Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

The Societies of Friends of the Conftitution are by much the strongest power, and render void the actions of all others. The King was declared the Head of the Army; yet the whole conduct of it has been in the Committees of the National Affembly, without any participation to the King was granted the right of nomination to certain places, but his choice has already met with oppofition. He has been obliged to alter the duty of the General Officers of the army, becaufe his choice was not approved of by the Clubs.

:

It is to thefe that the revolt of feveral regiments is to be imputed. When the army no longer refpects its officers, it is the terror and the fcourge of the State; the King has always thought that officers fhould be punished like the foldiers, and that thefe latter fhould have opportunities of promotion according to their merit.

As to foreign affairs, they have granted to the King the nomination of Ambaffadors, and the conduct of negociations; but they have taken from him the right of making war. The right of making peace is entirely of another fort. What power would enter into a negotiation when they knew that the refult must be fubject to the revifion of the National Affembly? Independent of the neceffity for a degree of fecrecy, which it is impoffible should be preferved in the deliberations of the Affembly, no one will treat but with a perfon, who, without any intervention, is able to fulfil the contract that may be agreed upon.

With refpect to the finances, the King had recognized, before the States General, the right of the Nation to grant fubfidies; and, on the 23d of June, he granted every thing required from him upon this fubject. On the 4th of February the King intreated the Affembly to take the finances into their confideration, with which they somewhat flowly complied. But they have not yet formed an exact account of the receipt and expenditure; they have adopted hypothetical calculations; the ordinary contribution is in arrear, and the refource of twelve hundred millions of affignats is nearly perfected. Nothing is left to the King but barren nominations; he knows the difficulty of fuch a government; and, if it was poffible that fuch a machine could go on without his immediate 'fuperintendance, his Majefty would only have to regret, that he had not diminished the taxes, which he has always defired, and, but for the American war, fhould have effected.

The King was declared the head of the Government of the kingdom, and he has been unable to change any thing without the

confent of the Affembly. The chiefs of the prevailing party have thrown out fuch a defi. ance to the agents of the King, and the punifhment inflicted upon disobedience has excited fuch apprehenfions, that these agents have remained without power.

The form of government is especially vicious in two refpects. The Affembly exceed the bounds of their power, in taking cognizance of the adminiftration of justice, and of the interior parts of the kingdom; and exercifes, by its Committee of Researches, the most barbarous of all deíporifms.Affociations are established under the name of Friends of the Constitution, which are infinitely more dangerous than the ancient corporations. They deliberate upon all the functions of government, and exercife a power of fuch preponderance, that all other bodies, without excepting the National Af fembly itself, can do nothing but by their order.

The King thinks it impoffible to preferve fuch a government; and as a period ap. proaches to the labours of the Affembly, fo do they lofe their credit. The new regulations, instead of applying a balm to former wounds, on the contrary, increase the pain of them; the thousand journals and pamphlets of calumniation, which are only the echoes of the Clubs, perpetuate the disorder; and never has the Affembly dared to remedy them.All this tends only to a metaphyfical government, which is impoffible in the execution.

Frenchmen! was it this that you intended in electing Reprefentatives? Do you with that the defpotifm of Clubs should be fuhftituted for the Monarchy under which the kingdom has flourished for fourteen centuries? The love of Frenchmen for their King is reckoned amongst their virtues. I have bad too affecting proofs of it to be able to forget it. The King would not offer this memoir but for the purpofe of reprefenting to his fubjects the conduct of the factious. Perfons torn away by the triumph of M. Necker affected not to pronounce the name of the King: they purfued the Archbishop of Paris; one of the King's couriers was arrested, and the letters which he carried opened.

During this time the Affembly appeared to infalt the King; he determined to carry to Paris the words of peace: upon the journey, it was refolved that no cry of Vive le Rei! fhould be permitted. There was even 2 motion for carrying off the King, and putting the Queen in a convent, which was loudly applauded.

