The Political History of France 1789 1910

working. But, alas for such aspirations, the life of the new Legislative Assembly was short and stormy. It met on October 1, 1791 ; it came to an end in September 1792. In less than a year France had been disabused of her hopes of the Golden Age. A great increase of misery and unrest had come upon the country, and there must have been few who were not filled with forebodings for the future. Enthusiasm for the ideals of the Revolution had blinded the French people to facts which now seem to us glaringly qbvious, and which from the first doomed the Legislative Assembly to failure. For instance, as we saw in the last chapter, all members of the Constituent Assembly were excluded. The deputies of the new Assembly were men who had all their experience to learn ; the bitter wranglings and contentions of the National Assembly were certain to recur. Furthermore, not only was experience denied an entry but the waywas also barred to many men of honest convictions; for in order to qualify as a deputy it was necessary to take the civic oath, which, among other things, implied acquiescence in the Civil Constitution of the clergy. Now many orthodox Catholics were unwilling to take this oath; thus, this condition automatically eliminated those who were honest enough to stand by their convictions. These two difficulties arose from bad legislation. There was another cause which made it also highly improbable that the Assembly would be moderate in tone, or that it would be o... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.