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 HISTORY OF EUROPE
 
 " BKLLUM maxime omnium memorabile, quse unquam gesta sint, me scripturum ; 
 quod, Hannibale duce, Carthaginienses cum populo Romano gessdre. Nam neque 
 validiores opibus ullse inter se civitates gentesque contulerunt anna, neque his 
 ipsis tantum unquam virium aut roboris fuit : et baud ignotas belli artee inter se, 
 sed expertas primo Punico conserebant bello : odiis etiam prope majoribus certarunt 
 quam viribus : et adeo varia belli fortuna ancepsqxie Mars fuit, ut propius periculum 
 fuerint qui vicerunt." LIVT, lib. xxi.
 
 HISTOEY OF EUROPE 
 
 THE COMMENCEMENT OF 
 
 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 
 
 RESTORATION OF THE BOURBONS 
 
 IN MDCCCXV 
 
 SIR ARCHIBALD ALISON, BART.,D.C.L. 
 
 s 
 
 lEtittion, fottj) 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS 
 
 EDINBURGH AND LONDON 
 
 MDCCCLVIII
 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBUBGH.
 
 PREFACE TO THE SEVENTH EDITION. 
 
 THE History of Europe during the French Revolution naturally 
 divides itself into four periods : 
 
 The first, commencing with the Convocation of the States- 
 General in 1789, terminates with the execution of Louis, and the 
 establishment of a republic in France, in 1793. This period em- 
 braces the history and vast changes of the Constituent Assembly ; 
 the annals of the Legislative Assembly ; the revolt and overthrow 
 of the throne on the 10th August ; the trial and death of the King. 
 It traces the changes of public opinion, and the fervour of innova- 
 tion, from their joyous commencement to that bloody catastrophe, 
 and the successive steps by which the nation was led from the 
 transports of general philanthropy to the sombre ascendant of 
 sanguinary ambition. 
 
 The second opens with the strife of the Girondists and the 
 Jacobins ; and, after recounting the fall of the former body, enters 
 upon the dreadful era of the Reign of Terror, and follows out the 
 subsequent struggles of the now exhausted factions, till the estab- 
 lishment of a regular military government, by the suppression of 
 the revolt of the National Guard of Paris, in October 1795. This 
 period embraces the commencement of the war ; the immense 
 exertions of France during the campaign in 1793 ; the heroic con- 
 test in la Vende'e ; the last efforts of Polish independence under 
 VOL. I.
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 Kosciusko ; the conquest of Flanders and Holland ; and the scientific 
 manoeuvres of the campaign of 1795. But its most interesting 
 part is the internal history of the Revolution ; the heart-rending 
 sufferings of persecuted virtue ; and the means by which Provi- 
 dence caused the guilt of the Revolutionists to work out their own 
 deserved and memorable punishment. 
 
 The third, commencing with the rise of Napoleon, terminates 
 with the seizure of the reins of power by that extraordinary man, 
 and the first pause in the general strife at the Peace of Amiens. 
 It is singularly rich in splendid achievements, embracing the Italian 
 campaigns of the French hero, and the German ones of the Arch- 
 duke Charles ; the battles of St Vincent, Camperdown, and the 
 Nile ; the expedition to Egypt, the wars of Suwarroff in Italy, and 
 Massena on the Alps ; the campaigns of Marengo and Hohenlin- 
 den ; the Northern Coalition, with its dissolution by the victory of 
 Copenhagen ; the overthrow of the French in Egypt, and their 
 expulsion from it by the arms of England. During this period, 
 the democratic passions of France had exhausted themselves, and 
 the nation groaned under a weak but relentless military despotism, 
 the external disasters and internal severities of which prepared all 
 classes to range themselves under the banners of a victorious 
 chieftain. 
 
 The fourth opens with brighter auspices to France, under the 
 firm and able government of Napoleon, and terminates with his fall 
 in 1815. Less illustrated than the former period by his military 
 genius, it was rendered still more memorable by his resistless power 
 and mighty achievements. It embraces the campaigns of Auster- 
 litz, Jena, and Friedland ; the destruction of the French navy at 
 Trafalgar ; the desperate struggle in Spain, and the gallant, though 
 abortive, efforts of Austria in 1809 ; the degradation and extinc- 
 tion of the Papal authority ; the slow but steady growth of the 
 English military power in the Peninsula ; the persevering, and at 
 last splendid career of Wellington ; the general suffering under the 
 despotism of France ; the memorable invasion of Russia ; the con- 
 vulsive efforts of Germany in 1813 ; the last campaign of Napo- 
 leon, the capture of Paris, and his final overthrow at Waterloo.
 
 PEEFACE. XI 
 
 The two first periods illustrate the consequences of democratic 
 ascendency upon the civil condition ; the two last, their effect upon 
 the military contests and external relations of nations. In both, 
 the operation of the same law of nature may be discerned, for the 
 expulsion of a destructive passion from the frame of society, by the 
 efforts which it makes for its own gratification, and the just punish- 
 ment alike of guilty nations and individuals, by the consequences 
 of the very iniquities which they commit. In both, the principal 
 actors were overruled by an unseen power, which rendered their 
 vices and ambition the means of vindicating the justice of the 
 Divine administration, asserting the final triumph of virtue over 
 vice, and ultimately effecting the deliverance of mankind. Gene- 
 rations perished during the vast transition, but the law of nature 
 was unceasing in its operation ; and the same principle which drove 
 the government of Robespierre through the Reign of Terror to the 
 9th of Thermidor, impelled Napoleon to the snows of Russia and 
 the rout of Waterloo. "Les hommes agissent," says Bossuet, 
 " mais Dieu les mene." The illustrations of this moral law com- 
 pose the great lesson to be learned from the eventful scenes of this 
 mighty drama. 
 
 A subject so splendid in itself, so full of political and military 
 instruction, replete with such great and heroic actions, adorned by 
 so many virtues, and darkened by so many crimes, never yet fell 
 to the lot of a historian. During the twenty-five years of its 
 progress, the world has gone through more than five hundred years 
 of ordinary existence ; and the annals of Modern Europe will be 
 sought in vain for a parallel to that brief period of anxious effort 
 and checkered achievement. 
 
 Although so short a time has elapsed since the termination of 
 these events, the materials which have been collected for their 
 elucidation have already become, beyond all precedent, interesting 
 and ample. The great and varied ability which, since the general 
 peace, has been brought to bear upon political and historical sub- 
 jects in France, has produced, besides many regular Histories of 
 extraordinary talent, a crowd of Memoirs of various authority, but 
 throwing, upon the whole, the fullest light on the manners, feelings,
 
 Xll PREFACE. 
 
 and sufferings of those troubled times. The previous state of 
 France, with the moral, political, and financial causes which 
 brought about the Revolution, are fully developed in the able works 
 of Rivarol, Necker, and Madame de Stael, the elaborate Memoirs 
 of the Abbe' Georgel, the acute History of the reign of Louis XVI. 
 by Soulavie, and the impartial Digest by Droz of the same interest- 
 ing and important period. Its financial and social condition are 
 unfolded in the luminous statements of Calonne, Necker, and 
 Arthur Young. Nor are the materials for the history of the con- 
 vulsion itself less abundant. On the one hand, the faithful and 
 impartial Narrative of M. Toulangeon, the elaborate and valuable 
 Histoire de la Revolution par Deux Amis de la Liberti, in eighteen 
 volumes, with the brilliant works of Mignet and Thiers, have done 
 ample justice to the Republican side ; while, on the other, the 
 elaborate Histories of Lacretelle, La Baume, and Bertrand de 
 Molleville, with the detached Narratives of Chateaubriand, Beau- 
 champs, and Bertrand de Molleville, in his Memoirs, have fully 
 illustrated the sufferings of the Royalists during the progress of the 
 Revolution. The singular and interesting events of Poland are 
 admirably detailed in the able Narrative of Rulhiere, and the elo- 
 quent pages of Salvandy. But the most interesting record of those 
 times is to be found in the contemporary Memoirs by the principal 
 sufferers during their continuance, the best of which are to be met 
 with in the great collection, published at Paris, of Revolutionary 
 Memoirs, extending to sixty-six volumes, and embracing, among 
 other authentic Narratives, those of Bailly, Rivarol, Riouffe, Bar- 
 baroux, Buzot, Condorcet, Madame Campan, Madame Roland, 
 Madame Larochejaquelein, Clery, Hue, Carnot, Sapinaud, Thurreau, 
 Madame Bonchamp, Doppet, Abbd Guillon, Abbe' Morellet, Count 
 Se'gur, General Kleber, M. Puisaye, and many others. In Profes- 
 sor Smyth's Lectures on the French Revolution, these various 
 accounts are passed in review with the acuteness of a critic and the 
 spirit of a philosopher ; while Mr Adolphus, in his able History of 
 France from 1790 to 1803, has brought to light much that the 
 French writers would willingly bury in oblivion. The Papiers 
 Inedits de Robespierre, and the Gorrespondance du Comite du Salut
 
 PREFACE. Xlll 
 
 Public, lately published at Paris, are full of new and valuable 
 information. In the graphic History of the Convention, and the 
 admirable Souvenirs de la Terreur, by Duval, in six volumes, 
 recently published in the same capital, many vivid and striking 
 pictures are to be found, evidently drawn from life ; the Memoirs 
 of Barere and Berryer throw much light on the worst characters 
 of the Revolution ; while the admirable sketches of Dumont, 
 Brissot, and Mounier, convey the most faithful idea of the early 
 leaders of the Assembly, and the singular Memoirs of Levasseur 
 de la Sarthe furnish a portrait of the extreme of Jacobin extra- 
 vagance. 
 
 For the memorable period of the Consulate, and the character 
 of the illustrious men who were assembled round the throne of 
 Napoleon, the Memoirs of Thibaudeau, General Rapp, Bourrienne, 
 Savary, Fouche',* Bausset, Meneval, Caulaincourt, Gohier, and the 
 Duchess of Abrantes, have furnished an inexhaustible mine of 
 information, the authenticity of which may, in general, be judged 
 of with tolerable accuracy by comparing these different narratives 
 together. But the most valuable authentic documents during this 
 period are to be found in the ample volumes of the Moniteur, the 
 great quarry from which all subsequent compilers have extracted 
 their materials ; in the admirable Parliamentary history of France, 
 in forty-one volumes, by Buchez and Roux, the most interesting 
 portions of which have been well abridged in the Histoire de la 
 Convention, in six volumes, by Leonard Gallois ; and the Debats de 
 la Convention, forming part of the Revolutionary Memoirs. 
 
 In the memoirs of these contemporary authors, many of them 
 leading actors in the events they describe, it may be thought the 
 
 * The author, in the first instance, had some doubts of the authenticity of Fouchd's 
 Memoirs ; but they have been since removed by a more minute examination of their 
 contents, and by having learned, from the late lamented Lord Wellesley, that the 
 facts as to the Secret Negotiation with him in 1809, mentioned in these pages, were, 
 with one trifling exception, correct. They must, therefore, have been written at 
 least from his papers, as they contained facts known only to the French Minister 
 and two British Statesmen. The author has heard, on good authority, that an opin- 
 ion of their containing facts which were known only to Fouche', has been expressed 
 also by the Duke of Wellington. M. Beauchamps is generally understood to have 
 compiled these curious Memoirs from Fouch<?s papers. See Biographic Unirertelle, 
 Supplement, vol. Ixviii. p. 474.
 
 XIV PREFACE. 
 
 reader is transported near enough to the actual theatre of this 
 bloody drama. But to those who are enamoured of its tragic 
 scenes (and few can study the subject without becoming so), it is 
 not sufficient to have the memoirs written at a subsequent period, 
 even by the principal actors in the dreadful progress. We long to 
 get nearer the mournful catastrophes ; to hear the fervour of the 
 orator at the tribune ; to be present at the interrogatories of the 
 prisoners at the trials ; to listen to the words of the captives on the 
 scaffold. Ample materials exist to satisfy the most ardent thirst 
 for such entrancing details in the contemporary journals, though 
 the greater part of them are now extremely rare, and some would 
 be " cheaply purchased for their weight in gold." The Revolutions 
 de Paris, by Prudhomme, published in daily numbers from 1789 to 
 1794, and which now forms seventeen thick octavo volumes, ex- 
 hibits a picture of the republican party during the whole progress 
 of the convulsion, by an ardent democrat, intimately acquainted 
 with the leaders of the Revolution. His marked partiality for the 
 cause they supported, renders his testimony the more valuable when 
 he comes to recount their excesses, as he has done in a minute 
 detail, comprising six volumes, entitled Crimes et Erreurs de la 
 Revolution. The Actes des Apotres, in ten volumes, embracing 
 three hundred and ninety-six numbers, published twice a-week 
 during the Revolution, by Peltier, exhibits a picture of the ideas of 
 the Girondists and some of the Jacobin party, by an able but im- 
 passioned Royalist, at its most interesting periods ; while the Vieux 
 Cordelier, by Camille-Desmoulins, contains a precious contemporary 
 record of the views of one of the ablest of the party of Danton, 
 in the period immediately preceding its fall. The Chronique de 
 Paris, written chiefly by Brissot and the Girondists, gives daily, 
 throughout the whole struggle, the views of that celebrated party ; 
 while the proceedings and principles of the Jacobins are amply 
 unfolded in the Journal de la Montague, by Charles Leveaux, 
 which, beginning on 1st June 1793, comes down to the 28th 
 November 1794, and forms seven quarto volumes. The Journal 
 des Jacobins, commencing on the 1st June 1791, gives the whole
 
 PREFACE. XV 
 
 debates of that memorable body, including some of the best speeches 
 of Eobespierre and Danton, down to the 29th November 1794. 
 
 The Pere Duchesne, by Hebert, also a daily journal from March 
 1791 to October 1793, which now forms eleven volumes, contains 
 the obscene and hideous ribaldry of that atrocious faction, the crea- 
 tures of the municipality of Paris, elected under universal suffrage, 
 which even Robespierre was obliged to guillotine for their crimes. 
 Marat's vehement passions, cold-blooded proscriptions, and pro- 
 digious mental fertility, are fully portrayed in his celebrated 
 journal L'Ami du Peuple, beginning on 28th November 1789, and 
 coming down to his assassination in July 1793. It forms a collec- 
 tion amounting to eighteen volumes. The debates of the Conven- 
 tion are to be found fully reported in the ample columns of the 
 Moniteur, and the admirable Histoire Parlementaire de France, by 
 Buchez and Eoux, in forty-one volumes. The Liste des Condam- 
 nes contains the name and designation of every one of the many 
 victims of the Revolutionary Tribunal at Paris. But all the con- 
 temporary records sink in interest and value before the Bulletin du 
 Tribunal Revolutionnaire, published daily from the institution of 
 that tribunal, on 10th March 1793, till its close with the conviction 
 of Fouquier-Tinville, in December 1794. All the most important 
 trials of the Revolution, except that of Louis, are there given in 
 the fullest detail ; and the Proces de Louis XVI., in three volumes 
 octavo, gives the fullest account of that memorable proceeding. 
 
 Few subjects of study are so entrancing as these contemporary 
 records of the Revolution. From them could, with ease, be ex- 
 tracted a work equalling in bulk, and perhaps exceeding in interest, 
 that which details, most readers will probably think at sufficient 
 length, in addition to that convulsion, the whole wars consequent 
 on it. The impression left on the mind by the study of these 
 strange and melancholy monuments of human insanity, guilt, and 
 suffering, is very remarkable. In the first place, they clearly de- 
 monstrate, what will probably be found to be true of most suc- 
 cessful rebellions, that the French Revolution was entirely carried 
 through by the incessant application of exaggeration or mendacity 
 to the public mind. Falsehood was its staff of life. In the second
 
 XVI PREFACE. 
 
 place, the aspect of the convulsion, as thus painted at the moment 
 by its principal actors, is incomparably more sombre, its guilt and 
 devastation appear far greater, than could be imagined from the 
 later compilations ; and the author, from the study of their own 
 words, has been compelled, in most cases, to draw the leading 
 characters of the Revolution in much darker colours than he at first 
 was inclined to have done, from the representations of their ene- 
 mies.* Lastly, they exhibit in as shining colours the generosity 
 and dignity of human nature, as its baseness and ambition ; and if, 
 in surveying the guilt of the Revolutionists, or the aristocratic 
 selfishness which preceded it, we are sometimes almost tempted to 
 despair of the fortunes of the species, we are led by the heroism of 
 its victims to more cheering views, and a right appreciation of the 
 checkered destiny of man in this scene of probation. 
 
 In military annals the materials are not less ample. The 
 great scientific history of General Jomini, in sixteen volumes, 
 with the lucid narratives of Marshal Jourdan, Marshal St Cyr, 
 and General Dumourier, leave nothing to be desired for the 
 earlier years of the war ; while the genius of Napoleon, as conspi- 
 cuous in his memoirs as his victories, throws a clear light over the 
 Italian campaigns, and renders it only a matter of regret that his 
 fidelity as a historian was not equal to his ability as an annalist. 
 The Victories and Conquests of the French Armies, in twenty- 
 six volumes, by Petitot, is a vast magazine of valuable infor- 
 mation, though sometimes characterised by the partialities of a 
 too devoted French patriot. The eloquent and graphic Narrative 
 of General Mathieu Dumas, in eighteen volumes, commencing 
 
 * Few even of the public libraries in Great Britain contain the curious and inter- 
 esting works noticed in the two preceding paragraphs ; in private collections, 
 whether in England or France, they are hardly ever to be met with. A very 
 valuable collection on the subject exists in the British Museum, in great part the 
 gifts of J. W. Croker, Esq., whose intimate acquaintance with, and deep research 
 into the details of the Revolution are well known. The author has been fortunate 
 enough to acquire, through the kindness of M. Amyot, the well-known Paris book- 
 seller, an extensive and valuable collection of these contemporary journals and 
 pamphlets, made at the time by a distinguished member of the Convention, and 
 which has proved of the utmost service in the preparation of the later editions of 
 this work.
 
 PREFACE. XT11 
 
 with the first appearance of Suwarroff in Italy, embraces the 
 whole subsequent German campaigns of Napoleon ; the Histories 
 of Berthier and Reynier, with the Memoirs of Miot, and the 
 Narrative of Sir Robert Wilson, illustrate the brilliant episode 
 of the Egyptian expedition ; while on the side of the Allies, the 
 works of the Archduke Charles bear as high a character for 
 truth and integrity as military ability ; the eloquent History of M. 
 Botta makes us acquainted with the melancholy catalogue of 
 Italian sufferings ; the interesting life of Pius VII., by Artaud, 
 opens up an interesting episode of Christian resignation and firm- 
 ness in the midst of such a sea of blood ; and the Memoirs and 
 Histories of the Prussian writers,* supply all that was wanting to 
 complete their side of the picture. 
 
 For the history of the Empire, no works exist of equal ability 
 or authority as those regarding the Revolution ; but in many 
 detached publications the principal facts of importance are to 
 be found. M. Bignon, to whom Napoleon bequeathed, with a 
 large legacy, the duty of compiling the history of his diplomacy, 
 has executed the task, as far at least as 1810, with much ability, 
 though a jaundiced and partial view of Great Britain pervades 
 his pages. M. Norvins, in an animated and popular narrative, 
 has detailed, in the spirit of a partisan of Napoleon, the most 
 picturesque events of the Imperial history; while the Abbe 
 Montgaillard, in his elaborate history, in twelve volumes, with 
 equal prejudice on the other side, has accumulated many facts 
 necessary to be understood, for a right understanding of the 
 Imperial government. M. Thibaudeau has, with great judgment, 
 though in a spirit of undue national partiality, treated, in his 
 history of the Consulate and Empire, in ten volumes, of the whole 
 of Napoleon's reign. The negotiations with the Court of Rome 
 are to be found recorded in the collections regarding the Italian 
 Transactions, in three volumes, by Schoell, the able work on the 
 Concordats by the Abbe de Pradt, and the valuable Memoirs of 
 
 * Especially Prince Hardenberg, in his highly interesting and curious Mcmoircs 
 d'un Homme d'Etat, in thirteen volumes, with the brilliant Sketch, by Sir Robert 
 Wilson, of the Polish campaign in 1807.
 
 XVI 11 PREFACE. 
 
 Cardinal Pacca ; while the chief diplomatic papers of the period 
 are collected in the great works of Martens and Schoell, the 
 former in twenty-two, the latter in twelve volumes, and in the 
 valuable Recueil des Pieces Officielles, in nine volumes, by the 
 latter of these laborious compilers. Goldsmith's GOUTS Politique 
 et Diplomatique de Napoleon, in seven volumes, contains also a 
 variety of most important documents, many of which the Impe- 
 rial annalists would willingly bury in oblivion. Capefigue's elo- 
 quent history of Europe during the French Revolution, in six 
 volumes of the Empire of Napoleon and the Hundred Days, 
 in twelve volumes, recently published and his earlier narrative 
 of the causes which led to the restoration and fall of the elder 
 branch of the House of Bourbon, also in twelve volumes, abound 
 with rich and varied information, especially in relation to the 
 diplomatic events of the period, interspersed with episodes painted 
 with poetic fire. In the Biographie Universelle, also edited by 
 M. Michaud, in fifty-two volumes, and its additions in the Supple- 
 ment, embracing contemporary characters, now in course of publi- 
 cation at Paris, many interesting particulars regarding the chief 
 characters who figured during the Revolution and the Empire are 
 to be found scattered amidst a profusion of other and varied 
 information. The military events of the campaign of 1809 in 
 Germany, are ably recorded in the works of General Pelet, 
 General Stutterheim, and the Archduke John's Account of his 
 Italian Campaign ; while the interesting Life of Hofer, by Bar- 
 tholdy, and the brilliant sketch of the war in the Tyrol by Forster, 
 convey as vivid pictures of the astonishing efforts of the inhabitants 
 of that romantic region.* 
 
 As the contest advanced, and Great Britain was drawn as a 
 principal into the Continental war, the materials for a general 
 history became still more ample. The invaluable record of the 
 Duke of Wellington's Despatches, in twelve volumes, contains an 
 authentic narrative of his Indian and Peninsular campaigns, 
 told with equal judgment, penetration, and simplicity ; while his 
 
 * Geschichte Andreas Hofer uud Beitrage zur Neueren Kriegsgeschichte, vou 
 Friedrich Forster. Berlin, 1816.
 
 PREFACE. XIX 
 
 general orders, and Sir George Murray's orders as Quarter- 
 master-General, lately published in quarto, afford an important 
 contemporary record of these events. The Despatches of Mar- 
 quis Wellesley shed a clear light over the complicated maze of 
 Indian politics, during the splendid period of his administration. 
 Mr Southey's incomparable Life of Nelson contains all that 
 England could desire to have recorded of her naval hero ; while 
 his History of the Peninsular War contains a heart-stirring nar- 
 rative of that memorable struggle. The delightful Memoirs of 
 Lord Collingwood, with the recent able Lives of Howe, Earl 
 St Vincent, Lord Exmouth, Lord de Saumarez, and Sir Henry 
 Blackwood, open up a fund of interesting adventure in our naval 
 transactions. But with the glories of Wellington's campaigns the 
 name of Colonel Napier is indissolubly united ; and his glowing 
 pages, and scientific reflections, render it only an object of regret 
 that political feelings should sometimes have tinged with undue 
 bias his otherwise impartial military relation. Count Toreno has, 
 in an able work in six volumes, given the Spanish account of the 
 whole events of the Peninsular War. If anything were wanting 
 to complete the picture, it would be found in the animated 
 narratives of Lord Londonderry, Colonel Jones, Mr Gleig, 
 Captain Hamilton, Captain Scherer, and Mr Maxwell, whose 
 works exhibit a succession of sketches, so vivid and yet so faith- 
 ful, that the historian must be insensible indeed who does not 
 partake in some degree of their enthusiasm. 
 
 The French side of the Peninsular War has not been so fully 
 illustrated as their other and more successful campaigns ; but 
 the impartial narrative of General Jomini, with the detached 
 works of General Foy, Count Thiebault, General Lapene, M. 
 Rocca, Marshal St-Cyr, and Marshal Suchet, throw a clear light 
 over part, at least, of those complicated events. The Journaux 
 des Sieges dans la Peninsule, by M. Belmas, recently published 
 in four volumes, by authority of the French government, at 
 Paris, is a work on this subject of equal splendour and authen- 
 ticity. 
 
 For the memorable occurrences of the Russian campaign, the
 
 XX PHEFACE. 
 
 eloquent and pictured pages of Count Se'gur, M. Chambray, Baron 
 Larrey, Baron Fain, La Baume, and General Vaudoncourt, cor- 
 rected by the details of General Gourgaud, the scientific sketch 
 of General Jomini,* the powerful narrative of General Clausewitz, 
 and the luminous and impartial Russian narrative of Colonel 
 Boutourlin, furnish ample materials. The campaign of 1813, 
 in Germany, has been equally illustrated by the pens of General 
 Vaudoncourt, La Baume, Generals Muffling, Gneisenau, and 
 Bulow ; Baron Odeleben, Colonel Boutourlin, Baron Fain, Lord 
 Burghersh, and Lord Londonderry ; while the whole official 
 details are to be found in the accurate German compilation of 
 Plotho. The German writers have not been so rapid as might 
 have been expected in recounting the transactions of this glorious 
 year ; but at length several valuable publications have appeared 
 on it, particularly the small but able narrative of Carl Bade, the 
 larger work of Richter, and Die Grosse Chronique, which contains 
 an able abstract of all the authorities on the subject. The Russian 
 account of that campaign is admirably given in the work of the 
 Emperor Alexander's aide-de-camp, General Danilefsky. The 
 graphic details of these works are admirably condensed in the 
 PrScis des Evenements Militaires en 1813, recently published at 
 Leipsic, in French and German : while to the last and greatest 
 campaign of Napoleon, the vivid descriptions of Beauchamps, La 
 Baume, Koch, and General Vaudoncourt, corrected by the official 
 documents of Plotho, and the highly interesting Russian narrative 
 of Danilefsky, with the able narratives of Jomini and Baron Fain, 
 have done ample justice. 
 
 No historian, however, can have gone over the military events 
 of the Revolutionary War, without having experienced the bene- 
 fit of the splendid Atlas and accurate description of battles by 
 Kausler, in French and German-; a work unparalleled in the 
 annals of art, and which almost brings the theatre of the principal 
 battles of the period before the eyes of the reader. For the sub- 
 sequent and proudest year of England's achievements, the various 
 
 * In his Life of Napoleon : a work of extraordinary ability and most impartial 
 observation.
 
 PREFACE. Xxi 
 
 accounts of the battle of Waterloo by Generals Gourgaud, 
 Grouchy, and, above all, General Jomini in his recent work on 
 the campaign of that year, with the admirable details given in 
 the narrative of the battle of Waterloo by a near observer, over 
 which the gifted mind of Sir Walter Scott has thrown the light 
 of his genius, furnish inexhaustible resources, and close the work 
 with a ray of glory, to which there is nothing comparable in her 
 long and illustrious annals. 
 
 In one particular, not the least important or interesting of the 
 whole work, the author for a very long period had very great 
 difficulty. This was in understanding the different accounts of 
 the battle of Waterloo itself, or reconciling them with each other, 
 and extracting from the whole anything like a correct account of 
 that memorable conflict The author need not be ashamed of 
 making this admission, as General Jomini himself admits that he 
 never could understand thoroughly the battle, especially in its 
 later stages ; and that of all the engagements he had ever studied, 
 it was the one which presented the most difficulty in detail. In 
 consequence of this circumstance, there were several respects in 
 which the account of the battle in the first, and even in the second 
 edition of this history, was incorrect. At length, however, the 
 admirable industry of Captain Siborne, in collecting accounts of 
 their several shares in the conflict from officers in all the regiments 
 engaged in it, as well as his careful analysis of the German and 
 French authorities on the subject, have reconciled all the seeming 
 contradictions regarding it, and smoothed away nearly all the 
 difficulties with which it was surrounded. Of this invaluable aid, 
 the Author has largely availed himself in the later editions of the 
 last volume ; and the account there presented is, he trusts, in all 
 material points correct, and is as full as is consistent with a work 
 of general history. 
 
 In the description of the theatre of these great events, the 
 author, when he does not quote authority, has in general pro- 
 ceeded on his own observation. This is particularly the case 
 with the fields of Marengo, Novi, Arcola, Kivoli, Lodi, the 
 Brenta, the Trebbia, the Tagliamento, Zurich, Ulm, Echmiihl,
 
 XXII PREFACE. 
 
 Hohenlinden, Salzburg, Jena, Austerlitz, Aspeni, Wagram, 
 Dresden, Leipsic, the Katzbach, Hanau, Laon, Brienne, Craone, 
 Soissons, Paris, and Waterloo, the passage of the St Bernard, 
 the St Gothard, and the Splugen ; and, in general, the seat of 
 war in 1796 and 1797, in the Alps of Savoy, Switzerland, Tyrol, 
 and Styria, the theatre of Napoleon's and Suwarroif's campaigns 
 in Italy, those of the Archduke Charles in Germany, the memo- 
 rable struggle of the Tyrolese in 1809, and of Napoleon's Last 
 efforts in the north of Germany and France. He has not deemed 
 it advisable to accompany the work with maps, as that would 
 render it inaccessible to the generality of readers ; but those who 
 are not familiar with the places referred to, will frequently find 
 such a reference of great service ; and the military student of 
 Napoleon's campaigns in Germany and France will see the 
 theatre of war admirably delineated in Mr Johnston's maps of 
 these countries contained in his general collection. But those who 
 study Wellington's campaigns, are in an especial manner referred 
 to the splendid Atlas of his victories, recently published by Wyld 
 a work so graphic and accurate as to bring the inequalities of 
 the ground, and the positions of the troops, with all the vividness 
 of reality before the mind of the reader. 
 
 Every one who investigates the events of this period, must be 
 struck with the great inferiority, generally speaking, of the Eng- 
 lish historians who treat of the same subject. Till the era of the 
 Peninsular War, when a cluster of gifted spirits arose, there are 
 no writers on English affairs at all comparable to the great his- 
 torical authors on the Continent. In this dearth of native genius 
 applied to this subject, it is fortunate that a connected narrative 
 of events of varied ability, but continued interest and extensive 
 information, is to be found in the Annual Register ; that the 
 Life of Mr Pitt by Gifford embodies with discriminating talent 
 all the views of that great statesman ; and his biography by 
 Tomline leads the reader only to regret that it should terminate 
 at the most eventful crisis of his administration ; while the Par- 
 liamentary Debates through the whole period, edited nominally by 
 Cobbett and Hansard, but really under the able direction of Mr
 
 PREFACE. XX111 
 
 Wright, who has recently, in the important and interesting 
 Cavendish Debates, supplied the long-lost link in our Parliament- 
 ary History, not only contain most of the statistical details of 
 value to the historian, but all the arguments urged, both in the 
 legislature and elsewhere, for and against the measures of govern- 
 ment. 
 
 An invaluable mass of statistical information for the whole 
 period is to be found in the Parliamentary Reports, compiled 
 with so much care by the Committees of both Houses of Parlia- 
 ment, and admirably digested in the able works of Marshall, Col- 
 quhoun, Moreau, and Pebrer, as well as the elaborate official com- 
 pilations of Porter, both in his Parliamentary Tables, in fourteen 
 volumes folio, and his View of the Progress of the British Umpire, 
 in three volumes 1 2mo ; an immense treasure of important know- 
 ledge regarding our colonies is to be found in Martin's valuable 
 Colonial History ; while, for the details of our naval forces and 
 successes, ample materials are to be found in the minute and in- 
 comparable work of Mr James, and the able but less accurate 
 history of Captain Brenton. Nor are the French statistical works 
 in relation to this period of less value than the Parliamentary 
 compilations of England. In particular, the splendid Statistiques 
 de la France, in ten volumes folio, published in Paris, may well be 
 placed beside Porter's Parliamentary Tables, for extent and accu- 
 racy of statistical information. 
 
 An episode in general history, equally interesting and impor- 
 tant, growing out of the attack by Napoleon on Spain, is the 
 South American Revolution. It is hard to say whether this sub- 
 ject is most attractive from the splendid and varied character 
 of the vast continent which it embraces, the romantic and tragic 
 interest of the dreadful convulsions of which it became the 
 theatre, or the immense effect which their progress has had on 
 the supplies of the precious metals from the globe, and, through 
 them, on the prosperity and fortunes of the British empire. The 
 historian here discovers the same application of just retribution 
 to the interested iniquity of his own country, which the annals of 
 the period in general afford examples of, in a more signal manner,
 
 XXIV PREFACE. 
 
 to similar aggressions on the part of other nations. Materials do 
 not exist, as yet, for a full and correct narrative of the bloody 
 struggles which arose from, or were connected with, the rise of 
 South American independence ; and the principal events in it 
 occurred so long after the period when this History, in other 
 events, terminates, that a cursory reference could be alone at- 
 tempted. But the admirable narratives of Herrera, and the early 
 Spanish historians, with the splendid and accurate works of Hum- 
 boldt and Malte-Brun, afford ample materials for the description 
 of physical nature ; and in the able Life of Bolivar by General 
 Ducondray Holstein, one of his gallant companions in arms, the 
 Memoirs of General Murillo, by himself, and the very interesting 
 narrative of General Millar, himself a leading actor in the cam- 
 paigns he describes, enough is to be found to convey a general 
 idea of the leading events, and make the reader desire fuller 
 details of such momentous and heart-stirring transactions. 
 
 Another episode, of the most important and interesting kind, 
 is afforded by the rise and progress of the United States, and the 
 adjoining splendid colonies of Great Britain, in North America. 
 Though these Transatlantic States are of such recent origin, yet 
 the materials in regard to their moral, political, and physical 
 circumstances, are singularly ample and important. The statistics 
 of the American Confederacy have been ascertained in recent 
 times with a degree of accuracy equal even to that evinced in 
 similar investigations in France or England ; and may be found 
 well digested in several publications, particularly the Statistical 
 Almanac of America, annually published at Boston. The pecu- 
 liarities, advantages, and evils of the institutions, manners, and 
 customs of the United States, have been ably delineated, though 
 sometimes perhaps with somewhat of an unfriendly hand, by 
 Captain Hall, Captain Marryat, Captain Hamilton, and Mrs 
 Trollope ; while Miss Martineau, albeit strongly imbued with 
 partiality to liberal institutions and dissent, has, with admirable 
 impartiality, accumulated a great variety of facts, throwing the 
 clearest light on the effects of their political and ecclesiastical 
 system, and frequently not a little at variance with the precon-
 
 PREFACE. XXV 
 
 ceived opinions with which she commenced her travels. But it 
 is remarkable, that by far the fullest and most philosophical 
 view of America has been presented by foreign writers ; and 
 the works of M. de Tocqueville and M. Chevalier will be 
 admired so long as profound thought, enlightened views, and 
 luminous reasoning, shall retain a place in human estimation. 
 For the physical description of America, both North and South, 
 recourse has constantly been had to the incomparable geographical 
 system of Malte-Brun, and the splendid travels of M. Humboldt 
 works which demonstrate that the most accurate information, the 
 widest range of scientific knowledge, and the most unbounded 
 labour, may be combined with the eye of a painter, the soul of 
 a poet, and the highest flights of descriptive power. 
 
 The minute and intricate, but important events of the American 
 war, are embodied in works of various merit, but affording, on the 
 whole, a clear insight into the complicated details of Transatlantic 
 hostilities. Mr Cooper's History of the American Navy gives a 
 minute, and on the whole, allowing for national partiality, a fair 
 account of the maritime contest ; though the unequalled graphic 
 powers for naval painting which his novels prove he possesses, 
 render it often a matter of regret that he has not lent to reality 
 the colours, true to nature, which he has employed in fiction. 
 Armstrong's War of 1812 gives the whole military events of the 
 period with great impartiality, and from authentic documents ; 
 while Christie's War in Canada furnishes all the corrections neces- 
 sary for the English side of the question. The military operations 
 of the British in Canada, at Washington, and New Orleans, by 
 Mr James, exhibits an animated narrative of that checkered con- 
 test ; while the powerful mind and masterly hand of Mr Bancroft, 
 render it a matter of regret that his elaborate history has not come 
 down so far as the second American war. For the whole details 
 of the maritime contest, so interesting to all who have the honour 
 of the British Navy at heart, constant recourse has been had to 
 the elaborate work of Mr James, whose inimitable accuracy super- 
 sedes, and renders superfluous, every other authority on the British 
 side of the conflict. 
 
 VOL. i. b
 
 XXvi PREFACE. 
 
 While justice requires, however, that this general praise should 
 be bestowed on the Continental and Transatlantic writers who have 
 treated of this period, there is one particular which it is impossible 
 to pass over without an expression of a different kind. Of what- 
 ever party, nation, or shade of opinion, they seem all at bottom 
 imbued with a profound hatred of this country, and, in conse- 
 quence, they generally ascribe to the British cabinet a dark or 
 Machiavelian policy, in matters where it is well known to every 
 person in England, and will be obvious to posterity, they were 
 regulated by very different motives, and often proceeded, from 
 inexperience of warlike measures, without any fixed principle at 
 all. The existence of so general and unfounded a prejudice, in so 
 many authors of such great and varied ability, would be inexpli- 
 cable if we did not reflect on the splendid post which England 
 occupied throughout the whole struggle, and recollect that, in 
 nations equally as individuals, the conferring of obligations too 
 often engenders no other feeling but that of antipathy ; that no 
 compliment is so flattering, because none is so sincere, as the 
 vituperation of an adversary who has been inspired with dread ; 
 and that, though the successful party in a strife is always secretly 
 flattered by the praises bestowed on his antagonists, it is too much 
 to expect of human magnanimity a similar feeling in those to 
 whom fortune has proved adverse. 
 
 The events of this period, especially during the earlier years of 
 the Revolution, are so extensive and complicated, that the only 
 way in which it appeared possible to give a clear narrative was 
 to treat of the civil and military transactions in separate chapters, 
 and in many cases to break into different ones the events of a 
 single campaign. In this way the order of chronology has not, in 
 every instance, been strictly followed ; and the same events 
 required to be sometimes mentioned twice over, once as affecting 
 the civil history of the times, and again as forming part of their 
 military annals. This inconvenience, however, was unavoidable, 
 and is a trifling disadvantage compared to the benefit arising from 
 following out a certain set of transactions, without interruption, to 
 their termination.
 
 PREFACE. XXVU 
 
 In treating of a subject of such extent, embracing so great a 
 variety of events, and involving almost all the points now in 
 dispute between the two great parties who divide the world, it 
 appeared advisable to the author, with a view both to impartiality 
 and historical fidelity, to adopt two rules, which have been faith- 
 fully adhered to throughout the whole work. 
 
 The first of these was to give on every occasion the authorities 
 by volume and page, from which the statement in the text was 
 taken. This has been carried to an unusual, some may think un- 
 necessary length, as not only are the authorities for every paragraph 
 invariably given, but in many instances also those for every sen- 
 tence have been accumulated on the margin. This appeared, 
 however, indispensable, in treating of subjects on which men are 
 so much divided, not only by national but political prejudices, and 
 in which every statement, not supported by unquestionable autho- 
 rity, would be liable to be called in question or discredited. For 
 the same reason, care has been taken to quote a preponderance 
 of authority, in every instance where it was possible, from writers 
 on the opposite side from that which an English historian, 
 surveying events with the feelings which attachment to a con- 
 stitutional monarchy produces, may be supposed to adopt ; and 
 the reader will find almost every fact, in the internal history of 
 the Revolution, supported by two Republican and one Royalist 
 authority ; and every event in the military narrative by at least 
 two writers on the part of the French, for one on that of their 
 opponents. 
 
 The second rule adopted was to give the arguments for and 
 against every public measure, in the words of those who origin- 
 ally brought them forward, where it was possible, without any 
 attempt at paraphrase or abridgment. This is more particularly 
 the case in the debates of the National Assembly of France, the 
 Parliament of England, and the Council of State under Napo- 
 leon; and in effecting the selection, the author has been most 
 forcibly impressed with the prodigious, though often perverted and 
 mistaken ability, which distinguished these memorable discussions. 
 There can be no doubt that, in thus presenting the speeches in the
 
 XX Vlll PKEFACE. 
 
 words of the real actors on the political stage, the work has 
 assumed, in its earlier parts, a dramatic air, unusual at least in 
 modern histories ; but it was the only method by which the spirit 
 and feelings of the moment could be faithfully transmitted to 
 posterity, or justice done to the motives, on either side, which 
 influenced mankind ; and a modern author need not hesitate to 
 follow an example which has been set by Thucydides, Sallust, 
 Livy, and Tacitus. 
 
 It seemed advisable to adopt this plan for another reason. 
 The course of a Revolution is so completely at variance with 
 the ordinary tenor of human events, and the motives which 
 then influence men are so different from those which in general 
 obtain an ascendancy, that, without the running commentary 
 of their own expressions, it is impossible to do justice either to 
 their motives, or to the great moral lessons to be derived from 
 their history. It is only by comparing their words with their 
 actions that the deceitful nature of the passions by which they 
 have been misled can be made manifest, and the important truth 
 demonstrated, that nations, not less than individuals, are seduced 
 by false but alluring appellations of things ; that it is in the 
 name of humanity that thousands are massacred, and under 
 the banners of freedom that the most grievous despotism is 
 established. 
 
 No attempt has been made on any occasion to disguise the real 
 opinions of the author ; but, on the. contrary, the conclusions which 
 he thought fairly deducible from the events which were recounted 
 have been fully given, with the grounds on which they are 
 founded. At the same time, he has exerted himself to the utmost to 
 give with force and accuracy the arguments which were advanced, 
 or may be advanced, for the opposite side of the question ; and 
 those who do not go along with these conclusions will find in the 
 context the materials for correcting them. 
 
 In the discussion of the great questions, civil, political, and 
 military, which have so frequently come under his notice in the 
 following pages, the author has invariably adopted another rule, 
 which to many may perhaps appear to require explanation.
 
 PREFACE. XXIX 
 
 This is, to express his opinion without reserve on all these sub- 
 jects, undeterred by authority, unswayed so far as possible by 
 national feeling ; endeavouring at the same time to do justice to 
 the great men whose actions are passed in review, where their con- 
 duct was censured, by quoting so far as possible their words in 
 vindication, or referring to their deeds on other occasions in expla- 
 nation of their conduct. On this principle he has not hesitated 
 frequently to blame the political measures of Pitt and Fox, and 
 sometimes to criticise the military manoeuvres of Napoleon and 
 Wellington. This course has not been adopted without mature 
 consideration, nor followed out without foreseeing obloquy. The 
 story of the sophist censuring the Carthaginian hero at Ephesus 
 may perhaps occur, when an author, neither a professional soldier 
 nor a practical legislator, discusses the conduct of the greatest 
 orators and statesmen of this, of the greatest commanders of this, 
 or perhaps any other age. But the distinction between such pre- 
 sumptuous conduct as censuring a great man in his own presence, 
 and discussing his merits before the bar of posterity, is obvious 
 and important, and has always been recognised. The unanimous 
 voice of subsequent ages has condemned the presumption of 
 Phormio, who lectured Hannibal ; but it has as generally approved 
 the judgment of Tacitus, who condemned the Csesars, and the 
 disquisitions of Polybius, who criticised the Scipios. Without 
 ever hoping to rival, a modern author need not be ashamed of 
 having endeavoured to imitate sed heu quanta intervallo ! the 
 fearless discrimination of these great men. 
 
 Military and political, like mathematical science, is essentially 
 progressive ; ordinary capacity in one age can attain what it 
 required the utmost effort of intellect to reach in another. A 
 boy at school can now solve problems to which Thales and 
 Archimedes alone were equal in the infancy of geometry. Fear- 
 lessness is the first quality of an historian, as of a general, espe- 
 cially of one who records contemporary or nearly contemporary 
 events : faultlessness never yet was given to a child of Adam. If 
 mankind are to be overborne by the influence of great names, or 
 silenced by the weight of national services, history need not be
 
 XXX PREFACE. 
 
 written, politics and war will cease to be progressive sciences, and 
 the boasted control of public opinion will sink before the reputa- 
 tion of the very men over whom it should be exerted. What the 
 historian does to others he willingly accords to himself, and cer- 
 tainly he feels no sort of impropriety in a youth of twenty making 
 his first essay in letters by the criticism of the work of twenty 
 years. It is by truth only that durable fame can be attained, by 
 impartiality that a lasting impression is to be made. Many a great 
 reputation has been stifled under the weight of indiscriminate 
 encomium. Even the biographers of great men would, if they 
 knew the real interests of their heroes, adopt the same course. It 
 is a sense of its justice which gives weight to panegyric, and fixes 
 it permanently in the opinion of men. If these pages are destined 
 to outlive their author, the praises bestowed on Wellington (and 
 they are warm and frequent) will not be lessened in their weight 
 by the recollection, that the author dealt out the same impartial 
 measure to a living countryman, victorious and in power, as to a 
 dead enemy, defeated and overthrown. 
 
 If there is any one opinion which, more than another, is im- 
 pressed on the mind by a minute examination of the changes of 
 the French Revolution, it is the perilous nature of the current into 
 which men are drawn, who commit themselves to the stream of 
 political innovation ; and the great difficulty experienced by those 
 engaged in the contest, even though gifted with the greatest intel- 
 lect and the most resolute determination, in avoiding the commis- 
 sion of many crimes, amidst the stormy scenes to which it rapidly 
 brings them. It is not difficult to perceive the final cause of this 
 law of nature, or the important purpose it is intended to serve in 
 the moral government of the world, by expelling from society, 
 through the force of suffering, passions inconsistent with its exist- 
 ence. But it is a consideration of all others the best calculated to 
 inspire forbearance and moderation, in forming an opinion of the 
 intentions or actions of others placed in such trying and calamitous 
 circumstances, and to exemplify the justice of the sacred precept, 
 " to judge of others as we would wish they should judge of our- 
 selves." Inexorable and unbending, therefore, in his opposition to
 
 PREFACE. XXXI 
 
 false principles, it is the duty of the historian of such times to be 
 lenient and considerate in his judgment of particular men, and, 
 touching lightly on the weakness of such as are swept along by the 
 waves, to reserve the weight of his censure for those who put the 
 perilous torrent in motion. 
 
 It is another duty of the historian, in recounting the events of 
 a period when great and general public calamities have been pro- 
 duced by abuses of a protracted kind, or the false application of 
 principles which are just to a limited extent, to put in as clear a 
 point of view as possible the consequences of the errors, whether 
 in government or public opinion, which he is engaged in tracing. 
 The annals of Tacitus are justly filled with indignant exclama- 
 tions against the tyranny of the emperors and the decay of Roman 
 virtue ; those of the religious wars of Modern Europe, with pic- 
 tures of the ruinous consequences of religious fanaticism, and 
 the atrocious tyranny of bigoted persecution. The history of the 
 French Revolution alternately directs the mind to both the great 
 sources of human oppression. Its earlier years suggest at every 
 page reflections on the evils of political fanaticism, and the ter- 
 rible consequences of democratic fervour ; the latter on the debas- 
 ing effects of absolute despotism, and the sanguinary march of 
 military ambition. 
 
 The composition of the volumes now submitted to the public 
 formed the recreation of many years, during the intervals of labo- 
 rious professional employments ; the two first were completed 
 before the second French Revolution broke out, or any political 
 changes were contemplated in this country. The progress of 
 domestic as well as foreign changes, since that event, has given the 
 author no reason to doubt the soundness of the conclusions drawn 
 from the composition of the annals of the first great convulsion, 
 and has inspired him with gloomy presentiments as to the future 
 fate of his country. But no person will rejoice more sincerely 
 than himself if the course of time shall demonstrate that these 
 fears are ill-founded, and that England has no cause to apprehend 
 danger from innovations which proved so destructive to her more 
 impassioned rival.
 
 XXXll PREFACE. 
 
 Finally, when he looks back to the vast series of splendid and 
 heroic achievements which it is the object of these pages to com- 
 memorate ; when he reflects on the talent which has been exerted 
 in the actions, and the genius which has been displayed in the 
 narratives, which are here passed under review, the author cannot 
 but feel his own inadequacy to so great an undertaking, or avoid 
 giving expression to the feeling that, if the work contains any 
 interest, it is in justice to be ascribed to the virtue, the bravery, or 
 ability of others, and that its numerous defects he can impute to 
 no one but himself. 
 
 A. ALISON. 
 
 December 1846.
 
 LIST OF AUTHORITIES. 
 
 To abridge the references in this work, the authorities habitually quoted are in 
 general condensed at the end of each paragraph in an abbreviated form. The 
 authors referred to, with the edition and modes of references employed, are as 
 follows : 
 
 Actes des Ap&tres, vi. 71. Actes des Ap6tres. lOvols. Paris, 1789 1792. 8vo. 
 Adolph. iii. 42. Adolphus, History of England from the Accession of George III. 
 
 to 1824. London, 1842. 8 vols. 
 Adolph. Hist. France, ii. 137. Adolphus, History of France from 1789 to 1801. 
 
 4 vols. 
 Ann. Reg. xxxi. 47, or by the year, as 1800, 147. Dodsley's Annual Register, v. y. 
 
 73 vols. London, 1803. 
 
 Antom. i. 17. Antomarchi, Derniers Jours de Napoleon. 2 vols. Paris, 1824. 
 Arch. Ch. ii. 17. Archduke Charles, Die Geschichte des Feldzugs 17961799. 3 
 
 vols. Vienne et Paris, 1817. 
 Archduke Charles, Die Geschichte des Feldzugs in Deutschland und in der Schweiz. 
 
 1799. Vienne, 1820. 
 Arch. Cur. xiv. 321. Archives Curieuses de 1'Histoire de France. Third series. 15 
 
 vols. Paris, 1836 41. 
 Armst. iii. 106. Armstrong's (the American Secretary at War) Account of the War 
 
 of 1812. 2 vols. New York, 1840. 
 
 Artaud, i. 397. Artaud, Vie du Pape Pie VII. 2 vols. Paris, 1837. 
 Aub. ii. 16. Auber's Rise and Progress of the British Power in India. 2 vols. Lon- 
 don, 1837. 
 
 Babceuff, i. 32. Conspiration de Babceuff. Par Buonarotti, 2 vols. Bmxelles, 1828. 
 Baird, i. 79. Life and Correspondence of Sir David Baird. London, 1832. 2 vols. 
 Balbi, 1016. Geographic Ge'ne'rale. Par Adrian Balbi. Paris, 1838. 
 Bancroft, ii. 117. Bancroft's History of the United States. Boston, 1841 6. 3 vols. 
 Barante, iii. 372. Barante, Histoire des Dues de Bourgogne. 10 vols. Paris, 1819. 
 Barante, ii. 21. Barante, Histoire de la Convention. 4 vols. Paris, 1851 3. 
 Barante, Hist, du Dir. Barante, Histoire du Directoire, 4 vols. Paris, 1855. 
 Barere, ii. 321. Memoires de Barere. 4 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1842. 
 Barrow, 189. Barrow's Life of Howe. London, 1838. 
 
 VOL. I. C
 
 XXXIV LIST OF AUTHORITIES. 
 
 Earth. 117. Der Krieg gegen der Tyroles Landleute im Jahr 1809, von J. L. S. 
 
 Bartholdy. Berlin, 1814. 
 Beauch. iv. 331. Beauchamp, Histoire des Querres de la Vende*e. 4 vols. Paris, 
 
 1820. 
 Beauch. ii. 221. Beauchamp, Histoire de la Guerre en France pendant I'annde 1814 
 
 et 1815. 4 vols. Paris, 1816. 
 
 Belm. ii 130. Belmas, Journaux des Sieges de la Peninsule. 4 vols. Paris, 1837. 
 Benson, 121. Benson's Corsica, 1 voL 
 
 Berth. 179. Berthier, Hist, de l'Exp6d. d'Egypt. Paris, 1828. 
 Bert, de Moll. Hist. vii. 224. Bertrand de Molleville, Histoire de France pendant le 
 
 Regne de Louis XVI. 10 vols. Paris, 1823. 
 iL 19. Bertrand de Molleville, Mdmoires sur le Regne de Louis XVI. 2 vols. 
 
 Paris, 1823. 
 
 Berryer, L 116. Me"moires de M. Berryer. 2 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1842. 
 Bign. iii. 27. Bignon, Histoire de France depuis le 18 Brumaire. 14 vols. Paris, 
 
 1829 et subseq. 
 
 Biog. Brit, xiii 1 22. Biographia Britannica. 1 7 vols. London, various years. 
 Biog. Univ. xx. 32. Biographic Universelle. Par Michaud et ses Collaborateurs. 
 
 52 vols. Paris, 18301834. 
 Biog. Univ. Sup. ix. 34. Supplement a la Biographic Universelle. Par Michaud. 
 
 Paris, 183441. 
 Biog. des Cont. v. 113. Biographic des Contemporains. 20 vols. Paris, 1834 
 
 1835. 
 
 Biog. des Horn. Viv. iii. 216. Biographic des Hommes Vivants. 5 vols. Paris, 1829. 
 Blanc, ii. 14. Louis Blanc, Histoire de dix ans du Regne de Louis Philippe. 5 
 
 vols. Paris, 1844. 
 Boissy d'Anglas, i. 72. Boissy d'Anglas, sur la Vie et les Ecrits de Malesherbes. 2 
 
 vols. Paris, 1809. 
 
 Bot. iii. 127. Botta, Storia d'ltalia dal 1749 al 1814. 4 vols. Italia. 1826. 
 Bour. iv. 32. Me"moires de Bourrienne, 10 vols. Paris, 1829 1832. 
 Bour. et ses Er. i. 32. Bourrienne et ses Erreurs. 2 vols. Paris, 1830. 
 Bout. 127. Boutourlin, Campagne de 1813 en Boheme. 1 vol. Paris, 1819. 
 Bout. ii. 17. Boutourlin, Campagne de 1812 en Russie. 2 vols. Paris, 1824. 
 Bremner, ii. 241. Bremner's Account of Russia. 2 vols. London, 1839. 
 Brent, ii. 217. Brenton's Naval History. 2 vols. London, 1837. 
 
 Life of Earl St Vincent. 2 vols. London, 1838. 
 
 Brissot, ii. 129. Me"moires de Brissot. 4 vols. Paris, 1830. 
 
 Buchez et Roux, xi. 1. Buchez et Roux, Histoire Parliamentaire de la France. 41 
 
 vols. Paris, 18301838. 
 
 Buckingham, i. 213. Buckingham's Travels in Mesopotamia. 2 vols. London, 1822. 
 Buck. iii. 121. Buckingham's Travels in America. 3 vols. London, 1841. 
 Bui. 281. Bulow, Feldzug von Marengo. Vienne, 1817. 
 Bull, du Trib. ReV. iii. 31. Bulletins du Tribunal ReVolutionnaire. 17931794. 
 
 6 vols. 4to. 
 Buonaparte, Louis, iii. 27. Hollande. Par Louis Buonaparte. 3 vols. Paris, 
 
 1820; and London, 1820. 
 
 Burgh. 24. Operations of the Allied Armies, 1814. By Lord Burghersh. Lon- 
 don, 1822. 
 Burgh. 24. Operations of the Allies in Portugal in 1808. By Lord Burghersh. 
 
 London, 1818. 
 Burgoigne, i. 117. Burgoigne's Spain. 3 vols. Paris, 1817.
 
 LIST OF AUTHORITIES. XXXV 
 
 Burke, vi. 72. Burke's Works. 12 vols. London, 1815. 
 
 Burke's Speech, i. 24. Burke's Speeches. 3 vols. London, 1816. 
 
 Buzot, 72. Memoires de Buzot. 1 vol. Paris, 1 824. 
 
 Cab. 232. Cabanes, Guerre de Catalogue. Madrid, 1816. 
 
 Caernarvon, i. 216. Lord Caernarvon's Account of Spain. 2 vols. London, 1836. 
 
 Cal. 172. Calonne, Etat de la France. Ge'neve, 1790. 
 
 Camb. ii. 36. Cambace"res et ses Contemporains, ou Souvenirs du Luxembourg. 4 
 
 vols. Paris, 1838. 
 Camp. Fran9. ii. 41. Campagne des Armees Franjaises enPrusse, Saxe, et Pologne, 
 
 en 1806 et 1807. 4 vols. Paris, 1807. 
 Campb. Lives of Chanc. v. 72. Campbell's Lives of the Chancellors of England. 7 
 
 vols. 8vo. London, 1845 8. 
 
 Can. v. 130. Canning's Speeches and Life. 6 vols. London, 1830. 
 Cap. vi. 21. Capefigue, Histoire de la Restauration. Paris. 10 vols. 1831 1833. 
 Cap. Hist, de 1'Empire, x. 172. Capefigue, Histoire de 1'Empire de Napole'on. 10 
 
 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1839 40. 
 Cap. Cent Jours, i. 21. Histoire des Cent Jours. Par Capefigue. 2 vols. Paris, 
 
 1841. 
 
 Cap. Dip. Eur. ii. 113. Capefigue, Diplomates Europe'ens. 2 vols. Paris, 1844 5. 
 Cap. Louis Phil. ii. 231. Capefigue, Histoire be Louis Philippe et de France 
 
 depuis 1830. 10 vols. Paris, 1845 1847. 
 Cap. 1'Eur. pend. la Re>. ii. 117. L'Europe pendant la Revolution Francaise, Par 
 
 M. Capefigue. 4 vols. Paris, 1843. 
 
 Carlsbade, iii. 72. Napoleon in Jahre 1813. 4 vols. Altona, 183941. 
 Carlyle, i. 174. Carlyle's French Revolution. 3 vols. London, 1836. 
 Caul. ii. 31. Souvenirs du Due de Vicence (Caulaincourt). Paris, 1837. 
 Cev. 322. Pedro Cevallos, Expose des Moyens Employe's par Napole'on pour Usurper 
 
 la Couronne d'Espagne. Madrid, 1808. 
 Chalm. 349. Chalmers' Wealth, Power, and Resources of the whole British Empire. 
 
 London, 1814. 
 
 Chamb. iii. 189. Chambray, Histoire de 1'Expedition de Russie. 3 vols. Paris, 1838. 
 Chas. Jean, ii. 112. Me"moires pour servir a 1'Histoire de Charles Jean (Bernadotte), 
 
 Roi de Suede. 2 vols. Paris, 1820. 
 Chat. Cong, de Verone, ii. 231. Congres de Verone. Par Chateaubriand. 2 vols. 
 
 Paris, 1837. 
 Chateaub. vii. 132. CEuvres de Chateaubriand. 20 vols. Paris, 1830. 
 
 Etud. Hist. ii. 79. Chateaubriand, Etudes Historiqucs. 4 vols. Paris, 1830. 
 
 Choum. 17. Considerations Militaires sur les Memoires du Mare'chal Suchet, et sur 
 
 la Bataille de Toulouse. Par Choumara. Paris, 1838. 
 Christ. 72. Christie's Account of the War in Canada in 1812, 13, and 14. Quebec, 
 
 1818. 
 
 Claus. 134. Clausewitz, Feldzug von 1812 in Russland. Leipsic, 1842. And trans- 
 lated into English. 1 vol. London, 1843. 
 
 Claus. Feldz. 1815, 37. Clausewitz, Feldzug von 1815. Leipsic, 1843. 
 Cle'ry, 142. Me"moires de Cle'ry sur la CaptivitS de Louis XVI. Paris, 1823. 
 Code Nap. 342. Code Napole'on. 1 vol. Paris, 1814. 
 Coll. i. 127. Memoirs of Lord Collingwood. 2 vols. London, 1828. 
 Colletta, ii. 147. Storia du Reame di Napoli. 2 vols. Capologo, 1834. 
 Comptes Rendus, i. 217. Comptes Rendus de 1' Administration de France, par 
 
 Necker. Paris, 1789. 4to. 2 vols. 
 Condorcet, ii. 115. Me"moires de Condorcet. 2 vols. Paris, 1824.
 
 XXXVI LIST OF AUTHORITIES. 
 
 Consp. d'Orl&ms, ii. 21. Conspiration d'Orleans, par Montjoye. 3 vols. Paris, 
 
 1796. 8vo. 
 
 Const. 37. M6moires sur les Cent Jours. Par B. Constant. Paris, 1829. 
 Cont-Rev. do 1830, ii. 171. Louis Philippe et la Contre-Re>olution de 1830. 2 vols. 
 
 Paris, 1834. 
 
 Cooper, ii. 101. Cooper's History of the American Navy. 2 vols. London, 1889. 
 Corr. Conf. de Nap. iv. 322. Correspondance Secrete et Confidentielle de Napoleon. 
 
 7 vols. Paris, 1817. 
 Corr. Nav. de Nap. i. 37. Correspondance de Napoldon avec le Ministre de la 
 
 Marine. 2 vols. Paris, 1836. 
 Corresp. du Com. Pub. i. 390. Correspondance du Comitd de Salut Public. 2 vols. 
 
 Paris, 1837. 
 Cour. Pol. et Dip. de Nap. vi. 138. Cours Politique et Diplomatique de Napoleon. 
 
 Par Goldsmidt. Paris, 1816. 
 Cousin, Instruction Populaire en Prusse. 2 vols. Paris, 1836. 
 
 en Hollande. 1vol. Paris, 1838. 
 
 Croly, i. 119. Croly's Life of George IV. London, 1836. 
 
 Life of Burke. 2 vols. Edinburgh, 1840. 
 
 D'Abr. viL 23. Memoires de la Duchesse d'Abrantes. 18 vols. Paris, 1828 1834. 
 D'Abr. Sal. de Paris, ii. 321. Salons de Paris. Par la Duchesse d'Abrantes. 6 vols. 
 D'Allonv. iii. 231. Memoires Secrets de 1770 a 1830. Par M. d'Allonville. 5 vols. 
 
 Paris, 1838. 
 D'Angouleme, 37. Details de ce qui s'est passe* au Temple apres la mort de Louia 
 
 XVI. Par la Duchesse d'Angouleme. Paris, 1823. 
 Dan. 32. Danilefsky (Aide-de-camp to Alexander), Campaign of 1814 in France. 
 
 Translated from the Russian. London, 1830. 
 Darst. ii. 121. Darstellung des Feldzugs der Verbundeten gegen Napoleon in 
 
 Jahren 1813 und 1814. 2 theiL Berlin, 1817. 
 Daru, vi. 147. Daru, Histoire de Venise. 7 vols. Paris, 1819. 
 D'Enghien, 34. Me'moires sur la Catastrophe du Due d'Enghien. Paris, 1824. 
 De Pradt, 34. De Pradt, (Euvres. Viz. 
 
 Des Colonies et de 1'Ame'rique. 2 vols. Paris, 1817. 
 Les Quatre Concordats. 3 vols. Paris, 1818. 
 Relation des derniers Evenemens en Espagne. Paris, 1S1G. 
 Culture en France. 2 vols. Paris, 1802. 
 L'Europe et I'Amerique. 2 vols. Paris, 1822. 
 Congres d'Aix-la-Chapelle. 1 vol. Paris, 1819. 
 La France, 1'Emigration et les Colonies. 2 vols. Paris, 1824. 
 Vrai Systeme de 1'Europe. 1 vol. Paris, 1825. 
 Session de 1817. Paris, 1817. 
 Histoire de PAmbassade de Varsovie. Paris, 1820. 
 Pr6cis de Paris. 1820. 
 Suite des Quatre Concordats. Paris, 1820. 
 L'Europe et 1'Ame'rique en 18221823. 2 vols. Paris, 1824. 
 Puissance Anglaise et Russe. Paris, 1823. 
 St Domingue. J vol. 1818. 
 Congres de Vienne. 1815. 2 vols. 
 De la Marck, i. 27. Correspondance de Mirabeau avec le Comte de la Marck. Paris , 
 
 1851. 3 vols. 
 
 Desodoard. i. 79. Desodoards, or Odoardo, Histoire de la Revolution. 6 vols. 
 Paris, 1817.
 
 LIST OP AUTHORITIES. XXXY11 
 
 De Stael, Baron. Lettres sur 1'Angleterre. 1 vol. Paris, 1825. 
 
 De Tocq. i. 37. De Tocqueville, Amerique. 4 vols. Paris, 1839. 
 
 De Tocq. Hist, de Louis XV. ii. 533. De Tocqueville (Le Pere), Histoire de Louis 
 
 XV. 2 vols. Paris, 1846. 
 Deux Amis, ii. 117. Histoire de la Revolution. Par Deux Amis de k Libert6. 18 
 
 vols. Paris, 1792. 
 
 Dow, ii. 171. Dow's History of Hindostan. 3 vols. London, 1803. 
 Droz, iii. 32. Histoire du Regne de Louis XVI. Par M. Droz. 2 vols. Paris, 1839. 
 Ducondray Holstein, i. 37. Vie de Bolivar. Par le Ge"ne"ral Ducondray Holstein. 
 
 2 vols. Paris, 1827. 
 Dum. vii. 34. Pre'cis des Evenemens ( ,Militaires, 1799 1807. Par le G^ndral 
 
 Mathieu Dumas. 18 vols. Paris, 1822. 
 
 Dum. Souv. ii. 231. Souvenirs du Ge"ne"ral Mathieu Dumas. 3 vols. Paris, 1839. 
 Dum. 17. Souvenirs de Mirabeau. Par Dumont. Paris, 1832. 
 Dumourier, ii. 241. Me'moires (Secrets) de Dumourier. 2 vols. Bruxelles, 1835. 
 Dupin's Force Commerciale de la France. 2 vols. 4to. Paris, 1827. 
 
 de 1'Angleterre. 2 vols. 4to. Paris, 1828. 
 
 Duv. ii. 124. Duval, Souvenirs de la Terreur. 6 vols. Paris, 1841. 
 
 Edgeworth, 13. Abbe" Edgeworth, Dernieres Heures de Louis XVI. Paris, 1823. 
 
 Elph. i. 39. Elphinstone's Histoiy of India. 2 vols. London, 1841. 
 
 Ersk. iv. 231. Erskine's Speeches and Life. 5 vols. London, 1816. 
 
 Escoiq. ii. Escoiquiz, Expose" de 1' Affaire de Bayonne en 808. Paris, 1816. 
 
 Etat de k Dette Publique. Paris, 1790. 
 
 Exmouth, 189. Life of Lord Exmouth, by Ostler. London, 1835. 
 
 Fain, 127. Baron Fain, Campagne de 1814 en France. Paris, 1829. 
 
 i. 132. Baron Fain, Campagne de 1813 en Allemagne. Paris, 1829. 
 
 ii. 117. Baron Fain, Campagne de 1812 en Russie. Paris, 1827. 
 
 Dip. Fran9- 217. Baron Fain, Diplomatie Frangaise de 1792 1796. 1 vol. 
 
 Fesch, ii. 231. Le Cardinal Fesch. Par 1'Abbe" Lyonnet. 2 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1841. 
 Fleury de Chab. i. 29. Fleury de Chaboulon, Me'moires sur les Cent Jours. 2 
 
 vols. Paris, 1824. 
 Forst. i. 231. Beitrage zur Neueren Krieggeschichte. Von Friedrich Forster. 
 
 Berlin, 1816. 
 
 Fouche, ii. 22. Me'moires de Fouche'. 2 vols. Paris, 1824. 
 Fox, iii. 24. Fox's Speeches and Life, by Trotter. 4 vols. 1815. 
 Foy, iii. 271. Guerres en Espagne. Par le Ge'ne'ral Foy. 4 vols. Paris, 1828. 
 Franklin, 37. Franklin's Present State of Hayti. 1828. 
 Genlis, v. 113. Me'moires de Madame Genlis. 8 vols. Paris, 1825. 
 Gentz, 213. Gentz, Fragmente aus der Neusten Geschichte des Politischen Gleich- 
 
 gewichts en Europa. Leipsic, 1806. 
 Georgel, v. 172. Abb<$ Georgel, Me'moires sur le Regne de Louis XVI. 6 vols. 
 
 Paris, 1800. 
 
 Gesch. Hof. 121. Geschichte von Andreas Hofer. Leipsic, 1817. 
 Gibbon, vi. 179. Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. 8 vols. 
 
 London, 1838. (The booksellers' edition.) 
 
 Giff. ii. 171. Gifford's Life of Pitt. 3 vols. 4to. London, 1814. 
 God. ii. 234. Memoirs of Don Manuel Godoy, Prince of the Peace. 4 vols. 
 
 London, 1836. 
 
 Goh. ii. 45. Mdmoires de Gohier. 2 vols. Paris, 1824. 
 Goldsmidt, iv. 621. Goldsmidt, Cours Politique et Diplomatique de Napoldon. 7 
 
 vols. Paris, 1816.
 
 XXXV111 LIST OF AUTHORITIES. 
 
 Gordon, i. 217. Gordon's History of the Greek Revolution. 2 vola. Edinburgh, 
 
 1831. 
 
 Gourg. 87. Campagne de 1815. Par le Ge"n6ral Gourgaud. Bruxelles, 1818. 
 Graham, ii. 239. Graham's History of the United States of America. 4 vols. 
 
 112. Maria Graham's Journal of a Residence in Chili London, 1824. 
 
 8vo. 
 
 Grat. iii. 127. Grattan's Speeches and Life. 4 vola. London, 1 822. 
 Grolm. Dam. i. 92. Grolman Damiss, Feldzug von Waterloo. 2 vols. Brussels, 
 
 1841. 
 
 Gross. Chron. iv. 419. Die Grosse Chronik, oder Geschichte des Kriege des Ver- 
 bundeten Europa gegen Napoleon en des Jahren 1 81 3, 1 8 1 4, and 1815. Brunswig, 
 1843. 6 vols. 
 
 Grouch. Fragm. Hist. 42. Grouchy, Fragmens Historiques sur la Bataille de Water- 
 loo. Paris, 1819. 
 
 Grundt, i. 27. Grundt's Democracy in America. 3 vols. London, 1839. 
 Guizot, iiL 271. Guizot, Histoire de la Civilisation en France. 4 vols. Paris, 
 1829. 
 
 179. Guziot, Civilisation en Europe. Paris, 1829. 
 
 Essai sur 1'Histoire de France. Paris, 1828. 
 
 Gurw. i. 179. Gurwood's Despatches of the Duke of Wellington. 12 vols. 8vo. 
 
 London, 1834. 
 Gustafs. 310. Memorial du Col. Gustafson (the deposed King of Sweden). Leipsic, 
 
 1809. 8vo. 
 Hallam, ii. 221. Hallam's Middle Ages. 3 vols. 
 
 Const. Hist. ii. 179. Hallam's Constitutional History. 3 vols. 
 
 Ham. ii 121. Hamilton's Peninsular Campaigns. 3 vols. Edinburgh, 1830. 
 ii. 142. Hamilton's Men and Manners in America in 1832. 2 vols. Edin- 
 burgh, 1833. 
 Hammer, ix. 237. Histoire de 1'Empire des Ottomans. Par J. D. Hammer. 16 
 
 vols. Paris, 183642. 
 Hard. vi. 19. Me'moires d'un Homme d'Etat (Prince Hardenberg). 13 vols. Paris, 
 
 18291835. 
 
 Haytian Papers. 8vo, London, 1816. 
 
 Heer. i. 117. Heeren, European Staats System. 2 vols. Leipsic, 1830. 
 Henry, iv. 32. Henry's History of Britain. 12 vols. London, 1823. 
 Herrera, i. 171. Herrera, Historia de los Indias. 5 vols. Madrid, 1791. 
 Hist. Pit. de la Conv. iii. 172. Histoire Pittoresque de la Convention Nationale. 4 
 
 vols. Paris, 1833. 
 Hist, de la Con. vi. 39. Histoire de la Convention Nationale. Par Leonard 
 
 Gallois. 6 vols. Paris, 1835. 
 Hist. Parl. de la ReV. Histoire Parlementaire de la Revolution Francaise. Par 
 
 Buchez et Roux. 41 vols. Paris, 18351839. 
 Hist, de la ReV. d'Esp. 112. Histoire de la Revolution d'Espagne en 1820. 1 vol. 
 
 8vo. Paris, 1820. 
 
 Hist. duDir. ii. 116. Histoire Secrete du Directoire. 4 vols. Paris, 1832. 
 Hue, 70. Hue, Dernieres Annies du Regne de Louis XVI. Paris, 1823. 
 Hullin, 41. Le General Hullin sur la Mort du Due d'Enghein. Paris, 1824. 
 Humboldt, xi. 116. Humboldt, Voyages dans I'Ame'rique Meridionale. 16 vols. 
 Paris, 18261832. 
 
 Tab. de la Nat. i. 32. Tableau de la Nature dans les regions Equinoxiales. 
 
 2 vols. Paris, 1817.
 
 LIST OP AUTHORITIES. XXXIX 
 
 Humboldt Nouv. Esp. Humboldt, sur la Nouvelle Espagne. 4 vols. Paris, 1838. 
 
 Hume, iii. 121. Hume's History of England. 8 vols. London, 1830. (The book- 
 sellers' edition.) 
 
 Husk. iii. 261. Huskisson's Speeches and Memoirs. 5 vols. London, 1831. 
 
 James, iii. 179. James's Naval History. 6 vols. London, 1826. 
 
 Jeflerson, iv. 72. Jefierson's Memoirs. 4 vols. Philadelphia, 1836. 
 
 Johan. Erz. Der Erzherzog Johanns Feldzug von 1809. Vienna, 1824. 
 
 Jom. Atl. Port. 310. Jomini, Atlas Portatif des Dernieres Guerres de Napoleon. 
 Paris, 1836. 
 
 1'Art de la Guerre, ii. 137. Precis de 1'Art de la Guerre. Par Jomini. 2 
 
 vols. Paris, 1837. 
 
 Vie. de Nap. i. 349. Jomini, Vie de Napoleon. 4 vols. Paris, 1827. 
 
 x. 42. Jomini, Histoire des Guerres de la Revolution. 15 vols. Paris, 1824. 
 
 Grand. Oper. ii. 171. Jomini, Traite"s des Grandes Operations Militaires. 3 
 vols. Paris, 1816. 
 
 117. Histoire Politique et Militaire de la Campagne de 1815. Par Jomini. 
 
 Paris, 1843. 
 Jones, i. 32. Jones's Account of the War in Spain and France, 1808 1814. 2 
 
 vols. 8vo. London, 1821. 
 
 Sieges, ii. 121. Jones's Sieges in the Peninsula. 2 vols. London, 1827. 
 
 Joseph, vii. 31. Memoires du Roi Joseph. 10 vols. Paris, 18521854. 
 
 Jourd. 342. Campagne de 1796. Par Jourdan. Paris, 1808. 
 
 Jour, des Jac. i. 71. Journal des Jacobins. 5 vols. 4to. Paris, 1792 1793. 
 
 de la Mont. ii. 17. Journal de la Montagne. 7 vols. 4to. Paris, 17921793. 
 
 Jov. 32. Jovellanos, Memoires sur les Evenements a Bayonne en 1808. Paris, 
 
 1831. 
 
 Karamsin, iv. 172. Karamsin, Histoire de Russie. 11 vols. Paris, 1820. 
 Kausler, 149. Kausler, Combats, BataUles, et Sieges, 1831. Carlsruhe, 1831, new 
 
 atlas. 
 Koch, i. 237. Histoire de la Guerre de 1814 en France. Par Koch. 3 vols. 8vo. 
 
 Paris, 1827. 
 Koch et Schoell. Histoire des Traitgs de Paix depuis la Paix de Westphalia. 1 4 
 
 vols. Par Koch et Schoell. Paris, 1817. 
 Lab. 112. Labaume, Campagne de 1812. 1 vol. Paris, 1817. 
 ii. 321. Labaume, Chute de 1'Empire de Napoleon. 2 vols. Paris, 1821. 
 
 ii. 79. Labaume, Histoire de la Revolution. 4 vols. Paris, 18331835. 
 Lacroix, i. 217. Memoires pour servir a 1'Histoire de la Revolution de St Domingue. 
 
 2 vols. Paris, 1820. 
 
 Lac. Pr. H. Lacretelle, Precis Hist, de la Revolution Fran9aise. 3 vols. 
 Bruxelles, 1818. 
 
 xiv. 17. Lacretelle, Histoire de France pendant le 1 8 siecle. 14 vols. Paris, 
 1826. 
 
 Guerres de Relig. iii. 179. Lacretelle, Histoire des Guerres de Religion. 4 
 vols. Paris, 1821. 
 
 L'Accus. Publiq. ii. 39. L'Accusateur Public. 2 vols. Paris, 1794. 
 Laing, ii. 342. Laing's History of Scotland. 3 vols. Edinburgh, 1817. 
 Lam. iv. 162. (Euvres de Lamartine. 10 vols. Paris, 1836. 
 Lam. Hist, des Gir. Lamartine, Histoire des Girondins. 8 vols. Paris, 1847. 
 
 Const, ii. 27. Lamartine, Histoire du Constituants. 4 vols. Paris, 1854. 
 Restor. iii. 21. Lamartine, Histoire de la Restauration. 6 vols. Paris, 1853 4. 
 
 Hist, de Turq. Lamartine, Histoire de la Turquie. 6 vols. Paris, 1855.
 
 Xl LIST OF AUTHORITIES. 
 
 Lapene. Guerre des Francais sur 1'Ebre, lea Pyre'nee's, et la Garonne. 2 vols. 
 
 Paris, 1836. 
 Larrey, Me*m. iv. 139. Me'moires Chirurgiques et Militaires. Par M. Le Baron 
 
 Larrey. 4 vols. Paris, 1812. 
 
 Las. Cas. vii. 127. Las Cases, Memorial de Ste Helene. 8 vols. London, 1823. 
 Lav. i. 221. Me'moires de Lavalette. 2 vols. Paris, 1831. 
 Laverne, 116. Vie du Mardchal Suwarroff. Par F. Laverne. Paris, 1806. 
 Le Grand, 32. Le Grand sur 1'Assaut de Bergen-op-Zoom en 1814. Paris, 1817. 
 Lev. de la Sarthe. MSmoires de Levasseur de la Sarthe. 4 vols. Paris, 1831. 
 Le"v6que, viL 1789. Histoire de Russie jusqu'h, 1789. Par Le"v6que. 8 vols. 
 
 London, 1792. 
 
 Lingard, xi. 29. Lingard's History of England. 14 vols. London, 1819 1832. 
 Livre Rouge. Le Livre Rouge, ou Liste des Pensions Secretes. Paris, 1790. 
 Lond. i. 124. Marquess of Londonderry's Peninsular Campaigns. 2 vols. London, 
 
 1829. 
 Lond. 321. Marquess of Londonderry's War in Germany in 1813. 4to, 1 vol. 
 
 London, 1830. 
 Lond. Russia, ii. 321. Marquess of Londonderry's Travels in Russia. 2 vols. 
 
 London, 1838. 
 Louis Buon. i. 217. Documens Historiques sur le Gouvernement de la Hollande. 
 
 Par Louis Buonaparte. 3 vols. Paris, 1819. 
 Lowe's Corr. i. 127. Correspondence and Papers of Sir Hudson Lowe. 3 vols. 
 
 London, 1848. 
 Luc. Buon. Me'moires de Lucien Buonaparte. 1 vol. London, 1836. 
 
 Ver. 72. Lucien Buonaparte, La Ve'rite' sur les Cent Jours. Paris, 1827. 
 
 Lucches. ii. 231. Lucchesini, Cause e gli Effetti della Confederazione Renana 
 
 Ragionamenta. Italia, 1823. 
 
 Macaulay, ii. 72. Macaulay's Collected Essays. 3 vols. London, 1843. 
 Mackenzie, ii. 217. Mackenzie's Notes on Hayti. 2 vols. London, 1830. 
 Mackintosh, ii. 247. Life of Sir James Mackintosh, by his Son. 2 vols. London, 1 832. 
 
 Essays, i. 117. Essays by Sir James Mackintosh. 3 vols. London, 1846. 
 
 Macr. 39. Macready's Life of Suwarrow. London, 1852. 
 
 Malcolm, 237. Malcolm's Political History of India. London, 1817. 
 
 Central Asia, ii. 14. Malcolm's Political History of Central Asia, 2 
 
 vols. London, 1828. 
 Mail du Pan. 121. Mallet du Pan sur la Destruction de la Ligue Helve'tique. 
 
 Londres, 1798. 
 
 Mail du Pan. Mem. i. 19. Me'moires de Mallet du Pan. 2 vols. Paris, 1852. 
 Malte-Brun, vii. 144. Geographic par Malte-Brun. 12 vols. Paris, 1836, last 
 
 edition. Translation, 10 vols. London, 1831. 
 Malmsb. ii. 191. Diary and Correspondence of Lord Malmsbury. 3 vols. London, 
 
 1843. 
 
 Marat, v. 72. L'Ami du Peuple. Par M. Marat. 13 vols. Paris, 1789 1793. 8vo. 
 Marmont, ii. 231. Voyages du Mar6chal Due de Raguse (Marmont). 4 vols. Paris, 
 
 1837. 
 
 Mann. ii. 121. M6moires de Marmontel. 2 vols. Paris, 1818 : in Works, 18 vols. 
 Marsh, i. 79. History of the Politics of Great Britain and France, by Herbert Marsh. 
 
 2 vols. London, 1800. 
 
 Marshall, iii. 221. Marshall's Travels in France. 4 vols. 
 Marsh. Stat. Tab. Marshall's Statistical Tables of the British Empire. London, 
 
 1833.
 
 LIST OF AUTHORITIES. xli 
 
 Mart. CoL Lib. ii. 120. Martin's Colonial Library. lOvols. 12mo. London, 1838. 
 Mart. Hist. Col. ii. 214. Martin's History of the British Colonies. 5 vols. 8vo. 
 
 London, 1835. 
 Martens, vii. 234. Martens, Collections des Traites de Paix, 1761 1830. 22 
 
 vols. Gottingen, 1817 1830. 
 
 Martineau, iii. 217. Miss Martineau's America. 6 vols. London, 1835. 
 Mass. v. 127. Me'moires de Mare"chal Massena. 8 vols. Paris, 1 853 4. 
 Maxwell, Life of Well. Life of Wellington, by Maxwell 3 vols. London, 1839. 
 
 Stories of Waterloo. 2 vols. London, 1838. 
 
 Bivouac. London, 1837. 
 
 Maxwell, Victories of the British Armies. 2 vols. London, 1840. 
 
 Mejan, i. 213. Histoire du Proces de Louis XVI. 2 vols. Paris, 1814. 
 
 Mem. de Suw. i. 39. Me'moires du Mare"chal Suwarroff. 2 vols. St Petersburg, 1824. 
 
 Memorial du De"pot de la Guerre. 5 vols. 4to. Paris, 1 824. 
 
 Memoires sur Joseph, i 231. Me'moires sur Josephine (par Mad. Cresset). 3 vols. 
 
 Paris, 1827. 
 Menneval, ii. 121. Souvenirs Historiques de Napoleon et Marie Louise. Par le 
 
 Baron Menneval. 4 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1848. 
 Meredith, 517. Memorials of Charles John, King of Sweden and Norway. 8vo. 
 
 London, 1829. 
 Mich. ii. 97. Michelet, Histoire de la Revolution. 6 vols. Paris, 18481852. 
 
 Hist, de France, ii. 27. Michelet, Histoire de France. 6 vols. Paris, 1844. 
 
 Mign. ii. 415. Mignet, Histoire de la Revolution Francaise. 2 vols. Bruxelles, 1824. 
 Miller, i. 22. Memoirs of General Miller in the service of Peru. 2 vols. London, 
 
 1828. 
 
 Mill, iv. 79. Mill's History of British India. 6 vols. London, 1826. 
 Mina, v. 21. Memorias del Espoz y Mina. 6 vols. Madrid, 1849. 
 Miot, 179. Histoire de 1'Expedition d'Egypte, par Miot. Paris, 1814. 
 Mirabeau, iii. 72. Mirabeau peint par Lui-meme, ou Oraisons Parlementaires de 
 
 Mirabeau. 4 vols. Paris, 1793. 
 
 Mirab. Cour de Berlin. Mirabeau, Cour de Berlin. 2 vols. Paris, 1789. 
 Mirab. Me"m. ix. 31. Memoires de Mirabeau. 12 vols. Bruxelles, 1836. 
 Mitch, ii. 21. Mitchell's Fall of Napoleon. 3 vols. London, 1845. 
 Monit. Jan. 9, 1809. Moniteur Universel. Paris, 72 vols. 1789 1836. 
 Montgaillard, ix. 179. Abbe" Montgaillard, Histoire de France pendant le Regne 
 
 de Napol6on. 12 vols. Paris, 1817. 
 
 Month. 172. Monthion sur les Finances de la France. Paris, 1792. 
 Month. Cap. de Nap. ii. 17. Captivite* de Napoleon a Ste Helene, par Montholon. 
 
 4 vols. London, 1846. 
 
 Montj. ii. 117. Montjoye, Vie de Marie Antoinette. 2 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1814. 
 Moore's Sheridan, i. 127. Moore's Life of Sheridan. 2 vols. London, 1824. 
 
 Fitz. ii. 321. Moore's Life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald. London, 1829. 
 
 Life of Sir John Moore. 2 vols. London, 1844. 
 
 Camp, in Spain. Moore's Campaign in Spain. London, 1811. 4to. 
 
 Moreau, ii. 172. Moreau, Statistique d'Angleterre. 2 vols. Paris, 1838. 
 
 Morris, i. 172. Governor Morris's Life and Correspondence. 3 vols. Boston, 1832. 
 
 Mounier, 241. ' Recherches sur les Causes qui ont empe'che les Frangais de devenir 
 
 Libres. Par Mounier. 2 vols. Paris, 1792. 
 
 De 1'Influence des Philosophes sur la Revolution. 2 vols. Paris, 1790. 
 
 Moun. et Rub. ii. 127. Mounier et Rubichon de 1' Agriculture en France, d'apre's 
 
 les Documents Officiels. 2 vols. Paris, 1846.
 
 xlii LIST OF AUTHORITIES. 
 
 Murillo, 84. M6moires du Ge"ne"ral Murillo. Par Lui-m&ne. Paris, 1826. 1 voL 
 Nap. iL 27. M&noires de Napoleon diet. a Montholon et Gourgaud. 7 vols. 
 
 London, 1823. 
 
 i. 321. Napier's Peninsular War. 4 vols. 8vo. London, 18291834. 
 
 Nap. et sa Famille, ii. 21. Napoleon et sa Famille, ou Soire"es Secretes du 
 
 Luxembourg, Tuileries, et St Cloud. 2 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1840. 
 Neck. ii. 321. Necker sur k Revolution Francaise. 4 vols. 1796. 
 Neck. Dern. Vues, 427. Necker, Dernieres Vues Politiques. Geneve, 1802. 
 Necker, iL 179. Necker sur 1' Administration des Finances. 3 vols. Paris, 1789. 
 Necker, Me"m. iii. 179. Me*moires de M. Necker. Paris, 1824. 4 vols. 
 Nell. ii. 127. Me'moires pour servir a 1'Histoire de la Revolution d'Espagne, par 
 
 Nellerto. 3 vols. Paris, 1814. 
 
 Nelson's Desp. Despatches of Lord Nelson. 7 vols. London, 1844 1845. 
 New Ann. Reg. 1794, 32. New Annual Register. London, v. y. 
 Ney, i. 124. Me'moires du Mare'chal Ney. 2 vols. Paris, 1833. 
 Norv. ii. 223. Histoire de Napoleon. Par Norvins. 4 vols. Paris, 1829. 
 Odel. i. 114. Odeleben, Feldzug der Jahr Dresden, 1813. 2 vols. 1818. 
 CEuv. de Nap. v. 137. CEuvres de Napoleon (his Bulletins, Proclamations, &c.) 
 
 5 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1822. 
 
 Oginsk. ii. 271. Oginski, Me'moires sur k Pologne. Paris, 1826. 4 vols. 
 O'Meara, i. 134. O'Meara's Voice from St Helena. 2 vols. London, 1822. 
 Orme, i. 271. Onne's History of the British Conquests in Hindostan. 3 vols. 4to. 
 
 London, 1786. 
 Pacca, i. 127. Me'moires du Cardinal Pacca, sur k CaptivitS du Pape Pie VII. 
 
 Paris, 1833. 2 vols. 
 Pap. de Rob. 231. Papiers merits trouve"s chez Robespierre. 3 vols. Paris, 
 
 1828. 
 Parl. Paper, 14th March 1833. Parliamentary Papers, by the date for which they 
 
 were moved for in the Legislature. 
 ParL Hist, xxxii. 1014. Hansard's Parliamentary History. London, 36 vols. 
 
 Edited by J. Wright, Esq. 
 Parl. Deb. 942. Hansard's Parliamentary Debates. First Series. 1803 1817. 
 
 34 vols. London, v. y. 
 
 Pebrer, 172. Pebrer's Statistics of the whole British Empire. London, 1833. 
 Pelet, 310. Opinions de Napoleon dans le Conseil d'Etat. Paris, 1833. 
 Pel. ii. 117. Histoire de la Guerre de 1809 en Allemagne. Par Pelet. Paris, 1812. 
 
 4 vols. 
 Pellot, 31. Pellot, Commissaire-Ge'neral a M. le Due de Dalmatie. Guerre dans 
 
 le Midi de k France en 1813114. 1 vol. 
 Pere Duchesne, i. 92. Lettres b 1 Patriotiques du veritable Pere Duchesne. 
 
 Paris, 1791 1793. 11 vols. 
 
 Peuch. 249. Peuchet, Statistique de France. Paris, 1805. 
 Pict. ii. 224. Memoirs of General Sir Thomas Picton. 2 vols. London, 1835. 
 Plotho. Der Krieg in Deutschland und Frankreich in der Jahren 1813 und 1814. 
 
 von V. Plotho. Berlin, 1817. 5 theil. 
 Porter, ii. 349. Porter's Parliamentary Tables of the Statistics of the British 
 
 Empire. 14 vok. folio. London, 1832 41. 
 Porter's Prog. ii. 142. Porter's Progress of the Nations. London, 1836. 3 vols., and 
 
 2d Edition, 1 vol. 8vo. 
 Precis Mil. vi. 147. Pr6cis Historique des Evenemens Militaires en Allemagne dans 
 
 l'anne"e 1813. 6 vols. Leipsic, 1832.
 
 LIST OF AUTHORITIES. xliii 
 
 Prior, ii. 41. Prior's Life of Burke. 2 vols. London, 1827. 
 
 Proc. de Louis XVI. Proces de Louis XVI. Paris, 1793, containing 1'Avenement 
 
 de Louis XVI. 3 vols. 
 
 Prudh. Cah. ii. 77. Prudhomme, Resume des Cahiers. 3 vols. Paris, 1802. 
 Erreurs et Viet, de la ReV. Prudhomme, Erreurs et Victimes de la ReVo- 
 
 lution. Paris, 1797. 6 vols. 
 
 Prudhomme, Revolutions de Paris. 17 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1789 1793. 
 Puisaye, v. 127. Puisaye's Memoirs. 8 vols. Paris, 1816. 
 Rapp, 117. Memoires du Col. Rapp. Paris, 1825. 
 Regn. 127. Regnier, Histoire de 1'Expedition d'Egypte. Paris, 1828. 
 ReV. des Com. Revelations Puisnes dans les Cartons des Comit& de Salut Public 
 
 et de Surete Gengrale. Paris 1828. 
 Rev. Me'm. xi. 172. Memoires pour servir & 1'Histoire de la Revolution Francaise. 
 
 63 vols. Paris, 18231830. Viz. 
 
 Bailly, ii. 179. De Bailly, Maire de Paris. 2 vols. 
 
 Barbaroux, 39. Memoires de Barbarous sur la Revolution du 10 Aout. 
 
 Besenval, 230. Du Baron Besenval. 
 
 - Bouille, ii. 12. Du Lieut.-General Bouille. 2 vols. 
 
 Bouille, 119. Du Comte Louis de Bouille. 
 
 Bonchamps, 39. De Madame Bonchamps, sur la Guerre de la Vendee. 
 
 Camp. 79. De Madame Campan. 3 vols. 
 
 Choiseul, ii. 121. De M. le Due de Choiseul. 2 vols. 
 Carnot, 37. Sur Carnot. 
 
 Dussaulx, 117. De Dussaulx, sur le 14 Juillet. 
 Dum, iv. 179. Du General Dumourier. 4 vols. 
 
 Doppet, 113. Du General Doppet, sur le Siege de Lyon. 2 vols. 
 
 Ferrieres, ii. 231. Memoires du Marquis de Ferrieres. 2 vols. 
 
 Freron, ii. 121. De Fre'ron sur la Reaction du Midi. 2 vols. 
 
 Goguelat. De Goguelat. 
 
 Guillon, ii. 173. De 1'Abbe Guillon, sur le SiSge de Lyon. 2 vols. 
 
 Guerre de la Vend. Mgmoires sur la Guerre de la Vendee. 6 vols. 
 
 Garat 110. De Garat sur la Revolution. 
 
 -- Ling. 271. De Linguet sur la Bastille. 
 
 La Rochejaquelein, 117. De Madame La Roche jaquelein, sur la Guerre 
 
 de la Vendee. 
 
 Lou vet, 12. De Louvet, Membre de la Convention. 
 
 Meillan. De Meillan. 
 
 Montpensier. Des Dues de Montpensier d'Orieans. 
 
 - Morellet. De M. 1'Abbe Morellet. 2 vols. 
 
 Mem. sur les Prisons, 31. Mdmoires de St Meard et Autres sur les 
 
 Prisons. 2 vols. 
 Riouffe, 57. De Riouffe, sur les Prisons. 
 
 Rivarol, 72. De Rivarol. 
 
 Roland, i. 102. Memoires de Madame Roland. 2 vols. 
 
 Sapinaud, 119. De Madame Sapinaud. 
 
 Thib. ii. 115. De Thibaudeau, sur le Directoire. 2 vols. 
 
 Thurreau, ii. 179. Du General Thurreau, sur la Guerre de la Vendee, 2 vols. 
 Weber, ii. 272. De Weber concernant la Reine Marie Antoinette. 2 vols. 
 
 Richter, ii. 72. Geschichte des Deutchen Freiheitskriegs. 4 vols. 8vo. Berlin, 
 
 18381840. 
 Robertson's Charles V., i. 231. Robertson's Charles V. 3 vols. London, 1838. 
 
 (The booksellers' edition.)
 
 LIST OF AUTHORITIES. 
 
 Rob. ii. 124. Me'moires de Robespierre. 2 vols. Paris, 1830. 
 
 Roc. 319. Rocca, Me'moires sur la Guerre des Fran9ais en Espagne. London, 1815. 
 
 Rogn. 132. Rogniat, Considerations sur 1'Art de la Guerre. Paris, 1815. 
 
 36. Siege de Sar. Rogniat, Relation des Sieges de Saragosse et de Tortose. 
 
 Paris, 1814. 
 
 Romilly, L 182. Romilly's Speeches. 2 vols. London, 1820. 
 Rom. Life, ii. 144. Life of Sir Samuel Romilly. By his Sons. 3 vols. London, 
 
 1839. 
 
 Ross, i 121. Ross's Life of Lord De Saumarez. 2 vols. London, 1838. 
 Rozet, L 27. Rozet, Chrouique de Juillet 1830. Paris, 1833. 2 vols. 
 Rulh. ii. 24. Histoire de la Pologne. Par Rulhidres. Paris, 1820. 6 vols. 
 Saalf. i. 217. Saalfield, Algemeine Gescliichte der Neusten Zeit. Leipsic, 1819. 
 
 5 vols. 
 
 Salg. i. 24. Histoire de France pendant le Regne de Napoleon. Par Salgues. 8 vols. 
 
 Paris, 1814. 
 
 Salv. ii. 172. Salvandy, Histoire de la Pologne. 3 vols. Paris, 1829. 
 Sarrazin, 324. Histoire de la Guerre de la Restauration. Par M. Sarrazin. Paris, 
 
 1816. 
 
 Histoire de la Guerre d'Espagne. Paris, 1816. 
 
 Histoire de la Guerre d'Allemagne. Paris, 1816. 
 
 Sav. ii. 91. Me'moires de Savary, Due de Rovigo. 4 vols. London, 1827 1828. 
 
 Schep. ii. 424. Schepeler, Guerre d'Espagne. 4 vols. Liege, 1829. 
 
 Scher. 212. Scherer's Life of the Duke of Wellington. London, 1832. 
 
 Schnitz. L 213. Schnitzler, Stat. de la France. 2 vols. Paris, 1846. 
 
 Schnitz. Hist, intim. de la Russie, ii. 207. Schnitzler, Histoire intime de la 
 
 Russie. 2 vols. Paris, 1847. 
 Schoell, ii. 221. Recueil des Pieces Officielles sur les Evenements qui se sont 
 
 passes depuis quelques ann6es. Par Fred. Schoell. Paris, 1814. 9 vols. 
 Schoell, Congr. iv. 72. Schoell, Congres de Vienne. 6 vols. Paris, 1821. 
 
 Tr. de Paix, vii. 249. Abr4g(S des Traitds de Paix. 15 vols. Paris, 1818. 
 
 Scott, i. 42. Sir Walter Scott's Life of Napoleon. 9 vols. Edinburgh, 1828. 
 Paul's Letters, 39. Paul's Letters on Waterloo by Sir W. Scott, in Miscel- 
 laneous Works. 6 vols. Edinburgh, 1827. 
 Scott. Biog. ii. 231. Biography of Eminent Scotsmen, by Chambers. 4 vols. 
 
 Edinburgh, 18301837. 
 
 S6g. i. 231. S6gur (le Pere), Me'moires. 3 vols. Paris, 1824. 
 Tab. ii. 172. Se"gur (le Pere), Tableau Historique et Politique de 1'Europe, 
 
 17861796. 3 vols. Paris, 1803. 
 
 ii. 117. Se'gur, Campagne de 1812. 2 vols. Paris, 1825. 
 
 Sherid. ii. 127. Sheridan's Speeches. 5 vols. London, 1816. 
 
 Siborne, i. 93. Siborne's Waterloo Campaign. 2 vols. London, 1844. 
 
 Sidney, ii. 41. Sidney's Life of Lord HilL 2 vols. London, 1846. 
 
 Sism. Rep. ItaL xiii. 24. Sismondi, Histoire des Republiques Italiennes. 16 vols. 
 
 Paris, 1815. 
 Hist, de France, ix. 220. Sismondi, Histoire de France. Paris, 1824 1835. 
 
 28 vols. 
 
 Slade, i. 217. Travels in Turkey, by Adolphus Slade. 2 vols. London, 1831. 
 Smyth, ii. 371. Smyth's Lectures on the French Revolution. 3 vols. London, 1 840. 
 SouL ii. 317. Soulavie, Mem. Hist. et. PoL de France pendant le Regne de Louis XVI. 
 
 6 vols. 
 
 Soul. D6c. de la France, iii. 92. Histoire de la Decadence de la Monarchie 
 Francaise, par 1'Abbe* Soulavie. 3 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1803.
 
 LIST OP AUTHORITIES. xlv 
 
 South Amer. Rev. 1827. Outline of the Revolution in South America. London, 
 
 1817. 
 South, iii. 371. Southey's Peninsular War. 6 vols. 8vo. London, 1827. 
 
 ii. 17. Southey's Life of Nelson. 2 vols. London, 1814. 
 
 Souv. de Nap. i. 31. Souvenirs de la Vie Prive'e de Napoleon. Par Emile Saint 
 
 Hilaire. 2 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1838. 
 St Cyr, i. 117. St Cyr, Guerres de 17921797. 4 vols. Paris, 1829. 
 
 ii. 427. St Cyr, Hist. Mil. 17991813. 4 vols. Paris, 1831. 
 
 127. St Cyr, Guerre en Catalogue. Paris, 1829. 
 Stael, ReV. Fran9. ii. 221. Madame de Stael, Revolution Fran^aise. 3 vols. London, 
 
 1818. 
 Stael, ] 72. Mad. de Stael, Dix Annies d'Exil. Paris, 1817. 
 
 Baron de, ii. 71. Baron de Stael, (Euvres. 3 vols. Paris, 1825. 
 
 Stanhope, i. 186. Lady Hester Stanhope's Memoirs. 3 vols. London, 1845. 
 Stat. de la France. Statistiques de la France. 10 vols. Folio. Paris, 1839 1844. 
 Stein, ii. 21. Meins Lehens Erinnerungen bei Stein. 6 vols. Berlin, 1848. 
 Stor. di Pont, di Pie VII. ii. 317. Storia di Pontificate di Pape Pie VII. 1806 
 
 1814. 2 vols. Rome, 1815. 
 Stut. 250. Guerre de 1809 en Allemagne. Par Stutterheim. Vienna, 1816. 
 
 Bataille d'Austerlitz. Paris, 1 809. 
 
 Such. ii. 17. Suchet, Memoires. 2 vols. Paris, 1826. 
 
 Sully, v. 112. Sully, Memoires. 5 vols. Paris, 1817. 
 
 Tab. de la ReV. i. 76. Tableaux de la Revolution. 3 vols. Folio. Paris, 1804. 
 
 Teg. ii. 127. Tegoborski, Etudes sur la Russie. 2 vols. Paris, 1852. 
 
 Teg. Fin. de 1'Autrich. Tegoborski, Finances de 1'Autriche. 2 vols. Potsdam, 1848. 
 
 Tchichagoff, 79. Tchichagoff, Retreat of Napoleon. London, 1817. 
 
 Thigb. 127. ThieTsault, Relation du Siege de Genes. 1vol. Paris, 1818. 
 
 321. ThieTjault, Relation de 1'Expedition en Portugal. 1 vol. Paris. 
 
 Thib. 312. Thibaudeau, Memoires sur le Consulat. Paris, 1824. 
 
 vi. 142. Thibaudeau, Histoire de France pendant la Revolution et 1'Empire. 
 
 10 vols. Paris, 1835. 
 
 Thierry, iii. 79. Thierry, Histoire de la Conquete de 1'Angleterre par les Normands. 
 4 vols. Paris, 1824. 
 
 Histoire des Gaulois. 3 vols. Paris, 1827. 
 
 Th. ix. 179. Thiers, Histoire de la Revolution Francaise. 10 vols. Paris, 1828. 
 Th. Hist, du Cons. ii. 50. Thiers, Histoire du Consulat et de 1'Empire. 10 vols. 
 
 Paris, 18451847. 
 
 Toml. ii. 271. Tomline's Life of Pitt. 6 vols. 8vo. London, 1815. 
 Toul. vii. 397. Toulangeon, Hist, de la Revolution Fran9aise. 7 vols. Paris, 1810. 
 Tor. iii. 346. Histoire de la Revolution d'Espagne, par le Comte Toreno. 6 vols. 
 
 Paris, 1838. 
 
 Tucker, i. 91. Tucker's Life of Lord St Vincent. 4 vols. London, 1844. 
 Turgot, ii. 32. Turgot, (Euvres. 8 vols. Paris, 1814. 
 
 Turner's Anglo-Saxons, ii. 172. Turner's History of the Anglo-Saxons. 3 vols. 
 London, 1819. 
 
 Eng. Hist. iv. 126. Turner's History of England. 10 vols. London, 
 
 18221829. 
 
 Twiss, i. 147. Horace Twiss's Life of Lord Chancellor Eldon. 3 vols. London, 1844. 
 Tytler, iii. 421. Tytler's History of Scotland. 8 vols. Edinburgh, 1827 1831. 
 Urquhart, 241. Urquhart's Observations on European Turkey. London, 1829. 
 Urquh. i. 23. Urquhart, Spirit of the East. 2 vols. London, 1838.
 
 xlvi LIST OP AUTHORITIES. 
 
 Val. 242. Guerres dea Ruasea centre lea Tiircs, 1808 1812. Par le General 
 
 ValentinL Berlin, 1830. 
 Varnh. von Ense, ii. 21. Lebens Geachichte bei Varnhagen von Ense. 3 vola. 
 
 Leipeic, 1846. 
 Vaud. i. 33. Vaudoncourt, Guerre de 1812 en Russie. 2 vols. 4to. Paris, 1817. 
 
 ii. 238. Vaudoncourt, Guerre de 1813 en Allemagne. 2 vols. 4to. Paris, 1818. 
 
 iiL 271. Vaudoncourt, Guerre de 1814 en France. 4 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1820. 
 
 Vetter, i. 85. Vetter, Kriege des Verbundeten Europa gegen Napoleon, 1813 and 
 
 1814. Leipsic, 1839. 
 Viet, et Conq. xviii. 187. Victoires et Conquetes des Fran^ais de 1792 1815. 
 
 26 vola. Paris, 18201824. 
 Vieux Cordelier. Vieux Cordelier, par Camille Desmoulina. Paris, 1793 1794. 
 
 1 vol. 8vo. 
 Vill. i. 31. Villemain, Histoire de la Litte'rature Francaise dana le 18 siecle. 
 
 7 vols. Paris, 1829. 
 
 Vill. 172. Souvenir Contemporains. Par M. Villemain. Paris, 1853. 
 Vita d'Alf. ii. 91. Vita d'Alfieri. 2 vols. Firenze, 1822. 
 Voltaire, xli. 32. OZuvres de Voltaire. 52 vols. Paris, 1828. 
 Walsh, 272. Walsh's Journey to Constantinople. London, 1824. 
 Well. Field Orders. Field Orders of the Duke of Wellington. London, 1830. 
 
 Desp. v. 137. Despatches of Marquis Wellesley. 5 vols. London, 1836. 
 
 Wilson, 22. Sir Robert Wilson's War in Poland in 1806. 4to. London, 1810. 
 
 49. Sir Robert Wilson's Egyptian Expedition. 4to. London, 1804. 
 
 42. Sir Robert Wilson on the Power of Russia. London, 1817. 
 
 Windh. iv. 182. Windham's Speeches. 3 vols. London, 1812. 
 
 Wolfe, Tone, i. 272. Life and Correspondence of Theobold Wolfe Tone. 2 vols. 
 
 London, 1821. 
 
 Wyld, 87. Wyld's Memoirs of the War in Spain ; with a folio Atlas. London, 1 84 1 . 
 Young, i. 571. Arthur Young's Travels in France in 1789. 2 vols. 4to. London, 
 
 1793. 
 
 The other Works occasionally referred to, are described at length on the margin.
 
 CONTENTS OF VOL. I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 PROGRESS OF FREEDOM IN THE WORLD BEFORE THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 
 
 Page 
 
 1. Importance and magnificence of the subject, .... 1 
 
 2. Comparison of the era of Napoleon with others in the World, . 2 
 
 3. Splendour of its events, ...... ib. 
 
 4. Extraordinary varieties of character which it exhibited, . . 3 
 
 5. Character and virtues of the European nations which were exhibited, 4 
 
 6. Its intellectual efforts, . . . . . . . . ib. 
 
 7. Causes of these characteristics, ..... 5 
 
 8. Causes of the early depression of the lower orders, ... 6 
 
 9. Consequent universality of, and necessity for, slavery, . . 7 
 
 10. Difference in the condition of slaves in early and later times, . 8 
 
 11. Causes which perpetuate slavery, ..... 9 
 
 12. The independence of pastoral life, . . . . ib. 
 
 13. The security of walled cities, . . . . . .10 
 
 14. The protection of mountain retreats, . . . . ib. 
 
 15. Limited extent of freedom in ancient times, . . . .11 
 
 16. Different policy of the Romans. Its prodigious effects, . . 12 
 
 17. Real causes of the decay of the Roman Empire, . . .13 
 
 18. First irruption of the northern nations. Its great effects, . . 14 
 1.9. Lamentable prostration of the vanquished, . . . .15 
 
 20. Separation thence induced between the classes of society in modern times, 1 6 
 
 21. Entire prostration of the vanquished, . . . . . ib. 
 
 22. Total absence of representative governments in antiquity, . . 17 
 
 23. And in the northern nations, on their first establishment in Europe, 1 8 
 
 24. Causes which led to representative governments in modern Europe, . 1 9 
 
 25. They are borrowed from the assemblies of the Church, . . 20 
 
 26. Are universally established in Europe, . . . .21 
 
 27. Great effects of hereditary succession and primogeniture in producing this 
 
 result, ........ ib. 
 
 28. Fatal defects of the feudal system, ..... 23 
 
 29. Cause of the early corruption of barbarous conquerors, . . 24 
 
 30. Effects of the private wars of the nobles, . . . .26
 
 Xlviii CONTENTS OP CHAP. I. 
 
 Page 
 31. Causes of the decay of the feudal liberty iu Spain, . . .27 
 
 32. Its decline in France and Germany, . . . . .28 
 
 33. And in England, ....... ib. 
 
 34. It was only fitted for a barbarous age, . . . .29 
 85. Opulence undermined the power of the nobles, . . .30 
 
 36. Progress of freedom in the south of Europe, . . . .31 
 
 37. Rapid rise of the urban civilisation of Italy. Great and patriotic efforts 
 
 of these states, ....... 32 
 
 38. Causes of their decline, ...... 33 
 
 39. General defection of the subject states on disaster, . . .34 
 
 40. Decline of Flemish freedom, ...... 35 
 
 41. Common conclusions as to the tendency to decay in all communities, 36 
 
 42. Causes which restored liberty. Influence of Christianity, . . ib. 
 
 43. Difference of European and Asiatic northern conquest, . . 37 
 
 44. Causes to which it is to be ascribed, . . . . .39 
 
 45. Great influence of religious enthusiasm on human affairs, . . ib. 
 
 46. Art of printing. Its advantages, ..... 40 
 
 47. And dangers, . . . . . . . .41 
 
 48. Ultimate benefits of knowledge, . . . . .42 
 
 49. Discovery of gunpowder destroyed the power of the nobility, . ib. 
 60. Increase of luxury tended to the same effect, . . . .44 
 51. Combination of these causes in inducing the French Revolution, . 45 
 62. Vast effect of the revolt of armies on the cause of democracy, . 46 
 
 53. Danger from popular license which now threatens society, . . 47 
 
 54. Slow growth of durable freedom, . . . . .48 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 COMPARATIVE PROGRESS OF FREEDOM IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND. 
 
 1. Parallel between the French and English Revolutions, . . 49 
 
 2. Moderation in England, and violence in France after victory, . 50 
 
 3. Great influence of religion in England, and of infidel principles in France, 51 
 
 4. Moderation displayed in the English civil wars, and cruelty in France, ib. 
 6. Vast difference as regards the subsequent law in the two countries, . 53 
 
 6. And as regards the distribution of property, .... ib. 
 
 7. Political weight in France since the Revolution, compared with England, 54 
 
 8. Different effects on the military and naval power of the two countries, 55 
 
 9. These diversities must have been owing to some general cause, . ib. 
 
 10. What that cause was, ....... 56 
 
 11. Degraded state of the inhabitants of both Gaul and Britain under the 
 
 Romans, ........ 57 
 
 12. Total prostration of the Britons and Gauls after the fall of Rome, . 58 
 
 13. Effects of Anglo-Saxon conquests, . . . . ib. 
 
 14. Effect of the insular situation of Britain, . . . .59 
 
 15. And of the piratical incursions of the Danes, . . . .60 
 
 16. Cause which was beginning to prove fatal to freedom, . . 61 
 
 17. Consequent aristocratic tendency of society among the Anglo-Saxons, 62 
 
 1 8. Great effects of the Norman Conquest, . . . .63
 
 CONTENTS OP CHAP. I. xlix 
 
 Page 
 
 1 9. It gave origin to the yeomanry of England, . . . .64 
 
 20. Vast effect of the insular situation of England on the conquering race, 65 
 
 21. And on the early struggles for freedom, . . . .66 
 
 22. And on the national wars of the English, . . . .68 
 
 23. Total want of archery, as a force, in France and Scotland, . . 69 
 
 24. Peculiar combination which produced these results in England, . ib. 
 
 25. Important effect of the loss of the English possessions in France, . 70 
 
 26. Power of the Crown under the Norman kings, . . .71 
 
 27. Insular situation, ....... 72 
 
 28. Anglo-Saxon institutions, ...... 73 
 
 29. Entire want of protection to the rural labourers, . . .74 
 
 30. Democratic spirit in the time of Richard II., .... ib. 
 
 31. Wars of the Roses, '...... 75 
 
 32. Decline of feudal liberty, ...... 76 
 
 33. Revived by spirit of religious freedom and the Reformation, . 77 
 
 34. Modified by the regard to ancient rights in England, . . 79 
 
 35. Which is the result of long-established popular institutions, . . ib. 
 
 36. And which extends to America, . . . . .81 
 
 37. Savage character of the civil wars in Ireland, . . . .82 
 
 38. And Scotland, ........ 83 
 
 39. Cruelty of the civil wars of York and Lancaster, . . .84 
 
 40. Causes of the humanity of the Great Rebellion, . . ib. 
 
 41. State of the Gauls in the decline of the Roman Empire, . . 85 
 
 42. Their conquest by the Franks, ..... 86 
 
 43. Independent spirit of the Franks, ..... 87 
 
 44. Rois Faineants, and early corruption of the empire of Charlemagne, ib. 
 
 45. Its dissolution, ....... 89 
 
 46. Courage of the inhabitants first restored by the private wars of the 
 
 nobles, ........ ib. 
 
 47. Rise of the boroughs, ....... 90 
 
 48. Great feudatories, . . . . . . .91 
 
 49. Fatal effects of want of yeomanry, ..... 92 
 
 50. Misery arising from the English wars, and its effects, . . 93 
 
 51. Rise of the democratic spirit in France, . . . .94 
 
 52. Contrast of the French and English contests for freedom, . . 95 
 
 53. Great feudatories : their pernicious effect, . . . .96 
 
 54. Effect of the English wars, ...... 97 
 
 55. Effect of the standing armies of the Crown on public freedom, . 98 
 
 56. Military spirit of the nation, ...... 99 
 
 67. Privileges of the nobility : their pernicious effect, . . .100 
 
 58. Great effects of Richelieu's system of government, . . .101 
 
 59. His measures to carry these designs into effect, . . .102 
 
 60. Prodigious effects of these changes, ..... 103 
 
 61. Real causes which brought it about, ..... 104 
 
 62. Splendour of the reign of Louis XIV., . . . .105 
 
 63. Despotic nature of his government, . . . . .106 
 
 64. Failure of the Reformation in France, .... 107 
 
 65. Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, . . . . .108 
 
 66. Its extreme severity, . . . . . . .109 
 
 67. Dreadful ultimate retribution to which it led, . . .11] 
 VOL. I. d
 
 I ' CONTENTS OF CHAP. II. 
 
 Page 
 68. Manner in which this retribution was brought about, . . 112 
 
 69. Causes of the savage character of the French Revolution, . . 113 
 
 70. Beneficial effects of periods of suffering, .... 114 
 
 71. Slow growth and invaluable inheritance of real freedom, . . 115 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 GENERAL STATB OF FRANCE, AND CAUSES WHICH PREDISPOSED ITS PEOPLE TO 
 REVOLUTION. 
 
 1. Vast physical resources of France, ..... 117 
 
 2. Its advantages for inland trade, . . . . .118 
 
 3. Statistics of the country, . . . . . .119 
 
 4. Remarkable disproportion between agriculturists and manufacturers in 
 
 France and England, . . . . . .120 
 
 5. General character of the French people, . . . .122 
 
 6. French colonies, and cause of their loss, .... ib. 
 
 7. Vast colonial trade of France with St Domingo, . . .124 
 
 8. Its naval forces as compared with those of England, . . ib. 
 
 9. Military strength of France before the war, . . . .125 
 
 10. Real force of France in 1792, ...... 126 
 
 11. Household troops of the king, . . . . .127 
 
 12. What, then, led to the Revolution ? . . . . .128 
 
 13. Modification of Sully's opinion as to grievances alone producing revolu- 
 
 tion. Universality of the disaffection, . . . ib. 
 
 14. The collision of the classes did not necessarily produce revolution, 130 
 
 15. Middle ranks desirous of elevation, . . . . . ib. 
 
 16. Slavery prevented this appearing in ancient times, and pressure from 
 
 below brings it out in modern, . . . .131 
 
 17. General operation of these principles in modern times, . . 132 
 
 18. Its important effects in modern times, .... 133 
 
 19. Extinction of public spirit by private opulence is long averted by these 
 
 causes, ........ 134 
 
 20. Perils of this progressive rise of the lower orders, . . .135 
 
 21 . Collision of the higher and lower orders is unavoidable in every advancing 
 
 modern state, ....... 136 
 
 22. Destruction of the power of the nobles, .... 137 
 
 23. Military spirit of the people, ...... 138 
 
 24. Philosophy and literature, ...... 139 
 
 25. Causes of the general delusion regarding public opinion, . . 140 
 
 26. Classical allusions which generally prevailed, . . . 141 
 
 27. Influence of the French stage on the public mind, . . .142 
 
 28. State of the church, ....... 143 
 
 29. Fatal effects of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, . . 144 
 
 30. Weakness it induced on the Gallican Church, . . . 145 
 
 31. It issues in the contests of the Jesuits and Jansenists, . . ib. 
 
 32. Transition of this contest into that of the parliaments with the king, 146 
 
 33. Powers of the parliaments, . . . . . .148 
 
 34. Progress of the contest with the parliaments, . . .149
 
 CONTENTS OF CHAP. II. H 
 
 Page 
 j 35. Suppression of the Jesuits, . . . . . .150 
 
 36. Cessation of the religious contests, and rise of the philosophical opinions, ib. 
 
 37. Life and character of Montesquieu, . . . . .151 
 
 38. Character of his writings, ...... 153 
 
 39. Influence of Montesquieu on the Revolution, .... 154 
 
 40. Birth and parentage of Voltaire, ..... 156 
 
 41. His subsequent career, ....... 158 
 
 42. Rises to great literary eminence, ..... 159 
 
 43. Retires to Ferney on the Lake of Geneva, .... ib. 
 
 44. Last visit to Paris, and death, . . . . . .160 
 
 45. Character of his philosophy, . . . . . .161 
 
 46. And his history, criticism, and poetry, . . . .162 
 
 47. His principles on religion, . . . . . .164 
 
 48. Rousseau. His early life and habits, . . . . .165 
 
 49. Criminal irregularities of his youth, . . . . .167 
 
 50. His first essay in literature, . . . . . .168 
 
 51. Heartlessness towards Madame Warens, . . . .169 
 
 52. His subsequent writings, and death, . . . . ib. 
 
 53. His literary character, ....... 170 
 
 54. Foundation of his philosophical principles, .... 171 
 
 55. Importance of the preceding detail as to these great men, . . 172 
 
 56. The new opinions are carried out still further by their successors, . 1 73 
 
 57. Raynal, Diderot, and d'Alembert, ..... 174 
 
 58. Pernicious doctrines of the Materialists, .... 175 
 
 59. Universal infidelity which prevailed, ..... 176 
 
 60. Spread of these irreligious principles among the nobility, . . 177 
 
 61. Great encouragement given to irreligion by Frederick and Catherine, 178 
 
 62. Weakened state of the church at this period, .... 180 
 
 63. Remarkable prophecies of the French Church on the effects of the 
 
 irreligion of the age, . . . . . .181 
 
 64. Corruptions and evils of the church, . . . . .182 
 
 65. The Economists, . . . . . . .183 
 
 66. Their peculiar doctrines, ...... 184 
 
 67. Reflections on these doctrines, ...... 185 
 
 68. Privileges of the nobles, ...... 186 
 
 69. Rigorous distinction of noble and roturier in France, . . .188 
 
 70. Composition of the privileged classes, ..... 189 
 
 71. Prosperous condition of the Tiers Etat, .... 190 
 
 72. Vast growth of Paris and the principal towns of the kingdom, . 191 
 
 73. Superior education of the Tiers Etat, . . . . .192 
 
 74. Taxation. Its inequalities, . . . . . .193 
 
 75. Inequality in the imposition of the direct taxes in France, . . 194 
 
 76. Indirect taxes, ........ 195 
 
 77. State of the labouring poor, . . . . . .196 
 
 78. Non-resident proprietors, ...... 197 
 
 79. Feudal services, . . . . . . . .198 
 
 80. Their variety and oppressive character, .... 199 
 
 81. Exaggeration on this subject, ...... 200 
 
 82. Administration of justice, ...... 201 
 
 83. Royal prerogative, ....... 202
 
 Ill CONTENTS OP CHAP. III. 
 
 Page 
 
 84. Extreme inconsistency with which the royal power had been exercised, 204 
 
 85. Terrible torture which was still continued in France, . . . 205 
 
 86. Horrors of the old punishments, ..... 206 
 
 87. Corruption at court, ....... 208 
 
 88. Profligacy of the Regent Orleans and Louis XV., . . . 209 
 
 89. Madame Pompadour and Madame du Barri, . . . .211 
 
 90. Dissolute habits of young Egalite", ..... 212 
 
 91. Contrast to the manners of the middle classes at that period, . 214 
 
 92. Embarrassment of finances, ...... 215 
 
 93. Ineffectual efforts of preceding sovereigns to make up the deficit, . 216 
 
 94. Contempt and weakness into which the nobility had fallen, . . 219 
 
 95. Inefficiency of the noblesse as a political body, . . . 220 
 
 96. Fatal division in France between the old families and the nouteaux 
 
 anoblii, ........ 222 
 
 97. Distracted state of the clergy, ...... 223 
 
 98. Disastrous effect of the great influence of Paris, . . . 224 
 
 99. The element of rural loyalty was wanting, or very weak, in France, . 225 
 
 100. Remarkable observation of Lord Chesterfield on the state of France, 226 
 
 101. Louis XV. foresaw the dangers of the French monarchy, . . 227 
 
 102. Overthrow of the parliaments resolved on by Louis XV., . . 228 
 
 103. Suppression of the parliaments, ..... 229 
 
 104. Mr Burke's reflections on this event, ..... 231 
 
 105. Conquest of Corsica, which made Napoleon a French citizen, . 232 
 
 106. Death of Louis XV., ....... 233 
 
 107. Advantages of the French system of government, . . . 234 
 
 108. Excellence of the parliaments as courts of law, . . . ib. 
 
 1 09. Advantages of seats in them being acquired by purchase, . . 236 
 
 110. Difference in consequence between the independence of the courts of law 
 
 in the two countries prior to their Revolutions, . . 237 
 
 111. Excellence of the French system of intendants of provinces, . . ib. 
 
 112. Reflections on the causes which preceded the Revolution, . . 239 
 
 113. What are the real causes of revolution ? .... ib. 
 
 114. It was the national vices, not the national sufferings, which produced 
 
 the Revolution, ....... 241 
 
 115. It is the loss of public virtue which produces a revolution, . . 242 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 PROXIMATE CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 1. Birth of Louis XVI., and character of the Dauphin, his father, . 243 
 
 2. Early characters of the Dauphin's three sons, . . . 244 
 
 3. Early disposition of Louis XVI., ..... 245 
 
 4. His character, ....... 246 
 
 5. To what this irresolution was owing, .... 247 
 
 6. Birth and early years of Marie Antoinette, .... 248 
 
 7. Grief for her departure from Vienna, and splendour of her reception in 
 
 France, ....... 250 
 
 8. Magnificent f6te at Paris on the marriage, .... 251
 
 CONTENTS OF CHAP. III. liii 
 
 Page 
 
 9. Dreadful accident which occurred on this occasion, . . . 252 
 
 1 0. General panic, and melancholy catastrophe, .... ib. 
 
 1 1 . Jealousies at court, which make the Dauphin and Dauphiness live retired, 253 
 
 12. Mr Burke's picture of Marie Antoinette, .... 255 
 
 13. Character of the Queen, ...... 256 
 
 14. Her imprudences, and the falsehoods to which they gave rise, . 257 
 
 15. Heroic qualities and domestic virtues, .... 258 
 
 16. Popular acts of the King and Queen on their accession, . . 260 
 
 1 7. Character of Maurepas, ...... 262 
 
 18. His system of government, ...... 264 
 
 19. Dismissal of Abbe" Terray and Maupeou, and recall of the parliaments, 265 
 
 20. Importance of the step thus taken, ..... 267 
 
 21. Ingratitude of the parliament, ..... 269 
 
 22. Change in the system of government, .... 270 
 
 23. Birth and early history of Turgot, . . . . . ib. 
 
 24. His character as a minister, ...... 272 
 
 25. Fatal errors in his principles, ..... 373 
 
 26. Turgot's finance measures, ...... 274 
 
 27. He establishes a free trade in grain, and tumults in consequence, . 275 
 
 28. Violent disorders which ensued, ..... 276 
 
 29. History and character of Malesherbes, .... 277 
 
 30. Malesherbes' principles of government, .... 279 
 
 31. Views of Turgot, and his general principles, . . . 280 
 
 32. His ultimate designs, . . . . . .281 
 
 33. His designs for immediate change, ..... ib. 
 
 34. Transports of the philosophers in Paris at his administration, and ap- 
 
 pointment of St Germain, . . . . .282 
 
 35. History of Count St Germain, ..... 283 
 
 36. Nature of the reforms in the army which were called for, . . 285 
 
 37. Changes which he introduced, . . . . .286 
 
 38. Breaks up the Hotel des Invalides. Great discontents this excited in 
 
 the army, ....... 288 
 
 39. Turgot's Six Edicts, ....... 289 
 
 40. Universal combination against Turgot to resist the Six Edicts, . 290 
 
 41. Continuance of the contest with the parliament, which occasions his fall, 291 
 
 42. Reflections on the fall of Turgot, ..... 293 
 
 43. Causes of these disastrous results, ..... 294 
 
 44. The system of the old regime is restored byClugny,who succeeded Turgot, 295 
 
 45. Early history of M. Necker, ...... 297 
 
 46. Madame Necker and the society with which she was surrounded, . 298 
 
 47. Causes which led to Necker's appointment to the ministry, . . 300 
 
 48. His appointment as finance minister, .... ib. 
 
 49. Necker's first finance measures, and opposition against them, . 301 
 60. Character of Necker, and his plans of finance, . . . 302 
 
 51. Views of Turgot and Necker on the American war, . . 303 
 
 52. Growing interest of the French in favour of the insurgents, . 304 
 
 63. France joins America, and the war with England, . . . 305 
 
 64. Universal enthusiasm which the successes of the American war excited, 307 
 55. Great impulse it gives to Republican ideas, . . . ib. 
 66. Financial embarrassments to which the American war gave rise, . 308
 
 liv CONTENTS OF CHAP. III. 
 
 Page 
 57. Great embarrassment which the loans contracted occasioned to the 
 
 finances, ....... 309 
 
 68. Existing States-general in some of the provinces, . . . 311 
 
 69. Necker's Provincial Assemblies, . . . . .312 
 
 60. General coalition against Necker, . . . . .313 
 
 61. Necker's resignation, ...... 314 
 
 62. General regret at his leaving the administration, . . . 315 
 
 63. Successor of Necker in the finance, and increasing difficulties, . 316 
 
 64. Death of Maurepas, and appointment of Vergennes as prime-minister, 318 
 
 65. Resignation of Joly de Fleuri, . . . . .319 
 
 66. D'Ormesson appointed finance minister, .... 320 
 
 67. Character of Calonue, ...... ib. 
 
 68. His system of finance, ...... 322 
 
 69. His exposition to the King of the real state of the finances, . 323 
 
 70. Increasing loans of Calonne, who is at last driven to extremities, . 325 
 
 71. Calonne's plan for the convocation of the Notables, . . 326 
 
 72. Convocation of the Notables is agreed to by the King, . . 327 
 
 73. His candid exposition of the state of the finances, . . . 329 
 
 74. Noble speech of Calonne to the Notables, .... 330 
 
 75. Universal storm against Calonne on these proposals, . . 332 
 
 76. Causes of this general combination, ..... 333 
 
 77. Pretences of the Notables to elude the plan, and finance contests, . 334 
 
 78. Death of Vergennes, and continued resistance of the Notables, . 336 
 
 79. Calonne is at length overthrown, and Lomenie de Brienne appointed 
 
 minister, ....... ib. 
 
 80. Character of the Archbishop of Toulouse, .... 338 
 
 81. Brienne's dangerous speech on dismissing the Notables, . . 340 
 
 82. Birth of the Princess- Royal and the Dauphin, . . . 341 
 
 83. The Queen becomes the object of persecution to the Orleans party, 343 
 
 84. Character of the Duke of Orleans and his party, . . .344 
 
 85. Incessant efforts of the Orleans party to defame the Queen, . 346 
 
 86. The Queen's increasing influence at court inflames the hostility against 
 
 her, 347 
 
 87. Increased rigour in favour of the aristocracy in regard to commissions 
 
 in the army, ....... 348 
 
 88. Aid which these calumnies received from the Queen's imprudent conduct, 349 
 
 89. Nocturnal parties on the ten-aces at Versailles, . . . 350 
 
 90. Total change of ladies' dress introduced by the Queen, . . 351 
 
 91. Affair of the diamond necklace, ..... 352 
 
 92. Trial of Cardinal Rohan and Mad. de la Mothe, . . .354 
 
 93. General spirit of innovation, ...... 356 
 
 94. Great extent of the Anglo-mania, . . . . ib. 
 
 95. General tendency to delusion in the public mind, . . . 358 
 
 96. First measures of Brienne, which are successful, . . . 360 
 
 97. Progress of the dispute with the parliament, . . . 361 
 
 98. Who continue to refuse to register the Edicts, . . .362 
 
 99. Banishment of the parliament to Troyes, .... 363 
 
 100. A compromise between the crown and the parliament, . . 364 
 
 101. Brienne proposes large new loans, ..... 365 
 
 102. The loan is rejected, and the Duke of Orleans exiled, . . 366
 
 CONTENTS OF CHAP. III. Iv 
 
 Page 
 
 103. Further measures on both sides, ..... 368 
 
 104. Brienne's plan of a Cour Ple"niere, ..... 369 
 
 105. Protest of the parliament of Paris, ..... 370 
 
 106. Arrest of d'Espreme'nil and Montsabert, .... 372 
 
 107. Dramatic scene in the hall of parliament, .... 373 
 
 108. Universal enthusiasm excited in France by these events, . . 374 
 
 109. Lit-de-Justice held at Versailles, ..... t'6. 
 
 110. Edicts there proposed, which are rejected, .... 376 
 
 111. Convocation of an Assembly of the clergy, which also demands the 
 
 States-general, ....... 377 
 
 112. Troubles in Beam and Dauphine, ..... 379 
 
 113. Serious troubles in Brittany, ..... 381 
 
 114. The States-general are at length announced for May 1, 1789, . 383 
 
 115. Vehement excitement of the public mind, .... 384 
 
 116. Divisions already appear in the country on the subject, . . 385 
 
 117. Great influence of the Abbe" Sieyes' pamphlet, . . .386 
 
 118. Edicts amounting to national bankruptcy, .... 387 
 
 119. Which lead to the fall of Brienne and Lamoignon, . . . 388 
 
 120. Riots in Paris on the 25th August, ..... 390 
 
 121. Riot at Brienne's hotel, ...... 391 
 
 122. Want of vigour in the government in prosecuting the offenders, . ib. 
 
 123. Universal joy on Necker's restoration to office, . . . 392 
 
 124. Royal edict for summoning the States-general, . . .393 
 
 125. Its extreme dangers, . . . . . . .395 
 
 126. A second convocation of the Notables, to determine the form of con- 
 
 voking the States-general, . . . . .396 
 
 127. Ancient form of voting in the States-general, . . .397 
 
 128. The popular party contend for one chamber, and a double number of 
 
 deputies from the Tiers Etat, . . . . .398 
 
 129. The parliament of Paris resist these changes, . . . 399 
 
 130. And immediately lose their popularity, .... 400 
 
 131. Meeting of the Notables, who confirm the decision of the parliament of 
 
 Paris, ........ 401 
 
 132. Necker induces the King to double the Tiers Etat, and leave the mode 
 
 of voting unsettled, ...... 402 
 
 133. Necker's reasons for this step, ..... 404 
 
 134. Elections, and extraordinary negligence with which they were conducted, ib. 
 
 135. Dreadful distress in Paris in the winter of 1788-9, . . .405 
 
 136. Disturbances iu Brittany and Provence, .... 406 
 
 137. Tumults in Rennes and in Dauphine", .... 407 
 
 138. Elections at Paris, ....... 409 
 
 139. Cahiers, or instructions to the deputies, .... 410 
 
 140. Vehement excitement which prevailed in Paris, . . . 411 
 
 141. Riot at Reveillon's, ....... 413 
 
 142. Destruction of Reveillon's manufactory, and violent tumult to which it 
 
 gave rise, .... ... 414 
 
 143. Who was the author of this tumult, ..... 415 
 
 144. Necker's views on the union of the orders, . . . .416 
 
 145. Reasons which led Louis XVL to adopt these views of Necker, . 417 
 
 146. Their pernicious results, ...... 418
 
 Ivi CONTENTS OP CHAP. IV. 
 
 147. Who did wrong at this period of the Revolution, . . 
 
 148. The forcing of the King into the American war, . . 
 
 1 49. Fault of the nobles and clergy in resisting equal taxation, 
 
 150. The parliaments did wrong in refusing to register the taxes, 
 
 151. Necker's fatal error in the convocation of the States-general. 
 
 his concessions, ..... 
 
 152. Limits of conciliation and concession, . . . 
 
 153. What constituted the great error of Necker's measures, 
 
 154. Effect of Necker's concessions, .... 
 
 155. Slow growth of the ability to wield political power, . 
 
 156. Distinction between the love of freedom and the passion for power 
 
 157. Revolution headed by the higher classes, 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 FROM THE MEETING OP THE STATES-GENERAL TO THE TAKING OF THE BASTILE. 
 MAY 5 JULY 15, 1789. 
 
 i 1. Elevated state of science at the date of the Revolution, . 429 
 
 2. Rashness of the Constituent Assembly, and peril of hasty innovation, 430 
 
 3. Opening of the States-general, . . . . .431 
 
 4. Madame de StaeTs and Madame de Montmorin's observations on the 
 
 ceremony, ....... 432 
 
 5. Meeting of the States-general, ..... 433 
 
 6. Description of the hall of the Assembly, .... 434 
 
 7. Speech of the King, . . . . . . .435 
 
 8. The generous sentiments it expressed, .... ib. 
 
 9. Incipient division on the King sitting down, . . . 436 
 
 10. Speech of M. Necker, and general disappointment it occasioned, . 437 
 
 11. Commencement of the contest between the orders, . . . 439 
 
 12. First interference of the electors and municipality of Paris with the 
 
 government, ....... 440 
 
 13. The Tiers Etat insist for one Assembly, which completely stops the 
 
 public business, ...... 441 
 
 14. Violent contest between the parties. Advantages of the Commons, ib. 
 
 15. Sentiments and cahiers of the nobles, .... 442 
 
 16. Views and instructions of the clergy, .... 444 
 
 17. Of the Tiers Etat, ....... ib. 
 
 18. Views of the King, ....... 445 
 
 19. And of the people of Paris, ...... 446 
 
 20. Absence of philosophers and literary men, . . . .448 
 
 21. Few great proprietors, ...... 449 
 
 22. Birth and early life of Mirabeau, ..... 450 
 
 23. His first adventures in life, ...... 451 
 
 24. His varied and licentious writings, . . . . .452 
 
 25. His career before the Revolution, ..... 453 
 
 26. Character of Mirabeau, ...... 454 
 
 27. His character as an orator, ...... 456 
 
 28. Character of the Abbe" Maury, ..... 458
 
 CONTENTS OP CHAP. IV. Ivii 
 
 Page 
 
 29. His invincible moral courage, ..... 459 
 
 30. Character of M. Cazales, ...... 460 
 
 31. Character of M. Bailly, ...... 461 
 
 32. Character and biography of M. Lafayette, .... 464 
 
 33. Character of Clermont-Tonnerre, ..... 467 
 
 34. Of Lally-Tollendal and the two Lameths, .... 468 
 
 35. Character of Barnave, ...... 470 
 
 36. Biography of Talleyrand, ...... 472 
 
 37. The Club Montrouge the centre of the Orleans conspiracy, . 473 
 
 38. The Club Breton the cradle of the Jacobins, . . . 474 
 
 39. Prodigious excitement in Paris during the contest of the orders, . 475 
 
 40. Vacillation and terror of the ministry, .... 476 
 
 41. Remarkable prophecy of Father Beau-Regard, . . , 477 
 
 42. Views of the conspirators on the popular side, . . . ib. 
 
 43. First appearance of Robespierre in the Assembly, . . . 479 
 
 44. Proposals of the Tiers Etat, ...... 480 
 
 45. Rejection of the arbitration of the King by the orders, . . 481 
 
 46. The Tiers Etat resolve to constitute the States-general alone, . 482 
 
 47. Answer of the noblesse and the clergy, . . . .483 
 
 48. Serious disturbances and alarm over all France, . . . 484 
 
 49. Tumults in the provinces, ...... 485 
 
 50. Three cure's join the Tiers Etat, ..... 486 
 
 51. Debates on the title the Tiers Etat were to assume, . . .487 
 
 52. Speech in opposition by Mirabeau, ..... 488 
 
 53. The Tiers Etat assume the title of National Assembly, . . 490 
 
 54. Resolutions of the National Assembly declaring all taxes illegal if they 
 
 were dissolved, ...... 492 
 
 55. Immense enthusiasm over France on these events, . . . ib. 
 
 56. Comencement of the persecution of the unpopular deputies, . 493 
 
 57. Measures of the noblesse, ...... 494 
 
 68. Debates on the subject in the Chamber of the clergy, . . 495 
 
 59. Necker's measures in this crisis, ..... 496 
 
 60. Tennis-Court oath, ....... 498 
 
 61. Error of the King on this occasion, ..... 499 
 
 62. One hundred and forty-eight of the clergy join the Tiers Etat, . 500 
 
 63. Reflections on this step of the Commons, .... ib. 
 
 64. Repulse by Necker of Mirabeau's advances, .... 501 
 
 65. Grand council at Marly, where the declaration of 23d June is 
 
 resolved on, ....... 502 
 
 66. Royal sitting of the 23d June. Great concessions of the King, . 503 
 
 67. Which give no satisfaction, ...... 504 
 
 68. The Commons refuse to leave the hall, .... 505 
 
 69. Vast amount of these concessions of the King, . . . 506 
 
 70. Royal authority overthrown, ..... 507 
 
 71. Duke of Orleans and forty-six of the nobility join the Commons, . 508 
 
 72. Great difficulties of the King's situation, .... 509 
 
 73. Immense effervescence in Paris, . . . . . ib. 
 
 74. Interview of the King with M. de Luxembourg, . . . 510 
 
 75. The King's answer to the representations of the Duke, . . 512 
 
 76. Interview of the King with the Cardinal de la Rochefoucauld, . ib.
 
 Iviii CONTENTS OF CHAP. IV. 
 
 Page 
 77. The nobles with great reluctance obey the mandate, and unite with the 
 
 Tiers Etat, ....... 513 
 
 78. Junction of the orders, . . . . . .614 
 
 79. Revolt and treason of the French guards, . . . .515 
 
 80. Vigorous measures are resolved on by the court, . . . 516 
 
 81. Great agitation in the capital, . . . . .517 
 
 82. Power daily passing from the government to the multitude, . 518 
 
 83. Indecision of Necker and the ministers, . . . .519 
 
 84. More violent views of the war party in the council, . . . 520 
 
 85. Speech of Mirabeau in the Assembly against the troops, . . 521 
 
 86. Address of the Assembly to the King, .... 622 
 
 87. Answer of the King, ....... 624 
 
 88. Dissatisfaction of the Assembly, ..... 525 
 
 89. Commencement of the insurrection, and dismissal of M. Necker, . 526 
 
 90. Progress of the revolt in Paris, and first appearance of Camille- 
 
 Desmoulins, ....... 628 
 
 91. Combat in front of the barracks, and treachery of the troops, . 529 
 
 92. Efforts of the Orleans party to increase the excitement, . . 530 
 
 93. Continuance of the riots on the 13th, and want of preparation on the 
 
 part of the court, ...... 631 
 
 94. Vigorous preparations of the Revolutionists, . . . 532 
 
 95. First organisation of the national guard, municipality of Paris, and 
 
 tricolor flag, ....... 533 
 
 96. Rapid formation of the revolutionary force, .... 534 
 
 97. Capture of the Hotel des Invalides, . . . . . ib. 
 
 98. It is determined to attack the Bastile, .... 536 
 
 99. Preparations for storming the Bastile, .... 537 
 
 100. Description of the Bastile, ...... 538 
 
 101. The insurgents break into the fortress, .... 539 
 
 102. Arrival of the Gardes Francises, ..... 540 
 
 103. Proposals made by the civic authorities, .... 541 
 
 104. Delaunay is forced to capitulate, ..... 542 
 
 105. Violation of the capitulation, and massacre of some prisoners, . 543 
 
 106. Massacre of Delaunay and Delosme, and the Provost Flesselles, . 544 
 
 107. The rest of the Invalids and Swiss are saved by the French Guards, 545 
 
 108. Interior of the Bastile, ...... 546 
 
 109. Great agitation in Paris during the night, .... 547 
 
 110. State of Versailles, and change of measures by the court, . . 548 
 
 111. The King resolves on concession, . . . . .549 
 
 112. Violent agitation in the Assembly, ..... 550 
 
 113. State of the court on the night of the 14th, . . . .551 
 
 114. The King goes to the Assembly, and declares he will dismiss the troops, 552 
 
 115. The King visits Paris, ...... 553 
 
 116. Share of the Orleans faction in the insurrection, . . . 554 
 
 1 1 7. Who did wrong in this stage of the Revolution ? . . .556 
 
 118. Usurpation and treason of the Tiers Etat, .... ib. 
 
 1 1 9. The military did wrong in revolting against the throne, . . 657 
 
 120. Error of the King in the period chosen for making a stand, . 558 
 
 121. Fatal results of this treason and treachery to the cause of freedom in 
 
 France, ....... 559
 
 CONTENTS OF CHAP. V. lix 
 
 Page 
 
 122. All classes might have done their duty, .... 560 
 
 123. Which would have avoided all the calamities of the Revolution, . 561 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 FROM THE TAKING OF THE BASTILE TO THE REVOLT AT VERSAILLES. 
 JULY 14 OCTOBER 6, 1789. 
 
 1. Extraordinary and almost bloodless triumph of the Revolutionists, 563 
 
 2. Necessity for an executive occasioned the disasters which followed, 564 
 
 3. Gentle character of the King, . . . . .565 
 
 4. Mirabeau's picture of these events, . . . . .566 
 
 5. Unceasing agitation of the people in Paris ; their misery and famine, ib. 
 
 6. Efforts to feed Paris prove insufficient, .... 567 
 
 7. Which nothing can alleviate, ..... 569 
 
 8. Necessary institution of the municipality on a democratic basis, . 570 
 
 9. The primary assemblies begin to control the municipality, . . 571 
 
 10. Dumont's account of these primary assemblies, . . . ib. 
 
 11. Establishment of similar municipalities over all France, . . 572 
 
 12. Feeble conduct of the National Assembly on this point, . . 573 
 
 13. General institution of the national guard, .... 574 
 
 14. The ministry fly : Necker is recalled, .... 576 
 
 15. Murder of Foulon, ....... ib. 
 
 16. And of Berthier, ....... 577 
 
 17. Necker's amnesty is reversed by Mirabeau and the Assembly, . 578 
 
 18. Cruel excesses on the fanners near Paris, . . . .579 
 
 19. Bailly and Lafayette wish to resign, but are not allowed, . . 580 
 
 20. Atrocities in the provinces, . . . . . .581 
 
 21. Hideous murder of M. de Belzunce, ..... 582 
 
 22. Atrocities at St Denis, Troyes, Strasbourg, Orleans, and Marseilles, . 583 
 
 23. Burning of the chateaus, ...... 584 
 
 24. Cruelties exercised on the seigneurs, .... 585 
 
 25. Disgraceful supineness of the Assembly amidst these excesses, . 586 
 
 26. Commencement of the emigration of the noblesse, . . . 587 
 
 27. The insurrection of the peasants renders the emigration general, . 588 
 
 28. Abandonment of the feudal rights by the nobles, . . . 589 
 
 29. Speech of the Duke d'Aiguillon, ..... 590 
 
 30. Universal transports of this meeting, . . . .591 
 
 31. Prodigious effects of these changes, ..... 592 
 
 32. Dangers with which they were attended, .... 593 
 
 33. Argument against spoliation of the church by Sieyes, . . ib. 
 
 34. Argument for church spoliation by Mirabeau, . . . 594 
 
 35. Dignified conduct of the clergy, ..... 595 
 
 36. Foresight of Louis, and decree of the Assembly, . . . 596 
 
 37. Unavailing regrets of the nobles and clergy who joined the popular 
 
 party, ........ 597 
 
 38. Secret causes of this spoliation of the church, at which all classes con- 
 
 nived, ..... ... 598 
 
 39. Abolition of the right of shooting and hunting. Its effects, . 599
 
 II CONTENTS OF CHAP. V. 
 
 Page 
 
 40. Dreadful distress at Paris, . . . . . . 600 
 
 41. Anarchy in Paris, ....... 601 
 
 42. State of the finances, ....... 602 
 
 43. Declaration of the Rights of Man, ..... 603 
 
 44. Opinion entertained of it by its authors, . . . . ib. 
 
 45. Formation of a constitution, ...... 604 
 
 46. First appearance of entire laxity on the subject of religion, . . 605 
 
 47. Division of the Assembly into the C6t^ Droit and C6t6 Gauche, . 606 
 
 48. Extraordinary haste in the formation of the constitution, . . 607 
 
 49. Question of the absolute veto, which is denied to the King, . /'*. 
 
 50. Mirabeau supports the crown in the debate, .... 609 
 
 51. This was contrary to the general directions of the Cahiera, . . 610 
 
 52. Increased misery and agitation in Paris, . . . .611 
 
 53. Necker's picture of the public distress, .... 612 
 
 54. Mirabeau supports the proposal for a property-tax, . . .613 
 
 55. Famine in Paris, ....... 614 
 
 56. Designs of the Orleanist conspirators, . . . .615 
 
 57. Views of the King at this period, . . . . .616 
 
 58. Banquet at Versailles, ...... ib. 
 
 59. Agitation in Paris at the news of it, . . . . .617 
 
 60. State of the Assembly and the court, and arrival of the mob at Ver- 
 
 sailles, ........ 619 
 
 61. The insurgents surround the Assembly, .... 620 
 
 62. And soon after break into the palace, . . . .621 
 
 63. Irresolution of the King, and heroism of the Queen, . . ib. 
 
 64. Lafayette retires to sleep, ...... 622 
 
 65. The mob again break into the palace, and heroic defence of the body- 
 
 guard, ........ 623 
 
 66. Tardy arrival of General Lafayette, ..... 625 
 
 67. Heroic conduct of the Queen, . . . . . ib. 
 
 68. The mob insist on the royal family going to Paris, . . . 626 
 
 69. The royal family come to Paris, ..... 627 
 
 70. Vast changes introduced by the Assembly, .... 628 
 
 71. Their excessive rashness, ...... 629 
 
 72. Danger of sudden innovation, . . . . . ib. 
 
 73. The victory of the 6th October was really over the Assembly, . 630 
 
 74. The period had arrived when resistance was necessary, . . 631 
 
 75. Great fault of the nobility at this period, ib. 
 
 76. Sins of the peasantry and people, ..... 632
 
 LIST OF POBTBAITS. 
 
 LOUIS XVI., VOL. I. Frontispiece. 
 
 MARIE ANTOINETTE, Page 249. 
 
 MIEABEAU, VOL. II. Frontispiece. 
 
 DANTON, Page 133. 
 
 MARAT, Page 137. 
 
 EDMUND BURKE, VOL. III. Frontispiece. 
 
 ROBESPIERRE, Page 351. 
 
 BUONAPARTE, VOL. IV. Frontispiece. 
 
 GENERAL MOREAU, Page 164. 
 
 MARSHAL NEY, Page 181. 
 
 THE ARCHDUKE CHARLES, VOL. V. Frontispiece, 
 
 SUWARROFP, Page 117. 
 
 NELSON, VOL. VI. Frontispiece. 
 
 PITT Page 654. 
 
 FOX, VOL. VII. Frontispiece. 
 
 AVELLINGTON, VOL. VIII. Frontispiece. 
 
 GEORGE III., VOL. IX. Frontispiece. 
 
 LORD CASTLEREAGH, Page 255. 
 
 JOSEPHINF, Page 173. 
 
 NAPOLEON, VOL. X. Frontispiece. 
 
 MURAT, VOL. XI. Frontispiece. 
 
 BLUCHER, VOL. XII. Frontispiece. 
 
 METTERNICII, Page 65. 
 
 ALEXANDER, VOL. XIII. Frontispiece. 
 
 TALLEYRAND,.. Page 223.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 PROGRESS OF FREEDOM IN THE WORLD BEFORE THE FRENCH 
 REVOLUTION. 
 
