66 Carl ChristopheUmeier 



bly becoming more and more radical and presumptuous. "As- 

 sembly of the French people" was an unassuming title and could 

 not cause any great antagonism and opposition. According to 

 Dumont, 1 Duroverai 2 and Dumont helped him to prepare a speech 

 that showed the strength of his title and motion and the weakness 

 of the others. It was difficult for Mirabeau to obtain the floor, 

 "but the galleries were so fond of listening to him that the assem- 

 bly durst not persist in a refusal."' 3 



3Jirabeau expressed his surprise that, after he had repeatedly 

 formulated his views in favor of the indivisibility of the states 

 general, especially in the series of resolutions in which he had 

 asserted the rights and the dignity of the people, he had been ac- 

 cused of wanting the isolation of the orders. 4 "I speak here the 

 language of liberty and I take for a foundation the example of 

 the English and the Americans, who revere the word people." 5 

 He did not attempt to degrade the people. In regard to the royal 

 sanction, he said : "And I, gentlemen, I believe the veto of the 

 king so necessary that I should much more prefer to live at Con- 

 stantinople than in France without it. Yes, I proclaim it, I know 

 nothing more terrible than the sovereign authority of six hun- 

 dred persons, who, tomorrow, would provide for their life-long 

 tenure, the day after tomorrow make themselves hereditary, and 

 finish, like the aristocrats of all the countries of the world, in 

 making themselves absolute." 



Mirabeau then made a comparison of his motion with those of 

 Sieves and Mounier. 6 He showed their similarities and dissimi- 



1 Dumont, 74. 



2 A Genevese; a friend to the popular cause in France. Both Dumont 

 and Duroverai aided Mirabeau in the editing of his paper and the writing 

 of his speeches. 



3 Dumont, 74; Journal des etats-generaux, I, 115; La revolution fran- 

 caise, XVI, 537. 



4 III the Courrier de Provence (Lettre XI, 37-54), Mirabeau wrote: 

 "L'auteur de la seconde motion reprit la parole a son tour, et Ton trouvera 

 dans son discours la substance de toutes les objections, de toutes les diffi- 

 cultes qui avaient ete faites jusqu'a ce moment. En un mot, on peut con- 

 siderer ce discours comme un precis de la deliberation entiere." Journal 

 des etats-generaux, I, 115-19. 



3 Courrier de Provence, I. 219. The elder Pitt used the expression, 

 majesty of the people: the United States, the natural rights of the people. 



6 Both Sieves and Mounier had spoken at least three times and this was 



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