opening of States General of i/8g 3 5 



Recit adds that this same member from Dauphine asserted that 

 the clergy from Dauphine, at least, would come.^^ The result of 

 the discussion was that a deputation of twelve members withdrew 

 to go to the other orders.^^ IMounier was at the head of the 

 deputation.®*' Biauzat says that it also included the dean and ten 

 other deputies. 



Presently the deputation returned and gave a report of what 

 they had done. The nobles, they said, were not assembled, but 

 they had had an interview with the committee on verification of 

 credentials, the committee having been at work in the hall of 

 the nobles."^ These commissioners of the nobility, according to 

 the Rccit, informed the deputation from the third estate that 

 their order would not meet until Monday, but they said that, at 



^^ Recit des seances des deputes des communes, 8. 



^^ Recit des seances des deputes des communes, 8; Duquesnoy, I, 10; 

 Biauzat, II, 40; Lettres du Comte de Mirabeau, No. 2, 2; Journal des 

 ctats-generaux, I, 13; Boulle in Revue de la revolution, X, Documents 

 inedits, 120. The sources do not agree as to whether this was put to a 

 formal vote. The Rccit has this to say : " Le dernier avis [that for the 

 deputation] a ete soumis au jugement de I'assemblee, et admis a la 

 grande pluralite." Duquesnoy writes : " Enfin, on a emporte, a peu pres 

 par force, I'avis de prevenir la noblesse et la clerge que les communes . . . 

 les attendaient pour former I'assemblee." Biauzat : " On cria pour appro- 

 bation de ce parti. On cria aussi pour improbation. Dans le tapage que 

 formait cette maniere de manifester des sentiments contraires, M. Mounier 

 se depecha avec le doyen et dix autres." Mirabeau speaks of the deputa- 

 tion as " cette pretendue deputation a laquelle le clerge aurait bien voulu 

 donner I'existence." The Journal des etats-gencranx says: " Le clerge et 

 la noblesse s'etant separes des communes, celle-ci ont pense qu'une invita- 

 tion d'honnetete et de deference pourrait ramener ces deux ordres dans 

 la salle nationale; en consequence, plusieurs de leurs membres se sont 

 detaches pour aller," etc. Boulle writes : " Apres beaucoup de debats, cette 

 motion ayant paru acquerir une sorte de majorite, plusieurs se transpor- 

 terent," etc. 



6" Duquesnoy, I, 10; Biauzat, II, 39; Jallet, 52. 



^^ Biauzat, II, 40; Recit des seances des deputes des communes, g; Du- 

 quesnoy, I, ID. All the accounts agree that the deputation met certain 

 members of the nobility in the hall of the nobility. The Recit states that 

 they were the members of the committee on verification. Since the nobility 

 had adjourned to allow this committee to do its work, it was probably 

 there at this time. 



