48 Carl Christophelsmeier 



affront to the other orders and to cause as little public opposition 

 as possible. A longer title did express better the actual position 

 of the assembly and was therefore preferable to a bolder title 

 which would cause more antagonism. Not only the king and the 

 court, not only the privileged classes, especially the deputies of 

 the clergy and of the nobility, not only the public even, but the 

 deputies of the commons themselves had to be reckoned with. 

 Some of the deputies were still more or less timid and hesitating. 

 It is true that most of the timid ones had been won over by the 

 evening of June 14, but it was still a question just how steadfast 

 they would be in action. In order to be successful, all the depu- 

 ties of the assembly had to stand together and be ready for the 

 worst consequences. Sieves, as well as other leaders, realized 

 the seriousness of this step. But the moral strength of the as- 

 sembly had been fully tested during the sessions of June 15, 16, 

 and 17, and the commons had been sufficiently supported by en- 

 couragements from the outside to justify it in the course that it 

 followed. 1 The lengthy and even violent debates that arose were 

 due not to any fundamental difference in opinion among the 

 deputies, not to any enmity among the members, but rather to 

 the many plans prepared beforehand. The debates showed the 

 interest and the strength of the assembly in this question of con- 

 stituting itself rather than division and weakness. The deputies 

 had their hearts set on success, and their enthusiasm inflamed the 

 public. 



Concerning the animated debate which followed the reading of 

 Sieves' motion. Mirabeau wrote : 2 "The session of the fifteenth 

 has up to the present been one of the most remarkable, both be- 

 cause of the gravity of the subject and for the extent of the dis- 

 cussion and the number of persons who have taken part." Many 

 spoke in favor of Sieves' motion ; others presented motions and 

 titles which they had prepared. It was thought by some that 

 the assembly did not represent the entire nation and all its in- 

 terests, and a motion was presented to constitute itself as an 



1 La revolution frangaise, XXIII, 533, 534. 

 -Courrier de Provence, Lettre XI, 3. 



48 



