opening of States General of I'jSg 69 



Naturally, such a declaration aroused the commons. The 

 " honorary prerogatives " of the privileged orders and their insist- 

 ence upon the recognition of separate chambers, were the two 

 things the commons intended to fight to the very end. Mirabeau 

 says : " That motion did not and could not have any success in 

 the assembly of the commons. The disapprobation was general, 

 if we except some partisans of M. Malouet who made vain 

 efforts to sustain the motion and whose first attempt did not 

 receive any encouragement."-"*^ Biauzat, in speaking of the 

 speeches made by certain deputies, says : " They paid no attention 

 to that indecent motion of Malouet's, except as a lion scatters 

 with his tail those who try to drive him from his prey."^°^ 



Among those who spoke in favor of the conciliatory commis- 

 sion, MM. Viguier, Thouret, Barnave, Rabaut de Saint-Etienne 

 and Boissy d'Anglas are especially mentioned.-"^ Duquesnoy 

 tells of a remark which Rabaut de Saint-Etienne made in his 

 speech on the motions. " Gentlemen," he said, '' the nobility has 

 given us the first blow ; let us turn the cheek to receive the second 

 blow from the clergy ; that is practicing religious principles."-"® 

 There is an account given of an address attributed to Rabaut de 

 Saint-Etienne, which evidently was not delivered, but was pub- 

 lished.^^" The writer argued that there could be no danger in 



Biauzat says that he copied the motion, but he does not include it in 

 his letters. 



206 Lettres du Cointe de Mirabeau, No. 4, 7, 8. 



207 Biauzat, II, 64. 



208 Duquesnoy, I, 22. 



209 Ibid. 



-^° Journal des ctats-gcneraux, I, 36-43; Moniteur, I, 34. The Moiiiteur 

 says nothing of this speech not having been delivered, and attributes it to 

 Rabaut. The Journal des ctats-gcneraux says that it was not delivered, 

 but does not state who was the author. A statement is made near the 

 beginning of the address that would lead one to think that the Moniteur 

 had made a mistake in attributing this speech to Rabaut. Speaking of the 

 motions of Rabaut and Chapelier, the speaker said : " Les honorables 

 membres qui les ont soumises a la discussion des representants de la 

 nation meritent a la fois nos eloges." It seems improbable that Rabaut 

 would speak thus of himself. 



Since the Moniteur is a compilation of material drawn from various 



271 



