the nobles began a separate verification of their powers. But
a few of the nobles and a great many of the clergy voted against
this procedure. On the 7th the Tiers État sent deputations to
exhort the other estates to union, while the clergy sent a deputation
to it with the proposal that each estate should name commissioners
to discuss the best method of verifying powers.
The Tiers État accepted the proposal and conferences were held,
but without result. It then made another appeal to the clergy
which was almost successful. The king interposed with a command
for the renewal of the conferences. They were resumed
under the presidency of Barentin, but again to no purpose.
On the 10th of June Sieyès moved that the Tiers État should for the last time invite the First and Second Estates to join in the verification of powers and announce that, whether they did or not, the work of verifying would begin forthwith. The motion was carried by an immense majority. As there was no response, the Tiers État on the 12th named Bailly provisional president and commenced verification. Next day three curés of Poitou came to have their powers verified. Other clergymen followed later. When the work of verification was over, a title had to be found for the body thus created, which would no longer accept the style of the Tiers État. On the 15th Sieyès proposed that they should entitle themselves the Assembly of the known and verified representatives of the French nation. Mirabeau, Mounier and others proposed various appellations. But success was reserved for Legrand, an obscure deputy who proposed the simple name of National Assembly. Withdrawing his own motion, Sieyès adopted Legrand’s suggestion, which was carried by 491 votes to 90. The Assembly went on to declare that it placed the debts of the crown under the safeguard of the national honour and that all existing taxes, although illegal as having been imposed without the consent of the people, should continue to be paid until the day of dissolution.
By these proceedings the Tiers État and a few of the clergy declared themselves the national legislature. Then and thereafter the National Assembly assumed full sovereign and constituent powers. Nobles and clergy might come in if they pleased, but it could do without them. The National Assembly. The king’s assent to its measures would be convenient, but not necessary. This boldness was rewarded, for on the 19th the clergy decided by a majority of one in favour of joint verification. On the same day the nobles voted an address to the king condemning the action of the Tiers État. Left to himself, Louis might have been too inert for resistance. But the queen and his brother, the count of Artois, with some of the ministers and courtiers, urged him to make a stand. A Séance Royale was notified for the 22nd and workmen were sent to prepare the Salle des Menus Plaisirs for the ceremony. On the 20th Bailly and the deputies proceeded to the hall and found it barred against their entrance. Thereupon they adjourned to a neighbouring tennis Oath of the Tennis Court. court, where Mounier proposed that they should swear not to separate until they had established the constitution. With a solitary exception they swore and the Oath of the Tennis Court became an era in French history. As the ministers could not agree on the policy which the king should announce in the Séance Royale, it was postponed to the 23rd. The Assembly found shelter in the church of St Louis, where it was joined by the main body of the clergy and by the first of the nobles.
At the Séance Royale Louis made known his will that the Estates should deliberate apart, and declared that if they should refuse to help him he would do by his sole authority what was necessary for the happiness of his people. When he quitted the hall, some of the clergy and most of the nobles retired to their separate chambers. But the rest, together with the Tiers État, remained, and Mirabeau declared that, as they had come by the will of the nation, force only should make them withdraw. “Gentlemen,” said Sieyès, “you are to-day what you were yesterday.” With one voice the Assembly proclaimed its adhesion to its former decrees and the inviolability of its members. In Versailles and in Paris popular feeling was clamorous for the Assembly and against the court. During the next few days many of the clergy and nobles, including the archbishop of Paris and the duke of Orleans, joined the Assembly. Louis tamely accepted his defeat. He recalled Necker, who had resigned after the Séance Royale. On the 27th he wrote to those clerical and noble deputies who still held out, urging submission. By the 2nd of July the joint verification of powers was completed. The last trace of the historic States-General disappeared and the National Assembly was perfect. On the same day it claimed an absolute discretion by a decree that the mandates of the electors were not binding on its members.
Having failed in their first attempt on the Assembly, the Court
party resolved to try what force could do. A large number of
troops, chiefly foreign regiments in the service of France,
were concentrated near Paris under the command of the
marshal de Broglie. On Mirabeau’s motion the Assembly
Dismissal
of Necker.
voted an address to the king asking for their withdrawal. The
king replied that the troops were not meant to act against the
Assembly, but intimated his purpose of transferring the session
to some provincial town. On the same day he dismissed Necker
and ordered him to quit Versailles. These acts led to the first
insurrection of Paris. The capital had long been in a dangerous
condition. Bread was dear and employment was scarce. The
measures taken to relieve distress had allured a multitude of needy
and desperate men from the surrounding country. Among the
middle class there already existed a party, consisting of men like
Danton or Camille Desmoulins, which was prepared to go much
further than any of the leaders of the Assembly. The rich citizens
were generally fund-holders, who regarded the Assembly as the
one bulwark against a public bankruptcy. The duke of Orleans,
a weak and dissolute but ambitious man, had conceived the hope
of supplanting his cousin on the throne. He strained his wealth
and influence to recruit followers and to make mischief. The
gardens of his residence, the Palais Royal, became the centre of
political agitation. Ever since the elections virtual freedom of
the press and freedom of speech had prevailed in Paris. Clubs
were multiplied and pamphlets came forth every hour. The
municipal officers who were named by the Crown had little
influence with the citizens. The police were a mere handful. Of
the two line regiments quartered in the capital, one was Swiss and
therefore trusty; but the other, the Gardes Françaises, shared
all the feelings of the populace.
On the 12th of July Camille Desmoulins announced the dismissal
of Necker to the crowd in the Palais Royal. Warmed by
his eloquence, they sallied into the street. Part of
Broglie’s troops occupied the Champs Elysées and the
Place Louis Quinze. After one or two petty encounters
Rioting
in Paris.
with the mob they were withdrawn, either because their temper
was uncertain or because their commanders shunned responsibility.
Paris was thus left to the rioters, who seized arms
wherever they could find them, broke open the jails, burnt the
octroi barriers and soon had every man’s life and goods at their
discretion. Citizens with anything to lose were driven to act
for themselves. For the purpose of choosing its representatives
in the states-general the Third Estate of Paris had named 300
electors. Their function once discharged, these men had no
public character, but they resolved that they would hold together
in order to watch over the interests of the city. After the Séance
Royale the municipal authority, conscious of its own weakness,
allowed them to meet at the Hôtel de Ville, where they proceeded
to consider the formation of a civic guard. On the 13th, when
all was anarchy in Paris, they were joined by Flesselles, Provost
of the Merchants, and other municipal officers. The project of a
civic guard was then adopted. The insurrection, however, ran
its course unchecked. Crowds of deserters from the regular
troops swelled the ranks of the insurgents. They attacked the
Fall of the Bastille,
July 14,
1789.
Hôtel des Invalides and carried off all the arms
which were stored there. With the same object they
assailed the Bastille. The garrison was small and
disheartened, provisions were short, and after some
hours’ fighting De Launay the governor surrendered on
promise of quarter. He and several of his men were, notwithstanding,
butchered by the mob before they could be brought to
