
clergy.
"It is not a new right that I wiſhed to
acquire for the nation; my only defire
was, to ftate that which the hath always
had, which the always will have; and
the reaſon why I defired that this juſtice
ſhould be rendered to her, was, that prin-
ciples fave nations, and errors prove their
ruin.
66
Suppoſe that, inſtead of the motion
which I have made, I had required you to
declare, that individuals are the only ele-
ments of any fociety whatſoever; no per-
fon could have combated the principle.
"Had I propofed to you to determine,
that particular focieties, placed within the
general fociety, break the unity of its
principles, and the equilibrium of its
P 2
pow-
ers,
212
SPEECHES OF
1
ers, no perſon could have refuſed to ac-
knowledge this mighty truth.
"Had I counſelled you to confecrate
this principle: that great political bodies
are dangerous in a ftate, by the force
which refults from their coalition, by the
refiftance which arifes from their interefts,
there is not one amongſt you who would
not have been fenfible of this danger.
"Had I carried you back to the very
birth of fociety, and afked you whether it
was prudent to ſuffer fuch bodies politic
to be eſtabliſhed, to confider thofe aggre-
gations as-ſo many individuals in the com-
munity, to permit them to act as citizens,
and become proprietors like the reft, which
of you would not have acknowledged that
fuch an organization could be no other
than vicious?
" Ifg
M. DE MIRABEAU.
213
કડ
"If, depicting the clergy fuch as it is,
with its powers and its opulence, with its
luxury and its morality, with its credit and
its influence, I had faid to you: Do you
think that, if the clergy was not proprie-
tary, religion would be leſs holy, public
morality leſs pure, and the manners of the
clergy leſs ſevere ?
"Do you think that the people's re-
ſpect for the miniſters of the altar would
be lefs fcrupulous, or that its confidence
in them would be lefs ftaggered, if it was
not obliged to compare their affluence
with its own mifery, their fuperfluity with
its own wants, and its own unremitted
labour with the rapidity of their for-
tunes?
“Do you imagine that it would be im-
poffible to ſuppoſe a reſpectable clergy,
receiving ftipends from the ſtate, like its
P 3
magi-
214
SPEECHES OF
magiſtrates, its governments, its army, and
even its kings, enjoying incomes and not
property, diſencumbered from the care of
worldly affairs, but affured of fuch a de-
cent maintenance as is fuitable to the dig-
nity of its functions?
"Had I proceeded to fay to you: Do
you not perceive that three-fourths of the
clergy are really but ftipendiaries to the
other members of that body, and might
they not as well be ftipendiaries to the
ſtate? Do you not perceive that all the
great dignities of the clergy are in the
royal gift; and that it is a matter of indif-
ference to the perſon thus promoted, whe-
ther he is to receive a fixed revenue, or
territorial poffeffions? Certainly there is
not one of theſe principles which you
would not have adopted.
"In fine, gentlemen, had I ſaid to you :
The
M. DE MIRABEAU.
215
The clergy admits that only a third of its
revenues belong to itſelf; that one-third
muſt be ſet apart for the fervice of the
temples, and another third for the relief of
the poor. Appoint, then, three treaſuries
for the revenue of theſe eftates. Declare
that the third which is deftined for the
miniſters of the altar, fhall be charged with
all the debts of the clergy, and ſhall, more-
over, pay a proportionable ſhare of the
taxes.
"Had I faid: The minifters ought not
to have even the third of the revenues of
the church; becauſe the public wants, for
which thofe revenues were intended, are
much fewer than they were at the time of
making the foundations; and that while
thefe wants have diminiſhed by the inevi-
table effect of the improvement of fociety,
|
P 4
the
216
SPEECHES OF
1
the eſtates have augmented by the no leſs
inevitable effect of time.
1
"Had I added, that we muft not in-
clude, in the third fet apart for the minifters
of the altar, the domains which the ec-
clefiaftics have purchaſed with the pro-
duce of the other eftates, fince, according
to their own principles, this produce did
not belong to them; that they would have
made no ſavings, had they been ſatisfied
with the fimple neceffaries which the ca-
nons of the church allow them; and that
it is the buſineſs of the nation, protect-
refs of the poor and of religious worſhip,
to take care that the intent of the founda-
tions hath been anfwered.
"Had I drawn afide the curtain, and
ſhewn that the clergy, for above a century,
hath been burthening the church-eftates
with
M. DE MIRABEAU.
217
with an immenfe debt, by borrowing, in-
ftead of raiſing the rents, by paying only
the intereft of its annual contribution, in-
ſtead of paying that contribution out of
its revenues, as all the other citizens do;
and had I required that that body ſhould
be obliged to alienate, to the amount of
what it owes, a part of the third belonging
to it.
"Had I faid: That the clergy, whether
it be proprietary or not, is not the leſs ex
empt from the duty of diſtinguiſhing its
lawful poffeffions from its manifeft ufurpa-
tions; a multitude of benefices exiſt as
mere finecures; a great many foundations
are not carried into effect. Here again,
then, are immenfe eftates which we muſt
cut off from the third remaining to the
clergy. You have declared that a multi-
tude of feigneurial rights were nothing
more
*
218
SPEECHES OF
more than ufurpations; and, upon this
principle, you have fuppreffed them with-
out indemnification. Shall nothing be in-
violable but the ufurpations of the church?
