14 Ethel Lee Howie 



general and which is expressly reserved to them by articles VIII 

 and IX of the same declarations."*^^ 



Many of the protests presented on June 30 were read in the 

 assembly, but after the reading had gone on for over an hour^^ 

 one of the commons arose to say that those whose credentials had 

 not been verified had no right to protest and that the assembly 

 should no longer listen to the protests. This assertion brought 

 on a lively debate concerning the right of individuals to protest 

 before they had been received as bona fide members. ^^ The pre- 

 vailing sentiment was that the protests should not be read. Such 

 was the opinion of Petion de Villeneuve, Salomon, De la Borde and 

 Rabaud de Saint-Etienne. Petion de Villeneuve and Salomon 

 said that before receiving the protests it must be decided whether 

 these protests were permissible ; before considering the nature of 

 limited instructions, it must be considered whether instructions 

 of any kind existed.*'* That the assembly was the judge of all 

 these questions and that protests could not be made in advance 

 against its judgment was the opinion of De la Borde,*'^ while 

 Raubaud de Saint-Etienne said that deputies who had not been 

 received as members could only present their credentials.*'*' Some 

 of the deputies desired more recognition of the protests. Pison 

 du Galland desired that a record should be made and the protests 

 then sent to the commissioners.^^ Target at first favored the 

 idea that the credentials and the protests should be examined at 



^^Courrier de Provence I, 15th letter, 8; Point du jour, I, 90; Bulle- 

 tins de I'assemblee nationale, July 2; Journal de Paris, No. 185 (July 2), 

 832; Assemblee nationale, I, 305, says, " Personne n'a entendu sans etonne- 

 ment M. le Cardinal de la Rochefoucauld pretendre que ces reserves etaient 

 celles de I'ordre du clerge." 



'^^ Point du jour, I, 76; Courrier de Provence, I, 15th; Biauzat, Sa vie 

 et sa correspondance, II, 149, states that the reading lasted during the en- 

 tire session, while Mirabeau says " almost the entire session " ; Journal de 

 Paris, No. 183, 823 (July 2). 



^^ Courrier de Provence, I, 15th letter, 3; Assemblee nationale, I, 277; 

 Journal de Paris, No. 183, 823 (July 2). 



^* Point du jour, I, 76; Bulletins de I'assemblee nationale, June 30. 



^^ Assemblee nationale, I, 278; Courrier de Provence, I, 15th letter, 3. 



^6 Point du jour, I, yy. 



^'' Moniteur, I, iii. 



296 



