16. The King's Acceptance of the Constitution
September 13, 1791. Moniteur, September 14, 1791 (Réimpression, IX, 655).
This document was read to the Constituent Assembly in explanation of the king's acceptance of No. 15. Three features call for particular notice: (1) the official defence of the king's flight, (2) the interpretation placed upon the revision recently effected in the final draft of the constitution, (3) the attitude of the king towards the general course of the revolution and especially towards the new constitution.
References. Aulard, Révolution française, 164–166.
Gentlemen: I have examined attentively the constitutional act which you have presented to me for my acceptance; I accept it and shall cause it to be executed. This declaration might have sufficed at another time; today I owe it to the interests of the nation, I owe it to myself, to make known my reasons.
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Let everyone recall the moment at which I went away from Paris: the constitution was on the point of completion, nevertheless the authority of the laws seemed to become enfeebled every day. Opinion, far from becoming fixed, was subdividing into a multitude of parties. The most extreme opinions alone seemed to obtain favor, the license of the press was at the highest pitch, no authority was respected. I could no longer recognize the mark of the general will in the laws which I saw everywhere without force and without execution. At that time, I am bound to declare, if you had presented the constitution to me, I should not have believed that the interest of the people (the constant and sole rule of my conduct) would permit me to accept it. I had only one feeling, I formed only one project; I wished to isolate myself from all the parties and to know what was truly the will of the nation.
The considerations which were controlling me no longer remain today; since then the inconveniences and evils of which I was complaining have impressed you as they did me; you have manifested a desire to re-establish order, you have directed your attention to the lack of discipline in the army, you have recognized the necessity of repressing the abuses of the press. The revision of your work has put in the number
