It is a mere democratic body, unconnected with the
crown or the kingdom, armed and trained and officered at the
pleasure of the districts to which the corps severally belong, and the
personal service of the individuals who compose, or the fine in lieu
of personal service, are directed by the same authority.* Nothing is
more uniform. If, however, considered in any relation to the crown, to
the National Assembly, to the public tribunals, or to the other
army, or considered in a view to any coherence or connection between
its parts, it seems a monster, and can hardly fail to terminate its
perplexed movements in some great national calamity. It is a worse
preservative of a general constitution than the systasis of Crete,
or the confederation of Poland, or any other ill-devised corrective
which has yet been imagined in the necessities produced by an
ill-constructed system of government.
* I see by M. Necker's account that the national guards of Paris
have received, over and above the money levied within their own
city, about L145,000 sterling out of the public treasures. Whether
this be an actual payment for the nine months of their existence or an
estimate of their yearly charge, I do not clearly perceive. It is of
no great importance, as certainly they may take whatever they please.
Having concluded my few remarks on the constitution of the supreme
power, the executive, the judicature, the military, and on the
reciprocal relation of all these establishments, I shall say something
of the ability shown by your legislators with regard to the revenue.
Pages:
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355