"Had I likewiſe obſerved, that many
abbeys are only of royal foundation; that
many
fecularizations of religious orders no
longer permit the will of the firſt founders
to be executed, a will for which, at the
preſent day, men wish to infpire us with
fo much refpect; that many eccleſiaſtical
corporations have been diſſolved with the
conſent of the clergy; that it is very eaſy to
diminiſh the number of the biſhops, with-
out injuring the ſervice of the churches;
that eccleſiaſtical riches are too unequally
diftributed, for the nation to endure any
longer the poverty and thatched cabin of
a ufeful paftor, as contrafted to the luxury
and palaces of a member of the church
very
M. DE MIRABEAU.
219
very
often of no uſe whatſoever *: there
is not one of theſe reflections which would
not have appeared highly worthy of your
attention, and fufceptible of fome law.
"But, gentlemen, I have not faid one
word upon theſe important matters; in-
ftead of entering into that labyrinth of dif-
ficulties, I have propoſed to you a mea-
fure more convenient and more ſimple:
Declare, faid I to you, that the eſtates of
the church belong to the nation; this
fingle principle will lead you to a thou-
fand uſeful reformations, and by that
alone every obſtacle will be furmounted.
"But, no: if we are to believe fome
members of the clergy, the principle which
I propoſe to you is nothing more than an
error.
* Bravo!
"The
220
SPEECHES OF
"The clergy, which I had hitherto
imagined to be a mere fteward, a mere
depofitary, ought not only to enjoy the
eftates of the church, it ought likewife to
poffefs them as a property; and religion,
morality, and the ftate will be fhaken, if
we lay hands upon this immenfe wealth.
"Permit me, then, gentlemen, to re-
mind you of fome more principles, and
to anſwer fome objections.
"The nation certainly hath a right to
create or not create corporations: I firſt
require that this principle be either ad-
mitted or denied.
"If it be denied, I will prove that cor-
porations cannot conftitute the elements
of civil fociety, fince they exift not at the
moment when fociety is forming, fince
they have only that moral exiſtence which
the law beſtows on them, fince they are
the
M. DE MIRABEAU.
221
the work of the law itfelf; and the quef-
tion, whether particular focieties ſhould be
fuffered within the general fociety, can,
certainly, be determined only by the
whole fociety, when it hath attained its
complete formation. To admit different
principles, would be admitting effects
without a caufe.
"The Abbé Maury afferts, that corpo
rations may be eſtabliſhed without the
concurrence of the law, and by the fole
will of fuch individuals as are pleaſed to
form an aggregation politic.
"But it is eaſy to anſwer him, that it
is not the material union of individuals
which forms an aggregation politic; that,
in order to effect that, fuch aggregation
muſt be confidered as an individual in the
general fociety; that it ſhould have a per-
fonality diſtinct from that of each of its
members,
222
SPEECHES OF
members; and that it muſt have a right
to perform acts of citizenſhip: now, it is
evident that fuch rights, intereſting the
whole fociety, can only be derived from
the power of that ſociety; and, unleſs we
fuppofe that certain individuals can make
laws, it is abfurd to affert that they may
eſtabliſh corporations, or that corporations
can be formed of themſelves.
CC
Having once proved, gentlemen, that
fociety hath the right of creating or not
creating corporations; I fay that it hath
equally a right to determine, whether the
corporations which it admits ought, or
ought not, to be proprietary.
"The nation hath this right, becauſe,
if corporations exift but by virtue of the
law, it is the province of the law to mo-
dify their existence; becaufe the power
of being proprietary is amongst the num-
ber
}
M. DE MIRABEAU.
223
ber of civil acts, and it belongs to fociety
not to allow every civil act to aggregations
which are only its own work; becauſe, in
fine, the queſtion, whether it is proper to
create corporations, is entirely diftinct
from the point of determining whether
thoſe corporations ſhould be proprietary.
"The Abbé Maury afferts, that no cor-
poration can exift without property. I
will confine myſelf to aſking him, What
are the domains of the magiftracy and of
the army? I will fay to him, What, then,
was the property of the clergy in the pri-
mitive church? What were the domains
of the members of the firft councils? We
may ſuppoſe a ſociety without property,
nay, without individual property, fuch as
that of Lacedæmon, while governed by
the laws of Lycurgus. Why, then, might
we not ſuppoſe any corporation whatever,
and
224
SPEECHES OF
and particularly a clerical corporation,
without property?
"After having thus proved, gentlemen,
that the nation hath a right to create or
not create corporations; that it belongs to
her to determine whether thefe corpora-
tions ought, or ought not, to be proprie-
tary; I fay, that, wherever fuch corpora-
tions exift, the nation hath a right to de-
ſtroy them, as ſhe hath had a right to create
them; and I require, moreover, that this
principle be either admitted or denied *.
"I will fay to thoſe who would conteſt
it, that there is no legiſlative at which a
nation cannot revoke; that ſhe may change,
when the thinks proper, her laws, her
conftitution, her organization, and her
* Are not many parts of this fpeech much in Mr.
Flood's manner? W.
7
mecha-
M. DE MIRABEAU.
225
mechaniſm; the ſame power which hath
created may deſtroy, and whatever is not
the effect of a general will, ought to ceaſe
from the moment that will fuffers an al-
teration.
