opening of States General of i/8p 47 



the clamor raised against him was so great that he was forced to 

 keep silent."^ Biauzat says that the members insisted that the 

 discussion should be carried on in regular order. 



Mirabeau, in his Lettres, gives an account of a speech made 

 during the discussion, by a deputy from Colmar, which had a 

 number of significant passages in it. The speaker did not ap- 

 prove of the plan for the reglement, but suggested that it would 

 be wise to adopt some system of voting. During his remarks he 

 gave a definition of the third estate. He designated it as " some 

 persons presumably legally elected by the third estate of the realm 

 as deputies to the states general. "^^* He suggested that it might 

 be necessary for these deputies to declare themselves the " nation " 

 and " commence the restoration of the monarchy, regardless of 

 the other orders.""^ In case they should find it necessary to 

 take this important step, some sort of a provisional organization 

 would be necessary. 



The result of the discussion on the plan for a reglement was 

 that it was abandoned, the third estate adhering strictly to its 

 policy of inaction.^^^ 



The commons had now been waiting passively for three days, 

 while the nobles were not in session, leaving it to the latter order 

 to make the next move. The kind of concessions that might be 

 expected from the nobles was shown by an incident related by 

 Duquesnoy. He says that during a conversation between a mem- 

 ber of the commons and one of the nobles, the noble remarked 



^13 Biauzat, II, 43 ; Duquesnoy, I, 13. 



"^"^^ Lettres du Comte de Mirabeau, No. 2, 5. 



"5 Ibid., 8. 



116 Duquesnoy, I, 13 ; Biauzat, II, 45, 47 ; Recit dcs seances des deputes des 

 communes, 10. It is not clear when the final decision was reached. The 

 Recit says: "Sans admettre ni rejeter precisement le reglement presente 

 par M. le Doyen, on lui laissait la police provisoire de Tassemblee jusqu'a 

 ce qu'elle fiit constituee." Duquesnoy writes : " II parait que le reglement 

 projete n'a pas la majorite des voix." Biauzat, in writing of the session of 

 May II, has this to say concerning the reglement: " Au lieu de proceder a 

 recueillir les voix sur le reglement propose vendredi 8, on s'est occupe de 

 differents motions." It is probable, therefore, that the matter was simply 

 dropped before the final vote was taken. 



249 



