VI. 1790. CHAP. penury of government incident to an advanced state of civilisation, if not protected by the shield of an interest common to it with ordinary proprietors. It is to the firm hold which this principle has on the English nation, that Works, v. Mr Burke ascribes the long duration and extensive usefulness of its national establishment.1 * 1 Burke's Consid., 191, 192. 28. elling of the tution of the church. The interior organisation of the church next came New mod- under the revision of the Assembly. The bishoprics were civil consti- reduced to the same number as the departments; the clergy and bishops declared capable of being chosen only June 1790. by the electors who were intrusted with the nomination of deputies; the cathedrals and the chapters suppressed, and the regular orders replaced by parochial clergy. It is a remarkable fact that in some of the discussions on the ecclesiastical establishment at this period, Robespierre supported the church. In particular, on 30th May 1790, he moved in the Assembly to allow the parish priests to marry a step which procured for him the thanks of the clergy over all France. He continued his support of the clergy on various occasions, until he was warned of the danger he incurred by the murmur, when he rose to speak, "Passez au Côté Droit!"† In the reforms which were adopted, if we except the election of *"The people of England," says Mr Burke, "never have suffered, and never will suffer, the fixed estate of the church to be converted into a pension, to depend on the treasury, and to be delayed, withheld, or perhaps extinguished by fiscal difficulties, which may sometimes be pretended for political purposes, and are in fact often brought about by the extravagance, negligence, and rapacity of politicians. They will not turn their independent clergy into ecclesiastical pensioners. They tremble for their liberty from the influence of a clergy dependent on the crown-they tremble for the public tranquillity from the disorders of a factious clergy, if they were made to depend on any other than the crown. For the consolation of the feeble and the instruction of the ignorant, they have identified the estate of the church with the mass of private property, of which the state is not the proprietor, either for use or dominion, but only the guardian and regulator-they have ordained that the provision of this establishment should be as stable as the earth on which it stands, and not fluctuate with the oscillations of funds and actions." Robespierre supported the reduction of the church to bishops and Robespierre's parochial clergy by these characteristic arguments :-" Premier principe— speech on Toutes les fonctions publiques sont d'institution sociale; elles ont pour the Church Establish- but, l'ordre et le bonheur de la société; il s'ensuit qu'il ne peut exister ment. dans la société aucune fonction qui ne soit utile. Devant cette maxime VI. 1790. Hist. Parl. v.216. Mig. Th. i. 240. iv. 397, 399; i. 107, 108. 29. the clergy and bishops by the people for which they CHAP. were manifestly disqualified, and which is utterly inconsistent with a national establishment-nothing flagrantly unjust was attempted. The church, purified of its corruptions, and freed from its splendid but invidious appendages, might still have maintained its respectability, had no spoliation of its possessions previously taken place. But the progress of the Revolution, and the efforts of more audacious reformers, soon completed its destruction.1 The judicial establishment underwent a total change about the same period. The parliaments of the provinces Judicial were suppressed. The work of destruction had now become ment. so common that the annihilation of these ancient courts, coeval with the monarchy, hardly excited any attention. New tribunals were created throughout the whole country on the most democratic basis; the judges were appointed, not by the crown, but by the electors; that is— by the whole labouring classes. So widespread were the judicial functions, under this system, that the judges in France amounted to the enormous number of one hundred thousand the magistrates to that of twelve hundred thousand. Even the Even the power of pardon was taken from the disparaissaient les bénéfices et les établissemens sans objet, les cathédrales, les collégiates, les curés, et touts les archevêques que ne demandent pas les besoins publics. Second principe-Les officiers ecclésiastiques étant institutés pour le bonheur des hommes et pour le bien du peuple, il s'ensuit que le peuple doit les nommer. Il est de principe qu'il doit conserver tous les droits qu'il peut exercer; or le peuple peut élire ses pasteurs comme les magistrats et autres officiers publics. Troisième principe--Les officiers publics étant établis pour le bien de la société, il s'ensuit que la mesure de leur traitement doit être subordonnée à l'intérêt et à l'utilité générale et non au désir de gratifier et d'enrichir ceux qui doivent exercer ces fonctions." Here is the principle of a voluntary church clearly and manfully stated, and traced back to its true origin and only feasible basis, the principle of utility. Robespierre's deductions, as will appear clearly in the sequel, were all correct; his whole errors and crimes arose from his setting out with false principles. Everything in this question turns on the meaning of the word "utility." Is it pecuniary or spiritual utility? economy in this world, or salvation in the next? It is refreshing, amidst the declamation of the Revolution, to read his speeches; they so uniformly go back to principle, though those principles are universal innocence in the people, vice in the governors, and worldly utility.-See Histoire Parlementaire, vi. 22, 31. *"La nouvelle loi créa douze cent mille magistrats municipaux. L'organ establish May 4. 