 THERE is no period in the history of the world which IN 
 can be compared, in point of interest and importance, to TION ' 
 that which embraces the progress and termination of the ] - 
 
 T* i it i T f Importance 
 
 French Revolution. In no former age were events of such and 
 magnitude crowded together, or interests so momentous at th 
 issue between contending nations. From the flame which 
 was kindled in Europe, the whole world has been involved 
 in conflagration ; and a new era has dawned upon both 
 hemispheres from the effects of its extension. With the 
 first rise of a free spirit in France, the liberty of North 
 America was established, and its last exertions spread 
 the discordant passion for independence through the 
 regions of its southern continent. In the midst of a 
 desperate contest in Europe, the British empire in India 
 has unceasingly extended, and the ancient fabric of 
 Hindoo superstition at length begun to yield to the 
 force of European civilisation. Though last to be reached 
 by the flame, the power of Russia has been indefinitely 
 strengthened by the contests in which she has been 
 engaged ; and the dynasties of Asia can now hardly 
 
 VOL. I. A
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 - withstand the arms which the forces of Napoleon were 
 TION ' unable to subdue. Assailed by the energy of England on 
 the south, and by the might of Russia on the north, the 
 desolating reign of Maliomrnedan oppression seems drawing 
 to its close ; and from the strife of European war two 
 powers have emerged, which appear destined to carry the 
 blessings of civilisation and the light of religion as far as 
 the arm of conquest can reach, or the waters of the ocean 
 extend. 
 
 In the former history of the world different eras are to 
 Comparison be observed, which have always attracted the attention of 
 Napoieon men, from the interest of the events which they present, 
 iTthe the " an( i the importance of the consequences to which they 
 have led. It is in the midst of the greatest struggles of 
 the species, that the fire has been struck which has most 
 contributed to its improvement. In the contest between 
 Grecian freedom and Persian despotism, the genius was 
 elicited which has spread the spirit of philosophy and the 
 charms of art among mankind ; in the severer struggle 
 between the Romans and Carthaginians, that unconquer- 
 able spirit was produced, which in half a century spread 
 the Roman empire over the whole surface of the civilised 
 i Poiyb. i, world. 1 It was amidst the first combats between the 
 Mahommedans and the Christians that the genius of 
 modern Europe took its rise, and ingrafted the refine- 
 ments of ancient taste on the energy of barbarian valour ; 
 from the wars between the Moors and the Spaniards, the 
 enterprise arose which burst the barriers of ancient know- 
 ledge, and opened to modern ambition the wonders of 
 another hemisphere. The era of Napoleon will be ranked 
 by future ages with those of Pericles, of Hannibal, and of 
 the Crusades, not merely as regards the splendour of the 
 events which it produced, but as to the magnitude of the 
 effects by which it was followed. 
 
 Within the space of twenty years, events were in that 
 
 Splendour era accumulated which would have filled the whole annals 
 
 ut8 ' of a powerful state, in any former age, with instruction
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 3 
 
 and interest. In that brief period were successively pre- 
 sented the struggles of an aged monarchy, and the growth 
 of a fierce democracy ; the energy of Republican valour, 
 and the triumphs of Imperial discipline ; the pride of bar- 
 barian conquest, and the glories of patriotic resistance. In 
 the rapid pages of its history will be found parallels to the 
 long annals of ancient greatness : to the genius of Hanni- 
 bal, and the passions of Gracchus ; the ambition of Csesar, 
 and the splendour of Augustus ; the triumphs of Trajan, 
 and the disasters of Julian. The power of France was 
 less durable than that of Rome, only because it was more 
 oppressive ; it was more stubbornly resisted, because it did 
 not bring the blessings of civilisation with its eagles. Its 
 course was hailed by no grateful nations its progress 
 marked by no experienced blessings : unlike the beneficent 
 sun of Roman greatness, which shone only to improve, its 
 light, like the dazzling glare of the meteor, " rolled, blazed, 
 destroyed, and was no more." 
 
 Nor were the varieties of character, which appeared on 4 
 the scene during those eventful years, less deserving of Extraordi 
 attention. If the genius displayed was unprecedented, so 
 also was the wickedness ; if history has little to show 
 comparable to the triumphs that were gained, it has no 
 parallel to the crimes that were committed. The terrible 
 severity of Danton, the fanatical cruelty of Robespierre, 
 are as unexampled as the military genius of Napoleon, or 
 the naval career of Nelson. If France may, with reason, 
 pride herself upon the astonishing accumulation of talent 
 which was brought to bear upon the fortunes of the State 
 during the progress of the Revolution, she must share the 
 disgrace of the inhuman crimes which were committed by 
 its leaders, and borne with by its supporters among the 
 people. It is the peculiar duty of the historian to pre- 
 serve, for future admiration, the virtues which adorned, 
 and to consign to eternal execration the vices which dis- 
 graced, that eventful age : " Exsequi sententias haud 
 institui, nisi insignes per honestiam, aut notabili dedecore ;
 
 4 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 quod prsecipuum munus annalium rcor, nc virtutes silean- 
 T0 ' tur, utque pravis dictis factisque ex posteritate ct infamia 
 metus sit. Ceterhm tempora ilia adeo infecta, ut non 
 modo primores civitatis, quibus claritudo sua obsequiis pro- 
 tezenda erat, sed omncs consulares, magna pars eorum qui 
 
 1 lac. An- . .. 
 
 uai. iii. es. Prretura functi, multique etiam pedarn senatores, certatim 
 exsurgerent, foedaque et nimia censerent." 1 * 
 
 The peculiar virtues and character of all the European 
 
 Character nations VfGYG eminently exemplified during those disas- 
 trous years. The obstinate hostility of the Spaniards, 
 the enthusiastic valour of the French, the ardent spirit of 
 
 exhibited. ^e Pruggiang^ the persevering steadiness of the Austrians, 
 the devoted courage of the Russians, the freeborn bravery 
 of the English, have been successively put to the test. 
 The boasted triumphs of Louis XIV. sink into insigni- 
 ficance compared to those of Napoleon ; and the victories 
 of Maryborough produced less important consequences 
 than those of Vitoria and Waterloo. Since the Western 
 World was arrayed against the Eastern on the plains of 
 Palestine, no such assemblages of armed men have been 
 seen as those which followed the standards of Napoleon ; 
 and the hordes which Attila displayed on the field of 
 Chalons were less formidable than those which Alexander 
 led from the deserts of Scythia. 
 
 Nor were the intellectual exertions of this animating 
 
 its inteiiec- period less conspicuous than its warlike achievements. In 
 this bloodless contest the leaders of civilisation, the lords 
 of the earth and the sea, outstripped all other states. The 
 same age which witnessed the military glories of Welling- 
 ton and Napoleon, beheld the advancement of astronomical 
 investigation by Laplace, and the hidden recesses of the 
 
 " I have resolved to record no sentiments save such as are remarkable for 
 their magnanimity or their baseness. And this is the chief use of annals, to 
 hinder virtues from being forgotten, and to consign wicked deeds and words 
 to eternal and dreaded infamy. But those times were so corrupted, that not 
 merely the chiefs of the State, to whom their lustre should have proved a shield, 
 but all persons of consular dignity, great part of those who had passed through 
 the prsetorship, many even of the ordinary senators, seemed to vie with each 
 other in base and disgraceful actions." TACITUS, Annalt, iii. c. 65.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 5 
 
 heart unfolded by Sir Walter Scott. Earth told the his- 
 tory of its physical revolutions through the remains buried 
 in its bosom, and the secrets even of material composition 
 yielded to the powers of philosophical analysis. Sculpture 
 revived under the taste of Canova, and the genius of Thor- 
 waldsen again charmed the world by the fascinations of 
 design ; architecture displayed its splendour in the embel- 
 lishments of the French metropolis, and the rising capital 
 of Russia united to the solidity of Egyptian materials the 
 delicacy of Grecian taste. 1 Even the rugged ridges of the 
 Alps yielded to the force of scientific enterprise, and the 
 barriers of nature were smoothed by the efforts of human 
 perseverance ; while the genius of Britain added a new 
 element to the powers of art, and made fire the instru- 
 ment of subduing the waves. 
 
 Effects so various could not have arisen in the ordinary 
 course of human events. The talent developed was too causes' of 
 great, the wickedness committed too appalling, to be 
 explained on the usual principles of human nature. It 
 seemed rather as if some higher powers had been engaged 
 in a strife of which man was the visible instrument ; as 
 if the demons of hell had been let loose to scourge 
 mankind, and the protection of Heaven for a time with- 
 drawn from virtue, to subject its firmness to the severest 
 test. The fancy of antiquity would have peopled the 
 scene with hostile deities, supporting unseen the contests 
 of armies ; the severer genius of Christianity beheld 
 the visible interposition of Almighty power, to punish 
 the sins of a corrupted world. There was nothing, how- 
 ever, supernatural in the events of that momentous age. 
 The magnitude of the effects produced arose entirely from 
 the intensity of the feelings which were roused ; the ex- 
 tremes of virtue and vice which were exhibited, from the 
 force of the incitements to the former, and of the tempta- 
 tions to the latter, which were presented. The interests 
 which were at stake were not the loss of provinces or the 
 retreat of armies, but the fate of whole ranks in society,
 
 6 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 and the lives of multitudes, from the throne to the cottage : 
 10N ' the passions which were called into action were not the mo- 
 mentary excitation of national rivalry, or the casual burst 
 of hostile feeling, but the mutual and deep-rooted hatred 
 which had been gathering strength from the foundation 
 of the world. The friends of liberty inhaled their spirit 
 from the example of antiquity, and drank deep of the 
 fountains which the writers of Greece and Rome had 
 opened ; the supporters of the throne struck the pro- 
 founder chords of religion and loyalty, and summoned to 
 their aid the precepts of Christian faith and the honour 
 of modern nobility. The fervour of ancient eloquence, the 
 recollections of classical achievement, warmed the former ; 
 the feelings of hereditary devotion, the glories of chivalrous 
 descent, animated the latter. It was not the ripple of a 
 minute that burst upon the shore, but the long swell of 
 the Atlantic, wafted from distant realms, and heaved on 
 the bosom of remote antiquity. 
 
 The struggle between the high and the low, the throne 
 Causes' of and the people, has subsisted from a remote period ; but 
 it is only in modern times that the principles of general 
 lower freedom have been established, or those powers brought 
 into collision which had been mutually gaining strength 
 from the earliest times. How just soever it may appear 
 to us that the welfare and interests of the great body of 
 the people should be protected from the aggressions of the 
 powerful, there is nothing more certain than that such is 
 not the primitive or original condition of man ; nor indeed, 
 from the state of society, is it then possible. The varie- 
 ties of human character ; the different degrees of intellec- 
 tual or physical strength with which men are endowed ; 
 the consequences of accident, misfortune, or crime ; the 
 total destitution and helpless state of the poor in the 
 infancy of civilisation ; the general want of foresight by 
 which they are then distinguished early introduce the 
 distinction of ranks, and precipitate the lower orders into 
 that state of dependence on their superiors, which is
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 7 
 
 known by the name of slavery. This institution, however 
 odious its name justly becomes in later times, is not an TION ' 
 evil when it first arises ; it only becomes such by being 
 continued in circumstances different from those in which it 
 originated, and in periods when the protection and secure 
 sustenance it affords to the poor are no longer required. 
 
 The universality of slavery in the early ages of man- 
 kind is a certain indication that it is unavoidable, from consequent 
 the circumstances in which the human species is every- of/Imi ne- y 
 where placed, in the first stages of society. Where capi- 
 tal is unknown, property insecure, and violence universal, 
 there is no security for the lower classes but in the pro- 
 tection of their superiors ; and the only condition on which 
 this can be obtained is that of slavery. Property in the 
 person and labour of the poor is the sole consideration 
 which can then induce the opulent to take them under 
 their protection. Indolence is the great bar to the pro- 
 gress of mankind ; the species seems chained to the savage 
 or pastoral state, from the universal antipathy to con- 
 tinued exertion. War, dictated by the savage passions 
 of the human heart, is in such an era a work of extermi- 
 nation ; the victor seeks only to satiate his wrath by the 
 blood of the vanquished. Compulsion is the only power 
 which can render labour general in the many ages which 
 must precede the influence of artificial wants, or a general 
 taste for its fruits ; the prospect of gain by the sale of 
 captives, the only counterpoise that can be relied on to 
 stay the uplifted hand of the conqueror. Humanity, 
 justice, and policy, so powerful as principles of government 
 in civilised ages, are then unknown, and the sufferings of 
 the destitute are as much disregarded as those of the 
 lower animals. If they belonged to no lord, they would 
 speedily fall a prey to famine or violence. How miser- 
 able soever the condition of slaves may be in these . c . 
 
 > 1 oism. 
 
 unruly times, they are incomparably better off than they Hist.de 
 would have been if they had incurred the destitution of so-i6o.' 
 freedom. 1
 
 8 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 The simplicity of rural or patriarchal manners mitigates 
 TION ' the severity of an institution which necessity had first 
 . _ 10 - introduced. The slaves amon" the Arabs or the Tartars 
 
 Difference . i i 
 
 in the con- enjoy almost as much happiness as their masters ; their 
 
 ditionof J J . f ... 
 
 slaves in occupations, fare, and enjoyments are nearly the same. " 
 
 later times. It was with umviUing steps that Briseis left the tent of 
 
 Achilles ;f and in our own times, when some thousand 
 
 female Greek captives were taken by Ibrahim Pasha from 
 
 the Morea and the islands of the Archipelago, not more 
 
 than five or six, when freedom was offered them on the 
 
 conclusion of peace, would accept the offer and return 
 
 home. To the maids of Circassia, who are trained from 
 
 their earliest years to look forward to entering the harem 
 
 of some Oriental potentate, the moment of leaving their 
 
 paternal home is one in which hope and excitement 
 
 generally overbalance grief; and in the slave-market of 
 
 Constantinople itself, hardly any symptoms of sorrow are 
 
 perceptible among the young women, excepting such as 
 
 run the risk of being separated from their offspring. To 
 
 the young and the handsome, it is the theatre of the 
 
 same excitement as the ball-room or the opera in the 
 
 capitals of Western Europe. To this day, the condition 
 
 of a slave in all the Eastern empires differs but little from 
 
 that of a domestic servant in modern Europe ; and even 
 
 Treveis'm *^ e enfranchised poor of France and England would find 
 
 434 "Vi some th m g * env j i* 1 the situation of a Russian peasant. 
 
 ney's Syria, Succour in sickness, employment in health, and mainte- 
 
 ciarke's nance in old age, are important advantages even in the 
 
 901-970.'' best regulated states ; during the anarchy of early times, 
 
 their value is incalculable. 1 
 
 There is no instance in the history of the world of the 
 
 * "Dominum ac servuin nullis educationis deliciis dignoscas. Inter eadem 
 pecora, in eodem humo degunt ; donee retas separet ingenues, virtus agnos- 
 cat." TACITUS, De Mor. Germ. c. 20. 
 
 f " EK 8' oyayt K\i<rir]s BpwnjiSct KdhXiiraptjov 
 
 ACOKC 8' aytiv' TO) 8' avris ITTJV irapa vrjas A^atwr, 
 'H 8' at KOVCT' apa TOHTI -yvvr) KKV." 
 
 Iliad, i. 346.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 peasantry in a level country, who are solely employed in IN 
 the labours of agriculture, emancipating themselves, with- 
 
 out external aid, from this state of dependence on their n. 
 
 . ,, , ., -iii 11 Causes 
 
 superiors. Attached to the soil, weighed down by the which per - 
 toil of cultivation, separated from each other, and limited silvery. 
 in their observation ; ignorant from want of mutual inter- 
 course, and yet destitute of the energy of savage life 
 they have everywhere remained, from generation to 
 generation, unable either to combine against violence or 
 to escape from oppression. The inhabitants of Meso- 
 potamia, of Egypt, and of Bengal, like the serfs of 
 Poland or the boors of Russia in recent times, have con- 
 tinued, from the earliest ages, in the same state of 
 passive and laborious existence. It is by the aid of 
 other habits, and by the influence of a different state of 
 society, that the first rudiments of freedom have been 
 established among mankind. 
 
 The first of these causes is to be found in the indepen- 
 dence and solitude of pastoral life. The Arabs who The inde- 
 followed their camels over the sands of Arabia, the pastoral life. 
 Scythians who wandered over the deserts of Tartary, 
 were subject to no oppression, because they were re- 
 strained by no necessity. If the chief of a tribe was 
 guilty of any act of injustice, his subjects had it always 
 in their power to depart with their families and herds ; 
 and, before a few hours had elapsed, all trace of their 
 route had disappeared in the sand of the desert, or 
 amidst the vegetation of the steppes. Like our First 
 Parents on leaving Paradise, the world was all before 
 them ; and wherever grass flourished, or water was to be 
 found, they were equally ready to sojourn and increase. 
 From this independence of the shepherd tribes, joined to 
 the boundless extent of the plains which nature had pre- 
 pared for their reception, have sprung the freedom and 
 energy of the pastoral character ; the conquests of the 
 Arabs, and the settlements of the Scythians, have arisen 
 from the same cause of hardihood in their native wilds ;
 
 10 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 - and to the roving habits of our forefathers, who spread 
 T ' from the centre of Asia to the shores of the Atlantic, 
 the liberty of modern times is mainly to be ascribed, and 
 all the glories of European civilisation have sprung the 
 arts of Greece, the arms of Rome, the chivalry of France, 
 and the navy of England. 
 
 The second great source of freedom in human affairs, 
 
 The security is to be found in the protection and opulence of walled 
 
 cities. ee cities. Amidst the security which they afford, industry 
 is excited by the desire of enjoyment, and capital accumu- 
 lates from the means of employing it. With the growth 
 of wealth succeeds a consciousness of the independence 
 which it confers ; with the extension of property, an aver- 
 sion to the oppression which might endanger it. The 
 assembly of multitudes awakens a sense of strength ; 
 community of interest engenders public feeling ; proximity 
 of residence suggests the means of common defence. 
 Amidst the growing wealth and rapid communication of 
 ideas which prevail in commercial cities, the spirit of 
 freedom is awakened, hatred to oppression confirmed, and 
 the riches capable of combating it are produced. From 
 this source the whole liberty of antiquity took its rise : 
 their republics were all cradled in a single town, and con- 
 fined to the citizens whom it produced ; and the names 
 of a state and political body were derived from that of a 
 town, in which alone they were found to exist.* 
 
 The last source of freedom is to be found in the seques- 
 
 Theprotec- tered situation and independent habits of mountaineers. 
 
 mountain- Amid the solitude of the Alps, or the fastnesses of Affghan- 
 igtaun, vigour is called forth by the necessity for exertion, 
 and independence preserved by security from insult. A 
 churlish soil prevents the accumulation of wealth ; moun- 
 tain ridges offer no facilities to commerce ; a life of 
 hardihood at once strengthens the courage and invigo- 
 rates the frame. It is in the long continuance of those 
 habits, from generation to generation, that the cause 
 
 IlaX/f and IlaX/T/*)}.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 11 
 
 of the bold and independent character of mountaineers is 
 
 - i TION. 
 
 found. 
 
 " No product here the barren hills afford, 
 But man and steel the soldier and his sword ; 
 No vernal blooms their torpid rocks array, 
 But winter, lingering, chills the lap of May." 
 
 The oppressors of mankind pass unheeding by these 
 cradles of intrepid courage; and, attracted by the spoils 
 of more opulent states, leave in their native obscurity 
 the poor and hardy inhabitants of mountainous regions. 
 From generation to generation, accordingly, the same free 
 and independent habits are perpetuated in the rugged 
 regions of the world ; and while the vigour of conquerors 
 melts in the plains, as do Alpine snows under the warmth 
 of a southern sun, the freedom of the mountains is pre- 
 served, like their glaciers, in virgin purity, amidst the 
 blasts and the severity of winter. 
 
 The freedom of the ancient world expired in the course 
 of ages, from the small number of those who enjoyed its Limited ex- 
 benefits. This was the chief cause of its decay; but itdomiaaa- 
 arose unavoidably from the limited sources out of which cient times- 
 freedom took its rise in ancient times. Republics, such 
 as Athens or Sparta, where the freemen did not exceed 
 twenty thousand, while the slaves were above four hundred 
 thousand, were not free countries ; they were cities in 
 which a certain portion of the inhabitants, little qualified 
 to exercise them, had acquired exclusive privileges, while 
 they kept the great body of their brethren in a state of 
 servitude/* Even the philosophers of antiquity, in their 
 speculations concerning a perfect republic, could not extend 
 their ideas beyond a small territory, ruled by a single city, 
 in which the great body of the people were slaves. The 
 privileged citizens evinced, on every occasion, the strongest 
 repugnance to any extension of their rights to others ; 
 and in consequence were exposed, on the first reverse, to 
 the defection of all their allies. Hence the liberty of 
 
 * Athens contained, at the period of its greatest prosperity, 21,000 
 Sparta, 39,000 citizens. GIBBON, i. 307, note.
 
 12 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 - the Grecian republics was shortlived and precarious. The 
 ' ruling citizens became corrupted from the influence of 
 prosperity, or by the seductions of wealth ; and no infu- 
 sion of energy took place from the lower ranks, to renovate 
 their strength or supply their place : the political body 
 depended upon the exertions of a single class, exposed in 
 a peculiar manner to the influence of debasing causes, and 
 in Periciw. with its virtue the public freedom expired. The splen- 
 54, b and 383. dour of success, or the efforts of genius, might retard the 
 Rep!'i. d 4, 5. approach of disaster, or conceal the growth of decay ; but 
 Mitford, ix. (j ie season of maturity stripped the tree of its foliage, and 
 stasi, Rev. the trunk, fed by no perennial fountain, and invigorated 
 
 Franc, i. 10, * '. 
 
 11. by no ascending nourishment, yielded without resistance 
 
 to the usual causes of mortality. 1 
 
 With a magnanimity so extraordinary, and so con- 
 Different trary to the ordinary principles of human nature that 
 mLB. e it may almost be ascribed to Divine interposition, the 
 
 Romans, from the foundation of their republic, admitted 
 all the subjects of conquered states to a share of their 
 privileges ; and they received in return the empire of the 
 world. From the first junction of the Romans and 
 Sabines, to the final extension, by the Emperor Anto- 
 ninus, of the privileges of Roman citizenship to the whole 
 civilised world, this policy was steadily pursued, unshaken 
 by success, unsubdued by disaster. The Romans felt the 
 benefit of this magnanimous conduct, in the steady ad- 
 herence of their allies during the severest periods of 
 national misfortune/'' Even the defeats of the Trebbia 
 and of Thrasymene were not followed by the defection 
 of a single ally : nothing but the overthrow of Canna3 
 shook their fidelity; while the first serious disaster of 
 Carthage, which confined its privileges to its own citizens, 
 
 * The Roman citizens, in the time of Paulus ^Emilius, amounted to 337,000 
 * Plutarch in persons capable of bearing arms ; the admission of the Italian allies by Caius 
 c ' P^jJ 11 "' Gracchus, swelled their numbers to 4,163,000 in the time of Augustus ; and 
 lius, Ferg. v. the extension of the franchise to the Gauls augmented them to 6,900,000. 
 iii.,Oib.L78. The Emperor Antoninus, by a general edict, extended the privilege to the 
 
 TUG. Ann. xi. ! 1 
 
 24. whole empire.*
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 13 
 
 stripped that republic of all its subsidiary forces. The 
 steady growth, unequalled extent, and long duration of TION ' 
 the Roman empire, prove the wisdom of their political 
 system ; but it fell a prey at length to the dreadful conse- 
 quences of general slavery, joined to the ruinous effect of 
 an unrestricted importation of grain into Italy and the 
 heart of the empire from its remoter provinces. 
 
 These circumstances at once filled the cities with servile 
 dependents, and stripped the country of sturdy pro- Real causes 
 prietors ; they turned the citizens into crouching slaves, of the 
 and the smiling fields into desolate pasturage. Even 
 in the time of Augustus they had thinned the ranks of 
 the legions of freemen, while they filled the armies with 
 mercenary soldiers, and left in the provinces only great 
 proprietors. Agriculture in Italy crushed by the unre- 
 strained importation of grain from Africa, where it was 
 raised cheaper, because money being less abundant was 
 dearer was generally abandoned, and the great estates 
 were pastured only by herds of cattle tended by slaves. 
 Surrounded by crowds of destitute serfs or effeminate 
 burghers, the consuls ere long found it impracticable to 
 raise a military force in the southern parts of the em- 
 pire. These causes at length undermined the strength 
 and destroyed the vitals of the State, and left nothing to l Po]yb ii; 
 withstand the barbarians, but nobles who wanted courage ^ and ^ 
 to defend their property, and slaves who were destitute Rome, v. 
 of property to rouse their courage. When Rome was in. 66, \\\. 
 
 212 v 263 
 
 overthrown by the Goths under Alaric, the city was sism. Hist.' 
 inhabited by seventeen hundred and eighty great families, L LAm- 
 many of them possessing 160,000 a-year of income, SSn- 
 who cultivated their extensive estates in Italy and Africa "f ' 1 -. xvi - 
 
 J Olympic- 
 
 by means of slaves ; "' and it appears, from an authentic dorus . a P ul1 
 
 J i Photium, 
 
 record, that before one of the barbarians had crossed 197. 
 the Alps, 1 no less than 330,000 acres in Campania 
 
 * The slaves in the Roman empire were extremely numerous ; those of a 
 single family were ascertained, on a melancholy occasion, to amount to 400 
 souls ; but no general enumeration or peculiar garb was allowed, lest it should 
 be discovered how few the freemen were in comparison to the slaves. TACITUS.
 
 14 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 INTRODUC- alone, formerly under cultivation, had reverted to a state 
 T10N ' of nature, and were tenanted only by wild beasts, while 
 the supplies of grain for the great cities of Italy were 
 entirely derived from Egypt and Libya. 
 
 The barbarians who overthrew the Roman empire 
 First imip- brought with them, from their deserts, the freedom and 
 northern 16 energy of savage life. Amidst the expiring embers of 
 
 civilised institutions, they spread the flames of barbarian 
 independence ; on the decayed stock of urban liberty, 
 they ingrafted the vigorous shoots of pastoral freedom. 
 From their exploits, the thrones, the monarchs, and the 
 nobles of Europe have taken their rise ; in their customs 
 is to be found the source of the laws and institutions of 
 modern times ; in their settlements, the origin of the 
 peculiar character by which the different European nations 
 are distinguished. Their conquests were not, in the end, a 
 mere change of government, or the substitution of one race 
 of monarchs for another ; they were a total subversion of 
 the property, customs, and institutions of the vanquished 
 people. Their cities were destroyed, their temples ruined, 
 their movables plundered, their estates confiscated.* 
 The daughters of the greatest among the conquered were 
 compelled to receive husbands from the leaders of their 
 enemies, while those of the inferior classes were exposed 
 to the grossest insults, or driven in despair to the protec- 
 tion of convents. The youth of the other sex, born to 
 splendid possessions, were sold as slaves, or compelled to 
 labour as serfs on the lands which their fathers held as 
 Thierry, proprietors. To such extremes of distress were the inhabit- 
 z.^daliio. ants f the vanquished states sometimes reduced, that they 
 e'priHicf' voluntarily submitted to bondage as the price of life, and 
 277. sought in slavery the only protection which could be ob- 
 tained from the violence by which they were surrounded. 1 
 
 * So far was this universal system of disinheriting carried after the Norman 
 Conquest, that by a general enactment, inserted in Doomsday Book, all aliena- 
 tions by Saxons subsequent to the Conquest of William, and all titles to 
 estates not derived from him, and registered in his books, were declared null. 
 THIERRY, ii. p. 278.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 15 
 
 It was not, however, at once, or by any sudden act of 
 violence, that this complete transfer of property from the TION ' 
 vanquished to the victors took place. The settlements T 19 - 
 
 | . . , . f> i -r Lamentable 
 
 of the northern nations m the provinces of the Roman prostration 
 empire, did not resemble the conquests either of the quisled!" 1 
 ancient legions or of the armies of modern Europe, but 
 were rather akin, though more violent, to the gradual in- 
 road which the Irish poor have effected into the provinces 
 of western Britain in the present times. Wave after wave 
 succeeded, before the whole country was occupied ; one 
 province was overrun for a whole generation before another 
 was invaded ; and a more equitable division of goods 
 between the natives and the conquerors at first took 
 place, than could have been expected where power was 
 at the disposal of such rude barbarians. Sometimes a 
 half, sometimes a third, of the vanquished lands, was left 
 in the hands of the old proprietors ; and although the 
 portion was abridged by each successive inroad of con- 
 querors, yet it was several centuries before the transfer 
 was completely effected ; and some remnants of the an- 
 cient free, or allodial tenure, have in all the European 
 monarchies survived the whole changes of the middle 
 ages. Gradually, however, the work of spoliation was 
 extended ; the depressed condition and timid character 
 of the native inhabitants rendered them incapable of 
 resisting the inroads of their fierce neighbours ; numbers 
 surrendered their properties in exchange for the benefit 
 of feudal protection ; the daughters of the vanquished, if l Guizot, 
 entitled to lands, nearly all chose their husbands from rS. cb 
 the sons of the conquerors, or were compelled to do so 330^352, 
 by the power of the sovereign. At length the change ^j;^ 01 ' 
 was generally effected, and the land almost everywhere ,f s T s * is ? ur 
 
 > <f IHistoire, 
 
 passed from the Romans to the northern proprietors. 87, 99. 
 Before the tenth century, the transference was complete. 1 
 The lamentable state of weakness and decay into which 
 the Roman empire had fallen in the latter ages of its 
 existence, in consequence of the universality of slavery
 
 TION ' 
 
 modern 
 tiroes. 
 
 16 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 - in all its provinces, rendered the people totally incapable 
 of arresting this general spoliation. They submitted, 
 20- almost without resistance, to every invader, and could 
 
 Separation i ii 
 
 thence in- hardly be induced to take up arms, even by the most 
 tween the incessant foreign and domestic aggressions. Hence arose 
 a total separation of the higher and lower orders, and 
 entire change in the habits, occupation, and character of 
 the different ranks of society. From the free conquerors 
 of the Roman provinces have sprung the noble and pri- 
 vileged classes of modern Europe ; from their enslaved 
 subjects, the numerous and degraded ranks of peasants 
 and labourers. The equality and energy of pastoral life 
 stamped a character of pride and independence on the 
 descendants of the conquerors, which in many countries 
 is yet unabated ; the misery and degradation of the van- 
 quished riveted chains about their necks, which were 
 hardly loosened for a thousand years. In this original 
 separation of the different ranks of society, consequent 
 upon the irruption of the Franks into Gaul, is to be found 
 the remote cause of the evils which induced the FRENCH 
 REVOLUTION. But many ages were destined to elapse 
 before the conflicting interests thus created came into col- 
 ^_ ^ lision ; and it was by the gradual agency of several con- 
 i Thiemr, curring causes that the energy was restored to the mass 
 
 Introd. i. 9. e . OJ 
 
 sismondi's of the people, which had been lost amidst the tran- 
 74, 87.' ' quillity of Roman servitude and the violence of feudal 
 oppression. 1 
 
 When the lands of the vanquished people were at 
 
 Entire pros- length generally divided, and the military followers of 
 
 the'v^n- the victorious invaders had completely overspread the con- 
 
 ied " quered territory, the nobles despised their subjects too 
 
 much to court their assistance in periods of danger. The 
 
 mode of warfare then universally practised, rendered the 
 
 baron independent of aid from his inferiors. Literally 
 
 speaking, he held his possessions of God and his sword. 
 
 Battles were decided by the gendarmerie alone, with little 
 
 support from the foot-soldiers. The steel-clad knights rode
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 17 
 
 through the unprotected infantry, as they would have 
 done through thickets of broom ; it was their brother TION ' 
 knights alone who either attracted their notice, or were 
 deemed worthy of their hostility. Shut up in castles, 
 and surrounded by their own military retainers, they 
 neither required the aid nor felt for the sufferings of their 
 bondsmen. The ravages of the Normans, the cruelty of 
 the Huns, excited but little compassion while it was 
 wreaked only on the slaves of the country ; and the baron, 
 secure within his walls, beheld with indifference his vil- 
 lages in flames, and the long files of weeping captives 
 who were carried off from beneath his ramparts by the 
 desolating invaders. During these long ages of feudal 
 anarchy, the lower orders neither improved in courage 
 nor rose in importance ; the lapse of time served only ] Thierry-, 
 to increase their degradation, by extinguishing the re- 96. 
 membrance of better times. 1 
 
 But the conquests of the northern nations led to one 
 important consequence the establishment of represen- 
 tative governments in the provinces of the empire. The 
 liberty of antiquity, cradled in single towns, was confined 
 to the citizens who were present on the spot, and could in anti( i uit y- 
 take an active part in the public deliberations ; and though 
 the Romans, with unexampled wisdom, extended the gene- 
 ral rights of citizenship to the conquered provinces, yet 
 the idea of admitting them to a share of the representation 
 never occurred to their minds ; and the more important 
 privileges of a citizen could only be exercised by actually 
 repairing to the metropolis. The unavoidable consequence 
 of this was, that the populace of the capital, in all the 
 free states of antiquity, exercised the principal powers of 
 government ; from their passions the public measures took 
 their rise, and by their tumults revolutions in the State 
 were effected. The immediate cause of the overthrow of 
 the liberties of Rome, was the admission of all the citizens 
 of Italy to the privileges of Roman citizens, coupled with 
 the absence of any provision for their representation, and 
 
 VOL. i. B
 
 18 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 - the consequent introduction of the armed force of the 
 provinces to decide in the streets of the capital, under the 
 banners of the leading generals of the Republic, the con- 
 stantly recurring contest for political supremacy. Hence 
 the violence, the anarchy, and the inconstancy by which 
 their history was so often distinguished, and which, though 
 
 68, 87.' '" concealed amid the blaze of ancient eloquence, the search- 
 ing eye of modern history has so fully brought to light. 1 
 The northern nations, on the other hand, who estab- 
 
 And in' the lished themselves on the ruins of the Roman empire, were 
 
 actuated by different feelings, and influenced by opposite 
 establish- habits. The liberty which they brought with them from 
 EWO 'e their woods, or which had sprung up amidst the solitude 
 of the desert, knew no locality, and was confined to no 
 district. It was the freedom of the steppe, not of the 
 forum ; their civilisation was that of the tribe, not of the 
 city. The conqueror had been originally free ; and that 
 freedom was equally preserved and valued in the culti- 
 vated plain as in the desert wilds. Slavery, indeed, was 
 general, but it was the conquered people who were so 
 prostrated ; and the whole dominant race were equally 
 haughty towards their superiors, and tyrannical to their 
 inferiors. When the military followers of a victorious 
 chief were settled in a province they had subdued, they 
 still regarded their leader with somewhat of their original 
 independence ; he was distinguished from them only by 
 the pre-eminence of his rank in actual war, and the mag- 
 nitude of his share of the vanquished lands. The sea- 
 kings who so long desolated the maritime provinces of 
 France and England, and the Anglo-Saxons who laid the 
 foundation of the English empire, possessed hardly any 
 32i" C Hume' authority over their followers except during the period 
 L 2 < 64 A T Y r ' f actual service. The Franks who, under Clovis, estab- 
 
 ner s Anglo ' 
 
 Saxons, i. lished the French monarchy, acknowledged but a nominal 
 
 France, i. allegiance to their chief. Elevated on the shields of their 
 
 iam, i. 153. followers, the leaders owed their dignity to the voluntary 
 
 choice of their fellow-warriors : 2 and even in moments
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 19 
 
 of triumph, the meanest soldiers were not afraid of re- I 
 minding them of the tenure by which they held their TION ' 
 power. 
 
 It was the settlement of brave and energetic nations 
 in rich and highly cultivated provinces, which led to the Causes' 
 diffusion of the victors over the conquered districts, and represeu- 
 the establishment of an independent aristocracy amidst temments 
 the decaying wealth of ancient servitude. Had the E 
 country been less richly cultivated, the followers of the 
 northern invaders would have been debased amidst the 
 seductions of cities, or returned, after a predatory incur- 
 sion, to the solitudes which protected them from pursuit. 
 It was the discovery of opulent and fertile districts, 
 tenanted by a skilful but unwarlike people, which encour- 
 aged the rural settlement of the conquerors, which ren- 
 dered the protection of cities unnecessary, and provided 
 a counterpoise to their allurements. By establishing the 
 invaders in a permanent manner in the country, it long 
 preserved their manners from corruption, and rendered 
 the servitude of the Roman empire one remote cause of 
 the liberty of modern Europe. On the first settlement 
 of the victorious nations, the popular assemblies of the 
 soldiers were an actual convocation of the military array 
 of the kingdom. William the Conqueror summoned his 
 whole military followers to assemble at Winchester ; 
 sixty thousand men obeyed the mandate, the poorest of 
 whom held property adequate to the maintenance of a 
 horseman and his attendants. The meetings of the 
 Champs-de-Mai were less a deputation from the followers 
 of Clovis, than an actual congregation of their numbers 
 in one vast assembly. But in process of time, the burden 
 of travelling from a distance was severely felt, and the 
 prevalence of sedentary habits rendered the landed pro- 
 prietors unwilling to undertake the risk, or expense, of 
 personal attendance on the great council of the State. 
 Hence the introduction of PARLIAMENTS, or REPRESEN- 
 TATIVE LEGISLATURES, the greatest addition to the cause
 
 20 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 C- of liberty which modern times have afforded ; which com- 
 TIOX bine the energy of democratic with the caution of aristo- 
 cratic rule ; which temper the turbulence and allay the 
 fervour of cities, by the slowness and tenacity of country 
 , Thie life ; and which, where the balance is duly preserved in 
 France 8 '/ 111 ' tne com P os ition of the assembly, provide, in the variety 
 23i. of its interests and habits, a long enduring check upon 
 the violence or injustice of a part of its members. 1 
 
 It is doubtful, however, whether these causes, powerful 
 They are as they are, would have led to the introduction of that great 
 from the and hitherto unknown change in government which the 
 ofthe bh< representative system introduced, had not a model existed 
 church. f or imitation, in which, for a series of ages, the system had 
 been fully established. The councils of the church had, 
 so early as the sixth century, introduced over all Chris- 
 tendom the most perfect system of representation : dele- 
 gates, from the most remote dioceses in Europe and Asia, 
 had in them assembled to deliberate on the concerns of 
 the faithful : and every Christian priest, however humble 
 his station, had some share in the formation of those 
 great assemblies, by which the general affairs of the 
 church were to be regulated. The formation of parlia- 
 ments, under the representative system, took place in all 
 the European states in the thirteenth and fourteenth 
 centuries. The industry of antiquaries may carry the 
 Wittenagemot, or actual assembly of leading men, a few 
 generations further back ; but six centuries before the 
 earliest periods assigned for such convocations, the coun- 
 cils of Nice and Antioch had exhibited perfect models of 
 
 a Salvandy, . . 
 
 Hist, de la a universal system of representation, embracing a wider 
 ids^e'.'' sphere than the whole extent of the Roman empire. 
 ' There can be no doubt that it was this example, so 
 " generally known, and of such powerful authority, which 
 ' determined the imitation of the other members of the 
 " community, where they had any common concerns which 
 France, 93. required deliberation ; 2 and thus, to the other blessings 
 which civilisation owes to Christianity, are to be added
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 21 
 
 those inestimable advantages which have flowed from the 
 establishment of the representative system. TIOX 
 
 In every part of Europe, accordingly, where the 
 northern conquerors established themselves, the rudi- Are uni 
 ments of a representative government gradually appeared, ifshecfii 
 In all, the barons settled in the country, and the legis- Eur P e - 
 lative authority was vested in assemblies of persons elected 
 by them, who, under the name of Wittenagemots, Parlia- 
 ments, States-General, or Cortes, were brought together 
 at stated periods to deliberate on the public concerns. 
 So naturally did this institution spring from the habits 
 and situations of the military settlers, and so little did its 
 first founders anticipate the important consequences which 
 have flowed from its adoption, that the right of sending 
 representatives to parliament was generally considered 
 not as a privilege but as a burden ; and that share in the 
 legislature, which is now so much the object of contention 
 and desire, was originally viewed as an oppressive duty, 
 for which those who exercised it were entitled to indem- 
 nification from their more fortunate brethren. The barons, 
 however, were long animated by a strong feeling of inde- 
 pendence, and in every part of Europe, at their first estab- ss 
 lishment, diffused the principle of resistance to arbitrary vj'u^' 
 authority. Accordingly, in Spain, France, Germany, and j^ 25 ^^' 
 
 Flanders, we find them manfully resisting the encroach- Ewk inst, 
 
 i * 3 - Com " 
 
 ments of the sovereign, and m all these countries, the same ines, iv. c . 
 
 privileges of not being taxed without their consent, and of cierq. 389. 
 concurring in the acts of the legislature, early established. 1 
 Many causes, doubtless, have conspired to bring about 
 this remarkable and peculiar attachment of the feudal Great effects 
 
 barons to the principles of freedom and the assertion of t^succcs- 
 independence, at least so far as they themselves and their p^geni- 
 own class in society were concerned. But nothing, ^ IC . in P r - 
 
 ~ ducing this 
 
 perhaps, contributed so powerfully to it as the right result. 
 of hereditary succession, and the establishment of the 
 rights of primogeniture, which, from causes it is impossible 
 now to trace, early became universal in all the Gothic
 
 22 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 - nations which settled in the European portion of the 
 Roman empire. It was this which constituted the great 
 distinction between the structure of society in the Euro- 
 pean and Asiatic continents ; in the latter of which, 
 although the northern conquerors settled, they never 
 established the feudal institutions, nor ingrafted heredi- 
 tary succession on the original despotic governments of 
 the eastern world. Rotation of office, appointment for 
 life, and the entire dependence of every functionary on 
 the sovereign, both for his nomination and his continu- 
 ance in power, constitute the fundamental basis of Asiatic 
 governments, and of despotism, whether regal or demo- 
 cratic, all over the world. The first step in the growth 
 of freedom, in all but single cities or mountain cantons, 
 is to give the subordinate holder of power a durable 
 interest in his government, and strengthen his indepen- 
 dence by a lasting connection between himself and the 
 cultivators of the soil. Such a change produces the 
 same effect on the character, both of the landholder and 
 his dependents, as the converting the tenant-at-will into a 
 copyholder or long-leaseholder does on the dispositions 
 of a tenantry. In no rank of life will men make efforts 
 for independence in any situation which they may lose 
 at a moment's notice. As durability of power in one class 
 of society, and the hereditary transmission of land, are 
 thus the only lasting foundation for a restraint on the 
 sovereign power in a rural community,* it would appear 
 surprising that these institutions should be so much the 
 object of jealousy in all opulent or commercial communi- 
 ties, did we not recollect that human corruption makes 
 all establishments liable to abuse, and that the very stabi- 
 lity which renders the landed aristocracy in a great degree 
 
 * America is no exception ; on the contrary, it affords the strongest con- 
 firmation of these remarks. The sovereign is there the multitude, and there 
 is no restraint on either its injustice or its excesses, as Lynch law, and the 
 repudiating the States' debts, have amply demonstrated. Without primogeni- 
 ture, to introduce a counterpoise to the power of numbers, it will never attain 
 real freedom.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 23 
 
 independent of the sovereign, gives them facilities, too 
 often taken advantage of, for oppressing the people. TION ' 
 
 In all the states, accordingly, in which it was estab- 
 lished, the feudal system was subject to the same fatal Fatal de- 
 defect, that it made no provision for the interests or feudally 
 welfare of the inferior classes of society. Like all other tem> 
 institutions in which this want existed, it contained 
 within itself the principles of its own decay. The con- 
 querors of the Roman empire deemed the inhabitants of 
 the provinces in which they settled wholly unworthy of 
 notice ; and even in Magna Charta, while the privileges 
 of the barons and the freemen were anxiously provided 
 for, no stipulation of any importance was made for the 
 extensive class of husbandmen or slaves, embracing at 
 least nine-tenths of the community. The decline in the 
 virtue of the barbarous settlers was in most instances 
 extremely rapid, and the succeeding wave of invaders 
 generally found the first set sunk in sloth or destroyed 
 by luxury. In the miserable and degraded barons who 
 deserted Roderick in his contest with the Moorish invaders 
 of Spain, we can hardly discern a trace of resemblance to 
 the impetuous warriors who under Adolph, brother to 
 Alaric the terrible destroyer of Rome, had crossed the 
 Pyrenees in 412, and penetrated into that secluded pro- 
 vince of the Roman empire ; and the Moorish con- 
 querors were in a few centuries reduced to the same 
 degraded state, from the operation of the same causes. 
 Even the genius and triumphs of Charlemagne were 
 unequal to the herculean task of regenerating the mixture 
 of barbarism and effeminacy of which he formed the head ; 
 and humanity never appeared in a more pusillanimous 
 or impotent form than among the Rois Faineants, the 
 unworthy successors of Charles Martel, and of the barons 
 who died for the liberty of Christendom on the field 
 of Tours. All the efforts of that great monarch for the 
 improvement of his people were thwarted by the limited 
 number of real citizens who existed among them. A
 
 24 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 - few hundred thousand freemen were there to be found 
 scattered among many millions of slaves ; and, in his 
 own lifet" 116 * ne had the misfortune of beholding the pro- 
 f corru ption even among the troops whom he had 
 
 sism. led to victory. The same cause blasted all the beneficent 
 27, S65 eiForts of Alfred for the protection and improvement of 
 97 ; T^- b 'his country, and exposed the English nation, for so long 
 
 a period, to desolation and ruin from a small body of 
 northern invaders. 1 
 
 A very simple cause may be assigned for this early 
 Cause of corruption and rapid degeneracy of rude conquerors who 
 have settled in the abodes of ancient opulence. They 
 attain riches before they have learned how to use them. 
 Luxury breaks in upon them while yet accessible only to 
 the gratifications of sense. Experience has now abun- 
 dantly proved, that to learn the art of using wealth 
 without abusing it, requires at least as long an appren- 
 ticeship in nations, as that of enjoying freedom without 
 running into licentiousness, and that the rapid acquisition 
 of either never fails to prove fatal to the people who ob- 
 tain it. It is the sudden exposure to irresistible tempta- 
 tion which, in both cases, is the cause of ruin. The same 
 thing may every day be observed in private life. The 
 common sayings, that no man was ever enriched in the end 
 by obtaining a twenty thousand pounds prize in the lot- 
 tery ; that the sons of rich parvenus are much more in- 
 clined to extravagance than those of the old families ; 
 and that it requires three generations to make a gentle- 
 man prove how generally mankind have observed the 
 operation of this principle on the fortunes of individuals 
 or particular families. When an Iroquois sits down beside 
 a cask of spirits, he often inserts a straw into a hole which 
 he has bored in the wood, and sucks up the intoxicating 
 draught till he drops down dead on the spot ; but a gentle- 
 man who has the command of a cellar amply stored with 
 champagne, is in no danger of perishing by a similar 
 indulgence. The reason is, that he has acquired other
 
 HISTOKY OF EUROPE. 25 
 
 tastes, and is familiar with other enjoyments, which are 
 inconsistent with, or prove a counterpoise to, the first 
 seductions of sense. But these more refined tastes and 
 inclinations are of very slow growth ; they spring up only 
 in the later stages of society. Many generations must 
 descend to their graves before they spread generally, either 
 in nations, or in any of the classes of which they are com- 
 posed. This is the true cause of the excessive proneness 
 to the use of ardent spirits which is invariably observed 
 to accompany high wages, arising from manufacturing 
 prosperity, in northern climates or half-civilised states,*" 
 and which has hitherto defied all the efforts of coercion 
 and philanthropy for its restraint ; while the higher 
 classes in the same countries and professions have at length, 
 though only by very slow degrees, extricated themselves 
 from its influence. It is the same with rude tribes settling, 
 with their barbaric tastes, in the regions of ancient opu- 
 lence. Sensual gratifications instantly become the object 
 
 * The number of gallons of spirits consumed in 1838, and the proportion 
 per head, were : 
 
 No. of Gallon*. Population. ^f^' 
 
 In England, .... 7,930,190 13,307,364 0'53 
 
 In Ireland, .... 12,296,342 8,055,771 1'32 
 
 In Scotland, .... 6,259,711 2,543,961 2'46 
 
 In Australia, .... 628,729 127,621 5'02 
 
 In Sweden, where artificial wants are few and stills many, any man, upon 
 
 paying a trifling licence, may purchase from government the right of distilling 
 
 spirits to any amount ; there are 150,000 stills, and spirits consumed to the 
 
 enormous amount of 30,000,000 gallons among 3,000,000 inhabitants, or ten 
 
 gallons a-head. As a natural, and too probable consequence, the proportion 
 
 of crime to the whole population, even in its simple agricultural population, 
 
 equals that of the most corrupted cities of Great Britain, and is fully triple 
 
 that of the average of the British population. In the rural districts of 
 
 Sweden, the committals for serious crime are to the population as 1 in 460 : 
 
 in the towns 1 in 78. For England there were, in 1841, 1 in 573 persons; for 
 
 Scotland, 1 in 738. PORTER'S Progress of the Nation, iii. 54, 215; and LAING'S 
 
 Sweden, 135, 137, 138. 
 
 These facts at once explain the rapid corruption of northern conquerors, 
 when transplanted into the midst of the passions and gratifications of civilised 
 life. If we would ascertain the secret springs of the greatest revolutions 
 which have ever occurred among mankind, we have only to look around us 
 at the causes which elevate particular individuals and families, and consign 
 others to infamy and ruin. The spring of all human changes is to be found 
 in the human heart ; and it ia to be read as well in a village as an empire.
 
 26 HISTORY OF EUKOPE. 
 
 C- of universal pursuit. The winepress and the harem pre- 
 ' sent attractions to which no one, how illiterate soever, is 
 insensible ; and the race of northern conquerors melts away 
 as rapidly amidst the wines and women of the south, as 
 the Iroquois perishes beside the spirit cask, or the Scotch or 
 Swedish manufacturer amidst the riot of the spirit-cellar. 
 The private wars of the nobles with each other was 
 the first circumstance which renewed the courage and 
 f the revived the energy of the feudal barons. The inconsi- 
 derate historians of modern times have stigmatised these 
 domestic contests as things of unmixed evil, merely because 
 they produced extensive bloodshed and suffering ; but the 
 more reflecting observer, who has traced the workings of 
 corruption, whether on the individual or the national 
 heart, will arrive at a different conclusion. He will re- 
 collect the necessity of suffering to individual reformation ; 
 he will reflect on the virtues which spring out of disaster. 
 Regarding this world as not a scene of enjoyment so 
 much as a school of probation, he will not lightly estimate 
 those circumstances, apparently ruinous, which extricate 
 the human mind from the meshes of sensual gratification, 
 which draw forth the manly virtues by the force of suffer- 
 ing, and elevate the character even when they embitter 
 the life. It is to this cause, joined to the fortification of 
 the castles, and the constant use of arms by the retainers 
 of the landowners, that the restoration of the military 
 courage of France is to be ascribed. The Spanish barons 
 were trained to courage in the stern school of necessity, 
 and regained, in the mountains of Galicia, the valour 
 which their conquerors were losing amidst the luxuries of 
 Cordova. The English military spirit, which had decayed 
 fr m the same causes, was restored by the private wars of 
 *^e n bl es during the reign of Stephen ; and, through all 
 the havoc and ruin of the country, that courage was 
 494.' elicited which was destined to lay the foundation of Brit- 
 ish liberty in a happier age. 1 
 
 But the feudal liberty was at length destroyed by the
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 27 
 
 change of manners, and the natural progress of opulence. 
 Being confined to a limited class of society, it expired TION ' 
 with the virtue of those who alone were interested in its si. 
 
 if c i i t ii/*i Causes of 
 
 defence : conferring little upon the great body of the the decay of 
 people, it derived nothing from the talents which lay liberty m 
 buried among them. Wealth enervated its possessors, Spam> 
 and no inferior class existed to supply their place ; the 
 rich became corrupted, while the poor did not cease to 
 be slaves. The progress was different in different states, 
 but in all the result was the same. The kingdoms both 
 of Aragon and Castile were governed, in their early his- 
 tory, by more limited monarchs than the Plantagenets of 
 England, and their nobles did not yield to the barons of 
 Runnymede in zeal for the preservation of their privileges ; 
 but it was in vain that they extorted concessions from their 
 sovereigns, and confirmed them on occasion of every re- 
 newal of the coronation oath. The spirit of freedom, and 
 with it the liberties of the nation, died away upon the 
 decay of the feudal aristocracy, from the selfishness and 
 degradation of the great body of the people. When 
 Charles V. had suppressed, in 1548, the formidable revolt 
 of the communeros, he excluded not the deputies of the 
 cities and boroughs, but of the grandees and prelates, 
 from the representation, and the result showed that he 
 knew human nature well when he did so. Deprived of 
 their natural leaders, the commons were never afterwards 
 able to resist the authority of government. The Cortes 
 maintained its nominal rights ; an.d the " Great Privilege," 
 the Magna Charta of Aragon, was never repealed ; but 
 the cities neglected sending representatives to its assem- 
 blies, and many suffered their right to a place in its ; ' e de 
 deliberations to fall into abeyance. The nobles, cut off '* Co ? 3 ' 
 
 / ' ovo. Oism. 
 
 from political power, became attached to the splendour sciences 
 
 11 f f i 01 i Sociales, i. 
 
 of a court, and, with the forms of a limited, Spam be- 365. 
 came a despotic monarchy. 1 
 
 In France, the nobility, during the period of their feu- 
 dal vigour, reduced the crown to nearly the same limited
 
 28 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 - sway as prevailed in England, insomuch that, for nearly 
 half a century, it was a general opinion, confirmed by 
 32. several solemn acts of the throne, that no tax could be 
 in France levied without the consent of the three estates. But the 
 
 TION " 
 
 skeleton of a free government perished with the decay 
 of feudal manners : the influence of the Crown, and the 
 attractions of a metropolis, drew the nobility to Paris ; 
 and liberty in the country, deprived of its only supporters, 
 speedily fell to the ground. The progress was somewhat 
 different in Germany, although there, as elsewhere in the 
 European monarchies, the feudal system at first established 
 the rudiments of a free government, the illegality of taxes 
 without the consent of the people, and the sharing of the 
 legislative sovereignty with the states of the kingdom. 
 Schmidt, The power of the great barons rendered the empire 
 " elective, and broke down into separate states the vener- 
 a l e fabric of the Germanic confederacy ; but their sway 
 de France, w ithin their own domains, being not restrained by the 
 
 t. v. c. i. 
 
 Haiiam,;. vigour or intelligence of the people, gradually became 
 39] ! unlimited, and the restraints of liberty were obliterated 
 in the rising ambition of military power. 1 
 
 Notwithstanding the long and hereditary attachment 
 And in' of the English people to free institutions notwith stand- 
 England. j n g ^ e diffusion of this spirit by the establishment of 
 trial by jury, and its preservation by the protection of 
 insular situation the usual causes of decline had begun 
 to operate, and the feudal independence of the barons in 
 the middle ages had yielded to the corrupted subservience 
 of opulent times. The desolating wars of York and Lan- 
 caster thinned the ranks of the nobles ; the increase of 
 luxury, by changing the direction of their expenditure, 
 sapped the foundations of their power. Under the Tudor 
 princes, the indifference of parliament to the liberties of 
 the people had already commenced. Europe could not 
 exhibit a monarch who governed his people with more 
 absolute sway than Henry VIIL, nor is anything in 
 modern times more instructive than the pliant servility
 
 HISTOEY OF EUROPE. 29 
 
 with which both the parliament and the people obeyed 
 his despotic commands. History can hardly exhibit an TION ' 
 example of a reign in which a greater number of violent 
 invasions were made, not only on public rights, but on 
 private property in which justice was more disgrace- 
 fully prostituted in courts of law, liberty more completely 
 abandoned in the proceedings of parliament, or caprice 
 more tyrannically exerted on the throne. Those who 
 ascribe the freedom of England solely to the feudal insti- 
 tutions, would do well to consider the condition of the 
 country, the pliancy of the legislature, and the servility 
 of the people, during the reign of this ferocious tyrant Britain^ 
 who confiscated the property of one-third of the land- ?60, 372. 
 
 i i i i i i Hume, 111. 
 
 holders of his kingdom, and executed seventy-two thou- 94, 389 ; iv. 
 
 275 v 263 
 
 sand persons in his single lifetime or even perhaps during 363,' 470. ' 
 that of his more prudent and popular daughter. 1 
 
 Admirably adapted, therefore, as the feudal system was 
 for preserving an independent spirit during the middle it was only 
 ages ; gratefully as we must acknowledge its influence in barbarous* 
 restraining the power of the northern conquerors, and age- 
 preventing the very name of right or privilege from 
 being swept away, as in the Asiatic monarchies, by the 
 desolating hand of power ; fully as we must admit that 
 tyranny would have rioted without control, if, when the 
 people were poor and disunited, the nobles had not been 
 brave and free ; still it is obvious that it was an institu- 
 tion suited only to a barbarous age, and alike incapable 
 of being moulded according to the changes which society 
 undergoes, or of providing for the freedom of civilised 
 times. With the institution of standing armies, the pro- 
 gress of luxury, the invention of gunpowder, and the rise 
 of cities, it necessarily decayed. The liberty which was 
 built on no other foundation than the feudal institutions, 
 has everywhere long since fallen to the ground. That 
 system was in its vigour during the twelfth and thirteenth 
 centuries. When the barons dwelt in fortified castles on 
 their estates, surrounded by a tenantry trained to warlike
 
 30 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 - exercises, and attached alike by habit and interest to the 
 TION ' fortunes of their chief, cased in armour from head to foot, 
 and leading on a body of warlike and devoted retainers, 
 they were alike formidable to the throne and oppressive 
 to the cottage. If they extorted privileges in their own 
 favour from the sovereign, they gave none to their enslaved 
 vassals. With a merciless hand and unsparing severity, 
 they checked the first struggles of the people for a share 
 of that freedom which they so strenuously asserted for 
 themselves. The insurrections of the Jacquerie in France, 
 of the peasants under Wat Tyler in England, and of the 
 Flemings under the Brewer of Ghent, were repressed 
 with a cruelty of which history affords few examples. 
 The courage and enthusiasm of the multitude in vain con- 
 tended for victory against steel-clad warriors, trained to 
 arms from their earliest years. The knights broke through 
 the ranks of the peasants with the same ease as they 
 ! Hume i;i would have traversed an unarmed assembly ; and the 
 f's-21 HaL Degraded serf, incapable of those efforts of heroism which 
 s'ism. x. animated the free shepherds of the Alps, sank beneath 
 xi. 434, 435. the stroke of fate with the resignation of a martyr rather 
 than the spirit of a warrior. 1 
 
 But the power of the nobles, incapable of being sub- 
 Opuience verted by force, was undermined by opulence ; and the 
 "he power emancipation of the people, for which so many thousands 
 had perished in vain, arose at length through the desires 
 and follies of their oppressors. The baron was formid- 
 able when his life was spent in arms, and when he headed 
 the feudal array which had grown up under the shadow 
 of his castle walls : when his years were wasted in the 
 frivolities of a court, his ambition centred in the smiles of 
 a sovereign, and his fortune was squandered in the luxuries 
 of a metropolis, he became contemptible. His tenantry 
 ceased either to venerate or follow a chief whom they 
 seldom beheld : the seductions of cities became omnipotent 
 to those who no longer valued their rural dependents ; the 
 desires of wealth insatiable among persons who had the
 
 TION ' 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 31 
 
 glittering prospect of a court before their eyes. The 
 natural progress of opulence, by withdrawing the nobles 
 from the seat at once of their usefulness and their in- 
 fluence, proved fatal to a power which made no provision 
 for general felicity ; and the wisdom of nature rendered 
 the follies of the great the means of destroying the power, 
 which they had rendered the instrument of oppression, 
 instead of the bulwark of freedom. 
 
 While this was the fate of the liberty which the bar- 
 barian conquerors of the Roman empire brought with Progress of 
 them from their native wilds, the progress of events was th south^f 
 different in the south of Europe, where the ancient traces Europe> 
 of Roman civilisation had never been wholly extirpated, 
 and the wild shoots of Gothic freedom had never fully 
 expanded. The liberty of modern Italy did not spring 
 from the independence of the landed proprietors, but the 
 free spirit of the inhabitants of towns ; its cradle was 
 the workshop, not the tent ; the centre of its power the 
 turbulent forum, not the baronial hall. While the great 
 landowners were engaged in projects of mutual slaughter, 
 and issued only from their fastnesses in the Apennines 
 to ravage the plains below, the inhabitants of the towns 
 flourished under the protection of their native ramparts, 
 and revived on their ancient hearths the decaying embers 
 of urban liberty. At a time when the Transalpine States 
 were still immersed in barbarism, and industry was be- 
 ginning only to spring in sheltered situations under the 
 shadow of the castle wall, the Italian Republics were 
 already far advanced in opulence, and the arts had struck 
 deep root amidst the monuments of ancient splendour. 
 The age of Edward I. of England, when the nobles of 
 that country were still living in rustic plenty on their 
 estates, when rushes were spread on the floors instead of 
 carpets, and few of the barons could sign their name, was 
 contemporary with that of Dante in Italy, with the con- 
 ceptions of Bramante, and the fancy of Boccaccio. The 
 genius of Raphael and the thoughts of Machiavelli were
 
 32 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 - not far removed in point of time from the frightful devas- 
 ' tations of the English bands in France, and the unutter- 
 able horrors of the Jacquerie rebellion. When Charles 
 VIII., at the head of the brave but barbarous nobility of 
 France, burst into Italy at the close of the fifteenth cen- 
 tury, he found himself in the midst of an opulent and 
 highly civilised people, far advanced in the career of im- 
 provement, and abounding in merchants who numbered 
 all the sovereigns of Europe among their debtors. When 
 i Sism the feudal chieftain threatened to blow his trumpets within 
 ?^P 1 -. I 7 tal - the walls of Florence, her citizens declared they would 
 
 in. lay ; v. J 
 
 365; xii. sound the tocsin, and the monarch of the greatest mili- 
 
 168. Hume, . ' 
 
 ii. 349. tary kingdom of Europe shrank from a contest with the 
 burghers of a pacific republic. 1 
 
 Nor were the civil virtues of this period of Italian 
 Rapid rise greatness less remarkable than its opulence and splendour. 
 civilisation" So early as the twelfth century, the Emperor of Germany 
 
 defeated by a coalition of the republics of Lombardy, 
 the virtues of the Grecian states were rivalled by the 
 these state?, patriotism of modern freedom. History has to record 
 with pride, that, when the inhuman cruelty of the German 
 soldiery placed the children of the citizens of Crema 
 before the walls of the city, to deter the besieged from 
 discharging their weapons, their parents wept aloud, but 
 did not cease to combat for their liberties ; and that, 
 when eleven thousand of the first citizens of Pisa were 
 confined in the prisons of Genoa, they sent a unanimous 
 request to the senate, not to purchase their freedom by 
 the surrender of one fortress in the hands of the republic. 
 The naval wars of Genoa and Venice want only historians 
 as graphic as Livy or Thucydides to render them as 
 celebrated in story, as they were as fertile in heroic 
 actions, as those of Athens and Sparta, of Rome and 
 Carthage. We speak with exultation of the efforts made 
 Rep. itai. by the British empire during the late war ; but how 
 22, 2.9. ; "' great soever, they must yield in comparison with the exer- 
 tions of Italian patriotism, 2 which manned the rival fleets
 
 HISTOEY OF EUROPE. 33 
 
 of Genoa and Pisa with as many sailors, at the battle of I 
 
 La Meloria, as served the navies of England and France TION ' 
 
 at Trafalgar. 
 
 But the republics of Italy yielded to the influence of 
 the same causes which had proved so pernicious to the Causes 'of 
 Grecian commonwealths, and destroyed the feudal inde- cHne. de 
 pendence of the north of Europe. They made no pro- 
 vision for the liberties or interests of the great body of 
 the people. The states of Florence, Venice, Genoa, and 
 Pisa, were not in reality free : they were communities 
 in which a few individuals had usurped the rights, and 
 disposed of the fortunes, of the great bulk of their fellow- 
 citizens, whom they governed as subjects, or insulted as 
 slaves. During the most flourishing period of their history, 
 the citizens of all the Italian republics did not amount to 
 twenty thousand ; and these privileged classes held as 
 many millions in subjection. The citizens of Venice were 
 2500 those of Genoa 4500 those of Pisa, Sienna, 
 Lucca, and Florence, taken together, not above 6000. 
 The right of citizenship, thus limited, descended in a few 
 families, and was as carefully guarded from invasion as 
 the private estates of the nobility. To the conquered 
 provinces no privileges were extended ; to the republics 
 in alliance no rights were communicated. A rigid system 
 at once of political and mercantile exclusion directed their 
 whole policy. The privileged classes in the dominant 
 State anxiously retained the whole powers of government 
 in their own hands, and the jealous spirit of mercantile 
 monopoly ruled the fortunes of the State as much as it 
 cramped the industrial energies of the subject territory. 
 From freedom thus confined, no general benefit could be 
 expected ; on a basis thus narrowed, no structure of per- 
 manent duration could be raised. Even during their great- 
 est prosperity these states were disgraced by perpetual 
 discord springing from so unjust and arbitrary an exclu- 
 sion ; and the massy architecture of Florence still attests 
 the period when every noble family was prepared to stand 
 
 VOL. i. c
 
 4 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 - a siege in their own palace, in defence of the rights which 
 they sternly denied to their fellow-citizens. The rapid 
 progress and splendid history of these aristocratic repub- 
 lics may teach us the animating influence of freedom, 
 even upon a limited class of society ; their sudden decline, 
 and speedy loss of public spirit, the inevitable consequence 
 of confining to a few the rights which should be shared 
 ism. Rep. by a larger circle, and governing in the narrow spirit of 
 
 Ital. xii. 12, J ..f ' 1 .1 i j 
 
 16, is, 21. mercantile monopoly, not in the enlarged views ot equal 
 administration. 1 
 
 Republics thus constituted were unable either to with- 
 Generaidc- stand the shocks of adverse, or resist the silent decay 
 the subject consequent upon prosperous fortune. The first great dis- 
 aster stripped the selfish State of all its allies, and reduced 
 it to the forces that were to be found within its own 
 walls. The Venetian oligarchy gave no rights to the 
 conquered provinces in the Trevisan March, though the 
 senate announced, that in sending them the standard of 
 St Mark it restored their liberties ; and accordingly, in 
 one day Venice was stripped of all its possessions, and 
 reduced to its original limits within the lagunse of the 
 capital. When Florence reduced the rival republic of 
 Pisa, she received no addition of strength, because she 
 gave no community of advantages ; and the troops em- 
 ployed to keep the conquered State in subjection, were 
 so much lost to the victorious power. The dissolution 
 of the Athenian confederacy after the defeat before 
 Syracuse, of the Lacedemonian power after the battle of 
 Leuctra, of the Theban supremacy after the death of 
 Epaminondas, have all their counterparts in the history 
 of modern Italy, when, on any serious reverse to Venice, 
 Florence, or Genoa, the cities of which they formed the 
 head broke off from a subjection which they hated, and 
 joined the arms of any invader, to destroy that invidious 
 authority in which they were not permitted to bear 
 a part. Without the disasters of fortune, the silent 
 operation of time brought the weakness of age upon
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 35 
 
 communities which depended only on the energies of the 
 higher classes. The families, in whose hands the sove- TION \ 
 reign power was vested, became extinct from age, or en- 
 feebled by opulence, and no infusion of vigour from the 
 inferior orders took place to restore their energy ; the 
 number of citizens continually declined, while the discon- 
 tents of those subjected to their influence incessantly 
 increased. The experienced evils arising from such a 
 form of government led to a very general dislike to its 
 continuance ; and, to avoid the ruinous contests of fac- * Sism - * 
 tions, as many of the Italian republics made a voluntary M^chia- 
 surrender of their liberties as lost them from the invasion 27. '* m 
 of foreign power. 1 
 
 The industry and wealth of Flanders early nourished a 
 free spirit, and the utmost efforts were long made by the Decline of 
 inhabitants of its cities for the maintenance of their lib- freedom, 
 erties. The effects of these efforts were immense ; they 
 converted arid sands into fertile fields, and overspread 
 the land with numerous and opulent cities ; they ren- 
 dered Brabant the garden of Europe, the object alike of 
 monarchs' envy and of nations' ambition. But its free- 
 dom was confined to the burghers of the towns : the 
 peasantry of the country joined their feudal leaders in 
 combating the rising influence of the manufacturing classes ; 
 and the jealousies of rival industry generally prevented the 
 inhabitants from joining in any common measure for the 
 defence of their independence. Once only an unhoped-for 
 victory roused the whole country to arms, and a leader of 
 greater military experience might have established their 
 freedom on a durable basis ; but the burghers of Ghent 
 had not the firmness of the shepherds of Unterwalden, 4.^ a 4 r | nte> ' 
 and the victory of Resebecque crushed for centuries the ism - 
 
 * r rar> 
 
 rising independence of commercial industry under the bar- 249 - 
 barous yoke of feudal power. 2 
 
 Experience, therefore, had demonstrated that the free- 
 dom which arose from the independence of the desert, 
 equally with that which was nursed in the bosom of cities, 
 
 ranee, xi.
 
 3G HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 was liable to decay, and that political wisdom was inca- 
 ION ' pable of forming a community in which the seeds of that 
 41. decline were not perceptible, which seemed the common 
 lot of earthly things. It became in consequence a gene- 
 to rally received opinion, that nations, like individuals, had 
 - 11 a certain length of life allotted to them, which it was 
 
 ties. impossible, by any means, to extend beyond the destined 
 period ; and that a season of activity and vigour was 
 necessarily followed by one of lassitude and corruption. 
 " The image," says Mr Ferguson, " of youth and old age 
 was applied to nations ; and communities, like single men, 
 were supposed to have a period of life, and a length of 
 thread, which was spun by the Fates, in one part uniform 
 and strong, in another weakened and shattered by use, to 
 be cut when the destined era is come, and to make way for 
 a renewal of the emblem in the case of those who rose 
 civil So- in succession." 1 "Carthage," says Polybius, "being so 
 much older than Rome, had felt her decay so much the 
 sooner," and the survivor too, he foresaw, carried in her 
 bosom the seeds of mortality. But while such was im- 
 agined, from former experience, to be the unavoidable fate 
 of freedom wherever established, a variety of causes were 
 silently operating, which communicated an unknown energy 
 to the social system, and infused into modern states, even 
 in periods of apparent decline, a large intermixture of the 
 undecaying youth of the human race. 
 
 I. The first of these was the CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 Causes' Slavery had been the ruin of all the states of antiquity. 
 The influence of wealth corrupted the higher orders ; and 
 the lower, separated by a sullen line of demarcation from 
 their superiors, furnished no accession of strength to revive 
 their energies. But the influence of a religion which pro- 
 claimed the universal equality of mankind in the sight 
 of Heaven, and addressed its revelations in an especial 
 manner to the poor, destroyed this ruinous distinction. 
 In many states slavery gradually yielded to the rising 
 influence of Christianity : the religious houses were the
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 37 
 
 first who emancipated their vassals ; their exhortations 
 were unceasingly directed to extort the same concession TION ' 
 from the feudal barons. They were often unsuccessful 
 during life, but more frequently succeeded on the approach 
 of death : human selfishness was more willing to purchase 
 eternal salvation by imposing a loss on others than by 
 bearing it itself. On the ecclesiastical estates themselves 
 the first shoots of industrious freedom began to spring. 
 While the vassals of the military proprietors were sunk in 
 slavery, or lost in the sloth which follows so degraded 
 a state, industry was reviving under the shadow of the 
 monastic walls, and the free vassals of the religious estab- 
 lishments were flourishing in the comparative security of 
 their protection. Modern historians, living in an age 
 when the shield of superstition was no longer required, 
 and its influence unfelt, have erred immensely in their 
 estimate of its importance at an earlier and in a more 
 unhappy period. They forgot that when reason is in its 
 infancy, passion predominant, and ignorance universal, it 
 is by images addressed to the senses alone that violence 
 can be restrained, innocence protected, or the supremacy 
 of mental over physical strength asserted. But if we go 
 back in imagination to the sanguinary passions and uni- 
 versal bloodshed of the dark ages, we shall feel the value 
 of any influences, how strange soever in the eyes of en- 
 lightened reason, which restrained the excesses of power 
 when no other means of coercing it existed, which made 
 the baron tremble before spiritual, and therefore unseen 
 power, even in the midst of his armed bands, and secured 
 that protection to industry under the shadow of the 
 monastery's cross, which it would have sought in vain 
 beneath the shelter of the castle-wall. 
 
 The clearest proof of the truth of these principles, and 
 of the incalculable influence which the superstitions, wisely Difference 
 inculcated in a barbarous age by the Romish church, and A^atu 
 had in checking the devastation of northern conquest, conquest, 
 and putting a curb on the violence of power when no
 
 38 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 - other means of checking its excesses existed, is to be 
 found in the wide difference between the settlement of the 
 northern conquerors in Asia and Europe. Philosophers 
 are never weary of expatiating on the extraordinary dif- 
 ference between the civilisation in these two quarters of 
 the globe on the restraints on tyranny which exist in 
 the latter, while they are unknown in the former, and the 
 vast development of mental power and social happiness 
 which has taken place amidst European freedom, compared 
 to what obtains under eastern despotism. They would 
 do well to consider to what cause this remarkable diffe- 
 rence is really to be ascribed. The race of conquerors 
 which overran both was originally sprung from the same 
 root. The Cumri, who first planted their race in the 
 British Isles, and who have given their lasting appellation 
 to the western mountain-ranges of Britain, * were a branch 
 of the same horde as the Ki/wzpioi whom Herodotus men- 
 tions as appearing with the first dawn of history on the 
 shores of the Bosphorus,t and a part of whose descen- 
 dants afterwards perished by the legions of Marius. The 
 Gauls spread themselves over France, Britain, Lombardy, 
 and Greece ; their conquering arms gave a lasting appel- 
 lation to a province of Asia ; J and it was their swords, 
 more even than the Numidian horse, which so long enabled 
 Hannibal, without aid from Carthage, to make head against 
 the Roman power. The Goths and Huns, whose descen- 
 dants have formed the most powerful nations of modern 
 times, originally migrated from the wilds of Tartary ; and 
 the first impulse was given to the wave of barbarians 
 which overthrew the Roman empire, by the defeats which 
 the Scythians had sustained on the frontiers of China. |j 
 
 * Cumberland and Cumbria, or Wales ; and the Cumraes in the Firth of 
 Clyde in Scotland. 
 
 f Herodotus, lib. iv. 11, 12. J Galatia. 
 
 See this subject amply discussed in Thierry, Hlstoire des Gaulois, vol. i. pp. 
 30-279 ; a most interesting work, by a brother of the historian of the settle- 
 ment of the Normans in England, and his rival at once in industry and genius. 
 
 || See Gibbon, cap. xxvi. vol. iii. 371-575.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 39 
 
 The climate of Europe does not vary from that of a simi- 
 lar latitude in Asia, except in the greater heat in summer TION ' 
 and cold in winter, arising from the difference between an 
 inland and maritime situation. 
 
 How, then, has it happened that the same conquerors, 
 subduing and settling in substantially the same physical Causes to 
 circumstances, should have given birth to nations so to be' 1 
 essentially and diametrically opposite as those of Europe ascnbed - 
 and Asia 1 Why have freedom and knowledge been 
 sheltered from the lances of the one, and both invariably 
 perished, from the earliest times, under the sabres of the 
 other 1 And whence is it that the same corruption, 
 which has so speedily in every age consumed or enfeebled 
 the descendants of Asiatic conquest, has, after the lapse 
 of a thousand years, still made comparatively little im- 
 pression on the offspring of Gothic invasion "? Simply, 
 because the religion of the two quarters of the globe in 
 which the same conquerors settled was different : because 
 polygamy has not in Europe spread its jealousies, nor 
 the harem its seductions ; because superstitious belief, 
 in barbarous times, restrained power by imaginary ter- 
 rors, and Christian charity, in civilised, assuaged suffering 
 by real blessings ; because slavery has generally disap- 
 peared before the proclaimed equality of men, and a 
 perpetual renovation been thus provided to the richer 
 classes ; because war has been softened by the humanity 
 breathed into its conflicts ; because learning, sheltered 
 under the sanctity of the monastery, has survived the 
 devastation of ignorance, and freedom, nursed by devo- 
 tion, has acquired a strength superior to all the forces of 
 despotism. 
 
 It was not only by the equality which it proclaimed, 
 and the security from violence which it afforded, that the Great influ- 
 influence of religion favoured the growth of freedom. By regions 
 the enthusiasm which it awakened, from the universal "nlmmlm 1 
 interests which it addressed, the mass of the people were affilirs - 
 called into political activity ; thousands, to whom the
 
 40 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 - blessings of liberty were unknown, and whose torpor no 
 temporal concerns could dispel, were roused by the voice 
 of religious fervour. The freedom of Greece, the disci- 
 pline of Macedonia, produced only a transient impres- 
 sion on human affairs ; but the fanaticism of Mahomet 
 convulsed the globe. The ardour of chivalry led the 
 nobles into action ; the ambition of monarchs brought 
 the feudal retainers into the field : but the enthusiasm 
 of the Crusades awakened the dormant strength of the 
 Western world. With the growth of religious zeal, 
 therefore, the basis of freedom was immensely extended ; 
 s ran ^s were brought, not the transient ebullitions 
 
 Hume's of popular excitement, but the stern valour of fanaticism : 
 
 England. 
 
 Abb and that lasting support which neither the ardour of the 
 
 jvtiinii s 
 
 Flanders, city, nor the independence of the desert, could afford, 
 was at length drawn from the fervour of the cottage. 1 
 II. While the minds of men were thus warmed by 
 
 4.fi 
 
 Art of' the religious enthusiasm which was awakened, first by 
 its'advfn- the Crusades, and subsequently by the Reformation, the 
 Art of PRINTING, destined to change the face of the 
 moral world, perpetuated the impressions thus created, 
 and widened the circle over which they extended. The 
 spirit of religious freedom was no longer nourished only 
 from the exhortations of the pulpit, or developed in the 
 fervour of secluded congregations ; it breathed into the 
 permanent exertions of human thought, and spread with 
 the increasing wealth and enlarged desires of an opulent 
 state of society. The discoveries of science, the charms 
 of genius, may attract a few in every age ; but it is by 
 religious emotion that the great body of mankind are 
 chiefly to be moved : and it was by the diffusion of its 
 enthusiasm, accordingly, that the greatest efforts of Euro- 
 pean liberty have been sustained. But the diffusion of 
 knowledge, by means of the press, is not destined to 
 awake mere transient bursts of popular feeling. By 
 imbuing the minds of those master-spirits who direct 
 human thought, it produces lasting impressions on society,
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 41 
 
 and is perpetually renewed in the successive generations 
 who inhale, during the ardour of youth, the maxims and 
 the spirit of classical freedom. The whole face of society 
 has been modified by this mighty discovery ; the causes 
 of ancient decay seem counteracted in a powerful man- 
 ner by new principles of vitality, derived from the multi- 
 tudes whose talents are brought to bear on the fortunes of 
 the State ; and the influence of despotic power shaken, by 
 the infusion of independent principles even into the armies 
 which are destined to enforce its authority. 
 
 But it is not unmixed good which has arisen from the 
 
 ... 47. 
 
 diffusion of knowledge. If the principles of improvement And dan- 
 have acquired a hardier growth, those of evil have been ge 
 more generally disseminated ; the contests of society have 
 grown in magnitude and increased in violence, and the 
 passions of nations have been brought into collision, instead 
 of the ambition of individuals. Vice has here, as else- 
 where in human affairs, fearfully put forth its influence to 
 mar the benefits of this great discovery, and continued in 
 the most advanced ages that struggle between virtue and 
 sin, which has been the lot of man from the beginning of 
 the world. The visions of inexperience, the dreams of 
 philanthropy, at first anticipated the entire extirpation of 
 evil from the extension of knowledge, and an unbroken 
 progress of improvement from the spread of education ; 
 forgetting that the heart is the fountain from which the 
 issues of life, the direction given to the acquisitions of 
 science, flow ; and that unless it is purified, it is of little 
 moment what is put into the head. In the midst of 
 these entrancing prospects, human iniquity mingled with 
 the current; the new powers thus acquired were too often 
 applied to the basest purposes ; crime and corruption in- 
 creased with the extension of desires, and vice multiplied 
 with the enlarged means of compassing its ends which in- 
 struction had afforded. 
 
 It is to a general appreciation of this bitter but whole- 
 some truth that mankind are at length awakening, after
 
 42 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 C- the enchanting dreams which were followed by the dread- 
 T10N ' ful nightmare of the French Revolution. Yet, while 
 
 48 - experience has now demonstrated the utter fallacy of all 
 
 Ultimate . ..,..,,. 
 
 benefits of expectation or increased individual virtue, or augmented 
 social felicity, from mere intellectual cultivation, it is far 
 from discouraging more cheering prospects of the ultimate 
 effect of moral elevation and spiritual enjoyment on the 
 race of man. Vice is generally victorious over virtue in the 
 outset, but it is as often vanquished by it in the end. The 
 pleasures of sin are at first fearfully alluring, its passions 
 vehement, its gratifications intense. But both lead to 
 disappointment and satiety ; the beautiful image of the 
 poet " a moment white, then lost for ever," is true, not 
 merely of sensual but of all merely worldly enjoyment. 
 Nothing permanently floats down the stream of time but 
 what is buoyant from its elevating tendency. In the 
 progress of ages the most injurious elements in human 
 affairs are gradually extinguished, while the causes of 
 improvement are lasting in their effects. The contests of 
 the Greek republics, the cruelty of the Athenian demo- 
 cracy, have long ceased to trouble the world ; but the 
 maxims of Grecian virtue, the works of Grecian genius, 
 the charms of Grecian art, will permanently continue to 
 elevate mankind. The turbulence, the insecurity, the con- 
 vulsions to which the extension of knowledge to the lower 
 orders has hitherto given rise, will in time be forgotten ; 
 but the improved fabric of society which it has induced, 
 100. Mign. the increased vigour which it has communicated, may ulti- 
 i. 32. n c ' mately compensate all its evils, and permanently bless and 
 improve the species. 1 
 
 III. But it would have been in vain that the influence 
 
 49. 
 
 Discovery of religion weakened the bonds of slavery, and the exten- 
 
 darSny- sion of knowledge enlarged the capacity of freemen, had no 
 
 plwtrof the change occurred in the ARMS by which the different classes 
 
 nobility. O f society combat each other. While the aristocracy of 
 
 the country were permanently trained to combats, and the 
 
 robber chivalry were incessantly occupied in devastation,
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 43 
 
 the peaceable inhabitants of cities, the rude labourers of 
 the fields, were unable to resist their attacks. With the ' 
 
 exception of the shepherds of the Alps, whose hardy 
 habits early gave their infantry the firmness and discipline 
 of veteran soldiers, the tumultuary levies of the people 
 were, during the middle ages, everywhere crushed by the 
 steel-clad bands of the feudal nobility. The insurrections 
 of the commons in France, of the peasants in the time of 
 Richard II. in England, of the citizens of Ghent and 
 Liege in Flanders, and of the serfs in Germany, were all 
 suppressed by the superior arms and steadier discipline of 
 the rural chivalry. But with the discovery of GUNPOWDER, 
 this decisive supremacy was destroyed. The feudal array, 
 invincible to the spears or halberts of the peasantry, yielded 
 to the terrible powers of artillery ; defensive armour was 
 abandoned, from a sense of its insufficiency against this in- 
 visible assailant ; and the weight of the aristocracy was 
 destroyed, by the experienced inability of its forces to 
 combat the discipline which laborious industry could bring 
 into the field. The wealth of Flanders in vain contended 
 with the lances of France on the field of Resebecque ; but 
 the armies of Charles V. were baffled by the artillery of 
 the United Provinces. The barons of Richard easily dis- 
 persed the rabble who followed the standard of Wat Tyler ; 
 but the musketry of the English yeomanry overthrew the 
 squadrons of the Norman nobility at Marston Moor. Fire- 
 arms are the greatest of all levellers ; like the hand of 
 death, they prostrate equally the ranks of the poor and the 
 array of princes. Wealth soon became essential to the 
 prosecution of war, from the costly implements which were 
 brought into the field ; industry indispensable to success, 
 from the rapid consumption of the instruments of destruc- gS " 
 tion which attended the continuance of the contest. By g^'/p^; 
 this momentous change new elements were brought into * 533 > 5 . 43 - 
 
 *- . Hume, in. 
 
 action, which completely altered the relative situations of i. Bar. 
 
 i "29.5 Hal. 
 
 the contending parties : industry ceased to be defenceless, si. isi. 
 because it could purchase the means of protection ; ! violence
 
 44 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 - lost its ascendancy, because it withered the sinews by 
 ' which its forces were to be maintained. 
 
 IV. The introduction of ARTIFICIAL WANTS, and the 
 increase of progress of luxury, completed the destruction of the feudal 
 power. When the elegancies of life were comparatively 
 unknown, and the barons lived in rural magnificence on 
 their estates, the distribution of their wealth kept a mul- 
 titude of retainers round their castles, who were always 
 ready to support the authority from which they derived 
 their subsistence. But by degrees the progress of opulence 
 brought the nobility to the metropolis, while the increase 
 of luxury augmented their expenses. From that moment 
 their ascendancy was at an end. When the landed pro- 
 prietor squandered his wealth in the indulgence of artificial 
 desires, and seldom visited the halls of his ancestors but to 
 practise extortion upon his tenantry, his means of main- 
 taining war were dissipated, and the influence he possessed 
 over his people was destroyed. Interest ceased to be a bond 
 of union, when no reciprocity of mutual services existed ; 
 affection gradually expired, from the absence of the objects 
 on which it was to be exerted. Debt, contracted to satisfy 
 the cravings of urban desires, became overwhelming. 
 Embarrassments either led to the alienation of estates, or 
 the insolvency of their possessors. The new purchasers 
 had no historic names or ancient influence to back their 
 fortunes. Newly transplanted into the soil, they required 
 several generations to overshadow it by their expansion. 
 Such recent proprietors form an important element in the 
 balance of political power ; and as they speedily imbibe 
 the feelings, from being actuated by the interests, of the 
 landed aristocracy, they are of great consequence in steady- 
 ing the movements of the social body ; but they are 
 scarcely ever formidable to general liberty. The old 
 families are too jealous of their wealth, to permit of any 
 dangerous union being formed between them : the mass 
 of the people have not been so long trained to respect, as 
 now to fear them. The power of the feudal nobility was
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 45 
 
 long the object of apprehension, after its real influence 
 
 had been dissolved, from the remembrance of its terrors TION ' 
 
 in former times. The importance of this change, like that 
 
 of all others introduced by nature, was not perceived till 
 
 its effects were manifested. The aristocracy of France 
 
 was still the object of antiquated dread, when it stood on 
 
 the brink of destruction ; and the people were doubtful of \Weaith of 
 
 their ability to resist its power, when it sank without a 345. 
 
 struggle before the violence of its enemies. 1 
 
 From the revival of letters in the commencement of 
 
 51 
 
 the sixteenth century, and the dawn of the Reformation, 
 
 these causes had been silently operating ; and time, the ca 
 greatest of all innovators, was gradually changing the face p 
 of the moral world. The stubborn valour of the reformed volution 
 religion had emancipated an industrious people from the 
 yoke of Spain, and the stern fanaticism of the English 
 Puritans had overthrown the power of the Norman nobi- 
 lity. The extension of knowledge had shaken the founda- 
 tions of arbitrary power, and public opinion, even in the 
 least enlightened countries, moderated the force of des- 
 potic sway. The worst governed states in Europe were 
 constitutional monarchies compared to the dynasties of 
 the East ; and the oppression even of Russian severity 
 was light in comparison of the cruelties of the Roman 
 emperors. But it was not till the commencement of the 
 French Revolution that the extent of the changes which 
 had occurred was perceived, and the weakness of the arms 
 of despotism felt, when brought into collision with the 
 efforts of freedom. Standing armies had been considered 
 as the most fatal discovery of sovereigns, and the history 
 of former ages appealed to as illustrating their tendency 
 to establish despotic authority ; but the changes of time 
 were wresting from the hands of tyranny even this 
 dreaded weapon, and, in the next convulsion, it destroyed 
 the power which had created it. The sagacity of the 
 French monarchs had trained up these formidable bands 
 as a counterpoise to the power of the aristocracy, and
 
 46 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 c- they had rendered the Crown independent of the control 
 of the feudal barons ; but a greater Wisdom than that of 
 
 1 Robert- Richelieu was preparing, in their power and discipline, the 
 
 Charles v. means of a total change of society. In rain the unfor- 
 
 Comhics, i. tunate Louis summoned his armies to the capital, and 
 
 iS't. de* ' appealed to their chivalrous feelings against the violence of 
 
 H-M? v ' i ^ ne P eo pl e 5 the spirit of democracy had penetrated even 
 
 !* the ranks of the veteran soldiers, and, with the revolt of 
 
 the guards, the French monarchy was destroyed. 1 
 
 It is this circumstance which has created so important 
 Vast effect a distinction between the progress of popular power in 
 recent, and its fate in ancient times. Tyranny has 
 ? everywhere prevailed in former times, by arming one 
 portion of the people against the other ; and its chief 
 reliance has hitherto been placed on the troops, whose 
 interests were identified with its support. But the 
 progress of information has destroyed, in the countries 
 where it is fully established, the security of despotism, 
 by dividing the affections of the armies on which it 
 depends ; and the sovereigns of the military monarchies 
 in Europe have now often more to fear from the troops 
 whom they have formed to be the instruments of their 
 will, than from the citizens whom they regard as the 
 objects of apprehension. The translation of the sword 
 from the nobility to the throne, so long the subject of 
 regret to the friends of freedom, has thus become an 
 important step in the emancipation of mankind : War, 
 amidst all its horrors, has contributed to the communica- 
 tion of knowledge and the dispelling of prejudice ; and 
 power has ceased to be unassailable, because it has been 
 transferred from a body whose interests are permanent, 
 to one whose attachments yield to the changes of society. 
 Yet is this last and greatest shake given to the powers of 
 despotism not unaccompanied with evil : on the contrary, 
 it often produces calamities greater even than those it 
 was intended to remove. Military caprice becomes irre-
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 47 
 
 sistible when military subordination is overthrown : the 
 foundations of government are laid in the quicksands of TION 
 the soldier's favour ; the praetorian bands of the capital 
 become the rulers of the State. It is but a poor exchange 
 which a nation makes which throws off the regular govern- 
 ment of hereditary property, to incur the arbitrary rule 
 of the sword : the soldiers who betray their oaths to induce 
 the change, are the worst pioneers of despotism. 
 
 The former history of the world is chiefly occupied 
 with the struggles of freedom against bondage ; the efforts Danger 
 of laborious industry to emancipate itself from the yoke larTicen^ 
 of aristocratic power. Our sympathies are all with the threaten 
 oppressed, our fears are lest the pristine servitude of the societ y- 
 species should be re-established. But with the rise of 
 the French Revolution, a new set of perils have been 
 developed, and the historian finds himself overwhelmed 
 with the constant survey of the terrible evils of demo- 
 cratic oppression. The causes which have been mentioned, 
 have at length given such an extraordinary and irresist- 
 ible weight to the popular party, that the danger now 
 sets in from another quarter ; and the tyranny which 
 is to be apprehended, is often not that of the few over 
 the many, but of the many over the few. The obvious 
 risk now is, in all states with a popular form of govern- 
 ment, that the influence of knowledge, virtue, and worth, 
 will be overwhelmed in the vehemence of popular ambi- 
 tion, or lost in the turbulence of democratic power. This 
 evil is of a far more acute and terrible kind than the 
 severity of regal, or the weight of aristocratic oppression. 
 In a few years, when fully developed, it destroys the 
 whole frame of society, and extinguishes the very elements 
 of freedom, by annihilating the classes whose intermixture 
 is essential to its existence. It is beneath this fiery tor- 
 rent that the civilised world is now passing ; and all the 
 efforts of philosophy are therefore required to observe its 
 course and mitigate its devastation. Happy, if the histo-
 
 48 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 - rian can find, in the record of past suffering, aught to jus- 
 ' tify future hope, or in the errors of former inexperience 
 the lessons of subsequent wisdom. 
 
 It is by slow degrees, and imperceptible additions, that 
 all the great changes of nature are accomplished. Vegeta- 
 
 fe G 
 
 growthof . . . , ,. , . , 
 
 durable tion, commencing with lichens, swells to the riches and 
 luxuriance of the forest ; continents, the seat of empires, 
 and the abode of millions, are formed from the deposits of 
 innumerable rills ; animal life, springing from the torpid 
 vitality of shell-fish, rises to the energy and power of man. 
 It is by similar steps, and as slow a progress, that the 
 great fabric of society is formed. Regulated liberty, the 
 greatest of human blessings, the chief spring of human 
 improvement, is of the most tardy development ; ages 
 elapse before it acquires consistency ; nations disappear 
 during the contest for its establishment. The continued 
 observation of this important truth is fitted both to in- 
 spire hope and encourage moderation : hope, by showing 
 how unceasing has been the progress of improvement 
 through all the revolutions of the world ; moderation, by 
 demonstrating how vain and dangerous are all attempts 
 to outstrip the march of nature, or confer upon one age 
 the institutions or habits of another. The annals of the 
 great French Revolution, more than any other event in 
 human affairs, are calculated to demonstrate these impor- 
 tant truths ; and by evincing in equally striking colours 
 the irresistible growth of liberty, and the terrible evils of 
 precipitate innovation, to impress moderation upon the 
 rulers, and caution upon the agitators of mankind, and 
 thus sever from the future progress of Freedom those 
 bloody triumphs by which its past history has been stained.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 49 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 COMPARATIVE PROGRESS OP FREEDOM IN FRANCE 
 AND ENGLAND. 
 
 No events in history are more commonly considered CHAP. 
 parallel than the Great Rebellion in England and the 
 
 French Revolution. None, with certain striking points _ .}, 
 
 . . ., to r Parallel 
 
 of resemblance, are in reality more dissimilar to each between the 
 other. In both, the Crown was engaged in a contest English re - 
 with the people, which terminated fatally for the royal 
 family. In both, the reigning monarch was brought to 
 the scaffold, and the legislative authority overturned by 
 military force. In both, the leader of the army mounted 
 the throne, and a brief period of military despotism was 
 succeeded by the restoration of the legitimate monarchs. 
 So far the parallel holds good in every other particular 
 it fails. In England, the contest was carried on for many 
 years, and with various success, between the Crown and a 
 large portion of the gentry on the one hand, and the 
 cities and popular party on the other. In the single 
 troop of dragoons commanded by Lord Barnard Stuart, 
 on the royal side, in 1643, was to be found a greater 
 body of landed proprietors than among the whole of the 
 republican party, in both houses of parliament, who voted 
 at the commencement of the war. In France, the monarch 
 yielded, almost without a struggle, to the encroachments 
 of the people ; and the only blood which was shed in 
 civil conflict arose from the enthusiasm of the peasants in 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 50 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. La Vendee, or the loyalty of the towns in the south of 
 ' France, after the leaders of the royalist party had with- 
 drawn from the struggle. The great landholders and 
 privileged classes, to the number in the end of a hundred 
 and twenty thousand,* abandoned their country ; and 
 the Crown was ultimately overturned, and the monarch 
 brought to the scaffold, by a faction in Paris, which a few 
 1 Lac. Pr. thousand resolute men could at first have easily overcome, 
 Hist i 246. an( j wn i c h subsequently became irresistible only from its 
 
 Id. Hist, de . . , . i . 
 
 F^nee, ix. having been permitted to excite, through revolutionary 
 vi. 505. ' measures, the cupidity of the lower orders throughout the 
 
 monarchy. 1 
 
 2 Proportioned to the magnitude of the resistance op- 
 
 Moderation posed in England to the encroachments of the people by 
 
 in England, f. -. . i_ 
 
 the Crown, the nobility, and the higher classes of the 
 
 landed proprietors, was the moderation displayed by both 
 sides in the use of victory, and the small quantity of 
 blood which was shed upon the scaffold. With the 
 exception of the monarch and a few of the leading cha- 
 racters in the aristocratic party, no individual during 
 the Great Rebellion perished by the hands of the execu- 
 tioner ; no proscriptions or massacres took place ; the 
 victors and the vanquished, after the termination of their 
 strife, lived peaceably together under the republican gov- 
 ernment. In France, scarcely any resistance was offered 
 by the government to the popular party. The sovereign 
 was more pacifically inclined than any man in his domin- 
 ions, and entertained a superstitious dread of the shedding 
 , Lac vi f blood ; the democrats triumphed with the loss only of 
 ^H? 6 ' fifty men, over the throne, the church, and the landed 
 
 vii. /6. Lin- . i i 
 
 gard, xi. s. proprietors ; f and yet their successes, from the very first, 
 
 Toul. i. 145. . j i f i c i i i 
 
 Th. i. 30. were stained by a degree of cruelty of which the previous 
 history of the world affords no example. 2 
 
 * They were altogether 123,318. See PRUD&OMME'S Crimes de la Revolution, 
 vi. Table. 
 
 t See infra, chap. iv. 105, for the loss sustained in the attack on the Bas- 
 tile, which practically overturned the monarchy.
 
 HISTOEY OF EUROPE. 51 
 
 RELIGION, in the English Revolution, was the great CHAP. 
 instrument for moying mankind. Even in the reign of L 
 James L, the Puritans were the only sect who were 3. 
 zealously attached to freedom ; and in every commotion fluence of 
 which followed, the civil contests between the contending En|iand, n 
 parties were considered as altogether subordinate to their fideiprinci- 
 religious differences, not only by the actors on the scene, jj^ 1 ^ 
 but by the historians who recorded their proceedings. 
 The pulpit was the fulcrum on which the whole efforts of 
 the popular leaders rested ; and the once venerable fabric 
 of the English monarchy, to which so large a portion of 
 its influential classes have in every age of its history been 
 attached, yielded at last to the force of fanatical frenzy. 
 In France, the influence of religion was all exerted on 
 the other side : the peasants of La Vendee followed 
 their pastors to battle, and deemed themselves secure of 
 salvation when combating for the Cross ; while the Jaco- 
 bins of Paris founded their influence on the ridicule of 
 every species of devotion, and erected the altar of Reason 
 on the ruins of the Christian faith. Nor was this " irre- 
 ligious fanaticism," as Carnot has well styled it, confined 
 to the citizens of the metropolis : it pervaded equally 
 every department of France where republicanism was 
 embraced, and every class of men who were attached 
 to its fortunes. Everywhere the churches, during the ' 
 
 Reign of Terror, were closed : the professors of Christi- 
 anity were dispossessed, and their rights overturned : and j 
 the first step toward the restoration of a regular govern- R6v. M6n. 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 ment, was the reopening of the temples which the tern- L^. Pr. 
 pest of anarchy had closed, and the revival of the faith 467. ' 
 which its fury had extinguished. 1 
 
 The civil war in England was a contest between one 
 portion of the community and the other ; but a large Moderation 
 part of the adherents of the republican party were drawn t he p Engiisir 
 from the higher classes of society, and the sons of the a'nd'cS'y 
 yeomanry filled the ranks of the iron and disciplined in Frauce - 
 bands of Cromwell. No massacres or proscriptions took
 
 52 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, place ; few manor-houses were burned by the populace, 
 
 ! save in the fury of actual assault ; none of the odious 
 
 features of a servile war were to be seen. Notwithstand- 
 ing the dangers run and the hardships suffered on both 
 sides, the moderation of the victorious party was such as 
 to call forth the commendation of the royalist historians ; 
 and, with the exceptions of the death of the King, of 
 Strafford, and of Laud, few acts of unnecessary cruelty 
 i Hume, v. stained the triumph of the republican arms. 1 In France, 
 vii. 7(T the storming of the Bastile was the signal for the general 
 clarendon,' dissolution of the bands of authority, and a universal 
 aivaroi 95 invasion of private property ; the peasantry on almost 
 every estate, from the Channel to the Pyrenees, rose 
 against their landlords, burned their houses, and plun- 
 dered their effects ; and the higher ranks in every part of 
 the country, excepting La Vendee and the royalist dis- 
 tricts in its vicinity, were subjected to the most revolting 
 cruelties. The French Revolution was not a contest be- 
 tween such of the rich and poor as maintained republican 
 principles, and such of them as espoused the cause of the 
 monarchy, but a universal insurrection of the lower orders 
 against the higher. It was sufficient to put a man's life 
 in danger, to expose his estate to confiscation, and his 
 family to banishment, that he was, from any cause, ele- 
 vated above the populace. The gifts of nature, destined 
 to please or bless mankind, the splendour of genius, the 
 powers of thought, the graces of beauty, were as fatal to 
 their possessors as the adventitious advantages of fortune 
 or the invidious distinctions of rank. " Liberty and 
 Equality" was the universal cry of the revolutionary 
 party. Their liberty consisted in the general spoliation 
 of the opulent classes ; their equality in the destruction 
 of all who outshone them in talent, or excelled them in 
 acquirement. 
 
 The English Revolution terminated in the establish- 
 ment of the rights for which the popular party had con- 
 tended, but the great features of the constitution remained
 
 HISTOKY OF EUROPE. 53 
 
 unchanged ; the law was administered on the old pre- CHAP. 
 cedents even during the usurpation of Cromwell, and the 
 
 majority of the people scarcely felt, at least in their 5. 
 
 A ' j.1. ' A '.0. i. Vastdiffer- 
 
 pnvate concerns, or in their intercourse with each other, ence as 
 the important alteration which had been made in the subsequent 
 government of the country. In France, the triumph of uvVcoun- 6 
 the popular party was followed by an immediate change tries> 
 of institutions, private rights, and laws ; the nobility in 
 a single night surrendered the whole privileges which 
 they had inherited from their ancestors ; the descent of 
 property was turned into a different channel by the 
 abolition of the right of primogeniture ; and the admini- 
 stration of justice between man and man was founded on 
 a new code, destined to survive the perishable empire of 
 its author. Everything in England remained the same 
 after the Revolution, with the exception of the privileges 
 which were confirmed to the people, and the pretensions 
 which were abandoned by the Crown. Everything in l Ling. xi. 
 France was altered, without the exception even of the 139. 
 dynasty that ultimately obtained the throne. 1 
 
 The great estates of England were little affected by 
 the Revolution. The nobles, the landowners, and the And ^ 
 yeomanry alike retained their possessions, and, under the dlstdbu- ie 
 new form of government, the influence of property re- "// pr 
 mained unchanged. With the exception of the lands 
 belonging to the dignitaries of the church, which were 
 put under a temporary sequestration, and of the estates 
 of a few obnoxious cavaliers, who lost them by abandon- 
 ing their country, no material alterations in property 
 took place ; and after the Restoration a compromise 
 almost universally ensued, and the ancient landholders, 
 by the payment of a moderate composition, regained their 
 possessions. In France, on the other hand, the whole 
 landed property of the church, and the greater part of 
 that of the nobility, was confiscated during the Revolu- 
 tion ; and such was the influence of the new proprietors, 
 that the Bourbons were compelled, as the fundamental
 
 54 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, condition of their restoration, to guarantee the security of 
 L the revolutionary estates. The effects of this difference 
 
 have been in the highest degree important. The whole 
 
 proprietors who live on the fruits of the soil in Great 
 
 Britain and Ireland at this moment, notwithstanding the 
 
 prodigious increase of wealth which has since taken place, 
 
 probably do not amount to three hundred thousand, while 
 
 above five million heads of families, and seventeen millions 
 
 of persons dependent on their labour, subsist on the wages 
 
 i Baron de they receive. In France, on the other hand, there are 
 
 Ling.'xii.' nearly six millions of separate proprietors, most of them 
 
 Mi'gn.'ii. in a state of great indigence, and at least twenty millions 
 
 quhoun, 01 f souls, constituting their families, without resource in 
 
 (lamih ice great part at least, in the wages of labour, being a greater 
 
 208. MS- nuin ber than the whole remainder of the community. In 
 
 moires du . ^ 
 
 Ducde France, the proprietors are much more numerous than the 
 .m other members of the State ; in England, they hardly 
 amount to a tenth part of their number. 1 * 
 
 The political influence of England since the Restoration 
 Political has mainly rested in the great families. A majority in 
 Fr^ce' n the House of Commons was long appointed by a certain 
 Reflation, number of the House of Lords, and experience has proved 
 ^ a ^' excepting in periods of uncommon national excite- 
 nient, the ruling power in the State is still to be found 
 in the hands of the principal landed proprietors, or 
 the monied capitalists in towns. In France, the Upper 
 House is comparatively insignificant ; a great proportion 
 of its members derive their subsistence from the bounty 
 of the Crown ; and the whole, either directly or indirectly, 
 do not possess any serious weight in the constitution. 
 The struggle bequeathed by the Revolution to succeeding 
 ages has from this cause become different in the two 
 countries. In Britain, as in ancient Rome, it is between 
 
 * The number of separate properties in France, by the last survey, was 
 10,868,000 ; but at least a third of these, though rated separately in the 
 government books, are held by owners of other properties. Stat. dc la France, 
 1839. See infra, chap. xcv. 52 it teq.
 
 f thl t 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 55 
 
 the patricians and the plebeians ; in France, as in the CHAP. 
 dynasties of the East, between the Crown and the people. L 
 This is the natural consequence of the maintenance of the 
 aristocracy in the one country, and its destruction in the 
 other. Political weight, in the end, always centres where 
 the greater part of the national property is to be found. 
 
 The military and naval power of England was not 
 materially changed by the Great Rebellion. A greater Different 
 degree of discipline, indeed, was established in its armies, 
 and a more decided tone adopted by the government in its 
 intercourse with foreign states ; but the external relations countries - 
 of the monarchy remained the same : no permanent con- 
 quests were effected, and no alteration in the balance of 
 European power resulted from its success. Within a few 
 years after the Restoration, the English waged a doubtful 
 maritime war with the smallest state in Europe, and the 
 future mistress of the seas was compelled to submit to 
 humiliation from the fleets of an inconsiderable republic. 
 In France, on the other hand, the first burst of popular 
 fury was immediately followed by an ardent and universal 
 passion for war ; the neighbouring states soon yielded to 
 the vigour of the revolutionary forces, and Europe was 
 shaken to its foundations by the conquests which they 
 achieved. The ancient balance of power has been per- 
 manently destroyed by the results of their exertions ; 
 at first, by the overwhelming influence which they gave 
 to the arms of the conquering republic, at last, by the 
 ascendancy acquired by the powers who subdued them. 
 
 Discrepancies so great, consequences so opposite, can- 
 not be explained by any reference to the distinctions of These diver 
 national character, or of the circumstances under which have 8 been 
 liberty arose in the two countries. There is certainly a^e g g Si- 
 material difference between the character of the French eral cause - 
 and that of the English, but not such a difference as to 
 render the one revolution bloody with all but the sove- 
 reign, the other bloodless save in the field ; the one destruc- 
 tive to feudal power, the other confirmative of aristocratic
 
 cause was. 
 
 56 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, ascendancy ; the one subversive of order and religion, the 
 
 *' other dependent on the attachments which they had 
 
 created. There is a difference between the circumstances 
 of the two countries at the period when their respective 
 revolutions took place, but not such as to make the contest 
 in the one the foundation of a new distribution of property, 
 and a different balance of power that in the other the 
 chief means of maintaining the subsisting interests of 
 society, and the existing equilibrium in the world. 
 
 The insurrection of slaves is the most dreadful of all 
 what that commotions : the West India Negroes exterminate by 
 fire and sword the property and lives of their masters. 
 Universally the strength of the reaction is proportioned 
 to the oppression of the weight which is thrown off; 
 the recoil is most to be feared when the bow has been 
 furthest bent from its natural form. Fear is the chief 
 source of cruelty ; men massacre others because they 
 are apprehensive of death themselves. Property is set 
 at nought where the aggressors have nothing to lose ; it 
 is respected when the gaining party have grown up under 
 the influence of its attachments. Revolutions are com- 
 paratively bloodless when the influential classes guide the 
 movements of the people, and sedulously abstain from 
 exciting their passions ; they are the most terrible of all 
 contests, when property ia arrayed on the one side and 
 numbers on the other. The slaves of St Domingo ex- 
 ceeded the atrocities of the Parisian populace ; the revolt 
 of the United States departed but little from the usages 
 of civilised war. These principles are universally recog- 
 nised ; the difficulty consists in discovering what causes 
 brought the one set to operate in the English, the other 
 in the French Revolution. 
 
 These causes are to be found in the former history of 
 the two countries : and a rapid survey of their different 
 circumstances will best show the different character which 
 was stamped upon the two contests by the acquisitions or 
 losses of preceding ages.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 57 
 
 The vast extent of the Roman empire gave centuries CHAP. 
 of repose to the inhabitants of its central provinces. Wars 1 
 
 were carried on upon the frontiers alone ; and the defen- De ed 
 give forces, chiefly recruited by mercenary bands drawn state of the 
 
 . , , J , fir t ^habitants 
 
 from the semi- barbarous states on the verge or the Imperial of both 
 dominions, presented scarcely any resemblance to the Britain 11 
 legions which had given to the republic the empire of SSS e 
 the world. The later emperors, departing from the gener- 
 ous maxims of the republican government, which admitted 
 the conquered states to the privileges of Roman citizens, 
 oppressed the subject provinces by the most arbitrary 
 exactions, and acted on the ruinous Eastern system 
 of making the inhabitants of each district responsible 
 for the whole amount of its taxes, whatever the dimi- 
 nution in their number might be. The people of the 
 provinces, long inured to protection, and unaccustomed to 
 the use of arms, shrunk from the very idea of a contest 
 with the ruthless barbarians of the North. The inhabi- 
 tants of Italy and Gaul first sought an exemption from 
 foot service, upon the ground that they could not bear 
 the weight of armour, and at length obtained a practical 
 liberation from military duties of every description. The 
 empire was defended entirely by hiring one body of 
 barbarians to combat another. The ignorance which 
 universally prevailed among the working classes was almost 
 as great as that of England in the time of Alfred, when 
 not a clergyman to the south of the Thames could read. 
 From the long continuance of these circumstances during 
 many successive generations, the spirit of the people 
 throughout the whole Roman empire was totally extin- 
 guished, and they became alike incapable of combating i Gibbon, 
 for their lives with the enemies of their country, or of Turner^'" 
 contending for their liberties with the despots on the ^fJjjSa' 
 throne. 1 The pusillanimity with which its inhabitants, ^J'-p^ 
 during a series of ages, submitted to the spoliation of > 74, 77. 
 barbarous enemies, and the exactions of unbridled tyrants, 72. 
 would appear incredible, were it not only supported by
 
 58 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, the concurring testimony of all historians, but found bj 
 _ ! _ experience to be the uniform result of a continued state 
 
 of pacific enjoyment. 
 
 j., The Britons and the Gauls, at the period of the over- 
 
 Total pro- throw of the empire, were alike sunk in this state of 
 u.? Britons political degradation. The provinces to the south of the 
 
 wall of Severus were speedily overrun, upon the removal 
 Rome. f * ne Roman legions, by the savages issuing from the 
 recesses of Caledonia, and the British leaders bewailed 
 in pathetic strains their inability to contend with an 
 artless and contemptible enemy. Notwithstanding the 
 extraordinary military talents of Aetius, the Gauls were 
 soon subdued by their barbarous neighbours ; and a small 
 tribe, emerging from the centre of Germany, became per- 
 manent masters of the plains of France. The Anglo- 
 Saxons gradually vanquished the helpless Britons, and 
 gave to the future mistress of the waves its lasting appel- 
 lation. These conquests in both countries were, as already 
 noticed,'"" attended in the end by a complete and violent 
 change of landed property, and an immediate prostration 
 of a considerable part of the vanquished people to the 
 rank of slaves on the estates of their forefathers. This 
 last and greatest humiliation, consequent upon a long 
 train of political and military oppressions, completed the 
 a P atn J an d dejection of the great body of the people, and 
 xon " m *g nt nave nna lly extinguished, as in the dynasties of the 
 37. Hume, East, all desire of independence in their descendants, had 
 
 i.26,29,67. . f . ... ., . . . 
 
 sism. Hist, not misfortunes arisen with their invigorating influence, 
 i .^oi!" 10 ' ' and mankind regained in the school of adversity the spirit 
 which they had lost in prosperous ages. 1 
 
 The long and obstinate conflicts which the Anglo- 
 Effects 'of Saxons had to maintain, first with the natives, and after- 
 
 wards with each other, were the first circumstances which 
 quests. - n tne British Isles revived the energy of the people. 
 These wars were not the transient result of ambition or 
 the strife of kings, conducted by regular armies, but the 
 
 * Ante, Introd. 19.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 59 
 
 fierce contests of one race with another, struggling for all CHAP. 
 that man holds dear their lives, their religion, their ' 
 language, and their possessions. For five long centuries 
 the fields of England were incessantly drenched with 
 blood ; every county was in its turn the scene of mortal 
 strife, and every tribe was successively driven by despair 
 to manly exertion ; until at length the effeminate char- 
 acter of the natives was completely changed, while their 
 conquerors were, by their very misfortunes, prevented 
 from sinking into the corruption which in general rapidly 
 follows success in barbarous times. The small divisions of 
 the Saxon kingdoms, by producing incessant domestic war- 
 fare, and bringing home the necessity for courage to every 
 cottager, eminently contributed in this way to the forma- 
 tion of the national character. Milton has said that the 
 wars of the Heptarchy were not more deserving of being ^ J 1 ^- 16 ' ' 
 recorded than the skirmishes of crows and kites. He sism. 
 would have been nearer the truth if he had said that they 400, 4oV 
 laid the foundation of the intrepid English character. 1 
 
 In this particular, as in many others, the insular situ- 
 ation of Britain eminently contributed to the formation Effect of the 
 of the national character. The other provinces of the Idtuation of 
 Roman empire were overrun at once, because a vast and 
 irresistible horde suddenly broke in upon them, which 
 they had no means of resisting. The settlement of the 
 Franks in Gaul, of the Visigoths in Spain, of the Vandals 
 in Africa, and of the Goths, and afterwards the Lombards, 
 in Italy, all took place in a single generation. But the 
 sea-girt shores of England could not be assailed by such 
 a sudden and irresistible irruption of enemies. It was 
 impossible in those times to find ships adequate for the 
 sudden transportation of so great a number as was re- 
 quired to effect an immediate conquest. " The blue-eyed 
 myriads from the Baltic coast" arrived by slow degrees, 
 in squadrons and small fleets, none of which appear to 
 have conveyed, at one time, above six or eight thousand 
 men, most of them only one thousand or fifteen hundred.
 
 60 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. These inconsiderable detachments could not at once con- 
 ' quer a whole country. Their devastation, equally with 
 their power, was confined to a small district, seldom 
 extending at first beyond the limits of a modern county. 
 The people were encouraged to resist, by the inconsiderable 
 number of enemies which made their appearance on any 
 one occasion ; and although fresh invaders incessantly 
 appeared, yet they generally assailed different districts, 
 in the hope of discovering fields of plunder hitherto un- 
 touched. The spirit of the nation was thus everywhere 
 called forth, both by the variety of points which were as- 
 sailed, and by the encouragement to local resistance which 
 arose from the prospect, and frequently the achievement, 
 of success : and the northern inundation, instead of being 
 a flood which at once overwhelmed the vanquished people, 
 and for centuries extinguished their energy, produced 
 
 in- rather a perpetual strife, in the course of which the war- 
 
 tosh s Eng- . r r . 
 
 land, i. so. like virtues were regained which had been lost amidst the 
 tranquillity of the Roman sway. 1 
 
 The exposure of the English to the piratical incursions 
 And of the of the Danes perpetuated this martial spirit, after the 
 cursiomi of union of the country into one monarchy might otherwise 
 Danes, j^yg wrought its extinction ; and, by compelling the 
 government for many generations to put arms into the 
 hands of the great body of the people, whether Saxons 
 or Britons, spread an independent feeling over the whole 
 population. To resist these merciless invaders, the whole 
 strength of the kingdom was trained to the use of arms, 
 and the earls of the counties summoned to their support 
 every man within their bounds capable of wielding a 
 halbert. By an ordinance of Alfred, a regular militia was 
 established throughout the realm ; and it was enacted, 
 that the entire male population should be registered and 
 armed. That great monarch fought no less than fifty-six 
 battles in person with the invaders, and established at 
 the same time the main rudiments of the English consti- 
 tution, by the institution of courts of justice, trial by jury,
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 61 
 
 and regular meetings of parliament. The natural conse- CHAP. 
 quence of these circumstances was the formation of a bold ' 
 and independent character, among not only the landed 
 proprietors but the peasantry, upon whose support the 
 former daily depended for defence against a roving but 
 indefatigable enemy. Accordingly, from the earliest 
 times, the free tenants held an important place among the 
 Anglo-Saxons, and were considered as the companions, 
 rather than the followers, of their chieftains. Like the 
 comites among the ancient Germans, they were the at- 
 tendants of their leaders in peace, and their strength and 
 protection in war. The infantry, in which the chiefs and 
 their followers fought together, was, even before the Con- 
 quest, the chief strength of the English armies ; while the 
 cavalry, in whose ranks the nobles alone appeared, consti- 
 tuted the pride of the Continental forces ; and this dif- 
 ference was so material, that it appears to this day in the 
 language of these different states. In all the states of the 
 Continent, the word chevalier is derived from and means gj^^io 
 a horseman ; while in England, the corresponding word i^ e . r j; L 18 
 knight has no reference to any distinction in the mode of Tac/Mor. 
 fighting, but comes from the German cnycht, a young man 21, u. ' 
 or companion. 1 
 
 But notwithstanding the strong principles of freedom 
 which the Saxons brought with them from their original Cause ' 
 seats in Germany, the causes which have proved fatal 
 to its existence in so many other states were likewise 
 in operation in England, and would have destroyed all freedom - 
 liberty in it, but for the occurrence which is usually con- 
 sidered as the most calamitous in its history. The Saxons 
 imported from the Continent the usual distinction be- 
 tween freemen and slaves, and the number of the latter 
 class augmented to a fearful degree during the long wars 
 of the Heptarchy, in which the prisoners were almost 
 universally reduced to servitude. At the time of the 
 Conquest, in consequence, the greater part of the land in 
 the kingdom was cultivated by serfs, who formed by
 
 62 1 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, far the most numerous class in the community. The free 
 
 '. tenants were extremely few in comparison. These slaves, 
 
 in process of time, would have constituted the whole lower 
 orders of the State, and the descendants of the freemen 
 have gradually dwindled into an aristocratic order. The 
 greatest increase of mankind is always found in the 
 lowest class of society ; because it is in them that the 
 principle of population is least restrained by prudential 
 considerations. The higher orders, so far from multiply- 
 ing, are never able, from the extraordinary influence of 
 the preventive check among them, to maintain their own 
 numbers without additions from below. This is the 
 fundamental principle which has rendered the maintenance 
 of liberty for any long period so extremely difficult in 
 all ages of the world. The descendants of the poor are 
 ever increasing, except in circumstances so disastrous as 
 to put an entire stop to the growth of population ; while 
 those of the middle or higher orders, if not aided by 
 recruits from below, are uniformly diminishing. The 
 humblest class, having least political weight, are overlooked 
 in the first struggles for freedom ; the free citizens, who 
 .have acquired privileges, resist the extension of them to 
 their inferiors ; the descendants of the freemen in one age 
 
 1 Hume, i. , . ., , , . . , 
 
 213, 216. become the privileged order in the next ; and on the 
 7, F 9. y> r!< basis of pristine liberty the oppression of oligarchy is 
 ultimately established. 1 
 
 This change had already begun to take place in this 
 consequent island. The descendants of the first Anglo-Saxon 
 settlers were now a distinct class of nobles ; the un- 
 happy race of slaves had immensely multiplied ; and, 
 notwithstanding its original principles of freedom, the 
 Anglo-Saxon constitution had become extremely aristo- 
 cratic. No middle class was recognised in society ; the 
 peasants were all enrolled, for the sake of protection, 
 under some chieftain whom they were bound to obey in 
 preference even to the sovereign ; and the industrial 
 classes were so extremely scanty, that York, the second
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 63 
 
 city in the kingdom, contained only fourteen hundred CHAP. 
 families. The freedom of the Anglo-Saxons, therefore, ! 
 was fast lapsing into oligarchy : and their descendants, 
 like the hidalgos of Spain, or the nobility of France, 
 might have been left in the enjoyment of ruinous exclu- 
 sive privileges, when the current of events was altered, 
 and they were forcibly blended with their inferiors, by 
 one of those catastrophes which seem destined by Pro- L^Tfo ' 
 vidence to arrest the course of human degradation. This Brady, ib. 
 event was the NORMAN CONQUEST. 1 
 
 As this was the last of the great settlements which 
 have taken place in modern Europe, so it was by far the Great effects 
 most violent and oppressive. The first settlers in the man'c^T 
 provinces of the Roman empire, being ignorant of the quest 
 use of wealth, and totally unacquainted with the luxuries 
 of life, deemed themselves fortunately established when 
 they obtained a part of the conquered lands. But the 
 needy adventurers who followed the standard of William 
 had already acquired expensive habits ; their desires were 
 insatiable, and, to gratify their demands, almost the whole 
 landed property of England was in a few years confiscated. 
 Hardly any conquest since the fall of Rome has been so 
 violent, or attended with such spoliation, contumely, and 
 insult. The ancient Saxon proprietor was frequently 
 reduced to the rank of a serf on his paternal estate, and 
 nourished, in the meanest employments, an inextinguish- 
 able hatred of his oppressor : maidens of the highest rank 
 were compelled to take the veil, in order to preserve 
 their persons from Norman violence, or were glad to 
 secure a legal title to protection by marrying the Norman 
 nobles, and conveying to them the estates they had 
 inherited from their fathers : tortures of the most cruel 
 kind were invented, to extort from the miserable people 
 their hidden treasures. In the suppression of the great 
 rebellion in the north of England, the most savage 
 measures were put in force. A tract eighty miles broad, 
 to the north of the Ilumber, was laid waste, and above a
 
 64 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, hundred thousand persons in consequence perished of 
 
 ' famine ; while in Hampshire a district of country thirty 
 
 miles in extent was depopulated, and the inhabitants 
 
 expelled without any compensation, to form a forest for 
 
 the royal pleasure. Nor were these grievances merely 
 
 the temporary outburst of hostile revenge ; they formed, 
 
 on the contrary, the settled maxims by which the govern- 
 
 ment for several reigns was regulated, and from which 
 
 the successors of the Conqueror were driven by necessity 
 
 alone. It was long an invariable rule to admit no 
 
 native of the island to any office of importance, eccle- 
 
 siastical, civil, or military. In the reign of Henry I. all 
 
 places of trust were still in the hands of the Normans ; 
 
 and so late as the beginning of the twelfth century, the 
 
 same arbitrary system of exclusion seems to have been 
 
 2<S, U 279, 1 ' rigidly enforced. The dispossessed proprietors sought in 
 
 283, 284, va - n to re g a } n their estates. An array of sixty thousand 
 
 JJ'fPge' Norman horsemen was always ready to support the pre- 
 
 304 2 S 3 ' * ens i ns f the intruding barons. The throne is still 
 
 Guizot, filled by the descendants of the Conqueror, and the 
 
 ch. ;i. " greatest families in the realm date their origin from the 
 
 battle of Hastings. 1 
 
 The English antiquarians, alarmed at the consequences 
 'ri- which might be deduced from this violent usurpation, have 
 
 woiry of endeavoured to soften its features, and to represent the 
 England. ^j" orman as reigning rather by the consent than the sub- 
 jugation of the Saxon inhabitants. In truth, however, it 
 was the severity and continued weight of this conquest, 
 which was the real cause of the refractory spirit of the 
 English people. The principles of liberty spread their 
 roots the deeper, just because they were prevented from 
 rising to the surface of society. The Saxon proprietors, 
 having been almost everywhere dispossessed of their pro- 
 perties, were necessarily cast down into the lower stations 
 of life. A foundation was thus laid for a middle rank in 
 society, totally different from what obtained in any other 
 state in Europe. It was not the native inhabitants, the
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 65 
 
 pusillanimous subjects of the Roman Empire, who from CHAP, 
 that period composed the lower orders of the State, but L 
 the descendants of the free Anglo-Saxon and Danish 
 settlers, who had acquired independent habits from the 
 enjoyment of centuries of liberty, and courageous feelings 
 from the recollection of a long series of successes. One 
 defeat could not extinguish the recollection of a hundred 
 victories. Habits, the growth of ages, survived the op- 
 pression of transient reigns. The power of the Normans 
 prevented the dispossessed proprietors or their descendants 
 from rising into the higher stations in society ; the slaves 
 already filled the lowest walks of life. Between the two 
 extremes they formed a sturdy and powerful body, which 
 neither was cast down in the contests of feudal power, nor 
 perished in the obscurity of ignoble bondage. It was l 
 from these causes that the yeomanry of England took i. 27. 
 their rise. 1 
 
 Had the kingdom of England been but an appanage 
 to a monarchy of greater extent, the discontents of this vast effect 
 middle class would probably have been treated with con- L- 
 tempt, or have been repressed by the stern hand of military on 
 power ; and the Norman barons, residing in their castles 
 in France, might have safely disregarded the impotent 
 clamours of their English tenantry. But, by a fortunate 
 combination of circumstances, this was rendered impos- 
 sible. The military chieftains who followed the Conqueror 
 were either possessed of no estates on the other side of the 
 Channel, or their recent acquisitions greatly exceeded the 
 value of their Continental possessions. The kingdom of 
 England was too powerful to be treated as an appanage 
 of a Norman duchy, and the English tenantry too for- 
 midable to be resigned to the oppressive government of 
 an absent nobility. Hence, both the sovereign and his 
 followers made England their principal residence ; and 
 the Norman nobility, who at first had flattered themselves 
 that they had gained an appanage to their duchy, soon 
 found, like the Scotch upon the accession of their monarchs 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 66 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, to the English throne, that they had changed places with 
 ' their supposed subjects, and that the province was become 
 
 the ruling power. The effects of this necessity soon ap- 
 peared in the measures of government. At the accession 
 of each successive monarch, and in every crisis of national 
 danger, it was deemed indispensable to make some sacrifice 
 to the popular wishes, and abate a little of the wonted 
 severity of the Norman rule, to secure the fidelity of their 
 English subjects. When Henry I. came to the throne, his 
 first step was to grant the famous charter, which was long 
 referred to as the foundation of English liberties, in order 
 to secure the support of his insular subjects against the 
 preferable claims of his brother Robert ; and, in conse- 
 quence, he was enabled to lead a victorious army into 
 Normandy, and revenge, on the field of Tenchebray, the 
 slaughter and the calamities of Hastings. When Stephen 
 seized the sceptre, he instantly passed a charter confirming 
 the grants of Henry, and promising to remit the Danish 
 tax, and restore the laws of Edward the Confessor. 
 Henry II. deemed it prudent, in the most solemn manner, 
 to ratify the same instrument. The pusillanimity and 
 disasters of John led to the extortion of Magna Charta, 
 ?328?35i e ' by vhich the old charter of Henry I. was again confirmed, 
 w 7 M a 8 iJns anc ^ *ke rights of all classes of freemen were enlarged and 
 
 bury, 179. established : and the great charter itself was ratified no 
 
 M. Paris, i -i . ii i 
 
 ss, 272. less than two-and-thirty different times m the succeeding 
 452. m reigns, on occasion of every extraordinary grant from the 
 subjects, or unusual weakness of the Crown. 1 
 
 The effects of these circumstances on the character and 
 
 21 
 
 And on the objects of the English struggles for freedom have been in 
 
 SeJfoJ*" the highest degree important. From perpetually recurring 
 
 dom - to the past, the habit was acquired of regarding liberty, 
 
 not as a boon to be gained, but as a right to be vindicated ; 
 
 not as an invasion of the constitution, but a restoration of 
 
 its pristine purity. The love of freedom came thus to be 
 
 inseparably blended with the veneration for antiquity ; 
 
 the privileges of the people were sought for, not in the
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 67 
 
 violation of present, but in the restitution of ancient right CHAP. 
 not by the work of destruction, but by that of conser- L 
 vation. The passion for liberty was thus divested of its 
 most dangerous consequences, by being separated from the 
 desire for innovation. The progress of the constitution was 
 marked, not by successive changes, but by repeated con- 
 firmations of subsisting rights ; and the efforts of freedom 
 in England, instead of being directed, as in most other 
 countries, to procure an expansion of the privileges of the 
 people in proportion to the progress of society, have been 
 almost entirely confined to an unceasing endeavour to pre- 
 vent their contraction by the arbitrary disposition of suc- 
 cessive monarchs. The same circumstances produced a 
 remarkable effect on the current of public feeling in 
 England, and the things which were regarded as the 
 objects of national anxiety by the great body of the 
 people. They mingled the recollection of their ancient 
 laws with the days of their national independence, and 
 looked back to the reign of Edward the Confessor as the 
 happy era when their rights and properties were secure, 
 and they had not yet tasted of the severity of foreign 
 domination. Hence the struggles of freedom in England 
 acquired a definite and practicable object ; and, instead 
 of being wasted in aspirations after visionary schemes, set- 
 led down into a strong and inextinguishable desire for the 
 restoration of an order of things once actually established, 
 and of which the experienced benefits were still engraven 
 on the recollections of the people. For several centuries, 
 accordingly, the continued effort of the English people was 
 to obtain the restitution of their Saxon privileges : they 
 were solemnly recognised in Magna Charta, and ratified 
 in the different confirmations of that important instrument ; . 
 
 1 Hallam, 
 
 and they are still, after the lapse of a thousand years, 451, ,452. 
 looked back to with interest by historians, as the original 272. 
 foundations of English liberty. 1 
 
 The effects of the same causes appeared in the most 
 striking manner in the wars of the English, for several
 
 68 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, centuries after the Norman Conquest. Their neighbours, 
 L the French and the Scotch, brought into the field only 
 22. the chivalry of the barons, and the spearmen of their 
 national serfs. No middle order was to be found superior to 
 the common billman, or foot-soldier, but inferior to the 
 mounted knight. But, in addition to these, the Plan- 
 tagenet monarchs appeared at the head of a vast and 
 skilful body of archers a force peculiar to England, 
 because it alone possessed the class from whom it could 
 be formed. It was the Saxon outlaws, driven by de- 
 spair into the numerous forests with which the country 
 abounded, who first from necessity obtained a perfect 
 mastery of this weapon. And accordingly, the graphic 
 novelist, with historic truth, makes Norman Richard the 
 leader of English chivalry, and Robin Hood, the prince 
 of Saxon outlaws, the first of British marksmen.' 5 '' It 
 was their descendants who swelled the ranks of the 
 English yeomanry, and constituted a powerful body in 
 war, formidable from their skill, their numbers, and 
 their independent spirit. The bow continued for ages 
 to be the favourite national weapon of the Saxons. 
 They practised the art incessantly in their amusements, 
 and regained, by its importance in the field of battle, 
 their due weight in the government of the country. 
 Not the Norman nobility, not the feudal retainers, as 
 Hallam observes, gained the victories of Cressy and 
 Tniek 16 ' Poolers, for they were fully matched in the ranks of 
 Scotland, ii. France ; but the yeomen who drew the bow with strong 
 
 439,440. ' J _ . 
 
 sism. and steady arms, accustomed to its use in their native 
 BL '' fields, and rendered fearless by personal competence and 
 
 civil freedom. 1 
 
 The Scotch government, whose armies had suffered so 
 
 often from the English archers, in vain passed repeated 
 
 * Sir Walter Scott in Itanhoe. It is a curious circumstance, that Thierry 
 mentions that it was this incomparable novel which first suggested to him the 
 idea of writing an account of the Norman Conquest, since realised in his 
 admirable history of that event. See THIERRY, Dix Ans d 1 Etudes Historiques, 
 Preface, p. 17.
 
 HISTOEY OF EUROPE. 69 
 
 acts to compel the formation of a similar force in their CHAP. 
 own country. All these measures proved ineffectual, 
 
 because the yeomanry were wanting who filled the ranks 23. 
 of the bowmen in the English armies. The French ofM C he^ 
 kings endeavoured, by mercenary troops drawn from the F^cTaLa 1 
 mountains of Genoa, to provide a match for the English Scotland - 
 archers ; but the jealousy of their government, which 
 prevented the middle orders from being allowed the use 
 of arms, rendered all such attempts nugatory ; and the 
 Plantagenet kings, in consequence, twice vanquished their 
 greatest armies, and marched boldly through the country, 
 at the head of the Saxon yeomanry. Even after the i pianta's 
 cessation of hostilities between the two monarchies, the f a nd,TL 3-21. 
 terrible English bands ravished with impunity the provinces g^f 
 of France ; nor did they ever experience any considerable 39 - Sism -.. 
 check till they approached the Swiss mountains and en- si. Bar'ante, 
 countered, at the cemetery of Bale, peasants as free, as face.' 
 sturdy, and as courageous as themselves. 1 
 
 It was a singular combination of circumstances which 
 
 24 
 
 rendered the middle ranks under the Norman princes so Peculiar 
 powerful, both in the military array of the State, and in tic which 
 the maintenance of their civil rights. The Norman Con- $% 
 quest had laid the foundation of such a class, by dis- S 
 possessing the numerous body of Saxon proprietors ; but 
 it was the subsequent necessities of the sovereigns and 
 the nobles, arising from their insular situation and their 
 frequent contests with each other, which compelled them 
 to foster the Saxon troops, and avail themselves of that 
 powerful force which they found existing in such perfec- 
 tion among their native forests. Cut off by the ocean 
 from their feudal brethren on the Continent, surrounded 
 by a numerous and warlike people, the barons perceived 
 that, without the support of their yeomanry, they could 
 neither maintain their struggles with the sovereign, nor 
 insure the possession of their estates. The privileges, 
 therefore, of this class were anxiously attended to in all 
 the renewals of the great charter ; and their strength
 
 70 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, was carefully fostered, as the main security both of the 
 . Crown and the barons, in their extensive and unsettled 
 
 insular possessions. It is considered by William of 
 Malmsbury as an especial work of Providence, that so 
 great a people as the English should have given up 
 all for lost after the destruction of so small an army as 
 that which fought at Hastings ; but it was precisely the 
 magnitude of this disproportion which perpetuated and ex- 
 tended the freedom of the country. Had the Normans 
 not succeeded, the free Saxons would have dwindled into 
 a feudal aristocracy, and the peasantry of England been 
 similar in their condition to the serfs of France. Had 
 an overwhelming power conquered, it would have utterly 
 crushed the vanquished people ; the Norman Conquest 
 would have been similar in its effects to the subjugation of 
 the neighbouring island, and the fields of England been now 
 chocked by the crowds and the wretchedness of Ireland. 
 It was the conquest of the country by a force which, 
 though formidable at first, became soon disproportioned 
 to the strength of the subdued realm, which both created 
 j a middle class and secured its privileges ; and, by blending 
 
 of Maims- the interests of the victor with those of the vanquished, 
 nS'i. 449. at length engrafted the vigour of Norman enterprise on 
 the steady spirit of English freedom. 1 * 
 
 In this view, the loss of the Continental provinces in 
 important the reign of King John, and the subsequent long wars 
 between France and England under the Plantagenet 
 princes, contributed strongly to the preservation of Eng- 
 France, j^ libej-ty by severing all connection between the barons 
 and their kinsmen on the Continent, and throwing both 
 
 * Long after these pages were written, I had the high satisfaction of finding 
 that, unknown to myself, M. Guizot had about the same time adopted a similar 
 view of the effects of the Norman Conquest, and illustrated it with the philo- 
 sophical spirit and extensive research for which his historical works are so 
 justly celebrated. See GUIZOT, Essais sur lllistoire de France, pp. 373 400. 
 It is singular how frequently, about the same period, the same ideas are sug- 
 gested to different writers, in situations remote from each other, which never 
 before occurred to those who have treated of the subject. It would appear 
 that political seasons bring forth the same fruits in different parts of the world 
 at the same time.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 71 
 
 the sovereigns and the nobility, for their chief support, CHAP. 
 upon the tenantry of their estates. From the commence- L 
 ment of these contests, accordingly, the distinction be- 
 tween Norman and English disappeared ; the ancient 
 prejudices and pride of the former yielded to the stronger 
 feeling of antipathy at their common enemies ; English 
 became the ordinary language both of the higher and 
 lower orders, and the English institutions the object of 
 veneration to the descendants of the very conquerors 
 who had overturned them. The continual want of money, 
 which the long duration of this desperate struggle occa- 
 sioned to the Crown, strengthened the growth of English 
 freedom; each successive grant by the barons was accom- 
 panied by a confirmation of ancient rights ; the commons, 
 from the frequent use of arms, came to feel their own 
 weight, and to assert their ancient privileges ; and at , 
 
 1 Hume, ii. 
 
 length England, under the Plantagenet sovereigns, regained J^.^ 4 
 as much liberty as it had ever enjoyed under the rule of 78, 79. ' 
 its Saxon monarchs. 1 
 
 Three circumstances connected with the Norman Con- 
 quest contributed, in a remarkable manner, to the pre- 
 servation of a free spirit among the barons and commons 
 of England. 
 
 L The first of these was the great weight which the 
 Crown acquired, from the ample share of the conquered Power of 
 lands which were allotted to the sovereign at the Con- und 
 quest. William received no less than fourteen hundred j^ 
 and twenty-two manors for his proportion a patrimony 
 far greater than was enjoyed by any sovereign of Europe 
 at the same period. The consequence was, that the 
 turbulent spirit of the barons was far more effectually 
 checked in this island than in the Continental states ; the 
 monarch could generally crush by his sentence any 
 obnoxious nobleman ; his courts of justice extended their 
 jurisdiction into every part of the kingdom ; and the 
 essential prerogatives of the Crown, those of coining 
 money and repressing private wars, were never, except
 
 72 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, in reigns of unusual weakness, usurped by the subjects. 
 For a century and a half after the Conquest, the authority 
 
 of the Norman sovereigns was incomparably more exten- 
 sive than that of any of the other monarchs who had 
 settled on the ruins of the Roman empire. The industry 
 and wealth of the commons were thus more completely 
 protected in England than in the neighbouring kingdoms, 
 1 Hume, i. where feudal violence, private wars, and incessant blood- 
 
 3o3 369 
 
 371'; ii. 73, shed, crushed the first efforts of laborious freedom ; and 
 ii.427. a the middle ranks, comparatively free from oppression, 
 n?288 ton ' gradually grew in importance with the extension of their 
 numbers, and the insensible increase of their opulence. 1 
 
 II. The second was the insular situation of the country, 
 insular' and its consequent exemption from the horrors of actual 
 war f are< "With the exception of a few incursions of 
 the Scottish monarchs into the northern counties, which 
 were transient in their duration and partial in their 
 effects, England has hardly ever been the seat of 
 foreign war since the Conquest ; and the southern coun- 
 ties, by far the most important both in riches and popu- 
 lation, have not seen the fires of an enemy's camp for 
 eight hundred years. Securely cradled in the waves, 
 her industry has scarcely ever felt the devastating in- 
 fluence of foreign conquest ; her arms have often carried 
 war into foreign states, but she has never suffered from 
 its havoc in her own. Periods of foreign hostility have 
 been known to her inhabitants only from the increased 
 excitation of national feeling, or the quickened encourage- 
 ment of domestic industry. The effects of this happy 
 exemption from the devastation of foreign invasion have 
 been incalculable. It is during the dangers and the 
 exigencies of war that military violence acquires its fatal 
 ascendancy ; that industry is blighted by the destruction 
 of its produce ; labour deadened by the forfeiture of its 
 hopes ; pacific virtues extinguished by the insults which 
 they suffer ; warlike qualities developed by the eminence 
 to which they lead. In every age the principles of liberty
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 73 
 
 expand during the protection of peace, and are withered CHAP. 
 by the whirl and the agitation of war. If this truth has 
 
 been experienced in our own times, when military devas- 
 tation is comparatively limited, and industry universally 
 diffused, what must have been its importance in a barbarous 
 age, when the infant shoots of freedom were first beginning 
 to appear, and could expand only under the shelter of 
 baronial or monastic power 1 It is accordingly observed 
 by all our historians, that the feudal institutions of Eng- 
 land were far less military than those which obtained in 
 the Continental monarchies ; that private wars were com- 
 paratively unknown, and that the armies of the kings 
 were for the most part composed of levied troops, whose 
 
 , . . . ., ' . iHallam.i. 
 
 unbroken experience soon acquired a decided superiority 479. 
 over the feudal militia of their enemies. 1 
 
 III. The third circumstance was the fortunate limita- 
 
 28 
 
 tion of the privileges of nobility to the eldest son of the Anglo-' 
 family. This was owing to the weight of the commons ax 
 in the constitution, which arose from the number and 
 opulence of the Saxon proprietors, who had been dis- 
 possessed by the Normans. It prevented the formation 
 of a privileged class, and suffered the prerogatives of 
 nobility to exist only in that member of the family who 
 inherited the paternal estate ; and there is no single 
 circumstance which has contributed more to confer its 
 long permanence, its regular improvement, and its in- 
 herent vigour, on the English constitution. The descen- 
 dants of the nobles were thus prevented from forming 
 a caste, to whom, as in the Continental monarchies, 
 the exclusive right of filling certain situations might 
 be limited. The younger branches of the aristocracy, 
 after a few generations, relapsed into the rank, and be- 
 came identified with the interests of the commons ; and 
 that pernicious separation of noble and plebeian, which 
 has been the principal cause of the destruction of freedom 
 in all the European states, was from the earliest times 
 softened in this country. The nobility in the actual
 
 74 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, possession of their estates were too few in number to 
 
 . form an obnoxious body ; their relations, possessing no 
 
 privileges above the commoners, ceased, after a few gene- 
 rations, either to be objects of envy to their inferiors, 
 or to be identified in interest with the class from which 
 they sprang. Thus the different ranks of society were 
 478. blended together, by a link descending from the higher, 
 and ultimately resting on the lower orders. 1 
 
 But this freedom, though firmly established by the 
 Entire want feudal constitutions, was limited to the classes for whose 
 tion'toThe interest alone these constitutions appear to have been 
 labourers, intended. The villains or slaves, who still constituted 
 the great body of the labouring population, were almost 
 wholly unprotected. Even in Magna Charta, while the 
 personal freedom of every free subject was provided for, 
 the more numerous body of slaves that is, the whole 
 rural labourers, probably nine -tenths of the working 
 classes in the kingdom were left to the mercy of their 
 landlords, with the single stipulation that they should not 
 be deprived of their implements of husbandry. Their 
 Humc, ii. emancipation, far from being the work of the barons, 
 30 J "'iSi 1 ' was accomplished by the efforts of the clergy and the 
 T 4 | 7 ' - prog 1 " 688 f humanity in a subsequent age. General 
 200. ' liberty, in our sense of the word, was unknown in Eng- 
 land till after the Great Rebellion. 2 
 
 In the reign of Richard II., the gradual progress of 
 Democratic wealth, and the extraordinary excitation awakened among 
 time of" e all ranks by the military glories and lucrative wars of 
 ' Edward III., produced the first effervescence of the real 
 democratic spirit. The insurrection of Wat Tyler, which 
 was contemporaneous with the efforts of the Flemish 
 burghers to emancipate their country from feudal ty- 
 ranny, was a general movement of the lower classes ; and, 
 accordingly, it was directed not against the power of the 
 Crown, but against the exclusive privileges of the nobility. 
 
 " When Adam delved and Eve span, 
 Where was then the gentleman?"
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 75 
 
 was the maxim on which they rested ; a distich point- CHAP. 
 
 ing to a struggle of a totally different kind from any 1__ 
 
 previously known in modern Europe, and corresponding 
 very nearly to the principles which, four centuries after, 
 produced the French Revolution. But all the great 
 changes of nature are gradual in their progress : the 
 effects of sudden convulsions are as transient as the 
 effervescence from which they spring. The insurrection 
 of the peasants in England met with the same fate as 
 did that of the Flemish democracy at Resebecque : the 
 feudal array of the barons easily dispersed a rabble im- 
 perfectly armed and wholly undisciplined. Their vic- 
 tory was fortunate for the progress of real liberty ; the 
 triumph of the peasants must have been shortlived, and 
 would have exhibited the horrors of a Negro revolt. 
 Ignorant, disunited men, drawn from humble employ- 
 ments, unaccustomed to the exercise of political rights, 
 can never long remain at the head of affairs. After 
 the fervour of the moment is over, they necessarily fall 
 under the dominion, if not of their former masters, at 
 least of tyrants of their own creating, and their ultimate 
 condition is worse than the first. Centuries of peace 
 and increasing wealth the unceasing operation of a 
 beneficent religion the influence of printing and dif- 
 fused knowledge a more general distribution of pro- 
 perty a change in the implements of human destruc- i 
 tion, were all required, before a part even of the levelling 74. Pnrfl ' 
 principles then diffused among the English peasantry loji.' "' 
 could be safely carried into practice. 1 
 
 The power of the feudal aristocracy received a final 
 blow from the wars of York and Lancaster. Those bloody wars of the 
 dissensions destroyed the fabric of Gothic power : they Roses ' 
 watered the English plains with blood, but it was blood 
 from which has arisen a harvest of glory. From causes 
 which it is difficult now to trace, they early assumed a 
 character of extraordinary ferocity. Prisoners even of 
 the highest rank, on both sides, were, from the very com-
 
 76 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, mencemcnt, massacred in cold blood ; and at length the 
 L exasperation of the two parties became so excessive, that 
 quarter was refused by common consent on the field of 
 battle, and thirty-six thousand Britons fell by mutual 
 slaughter in a single engagement. The chasm occasioned 
 by these losses was soon repaired by the lower orders ; 
 but to the feudal nobility they proved completely fatal. 
 Eighty princes of the blood, and almost the whole ancient 
 barons, perished in these disastrous wars ; and, upon the 
 termination of hostilities, the House of Peers could only 
 muster forty members. The influence of those who re- 
 mained was immensely weakened. In the different for- 
 feitures which had been inflicted with so unsparing a hand 
 by the factions who alternately prevailed, the estates of 
 almost all the nobility in the kingdom had been included ; 
 and the feudal tenants, accustomed to a rapid change of 
 masters in the general confusion, lost great part of their 
 ancient veneration for their superiors. The nobles became 
 divided among each other : the survivors of the Norman 
 conquerors viewed with undisguised jealousy the upstart 
 families who had risen in the midst of the public distress ; 
 and these regarded with equal horror the remnant of fero- 
 , Hallamt cious barons, ever ready to exterminate them to regain 
 !^ 5 29 I *' umc their properties. Weakened in numbers, disunited among 
 2i2zi5 ' tnemse ^ ves an d severed from the affections of the people, 
 237.' the ancient nobility of England were never again formid- 
 able to the liberties of their country. 1 
 
 32 The ultimate effects of this destruction of the feudal 
 
 Decline of aristocracy were eminently favourable to public freedom ; 
 
 feudal . J .. J 
 
 liberty. but its immediate consequence was a great and most 
 perilous augmentation of the power of the monarch. The 
 ancient barrier had been swept away, and the new one 
 was not yet erected. By the forfeited estates which ac- 
 crued to the victorious monarch, a fifth of the whole lands 
 of the kingdom was annexed to the Crown ; and notwith- 
 standing the liberal grants to the nobles of his party, the 
 hereditary revenue which Edward left to his successors
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 77 
 
 was very great. The influence of the nobles being in CHAP. 
 abeyance, and the people having neither acquired nor be- ' 
 come capable of exerting any share of power but through 
 the medium of their superiors, nothing remained to resist the 
 power of the sovereign. The inevitable consequence was the 
 destruction of the freedom which had been won by the 
 struggles of the barons. Hence the tyranny of the Tudor 
 princes. Nothing, accordingly, is more remarkable than 
 the pliant servility of parliament, and the slavish submis- 
 sion of the people, during the reigns of the successors of 
 Henry VII. Civil war appears to have worn out their 
 energies, and extinguished their ancient passion for free- 
 dom ; the Houses of Peers and Commons vied with each 
 other in acts of adulation to the reigning monarch : it 
 seemed as if the Barons of Runnymede had been succeeded 
 by the senate of Tiberius. Even the commons had almost 
 totally lost their former spirit : the most arbitrary taxa- 
 tion, the most repeated violations of their liberties, pro- 
 duced no popular convulsion; mandates issued from court 
 were universally obeyed in the election of members of 
 parliament ; and the most violent changes of which history 
 makes mention the destruction of the national religion, ^^ iv> 
 the seizure of one-third of the national property, the exe- %> 399.' 
 
