Cahier of the Clergy of Dourdan

Cahier of the Clergy of Dourdan

When the King summons his subjects about him to consult them concerning the needs of the State, the ministers of religion are among the most eager to give him proof of their respectful gratitude. Their dual role as citizens and ecclesiastics entitles them to bring to the foot of the throne the most comprehensive wishes for the welfare of the monarchy and the maintenance of a religion that assures its tranquillity. Accordingly, His Majesty shall be humbly supplicated:

Chapter I (Religion)

1. To preserve in its integrity the precious depository of the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman religion, the most stable support of the fundamental laws of the State, to effect the enforcement of ordinances concerning the respect which is due churches, sanctification of feast days and Sundays, and, in general, whatever affects public worship.
2. To give consideration to the representations made by the last assembly of the clergy concerning the edict on non-Catholics, and not permit any religion other than the Catholic to hold worship or give public instruction.
3. To permit the Church of France to hold provincial or national councils with a view to re-establishing and maintaining ecclesiastical discipline in all its vigor, so that convocation of the said councils may be effected, without great delay, upon the request and according to the needs of every metropolitan see.
4. To maintain the execution of all laws and ordinances recognized in the kingdom as constituting the public, ecclesiastical, and canonical law thereof, and which the kings, his august predecessors, have stamped with the seal of their authority.
5. Imbued with profound grief at the sight of the appalling deterioration of religion and the depravation of morals in the kingdom, we direct to His Majesty the most ardent and humble representations concerning the disastrous and widely acknowledged cause of this deplorable subversion of all principles. It obviously derives from the disgraceful excess of writings in which the spirit of libertinage, incredulity, and independence prevails, in which faith, modesty, reason, the throne, and the altar are attacked with equal audacity—impious and corrupting books circulated on all sides with the most revolting profusion and license, to which the strongest resistance could not be too promptly opposed.
6. Since diversity of religious opinions in the schools for French youth is the greatest danger in the world, His Majesty shall be humbly supplicated also to order all necessary precautions lest there be admitted into any of the universities and academic societies of the kingdom any teacher or member who has not previously given proofs of the greatest ability and of his respectful devotion to the Catholic religion.
7. Since national education is degenerating daily, the King will be willing to take into consideration a matter so pertinent to morals and to the glory of the kingdom, and in his wisdom to provide resources for the talents of indigence by the endowment of the provincial collèges, almost all of which are insufficiently endowed, because a good education is the only means of assuring the State of good citizens, and religion of virtuous ministers.
8. Since the education of the rural population is valuable to the State, it is highly desirable that in every parish schoolteachers be established, whose stipends, added to the payments of those pupils who can afford to pay, would provide an income sufficient for them and their families; which teachers would be under the guidance and inspection of the curé, who would ascertain their religion and talents in advance, and would have the right to dismiss them if they did not fulfill expectations, reserving their right of appeal to the lord bishop.
9. We dare to solicit from the goodness and piety of the king a special protection for religious orders of either sex throughout the kingdom, under the happy auspices of his favor and authority; we hope that such holy institutions, useful to religion, to the good of the State, to needy families, and above all to the support of the poor in the rural districts, will flourish and vivify increasingly.
10. In provincial cities, and especially in this bailliage, there are numerous communities devoted to the education of indigent young girls for religion and for work; we supplicate His Majesty to regard such useful establishments with benevolence, and to facilitate access thereto in the bureaux established for the relief of religious houses.

Chapter II (Constitution)

1. Since monarchical government is the steadfast constitution of the nation, the most conducive to its internal tranquillity and external security, the most suitable for the extent of its provinces, and the most consistent with the character of its people, who always have distinguished themselves by their love for and devotion to their sovereigns, we will never countenance anything that would tend to alter this form of government. We are inviolably attached to it by the most sacred duties of obedience, by ties of oath and fidelity, by love and respect for our masters, and by the happiness of being subject thereto.
2. We desire that in matters brought under deliberation in the Estates General relative to all orders, voting be by head; but in those concerning more especially one of the three orders, we request that voting be by order.
3. The King shall be most humbly supplicated to take into consideration the inequality of bailliages, which necessarily gives rise to inequality of representation. His Majesty shall be supplicated to search, in his wisdom, for remedies, such as a new division of the kingdom. Such division could be made without distinction of provinces, pays d'états, or généralités. It would be in combined proportion to extent and population, in order to procure every possible equality in representation.
4. Since the bishops are separate in the ecclesiastical hierarchy from the pastors of the second order, the clergy of the bailliage of Dourdan beseeches His majesty to grant the episcopal body a representation distinct from that of other ecclesiastics. The bishop could be convoked by ecclesiastical provinces, and could elect one representative to the national Assembly from every province.
5. Since it is the duty of the assembly of the Estates General increasingly to affirm the authority of the monarch, and to establish it on the happiness and love of his people, His Majesty shall be most humbly requested to grant the nation the periodic return of such an important benefit.

