excerpt from political science quarterly

8/14/2019 Excerpt from Political Science Quarterly

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THE TENNIS COURT OATH.'PROBABLY in no periodof historys the temptationoexaggerate the importanceof dramatic events by a falseisolatfon o great as in the early years of the French Revolu-tion. This tendency rendersthe reconstruction r reinterpre-tationof the history f this epoch especially necessary. UntilProfessor H. Morse Stephens published his excellent book,the English-reading public had relied pretty xclusivelyuponCarlyle's picture of events. Carlyle's account, notwithstand-ing its poetic brilliancy, s in one sense quite conventional.With all his broadmindedness,he makes little efforto re-stateevents in new relationsor from ny other than the traditionalstandpoint. The Tennis Court oath is to him, as to mostotherhistorians, picturesque incidentassociated witha courtintrigue. No attempt has been made, as far as I am aware,to assign to this event its proper place in the great and irre-sistible current of advance. It is, after all, but recently hatwritersof historyhave recognizedas theirchief taskthe pains-taking investigationof the often obscure causal relations ofevents the tracing of gradual and inevitable developmentwherephenomena have previously been treated only as spas-modicand erratic. It is with this in view that I shall trytosketch out the historyof the Tennis Court oath ofJune 20,I789, by which the deputies of the French people boundthemselves to give France a constitution, nd shall attemptto show that the incident was not the unpremeditated out-come of an invasion of carpenters, hammering, sawing andoperativescreeching,"but that the events of June 20 consti-tuted in reality only a slight although politically importantadvance beyondthe state of affairs n June i9.During the monthsofMay and Junea momentous constitu-

1 This paper is based uponone preparedforthemeeting f theAmerican His-toricalAssociation,December, 894.

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THE TENNIS COURT OA TH. 46Itional change had been taking place in France. The oldfeudal assembly of the three orders, reassembled after anintervalof one hundred and seventy-five ears, was found, nspite of the studiously antiquated dress of its members, tohave undergone a significant change since last it met. Noroyal edict could re-create he spiritof earlier centuries. Theinevitable metamorphosis nto a modern representativebodytook place during the succeeding weeks, notwithstanding heopposition of the conservative elements. It was finallyde,cided by the court to suspend the sessions of the threeorders,and this, as appeared to the third estate, with disrespectful fnot suspicious abruptness. The pretext for the prorogationwas that, as the king was to address the estates a day ortwo later, the spacious general meeting-place of the orders,which the representatives f the third estate had utilized sinceMay 5, mustbe prepared for the royal session.

On finding he place of assemblyoccupied by the carpen-ters, the representatives of the third estate gathered in theTennis Court of Versailles and adopted the following esolu-tion:The NationalAssembly, egardingtself s called upon to estab-lish the constitutionf the kingdom, ffect regenerationf thestate P'ordre ublic)and maintain he true principles f monarchy,maynot be prevented rom ontinuingts deliberationsnwhateverplace itmaybe forced o take up its sittings. Maintaining urther,thatwherever ts members re assembled, here is the NationalAssembly, he assemblydecrees that all its members hall imme-diately ake a solemn oath never o separate nd to come togetherwherever ircumstancesmay dictateuntil the constitutionf thekingdom hall be established nd placed upon a firm oundation.'The importanceof this resolution ies in the factthat itwas

the first distinct and formal assertion of the assembly'smission. A resolution had been passed three days before(June I 7) by which the deputies of the third estate had as-sumedthe title of " National Assembly." The deputies had,moreover, aken an oath upon this same seventeenthofJuneI HistoireParlementaire, ol. ii, p. 3.



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462 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY. [VOL. X.very ike the Tennis Court oath itself " We swear and pledgeourselves to fulfillwith zeal and fidelitythe duties whichdevolve upon us." "This oath," we are told, "taken by sixhundredmembers, urroundedby fourthousandspectators thepublic having gathered in crowds at this session), excited thegreatest emotion, and constituted a most imposing specta-cle."'I Apparently all that is novel in the Tennis Courtoath is the clear enunciationthat the establishment of theconstitution s the essential task ofthe assembly.