In the night of the 4th and 5th, when it was propofed to the Affembly to repair to the King, it was replied, that, confiftently with its dignity, it could not remove; from

this moment the fcenes of horror were renewed. On the arrival of the King at Paris, an innocent perfon was malfacred almost within his fight, in the garden of the Thuilleries; all thofe who had declared against religion and the throne, received the honours of a triumph. At the Fœderation, upon the 14th of July, the National Affembly declared, that the King was the Chief, by which it was implied that they had a right to name another. His family was placed in a fitu ation apart from himself, but that was, notwithstanding, one of the happiest moments they have paffed fince their stay in Paris.

Afterwards, when, on account of their religion, Mefdames the King's aunts wifhed to go to Rome, their journey was oppofed, in contradiction to the Declaration of Rights, and both at Bellevue and Arnay le Duc, the orders of the Affembly were neceffary to releafe them, thofe of the King being defpifed. In the tumult factiously excited at Vincennes, the persons who remained about the King were ill-treated, and they carried their au dacity fo far, as to break the arms of those perfons in the prefence of his Majesty.

Upon the King's recovery from his illness, he in ended to go to St. Cloud, and was cetained. In vain did M. de la Fayette endeavour to protect his departure; the faithful fervants who furrounded his Majefty were torn away from him, and he was taken back to bis prifon. Afterwards he was obliged to difmifs his Confeffor, to approve the letter of the Minifter to the Foreign Powers, and to attend mafs performed by the new rector of St. Germain Auxerrois. Thus perceiving the impoffibility of averting any public evil by his inâuence, it is natural that he should feek a place of fafety for himself.

Frenchmen! and you the good inhabitants of Paris, diftruft the fuggeftions of the factious; return to your King, who will always be your friend; your holy religion fhall be refpected; your government placed upon a permanent footing; and liberty established upon a fecure bafis.

Paris, June 20, 1791.
(Signed)

LOUIS.

P. S. The King forbids his Ministers to fign any order in his name, until they fhall have received his further directions; and enjous the Keeper of the Seals to fend them to him, when required on his behalf.

(Signed)

No. II.

LOUIS.

THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY TO THE FRENCH.

A GREAT attempt has just been made. -The National Affembly was near the Conclusion of its long labours; the Conftitu

tion was almost completed; the tumults of the Revolution were about to cease; and the enemies of the public welfare were eager, therefore, to facrifice the whole nation to their vengeance. The King and the Royal Family were carried off on the 21ft inft.

[When this part of the Addrefs was read in the Affembly, there was a murmur of difcontent. The Reporter of the Commit tee of Constitution, in which it had been drawn up, requested that it might be heard with attention, and the Members became filent,]

But your Reprefentatives will triumph over all these obstacles. They estimate calmly the extent of the duties impofed upon them. The public liberty fhall be maintained; confpirators and flaves fhall understand the intrepidity of the French Nation, and we make, in the name of the Nation, a folema engagement to revenge the law or die.

France would be free, and she shall be so. It is intended to make the Revolution recede, but it recedes not. It is the effect of your will, and nothing can retard its progress. It is neceffary to accommodate the law to the state of the kingdom. The King, in the conftitution, exercifes the power of the Royal fanction over the Decrees of the Legislative Body; he is the head of the Executive Power, and, in that capacity, caufes the laws to be executed by his Minifter.

If he quits his poft, although carried off against his will, the Representatives of the Nation have the right to fupply his place. The National Affembly has in confequence decreed, that the Seal of State, and the signature of the Ministers of Justice, shall be added to all its Decrees to give them the character of laws. As no order of the King would have been executed without being counterfigned by the responsible Minister, nothing was neceffary but a fimple delegation by the Affembly to authorise him to fign the orders, and thofe only iffued by them. In this circumftance they have been directed by the conftitutional law relative to a Regency, which authorifes them to perform the func tions of the Executive Power until the nomination of a Regent.

