The Counter Revolution of June-July 33 



ment would not please every one, and he prophesied correctly, for 

 a murmur arose at this time. Assuming a haughty manner, he as- 

 serted that he should enjoy the liberty which the assembly sought 

 to establish. He stated that it was " not the time to make a consti- 

 tution, for one already exists." It was a question of correcting 

 abuses and to do this the deputies had only to consult their 

 cahiers. No innovation in the manner of voting was possible for, 

 according to the constitution, the orders must vote separately. 

 The nobles had agreed to deliberate in common on affairs of gen- 

 eral interest and in separate chambers on other questions. They 

 had joined the assembly to obey the king and to end his anxiety. ^^^ 

 The Abbe Sieyes, on the other hand, had opposed imperative in- 

 structions, but thought this was not the proper time to discuss 

 them. No harm could come however from the assembly decree- 

 ing that it was best for the bailliages to revoke these instruc- 

 tions.^''^ Pison du Galland, we are told, also felt that the question 

 was not in order. ^•'^ 



At the end of his speech on July 7, the Bishop of Autun pre- 

 sented a motion which was almost identical with the motion he 

 had made on July 3. The wording was : " The national assembly 

 considering that a bailliage has the right merely to formulate the 

 general wish and not the right to withdraw or to suspend by im- 

 perative instructions, which contain only its particular wish, the 

 activity of the states general, declares that all imperative instruc- 

 tions are radically null ; that the kind of engagement resulting from 

 them should be at once annulled by the bailliage, such a clause not 

 being permissable, and all contrary protests being inadmissable, 

 and that by a natural consequence all decrees of the assembly will 



158 Bulletins de I'assemblcc nationale, July 7 ; Duquesnoy, Journal, I, 169. 



^^^ Point du jour, I, 134; Duquesnoy, Journal, I, 168; Journal de Paris, 

 No. 190, 855 (July 9) ; Bulletins de I'assemblee nationale, July 7. 



leo Pojuf dii jour, I, 138; Bulletins de I'assemblee nationale, July 7. The 

 Point du jour, I, 137, states that Riviere, cure of Vic, spoke on the nature 

 of the oath binding the deputies and the constituents, and that Creniere 

 talked on the rights of the constituents, but in none of the sources do I 

 find just what their position was. Brocheton, Point du jour, I, 132, said 

 that law-making did not enter the discussion, that it was only a question of 

 declaring principles. 



