'We are sure of the majority,' was their reply.

I quitted my seat and took another, where precisely the same conversation passed.

I then took refuge in that part of the chamber that had been so long the sanctuary of patriotism: there I heard the same arguments, the same apostacy.

All had been purchased in the course of the night, and the best proof that this work of corruption had been accomplished before the deliberation is, that all the orators who spoke against the decree had their speeches ready written.

Whence arises this surprise of the patriots?
Because the well-intentioned members of the Assembly do not know each other; they have not met or reckoned their numbers here.