34 Carl Christ ophelsmeier 



the king the motives for the action taken, and (2) to record 

 objections against the principles expressed in the preamble of 

 the ouverture de conciliation. According to Camus, 247 votes 

 were in favor of the motion without any amendment, 246 votes 

 for the motion with the first amendment. The remaining fifty- 

 one votes were distributed among the rejection of the motion, 

 its adoption with both of the amendments, and the reference of 

 the motion to the bureaus. 1 The vote was therefore not decisive. 

 It was felt that a majority vote was absolutely necessary to the 

 adoption of such an important plan. The dean put an end to 

 further debate by announcing another session at five o'clock in 

 the evening, at which time the question should be decided. 



In the evening session, a Breton deputy stated 2 that he had 

 voted for the motion, pure and simple, for the reason that the 

 matter of the address to the king could be considered after the 

 passing of the motion, but he thought that those who had voted 

 as he had done would vote for the address also. The question 

 was put to the assembly and was almost unanimously accepted. 

 In order to make the vote as decisive as possible and to render 

 the general wish more evident, the dean asked that all those who 

 had voted for the unamended motion and opposed the first amend- 

 ment should rise. Only three members rose, so that in this man- 

 ner the motion, together with the first amendment, was almost 

 unanin%usly adopted. 3 "In this manner," says Bailly, "was ter- 

 minated, to the satisfaction of the assembly, the first of the most 

 important deliberations ; it is the first step which the assembly 

 has taken towards its lofty destinies ; the resolution contains the 

 germs of all the great achievements of the month, and in it may 



Courrier de Provence, I, 175 ; Biauzat, II, 103-4 ; Duquesnoy, I, 84 ; Revue 

 de la revolution, XII, Documents inedits, 54. 



1 Recit, 108-9, has the figures given in the text. Courrier de Provence, 

 Lettre X, 10; Biauzat, II, 104. Biauzat doubts the truth of this count and 

 gives it together with another count by M. Populus : "De cinq cent vingt- 

 cinq, il y en a eu cent quatre-vingt-quatorze pour admettre la motion pure 

 et simple, deux cent quatre-vingt-dix pour admettre la motion avec le pre- 

 mier amendement, une seule pour rejeter la motion." Revue de la revolu- 

 tion, XII, Documents inedits, 54. 



■Recit, 110. 



z Recti, 110; Courrier de Provence, Lettre X, 11; Revue de la revolu- 

 tion, X, Documents inedits, 54. 



34 



