may be feared, that in these institutions fome imperfections have guided, that experience alone can difcover;

Confidering, on the other part, that the nation has an unalienable right to re-. view, reform, and change both the fyftem of its conftitutional laws, and even the act of its affociation;

That hence it is neceffary, that at the fame time that, for the benefit of all, the reprefentatives of the nation require in its name obedience to the laws which they have decreed, and it has approved they fhall point out fure and prompt means of reforming them, and of pro

PLAN of a DECREE on the next ASSEMBLY

of REVISION.

The National Aff mbiy, af er having fulfilled the miffion given them by the French people, after havig eftablished a conftitution, founded on the innefeafble rights of men and citizens, and on the principles of reafon and morality;

Confidering, on the one part, that if the maxims which they have taken for

the bafis of their work bear the character

of evidence, and if a general affi nt, the

moft folemn adherence of all parts of the empire, the rapid and fcrupulous execu tionf the new laws, have left no doubt respecting the will of the nation to fanction and to follow the conftitutional des crees made by its reprefentatives, and refpecting the general opinion that these laws attain the object of a great and hap

py regeneration;

it

Confidering, that, if this union of fentiment, this fpontaneous movement towards liberty, which have induced all the inhabitants of the empire to pieis, as were, each before the other, to mix into one mafs, their rights and their interefts, to attach themfelves to the fime p inciples, and fubmit themselves to the fame obligations, gives the National Aff mbly the right, and impofes on them the duty of impreffing on their work the inviolabie character of the general will, and of difpofing of the whole public power to confirm and maintain it; having neverthelefs had a ftruggle against all the paffions and all the prejudices; having been obliged to fubftitute nattily a body of new inftitutions for a monftrous mafs of decried abufcs; finally, having given, amid fhocks of every fort, of dangers of every kind, of ditorers too much exaggerated, but yet real and unfortunately infeparable from a revolution; having given a new form to a great empire, it

the nation fhall be capable, in the virtues, the knowledge, and the experience which thefe very laws are now to become the fource and the object ;

That it is only neceffary that the forms by which the nation fhail make known its opinion thou'd be fixed in fuch a manner as not to lead to errors, and not to give to tumultuous movements, or hafty deliberations, the impofing character of the national will, and to fix a period at which this will shall be examined, a period which ought neither to be fo diftant as to make the nation fuffer from any vicious parts of its focial organization, nor fo near as not to allow experience to give her falutary leffons, or the fpirit of party, and the recollection of ancient prejudices, to take the place of reason and justice, by which all the citizens ought in future to be guided;

Finally, Confidering that the fixing of this period, and the determination of protecting forms for the national will, ought, by directing all ideas to the comnon benefit and the perfecting of the fo cial org nization, have the happy effect of calming the agitations of the prefent time, and infenfibly bringing back mens minds to the peaceable purfuit of the public good, has refolved and decreed as

follows:

The pace of meeting fhall be at the ditance of twenty miles at leaft from the place where the Legislative Body fhall fit.

V. The conftituting affe:nbly once met, fhall be free to remove to any part of the kingdom.

No body of troops can be eftablished, or remain within less than thirty miles of it.

VI. The Affembly of Revision may either adopt in its deliberations the forms of the Legislative Affemblies, or frame others, provided they do not abridge the time of difcuffion:

Those who are then members of the Legislative Body cannot be chofen members of the conftituting affembly.

SECTION II.

FUNCTIONS and RIGHTS of the CONSTITU

TING NATIONAL ASSEMBLY.

I. The functions of the Affenbly of Revifion which fhall be held in 1800, thall be to examine if the conftitured powers, whofe divifion is the fundamen tal bafis of every conftitution, and has been the fole object of the National Af fembly of 1789, have reciprocally preferved the limits which have been prefcribed to them; and to restore then, if any infringements have been made by either of the conftitured powers.

II. The Affembly of Rivifion in 1800 fhall have likewife the funct on to determine refpecting the demands which, according to the form that hal be eitablished, may be made by the petitions of citizens, by the Legislative Boy, or by the King, for the purpose of retorming any part of the confiturion.

SECTION III.

