76 Mae Darling 



nounced to the clergy and to the nobility the choice of commis- 

 sioners ; he spoke with the same insolence that the Due de Praslin 

 had used in the third estate," [when the decrees of the nobles, 

 passed on May 6, ii and 12, had been presented.] ^^^ 



In the meantime, during the interval from May 15 to May 20, 

 while waiting for the third estate to come to its decision on the 

 matter of the conciliatory commission, the clergy had been oc- 

 cupied with its routine business and also with propositions of a 

 somewhat radical nature.. A'allet tells us that on May 14, the 

 Archbishop of Bordeaux renewed the proposition that the clergy 

 inform the third estate that it was going to give up its pecuniary 

 privileges and consent to the state assuming the debts of the 

 clergy. -^^ The author of this motion probably felt that such an 

 act would hasten the action of the third estate in regard to the 

 conferences, that order at that time not having reached its decision 

 on the matter. The motion seems to have received little support. 

 Vallet says that it was opposed on the ground that the third 

 estate could have no doubt of the intentions of the clergy and 

 of the nobility in regard to the renunciation of their pecuniary 

 privileges, since the king had announced in the opening session 

 that the privileged orders were willing to take this step, and that 

 before the clergy should proceed to take such action, the third 

 estate, on its part, ought to agree to guarantee the " honorary 

 rights and prerogatives " of the other two orders.'*" Vallet 

 states, in his account of the discussion which took place at this 

 time, that one member of the clergy proposed that the order de- 

 clare itself legally "constituted," thus placing itself squarely on 

 the side of the nobles, while another member suggested that they 

 join the third estate. Another deputy wished to vote on the 

 motion of the Archbishop of Bordeaux for the renunciation of 

 the privileges.-*^ 



Vallet says it was while these suggestions were being made 

 that the president made a speech in which he reminded the clergy 



238 Duquesnoy, I, 28. 



239 Vallet, Recit, 28. 

 2« Ibid. 



241 Ibid., 26. 



278 