By these measures your Reprefentatives have enfured order in the interior part of the kingdom; and, to repulfe any attack from without, they add to the army a reinforcement of three hundred thousand National Guards.

The Citizens then have, on all fides, the means of fecurity. Let them not be overcome by their furprize; the Constituent Affembly is upon its duty; the constituted Powers are in activity; the Citizens of Paris, the National Guards, whofe patriotifm

and

and fidelity are above all praise, watch round your Representatives; the active Citizens throughout the kingdom are in arms, and France may wait for its enemies.

Are they to fear the confequences of a writing forced, before his departure, from a feduced King? It is difficult to conceive the ignorance and blindness that have dicJated this writing, which may deserve to be further difcuffed hereafter; at present, your Reprefentatives content themselves with examining fome particular fentiments.

The National Affembly has made a foJemn Proclamation of political truths, and of rights, the acknowledgment of which will one day produce the happiness of the human race to engage them to renounce this declaration of rights, the theory of flavery itfelf has been prefented to them,

Frenchmen! we haye no fear in recalling to your memories the famous day of the 23d of July 1789; that day, on which the chief of the Executive Power, the firit pub. lic functionary of the nation, dared to dictate his abforate will to your Reprefentatives, charged by your orders to form a Conftitution. The National Affembly lamented the diforders committed on the 5th of October, and ordered the profecution of the perfons guilty of them; but, because it was difficult to difcover fome rioters amongst fuch a multitude of people, they are faid to have approved all their crimes. The nation is, however, more juft. It has not reproached Louis XVI. with the violences that have occurred under his reign and those of his ancestors.

They are not afraid to call to your recolJection the Foederation of July. What are the statements of the perfons who have dictated the Letter of the King with refpećt to this august act? That the first public functionary was obliged to put himself at the head of the Reprefentatives of the Nation. In the midit of the Deputies of all the kingdom, he took a folemn oath to maintain the Conftitution. If the King does not hereafter declare, that his good faith has been furprized by feditious perfons, he has, of courte, announced his own perjury to the whole world! Is it necellary to go through the fatigue of anfwering the other reproaches of this Letter?

The King is faid to have experienced fome inconveniences in his refidence in Paris, and not to have found the fame pleasures as formerly; by which it is implied, no doubt, that a Nation ought to regenerate itfelf with out any agitation, without disturbing for an inftant the pleasures and the indulgencies of Courts. As to the addreffes of congratulaon and adherence to your Decrees, thefe,

fay they, are the works of the factions. -Yes-no doubt, of TWENTY-SIX MILLIONS of the factious!

It was necellary to re-constitute all powers, because all the powers were corrupted, and because the alarming debts accumulated by the defpotifm and the diforders of Government would have overwhelmed the nation. But does not Royalty exist for the people? And if a great Nation obliges itself to maintain it, is it not folely because it is believed to be ufiful? The Conflitution has left to the King this glorious prerogative, and has confirmed to him the only authority which he should defire to exercise. Would not your Reprefen. tatives have been culpable, if they haủ facrificed twenty fix millions to the intereft of one man ?

The labour of citizens fupports the power of the State: but the maxim of abfolute power is to confider the public contributions as a debt paid to defpotifm. The National Assembly has regulated its expences with the ftrictelt juftice; they thought themselves bound, when acting in the name of the Nation, to act munificently; and when they were to determine what part of the public contributions should be allowed to the first functionary, thirty millions were allotted for him and the Royal Family; but this is reprefented as a trifling fum!

The Decrees upon the fubje&t of Peace and War have taken from the King and his Minifters the power of facrificing the people to the caprices of Courts, and the definitive ratification of Treaties is referved to the Reprefentatives of the Nation. The lofs of a Prerogative is complained of. What Prerogative? That of not being obliged to confult the national will, when the blood and the fortunes of Citizens were to be facrificed. Who can know the wifh and the interests of the Nation better than the Legislative Body? It is wifhed to make war with impunity. But haye we not had, under the ancient Government, fufficient experience of the terrible ef. fects produced by the ambition of Minifters ?

