1789. 8vo, pp. 140; aside from some occasional light marginal soiling, a lovely bright copy; uncut and unopened, stitched as issued in the original blue wrappers, some minor wear at head and tail of spine, with some light edgewear but otherwise a lovely copy. First edition, and a lovely fresh copy, of this political tract on the nature of constitutional governance and public finances. Though published anonymously by a concerned ‘Citoyen de Paris’, the pamphlet is attributed to Antoine-Étienne-Nicolas Fantin Desodoards (1738-1820), the Vicar General of Embrun who adopted the principles of the new regime and renounced the ecclesiastical state.
In presenting his ‘considerations on the government that is suitable for France’, Fantin Desodoards looks to both England and America for comparison, including chapters on the English parliament and American congress, before turning to a discussion of the recently established Assemblée nationale, created on June 17th, 1789 with the support of some members of the nobility and clergy. It became the Assemblée nationale Constituante on July 9th, and governed France within a framework of a system of constitutional monarchy until the promulgation of the Constitution in September 1791, when it was replaced by the National Legislative Assembly. The work concludes with a discussion on the sale of clerical property as a means of restoring state finances.
In July 1790, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy law was passed which saw the immediate subordination of the Catholic church in France to the government.