the royal policy, and by eloquence, by persuasion, by
entreaty, to cajole the great floating mass of members to follow the
lead of the more active minds. The King's speech on the 23rd of June
was no surprise to the assembly, and the leaders were prepared with an
effective rejoinder.

So when Louis XVI left the hall after commanding the deputies to
disperse, the greater part of them kept their seats, and when Dreux
Breze, Master of Ceremonies, noting this, called on the president to
withdraw, Bailly replied that the assembly was in session and could not
adjourn without a motion. The discussion between Dreux Breze and
Bailly continuing, Mirabeau turned on the King's representative and in
his thundering voice declaimed the famous speech, which he had
doubtless prepared the night before. "We are here," he concluded, "by
the will of the people, and we {59} will only quit at the point of the
bayonet." At this de Breze withdrew and reported to the King for
orders. But Louis had done enough for one day, and the only conclusion
he could come to was that if the deputies refused to leave the hall,
the best course would be for them to remain there. And there in fact
they stayed.

Immediately after this scene Necker sent in his resignation. On the
morning of the 24th, this was known in Paris, and produced
consternation and a run on the banks. To reassure the public, Necker
was immediately reinstated, on the basis that Louis should accept, as
now seemed inevitable, the fusion of the orders. On the 25th, a large
group of nobles headed by the Duc d'Orleans and the Comte de Clermont
Tonnerre joined the assembly, and a week later the Assemblee Nationale
was fully constituted, the three orders merged into one.

During the two months through which this great constitutional struggle
had lasted, the assembly had had a great moral force behind it, a moral
force that was fast tending to become something more. The winter of
1788-89 had been one of the most severe of the century. There had been
not only the almost chronic shortage of bread, but weather of {60}
extraordinary rigour. In the city of Paris the Seine is reported to
have been frozen solid, while the suffering among its inhabitants was
unparalleled. As an inevitable consequence of this riots broke out.
In January there had been food riots in many parts of France that taxed
severely the military resources of the Government. They continued
during the electoral period, an