94 Ethel Lee Howie 



laws, sanctioned by the king would become the rule of the land 

 and would assure the tranquility of all the subjects of the 

 king."*s« 



Mounier took the floor to say that the projects the assembly 

 was considering were not within its province. The assembly 

 could neither state, decide or arrange anything since it had no 

 instructions touching such matters. It could order nothing since 

 orders belonged to the executive authority. Nothing was in the 

 power of the assembly except the making of laws. He con- 

 sidered that the assembly "without light, without information, 

 without executive force, deprived of all activity, reduced to in- 

 capacity, is isolated, abandoned to the single desire to do good ; 

 it may order, but that is all. . . . The legislative power is noth- 

 ing without the executive while the executive power can do every- 

 thing without the legislative." Mounier took up the examination 

 of the suggestions made by the committee. In connection with 

 the subscription he said that a bureau where pride and vanity 

 instead of pity would distribute the gifts might be opened in the 

 cities ; the success of the second would depend on the inclination 

 of the individuals composing the provincial assemblies. The 

 execution of the third suggestion would be a dishonor to the 

 nation. He asked if taxation by head was necessary to relieve 

 misery, and stated that a simple exhortation would be better than 

 a law which commanded and prescribed. The committee on sub- 

 sistence should continue to search for speculators, but the as- 

 sembly should proceed with its work on the constitution.*^^ 



Mirabeau. in the course of the discussion, asked the committee, 

 if it had not been informed of a proposition made by Mr. Jefifer- 

 son, in the name of the Americans, in which Jefferson suggested 

 a method of furnishing subsistence,*^^ and of the offer of a resi- 



*^^ Point du jour, I, 119; AssemhUe nationale, I, 363; C currier de Prov- 

 ence, I, 17th letter, 10. 



^^'^ Assemble e nationale, I, 375; Point du jour, I, 120. 



^^^ Moniteur, I, 128; Courrier de Provence, I, 17th letter. 12; Assem- 

 blee nationale, I, 372 ; Duquesnoy, Journal, I, 163 ; Bulletins de I'assemblee 

 natiofiale (July 6) states that it was " un memoire presente depuis trois mois 

 par un particulier qui se chargeait de rapprovisionnement des farines 

 necessaires a deux sols la livre." 



