On the 25th, the Archbishop of Paris is
saved only by the speed of his horses, the multitude pursuing him
and pelting him with stones. His mansion is besieged, the windows
are all shattered, and, notwithstanding the intervention of the
French Guards, the peril is so great that he is obliged to promise
that he will join the deputies of the Third-Estate. This is the way
in which the rude hand of the people effects a reunion of the
Orders. It bears as heavily on its own representatives as on its
adversaries. "Although our hall was closed to the public," says
Bailly, "there were always more than six hundred spectators."[25]
These were not respectful and silent, but active and noisy, mingling
with the deputies, raising their hands to vote in all cases, taking
part in the deliberations, by their applause and hisses: a
collateral Assembly which often imposes its own will on the other.
They take note of and put down the names of their opponents,
transmit them to the chair-bearers in attendance at the entrance of
the hall, and from them to the mob waiting for the departure of the
deputies, these names are from now considered as the names of public
enemies.
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