Volume III Part 14 (1/2)

Your Executive Committee will nominate an amba.s.sador to Philadelphia; my sincere wish is that he may announce to America that the National Convention of France, out of pure friends.h.i.+p to America, has consented to respite Louis. That people, by my vote, ask you to delay the execution.

Ah, citizens, give not the tyrant of England the triumph of seeing the man perish on the scaffold who had aided my much-loved America to break his chains!

Marat [”_launching himself into the middle of the hall_”]: Paine voted against the punishment of death because he is a Quaker.

Paine: I voted against it from both moral motives and motives of public policy.

1 See Guizot, ”Hist, of France,” vi., p. 136. ”Hist.

Parliamentair,” vol. ii., p. 350. Louis Blanc says that Paine's appeal was so effective that Marat interrupted mainly in order to destroy its effect.--”Hist, de la Rev.,”

tome vii, 396.--_Editor._

XVI. DECLARATION OF RIGHTS.(1)

The object of all union of men in society being maintenance of their natural rights, civil and political, these rights are the basis of the social pact: their recognition and their declaration ought to precede the Const.i.tution which a.s.sures their guarantee.

1. The natural rights of men, civil and political, are liberty, equality, security, property, social protection, and resistance to oppression.

2. Liberty consists in the right to do whatever is not contrary to the rights of others: thus, exercise of the natural rights of each individual has no limits other than those which secure to other members of society enjoyment of the same rights.

1 In his appeal from prison to the Convention (August 7, 1794) Paine states that he had, as a member of the Committee for framing the Const.i.tution, prepared a Plan, which was in the hands of Barere, also of that Committee. I have not yet succeeded in finding Paine's Const.i.tution, but it is certain that the work of framing the Const.i.tution of 1793 was mainly entrusted to Paine and Condorcet.

Dr. John Moore, in his work on the French Revolution, describes the two at their work; and it is a.s.serted that he ”a.s.sisted in drawing up the French Declaration of Rights,”

by ”Juvencus,” author of an able ”Essay on the Life and Genius of Thomas Paine,” whose information came from a personal friend of Paine. (”Aphorisms, Opinions, and Reflections of Thomas Paine,” etc., London, 1826. Pp. 3, 14.) A translation of the Declaration and Const.i.tution appeared in England (Debrett, Picadilly, 1793), but with some faults. The present translation is from ”Oeuvres Completes de Condorcet,” tome xviii. The Committee reported their Const.i.tution February 15th, and April 15th was set for its discussion, Robespierre then demanded separate discussion of the Declaration of Rights, to which he objected that it made no mention of the Supreme Being, and that its extreme principles of freedom would s.h.i.+eld illicit traffic. Paine and Jefferson were troubled that the United States Const.i.tution contained no Declaration of Rights, it being a fundamental principle in Paine's theory of government that such a Declaration was the main safeguard of the individual against the despotism of numbers. See supra, vol. ii.t pp. 138, 139.--_Editor._.

3. The preservation of liberty depends on submission to the Law, which is the expression of the general will. Nothing unforbidden by law can be hindered, and none may be forced to do what the law does not command.

4. Every man is free to make known his thoughts and opinions.

5. Freedom of the press, and every other means of publis.h.i.+ng one's opinion, cannot be interdicted, suspended, or limited.

6. Every citizen shall be free in the exercise of his religion (_culte_).

7. Equality consists in the enjoyment by every one of the same rights.

8. The law should be equal for all, whether it rewards or punishes, protects or represses.

9. All citizens are admissible to all public positions, employments, and functions. Free nations recognize no grounds of preference save talents and virtues.

10. Security consists in the protection accorded by society to every citizen for the preservation of his person, property, and rights.

11. None should be sued, accused, arrested, or detained, save in cases determined by the law, and in accordance with forms prescribed by it.

Every other act against a citizen is arbitrary and null.

12. Those who solicit, further, sign, execute, or cause to be executed, such arbitrary acts are culpable, and should be punished.