When the king entered, the house rose and uncovered, and received him with thunders of applause. The queen was placed beside him on a lower step. The royal family surrounded the king. The ministers, the peers of the realm, and the princes were placed on an inferior stage of the platform, and the rest of the suite placed themselves as they could.
The king having taken his seat, the nobles covered themselves; whereupon, contrary to precedent, the commons also put on their hats. This caught the queen's eye; she made a sign to the king to attract his attention, and then whispered to him hastily. Instantly he bared his head, whereupon all in the hall did the same.
The king opened the States-General by an address, awkward, timid, cold, and colourless. He contented himself with assuring the delegates that the debt was enormous, and that to pay it off was their business.
This discourse was followed by one from Barentin, Keeper of the Seals, paler even than that of his royal master, in which he thanked Heaven for having accorded to France 'the monarch whom it is her happiness to possess.'
The minister Necker next spoke; he showed that the gulf of the deficit was still gaping, that it amounted to fifty-six millions. Of the constitution for France, which was so earnestly desired, he said not a word, and he concluded with declaring that the votes of the deputies were to be taken by order and not by heads.
This was the annihilation of the third estate, which, although as numerous as the two other orders put together, would thus be reduced to one against two.
Necker's speech lasted three hours.
The king rose at half-past four, and the estates were adjourned till the morrow.