the depository." Through a primordial and inalienable title deed the
commonwealth belongs to us and to us only. If we put this into the hands
of the government it is as when kings delegate authority for the time
being to a minister He is always tempted to abuse; it is our business
to watch him, warn him, check him, curb him, and, if necessary, displace
him. We must especially guard ourselves against the craft and maneuvers
by which, under the pretext of preserving law and order, he would tie
our hands. A law, superior to any he can make, forbids him to interfere
with our sovereignty; and he does interfere with it when he undertakes
to forestall, obstruct, or impede its exercise. The Assembly, even the
Constituent, usurps when it treats the people like a lazybones (roi
faineant), when it subjects them to laws, which they have not
ratified, and when it deprives them of action except through their
representatives.[1102] The people themselves must act directly, must
assemble together and deliberate on public affairs. They must control
and censure the acts of those they elect; they must influence these with
their resolutions, correct their mistakes with their good sense, atone
for their weakness by their energy, stand at the helm alongside of them,
and even employ force and throw them overboard, so that the ship may
be saved, which, in their hands, is drifting on a rock.[1103] Such, in
fact, is the doctrine of the popular party. This doctrine is carried
into effect July 14 and October 5 and 6, 1789. Loustalot, Camille
Desmoulins, Freron, Danton, Marat, Petion, Robespierre proclaim it
untiringly in the political clubs, in the newspapers, and in the
assembly. The government, according to them, whether local or central,
trespasses everywhere. Why, after having overthrown one despotism,
should we install another? We are freed from the yoke of a privileged
aristocracy, but we still suffer from "the aristocracy of our
representatives."[1104] Already at Paris, "the population is
nothing, while the municipality is everything". It encroaches on our
imprescriptible rights in refusing to let a district revoke at will the
five members elected to represent it at the Hotel-de-Ville, in passing
ordinances without obtaining the approval of voters, in preventing
citizens from assembling where they please, in interrupting the out-door
meetings of the clubs in the Palais Royal where "Patriots are driven
away be the patrol." Mayor Bailly, "who