Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/634

598 FRANCE [HISTORY. 1789. that the points at issue were not easily to be settled. The The action of the king and his ministers was exceedingly foolish treat- and weak ; instead of taking a vigorous line with the ment of q ues tion of the vote by head or by Estate, they lingered over vt f 11 trivial questions as to order and etiquette, which could only irritate the " representatives of the people," as men now began to call the third Estate. They must kneel to present their cahiers ; when they met they must enter through a backdoor, while the others entered through the main gateway and stood in the royaFpresence. In a number of petty matters the court seemed determined to remind them that they were inferior to those with whom they sat, while they, in the language of the Abb6 Sieyes, felt that " the third Estate was the nation, less the privileged orders." The folly of this treatment strengthened their hands, as did also the blunder of providing no separate hall for them to sit in. After the opening session, when all met the king, they installed themselves in the great Hall of the Estates, and so took possession of the ground they were only too eager to occupy. The verification of powers was the first step to be taken. They urged at once that the three orders ought to verify together, sent invitations to the other orders, which verified separately, and set to work at their deliberations. The third Estate waited, refusing to proceed till they had solved the main question. Meanwhile the court upbraided them for wasting precious time ; it became daily clearer that all their masters cared for was that they should arrange for the payment of the deficit and be gone ; and then after some delay, they began to verify, taking on themselves to call the roll of all three orders. At the first call no response was made by either noble or clergyman ; at the second three cur6s answered, and were received with enthusiasm; after a short time as many as 100 members of the clergy joined them. They named themselves " the The Na- National Assembly" (17th June 1789), and issued a declara- tional tion that the creditors of the state were guaranteed by the Assen - i lonour au( j loyalty of the French nation ; that if they were dissolved, taxation levied thereafter would be illegal; that a committee should be named to inquire into the general distress. Then the clergy, by a small majority, agreed to join the third Estate, and did so ; Necker thereon advised the king to yield the* point of separate chambers, and to l< deign to resign himself to the English constitution," a phrase singularly indicative of Necker s temper and views, and just as inapplicable to the real state of the case. The The king, however, would not yield. Though Necker knew, and king s the king should have known, that the army could not be rant of t ms fc ec i against the Assembly, he committed himself once more to stupid and irritating tactics. The great hall was closed against the representatives, and they adjourned to the neighbouring tennis court, where they took solemn oath (20 June, 1789) that they would not separate till "the constitution of the kingdom had been established and confirmedjon solid foundations." Under this oath^the The Con- Assembly claimed a new name, that of the Constituent stituent Assembly, the Assembly charged to create a new coustitu- tion. The king showed utter want of discretion : he annoyed the moderate party in the chamber, who were headed by Count Mirabeau, by refusing to give them any insight into his plans and policy ; he alienated any support he had within the Assembly, because he regarded it as a usurping body, insulting to him by its claim of permanence and authority. Next, the Assembly was told that the tennis court was wanted by the count of Artois the most unlucky of all the supporters of the queen s policy, the most offensive to the people. Once more treated by the court with con tempt, because it could not venture to use violence, the Assembly next met in the church of St Louis at Versailles on the 22d of June. On the 23d they were summoned to a "royal sitting" of all the orders, in which the king lamented the conduct of the commons, and declared the l concessions he would grant. The representatives of the people, who had been treated with the scantiest courtesy that morning, received the discourse in silence a silence deep and anxious, especially when Louis XVI. told them, speaking as an angry master to disobedient servants, that the orders should not act together, but should meet next day in their separate chambers. When he rose to go, he was followed by most of the nobles, the bishops, and some clergy ; the third Estate and a large proportion of the parish priests remained, and sent a message to the king to say that they would only retire if forced to do so by the bayonet. Necker, feeling that the king was completely committed, now resigned. The duke of Orleans, with 46 of the nobles, joined the Assembly; after that, force being out of the question, Louis XVI. was obliged to tell the remainder of the noble order to join the others. And thus by June 27, 1789, the orders had all accepted the victory of tho commons. The king now threw himself entirely into the hands of the court; Necker s resignation was accepted; attempts were made to get regiments that could be trusted to Versailles ; the Swiss and German troops seemed the mainstay of the monarchy. On Monday, 12th July, it came to a collision between the troops and the people. In I dispersing a " Necker procession," an enthusiastic unarmed c crowd following a bust of the ejected minister, Prince v Lambesc, acting under Baron Besenval s orders, fired on the people. A French guard chanced to be among the killed ; thereon the whole guard sprang into revolt ; the old municipality of Paris, the ancient provost and e"chevins, who were royal nominees, were swept away ; a new provisional municipality arose, and a new Parisian militia. The tricolour flag sprang into existence, red and blue, the old 1 colours of Paris, with white, the significant ground-work of c the new constitution. The troops cantoned on the Champ de Mars were now powerless against Paris, which had taken the lead in insurrection and incipient revolution ; while tho Assembly at Versailles was surrounded by foreign troops, and in danger of forcible dispersal. Paris quickly consoli dated her movement. . On the 14th of July the new civic guard seized the arms at the Invalides, and on the same day took place the assault on the Bastille. The troops at 1 the Champ de Mars could not be trusted; Besenval drew* them back to Versailles. The fall of the Bastille was sullied with broken promises .and unnecessary bloodshed ; for now the fierce passions of civil war began to move, and the Paris mob had in it desperate and savage elements. The Bastille was levelled to the ground ; it symbolized tho overthrow of the ancient and worn-out institutions of the monarchy. Then the king again appeared in the Assembly, declared that he would remove his troops from Paris and Versailles, and appealed to the fidelity of the Estates. Paris grew calm at once ; Bailly was made mayor, and Lafayette commander of the civic forces. Louis XVL went further ] still; he visited the capital (17th July) and appeared with- the tricolour cockade on his breast. The Parisians welcomed him with enthusiasm, and a happy reconciliation seemed to have taken place. The party of Philip of Orleans sank into the background. Unfortunately for the monarchy, the queen would not loyally accept the. situation. Louis XVI. might have becomsa constitutional sovereign a first roi des f ran^ais ; his court made it impossible for him. On the very night before his visit to the Hotel de Ville the emigration of dissatisfied nobles began, and the plans of the court-party at once changed form ; from plans they became plots. The queen stayed behind, for she was fear less in disposition and loyal to the king. She only succeeded in involving him with herself in utter ruin. By the 22d of July the first stage of the Revolution vas