24 Fi'ed Morrow l-^ling 



can justice be done and to Mirabeau it was above all important 

 that justice should be rendered to every man and at all 

 times. ' This he demanded as a right,- he did not ask it as a 

 favor. ^ Without the reign of law and the enjoyment of liberty 

 and security by the individual he saw no difference between the 

 government of France and that of Turkey.^ And in this respect 

 no difference did exist at that time. But this state of things had 

 not always existed"" and it was to the earlier and happier condi- 

 tion that Mirabeau wished to return. 



With prodigious industry he swept together citation after 

 citation from the Greek and Latin writers, from the Capitula- 

 ries of Charlemagne and the law books of the later kings to 

 prove the illegality of royal interference with the course of jus- 

 tice.'"' The mass of testimony that he gathered was sufficient 

 in quantity, at least, to crush his opponents. He conceded 

 that abitrary imprisonments had taken place, ^ but no king of 

 France had yet dared to declare such acts legal. '^ Citation after 

 citation proved the recognition by the kings of the right of their 

 subjects to public trial and, if found guilty, to public sen- 

 tence.^ There was but one way in which the king might legally 



^ "Chaqvie citoyen a dans tous les cas et sans exception, le droit de 

 n'^tre juge que sviivant les loix et par des juges competens." Ibid, p. 



344. 



2 Des lettres de cachet, p. 209. 



3 "Ce ne sont ijas de graces que j'ai sollicitees '' Lettres originales de 

 Mirabeau, Vol. Ill, p. 203. 



•* "Que le pouvoir judiciaire dont nos tribunaux sont investis consti- 

 tue la difference presque unique de notre gouvernement a celui des mal- 

 heureux Asiatiques? '" Des lettres de cachet, p. 144. 



^ "Cette revolution qui a totalement change notre constitution, notre 

 gouvernement et nos maux." Des lettres de cachet, p. 22. 



« "Nos premiers rois ont declare aussi bien que leur successeurs que 

 leur autoi-ite seroit de nuUe valeur toutes les fois qu'elle seroit en contra- 

 diction avec la loi." Ibid, p. 9. 



' "Qui ne sait avec quelle facilite ils s'accordent ces ordrcs qui punissent 

 des fautes comme des crimes?" Ibid. j). 249. 



8 "Eh! pourquoi, si le droit des emprisonnemens illegaux est incontesta- 

 ble, ne I'a-t-on pas consign^ dans uue loi?'' Ibid, p. 5. 



9 — Lettres originales de Mii-abeau, II, 184. Des lettres de cachet, p, 

 254. 



68 