 . - . i . A 1 Hallam, iii. 
 
 cution of seventy-two thousand persons in a single reign, 298. 
 produced no commotions among the people. 1 
 
 This was the critical period of English liberty ; the 
 country had reached that crisis which, in all the great Con- Revived by 
 tinental monarchies, had proved fatal to public freedom. 
 Notwithstanding her insular situation notwithstanding 
 the independent spirit of her Saxon ancestry notwith- tion - 
 standing the efforts of her feudal nobility the liberty of 
 England was all but extinct, when the enthusiasm of the 
 REFORMATION fanned the dying spark, and kept alive, in 
 a sect which soon became predominant, the declining flame 
 of liberty. The Puritans were early distinguished by their 
 zeal in the cause of freedom. During the imperious reign 
 of Elizabeth thev maintained in silence their inflexible
 
 78 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, spirit ; and so well was her government aware of the dan- 
 gerous tendency of their principles, that they never were 
 
 permitted, during the reign of that sagacious princess, to 
 have the smallest share in state affairs. In the time of 
 James I. their number became greater, and their exertions 
 in the cause of freedom more apparent. The first serious 
 attacks on government were made through the pulpit ; 
 and the only persons in this, as in other countries at the 
 same period, who made any exertions in favour of their 
 liberties, were those who were animated with religious zeal. 
 During the reign of Charles I. a universal frenzy seized 
 the nation ; an enthusiasm almost as general, and far more 
 lasting than that of the Crusades, pervaded the middle 
 and a considerable proportion of the higher ranks ; and, 
 but for the strength of that feeling, the Long Parliament 
 would never have been able to withstand the exertions 
 which, with their characteristic loyalty, the English gentle- 
 men at that period made in defence of their sovereign. 
 " From whatever cause," says Cromwell, " the civil war 
 began, if religion was not the original source of discord, 
 yet God soon brought it to that issue ; " and he constantly 
 affirmed that, amidst the strife of battle, and the dangers 
 of war, the reward to which he and his followers looked 
 forward was freedom of conscience. It is of little moment 
 whether the future Protector and his military chieftains 
 were, or were not, sincere in these professions. It is suffi- 
 cient that such was the temper of the times, that by no 
 other means could they rouse the energies of the great 
 body of the people. The effects of this spirit were not 
 confined to this island, or the period in which it arose 
 , Hume v they extended to another hemisphere and a distant age ; 
 v^is 48 ?!) and from the emigrants whom religious oppression drove 
 117,337, ' to the forests of America have sprung those powerful 
 xi. 360. mg ' states who have tried, amidst Transatlantic plenty, the 
 doubtful experiment of democratic freedom. 1 
 
 But while the current of popular feeling was thus 
 violent in favour of republican principles, the effect of
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 79 
 
 ancient and fondly cherished national institutions strongly CHAP. 
 appeared, and the English reaped the benefit of the long 
 
 struggle maintained through the feudal ages by their an- 34. 
 cestors in the cause of freedom. Though the substance of the regard y 
 liberty had fled during the arbitrary reigns of the Tudor righuTrf 
 princes, her shadow still remained : the popular attachment En 8 land - 
 to ancient rights was undecayed ; the venerable forms of 
 the constitution were unchanged and on that foundation 
 the new and broader liberties of the country were reared. 
 But for this happy circumstance, the spirit of freedom 
 which the Reformation awakened might have wasted it- 
 self, as in Scotland, in visionary and impracticable schemes, 
 until the nation, worn out with speculations from which 
 no real benefit could accrue, willingly returned to its 
 pristine servitude. Whereas, by the course of events 
 which had preceded it, the stream of liberty naturally re- 
 turned, when strengthened, into its wonted, though now al- 
 most neglected channels ; and, without breaking its former 
 bounds, or overwhelming the ancient landmarks, extended 
 its fertilising influence over a wider surface. 
 
 " It is remarkable/' says Turgot, " that while England 
 is the country in the world where public freedom has which is 
 longest subsisted, and political institutions are most the ipn g -estab- 
 subject of discussion, it is at the same time the one in i L&T 1 
 which innovations are with most difficulty introduced, and tlons ' 
 where the most obstinate resistance is made to undoubted 
 improvements. You might alter the whole political frame 
 of government in France with more facility than you could 
 introduce the most insignificant change into the customs or 
 fashions of England." x The principle here alluded to is i Turgot, n. 
 at once the consequence and the reward of free institu- 
 tions. Universally it will be found, that the attachment 
 of men to the customs and usages of their forefathers is 
 greatest where they have had a considerable share in the 
 establishment or enjoyment of them ; and that the danger 
 of innovation is most to be feared where the exercise of 
 rights has been longest unknown to the people. The
 
 80 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, dynasties of the East arc of ephemeral duration, the monar- 
 L chies of Europe are modified or changed by the progress 
 of society ; but the customs of the Swiss democracies seem 
 as immovable as the mountains in which they were 
 cradled.* The same principles have, in every age, formed 
 the distinguishing characteristic of the English people. 
 During the severities and oppression of the Norman rule, 
 it was to the equal laws of the Saxon reigns that they 
 looked back with a fond affection, which neither the un- 
 certainty of oral tradition, nor the intensity of present 
 suffering, had been able to destroy. When the barons 
 assembled in open rebellion at Runnymede, it was not any 
 imaginary system of government which they established, 
 but the old and consuetudinary laws of Edward the Con- 
 fessor, which they moulded into a new form, and estab- 
 lished on a firmer basis in the great charter ; tempering, 
 even in a moment of revolutionary triumph, the ardour of 
 liberty and the pride of descent by their hereditary attach- 
 ment to old institutions. The memorable reply of the 
 barons to the proposal of the prelates at Mertoun, Nolu- 
 mus leges Anglice mutare, has passed into a fixed maxim, 
 to which the preservation of the constitution through all 
 the convulsions of later times is mainly to be ascribed. In 
 the petition of right drawn by Selden and the greatest 
 lawyers of his day, the parliament said to the king, " Your 
 subjects have inherited this freedom ;" and in the preamble 
 of the Declaration of Rights, the states do not pretend any 
 right to frame a government for themselves, but strive only 
 to secure the religion, laws, and liberties, long possessed, 
 
 * The French Directory, in the ardour of their innovations, proposed to the 
 peasant* of Uri and Unterwalden a change in their constitution, and made the 
 offer of fraternisation, which had seduced the allegiance of so many other states. 
 But these sturdy mountaineers replied, " Words cannot express, citizen direc- 
 tors, the profound grief which the proposal to accede to the new Helvetic 
 league has occasioned in these valleys. Other people may have different incli- 
 nations ; but we, the descendants of William Tell, who have preserved without 
 the slightest alteration the constitution which he has left us, have but one 
 unanimous wish that of living under the government which Providence and 
 the courage of our ancestors have left us." LACRETELLE, life. Franf. iii. 162.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 81 
 
 and lately endangered ; and their prayer is only, " That it CHAP. 
 may be declared and enacted, that all and singular the L 
 rights and liberties asserted and declared, are the true, 
 ancient, and indubitable rights and liberties of the people 
 of this kingdom." 1 " By adhering in this manner," says 1 1 wniia 
 Burke, " to our forefathers, we are guided, not by the c n f. Mary ' 
 superstition of antiquarians, but the spirit of philosophic 
 analogy. In this choice of inheritance we have given to 
 our frame of policy the image of a relation in blood, bind- 
 ing up the constitution of our country with our dearest 
 domestic ties, adopting our fundamental laws into the 
 bosom of our family affections ; keeping inseparable, and tef^"-** 7 - 
 cherishing with the warmth of all their combined and 89,141,223. 
 
 n > -i ' 11 Burke, vi. 
 
 mutually reflected chanties, our state, our hearths, our 76, so. 
 sepulchres, and our altars." 2 
 
 These principles have not been abandoned by the 
 descendants of England in their Transatlantic possessions. And which 
 When the Americans threw off the yoke of Britain, they America, 
 retained its laws, its religion, its institutions, with the 
 exception of the monarchical and aristocratic part ; no 
 massacres or proscriptions, no confiscations or exiles, dis- 
 graced the rise of their liberty ; no oblivion of the past 
 was made the foundation of their hopes for the future. 
 The English church is still the prevailing religion of the 
 land, at least in the higher classes ; the English decisions 
 yet regulate their courts of justice ; and English institu- 
 tions form the basis on which their national prosperity has 
 been reared. Amidst the exasperations of a civil war, 
 they have deviated less than others engaged in revolution 
 from the usages of civilised life. Alone of all foreigners, 
 an Englishman still feels at home when he crosses the 
 Atlantic ; and the first efforts of American eloquence have 
 been exerted in painting the feelings of an ingenuous in- 
 habitant of that country, when he first visited the land of .. ... . 
 
 J \ a Wasbmg- 
 
 his fathers. 3 It is the distinctive mark of the growth, not tn irvings 
 
 (Sketch- 
 
 of the free, but the democratic spirit, that the majority of Book, i. !>. 
 the inhabitants of the United States, in later times, have 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 82 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, departed from this reverence for antiquity, and imbibed, 
 
 I- with jealousy of England, and partiality for French alli- 
 
 ance, a progressive disregard of the institutions and good 
 
 faith to which their former greatness has been owing. 
 
 "When this spirit becomes universal, it is not going too far 
 
 to affirm that the last hour of American freedom is at hand. 
 
 As the best proof that the Revolution of England owed 
 
 Savage' cha- its distinctive character to the circumstances which pre- 
 
 ceded it, and to the large share enjoyed by previous 
 roIan<L generations in the government of the country, it is suffi- 
 cient to refer to what took place at the same period in the 
 sister kingdoms. Ireland, conquered by Henry II., was 
 retained for four centuries in a state of feudal subjection 
 to Britain ; none of the privileges of English subjects had 
 been communicated to her inhabitants they had neither 
 tasted of the severity of Saxon conquest, nor the blessings 
 of Saxon freedom. Feudal aristocracy, in its worst form, 
 accompanied by national exasperation, and an absent 
 nobility, there prevailed ; and what was the consequence 1 
 Instead of the moderate reforms, the humane conquests, 
 and the security to property, which distinguished the 
 English Rebellion, there appeared the most terrible horrors 
 of popular licentiousness, and the last severities of military 
 execution general massacres, the burning of families, tor- 
 rents of blood shed both in the field and on the scaffold, 
 the storming of cities, and the desolation of provinces. 
 English revenge, though grievously provoked, was still 
 more terrible. Cromwell seriously endeavoured to extir- 
 pate the native Irish Catholics, though they were eight 
 times as numerous as the Protestants : forty thousand men 
 were sent as soldiers to foreign states, and their wives and 
 children hurried off to the plantations ; the most severe 
 and arbitrary laws were enforced against those who re- 
 mained in the country ; the estates of all who had borne 
 arms against the parliament were forfeited, and one-third 
 of their possessions cut off from all those proprietors who 
 had not served in the popular ranks. A large portion of
 
 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 83 
 
 the people were removed from one part of the country to CHAP. 
 another, and any transplanted Irishman, found out of his ' 
 district, might be put to death by the first person who met 
 him. Such was the effect of these measures, that nearly 
 one-half of the whole land in the country, amounting to 
 above seven millions of acres, was forfeited, and bestowed 
 
 on the revolutionary soldiers : even after the restoration xi L 
 
 of Charles, two-thirds of these immense possessions were ? 4 3 79 Hume ' 
 
 left in the hands of the recent acquirers : and though the icing's 
 
 /N Scotland, 
 
 remainder was nominally restored to the Catholics, none of m. 218, 219. 
 it returned to the dispossessed proprietors. 1 
 
 In Scotland, also, at the same period, the struggle for 
 freedom was marked by all the horrors of popular licen- And Sc'ot- 
 tiousness. In that state, neither the Saxon institu- 
 tions, nor the principles of freedom, had in early times 
 obtained any solid footing ; and, in consequence, the 
 nobles and peasantry, without either the intervention of 
 a middle rank or the moderating influence of previous 
 privileges, were brought into fierce collision at the Re- 
 formation. As might have been expected, the proceed- 
 ings of the Revolutionists were from the very first 
 characterised by the utmost violence and injustice. The 
 whole property of the Church, amounting to about a third 
 of the kingdom, was confiscated, and bestowed on the 
 barons of the popular party ; blood flowed profusely 
 on the scaffold ; quarter was almost invariably refused 
 in the field ; and the proceedings of the adverse parties 
 resembled rather the sanguinary vengeance of savages, than 
 the conduct of men contending for important civil privi- 
 leges. The mild and humane conduct of the Civil War 
 in England forms the most striking contrast to the cruelty 
 of the Royalists or the severity of the Covenanters in ^fgjj'- 
 Scotland. The horrors of the La Vendee insurrection 355, 448. 
 were anticipated in the massacres of Montrose's followers ; Life of 
 and the Noyades of the Loire are not without a parallel 268. 
 in the atrocious revenge of the popular faction. 2 * 
 
 * The whole Irish prisoners belonging to Montrose's army, taken in various
 
 84 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. Nor was it any peculiarity in the national character 
 which stamped its singular and honourable features on the 
 
 39. English Rebellion. The civil wars of York and Lan- 
 caster, not a century and a half before, had been distin- 
 guished by a degree of ferocious cruelty, to which a 
 parallel is hardly to be found even in the terrific annals 
 of the French Revolution. Prisoners of every rank were 
 uniformly massacred in cold blood, after the action was 
 over ; a leader of one of the factions did not scruple to 
 murder, with his own hands, the youthful prince whom 
 fortune had placed in his power ; and the savage orders 
 > Lac PT to " e no q 11 ^ 61 *' which the French revolutionary gov- 
 Hiit'ii. 58. ernment issued to their armies, but the humanity of the 
 203, 210. 1 * commanders refused to execute, were deliberately acted 
 
 n 
 
 355. n8 ' upon, for a course of years, by bodies of Englishmen 
 against each other. 1 
 
 The humane and temperate spirit of the English Re- 
 bellion must, therefore, be ascribed to the circumstances 
 
 
 JS y h rfth"e under which the contest began in that country the rights 
 previously acquired, the privileges long exercised, the 
 attachments descending from a remote age, the modera- 
 tion flowing from the possession of freedom. It was dis- 
 graced by no violent innovations, because it arose among 
 a people attached by long habit to old institutions. It 
 was followed by no proscriptions, because it was headed 
 by the greater part of the intelligence of the State, and 
 not abandoned to the undirected passions of the populace ; 
 it was distinguished by singular moderation in the use of 
 power, because it was conducted by men to whom its 
 exercise had long been habitual ; it was attended by little 
 confiscation of property, because among its ranks was to 
 be found a large portion of the wealth of the kingdom. 
 
 parts of Scotland, were put to death in cold blood after the battle of Philip- 
 haugh by the victorious Covenanters ; and the children of those taken in West 
 Lothian were dropped from the bridge of Linlithgow into the river Avon ; 
 while bands of the ferocious Republicans stood by the side of the stream 
 further down, with halberds in their hands, to massacre such of the drowning 
 innocents as might be thrown ashore. NAPIER'S Life of Montrote, 268 ; and 
 CHAMBERS'S Revolution*, 1648, ii. 137.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 85 
 
 The remarkable moderation of public opinion, which has CHAP. 
 ever since distinguished this country from the neighbour- 
 
 ing states, and attracted equal attention among foreigners 1 1 L c. Hist. 
 and ourselves, 2 has arisen from the continued operation of vii. 39? 
 
 the same circumstances. 
 
 The importance of these circumstances will best be 
 appreciated, and their application to the French Revolu- vi - *). 
 tion understood, by reviewing the past history of that 
 country. 
 
 Like the other provinces of the Roman empire, Gaul, 
 upon the irruption of the barbarous nations, was sunk to state of the 
 the lowest stage of effeminacy and degradation. So early 
 as the time of Tacitus, the decay in the military courage 
 of the people had become conspicuous ; and before the 
 fall of the empire, it was found to be impossible to recruit 
 the legions among its enervated inhabitants. Slavery, 
 like a cancer, had consumed the vitals of the State ; 
 patrician wealth had absorbed or extinguished plebeian 
 industry ; the race of independent freeman had disap- 
 peared, and in their room had sprung up a swarm of 
 ignoble dependents upon absent proprietors. These 
 miserable inhabitants were oppressed to the greatest 
 degree by the Roman governors ; they were rigidly ex- 
 cluded from every office of trust, civil or military. The 
 whole freemen in the province only amounted to five 
 hundred thousand men ; and the capitation-tax, in the 
 time of Constantine, is said to have reached the enormous 
 sum of nine pounds sterling for each free citizen. Under 
 
 3 Xac. Vit 
 
 this iron despotism, population in the provinces rapidly Aaria c. ii. 
 declined ; the slaves went willingly off with every invader, 83; m. 6.5, 
 
 and swelled the ranks of the northern conquerors ; and 
 while the numbers of the people steadily increased among 4ns, i. 
 the free inhabitants of the German forests, the human race l .^ 1 *- 
 was fast disappearing in the opulent provinces of the *. o, io. 
 
 o T . ., Luitprand, 
 
 Roman empire. 8 National character, as might easily have ii. 48i. 
 been anticipated, ere long declined under the combined
 
 86 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, influence of these degrading circumstances. The inhabi- 
 tants of Gaul were considered by the northern nations, 
 
 in the sixth century, as combining all the vices of human 
 nature the cruelty of barbarism with the cowardice of 
 opulence the cringing of slaves with the arrogance of 
 tyrants the falsehood of civilised with the brutality of 
 savage life. They could apply no stronger epithet of 
 contumely to an enemy than to call him a Roman. 
 
 When the barbarians, at the close of the fourth century, 
 Their cin- broke in on all sides upon the Western Empire, they 
 Franks.* l e found the whole land in the hands of a few great families, 
 who cultivated their ample possessions by means of slaves. 
 The province of Gaul was no exception to this deplorable 
 state, the natural and miserable issue of corrupted opu- 
 lence. Their barbarian conquerors, however, did not at 
 once seize the whole of the vanquished lands : the 
 Burgundians and Visigoths took two-thirds of their re- 
 spective conquests ; and although the proportion seized 
 by the Franks is not distinctly mentioned, it is evident 
 that they occupied the largest portion of the lands of 
 Gaul. The estates left in the hands of the Roman pro- 
 prietors were termed allodial, which, for a considerable 
 time, were distinguishable from the military estates by 
 which they were surrounded ; but the depressed condition 
 of the ancient inhabitants is abundantly proved by the fact, 
 that the fine for the death of a common Frank was fixed 
 at 200 solidi, and that of a Roman proprietor at 100. 
 By degrees the distinction between barbarian and Roman 
 144, 147,' ' became still more marked ; the allodial properties were 
 Leges Sail- gradually either seized by the military chieftains in their 
 si, neighbourhood, or ranked, for the sake of security, under 
 sv3.'Gib. ti 16 * 1 ' protection ; the feeble inhabitants of the corrupted 
 jjgj empire yielded to the energetic efforts of barbarian inde- 
 Fr? n 'c d ' e P^ence, an d by the eleventh century the revolution in 
 72, 100. the landed property was complete, except in the southern 
 provinces, and the name of Gaul merged in that of France. 1 
 The military followers of Clovis, like all the other Ger-
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 87 
 
 man tribes, were strongly attached to the principles of CHAP. 
 freedom. They respected the military talents of their 
 
 great leader, and willingly followed his victorious standard ; 43. 
 but they considered themselves as his equals rather than dent p s ph-it 
 his subjects, and were not afraid to dare his resentment Franks. 
 when the period of military command was over. When 
 the spoil of the neighbouring Roman provinces was 
 divided at Soissons, Clovis begged that a particular vase 
 might be set aside for his use. The army having expressed 
 their acquiescence, a single soldier exclaimed, " You shall 
 have nothing here but what falls to your share by lot/' 
 and struck the precious vessel to pieces with his battle- 
 axe. The conquest of Gaul spread these independent 
 warriors, who did not exceed many thousands in number, 
 over the ample provinces of that extensive country ; and 
 their annual assemblies in spring gave rise to the cele- 
 brated meetings of the Champs-de-Mai, long revered as 
 the rudimental institution of French liberty. But the 
 difficulty of collecting a body so widely dispersed was soon 
 severely felt ; the new proprietors early became occupied 
 by the interests of their separate estates, and disliked the 
 burdensome attendance at the convocations ; the monarchs J P BOS, 
 ceased to summon their unwilling followers ; and the a. sdi. Hat 
 successors of Clovis gradually freed themselves from all 155.' K 3 * 
 dependence on the ancient founders of the monarchy. 1 
 
 The power of the monarch, however, in barbarous 
 ages, can be rendered permanent only by the possession R O ;S Fain6- 
 of great military qualities : the ease and luxury of a court S y t 
 rapidly extinguish the vigour which is requisite for its l^m 4 
 maintenance. The premature enjoyments of luxury of Charl e- 
 
 *" * *f magnc. 
 
 debased the minds of the early French monarchs, while 
 they enervated their bodies ; and the kings of the Mero- 
 vingian race dwindled into a succession of full-grown 
 children, scarce one of whom was five feet high. By 
 degrees the mayors of the palace usurped the royal 
 authority ; and a succession of sovereigns, distinguished 
 by the emphatic name of Rois Faineants, rendered the
 
 88 HISTOBY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. Crown contemptible, even in the eyes of a degenerate 
 * people. The victories of Charles Martel, the genius of 
 Charlemagne, for a time averted the degradation of the 
 throne ; but with the termination of their rule the royal 
 authority declined : the great proprietors everywhere 
 usurped the prerogatives of the Crown ; and France was 
 divided into a number of separate principalities, each in 
 a great measure independent of its neighbour, and waging 
 war and administering justice on its own authority. 
 Nothing, indeed, is more remarkable than the rapid and 
 early degeneracy of conquering savage or pastoral states. 
 No sooner are they settled on the vanquished lands, than 
 they adopt the vices, and sink into the effeminacy, of their 
 subjects ; the energy of the barbarian character is lost 
 with the necessity which created it ; and the descendants 
 of the conquerors cannot, in a few generations, be dis- 
 tinguished from those of the vanquished people. The 
 human mind requires several generations to bear, even 
 with tolerable equanimity, the seductions of riches. At 
 once thrown into a rude and illiterate people, they prove, 
 like ardent spirits to the Red man of America, utterly 
 fatal. This truth was signally exemplified in the early 
 history of the French monarchy. Even during the reign 
 of Charlemagne, the inherent weakness of a barbarous age 
 was perceptible : all the splendour of his talents, all the 
 experience of his armies, could only throw a temporary 
 lustre over his empire ; the efforts of a few thousand 
 freemen were lost amidst the degradation of many millions 
 of slaves ; and the conqueror of the Western World had 
 the mortification, before his death, of perceiving in rapid 
 progress the decay which was so soon destined to pros- 
 trate his empire. It is public freedom and general 
 
 France,;, intelligence alone which can enable the human race to 
 
 279' cH^j' ^h^nd the influence of too rapid prosperity ; which 
 ' can long continue in ages of civilisation the energy and 
 
 si, 156.' ' courage of barbarous times ; l and, by providing for the 
 incessant elevation of those classes who have been trained
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 89 
 
 under the discipline of adversity, furnish a more durable CHAP. 
 
 antidote to the growing depravity of prosperous times. '. 
 
 The weakness of the empire at once appeared upon the 
 death of the victorious monarch. Instantly, as if by its dusofo- 
 enchantment, the fabric fell to pieces : separated into tlon> 
 detached dominions, all means of mutual support were 
 lost, and pusillanimous millions yielded almost without a 
 struggle to the ravages of a few thousand hardy and rapa- 
 cious enemies. The Normans, the Huns, the Saracens, 
 assailed the different frontiers ; a swarm of savage barba- 
 rians overspread the plains of Germany, and threatened 
 the total extirpation of the inhabitants ; the Northmen 
 ascended every navigable stream, and from their light 
 boats spread flames and devastation through the interior 
 of France. Rich and poor were alike incapable of exerting 
 themselves to avert the common calamity ; villages were 
 burned, captives carried off, castles destroyed in every pro- 
 vince, without the slightest effort at resistance : and while 
 the unconquered tribes of Germany boldly united, under a Hanam 
 Otho, to drive back the terrible scourge of the Hungarian ?? S'- 
 
 in. 96, 9/, 
 
 horse, the degenerate inhabitants of the Roman provinces 1- 23, ics, 
 were unable to repel the detached inroads of the northern 276.' 
 pirates. 1 
 
 The first circumstance which restored the military cou- 
 rage of the inhabitants of France, after the decline of the Courage of 
 dynasty of Charlemagne, was the private wars of the tants first'" 
 nobles, and the consequent universal fortification of the the^rivate 
 castles, a result of the weakness of the throne. It is thus ^j^f the 
 that the greatest human evils correct themselves, and that 
 the excess of misery ultimately induces its alleviation. 
 Deprived of anything like support from the government, 
 and driven to their own resources for protection, the landed 
 proprietors were compelled to arm their followers, and 
 strengthen their castles, now become their only refuge. 
 Military skill was restored with the use of arms, rendered 
 necessary from the universality of the danger ; courage 
 revived from confidence in its defences ; a race of men
 
 90 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, arose inured to war from their infancy, and strong in the 
 L consciousness of superior prowess. In the interior of the 
 castles, arms were the only employment, and the recount- 
 ing of military exploits the sole amusement of the age ; 
 the words chivalry and courtesy still attest the virtues 
 which were learned by the mounted knights, and which 
 were considered peculiar to those who had been bred up 
 in the courts of the barons. The wretchedness and suf- 
 fering of those ages have produced the most dignified 
 features of modern manners. From the degraded fol- 
 lowers of the Carlovingian kings have sprung the heroic 
 nobility of France ; from centuries of war and rapine, the 
 generous courage of modern warfare ; from the dissolution 
 of regal authority, the pride and independence of feudal 
 nobility. But it was only the nobles or landed proprie- 
 tors who were renovated by these intestine divisions ; the 
 serfs who cultivated the ground, the burgesses who fre- 
 quented the towns, were retained in the most degraded 
 and abject state. The Franks lived in their castles, sur- 
 rounded by their armed followers, in solitary indepen- 
 dence ; the Gauls, unarmed and unprotected, toiled in 
 the fields, alike exposed to rapine and incapable of resis- 
 tance. The jealousy of their superiors denied them the use 
 of arms ; the fatal superiority of the knights, in actual 
 warfare, rendered revolt hopeless. Frequently, during the 
 eleventh century, the miseries of the peasantry drove them 
 IP'fS'' L to extremities, and led to bloody contests with the nobles : 
 
 161, 169, . 
 
 170. sism. but m no one instance were they successful, and they 
 375,451!"' returned to their ploughs, depressed by suffering, and 
 disheartened by defeat. 1 
 
 The first ray which broke in upon the gloom of the 
 Rise of' the middle ages, on the continent of Europe, came from the 
 boroughs, " an execrable institution," says the old histo- 
 rian, " by which slaves are encouraged to become free, and 
 forget the allegiance they owe to their masters." The 
 first corporation in France arose about half a century after 
 the English conquest, and these institutions were brought
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 91 
 
 into general use by Louis the Fat, to serve as a counter- CHAP. 
 poise to the power of the nobles. Rouen and Falaise, the ' 
 
 first incorporated boroughs of Normandy, enjoyed their 
 privileges by a charter from Philip Augustus, granted in 
 the year 1267. Prior to that time the states of the duchy 
 were composed entirely of nobles and clergy. The kings, 
 however, early sensible of the importance of these com- 
 munities as a bulwark against the encroachments of the 
 nobles, procured a law by which, if a slave escaped from 
 his master, and bought a house in a borough, and lived 
 there a year without being reclaimed, he gained his free- 
 dom a custom which seems to have prevailed equally 
 in France, Scotland, and England. From this cause, 
 joined to the natural influence of mutual protection and 
 extended intercourse, boroughs everywhere became the 
 cradles of freedom : although the nobles still looked upon 
 them with such contempt, that, by the feudal law, the 
 superior was debarred from marrying his female ward to J Hume, u. 
 a burgess or villain. But, notwithstanding their growing Hoiimg-' 
 importance, the boroughs were, for many ages, incapable Ducange 
 of offering any effectual resistance to the power of the mun e C m " 
 nobles, from the want of skill of their inhabitants in the Lome's 
 use of arms, to which their superiors were habituated a ? a r o n ? is i 
 
 2o8. fytler, 
 
 distinction of incalculable importance in an age when vio- 301 - 
 
 A , .5? ,, M'Phcrson, 
 
 lence was universal, and nothing but the military profes- i. so?. 
 sion held in any esteem. 1 
 
 The two circumstances which had mainly fostered the 
 spirit of freedom in England, were the extraordinary power Great feu- 
 of the sovereign, and the independent spirit of the com- 
 moners, both immediate consequences of the Norman Con- 
 quest. In France, the reverse of both these peculiarities 
 took place. The dignity of the throne was lost in the 
 ascendancy of the nobles, and the spirit of the people ex- 
 tinguished by the inordinate privileges which these enjoyed. 
 For a series of ages the monarchy of France was held to- 
 gether by the feeblest tenure : the Dukes of Normandy, 
 the Counts of Toulouse, the Dukes of Burgundy and
 
 92 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. Bretagne, resembled rather independent sovereigns than 
 L feudal vassals ; and the real dominion of the throne, before 
 
 the time of Louis VI., seldom extended beyond the capital, 
 and twenty miles around it. It was a mere chance at 
 that time that these great feudatories did not become for- 
 mally, as well as practically, independent, and the duchies 
 of France split asunder the monarchy of Clovis, in the 
 same manner as the electorates of Germany broke up the 
 empire of Otho. In moments of danger, when the vassals 
 assembled their retainers, the king of France could still 
 muster a mighty host : but with the transitory alarm the 
 forces of the monarchy melted away ; the military vassals 
 retired after the period of their service was expired ; and 
 i sim. vii. the late leader of a hundred thousand men was frequently 
 introd. 42.' baffled, after a campaign of a few weeks, by the garrison 
 of an insignificant fortress. 1 
 
 But the circumstance of all others the most prejudicial 
 Fatal effect* to the liberty of France, was the exclusive use of arms by 
 the higher orders, and the total absence of that middle 
 class in the armies, who constituted not less the strength 
 of the English forces than the support of the English mo- 
 narchy. Before the time of Charles VI., the jealousy of 
 the nobles had never allowed the peasants to be instructed 
 in the use of anns in consequence of which they had no 
 archers, or disciplined infantry, to oppose to their enemies, 
 and were obliged to seek in the mountains of Genoa for 
 crossbowmen, to withstand the terrible yeomanry of Eng- 
 land. The defeats of Cressy and Poictiers, of Morat and 
 Granson, were the result of this inferiority. Not that 
 the natives of France were inferior in natural bravery to 
 the English or the Swiss ; but that their armies, being 
 composed entirely of the military tenants, had no force to 
 oppose to the steady and experienced infantry, which in 
 every age has formed the peculiar strength of a free 
 people. Warned by these disasters, the French govern- 
 ment, by an ordinance in 1394, ordered the peasantry 
 throughout the whole country to be instructed in the use
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 93 
 
 of the bow, and the pernicious practice of games of CHAP. 
 
 hazard to be exchanged for matches at archery. They 
 
 made rapid progress in the new exercises, and would 
 soon have rivalled the English bowmen ; but the jealousy 
 of the nobles took the alarm at the increasing energy of 
 the lower orders. Martial exercises were prohibited, 
 games of hazard re-established, the people lost their 1 si sm . xii. 
 courage from want of confidence in themselves, and the 79'; a. 217!' 
 defeat of Azincour was the consequence. 1 
 
 The circumstances which first awakened the genuine 
 democratic spirit in France were, the misery and anarchy Misery' 
 arising from the English wars. During these disastrous the English 1 
 contests, in which the French armies were so frequently j 
 worsted, and military license, with all its horrors, for 
 above a century wasted the heart of the country, the 
 power of the nobles was for a time destroyed, and the 
 extremities of distress roused the courage of the peasantry. 
 Abandoned by their natural protectors, pillaged by bands 
 of licentious soldiers, driven to desperation by suffering, 
 and excited by the prospect of general plunder, the 
 populace everywhere flew to arms, and the insurrection 
 of the Jacquerie anticipated the horrors of the French 
 Revolution. The effect of the despotic government of 
 preceding ages became then conspicuous. Unlike the 
 moderate reformers among the English barons, who them- 
 selves contended for freedom, and headed the advance of 
 the commons, the French peasantry, abandoned entirely 
 to the guidance of their own chiefs, fell at once into the 
 horrors of popular licentiousness. The features, the well- 
 known features, of servile war appeared. The gentry, 
 hated for their tyranny, were everywhere exposed to the 
 violence of popular rage ; and instead of meeting with 
 the regard due to their past dignity, became on that 
 account only the object of more wanton insult to the 
 peasantry. They were hunted like wild beasts, and put 
 to the sword without mercy, their castles consumed by 
 fire, their wives and daughters ravished or murdered ;
 
 94 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, and the savages proceeded so far as, in many instances, 
 * to impale their enemies, and roast them alive over a slow 
 fire. But these efforts were in the end as unavailing as 
 they were ferocious. The nobles, roused by necessity, at 
 length combined for their common defence ; the peasantry, 
 unacquainted with arms, and destitute of discipline, could 
 not withstand the shock of the feudal cavalry ; and the 
 licentiousness of the people was repressed, after one-half 
 of the population of France had fallen a prey to the 
 sword, or the pestilence which followed the wars of 
 Edward the Third. The misery occasioned by these 
 contests, however, excited a spirit which long survived 
 the disasters in which it originated. Nations, like indi- 
 viduals, are frequently improved in the school of adversity ; 
 and if the causes of the greatest advances in our social 
 condition are accurately investigated, they may often be 
 traced back to those long periods of difficulty, when energy 
 has risen out of the extremity of disaster. Before the 
 death of Edward the Third, the soldiers of France, from 
 constant practice, had become superior to those of Eng- 
 land ; and the courage of the nation, debased by centuries 
 of Roman servitude, was restored amidst the agonies of 
 i Froiwart, internal warfare. The spirit of freedom was communi- 
 182, mi'. c ' ca ted to tne boroughs, the only refuge from insult, which 
 fls^M had greatly swelled in importance during the devastation 
 f? 9 4 mime ^ *^ e countr J 5 an d * ts 1%" aspirations, emanating from 
 ii. 463. ' the opulent cities of Flanders, threatened the aristocracy 
 both of France and England with destruction. 1 
 
 The liberty of France and Flanders, to use a military 
 Rise of the expression, advanced with an oblique front ; the wealthy 
 
 democratic . . ri -NT TIT i i i * V\ T 
 
 sjpiritin cities ot the .Netherlands took the lead; rans, Rouen, 
 and Lyons, were next brought into action ; and all the 
 boroughs of the south of France were ready, at the first 
 success, to join the bands of the confederates. The firm- 
 ness of Ghent, and the victory of Bruges, roused the 
 democratic spirit through all the adjoining kingdoms ; 
 the nobility of all Europe took the alarm, and the inva-
 
 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 95 
 
 sion of Flanders by the chivalry of France was conducted CHAP. 
 on the same principles, and for the same object, as the L 
 inroad into France by the Allies in 1793. But the 
 period had not yet arrived when the citizens of towns 
 could successfully contend with the forces of the aristo- 
 cracy. In vain the Flemish burghers routed their own 
 barons, and with a force of sixty thousand men besieged 
 the nobles of their territory in Oudenarde. The steel- 
 clad squadrons of the French gendarmerie pierced their 
 serried bands, and the victory of Resebecque crushed 
 the liberties of France, as well as those of Flanders, for 
 four centuries. The French municipal bodies, among 
 whom the ferment had already begun, lost all hope when 
 the burghers of Flanders were overthrown, and resigned 
 themselves, without a struggle, to a fate which, in the 
 circumstances of the world, appeared inevitable. Twenty 
 thousand armed citizens awaited the return of the victo- 
 rious monarch into Paris ; but the display of the burgher 
 force came too late to protect public freedom their 
 leaders were imprisoned and executed ; and the erection . D 
 
 r l Bar. i. /4, 
 
 of the Bastile, in 1369, marked the commencement of a 295. sism. 
 long period of servitude, which its destruction in 1789407. 
 was expected to terminate. 1 
 
 The struggles of the people in France, in the reign of 
 Charles VI., like the Revolution four centuries after, were Contract of 
 totally distinct, both in character and object, from the and English 
 efforts of the English in support of their liberties. The S*fi2dom. 
 Norman barons extorted the great charter at Runny- 
 mede : the French peasantry formed the insurrection of 
 the Jacquerie ; the French boroughs alone supported the 
 confederacy of Ghent. In the one case the barons 
 marched at the head of the popular class, and stipulated 
 for themselves and their inferiors the privileges of free- 
 dom ; in the other the nobles generally joined the throne, 
 and combined to suppress a spirit which threatened their 
 exclusive privileges. Moderation and humanity distin- 
 guished the former ; cruelty and exasperation disgraced the
 
 9G HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, latter. So early in the history of the two countries were 
 
 ' their popular commotions marked by the character which 
 
 has ever since distinguished them, and so strongly has 
 
 the force of external circumstances impressed the same 
 
 stamp upon the efforts of the people in the most remote 
 
 ages. Various circumstances conspired, after tftis period, 
 
 to check the growth of public freedom, and to preserve 
 
 29-i ' ' those high powers of the aristocracy in France which 
 
 ultimately induced the Revolution. 1 
 
 I. The French monarchy, during the feudal ages, was 
 Great feu- rather a confederacy of separate states than a single 
 theirper- government. The great vassals exercised all the real 
 effect" powers of sovereignty independent of any foreign con- 
 trol, those of coining money, waging private war, and 
 judging exclusively in civil causes. They were exempt 
 from public tribute, except the feudal aids, and subject to 
 no general legislative control. The consequences of this 
 independence were in the highest degree important. No 
 general necessity, the dread of no national enemy, com- 
 pelled the great vassals to court the popular assistance, 
 or arm their tenantry against the throne. The vast 
 power which the Conquest gave to the Crown in England 
 at once curbed the turbulence of the barons, established 
 one general law throughout the realm, and induced the 
 nobles, for their own support, to arm the yeomanry. The 
 weakness of the throne in France enabled the chief feuda- 
 tories to usurp the powers of sovereignty, broke down 
 into separate and provincial customs the general law of 
 the country, and confined the use of arms to the landed 
 gentlemen and their military retainers. Separate inte- 
 rests, endless contentions, and domestic warfare, occupied 
 the whole attention of the nobility. No common con- 
 cerns, the preservation of no common privileges, no 
 general danger, cemented the disunited body. The 
 ^Haiiam, i. monarchy grew grey with years, without its subjects 
 IT 1*1 5. une ' having experienced the feelings, or been actuated by 
 the interests, or wielded the power, of a united people. 2
 
 HISTOEY OF EUROPE. 97 
 
 II. The long and bloody wars with England, which CHAP. 
 lasted, with hardly any intermission, for one hundred and L 
 twenty years, were fatal to the growth of commercial or 54. 
 
 P . . , .-n i.i -, Effect of the 
 
 manufacturing industry in France, and to the independent English 
 spirit which naturally arises from it. The influence of w ' 
 war was chiefly felt in England by the increased demand 
 for domestic industry, the prospects of plunder which Con- 
 tinental expeditions afforded, and the high wages which 
 were offered to rouse the energy of the yeomanry. * The 
 English invasions were contemplated in France with very 
 different feelings as bringing defeat and disgrace to the 
 nobles plunder and devastation to the burghers misery 
 and starvation to the peasantry. After the feudal nobi- 
 lity were destroyed in the field of Azincourt, the whole 
 bonds of society were loosened ; every castle or strong- 
 hold was fortified, and became the residence of a partisan, 
 generally as formidable to his countrymen as his enemies ; 
 warfare and rapine universally prevailed ; and the miser- 
 able peasants, driven into walled towns for protection, 
 could only venture into the fields to cultivate the ground 
 with scouts stationed on the tops of the steeples to warn 
 them of the approach of danger. The consequences of 
 this insecurity may still be seen in the total absence of 
 cottages in all the north and east of France, as contrasted 
 with the humble but comfortable dwellings which every- 
 where rise among the green fields and wooded landscape 
 of England. Commercial opulence, the best nursery of 
 freedom in civilised times, was extinguished during these 
 disastrous contests ; industry annihilated by the destruc- 
 tion of its produce, and the total insecurity of its reward : 
 violence became universal, because it alone led to distinc- 
 tion. It was by high pecuniary sacrifices that mercenaries 
 were obtained from foreign states ; it was the Scottish 
 
 * It appears from Rymer that the Earl of Salisbury gave a shilling a-day 
 for every man-at-arms, and sixpence for each archer ; sums equivalent to 
 fifteen shillings, and seven and sixpence of our money. RYMER, i. 10, 392 ; 
 
 MONSTRELET, i. 303. 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 98 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, auxiliaries who stemmed the progress of disaster at Cre- 
 . vant and Verneuil ; and the great military monarchy 
 
 of France was compelled to seek protection from the 
 arms of a barbarous people. During such public calami- 
 ties the growth of freedom was effectually stopped ; and 
 , Hallam< . the wretched inhabitants, driven to struggle for their exist- 
 108. VH- encc> y ear a ft er y ear> w ith foreign and domestic enemies, 
 30-2.' si^n. had neither leisure to contemplate the blessings of liberty, 
 s-i^'^ nor means to acquire the wealth which could render it of 
 value. 1 
 
 III. When the enthusiasm of the Maid of Orleans, the 
 Effect of the valour of the nobles, and the domestic dissensions of Eng- 
 Ses'of land, had driven these hated invaders from their shores, 
 STp^uiT the numerous bands of armed men in every part of the 
 dom * kingdom exposed the people to incessant depredations, and 
 imperiously called for some vigorous exercise of the royal 
 authority. From this necessity arose the Companies of 
 Ordonnance of Charles VII., the first example in modern 
 Europe of a STANDING ARMY. These companies, which at 
 first consisted only of sixteen thousand infantry, and nine 
 thousand cavalry, soon gave the Crown a decisive superi- 
 ority over the feudal militia ; and being always embodied 
 and ready for action, proved more than a match in the 
 end for the slow and desultory armaments of the nobles. 
 From this period the influence of the Crown in France 
 steadily increased : a series of fortunate accidents united 
 the principal fiefs to the monarchy ; and neither among 
 the feudal barons, nor the burgher forces, could any 
 counterpoise be found to its authority. The tumultuary 
 array of feudal power, which is only occasionally called 
 out, and very imperfectly disciplined, can never maintain 
 a contest of any duration with a small force of regular 
 soldiers who are constantly kept embodied, have acquired 
 skill in the use of arms, and adhere to their colours 
 equally in adverse as in prosperous fortune. But to 
 this inherent weakness in the feudal forces was superadded 
 in France the total want of any popular support to the
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 99 
 
 nobles. The burghers, depressed and insulted by the CHAP. 
 privileged classes, could not be expected to join in their ' 
 support ; the peasants, unaccustomed to the use of arms, 
 and galled by the recollection of rapine and injury, were 
 both unable to combine against the throne, and unwilling i Robert, 
 to humble a power from which they themselves stood in 
 need of protection. Hence, in a short time, the Crown 
 acquired despotic authority ; and Louis XL, with a regu- a Han, 
 lar force of only twenty-four thousand infantry and fifteen P hili P de 
 
 11 111 / i Comines, i. 
 
 thousand cavalry, became nearly absolute master of his 384. 
 dominions. 1 
 
 IV. The peculiar situation of France, in the midst of 
 the great military monarchies of Europe, led to the con- Military 
 stant maintenance of a large standing army, and per- nation? 
 petuated the preponderance thus acquired by the throne. 
 Upon the decay of feudal manners, consequent on the 
 progress of luxury, and the destruction of the influence of 
 the nobles which resulted from the introduction of fire- 
 arms, no power remained in the State capable of with- 
 standing the regular forces of the monarchy. The nobles 
 flocked to Paris to share in the splendour of the court, or 
 join in the pleasures of the metropolis ; the peasantry, 
 undisciplined and depressed by their superiors, and buried 
 in ignorance, lost even the remembrance of the name of 
 freedom. The wars with England, however, had revived 
 the military spirit, not only among the nobles, but among 
 the common people ; the political events which followed 
 gave this spirit its natural direction ; the physical re- 
 sources of the country aided its development ; and France 
 speedily appeared as a conquering power. The courage 
 and energy of the nation rapidly followed out this new 
 line of ambition ; the Sovereign was permitted to in- 
 crease the forces, which led the van in so brilliant a 
 career ; and the people, intoxicated by the conquests of 
 Charles VIII. and Francis L, forgot both the disasters 
 which followed their transient success, and the decisive 
 ascendancy which they gave to the government. The
 
 100 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, desire of military glory, fed by repeated triumphs, became 
 the prevailing passion of the nation ; the States-general, 
 
 which, for half a century, had nearly acquired the autho- 
 
 rity of the English parliaments, gradually fell into desue- 
 
 tude, and were abandoned, after their last assembly in 
 
 1614, not so much from the encroachments of the Crown 
 
 as the neglect of the people. For nearly two hundred 
 
 years before the commencement of the Revolution, they 
 
 3M. Mitt?; had never once been assembled ; and the nation, dazzled 
 
 i2'8.' er! ' by the pageant of military success, silently resigned to the 
 
 Crown the whole real powers of government. 1 
 
 V. From the earliest times the distinction between 
 Privileges of patrician and plebeian, between noble and base-born, had 
 
 been established in France ; and, by an unhappy custom, 
 niciouaef- ^j g priyflggg descended to all the children, instead of 
 being confined, as in England, to the eldest son. The 
 consequence was a complete separation of the higher 
 and lower orders, and the establishment of a line of de- 
 marcation, which neither talent, enterprise, nor success, 
 was able to pass. " It is a terrible thing/' says Pascal, 
 " to reflect on the effect of rank ; it gives to a child, newly 
 born, a degree of consideration which half a century of 
 labour and virtue could not procure." Of all the circum- 
 stances in the early history of France, there was none 
 which had a more powerful effect than this, in determining 
 the character of the Revolution. It unavoidably created 
 a privileged class at variance with, and an object of jeal- 
 ousy to, the whole remainder of the community. What 
 was still more fatal, it deprived this class, when the con- 
 test commenced, of all sympathy or support, save in a 
 peculiar district, from the rest of the community. But 
 the influence of despotism in modern times cannot per- 
 manently extinguish the light of reason. The press has 
 provided in the end an antidote to the worst species of 
 government, except, perhaps, that which arises from its 
 own abuse ; its influence on every other oppression may 
 be slow, but it is progressive, and ultimately irresistible.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 101 
 
 In vain the monarchs of France studiously degraded the CHAP. 
 
 lower orders ; in vain they veiled the corruption of des- '. 
 
 potism beneath the splendour of military glory ; in vain 
 they encouraged science and rewarded art, and sought to 
 turn the flood of genius into the narrow channels of 
 regulated ambition : the vigour of thought outstripped 
 the fetters of power ; the energy of civilisation broke 
 the bonds of slavery. The middle ranks, in the progress 
 of time, awoke to a consciousness of their importance : 
 the restrictions of feudal manners became revolting to 
 men enlightened by the progress of knowledge the chains 
 of ancient servitude insupportable to those who felt the 
 rising ambition of freedom. Not the embarrassment of 
 the finances, not the corruption of the Court, not the suf- 
 ferings of the peasantry, brought about the great convul- 
 sion of the eighteenth century ; for they are to be found 
 matched in many countries disturbed by no convulsions ; 
 but the hateful pride of the aristocracy, based on centuries _ , 
 
 -, r- Rivarol, 
 
 of exclusive power, and galling to an age of ascending 92, 93. 
 ambition. 1 
 
 VI. But the circumstance of all others which had the 
 greatest influence in inducing that state of society in France, Great e'f- 
 which ultimately brought about a contest between the Richdiea'i 
 government and the country, was the success with which go S vem- f 
 Cardinal Richelieu succeeded in destroying the rural in- ment - 
 fluence of the French nobility, by attracting them to 
 Paris. This remarkable man was one of the master- 
 spirits of mankind, who, for good or evil, communicate 
 their impress to succeeding generations. He possessed, in 
 the highest degree, that great quality, without which no 
 ability can exert any lasting influence on human affairs, 
 with which hardly anything is impossible to genius and 
 activity moral courage and unflinching determination. 
 He was thoroughly in earnest ; and his grand object was 
 to elevate the throne at the expense of the nobles the 
 Church by the overthrow of the Huguenots. Deeply im- 
 pressed with the weakness which had been communicated
 
 102 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, to the monarchy on one side of France by the indepen- 
 L dence and privileges of the great feudatories, and by the 
 divisions which had torn England on the other from the 
 indomitable spirit of Puritan fervour, he saw, in the extinc- 
 tion of these great causes of discord which had divided 
 Germany and Britain, the only certain means of elevating 
 the throne and consolidating the monarchy in his own 
 country. Yet was he not a courtier, nor a slavish minis- 
 ter. It was to raise his country that he laboured : the 
 king was the object of his devotion, because, as Louis XIV. 
 said, he was himself the State ; he loved France better 
 i sismondi's than the monarchy.* The anarchy of feudal weakness 
 France, 6 was ^ ne great evil which then afflicted society, and it was 
 Smith's 7 ' * reniedy it that he so strenuously laboured. His pro- 
 vTution 11 *" P^ ie ^ c mm d foresaw for his country in success the glories 
 . 7. of Louis XIV., in failure a prostration like that of 
 
 Poland. 1 
 
 ^ To effect these objects required the persevering efforts 
 
 Hismea- of a vast genius, firmly supported by the executive, and 
 
 suresto . J? r i i i_ ,. 11 
 
 carry these in no small degree favoured by circumstances ; but in all 
 ' these respects Richelieu was peculiarly fortunate. He 
 dislodged the Huguenots from Rochelle, the great asylum 
 of the disaffected, from which they could communicate at 
 pleasure with the rival government and sympathising Pro- 
 testants of England. He humbled Austria, at that period 
 the most formidable rival to France on the Continent ; 
 and to accomplish that the more effectually, being indif- 
 ferent to religious controversies when they interfered with 
 political designs, he supported the Protestants in Germany, 
 while he crushed them in France. He favoured commerce 
 and trade, as affording the best counterpoise to the feudal 
 nobility ; and gave greater security to justice, and more 
 impartial regularity to law, as the only means of restraining 
 
 After receiving extreme unction, on deathbed, he exclaimed : " mon 
 Juge ! condamnez-moi si j'ai eu d'autres intentions que de servir le roi et 1'etat." 
 These words were sincere, and depict his real character ; but, like other states- 
 men of his age, he deemed all means justifiable which tended to these ends. 
 See SOULAVIE, Jltyne de Louis XIV., iv. 248.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 103 
 
 their excesses. Though imperfectly versed in literature CHAP. 
 himself, he had discernment enough to see its importance, *' 
 especially as a means of embellishment to the capital, and 
 an engine in the hand of the monarch ; and to him France 
 is indebted for the Academy, which concentrated its genius 
 in one focus at Paris, where it might be brought directly 
 under the rays of royal favour. Aware that the only 
 practical security for independence on the part of the 
 Crown is to be found in the flourishing state of the finances, 
 he exerted incredible diligence in augmenting the public 
 revenue, and bequeathed a vast accumulated treasure, and 
 an admirably arranged system of finance, to that throne 
 which he had found the weakest and the poorest in Chris- 
 tendom. But the master-stroke of his policy was sweeping 
 away all appointments for life, whether to the government 
 of castles or the direction of provinces, and rendering all 
 offices under the Crown of such brief tenure, that they l s;smondi 
 were effectually under the control of government, and ^xiv. Hist. 
 could only be obtained by sedulous attendance in the 100, 124. ' 
 antechambers of the sovereign. 1 
 
 It may readily be supposed that changes so vast, in- 
 
 60. 
 
 ducing as they did a total alteration in the powers of gov- Prodigious 
 
 effects of 
 
 licse 
 
 eminent, the structure of society, and the future destinies the 
 of the country, could not have been brought about without ch 
 strenuous resistance on the part of the existing repositaries 
 of authority, and the persons benefited by the existing 
 regime. The administration of Richelieu, accordingly, is 
 little more than a series of constant and often evenly 
 balanced contests with the princes of the blood, the nobles^ 
 the parliament, the queen-consort, the queen-mother, and 
 sometimes even the very king himself. But such was the 
 ascendancy of his genius, the fertility of his resources, and 
 the daring of his courage, that he triumphed over them 
 all. Little scrupulous in the means he employed to com- 
 pass his designs, he imprisoned, ruined, exiled, or brought 
 to the scaffold, every person of influence who, in the course 
 of his long administration, opposed his projects ; and their
 
 104 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, entire success appeared in the transformation of France, 
 
 L in a single lifetime, from a feudal confederacy, with a 
 
 nominal liege-lord at Paris, to a compact and absolute 
 
 monarchy, with the real powers vested in the sovereign. 
 
 i Smyth, Peter the Great, when he visited France, embraced his 
 
 R^l 7, s. statue in admiration ; he was the tamer of the Strelitzes 
 
 of the monarchy of Clovis. 1 
 
 The secret of this success, however, as of all similar 
 Real causes changes when brought about apparently by individual 
 brought it agency, is to be found in deeper and more general causes 
 than Richelieu's abilities, great as they undoubtedly were. 
 It was the coincidence of his genius with the natural ten- 
 dency of the times, which was the real cause of the prodigy. 
 The military power of the nobles was declining, from the 
 change of manners and the introduction of standing armies, 
 and he substituted the authority of the monarch in the 
 room of theirs ; the progress of wealth and growth of 
 luxury had already induced in them a taste for the enjoy- 
 ments of the capital, and he threw open the antechambers 
 of the palace to their amusements, the influence and offices 
 of France to their ambition. Hence the change, like that 
 generally desired in France when Napoleon turned the 
 fervour of the Revolution into the career of foreign con- 
 quest, was immediate and universal. In a few years the 
 provincial chateaus were deserted, the rural interests for- 
 gotten ; France was centred in Paris, Paris in Versailles. 
 Before the middle of the reign of Louis XIV., the transi- 
 tion was complete. But this change proved fatal to the 
 power of the nobles, Degraded in character by the frivo- 
 lities of a court, drowned in debt by its expenses, retained 
 in subservience by the prizes it held out to them, they 
 were alike destitute of the spirit to undertake, or the 
 resources to sustain, a contest for the public liberties. They 
 had neither an armed force at their command, nor any 
 constitutional mode of resisting the royal authority. They 
 had lost all influence over the peasantry on their estates. 
 The attachment of the feudal vassals had died away with
 
 HISTOEY OF EUROPE. 105 
 
 the cessation of all intercourse between them and their CHAP. 
 lords. Dismantled chateaus, untilled fields, squalid serfs, ' 
 along the Seine and the Loire, told how entirely the rajs 
 of aristocratic favour had been averted from rural life ; 
 while Paris, flourishing, splendid, and fascinating, proved 1 
 the irresistible magnet which attracted all that was great 8. sism. ' 
 and all that was fair in France to the precincts of the m' 
 court. 1 
 
 VII. The peculiar character and dazzling reign of the 
 succeeding sovereign contributed powerfully to strengthen Splendour 
 and consolidate the French monarchy. Richelieu laid reign of 
 the foundations, and constructed the whole supports of Loms XIV ' 
 the edifice ; but it was Louis XIV. who embellished the 
 exterior, and erected the entablatures of the Corinthian 
 columns which fascinated the beholder on his approach. 
 A contemporary writer has left the following dazzling 
 description of the reign of this celebrated monarch : 
 " Turenne and Luxembourg were his generals ; Colbert, 
 Louvois, Torcy, his statesmen ; Vauban was his engineer ; 
 Perault constructed his palaces ; they were adorned by 
 Poussin and Le Brun ; Le Notre laid out his gardens ; 
 Corneille and Racine wrote his tragedies, Moliere his 
 comedies ; Boileau was his poet ; Bossuet, Fenelon, Bour- 
 daloue, and Massillon, were his preachers. It is in this 
 august assembly of men, whose fame can never die, that 
 this monarch, whom they acknowledged as their patron 
 
 J i i 'V Smyth's 
 
 and protector, presents himself to the admiration of pos- French Re- 
 terity." 2 There is enough here to arrest the attention of 40. 
 the most inconsiderate, and awaken reflection in the most 
 thoughtful of observers. The annals of literary fame have 
 no parallel constellation of intellectual greatness of which 
 to boast ; even the glories of Napoleon, and of the revolu- 
 tionary armies, sink into the shade in comparison. These 
 were less varied and less durable ; they were attended with 
 greater waste of national strength, and wider spread of 
 national suffering : they achieved triumphs over physical 
 strength, they did not shine forth in the unaided majesty
 
 106 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, of intellectual power. The greatest of modern Frencli 
 _ authors, Chateaubriand, has admitted, that if we would 
 
 find the classical era of French literature, we must look 
 for it in the age of Louis XIV. In proportion as the 
 fervour of revolutionary passion, the barbarism of revolu- 
 tionary taste, are swept away, or yield to the returning 
 sense of mankind, these ancient luminaries shine from afar 
 in unapproachable splendour, as the heavenly bodies re- 
 chateau- appear in their pristine lustre when the clouds and vapours 
 which for a time obscure them from the view are dispelled. 
 
 Sne 8t i? n Perhaps they are never again destined to be equalled in 
 Sm'-tf?' French history ; and future ages will be obliged to confess, 
 French Re- that France affords another to the proofs of Montesquieu's 
 
 volution, i. . . ii-ii 
 
 40. observation, that no nation ever yet attained to durable 
 
 greatness but by institutions in harmony with its spirit. 1 
 
 It would have been well for France if the characteristics 
 Despotic of the government of Louis XIV. had terminated here, 
 hfs^vcm- and to the historian had only fallen, in tracing the annals 
 of his reign, the pleasing task of recounting the triumphs 
 of art encouraged and science enlarged of genius tran- 
 scendant and eloquence unequalled. But his measures 
 went a great deal further ; and his policy, outstripping the 
 sagacity of Richelieu, conferred on the French government 
 not merely the firmness of a compact, but the debasing 
 influence of an absolute monarchy. His favourite maxim, 
 " L'etat c'est moi," expressed the whole ideas of govern- 
 ment by which he was regulated. He not only brought 
 the nobility to Paris, but he nullified them when there : 
 he not only excluded the people from all share in the 
 administration of affairs, but he rendered them insensible 
 to that exclusion. His great qualities, and he had many, 
 contributed to this result, and were in the end more perni- 
 cious to France than meaner dispositions might have been ; 
 for they dazzled the eyes of the people, and, by furnishing 
 abundant gratification to the ruling national passion for 
 glory, blinded them to the strength of the fetters by which 
 they were held in subjection. Such was the lustre of
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 107 
 
 Versailles under his magnificent and splendid government, CHAP. 
 that he had no need of any acts of severity towards the ' 
 nobles to enforce his authority, or deeds of cruelty among 
 the people to insure obedience. The mere exclusion from 
 court, banishment from his presence, were sufficient to 
 humble the proudest of the aristocratic order, and not a 
 thought existed among the Tiers Etat of resistance to 
 his commands. During the long continuance of a reign 
 founded on such a basis, the whole administration of affairs 
 in every department became centred in the court : the 
 antechambers of Versailles were daily besieged by crowds 
 of titled yet needy suppliants, who eagerly sought employ- 
 ment, favour, or distinction from the King's ministers or ' sismondi. 
 
 . D Smyth, i. 
 
 his mistresses ; and mandates issuing from them were 40, 41. 
 obeyed without a murmur from Calais to the Pyrenees. 1 
 
 VIII. The REFORMATION, so important in its conse- 64 
 quences in other states, failed of producing any material Failure of 
 
 C T. f -u /Al. 1 theReform- 
 
 efiects in France, from the scanty numbers of the class ation in 
 who were fitted to receive its doctrines. In the maritime 
 and commercial cities on the west coast it struck its roots ; 
 but the peasantry of the country were too ignorant, the 
 nobles of the metropolis too profligate, to embrace its pre- 
 cepts. The contest between the contending parties was 
 disgraced by the most inhuman atrocities ; the massacre 
 of St Bartholomew was unparalleled in horror till the 
 Revolution arose, and forty thousand persons were mur- 
 dered in different parts of France, in pursuance of the 
 perfidious orders of the court. Nor were the proceedings 
 of the Huguenots more distinguished by moderation or 
 forbearance : their early insurrections were attended by a 
 general destruction of houses, property, and human life ; 
 and the hideous features of a servile war disgraced the 
 first efforts of religious freedom. But it was in vain that 
 the talents of Coligny, the generosity of Henry, the wisdom 
 of Sully, supported their cause ; the party which they 
 formed in the nation was too small, their influence on the 
 public mind too inconsiderable, to furnish the means of
 
 108 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, lastin^ success ; and the monarch who had reached the 
 
 i 
 : throne by the efforts of the Protestants, was obliged to 
 
 consolidate his power by embracing the faith of his adver- 
 saries. France was not enslaved because she remained 
 Catholic ; but she remained Catholic because she was 
 enslaved : the seeds of religious freedom were sown with 
 no sparing hand, and profusely watered by the blood of 
 martyrs ; but the soil was not fitted for their reception, 
 and the shoots, though fair at first, were soon withered by 
 the blasts of despotism. The history of her Reformation, 
 like the annals of its suppression in Spain, exhibits the 
 fruitless struggles of partial freedom with general servitude, 
 of local intelligence with public ignorance, of the energy 
 of advanced civilisation with the force of long-established 
 despotism. The contest arose too soon for the interests 
 of freedom, and too late for the reformation of power ; the 
 ! IM Guer . last spark of liberty expired in France with the capture 
 r ^ n de .. R ^j- of Rochelle ; and two centuries of unrelenting oppression 
 36o' ^n were rec l mre d to awaken the people generally to a sense 
 v. 123. "' of the value of those blessings which their ancestors had 
 forcibly torn from their Huguenot brethren. 1 
 
 IX. The long enjoyment of this absolute power, 
 Revocation coupled with the bigoted principles in religion which so 
 of Nantes.' often, in Roman Catholic countries, accompany individual 
 indulgence and sensual excess, led Louis XIV. at length 
 into a hideous act of despotism, which at once doubled 
 the strength of his external enemies, paralysed his inter- 
 nal resources, tarnished the glories of his reign, induced 
 unheard-of disasters upon the country, and revealed the 
 real decrepitude and internal weakness of the monarchy. 
 The Romish hierarchy had long regarded with jealous 
 eye the privileges conceded to the Protestants by the 
 generous toleration of Henry IV. ; and the Edict of 
 Nantes, by which his wisdom had settled the religious 
 disputes of the sixteenth century, was to them in an 
 especial manner the object of disquietude. The old 
 Chancellor Tellier, at the age of eighty-three, requested
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 109 
 
 the King to afford him the consolation before he died of CHAP. 
 signing the recall of that hateful edict ; and, so great was ' 
 the influence of the violent Romish party, that his desire 
 was soon accomplished. On the 2d October 1685 the 2d October 
 fatal Revocation appeared, and the whole Huguenots of 
 the kingdom were abandoned at once to persecution, 
 violence, and military execution. Such was the fanaticism 
 of the age among those in high places, that the dying 
 Chancellor, on signing the edict, repeated the beautiful 
 song of Simeon on the advent of the gospel of peace to 
 mankind ; * and a perfidious act of despotism, which in its 
 ultimate consequences induced the ruin of the Christian 
 religion in France, and brought the great-grandson of the 
 reigning monarch to the scaffold, was celebrated by the x Sigm Higt 
 ablest divines of the Romish Church as the noblest triumph des Fran- 
 to the true faith which had occurred since the first pro- su,' 515.' 
 claiming of revelation to mankind. ! t 
 
 The revocation of the Edict of Nantes ordained the 66 
 immediate destruction of the temples for the Huguenot its extreme 
 worship which still remained ; it prohibited over the se 
 
 * " Le Chancelier Tellier, age de quatre-vingt-trois ans, malade, et qui se 
 sentoit pres de mourir, demanda au Roi de lui accorder la consolation de signer 
 avant de mourir un e"dit qui porteroit revocation de 1'Edit de Nantes : il le 
 signa en effet le 2 Octobre 1685 ; et avec un fanatisme qui fait freinir, il recita 
 le Cantique de Sime"on, appliquant a cet acte farouche les felicitations qui, dans 
 la bouche du vieillard Hebreux, se rapportaient au Salut du genre Lumain." 
 SISMONDI, Histoire des Franfais, xxv. 514. 
 
 T " Dieu lui reservoit 1'accomplissement du grand ouvrage de la religion, 
 et il dit en scellant la r6vocation du fameux Edit de Nantes, qu'apres ce 
 triomphe de la foi, et un si beau monument de la pi6te du roi, il ne se sou- 
 ciait plus de frnir ses jours. Nos peres n'avaient pas vu, comme nous, une 
 here'sie inve'te'ree tomber tout-a-coup ; les troupeaux revenir en foule, et nos 
 eglises trop etroites pour les recevoir ; leurs faux pasteurs les abandonner, sans 
 meme en attendre 1'ordre, et heureux d'avoir a leur assigner leur bannissement 
 pour excuse : tout calme dans un si grand mouvement, 1'univers etonn6 de 
 voir dans un 6v6nement si nouveau, la marque la plus assuree, comme le plus 
 bel usage de I'autoritg, et le merite du prince plus reconnu et phis revgre que 
 son autorite meme." BOSSUET, Oraison Fundbre de Michel le Tellier, Jan. 25, 
 1686 ; see also FLECHIER, Oraison Funtbre de M. le Tellier, 29 Mai 1686, p. 354. 
 Eight years after these lo Paeans were sung by the Romish hierarchy, an 
 obscure individual was born at Chatenay, near Sceaux, who shook to its founda- 
 tion the Roman Catholic faith in France, and derived his chief weapons from 
 this atrocious act of perfidy VOLTAIRE.
 
 110 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, whole kingdom, a few trifling bailliages alone excepted, 
 L the exercise of the reformed faith : it banished, under pain 
 of being sent to the galleys, all unconverted ministers 
 of the reformed faith, and gave them but fifteen days to 
 leave the kingdom. All the reformed schools were shut 
 up ; all the children ordered to be re-baptised according 
 to the Romish ritual. Four months only were allowed to 
 the refugees to re-enter the kingdom, and make their 
 abjuration ; at the expiration of that period, their pro- 
 perty of every sort was confiscated ; and any attempt 
 subsequently to leave the country, was to be punished 
 with the galleys. The means taken to enforce this decree 
 were, if possible, still more atrocious than the decree it- 
 self. The generals, the commanders of provinces, received 
 orders to persecute the refractory with the last severities 
 of military execution. * In consequence of these rigorous 
 injunctions, troops were spread over Normandy, Brittany, 
 Anjou, the Orleanois, Languedoc, and Provence ; and 
 the severities which they inflicted on the miserable 
 Protestants would exceed belief, if not supported by the 
 concurring testimony of contemporary and impartial an- 
 nalists.t It is affirmed, that in Languedoc alone above 
 
 * Louvois, the king's minister, sent them a circular : " Sa majeste veut 
 qu'on fasse sentir les dernidres rigueurs a ceux qui ne voudront pas se faire 
 Catholiques ; et ceux qui auront la sotte gloire de vouloir etre les derniers, 
 doivent etre pouss6s jusqu'a la derniere extrtmitt." SISMONDI, Histoire de* 
 Franfais, xxvL 519. 
 
 t " By this edict," says St Simon, " without the slightest pretext, without 
 the slightest necessity, was one-fourth of the kingdom depopulated, its trade 
 ruined, the whole country abandoned to the avowed and public pillage of 
 dragoons : the innocent of both sexes were devoted to punishment and torture, 
 and that by thousands ; families were stripped of their possessions, relations 
 armed against each other, our manufactures transferred to the stranger ; the 
 world saw crowds of their fellow-creatures proscribed, naked, fugitive, guilty 
 of no crimes, and yet seeking an asylum in foreign lands, not in their own 
 country, which was in the mean time subjecting to the lash and the galleys the 
 noble, the affluent, the aged, the delicate, and the weak, often distinguished 
 not less by their rank than by their piety and virtue and all these on no 
 other account than that of religion. Still further to increase the horror of 
 these proceedings, every province was filled with sacrilegious or perjured men, 
 who were either forced, or feigned to conform, and who sacrificed their con- 
 sciences to their worldly interests and repose. In truth, such were the horrors 
 produced by the combined operation of cruelty and obsequiousness, that within
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. Ill 
 
 one hundred thousand persons were put to death, of CHAP. 
 whom a tenth part suffered by the frightful torments of 
 
 the stake or the wheel. 1 The most moderate computa- 1 Bo 
 tion makes the number of individuals who left the king- Statue ia 
 dom four hundred thousand ; while an equal number 
 perished in going into exile, of famine or fatigue, in 
 prison, in the galleys, and on the scaffold ; and a million 
 besides, seemingly converted, maintained in secret, amidst 
 tears and desolation, the faith of their fathers. The 
 rental of heritable property belonging to the Huguenots 
 confiscated to the Crown, amounted to 17,000,000 francs ^o^xiv 
 (680,000) a-year; and lands producing a still larger H. 268, eta 
 sum annually, torn from the Protestants, were bestowed c.i6, P . 549. 
 on the Catholic relations of the exiles, or the courtiers of xxT^'. 
 Versailles. 2 
 
 The immediate effects of this atrocious iniquity, as 
 often happens with great but energetic and vigorous Dreadful 
 deeds of violence, were eminently favourable to the cause SbS "" 
 of persecution. Bossuet, Flechier, and the Roman hier- whlch !t led ' 
 archy, were in raptures at the daily accounts of con- 
 versions which were received. Six thousand abjured in 
 one place, ten thousand in another ; the churches could 
 not hold the converts : never had the true faith achieved 
 such a triumph since the days when, represented in 
 Constantine, it mounted the imperial throne. But it 
 is not thus that the real conversion of mankind is 
 effected, or a lasting impression created ; dragoons and 
 stripes will not, in an age of intelligence, permanently 
 enchain the human mind. It was by enduring, and not 
 inflicting, tortures that the apostles established Christian- 
 ity on an imperishable foundation. The tears of the 
 innocent Huguenots were registered in the Book of Fate : 
 they brought down an awful visitation on the third and 
 
 twenty-four hours men were frequently conducted from tortures to abjuration, 
 from abjuration to the communion-table, attended in both in general by the 
 common executioner." These are the words of an eyewitness, a courtier of 
 Louis XIV. the Duke de St Simon. See ST SIMON'S Mtmoires, vol. xiii. p. 
 113 ; and SMYTH'S French Revolution, i. 30.
 
 112 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, fourth generations. From the revocation of the Edict of 
 
 L Nantes is to be dated the commencement of a series of 
 
 causes and effects which closed the reign of Louis XIV. 
 
 in mourning, induced weakness and disgrace on the Frencli 
 
 monarchy, spread the fatal poison of irreligion among its 
 
 1 Smvth, i. inhabitants, and finally overthrew that throne and that 
 
 si sism. church which had made such an infamous use of their 
 
 Hint. ucs. 
 
 Fran 9 ais, power. The reaction of mankind against violence, of 
 
 xxvi. 520, 
 
 556. genius against oppression, proved stronger than the power 
 
 of the Grand Monarque. 1 
 
 68 The exiled Huguenots were received with generous 
 
 Manner in sympathy in Germany, Holland, and England : far and 
 
 which this J .,' r \ J j j.1. 1 l c j.-i i c xl, 
 
 retribution wide they spread the tale ot their wrongs and ot their 
 J u 4 sufferings : they roused the indomitable spirit of the 
 heroic William : they cemented the bonds of the Grand 
 Alliance ; they sharpened the swords of Eugene and 
 Maryborough. Diffusing through the British Isles their 
 industry, their arts, and their knowledge, they gave as 
 great an impulse to the manufactures of this country 
 as that which they withdrew from those of France ; 
 and thus contributed to that disproportion between 
 the riches of the two rival states, which, as much as 
 the energy of its people, brought England in triumph 
 through the dreadful crisis of the revolutionary war. 
 More than all, this atrocious cruelty fixed a lasting 
 and hopeless malady in the French nation ; for it at 
 once inspired the passion for liberty, and took away 
 the power to bear its excitements. By severing the 
 cause of freedom from that of religion, it removed the 
 possibility of ruling the people by any other restraint 
 than that of force ; by preventing the growth of any 
 habits of self-government or free discussion among them, 
 it rendered the nation, when passionately desirous of 
 self-government, destitute of all the habits essential for 
 the safe exercise of its power. Thence it was that 
 philosophy, confounding religion with the enormities 
 perpetrated in its name, became imbued with scepti-
 
 HISTOEY OP EUROPE. 113 
 
 cism, and the cause of human emancipation synonymous CHAP 
 in general opinion with that of the overthrow of Chris- L 
 tianity ; thence it was that the remnant of the persecuted 
 sect nourished in secret the bitterest rancour against 
 their oppressors, which appeared with fatal effect in the 
 severest crisis of the Revolution. Thence it was that the 
 victorious Church, weakened by victory, paralysed by 
 success, slumbered in fancied security on the very edge of 
 perdition, and perished, without a struggle, before the 
 infidel spirit which the comparatively guiltless Church of 
 England had so often shaken off as the lion shakes the 
 dewdrops from his mane. 
 
 The extraordinary character of the French Revolu- 
 tion, therefore, arose, not from any peculiarities in the Causes of 
 disposition of the people, or any faults exclusively 
 chargeable on the government at the time it broke out, 
 but from the weight of the despotism which had pre- 
 ceded it, the magnitude of the changes which were to 
 follow it, and the vices of the age which conducted it. 
 It was extinguished by violence, and stained with blood, 
 because it originated chiefly with the labouring classes, 
 and partook of the savage features of a servile revolt : 
 it totally subverted the institutions of the country, be- 
 cause it condensed within a few years the changes which 
 should have been diffused over as many centuries ; it 
 speedily fell under the direction of the most depraved of 
 the people, because its guidance was early abandoned 
 by the higher to the lower orders ; it led to a general 
 spoliation of property, because it was founded on a 
 universal insurrection of the poor against the rich, and 
 not combated by any adequate spirit and unanimity 
 among the aristocracy of the country. It was distin- 
 guished from the first by the fatal characteristic of 
 irreligion, because the abuses and oppression of the 
 Romish Church had ranged every independent and gen- 
 erous spirit against their continuance. France would 
 have done less at the Revolution, if she had done more 
 
 VOL. i. it
 
 114 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, before it ; she would not have so unmercifully unsheathed 
 L the sword to govern, if she had not so long been governed 
 by the sword ; she would not have remained prostrate 
 for years under the guillotine of the populace, if she 
 had not groaned for centuries under the fetters of the 
 nobility. 
 
 It is in periods of apparent disaster, during the suffer- 
 ing of whole generations, that the greatest improvements 
 on human character have been effected, and a foundation 
 
 ing ' laid for those changes which ultimately prove most bene- 
 ficial to the species. The wars of the Heptarchy, the 
 Norman Conquest, the contests of the Roses, the Great 
 Rebellion, are apparently the most disastrous periods 
 of our annals ; those in which civil discord was most 
 furious, and public suffering most universal. Yet these 
 are precisely the periods in which its peculiar temper 
 was given to the English character, and the greatest 
 addition made to the sources of English prosperity ; in 
 which courage arose out of the extremity of misfor- 
 tune, national union out of foreign oppression, public 
 emancipation out of aristocratic dissension, general free- 
 dom out of regal ambition. The national character 
 which we now possess, the public benefits we now 
 enjoy, the freedom by which we are distinguished, 
 the energy by which we are sustained, are in a great 
 measure owing to the renovating storms which have, in 
 former ages, passed over our country. The darkest 
 periods of the French annals, in like manner, those of 
 the reigns of the successors of Charlemagne, of the 
 English wars, of the religious contests, of the despo- 
 tism of the Bourbons, are probably the ones which 
 have formed the most honourable features of the 
 French character ; which have engrafted on the slavish 
 habits of Roman servitude the generous courage of 
 modern chivalry on the passive submission of feudal 
 ignorance the impetuous valour of victorious patriotism ; 
 which have extricated from the collision of opinion the
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 115 
 
 powers of thought, and nursed, amidst the corruption of CHAP. 
 despotism, the seeds of liberty. Through all the horrors L 
 of the Revolution, the same beneficial law of nature 
 may be discerned in operation ; and the annals of its 
 career will not be thrown away, if, amidst the greatest 
 calamities, they teach confidence in the Wisdom which 
 governs, and inspire hatred at the vices which desolate 
 the world. 
 
 What a lesson does this retrospect teach us as to the 
 slow growth of habits of freedom, and the lengthened sw growth 
 period during which a nation must undergo the training able hihe- u ~ 
 
 necessary to bear its excitements ! Not years, but cen- 
 turies must elapse during the apprenticeship to liberty ; dom> 
 the robust strength requisite for its exercise is to be 
 acquired only by the continued struggles of many successive 
 generations. During the fervour of the Revolution, the 
 French thought a few days sufficient to prepare any people 
 for democratic powers ; during the fervour of Reform, the 
 English deemed a few years enough to enable the Negroes 
 safely to make the transition from slavery to freedom/' 5 ' 
 But it is not thus that the great and durable changes of 
 nature are worked out ; it is not with the rapidity of the 
 mushroom's growth that the solidity of the oak is acquired. 
 Nothing is lasting in the material or moral world but what 
 is tardy of formation ; but a minute may destroy what ages 
 have produced. History tells us that the liberties of Rome 
 grew during the contests of six centuries ; that the freedom 
 of England began with the laws of Edward the Confessor, 
 and gradually enlarged during the subsequent struggles 
 of eight hundred years : that predial servitude, universal in 
 Europe during the middle ages, wore out so imperceptibly 
 and safely in the countries where it has disappeared, that 
 no man can say when it ceased to exist ; but that the 
 
 * They fixed the period of apprenticeship, by the Emancipation Act of 1834, 
 at seven years deeming it as easy to make a slave a freeman as to make a 
 freeman an artisan. Even this, however, was thought too slow by the fer- 
 vent spirit which then ruled the nation. Complete emancipation followed in 
 five years.
 
 ll(j HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, sudden abolition of slavery in St Domingo involved that 
 ' flourishing island in unutterable calamities in the British 
 West Indies, consigned those noble colonies to hopeless 
 ruin. Taught by these examples, the enlightened observer 
 will augur little of a revolution which proposed at once to 
 elevate a whole nation, without any previous preparation, 
 from political nullity to the exercise of the highest and 
 most perilous political powers ; he will think lightly of 
 the wisdom of those who thought they could make a child 
 fit for the duties of maturity by merely putting upon him 
 the dress of manhood. But he will form a clear opinion on 
 the guilt of all who would endanger, by undue extension 
 of political powers, so noble and enduring a fabric as that 
 of the British constitution. He will recollect that it was 
 from that cause that Carthage perished from it that 
 Rome fell under the tyranny of the emperors ; and he 
 will class with the most depraved of the human race, 
 those, of whatever rank or station, who, with such ex- 
 amples before their eyes, for their own selfish elevation 
 shake a structure which it has required so many ages to 
 raise, and which, when once cast down, can never be 
 rebuilt.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 117 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 GENERAL STATE OF FRANCE, AND CAUSES WHICH 
 PREDISPOSED ITS PEOPLE TO REVOLUTION. 
 
 MORE favourably situated than any monarchy in Europe, CHAP. 
 
 ir. 
 
 both as regards maritime strength and internal resources, 
 FRANCE has received from the bounty of nature gifts which i- 
 qualify her to take the lead in the career both of pacific sicai re- 
 improvement and military greatness. Her territory, spa- France." 
 cious, fertile, and compact, is capable of maintaining an 
 incredible number of inhabitants, and at once stimulates 
 industry, and rewards it by the riches which it obtains. 
 Extensive sea-coasts, washed by the stormy waves of the 
 Bay of Biscay and the ceaseless surges of the Channel, 
 furnish the capabilities, and induce the hardihood, which 
 lead to maritime greatness ; while a happy climate, in- 
 termediate between the rigour of northern and the 
 amenity of southern latitudes, rouses effort by necessity, 
 and softens manners by enjoyment. Almost all the 
 agricultural productions and materials for manufacture, 
 which are necessary to the subsistence, the comfort, and 
 the luxury of man, are to be met with in the different 
 parts of this favoured region. Extensive corn-fields and 
 boundless pastures, in the north, furnish inexhaustible 
 agricultural resources for the maintenance of the im- 
 
 O 
 
 mense population to which its coal-fields are fitted to 
 afford employment : in the middle provinces, the vine 
 and the maize announce to the northern traveller his
 
 118 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, approach to the regions of the sun ; while vast seams of 
 1L iron, along the banks of the Loire, afford materials for 
 a great and now rapidly increasing manufacture of hard- 
 ware. In the south, the sunny banks of the Garonne, 
 and the rocky slopes of the Rhone, yield delicious fruits 
 and wines of the richest flavour ; beetroot almost rivals 
 the cane of the West Indies for the production of sugar ; 
 while the smiling shores of the Mediterranean sea are 
 covered with olives, which equal those of Greece and 
 Tuscany in vigour and luxuriance. 
 
 That lucrative traffic, the greatest and most lasting 
 iu*fvan- which can exist in a civilised community, between the 
 iamTtrade. n ' wealth created by northern industry and the profusion of 
 southern luxuries, to most other states a foreign, is to 
 France a home trade. Her inhabitants reap exclusively 
 the profits of production at both ends of the chain, and 
 of transit along its whole extent : a vast network of 
 internal canals, and the broad external highway of the 
 ocean, furnish, in every quarter, ample facilities for trans- 
 port ; and the rapidity of returns, alike prized by the 
 practical trader and the enlightened economist, is per- 
 petually experienced in the most important branches of 
 commerce, which increasing wealth can require for its 
 inhabitants. Its coal is, indeed, inferior to that of Great 
 Britain, and only exists, at least in considerable quantities, 
 in the northern provinces ; but the industry of the inhabi- 
 tants has found a compensation in the extensive woods, 
 periodically cut down, with which the face of the country 
 is everywhere diversified, and which constitute not the 
 least lucrative part of its agricultural productions ; while 
 the benignity of the climate, which permits the vine, the 
 * Personal peach, and the olive to be reared on rocky slopes, that 
 
 observation. -ni _j j 111 i T -, r 11 
 
 Arthur in rmgland would be abandoned to furze and broom, 
 97vul',256. renders almost every part of the country competent to 
 
 reward the industry of the husbandman. 1 
 
 France, including Corsica, contains 203,000 square 
 
 geographical miles ; more than twice the extent of Great
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 119 
 
 Britain, which embraces 88,000. It is in its greatest CHAP. 
 length about 660 miles long ; and nearly 600 broad, n " 
 
 measuring from Cape Finisterre to the Lower Rhone. .3. 
 Its extent of sea-coast is no less than 1400 miles; a of the 10 ' 
 length nearly as great as the entire circumference of co 
 Great Britain. The population in 1789, when the 
 Revolution broke out, was somewhat above 25,000,000 ; 
 in 1814, when it closed, 28,500,000 ; and in 1827, when 
 the losses of the revolutionary wars had been nearly 
 supplied, it contained 31,820,000 inhabitants, being at 
 the rate, on an average of the whole kingdom, of about 
 150 to the square mile. Malte-Brun has justly observed, 
 that if the whole kingdom were peopled in the same 
 proportion as the departments of the north, it would 
 contain 85,000,000 of souls, or considerably more than 
 triple what were to be found in it when the Revolution 
 broke out. 1 Vast as this number may appear, a little i Maite 
 reflection must be sufficient to demonstrate that it is much f 9 ' UI * 
 within what the agricultural resources of the country 
 could furnish subsistence for in comfort and affluence ; * 
 
 * The division of France, according to the nature of the employments of its 
 soil, is, as we learn from Chateauvieux, one of the latest and best authorities, 
 as follows : 
 
 Hectares, or English Acres. 
 
 Total superficies, . . 53,702,871 132,646,091 
 
 Of which' 
 
 Sterile and waste, . . 3,702,871 9,146,091 
 
 Vineyards and plantations, . 2,000,000 4,940,000 
 
 Forests, . . . 6,842,623 16,901,279 
 
 Pasture, . . . 1,157,377 2,858,721 
 
 Meadows, . . . 5,000,000 12,350,000 
 
 Artificial grasses, . . 4,000,000 9,880,000 
 
 Arable, . . . 31,000,000 76,570,000 
 
 CHATEAUVIEUX, 74. 53,702,871 132,646,091 
 
 Now, to show the capability of the soil of a country of this description to 
 maintain an increase of inhabitants, let us consider merely what may be raised 
 from 40,000,000 of arable acres little more than one-half of its arable ground, 
 and considerably less than a third of its total superficies. The average produce 
 of arable land in all the counties of England is two quarters and five bushels 
 to an acre. M'CULLOCH'S Statistical Account of England, i. 476. Take it as 
 two quarters only in France, to be within the mark, and we shall have 
 40,000,000 acres yielding 80,000,000 quarters, which would feed 80,000,000
 
 120 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 II. 
 
 i Malte 
 Brun, iii. 
 197, 198. 
 Dupin, 
 Tour Com. 
 Ac France, 
 i. 37, 46. 
 
 4. 
 
 Remarkable 
 diapropor- 
 tion between 
 agricultu- 
 rists and 
 manufac- 
 turers in 
 France and 
 England. 
 
 and that, without pressing upon the limits assigned by 
 the physical extent of its natural capabilities to the 
 increase of man, a hundred and tM-enty millions might 
 be maintained with ease and comfort on the French 
 territory. This calculation will excite surprise, and by 
 many be deemed incredible : let those who are of this 
 opinion examine and point out what is overcharged in the 
 data on which it is founded. It leads to a conclusion of 
 the very highest importance, and which bears with over- 
 whelming force upon the history of the Revolution ; for 
 it shows that the French people, when that convulsion 
 broke out, were far within the limits of their possible and 
 comfortable increase ; and consequently that the whole 
 suffering which had preceded, and crimes which followed 
 it, are nowise chargeable on Providence, but are to be 
 exclusively ascribed to the selfishness, the vices, and the 
 corruption of man. 1 
 
 Another peculiarity in the physical situation of France, 
 both before the Revolution and at this time, is very re- 
 markable, and deserves to be noted, both from its impor- 
 tant bearing on economical principles, and from rendering 
 the dreadful devastation of the Revolution the more sur- 
 prising. The agricultural population at the former period 
 was 16,500,000, and it furnished food for 8,500,000 
 persons living in cities, or engaged in trade or manufac- 
 tures ; at this time 22,000,000 of agriculturists, in round 
 numbers, are engaged in raising food for 11,000,000 per- 
 sons engaged in pursuits unconnected with the productions 
 
 souls a quarter of grain being the average consumption of a human being for 
 a year. This is leaving 92,000,000 acres for the support of horses, and for 
 raising wood, vines, and butcher-meat for the use of man. If we suppose that 
 30,000,000 of the 76,000,000 arable acres in France are cultivated in potatoes, 
 each acre will yield, according to M'Culloch (Commercial Diet. ; art. Potatoes), 
 food for two according to Arthur Young and Newenham, for three individuals. 
 Take it at the lowest estimate of two individuals, these 30,000,000 acres would 
 maintain 60,000,000 more persons, or 140,000,000 in all ; still leaving 62,000,000 
 acres for luxuries, roads, canals, cattle, horses, &c., for this immense population. 
 See NEWENHAM on the Population of Ireland, 340 ; ARTHUR YOUNG'S Tours 
 in Ireland, Append., 12, 24, 4to edit.; and M'CuLLOCH's Statistics of Great 
 Britain, i. 471.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 121 
 
 of subsistence. In other words, the agricultural population, CHAP. 
 
 at both periods, was double the manufacturing. In Great L_ 
 
 Britain, on the other hand, in 1789, the total population 
 was about 10,000,000, of whom only 4,000,000 were 
 engaged in agriculture, and they furnished food for 
 6,000,000 occupied in trade and manufactures ; that is, 
 the agricultural population was little more than half of 
 the manufacturing. Since that period the proportion has 
 increased in a still more striking manner in the same direc- 
 tion ; and by the late census in 1841, the prodigy was 
 exhibited of a sixth of the whole population furnishing 
 subsistence for the remaining five-sixths engrossed in trade, 
 manufactures, or professions unconnected with the raising 
 of food.""" These extraordinary facts both demonstrate in 
 the clearest manner the superiority of British to French 
 agriculture ; the vast resources for an increasing population 
 which exist in every country, even the most densely peopled, 
 if developed by an improved cultivation of the soil ; and 
 they render unpardonable the crimes and devastations of 
 the Revolution. In all countries, and in all ages, the 
 rural population is the virtuous and orderly the urban, 
 the corrupted and turbulent portions of the people. What, 
 then, must have been the vices of that ancient regime, 
 which spread discontent so widely through the country 
 population ; and what the weakness of some, and the 
 guilt of others, which, in the progress of the convulsion, 
 subjected sixteen millions engaged in agricultural pursuits 
 to the unresisted tyranny of less than half the number of 
 city or manufacturing inhabitants ! 
 
 The manufactures of France, previous to the Revolution, 
 
 * By the census of 1831, out of a population of 3,125,175 families in Great 
 Britain, 961,134 only were engaged in the production of food ; being at the rate 
 of 282 in 1000, or somewhat more than a fourth. In Ireland, out of a popu- 
 lation consisting of 1,385,000 families, no less than 884,339 are employed in 
 raising food, being at the rate of 638 in 1000. See PORTER, Progress of the 
 Nation, i. 59. By the census of 1841, however, the productive powers of agri- 
 culture appear to have gained greatly on what existed in former times or any 
 other country ; for, while the producers of food were only 3,343,974, the con- 
 sumers were 23,482,115, or about 1 to 6J.
 
 122 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, though brought to high perfection in some branches, were 
 "' far from having attained, upon the whole, the state of 
 
 advancement which the resources and riches of the country 
 might have led us to expect. The silks and velvets of 
 Lyons, the jewellery and watches of Paris, the muslins of 
 Rouen, were known and celebrated through all Europe ; 
 but though the Tiers Etat, which carried on these lucrative 
 employments, had increased prodigiously in wealth and 
 consideration, yet manufacturing industry, as a whole, bore 
 a small proportion to agricultural. The genius of the 
 people, ardent, impetuous, and impassioned, not less than 
 the character of the feudal and military institutions which 
 prevailed among them, rendered them little qualified for 
 the persevering industry, the strict frugality, the continued 
 self-denial, which are essential in order to manufacturing 
 greatness. War was their ruling passion, glory their 
 national idol. Gay, volatile, and inconsiderate on ordi- 
 nary occasions, they were yet capable, when thoroughly 
 roused, of ardent pursuit and heroic determination, and 
 were frequently animated by vehement passion. No people 
 in Europe had, on different occasions, been more enthusi- 
 astic in the pursuit of civil and religious freedom, and 
 none had prosecuted war with more impetuous ardour ; 
 yet was their government still despotic, their hierarchy 
 still absolute, their territory still bounded by Flanders 
 and the Rhine. Want of steadiness and perseverance in 
 carrying on these objects, had always been their great 
 defect their passions, like those of all persons of a simi- 
 lar temperament, were rather vehement than lasting. 
 
 The foreign commerce of France, though long kept 
 
 French co- down by the superior energy and prowess of British 
 
 c^'of 11 seamen, had been the object of anxious solicitude to the 
 
 08 *' government, and had been nursed by the patriotic wisdom 
 
 of Louis XVI. to an unparalleled pitch of splendour. 
 
 Her American colonies, planned and planted with extra- 
 
 ordinary and prophetic sagacity, had risen up with great 
 
 rapidity, and early assumed a formidable aspect ; but the
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 123 
 
 same defect in national character which rendered her CHAP. 
 manufactures inconsiderable, caused these to sink in the 1_ 
 
 first serious conflict before the persevering efforts of her 
 less far-seeing rivals. The opposite history of the Trans- 
 atlantic settlements of the two countries is very curious, 
 and singularly characteristic of their respective national 
 dispositions. The English, when they first set foot on 
 America, settled on the sea-coast, in a comparatively 
 sterile soil ; gradually cleared it by the efforts of perse- 
 vering industry, and after the lapse of a century and a 
 half, surmounted the ridge of the Alleghany, and spread 
 themselves over the alluvial plains of the Ohio and the 
 Mississippi, the garden of North America. The French, 
 with far superior penetration, followed from the first the 
 course of the great rivers, and established stations, which, 
 if adequately supported and sustained, would, beyond all 
 question, have given them the empire of the New World. 
 Ascending the course of the St Lawrence, they placed 
 extensive colonies at Montreal, Toronto, and Quebec ; 
 descending the Ohio and Mississippi, their flag was to 
 be seen at Louisburg and New Orleans. But though 
 amply endowed with the genius which conceives, they 
 had not the perseverance which matures colonies ; they 
 sought at once to snatch greatness as by the vehemence 
 of military conquest ; they could not submit to win it by 
 the toil of pacific exertion. They did not spread into 
 the woods, and subdue nature by the enduring labour of 
 freemen. Hence the different destinies of the two colo- 
 nial empires in America. The English, inconsiderately 
 formed at first, was slowly raised by persevering industry 
 to unparalleled greatness ; the French, magnificently con- 
 ceived in the outset, and aiming at enclosing the New 
 World in its arms, sunk in the first rude shock before the 754. ' 
 strokes of its less aspiring rival. 1 
 
 One great colony, however, remained to France, even 
 after the disastrous issue of the Seven Years' War, which 
 of itself nourished an immense commerce, and was worth
 
 124 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, all the other colonies in the world put together. In 
 1788, when the Revolution broke out, the exports of 
 
 7. France to St Domingo amounted to 119,000,000f. or 
 niai trade" nearly 5,000,000 sterling ; and the imports from it 
 withT were still greater, for they had risen to 189,000,000f. or 
 Domingo. ^56^000. It maintained sixteen hundred vessels, and 
 twenty-seven thousand sailors, which gave to France the 
 elements of a powerful marine. This noble colonial es- 
 tablishment, and the growth of his navy, had been, from 
 the very outset of his reign, objects of extreme anxiety to 
 Louis XVI. He deemed no sacrifices unimportant which 
 led to their augmentation. When reproached by the queen, 
 or some of the royal family, for any of his economical 
 reductions, he was wont to reply " Hush ! it will give 
 * weber, i. us a ship of the line the more." l The results of this 
 
 124 
 
 steady policy, ably seconded by his ministers, and sup- 
 ported by the vast trade with this magnificent colony, were 
 vttTi"* * n *he hig nes t degree satisfactory, and, for the first time 
 i!v' 445' * n *^ e history of the two nations, brought the naval forces 
 446. of France almost to an equality with those of England. 
 
 United to those of Spain they were decidedly superior. 2 
 8 At the opening of the revolutionary war in 1792, 
 
 iu navai France had eighty-two ships of the line and seventy-nine 
 compared frigates ; and although Great Britain had nominally a 
 hundred and fifty-six line-of-battle ships and eighty-nine 
 frigates at her command, yet so many of them were 
 unserviceable, or guard-ships, that not more than a 
 hundred and fifteen of the line, and eighty-five frigates, 
 could be relied on for active naval operations ; and when 
 the number of guns on the whole on both sides was taken 
 into view, the superiority of the British was little more 
 than a sixth.* Add to this, that the Spanish navy 
 
 * The line-of-battle ships fit for service in the British and French navies 
 stood, in 1792, as follows : 
 
 No. of Weight of 
 
 Ships. Broadsides, Ib. 
 
 British line, . . 115 8,718 88,957 
 
 French line, . . 76 6,000 73,957 
 
 JAMES'S Naval History, i. 53, and Appendix to VoL I., No. 6.
 
 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 125 
 
 consisted of seventy-six ships of the line and sixty-eight CHAP. 
 frigates ; so that the French and Spanish navies, taken ' 
 together, and making allowance for unserviceable vessels 
 on either side, could bring a hundred and thirty-five line- 
 of-battle ships to bear on the British one hundred and 
 fifteen. And the reality of this disparity clearly appeared 
 in the American war ; for the united fleets of France and 
 Spain had repeatedly, during that contest, proved so 
 superior in number to that of England, as seriously to en- , 
 
 J 1 James Na- 
 
 danger the maritime superiority of the latter; particularly on val Hist ; > 
 the occasion of the siege of Gibraltar, and when the com- and Ap P . ' 
 bined fleets rode triumphant in the Channel, and block- NO.' 7. an ' 
 aded the English squadron in Plymouth in 178 1. 1 * 
 
 The military forces of France, before the war broke out, 
 were by no means so considerable. The infantry con- Military 
 sisted of a hundred and sixty thousand men, the cavalry Fra^t^ 
 of thirty-five thousand, the artillery often thousand; but forethewar - 
 a great proportion of these forces had left their colours 
 during the agitated state of the country prior to the 
 breaking out of the war. During the stormy period of 
 the Revolution, the discipline of the troops had sensibly 
 declined, and the custom of judging for themselves on 
 political questions had introduced a degree of license in- 
 consistent with the habits of military subordination ; but 
 all these defects were more than counterbalanced by the 
 number of able men who speedily entered the ranks from 
 the Tiers Etat, and, by their vigour and audacity, first 
 supplied the want of military experience, and soon after 
 induced it. The cavalry, consisting of fifty-nine regiments, 
 brave, enthusiastic, and impetuous, were at first deficient 
 in steadiness and organisation ; but these defects were 
 speedily supplied under the pressure of necessity, and by 
 
 * The combined fleet which blockaded Gibraltar consisted of forty-four ships 
 of the line ; the British which relieved that fortress under Lord Howe, only of 
 twenty-seven : the French and Spanish fleets which entered the Channel in 
 August 1781, consisted of fifty line-of-battle ships and twenty frigates, to which 
 Admiral Darby could only oppose twenty-one ships of the line and nine 
 frigates. ADOI.PHUS' History of George III., i. 257.
 
 126 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, the talent which emerged from the lower classes of society. 
 IL The artillery and engineers, the higher grades in which 
 
 were not exclusively confined, under the old regime, to 
 men of family, from the first were superior in intelligence 
 and capacity to any in Europe, and contributed more than 
 any other arm to the early successes of the Republican 
 ijom.i.224. forces. The staff was miserably deficient j 1 but from the 
 general diffusion of an admirable military education, the 
 .' materials of the finest etat-major existed in France, and 
 the ascendant of genius, in a career open to all, soon 
 brought an unparalleled accession of talent to that impor- 
 tant department. 
 
 But the chief addition to the numerical strength of the 
 Real force army when the war broke out, consisted in two hundred 
 of Fran m kattaiiQng O f yoluntcers, raised by a decree of the Consti- 
 tuent Assembly ; and who, although not fully completed, 
 and imperfectly instructed in military exercises, were ani- 
 mated with the highest spirit, and in the best possible 
 state of mental and physical activity. In both these 
 respects they were greatly superior to the old regiments, 
 which were not only paralysed by the divisions and insub- 
 ordination consequent on the Revolution, but weakened 
 by the habits of idleness and vice which they had con- 
 tracted during a long residence in barracks. It is a 
 mistake, however, to imagine that the regular military 
 force of France at this period was of no importance, or 
 that the independence of France was preserved, on the 
 invasion in 1792, entirely by the revolutionary levies. 
 Napoleon's authority is decisive to the contrary. " It was 
 neither," says he, " the volunteers nor the recruits who 
 saved the Republic ; it was the one hundred and eighty 
 thousand old troops of the monarchy, and the discharged 
 veterans whom the Revolution impelled to the frontiers. 
 jom.i 226 ^ >ar * ^ *ke recru its deserted, part died, a small portion 
 stcyr,i.38. only remained, who, in process of time, formed good sol- 
 
 Thib. Cons. ,. -, r .,, . , 
 
 109. diers. You will not soon find me going to war with an 
 army of recruits/' 2
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 127 
 
 One part of the French army under Louis XVI. de- CHAP. 
 serves particular attention, from the share which it took, n ' 
 
 with the most disastrous effect to the monarchy, in the n. 
 convulsions which terminated in the Revolution. This troops of the 
 was the household troops, or Maison du Roi, as they were king ' 
 called, the elite of the army in point of discipline, appear- 
 ance, and equipment, and the officers of which were 
 exclusively drawn from the sons of the old noblesse. This 
 body of guards was twelve thousand strong, and in some 
 of the favoured regiments, particularly the Gardes du 
 Corps and the Mousquetaires du Roi, which were placed 
 immediately about the person of the sovereign, and were 
 constantly on duty in the interior of the palace, the whole 
 privates even were gentlemen by birth. The expense of 
 those pampered regiments, as may well be conceived, when 
 they were filled entirely with the young scions of the 
 nobility, was very great ; and they were a constant thorn 
 in the side of Turgot and the economical ministers of 
 Louis XVI., who were as anxiously bent upon reducing 
 that costly part of the establishment, as the ladies and 
 courtiers were on keeping it up. Yet was this magnificent 
 body of guards not without its use, both in the field of 
 battle and in the general arch of the social system estab- 
 lished by Louis XIV. : more than once it had decided 
 the fate of important actions : two of its regiments had 
 arrested the terrible English column at Fontenoy. All 
 great commanders have felt the necessity of such a chosen 
 reserve, upon which they may rely with confidence at the 
 critical moment : the Companions of Alexander, the Tenth 
 Legion of Csesar, the Old Guard of Napoleon, were the same 
 institutions under a different name. Nor was its political 
 importance less in the internal arrangement of the mon- 
 archy. It formed the keystone, as it were, of the military 
 hierarchy, and a link, at the same time, which connected j Soulavi 
 the greatest families in the country at once with the throne ^^xVi 
 and the army. 1 Of all the reforms of Louis XVI. which HI. GB, 73. 
 preceded, and had so large a share in producing the
 
 128 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. Revolution, there was none perhaps so fatal as the sweep- 
 ' ing and ill-judged changes of Count St Germain, which, 
 as will appear in the sequel, irrevocably broke up this 
 important bulwark of the throne. 
 
 10 What, then, was it that, in a country so profusely 
 
 what, then, endowed with the riches of nature, and inhabited by a 
 
 led to the . , . . . . , . 
 
 Revolution? race of men so brave, so active, and so enterprising, led 
 to a convulsion attended with the unspeakable horrors 
 of the French Revolution "? The answer is to be found 
 in the previous state of the country, and the general 
 perversion of the national mind : in the oppressions to 
 which the people were subjected the vices by which the 
 nobles alienated them the corruptions by which morals 
 were contaminated the errors with which religion was 
 disfigured the extent to which infidelity had spread. 
 " The people," says the greatest of French statesmen, 
 " never revolt from fickleness, or the mere desire of 
 change. It is the impatience of suffering which alone 
 
 1 Suiiy, ;. has this effect." 1 Subsequent events have not falsified 
 the maxim of Sully, though they have shown that it 
 requires modification. If the condition of the lower 
 orders in France anterior to the Revolution is examined, 
 it will not be deemed surprising that a convulsion should 
 have arisen ; and if humanity sees much to deplore in the 
 calamities it produced, it will find much cause for con- 
 solation in the grievances it has removed. 
 
 The observation of the French statesman, however, is 
 true only in reference to the commencement of revolu- 
 i- tionary troubles. The people, over a whole country, 
 never pass from a state of quiescence to one of tumult, 
 without the experience of practical grievances. Distur- 
 bances never assume the magnitude of revolutions, unless 
 these grievances have come to affect the great body of 
 
 disaffection. . . / 
 
 the citizens. But when the minds of men have been 
 once set afloat by successful resistance, subsequent inno- 
 vations are made from mere temporary causes, and arise 
 from the thirst for illicit gain on the part of one class,
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 129 
 
 and delusion and timidity on the part of another ; the CHAP. 
 
 restlessness following high excitation ; the distress conse- ' 
 
 quent on suspended credit ; the audacity arising from 
 unpunished crime. " The people," said Robespierre, 
 " will as soon revolt without oppression as the ocean 
 will heave in billows without the wind." " True," replied 
 Vergniaud, " but wave after wave will roll upon the shore, 
 after the fury of the winds is stilled." The universality 
 of the disaffection which prevailed in France anterior to 
 the Revolution, is a sufficient indication that causes were 
 in operation affecting all classes in the State. Temporary 
 distress occasions passing seditions ; local grievances excite 
 partial discontent ; but general and long-continued suffer- 
 ing alone can produce a steady and extensive resistance. 
 In France, at the convocation of the States-General, the 
 desire for change was universal, excepting with part of 
 the privileged orders. The cruelty of the Jacobins, and 
 the precipitate measures of the Constituent Assembly, 
 subsequently produced a very great division of opinion, 
 and lighted the flames of civil war in Lyons and La 
 Vendee ; but, in the beginning one universal cry in 
 favour of freedom was heard from Calais to the Pyrenees. 
 The nobles, for the most part, returned members in the 
 interest of their order ; the dignified clergy did the same ; 
 but the Tiers Etat, and the cures, unanimously supported 
 the cause of independence. The bitter rancour which 
 sebsequent injustice induced between the clergy and the 
 supporters of the Revolution was unknown in its earlier 
 stages ; the Tennis-Court oath found no warmer sup- 
 porters than in the solitudes of La Vendee ; and the 
 first body who joined the commons in their stand against 
 the throne, were the representatives of the ordinary clergy Th/f'ei 41! 
 of France. 1 
 
 Without doubt, the observation of a modern philosopher 
 is well founded, that the march of civilisation necessarily 
 produces a collision between the aristocratic and the 
 popular classes, in every advancing community. Power 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 130 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, founded in conquest, privileges handed down from bar- 
 barous ages, prerogatives suited to periods of anarchy, 
 
 14 -. are incompatible with the rising desires springing from 
 sionoftho the tranquillity and opulence of civilised life. One or 
 other must yield : the power of the noblesse must extin- 
 guish the rising importance of the commons, or it must 
 be modified by their exertions. But it is not necessary 
 that this change should be effected by a revolution. It is 
 quite possible that it may be accomplished so gradually, 
 as not only to produce no convulsion, but to be felt only 
 i Mi i % ky its vivifying and beneficial effects upon society. It is 
 Th. i. 8, 41. Sll dden innovation which brings about the catastrophe; 
 
 Guiz. Hist. i. -I -i i i 
 
 Mod. 321. the rapidity of the descent which converts the stream into 
 
 a cataract. 1 
 
 15 Situated in the centre of European civilisation, it 
 
 Middle' was impossible that France, in the eighteenth century, 
 rousofcie- could escape the general tendency towards free institu- 
 tions. However despotic her government may have been ; 
 however powerful her armies ; however haughty her 
 nobility, the natural progress of opulence, joined to the 
 force of philosophical inquiry, spread an unruly spirit 
 among the middle ranks. The strength of the govern- 
 ment, by suppressing private wars, and affording toler- 
 able security to the fruits of industry, prepared the 
 period of a reaction against itself. The burghers, after 
 the enjoyment of centuries of repose, and the acquisition 
 of a competent share of wealth, felt indignant at the 
 barriers which prevented them from rising into the 
 higher ranks of society ; the enterprising, conscious of 
 powers suited to elevated stations, repined at their ex- 
 clusion from offices of trust or importance ; the stu- 
 dious, imbued with the spirit of Greek or Roman free- 
 dom, contrasted the brilliant career of talent in the 
 republics of antiquity, with its fettered walk in modern 
 times. All classes, except the privileged ones, were 
 discontented with the government, in consequence of 
 the expanded wants which a state of advancing civili-
 
 HISTORY OP EUKOPE. 131 
 
 sation produced. No institutions in modern times can CHAP. 
 
 remain stationary, excepting under governments such as ' 
 
 the Eastern dynasties, which, by preventing the accumu- 
 lation of wealth, exclude the possibility of individual 
 elevation in the middle classes : if the lower orders are 
 permitted to better their condition, their expansive force 
 must, in the end, affect the government. 
 
 The universality of slavery prevented this progress 
 from appearing in ancient times. The civilisation of slavery P rc- 
 
 , ., .1 i , i f i ^nted this 
 
 antiquity was nothing but the aggregate of municipal appearing 
 institutions ; its freedom, the exclusive privilege of the th^'and 
 inhabitants of towns. Hence, with the progress of ^ below 
 opidence, and the corruption of manners in the higher ^' 
 classes, the struggles of liberty gradually declined, and 
 at last terminated with the supremacy of a single 
 despot. The freest ages of these times were the 
 earliest, their most enslaved the latest, of their history. 
 No pressure from below was felt upon the exclusive 
 privileges of the higher orders, because the bodies from 
 which it should have originated were fettered in the 
 bonds of servitude, and incapable of making their influ- 
 ence felt on the other classes in the State. Careless 
 of the future, destitute of property, incapable of rising 
 in society, provided for by others, the great body of 
 the labouring classes remained in a state of pacific 
 servitude, neither disquieting their superiors by their 
 ambition, nor supporting them by their exertions. In 
 modern times, on the other hand, the emancipation of 
 the industrious ranks, through the influence of religion 
 and the extension of information, has, by means of the 
 press, opened the path of elevation to the great body 
 of the people. Individual ambition, the desire of better- 
 ing their condition, have thus been let in to affect the 
 progress of freedom. The ebullition of popular discon- 
 tent becomes strongest in the later periods of society, 
 because it is then that the accumulated wealth of ages 
 has rendered the middle orders most powerful, and the
 
 132 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, simultaneous multiplication of the lower made them 
 "' most formidable. The progress of opulence, and the 
 
 increase of industry, thus become favourable to the 
 cause of liberty, because they augment the influence of 
 those classes by whose exertions it must be maintained. 
 The strife of faction is felt with most severity in those 
 periods when the increasing pressure from below strains 
 the bands by which it has been compressed, and danger 
 or example has not taught the great the necessity of 
 gradual relaxation. If these bands are slowly and cau- 
 tiously unbent, it is Reformation ; if suddenly removed, 
 
 iOuiz.Hist. J ' f . .. . f J f , 
 
 Mod. si, 54. either by the fervour of innovation or the fury of revolt, 
 it is Revolution. 1 
 
 The operation of these causes may be distinctly per- 
 
 Generai ceived in the frame of society in every free country in 
 ci- modern times. Universally the chief spring of pros- 
 perity is to be found in the lower classes ; it is the 
 active exertion, spirit, and increasing energy of the 
 poor, when kept within due bounds by the authority 
 of government and the influence of the aristocracy, 
 which both lay the foundation of national wealth, and 
 secure the progress of national glory. Ask the pro- 
 fessional man what occasions the difficulty so generally 
 experienced in struggling through the world, or even 
 in maintaining his ground against his numerous com- 
 petitors ; he will immediately answer, that it is the 
 pressure from below which occasions all his difficulty ; 
 his equals he can withstand, his superiors overcome ; 
 it is the efforts of his inferiors which are chiefly for- 
 midable. Those, in general, who rise to eminence in 
 every profession where a free competition is permitted, 
 are the sons of the middle or lower orders ; men whom 
 poverty has inured to hardship, or necessity compelled 
 to exertion, and who have acquired, in the school of 
 early difficulty, habits more valuable than all the gifts 
 which fortune has bestowed upon their superiors. The 
 history and present state of England exhibit numerous
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 133 
 
 and splendid examples of the great acquirements and CHAP. 
 
 deeds of persons connected by birth with the aristo- 1 
 
 cratic classes ; but this rather confirms than negatives 
 these principles. But for the competition they had to 
 maintain with the middle and lower classes, there is 
 no reason to suppose that they would have been supe- 
 rior to similar ranks in France or the Continental 
 states. It is the combined efforts of all the orders, 
 each in their appropriate walk of life, occasioned by 
 this incessant competition and necessity for exertion, 
 which draws forth the varied talents of all, and occa- 
 sions at once the wonders and deformities, the great- 
 ness and weakness, the growth and dangers of modern 
 society. 
 
 So universal is the influence of this principle, so impor- 
 tant are its effects upon the progress and prospects ofitsimp'or- 
 society, that it may be considered as the grand distinction ^modern* 
 between ancient and modern times. All others sink into times> 
 insignificance in comparison. The balance of power in a 
 free country is totally altered in consequence of the 
 prodigious addition thus made to the power and impor- 
 tance of the lower orders : a spring of activity and vigour 
 is provided in the humble stations of life, which proves a 
 rapid remedy for almost every national disaster, except 
 those arising from the licentiousness of these orders 
 themselves ; a power is developed in the democratic party 
 in the commonwealth, which renders new bulwarks neces- 
 sary to maintain the equilibrium of society against its 
 excesses. Without some advantages to counteract the 
 superior energy and more industrious habits of their 
 inferiors, the higher ranks, in a prosperous, opulent, and 
 advancing State, must in general fall a prey to their 
 ambition. The indolence of wealth, the selfishness of 
 luxury, the pride of birth, will prove but feeble antago- 
 nists to the pressure of poverty, the self-denial of neces- 
 sity, the ambition of talent. The successive elevation of 
 the more fortunate or able of the lower orders to the
 
 134 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, higher ranks of society is no sufficient antidote to the 
 n> danger, for it is rare that this energy survives the necessity 
 
 which gave it birth ; and nowhere does the enervating 
 influence of wealth appear more strongly than in the 
 immediate descendants of those who have raised them- 
 selves by their own exertions. The incessant development 
 of vigour in the working classes, indeed, if kept within 
 due bounds, and directed in its objects by the influence 
 of religion and the habits of virtue, will generally bring a 
 sufficient portion of talent and industry to uphold the 
 fortunes of the State, but not to maintain the ascendancy 
 of one class within its bosom ; and in the strife of domestic 
 ambition, the aristocracy will find but a feeble support 
 in the descendants of those whom new-born wealth has 
 enriched, or recent services ennobled. 
 
 The enervating effect of wealth upon national character, 
 Extinction and its tendency to extinguish the love of freedom, so 
 spintby justly and so feelingly complained of by the writers of 
 Fence tskmg antiquity, has not hitherto been so strongly experienced 
 m m dern times from the influence of the same cause. 
 Corruption uniformly follows in the train of opulence ; if 
 those who have raised themselves by their exertions with- 
 stand the contagion, it rarely fails to affect their descen- 
 dants. But the continual rise of citizens from the inferior 
 ranks of society, for a time strongly counteracts the influ- 
 ence of this principle. How feeble or inefficient soever 
 the higher ranks may become, a sufficient infusion of 
 energy is long provided in the successive elevation of 
 classes whom necessity has compelled to exertion. It is 
 by precluding their elevation, or in consequence of corrup- 
 tion extending to their ranks, that an age of opulence 
 sinks irrecoverably into one of degeneracy. The period 
 when the public spirit, and with it the general liberty of 
 Great Britain, will become extinct, may be predicted with 
 unerring certainty. It will be when the people have 
 become weary of asserting or maintaining their privileges, 
 from a sense of the evils with which, from being pushed
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 135 
 
 too far, they have been attended, or their incompatibility CHAP. 
 with the indulgence of private rest and material gratifica- n ' 
 
 tion. And that was what Montesquieu meant when he 
 said, that the British constitution would perish when the 
 legislature became more corrupt than the executive. 
 
 But immortality or perfection is not the destiny of 
 nations in this world, any more than of individuals. The Perils of this 
 elevation and instruction of the people has opened foun- 
 tains, from which the vigour of youth is long communicated 
 to the social body ; but it has neither purified their vices 
 nor eradicated their weakness. The tree of knowledge 
 has brought forth its accustomed fruits of good and evil ; 
 the communication of intelligence to the mass of mankind 
 has opened the door as wide to the corruptions as to the 
 virtues of our nature. The progress of wickedness is as 
 certain, and often more rapid, in the most educated, as in 
 the most ignorant states. 
 
 " And next to life, 
 
 Our death, the tree of knowledge grew fast by 
 Knowledge of good, bought dear by knowing ill." * 
 
 The anxious desire for elevation and distinction which 
 the consciousness of knowledge gives to the middle ranks, 
 long an antidote to the degeneracy of the higher, at 
 length becomes the source of corruption as great, and 
 effeminacy as complete, as the slavish submission of 
 despotic states. The necessary distinctions of society 
 appear insupportable in an age of ascending ambition ; 
 and in the strife which ensues the bulwarks of freedom 
 are overturned, not less by the party which invokes than 
 by that which retards the march of democratic power, f 
 
 * Paradise Lost, iv. 220. 
 
 t " He scrupled not to eat 
 
 Against his better knowledge ; not deceived, 
 
 But fondly overcome with female charm. 
 
 As with new wine intoxicated both, 
 
 They swim in mirth, and fancy that they feel 
 
 Divinity within them, breeding wings 
 
 Wherewith to scorn the earth : but that false fruit 
 
 Far other opei-ation first displayed, 
 
 Carnal desire inflaming." Paradise Lost, ix. 997.
 
 136 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. After the strife is over, it is too often discovered that the 
 balance of freedom has been destroyed, and that the 
 
 elements of general liberty no longer exist, from the 
 annihilation of all classes between the prince and the 
 peasant, in the course of the massacres and confiscations 
 which have taken place during its continuance. The 
 lower orders then sink rapidly and irrecoverably into 
 degeneracy, from the experienced impossibility of effecting 
 anything ultimately beneficial to themselves by contend- 
 ing for independence. According to the condition of 
 society, the age of the State, and the degree of public 
 virtue which prevails, such social contests are the com- 
 mencement or the termination of an era of prosperity and 
 glory the expansion of bursting vegetation or the fer- 
 mentation which precedes corruption the revolution 
 which overthrew the tyranny of Tarquin, or the disastrous 
 contests which prepared, in the extinction of patrician 
 power, the final servitude of the empire. 
 
 These causes, however, whatever may be their ultimate 
 Collision of effects, render a collision between the higher and lower 
 and lower orders unavoidable in every advancing State in modern 
 times. The nobles are naturally tenacious of the privi- 
 - l e es an( l dignities which have descended to them from 
 dcm state, their ancestors ; the middle ranks as naturallv endeavour 
 
 tf 
 
 to enlarge theirs, when their increasing wealth or impor- 
 tance enables them to demand such enlargement the 
 lower ultimately become clamorous for a participation in 
 the franchises which they see exercised by their superiors, 
 and which their increasing numbers enable them to claim 
 with effect. It is in the prodigious rapidity with which 
 population advances in the later stages of society among 
 the working classes, owing to the wealth of the opulent 
 and recklessness of the indigent, contrasted with the 
 stationary number of the elevated, the result of their 
 artificial wants or corrupted manners, that the real cause 
 of this collision is to be found. The rich become a 
 beleaguered garrison, of which the spoils are constantly
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 137 
 
 increasing, the defenders diminishing, and the numbers CHAP. 
 and hardihood of the assailants augmenting. It was in ! 
 
 the boroughs of Europe that the struggle first commenced, 
 because there the protection of walls, and of assembled 
 multitudes, had earliest produced the passion for inde- 
 pendence : it next appeared in England, because there 
 the security of an insular situation, and the efforts of an 
 industrious people, had vivified the seeds of Saxon liberty : 
 it lastly spread to France, because its regular government 
 and powerful armies had long secured the blessings of 
 internal tranquillity and foreign independence. 
 
 I. The destruction of the power of the great vassals of 
 the Crown, and the consolidation of the monarchy into one Destruction 
 great kingdom, during the reigns of Louis XL, Francis L, oftheno- 
 and Henry IV., was undoubtedly an essential cause of the 
 Revolution. This anomalous and unforeseen result, how- 
 ever, arose not from the oppression so much as the protec- 
 tion afforded by the government to the people. Had the 
 central power been weaker, and the privileges of the great 
 feudatories remained unimpaired, France, like Germany, 
 would have been split into a number of independent duchies, 
 and all unity of feeling or national energy have been lost 
 amid the division of separate interests. A revolution could 
 no more have taken place there than in Silesia or Saxony : 
 whereas, by the destruction of the power of the great 
 vassals, and the rise of a formidable military force at the 
 command of the central government, the unity of the 
 nation was preserved, its independence secured, and its 
 industry protected. For a century and a half before the 
 commencement of the Revolution, France had enjoyed the 
 blessings of domestic tranquillity. No internal dissensions, 
 no foreign invasions, had broken this long period of security 
 and repose ; war was known only as affording an outlet 
 to the ardent and impatient spirits of the country, or 
 as yielding a rich harvest of national glory ; the worst 
 severities of aristocratic oppression had for ages been pre- 
 vented by the cessation of private warfare. During this
 
 138 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, interval of peace, the relative situation and feelings of 
 IL the different ranks in society underwent a total change. 
 Wealth silently accumulated in the lower orders, from the 
 unceasing eiforts of individual industry ; power impercep- 
 tibly glided from the higher, in consequence of the absorp- 
 tion of their revenues in objects of luxury. When civil 
 dissensions again broke out, this difference appeared in the 
 most striking manner. It was no longer the territorial 
 noblesse, headed by their respective lords, who took the 
 field, or the burghers of towns who maintained insulated 
 contests for the defence of their walls ; but the national 
 guard, who everywhere flew to arms, animated by one 
 common feeling, and strong in the consciousness of mutual 
 support. They did not wait for their landlords to lead, 
 or their magistrates to direct ; but, acting boldly for them- 
 selves, they maintained the cause of democratic freedom 
 against the powers they had hitherto been accustomed to 
 obey. 
 
 II. The military spirit of the French people, and the 
 Military native courage, which a long series of national triumphs 
 had fostered, rendered them capable both of the moral 
 fortitude to commence, and the patient endurance to sus- 
 tain a conflict. But for this circumstance, the Revolution 
 would never have been attempted, or, if begun, would have 
 been speedily crushed by the military force at the disposal 
 of the monarchy. In many countries of Europe, such as 
 Italy, Portugal, and Spain, the people have lost, during 
 centuries of peace, the firmness requisite to win their free- 
 dom. They complain of their oppressors, they lament 
 their degeneracy, they bewail their liberties, but they 
 have not the courage generally to attempt the vindication 
 of these liberties. Unless under the guidance of foreign 
 officers, they are incapable of any sustained or courageous 
 efforts in the field : when deprived of that guidance, they 
 sink immediately into their native imbecility. But the 
 case was very different with the French. The long and 
 disastrous wars with the English, the fierce and sanguinary
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 139 
 
 religious contests of the sixteenth century, the continued CHAP. 
 conflicts with the European powers, had spread a military 
 
 spirit throughout the people, which neither the enjoyment 
 of domestic peace, nor the advantages of unbroken protec- 
 tion, had been able to extinguish. In every age the French 
 have been the most warlike people of Europe ; and the 
 spirit of warlike enterprise is nearly allied to that of civil 
 freedom. Military courage may, and often does, subsist 
 without domestic liberty ; but domestic liberty cannot long 
 subsist without military courage. The dreams of inexperi- 
 enced philanthropy may nourish expectations inconsistent 
 with this position, and anticipate an adequate protection 
 to private right from the extension of knowledge, or the 
 interests of commerce, without the aid of warlike prowess ; 
 but experience gives no countenance to these ideas, and 
 loudly proclaims the everlasting truth, that as regulated 
 freedom is the greatest blessing in life, so it never can be 
 defended for a course of ages from the assaults of regal or 
 democratic despotism, but by the hardihood and resolution 
 of those who enjoy it. 
 
 III. Though the Reformation was extinguished in 
 France, freedom of thought and the spirit of investi- Philosophy 
 gation were unrestrained in the regions of taste and ture. 
 philosophy. Louis XIV. made no attempt to curb the 
 literary genius of his age, provided it did not interfere 
 with political topics ; and the intellectual vigour which 
 was exhibited during his reign, on general subjects, has 
 never been surpassed. In the mental strife which oc- 
 curred during the Revolution, no more energetic specula- 
 tion is to be found than exists in the writings of Corneille 
 and Pascal. But it is impossible that unfettered inquiry 
 can long subsist without political controversy becoming 
 the subject of investigation. Religion and politics, the 
 condition of man here and hereafter, ever must form the 
 most interesting objects of thought ; and, accordingly, they 
 ere long became so, under the feeble successors of the 
 Grand Monarque. In the philosophical speculations of
 
 140 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, the eighteenth century, in the writings of Voltaire, Rous- 
 IL seau, Raynal, and the Encyclopedists, the most free and 
 unreserved discussion, if not on political subjects, at least 
 on those which were most nearly allied to them, on morals 
 and religion, took place. By a singular blindness, the 
 constituted authorities, despotic though they were, made 
 no attempt to curb these inquiries, which, being all couched 
 in general terms, or made in reference to other states, 
 appeared to have no direct bearing on the tranquillity of 
 the kingdom. Strong in the support of the nobility, the 
 protection of the army, and the long -established tran- 
 quillity of the country, they deemed their power beyond 
 the reach of attack, and anticipated no danger from 
 dreams on the social compact, or the morals and spirit of 
 nations. A direct attack on the monarchy, or still more, 
 on any of the ministers or royal mistresses, would have 
 been followed by an immediate place in the Bastile ; but 
 general disquisitions excited no alarm, either among the 
 higher classes or in the government. So universal was 
 this delusion, that the young nobility amused themselves 
 j S4 r , g with visionary speculations concerning the original equality 
 Memoirs, i. and pristine state of man ; deeming such speculations as 
 i. io, 12.' inapplicable to their interests as the license of Otaheite 
 or the customs of Tartary. 1 
 
 It is not surprising that the higher ranks mistook the 
 Causes of signs of the times. They were advancing into a region in 
 which the ancient landmarks were no longer to be seen, 
 jUi. where the signs of a new heaven, and hitherto unseen 
 constellations, were to guide the statesman. Judging 
 from the past, no danger was to be apprehended ; for all 
 former convulsions of a serious description had been 
 headed by a portion at least of the higher ranks. Judg- 
 ing from what we know of what followed, the speck was 
 already to be seen in the horizon which was to overwhelm 
 the civilised world with darkness. The speculations of 
 those eloquent philosophers spread widely among the ris- 
 ing generation. Captivated by the novelty of the ideas
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 141 
 
 which were developed, dazzled by the lustre of the elo- CHAP. 
 quence which was employed, seduced by the examples of IL 
 antiquity which were held up to imitation, the youth 
 warmly embraced not only free, but republican principles. 
 The injustice of feudal oppression, the hardship of feudal 
 exclusion, produced a corresponding reaction in the public 
 mind. In the middle ranks, in particular, upon whom, 
 the chains of servitude hung heaviest, and who longed 
 most for emancipation, because they would be the first to 
 profit by it, the passion for ancient freedom was wrought 
 up to the highest pitch. Madame Roland, the daughter 
 of an engraver, and living in a humble station, wept, at nine g^^T 
 years of age, because she had not been born a Roman citi- 88 ' , 89 -. i n - 
 
 . -,-., T . . , . troduction, 
 
 zen, and carried Plutarch s Lives, instead of her breviary, P. is. 
 in her hand, when she attended mass in the cathedral. 1 
 
 The tenor of the prevailing ideas which have moved 
 the public mind, may always be known from the style of classical 
 eloquence adopted, and the allusions made use of, by those whLhgen- 
 who direct it. During the Great Rebellion in England, ylfild. prc 
 the language universally employed by the popular leaders 
 was that of gloomy austerity ; their images and allu- 
 sions were all drawn from the Old Testament. Fanati- 
 cism was the engine by which alone at that period the 
 great body of the people could be moved. In France, 
 religion was never once alluded to by the popular party ; 
 or, if mentioned, it was only to be made the subject of 
 derision and obloquy. Classical images, reference to the 
 freedom and spirit of antiquity, formed the great means 
 of public excitation. The names of Brutus and Cato, 
 of Phocion and Themistocles, were constantly upon their 
 lips : the National Assembly never resounded with such 
 tumultuous applause as when some fortunate allusion to 
 the heroes of Greece or Rome was made ; the people 
 were never wrought up to such a state of fervour as when 
 they were called on to follow the example of the patriots 
 in the ancient republics. Even in periods of extreme 
 peril, with the prospect of immediate death before their
 
 142 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, eyes, the same splendid imagery was employed ; and it is 
 "' impossible to read without emotion the generous sentiments 
 
 which the victims of popular violence frequently uttered, 
 at their last moments, in the words of ancient eloquence. 
 The circumstance of all others which chiefly contributed 
 influence of to this turn of the public mind, was the great influence 
 st4cw nc which the masterpieces of the French stage had acquired 
 t m?Ji. ublic in the capital. The Theatre Francis had, for above a 
 century, been to the Parisians what the Forum was to 
 the Athenians a great arena in which political and 
 moral sentiments of the most elevated kind were incul- 
 cated, and arguments the most admirable urged on the 
 opposite sides of every great public question. The crowds 
 in the pit, generally the most enlightened part of the 
 audience, listened to the inimitable declamations of Cor- 
 neille or Racine, with the same admiration which the 
 Greek citizens felt when witnessing the oratorical con- 
 tests of -^Eschines and Demosthenes. The grandeur of 
 thought, the elevation of sentiment, the heroism of cha- 
 racter, which were so nobly portrayed in these dramas, 
 unavoidably acquired a vast influence over the public 
 mind. It was the greater, because it was on the stage 
 alone that liberty of discussion could then be heard in so 
 despotic a State, and in the representations of the social 
 struggles of antiquity only that the yearnings of the 
 human mind after present freedom could be satisfied the 
 more dangerous, because it established, in general thought, 
 a standard of excellence wholly unsuitable to the actual 
 character of humanity, and spread the belief that men in 
 real life were to be influenced by the dignified considera- 
 tions which swayed the heroes of dramatic fiction. Never 
 was a more delusive belief diffused. The great Conde 
 might shed tears* at the representation of the master- 
 
 * It ia recorded by Voltaire, in his admirable Commentaries on Corneille, 
 that the great Conde* shed tears at the magnanimous speech of Augustus, in 
 the last scene of Cinna, where he pronounces his forgiveness. But Paris, 
 during the Revolution, was not peopled with great Condes. See CEuvres de 
 COBNEILLE, iii. 387; edit 1817, with VOLTAIRE'S Notes.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 143 
 
 pieces of Corneille ; but it was in such heroic breasts CHAP. 
 
 a mere fraction of the human race that they alone could ! 
 
 find a responsive echo. Yet no one who has studied 
 closely the history of the Revolution, and observed the 
 constant allusions by the popular leaders to the far-famed 
 occurrences of antiquity, can entertain a doubt that this 
 cause had a material influence on its fortunes, and con- 
 tributed not a little to produce those magnificent ideas of 
 the virtues of a republic, and that exalted conception of 
 the sway of generous sentiments over emancipated man, 
 which were destined to be so grievously disappointed by 
 the selfishness, vice, and cruelty of the Revolution.* 
 
 IV. The CHURCH in France experienced the fate of all 2g 
 attempts, in an advancing age, to fetter the human mind ; state of the 
 the resistance to its authority became general, and in the 
 fervour of opposition, the good and the bad parts of its 
 doctrines were indiscriminately rejected. This is the 
 usual consequence of attempts to force incredible and 
 absurd doctrines upon public belief. As long as the 
 minds of the people are in a state of torpor or inactivity, 
 they embrace without scruple whatever is taught by their 
 spiritual guides ; but when the spirit of investigation is 
 roused, and the light of reason breaks in, the reaction 
 becomes just as strong in the opposite direction, and 
 infidel supplies the place of superstitious fanaticism. 
 Religious as well as political reformers seldom content 
 themselves with amending what is really defective in the 
 subject of their improvement ; in the fervour of innova- 
 tion they destroy the whole, because part has been found 
 
 * It is observed by Voltaire, as a remarkable circumstance, that in the 
 Greek tragedies, addressed to the people of all others most ardently attached 
 to democratic institutions, there is no allusion to be found to their value ; 
 while those of Corneille, intended for the court of the Bourbons in the palmy 
 days of its power, are full of them. But the reason is obvious, and has been 
 abundantly illustrated since Voltaire's death. Corneille put declamations on 
 the virtues of a republic into the mouths of his heroes, because he had never 
 known democracy ; it was a Utopia to all around him. Euripides was silent 
 on the subject, for he knew it too well ; it was the real life with which his 
 audience were familiar.
 
 144 HISTORY OF EUltOPE. 
 
 CHAP, corrupted. It was thus with the Catholic Church of 
 France. Supported as it had been by the greatest names, 
 
 and adorned by the most splendid ability teaching, for 
 the most part, the most simple and beneficent system of 
 belief, it fell into general obloquy, in consequence of the 
 irrational and dangerous nature of some of its tenets, and 
 the disgraceful use which it had made of its power. How 
 strong soever the force of superstition may be, the power 
 of reason is still stronger ; if the former is to be sup- 
 ported, the latter must be enchained. 
 
 If we would discover the cause of this remarkable bent 
 Fatal effects of literary and philosophical thought in France during the 
 cation of"' last half of the eighteenth century, we must look for its 
 principal cause in the injustice of preceding reigns. It 
 was the REVOCATION OF THE EDICT OF NANTES which 
 occasioned that fatal direction ; it was the stoppage of 
 the comparatively gentle purification of the Reformation 
 which induced the fiery torrent of the Revolution. The 
 enormous cruelty, the frightful injustice, the flagrant 
 impolicy of that deed of despotism, have been already 
 noticed" 5 ' in reference to the political history of France 
 anterior to the Revolution ; but its effects upon its eccle- 
 siastical interests were hardly less important, and still 
 more fatal. It at once destroyed religious freedom in that 
 great country ; by a single blow it extinguished intellec- 
 tual energy in the Church. Toleration, even, was at an 
 end ; exile, confiscation, imprisonment, were to follow the 
 slightest inclination towards the Huguenot opinions. In 
 this complete victory, the champions of the Roman Ca- 
 tholic faith in France beheld an unqualified ground of 
 triumph ; but he must be blind indeed who does not now 
 perceive that it was the principal cause of the unbounded 
 calamities in which the Gallican Church and the French 
 monarchy were involved at the close of the eighteenth 
 century. 
 
 As long as the Protestant faith existed in the country, 
 
 * Ante, chap. i. 65, 66.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 145 
 
 and free discussion was allowed under the tolerant edict CHAP. 
 of Henry IV., abuses of a flagrant kind were prevented 
 
 on the part of the national establishment, from the dread so. 
 of exposure by the champions of the opposite faith, 
 Talent, at the same time, was roused. Eloquence was 
 called forth on both sides, not only from the polemical 
 contests which were carried on between the professors of 
 the new and the old opinions, but from the more useful 
 and generous rivalry which prevailed as to which should 
 gain the greatest number of converts to its faith, and dis- 
 seminate most widely the blessings of Christian instruction. 
 But when the five hundred thousand weeping Protestants 
 were sent into exile when the Huguenot worship was 
 everywhere proscribed, and its trembling votaries, if 
 detected celebrating its rites, were liable to stripes, con- 
 fiscation, and exile no check on the Roman Catholic 
 worship remained. Effort on the part of its priesthood 
 relaxed, from the necessity for it having passed away. 
 The vast genius of Bossuet was no longer seen singly sus- 
 taining by its might the belief of the faithful ; the mild 
 spirit of Fenelon ceased to win the heart by the fervour 
 of the gospel. Indolence and pride crept over the higher 
 dignitaries of the church ; bigotry and ignorance enveloped 
 the lower ; its errors, its superstitions, its cruelties, re- 
 mained unchanged ; while the talents and energy which 
 had adorned it passed away. At a time when the in- 
 quisitive spirit of the age was daily extending, irresistible 
 power rendered the dignified prelates blind to their dan- 
 gers ; and the fetters of a former period were the more 
 straitly drawn, when the hands which were to rivet them 
 were rapidly becoming weaker. 
 
 But no effort of despotism, how energetic soever, can, 
 in an advancing and intellectual age, permanently extin- it issue's 
 guish the light of reason. The ardent spirit of religious le 
 inquiry, banished from the pulpits of the Huguenots, 
 broke forth within the bosom of the church : the contest 
 of the followers of Jansen and Molina took the place of 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 146 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, that between the disciples of Luther and the successors of 
 IL St Peter. This celebrated controversy partook in many 
 points of the characteristics of the great Protestant schism. 
 It was distinguished by the same stern and dogmatic spirit 
 on the one side, and the same inward fervour and bold 
 inquiry on the other : vindictive authority commanded 
 among the Jesuits, and intrepid enthusiasm animated the 
 Jansenists. Pascal was the soul of the latter body : the 
 Jesuits never recovered from the effect of his celebrated 
 Provincial Letters. "The comedies of Moliere," says 
 Voltaire, " have not more wit than the former part of 
 these letters, nor the writings of Bossuet more sublimity 
 than the latter/' The Jansenists, following the dogmas 
 of their founder, Cornelius Jansen, bishop of Ypres, main- 
 tained the principles of necessity and predestination, which 
 pervade the tenets of extreme Calvinism ; the Jesuits, 
 with Molina, a Spanish priest of that order, asserted the 
 doctrine of free-will, and the necessity of unity in the 
 church. "Superstition," says Hume, "is an enemy to 
 civil liberty : enthusiasm is a friend to it. The Molinists, 
 while conducted by the Jesuits, are great friends to super- 
 stition, rigid observers of external forms and ceremonies, 
 and devoted to the authority of the priests and to tradition. 
 The Jansenists are enthusiasts, and zealous promoters of 
 the passionate devotion and of the inward life ; little 
 influenced by authority, and, in a word, but half Catholics. 
 are * ne tyrants of the people, and the slaves 
 
 Lectures on of the court \ and the Jansenists preserve alive the small 
 
 the French . _ /TI 1-1 i/ i 
 
 Rev. i. 65. sparks of the love of liberty which are to be found m the 
 French nation." 1 
 
 V. But these sparks were destined ere long to rise up 
 
 Transition into a flame ; and the declining fervour of religious con- 
 
 test into n troversy, warmed by the vigour of political ambition, pro- 
 
 jSiamenu duced that fermentation in the country which at length 
 
 wth the i ssue( i i n the fury of the Revolution. The PARLIAMENTS 
 
 of France bore no resemblance to the great national coun- 
 
 cil of England ; they were provincial assemblies, composed
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 147 
 
 entirely of magistrates of rank from the order of the CHAP. 
 nobility, or the Tiers Etat raised by office to that station ; IL 
 intrusted chiefly with judicial duties, but constituting, in 
 the absence of the States-general, which had not been 
 assembled since 1614, the only subsisting check recognised 
 by the constitution on the authority of the sovereign. 
 The parliament of Paris, the most important of these 
 bodies both in point of rank and influence, and which 
 took the lead in all contests with the Crown, was very 
 numerous : it consisted of a hundred and seventy mem- 
 bers, including seventeen peers, of whom two were princes 
 of the blood. This assembly, from its numbers, its spirit, 
 and the individual respectability of its members, early 
 acquired great consideration, which it retained to the 
 very commencement of the Revolution. It was univer- 
 sally felt to be the only remaining bulwark of public 
 liberty, after the nobles had sunk before the ascendant of 
 Richelieu ; and from the persevering and often heroic 
 courage with which it combated the despotic measures of 
 the Crown, it enjoyed a large and well-deserved share of 
 popularity. It had one immense advantage, which will 
 be readily appreciated by all who have experienced the 
 debasing influence either of monarchical or popular ap- 
 pointment, when limited to a short period, or held at will 
 only its members were independent. They were neither 
 nominated by the intrigues of Versailles nor by the popu- 
 lace of Paris ; they received mandates neither from the 
 royal mistresses nor the popular demagogues. They 
 acquired their offices, as commissions are obtained in the 
 English army, by purchase ; subject, indeed, to the royal 
 approbation, and to certain regulations formed by them- 
 selves, to prevent the introduction of improper members : 
 but neither the Crown nor the nobility had, practically 
 speaking, the appointment. Though this system may 
 appear strange to English ideas, yet a little reflection 
 must show, as Burke has observed, that it was admirably 
 fitted both to confer independence and insure the upright
 
 148 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, discharge of duty. None could obtain admission but 
 ' persons of a respectable station ; a certain fortune was 
 requisite to purchase the situation ; integrity and inde- 
 pendence were the only passports to public esteem. 
 Neither royal frowns nor popular despotism could 
 dispossess them of their offices. They know little of 
 367. Grim, human nature who are not aware that these are the 
 
 Corresn. < 
 
 xvi. 83. on iy circumstances which can be permanently relied on 
 
 Weber, i. * . . j i * 
 
 469. to produce integrity and independence in judicial func- 
 
 tionaries. 1 
 
 33 The most important constitutional power with which 
 
 Powers' of the parliaments were intrusted, was that of consenting to 
 * '" or refusing the king's edicts for the imposition of any new 
 
 tax ; and it was part of consuetudinary usage, that no 
 
 impost, though imposed by a royal decree, had the force 
 
 of law until it was registered in the parliamentary books. 
 
 When the parliaments were refractory, therefore, or dis- 
 
 approved of the measures of the court, the course they 
 
 adopted was to refuse to register the edict which laid on 
 
 any new tax ; and as the courts of law, till this was done, 
 
 refused to enforce it, this power was often a very effectual 
 
 one. The only known remedy was for the king to hold 
 
 what was called a lit de justice, or bed of justice ; that 
 
 is, to repair to the place where the parliament sat, and 
 
 ordain the registration of the edict on his own authority. 
 
 Unpopular as such a measure of course was, it was not 
 
 unfrequently had recourse to, and sometimes even by the 
 
 2Card.de niild and forbearing Louis XVI. Yet it was always 
 
 Sr?i7. M M^ regarded as an arbitrary step ; the parliaments loudly 
 
 " y 25V ur protested against its legality; many great constitutional 
 
 Soii i 3 i97 ^ aw J ers agreed with them, as holding it an unwarrantable 
 
 Smyth's stretch of the royal authority : and at any rate it was 
 
 Lectures, , J ... / 
 
 i. 67. sure to be an unpopular proceeding, likely to endanger 
 any ministry by which it was recommended. 2 
 
 The contest between the Crown and the parliaments 
 had subsisted in France for two centuries ; but it never 
 became envenomed till it was mixed up with the Port-
 
 HISTORY OF ETJKOPE. 149 
 
 Royal controversy. Such was the legacy bequeathed to CHAP. 
 the country by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes ; 
 
 an internal semi-religious strife, springing from the out- 34. 
 ward extinction of religious dissent. The details of this theTonTe^t 
 contest would fill volumes, and belong properly to the parliaments. 
 history of France during the eighteenth century, not ' 
 to the annals of the Revolution. But the general re- 
 sults may be stated in a few words. Orders, in the 
 first instance, were issued by the Archbishop of Paris, 
 and the clergy acting under the influence of the Jesuits, 
 to refuse the sacrament to those of the Jansenist per- 
 suasion : this was met by censure and prosecutions from 
 the parliament of Paris against those who obeyed these 
 orders. The Crown, upon this, issued a mandate to stay 
 all such prosecutions : the parliament remonstrated, and 
 the royal commands were renewed. The parliament re- 
 torted, by suspending all judicial business in their courts. 
 The Crown, upon this, issued a mandate enforcing the 
 repeal of these resolutions of suspension : the parliament 
 immediately attached the revenue of the Archbishop of 
 Paris. Rigorous measures were now resorted to by the 
 court : lettres-de-cachet were issued ; all the members of 
 the parliament exiled ; four of the most obnoxious were 
 sent to the state prisons ; and an attempt was made to 
 form new courts of justice instead of the parliament. 
 But the letters-patent constituting these new courts were 
 not valid till registered in the inferior courts, and these 
 courts, espousing the cause of the parliament, refused to 
 record them. The nation was now roused : the pro- 
 vincial parliaments everywhere met and supported the 1757. 
 parliament of Paris ; the clergy who refused the sacra- 1 souiavie, 
 ments were generally prosecuted. Thus the nation was Ki d r ch. 
 reduced to a position of inextricable confusion if the f^ 1 ^' 
 contest were any further pursued : on the one hand, the ^|i h ' * 
 holiest rites of religion were suspended ; on the other, the xviii.sifecie, 
 
 iii ^f\(\ *}JtJi 
 
 most important legal courts were closed. 1 The necessity 194" 200. 
 of applying a remedy at length prevailed over the stub-
 
 150 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, bornness of the court : the parliaments were recalled, 
 IL and the archbishop was exiled. 
 
 VI. In the progress of time the Jesuits became 
 suppression obnoxious to the most powerful interests in the court, 
 from the incessant intrigues which they kept up, and the 
 disagreeable manner in which they interfered with the 
 mistresses and council of Louis XV. Madame Pompa- 
 dour, and the Duke de Choiseul, the chief minister, 
 united their strength to effect the destruction of a rival 
 authority ; and they were powerfully supported by the 
 parliament of Paris, and the numerous body in France, 
 both in and out of the church, who belonged to the 
 Jansenist party. Louis XV. long held out against their 
 united efforts, partly from the influence of the Archbishop 
 of Paris, and the dignified clergy in the metropolis, who 
 were almost all of the Molinist side and party, and partly 
 from an impression that the Jesuits were valuable as 
 ecclesiastical agents of the Crown ; and that Cardinal 
 Fleury's maxim was well founded, that " if they are bad 
 masters, they will prove good servants." But at length, 
 when the monarch, in his declining years, became more 
 devoted to sensual enjoyments, and found that the Jesuits 
 about the court might interfere with the orgies in the 
 * Lac iv is P arc - aux -C er f s > ne yielded to the persecution which the 
 38. Soul. ' parliaments had long carried on against this celebrated 
 279,285.' sect, and by a royal decree, in November 1764, their 
 order was entirely suppressed in France. l * 
 
 The destruction of the Jesuits had immediately the 
 Cessation of effect of stilling the fury of the religious controversy ; but 
 it was far from putting an end to the contest between the 
 l- Crown and the parliament, which continued unabated 
 cai opinions. d own to the close of the reign of Louis XV. Meanwhile, 
 the cessation of the religious conflict had the effect of 
 
 * Frederick the Great, who, with all his partiality to the French free-thinking 
 philosophers, knew well where the real supports of the throne are to be found, 
 exclaimed, when he heard that the government had banished the Jesuits from 
 France " Pauvres moutons, ils ont dgtruit les renards qui les deiendaient des 
 loups, et ils ne voient pas qu'ils vont etre devores." WEBEH'S Memoirs, i. 94.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 151 
 
 disarming the vigilance, and paralysing the strength of the CHAP. 
 church. The Jansenists, delivered from their oppressors, IL 
 no longer exerted their talents : the Molinists slumbered 
 in fancied security amidst the pomp of their palaces ; the 
 inferior clergy forgot alike their zeal and their fanaticism. 
 The age of toleration commenced it speedily turned 
 into one of indifference ; and such an age is in general 
 but the precursor of one of incredulity. The spirit of the 
 times ran violently in favour of the new opinions, the 
 liberal ideas of enlarged philosophy, the entrancing specu- 
 lations of social perfectibility. The clergy, sensible of 
 their weakness both in intellectual and political strength, 
 slumbered on in philosophic tolerance of the dissolution, 
 alike of morals and opinions, which was going forward. 
 They recovered their dignity, and stood forth with the 
 grandeur of ancient martyrs, during the storms of the i. 99" -200? 
 Revolution. 1 
 
 VII. In the great philosophic efforts of the eighteenth 
 century, which in their ultimate effects convulsed the 
 world, a prodigious phalanx of ability was engaged. But 
 three men appeared as giants in the fight, and contributed 
 in a signal manner, by the originality and force of their 
 talents, to stamp the impress of their genius upon the 
 opinions of their own, and the events of the succeeding 
 age. These were Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau. 
 
 Charles de la Brede, Baron of MONTESQUIEU, was 
 born at the chateau of La Brede, near Bordeaux, on the Life 'and 
 18th January 1689. From his earliest years he gave 
 
 evidence of the great talents for which he afterwards be- tesquieu - 
 came celebrated ; and he was educated with care for the 
 magistracy, to which his father's influence near Bordeaux 
 promised him an early entrance. His thirst for knowledge, 
 even in early youth, was unbounded, and continued without 
 abatement through life insomuch that he frequently used 
 to say, that he had never felt a chagrin which an hour's 
 reading did not dissipate. History, antiquities, travels, 
 were his favourite study ; with the classics he was familiar ;
 
 Ij2 HISTORY OF EUKOPE. 
 
