《My Brother is Napoleon》Chapter 38: The Debut in the Loitering (part 1)

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After pacifying Armand, Joseph left the Peterson Theatre and got into a horse-drawn carriage for a short ride home. The two-wheeled carriage went slowly along the road, and since it was a nice day, Joseph put away the carriage shed and looked around.

By this time, the carriage was walking along the Seine River and had already reached Cote d'Ivoire. The Cité is the heart of Paris and the birthplace of the city. Notre Dame de Paris is located on this island. Joseph looked in all directions and could see the high spire of Notre Dame and the new bridge lying over the Seine from afar. The new bridge has the word "new" in its name, but in reality, it is an old bridge built in the 15th century, even the oldest one on the Seine.

The carriage slowed down because there were more people and cars on the street, and this is the most prosperous area of Paris, so it was normal for this to happen. But as the carriage continued to move forward, there were more and more people on the street, almost to the point of shoulder-to-shoulder.

The coachman stopped his horse and turned to Joseph and said, "Sir, I don't know what's happening up ahead, we can't get through. If you want to take a detour and cross the river by another bridge, it will take a long walk, a lot of time, and more money. I think you'd better get off here, walk across this section, and then find a light carriage when you get to the other side of the river, that would be more economical.

Joseph looked ahead and saw that the new bridge was crowded with people, and it was obvious that the carriage would not be able to cross. Joseph knew that the coachman was right, so he nodded, took out two sous from his pocket and handed them to the coachman, then held up his hat, picked up his cane, got out of the coach, and walked along the street towards the New Bridge.

The further I went, the more people there were. The more people there were, the noisier the voices became. Joseph noticed that the faces of almost everyone around him showed a mixture of anxiety and worry, but also a hint of excitement. His ears kept hearing the words.

"What is the third level? The third level is France, it is everything ......"

"We must not have only one vote in the Third Estate. ......"

"Yes, we can't let them have it ......"

"We must have our own ......

"We must defend ourselves ......

"No National Assembly, no Constitution, no one will take a single Sue from us!"

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Joseph took a young man by the hand and asked, "What's going on?"

"The king announced that he had closed the Meni Hall, and some said that the king was going to dissolve the National Assembly! We must not allow him to do that!" the man replied. The man replied.

Before Joseph could answer, another hand reached out and grabbed his arm. Joseph turned his head and saw an equally young, anxious, and excited face: "Sir, we must not allow the privileged classes to trample on us any longer, we are not lowly dirt, we are the real France! Don't you think so?"

Obviously, at this time, it would be unwise to express any disagreement. So Joseph immediately replied, "You're right, we can't let them trample on us like this.

"A constitution, we need a constitution! We need a constitution!" someone shouted from a short distance away.

"Yes, we need a constitution, we can't let the king and the privileged do what they want!

"The king will send troops to suppress us. I heard that he is quietly mobilizing his army right now, and he plans to kill us all when the time is right, just like St. Bartholomew's túshā. Another voice suddenly sounded.

The people on the sidelines quieted down, people looked at each other, and everyone could see the fear in the others' eyes.

"They ...... They are capable of such things ......" said a man. One man said.

"We must not let them do this."

"Soldiers are third class, too, and they won't ......"

"But the soldiers have to obey orders, and they can use the money to buy the mercenaries, and use the money they get from us to hire the hillbillies to kill us!

"We have to be ready, we can't just let them kill us. ......"

Listening to these cries, Joseph knew that history had finally come to this point.

A few days earlier, at the sānjí conference, the king, while endorsing the request to increase the number of third-class delegates from three hundred to six hundred, had insisted on the traditional way of limiting each class to one vote. In France, ninety-eight percent of the people belonged to the third class, but they could only cast one vote. The first class of clergy and the second class of hereditary nobility also had one vote. The rules of the game mean that no matter how you play, the privileged classes can do whatever they want with their votes. The interests of the vast third class were not guaranteed.

