You might well cry in triumph that if the Third Estate was to assemble
separately to form a National Assembly, and not any so-called General
version of the three estates, then it would be no more competent to vote
for the clergy and the nobility than these two orders would be entitled to
deliberate on behalf of the people. But take note, as has already been
pointed out, that the representatives of the Third Estate will undoubtedly
have been mandated by the twenty-five or twenty-six million individuals
who make up the Nation, apart from some two hundred thousand nobles
or priests. This is quite enough for them to able to give themselves the
title of a National Assembly. They will, therefore, be able to deliberate
without any difficulty on behalf of the whole Nation, minus two hundred
thousand heads.