47^^ P. S. Reinsch fixed as the ownership of at least twelve slaves. With the Revolu- tion came representation in the national assemblies ; the Creole French were at that time especially popular and influential in French society ; so their request for representation was readily accorded. Seventeen cahicrs supported this demand ; that of the Tiers Fjat of Versailles even went so far as to propose complete assimilation of the colonies.' The idea of colonial representation in parliament is nowhere directly suggested by the French pre-Revolutionary pub- licists, although it is completely in accord with their general sys- tem. It remained for the practical American, Benjamin Franklin, and for Adam Smith, to propose in its concrete form this extreme measure of " Latin assimilation." Its adoption by the French na- tion at this time was undoubtedly due to the influence and enter- prise of the Creoles residing in France, who relied on the traditional policy first announced by Louis XIII. in his edict of 1642 " que les descendants des Fran^ais habitues es dites iles seront reputes naturels franqais, capable de toutes charges et honneurs." By the constitution of 1795, the colonies were absolutely as- similated to the French national territory- and treated as depart- ments. Before these provisions could produce any practical results they were abrogated by the Consular Constitution of 1799, which deprived the colonies of national representation and placed them again under a regime of special law. Not until the end of the Monarchy of the Restoration, however, was colonial administra- tion definitely organized. By the ordinance of February 9, 1827, there was established in each colony an appointive general council with purely advisory powers. Under the July Monarchy, by the CItartc Coloniale of April 24, 1833, this council was made elective, with a very high qualification for suffrage (30,000 fr. movable property, or the annual payment of 300 fr. direct taxes). This local assembly sent two delegates to Paris to act as intermediaries between the colony and the ministry. As the colonies had no deputies or senators, the Council retained the services of members of the Chamber and the Senate, who in return for a handsome fee defended the colonial interests within the national parliament. The Revolutionary government of 1848 returned to the policy of absolute assimilation ; it abrogated the system of special laws and discontinued the general councils ; as a compensation the colonies re- ceived the right of representation in the national parliament, under a system of manhood suffrage in which the newly emancipated negroes were included. ' Archives P.irl., V. 2 20. 2 Art. 6. "Les Colonies franfaises sent parties integrantes de la Rcptiblique, el soul soumises a la memr loi constitutionelle."
