Excerpt from Famous American Statesmen Orators, Past and Present, Vol. 2 of 6: With Biographical Sketches and Their Famous Orations
Antoine Pierre Joseph Marie Barnave was born at Grenoble in Dauphiny, October 22, 1761. He studied law, and, at the age of twenty-two, made himself favorably known by a discourse pronounced before the local Parliament on the Division of Political Powers. On May 5, 1789, the States-General were convoked at Versailles, and Barnave was chosen deputy of the Tiers Etat for his native province. Aside from Mirabeau, to whom, on several occasions, he was opposed, Barnave was the most powerful orator of the National Assembly. After the fall of the Bastille, he advocated the suspensive veto, the system of two Chambers and the establishment of trial by jury in civil causes. In 1790, Barnave became President of the Assembly. On the arrest of the king and the royal family at Varennes, Barnave was one of the three appointed to conduct them back to Paris. His public career came to an end in 1792 with the close of the Constituent Assembly. Shortly afterward he was arrested and imprisoned on suspicion of being in sympathy with the royal family. He was transferred to Paris in 1793, and died by the guillotine on the 30th of November of that year.
Representative Democracy Against Majority Absolutism
Delivered in the National Assembly, August 11, 1791
It Is not enough to desire to be free - one must know how to be free. I shall speak briefly on this subject, for after the success of our deliberations, I await with confidence the spirit and action of this Assembly. I only wish to announce my opinions on a question, the rejection of which would sooner or later mean the loss of our liberties.
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