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stroyed and even the semblance of royalty no longer exists: a republican interim is substituted for it.

H. Decree concerning the King. July 16, 1791. Duvergier, Lois III, III-112.

I. If the King, after having taken his oath to the constitution, retracts it, he shall be considered to have abdicated.

2. If the King puts himself at the head of an army in order to direct its forces against the nation, or, if he orders his generals to carry into effect such a project, or finally, if he does not by a formal act put himself in opposition to any action of that sort which may be conducted in his name, he shall be considered to have abdicated.

3. A king who shall have abdicated, or who shall be considered to have done so, shall become a simple citizen and he shall be accusable, according to the customary forms, for all offences subsequent to his abdication.

4. The effect of the decree of the 25th of last month, which suspends the exercise of the royal functions and the functions of the executive power in the hands of the King, shall continue only until the moment when, the constitution being completed, the entire constitutional act shall have been presented to the King.

13. The Padua Circular.

July 5 or 6, 1791. Vivenot, Kaiserpolitik Oesterreichs, I, 185186.

This circular letter to the principal sovereigns of Europe was sent by the Emperor, Leopold II, as soon as he learned of the failure of the King's flight. It was only the amplification of ideas which he had already broached in less formal communications. In France there was suspicion that efforts were being made to form such a concert as the circular suggests, but this document was kept a profound secret. None of the powers responded favorably, except Prussia.

REFERENCES. Clapham, Causes of the War of 1792, 48-57; Sorel, L'Europe et la Revolution Francaise, II, 228-230.

I am persuaded that Your Majesty will have learned of the unprecedented outrage of the arrest of the King of France,

of my sister the Queen, and of the royal family, with as much surprise and indignation as I have, and that your sentiments cannot differ from mine upon an event which, causing fear of the most horrible results yet to come and implanting the seal of illegality upon the excesses which have previously taken place in France, compromises directly the honor of all the sovereigns and the safety of all the governments.

Determined to carry into effect what I owe to these considerations, and as head of the Germanic Body by its selection, and as sovereign of the Austrian States, I propose to the Kings of Spain, England, Prussia, Naples, and Sardinia, as well as to the Empress of Russia, to determine to unite among themselves and with me for counsel, co-operation and measures, in order to restore the liberty and honor of the Most Christian King and of his family and to put limits to the dangerous extremities of the French revolution.

The most pressing [measure] seems to be that we should all unite in order to cause to be delivered by our ministers in France a common declaration, or similar and simultaneous declarations, which may cause the leaders of the violent party to come to themselves and may prevent desperate resolutions, still leaving open to them ways for an honest repentance and the pacific establishment of a state of things in France which preserves at least the dignity of the crown and the essential considerations of the general tranquility, and I propose for that purpose to Your Majesty the draft which you will find annexed and which appears to me to accomplish these aims.

But as the success of such a declaration may be problematical, and as one can promise complete success only on condition of being ready to sustain it by sufficiently respectable means, my minister to Your Majesty will receive immediately the necessary instructions to enter with your minister upon such concert of vigorous measures as the circumstances may demand, reserving to myself to cause him to communicate also the replies which I shall receive from the other Powers, as soon as they shall have reached me.

I regard as an infinitely precious advantage that the dispositions which they all manifest for the re-establishment of repose and harmony promise to remove the obstacles which might be injurious to unanimity of views and sentiments about

an occurrence which involves closely the well being of all Europe.

Project of the Common Declaration.

Padua, July 5 or 6, 1791.

