The Pros And Cons Of The French Revolution

Contrary to Rousseau’s belief that the monarch should not have the power to veto, this provision of the current constitution (the Constitution of 1791) would empower the monarch to veto legislation for up to five years. This provides one essential check on the immense and wrong power of the National Assembly because it has too much power, with no other institutions to check that power. The National Assembly’s conception of power will ultimately lead to the ruin and devastation of France, largely through the lack of leadership, skill, direction, and foresight of the members of the National Assembly. The king needs to maintain his monarchical powers and rights, while the National Assembly needs to have serious checks on their powers before the
Burke toys with the idea presented by revolutionaries that the French population has declined and will continue to decline with a monarch in power. He quickly demolishes this claim by stating, “That talk of the failure of the king and the monarchy is exaggerated, as evidenced by the growth in the French population from 18 million in 1700 to about 25 million now” (9). In addition to fighting claims about the population due to a monarchist leader, Burke also says that the nobility are not the “greedy despots; many of them are brilliant statesmen, scientists, musicians, and artists” (9). Revolutionaries are infuriated by the distinction of the nobility, not the wealth of them as many come off as a “mere work of
Along with this, the power of the National Assembly needs to be weakened and the maintenance of social order and rights to property shall be guaranteed with this revision of the constitution. As Burke states in his Reflections, “the National Assembly has no fundamental law, no strict convention, no respected usage to restrain it” (151). Burke claims that rather than focusing on being obliged to conform a fixed constitution, “they have a power to make a constitution which shall conform to their designs” and not the people’s designs (151). Not only does Burke attack the lack of fortitude within the National Assembly, he also believes it is the source of the calamity of the French Revolution as he claims “this fond election of evil, would appear perfectly unaccountable if we did not consider the composition of the National Assembly” (152). Rather than having ill-suited people in the National Assembly, the government should be filled with men of talent and virtue and a king who maintains his monarchical power and the right to veto