No adequate account appears to have been given ofthe de-velopmentofthis idea of a constitution. That it was notnewon the morning fJune 20, I789, is obvious. The unanimousrecognitionon the part of the deputies that the trueobject ofthe assembly was the establishment of a constitution, s quitesufficiento prove that the public mindwas ripe forthisdec-laration. It is mypurpose to indicate in a briefand generalway the steps by which the French nation attained to a clearconviction hat the salvationofthe countrydepended upon thedistinctformulation f the principles of governmenta con-viction which received its firstofficial nnouncement in theTennis Court oath.The motivesadvanced by theking and ministers orconvok-ing the Estates General had been but vaguelyconceived andthereforebut vaguely indicated in the Letter of Summons,January 4, I789.2 "We have," the document relates, "needof the counsel of our faithful ubjects to aid us in overcomingall the difficultiesn which we are involved respecting thestate of our finances, nd to establish according to ourwishesa constant and invariable order in the various parts of thegovernmentwhich affect the happiness of our subjects andthe prosperity four kingdom." The phrase "fixed and con-stant order in all parts of the administration" occurs threetimes in this brief document as one of the great objectswhich the Estates General in conjunction with the kingare expected to accomplish. Necker's report to the king,

1 HistoireParlementaire,ol. i, p. 471.2 ArchivesParlementaires, ol. i, pp. 543, 544.



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No. 3.] THE TENNIS COURT OATH. 463issued a month previous to the actual summoning of theestates, although claiming to reflectthe inmost purposes ofthe monarch,reallydoes little to define the vague terms usedin the letterofconvocation itself. Necker says nothing of aconstitution, ut seems to take for granted that the EstatesGeneral are to be regularly nd periodically onvened in thefuture;while the worst abuses are to be done away with andthe administration mproved.' No fartherprogram was fur-nished by the governmentuntil the king submittedan elabo-rate and interesting plan of reform n thirty-fiverticles2atthe royal session, threedays afterthe Tennis Court oath.The ideas of reformvaguelyadvanced by the governmenthad taken a muchmore definiteshape, however, n the mindsofthe leading spirits n the nationat large,and had developedintothe maturedconceptionof constitution ome timebeforethe assemblingof the Estates General. A remarkableforecastof the ideas which later became the basis of constitutionalrevolution s to be found n the rernontrancesf the parlementsissued from ime to timeduringthe eighteenth entury. Thesesuperior courtsof France had formulatedthe theoryof a con-stitution ong before the revolution, nd had, moreover, akengreat pains to familiarize he public withthe idea.3Consideringthe inherently lose connection between thelegislative and the judicial functionsof government,t is notstrangethat a proudand self-consciousbody like theparlementof Paris should have been inclined to define ts duties broadlyand extend its influence so as to exercise a certain controlover the formationof the law. This tendency was rendered

1 ArchivesParlementaires, ol. i, pp. 489 ff., speciallypp. 496-7.2 Histoire Parlementaire, ol. ii, pp. i6ff.3 The studyof this interesting ut neglected phase of theconstitutional is-tory f France willbe greatly acilitated ythepublication fthe" Remontrancesdu Parlement e Paris au XVIIIe Siecle," which are being excellently ditedbyM. Jules Flammermontn the great series of Documents Inedits. The first ol-umeonlyof this collection has appeared (i888), coveringthe period1715-17 53.The editor furnishes valuable introduction,n which the positionand preten-sions ofthe court re carefully iscussed. For the aterperiodoftheparlerments'existence the present writerhas, through the courtesyof the librarian, eenenabled to utilize a number of contemporaneous ditionsof the Remontrancespreserved n the White Library f Cornell University.



