56 Mae Darling 



each. The committee on verification, however, beHeved that the 

 nobles were entitled to but one deputy. The decision of the 

 order was that since the matter concerned the three orders, the 

 decision should be left to the conciliatory commission.^^^ 



The Proces-verbal of the nobility also tells of a protest which 

 was presented on May 12, in which M. Freteau, deputy from 

 Melun and Moret, declared that he could not vote on the proposi- 

 tion to communicate the decrees of May 6 and 11 to the other 

 orders. He also protested against the decision of May 11, in 

 which the nobles declared their order legally constituted. The 

 deputy insisted that so important a question should not have been 

 decided in the absence of so many deputies as were then unable to 

 be present, owing to the'delay in the election of the deputies from 

 certain places, notably those of Paris. ^^^ Such a protest indicates 

 that not all the nobles were in sympathy with the actions of their 

 order. 



Turning to the work of the third estate in the sessions of May 

 II, 12 and 13, we find that they had made some progress in estab- 

 lishing order, but had still been careful to take no action that 

 might be interpreted by the other orders as making the third 

 estate a regularly organized chamber. 



The Recit says that on May 11, the dean called attention to the 

 fact that in the preceding sessions, a number of the deputies had 

 not worn the costume prescribed by the government for the 

 deputies of the third estate. He stated that there might be some 

 disadvantages in neglecting to conform to the directions of the 

 government. The decision of the assembly, however, was that 

 here, as in other things, everyone should do as he pleased.^^* 



On the same day a motion was made, presumably by Malouet,^^^ 

 that the commons, since they could not legally organize, should 

 form themselves into a " committee of the whole " {grand 

 coniitc) in order to make it possible to take any action which 

 might be necessary to bring about a reconciliation between the 



152 Proccs-verhal de la noblesse, 41. 



153 Proces-verbal de la noblesse, 35. 



^^* Recit des seances des deputes des communes, 10. 

 155 Biauzat, II, 48. 



258 