This way of distributing votes is indeed a French tradition, but at this time, King Louis XVI expected the third class, which had become economically stronger than ever and had been influenced by the Enlightenment, to do whatever he wanted, just as the serfs had done more than a hundred years ago.

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Naturally, the representatives of the third class could not accept such an arrangement. The whole third class is not completely unable to accept the tax increase, but while they accept the tax, they also demand more rights. To put it more clearly, it is possible to ask for money, but you have to give something in exchange, not take money for nothing.

When the king proposed an sānjí council, the Third Estate saw it as an opportunity for them to gain more rights, and as soon as the news of the upcoming sānjí council broke, Sieyès published a political pamphlet, "What is the Third Estate," which clearly stated that the Third Estate should be given a higher status. By "sticking to tradition," the king was now standing in complete opposition to the entire Third Estate.

Naturally, the representatives of the Third Estate would not, and the entire Third Estate behind them would not allow it, submit to the King in this way, so they declared themselves a "National Assembly" composed of representatives of the Third Estate, who claimed absolute authority over the legislative power and claimed that they would make the first constitution for France.

This "usurpation" was certainly not permitted by the king. Louis XVI, therefore, ordered the closure of the Great Hall of Ményi, which had been provided to the third class of delegates for their deliberations. There were also rumors that he was going to dissolve by force the "illegal" National Assembly. It was at this time that the news reached this place.

At that moment, a middle-aged cleric-like man appeared at the bridge of the New Bridge, and the crowd immediately cheered him.

"Mr. Sieyès! It's Mr. Sieyès!" Someone shouted.

"Mr. Sieyès, Mr. Sieyès, what shall we do? What shall we do?" someone else shouted.

Mr. Sieyès boarded a cart pushed by a salesman on the bridge and waved to the crowd: "Don't worry, this doesn't scare us. We will not disband if we cannot create a constitution for France that truly represents the will of the people ......"

A round of applause came from all around. Joseph also followed the applause, he looked at the new bridge is crowded with people, if you have to cross the river there, only to be crushed clothes. He and the carriage, like the light carriage, need to take another detour ......

However, as the news spread, the whole of Paris was abuzz with excitement. Almost all the people flocked to the streets. Everywhere you look, people are talking and whispering. Every street was as crowded as a vegetable market. As a result, it was not until nightfall that Joseph returned to his place.

The next day at noon, Joseph heard the news that the delegates of the National Assembly had gone to Meni Hall in the rain to continue the discussion on the constitution, but they were blocked by the army sent by the king. So the delegates, led by the first president of the National Assembly, Bayi, decided to defend the new National Assembly and they went to the King's Tennis Court near the Hall. There, the third-ranking delegates took an oath that any one of them would work on the constitution of the kingdom to improve the monarchy and would never separate from the National Assembly.

Many people were worried that the King would not send his soldiers to the Royal Tennis Court to arrest these "daring" third-rank delegates. But for several days in a row, there was no movement from the king's side. Instead, a group of first and second-class delegates, led by the Duke of Orléans and the Marquis de Lafayette, joined the National Assembly. The House of Orléans was one of the most prominent families in France, while the Marquis de Lafayette was the commander-in-chief of the French **force in the North American War of Independence, and his command played the most crucial role in the decisive battle of Yorktown. As a result, he was called the "Hero of the New World" by the Americans. His victory was one of the few French victories over England in many years. As a result, the Marquis de Lafayette was a powerful figure in the army. This act of the Duke of Orléans and the Marquis de Lafayette immediately boosted the morale of the National Assembly and strengthened its legitimacy. They could now claim that they were not only the representatives of the third class but the representatives of the whole of France, including the first and second classes.

A few days later, the National Assembly officially changed its name to the National Constitutional Assembly and was ready to start formally drafting the "Constitution of the Kingdom of France". At the same time, rumors began to spread in the market that the king had sent a large number of troops, especially the mercenaries, to Paris. Many supporters of the Third Estate began to prepare weapons and prepare for battle.

During such frenzy and apprehension, Armand's "Spartacus" was finally staged.

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