They have spoken out before the lower class as if it were not
present, and, from all this eloquence poured out without precaution,
some bubbles besprinkle the brain of the artisan, the publican, the
messenger, the shopkeeper, and the soldier.
Hence it is that a year suffices to convert mute discontent into
political passion. From the 5th of July 1787, on the invitation of
the King, who convokes the States-General and demands advice from
everybody, both speech and the press alter in tone.[7] Instead of
general conversation of a speculative turn there is preaching, with
a view to practical effect, sudden, radical, and close at hand,
preaching as shrill and thrilling as the blast of a trumpet.
Revolutionary pamphlets appear in quick succession: "Qu'est-ce que
le Tiers?" by Siey?s; "M?moire pour le Peuple Fran?ais," by Cerutti;
"Considerations sur les Int?r?ts des Tiers-Etat," by Rabtau Saint-
Etienne; "Ma P?tition," by Target; "Les Droits des Etats-g?n?raux,"
by M. d'Entraigues, and, a little later, "La France libre," par
Camille Desmoulins, and others by hundreds and thousands.
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