 CHAP, and these interludes of employment formed his recreation 
 IL amidst the dry details of legal acquirement. But he 
 possessed from the first the rare faculty the distinctive 
 mark of genius of extracting from this infinity of details 
 a few ruling principles. His collections were as numerous 
 as the eighty thousand observations of Kepler ; but he 
 knew, like the immortal astronomer, how to deduce the 
 few laws of social order from these observations. In 
 1716, at the early age of twenty-seven, he was appointed 
 president of the parliament of Bordeaux ; and the labo- 
 rious efforts of that dignified and responsible office, hap- 
 pily for himself, kept him far removed from the vices 
 and attractions of Parisian society. Twenty years were 
 employed in the collection of materials for the composition 
 of his greatest work the " Esprit des Lois." His life 
 thus afforded few materials for biography fewer still for 
 scandal. He travelled much, and surveyed with the eye 
 of a philosopher all the principal countries of Europe, on 
 which he wrote notes, which unhappily were not left in 
 so complete a state as to be fit for publication. Like 
 Corneille, Boileau, Pascal, and all the great men of his 
 age and in truth of every age he lived the greater 
 part of his life in retirement, and found in the converse 
 of the great of former times, and in reflection on their 
 thoughts, a compensation, and more than a compensa- 
 tion, for all the attractions of present society. Mean- 
 xxix. g 50?, n ' while his great work advanced, as he himself said, 
 
 V20 
 
 " d pas de geant," and after twenty years of labour, 
 
 the immortal " Esprit des Lois" appeared. 1 His dispo- 
 cyd^&tiir sition was generous, his temper gentle, his life unruffled : 
 V refaedu> d wra P* i 11 P i R great objects, and the contemplation of 
 his works, eternal truth, he felt none of the ordinary crosses of 
 
 mortality,""' and terminated a life of more than ordinary 
 
 * " I have hardly ever," he said, " experienced a chagrin, still less an hour of 
 ennui, in my life. I waken in the morning with the secret joy at beholding the 
 light ; the whole of the rest of the day I am pleased. I sleep at night without 
 wakening ; and in the evening, before I close my eyelids, a sort of delicious 
 trance prevents me from making reflections." Part, .doubtless, of this rare
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 153 
 
 happiness, serene and thankful, after a short illness, on the CHAP. 
 
 10th February 1755. Voltaire pronounced his epitaph . !!: 
 
 in this magnificent eulogium : " The human race had 
 lost its titles ; Montesquieu rediscovered them, and re- 
 stored them to the owner." 
 
 Montesquieu was one of the greatest thinkers that the 
 world ever produced ; he is to be placed on a level in character 
 that respect with Bacon and Machiavel, and above either n gs! s w 
 Cicero or Tacitus. Less eloquent and ornate than the 
 first of the Roman writers, less condensed and caustic 
 than the last, he took a wider view of human affairs than 
 either, and deduced general conclusions with more wisdom, 
 from a vast variety of detached and apparently insulated 
 particulars. He is greater than the Roman historian as 
 a philosopher, but inferior to him as a writer and a 
 delineator of events. Though his principal work, and 
 that which has chiefly given him his colossal reputation, is 
 the " Esprit des Lois/' yet it may be doubted whether 
 the " Grandeur et Decadence des Romains" is not more 
 profound, and does not contain a greater number of just 
 philosophic conclusions. It has not the practical saga- 
 city which an extensive experience of human wicked- 
 ness gave to the Florentine sage, nor the incomparable 
 wisdom which secured to the English statesman so deep 
 an insight into the secret springs of human action ; but in 
 philosophic generalisation and luminous deduction, it is 
 perhaps superior to the work either of Machiavel or 
 Bacon.* In the " Esprit des Lois," though deep thought 
 
 felicity was owing to unbroken domestic happiness ; his rank was high, his 
 situation distinguished, his fortune affluent, his reputation xmcontested, his 
 marriage happy, his children affectionate. More still was to be ascribed to the 
 serenity of mind, springing from the constant contemplation of abstract truth, 
 and the never-failing enjoyment which he derived from the study of the great 
 works of former days. But most of all is to be considered owing to the inward 
 satisfaction derived from the consciousness of a well-spent life, of great powers 
 nobly applied, and the calm conviction that he had raised for himself a 
 monument destined to be as enduring as the human race. See Biographie 
 Universelle, xxix. 518, 519. 
 
 * It is a curious circumstance, which has been demonstrated by a careful 
 examination of the numerous manuscripts which Montesqxiieu has left, that
 
 154 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, is frequently to be met with, and vast erudition is every- 
 ' where conspicuous, yet there is often too great a disposi- 
 tion to trace fanciful analogies, and ascribe remarkable 
 differences in national institutions rather to accidental or 
 trivial causes, than to great and permanent moving powers 
 of human action the usual fault of ingenious and philo- 
 sophic minds, which carry to excess the spirit of generali- 
 sation, the foundation of all true political wisdom. Yet, 
 such as it is, this noble work w r as a prodigious step in the 
 progress of knowledge ; it gave birth to a new science, the 
 philosophy of history, of which antiquity had obtained 
 only a few detached glimpses ; and to its influence, more 
 perhaps than that of any work of the eighteenth century, 
 is the subsequent direction of human thought and the 
 course of public events to be ascribed.* 
 
 It may seem ungenerous to say of so great a man, 
 influence that his labours were conducive, along with those of 
 others, in bringing about the French Revolution ; and 
 unjust to affirm, that by leading men to think on poli- 
 tical subjects, they were instrumental in producing that 
 convulsion : yet nothing is more certain than that both 
 effects took place. True it is indeed, that revolutions 
 are carried into eocecution, not by those who think, but 
 
 many of his most profound and original thoughts were suggested by passages 
 in works of imagination, and light and frivolous compositions. Whoever has 
 reflected much on individual or national events, will probably not be surprised 
 at this circumstance, for it is in such productions that the secret springs of 
 the heart, the moving power in all human affairs, unconsciously are brought to 
 light. See Biographic Uniremelle, xxix. 520. 
 
 * D'Alembert, in his admirable eulogium on Montesquieu, prefixed to the 
 fifth volume of the Encyclopaedia, and since transferred to all the complete 
 editions of his works, has given the following interesting picture of the private 
 character and habits of this great man : " II (jtait sensible a la gloire ; mais il 
 ne voulait y parvenir qu'en le meritant. Jamais il n'a cherche a augmenter la 
 sieune par ces manoeuvres sourdes, par ces voies obscures et honteuses, qui 
 deshonorent la personne sans aj outer au nom de 1'auteur. Digne de toutes les 
 distinctions et de toutes les recompenses, il ne demandait rien, et ne s'etonnait 
 point d'etre oubli6 ; mais il a ose, dans les circonstances les plus delicates, 
 proteger a la cour des hommes de lettres persecutes, c61ebres, et malheureux, 
 et leur obtenir des graces. Quoiqu'il v<jcut avec les grands soit par neces- 
 site", soit par convenance, soit par gout leur societe" n'etait pas ne*cessaire a son 
 bonheur. 11 fuyait des qu'il pouvait a sa terre ; il y retrouvait avec joie sa 
 philosophie, sea livres, et le repos. Entoure des gens de la campagne, dans ses 
 
 the Revolu- 
 tion.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 155 
 
 by those who do not think on human affairs ; but the CHAP. 
 physical strength of the greatest number is ever directed IL 
 by the intellect of a few ; and the spring of the ideas 
 of those few is to be found in the recesses of individual 
 thought. Montesquieu's celebrated doctrine, that the 
 principle of government in a monarchy is honour in 
 a despotism, fear and in a republic, virtue, though 
 not destitute of foundation, was far too broadly ex- 
 pressed, and proceeded on a most erroneous view of 
 the tendency of unrestrained human conduct. It spread 
 abroad the idea that virtue would be the ruling prin- 
 ciple in republics, whereas what Montesquieu meant 
 was that virtue was its safeguard, its preserving prin- 
 ciple and that is undoubtedly true ; but he forgot to 
 add what was equally true, that in an advanced state 
 of society, selfishness is its demon, corruption its 
 destroyer, and that, though virtue may be its theory, 
 vice is too often its practice. But that was the great 
 error of the philosophers of the eighteenth century, an 
 error which religion had foretold, and which the French 
 Revolution demonstrated an undue estimate of the 
 virtue of mankind. It was the error of noble and 
 generous minds, who judge of others by themselves, and 
 are unable to form a conception of that general preva- 
 
 heures de loisir, apres avoir e"tudi6 1'homme dans le commerce du monde, et 
 dans 1'histoire des nations, il 1'e'tudiait encore dans ces ames simples que la 
 nature seule a instruites, et il y trouvait a apprendre ; il conversait gaiement 
 avec eux ; il leur trouvait de 1'esprit comme Socrate ; il paraissait se plaire 
 autant dans leurs entretien que dans les societ6s les plus brilliantes, surtout 
 quand il terminait leurs differends, et soulageait leurs peines par ses bienfaits." 
 See OSuvres de MONTESQUIEU, vol. i. p. 109. Introduction. What a picture of 
 the greatest man of his age, enjoying retirement, asking nothing, noways 
 surprised at being forgot ! He knew courts and ministers well who acted thus 
 after having written the " Esprit des Lois." Carlyle has well observed, that 
 all governments have a jealousy of their teachers. Many traits in this exquisite 
 portrait will remind the reader of the corresponding features of Sir Walter 
 Scott in Mr Lockhart's admirable Life. But it would have been well for the 
 illustrious novelist if he had practised that economy in his desires and habits, 
 which, without diminishing his numerous deeds of generosity and charity, and 
 leaving him funds sufficient for his numerous travels, enabled Montesquieu to 
 transmit his paternal estate undiminished to his children. See D'ALEMBBJBT's 
 Eloge, p. 111.
 
 156 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, lence of selfishness and timidity, which, in all social 
 
 l conflicts, renders the great body of men the prey of the 
 
 wicked and audacious. It was the error, however, 
 which brought about the French Revolution ; which in 
 all its phases, from the dreams of Necker to the blood 
 of Robespierre and the carnage of Napoleon, was but 
 a commentary on the opposite doctrines of human per- 
 fectibility, the foundation of philosophic innovation 
 and of general corruption, the corner-stone of Revela- 
 tion." 
 
 FRANCOIS MARIE AROUET DE VOLTAIRE was born at 
 
 40. 
 
 Birth and Chatcnay, near Sceaux, on the 20th February 1694. 
 His father, though a respectable man, was a simple 
 notary to the Chatelet, so that he had none of the ad- 
 vantages of birth, though by the mother's side he was 
 descended from an ancient and noble family in Poitou. 
 His constitution was at first so feeble that it was with 
 great difficulty he was kept alive in the years of 
 infancy ; and though he lived to the advanced age 
 of eighty-four, he was always of a weak frame of body, 
 and his infirmities in this respect contributed not a 
 little to augment the natural irritability of his temper. 
 He was early initiated in the mysteries of infidelity by 
 his godfather, the Abbe de Chateauneuf, who taught 
 him at three years of age to repeat, by heart, the 
 Molsade, an impious parody on the life of the Jewish 
 lawgiver. At fourteen he was sent to the college of 
 
 * Almost alone of the illustrious men of hia day, Montesquieu never, in the 
 writings at least which bear his name, attacked the truths of religion : and in 
 the Lettres Persannes, and those which were anonymous, it was the abuses of 
 the Roman Church only which attracted his animadversion. He was too 
 great a man not to be a sincere Christian. " I have always," said he, on his 
 deathbed, " respected religion; the morality of the Gospel is the noblest pre- 
 sent God ever made to man." Being pressed by his confessor to erase some 
 expressions at which umbrage had been taken from his Lettres Persanues, he 
 replied, " I am willing to sacrifice everything to religion, but nothing to the 
 Jesuits ; consult with my friends, and they will decide on the subject." He 
 then received extreme unction, and the priest said, " You feel, sir, how great 
 God is." " Yes," replied he, " and how little man." These were his last 
 words. See Biographic Unitergclle, xxix. 519, 520.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 157 
 
 Louis le Grand, where he soon became distinguished by CHAP. 
 the acuteness and versatility of his talents ; but such n ' 
 was the decided turn to scepticism which he even then 
 evinced, that his preceptors, the Jesuits, were glad to get 
 quit of him by sending him to Paris. It was predicted 
 by one of the acutest of their number that he would one 
 one day become " the standard of Deism in France." 
 Some lively and satirical verses on the priests, which 
 he had made at college, procured for him an introduc- 
 tion to the gay and witty circles of the metropolis, in 
 which the polished and profligate nobility consoled them- 
 selves for the increasing austerities of the declining and 
 calamitous years of Louis XIV. by indulging in orgies 
 of mingled scepticism and licentiousness. It was in 
 this fascinating and poisonous circle, composed of those 
 who should have been the pillars of order and morality, 
 that the young Arouet learned the art of sapping the 
 foundations of both. The Prince of Conti, the Duke 
 of Vend6me, the Duke of Sully, the Marquis de la 
 Fare, the Abbe de Chaulieu, the Abbe Courtins, the 
 Abbe Servier, the Abbe de Ch&teauneuf, were the prin- 
 cipal wits at that period'"" of a society inferior to none 
 that ever existed in the polish and charms of its man- 
 ners, and superior to any in the depravity and licen- 
 tiousness of its principles. By the last of these liber- 
 tine ecclesiastics, Arouet, while yet a youth, was in- 
 troduced to the celebrated Ninon de 1'Enclos, who, 
 though somewhat in the wane, had still the chief ^! S 464 V ' 
 nobles and wits of Paris in her train, and who was so ^voiuirc 
 much struck with the lively turn of his repartees, that P^ condor- 
 she left him by her will a legacy of two thousand francs vre= de Voi- 
 
 , i . i . taire, i. 1, 
 
 to buy books, 1 a curious and ominous circumstance, 17. 
 that the foundation of the library of the great apostle 
 
 * The highest rank or literary distinction constituted there, as now in the 
 exclusive society of London, the only passport to that magic circle. "We are 
 all here princes or poets," said Voltaire on one occasion, looking round a bril- 
 liant supper-party at the Prince of Conti's. Biographic UniverseUe, xlix. 464, 
 465.
 
 158 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, of Deism was laid by the bequest of an old cour- 
 IL tesan, to whom he had been introduced by an apostate 
 priest. 
 
 These scenes of dissipation, however, and the fugitive 
 His 4 8 ub- pieces necessary to maintain his place in them, did not 
 entirely absorb the young poet ; and already, in 1712, 
 at the age of eighteen, he was engaged with his noble 
 tragedy of Merope. Sent shortly after to Holland, in 
 the capacity of page to the Marquis of Chateauneuf, 
 ambassador there, he was soon engaged in an intrigue 
 with a young Protestant lady at the Hague, which 
 occasioned his recall to France, where, by means of his 
 usual versatility of power, he succeeded in persuading 
 some of the Jesuits and bishops that it was necessary 
 to bring her to Paris, to save her from Huguenot heresy 
 and Protestant corruption. As this edifying project was 
 not carried into execution, he plunged again into the 
 profligate noble society of the capital, in which his inex- 
 tinguishable love of satire, and irritable temper, once 
 procured for him personal chastisement which led to a 
 challenge, and twice a place in the Bastile, where he was 
 on the first occasion confined twelve, the second, six 
 months. His active mind, however, was not crushed by 
 these imprisonments : within the walls of that fortress 
 he finished his Merope, and made great progress in the 
 Henriade. Upon being liberated by the Regent Orleans, 
 he changed his name, hitherto chiefly known only by 
 scandal, from Arouet to Voltaire, and ere long the suc- 
 cessful representation of Merope laid the foundation of 
 his prodigious reputation. For nearly forty years after- 
 wards he led an active but desultory life, continually en- 
 gaged in literary efforts, which augmented alike his fame 
 and his fortune ; rarely possessing a home, and almost 
 constantly involved in difficulties, from open satire or 
 secret libel. 
 
 Being ordered to leave the kingdom on account of 
 a satire on the Duke of Sully, accompanied by a decla-
 
 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 159 
 
 ration of love to his mistress, he retired to England, CHAP. 
 where he remained several years, and formed an inti- 
 
 mate acquaintance with the principal political and philo- R . geg 4 ^ 
 sophical characters in that country. It was in their great lite- 
 school, in the society of Bolingbroke, Tindal, Toland, WHK. ~ 
 and other distinguished deists, among whom at that 
 period was to be found so considerable a proportion 
 of British talent, that Voltaire obtained all the infor- 
 mation and real argument which appear in his nume- 
 rous declamations against Christianity. He was, at the 
 end of two years, permitted to return to France, where 
 he commenced his historical labours with the celebrated 
 Life of Charles XII., soon followed by those of Peter 
 the Great and Louis XIV. He afterwards continued 
 for twenty years a course of desultory but incessant 
 activity, alternately engaged in tragedy, comedy, philo- 
 sophy, history, satires, lampoons, and epic poems ; dur- 
 ing the course of which he withdrew to a country 
 chateau at Airy, on the borders of Lorraine and 
 Alsace, with the Marchioness of Chastelet, a married 
 lady of wit and learning, with whom he lived in no 
 very Platonic alliance to the time of her death in 
 1749. After that bereavement he repaired, on the 
 invitation of Frederick the Great, with whom he had 
 long been in correspondence, to Berlin, and for some 
 years inhabited the palace, and was the daily guest, of 
 that celebrated monarch. 
 
 But though he admired his talents, and agreed with his 
 free-thinking principles, he was soon disconcerted by the Retires to 
 imperious disposition of the Prussian hero. Their tempers, theTake n 
 both irritable, could not long agree : frequent quarrels of 
 ensued, and after three years of splendid captivity, he was 
 glad to make his escape by stealth from his royal jailer, 
 and regain the comparative freedom of French despotism. 
 In 1759 he finally retired to Ferney, on the banks of the 
 Lake of Geneva, since immortalised by his memory, where, 
 in possession of an ample fortune, the fruit of his fortunate
 
 1GO HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, speculations as a contractor for the army, of his literary 
 1L success, and uniform economy, he spent the last twenty, 
 
 and by much the most respectable, years of his life. He 
 continued while there his literary labours ; but his great 
 works were completed, and the never-failing activity of his 
 mind appeared in the prodigious correspondence which now 
 forms so large, and not the least interesting part of his 
 works. His life in that retirement was that of a grand 
 seigneur of the old school. An ample revenue was ex- 
 pended upon the improvement of his estate ; frequent 
 acts of beneficence spread happiness around his dwelling ; 
 he chiefly appeared in the literary world as the defender 
 of humanity in punishments ; and the celebrated inscrip- 
 tion which he put on the village church which he restored 
 " Deo erexit Voltaire," showed that he had not, with 
 his hostility to Christianity, abjured the truths of natural 
 religion. The entreaties of his niece, Madame Denis, who 
 was worn out with the ennui of Ferney, induced him at 
 length to issue from his retreat, and at the age of eighty- 
 four to cross the Jura, and proceed to Paris, whither he was 
 preceded by his vast reputation, and where his principles 
 had now obtained nearly universal assent. 
 
 He arrived there, accordingly, in February 1778, and 
 visit was everywhere received at the theatres, the academies, 
 
 'iris 
 
 and death, the public places, even in the streets with an enthusiasm 
 which approached to adoration. Profoundly moved by 
 this intense gratification of his ruling passion, Voltaire 
 asked whether they meant to stifle him under garlands of 
 roses, to make him die of joy : but the excitement occa- 
 sioned by these transports proved too strong for his now 
 feeble frame ; he was seized with a mortal complaint, and 
 soon brought to the verge of death. Apprehensive of being 
 refused burial in a consecrated place of sepulture, he sent 
 for a priest, and, abjuring his former errors, asked pardon 
 of God and the church for the offences he had committed 
 against them ; but having, contrary to all expectation, 
 recovered for a time, he again plunged into the vanities of
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 161 
 
 the world, was crowned with laurel at the theatre, and CHAP. 
 carried home by an enthusiastic crowd of admiring vota- ' 
 
 ries.* This last triumph, however, proved fatal to his 
 now exhausted constitution : his former complaint returned 
 with increased violence, and he was soon stretched on the 
 bed of death. Being pressed in his last moments, by the 
 cure of St Sulpice, to acknowledge the divinity of Jesus 
 Christ, he turned on his side, and said feebly, " For the 
 love of God, don't mention that man : allow me to die in ms. 
 peace ;" and soon expired. His remains were interred in iBiog.Univ 
 one of the chapels of the Abbey of Scellieres, for which MB'. 4 Co'n- 
 humane act the prior was, to the disgrace of the French de'voitlire 
 church, dismissed from his office : but it was too late to ~ 4> ^ 6 - 
 
 Uiiuv. de 
 
 prevent the burial, and the remains of Voltaire rested Voltaire, 
 
 . . vol. i. edit. 
 
 there in peace, till they were transferred to the Pantheon, 1829. 
 twelve years after, during the fervour of the Revolution. 1 
 The character of Voltaire's philosophy is clearly de- 
 picted in his private life. The companion of nobles, the Character 
 flatterer of mistresses, the courtier of kings, the panegyrist Lophy."" 
 of his patrons, the lampooner of his enemies, he was at 
 the same time an indefatigable annalist, a voluminous 
 pamphleteer, a great poet, an ardent supporter of human- 
 ity, and the persevering and acrimonious enemy of the 
 Christian faith. With popular fervour he had little 
 sympathy, for popular rights no anxiety ; it was the 
 fetters, as he deemed them, of religion, which he sought 
 to strike off the human soul. No man was more keenly 
 alive to the dangers of democratic ascendancy ; none had 
 read with more diligence in the great book of history the 
 frequent lessons which it teaches, or its ruinous effects 
 upon the best interests of society : the inimitable declama- 
 tion against popular institutions which Corneille puts into 
 
 * " Je ne veux pas qu'on jctte mon corps a la voirie," said he, when he found 
 himself in danger, and he immediately sent for the Abbe Gauthier, who 
 obtained from him a declaration that he died in the Catholic religion, in which 
 he had been born, and that he besought pardon of God and the church for 
 the offences which he might have committed. See Eiographie Uniterselle, vol. 
 xlix. 487. 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 1G2 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, 
 IL 
 
 And his 
 tidim/a 
 
 the mouth of Cinna, was the object of his unbounded 
 admiration.* It was in the destruction of religion that 
 he perceived the antidote to all the evils of society. For 
 the relaxation of the frightful barbarities of ancient 
 punishment, he often and eloquently contended ; but it 
 was chiefly when instigated by priests that they were the 
 object of his detestation ; if emanating from civil autho- 
 rity, he felt for them little aversion. Philanthropy was 
 the ostensible object of his philosophy, but it admitted of 
 large exceptions when ecclesiastics or women were con- 
 cerned ; and of him, even more truly than of the great 
 English historian, it may be said, that "his humanity 
 never slumbered except when Christians were tortured or 
 women ravished." t 
 
 Though far from being a profound, he was a lively and 
 entertaining historian, and the first in modern times who 
 directed the attention of his readers to the progress of 
 arts and civilisation, and other subjects than the annals 
 
 * " Quand le peuple est maitre, on n'agit qu'en tumulte ; 
 
 La voix de la raison jamais ne se consulte ; 
 
 Les honneurs sont vendus aux plus ambitieux ; 
 
 L'autorite livree aux plus seditieux : 
 
 Ces petite souverains qu'il fait pour une annee, 
 
 Voyant d'un temps si court leur puissance bornee, 
 
 Des plus heureux desseins font avorter le fmit, 
 
 De peur de le laisser a celui qui les suit ; 
 
 Comme ils ont pen de part au bien dont ils ordonnent, 
 
 Dans le champ du public largement ils moissonnent ; 
 
 Assures que chacun leur pardonne aisement, 
 
 Esperant a son tour un pareil traitement : 
 
 Le pire des e"tats, c'est 1'etat populaire." Cinna, Act ii. scene 1. 
 " Quelle prodigieuse superiority," says Voltaire, in his commentary on this 
 passage, " de la belle poesie sur la prose ! Tous les ecrivains politiques out 
 delaye ces pense"es ; aucun n'a approche" de la force, de la profondeur, de 
 la nettetd, de la precision, de ce discours de Cinna. Tous les corps d'etat 
 auraient du assister a cette piece, pour apprendre & penser et a parler." 
 CEuvres de CORNEILLE, arec let Commentaires de VOLTAIRE, iii. 308. 
 
 f- Ce rneme homme, qui s'attendrissait avec raison sur le sort cruel de Galas, 
 Protestant, permettait a sa plume une ironic cruelle lorsqu'il s'agissait des 
 Jesuites. ' On m'e'crit qu'on a enfin bruU trois Jesuites a Lisbonne. Ce sont 
 la des noutelles bien consolantes ; mais c'est enfin un Janseniste qui les mande.' 
 (Voltaire a M. Vernet, 1796.) ' On a dit qu'on a roue le Pere Malagrida 
 Dieu toit Iou6 1 Je mourrais content si je voyais les Jans^nistes et les Moli- 
 nistea ecrase's les uns par les autres.' (Lettre a la Comtesse de Lutzelbourg.) " 
 DE TOCQUEVILLE, Eegne de Louis XV., ii. 363.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 163 
 
 of war or courts. The prodigious stores of varied infor- CHAP. 
 
 mation which he possessed were applied, with surprising ! 
 
 effect, in his other voluminous prose writings, to elucidate 
 almost every country of the world, and every subject of 
 human thought. Often superficial in matters of science, 
 always prejudiced in those of religion, he yet never failed 
 to throw an air of plausibility over even his most danger- 
 ous paradoxes, by the admirable clearness, the pithy good 
 sense, with which his opinions were stated. Many writers 
 have exceeded him in the accuracy and depth of their 
 views on particular subjects ; none have equalled him in 
 the vast and various subjects of knowledge which he 
 embraced in his labours. As a critic, though sometimes 
 envious, he was clear, judicious, and discriminating, and 
 often gave way to impassioned and generous bursts of 
 admiration. Though never aspiring to the highest flights 
 of the muse, he has yet produced, in the Henriade, the 
 best epic poem in the French language. But the great 
 theatre of his glory was the drama ; and it is impossible 
 to read his immortal tragedies, abounding as they do with 
 pictured character, noble feelings, skilful combinations, 
 pathetic incidents, eloquent declamation, and vehement 
 action, without feeling that to him, for good or for evil, 
 was indeed given the richest fruit of the tree of knowledge. 
 They have not the dignified language, the profound 
 thought of Corneille, nor the felicitous expression and 
 exquisite pathos of Racine ; but they are more impetuous, 
 more varied, more graphic, and embrace a wider sphere 
 of human action, and a far more extensive portraiture of 
 human character. His lasting disgrace was the Pucelle 
 d'Orteans ; and when we reflect on the wicked prejudice 
 which made him conceal what he knew to be the truth 
 in regard to that extraordinary woman, * and cover the 
 
 * It appears from what Voltaire himself has written on the Maid of Orleans, 
 in his " Essai sur lea Mccurs et 1'Esprit des Nations," that no one was better 
 aware of the great and noble qualities of the French heroine who perished in 
 the flames, by English barbarity, within the walls of Rouen a crime which 
 " the execrations of ages have inadequately censured/' but which the more
 
 164 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, heroine and saviour of France with obscene ribaldry, 
 ' merely because she had thrown lustre by her exploits 
 over the cause of religion, we feel that the offence, too 
 great for an individual, was a national one, and that it 
 was rightly requited, when the English standards, from the 
 ultimate consequences of the very doctrines of the infa- 
 mous libeller, passed in triumph through the gates of Paris. 
 Voltaire, however, was not an atheist ; had he been so, 
 
 Hi. prin- the mischief he produced would have been much less con- 
 siderable. No man who openly denies the existence of a 
 Supreme Being will ever acquire a general influence over 
 mankind, how great soever his ascendancy may be in 
 particular depraved circles. The avowed atheists were 
 the object of more cutting sarcasm on his part than the 
 Roman Catholic clergy themselves : and to him we owe 
 the striking sentiment which Robespierre, taught by ex- 
 perience, was driven to reiterate amidst the blood of the 
 Revolution " If God did not exist, it would be necessary 
 to invent his being." * It was under the specious but 
 delusive guise of deism that his attacks against Chris- 
 tianity were veiled ; it was the philanthropic tendency of 
 his principles, as to the administration of the Supreme 
 Being and the government of men, which gave them their 
 fatal ascendancy, by enlisting so many of the generous 
 feelings on his side. But in the sense of moral responsi- 
 bility he was utterly deficient ; of the feeling of duty he 
 had no steady conception. It is doubtful if he believed 
 in the immortality of the soul ; and of the great principle 
 
 generous spirit of English genius has striven, in our times at least, to expiate. 
 " Elle fit," says he, " a ses juges une rtponse digne d'une m&moire 6ternelle. 
 Interrogee pourquoi elle avait ose assister au Sacre de Charles avec son 
 (itendard, elle repondit, ' II est juste que qui a eu part au travail en ait a 
 1'honneur.' Enfin accusee d'avoir repris une fois les habits d'homme qu'on 
 lui avait laisses expres pour la tenter, ses juges qui n'etaient pas assure'ment 
 en droit de la juger, puis qu'elle etait prisonniere de guerre la declarerent 
 he're'tique relapse, et firent mourir par le feu celle qui, ayant sauve" son roi, 
 aurait eu des autcls dans les temps htfro'iques oft les hommes en elevaient a 
 leurs liberateurs." See Etsai sur les Mceurs et I' Esprit des Nations, c. 50. 
 
 * "Si Dieu n'existait pas, il faudrait 1'inventer." See VOLTAIRE, Dialogues, 
 ii. 41.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 165 
 
 of moral probation and inherent corruption, he was CHAP. 
 throughout life the determined antagonist. Man, in his n ' 
 estimation, was made for happiness, not duty ; he was 
 sent here to enjoy, not to win enjoyment. Innocent, pure, 
 and elevated in his original nature and native tendencies, 
 his vices were all owing to the oppression of priests or 
 the bigotry of creeds his misery to the pernicious re- 
 straints thrown by the dogmas of the church over the 
 enjoyments provided by nature. The great object of his 
 philosophy was to cast down these selfish systems of arti- 
 ficial restraint. By following the dictates and impulses 
 of nature, he thought man would arrive at once at the 
 greatest happiness and highest destiny of his being. 
 Hence it was that the author of Zaire was at the same 
 time the author of the Pucelle, that the historian of 
 Louis XIV. composed Candide. In these different and 
 seemingly opposite works he was tracing out, with an 
 equally skilful hand, the various and unrestrained inclina- 
 tions and passions of the human heart, and at the same 
 time indulging his own thirst for universal and indis- 
 criminate admiration. He was all things to all men. 
 With equal readiness he dealt out generosity for the 
 generous, bravery for the brave, wisdom for the wise, 
 selfishness for the selfish, voluptuousness for the voluptu- 
 ous, and profligacy for the profligate. 
 
 Voltaire stopped short with the church : he never ven- 
 tured to assail the palace. It was under the shadow of Rousseau. 
 
 T-I* 1 
 
 monarchy, emancipated from the fetters of superstition, Bf e S y 
 that he contemplated the perfection of society.* But hablts> 
 
 * He contemplated 
 
 " La Iibert6 publique, 
 Sous 1'ombrage sacrS du pouvoir monarchique." 
 
 Brutus, Act ii. scene 1. 
 
 " Why do you not stop," said the Duke de Choiseul, minister of Louis XV. in 
 1764, to the new philosophers, " where Voltaire did ? Him we can comprehend. 
 Amidst all his sallies he respected authority; but you are mysterious and obscure, 
 and lay down your doctrines in a harsh and pedantic manner. We abandon to 
 you religion and the clergy will not this suffice ? We surrender many of our 
 prejudices : but cannot you at least show some regard for those which are 
 useful?" SMYTH'S Lectures on the French Revolution, i. 86, 87.
 
 166 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, those who destroy the altar will find it difficult to uphold 
 IL the throne ; and a native-born genius soon appeared, who 
 carried into the theory of government the principles which 
 the apostle of deism had arrayed only against the truths 
 of Christianity. JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU, a humble 
 watchmaker's son in Geneva, was born on the 28th June 
 1712 ; and the throne of Louis XIV. crumbled under his 
 strokes. Like Voltaire, his character is portrayed in the 
 history of his private life. Endowed by nature with an 
 ardent imagination, a boundless fancy, and susceptible 
 feelings ; awkward in manner, and at the same time vain 
 in thought ; shy, but yet ambitious ; diffident, but not 
 ignorant of his powers; he spent his early years in 
 dreaming over romances, or devouring Plutarch's Lives ; 
 and was sometimes seduced, according to his own admis- 
 sion, into discreditable and criminal actions. lie early 
 wandered from his father's home, and was sheltered, while 
 yet a boy, by Madame Warens, a benevolent old Catholic 
 lady at Anneci, who was so shocked with the laxity of his 
 religious principles that she sent him to a monastery at 
 Turin to correct his opinions. He was too glad to escape 
 from its rigid austerities, by entering the service of the 
 Countess of Vercelli as a laquais, where he committed a 
 theft, and had the baseness, on his own admission, to charge 
 with it a young female fellow-servant who was entirely 
 innocent of the offence. Dismissed from his situation for 
 this affair, he entered into the employment of another noble 
 family in Turin ; but, soon disgusted with the drudgeries 
 of domestic service, he fled to the house of Madame 
 Warens, whose kindness had rescued him from destitution 
 when a boy, and by whom he was again sheltered in mis- 
 fortune. Madame Warens boarded him with the music- 
 . _ master of the cathedral, whom he accompanied at her 
 
 1 Rousseau. ' ... 
 
 Confessions, desire to Lyons ; l but the latter having been seized with 
 Biog. Univ! a fit of epilepsy, whiclTinade him fall down in the street, 
 
 xxxix. 126 7 
 
 127. ' Rousseau seized the opportunity to take to flight, and 
 shake himself clear of the burden, leaving the unhappy
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 167 
 
 wretch, as he himself has told us, " deserted by the only CHAP. 
 friend he could rely on in the world." IL 
 
 This disgraceful inhumanity met with its appropriate 
 reward. Rousseau, on returning to Anneci, found Madame Criminal 
 Warens from home ; her domestics could not tell what tiesTf his" 
 route she had taken, and he was obliged to wander away youth ' 
 destitute and unbefriended, as he had left his unhappy 
 master on the streets of Lyons. He reached Lausanne, 
 hardly knowing where he was going, and there and at 
 Neufchatel earned a precarious subsistence for some time 
 by teaching music, in which he was himself, at that time, 
 very superficially instructed. Thence he visited Paris ; but, 
 finding himself immersed in an inferior society, he returned 
 to Anneci, where Madame Warens again sheltered him, 
 and his increasing passion for music made him take to 
 teaching that art as a profession. Impetuous in all his 
 designs, however, he could not rest in that employment ; 
 he fled, with extravagant passion, to games of hazard, 
 and nearly killed himself by the vehemence with which, 
 during some months, he devoted himself to those exciting 
 pursuits. The study of Latin, of geometry, astronomy, 
 and medicine, afterwards absorbed him, each for a few 
 months of intense labour ; and such was his facility in 
 acquiring knowledge, that in that short period he obtained 
 an extraordinary degree of proficiency in those different 
 branches of information. Volumes would be required to 
 recount all the follies and vices of this extraordinary man : 
 suffice it to say, that at one period he was a preceptor for 
 some months in the family of the brother of the celebrated 
 Abbe de Mably, who was grand-provost of Lyons, where, 
 neglecting the duties of his station, he spent his time, 
 while dreaming over romances, alternately in drinking the 
 delicious wine which he had stolen from the provost's 
 cellars, and in making love to his wife ; while at another, 
 he conceived a passionate attachment for a vulgar young 
 woman of the name of Theresa, whom he met when she 
 was acting as a servant in an obscure inn at Paris, and
 
 168 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, who, during more than thirty years, exercised a tyrannical 
 "' sway over his mind. She soon made him a father but 
 Rousseau sent his son to the foundling hospital, having 
 first taken the precaution to efface all marks by which he 
 could ever be recognised ; and he was so pleased with this 
 expeditious mode of ridding himself of the burden of 
 maintaining his family, that he continued it through life. 
 The author of so many eloquent declamations against the 
 unnatural feelings of mothers who do not nurse their off- 
 spring, had the disgrace of sending five of his own children 
 i Biog.Univ. to the foundling hospital, with such precautions against 
 isi. ' ' their ever being recognised that he never could or did 
 hear of them again. 1 * 
 
 Despite all these disgraceful acts of selfishness and 
 His first turpitude, the genius of Rousseau was such that it broke 
 rature. n ' * through all obstacles, and raised him to the highest pin- 
 nacle of literary glory. His first essay in the career in 
 which he ultimately acquired such celebrity, was at once 
 characteristic of the turn of his mind, and decisive as to 
 the future tendency of his writings. It was an essay for 
 a prize proposed by the Academy of Sciences at Dijon, on 
 the question " Have the arts and sciences contributed to 
 the corruption or purification of morals "? " He undertook 
 to compete, by the advice of Diderot ; boldly supported 
 the side that they had contributed only to the progress of 
 corruption, and carried off the prize. From that moment 
 his fate was fixed : he determined, as he himself has told 
 us, "to break at once with the whole maxims of his age."t 
 
 8 Lac. Hist. ' ' 
 
 de France, Such, however, was the ardour of his passion for music, 
 
 iii. 102, 105. ' _ _f .___._. 
 
 Bio ? . Univ. that his next essay was an opera, Le JDevin du Village ; 
 ' the simple and pathetic language of which charmed the 
 court, and obtained unqualified success. 2 So entirely arti- 
 
 * It augments the indignation which all must feel at this heartless, unnatural 
 conduct on the part of Rousseau, that the three last children whom he thus 
 abandoned were born when he was in circumstances which, compared with 
 those of his previous life, were affluence. Biog. Univ. xxxix. 132. 
 
 f " De rompre brusquement en visiere aux maximes de son siecle." Confes- 
 sions, il 124; Bioyraphie Unirerselle, xxxix. 132.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 169 
 
 ficial had manners and ideas become in the French capital, CHAP. 
 that the imagery and language of nature came upon its ! 
 
 inhabitants with the charm of novelty : the feelings of 
 rural life were as unknown to them as the music of the 
 spheres. 
 
 His literary success neither improved his principles nor 
 softened his heart. He passed soon after by Chambery, HeartieM- 
 where he visited Madame Warens, who had been a second Sa^' 
 mother to him during his youth and distress : he found ^ 
 her so reduced in her circumstances, by subsequent impru- 
 dence and misfortune, that he hardly knew her amidst the 
 desolation with which she was surrounded. He hastened 
 from the scene, and left scarcely any succour to her who 
 had been so generous to him in his own evil days. He 
 had even the barbarity to look, in the midst of her afflic- 
 tions, to her little succession, and tell her that he expected 
 to inherit a black dress which had caught his fancy. At 
 Geneva, whither he repaired after leaving Madame 
 Warens, his head was turned, on his own admission, by 
 the republican ardour of which that little state was the 
 theatre, and he had some thoughts of settling in its 
 vicinity for life a design from which, however, he was 
 turned aside by the jealousy he felt at Voltaire, who had 
 recently established himself with seignorial splendour at 
 Ferney, in the neighbourhood of that city. He returned a Confes . 
 in consequence to Paris, and took refuge with Madame i'? 11 ^; lf 
 d'Epinay, who received him readily, in the house since so *>'' 329, 
 
 lit 11 C t TT 1 an( ^ 34 >( ) 
 
 well known under the name ot the Hermitage, in the edit. 1817. 
 valley of Montmorency. 1 
 
 There his principal works, the Contrat Social, and 
 Nouvelle Helolse, were written ; but having fallen despe- His subse- 
 rately in love with the Countess d'Houdelot, sister-in-law h"g S ami 
 to Madame d'Epinay, and mistress to the Marquis St dc 
 Lambert, who received his passion with disdain, he quar- 
 relled with his benefactress, and after a variety of discre- 
 ditable adventures, found shelter in an apartment of the 
 chateau of Montmorency, from the kindness of the Duke
 
 170 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, of Luxembourg ; and soon after his greatest work, Emile, 
 
 ! appeared. lie was now past fifty, but so little had his 
 
 numerous repulses in love checked his vanity, that he 
 again conceived a ridiculous passion for a lady of fashion, 
 the Countess Boufflers ; indeed, so unconscious was he at 
 this period of the awkwardness of his manner, that he 
 openly avowed, in his correspondence, that he thought no 
 woman, even of the highest rank, could resist him.* All 
 these weaknesses are revealed in his Confessions, from 
 which principally the preceding detail has been taken a 
 sure proof that he had repented of none of them, for no 
 man confesses a fault of which he is really ashamed. Sub- 
 sequently he retired to Neufchatel, and soon after took up 
 his abode in a cottage in the little island of St Pierre, in 
 the middle of the beautiful lake of Bienne : but an order 
 of the Senate of Berne at length compelled him to leave 
 that charming retreat. He then married Theresa Levas- 
 Bio' Univ' seur > a ^ er twenty- three years of irregular connection, and 
 uT^LM 1 ' ^ ruc ^ e Despotism on her part. At length he expired 
 is. 102, 112. suddenly at Ermenonville, on the 3d July 1778, not with- 
 out suspicions of having hastened his end by poison. 1 
 
 From a life so irregular, and in many periods so dis- 
 His literary graceful, no fixed principle or firmness of mind could be 
 expected ; and yet such was Rousseau's genius that it 
 may be doubted whether any author ever produced so 
 great an impression, both upon his own age and that which 
 succeeded him. His writings, more even than Voltaire's, 
 brought about the French Revolution. He followed up 
 and applied to social life what that great philosopher 
 directed only against the institutions of religion. It was 
 to their entire novelty, and the entrancing eloquence of 
 
 * " II y a peu des femmes, meme dans le haut rang, dont je n'eusse fait la 
 conquete, si je 1'avais entreprise." See Biographic Universelle, xxxix. 136. It is 
 a curious circumstance that Abelard, the Rousseau of the twelfth century, and 
 whose doctrines on the Natural Innocence of Man very closely resembled those 
 of the Philosopher of Meilleraie, said just the same " J'en e"tais venu au point, 
 dit-il, que quelque femme que j'honorasse de mon amour, je n'avais a craindre 
 aucun refus." ABELARD, Liber Calam. Mearum, p. 40 ; and MICHKLET, Histoire 
 de France, ii. 290.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 171 
 
 the language in which they were couched, that this extra- CHAP. 
 ordinary success was owing. Surrounded as the Parisians 1_ 
 
 were with the vices and the corruptions of a highly arti- 
 ficial mode of life, the language of nature, the fervour of 
 unsophisticated affection, fell on them with inexpressible 
 charms. It was like the sudden mania with which the 
 votaries of fashion, half a century later, were seized for the 
 melodramatic corsairs of Lord Byron. What particularly 
 distinguished Rousseau's works, and gave them a decided 
 superiority over all of a similar kind which had preceded 
 them, was the brilliant and highly-coloured descriptions 
 of nature, and genuine bursts of passion, with which they 
 abounded. His pencil was literally " dipt in the orient 
 hues of heaven." If his works had stopped here, they 
 would have been only interesting as a picture of the times, 
 and a step in the progress of literature, and have deserved 
 little attention in general history. But they went a 
 great deal further ; and in the fundamental doctrine of 
 Rousseau's philosophy is to be found both the antagonist 
 principle, in every age, of the Christian faith, and the 
 spring of revolutionary convulsions all over the world. 
 This is the doctrine of HUMAN INNOCENCE and SOCIAL 
 
 PERFECTIBILITY. 
 
 It was his constant affirmation that the human mind 
 
 54 
 
 was born innocent, and with dispositions only to goodness ; Foundation 
 that the hunter and the savage were the model of every losophfcai" 
 virtue ; and that all the subsequent vices and miseries O f prmciples - 
 man were owing to the tyranny of kings, the deception of 
 priests, the oppression of nobles, and the evils of civilisa- 
 tion. Property, he argued, was the grand abuse which 
 had ruined mankind ; reason the source of all iniquity.* 
 
 * " L'homme qui raisonne est 1'homme qui peche," was his favourite maxim. 
 Kousseau and Diderot openly proclaimed the doctrine, that Property was the 
 origin of all the social evils, and that a remedy for them could be found only 
 in its abolition : " Le premier qui dit," said Rousseau, " ' Ce champ est a moi,' 
 introduisait dans la societe le germe de toutes les calamites ; une voix cou- 
 rageuse devait lui crier ' Ces fruits sont a tous, et la terre a personne.' " 
 
 " La proprie"te," said Diderot, " est la cause ge'nSrale et permauente de tous 
 les desordres ; par elle toxit est bouleverse*. Voulez-vous regdnerer le monde ?
 
 172 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. This doctrine, which ever will be agreeable to the vision- 
 IT> ary, and ever condemned by the experienced of mankind, 
 was received with unbounded acclamations by a generation 
 which, itself immersed in frivolity, corruption, and sensu- 
 ality, gladly embraced any principles which laid the whole 
 consequences of these indulgences on others, and pro- 
 claimed that, in a state of nature, every inclination and 
 desire might be gratified, alike without danger and without 
 criminality. These doctrines lie at the root of Rousseau's 
 social contract ; they are the foundation of the scheme of 
 education which he developed in his Emile ; they breathe 
 in the Letters from the Mountains, and received their 
 practical development in the fervour of the Nouvelle 
 Helo'ise. It did not require the glowing pages of his 
 eloquence, nor the brilliant colours which he lent alike to 
 virtue and vice, to give popularity to a system which pro- 
 claimed impunity to passion and innocence to gratification ; 
 which dignified indulgence with the name of freedom, and 
 profligacy with that of happiness ; which stigmatised self- 
 control as a violation of nature, and denounced restraint 
 as an inroad on the benevolence of the Almighty. 
 
 The preceding detail, minute as it is, and trifling as to 
 importance some it may appear, will not, by the reflecting reader, be 
 deemed misplaced, even in a work of general history. It 
 is thought, not physical strength, which really rules man- 
 kind ; it is to the masters of mind that it is alone given 
 to open the cavern of the winds. More even than by 
 Mirabeau and Danton, the French Revolution was brought 
 about by Voltaire and Rousseau ; their dominion over 
 the opinions of men has been more durable than that 
 of Robespierre and Napoleon over their bodies. The 
 Encyclopedists, who openly professed the principles of 
 
 Laissez pleine liberty aux vrais sages d'attaquer les erreurs et les prfijuges qui 
 soutiennent 1' esprit de propriet6. J'indique le coup qu'il faut porter a la racine 
 de tous les maux ; de plus habiles que moi re"ussiront peut-etre a persuader." 
 See CAPEFIQUE, L' Europe pendant la Revolution Franyaise, i. 54. The doc- 
 trines of the followers of Babcauff in France in 1797, and of the Socialists and 
 Chartists in England in 1840 and 1841, were nothing but the practical applica- 
 tion of these principles.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 173 
 
 atheism ; the Democrats, who commenced that great con- CHAP. 
 vulsion ; the Jacobins, who carried it on, merely pushed 
 
 to their natural and unavoidable result the principles of 
 these mighty magicians. It is well to see the private life 
 of those by whom thrones are overturned ; it is sometimes 
 instructive trace out the self-reform of the men who 
 undertake to purify the world. Nothing, too, is so 
 characteristic of the state of society in the French capital 
 at that period of that unparalleled mixture of polish of 
 manners with thirst for indulgence ; of talent in con- 
 versation with frivolity of conduct ; of elegance in habit 
 with baseness in inclination ; of sentiment in writing with 
 selfishness in conduct ; of taste in feeling with corruption 
 in practice ; of freedom of thought with servility of action ; 
 of declamations on liberty with dispositions to slavery 
 as the lives of those extraordinary men. And little was 
 to be expected of a revolution which commenced with a 
 library bequeathed to a young infidel by an old courtesan, 
 and was fanned by the declamations on parental affection 
 of a libertine father who had consigned his five children 
 to a foundling hospital. 
 
 As with other great changes in the current of human 
 thought, the doctrines of these powerful intellects were The new 
 pushed by their successors beyond what they themselves JJaSSuu 
 had intended. Like all profound and original writers, 
 they were followed by a crowd of imitators, who carried 
 to the verge of extravagance at once their excellences and 
 their defects. So powerful did the society of Men of 
 Letters at Paris become, in the latter years of the reign 
 of Louis XV., that they openly aspired to effect a total 
 revolution in almost all the subjects of human thought, 
 and remould the world, its institutions, habits, and 
 opinions, after a model of their own. To effect this 
 object, they combined all their strength in that immense 
 undertaking, the Encyclopedic the first work of that 
 description which had ever been attempted, and which, 
 by the combination of talent which it embraced, and its 
 
 cessors.
 
 174 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, extending to every branch of human knowledge, aimed at 
 
 ! spreading its influence through all classes of the next 
 
 generation. Its principles, sometimes just, in part gener- 
 ous, were always seductive, at least to a superficial gen- 
 eration. They denounced external restraint and severity 
 of every kind ; denied the rigours and asceticism of reli- 
 gion ; declaimed against torture, and all the frightful 
 cruelties of ancient punishment, and inveighed against the 
 powers and fetters of the feudal system ; loudly claimed 
 entire liberty of conscience in matters of belief; sup- 
 ported freedom of commerce and action of every kind ; 
 and proclaimed a certain remedy for all imaginary griev- 
 ances, in the general adoption of representative govern- 
 ments and popular institutions. But, amidst so many 
 philanthropic projects, there was one fatal defect which 
 rendered them all, when applied to practice, entirely 
 nugatory. They made no provision for coercing the self- 
 ish passions of our nature ; amidst all their reforms, they 
 forgot the one on which they all depend the reform of 
 the human heart. They tried to solve the problem, of 
 all others the most insoluble, " Given a world of knaves, 
 to produce happiness out of their united actions." 1 
 Against religious influence, which alone has ever proved 
 adequate to that herculean work, they declared the most 
 envenomed hostility ; they trusted to the united virtue of 
 mankind for a safeguard against all the temptations which 
 arise in the course of extensive changes in society and 
 the French Revolution was the consequence. 
 
 In the warfare against the Church, which formed so 
 iiaC Di- remarkable a characteristic of French literature in the 
 D'Aiem- latter part of the eighteenth century, many able and 
 learned men took an active part. The Abbe Raynal, in 
 his philosophical history of the two Indies, laboured by 
 all the powers of eloquence, and the charms of historic 
 painting, to portray the supposed innocence and virtue of 
 primitive man, and the unbounded calamities which the 
 bigotry of priests and the thirst for gold had brought into
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 175 
 
 the regions of his unsophisticated abode. D'Alembert, CHAP. 
 Helvetius, and Diderot took bolder ground, and, without ! 
 
 stopping short at oblique insinuations, openly denied the 
 existence of God, and ascribed the whole material and 
 moral universe to the fortuitous concourse of atoms, the 
 inherent and immutable laws of matter, or the not less 
 rigorous and compulsory subjection of mind to the laws 
 of necessity. These frightful doctrines, which tended at 
 once to extinguish all feeling of moral responsibility, and 
 all motive to self-control in men, and to reduce society to 
 a mere game of chance, where success was the only test 
 of excellence, were rendered the more dangerous by the 
 admirable and lucid talent with which the first of these 
 highly gifted men traced out the deepest mysteries of the 
 modern analysis, as well as the most abstruse questions of 
 metaphysics, and the prodigious and varied industry, as 
 well as graceful taste, with which the two last touched 
 equally on the lightest and most fascinating, as on the 
 deepest and most abstruse branches of literature. 
 
 These really eminent and able, though dangerous and 
 deluding writers, were followed by a crowd of others, Pernicious 
 whose names have already sunk into oblivion, but whose the Mate- 
 writings exercised at the time, and for long after, an ric 
 unbounded sway over public thought in France and great 
 part of Europe. Openly supporting the doctrines of 
 materialism, denying the existence of a Supreme Being 
 and a future state, they applied all the energy of their 
 talent to add to the force of present passion, and minister 
 to the variety of sensual gratification. The novels of 
 Crebillon, and Laclos, Louvet's memoirs of Faublas, and 
 innumerable madrigals, belong to this class. Licentious 
 adventures, highly painted scenes of voluptuousness, erotic 
 poems, or undisguised obscenity, were the stimulants which 
 they incessantly applied to emancipate man. To gain 
 money, which might purchase such enjoyments, was held 
 forth as the only rational object in existence. Future 
 punishment was not to be thought of ; it was a mere
 
 176 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, invention of priests to terrify mankind. It is not in such 
 IL studies that the moral preparation necessary to qualify 
 
 man for the powers of freedom is to be found. This was 
 the great cause of the downward progress, unbounded 
 wickedness, and ultimate failure of the Revolution. The 
 character of these men has been drawn by the hand of a 
 master himself an eternal monument of the consequences 
 of their doctrines. " The Encyclopedists," says Robes- 
 pierre, "embraced several estimable men, but a much 
 greater number of ambitious charlatans : many of their 
 chiefs have become considerable statesmen; whoever is 
 ignorant of their influence . and politics will have a very 
 incomplete idea of our Revolution. They introduced the 
 frightful doctrines of atheism were ever in politics below 
 the dignity of freedom : in morality they went as far 
 beyond the dictates of reason. Their disciples declaimed 
 against despotism, and received the pensions of despots ; 
 they composed, alternately, tirades against kings, and 
 madrigals for their mistresses ; they wrote books against 
 the court, and dedications to kings ; were fierce with 
 their pens, and rampant in antechambers. They pro- 
 pagated with infinite care the principles of materialism. 
 We owe to them that selfish philosophy which reduced 
 egotism to a system, regarded human society as a game 
 A tre S M f chance, where success was the only distinction between 
 
 preme, Mai 
 
 Hilt 79 pkri w k a * was J ust an( ^ W ^ at was un J ust ' probity as an affair 
 wcxii. 369! of taste and good breeding, the world as the patrimony 
 
 of the most dexterous of scoundrels." l 
 
 59 The writings of Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau, Ray- 
 
 Univerai nal, Diderot, Helvetius, and their successors, exercised an 
 
 which ' P re- influence over the opinions of the whole educated classes 
 
 in France, of which no previous example had existed in 
 
 the world. Almost the whole philosophical and literary 
 
 writers in Paris, for a quarter of a century before the 
 
 Revolution broke out, were avowed infidels ; the grand 
 
 object of all their efforts was to load religion with obloquy, 
 
 or, what was more efficacious in France, to turn it into
 
 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 177 
 
 ridicule. When David Hume was invited at Paris to CHAP. 
 meet a party of eighteen of the most celebrated literary IL 
 men in the French capital, he found, to his astonishment, 
 that he was the least sceptical of the party : he was the 
 only one present who admitted even the probability of 
 the existence of a Supreme Being." 1 ' It was to propagate 
 and extend these principles that all their exertions, both 
 in teaching, writing,, and conversation, were directed. 
 Such productions are not permanently hurtful to the 
 cause of religion over the world, but they often destroy a 
 particular State : the reaction comes with unerring cer- 
 tainty ; and the cause of Christianity, purified in the 
 furnace from its human imperfections, at length stands 
 forth in primeval simplicity, and with renovated strength. 
 Already the reaction has begun, alike in France and 
 England. Religion is again, as in its best days, the basis 
 of the highest class of British literature ; and in the 
 French capital, the calm eye of philosophical investi- 
 gation, undeterred by the sneers of an infidel age, has 
 traced to admiring multitudes the blessings of religious 
 
 institutions. 1 But the immediate effects of these seep- en Europe. 
 tical writings were to the last degree destructive. By 
 accustoming men to turn into ridicule what others most 
 revere by leading them to throw off the principles and 
 faith of their forefathers, they prepared the way for a 
 general dissolution of the bonds, not only of religion, but 
 of society. It is a slight step for those who have thrown 
 off restraint in religious, to disregard authority in civil 
 concerns. 
 
 The sceptical doctrines of the philosophers, permitting 
 as they did unbounded gratification to the senses, without Spread 'of 
 either restraint in this world or punishment in the next, gious Jrik-" 
 were too agreeable to the wishes of a corrupted and liber- !^ e n s g the 
 tine age, not to meet with almost universal assent in the nobilit >'- 
 French capital. Towards the latter part of the reign of 
 Louis XV., no one at court but the King, the Dauphin 
 
 * ROMILLY'S Memoirs, i. 179. 
 VOL. I. M
 
 178 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, and Dauphiness, and a few of the older part of the 
 n ' nobility, evinced any respect for religion. Even the 
 
 external acts of worship were abandoned to the trades- 
 men and the lower people. Such of the higher ranks as 
 did not openly turn religion into ridicule, from a lingering 
 respect for ancient opinions, confined themselves to three 
 slight and ambiguous observances of its forms. On Sun- 
 day, they went out and paid visits to avoid going to the 
 mass ; they might be thought to have been there. Dur- 
 ing Lent, they passed one-half of the season in Paris, the 
 other in the country. In this way they eluded observa- 
 tion or inquiry as to whether or not they joined in the 
 religious observances of that period of devotion. Finally, 
 on the death-bed of one of two married persons, the 
 family kept the confessor at a distance ; they were unwill- 
 ing that the priest should be made acquainted with the 
 infidelities of the dying spouse, in an age when regularity 
 of manners was regarded only as a subject of ridicule. 
 The children and relations concealed from the cure the 
 dangerous nature of the malady, and only sent for him 
 when it was too late to obtain a confession. Religion, 
 banished from the palaces of the great, found shelter only 
 
 1 Soulavie, . r f . J 
 
 Regne de m the cottages of the poor ; and it was there alone, ac- 
 i.207, 299.' cordingly, in the western provinces, that any effectual 
 stand against the Revolution was made. 1 
 
 It is a remarkable proof how completely ignorant the 
 Great en- most able persons in Europe were of the ultimate effects 
 of this irreligious spirit, that the greatest encouragement 
 which the sceptical philosophers of France received, was 
 
 Catherine ^ rom ^ e c ^ car ~ sighted and imperious despots of the 
 north. Frederick the Great of Prussia and the Empress 
 Catherine of Russia not only corresponded regularly with 
 Voltaire, D'Alembert, and Diderot, but evinced in their 
 letters the most lively interest in the great work going 
 forward, of destroying the church in France. The for- 
 mer of these sovereigns gave Voltaire an asylum, with 
 an ample establishment, in his palace at Berlin ; while
 
 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 179 
 
 the latter settled a pension on Diderot, and corresponded CHAP. 
 with him on such flattering terms as amply consoled him ' 
 
 for all the persecution he underwent from the government 
 of Louis XV. No man was better aware than Frederick 
 how unqualified men of abstract habits of thought, in 
 general, are for the regulation of mankind ; to him we 
 owe the caustic saying, the truth of which probably few 
 practically acquainted with human affairs will be disposed 
 to dispute, " If I wished to destroy one of my provinces, 
 I would intrust its government to the philosophers." 
 Nevertheless, so enamoured was he of the warfare against 
 the Christian religion, which the Parisian savans were 
 carrying on, that he, as well as Catherine, never gave 
 the French church any other name, in their correspond- 
 ence with Voltaire and D'Alembert, but the sobriquet l Soulavie> 
 " I'lnfame," which they had invented for it ; the initial j^Txvi 
 letters of which so long perplexed the French police, - 205 > 2 7 
 who opened their letters. l * Catherine, in the later 
 
 * In 1759, Voltaire wrote to the King of Prussia, " Votre Majeste me reproche 
 cle caresser quelquefois I'lnfame. Eh ! mon Dieu ! non ; je ne travaille 
 qu'a 1'extirper, et j'y r6ussis beaucoup parmi les honnetes gens." VOLTAIRE 
 to KING OP PRUSSIA, 9th June 1769. On the 8th January 1766, Frederick 
 wrote to Voltaire, " L'lnfame ne donne que des herbes ve"neneuses ; il vous est 
 reserv6 de l'craser avec votre redoutable massue, avec les ridicules qxie vous 
 repandez sur elle, et qui portent plus de coups que tous les argumens." Again, 
 on 25th February 1766, " Votre vieillesse est comme 1'enfance d'Hercule ; ce 
 dieu e"craisat des serpens dans son berceau, et vous charge" d'anne"es vous 
 (jcrasez I'lnfame." In 1767, Frederick and Voltaire mutually congratulated 
 each other on the success of the efforts of the philosophers against I'lnfame. 
 " J'ai lu," says the Prussian monarch, " toutes les pieces que vous m'avez 
 envoy(jes ; vos pieces centre llnfame sont si fortes que, depuis Celse, on n'a 
 rien public de plus frappant. II ne reste plus de re"fuge au Fantome de 
 1'Erreur ; il a (Ste flagelle sur toutes ses faces, sur tous ses cotes. II est terns 
 de prononcer son oraison funebre, et de 1'enterrer." And on the 16th March 
 1771, Frederick wrote to Voltaire, " J'approuve fort la me'thode de donner des 
 nassardes a FInfame, en la combattant de politesses." See Correspondance de 
 FREDERICK avec VOLTAIRE, (Enures de VOLTAIRE, vols. lii. liii. edition 1829. 
 This "I'lnfame," so much the object of their philosophic horror, was the 
 church of France the church of Bossuet and Fe'nelon, of Fle'chier and 
 Bourdaloue, of Pascal and Saurin ! Voltaire and D'Alembert, for a series of 
 years, generally closed their letters with e'er. I'Inf. (tcrasez tlnfame), which 
 long puzzled the French police, who opened them. What a picture of an 
 age ! The first of monarchs and the first of philosophers corresponding on 
 their efforts to destroy the church, and their letters regularly opened by the 
 police of a despotic monarch ! See SOULAVIE, Regne de Louis X VI., i. 206, et teq.
 
 180 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, years of her reign, was so sensible of the encourage- 
 
 1_ ment she had given to sceptical opinions in France, and 
 
 their disastrous effects, that she entertained a serious 
 dread that she would be regarded by history as one of 
 the causes of the Revolution. 
 
 The clergy in France were far from being insensible to 
 Weakened the danger of this flood of irreligion which deluged the 
 
 land, and they raised their voice in the loudest strains to 
 111 peno<L denounce it ; but they did not possess ability sufficient to 
 stem the torrent, and had no other resource but to call on 
 the government to enforce the laws against works of an 
 irreligious tendency, and get the writings of the modern 
 philosophers burned by the hands of the executioner. 
 The Romish church now felt the consequences of the 
 entire overthrow of the Protestant faith in France, so 
 long the subject of congratulation ; the barbarous injustice 
 of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes at length recoiled 
 on the head of its authors. Victory had abated their 
 energies, the cessation of controversy had destroyed their 
 powers ; indolence and luxury in the noble dignitaries, 
 poverty and ignorance in the inferior functionaries of the 
 church, rendered them wholly unequal to a contest with 
 the giant powers of newly-roused infidelity. The race of 
 Bossuet and Bourdaloue, of Pascal and Fenelon, was 
 extinct : the Roman Catholic faith did not now possess 
 their robust arms to defend its tenets ; the followers of 
 Molina and Jansen had ceased to contend for victory ; 
 their fierce contests no longer divided the religious world. 
 These acrimonious antagonists had suspended their pole- 
 mical quarrel on the approach of civil conflict ; the 
 Port -Royal controversy had merged in that of the 
 parliaments with the throne. So low had the talents of 
 the once illustrious church of France fallen, that in the 
 latter part of the eighteenth century, when Christianity 
 itself was assailed, not one champion of note appeared 
 
 'Soulavie, . ., , , , , 
 
 i. 219, 223. in its ranks ; i and when the convocation of the clergy 
 in 1770 published their famous anathema against the
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE; 181 
 
 dangers of unbelief, and offered rewards for the best CHAP. 
 essays in defence of the Christian faith, the productions ' 
 
 called forth were so despicable that they sensibly injured 
 the cause of religion. 
 
 The prophecies of the French church, however, though 
 
 fil 
 
 their defence of Christianity was feeble, are well deserving Remarkable 
 of attention as historical documents. They demonstrate, ofthe eci 
 what is often so conspicuous in human affairs, that when- 
 ever any great change in society is taking place, its ulti- 
 mate effects are foreseen and foretold by one party as } w n of the 
 clearly as they are denied and ridiculed by another ; and 
 that it is not ignorance but prejudice which is the evil 
 principally to be dreaded.* In a general assembly of 
 the clergy held in 1770, the most vigorous remon- March is, 
 strances against the multiplication of irreligious books 
 were made, and the denunciations of Isaiah and Jeremiah 
 repeated against the modern dereliction from the faith of 
 their fathers. " Impiety," said they, " has passed from 
 the capital to the provinces ; it is found under the roof 
 of the artisan, and in the cottage of the peasant ; it mis- 
 leads alike their ignorance and their simplicity. Impiety 
 is making inroads alike on God and man ; it will never 
 be satisfied till it has destroyed every power, divine and 
 human. Anarchy and independence are the two gulfs 
 into which irreligion would plunge the nation. To ac- 
 complish that infernal object, it breaks down by degrees 
 all the bonds which attach man to his duties. It looks 
 abroad over society and the chiefs who govern it, and 
 sees there nothing but a vile mass of ignorant corrupted 
 
 * The present is one remarkable instance of this truth, which deserves the 
 most attentive consideration from political philosophers. Others not less 
 striking will be found in the sequel of this work ; in particular, the predictions 
 of the opponents of the abolition of the slave trade on the ultimate effects of 
 that measure, c. xlv. 22 ; of the opponents of Catholic emancipation on its 
 consequences, c. xxxix. 24, and c. xlv. 77, 78 ; and of the Opposition on the 
 effects of Mr Vansittart's breaking in upon the Sinking Fund in 1813, in 
 c. Ixxvi. 28, 29. A similar instance of the exact prediction of the conse- 
 quence of a great political change, wholly disregarded and ridiculed at the 
 time, occurred on occasion of the great monetary change of reverting to cash 
 payments in 1819, particularly in the petition from the merchants of Bristol
 
 182 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, men, prostrated before priests who deceive, and princes 
 1 ' who oppress them. It teaches, that there is in existence 
 
 neither a Supreme Being, nor a soul, nor a world to 
 come. It sees in the priesthood nothing but a vile 
 league against virtue and the human race. It teaches 
 nations, that kings have no power but such as it has 
 pleased them to intrust their sovereigns with ; that the 
 people have a right to restrain or moderate it, to demand 
 an account of it, and even to extinguish it, according to 
 their supreme pleasure. It is this spirit which has given 
 birth to the endless multiplication of sects among our 
 neighbours in England, but it is fitted to produce effects 
 far more disastrous among the French. There it will be 
 f un d, in the inconstancy of the nation, in its activity, its 
 ^ Ove f r nove lty, its inconsiderate ardour, an additional 
 
 i. 218, 223. means of producing the most frightful revolutions, and 
 
 precipitating it into all the horrors of anarchy" J * 
 64 The temporal constitution of the French church, more- 
 
 iptions over, rendered it as unfit to withstand these political 
 
 the church, dangers, as its intellectual power was to grapple with its 
 spiritual enemies. Within the bosom of the establishment, 
 and in all who fell within the sphere of its influence, 
 the seeds of deep-rooted discontent were to be found. 
 This arose from the invidious exclusion of all persons of 
 plebeian birth from the dignities and emoluments of the 
 ecclesiastical profession. In extraordinary cases, indeed, 
 the force of talent may have procured elevation without 
 the advantages of blood ; but, generally speaking, the 
 dignitaries of the church were drawn from the same class 
 as the marshals or princes of the empire. While the 
 bishops and elevated clergy were rolling in wealth or 
 
 * The same denunciations were repeated iu an assembly of bishops held 
 two years after, in 1772. " Impiety," said they, "abuses too audaciously the 
 art of writing to break all the cords which unite us to the Christian faith. 
 Irreligious books have become a general pest which pervades the nation. 
 Hence the general effervescence of minds, and that afflicting revolution which 
 is taking place every day under our eyes in the public morals. In many pro- 
 vinces the Protestants are again holding their assemblies no longer secretly, 
 but in the open light of day." SOULAVIE, Rtgne de Louit XVI,, i. 224.
 
 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 183 
 
 glittering in the sunshine of royal favour, the humbler CHAP. 
 clergy, on whom the whole practical duties of the pastoral n ' 
 office devolved, toiled in virtuous obscurity, hardly elevated, 
 either in rank or comfort, above the peasantry who com- 
 posed their flocks.* The dubious class of abbes brought 
 discredit on the church, from the profligate lives which 
 many of them led, and the general devotion of the whole 
 body to worldly interests and enjoyments. The simple 
 piety and unostentatious usefulness of the rural priests, 
 while it endeared them to their parishioners, formed a 
 striking contrast to the luxurious habits and dissipated 
 lives of the high-born dignitaries of the establishment. 
 The enormous wealth of the latter excited the envy both 
 of their own body and of the lower classes of the people ; 
 while the general idleness in which they passed their 
 lives prevented all possibility of justifying the scandalous 
 inequality of their fortunes. The sceptical philosophers 
 took advantage of these real abuses, connected with the 
 dominant church, to influence the public mind against an 
 establishment of any kind ; and to represent the appro- 
 priation of any proportion of the landed property of the 
 kingdom, to the support of religion, as the most flagrant 
 abuse which existed in society. Hence the universal in- 
 dignation, in 1789, at the vices and corruption of the^qued'un 
 
 rdonmiG 
 
 church, and the facility with which, in the very commence- Public, par 
 ment of the Revolution, its property was sacrificed to m. 13-2. 
 relieve the embarrassment of the finances. 1 
 
 IX. A school of philosophy, too, had risen up at this 
 period in France, which, although far from being so The Ec'ono- 
 important in its ultimate effects as the great atheistical 
 phalanx which aimed at destroying all the foundations of 
 
 * The total revenues of the church, derived from tithes, amounted to 
 130,000,000 francs, of which only 42,000,000 were in the hands of the parochial 
 clergy ; the number of the ecclesiastics was 80,000. But this revenue, large as 
 it was, was inconsiderable, compared to the extent of the territorial posses- 3 chateau- 
 sions of this body, which embraced almost a third of the whole land of France, briand, 
 The nobles and the clergy possessed nearly two-thirds of the whole estates of ^ '"284 H ' 8t 
 the kingdom ; and the other third was in the hands of the Tiers Etat, upon Thiers, i. 34. 
 whom fell the greater proportion of the burdens of the State. 2
 
 184 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, religious belief, yet exercised a most important influence 
 IL on its political history. This was the sect of the 
 
 ECONOMISTS, the founders of that school of philosophers 
 who first applied abstract principles to human affairs, and 
 sought to enunciate in a few propositions the principles on 
 which social prosperity depended. Many bright lights 
 had been thrown on this noble science in the beautiful 
 work which Fenelon composed to instruct his royal 
 pupil in the science of government ; * but the founder of 
 the School of the Economists, properly so called, was 
 Quesnay, a physician in Mantes, who about the year 1761 
 began to inculcate the simple and original ideas which 
 afterwards made their doctrines so celebrated. His maxims 
 M'ere, that there is a natural order intended by Providence 
 for society ; that if this order is observed in human in- 
 stitutions, everything prospers and mankind are happy ; 
 if it is violated, misery is engendered and the people are 
 wretched. The only source of wealth, according to him, 
 was to be found in agriculture ; commerce or manufac- 
 tures did not create riches, they only changed their form 
 from that of rude produce to that of manufactured 
 articles : the artisan or the merchant consumed as much 
 
 xxxvi! 396.' in food, in altering the form, or changing the place of 
 rude produce, as they added to its value. 1 1 
 
 It followed from these principles, that unlimited freedom 
 
 Their pecu- should prevail, both in external and internal commerce ; 
 but that government should look for the principal and 
 only secure source of national riches, to the improvement 
 of the cultivation of the soil. They carried this principle 
 of free trade so far as to apply it to the whole relations 
 of social life, and proposed to abolish all incorporations, 
 crafts, faculties, apprenticeships, and restrictions of every 
 kind, from those of medicine and theology downwards, 
 
 * T6l6maque. 
 
 t Quesnay was a great favourite of Madame de Pompadour, and the first 
 reunions of the Economists were held in her drawing-room. At that period, 
 not even the speculations of philosophers could be fostered anywhere but in 
 the boudoirs of mistresses.
 
 HISTORY OF EUEOPE. 185 
 
 and to let every man exercise any profession, set up any CHAP. 
 
 trade, or carry on any employment in any part of the ! 
 
 kingdom. Religion was not to be excluded from the 
 general competition : no peculiar creed was to be sup- 
 ported by the State : every man was to pay his priest as 
 he did his butcher and baker. A heavy tax on the rent 
 of land should, according to Quesnay, be the sole public 
 burden permitted in the State, as it directly reached in 
 the cheapest form its real revenue. These doctrines, from 
 their novelty and simplicity, soon attracted general notice ; 
 they formed the basis of the political opinions of the 
 statesmen and philosophers who rose to eminence imme- 
 diately before the French Revolution ; and from having 
 been in great part embraced, and attempted to be put in 
 practice by Turgot, when minister of Louis XVI., they 
 deserve a place in the history of that great convulsion. 
 In the belief which these doctrines spread among the 
 thinking classes in France, that the existing structure of 
 society was essentially defective, and that unbounded social 
 blessings would follow its entire change, is to be found one 
 of the most powerful causes of that violent convulsion 
 which so soon after entirely uprooted all its institutions. 
 
 Certainly in these doctrines abstractly considered, apart 
 from their fatal error as to religion, there is much truth Reflections 
 which the philosopher must admire, and some which the doctrines, 
 statesman might cautiously embrace ; but they require to 
 be essentially modified before they are put in practice. 
 If rashly adopted, they cannot fail, from the vast extent 
 of vested interests they injure, to produce widespread 
 misery or dreadful convulsions. It is true that all wealth 
 in the world originally comes from the soil ; but it is not 
 less true that a particular state, such as Holland or 
 Venice, may attain the greatest riches and importance 
 without any considerable territorial possessions, by merely 
 drawing to itself, in exchange for its mercantile indus- 
 try, the agricultural resources of other states. It is true 
 that all incorporations and statutes of apprenticeship are
 
 186 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, restraints on the freedom of human action ; but it is not 
 IL the less true that they provide for the classification of 
 
 men according to their professions and crafts the best 
 system which human wisdom has ever devised to extend 
 their legitimate influence, and assuage their unavoidable 
 misfortunes. It is true that all taxation must ultimately 
 be paid from the produce of the soil in the country where 
 it is imposed, or in those which exchange their rude 
 produce for its manufactured articles ; but it is not less 
 true that the sum drawn from the latter source may, in 
 a commercial community, come to be greater than that 
 derived from the former, so that the taxes it can afford 
 to pay may greatly exceed the whole rent of its land.* 
 It is true that there is an order to which nature points, 
 and which wisdom approves, in human society ; but it is 
 not the less true that this can be nowhere completely 
 established, in consequence of the innumerable existing 
 interests which have grown up under a different system ; 
 and the philosopher who unfolds, in one chapter, the 
 benevolent intentions of Providence in the adaptation of 
 the human mind to the varying exigencies of society, 
 would do well to devote the next to the modification 
 which these principles must ever receive from the follies, 
 the vices, and the selfishness of man.t 
 
 68 X. Insult is more keenly resented than injury. The 
 
 Privileges of pride of nobility is more difficult to tolerate than all the 
 
 the nobles. , . , . 
 
 exclusive advantages which its order possesses. " .Numer- 
 ous and serious as the grievances of the French nation 
 were," says the ablest of the Royalist writers, " it was not 
 they that occasioned the Revolution. Neither the taxes, 
 
 * This has long been the case in Great Britain. The rental of the land in 
 the island is now 45,753,615, while the taxes are upwards of 50,000,000 ; and 
 during the latter years of the war were above 70,000,000, or double the whole 
 land-rent of the country at that period. 
 
 t The doctrines of the Economists, which deserve much more attention than 
 they have hitherto received, or are likely to receive, in the mercantile commu- 
 nity of Great Britain, are disclosed in several able works. The " Physiocratie, 
 ou Constitution Naturelle des Gouvernemens," by Quesnay, published and 
 edited by Dupont de Nemours, contains, in three small volumes, their whole 
 .principles; but this work is exceedingly rare. In " L'Ordre des Socidt^s," by
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 187 
 
 nor the lettres-de-cachet, nor the other abuses of authority, CHAP. 
 nor the vexations of the intendants, nor the ruinous delays 
 
 of justice, have irritated the nation ; it is the prestige of 
 nobility which has excited all the ferment : a fact which 
 proves that it was the shopkeepers, the men of letters, the 
 monied interest in fine, all those who were jealous of the 
 nobility who roused against them the lower classes in 
 the towns, and the peasantry in the country. In truth, 
 it is an extraordinary circumstance, that the nation should 
 say to a child possessed of parchment, ' You shall one 
 day be either a prelate, a marshal, or an ambassador, as 
 you choose,' while it has nothing to offer to its other 
 children/' In fact, the men of talent and the men of 
 fortune found this distinction so insupportable, that they 
 invariably purchased a patent of nobility when they had 
 the means of doing so ; but from this arose a new difficulty, 
 and fresh dangers to the monarchy. The wealth which 
 bought titles could not confer eminence ; it could not 
 give historic names, or remove the stain of ignoble birth. 
 Hence the distinction between the old families and those 
 newly ennobled, and a division in the aristocracy itself, 
 which prevented that body as a whole from ever adopting 
 any common measures for the general safety. The great 
 families were more jealous of the parvenus than of the 
 inferior classes of the people. From the last they antici- 
 pated no danger ; the first were placed in a situation 1 Rivarol 
 approaching too closely to their exclusive domain, to admit | J. ?*. i 
 of their ever combining with them in measures for their iss. ' 
 common defence. 1 
 
 The distinction of nobility and base-born was carried 
 to a length in France, of which it is difficult, in this free 
 
 Mercier de la Riviere, in two volumes, the same doctrines are very ably stated ; 
 and again more fully developed in La Trone's " Ordre Social," in one large 
 volume. The Count de Mirabeau (father of the great Mirabeau), in his 
 celebrated work entitled "L'Ami des Hommes," in five volumes, has fully 
 expounded the same views in an eloquent and systematic manner. The great 
 defect which strikes an English reader in them all, is the ignorance of real 
 business, and of the practical working of men in society, which was, without 
 doubt, the unavoidable result of ingenious minds speculating under a despotic 
 government on such subjects, without the benefit of any real experience.
 
 188 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, country, to form a conception. Every person was either 
 noble orroturier; no middle class, no shades of distinction 
 
 69. were known. On the one side were a hundred and fifty 
 
 Rigorous ! i i i i i i 
 
 distinction thousand privileged individuals ; on the other, the whole 
 rotund body of the French people. All situations of importance 
 ace ' in the church, the army, the court, the bench, or the diplo- 
 matic line, were exclusively enjoyed by the former of these 
 classes. Louis XIV., indeed, had laboured to break down 
 this exclusive system, and the great talent which has 
 immortalised his reign, in every walk of knowledge, was 
 mainly selected by his discriminating eye from the middle 
 classes of society. But the abuses and rigid exclusion of 
 the old regime reappeared during the weakness of his 
 successors, and had now been acted on for nearly a century. 
 In a flourishing and prosperous country, such a system is 
 of itself sufficient to produce a revolution. Men of fortune 
 will not long submit to the insolence of aristocratic pride ; 
 men of talent, in the end, will scorn the trammels of 
 patronage and the condescension of fashion. When a 
 public has arisen, and the means of arriving at distinction, 
 independent of the support of the nobility, exist, genius 
 will generally incline, in a country so situated, to the side, 
 whatever it is, which is opposed to the government. This 
 tendency may be observed in all free countries, and in 
 none more than in England, as shown by its recent his- 
 tory.* It is provided for in the independence of thought 
 which is the general accompaniment of intellectual strength, 
 and is the counterpoise provided by nature to the influence 
 of government, which might otherwise prove overwhelming. 
 This change, accordingly, had taken place in France before 
 the Revolution. The industrious classes, the men of talent, 
 the men of wealth, were unanimous in their hatred of the 
 nobility ; the universal cry was for Liberty and EQUALITY, 
 a cry almost unknown during the English Rebellion. 
 Equality of rank, abolition of privileges, equal eligibility 
 for office, were the universal objects of desire to the nation ; 
 
 * " Lords and Ladies don't like to have their mouths stopped." JOHNSON.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 189 
 
 because they were the pressing evils which had excited the CHAP. 
 discontents, and thwarted the vanity which has always, _ ' 
 by their own admission, been the leading feature of the 
 French character. The insurrection was less against the 
 throne than against the nobility ; against the oppressive 1 en, i. 
 weight of feudal tyranny, inconsistent with the spirit of mb'Abrau 
 the age, and bequeathed by the power of barbarian con- Rharoij 7. 
 quest. 1 
 
 noble families of France had contrived in a ln 
 
 The noble families of France had contrived, in a long 
 
 course of years, to engross the whole offices in the gift of Co 
 the Crown. The higher situations in the magistracy were privileged 
 confined to fifty families, in which they had become almost classes ' 
 hereditary, and which could number among their ancestors 
 some of the greatest men and purest patriots of France. 
 Still, though their merit in this respect was universally 
 admitted, the monopoly they enjoyed of all elevated situa- 
 tions in the judicial establishment was justly complained 
 of as a very serious grievance. 2 The whole commissions iv. 21. 
 in the army, above the rank of a lieutenant, were given to 
 persons of noble birth : those in the Maison du Roi, or 
 body-guards, who were twelve thousand strong, were con- 
 fined to the higher nobility, and in the more favoured 
 corps of that body the privates even were required to be 
 of noble birth. Notwithstanding these substantial advan- 
 tages, the nobility, generally speaking, had much declined 
 from their ancient splendour. There were in France about 
 eighty thousand families claiming noble descent, and 
 to them belonged nearly a hundred and fifty thousand 
 individuals who formed the privileged class. Four thousand 
 civil offices either conferred or transmitted the rights of 
 nobility ; but instances of their being thus acquired by the 
 Tiers Etat were not frequent. Of these eighty thousand 
 families, about one thousand could trace back their origin 
 to the distant ages of the monarchy ; but such had been 
 the extravagance of successive generations, or the misfor- 
 tunes in which they had come to be involved, that not 
 more than three hundred of them were in affluence when
 
 190 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, the Revolution broke out. Only two hundred had historic 
 1L names, or could boast of public services rendered by their 
 ancestors to the State ; the remainder, unknown alike in 
 past and present times, enjoyed no advantage but exemp- 
 tion from several of the most oppressive direct taxes, and 
 the favour of the court in the obtaining of commissions in 
 the army. Most of them were miserably poor, and debar- 
 red alike by private pride and public opinion from en- 
 gaging in those lucrative commercial pursuits by which the 
 Tiers Etat had been so much enriched. Many of this 
 latter class were superior to the most prosperous of the 
 nobility, a few great families alone excepted, in wealth, 
 talents, and personal respectability ; but still they were 
 ineligible to the higher situations in the magistracy, the 
 church, or the army ; and they could not, if strictly 
 watched, obtain a place in any of the parliaments in the 
 kingdom. In the nobility itself, a distinction, considered 
 to the last degree invidious by the older families, existed. 
 This arose from the nouveaux anoblis, or new nobility, 
 who had acquired titles in recent times by purchase, or 
 by the holding of offices which conferred that distinction, 
 and whose newly acquired wealth often eclipsed the decayed 
 and now antiquated splendour of the ancient houses. The 
 most part of the great estates which conferred titles had 
 fallen into the hands of farmers of the finance, or rich 
 merchants, while the titled heirs of their original owners 
 hung about the court, a useless and discreditable burden 
 iSmSf " on ^ e State. Thus power and influence were confined to 
 50,51. Rv. a c i ass little qualified to exercise them; while the vast 
 
 Mem. vu. . . . * . . 
 
 si. Smyth's majority in numbers, and no inconsiderable part of the 
 
 French Rev. ij * -101 IIIP 
 
 i. 166. holders or property in the State, were excluded from any 
 enjoyment of either. 1 
 
 XI. While the nobility was thus lowered in considera- 
 
 Prosperous tion and divided in feeling, the third estate, or Tiers Etat, 
 
 the HOT had immensely advanced, during the eighteenth century, 
 
 in numbers, wealth, and respectability. The calamitous 
 
 termination of the wars of Louis XIV. had, for a quarter
 
 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 191 
 
 of a century, diverted the ambition of France from foreign CHAP. 
 
 conquest ; and the subsequent contests, terminated by the ! 
 
 peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1749 and that of Paris in 
 1763, had not been of such extent or duration as seriously 
 to affect the internal prosperity of the kingdom. During 
 this long period, the industry and activity of the Tiers 
 Etat had brought about an extraordinary change in their 
 condition and feelings. France had founded colonies in 
 America. She had immensely extended her maritime 
 commerce ; that to the single island of St Domingo main- 
 tained, as already noticed, sixteen hundred vessels and 
 twenty-seven thousand sailors."* Domestic manufactures 
 had spread to a very great degree ; foreign commerce was 
 flourishing ; her commercial marine was second only to 
 that of Great Britain ; her warlike navy, as the American 
 War proved, was almost on a level, for the first time in 
 history, with that of her great antagonist. The riches 
 flowing into the State, from this prodigious increase of 
 mercantile industry, had all been centred in the Tiers ^ Necker 
 Etat ; the nobility, disdaining the humble employments p 1 ^ ; 
 of commerce, remained in secluded pride, strangers alike 93, 94,' isi. 
 to the wealth which this industry had produced, and the 55. l 
 feelings to which it had unavoidably given rise. 1 
 
 As a natural consequence of this state of commercial 
 prosperity, the principal harbours and manufacturing Vast growth 
 towns in France had greatly increased in wealth, popu- the princl? 
 lation, and influence. Lyons, Rouen, Bordeaux, Mar- 
 seilles, Nantes, were larger cities than the capitals of dc 
 most of the adjoining kingdoms. Paris had increased 
 to a degree that had even become alarming ; it num- 
 bered nearly seven hundred thousand inhabitants, and 
 their intelligence and mental activity rendered them more 
 influential than did even the vast aggregate of their 
 
 * The exports of France to the Spanish and French St Domingo, in 1789, 
 amounted to no less than 250,000,000 francs, or 10,000,000 sterling : its im- 
 ports from that island, to 189,000,000 francs, or 7,560,000. The whole exports 
 of Great Britain to all her West India Islands put together are only 3,600,000 
 at this time (18-12). See DUMAS, Guerre de 1799 d 1808, viii. 112, 113.
 
 192 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, numbers. During a succession of ages, they had largely 
 ' profited by the policy of Richelieu and Louis XIV., who 
 
 attracted the nobles to the capital : the extravagance 
 and prodigality of these haughty seigneurs had insensibly, 
 but certainly, caused their wealth to glide into the coffers 
 of the jewellers and money-lenders. Almost all the pro- 
 vincial towns were the seats of flourishing branches of 
 manufacture, or of a multitude of legal practitioners be- 
 fore the local courts, stewards and factors on estates, or 
 other functionaries, who largely partook in the spoils of 
 the absent and heedless nobility.* In a higher class, the 
 farmers of fiefs, or of the royal revenue, had in great part 
 accumulated considerable, sometimes great fortunes ; and 
 it was hard to say whether the royal influence was most 
 i m P a i re( l by the large portion of the revenue which they 
 R<V. diverted from the public treasury, or by the consideration 
 
 France, i. m- . 
 
 150, 152. they imparted to the Tiers Etat, now, if not in open hos- 
 tility to, at least in sullen alienation from the Crown. 1 
 
 It was the natural result of this prosperous condition 
 Superior of the middle classes, that they had, in great part at least, 
 of "he "rTers received an education which might put their superiors to 
 the blush, if they reflected on the greater advantages they 
 had enjoyed, and the larger means of acquisition which 
 they had misapplied. This was the unavoidable conse- 
 quence of their situation ; for they were brought up to 
 professions, such as the law, medicine, commerce, or the 
 humbler stations in the church, in which a certain degree 
 of information was indispensable to the obtaining even of 
 the most inferior employment ; and the higher could only 
 be reached by intellectual cultivation of no ordinary kind. 
 It had long been observed in France, accordingly, that 
 the middle classes were, with some brilliant exceptions, 
 
 * If the birth and parentage of a large proportion of the persons who played 
 an important part in the Revolution is examined, it will be found that they 
 were the sons or grandsons of stewards of estates, bailiffs, and factors, or 
 domestic servants and valets-de-chambre in the chateaus of the neighbouring 
 proprietors, the descendants of whom had risen to the rank of advocates, 
 physicians, attorneys, or surgeons in the provincial towns where they had been 
 born. BOUILLK, 55, note.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 193 
 
 not only better informed, but incomparably superior in CHAP. 
 ability to the noblesse or the clergy ; and the greater n ' 
 part of the literary men, or philosophers, who for half a 
 century before the Revolution directed the public thought, 
 had sprung from this class. In all countries, even the 
 most free, intellectual vigour and ability, arising from the 
 middle class, is in the general case inclined to the demo- 
 cratic side ; for the very obvious reason that, sprung from 
 its ranks, it sympathises with its feelings, and is identified 
 with its real or supposed interests. If this tendency is 
 clearly discernible in Great Britain, where the career of 
 talent is open to all, and the son of a commoner is so 
 frequently raised to the Woolsack or the archiepiscopal 
 chair, it may be conceived with how much vehemence it 
 must have operated in France, where a sullen line of 
 demarcation prescribed a limit to the elevation even of 
 the most transcendant abilities in the middle class ; and 
 all elevated situations at the court, in the army, the 
 magistracy, the church, and the diplomatic line, were 
 rigorously confined to persons of higher birth, but inferior 53, 55. 
 qualifications. 1 
 
 XII. The taxation of France afforded a practical 
 grievance of the most serious kind, rendered yet more Taxation. 
 galling by the inequality with which it was imposed, litea^ 
 The two privileged orders, the nobles and the clergy, 
 were exempted from several of the most oppressive im- 
 posts a privilege grounded on the feudal fiction, that 
 the former defended the State by their swords, while the 
 latter interceded for it by their prayers. Such a ground 
 of exemption was peculiarly untenable after a long period 
 of peace, during which the nobility were exclusively occu- 
 pied in the frivolities of the court, and many of the higher 
 clergy were suspected, with too much reason, of sharing in 
 its vices. The actual addition which the exemption of so 
 large a proportion of the most opulent classes made to the 
 burdens of the people, though by no means inconsiderable, 
 was the least part of the evil : the bitterness lay in the 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 194 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, sense of its injustice. But much misrepresentation has 
 IL taken place on this subject, and the freedom from taxa- 
 tion by the privileged orders has been generally described 
 as much more extensive than it really was. They cer- 
 tainly did not contribute equally with each other, or with 
 the commons ; but they both paid largely to the public 
 service. Neither the nobility nor the clergy enjoyed 
 exemption from any of the indirect impositions which in 
 France, as in other countries, constituted so large a pro- 
 portion of the public revenue. The former paid the 
 capitation tax and the twentieth penny or vingtieme, 
 which, together, sometimes amounted to four shillings in 
 the pound. The clergy in the provinces annexed by 
 conquest to France, comprehending about an eighth of 
 the territory and a sixth of the wealth of the kingdom, 
 also paid the capitation and the vingtieme ; and although 
 the clergy in the old provinces did not pay the capitation, 
 this was because they had redeemed it by payment of 
 24,000,000 of francs, or 1,000,000 sterling : they did 
 not pay the vingtieme, but they, in return, made free 
 gifts and were subject to other charges, which amounted 
 Burke's to nearly as much as their proportion of what was paid 
 ons 8 ,' CI by the other orders. The real ground of complaint, and 
 ^ was a mos t substantial one, was the exemption of both 
 tne privileged orders from the taille a direct burden on 
 ^ ie P r duce f l an d f * ne mos * odious and impolitic 
 kind, and the weight of which, being borne exclusively by 
 34. ' the Tiers Etat, led to the general impression that the privi- 
 leged orders were entirely freed from taxation of any sort. 1 
 The taxes of France were not only heavy, and liable 
 inequality to hateful exemptions, but they were unequally distributed 
 pMitfou f even upon the classes who bore them, and were in an espe- 
 taxctb ' cial manner oppressive to the cultivators of the soil. The 
 France. taille and the vingtieme imposts, exclusively affecting 
 agricultural labour, and rising in proportion to its profits, 
 with other smaller burdens, amounted to no less than 
 171,000,000 francs, or 6,840,000 sterling, a sum at
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 195 
 
 least equivalent to 15,000,000 on the land of England. CHAP. 
 So excessive was the burden which this created upon ' 
 agricultural labour, that it has been calculated, by a very 
 competent observer, that in some districts where the 
 valuation was rigorously taken, supposing the produce of 
 an acre worth 3, 2s. 7d., the proportion which went to 
 the king was l, 18s. 4d. ; that to the landlord, 18s. ; 
 that to the actual cultivator, 5s. ; or, if the proprietor 
 cultivated his own land, his share was only 1, 4s. 3d., 
 while that of the king was l, 18s. 4d. In other words, 
 if the produce of an acre had been divided into twelve 
 parts, nearly seven and a half went to the king, three and 
 a half to the proprietor, and one to the farmer ; whereas 
 in England, at the same period, if the produce of an acre 
 were 8, the land-tax and poor-rates would be 10s., 
 the rent l, 10s., and the share of the cultivator 6 j 
 three -fourths of the produce, instead of one -twelfth, Young,;. 
 
 O9O K7J. 
 
 as under the French monarchy. Nearly one -third of 575.' Ra P . 
 France, at this period, was in the hands of small pro- 
 prietors, upon whom these taxes fell with unusual severity ; 
 and some of these, particularly in the Limousin, the 
 Cevennes, the lower Pyrenees, and Dauphine, had aban- 33-2, 333. 
 doned cultivation altogether, from the weight of the bur- 196. 
 dens to which they were subjected. 1 
 
 The taxes on consumption amounted to 260,000,000 
 francs, or 10,400,000, and the total revenue to indirect 
 469,000,000 francs, or 18,750,000; but this immense taxes> 
 burden was imposed without any regard to equality in 
 the different provinces. Some had obtained commuta- 
 tions unreasonably favourable to themselves ; others, from 
 having evinced a refractory spirit, had been saddled with 
 more than a just proportion of the public burdens. 
 Those who had acquired no commutation, were liable 
 to a progressive and most vexatious increase of their 
 imposts. The fixing of the amount of these taxes 
 affecting each individual was in the hands of the inten- 
 dants of the provinces, from whose decision there was, 
 
 j S *; t
 
 196 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, practically speaking, no appeal, and who frequently ex- 
 
 ercised their powers in an arbitrary manner. Royal 
 
 T^Sftv* commissions had been established to take cognisance of 
 332, 333. questions regarding the revenues, of which the decision 
 
 Monthion, MI 
 
 155. Thiers, properly belonged to the ordinary tribunals ; several 
 - -- 1.152. contributions were judged of by the king in council 
 n' t a species of judicature in which justice, in a question 
 L 57 Ra P . between the Crown and a subject, was not likely to be 
 
 st, XIII. When the weight of the taxes under which 
 they groaned is considered, it will not appear surprising 
 state of the that the cultivators of France were in the most miserable 
 poor. state. Mr Young calculated, in 1789, that the rural 
 labourer in France, taking into view the price of pro- 
 visions, was seventy-six per cent poorer than in England ; 
 that is, he had seventy-six per cent less of the necessaries 
 and conveniences of life than fell to the lot of a similar 
 class in this country. Rural labour being seventy-six 
 per cent cheaper in France than in England, it follows 
 that all those classes which depend on that labour, 
 and are the most numerous in society, were, in a 
 similar proportion, less at their ease, worse fed, worse 
 lodged, worse clothed, than their brethren on this side 
 of the Channel. With a very few exceptions, accord- 
 ingly, the peasantry were in the most indigent condition 
 their houses dark, comfortless, and almost destitute of 
 furniture their dress ragged and miserable their food 
 the coarsest and most humble fare. " It reminded me," 
 says Mr Young, " of the miseries of Ireland!" Nor was 
 the condition of the people more comfortable in those 
 extensive districts of the. country where small pro- 
 perties existed ; on the contrary, these were uniformly 
 distinguished by the most numerous and squalid popu- 
 98 Y H8 g 4i3 l a ti n - Nor i g this surprising : nothing can conduce so 
 447. Mar-' much to a redundant population as a minute division of 
 
 shall, i. 232, , , , , 
 
 iv. 101. landed property and an oppressive government ; a the 
 means of subsistence, without the means of enjoyment ;
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 197 
 
 scope to the principle of increase, without any develop- CHAP. 
 ment of its limitations. _ !_ 
 
 XIV. In addition to an indigent peasantry, France was 
 cursed with its usual attendant, a non-resident body of Non- 
 
 landed proprietors. This was an evil of the very first 
 magnitude, drawing after it, as is invariably the case, a 
 discontented tenantry and a neglected country. The 
 great proprietors all resorted to Paris in quest of amuse- 
 ment, of dissipation, or of advancement ; and, except- 
 ing in La Vendee, where a totally different system of 
 manners prevailed, the country was hardly ever visited 
 by its landowners. The natural consequence of this was, 
 that no kindly feelings, no common interest, united the 
 landlord and his tenantry. The former regarded the 
 cultivators in no other light than as beasts of burden, 
 from whose labour the greatest proportion of profit was to 
 be extracted ; the latter considered their lords as tyrants, 
 known only by the vexatious visits and endless demands 
 of their bailiffs. From being neglected by their natural 
 guardians, and experiencing no benefits or encouragement 
 from them, the labouring classes everywhere imbibed a 
 sour and discontented spirit, and were ready to join any 
 incendiaries who promised them the pillage of the chateaus 
 of their landlords, or the division of their estates. Nor 
 was this all : all those useful and beneficial undertakings, 
 so common in England, which bind together the landed 
 aristocracy and their tenantry, by the benefit they confer 
 upon the estates of the former, and the employment they 
 afford to the industry of the latter, were unknown in 
 France. No improvements in agriculture, no advances of 
 capital, were made by the proprietors of the soil ; roads, 
 harbours, canals, and bridges, were undertaken and 1^^ 
 managed exclusively by the government ; and the influence ? e la , R ? che - 
 
 4 J J f jaquelem, 
 
 naturally arising from the employment of industry, and p- 45, 46. 
 the expenditure of capital, was wholly lost to the French poieon,i.3i. 
 noblesse. 1 In La Vendee alone, the landlords lived in 59^ 
 pristine simplicity, consuming in rustic profusion the
 
 198 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, produce of their estates upon their own lands ; and in La 
 IL Vendee alone the tenantry supported them in the hour 
 
 of trial, and waged a long doubtful and glorious war with 
 the Republican forces. 
 
 XV. The local burdens and legal services due by the 
 
 TO 
 
 tenantry to their feudal superiors, were to the last degree 
 vexatious and oppressive. The peasantry in France were 
 almost all ignorant ; not one in fifty could read, and in 
 each province they were unaware of what was passing in 
 the neighbouring one. At the distance of twenty leagues 
 from Paris, they were unacquainted with what was going 
 forward during the most interesting era of the Revolution. 
 They rose at the instigation of the demagogues in the 
 neighbouring towns to burn the chateaus of their land- 
 lords, but never carried their ideas beyond the little circle 
 1 Young, i. of their immediate observation. 1 No public meetings 
 shilii, iv?68. were held, no periodical press was within their reach, to 
 spread the flame of discontent ; yet the spirit of resistance 
 was universal from Calais to Bayonne. This affords 
 decisive evidence of the existence of a serious mass of 
 oppression or numerous local grievances, capable of pro- 
 ducing discontent so general, and hatred so implacable. 
 The feudal rights of the landed proprietors stood foremost 
 in this list of grievances. The most important operations 
 of agriculture were fettered or prevented by the game- 
 laws, and the restrictions intended for their support. 
 Wild animals of the most destructive kind, such as boars 
 and herds of deer, were permitted to go at large, through 
 large districts called Capitaineries, without any enclosures 
 to protect the crops. The damage they did to the 
 farmers, in four parishes of Montceau alone, amounted 
 Cahierdu to 184,000 francs, or 7500 a -year. 2 Numerous 
 do' e Meoux, edicts existed, which prohibited hoeing and weeding, lest 
 the young partridges should be killed ; mowing hay, lest 
 the eggs should be destroyed ; taking away the stubble, 
 60o. OUD '' lest the birds should be deprived of shelter ; manuring 
 with nightsoil, lest their flavour should be injured. 3
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE; 199 
 
 Complaints for the infraction of these edicts were all CHAP: 
 carried before the manorial courts, where every species of 
 
 ch 
 
 oppression, chicanery, and fraud was practised. Nothing 1 Cahiers 
 can exceed the force of expression used in the cahiers of Rennes, art. 
 the provincial bodies, in describing the severity of these nois, art. 43. 
 feudal services." 1 
 
 Fines were imposed at every change of property in the 
 direct and collateral line, and at every sale on purchasers ; Their v' 
 the people were bound to grind their corn at the land- o 
 lord's mill, to press their grapes at his press, and bake 
 their bread at his oven ; 2 corvees, or obligations to repair 2 Young, i. 
 the roads founded on custom, decrees, and servitude, were 
 enforced with the most rigorous severity: 3 in many places 3 Tiers Etat, 
 
 11 i Rennes,159. 
 
 the use even of handmills was not free, and the seigneurs 
 were invested with the power of selling to the peasantry 
 the right of bruising buckwheat or barley between stones. 4 4 Rennes, 
 It is vain to attempt a description of the feudal services 
 which pressed with so much severity upon industry in 
 every part of France. Their names cannot find parallel 
 words in the English language. "* Long before the 
 Revolution broke out, complaints were loudly heard over 
 the whole country, of the baneful tendency of these feudal 
 exactions, t They became better understood by the 
 
 * We should be at a loss to know what was meant by " Chevauches, 
 Quintaines Soule, Saut de Poisson, Baiser de Maries, Chansons, Transports 
 d'CEuf sur Charrette, Silence des Grenouilles, Corvee a MisSricorde, Melods, 
 Lesde, Couponage, Cartilage, Barrage, Fouage, Mare'chausse'e, Ban Veu, Ban 
 d'Aout, Trousses, Gilinage, Civirage, Taillabillite, Vingtaine, Stertage, Bordelage, 
 Meriage, Ban de Vendanges, Droit d'AccepteV' 5 if the universal voice of the 5R&um^des 
 French people, manifested in their cahiers, or official instructions to the ^g 11 ^' ili * 
 Deputies at the States-general from the electors, had not proclaimed that they 
 signified real and oppressive burdens. YOUNG'S Travels in France, i. 206. 
 
 f An old law, long obsolete, but characteristic of the state of the people in 
 feudal ages, was mentioned in the debates in the Assembly on the feudal 
 services, which declared it illegal for a seigneur in some provinces to put to 
 death more than two serfs in order to warm his feet, by putting them in their 
 entrails, when returning from hunting. This appears hardly credible ; but the 
 Mercheta Mulierum, or right of the seigneur to lie with his vassal's wife the 
 first night of her marriage, before her husband, was common to France with 
 other feudal countries, and was long claimed in some parts of the kingdom by 
 the seigneurs. See Hisloire de la Revolution, par Deux Amis de la Liberte", 
 ii. 212.
 
 200 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, higher classes as it advanced, from the clamour which 
 ' was raised by the nobility at their abolition. The corve'es, 
 
 or burdens imposed for the maintenance of the highways, 
 annually ruined vast numbers of the farmers. In filling 
 up one valley in Lorraine, no less than three hundred 
 * Rennes, i. were reduced to beggary. 1 The enrolments for the militia 
 were also the subject of general complaint, and styled in 
 
 , the cahiers " an injustice without example." 2 But the 
 it! 598. UIg * people soon found that they had made a grievous exchange 
 in substituting for it the terrible conscription of Napoleon. 
 Indeed, although these services were numerous and 
 vexatious, they did not constitute so considerable a griev- 
 ance as the indignant feelings of the French provincial 
 writers would lead us to imagine. " The people of Scot- 
 land," says Sir Walter Scott, " were in former times sub- 
 ject to numerous services which are now summed up in 
 the emphatic word rent;" and this, in truth, was equally 
 the case with the French tenantry. Their general condi- 
 tion was that of metayers ; that is, they received their 
 implements and stock from their landlords, and divided 
 with him the gross produce after the tax-gatherer was 
 satisfied. The numerous feudal services were just a pay- 
 ment of rent in kind ; a species of liquidation universal 
 and unavoidable in all rural districts in a certain state of 
 civilisation, when a ready market for agricultural produce 
 is, from the absence of great towns, or the want of internal 
 communication, not to be found. The people expected, 
 when feudal services and tithes were abolished during the 
 Revolution, that their amount would form a clear addition 
 to their gains ; but they soon found that they only aug- 
 mented the rent of their landlords, or were exchanged for 
 an enormous land-tax rigorously collected by government, 
 and that their own condition was in no degree ameliorated. 
 Without doubt, the multitude of demands on the French 
 tenantry was often in the highest degree vexatious ; but it 
 may be doubted whether their weight has been alleviated 
 by their condensation into a single payment ; and whether
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 201 
 
 the terrors of the words RENT and TAXES do not now CHAP. 
 equal those of the whole catalogue of feudal obligations. * _ ! 
 XVI. The administration of justice, as in all countries 
 
 where public opinion has not its due weight, or the judges Adminis- 
 are exempted from its control, was liable to many abuses justice. 
 in France. In some places it was partial, and said to be 
 venal. Fortune, liberal presents, court favour, the smiles 
 of a handsome wife, or promises of advancement to rela- 
 tions, sometimes swayed the decisions of the judges in the 
 inferior tribunals. This evil was felt in many parts of the 
 country. The common opinion, though often unfounded, 
 was, that to obtain justice in any of the provincial courts 
 was out of the question. Nor were the decisions of the 
 parliaments or supreme courts, whether of the capital or 
 provinces, altogether unsullied. These numerous and pub- 
 lic-spirited bodies, notwithstanding their loud professions 
 of patriotism, were not always immaculate ; and the diver- 
 sity of their customs introduced a degree of variance into 
 their determinations, which rendered all attempt at uni- 
 formity impracticable. 1 But although, like the other * Monthion, 
 
 . ,.. *. r ,1 i ,1 i v 154. Thiers, 
 
 institutions of the monarchy, the provincial parliaments 1.35. Young, 
 stood much in need of amendment, yet they had several u 59 ' " 
 particulars in their constitution deserving of the highest 
 approbation, and which had rendered them the cradles of 
 freedom during the corruptions and oppression of preced- 
 ing reigns. They possessed one fundamental excellence 
 they were independent. The most doubtful circumstance 
 connected with their mode of appointment, that of its 
 being by purchase, contributed to this independence of 
 character. The members of these courts held for life, 
 indeed many may be said to have held by inheritance. 
 Though appointed in the first instance by the monarch, 
 they were nearly beyond his power, for he could not re- 
 move them ; and for long they had enjoyed the power of 
 
 * The land-tax in France is now twenty per cent on an average at the very 
 lowest, on the groan agricultural profits ; often forty or fifty per cent on the 
 landowners' gains.
 
 202 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, electing the members of their body, subject to his approval ; 
 
 - so that they were practically independent. The more 
 determined the exertions of that authority against them 
 became, the more their spirit of freedom and independence 
 became manifest. They composed permanent bodies 
 politic, and from that corporate and lasting constitution 
 were well calculated to afford both certainty and stability 
 to the laws. They had been a safe asylum to these laws 
 in all the revolutions of opinion, and under all the frowns 
 of power. They had saved that sacred deposit of the 
 country during the reigns of arbitrary princes and the 
 struggles of arbitrary factions. They were the great safe- 
 guard to private property : their decisions, though varying 
 with the customs of the different provinces, were, generally 
 speaking, honest and upright : they had furnished no incon- 
 siderable corrective to the vices and excesses of the mon- 
 archy. The independent spirit which terminated in the 
 Revolution began in the free and courageous conduct of 
 8 these assemblies, during a contest of nearly half a century 
 
 the Crown ; and it is one of the strongest proofs of 
 1388, 1400, t ne insanity which ultimately got possession of the public 
 Burkc's mind, that one of the first acts of the democratic party, 
 
 Consider*- f J r 
 
 work vi u P n at t a i n i n supreme authority, was to sweep away those 
 367. ' ' venerable bulwarks by which the people had so long been 
 sheltered from the invasion of despotic power. 1 
 
 XVII. The royal prerogative, by a series of successful 
 Royal P re- usurpations, had reached a height inconsistent with any- 
 thing like real freedom. The most important right of a 
 citizen, that of deliberating on the passing of laws and 
 the granting of supplies, had fallen into desuetude. For 
 nearly two centuries, the kings, of their own authority, 
 had published ordinances possessing all the authority of 
 laws, and which originally could not be sanctioned but by 
 the representatives of the people. The right of approving 
 or registering, as it was called, these ordinances, was trans- 
 ferred from the States-general, which were rarely convoked, 
 to the parliaments and courts of justice ; but their deliber-
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 203 
 
 ations were liable to be suspended bj lits de justice, or CHAP. 
 personal interventions of the sovereign, and infringed by 
 
 arbitrary imprisonments. The regulations, which could 
 legally be made only by the king in council, were fre- 
 quently adopted without the intervention of that body ; 
 and so common had this abuse become, that in many 
 departments of government it was habitual. Taxes were 
 imposed without the consent of the nation, or of its repre- 
 sentatives : those originally laid on by legal authority con- 
 tinued after the stipulated period of their endurance had 
 ceased, or were augmented far beyond the amount agreed 
 to by the people. Criminal commissions, composed of 
 persons nominated solely by the Crown, were frequently 
 appointed, and rendered both personal liberty and real 
 property insecure. Warrants of imprisonment, without 
 either accusation or trial, might deprive any subjects of 
 their freedom, and consign them to dungeons for the re- 
 mainder of their lives. Debts to an enormous amount, 
 and of which the annual charge absorbed more than half 
 the revenue of the State, had been contracted without 
 national authority, or increased without its knowledge. 
 The public creditors, kept in the dark as to the state of 
 the finances, or of the security which existed for their 
 payment, were daily becoming more apprehensive as to the 
 ultimate solvency of the State. The personal expenses of 
 the kings had risen under the reigns of Louis XIV. and 
 Louis XV. to a very great height, and they were not dis- 
 tinguished from the ordinary expenditure of government, i.?Jof isfc 
 except in a secret record, no part of which was divulged ^3 nt ^ n ' 
 to the people. The salaries of all the civil servants of the tat d ?, l! > 
 
 Dette Puh- 
 CrOWn, and of the higher officers in the army, were deemed ique, i/so, 
 
 excessive ; while the duties of their several offices were too 154. 
 often either neglected or performed by deputy. 1 
 
 What rendered this tremendous power of imprisoning 
 any person at the mere whim of the king, or any of his 
 ministers or mistresses, the more obnoxious, was the ex- 
 treme inconsistency with which it had been exercised, and
 
 204 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, the total impossibility of foreseeing what doctrines or 
 IL measures might not, at no distant period, consign the 
 
 w. most eminent men in France to confinement in the Bastile 
 consistency for years, perhaps for life. During the course of the 
 the h royai c long contest of the king with the parliaments, and the 
 Ccie^ still more acrimonious disputes of the Jesuits with the 
 cisei Jansenists, the opposite parties had alternately been suc- 
 cessful, and each had invariably applied, without mercy, 
 the terrible engine of solitary imprisonment, to overawe 
 or coerce its opponents. The ministers of the Crown 
 opened the gates of the Bastile with equal readiness to 
 the enemies of whichever of the contending parties had, 
 for the moment, got possession of the royal confidence. 
 Nay, their mistresses were often ready, for a small gratuity, 
 to procure lettres-de-cachet for any applicant, to further the 
 purposes of intrigue or domestic jealousy. Seldom were 
 they refused to the powerful or the affluent.* When 
 M. de la Vrilliere surrendered the seals of the home office, 
 which he had held for half a century, to Malesherbes, 
 in 1775, there was no party, religious or political, in 
 France, the chiefs of which he had not, on some previous 
 occasion, sent into exile, or immured in the Bastile. The 
 Jesuits and the Jansenists, the partisans of the court and 
 the leaders of the parliament, the leaders of the church 
 and the philosophic atheists, had been indiscriminately 
 visited with this terrible penalty. The numbers of lettres- 
 
 * " On m'a reconte la triste aveiiture d'une jeune bouquetiere remarquablo 
 par sa beaute. Elle s'appelait Jeanneton. Un jour M. le Chevalier de Coigny 
 la rencontre eTblouissante de fraicheur et brillante de gattc. II 1'interroge sur 
 la cause de cette vive satisfaction. ' Je suis heureuse,' dit-elle : ' mon mari est 
 un grondeur, un brutal il m'obse'dait. J'ai etc" chez M. le Comte de Saint Flo- 
 
 rentin : Madame , qui jouit de ses bonnes graces, m'a fort bien accueillie, et 
 
 four dlx louis je viensd'obtenirunelettre-de-cachetquimedelivrede mon jaloux.' 
 
 " Deux ans apres, M. de Coigny rencontre la meme Jeanneton, mais triste, 
 maigre, pale, jaune, les yeux battus. ' Eh ! ma pauvre Jeanneton,' lui dit-il, 
 ' quotes- vous done devenue ? On ne vous rencontre nulle part.' ' Helas ! mon- 
 sieur/ repondit-elle, ' j'etais bien sotte de me rejouir. Mon vilain mari, ayant 
 eu la meme idee que moi, etait alle de son cot<; chez le Ministre, et le meme 
 jour, par la mime entremise, avait achete" un ordre pour m'enfermer : en sorte 
 qu'il en a coute vingt louis a notre manage pour nous faire re"ciproquement 
 jeter en prison.'" SoitTenirs du Comte de Sgur, ii. 187; DE TOCQUEVILLE, 
 Histoire de Louis XV., ii. 489.
 
 HISTOEY OF EUROPE. 205 
 
 de-cachet he had signed was incalculable : * he had im- CHAP. 
 mured the Molinist friends of the Pope at the desire of n ' 
 the Regent Orleans, who depended on the parliaments ; 
 he had next sent to the Bastile the Jansenists in great 
 numbers, to pay court to the Abbe Dubois, who was 
 intriguing at Rome to obtain a cardinal's hat : under 
 Cardinal Fleury and M. Arguella, he had confined within 
 the same walls the leaders of the parliament who opposed 
 the court ; and more recently had sent into exile the 
 Abbe Terray, and M. de Maupeou, the very ministers i souiavic, 
 who had directed the last arrests. Finally, he had im- B fjy 327 ' 
 prisoned numbers of the philosophers, who ere long sup- ydf itfaie 
 
 planted him in office ; and M. de Malesherbes, to whom sherbes, H. 
 he surrendered the portfolio of the home office in 1775, To'cq. Vie 
 had himself been confined in the Bastile, under his war- xv.a. 489. 
 rant, only four years before. 1 
 
 XVIII. Another frightful remnant of feudal cruelty 
 which existed in France down to the close of the reign of Terrible 
 
 Louis XV., was the use of TORTURE not only in order to 
 extract confessions from prisoners previous to trial, but to tinued^ 
 increase the sufferings and aggravate the horror of their France - 
 punishment. This dreadful barbarity, the bequest of ages 
 of violence and anarchy, was continued in France with a 
 blindness which appears incredible, not only after the 
 long establishment of regular government had rendered it 
 unnecessary, but when the increasing humanity and laxity 
 of the age had made it insupportable. All Europe had 
 shuddered at the atrocious and prolonged cruelty with 
 which Damiens, who had attempted the life of Louis XV. 
 in 1757, was executed a cruelty which sets, if possible, 
 in a brighter light the admirable clemency which in- 
 duced George III. in England to save the life of every 
 one of the numerous assassins who had tried to murder 
 
 * It has been stated to have amounted to the enormous number of 50,000; 
 but this estimate appears to be exaggerated ; but 25,000, or 500 a-year, is pro- 
 bably within the mark ; considerably less in half a century than, under the 
 Convention, were sometimes imprisoned in a single month. See BOISSY 
 D'ANQLAS, Vie de Mateslierbes, ii. 23, 26.
 
 206 HISTORY OF EUKOPE. 
 
 CHAP, him.* Nor was it only for such great state offences that 
 ' these horrible torments were inflicted, or for the crimes, 
 
 such as parricide, which all ages have stigmatised as of the 
 deepest dye : the barbarity of the church for it deserves 
 285 Cle 'con no ligh^ 61 * name na cl perpetrated similar punishments for 
 
 dorcet, vie offences against religion, in themselves rather disorders 
 
 de Voltaire, i i i /> / i > 
 
 101. than cnmes, and for which a tine or a lew months impri- 
 
 sonment would have been an adequate expiation. 1 
 86 So late as the year 1766, two young officers, in a 
 Horrors drunken frolic, insulted, during the night, a crucifix of 
 punis^- wood, which stood on the bridge of Abbeville. For this 
 offence, which would rightly have been visited by a fine 
 of twenty louis, or imprisonment for three months, they 
 were both indicted : one fled, and received a commission 
 from the King of Prussia ; but the other, named La Barre, 
 a youth of seventeen years, the son of an ancient family 
 in the magistracy, was sentenced to be put to the tor- 
 ture, to have his tongue cut out, and to be afterwards 
 beheaded, which inhuman sentence was actually carried 
 into execution. Voltaire, from his retreat at Ferney, 
 raised his powerful voice against this abominable pro- 
 ceeding : on this occasion, at least, it may safely be 
 affirmed, he had all the right-thinking men in Europe on 
 his side. As if, too, it had been specially intended to 
 excite public indignation to the highest possible degree, 
 torture was inflicted on criminals, not only in the dun- 
 geons of the Bastile, but in broad daylight in the streets 
 of Paris ; and so late as 1790, the citizens of the capital 
 were excruciated by the cries of a wretched human being, 
 
 * " On the 28th March 1757, at four o'clock in the afternoon, his terrific 
 punishment commenced. First, his right hand was burned; then his flesh was 
 everywhere torn by red-hot pincers. Melted lead was poured into his 
 wounds, and finally he was broken on the wheel." See LACRETELLE, Histoire 
 de France pendant le xviii. Silcle, iii. 285. On the 9th May 1766, the heroic 
 Lally, wholly innocent of the crimes laid to his charge, who had so gallantly 
 defended Pondicherry against the English, after having been imprisoned four 
 years, and repeatedly tortured, was drawn on a hurdle, by sentence of the par- 
 liament of Paris, to the place of execution, and there beheaded, with his mouth 
 closed by a wooden gag, to prevent his addressing the people. Biographie 
 Universelle, voce LALLY, xxiii. 252, 253.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 207 
 
 who during several hours was exposed on the wheel, in CHAP. 
 the Place de Greve. The historian can hardly bring his 
 
 pen to transcribe the awful details of the sufferings of 
 these unhappy victims : but he who wishes to write or 
 read the history of the French Revolution, must steel his 
 mind to the contemplation of scenes of horror ; and 
 before entering on the dreadful atrocities of the Reign of 
 Terror, it is well to consider the barbarities of the ancient 
 regime, to which they are, in part at least, to be ascribed."* 
 It is to the honour of the Revolution that it put a stop, 
 it is to be hoped for ever, to these frightful barbarities ; 
 and amidst the innumerable crimes of its authors, this at 
 least is to be recorded to their praise, that they never 
 
 reverted, except at first, and in the most vehement excite- \% 
 
 Duvai, Sou- 
 meat, to those ancient cruelties ; and that their victims, v eni rs de ia 
 
 save in a few instances of popular violence in the outset, 157. 
 suffered only by the edge of the guillotine. 1 
 
 * " The punishment of the wheel, which was suppressed in 1790, was one of 
 the most frightful which can be imagined. The criminal was extended on a 
 St Andrew's cross. There were on it eight notches cut, one below each arm, 
 between the elbow and the wrist, another between each elbow and the 
 shoulders ; one under each thigh, and one under each leg. The executioner, 
 armed with a heavy triangular bar of iron, gave a violent blow on each of these 
 eight places, and, of course, broke the bone ; and a ninth on the pit of the 
 stomach. The mangled victim was now lifted from the cross, and stretched 
 on a small wheel, placed vertically at one of the ends of the cross, his back 
 on the upper part of the wheel, his head and feet hanging down. The sen- 
 tence bore, that he was to remain there as long ' as it please God to prolong 
 his life.' Many lingered there five or six hours : some longer. A son of 
 a jeweller, in the Place Dauphin6, who had murdered his father, was only 
 relieved by death at the end of twenty- four hours. These unhappy wretches, 
 often uttering horrible blasphemies, always tormented by a continual thirst, 
 incessantly called out for something to drink : a man of God, a priest, never 
 left their side during their excruciating agony, but incessantly put water to 
 their parched lips, wiped the sweat from their burning brow, and pointed to a 
 merciful God above the scaffold, extending his arms to receive them. This 
 holy duty was always discharged by a doctor of the Sorbonne." DUVAL, 
 Souvenirs de la Terreur, i. 157, 158. On reading these heart-rending details, 
 one is almost tempted to forget all the cruelties of the Revolution, and to 
 exclaim with Byron, after recounting the inhuman sports of the Roman amphi- 
 theatre, " Arise, ye Goths, and glut your ire ! " And yet, marvellous circum- 
 stance ! decisive of the infernal agency which was at work in the Revolution, 
 these horrid cruelties did not excite nearly so much obloquy as the religion 
 which assuaged them ; the Revolutionists could find some apology for the 
 government which stretched the fractured criminal on the wheel, but none for 
 the priest who wiped the sweat from his agonised brow.
 
 208 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. XIX. Corruption in its worst form had long tainted 
 
 - the manners of the court as well as the nobility, and 
 
 87 -. poisoned the sources of influence. The favour of royal 
 
 Corruption A . i 
 
 at court, mistresses, or the intrigues of the court, openly disposed 
 of the highest appointments, both in the army, the church, 
 and the civil service. Since the reign of the Roman em- 
 perors, profligacy had never been conducted in so open 
 and undisguised a manner as under Louis XV. and the 
 Regent Orleans. From the secret memoirs of the period, 
 which have now been published, it is manifest that the 
 licentious novels which at that time disgraced the French 
 literature, conveyed a faithful picture of the manners of 
 the age ; that the scenes in Faublas, the Liaisons Dan- 
 gereuses, and Cre'billon, are by no means overcharged. 
 Favourites of women of rank, selected often from the 
 middle classes of society, were not unfrequently rewarded 
 for their fidelity by a place in the Bastile, at the instance 
 of their treacherous paramours, when they became tired 
 of their embraces.* The reign of Louis XV. is the most 
 deplorable in French history. If we seek for the charac- 
 ters who governed the age, we must search the antecham- 
 bers of the Duke de Choiseul, or the boudoirs of Madame 
 Pompadour or Du Barri. The whole frame of society 
 seemed to be decomposed. Statesmen were ambitious to 
 figure as men of letters ; men of letters as statesmen ; the 
 great seigneurs as bankers ; the farmers-general as great 
 seigneurs. The fashions were as ridiculous as the arts were 
 misplaced. Shepherdesses were represented in hoops in 
 saloons, where colonels were engaged in feminine pursuits : 
 
 * Such was the dissolution of the manners of the court, that no less than 
 500,000,000 francs of the public debt, or 20,000,000 sterling, had been in- 
 curred for expenses too ignominious to bear the light, or to be even named 
 in the public accounts ; and the amount of expenditure of this description 
 was ten times greater in the time of Louis XV. than it had been in that of 
 i Du Barri'i Louis XIV. And it appears from an authentic document, quoted in Soulavie's 
 M d"'i >lri Lab History, that in the sixteen months immediately preceding the death of 
 Hist, de la Louis XV., Madame Du Barri had drawn from the royal treasury no less than 
 Soulavie 8 !.' 2 . 450 > 000 fran cs, or 100,000, equal to fully 200,000 of our money at this 
 115. time. 1 See Hittoire de la Decadence de la Monarchie Fratifaise, par SOULAVIE 
 
 e.iii. 330.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 209 
 
 everything was deranged in the public feeling and man- CHAP. 
 
 ners, the sure sign of an approaching convulsion. Society ! . 
 
 had reached that puerile stage which appeared in Rome 
 at the time of the Gothic invasion, and in Constantinople 
 under the Byzantine emperors : instead of making verses [ 9 hateau - 
 
 * brianu, 
 
 in cloisters, they made them in drawing-rooms ; a happy Etud. Hist. 
 epigram rendered a general more illustrious than a victory face. ' 
 gained. 1 
 
 It is difficult to treat of this subject without disclosing 
 particulars at which purity may blush, or on which licen- Profligacy 
 tiousness may gloat ; but general observations make little gent Organs 
 impression on the mind even of the most reflecting reader, xv L U1 
 if not attended with a detail of facts which proves that they 
 are well founded ; and one authentic example of the man- 
 ners of the court and aristocratic circles in Paris, anterior 
 to the Revolution, will produce a stronger conviction than 
 whole chapters of assertion. All that we read in ancient 
 historians, veiled in the decent obscurity of a learned 
 language, of the orgies of ancient Babylon, was equalled, 
 if not exceeded, by the nocturnal revels of the Regent 
 Orleans, the Cardinal Dubois, and his other licentious 
 associates. They would exceed belief, if not narrated on 
 the undoubted testimony of concurring eyewitnesses. To 
 such a length did the license of manners go under the 
 Regent, that the young Duchess de Berri, the beautiful 
 daughter of that prince, assisted at his nocturnal revels 
 with his mistresses and several opera-dancers, and even, 
 with two of the fairest of this troop, occasionally person- 
 ated the three goddesses which appeared in the fable, 
 and in the costume in which they displayed their charms 
 to the son of Priam. '* Nor were manners improved on 
 
 * " Les soupera du Regent dtaient toujours avec des compagnies fort 
 e'tranges avec ses mattresses, quelquefois des filles de I'opSra, souvent avec 
 la Duchesse de Berri, quelques dames de moyenne vertu, une douzaine 
 d'hommes que, sans faon, il ne nommait autrement que rouis [the origin of 
 the phrase], et quelques gens sans nom, mais brillants par leur esprit et leur 
 debauche. La chair 6tait exquise; et les convives, et le Prince lui-meme, 
 mettaient souvent la main a I'oauvre avec les cuisiniers ; et dans les seances, 
 chacun e"tait repasse", les ministres et lea familiers comme les autres, avec une 
 VOL. I. O
 
 210 
 
 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 II. 
 
 1 Lac, iii. 
 170, 172. 
 Soulavie, i. 
 101, 103. 
 
 the accession of Louis XV. ; for although, during his 
 earlier years, his manners were correct, and he was enthu- 
 siastically beloved by his subjects,* yet, as he advanced in 
 life, he fell under the government of successive mistresses, 
 each more dissolute and degraded than her predecessor ; 
 until at length decorum was so openly violated at Court, 
 that even the corrupted circles of Versailles were scan- 
 dalised by the undisguised profligacy which was exhibited. 1 
 Female society had come to realise the state foreshadowed 
 by the genius of Milton 
 
 " For that fair female troop thou saw'st, that seem'd 
 Of goddesses, so blithe, so smooth, so gay, 
 Bred only and completed to the taste 
 Of lustful appetence, to sing, to dance, 
 To dress, and troll the tongue, and roll the eye ; 
 To these the sober race of men, whose lives 
 Religious titled them the sons of God, 
 Shall yield up all their virtue, all their fame, 
 Ignobly, to the trains and to the smiles 
 Of these fair atheists, and now swim in joy 
 Ere long to swim at large, and laugh, for which 
 The world ere long a world of tears must weep." f 
 
 Madame Pompadour J concealed the ambiguous nature 
 
 licence affreuse. On buvait beaucoup et du meilleur vin ; on s'Schauffait ; on 
 disait des ordures & gorge deployee, et des impi6tes a qui mieux mieux ; et 
 quand on avait fait du bruit, et qu'on 6tait bien ivre, on s'allait coucher." 
 Mlmoires de M. LE Due DE ST SIMON (an eyewitness) ; and LACRETELLE 
 i. 147, 148. 
 
 * When Louis XV. lay at the point of death, at Metz, in 1744, the grief 
 and consternation at Paris were extreme. " Paris," says the contemporary 
 annalist, " all in terror, seemed a city taken by storm : the churches resounded 
 with supplications and groans, the prayers of the priests and people were 
 every moment interrupted by their sobs, and it was from an interest so dear 
 and tender, that his surname Bien-aim6 was acquired a title higher than 
 all the rest this great prince has yet earned." HENAULT, Abreyt Chronologique 
 de VHistoire de France, p. 701 ; and VOLTAIRE, Siecle de Louis X V., c. 5. But 
 when the same prince lay on the real bed of death, thirty years afterwards, 
 no symptoms of grief were shown ; and the decease of the sovereign excited 
 only a passing remark among the people so completely had the unmeasured 
 profligacy of his latter years alienated the affections even of that little scrupu- 
 lous nation. See BESENVAL'S JMtmoires, ii. 59-90. It was no wonder the 
 Parisians were tired of Louis XV. The Parc-aux-Cerfs alone cost the nation, 
 while it was kept up, no less than 100,000,000 francs, or 4,000,000 sterling. 
 LACRETELLE, iii. 172. 
 
 t Paradise Lost, xi. 615. 
 
 t Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, afterwards Marchioness of Pompadour, was 
 born in 1722. Her father was a butcher. The vivacity and grace of the young 
 damsel soon led her relations to speculate on her attractions, as a source of
 
 HISTOEY OF EUKOPE. 211 
 
 of her situation by the elegance of her manners, the CHAP. 
 discretion with which she exercised her power, and the 
 
 encouragement which she afforded to literature and the 89 - 
 
 i i iri TV T- " i Madame 
 
 arts ; but when Madame Du Barn,''" with younger years, Pompadour 
 more seducing charms, and more abandoned habits, sue- dame DU 
 ceeded to the royal favour, no bounds were set to the Bam ' 
 general license and corruption which prevailed. What is 
 very remarkable, her lasting ascendancy was founded, in a 
 great degree, on the skill with which she sought out, and 
 the taste with which she arrayed, other rivals to herself; 
 and the numerous beauties of the establishment called the 
 Parc-aux-Cerfs, who were successively led to the royal 
 couch, never diminished her lasting influence. Though 
 resplendent with personal attractions herself, she never 
 failed to exert her utmost powers to prevent the inclina- 
 tions of the King from becoming torpid by want of 
 variety, and studied to exhibit a constant succession of 
 
 profit to themselves ; and she was so conscious of her power to please, that 
 she afterwards admitted that from the first she had a secret presentiment she 
 was destined to captivate the King. She was early married to Lenormand, a 
 landed proprietor ; but her disposition to gallantry being decided, after being 
 for some time chosen the favourite of a select circle of admirers, it was 
 resolved to try the effect of her charms on royalty. For this purpose she 
 drove out in an open caleche, elegantly dressed, in the forest of Senart, where 
 the King hunted, and was purposely made to cross the royal path. The 
 monarch was so captivated by her grace and beauty that he sent her the 
 spoils of the chase ; but the reigning favourite, the Duchess de Chateauroux, 
 succeeded at that time in keeping her at a distance from the court. After 
 the duchess's death, in 1744, he again met her at a masked ball in Paris, and 
 on this occasion her conquest was complete : she was soon after removed to 
 apartments in Versailles, received a pension of 240,000 francs (10,000) a-year, 
 was made Dame de Palais to the Queen, created Marchioness of Pompadour, 
 and soon saw all France at her feet. The Jesuits, the Jansenists, the noblesse, 
 the parliaments, alternately experienced her indulgence and her persecution. 
 Her sway continued nearly unabated till her death, in 1764, at the age of 
 forty-two. Her tastes were elegant and refined, though expensive ; and she 
 made, on the whole, a better use of her unbounded power than might have 
 been expected. See Biographie UniterseUe (POMPADOUR), 283, 290. 
 
 * Madame Du Barri was born at Vaucouleurs, in 1 744, of humble parents 
 the same district which had, by a singular coincidence, given birth to Joan 
 of Arc, the noble and immortal defender of the throne. Her extraordinary 
 beauty led to her being early sent to Paris, to make her way in that great 
 mart of corruption, where she was placed with a marchande de modes, the 
 usual school for such aspirants. She was shortly transferred to a celebrated 
 establishment of courtesans, of which, under the name of Mademoiselle Lange, 
 she soon made the fortune ; and her celebrity attracted the notice of Lebel,
 
 212 
 
 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 II. 
 
 1 Lac. iii. 
 172, 173. 
 Weber, i. 
 37. 
 
 90. 
 
 Dissolute 
 habits of 
 young 
 Egalite". 
 
 new objects of desire to his palled senses.* Yet, in 
 the midst of these undisguised scenes of scandal, she was 
 treated with the highest honours at court ; the long- 
 established influence of the Duke de Choiseul over the 
 royal mind was overturned by her intrigues ; Louis XVI. 
 and Marie Antoinette were obliged to submit to the de- 
 gradation, to them to the last degree galling, of dining 
 at table with her ; and the destruction of the whole 
 parliaments of France, in 1771, which first brought the 
 Crown into open collision with the country, and was the 
 first step in the Revolution, was occasioned by the anxiety 
 of the monarch to secure a presentation at court to the 
 abandoned favourite, who, after having exhausted in per- 
 son all the arts of profligacy, had become the directress 
 of the royal seraglio. 1 
 
 Corruption in exalted stations can hardly be con- 
 ceived to exceed this : but the Orleans family, with 
 some honourable exceptions, showed that the first prince 
 of the blood could outdo royalty itself in unbridled 
 license of manners. The taint introduced by the Re- 
 gent descended, with its accompanying curse, through 
 some noble individuals, to the third and fourth genera- 
 
 the valet-de-chambre of Louis XV., who introduced her to the monarch, who 
 was soon entirely captivated by her charms and address. She was in form 
 married to Count Du Barri, and gradually acquired such an ascendant over 
 the King that she was formally presented at court in 1769, and had influence 
 enough to occasion the downfall of his favourite minister, Choiseul, and to 
 place her creatures, the Duke d'Aiguillon and Maupeou, in his stead. Her name 
 will appear again, on a mournful occasion, in the course of this history. See 
 Biographic Unirerselle (BARRI), vol. iii. 431, 432. 
 
 * It augments the indignation which all must feel at this conduct, that no 
 pains were spared to discover, even in respectable families, new objects of 
 desire for the King, and that they were immediately abandoned, after they 
 had gratified his caprice, to misery and destitution. " La corruption," says 
 Lacretelle, " entrait dans les plus paisibles manages, dans les families les plus 
 obscures. Elle etait savamment et longtemps combine'e par ceux qui servaient 
 les debauches de Louis. Des emissaires e"taient employees a seduire des filles 
 qui n'etaient point encore nubiles, a combattre dans de jeunes femmes des 
 principes de pudeur et de fidelity. Amant degrade, il livrait a la prostitution 
 publique celles de ses sujettes qu'il avait prematurement corrompues. II 
 souffrait que les enfans de ses infames plaisirs partageassent la destinee 
 obscure et dangereuse de ceux qu'un pere n'avoue point." LACRETELLE, iii. 
 171, 173.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 213 
 
 tions. Without polluting these pages by the details of CHAP. 
 the private life of other members of the family, it is ' 
 
 sufficient to say, that the dissipations of the Duke de 
 Chartres, afterwards so well known in Paris as Duke 
 of Orleans, and who ultimately perished on the scaf- 
 fold, were carried to a length of which modern Europe 
 had not hitherto exhibited an example. It renders 
 credible all that is narrated in Suetonius and the his- 
 torians of the Roman empire, as to the manners of the 
 ancient rulers of the world. The French annalists must 
 speak for themselves on this subject, for the scenes they 
 describe could hardly bear the eye of an English reader 
 in our own language : yet, painful as the quotation is, it 
 must be made.* It is indispensable to see the private 
 habits of those who sometimes take the lead in the 
 much-vaunted regeneration of society and the details 
 do not more paint an individual than portray an epoch, 
 for no individual hardihood can much outstrip the man- 
 ners of those with whom it associates. It is not to 
 be imagined, however, that the manners of the young 
 Duke de Chartres were universal, or even general, in the 
 aristocratic circles, or that many estimable characters 
 did not yet remain at that period among the French 
 nobility. Their conduct in adversity proved that many ^1^' 
 such existed. But it may be imagined to what a height ^IQ*^ 
 general corruption must have risen, M T hen, even in a single weber, i. 
 
 . . 317. Besen- 
 
 palace, such scenes could have been witnessed without vai, a. 295. 
 reprobation by numerous spectators. 1 
 
 * " M. le Due de Chartres avait re"ussi a e"pouser Mademoiselle de Pen- 
 thievre ; et la cour et la ville s'accordaient & dire quo toutes les vertus 
 e"taient reunies dans cette princesse, comme toutes les vices et toutes les 
 erreurs 1'e'taient dans 1'esprit et le cocur de son mari. Uni & cette femme 
 aussi vertueuse que belle, le Due de Chartres coutinua de vivre en liber- 
 tin, de parcourir les lieux de d6bauche de la capitale, et d'y commander 
 des soupers fins. Lea plaisirs du mariage n'avaient pour lui rien de piquant ; 
 les orgies sales e"taient ses delices. II avait e'leye' pro's de Paris un temple 
 a la prostitution, ou sa cour se permettait des scenes impudiques de toutes 
 les especes ; il avait donne a ce mauvais lieu le nom de Folies de Chartres. 
 La etaient conduites, de nuit et les yeux bandes, les prostituees les plus 
 hardies, plut6t que les plus se"duisantes ; et elles y e*taient transported quelque-
 
 214 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. It was the peculiarity of that age, that manners had 
 assumed this frivolous and corrupt tone in the higher 
 
 si. circles, at the same time that nobler and more generous 
 sentiments had, from the progress of knowledge and the 
 spread of civilisation, sprung up in the middle ranks. 
 Madame Roland, a citizen's daughter, has given a 
 graphic picture of the horror with which the rising 
 ambition and conscious talent of the middle classes 
 regarded the frivolity and vices of their hereditary 
 rulers. " It excited my early astonishment," says she, 
 " that such a state of things did not occasion the imme- 
 diate fall of the empire, or provoke the avenging wrath 
 of heaven." But with the overthrow of the aristocracy 
 these evils did not cease. The example of vice is con- 
 tagious ; it seldom fails to descend in society. With 
 the acquisition of the power which belonged to the old 
 noblesse, the middle classes have since succeeded to 
 their licentiousness, and it has now descended, in 
 Paris and the chief towns, to the lowest. The nobility 
 in France are now, for the most part, religious. Irre- 
 ligion has become unfashionable, having gone down to 
 the labouring ranks, at least in the towns. But the 
 attractions of profligacy remain the same, and have 
 now become more widespread in their effects than 
 ever they were in the ancient monarchy. The effects 
 of this general dissoluteness of principles have appeared 
 in the strongest manner, both in the habits of the 
 
 fois jusqu'au nombre de cent & cent-cinquante. Elles y trouvaient un re- 
 pas splendide, qu'elles e"taient obligees de prendre toutes nues ; et lorsque 
 les vins brulans, les liqueurs, et les alimens du plus haut gout, avaient 
 jet6 ces femmes dans la situation des bacchantes de 1'antiquite, elles tom- 
 baient ivres et pele-mfile dans les bras des laquais du Due d'Orle'ans, dans 
 les siens, et dans ceux de la compagnie." SOULAVIE, Regne de Louis X VI., ii. 
 103, 104. 
 
 Weber in his Memoirs gives the same account : " Epoux de 1'incompar- 
 able fille du Due de PenthiSvre, il se de>obait a ses chastes embrassemens 
 pour se livrer a des orgies dont la description Stonnerait encore, si elle n'avait 
 pas eu, dans toutes les classes de la socie'te, d'aussi nombreux tdmoins qui en 
 de"posent encore aujourd'hui. Aux auteurs seuls appartient la tache de de*- 
 voiler ces honteux mystdres." WEBER, Mtmoiret, i. 317; JRee. M6m. vol. xiv. 
 See also MCmoires du BARON DE BESENVAL, i. 264, 279.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 215 
 
 people and in the literature of the age. From thence CHAP. 
 has flowed that stream of depravity and licentiousness IL 
 which has so long been peculiarly and characteristically 
 the disgrace of French literature ; and from these 
 examples has followed that general profligacy of manners 
 which has now descended, with the growth of sceptical i D . 
 principles, so far that the illegitimate births in Paris Forc ? , Com - 
 
 x merciale, 
 
 will possibly m time be equal to the legitimate, and L i. 99. 
 
 i i i T M i T Roland, 
 
 already every third child to be seen m the streets is a Man. 1.1 12. 
 bastard. 1 * 
 
 XX. Embarrassment in the finances was the imme- 
 diate cause of the Revolution. It compelled the King 
 to summon the States-general as the only means of 
 avoiding national bankruptcy. Previous ministers had 
 tried temporary expedients, and every effort had been 
 made to avert the disaster ; but the increasing expense 
 arising from the weight of the annual charge of the debt 
 rendered them all abortive, t The annual deficit, at the 
 time the Revolution broke out, was 189,000,000 francs, 
 or above SEVEN MILLIONS AND A HALF sterling. No 
 adequate provision was made for the liquidation or reduc- 
 
 *In 1824, out of 27,812 births, 18,591 only were the result of marriage; 
 9221 were illegitimate. The proportion of illegitimate births is now greater. 
 In 1831, the legitimate births were 19,152; the illegitimate, 10,378. Statistique 
 de la France ; art. Administration Publique, 64, 68. 
 
 f The net revenue for the year 1789 amounted to 469,938,245 francs, or 2 Etat de la 
 18,800,000; the debt to 6,500,000,000 francs, or 260,000,000 sterling ; Jj^Jf *- 
 and its annual charge to 259,000,000 francs, or 10,400,000 sterling. 3 The p. 8.' Young, 
 annual expenses at this period amounted to 400,000,000 francs, or * 7 6-579. 
 16,000,000, exclusive of the charges of the debt; 3 so that while the s Necker, de 
 annual expenses were . . 400,000,000 francs, or 16,000,000 ti^fde"'^? 1 " 
 
 Interest of debt, . . . 259,000,000 francs, or 10,400,000 nances,* i. 92, 
 
 and ii. 517. 
 
 659,000,000 26,400,000 Lac> vi> U ' 
 The annual income was . . 470,000,000 18,800,000 
 
 Annual deficit, . . . 189,000,000 7,600,000 
 
 The following Table will exhibit the steady progress of the deficit under the 
 various administrations which preceded the Revolution : 
 
 1783 D'OBMESSON, Minister. 
 
 Income, .... 510,000,000 francs, or 20,400,000 
 
 Expenditure, . . . 610,000,000 24,400,COO 
 
 Deficit, .... 100,000,000 4,000,000
 
 216 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, 
 
 iNecker.de 
 
 Fi 87 nc< Mi L 
 1.13, 23. 
 
 Lac. e, no. 
 
 93 
 
 ineffectual 
 
 efforts of 
 
 preceding 
 
 lclt< 
 
 tion of the debt, or even the regular payment of its in- 
 terest. It is true a large proportion of the public burdens 
 consisted of life annuities ; but still the exhausted state 
 of the treasury made some extraordinary expedient neces- 
 sary to satisfy even their passing demands. No other 
 measure appeared practicable but the convocation of the 
 States-general, from whom some relief, by the appro- 
 priation of part of the church property, was expected 
 by all parties ; and the immediate cause of the Revolu- 
 tion, as will appear in the sequel, was the improvidence 
 and waste of preceding reigns, coupled with the obsti- 
 nate resistance of the parliaments to any new taxes. 1 
 
 The sovereigns of France, having, with an exhausted 
 exchequer, to supply the demands of an expensive court, 
 a vast military establishment, and an insatiable nobility, 
 had made, as might well be expected in such circum- 
 stances, the most strenuous efforts, during the course of 
 preceding reigns, to augment the revenue, and fill up the 
 void which, for above a century before, had been so pain- 
 fully felt between the receipts and the expenditure of the 
 public treasury. But all their endeavours had been 
 rendered abortive by two causes : First, The nobility, 
 
 Income, 
 Expenditure, 
 
 Deficit, 
 
 Income, 
 Expenditure, 
 
 Deficit, 
 
 Income, 
 Expenditure, 
 
 Deficit, Ordinary, 
 
 1 786 CALOXXE, Minister. 
 
 .. 474,047,649 francs, or 19,000,000 
 
 . . 689,184,995 23,600,000 
 
 4,600,000 
 
 .. 115,137,346 
 
 1787 CALONHE, Minister. 
 
 .. 474,048,239 francs, or 19,000,000 
 
 . . 599,135,795 24,000,000 
 
 5,000,000 
 
 . . 125,087,556 
 
 1788 BRIENNE, Minister. 
 
 .. 472,415,549 fnmcs, or 18,840,000 
 
 , . 527,255,089 21,100,000 
 
 54,839,540 
 
 2,260,000 
 
 Total, .... 160,635,492 6,456,000 
 
 See Comptes Rendus par CALOXNE et NKCKEE, 1781, 1787, and 1788, 2 vols. 
 4to ; and NECKER, sur let Finances de France, i. 92; ii. 517, 518.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 217 
 
 though abundantly ready to engross for their own families CHAP. 
 the whole offices and lucrative employments in the State, 
 
 could never be brought by any effort to abandon their 
 privileges of exemption from the taille, the most pro- 
 ductive of the direct taxes ; and in this resistance they 
 were cordially supported by the clergy, who enjoyed a 
 similar exemption, as well as exemption from the ving- 
 tieme. Their mode of resistance was perfectly simple, 
 and, withal, entirely efficacious. They had influence 
 enough in the parliaments, when a royal decree, imposing 
 any new tax, required to be registered to give it legal 
 validity, to prevent its registration, if it imposed any 
 burden upon themselves. These legal bodies, though in 
 part composed of the descendants of the Tiers Etat, yet 
 formed a sort of subordinate noblesse, and were entirely 
 in the interest of the old aristocracy, many of the highest 
 of whom were proud of a seat in their councils, and with 
 whom they were all associated, either by marriage, or by 
 the nobility conferred by holding office. The financial 
 and internal history of France, for a century before the 
 Revolution, is for the most part made up of successive 
 efforts, on the part of the Crown, to get new taxes regis- 
 tered by the parliaments, met by refusals on the part of 
 these bodies to comply with the demand. Secondly, 
 The old taxes, all of which were exacted from the Tiers 
 Etat, and part only from the nobility, had become so 
 oppressive, chiefly in consequence of the greater part of 
 them being imposed in the direct form, that experience 
 had proved that any augmentation of these imposts, 
 levied according to the existing system, was wholly 
 unavailing, as the increased burden brought no additional 
 revenue into the public treasury. 1 Thus, the only resource -^neTm. 
 of the Crown to meet its constantly increasing expenses p^ 8 
 was to borrow money ; and to such a length was this p^i^i'iy' 
 carried that, during the four years alone of Necker's Necker, sur 
 administration of the finances, ending in 1781, the loans ^54, 67. 
 contracted had amounted to 530,000,000 francs, or
 
 218 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 II. 
 
 55,000,000 francs, or 2,200,000 
 
 21,200,000 sterling ; the annual interest of which 
 being for the most part on life annuities, was no less 
 than 45,000,000 francs, or 1,800,000 yearly an im- 
 mense burden for a nation, the whole net income of which 
 at that period did not exceed 18,000,000.* 
 
 * Necker gives the following account of the income of France in 1784, when 
 he published his work on the Finances. Those marked * are those from 
 which the nobility and clergy are exempt, t those from which the clergy 
 only : 
 
 Vingtiemes,f 
 
 Troisieme Vingtieme,t 
 
 Taille,* 
 
 Capitation, f .... 
 
 Impositions locales, . 
 
 Fermes G6nerales, 
 
 Regie G6nerale, 
 
 Domaines Royales, 
 
 Postes Royales, 
 
 Messageries, .... 
 
 Loterie Royale, . . . 
 
 Contribution du Clergd, 
 
 Octrois des Villes, 
 
 Aides de Versailles, . 
 
 Corv6es, 
 
 Contraintes, .... 
 
 Objets divers, .... 
 
 Corse, 
 
 Gardes Franchises et Suisses, 
 
 Princes et engagistes, 
 
 Droits des pays d'6tat. 
 
 Marcs d'or, .... 
 
