FRA 
of embarraffing, the government, endeavoured to elude 
the fufpicions of their countrymen, by the- moil liberal 
donations. 
Yet while the people fo freely contributed to alleviate 
the public diftrefs, their clamours againft the influence of 
the crown aflumed a loud and more decifive tone. The 
clubs and popular aflemblies oppofed the royal J'an&ion ; 
while the committee which had been nominated to ar¬ 
range the form of the new conftitution, far from acqui- 
efcing with the popular opinion, reprefented it as eflen- 
tial to the very exiftence of the government, that the 
king, on every law, (hotild poflefs tl\e power of an abfo - 
lute veto, or negative. The debates on this occafion were 
long and vigorous, and the fermentation of the people 
violent. It was even thought neceflary to fecure the 
fafetv of the capital by numerous guards of militia, and 
the protection of cannon. Thofe who mod diftinguiflied 
themfelves in favour of the veto were Mirabeau, Lally- 
Tollcndal, and Meflrs. Mounier and Bergafie : they 
urged, that no legiflative ahl could be confidered as law 
till fanflioned by the king ; that his confent alone could 
render it binding, and damp it as facred and inviolable. 
And, fince no aft could be confidered as law till confirmed 
by his fawStion, that fanftion ought to be free and vo¬ 
luntary. Thefe principles were oppofed by Meflrs. 
Chappelier, Barnave, and Lameth ; they infilled that as 
all powers were to be confidered as 'fo many emanations 
from the people, it was molt inconfiflent and incongruous 
to allow to the will of an individual a controlling autho¬ 
rity over the nation at large ; that fuch a plan was hoftile 
to liberty, and, if adopted, would infallibly produce a 
re-eftablilhment of defpotifm. 
Amidft thefe difcuflions, a new expedient Teemed for 
a moment to unite the difcordant opinions; and while 
the abfolute veto appeared to yield to the jealoufy of the 
populace, a fufpenfive one was propofed to fupply its va¬ 
cancy; a meafure which was propofed by a meflage from 
the king himfelf. But this alfo was foon difcovered to 
be liable to objections ; to leave it unlimited, was again 
to fall into the fyftem of the abfolute veto, and only to 
change the name, and not the nature, of that dangerous 
prerogative ; to fuffer it to depend on the judgment of 
provincial aflemblies, or the inftruCtions of the conflituent 
body, was to eftablifh an appeal to the people, far diftant 
from the intentions of the national aflembly, and fatal in 
its confequences. In confequence of this diverfity of opin¬ 
ion, and of the long and violent debates, it was not till the 
23d of September, 1789, that the majority of the national 
aflembly, wearied out with the vain hope of uniting all 
parties, proceeded to complete the decrees which were 
to form the future conflitution of France, and which con¬ 
fided of the following nineteen important refolutions: 
1. That all power originally was derived from the na¬ 
tion, and could only continue to flow from that fource. 
2. That the French government was monarchical ; 
that there was no authority in France fuperior to the law'; 
that the king reigned only by the law ; and that it was 
only by virtue of the laws that he could claim the obe¬ 
dience of his people. 
3. That the national aflembly has acknowledged and 
declared, as fundamental points of the monarchy, that 
the perfon of the fovereign is facred and inviolable; that 
the throne is indivifible ; that the crown is hereditary in 
the prefent royal family, from male to male, in order of 
primogeniture, to the perpetual and abfolute exclufion 
of the females and their defcendants, without deciding 
on the effedl of renunciations. 
4. That the national aflembly fhall be permanent. 
3. That the national aflembly fhall be coinpefed of only 
one chamber. 
6. That the return of the deputies to the national af- 
femblies fhall be for two years. 
7. That on the expiration of that term, an entire new 
re-eleftion fhall take place. 
£. That the legiflative power is veiled in the national 
N C E, 771 
aflembly, who (hall exercife it by thefollowing unalterably 
decrees, viz. 
9. No adt of the legiflative body can be confidered as 
law, if it is not framed by the reprefentatives of the na¬ 
tion, freely and legally chofen ; and if it is not landtioned 
by the monarch. 
10. The king can refufe his aflent to any aff of the le¬ 
giflative body. 
n. In cafes where the king fhall interpofe his negative, 
that negative fhall be confidered only as fufpenfive. 
12. The negative of the king fhall ceafe to cxift on the 
election of the national aflembly, which next follows 
that in which the law was propofed. 
13. The king may invite the national aflembly to de¬ 
liberate on any fubjedt ; but to nropofe any new laws is 
the exclufive prerogative of the reprefentatives of the 
people. 
14. The creation or fuppreflion of offices cannot take 
place, but in confequence of an att of the legiflative 
body, fandtioned by the king. 
15. No tax or contribution in kind, or in money, can 
be levied ; no lpan direct or indirect can be negociated j 
by any other means than by an exprefs decree of the af- 
fembly of the reprefentatives of the nation. 
16. The fupretue executive power is exclufively vefled 
in the hands of the king. 
17. The executive power can enadl no laws, not eyen 
provifional ; but only is allowed to ifliie proclamations 
conformable to the law, to recal or enforce obedience to it. 
18. The minifl:ers ssftd the other agents of the execu¬ 
tive power, are refponflble for the application of the dif¬ 
ferent funis in their departments, as well as for every in¬ 
fringement of the laws, whatever orders they may have 
received ; but no order of the king is to be executed, 
unlefs flgned by his majefly himfelf, and counter-figned by 
the fecretary of (late or the niinifter of the department. 
19. The judicial power can on no occafion whatfoever 
be exercifed by the king, nor by the legiflative body ; but 
juflice is to be adminiftered in the name of the king by 
thofe tribunals eflabliflied by law, according to the prin¬ 
ciples of the conflitution, and the forms which the law 
prefcribes. 
Thele Articles of the Conflitution were preceded by a 
Declaration of the Rights of Men and of Citizens, fcarce 
lefs remarkable for the folemnity with which it was in¬ 
troduced, than for the important matter it contained. 
The preamble ftates, That the reprefentatives of the 
people of France formed into 21 national aflembly, confi- 
dering that ignorance, neglect, or contempt, of human 
rights, are the foie caufes of public misfortunes, and cor¬ 
ruptions of government, have refolved to let forth, in a 
folemn declaration, thefe natural, imprelcriptible, and. 
unalienable, rights. That, this declaration being con. 
ftantly prefent to the minds of the members of the body 
focial, they may be ever kept attentive to their rights, 
and their duties ; that the a£ls of the legiflative and ex¬ 
ecutive powers of government, being capable every mo¬ 
ment of being compared with the end of political infti,- 
tutions, may be more refpecled; and alfo that the future 
claims of the citizens, being directed by Ample and in- 
conteflible principles, may always tend to the maintenance 
of the conflitution, and the general happinefs. For thefe 
reafons, the national aflembly doth recognize and declare, 
in the prefence of the Supreme Being, and with the hope 
of his blefling and favour, the following facred rights of 
men and citizens. 
1. Men were born and always continue free and equal 
in refpedt of their rights ; civil diflin£tions therefore can 
be founded only in public utility. 
2. The end of all political allociations, is the prefer, 
vation of the natural and imprefcriptible rights of men ; 
and thefe rights are, liberty, property, fecurity, and re¬ 
finance of oppreflion. 
3. That the nation is eflentially the fource of all fo» 
vercignty ; nor can any individual, or any body of men, 
be 
