148 Jeanette Needham. 
Necker, or to keep him and then do what he desired. He added 
that in the case of dismissal, bankruptcy was inevitable. 
It may have been this influence which brought the king to 
accept the idea of union which Necker opportunely presented. 
It was that very morning that Necker drafted the project of a 
letter to be presented to the king. In explanation of the step, 
he wrote to some one not known: “If the king wishes, monsieur, 
to avoid today the schism declared by the order of the nobility 
and to prevent the departure of several deputies who leave 
Versailles this very evening, there is no other stand to take 
than to write to the president of the order the enclosed letter 
and to send it at the earliest possible moment, to anticipate 
all other deliberation. I ought to observe to you that it is es- 
sential to write the same thing to the clergy.” This com- 
munication is dated Saturday morning, presumably early, if the 
king were to anticipate action by the upper chambers which | 
‘met regularly at nine o’clock. 
Necker’s conception of the necessary content of the letter 
follows: ‘I have received with satisfaction the proofs which 
the order of the nobility has given me of its confidence in my 
fairness .and of its respectful deference in adopting the dis- 
positions contained in my two declarations of June 23. They 
have been dictated by my love for my people and my desire to 
effect their happiness. The second disposition of my first declar- 
ation invites the three orders to communicate their uncontested 
credentials. I desire that this communication be made today by 
the order of the nobility, which will betake itself for this purpose 
into the hall where the three orders assemble to communicate 
to the clergy and the third estate the procés-verbal of its veri- 
fications of uncontested credentials, with the documents which 
certify these, and to obtain from the other two orders the same 
communication. I await with confidence this new proof of the 
patriotism of the order of the nobility and of its inviolable 
attachment to its king.” 
14 Mercy to Kaunitz, July 4, 1789. Quoted by Wertheimer in Revue his- 
torique, XXV, 327-328. 
15 Quoted by Loménie, in Annales de l’école libre des sciences politiques, V, 
128. The original is in the archives nationales. 
16 Third, 
262 
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Ne 
