Infliicna: of the Breton Deputation 67 



insurrection of Paris, and it behooved the deputies to hold 

 firmly to the rights guaranteed by time and usage. ^ But 

 when Pellerin wrote, this danger had vanished and France 

 was being transformed by the federative spirit which ob- 

 literated boundary lines. On the night of the 4th of Au- 

 gust, those of the Breton deputies who found themselves 

 bound by instructions to the contrary, announced through 

 Le Chapelier, then president, their conditional consent 

 to the destruction of the privileges of Bretagne, pending 

 the definite decision of their constituents. Only the Breton 

 cures declared that their instructions did not permit them 

 to make such a surrender. ^ 



We have no evidence of any resolution of the Breton 



^On the night of the 4th of August, according to the Proces-verhal, 

 Le Chapelier "a expose les motifs de prudence qui avaient engage 

 quelques senechaussees ... a lier en partie les mains de leurs 

 mandataires, jusqu'a ce que le jour du bonheur et de la securite, suc- 

 c6dant, pour toute la France, a des jours d'attente et d'espoir, les 

 autorisat a confondre les droits antiques et reveres de la Bretagae, 

 dans les droits plus solides encore et plus sacres, que les lumieres de 

 I'Assemblee assuraient en ce moment a I'empire Frangais tout entier." 

 I, No. 40 bis. In his speech on the chamber of vacation of the par- 

 liament of Bretagne in January, 1790, Le Chapelier expresses clearly 

 the motives the province then had for no longer insisting upoji its 

 privileges. BiJ). Nat. Lc29/412-29. 



-Proccs-verTjal, II, No. 40 bis. As will be seen below in the discus- 

 sion of the veto, this renunciation by no means destroyed the provin- 

 cial independence in the minds of the people of Bretagne, for there 

 could still be talk of secession of the province from the rest of France, 

 nor was the question of the imperative mandate here finally set aside. 

 On the contrary, the action of the Breton deputation on the 4th of 

 August was a distinct recognition of the binding character of such 

 mandates in that they announced their inability to renounce the 

 rights of the province definitely. Aside from this, they still recog- 

 nized themselves as bound by their instructions forbidding them to 

 consent to new taxes before the constitution had been made. The 

 demand of Necker on the 24th of September for a patriotic contribu- 

 tion, therefore, again embarrassed them so that they were fully un- 

 able to decide what course to pursue. On that date, Legendre and 

 Moyot wrote: "Aussitol que nous avons pu prevoir cette difficult^, 

 (prohibition to consent to the tax asked for by Necker) nous nous 

 assemblames dans I'un des bureaux apres la seance du matin, pour 

 devoir en deliberer en commun et concerter une resolution a trans- 

 mettre k nos commetans. Plusieurs avis furent proposes sans aucune 

 solution, et le motif de la convocation n'a communique qu'un embarras 

 intermine." MSS., Archives de Brest. 



273 



