28 Mae Darling 



The clergy met that same day in a hall that had been prepared 

 for them in the Salle des Menus. The first event recorded, in 

 the accounts of the day's proceedings, is an address by the 

 Cardinal de Rochefoucauld, who had been made presiding officer 

 of the chamber of the clergy.-^ Thibault says that the cardinal 

 stated that he held his position because of his age and only tem- 

 porarily. He exhorted the deputies to give an example of peace 

 and harmony, and announced that mass would be held each day 

 at nine o'clock, for the purpose of beseeching Heaven to grant its 

 blessings to the states general and bring peace and union to the 

 orders. The president closed his remarks by announcing that 

 they would proceed with the verification of credentials.-^ 



When the clergy took up the discussion as to how the cre- 

 dentials should be verified, it became evident that there were two 

 factions in the assembly, one favoring the verification in the 

 chamber of the clerg)', regardless of the other orders, and the 

 other insisting that the credentials ought to be verified in the 

 presence of the three orders united. The Archbishop of Vienne 

 made a motion that the clerg}^ should verify its credentials in 

 common with the other two orders. ^'^ The majority of the depu- 

 ties, however, were not ready to take this decisive step, neither 

 were they willing to place themselves in direct opposition to the 

 third estate. The result was that the clergy decided to verify 

 their credentials provisionally.^^ 



28Thibault, i8o; Vallet, Recit, 51; Coster, 6 mai; Lettres dii Comte de 

 Mirabcau, No. i, 13. 



The assembly of the clergy, having only a provisional organization, had 

 no regular secretary and therefore no Proces-vcrbal. However, there is 

 a good collection of Journaiix, kept by the members of the clergy. Those 

 used in this study were written by Thibault, Coster and Vallet, and a 

 Proces-verbal historique, which Brette attributes to Abbe Rangeard (Brette, 

 Les constituents, Avertissement, VI). Thibault was one of the temporary 

 secretaries of the clergy and his account was doubtless written as it would 

 have been had he been a permanent secretary, drawing up a Proces-verbal. 



29 Thibault, 180. 



30 Duquesnoy, I, 10; Coster, 6 mai. 



31 Thibault, 180; Coster, 6 mai; Boulle, in Revue de la revolution, X, 

 Documents inedits, 170; Duquesnoy, I, 10; Biauzat, II, 36; Lettres du 

 Comte de Mirabeau, No. i, 13. The accounts vary as to the vote. Mira- 



230 



