813 
FRA 
m«ft be given without delay to the legiflative body, and 
the profecution could not be continued till the council of 
five hundred hud propofed, and the elders decreed, that 
the offender fhould be brought to trial. The vote of ac- 
cufation fufpended the offender from his fun&ions: the 
acquittal of the high court refiored him. 
The executive power was delegated to a dire&ory of five 
members, nominated by the legiflative body, performing 
flic functions of an ele&oral affembly in the name of the 
nation. The council of five hundred was to form, by 
fecret ballot, a lift of ten times the numbers of the di¬ 
re&ory to be nominated, and prefent it to the council of 
elders, who were to choofe, by fecret ballot alfo, out* of 
the 1 i(t. The members of the dire&ory muff be forty 
years of age at lead, and cp til'd not be taken but from 
among citizens who had been members of the legillative 
body, or minifters. The dire&ory was to be partially 
renewed, by the ele&ion of a new member, every year. 
During the firft four years, the fuccetlive going out of 
thofe nominated the firft time to be decided by lot. None 
of the members going out, could be re-elefted till after 
an interval of five years. The afcendants and defendants 
in dire& line ; the brothers, uncles, and nephews, coufins 
in the firft degree, and conne&ions by marriage in the 
lame degrees, could not be members of the dire&ory at the 
fame time, nor fucceed one another in it till after an in¬ 
terval of five years. Each member of the dire&ory to 
be prefident in turn, ifor three months only. The prefi- 
dent to fign all public a&s, and keep the feal. The di¬ 
re&ory never to deliberate ttnlefs three members be pre¬ 
fent. A fecretary was to counterfign difpatches, and draw 
up the deliberations in a regifter, in which each member 
might enter his opinion, with his reafons. The dire&ory 
was to provide, according to law, for the external or in¬ 
ternal fecurity of the republic ; make proclamations con¬ 
formable to the laws, and for the execution of them ; to 
difpofe of the armed force ; but no one of them could 
command it till two years after the expiration of his func¬ 
tions. The dire&ory might iffue warrants of Summons or 
arreft againft the prefumed authors of confpiracies or ac¬ 
complices j interrogate them; nominate generals in chief; 
fuperintend the execution of laws in the adminiftrutions 
and tribunals by commiffaties of its own nomination ; ap¬ 
point and difmifs minifters, who were to be fix at leaft, 
or eight at mod ; the minifters were not to form a council, 
and were refponfible both for the non-execution of the 
laws, and the non-execution of orders. 
No member of the dire&ory could quit the territory of 
the republic till two years after the ceffation of his func¬ 
tions ; and they were bound, during that interval, to prove 
their refidence to the legiflative body. The accounts and 
information demanded of them by either council to be 
furnifhed in writing ; and they were bound every year to 
prefent to both councils in writing, an eflimate of the ex- 
pences, the fituation of the finances, the ftate of exifting 
penlions, and the plan of thofe wJiich were to be efta- 
bliflied or created, and to point out all abufes that had 
come within their knowledge. They might at all times, 
by writing, invite the council of five hundred to take a 
fubje& into confideration, and propofe to it meafures, 
but not plans drawn up in form of laws. No member 
of the dire&ory to abfent himfelf more than five days, 
or remove above eight leagues ffom the place of refi¬ 
dence appointed for them, without being previoufly au- 
thorifed by the legiflative body. To thefe five mem¬ 
bers of the dire&ory were aftigned peculiar drelfes, with¬ 
out which they were never to appear in the exercife 
of their fun&ions ; they had a body guard, precedence in 
public ceremonies, military honours, melfengers of ftate, 
a refidence at the expence of the republic, and an annual 
falary equivalent to 10,222 quintals of wheat. 
The conftitution regulated the adminiftrative and muni¬ 
cipal bodies, fixed the judicial power, dire&ed the admi- 
niftration of juftice to be gratuitous, appointed juries in 
criminal cafes fomewhat Similar to the grand and petty 
Vol.VJI. No. 470. 
