To compel, they need only to be known; to be known, they need only to be considered and studied.

What, then, is the nation, if it is not the sovereign,--if it is not the source of the legislative power?
The nation is the guardian of the law--the nation is the EXECUTIVE POWER.

Every citizen may assert: "This is true; that is just;" but his opinion controls no one but himself.

That the truth which he proclaims may become a law, it must be recognized.

Now, what is it to recognize a law?
It is to verify a mathematical or a metaphysical calculation; it is to repeat an experiment, to observe a phenomenon, to establish a fact.
Only the nation has the right to say, "Be it known and decreed." I confess that this is an overturning of received ideas, and that I seem to be attempting to revolutionize our political system; but I beg the reader to consider that, having begun with a paradox, I must, if I reason correctly, meet with paradoxes at every step, and must end with paradoxes.