44 Carl Christophelsmeier 



embodied principles for which the third estate had so eagerly 

 striven, and expressed, therefore, a natural, logical, and necessary 

 step in advance of the previous progressive movement of the as- 

 sembly. Sieyes' motions of June 10 and of June 15, linked to- 

 gether, formulated an important event in the movement towards 

 the realization of the idea of popular sovereignty. They expressed 

 the theory of the rule of the majority as against the privileges of 

 classes ; vote should be by head and not by order. Although it 

 was the great desire of the commons to have the deputies of the 

 clergy and of the nobility meet with them in the general assembly, 

 yet since this object had so far not been obtained because those 

 deputies refused to present themselves in the common hall, and 

 since further waiting and delay was regarded as hazardous to the 

 nation and as nullifying the performance of the duties of the 

 deputies of the third estate, the assembly decreed that it alone 

 would begin the work of national regeneration and restoration. 

 First and chief of this work was the making of a constitution. 

 By this motion, the assembly declared that it would still continue 

 to work for the union of the three orders, but if the two orders 

 should persist in their demand for separate assemblies, their 

 powers should be null. The assembly alone should represent the 

 nation ; between the throne and the assembly there should be no 

 veto power nor any right of interference ; the king and the as- 

 sembly should govern France. If the deputies of the clergy and 

 of the nobility wished to exercise any power at all and take part 

 in the work of the states general, they must come into the general 

 assembly, the decisions of which should be controlled by the wish 

 of the majority. 



This motion proposed by Sieyes, and generally accepted by the 

 assembly, was an arbitrary one, though from the point of view of 

 the third estate such a resolute and even arbitrary step was nec- 

 essary. By this time, urged on by opponents and partisans alike, 

 and especially by their own patriotism, the desires of the commons 

 had grown into imperious public demands. The states general 

 was composed of the representatives of the three orders of France, 

 but during these eventful days, the assembly reached such a point 

 in the growth of its interpretation of its powers and duties, that 



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