 Poudre, ..... 
 Mommies', ..... 
 Fermes Royales, .... 
 Revenus casuels, 
 
 Total Income, .... 
 A deduire 
 
 Frais de recouvrement (Costs of ) 
 
 collection), ) 
 
 Corvees employees sur les routes, 
 
 Total revenue, 
 
 Costa of Collection, &c., 
 
 21,500,000 
 91,000,000 
 41,500,000 
 2,000,000 
 166,000,000 
 51,500,000 
 41,000,000 
 10,300,000 
 1,100,000 
 11,500,000 
 11,000,000 
 27,000,000 
 900,000 
 20,000,000 
 7,500,000 
 2,500,000 
 600,000 
 300,000 
 2,500,000 
 10,500,000 
 1,700,000 
 800,000 
 500,000 
 1,100,000 
 5,700,000 
 
 860,000 
 3,600,000 
 1,660,000 
 80,000 
 6,640,000 
 2,060,000 
 1,640,000 
 412,000 
 44,000 
 460,000 
 440,000 
 1,080,000 
 36,000 
 800,000 
 300,000 
 100,000 
 24,000 
 12,000 
 100,000 
 420,000 
 68,000 
 32,000 
 20,000 
 44000 
 228,000 
 
 585,000,000 francs,or 23,400,000 
 
 Deduct 
 
 58,000,000 francs, or 2,320,000 
 27,000,000 1,080,000 
 
 85,000,000 
 
 3,400,000 
 
 585,000,000 francs, or 23,400,000 
 85,000,000 3,400,000 
 
 Net revenue, .... 500,000,000 francs, or 20,000,000 
 
 NECKEB, Sur les Finances, i. 35, 91. 
 
 From this table it appears, that out of a clear revenue of 20,000,000 
 annually, no less than 8,320,000 belongs to the direct taxes, the taille,
 
 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 219 
 
 CHAP. 
 II. 
 
 94. 
 
 -. Contempt 
 01 the and weak- 
 
 XXI. While so many different causes were conspiring 
 to produce at once weakness in the government, deep- 
 rooted discontent among the people, and a general de- 
 parture from ancient landmarks on the part 
 leaders of public thought, the aristocracy and clergy, whTctTtL 
 the natural defenders of the throne, were, from another ^iien! 7 had 
 set of causes, daily becoming feebler and more divided. 
 
 vingtiemes, and capitation the most obnoxious of any, from which either the 
 
 nobility or clergy, or both, holding fully half the lands of the kingdom, were 
 
 exempt; and that from the taille, amounting to 3,600,000, they were both 
 
 relieved. 
 
 The national expenditure was as follows : 
 
 Inte"rets de la dette, . . . 207,000,000 francs, 
 
 Remboursements, .... 27,500,000 
 
 Pensions, 28,000,000 
 
 Guerre, 105,600,000 
 
 Affaires <trangeres, . . . 8,500,000 
 
 Maison du Roi (Gardes,) . . 13,000,000 
 
 Batimens et Prdvote, . . . 3,400,000 
 
 Maisons Royales, .... 1,500,000 
 
 Maison de la Reine, . . . 4,000,000 
 
 Freres du Roi, .... 8,300,000 
 
 Frais de recouvrement, . . . 58,000,000 
 
 Ponts et chausse"es, . . . 8,000,000 
 
 Secretaires d'etat, &c., . . . 4,000,000 
 
 Intendants de provinces, . . 1,400,000 
 
 Police, ..'... 2,100,000 
 
 Pave" de Paris, .... 900,000 
 
 Justice, 2,400,000 
 
 Mare"chaussee, .... 4,000,000 
 
 Mendicite, 1,200,000 
 
 Prisons, 400,000 
 
 Aum6nes, 1,800,000 
 
 De"penses ecc!6siastiques, . . 1,600,000 
 
 Routes, 20,000,000 
 
 Villes, hopitaux, &c., . . . 26,000,000 
 
 Provinces, 6,500,000 
 
 Tresor Royal, .... 2,000,000 
 
 Palais de Justice, .... 800,000 
 
 Isle de Corse, .... 800,000 
 
 Defenses diverses, . . . 61,300,000 
 
 or 8,280,000 
 1,100,000 
 1,120,000 
 4,224,000 
 340,000 
 520,000 
 136,000 
 60,000 
 160,000 
 332,000 
 2,320,000 
 320,000 
 160,000 
 56,000 
 84,000 
 36,000 
 96,000 
 160,000 
 48,000 
 16,000 
 72,000 
 64,000 
 800,000 
 1,040,000 
 260,000 
 80,000 
 32,000 
 32,000 
 2,452,000 
 
 610,000,000 francs, or 24,400,000 
 NECKER, ii. 517, 518. 
 
 DETTE PDBLIQUE. 
 
 Interets perpetuels, . . . 125,600,000 francs, or 5,024,000 
 Interets viagers (liferents), . . 81,400,000 3,256,000 
 
 NECKEB, ii. 356. 
 
 Total, 
 
 207,000,000 francs, or 8,280,000
 
 220 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. The policy, so long and successfully carried on by Riclie- 
 1 lieu and Louis XIV., of attracting the principal nobility, 
 by the lavish distribution of court favours and honours, 
 to the capital, had at once weakened their influence on 
 their own estates, alienated them from the more humble 
 rural proprietors who still remained in the country, and 
 destroyed their respectability and consideration in the 
 eyes of the nation. It was impossible that the peasantry 
 on the estates of the absent proprietors could retain, 
 through successive generations, any attachment to a suc- 
 cession of nobles whom they never saw except, perhaps, 
 for a flying visit of a day or two at the interval of years. 
 Their very names even would have been unknown to 
 them, except for the constant and grinding requisitions 
 for rent or services with which they were associated. 
 The noblesse campagnarde, or rural nobility, whose 
 fortunes were too inconsiderable to permit of their fol- 
 lowing the general bent to Paris, had no ideas in com- 
 mon with the elegant but frivolous seigneurs, to whom 
 they were an object of contempt, who spent their time 
 in the saloons of the capital, or the antechambers of 
 Versailles. The nation, in an age of increasing know- 
 ledge and vehement aspirations, could feel no respect for 
 a body of privileged aristocrats who monopolised all the 
 elevated and honourable situations in the kingdom, with- 
 ou t possessing any other qualifications for them but their 
 
 ScotfsNa-' insinuating manners or address in intrigue, and who in- 
 cha eon i' creased, by the pensions which they enjoyed from the 
 yoi. i 37, Crown, the burdens of the country, without contributing 
 
 42. Segur, . /' 
 
 i. 76. anything in return, at least in a direct form, towards the 
 public revenue. 1 
 
 The influence of the nobility was also weakened, in a 
 
 inefficiency most serious degree, by the great number of persons be- 
 
 biesw L a longing to that order who were to be found in all parts 
 
 jdy! al of the country in destitute circumstances, or discreditable 
 
 employments. Four-fifths of the eighty thousand noble 
 
 families who existed were in extreme poverty : the young
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 221 
 
 men of these families were ignorant, idle, and dissolute, CHAP. 
 
 lounging away an ignoble existence in provincial theatres, ! 
 
 coffee-houses, or billiard-rooms ; the young women, for the 
 most part, were consigned to the hopeless seclusion of the 
 convent. All public respect was lost for a body, the great 
 majority of which was composed of such characters, while 
 it rigidly excluded all persons of inferior birth from the 
 principal situations in the country. Although, too, the 
 old families of historic names and extensive possessions 
 still enjoyed great influence, and some of the greatest men 
 in France had sprung from their ranks, yet the highest 
 nobles, as a body, were far from possessing the talent, 
 information, or habits, requisite to have enabled them to 
 take a decided or beneficial lead in public affairs. Trained 
 in the antechambers of a palace, perfect in the elegances 
 of a court, pre-eminent in the graces of a drawing-room, 
 they were but little qualified to struggle in public debate 
 with the aspiring leaders, accustomed to legal contest, who 
 were rising out of a robust democracy. They had never 
 been habituated to the habits of business, the ready elocu- 
 tion, the coolness in argument, which is acquired in Eng- 
 land by the aristocracy on the hustings, in conducting 
 county business, as grand-jurors, in either house of parlia- 
 ment, or in the public meetings which characterise a free 
 country. Hence their marked inferiority in the hour of 
 trial to a similar class in this country, and the extraordi- i Necker, i. 
 nary facility with which the French monarchy was over- 
 turned, when contrasted with the protracted, and in the 
 end successful struggle, which, during so many ages, the 
 aristocracy of Great Britain have maintained with the i. si', 
 enemies of the throne. 1 
 
 Nor was this all : the aristocracy itself was divided in 
 France to a most calamitous degree, by the jealousy 
 between the old families and the new noblesse, who had 
 obtained patents of nobility by holding certain official 
 employments, or had purchased them, during the necessi- 
 ties of former reigns, from the Crown. Such had been the
 
 222 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 distressed state of the royal treasury on many occasions, 
 particularly during the War of the Succession, that 
 patents of nobility were openly sold to the richer bankers 
 and merchants for two thousand crowns (500) each.* 
 Although these nouveaux anoblis, as they were called, 
 were far from enjoying the consideration or influence of 
 the descendants of the great historic houses, yet they were 
 their equals in privileges of every kind ; and their great 
 number, amounting as it did to a half of the whole noble 
 families, as well as the riches which some of them 
 possessed, rendered them too important to be passed over 
 by the old families with silent contempt. Hence an 
 implacable feud, an inextinguishable jealousy, between 
 these two classes of the nobility, which permanently pre- 
 vented them from adopting any measures for their common 
 defence, and which not even the prospect of dangers that 
 threatened both with destruction was able to allay. The 
 old families regarded with aversion the upstart nobles, 
 some of them descended from the stewards and factors of 
 their ancestors, who now equalled them in privilege and 
 often eclipsed them in fortune ; the nouveaux anoblis 
 were jealous of the lustre of historic descent, and envied a 
 consideration which all their modern riches were unable 
 to acquire. The latter were so numerous, in consequence 
 of the great number of channels by which nobility had 
 during the last two centuries been reached, t that the King 
 
 * Nobility was for the first time attached to the holders of the higher situa- 
 tions in the magistracy, and of course to their descendants, in 1644, by a royal 
 edict, passed under the direction of Cardinal Mazarin. The same prerogatives 
 were successively granted in subsequent reigns, under certain restrictions, to 
 public offices of lesser importance, and the descendants of those who held them. 
 NECKEU, Sur la Revolution Fraiifaise, i. 165. 
 
 f " Pres de la moitie de 1'ordre de la noblesse, tel qu'il existait a 1'approche 
 des deruiers Etats-Gen6raux, gtait compose'e de families anoblies depuis deux 
 siecles, par des charges de conseillers aux parlements, de conseillers a la cour 
 des aides, d'auditeurs, de correcteurs, et de maltres des comptes, de conseillers 
 au chatelet, de maltres des requetes, tre"soriers de France, de secretaires du Roi, 
 du grand et du petit college, et par d'autres charges encore, comme aussi par 
 des places de capitouls, d'echevins, et par des brevets e'mane's de la faveur des 
 rois, des ministres, et des premiers commis." NECKER, Sur la Revolution 
 Franfaise, i. 164, 165.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 223 
 
 was obliged, out of regard to the great families, to estab- CHAP. 
 
 lish regulations at court, making a distinction between ! 
 
 them, and the old noblesse. This again led to another 
 evil of a still more serious kind. Though these rules 
 related only to the matter of presentation at levees, \ ^gjj^g 
 entries, admission in carriages, and the like, yet they gave 4 oui1 ^ 51> 
 rise to incessant heartburnings, and alienated those from staei, R<?V. 
 each other whose united strength was hardly able to con- 217, 219. 
 tend with the increasing weight of the Tiers Etat. 1 
 
 XXII. While such was the divided state of the noblesse 
 on the approach of the national crisis, the clergy were, if Distracted 
 possible, still more alienated from each other ; and the clergy. 
 effects of that ruinous system which threw all the labour 
 upon the plebeian, and reserved all the honours for the 
 aristocratic portion of the church, became fatally conspi- 
 cuous. A large number of the prelates, all persons of high 
 birth and aristocratic connections, lived habitually in Paris, 
 to the entire neglect of their dioceses, and too often spent 
 their time and fortunes in the dissipation of the capital. 
 The prestige of their situations, the respect due to their 
 sacred character, was thus weakened, and the aristocracy 
 of the church came to be considered as subject to the 
 same weakness as the lay nobility. The dignities in the 
 cathedrals and elevated offices in the hierarchy were 
 also entirely in the hands of the aristocratic clergy, who 
 were chiefly to be found in Paris or the provincial capitals ; 
 while the immense body of cures, or country clergy, toiled 
 in obscure usefulness among their flocks, hardly distin- 
 guishable in fortune or education from the burghers and 
 peasants by whom they were surrounded. This numerous 
 class, the representatives of which composed three-fourths 
 of the clergy in the States-general, all sprung from the 
 Tiers Etat, had no sympathy of feeling, and still less 
 identity of interest, with the high and dignified clergy. 
 On the contrary, they considered them as their bitterest 
 enemies ; because, belonging to the same profession, they 
 monopolised alike its emoluments and its honours, without
 
 224 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, discharging the heaviest parts of its duties. The bishops 
 
 ! had no influence over them, because their plebeian birth 
 
 precluded their rising to any of the dignities of the church. 
 It will appear in the sequel with what fatal consequences 
 this preponderance of the plebeian clergy was attended, 
 on the opening of the States-general. But the evil was 
 inherent in the state of the church, as it was constituted 
 in France, and would not have been remedied by keeping 
 its representatives in a separate chamber from the Tiers 
 . Etat ; for the number of the cures was so considerable, 
 
 1 Necker, i. ; ' 
 
 156, 157. that it greatly preponderated over the representatives of 
 
 all the noble clergy put together. 1 * 
 
 98 XXIII. The extraordinary preponderance of the CAPITAL 
 Disastrous was another circumstance which contributed, in the most 
 
 effect of . . 
 
 the great powerful manner, to endanger the government, and weaken 
 Paris. nce the national strength which the King might summon to his 
 support in defence of the monarchy. In every age, great 
 cities have been found to be the centres and foci, as it 
 were, of democracy ; and, what would not a priori have 
 been expected, this passion is generally strongest in those 
 situations where the aristocracy or the court have had 
 their habitual residence.t The reason is, that the middle 
 class are there brought into close, and to them vexatious, 
 
 * In the Constituent Assembly there were of the clergy 
 
 Archbishops and bishops, . . 48 Cures, 210 
 
 Abbots and canons, .... 35 
 
 83 See infra, chap. iv. 21. 
 
 t The universality of this tendency in a free community, is clearly demon- 
 strated by the present state of the representation under the Reform consti- 
 tuency in Great Britain. London has seventeen democratic members out of 
 twenty ; in Brighton and Bath, solely supported by the aristocracy, the whole 
 members are liberal ; Windsor itself can with difficulty return one member in 
 the interest of the Crown. Edinburgh, long the seat of the landed and legal 
 aristocracy of Scotland, returns two Liberals by an overwhelming majority ; in 
 Glasgow, conservative principles are much more generally diffused among the 
 working class, because there, on the one hand, an aristocracy is unknown, and 
 on the other, the evils of democratic ascendancy are periodically brought home 
 to the most prejudiced mind, in the shape of trades' unions and strikes, which, 
 in every season of distress, consign thousands and tens of thousands of indus- 
 trious pei-sons, anxious to work, to compulsory idleness for months together, 
 at the dictation of an often unknown, and always despotic, committee.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 225 
 
 proximity with the higher, by whose pride they are in- CHAP. 
 suited, with whose weaknesses they are familiar, of whose 
 
 superiority they are jealous. The advantages of their 
 expenditure, and the profits of their custom, are unable 
 to check this strong propensity : on the contrary, they 
 rather increase it ; because for one that obtains these be- 
 nefits, many more are rendered envious by being refused 
 them. If this is the general and well-known tendency of 
 mankind in every age, when the minds of the people are 
 set in a ferment by democratic passion, it may be con- 
 ceived with what prodigious and unprecedented force it 
 operated in Paris, during the anxious years which pre- 
 ceded, and the bloody times which followed, the Revo- 
 lution ; containing as it did the concentrated energy of 
 all France drawn into a focus by the policy of preceding 
 reigns, redundant in numbers, gorged with wealth, squalid 
 with want, abounding in talent, overflowing with profli- i. ad. 
 gacy, fervent in ambition, dead to religion. 1 
 
 When other countries have been convulsed by revolu- 
 tionary passions, it has been in the steadiness, loyalty, The element 
 and tenacious adherence to custom of the country, that ? yaity was 
 government has ever found a counterpoise to the vehe- very wfak, r 
 mence of urban democracy. It was the counties of Eng- m France> 
 land which maintained so long and gallant a struggle, in 
 the time of Charles L, with the forces of the Parliament, 
 which were all recruited in the great towns ; it was in 
 the mountains of Scotland that the exiled family, a cen- 
 tury afterwards, found those heroic supporters, who fear- 
 lessly threw themselves into a contest to all appearance 
 hopeless, and all but overturned, by the mere force of 
 chivalrous devotion, the whole power of the Hanoverian 
 family. But in France, this invaluable element in the 
 social system was in a great measure wanting ; and, where 
 it did exist, its importance was unknown. An absent 
 nobility had little influence over their vassals ; an op- 
 pressed and squalid peasantry no inducement to take up 
 arms in defence of their government. Thus the monarchy, 
 
 VOL. i. p
 
 226 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, for all practical purposes, was reduced to the metropolis. 
 _ 1__ The grand distinction founded on the representation of 
 the country, between ancient and modern civilisation, had 
 passed away ; again, as in Athens and Rome, tumults in 
 the capital had become revolution in the State. In La 
 Vende'e and Brittany alone, a different state of society 
 existed ; and there, in subsequent times, the King might 
 have found the means of saving the monarchy : but the 
 noblesse campagnarde of the Bocage were unknown in 
 the capital ; its seigneurs had never figured in the CEil- 
 de-Bceuf at Versailles ; and France, ignorant of its only 
 means of salvation, neglected the heroic provinces of the 
 west, and followed the capital into the gulf of perdition. 
 
 When so many concurring causes existed in France to 
 Remarkable excite discontent amongst the people, and paralyse resist- 
 
 observation , - -x x 
 
 of Lord ance on the part of the government, it is not surprising 
 on the* state that the higher class of writers foresaw the coming storm, 
 of France. an( j ^ escr i e( j ^hc causes of alarm, where the inconsiderate 
 
 multitude saw only reason for congratulation. Rousseau 
 had long prophesied that the American War was the 
 opening of a new era the era of revolutions ; and thirty 
 years before, an English nobleman, well versed in history 
 and the human heart, had thus expressed himself on the 
 symptoms of social disorganisation which had appeared in 
 France : " Inform yourself minutely/' said Lord Chester- 
 field, in writing to his son in 1753, " on the affairs of 
 France : they grow serious, and, in my opinion, will grow 
 more and more so every day. The people are poor, and 
 consequently discontented : those who have religion are 
 divided in their notions of it, which is saying that they 
 hate one another : the clergy will not forgive the parlia- 
 ment, nor the parliament forgive them : the army must, 
 without doubt, in their own minds at least, take different 
 parts in all those disputes which upon occasion would 
 break out : armies, though always the supporters and tools 
 of absolute power, are always the destroyers of it too, by
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 227 
 
 frequently changing the hands in which they think proper CHAP. 
 to lodge it. The French nation reasons freely, which ' 
 
 they never did before, upon matters of religion and 
 government, and begin to be, as the Italians say, spregiu- 
 dicando to have got rid of all the prejudices : the 
 officers do so too : in short, all the symptoms which I 
 have ever met with in history, previous to great changes a Chester . 
 and revolutions in government, now exist and daily f^f^f" 
 increase in France." 1 Nor were these gloomy but just 25, '1753.' 
 forebodings confined to British statesmen : the same truths 
 were clearly perceived and boldly expressed on the other 
 side of the Channel ; and there exists a letter written on 
 the subject to Louis XV., in 1761, which well deserves a 
 place in history, from the lucid view which it presents of 
 the impending dangers.* 
 
 Louis XV., who, amidst all his profligacy and sensual 
 habits, was by no means destitute of penetration, and Louis xv. 
 could occasionally be roused to great firmness in the aggers of 
 execution of his designs, as well as good sense in avoiding 
 difficulties, was fully alive to the dangerous aspect which 
 society had assumed in France, both from the irreligious 
 tendency of the philosophers and the independent spirit 
 of the parliaments. " These people," he used to say, 
 
 * " Your finances, Sire, are in the greatest disorder, and the great 
 
 majority of states have perished through this cause. Your ministers are with- 
 out genius and capacity. A seditious flame has sprung up in the very bosom 
 of your parliament ; you seek to corrupt them, and the remedy is worse than 
 the disease. Open war is carried on against religion. The Encyclopedists, 
 under pretence of enlightening mankind, are sapping its foundations. All 
 the different kinds of liberty are connected ; the Philosophers and the Protes- 
 tants tend towards republicanism, as well as the Jansenists ; the Philosophers 
 strike at the root, the others lop the branches, and their efforts, without being 
 concerted, will one day lay the tree low. Add to this, the Economists, whose 
 object is political liberty, as that of others is liberty of worship ; and the 
 government may find itself, in twenty or thirty years, undermined in every 
 direction, and will then fall with a crash. Lose no time in restoring order to 
 the finances ; embarrassments necessitate fresh taxes, which grind the people, 
 and induce them afterwards to revolt. A time will come, Sire, when the 
 people will be enlightened, and that time is probably approaching." It was 
 no common man, who, in 1761, wrote this anonymous letter. It produced 
 a great impression on the King, his minister the Duke de Choiseul, and Madame 
 Pompadour. See Mtmoires de MAD. HAUSSET (Femme-de-Chambre de Mad. 
 Pompadour), p. 37.
 
 228 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, alluding to Voltaire and the Encyclopedists, " will destroy 
 "' the monarchy." On another occasion he declared " The 
 
 Regent Orleans was wrong in restoring to the parliaments 
 the right of petitioning ; they will end in ruining the 
 State." " Sire," replied the Duke de Choiseul, " it is too 
 strong to be overthrown by a set of magistrates." " They 
 are an assembly of republicans," replied the King ; " how- 
 ever, things will probably last as long as I shall." " I 
 have had great difficulty," said the same monarch in his 
 latter years, " in extricating myself from the contests with 
 the parliaments during my whole reign : but let my 
 grandson take care of them, for it is more than probable 
 they will endanger his crown." Naturally indolent, how- 
 ever, averse to any restraint upon his costly debaucheries, 
 and irritated at the long-continued resistance which the 
 parliaments had made to his authority, Louis XV. saw 
 no way of extricating himself from these embarrassments 
 but by a coup d'etat, which should at once dissolve the 
 refractory assemblies. He had too much penetration not 
 to see that such a violent proceeding, in the present 
 , De Stafel temper of the people, could not permanently arrest the 
 RV. Franc, national movement ; but he thought, and the event 
 Smyth's showed with reason, that it might stop it for his own 
 Revoi. i.8i. lifetime ; and, like most other systematic voluptuaries, he 
 29, inTrod."' cared little for anything which might occur after he him- 
 self had ceased to bear a part in sublunary affairs. 1 
 
 An opportunity occurred before the close of his reign 
 Overthrow for putting these principles into execution. It had been 
 the policy of the Duke de Choiseul, who for many years 
 had been prime-minister to the King, to attach himself to 
 the party of the parliaments, and to endeavour to render 
 those bodies docile to his will, by the infusion into their 
 ranks of a majority of the nobles attached to his interests. 
 But after the overthrow and exile of that minister in 
 1771, it was resolved by his successor, the Duke d'Aiguil- 
 lon, a dissolute and unprincipled, but bold and vigor- 
 ous man, to abolish those refractory assemblies altogether,
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 229 
 
 in the hope that he would thus at once destroy the CHAP. 
 stronghold of the dispossessed minister, and the only n ' 
 serious restraint upon the authority of the Crown. This 
 plan was warmly supported by Madame Du Barri, who 
 was extremely anxious to get quit of these disagreeable 
 obstacles to her extravagance, and saw no limits to the 
 prodigality in which she might indulge, if the King could 
 impose new taxes at pleasure, without the necessity of 
 having them registered by any other authority. * The 
 Chancellor Maupeou, an able and intrepid, but arbitrary 
 courtier,f supported the same design with all the weight i So uiavie, 
 of his knowledge and experience. Such was the trio by LofiJTxvi 
 whom the destruction of what remained of a constitution L ". 103 - 
 
 TI /r i i Ann. Reg. 
 
 in Jb ranee was effected : a tyrannical minister, an aban- 1770,47,51. 
 doned prostitute, and a sycophant chancellor. 1 
 
 The mode of proceeding was soon resolved on. Mau- 
 peou suggested a coup d'etat, which " should at once and Suppression 
 for ever deliver the royal authority from the constant op- HamentT 
 position which, during fifty-five years, has never ceased 177*1 Jan ' 
 to traverse it." The King had been involved in a vehe- 
 ment contest with the chief parliaments of his kingdom 
 during the year 1770, in order to secure the Duke d'Ai- 
 guillon, then a court favourite, from the consequences of 
 malversations in his province ; and no sooner was that 
 nobleman himself in power, than their entire destruction 
 was determined on. In the course of this contest, the 
 court carried their pretensions to such a height, as to 
 require the whole parliaments of France to pass a reso- 
 lution, declaring that they were legally bound to register 
 any edict the King addressed to them. This was in 
 effect to declare themselves denuded of all real authority, 
 
 * Madame Du Barri used to bring the remonstrances of the parliaments to 
 the King with these words : " Sire, here is another representation to strip you 
 by degrees of your authority, and at last effect your dethronement." SOULAVIE, 
 Histoire du Rtgne de Louis XVL, L 103. 
 
 f Maupeou, to pay court to Madame Du Barri, used to demean himself so far 
 as to play with Zamore, her favourite black servant. Zamore, two-and-twenty 
 years afterwards, treacherously divulged the place of his mistress's retreat, and 
 brought her to the scaffold. WEBER'S Memoirs, i. 46, note.
 
 230 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, and they, most properly, refused to register such a sui- 
 IL cidal mandate. The King reiterated his commands ; but 
 they persisted in their refusal, with these noble words : 
 " Your edict, sire, is destructive of all law : your parlia- 
 ment is charged to maintain law ; and the law perishing, 
 they would perish with it. These, sire, are the last words 
 of your parliaments." They accordingly closed their 
 sittings, and all judicial business in the capital was sus- 
 pended. The King gave them warning, that if they did 
 not resume the discharge of their judicial duties, he would 
 dissolve them. As the parliaments showed no disposition 
 to recede, the coup d'etat was fixed for the night of the 
 19th January. At midnight on that night, all the 
 magistrates of the parliament of Paris were wakened at 
 the same hour by royal officers, accompanied by mus- 
 keteers of the guard, who served each with a summons, 
 ordering him to resume his functions, and requiring a 
 peremptory answer, " yes or no." Some, during the first 
 moments of alarm, yielded ; but the next day, being 
 assembled, they unanimously retracted their consent. In 
 consequence, early on the following morning, they were 
 all arrested, their functions declared at an end, themselves 
 entirely dispersed, and sent into banishment in different 
 towns and villages at a distance from Paris.* A new court, 
 Feb. 22. composed of the creatures of the sovereign, was established 
 i. lol.Tio. to discharge the functions of the old parliament ; l and soon 
 im^ B 93. a ft er a De d of justice was held, dividing into six new. juris- 
 dictions the ancient jurisdiction of the parliament of Paris, 
 
 * The noble and disinterested conduct of the parliament of Paris, and the 
 other parliaments of France, on this occasion, will not be properly appreciated 
 unless it is recollected that these assemblies were legal courts, which deter- 
 mined nearly the whole of the legal business of the country, and that many 
 situations in them, thus sacrificed at the altar of patriotic devotion, were 
 attended with great emolument, and had been purchased for very large sums 
 of money. In particular, Gilbert de Voisin, principal clerk to the parliament 
 of Paris, had bought his office for 1,000,000 francs (40,000), and it brought 
 him in 100,000 francs (4000) a-year. He was ordered by the King to resume 
 his office in the new tribunal ; but he replied he had taken his oath to the 
 parliament, and could not act but in conjunction with it. His place was in 
 consequence confiscated, and he was banished to Languedoc. See Ann. Reg. 
 1771, p. 91.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 231 
 
 which had extended from Arras to Lyons. Shortly after, CHAP. 
 the parliaments of Rouen, Besangon, Bordeaux, Aix, Tou- n ' 
 louse, and Brittany, which had adhered to that of Paris 
 in this contest, were suppressed, their members exiled, 
 and new courts of law established in their room. 
 
 " Thus/' says Mr Burke, " the noble efforts of that 
 faithful repository of the laws, and remembrancer of the Mr Burke's 
 ancient rights of the kingdom, terminated in its own final on this 
 dissolution. Its fall was not more glorious from the event * 
 cause in which it was engaged, than from the circum- 
 stances that attended it ; several of the other parliaments 
 having become voluntary sacrifices at its funeral pyre. 
 That ancient spirit, from which the Franks derive their 
 name, though still gloriously alive in the breasts of a few, 
 no longer exists in the bulk of the people. Long dazzled 
 with the splendour of a magnificent and voluptuous court, 
 with the glare of a vast military power, and with the 
 glory of some great monarch, they cannot now, in the 
 grave light of the shade, behold things in their natural 
 state ; nor can those who have been long used to submit 
 without inquiry to every act of power who have been 
 successfully encouraged in dissipation, and taught to trifle 
 with the most important subjects suddenly acquire that 
 strength and tenor of mind which is alone capable of 
 forming great resolutions, and of undertaking arduous and 
 dangerous tasks. Thus has this great revolution in the 
 history and government of France taken place without 
 the smallest commotion, or without the opposition that in 
 other periods would have attended an infraction of the l Ann. Reg. 
 heritable jurisdiction of a petty vassal." 1 These were the Burke. ' 7 
 desponding reflections of the greatest political philosopher, 
 and most far-seeing statesman, of modern times ; but a 
 more memorable instance never was exhibited of the 
 danger of judging of the final result of events by their 
 immediate consequences, or applying to the slow march 
 of human affairs the hasty conclusions of impatient 
 observation. On that day two-and-twenty years 2 from 1793.
 
 232 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, the one on which the parliaments were exiled, Louis 
 IL XVI., the grandson of the arbitrary monarch, ascended 
 
 the fatal scaffold. 
 
 Another event, of apparently little general importance, 
 but interesting from the heroic spirit which it developed, 
 and of incalculable moment in its ultimate results, took 
 Tifi?h place during the declining years of Louis XV. Corsica 
 citizen. j^ } on g b een an object of ambition to the French 
 government, from its proximity to the shores of Pro- 
 vence, and the command which it seemed probable it 
 would give them in the Mediterranean; and in 1768 
 the Duke de Choiseul conceived a favourable opportunity 
 had occurred for carrying his designs into execution. 
 The Genoese had formerly exercised a sort of sovereignty 
 over this interesting island ; but the strength of its 
 mountain fastnesses, and the independent spirit of its 
 inhabitants, had rendered it so difficult to maintain their 
 authority, that they were glad to transfer their rights to 
 France for a considerable sum of money. The Corsicans, 
 when the bargain was completed, and the French troops 
 came to take possession, evinced the utmost indignation 
 at being thus ceded to a foreign power without their 
 knowledge or consent, and, under their gallant leader 
 PAOLI, maintained a protracted and heroic defence in 
 their mountains. But the contest was too unequal be- 
 tween an island in the Mediterranean and the monarchy 
 of France. England, disquieted about her American pos- 
 sessions, stood aloof, though the cause of the brave moun- 
 taineers excited the warmest sympathy in the nation ; 
 Austria had no fellow-feeling for a people resisting the 
 June, 1769. cession of its government ; Paoli was compelled, after 
 incredible efforts, to embark and come to England, and 
 IT?'-*? 68 ' Corsica was subdued. But little did the French govern- 
 ?o lg ?o C! V,' ment suspect the awful retribution which was to fall 
 
 42, 4o, 04, - 1 
 
 65. Smyth's on them for this aggression, or the citizen whom they 
 68,70. ' ' embraced in the nation by this extension of its terri- 
 tory. 1 Seventeen months before this conquest was com-
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 233 
 
 pleted, a boy had been born in Corsica, 1 then beyond the CHAP. 
 French dominions, but who by its annexation became a 
 
 French citizen, obtained an entrance to its armies, and J On 5th 
 ultimately became master of everything it contained. His 
 name was NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE.* 
 
 Louis XV. did not long survive the destruction of his 
 old and persevering antagonists, the parliaments. His Death of 
 constitution, long enfeebled by excess of licentious indul- MayV 
 gence, was unable to withstand the shock of any serious ' 
 disorder ; and the smallpox, which he took by the infec- 
 tion of a girl of fourteen, who had been introduced to his 
 embraces from the Parc-aux-Cerfs, carried him off, after 
 a short illness, on the 10th May 1774. Such was the state 
 to which his body had been reduced by a long course of 
 dissolute habits, that he saw his limbs literally putrefy and 
 drop off before he himself expired. The odour was so 
 dreadful, that the whole wing of the palace where he lay 
 was deserted. As his latter end approached, he was 
 strongly awakened to a sense of the abandoned life he had 
 led, and expressed the greatest apprehensions of punish- 
 ment in the world to come. The deathbed of the dying 
 profligate was haunted by the terrors of the awful gulf of 
 flames which he supposed to be opening to receive him.t 
 His conduct had long exhibited a strange mixture of 
 superstition and sensuality ; when exhausted with his 
 revels in the Parc-aux^Cerfs, he used to pray with its 
 youthful inmates that they might preserve their orthodox 
 principles. None of his favourites attended his dying a Dulauj 
 couch : Du Barri even had fled. The dread of infection viii. -217. ' 
 had banished all the inmates of the harem ; 2 but it had 
 
 * Napoleon was born at Ajaccio on the 5th February 1768. He subse- 
 quently gave out that he came into the world on the 15th August 1769, his 
 saint's day, in order to make it appear that he had been by birth a French 
 citizen, as Corsica was annexed to France in June 1769. He was christened 
 Napolione Buonaparte. This appears from his baptismal register still existing 
 in the second arrondissement of Paris, on occasion of his marriage with Jose- 
 phina in 1796. See SA.LGUES, i. 64, 65 ; and Quarterly Review, xii. 239. 
 
 t " Le Roi ne voyait que la mort en perspective, et ne parlait que de 1'abime 
 de feu qui allait s'ouvrir, disait-il, pour punir une vie jusqu'a la fin si luxuri- 
 euae." SOULAVIE, i. 1 60.
 
 234 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, no terrors for his three daughters, the princesses, who, 
 ' long strangers to his court, were found at his deserted 
 
 bedside at the approach of the angel of death, and re- 
 mained there, braving the pestilence, till he expired. 
 Meanwhile the courtiers disappeared in crowds to pay 
 their court to the Dauphin : the sound of their footsteps, 
 rushing in a body across the (Eil-de-Bceuf, to announce 
 the death of the late monarch, " was terrible," says a 
 spectator, " and absolutely like thunder." But Louis 
 XVI. and Marie Antoinette were impressed with a very 
 i , . different sense of the duties and difficulties which awaited 
 
 1 Soulavie, 
 
 \ 160, lei them : for they fell on their knees when the news was 
 
 Bcsenval, l , - . 
 
 209, 308. brought, and with eyes streaming with tears, exclaimed, 
 viii'sS?! " Guide and protect us, God ! for we are too young to 
 reign." 1 
 
 From this account of the old French government prior 
 Advantages to the Revolution, it is evident that, amidst much that 
 French B ys- was iniquitous and oppressive, it contained several institu- 
 
 tio ns which were worthy of admiration, and some of which 
 were decidedly superior to the corresponding system in 
 this country. Among these particulars, the following are 
 in an especial manner worthy of notice. 
 
 In the first place, The parliaments or courts of law in 
 
 Excellence France were decidedly superior to the ambulatory courts 
 
 ifaSnt^as of Westminster Hall, and the unpaid justices of England. 
 
 courts of rp ne p rencn cour ts, indeed, were subject to one single 
 
 defect the result of the amalgamation of their different 
 
 provinces at successive times with the monarchy of Clovis ; 
 
 viz. that they were not subject to any fixed review of the 
 
 supreme courts at Paris ; and thus the parliaments of 
 
 Bordeaux, Orleans, Aix, Lyons, Rouen, and other places, 
 
 ran in many particulars into separate usages and customs, 
 
 which acquired the force of law, and rendered it different 
 
 in different provinces of the kingdom. But, with this 
 
 exception, the parliaments were in the highest degree 
 
 admirable. The magisterial class, from which their mem- 
 
 bers were chiefly taken, a link between the aristocracy and
 
 HISTOEY OF EUROPE. 235 
 
 the people, above the Tiers Etat, but inferior to the old CHAP. 
 
 noblesse, constituted perhaps the most respectable and 
 
 enlightened body in France. They were infinitely superior 
 to the unpaid and unprofessional magistracy of England. 
 Almost all its statesmen and ministers arose from their 
 ranks. And although the decisions of the different par- 
 liaments were at variance on several points, yet being all 
 founded, not on statutory enactment so much as consue- 
 tudinary usage, drawn from that inexhaustible mine of 
 wisdom the old Roman law, they were in the main con- 
 sistent with each other, and constituted an extraordinary 
 monument of legal ability and just adjudication. If any 
 one doubts this, let him read Pothier's incomparable trea- 
 tises on contracts, and the various personal rights, which 
 are in a great degree drawn from their decisions, and he 
 will at once perceive its superiority, on all points save 
 commercial, to the English law.* A decisive proof of 
 this superiority, how unwilling soever the English may be 
 to admit it, has been afforded by one circumstance. The 
 Code Napoleon, which now gives law to half of Europe, 
 and has survived, in the countries where it was established, 
 the empire of its author, is in almost all points, at least 
 in the ordinary law between man and man, a mere tran- 
 script of the decisions of the French parliaments, as they 
 had been digested and arranged by Pothier ; a clear indi- 
 cation that they were founded on the principles of justice, 
 and the experienced necessities or convenience of mankind. 
 But we have never heard of any such retention by an in- 
 dependent state, unconnected by descent with England, 
 of its statute or common law. 
 
 Secondly. The circumstance which, to English ears, 
 appears most strange, perhaps contributed more than any 
 other to this result ; viz. that the situations in the parlia- 
 ments were acquired by purchase, and were consequently 
 
 * The English commercial law, as it has been founded on the civil law, and 
 matured by those great masters in jurisprudence, Lords Hardwicke, Mansfield, 
 Kenyon, Ellenborough, and Abbott, is the first iu the world.
 
 236 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, not liable to removal by the Crown. Without pretending 
 
 ' that this mode of acquiring judicial situations and power 
 
 109 - is so good as that which takes place under a free govern- 
 
 Advantages , . , , . ., . J , , ... 
 
 of neau in ment, where they are in general the reward of tried ability 
 Lq^red by and established learning, it may safely be affirmed that it 
 ase ' was infinitely better than any known in England prior to 
 the Revolution. We must not confound the purchase of 
 the office with money with the swaying of the decision by 
 bribes ; the one makes the judge independent, the other 
 proves him venal. Situated as France was before the Re- 
 volution, with no national representation, and hardly any 
 restraint on the prerogative of the Crown, it is difficult to 
 say where a counterpoise to the power of the sovereign 
 could have been found if it had not been in the indepen- 
 dence, the weight, and the patriotic spirit of the courts of 
 justice. In England, before 1688, as the king could not, 
 by his own prerogative, imprison or destroy an obnoxious 
 subject, he had no resource but to make the courts of law 
 the instrument of his fears or his vengeance. Hence the 
 judges for long held their situations only during pleasure ; 
 and the English state-trials exhibit, prior to the Revolu- 
 tion, as Hallam has remarked, " the most appalling mass 
 of judicial iniquity which is to be found in the whole annals 
 of the world." In France, a lettre-de-cachet at once 
 settled the matter, and too often destroyed the victim ; 
 but the courts of law, at least, were not prostituted, and 
 the members of the parliaments, who held their situations 
 by the tenure of purchase, remained in sturdy indepen- 
 dence neither seeking to be gained, nor capable in gene- 
 ral of being seduced by the court. 
 
 This difference has appeared in the most remarkable 
 manner in the history of the two countries. Down to 
 the Revolution of 1688, the courts of law in England 
 were constantly made the instruments of legal or par- 
 liamentary oppression. Each party which gained the 
 mastery of the Crown, alternately made them the instru- 
 ment of its oppression or its terrors ; the cruel injustice
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 237 
 
 of the Popish and the Rye-house plots, were alternately CHAP. 
 practised by opposite parties by means of the same in- 
 
 strumentality of judge and jury ; and the name of Jeffreys . no. 
 remains an eternal monument that the Revolution itself, in 
 
 which for the first time really purified the British ermine, t 
 was brought on by the base subservience of the most dnce C of the 
 exalted Judges to the passions and mandates of the jJJla, 
 Crown. In France, on the other hand, the parliaments iw . co ^ u - 
 
 7 _ tries prior 
 
 in every part of the country had been, for two centuries to their 
 before the Revolution of 1689, in almost constant oppo- tions. 
 sition to the royal authority : their judgments were some- 
 times unjust, their punishments often inhuman ; but this 
 was the result of the temper of the times, of the cruelty 
 of the clergy, or of the prejudices of the aristocracy, 
 not of their subservience to the mandates of the sover- 
 eign. The most severe and hazardous contests in which 
 the Crown was ever engaged were those with the parlia- 
 ments of the kingdom ; and the immediate cause of the 
 Revolution was the experienced impossibility of getting 
 the parliament of Paris to register even those new taxes 
 that were essential to pay the public creditors, which, as 
 as a last resource, compelled the King to convoke the 
 States-general. In England, the Revolution was brought 
 on by the base subservience in France, by the sturdy 
 resistance, of the courts of law to the mandates of the 
 throne. 
 
 Thirdly. The system of intendants of provinces which 
 obtained in France, and the custom of choosing the Excellence 
 ministers of the Crown from the ablest of their number, French 
 
 was one admirably calculated to provide a succession 
 experienced and competent statesmen to direct public of P rovi 
 affairs. The intendants of provinces were selected from 
 the most distinguished of the magisterial officers ; and 
 from these, after twenty or thirty years spent in the 
 public service, the ministers of the Crown were in general 
 appointed. In this way there was secured for France, 
 in almost every department, that invaluable quality in
 
 238 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, statesmen, a practical acquaintance with the country. 
 "' In this respect the old French custom may furnish much 
 to enyy, to both the constitutional monarchy of Great 
 Britain and that of modern France. In England, as 
 the practical direction of affairs is placed in the House 
 of Commons, and its vote determines which party is to 
 obtain the reins of power, oratorical skill has come to 
 be the great passport to greatness. Efficiency in debate 
 is the one thing needful in a cabinet minister. In this 
 respect the statesmen of England have acquired an 
 extraordinary, perhaps an unprecedented, degree of abi- 
 lity. But power in debate is not statesmanlike wisdom, 
 though it may coexist with it ; on the contrary, the 
 education and habits which produce it are often fitted 
 to preclude the acquisition of that practical acquaint- 
 ance with affairs which is the only sure foundation of 
 beneficial legislation. The French statesmen of the 
 eighteenth century, trained in the actual government of 
 the provinces, often brought to the helm of affairs that 
 knowledge, derived from their own experience and obser- 
 vation, which our ministers, trained in the debates of 
 parliament, only acquire at second-hand, through the 
 doubtful and often deceptive channel of parliamentary 
 commissions. France can boast a succession of states- 
 men, Sully, Colbert, Louvois, Turgot, Calonne, Ver- 
 gennes, Necker, to whom England, at the same period, 
 could exhibit no parallel. What it wanted was not 
 wisdom in its statesmen to discern the proper course, 
 and patriotism to correct evils, but national support to 
 counteract the aristocratic influence which sought to 
 govern the State for the benefit chiefly of the privileged 
 classes. 
 
 Minute as the details recorded in the preceding pages 
 may appear to many, they will not, by the reflecting 
 reader, be deemed misplaced, even in a work of general 
 history, and their consideration leads to conclusions of 
 much more real importance than the more interesting
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 239 
 
 and tragic catastrophes in which the great 'social con- CHAP. 
 flict of the eighteenth century is so soon to terminate. 
 
 When the conflict is once begun, when irretrievable 112. 
 faults have been committed on the one side, unpardon- on the ' 
 able crimes perpetrated on the other, the period forw pre - 
 instruction to the statesman, for examples to the 
 patriot, is past ; it is the soldier who is then to learn 
 greatly to dare, the citizen nobly to endure. The period 
 which it really behoves the inhabitants of a free state, 
 and still more of one advancing to freedom, to study, 
 is that which precedes the collision : the social evils, 
 the moral sins, which alienate the different classes of 
 society from each other, or disable them for the dis- 
 charge of their duty : the long-continued causes which, 
 inducing a thirst for change on the one side, and a 
 disability to resist on the other, at length bring about 
 an irretrievable convulsion. In that stage the malady 
 is still susceptible of cure ; the diseased parts may be 
 healed, the festering wounds closed ; but if this period 
 is allowed to elapse without the proper remedies being 
 applied, it is generally a very doubtful matter whether 
 any human wisdom can, at a future stage, avert the cata- 
 strophe. This period is generally considered as the one 
 which it especially behoves the holders of property to 
 investigate, in order to learn in what way the evils 
 which menace their possessions, or undermine their 
 influence, may be avoided : but, without disputing the 
 importance of such a study, it may safely be affirmed 
 that it is one which it still more behoves the lovers of 
 freedom to consider, in order to prevent, ere it is too 
 late, the shipwreck of all their hopes in the stormy sea 
 of Revolution. 
 
 Selfishness and oppression in the higher classes, tyran- 
 nical exactions by kings, invidious privileges of nobles, what aio 
 the obstinate retention in one age of the institutions caudeTof 
 originating in the necessities and suited to the circum- revolution * 
 stances of another, are commonly considered as the
 
 240 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, causes of revolutions. That they have a material share 
 
 ! in aggravating them, will probably be disputed by none 
 
 who have considered the social state of France anterior 
 to 1789, even as it is portrayed in the preceding sketch. 
 But they are not, taken alone, their cause. A revolution 
 is the result of a diseased state of the national mind ; 
 the spirit which gives rise to it issues from the selfish 
 recesses of the heart ; it is wholly distinct from the pas- 
 sionate love of freedom which springs from the generous 
 affections, and is founded in the noblest principles of our 
 nature. The latter is based on virtue, the former on 
 vice ; the latter on the love of freedom, the former on 
 the passion for license ; the latter on generosity, the 
 former on selfishness. Hypocrisy is the invariable cha- 
 racteristic of the revolutionary principle ; it borrows the 
 glow of generosity to cover the blackness of selfishness ; 
 ever using the language of freedom, it is ever prompting 
 the actions of despotism. A profound sense of religion 
 has in every age, from those of the Roman Republic to 
 that of the English Commonwealth, been the foundation 
 of the latter principle ; a total and avowed irreligion, 
 from the days of Catiline to those of Robespierre, has 
 characterised the former. The lover of freedom is willing, 
 if necessary, to sacrifice himself for his country ; the 
 revolutionist has seldom any other object but to sacrifice 
 his country to himself; and if he can elevate his own 
 fortunes, he is ever willing to fall down and worship the 
 most frightful tyranny that ever decimated mankind. If 
 we would ascertain the causes of the establishment of 
 liberty in any country, we must look for them in the 
 circumstances which have produced in the general mind a 
 predominance of virtue over vice ; the secret springs of 
 revolution are to be found in those which have given vice 
 an ascendancy over virtue. 
 
 That France, when the great convulsion broke out, had 
 serious grievances to complain of, great evils that loudly 
 called for remedy, is apparent on the most superficial
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 241 
 
 observation ; but these causes alone never have produced a CHAP. 
 revolution, and never will do so. They often have pro- IL 
 duced, and might then have produced, civil warfare and iu. 
 social contests, but not that total overthrow of all insti- national e 
 tutions and principles which occurred on the triumph of tif 
 the Jacobins. The energy of Roman democracy chafed ^ u 
 for three centuries against the galling fetters of its proud | 
 patricians ; but it was not till public virtue and private 
 morality had been sapped, by the spoils of conquest and 
 the selfishness of ambition, that a democratic revolution 
 was effected by the successive efforts of the Gracchi, 
 Marius, and Ceesar. The flagrant abuses of the Romish 
 church induced the fervour of the Reformation, which 
 naturally led to the insurrection of the boors ; but the 
 great fabric of German society was unaffected even by 
 that dreadful convulsion, coming as it did in the wake of 
 a religious schism which had rent asunder the world. The 
 extreme principles of Jacobin fanaticism were roused in 
 England by the oppression of the barons in the time of 
 Richard IL, but the feudal monarchy of the Normans was 
 hardly shaken by the armed bands of Wat Tyler. The 
 desolation occasioned by the English armies, the disunion 
 and cruelty of their own noblesse, brought on the frightful 
 horrors of the Jacquerie insurrection in France ; but its 
 effects were confined to local massacre and ruin, and pro- 
 duced no permanent change on the structure of French 
 institutions. Religious fervour combined with old estab- 
 lished habits of freedom in producing the Great Rebellion 
 in England ; but the dreams of the fifth-monarchy men 
 vanished in airy speculation, and the fundamental features 
 of British government were veiled, not changed, by the 
 usurpation of Cromwell. The change of dynasty rendered 
 necessary by the Romish tyranny of James II. has been 
 erroneously styled a revolution ; it was only a new settle- 
 ment of the government upon the old, and, as the event 
 has proved, a still more aristocratic basis than that on 
 which it formerly rested. 
 
 VOL. i. Q
 
 242 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. It is not, therefore, social evils, but the loss of national 
 IL virtue, which converts the struggle for liberty into the 
 
 . us. horrors of revolution ; and the one will never be turned 
 of public into the other till the love of freedom has been debased 
 plSduc^'a into the thirst for plunder among the poor, and the 
 lon ' bravery which won property has been extinguished by 
 the enjoyments to which it has led, among the rich. It 
 was neither the taille nor the lettres-de-cachet, the privi- 
 leges of the noblesse nor the sufferings of the peasantry, 
 the disorder of the finances nor the contest with the 
 parliaments, which brought on the French Revolution. 
 Great as these evils were, they might have been remedied 
 without the overthrow of society ; serious as were these 
 sufferings, they have been in innumerable cases exceeded, 
 without inducing the slightest public disturbance, and 
 often removed without inducing an irretrievable convul- 
 sion. It was the coincidence of these evils with a total 
 disruption of the moral and religious bulwarks of society 
 which really occasioned the disaster ; for that originated a 
 selfish thirst for advancement by crime in one class of the 
 people, and a base disinclination to resistance in the other. 
 Voltaire and Rousseau stand forth as the real authors of 
 the Revolution ; it was they and their followers who 
 made shipwreck, in the first of European monarchies, of 
 the noblest of causes that of public freedom ; for it was 
 they who tainted the mind, in both its assailants and 
 defenders, with the fatal gangrene of individual selfish- 
 ness. It was the dissolute manners of Louis XV., the 
 corruptions of the Regent Orleans, the orgies of Egalite, 
 and the infamy of Du Barri, which dissolved the power of 
 resistance in the monarchy, by corrupting the natural 
 defenders of the throne. It was the tyranny of the 
 priesthood, the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which, 
 by removing the only effectual check on the vices of the 
 hierarchy, and inducing a reaction even against religion 
 itself, overturned the altar.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 243 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 PROXIMATE CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 Louis XVL, born on the 23d August 1754, was the CHAP. 
 
 grandson of Louis XV. His father, the Dauphin, son of ! 
 
 that monarch, died at the age of thirty-six in the year . i. 
 1765, and left him heir-apparent to the throne of France. Louis XVL, 
 The character of his father, for whom Louis XVI. always *CT of the 
 entertained a profound veneration, contributed powerfully ^ 
 to the formation of his own, and exercised in this way a 
 material influence on the history of France. His habits 
 afforded the most striking contrast to the general license 
 with which he was surrounded. With all his vices, Louis 
 XV. was not, at least till his later years, destitute of a 
 sense of propriety ; and he, in consequence, kept his son 
 at a distance from his person, and the corruptions in which 
 he himself so freely indulged. The Dauphin, in the midst 
 of the magnificence of Versailles, lived almost the life of a 
 hermit, surrounded by books, and delighting only in the 
 society of a few chosen friends, men older than himself, 
 and possessed of talent and information. The events of 
 past times were his favourite study : the " Esprit des Lois" 
 his constant companion. " History," said he, " teaches 
 many lessons to the sons which it would not have ven- 
 tured to give their fathers." He was strongly attached, 
 like all the princes of his family, to the Roman Catholic 
 religion perhaps too rigid an observer of its forms ; and 
 profoundly afflicted by the banishment of the Jesuits
 
 244 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, circumstances which render it doubtful how far his turn 
 ' of mind was suited for the stormy scenes to which his son 
 
 was called. His severity of morals and rectitude of prin- 
 ciple preserved him free from reproach in the midst of the 
 seductions of a dissolute court, from which he lived in a 
 iDroz,Hist. m-eat measure estranged, and communicated the same 
 
 de Louis . . - . 
 
 xyi., i. habits to his son, whose early years were spent in domestic 
 Soui. ii. i. privacy with his parents under the splendid roof of Ver- 
 sailles. 1 
 
 The Dauphin left three sons, all of whom became kings 
 Early cha- of France i the Duke de Berri, afterwards Louis XVI. ; 
 the DM?- the Count de Provence, who succeeded on the fall of 
 
 phm*. three Napoleon by fa ftfo Q f Louig XVIII. J and the 
 
 d'Artois, who ascended the throne on the death of Louis 
 XVIII. in 1826, and was driven from it by the revolt 
 of the Barricades in 1830. The eldest, who became the 
 Dauphin, was eleven years of age on his father's death, 
 so that he was old enough to have received his earliest 
 and most durable impressions from his example. The 
 choice which had been made of his preceptor was not a 
 fortunate one : the Duke de la Vauguyon, who was in- 
 trusted with the chief place in that important duty, was 
 devout rather than enlightened, adroit as a courtier more 
 than skilful as a statesman. The young princes were 
 carefully and equally instructed in the elements of gene- 
 ral knowledge ; but the difference of their character soon 
 displayed itself. The Dauphin, like his father, was re- 
 served and studious ; his manners were shy and modest, 
 his figure was heavy and ungainly ; and distrust in him- 
 self early appeared in his demeanour. The Count de 
 Provence, though fond of books, was at the same time 
 observant of men ; he had more vivacity in his character, 
 and soon became a great favourite with the courtiers. 
 s Soui. ii. 42, The Count d'Artois, volatile, impetuous, and ardent, 
 i. iie, i7*. seemed to have inherited his grandfather's love of plea- 
 ia p ' '' sure > an( l entered with the thoughtless avidity of youth 
 into all the amusements of the palace. 2 He had ample
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 245 
 
 opportunity for serious reflection before he closed his life, CHAP. 
 
 dethroned and exiled, in a foreign land. ! 
 
 During his youth, the character of Louis XVI. still 
 more clearly developed itself. He was a good scholar, Early dis- 
 read Latin and English with facility, was an excellent geo- ]u!!lis xvi. 
 grapher, and evinced an accurate and tenacious memory, 
 for which he continued remarkable through life. But 
 his recollection was of facts or persons, and dates, rather 
 than principles ; and he early showed a tendency to rely 
 on the judgment of others, in matters of opinion, in pre- 
 ference to his own a disposition in which he was un- 
 happily encouraged by his earliest minister Maurepas, 
 and which proved the principal cause of the calamities 
 in which he was afterwards involved. He was so early 
 impressed with a horror at the dissolute pleasures of his 
 grandfather, and the insatiable avidity of his courtiers, 
 that when told he was called by the people " Louis le 
 Desire," he said he would rather be called " Louis le 
 Severe." He had no disposition to gallantry, and kept 
 at a distance from all the seducing beauties of the court 
 a peculiarity which rendered him an object of undis- 
 guised aversion to Madame Du Barri, and was the cause 
 of no small surprise to the ladies of the capital.* The 
 Parisians, however, consoled themselves by the recollec- 
 tion that Louis XV. in early youth had been the same ; 
 and said, " For all that, he is a Bourbon, and he will 
 show it at the age of forty, like the others, when he is 
 tired of the Dauphiness." He had no elegance or grace i Bertrand 
 in his manners, was heavy and ungainly in his figure, and v nie,i. 24, 
 resembled rather an honest uninformed peasant than the ^39 ^^ 
 descendant of a long line of kings. He was strong, how- fj^jg 
 ever, in body, abundantly endowed with physical courage, ^V^ 
 and passionately fond of the chase, which amusement he Hist, do 
 
 f , ,.,i , . . . , i ,1 r> Cons. i. 38, 
 
 continued regularly till his imprisonment during the Ke- 39. 
 volution. 1 He had an extraordinary fondness for athletic 
 
 * Madame Du Barri used to call him " le gros enfant mal 61 eve." DROZ, i. 
 117, note.
 
 246 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, occupations and mechanical labour, insomuch that he frc- 
 ' quently worked several hours a-day with a blacksmith of 
 
 the name of Gamin, who taught him the art of wielding 
 the hammer, and managing the forge. He took the 
 greatest interest in this occupation, and loaded his pre- 
 ceptor in the art with kindness, who returned it by be- 
 traying to the Convention a secret iron recess, which they 
 had together worked out in the walls of his cabinet in the 
 Tuileries, wherein to deposit his secret papers during the 
 storms of the Revolution.* 
 
 4 Of all the monarchs who ever sat upon the French 
 
 His char- throne, Louis XVI. was the one least calculated to pro- 
 voke, and worst fitted to subdue, a social convulsion. 
 Firm in principle, pure in morals, humane in feeling, 
 beneficent in intention, he possessed all the dispositions 
 calculated to adorn a pacific throne, or which are amiable 
 and estimable in private life ; but he had neither the 
 genius to prevent, nor the firmness to resist, a revolution. 
 Many of his qualities were calculated to have allayed the 
 public discontents, none to have stifled them. The people 
 were tired of the arbitrary powers of their monarch, and 
 he was disposed to abandon them ; they were provoked 
 at the costly corruptions of the court, and he was both 
 innocent in his manners and unexpensive in his habits ; 
 they demanded reformation in the administration of 
 affairs, and he placed his chief glory in anticipating their 
 desires. Such was his anxiety to outstrip the general 
 passion for reform, that he caused a box to be placed at 
 the gate of his palace, to receive suggestions from all 
 persons who might concur in the same views. But, in 
 accomplishing great changes in society, it is not only 
 necessary to concede to one party, but to restrain their 
 violence and control another ; and the difficult task 
 awaited the French monarch, of either compelling the 
 
 * " ' Le Roi,' disait Gamin, ' etait bon, tolerant, timide, curieux, ami du 
 sommeil. II aimait avec passion la serrurerie, et se cachait de la reine et de la 
 cour pour limer et forger avec moi. Pour porter son enclume et le mien, ii 
 Pinsu de tout le monde, il nous fallait user de mille stratagemes dont I'histoire 
 ne finirait pas.' " SOULAVIE, Rtyne de Lov.it XVI., ii. 47.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 247 
 
 nation to submit to abuses, or the aristocracy to agree to CHAP. 
 innovation. To accomplish either of these objects required IIL 
 more firmness and decision of character than he possessed. 
 Irresolution was his great defect ; and hence, in difficult 
 periods, his conduct vacillated between the nobility and 
 people, and led both parties to abandon his interest the 
 former because they distrusted his constancy, the latter 
 because they were doubtful of his sincerity. His reign, 
 from his accession to the throne down to the meeting of 
 the States-general, was nothing but a series of ameliora- 
 tions, which did not succeed in calming the public effer- 
 vescence of concessions which only added to the ambi- 
 tion of the people. He had the misfortune to desire 
 sincerely the public good, without possessing the firm- 
 ness requisite to secure it ; and with truth it may be \ffig' ' 
 said, that reforms were more fatal to him than the ThWsl i. 
 continuance of abuses would have been to another sove- n! 4, 5. a 
 reign. 1 
 
 It is not to be imagined, however, that this irresolution of 
 character, which proved so fatal to this virtuous monarch, TO what 
 was the result of any defect of physical temperament, or lilT^t 
 of natural timidity of disposition. On the contrary, he owing - 
 was by constitution hasty in temper, and sometimes abrupt 
 in manner an infirmity of which he was never entirely 
 cured and abundantly endowed, when he saw his way 
 clearly, both with mental firmness and physical resolution. 
 It was the neglect of his education, joined to the purity of 
 his intentions, and the benevolence of his heart, which 
 was the cause of the evil. He had studied " many books, 
 but not much." He had never learned to reflect, or 
 trust to his own judgment ; and both his preceptors 
 and Maurepas had, for their own purposes, sedulously 
 impressed upon his mind that the first duty of a sovereign 
 is to be guided by the majority of his council. Hence he 
 yielded when his reason was not convinced : he had often 
 not sufficient information to oppose the arguments used 
 by his ministers to overcome his difficulties, and yet good 
 sense enough to see when they were wrong ; but he had
 
 248 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, too much conscientious feeling to trust to his own judg- 
 IIL ment, in opposition to theirs, when he could not assign 
 
 sufficient reasons for the difference. Maurepas also in- 
 spired him with a general distrust of men ; and this opin- 
 ion, falling in with the natural reserve of his character, 
 and the boundless selfishness with which he was sur- 
 rounded, produced such an impression on his mind that 
 he never yielded an entire confidence to any of his mini- 
 sters, nor even to the Queen, during the whole of his life. 
 But he was endowed with strong natural sagacity, had 
 an intuitive perception of what was right and wrong, and 
 evinced, both at the council board and in the notes he 
 wrote on the memorials laid before him by his ministers, 
 abundant proofs of uncommon clearness of understand- 
 ing.* It was not in intellectual strength, but determina- 
 tion of will, that he was defective, and this arose from 
 excess of conscientious feeling. It was over-anxiety to 
 do right which so often made him do wrong ; for it sur- 
 rendered him to the guidance of men inferior to himself 
 both in intention and understanding. He would have 
 made the best possible constitutional monarch, but he was 
 P erna P s tne l ast that would be selected to meet the crisis 
 O f forming a constitution ; and history must confess with 
 26, d 221. regret, that if he had been a worse man, he would have 
 been, for his times at least, a better king. 1 1 
 
 Louis XVI. was married on the 16th May 1770, to 
 
 Birth and MARIE ANTOINETTE JOSEPHE JEANNE, archduchess of 
 
 on&ne Austria, daughter of Francis I., emperor of Germany, 
 !tte< and the illustrious Maria Theresa. This princess, whose 
 
 * He used frequently, when a discussion was going on at the council table, 
 to pull a memoir out of his pocket, and read it, making marginal annotations as 
 he went along, and show at the end of the discussion by his observations that 
 he had perfectly apprehended both at the same time. This Bertrand de 
 Molleville justly remarks as a proof of no common power of attention : those 
 who have any doubt it is so, are recommended to try the experiment. See 
 BERTRAND DE MOLLEVILLE, i. 221, 222. 
 
 i" Malesherbes said of him to Bertrand de Molleville, with equal truth and 
 feeling, " Cette extreme sensibilite, cette humanite si tendre, et presque 
 toutes les vertus moderees, qui, dans les temps ordinaires, font les bons rois, 
 deviennent, dans les temps de revolution, autant et plus funestes que des 
 vices." BERTRAND DE MOLLEVILLE, Mmoircs surle Reyne de Louis XVL, i. 24.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 249 
 
 heroism and sorrows have rendered her name immortal, CHAP. 
 was born on the 2d November 1755, the day of the earth- IL 
 quake at Lisbon, so that at her nuptials she was not yet 
 sixteen years of age. Her marriage had long been the 
 subject of anxious negotiation on the part of the cabinets 
 of Paris and Vienna, and its completion was regarded as a 
 masterpiece of policy on the part of the Duke de Choiseul, 
 then prime minister of Louis XV., as laying the founda- 
 tion of a family alliance between the houses of France 
 and Austria, and uniting, to their mutual advantage, the 
 forces of the two monarchies. To prepare the young 
 princess for her future destiny, her education was from 
 the first, in a great measure, intrusted to the Abbe de 
 Vermont, an adroit and accomplished ecclesiastic, selected 
 for that purpose by the Duke de Choiseul, and who re- 
 mained with and retained his influence over her during 
 nearly her whole life. Under his able tuition she made 
 rapid progress in French, Latin, German, and Italian - 
 unhappily, she imbibed at the same time from his coun- 
 sels a spirit of levity, a dislike of form, a contempt for 
 etiquette, which proved to the last degree pernicious to 
 her on the throne of France. Her disposition was lively, 
 her talents remarkable, her heart affectionate; and her 
 mother early impressed her with the necessity of culti- 
 vating that firmness and decision of character, by which 
 she herself had risen superior to all the storms of fortune. 
 
 " My daughter," said the aged empress to her frequently, j ^J 
 " in adversity remember me." Marie Antoinette did not laVie,' i. 72. 
 forget her counsel when her own evil days came, nor ss^sT' 
 prove unworthy of her race. 1 * 
 
 So much had the winning manners and rising beauty 
 
 * When Marie Antoinette left Vienna to be married, Maria Theresa address- 
 ed the following letter to Louis XVI., then the Dauphin : " Votre epouse, 
 mon cher Dauphin, vient de se sfiparer de moi : comme elle faisait mes 
 delices, j'espere qu'elle fera votre bonheur. Je 1'ai elev6e en consequence 
 parceque depuis longtemps je provoyais qu'elle devait partager vos destindes. 
 Je lui ai inspire 1'amour de ses devoirs envers vous, un tendre attachement, 
 1'attention a imaginer et a mettre en pratique les moyens de vous plaire. Je 
 lui ai toujours recommande', avec beaucoup de soin, une tendre devotion 
 envers le Maitre des Rois, persuad6 qu'on fait mal le bonheur des peuples qui 
 iious sont confids quand on manque envers celui qui brise les sceptres et ren-
 
 250 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, of the young princess endeared her to the citizens, that 
 
 '. the day of her departure from Vienna was one of universal 
 
 . 7 - gloom and depression ; all the satisfaction which they 
 her dcpar- felt at beholding her Dauphiness of France was forgotten 
 viL^lnd in the melancholy foreboding that they would see her no 
 o? her r^ more. Her entry into her future kingdom brought the 
 Fn!ncc. in Dauphiness at once into enchanted ground ; she literally 
 trode on air all the way from Strasburg to Paris. Every- 
 where the peasantry quitted the neighbouring fields, 
 crowding to the roadside to get a glimpse of their destined 
 sovereign ; triumphal arches were erected in all the towns 
 and villages ; the streets were strewn with nosegays ; 
 rows of maidens, dressed in white, and adorned with gar- 
 lands, awaited to present her with the choicest flowers of 
 spring. Her youth, her beauty, her benignity, the radi- 
 ant joy which beamed from her countenance, diffused a 
 universal feeling of enchantment. * " How beautiful she 
 is, our Dauphiness ! " was the remark of all. The general 
 admiration was augmented when she was heard to answer 
 the deputations of the towns in elegant French, of the 
 schools and colleges in the purest Latin. She was re- 
 ceived with unparalleled demonstrations of joy at Com- 
 piegne, where she was met by the King ; and at Versailles 
 all that art and genius could combine were prepared to 
 add to the splendour of her nuptials, which were celebrated 
 in the chapel of the palace amidst the brightest sunshine, 
 i Weber and with extraordinary magnificence. Shortly after she 
 1. 17,21. i e ft the altar, however, the heavens darkened, the clouds 
 
 Campan, ' . ' 
 
 i. 45, 53. collected, rain fell in torrents, violent peals of thunder 
 dispersed the crowd assembled round the palace, 1 and 
 
 verse les trdnes, comme il lui plait. Aimez done vos devoirs envers Dieu. Je 
 vous le dis, mon cher Dauphin je le dis a ma fille, aimez le bien des peuples 
 sur lesquels vous regnerez toujours trop tot. Adieu, mon cher Dauphin ; je 
 BIU'S baign6e de larmes." MARIE THEHESE a M. LE DAUPHIN, 20 April 1770 ; 
 WEBER, i. 17, Note to Revolutionary Memoirs. 
 
 * One country cure, near Chalons, awaited her on the roadside at the head 
 of his flock. The worthy pastor had prepared a studied harangue, but at the 
 sight of the Dauphiness it all escaped his memory, and he could only fall on 
 his knees and articulate, " Madame, ne soyez pas surprise de mon peu de 
 memoire : Pulchra es etformosa." WEBER, i. 21.
 
 HISTOEY OF EUROPE. 251 
 
 shook the walls of the august structure. It was emblem- CHAP. 
 
 atical of her destiny ; at the close of the path, thus in its ! 
 
 outset bestrewed with flowers, there awaited her the 
 Temple, the Conciergerie, the scaffold. 
 
 A splendid fete on occasion of the marriage was given 
 by the city of Paris, at which the Dauphin and Dan- Magnificent 
 
 ftte at Paris 
 
 phiness were present. It was a day of triumph to her on the mar- 
 at every step ; nothing seemed capable of adding to her n< 
 felicity. Her beauty was ravishing, her grace won every 
 heart. The brilliant chariot which bore her and the 
 Dauphin, could scarcely make its way through the dense 
 masses of the people, who were never wearied with gazing 
 on her, admiring and blessing her. From Notre-Dame, 
 where she went to return thanks to heaven for its gifts, 
 she proceeded to the Hotel de Ville, where old Marshal 
 de Brissac, at the head of a splendid staff, was ready to 
 receive her. She ascended the stair which led to the 
 municipal hall, afterwards the focus of the Revolution, 
 from whence the mandates issued which sent her husband 
 and herself to the scaffold. " Madame," said the old 
 marshal, as he showed her the countless sea of uncovered 
 heads which appeared before her in the Place de Greve, 
 when she came to the window, " The Dauphin may well 
 be jealous. You behold before you two hundred thousand 
 persons in love with you." The happy expression flew 
 like lightning through the crowd ; redoubled acclamations 
 rent the sky ; it expressed the universal feeling. At the 
 Tuileries she walked with her young husband in the 
 gardens, with a countenance beaming with delight at the 
 enthusiasm with which she was surrounded. Louis was 
 as joyful, but anxious lest some accident should happen 
 to the people, and repeatedly desired the guards to take 
 care that no one was hurt. They frequently said to each 
 other, amidst the general acclamations, " What a good i. 49, si! 
 affectionate people ! " l 
 
 A disastrous event disturbed these scenes of festivity, 
 and added to the sinister presentiments already felt from
 
 252 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, her birth on the day of the earthquake at Lisbon, and 
 11 L from the storm which had succeeded her nuptials. An 
 
 unfortunate assertion of ancient privilege was the cause of 
 accident this catastrophe. The provost of the merchants of Paris, 
 in conformity with former usage, claimed the right of 
 keeping the ground, and regulating the arrangements on 
 the occasion, which would have been more fitly intrusted 
 to the experienced ability of M. de Sartines, the head of 
 the police. This demand was acceded to, from a fear of 
 offending the citizens on such a joyous occasion ; and the 
 civic functionaries, in splendid dresses, but almost entirely 
 inexperienced, appeared to keep the ground in the Place 
 Louis XV., where the fireworks were to be let off. They 
 proved wholly unequal to their duty. Already the crowd 
 of persons desirous of leaving their places, and of others 
 striving to get in from the Boulevards Italiens, had broken 
 through their feeble barriers, and a violent struggle was 
 going on between the two contending streams, when the 
 scaffolds whereon the fireworks were exhibited accidentally 
 took fire : the rockets, lying horizontally upon them, dis- 
 charged themselves in great numbers into the crowd ; and 
 the fire-engines, with their huge horses and heavy car- 
 
 i \Veber i. 
 
 27, 28. ' ' riages, advanced with rattling din at a rapid pace through 
 the mass, to extinguish the flames. 1 
 
 A universal panic now seized the people around the 
 General scaffolds, who rushed with frantic violence towards the 
 m^iLnchoiy entrance of the Rue Royale, where they were met by as 
 trophe ' dense a multitude, which, ignorant of what had occurred, 
 and seeing so many persons leaving the square, was making 
 the most strenuous efforts to get in to occupy their places. 
 The terrors of the issuing, however, prevailed over the 
 eagerness of the entering column ; the latter was pushed 
 back, after a desperate struggle, and vast numbers, thrown 
 down, were trodden under foot by the prodigious multi- 
 tude which rolled over them. Fifty-three persons were 
 killed on the spot ; two hundred and fifty more, many 
 of them mortally wounded, were dragged with difficulty
 
 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 253 
 
 from beneath the feet of the throng ; and the ghastly CHAP. 
 spectacle of the dead bodies and mangled remains of the I 
 
 yet living, ranged in rows along the Boulevards to await 
 the recognition of their relatives, diffused universal con- 
 sternation. The Dauphin and Dauphiness won general 
 esteem by the earnest sympathy which they evinced on 
 the occurrence, * and the splendid liberality with which 
 they relieved the sufferers : but the mournful catastrophe, 
 occurring on such an occasion, told on every heart, and 
 very generally inspired the most gloomy forebodings. It 
 was afterwards noticed as remarkable, that the disaster 
 was owing to the presumption and inexperience of the 
 chiefs of the Tiers Etat of the capital, and the undue 
 facility with which the direction of affairs had been sur- 
 rendered to them by the constituted authorities ; and that 
 the bodies of the victims killed on the Place Louis XV. 
 were deposited in the church of the Madeleine, which 1 
 afterwards received the headless remains of the very prince ' 26, 28! 
 and princess who were now the objects of such universal svle? 1 ' 
 adoration. 1 
 
 Time, however, at length made this disaster be forgot- 
 ten ; but Marie Antoinette soon found that her path was Jealousies 
 not to be for ever strewed with flowers. The thorns early which make 
 began to show themselves. Madame Du Barri, jealous of 
 the beauty, and apprehensive of the influence of the young 
 Dauphiness, spared no pains to alienate the old King from 
 her : t the usual animosities of the palace at a foreign 
 
 * Marie Antoinette was so afflicted with this catastrophe that her grief con- 
 tinued for several days, and she frequently burst into tears. She sent her 
 whole allowance for a month to relieve the victims ; and the Dauphin did the 
 same, accompanied by a letter to the Chief of the Police, couched in the most 
 touching terms. WEBER, i. 29. 
 
 t At the banquet given at Versailles on the first reception of Marie Antoi- 
 nette, Madame Du Bam sat at the same table with her. Ignorant of her 
 character, and struck with her beauty, the young Dauphiness said she was 
 " charmante." The Dauphin, however, better instructed in the mysteries of 
 the palace, carefully kept her at a distance from the seducing favourite, who 
 was surrounded by the homage of the whole court. Struck with this circum- 
 stance, and the great influence which Madame Du Barri evidently possessed, 
 Marie Antoinette said to the Duchess of Noailles, " Will you tell me what are 
 the functions of Madame Du Barri ?" " To please and amuse the King," replied
 
 254 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, intruder were not slow in displaying themselves : senseless 
 ! disputes, on matters of etiquette, kept several of the most 
 
 illustrious of the nobility at a distance from her ; she 
 already found that " 1'Autrichienne," as she was called in 
 the highest circles, had many difficulties to encounter, and 
 jealousies to get over, at the court of France. The open 
 ascendancy and constant presence of Madame Du Barri 
 at all the fetes, which seemed to be arranged only for her 
 diversion, and to afford opportunity for a display of the 
 homage with which she was surrounded, induced the Dau- 
 phin and Dauphiness to live in a great measure retired, 
 during the first years which succeeded their marriage. 
 This conduct was as much in conformity with the tastes 
 and wishes of Louis XVI., as the course which the strict- 
 ness of his principles and correctness of his judgment 
 dictated.* The Dauphiness, though passionately fond of 
 amusement and all the excitements of her age, acquiesced 
 without a murmur in her husband's determination ; and 
 the Parisians, accustomed to the ceaseless round of diver- 
 ii. GO, Ye?' sions devised to amuse the court, were astonished to hear of 
 37*39? '' the ne i r an d heiress of the throne enjoying the privacy of 
 a ^^3. domestic life, walking in their gardens together, mingling 
 xx ?3 iv ' * n se ^ ect circles of chosen friends, entering the cottages of 
 (Marie An- the poor in the neighbourhood of Versailles, and making 
 themselves known only by never-failing deeds of benefi- 
 cence to the unfortunate. 1 1 
 
 the Duchess. " In that case," rejoined the Dauphiness, " I will try and be her 
 rival." It may readily be conceived what amusement this ingenuous answer 
 afforded in the court circle at Versailles. SOULAVIE, ii. 67, 68. 
 
 * In the first instance, after his marriage, Louis XVI. was, by the arts of his 
 preceptor, the Duke de Vauguyon, who was in the interest of Madame Du Barri, 
 for a considerable time estranged from the Dauphiness, and evinced a coldness 
 towards her which touched her to the quick. Physical causes, on his part, 
 which deprived France for several years of an heir to the throne, increased this 
 embarrassment. But this unhappy estrangement, the result of base intrigues, 
 gradually yielded to the graces, amiable temper, and uniformly correct de- 
 portment of the young Queen, who never let a murmur escape her lips during 
 its continuance ; and after she became a mother, Louis loved the Queen with 
 the most passionate attachment. See MADAME CAMPAN, i. 60, 72, and 186. 
 
 t " On one occasion, when Louis XV. was hunting in the park of Fontainebleau, 
 a stag, wounded and furious, leaped the wall of the forest, and making at the
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 255 
 
 The spirit of chivalry guiding the pencil of genius, has CHAP. 
 
 in. 
 
 left the following portrait of Marie Antoinette, at the 
 period of her accession to the throne : " It is now," says 12 - 
 
 */T T 1 I,' 1, -11 T 1 1 Mr Burked 
 
 Mr Burke, in a passage which will live as long as the picture of 
 English language, " sixteen or seventeen years since I saw toinette. " 
 the Queen of France, then the Dauphiness, at Versailles ; 
 and surely never lighted on this orb, which she hardly 
 seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just 
 above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated 
 sphere she had just begun to move in ; glittering like the 
 morning star, full of life and splendour and joy. Oh ! what 
 a revolution ! and what a heart must I have to contem- 
 plate, without emotion, that elevation and that fall ! Little 
 did I dream, when she added titles of veneration to those 
 of enthusiastic, distant, respectful love, that she should 
 ever be obliged to carry the sharp antidote against disgrace 
 concealed in that bosom ; little did I dream that I should 
 have li ved to see such disasters fallen upon her, in a nation 
 of gallant men in a nation of honour and of cavaliers. 
 I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from 
 their scabbards to avenge even a look which threatened 
 her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone ; that of 
 sophists, economists, and calculators, has succeeded, and 
 the glory of Europe is extinguished for ever. Never more i Burke - s 
 shall we behold that generous loyalty to rank and sex JS rkS R e '; 
 that proud submission, that dignified obedience, that flections on 
 
 f. ,. the French 
 
 subordination of the heart, which kept alive, even in Revolution. 
 servitude itself, the spirit of an exalted freedom. 1 The un- 
 
 first person he met, plunged his horns into the entrails of a gardener, who was 
 pruning his vines. His wife, alarmed by the noise, rushed out of the house, 
 uttering piercing shrieks, and fell down senseless beside her bleeding husband. 
 On reviving, she was astonished to find herself in the arms of a young and 
 beautiful woman, who, with tears in her eyes, lavished on her all the consola- 
 tions which were possible in the circumstances. It was the Dauphiness, who, 
 happening to pass at the time in her open carriage, alarmed by the cries, stopped 
 the horses, alighted, passed the hedge, and reached the unfortunate woman 
 before any one of her attendants. She was immediately placed in the carriage 
 beside the Dauphiness, who carried her, with her wounded husband, to the 
 palace, and bestowed on her the most liberal bounty. The poor man, beyond 
 all expectation, recovered, received a pension, and was comfortably settled in a 
 cottage, often afterwards visited by the royal couple." WEBER, i. 32, 3G.
 
 256 HISTOBY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, bought grace of life, the cheap defence of nations, the nurse 
 !_ of manly sentiments, is gone. It is gone, that sensibility 
 
 of principle, that chastity of honour, which felt a stain like 
 a wound ; which inspired courage, while it mitigated fero- 
 city ; which ennobled whatever it touched, and under which 
 vice itself lost half its evil, by losing all its grossness." 
 
 These are the words of glowing genius, of reflecting 
 ' observation, and prophetic foresight ; and cold, indeed, 
 must be that heart which would withdraw one touch from 
 the picture. They paint with beauty, and to a certain 
 extent with truth, not only an individual, but an age, 
 which terminated with her life. Yet must the truth of 
 history in some respects dispel the illusion, and present 
 Marie Antoinette with all these beautiful and interesting, 
 with many great and heroic qualities, yet not destitute of 
 the weaknesses of humanity. Contemplated at a distance, 
 she was in truth the resplendent vision which captivated 
 Mr Burke ; but a nearer approach revealed the woman, 
 and displayed many of the foibles, some of the errors, of 
 her sex. Her heart was pure, her manners captivating, 
 her conduct upright, her spirit noble ; but these very 
 virtues, by inspiring her with the consciousness of her own 
 innocence, led her into imprudences which, in one of her 
 exalted station, became faults. She had little education 
 in matters of serious import, though highly accomplished 
 in those which are personally attractive. Her taste was 
 refined, and she was no common proficient in music, 
 danced elegantly, and was passionately fond of theatrical 
 representations. But she read hardly anything but 
 romances or plays ; and the Queen who was called to 
 duties so difficult that an archangel might have shrunk 
 from encountering them, had never in her whole life had 
 a book of history put into her hands.* Hence she was 
 
 * "L'Abbe" de Vermond venait chez elle tous les jours, mais eVitaitdeprendre le 
 ton imposant d'un instituteur : et ne voulait pas meme, comme lecteur, conseiller 
 1'utile lecture de 1'histoire. Je crois qu'il n'en a pas lu un seul volume, dans 
 toute sa vie, a son auguste eleve ; aussi n'a-t-il jamais existe" de princesse qui eut 
 un eloignement plus marque" pour toutes les lectures se*rieuses." MADAME 
 CAMPAN, i. 73 ; see also the BARON DE BESENVAL, ii. 207, 208.
 
 ,ve rise. 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 257 
 
 not aware how much, amidst all the homage with which CHAP. 
 
 TTT 
 
 they are surrounded, the great are really the object of 1_ 
 
 envy to their inferiors ; with what ceaseless jealousies 
 they are environed ; and with what avidity, especially in 2 Mad 
 troubled times, the slightest and most innocent impru- "p^E- ' 
 
 i r , 40, 41, <3. 
 
 dences are seized on by court jealousy or popular ^- v. a 
 malignity, to blast the happiness of those to whom, in 63, 68.' " 
 appearance, every mark of respect is shown. 1 
 
 This purity of heart, joined to inexperience of the world, 
 led her into many imprudences which those more versed Her impm- 
 in its ways, or more habituated to its vices, would have the feSw- 
 sedulously avoided. During the early years when Louis thick 'they 
 was estranged from her, in consequence of a physical in- 
 firmity on his part, which at length yielded to the skill of 
 his physicians, she preserved the most studious correctness 
 of deportment, and never suffered a complaint to escape 
 her lips, though a tear often fell from her eye. But when 
 she found herself secure of his affections, and blessed by 
 a rising offspring, the buoyancy of her disposition led her 
 to mingle in amusements with an ardour which, though 
 always innocent, was often indiscreet, sometimes blam- 
 able. Accustomed to the simple life of the imperial 
 palace at Vienna, the minutise of etiquette at Versailles, 
 which fettered every action of life in the King and Queen, 
 even the most inconsiderable, were to her a perfect horror,""" 
 and she gladly fled from its frigid circles and senseless 
 formalities, to enjoy in privacy the ease of unrestrained 
 intercourse, and the charm of confidential friendship.! 
 The intimacies to which these habits gave rise, especially 
 with the Countess Polignac, excited the jealousy of the 
 
 * See a very curious account of this ceremonial and etiquette, now a relic of 
 past times, in MADAME CAMPAN, i. 309, 320. 
 
 + " Des qu'elle cut pris le parti de se soustraire a 1'enuui du cer^moniel, cette 
 Princesse se livra sans coustraintc a tons les charmes de la vie prive"e. ' Enfin 
 je ne suis plus Heine,' disait-elle avec delices, en rentrant au milieu de ses amis, 
 apres de longues ceremonies qui Ten avaient eloignee trop longtemps. Elle 
 venait de se depouiller a la hate de ses ajustemens, et 1'activite de ses femmes 
 ne repondant pas a son impatience, elles les avait arrachees de ses mains et 
 dispersees dans I'appartement." MICHAUD, art. MARIE ANTOINETTE, iu Bio- 
 (jraplile Unirerselle, xxvii. 74. 
 
 VOL. I. R
 
 258 HISTORY OF EUKOPE. 
 
 CHAP, old nobility ; the theatrical representations, in which she 
 *"' so much delighted, and sometimes bore a part, gave 
 rise to malignant reports ; and the charming seclusion of 
 Trianon, where she sought a retreat from the cares, and a 
 compensation for the anxieties, of royalty, was converted, 
 by the voice of popular malignity, into the gardens of 
 Annida, where rank was lavish of its favours, and beauty 
 prodigal of its seductions. But if the French nation at 
 that period had been capable of reflection, they would have 
 seen that vice seldom appears in the open and almost 
 childish amusements which were there carried on. Con- 
 scious of evil, it seeks seclusion, or pays to virtue the homage 
 of hypocrisy. And while those who loved her most often 
 lamented the imprudent levity which sometimes prevailed 
 P r i ya ^ e circle, those who knew her best are unani- 
 mous * n affinning that the Queen's conduct was uniformly 
 
 i. 46i, 464.' as irreproachable as her manners were dignified.* Her 
 
 Campan, i. . tit 
 
 143, 195. very air was too pure to permit impropriety to be thought 
 of. Beloved by all, she was approached by none. 1 1 
 
 When the growing dangers of the kingdom, and the 
 
 Her heroic increasing cares of royalty, drew her from those scenes of 
 
 and domes- amusement into a more active part in the administration 
 
 ues * of affairs, she showed herself the daughter of Maria 
 
 Theresa. Undaunted in courage, quick in discernment, 
 
 decided in determination, she was fitted to have acted, if 
 
 she had stood alone, at the head of faithful followers, the 
 
 part of Zenobia, or rivalled, in devotion to her husband 
 
 and children, the perseverance of Agrippina. Yet were 
 
 * So delicate was her perception of the boundaries of female decorum, 
 especially in elevated stations, that she said, alluding to Garat, a celebrated 
 singer at the time, who was often at Versailles, " Je devais entendre chanter 
 Garat, et ne jamais chanter de duo avec lui ;" and decared she would never 
 allow her daughters to sing with professional singers. CAMPAN, i. 266. 
 
 t " Sa pr<?tendue galanterie," says the Prince de Ligne, one of her intimate 
 circle, " ne fut jamais qu'un sentiment profond d'amiti6, et peut-etre distingue 
 pour une ou deux personnes, et une coquetterie generate de femme et de reine, 
 pour plaire a tout le monde. Dans le temps memo ou la jeunesse et le defaut 
 d'expe"rience pouvaient engager a se mettre trop a son aise vis-a-vis d'elle, il n'y 
 cut jamais aucun de nous qui avions le bonheur de la voir tous lea jours qui 
 osat en abuser par la plus petite inconvenance. Elle faisait la reine sans s'en, 
 douter; on I'adorait sanssonger i! 1'aimer." PRINCE DE LIGNE, quoted in WEBER, 
 i. 462, 463.
 
 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 259 
 
 these very qualities, situated as she was, more disastrous CHAP. 
 
 to her than the opposite set of weaknesses would have 1_ 
 
 been, for they led her into hostile measures when the 
 King was set on conciliatory they prompted bold coun- 
 sels when prudence recommended temporising ones, and 
 often inclined her to draw the sword when her faithless 
 followers were not prepared to stand by her side. She 
 was in a great degree uninformed on public measures, 
 and still more on public men, as the King for long never 
 conversed with her on affairs of state ; and hence her 
 interference in administration was often ill-judged and 
 pernicious. Yet did the native clearness of her under- 
 standing lead her not unfrequently to discern the wisest 
 course, when almost every head around was reeling ; and, 
 if her counsels had been followed on some important 
 occasions, it is probable that the disasters of the Revolu- 
 tion would have been avoided.* But it was in domestic 
 life, and in the scenes of affliction, that she stood pre- 
 eminent ; and there a more faultless character never 
 existed. Though fond of dress, and not insensible to the 
 magnificence which her rank on public occasions required 
 in her attire, she indulged in no unseemly extravagance 
 in that particular ; the strictest economy pervaded her 
 establishment ; and the sums, often very considerable, 
 which she saved off her allowance as Queen of France, 
 were invariably devoted to deeds of beneficence, t In the 
 
 * She from the first, and throughout, strenuously opposed the war with 
 America, as unjust towards England, and taking advantage of the distresses of 
 a friendly power, and dangerous to France, as encouraging revolt ; and she as 
 firmly contended against Necker's determination to assemble the States-gene- 
 ral at Versailles, insisting they should meet at least forty leagues from the 
 capital. MADAME CAMPAN, i. 234, and ii. 35. 
 
 + In the dreadful famine of the winter of 1783-4, Calonne, then prime- 
 minister, proposed to her, that 1,000,000 francs (40,000) out of the 3,000,000 
 francs (120,000), which the King had set apart for relief of the poor, should 
 be distributed in her name. She declined this, as interfering with the King's 
 beneficence, adding, that she had enough of her own to answer the purpose 
 without burdening any one. In effect, she bestowed 300,000 francs (12,000), 
 the fruit of her economy, on the poor on that occasion ; and 600,000 francs 
 (24,000), which she saved off her allowance for pin-money, received the same 
 destination at different times. To inspire her daughter with the same feelings, 
 she put at her disposal 10,000 francs (400), and made her direct its distribu- 
 tion in person. CAMPAN, i. 270.
 
 2GO 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, 
 
 1774. 
 
 
 ia cour de 
 
 Louis XVI. 
 
 257. w e ber, 
 391, 298. ' 
 
 Popular 
 Kingand e 
 
 circle of her intimate friends she was easy and affable, 
 even to a fault : the distinction of rank was almost for- 
 gotten in the uniform affability of her manner* if she 
 had any failing in this respect, it sprang from the warmth 
 of her affections, which led her to form intimacies with a 
 few friends of her own sex, of which they made some- 
 times an improper use, and which led to requests to the 
 King on behalf of their relations which she never made 
 for her own, and afterwards regretted. Her attachment 
 to her husband and children was unbounded and unchange- 
 able : it only strengthened with the misfortunes in which 
 they were involved, and shone forth with the brightest 
 lustre in the solitude of the Temple. Finally, she pre- 
 served through life, and equally in the sunshine of the 
 palace as in the gloom of the dungeon, the strongest 
 sense of religious duty ; and this supported her through 
 all the changes of her eventful career, and enabled her to 
 bear a reverse of fortune, unparalleled even in those days 
 of woe, with a heroism which never was surpassed. 1 
 
 The first act of the King upon his accession to the 
 throne was to order 200,000 francs (8000) to be dis- 
 tributed among the poor of Paris ; his next, to forbid his 
 brothers to call him Your Majesty, or King. " I would 
 lose too much," said he, " in renouncing the name of 
 brother/' At the same time he remitted a tribute 
 
 * " Our young and charming Queen, by resolving to live without ceremony, 
 has abolished from the private life of the court all the ancient etiquette. Every 
 evening that amiable princess is to be seen traversing the palace, leaning on 
 the arm of the King, attended only by a single valet. The new custom 
 introduced of small suppers, with lords and ladies, titled or not, has been 
 adopted not less from the taste of the Queen for private retired society, than 
 from a sense of the danger of the King supping, after returning from the chase, 
 with the nobles who attended him there, without the princesses a custom to 
 which all the disorders of the reign of Louis XV. are to be ascribed. At 
 present the King is never absent from the Queen, but when he is at the chase 
 or the council-room ; and the vile courtiers who would attempt to corrupt him 
 can no longer find an opportunity for doing so." Corregpondance Secrete de la 
 Cour pendant le Regnc de Louis XVI., p. 99. Such was the ease of manners 
 which prevailed in the intimate circle which frequented the Queen's charming 
 retreat at Trianon, that when she entered the room the ladies did not rise 
 from the piano, or leave the tapestry they were working, nor the gentlemen 
 stop their game of billiards. MADAME CAMFAN, L 227.
 
 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 2G1 
 
 amounting to a very large sum, usually paid to sovereigns CHAP. 
 on their accession, entitled " Le joyeux aveneinent." 
 
 Marie Antoinette, in a similar spirit, renounced an offer- 1774 - 
 ing of considerable amount which custom had long sanc- 
 tioned to the Queen of France on the same occasion, 
 entitled " The girdle of the Queen." Haying learned 
 that the tax from which this payment was drawn fell 
 with peculiar weight on the humblest classes, she besought 
 the King that it might be remitted a request with which 
 he gladly complied, and which gave rise to an elegantly- 
 turned compliment, that she had no need of the girdle of 
 the Queen, for she already possessed that of Venus.* The 
 selection of a prime-minister was a more difficult matter, 
 and the intrigues of the court instantly commenced in 
 reference to that important point. It was generally 
 supposed that the choice would fall on the Duke de 
 Choiseul, long the favourite minister of Louis XV., and 
 only overturned in his later years by the combined 
 efforts of Madame Du Barri and the Duke d'Aiguillon. 
 This appointment was deemed the more probable, as he 
 had been the originator of the Austrian alliance ; and it 
 was naturally imagined that the Queen would use her 
 influence in favour of the minister to whom her elevation 
 to the throne had been owing. The same belief gained 
 ground from the fact, that Madame Du Barri had already 
 received intimation that she should remain at her country 
 residence of Pont-aux-Dames, whither she had retired 
 on the illness of Louis XV. t But Marie Antoinette 
 
 * " Vous renoucez, charmante souveraine, 
 Au plus beau de vos revenus ; 
 A quoi vous servirait la ceinture de Reine ? 
 Vous avez celle de Venus ! " 
 
 WEBER, i. 3. 
 
 t It was indispensable to remove Madame Du Barri from the court, both to 
 restore its character and break the influence she had acquired iu public affairs. 
 But she was allowed to retain her fortune and jewels, which were very con- 
 siderable, and was treated with such kindness and consideration, though always 
 kept at a distance from Versailles, by the King and Queen, both then and in 
 after years, that she felt and expressed the most unbounded gratitude for it. 
 Her name, long unheard iu history, will appear again in the darkest days of 
 the Revolution. MADAME CAMPAN, i. 83, note.
 
 262 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, took no part in the affair : the King was indisposed 
 towards the Duke de Choiseul, from the representations 
 
 1774 - of his aunts, and the character given of his immoralities 
 in a secret memoir which his father, the Dauphin, had 
 bequeathed to him on the subject. M. de Machault, 
 formerly Keeper of the Seals, was first fixed on, and the 
 letter containing his appointment was actually sent off, 
 when the representations of the Princess Adelaide ob- 
 tained a change in favour of M. de Maurepas, formerly 
 Minister of Marine, and the letter to M. de Machault was 
 intercepted before the page who bore it had left the royal 
 , Webcr stables. The destiny of France and of Europe hung on 
 k 4 ^' - 5> that occurrence : for M. de Machault was a man of pro- 
 
 Soul. ii. * 
 
 139,147. found thought and enlightened observation, who would 
 
 Campan, i. " 
 
 79, (>. probably have done as much to avert, as Maurepas did 
 to bring on, the Revolution. 1 * 
 
 The choice which the King thus made, on his accession 
 
 character to the throne, of Maurepas for prime-minister, was in every 
 point of view prejudicial to his reign. This old man, 
 though not destitute of some good, and with many pleas- 
 ing qualities, was in no respect adapted for the duties of 
 
 * The Queen at the same time gave a striking proof of the generosity of 
 her disposition. The Marquis de Pontecoulant, major of the gardes-du-corps, 
 had given offence to her soon after her arrival in France, on a point of eti- 
 quette, and her resentment had been such that, with girlish vivacity, she said 
 she would never forget it. This expression became known to the Marquis, 
 who, deeming himself obnoxious to her, sent in his resignation on her accession 
 to the throne, by the Prince of Beauveaux, his superior officer, who first took 
 it to the Queen, to explain the motive of such an unexpected proceeding. 
 " Tell M. de Pontecoulant," said the generous Princess, " that the Queen does 
 not recollect the quarrels of the Dauphiness, and that I request him to retain 
 his situation." WEBER, i. 44. 
 
 The Queen was much attached to the Duke de Choiseul, to whom she with 
 reason ascribed her elevation to the throne of France. " Je n'oublierai jamais," 
 said she, when she first saw him at court after the death of Louis XV., " Je 
 n'oublierai jamais que vous avez fait mon bonheur." " Et celui de toute la 
 France," was the happy reply of the Duke. It was a great misfortune for 
 Louis that his original appointment of M. de Machault had not taken effect, 
 for he was the very reverse of Maurepas, and possessed the qualities necessary 
 to supply the defects of the King's mind, and give vigour and solidity to his 
 councils. He was distinguished by profound thought, extensive foresight, and 
 unshaken firmness qualities of which the monarchy never stood more in 
 need than in that eventful crisis. Had he become the prime-minister of Louis 
 XVI., he would soon have been his mentor. WEBER, i. 116.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 263 
 
 a minister in such arduous times. By accustoming the CHAP. 
 King to half measures, and a system of temporisation, he 
 
 contributed early to fix that character of irresolution upon 1774. 
 his proceedings which was already too much the defect 
 of his own disposition. Haying suffered a banishment 
 of nearly twenty years from court, in consequence of 
 some satirical verses on Madame de Pompadour, he re- 
 turned to power with no other principle but the desire of 
 maintaining his ascendancy. Frivolous in ah 1 his ideas 
 of government, he neither formed his opinions of men by 
 their conduct, nor of measures by their utility, but of 
 both by their tendency to uphold his own influence at 
 court. His ideas were all half a century back ; he was 
 an old courtier of Versailles, but not a minister of France. 
 His character has thus been delineated by the able hand 
 of a contemporary observer : " Superficial, and incap- 
 able of serious and profound attention, but gifted with a 
 facility of intelligence and apprehension, which seized in 
 an instant the thread of the most complicated aifairs, 
 he supplied in council by skill and dexterity what he 
 wanted in study and meditation. Insinuating and mild 
 in manners, flexible and fertile in resources, alike for 
 attack or defence ; inexhaustible in anecdotes and bon- 
 mots, to lead the serious into pleasantry, and turn aside 
 an onset which he could not openly withstand he pos- 
 sessed a lynx eye to seize the weak or ridiculous in men, 
 and an imperceptible art to draw them into a snare, or 
 wield them to his purposes ; a power, still more formid- 
 able, to make sport of everything, even of merit itself, 
 when he wished to bring it into contempt ; in fine, the 
 faculty of enlivening everything, and simplifying, to an 
 inconceivable degree, the labours of the cabinet. He was 
 believed to be a great man, because he had written four l Marmon 
 cutting verses on a detected favourite." 1 The King was u.'i96. 
 not ignorant of his weaknesses when he made choice of 
 him for prime -minister, but he trusted that age, mis- 
 fortune, and exile, must have given more firmness and
 
 264 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, solidity to his character, when, in truth, they had just 
 
 ! done the reverse. He did not possess the mind on which 
 
 1774 - solitude or adversity could act with any salutary effect. 
 Naturally indolent and fond of ease, he returned to power 
 with no other feeling but a determination not again to 
 fall into the error by which he had been formerly driven 
 from it. Regarding politics merely as a game of hazard, he 
 looked upon every profession of disinterested virtue as folly 
 or boasting, which was absurd or insincere. Desirous of 
 ' Weber, i. retaining the helm of affairs during the remainder of his 
 d\AngU, ssy lifc> an d conducting the government, at least during his own 
 time, without shock or collision, he made it his principal 
 chaud car6 ^ S ^ U ^J the sig 118 of the times ; and, regulating himself 
 Biog. Univ. by convenience, not principle, he carefully abstained from 
 (Maurepas.) every act, wliateveritsultimate consequences might be, which 
 threatened to induce present opposition or embarrassment. 1 
 With these talents and dispositions, Maurepas was not 
 iii system long of acquiring the entire direction of the King's mind. 
 His system was, to study his disposition, and secretly or 
 unobservedly discover his wishes ; never to contradict 
 him openly, but to give him the appearance of deciding 
 himself upon everything, when, in truth, he was only 
 yielding to the statements and representations which he 
 had previously, and with sedulous art, laid before him. 
 Accustomed to economy and simplicity of life during 
 his long retreat, he affected no pomp or state as mini- 
 ster, was easy of access to all, and gave in readily, so 
 far as he was personally concerned, to the plans of eco- 
 nomy which the King had so much at heart. Aware 
 of the growing influence of public opinion, and the phil- 
 anthropic ideas which were generally afloat, as well as 
 the sincere desire for reform which animated the breast 
 of the sovereign, he at once encouraged those dispositions 
 on the part of the monarch, and constantly represented 
 him to others as the lover of justice, order, and peace, as 
 animated by a sincere love for his people, and ready to 
 sacrifice everything to the public good. His great object
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 265 
 
 was to avoid difficulty, and prevent collision, by bringing CHAP. 
 the system of government into unison with the spirit of 
 
 the age. With this view he even outstripped the wishes 1774 - 
 of the people, and placed the ministers in correspondence 
 with the principal learned societies in Paris, and the other 
 great towns, in order to suggest measures that might 
 acquire popularity and give present satisfaction, without 
 any consideration of their ultimate consequences. This 
 change, inconsiderable as it may appear, was in reality 
 vital, and attended with the most important consequences. 
 It was no longer the court of Versailles which governed 
 the existing generation, but the existing generation which 
 governed Versailles a system of government better cal- 1 
 culated to insure present tranquillity, and bequeath future H. ioi, IO'G. 
 danger, than any that could have been devised. 1 
 
 The new system speedily appeared in the measures of 
 government. Hardly had the King ascended the throne, Dismissal 
 when the Duke of Orleans, with his son, the Duke of Ten-ay and 
 Chartres, presented to him memorials, having for their andTcln' 
 object the recall of the old parliaments, exiled by Louis 1 f a ^ e e n { ) s ar " 
 XV. Louis hesitated what part to take in this impor- 7 c ^ 21j 
 tant affair. On the one hand, the restoration of the 
 magistrates was warmly supported by the Orleans family, 
 part of the nobility, by Maurepas, the whole philosophers 
 of the capital, and the Queen, who was induced to espouse 
 their side by the influence of the Duke de Choiseul ; on 
 the other, it was strongly opposed by the Princesses 
 Adelaide and Louisa, and the King's brothers. The 
 princesses threw themselves at the King's feet, besought 
 him not to blast their father's memory by so decided a 
 condemnation of his measures, and represented the recall 
 of so heated and factious a body as likely to overturn the 
 monarchy. In this they were supported by the great 
 body of the courtiers, the Chancellor Maupcou, and 
 M. Vergennes, who had recently been admitted into the 
 ministry, and had already become distinguished by his 
 abilities. Maurepas, seeing the King thus beset on all
 
 266 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, sides, and still remaining undecided, while the majority 
 _J of the council inclined to range itself on the side adverse 
 
 1774 - to the parliament, took the bold step of overturning alto- 
 gether the ministers of the late king. The Abbe Terray, 
 M. de la Vrilliere, and the Chancellor Maupcou, the 
 leading ministers in opposition to Maurepas, were dis- 
 missed, and the project adopted of restoring the parlia- 
 ments. This decisive step was taken on the anniversary 
 of the massacre of St Bartholomew. The Parisians, 
 transported with joy, called it, " the St Bartholomew of 
 the ministers," and openly insulted the fallen statesmen 
 in the streets. Still, however, the resistance continued ; 
 the Count d'Artois and the princesses renewed their 
 entreaties and remonstrances, and invoked the shades of 
 his august ancestors to dissuade the King from adopting a 
 measure which could not fail to prove fatal to his house. 
 TURGOT, Miromesnil, and MALESHERBES, who had been 
 introduced into the ministry in the room of the Abbe 
 Terray, La Vrilliere, and Maupeou, strongly maintained 
 j Soulavic the opposite opinion. The King, sensible of the imper- 
 il IBO, 229. tance of the question, and unable to make up his mind on 
 us, 120. the subject, had it repeatedly debated, both orally in the 
 council, and in written memorials of no common ability. 1 * 
 
 * On the part of the parliament, it was urged by the Abbe Mably and others, 
 " That the noblesse of the kingdom, the princes and peers of the blood-royal, 
 were entitled to be judged only by the first body of an immovable, indestruc- 
 tible, and national magistracy ; that under whatever form that magistracy had 
 existed in France, whether under that of an assembly called champ-de-Mars, 
 cour-pleniere, states-general, or parliament, it had been, in all ages, an essential 
 part of the monarchy, the concurrence of which was indispensable to the com- 
 pleting and publishing the law : that immovability was the essential quality of 
 a magistracy to which functions thus supreme and important were intrusted : 
 that it had been regarded in all ages as the chief safeguard of the public 
 liberties, and rampart against arbitrary power in fine, as an inherent part of 
 the fundamental laws of the State. That functions so august imperatively 
 required in the magistrates, peers, and princes of the blood, the greatest 
 security in their exercise, in order that they might be the better enabled to 
 administer justice to the people, and not have to fear the influence of authority 
 in deciding according to their conscience : that the most valuable part of the 
 public law of France was that which secured to immovable bodies, recognised 
 at all times both by the king and the nation, the stability necessary to the pre- 
 servation of the general law of the realm, and of individuals to the sanction- 
 ing of such enactment, the reclamation of rights, and the consideration of the
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 267 
 
 At length, Maurepas, Malesherbes, and Turgot prevailed ; CHAP. 
 
 and on the 21st October 1774, the circular was signed by '. 
 
 the King, which recalled the exiled parliament of Paris. 1774 - 
 This great victory of the popular party deserves to be ^ 
 especially marked as the first step in the chain of causes importance 
 
 1 rr> I'll- 1 11 1 f tne ste P 
 
 and effects which ultimately overturned the monarchy, thus taken. 
 For the first time since the days of the Cardinal Richelieu, 
 the court had now openly receded : the ruling authority 
 was felt to be elsewhere than at Versailles ; a power had 
 risen up greater than the throne. It was not, however, 
 behind the throne, and overshadowing its determinations ; 
 it was in front of the throne, and intimidating it. As 
 may well be supposed, the King acquired unbounded popu- 
 larity by this act. His name was repeated with enthu- 
 
 bearing of new edicts on the "existing rights of individual or public bodies. 
 On these principles the exiling of the late parliament was an arbitrary stretch 
 of power, which never should have been made : the confiscation of offices by 
 which it was followed was a still more iniquitous measure : the noblesse and 
 princes of the blood can legally sit in no other parliament but that of Paris ; 
 their presence in any other assembly is forced and illegal : the new parliament 
 of M. de Maupeou has no legal foundation ; the true and only parliament is 
 that which is composed of the king, the princes of the blood, the peers, and 
 the members whose offices had been arbitrarily confiscated, without forfeiture 
 or legal process, by the late monarch." 
 
 To these weighty and able arguments, it was answered by Monsieur and the 
 Count d'Artois, " The exiled magistracy had reared tip in the State a rival 
 authority to counterbalance that of our king, and establish a monstrous 
 equilibrium, or rather a dead-lock, which must necessarily paralyse adminis- 
 tration, and plunge the kingdom into anarchy. What would become of the 
 authority of the king if these magistrates, linked together in every province by 
 a general association, should form a united body, determined to suspend at will 
 the royal functions, stop the registering and execution of the laws, and even 
 suspend at pleasure the administration of justice between man and man ? It is 
 said the dismissal of the late parliament was an arbitrary act ; admitting it 
 was, what rendered it necessary ? Why, a universal resolution on their part to 
 cease performing their functions, and thereby paralyse the whole administra- 
 tion of justice throughout the kingdom. Is the late king to be blamed because, 
 resisted by so unparalleled and factious a combination, he met it by an 
 unwonted act of vigour, suited to the exigencies of the moment ? For ages the 
 parliament have maintained a sourd but incessant warfare against our kings. 
 Their pretexts have always been the public good, and the interest of the people, 
 objects which they constantly sacrificed ; and now it is gravely proposed to re- 
 instate these magistrates in functions which they have so scandalously abused, 
 and of which they were so justly deprived. Shall the late king be virtually 
 convicted of having exiled and despoiled faithful magistrates, v> - hen he only 
 broke up an illegal combination, which proposed to take the crown off his 
 head by universally stopping the administration of justice ? What an example
 
 2G8 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 III. 
 
 1774. 
 
 i Weber, i. 
 118, 120. 
 Soul. ii. 
 172, 221. 
 
 siasm in the streets ; the Queen became more popular than 
 ever ; the exiled parliament was the object of universal 
 enthusiasm ; and the dismissed ministers were assailed 
 with cutting couplets and sarcasms. More sagacious ob- 
 servers, however, prognosticated little good from a revolu- 
 tion in government, which commenced by the Crown openly 
 receding before a popular body in a contest for power, in- 
 stead of effecting a redress of the grievances which were 
 complained of ; and did not hesitate to prophesy, that in 
 recalling the parliament the King had signed the warrant 
 for his own eventual dethronement. 1 * Certain it is, that 
 the members of that body were not slow in showing that 
 they entertained little gratitude towards their benefactor, 
 that their ambition was not likely to diminish with their 
 
 to the firmness of kings ! What an encouragement to the violence of the 
 people. To preserve his crown, to continue the administration of affaire, 
 Louis XV. created new magistrates in lieu of the factious body of whom he had 
 got quit shall they be now confiscated and removed as a reward for having 
 replaced the crown on his royal head ? Shall the kingdom be anew exposed to 
 the calamities consequent on the ambition of a magistracy, the enemies of the 
 clergy and rivals of the noblesse, the only true support of the throne which 
 carried political passion into the judgment-seat, and even universally suspended 
 the discharge of their duty to extort a concession from the crown ? Let it not 
 be supposed that the exiled magistrates will be either grateful or reasonable if 
 they are restored to their functions. They will return as gentle as lambs ; 
 they will soon become as rampant as lions : for all their acts of disobedience 
 they will allege the interest of the state, the people, and their lord the king. 
 In their most flagrant acts of disobedience they will say they are obeying their 
 constitution ; the populace will fly to their succour, and the royal authority 
 will one day sink under the weight of their resistance. Such will be the con- 
 sequence of sacrificing the submissive magistracy which does its duty, to the 
 rebellious magistracy which does not." MSmoires de M. LE Due D'ORLEANS, 
 el de MONSIEUR FRERE DU Roi, Sept. 1774, given in SOULAVIE, ii. 206, 214. No- 
 thing can be more curious and instructive than these able arguments, which 
 throw so much light on the great constitutional question at issue in France in 
 their debate, and which lay bare that awful question of where the supreme 
 power is really to reside, which it is one important object of a constitutional 
 monarchy to shroud from public gaze. 
 
 * Monsieur Count de Provence, afterwards Louis XVIII., made a last effort to 
 dissuade his brother from taking this step, in an able memoir, which concluded 
 with the following words : " Je resume les services du parlement actuel et les 
 crimes du parlement exile". Le parlement actuel a remis sur la tete du roi la 
 couronne que le parlement en exil lui avait 6tee, et M. de Maupeou, que vous 
 avez exile, a fait au roi le proces que les rois vos aieux soutenaient contre les 
 parlements depuis deux siecles : le proces a 6t<$ jug6, et vous, mon frere, vous 
 cassez le jugement pour recommencer la procedure." MONSIEUR au Roi, Sept. 
 28, 1774 ; SOULAVIE, ii. 221, 222.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 269 
 
 success, and that they regarded themselves as victors in a CHAP. 
 
 TTT 
 
 conflict in which no alternative remained to the Crown but _ 
 
 submission. 1774. 
 
 The first act of the parliament of Paris was to protest, 
 the day after its re-establishment, against the very edict ingratitude 
 which had re-established it against the lit de justice in Hammr 1 " 
 which its life had been restored, and against all the pre- ly^ 22 ' 
 cautions and restraints by which Miromesnil had fondly Dec - 2 - 
 imagined he had erected a perpetual barrier against its 
 encroachments ; and soon after, the princes and peers were 
 recalled by an act of their own, which restored all their 
 former consideration. Maurepas himself was not long of 
 experiencing their gratitude. On the evening before their 
 installation he had been at the opera, where he was re- 
 ceived with thunders of applause by a crowded audience. 
 Next day he went to the hall of the parliament, expecting 
 to meet with the same reception from the exiled members. 
 " You must retire, sir," said M. d'Aguesseau, their chair- 
 man ; " you have no right to be here." " Do not disturb 
 yourself," replied the imperturbable minister ; " I have not 
 come here to sit down, but only on my way to the lan- 
 terne." * The important consequences of the irretrievable 
 step thus taken were fully appreciated at the time by the 
 opponents of the measure. " Read," said they, " the his- 
 tory of England ; you will there see the parliament for 
 long at issue with the king : the popular party prevailed 
 at last. Dastardly ministers persuaded the monarch to 
 abandon the defenders of his authority : they were de- 
 stroyed. The parliament was only rendered thereby the 
 more audacious : the king became sensible he must resume 
 his rights, but it was no longer in his power ; and the ]fJSS^ 
 throne fell under the strokes of republican ambition. 1 A c ^\ d ,e 
 
 Richelieu, 
 
 monarchical government becomes republican when the Jan. 1/75. 
 depositaries of the royal authority abuse the power in- 203, '204. 
 trusted to them, of making themselves obeyed in the name 
 
 * Corresponding to the lantern of the old House of Commons, where ladies 
 ho.ird the debates.
 
 270 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, of the laws, by setting the first example of rewarding 
 
 those who disobey them!' 
 
 1774. The revolution in the system of government which 
 
 change' in followed the recall of the parliament was more important 
 
 S^vera than that recall itself, which was in truth only a symptom, 
 and the first effect, of the previous change. The system 
 of government hitherto pursued had been, in Cardinal 
 Fleury's words, " to allow France to follow its own course ; 
 to surrender it without constraint to the bent of the 
 national genius, and only to take care that that genius 
 was not altered." But that system was no longer prac- 
 ticable, for the national mind itself had changed and 
 changed to such a degree as to render it no longer pos- 
 sible to carry on the government on the old maxims. 
 Necessity in such circumstances prescribed change, wisdom 
 counselled it ; but it counselled at the same time such 
 change only as should be founded on experience and ob- 
 servation, and as little as possible at variance with existing 
 habits and institutions. Instead of this, Turgot and the 
 Economists proposed to remould France entirely after a 
 model drawn from the schools of philosophy ; to disregard 
 alike custom, prejudice, experience, in their innovations ; 
 and recast a kingdom of a thousand years' standing as 
 they would found a colony landed for the first time on an 
 
 267, U 269. uninhabited shore. It is not surprising that in such an 
 attempt they overturned the monarchy." 
 
 TURGOT, who took the lead in this great scheme of 
 
 Birth aiid general change, was born in Paris in the year 1 729 so 
 that he was forty-seven years of age when he was admitted 
 into the ministry. He was the son of a public functionary, 
 who had rendered his name respectable by the probity of 
 his administration in an important situation in the capital ; 
 and even from his earliest years, the future minister was 
 distinguished by his thirst for knowledge, and the gravity 
 and severity of his manners. At first destined for the 
 church, he passed with distinction through the schools 
 of the Sorbonne ; and at that period pronounced an
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 271 
 
 eloquent oration on the blessings which mankind had CHAP. 
 derived from the Christian religion. * It would have been 
 
 well for him and his country if he had adhered through 1774 - 
 life to the wise and enlightened views which he then 
 entertained. The next discourse which he delivered, two 
 years after, showed, however, the new bent which his 
 mind had taken ; it was on " The successive advances of 
 the human mind," and gave indication of uncommon 
 power of thought, accompanied, at the same time, by an 
 undue estimate of the nature of men. He soon evinced a 
 distaste for the ecclesiastical profession ; said he could not 
 consent to "wear a mask through life on his face ;" and, 
 leaving the church, devoted himself to the magistracy as a 
 profession, and at the same time applied, with the utmost 
 vigour, to the study of almost every branch of knowledge. 
 In 1 752, he obtained the official situation of councillor of 
 parliament, and, in the course of the vehement disputes 
 between the Jesuits and Jansenists, which then agitated 
 the kingdom, published a pamphlet, entitled, " Letters on 
 Toleration," which had a great influence at the time, and 
 procured him immediate admission to the literary circles of 
 the capital. Though he continued his philosophic labours, 
 
 and translated a great many works, both in prose and 
 
 f 11 A v r !. 1Du P !n . 
 
 verse, from several languages, yet the bent of his genius Mem. sur 
 
 led him strongly to the cultivation of political science, and 
 he soon became a devoted worshipper of Quesnay and the 
 sect of the Economists. 1 In 1 761 he was appointed iuten- *> an T d T . 
 
 * JT -Diog. Univ. 
 
 dant of the Limousin, which office he held till 1773, and xh-ii. 03,71. 
 
 ,..,,, , . . Soul. n. 
 
 m that situation he had ample opportunity of putting in 276, 273. 
 practice his numerous benevolent and philanthropic pro- 
 
 * " La morale des payens," said he in this oration, " n'avait connu que 1'art 
 de former des citoyens d'une telle nation, ou des philosophes distingues par la 
 preeminence de leurs maximes, supeVieures a celles de leurs contemporains. La 
 morale Chretienne, au contraire, avait pour base des maximes et des devoirs 
 obligatoires, et crtait dans Fhomme un nouvel homme. Elle etait la protectrice 
 de regalite" des droits, elle travailla a la destruction de 1'esclavage domestique 
 et de celui de la glebe : elle contribua par la douceur de ses maximes & flechir 
 1'esprit inquiet et turbulent des peuples de 1'antiquite." Mtmoire de L'ABBE 
 TURGOT, given in SOUL.WIE, ii. 274.
 
 272 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, jccts. The seclusion of that province, however, at length 
 became irksome to one who thirsted so ardently after 
 
 1774 - intellectual society ; he returned to Paris, and was soon 
 after appointed comptroller-general of finance, in room of 
 the Abbe Tcrray. 
 
 Though the measures which Turgot carried, or attempted 
 Hischarac- to carry, when minister, and still more the principles on 
 minuter, which they were founded, had the most fatal effect on the 
 royal authority, yet he was far from being republican in 
 his ideas, or connected with any of the refractory parties 
 in parliament, who were so long at issue with the throne. 
 On the contrary, he uniformly supported the Crown in 
 these contests, strove to allay the general fervour, and kept 
 aloof from all the opposition which excited so vehement 
 an interest in all classes of society. He did this from 
 principle, not from interest. He sincerely desired the 
 predominance of the Crown. According to the French 
 constitution, a royal edict was, in his eyes, a sacred thing, 
 and it was precisely from the use which he hoped one day 
 to make of these decrees that he looked on them with such 
 veneration. He did not propose, like Gracchus, to degrade 
 the executive and elevate the commons, by systematic 
 warfare ; he aspired to mould it, like Antoninus, according 
 to the dictates of an enlarged philosophy. Malesherbes 
 said of him, " He has the head of Bacon and the heart of 
 L'H6pital ;" and, in truth, his character of mind rendered 
 him singularly qualified to act the part of a patriot minis- 
 ter. Profoundly versed in political science, as well as in 
 almost every branch of knowledge ; severe in his principles, 
 irreproachable in his manners ; ardent in the pursuit of 
 Mcnhan,98. speculative improvement, and yet capable, as his admi- 
 Bio^Univ. nistration in the Limousin demonstrated, of the most 
 Molmfer &' mmute attention to practical details ; a passionate friend 
 DU 't ^ i m P rovcmen t> an d yet a steady supporter of justice- 
 Notice s'ur he was precisely the man for whom the benevolence of 
 
 Turgot, . i i -11 
 
 54, 67. Louis longed, m order to reduce into a practical shape his 
 warm aspirations for the good of his people. 1 He soon
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 273 
 
 acquired, accordingly, a very great influence over his royal CHAP. 
 
 master; and Louis frequently said, mournfully, after he J 
 
 had been driven from Paris, " There was none but Turgot 1774 - 
 and I loved the people." 
 
 Had this able man united to these great and good 25 
 qualities an adequate knowledge of human nature, and a Fatal e m>rs 
 correct view of the quarter in which all reform, to be pii pn 
 effectual, must commence, he would have been an invalu- 
 able minister, and better adapted than any other man, 
 by cautious and salutary, yet unflinching reforms, to have 
 prevented the Revolution. But unhappily he laboured 
 under one great defect, which not only proved his own 
 ruin, but rendered him the most dangerous guide that 
 could have been selected for that crisis. He was only the 
 more so that there was really so much estimable in his 
 character, and beneficent in his intentions. He was entirely 
 ignorant of human nature, rigid and unaccommodating in 
 his ideas, and pursued his designs without any considera- 
 tion of the effect they were to produce, either upon the 
 persons likely to be injured, or those intended to be bene- 
 fited by his reforms. " He operated," says Senac de 
 Meilhan, " upon the body politic like an anatomist upon 
 a dead subject, and never considered that he was acting 
 upon living and sensitive beings. He thought only of 
 things and principles, not men : regarding the latter either 
 as virtuous, in which case they might be persuaded by 
 reason ; or as scoundrels, who were to be ruled only by 
 force." A devout believer in perfectibility, and the inde- 
 finite progress of the human mind, when guided by the 
 light of philosophy, he forgot that inherent corruption, 
 when unrestrained by higher influences, speedily gets the 277, U 279.' 
 mastery of all the means of general illumination, and 
 converts the torch of knowledge itself into the delusive 
 flame which lures its followers to perdition. In a word, 
 Turgot the philosopher entirely forgot the principles of 8 ^. Bi. 
 Turgot the abbe : l lie sought for the means of improve- 73, 75. 
 ment in external change of the structure of society, not 
 
 VOL. i. s
 
 274 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, internal purification of the heart of its members ; in secret 
 he was leagued with those who aimed at the overthrow 
 
 1774 - of Christianity he proposed to leave religion entirely to 
 individual choice, and its support to the voluntary contri- 
 butions of those who desired it ; and trusted for the 
 advance of society, and the eradication of all the evils 
 with which it is afflicted, to the light of philosophy, the 
 sway of reason, and the principles of justice.* 
 
 His principles of finance were unexceptionable, and 
 Target's announced in the famous letter which he addressed to the 
 tw^Mfa King on his appointment to office, " Point de banqueroute, 
 point d'augmentation d'impot, point d'emprunts," were 
 the principles which he unfolded in this letter, which 
 deserves a place in history from the upright, unflinching 
 system of economy and foresight which it unfolded.t 
 Few, probably, will be disposed to deny that these are 
 the true principles of finance, if practicable ; the difficulty 
 always is to render them such. One of the first cares of 
 the new minister was to draw up a statement of the con- 
 dition in which he found the finances, from which it 
 appeared that the receipts were 22,000,000 francs 
 (880,000) less than the expenses, besides revenues of 
 the succeeding year anticipated to the amount of 
 78,000,000 francs, or 3,120,000 ; so that there was in 
 reality a deficit for the year 1775 of 100,000,000 francs, 
 or 4,000,000 sterling. It is no small credit to Turgot 
 
 * It may readily be imagined what exultation the elevation to the ministry 
 of a man of these principles afforded to the philosophers of Paris ; and their 
 joy, which is strongly portrayed in their confidential correspondence at this 
 period, is peculiarly instructive, as demonstrating what principles they under- 
 stood to have really obtained, with Turgot's appointment, the direction of affairs. 
 Voltaire, on 3d August 1775, wrote to the King of Prussia : " Nous perdons 
 le gout, mais nous acque"rons la pensSe. II y a surtout un M. Turgot, qui serait 
 digne de parler avec votre majeste'. Les pretres sont au dcsespoir. Voild, le 
 commencement d'une grande revolution. Cependant on n'ose pas encore se dg- 
 clarer ouvertement. On mine en secret le nieux palais de I 'imposture fonde dejws 
 1775 annSet." VOLTAIRE au Roi DE PRUSSE, 3d August 1775 ; Correspondence 
 avec le Roi de Prusse. 
 
 t " To accomplish these three points there is but one method, and that is to 
 reduce the expenditure below the income ; and so much below it as to lay by 
 every year twenty million francs (800,000) as a sinking fund to reduce the
 
 HISTOET OF EUROPE. 275 
 
 that, by the vigour and extent of his reductions, this CHAP. 
 huge deficit was in a great degree filled up in the next 
 
 year, without any additions to the burdens of the people, 1774 - 
 or fresh loans contracted. At the same time, he gave an 
 earnest of the fidelity with which he was about to dis- 
 charge the just engagements of the State, by ordering 
 immediate payment of 15,000,000 francs (600,000) to 
 the public creditors, who had received no interest on 
 their debts for four years. During the nineteen months 
 that he held the office of finance minister, the debts he dis- 
 charged amounted to 100,000,000 francs, or 4,000,000 i SOUL H. 
 a vast reduction to be made in so short a time, and Tableau 8 ^ 
 affording decisive evidence of the ease with which even H- 7 ?^ ot ' 
 
 1775. Droz, 
 
 the great embarrassments of the French exchequer might 159 - 
 
 i -f f -L j i, -j Pi Baill y> Hist - 
 
 have been overcome, if foreign wars had been avoided, Fmanciere 
 
 by a firm adherence to the same system of unflinching 194? r 
 economy. 1 
 
 The next great measure of Turgot's was the establish- 
 ment of absolute freedom in the internal commerce in He estab- 
 grain, which had previously been fettered with numerous trade in re 
 restrictions, amounting almost to a prohibition, in its 
 circulation from province to province. Although no one 
 
 can doubt that this measure was founded on the clearest * 13 
 
 T T 1 ' 74 - 
 
 principles both of justice and expediency, yet it gave rise 
 
 immediately to violent complaints, on the part alike of 
 the persons who had speculated, or were engaged in trade 
 on the faith of the old restrictions, and of the people, who 
 
 debt. Till that is effected, the first camion-shot will reduce the State to bank- 
 ruptcy. I am asked, 'Where will I economise?' and every functionary, in his 
 own department, will doubtless exclaim that the expenses are as low as pos- 
 sible. There may be much truth in that ; but reason itself must yield to 
 necessity. I foresee that I shall have numerous enemies to combat, whom I 
 must withstand alone. I shall see arrayed against me the numerous classes 
 who profit by the existing abuses ; the strong prejudices which oppose every 
 reform, which are so strong an engine in the hand of those who would per- 
 petuate disorders ; the natural goodness of heart of your Majesty, and those who 
 are most dear to you ; in fine, the people themselves, so easy to be deceived, 
 will very probably be roused to fierce hostility against me. I would sink under 
 the prospect of such antagonists if I did not rely on your Majesty's promise of 
 support ; and I rely on more than the promise of the King the word of the 
 man." TURGOT to Louis XVI., 24th August 1774 ; SOULA.VIE, ii. 284.
 
 276 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, became exasperated at the sight of corn, when the price 
 1IL was already high, being transported away from their 
 
 1775 - paternal fields. The bad harvest of 1774, known and 
 felt throughout all Europe, added to these unfavourable 
 impressions. The populace, instead of ascribing the dear- 
 ness of grain to its true cause a scarcity in the supply 
 universally imputed it to the arts of forestallers and 
 regraters, who had bought up the corn to enhance its 
 price. As the price of provisions continued to rise 
 through the whole winter, the public discontent became 
 altogether uncontrollable in the spring following ; and in 
 
 April 26, April and May, serious riots broke out simultaneously in 
 many different parts of France. In Burgundy, numerous 
 
 May2,i775. disorders were committed. Pontoise, nearer Paris, was 
 the centre of the insurrection, from whence it spread to 
 
 , Soul .. Versailles, where the King sought in vain, by addressing 
 
 289,293.' them, to appease a clamorous multitude, who insisted 
 
 Droz,i.l64, . r Y- f AJ. 1 -LI -L! ' 1 
 
 165. upon a reduction of price. At length they were pacmed 
 only by obtaining the desired diminution. 1 
 
 This concession, as might have been anticipated, only 
 violent augmented the public disorders. The tumult ceased at 
 which " Versailles ; but the mob moved in the night to Paris, 
 w h ere the bakers' shops were all broken into, and great 
 quantities of grain plundered and thrown into the streets. 
 Large bodies of military on the following day restored 
 tranquillity in the capital, but the tumults in the neighbour- 
 hood continued ; and in a combat between the insurgents 
 and the troops on the road to Versailles, several lives were 
 lost. With difficulty Turgot and Malesherbes prevailed 
 on Louis to adopt rigorous measures. The troops in 
 Paris were augmented to twenty-five thousand, and placed 
 under Marshal Biron ; martial law was proclaimed, the 
 provost-marshal put in authority, and two ringleaders 
 caught pillaging M r ere hanged summarily on a gibbet 
 forty feet high. Next day a general amnesty was pro- 
 claimed ; and the King, overcome with scruples of con- 
 science at this unwonted act of vigour, repeatedly said to
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 277 
 
 Turgot " Have we nothing to reproach ourselves with CHAP. 
 in the measures we have adopted 1 " This well-timed 
 
 severity, however, put down the disturbances, but not 1775 - 
 before they had become really formidable, and done great 
 local mischief. Two things were observed during their 
 continuance, of much importance and sinister augury for 
 future times. The parliament of Paris openly took the 
 part of the insurgents, addressed the King to lower the 
 price of grain, and were only subdued by a lit de justice 
 held at Versailles, and a royal decree which took the 
 prosecutions entirely out of their hands ; and the disturb- 
 ances were conducted with so much unity of design, and 
 simultaneous violence in different places, as to leave no 
 room for doubt that they were instigated with a common 
 design, and directed by no ordinary leaders.*"" The dis- 
 position of the Parisians to make light of the most serious 
 convulsions, was already conspicuous while they lasted. 
 The theatres were open the whole time ; Biron's " Cam- J^g 8 ^ 
 pagne des Farines" was the subject of many witty coup- Biog. Univ. 
 lets ; and the mantua-makers immediately brought out (Turgot)'. 
 " bonnets a la re volte." 1 
 
 GUILLAUME DE MALESHERBES, whose firmness mainly 29 
 contributed to the suppression of these dangerous disturb- History and 
 
 . >i i character 
 
 ances, was born of an ancient family of the magistracy of Maies- 
 in 1721 ; so that, when elevated by Louis to the ministry, 
 he was fifty-five years of age. He was educated by the 
 Jesuits, and early trained for the magistracy, which he 
 entered at the age of twenty-three, and was soon after 
 
 * In the address to the cur6s, to be read in the parish churches during these 
 disturbances, the King made use of the remarkable expression, " When the 
 people shall be made acquainted with the authors of this sedition, they will 
 regard them with horror." It was subsequently, however, and probably 
 wisely, judged more prudent not to adopt any measure which might reveal 
 the secret information which government had received on the subject. What 
 confirmed the opinion that the disturbances had a deeper origin than merely 
 the high price of provisions, and were in truth a political movement, was the 
 extraordinary and systematic regularity of this outrageous movement. The 
 keeper of the seals said to the parliament of Paris : " The movements of the 
 brigands appear combined ; their approach is announced before it takes place ; 
 public rumour indicates the place, the hour, where their violences are to be
 
 278 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, appointed substitute to the procureur-general before the 
 parliament of Paris. In 1750 he succeeded, on the pro- 
 
 1775. motion to the chancellorship of his father, Lamoignon de 
 Malesherbes, who had long held the office, to the situation 
 of president of the " Cour des Aides," the chamber of the 
 parliament which took cognisance of exchequer or tax 
 prosecutions. In that important situation, which he held 
 for the next twenty-six years, he had ample opportunities 
 for displaying both the integrity and firmness of his cha- 
 racter ; and it is no small proof of both, that he was 
 banished for four years by Louis XV. in 1771, for refus- 
 ing to recognise the suppression of the parliament. Many 
 were the memorials which he addressed great the efforts 
 he made, during his long tenure of office, to shield inno- 
 cence from oppression, or deliver wretchedness from de- 
 tention ; and it was in one of these remonstrances that 
 he made use of the celebrated expression, so character- 
 istic of France under the ancient regime, " No one is 
 so great as to be beyond the reach of the hatred of a 
 minister, nor so little as to escape the notice of a farmer 
 of the revenue." * He was desirous, when brought back 
 MaioLrb. * u triumph on the restoration of the parliament in 1774, 
 Bi^'univ' * resign his situation as president of the Cour des Aides, 
 xxvi. 359, that he might pass the remainder of his life in study 
 
 361. Droz, . . T.I 
 
 i. 177. and retirement ; l and it was only on a third request, 
 and as a personal favour to Turgot, for whom he had a 
 great regard, that he could be prevailed on to accept the 
 
 committed. It appears that a general plan has been formed to pillage the 
 country, to interrupt the communications, to stop the transport of corn along 
 the high-roads, in order to succeed in famishing the great towns, and espe- 
 cially Paris." In addition to this, it appeared that great numbers of the mob 
 were drunk, and had money to distribute to others ; and when they broke 
 into the granaries and bakers' shops, instead of eating the grain or carrying it 
 away, they destroyed it, or threw it into the streets. Turgot was convinced 
 to the latest hour of his life that these riots were the result of a conspiracy 
 formed by the Prince of Conti and the party in the parliament of Pai'is hostile 
 to his designs ; and the Duke of Orleans did not escape suspicions of being 
 connected with the plot. See DROZ, Histoire de Louis XVI., i. 168; and 
 Biographic Universelle, xlvii. 76 (TURGOT). 
 
 * His first words on returning were, " Oublions le passe", excusons lea 
 faiblesses, sacrifions les ressentimens." DROZ, i. 174.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 279 
 
 situation of minister of the interior, upon the dismissal of CHAP. 
 La Vrilliere in August 1774. IIL 
 
 Turgot and Malesherbes were entirely at one as to 1775 - 
 the necessity of great reforms to restore stability to the Males-' 
 monarchy, and eradicate the numerous abuses which had cfp&of nn 
 grown up under the despotic reigns of former sovereigns. g vemment - 
 But their principles of government were widely different ; 
 and if they had continued long in office together, this dif- 
 ference must have led to a schism between them. Both 
 were upright in their principles, sincere in their character, 
 and passionately desirous of promoting the general good. 
 Both felt the necessity of great reforms to effect it, and 
 were gifted with the moral courage and disinterested 
 patriotism necessary to carry them into practice, in the 
 face of the interested opposition of the most powerful cor- 
 porations and individuals in the State. Both were liberal 
 in their principles, intimately connected with the philo- 
 sophical party in Paris, and imbued with the deistical 
 principles, and prejudices against Christianity, then un- 
 happily so prevalent in France. But here their union 
 terminated. On the principles of the new government 
 which they proposed to establish in the room of the old 
 regime, they were widely at variance. Malesherbes was 
 a reformer, but not an innovator. Descended of a legal 
 family, and trained to legal habits, he had no intention 
 of subverting the fundamental laws and institutions of 
 the State ; he only desired to clear them of their abuses, 
 and restore them to the efficiency for practical good, of 
 which he still thought them capable. He proposed, 
 therefore, to eradicate all oppressive powers and insti- 
 tutions, and provide safeguards against the recurrence 
 of abuses, but to leave the general institutions of the 
 monarchy unchanged. He made it the first condition 
 of accepting office, that the King should sign no lettres- 
 de-cachet but what he presented to him ; and his first 
 care was to visit in person the State prisons, and deliver 
 half the inmates, many of whom had lingered for years
 
 280 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, in their dungeons. He intended to restore gradually the 
 States-general ; to concede to accused persons the right 
 
 1775. O f being defended by counsel ; to remove the restrictions 
 on the Protestants in the exercise of their religious wor- 
 ship ; to abolish torture and the punishment of the 
 wheel ; to re-enact the Edict of Nantes ; to remove the 
 censorship of the press ; and, without altogether abolish- 
 ing lettres-de-cachet, to limit them to extraordinary cases, 
 Andas, and give the person arrested the right, in all instances, of 
 ii'ai^herb. bringing his detention before an elevated tribunal, created 
 249 47 'r>roz f r *h a t special purpose. He proposed, as he himself said, 
 * nc cause of the people before the King ;" but 
 
 i, SGO, still it was before the King that the process was to depend. 
 li. 14, is. ' He little anticipated that he would be called on, in his old 
 age, to plead the cause of the King before the people. 1 
 
 Bred in the school of the Philosophers, imbued with 
 views of the principles of the Economists, Turgot took a bolder 
 and more speculative view with regard to the regenera- 
 
 f p rance> jj e proposed to remould its institutions 
 according to a model framed by the hands of philosophy. 
 He acted on the principle of human perfectibility, of 
 which, in common with Condorcet, he was so strenuous a 
 supporter. He began by giving a noble proof of disin- 
 terested virtue himself, by refusing the customary present 
 of a hundred thousand crowns (25,000), which had 
 always been paid by the farmers-general of the revenue 
 to the finance minister when they signed their bail-bonds, 
 directing it to be given to the hospitals and poor of 
 Paris. This splendid deed won him public admiration 
 an( * P^ate enmity ; the majority of men in secret ever 
 BK>. Univ. hate a generosity which they feel themselves unable to 
 (Turgot). imitate. 2 Though fully aware of the present selfishness 
 and egotism of men,* he thought that it was the result of 
 
 * " Every one seeks to deceive the government, and to throw the social 
 charges on his neighbour ; the revenues of all are concealed, and can only be 
 discovered very imperfectly by an inquisition, which puts the King, as it were, 
 at war with his people." TURGOT, MGmoire sur I' Administration, 1775 ; SOU- 
 LA VIE, iii. 139.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 281 
 
 vicious institutions or antiquated prejudices ; and that by CHAP. 
 the aid of the light of philosophy, social felicity might in 
 
 the end be built upon the broad basis of general virtue. 1775 - 
 His ideas, in consequence, embraced a total change of 
 society, as the only effectual means of eradicating the 
 evils under which it at present laboured. 
 
 He conceived that religion should be left to the volun- 
 tary support of those who required it, and not supported His ultimate 
 by the property of the church ; that the tithe should be 
 gradually abolished, after making due provision for the 
 existing incumbents ; that the ecclesiastical property 
 should be put at the disposal of the nation, and in part 
 appropriated to instruction in the elementary branches of 
 knowledge and morality ; and that, to avoid, the disputes 
 of sects, no religious opinions or ceremonies should be 
 inculcated at these schools, but the moral principles only 
 on which all were agreed. In civil government, he held 
 that the existence of separate orders of nobility and clergy 
 was a fundamental error ; that the right of making laws, 
 however, should be limited to the class of proprietors, and 
 votes be in proportion to the property held ; * that all 
 citizens should be alike eligible to every employment, civil 
 and military ; that all corporations, statutes of apprentice- 
 ship, and monopolies of whatever sort, should be abolished, j Condor . 
 so that the career of industry in every branch should be J^^ 6 ^ 5 
 alike open to all ; and that legislative assemblies should 78. s'oui.' 
 be formed in the provinces, chosen by and deriving their 11/344.' 
 power from the general election of the people. 1 
 
 In a word, all the changes of the Constituent Assembly, 
 which fifteen years afterwards overturned the whole fabric His design. 8 
 of society in France, had their origin in the ideas of l t ' 
 Turgot for its regeneration. It was only as the final 
 result, however, and after a long course of previous train- 
 ing, that he contemplated the adoption of such extensive 
 
 * He proposed to the King, that freehold property to the extent of 1000 
 francs, or 40 a-year, should be the requisite for a vote, and that inferior pro- 
 prietors should only have a fraction of a vote. TUBGOT'S Memoir to Louis 
 XVI. ; SOULAVIE, iii. 142.
 
 282 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, changes ; his immediate projects were much more prac- 
 tical. They were the abolition of corvees, or the burden 
 
 1775. O f upholding the roads throughout the kingdom ; the 
 suppression of the most oppressive of the feudal rights ; 
 the imposition of the land-tax called the vingtieme on 
 the nobles and clergy ; the formation of a general and 
 equitable cadastre, or valuation of heritable property, to 
 be the basis of all territorial imposts ; the entire liberty 
 of conscience and recall of the Protestants ; the suppres- 
 sion of the greater part of the monasteries ; the redemp- 
 tion of the feudal services, with a just regard to the rights 
 of the present holders. He proposed further, to 'frame 
 one civil code for the whole kingdom ; to establish a 
 uniformity of weights and measures ; to suppress local 
 privileges and corporations ; to ameliorate the condition 
 of the working cures ; to establish a system of general 
 instruction ; to form a magnificent system for interior 
 communication by land and water ; to effect great econo- 
 i Condorcet, mies in the collection of several of the taxes, of which 
 got", 62, oe? nearly a half was intercepted in its progress towards the 
 xi'vn' 74!' v ' exchequer ; to render thought and the press as free as 
 L! g ''25 industry ; to call philosophers and men of letters to cou- 
 ifV's 41 *! ^bute their mite towards the enlightening of government ; 
 iii.'i35,i38J and to prepare the people, by the use of provincial assem- 
 
 andii.344, . .. f * .S . /., J c 1 1 S 
 
 348. blies, for the exercise of the powers of sovereign legislation 
 in the States-general. 1 
 
 It may readily be conceived what a ferment of visions 
 Transports and hopes in one class of society, and of terror and 
 loaophera hatred in another, the fact of ministers holding such 
 sentiments being at the head of affairs must have raised 
 * n France. The philosophers were in transports ; they 
 of st beheld in near prospect, not only the adoption of their 
 
 Germain. . . * 
 
 principles by government, but, what was to them still 
 more material, the communication of the influence and 
 emoluments of office to themselves. The aristocracy of 
 mind was to supplant that of the sword. The clergy 
 and nobles speedily took the alarm. Already M. Turgot
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 283 
 
 had excited the jealousy of the church, not merely by CHAP. 
 his known connection with the infidel philosophers of the 
 
 capital, and the incessant eulogies with which they loaded *' ' 5 - 
 him, but by a variety of edicts on the ceremonial parts 
 of religion, which, though not important in themselves, 
 were justly deemed material, as indicating how the wind 
 set in high quarters. * It had, in consequence, become 
 the general opinion in the capital, though erroneously, 
 as it afterwards appeared, that the King had been weaned 
 by Turgot and Malesherbes from his early prejudices, 
 and that he had adopted their deistical views of religion. 
 The noblesse entertained the most rancorous feelings 
 towards a minister whose integrity was proof against 
 their seductions, while his austerity threatened to abridge 
 their privileges, and abolish a large part of their emolu- 
 ments at court. Matters were in this combustible state 
 when the former war-minister, the Marshal de Muy, died ; 
 and, on the suggestion of Turgot, COUNT ST GERMAIN Oct. 26, 
 was appointed in his room. This change was attended ' ' 
 with the most important consequences, and deserves par- j^VgJ- 
 ticular attention, for it is intimately connected with the Soul ii. 
 
 1,- -U Vl 1 1 J xl. ,327,349; 
 
 causes which, in the last crisis, paralysed the government m. 2, 5. 
 and overturned the throne. 1 
 
 This able and intrepid, but bizarre and intractable 
 man, was born near Lons-le-Saulnier, on the 1 6th April HistoiV of 
 1707, so that when called to the ministry he was already Germain. 
 sixty-eight years of age. Descended of an old and noble 
 but decayed family, he was educated by the Jesuits, and 
 at first intended for the church ; but his ardent disposi- 
 tion soon broke through their trammels, and he entered 
 first the provincial militia, and then the regular dragoons. 
 His energetic temperament led him, as France was at 
 
 * He authorised the general sale of meat during Lent, hitherto monopolised 
 by the H6tel Dieu ; altered the mode of travelling of the messageries, so as to 
 enable them to travel during mass ; suggested the coronation of the King at 
 Paris, instead of in the cathedral of Rheims ; proposed alterations in the coro- 
 nation oath, of which the clergy disapproved, and with reason insisted on the 
 omission of the inhuman clause which bound the monarch to exterminate 
 heretics. See Biog. Univ., xlvii. 75 (TuRdOT).
 
 284 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, peace, into the service of the Elector Palatine in Germany, 
 
 ! and in 1738 he signalised his valour in the campaign of 
 
 1775< the Emperor against the Turks. France having, subse- 
 quent to this, declared war against Austria, he engaged in 
 the service of its ally, the Elector of Bavaria, where his 
 talents led to his rapid promotion. He was on the point 
 of entering the Prussian service, but, deterred by the 
 rigours of its discipline, he applied to Marshal Saxe, who 
 procured for him employment in his own country. He 
 served in the campaigns of Flanders from 1746 to 1748, 
 and afterwards with distinction in the Seven Years' War, 
 where he mainly contributed to save the wreck of the 
 French army after the rout of Rosbach, and to cover 
 the retreat from Minden. His temperament, however, 
 was too ardent to permit of his continuing long in any 
 service without quarrels ; he was too little of a courtier 
 to be a favourite at Versailles ; * and, deeming himself 
 ill used by the Duke de Broglie, his general, he threw 
 up his command, and withdrew to Denmark, where he 
 was appointed war-minister and commander-in-chief. 
 After some years spent with great distinction in that 
 country, he retired to Alsace, where he was living in 
 retirement, when the bankruptcy of the banker whom 
 he had trusted suddenly deprived him of his whole 
 fortune. Sensible of his merit and services, the Ger- 
 man regiments in the employment of France subscribed, 
 and requested him to accept, a pension of 16,000 francs 
 (640) yearly ; the war-minister, de Muy, forbade 
 this, but settled on him a pension of 10,000 francs (400) 
 a-year on the part of the Crown. St Germain lived 
 happy on this pension, in retirement, writing his 
 
 * Madame Pompadour used to call him the " Mauvais Sujet." His decision 
 of character, the greatest element in military, as in all other greatness, strongly 
 appeared when Louis XV., in 1760, proposed to attach him as mentor to the 
 Prince of Cond6 a system well known in the French and Austrian service, 
 where rank obtained command at a time when necessity called for ability. 
 " Sire," replied he, " I know but of two things in war to command and to 
 obey : as to a council, I know nothing of it." DROZ, i. 1 85 ; and Biographic 
 Universelle, xxxix. 583.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 285 
 
 memoirs, cultivating his little domain with his own CHAP. 
 hands, and supporting his reverses with dignity, when, 
 
 without the slightest communication with government 1775 - 
 or application on his part, he received an intimation 
 from Versailles that he had been appointed minister-at- 1 Droz< ; 
 war. He was busy, like Cincinnatus, planting a fruit- 6 > 1 T 8 T 9 -. 
 
 J ' > . . Biog. Univ. 
 
 tree in his garden when the courier with his nomination xxxix - 581 ' 
 
 . , , , , . 585 (Saint 
 
 arrived, and as he had no servant, a neighbouring Germain). 
 
