the third order at that of the other two combined. This decision
was received with many demonstrations of satisfaction by the Parisians,
and the six corps of the merchants of the capital addressed a
congratulatory letter to the king. The amicable fusion of the three
orders, which took place in the latter part of June, was prefaced by
acrimonious dissensions, in which the king interfered, and was worsted.
The custom, at first, was to permit the deputies of the clergy and
nobility to enter the hall to take their places of honor, and to let
those of the communes wait outside, frequently in the rain, as on the
23d of June,--the scene represented in M. Melingue's painting,
reproduced on page 35.

The first defections from the ranks of the aristocracy were made on the
13th of June, when three cures of Poitou took their seats with the third
estate. On the 17th, on the motion of the Abbe Sieyes, the communes
declared themselves the National Assembly, and on the 9th of July, the
more clearly to indicate their mission, they added the word
"Constituante." This bold step filled the court with rage, the king was
advised to dissolve the Assembly, but had courage only to close the
doors of the _Salle des Menus_, called the _Salle des Trois Ordres_, in
which the sittings had been held. The president of the _tiers etat_,
Bailly, convoked the members in a tennis-court, where, on the 20th of
June, they took a solemn oath not to separate until they had given a
constitution to France. This was the famous _Serment du Jeu de Paume_. A
week later, the king, at the instigation of Necker, invited the two
higher orders to reunite themselves with the third. They obeyed and were
courteously received, "We missed our brothers," said Bailly, "the family
is now complete."

[Illustration: BONAPARTE WATCHING THE MOB IN THE TUILERIES GARDEN, JUNE
20, 1792.

From a painting by Georges Cain.]

The Assemblee divided itself into thirty bureaux to facilitate the great
work of creating the constitution, and the deputies of the tiers chose
their presidents from among the nobles and ecclesiastics.

So far, everything had gone well, but the day of violence was at hand.
More than thirty thousand troops had been concentrated around Paris and
Versailles by order of the court; the Parisians, uneasy at their
presence, demanded their withdrawal, the king dismissed Necker instead.
The next day, the disturbances broke out, the Gardes-Francaises fired on
a detachment