We are accused of having de(poiled the King, in forming the Judicial Power, as if he, King of a great nation, ought to appear in the administration of juftice for any other purpote than that of caufing the law to be obferved, and its judgments executed. It is wished that he should have the right of granting pardons and changing punishments; but does not all the world know, how fuch a right would be exercifed, and upon whom the benefit of it would fall? The King could not exercife it by himself, and after having prohibited Royal defpotism, it was very na tural to prohibit that of the Minifters.

The deceffity of circumftances has fome

limes obliged the National Assembly to meddle, contrary to its inclination, in the affairs of Administration. But ought it not to act, when the Government remained in blameable inertnefs? Is it, therefore, necessary to say, that neither the King nor the Minifters have the confidence of the Nation?

The Societies of Friends of the Conftitution have fupported the Revolution; they are more neceflary than ever, and some perfons prefume to say that they govern the Adminiftrative Bodies and the Empire, as if they were the deliberating bodies.

Frenchmen ! all the Powers are organized; all the Public Functionaries are at their pofts; the National Affembly watches over the fafety of the State; may you be firm and tranquil! One danger alone threatens us. You have to guard against the fuspension of your labours; against delay in the payment of duties; against any inflammatory mea. fures which commence in anarchies, and end in civil war. It is to thefe dangers that the National Affembly calls the attention of citizens. In this crifis, all private animofities and private interests should disappear.

The

Those who would preferve their liberty fhould fhew that tranquil firmness which ap. pals tyrants. May the factious, who hope to fee every thing overturned, find order maintained, and the Conftitution confirmed, and rend red more dear to Frenchmen, by the attacks made upon it. The capital may be an example to the rest of France. departure of the King excited no diforders there, but, to the confufion of the malevolent, the utmost tranquility prevails in it. To reduce the territory of this empire to the yoke, it will be necessary to destroy the whole nation. Defpotism, if it pleases, may make fuch an attempt. It will either fail, or at the conclufion of its triumphs will find only

ruias.

No. III.

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

June 18, 1791.

On the part of the King,

FRANÇOIS-CLAUDI, &c. &c. Orders are hereby given to a Captain of the ift regiment of dragoons to proceed with forty men of the faid regiment on the 19th, from Clermont to St. Menehould, where he is to take charge, on the 20th or the 21ft, of a convoy of money, which shall be delivered to him by a detachment of the 6th regiment of huffars, coming from Pont de Sommevelle, on the road from Chalons.

Metz, June 14.

(Signed)

On the part of the King,

BOUILLE.

[blocks in formation]

LETTER Of M. D'ORLEANS.

To the AUTHORS of the JOURNALS. HAVING lead in your Journals your opinion upon the measures taken on the King's return, and alfo what your impartiality and your juftice have dictated upon my account, I am compelled to repeat to you, what from the 21st and 22d of this

month I have declared to feveral Members of the National Affembly, that I am ready to ferve my country, either by sea or by

COPY of the ORDERS given by M. de land, or in the Diplomatic line; in a word,

BOUILLE.

On the part of the King,

FRANÇOIS-CLAUDE-AMOUR BOUILLE, Lieutenant General of the Armies of the King, Knight of his Orders, CommandantGeneral of the Army on the Rhine, the Meurthe, the Mofelle, the Meufe, and the countries adjacent, the frontiers of the Palatinate, and of Luxembourg.

Orders are hereby given to a squadron of the first regiment of dragoons to proceed with arms and baggage on the 17th of this month from Commercy to Sainte-Miel, from whence they are to proceed the following day, the 18th, with a fquadron of the 13th

in any of thofe pofts which exact only zeal and an unbounded devotion for the public welfare; but if the business respect a REGENCY, I renounce at that moment, and for ever, thole Rights which I hold from the Conftitution. I will dare to fay, that after having made fo many facrifices to the interest of the People and the caufe of Liberty, it is no more permitted me to quit the clafs of fimple citizen, in which I have placed myself, with a firm refolution to abide there forever; and that ambition would be in myteif an inexcufable deviation.

