court. The two other orders were, by the imperative
mandate of many constituencies, prohibited from voting
in common. Their resistance was legitimate, and could
only be overcome by the intervention either of the Crown
or the people. Their policy might have been justified
if they had at once made their surrender, and had accomplished with deliberation in May what had to be done
with tumult in August. With these problems and these
perils before them, the States-General met on that
memorable 5th of May. Necker, preferring the abode of
financiers, wished them to meet at Paris; and four or five
other places were proposed. At last the king, breaking
silence, said that it could be only at Versailles, on account
of his hunting. At the time he saw no cause for alarm
in the proximity of the capital. Since then, the disturbances in one or two places, and the open language of
some of the electors, had begun to make him swerve.
On the opening day the queen was received with offensive silence ; but she acknowledged a belated cheer with such evident gladness and with such stately grace that applause followed her. The popular groups of deputies were cheered as they passed all but the Commons of Provence, for they had Mirabeau among them. He alone was hissed. Two ladies who watched the procession from the same window were the daughter of Necker and the wife of the Foreign Minister, Montmorin. One thought with admiration that she was a witness of the greatest scene in modern history ; and the other was sad with evil forebodings. Both were right ; but the feeling of confidence and enthusiasm pervaded the crowd. Near relations of my own were at Rome in 1846, during the excitement at the reforms of the new Pope, who, at that moment, was the most popular sovereign in Europe. They asked an Italian lady who was with them why all the demonstrations only made her more melancholy. She answered: "Because I was at Versailles in 1789."
Barentin, the minister who had opposed Necker's plans and viewed the States -General with apprehension and disgust, spoke after the king. He was a French judge,
