BOOK shal Broglio in the vicinity of Versailles and Paris. XXIII. 1789. Camps were marked out for a still greater force, On the 11th of July M. Necker was suddenly dismissed, and ordered to depart the kingdom in twenty-four hours; and with him his friend M. Montmorin, minister for foreign affairs. In the disgrace of M. Necker the Assembly saw their own ruin determined: and they passed a resolve, that the late ministers carried with them the confidence and regret of the nation. But the popular enthusiasm having now reached its height, a most astonishing insurrection took place at Paris on the XXIII. 14th of July, in which the castle of the Bastille BOOK was carried by storm-the soldiery refusing to obey the orders of their officers, and many joining the assailants. The monarch, astonished and intimidated at these proceedings, once more varied his policy; and, appearing in person the next day in the National Assembly, declared "that he had issued orders for the immediate removal of the troops.' A burst of joy and acclamation succeeded; and it was now at last hoped, that the monarch, sen. sible of the evil counsels by which he had been deceived and misled, would not henceforth deviate from the path of political rectitude. M. Necker and count Montmorin were immediately reinstated in their offices. The count d'Artois, marshal Broglio, the prince of Condé, and other leaders of the court faction, were compelled to seek for safety in flight, and on the 17th of July the king made his triumphal entry into Paris. The Assembly now proceeded without interruption in their labors; and in a short time several very important decrees, containing the first principles of the new constitution, importing the subordination of the executive, the supremacy of the legislative, and the independency of the judicial powers, were presented for the royal acceptance. After a delay of many weeks, and an urgent reapplication, the royal assent was most reluctantly 17898 XXIII. 1789. BOOK given, with an express salvo for the antient essential and constitutional prerogatives of the crown. All the former jealousies were now revived; and it was universally rumored and believed, that preparations were in train to facilitate the retreat of the king to Metz in Lorraine, where the royal standard was to be raised in hostile opposition to the National Assembly.* Inflamed and enraged with this dreadful apprehension, another popular insurrection, of a nature not less extraordinary than the former, took place, October the 6th, in which a nocturnal attack was made on the palace of Versailles, the king, and the queen, by whose fatal counsels the monarch had been chiefly guided, made captives and conducted to Paris, where the From the decisive testimony of M. de Moleville, we learn that marshal Broglio had, immediately after the storming of the Bastille, proposed to escort the king to Metz, with the royal family. The archbishop of Aix at the same time advised, that military force should be employed against the insurgents at Paris-after which the States General might be dissolved: and the petitions and denunciations which this courtly prelate supposed would be sent from every quarter against them would render it unnecessary to assemble them again. [Annales de Moleville, tom. i. p. 272.] But the king, weak, wavering, and irresolute, equally devoid of energy and penetration, terrified by the representations of the duc de Liancourt, determined to throw himself upon the National Assembly for protection. Happy would it have been, unable as he was to govern, had he submitted passively henceforth to the national impulse, of which he was manifestly and wholly unequal to the control! XXIII. 1789. palace of the Tuilleries, secured by a strong mili- BOOK tary guard, was assigned them for their future residence. The effect of this violence on the person of the sovereign was an explicit and unconditional acceptance, on his part, of the articles of the constitution, formerly presented; and the National Assembly removed their sittings to Paris, where they were henceforth deeply occupied in executing the Herculean task of regenerating the whole system of the national polity, laws, and govern. ment. Amongst the decrees which most excited the admiration or astonishment of the world were those which pronounced the annihilation of all feudal privileges; the abolition of all distinction of orders; the resumption of tithes and other ecclesiastical and monastic property; the dissolution of monastic institutions; the allotment of the kingdom into a new territorial division, under the name of departments, eighty-three in number, nearly equal in population and extent; finally, the extinction of the provincial parliainents, and the establishment of departmental assemblies, of courts of justice, and the trial by jury in each department. The general principles on which the government of the kingdom was modelled were comprehended in a Declaration of-Publish a Rights, drawn up with great precision and ability, of the Declaration BOOK and which may serve as a perpetual charter of XXIII. liberty to mankind.* 1789. ights of *This famous DECLARATION, which well deserves a place in the frontispiece of every national code of laws, is substantially as follows: I. Men were born, and always continue, free and equal with respect to their rights. Civil distinctions therefore can be founded only on public utility. II. The end of all political associations is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. And these rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to op pression. III. The nation is essentially the source of all sovereignty. IV. Political liberty consists in the power of doing whatever does not injure another. V. The law ought only to prohibit actions hurtful to society. VI. The law is an expression of the will of the community. All being equal in its sight, are equally eligible to all honors, places, and employments, without any other distinction than that created by their talents and virtues. VII. No man shall be accused, arrested, or held in confinement, except in cases determined by the law, and according to the forms which it has prescribed. VIII. No one ought to be punished but in virtue of a law promulgated before the offence. IX. Every man is to be presumed innocent till conviction of guilt. X. No man ought to be molested on account of his opinions, not even his religious opinions; provided his avowal of them does not disturb the public order. XI. Every man may speak, write, and publish freely-being responsible for the abuses of this liberty in cases determined by law. |