8 



their hall and that a royal session had been announced for the 

 22nd. They feared that the king intended to dissolve the 

 Estates and put an end to the work of regenerating France.^ 

 They disobeyed his orders; they assembled in spite of him; they 

 denied his right to dissolve the Estates. At that moment, the 

 Assembly asserted its supremacy over the royal authority, vir- 

 tually declaring itself supreme in the state. In the words of 

 Aulard : "The 20th of June, France leagues itself against the 

 royal power; it combats it not only in theory but in fact and 

 puts it in check. It swears that the sovreign power lies in the 

 nation. The 20th of June sees a transmission of power take 

 place from the king to the people."-^ 



That this interpretation of the oath, drawn from its historical 

 setting, is the only true one, may be further demonstrated by 

 an appeal to conceptions of the event formed by contempora- 

 ries. 



Bailly's opinion has already been noted. Mirabeau declared 

 that "this oath, that public interest so clearly forced us to pro- 

 claim, to edit and take with some precipitation, is not the less 

 severely and incontestably in accord with fundamental princi- 

 ples, since the National Assembly, being what the Americans 

 and English call a convention, a body of citizens appointed to 

 prepare a constitution, has evidently no need of other title 

 than its instructions to authorize it to work upon the constitu- 

 tion, and may not abandon its great work without betraying 

 the confidence of the people, that it has the honor to rep- 

 resent. "~^ 



Referring to these words, Dumont states that, informed of 

 the plans of the king, the members of the Assembly believed 

 that he wished to dissolve the Estates, and Mirabeau deceived 

 likewise, pronounced against the dissolution. ^'^ 



Duquesnoy, writing in his journal on the 21st, makes no 

 refereitee to the constitution. He tells us that the deputies, 



27 Mouaier, Recherches, p. 295, 



28 Etudes et legons, p. 68. 



29 Courrier de Provence, 1798, i p. 248. 



30 Souvenirs sur Mirabeau. Bruxelles. 1832. p. 82. 



