HISTORY OF EUROPE. [35 



efforts to get out of it only serve to 

 plunge us deeper and deeper in 

 the jarring chaos. Is it surpriz- 

 ing, then, that neither public 

 nor private liberty has yet existed 

 in France ; that all command, and 

 none obey ; and that there is no- 

 thing but the mere phantom of a 

 government ? 



"But if the source of all our cala- 

 mities be the faulty constitution of 

 our government, what must we do 

 to remove them ? construct a new 

 political edifice that shall be solid 

 and durable. The basis, or general 

 principles of the constitution were 

 good. They were the principles 

 of every republican government : 

 the sovereignty of the people ; the 

 unity of the republic ; an equality of 

 rights, liberty, and the voice of the 

 people declared by representation. 

 But the constitutional superstruc- 

 ture, formed on those foundations, 

 was essentially vicious, as experience 

 had demonstrated. They must rise 

 again, he said, to the sublimity of 

 those fundamental principles, and 

 in them only see the constitution, 

 and their obligation to support it. 

 To shew any anxious adherence to 

 mere regulations, to the technical 

 part of the constitution, would be 

 a superstitious and fatal scrupulo- 

 sity. It would tend to a dissolution 

 of the political fabric, and be, in 

 fact, a violation of the oath of fide- 

 lity they had taten to the republic. 

 This salutary truth must be un- 

 dauntedly bi'Ouglit to view and 

 firmly contemplated. It was a 

 trutl), recognized by all enlightened 

 and lionest men ; nor was it a mat- 

 ter that admitted of any doubt iu 

 the minds and consciences of tlu)se 

 demagogues by whom the councils 

 had Wen so long tormented. They 

 were as sensible astluy themselves 



were, that the present order of' af- 

 fairs could not be of any longer du- 

 ration. The only difference be- 

 tween these demagogues and them- 

 selves was, a change in the consti- 

 tution should be operated by the ja- 

 cobins, or by men of probity and 

 enlightened understandings. They 

 wished to take advantage of the 

 present agitation, and to govei-n 

 France as in 1 793 : whilst all pre- 

 sent were anxious for the establish- 

 ment of well-regulated liberty, a 

 liberty productive of happiness. 

 " We," said this orator for the 

 committee of five, " wish liberty for 

 all : they only for themselves. We 

 wish to nationalize the republic, 

 they to establish only their own 

 party. They were eager to intro- 

 duce a new cast of nobility, which 

 would be so much the more insup- 

 portable than the old, which we 

 have destroyed, that it would have 

 comprehended only the most igno- 

 rant, the most immoral, and the 

 vilest portion of the nation. If, 

 therefore, the present state of things 

 can no longer subsist, we must de- 

 stroy it and replace it by another, 

 which shall raise the republic out of 

 the abyss in which it was on the 

 point of being buried. But can 

 this new order of affairs be defini- 

 tive .'' no : it is impossible to frame 

 a perfect constitution in a moment. 

 In its creation we cannot exercise 

 too much reflection. We must take 

 the time, and use the precautions 

 necessary for its establishment, and 

 form tlie instruments by whicli this 

 may be accomplished. We must 

 have something provisional and in- 

 termediary ; and this is precisely 

 what will be presented to you in 

 the project now to he submitted to 

 your deliberation. It creates an 

 executive power, composed of three 



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