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No. 3.] THE TENNIS COURT OATH. 465Notwithstandingthe obvious want of definiteness n thetheoriesof the parlements, here is much in the widelycircu-lated remontrances,eginningwith that of May, 17I6, whichcould not but leave a deep impression upon a public that wasbecomingmoreand more conscious of the abuses and dangersof absolutism. The successive conflictsbetween the superiorcourts and the king's ministers, mportant s theywere in cul-tivating a spirit of general discontent,cannot be consideredhere.' We must confine ourselves to the stimulus given by

theparlements o the growingdemands in the eighteenthcen-turyfora limitation f the king's powers.The following tatementof theparlemnent'sase, made someseventyyears before the Tennis Court oath, contains a sum-maryof the claimswhich are separatelydeveloped at greaterlengthin the various manifestoesof thatbody:Whilewerecognize, ire,thatyoualone are lord and master ndthesole lawgiver, nd that there are laws which arying imes, heneeds of yourpeople,the maintenance f order nd the administra-tion of your kingdommayoblige you to change,substituting ewonesaccording otheformslways bservednthis state,we never-thelessbelieve it to be our duty o call to your ttention he exist-ence of laws as old as the monarchy, hichare perma-ientndinvariable, he guardianship f whichwas committed o you along

with the crown tself. . . It is by reasonof the permanence fsuch awsthatwe haveyou as lord and master. It is thisperma-nence which eads us to hope that the crown, aving resteduponyourhead during long, ust and gloriousreign,will pass to yourposterityor ll time o come.In recenttimes[the parlementdds] it has been clearly hownhowmuchFranceowesto the maintenancef these originalawsofthe state,and how importantt is in the service of yourMajestythatyourparlement,hich s responsible o you and to the nationfor their exact observation,houldassiduously uard against anyattackuponthem.21 The significance f these struggles s excellently xplained byRocquain inhis admirablework,EspritRevolutionnairevantla Revolution.2 IterativesRemontrancesur la Refontedes Monnaies, July 6, I7I8. Flam-mermont's ollection, p. 88 ff., speciallypp. 94, 95.



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466 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY. [VOL. X.Even Louis XIV, theparlement claims, regarded that body as"the real guardian of the fundamental laws of the kingdom,and even themost absolute of the kings had accepted the reg-istration by the parlement as a necessary condition for theenactmentof a law." 1The superior tribunals, especially the parlement of Paris,are thus placed upon the same footing s the monarch himself.They both exist in virtueof the same fundamental r constitu-tional laws. Thus, ('la constitution a plus essentielle et laplus sacree de la monarchie," as conceivedbythemagistrates,provided not onlyfor a kingwith "fortunateinabilities," butfor tribunals which had a right to cooperate in legislation.4Both owed their existence to the same irnprescriptibleaw bywhichthe kingsthemselves were kings.5The so-called "Grandes Remontrances" of I753 discuss atlength the relation of the will of the sovereign to the law of

1 IterativesRemontrances ur la Refontedes Monnaies, pp. 95, 96.2 Remontrance f June 8, I763, p. i6.8 "Bienheureuse impuissance," a constantly recurringquotation from the"Droits de la Reine surdivers 1Itats de la Monarchiede l'Espagne," supposed tohave been inspired y Louis XIV.4 " Que touteadministrationans l'e'tat est fondee sur des Loix, et qu'il n'enest aucune sans un enregistrementibre,precede de verification t d'examen,quecette verificationstnecessairepour donner toutes es Loix ce caractered'authen-ticite, uquel les peuples reconnoissent 'autoritequi doit les conduire," tc. Ex-

trait des registresdu Parlement,January , 1760, p. 13. See also RemontranceofJune 8, I763,passim.GThe Parlement asserts, n a remontrance f June 8, 1763: " Que de memeque le souverain st l'auteuret le protecteurdes Loix, de meme les Loix sont labase et les garants de l'autoritedu Souverain; et que toute atteinteportee auxLoix retombeplus ou moins directement ur le Souverain ui-meme. Que mecon-noitre l'existence ou la force irrefragable e Loix immuables par leur nature,constitutivese 1'economie e l'etat,ce seroit ebranler a soliditedu Tronememe.Que suivant les expressions du Premier President de son Parlement, arlantl'un des augustes Predecesseurs dudit Seigneur Roi, 'les Loix de l'etat et du

Royaumene peuvent etresviolees sans revoqueren doubt la Puissance meme etla Souverainete dudit Seigneur Roi. Que nous avons deux sortes de loix; lesunes sont les Ordonnances des Rois, qui se peuvent changer selon la diversitedes tems et des affaires; es autres sont les Ordonnancesdu Royaume, qui sontinviolables, t par lesquelles ledit SeigneurRoi est monteau Troneroyal, t cetteCouronne a ete conserveepar ses predecesseurs usqu'a lui."' This last quota-tionthe court derived from a speech made by Harlai beforethe king, June15,I586.



