Influence of the HreUm Deputation 27 



sailles was to attempt to form a common cahier, as if the 

 province were to be r(?presented as a whole and not bj 

 senedianssces. They arrived at the States General with 

 an experience and from a political atmosphere entirely 

 different from that of their colleagues. They had been 

 the leaders in a struggle Avhich had thoroughly uniiied 

 and crystallized opinicm. In Bretagne, the time for hesi- 

 tation on the part of the Third Estate had long passed. 

 Revolution had been boldly declared and all hopes of com- 

 promise with the privileged orders abandoned. As Du- 

 bois-Crance writes : "It is, so to speak, from the center 

 {foyer) of its insurrection that the people (those of Bre- 

 tague) had drawn the elements which were to cause their 

 rights to prevail and to manifest their will in the great 

 assembly of the representatives of the nation."^ The dep- 

 uties of Bretagne wislied to repeat at Versailles the tac- 

 tics which had in their province led to success so far as 

 events had as yet shown — they were prepared to siunmon 

 the privileged orders before arguing with them. It was 

 this which gave decision and definiteness to their speeches 

 and propositions in the States General, and it was an ele- 

 ment of their Breton character, called franchise by them- 

 selves, which caused them to state without circumlocution 

 what their opinions were. Finally, their position was like 

 that of an army which had burned its bridges behind it — 

 to retreat meant destruction. Unless the radical course 

 they had begun was definitely carried through, the No- 

 bility of their province threatened to take fearful ven- 

 geance for the events at the close of 1788 and the begin- 

 ning of 1789.- Their momentary safety was due to the 



'Extract in Aulard. La Societc des Jacobins, I, p. XII. 



-Cherest, La chute de Vancien regime, II, 376. "Jusqu'a la der- 

 ni6re minute, I'aristocratie bretonne resta sur la breche, harcelant le 

 tiers etat de poursuites sans repit, et semblant pi-endre a tache de 

 soulever centre elle des rancunes inoubliables." 



233 