1790. CHAP. Sovereign. Trial by jury was universally introduced, and VI. the jurymen were taken indiscriminately from all classes of citizens. Reforms of the most salutary description were effected in the criminal courts; trials were made public, the accused allowed counsel, and indulged with every facility for their defence. The inhuman punishments which disgraced the ancient monarchy were abolished, and the punishment of death was limited to a smaller class of delinquencies. The cognisance of charges of high treason was intrusted to a supreme court at Orleans; but it must be added, to the glory of the National Assembly, that during their continuance not one trial took place before it. A new tribunal, entitled the Court of Cassation, was 1 Hist. Parl. established at Paris to revise the sentences of inferior triv. 408, 477. Lac.vii. 344, bunals: the utility of this institution was such, that it has been continued through all the subsequent changes of government.1 346. Th. i. 238. 30. the clergy to April 19. The revolutionary party having now declared open war Efforts of against the church, the partisans of the latter exerted themdissolve the selves to the utmost to abridge the duration or operations Assembly of the Assembly. The moment was favourable, as the period when its powers should expire had arrived; the deputies were only appointed for a year, and that time had now elapsed. The clergy and aristocratic party took advantage of this circumstance to insist that the Assembly should be dissolved and reappointed by the electors, as they were well aware that the abolition of all the parliaments, courts of law, and incorporations, in the provinces, and the total confiscation of the property of the church, had created such violent heart-burnings among the people as would probably render the next Assembly decidedly anti-revolutionary. To support that proposal they urged the sovereignty of the people, so isation judiciaire créa cent mille juges, dont cinq mille de paix et quatre-vingt mille assesseurs des juges de paix."- Atlas National de la France, 1791 dédié à l'Assemblée; and MICHELET, Histoire de la Révolution, i. 158, 159. Talleyrand, in his speech on 8th June 1790, estimated the active citizens at 3,600,000.-Histoire Parlementaire, 8th June 1790. VI. 1790. recently proclaimed as the basis of government by the CHAP. popular leaders. "Without doubt," says Chapelier, "sovereignty resides in the people; but that principle has no application in the present instance. The dissolution of the Assembly, before the work of the constitution is finished, would lead to the destruction of the constitution; it is now urged by the enemies of freedom, with no other view but to secure the revival of despotism, of feudal privileges, court prodigality, and all the countless evils which follow in the train of these."-" We deceive ourselves," replied the Abbé Maury, "when we speak of perpetuating our own power. When did we become a National Assembly? Has the oath of the 20th June absolved us from that which we took to our constituents? The constitution is finished; you have nothing now to do but declare that the King possesses the executive power ; we are sent here for no other purpose but to secure the influence of the people upon the legislature, and prevent the imposition of taxes without their consent. Our duties being now discharged, I strenuously resist every decree which shall interfere with the rights of the electors. The founders of liberty should be the last to invade the rights of others; we undermine our own authority, when we trench upon the privileges of those by whom it was v. 381, 385. conferred."1 1 Hist. Parl. speech in reply. Loud applause followed these energetic words; but 31. Mirabeau immediately ascended the tribune. "We are Mirabeau's asked," said he, "when our powers began-how, from being simple deputies of bailiwicks, we became a national convention ? I reply, from the moment when, finding our place of assembly surrounded by bayonets, we swore rather to perish than abandon our duties towards the nation. Our powers have, since that great event, undergone a total change; whatever we have done has been sanctioned by the unanimous consent of the nation. We became a national convention when, but for us, the nation would have perished. You all remember the saying of VI. 1790. CHAP. the ancient patriot, who had neglected legal forms to save his country. Summoned by a factious opposition to answer for his infraction of the laws, he replied, I swear that I have saved my country.' Gentlemen, I swear that you have saved France." The Assembly, electrified by this appeal, rose by a spontaneous movement, and declared its session permanent, till the formation of the constitution 1 Hist. Parl. was completed. Thenceforward they had not a shadow 109. of legal title for their proceedings: the period for which 218. Fer they had been elected had expired, and by sheer usurpamoirs,i.237. tion, without venturing to appeal to the people, they continued their powers. v. 381, 395. 111. Th. i. rières, Me 32. as to vest ing right of making peace and war in the crown. May 20. 1 Having thus, by a decree of their own, resolved to Discussion prolong their powers, the Assembly next entered on the consideration of the important question-in whom, under the new constitution, the powers of declaring peace and war should be vested? A difference which had arisen between Great Britain and Spain, which threatened hostilities at no distant period, brought the necessity of determining this question prominently forward. It was discussed with great vehemence in the Assembly for above a fortnight; and, as the result appeared at one period doubtful, the Revolutionists had recourse to their usual resource of getting up mobs in the streets, and threatening a civil war. Mirabeau, who had now become sensible of the perilous tendency of the Revolution, and began to thirst for employment from the crown, since he had become hopeless of the success of treason under the Duke of Orleans, on this occasion gave the first indication of a change of policy, by proposing, as a middle course, that the right of declaring peace and war should be vested in the King and the Assembly jointly. Instantly he became 1134, 135 suspected by the people; rumour spread abroad that he Moniteur, had been gained by the court, and the "Grande Trahison 1790, p. 547. du Comte Mirabeau" was hawked through the streets.2 236. At the same time, the excitement became so vehement 2 Hist. Parl. 15th May Lab. iv. 232, that it was openly announced in the Revolutionary jour |