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No. 3.] THE TENNIS COURT OATH. 467the land. The subjection of the kinglywill to law is clearlyset forth, nd the theoryis supported by a varietyof some-what startlingquotations culled fromthe political literatureof Louis XIV's reign.' This remonstranceof I753, dealingwith the refusal of the sacraments,closes the long strugglegrowingout of the bull Unigeni/us. The succeedingconflictsbetween parlement nd ministry urn on other matters. Thepopularity-lovingmagistrates,susceptible to the spirit of thetimes, earn to give a democratic or at least popular tone totheir declarations. The termsnation,people and citoyenoccurmoreand morefrequentlyn the expostulationswith the king,We can easily perceive the growingantagonismof the nationtowards an unlimited r ill definedroyal power. The clearestand most mature statementof the theoryof a constitutionwhich I have found occurs in an obscure remonstrance ad-dressed to the kingby the parlemnentof Brittany, atedJuly,I771:There s an essentialdifferenceetween he transitoryegulationswhichvarywithhetimes, ndthefundamentalawsuponwhich heconstitutionfthe monarchyests. In respectto the formerthatis, thetransitoryegulations],t is theduty f the courts o influenceand enlighten he rulingpower P'autoriti),although heiropinionsmust, n the last instance,yieldto the decisions of yourwisdom,since it appertains o you alone to regulate verythingelatingothe administration. o administer he state is not,however, ochangeits constitution. . . It is,therefore, ost ndispensableodistinguishr to exceptthe cases wherethe right f expostulationsufficeso enlighten he rulingpower n an administrationhich,in spiteof tswide scope,stillhas its limits,nd those cases wherethe happy nabilityof the monarch] o overstep he boundsestab-lished by the constitutionmpliesthe powernecessary egallytoopposewhat n arbitraryillcannot ndmaynotdo.While this is obviouslyan ex parte argumentwith a view tojustifyingthe pretensions of the courts, it is a remarkableapproximationto the later ideas of a constitutionas distin-guishedfrom urrentstatutoryegislation. Not onlywas thewordconstitution amiliar o the thoughtfulFrenchman many

1 Flammermont,, 52I ff.



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468 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY. [VOL. X.years beforethe Revolution,but the idea which underlies themodern conception of a constitutionalgovernmentwas readyat hand.That the superior courts represented the nation since thedisappearance of the Estates General,was perhaps the basis ofthe claim which theparlementventuredto make upon the sym-pathy of the public.' It was the parlement of Paris which,July i6, 1787, requested that the Estates General be againconvoked," considerantque la Nation repr6sentee ar les etats-g6nerauxest seule en droitd'octroyer u Roi les subsidesn6ces-saires." 2 This demand, passed by a strange coalition ofradicals and conservatives who held opposite views of themeaning of their action, was the beginning of the end. Aftera brief period of popularity he parlements disappear forever,with a last dignifiedprotest in which they sadly lament theoutcome of a movementwhich theyhad themselves so materi-ally hastened.3There is a natural temptationto attribute o our own insti-'tutions veryconsiderable influence upon the growthof theidea of a constitutionn France. Apparentlythe earliest col-lectionof our state constitutionsever made was destined forFrench readers.4 These documentsattracted the attention ofthoughtful renchmen,and we have the commentsofTurgot,5Mably,6 and, later, the extensivework of Jefferson's riend,

1 "Ce peuple avoit autrefois a consolation de presenter es doleances auxRois vos predecesseurs; mais depuis un siecle et un demi les etats n'ontpointete convoques. Jusqu'a ce jour au moins la reclamationdes Cours suppleoit tcelle des etats, quoiqu'imparfaitement."Remontrancesde la Cour des Aides,February 8, 1771. See also the famous remonstrance f the same court ssuedin I775-2 Arretedu 30 Juillet,787.3 The last remonstrance f the Parlement of Paris is printedby Mortimer,Ternaux, Histoire de la Terreur, I, pp. 306, 307. See Pasquier's Memoirs

(American dition), , 70-74, and 98ff.4 Recueil des loix constitutivesdes colonies angloises confederees ous ladenomination d'iTtats-Unis de l'Amerique septentrionale, raduit de l'anglois.A Philadelphieet se vend t Paris, chez Cellot et Jombert, 778. Library ofPenn. Hist. Soc.5 Adams wrote his "Defence" in answerto Turgot's strictures, hich may befound n the atter's works.6 Observations ur le gouvernement t les loix des I-tats-Unisde I'Amerique,Ist ed., 1784.



