4 Carl Christ ophelsmeier 



the deputies of the tiers-etat succeeded remarkably well in their 

 policy of inactivity. 



While the commons avoided every appearance of organization, 

 they did, for temporary convenience, namely for the purpose of 

 intelligent deliberation, allow the senior deputy to act as presiding 

 officer and several other members, those just beneath him in age, 

 to assist him in his functions. This policy of inactivity was the 

 very best course for the assembly to follow, for the deputies of 

 the tiers-etat were not yet ready to take the decisive step of con- 

 stituting themselves which they later took. It was essential for 

 the members to move slowly until an esprit dc corps had been de- 

 veloped. The deputies became in time better acquainted with 

 each other and with each other's wishes and demands. They 

 learned the demands and weaknesses of the other orders and the 

 aimlessness of the government, and they were encouraged and 

 emboldened by the feeling of the solidarity of their own interests 

 and by the moral support which they constantly received both 

 within and without the assembly. 1 The public associated itself 

 with the discussions of the deputies assembled in the general hall 

 which was usually filled to overflowing with spectators. The 

 applause or hisses of over two thousand men and women helped, 

 at times, to excite the assembly to fever heat. Reports of the 

 deliberations were sent to Paris and to the provinces. Every- 

 where men gathered in groups to discuss the problems before the 

 states general. The strength of the third estate grew daily, while 

 that of the privileged orders decreased as steadily. 



After a first unsuccessful attempt on the part of some of the 

 deputies of the tiers-etat to constitute their body as an active as- 

 sembly, another, more earnest and much more systematic effort 

 to organize was made on May 14. Learning that the deputies of 

 the tiers-etat were opposing verification of credentials by orders 

 and waiting for the deputies of the clergy and of the nobles to 

 join them and verify the credentials in common, the clergy had 

 suspended verification of their credentials on May 7. Moved by 



'Gaultier de Biauzat, II, 32, 52. La revolution frangaise, XXIII, 357, 362, 

 471. 



