Excerpt from History of the French Revolution, Vol. 2: Its Causes and Consequences Another short interval of hope and joy ensued, when the Constituent Assembly ceded its place to the Legislative Assembly, (the name assumed by the new chamber.) There was a change and new swearing, and this always seemed to appease the multitude for a moment. The constitution being the work of the middle classes, these, in the feeling of their strength, thought it inviolable, and forgot that there were still two parties in the state - those who had lost every thing, and those who had yet every thing to gain - who were not going to sit down in quiet content and veneration for laws which were but the production of the ambition of their fellows, and which, if one class could make, another could break with equal right. When the law of the land is despoiled of its sanctity, and becomes but the expression of the will of the people - when that will changes (and what is more fickle?) the law must change with it, and indeed ceases to be law. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.