Meeting of the Estates-General, 1789. 9 
under which the order was given is taken into consideration, it 
_ may well be assumed that it was intended to mean more than 
appeared on its face and that by the execution of this one com- 
_ mand, the government anticipated the carrying out of a larger 
: art of the policy outlined i in the royal session. If the deputies 
of strangers. 
In addition to the letters, the government sent to Bailly the 
addresses and declaration of June 23.9 Thus it asserted further 
that the king was maintaining his position despite the fact that 
he had kept Necker, who had opposed the work of the previous 
day. And it may well have been a question to the assembly as 
- to just what the real attitude of Necker was and whether he 
_ had any connection with this step. But whatever the govern- 
t _ ment might have hoped to attain by such action, the assembly, 
after having annulled all that the documents represented, by 
their action of the afternoon of June 23, refused—so Bailly 
nationale says of this letter: “‘ M. Bailly a fait l’ouverture de la séance par 
exposer qu’il avait regu une lettre de M. le grand maiire.”’ In speaking of 
this error, Brette says (La révolution francaise, XXIII, 61, footnote): ‘‘ Ce 
mot ne s’employait jamais alors pour désigner le grand maitre des cérémonies, 
mais bien le grand maitre de la maison du roi, titulaire d’une charge con- 
siderable dont l|’hétel était voisin de celui des Menus.”’ As to the contents, 
the Point du jour states: “ M. le président a lu une lettre de M. le garde-des- 
sceaux et une autre de M. de Brézé, pour que | entrée de la salle des députés 
du tiers état tit désormais dans la rue du Chantier.’”’ This would indicate 
that both referred to the same thing. Bailly wrote: ‘ Je recus une lettre 
de M. le grand maitre des cérémonies, qui m’instruisait que dorénavant les 
députés des communes entreraient par la rue des chantiers.’’ This would 
indicate that only the one from the grand master-of-ceremonies dealt with 
_ the place of entrance. Neither the Procés-verbal nor the Assemblée nationale 
mentions the contents of the letters. But we have Barentin’s own statement 
that on the evening of June 23, he had sent to Bailly a letter in regard to the 
place of entrance for the third estate. In La révolution frangaise (XXIII, 
71, footnote), Brette quotes the following extract from a bulletin of Barentin, 
dated June 24: “‘ Je join ici le bulletin de ce qui s’est passé 4 la Chambre du 
Tiers. La lettre de moi qui y est annoncée est celle par laquelle, d’aprés les 
ordres de Votre Majesté, j’ai écrit hier 4 M. Bailly de prévenir MM. les députés 
d’arriver par la rue des Chantiers.”’ 
9 Procés-verbal, No. 6, 2; Bailly, I, 225. 
123 
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