6 



meeting was called to order by Bailly, The correspondence 

 with the master of ceremonies was read and also the record of 

 what liad been done that day previous to the opening of the 

 session. 2^ 



The question was then open to discussion. What action 

 should the Assembly take? Bailly asserts that the deputies 

 "did not treat openly the question of whether the king had 

 the right to suspend the sessions of the Assembly, but the sen- 

 timent was that it would be very dangerous if the king had 

 this right. It was thought that the sessions ought not to be 

 suspended, at least in this way. The principal and funda- 

 mental question was not yet ripe; it was sufficient at the mo- 

 ment to have avoided the danger of separation. It was nec- 

 essary to take measures to prevent its recurrence. ' ' 



The deputies were still desirous of sparing the king; they 

 still threw the responsibility for violent acts upon the ministers, 

 but they w^ere not divided upon the question of their right to 

 assemble. There were some hot-headed members who talked 

 of going to Paris, a course that would have led to a break with 

 the monarch. Mounier is reported to have said that the fear 

 that Sieyes would induce the Assembly to take this step, led 

 him to propose the famous oath.^^ He himself gives a similar 



22 Proems- verbal, i, No. 3. The official account. 



23 "On a ignore que, rendus au jeu de paume. toutes les tMes ^tant 

 parties, I'abb^ Sieyes voulut proliter de cet ^chauffement en proposant 

 de se transferer sur-le-champ k Paris, de s'y constituer et de d^cr^ter au 

 nom de la nation. Cette id^e prenait faveur : I'abbe Sieyes entour^ des 

 siens allait en faire la motion, lorsque Mounier, pour detourner ce coup, 

 propo.sa le serment de rester unis jusqu'A la constitution faite." — Mallet 

 du Pan: M^moires, 2 vols., Paris, 1851, i, p. 165, note. 



