6 Ethel Lee Howie 



king;^ respect for the order of the nobles* to prevent a schism 

 in the orders,^ and because the majority of the nobles voted to 

 join the general assembly." Several of the nobles looked upon 

 the national assembly as an assembly of the three orders'^ and 

 insisted that changes in the constitution could be made only by 

 vote of the separate orders.® It is perfectly clear that the 

 majority of the nobles had no intention of quietly submitting to a 

 vote by head and several even objected to the verification of 

 credentials in common.® 



Another circumstance which clearly shows the attitude of the 

 nobles and clergy, — that of opposition to union — was the attempt 

 made to force Bailly to retire from the presidency. On the 

 evening of June 28, he was invited to a conference to be held 

 the next day at the residence of the guard of the seals. Bailly, 

 it seems, anticipated that the question to be taken up at this time 

 concerned the right of the upper orders to choose a president for 

 the assembly. Realizing the importance of the situation, he 

 consulted the Due d'Orleans, whom he found with M. Sillery, 

 as to the proper course to pursue. Bailly was determined to 

 maintain the right of the commons in naming him president and 

 the right he had to retain this office and the duke supported him 

 in his ideas. At the conference when the question of presidency 

 came up, those representing the privileged orders, — the Due de 

 Croy, vice president of the nobles, who served as a substitute for 

 the president of his order, the Due de Luxembourg, and the 

 Cardinal de la Rochefoucauld and the Archbishop of Aix, who 

 represented the clergy — claimed that the president should be 

 chosen from the first order. Bailly opposed this, stating that the 

 arrival of the minority of the clergy and the majority of the 



3 Proces-vcrbal des seances de la chambrc de I'ordre de la noblesse aux 

 etats-generaux, 314, 315, 317, 336, 337. 



^ Ibid., 305, 306. 



^ Ibid., 305. 



6 Proces-verbal des seances de la chambre de I'ordre de la noblesse aux 

 etats-generaux, 312, 317, 333. 



''Ibid., 318, 320, 323, 332, 340. 



8 Ibid., 345. 



9 Ibid., 31S, 325. 



288 