 , ,. , ,. & , & Soul. iii. 30, 
 
 peasant got ready his horse to convey him to the 58. 
 nearest post. 1 * 
 
 The principal motive which led Turgot and Maurepas 
 to suggest St Germain's appointment to the King, was ' 
 in order that he might carry through, with unflinching 
 rigour, the reductions in the expense of the army, espe- 
 cially of the household troops, which the distressed state 
 of the finances had now rendered indispensable. They 
 found him an ardent reformer ; and his general plan for 
 the remodelling of the troops was well conceived ; but in 
 many subordinate particulars he violently shocked the 
 national feelings, and undid the bonds which united the 
 soldiers of all ranks to the sovereign. The great evils 
 were the prodigious number of officers on full or half pay 
 in proportion to that of common soldiers, and the pro- 
 motion of young men to important military employments 
 who had no acquaintance whatever with the duties of 
 their profession.! These abuses, the consequence of the 
 army being considered the mere appanage of the nobility, 
 
 * Count St Germain's appointment, which, from the singular and romantic 
 circumstances attending it, made a great noise at the time, was owing to the 
 esteem in which he was held by the Abbe Dubois, an intimate friend of Males- 
 herbes, and brother to an officer who had long been an aide-de-camp of the 
 Count. The Abbe Dubois suggested him to Malesherbes as an officer every 
 way qualified to carry through the great reforms which Turgot meditated in 
 the army, and for which he seemed better adapted than any of the high 
 noblesse. This led to a memoir on the reforms in the army, which he had 
 submitted to Maurepas on receiving his pension, being looked at ; and as it 
 pleased Louis and Turgot, he received the appointment. DKOZ, Vie de Louis 
 XVI., I 188, 189. 
 
 f The French army in 1776 consisted in all of 217,000 men ; and there were 
 60,000 officers on full or half pay. By the regulations, 17th April 1772, each 
 regiment of cavalry consisted of 480 men, of whom no lest than 146 were
 
 286 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, not the patrimony and safeguard of the State, at once 
 
 burdened the treasury and weakened the service. They 
 
 1775. were j. | )C re g ar( j e( i as the principal causes of the long 
 
 train of disasters which in recent wars had tarnished 
 
 * DTOZ, 5. the glory of the French arms. St Germain applied the 
 
 Kw/Univ. caustic with a firm hand to the gangrened limb ; but 
 
 loS'Si? 85 ' ^ e P usnc d it too far, and inflicted a deep, and, as it 
 
 6i,72. proved, an irremediable wound on the healthy part of 
 
 the system. 1 
 
 The obvious way to have remedied the abuse of super- 
 change's numerary officers would have been, to have allowed the 
 existing holder of the commissions to have enjoyed them 
 during their lives, but prevented their being filled up 
 afterwards. Instead of that, St Germain commenced his 
 reforms by an immediate sweeping reduction in the house- 
 hold troops ; the object, it is true, of excessive and 
 prodigal favour to the higher branches of the aristocracy, 
 but ennobled by the recollection of historic names and 
 deeds of fame, and forming an essential part of the 
 military force of the country. The mousquetaires gris, 
 the mousquetaires noirs, and the grenadiers h, cheval, of 
 the Maison du Roi, were suppressed : and he was medi- 
 tating still further reductions when the vehement resis- 
 tance of the nobles, at the head of the menaced corps, 
 obliged him to desist. He endeavoured to accomplish 
 
 officers, or non-commissioned officers, being nearly one officer to every three 
 privates. In the glorious days of the French army under Turenne, a company 
 was commanded only by a captain, lieutenant, and sub-lieutenant or ensign. It 
 was during the calamitous last years of the reign of Louis XIV. that the pro- 
 digious multiplication of officers began a system which at once afforded an 
 immediate relief to the treasury, by the sale of the commissions, and gratified 
 the nobility by their obtaining the salaries attached to them. When the pay 
 of such a vast accumulation of officers came to prove a serious drain upon the 
 exchequer, the only resource was to replenish its coffers by the creation and 
 sale of additional military offices : and this of course soon aggravated the evil, 
 and threw the finances of the army into inextricable confusion. When Count 
 St Germain was made minister-at-war, every regiment was burdened with a 
 train of useless supernumerary officers for whom we have no corresponding 
 words in the English language, or in the military vocabulary of Napoleon, viz. 
 " des colonels propri6taires, des colonels commandans, des colonels en second, 
 des colonels en troisieme, des colonels non commissionne's, des colonels a la 
 suite des regimens, et des colonels attaches a I'arme'e." The same abuses
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 287 
 
 the diminution of the supernumerary officers attached to CHAP. 
 every corps ; but at the very moment he was doing this, 
 
 he perpetuated the abuse by creating " colonels en second," 1775 - 
 a certain mode of lowering the principal rank, and autho- 
 rised the sale of a hundred supernumerary captaincies. 
 Various salutary regulations for the military schools, and 
 the mode of raising troops for the army, were made. But 
 the good effect of the whole was destroyed by the new 
 and fatal changes which he introduced into the discipline 
 of the private soldiers. Enamoured of the severity of 
 German discipline, unacquainted, from long absence, with 
 the peculiarity of the French character, and yet sensible 
 that the lax state of the army required a severe 
 remedy to be applied to restore its efficiency, he intro- 
 duced the German mode of punishing by strokes with 
 the cane ; and when the universal resistance of the army 
 obliged him to abrogate that mode of chastisement, he 
 substituted blows with the flat part of the sabre. This 
 system, which continued for a considerable time to be en- 
 forced, gave hardly less dissatisfaction. Mutinies broke 
 out in several regiments : the soldiers burst into tears or 
 sank down in swoons, on seeing their comrades subjected i Soul> 
 to such an indignity : numbers committed suicide to avoid D r ' z, 7 'i. 
 it ; and the celebrated saying of a grenadier, " Je n'aime > l ^ [v 
 du sabre que le tranchant," repeated from one end of xxxix - 85 
 
 .,..,.. f. (Saint Ger 
 
 r ranee to the other, worked the indignation up to a perfect main). 
 paroxysm. 1 * 
 
 existed with regard to captains, lieutenants, and all inferior grades. What 
 peculiarly aggravated these evils was, that titles of rank alone gave a right to 
 advancement ; and these invidious and burdensome commissions were often 
 purchased for money, or acquired by family influence, without the holder 
 having ever seen a shot fired in the field, or even a regiment drilled on parade ! 
 Such are the abuses resulting from unchecked aristocracy from the selfish- 
 ness of human nature, when acting in a dominant noblesse. This History will 
 show whether lesser evils grow up when a republic is established, and the 
 selfishness of human nature comes to act in an unrestrained democracy. 
 
 * In the regiment of Laval, a private was ordered to be punished with 
 strokes of the sabre ; he declared himself a gentleman before the punishment 
 began, and therefore exempt from that indignity ; his protest was disregarded, 
 and he underwent the sentence. After it was over, he proved his descent, 
 withdrew from the service, as he was then entitled to do, challenged his 
 colonel, and ran him through the body. SOUL AVI E, iii. 63. 
 
 >
 
 :2SS HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. Another of his changes, little less grating to the feelings 
 of the military, was the breaking up of the noble estab- 
 
 "76. lishment of the Hotel des Invalides of Louis XIV., and 
 
 op 
 
 ks'un 
 
 op 
 
 ' distributing the veterans in their several parishes. This 
 
 system might have answered well in England, where the 
 retained his domestic attachments ; but it 
 content* was to the last degree distasteful to the French soldiers, 
 
 tins excited 
 
 in the army. \vho regarded themselves as banished when sent to the 
 provinces with a pension ; and shed tears on being con- 
 veyed in carts past the statue of Louis XIV., the founder 
 of their establishment, in the Place Louis XV. ; exclaim- 
 ing, " We have no longer a father." An attempt next 
 made to abolish the central military school at Paris, and 
 establish six in the provinces in its stead, had no better 
 success ; the scholars revolted at the idea of being sub- 
 jected to monks or provincial pedagogues, and after this 
 system had continued for a year the old one was restored. 
 The innovations of St Germain, from being ill-directed, 
 and at variance with the spirit of the nation, injured the 
 cause of reform, and contributed to augment the growing 
 discontent at Turgot's and Malesherbes' administration. 
 He survived their ministry, however, and was not dis- 
 Sept. 3, missed till September 1777 ; but his influence had pre- 
 viously ceased, and all parties were so inveterate against 
 him, that all alike rejoiced in his fall. It was hard to 
 say whether the courtiers who sighed for the restoration 
 of the corps of guards which he had dismissed, or the 
 soldiers who were indignant at the German punishments 
 he had introduced, were most hostile to his measures. 
 To such a length had the general discontent reached, 
 i Soul HL that it had gone far to destroy the ancient loyalty of the 
 i88 67 'DrS French character ; and an officer high in command in- 
 L M *v^ formed Louis XVI., that at the time of his dismissal 
 
 Biog. Univ. 
 
 xxxix. 555. there were not two regiments in the army which could be 
 relied on. 1 * 
 
 * St Germain's character was perfectly portrayed by one circumstance. 
 After he was made minister, he bought a demesne near Rainey ; and the 
 moment he acquired it he set about the demolition of the old chateau, gardens
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 289 
 
 Turgot's power was brought to a test by the publication CHAP. 
 of his famous edicts, which at once raised up such a storm 
 
 as ultimately occasioned his downfall. The two most 1776 - 
 important of these were, one for the suppression of the Turgof-'s 
 burden of corvees, or personal service on the roads, over f'^^f 
 the whole kingdom, and the formation of a tax to supply 
 its place, borne by all landholders alike ; the other the 
 general suppression of Jurandes et Mattrises (warden- 
 ships and incorporations).""" The actual importance of 
 these changes, though in themselves by no means incon- 
 siderable, was the least cause of the interest which they 
 excited : it was the introduction of a principle which 
 rendered them so vehement an object of contention. The 
 first tended to throw a burden, hitherto borne by the 
 peasantry in kind, on the shoulders of all landed proprie- 
 tors indiscriminately ; the second abolished at once the 
 whole privileges of corporations and crafts, and rendered 
 the young workman in every department of industry, who 
 had just begun his labours, the equal in every legal privi- 
 lege of the old craftsman who had spent his life in his 
 vocation. The tendency of these changes was manifest : 
 it was to remove the burden of taxes from the peasantry 
 of the country and fix them on the land, and, abolishing 
 all distinctions of rank among the working classes in 
 towns, to prepare the way for universal equality of privi- 
 lege and suffrage. This was rendered still more manifest 
 by a work published by Boucerf, a friend of Turgot's, 
 and high in the administration of the finances, against 
 the feudal rights, and recommending the experiment of 
 
 walls, and orchards, which had cost 100,000 crowns (20,000), to make way 
 for new constructions. Not one stone was standing on another, nor one tree 
 left in six months ; and in six more he himself was dismissed from the minis- 
 try, and died of chagrin. SOULAVIE, iii. 79. 
 
 * Turgot's six edicts were as follows : 1 . For the suppression of the Caisse 
 de Poissy ; 2. For the suppression of the duties on grain in the markets; 3. 
 For the diminution of the duties on the markets ; 4. For the suppression of all 
 charges on the harbours ; 5. For the suppression of statutes of apprenticeship 
 and incorporations ; 6. For the abolition of corvees, and the imposition of a 
 general land-tax in their room. SOULAVIE, iii. 65. 
 
 VOL. I. T
 
 290 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, their abolition on the domains of the Crown, * which the 
 parliament of Paris, on the motion of a young counsellor 
 
 1776 - destined to future celebrity, d'Espremenil, ordered to be 
 
 publicly burned. Such was their indignation against this 
 
 work, that it was with the greatest difficulty that they 
 
 could be prevented from ordering a prosecution against its 
 
 , Droz . author ; and d'Espremenil's motion to serve an indict- 
 
 200,202. ment against him was only got quit of by the side-wind 
 
 85, 87. of an adjournment ; but it still hung over his head when 
 
 the Revolution broke out in 1789. 1 
 
 40 It is surprising how quick-sighted men are, when their 
 
 Universal interests are, however remotely, concerned. It was hard 
 against Tur- to say whether the noblesse and parliaments, who beheld, 
 fheSix 68 ' 8 or supposed they beheld, their feudal rights vanishing 
 into air under the magic wand of the comptroller-general, 
 or the merchants and tradesmen, who were threatened 
 with an equality of privileges being conferred on their 
 workmen, were most indignant at the proposed changes. 
 The noblesse exclaimed, that as they were now compelled 
 to contribute to the roads, the next thing would be, that 
 the King would force them to labour at them, like the 
 peasants, with their own hands. The merchants and 
 manufacturers loudly protested against their workmen 
 being raised to a level with themselves, and their birth- 
 right, or the fruit of their toil, being torn from them by 
 novices in the crafts in which they had grown grey. The 
 clergy, albeit not yet threatened in their influence or 
 possessions, took the alarm at the inroad attempted on 
 the exclusive privileges of the noblesse, and, joining the 
 Soui. iii. general cry, declared that Turgot and Malesherbes had 
 Dr'oz, 1 '!. made a philosopher and an infidel of the King. 2 The 
 Biog 2 iv. farmers of the revenue, the financiers, and the whole 
 ImTur 8 - 1 ' * r *ke s f speculators who fattened on the public taxes, 
 got). swelled the general discontent, and decried a system 
 which they foresaw would ere long lay the axe to the root 
 
 * Sur let Inconvenances des Drolls Fgodavx. Par BODCEKP, premier commis 
 des Finances. January 1776.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 291 
 
 of their usurious gains. * Following the current of public CHAP. 
 opinion, which was entirely in unison with its own aristo- IIL 
 
 cratic predilections, the parliament of Paris registered the 1776 - 
 first edict, regarding the caisse of Paris, which was of no March 12. 
 importance, and refused to ratify the others. Turgot, 
 determined not to be defeated, caused the King to hold a 
 lit de justice, and they were registered by force. 
 
 Thus was exhibited, for the first time in Europe, pro- 
 bably in the world, the extraordinary spectacle of the continu- 
 powers of a despotic government being exerted to force ^;test f St 
 democratic reforms, partly salutary, partly perilous, on an ^ent^hTc 
 unwilling country. Subsequent times have afforded more 
 than one example of a similar prodigy ; but it may well 
 be imagined what a sensation it excited when it first 
 occurred. Well might the Philosophers exclaim, that 
 they had turned despotism by its source, and got into the 
 redoubt by its gorge : property beheld itself assailed in 
 the quarter where no danger had hitherto been anticipated, 
 and where it was without defence. The parliament and 
 privileged bodies, however, were not discouraged. They 
 prolonged their debates during several nights successively ; 
 thundered forth eloquent and energetic protests against the 
 threatened invasion, without compensation, of private pro- 
 perty ; f and ultimately succeeded in raising such a ferment 
 
 * One of them said with curious naivete, " Pourquoi changer ? nous sommes 
 si bien."' DROZ, i. 206. 
 
 f* " One is tempted to believe," said they in their protest, " that there 
 exists in the State a secret party, an unknown agent, who, by internal throes, 
 seeks to overturn its foundations like those volcanoes which, preceded by 
 successive subterraneous sounds and earthquakes, subsequently cover all that 
 surrounds them with a burning torrent of ruins, of cinders and lava, which is 
 vomited forth from the entrails of the earth. Every people have their own 
 manners, laws, customs, and usages. Institutions form the political system. 
 To subvert that order is to shake the foundations of the government which all 
 nations have adopted. Among every people laws are founded on their disposi- 
 tion, their character, their opinions. Every legislator should, in the first in- 
 stance, consult the genius of the people whom he proposes to ameliorate. By 
 what fatality has it happened that our writers and legislators at present make 
 it their object to combat everything to destroy, to overturn everything ? 
 The edifice of our ordinances, based on the spirit of the nation, accommodated 
 to it, the work of so many ages, the fruit of the prudence of sovereigns, of 
 the wisdom of the most enlightened ministers, of the experience of the most
 
 292 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 III. 
 
 1776. 
 
 April so. 
 
 82. 
 207, 209. 
 
 in the country as proved irresistible. Malesherbes was 
 the first who sank before the storm. Worn out with the 
 opposition which his measures of reform had experienced, 
 disgusted with the selfishness with which he was sur- 
 rounded, despairing of effecting any permanent ameliora- 
 tion in a State where individual interest was the object 
 of universal worship, he sent in his resignation, which 
 Louis, a prey to similar vexations, mournfully accepted, 
 March 17. observing at the same time, in touching words, " You are 
 happier than I ; you can resign." Turgot, endowed with 
 more obstinacy of disposition, held out longer ; but the 
 public clamour became so violent that at length he also 
 felt the necessity of sending in his resignation.* Maurepas, 
 who was no reformer in his heart, but had merely given 
 in to the system of the Philosophers to keep things 
 quiet, and win over their powerful voice to his side, was 
 alarmed at the vehement fermentation which had been 
 excited, 1 and had for some time been skilfully sowing the 
 seeds of doubt and distrust as to Turgot's designs in the 
 
 upright magistrates, is treated by these new preceptors of the human race with 
 an insulting contempt, which could spring from nothing but the reveries of a 
 disturbed imagination, stimulated by the enthusiasm of a false philosophy." 
 Speech of M. Slguier, Procureur-Ge'ne'ral of the Parliament of Paris, 1775; 
 SOULAVIE, iii. 88, 89. 
 
 " Turgot," said Monsieur, afterwards Louis XVIII., " says to the French, 
 1 For a thousand years you have had laws, privileges, property, usages, and 
 distinctions. They are all chimeras and barbarisms. Become a new people. 
 Let the reason of the first age of the world enlighten you ; let everything be 
 abandoned to instinct and self-government ; let all obstacles be thrown down, 
 all privileges abolished.' To accomplish these ends he furnished to Louis XVI. 
 six skilfully drawn edicts, well purified in the fire of liberty, and involving all 
 the elements of a general revolution. The evil genius of France, in the shape 
 of an Anglomania, has got possession of the royal councils : it has misled the 
 King, seduced the council, abused the nation. Observing the disorders of the 
 finances, it has seized upon that as the lever wherewith to subvert the State ; 
 and its fatal influences will precipitate a revolution by putting France at war with 
 itself, and in the end establish the lasting superiority of Great Britain." What a 
 prophecy ! and these were the men whom the philosophers of the day charac- 
 terised as " esprits borne's," incapable of raising themselves above antiquated 
 prejudices. Mfmoire par MONSIEUR FRERE DC Roi, April 1776, pp. 7, 8; and 
 SOOLAVIE, iii. 107. 
 
 * He said, in his letter resigning office, " The most decided combination of 
 all parties against me, my absolute isolation, and the scarce disguised enmity 
 of M. Miromenil, his influence with M. Maurepas, all convince me that I only 
 hold by a thread." SOULAVIE, iii. 164.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 293 
 
 King's rnind. After some hesitation, accordingly, he ac- CHAP. 
 cepted his resignation ; and thus fell the government of 
 
 the Economists. -1776. 
 
 The fall of Turgot and Malesherbes is one of the most 
 important of the many important phases which preceded Reflections 
 the Revolution, and was intimately connected with that of Turgot. 
 convulsion. That it accelerated the march of events 
 conducive towards it, cannot be doubted ; for the return 
 to arbitrary government, and the continuance of abuses, 
 becomes to a peculiar degree grating when the minds of 
 men have been heated by the taste for reforms, how 
 visionary soever. Yet were the innovations contemplated 
 by these eminent and well-meaning men in themselves 
 to the last degree perilous, and such as would have 
 conducted France, by a path less bloody, perhaps, but 
 not less certain, than that winch it actually followed, to 
 a social revolution and military despotism. No other 
 testimony is required to this than that of Malesherbes 
 himself, who thus, when taught by misfortune, expressed 
 himself on the tendency of the reforms in which he had 
 had too large a share. " M. Turgot and I," said he, in 
 1790, "were very honest men, well-informed, and pas- 
 sionately desirous of the public good. No one, at the 
 time, could have believed that the King could have done 
 better than to have trusted himself to our guidance. 
 Nevertheless, I now r see that, knowing mankind only from 
 books, and wanting the judgment necessary for conducting 
 public affairs, we conducted the administration ill. We 
 wished to govern the French not as they were, but such 
 as we wished them to be, and such as our hearts imagined 
 they were. AVe were misled by our zeal ; our principles 
 having been introduced into the government, the use we 
 made of our power to enforce them was clearly erroneous. 
 I know not to what the changes in progress will lead ; ^^{k 
 but I must admit that, stepping on from one system of siog. Univ. 
 supposed perfection to another, we have arrived, I grieve (Turgot). 
 to say, at our present state. 1 Strange to say, the nation
 
 294 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, has always thought it would right itself by making a 
 HI ' further step in advance. Without perceiving it without 
 
 1776. intending it, we have contributed to the Revolution." 
 
 The principle which led the plans of reform adopted 
 ciMBof by Turgot, and many other great and good men who 
 these disas- f n owc ^ fa^ to these disastrous results, has now been 
 results. clearly illustrated by experience. They proceeded upon 
 an erroneous estimate of human nature, and a mistaken 
 idea of human perfectibility. No one knew better, or 
 felt more keenly than that upright minister, the unbounded 
 selfishness of the aristocratic classes by whom the throne 
 was surrounded, and by whom his plans of amelioration 
 had been incessantly thwarted. But he imagined that 
 these were the vices of the great only, and that if the 
 invidious distinctions of society were removed, the com- 
 munity would no longer be oppressed by their influence. 
 He saw the evils of the privileges of the dominant classes 
 of society ; but he did not see, what experience has now 
 fully shown, the still greater evils resulting from the 
 unrestrained ascendancy of the working masses. His 
 plans shook the base of all good government, the security 
 of property : professing to lay the social burdens equally 
 on all classes of society, they in effect removed them from 
 one class, hitherto unjustly left to bear them all, to lay 
 them with equal injustice on another. The corvees were 
 to be taken entirely from the shoulders of the peasantry, 
 and laid on those of the landed proprietors. This was 
 not equalising the social burdens, but changing the class 
 which was to bear them.* The project of suppressing 
 the privileges of incorporations, and leaving the career of 
 industry open to all, in appearance so equitable, has been 
 found by experience to lead to the most calamitous 
 
 * The Roman maxim, " cujus est commodum ejus debet esse onus," is the 
 certain guide in the often complicated, and always vehemently contested 
 matter of the distribution of the social burdens ; and its justice is so apparent 
 that, when it is strictly followed, they are never complained of. Accordingly, 
 the English tolls, falling on the persons who use the roads, though often impos- 
 ing a far heavier burden on individuals than the French corve'es, are never felt 
 as burdensome.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 295 
 
 consequences ; for it takes large bodies of men from the CHAP. 
 guidance of respectability and property, to range them m ' 
 beneath the mandates of violence and injustice. The 1776 - 
 working classes must be combined in some way or other ; 
 the feeling of impotence to an isolated poor man is 
 insupportable. When so combined, human nature will 
 ever prompt to some system likely, in appearance at least, 
 to conduce to the general advantage. If not arrayed by 
 law in guilds and in corporations, recognised and protected 
 in their privileges, they will array themselves in combina- 
 tions which will enforce their assumed rights by violence 
 and intimidation, attended with the most dreadful results. 
 The nation is little to be envied which, having extinguished 
 legal incorporations, where age predominates, industry is 
 cherished, and misfortune alleviated, falls under the 
 dominion of ruthless trades'-unions, where violence directs, 
 despotism commands, and cruelty executes ; where the 
 torch and the dagger are the instruments of popular 
 vengeance, and which consign, for months together, 20,000 
 or 30,000 of their fellow-creatures to compulsory idleness 
 and real destitution. * 
 
 Maurepas supplied the place of Turgot by Clugny, for- 
 merly intendant of Bordeaux a man of no distinction, The system 
 but a courtier, and one whose character gave an earnest of re g imeis 
 a return to the old regime of aristocratic influence and cTu^wL 
 
 succeeded 
 * The Author can speak from personal information on this subject. The Turgot. 
 
 great cotton-spinners' strike, in 1837, cost Lanarkshire and Glasgow 452,000 ; Aug. 11. 
 that of the whole colliers and iron-miners in the same year, 417,000, besides 
 doubling the price of coals, which levied a tax to an equal amount on the 
 community : the strike of the calico-printers in the West of Scotland, in 1834, 
 inflicted a loss of 474,000 on the country; that of the colliers and iron- 
 miners, in 1842, cost Lanarkshire at least 600,000. Nearly the whole of the 
 loss arising from these sti-ikes fell on the innocent and indusfcrioiis labourers, 
 willing and anxious to work, but deterred from doing so by the threats of 
 the unions and the dark menaces of an unknown committee. The mode in 
 which these committees acquire such despotic authority is precisely the same 
 as that which made the Committee of Public Salvation despotic Terror 
 teiror terror. " Every morning we asked each other, why was nothing 
 done last night?" "What did you mean by nothing done?" "Why, was 
 no one murdered by the committee?" Crown Evidence, SWINTON'S Report of 
 the Trial of the Glasgow Cotton- Spinners, p. 88. See also Evidence before 
 Combination Committee, Commons, 1838, pp. 128, 164. As a contrast to this,
 
 296 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 III. 
 
 1776. 
 
 May 14. 
 
 April so. 
 
 210 ^ia 
 Biog. Univ 
 
 84. 
 
 abuses. Arnoldt succeeded Malesherbes in the Home 
 Office a man totally devoid of talents : indeed he was 
 selected by Maurepas for that very reason ; they had had 
 enough of the men of letters.* An immediate change 
 ensued in the conduct of government. The six edicts 
 registered by force on the 12th March were repealed, 
 and the edict as to the corvees was suspended : the pro- 
 mised ameliorations were so frittered away that they 
 amounted to nothing. Everything returned to the old 
 system. Maurepas addressed a hyprocritical letter of con- 
 dolence to Turgot on his dismissal, which drew forth 
 an indignant retort from the fallen philosopher. "At 
 least," said he, "I retire without having to reproach 
 myself with weakness, falsehood, and dissimulation." It 
 was those three vices which retained Maurepas in power, 
 and the opposite qualities of vigour, truth, and sincerity, 
 which drove Turgot from it. Such are courts : except in 
 those cases, unhappily so rare, when penetration and reso- 
 lution, as well as virtue and good intentions, are at the 
 head of affairs. If it is rare for a Henry to find a Sully, it 
 more rare for a Sully to find a Henry. Turgot, a 
 before his retirement, addressed an eloquent 
 letter, in justification of his conduct and designs, to Louis 
 XVI. ; a but he said, at the same time, of that prince, with 
 profound and prophetic sagacity, that "the destiny of 
 
 the united trades' incorporations of Glasgow spend above 7000 a-year in 
 charity, arising from funds they have accumulated during a long course of 
 prudent management, and effectually prevent any of their members from being 
 reduced to destitution, or falling as a burden on the community. From the 
 report of that able and intelligent officer, Sir Charles Shaw, formerly superin- 
 tendent of Police in Manchester, now in the same office in London, it appears 
 that intimidation and murder constitute a part of the system of the trades'- 
 unioiis in Manchester. " Money," says he, " is voted to screen and send out of 
 the country members who have committed legal offences, in obedience to the 
 commands of the ruling committee. The following are some of the entries : 
 
 ' That 13, -la. be allowed to for passage-money to America, after having 
 
 murdered .' ' That 1 be given to , for outfit and passage-money to 
 
 America, after the murder of .' " See Sir CHARLES SHAW, Replies to Lord 
 
 ASHLEY'S Queries, 1843, p. 17. Such is self-government, and the rule of the 
 masses, in some of the manufacturing districts of Great Britain. 
 
 * " At least," said Maurepas, " they cannot accuse me of having chosen him 
 for his talents." DROZ, i. 212.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 297 
 
 Louis XVI., under the guidance of the courtiers, would CHAP. 
 be either that of Charles I. or Charles IX.* 
 
 The obvious incapacity of Clugny for the arduous duties l ?76. 
 of comptroller-general of the finances, soon obliged Mau- Early his- 
 repas to look out for an assistant to him ; and his choice Necked' 
 fell on a man destined to immortal but melancholy cele- 
 brity in the history of the Revolution, M. NECKER. This 
 eminent philosopher, but unhappy statesman, was born at 
 Geneva on the 3d September 1 732, of respectable parents 
 his father, who was descended from an old family in the 
 north of Germany, having been a professor of public law 
 in that city. His own inclination prompted him to the 
 study of philosophy and politics ; but the wishes of his 
 parents led him to follow commerce as a profession, and 
 he early settled in Paris in the capacity of clerk, in the 
 banking-house of M. Vernot. His abilities and assiduity 
 soon raised him to a lead in that firm ; and he afterwards 
 became a partner in the great banking-house of M. The- 
 lusson, where he was engaged in immense speculations, in 
 the course of which he realised a large fortune. The chief 
 sources of his fortune were vast transactions in the corn 
 trade, and important finance operations under the Govern- 
 ment, which commenced in the administration of the Duke 
 de Choiseul. In proportion as he became affluent in cir- 
 cumstances, he gradually devoted himself more and more 
 to his favourite political and philosophical pursuits ; and 
 several pamphlets which he published had already acquired 
 for him a considerable reputation, when one he published 
 in 1775, on the freedom of commerce in grain, at the time 
 of the dreadful riots, owing to the scarcity of that year, 
 at once raised him to the highest eminence. Such was 
 the impression produced by this celebrated attack on Tur- 
 got's edicts for establishing freedom in the corn trade, that 
 the friends of that statesman have not hesitated to ascribe 
 those disorders to the machinations of Necker to effect his 
 
 * The author of the massacre of St Bartholomew. Turgot died a few years 
 after, on 20th March 1781, at the age of fifty-four.
 
 298 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, overthrow.* But, though the upright character of the 
 Swiss financier forbids the belief that he had any hand in 
 
 1776 - the stirring up of that formidable insurrection, a compari- 
 iBiog Univ. gon O f dates demonstrates that he had no hesitation in 
 
 XXXI. ' 
 
 (Necker). taking the earliest possible advantage of the distress which 
 216, 217. produced it, to inflame the public mind against the minister 
 
 Soul. iv. 27, f , c r , . ? , , , , 
 
 29. to whose change of system he conceived the general cala- 
 
 mities to be owing. 1 
 
 Necker's reputation at Paris was in great part owing to 
 Madame the celebrity of his wife, Madame Necker : there is no 
 SrlSy d character so great in France as to be independent of female 
 S h S"i- influence. It was the fate of this remarkable woman to 
 rounded. fo Q intimately connected with three of the most eminent 
 persons of her own or almost of any age ; for in early 
 youth, while still dwelling under her father's roof, a 
 humble pastor in the solitudes of the Jura, she attracted 
 the notice, and, but for the refusal of his relations to con- 
 sent to the connection, would have been united to Gibbon, 
 the greatest of modern historians.f Subsequently she 
 married M. Necker, who, at the most critical period of its 
 fate, was prime-minister of France, and mainly contributed, 
 for good or for evil, to bring about its Revolution ; and 
 she was the mother of Madame de Stael the first of 
 female, and second to few of male authors. The saloons 
 
 * Necker's pamphlet was approved of by the censors on the 18th April 1 775 ; 
 its publication was sanctioned by the King : on the 28th it was published. 
 Symptoms of the insurrection appeared at Dijon on the 28th April ; and it 
 broke out with extreme violence at Versailles and Paris on the 2d May : " La 
 cause de I'dmeute des bids est toute dans 1'ambition de M. Necker, qui se pres- 
 sait de faire renvoyer mon frere pour occuper sa place." Discours du Chevalier 
 Turgot (frdre du Minislre) ; SOULAVIE, iv. 28, 29. 
 
 + " The personal attractions of Mademoiselle Susan Curchod were embellished 
 by the virtues and talents of the mind. Her fortune was humble, but her 
 family was respectable. Her mother, a native of France, had preferred her 
 religion to her country. The profession of her father did not extinguish the 
 moderation and philosophy of his temper, and he lived content with a small 
 salary and laborious duty in the obscure lot of minister of Grassy, in the moun- 
 tains that separate the Pays de Vaud from the country of Burgundy. In the 
 solitude of a sequestered village, he bestowed a liberal and even a learned educa- 
 tion on his only daughter. She surpassed his hopes by her proficiency in the 
 sciences and languages ; and in her short visits to some relations at Lausanne, 
 the wit, beauty, and erudition of Mademoiselle Curchod were the subject of
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 299 
 
 of this accomplished lady, who, to a prepossessing person, CHAP. 
 united the solid acquirements of learning and talent, were IIL 
 not frequented by the nobility of the court circle ; but, 
 even before Necker was made minister, they were the 
 centre of union to a society much larger, and, as was soon 
 felt, more influential. There were assembled that section 
 of the noblesse, now by no means inconsiderable, which 
 had embraced with ardour the new opinions, and was ready 
 to adopt any projects of philanthropy or social regenera- 
 tion which were suggested by fancy and supported by elo- 
 quence ; the higher class of persons in office, or connected 
 with the administration of the finances ; the richest and 
 best informed of the bankers, merchants, and Tiers Etat, 
 and all the men of distinction in literature, science, and 
 philosophy. There never had been formed in Paris a 
 circle where so much talent, knowledge, and enthusiasm 
 were combined, and it had a material influence, as will a Gibbon, 
 appear in the sequel, on the progress of the great convul- works', i. 
 sion. Yet was it sensibly different from the usual cha- 
 racter of French society. It was more grave and sedate 
 abounded less with the brilliancy of wit, the elegance ^^^ 
 of manner, or the keenness of repartee, and already gave ^ e staei, 
 token of the serious thoughts and profound passions which i. 56, 64. 
 were to agitate the country during the Revolution. 1 
 
 universal applause. The report awakened my curiosity; I saw and loved. I 
 spent some happy days at Grassy, in the mountains of Burgundy ; she listened 
 to the voice of truth and passion, and her parents honourably encouraged the 
 attachment. But on my return to England, I found my father would not hear 
 of this strange connection ; without his consent I was myself destitute and 
 helpless ; after a painful struggle I yielded to my fate I sighed as a lover, but 
 obeyed as a son. The minister of Grassy soon after died ; his stipend died with 
 him : his daughter retired to Geneva, where, by teaching young ladies, she 
 earned a hard subsistence for herself and her mother ; but in her lowest distress 
 she maintained a spotless reputation and a dignified behaviour. A rich banker 
 of Paris, a citizen of Geneva, had the good fortune and good sense to discover 
 and possess this inestimable treasure ; and in the capital of taste and luxury 
 she resisted the temptations of wealth, aa she had sustained the hardships of 
 indigence. The genius of her husband has raised him to the most exalted 
 situation in Europe. In every situation of life he has reclined 011 the bosom 
 of a faithful friend ; and Mademoiselle Curchod is now the wife of M. Necker, 
 the minister, perhaps the legislator, of the French monarchy." GIBBON, Au- 
 tobiography, Miscellaneous Works, i. 106-108.
 
 300 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. The continual embarrassment of the finances, to which 
 
 1_ the economy and reforms of Turgot had been able to ap- 
 
 1776. p}y on iy a temporary and most inadequate remedy, was 
 the immediate cause of the elevation of M. Necker to the 
 ministry. He had composed, and transmitted to Maure- 
 
 p as j n 1776 a memoir on the finances, in which he de- 
 ment to the 
 
 ministry, veloped a plan for supplying the deficit, which he estimated, 
 at that period, at 27,000,000 francs (1,080,000) a-year. 
 This plan was in a peculiar manner agreeable to the 
 adroit minister, coming, as it did, on the eve of the 
 war with England to support the insurgent colonies of 
 America, when extensive loans were indispensable, and 
 from the man in France who, from his credit in the com- 
 mercial world a*nd his position as a financier, was best 
 qualified both to form a correct opinion on the subject, 
 and to carry his designs for the relief of the finances into 
 execution. The idea of making him comptroller-general 
 immediately presented itself to the mind of the prime- 
 minister ; but such a choice, however desirable in some 
 points of view, was not without grave inconvenience in 
 others. Necker was a foreigner and a Protestant, neither 
 noble nor of historic descent ; and his connection with the 
 Liberal party, notwithstanding his controversy with the 
 late comptroller-general on the corn trade, threatened to 
 revive that formidable coalition of vested interests to 
 i Soui. iv. which Maurepas had been obliged to sacrifice Turgot and 
 i.' 221,222!' Malesherbes, and from the hostility of which he himself 
 had made so narrow an escape. 1 
 
 The war, however, which it was foreseen was approach- 
 Hisapp'oint- ing, absolutely required money ; Necker alone could re- 
 Knct v ^ ve the credit of the Crown ; and Maurepas fell upon 
 Minister, fl^ following plan to calm the jealousy of the church and 
 privileged classes. A respectable man, of mild and inof- 
 fensive manners, long councillor of state, Taboureau des 
 Oct. 22, Reaux, but of no abilities, was named comptroller-general 
 of the finances, and Necker had the subordinate situation 
 of director of the treasury. It was understood that, in
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 301 
 
 that capacity, he was to have the entire direction of the CHAP. 
 finances, though without a seat in the council. But his _ ! _ 
 disposition was too aspiring to permit him to remain 
 in a subordinate capacity ; and Taboureau, finding that 
 Maurepas coincided with the Swiss banker in his projects 
 of reduction, resigned, and Necker was appointed direc- 
 
 tor-general of the finances. The distinction between this 
 situation and that of comptroller-general was more than 
 nominal : the former had no seat in the cabinet, the latter 
 had ; and this, it was hoped, would allay the apprehen- 1 Buchez, 
 sions of the privileged orders. The clergy, however, mur- f n f 6 8i7i 
 mured at the appointment of a Protestant to an office of *| z > >^ 
 such importance. " I will give him up to you," replied iv. ie, 17. 
 Maurepas, " if you will pay the debts of the State." l% 
 
 The accession of Necker to the ministry speedily made 
 itself felt, not only in various forms in subordinate mat- 
 ters of detail connected with the finances, but in an en- 
 tire change of system. New regulations were established tiL agahu 
 in the post-horse duties ; the receivers-general and inten- them- 
 dants of the finances suppressed ; the administrators of the 
 lottery reduced in number ; and, by a simple letter of the 
 minister, the vingtieme was extended to heritable property 
 of every description. All these measures, and particu- 
 larly the last, excited violent opposition ; the parliament 
 of Normandy solemnly protested against them ; and the 
 clamour became so violent, that the author of an energetic 
 pamphlet against the proposed changes was sent to the 
 Bastile.f Monsieur, afterwards Louis XVIII., began to 
 
 * It was Xecker's acknowledged talent as a financier, and the credit he 
 enjoyed in the commercial world, which ultimately raised him to the ministry ; 
 but the manner in which he first became known to the King and Maurepas was 
 curious, and not quite so creditable. An obscure intriguer, possessed of con- 
 siderable address, named the Marquis de Pezai, had introduced himself to the 
 King, by some anonymous letters on the means of promoting the happiness of 
 the people, and afterwards obtained his confidence in some private interviews. 
 Pezai was under pecuniary obligations to Necker, and, to promote his benefac- 
 tor, he recommended him to Maurepas. Such are the obscure means by which, 
 in a country without free institutions, talent is frequently made known to the 
 throne. See SOULAVIE, iv. 1, 17 ; and BUCHEZ and Koux, Ilistoire ParUmen- 
 taire de France, i. 169, 170. 
 
 t M. Pelesseri.
 
 302 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, take an active part in this opposition, and declaimed in no 
 11 L measured terms against the director-general. But Necker's 
 
 1776. ideas of alteration went a great deal further ; and, in truth, 
 the state of the finances, on the eve of the breaking out of 
 war with England, imperatively required an entire change 
 of system. What he proposed rested on two bases, 1. 
 The establishment of a general estimate of the expenses of 
 every department, to be laid, by the minister at the head 
 of it, at the beginning of each financial year, before the 
 King for his consideration and approval ; and, 2. The 
 introduction of a greater degree of publicity into the 
 accounts of the nation, in order to reassure the capitalists 
 as to the real extent of the national resources, and pre- 
 
 1 Soul. iv. . . . .1.1 
 
 43, 45. pare the way for negotiating those extensive loans, without 
 xxxf.'g. 11 "' which it was evident that the prosecution of hostilities 
 would be impossible. 1 '* 
 
 Necker owed his appointment entirely to the embarrass- 
 
 character ments of the court, and the absolute necessity of negotiat- 
 
 MdhTsp^s ing loans on the eve of the American War. But being 
 
 of finance. S t r0 ngly attached, at once from early association, political 
 
 principle, and religious impression, to free institutions, he 
 
 endeavoured to make the difficulties of the government 
 
 the means of emancipating the people. His system was 
 
 boldly to face the public accounts, to make no secret to the 
 
 world of the excess of the expenditure above the receipts, 
 
 and to reduce them ultimately to a level by a rigid system 
 
 * " It is a general survey of the financial state of the kingdom which can alone 
 lead to wise and salutary determinations ; and it is because such a survey has 
 been constantly avoided during the preceding reign, that the finest kingdom in 
 the world is now unable to enjoy its resources. Influential ministers, govern- 
 ing respectively the foreign relations, the army and the navy of the kingdom, 
 expended at will immense sums ; and feeble comptrollers-general, vain of their 
 office, and desirous of continuing to enjoy it, sought to provide for these ex- 
 penses, sometimes by a loan, sometimes by a tax, sometimes by a bankruptcy ; 
 and the national prosperity of France, from which such resources might have 
 been drawn, served only to repair in a certain degree the effect of these disorders. 
 The first step in reformation is to establish it as a fundamental principle, that 
 at a certain time in the year in the month of October, for example the 
 respective ministers of departments should each submit a scheme of their pro- 
 posed expenses to the King, to be considered and approved of by him as a 
 whole, and with reference to the general resources of the revenue." NECKER, 
 Mlmoire d Louis XVI., Aug. 8, 1776; SOULAVIE, iv. 45.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 303 
 
 of general economy. He proposed to meet the public CHAP. 
 exigencies in ordinary periods by taxation, in extraordi- 
 
 nary by loans ; to familiarise the people to the former, by l776 - 
 obtaining the consent of the provincial parliaments, and 
 gain them over to the latter, by giving perfect publicity 
 to the public accounts. Thus both parts of his system 
 were favourable to the progress of freedom the taxes by 
 leading to the States-general, and the loans by compelling 
 a publication of the accounts ; the former by establishing 
 a legal organ for popular influence, the latter by opening 
 a channel for public opinion. His private character was 
 unexceptionable. Possessed of immense wealth, he made 
 a noble use of it. When appointed minister of finance, 
 he went a step beyond Turgot's rejection of the free gift 
 of the farmers of the revenue he refused the whole 
 emoluments of office : an example of disinterestedness 
 which excited the jealousy, as it was beyond the power 
 of imitation, of the courtiers. His private charity was 
 unbounded, his religious principles pure and sincere alike 
 removed from the rancour of Protestant sectarianism and 
 the arrogance of Romish domination. A faithful husband, 
 an upright man, liberal, without either pride or prodigality, 
 he would have been a perfect private citizen. But as a 
 statesman he had qualities to the last degree dangerous. 
 He had a vein of ostentatious and secret vanity, joined 
 to a devout faith in human perfectibility, and an extrava- 
 gant belief in popular virtue and disinterestedness, which ^og- jj: 
 afterwards, by making him sacrifice everything to his fa L ac. 
 love of popularity, brought unprecedented disasters on the Lab. u. 33. 
 monarchy. 1 
 
 The first subject of moment on which Necker was 
 required to give an opinion, after he had been called to views of 
 the royal councils, was the question, whether France Nec r 
 should interfere to support the insurgents of America in can 
 their contest with Great Britain. Turgot had strongly 
 opposed the proposal of going to war ; and in a very 
 remarkable memoir, laid before Louis XVI., had given the
 
 304 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, clearest proof of the justice of his views and the solidity 
 of his understanding. He resisted it on the ground, that 
 
 177(5 - the expense with which it would necessarily be attended 
 would prove entirely destructive to all other plans of 
 economy which had been formed, and on which the 
 ultimate extrication of the finances from their present 
 difficulties was dependent ; that the opinion so generally 
 entertained, that the emancipation of the colonies would 
 prove fatal to the mother country, was erroneous, inasmuch 
 as, in such an event, she would from previous habit and 
 present interest retain their commerce, while she would 
 escape from the burden of maintaining and defending these 
 colonies ; and that the strength of England would be much 
 more effectually weakened by allowing the contest to be 
 prolonged. In that case, if unsuccessful, she would be 
 seriously tarnished in her reputation ; if successful, bur- 
 dened with a costly and discontented distant possession, 
 which would give her the name of dominion and the reality 
 of expense. Necker, when introduced into the cabinet, 
 adopted the same views ; and in an especial manner in- 
 sisted on the ruin which would inevitably ensue to the 
 finances if a costly war were commenced, when the nation 
 was unable to make head against its ordinary pacific 
 nSroz 7 ? 6 ' ex P en diture. The other ministers concurred in these opi- 
 234, 235.' nions, and it was unanimously determined in the cabinet 
 40, U 46?' to persevere in a system of neutrality, and to afford only 
 secret and clandestine succour to the insurgents. 1 
 
 But the period had now arrived when, on great ques- 
 tions in which the public took a warm interest in France, 
 the substantial direction of affairs was taken out of the 
 hands of government, and placed in those of the agitators 
 of the capital. Various causes had recently combined to 
 render the feelings excited in favour of the American 
 insurgents peculiarly warm, and the desire to assist them 
 in the end irresistible. There is a natural sympathy in 
 all generous minds with the weaker party engaged in a 
 contest with a stronger, and on behalf of people contending
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 305 
 
 for their liberties against their real or supposed oppressors. CHAP. 
 
 This general feeling was strongly increased in the present ' 
 
 instance by the calm and dignified deportment and language l777 - 
 of the leaders of the Americans, and the enthusiastic 
 admiration with which, in the excited state of the public 
 mind on the subject of freedom, every popular insurrection 
 against an established government was regarded. It was 
 urged, that it was in a peculiar manner incumbent on the 
 French government to interfere on the present occasion, 
 as the aid to be tendered would, in all probability, dissolve 
 the British colonial empire, destroy its maritime superiority, 
 efface the disgrace of 1763, and by one single effort 
 extinguish the rivalry of four centuries. All classes con- 
 curred in clamouring for the war with England. The 
 philosophers and democratic party had a natural sympathy 
 for every people, from whatever cause, engaged in a contest 
 with an established government ; the young officers of the 
 army sighed for promotion, and made the saloons of Ver- 
 sailles resound with declamations in favour of a gallant 
 nation struggling for its liberties ; the commercial towns, 
 already enriched by the consequences of the rupture of 
 Great Britain with her colonies, anticipated still greater a Droz . 
 
 advantages from the participation of France in the con- 235, 262. 
 
 ? i f T Soul - "' 
 
 test, and loudly demanded the immediate commencement 347, 343. 
 
 of hostilities. 1 
 
 Pressed by so many concurring passions and interests, 
 the King and the Queen, who long held out almost alone France joins 
 in the court against the war, were obliged to give way. anTthTwar 
 Maurepas, true to his uniform system of yielding to external i a ui Eng " 
 pressure when it became violent, and thus avoiding the 
 risk of all collision, got Vergennes, the minister of foreign 
 affairs, to prepare a plan which he flattered himself 
 would secure all the advantages of the proposed co-opera- 
 tion with the insurgents, without incurring any of its 
 dangers. This was to conclude, in the first instance, only a 
 treaty of commerce with the revolted colonies. England, 
 it was urged, could not object to such a pacific relation 
 
 VOL. i. u
 
 306 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, with states which had, de facto, established their indepen- 
 m ' dence ; and, accordingly, the French minister at London 
 
 1778. received instructions to represent that the cabinet of Ver- 
 sailles had no intention of injuring Great Britain by these 
 measures.* As it was foreseen, however, that so flimsy 
 a pretext would be speedily seen through by that great 
 power, provision was, at the same time, made against its 
 resentment, by the conclusion of a secret treaty, offensive 
 and defensive, with the Americans, by which it was stipu- 
 lated that neither of the contracting powers should con- 
 clude a separate peace, and that they should mutually 
 assist each other, in the event of a rupture between France 
 and England, with all their forces. Both treaties were 
 Feb. 6,1778. signed by the French minister on the same day, and they 
 led immediately to the result which was anticipated the 
 recall of the British ambassador at Paris. But Louis, 
 who had been literally concussed, against his better judg- 
 ment, into this decisive, and, as it proved, ruinous step, 
 1 Soul iii recor ded his protest on the margin of the latest memorial 
 f 4 !^ ^C3 Z> P resen ted to him by his ministers, in these words : 
 Camp', i. " "\Vhat a situation ! Is it necessary that reasons of state 
 Martens.' and a great warlike design should compel me to sign 
 orders contrary alike to my heart and my opinions V l \ 
 
 Unbounded was the enthusiasm which the long-wished 
 for war with England excited throughout France. Such 
 was the universal transport, that nobles of the highest rank 
 
 * This is just what Great Britain did with the insurgent South American 
 colonies in 1824. It is remarkable how exactly, in both cases, diplomatic 
 astuteness, to disguise a disgraceful, but, as it was thought, profitable breach of 
 national faith, resorted to the same flimsy and unworthy disguise. Both have 
 since felt the full consequences of their injustice : France in the impulse thereby 
 given to the causes which were inducing the Revolution of 1789 ; England in 
 the wide-spread distress consequent on the destruction of the South American 
 mines, which terminated in the Reform Revolution of 1832. Vide infra, Chap. 
 Ixvii. 86 el seq. ; and Tables in Appendix there referred to, where this most 
 curious and important subject is explained. 
 
 j- Joseph II., Emperor of Germany, as well as his sister, Marie Antoinette, 
 clearly perceived the ultimate consequence of the King of France allying himself 
 with the American insurgents. At the time the treaty was signed he was at 
 Versailles, and on being asked his advice on the prospects of the Americans, 
 replied, " I must beg to decline ; my business is that of a royalist." WEBER, 
 i. 121.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 307 
 
 princes, dukes, marquises, and counts, solicited, with CHAP. 
 impatient zeal, commissions in the regiments which were 
 
 to aid the insurgents. Not a few of the oldest family 1778. 
 and highest connection were fortunate enough, as it was Un i4rsai 
 then deemed, to obtain them among whom were the enth usiasm 
 
 which the 
 
 Marquis Lafayette, who afterwards played so important successes of 
 a part in the history of the Revolution ; the Count de can war 
 Rochambeau, who subsequently commanded the French ex 
 forces in the New World ; the Chevalier de la Lucerne, 
 the Count de Bouille, the Duke de Crillon, and many 
 others of the highest nobles and bravest men in France. 
 The brilliant successes with which the American War was 
 crowned the return of officers adorned with the laurels 
 won in the cause of freedom, with the star of the order 
 of Cincinnatus, which the Americans had established, on 
 their bosom, added to the general enthusiasm. Nothing 
 seemed so glorious, so worthy of a really great man, as 
 to have taken part in the overthrow of an established 
 power. The government encouraged these feelings, and 
 bestowed rewards on the officers whose exploits had 
 excited them regarding the contest merely as the means j Droz? ; 
 of humbling England. But Rousseau foresaw, in this f 7 1 7 o s f^ r> 
 universal delusion, the commencement of a new era in \ 89 - Lab - 
 
 ii. 4, 5. L.ac. 
 
 human affairs, and prophesied it would be the ERA OF v. 92, 94. 
 
 REVOLUTIONS. 1 
 
 The passion for republican institutions increased with 
 the successes of the American War, and at length rose to Great im- 
 such a height as to infect even the courtiers of the palace, j^ves to 
 Thunders of applause shook the theatre of Versailles at ideas. ' c ' 
 the lines of Voltaire, 
 
 " Je suis fils de Brutus, et je porte en mon cceur 
 La liberte graved, et les roia en horreur." 
 
 It was easy to see, from the general frenzy which had 
 seized even upon the highest classes, that the era of 
 revolutions was not to be confined to the New World. 
 The philosophers of France used every method of flattery 
 to bring over the young nobles to their side ; and the
 
 308 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, profession of liberal opinions soon became as indispen- 
 sable a passport to the saloons of fashion as to the favour 
 
 1779. of the people. Even in foreign courts the same sentiments 
 were rapidly gaining ground, from the extreme interest 
 taken in the American contest ; and Count Segur found 
 at St Petersburg his decoration of the republican order 
 of Cincinnatus more an object of envy than any which 
 he had obtained from the European monarchs. Emperors, 
 kings, and nobles seemed at that period to have combined 
 with a view to establish a new order of things, from the 
 extravagant eulogiums they pronounced on philosophers 
 and liberal opinions ; and it was only after having them- 
 selves erected the fabric that they strove to pull it down 
 forgetting that the human mind, like time, is always 
 advancing, and never recedes. They were astonished 
 when they found that men had discernment enough to 
 apply to them the principles they had inculcated in regard 
 to others. Lafayette was hailed as a hero, a divinity, so 
 3 La sV''r 2 ' ^ on as ^ ie supported the cause of Transatlantic indepen- 
 i.^189, 252, dence ; but he was stigmatised as a rebel, when he endea- 
 iii. 38, so. ' voured to maintain the same principles in support of 
 European freedom. 1 
 
 But wars in support of the principles of revolution, as 
 Financial well as all other wars, require an expenditure of money ; 
 rantTtT" and the event soon proved the truth of Turgot's pro- 
 phecy, that the French finances would be reduced to a 
 state of inextricable embarrassment by the expenses of the 
 American contest. Though the war with England lasted 
 only five years, yet its expenses, as is always the case 
 with contests carried on in such distant quarters, were 
 enormous, and only rendered greater by the successes, 
 which raised such a tumult in the nation as rendered it 
 impossible for the government to restrain it within due 
 bounds. But the Tiers Etat was already taxed as heavily 
 as it could possibly bear ; and the slightest approximation 
 even towards the imposition of any new burden on the 
 privileged classes, was certain to produce such a ferment
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 as had already proved fatal to the ministry of Turgot. CHAP. 
 In this extremity but one resource was left to the Swiss m ' 
 minister namely, that of borrowing ; and his great credit 1779 - 
 with the moneyed interest enabled him to make a skilful 
 use of this seducing but dangerous expedient. He was 
 far too able a man, and skilful a financier, not to perceive 
 the dangers of such a system. But he erroneously 
 imagined that these dangers arose entirely from the 
 national finances being enveloped in mystery ; and con- 
 stantly affirmed that the example of England demon- 
 strated, that if due publicity were given to the public 
 accounts, it was possible for the State to borrow almost to 
 an unlimited extent, without any injury either to its own 
 credit or to the resources of its subjects. Proceeding 
 on this principle, having already resolved to publish the 
 state of the public finances, he provided for the whole 
 extraordinary expenses of the American War by successive 
 loans, almost all contracted in the costly form of life 
 annuities; and their amount from 1776, when he com- if^^' 
 menced his operations, to 1781, when he retired from Caionne, 
 
 sur les 
 
 the administration, was no less than 530,000,000 francs Finances 
 (21,200,000), and the annual charge on this amount 32, 39. 
 was 45,000,000 francs, or 1,800,000 I 1 
 
 So considerable an addition to the debt of the State 
 was not made without adding seriously to the embarrass- Great em- 
 inent, already sufficiently great, of the public finances. w * 
 An attempt to uphold its credit by a partial and delusive ^ 
 statement of the public accounts, though for a time sue- ^ c t ^ onc ' 
 cessful, in the end, as such attempts generally do, only finances. 
 aggravated the evil. From the compte rendu, published 
 by Necker when finance-minister in 1780, he made it 
 appear that the receipts exceeded the expenses by 
 10,000,000 francs (400,000), and this announcement 
 produced a prodigious sensation, from being so much 
 more favourable than had been anticipated. In conse- 
 quence, it increased greatly the minister's facility of 
 borrowing. It might at the time, however, have been
 
 310 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, suspected that there was something delusive in this 
 
 ! flattering account of the excess of revenue above expen- 
 
 1780. diture, when, on the strength of his candid statement, 
 and amidst an universal chorus of applause for his finan- 
 cial ability, M. Necker succeeded in borrowing, in a few 
 months after the publication of the compte rendu, no less 
 than 236,000,000 francs, or nearly ten millions sterling, 
 for the service of the State. In effect, Necker himself 
 gave a very different account of matters when he was out 
 of the ministry ; for from his work on the finances of 
 France, published in 1784, three years after his retire- 
 ment, it appeared that the deficit, even as acknowledged 
 by government, was already above 100,000,000 francs 
 (4,000,000) annually.- 5 " And M. Bailly has affirmed 
 that, taking into view the anticipations of the revenue of 
 succeeding years, the real deficit of 1781 was 218,000,000 
 francs, or 8,700,000. Such a state of matters loudly 
 called for a remedy ; and Necker could see none but 
 in diminishing the charge, which had always been so 
 considerable, of collecting the revenue, and he proposed 
 Oct 19 accordingly some rigorous reductions in that department. 
 J780. ' Forty-eight receivers-general were abolished a reduction 
 which met with vehement opposition at the court, from 
 
 Franca 
 
 * Viz. Available revenue, . . 557,500,000 or 22,300,000 
 
 Deduct cost of collection, . . 58,000,000 2,300,000 
 
 499,500,000 20,000,000 
 Expenditure, 610,000,000 24,400,000 
 
 Annual deficit in 1784, . . . 110,500,000 4,400,000 
 See NECKER, sur leg Finances de France, 1784, i. 92, 93, and ii. 517, 518. 
 Bailly's account of the matter was as follows, 
 
 Franca. 
 
 Viz. Ordinary revenue, 1781, . 436,900,000 or 17,500,000 
 Expenditure, 526,600,000 21,000,000 
 
 Nominal deficit, .... 89,700,000 3,500,000 
 Borrowed on future years and lottery 
 
 in 1781, 129,130,000 5,200,000 
 
 Real deficit, 218,830,000 8,700,000 
 
 See the Statements of Bailly in DROZ, i. 297, 298.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 311 
 
 the influence of the persons struck at by it. At the same CHAP. 
 time he ventured on a much more questionable measure, m ' 
 and which savoured not a little of revolutionary confisca- !780. 
 tion. This was the sale of the property of such hospitals 
 as produced less than three per cent revenue on their 
 estimated capital, throwing their future maintenance as a 
 burden on the State an example too closely followed in J^ " 1 -^- 
 after times by the National Assembly, in regard to the 
 
 290 300 
 
 property of the Church and whole remaining foundations 274! 28-2! 
 for the poor. 1 
 
 Another favourite project of Necker's excited at this 
 time general attention and interest, both at the court and Existing 
 in the country. This was the formation of provincial general in 
 assemblies, or minor states-general, in the several pro- 
 vinces, where matters of local interest and taxation might 
 be discussed, and in which the landed proprietors and 
 people might be gradually trained to the exercise of 
 social and political duties. A model for such institutions 
 already existed in the monarchy, in those states last 
 annexed to the Crown in particular Languedoc, Bur- 
 gundy, and Brittany, which had retained the right of 
 having their taxation, and matters of local interest, 
 regulated by their own estates. The King, in regard to 
 them, fixed by royal edict the sum to be paid by the 
 province, but the charge and mode of collecting it 
 were left to its own assemblies ; and as they in general 
 claimed exemption from certain imposts which were 
 levied elsewhere in the monarchy, this was one of the 
 great causes of the inequality of taxation so generally 
 complained of before the Revolution. Advantages and 
 evils, as in all human institutions, had been found to 
 attend the practical working of these provincial assem- 
 blies. Taxation, in general, was lighter in the districts 
 so governed than in the rest of the kingdom ; the roads 
 were in better order, and the public burdens more 
 equally distributed over the inhabitants. On the other 
 hand, these provincial assemblies, as is always the case
 
 312 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, with such bodies, were actuated by a narrow and parsi- 
 
 IIL monious spirit. Minutely attentive to local interests, 
 
 I/BO, they were incapable of extending their views to the 
 
 general good. Refractory and divided on every other 
 
 subject, they evinced an united and determined resistance 
 
 ! De suei, to increased taxation on every occasion, however urgent, 
 
 Lab.'ii. 71, which, if it became general, would obviously prove incon- 
 
 L 283. ' ' sistent with good government, and might endanger the 
 
 very existence of the monarchy. 1 
 
 Necker, however, who conceived that a remedy, and 
 Necker's the only remedy, for all social evils was to be found in 
 awembiies. the participation of the people in the duties of govern- 
 ment, urgently pressed the King to follow this example, 
 and establish provincial assemblies generally throughout 
 the kingdom. He conceived, with reason, that however 
 refractory such local assemblies might prove, especially 
 in matters of taxation, they would be much less formid- 
 able than a states-general sitting at Paris, and assembled 
 from all parts of the kingdom. He indulged a sanguine 
 hope that the nation might be thus safely trained to the 
 important duties of self-government, and those numerous 
 abuses be gradually pointed out, and rectified, which 
 could not, in the present temper of the public mind, be 
 longer persisted in, without obvious danger to the stabi- 
 lity of the throne. With this view he proposed that 
 these provincial assemblies should be composed of four 
 equal parts one-fourth of deputies from the noblesse, 
 one-fourth from the clergy, one-fourth from the Tiers 
 Etat of the towns, one-fourth from that of the country. 
 An able memoir was presented by him on this sub- 
 ject to the King, which elicited from Louis a variety 
 of marginal notes, written with his own hand, evincing 
 not only a rare sagacity, but the most profound political 
 wisdom.* Though impressed with the dangers of the 
 
 * See the memoir of NKCKER and notes of Louis, in Correspondance inditc 
 de Louis XVI., ii. 188-200; and in SOULAVIE, Hiitoire du Rtyne de Louit 
 S7r.,iv. 123-131.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 313 
 
 proposed change, however, the King, with his usual dis- CHAP. 
 trust of his own judgment when opposed to that of others 
 
 whom he respected, agreed to let the experiment be tried 178 - 
 by degrees. It was commenced accordingly in two pro- 
 vinces, and assemblies on this model were established 
 in Berri and Rovergne ; and their success, notwithstand- 
 ing various difficulties, was on the whole such as ap- 
 peared to justify the views of the Swiss minister.* This i Soul jv 
 measure deserves particular notice, as it was the model l^V 2 . 9 ; . 
 
 De Stael, i. 
 
 on which Necker subsequently framed the States-general, 8 82 - Lab - 
 
 ii 72 7H 
 
 which was the immediate cause of the overthrow of the Droz,'i.284. 
 monarchy. 1 
 
 The period, however, soon arrived when Necker was 
 assailed by the same coalition of selfish interests averse General 
 to change because their fortunes were made, dreading against" 1 
 inquiry because their deeds were evil which had already ec er ' 
 proved fatal to the ministry of Turgot and Malesherbes. 
 His system of economy, which the state of the finances 
 imperatively required, made reductions necessary in the 
 pensions, offices, and gratifications bestowed on the nobi- 
 lity, by the court ; and this of course rendered him un- 
 popular with that body.f The clergy were jealous of him 
 because he was a Protestant, and lived surrounded by 
 the literary men and philosophers, whose irreligious 
 opinions were openly proclaimed. The people were tired 
 of hearing him called the Just ; and the overweening 
 vanity which was perhaps his greatest weakness, furnished 
 
 * They had suppressed the corvees in their provinces, and collected in 
 Berri alone 200,000 francs (8000), in contributions for objects of local utility. 
 But it was already observed, that their attention was fixed on local interests to 
 the exclusion of any general objects. DKOZ, Histoire du RZgne de Louis XVI., 
 i. 284. 
 
 f Necker, like all the French ministers before the Revolution, was perpetu- 
 ally assailed by women of rank, soliciting offices or pensions for themselves or 
 their relations, and frequently insisting upon their claims as a matter of right. 
 He heard them with politeness, but always insisted on the necessity of econo- 
 mising the funds extracted from the earnings of the poor. He found it impos- 
 sible, however, to make them enter into his ideas on this subject. " What is a 
 thousand crowns," said they, "to the King?" "It is," replied the minister, 
 " the taille of a village."- DE STAEL, tur la Revolution Franyaise, i. 92.
 
 314 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, them with too many fair opportunities of turning him to 
 IIL ridicule. The financiers had recovered from the burst of 
 
 1781 - enthusiasm with which his compte rendu had been re- 
 ceived, and had already pointed out, in a multiplicity of 
 pamphlets, the weak points of that skilful semi-exposure 
 of an insolvent exchequer. The Count d'Artois and the 
 Count de Provence had sounded the alarm among the 
 higher nobility, as to the dangerous tendency of the pro- 
 vincial assemblies, and the equal representation of the 
 Tiers Etat with the two privileged orders : the parlia- 
 ments viewed with jealousy the proposed institution of 
 deliberative bodies, who might in the end come to over- 
 shadow their authority. The King himself had lost his 
 confidence in the representations of the minister of finance 
 as to the flourishing state of the revenue : he could not 
 be brought to understand how an exchequer which was 
 represented as enjoying a surplus should be constantly 
 reduced to the necessity of borrowing ; and he had in 
 s, secret consulted several persons as to their opinion of the 
 stuTY" accuracy of these representations. Influenced by these 
 Droz 2 /3oi doubts, the King in April 1781 desired Vergennes, the 
 39 3 - L ab. i. minister of foreign affairs, to lay before him a memoir on 
 Btett, Rev. the tendency of M. Necker's measures ; and that memoir, 
 91, 93. '' as might have been expected, was anything but favourable 
 to the Swiss minister. 1 
 
 Matters were at length brought to a crisis, by the 
 Necked publication of a pamphlet by the treasurer to the Count 
 l ' d'Artois, in which he criticised, in terms of no measured 
 severity, the statements contained in the compte rendu. 
 Necker was not ignorant that this writer expressed the 
 opinion of the numerous and influential classes in the 
 metropolis who had a share in collecting the revenue. 
 He was in consequence deeply affected by the circum- 
 stance ; and Madame Necker, with more ingenuousness 
 than knowledge of the world, secretly made a visit to 
 Maurepas to make him the confidant of her grief. The 
 astute old man immediately foresaw the means of over-
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 315 
 
 throwing a statesman whom he dreaded ; and it was CHAP. 
 resolved by all the ministry, except M. de Castries, that 
 
 they should resign if Necker obtained a place in the 1781 - 
 council. This, however, the Swiss minister deemed in- 
 dispensable ; or at least, that he should have the privi- 
 lege of appearing and defending his measures before that 
 body, when they were the subject of deliberation ; ob- 
 serving with justice, that when his measures were attacked 
 on all sides, the King could not form an impartial opinion 
 regarding them, if he were not permitted to be present to 
 defend them. "What! you in the council-room!" ex- 
 claimed Maurepas, " and you do not go to mass ! " " Sully," 
 replied Necker, " did not go to mass, and yet he was ad- 
 mitted to the council." Afraid of pushing matters as yet 
 to extremities, Maurepas agreed to make him a councillor 
 if he would abjure his religion ; but this he honourably 
 refused to do. Finding that access to the council was 
 resolutely denied him, Necker sent in his resignation, May 19, 
 which the King mournfully accepted. But to the latest i Marmon- 
 hour of his life, the Swiss minister regretted a step taken 2i9 Me s^uL 
 rather under the influence of pique than reason, and con- Drozj'ios' 
 stantly asserted that if he had continued at his post, and ^i- ^ab. 
 been permitted to continue his progressive amelioration e staei, 
 of the national institutions, he would have prevented the i. 8-2, 93. 
 Revolution. 1 
 
 Great was the joy among all the parties who had 
 coalesced to effect the overthrow of Necker, at his having General 
 anticipated their designs by a voluntary retirement. But lea^ing^the' 8 
 it was soon discovered, as it ever is when serious finan- uonT mistra 
 cial embarrassment is the source of ministerial difficulties, 
 that the change of the minister had done little towards 
 improving the situation of the State. It appeared ere 
 long that his popularity had not been the result of the 
 influence of a cabal at Paris, but that it was founded 
 in the general accordance of his system of government 
 with the spirit of the age. So vast was the number of 
 persons who went out of Paris to visit him at his country
 
 316 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, residence at St Ouen, two leagues distant, that the line 
 of carriages formed for several days a continual pro- 
 
 l ? 81 - cession, which extended over the whole distance. Above 
 five hundred letters of condolence were received by him 
 from persons of the highest rank from magistrates, 
 philosophers, literary men, and corporate bodies in France. 
 Joseph II. of Austria, Catherine of Russia, and the Queen 
 of Naples, hastened to offer him the direction of their 
 finances, which he had patriotic spirit enough to refuse. 
 A minister, who, by the mere skill of his finance opera- 
 tions, could, as it was ignorantly supposed he had done, 
 extinguish a huge deficit, and meet the expenses of a 
 costly war without imposing any new taxes, appeared an 
 invaluable acquisition to the needy sovereigns of Europe. 
 A more honourable, because a more sincere tribute of 
 , Soul iv regret, was paid to his character by the poor in the 
 De 3 'sugi' hospitals of Paris, whose condition, previously miserable 
 D"' -^3 * n ^ e extreme > he had essentially ameliorated, and who 
 304. ' ' ' testified the most unbounded regret at his resignation of 
 power. 1 * 
 
 The members of the parliament of Paris had taken so 
 Successor of remarkable a lead in the systematic war of pamphlets 
 the C finLTe, which at length effected the overthrow of Necker, that 
 fng dffficuT-" Maurepas deemed it advisable to take the next finance- 
 minister from that body. M. Joly de Fleuri was accor- 
 dingly chosen an ancient and respectable councillor, an 
 
 * " The day preceding that on which M. Necker had resolved to send in his 
 resignation if he did not obtain what he desired, he repaired with his wife to 
 the hospital which still bears their name at Paris. They frequently went to 
 that respectable asylum to gather strength to sustain the difficulties of their 
 situation. The Sisters of Charity, the most interesting of all religious commu- 
 nities, attended the patients : M. and Madame Necker, both Protestants, were 
 the objects of their love. These devoted young women presented, and sang to 
 them verses taken from the Psalms, the only poetry with which they were 
 acquainted ; they called them their benefactors, because they strove to succour 
 the poor. My father was more touched that day than I ever recollect him to 
 have been before by similar demonstrations of affection ; he felt the power he 
 was about to lose, for it conferred such means of doing good." DE STAEL, 
 Revolution Franfaise, i. 100, 101. Necker, as already noticed, like Turgot, had 
 the disinterested virtue, rare in those corrupted days, to refuse the customary 
 gift called the pot-de-vin, of 1 00,000 crowns, as usually given to the finance- 
 minister by the fannersof the revenue onrenewing their bail-bonds. Ibid. i. 89.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 317 
 
 amusing retailer of anecdotes in conversation, but totally CHAP. 
 destitute of any ability in finance. He made it, accord- 
 
 ingly, an invariable rule to follow out all Necker's plans ; 178L 
 but the system of continually borrowing, without either 
 laying on new taxes or providing any funds for the pay- 
 ment of the interest, is not likely to last long, even in 
 the most skilful hand, and will soon break down under 
 ordinary direction. In the seven months which remained 
 to run of 1781, after Necker's resignation, he was obliged 
 to contract successively three loans of 20,000,000 francs 
 (800,000) each : and although he promised to the 
 creditors an increase of taxes for security, yet such was 
 the distrust produced by the retirement of the Swiss 
 minister, that he was obliged to give a higher rate to 
 obtain the money than the former minister had done. 
 This again involved the government in fresh difficulties ; 
 for to provide for the interest of 60,000,000 francs re- 
 quired the imposition of new taxes ; and as they were 
 ordered by a royal ordonnance to be levied equally, the 
 parliaments in several of the provinces refused to register 
 them, and thus the dangerous conflict was revived between 
 the Crown and these refractory bodies. During his whole 
 ministry, Joly de Fleuri found himself unequal to the 
 solution of the required problem that of providing for an 
 increasing war expenditure without any increase of taxes. 
 Nor was the contraction of loans an easier matter. Necker's 
 innovations had totally subverted the old system of raising 
 money for the government by advances from the different 
 persons employed in the collection of the revenue, and, 
 in lieu of it, there had been substituted a general reliance 
 upon the public, resting on the strength of the published 
 accounts. But the attacks on the compte rendu had 
 shaken the resources at first acquired in this way ; Necker's 
 retirement destroyed them : and so low had the credit of . 
 
 i Soul. iv. 
 
 government fallen, that it was with great difficulty, and only 202, 271. 
 by constantly offering a higher rate of interest, that money ssTf'stto. 
 could be raised for the ordinary expenses of the State. 1
 
 318 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. It was in the midst of these internal difficulties, though 
 ' surrounded externally with the lustre of the successes in 
 
 the American War, that Maurepas died, on the 30th 
 ith 4 'of November 1781. Turgot was already no more ; he had 
 Maurepas, breathed his last on the 20th March in the same year. 
 
 and appoint- i / i i 111 
 
 ment of The King, thus left without a minister on whom he could 
 fuTprTmc^ rely in such a crisis of his reign, turned his eyes on 
 Nov! 8 3oj M. DE VERGENNES, then holding the portfolio of foreign 
 affairs, and he was accordingly appointed successor to 
 Maurepas. The Philosophers were now entirely routed 
 out of the cabinet ; and the new minister was as able 
 a man as could have been selected to revert to the old 
 system. His talents were of a very high order ; he had 
 for several years conducted with a firm hand the compli- 
 cated details of French diplomacy ; and to his address 
 and exertions the formation of the armed neutrality in 
 1780, which brought England to the verge of ruin, was 
 mainly to be ascribed. Louis, with consummate judg- 
 ment, and in a truly patriotic spirit, followed up his de- 
 signs. French diplomacy acquired the lead in Europe ; 
 the dreams of the Philosophers were exchanged for the 
 skilful combinations of experienced statesmen. Russia, 
 Sweden, Denmark, were united in a hostile league 
 America, Spain, and France, in an armed confederacy 
 against Great Britain ; the combined fleets rode trium- 
 r&f'e P nant in the British Channel ; and, however strange it 
 pendant ia ma y sound to modern ears, it is historically certain that 
 
 Revolution , , . 11111 i'i 
 
 Franc, i. England was more nearly subdued by the wisdom of 
 iv.'363, l 374! Louis XVI., and the talent of Vergennes, than by the 
 genius of Napoleon and the address of Talleyrand. 1 * 
 
 * Vergennes received the portfolio of foreign affairs in July 1774 ; he was 
 made prime-minister on the death of Maurepas in November 1781, and died, 
 when still in that elevated office, on the 12th February 1787. His official 
 
 correspondence exhibits the clearest proof of a powerful and sagacious mind 
 
 CAPEFIOUE, L' Europe pendant la Revolution Franfaise, i. 54, note. He was born 
 at Dijon in December 1717, so that he was fifty-seven when he was first ap- 
 pointed minister for foreign affairs. Like almost all the statesmen of France 
 during the last century, he was descended from a legal family, which had been 
 recently elevated to the magistracy. He commenced his career in the diploma- 
 tic line under the auspices of an uncle, M. Vergennes, who was in the suite of
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 31-9 
 
 But the real difficulties of the French monarchy, at this CHAP. 
 
 in. 
 
 period, arose from its finances ; and their state became 
 onlj the more embarrassing when the conclusion of peace 1783 - 
 with great Britain, on the 20th February 1783, though 
 on terms eminently favourable to France, left to its gov- 
 ernment the sad bequest of the expenses of the contest, 
 without either its excitement or its glories. As Necker, 
 unlike Pitt, had made no provision for the payment of 
 the interest of the debts which he had so largely con- 
 tracted, they fell with overwhelming force upon his suc- 
 cessors, at the very time when his innovations had de- 
 stroyed the credit in the official employes by which the 
 wants of the exchequer had hitherto been supplied. The 
 King vainly endeavoured to give a more uniform system 
 to the public expenditure, by creating a committee of Feb. 26, 
 finance, of which Vergennes was president, and which 
 was to control the accounts of all other departments. 
 Joly de Fleuri, mortified by this mark of distrust in his 
 resources, and unable to face the increasing difficulties of March is 
 his situation, resigned his office ; and so well were its 
 embarrassments now understood, that Louis had consider- 
 able difficulty in finding a successor. D'Ormesson, a 
 young man of thirty-one, was at length selected, on ac- ^ ril , 5 -. v 
 count of his upright and irreproachable character ; but 266, 270. 
 he sought to excuse himself on the score of his youth. 1 391,394. 
 " I am still younger," replied the King, " and my situa- 
 
 M. De Chevigny, ambassador of France at the courts, successively, of London, 
 Lisbon, and Madrid. His singular ability in reducing to a narrow compass, 
 and seizing the prominent points of a voluminous diplomatic dispute between 
 the courts of Lisbon and Madrid concerning Monte Video, first brought him 
 into notice; and he was in 1750 appointed minister to the court of the Bishop 
 of Worms. Subsequently he was employed in several diplomatic situations in 
 Germany; and in 1755 he accompanied the Baron de Tottin a most important 
 mission to Constantinople ; on leaving the Turkish capital in 1768, he bore 
 with him the regrets of the whole French merchants in the Levant, who 
 presented to him a golden sword in token of their esteem. In 1770 he was 
 sent by the Duke de Choiseul as chargi-d 'affaires to the court of Stockholm ; 
 and the ability with which he then conducted a very delicate negotiation with 
 the Empress Catherine procured for him the appointment to the portfolio of 
 foreign affairs in July 1774. See Biographic Uniterselle, xlviii. 179, 182 
 (VERGENNES) ; and CAPEFIQUE, L'Europe pendant la Revolution Franfaise, i. 54.
 
 320 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, tion is more difficult than that which 1 intrust to you." 
 in. 
 
 At length his scruples were overcome, and he accepted 
 
 1783 - the onerous charge. But he proved altogether unequal 
 to the task of stemming the torrent. 
 
 The courtiers blamed his economy ; the ladies in secret 
 deprecated his probity ; the bankers were deaf to his 
 applications. Matters at length came to such a pass that 
 he was under the necessity of issuing a royal edict, sus- 
 pending the payment of treasury bills above 300 francs 
 (12) each, and at the same time ordering them to pass 
 
 Sept. 27. a t par between man and man. This was in effect to pro- 
 claim a national bankruptcy. His honesty immediately 
 became the object of reproach : he was declaimed against 
 as wholly deficient in resources : talent, no matter how 
 unscrupulous, was universally called for. Glad to be re- 
 lieved of a burden which he had unwillingly undertaken, 
 and which his rectitude of purpose rendered him little 
 fitted to bear, D'Ormesson resigned his situation, after 
 holding it only seven months. Since the retirement of 
 Necker in April 1781, a period of only two years and a 
 kalf, ^ ie l ans contracted by the Crown had amounted to 
 the enorraous sum of 345,000,000 francs (13,800,000), 
 
 266/273. and there remained at the retirement of D'Ormesson, only 
 360,000 francs (14,400) in the public treasury. 1 * 
 In this extremity it was universally felt that a man of 
 
 character of talent and resources w r as imperatively required in the post 
 of difficulty ; and, by a singular coincidence of chances, 
 the King's choice fell on M. CALONNE.! This able and 
 
 * D'Ormesson was not a man of remarkable resources, but of the most upright 
 integrity and disinterested virtue. Though not possessed of any considerable 
 private fortune, he declined his retiring pension of 15,000 francs (600), and 
 bestowed it on the endowment for destitute young women at St Cyr. Soon 
 afterwards he and his relation D'Ormesson de Noyseau were left 1,000,000 francs 
 (40,000) by a distant relation : they refused the succession, to let it descend 
 to his heir-at-law. DROZ, i. 396. 
 
 f Charles Alexander Calonne was born at Douai on 20th January 1 734, his 
 father having been president of the parliament of that place. Being intended 
 for the magistracy, in which his father had borne a distinguished part, he was 
 bred to the bar, and was soon appointed procureur-general, or public prosecutor, 
 of the parliament of Douai. In 1763 he became Maitre. des Jleqitetes in that 
 assembly; and in that situation he had an opportunity of showing his abilities,
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 321 
 
 intrepid, but profuse and inconsistent man, owed his CHAP 
 
 appointment chiefly to women, with whom he passed his ' 
 
 life. Bold, inconsiderate, and ambitious ; brilliant in con- 1783 - 
 versation, elegant in manners, ambitious of power, but dis- 
 interested in regard to money ; fertile in resources, inde- 
 fatigable in application, he knew, like Alcibiades, how to 
 combine the dazzling but superficial accomplishments which 
 captivate in society, with the more solid qualities which 
 are essential to success in the business of life/' 5 " He had 
 held several important situations under government, and in 
 the post of intendant of Lille, which he last occupied, had 
 evinced decided and acknowledged talents for administra- 
 tion. But the King and Queen, when he was first spoken 
 of, were both averse to his appointment ; and it was only 
 by the force of repeated and urgent recommendations that 
 this repugnance was overcome. The ladies of the court 
 at that period, and indeed in every age of French history, 
 had a great share in ministerial appointments, and they 
 were unanimous in favour of M. Calonne. In addition to 
 the talents which he unquestionably possessed, he was 
 gifted with that quick, decided turn of mind which at 
 once applies its force to the required point, and, by never 
 making a difficulty, so often finds none the quality, of all 
 others, where advice is required, which is most desired by 
 women. He was the known admirer of Madame d'Har- 
 velay, wife of M. d'Harvelay, the banker of the court ; 
 
 in a dispute which occurred between the parliament and clergy at that place. 
 Subsequently, he was made procureur-general of a commission appointed to 
 investigate the affairs of La Chalotais ; but his conduct on that occasion did not 
 escape imputation of a serious kind, though in the end it appeared that the 
 complaints against him had been much exaggerated. In 1768 he was appointed 
 intendant of Metz, from whence he was soon transferred to the more important 
 station of intendant of Lille, which he held till his nomination as minister of 
 finance, in 1783. He owed the latter situation, in a great degree, to the 
 remarkable business talents which he evinced in the management of his pro- 
 vince, and also not a little to the reputation which his talents for intrigue and 
 conversation had gained for him in the saloons of some of the most distinguished 
 ladies connected with the monied interest in Paris See Biographie Unixerselle, 
 vi. 562, 563 (CALONNE). 
 
 * " Cum tempus posceret, laboriosus, patiens ; liberalis, splendidus, affabilis, 
 blandus, temporibus callidissime inserviens ; amore quoad licitum est odiosa 
 multa delicate jocoseque fecit." CORNELIUS NEPOS in Alcibiade. 
 VOL. I. X
 
 322 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, and from her saloon, which embraced all the wealth and a 
 large part of the nobility of the court, issued in all direc- 
 
 1784 - tions the fair supporters of the future comptroller-general. 
 M. d'llarvelay himself strongly recommended him as the 
 on ty man capable of grappling with the existing difficulties 
 
 Dro z 9 'i 397 "* ^ ie nnanccs - Thus beset on all sides, the King, accord- 
 4oi.Smyth's j n g to his usual system, surrendered his private opinion, 
 119, 120! and Calonne received the portfolio of finance on 3d 
 Xi ebci October 1 783. 1 * 
 
 The system of M. de Calonne, in some respects at vari- 
 His system ance, was at bottom the same, with that of M. Necker. 
 His plan was to encourage industry by munificence ; to 
 vivify the State by vigorous measures ; to elevate credit by 
 inspiring hope ; to sustain the treasury by inducing con- 
 fidence, and to look for the means of discharging debt 
 rather in increased production by those who paid the 
 taxes, than diminished expenditure on the part of those 
 who received them. It may readily be conceived what 
 transports of satisfaction the adoption of such a system 
 excited among the courtiers and nobility, whose insatiable 
 cupidity had chafed bitterly against the economy of former 
 administrations. Magnificent fetes, with his concurrence, 
 succeeded each other in brilliant and rapid succession; 
 noble works, particularly at Cherbourg, Paris, and several 
 other towns, seemed to indicate that abundance reigned in 
 the treasury. It was during his administration, and by 
 the provident wisdom of Louis XVI., that those splendid 
 docks were begun to be excavated out of the granite of 
 Cherbourg, which afterwards became so threatening to the 
 English navy, and the completion of which added so much 
 
 * The revolutionary writers, after the disasters of Calonne's administration 
 had become evident, endeavoured to fasten the responsibility of his appointment 
 on the Queen, in order to augment the general clamour which they made such 
 efforts to excite against that high-spirited princess. It is certain, however, that 
 Marie Antoinette was as averse to him as the King, and that he was forced on 
 both by public opinion. " La reine," says Madame de Stael, " partageait la 
 repugnance du roi centre M. de Calonne, quoiqu'elle fut entourde de personnes 
 d'un avis different ; on cut dit qu'ils pressentaient, 1'un et I'autre, dans quels 
 malheurs un tel caractere alloit les jeter." Revolution Franyaise, i. 110; see 
 also MADAME CAMPAN, ii. 109.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 323 
 
 to the lustre of the reign of Napoleon. No want of funds CHAP. 
 was for a considerable time experienced for these under- 
 
 takings. Such was the confidence with which his talents 1784> 
 inspired the capitalists, that loans, though at an elevated 
 rate of interest, were procured without difficulty ; and, 
 under the magic wand of the great financial enchanter, it 
 was for some years actually imagined that the deficit had 
 fairly disappeared. To the Queen, in particular, he paid 
 the most assiduous and marked attention all her wishes 
 were anticipated, all her requests granted : the beautiful 
 villa of St Cloud, then belonging to the Orleans family, 
 was purchased for her use for 6,000,000 francs 
 (240,000), and furnished in an elegant, though not a , Weber> L 
 sumptuous style ; and his celebrated saying, " If what j^ P^ 
 your majesty desires is possible, it is done ; if impossible, ^j- TH. i. 
 it shall be done," bespoke at once the finished courtier i.*407. 
 and the inexhaustible financier. 1 * 
 
 But amidst all these brilliant appearances, Calonne 
 deceived neither himself nor the Kin as to the real state 
 
 of the finances ; and he laid bare their alarming condition King of the 
 in a memoir to the sovereign, remarkable for the unflinch- the finances. 
 ing courage with which the most unpalatable truths were 
 told. From his statement, it appeared, that the wand of 
 a financial necromancer had indeed become necessary ; for 
 when he was called to office the credit of the Crown was 
 nearly gone, and there were only two bags, of twelve 
 hundred francs (48) each, in the royal treasury.! But 
 
 * Vulcan is represented by Homer as using the same flattery to Thetis : 
 " Tirrt, Stri ravwrs^-Xj, Ixavn; fiftirigov ?, 
 A/So/x T, (ft).* <rt ; xa.oos iyi pit/ ovrt fafii^fit 
 At/Sa, 9, <ri Qgattii;' <ri\\ffa.i S pi (upoi ctvayiv 
 Ei lvvaf/.ai rtXifai yi, xai 11 rtTtXiffttyav cirri." 
 
 Iliad, s. 424. 
 
 Calonne was styled by the ladies of the court " the Enchanter," the " Model 
 Minister." A nobleman of high rank said, after he had been in power nine 
 months, " I knew well Calonne would save the country, but I could never have 
 supposed he would have done it so quickly." DROZ, i. 454. 
 
 t " Je ne retracerai pas, Sire, 1'afFreuse situation ou dtaient les finances quand 
 votre majeste" a daigne" me les confier. On ne peut se rappeler sans fremir, qu'il 
 n'y avait alors ni argent ni creMit ; que les dettes exigibles etaient immenses, les
 
 324 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, no human ability could devise the means of putting the 
 finances in right order, when the public clamour had forced 
 
 1786 - on a costly war with Great Britain which had compelled 
 the borrowing of 400,00'0,000 francs (16,000,000), no 
 provision for payment of the interest of which had been 
 made by preceding statesmen ; when the selfish resistance 
 of the parliaments made the imposition of any new taxes 
 impossible, and the insatiable cupidity of the courtiers 
 rendered any considerable reduction in the public expen- 
 diture out of the question ; and when a yawning deficit 
 of above 100,000,000 francs (4,000,000)*annually, could 
 only be filled up by the continual contraction of new debt, 
 even in time of profound peace. Calonne, in these cir- 
 cumstances, conceived, and perhaps wisely, at least for 
 present interests, that the only thing that could be done 
 was to put a good face upon the matter, and support the 
 ii S 7 OU i2i'' P UD li c credit as long as possible, by the exhibition, even 
 403*' 'be m f a ^ ac ^ ous sources, of deceptive prosperity. He thus 
 staei,i.ii-2. gained the strength in the outset, and induced the weak- 
 
 \\ cl>or i 
 
 isi. ' ness in the end, which is the invariable characteristic of 
 credit derived from mere paper or fictitious resources. 1 * 
 
 revenus manges d'avance, les ressources ane'anties, les effete publics sans 
 valeur, le numeraire appauvri et sans circulation, la caisse d'escompte en faillite, 
 la ferme ge'ne'rale pr6te a manquer au payement de ses billets, et le trfsor royal 
 rduit d deux sacs de 1200 llvres." Me"moire de Calonne d Louis XVI., given in 
 SOULAVIE, Louis XVI., vi. 118. Compare this with the Bank of England on 
 the brink of ruin, and the nation on the verge of bankruptcy, in December 
 1825, and the coincidence of the results the just punishment awarded to both 
 nations for similar acts of national delinquence ; to France, for its iniquitous 
 and successful attempt to dismember England, by joining in the American War ; 
 to England, for its iniquitous and successful attempt to dismember Spain, by 
 insidiously aiding the South American insurgents. In seven years the punish- 
 ment was completed to both : to France, by the Revolution of 1789; to England, 
 by that of 1832. See infra, Chap. LXVII., 87 et seq. 
 
 * Calonne, with his usual insouciance and candour, made no attempt to con- 
 ceal that his profuse expenditure was intended to disguise the real difficulties 
 of his situation. " A man," said he, " who requires to borrow must appear 
 rich, and to appear rich he must dazzle by his expenditure. That is the prin- 
 ciple on which we must act in the public administration. Economy is doubly 
 hurtful ; for it at once intimates to capitalists that they should stop advancing 
 their money, and it spreads languor through the branches of general industry 
 from which the taxes are paid." See DROZ, Histoire du Blgne de Lvuis XVI. , 
 i. 403.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 325 
 
 Nothing can be more apparent, however, than that this CHAP. 
 living on forced and unsubstantial resources must, without ' 
 
 *" 
 
 the intervention of some unlooked-for piece of good for- 1786 - 
 tune, lead to a crisis with nations as well as individuals. i ncre '^' ing 
 The contraction of debt went on progressively, and with } *^ e 
 fearful rapidity : every year loans to the amount of from ^oisat 
 
 > > last driven 
 
 80,000,000 to 100,000,000 of francs were contracted to 
 (3,200,000 to 4,000,000) ; and up to the spring of 
 1787 no less than 380,000,000 francs (15,200,000) 
 had been borrowed by the Crown, during a period of pro- 
 found peace, since the accession of Calonne three years 
 before. * This state of matters could not long remain 
 concealed ; and when public attention was drawn to it, 
 the greatest apprehensions began to prevail. Vergennes, 
 in his situation of prime-minister, and president of the 
 court recently established for the general review of the 
 finances, became acquainted with the existence of a huge 
 deficit, which could alone account for the constant bor- 
 rowing ; and Calonne, in a memoir to the King, in Octo- 
 ber 1786, admitted it amounted to 100,000,000 francs \ 
 (4,000,000) annually, and that the nation was in truth 
 subsisting on credit gained by artifice. 1 1 When it began | arl - de -. 
 to be whispered among the monied circles that the deficit, m, 175. 
 notwithstanding all the deceptive fallacies of N.ecker, had 
 
 * The dates of these loans were as follows : 
 
 December 1783, . . 100,000,000 francs or '4,000,000 
 December 1784, . . 120,000,000 4,800,000 
 
 December 1785, . . 80,000,000 3,200,000 
 
 September 17 86, . . 30,000,000 1,200,000 
 
 February 1787, . . 50,000,000 2,000,000 
 
 In three years and two mouths) 38000 0,000 francs or 15,200,000 
 
 of peace, . . . . J 
 WEBER, i. 161, 162. 
 
 + " II faut avouer, Sire, que la France ne se soutieut en ce moment que par 
 une espece d'artifice ; si 1'illusion qui supple'e a la realite e"tait detruite, si la 
 confiance inseparable quant a present du personnel venait tout-a-coup manquer, 
 que deviendrait-on avec un deficit de cent millions tons les ans ? Sans doute, il 
 faut se hater de combler, s'il est possible, un vide aussi e"nonne ; ce ne peut- 
 etre que par de grands moyens ; et pour qu'ils ne repugnent pas au cceur de 
 votre majest6, il faut qu'ils n'augmentent pas le fardeau des impositions." 
 Memoire de Calonne au Roi, Nov. 1786; SOULAVIE, vi. 118.
 
 326 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, reached this alarming amount, increased difficulty was 
 experienced in getting loans ; and Calonne, perceiving 
 
 1786. hig financial bubble about to burst, deemed it hopeless 
 any longer to attempt disguise, and resolved, after boldly 
 admitting the magnitude of the difficulty, to propose a 
 great measure for its removal. 
 
 Calonne's plan was a noble one, for it was based in 
 
 71 
 
 lonne's justice, supported with courage, and perfectly adequate to 
 extricating the State from all its embarrassments. He 
 Nobble*, proposed to the King to follow the ancient practice of the 
 Crown in cases of difficulty, and convoke the Notables, or 
 chief men of all different ranks in the kingdom, and 
 solicit their advice on the course which should be adopted. 
 But it was no part of his design that the Notables should 
 merely speak and deliberate, without taking an active and 
 prominent part in the measures intended for the public 
 relief. He meant to appeal to them to make a sacrifice 
 of their private interests for the public good ; a sacrifice 
 considerable indeed, but nothing more than was just, and 
 one which would at once have relieved government from 
 all its embarrassments. This consisted in their making 
 a voluntary surrender on the altar of their country of 
 their exclusive privileges in the article of taxation. He 
 proposed to allocate the taille, or land-tax, by a new 
 distribution upon all heritable property of every descrip- 
 tion ; to provide for the debts of the clergy, in order to 
 induce them to consent to the like equal contribution ; 
 to diminish by this means the land-tax upon all, in so 
 far as was consistent with upholding the public revenue ; 
 to abolish the corvees in kind, establish entire freedom 
 in the commerce of grain, and remove all the vexatious 
 restrictions which at present impeded the internal com- 
 merce of the country. By this means he calculated that 
 not only would the public receipts be brought to a level 
 with the expenditure, but that he would have an excess 
 of 30,000,000 francs (1,200,000) to apply in relief of 
 the most oppressive imposts ; and with that surplus he
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 327 
 
 proposed to take off the third vingtieme from the whole CHAP. 
 lands of the kingdom. Assemblies were to be established IIL 
 in all the provinces, to aid the sovereign in carrying out wi- 
 measures for the public good. There can be no doubt 
 that this great and real reform would at once have 
 relieved the nation from all its embarrassments, without 
 adding to, but on the contrary diminishing, the burdens 
 on the classes who were now most heavily loaded ; for the 
 taille in 1786 brought in 91,000,000 francs (3,600,000) ; 
 and not only would the levying it on the estates of the 4-^439!' 
 nobility and clergy have doubled its amount, but the *" d 1 2^ s l | 1 L 
 general equalisation of the burdens would have raised Necker, sur 
 the revenue at least 125,000,000 francs, or 5,000,000 X^ 
 yearly in other words, extinguished the whole deficit. 1 * 
 It may be conceived with what satisfaction this intre- 
 pid and equitable proposal was received by Louis, who 
 
 burned with anxiety to rectify the finances without add- Notables is 
 ing to the burdens of the people, and was especially 
 desirous of introducing a just and equal taxation, levied 
 without distinction of rank from his whole subjects. He 
 was not ignorant that so considerable a change would 
 excite dissatisfaction in the privileged classes ; but he 
 concurred with Calonne in hoping that the obvious justice 
 of the equal partition of the social burdens would prevail 
 over these discontents, and that the patriotic spirit of the 
 nobles and clergy would induce them to acquiesce without 
 much reluctance in the projected change. The assembly 
 of the Notables, accordingly, was at once agreed to ; the 
 
 * Well might M. Calonne, in his Memoir, exclaim, in submitting this truly 
 statesman-like project to the King, " What difficulties can for a moment be put 
 in the balance against such advantages? What grounds are there for just 
 opposition ? ' We will pay more,' it will be said. Doubtless. But who will 
 do so ? Those only who now do not pay enough ; they will only pay their 
 just proportion, and no one will be aggrieved. ' The privileges,' it will be 
 exclaimed, 'are sacrificed.' Yes, justice demands, necessity requires it. Is it 
 better to abolish tinjust distinctions, or impose additional burdens on the 
 unprivileged people ? There will be great resistance made, it is expected : 
 no general good without injuring individual interests which have grown up 
 with existing evil ; but the general sense of justice will overcome these selfish 
 complaints." CALONNE'S Memoir, given in CALONNE sur VEtat de France, 438, 
 439. London, 1790.
 
 328 HISTOHY OF EUKOPE. 
 
 CHAP, form of their convocation was taken from the last occasion 
 ' on which they had been assembled, in 162G : the number 
 
 tfw. of members fixed was 144, including the princes of the 
 blood, and a fair proportion of the nobles, clergy, magis- 
 trates and Tiers Etat, from the whole kingdom.* The 
 ordonnance for their convocation was issued on the 29th 
 December 1786 ; and the period for their assembly fixed 
 for the 22d February 1787. Great expectations were 
 formed both by the cabinet and the country as to the 
 result of this assembly. The former looked to it as the 
 means of thoroughly restoring order to the finances, and 
 re-establishing a good understanding between the monarch 
 and the nation : the latter as the first step towards the 
 introduction of a new ol'der of things, and the formation 
 of a representative government. t Every one congratulated 
 the monarch on the felicitous step, fraught with such 
 boundless advantages to the Sovereign and the State. 
 
 JSi. i H H7. Old Marshal Segur, the minister at war, was of an oppo- 
 SSmo^'au S ^ te P m i n - " Every mind," said he, " is in fermenta- 
 ?oc D ! c ' , tion : the Notables may prove the seed which is to pro- 
 
 Ito6. Soul. J 
 
 vi. 120, 135. duce the STATES-GENERAL ; and if so, who can foretell 
 the result T 1 
 
 The more readily to induce the privileged classes to 
 acquiesce in the sacrifices required of them, Caloune 
 adopted the bold and manly course of laying before 
 
 * The composition of the Notables was as follows : 
 
 Princes of the blood, ... 7 
 
 Archbishops and Bishops, 
 
 Dukes, Peers, Mai'shals of France, . 
 
 Councillors of State, &c., 
 
 Presidents and Public Prosecutors, &c., 
 
 Deputies of Pays d'Etat, . 
 
 14 
 36 
 11 
 38 
 10 
 Municipal Officers, 28 
 
 DBOZ, i. 471. 144 
 
 t The King announced his intention to his council of convoking " une 
 assembled composed de personnes de diverses conditions et des plus qualifiers 
 de son ^tat, afin de leur communiquer ses vues pour le soulagement de son 
 peuple, 1'ordre des finances, et la reformation de plusieurs abus." On the fol- 
 lowing day he wrote to Calonne, " Je n'ai pas dormi de la nuit, mait c'ttait de 
 plaisir." See DBOZ, Histoire du Rlgne de Louis XVI., i. 474.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 329 
 
 them a full and undisguised statement of the finances, CHAP. 
 not only at that period, but for forty years previously ; 
 
 in the hope that the revelation thus made of the long l787 - 
 existence and unceasing progress of the financial embar- Hig Jf ndid 
 rassments, under every change of administration, would ^e 8ta"e 
 demonstrate even to the most inconsiderate, and convince of the 
 
 i finances. 
 
 even the most selfish, of the necessity of a great change. 
 Without attempting to disguise the magnitude of the 
 present deficit, which he admitted now amounted to 
 115,000,000 francs (4,600,000) yearly, he traced back 
 its origin to the accumulating deficiencies of former ad- 
 ministrations, and proved, beyond a doubt, that it was 
 to the disastrous system of borrowing, without making 
 any provision for the payment of the interest the sad 
 result of the extravagance of government, and of the 
 obstinate resistance of the parliaments in former times 
 to register any new taxes that all the difficulties of the 
 treasury had been owing. According to his statement, 
 the deficit, which began with the expenses of the wars 
 with England of 1739 and 1756, was already 41,500,000 
 francs (1,660,000) annually in 1764; in 1781, when 
 Necker rendered his famous compte rendu, which told the 
 flattering tale of a surplus in time of war of 10,000,000 
 francs (400,000) yearly, there was in reality a deficit 
 of 56,500,000 francs (2,260,000) ; and this deficit had 
 now so increased with the expenses of the three last years 
 of the American contest, and the total want of any pro- 
 vision for the payment of interest, that the deficit for 
 1786 was 115,000,000 francs (4,600,000); and for 
 the current year it could not be estimated at less than 
 125,087,556 francs (5,000,000). The debt borrowed 
 during the American War, still unprovided for, was no 
 less than 232,000,000 francs (9,300,000) ; the total ' See 
 
 L/omptes 
 
 loans, since the accession of Necker in 1776, to the end of Rendus, in 
 1 786, had reached the enormous amount of 1,250,000,000 i. 206, 221 ; 
 francs, or 50,000,000, being at the rate of 5,000,000 JuSW 
 sterling a-year. 1 Resting on these appalling facts, he
 
 330 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, called on the nobles and clergy to forego their exclusive 
 privileges, and consent to an equal assessment with the 
 
 1787 - other classes a step which would at once close the gulf 
 which threatened to swallow up the monarchy.* 
 
 Calonne made a noble speech in introducing this great 
 
 
 Noble and just measure to the consideration of the Notables. 
 c^nne " I received," said he, " the portfolio of finance in 1 783, 
 Notables, when the treasury was empty : there remained 220,000,000 
 francs (8,800,000) of the expenses of the war with Eng- 
 land to pay ; 80,000,000 francs (3,200,000) of floating 
 debt to provide for ; 176,000,000 francs (7,000,000) of 
 debt fixed by anticipation on the revenue of succeeding 
 years, and all this in addition to the regular national 
 debt. Now credit is re-established, money abundant ; all 
 arrears are discharged,' confidence is restored. My only 
 resources, when the King intrusted me with the direction 
 of the finances, were to be found in credit. To re-establish 
 it all my efforts hitherto have been directed, and you 
 
 * Calonne gave the following account of the progress of the deficit, from its 
 origin in 1746 to 1787, as taken from the accounts of the different comptrollers- 
 general, which I am inclined to think, after much examination of the subject, 
 is very nearly correct, viz. : 
 
 Franca. 
 
 Capital of Public Debt in 1750, 2,210,177,216 or 88,407,000 
 
 1759 SELBOUETTE, Minister. 
 
 War .... Expenditure, 503,847,141 
 Income, 286,547,037 
 
 Deficit, 217,300,104 or 8,680,000 
 
 1764 M. BEETIN, Minister. 
 
 Peace . . . Expenditure, 156,800,000 
 Income, 115,238,559 
 
 Deficit, 41,561,441 or 1,666,200 
 
 1774 ABBE TERUAT, Minister. 
 
 Peace . . . Expenditure, 234,220,000 
 
 Income, 196,901,557 
 
 Deficit, 37,318,443 or 1,492,730 
 
 1775 To BOOT, Minister. 
 
 Peace . . . Expenditure, 414,445,163 
 Income, 377,287,637 
 
 Deficit, 37,157,526 or 1,482,000
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 331 
 
 will see with what success. But credit is dangerous : it CHAP. 
 
 HI 
 
 becomes liable to fatal abuses if not based on solid and . 
 
 regular revenues. I am reproached with undue facility 1787 - 
 in expenditure. Recollect, gentlemen, the economy of a 
 minister of finance may often be greatest when it shows 
 itself least. Inexorable and decided in matters of real 
 importance, it does not affect austerity where none is 
 required : it allows what it gives to be made the subject 
 of remark, and is silent on what it refuses. Because it 
 shows itself accessible to demands, it is not readily credited 
 that it withstands the greater proportion ; because it strives 
 to soften the bitterness of a refusal, it gains the character 
 of being able to decline nothing. But it is not by such 
 inconsiderable concessions or refusals that the State is 
 either to be injured or benefited. It is in the abolition of 
 abuses that the only means of providing for our necessities 
 is to be found. The greatest of all abuses would be to 
 attack only those which are of lesser importance such 
 only as, affecting the weak, may be considered as not 
 likely, if reformed, to produce any material benefit. The 
 
 1776 CLUGNY, Minister. 
 
 Francs. 
 
 Preparing for War . Expenditxire, 417,574,651 
 Income, 378,381,069 
 
 Deficit, 39,193,582 or 1,567,700 
 
 1781 NECKER, Minister. 
 
 War .... Expenditure, 283,162,000 
 Income, 236,833,000 
 
 Deficit, 46,329,000 1,853,160 
 
 1787 CALONNE, Minister. 
 
 Peace . . . Expenditure, 599,135,795 
 
 Income, 474,048,239 
 
 Deficit, 125,087,556 5,003,500 
 
 See Comptes Rendus, pp. 50, 88-9, 110, 164-5, 172-3, 183,222-3 ; and BCCHEZ 
 and Roux, Histoire Parkmentaire de France, i. 205, 220. 
 
 The extraordinary fluctuations in the preceding table are owing to two cir- 
 cumstances : 1st, Some of the Comptes Rendus exhibit the gross revenue in 
 particular, those of Tvirgot and Calonne ; the others the net revenue only. 
 2d, In Calonne's account, the interest of the public debt (then 190,000,000 
 francs, or 7,600,000) is stated as part of the public accounts ; the others 
 embrace the other branches of the expense only.
 
 332 HISTOHY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, abuses which we now require to abolish for the public 
 good are such as affect the strong those which are most 
 
 1787. vigilantly guarded, but whose roots are the deepest and 
 branches the most extended. Such are the abuses which 
 press upon the laborious and industrious classes the 
 abuses of pecuniary privileges, of exceptions from the 
 common law, and all those exclusive rights which aggra- 
 vate the burdens of one class of society by establishing 
 an unjust exemption in favour of another. Let it not be 
 said our resources are exhausted, and nothing remains to 
 restore our finances. Gentlemen, our abuses remain ; 
 
 1 Droz, i. . 
 
 480, 481. and in these abuses, which we have a right to reclaim, 
 132/134. will be found a mine of riches which will at once satisfy 
 our wants, and remove a stain on our institutions." 1 
 
 No words can convey an idea of the universal storm 
 Universal of discontent which these unexpected disclosures and pro- 
 
 posals excited not only among the Notables, to whom 
 onthese t ne j were addressed, but the whole circles of Paris, to 
 proposals. wnom they were afterwards published. It was hard to 
 say whether the nobles, the clergy, the philosophers, the 
 courtiers, or the democrats, were most vehement in con- 
 demning the lately popular finance-minister. Such was 
 the clamour raised that it was absolutely stunning, and 
 at once so vehement and universal, from the moment it 
 commenced, that it was evident his projects must mis- 
 carry, and probably he himself be involved in their ruin. 
 Yet his proposals were conceived in a noble spirit, founded 
 in evident justice, supported by the King, in themselves 
 safe, and perfectly adequate to relieve the State necessities. 
 How, then, did it happen that measures so recommended 
 should have excited so universal a spirit of resistance in 
 the whole influential classes of France ? Simply, because 
 they were just and equal ; because they pandered to no 
 popular passions, and gratified no statesman's ambition ; 
 because the remedy they suggested for the public neces- 
 sities was an equalisation of the social burdens, not an 
 elevation of a new class to their direction ; because they
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 333 
 
 tended only to save the country, not to make the fortunes CHAP. 
 of any set of men in it. To those who are practically 
 
 acquainted with the workings of human selfishness in all 1787 - 
 assemblies, aristocratic or democratic, these considera- , 
 
 r> I'-ii Droz, i. 
 
 tions will appear perfectly adequate to explain the phe- 483. 
 nomenon. 1 
 
 But in addition to this fundamental principle, there 
 was a peculiar concurrence of causes which induced this ' 
 extraordinary combination of all classes against the 
 finance minister. That his proposal to equalise the tlon ' 
 social burdens, and levy taxation over the whole com- 
 munity, should excite the most vehement resistance in 
 the privileged class was nothing surprising ; it is the 
 usual effect of human selfishness all the world over. But 
 the extraordinary thing was, that it met with equal oppo- 
 sition from the popular leaders, who were contending for 
 a class whom it went so directly to benefit. The secret 
 cause of that circumstance was this, Calonne's disclo- 
 sures revealed the real sources of the public embarrass- 
 ments : they demonstrated that they were of very old 
 standing ; that the extravagance of the last few years 
 had added very little to their amount ; that the habit of 
 contracting debt without providing for its interest was 
 the real origin of the evil, and that Necker's famous 
 compte rendu in 1781 was not only illusory, but decep- 
 tive. These disclosures thwarted the views of the whole 
 Liberal party in France. It was the great object of the 
 popular leaders, and their numerous allies in literature, to 
 represent the financial difficulties as entirely owing to the 
 profusion of the Court, the extravagance of the Queen, 
 and the faults of the minister ; and as having only grown 
 up since the retirement of Necker and the philosophers 
 in 1781. It may be conceived, therefore, what was their 
 mortification when they saw it traced back to the wars 
 and expenses of former reigns, and shown to have been 
 brought to a climax by that very American contest which 
 their own clamour had forced upon a reluctant govern-
 
 334 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, inent. Necker, and his numerous supporters among the 
 HI ' Liberals, were indignant at the exposure made of a deficit 
 
 1787. of 46,000,000 francs in that very year when he had 
 boasted of a surplus of ten millions. All were to the 
 last degree disappointed at finding a remedy, and what 
 was evidently an effectual remedy, suggested for the whole 
 public difficulties not, as they hoped, by a change of 
 the ministry in power, or an infusion of popular prin- 
 ciples into the general institutions, which might alter the 
 class that was henceforward to rule, but by the homely 
 and long-known method of putting their hands in their 
 pockets to pay them. Thus, when traced to the bottom, 
 it was the ambitious and interested views of all the classes 
 in the State which thwarted this noble effort of Calonne 
 and Louis, the last that could be made to extricate the 
 nation from its embarrassments ; and it was the selfish- 
 ness of all that overthrew the monarchy. 
 
 Calonne's plan, however, was so evidently founded on 
 Pretences just principles, that the nobles and clergy among the 
 Notables to Notables did not venture openly to resist it. They 
 endeavoured, as the baseness of selfishness always does 
 on s i m il ar occasions, to elude its effect ; and indirectly, 
 without appearing to contest its principles, to avoid 
 their application. For this purpose, without denying 
 the general principle, that taxation should be imposed 
 equally on all, they had recourse to the preliminary 
 plea that, before establishing such a maxim; they should 
 examine whether no other means existed to repair the 
 deficit, in order to make the extension of the land-tax 
 as little burdensome as possible ; and they insisted 
 absolutely on two points : 1. That if the extension of 
 the burden was determined on, its amount and duration 
 should be previously fixed. 2. That the privileges of 
 corporations and provinces should be maintained in the 
 collection of it a privilege which they hoped would 
 enable them, in these subordinate assemblies, to evade 
 the general imposition of the burden. The finance
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 335 
 
 minister, who saw in these demands clear indications CHAP. 
 of a resolution to throw out the whole measure, spared 
 
 no efforts both in public and in private to overcome 1787 - 
 the opposition. At his request a committee, consist- March 2. 
 ing of six members from each of the four divisions of 
 the Notables, met at the bureau of the Count d'Artois, 
 in order to endeavour to arrive at an accommodation ; 
 and in that committee he conjured them in the most 
 pressing terms, if they would avert the uttermost 
 calamities from the monarchy and themselves, to co- 
 operate with the monarch in this last effort to extri- 
 cate the government from its embarrassments. In 
 that debate, which was prolonged to a late hour of 
 the night, Calonne displayed remarkable talents, and 
 that earnestness of manner which always springs from 
 honesty and elevation of purpose. But it was all in 
 vain. He spoke to men who were deaf to every con- 
 sideration of reason, justice, or patriotism ; who were 
 intent only on maintaining their selfish interests ; and 
 many of whom were in secret overjoyed at the dis- 
 closure made of the difficulties of the treasury, from 
 the hope that it might overturn the ministry and place 
 themselves in their stead. All Necker's friends belonged 
 to this latter class ; and he himself immediately com- 
 menced a furious attack on the finance minister's expo- 
 sure of his compte rendu, to which Calonne as warmly 
 replied. From this acrimonious contention the public 
 drew the conclusion, that the deficit was in all probability i Hlst Par] 
 really greater than either of the finance ministers was '^^ 2 -. 
 willing to admit ; and, by the disclosures which came 483 48 ?- 
 
 Soul. vi. 
 
 out in the heat of the controversy, the credit of the 154, ieo. 
 Crown was seriously impaired. 1 
 
 Vergennes died of a lingering illness, on the 13th 
 February 1787 ; and his death was an incalculable 
 calamity to France at this period, for he was much 
 esteemed by the Notables and his manners were so 
 conciliatory that if any one could have mediated with
 
 336 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, success on this occasion, between the Crown and that 
 powerful body, it was himself. Louis with profound 
 
 1787. grief attended the funeral of a friend to whom he was 
 sincerely attached ; and on leaving the grave he said, 
 vergenne*, w ith tears in his eyes, " How happy should I be to 
 
 nd con- * * * > 
 
 tinued repose in peace beside you ! " The difficulties of the 
 
 resistance , , i i i i 
 
 of the monarch were greatly increased by this bereavement. 
 The Count de Montmorin, who was chosen to suc- 
 ceed him, an upright and honourable man, had not 
 vigour or ability to support the Crown in the contest 
 in which it was now engaged, and the whole weight 
 of the struggle consequently fell on Calonne. He now 
 had recourse to the royal authority ; and Louis formally 
 announced to the Notables, that his intention was that 
 they should deliberate, not on the principle of taxation, 
 but the form in which it should be paid. They an- 
 swered that a payment in money would be least bur- 
 densome, but renewed the demand for a full statement 
 of the public accounts. Some talked of a States-general : 
 among them were the Archbishop of Artois, the Marquis 
 Lafayette, and Crebillon, procureur-general of the parlia- 
 ment of Aix. Addressing the Count d'Artois, who was 
 in the chair, he said, " Your royal highness will permit 
 me to say, that there is no existing authority which can 
 impose the land-tax in the manner proposed neither 
 
 i Droz, i. , r . . .* 
 
 487, 488. this assembly, august as it is, nor the parliament, nor the 
 155/157. states of particular provinces. The States-general alone 
 have that power!' 1 
 
 Meanwhile the contest between Necker and Calonne, 
 
 79 
 
 in regard to the finance accounts, continued with such 
 
 acrimony, that the King, deeming the dispute discredit- 
 to tne Crown, banished the former twenty leagues 
 -P ar i s > an( l forbade the latter to publish anything 
 April 11. w ith his name a prohibition which did not prevent 
 him from giving a pamphlet on the public accounts to 
 the world anonymously, though every one knew it came 
 from the pen of the finance minister. During this dis-
 
 HISTOEY OF EUROPE. 337 
 
 pute, the opposition to the King and Calonne daily CHAP. 
 assumed a more determined character. Lomenie de _ IIL 
 
 Brienne, archbishop of Toulouse, took the lead as the 1787 - 
 head of the ecclesiastical body, and the Prince of Conti 
 assumed the direction of the nobility who aimed at the 
 overthrow of the finance minister. To such a length 
 did the spirit of opposition to all his proposals proceed, 
 that they contrived, indirectly, to defeat a proposal 
 which he submitted to them for removing the whole 
 interior customhouse duties on goods passing from pro- 
 vince to province a reform which had been advocated 
 by Colbert and all the ablest ministers of France, and 
 which went to abate a grievance which the States- 
 general had formally complained of nearly two centu- 
 ries before.* A proposal to abolish one of the most 
 vexatious of the taxes, the gabelle, shared the same 
 fate. Meanwhile the whole popular party, with Necker 
 at their head, conceiving that the crisis would overthrow 
 the finance minister, and lead to the convocation of the 
 States-general, cordially joined the Notables, and a fierce 
 war of pamphlets began against every project which 
 Calonne introduced. At length the King, finding that 
 the universal clamour against that minister rendered 
 all attempts at an accommodation with the Notables 
 hopeless, yielded to the storm and dismissed the April 7. 
 minister. He took for his successor Lomenie de May i. 
 Brienne, who had been the leader of the coalition by 
 which the former minister had been overthrown ; imi- 
 tating thus, already, the usages of a representative l Soul vi 
 monarchy, where, on a change of ministry, the head 164 }f ?8. 
 of the new administration is taken from the leaders of 493, SG'G. 
 the opposition. 1 1 
 
 * Calonne, in introducing this proposal to the Notables, said in a lofty spirit, 
 alluding to this circumstance, " This, gentlemen, is our answer to the States- 
 general of 1614." DROZ, i. 494. 
 
 t The vehement controversy of Necker and Calonne, which followed the 
 banishment of the one and the fall of the other, completed the public distrust 
 in the solvency of the finances, and demonstrated the gross delusion practised 
 
 VOL. I. Y
 
 338 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. It was not, however, without great reluctance, and from 
 IIL nothing but absolute inability to find another minister 
 
 1787. wno could conduct the public affairs, that the King had 
 
 chJS'ter recourse to the Archbishop of Toulouse.- The immorali- 
 
 bLho 8 "tf ch ties and inconsistencies of that prelate's former life were 
 
 Toulouse. wc u known to him, and Necker was suggested as the only 
 
 man who was equal to the crisis. But Louis had been 
 
 personally hurt by the retirement of the Swiss minister in 
 
 1781 ; his haughty self-sufficiency was disagreeable to 
 
 him ; and the Queen, urged by the Abbe Vermond, who, 
 
 in this instance, for the first time departed from the 
 
 cautious neutrality which he had hitherto observed, warmly 
 
 supported the appointment of Brienne. Perhaps no person 
 
 could have been found in the kingdom whose qualities 
 
 were more dangerous to the monarch in this momentous 
 
 crisis than those of the Archbishop of Toulouse/ 5 ' His 
 
 talents were great, especially in conversation with women 
 
 the quality of all others by which, in elevated and 
 
 highly educated circles, distinction, often undeserved by 
 
 solid abilities, is acquired. But inconsistency and want 
 
 on the nation by the former's compte rendu. " Necker," said Calonne, " bor- 
 rowed 440 millions during his ministry." " He is wrong," rejoined Necker, 
 " / borrowed 530 millions." This admission gave the coup-de-grace to the 
 compte rendu ; for who could credit that a minister who, according to that 
 statement, had a surplus of 10,500,000 francs, would in five years have bor- 
 rowed above 500 millions ? See Duoz, i. 506, and SOULAVIE, iv. 151. 
 
 * Etienue Charles Lomeuie de Brienne was born at Paris in 1727 ; so that, 
 when called to the office of prime-minister, in 1787, he was already sixty 
 years of age. Being destined to the ecclesiastical profession, he made himself 
 remarkable, in 1750, at the age of twenty-four, by a thesis, containing unequi- 
 vocal indications of talents, but, at the same time, many heretical and dan- 
 gerous opinions. Having got over the scandal arising from this sally, he was 
 admitted into priest's orders ; but he soon became intimate with Condorcet, 
 Dupont de Nemours, d'Alembert, the Abbe" Morellet, and the rest of the free- 
 thinking philosophers, who had so prodigious an influence on public thought 
 in the latter part of the reign of Louis XV. In 1760 he was appointed to a 
 lucrative see, which, in February 1763, he exchanged for the archbishopric of 
 Toulouse. There his administrative talents soon became manifest ; he engaged 
 actively in the temporal concerns of his diocese, and took a most beneficial 
 interest in several projects relating to education, charity, and public utility. It 
 was to him that Toulouse owed the Canal Caraman, and the cut which unites 
 it to the Garonne. He was accused, however, of labouring underhand to sub- 
 vert the monastic discipline in his diocese ; and the assemblies of the clergy, 
 in 1772, 1775, and 1780, as well as the parliament of Paris, on 10th February
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 339 
 
 of principle were his great defects. Ambitious, intriguing, CHAP. 
 
 unscrupulous, he had at different periods of his life been L_ 
 
 intimately connected with classes of men the most opposite, 1787 * 
 but agreeing in the common selfishness by which they were 
 actuated. In the assemblies of the clergy he had sup- 
 ported the most violent measures of persecution against 
 the Protestants, and acquiesced in all the extreme views 
 of the disciples of Loyola ; in the fashionable coteries his 
 irreligion had gone the length of atheism. Yet did he 
 contrive, not only by his address, but by the peculiarity 
 of his mind, to win the confidence of these very opposite 
 classes of society. His character was a mixture of 
 scepticism and Jesuitry ; without having lost any of the 
 casuistry of the schools, he had, to the scandal of the 
 church, thrown himself into the arms of the philosophers 
 and infidels. His talents for administration, however, 
 were considerable ; he had taken an active part in many 
 beneficial measures in the state of Languedoc, with which 
 he was connected ; his frequent correspondence with 
 former ministers had gained for him the reputation of 
 
 1784, loudly denounced his innovations in this respect, which were deemed 
 highly prejudicial to the church. In the midst of his innovations, however, he 
 had a clear eye to his own interests ; and while many abbeys were suppressed 
 by his authority, he contrived to annex to his benefice and appropriate to 
 himself some of not the least considerable of them. Meanwhile his reputation 
 for talent in conversation rapidly extended ; his elegant and easy manners, 
 his generosity and beneficence, were largely extolled by a numerous body 
 of friends who had shared in his munificence; and such was the celebrity 
 he had acquired, that when the Notables were convoked he obtained a place 
 in the bureau over which Monsieur, afterwards Louis XVIII., presided ; and 
 it was the lead which he took there, in combating the proposals of M. Calonne, 
 which led to his elevation to the exalted situation of President of the Council, 
 which was soon after followed by the appointment of his brother, the Count 
 de Brienne, as minister at war. After his fall, in 1789, he was, by the influence 
 of Louis XVI. and the Archbishop of Sens, made a cardinal. But his thirst for 
 wealth pursued him even in that eminent station ; he took the oaths to the 
 Republic to preserve his archbishopric, and was obliged, in consequence, to 
 resign his cardinal's hat. All these concessions, however, could not shield him 
 from the persecution of the revolutionists, and he perished miserably and 
 ignobly on the 16th of February 1794, in consequence of a fit of apoplexy, 
 brought on by the blows of the soldiers who were quartered in his house to 
 detain him prisoner, and the effects of a heavy supper which they forced him 
 to eat with them in spite of his earnest remonstrances. See Biographie 
 Universelle, xxiv. 653, 658.
 
 340 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, skill in business, and he had evinced great readiness in 
 
 ! debate during the discussions wherein he bore a part in 
 
 1787 - the Assembly of Notables. Yet was his administration 
 
 to the last degree disastrous to France. Bold and fruitful 
 
 1 Lac v ^ n ^ ne conception of plans, he failed in steadiness and 
 
 J23. Soui. resolution in their execution : he was easily diverted from 
 
 DC sta'ei, ' his purpose ; and was more successful in bringing the 
 
 Droz,'i. sfi. Crown into difficulties by his rashness than extricating it 
 
 from them by his conduct. 1 
 
 He gave a decisive proof of these qualities in the very 
 outset of his career. He was appointed President of the 
 Council on 1st May 1787. His first step was to submit 
 to the Notables those states of the finances for which they 
 had so strenuously contended ; but, as might have been 
 expected, this added to the confusion in which the public 
 accounts were already involved ; and, after much dispute 
 whether the deficit was a hundred and thirty or a hundred 
 and fifty millions, it was, by common consent, fixed at a 
 hundred and forty millions (5,600,000), as a sort of 
 medium between the conflicting statements. The result 
 was, that the public distrust in the stability of the finances 
 was confirmed ; and, as if to leave nothing undone to add 
 to the agitation of the public mind, Brienne used these 
 words, on closing the Assembly of the Notables, on the 
 May 25. 25th May, in regard to the formation of the provincial 
 assemblies : " The Tiers Etat, assured that it alone shall 
 2)ossess as many voices as the clergy and noblesse to- 
 gether, will never fear that any separate interest should 
 mislead the suffrages. It is just that that portion of his 
 Majesty's subjects, so numerous, so interesting, so worthy 
 of his protection, should receive, at least by the number of 
 its voices, a compensation for the influence which riches, 
 dignity, and birth, necessarily give to the other orders. 
 Proceeding on these principles, his Majesty will direct 
 that the suffrages shall be taken, not by order, but by head. 
 The majority of orders does not always represent that 
 real plurality of votes which constitutes the decisive test of
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 341 
 
 the opinions of every assembly." The president of the CHAP. 
 parliament of Paris replied " The Notables have beheld 
 
 with horror the depth of the wound caused by a system 177 - 
 of administration of which your parliament has long 
 foreseen the consequences. The different plans proposed 
 by your Majesty require the most mature consideration : 
 respectful silence alone becomes us." Thus were the 
 sittings of this famous assembly, which alone had the 
 power to stop the progress of evil, closed, without the 
 privileged orders having made one sacrifice of their unjust 
 rights to the public good with the disastrous state of the 
 finances fully exposed to the public view and with the 
 principle of the Tiers Etat being entitled to an equal 1 Weber, i. 
 
 vu ^ 1,1 11 xu 177 - Droz ' 
 
 representation with the nobles and clergy in the provm- i. sis, 519. 
 cial assemblies, and of the whole voting by head, openly 177.' "' J ' 
 promulgated from the throne. 1 
 
 Before the administration of Brienne, the immediate 
 precursor of the Revolution, is more fully detailed, it is 
 necessary to go back to a series of other causes, hardly 
 less disastrous than the embarrassment of the finances, 
 which at the same period assailed the government of 
 Louis, and in their ultimate effects proved to the last 
 degree ruinous to the monarchy. 
 
 The skill of his physicians had at length overcome 7 
 the physical obstacles which, in the earlier years of his Birth o'f the 
 marriage, had deprived Louis XVI. of the prospect of RoyaUnd 
 issue; and, on the 19th December 1778, Marie Antoinette nh e in DaU D CC . 
 gave birth to a daughter, named Marie Theresa Charlotte, ' 1778> 
 afterwards so famous in history as the Duchess d'Angou- 
 leme. Such was the Queen's grief at the infant not 
 proving a son, that it brought on a convulsive fit, which 
 nearly proved fatal, and from which she was mainly saved 
 by extraordinary coolness and presence of mind on the 
 part of the King. On this occasion, as well as during 
 her pregnancy, the Queen redoubled her usual munificent 
 charities, all of which, so far from being imposed as a 
 burden on the nation, were economised from her own
 
 342 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, personal revenue as Queen of France.* This piece of 
 ' good fortune was ere long followed by another ; on the 
 
 1781. 22d October 1781 the Queen was again confined, and 
 n this occasion she gave birth to a young prince, who of 
 course became the Dauphin. The public joy knew no 
 bounds on this occasion ; the Queen, on her recovery, 
 was received with the most tumultuous applause at the 
 opera, the II6tel de Ville, and the Theatre Frangais ; 
 and she observed, with peculiar satisfaction, that the 
 humblest classes were the most enthusiastic in the expres- 
 sion of their delight. The address of the women of the 
 Halle, or chief market of Paris, deserves to be in an 
 especial manner noticed, as showing what were the feel- 
 ings towards the royal family of that class, afterwards so 
 fierce during the Revolution, before their opinions had 
 been perverted by the arts and falsehoods of an ambitious 
 faction.t The beneficence of the King and Queen on 
 this occasion exceeded all their former generosity ; the 
 sums bestowed on the debtors alone amounted to 474,000 
 
 * The Queen, in every important event of her life, made it an invariable'rule 
 to add largely to her already magnificent charities. On this occasion she 
 distributed funds for the liberation of an extraordinary number of poor debtors, 
 fathers of families, from prison, in every part of France, requesting only in 
 return the prayers of the reunited households for the heir of France. When 
 distributing this munificence in Paris, the archbishop, to whom it was intrusted, 
 expressed himself thus, in his address to the objects of the royal bounty : 
 " The prayers of the poor are so efficacious ! What will the pi-ayers not obtain 
 of so many unfortunate fathers, who, by the unlooked-for recovery of their 
 freedom, have been restored to their families and their children, who stood in 
 need of the support of their parents at the very time that, by the burden they 
 occasioned, they were the innocent cause of their detention ! " MONTJOYE, Vie 
 de Marie Antoinette, i. 111. 
 
 f The Femmes de la Halle thus addressed the King : " Sire ! If heaven 
 owed a son to a king who regarded his people as his family, our prayers and 
 our wishes have long petitioned for it : at length we have been heard. We are 
 now sure that our children will be as happy as ourselves ; for that child will 
 resemble you. You will teach him, sire, to be as good and just as yourself ; 
 we will teach our children how they should love and respect their king." To 
 the Queen they thus addressed themselves : " For long, madam, we have 
 loved you, without daring to say so ; we have need of all our respect not to 
 abuse the permission now given to express it." To the Dauphin they said : 
 " You cannot as yet hear the wishes which we form over your cradle : one day 
 they will be explained to you ; they cannot go further than that you should 
 resemble those to whom you owe your being." MOXTJOYB, Vie de Marie 
 Antoinette, i. 128.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 343 
 
 francs (19,000) ; nearly all the captives in the prisons CHAP. 
 were liberated ; and Paris, in particular, shared so largely 
 
 in the royal bounty, that poverty literally was, for a short 1782 - 
 period, banished from among its vast population. The 
 King, overjoyed at the birth of his children, redoubled his 
 tenderness towards the Queen : his confidence in her was 
 unbounded, his affection and solicitude unintermitting. 
 Adored by her husband, beloved by her friends, cherished 
 by her subjects, admired by all, the Queen of the first 
 monarchy in Europe, the mother of a rising family, she 
 seemed to have approached as near the perfection ofi Mont . 
 human felicity as it is given to mortals to attain. Yet 
 
 in this very combination of causes, so pregnant with 7, 59 - 
 
 - ,. . . 1 Campan, i. 
 
 present felicity, were preparing in secret the springs of 200, 209. 
 unbounded future disaster. 1 
 
 The long period of eleven years which elapsed after the R3 
 marriage of the King before the birth of the princess-royal, The Queen 
 
 i , . 1 .1 j. 1 rv becomes the 
 
 had given rise to a general opinion that the Queen was object of 
 never destined to be a mother. Though both Monsieur, 
 the next heir to the throne, and the Count d'Artois, were J 
 married, the former had no family, and till 1778 the 
 Count d'Artois had only one son, and his health was 
 very delicate.'' 5 ' In these circumstances it was natural, 
 and, in truth, unavoidable, that sanguine hopes of suc- 
 ceeding to the throne should be entertained by the 
 Orleans family ; and as long as this auspicious state of 
 matters continued, the Queen was allowed to rest in 
 peace, and she remained the object of unvarying attach- 
 ment to her subjects. But when these prospects were 
 endangered by the birth of the princess-royal, and de- 
 stroyed by that of the Dauphin, a very different state of 
 matters arose. The bright vision of the crown vanished 
 
 * Monsieur Count de Provence, afterwards Louis XVIII., was married on 
 14th May 1771 to Josephine Louise of Savoy, but had no family. The Count 
 d'Artois was married on 16th November 1773 to Marie Therese of Savoy, 
 and had two sons the Duke d'Angoul&ne, born 6th August 1775; and 
 Charles Ferdinand, Duke de Berri, born on 16th November 1778. Failing these 
 two sons, the Orleans family were the next heirs to the throne. SOULAVIE, 
 ii. 2, 3.
 
 344 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, from before the Duke de Chartres ; clouds overcast the 
 coteries of the Palais Royal.* That palace, the most 
 
 1785. splendid and influential of any, after Versailles, in France, 
 became the centre of dissatisfaction, intrigue, and disap- 
 pointment, for every rank of society, from the highest 
 to the lowest in Paris. The respectable veil which had 
 hitherto concealed the irregularities of the old Duke of 
 Orleans, proved a certain, though but a slight restraint 
 upon their turbulent activity as long as he lived ; but his 
 
 NOV. is, death, on the 18th November 1785, entirely removed 
 this check. The Duke de Chartres, elevated to be the 
 head of the family, found himself master at once of its 
 immense riches and its vast influence ; his dissolute com- 
 panions encouraged in his breast ambitious projects, to 
 which, but for them, he might have remained a stranger ; 
 the dangerous and needy crowd of nobles, libertines, 
 atheists, philosophers, insolvents, courtesans, and demo- 
 crats, who crowded the antechambers of the Palais Royal,t 
 began openly to speculate on the chance of a change of 
 
 1 Montjoye, dynasty, and the vast benefits which it would bring to 
 
 Vic de Marie * *' 
 
 Antoinette, themselves ; and in the event of the Queen continuing to 
 SOUL Vi. 3,' give birth to sons, it was whispered that means might be 
 i. i46, 239. found to get quit altogether of the elder branch of the 
 Bourbon family. 1 
 
 It is probable that views of this sort are never very far 
 character of from the thoughts of the hangers-on of a branch of the 
 royal family, which has a near prospect of succeeding to 
 the throne by the failure of the direct line of succession ; 
 and the example of England sufficiently demonstrates, 
 that the heir-apparent is in general the head of the oppo- 
 sition against the throne. But in the case of France, the 
 danger of this natural, and perhaps unavoidable tendency, 
 
 * The well-known palace of the Duke of Orleans in the Rue St Honor<5, and 
 the head-quarters of the opposition to the court in France. 
 
 f " Un tas d'hommes perdus de dettes et de crimes, 
 Qui pressent de mes lois les ordres legitimes, 
 Et qui, desespgrant les plus eviter, 
 Si tout n'est renverse ne sauraient subsister." 
 
 CORNEILLE, Cinna, act v. scene 1.
 
 HISTOEY OF EUROPE. 345 
 
 was greatly increased by the peculiar character of the CHAP. 
 young Duke of Orleans, and the dissolute nobility by 
 
 whom he was surrounded. That celebrated prince was 1786> 
 not destitute of talents ; he at first evinced some good 
 dispositions ; he retained to the last some of the qualities 
 by which his family had been distinguished, and in early 
 youth the most sanguine hopes were entertained that he 
 would prove an honour to his race. But he inherited an 
 extraordinary passion for intrigue from his mother, whose 
 gallantries had afforded subject for scandal even to the 
 court of Louis XV. ; and the profligate society, both 
 male and female, into which, from his first entrance into 
 life, he was plunged, completely obliterated the good 
 impressions which he had received in infancy from his 
 learned and able governess, Madame Genlis, and might 
 have imbibed in maturer years from his young wife, one 
 of the most accomplished and superior women in France.* 
 Initiated at the age of sixteen into all the vices of the 
 capital, he soon outdid them all ; and the scandal of his 
 nocturnal orgies, with crowds of abandoned associates, 
 recalled the accounts recorded, but till then hardly cre- 
 dited, of Nero and Heliogabalus.t What the courtesans 
 had left undone, the Philosophers did ; and between the 
 two he became impregnated with all the selfishness, pro- 
 
 * He was married, on 5th April 1769, to Mademoiselle de Penthievre, 
 daughter of the Duke de Penthievre, from whom she inherited a princely for- 
 tune. She succeeded, with the grace and elegance, to the virtue and delicacy 
 of her family ; and she had need of all her firmness and prudence in the midst 
 of the anxiety and distress in which she was subsequently involved by the pro- 
 fligacy and ambition of her husband. Sou LA VIE, ii. 5, and 110, 112. 
 
 t The style of his manners at times will be sufficiently illustrated by two 
 anecdotes. " II paria un jour a Versailles, qu'il retoumerait nud a. cheval et 
 au galop au Palais Royal : les compagnons de ses plaisirs furent les premiers a 
 rougir de cette petulance ; ils le conjurerent de commencer la partie en par- 
 tant non de Versailles, mais de ses ecuries. D'autres compagnons de ses 
 debauches, soutenant le pari, jurerent qu'il ne partirait pas meme de ses 
 demies; le Due de Chartres gagna le pari." SOULAVIE, ii. 186. 
 
 " L'ann6e 1789 fut I'e'poque principale de la licence revolutionnaire de ce 
 palais fameux (le Palais Royal) ; et le public (jtait invite a voir deux sauvages 
 nouvellement arrives dans la capitale. C'etait uniquement un homme et une 
 femme vetus couchds dans un hamac fait a Paris ; et se permettant en presence 
 des spectateurs les jouissances du mariage." Ibid. ii. 109.
 
 346 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, fligacy, irreligion, and licentiousness which then prevailed 
 in the capital. Sensual, voluptuous, and insatiable in the 
 
 1786. pursuit of excitement, he was fond of violent exercises, 
 
 had some knowledge of mechanics, and was passionately 
 
 addicted to horse-races, which at that period, in imitation 
 
 of England, had become fashionable in Paris. But though 
 
 constitutionally brave, he was destitute of moral courage, 
 
 and was totally devoid of fixed principle even for his own 
 
 interest ; he was impelled into a conspiracy against the 
 
 Crown rather by the efforts of his associates than his own 
 
 j Weber . ambition ; repeatedly, though urged by them, he failed at 
 
 oli' 3 'i 6 ' , the decisive moment when he might have seized the reins 
 
 32/. Soul. 
 
 10.5, 109. of power, and ultimately fell a victim to the faction 
 ii. 821. ' which he had had the wickedness to create and wanted 
 the vigour to govern. 1 
 
 When the successive children which she bore to Louis 
 incessant made it evident that the Duke of Orleans had daily less 
 tta oceans chance of succeeding to the throne in any other way than 
 defoLeth e by a change of dynasty, the Queen became the object of 
 Queen. incessant and envenomed attacks from the profligate 
 retainers, male and female, of the Orleans faction. Sur- 
 mises unfavourable to her reputation were first whispered 
 in fashionable circles ; next they made their appearance 
 in libels, which were privately circulated, and greedily 
 bought up by all classes ; at length, emboldened by im- 
 punity, the calumnies were generally disseminated, and 
 the libellers openly ascribed to her all the vices with 
 which their own imaginations were stored, The numer- 
 ous courtesans whom the Duke of Orleans had in his 
 train were peculiarly active and successful in this sourd 
 and malignant warfare ; for they knew well, from expe- 
 rience, how to pander to the rage of a depraved capital 
 for scandal were familiar with the manners of the 
 great ; could invent falsehoods which had the air of 
 truth ; and were at once stimulated by the thirst for 
 gain, and the prospect of obtaining the spoils of Ver- 
 sailles as the reward of their mendacity. The police
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 347 
 
 were repeatedly applied to, to discover the authors of CHAP. 
 these atrocious fabrications, but they professed them- 
 
 selves unable to furnish any clue to the mystery : it soon 1782 - 
 became evident that the libels proceeded from an elevated 
 source, and that the attempts to discover their authors 
 were counterworked by opposite influences, more powerful 
 even than that of the court in the straitened state of its 
 finances. The effect of these efforts was soon apparent. 
 The Queen became as unpopular as she had formerly 
 been beloved. All the embarrassments of the treasury 
 were set down to her extravagance ; she was commonly 
 called Madame Deficit ; and to such a length were the 
 people worked upon, that she could not appear in public 
 without being insulted. In this way a triple object was 
 gained : the appetite of the populace for scandal in high 
 life was gratified ; the influence of the Queen, whose in- T Mont . , e 
 trepidity and decision of character were already known, w ^ ip. 
 was weakened ; and a foundation was laid for impugning 326, 327. 
 the legitimacy of the heirs whom she was furnishing to 411, 440. 
 the throne. 1 
 
 Subsequent to 1781 the Queen gave an additional im- 
 pulse to these calumnies by the increased lead which she The Queen's 
 took in public affairs, and the habits in which, in the very influence 8 
 innocence of her heart, she indulged at court. With all the 
 her exalted and noble qualities, she had not the sagacity 
 to discover in what way these misrepresentations, with the 
 existence of which she was well acquainted, were to be 
 averted ; and the very purity of her intentions frequently 
 furnished a handle, of which her enemies instantly availed 
 themselves to load her with opprobrium. Her influence 
 with Louis naturally increased, as her position was changed 
 by the birth of the Dauphin ; and the increasing fondness 
 of the King, which resembled rather that of an ardent 
 lover than of a sedate husband, gave her an evident sway 
 in the council, in which she was now frequently present. 
 Count Segur, the war minister, who succeeded Count St 
 Germain, and M. De Castries, the minister of marine,
 
 348 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, who was appointed in 1780, owed their elevation chiefly 
 IIL to her influence ; and although she always opposed 
 
 1782 - Calonne's appointment, yet that of the Archbishop of 
 Toulouse was almost entirely owing to her favour and 
 that of the Abbe de Vermond. Courtiers are not slow 
 in discovering where the real sources of power are to be 
 found. The influence of the Queen was soon bruited 
 abroad, and exaggerated, by the hundred tongues of 
 rumour ; it was said that she was the true prime-mini- 
 ster, that the King was entirely guided by her opinion, 
 and that the cabinet was a mere puppet in her hands. 
 Thenceforward she became the object, not merely of per- 
 sonal but of political hostility ; the democrats and revo- 
 lutionists joined with the courtesans and Orleanists in 
 attacking her measures and reviling her conduct ; and 
 that impassioned rancour at power of any kind which had 
 grown up with the spread of republican ideas, averted 
 , from the head of the King by the indisputable benevo- 
 
 1 Besenval, . , n 
 
 ii. 384, 394. lence and integrity of his character, was all concentrated 
 i. KfcfSi. against the indomitable Austrian who was supposed to 
 guide his councils. 1 
 
 The influence of the Queen in the administration soon 
 increased made itself felt, not only in the appointments to the 
 favour of ministry, but in the measures of government. The most 
 important of them was an alteration which, during the 
 ti me ld Marshal Segur was secretary at war, took place 
 in the army. j n ^g qualifications necessary for obtaining commissions 
 in the army or navy. Considerable laxity in this respect 
 had of late years crept in, arising partly from the increas- 
 ing weight of the bankers and financiers in the distressed 
 state of the royal treasury, which made it no easy matter 
 to exclude their sons, on the score of birth, from the 
 military career, and partly from the general tendency to 
 Liberal ideas, which, since the accession of Louis XVL, 
 had more or less characterised the royal councils. But 
 after the retirement of Necker, and the return to the 
 former system of government, it was considered hazardous
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 349 
 
 to permit this laxity to continue ; and, accordingly, an CHAP. 
 edict was obtained from the King, which provided that 
 
 no one should obtain a commission in the army or navy 1771 - 
 unless he could trace his nobility back for four generations, Oct. 7,1781. 
 or a hundred years. This was in effect to restrict them 
 to the old families, and to but a small number even of that 
 privileged body ; and it so much limited the class from 
 whom officers could be taken, that it was found impossible 
 to enforce the rule rigidly in practice. In the temper of 
 the public mind, it was abundantly imprudent to revert 
 to such a system under any circumstances ; but the evil 
 was aggravated tenfold by the circumstance of the guards, 
 with regard to whom it was rigidly enforced, being per- 
 manently stationed in Paris ; and in situations, of course, 
 where the private soldiers were continually exposed to the 
 seductions, and liable to be influenced by the opinions, of 
 the citizens, male and female, with whom they were in 
 constant intercourse. Thus, while the officers all belonged 
 to the highest class of the aristocracy, the common men 
 were daily becoming more democratic ; so that it might j S ; 
 easily have been foreseen, that on the first serious crisis a ^ 12- 
 division would arise between them. It will appear in the e stasC J- 
 sequel with what fatal effect this circumstance operated at thion, 154. 
 the decisive crisis of the Revolution. 1 
 
 Unhappily, the private habits of the Queen, shortly 
 before and after the birth of the princess-royal, were not Aid which 
 calculated to diminish the number of these surmises, or 
 disarm the malignity of her enemies. Her aversion to the 
 rigid formality of court etiquette had been early evinced, ^Sct c 
 and it was with ill-disguised reluctance that she submitted 
 even to the necessary fatigue of receiving the persons 
 presented at the court levees. Jealousies, in regard to 
 precedence, had estranged her from some of the highest 
 nobility : the Duke de Chartres was, for very sufficient 
 reasons, never allowed to form one of the intimate circle 
 in which she so much delighted, and spent so large a part 
 of her time ; her brother, the Emperor Joseph, and the
 
 350 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. Grand-duke Maximilian, successively visited Paris, travel- 
 ling incognito, notwithstanding which they were allowed 
 
 1778 - the precedence over the French noblesse of the highest 
 
 rank a rule which banished a large part of them from 
 
 the court during the residence of these foreign princes at 
 
 the metropolis. Above all, the Duchess of Polignac, the 
 
 confidant of all her thoughts and wishes, and who made, 
 
 it must be confessed, a most unexceptionable use of her 
 
 power, excited in the highest degree the jealousy of the 
 
 j Cam . old nobility, who beheld with undisguised resentment the 
 
 175, 180. Queen fly from the stately splendours of Versailles to take 
 
 256, 360.' refuge in an elegant domestic circle, in which she threw 
 
 i. null's, aside at once the honour, the formality, and the fatigues 
 
 of her rank. 1 
 
 A favourite amusement, which was often resorted to at 
 
 89 
 
 Nocturnal Versailles during the summer of 1 778, furnished additional 
 
 es food for the malignity and scandal of Paris During the 
 extreme heats and enchanting weather of that season, 
 when the Queen, in the first month of her pregnancy, 
 was unable to sleep till a late period, she beguiled the 
 weary hours of the night by forming parties who walked 
 out by moonlight on the terraces of Versailles and Trianon, 
 enjoying the delicious coolness of the air, and listening to 
 the noble military bands which played at a little distance. 
 The fame of these nocturnal parties, more agreeable during 
 sultry weather than judicious in a queen, soon spread over 
 Paris. High bribes were offered to the doorkeepers to 
 obtain admission to these magic scenes ; gold opened the 
 entrance to some improper characters, occasionally some 
 of the Duke de Chartres' mistresses found their way in ; an 
 adventurous youth might boast of having sat on the same 
 a Mad. cam- bench, and even exchanged words with the Queen, during 
 24*weber ^ ie bscurity of the night, and without his being known. 
 i. 286, 302.' The King, worn out with the fatigues of his council, was 
 i. ne/223. seldom present on these occasions ; but the Count d'Artois 
 64."' ' and the Count of Provence always were. 2 It may be 
 conceived what food these nocturnal parties, magnified by
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 351 
 
 rumour and blackened by the voice of scandal, furnished CHAP. 
 
 TTT 
 
 to the malignant jealousy of a corrupted capital* 
 
 Another change took place at this period, at once 1778 - 
 descriptive of the revolution in general ideas which was Tot j*' 
 going forward, and of the influence of the Queen, notwitli- i 
 standing all her unpopularity, over the highest circles in j^^ 06 ' 1 
 the capital. Her sway over the fashions of female dress Q'ueen. 
 was omnipotent. At one period she introduced the ex- 
 travagantly high feathers and head-dresses, which soon 
 spread over all Europe, and now appear so strange, as 
 they are portrayed on the immortal canvass of Reynolds ; 
 at another, yielding to her horror at etiquette and passion 
 for ease of manner, she brought in that total change of 
 fashion, characteristic of the spread of ideas of equality, 
 which at once levelled all distinctions of rank, and arrayed 
 the duchess in the same simple muslin garb as the sou- 
 brette. There is more in this than a mere change of fashion ; 
 it was allied with the revolution which was then going on 
 in the public mind. In the extravagant admiration for 
 Grecian costume, which spread with the growth of repub- 
 lican ideas, is to be discerned the effects of Rousseau's 
 dreams on the social contract, and the forerunner of the | ^y^tro 
 levelling ideas of the Revolution. Whatever the Queen Montjoye, 
 
 Vie de 
 
 introduced was immediately adopted by the fashionable Marie 
 dressmakers of the capital ; l the ladies of Paris, amidst i. 274, 270 
 all their jealousy of the Austrian, hastened to imitate all 
 
 * During all this period, however, her domestic habits with the King remained 
 unchanged a clear proof of the innocence of her conduct. " Notre jeune et 
 charmante reine, a. force d'etre sans fagon et sans ceremonie, a expulse de la 
 cour toutes les ridicules entraves de 1'antique etiquette. On voit tous les soirs 
 cette aimable princesse parcourir le chateau, aller faire des visites, tenant le roi 
 sous le bras, avec un seul valet-de-pied portant deux bougies. Quant an nouvel 
 usage des soupers avec les dames et seigneurs titres ou non, il faut observer 
 que la jeune reine 1'a moins provoqud pour le plaisir de souper en grande com- 
 pagnie, que par une prudence politique bien entendue. C'est a cette ancienne 
 etiquette, suivant laquelle le roi devait souper au retour de la chasse avec tous 
 les chasseurs et sans les princesses, qu'on pent attribuer la debauche de tous les 
 genres a laquelle Louis XV. a 6te livre dans les vingt dernieres ann<?es de sa vie ; 
 aujourd'hui le roi n'est s6pare de son e*pouse que quand il va a la chasse, ou 
 quand il tient conseil ; et les vils courtisans qui oseraient essayer de corrompre 
 leur mattre n'en trouvent pas le temps." Correspondance Secrete de la Cour 
 pendant le Iltyne de Louis XVI., 99.
 
 352 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, the changes she adopted : the stately magnificence of 
 feudal costume was discarded ; Madame Bertin, the prin- 
 
 1785. c jp a i dressmaker to the court, became the Lycurgus of 
 modern fashion ; and from the antechambers of Versailles, 
 the simple style of Grecian drapery spread over all 
 Europe.* 
 
 An event soon after occurred, which, in this temper of 
 Affair of the public mind, created a prodigious sensation, and con- 
 neckiae n tributed, more than any other circumstance, to give an 
 appearance of consistency to the malignant reports so in- 
 dustriously propagated by the Orleans faction as to the 
 Queen's character. Boehmer, jeweller to the court, had 
 frequently showed the Queen a superb diamond necklace, 
 which he had constructed at a very heavy expense, in the 
 hope that she would purchase it ; but the great cost, which 
 was 1,600,000 francs (64,000), had made her uniformly 
 and positively decline the offer. He endeavoured, in con- 
 sequence, to dispose of it at some of the other courts in 
 Europe, but without success. In the midst of his per- 
 plexity a lady of high rank, named the Countess de la 
 Mothe, descended from the royal house of Valois, waited 
 on him, and stated that the Queen had at length resolved 
 to buy the necklace, but that the affair was to be kept a 
 profound secret, and at the same time exhibited a pre- 
 tended letter of her majesty's authorising the purchase. 
 
