26 Carl Chrisiophelsmeier 



were therefore, on the morning of June 10, almost unanimously 

 in favor of constituting themselves. 1 



II 



At the opening of the morning session of the commons on June 

 10, the dean announced that the proces-verbal of the conferences 

 had been closed and signed by the eight commissioners of the 

 clergy, by those of the commons, and by the secretary, and that 

 it had been recorded in the minutes that the commissioners of the 

 nobility had declared the proces-verbal exact in all its parts. The 

 assembly by acclamation ordered the printing of these minutes. 

 The dean stated further that, according to a previous decision of 

 the assembly, the ouvertnre of conciliation, made by the king's 

 commissioners, was to be considered after the termination of the 

 peace conferences and the closing of the proces-verbal, and that 

 the deliberation on the conciliatory plan was, therefore, now in 

 order. He advised, however, that the discussion be postponed 

 until the following day. He alleged as a reason for delay that 

 the proces-verbal of the conferences of the preceding evening 

 had not yet been laid before the assembly. But why did he not 

 call for the report of the commissioners at once? The deputies 

 favorable to the motion of Sieves had requested and obtained 

 from the dean this omission that the additional time might be 

 given to the consideration of the proposed plan. 2 



1 Biauzat, II, 102 : "Des conferences qui ont succede aux bureaux et qui 

 ont dure jusqu' apres onze heures, ont range a cet avis le plus grand nom- 

 bre de ceux qui etaient demeures indecis jusqu'alors. Pour donner plus 

 de poids a la motion qui doit conduire a ce but, on doit la faire presenter 

 par M. l'abbe Sies (Sieves)"; Larevolntion frangaise, XXIII, 525: ''On 

 s'en occupera demain, si le proces-verbal des conferences est definitivement 

 signe dans la reunion de ce soir. Plusieurs membres ont prepare des mo- 

 tions a ce subjet. On sait que M. l'abbe Sieves' doit en faire une et l'avis 

 qu'on en a rendra l'assemblee plus nombreuse qu'a l'ordinaire. . . ." 

 Duquesnoy. I, 83 : Duquesnoy wrote in the morning of June 10, "C'est 

 aujourd'hui qu'on doit deliberer sur la constitution." Sieyes, soon after 

 his arrival at Versailles, associated with the Breton deputies who knew of 

 him because of his monograph : Qu'cst-ce que le tiers-etat? See Zinkeisen, 

 I. 62 ; Cherest, III, 119-22, 1337 note, and 145 ; Aulard : La societe des 

 Jacobins, I, Introduction, II. 



-Recit, 79, 100, 101; Biauzat, II, 102; La revolution frangaise, XXIII, 



26 



