2 Mae Darling , 



country, the deputies of the third estate, at least, were eager to 

 begin their work — the work w^hich they believed would restore 

 the glory of France and relieve the condition of their unfortunate 

 constituents. But again they were delayed in beginning this 

 work. The postponement of the opening of the estates until 

 May 4 aroused their apprehension. It is said that they feared 

 there would be no meeting of the states general, that the king 

 would dismiss the deputies before the sessions were begun.^ 

 Duquesnoy says that it was believed that the government was 

 attempting to wear the representatives out by tedious delays.^ 

 The deputies questioned whether they would really assemble on 

 May 4. Would there not be more delays, longer periods of wait- 

 ing, until finally they should be sent back to their provinces, 

 having accomplished nothing? 



At last, however, the king was preparing in good faith to open 

 the states general. On Friday, ]\Iay i, according to the account 

 given in the Recit, he issued a proclamation in which 'he expressed 

 his desire to meet the deputies and named Saturday, May 2, as 

 the date for this ceremony.* In the decree of April 27, in which 

 the king had postponed the opening of the estates until May 4, the 

 costumes of the deputies of the different orders had been de- 

 scribed in detail.^ The deputies were to appear at the king's 

 reception on May 2, in the prescribed costumes of their respective 

 orders.® This insistence on a separate mode of dress for each 



^Journal des ctats-gcneraux, I, i. 



3 Duquesnoy, Journal, I, 23. For a discussion of the authorship of the 

 Journal, see the article by Dr. Fling, in the American Historical Review, 

 vol. 8, 70-77. 



* Recit des seances des deputes des communes, 2. The third estate did 

 not commence to keep a record of its proceedings until June 12, 1789. 

 Later (December 10, 1789), after the union of the orders, the assembly 

 ordered that an official account of what had taken place from May 5 to 

 June 12 should be drawn up. Salomon, Camus and Emmery were ap- 

 pointed to prepare this record, and the Recit des seances des deputes des 

 communes is the result of their work. For a discussion of the Recit, see 

 Brette, Les Constituants, Avertissement XVII, XVIII. 



^ Recit des seances des deputes des communes, i, 2. 



^ Ibid., i; Mercure de France, III, 9 mai, 1789, Journal politique de 

 Bruxelles, 74. 



204 



