SO eS 
Meeting of the Estates-General, 17809. 149 
This letter makes perfectly clear that Necker, despite his 
opposition to changes in his plan, wished to make use of the 
features of the modified declarations which might aid in the 
attainment of the much-desired union of the orders. ‘The first 
declaration provided for a general assembly upon matters of 
common interest, but guaranteed distinction of orders. The 
upper orders had sanctioned this arrangement, although many 
of the nobility, in view of prospective voting by head, should the 
orders unite, had made reservations. Evidently Necker believed 
that even though the union were forced upon the upper orders, 
the third estate could be restrained from putting into effect its 
plan for a truly national assembly without distinction of orders. 
The communication of credentials provided for in the first 
declaration afforded a plausible pretext for bringing about the 
union which would appease popular opinion and which, at the 
same time, was desired by the king and Necker. 
The action of Necker, the probability of the retirement of 
some of the nobility, the desire to see the estates in operation, 
the king’s knowledge of the prevailing insubordination among 
people and troops, the specific threat from Paris that morning, 
and possibly the advice of Mercy—doubtless all these factors 
induced the king to adopt the idea, although not the content of 
Necker’s letter. Some accounts of the time even claim that 
members of the upper orders themselves asked the king to take 
such a step to save their faces, but yet release them from an 
intolerable situation of impotency.!” 
17 Jallet, 106-107; Biauzat, II, 147; Lescure, Correspondance secréte in- 
édite . . . , II, 367; Necker, Sur l’administration, 116. The first says: ‘‘ La 
noblesse et le haut clergé se firent donner un ordre du roi de se réunir sans 
délai.”” Biauzat, in speaking of the union by letters to the deputies, adds: 
“Qui faisaient semblant de vouloir demeurer isolés dans les salles voisines 
et qui avaient mendié ces letres.’’ Lescure reports rumor: ‘‘ Enfin une 
lettre du roi sollicitée, dit-on, par les nobles récalcitrants, eux-mémes, a mis 
d’accord leur amour-propre avec le seul parti qu’il leur restait 4 prendre.” 
Necker somewhat substantiates the same idea: ‘Si le plus grand nombre 
des députés du clergé et de la noblesse eussent voulu manifester leurs secrétes 
pensées, ils seraient convenus que dans la position singuliére ot ils étaient, le 
roi ne perdait pas leurs intéréts de vue, en les decidant, d’une maniére honorable 
pour eux, 4 une démarche inévitable.”’ Histoire de la rév., 1, 233. The latter 
says on June 26: “ La minorité du clergé, effrayée, de voir chaque jour diminuer 
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