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No. 3.] THE TENNIS COURT OATH. 469Mazzei,l who is said to have been aided by Condorcet. Thebills of rights prefacinga number of our earlystate constitu-tions are constantly eferred o in the debates upon the Decla-ration of the Rights of Man, August, 1789. The experienceof the United States maywell have added somewhat to theprecision and vigor of an already well developed movementtowardsconstitutional eform; more weight than this cannot,I think,be ascribed to foreignexample.2The French, long conscious of the abuses of their systemof government, nd anxious to insure their ibertiesby limit-ing the prerogatives of their monarch, turned their mindsnaturally nd inevitably o a species of writtenguarantee whichshould give definitenessto the chief fundamental aws of thestate. The very insistence placed upon the declaration ofthe rights of man showed that the people had in view acharter in the English sense of the word rather than anelaborately wrought out constitution, like that of 1791." No one denies now," Mirabeau once remarkedwith charac-teristic nsight,3 that the French nfttion as prepared for therevolutionwhich has just taken place ratherthrough a con-sciousness of its ills and the faults of its governmentthan bythe general advance of knowledge. Every one was consciousof what should be destroyed; no one knew what should beestablished." The proof of this is found in the pamphletsofthe time,but especiallyin the great collection ofcahiers.As was most natural, the determinationof the kingto sum-mon the Estates General called forth a great number ofpamphlets, especially in the latter half of the year I 788.These corresponded in function to the modern newspaper,which very quickly developed fromthem. While they dealtvery argelywith the questionof the numberofrepresentatives

1 Recherches Historiques et Politiquessur les ttats-Unisde l'Amerique sep-tentrionale, ar un Citoyende Virginie. Paris,1788,4 vols. See Sabin.,Bib.Am.,No. 47,207.2 Mr. Rosenthal has collecteda greatdeal uponthis ubject n his carefulwork,America nd France: Influence ftheUnited States on France in the i8th Century(I882).3 Twenty-thirdote to the court n the correspondence ith Lamarck.



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470 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY. [VOL. X.and withthe method of votingin the assembly,some took upthe workwhich the Estates General had before it. That ofSi6yes is well known,and its authoroccupied an authoritativeposition in the assemblyfromthe first. A less-knownpam-phlet, published anonymously,but attributedwithgood reasonto Rabaut St. Etienne, the most radical perhaps of the moreinfluential speakers in the assembly beforeJune 20, is ana-lyzed in the Introductionto the Moniteur.1 This brochure,published a year before the Tennis Court oath, sets forththenecessity of establishinga constitution.So long as the changing nd arbitraryorm f your dministra-tioncontinueso exist [the authorurges],so longwilltheministerstowhomyour nterests re temporarilyonfided e in a position ooverturn he establishedorder,modify r abrogatethe laws andregulationsmade by theirpredecessors,while all your efforts ocorrect he abuses and betteryoursituationwill be futile ndwith-out permanentesults.In determiningthe principles of a good constitution,whilethe authorspeaks of those of Switzerland and of the UnitedStates, he evidently ecognizesthat England afterall furnishesthe most feasiblemodel. The constitution ught,he holds, toprovidefortwo houses oflegislation, separationof the powersof government,ministerialresponsibility, security of personand property, ibertyof the press, etc.,-a complete program,extracted in a measure no doubt fromMontesquieu. So far,however, s I have examined the pamphletsof the times,-and a considerablecollection is available in the LibraryofthePennsylvaniaHistorical Society, theone just describedseemsto be exceptional. As Sorel says: "The French were muchmore anxious for civil than for political liberty." We findgreat deal more discussion of financialoppressionand of theexisting ocial and economic abuses thanof a proposed politicalor constitutional e-organization.The same tendency s apparent in the cahiers. Still theseindicate a verygeneral if not practicallyuniversal desire that

1 A la NationFrangoise, ur les Vices de son Gouvernement,ur la Ne cessited'etablirune Constitution t sur la Compositiondes ltats-Generaux. ArchivesParlementaires,ol. i, pp. 572-3.



