50 Charles Kuhlmann 



in pointing out the dangers to the Third Estate, whether 

 it accepted or rejected the mediation of the king, urged 

 the deputation and address demanded b}^ Le Chapelier 

 the day before as a condition of acceptance.^ The dep- 

 uties of BretagTie were drawn to support this plan by two 

 powerful considerations, namely, the necessity they felt of 

 acquainting the king with the real sentiments of the Third 

 Estate and the opportunity it gave them to inform the 

 people of their position. The address, drawn up by Le 

 Chapelier, 2 was presented on June 6. 



aprcs recourse was had to the copies kept by the different deputies, 

 since the secretaries were unable to determine the question positively. 

 TTie reporter for the Journal de Paris wrote for the session of May 

 30: "Dans presque toutes les copies on a trouve avcc, en ligue, mais 

 efface, et aprcs, au-dessus, entre deux lignes, mais en entiers, ce qui 

 a prouve que le mot aprcs avait ete substitute et prefere au mot avec, 

 mis d'abord dans I'amendement." (No. 152.) 



This was certainly the result of more than a mere accident. It is 

 evident that nearly all had understood avec, or why should they have 

 entered it in their notes originally? Certainly no one made a formal 

 correction of the word on the evening of May 29 or the discussion in 

 the assembly could never have arisen on the 30th. How then did this 

 systematic change of the word come about? We can not believe that 

 the word aprcs was substituted for avec spontaneously by the dif- 

 ferent deputies. By the energy with which several Breton deputies 

 expressed themselves on the subject, and by the fact that the change 

 was entirely in accord with their sentiments, the thought suggests 

 itself very strongly that we have here a maneuver of the Breton 

 Club in instigating the change of words in question. 



^Courrier de Provence, I, pp. 116, 117. 



^Kerviler, Recherches et notices, says, on the word of Pelle'rin, that 

 Le Chapelier drew up the address. Art. Le Chapelier. Bulletin de 

 Rennes, I, No. 23: "On la (the address) dit de M. le Chapelier. II a 

 ete generalement applaudi." 



According to Boulle, Le Chapelier's original intention was "d'en- 

 voyer au roi une deputation solennelle chargee d'eclaircir sa religion, 

 de lui mettre sous les yeux I'expose de ce qui s'est passe jusqu 'a ce 

 jour, le resultat des premieres conferences et une adresse qui, avec 

 I'impression de ncs sentiments, contiendront les principes dont nous 

 ne pouvons nous ecarter et en vertue desquels nous declarerons nous 

 constiHier en Assemblee Nationale." May 28. Revue de la Revolu- 

 tion, II, p. 115. The address, then, presented after the action of June 

 10 was outlined by Le Chapelier as early as May 28. See the Proccs- 

 verbal, I, 41 ff. 



In the address presented on June 6, Le Chapelier expressed the 

 Breton hatred of the privileged orders, but also a desire to be just. 

 While denying in diplomatic language the authority of the king to 



256 



