Acting quickly, I pressed the map case into Phillipe’s hand, stating, “Take this down to Master LaMontangue and have him ready the presses. This needs to be printed tonight, ready for morning delivery. He’ll judge the number of printings necessary; I’m sure he’ll want to print extra runs.” I flashed him a smile, closing the door before he could object.

I turned back to look at Monsieur Abelliard; he had something of a smile on his face, though his beard made it difficult to distinguish whether it was amused at my maneuver or amused at me. Madame covered her lips with a slight hand, eyes bright. My gaze caught hers and a serious smile slipped into place as I tore myself away from her to look at her husband. “I take it that you are not altogether pleased by this Declaration.”

There was the barest frown before he captured a look of steady calm and responded, “In a way, no I am not. This Declaration is a huge step for France to take. Daunting.” He began to pace, “If the National Assembly wanted to make an impact, they have fulfilled their purpose. I’m just not sure if France is ready for this kind of message.”

“What do you mean, Bernard?” Madame interjected with her velvet voice before I could voice my own same question.

“They are not taking into account the history and nature of the French people,” he told Madame, shaking his head slightly as he looked towards the ceiling for a moment. His hand waved in dismissal as his gaze returned to me, “With their elimination of the former system of feudal powers, the relations of liege and subject, the National Assembly has created a void in the power structure. The people will listen to them, but the National Assembly has very little authority invested in it. But…” Monsieur trailed off for a moment, gathering his words to his breast before releasing them, “But with their limited authority, they have destroyed the way of life that we have lived for centuries. So much that has always been is now undone. When they abolished feudalism, they broke what we associated with authority. With this Declaration, they state that man is his own authority and he is beholden to no one but himself. They list rights, but no where do they list responsibilities. The people will read this document, written by philosophers, and that’s when the trouble will begin.”

My lips pursed. Madame remained quiet, fading into the background. I looked to her for a brief moment, then turned back to the Monsieur, “So you do not believe that the National Assembly is doing the right thing by establishing this as its preamble.”

He nodded, “I do not. This needs to be a period of reformation. There are problems, I will readily admit, but I do not believe that this is a time to destroy the tablets with which our laws have been written on in an attempt to right injustice. We should be working with what we have, not with what we may but do not currently have.”