In the previous chapter, we have already established the need to define
the common will as the view of the majority alone. This maxim is indisputable.
It follows that in France the representatives of the Third Estate
are the true custodians of the national will. They alone can speak in the
name of the whole Nation without error. Even if it is supposed that all
the privileged votes were to be added together unanimously against the
voice of the Third Estate, they would still be unable to match the majority
produced by deliberations within that order itself. According to the
proportions that have been fixed, each deputy of the Third Estate stands
to vote in the place of about fifty thousand people. Thus, all that would
be needed would be to stipulate that a majority would be half of the commons,
plus five votes, for the unanimous votes of the two hundred thou-
150 Political Writings
sand nobles or priests to be covered by these five votes and thus to become
indifferent as far the outcome is concerned. Note that on this assumption
no attention has been paid to the fact that the first two orders
are not representatives of the Nation, although it is still assumed that if
they were to sit in a proper National Assembly with an influence commensurate
with their number, they would still vote consistently against
the majority. Even here, it is still obvious that their view would be swallowed
up in the minority.