"I will fay, moreover, that the prefent
affembly being not only legiſlative, but
likewiſe conſtituent, fhe hath, for that
reaſon, every right that could be exerciſed
by the firſt individuals who compoſed the
French nation. Now, let us fuppofe, for
a moment, that we were going to lay the
foundation-ſtone of civil fociety in this
kingdom*; who could conteft with us
the right of creating corporations, or of
prohibiting their birth, of granting to cor-
porations particular property, or of de-
*
Qu'il fût queftion d'établir parmi nous le
mier principe de l'ordre focial.
pre-
е
claring
226
SPEECHES OF
claring them incapable of acquiring it?
We have, then, at this day the fame right,
unleſs it be fuppofed that our conftituent
power is limited; and furely we have al-
ready made a ſufficient number of changes
in the ancient order of things, to allow the
propofition which I have the honour to
fubmit to you, to be confidered as in no
wife beyond your power.
"I believe, then, gentlemen, that I
have proved, that it belongs to the nation
to eſtabliſh corporations, that it is her
province to declare them proprietary, and
that ſhe can never be deprived of the right
of deſtroying them.
"Now, I thence conclude, that, if cor-
porations can be deftroyed, the property
of corporations can be deftroyed alſo. I
require moreover, gentlemen, that this
confequence be either admitted or denied..
" I will
M. DE MIRABEAU.
227
"I will tell thoſe who would deny it,
that the effect ought to ceafe with the
cauſe, that the principal carries away with
it the acceffory, that it is impoffible to fup-
pofe property without an owner, and
rights belonging to thoſe who are no
longer in exiſtence.
"Let us now apply theſe principles to
the clergy.
te
Affuredly, either all the principles
which I have eſtabliſhed are falſe, or the
nation hath a right to determine that the
clergy ought no longer to exiſt as an ag-
gregation politic: fhe hath this right, un-
leſs it be pretended that a nation is tied
down either by the will of fome of her
members, or by her own laws, or by her
ancient conſtitution. Now, as nothing of
all this can chain down a nation, ſhe may
therefore
Q²
228
SPEECHES OF
therefore exerciſe the right which I have
juſt admitted.
"Let us now fuppofe that fhe does
exerciſe it; I afk, what will then be-
come of the eſtates of the clergy? Are
they to revert to the founders? Shall
they be poffeffed by each particular
church? Shall they be parcelled out
amongst all the ecclefiaftics, or fhall the
nation become the proprietor ?
"I fay, in the firſt place, that it is im-
poffible for theſe eftates to revert to the
founders; either becauſe there are few
foundations which have the clauſe of re-
vertibility, or becauſe thoſe eftates have a
deſtination which muſt inceſſantly be ful-
filled; and that they are given irrevocably,
not to the clergy, but to the church, but
for the fervice of the altar, but for the
purpoſe
M. DE MIRABEAU.
229
purpoſe of keeping the temples in good
condition, but for the indigent portion of
the community.
"I fay, in the next place, that they
cannot belong to each church in particular,
fince a church, a pariſh, a chapter, a
biſhopric, are ftill moral corporations,
which cannot have the power of poffeff-
ing, except by the effect of law; and
thence I conclude, that the Abbé Maury
is really begging the queſtion, when he
afferts, that, if the founders could not have
given irrevocably to the church in general,
they would have given irrevocably to each
particular church.
"It is no leſs manifeft, gentlemen, that
the clergy no longer exifting as a body po-
litic, the ecclefiaftics cannot have the right
of dividing amongſt themſelves its pro-
digious ſpoils. The abfurdity of ſuch a
pretenfion is felf-evident.
Q 3
"All
230
SPEECHES OF
•
"All the church-eftates are not in the
hands of dignitaries; nay, the dignitaries
are no more than detainers; and it muſt
neceffarily be admitted, that eſtates which
have a general deftination fhould likewife
have a common adminiſtration.
"It remains, then, gentlemen, that to
the nation alone the property of the eſtates
of the clergy can belong; fuch is the conclu-
fion to be drawn from all the principles.
"But, it is not enough to have proved
that the eſtates of the church would be the
property of the nation, if the clergy were
diffolved as a body politic; it follows
equally, from the particulars which I have
juſt entered into, that the nation is pro-
prietor, for this fole reafon, that, while
fuffering the clergy to exift as a corpo-
ration, we might declare it incapable of
poffeffing. Here again all the principles
which I have eftablished make their
ap-
pearance.
M. DE MIRABEAU.
231
pearance.
The capacity of poffeffing by
the title of proprietor, is a right which
the law may grant or refuſe to a body po-
litic, and which it may caufe to ceaſe:
after having granted it; for there is no
act of legiſlation which fociety cannot re-
voke. You will do nothing more, then,
gentlemen, than determine that the clergy
ought not to be proprietary, when you
declare that it is the nation which ought
to be fo.
Shall
"But this is not fufficient; there re-
mains yet a difficulty to be folved.
it be only from the era of your law that
the nation ſhall become proprietor, or fhall
ſhe have been fo always? Is it a law that
we are going to enact, or a principle that
we are going to declare? Muft we, as
the Abbé Maury fays, kill the body of
the clergy in order to poffefs ourſelves of
Q4
its
232
SPEECHES OF
its domains? or, rather, is it true that
the church hath never had more than the
adminiſtration, the depoſit of theſe ſame
eftates? This queftion, gentlemen, which
perhaps was not fufficiently handled in
the former debates, may yet eaſily be folved
by applying only the principles which I
have laid down.
"In fact, gentlemen, if every corpora-
tion may be deſtroyed, if it may be declared
incapable of poffeffing, it follows that its
property is but uncertain, temporary, and
conditional; it follows, that the poffeffors
of eſtates, the exiſtence of which is fo
precarious, cannot be confidered as un-
changeable proprietors, and that, confe-
quently, we muſt ſuppoſe for ſuch eftates
an owner more fubftantial, more durable,
and more abfolute.
