Meeting of the Estates-General, 1789. 31 
Immediately after the entrance of the clergy, the archbishop 
of Vienne, as their leader, was placed at the right of President 
Bailly, while a secretary from the same body was joined to those 
of the assembly.* Then the archbishop, apparently at the 
invitation of the assembly, set forth in a speech the object of 
the second union.’ ‘‘Gentlemen,”’ he said, ‘‘the majority of the 
clergy resolved this morning in the hall where were assembled 
the deputies of the order to the estates-general, that the contents 
of the minutes of the royal session which was held yesterday 
should be left to the decision of the three orders united. I 
request the assembly with which the order of the clergy has 
just united, to proceed immediately to the common verification 
of the credentials of the members of the clergy which have not 
yet been passed upon, that they may be able to deliberate, in 
the general assembly of the representatives of the nation, con- 
cerning everything that occurred in the royal session of which I 
have just spoken.’® Very clearly, he ignored the policy of the 
national assembly which had disposed of this matter the after- 
noon of June 23. If the clergy had any intention of accepting 
the principles of the third estate, their leader did not make 
that known on this occasion. But in closing his speech, evi- 
dently he sought to emphasize the good feeling of the clergy 
toward the national assembly and the comparative unimportance 
of insisting upon form. ‘‘We have established,” he said, “‘by a 
double act, the union of the clergy with your assembly; first by 
our real accession in the meeting at the church of St. Louis; 
second, by the plan of the majority which we have just carried 
out. Particular acts and exact forms are unworthy of our body 
and of so august an assenibly when the question of public right 
is at stake, that which pertains to the truth of acts and leads to 
just and legal affairs.’’ The clergy would pass over formalities 
the necessity of discussing in a general assembly the declarations of the royal 
session. . 
* Point- du jour, 1, 46; Jallet, 102; Procés-verbal, No. 6, 4-5; Assemblée 
nationale, 1, 216; Duquesnoy, I, 126. 
5 Procés-verbal, No. 6, 4; Point du jour, I, 47. 
- 8 Procés-verbal, No. 6, 4, gives just this as the speech of the Archbishop of 
Vienne. 
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