Meeting of the Estates-General, 1789. 35 
fact that of the clergy who had united with the assembly, more 
than three fourths were from the lower ranks of that estate, 
being largely curés.'18 An explanation of why these men should 
support the body that seemed to promise reform may be found, 
doubtless, in this other fact, that they represented the class of 
country pastors, who no less than the peasantry, had suffered 
under the arbitrary exactions of the ‘‘old regime.’’ Conse- 
quently, they felt most keenly the deplorable condition of the 
country and the need of regeneration. Of the upper clergy, 
very few had come. The archbishops of Vienne and Bordeaux 
and the bishops of Coutances, Rodez, and Chartres completed 
the list of higher ecclesiastics'® who had renounced the privileges 
enjoyed in common with the nobles by joining an assembly 
opposed to the existing system, of which “‘privileges’’ formed 
no inconsiderable part. 
Point du jour, I, 47, gives the following list; ‘“‘ Présens, 151, absens, 143; ” 
Assemblée nationale, 1, 214: ‘‘ Deux curés de tous ceux qui avaient signé 
l’arrété, ont resté dans la chambre, néanmoins le nombre de la majorité n’a 
pas été altéré, il était de 151 contre 145; ’’ Duquesnoy, I, 126: “‘ Mgr. l’arche- 
véque de Vienne, celui de Bordeaux, les évéques de Rodez, de Chartres et 
de Coutances ... suivi de prés de 150 autres ecclésiastiques;” Etats- 
généraux, Extrait du Journal de Paris, 1, 107. This gives 151 present, 143 
absent. 
Bulletins d’un agent secret, No. 47 (La révolution frangaise, XXIV, 71), 
gives I51 as the number, but possibly this came from the Point du jour; 
Branche (Biauzat II, 139, footnote) wrote on the evening of June 24: “ Le 
clergé, en majorité, est venu se joindre a nous ce matin, au nombre de 158 
contre 142;”’ Procés-verbal, No. 6, 5-14, gives a list of the clergy that joined. 
There we find 147 names and one other who came at the close of the call, 
making 148 in all. It there were 151, as the more reliable witnesses assert, 
then some of the names must have been omitted in the Procés-verbal. Mercure 
de France: Journal Politique de Bruxelles, No. 27, 40. It gives I51 present, 
143 absent, possibly following the Point du jour. 
18 Based on a computation from the list given in Procés-verbal, No. 6, 
4-15. 
19 Bailli de Virieu, 103; Lettre d’un membre de l’assemblée nationale, 38; 
Duquesnoy, I, 126; Point du jour, I, 45-46; Assemblée nationale, I, 214; Procés- 
verbal, No. 6, 5-14, list of clergy given; Branche (Biauzat, II, 139, footnote) 
asserts that there were six of the highest clergy. He names the two arch- 
bishops and the three bishops and says that there was another whose name 
he could not recall. 
149 