"Is the queftion, gentlemen, concern-
ing
M. DE MIRABEAU.
233
ing a corporation the eftates of which, if
it fuffered a diffolution, may revert to each
of their owners? In this caſe, we may ſay
every moment, even while fuch a body
exifts, that the individuals who compofe
it are really the proprietors of its eſtates.
“Is the queſtion, on the contrary, con-
cerning a corporation the eſtates of which
have a public deſtination, which ought to
furvive its deftruction, and the property
of which cannot revert, in any caſe, to the
members who compoſe that corporation ?
One may ſay, every moment, of fuch a
body, that the true proprietors of its eſtates
are thoſe for whom they are principally
deftined.
"In the former cafe, the law, which
hath permitted a corporation to be pro-
prietary, hath given it this power merely
in order to exerciſe it in the name of its
mem-
234
SPEECHES OF
members. In the latter cafe, the law hath
granted this power only in order that it
fhould be exercifed in the name of the
nation.
"Gentlemen, do not deceive yourſelves
with refpect to this point: it was for the
whole nation that the clergy accumulated
its riches; for her it was, that the law
permitted it to accept donations; fince,
without the liberalities of the faithful, the
fociety would itſelf have been obliged to
endow the clergy with revenues, for
which the property acquired with her
confent hath been no more than a tempo-
rary compenſation: and for that reaſon
it is, that the property of the church hath
never been confidered in the light of par-
ticular property.
"The Abbé Maury makes another ob-
jection upon this point. A fociety, fays
he,
M. DE MIRABEAU.
235
he, can have only the fovereignty and
empire over the eftates of its members,
and not the inheritance of thefe eftates.
This diſtinction, continues he, was fet up
in oppofition to the encroachments of the
Roman emperors, to whom the rafcally
civilians wifhed to attribute an immediate
property and a grand idea faved human-
kind from a great calamity. The fame
ſyſtem, ſays he again, was revived by the
chancellor Duprat, by M. de Pauliny, and
ſtill more recently by M. de Puységur; but
it hath been conftantly rejected as tyran-
nical.
"It is eaſy to anſwer the Abbé Maury,
that the queſtion here is not concerning
the right of the prince, but concerning the
right of the nation; that it is very true that
the prince hath over the eftates of his fub-
jects, neither right of inheritance nor right
of
236
SPEECHES OF
of empire; but that it is no lefs certain,
that the French nation enjoys a right of
property over a multitude of eftates which,
without her poffeffing them oftenſibly, are
deſtined for her wants, and adminiſtered
in her name: and, to prove this unan-
fwerably, I need only aſk the Abbé Mau-
ry, whether the nation hath not the pro-
perty of the ſtate-domain, which is fo im-
properly ſtyled the domain of the crown?
whether ſhe does not poffefs it in the man-
ner of particular property? whether it is
not in her name that the prince hath en-
joyed it to the prefent day? in fine, whe-
ther it be not in her power to alienate it,
and apply the purchaſe-money to the pay-
ment of the public debt ?
"It is true, then, that, befides the fo-
vereignty, the nation, as a body, may poſ-
feſs particular property: the only queſtion,
there-
M. DE MIRABEAU.
237
1
therefore, that remains, is, whether it is in
the name of the nation that the church en-
joys its eftates, as it is for the nation that
the king poffeffes his domains.
"Now, in order to determine this
queſtion, it is fufficient to compare the
property of the church with every other
ſpecies of property that we know of.
cr
"I diſtinguiſh property into five ſorts:
particular property, which is of two kinds,
according as it belongs to fimple indivi-
duals, or to corporations not ecclefiaftical.
“The fiefs of the nobility, which are
likewiſe particular property, but which it
is proper to conſider ſeparately, in order
to anſwer ſome objections of the Abbé
Maury; the domains of the ſtate; and the
eftates of the church.
"In confidering the property of indi-
viduals, as to its nature, its effects, and
with
238
SPEECHES OF
with relation to the ſanction of the law, I
diſcover, 1. That each individual poffeffes
by virtue of the right of poffeffing which
he hath given to others, and which all
have given to one: now, this firſt deſcrip-
tion is applicable neither to the property
the church, nor to the property of any cor-
poration.
of
"2. That the right on which particu-
lar property is founded is, as it were, co-
exiſtent with the eſtabliſhment of ſociety,
fince it flows from the power which every
individual hath of partaking in thoſe ad-
vantages which all the other members are
to enjoy, with whom he is going to form
an aggregation politic: now, no more
doth this fecond defcription apply either to
the eſtates of the clergy, or of any corpo-
ration; not having been created till after
the formation of foeiety, they could not
have
2
M. DE MIRABEAU.
239
have any right co-exiſtent with her, and
which, in any wife, formed a part of the
focial compact.
"3. That there is no neceffity for dif-
tinct laws to ſecure the inheritance of par-
ticular property; for, unlefs at the very
outfet you eſtabliſh a community of pof-
feffions, the confirmation and warranty of
eftates peculiar to individuals, is a necef-
fary confequence of the foundation of ſo-
ciety: now, this third deſcription is alfo fo-
reigh to the eftates of the clergy, and of
any corporation whatfoever. It is evident
that, with refpect to them, the capacity of
acquiring could only be the work of the
legiſlature and the law.
