... very few enlightened or prudent men, and
still fewer of the nobles, were chosen."--Moniteur, XII. 199 (meeting of
April 23, 1792). Speech M. Lecointe-Puyravaux. "We need not dissimulate;
indeed, we are proud to say, that this legislature is composed of
persons who are not rich."]

[Footnote 2203: Mathieu Dumas, "Memoires," I. 521. "The excitement in
the electoral assemblages was very great; the aristocrats and large
land-owners abstained from coming there."--Correspondance de Mirabeau
et du Comte de la Mark, III. 246, Oct.10, 1791. "Nineteen twentieths of
this legislature have no other transportation (turn-out) than galoshes
and umbrellas. It has been estimated, that all these deputies put
together do not possess 300,000 livres solid income. The majority of the
members of this Assembly have received no education whatever."]

[Footnote 2204: They rank as Marechaux de camp, a grade corresponding to
that of brigadier-general. They are Dupuy-Montbrun (deceased in March,
1792), Descrots-d'Estree, a weak and worn old man whom his children
forced into the Legislative Assembly, and, lastly, Mathieu Dumas, a
conservative, and the only prominent one.]

[Footnote 2205: "Correspondance du Baron de Stael," Jan.19,
1792.--Gouverneur Morris (II.162, Feb. 4, 1792) writes to Washington
that M. de Warville, on the diplomatic committee, proposed to cede
Dunkirk and Calais to England, as a pledge of fidelity by France, in any
engagement which she might enter into. You can judge, by this, of the
wisdom and virtue of the faction to which he belongs--Buchez et Roux,
XXX 89 (defense of Brissot, Jan. 5, 1793) "Brissot, like all noisy,
reckless, ambitious men, started in full blast with the strangest
paradoxes. In 1780. in his 'Recherches philosophiques sur le droit
de propriete,' he wrote as follows: 'If 40 crowns suffice to maintain
existence, the possession of 200,000 crowns is plainly unjust and a
robbery... Exclusive ownership is a veritable crime against nature...
The punishment of robbery in our institutions is an act of virtue which
nature herself commands.'"]

[Footnote 2206: Moniteur, speech by Cambon, sittings of Feb. 2 and April
20, 1792.]

[Footnote 2207: Ibid., (sitting of April 3). Speech by M. Cailliasson.
The property belonging to the nation, sold and to be sold, is valued
at 2,195 millions, while the assignats already issued amount to 2,100
millions.--Cf. Mercure de France, Dec. 17, 1791, p.201; Jan.28, 1792,
p. 215;