N C E. 
juries in England, but dire&ed their votes to be taken 
by fecret ballot, and provided a tribunal of annulment. 
For public inftru&ion primary fchools were eftablifticd, 
but the republic provided only for the lodging cf tire in- 
flru&ors; and fuperior fchools, at the rate of one for two 
departments. A national inftitute was alfo founded, 
charged to coile& valuable discoveries, and improve the 
arts and fciences for the whole republic. 
Under the law of .general difpofitions, religious vows 
were forbidden : the liberty of the prefs was acknow¬ 
ledged, but publifliers fubje&ed to refponfibility ; free¬ 
dom of worfhip was allowed, but the ftate paid for no 
eftablifhment, nor were individuals to be compelled to 
contribute towards any ; domiciliary vifits were forbid¬ 
den, except in virtue of fome law ; no affembly of citi¬ 
zens was to cull itfelf a popular fociety, orcorrefpond or 
affiliate with any other, or hold public fittings, or- impofe 
conditions of admiffion, or arrogate rights of exclufion, or 
make its members wear external marks of aftociation ; all 
club's were annihilated ; aftemblages armed or unarmed, 
were to be difperfed by force ; and no man was to wear 
diftin&ive drelfes calling to mind fun&ions formerly exer- 
cifed, or fervices performed ; the public fun&ionaries 
and members of the legiflative bodies alone were to be fo 
diftinguilhed. 
Finally, this new conftitution declared, that the nation 
would in no cafe fuffer the return of tire French, who 
having abandoned their country fince the 15th of July 
1789, were not comprehended in the exceptions made to 
the laws againft; emigrants ; and interai&ed the legiflative 
body from creating new exceptions upon this point. The 
property of emigrants was irrevocably confifcated to the 
benefit of the republic. The French nation proclaimed 
alfo,’ as guarantee of the public faith, that after an adju¬ 
dication legally completed of national property, whatever 
might have been its origin, the legitimate holder could 
not be difpoffefled of it; but a perlon reclaiming it might, 
if there were reafon, be indemnified by the national trea- 
fury : and they committed the depofitof the prefent con¬ 
ftitution to the fidelity of the legiflative body; of the exe¬ 
cutive dire&ory, of the adminiftrators and judges ; to the 
vigilance of fathers of families; to wives and to mothers; 
to the affe&ion of the young citizens, and to the courage 
of all the French people. We have given the analyfis of 
this conftitution at confidcrable length, becaufe it (hews 
a complete departure from the vaunted fyftem of repub¬ 
lican equality; and becaufe it was the only one fairly 
fubmitted to the teft of experience. 
On the 23d of Auguft, the whole of this conftitution 
was declared to be complete, and ordained to be tranfmit- 
ted to the primary aflemblies for their approbation. But 
previous to this refolution, the majority of the convention 
had brought forward the grand meafure by which they 
meant to provide for their own fafety, and the fafety of 
their friends and adherents, againft the change which the 
public opinion had undergone concerning them. They 
decreed, that at the approaching general ele&ion, the 
ele&oral bodies ftiould be bound to choofe two-thirds of 
the new legifiature from among the members of the pre¬ 
fent convention ; and they afterwards decreed, that, in 
default of the ele&ion of two-thirds of fuch members, the 
convention fhould then fill up the vacancies themfelves. 
Thefe decrees were transmitted, along with the confti¬ 
tution, to the primary aflemblies, to be accepted or rt- 
je&ed by them. Many of the primary aflemblies under- 
ftood, that they could not accept of the conftitution with¬ 
out accepting along with it the law for the re-ele&ion of 
the two-thirds. The point had, in all probability, been 
purpofely left under a certain degree of ambiguity ; and 
as the people were now weary of this convention, they 
acquiefced in any conditions that gave them the profpe& 
of one day getting quit of it. But at Paris, and in the 
neighbouring departments, where the fubje& was more 
accurately inveftigated, the public difapprobation of the 
convention difplayed itfelf with great vehemence. There 
9 X was 
