The First Revolutionary Step 37 



Camus and Pison du Galland temporary secretaries. They were 

 to serve until the constituting process was completed and then 

 they were to be superseded by regularly elected officers. 1 



It was in the early evening of June 12 that the roll-call began. 2 

 As the secretaries read the names of the deputations of the prov- 

 inces, dioceses, bailliages, senechausees, and cities in alphabetical 

 order, following the printed list, beginning with the senechausee 

 of Agen, the deputations, one after the other, advanced to the 

 desk, and the first deputy of each delegation presented the cre- 

 dentials. 3 After an all-day's session, the assembly adjourned 4 to 

 meet at nine o'clock the following morning. 5 



During the continuation of the roll-call on June 13, an incident 

 occurred which gladdened the hearts of all the commons. Three 

 deputies of the clergy, cures from Poitou, entered the hall. One. 

 of them, M. Jallet, described the scene as follows : T "We were 

 agreeably surprised to find the assembly so numerous, the colon- 

 nades, the galleries, all the standing room, were absolutely filled. 

 On our arrival we were greeted with general applause, not only 

 by the spectators, but also by the deputies of the commons. . 

 . . The enthusiasm was very great. . . . The applause was 

 renewed" when Lecesve, one of the cures, presented their cre- 



1 Proces-verbal, I, 2; Journal des etats-generaux, I, 73; Duquesnoy, I, 

 87; Biauzat, II, 108. 



a Proces-verbal, I, 3. Seven o'clock. Boulle says that it was six o'clock; 

 Revue de la revolution, XII, Documents inedits, 57; Duquesnoy, I, 87-88; 

 Biauzat, II, 108; La revolution franqaise, 528. 



3 The senechaussee d'Agen may serve to show the manner of the roll- 

 call : "MM. du clerge, nul ne s'est presente. MM. de la noblesse, nul ne 

 s'est presente. MM. des communes, se sont presentes MM. Frangois et 

 Renault, et ont remis leurs pouvoirs." Proces-verbal, I, 3 ; Revue de la 

 revolution, XII, Documents inedits, 57; Biauzat, II, 108, 109. 



4 Proces-verbal, I, 19: "A neuf heures du soir;" Duquesnoy (I, 88) 

 says ten o'clock; La revolution franqaise, 528, says that the assembly ad- 

 journed at half past ten to eight o'clock the following morning. Boulle 

 states, Revue de la revolution, XII, Documents inedits, 57, half past nine 

 o'clock. 



5 Proces-verbal, I, 19. 



6 Ibid., 28; Duquesnoy, I, 91; Biauzat, II, 109; Revue de la revolution, 

 XII, Documents inedits, 57-58. 



''Journal inedit de Jallet, cure de Chcrigne, depute du clerge de Poitou 

 aux etat-gencraux de 1789, precede d'une notice historique par Brcthe 

 (Fontenay-le-Comte, 1871), 86. 



37 



