14 Fred Morrow Fling 



his acts.^ Such a man would know little of the intrigues of the 

 court and of the assembly, of the great underground currents of 

 the revolution, of the serious dangers of the future. Whatever 

 came within his limited vision, he described well and honestly, 

 seemingly desirous of making a reliable record of what he had 

 seen and heard, even to the extent of repeatedly acknowledging 

 that he could not recall exactly what he had said or done on a 

 certain important occasion.- 



But however well informed and honest the writer of Memoires 

 may be, no guarantee can be given of the infallibility of his mem- 

 ory. Bailly knew where the weak point lay in his record and he 

 knew how to strengthen it. Only a part, and the smaller part, 

 of his Memoires rests upon his unaided memory; for the larger 

 part of his work he refreshed his memory by turning to the most 

 valuable sources attainable. No better sources can be had to- 

 day, in writing the history of the year 1789, than Bailly made 

 use of in writing his Memoires. An examination of the two 

 volumes shows that he has cited the following sources : the 

 Proces-verhal of the electors of Paris,^ the Recit des seances des 

 deputes des communes^ (May 5-June 12, 1789), the Proces- 

 verbal^ of the National Assembly, the Proces-verbaP of the city 



^Ibid., I, p. 50: In reply to Mirabeau's remark that Bailly 's conduct was 

 so much the more remarkable as his entire fortune was at the mercy of the 

 government, Bailly replied, "Je n'ai pas peur, le roi est trop juste pour me 

 punir jamais d'avoir fait mon devoir." 



2 These very frank avowals of ignorance are frequent. The major part 

 have been given in a foot-note above. 



^Proc^s-verbal des seances et dk'ibt rations de Vassemblte ^inSrale des 

 Hecteurs de Paris, liunis d. Vhdtel de ville le 14 juillet J^8g, 3 vols. Paris, 

 1790. 



* Bailly refers to this record as follows: " I,es adjoints au bureau, ou les 

 d^put^s des gouvernements, tenaient des notes, et c'estsur ces notes qu'a €i€ 

 dresse le r^cit des seances jusqu'au 12 juin, et qui a ^t^ imprim^. II me sert 

 de guide." (I, p. 95). See, also, I, p. 122. 



^Procis-verbal de I' Assemble naiionale, 75 vols., Paris, 1789-1791. 



^Prods-verbal des stances de l^asseniblte des reprtsentanis de la comt?i7tne 

 de Paris. Printed in Paris in 1789. This record of the first assembly of the 

 representatives of the commune, July 25-Sept. 18, forms the first volume of 

 the Actes de la commune de Patis (Paris, 1894), edited by M. Sigismond 

 Lacroix. Th^ Proc^ s-verbal oithe. seconti assembly, beginning September 

 19, 1789, is found in volume two of the Actes. 



344 



