The First Revolutionary Step 29 



responsibility by putting- on record the refusal of these two classes 

 of deputies, in case they persist in the desire to remain unrecog- 

 nized ; the assembly thinks it indispensable to send a last invita- 

 tion, which shall be presented to them by deputies who shall be 

 charged to read it to them and to leave them a copy which is as 

 follows : 



' 'Gentlemen, we are charged by the deputies of the commons 

 of France to inform you that they can not longer postpone the 

 discharge of the obligations thrust upon all the representatives 

 of the nation. It is certainly time that those who claim to be 

 representatives should be recognized by a common verification 

 of their credentials, and should begin at last to occupy them- 

 selves with the interests of the nation, which alone, and to the 

 exclusion of particular interests, present themselves as the great 

 end for which all the deputies ought to strive with a common 

 effort. Consequently, and since it is necessary for the repre- 

 sentatives of the nation to constitute themselves and act without 

 further delay, the deputies of the commons invite you, gentle- 

 men, anew, and their duty forces them to extend to you, individ- 

 ually as well as collectively, a last summons to come into the 

 hall of the states in order to assist in, to concur in, and to submit 

 yourselves like the commons to the common verification of cre- 

 dentials. We are also charged to inform you that the general 

 call of all the bailliages convoked will be made in an hour; that 

 immediately after the roll-call the credentials will be verified 

 and default pronounced against those who do not present them- 

 selves.' V1 



Immediately after reading the motion and the summons- 

 Sieyes explained that he had presented only the first part of his 

 plan. The question at that moment was not how and with what 

 powers the commons should constitute themselves. Such active 

 resolutions were impossible until it had been determined what 

 men were legally elected to the states general and had a right to 

 take part in the organization. As soon as the preliminary step 



1 Courricr de Provence, Lcttrc IV, 58. When Mirabeau on May 15 com- 

 pared the motions of Rabaut and Chapelier, he brought out the idea of de- 

 fault against the orders; La revolution francaise, XXIII, 452-53. This- 

 same idea was expressed May 26, 1789, in the Bulletins d'un agent secret 



29 



