The Counter Revolution of June-July 17 



lieved belonged to them. He then distinguished between reserves 

 and protests and painted the eagerness of the clergy for the 

 common good and their desire to deliberate with the assembly 

 upon everything which the general welfare of the country de- 

 manded. It was far from the intentions of the clergy, he said, 

 to retard the realizations of the best interests of the country. 

 Then he cried out, his voice choked with sobs, " Oh if I could but 

 talk to the people, if I could explain the patriotic sentiments which 

 animate us, then in the midst of public tranquility we would do 

 the good without disputing the manner in which it should be 

 done. ... If I could say to each of my constituents, ' We are 

 going to begin the important operations for which we were called 

 and occupy ourselves with things concerning the general interest,' 

 they would reply ' We have been deceived, let us cease to be 

 alarmed, for they desire the welfare of the country and what 

 does it matter in what form they assemble? Let us cease to 

 assemble and to carry alarm to the heart of the king and our 

 brothers. Let our representatives consider in silence the happi- 

 ness of the public' " These were, according to the archbishop, 

 the important questions and he asked what protests and reserva- 

 tions amounted to in comparison with them. The act of the mi- 

 nority was performed, he said, at the dictate of conscience. Could 

 they abandon the instructions which had been given them ? Have 

 we searched well the constitutive laws of the monarchy and do 

 we know the difference in possessions? Have we reflected on 

 the distinction of orders? Do you believe this the effect of an 

 imperial whim of legislation, an artificial law? No, these things 

 are in the nature of the constitution and have always existed.'^* 

 Shall we renounce these ancient rights sanctioned, during an 

 enlightened century, by the king, in letters of convocation and 

 even by the actions of the electoral assemblies ? "'^^ The arch- 

 bishop said that the assembly could not refuse an act, which pre- 

 served the rights of the clergy. He again insisted that the clergy 

 had not protested, but simply made reserves.^*' In his speech 



'^^ Point du jour, I, 92 ; Bulletins de I'assemblee nationale, July 2, 307. 



'^•' Point du jour, I, 92. 



''^ Point du jour, I, 92; Duquesnoy, Journal, I, 154. 



299 



