The Counter Revolution of June-July 91 



ized and asked to advance a sum of one hundred Hvres in parishes 

 of fifty homes, of two hundred in parishes of one hundred homes, 

 etc., in similar proportions. These advances were to be guar- 

 anteed by the nation.**" 



Free circulation of grain was favored by Lally-Tolendal, 

 Petion de Villeneuve and Virieu and Bouche.**^ Lally-Tolendal 

 said that if ever there were circumstances where impatience was 

 permitted they were in such circumstances now. Unfortunate 

 people were suffering and every one wished to help them. The 

 suggestions presented by the committee were divided into two 

 parts; first, means of aid; second, means of administration. The 

 voluntary subscription was too uncertain, too slow, not produc- 

 tive enough and not in accordance with the majesty of the as- 

 sembly. A contribution, by head, perhaps offered more ad- 

 vantages, but it carried with it an unfavorable idea of a grant, a 

 forced tax ; this could be consented to only after the constitution 

 had been established on a firm basis. The government had 

 never been more worthy of public esteem or better merited their 

 confidence. For this reason it was necessary to hold themselves 

 bound to their principles. They should not violate their instruc- 

 tions, but they should aid the people who were suffering. He 

 desired that the propositions made by the committee on subsist- 

 ence should be amended somewhat, although he adopted the 

 propositions on the administration. He desired that the assembly 

 should decree that " from to-day the circulation of grain and flour 

 in the interior of the kingdom shall be and remain free, no author- 

 ity being able to place an obstacle in the way of circulation ; 

 even decrees or sentences of the courts of justice shall have no 

 force for the national assembly annuls such decrees for the past 

 and prohibits them in the future."**^ 



Petion de Villeneuve as reporter for the twenty-first bureau 



^^'^ Point du jour, I, 121. 



^^^ Assemhlee nationale, I, 365; Bulletins de I'assemblce nationalc, July 6. 



^^"^ Point du jour, I, 117; Courrier de Provence, I, 17th letter, 7; Assem- 

 blee nationale, I, 361; Biauzat, 5*0 vie et sa correspondance (II, 161), does 

 not give the decree suggested by Lally-Tolendal, but states that " il etait 

 tres bien ecrit, bref et bien moins sujet a inconvenient que les autres"; 

 Bulletins de I'assemhlee nationale, July 6. 



373 



