134 Ethel Lee Howie 



What steps had the assembly taken to defend itself? On the 

 very day on which the national assembly came into existence, the 

 assembly passed a decree on taxation in which it stated that 

 taxes and contributions would continue to be raised in the same 

 manner in which they had always been raised until the first 

 separation of the assembly ; that from that day the raising of 

 taxes and contributions of wdiatever kind, which had not been 

 formally and freely accorded by the assembly, would entirely 

 cease in all provinces of the kingdom/'"' 



Again, the revolt of the French guards, the insurrection on the 

 night of June 30, and the appeal of the people of Paris to the 

 assembly had given an opportunity for the assembly to secure a 

 military force to defend it in the inevitable conflict with the king. 

 However, the assembly took no decisive action in the settlement 

 of this question. Had it taken the matter into its own hands, 

 it is probable that the conflict with the king would have occurred 

 at this time. The deputies, however, w^ere unwilling to take the 

 offensive in the struggle with the king and by a deputation to the 

 king, the question was settled in such a way that the people were 

 not alienated or the king offended. 



The natural support for the assembly was, however, to be 

 found in a citizen militia. The creation of such a force in Paris, 

 as has been noted before, had been suggested by Mirabeau in his 

 plan for an address to the king asking the removal of the troops, 

 but it had been voted down by the assembly. It was also sug- 

 gested by one of the electors of Paris on July i, but not voted 

 by the assembly ."^"^ Again, we have noted that on July 11, the 

 very day that the king executed his first step in the coup d'etat by 

 the dismissal of Necker, the assembly was unwilling to renew the 

 request to the king for the removal of the troops. It thus refused 

 to oppose force by force and it became perfectly evident that if 

 the revolution was to be effected help must come from another 

 direction. This help was to be found in the people of Paris. The 

 insurrection of July created a citizen militia and by placing this 

 force at the disposal of the assembly frustrated the coup d'etat 



607 Proces-verbal, I, No. i, 12. 



608 Proces-verbal of the electors of Paris, I, 107. 



416 



