‘Meeting of the Estates-General, 1789. I51 
Luxemburg, I expect from the fidelity and the affection for my 
person of the order over which you preside, its reunion with the 
other two orders.’’ To this the duke replied: ‘‘Sire, the order 
of the nobility will always be eager to give to Your Majesty, 
proofs of its devotion for you, but I dare say to you that it has 
never given more striking proofs than on this occasion; for it 
is not its cause but that of the crown which it defends today.”’ 
“The cause of the crown?” the king is said to have replied. 
“Yes, Sire,’ the Duke continued, ‘‘the cause of the crown. 
The nobility has nothing to lose by the reunion which Your 
Majesty desires. A consideration established by centuries of 
glory, and transmitted from generation to generation, its im- 
mense wealth and also the talents and virtues of several of its 
members will assure to it in the national assembly all the in- 
fluence of which it can be solicitous, and I am certain that it 
will be received with rapture. But has Your Majesty been 
made to see the results of this union for you? The nobility will 
obey, Sire, if you ordain it; but, as its president, as the loyal 
servitor of Your Majesty, I dare implore you to permit me to 
present further reflections upon so decisive a step.” 
The king is said to have assented and the Duke made an 
elaborate argument against the union because it was baneful to 
the royal power: ‘Your Majesty,” he continued, ‘‘is not ig- 
norant of what degree of power public opinion and the rights of 
the nation discern in its representatives; it is such, this power, 
. that the sovereign authority itself with which you are clothed 
remains mute in its presence. This unlimited power exists in 
its plenitude in the estates-general, in whatever manner they 
may be composed, but their division into three chambers checks 
their action and preserves yours. United, they no longer know 
a master; divided, they are your subjects. The déficit in your 
finances and the spirit of insubordination which has infected the 
army, engage, I know, the deliberations of your councils, but 
there remains to you, Sire, your faithful nobility. It has to 
choose at this moment between going, as Your Majesty invites 
it to do, to share with its co-deputies the exercise of the legislative 
power, or of dying to defend the prerogatives of the crown. 
Its choice is not a matter of doubt; it will die and it will not 
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