dea of a
constitutional jury, an elective body of about one hundred, to watch
over the Constitution, and to be guardians of the law against the
makers of the law. It was to receive the plaints of minorities and of
individuals against the legislature, and to preserve the spirit of
the organic institutions against the omnipotence of the national
representatives. This memorable attempt to develop in Europe something
analogous to that property of the Supreme Court which was not yet
matured in America, was rejected on August 5, almost unanimously.

The Constitution was adopted by the Convention on August 17. It
included a declaration of duties, founded on confusion, but defended
on the ground that a declaration of rights alone destroys the
stability of the State. And in matters touching religion it innovated
on what had been done hitherto, for it separated Church and State,
leaving all religions to their own resources. The division of powers
was carried farther, for the legislative was divided into two, and the
executive into five. Universal suffrage was restricted; the poorest
were excluded; and after nine years there was to be an educational
test. The law did not last so long. The electoral body, one in two
hundred of the whole constituency, was to be limited to owners of
property. The directors were to be chosen by the legislature.
Practically, there was much more regard for liberty, and less for
equality, than in the former constitutions. The change in public
opinion was shown by the vote on two Houses which only one deputy
opposed.

At the last moment, that there might be no danger from royalism in the
departments, it was resolved that two-thirds of the legislature must
be taken from the Convention. They thus prolonged their own power, and
secured the permanence of the ideas which inspired their action. At
the same time they showed their want of confidence in the republican
feeling of the country, and both exasperated the royalists and gave
them courage to act for themselves. On September 23 the country
accepted the scheme, by a languid vote, but with a large majority.

The new Constitution afforded securities for order and for liberty
such as France had never enjoyed. The Revolution had begun with a
Liberalism which was a passion more than a philosophy, and the first
Assembly endeavoured to realise it by diminishing authority,
weakening the executive, and decentralising power. In the hour of
peril under the Girondi