I have not made this Declaration to filence my detractors; I know too well that my zeal for National Liberty, and for that equality

[blocks in formation]

I DID not learn till this morning, from the public newspapers, the unfortunate effect of a Paffport which I had the honour to requeft of your Excellency three weeks ago. 1 there read, that Madame the Baronefs de Corff was a Swede, which would tend to imprefs the public, whofe opinion I infinitely respect, with the idea, that I had infringed upon the rights and privileges of the Swedith Ambaffador. I haftened to rectify that error, by declaring, that Madame the Baronefs de Corff is a Rudian, born at Pererf burgh, widow of Baron de Corff, a Colonel in the fervice of the Emprefs, who was killed in the affault of Bender in 1770that he is daughter of Madame de Stegleman, Jikewife born at Petersburgh, and that they have both refided for twenty years paft at Paris.

Thefe two Ladies then could not, nor enght they to have addreffed themselves to any other but me, to procure them their Paifpo.ts; and though no way related to them, never having even feen them, I could not refufe them the flight favour of my intervention for that purpofe. It is true that a Paiport was pretended to have been burnt, as Madame de Corff herfelf obferved in the pote which accompanied my request to obtain a dupl cate; but my conduct through the whole of this bufinefs has been as candid as regular, and I dare hope that every one will think that it was impoffible for me to falpect that it could give rife to the leatt fubfequent imputation, either against your Excellency

or against myself, notwithstanding the inconfiderate ufe which appears to have been made of the fecond Paffport. I hope, in confequence, that your Excellency will ap prove my inferting this letter in the public papers. I have the honour, &c.

Paris, June 25, 1791. Copy of the NOT from the Baronefs de CORTF, referred to in the preceding.

I am incontol ble-yelterday, in burning feveral ufelets papers, I had the misfortune to threw into the fire the Puffport which you had the goodneis to obtain for me. I am, indeed, athamed to beg you to repair my blunder, and of the trouble which I occafion you *.

No. VI.

LETTER of M. D: BoUILLE to the NATIONAL ASSEMBLY.

Gentlemen,

THE King has lately made an effort to break the chains with which, for a confiderable time pat, you have held him and his family. He is yet your captive, and his days, as well as thofe of his Queen, are, I fhudder to think of it! yet at the difpofal of a people whom you have rendered ferocious and fanguinary, and who have become the object of contempt of the universe. It is of importance to you, Gentlemen, that you fhould know the caufes which bave produced the event which now occupies your attention, and you will fee that, if it has been noble and courageous on the part of the King to come and feck an afylum with me, he has therein lefs confulted his own welfare than that of a cruel people whom he yet loves, Difengaged, however, from the ties which bound me to you, I am about to speak to you the language of truth, which you doubtlets will reject. The King had become a prifoner to his people-Attached to my Sovereign, although detefting the abuses refulting from an authority too powerful, I mourned over the frenzy of the people-I blimed your proceedings, but I hoped, that in the end the wicked would be confounded, that anarchy would have an end, and that we should have a Government that could at least be endured. My attachment for my King and Country gave me fuflicient

* A Madame D'Ossun having been arrested, as having been privy to the flight of the QUEN, and having intended to follow her, the falfity of this accufation was proved by a note found in the poffeffion of that Lady, written by the QUEEN, and dated the 20th of June.It is with much pleasure we translate this fhort billet, as it does honour to HER MAJESTY'S character.

QUEEN'S NOTE 10 MADAME D'OSSUN." Every duty united, my dear Madame, has prevented me from advertising you of our departure. Nevertheless, I risk the confequences of this letter to eafe your anxieties on my account. I have but a few moments to myself and much bufinefs to do. I take pleasure in affuring you of my inviolable and sternal friendship. God grant that we may meet again happy. Į embrace you.”

courage

« ElőzőTovább »