3b Carl Christophelsmeier 



as quickly as possible. A scheme should be devised for the most 

 expeditious verification of credentials, and he proposed that the 

 delegations, of which there were 172, of the three orders of all 

 the bailliages should be called ; that the deputations that were 

 present should, as they were called, pass to the dean's desk and 

 deposit there their credentials for registration ; this done the 

 credentials should be distributed among the twenty bureaus for 

 examination, and that the results of this examination should be 

 reported to the general assembly. This plan was well received 

 and adopted in all its details. 1 



The commons waited all day for the deputies of the other two 

 orders. During the day, it was proposed to have the roll called 

 at once, some members being impatient to begin the verification 

 of credentials ; but the dean promised that it should begin promptly 

 at seven o'clock in the evening. 2 At five o'clock commissioners 

 of the nobility appeared and reported that the invitation was be- 

 ing considered, but that no decision could be reached until the 

 following session. 3 The commons did not expect compliance from 

 this order. The clergy sent no reply at all. 



Now that the assembly of the third estate was on the point of 

 constituting itself, before the roll-call began, it was decided that 

 a proces-vcrbal should be kept of sessions. 4 Heretofore the min- 

 utes of the assembly had not been kept by secretaries ; the dean's 

 assistants had taken a few notes. 5 An official record of the as- 

 sembly meant, it was thought, organization, and organization at 

 this time meant three separate assemblies. But now that the 

 commons had decided to form themselves into an active assembly 

 and to do this independently of the other orders, if their invita- 

 tion should not be heeded, an official record was necessary. This 

 proces-vcrbal should be kept by secretaries and signed by them 

 and the dean. Bailly was again chosen temporarv dean and 



"■Recti, 116, 117; Courrier de Provence, Lcttre X, 12-24 ; Bailly, I, 138. 

 Bailly says that this deputy from Paris was M. Sieyes. 



■Recti, 117. 



3 Ibid., 118; La revolution frangaise, XXIII, 528. 



4 From this point on, my main source is the Proces-vcrbal instead of 

 the Recti, which includes only the period from May 5 to June 12, 1789. 



5 As a result, we have the Recti. See Bibliography. 



3* 



