The First Revolutionary Step 3 



When the deputies of the tiers-etat assembled on the morning 

 of May 6, they learned that the deputies of the clergy and of the 

 nobles were meeting in separate halls and were even preparing 

 fo*r the verification of their credentials and for organization as 

 separate orders. The assembly was in great confusion and dis- 

 order, for it did not know how to begin its deliberations. And 

 this most embarrassing situation was made all the more difficult 

 by the fact that some deputies, who managed to make themselves 

 heard, wanted the assembly to remain idle and take no step to- 

 ward organization. They wished the deputies of the tiers-etat 

 to act, not as an assembly at all, but as individuals, a group of 

 men, "a club of friends," who were waiting for the absent depu- 

 ties in order to form themselves into an active assembly. But 

 some other deputies demanded the immediate organization of the 

 deputies of the tiers-etat as a national assembly ; while others, 

 more conservative, urged that before resorting to such an ex- 

 treme expedient all amicable and conciliatory means should first 

 be exhausted. 



In these debates of the first day, we notice all the elements of 

 the policy which the tiers-etat followed up to June iy when it 

 constituted itself the national assembly. When the deputies had 

 separated after this first day's session, Gaultier de Biauzat wrote 

 to his constituents : "If my opinion becomes general, we shall 

 notify the clergy and the nobility tomorrow that the tiers-etat is 

 complete, and urge them to present themselves in the hall of the 

 commons." 1 He thought that any further action on the part of 

 the tiers-etat would depend upon the response which the clergy 

 and the nobles should make to the invitation; that a final invita- 

 tion would be sent, however, in case the orders should persist in 

 separation, and that subsequently those deputies who should be 

 present in the general hall should proceed as the states general 

 of the nation. The same and similar views are repeatedly ex- 

 pressed by the deputies previous to June 10, when this policy of 

 a last invitation and of the organization of the assembly of the 

 commons began to be actually carried out. But up to that time 



'Gaultier de Biauzat, II, 31-37. 