"In fine, I diſcover that each indivi-
dual enjoys his fortune, not ſubject to obli-
gation, fince he may alienate it; not as a
depofitary, fince he may diffipate it; not
as
240
SPEECHES OF
R
· as a ufufructuary, fince he may deſtroy
but as abfolute owner, juſt as much as he
is maſter of his will, his bodily motions,
his thoughts. Now, not one of theſe de-
fcriptions is applicable to the clergy: it
cannot alienate its eftates, it hath no right
to tranſmit them; it is rather the fteward
only, and not the ufufructuary.
"When particular property belongs,
not to individuals, but to corporations non-
politic, fome of the deſcriptions already
mentioned then ceafe to be applicable to
it; but ftill a fufficient number of them will
remain, in order to diſtinguiſh it from the
eftates of the church.
"The property of corporations cannot
be founded on the right, which every man
who enters into ſociety brings along with
him, of having exclufive poffeffions, if
he permits, and if all permit fuch pof-
feffions;
M. DE MIRABEAU.
241
feffions; for corporations are not, like in-
dividuals, the primary elements of ſociety ;
they do not precede her exiſtence, they
cannot enjoy rights even at the moment of
her formation.
"It is likewife true, that the particular
property of bodies non-politic depends
not on the primitive organization be-
ſtowed on civil ſociety, that it depends
not on the eſtabliſhment of other forts of
property, that it is not the neceffary con-
fequence of them, and that it can only be
the work of a particular law.
"But, befides this, fuch bodies poffefs,
with the fame power, the fame abſolute
dominion as fimple individuals. They
can alienate; they diſpoſe of the produce ;
they transfer the ſtock; they act as com-
plete owners now, the clergy poffeffes
neither the ſtock nor the produce of its
domains.
R
242
SPEECHES OF
domains. It can take nothing out of the
church-eftates but its own perſonal main-
tenance: nay, it happens very rarely that
the dignitary who poffeffes hath the right
of chooſing the ſteward who fhall fucceed
him.
"If, from the particular property of
which I have been juft fpeaking, I paſs to
that of the nobles, which is known by the
name of fiefs, it is eafy to fhew that it
hath all the characteriſtics of the property
of fimple individuals. If we confider
fiefs as the acquifition of thoſe who poffefs
them, they are that true individual pro-
perty which merits all the protection of
the law. If we look on fiefs as having
been formed at the very time when the
kingdom was first conquered, they have
thence the fame origin as all the allodial
and other property in the realm. If, on
น.
5
the
M. DE MIRABEAU.
243
the other hand, we ſuppoſe them given
or created by the king, a multitude of
characteriſtics diftinguish them from the
church-eſtates; the fiefs were not given
to the nobility to fulfil a public deſtina-
tion; they were given neither in the name
of an obligation, nor in the name of a
depofit. They who accepted them were
not looked upon as the mere ſtewards of
the produce; they obtained them as a re-
compenſe, or as a falary; they became the
real maſters of them; they had it in
their power to tranfmit them to their de-
fcendants. Now, I aſk whether the ſame
thing can be faid of the church-eftates:
they were not given to individuals, but
to a body; not in order to be tranſmitted,
but in order to be adminiftered; not as a
falary, but as a depofit; not for the par-
ticular advantage of thoſe who might
poffefs
1
R 2
244
SPEECHES OF
poffefs them, but in order to accompliſh a
public deſtination, and in order to ſupply
expences which might have been a charge
to the nation. The church-eftates, there-
fore, have nothing in common with thoſe
of the nobility; perfonal intereft, that in-
tereft which endeavours to increaſe its
powers, and to acquire auxiliaries, in
vain endeavours to prove that two fuch
different kinds of property have the ſame
origin, and ought to fear the ſame fate.
'The nobles will not be affrighted by theſe
vain menaces, and all perſonal intereſt
will diſappear before the fupreme law of
the ftate.
(6
Nothing more, therefore, remains,
gentlemen, than to examine what is the
domain of the crown, and compare it
with the church-eftates.
a great national property.
This domain is
The kings are
neither
1
M. DE MIRABEAU.
245
neither the owners, nor the poffeffors,
nor even the detainers of it; the govern-
ment adminifters it in the name of the na-
tion; its produce is deſtined for the public
fervice; that produce replaces a part of
the taxes; and the ftate hath, in this point
of view, at once the property and the en-
joyment of it.
Now, do we not clearly find the
fame origin, the fame deftination, the
fame effects in the poffeffions of the
church? Its eftates, like the crown-lands,
are a grand national refource. The ec-
clefiaftics are neither the owners,
nor
even the ufufructuaries; the produce is
deftined to a public fervice; it ftands in
the place of thoſe taxes which muſt have
been eſtabliſhed for the fervice of the
altar, for the maintenance of its miniſters;
R 3
it
246
SPEECHES OF
it operates, therefore, as a diſcharge for
the nation.
+
"Here, then, gentlemen, are two forts
of eſtates entirely fimilar, one of which
undoubtedly belongs to the ftate; here
are two forts of eftates which have nothing
in common either with the property of
individuals, nor with the individual pro-
perty of bodies non-politic, nor with the
fiefs of the nobility: now, thence I draw
feveral conclufions.
"The firſt, that it is no more incom-
patible that the nation fhould be pro-
prietor of the church-eftates, than it is
that ſhe ſhould be proprietor of the do-
mains of the crown.
