[p. 544]
|544| moneys of private persons, as they become taxes, public moneys, belong only to the state.
The second demand was the restoration of the church property. The King conceded it entirely, only the former separate administration he refused.
The third article was a form of representation in which all classes of the subjects were to be represented in equal proportion. – The very democratic form of representation has already been spoken of at greater length above. To this wholly indeterminate, concealed demand the King replied that he awaited further proposals on it; this alone he declared, that he would not accede to a special representation of the nobility, at which it seemed here perhaps to be aimed. – Herr Gleich still says on 23 June about this point (Section VII, p. 130): “What conception and intention the commissioners had with it is not easy to guess. For that reason they should in fairness also have declared themselves on it in the assembly.” So on 23 June the sense of this article had still remained a secret.
The fourth article was one which might lie very close to the heart of those members of the estates who could miss the well-known old committee system: uninterrupted exercise of the rights of the estates through a standing committee. – The King replied that the time set for the committee in the royal charter at four weeks for its annual sitting might very well be prolonged and the convocation repeated, if the business required it. For the rest he drew the attention of the estates to the increase of costs. – This latter circumstance was indeed of great significance with the old committees; but it could easily have been said that it might rather become a tacit ground for the prolongation, even uninterrupted duration, of the sittings, even if the business did not require it, than against it. In relation to the old committees this thought might
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