Cahier of the Nobles of Dourdan
29 March, 1789

Constitution

The citizens comprising the order of the nobility of the bailliage of Dourdan consider that, as soon as the Estates General is convened and the assembly constituted, an address should be voted to the King to thank him for the magnanimous act of justice he has just accorded the nation in restoring its rights, and to pledge to him, in the name of all Frenchmen, unlimited gratitude and love, inviolable submission and fidelity to his sacred person, his legitimate authority, and his august royal house. They would doubtless wish to use this liberty first in paying him new homage of their blood and fortune; but they wish more, they wish to contribute with all their power to the personal happiness of His Majesty, as well as to the general welfare of his people, by working in concert with him to bolster the tottering edifice of the French Constitution, by rendering his faithful commons happier through a just distribution of the taxes necessary to the State, by freeing him of the troubles and anxieties which extensive and absolute legislation necessarily entails; finally, by leaving to him only favors to grant and benefits to dispense throughout the free nation {65} that he governs; thus the subjects of all orders, encompassing the Monarch with their liberty, their happiness, and their unlimited devotion, will render him, if possible, still more beloved throughout his realm, and assuredly more respected abroad.

Accordingly, the noble citizens of the bailliage of Dourdan request:

That a formula for the drafting and publication of laws be established, and that it express both the right of the nation and that of the King, in these words, or similar ones: “The free and general Estates of France declare that the general will is ______. Accordingly, the said Estates most respectfully supplicate His Majesty to sanction the said articles by royal approbation ______. WE, KING OF FRANCE, upon the request of the Estates General, assembled at ______, have published and do publish ______, have ordered and do order ______. Thus we inform all those whom it may concern that they are to take in hand and put into effect all articles above stated, according to their form and tenor; FOR SUCH IS THE OUTCOME OF THE NATIONAL WILL, WHICH HAS RECEIVED THE SEAL OF OUR ROYAL AUTHORITY.”

Since the constitutional laws assure each and every one of his liberty, fortune, position, and property, the nobility requests:

That every arbitrary order prejudicial to the liberty of citizens be abolished entirely;

That individual liberty be assured and guaranteed, so that every citizen arrested may be placed in the prisons of the courts which are to take cognizance of his offence within twenty-four hours of the time of his arrest; that, immediately upon his detention, he be permitted to choose a counsel or advocate.

Liberty shall be understood to include the right to come, go, live, and reside wheresoever one pleases, inside or outside the kingdom, without need of permission; referring to the Estates General the determination of cases in which it is necessary to restrict such liberty with regard to leaving the kingdom.

That liberty of the press be granted, upon condition that author and printer are responsible; and the Estates General shall determine the most severe restrictions in order to prevent such liberty from degenerating into licence.

The nobility of the bailliage of Dourdan requests, likewise, that, according to the formal wish of His Majesty, no tax be established and no loan be made without the concurrence of the legislative power. {66}

That the administrator of finances be not permitted to make any anticipation or assignment other than on the annual income, under penalty for lèse-patrie, the lenders to forfeit all claim.

That any individual convicted of having collected any sum whatsoever in excess of that established by law be declared guilty of embezzlement and sentenced accordingly.

That no citizen be deprived of his rank, employment, or position, except according to a legal judgment.

That all property, whoever be the owner, be inviolable and sacred, property being whatever one owns on public faith and on the affirmation of the law; that no one be deprived thereof except for public interest, and that he then be compensated therefor without delay, and at the highest possible price.

Finally, that ministers henceforth be responsible and accountable to the Estates General.

But if it is magnanimous of the French Monarch to share the legislative power with free subjects, it is at the same time just and necessary that he be invested with all executive power, and that his person be ever sacred.

He must have command of the troops on land and sea, assign military positions, appoint generals and ministers, make peace or war, negotiate treaties of alliance or commerce with foreign powers, convoke, prorogue, and dissolve the Estates General, under the express condition, in case of dissolution, of effecting a new convocation immediately in the form and number approved by the assembled nation.

Finally, the King alone must preserve that right, so kind, so consoling, so worthy of a great monarch, that right to dispense benefits, to encourage virtue by dignities and marks of distinction, and, above all, the right to grant pardon.

The order of nobility desires further that the distinction of three orders in the Estates General be strengthened and regarded as inherent in the Constitution of the French monarchy, and that opinions be given therein only by order.

That in the event, however, that vote by order be absolutely rejected by the Estates General, and the deputy of the bailliage of Dourdan see that further resistance to vote by head is useless, he then request that vote by head be taken in the separate chamber of every order and not in the assembly of the three orders united.

That vote by head never take place on matters of particular interest to one of the three orders alone. {67}

That the opposition of one order alone may not delay projects of the other two and result in veto, except by at least two-thirds of the votes.

That the Estates General be periodic; that it determine the time of its recurrence and the form of its convocation and composition; that it approve taxation only until its next assembly; and that if it be not convoked by the King at the established time, all taxes immediately cease to be valid throughout the entire extent of the kingdom.

That the Estates General may not concern itself with any deliberation until, in conjunction with the King, it has passed an act enunciating the Constitution and the rights above mentioned, and constituting, henceforth, the fundamental law of the kingdom.

That, in the event of a new reign or a regency, the Estates General be convoked within two months by the King, or, in his name, by a warrant of the Great Seal drawn up by the Chancellor of France.

That there be no intermediate commission during the interval between Estates General.

That the powers of deputies be limited to a term of two years, dating from the opening of the next Estates General, and that the persons of the deputies be inviolable during the session of the Estates.