The meeting had the unforseen effect of showing the Jewish community in a different light to the broader population as a piece by Pasquier testified.
It has been generally supposed that they(i.e., the Jews ) were governed solely by their pecuniary interests, that they adhered to their religion merely as a matter of custom, and especially because it made their conscience feel easy on the score of living at the expense of all countries which harbored them or tolerated their presence. But one found oneself, face to face with men vastly superior to the common herd with which, generally speaking, public opinion classed them. Thoroughly conversant with their religion and its principles, they were strengthened in their attachment to it by the animadversion it drew upon them, and their well-cultivated minds were replete with every kind of knowledge. It was therefore no longer possible to ignore the existence of a Jewish nation, the dregs of which had so far along come under notice, and which, owing to the care bestowed in selecting the members of the Assembly, spoke a language worthy of being heard..’!
The delegates to the Great Assembly were provided by each of the prefectures of France and from recently conquered northern Italy . Invitations were also issued to the entire western European rabbinate though none attended- in part due to government prohibitions as in Bavaria and otherwise due to a lack of interest. Lay member from the Sephardic community and from the Ashkenazic community of Alsace along with rabbis attended: We should remember that all were Orthodox Jews . The Sephardim among them were acculturated and had fought for rights, but neither they, nor the Ashkenazim had any contact with the Berlin haskalah.”