Forms by which the wish of CITIZENS, and the demands of the LEGISLATIVE BODY and the KING fball be eftablished.

I. No petition to change and reform Kk VOL. XIV. No %1.

any part of the conftitution can be made before the firft of January 1800.

II. After this period, every citizen who shall think that any part of the con ftitution ought to be reformed, fhall be at liberty to exprefs his wifh by a petition, figned by himself and those who agree with him in opinion: This petition fhall be depofited with the munici pality of the refidence of the petitioners, and fhall be registered. It shall contain a precife ftatement of the parts of the conftitution on which, according to the petitioners, the reform ought to take place.

III. When the number of petitioners on the fame fubject shall form the ma→ jority of he citizens who compose a com munity, and the municipal officers thail addrefs their petition to the adminiftra tion of the departments

IV. The adminiftrators in each de partment hall verify the number of citizens who shall have demanded the reform of one or more points of the con furion, particularly marking out the objets, if there are more than one; and if the majority of active citizens of the department join in making this demand on one or more points, the intimation of their petition fhall be fent by the ad-' min firators to the Legiflative Body.

V. When petitions on the fame subject fhall have been made in more than forty-ul one departments, the Lgislative Body fhall review the propotal which fhail have been addreffed to it. Every department Thall be counted in this review for the number of deputies which it fends for the Legiflative Affembly, to that the calculation fhall be established upon 745 unites.

have been determined that the petition VI. After that by the review it fhall is formed by the abfolute majority of Citizens of the departments, the Legifla tive Body fhall clearly and precifel y eftablifh the objects of the petitions: If they relate to fevera parts of the conftitution they fhall be flat d diftinct ÿ.

VII. The Legislative Body fhall then give its opinion on the quellion, whe ther the object ought to be fubmitted to the examination of the Affembly of Re

vifion.

VIII. The King fhall equally declare his opinion, by fanctioning, or relufing to fanction, the decree of the Legislative Body, &c.

The affent of the King to a decree of the Legislative Body fhad be expreffed by the words: The King consents.

His

X. If the Legislative Body and the King concur with the petitioning citizens on the neceffity of tubmitting to the Aflembly of Revision an article of con flitution, it fhall be definitively determined that this article fhall be prefented to the Affembly of Revision.

XI. If the Legislature and the King concur to prevent the object, any of the objects, or all the objects included in the petitions, from being taken into confideration by the Affembly of Revision, the petition, the decree of the Legiflative Body, and the refufal of the King, fhall be printed and publifhed, and the whole fhall be left to the public opinion during all the continuance of the Legiflature which fhall have declared its opinion.

XII. If the majority of the depart ments, reckoning them according to the regulations preferibed above, confift of three-fourths, or otherwife of 558 unites, and if at leaft eighteen months after the Legislature and the King all have publifhed their opinion, the first wish of the citizens has not been retracted in more than ten departments on any or all of the objects included in their opinion, the Legislative Body fhall be bound to declare, that the article, or the conflitutional articles, shall be prefented to the Affembly of Revifion, and the fanction of the King hall be deemed given.

XII. If in more than ten departments the citizens have changed their opinion, and the abfolute majority shall be never thelefs obtained, the Legislature next after that which has given its opinion, fhall do fo too as well as the King.

XIV. In cafe the Legislature and the King fhall then concur with the petitioning citizens, the article fhall be defini tively decreed to be prefented to the Af fembly of Revifion. In the contrary cafe, that the Legiflature and the King, or either, fhall with to prevent the object of the petition from being fubmitted to the Affembly of Revifion, the queftion

had be referred to the next Legiflature, which, if the majority always fubfifted, fhall be bound to declare, that the arti cie or articles fhall be submitted to the Affen bly of Revifion.

In cafe the majority fhall no longer exift, the petition fhall be regarded as null.

XV. If from the principle immediately after the review of the petitions, the Legiflative Body, or the King, do not concur with refpect to their affent or oppo. frtion, and either difcover an opinion contrary to the wish of the petitioners, the queftion fhall be fubmitted to three fuzceffive Legiflatures; or, if the majority of citizens who formed the petition always exift, the article fhall be carried to the Affembly of Revifion.

