Page:The World's Famous Orations Volume 7.djvu/132



declaration of war is so far the property of the legislative body that the king has not the initiative? or do you mean that he has the initiative?

In the former case, if he has not the initiative, do you mean likewise that he has not the veto? From that, moment the king ceases to cooperate in the most important act of the national will. How do you reconcile this with the rights which the Constitution has conferred upon the monarch? How do you reconcile it with the public interests? You will have as many encouragers of war as there shall be men of fiery temper.

Are there, or not, great inconveniences in such an order of things? You do not deny that there are.

Are there any, on the other hand, in allowing the king the initiative? By the initiative, I mean a notification, any message whatsoever. You can not discover any inconvenience there.

Observe, moreover, the natural course of things. In order to deliberate, it is necessary to be informed. By whom are you to be informed, if not by him who has the superintendence of your foreign connections?

That were, indeed, a strange Constitution which, having conferred upon the king the supreme executive power, should provide a means of declaring war without the king's having originated the debate upon that subject, in consequence of those connections which it is his duty to maintain. Your assembly would be no longer