20 Carl Christophelsmeier 



or from outside the assembly. The deputies of the nobility- 

 most resolutely refused their signature to the proces-verbal, if 

 the commissioners of the third estate gave to their order the title 

 of communes. 1 Bailly wrote : 2 "To call themselves the com- 

 munes de France was, in the eyes of the nobility and of the clergy, 

 almost the same as to call themselves la nation." The deputies 

 of the third estate from the very opening of the states general 

 had assumed the name of commons ; they did not wish to appear 

 the deputies of the third estate and they opposed the idea, that 

 the nation consisted of three estates. France was a nation, one 

 estate, and they claimed that all the deputies to the states general, 

 or the national assembly, equally represented this nation. The 

 fact that the deputies of the third estate called themselves the 

 commons is very significant; it shows how and what they con- 

 sidered themselves, and it helps to explain their purpose in this 

 struggle with the other orders. 3 



After the commissioners of the nobility had wearied the other 

 commissioners by raising objections to their requests, the real 

 question was considered. The old arguments in regard to the 

 verification of credentials were repeated until all the commission- 

 ers became utterly impatient with the discussion. 4 Finally on 



1 Recit, 64, 89-93; La revolution frangaisc, XXIII, 522-23, 471; Du- 

 quesnoy, I, 69-70; Biauzat, II, 95; Bailly, I, 95, 97-99, 104-7. 



2 Bailly, I, 95. 



3 The Breton deputies, being organized, had perhaps the most advanced 

 ideas ; they had a great influence upon the assembly. In the cahicr of the 

 Sencchaussee de Raines, {Archives parlcmcntaircs, V, 538) article two, 

 we read : "C'est par une erreur funeste que ce qu'on appelle le tiers-etat. 

 ce qui compose plus des quatre-vingt-dix-neuf centiemes de la nation, a 

 ete qualifie d'ordre et mis en balance avec deux classes de privilegies !- 

 Cette erreur doit cesser, et ce qu'on a jusqu'ici nomme le tiers-etat dans le 

 royaume, sera compris avec ou sans les privilegies sous la meme denomi- 

 nation et appele peuple ou nation, seuls noms qui soient veritables et qui 

 puissent convenir a la dignite du peuple; cette dignite sera toujours pre- 

 sente aux yeux de ceux qui auront l'honneur de la representer ; ils ne 

 souffriront pas qu'il regoive nulle part dans leur personne ou autrement 

 aucune humiliation . . ." Article four : "Toutes deliberations defin- 

 itives seront prises dans l'assemblee generale, et par tete, la deliberation 

 par classe des privilegies ne pouvant qu'aneantir I'esprit public, faire dom- 

 iner I'esprit de corps, multiplier des querelles, mettre un obstacle eternel 

 aux lois et aux reformes les plus necessaires ; enfin soumettre vingt-cinq 

 millions d'hommes aux despotiques volontes de quelques milliers d'individus." 



See also Archives parte mentaires, IV, 94, the Sencchaussee de Nantes. 



*Rcc,'t, 93-94; Bailly, I, 107: "La noblesse disputait le terrain pied a 



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