12 Charles Kuhlmann 



the majority of the deputies so that in the municipal law of May, 

 1790, Paris was redivided into forty-eight sections whose assem- 

 blies were virtually restricted to the electoral function. On this 

 occasion, as might be supposed, Robespierre protested against this 

 policy of stifling political activity, for he wished to leave the people 

 an organization enabling them to act officially and directly upon 

 legislation. In other words, he wished to continue the conditions 

 which had frightened the more conservative deputies and leave the 

 assembly at the mercy of every impulse that swayed the mob in 

 Paris. How well all parties understood what was involved in this 

 is shown by the answer Mirabeau then made to the arguments of 

 Robespierre. " Strong in my principles and the testimony of my 

 conscience," he said, " I shall refute two opposing opinions with- 

 out seeking perfidious applause (designating the right which had 

 espoused Robespierre's views because they thought the perma- 

 nency of the sections would interfere with the work of the assem- 

 bly) and without fearing the tumultuous clamors" (designating 

 the left). He declared the permanent sections desired by Robes- 

 pierre a monstrosity. Camille Desmoulins, on the other hand, 

 exclaimed in his newspaper, " All the republicans are in consterna- 

 tion at the suppression of the sixty tribunes of our districts," 

 when he learned that the assembly had decided against the per- 

 manency of the sections.^^ 



Notwithstanding the recognized importance of the subject, the 

 law was left somewhat obscure and presented a means by which 

 its spirit, if not its letter, might be evaded so that under the pres- 

 sure of events and at the instance of political agitators the old evil 

 soon returned. The Jacobin club was guilty during the ministerial 

 crisis in October, 1790, of a motion to appeal to the sections asking 

 them to circulate a petition demanding the dismissal of the min- 

 isters after the assembly had failed to pass a vote of lack of confi- 

 dence. At this session (October 20) Mirabeau appeared in time 



^^ The text of the law is found in Ernest Mellie, Les Sections de Paris 

 (Paris, 1892), 9-12. A summary of the discussion is given by Sigismond 

 Lacroix, Actes de la commune de Paris pendant la revolution, second 

 series, vol. i, Introduction. 



3S4 



