84 Charles Kuhlmann 



since opiiiiou had advanced srer.tly during the last five 

 months, lie did not feel himself bound by his calii^rs, ex- 

 cept in so far as thej were iu'peiative. The suspensive 

 veto had been adopted, but there^wan no reason for alarm, 

 for it would harm nothing. .Moreover, ;he hoped that a 

 convention would be called to ckjcupy itself exclusively 

 with the constitution, and it anight cha^nge this article if 

 it were thought necessary. , Ha closed his letter with ii 

 Avarning sig-nificant and prop.hetic-. ' '*But in this nioment,^' 

 he wrote, "permit me te say that quiet, is"" indispensable. 

 The nation can not exist long in' the midst of storms. It is 

 not enough to have conquered liberty, it must be" pre- 

 served ; and if an insurrection was necessary, to make that 

 conquest, tranquillity, cold reason alone can consolidate 

 it. . . . But consider of what supreme interest it is 

 that the National Assembly should be the rallying point 

 of all the provinces, that the constitution, such as it is, 

 should at least be approved; the people tire of agitation, 

 and after having spent their most courageous energy to 

 repossess themselves of their rights, they will abandon 

 them again if they must defend them too long." His clos- 

 ing sentence shows how deeply he had been wounded by 

 the reproaches of his municipality. "I dare to believe 

 that you Avill not permit that I be further calumniated in 

 the midst of you, and that w^hatever be the efforts of my 

 enemies they will never succeed in making the defense of 

 the populav. cause, to which I have consecrated my exist- 

 ence, distasteful to me/''^ 



Le Chapelier, then, had stood before the assembly in a 

 false light. Instead of still belonging to the radical few 

 still advancing recklessly, he had become alarmed at the 



^Lettre adressee « messieurs les citoyens de la ville de Rennes, par 

 M. le Chapelier . . . Versailles, ce 12 Septembre USD. Bib. Nat. 

 Lb39/7816. The italics are mine. 



290 