"The fecond, that it is for her own
intereſt, and, as it were, in her own
name, that the nation hath permitted the
clergy
M. DE MIRABEAU.
247
clergy to accept the donations of the
faithful.
"The third, that if the clergy ceaſes
to poffefs theſe eſtates, the nation alone
can have the right of adminiſtering them,
fince their deſtination is confecrated folely
to public benefit: now, as I have already
demonſtrated, he alone, who is to enjoy
the eſtates of a corporation, when that
corporation is diffolved, is confidered to
be the abfolute and unchangeable owner
of it, even during the exiſtence of that
corporation; the poffeffor can have only
precarious title, and one abfolutely fub-
ordinate to the law.
"In fine, gentlemen, in the obferva-
tions which I have had the honour to pre-
ſent to you in the foregoing debates, I cf-
tabliſhed the rights of the nation to the
church-
R 4
248
SPEECHES OF
church-eftates, in confidering theſe eſtates
in another point of view.
"I told you, that the clergy can have
acquired its eſtates only in four different
ways; it holds them of our kings, of ag-
gregations politic, that is to ſay, of cor-
porations and communities, or of fimple
individuals, or of itſelf.
"If it holds them of our kings, what-
ever a prince hath given for the purpoſe
of fulfilling a public deftination, is con-
fidered as given by the nation, which,
but for the munificence of our kings,
would have been herſelf obliged to endow
the churches, or their minifters.. The
nation, therefore, is proprietor in the firſt
point of view; fhe can refume eſtates
which belong to her, which were given
only by her chief, in her name and for her.
6
" If
1
M. DE MIRABEAU.
249
"If the church holds her eftates of ag-
gregations politic, fuch aggregations have,
by that, only paid their contingent of a
public debt, along with all the communi-
ties and all the individuals of the kingdom;
they have only outftripped and rendered
unneceffary a general tax, which it would
have been indiſpenſably neceſſary to eſta-
bliſh. In this new point of view, there-
fore, the nation is again proprietor of the
church-eftates.
"If the holds them of the liberality of
individuals, fuch individuals muſt have
known that no body politic could be un-
changeably proprietary; they muſt have
known that the nation could declare fuch
a body politic incapable of poffeffing;
and fince they granted away eſtates for a
public deſtination, they must have ex-
pected that the nation would adminiſter
them
250
SPEECHES OF
*
them herſelf, whenever the judged it pro-
per to enact ſuch a law: it follows thence,
that their true intention (that at leaſt
which we muſt ſuppoſe them to have had.
according to the courſe of law) cannot be
fruftrated, although the nation does de-
clare herſelf proprietor.
"In fine, if the church holds her
eftates of herſelf, and of the acquifitions
which her revenues have enabled her to
make, it is evident that, if fuch acquifitions
are contrary to the will of the donors,
they have procured no new right for the
church; and that if the donors be fup-
poſed to have approved them, we muſt
then apply to theſe eftates all that I have
faid concerning thoſe which the church
hath received directly from the founders.
"You muſt have been aſtoniſhed, gen-
tlemen, at the manner in which the
Abbé
M. DE MIRABEAU.
251
Abbé Maury attempted to anſwer theſe
principles. On the one hand, ſaid he, I
have ſpoken only of foundations; and the
church poſſeſſes eſtates by other titles : on
the other hand, all the eftates granted to
the church were not deftined for the ex-
pences of religious worſhip, nor, confe-
quently, to public benefit: in the third
place, the founders did not treat with the
church in general, but merely with each
particular church.
"It is eaſy, gentlemen, to anſwer theſe
three objections. I have neceffarily men-
tioned all the eſtates of the church, when
I mentioned thoſe which it had received
from our kings, from aggregations politic,
and from fimple individuals; for her dona-
tions, her foundations, her legacies, her in-
heritances, can have no other origin.
"On the other hand, the eftates given
to
252
SPEECHES OF
to the church, by what title foever, could
have had but theſe five objects; the ex-
pences of religious worſhip, the keeping
the temples in proper order, the relief of
the poor, the maintenance of the prieſts,
and particular prayers for the families of
the founders. Unquestionably, the four
firſt objects relate only to a public def-
tination. I might fay of the fifth, that it
is eafy to fuppofe that, in the ages of ig-
norance, the major part of the donors
confounded the real worſhip of God with
the religious objects which were the mo-
tives for the foundations, and which de-
termined their liberalities: but it will be
fufficient to anſwer, that the intent of the
particular foundations will be equally well
anſwered, whether the clergy be pro-
prietary, or not proprietary; and, be-
fides, the members of the clergy are not
I
ignorant
1
M. DE MIRABEAU.
253
ignorant that all the prayers of the church,
even when they have a particular def
tination, ftill turn to the common benefit
of the faithful.
"It will be fufficient for me to obſerve,
>
as to the third objection, that the prin-
ciples which I have eſtabliſhed remain the
fame, whether the founders treated with
the clergy in general, or with each church
in particular. The foundations were never
made in favour of an ecclefiaftic. If in
favour of a church, each church is a mo-
ral corporation, and then the foundations
are not individual, as fome pretend: it is
well known alfo, that chriftianity was not
eſtabliſhed all at once throughout the
kingdom; and it was only by endowing
each church in particular, that the whole
ecclefiaftical corporation could be founded.
"And now, gentlemen, what remains
for
254
SPEECHES OF
for me to difcufs? What objections remain
for me to anſwer?
