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432 General History of Europe of the body. But there was a general agreement that the system of voting by orders was absurd, for the two privileged orders could outvote the representatives of the nation at large, and they were likely to do so when it came to abolishing their old privileges and exemptions. The king's ministers finally agreed that the Third Estate might have twice as many representatives (namely, six hundred) as either of the other orders, but the king refused to permit the assembly to sit and vote as a single body. 750. The Cahiers. We have an extraordinary proof that France was ready for a great reform in the list of grievances and suggestions for improvement which, following an ancient custom, the king asked each town and village throughout France to pre- pare. These were the so-called cahiers (pronounced ka ya'). The cahiers agreed that the chief evil was the old disorder, the auto- cratic powers of the king and his ministers, and the absence of a constitution setting forth the rights of the nation and limiting the power of the monarch. No one- dreamed as yet of getting rid of the king altogether and establishing a republic, as later hap- pened, but most thoughtful people were tired of the old absolute monarchy. 751. How the Estates General became a National Assembly, June, 1789. With these ideas in mind, the deputies assembled in Versailles and held their first session on May 5, 1789. In spite of the king's commands the representatives of the Third Estate refused to organize themselves in the old way as a separate order. They sent invitation after invitation to the deputies of the clergy and nobility, requesting them to join the people's repre- sentatives and discuss together the great interests of the nation. Some of the more liberal of the nobles Lafayette, for example and a large minority of the clergy wished to meet with the deputies of the Third Estate. But they were outvoted, and the deputies of the Third Estate, losing patience, finally declared themselves, on June 17, a " National Assembly." They argued . that, since they represented at least ninety-six per cent of the na- tion, the deputies of the privileged orders might be neglected alto- gether as a worse than useless element in the assembly. This