 * " Marie Antoinette, hors des solennites, aimait a s'habiller avec la plus grande 
 simplicity ; mais 1'air de dignite qui lui &tait particulier laissait toujours deviner 
 son rang. On commen9a a censurer vivement cette simplicity, d'abord parmi 
 les courtisans, ensuite dans le reste du royaume ; et par une de ces contradic- 
 tions qui sont plus communes en France qu'ailleurs, en mdme temps qu'oii 
 blamait la reine, on la copiait avec fureur. Chaque femme voulait avoir le meme 
 deshabille", le meme bonnet, les memes plumes qu'on avait vus. On courait en 
 foule chez la Dame Bertin, sa marchande de modes ; ce fut une veritable revo- 
 lution dans 1'habillement de nos dames, qui donna une sorte d'importance a 
 cette femme. Les robes trainantes, toutes les formes qui pouvaient donner une 
 certaine noblesse aux parures, furent proscrites ; on ne distingua plus une 
 duchesse d'une actrice. La folie gagna les homines ; les grands avaient long- 
 temps quitte" les plumets, les touffes de ruban, les galons au chapeaux, pour les 
 laisser a leura laquais. Us quitterent alors les talons rouges, et les broderies 
 sur les habits : ils se plurent a parcourir nos rues vetus d'un gros drap, un baton 
 noueux a la main, et chausses avec des souliers epais. Cette metamorphose 
 valut & plus d'entre eux des aventures humiliantes. Jete"s dans la foule, et
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 353 
 
 Boehmer was not satisfied with these assurances, upon CHAP. 
 which she promised to send one of the highest dignitaries 
 
 about the court to complete the transaction ; and in effect, 1785 - 
 the Cardinal Rohan, grand almoner of the Queen, soon 
 after waited on him, and concluded the bargain in the 
 Queen's name, for 1,400,000 francs (56,000). The 
 necklace was delivered to Madame de la Mothe, who gave 
 in exchange forged orders of the Queen, signed " Marie 
 Antoinette de France" When the first of these fell due, 
 it was not paid by the Queen's treasurer ; Boehmer made 
 complaints to a lady of the Court, and the affair came to 
 the knowledge of the King, who instantly sent for the 
 Cardinal Rohan, and interrogated him closely on so 
 strange an affair. He admitted having had a certain 
 share in the transaction, and having bought the necklace ; 
 though he loudly protested that he had been imposed 
 upon by Madame de la Mothe, and that he believed the 
 forged letter-orders were genuine. " Did you not know 
 the Queen's signature 1 " inquired Louis. " I never saw 
 her Majesty write," answered the cardinal. " A Rohan 
 and a cardinal/' replied Louis, " might have known that 
 a Queen of France does not sign ' Marie Antoinette de 
 France.' " l * He was committed to custody ; but before 
 being sent to prison, he contrived to despatch a secret 
 
 . . 11 i Memoires, 
 
 messenger with instructions to burn all his private papers H. 117, 184. 
 an injunction which, by riding so hard that he killed 
 
 n'ayant rien qui les distinguat des hommes du peuple, il arriva que des rustiques 
 prirent querelle avec eux, et dans ce genre de combats ce n'etait pas le noble 
 qui avait la superiority. Voila comme insensiblement le second ordre se depou- 
 illait de la consideration qu'on lui avait toujours porte, et avanc^iit le regne de 
 cette egalite qui lui a dte" si funeste. Ces changemens avaient un inconvenient 
 plus grave encore, en ce qu'ils influerent insensiblement sur les mceurs ; on prit 
 trop de gout pour les manieres, les habitudes du peuple, ainsi que pour les 
 maximes democratiques, qui mettaient tout ne niveau, tandis que de 1'autre, on 
 1'accoutumait au me'pris, a 1'insubordination, a 1'indolence. MONTJOTE, Uistolre 
 de Marie Antoinette, i. 274, 276. A very curious work might be written on the 
 influence of political events and ideas on the prevailing fashions both for men 
 and women ; there is always a certain analogy between them. Witness the 
 shepherd-plaid trousers for gentlemen, and coarse shawls and muslins worn by 
 ladies in Great Britain, during the Reform fervour of 1832-34. 
 
 * The queens of France all signed by their Christian names merely, as 
 " Mary Antoinette ;" never adding " de France." 
 
 VOL. I. Z
 
 354 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, his horse, the servant contrived to effect. Madame de la 
 IIL Mothe was soon after arrested at Bar-sur-Aube ; and 
 J 786. both she and the cardinal were brought to trial before 
 the parliament of Paris. 
 
 Sufficient food for censorious observation was afforded 
 
 03 
 
 Trial of even by the bare outline of the case as it has now been 
 given ; but the details which came out on the trial were 
 much more prejudicial to the Queen's reputation, and 
 furnished abundant materials for the malignity of scandal 
 to magnify. It appeared that Madame de la Mothe, 
 among other devices to support her credit, and carry on a 
 transaction which proved so lucrative to herself, had suc- 
 ceeded in imposing so far on the credulity of the cardinal 
 that she made him believe that the Queen would meet him 
 at night, disguised in a domino, in one of the shrubberies 
 of Trianon, to give him a rose, expressive of her approba- 
 tion of the steps he had taken concerning the necklace. 
 In effect, she got one of the courtesans from the Palais 
 Royal, named Mademoiselle Oliva, who had an elegant 
 figure and resembled Marie Antoinette, to personify the 
 Queen on that occasion. She gave him the rose, and made 
 the deluded cardinal believe he had been honoured with a 
 private nocturnal interview with royalty. It was admitted 
 by Madame de la Mothe and her husband, that she had 
 got the necklace and disposed of part of it : * her 
 great accession of riches sufficiently proved where the 
 proceeds of it had gone ; the letters and orders bore 
 scarcely any resemblance to the Queen's handwriting, and 
 Cardinal Rohan's sudden and complete burning of his 
 papers sufficiently indicated that he had something at least 
 
 ' " Madame de la Mothe n'a rien des fragmens du collier que lea pieces man- 
 quantes et dont la trace pouvait etre suivie. Mon epouse m'a donne" ces pieces 
 que j'ai vendues, en m'assurant que c'6tait un present de la reine. Le cadeau 
 etait brillant ; mais c'dtait la fille des Cesars qui 1'offrait au seul reste de Valois, 
 dont rh6ritage, la premiere couronne de 1'Europe, brillait sur la tete de la reine. 
 Le cardinal a recu le collier dans son integrite", pour qu'il 1'ait remis en cet etat 
 a mon Spouse. Ma femme a done e"t6 egar6e, et 1'instrument du cardinal" M. 
 DE LA MOTHE d M. DE MONTMORIN, 22d September 1790 ; given in SOULAVIE, 
 Rtyne de Louis X VI., vi. 77.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 355 
 
 which he was desirous to conceal. But the Orleans faction CHAP. 
 and the libellers of the Queen fastened with such avidity 
 
 on this scandalous affair, that the public became soon 1786 - 
 incapable of forming an impartial judgment concerning it. 
 The noblesse were indignant at the thought of a prince of 
 the blood of Rohan being even suspected of such an offence 
 as theft and forgery ; the ecclesiastics loudly murmured 
 against a cardinal being tried before a temporal court ; 
 the populace implicitly believed everything which tended 
 to involve the court in obloquy and scandal. So general 
 was the delusion, so universal the clamour, that it was 
 commonly believed in Paris, down to the Revolution, in 
 defiance of the clearest evidence and the admissions of 
 the parties themselves, that the Queen had really been 
 privy to the purchase of the necklace. After a long trial 
 before the parliament of Paris, the issue of which was 
 looked to with intense anxiety by all France, the cardinal 
 was, by a majority of votes, declared not guilty, amidst April 14, 
 the tumultuous applause of the mob, who rejoiced in the 
 opportunity of thus showing their hatred of the Queen ; 
 but Madame de la Mothe was convicted, and sentenced to 
 be branded on the shoulders with a red-hot iron, and im- 
 prisoned for life. This cruel sentence, unworthy for one, 
 how guilty soever, who bore the name of Valois, was 
 carried into execution ; the King deeming, and perhaps 
 justly, that, how repugnant soever to his feelings, he could 
 not relax it in any respect, without confirming the general 
 suspicion that the Queen was no stranger to the transaction. 
 Such was the impression produced in France, and indeed 
 over Europe, by this extraordinary affair, that a young JAbb 
 ecclesiastic, destined to no common celebrity in future times, ^ e 9 or |f^ " 
 and whom, even then, nothing escaped M. TALLEYRAND ^ 4 vi - 
 PERIGORD wrote at the time to a friend, " Attend nar- ca'mpan, H. 
 rowly to that miserable affair of the necklace : I should Lab. ii. 57. 
 not be surprised if it overturned the throne." 1 "" 
 
 * Madame de la Mothe, after a year's detention in the prison of 1'Hdpital, 
 effected, or was suffered to effect, her escape, and went over to London. She
 
 356 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. Fed by so many causes, a spirit of INNOVATION, like a 
 malady, overspread France at this crisis ; precipitated all 
 
 i78. classes into a passion for changes of which they were far 
 General from perceiving the ultimate effects, and in the end in- 
 noviiion in duced evils far greater than those which these changes 
 were intended to remove. There is no unmixed good in 
 human affairs : the best principles, if pushed to excess, 
 degenerate into fatal vices. Generosity is nearly allied 
 to extravagance charity itself may lead to ruin the 
 sternness of justice is but one step removed from the 
 severity of oppression. It is the same in the political 
 world : the tranquillity of despotism resembles the stag- 
 nation of the Dead Sea ; the fever of innovation, the 
 tempests of the ocean. It would seem as if, at particular 
 periods, from causes inscrutable to human wisdom, a 
 universal frenzy seizes mankind ; reason, experience, pru- 
 dence, are alike blinded ; and the very classes who are 
 to perish in the storm are the first to rouse its fury. 
 France exhibited a striking proof of the truth of this 
 observation for a number of years preceding the Revolu- 
 tion. During the reign of Louis XVI. no one thought 
 of a convulsion, though it was rapidly approaching, and 
 the most ardent in the cause of innovation were those 
 whose fortunes were about to perish from its effects. The 
 young nobles applauded the writings of Raynal, Voltaire, 
 , s<? h and Rousseau, and repeated all the arguments against 
 TG' 79 9?' ^eir own exclusive privileges and the feudal system, 
 Lab. i.'s. without ever suspecting that they voiild be the first 
 
 victims of such opinions. 1 
 
 J)4 Long before the Tiers Etat had adopted them, the 
 
 eitSof t^rst; for liberty, and a blind passion for change, had 
 
 the Angio- spread widely among the French noblesse ; but the 
 
 approaches of the spirit of innovation were so disguised 
 
 lost her life, some years after, in a frightful manner : being pursued for debt, to 
 avoid an arrest she endeavoured to escape by a window two stories from the 
 ground ; but, finding it too high to let herself down, she clung for some time, 
 with her hands, to the window-sill, and when her strength was exhausted, 
 fell, and was killed on the spot. Bioyraphie Universelle, xxiv. 121 (LA MOTHE).
 
 HISTOEY OF EUROPE. 357 
 
 under the colours of philanthropy, that none perceived CHAP. 
 its consequences. " In truth," says Segur, " who could IIL 
 have anticipated the terrible flood of passions and crimes 178(J - 
 which was about to be let loose on the world, at a time 
 when all writings, all thoughts, all actions, seemed to have 
 but one end the extirpation of abuses, the propagation 
 of virtue, the relief of the people, the establishment of 
 freedom \ It is thus that the most terrible convulsions 
 are ushered into the world ; the night is serene, the sun- z ^ 
 set fair, which precedes the fury of the tornado." 1 The se. 
 passion for innovation, which had been continually in- 
 creasing during the latter years of the reign of Louis XV., 
 became irresistible in the years immediately preceding the 
 Revolution. It seized all classes, embraced all subjects, 
 overwhelmed all understandings. The extravagant imi- 
 tation of English customs and manners, called the Anglo- 
 mania, was more than a mere foolery of fashion : it was 
 the expression of a disposition disquieted and dissatisfied 
 with itself, and arose from a secret desire to imitate 
 the free institutions of a country whose extravagances 
 were so much the object of admiration. 
 
 It is hardly credible, however, to what an extent this 
 passion for everything English overspread all classes in 
 the nation. The philosophers constantly held up the 
 English constitution as the model of political wisdom, 
 English philosophy as the school of enlightened reason, 
 the English soil as the only asylum of freedom on earth. 
 The Duke of Orleans and the Liberal nobles pushed even 
 to excess the passion for English amusements : the dress, 
 the manners, the air, the slang, of English jockeys, were 
 the object of universal imitation. Horse-racing and 
 hunting became favourite amusements : leather breeches 
 and top-boots the most fashionable morning attire. Even 
 the mode of riding was altered ; and the astonished 
 Parisians, instead of the stately seigneur, sitting erect, 
 with huge jack-boots, on his ambling high-mettled pal- 
 frey, beheld tightly dressed youths arrayed like English
 
 358 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, grooms, trotting along, and rising in their stirrups. Al- 
 IIL most alone of his subjects at Paris, Louis XVI., who was 
 
 1786. thoroughly national in his habits and inclinations, re- 
 sisted the general contagion, and maintained inviolate the 
 habits and amusements of the old school. Superficial 
 observers will exclaim that these are trifles beneath the 
 dignity of history ; but they know little of human affairs 
 who are not aware that nothing is unworthy of notice 
 v Mann, vrhich marks, in a period of ferment, the inclination of the 
 
 Mem. 11. . . . 
 
 Segur, i. 38, general mind : and in the political, not less than the 
 
 41. Lab. ii. 6 . ' . . f 
 
 217, 229. physical world, it is straws which show how the wind sets, 
 and often prognosticate the direction of the coming storm. 1 
 Everything at this period indicated that restless desire 
 General for change, and those sanguine anticipations of indefinite 
 deiusioiMn extension in human powers and felicity, which are so 
 JniL. u ] often the precursor of the most dreadful calamities. Many 
 accidental circumstances conspired to add to the effer- 
 vescence, which were eagerly seized on by a heated 
 generation to swell the general illusion. The invention 
 of balloons by Montgolfier in 1783, was deemed a pro- 
 digious step in the progress of improvement ; and hundreds 
 of thousands of the Parisians beheld with transport the 
 vast ball of silk rise majestically from the earth, bearing 
 the intrepid aeronauts, who were the first to launch the 
 human race into the unknown regions of the air. Un- 
 bounded were the visions which filled the minds of men 
 at this brilliant discovery. England was to be prostrated, 
 the Channel traversed by legions of invincible aeronauts ; 
 from the clouds the blessings of civilisation were to descend 
 upon savage and unenlightened man.* "While that," 
 
 * " ' Quel siecle que le n6tre !' se disaient les spectateurs : ' combien de ddcou- 
 vertes sont le partage de cette heureuse generation ! II y a peu d'anne"es 
 qu'on a trouve' 1'art de composer la foudre, de 1'attirer, de la rompre, et de la 
 faire ruiaseler en filets insignifians. Voila qu'on de"couvre 1'art de s'elever en 
 un instant plus haut que les lieux d'ou la foudre gronde. Quels nouveaux 
 secours offerts ou apporte"s a des opprimfe ou a des captifs ! Quels rapides 
 ^changes de productions, de connaissances, et de lumieres ! Qu'il sera beau 
 d'apparaitre du haut des nues u des peuples encore barbares, comme des dieux 
 bienfaisans, de leur dieter des lois, venues du ciel, qui adouciront leur ferocite", 
 et dea oracles qui e"claireront leur ignorance." ' Quel vertige vous possede ?'
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 359 
 
 says Bulwer with historic truth, " was the day for polished CHAP. 
 scepticism and affected wisdom, it was the day also for 
 
 the most egregious credulity and the most mystical super- 1787 - 
 stition. It was the day in which magnetism and magic 
 found converts among the disciples of Diderot ; when 
 prophecies were current in every mouth ; when the salon 
 of a philosophical deist was converted into a Heraclea, in 
 which necromancy professed to conjure up the shadows of 
 the dead ; when the Crosier and the Book were ridiculed, 
 and Mesmer and Cagliostro were believed."' 51 " The first 
 of these, a German physician, announced that he had 
 discovered that man was "an electrical machine ;" and 
 amused philosophers, and carried away many heated 
 heads, with the mysteries of animal magnetism, which 
 appears destined every half-century to overspread the 
 civilised world with its false pretensions and real delusions, t 
 In the midst of these sanguine anticipations of intellectual 
 progress and scientific discovery, it was in vain that a 
 few more sagacious observers, judging from experience, 
 remarked that it would be well if some moral improve- 
 ment were mingled with these mental acquisitions. No 
 one seemed to think that such a change was either neces- 
 sary or desirable. Selfishness, immorality, and infidelity, 
 were daily extending their influence in society ; but all , Lac . 
 classes, save a mere fraction who were stigmatised as 8 7, 9-i 
 alarmists, were blind to their tendency; 1 and amidst 103/1 16. 
 incessant declamations on the lights of the age, and the 
 
 disent des observateurs chagrins : ' ces pernicieuses machines, si elles se per- 
 fectionnent, introduiront une-effroyable anarchie dans la society, rompront 
 le frein des lois, et enfin offriront un nouveau champ de bataille aux hommes, 
 qui, maltres des ail's, commeuceront par s'y combattre.' ' Taisez-vous,' re'pon- 
 daient les plus exalte's des jeunes gens : ' ces alarmes pourraient 6tre justes si 
 la navigation aerienne cut e"te decouverte au quinzieme ou au seizieme siecle ; 
 inais aux dixhuitieme, que craint-on ? Ne c'est-il pas fait une ligue entre tous 
 les sages pour detourner lefleau de la guerre?'" LACRETELLE, Histoire de France 
 pendant le XVIII. Siec/e, vi. 91, 92. This was on the eve of the reign of Napo- 
 leon, and the Moscow campaign. 
 
 * Zanoni, b. ii. c. 2. 
 
 t After slumbering fifty-four years, it reappeared in 1843, and for a few 
 seasons amazed the frivolous, and carried away the weak, especially in the 
 higher and least occupied classes of society.
 
 360 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, boundless prospects of social felicity which were opening, 
 ni< the only solid foundations for either religion and mor- 
 
 1787. ality were fast disappearing from the realm. 
 
 It was in the midst of this dissolution of opinions, 
 Pint me- morals, and habits, that M. de Brienne received the helm 
 
 of affairs, and undertook to moderate the universal effer- 
 succcBsfui f esceuce, and ride the general insubordination, by a recur- 
 rence to the arbitrary principles of the ancient monarchy. 
 The attempt, in the first instance, met with unlooked-for 
 June 17, success. Three edicts, on the passing of which the King 
 1787? ' had set his heart, which Calonne had adopted from Tur- 
 got, and submitted in vain to the Notables, were succes- 
 sively registered by the parliament. Encouraged by this 
 unwonted instance of moderation, Brienne next sent them 
 an edict to register which imposed an additional duty on 
 stamps ; but the moment that the word "tax" was men- 
 tioned, their old refractory disposition returned, and, 
 imitating the tactics of the Notables, they stated that 
 they could not register the edict, unless the national 
 accounts were previously submitted to their examination. 
 In the course of the discussions which ensued on this 
 subject, the Abbe Sabatier observed : " You ask for the 
 states of accounts I You are mistaken in your object. 
 It is the STATES-GENERAL which you require." * This 
 witty expression, thrown in at a period of unusual ex- 
 citement, produced an extraordinary impression : it so 
 completely fell in with, and so happily expressed the public 
 July H. opinion. Gamed away by the general enthusiasm, the 
 parliament passed a resolution that a perpetual tax, 
 such as that proposed, could only be imposed by the 
 States-general. The King upon this made some slight 
 modifications in the proposed impost, and again returned 
 it to the parliament : but though the older councillors 
 hesitated, even for their own sake, to merge themselves 
 
 * " Vous demandez des etats : c'est les e'tats-generaux qu'il vous faut." The 
 wit can only be appreciated in French. DE STAEL, i. 123.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 361 
 
 in the greater assembly, a majority, composed chiefly of CHAP. 
 the younger councillors, under the guidance of d'Es- IIL 
 premenil and Goislard, two enthusiastic young men, -1787. 
 again rejected the impost, exclaiming that they must have 
 the States-general, and that they alone could give legality 
 to the impost. " Providence," said d'Ormesson, who was 
 president, " will punish your fatal counsels by granting 6 D 7 roz ^ 
 your prayers." His prophecy was too faithfully accom- staei, U23, 
 plished. In less than six years afterwards, d'Espremenil vi. 177, 178. 
 perished by the violence of the people whom the States- m, 184. 
 general had roused to madness. 1 
 
 Hoping to disarm the resistance he could not directly 
 overcome, the King published a list of the reductions he Progress of 
 proposed to effect in the different departments of the 
 State ; and Brienne set vigorously to work to effect a 
 saving in the army and the civil establishments of the 
 King. But the magnitude of the deficit, which was now 
 a hundred and twenty-five million francs (5,000,000) 
 yearly, was such, that no reductions in the guards or royal 
 household could make any sensible impression on it. 
 The minister at war stated he could save 15,000,000 
 francs (600,000) in his department ; but what was that 
 to the total amount of the deficiency \ The real evil 
 was the impossibility of getting any new taxes imposed, 
 from the refusal of the parliaments to register them, and 
 the oppressive weight of the loans, for the interest of 
 which no provision had been made during the American 
 War. The reductions which were made, and they were 
 very considerable, did rather harm than good ; for they 
 excited an angry feeling among those who suffered by 
 them, without giving any sensible relief to those who 
 contributed to the public funds. They regarded their 
 offices, and not without reason, as their private property 
 during their life ; and one of the sufferers, Baron Besen- 
 val, declared that such iniquitous spoliation was unparal- 
 leled save in Turkey. Meanwhile the parliament, not 
 content with having thrown out the new tax, proceeded
 
 362 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, to offensive measures. Duport, at a solemn meeting of 
 both chambers, brought forward an accusation against 
 
 l787 - Calonne, on the ground of " his dilapidations and abuses 
 Aug. 10. of authority," which the parliament ordered their public 
 prosecutor to take up. The decree to that effect was 
 afterwards annulled ; but such was the violence with 
 which the tide ran against the ex-minister, that, seeing a 
 fair trial was out of the question, he left the country, and 
 retired to England. His poverty bore decisive evidence 
 to the integrity, if not the wisdom, of his administration, 
 so far as he was personally concerned ; he retired from 
 office poorer than he entered upon it.* Meanwhile the 
 public indignation against the court rose to the highest 
 pitch, although Louis, to weaken it, had recommended 
 Calonne to leave the country. Pamphlets multiplied, 
 and were devoured with ominous rapidity. The Queen, 
 to whom the whole was ascribed, was now universally 
 a R^V' i called Madame Deficit : she was insulted even in the 
 
 , 1U. OOUl* 
 
 T 1 - l11 ." , l lo- P ar k of St Cloud ; and by the advice of the lieutenant of 
 
 Lac. vi. 183, L i i t -i -11 
 
 184. police, she abstained from going to the capital while the 
 effervescence continued. 1 
 
 If the parliament of Paris had made use of the vast 
 who con- influence they had now acquired to establish a just and 
 refusUo equal system of taxation, which might at once have 
 Etkts. rtle relieved the public necessities, and removed the unjust 
 exemptions which the privileged classes still enjoyed, 
 they would have deserved the title of generous and intre- 
 pid patriots. But this was very far indeed from being 
 their object ; and it soon appeared that, amidst all their 
 
 * Calonne was so poor when he left office that he owed his means of sub- 
 sistence to the rich Madame d'Harvelay, who had now become a widow, and 
 bestowed on him her hand and her fortune. DEOZ, ii. 10. 
 
 The exaggerations of which Calonne was the object would be beyond belief, 
 if anything was incredible of popular credulity and passion. It was stated, 
 and generally believed, that he had absorbed in four years 3,000,000,000 francs 
 (120,000,000). The parliament of Grenoble said "If you assemble in one 
 mass the whole dilapidations of which our annals have preserved a record, 
 from the commencement of the monarchy and during the course of fourteen 
 centuries, it would hardly compose a sum so enormous as in his hands has dis- 
 appeared in four years." DBOZ, ii. 10, 11.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 363 
 
 zeal for a restraint on the royal authority, they had no CHAP. 
 intention of making any sacrifice of their own pecuniary 
 
 immunities. Brienne, far from being discouraged, for a 1787 - 
 third time sent back the proposed edict for a tax on 
 stamps ; and with it one for the equal imposition of the 
 laud-tax on all classes. This was the touchstone of 
 patriotic or selfish opposition ; and the parliament failed 
 at the test. By a slender majority, the assembled Aug. 12. 
 chambers, including the peers, decided " that the States- 
 general alone had the power to consent to such measures ; 
 and that the parliament was incompetent to register 
 them/' In coming to this decision, the majority had no 
 intention of really compelling the convocation of that 
 body which they were well aware would speedily extin- 
 guish at once their own influence and their popularity ; 
 they thought the King would do anything rather than 
 convoke that dreaded assembly ; that this was the most 
 popular ground on which to rest their opposition, and 
 that thus, without losing their reputation for patriotism, 
 they would preserve the substantial advantages of im- 
 munity from the heaviest of the direct taxes. But the 
 people, passionately desirous of the States-general, and 
 delighted at the unusual spectacle of a successful resistance J^gg- 
 to the royal authority, were entranced with the decree Dro'z, H. 12, 
 of the parliament ; and d'Espremenil, the leader of the vi.' 177, IT'S. 
 Opposition, was drawn home in triumph in his carriage. 1 
 Brienne, thus defeated a third time, had recourse to 
 
 . 99 
 
 measures of severity. By a royal edict on the 15th Banishment 
 August, the parliament was exiled to Troyes, the chief Lment'u) 
 town of Champagne ; and the Count de Provence was sent Tro >' es - 
 to the one court of the parliament, the Count d'Artois to 
 the other, to register the edicts by force, as in a lit de 
 justice. The former, known for his Liberal principles, 
 was loudly applauded as he passed through the streets 
 on this mission ; the latter, deemed attached to arbitrary Aug. 15. 
 maxims, was assailed with such a storm of hisses and 
 abuse, that the commander of his guard ordered the men
 
 364 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, to carry arms, which alone dispersed the mob. This 
 event deserves to be noticed as the first collision between 
 
 1787 - the Crown and the people which occurred during the 
 Revolution. The decrees were registered by force, in the 
 face of formal protests entered on their books by both 
 chambers of the parliament ; but the parliament obeyed 
 Aug. 22. the mandate, and retired to Troyes, where they com- 
 menced their sittings, after passing a decree declaring all 
 judgments legal pronounced there. None, however, of 
 the practitioners followed them ; and though the courts 
 were opened, no one appeared as a suitor, and no busi- 
 ness was done. The magistrates, however, were consoled 
 for this defection by laudatory addresses, which showered 
 in upon them from all the parliaments of France, in which 
 their firmness was extolled to the skies. All concurred 
 32 D 33 Z 'Lac * n Demanding the abolition of arbitrary acts, the diminu- 
 vi.'iss, 186. tion of the public charges, the recall of the magistrates, 
 
 Lab. ii. 175, . * n t 11 < i 
 
 180. the prosecution of Calonne, and the convocation ot the 
 States-general. 1 * 
 
 But too material interests were at stake on both sides 
 
 Acom-' to permit this state of hostility between the Crown and 
 een the the parliament of Paris to be of long continuance. The 
 magistrates beheld with pain the suspension of business 
 and entire desertion of their courts, for which the lauda- 
 tory addresses from the other parliaments of France 
 afforded but a poor compensation ; the councillors sighed 
 for the pleasures and the profits of the capital ; all were 
 soon wearied of the monotony of life in a retired provin- 
 cial town. One by one, after a residence of some weeks, 
 they began to drop off, and reappear in the streets of 
 Paris. Brienne had not less pressing motives for desiring 
 
 * The parliament of Grenoble said : " The continued renewal of coups-d'ttat, 
 the forced registrations, the exile of members of parliament, the substitution 
 of constraint and rigour for the course of justice, create astonishment in an 
 enlightened age, hurt a nation that loves its king even to idolatry, but which is 
 proud and free ; they freeze the hearts, and may in the end break the bonds 
 which unite the sovereign to his subjects and the subjects to their sovereign." 
 Adresse du Parlement de Grenoble au Parlement de Paris, Sept. 2, 1787; 
 DROZ, it 33.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 365 
 
 ah accommodation. The want of money was daily be- CHAP. 
 coming more urgent at the treasury : the fermentation 
 
 throughout France was alarming : the forced registration 1787 - 
 of the edicts had excited universal dissatisfaction ; and, 
 in the temper of the public, it was doubtful whether the 
 taxes registered by force could be generally collected. In 
 this state of matters, it was not long difficult to come to 
 an accommodation. Brienne adroitly proposed a com- 
 promise, by virtue of which the two edicts registered by 
 force were to be withdrawn, and the parliament was to 
 consent to the additional vingtieme for two years, to be 
 levied equally on all classes, not excepting even the princes 
 of the blood-royal. D'Espremenil vehemently opposed 
 this concession. " You went out of Paris," said he 
 " covered with glory, and you will return covered with 
 mud." But the methods of seduction at the disposal of 
 the court prevailed with the majority, and the compromise 
 took place. The edict imposing the territorial tax equally 
 on all was registered, and the parliament made a solemn Oct. 5. 
 entry into Paris amidst the acclamations of the people. 
 This was the first example given in France of the impor- 
 tant and just principle of the equal taxation of all classes ; i Droz> ;i 
 and the first great victory over the exclusive privileges of ^? JJg j^- 
 
 the aristocracy, gained by the Crown, in the face of the Lab - 398 
 J * J -IT- 402 - Soul - 
 
 strenuous resistance of the parliaments and the impas- vi. iso. 
 
 sioned hostility of the people. 1 
 
 Although, however, the principle involved in the mode 
 according to which the new tax was to be levied was in Brienne 
 the highest degree important, and though it was the first LTg^new 
 step towards a just and equal distribution of the public loans ' 
 burdens, yet the relief, in the first instance, afforded by 
 so trifling an addition to the receipts of the treasury, was 
 very inconsiderable. It was soon apparent that a much 
 more extensive measure was necessary ; and Brienne, 
 overjoyed at his recent success, came to the parliament 
 with a proposal which revealed at once the necessitous 
 state of the exchequer, and the magnitude of the burdens
 
 3G() HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, on the nation which would be necessary to relieve it. 
 in 
 '. He proposed to borrow immediately 420,000,000 francs 
 
 1787. (i 6,800,000), to be paid up in the course of five years ; * 
 and in order to induce the magistrates to record, that is, 
 give legal validity to those large loans, he pledged the 
 royal word that the States-general should be assembled 
 before that time expired. As a reason for not convoking 
 them at an earlier period, he stated, that by the year 
 1 792 the income of the State would be equal to its expen- 
 diture ; and that thus the national representatives, with- 
 out being disquieted by the pressing concerns of finance, 
 would be able to give their undivided attention to the 
 means of social amelioration. An edict was also proposed 
 giving additional liberty and security to the Huguenots. 
 To give greater solemnity to this proposal, it was deter- 
 mined that the King should attend in person, and announce 
 ili^Droz ^ ie fundamental principles of the constitution, and in 
 Lab 7 ?; 3 ?^' particular assert, in the most unqualified manner, for the 
 184.' ' ' Crown, the right of determining where and when the 
 States-general were to be assembled. 1 
 
 "It belongs to me alone," said Louis, " to judge of the 
 The ban is utility or necessity of these assemblies : and I will never 
 
 rejected . . 
 
 and the' permit that you should demand with indiscretion what 
 Orleans you should await from my judgment. The Keeper of the 
 Seals will inform you, that as soon as the State is liber- 
 ated from its debts, I will with pleasure communicate the 
 measures which I shall have taken to render that situation 
 durable. The nation will then see its finances re-estab- 
 lished ; agriculture and commerce encouraged under the 
 auspices of liberty ; a formidable navy, a regenerated 
 army, a new harbour in the Channel, to secure the glory 
 
 * The loans were to be paid up as follows : 
 
 Francs. 
 In 1788, . 120,000,000 or 4,800,000 
 
 1789, 
 1790, 
 1791, 
 1792, 
 SOULAVIE, vi. 186. 
 
 90,000,000 3,600,000 
 
 80,000,000 3,200,000 
 
 70,000,000 2,800,000 
 
 60,000,000 2,400,000
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 367 
 
 of the French flag ; and the means of public education CHAP. 
 generally diffused." The Duke of Orleans, from the 
 
 commencement of the assembly, had been observed to 1787 - 
 evince marks of the utmost agitation ; and at length he 
 said, " Sire ! I venture to ask your majesty if this sitting 
 is a lit de justice?" " It is a seance royale," answered 
 the King. " Nevertheless," replied the duke, " I see no- 
 thing around me which does not characterise a lit de 
 justice ; and your faithful subjects ventured to hope that 
 your majesty would not again have had recourse to a step 
 contrary to the laws of the kingdom. I supplicate you, 
 sire ! to permit me to lay on the table of the court a 
 declaration that I regard this registration as illegal. It 
 will be necessary, to relieve the persons present at the 
 deliberation, to add that it is done by the express com- 
 mand of your majesty." " Who can hear," said Sallier, 
 " of a proposal to register at once loans to so enormous an 
 amount as four hundred and twenty millions ? This is a 
 combination of all that is most disastrous in perpetual 
 and liferent loans. Can we expect that the parliament 
 will consent to such a measure, when, if done by any son 
 of a family, it would immediately be annulled by the 
 courts of law \ Can we hope for any stability in a plan 
 of finance, when, within the last eight years, no less than 
 four finance ministers have been called to the helm 1 Sire! 
 the remedy for the wounds of the State has been pointed 
 out by your parliament : it is to be found in the con- 
 vocation of the States-general; and, to be of any avail, 
 they must be assembled immediately." After a long and 
 stormy discussion, the parliament resolved that they could 
 not register the edict for establishing the loans. This was 
 a mortal stroke to the Court, for it deprived them at once 
 of resources, now become indispensable. Next day the 
 Duke of Orleans was exiled to his estate of Villers- ^Soui. vi. 
 Cotterets ; ! and Freteau and the Abbe Sabatier were vi.'23i,m 
 sent to the Bastile, on the charge of having assisted at 42,44."' 
 conferences at the Palais Royal tending to dethrone
 
 368 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, the reigning family, and substitute the Duke of Orleans 
 
 m. . .. J 
 in its room. 
 
 1788. rpj^g gever jt,y was keenly felt by the Duke of Orleans, 
 Further whose ambition never made him forget his pleasures, and 
 o e th'sides! >n who sighed in the seclusion of Villers-Cotterets for the 
 society of Madame Buffon, with whom he had long had a 
 liaison, and the pleasures of the Folie de Chartres, at 
 Paris. But the parliament was not discouraged. Next 
 day Duport introduced a motion to declare lettres-de- 
 cachet illegal, null, and contrary alike to national law and 
 Jan. 4, 1788. natural right, which was carried by acclamation. A resolu- 
 tion was adopted soon after, loudly demanding guarantees 
 for personal freedom ; the King, by Brienne's direction, 
 March ii. annulled that decree, upon which the parliament passed 
 other resolutions still more stringent, declaring arbitrary 
 imprisonments contrary to imprescriptible right, and de- 
 manding the recall of the exiled members, not as men of 
 rank, but as men and French citizens.* Other addresses 
 followed, in which it was stated that the parliament were 
 well aware that those measures did not originate with the 
 King, but emanated from another source ; designating 
 thus, by an oblique insinuation, the Queen as the author 
 of the public divisions. Meanwhile the edict for the 
 protection of the Protestants, which was again brought 
 forward, met with the most violent opposition, especially 
 from d'Espremenil and the other zealous patriots, though 
 it went no further than authorising the registry of their 
 births, marriages, and deaths, without removing any of 
 their other civil disabilities. But at length it was re- 
 Jan. 19. gistered by a large majority. Before this the Duke of 
 Orleans had been permitted to return, first to the neigh- 
 
 * " Plusieurs faits assez connus," said they, in their address to the King, 
 " prouvent que la nation, plus e'claire'e sur ses vraies inte'rfits, meme dans les 
 classes les moms e'leve'es, est disposed a recevoir des mains de votre Majeste" le 
 plus grand bien qu'un roi puisse rendre a ses sujets la liberte". C'est ce bien 
 que votre parlement vient vous redemander, Sire, au nom d'un peuple ge'ne'r- 
 eux et fidele. Ce n'est plus un prince de votre sang, ce ne sont plus deux 
 magistrate, que votre parlement redemande an nom des lois et de la raison ; ce 
 sont trois Franfais ce sont trois hommes." DROZ, ii. 48.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 369 
 
 bourhood of Paris, and at length to the Palais Royal ; and CHAP. 
 the imprisonment of Freteau and Sabatier was commuted 
 
 into exile from Paris to the charming Isles d'Hieres in 1788 - 
 the Mediterranean, near Toulon. But the beneficial effect Jan. 19. 
 of all these lenient measures was obviated by the cupidity 
 of Brienne, who exchanged his archbishopric of Toulouse 
 for that of Sens, which was much more lucrative, and the 
 incumbent of which had recently died. His ecclesiastical 
 appointments had now reached the enormous amount of ^ 1 D j|f*^, 
 678,000 francs (27,000) a-year a scandalous accumu- ^.'235,23^.' 
 
 . , i 11 T -Soul. vi. 
 
 lation for a single prelate, especially when disposing ofiss, 184. 
 the patronage of the Crown. 1 "* 
 
 Still, however, no money was got, and the condition of 
 the finances daily rendered it more indispensable. The Bnenne's 
 compte rendu for 1788 was published in May, and ad-cw*pw- 
 mitted a deficit of 161,000,000 francs (6,440,000) in a ni ^ re ' 
 period of profound peace, f It was no ways surprising 
 that the deficiency had so rapidly increased, when it is 
 recollected that both the Notables and parliaments con- 
 stantly refused their sanction to any new taxes, and had 
 done so for ten years, even to pay the interest of the 
 loans which had been contracted during the American 
 War, which they themselves had forced upon an unwilling 
 sovereign. The time had now arrived when it had 
 become necessary either to discover some practicable 
 mode of levying taxes to meet the public exigencies, or 
 to proclaim a national bankruptcy. Temporary expe- 
 dients had been exhausted ; an entire change in the mode 
 of obtaining supplies was indispensable. The plan which 
 Brienne had matured, in conjunction with Lamoignon, an 
 able and intrepid old man, who was the keeper of the 
 
 * In addition to this, he received from a single cutting of wood on one of his 
 benefices 900,000 francs (36,000), in the year 1788. -Dnoz, i. 52, note. 
 
 + So entirely had the public now lost confidence in the comptes rendus, pub- 
 lished by the court, that though this one admitted so large a deficit, yet 
 government, to make it credited that it was not still larger, were obliged to 
 submit the public accounts, with all the vouchers, to three accountants of the 
 capital, Didelot, St Amand, and Salverte, who reported in favour of the 
 accuracy of the financial statement. SOULAVIE, vi. 186. 
 
 VOL. I. 2 A
 
 370 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, seals, was this : he proposed to establish a new court at 
 Paris, to be called the Cour Pleniere, which was alone 
 
 1788 - to be intrusted with the registration of edicts over the 
 whole kingdom. This court was to be composed of the 
 chancellor, the keeper of the seals of the highest chamber 
 of the parliament of Paris, of some other elevated func- 
 tionaries, the princes of the blood, the peers, ten coun- 
 cillors of state, and of a member of every provincial 
 parliament, and two from the parliament of Paris. The 
 members of the court were to be nominated by the King, 
 but to hold their appointments for life, and be irremov- 
 able. The court was to have power to remonstrate on 
 edicts proposed for its consideration, and the King was to 
 determine on the objections submitted to him. At the 
 fas 1 ' V Lac same time, the parliament of Paris was to be reduced to 
 vi ; 238, 239. seventy-six members, less than half its present number, in 
 198. ' order to exclude the young councillors, with whom the 
 chief opposition originated. 1 
 
 The utmost pains were taken to keep this design from 
 Protest of being known, in order that it might be put in force at once 
 by a lit de justice at Versailles, before the parliament had 
 time to take measures for rousing the nation to resist it. A 
 printing-press was established in the most secret manner, 
 at that town, to throw off the requisite proclamations 
 announcing this great change to the public ; and a double 
 row of guards surrounded the building, to prevent any 
 communication with the outside. But in spite of all 
 this vigilance, one of the workmen employed succeeded 
 in throwing a proof of the proposed edict, enclosed in a 
 ball of clay, to an emissary of d'Espre'menil, who was in 
 attendance to receive intelligence on the outside. The 
 project thus got wind, and the parliament took fire. 
 D'Espremenil unfolded the designs of the court in an 
 impassioned speech. " We have only," said he, " a few 
 hours left to protest : let us do so with the energy of 
 men of honour, with the valour of courageous and faithful 
 subjects. When a reason for terror is about to be spread
 
 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 371 
 
 abroad through the land, let the nation at least have the CHAP. 
 consolation of knowing that none of us will be severed 
 
 from the companions of our labours. You have seen 1788 - 
 from the edict which has been read, what a ridiculous 
 representation the ministers have given of their proposed 
 assembly, where our kings are to confer with their great 
 vassals. It is by the aid of such a phantom that they 
 have persuaded the King to disengage himself from his 
 solemn promises, and elude the convocation of the States- 
 general. The nation, however, will not forget the 
 monarch's words ; it will not forget what we have done 
 to restore to it its rights. After the honour of having 
 made so noble an attempt, there remains still a higher 
 one before us that of suffering punishment for our 
 fidelity to the constitution of the kingdom." He then 
 proposed that they should all take an oath never to form 
 a part of any assembly but the parliament, composed of 
 the same persons, and enjoying the same privileges as at 
 present. The oath was unanimously taken, and served 
 as the prelude to the celebrated Jeu de Paume, which 
 convulsed France eleven months afterwards. Moved by 
 the general enthusiasm and these generous sentiments, 
 the united chambers of the parliament adopted and 1Weber ; 
 recorded a dignified protest, which deserves a place in 204, 205. 
 history, as an authentic record of what, in the estimation 241, 243. 
 of the friends of freedom, and probably in truth, was the 185, 187. 
 old constitution of France. 1 * 
 
 The government was confounded by this intrepid and 
 
 * " Avertis par la notori^te" publique des coups qui mena9aient la nation 
 en frappant la magistrature, et conside"rant que la resistance du parlement aux 
 deux impots, sa declaration d'incompe'tence pour accorder les subsides, ses 
 sollicitations pour obtenir les e'tats-ge'ne'raux, et ses reclamations sur la liberte" 
 individuelle des citoyens, e"taient les causes des entreprises des ministres 
 contre la magistrature ; conside"rant que ces entreprises n'avaient d'autre but 
 que de couvrir les anciennes dissipations sans recourir aux e'tats-ge'ne'raux, s'il 
 etait possible, et que le systeme de la seule volonte" manifested par les minis- 
 tres annoncait le funeste projet d'aneantir les principes de la monarchic : 
 Occident que la France est uue monarchic gouvernde par le roi suivant les lois 
 dont plusieurs fondamentales embrassent et concernent les droits de la 
 maison re"gnante, a ses descendans, de male en male, par ordre de primoge'ni- 
 ture ; le droit de la nation d'accorder librement les subsides par 1'organe des
 
 372 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, dignified assertion of the principles of a constitutional 
 monarchy ; and, being resolute not to be defeated, they 
 
 1788 - determined to put in practice the power of a military one. 
 Lettres-de-cac/iet were issued against d'Espremenil and 
 Montsabert, the leaders of the Opposition, who took 
 re f u g e [ n the bosom of the parliament, which assembled 
 in great strength on this momentous crisis. The parlia- 
 ment protested against their seizure, declared that it 
 " put them under the protection of the king of the law," 
 and ordered the preparation of a representation to the 
 King, against the prosecution of measures which would 
 "drag legitimate authority and public liberty into an 
 abyss, from whence all the zeal of the magistrates would 
 be unable to extricate it." Meanwhile an immense 
 crowd assembled round their hall, in the deepest anxiety 
 as to the issue of a contest which would apparently 
 determine whether France was to become a constitutional 
 or remain a despotic monarchy. The most violent cries 
 were heard from the assembled multitude : " We will 
 make a rampart for d'Espremenil with our bodies ! " re- 
 sounded on all sides. Loud cheers followed the arrival 
 of the peers, who repaired to the parliament to stand by 
 the defenders of public liberty in this extremity ; but all 
 cries ceased, and a deathlike silence prevailed, when the 
 1 DTOZ ii ^ ar( l u i s d'Agoust, aide-major of the Gardes Fra^aises, 
 57, SB. arrived at the head of a battalion of the household troops, 
 246,247. with fixed bayonets, preceded by a company of sappers 
 189.' % with their hatchets on their shoulders, and followed by a 
 body of the Swiss guards. 1 
 
 e'tats-ge'ne'raux re'gulierement assemblies ; 1'inamovibilite' des magistrats, les 
 coutumes et capitulations des provinces, les droits des cours de ve'rifier les 
 volonte's des rois, et d'en ordonner 1'enregistrement quand elles sont conformcs 
 aux lots ; le droit de chaque citoyen de n'dtre traduit pardevant d'autres que 
 ses juges naturels, et le droit de ne pouvoir etre arrete' que pour etre remis 
 dans les mains des juges compe'tens. Le parlement ajoutait ensuite que tous 
 les magistrats renoncaient a toute place difie'rente de celle qu'ils occupent, et 
 qu'en cas de dispersion de la magistrature, le parlement remettait le present 
 acte en depot dans les mains du roi, de son auguste famille, des pairs du 
 royaume, des e'tate-ge'ne'raux, et de chacun des ordres, rSunis ou scare's, repr- 
 sentant la nation." Protestation du Parlement de Paris, 2 Mai 1788 ; given in 
 SOULAVIE, vi. 187, 188 ; and LACRF.TELLE, vi. 243, 244.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 373 
 
 " Where are Messrs d'Espreinenil and Moiitsabert \ " CHAP. 
 said d'Agoust, with a faltering voice, as he entered the 
 
 hall and cast his eye round the august assembly. " We 1788 - 
 are all d'Esprerne'nils and Montsaberts : since you do not Drai^'ic 
 know them, take us all," answered the whole magistrates. ^ en ^ y? , 
 
 the hall of 
 
 D'Agoust, who acted throughout with the most perfect parliament. 
 temper and politeness, withdrew for the night, but re- 
 turned next morning at eleven o'clock with an officer of 
 the court, who was ordered, on pain of imprisonment, to 
 point them out. " On my honour," said the officer, " I 
 do not see them." D'Agoust was again about to retire 
 to obtain new orders, thinking they were really not there ; 
 but d'Espreme'nil, touched with the devotion of the 
 officer, called him back and said, " I, sir, am d'Espre- 
 menil, one of those whom you seek : my honour forbids 
 me to submit to arbitrary orders ; if I resist, have your 
 soldiers orders to lay their hands on me 1 ?" " Do you 
 doubt it," replied d'Agoust, "if you resist V "I will 
 follow you then," interrupted d'Espreinenil, " to avoid 
 such a profanation of the sanctuary of the laws. Let us 
 retire by a back staircase, to avoid a crowd which might 
 endanger the execution of your orders." He then laid 
 on the table of the assembly a protest against the violence 
 of which he and Moiitsabert were the objects, and declared 
 that he regarded the orders of which that violence was 
 the result as having been obtained by surprise from a 
 just King. He conjured his colleagues not to be dis- 
 couraged to forget him, and attend only to the public 
 interest. He recommended his family to their kindness, 
 and declared that, whatever might be his fate, he would l 
 glory to his dying hour in professing their principles. Ann. Franc. 
 Bowing then respectfully to the assembly, he descended Weber, ;'. 
 with a firm step to d'Agoust, followed by Mont- ^'482' 
 sabert, and was conducted to the Isle of St Marguerite, ^f 02 ^ 5 *{ 
 one of the Hieres. 1 The parliament, after protesting |^ 2 ^f* 
 against the whole violence, and recording their admi- wi. 
 ration of the courageous patriotism of the arrested
 
 374 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, members, separated after a continued meeting of thirty 
 ' hours. * 
 
 1788. ft j s difficult to form a conception of the enthusiasm 
 
 1 ftft 
 
 Universal which these dramatic scenes, and the calm yet resolute 
 conduct of the parliament of Paris, excited over all France. 
 
 That bod 7 had now P lacecl itself at the head of the 
 events. national movement ; sacrificing, or not perceiving, its 
 individual interests, it had united with the people in 
 demanding the States-general ; and, by declaring that it 
 had no power to register the proposed taxes, it had in 
 effect rendered their convocation unavoidable. The im- 
 prisonment of some of its members on account of their 
 patriotic efforts, their temperate yet courageous conduct, 
 excited a universal enthusiasm. D'Espremenil was the 
 object of unbounded interest ; his words when arrested 
 were everywhere repeated : for a short period he was 
 the idol of popular admiration. Alarming fermentation 
 began to prevail in the capital ; it rapidly spread to the 
 provinces ; the parliaments of Rennes, Bordeaux, Lille, 
 227*241 ' Toulouse, Aix, and other places, passed strong resolutions, 
 i25 Sts sJ'ui' a Ppl au< iing the conduct of the parliament of Paris, and 
 \i. i93, 194. were assailed by similar military violence ; and the whole 
 208, 210.' kingdom was agitated by those mingled hopes and fears 
 which are the food of revolutionary passion. 1 
 
 On the day after the arrest of d'Espremenil the par- 
 Lit de Jus- liament was directed to assemble at Versailles, where the 
 Versailles! King held a bed of justice. The monarch addressed the 
 May 8 * magistrates with a mournful countenance, and in accents 
 in which the profound grief of his heart was clearly evinced. 
 "No measure," said he, "has been attempted for the 
 
 " La cour, vivement affecte'e du spectacle accablant de 1'enlevement de 
 deux magistrats En-ache's avec violence du sanctuaire des lois au milieu des 
 gens arme's qui ont viole" 1'asyle de la liberte", a arrgte' : Qu'il serait repre'sente' 
 au seigneur le roi, qu'il avait e"te" attendri s'il aurait pu etre te"moin du triste 
 et morne silence qui a pre'ce'de", accompagne', et suivi 1'ex^cution des ordres 
 rigoureux faite au milieu de I'assemble'e la plus respectable ; et de la noble 
 fierte" avec laquelle les magistrats enlev& ont soutenu le coup qui les a frappes, 
 4 et dont les pairs de France et les magistrats ont partage 1 la sensibilit^, comme 
 si cette disgrace e"tait personnelle a chacun d'eux." Protet. du Parlement de 
 Paris, 3 Mai 1788 ; SOCLAVIE, vi. 191.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 375 
 
 public good for the last year, which has not been thwarted CHAP. 
 by the parliament of Paris ; and its factious opposition 
 
 has been immediately imitated by all the other parlia- 1788 - 
 ments in the kingdom. The result of their resistance has 
 been the stoppage of the most necessary and interesting 
 improvements in the laws, the suspension of judicial busi- 
 ness, the weakening of national credit, even the shaking 
 of the social edifice, and disturbance of the public tran- 
 quillity. I owe it to my people, to myself, to my succes- 
 sors, to repress similar attempts. Compelled by stern 
 necessity to punish some magistrates, I did so with 
 regret ; and I would rather prevent than repress the 
 repetition of their offences. I have no wish to destroy 
 the parliaments ; I wish only to bring them back to their 
 duty, and their legal institution. I would convert a 
 moment of crisis into a salutary epoqh ; commence the 
 reformation of the judicial body by that of the tribunals 
 of law ; promote the rapid distribution of justice to the 
 poor ; confide anew to the nation the exercise of its 
 legitimate rights, which are never at variance with those 
 of the sovereign ; and impress upon the kingdom that 
 unity of laws, without which the very number of its pro- 
 vinces becomes an evil. The parliament was a single 
 body when Philippe le Bel rendered it stationary at 
 Paris. What is necessary to a great kingdom is a single 
 king, a single law, a single assembly for its registration : 
 numerous inferior courts, to determine summarily the 
 greater number of processes ; higher courts or parliaments, 
 for the decision of those of a more weighty description ; 
 a supreme court, the depository of the laws common to 
 the whole kingdom ; in fine, states-general assembled, 
 not once only, but on all occasions when the interest of 
 the State requires it. Such is the restoration which my 
 love for my subjects has prepared, and which I now con- 211, 2121 *' 
 secrate to their happiness." 1 
 
 Lamoignon, the keeper of the seals, then detailed the 
 intentions of the King in six edicts, which were registered
 
 376 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, as in a bed of justice without observation by the parlia- 
 ment. Prepared with great care by Lamoignon and 
 
 1788. Malesherbes, the latter of whom had now been restored to 
 Edicutherc ^ ne ministry, they contained the elements of practical good 
 wh^ni government ; and if accepted by the parliaments, and acted 
 rejected, upon by them in the same patriotic spirit in which they 
 were conceived, they might have prevented the Revolu- 
 tion ; for they began the great work of reform at the 
 right end, by the redress of experienced evils, not the 
 conferring of untried powers.* But all was lost upon 
 the parliament : the excitement of men's minds rendered 
 them incapable of appreciating the most valuable practi- 
 cal reforms when brought within their reach, if not ac- 
 companied by theoretical innovation and the perilous 
 gift of power. That the changes introduced by the six 
 edicts would have been an immense improvement on the 
 laws and institutions of France, by providing for their 
 uniformity and abolishing their cruelty, will probably be 
 disputed by none who have any practical acquaintance 
 with human affairs ; and that they were suitable to the 
 wants of the country is decisively proved by the fact, 
 May 1789. that they were all, within two years afterwards, adopted 
 i Weber j by the Constituent Assembly, with the entire concurrence 
 Droz 2 ii 6 ' f *he na ti n - But coming as they did from the free 
 64, 66. gift O f the King, they neither excited attention nor 
 Ann.de awakened gratitude. 1 Jealousy of the Cour Pleniere 
 198^200. which was to be established, irritation at the abridgment 
 of its own jurisdiction, rendered the parliament of Paris 
 
 * The first edict introduced several valuable regulations for the more rapid 
 administration of justice. 
 
 The second reduced the parliament of Paris to one grand chamber, with 
 subdivisions for the different departments of business. It was reduced to 
 seventy-three councillors and nine presidents. 
 
 The third introduced the most valuable reforms, long required and loudly 
 called for, in every department of the criminal law. It swept away at 
 once all the cruel punishments which had so long shocked the increasing 
 humanity of the age, and provided against the principal abuses of criminal 
 procedure. The frightful punishment of the wheel was abolished ; an interval 
 was provided between sentence and execution, to enable the evidence to be laid 
 before the King ; torture, both before and after sentence, was declared illegal ; 
 criminal trials were to be conducted in public, and counsel allowed to the
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 377 
 
 insensible to all the benefits which the country would CHAP. 
 derive from the changes : the edicts were received in 
 
 sullen silence ; and the first thing the councillors did, 1788 - 
 when the assembly was dissolved, was to meet in private 
 and protest against them all. Soon after, they wrote 
 officially to the King, declaring that they declined to 
 execute any of the edicts, or interfere in any way with 
 their administration. 
 
 Brienne, however, soon found that the new machinery 
 which he had established could not be put in motion. Convocation 
 The excitement produced by the resistance of the par- Lmbiy of 
 liament of Paris, imitated as it was by that of all the whi 
 other parliaments in France, was such, that it was 
 found impossible to get other magistrates to supply ral - 
 their place. The High Court of Chatelet at Paris 
 was the first to set this example. Over all France, a 
 similar coup d'etat had been attempted as at Paris, on 
 the same day ; but the resistance was everywhere the 
 same : the old courts were suspended, but adequate 
 persons could frequently not be found to fill the new 
 ones. The members of inferior courts erected into great 
 bailliages, indeed, cordially approved of the change, and 
 strongly supported it ; but their influence was incon- 
 siderable compared to that of the parliaments, which 
 were all on the other side, and the abilities and infor- 
 mation of the new functionaries were seldom equal to 
 the duties to which they were called. Pressed by the 
 necessitous state of the exchequer, Brienne, as a last 
 
 accused ; the crime of which the accused was found guilty was to be specified 
 in the sentence, and no punishment to be permitted but what the law pre- 
 scribed for the offence. 
 
 The fourth established the cour plinllre, for the registration of taxes and for 
 other elevated functions, which has been already described. 
 
 The fifth restricted the jurisdiction of the parliament of Paris, and estab- 
 lished certain local courts, styled grands bailliages, in its stead, in the places 
 detached from its jurisdiction. 
 
 By the sixth, and last edict, all the courts of the kingdom were declared 
 in a state of vacation in other words, suspended till the new courts of 
 law were in full operation. See SALLIER, Annales Frartfaises, viii. 168-174; 
 and WEBER, i. 215, 216.
 
 378 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, resource, convoked an extraordinary assembly of the 
 
 ! clergy, hoping that in them, at least, the Crown, in its 
 
 178a last extremity, would find supporters ; and that, by con- 
 senting to the imposition of the direct taxes on their 
 extensive possessions, or by voting a gratuitous gift in 
 lieu of these, they would furnish a considerable relief 
 to the public treasury. But here, too, he experienced 
 the same resistance as from the other privileged bodies ; 
 the clergy readily divined what was expected of them, 
 and instead of voting the expected gift, they imitated 
 June is, the example of the Notables and parliament, and 
 eluded the demand by representing, that the States- 
 general could alone sanction the imposition of new 
 burdens, and that their immediate convocation had 
 become indispensable. Juigne, archbishop of Paris, a 
 prelate of an austere and irreproachable life, was the 
 leader of this unexpected opposition. They remon- 
 strated, in an especial manner, against the alarming 
 principle, that the clergy were to be subjected to the 
 taille ; and even insisted, that the investigation as to 
 the frauds committed in evading the last vingtieme 
 should be discontinued.* The people, carried away 
 by the spirit of factious opposition to everything which 
 emanated from the Crown, loudly applauded the asser- 
 tion of these unjust exclusive privileges. It M r as hard 
 to say whether they were most vehement in supporting 
 the nobility or the clergy, in the maintenance of these 
 
 * " ' Notre silence,' disait le clerge", ' serait un crime dont la nation et la 
 posterite* ne voudraient jamais nous absoudre. Votre majeste* vient d'ope'rer 
 dans le lit de justice du 8 Mai un grand tnouvement, dans les choses et dans 
 les personnes. Nous pouvons eape*rer que si pareille revolution devait arriver, 
 elle serait la suite plutdt que le pre'liminaire des itati-giniraux. Telle est la 
 constitution de ce royaume que toutes les lois sont confues dans le conseil prive 
 du souverain, et ensuite v6rifi6es et publie'es dans ses conseils publics et per 
 manens. La volonto" du prince qui n'a pas dt<5 e'claire'e par ses cours, peut 6tre 
 regarded conime sa volonte" momentanee. Elle n'acquiert cette majeste" qui 
 assure I'ex&ution et 1'obdissance que pre*alablement les motifs et les remon- 
 strances de vos cours n'aient 6t6 entendus en votre conseil prive*. . . . Le 
 peuple Francais, Sire, n'est pas imposable a volont^. Les Francs e"taient un 
 peuple libre. Les princes vivaient de leurs domaines, et des pre"sens qu'on 
 leur faisait au Champ de Mara. Les trois ordres parurent aux tats-gtnraux ,
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 379 
 
 invidious distinctions ; everything was patriotic, so as it CHAP. 
 embarrassed and weakened the King. Thus the Notables, IIL 
 the parliaments, and the clergy successively refused to 1788 - 
 surrender one tittle of their exclusive privileges, and 
 obstinately resisted all the measures proposed by govern- 
 ment calculated to effect legislative improvements and 
 strengthen the Crown, by restoring the finances ; and in i De Stagli 
 doing so they were all cordially supported by the nation. s^Jf;.; 126 * 
 They all concurred in demanding, each in a louder tone } 95 ' 1 ? 6 - 
 
 J p Lac. vi. 
 
 than its predecessor, the convocation of the States-general ; 254, 255. 
 and the first thing the States-general did was to destroy 68, eb. ' 
 them all. 1 
 
 Troubles of a very serious kind broke out in many 
 parts of France, in consequence of the attempt to intro- Troubles in 
 duce the Cour Pleniere at Paris, and the rural noblesse, Dauhh!k 
 in the disturbed provinces, generally took part with the 
 parliaments. It was in the pays d'etats which already 
 possessed little states-general of their own, that these 
 chiefly appeared an ominous circumstance as to what 
 might be expected of the whole nation, when a similar 
 assembly was brought together from every part of the 
 country. In Beam, which had from time immemorial 
 possessed estates of its own, and in which a strong in- 
 dependent spirit had always prevailed, the nobles met, 
 and addressed an energetic remonstrance to the Duke 
 de Guiche, who had been sent down on the part of 
 the King to allay the disturbances. * Supported by j une 1788. 
 the whole nobles of the country, the clergy, and the 
 
 ou les subsides et les aides sont octroye's de bonne tolonU et grace sptciale, par 
 liberalit^ et courtoisie qui ne peuvent touraer ni a servitude centre les sujets, 
 ni a nouvel droit pour le souverain. Tel est 1'ancien droit du royaume, con- 
 serve* tout entier dans les pays d'e'tats. Le clerge dans ses assemblies en offre 
 aujourd'hui les principes et les formes ; il les a tou jours conserve's et re'clame's 
 non comme des privileges si ces franchises sont stispendues, elles ne sont 
 pas de"truites si les parlemens ont ve'rifie" de leur autorite* particuliere les 
 impots, ils avaient un titre colore". La nation les avait appel&s Des Etats 
 Raccourcis a petit pied. La capitation, le vingti6me, et toutes les extensions 
 bursales s'dtaient introduits furtivement ; il est terns de declarer leur incom- 
 pe"tence." Remontrance du Cltrge, 15th June 1788 ; SA.i,LiER,Annales Franfaises, 
 viii. 324, 336 ; and SOULAVIE, vL 198, 200. 
 
 * " Voici," said they, " le berceau du Grand Henri ; et sous cette enseigne
 
 380 HISTOKY OF EUROPE. 
 
 {HAP. Tiers Etat, the parliament resolved to set at nought 
 the royal edict, and not discontinue its functions. In 
 
 1788. Dauphine, another pays d'etats, the effervescence as- 
 sumed a still more alarming character. No sooner was 
 intelligence received that their provincial parliament was 
 suspended, than the tocsin sounded in the mountains. 
 Menacing groups of highlanders descended from the 
 elevated valleys : Grenoble was attacked, the gates 
 forced, the guard of the intendant of the province dis- 
 persed, and the dispossessed magistrates conducted, 
 amidst loud shouts, to the old hall of justice, where they 
 were obliged to resume their functions. Happily, at 
 this critical juncture, the military noblesse of the pro- 
 vince assembled, and, by heading, obtained the direction 
 of the movement. Three hundred landowners, of that 
 order, swore on their swords to defend the rights of 
 the province to the last drop of their blood ; and a 
 general rendezvous of the whole of Dauphine was ap- 
 pointed to be held forthwith at Vizile, to take the 
 oath of fidelity to their country on the tomb of the 
 Chevalier Bayard. They assembled there, accordingly, 
 in such force that the governor of the province, the 
 old Marshal De Vaux, a man of known firmness of 
 character, wrote to the King, that he could not prevent 
 the meeting though he had twenty thousand men under 
 his orders. Five hundred nobles of Dauphine met with 
 the clergy and deputies of the Tiers Etat of the pro- 
 vince, and appointed as their secretary, MOUNIER, the 
 judge - royal of Grenoble, a man of an upright and 
 honourable character, afterwards well known in the com- 
 
 8acre"e les Bearnais ne craignent pas la mort. Ils sentent couler dans leurs 
 veines le sang de leurs ancetres, qui out mis sur le tr6ne les princes de la maison 
 de Bourbon. Nous ne sommes point des rebelles. Nous re'clamons notre 
 contrat et la foi des sermens d'un roi que nous aimons. Le Bdarnais est nd 
 libre il ne mourra pas esclave. II est pauvre, mai.s il est bon. Un grand roi 
 1'a dit ' II est pret a faire au roi le sacrifice de sa fortune ;' mais qu'il respecte 
 le contrat qu'il a fait avec nous. Qu'il tienne tout de nous de 1'amour, et rien 
 de la force. Nous prodiguerons notre sang centre les ennemis de l'e"tat ; mais 
 qu'on ne vienne pas nous arracher la vie quand nous de"fendons la liberteY' 
 SOULAVIE, vi. 205.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 381 
 
 mencement of the Revolution.* They declared "in- CHAP. 
 famous, and traitors to their country," all who should 
 
 take office in the courts established by Brienne ; and 1788 - 
 unanimously passed resolutions demanding the recall of 
 the parliament of Dauphine, and the resumption of 
 its functions without any abridgment ; the assembly of 
 the States-general ; the convocation of the estates of 
 the province in a single chamber, with the Tiers Etat 
 equal in number to the other members; their imme- 
 diate union with the other provinces ; and declaring their t ^^ 
 determination to resist the payment of all taxes till the 208, 210.' 
 States-general were assembled, and the deposed magis- zs, 7fi."' 
 trates restored. 1 
 
 In Dauphine the vehemence of popular excess was 
 prevented by the nobles putting themselves at the head Serious" 
 of the movement, and the wisdom with which they were Britta 
 directed by Mourner. But it was not thus in Brittany, July " 88 
 where the governor of the province, Count de Thiard, 
 prohibited the assembling of the estates, and the nobles 
 were at once brought into collision with the royal 
 authority. It was well known that the King would 
 not permit the military to use their arms against the 
 people ; and, in fact, secret orders to that effect had 
 already been given, so that the prohibition met with 
 no attention. The very day after it was issued, a 
 hundred and thirty nobles drew up a protest, in which 
 
 * Jean Joseph Mounier, born at Grenoble on the 12th November 1758, 
 was the son of a worthy and respectable citizen of that place. At first he 
 was desirous of entering the army, but the rigid rules which at that period 
 confined the higher ranks of that career to young men of aristocratic birth 
 rendered this impossible. He then became a merchant, but soon tired of that 
 profession, and at length took to the law, and passed at the bar in Grenoble in 
 1779. At the age of twenty-six he was appointed to the office of judge-royal 
 in that city ; and with such assiduity and talent did he discharge its duties, 
 that, during six years that he held the office, there was only one of his judg- 
 ments appealed from. In the intervals of his judicial labours he cultivated 
 natural history, and entered with ardour upon the study of public law and 
 politics. Similarity of study and inclinations made him early contract a close 
 intimacy with several English travellers, who were attracted to Grenoble by 
 the romantic beauties of its environs, particularly the inimitable passes which 
 lead up to the Grande Chartreuse ; and from them he imbibed that profound
 
 382 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, they *' declared infamous all those who should accept 
 any place either in the new courts, or the administra- 
 
 1788. tj on of the province, contrary to its laws and constitu- 
 tion, " and delivered it to the governor. Twelve 
 hundred gentlemen assembled at St Brieux and 
 Rennes, and deputed twelve of their number to bear 
 the remonstrances of the estates of Brittany to the 
 King, but with a positive order not to see either 
 Brienne or Lamoignon. No sooner did they arrive in 
 Paris than they attended the meetings of the Liberal 
 leaders, who afterwards took so prominent a part in 
 the Revolution particularly the Dukes of Rohan and 
 Praslin, Lafayette, Boisgelin, and others. The twelve 
 deputies were forthwith sent to the Bastile. Upon this 
 violent disturbances broke out in Rennes, Nantes, and 
 the chief towns of the province ; the military were 
 publicly insulted ; mobs paraded the streets without 
 resistance, and the officers, indignant at the passive 
 inaction to which they were constrained, protested 
 against it in a solemn instrument, and endeavoured to 
 vindicate their outraged honour by a duel of fifteen of 
 their number against fifteen Breton nobles. Symptoms 
 of insubordination even appeared in some regiments. 
 The officers of one that of Bassigny publicly pro- 
 tested against the orders with the execution of which 
 they were intrusted ; and the weakness of the governor 
 
 admiration for a constitutional government, and the forms of the English 
 parliament, which distinguished him throughout his political career. When 
 the parliament of Paris, in August 1787, gave the signal for general resistance 
 to the government in regard to the proposed duty on stamps, he took an 
 active part in the parliament of Grenoble in following up the movement ; and 
 his great weight as a judge gave him the lead in their deliberations. He was 
 an able, upright, and patriotic man ; his sense of justice was profound, his 
 passion for liberty disinterested no one meant more sincerely to do good to 
 his country ; and yet, on the opening of the States-general in 1789, few did it, 
 by imprudent zeal, more essential injury. Of that no one was soon more 
 thoroughly sensible than himself. He was, early in the Revolution, denounced 
 as a traitor at Paris ; obliged to fly from France, and the latter years of his 
 life, down to his death in 1 806, were devoted to combating, with sincere and 
 honourable zeal, those ideas of equality, in promoting which, at first, he had 
 borne so prominent a part. Biographic Unherselle, xxx. 310, 321 (MOUNIKR).
 
 HISTOKY OF EUKOPE. 383 
 
 of the province was excused, perhaps justified, by the CHAP. 
 doubt whether his troops could be relied on for acting 
 
 against the people. In lieu of the twelve imprisoned 1788. 
 deputies, the province sent up eighteen others to lay 
 their remonstrances before the King : an order not to 
 enter Paris or approach the court, was disregarded ; the 
 clergy of the whole province agreed to addresses requir- 
 ing the liberation of the imprisoned deputies, the restora- 
 tion of the parliament of the province, and the convocation gvn.' "' 
 of the States-general ; and to such a length did the gene- f^ 1 ^ 
 ral enthusiasm proceed, that many Breton officers, holding *?? ??> 
 
 i i i i 11 i oalher, 
 
 commissions m the guards, resigned them, and hastened 200, 204. 
 to their homes, to stand by their country in the hour of i.8ie,m 
 danger. 1 
 
 Matters now looked sufficiently ominous for the royal 
 authority, in the temper both of the capital and the pro- The sta'tes- 
 vinces ; but, serious as those difficulties were, they were 
 outdone by those arising from the exhausted state of the 
 public exchequer. Brienne preserved his accustomed 1789 - 
 indifference. " Everything," said he, " is foreseen and 
 provided for even a civil war. The King shall be 
 obeyed ; the King knows how to cause his authority to 
 be respected." But these vague assurances did not re- 
 plenish the exchequer, and it was at length announced 
 that all the resources were exhausted : that there remained 
 only 400,000 francs (16,000) in the royal treasury; 
 and that, without some extraordinary resource, the public 
 creditors, whose dividends fell due in August next, could 
 not be paid. This brought matters to a crisis. Brienne, 
 having failed in his application to the nobles, the parlia- 
 ments, and the clergy, resolved to endeavour to propitiate 
 the Tiers Etat, at once the wealthiest and the most 
 numerous class in the State, from whose gratitude he 
 hoped to obtain that assistance which he had sought in 
 vain from the justice or patriotism of the privileged classes. Aug 
 On 8th August, an edict appeared CONVOKING THE STATES- 17b8 - 
 GENERAL FOR THE IST MAY 1789. The Cour PUniere
 
 384 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, and edicts of 8th May were meanwhile suspended till 
 that event took place, so that the old parliaments resumed 
 
 178a their functions. Nothing was said as to the form of their 
 convocation, the qualifications of the electors, or whether 
 they were to vote by order or by head. As if, too, it 
 had been intended purposely to excite the people to the 
 highest pitch on these vital points, an ordinance appeared 
 July is, soon after, which not only authorised the municipal autho- 
 rities to tender their advice to government on the ap- 
 proaching emergency, but invited all private persons to 
 come forward with their ideas and plans, as to the best 
 method of convoking them, and to publish them for the 
 public information. So little was Brienne aware of the 
 extreme peril of the course he was thus adopting, that, 
 when a hint was dropped in the council as to the dangers 
 with which the convocation of the States-general might 
 26^268' be attended, he replied with imperturbable sangfroid 
 MoUe^ne " ^ u % na< ^ no difficulty with them," forgetting that he 
 i. 1,2. ' was not Sully, that Louis XVI. was not Henry IV., 
 
 and that 1614 was not 1789. 1 
 
 115 The consequences of this royal invitation to all classes 
 
 Vehement to go back to first principles, and tender their ideas to 
 
 excitement , , . _ 
 
 of the public government on the approaching regeneration of society, 
 were soon apparent. Hundreds of pamphlets imme- 
 diately inundated the capital and the provinces, in which, 
 disregarding all reference to usage, law, or precedent, an 
 appeal was at once made to first principles and the 
 natural rights of man. The King's permission to tender 
 advice on the convocation of the States-general was made 
 a pretext for disseminating doctrines, with impunity, sub- 
 versive not merely of the royal, but of any authority 
 whatever. The most vehement fermentation instantly 
 seized the public mind. Social regeneration became the 
 order of the day ; the ardent and philanthropic were 
 seduced by the brilliant prospects of unbounded felicity 
 which appeared to be opening upon the nation, the selfish 
 entranced by the hope of individual elevation in the midst
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 385 
 
 of the general confusion. But though all classes were CHAP. 
 unanimous in desirin the convocation of the States- 
 
 general, and the commencement of the public reforms, 178a 
 they differed widely as to the measures which they deemed 
 likely to advance the general welfare, and already were 
 to be seen the seeds of those divisions which afterwards 
 deluged the kingdom with blood. The higher ranks of 
 the noblesse, and all the prelates, desired the maintenance 
 of the separation of the three orders, and the preservation 
 of their exclusive privileges : the philosophic party, from 
 whom the Girondists afterwards sprung, considered the 
 federal republics of America as a model of government ; 
 while the few cautious observers whom the general whirl x Lab .. 
 had left in the nation, in vain suggested, that, as they 
 
 were about to embark on the dark and unknown sea of iard,Hist. 
 
 i --! .. i i -, . de Fran. i. 
 
 innovation, the British constitution was the only haven in 466. 
 which they could hope to find a secure asylum. 1 
 
 This great victory had been gained by the united 
 efforts of all classes the nobles had supported the Tiers Divisions 
 Etat, and the clergy had been almost unanimous on the p e Tr in tife 
 same side ; but, as usual on such occasions, divisions 
 were consequent on success. The separate interests of 
 the different bodies who had combined in the struggle 
 appeared when it was over. Each of the three bodies 
 had entertained different views in demanding the States- 
 general. The parliaments had hoped to rule them as in 
 their last assemblage ; the nobles expected, by the convo- 
 cation of this body, to regain their lost influence ; the 
 Tiers Etat to rise into political importance. These 
 discordant views were immediately supported by their 
 respective adherents, and divisions broke out between 
 the three estates. The commons vehemently maintained 
 that the vast increase in the numbers and consideration 
 of their body, since the last assemblage of the estates in 
 1614, rendered it indispensable that a great addition 
 should be made to the number of their representatives ; 
 that many places, formerly of no moment, had risen into 
 
 VOL. I. 2 B
 
 386 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, opulence and importance within the last two centuries, 
 
 1IL which were wholly without representatives ; that no 
 
 1788. national assembly could stand on a secure basis, which 
 
 was thus rested only on a partial representation ; that 
 
 the light of the age was adverse to the maintenance of 
 
 O o 
 
 feudal distinctions, and that the only way to prevent a 
 revolution was to concede in time the just demands of the 
 people. On the other hand, the parliament of Paris, 
 the nobles and privileged classes, alleged, that the only 
 way to arrest innovation was to adhere to the practice of 
 the constitution ; that no human wisdom could foresee 
 the effect of any considerable addition to the representa- 
 tives of the people ; and that, if such a deviation from 
 1 Mi i 25 established usage could ever be expedient, the last time 
 Th..L27 28. wnen it should be attempted was in a moment of great 
 i. 125, 126. public excitement, when the object of political wisdom 
 
 Lab. i. 268, 1 1 , , j .1,1- .1 v,.- 
 
 269. should be to moderate rather than increase the ambition 
 of the lower orders. 1 
 
 A pamphlet published at this period, by the Abbe 
 Great in- Sieyes, under the title, " Qu'est-ce-que le Tiers Etat f " 
 ?h e e Abbl had a powerful influence on the future destinies of France. 
 pamphlet. " The Tiers Etat," said he, " is the French nation, minus 
 the noblesse and the clergy." Public opinion ran daily 
 more strongly in favour of the commons ; extravagant 
 expectations began to be formed, visionary schemes to be 
 published, and that general unhinging of opinions took 
 place which is the sure prelude of a revolution. The 
 country was daily more and more deluged with pamphlets, 
 many written with great talent, others indulging in the 
 most chimerical projects/'' Everything tended to increase 
 the public effervescence, and to disqualify men from form- 
 ing a rational judgment on public affairs. Sieyes, in 
 consequence of the celebrity of his pamphlet, acquired a 
 lead in public estimation, to which he was far from being 
 
 * The author is in possession of a collection of seventeen thick octavo 
 volumes of these lucubrations, all published in 1788 and 1789. Their united 
 bulk is double of the whole of this History, and many of them had reached a 
 fifth and sixth edition.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 387 
 
 entitled either by his judgment or his principles. He was CHAP. 
 a good dialectician, had great facility in writing, and an 
 
 ingenious speculative mind ; but he was neither a pro- 1788 - 
 found thinker nor a judicious legislator. Ignorant of 
 mankind, he thought human affairs were to be regulated 
 on abstract principles, as physical objects are by the laws 
 of mechanics. Extravagantly vain of his own abilities, 
 he boasted to Dumont that he had brought the science of 
 politics to perfection, while in effect he proved himself 
 incapable of constructing a constitution which could sub- 
 sist two years. Nor was he without a strong intermixture 
 of worldly ambition ; he seldom took a decided part in s^vSnrs' 
 politics, except when his own interest was concerned ; j^f 1 ^ 
 and permitted, at last, all his aspirations after liberty to Pi 6 ^ ta f 7 ' 
 be quietly stifled by the gift of a valuable estate in the Lab. ii. 312. 
 park of Versailles, when Napoleon rose to the head of c.xxix.29. 
 affairs. 1 * 
 
 It soon appeared to what cause this sudden and decisive 
 change in the politics of the courts had been owing. By Edicts ' 
 a royal edict, dated August 16, 1788, it was declared 
 legal for the King to pay the whole public creditors, 
 whether holders of annuities or of capital stock, the in- 
 terest due to them, if above twelve hundred francs (48), 
 two-fifths in paper, and only the remaining three-fifths 
 
 * The Abbe" Sieyes was born at Frejus, on the 3d May 1748. so that at this 
 time he was forty years old. He was bred to the church, and in 1784 was 
 appointed dean of the cathedral of Chartres, and vicar-general of the diocese. 
 His abilities having soon made themselves known, he was, in 1787, named a 
 member of the Provincial Assembly which Necker had established at Orleans. 
 For long his studies had been directed to the questions of politics and consti- 
 tutional government which had for some years agitated France, and in conse- 
 quence he was one of the first to publish, in pursuance of Brienne's invitation, 
 an essay on the States-general about to assemble, entitled " Vues sur les 
 Moyens d'Exe"cution dont les Repre'sentans de la France pourront disposer 
 en 1789." Soon after he published another pamphlet, entitled "Essai sur 
 les Privileges," in opposition to the decision of the Notables against the dupli- 
 cation of the Tiers Et.it, and the voting by head ; and then a third, which 
 gained a prodigious reputation, " Qu'est-ce-que le Tiers Etat ? " The tendency 
 of this able production may be judged of from two words. He asked what has 
 the Tiers Etat been hitherto ? " Rien." What will it be in future ? " Tout" 
 Rien ou Tout were thus made the watchwords of the movement in commencing 
 the Revolution : we shall see in the sequel that " tout ou rien " was the maxim
 
 388 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, in cash. This was followed two days afterwards by a 
 second edict, which declared that billets de la caisse 
 
 17881 d'escompte (exchequer bills), down to the 1st January 
 
 Aug. is. lygg^ werc no t to be paid in money to holders presenting 
 
 them for payment, but in bills only on private individuals ; 
 
 they were declared at the same time a legal tender, in 
 
 payment both to government and between man and man ; 
 
 and all prosecutions on these bills were suspended till the 
 
 1st January ensuing. As these exchequer bills were the 
 
 principal resource of government, and two-fifths of the 
 
 interest on the public debt was declared payable in these 
 
 bills thus bearing a forced circulation, these edicts were 
 
 equivalent to a declaration of national bankruptcy. This 
 
 last and melancholy resource was not adopted till imposed 
 
 , Higt Par) by absolute necessity ; a few days after, when Necker was 
 
 ifesuln reca ^ e( ^ to tne ministry, he found only two hundred and 
 
 157,158.' fifty thousand francs (10,000) in the royal treasury 
 
 Lab. ii. 269, ' i . - i j > j-/ i. 
 
 270. a sum not equal to a single day s expenditure by govern- 
 ment. 1 
 
 Financial embarrassment is the real cause of the over- 
 
 119 
 
 which ieads throw of most administrations in countries where the 
 people have either legally or practically an effective con- 
 tr l over tne measures of government. Mankind can 
 stand anything rather than a stoppage or diminution of 
 their accustomed payments. Brienne, though to the last 
 
 of Napoleon at its close, and which occasioned its fall There is more here 
 than a mere play upon words ; these words are descriptive of the march, in its 
 earliest, equally as its last stages, of revolutionary ambition seeking to engross 
 everything at first ; losing everything by its reluctance to abandon anything 
 at last. 
 
 Sieyes's reputation now became such, that not merely his entrance into, but 
 his great influence in the States-general, was a matter of certainty. Soon after 
 he published another pamphlet, entitled " Projet de deliberation a prendre dans 
 les assemblies des bailliages ;" and so great was the public anxiety to obtain 
 the benefit of his talents that, after the electors of Paris had passed a resolution 
 to the effect that neither nobles nor priests should be included among their 
 representatives, they rescinded it purposely to let in Sieyes. He was one of 
 the members for Paris, accordingly, in the States-general, and was the person 
 who proposed that they should assume the title of National Assembly. But his 
 talents for speaking were by no means equal to his ability in writing ; and he 
 was soon eclipsed in that Assembly by Mirabeau, and many other orators. See 
 Eiographie des Contemporains, xix. 189, 190 (SiETEs). 

 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 389 
 
 degree unpopular, had weathered the storm as long as CHAP. 
 the public creditors were regularly paid ; but that which 
 
 neither the Cour Pleniere, nor the resistance of the 1788 - 
 parliaments, nor the revolt of the provinces, could effect, 
 was at once accomplished by the edicts concerning the Aug. 25. 
 public creditors, and the diminution of the wonted 
 dividends. Indescribable was the sensation which these 
 financial measures produced. Credit of every kind was 
 violently shaken. Money became scarce, creditors clamor- 
 ous, debtors desperate ; the holders of the public securi- 
 ties were loud in their complaints that the paper money 
 was forced on them at a third more than they could get 
 for it ; the excitement was universal. Alarmed at this 
 perilous state of affairs, the Queen privately sounded 
 Necker, through the Austrian ambassador M. de Merey, 
 as to whether he would resume his post at the finances in 
 conjunction with the present ministry ; but he wisely 
 declined. Upon this the Count d'Artois represented to 
 the King the absolute necessity of Brienne's removal, 
 which was agreed to. The archbishop was reconciled to 
 his fall by the gift of considerable ecclesiastical prefer- 
 ment, in addition to the immense benefices he already 
 enjoyed, and the promise of a cardinal's hat, which, by 
 the King's influence, he soon after obtained. His retreat 
 was, two days afterwards, followed by that of Lamoignon ; 
 who, having ever acted on honourable and conscientious 
 motives, was regretted by his friends, however disliked by 
 the people, whose advances he had opposed.""" The victory x Sanieri 
 of the parliament was complete ; its functions were imme- |Jj j 11 ^- 
 diately resumed ; and Necker, with the general approbation Lab - 273 
 
 i i i /. Besenval, ii. 
 
 of the nation, but with great reluctance on the part of the 328, 329. 
 King, was recalled to the direction of the finances. 1 
 
 * Lamoignon was shortly after found in his demesne, where he had retired, 
 with a fowling-piece in his hand, shot dead. It is not known whether his 
 untimely end was the result of design or accident. LABAUME, ii. 273. The 
 King, from esteem for his upright character, made him a present of 400,000 
 francs (16,000) on his retiring from office ; but so low was the treasury, that 
 he only received the half of that sum. Ibid.
 
 390 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. It soon appeared in what an extraordinary state of 
 excitement the public mind was, and how prone to violence 
 
 1788. the people were, even in that moment when, having 
 120. gained a complete victory, it was least excusable. The 
 
 Paris on the police of Paris, formerly so admirable under Lenoir and 
 LUg ' Sartines, had sensibly declined in efficiency since the 
 frequent contests for power had rendered it uncertain 
 which party was likely to be long in the ascendant, and 
 the known repugnance of the King to vigorous measures 
 had rendered it doubtful whether the authorities did not 
 run greater risk in repressing than permitting disorders. 
 Taking advantage of this circumstance, a violent mob 
 assembled on the evening of the 25th August, the day on 
 which Brienne left Paris, and, traversing the Pont Neuf, 
 obliged all the passers-by to shout out " Long live Henry 
 IV. To the devil with Brienne and Lamoignon I" As 
 these disorders were not checked, the mob soon swelled 
 immensely, and began to throw stones at the adjoining 
 houses ; and these obnoxious ministers were burnt in 
 effigy.* A detachment of cavalry having been sent to 
 disperse the assemblage, were assailed by the populace, 
 fired in return, and killed a man. The people, now 
 
 i Hist, de la become furious, advanced to attack the soldiers : 
 ' eight persons fell on the side of the troops, who were 
 
 Lirt!, ! i a driven across the Pont Neuf. The mob, with loud 
 | 5 - Duvai, shouts, paraded the adjoining street, celebrating their 
 Terreur, ;. triumph, and burning several watch-houses which fell 
 ii! 280, 281.' in their way. 1 They were only arrested on the Place 
 de- Greve by a discharge from the armed police, which 
 
 * The Abbe" Sabatier, who had first demanded the States-general in the 
 parliament of Paris, made a narrow escape on this occasion. He was mistaken 
 for the Abbe" Vermond, preceptor to the Queen : and the people insisted he 
 should alight, go down on his knees, and make the amende honorable for his 
 misdeeds. " What would you have ?" exclaimed the counsellor of parliament, 
 in great alarm. " I am the Abbe" Sabatier, your best friend." Upon this the 
 air rang with acclamations of " Vive notre pere ! Vive notre sauveur !" Yet 
 he had been the principal means of throwing out the equal territorial assess- 
 ment which the King had made such efforts to lay on the noblesse, to the 
 relief of the Tiers Etat ! such is popular judgment. DUVAL, Souvenirs de la 
 Terreur, L 11-14.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 391 
 
 brought down twenty of the foremost, and dispersed the CHAP. 
 rest. IIL 
 
 But in every age the populace of Paris have been found l ? 88 - 
 to be the most resolute and intractable of any recorded ^H' 
 in history. Far from being deterred by so bloody a P^T 16 / 
 
 * J j hotel. Aug. 
 
 termination of their triumph, the people collected in still 26 
 greater force on the succeeding evening, armed with sabres, 
 bayonets, and torches ; and after burning Lamoignon in 
 effigy, proceeded with their brands to set fire to the hotel 
 of M. de Brienne, minister at war, and brother to the 
 fallen prelate. Already they had got entire possession of 
 the street, and were just beginning to force the doors, 
 when Brienne himself arrived, and ordered two companies 
 of the Gardes Fran9aises to charge with fixed bayonets, 
 which at length dispersed the crowd, but not before 
 several of their number had been killed and wounded. 
 At the same time a vast assemblage collected in the Rue 
 Meslay, and attacked the house of the commander of the 
 city guard, Du Bois, who was the object of great hatred, 
 from the vigour he had displayed on the preceding day. 
 But he arranged his troops in his hotel and the adjoining 
 houses, and received the assailants with so vigorous a fire 
 of musketry that thirty of their number were stretched on 
 the pavement ; and a troop of horse, which arrived at the 
 same time, completed their defeat. Symptoms of irreso- i saiiier, 
 lution, however, had already appeared among some of the ?f^ ^g val 
 troops ; and the frequent shouts from the mob, " Vivant j^ nt g|^ 
 les Gardes Fran9aises," proved that the soldiers of that de France, 
 body had already begun to experience that debauching Lab. i'i. m 
 influence, which afterwards proved fatal alike to the Pari. i. 255. 
 monarchy and the cause of freedom. 1 
 
 The disorders were, by these vigorous military measures, 
 effectually arrested, though not before above two hundred \y an t of 
 persons had perished on the two sides, in the tumults S* 
 which had taken place. But now began a system, both 
 on the part of the government and the magistracy, which j^ s offen ~ 
 revealed at once the weakness of the monarchy, and was
 
 392 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, productive, in the end, of unheard-of calamities. The 
 IIL authors of these disorders, though well known, were not 
 1788. prosecuted ; the Marquis de Nesles, their principal leader, 
 was not even inquired after. The parliament, instead, as 
 they were in duty bound, of protecting the police and 
 military who had put down the riots which threatened 
 such serious consequences, and instituting prosecutions 
 against the ringleaders in them, passed over their crimes 
 in silence. In place of doing so, they adopted two arrets, 
 directing the trial, not of the insurgents, but of the 
 police-officers who had arrested their incendiary violence ! 
 Du Bois, whose firmness had saved the capital from 
 incalculable calamities, was obliged to fly from Paris to 
 avoid destruction by the populace. Not one of the insur- 
 gents was brought to justice, nor was the slightest attempt 
 made to discover them the distinctive mark of revolu- 
 tionary times, and the certain prelude to the overthrow 
 of society. When government deems it prudent not to 
 prosecute, or does not venture to bring to justice the 
 leaders of popular violence, how great soever their crimes ; 
 when it is generally felt that more danger is run by the 
 1 Lab. ii. magistrates and soldiers, who are intrusted with the 
 Ltavau'20, preservation of the peace, if they discharge their duty, 
 Pari !*255 * nan if ^ ne 7 ne gl ec t it ; and when it becomes evident that 
 Montv.' m * ne On ^ P ersons wno are secure of impunity, in a collision 
 Hist, du ' between them and the people, are the perpetrators of 
 
 Ducd'Or- . . i i i i 
 
 Mans, i. 178. revolutionary crimes, it may be concluded with certainty 
 
 that unbounded national calamities are at hand. 1 
 193 But although to the far-seeing sagacity of political 
 Universal wisdom, this weakness on the part of government, and 
 Neckers betrayal of duty on the part of the magistracy, might 
 tToffice! n appear fraught with the most perilous consequences, yet 
 to the ordinary observer the restoration of Necker to 
 office seemed fraught with the happiest auguries, and to 
 forebode only peace and happiness to France. His recep- 
 tion at court was in the highest degree flattering : the 
 Queen and princes assured him of their entire confidence ;
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 393 
 
 the repugnance of the King seemed to be overcome ; CHAP. 
 the courtiers and nobles flocked round him in crowds ' 
 when he came from the presence-chamber, after receiving i? 88 - 
 his appointment. Even the most inveterate of his former 
 opponents were among the foremost to tender their con- 
 gratulations. They were perfectly sincere in doing so : 
 they regarded him as the only barrier between them and 
 national bankruptcy ; he was the mighty magician whose 
 wand was again to unlock the doors of the treasury. The 
 same rejoicings took place all over France. Universally, 
 for a brief space, the public discontents were stilled. On 
 entering upon office he found the treasury empty, and the 
 credit of government extinct. Next day he received 
 tenders of loans to a considerable extent, and the funds 
 rose thirty per cent. An infusion of popular power into 
 the government was deemed, at that period, a sovereign 
 remedy for all difficulties, a certain antidote to all disor- 
 ders. The public creditors were then only alive to the 
 danger of national bankruptcy which arose from the 
 perfidy or extravagance of kings ; they had yet to learn 
 the far more imminent peril which springs from the 
 violence and vacillation of the people. He immediately 
 recalled all persons exiled for political offences, and strove 
 to the utmost to assuage individual distress. But it was 
 too late. When he received the intimation of his recall, 
 his first words were, " Ah ! would that I could recall the ! V^ 8 ^' 
 fifteen months of the Archbishop of Toulouse ! " In truth, Lab. i'i. 
 during that eventful time, the period of safe concession WeW, i'. 
 had gone by; every point now abandoned was adding va f,' 11.332." 
 fuel to the flame. 1 
 
 It was in the midst of the effervescence arising from 
 these popular tumults, that the royal edict for summoning Royaf edict 
 the States-general appeared. It set out with an eloquent moning'the 
 and touching exposition, which all felt to be true, of the ^ tes -g ne - 
 King's motives for calling them together. * It appointed Au &- 27 - 
 
 * The circular calling together the States-general bore : " We have need of 
 the concourse of our faithful subjects, to aid us in surmounting the difficulties
 
 394 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, the election to take place by a double process. In the 
 first instance, the electors of each bailiwick were to meet 
 
 1788> and choose delegates, and these delegates were to elect 
 the members of the States-general. Strange to say, no 
 property qualification whatever was declared necessary, 
 either for an elector in the primary assemblies which 
 chose the delegates, or for the delegates themselves, or 
 for the members of the States-general. It was merely 
 declared that the number of delegates chosen in the rural 
 districts should be two for each two hundred hearths, 
 three above two hundred hearths, four above three hun- 
 dred, and so on.'* In the towns, again, two delegates 
 were to be chosen for each hundred " inhabitants ; " four 
 above a hundred ; six above two hundred, and so on.f 
 Nearly three millions of Frenchmen were admitted under 
 this regulation to a privilege which substantially amounted 
 
 arising from the state of the finances, and establishing, in conformity with our 
 most ardent desire, a durable order in the parts of government which affect 
 the public welfare. We wish that the three estates should confer together on 
 the matters which will be submitted to their examination : they will make 
 known to us the wishes and grievances of the people in such a way that, by a 
 mutual confidence, and exchange of kind offices between the King and people, 
 the public evils should as rapidly as possible be remedied. For this purpose 
 we enjoin and command that, immediately on the receipt of this letter, you 
 proceed to elect deputies of the three orders, worthy of confidence from their 
 virtues, and the spirit with which they are animated; that the deputies should 
 be furnished with powers and instructions sufficient to enable them to attend 
 to all tLe concerns of the State, and introduce such remedies as shall be deemed 
 advisable for the reform of abuses, and the establishment of a fixed and durable 
 order in all parts of the government, worthy of the paternal affections of the 
 King and of the resolutions of so noble an assembly." CALONNE, 315; LAB. ii. 
 335 ; Hist. ParL, i. 268, 269. 
 
 * " Le nombre des deputes [delegates] qui seront choisis par les paroisses et 
 communaute's de campagne pour porter leurs cahiers, seront de deux & raison 
 de deux cents feux et audessous ; trois, audessus de deux cents feux ; quatre, 
 audessus de trois cent feux ; et ainsi de suite. Les villes enverront le nombre 
 des deputes aux e'tats-ge'ndraux annexe" au present rdglement ; a l'e"gard de 
 toutes celles qui ne s'y trouvent pas comprises, le nombre de leurs deputes 
 sera fixe" & quatre." Art. 31, Edict, 27th Aug. 1788 ; Hist. Parl. i. 269. 
 
 f- " Les habitant composant le Tiers Etat des villes qui ne se trouvent 
 compris dans aucuns corps, communautes, ou corporations, s'assembleront h, 
 1'Hotel de Ville, au jour qui sera indique" par les officiers municipaux, et il y 
 sera elu des deputed [delegates] dans la proportion de deux deputed pour cent 
 individus et audessous prisons & la dite assemblee ; quatre audessus de cent ; 
 six audessua de deux cents ; et toujours en augmentant ainsi dans la memo 
 proportion." Hid. art. 27.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 395 
 
 to the power of choosing representatives ; for the electors CHAP. 
 were nothing but delegates, who, in every instance, obeyed 
 
 the directions of their representatives. Finally, this 1788 - 
 immense body were intrusted with the important privi- 
 lege of drawing up cahiers, or directions to their con- 
 stituents in regard to the conduct they were to pursue on 
 all the great questions which might come before them.* ij^ eck b i- 
 These cahiers were absolute mandates, which the repre- 23 6, 246. 
 
 r Hist. Parl. 
 
 sentatives bound themselves by a solemn oath to observe i. 266. 269. 
 faithfully, and support to the utmost of their ability. 1 
 
 Nor was this all. Not content with establishing an 
 electoral system which amounted almost to universal its extreme 
 suffrage, and permitting these numerous electors to bind angers ' 
 their representatives d priori by absolute mandates on 
 all the questions which might occur, Necker imposed no 
 restraint whatever on the persons who were to be chosen 
 as representatives. Neither property, nor age, nor mar- 
 riage, were required as qualifications. Every Frenchman 
 of twenty-five } r ears of age, domiciled in a canton, who 
 paid the smallest sum in taxes, was declared eligible. 
 The consequences were disastrous in the extreme. Youths 
 hardly escaped from school ; lawyers unable to earn a 
 livelihood in their villages ; curates barely elevated either 
 in income or knowledge above their humble flocks ; phy- 
 sicians destitute of patients, barristers without briefs ; the 
 ardent, the needy, the profligate, the ambitious, were at 
 once vomited forth from all quarters to co-operate in the 
 reconstruction of the monarchy. Very few, indeed, of 
 the assembly were possessed of any property ; fewer still 
 of any knowledge. The only restraints on human pas- 
 sion knowledge, age, property, and children were 
 wanting in the great majority of its members ; they 
 consisted almost entirely of ardent youths, many of whom 
 already thought themselves equal to Cicero, Brutus, or 
 
 * The collection of these cahiers, in thirty-six volumes folio, is the most 
 interesting and authentic monument which exists of the grievances which led 
 to the Revolution. An abstract of this immense record has been published by 
 Prudhomme, in three vols. 8vo; another by Grille, in two vols. 8vo.
 
 396 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. Demosthenes, while all were resolutely bent on making 
 their fortunes : they were elected by almost universal 
 
 1788 - suffrage, and subjected to the most rigorous mandates 
 from a numerous and ignorant constituency. And yet 
 from such a body, all classes in France, with a few 
 individual exceptions, expected a deliverance from the 
 evils or difficulties with which they were surrounded, and 
 a complete regeneration of society. The King, the 
 ministers, and courtiers, anticipated the cessation of the 
 vexatious opposition of the parliaments, and more ready 
 submission from a body of men who were thought to be 
 so ill calculated to combine as the Tiers Etat ; the nobles, 
 a restoration of order to the finances, and emancipation 
 from the public difficulties by the confiscation of the 
 church property ; the commons, liberation from every 
 species of restraint, and boundless felicity from the pros- 
 pects which would open to them in the new state of 
 society which was approaching. When hopes so chime- 
 rical are entertained by all classes of society, and a chaos 
 of unanimity is produced, composed of such discordant 
 i Lab ii interests, it may usually be concluded that a general 
 337,351. infatuation has seized the public mind, and that great 
 national calamities are at hand. 1 
 
 Necker's influence as a minister was prodigiously in- 
 A second creased on his restoration to power. It is hardly going 
 of n the C No" n too far to say, that, for good or for evil, he was omnipo- 
 aetcnninc tent. The extreme penury of the exchequer rendered his 
 conv f okhi 0f P ower f u l credit with the capitalists indispensable to carry- 
 1 OTOTd* 68 " * n on ^ 1C g vernmen t J the recent and entire overthrow 
 which the Crown had received in the contest with the 
 parliaments, rendered irresistible the influence of any 
 minister who came in from the impulse of their victory, 
 and was supported by their immense weight throughout 
 the country. He was the movement leader, and all his- 
 tory tells us that such a legislator, in a moment of popular 
 triumph, can do what he pleases, provided he does not 
 visibly check the popular desires. Sensible of, perhaps
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 397 
 
 exaggerating his influence, aware of what was expected of CHAP. 
 him, he bent his whole attention to the vital question of 
 
 the convocation of the States-general, and left the ordinary 1788 - 
 details of his office to his friend, Dufresne de Saint-Leon. 
 Alive to the incalculable importance of the measure which 
 was now to be adopted, and knowing that a single false 
 step would probably prove irretrievable, Necker concurred 
 with the King in thinking that the Notables should be 
 convened afresh, to deliberate on the course to be adopted. 
 They were convoked, accordingly, for the 3d November 
 1788. Necker had previously made up his own mind 
 what to do ; his known professions and opinions left him 
 hardly room for choice. But, like all men who are rash in 
 opinion but timid in action, he wished to throw the respon- 1 De gtagl 
 sibility of the change he meditated off himself a sure > 170, m! 
 
 ; . . Lab. ii. 304, 
 
 sign that he was not adequate to the crisis. A great 
 general seldom calls a council of war : Napoleon rarely 
 summoned one Wellington, never. 1 
 
 It was historically known that on former occasions, 
 when the States-general were assembled, the representa- Ancient 
 tives of the three orders of the nobles, the clergy, and the voting in 
 Tiers Etat, named in equal numbers in the different elec- gc ne ^! e 
 toral districts, or bailliages, as they were called, whatever 
 the population of those districts was, met in a common 
 hall to verify their powers and adjust the roll. This done, 
 the representatives of each order retired to a separate 
 chamber, where they deliberated on the matters submitted 
 to them ; and, when they had come to a decision, they 
 returned into the common hall, and then the judgment of 
 the whole was taken, not by head but by order ; so that, 
 if any two of the orders concurred, the third was out- 
 voted. This, in particular, was the form observed in the 
 last meeting of the estates in 1614, and indeed on all 
 previous occasions. It need hardly be observed, that this 
 is strictly in conformity with the structure of modern 
 society as it has appeared in all the old forms of national 
 assemblies ; and it is still observed without the slightest
 
 398 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, deviation in the British parliament, where the sovereign, 
 IIL in the first instance, meets the Lords and Commons in the 
 1788. House of Lords ; but, before business begins, the Com- 
 432433.' mons \vithdraw, and every vote on public questions is 
 aw '"' 295 ' taken in each house separately. 1 It was equally well 
 ascertained that the States-general had never, in any 
 period of French history, possessed the privilege of com- 
 mencing legislative measures, or even putting a simple 
 negative upon those issued by the King. Royal ordon- 
 nances could alone originate laws or legislative changes ; 
 what the States had to do was only to consider the ordon- 
 nances in which each order was interested, either in the 
 existing laws or in proposed modifications of them, and 
 make their remarks upon them, which were to be decided 
 on by the King in council. They were only invested with 
 dbn- the right to make remonstrances, or tender advice : the 
 ii^20.' tome exclusive power of originating and altering laws was vested 
 ETrhde in * ne ^ n 8 in council, enlightened, when it was so offered, 
 iii 88 ire> ky their advice. And in the event of a royal edict issuing 
 Robertson's on such advice, it was addressed, not to the States-general 
 i. 460, 46i! as a whole, but to the particular order which was interested 
 in the question, and had tendered the advice. 2 
 
 When the States-general were promised by Brienne, 
 The popular and appointed to meet in May 1789, the whole popular 
 party in France immediately united their strength to gain 
 two points, entirely at variance with all these usages. 
 These were, 1. That the number of the deputies elected 
 from the by the Tiers Etat should be equal to that elected by the 
 
 liers JKtat. I 
 
 two other orders taken together. This, it was contended, 
 was indispensable to prevent the two privileged orders, 
 whose interests were identified, entirely crushing the third 
 estate, which had rights and interests adverse to theirs to 
 contend for. 2. That the whole orders should deliberate 
 and vote, not in separate chambers, but by head, in one 
 assembly. This, it could not be denied, was an innovation 
 hitherto unknown in the French, or indeed any European 
 constitution ; but it was strenuously argued that it was
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 399 
 
 a change loudly called for by the alteration in the cir- CHAP. 
 cumstances of society, and the increasing wealth, impor- IIL 
 tance, and intelligence of the commons. The interests of l "< 88 - 
 the three orders, it was said, are not in reality at variance : 
 they have only been rendered so by unjust privileges 
 having been assumed on the one side, and general igno- 
 rance existing on the other. But at length all these 
 causes of discord have been removed, by the increasing 
 liberality of the age, the dictates of an enlarged philo- 
 sophy, and the augmented information of the people. 
 Now, then, is the time to impress this new character, 
 already communicated to the age, upon its institutions, 
 and build up the monarchy afresh upon the only basis 
 which is likely to be durable a conformity to the wishes, o^Jl- 
 necessities, and interests of the people. All objections Bertrand de 
 drawn from the perilous tendency of such sweeping changes i. isaJBkt. 
 were lost upon the heated generation which had now G a rat' s ev ' 
 sprung up into social activity : the threatened danger ao^'jyEn- 
 was in their estimation a recommendation the more, an ^g^s, 
 
 Mem. sur 
 
 objection the less. They replied in the words of the tur- } * s , Etats 
 bulent democracy of Poland : " Malumus periculosam 250, 256. ' 
 libertatem quam quietam servitutem." 1 
 
 The parliament of Paris was the first body to give the 
 signal of resistance to these sweeping innovations. That The par'iia- 
 powerful assembly had too long been in alliance with the Paris resist 
 leaders of the Tiers Etat, not to be well aware of the chides. 
 aspiring temper of that body ; and was too well versed in 
 constitutional law, not to be sensible how completely the 
 pretensions so strongly advanced by them were at variance 
 with former usage. Gloomy presentiments, accordingly, 
 seized several of its leading members, as to the ultimate 
 tendency of the prodigious excitement which now agitated 
 the public mind, and the proposal to invest popular vehe- 
 mence at once with supreme power, by the duplication 
 of the Tiers Etat, and the voting in a single chamber. 
 Robert de Saint- Vincent in particular, who had taken so 
 decided a part against the King in former contests, know-
 
 400 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, ing what a fabric of popular usurpation the Tiers Etat 
 proposed to build upon the duplication of their numbers, 
 
 1788 - and voting in a single chamber, was filled with the most 
 dismal apprehensions. He was haunted by perpetual 
 terrors of a vast social conflagration, of which posterity 
 would accuse him of being the author. Impressed with 
 these ideas, he strongly opposed the proposed measure ; 
 and after a violent debate, the parliament, by a consider- 
 able majority, resolved that the States-general should be 
 assembled according to the forms observed when they last 
 met in 1614. This was a very important decision, as it 
 was held by the constitutional party that a registry by 
 
 1 Lab. n. * i i T i 
 
 294,295. the parliament was essential to give legality to a royal 
 
 Montg. L , * f J - A * 
 
 432. ordonnance ; for, as matters now stood, it was registered 
 only under this qualification. 1 
 
 Never did a public body experience so quickly the 
 Andimmc- eternal truth, that the popularity of popular leaders is 
 fheir'pop^ entirely dependent on their advancing with the movement, 
 as the parliament of Paris did on this occasion. In an 
 instant their influence was gone. Brienne, Lamoignon, 
 themselves, were not the objects of greater obloquy. Such 
 was the universal odium into which they fell, that they 
 could not appear in the streets without being insulted. 
 D'Espremenil had been prevented from attending at this 
 debate by his detention in the Isles d'Hieres ; and being 
 soon after liberated, he was received along the whole road 
 with the most intoxicating marks of public admiration. 
 But no sooner did he arrive in Paris, and learn from Adrian 
 Duport, his intimate friend, the designs of the popular 
 party, than he at once gave in his adherence to the decision 
 of the parliament. He was the supporter of constitutional 
 right, not speculative change. This honourable act of moral 
 courage, which proves the sincerity and force of his charac- 
 ter, instantly raised against him a host of enemies ; he was 
 2 Gaiiani, accused of treachery, weakness, corruption, because he did 
 iC 297, 299. not choose, disregarding the laws he had sworn to observe, 
 to adventure on the boundless sea of innovation. 2 Already
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 401 
 
 he began to feel in his own person the truth of the prophecy CHAP. 
 of d'Ormesson, that heaven would punish them for demand- - 
 ing the States-general by granting their supplication. 1788 
 
 The Notables met soon after, and took into considera- 
 
 131 
 
 tion the all-important subject of the form of convoking Meeting of 
 the States-general. They consisted of the same indivi- 
 duals who had been assembled two years before ; and 
 Necker secretly flattered himself that he would give a the P ar ] i 
 
 < f ment of 
 
 decisive proof of his influence and popularity by triumph- Paris - 
 ing over the aristocratic body, which had proved so 
 refractory to the proposals of Calonne. But the event 
 soon showed that he was mistaken. The question was NOV. 3. 
 warmly debated before them, not only in oral discussion, 
 but in a multitude of pamphlets, which, professing to go 
 to the bottom of the question, lost sight entirely of usage 
 or precedent, and launched into the boundless fields of 
 speculation and ambition. Nothing was omitted which 
 could tend to inflame the public mind. The grossest 
 falsehoods, the most extravagant exaggerations, were 
 passed off without contradiction on the people the 
 parliament was loaded with obloquy on account of its 
 recent decision Necker extolled to the skies and, to 
 accustom the people to a contempt of things sacred, 
 many parodies appeared on pieces of the church service, 
 which had a prodigious circulation.* But though these 
 
 * The titles of some of these were " Litanies du Tiers Etat ; son Evangile ; 
 ses Vepres ; sa Passion ; sa Mort, et sa Resurrection." BEKTRAND DE MOLLE- 
 VILLE, Hist, de la Revolution, L 138. 
 
 The following commencement of a catechism regarding the parliament of 
 Paris will show the temper of the times, and the obloquy into which that once 
 popular body had fallen : " Question. Qu'etes-vous de votre nature ? ReponsS. 
 Nous sommes des officiers du Roi, charges de rendre justice a ses peuples. 
 Q. Qu'aspirez-vous a devenir ? R. Les legislateurs, et par consequent les 
 maltres de 1'e'tat. Q. Comment pouvez-vous en devenir les maitres ? R. Par- 
 ceque, ayant le pouvoir l^gislatif et le pouvoir exe"cutif, il n'y aura rien qui puisse 
 nous resister. Q- Comment vous etes-vous conduits d'abord avec le Roi ? 
 H. Nous nous sommes opposes a toutes ses volonte"s, en persuadant aux peuples 
 que nous sommes leurs d^fenseurs, et que c'est pour le bien de tous que nous 
 refusons d'enre"gistrer les impdts. Q. Le peuple ne verra-t-il pas que vous ne 
 vous etes refuse's aux impots que parceque vous aurez a les payer vous-m6mes ? 
 R. Non ; parceque nous lui ferons prendre le change, en disant que la nation 
 seule peut consentir aux impdts, et nous demanderons les etats-generaux. R. Si 
 
 VOL. I. 2 C
 
 402 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, arts had a vast effect upon the people, they were entirely 
 
 IIL lost upon the Notables. Of the six bureaux or divisions 
 
 1788. i n to which the assembly was divided, five reported that 
 
 the convocation and voting should be according to the 
 
 old form ; the remaining one, headed by Monsieur Count 
 
 3-2^3-25' f Provence, whose liberal principles were well known, 
 
 i D i7?*i7i supported the double representation. In that bureau, 
 
 Th. i/29. the vote was carried by the casting vote of Monsieur 
 
 Hist. Parl. 
 
 i. 256. ' himself, so that but for him the decision of all the bureaux 
 would have been the same. 1 
 
 The decided resistance of such important bodies as the 
 Neckerin- parliament of Paris and the Notables of France to the 
 King to projects of doubling the Tiers Etat, and voting in a single 
 Tiers Etat, chamber, might well have made Necker hesitate in the 
 the mode of course which he was pursuing. The Count d'Artois, the 
 P rince of Cond, and the other princes of the blood, 
 except Monsieur, soon after presented a memorial of 
 great ability to the King, in which the dangers of the 
 proposed innovation are pointed out with surprising force 
 and accuracy, and the consequences foretold precisely as 
 they afterwards occurred.* But nothing could overcome 
 
 malheureusement pour vous, le Roi vous prend au mot, et que les dtats- 
 ge"n6raux soient convoques, comment vous en tirerez-vous 1 R. Nous chicane- 
 rons sur la forme, et nous demanderons la forme de 1614. Q. Pourquoi cela ? 
 R. Parceque selon cette forme, le Tiers Etat sera repr6sente par des gens de 
 loi ; ce qui nous donnera la preponderance." See CaUchisme du Parlement, 
 1788 ; J/istoire Parfementaire, i. 254. 
 
 * " Sire ! L'e'tat est en peril. Votre personne est respectde ; les vertus du 
 monarque lui assurent les hommages de la nation : mais une revolution se 
 prepare dans les principes du gouvernement ; elle est annonce"e par la fermenta- 
 tion des esprits. Des institutions r^putees sacrees, et par lesquelles cette 
 monarchic a prospe^e pendant tant de siecles, sont converties en questions 
 probiematiques, ou me 1 me decriees comme des injustices. 
 
 " Les Merits qui ont paru pendant I'assemble'e des Notables, les memoires 
 qui ont etc" remis aux princes soussignea, les demandes formees par diverses 
 provinces, villes, ou corps ; 1'objet et le style de ces demandes et de ces 
 memoires tout annonce, tout prouve un systlme d 'insubordination raisonnSe, et 
 le mepris des lois de 1'etat. Tout auteur s'erige en legislateur : 1'eloquence, ou 
 1'art d'ecrire, mume d^pourvu d'etudes, de connoissances, d'exp6rience, semblent 
 des titres suffisans pour regler la constitution des empires : quiconque avanceune 
 proposition bardie, quiconque propose des changements des lois, est sur d'avoir 
 des lecteurs et des sectateurs. Tel est le malheureux progres de cette efferves- 
 cence que les opinions qui auraient paru il y a quelque temps les plus repre- 
 hensibles, paraissent aujourd'hui raissonnables et justes : et ce dont s'indignent
 
 HISTOEY OF EUROPE. 403 
 
 the infatuation of the Swiss minister ; and, unfortunately, CHAP. 
 Louis, judging of others by himself, and ever anxious to 
 
 do what his people wished, went into his views. On the 1788 - 
 27th December 1788 the fatal edict appeared the Dec. 27. 
 death-warrant of the French monarchy which declared 
 that " the number of deputies in the States-general shall 
 be at least a thousand : that this number shall be made up 
 as nearly as possible in proportion to the population and 
 taxes of each bailiwick : and that the number of deputies 
 of the Tiers Etat shall be equal to that of the two other 
 orders put together : and that proportion shall be estab- 
 lished in the letters of convocation." Nothing was said as to i. 235, 236.' 
 the form of assembly or voting, whether by order or head. 1 * 
 
 aujourd'hui les gens de bien passera dans quelque temps peut-etre pour 
 regulier et le"gitime. Qui peut dire oil s'arretera la te'merite' de ses opinions ? 
 De"ja les droits du trone sont mis en question : les droits des deux ordres de 
 1'etat divisent les opinions ; bientot les droits de propriete seront attaque"s ; 
 I'ine'galite' des fortunes sera presentee comnie un objet de reforme ; deja on a 
 propose la suppression des droits fe"odaux comme 1'abolition d'un systeme 
 d' oppression, reste de la barbaric. C'est de ces nouveaux systemes, c'est du 
 pro jet de changer les droits et les lois, qu'est sortie la prevention qu'an- 
 noncent quelques corps du Tiers Etat d'obtenir pour cet ordre deux suffrages 
 aux e'tats-ge'ne'raux, tandis qui chacun des deux premiers ordres continuerait a 
 n'en avoir qu'un seul. Les princes soussigngs ne peuvent dissimuler 1'effroi 
 que leur inspirerait pour l'e"tat le succes des pretentious du Tiers Etat, et les 
 funestes consequences de la revolution proposed dans la constitution des Etats; 
 ils y de'couvrent un triste avenir. Le Tiers Etat, averti par ce premier succes, 
 ne serait pas dispose" a se contenter d'une concession sans objet et sans interet 
 rdel, tant que le nombre de deputes serait augmentd sans que le nombre des 
 suffrages fut change". Plusieurs bureaux, ont expose" Tin justice et le danger 
 d'une innovation dans la composition des e'tats-ge'ne'raux, ou dans la forme de 
 les convoquer : la foule des preventions qui en re"sulteraient ; la facilite, si les 
 voix (jtaieut comptees par tete et sans distinction d'ordres, de compromettre, 
 par la seduction de quelques membres des autres ordres, les inte"rets de ces 
 ordres, et la destruction de l'e"quilibre si sagement etabli entre les trois ordres, 
 et la ruine eventuelle du Tiers Etat meme." Me"moirede M. le Comte d'Artois, 
 le Prince de Conde", le Prince de Bourbon, et le Prince de Conti ; Dec. 1, 1788. 
 Histoire Parlemcntaire de France, i. 256, 260. This memoir is history traced 
 out with prophetic hand by anticipation ; but it passed at the time among the 
 whole philosophers, and, of course, in all the popular societies, as mere 
 drivelling the prejudices of a worn-out, ignorant, and corrupted aristocracy. 
 
 * The following table exhibits the progressive change in the number of the 
 different orders at different periods of French history : 
 
 1560. 1576. 1588. 1614. 
 
 Clergy, . . 98 104 134 144 
 
 Nobles, 76 72 180 130 
 
 Tiers Etat, . 219 150 191 192 
 
 There was no fixed proportion, the royal edicts summoning them having in
 
 404 HISTORY OF EUKOPE. 
 
 CHAP. Nothing can be more instructive than to see the argu- 
 ' ments by which Necker supported this great and decisive 
 1788. addition to the popular influence. He rested his opinion 
 on the unanimity expressed on this point in all the 
 f r petition 8 to the King from the towns and municipalities 
 of the kingdom, on the general concurrence of the writers 
 who had published their opinions, and on the recent 
 decisions of the majority of the parliaments. " All hope," 
 said he, " of a successful issue would be lost, if it were 
 made to depend on establishing harmony between three 
 orders essentially at variance in their principles and 
 interest. To put an end to the injustice of pecuniary 
 privileges, and maintain a proper equilibrium between the 
 Tiers Etat and the other orders, we must give it a double 
 representation ; without that there would always be a 
 majority of two to one against it : whereas, when all are 
 compelled to look to the common interest, they will only 
 adopt the laws which impose the least burden upon the 
 community, and will thus compel the Tiers Etat to accept 
 the impost which at present they deem most onerous. 
 We ascribe too much importance to this last order. The 
 Tiers Etat, by their nature and their occupations, must 
 NrckCT de ever b & strangers to political passions. Their intelli- 
 g^ n ..'n gence and goodness of disposition are a sufficient gua- 
 327.' ' rantee against all the apprehensions at present enter- 
 tained of their excesses" 1 
 
 The elections commenced soon after, and, as might 
 Elections, have been expected with a conceding government and an 
 ordinary inflamed people, almost all terminated in favour of the 
 popular party. They were carelessly conducted by the 
 constituted authorities. The Crown made no attempt to 
 influence the returns, the nobility little ; the importance 
 of attending to the qualifications of those who exercised 
 elective franchise was not understood ; and, after a 
 
 each instance fixed the relative numbers. But the Tiers Etat, in general, sent 
 about two-thirds, or somewhat more, of the other two orders taken together. 
 MONTGAILLARD, i. 435, 436.
 
 HISTOEY OP EUROPE. 405 
 
 few days, every person decently dressed was allowed to CHAP. 
 
 rote without any questions being asked. Upwards of 1 
 
 three millions of electors concurred in the formation of 1788 
 the Assembly, being more than triple the number which, 
 with the same population, now forms the constituency of 
 the united parliament of Great Britain. The parliaments 
 had little influence in the choice of the deputies, the court 
 none ; the noblesse elected a few liberal persons of their 
 rank, but the great bulk of their representatives were 
 firmly attached to the interests of their order, and as 
 hostile to the Tiers Etat as to the oligarchy of great 
 families which composed the court. The inferior clergy 
 named deputies attached to the cause of freedom, and the 
 bishops those likely to uphold the hierarchy. Finally, 
 the Tiers Etat chose a numerous body of representatives, 
 
 i Tjj j 26 
 
 firm in their attachment to liberty, and ardently desirous Dumont,57. 
 of extending the influence of their order. 1 
 
 Everything contributed at this period to swell the 
 torrent of popular enthusiasm. The minds of men, Dreadful 
 strongly agitated by the idea of an approaching revolu- p'iSTn'the 
 tion, were in a continual ferment ; the parliaments, nobles, ^sS. * 
 and dignified clergy, who had headed the movement, 
 already saw themselves assailed by the arms which they 
 had given to the people. No words can convey an idea of 
 the transports which seized the public mind at the prospect 
 of the regeneration of society. The pamphlets swelled 
 from hundreds to thousands ; every hall in Paris was 
 filled with popular meetings and debating clubs, where 
 the most extravagant levelling doctrines were most loudly 
 applauded ; the journals daily added to the universal 
 enthusiasm. No bounds, it was thought, could be set to 
 the general felicity which was approaching, by the admis- 
 sion of the people into the practical direction of affairs. 
 Even the elements contributed to swell the public effer- 
 vescence, and seemed to have declared war on the falling 
 monarchy. A dreadful storm of hail, in July 1788, laid 
 waste the provinces, and produced such a diminution in
 
 406 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, the harvest as threatened all the horrors of famine ; 
 while the severity of the succeeding winter exceeded any- 
 
 1788 - thing that had been experienced since that which followed 
 the disasters of Louis XIV. The monetary crisis which 
 had taken place in August 1788, in consequence of the 
 edicts relative to the payments of the rentes two-fifths in 
 paper, augmented to a very great degree the general 
 distress. The charity of Fenelon, which immortalised 
 the former disastrous epoch, was now equalled by the 
 humane beneficence of the clergy of Paris ; but all their 
 efforts could not embrace the immense mass of indigence, 
 which was swelled by the confluence of dissolute and 
 abandoned characters from every part of France. These 
 wretches assembled round the throne, like the sea-birds 
 round the wreck, which are the harbingers of death to 
 the sinking mariner, and already appeared in fearful 
 numbers in the streets on occasion of the slightest tumult. 
 ST^Lacfv'i. They were all in a state of destitution, and for the most 
 nut i P 29o P art owe d tne i r lives to the charity of the ecclesiastics, 
 291. whom they afterwards massacred in cold blood in the 
 
 prison of Cannes. 1 
 
 136 Disturbances of a very serious kind soon after broke out 
 
 Distur- in Brittany, already the seat of so vehement a fermenta- 
 
 bances m /. i 
 
 Brittany tion, on occasion of the contests with the parliaments. 
 But it strangely contrasted in principle and object with 
 the previous convulsion. Already over all France, the 
 parliaments, terrified at the work of their own hands, and 
 anticipating their own speedy extinction in the superior 
 majesty and power of the States-general, were desirous of 
 pausing in their career, or even retracing their steps. 
 But it was too late. They had sown the wind, and must 
 reap the whirlwind. Divisions had broken out in Brittany 
 between the noblesse and the Tiers Etat, immediately 
 after their united victory over Brienne and the throne ; 
 the latter contended for the abolition of a hearth-tax, 
 from which the former enjoyed exemption, and the col- 
 lection of which was often attended with vexation. The
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 407 
 
 nobles of the province, seeing themselves thus assailed in CHAP. 
 their pecuniary interests, and alarmed at the general L 
 effervescence in favour of the Tiers Etat which was 1789. 
 taking place over the whole kingdom, refused to concur 
 in the appointment of deputies to the States-general 
 alleging as an excuse that they were prohibited, by the 
 constitution of the province, from taking any part in an 
 assembly where the two first orders were not secured a 
 separate representation. They flattered themselves that 
 in this way they would preserve their privileges, which 
 were highly favourable to the noblesse, in a separate little 
 state, or pays d'etats, forgetting that the age of such 
 minute subdivisions of the same country was past, that 
 the current ran strong in favour of uniform institutions, * Beauiieu, 
 
 _ Essai sur la 
 
 and that if France was revolutionised, there was little R ^ v - > ; 77. 
 chance that Brittany would be able to live through the 356.' 
 storm. 1 
 
 Bloody discord soon succeeded this imprudent attempt 
 of the Breton nobility to stop the current which they had Tumults in 
 so recently made such strenuous efforts to put in motion. in e p n au S - an< 
 The populace of Rennes, indignant at the attempt to phm6 ' 
 arrest the movement by the very persons who had, a few 
 months before, stimulated them to resist the royal autho- 
 rity, armed themselves with sabres, pistols, and pikes, 
 and commenced an indiscriminate attack on the noblesse 
 when assembling to enter the hall of their provincial 
 assemblies. The nobles on their side took up arms, and 
 brought their retainers into the town. A fierce conflict 
 ensued in the streets ; great numbers were wounded 
 two of the noblesse, M. de Boishue and M. de St Rival, 
 perished ; and the exasperation on both sides soon became 
 so excessive that there is no saying to what it would 
 have led, if the Count de Thiars had not interposed, and j an . 26, 
 restored, for the time at least, a seeming tranquillity. 89 ' 
 Meantime, at the first intelligence of these alarms, crowds 
 of ardent patriots flocked to Rennes from Nantes, Angers, 
 and the neighbouring towns, eager to avenge the cause of
 
 408 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, the Tiers Etat ; the nobles summoned the peasantry from 
 their estates to defend them from violence, who appeared 
 
 1789 in multitudes eager for the affray ; and the governor, 
 who was enjoined by Necker not to use military force, 
 but trust to " the persuasion and ascendant of virtue," 
 only succeeded in preventing an immediate civil war by 
 adjourning the estates until the public effervescence had 
 subsided.""" Nor were matters less serious in Provence, 
 where the approach of the elections increased to an 
 extraordinary degree the general enthusiasm ; although 
 the efforts of the noblesse, who there had great influence 
 over the people, prevented the breaking out of open 
 hostilities. Notwithstanding all Mirabeau's influence, the 
 nobles protested against the King's edict doubling the 
 Tiers Etat ; and declared that they would not submit to 
 sending deputies to the States-general, but would proceed 
 in a body, according to the ancient privilege of their 
 order in the states of Dauphine. No prosecutions or 
 * Hist. Pwi. punishments followed these disorders, either among the 
 
 . OAO >i i " 
 
 Lab. ii. 359, noblesse or the Tiers Etat ; and Necker soon after 
 published a general amnesty for all political offences in 
 Brittany. This step increased the belief, already unhappily 
 * g enera l> that in political contests the government did 
 13-2, 136. not venture to punish even the most guilty ; and that 
 43,45.' ' none ran any risk of ultimate responsibility but those 
 who discharged their duty in repressing such disorders. 1 
 
 The elections in Paris, though they were of incom- 
 parably more importance, were attended with less dis- 
 
 * To such a length did the general fervour proceed, that the women of 
 Angers published an arrfite" on 6th February 1789, in which they set forth 
 " Nous, meres, soeurs, Spouses, et amantes, des jeunes citoyens de la ville 
 d* Angers, assemblies extraordinairement, lecture faite de arretes de tous 
 les messieurs de la jeunesse : de"clarons que si les troubles recommencent, et en 
 cas de depart, tous les ordres des citoyens se re'unissant pour la cause commune, 
 nous nous joindrons a la nation, dont les inte'rets sont les n6tres ; nous 
 reservant, la force n'e"tant pas notre partage, de prendre, pour nos fonctions et 
 notre genre d'utilite', les soins des bagages, provisions de bouche, pre'paratifs 
 de depart, et tous les soins, consolations, et services qui de"pendront de nous." 
 ArrtU de* Meres, Stxurt, Epouses, et Amantes, des jeunes citoyens d' Angers, 
 6th February 1789 ; Histoire Parlementaire, L 292.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 409 
 
 turbance, chiefly because the decided preponderance of CHAP. 
 the Tiers Etat rendered all attempts at a contest on the 
 
 part of the nobles hopeless. By an ordinance issued by 1789 - 
 Necker on the 29th March 1789, the city was divided Elec S 8 
 into sixty electoral districts, the inhabitants of which were at Pans - 
 to assemble in one day and choose their deputies, which 
 were fixed at forty, of whom twenty were from the Tiers 
 Etat, ten from the nobles, and ten from the clergy. Paris 
 had the privilege, nowhere else enjoyed by the people of 
 France, of choosing their deputies at once, without the 
 intervention of delegates. So little was the importance 
 of a qualification in the electors understood at that period, 
 that a regulation, practically amounting to household 
 suffrage, was set forth in the royal edict, and excited 
 hardly any attention.* The court was most anxious that 
 the old custom of the president of the Tiers Etat address- 
 ing the King on his knees should be observed; but if this 
 was done, it excited little interest whether or not the 
 deputies were elected by universal suffrage. Great military 
 preparations were made for preserving public tranquillity ; 
 but the elections passed off" without disturbance. Twenty- 
 five thousand electors, under this regulation, were admitted 
 to the right of voting a very great proportion in a city not April 21. 
 at that period containing above seven hundred thousand 
 souls. As might have been expected with such a suffrage, 
 the whole twenty deputies of the Tiers Etat were chosen 
 in the democratic interest ; the questions which were ere 
 long so fiercely contested in the National Assembly were l Hist. Pari. 
 all agitated, and excited a vehement interest, in the Baiiiy, u. 
 electoral chambers of Paris i 1 and already might be seen H. 376, Vs. 
 the germs of that towering ambition in the Tiers Etat, 
 
 * * Les habitana composant le Tiers Etat, ne"s Francais, ou naturalises, age's 
 de vingt-cinq ans, et domiciles, auront droit d'assister a 1'assemblee de'termine'e 
 par le quartier dans lequel ils resident actuellement, en remplissant les condi- 
 tions suivantes. Pour etre admis dans I'assemble'e de son quartier, il faudra 
 pouvoir justifier d'un titre d'office, de grades dans une faculte", d'une commis- 
 sion ou emploi de lettres de maltrise, ou enfin de la quittance ou avertissement 
 de capitation, montant au moins a la somme de six litres (five shillings) en 
 principal." Reglement du Roi, 13th April 1789 ; Histoire Parlementairc, i. 307.
 
 410 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, which ere long the limits of France and of Europe were 
 _ unable to contain. 
 
 1789. The most important part of the duty of the primary 
 cn'or ^ectors, ncx t t that f choosing their representatives, 
 instructions was the drawing up of the cahiers, or statements of griev- 
 puties. ances and suggestions of remedies. They contained in- 
 structions to the deputies how to vote on all the principal 
 questions which were expected to be brought forward, and 
 therefore present an authentic record of what was gene- 
 rally desired by the people of France on the opening of 
 the States-general. As might have been expected, the 
 instructions to the representatives varied, generally speak- 
 ing, according to the orders from which they emanated, 
 though on some points there was a surprising unanimity. 
 The instructions of the nobles, on the whole, were such as 
 were calculated to uphold the interests of their order ; 
 those of the clergy, to establish religion on a better basis, 
 and ameliorate the condition of the inferior orders of the 
 parish priests. An infinity of local abuses were pointed 
 out, and remedies suggested, many of which were of 
 course inconsistent with each other. But the majority of 
 the cahiers demanded, on the part of all the orders toge- 
 ther,* the removal of the chief abuses which had been 
 
 * The majority of the cahiers of the three orders concurred in demand- 
 ing : 
 
 1. Equality in punishments. 
 
 2. The suppression of the sale of public offices. 
 
 3. The redemption of feudal and seignorial rights. 
 
 4. The revision of the criminal code. 
 
 5. The establishment of tribunals to conciliate litigants. 
 
 6. The suppresion of seignorial criminal powers 
 
 the right of Franc-fief. 
 
 custom-house duties in the interior. 
 
 gabelles, aides, and corve"es. 
 
 7. The fixing the expense of all the departments of the public service. 
 
 8. The extinction of the public debt. 
 
 9. Toleration of all religious sects, but the recognition of the religion of the 
 
 greatest number as the dominant religion. 
 
 10. The amelioration of the condition of the cures. 
 
 11. The abolition of drawing for the militia, 
 
 See Redaction des Cahiers, par CLERIIONT TONNERE, 27th July 1789. Hist. 
 Parl. de France, ii. 170, 175.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 411 
 
 experienced in the practical administration of the country. CHAP. 
 The fundamental points, on which they were nearly all 
 
 unanimous, were that the person of the King was to 1789 > 
 be sacred and inviolable ; that the crown was to be 
 hereditary in the male line, and the King the depositary 
 of the executive power ; the agents of authority respon- 
 sible ; the royal sanction indispensable to the promul- 
 gating of laws ; that the States-general, with the sove- 
 reign, should make laws ; that the consent of the nation 
 should be necessary to taxes and loans ; that taxes 
 should not be legally imposed but from one sitting of the 
 States-general to another. Private property was to be 
 sacred as well as individual liberty, and lettres-de-cachet 
 were to be abolished. All the cahiers expressed their 
 attachment to the monarchical form of government ; 
 many, in touching terms, their affectionate regard for the 
 person of the sovereign. Their general spirit was 
 " Concert with the King good laws for the nation ; " 
 not a few contained an express injunction to do nothing 
 without his concurrence and sanction. When the National des 
 
 Assembly usurped the government, and centred in them- 
 
 selves the whole powers, executive as well as legislative, yf^ffi 
 
 of the State, that ambitious body violated not less ex- ?'!* p }- 
 
 . . . . " 99, 101. 
 
 pressly the instructions of its constituents, than it com- r>roz, H. 
 mitted treason alike against the royal authority and the n. 341, 343. 
 cause of freedom. 1 
 
 But though moderation and wisdom generally cha- 
 
 140 
 
 racterised the instructions of the cahiers, the case was Vehement 
 very different in the clubs and coffeehouses of the capital, 
 Already was to be seen, in the vehemence with which 
 their inmates were agitated, and the enthusiasm with 
 which the most violent and revolutionary doctrines were 
 received, the most unequivocal proof of the near approach 
 of a national convulsion. Such was the unparalleled 
 multitude of pamphlets which issued from the press, * that 
 
 * "Quelqu'un en acheta 2500 dans les trois derniers mois de 1788, et sa 
 collection etait loin d'etre complfcte." DROZ, ii 136.
 
 412 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, in the three last months of 1788 alone, they exceeded 
 two thousand five hundred. The general excitement in- 
 
 1789. creased when the result of the elections was known ; for 
 it was then ascertained that at least four-fifths of the 
 deputies of the Tiers Etat were decided in their move- 
 ment principles ; that two-thirds of the clergy were of 
 the same way of thinking ; and that even among the nobles 
 a strong minority, with the Duke of Orleans and several 
 of the oldest peers at its head, would support the union 
 of the orders and the voting by head. Political regenera- 
 tion was now, therefore, more than a visionary speculation. 
 It had acquired a majority in the great ruling assembly ; 
 and it was obvious to all, that if the union of the orders 
 and the voting by head could be established, the govern- 
 ment would be overthrown, and society might be re- 
 modelled in all its parts, at the pleasure of the revolu- 
 tionary leaders. To the attainment of these objects, 
 accordingly, the whole efforts of the popular party were 
 directed. Projects of radical change and an entire re- 
 modelling of society became universal ; the sixty electoral 
 halls of Paris became so many centres of political fervour, 
 where, in anticipation of the States-general, all the great 
 questions about to be canvassed in that assembly were 
 nightly debated with inconceivable warmth, and that 
 general agitation was observable in the public mind 
 which is the invariable precursor of political catastrophes. 
 Vy. Yet, so little were the leaders of the movement aware of 
 the tendency of this universal excitement, that, so far 
 fr m anticipating the general overthrow of society from 
 Vie de t the convocation of the States-general, their only fear was 
 Ma^oniei,' that they would do nothing. " The States-general," said 
 296' the Duke of Orleans, "will not effect the reform of a 
 single abuse, not even of lettres-de-cachet." l 
 
 An event, however, soon occurred in the capital, calcu- 
 lated, if anything could, to open the eyes of Necker to 
 the perilous and ungovernable nature of the spirit he had 
 evoked. In the Faubourg Saint Antoine, a celebrated
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 413 
 
 manufacturer of furniture papers, named Reveillon, had CHAP. 
 long been at the head of a wealthy and prosperous esta- 
 
 blishment, which gave employment to three hundred per- 1789< 
 sons. Indulgent and humane in the extreme to all in 
 his employment, he was adored by his workmen, and 
 respected by every person of worth within the sphere of 
 his acquaintance. But these very qualities rendered him 
 obnoxious to the Revolutionists, who were envious of 
 worth which they could not imitate, and jealous of in- 
 fluence emanating from others than themselves. They 
 gave out that he was an aristocrat, who was practising 
 these arts in order to render the noblesse popular in the 
 district where democratic influence had its principal 
 stronghold, and that he had said his workmen could subsist 
 on fifteen sous a-day a smaller sum than was adequate 
 for the support of their children. So far were these 
 calumnies from being true, that, having risen by his good 
 conduct from being a common workman, he had, in con- 
 sequence of his known benevolence of disposition, and 
 interest in the welfare of the poor, been shortly before 
 named one of the commissioners for drawing up the 
 cahiers for the Tiers Etat of Paris. In the present 
 excited state of the public mind, however, the leaders of 
 the populace could make them believe anything. On 
 the evening of the 27th April, while Reveillon was at the April 27. 
 elections, a crowd, which soon swelled to six thousand 
 persons, issued from the Faubourg St Marceau, burnt him l Droz .. 
 in effigy before his door, and declared they would return i. 6 - ^-, 
 
 11. GOO, oo4 
 
 on the following night, and consume himself in good ear- Prudhom. 
 nest, with all his establishment. They were as good as RsTiii. 77. 
 their word. 1 
 
 Early on the following morning a hideous crowd, armed 
 with clubs, sabres, and old muskets, arrived in the Rue 
 Montreuil, where Reveillon's manufactory was situated, 
 and with loud shouts and direful imprecations commenced 
 the work of destruction. A body of thirty police, who 
 at his request had been stationed in the vicinity to pre-
 
 414 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, serve order, were unable to resist a mob which soon 
 swelled to six thousand persons ; a few courageous work- 
 
 1789. m en, whom he had armed in his defence, were over- 
 Destruction powered ; and a furious mob, shouting " Vive le Due 
 u- ^'Orleans !" " Vive le successeur du Bon Henri !" burst 
 nd P en tne doors, an ^ instantly filled every apartment in 
 tumult to the building. Reveillon himself narrowly escaped de- 
 
 which it . j. i i i 
 
 gave rise, struction from these bloodthirsty assassins ; but his house 
 and manufactory were utterly sacked, and soon after 
 reduced to ashes. His cellars were broken open, and the 
 wine drunk amidst loud cheers ; the furniture and rich 
 stock of papers all committed to the flames, and every- 
 thing portable carried off or destroyed. Towards even- 
 ing the troops arrived, consisting of three regiments, with 
 two pieces of artillery, under the command of the Baron 
 Besenval. He thrice ordered the mob to disperse and 
 evacuate the premises ; but, thinking the military would 
 not fire, they treated the summons with derision. The 
 guards then received orders to expel them by force ; 
 they made their way with fixed bayonets into the court- 
 yard, and were received by a shower of stones and burn- 
 ing rafters from the ravaged edifice, which killed and 
 wounded several soldiers. Regular volleys were then 
 fired by the troops, and they at length drove the mob, 
 i Duvai, who fought with desperation, out of the burned premises. 
 f a Te'rrtur, ^ frightful scene presented itself; drunken brigands, 
 iwhom na ^ burned, were lying on all sides, many of them ex- 
 Beln'vli 7 ' pi r * n g i fl the most dreadful tortures from the sulphuric 
 i. 345, 347. and other acids used in the manufactory, which they had 
 
 Bertrand de ,, . J . . J 
 
 Mpiieviiie, swallowed in their frenzy, taking them for spirits. At 
 RV.' i. e i3G, length the disgraceful assemblage was dispersed, but not 
 before two hundred of the insurgents had been killed and 
 three hundred wounded in the contest. 1 
 
 Baron Besenval was warmly applauded by all persons 
 of worth and sense in Paris for this seasonable act of vigour, 
 which, if duly followed up and imitated in subsequent 
 times, would probably have arrested the whole horrors of
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 415 
 
 the Revolution. But it was otherwise at the court ; he CHAP. 
 was coldly received there ; and no one even mentioned to 
 
 him a circumstance, so evidently calculated, according to 1789 - 
 the manner in which it was received and acted upon, to Wh J 4 ^ s 
 determine the course of future events. No prosecutions ^ e t ^ tho 
 took place ; none of the guilty persons were arrested ; no tumult. 
 investigations even were instituted regarding it.'* Necker's 
 system of conciliation and concession, and the King's horror 
 at the shedding of blood, made them on this occasion forget 
 the first duty of government, that of protecting life and 
 property. Meanwhile, the Orleans and movement party 
 at Paris, as usual in such cases, unable to palliate the 
 excesses of the insurgents, endeavoured to lay the blame 
 of them on others. It was the court who had secretly 
 provoked the tumult, in order to give them an excuse for 
 introducing troops into the capital ; it was English gold 
 which had bought the riot, to stain the Revolution in its 
 outset with blood, and for ever debar France from those 
 blessings which Great Britain had long enjoyed. The 
 character of the King and of Necker sufficiently demon- 
 strate the absurdity of the first hypothesis ; for the last, 
 the French historians now confess there never has been 
 discovered a vestige of evidence.! Machiavelli's maxim, 
 " If you would discover the author of a crime, consider 
 who had an interest to commit it," enables us to solve the 
 mystery. The States-general were on the eve of meeting : 
 by vigorous measures the union of the orders might be 
 effected : the whole members were already arrived in 
 Paris : everything would depend on intimidating the 
 court, and giving a striking example of popular power at 
 
 * Two of the rioters were hung by the provost-marshal in the act of plunder- 
 ing, several prisoners were made, and the parliament commenced an investiga- 
 tion. In a few days, however, they were all liberated, and the inquiry was 
 stopped, some said in consequence of orders from the King, others from dis- 
 covery of the exalted personages whom the inquiry would implicate. Dnoz, 
 ii. 171. 
 
 f " De nombreuses recherches ont e'te' faites pour de*couvrir si le gouverne- 
 ment Anglais avait pris une part active a nos premiers troubles, et n'ont donne" 
 centre lui aucune apparence de preuve. (Test plus tard qu'il s'est me'le' de nos 
 affaires." DBOZ, Hisloire de Louis X VI., ii. 270.
 
 416 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, that decisive crisis. The cries of the insurgents when 
 they broke into Reveillon's premises, pointing to the Duke 
 
 1789. O f Orleans as the successor of Henry IV. ; the five-franc 
 pieces found in the pockets of the dead rioters ; the large 
 17^*171"' sums 8 P en ^ by the mob in the neighbouring cabarets ; the 
 Lab. ii. concert and vigour of their operations ; the number of 
 " them who did not belong to Paris, and had come for that 
 
 i. 25, 27. va ' special purpose evidently point to the source from whence 
 this first great outrage of the Revolution proceeded. 1 
 Neither, however, the fervour which had become uni- 
 
 144. 
 
 Neckers versal in the middle classes of society, nor the savage 
 unllnof the passions which had displayed themselves among the lower, 
 could shake Necker in his determination to accede to the 
 wishes of the Tiers Etat, and permit, at least to a certain 
 extent, the union of the three orders in one chamber. A 
 devout believer in human perfectibility, unbounded in his 
 confidence in the wisdom and virtue of the middle class of 
 society, he could not be brought to believe that any risk 
 was to be apprehended from the intermingling of their 
 representatives with those of the nobles and clergy.* On 
 the contrary, he saw the greatest possible danger, and a 
 prolongation of the whole difficulties of government, in 
 their exclusion. It was this opinion, the result of inex- 
 perience, and of the general reluctance of well-meaning 
 but speculative men to believe in the wickedness of those 
 with whom they have not been brought in contact, which 
 even his warmest and ablest supporters admit was his fatal 
 error at this decisive moment, f He had not moral courage 
 
 * " Enfin et pourquoi le dissimulerais-je ? Je m'associais de tous mes voeux 
 aux espeVances de la nation, et je ne les croyais point vaines. Helas ! peut-on 
 songer aujourd'hui a 1'attente universelle de tous les bona Franais, de tous les 
 amis de l'h mnanite le peut-on sans verser des larmes ? Les uns se disaient, 
 Enfin le tre'sor de I'e'tat ne sera plus a la merci d'un ministre des finances ; il ne 
 sera plus dans la de'pendance de ses vices ou de ses combinaisons personnelles ; 
 une assembled compose'e d'hommes elus par la nation fixera les depenses pub- 
 liques en les proportionnant d'une main ferine a I'e'tendue des revenus ; aucun 
 (cart ne sera possible, et le monarque lui-meme sera mis a couvert de ses erreurs, 
 et de ses regrets. Que de richesses d'opinion seront alors cre'ees ! " NECKER, 
 Sur la Reiulutlon, L 52. 
 
 t " Apres ses devoirs religieux, 1'opinion publique etait ce que 1'occupait le 
 plus : il sacrifiait la fortune, les honneurs, tout ce que les ambitieux rdcuerchent,
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 417 
 
 enough to fix by a royal edict in what way the votes were CHAP. 
 to be taken in the States-general ; and yet he had resolved 
 
 in his own mind that the separation of the orders could 1789 - 
 not be maintained, and that the sooner and the more 
 quietly the fusion took place the better. His great object 
 was to get the privileged classes themselves to concede at 
 once, and with a good grace, what could not ultimately 
 be avoided ; and in this way alone, he maintained, the 
 dangers of the crisis could be averted. Thus, well knowing 
 to what the general opinion was pointing, he left the 
 matter, so far as authority went, unsettled the most R^ fl e e c ^ons 
 perilous course which could at such a moment by possi- ? u ^ ^|X- 
 bility have been adopted ; for it stimulated revolt at the POU^IS 
 very time when it was most dangerous, and prepared from Smyth's Fr. 
 
 ^i, f 4. i u r r ri * Rev. i. 151, 
 
 success the fatal belief, alike m its supporters and oppo- 152. 
 nents, that popular power was irresistible. 1 
 
 It may appear strange how a monarch, possessing the 
 good sense and penetration which distinguished Louis XVI., Reasons' 
 and who had had such ample experience, in the preced- Louis xvi. 
 ing part of his reign, of the futility of all hopes of social S^SUs 
 regeneration founded on the expectation of disinterested of Necker - 
 virtue in mankind, should have been led away by these 
 illusions the more especially as he was so far from being 
 blinded by the foolish Anglomania then generally pre- 
 valent, that he entertained a thorough, perhaps even an 
 exaggerated, distrust of everything adopted from an Eng- 
 lish model. But the secret reason which inclined him 
 to go into Necker's views of the fusion of the orders was 
 this and when once stated its force becomes very apparent. 
 His whole life had been one continued contest with his 
 subjects ; but it was with the higher classes alone that he 
 had been brought into collision, and their selfish, obstinate 
 
 & I'estime de la nation ; et cette voix du peuple, alors non encore alteYee, avait 
 pour lui quelque chose de divin. Le moindre nuage sur sa reputation etait la 
 plus grande souffrance que les choses de la vie puasent lui causer. Le but mon- 
 dain de sea actions, le vent de terre qui le faisait naviguer, c'etait 1'annour de 
 la consideration. Pendant 1788, M. Necker e*tudia constamment 1'esprit public 
 comme la boussole a laquelle les decisions du roi devaient se conformer." 
 DE STAEL, Rtv. Franc., i. 94, 172. 
 
 VOL. I. 2 D
 
 418 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, resistance to any social amelioration, or just measures of 
 ' any kind, had profoundly afflicted his benevolent heart. 
 
 1789. The necessities of the exchequer absolutely required a con- 
 sent on the part of the nation to increased burdens ; but he 
 had found, by experience, that all attempts to get the pri- 
 vileged classes either to submit to taxation themselves, or 
 to register new taxes, so as to render them a legal burden 
 on others, were ineffectual. Finally, he had been per- 
 sonally hurt at the determined resistance of the Notables 
 to his just proposal for an equalisation of the public bur- 
 dens, and not less so at the impassioned resistance of all 
 
 i Xecker i. 
 
