8o Mae Darling 



meantime, in the chamber of the nobiHty, we find that the Proces- 

 verbal of the nobiht}' indicates that they had been husy inspect- 

 ing their cahiers and perfecting their organization. While they 

 were verifying their credentials, a matter came up which shows 

 that the nobles were as persistent as ever in the claim that they 

 had full powers in the matter of verification of credentials. In 

 the election of the deputies to the states general, three bailliages 

 had been added to that of Aletz and only two representatives 

 given to those four bailliages. The nobles from Metz protested 

 to the government, according to the Proces-verbal, but receiving 

 no reply and taking silence for consent, they elected a third 

 deputy. The question now came up as to the legality of th^ elec- 

 tion of the third deputy. It was proposed in the chamber of the 

 nobility to leave the settlement of the matter to the conciliatory 

 commission, but the nobles refused to sanction the plan. With- 

 out paying any attention to the other orders, they decided that 

 the third deputy from Metz was not legally elected, an indication 

 that the nobility had no intention of forfeiting their right to 

 verify their credentials.-*'^ 



The Proces-verbal states that the noWes, in completing their 

 organization, added two doorkeepers to the list of their officers, 

 and also appointed a committee to draw up rules of order for 

 the chamber, thus indicating that they considered their organiza- 

 tion permanent.-*'- 



Up to May 19, the nobles had taken no steps towards the elec- 

 tion of 'the commissioners which they had agreed on May 13 to 

 appoint.-*'^ Now, however, on May 19, according to the Proces- 

 verbal of the nobility, one of the members interrupted the verifica- 

 tion of credentials by announcing that, without doubt, the third 

 estate was then occupied with the election of the conciliatory com- 

 missioners, and that the clergy had already named its commis- 

 sioners. The speaker urged the nobles to complete the work by 

 electing their delegates to the conferences. When the matter was 

 put to a vote, however, it was decided, according to the Proces- 



261 Proces-verbal de la noblesse, 50. 



^^^Ibid., 57. 



263 See pp. 49, 50. 



282 



