Remonstrance of the Prince of Condé

yourselves, so that you cannot pronounce any sentence against them. And what more is needed? Let one look at the capital city of this Kingdom, where your seat is; let one take note of the extreme cruelties that are ordinarily committed there by the populace, and this before your eyes, with your knowledge, consent, and instigation. Let one consider the refusal you made to the sieur de Briffac Lord of Briffac to issue an ordinance to repress these popular tumults. Let one weigh, as is appropriate, that the majority of you, in order to better show that you no longer wish to use justice but force, have become soldiers instead of Presidents and Counselors; they have changed their pens for swords, and their long robes for breastplates, acting themselves as chiefs and captains, walking in public armed, and committing other such insolences, as unworthy of their station as they are well suited to the corruption of their lives. Let one think, I say, of all these things; and if it is so that rebels cannot judge rebellion, that disturbers of the public peace cannot take cognizance of sedition, and that those who infringe upon the Edicts of the King are incapable of judging the crime of leze Maieſté treason; if it is, I say, so that those who deserve to be condemned ought not to condemn others: you cannot deny that those you have condemned have sufficient reason not only to have challenged you, but also to have you punished in due time and place, according to the merit of your injustices. A thing that the greater part of this Kingdom desires