40 Jeanette Needham. 
of hostile demonstration at their expense, as they passed from 
the hall of the estates. All day long, a crowd had surged about 
the building, eager to catch the slightest hint of what was going 
on inside. It is not strange that this crowd, irritated by the 
presence of the troops, fearful for the fate of the national as- 
sembly, and worn by the strain of waiting, should have given 
expression to its feelings in some extreme action. Evidently 
as the time for the adjournment of the assemblies approached, 
most of the spectators shifted around into the Avenue de Paris, 
in front of the entrance of the upper orders. Presumably, in 
anticipation of some disturbance, the troops that had been 
stationed before the door of the third estate, were moved into 
the avenue. It was estimated that five to six hundred guards 
were located there and in adjacent streets.” It was only three 
o’clock when the national assembly adjourned,™ but the street 
upon which their entrance opened was practically clear at that 
time. A deputy of the third estate states that he walked 
around the building to find the troops collected in the avenue 
and the crowd in wait for the higher clergy. He lingered for 
some little time, conversing with people in the crowd, and then, 
with other deputies, went to dinner. After they had dined, 
reports reached them that the minority of the clergy feared to 
leave the hall on account of the hostile crowd.“ So it was 
probably five o’clock, if we may trust Jallet, before any of the 
minority dared to venture forth.” 
Doubtless, the entire group was subjected to insults and 
hisses, as Coster claims.!6 The Cardinal de la Rochefoucauld, 
especially, is mentioned as having been hissed!” and the Bishop 
of Senez was hit on the head with a stone. Jallet says a strong 
12 Lettre d’un membre de l’assemblée nationale, 39. 
13 Tbid.; Boullé, Documents inédits, Revue de la révolution, XIII, 75; Jallet, 
102. The latter states that the national assembly had been adjourned for 
some time when the clergy dispersed at 5 o’clock. 
14 Lettre d’un membre de l’assemblée nationale, 39-41. 
15 Jallet, 102. He makes it appear that the closing of the session was 
delayed that the minority might avoid a hostile demonstration. 
16 Coster, Récit, 340. 
17 Young, 180; Bailli de Virieu, 104. Neither one was an eyewitness, or 
even in Versailles. 
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