But with the meeting of the States-General, the glories of journalism really began, and the most conspicuous member of the Assembly was the first to appeal against the policy of the Court to the independent judgment of the Press. On the 2nd May, Mirabeau issued the first number of the _Journal des Etats-Généraux_, and when his sharp criticism of Necker provoked the Government to suppress the paper, he proceeded to fill its place with the series of _Letters_ addressed to his constituents, which, after the capture of the Bastille, took the form of a regular journal and the title of the _Courrier de Provence_. Mirabeau's object was to inform his constituents of the proceedings and policy of the Assembly, and in so doing to promulgate his own views. The _Courrier de Provence_, which he ceased to edit, but to which he continued to contribute to the end of his life, often rose above a chronicle of affairs to a very high level of political discussion, and remained of great importance as the chief exponent of his views. Mirabeau's example was soon followed by one of his colleagues. In the middle of June, Barère began his journalistic career with the publication of the _Point du Jour_, a daily journal at first moderate in tone, and chiefly remarkable for its accounts of the proceedings of the Assembly. The reporting of debates rapidly developed into a distinct branch of journalism. Out of it arose the _Journal des Débats_, which still exists. And the most famous reporter of the day, the author, from the beginning of 1790, of the celebrated reports in the _Moniteur_, was the young Maret, whom a strange experience was afterwards to make Duc de Bassano and director of the foreign policy of France.