Inffuciicc of the Breton Deputation 41 



April 30.^ On May 8, he prepared a motion which he 

 intended to present at Once, but of which we hear nothing- 

 further. It expressed the policy of inertia and reads as 

 follows: ''I, therefore, move, gentlemen, that we come 

 heie each day at 9 in the morning and remain until 2 

 o'clock in the afternoon, in order to await the arrival of 

 tlie Clergy and the Nobility, and in case of failure by 

 tliese tv\o corporations, or by one of them, to have united 

 with us by next Tuesday, a motion shall be made on this 

 same day tending to operate without further delay and 

 by the immense means we have in ourselves, the prosper- 

 ity of our country and the happiness of the best of kings."- 

 On May 13, the Breton deputation concluded that the 

 time for action had arrived. The obscure manifesto con- 

 tained in the motion of Le Koulx was replaced by a mo- 

 tion which Le Chapelier was instructed to draw up" and 

 which he presented in the assembly of the Third Estate 

 the next day.^ In a letter of Boulle of May 15, the im- 

 port of this motion is given as follows: ''The second mo- 

 tion (i. e., Le Chapelier's) was to publish a declaration 



'Ibid. "Le soir, je rencontrai M. Malouet dans le pare ayant .50 

 personnes autour de lui. J'attaquai vigoreusement les principes qu' 

 il avait etablis le matin, et je le battis si completement qu'il fut 

 oblige de s'excuser siir E-a faible poitrine de ne pouvoir me repondre. 

 Hier matin il arriva avec un discours apprete, dont la conclusion 

 etait la deputation. M. de Mounier, de Grenoble, le seconda, et il fut 

 propose que tons les votants pour la deputation passassent d'un cote, 

 et voila mes moutons a courrir a nommer entre eux des deputes." 



=Ibid. 



^Boulle, May 22. "Cette seconde motion (Le Chapelier's) venait 

 de la Bretagne; elle avait ete convenue entre nous et M. Chapelier 

 charge de la presenter I'avait fait avec applaudissement." Revue de 

 la Revolution, vol. XI, p. 16. 



The decision of the Breton deputies was reached at 9:30 on the 

 evcnirg of May 13, and the formal draught of the motion was prob- 

 ably not presented to the assembled deputation, for Le Roulx wrote 

 on May 15: "Nous n'eumes pas le temps de lire cette motion," and 

 yet he was present at the meeting. If it had been laid before the 

 deputation there would have been no necessity of reading it. 



'Letter of Boulle, May 15. Revue de la Revolution, vol. XI, p. 12. 



247 



