74 Carl Christophelsmeier 



The dean ordered the reading of five motions and announced 

 that a majority vote was absolutely necessary for the adoption of 

 any one proposition. 1 The motion of Sieyes as amended was 

 read first. It was carried by a large majority. Out of the 583 

 votes cast, 491 favored it, 90 opposed it, and 2 were not counted. 2 

 During the voting there was a most profound silence in the hall, 

 but when the vote was announced a wave of enthusiasm swept 

 over the assembly. The deputies and spectators alike repeatedly 

 burst out into most enthusiastic cheers and shouts of: "Vive le 

 roi ! Vive l'assemblee nationale !" 3 And they had good reason to 

 be elated at this first great victory. It seemed to them that the 

 die had been cast and that the fundamental questions requisite to 

 any decisive financial reforms were solved. In their enthusiasm 

 they for the moment lost sight of all future difficulties. 



Sieyes' motion of constitution as finally amended thus passed 

 into a resolution or decree, was signed by Bailly, as dean, and by 

 the two secretaries. Some members had, on the previous evening, 

 demanded that all the deputies of the assembly should sign their 

 names to it. It was held, however, that the effect would be weak- 

 ened thereby instead of strengthened. The list would not only 

 be incomplete because of the absence of the deputies of the clergy 

 and of the nobles, but it would even show a division in the con- 

 stituted assembly itself. . And the national assembly acted imme- 

 diately on the principle that it embodied all the deputies of the 

 states general. 4 



The national assembly then voted that an address be prepared 

 which, together with the decree, should be presented to the king. 

 In this address the loyalty to the king should be expressed and 

 the reasons which prompted the deputies in constituting them- 

 selves the national assembly should be given. The deputies in- 



l Proces-verbal, no. I, 3. 



2 Courrier de Provence, Lettre XI, 57; Duquesnoy, I, 105; Revue de la 

 revolution, XIII, Documents inedits, 13-14; La revolution frangaise, XXIII, 

 534-35 ; Le point du jour, I, no. I, 3 ; Biauzat (II, 122) says 492 votes fa- 

 vored it and 89 opposed it. 



8 Duquesnoy, I, 105; Revue de la revolution, XIII, Documents inedits, 

 13-15 ; Le point du jour, no. I, 3 ; R'abaut de Saint-Etienne, Precis, 124-26. 



4 Proces-verbal, no. I, 1, 2; Duquesnoy, I, 105; Courrier de Provence, 

 Lettre XI, 56-57. 



74 



