et inadequate! The Clergy must be 'invited' to melt
their superfluous Church-plate,--in the Royal Mint. Nay finally, a
Patriotic Contribution, of the forcible sort, must be determined on,
though unwillingly: let the fourth part of your declared yearly revenue,
for this once only, be paid down; so shall a National Assembly make the
Constitution, undistracted at least by insolvency. Their own wages, as
settled on the 17th of August, are but Eighteen Francs a day, each man;
but the Public Service must have sinews, must have money. To appease the
Deficit; not to 'combler, or choke the Deficit,' if you or mortal could!
For withal, as Mirabeau was heard saying, "it is the Deficit that saves
us."

Towards the end of August, our National Assembly in its constitutional
labours, has got so far as the question of Veto: shall Majesty have a
Veto on the National Enactments; or not have a Veto? What speeches were
spoken, within doors and without; clear, and also passionate logic;
imprecations, comminations; gone happily, for most part, to Limbo!
Through the cracked brain, and uncracked lungs of Saint-Huruge, the
Palais Royal rebellows with Veto. Journalism is busy, France rings with
Veto. 'I shall never forget,' says Dumont, 'my going to Paris, one of
these days, with Mirabeau; and the crowd of people we found waiting for
his carriage, about Le Jay the Bookseller's shop. They flung themselves
before him; conjuring him with tears in their eyes not to suffer the
Veto Absolu. They were in a frenzy: "Monsieur le Comte, you are the
people's father; you must save us; you must defend us against those
villains who are bringing back Despotism. If the King get this Veto,
what is the use of National Assembly? We are slaves, all is done."'
(Souvenirs sur Mirabeau, p. 156.) Friends, if the sky fall, there
will be catching of larks! Mirabeau, adds Dumont, was eminent on such
occasions: he answered vaguely, with a Patrician imperturbability, and
bound himself to nothing.

Deputations go to the Hotel-de-Ville; anonymous Letters to Aristocrats
in the National Assembly, threatening that fifteen thousand, or
sometimes that sixty thousand, 'will march to illuminate you.' The Paris
Districts are astir; Petitions signing: Saint-Huruge sets forth from the
Palais Royal, with an escort of fifteen hundred individuals, to petition
in person. Resolute, or seemingly so, is the tall shaggy Marquis, is
the Cafe de Foy: but resolute also is Commandant-General Lafa