Meeting of the Estates-General, 1789. 119 
XIV 
The swiftness with which the outlawed national assembly 
pronounced judgment upon the royal policy, proclaimed in the 
session of June 23, could not but have disconcerted court and 
government circles. Its determined persistence in its course 
during the following days, practically ignoring the fact that 
a royal session had been held, doubtless caused alarm. This 
apprehension must have increased when, on June 24, the attempt 
of the clergy to take action upon the king’s declarations drove a 
hundred fifty-odd of their members into the national assembly. 
The addition of a large group of the nobility the following day, 
as well as continued accessions of individual members of the 
clergy and nobles raised the number in the hall of the national 
assembly to not less than eight hundred by the close of June 26. 
As already emphasized, popular opinion interpreted the attitude 
of all who sat within the general hall to be identical. All were 
looked upon as supporters of the policy of the third estate. 
The mere existence of a body which included at least two thirds 
of all the deputies to the estates-general was a constant warning 
to the government not to push things to extremities, especially 
when public opinion was solidly behind this body. 
Without doubt, the attitude of the populace in Versailles, 
but more especially in Paris, was a most potent factor in deter- 
_ mining the king’s action on June 27. The tension in Versailles 
increased daily after the royal session. The attack upon the 
Archbishop of Paris was only one manifestation of popular 
antagonism to the conservatives. The same night,. June 24, the 
windows of the church of Notre Dame were shattered, apparently 
from the inside. As a consequence, the king was prevented from 
attending a service there the next day in honor of the late queen.! 
During the most of the night of June 24-25, people surged through 
the streets of Versailles, while the soldiers remained under arms 
for patrol service. Boullé reported that the guards at the 
chateau were doubled the evening of June 24.2, The next morning 
1 Jallet, 105; Boullé, Documents inédits, Revue de la révolution, XIII, 75. 
The latter does not tell how the king was prevented from attending the service. 
2 Jallet. 103; Boullé, Documents inédits, Revue de la révolution, XIII, 75-76. 
233 
