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16 Jeanette Needham. 
Evidently, there was one proposal which seems to have voiced 
the almost unanimous sentiment of the assembly, that of aban- 
doning Versailles as a very effective way to combat the attempt 
against free deliberation. Duquesnoy wrote that he felt assured 
that such a step would be taken within a week if the hall were 
not freed, or if there were no longer hopes of conciliation with 
one of the other orders. But however favorable the attitude of 
the first two orders might have been, the presence of the troops 
seemed to preclude the realization of any hope of union. The 
indignant deputies had not considered merely the matter of 
removal in itself. Apparently, they had discussed also the 
desirability of certain places of which, up to that time, Nantes 
seemed to have the preference.” 
Presumably, as another means of protest against the govern- 
told, seem more or less related to this matter of removing the troops, we 
may assume that they came in during this period after Mounier’s motion. 
26 Duquesnoy, I, 125. “Il y en a une qui a passé de bouche en bouche 
et qui tot ou tard sera adoptée.’’ Courrier de Provence, Lettre XIII, 12. 
This account gives the following as one of the provisions of the Mounier 
motion: ‘‘Quesi le roi ne les écartait pas, l’assemblée nationale se verrait 
forcée de se transférer ailleurs.”” Bulletin d’un agent secret, No. 47 (in La 
révolution francaise, XXIV, 71), says of the deputation, “‘ pour se plaindre 
et déclarer que si, dans vingt-quatre heures, l’assemblée nationale n avait 
point une liberté entiére, elle se transporterait dans un lieu ot elle pfit jouir 
pleinement de sa liberté.’”’ This man frequently mentions having Mirabeau’s 
paper before him, but, in this instance, it seems hardly possible. Very clearly 
he wrote June 25 and Mirabeau’s Lettre XIII includes the accounts of June 
23, 24 and 25, so it does not seem likely that the latter account was available 
on the same day, June 25. The matter of removal must have been discussed, 
but it is not at all probable that it was incorporated in Mounier’s motion, for 
no others mention it as a part of that proposal. The Courrier did not have 
the accounts written up regularly. Furthermore, Mirabeau, the nominal 
editor, had two associates who did the work for him frequently, so that may 
account for the statement that the motion had such a provision. Where 
the author of the Bulletin d’un agent secret got his information concerning the 
assembly, is not clear. 
Duquesnoy alone mentions the place which seemed to be most favored 
for the seat of the assembly should it be obliged to change, but Arthur Young 
wrote on June 20 (Travels through France, 171) after he had commented 
upon the oath of the tennis court: ‘‘ Their expectations were so little favorable, 
that expresses were sent off to Nantes, intimating that the national assembly 
might possibly find it necessary to take refuge in some distant city.” 
130 
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