"The Abbé Maury afferts, that the
clergy of France exifted before the con-
queft of the kingdom: if that be fo, we
give the clergy leave to keep the do-
mains which it poffeffed before the con-
queft. Or rather, gentlemen, fince a na-
tion hath even a right to alter her original
focial compact, what power could prevent
her from altering the organization of the
clergy, though fhe had even found it
conftituted, fuch as it is at preſent, in the
midft of the Gaulifh idolaters?
"The Abbé Maury ſays, moreover, that
there are laws extant in the capitularies or
Charlemagne, which declare that the pro-
perty of the clergy ſhould be preferved. I
will not examine whether the word pro-
prietas, which is found in thofe laws, be
fyno-
M. DE MIRABEAU.
255
fynonimous to dominium, and fignify en-
joyment or domain. No more will I be
at the trouble of proving, whether the
laws were made merely by the monarch
and his council of Leudes, or proclaimed
in the Champs de Mars. I will neglect
all fuch proofs, the feebleft of all proofs,
preciſely becauſe one might prove every
thing with them, and that where there is
one monument of pretended public right,
there is almoſt always a contradictory mo-
nument to oppoſe to it. But I will anfwer
the Abbé Maury, that thofe particular
laws fecured the property of the clergy
only with respect to the individuals, in
the fame manner as the laws extant which
eſtabliſhed their tythes: but, were it true
that the clergy had been declared pro-
prietary by a national law, the French
nation
256
SPEECHES OF
nation would no lefs have preſerved the
right of repealing fuch a law.
"The Abbé Maury morcover ſays,
that the clergy poffeffes as all other in-
dividuals do; that there is no focial pro-
perty which is not more or lefs modified;
that if the edict of 1749 prohibited the
clergy to make acquifitions, there are fe-
veral laws which contain the fame prohi-
bition to other claffes of citizens; in fine,
that if the clergy hath not the right of
alienating, that is only a new method
which it hath diſcovered of preferving
property.
"I will not take the trouble of anfwer-
ing theſe ſophiſms, fince the Abbé Maury
himſelf cannot look on them in the light
of ſerious objections. Undoubtedly, if
the obligation not to alienate is a new
mode
M. DE MIRABEAU.
257
mode of preferving property, it is not, att
leaſt, a mode of proving that one may
diſpoſe of a thing as abfolute owner.
Would the Abbé Maury think of proving
very clearly, that the king is proprietor
of the crown-domains, becauſe the king
hath not the power of alienating them?
"I will not ſtay, gentlemen, to anſwer
thoſe who have attacked the motion which
I made, after the confequences that may
be drawn from it; I fhall confine myſelf
to making two obfervations which appear
to me important. The firft, that the
queſtion is not preciſely
eftates of the clergy in
about taking the
order to
order to pay
off
the public debt, as we have been told in-
ceffantly. We may declare the principle
of the property being in the nation, with-
out prohibiting the clergy from admi-
niftering its own eftates: the ftate does
S
nof
258
SPEECHES OF
not want treaſures, it wants a pledge and
a mortgage; it wants credit and con-
fidence.
"The ſecond, that there is not a ſingle
member of the clerical order whofe for-
tune would not be much increaſed by a
more equal partition, excepting thoſe who
have ten times more than they need, and
who ought not to ſhrink from any fa-
crifice, fince, even after the moſt vigorous
reductions, they will ſtill poffefs ten times
more than they have occafion for.
"Enough, gentlemen: I propoſed,
when fetting out, to bring back the quef-
tion to its true object; and I think I have
accompliſhed that end.
"The Abbé Maury will, doubtleſs, ſtill
complain, that I have made ufe of meta-
phyfics; for my part, I will aſk him,
how one can, without the aid of meta-
phyfics,
7
M. DE MIRABEAU,
* 59
phyfics, define the property of the empire,
the domain; fix the relations between the
ftate of nature and the ſtate of civil fo-
ciety; determine what is a moral cor-
poration; diftinguiſh the property of in-
dividuals from that of corporations, and
civil rights from political ones. When we
have only abſtract terms to work with,
when the object of a difcuffion is meta-
phyfical, we muft neceffarily become fo
ourſelves, or find ourſelves at a diſtance
from our fubject: but I am wrong in
making theſe obſervations to the Abbé
Maury; he hath already fhewn us twice
in this debate, how metaphyfical objections
may be anſwered without metaphyfics.
$ 2
The
The following is Part of the Anfwer of
(6
M. MIRABEAU to the Proteft made in
the Name of the Prelates and the Nobles
poffeffing Fiefs, of the Affembly of the
States of Provence, against a Speech of
M. MIRABEAU upon the illegal Re-
preſentation of the Inhabitants of Pro-
vence in the States-General of that Pro-
vince, and upon the Neceffity for conven-
ing a General Aſſembly of the three
Orders.
WHAT, then, have I committed
that ſhould fubject me to fo much cen-
fure? I was defirous that the order I be-
long to ſhould have the policy to grant to-
day what to-morrow will indubitably be
forced from it; I was defirous that it
fhould
$ 3
262
SPEECHES OF
ſhould make fure of the merit and the
glory of being the firſt to urge the convo-
cation of the three orders, which all Pro-
vence demands with fuch an eager emu-
lation. That was the crime of the enemy
to the public peace! or rather it was, that
I thought the people might be in the
right.-Unquestionably, a patrician, ful-
lied with fuch a thought, deſerves to be
made an awful example! But I am much
more guilty than I am fuppofed to be;
for I am of opinion that the people, which
now complains, is always in the right;
that its untired patience ftill waits for the
laft extremity of oppreffion, before it re-
folves upon refifting; that it never refifts
long enough to obtain the redreſs of all
its grievances; that it is not fufficiently
aware, that, to become formidable to its
enemies, it needs only remain motionleſs;
and
M. DE MIRABEAU.
263
and that the moſt innocent, as well as the
moſt invincible of its powers, is that of re-
fufing to act.This is my opinion:
now puniſh the enemy of peace.