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No. 3.] THE TENNIS COURT OATH. 471the despotic governmentof the Bourbons should cease. Totake an example at random from one of the cahiers of theclergy,we find, rticle i, this statement: "The fundamental[constitutives]aws of the nationought not to be based upondoubtfuland obscure traditions, ut established upon a solidfoundation, o wit, ustice and the good of the people." Noth-ing is to be done in the assembly of the Estates General, thecahier declares, "until the rights of the nation are solemnlyrecognized and determined. A chartercontainingthese shallbe drawn up, in which theyshall be formally nd irrevocablyinscribed." This is characteristically ague, and, taking theorders throughout, epresents the average minimum demand.Everyone seemed to feelthat the desired civil rightsand free-dom could only be secured by establishingso much of a consti-tution as would insure the periodic meetings of the EstatesGeneral. This participationof the nation in the exercise oflegislative powerwould prevent oppression, fthe rightsof theindividual were once defined,and solemnly and irrevocablyreduced to writing. Such a course was inot regarded as im-plying any radical innovations. In fact, n the case of someof the cahiers of the noblessethe desire appears to have beento secure their own special privileges,which theyregardedasfundamental aws. These, if reduced to writing,were, it wasargued,not so likely to be questioned in the future as theyhad been of recentyears. Taine's assertion2 that the nobilityin general held with Montesquieu that France had a constitu-tion, is not,however,borne out by the cahiers,3 lthoughthereare some instanceswhichgive countenanceto this view.The general desire for some securityforthe maintenance ofthe fundamentalrights of person and property akes a moredefinite orm n certain urban cahiers,for example in that ofthe sMnAchaussAef Lyons:Sincearbitraryowerhas been the sourceofall theevilswhichafflict he state, our firstdesire is the establishment f a really

1 Senechaussee de Mans, ArchivesParl., III, 637.2 Cf. Sieyes, Ancien Regime,p. 422.3 This is pointed out by Champion n his introduction o Sieyes' pamphlet, x,note.



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472 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY. [VOL. X.national onstitution,hich halldefine he rights fall andprovidethe awsto maintain hem. Consequentlyur representativeshallrequest he EstatesGeneral o decreeand His Majesty o sanctiona strictlyonstitutionalaw,the chief aimsof which hall be as fol-lows: [a list of fourteenrticles re enumerated,oncludingwiththeprovisionhat]since n no societycan any happinessbe hopedforwithout goodconstitutionunebonne onstitution),heProvinceofthe Lyonnaisrecommendsts deputiesto discussno othersub-ject untilthe French constitutionhall be fixedby the EstatesGeneral.'

Among the cahiersthatof Paris intra muros forms markedexception to the general vagueness. It was drawn up laterthanthe rest,not being completed until after May 5, the dayuponwhich the Estates General met. The committee ppointedto draft the cahier included a number of distinguishedmen:Marmontel, Lacretelle, Bailly, Target, Camus and others.2The result oftheir deliberations is the most complete schemeof a constitutionwhich appeared before that drawn up in theNational Assembly itself. The firstdivision of the cahier isdevotedto this subject, and the representativesof Paris "areexpresslyforbidden o consent to any subsidyor loan until thedeclaration of the rights of the nation shall have become alaw, and the foundationsofa constitution re agreed upon andassured." The draftof the constitution s preceded, ike thatactuallydecreed later in the National Assembly, by a declara-tion of rights,which the cahier claims should "constitute anational charter and form the basis of the French govern-ment." No other cahier, so far as I have observed, exceptthatofthe bailliage ofNemours,3 ontainsso clear a statement

1 ArchivesParl., II, 6o8, 609.2 Stephens'FrenchRevolution,vol. i, p. 50.8 The third estate of the bailliage of Nemours charges its deputies to de-

mandthatwhen the Estates General shall have recognizedand set forththosenatural nd social rights f man and of the citizen, he king shall drawup a dec-larationwhich hall be registered y all the courts,published everal times yearin all thechurches, nd inserted n all the books destined or he nstructionf theearliestchildhood. No one shall be admitted r appointedto any udicial,magis-terial or administrative fficewithouthaving repeated this declaration frommemory. A more elaborate draft f a declaration s furnished yNemoursthanbyParis itself.



