Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/577

 The French Revolution 435 755. The Declaration of the Rights of Man. Many of the cahiers had .suggested that the Estates should draw up a clear statement of the rights of the individual citizen. This Declaration (completed August 26) is one of the most notable documents in the history of Europe. It not only aroused general enthusiasm when it was first published but it appeared over and over again, in a modified form, in the succeeding French constitutions, and has been the model for similar declarations in many of the other continental states. Behind each article there was some crying evil of long standing against which the people wished to be forever protected. The Declaration sets forth that "Men are born and remain equal in rights." "Law is the expression of the general will. Every citizen has a right to participate, personally or through his representative, in its formation. It must be the same for all." "No person shall be accused, arrested, or imprisoned ex- cept in the cases and according to the forms prescribed by law." "No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, including his religious views, provided that their manifestation does not disturb the public order." "Every citizen may speak, write, and print with freedom, being responsible, however, for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law." Taxes were to be imposed and used according to the wishes of the people. 756. Suspicion against the Court. The king hesitated to ratify the Declaration of the Rights of Man, and about the first of October rumors spread that, under the influence of the courtiers, he was calling together troops and preparing for another attempt to put an end to the Revolution similar to that which the attack on the Bastille had frustrated. It was said that the new national colors red, white, and blue had been trampled under foot at a banquet at Versailles. These things, along with the scarcity of food due to the poor crops of the year, aroused the excitable Paris populace. 757. The King carried to Paris, October, 1789. On October 5 several thousand women and a number of armed men marched