"But you, minifters of the God of
peace, who, appointed to beſtow bene-
dictions and not curfes, have launched at
my head the thunder of
your anathemas,
without deigning even to attempt to bring
me over to other maxims!
(6 And you, friends of
peace,
who ac-
cuſe to the people, with all the vehemence
of hatred, the fole defender it hath ever
found who belonged not to its own
order!
(C
'Who, for the purpoſe of cementing
concord, fill the capital and the pro-
vince with manifeftos qualified to arm the
people of the country againſt the people
$ 4
of
264
SPEECHES OF
of the towns, if your actions did not con-
tradict your writings;
"Who, in order to pave the way to re-
conciliation, proteſt againſt the provifional
ordinance for the convocation of the
States-General, becauſe it allows the peo-
ple as many deputies as thoſe of the two
other orders taken together amount to;
"And who proteſt againſt whatever the
National Affembly ſhall enact, unleſs its
decrees eſtabliſh the triumph of your pre-
tenſions, the eternity of your privileges!
"Generous friends of peace! I here
appeal to your honour, and call on you
to declare what expreffions in my ſpeech
have infringed upon the reſpect due to
the royal authority, or to the rights of the
nation. Nobles of Provence, all Eu-
rope is attentive; weigh well your anſwer.
Men
6
M. DE MIRABEAU..
265
Men of God, take care; God is liſtening
to you.
But, if you are determined to remain
filent, if you wrap yourſelves up in the
vague declamations which you have al-
ready hurled againſt me, allow me to fub-
join a word.
“In every age, in every nation *, the
partiſans of aristocracy have implacably
perfecuted the defenders of the people;
and if, by fome fingular concurrence of ac-
cidents, any fuch aroſe amongſt the mem-
bers of their own order, he was marked out
as the particular object of their rage, as
they were eager to inſpire terror by the
* It was this, and the two following paragraphs,
which tempted me to tranſlate this fragment, after I
had made up the manufcript for the prefs. They
breathe all the ſpirit of Demofthenes. The very ftyle
is exceedingly in his manner. W.
felection
266
SPEECHES OF
ſelection of the victim. Thus periſhed
the laft of the Gracchi by the hands of
the patricians *; but, when he had re-
ceived the mortal ftroke, he attefted the
avenging gods, by the ceremony of throw-
ing up fome duft towards the heavens;
and from that duft fprang Marius; Ma-
rius, lefs illuſtrious from having extermi
nated the Cimbri, than from having
abaſed and vanquished the aristocracy of
Rome.
"But do you, Commons, give ear to
him who cheriſhes your applauſe in his
heart without ſuffering himſelf to be ſe-
* If I miſtake not, it was the elder Gracchus who
periſhed immediately by the hands of the patricians.
Caius, the younger Gracchus, fell by the hand of
an obfcure wretch, who cut off his head, in order to
obtain the reward offered for it by the conful Opi-
mius. W.
duced
M. DE MIRABEAU.
267
duced by it. It is concord alone which
forms the ſtrength of man, it is peace alone
which conſtitutes his felicity. Be firm, but
not obſtinate; courageous, but not tumul-
tuous; free, but not undiſciplined; men
of fenfibility, but not enthufiafts. Let
none but important difficulties prove an
obftacle to your progreſs, and then be al-
together inflexible; but look with dif
dain upon the conflicts of felf-love, and
never weigh in the balance an individual
againſt your country. Above all, accele-
rate, as much as in you lies, the convoca-
tion of thoſe States-General which your
adverſaries accuſe you of delaying, and
accuſe you with the more afperity, the
more they dread the confequences of fuch
a convocation; of thoſe States-General
where ſo many pretenfions fhall be over-
turned, fo many rights re-eſtabliſhed, fo
many
268
SPEECHES OF
many evils remedied; of thoſe States-Ge-
neral, in fine, where the fovereign him-
felf defires that France fhould be regene-
rated.
"As for me, who in my political ca→
reer have dreaded nothing but being in
the wrong; me, who, fhielded by con-
fcience and armed with principles, am
ready to brave the univerfe; whether my
voice and my exertions fupport you in the
National Affembly, or my wiſhes alone
attend you thither; neither idle clamours,
nor injurious protefts, nor fiery threats,
nor, in a word, all the convulfions of ex-
piring prejudices, fhall impofe on or inti-
midate me *. What? Shall that man,
at the prefent day, ftop fuddenly in his
civic courſe, who was the firſt amongſt the
French to proclaim aloud his opinions
* Ne m'en impoferont pas.
upon
M. DE MIRABEAU.
269
upon the affairs of this nation, at a time
when the circumftances were far lefs ur-
Woe
gent, and the attempt was much more pe-
rilous? No, their outrages fhall not tire
out my conftancy; I have been, I am, I
will be to my grave, the man of public li-
berty, the man of the conſtitution.
to the privileged orders, if privileges con-
ftitute the man of the people, and not
rather the man of the nobles; for privi-
leges fhall have an end, but the people is
eternal.
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