Meeting of the Estates-General, 17809. 57 
The dissenters had apprised the rest of their order of their 
intentions and explained the motives for their desertion in a 
letter to the Duke of Luxemburg, who presided over the nobility. 
They stated that while they respected their order and its rights, 
they regarded it as an indispensable duty to go to the hall where 
the plurality of the estates-general was found, that they might 
give to the nation a proof of their zeal and to the king a testi- 
monial of their devotion in accepting the step that he considered 
so necessary to the welfare of the state. Their chief desire was 
to see the remainder of their order take this view of the situa- 
tion. But for themselves, as public men and the representatives 
of all France, which called for the estates-general, stern duty 
had impelled them to this course which they regarded as the 
grandest act of devotion of which the love of country rendered 
them capable.*” 
From this statement of their position, it is clear that the 
minority of the nobles was committed generally to the procedure 
je veux votre bon heur; ja vais m’en occuper de tout mon pouvoir; vous 
applaudirez ce soir, si vous voulez.”” Found in Es: 7s historiques sur les causes 
et les effets de la rév. de France .. . par C. F. Beavilieu, I, 257. 
17 Duquesnoy (I, 130) states that such a letter was sent; the Courrier de 
Provence (Lettre XIII, 23-24) gives the text of this letter as an annex to this 
number; Procés-verbal des séances de la chambre de l’ordre de la Noblesse, June 
25, 1789, p. 264. The nobles themselves requested that this letter should be 
printed. Under date of Versailles, June 25, the following note was sent to 
the editors of the Journal de Paris: ‘‘ Nous nous sommes déterminés, MM., a 
nous transporter ce matin a la salle des Etats-Généraux. Nous rendons trés 
incessamment un compte public de notre conduite, et nous vous prions d’insérer 
cette lettre dans votre Journal, afin que nos commettans soient promptement 
instruits de notre démarche et de notre résolution de leur en soumettre les 
motifs. 
Nous avons l’honneur d’étre, etc. 
Signe: Stan. de Clermont-Tonnerre du Pont; 
le Duc de la Rochefoucauld; le Comte de 
Rochechouart; le Comte de Lally-Tolendal; 
Dionis du Séjour; de Lusignem; le Marquis 
de Montesquiou, Députés de Paris.” 
Quoted in Etats-Généraux, Extrait du journal de Paris, des 24, 25, 26, 27 Juin 
1789, I, 108. The full text of the letter addressed to the order by the 
minority is given in the Mercure de France: Journal Politique de Bruxelles, 
No. 27, 44-46. 
57% 
