Page:Works of Thomas Carlyle - Volume 02.djvu/271

AUG.-SEPT. 1789] Mint. Nay finally, a Patriotic Contribution, of the forcible sort, has to be determined on, though unwillingly: let the fourth part of your declared yearly revenue, for this once only, be paid down; so shall a National Assembly make the Constitution, undistracted at least by insolvency. Their own wages, as settled on the 17th of August, are but Eighteen Francs a day, each man; but the Public Service must have sinews, must have money. To appease the Deficit; not to 'combler, or choke, the Deficit,' if you or mortal could! For withal, as Mirabeau was heard saying, 'it is the Deficit that saves us.'

Towards the end of August, our National Assembly in its constitutional labours has got so far as the question of Veto: shall Majesty have a Veto on the National Enactments; or not have a Veto? What speeches were spoken, within doors and without; clear, and also passionate logic; imprecations, comminations; gone happily, for most part, to Limbo! Through the cracked brain and uncracked lungs of Saint-Huruge, the Palais Royal rebellows with Veto. Journalism is busy, France rings with Veto. 'I never shall forget,' says Dumont, 'my going to Paris, one of those days, with Mirabeau; and the crowd of people we found waiting for his carriage about Le Jay the Bookseller's shop. They flung themselves before him; conjuring him, with tears in their eyes, not to suffer the Veto Absolu. They were in a frenzy: "Monsieur le Comte, you are the People's father, you must save us; you must defend us against those villains who are bringing back Despotism. If the King get this Veto, what is the use of National Assembly? We are slaves; all is done. Friends, if the sky fall, there will be catching of larks! Mirabeau, adds Dumont, was eminent on such occasions: he answered vaguely, with a Patrician imperturbability, and bound himself to nothing.

Deputations go to the Hôtel-de-Ville; anonymous Letters to Aristocrats in the National Assembly, threatening that VOL. I.