The undersigned are charged to make known what follows on the part of their respective sovereigns:

That, notwithstanding the notorious deeds of constraint and violence which have preceded and followed the acts of consent granted by the King of France to the decrees of the National Assembly, they had nevertheless still wished to suspend their opinion upon the degree to which that consent represented or did not represent the conviction and free will of His Most Christian Majesty; but the effort undertaken by that prince to set himself at liberty, being a most manifest proof of the state of confinement in which he formerly found himself, no longer left any doubt that he had been made to do violence to his religion in several respects, at the same time that the last attack in his actual arrest and that of the Queen, the Dauphin and Madame Elizabeth, inspires just alarms about the ultimate projects of the dominant party;

That the said sovereigns cannot delay any longer to manifest the sentiments and resolutions which in this state of things the honor of their crowns, the ties of blood, and the maintenance of the public order and tranquility of Europe require of them: they have ordered their undersigned ministers to declare:

That they ask that this prince and his family may be immediately put at liberty and they claim for all these royal persons the inviolability and respect which the law of nature and men imposes apon subjects towards their princes;

That they will unite in order to avenge in a striking man. ner subsequent attacks which may be committed or may be allowed to be committed against the security, the person and honor of the King, Queen, and royal family;

That, finally, they will recognize as law and constitution legally established in France only those which they shall find provided with the voluntary consent of the King, in enjoyment of a perfect liberty; but that in the contrary case, they will

employ in concert all the means placed in their power to cause to cease the scandal of a usurpation of power which bears the character of an open revolt, and of which it is important for all governments to check the disastrous example.

14. The Declaration of Pilnitz.

August 27, 1791. Vivenot, Kaiserpolitik Oesterreichs, I, 234. Translation, James Harvey Robinson, University of Pennsylvania Translations and Reprints.

This document was the only direct result of No. 13. It seems certain that the signatories, the sovereigns of Austria and Prussia, attached but little importance to it. For them the qualifying words were the emphatic ones. This, however, was not thoroughly understood in France, and a little later the declaration was an important factor in persuading the French people that they must fight Europe in order to prevent interference with the course of the Revolution in France.

REFERENCES. Clapham, Causes of the War of 1792, 76-82; Von Sybel, French Revolution, 361-368; Sorel, L' Europe et la Revolution Francaise, I, 252-264.

His Majesty, the Emperor, and his Majesty, the King of Prussia, having given attention to the wishes and representations of Monsieur (the brother of the King of France), and of M. le Comte d'Artois, jointly declare that they regard the present situation of his majesty the King of France, as a matter of common interest to all the sovereigns of Europe. They trust that this interest will not fail to be recognized by the powers, whose aid is solicited, and that in consequence they will not refuse to employ, in conjunction with their said majesties, the most efficient means in proportion to their resources to place the King of France in a position to establish, with the most absolute freedom, the foundations of a monarchical form of government, which shall at once be in harmony with the rights of sovereigns and promote the welfare of the French nation. In that case [Alors et dans ce cas] their said. majesties the Emperor and the King of Prussia are resolved to act promptly and in common accord with the forces necessary to obtain the desired common end.

In the meantime they will give such orders to their troops

as are necessary in order that these may be in a position to be called into active service.

LEOPOLD.

Pilnitz, August 27, 1791.

FREDERICK WILLIAM.

15. Constitution of 1791.

September 3, 1791. Duvergier, Lois, III, 239-255.

This constitution represents a large part of the labors of the Constituent Assembly. Many of its provisions had already been put into operation by separate decrees. It was given its final shape during the ten weeks following the return of the King to Paris and shows many, traces of the conservative reaction of that period. A careful study of it will throw light upon many features of the Revolution.

REFERENCES.

Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generale, VIII, 73-79. Of contemporary estimates the most famous are Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France (a strongly adverse view), and Mackintosh's reply, Vindiciae Gallicae, or Defence of the French Revolution.

DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN AND CITIZEN.

The representatives of the French people, organized in National Assembly, considering that ignorance, forgetfulness or contempt of the rights of man are the sole causes of the public miseries and of the corruption of governments, have resolved to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, inalienable, and sacred rights of man, in order that this declaration, being ever present to all the members of the social body, may unceasingly remind them of their rights and their duties: in order that the acts of the legislative power and those of the executive power may be each moment compared with the aim of every political institution and thereby may be more respected; and in order that the demands of the citizens, grounded henceforth upon simple and incontestable principles, may always take the direction of maintaining the constitution and the welfare of all.

In consequence, the National Assembly recognizes and declares, in the presence and under the auspices of the Supreme Being, the following rights of man and citizen.

1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Sc. cial distinctions can be based only upon public utility.