XVI. The Legiflative Body and the King fhall have the right of propofing articles to the Affembly of Revifion ac cording to the forms which fhall be prefcribed.

XVII. If two fucceffive Legiflatures concur with the King with refpect to the articles to be proposed, they fhall be definitively decreed to be fubmitted to the Affembly of Revifion.

XVIII. If the King refuse his affent to the deeree of the Legiflature, his vete fhall. have the fame effect and the fame duration, as that which is to extend to the other acts of the Legislative Body. thall ceafe when three fucceffive Legislatures fhall have presented the fame wifh, and the article fhall be referred to the Affembly of Revifion.

XIX. In cafe that the King fhall propofe to prefent to the Affembly of Revifion one or more articles of the conftitution, he fhall make the proposal by a meffage, afligning the reafon to the Legiflative Body, which half be bound to deliberate.

XX. If three fucceffive Legiflatures refufe to affent to the propofal of the King, it fhall be regarded as null.

XXI. The petitions which fhall be made fhall not contain any preteft, against the established order, nor any expreffion contrary to the provifional obedience due to the existing law; but whatever propofals of change or of reform they may contain, they cannot be employed againft thofe who fhall have figned them as an exclufion from obtaining any place, public employment, or dele gation conferied by the people.

XXII. The Affembly of Revifion can not, under any pretext, engage in any deliberations except what fhall be fub

-mitted

mitted to them according to the forms a bove prefcribed: The decrees which it thall pafs on any other fubject fhall be null and of no effect.

It can neither engage in any arrange ment in the legislative order, nor in any inSpection of any part whatsoever of the adminiftrative order. It fhall have no other power than that of examining the articles which fhall be fubmitted to it. It may, however, give all the neceffary orders to fecure its own entire liberty, and perfect int dependence, and it fhall have, as the legisla tive body, the police in the place of its theet ing.

XXIII. It shall be perfectly free in its opinions; and whatever be the majority of petitions, whatever be the coincidence, or oppofition of the legislative body or the King, each of the members of the Affembly of Revifion, fhall be under no other obligation than that of voting according to his judgment and confcience, what he thinks molt confonant to justice and general utility.

XXIV. The legislative body and the King fhall name each four Commiffioners, to remit to the Affembly of Revifion at its opening the articles decreed to be the object of its labours.

XXV. As foon as their labours fhall be finished, the Affembly of Revifion fhall give notice to the legislative body and the King. It fhall name twenty-four Commiflioners to wait upon the legislative body, and in their prefence, and that of the King, in a minute depofited in the archives, folemnly make upon the constitution the changes and reforms which fhall have been decreed.

The Affembly of revifion fhall immediately separate.

XXVI. In the reforms which it may decree, it fhall be regulated by the rights of men and of citizens, and thofe eternal principles of liberty and equality, which forms of government ought to fecure, and which they cannot alter without being unjust and oppreffive.

Sept. 3.

The National Affembly having spent fome time in revifing and amending the Conftitution, now refolved that it was completed, and no farther change would take place in it. A Committee of 60 Members was accordingly appointed to prefent it that fame day to the King. The deputation accordingly began its march in the evening, attended by flambeaux, between two files of National Guards, who kept great filence.The deputation was received in the Council Chamber. The King was furrounded by all his Minifters, and a great number of other perfons.

The Reporter of the Committee of Cop

This decla

"I have attentively examined the Conftitutional Act, which you have prefented for my acceptance. I accept it, and I fhall caufe it to be executed. ration alone might have been thought fuf ficient at any other period; but I owe it, at the prefent moment, to the in terefts of the Nation, and I owe it to myfelf, to difclofe my motives.

"From the commencement of my reign I have been defirous to reform every kind of abufe, and, in all the Aas of my Government, have been ambitious to take the public opinion as the rule of my con duct. Divers caufes, among the number of which may be reckoned the fituation of the Finances on my coming to the Throne, and the immenfe expences attendant on an honourable war, fuftained without the in creafe of impofts, had occafioned a confider able difproportion between the Revenue and Expenditure of the State.