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No. 3.] THE TENNIS COUR T OATH. 473of this characteristic dea thatthe declaration of rights s anessential element of the constitution. Not only was thissuggestion accepted by the National Assembly, which, as iswell known, formulatedthe "Declaration of the Rights ofMan and the Citizen" before proceeding to the constitutionitself,but the clauses themselves as they appear in this cahierof Paris are strikingly imilar to those finally dopted by theassembly. The importanceof the well-ordered onstitutionalprovisions suggested in the caiier can best be estimated bytheir close approach to those of the constitutionof I79I. Iquote a few instances of articles proposed by the Paris elec-toral assembly:

In the Frenchmonarchyhe legislativepower belongsto thena-tion nconjunction ith heking. The executivepower belongstotheking lone.The Estates Generalshall be periodicallyonvokedevery hreeyears, without, owever, xcludingextraordinaryessions. Theyshall neveradjournwithoutndicating he day and place of theirnext ession.Anyone convicted f an attemptopreventheassemblingf theEstates Generalshall be declareda traitor o his country,uilty fthe crime of Z?se-nationsic ].In the ntervals etween hesessionsof theEstatesGeneral, nlyprovisional egulationsmaybe issued n execution f thatwhichhasbeen decreed nthepreceding states General,nor can theseregu-lationsbe made aws, except n thefollowing statesGeneral.Many more examples might be given to illustrate he similaritybetween this sketch and the plan ultimately adopted. Thecahier claims thatthe constitution hich shall be drawnup in the present EstatesGeneral, ccording o the principleswhichhave ust been set forth,shall be the property f the nation,and maynotbe changed ormodified xcept by the constituent ower,that is to say, by thenation tself, r by its representativeslected ad hoc by thewholebodyofcitizens or hesinglepurposeof supplementingr perfect-ing thisconstitution.

There was an attempt made during the week preceding theTennis Court oath to induce the National Assembly,as it now



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474 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY.called itself, o pass a decree in which the formation f a con-stitution was designated as one of the great objects to beattained. Mirabeau claimed that the kinghimselfhad recog-nized "the necessityof giving France a fixedmethod of gov-ernment," and consequently regarded the laying of " thefoundations of the wise and felicitous constitution" as theinevitable and obvious dutyof the assembly.2 Rabaut de St.Etienne, in a series ofresolutions offered n the I 5th of June,occupies the same position.3 On the 17th ofJune the assem-bly finally efined ts constitutional unctions n a vaguer formas "the determinationof the principles of national regenera-tion."4 Thus, althoughthe representatives f the third estatewere chiefly occupied beforeJune 20 withthe questions as tothe methodofvotingand the relationof theirorder o theothertwo orders,the great question ofthe constitutionwas not lostsight of. If the Tennis Court oath was the firstofficialdecla-ration of the purpose of the assembly, t was the inevitableoutcome of preceding conditions, and was in fact only are-statement fthe resolutionadopted by the assembly severaldays before June 17).It would thus seem clear thatthe convictionofthe necessityforFrance ofa written onstitutionwas not due to anysuddencrisis,butwas, on the contrary, he outcome of a long periodofpreparation,duringwhichone essentiallyconservative nflu-ence, at least, that of the superior courts,did much to insurethe success of a movementwithwhich they could, at bottom,have littlesympathy. It is apparent, too, that relatively ittleweightshould be ascribed to outside example,since the influ-ence offoreign xperience sinks into insignificance,s it cus-tomarilydoes upon careful investigation,n comparison withthe irresistibletendencies in France itself during the eight-eenth century owardsa constitutional ormofgovernment.

JAMES HARVEY ROBINSON.COLUMBIA COLLEGE.

1 HistoireParlementaire,ol. i, p. 445.2 Ibid.,p. 453. 3 Ibid.,p. 457. 4 Ibid.,p. 472.