Struck with the magnitude of the evil,

I not only fought for the means of adminiftering a remedy, but I alfo perceived the neceffity of preventing its return. I ac cordingly conceived the project of placing the happiness of the People on a conflitu tional and a stable basis, and of fubjecting to invariable rules, that authority of which I was the Depofitory. I accordingly called the Nation around me to execute this plan. During the courfe of all the events produced by the Revolution, my intentions have never varied, After having reformed the ancient inftitutions, you began to replace them by the first effays of your political la bours. I waited only for the completion of the Conftitution to give my entire aflent to it; I even favoured the component parts, before I could view them as one great whole; and if the diforders which have accompanied almost all the epochs of the Revolution, have often afflicted my heart, I still hoped that the Law would regain its proper impulfe, when confided to new powers, and as the term of your labours approached, every day would add to that refpect for it, without which the People can neither enjoy liberty nor happiness

"I perfifted for a long time in that hope, and my refolution never charged till the moment that it abandoned me, Whoever recollects the period when I left Paris, muft know, although the Conflitution was pearly atchieved, that yet the authority of the Laws was becoming more feeble. The moft exaggerated opinions alone obtained a hearing the licentiousness of the Prefs was, at its heighth; no power whatever was refpected, I could no longer recognize the character of the general will in thote Laws which I beheld without force and without execution. I then began to think, that if you prefented the Conftitution to me, I fhould not be able to believe that the intereft of the people (the constant and only rule of my conduct) would permit me to ac cept it. I had but one fentiment; I formed but one project; I refolved to withdraw my felf from all parties, and to make myfelf acquainted with the real wifh of the Nation,

"The motives which then directed me, no longer exift at this moment; ever fince, the inconveniencies and the evils I complained of, have made on you the fame impreffion they did on me. You have manifefted your inclination to order; you have given your attention to the infubordination of the army; and you have felt the neceffity of repreffing the licentiousness of the Prefs. The revifion of your labours has placed among the number of regulations, feveral Articles, which are at firft prefented to me as Con ftitutional Laws. You have eftablished le gal forms for the revifion of thofe Articles, which you have placed among the Conftis

tutional ones. In fhort, the voice of the people is to me no longer dubious; I perceived. it to how itself at once, both by its adhe fion to your proceedings, and by its attach ment to the fupport of Monarchial Government.

"I accept therefore the Constitution. "I undertake the engagement to main tain it within; to defend it from every attack from without; and to have it execut❤ ed by every means it has put in my power

"I declare that, now informed of the attachment which the great majority of the People has for it, I renounce the joint concurrence I had claimed in that work; and bong only refponfible to the Nation alone, no one elfe, when I renounce it, has a right to complain. (The left fide of the Hall, and all the Galleries, here refounded with applaufes,)

"Ifhould nevertheless be wanting to truth, did I fay that I had discovered in the means of executing and adminiftrating the Constitution, that energy which is neceliary to imprcís the motion and to preferve unity in all the parts of to vaft an Empire; but fince opinions are at this day fo divided in regard to thefe objects, I content that experience alone fhall become the fale arbi ter.

"When I have made a faithful ufe of al the means which have been entrusted to me, no reproach can po..ibly be urged against me; and the Nation, whofe intereit alone ought to ferve as a rule, will explain itself, by thola. means which the Constitution has reserved for its prefervation. [Reiterated plaudits.}

"But, Gentlenen, for the fupport of Liberty, for the ftability of the Conftitu tion, for the individual happiness of all the French, there are certain interests which command us to re-unite all our efforts, Thefe interefts are, a respect for the Laws, the re-establishment of order, and the re union of all the Citizens.

t is nes

"Now that the Conftitution is definitively fettled, Frenchmen living under the fame Laws ought to know no other enemies than those who infringe upon them; dilcord and anarchy, thefe are our worst foes 1 fhall combat them with all my pow ceffary that you and your fucceffors fhould feconde with energy, and that without tyrannifing over the mind, the Law fhould protect all those who fubmit their actions to its direction.

"It is neceffary that all those who, from the dread of troubles and of perfecutions, have abfented themselves from their Coun try, fhould be certain of finding fafety and tranquillity on returning to its bofom.

"And for the extinction of the animo fities, and leftening the evils that a great Revolution always produces; and on pur pofe, that the Law from this very day may