 8c, 97, 135. the parliaments of France, and the nobles of Brittany and 
 
 Dauphine, to his cour pleniere and relative ameliorations. 1 
 
 He had thus, not unnaturally, come to entertain a belief 
 
 146 
 
 Their per- that still, as in feudal times, the real antagonist power 
 which the Crown had to contend with was that of the 
 noblesse, who seemed now determined only on maintaining 
 their own unjust privileges, to the entire stoppage of all 
 measures likely to conduce to the public good ; and that 
 it was only by a union with the Tiers Etat that the King 
 could either obtain the supplies requisite for carrying on 
 the government, or be enabled to establish the ameliora- 
 tions become essential in the public administration. To 
 accomplish these objects, a union of the orders and voting 
 by head appeared to be indispensable ; for every project for 
 the public good would be thrown out by the selfish resis- 
 tance of the privileged classes in their separate houses. 
 Referring to the past, these views appeared to be entirely 
 supported by French history for it was by elevating the 
 boroughs, and relying on the support of the commons, 
 that Louis XL, and after him Cardinal Richelieu, had 
 reared up a counterpoise to the power of the feudal 
 nobility. And yet this opinion overturned the monarchy, 
 in consequence of the fatal mistake which it involved 
 that of supposing that the principal thing to be done 
 was the discovering means to overcome the resistance of 
 the nobles, whereas the real point was to erect a barrier,
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 419 
 
 by the combination of all the power and property in CHAP. 
 
 the kingdom, against the encroachments of the people. 1_ 
 
 Another instance, among the numerous ones which history 1 79. 
 affords, of the important truth, that while experience is 
 the only secure guidance for the statesman, it is experience 
 in parallel circumstances that is alone to be relied on ; *> cker ' 
 and that, in the perpetual change of human affairs, the 176* pe 
 highest effort of political wisdom is to discern correctly 24it 247. 
 when that similarity of circumstances has taken place. 1 
 
 The French Revolution, the greatest and most impas- 
 sioned effort ever made by man for the attainment ofwhodVd 
 public freedom, has failed in its object ; and failed not opened 
 only at the time, but for ever. This is now generally Ration ?~ 
 admitted, alike by its supporters and opponents ; nor 
 can it be denied by any with the slightest show of reason, 
 when it is recollected that, half a century after the Revo- 
 lution broke out, and after its progress has been marked 
 by unutterable calamities, the electors of France were 
 under two hundred thousand : that they were confined to 
 the class of proprietors, and the entire remainder of the 
 nation was wholly unrepresented : that no habeas corpus 
 act, or restraint upon prolonged imprisonment, has yet 
 been established : that the odious fetters of the police 
 system were unremoved : that the taxes were twice as 
 heavy, the standing army twice as large, the land-tax twice 
 as burdensome, as they were before the Revolution : that 
 Paris was permanently garrisoned by forty thousand regular 
 soldiers, and restrained by a girdle of forts placed around 
 its suburbs ; and that the whole remainder of France was 
 obliged to submit without a murmur to any government 
 which the dominant capital chose to impose. Rejecting, 
 as contrary alike to reason and religion, and as decisively 
 disproved by the examples of Rome in ancient, and Great 
 Britain in modern times, the gloomy doctrine that such 
 consequences are the unavoidable result of the struggles of 
 a great nation for freedom, the question recurs the all- 
 important question What has occasioned this failure 1
 
 420 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. And it will be evident to every candid observer that the 
 cause of it is to be found, not in any stern necessity, but 
 
 1789 - in that common fountain of social and individual evil 
 the selfishness and guilt of the persons intrusted with its 
 direction. And the important question here occurs 
 Who did wrong in this stage of the Revolution f 
 
 I. The whole nation, and, in an especial manner, the 
 The forcing popular and democratic leaders, were in fault in forcing 
 hito the mg the King, alike against his own judgment and that of his 
 w^. nca Queen and council, to engage in the American War. That 
 
 aggression, alike unjust towards an allied and friendly 
 power, and inexpedient as tending to render inextricable 
 the already alarming embarrassments of the exchequer, 
 contributed powerfully to bring on the Revolution. It 
 at once doubled the strength of the democratic party, by 
 combining national rivalry of England with a contest of an 
 insurgent people against their government, and halved the 
 power of resistance in the Crown, by the vast addition 
 which it made to the national debt, at a time when the 
 selfish resistance of the parliaments to the registering of 
 new taxes rendered it impossible to make any lasting pro- 
 vision for the payment even of its interest. National 
 bankruptcy or a revolution were rendered unavoidable by 
 forcing the King into such a contest, at a time when the 
 state of the finances and the temper of the public mind 
 made it impossible to provide for its expenses. 
 
 II. The nobles and clergy did wrong in refusing to 
 Fault of the equalise the public imposts, and relinquish their exclusive 
 
 privileges in the matter of taxation. This was not merely 
 a flagrant piece of injustice towards their fellow-citizens, 
 then burdened exclusively with the heaviest part of the 
 direct taxes, but a manifest dereliction of duty it may al- 
 most be said an act of treachery towards their sovereign, 
 in the predicament into which they had brought him. 
 They had cordially concurred with the Tiers Etat in for- 
 cing him into the American War, which had so immensely 
 increased the embarrassments of the treasury ; they had
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 421 
 
 for long drawn the chief benefit from those numerous civil CHAP. 
 and military offices which constituted so large a part of the _ ! 
 public expenditure ; and they had strenuously and success- 1789 - 
 fully resisted the numerous efforts made by the King and 
 his ministers to reduce this unnecessary part of the national 
 charges. It was in an especial manner incumbent on them, 
 therefore, to contribute their fair proportion to the national 
 income, and relieve the King from the perplexity into 
 which, by their efforts and for their benefit, he had been 
 brought. Instead of this, they refused to depart from one 
 iota of their exclusive privileges, and, without doing or 
 suggesting anything whatever to save their sovereign or 
 their country, contented themselves with opposing an inert 
 passive resistance to every project calculated either to 
 increase the public income, or remove the grievances that 
 were complained of. Whoever has had practical acquain- 
 tance with the almost invincible repugnance of mankind 
 generally, and of none more than the highest landed pro- 
 prietors of every country, to direct taxation, even for the 
 most useful and necessary purposes, if not absolutely called 
 for by dangers which strike the senses, will have no diffi- 
 culty in appreciating both the magnitude of the embarrass- 
 ment which this resistance imposed on the sovereign, and 
 the guilt of those who, for their own selfish purposes, 
 occasioned it. 
 
 III. The parliament of Paris, and the other parliaments 
 of France, did wrong in refusing, in the manner they did, The par'iia- 
 to register the loans and taxes which the King sent to wrong in 
 them for their sanction. That this power with which relief tho 
 they were constitutionally invested, of refusing their con- ta 
 sent to new taxes, was a most important one, and con- 
 stituted the only barrier remaining against despotic power, 
 is indeed certain. If, therefore, they had made use of it to 
 compel the sovereign to abrogate pernicious privileges, or 
 consent to salutary improvements, they would have been real 
 patriots, and have deserved the eternal gratitude of man- 
 kind. But though, under the corruptions of the preceding 
 
 axes<
 
 422 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, reign, they had often done this, under the beneficent rule 
 of the patriotic Louis the case was very different. They 
 
 1789< then showed no disposition to concur in the reforms of the 
 sovereign ; suggested little or nothing for social ameliora- 
 tion ; sturdily resisted all such when introduced by the 
 government ; threw out all attempts to subject themselves 
 to the common burdens of the State ; but contented them- 
 selves with a determined resistance to the imposition of 
 any new taxes, even though rendered necessary by the 
 American War, for which they had so loudly clamoured, 
 and though plainly indispensable to save the nation from 
 national bankruptcy. The pretext for this conduct viz., 
 that they were entitled to have the public accounts sub- 
 mitted to them before they consented to new taxes was a 
 manifest usurpation. What right had they, who were not 
 the representatives of any portion of the people, but simple 
 magistrates, invested with judicial functions in virtue of 
 offices which they had bought for money, to erect them- 
 selves into a states-general or privy council, entitled to 
 examine and control the whole administration of govern- 
 ment ? Even if they had possessed such a power, was it 
 expedient to assert it, to the effect of involving the King 
 in inextricable pecuniary embarrassments, and convulsing 
 the nation by the convocation of the States-general, at 
 the very time when the unparalleled excitement in the 
 public mind rendered it evident that such a step was 
 fraught with the utmost danger both to the stability of 
 the monarchy and to the cause of freedom ? 
 
 IV. Necker as clearly erred in the regulations which he 
 laid down in the royal edict of 27th December, for the 
 n- convocation of the States-general. The effect of these 
 concessions has thus been described by the man in exis- 
 
 cessions. 
 
 tence who gained most by the Revolution, Napoleon 
 his con- Buonaparte : " The concessions of Necker were the work 
 of a man ignorant of the first principles of the govern- 
 ment of mankind. It was he who overturned the mon- 
 archy, and brought Louis XVI. to the scaffold. Marat,
 
 HISTOEY OF EUROPE. 423 
 
 Danton, Robespierre himself, did less mischief to France : CHAP. 
 he brought on the Revolution, which they consummated. 
 
 Such reformers as M. Necker do incredible mischief. The 1789 - 
 thoughtful read their works ; the populace are carried 
 away by them the public happiness is in every mouth 
 and soon after, the people find themselves without bread : 
 they revolt, and society is overturned. Necker was the 
 author of all the evils which desolated France during the 
 Revolution all the blood that was shed rests on his l 
 head." l Making every allowance for the despotic feelings 109. 
 which so strongly characterised the French Emperor, it is 
 impossible to deny that there is much truth in these 
 observations. Admitting that a struggle was inevitable, 
 the question remains, Was it expedient to make so extra- 
 ordinary an addition to the powers of the people at such 
 a crisis to double the number of the popular representa- 
 tives on the eve of a conflict ? The result proved that it 
 was not. It was intended to conciliate it had the effect 
 of alienating : it was meant to attach the people to the 
 throne it made them combine for its overthrow : it was 
 designed to produce oblivion of past injury it induced 
 ambition of future elevation. 
 
 Timely concession, it is frequently said, is the only way 
 to prevent a revolution. The observation is just in one Limits of 
 sense, but erroneous in another ; and it is by attending to and omcea- 
 the distinction between the two great objects of popular S1< 
 ambition, that the means can alone be attained of allaying 
 public discontent, without unhinging the frame of society. 
 There is, in the first place, the love of freedom that is, 
 of immunity from personal restriction, oppression, or in- 
 jury. This principle is perfectly innocent, and never 
 exists without producing the happiest effects. Every 
 concession which is calculated to increase this species 
 of liberty is comparatively safe in all ages, and in all 
 places. But there is another principle, strong at all times, 
 but especially to be dreaded in moments of excitement. 
 This is the principle of democratic ambition the desire
 
 424 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, on the part of the people of exercising the powers of 
 sovereignty, of usurping the government of the state. 
 
 1789. This i s the dangerous principle the desire, not of exer- 
 cising industry without molestation, but of exerting power 
 without control. The first principle will only produce 
 disturbances when real evils are felt ; and with the removal 
 of actual grievance, tranquillity may be anticipated. The 
 second frequently produces convulsions, independent of 
 any real cause of complaint ; or, if it has been excited by 
 such, it continues after they have been removed. The first 
 never spreads by mere contagion ; the second is frequently 
 most virulent when the disease has been contracted in this 
 manner. 
 
 It was not the mere duplication of the Tiers Etat 
 
 153 
 
 what con- which was attended with these disastrous effects. That 
 S-eat error 6 measure, if proper care had been taken to confine the 
 r ig nt f voting for the delegates to persons possessed of 
 an adequate property qualification, and the right of sitting 
 in the States-general to men of respectability, and if the 
 separation of the orders had been preserved, would have 
 been attended with little peril. It was the combination 
 of no property qualification in electors, delegates, or 
 representatives, with that duplication, and the leaving the 
 question of voting by orders or head at the same time 
 unsettled, which was the fatal error. At the very moment 
 when three millions of electors a number above triple 
 that of those who now hold the franchise among a larger 
 number of inhabitants in the British empire * were 
 suddenly, and for the first time, admitted to a right of 
 choosing representatives, for the avowed purpose of recon- 
 structing and regenerating the monarchy, the number of 
 these representatives in the States-general was doubled, 
 and no restraint whatever was imposed by government 
 
 * At this time, under the combination of the Reform and original constitu- 
 tion of Great Britain and Ireland, there are 930,000 electors among a population 
 of 27,000,000, or 1 in 30 nearly. In France, on occasion of the election of the 
 States-general, 3,000,000 electors voted out of 25,000,000 persons, or somewhat 
 above 1 in 8.
 
 HISTOEY OF EUROPE. 425 
 
 on the prevailing and all-absorbing passion for a union of CHAP. 
 the orders. What was to be expected from such a step 
 
 but the total overthrow of society ? How long would 1789 - 
 Great Britain, with its sober temperament, practical habits, 
 and centuries of freedom, withstand a similar strain \ Not 
 three months. What then was to be expected from the 
 ardent passions, excited feelings, and unbounded enthu- 
 siasm of the people of France, roused to the highest pitch 
 by the visions of political regeneration, and then admitted 
 for the first time to the exercise of the highest and most 
 perilous political power 1 
 
 In moments of political agitation, it should be the 
 object of the statesman to remove all real causes of com- Effect of 
 plaint, but firmly to resist all rapid encroachments of concessions. 
 popular ambition. All restrictions upon personal liberty, 
 industry, or property, all oppressive taxes, all odious 
 personal distinctions should be abandoned ; all prose- 
 cutions calculated to inflame the passions, and convert a 
 demagogue into a martyr, should be avoided. If punish- 
 ment is required, the mildest which the case will admit 
 should be chosen ; in selecting the species of prosecution, 
 the least vindictive should be preferred. The inflicting of 
 death should, above all things, be shunned, unless for 
 crimes which public feeling has stigmatised as worthy of 
 that penalty. But having conceded thus much to the 
 principles of justice and the growth of freedom, all at- 
 tempts at a sudden increase of the power of the people 
 should be steadily opposed, and nothing conceded which 
 tends to awaken democratic passion. In so far as Necker 
 laboured to relieve the real evils of France in so far as 
 he sought to re-establish the finances, curb the powers of 
 the nobles, emancipate the industry of the peasants, purify 
 the administration of justice, his labours were wise and 
 beneficial ; and he did all that man can do to terminate 
 the oppression, and avert the disasters, of his country. In 
 so far as he yielded to public clamour, or the fatal thirst 
 for popular applause, and conceded unnecessarily to the
 
 426 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, ambition of the people in so far as he departed with 
 
 ! undue rapidity from ancient institutions, to acquire tem- 
 
 1789. porary popularity, he deserves the censure of posterity, 
 and is answerable for all the disasters which ensued. 
 
 The talent of using political power so as not to abuse 
 siowgrowth it is one of the last acquisitions of mankind, and can be 
 to wieui' ' y gained only by many ages of protected industry and expe- 
 powe'r? 1 rienced freedom. It can seldom with safety be extended 
 to any considerable body of the people, and this least of 
 all in a nation just emerging from the fetters of servitude. 
 Unless the growth of political influence in the lower orders 
 has been as gradual as the changes of time, or the insen- 
 sible extension of day in spring, it will infallibly destroy 
 the personal freedom which constitutes its principal object. 
 A certain intermixture of the democratic spirit is often 
 indispensable to the extrication of individual liberty, just 
 as a certain degree of warmth is requisite to vivify and 
 cherish animal life ; but, unless the fire is restrained within 
 narrow limits, it will consume those who are exposed to its 
 fierceness, not less in political than in physical life. 
 
 The love of real freedom may always be distinguished 
 Distinction from the passion for popular power. The first is directed 
 io e vrof n free- to objects of practical importance, and the redress of 
 experienced wrongs ; the second aims at visionary im- 
 provement and the increase of democratic influence. 
 The one complains of what has been felt, the other anti- 
 cipates what may be gained. Disturbances arising from 
 the first subside, when the evils from which they spring 
 are removed ; troubles originating in the second magnify 
 with every victory which is achieved. The experience of 
 evil is the cause of agitation from the first ; the love of 
 power the source of convulsions from the last. Reform 
 and concessions are the remedies appropriate to the for- 
 mer ; steadiness and resistance the means of extinguish- 
 ing the flame arising from the latter. The passion of love 
 is not more dependent on the smiles of beauty, than demo- 
 cratic passion on the hope of successive augmentations of
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 427 
 
 power. It is the intention of nature that the power of CHAP. 
 the people should increase as society advances ; but it is 
 
 not her intention that this increase should take place in l789 - 
 such a way as to convulse the state, and ultimately extin- 
 guish their own freedom. All improvements that are 
 really beneficial, all changes which are destined to be 
 lasting, are gradual in their progress. It is by suddenly 
 increasing the power of the lower orders that the frame 
 of society is endangered, because the immediate effect of 
 such a change is to unsettle men's minds, and bring into 
 full play the most visionary and extravagant ideas of the 
 most desperate and ambitious men. Such an effect was 
 produced in France by the duplication of the Tiers Etat 
 and the union of the orders in 1788 ; and similar conse- 
 quences will, in all ages, be found to attend the concession 
 of great political powers, at a period of more than ordinary 
 political excitation. 
 
 " No revolution," says Madame de Stael, " can succeed 
 in a great country, unless it is commenced by the aristo- Revolution 
 
 headed bv 
 
 cratic class ; the people afterwards get possession of it, the higher 
 but they cannot strike the first blow. When I recollect 
 that it was the parliaments, the nobles, and the clergy, 
 who first strove to limit the royal authority, I am far from 
 intending to insinuate that their design in so doing was 
 culpable. A sincere enthusiasm then animated all ranks 
 of Frenchmen ; public spirit had spread universally ; and 
 among the higher classes, the most enlightened and gene- 
 rous were those who ardently desired that public opinion 
 should have its due sway in the direction of affairs. But 
 can the privileged ranks, who commenced the Revolution, 
 accuse those who only carried it on ? Some will say, we 
 wished only that the changes should proceed a certain 
 length ; others, that they should go a step farther ; but 
 who can regulate the impulse of a great people, when i,R^-. 
 
 , . , Fran9- i. 
 
 once put in motion V'- A heavy responsibility attaches 125. 
 to those of the higher ranks, who, during periods of agita- 
 tion, support the demands of the populace for a sudden
 
 428 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, increase of power, instead of directing their desires to 
 what may really benefit them, the redress of experienced 
 
 1789. evils. On their heads rest all the disasters and bloodshed 
 which necessarily follow in their train. It is difficult to 
 say which are most worthy of reprobation the haughty 
 aristocrats, who resist every attempt at practical improve- 
 ment when it can be done with safety, or the factious 
 demagogues, who urge on additions to popular power 
 when it threatens society with convulsions. The true 
 patriot is the reverse of both : he will, in every situation, 
 attach himself to the party which resists the evils that 
 threaten his country ; in periods when liberty is endan- 
 gered he will side with the popular, in moments of 
 agitation will support the monarchical party.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 429 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 FROM THE MEETING OF THE STATES-GENERAL TO THE 
 TAKING OF THE BASTILE. MAY 5 JULY 15, 1789. 
 
 IT is a common, but a very fatal mistake, to suppose CHAP. 
 
 that ignorance is the greatest evil which can afflict a ! 
 
 nation. The want of knowledge is not so much to be 1789 - 
 feared as its perversion ; for the one leaves men powerless Elevated 
 animals, the other makes them powerful demons. " The ^nc^at 
 higher branches of science," says Plato, " are not useful e j ie d * ie . f 
 
 J the Revolu- 
 
 to all, but only to a few ; general ignorance is neither the tion - 
 greatest evil, nor the most to be feared ; a mass of ill- 
 digested information is much more dangerous." l "A little l Plato de 
 knowledge," says Bacon, " makes men irreligious ; but iibfvii. 
 profound thought brings them back to devotion." In the 
 truths unfolded by these great men are to be found the 
 remote sources of the miseries of the French Revolution. 
 Science had never attained a more commanding height 
 than in France at the close of the eighteenth century : 
 astronomy, by the aid of mathematical calculations, had, 
 first of all the exact sciences, been brought almost to per- 
 fection ; the profound researches of her geometricians had 
 rivalled all but Newton's glory ; while the talents of her 
 chemists, and the genius of her naturalists, had explored 
 the hidden processes of Nature, and ere long made the 
 remains of animated life unfold the pristine order of 
 creation. What, then, was wanting to fit her people for 
 rational liberty, and qualify them for the exercise of the
 
 430 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, rights of freemen "? A sense of religion, the habits of 
 sober thought, and moderation of general opinion : and 
 
 1789 - the want of these rendered all the other advantages of no 
 avail. 
 
 History affords no example of an era in which innova- 
 Rashness tion was so hastily hurried on, and ambition so blindly 
 Btituc C n t n worshipped ; when the experience of ages was so haugh- 
 amTperif' tily rejected, and the fancies of the moment so rashly 
 inno^aLn. adopted ; in which the rights of property were so scanda- 
 lously violated, and the blood of the innocent so profusely 
 shed. If we trace these frightful disorders to their source, 
 we shall find them all springing from the pride of a little 
 knowledge : from historical analogies imperfectly under- 
 stood, examples of antiquity rashly misapplied, dreams 
 of perfection crudely conceived, speculations of the mo- 
 ment instantly acted upon. The danger of proceeding 
 on such false conclusions had been repeatedly exposed ; 
 the annals of Tacitus, the discourses of Machiavel, the 
 essays of Bacon, had long before illustrated it ; but these 
 and all the other lessons of experience were passed over 
 with disdain, and every village politician who had dreamed 
 of politics for a few months, deemed himself superior to 
 the greatest men whom the world had ever produced. 
 The great risk of setting the ideas of men afloat upon 
 political subjects consists in the multitude who can think, 
 compared to the few who can think correctly ; in the 
 rapidity with which the most stable institutions can be 
 overturned, compared with the slow rate at which they 
 can be restored. Every man can speak of politics ; there 
 is not one in ten who can understand them : every man 
 flatters himself he knows something of history ; to be 
 qualified to reason justly upon it, requires the incessant 
 study of half a lifetime. But, unfortunately, the know- 
 ledge of the difficulty of the subject, and of the exten- 
 sive information which it requires, is one of the last 
 acquisitions of the human mind ; none are so rash as 
 those who are worst qualified to govern ; none are so
 
 HISTOEY OF EUKOPE. 431 
 
 really worthy of the lead as those who are least desirous CHAP. 
 of assuming it. 
 
 1789. 
 
 The 5th of May 1789 was the day fixed for the open- 
 ing of the States-general : with that day the French Opening of 
 Revolution actually began. general 
 
 On the evening before, a religious ceremony preceded 
 the installation of the Estates. The King, his family, his May 4. 
 ministers, and the deputies of the three orders, walked in 
 procession from the church of Notre Dame to that of 
 St Louis, to hear mass. The appearance of the assembled 
 bodies, and the reflection that a national solemnity, so 
 long fallen into disuse, was about to be revived, excited 
 the most lively enthusiasm in the multitude. The weather 
 was fine ; the benevolent and dignified air of the monarch, 
 the graceful manners of the Queen, the pomp and splen- 
 dour of the ceremony, and the undefined hopes which it 
 excited, exalted the spirits of all who witnessed it. But 
 the reflecting observed with pain, that the sullen lines of 
 feudal etiquette were preserved with rigid formality, and 
 they augured ill of the national representation which com- 
 menced its labours amid such distinctions. First marched 
 the clergy in grand costume, with violet robes ; next the 
 noblesse, in black dresses, with gold vests, laced cravats, 
 and hats adorned with white plumes ; last, the Tiers Etat, 
 arrayed in black, with short cloaks, muslin cravats, and 
 hats without feathers. But the friends of the people con- 
 soled themselves with the observation, that, however 
 humble their attire, the numbers of this class greatly pre- 
 ponderated over those of the other orders. It was observed 
 that the Duke of Orleans, who walked last, as of highest 
 rank among the nobles, lingered behind, and was sur- 
 rounded by the dense masses of the Tiers Etat, who 
 immediately followed. Hardly any of the deputies had 
 hitherto acquired great popular reputation. One alone 
 attracted general attention. Born of noble parents, he 
 had warmly espoused the popular side, without losing the
 
 432 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, pride of aristocratic connection. His talents universally 
 known, his licentiousness too notorious, his integrity 
 
 1789. generally suspected, rendered him the object of painful 
 Mad de anxiety. Harsh and disagreeable features, a profusion of 
 Mack hair, an expressive and daring countenance, a com- 
 Th. i. 43. manding air, attracted the curiosity even of those who 
 
 Prudhom. . , i i . r i i 
 
 Rev. de were unacquainted with his reputation. Many admired, 
 
 67Tp 8 .79,o. some feared, none despised him. His name was MIRA- 
 BEAU, future leader of the Assembly. 1 
 
 Two ladies of rank, from a gallery, with very different 
 
 Madame de feelings, beheld the spectacle. The one was Madame de 
 Montmorin, wife of the minister of foreign affairs ; the 
 other the illustrious daughter of M. Necker, Madame de 
 
 vations on gtael. The latter exulted in the boundless felicity which 
 
 the cere- . * 
 
 mon y- seemed to be opening under the auspices of her father. 
 " You are wrong to rejoice," said Madame de Montmorin, 
 " this event forebodes much misery to France and to our- 
 selves." Her presentiment turned out too well founded : 
 she herself perished on the scaffold with one of her sons ; 
 another was drowned ; her husband was massacred in the 
 prisons on September 2d ; her eldest daughter was cut off 
 in jail ; her youngest died of a broken heart before she 
 had attained the age of thirty years. It soon appeared 
 what was the temper of the Assembly, and how much 
 reason there was for Madame de Montmorin's gloomy 
 forebodings. The Bishop of Nancy preached on the 
 occasion, in the Church of St Louis, and he began with 
 the words, as in ancient days, " Receive, God ! the 
 homage of the clergy, the respects of the noblesse, and the 
 humble supplications of the Tiers Etat." Upon this, loud 
 DC staei, murmurs were heard on all sides. But when, in the 
 ii 174 course of his sermon, he made an ill-timed allusion to the 
 goodness of the monarch, and the rapacity of the tax- 
 Paris, v. gatherers, tumultuous applause burst forth from all quar- 
 80.' ters, and the sounds of worldly exultation for the first 
 
 time resounded through these sacred aisles. 2 
 
 On the following day the Assembly was opened with
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 433 
 
 extraordinary pomp. Galleries, disposed in the form of CHAP. 
 an amphitheatre, were filled with a brilliant assembly of 
 
 spectators, among whom all the rank, talent, and beauty 1789 - 
 of Paris was to be found. The deputies were introduced Meeti ^ of 
 and arranged according to the order established in the the St f es - 
 
 general. 
 
 last convocation in 1614. The clergy sat on the right, May 5, 1739. 
 the nobles on the left, the commons in front of the 
 throne. Loud applause followed the entry of the popular 
 leaders, especially those who were known to have con- 
 tributed by their efforts to the convocation of the states. 
 The Duke of Orleans was twice loudly cheered ; first on 
 his first appearance, next when he made a cure of the 
 deputation of Crepi in Valois, to which he belonged, pass 
 before him. The deputies of Dauphine were received 
 with tumultuous applause. Similar approbation was 
 beginning for those of Provence, but it was checked to 
 mark the personal application of the applause to Mira- 
 beau, who was one of them. M. Necker, in particular, 
 was distinguished by the reception which he experienced. 
 After the ministers and deputies had taken their places, 
 the King appeared, followed by the Queen, in simple 
 attire but radiant with beauty, the princes and a brilliant 
 suite. The monarch placed himself upon his throne, 
 amidst the loudest applause. He looked happy, and he 
 was so ; for he was received by his subjects with sincere 
 aifection. The three orders at the same instant rose and 
 covered themselves. The days were past when the third 
 estate remained uncovered, and spoke only on their knees ; 
 that first spontaneous movement was ominous as to the 
 subsequent conduct of that aspiring body. The King, on 
 taking his seat, perceived that the Duke of Orleans was 
 sitting amongst the Tiers Etat, and immediately made a t Th . 43 
 sign to him to take his place among the princes of the I n n g t ] oye 
 blood. The duke replied, " My birth gives me always a p'Ori&ms, 
 right to be near the throne ; but on this occasion I prefer Lab. HI. io. 
 taking my place among the Tiers Etat of my bailliage." Thfi.^s. ' 
 It was not difficult to see who aspired to be their head. 1 
 VOL. i. 2 E
 
 o the 
 
 434 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. The meeting of the States-general had been appointed 
 
 . - ! to take place in Versailles, and the King had been at great 
 
 1789t pains to provide a place of meeting suitable to the august 
 
 Description assembly. The hall selected was a very large one in that 
 
 1 town, capable of holding two thousand persons, besides 
 the galleries. It was a spacious, handsome room, a hun- 
 dred and twenty feet long, by fifty-seven feet broad within 
 the columns, which were fluted, of the Ionic order ; the 
 entablature being rich, and the roof pierced in the centre 
 by a large oval skylight and this, with two other win- 
 dows in the sides, by which the light was admitted through 
 azure gauze, threw a pleasing tint over every part of the 
 interior. At one extremity of the room was an elevated 
 dais, magnificently ornamented, and covered with violet- 
 coloured velvet, embroidered with lilies. At the upper 
 end of it, under a superb canopy, adorned by deep gold 
 fringe, was placed the throne. On the left of the throne 
 a large chair was set apart for the Queen, and lesser ones 
 for the princesses ; on the right stood richly ornamented 
 seats for the princes : the ministers were seated in front 
 of the throne, round a large table covered with blue lilied 
 velvet. Behind the table on the right were seats for 
 the fifteen councillors of state, and twenty maitres-des- 
 requetes ; on the left the like number for the governors 
 and lieutenants-general of provinces. On either side of 
 the hall were arranged the benches for the deputies, all 
 adorned with rich covers : on the right those for the clergy, 
 on the left for the noblesse ; in front of the throne, at the 
 opposite end, those for the Tiers Etat. Spacious galleries, 
 capable of holding above two thousand persons, as if in- 
 viting the attendance of the public, were arranged behind 
 the seats of the deputies. It would seem as if, in the very 
 disposition of the seats, it had been intended to point to 
 
 . the intended union of the orders, and the fatal influence of 
 
 de Baron de 
 
 Grimm, v. the galleries on their deliberations. Louis had anxiously 
 
 124. Weber, . , . . , 
 
 i. 326, 329. superintended the arrangements, and frequently visited 
 the hall to observe the progress of the operations. 1 By
 
 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 435 
 
 such hands, and with such magnificence, was the theatre CHAP. 
 prepared on which was to be enacted the overthrow of 
 
 the French monarchy. 1789. 
 
 " Gentlemen," said the monarch, with emotion, " the 
 day which my heart so long desired is at length arrived ; Speech of 
 I find myself surrounded by the representatives of the May 5. ng ' 
 nation, which it is my first glory to command. A long 
 period has elapsed since the last convocation of the States- 
 general : and although the meeting of these assemblies 
 was thought to have fallen into desuetude, I have not 
 hesitated to re-establish a usage from which the kingdom 
 may derive new force, and which may open to its inhabit- 
 ants hitherto unknown sources of prosperity. The debt 
 of the State, already large at my accession to the throne, 
 has increased during my reign : an expensive, though 
 glorious war, has been the cause of this ; and the aug- 
 mentation of taxes, which it compelled, has rendered 
 more perceptible their unequal imposition. A general 
 disquietude, an exaggerated desire of innovation, have 
 taken possession of all minds, and might have led to a 
 total unhinging of opinions, if haste were not made to fix 
 them by a union of those capable of giving the most en- 
 lightened and moderate advice. It is in this confidence, 
 gentlemen, that I have called you together ; and I under- 
 stand with pleasure that it has already been justified by 
 the disposition which the two first orders have evinced 
 to renounce their privileges. * The hope which I had 
 formed to see all the orders, united in opinion, concur 
 with me in measures for the general good, will not be dis- 
 appointed. 
 
 " I have ordered considerable retrenchments in the 
 
 o 
 
 expenses; I shall receive with eagerness the suggestions The gene- 
 which you make to me in that particular ; but in spite of mentsTt* 1 
 all the resources which the most rigid economy may ex P ressed - 
 afford, I fear it will be impossible to relieve my subjects 
 
 * This statement was founded on their Cahiers, which were known, and 
 almost unanimously recommended such a step.
 
 436 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, as rapidly as I could desire. I shall direct the exact 
 situation of the finances to be laid before you ; and when 
 
 1789. y OU j iave examined them, I feel assured that you will 
 propose to me the most efficacious means to restore their 
 order, and support the public credit. The minds of men 
 are in a state of agitation ; but an assembly of the re- 
 presentatives of the nation will listen, without doubt, to 
 nothing but the counsels of wisdom and prudence. You 
 must doubtless have observed, gentlemen, that these 
 counsels have not been always followed on recent occa- 
 sions ; but the ruling spirit of your deliberations will 
 respond to the real wishes of a generous nation, which 
 has always been distinguished by its love for the sove- 
 reign. I know the authority and power of a just king, 
 surrounded by a faithful people, attached from the earliest 
 times to the principles of the monarchy : they have given 
 rise to the power and glory of France : I am bound to 
 support them, and I will do so constantly. All that 
 can be expected from the most tender interest in the 
 public good, all that can be asked from a sovereign, 
 the first friend of his people, you may rely on finding 
 in me. May unanimity, gentlemen, prevail among you, 
 and this epoch be for ever memorable in the annals of 
 French prosperity ! That is the first prayer of my heart, 
 the most ardent of my wishes, the reward which I ex- 
 pect from the rectitude of my intentions, and my love for 
 my people !" 
 
 These generous sentiments excited, as well they might, 
 incipient universal applause ; and the King and Queen, for a few 
 seconds, surrendered themselves to the delicious belief 
 of a blessed regeneration of society springing from the 
 virtue and gratitude of its members. The Queen had 
 stood, like the rest of the assembly, during the royal 
 speech. The grace and modesty of her demeanour, 
 joined to the beauty of a countenance on which a pass- 
 ing smile shone through the settled expression of melan- 
 choly which it had already assumed, added to the
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 437 
 
 general enchantment. But hardly had they sat down CHAP. 
 when they received a proof that, even in that moment 
 
 of general enthusiasm, the ambition and passions of 1789 - 
 the world possessed the hearts of the assembly. The 
 sovereign, on resuming his seat, put on his hat ; the 
 nobles, jealous of the privilege they had been wont to 
 assert in former States-general, had the imprudence to 
 do the same. Some members of the Tiers Etat, resolved 
 to assert an equal pretension for their order, immediately 
 covered themselves : the cries, "On with your hats," 
 " Uncover," " Off hats," were heard on all sides ; and 
 the meeting was about to be seriously disturbed by an 
 incident which, how trifling soever in itself, was important, 
 as revealing the secret divisions of the members, when ig^V/st. 
 the King, with admirable presence of mind, feigning to J^^f^; 
 be incommoded by the heat, took off his hat, and the Mpiieviiie, 
 
 J . Hist, de la 
 
 whole assembly, having no longer a pretence for discord, Rev. i. ice. 
 followed his example, and tranquillity was restored. 1 
 
 The keeper of the seals followed with a studied 
 harangue, which told little. It contained only one Speech of 
 
 M Necker, 
 
 sentence of importance, which related to the double and genera! 
 representation and voting by head ; * but that rather mentToc- 
 favoured the union of the orders. M. Necker was now casioned - 
 anxiously looked for and a breathless suspense per- 
 vaded the assembly when he began his speech. But 
 never was disappointment more universal than was felt 
 as it proceeded. It contained nothing which threw a 
 light on the views of the court in regard to the all- 
 
 o 
 
 important question of the mode of voting ; and, instead, 
 abounded with tedious details on taxes and retrench- 
 ments, which had ceased to excite any interest in the 
 public mind.f In truth, notwithstanding his abilities, 
 
 * " En deferant a cette demande (la double representation) sa Majestg n'a 
 point chang6 la forme des anciennes deliberations ; et quoique celle par tete 
 en ne produisant qu'un seul resultat, paraisse avoir 1'avantage de faire mieux 
 connaltre le desir gen6ral, le roi a voulu que cette nouvelle forme ne puisse 
 B'opeYer que du consentement libre des e'tats-ge'ne'raux, et avec 1'approbation de 
 sa MajesteV' ffistoire Parlementaire, i. 338. 
 
 t Such as the following : " Le tabac se vend aujourd'hui rape' dans presque
 
 438 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, the Swiss minister entirely mistook the signs of the 
 times. Pressed by the needy state of the public trea- 
 
 1789. sory t n j g attention was exclusively fixed on the means 
 of replenishing it. He persisted in considering the 
 crisis as financial, when in reality it had become social ; 
 as arising from embarrassments of government, when 
 these, all-important in a former stage, had yielded to a 
 more absorbing passion ; and when the crisis was now 
 forced on by the growing importance and ambition of 
 the people. He spoke to them of accounts when they 
 wanted to hear of principles, and dwelt on the means 
 of extinguishing the deficit when their attention was 
 directed to filling up the blanks in the constitution. 
 Thus his speech pleased few, and disappointed many. 
 He hoped to accommodate his measures to the public 
 exigencies, without compromising or breaking with any 
 party. He was aware that the ancient system of 
 government could not be maintained, but he trusted 
 that the divisions in the political parties would enable 
 him to repair the machine without destroying it. By 
 this he lost the confidence of all. Conciliatory mea- 
 sures are admirable, when they are founded on reforms 
 which remove a practical evil ; they are ruinous when 
 i Hist. Pari. they proceed on a balance of mutual jealousies, or a 
 
 * ^tP^I ^7 ^ 
 
 Big. L 35.' blind concession to popular menaces. Then they dis- 
 appoint all, without attaching any. 1 * 
 
 No debate followed these official speeches, but the 
 assembly broke up in an orderly manner at half-past 
 
 June e. four o'clock. Next day, however, the great contest 
 
 toute la France : cette inthode a beaucoup augmente la ferine du tabac." 
 Moniteur, 5th to 10th May 1789. 
 
 * In Necker's financial statement, which was laid before the States-general, 
 he represented the 
 
 Francs. 
 
 Fixed expenses, .... 531,000,000 or 21,240,000 
 Fixed revenue, .... 473,294,000 18,931,000 
 
 Deficit, . . 57,706,000 2,309,000 
 
 This, however, was the fixed expenses, as Necker called them ; and when the 
 floating debt was added, the deficit was 113,000,000, or 4,520,000 more. This
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 439 
 
 upon which the eyes of all France were fixed began in CHAP. 
 its bosom. The three orders met, as on the preced- 
 
 11. 
 
 imincnce- 
 ment of the 
 est be- 
 
 ing day, in one room, but afterwards repaired to the 1789 
 halls appointed for their separate meetings. That of Co 
 Menus, in which they had met on the preceding day, ^ 
 being by much the largest, was set apart for the Tiers ^ the 
 Etat, whose numbers equalled that of the two others 
 taken together. This circumstance, in appearance trivial, 
 was attended with important effects : for being styled 
 the " Salle des Etats-Generaux" and the theatre of 
 their first and common assemblage, it gave that aspiring 
 body a colourable pretext to consider and represent 
 themselves as in effect the national representatives. 
 Having taken their places there, the skilful leaders of 
 the commons affected to feel surprised that they were 
 not joined by the other two orders, with a view to pro- 
 ceed jointly to the verification of their powers, and 
 meanwhile did nothing. While this was going on in 
 the Salle de Menus, the other two orders were pro- 
 ceeding rapidly with the separate verification of their 
 powers : the clergy having resolved on that step by a 
 majority of 133 to 114 ; and the nobles by one of J ^J- J 8 a r L 
 188 to 47. No sooner were these votes announced to g"*^ 
 the Tiers Etat than they broke up their meeting, with- Puisaye, ;. 
 out having taken any step to constitute themselves a n. is, IG. ' 
 separate body. 1 
 
 On the following day, so quickly did the germs of 
 the Revolution develop themselves at this crisis, an 
 event occurred hardly less important on its ultimate 
 fortune, than the contest of the orders, now openly 
 
 was clearly demonstrated by Calonne in his work on the state of France, and 
 indeed it is inconceivable that a deficit which Brienne, only the year before, 
 had admitted was 165,000,000 francs, should, without the imposition of a single 
 new tax, have fallen to 57,000,000. In the "Etat de la Dette Publique," 
 published by the Constituent Assembly in 1 790, the real deficit was stated to 
 be at that time 189,000,000 francs, or 7,560,000. See Histoire Parlementaire 
 de France, i. 375, 378. Calonne, in 1790, stated the real deficit, on grounds 
 apparently very satisfactory, at 255,724,000 francs, or 10,228,000 yearly. See 
 CALONNE, L'Etat de la France prtsente et a venir, 36, 37 ; and Etat de la Dette 
 Publique, 47.
 
 440 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, commenced. Mirabeau had begun a Journal on the de- 
 bates of the Assembly, entitled " Journal des Etats- 
 
 1789. Generaux;" and government, conceiving such a publica- 
 tioii from such a hand dangerous at this moment, had 
 or dcred its suppression. Upon this the electors of 
 
 and muni- Paris, who were still engaged, as they were in many 
 
 cipality of i i i 
 
 Paris with other parts of France, with the drawing up of their 
 
 cahiers, met at the Hotel de Ville, passed unanimouslj 
 May 6. and published an arrete, or resolution, protesting against 
 this act of authority, which they directed to be sent to 
 the chambers of the clergy and the nobles, accompanied 
 by an earnest invitation to them to unite themselves to 
 the Tiers Etat, procure the revocation of the arrete of 
 the royal council complained of, and obtain for the 
 National Assembly the immediate liberty of the press.* 
 Such was the commencement of the direct interference 
 of the electors of Paris in the affairs of government, 
 which subsequently, when applied through the organ 
 of the municipality which they had elected, became 
 of paramount importance, and produced at once the 
 
 i Hist. Par). 
 
 i. 383. most daring acts and detestable crimes of the Revolu- 
 tion. 1 
 
 On the 7th May the three orders again met in their 
 respective chambers : the Tiers Etat still occupying the 
 central Hall of Menus, and waiting, or pretending to wait, 
 for the expected junction of the other orders. The con- 
 
 * " L' Assemble du Tiers Etat de la Ville de Paris reclame unanimement 
 centre 1'Acte du Conseil qui supprime le Journal des Etats G6n6raux, et en 
 defend les suites, et qui prononce des peines centre 1'imprimeur, sans nean- 
 moins entendre par la approuver ni blamer le journal ; elle reclame en ce que 
 cet Acte du Conseil porte atteinte h la liberte" publique au moment ou elle est 
 le plus pre"cieuse a la nation ; en ce qu'il viole la liberte de la Presse re'clame'e 
 par la France entiere ; en ce qu'enfin cet Acte rappelle au premier moment de 
 la liberte" nationale une police et des rdglemens qui avaient e'te' suspendus par 
 la sagesse et la bont(j du roi ; et en consequence, 1'Assemble'e du Tiers a 
 unanimement re"solu que le present arre'tS sera pre'sente' aux Chambres du 
 Clerge" et de la Noblesse, et qu'ils seront invitea a se riunir au Tiers, pour faire 
 reVoquer le dit Acte du Conseil, et pour procurer a V Atsembl&e Nationale la 
 libertfi provisoire de la Presse." Ilistoire Parlementaire de la France, i. 383. 
 With such fair requests and so reasonable a representation did the infernal 
 atrocities of the electors and municipality of Paris commence. Mirabeau's 
 journal was continued under the name of " Courrier de Provence."
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 441 
 
 test was now openly commenced ; the deputies of the CHAP. 
 commons alleged that they could not verify their powers 
 
 till they were joined by the whole Estates, while the 1789 - 
 clergy and nobles had already verified theirs in their TheT?ers 
 separate chambers, and were ready to begin business, ^ne T!- 
 
 For several weeks they daily met in the great hall, and s em%, 
 
 * , J which com- 
 
 vainly waited for the accession of the other orders. They pieteiy stops 
 
 11-1 i if f *' le P u t>lic 
 
 attempted nothing, but simply trusted to the force of business. 
 inactivity to compel the submission of their opponents. 1739. ' 
 It was soon evident that this state of things could not 
 long continue. The refusal of the commons to constitute 
 themselves occasioned a complete stoppage to every sort 
 of business, while the urgent state of the finances, and the 
 rapidly increasing anarchy of the kingdom, loudly called 
 for immediate activity. Meanwhile the firmness of the 
 Third Estate occasioned the utmost agitation in Paris, L Lac ;7' . 
 
 29. Mig. i. 
 
 and crowds of all classes daily came to Versailles, to 37. Th. i. 
 
 45 46 49 
 
 encourage the members in their courageous resistance to so,' 53.' 
 the measures of the court. 1 
 
 In this contest the advantage evidently lay on the side 
 of the commons. The state of the finances rendered it violent 
 absolutely necessary that the States-general should com- tw^Tthe 6 " 
 mence their labours : their dissolution, therefore, was not Advantages 
 to be apprehended. On the other hand, by simply re- 
 maining in a state of inactivity, they did nothing which 
 could apparently justify harsh measures, and there was 
 every reason to believe that they would ultimately weary 
 out their antagonists. They had gained the immense 
 advantage in social contests that of being in a position 
 where, by simply resting and remaining passive, they 
 achieved their object, and forced the initiative upon their 
 opponents. Any decided measure on the part of govern- 
 ment to stop this fatal inaction, was sure to meet with 
 the most violent opposition. The force of public opinion, 
 always at first, in civil commotions, on the side of resist- 
 ance, was daily strengthening their cause. The agitation 
 of the capital was intimidating their adversaries, and the
 
 442 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, divisions which prevailed among them rendered it every 
 
 ! hour more improbable that they would be able to maintain 
 
 1789. their ground. The Tiers Etat was unanimous, while a 
 
 considerable part of the nobility, and the great majority 
 
 of the clergy, were secretly inclined to their side. The 
 
 able leaders of the commons thoroughly appreciated the 
 
 advantages of their present position, and waited calmly 
 
 for above a month for the arrival of the time when either 
 
 the necessities of the Crown might force government into 
 
 i Higt Parl measures of hostility, or the submission of the other orders, 
 
 M^ST 43 ' snou ld give them the entire command of the State, or the 
 
 Th C '- V 52 3 ' d^ded tone of the public voice, daily gathering strength 
 
 53. in their favour, might enable them to take the initiative 
 
 themselves with the prospect of success. 1 * 
 
 This temporary lull in the parliamentary contest of 
 parties affords a favourable opportunity, ere the decisive 
 struggle commences, for surveying the feelings and interests 
 by which they were severally actuated, and the leading 
 characters who obtained their direction. 
 
 The greater part of the nobles were naturally desirous 
 Sentiments of maintaining the privileges they had inherited from 
 of the " * their forefathers, and which, in one form or another, they 
 regarded with reason as essential to the existence of 
 government in modern times. Their interests in this, as 
 is generally the case with men, determined their opinions ; 
 and they were firmly resolved to resist to the uttermost 
 those pretensions of the commons, which they clearly 
 foresaw would end in prostrating the monarchy at their 
 feet. They perceived that if the whole States-general 
 were united in one chamber, they would, since the duplica- 
 
 * " Vous avez persevgrg, avec un fermete' rare, dans une systeme d'inaction 
 politique infiniment de'crie' par ceux qui avaient un grand inteVet a vous faire 
 adopter de fausses m6sures ; c'etait pour donner le temps aux esprits de se 
 calmer, aux amis du bien public celui de seconder le vccu de la justice et de la 
 raison ; c'etait pour vous assurer mieux que meme dans la poursuite du bien 
 vous n'excederiez aucunes bornes ; c'e'tait, en un mot, manifester une modera- 
 tion qui convient surtout au courage, ou plutot, sans laquelle il n'est pas de 
 courage vraiment durable et invincible." Discvurs de MIRABEAU, 1 3th June 
 1789; Histoire Parlementaire, i. 443.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 443 
 
 tion of the Tiers Etat, the nearly equal division of the CHAP. 
 clergy, and the strong body of the noblesse themselves 
 
 who adhered to the same views, be left in a minority of at 1789 - 
 least one to two. Rather than incur certain destruction 
 in this way, they were prepared to incur all the hazards 
 of civil war. But, though resolute on this vital question, 
 they had abated much of their original pretensions, and 
 were disposed to concede many points upon which formerly 
 they had been most tenacious. They were no longer the 
 proud and haughty Notables of 1787, determined to re- 
 linquish none of their exclusive privileges : the immi- 
 nence of the danger had made them willing to avert it by 
 large concessions. Their cahiers, though not unanimous, 
 tended in general to the same point. The instructions 
 to the noblesse of Paris, the most important of any in 
 the kingdom, from their rank, influence, and intelligence, 
 recommended the surrender of all exclusive privileges in 
 the matter of taxation : the regular convocation of the 
 States-general, the imposition of all taxes by their consent, 
 and their illegality without it ; their legal extension only 
 from one meeting of the States-general to another ; the 
 passing of all laws by their consent ; the suppression of 
 lettres-de-cachet ; the liberty of the press ; the closing 
 of the Bastile ; the abolition of all feudal rights, on a 
 reasonable indemnity payable in ten years. The great 
 majority of the instructions of the noblesse were in the 
 same terms. The whole elements of real freedom were 
 to be found in these concessions, on which the nobles were 
 almost unanimous. But, in addition to this, a minority 
 of forty-seven, with the Duke of Orleans and the Duke 
 of Rochefoucauld at their head, which carried much weight 
 from the high rank and acknowledged talents of some of 1 Cahiers de 
 
 . . fe .-IT la Noblesse 
 
 its members, was disposed to join at once with the com- a e Paris, 
 mons, and go the whole length with them of revolutionary i. 328, 330. 
 innovation. 
 
 The higher classes of the clergy shared the sentiments 
 of the noble families from which they sprang, and were
 
 444 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, equally anxious to maintain the privileges from which 
 they derived advantage ; but the great body of the 
 
 1789. undignified ecclesiastics, who were indignant at their ex- 
 viewl^nd c l us i n fr m a ^ situations of consideration or emolument 
 ^ 8 t t ctions in the church, participated in the feelings of the third 
 clef gy- estate, with whom they were more immediately in contact, 
 and might be expected, on any serious struggle, to join 
 its ranks. Taken as a body, the clergy had supported 
 all the efforts of the people for the establishment of their 
 liberties. The vast proportion of their numbers, who 
 were humble cures, destitute of any property, afforded a 
 sufficient security that this would be the case. They had 
 urged the convocation of the States-general. The clergy 
 of Rheims, with their archbishop at their head, demanded, 
 in their instructions to their representatives, the establish- 
 ment of a national code, embodying the fundamental laws 
 of the monarchy ; the regular assembly of the States- 
 general, the right of taxing themselves, the establishment 
 of personal freedom, security to property, the responsi- 
 bility of ministers, open eligibility to all the citizens to 
 every employment, a new civil and military code, unifor- 
 mity of weights and measures, and the abolition of the 
 L. V VH! 9, slave-trade. All the other instructions of the clergy to 
 tel'ubriant, ^ ie * r representatives contained more or less the same 
 xix 344. sentiments. It was at a later period of the Revolution, 
 
 Burke, v. . 
 
 99. Hist, and m consequence of the treachery and injustice with 
 327.' ' ' which they were assailed, that this great body became 
 the lasting and inveterate enemy of the Revolution. 1 
 
 Liberty and equality were the ideas predominant in 
 or the Tiers the minds of the whole third estate, and of that large 
 party of the clergy which, having risen from its ranks, was 
 identified with its interests. EQUALITY was the great 
 object of their ambition, because the distinctions of rank 
 were the evil which occasioned their discontents. It was 
 not so much absolute freedom which they coveted, as 
 equality of restraint, and the repeal of all those laws 
 which threw their fetters with undue severity upon the
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 445 
 
 lower classes. They would rather have had servitude CHAP. 
 
 TV 
 
 in common with the privileged ranks, than freedom ac- 
 
 companied with those privileges which drew an impas- 1789 - 
 sable line between them. The passion for distinction, as 
 Napoleon afterwards observed, is the ruling principle in 
 France. Equality was demanded because it promised to 
 remove the load which depressed the buoyant ambition of 
 the middle and lower orders of society. Proceeding on 
 these principles, the cahiers of the Tiers Etat were unani- 
 mous in demanding the union of the orders and the voting 
 by head ; and the instructions in these respects were so 
 precise, that in truth the deputies of that order had no 
 discretionary power on the subject. In addition to this, 
 and all the points conceded by the noblesse, the commons 
 were led, both from the tenor of their instructions and 
 their own wishes, to demand the abolition of incorpora- 
 tions and statutes of apprenticeship of every kind ; uni- 
 versal freedom of commerce and labour ; uniformity of 
 weights and measures ; a relaxation of the penal code ; 
 reformation in the administration of justice ; the estab- 
 lishment of a general code of laws, and the restriction of 
 the powers enjoyed by the police. Generally speaking, 
 the instruction of the Tiers Etat pointed to the abolition 
 of practical abuses, to an extent and with a minuteness 
 never carried into effect by the National Assembly ; and 
 excepting in the one particular, the union of the orders, 1 Par] Higt 
 
 gave no countenance whatever to the overthrow of the ' . 33 '_ 34 ; 5 - 
 i i -i r> '* 
 
 monarchical authority, or the nourishing of that aspiring D'Abr. VH. 
 
 ambition which so speedily caused the States-general to Lac', i. 3-2. 
 overturn the throne. 1 
 
 The King, who had never tasted one moment of repose 
 since his accession to the throne, had been induced, by views of 
 financial embarrassments, to convoke the States-general, 
 and looked forward to their assembling as the termination 
 of his difficulties. He in truth loved his people, and 
 expected to meet their representatives with the tender- 
 ness of a parent who rejoins his long-lost children. He
 
 446 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, believed himself beloved, because he deserved to be so. 
 Unhappily, it was the fashion to laugh at the idea of a 
 
 1789. revolution. Reposing under the shadow of the monarchy, 
 men shut their eyes to the possibility of its overthrow, 
 and deemed present institutions stable, because they had 
 never seen them shaken. He had yet to learn that no 
 reliance is to be placed on the affections of mankind 
 when their interests are at stake ; that democratic ambi- 
 tion may carry away in a few weeks the most rational ; 
 that the force of ancient recollections, strong in periods 
 of tranquillity, is frequently lost in moments of danger ; 
 and that attachment to old institutions is powerful only 
 in those who have shared in their protection. He had 
 adopted from M. Necker two principles very generally 
 received at that period, but of which subsequent experi- 
 ence has amply demonstrated the fallacy viz. that public 
 opinion is always on the side of wisdom and virtue, and 
 that he could at pleasure sway its impulses. The prin- 
 ' ciple, Vox populi vox Dei, doubtful at all times, is totally 
 false in periods of agitation, when the passions are let 
 loose, and the ambition of the reckless is awakened by 
 the possibility of elevation. It would often be nearer the 
 truth to say then Vox populi vox diaboli. Public 
 opinion, in the end, will always incline to the right side ; 
 but amid the violence of its previous oscillations, the whole 
 fabric of society may be overthrown. The mariner who 
 i L vr descries a coming storm, may with certainty predict that 
 8, 9. p e its fury will ultimately be stilled ; but he cannot be sure 
 280. ' that his own vessel will not previously be sunk in the 
 waves. 1 
 
 The people of Paris, whose opinions came to have so 
 And of 'the vast an influence on the march of the Revolution, looked 
 e forward to the States-general as a means of diminishing 
 the imposts ; the nobility hoped it would prove the means 
 of re-establishing the finances, and putting an end to the 
 vexatious parsimony of later years ; the citizens trusted 
 it would remove the galling fetters to which they were
 
 HISTOEY OP EUKOPE. 447 
 
 still subjected ; the fundholders, who had so often suffered CHAP. 
 from breaches of the public faith, regarded it as a secure 
 
 rampart against a national bankruptcy an event which 1789 - 
 the magnitude of the deficit had led them seriously to 
 apprehend. Every class was unanimous in favour of a 
 change, from which all were equally destined to suffer. 
 So strong and universal was this feeling, that, out of the 
 sixty electoral districts into which Paris was divided, only 
 three elected the president who had the support of the 
 King. Without tumult, noise, or even a division, fifty- 
 seven of the electoral districts displaced the chairman 
 appointed by the Crown, and chose one of their own.* 
 All who were conscious of talents which were unworthily 
 depressed, who sought after distinction which the existing 
 order of society prevented them from obtaining, or who 
 had acquired wealth without obtaining consideration, joined 
 themselves to the disaffected. To those were added the 
 unsettled spirits which the prospect of approaching dis- 
 turbances always brings forth the insolvent, the reckless, 
 the ardent, the desperate ; men who were suffering under 
 the existing state of society, and hoped that any change 
 would ameliorate their condition. A proportion of the 
 nobles, as is ever the case in civil convulsions, also adhered 
 to these principles ; at the head of whom was the Duke 
 of Orleans, who brought a princely fortune, a selfish heart, 
 and depraved habits, to forward the work of corruption, 
 but wanted steadiness to rule the faction which his pro- 
 digality had organised ; and the Marquis Lafayette, 
 who had nursed a republican spirit amidst American 
 dangers, and revived for the strife of freedom in the Old 
 World the ardent desires which had been awakened by 
 its triumph in the New. The Counts Clermont Tonnerre 
 and Lally Tollendal were also attached to the same prin- 
 ciples ; the Duke de la Rochefoucauld, and the Duke de 
 Liancourt, the Marquis de Crillon, and the Viscount 
 Montmorency names long celebrated in the annals of 
 
 * MICHELET'S Histoire de la Revolution, i. 10.
 
 448 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. French glory, and some of which were destined to acquire 
 a fatal celebrity from the misfortunes of those who bore 
 
 1789 - them. A portentous union of rank, talent, and energy 
 of much which the aristocracy could produce that was 
 ^5' generous, w ith a ^ that the commons could furnish that 
 mont, i. was eminent ; of philosophic enthusiasm with plebeian 
 
 38. Th. i. . . pi f ' i ! -IT 
 
 41. audacity ; or the vigour ot rising ability with the weight 
 
 of far-descended splendour. 1 
 
 Two circumstances, however, were remarkable in the 
 composition of the Constituent Assembly, and contributed 
 in a great degree to influence its future proceedings. 
 
 The first was the almost total exclusion of literary and 
 Absence of philosophical talent, and the extraordinary preponderance 
 phereTnd of the legal profession. With the exception of Bailly, 
 
 lite: 
 
 men. 
 
 and one or two other illustrious individuals, no name of 
 
 literary celebrity was to be found among its members. 
 On the other hand, no less than two hundred and seventy- 
 nine of the Tiers Etat were advocates, chiefly from the 
 provincial courts of France. This class did not corre- 
 spond to the barristers of England, who, although not in 
 general men of property, are at least usually possessed of 
 talent and information, but were provincial advocates, 
 stewards of petty local jurisdictions, country attorneys, 
 notaries, and the whole train of the ministers of municipal 
 litigation, the fomenters of petty war and village vexation. 
 " From the moment/' says Mr Burke, " that I read a list 
 of their names, and saw this, I foresaw distinctly, and 
 very nearly as it happened, all that was to follow ! " This 
 fact is not surprising, when it is considered, on the one 
 hand, how few of the electors were capable of appreciating 
 the merits of scientific characters, in a country where not 
 s Lac. vii. one in fifty could read ; and, on the other, how closely 
 Btirke? tne necessities of men brought them everywhere in con- 
 Worka, vi. tact with that enterprising and restless body which lived 
 Youngs upon their divisions. The absence of the philosophers is 
 
 Travels, i. r r 
 
 384. not much to be regretted, as, with a few splendid excep- 
 tions, they seldom make good practical statesmen ; 2 but
 
 HISTOEY OF EUKOPE. 
 
 449 
 
 1789. 
 
 the multitude of lawyers turned out an evil of the first CHAP. 
 magnitude, possessing, as they did, talent without pro- IV ' 
 perty, and the desire of distinction without the principles 
 which should regulate it. The worst characters in the 
 Revolution Robespierre, Danton, and almost all their 
 associates belonged to this class. 
 
 The second circumstance was the great proportion of 
 the Tiers Etat who were men of no property or considera- 
 
 21. 
 
 tion in the country mere needy adventurers, who pushed propm 
 themselves into the Estates in order to make their fortunes 
 amidst the public convulsions which were anticipated. 
 The leading persons of the banking and commercial in- 
 terests were indeed members of this body, and took a 
 pride in being considered its heads ; but their numbers 
 were inconsiderable compared with those of their destitute 
 brethren, and their talents were not sufficient to enable 
 them to maintain an ascendancy. When the contest 
 began, they were speedily supplanted by the clamorous 
 and reckless adventurers, who aimed at nothing but public 
 confusion. France, on this occasion, paid the penalty of 
 her unjust and invidious feudal distinctions. The class 
 was wanting, so well known in England, which, nominally 
 belonging to the Commons, is bound to the Peers by simi- 
 larity of situation and community of interest ; which forms 
 the link between the aristocracy and the people, and at i 
 once moderates the pride of the former by their firmness, 20. 
 and the turbulence of the latter by their authority. 1 * 
 
 * The Constituent Assembly was composed of 1128 persons, of whom about two- 
 thirds were non-proprietors. They were arranged in the following manner : 
 
 TIERS ETAT. 
 48 Ecclesiastics, 
 35 Gentilhommes, 
 210 Mayors, . 
 
 Magistrates, 
 
 293 Lawyers, . 
 Physicians, 
 
 CLERGY. 
 
 Archbishops and Bishops, 
 Abbots and Canons, 
 Curates, . 
 
 NOBLES. 
 Prince of the Blood, 
 Magistrates, 
 Gentilhommes, . 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 1 
 28 
 
 241 
 
 - 
 
 270 
 
 Merchants, Farmers, &c., 
 
 Tiers Etat, 
 Nobles and Clergy, 
 
 2 
 12 
 18 
 62 
 
 279 
 16 
 
 176 
 
 565 
 563 
 
 2F
 
 450 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 1789. 
 
 No member of the States-general had yet attained a 
 commanding reputation except Mirabeau. Honore Gabriel 
 Riquetti, Count de MIRABEAU, was born at Bignon, near 
 Nemours, on the 9th March 1749 ; so that, when the 
 Revolution broke out, he was in the flower of his intel- 
 lectual strength aged forty years. He was son of the 
 Marquis de Mirabeau, a distinguished member of the sect 
 of the Economists, and the author of one of the most 
 popular of their works L'Ami des Homines* Endowed 
 by nature with a herculean constitution, an ardent tem- 
 perament, and burning passions, he possessed at once the 
 intellectual vigour, energy of will, and physical strength, 
 which, for good or for evil, were fitted to raise him to the 
 highest distinction among men. Like Voltaire and Rous- 
 seau, his character is better portrayed in his life than it 
 could be in the most laboured diatribe or panegyric. His 
 education was discursive rather than complete ; varied 
 rather than profound. He acquired a slight knowledge 
 of the classics, studied mathematics under the great La 
 Grange, and at the age of seventeen entered the army. 
 His spirit, however, was too ardent to be satisfied with the 
 
 After the Assembly was united, and the parties were divided, they stood 
 thus : 
 
 COTE DROIT, ROYALISTS. 
 Archbishops and Bishops 
 Abbots and Canons, 
 Curates, 
 Nobles, 
 Magistrates, 
 Lawyers, . 
 Farmers, . 
 
 COTE GAUCHE, DEMOCRATS. 
 
 Prince of the Blood, . 
 
 Lawyers, . 
 
 Thus the Cote* Gauche, which ultimately obtained the complete command of 
 the Assembly and France, was at first less than a third of its number. 
 
 * Nevertheless, the capacity of this distinguished Economist may be mea- 
 sured by the following anecdote : When the King of Sweden, in 1772, visited 
 Paris, he called on the Marquis de Mirabeau, and having spoken of Montesquieu 
 as a great man, the Marquis replied, " Montesquieu ! les reveries surannees de 
 cet homme ne sont plus estime'es que dans quelques cours du nord." Biog. 
 Univ. xxix. 89. 
 
 
 Curates, . . . . 80 
 
 39 
 
 Gentilhommes, . . 55 
 
 25 
 
 Merchants, Farmers, &c., . 30 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 180 
 
 326 
 
 10 
 
 CENTRE OK UNDECIDED. 
 
 18 
 
 Clergy, . 
 
 140 
 
 40 
 
 Nobles, 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 Magistrates, 
 
 9 
 
 322 
 
 Lawyers, . 
 
 101 
 
 i 
 
 Tiers Etat, 
 
 210 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 . 160 
 
 480
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 451 
 
 amusements of the theatre or the billiard-room, which CHAP. 
 generally at that period filled up the long leisure of a 
 
 young officer's life, and too aspiring to bend to the general 1789 - 
 prejudice against a nobleman's reading. He accordingly 
 studied his profession in all its celebrated masters, and 
 published an eloge on the great Conde. Shortly after, he 
 got involved in a love intrigue, and was, at the request of 
 his father, immured in the state prison of the Isle de Rhe, 
 as the best method of cooling his ardent temperament. 
 In 1769, after a short confinement, he served with some 
 distinction in the reduction of Corsica, and soon after 
 gave proof of the natural bent of his mind, by the publi- ^iog.Univ 
 cation of an essay on the political oppression which the (Min*eo 
 Genoese had exercised in that island. 1 
 
 Wearied with the monotony of a pacific military life, 
 he retired in 1770, at his father's request, to the Limousin, His first 
 where he engaged in country pursuits ; but after a short in i^ ure 
 trial, finding these still more foreign to his disposition, 
 in 1771 he returned to Paris, where he soon evinced such 
 a repugnance to the despotic system of the Abbe Terray 
 that he became estranged from his father, and, retiring to 
 Provence, married Mademoiselle de Marignane, a beautiful 
 and richly endowed heiress, but whose fortune, chiefly 
 consisting in inheritances which had not yet devolved to 
 her, was soon grievously embarrassed by her husband's 
 extravagance. And as his father refused to make any 
 arrangement with his creditors, he was constrained to 
 remain in a sort of forced exile on his estates, where, 
 smarting under the consequences of his imprudence, and 
 real or supposed injuries, he wrote, after studying Tacitus 
 and Rousseau, his " Essay on Despotism," in which rays 
 of genius are to be discerned in the midst of the ravings 
 of a disordered fancy. Having soon after broken his ban, 
 or the space allotted to him during his exile, in the pro- 
 secution of a private quarrel, he was imprisoned in the 
 chateau of If, from whence he was transferred to that of 
 Joux in the Jura, in 1776. The magic of his conversa-
 
 452 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, tion having there induced the governor to grant him 
 ' permission to live on his parole in the neighbouring town 
 1789. o f Pontarlier, he met and fell in love with a young lady 
 of the name of Sophie de Ruffey, wife of the Marquis de 
 Monnier, president of the Chamber of Accounts at Dol, 
 whom he soon seduced. This led him into new difficul- 
 ties. The relations of his wife and of the Marquis de 
 Monnier combined with his father to have him again 
 imprisoned : and it required the intervention of Male- 
 sherbes, who was at that period on the eve of quitting 
 the ministry, to obtain for him the mitigated penalty of 
 l eave to withdraw to a foreign country. He withdrew 
 accor dingly to Holland, was outlawed as for rape by the 
 3d and 4th parliament of Besanon, and beheaded in effigy by their 
 edit 8 .' ' sentence, which involved a confiscation of the life interest 
 in his estates. 1 
 
 Reduced now to subsist in exile, and maintain Sophie, 
 His varied who had fled to his protection, by the productions of his 
 tkmswrit. pen, the prodigious activity and mingled greatness and 
 turpitude of his mind at once displayed itself. He 
 translated several respectable works, of which Watson's 
 Philip II. was the most remarkable ; and at the same 
 time published the most violent libels against his father, 
 who had accused him of having corrupted his wife, 
 Mirabeau's own mother. There being no end to his 
 violence, and the scrapes into which it betrayed him, he 
 was a third time seized by warrant of a Zettre-de-cachet, 
 backed by the Dutch authorities in Holland, and taken 
 to Vincennes, where he was confined three years and a 
 half. Again the charms of his conversation prevailed 
 over the rules of his prison ; and he obtained from the 
 secretary of police leave secretly to correspond with 
 Sophie, which he did during his confinement, and copies 
 of his letters, having been preserved by the police, were 
 afterwards published. For the edification of that fond 
 mistress he translated in prison, and sent to her, 
 Boccaccio's " Tales," and the " Baisers de Jean Second,"
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 453 
 
 works which sufficiently prove the character of the liaison. CHAP. 
 He there also wrote some original compositions, licen- 
 
 tious in the extreme, and abounding in the satire on the 1789 
 sacred writings then so prevalent particularly "L'Erotica 
 Biblion," and " Ma Conversion," the latter of which equals 
 the grossest productions of Aretin, and was a perfect 
 disgrace to a man of Mirabeau's genius. He could not ^f <J^ nv> 
 rest satisfied, however, with such scandalous pursuits ; and, ^f; rc ^ e la 
 
 in a treatise on prisons of state and lettres-de-cachet, ^ m - de 
 
 , . . ,. . , . I'll Mirabeau, 
 
 gave vent to ms indignation at the coercion to which he i. 64, 72. 
 was subjected. 1 
 
 At length he extricated himself from prison, and made 
 his peace with his father by attacking the reputation of His career 
 his mother, whose tenderness to him had been uninter- Revolution, 
 rupted during all the family dissensions which had so 
 long embittered his existence. Immediately after, he re- 
 turned to Provence, where he published his memoirs, 
 which produced an extraordinary sensation. Subsequently 
 he compromised the lawsuit with M. de Monnier ; and, 
 in order to regain Madame de Mirabeau's fortune, exerted 
 all his eloquence and art, both with her and the legal 
 tribunal before which the process depended, to effect a 
 reconciliation with that much-injured lady, whom he 
 represented with truth as an " angel of sweetness and 
 goodness." Having failed in that object, however, he 
 thought no more of either his angel or Sophie, but came 
 to London in company with a young Dutchwoman, who 
 had succeeded both in his inconstant affections. But the 
 strict morals of England soon disconcerted a person of 
 his licentious habits, and he afterwards passed into 
 Prussia, the institutions and rapid rise of which, under 
 the auspices of the Great Frederick, strongly arrested 
 his attention. His residence there led to the composition 
 of the most bulky work which ever appeared with his 
 name, and which related to the Prussian monarchy. 
 During his stay in that country he corresponded regularly 
 with Calonne, the minister of France, for whom he acted
 
 454 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, as a sort of spy, and to whom he furnished valuable 
 -- ! statistical information regarding all the German States. 
 1789. During the whole time he was so employed, he incessantly 
 importuned the French minister for money. After various 
 other literary sallies, in one of which M. Necker, then at 
 the height of his reputation, became the object of his 
 attacks, he was at length thrown into his proper sphere 
 by the convocation of the States-general, when he was 
 elected representative of Aix in Provence. Even before 
 iBio g .Univ. *he meeting of the assembly, he had given proof of the 
 ' 97 '^ ne ne was to a dopt in politics, by steering a middle 
 
 souv.de part between the two extreme parties, whose collision 
 
 Mirabeau, A . . . . 
 
 24,85. was then shaking society to its centre in that remote 
 province. 1 
 
 The preceding detail is necessary to a due appreciation 
 
 character of of the character of Mirabeau, by far the most powerful 
 man who appeared in the commencement of the Revolu- 
 tion. Impetuous in passion, unbridled in desire, vehement 
 in anger, irascible in temper, vain and yet proud, alike 
 without shame and without remorse, the tyrant of men, 
 the corrupter of women, he had been at once an ungrate- 
 ful son,* a faithless husband, a brutal lover, an imperious 
 master, and a needy suppliant. Overwhelmed with debt, 
 without a profession, insatiable in desires, panting for 
 fortune, "alieni appetens, sui profusus ;"f he realised the 
 picture of those reckless yet formidable characters who 
 formed Catiline's conspirators, and of whom the pencil of 
 Sallust has left so graphic a picture. He looked to the 
 Revolution as the means of reinstating his affairs, and 
 reopening to him that round of licentious pleasures, for 
 which, even in middle life, he panted with unextinguish- 
 
 * It is in reference to his mother, who always treated him with the greatest 
 kindness, that this trait in his character is given. His father's conduct to him 
 had been so cruel and unnatural, that it is not surprising it had extinguished 
 every sentiment of filial affection. " L'Ami des Hommes" never ceased to 
 persecute his son with the most impassioned rancour ; and this circumstance 
 affords some extenuation of his licentious life. See LA HAEPE, Court de 
 Literature, xii. 273 ; and WEBER, L 336. 
 
 t " Covetous of others' fortunes, prodigal of his own." 

 
 HISTOKY OF EUROPE. 455 
 
 able ardour. Necker said of him, with equal felicity and CHAP. 
 justice, that he was " an aristocrat by nature and a 
 
 tribune by calculation;" and such in truth was his cha- 1789 - 
 racter. Notwithstanding all his declamations in favour 
 of popular rights, he never at heart had in view to sur- 
 render the vital privileges of his order, and entertained 
 throughout a secret pride in those advantages of birth, 
 with regard to which in public he professed himself to be 
 so indifferent, and a thorough perception of the peril of 
 those democratic principles of which he appeared so 
 ardent a supporter. * He espoused with vehemence the 
 popular side, because he thought it likely to prevail 
 because he had suffered under authority, was bankrupt 
 in fortune and his ardent spirit, thirsting for enjoyment, 
 chafed against all laws, human and divine. But he was 
 equally ready to support the opposite side if it held out 
 still greater advantages ; and when at last he accepted 
 the secret bribes of the court, and sought to allay the 
 tempest which he had been so largely instrumental in 
 creating, he acted not less in conformity with his real 
 inclinations than with the ruling principle of his conduct, l Marm. ii. 
 
 S4-2 34-H 
 
 which was ever to throw for the highest stake. The air La harpe, 
 of sincerity, to which so large a share of his success was x\im,Yjl'. 
 owing, was all assumed ; his professions of public zeal 337 ber La 'b. 
 were a mere cloak for private ambition. He said of 363 - Q0 
 
 Dumont,99. 
 
 Robespierre, whose abilities early attracted his notice, 132. Duvai, 
 " That young man will go great lengths : he believes all 69. 
 he says!' 1 
 
 As an orator, Mirabeau was one of the most powerful 
 that ever appeared on a great stage in public affairs. An 
 
 * He said at the tribune " As to my title of Count, any one is welcome to 
 it who chooses to take it ;" but that was only because he believed that, by the 
 force of such professions, he could obtain a higher rank, and, above all, a larger 
 fortune, than had devolved to him by birth, or he had acquired by marriage. 
 He frequently said in private society, " The Admiral Coligny, who, by the by, 
 was my cousin ; " and when the decree abolishing titles of honour was passed, 
 he said, " Savez-vous que vous avez de'soriente' 1'Europe pendant trois jours ? " 
 At home he was always styled, even after that decree, M. le Comte, and his 
 servants wore livery after it had been disused by every one else. See Biog. 
 Univ. xxix. 108, 109.
 
 456 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 1789. 
 27. 
 
 ter as an 
 
 ardent soul, a ready elocution, vast force of expression, a 
 brilliant imagination, a voice of thunder, an unconquerable 
 will, rendered him the natural leader of an assembly in 
 which the selfish and generous passions were tossed to- 
 gether in wild confusion, and both sought their gratifica- 
 tion in the most extravagant schemes for the reconstruc- 
 tion of society. Like Mr Fox, he had no great store of 
 acquired information he trusted to others for the mate- 
 rials of his orations ; and the greater part both of the 
 most celebrated and laborious compositions which bear his 
 name were the work of an able circle of friends, who, 
 fascinated by his talents, had become the coadjutors of 
 his labours.* But though he got the materials, and often 
 the exordium, from others, the great merit and unbounded 
 success of his speeches were his own. Self-confident in 
 the highest degree, no opposition could daunt, no clamours 
 disconcert him; his ready capacity seldom failed to retort 
 an interruption with effect on his adversaries ; vehement 
 and impassioned, he always contrived, even when insincere, 
 to throw into his speeches that vigour of expression, and 
 earnestness of manner, which contribute so largely to 
 oratorical fascination. No one saw so clearly where the 
 vital points in every question discussed lay ; none knew 
 so well how to address himself, whether in support or 
 opposition, to the prevailing feelings of the majority. 
 Though steeped in gross ideas, and burning for sensual 
 
 * Dumont, Duroverai, and Clavieres, were the most remarkable of these 
 assistants, and composed almost all the writings which at first, before his great 
 oratorical talents had become known, gave Mirabeau his colossal reputation. 
 The former, well known to the world by his invaluable " Souvenirs de 
 Mirabeau," published in 1834, to which this history is so largely indebted, 
 wrote his Courrier de Provence, which, after Mirabeau's Journal des Etats 
 G6n6raux had been stopped by a decree of the royal council, continued to give 
 a summary of the debates of the Assembly, and obtained a prodigious reputa- 
 tion. He also, with Duroverai, wrote the celebrated address to the King for the 
 removal of the armies, on July 8 ; the still more famous " Rights of Man," and 
 many of the speeches which Mirabeau delivered with most emphasis and effect. 
 See DUMONT'S Souvenirs de Mirabeau, 79, 105, 125, 139. Major Mauvillon, 
 a Prussian officer, whom he had in like manner pressed into his service, wrote 
 nearly the whole of his elaborate work on Prussia in eight volumes. 
 Ibid. 136.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 457 
 
 enjoyment, none could utter more elevated sentiments, or CHAP. 
 avail himself with more skill of the generous affections. IV ' 
 Ambitious in the extreme, conscious of powers which i? 89 - 
 qualified him for the lead, he was impatient of attaining 
 it, and fretted against every opposition he encountered. 
 According as his speeches were applauded or interrupted, 
 he gave way to sanguine anticipations, or stigmatised the 
 Assembly as the most deplorable set of imbeciles who 
 were ever brought together. Yet did his self-confidence 
 never desert him. There was something which savoured 
 of the grand even in the resolution which sprang from 
 his vices. Having lost all private character even in the 
 corrupted circles of Paris he resolved to rear up a new 
 influence founded upon public achievements ; gradually 
 rose superior to all his rivals in the Assembly ; and by his 
 courage in difficulty, and energy amid the hesitation of 
 others, ultimately acquired its entire direction. Perhaps is^Tlg. 1 ' 
 he was the only man in France who had a chance of Bi ?s-H" iA 
 
 J xxix. 109. 
 
 moderating or arresting the fervour of the Revolution. De ia 
 He frequently said of Lafayette, when at the head of M&n. d' e 
 the national guard of Paris, "Lafayette has an army ; 1.29,21.' 
 but, believe me, my head, too, is a power." 1 
 
 The only orator on the aristocratic side in the National 
 Assembly, who was at all to be compared to Mirabeau, 
 was the ABB MAURY."* This celebrated man, at once 
 an Academician and a preacher before the King, had 
 
 * The Abbe 1 Mauiy was born on the 26th June 1746, at Vaurens, in the 
 Venaisin, of obscure parents. His education, commenced in his native parish, 
 was completed at Avignon. An ardent thirst for knowledge, a retentive 
 memoiy, and ready talent, rendered him remarkable from his earliest years. 
 At the age of eighteen, he came without either money or friends to Paris, 
 where he at first earned a precarious subsistence by teaching. Before he was 
 twenty he composed a funeral e"loge on the Dauphin; and in 1767, one on 
 Charles V., and an essay on the advantages of Peace, for a prize proposed by 
 the French Academy. These juvenile performances having procured for him 
 some notice, he resolved to take orders, and devote himself to the attainment 
 of public eloquence. His talent in this respect soon made itself known ; and 
 having been chosen, in 1772, to preach a panegyric on Saint Louis, his pulpit 
 oratory met with such success that the Academy petitioned the King to 
 bestow some preferment on the young ecclesiastic, which was immediately 
 done by his being promoted to the abbacy of Frenade. In 1775 he published
 
 458 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, already acquired a brilliant reputation before the meeting 
 of the States-general. A vivid imagination, a memory 
 
 1789. richly stored with the imagery of the East, a happy 
 power of applying the sublime language of Scripture, 
 great facility of elocution, and that decided style of 
 expression which springs from strong internal conviction, 
 made his oratory always impressive, and riveted the 
 attention even of the hostile and unbelieving crowd which 
 composed the great majority of the Assembly. They 
 listened to him as they would have gazed on the opera 
 stage at a representation of the antique and exploded, 
 but yet powerful imagery of Gothic superstition. But, in 
 addition to this, he possessed remarkable abilities as a 
 debater ; and his antagonists soon found, that it was with 
 no theatrical remnant of the olden time that they had 
 to deal in the contests of the States-general. A sound 
 judgment, a clear and penetrating intellect, great rapidity 
 of thought, and a mind fraught with the incidents and 
 
 a panegyric on St Augustin, which had been preached before the assembly 
 of the clergy ; and this was soon followed by other panegyrics on Fe'ne'lon and 
 Bossuet. Subsequently he was promoted to the rich benefice of the priory of 
 Lioris, worth 20,000 francs a-year ; and he was admitted into the most brilliant 
 literary and philosophical society in Paris. In 1787 and 1788, Lamoignon, 
 then Keeper of the Seals, availed himself of his talents in the preparation of the 
 edicts which excited such vehement opposition in the parliaments of France. 
 In 1789 he was named deputy of the clergy for the bailiwick of Peronne, and 
 he first appeared in debate during the discussions on the Veto in September of 
 that year ; after which he took a leading part in the discussions on every subject. 
 The Revolution, which ruined the fortunes of so many others of his party, was, 
 on the contrary, the making of his. He lost, indeed, all his benefices in France ; 
 but being called to Rome by the Pope, he was received with the utmost distinc- 
 tion by the head of the church, the two aunts of Louis XVI., and the whole 
 conclave of cardinals ; and ere long he was rewarded for his strenuous efforts 
 in the cause of the altar and the throne by his elevation to the highest situations 
 in the church. In 1792 he was named Archbishop of Nice in partibm, and in 
 1794 elevated to the dignity of Cardinal and Bishop of Monte Fiascone. On 
 the conquest of Italy by the French, in 1798, they did all they could to seize 
 him, but he escaped disguised as a noiturier to Venice, from whence he with- 
 drew to St Petersburg. In 1799 he returned to Rome upon the conquest of 
 Italy by Suwarroff, and in 1806 was recalled to Paris after the coronation of 
 Napoleon, by whom he was much esteemed ; but his conduct there was far 
 from proving agreeable to the Pope, it being deemed, and apparently with 
 justice, not in unison with the former tenor of his character, and he died in 
 1817, after having fallen under the displeasure of the court of Rome. See 
 Biographic Universette, xxvii. 568, 575 (MAUBT).
 
 HISTOEY OF EUROPE. 459 
 
 lessons of history, made him peculiarly powerful in reply. CHAP. 
 His speeches on these occasions, always extempore a 
 
 thing then rare in the Assembly and delivered with the 1789 - 
 vehemence and energy of impassioned conviction, recalled ^^ "' 
 those sublime instances of ancient heroism, when the in- ^ m - de 
 
 Comte 
 
 spired prophets poured forth in burning strains, against a J 1 ^ 08 ^ 
 blind generation thirsting for their blood, the awful de- m. 398, 399'. 
 nunciations of judgment to come. 1 
 
 It was his unconquerable moral courage, and the 29 
 steady adherence which he manifested in those perilous His invin- 
 times to the great principles of justice and humanity, 
 
 which secured for the Abbe Maury the respect even of 
 his most envenomed enemies. Opposed in debate by 
 Mirabeau, Barnave, and Clermont Tonnerre : interrupted 
 at every step by the hisses or cries of two or three thou- 
 sand spectators in the galleries : certain of being de- 
 feated in all his efforts by an overwhelming majority : 
 in danger of being stoned, strung up to the lamp-post, or 
 torn to pieces at the close of every interesting debate, by 
 the furious mob which often surrounded the Assembly 
 he never deviated from his duty, but was ever to be found 
 at his post, combating the projects of spoliation and 
 robbery which were brought forward, and proclaiming 
 aloud, in the midst of a guilty generation, the eternal 
 principles of justice and religion. Such was the fervour 
 and rapidity of his thoughts, that the reporters in the 
 galleries were unable to write down his finest speeches ; 
 and next day, in the retirement of his dwelling, he was 
 unable to recall what the animation of the tribune had 
 drawn forth. A true soldier of the church, he threw 
 himself with undaunted valour into the breach ; and it 
 was hard to say whether, in oratorical contests, the vehe- 
 ment fervour of his declamation, the cutting force of his 
 sarcasm, or the inexhaustible resources of his knowledge, 
 were most conspicuous. His character may be judged 
 of by two anecdotes. In the commencement of the 
 Assembly, seeing the universal delusion which had seized
 
 460 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, the nation, he said to his friend Marmontel " I have 
 IV ' studied the t\vo parties ; I know the views of each. My 
 
 1789. mind is made up : I will perish in the breach ; but I 
 have not the less the mournful conviction that the enemy 
 will carry the place by assault, and give it up to pillage." 
 And when he took leave of him for the last time, on his 
 setting out for Rome, he said : " In defending the good 
 cause, I have done all I could ; I have exhausted my 
 strength, not to prevail in an Assembly where all my 
 efforts were in vain, but to spread profound ideas of jus- 
 tice and truth in the nation and over Europe. I hope 
 294*407"' even to ke listened to by posterity. It is not without 
 Mi^n. i. profound grief that I remove from my country, but I 
 
 155. Lab. r fo 7 7 i 
 
 iii.399,400. carry with me the firm conviction that trie revolutionary 
 power will one day be destroyed!' 1 
 
 The chief other supporter of the Cote Droit, or Con- 
 
 characterof servative side in the Assembly, was M. CAZALES.'* An old 
 8 ' military officer, he had, shortly before the Revolution, 
 been received into the ranks of the nobility, and he 
 proved one of its most able and intrepid defenders. 
 His character was essentially different from that of the 
 Abbe Maury ; it was more contemplative and philoso- 
 phic. Less fervent and animated than the intrepid 
 
 * Cazales was born in 1752, at Grenade, on the Garonne. He was the son of 
 a counsellor of the parliament at Toulouse, and had the misfortune to lose 
 his father, a man of rank, in early youth ; and as this circumstance seemed to 
 preclude him from the studies requiste for the learned profession, he entered 
 the army, and joined at first with ardour in the amusements and pleasures of 
 that career. But his character was too vigorous, and his mind too powerful 
 to rest long satisfied with such pursuits, and before he had been many years in 
 the service, he took with avidity to literary studies ; while he spent the day in 
 military exercises or amusements, he sat up half the night labouring at every 
 branch of knowledge, and seeking to make up for the deficiencies of his educa- 
 tion by redoubled application in maturer life. He had profoundly studied 
 Montesquieu, and constantly combated the innovations of the Constituent 
 Assembly, upon the ground so ably taken by that great man, that no nation in 
 the end can prosper but by institutions in conformity with its spirit. He was 
 obliged to emigrate, and lost nearly all his fortune, in 1792, but returned to 
 France in 1800, after the elevation of Napoleon, and with the wreck of his 
 fortune purchased a small estate in his native province, where he lived con- 
 tented and happy till his death in 1805. His simplicity of character, rare 
 modesty, and entire disinterestedness, procured for him universal and lasting 
 esteem. See Biographic Universelle, vii. 473, 475 (CAZALES).
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 461 
 
 champion of the church, he was more profound, and had CHAP. 
 taken a wider and more comprehensive view of human 
 
 affairs. The ardent admirer of Montesquieu, he medi- 1789 - 
 tated deeply on that great man's writings, and now 
 exerted himself in the Assembly to resist the movement, 
 from a firm conviction, drawn from his principles, that it 
 would infallibly terminate in the destruction of that free- 
 dom to the establishment of which its efforts were at 
 present directed. Being unaccustomed to public speaking, 
 he at first expressed himself with difficulty, and made no 
 impression ; but the copiousness of his ideas and the 
 intensity of his thoughts soon, as is generally the case, 
 removed that impediment ; and he at length spoke with 
 such force, that, after one of his extempore orations, 
 Mirabeau addressed him with the words " Sir, you are 
 an orator." Simple and precise in his ideas, frank and 
 conscientious in his character, he owed his success in the 
 Assembly to the lucid order in which he unfolded his 
 arguments, and the admirable language in which they 
 were conveyed to his hearers. Had his knowledge been 
 equal to his intellectual powers, or his erudition to his 
 eloquence, he would have made a formidable opponent to 
 Mirabeau himself; but his military education had left 
 great defects in these particulars, which all his subse- 
 quent efforts were unable to overcome. Mirabeau fre- 
 quently said " If the knowledge of Cazales were equal 1 Lab. ;;;. 
 
 401 402. 
 
 to the charms of his elocution, all our efforts would be Th.'i. m. 
 ineffectual against him." 1 
 
 Of a disposition somewhat similar, but on the opposite 
 side in politics, and incomparably superior in learning character of 
 and information, was M. BAILLY. * This eminent and ' BaiUy ' 
 
 * Bailly was born at Paris on the 15th September 1736, so that in 1789 he 
 was fifty-three years of age. His father, who was keeper of the King's 
 pictures, destined him for the same office ; but his disposition led him so 
 strongly to literary studies that it determined his future career. In the first 
 instance, he composed some tragedies, which have not been published, and 
 had no particular merit ; but ere long science attracted him from the paths 
 of literature, and, under the celebrated mathematician, La Caille, he soon 
 attained great proficiency in it. In 1762 he presented to the Academy
 
 462 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, good man was one of the numerous party in France who, 
 ' carried away by the enthusiasm of the age, and the 
 1789 - entire ignorance which prevailed as to the working of 
 human nature in a free constitution, had with sincerity 
 and good faitli embraced the cause of the Revolution, 
 and believed that it would lead to the regeneration of 
 society, the happiness of the country, and the indefinite 
 progress of the human race. That party was formidable, 
 not only from its erudition and talents, but from the 
 philanthropic principles by which its members were ani- 
 mated, the generous sentiments they uttered, the unceas- 
 ing desires for social felicity which they expressed, the 
 intermixture of truth and error which their principles 
 contained, and the real worth of some of its members. 
 Bailly himself was one of the most eminent and respect- 
 able of this body. He was a philosopher known over 
 all Europe, a person of unblemished character and the 
 
 observations on the course of the moon, which attracted considerable atten- 
 tion : subsequently he calculated the course of the comet which appeared in 
 1759 and 1764, and published an essay on the theory of the satellites of 
 Jupiter. In the midst of these scientific labours he did not neglect his 
 literary tastes, but competed for the prizes proposed by the Academy, in 
 successive eloges on Charles V., Pierre Corneille, and Moliere, and other 
 eminent public or literary characters. In 1775 he published his celebrated 
 history of astronomy, which, written in an elegant style, and coinciding with 
 the irreligious principles then so generally prevalent in Paris, was received 
 with extreme favour in the scientific circles of the capital. It has since been 
 demonstrated, that the series of astronomical phenomena which Bailly re- 
 garded as affording decisive evidence of the extreme antiquity of the Hindoo 
 nation, in reality established the reverse ; for they have been shown not to 
 have been taken from actual observation, but to have been framed by calculating 
 backwards on tables constructed during a period consistent with authentic 
 history, and to contain, in consequence, several errors which the more accurate 
 researches of later times have proved are inconsistent with what must have 
 occurred. The great celebrity, however, which in the first instance this work 
 acquired, procured for him in 1784 a place in the Academy ; and soon after he 
 was chosen, by the royal commission appointed by the King to investigate the 
 pretended marvels of animal magnetism, to draw up their report on the 
 subject, which at once dissipated the illusion so generally prevalent in regard 
 to it. In 1785 he was admitted a member of the society of Inscriptions and 
 Belles Lettres, which has left such valuable transactions ; and in 1787 drew up, 
 by desire of the Academy of Sciences, a report on the construction of hos- 
 pitals, in which the discoveries of profound science were guided by the spirit 
 of enlarged philosophy. Such was the reputation which these successive works 
 procured for him among all circles in the capital, that, when the electors 
 assembled in 1789 to choose their representatives for the States-general, he
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 463 
 
 best intentions : and he possessed in the highest degree CHAP. 
 that great quality, rare in men of science, but the first IV ' 
 requisite both in a patriot and a magistrate moral 1789 - 
 courage and mental resolution. He was not gifted with 
 the powers of extempore oratory, and his influence in the 
 Assembly was rather owing to the elevated character and 
 philosophic reputation he had long enjoyed, and the dig- 
 nified position he acquired as mayor of Paris, than to 
 any remarkable power in debate which he possessed ; but 
 he acted a decided and courageous part in its most mo- 
 mentous and dangerous crises, and subsequently evinced, (B^n^in! 
 in striving to arrest the Revolution which he had con- j^ 7 ^ 1 ^ 
 tributed so much to produce, an intrepidity which, with Smyth's 
 
 i p IT- i French 
 
 his tragic fate, must ever render his memory dear to the Rev. i. 253. 
 friends of mankind. 1 
 
 GENERAL LAFAYETTE* belonged to the same philo- 
 
 was the very first person they selected, and subsequently he was made Pre- 
 sident of the Assembly, and Mayor of Paris. But these political elevations, 
 which appeared to put the finishing stroke to his fame, ruined his fortunes, 
 and precipitated him from one calamity to another, till he was guillotined by 
 that very democratic party of whom at first he was the admired leader. His 
 Memoirs are one of the most valuable records of the first stages of the 
 Revolution, though unhappily they terminate in October 1789. See Biographic 
 UniverseUe, iii. 238, 241 (BAILLY). 
 
 * Joseph Gilbert, Marquis de Lafayette, was born at Chavaignee, near 
 Brioude, in Auvergne, on the 6th September 1757. His father, at the age of 
 twenty-five, had been killed a few months before on the field of Minden, where 
 he acted as marechal-de-camp. Young Lafayette was early brought to Paris 
 for his education : and there, from his earliest years, the future dispositions of 
 the man evinced themselves. He has recounted in his Memoirs, that, when 
 prescribed at school a theme on the horse, he took peculiar pleasure in 
 describing the " impatience of the noble animal under the rod of the rider." 
 At the early age of sixteen he married the second daughter of the Duke de 
 Noailles an alliance which secured for him a brilliant position at the court 
 of France, but at the same time confirmed, from the liberal politics of his 
 father-in-law, the strong tendency to republican ideas which he had already 
 evinced. Polished and decorous in his manners, he exhibited the rare example 
 of fidelity to his young wife in the midst of a corrupted court, and abstained 
 from the usual vices and follies of persons of his rank in the capital. The 
 love of popularity, joined to an attachment to freedom, were his ruling pas- 
 sions, and as both these appeared to be likely to obtain gratification in the 
 American War, he engaged as a volunteer in the service of the insurgents on 
 the 7th December 1776, before the French government had ostensibly engaged 
 in the contest. He received the rank of major-general in the American service, 
 but expressly stipulated he was to receive no pay or other emoluments. Pre- 
 vious to setting out, he travelled over and minutely examined Great Britain ;
 
 464 
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 1789. 
 
 32. 
 
 Character 
 and bio- 
 
 fayettc. 
 
 sophical school as Bailly, and he was not less charac- 
 terised by purity of intention and elevation of principle ; 
 but he had not the firmness of character of the philoso- 
 phic mayor, and possessed a mingled vein of simplicity 
 
 and as the two countries were still at peace, it was with considerable difficulty, 
 and only by withdrawing by stealth, that he avoided a lettre-de-cachet which 
 Maurepas, at the instigation of the English ambassador, issued against him to 
 prevent his serving in the insurgent ranks. On the 26th April 1777 he 
 embarked with his friend and comrade, Baron de Ralf, for the New World, 
 and landed at Georgetown, from whence he joined the army of Washington, 
 then encamped, eleven thousand strong, near Philadelphia. He had some 
 difficulty at first in getting an appointment, but at length he succeeded in 
 attracting notice by the following laconic note : " Considering my sacrifices, 
 I think I am entitled to ask two favours : the first, to serve at my own 
 expense ; the second, to begin as a simple volunteer." Washington then gave 
 him an interview ; and as he evinced some reluctance to show the new Ame- 
 rican levies manoeuvring before a French officer, Lafayette replied, " I am come 
 here to learn, not to teach." 
 
 Soon after, he was appointed major-general, and was wounded at the battle 
 of Brandywine, when endeavouring to rally the American fugitives during a 
 rout which the inconceivable apathy of the English general alone prevented 
 from becoming a decisive overthrow. Subsequently he took part, always with 
 courage and ability, in the principal events of the American War ; and, as he 
 corresponded regularly with the French ministers, there can be no doubt that 
 his information contributed not a little to the open accession of France to the 
 coalition against Great Britain, which was the real cause of the contest with 
 the insurgents terminating in their independence. Having been engaged in 
 the battle of Barnhill in 1778, where the Americans were again saved by the 
 supineness of the English from total destruction, he received the thanks of 
 Congress for his gallant conduct, and soon after returned to France to aid the 
 cause of American independence, by stimulating the government to serious 
 efforts in favour of the insurgents. By his indefatigable exertions the repug- 
 nance of Louis and Turgot to any intervention was at length overcome ; and 
 soon after the treaty of February 6, 1778, was signed between France and 
 America, which proved, in the first instance, the cause of the dismemberment 
 of the British, in the last, of the overthrow of the French monarchy. Having 
 succeeded in this great object, he returned to America, now openly assisted by 
 the land and sea forces of France ; and so great was the attachment he had 
 inspired, and the general sense of the services he had rendered to their cause, 
 that Washington shed tears of joy when he presented him to his troops. 
 Subsequently, Lafayette was engaged in several successful expeditions intrusted 
 to his command ; and he led the troops to storm one of the most important 
 redoubts which protected the British lines in New York, and contributed 
 essentially to the surrender of Lord Cornwallis in that town in October 1781. 
 After this he was sent to the court of Madrid, to arrange some disputes which 
 had broken out between the Spaniards and America. Charles III. received him 
 very politely, but with some distrust, on account of the liberal opinions which 
 he constantly expressed. When it was proposed to confide to Lafayette the 
 command of an expedition against Jamaica, and give him the command of the 
 island, the old King exclaimed, " No, no, that would never do ; he would make 
 it a republic ! " 
 
 On his return to France he received the most flattering reception; and,
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 465 
 
 and vanity, which rendered him on more than one CHAP. 
 
 iv 
 momentous crisis one of the most fatal promoters of the L_ 
 
 Revolution. Descended of an old and noble family, he 1789 - 
 had preserved the purity of his heart in the midst of a 
 corrupted court, and continued, when married to an 
 
 to gratify his secret thirst for popularity, he made the tour of the principal 
 states of Europe, in all of which, even the most despotic, he was received 
 with the most unbounded enthusiasm. Such was the interest he excited, 
 that his progress resembled rather that of a popular king than even of the 
 greatest and most successful general. At Berlin he was received with the 
 utmost distinction by the Great Frederick, who, however, was far from being 
 carried away by the democratic illusions then so generally prevalent. " I 
 once knew," said the aged hero to him, "a young man who, after having 
 visited the countries where liberty prevailed, wished to establish it in his own 
 country. Do you know what happened to him?" "No, sire!" "Sir, he 
 was hanged." So far, however, was Lafayette from perceiving the sarcastic 
 depth of this remark, that he recounts it with infantine simplicity in his 
 Memoirs. At the court of France, however, when he returned to Paris, the 
 same penetration did not prevail as to the ultimate tendency of his conduct : 
 his reception there was so flattering that it might have turned the strongest 
 head. Marie Antoinette, by a condescension without precedent, drove Madame 
 de Lafayette to the hotel of the Duke de Noailles when her husband arrived ; 
 he never appeared in public without being overwhelmed by acclamations. 
 Ever dreaming, however, of resistance and revolution, he soon repaired to the 
 south of France, and entered into correspondence with the Protestants there, 
 still labouring under the unjust restrictions following the revocation of the 
 Edict of Nantes; and with his usual haste and imprevoyance, he was clear, if 
 immediate redress was not given, to commence an insurrection. 
 
 Having consulted Washington, however, on the subject, that great man 
 replied, " It is a fundamental rule in military operations to study the ground 
 well before hazarding an engagement : often more is done by approaches in 
 force than by a sudden assault." This sage advice turned him aside from his 
 design ; but still his head teemed incessantly with similar projects. The 
 " Hero of the Two Worlds," as his admirers called him, could not rest in 
 peace. Plans for the conquest of Egypt ; for seizing Algiers and the States of 
 Barbary ; for the general emancipation of the negroes ; and other projects 
 equally chimerical, successively engaged his attention, and were embraced 
 with such seriousness, that it was only by the advice of Washington, with 
 whom he regularly corresponded, that he was dissuaded from actually en- 
 gaging in them. Such a disposition found a lasting object of interest and 
 action in the Revolution. Elected deputy by the noblesse of Auvergne, he 
 perceived so little the tendency of the general movement that he wrote to 
 Washington, in May 1789, that "France would arrive by little and little, and 
 without any great convulsion, at a representative constitution, and consequent 
 diminution of the royal authority." Yet hi three months after this was 
 written the monarchy was overthrown, and in three years more Lafayette 
 himself was obliged to fly from France, with a price set on his head, and only 
 escaped the guillotine by imprisonment in an Austrian dungeon. See 
 Mfmoires, Correspondance, et Manuscrits de Lafayette, 6 vola. Paris, 1838, vols. 
 1 and 2 ; and Biographie des Contemporaint, Supplement, vol. Ixix. 343-356 
 (LAFAYETTE). 
 
 VOL. I. 2 G
 
 466 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, amiable wife, that simplicity of manners which belongs to 
 a more primitive state of society. But his capacity and 
 
 1789. judgment in public were far from being equal to his 
 virtues in private. Endowed with a lively imagination, 
 a sanguine temperament, an ardent philanthropy, and an 
 insatiable vanity, he had little penetration, and still less 
 strength of intellect. Firmly convinced of the truth of his 
 principles, persevering in maintaining them, he gathered 
 nothing from the course of events, and worshipped the 
 chimera of a " throne surrounded by republican institu- 
 tions" as fervently, after the termination of the French 
 Revolution had demonstrated its futility, as when the 
 American insurrection first wakened men to the entran- 
 cing hope of its realisation. This rendered him incapable 
 of perceiving the pernicious tendency of his doctrines, 
 when so many others of his party were striving to arrest 
 their effects ; and unfit, in truth, to acquire the direction 
 of the frightful insurrection to which he first gave the 
 discipline and force of military organisation. He was 
 consistent throughout, but rather in error than in truth ; 
 individually brave, chivalrous to excess, often generous, 
 enthusiastic in what he sincerely believed the good cause, 
 he looked for no personal advantage from the Revolu- 
 tion, and repeatedly said, " it would leave him where it 
 found him." He was satisfied if he thought American 
 institutions, the object of his unceasing admiration, could 
 be established in France ; seeing no difference between 
 the circumstances of a young republic with English 
 blood and a boundless unoccupied territory, and an aged 
 monarchy with French passions and a limited, fully 
 appropriated soil. Occasionally he made a gallant 
 though ineffectual stand against popular violence ; but 
 io6 OU1 Lab.' * n g enera l a thirst for popularity, and a blind belief, 
 -248 TT 2 ^ 9 ' which even the horrors of the Revolution could not 
 
 Joiog. umv. 
 
 33 1 356 p> Sna ^ e * n * ne ^rtues of mankind, were his besetting weak- 
 nesses j 1 and one unpardonable piece of neglect, when 
 the lives of his sovereigns were at stake, and committed
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 467 
 
 to his defence, has left a blot on his memory which can CHAP. 
 
 u a- J IV. 
 
 never be effaced. 
 
 CLERMONT TONNERRE'* had a generous disposition, 1789 - 
 and an uncorrupted heart; he wished for others the chapter of 
 happiness, and believed there existed in them the virtue, x^rre 
 which he felt in himself. He had a contemplative dis- 
 position, an enthusiastic mind, great facility in speaking, 
 and unbounded application ; but, like all the others of 
 that philosophic party, he was entirely destitute of know- 
 ledge of mankind by actual experience, and though well 
 acquainted with history, he had not sufficient force of 
 mind to distinguish its imaginary from its real lessons. 
 Perhaps no intellect under that of Machiavel or Montes- 
 quieu is able to do so, till instructed in the facts of 
 value, and the real inferences to be drawn from them, 
 by personal observation and experienced suffering. He 
 sincerely believed it possible to construct a constitutional 
 monarchy out of a corrupted noblesse, an irreligious 
 middle class, and an ignorant people. His powers of 
 application were immense : the " Resume des Cahiers," 
 which he prepared by order of the Assembly, in order 
 to extract from that immense mass of instructions some- 
 thing like a uniform and consistent system, affords a 
 decisive proof both of his perseverance and capacity for 
 generalisation. In the earlier stages of the Revolution, 
 he supported all the usurpations of the popular party, 
 
 * Stanislaus, Count de Clermont Tonnerre, was born in 1747. His father, 
 the Marquis de Clermont Tonnerre, had served with distinction in the armies 
 of Louis XV., and the son also was bred to the profession of arms. But 
 although he rose in the service to the rank of colonel, his disposition always 
 strongly attracted him to political speculations, and, before the Revolution 
 broke out, his liberal tendency had become well known. When the States- 
 general were elected, he was the first deputy named for his order, and it was 
 as one of the representatives of the noblesse of Paris. From the veiy first he 
 formed one of the minority headed by the Duke of Orleans, who contended 
 that they should unite at once with the Tiers Etat ; and he acquired, in con- 
 sequence, great popularity, which was augmented by a pamphlet which he 
 early published during the continuance of the contest, recommending the 
 same step. He was massacred by the people during the revolt of the 10th 
 August, with so many other of their earliest and firmest supporters among the 
 nobility. See Biographic Universelle, ix. 90, 92 (CLERMONT TONNERRE).
 
 468 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, and was thus implicated in many measures of mani- 
 
 1 fest illegality, which ultimately proved fatal to freedom 
 
 1789. i n France ; but he did so, like so many others at that 
 
 period, in good faith, and without the alloy of selfish 
 
 , ^ ... interest ; and on many occasions, when the atrocities of 
 
 162. Fer- the people had commenced, and the opposite leaders 
 
 riereg,M6m. . . 
 
 i. 162, 164. became the victims of their violence, he exerted his great 
 171, Ise! powers of eloquence, too often without effect, in the cause 
 of humanity. 1 
 
 LALLY TOLLENDAL * was one of the same school ; but 
 
 34 
 
 ofLaiiy he was more inclined to favour the monarchy than 
 and the'two Clermont Tonnerre. He belonged to the order of nobles, 
 Lameths. k^ j^ j^-^ an( j j nc ij na tion but the atrocious injus- 
 tice of which his father, Count Lally, so distinguished 
 in eastern history, had been the victim under Louis 
 
 * Trephine Gerard, Count of Lally Tollendal, was born at Paris on 5th 
 March 1751. He was son of the brave and unfortunate General Lally, who 
 defended Pondicherry with so much gallantry against the English, and sub- 
 sequently was condemned with such atrocious injustice and cruelty by the 
 parliament of Paris. He had been educated during youth at the college of 
 Harcourt, in entire ignorance of his birth, in consequence of the long-pro- 
 tracted proceedings against his father ; and it was when the approach of his 
 execution excited general interest and commiseration, that he learned for the 
 first time that he was his son. He instantly flew to the place of execution, " to 
 bid him," as he has himself told us, " an eternal adieu ; to let him hear the 
 voice of a son amidst the cries of his executioners, and embrace him on the 
 scaffold when he was about to perish." But his filial piety was hi vain ; the 
 hour of the horrid act had been accelerated, and young Lally arrived in time 
 only to see his father's blood streaming over the scaffold. Overwhelmed with 
 horror, he sunk hi a swoon on the ground, and was carried back insensible to 
 the college. So terrible a stroke, of necessity and as a matter of duty, inspired 
 him with a profound hatred at the institutions of which his father had been the 
 innocent victim. He adopted with devout resolution his father's testament, 
 which bequeathed to him the duty of righting his memory ; and exerted him- 
 self with such vigour and perseverance to procure a revision of his sentence 
 that, under the equitable government of the just Louis XVI., it was at length 
 accomplished, though not without the most strenuous and disgraceful resist- 
 ance on the part of the parliament of Paris, headed by d'Esprfimenil. Vol- 
 taire took throughout a warm interest hi this great act of justice, and he wrote 
 from his deathbed hi 1778, at Paris, to young Lally, on learning of his first 
 success, in these terms : " On the bed of death I revive on hearing this event. 
 I embrace M. de Lally with all my heart. I see the King is the defender of 
 justice. I die content." It is hard to say whether these lines redound more 
 to the honour of Voltaire, of Lally, or of Louis. Though an innovator in 
 opinion and on principle, he was a royalist in habit and by inclination, and 
 entertained deep gratitude to Louis for his efficacious interposition, which 
 alone extricated his father's memory from the obloquy which had been cast
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 469- 
 
 XV.,* necessarily, and as a matter of filial duty, threw CHAP. 
 
 him into the arms of the popular party. He sincerely ! 
 
 desired the continuance of the royal authority ; but he J789 - 
 desired it shorn of its despotic character, and, above 
 all, with the ministers of the crown deprived of those 
 despotic powers which they had hitherto possessed, 
 and sometimes exercised with such iniquity. A con- 
 stitution on the model of England was the object of his 
 desires ; and he saw no difficulty in accomplishing it, 
 by the simple division of the States-general into two 
 chambers the nobility and clergy forming the upper 
 house. Ardent, active and enthusiastic, he had in- 
 herited all his father's warmth of character ; but to 
 that he added a patient industry, a habit of appli- 
 cation, which rendered him the able coadjutor of Cler- l ab -jji- 
 
 J lt>6. iJio 
 
 mont Tonnerre in the herculean labour of forming the Pft^j 
 "Resume of the Cahiers." 1 Alexander and Charles (Lameth). 
 LAMETH t embraced the same principles, and were ac- 
 
 upon it by the parliament of Paris. Young Lally was bred to the army ; but 
 the idea which wholly preoccupied him of vindicating his father's character, 
 both developed his talents, added to his information, and gave firmness to his 
 character. Like Clermont Tonnerre, he was one of the minority who voted 
 for the union of orders, and subsequently took a lead on the liberal side in the 
 first proceedings of the Assembly : but he easily saw whither general fervour 
 and popular fury were impelling his party ; his love of justice was soon 
 shocked by the excesses committed ; and, so early as the 20th and 23d July, 
 he was found at the tribune vainly endeavouring to arrest the atrocities, in 
 preparing which he had been no inconsiderable actor. On the last occasion he 
 ventured to attack Mirabeau himself, saying, looking sternly at that redoubted 
 leader " One may have talent, great ideas, and be a tyrant." Along with 
 Mounier, he laboured for the formation of a constitution similar to that of 
 England for his country; but, like all the early and rational friends of freedom 
 in France, he was swept away by the torrent of democratic ambition ; and, 
 after the 5th of October 1789, finding all his efforts in vain, he resigned his 
 situation as deputy, and retired to Switzerland. Subsequently he was thrown 
 into prison on the 10th August 1792, escaped by almost a miracle the 
 massacres of September, and at length found a refuge and asylum in England. 
 The rest of his life was devoted to combating the principles of the Revolution. 
 See Biographie Universelle, Ixix. 513, 517, Supplement (LALLY TOLLEKDAL). 
 
 * Ante, CHAP. it. 85, note. 
 
 t Charles, Count of Lameth, was born on 5th October 1757, and, like his 
 brother Alexander, who was three years younger, owed his education and first 
 advancement in life to the kindness of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette. He 
 was a captain in the army when he was sent to America with Rochambeau, and 
 imbibed his first liberal ideas from his service in that country. On his return
 
 470 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, tuated by the same motives ; but in their case, ingrati- 
 
 ' tude for signal benefits from the King and Queen gave 
 
 1789. an ungenerous character to their measures, and exposed 
 
 them to vehement and general obloquy from the nobles, 
 
 to which class they belonged by birth. All their efforts, 
 
 after the power of the Crown had been overthrown by a 
 
 usurpation in which they bore a part, were ineffectual to 
 
 stem the flood of democracy, which soon streamed over 
 
 and swept away the whole bulwarks alike of order and 
 
 freedom in the State. 
 
 Born with fiercer passions, endowed with brighter 
 
 character of talents, impelled to good or evil by more impetuous 
 dispositions, BARNAVE* was a more prominent character 
 in the early history of the Revolution. He was a 
 young advocate in Dauphin e, who already had made 
 himself conspicuous in the troubles of Grenoble ; and 
 
 to Paris he was cordially received by the court, and became in an especial 
 manner the object of favour and protection to the Queen, who procured for 
 him in marriage Mademoiselle Peroti, daughter of a rich Bordeaux merchant, 
 with whom he acquired a considerable fortune. He was thus bound, as well 
 as his brother Alexander, who was in like manner promoted beyond all pre- 
 cedent by the court, by all the ties of gratitude to the royal cause : neverthe- 
 less they became from the very first among its most determined and enven- 
 omed opponents. Charles was appointed deputy of Artois to the States- 
 general in 1789; Alexander obtained a seat in the same assembly as deputy 
 for the noblesse of Peronne. Both brothers evinced from the first a de- 
 termined hostility to the royal cause, which, to say the least of it, was, con- 
 sidering their numerous obligations both to the King and Queen, ungrateful 
 in the extreme. It appeared when the celebrated Litre Rouge, or record of 
 the secret expenses of the Court, was published, that he and his brother had 
 cost the King for their education alone, 60,000 francs (2800). Charles was 
 arrested after the 10th August, like all the other early friends of liberty in the 
 aristocracy, and owed his life to Danton's intercession, but on condition of 
 instantly leaving France. Alexander Lameth, equally with his brother, was 
 violent and ungrateful to his royal benefactors ; he was one of the forty-seven 
 nobles who, with the Duke of Orleans, joined the Tiers Etat. He was in the 
 army, and has admitted, in his history of the Constituent Assembly, that he 
 was privy to the insurrection of the troops on the 14th July, which overturned 
 the throne. Subsequently he took an active part in the most hasty and 
 destructive acts of the Constituent Assembly, and was rewarded for all his 
 sacrifices of honour and duty on the altar of the Revolution, by being obliged 
 to fly from his country, and, like Lafayette, found refuge from his former 
 associates in an Austrian dungeon. See Biographic Unirersette, vol. Ixi. 95, 108 
 (CHARLES AND ALEXANDER LAMETH). 
 
 * Antoine Barnave was born at Grenoble in 1761. He was the son of a 
 Protestant, and himself belonged to that persuasion ; so that he imbibed from
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 471 
 
 on that account he was elected member for the Tiers CHAP. 
 Etat of Vizille. His figure was thin and diminutive, his 
 
 voice weak, and his physical qualities such as little 1789. 
 qualified him to bear a leading part in the stormy 
 scenes of the National Assembly. But within that 
 frail and unprepossessing frame, he concealed a power- 
 ful mind, an ardent spirit, a candid and generous heart. 
 His rapid thought, quick discernment, and ready elocu- 
 tion, rendered him peculiarly powerful in debate ; and 
 being enthusiastic on the popular side, he would, but 
 for the towering strength of Mirabeau, have acquired 
 the lead on that side in the Assembly. On many 
 occasions he stood forth second only to him, in these 
 stormy discussions. Profoundly imbued with hatred of 
 the aristocracy, he brought to the popular cause the 
 ardent passions of the south of France ; and the vehe- 
 mence of his temper made him utter some expressions,* 
 in palliation of the early excesses of the popular party, 
 which have affixed a lasting stigma on his name. But 
 in cooler moments the candour of his disposition pre- 
 vailed over these unworthy passions ; the clearness of 
 his intellect at length opened his eyes to the fatal 
 effects, upon the cause alike of order and of freedom, 1B1 g-. u n>y- 
 
 . vol. in. 390, 
 
 of the course which he was pursuing ; his heart was 391 (Bar- 
 touched by the dignity with which the Queen, on the?ii. V 20. 
 journey from Varennes, bore the reverses of fortune ; 1 
 
 infancy those democratic opinions by which that sect in France were at that 
 period generally distinguished. His father was an attorney, and he himself 
 was bred to the bar ; where, having attained some distinction before the courts 
 of Grenoble, he was chosen representative for that town to the States-general. 
 At first he showed himself a warm partisan of the Revolution; and his 
 eloquence, impetuosity, and imagination speedily acquired for him a brilliant 
 reputation. Subsequently, however, he perceived the fatal tendency of the 
 innovations which were going forward, and strove to moderate them. From 
 that moment his reputation was at an end. It will appear in the sequel what 
 an important part he played in the interesting episode of the journey from 
 Varennes, and how the line of conduct which he sxibsequently adopted, 
 brought him before the revolutionary tribunal, by whom he was condemned 
 and executed on the 29th October 1793. See Biographie. Uniterselle, iii. 390, 
 391 (BARNAVE). 
 
 * " Was, then, the blood which has been shed so very pure ?"
 
 472 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, and his last efforts in public life were devoted to the 
 vain endeavour to erect a barrier against that very 
 
 1789. democratic power which at first he made such strenuous 
 
 efforts to establish. 
 
 36 These were the leading characters in the Constituent 
 
 Biop-aphy Assembly : for TALLEYRAND,* who took an important 
 
 ofTalley- , J . . . ,, 1 
 
 rand. ' though not a conspicuous part in their proceedings, was 
 a man who subsequently rose to greatness, and whose 
 portrait will more fitly be drawn in a future volume, 
 when the extraordinary mutations of his fortune, and 
 the unparalleled adroitness with which he regulated his 
 career, have been unfolded. It would have been well 
 for France, however, if the Assembly had contained 
 only such men as these, who were endowed with 
 enlarged minds, and held, in general, philanthropic 
 views ; and all of whom, even including Mirabeau, 
 became ere long alive to the peril of the career on 
 which they had adventured, and made strenuous, though 
 unsuccessful, efforts to arrest the march of the Revolu- 
 tion. .But in addition to these, there were two clubs 
 
 * Charles Maurice de Perigord, afterwards Prince of Talleyrand, was born at 
 Paris in 1754. He was nephew of the Archbishop of Rheims, and was early 
 destined for the church, in which his inimitable penetration and skill in the 
 management of affairs soon gave him a degree of importance, especially in 
 matters of business. In 1780 his talents in these respects were so well known 
 that he was named agent-general of the clergy; and in 1789, when the Revo- 
 lution broke out, he was already Bishop of Autun. So well were his abilities 
 known at this early period, that Mirabeau, in his secret correspondence with 
 the court of Berlin, remarked him as one of the most acute and powerful men 
 of his age. He was appointed deputy for the clergy of his diocese to the 
 States-general in 1789 ; and though not possessed of any oratorical talents, and 
 seldom appearing at the tribune, he ere long acquired a great degree of cele- 
 brity; was a member of all the important committees, of which he soon 
 acquired the direction, and thus came to exercise a powerful influence on the 
 progress of the Revolution. His character will come to be more appropriately 
 drawn in the close of this work, when the latter stages of his eventful career 
 are detailed, with the immense sway which he exercised at the fall of Napo- 
 leon. He was the only distinguished member of the Constituent Assembly 
 on the popular side, who escaped exile or death at the hands of the democratic 
 faction ; and he did so only in consequence of the good sense which led him to 
 withdraw to America during the worst days of the Revolution, when he was 
 denounced by the Convention. See infra, CHAP. LXXXIX. 34 et seq. ; and 
 Biographie det Contemporains, xx. 440, 443.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 473 
 
 already established in Paris, which, although they had CHAP ; 
 not attained the celebrity of those of the Jacobins and _ -1 
 Cordeliers, which exercised so terrible a sway on its 1789 - 
 future fortunes, were yet not without their influence 
 at the same time, and are highly important as illustrating i 
 the secret views of the parties which were already u?, 148.' 
 formed in the States-general. 1 
 
 The first of these was a club which held its meetings at 
 Montrouge, near Paris, and embraced all the confirmed con- The ci'ub 
 spirators. Its leading characters were Mirabeau, Sieyes, 
 the Count Latouche, the Count de Sillery, and the Cheva- i ea ns e c< 
 lier Laclos. The three last were avowed and well-known s P irac y 
 parasites of the Orleans family, and had taken an active 
 part in those infamous orgies which had given the Palais 
 Royal and Folie de Chartres so deplorable a reputation. 
 Laclos said with truth, that he had been for his friends 
 " la liaison la plus dangereuse." * The plan of these 
 conspirators, who had formed the settled design of over- 
 turning the throne, was to supplant the reigning dynasty 
 by the Orleans branch of the Bourbon family to get 
 the duke created, first lieutenant-general, and then 
 sovereign of the kingdom. But as they were possessed 
 of little influence, except in the most depraved circles of 
 the capital, and had no weight whatever with any of 
 the respectable members of society, they felt the neces- 
 sity of allying themselves to the popular leaders, and 
 using every effort, by the liberal application of money, 
 and still more liberal assertion of democratic opinions, 
 to win over to their side those masses of abandoned 
 men and women with whom every great capital abounds, M^nier, 
 and who literally overflowed in Paris at the commence- ^'phno- 
 ment of the Revolution. Mirabeau, to a certain extent, s op he ?. 92 - 
 
 Montjoye, 
 
 was admitted to their councils ; he was flattered by CODS P- 
 
 i T i i-i d Orleans, 
 
 their caresses and seduced by their luxuries, and would ;. 94, 268. 
 have gone all lengths with them if he had seen more us,' 149. 
 vigour, and consequent chance of success, in their chief. 2 
 
 * Alluding to his well-known production, " Les Liaisons Dangereuses."
 
 474 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. The Duke of Orleans, ambitious, but yet weak and irreso- 
 lute, allowed the conspiracy to proceed without any settled 
 
 1789< plan to what purpose to apply it, and still less capacity 
 to obtain the mastery of its dark and selfish passions. 
 
 The other club, which embraced a much greater 
 The ciub number, not of more abandoned, but of more sincere 
 of and determined characters, was the Club Breton. It 
 
 bins.* had its meetings in Paris, and embraced all the decided 
 democrats both in and out of the Assembly. The name 
 of the club was taken from a number of ardent deputies 
 from Brittany, who first formed it, and at once brought 
 into its bosom those fierce passions which had been drawn 
 forth, and extreme designs which had been matured, 
 j during the civil conflict which had so lately distracted 
 
 in. 113. that province. 1 Barnave, Rabaut St Etienne, the Abbe 
 Gregoire, and many others, who made a figure in the first 
 days of the Constituent Assembly, were members of it ; 
 but it embraced others who rose to celebrity only in its 
 later stages, particularly ROBESPIERRE, PETION, Buzot, 
 Lanjuinais, and a large part of the Jacobins who ulti- 
 mately acquired such irresistible power in the Revolution. 
 Their intentions were to establish an entire democracy, 
 and, in the prosecution of that object, overturn the throne, 
 the altar, and the whole institutions of the country. The 
 Constituent Assembly was not ripe for their designs ; the 
 remains of monarchical attachment yet lingered in the 
 bosoms of the majority of its members ; they were prepared 
 to overthrow almost everything else, but sincerely believed 
 this might be effected without shaking the throne. Hence 
 these extreme characters acquired no great influence in 
 tne fi rs t Assembly, but they were all-powerful in the last. 
 This c ^ l ^> however, was regarded as a valuable focus of 
 1794 "'MO un i n by a ^ tne determined republicans : the early excesses 
 Deposit, au of the Revolution were, for the most part, matured in its 
 
 Ch&teletsur . '. . r . . 
 
 le Set 6 Oct. committees ; and little is known of its designs, because all 
 
 iii. lie. a ' its members were bound by a solemn oath to divulge none 
 
 of its proceedings. 2 Sieyes, who was at first a member,
 
 HISTOKY OF EUROPE. 475 
 
 early divined their dangerous intentions. " I will return CHAP. 
 there no more/' said he to Mirabeau : " their politics are 
 
 those of the cavern ; their expedients consist in crimes." 1789 - 
 
 Immense was the addition made to the excitement in the 
 capital, by the protracted contest between the nobles and Prodigious 
 commons as to the verification of their orders separately ^parT" 
 or in common. Suspense in this, as in most other cases, conteft of 
 added to passion. It was felt by all that this was the the orders> 
 vital question of the Revolution ; that if this cardinal 
 point were once gained, there would no longer remain 
 any obstacle whatever to the establishment of a new con- 
 stitution on a thoroughly democratic basis. The journals 
 incessantly dwelt on the incalculable blessings which would 
 flow from such a consummation ; they extolled Necker to 
 the skies ; he was the first of men, the saviour of France, 
 the destroyer of feudal tyranny, the Avatar of the human 
 race. The arts lent their aid to the general illusion ; and 
 in a midtitude of engravings, rapidly published and eagerly 
 bought up, he was represented like Samson, throwing down, 
 by his single arm, the vast fabric of Gothic oppression.* 
 It may be conceived how the mind of this well-meaning 
 and conscientious, but vain, and in this respect weak man 
 living as he did on the breath of popularity, and worship- 
 ping with fervent adoration public opinion as the unerring i Be rtrand 
 guide of the statesman reeled under the intoxication of 199^12'' 
 this universal adoration. It rendered him wholly unequal * staei, i. 
 to the crisis, and aggravated the dreadful fault he had Ne'cker, 
 
 11 *.*. J I j.1 f ^ V R<*. Franc. 
 
 originally committed, m leaving the question of voting by i. 119, 1-21. 
 order or by head undecided by the King. 1 For he was too 
 
 * The author is in possession of a collection of these engravings, which is 
 one of the most curious records of the Revolution. They indicate a degree of 
 fervour in the public mind which would be deemed incredible, if not established 
 by such authoritative contemporary evidence. So rapid, however, were the 
 mutations of populai'ity in the progress of the convulsion, that all the industry 
 of the artists could not produce original designs to keep pace with them ; and 
 the device they fell upon was to reproduce the old plates with a new face in- 
 serted in the principal figure. In this way they soon decapitated Necker, and 
 substituted the hideous visage of Marat on his shoulders ; and on the old body 
 of Lafayette there appeared first the head of Dumourier, and afterwards that 
 of Napoleon.
 
 476 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, much influenced by the thirst for popularity to attempt 
 IV ' anything likely to check it, and yet too sensible of the 
 
 1789. impending danger to venture upon that bold course which, 
 by putting him at once at the head of the movement, 
 might possibly have given him its direction. 
 
 The aristocratic class, however, as the contest between 
 Vacillation the orders rolled on, and week after week elapsed without 
 drthT any adjustment having been effected, became daily more 
 Ministry. sens ibi e O f the danger in which they were involved. The 
 King's ministers were in consternation, but wholly at a 
 loss what expedient to adopt to extricate the nation from 
 its embarrassments. Necker, whom the menacing tone 
 and hourly increasing strength of the Tiers Etat had at 
 length weaned, at the eleventh hour, from his unbounded 
 confidence in their wisdom, moderation, and virtue, fairly 
 confessed in private to Marmontel that he had no project 
 to suggest. The more influential members of the com- 
 mons, who dined frequently at his hotel, evinced clearly 
 by their manner that they would no longer submit to him 
 as their leader, and that gratitude for past services was 
 entirely obliterated in their breasts by the ambition for 
 future elevation. It was proposed to the ministers that 
 the King should retire into one of the strong places, and 
 put himself at the head of his troops ; but the total want 
 of money, and the certainty that such a step would at 
 once induce national bankruptcy and civil war, was con- 
 sidered as an insurmountable objection. " Do you really," 
 said M. de Montmorin, "conceive the danger to be so 
 imminent as to call for these extreme measures V " I 
 
 1 Mann. 
 
 Mem ii believe it is so pressing," replied Marmontel, " that in a 
 317! ' month hence I would not answer for the liberty of the 
 King, nor for his head, nor for yours." 1 
 
 The prelates sounded the alarm in the strongest terms 
 on this portentous state of things. The torrent of irreli- 
 gious opinion with which France had lately been deluged, 
 had awakened a general belief amongst the reflecting part 
 of the community that some terrible national catastrophe
 
 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 477 
 
 was at hand. The ex-Jesuit Beau-Regard, when preaching CHAP. 
 before the court in Lent, on May 20th, appeared to be sud- 
 
 denly seized with a fit of frenzy, like the Pythian goddess 1789. 
 when under divine inspiration, and pronounced with an Rem ^k able 
 emphatic voice these remarkable words, which subsequent |,^ cy of 
 events rendered prophetic : " Yes ! thy temples, Lord, Beau-Re- 
 shall be destroyed ; thy worship abolished ; thy name 20. ' 
 blasphemed. But what do I hear, great God ! to the holy 
 strains which beneath sacred roofs arose in thy praise shall 
 succeed profane and licentious songs ; the infamous rites 
 of Venus shall usurp the place of the worship of the Most 
 High ! and she herself sit on the throne of the Holy of i Lac vii 
 Holies, to receive the incense of her new adorers." Who }} Prud - 
 
 nomme, 
 
 could have imagined that this was literally to be accom- R e>- <fe 
 
 Paris vi. 
 
 plished in four years within the cathedral walls of Notre 349. ' 
 Dame! 1 ''' 
 
 It was not surprising that these desponding views were ^ 
 entertained by all persons of a reflecting turn in Paris ; views of 
 for the designs of the conspirators against the throne were ratorsTiT 
 fully formed, firmly acted upon, and rapidly approached side. populi 
 their accomplishment. They were thus unfolded by 
 Chamfort, Mirabeau's friend and confidant, to Marmon- 
 tel. " It is useless to talk of repairing and not destroy- 
 ing ; extensive ameliorations soon reduce an old edifice to 
 a heap of ruins. It is necessary to destroy the old edifice 
 from top to bottom. Is it any great grievance to think 
 that you are likely to hear no more of titles, or noblesse, 
 or roturiers, or eminences, or greatness, or high or low 
 clergy \ Be assured the leaders know what they are 
 about." " But will the nation," said Marmontel, " agree 
 to all that V " The nation !" returned Chamfort : " bah ! 
 the nation is a huge flock of sheep, which is intent only 
 on getting good pasture, and which can easily be guided 
 at pleasure by good shepherds and fierce dogs. The old 
 worship, the ancient regime, the manners and prejudices 
 
 * This remarkable prophecy appears in all the contemporary journals, and 
 may be fully relied on. See PRDDHOMME, Revolution de Paris, May 23, 1789.
 
 478 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, of the last age, only excite pity in the present. The 
 throne and the altar will fall together ; we must have a 
 
 1789< clean sweep for our new institutions. Everything is 
 foreseen and calculated upon. Our main reliance is on 
 the humanity of the King, which is so excessive as to 
 amount to pusillanimity : rely upon it, he will never, 
 even in the last extremity, authorise the shedding of 
 blood. The clergy will oppose no resistance : those of 
 them interested in the old abuses are corrupted by their 
 long continuance ; those who are not, pant for their 
 destruction. The high noblesse contains some energetic 
 characters ; but their number is too small, the majority 
 of their body too corrupted to act, too detested to make 
 others do so. The Tiers Etat, on the other hand, nume- 
 rous, enthusiastic, united, possessing nearly all the avail- 
 able riches of the kingdom, is combined in a vast league, 
 having its ramifications over the whole kingdom, and, 
 directed by leaders of equal courage and ability at Paris, 
 will soon become omnipotent. Many of the commons, we 
 are well aware, will disapprove such vigorous measures, 
 and tremble at anything which threatens to disturb their 
 repose or their enjoyment ; but the murmurs of that 
 timid class will come to nothing, and be speedily over- 
 whelmed by the shouts of the multitude, tenfold as 
 numerous, who have everything to gain and nothing to 
 lose by public convulsions. Should they prove sluggish, 
 we have powerful means to rouse them want, famine, 
 money, rumours of alarm, and the general delusions. Our 
 orators, at five francs a-head, spread through the primary 
 assemblies, will beat Demosthenes himself in producing 
 an effect. We have lately tried our strength in the Fau- 
 bourg St Antoine : you would hardly believe how little it 
 1 Harmon- cost the Duke of Orleans to excite that tumult at Reveil- 
 289, 293.' ' Ion's : Mirabeau always maintains, that with a thousand 
 louis he can any day get up a very pretty sedition." 1 
 
 While the political atmosphere was thus daily becoming 
 darker in Paris, and that uncertainty and suspense pre-
 
 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 479 
 
 vailed which is so powerful an agent in augmenting public CHAP. 
 effervescence, the States-general remained inactive and 
 
 paralysed by the continued and obstinate resistance of the 1789 - 
 Tiers Etat to constituting themselves, unless in concert Firs ^' P - 
 with the other orders. During the discussion on this penance f 
 
 Robespierre 
 
 important subject, the clergy, who wished to bring about in the As - 
 a union of the orders without openly yielding to the 
 commons, sent a deputation, headed by the Archbishop of 
 Aix, to make a pathetic appeal to them on the miseries of May 16. 
 the country people ; and he concluded by making a pro- 
 posal that some deputies of the commons should join a 
 conference with a few of the clergy and nobles, on the 
 best means of assuaging these sufferings. The former, who 
 did not wish to yield anything, and yet knew not how to 
 decline such a proposal without compromising themselves 
 with the people, were at a loss what answer to return, 
 when a young man, unknown to the Assembly, rose and 
 said : " Go and tell your colleagues, that if they are so 
 impatient to assuage the sufferings of the poor, let them 
 come to this hall to unite themselves with their friends ; 
 tell them no longer to retard our operations by affected 
 delays tell them it is vain to employ stratagems like 
 this to induce us to change our firm resolutions. Rather 
 let them, as worthy imitators of their Master, renounce a 
 luxury which consumes the funds of indigence ; dismiss 
 those insolent lackeys who attend them ; sell their superb 
 equipages, and convert those vile superfluities into aliment 
 for the poor." At this speech, which so clearly expressed 
 the passions of the moment, a confused murmur of ap- 
 plause ran through the assembly : every one asked who 1 Hist - Parl - 
 
 ,,,,.,. i- 411, 415. 
 
 was the young deputy who had so happily given vent to Dumont, 
 the public feeling. His name afterwards made every man 48J 49. u 
 in France tremble it was MAXIMILIEN ROBESPIERRE. 1 
 
 At length the commons deemed the public mind suffi- 
 ciently declared to authorise a departure from the system 
 of passive resistance they had hitherto pursued, and to 
 adopt measures of aggression against the King and the
 
 480 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, constitution. It was gradually, and with caution, how- 
 ! ever, that their leaders entered on that adventurous career. 
 
 1789. The fi rs t s t e p was to name commissioners ; and they 
 Proptt'au appointed, by a large majority, sixteen commissioners to 
 But Tie meet w ^ tu sixteen f tne nobles and clergy taken together, 
 May is. t endeavour to effect a reconciliation with the other 
 orders, and an adjustment of the differences between 
 them. These conferences accordingly took place, and 
 the commissioners on both sides were men of the most 
 distinguished ability ; but, as might have been foreseen, 
 they led to no other result but widening the breach 
 between the various orders, and rendering the leaders of 
 each aware that the differences between them were so 
 serious as to render all hope of an accommodation chime- 
 rical. The commissioners of the commons were resolute 
 to admit no proposition which would, by implication even, 
 throw the slightest doubt on the vote by head ; those of 
 the nobles and clergy, composed entirely of the dignified 
 portion of the latter, were equally firm to adhere to the 
 invariable practice in former States-general to verify 
 their powers, and vote in separate chambers ; and the 
 nobles, upon a report of their commissioners, passed a 
 May 28. resolution, on the motion of M. de Villequier, that their 
 powers should be verified separately. In this debate 
 d'Espremenil strongly opposed the encroachments of the 
 commons. " After having given," said he, " a shining 
 example of disinterestedness, it is now our duty to rally 
 round our ancient constitution, and to give one of firmness. 
 I demand that it be resolved, that the deliberations by 
 order, and the power inherent in each order of putting a 
 veto on the resolutions of the others, are fundamental in 
 the monarchy. The nobility will ever profess principles 
 . conservative alike of the throne and of liberty." This 
 
 1 Hist. Parl. . . J 
 
 i. 412, 417. resolution was carried by a majority of two hundred and 
 
 Moniteur, . . J^ ., *. J 
 
 23 to 30 two to forty-six the Duke of Orleans voting and pro- 
 
 voL y u.' ' testing with the minority. 1 It was adopted, although in 
 
 the course of it a letter was brought to the noblesse from
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 481 
 
 Louis, expressing an earnest wish that the conference CHAP' 
 should be resumed on the following day at six, in presence 
 
 of the Keeper of the Seals and commissioners appointed 1789: 
 by the King. 
 
 When the King's letter was received by the commons, 
 
 45 
 
 they perceived at once the immense advantage which it Rejection of 
 gave them, and immediately resolved, while still main- tionrfthe 
 taining their principles, to fall, or feign to fall, into the th 
 
 views of the sovereign. " We are in danger," said Mira- 
 beau, " if we adopt the recommendation of the King ; we 
 are in danger if we refuse it. Let us steer between these 
 two shoals : let us accede to the King's invitation, but 
 preface the renewed conferences with a dazzling declara- 
 tion, which may at once defeat intrigue, and unmask 
 calumny. The sovereign has sent us a message full of . 
 goodness : let us vote him an address overflowing with 
 affection, wherein we may consecrate at once our sentiments 
 and our opinions." In pursuance of this advice, they 
 resolved to accede to the King's proposal, and reappointed May 29. 
 their commissioners to confer with those of the nobles 
 and clergy, with the addition of those appointed by the 
 Crown. Their address concluded with these words : 
 " Sire ! your faithful commons will never forget what they 
 owe to their King ; they will never forget the natural 
 alliance of the throne and the people against both branches 
 of the aristocracy, whose powers cannot be established 
 save on the ruins of the royal authority and of the public 
 felicity." But the deputation of the Tiers insisted that 
 they should have no intermediate communication, but be 
 received by the King in person ; and this personal inter- 
 view was prevented, partly by a difficulty as to whether 
 they should be presented according to ancient etiquette 
 on their knees, and partly by the alarming illness of the 
 dauphin, whose health, long declining, at length gave way, 
 and he expired, fortunately for himself, in the arms of June 4. 
 his inconsolable parents a few days afterwards. Bailly, 
 -with the deputation, was at length admitted on 6th June June c. 
 VOL. i. 2 H
 
 482 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, with the address of the commons ; but it elicited nothing 
 of importance from the King, beyond ordinary expressions 
 
 1789. O f satisfaction at their sympathy. An attempt was after- 
 wards made by the King's ministers to reconcile the 
 parties by the sovereign's pronouncing a decision as 
 , Hi8t Parl umpire, if the commissioners of the orders could not come 
 Lab 4 ';; 421 ' * a decision ; but this proposal came to nothing, both 
 34, 41, 44. the nobles and commons agreeing that such a method of 
 i9, 199. settling their differences was derogatory to the dignity of 
 their order. 1 
 
 At length the commons, deeming the public sufficiently 
 The Tiers enthusiastic in their support to warrant the adoption of 
 to constitute offensive measures, resolved upon a step calculated to 
 genera* * bring matters to a crisis. Sieyes was the orator put for- 
 . ward to submit the proposal. On entering the Assembly 
 he said to his friends : " Let us cut the cable : it is time 
 to set sail." When he ascended the tribune, he observed : 
 " Since the opening of the States-general the commons 
 have pursued a frank and moderate policy : they have 
 evinced all the regard for the noblesse and clergy which 
 their own duties and position permitted, while the two 
 privileged orders have made them no requital but by 
 hypocrisy and subterfuge. The Assembly cannot remain 
 in a state of inactivity, without betraying its duties and 
 the interests of its constituents. It has become indispen- 
 sable, therefore, to put a period to our long inaction. It is 
 impossible to form ourselves into a deliberative assembly, 
 until it is settled, in the first instance, who are to compose 
 it. The Assembly cannot be subjected to any other judg- 
 ment but the collective opinions of its representatives. 
 The noblesse resist all approaches towards an accommo- 
 dation : by that very act, they confer on the commons 
 the right to examine their powers for it is enough for 
 one party to reject a conciliatory step to warrant the 
 other to proceed without its concurrence. The Assembly, 
 therefore, has no other course to adopt, but to summon 
 the members of the two privileged orders to meet in the
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 483 
 
 hall of the States-general, to assist and concur in the CHAP. 
 
 TV 
 
 verification in common of their powers." He then sub- 
 
 mitted a motion, to the effect that the two other orders 1789 - 
 were invited to concur in the verification of the powers. 
 This motion was carried by a majority of one the numbers 
 being two hundred and forty-seven to two hundred and 
 forty-six : fifty-one declined voting. It is remarkable | - ^ e 4 b - 
 that the first resolution of importance, both in the French Mich.'nist'. 
 
 de la ReV 
 
 Revolution of 1789 and the English one of 1832, was i. u. 
 carried by the same slender majority. 1 ""' 
 
 On this resolution being reported to the clergy, they 
 replied : " We have mourned the delay which has taken Answer of 
 
 i . f. . , . .-,. the noblesse 
 
 place in consequence of our anxious desire to conciliate and the 
 the orders ; and we wait with impatience the termination 
 of the conferences to put ourselves in activity. We will 
 devote ourselves with the most serious attention to the 
 objects which you have submitted to our consideration." 
 The noblesse answered : " The order of the noblesse have 
 received, gentlemen, the proposition of the orders of the 
 Tiers Etat ; it will deliberate on it in its chamber, and 
 will have the honour of giving you its answer." Upon 
 this, Malouet proposed in the Tiers Etat an address to 
 the King, which was agreed to, and bore : " The noblesse 
 have now taken their resolution : they have passed an 
 arrete, by which they have reserved to their order to give 
 a simple and decisive answer ; and refuse to agree to the 
 plan proposed by your commissioners. The arrete renders 
 all attempts at conciliation impossible. The noblesse not 
 only does not adopt it, inasmuch as it has embraced a 
 resolution of an entirely opposite character ; but it repels 
 alike its letter and its spirit, since it pretends to abide by 
 the judgment of its own order when the method proposed 
 embraces all points in dispute, and proceeds on the prin- 
 ciple universally recognised, that deputies who are called 
 to a common duty should proceed in common to the 
 
 * Leave to bring in the Reform Bill on March 1, 1831, was carried by a 
 majority of one; the numbers being 301 to 300. Ann. Rey. 1831.
 
 484 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 GHAP. examination and sanctioning of their composition." The 
 IV ' Tiers Etat waited till five in the afternoon, when a de- 
 J 789. putation of the noblesse was introduced, who stated : 
 " Gentlemen, the order of the noblesse have begun their 
 deliberations on the proposition of the Tiers Etat : they will 
 continue their deliberations at their next sitting, and will 
 communicate to you the resolution which they may adopt." 
 Bailly, the chairman of the Tiers, answered " Gentle- 
 men, the commons have waited long for the arrival of the 
 gentlemen of the noblesse ; they have still the hope to 
 see them repair to the hall of the Estates." With this 
 answer, the deputation from the noblesse retired, and the 
 commons, having waited till seven o'clock for the arrival 
 of the other orders, began calling the roll of the whole 
 States-general, including the nobles and clergy. None of 
 
 ^35' So*' t ^ ie l atter made their appearance to answer to their names. 
 
 Moniteur,' The calling ceased at ten o'clock, and the Tiers Etat, 
 
 12/1789! after choosing Bailly for their chairman, adjourned for the 
 night.* 
 
 The die was now cast ; the first step in the usurpation 
 
 Serious dis- of the commons had been taken. It was not without 
 being prepared for civil war, and having made up their 
 minds to go all lengths in support of their pretensions, 
 that so decided a measure was adopted. The state of 
 the provinces was to the last degree alarming ; and the 
 multitude of famished desperate characters whom the 
 general distress, and almost universal disturbances, had 
 impelled into the capital, had added fearfully to the 
 strength of the agitators. Such had been the severity 
 of the storms in the preceding summer, which had laid 
 waste the crops, that in several provinces the scarcity 
 amounted to actual famine ; and real suffering added to 
 the fervour so generally excited, by the prospect of the 
 immediate regeneration of society which it was believed 
 was approaching. Now was seen what a fatal error 
 Necker had committed in leaving the question of voting by 
 order or head undecided, at the very time that his dupli-
 
 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 485 
 
 cation of the Tiers Etat rendered it utterly impossible for CHAP. 
 the noblesse, with the slightest regard to the preservation 
 
 of the monarchy, to agree to a union of the orders. Even 1789 - 
 an express command to the nobles and clergy to unite with 
 the commons would have been less dangerous, for that 
 would only have determined the mode of deliberating and 
 voting ; while the course adopted, in addition to that, 
 exhibited an entire paralysis of the royal authority for 
 six weeks, and spread abroad the belief that government 1 Higt Parl 
 was too much alarmed to take any decided step the >' 426, 427. 
 
 1/1 Lab. in. 
 
 most perilous impression which, in a period of agitation, 33, 35. 
 it is possible to diffuse among an excited people. 1 
 
 During this suspension of government, the disorders in , 
 
 the provinces, originating for the most part in the severe Tumults in 
 scarcity which everywhere prevailed, had risen to the 
 highest pitch. The people in almost all the small towns 
 and rural districts rose, took up arms, assembled them- 
 selves in tumultuous mobs, and violently seized, first 
 provisions, and at length everything of value, which they 
 could carry off from the houses of the more opulent classes 
 of society. In Normandy, Brie, Lorraine, Brittany, 
 Languedoc, and Provence, the brigands appeared at the 
 same time, and, not content with levying contributions of 
 money and provisions, soon proceeded to acts of confla- 
 gration and murder. Universal terror attended these 
 excesses : the military, divided in opinion, and irresolute, 
 could not be everywhere, and often refused to act ; and if 
 a body of soldiers appeared in any quarter, the bands, 
 perfectly acquainted with the country, disappeared, and 
 resumed their excesses in other districts. At Marseilles, 
 the citizens, driven to desperation, formed a corps of 
 volunteers for the protection of life and property ; at 
 Toulon, the troops refused to fire upon the insurgents, 
 and it became necessary to form a burgher guard for the 
 preservation of the public peace. So universal was the 
 alarm in Brittany, that forty thousand men enrolled 
 themselves in that province, professedly for the protection
 
 486 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, of property, and to support the States-general, but the 
 greater part really with ulterior revolutionary views. 
 
 i79. Terror and disquietude generally prevailed ; and, for the 
 purposes either of attack or defence, bodies of armed 
 men, self-constituted and self-directed, were already on 
 foot, in almost every part of the country, before the 
 taking of the Bastile gave the signal for universal insurrec- 
 tion. Soon the pioneers of revolution, half-famished, 
 ferocious bands, began to appear in formidable groups in 
 the capital, as sea-birds hover round a ship when the 
 clouds gather and the waves rise : their number ere long 
 became so large as to excite equal terror in the holders 
 of property, and hopes in the leaders of the democracy ; 
 
 i. 426,' 429.' and the King, justly alarmed for the safety even of his 
 palace, began to draw troops into the vicinity of Paris. 1 
 Meanwhile, the able leaders of the popular party in the 
 
 Three cur& Assembly, carefully watching the signs of the times, and 
 
 Briers Etat. keeping in advance of the movement, so as to preserve 
 their popularity, and in a certain degree obtain its direc- 
 tion, advanced steadily in their career of usurpation. On 
 
 June is. the 13th June, when the roll of the nobles and clergy was 
 called as usual, three cures from Poitou, MM. Leceve, 
 Ballard, and Tallet, appeared, and requested admission. 
 " We come," said the last, " at the call of our country, 
 which urges us to establish that concord and harmony 
 between the orders, on which the success of the States- 
 general and the safety of the kingdom depend : may this 
 step be received by all the orders with the same feelings 
 which prompt it ; may it be generally imitated ; may it 
 secure for us the esteem of ah 1 good Frenchmen ! " Inde- 
 scribable were the transports with which these words were 
 received ; the applause shook the hall, and was prolonged 
 several minutes without intermission ; and at length the 
 members spontaneously rose from their seats, crowded 
 round the adventurous cures, congratulated them on their 
 courage, and promised them their powerful protection. 
 " It is our duty," said they, " to take these intrepid citizens
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 487 
 
 under our safeguard ; let us put them beyond the reach CHAP. 
 of their enemies ; let their names be for ever inscribed ' 
 on our annals, as the first conquerors of prejudice." The !78. 
 effects of this first secession were soon apparent : on the 
 following day six other cures made their appearance, and 
 were received with the like enthusiasm ; but by the sage 
 advice of the Abbe Gregoire, one of their number, after 
 answering to their names when the roll was called, they 
 returned to the chamber of the clergy, both to give an 
 account of the reception they had met with, and to 
 strengthen the hands of their party in their own order. 
 The great division of opinion in it was well known : a 
 hundred cures had already held separate meetings, and 
 were resolved to join the Tiers Etat ; and it was only | H"t Prf. 
 by the efforts of the Abbe Coster, acting for the Arch- Lab. Hi. 53, 
 bishop of Paris, that this great schism was adjourned from H. 202. 
 day to day. 1 
 
 Encouraged by the prospect of this powerful support, 
 and by the hourly increasing agitation of the capital, as Debates on 
 well as the intelligence of disturbances in the provinces, [he Tie 
 the Tiers Etat made a further and still more decisive step ^atsume 3 . 
 in the career of usurpation. It was no longer a question June u - 
 whether they should, of their own authority, constitute 
 themselves the representatives of the nation : the only 
 doubt was what title they should assume. Sieyes, who 
 again took the lead, proposed that they should style 
 themselves " The Assembly of the known and verified 
 Representatives of the French Nation." " This," said he, 
 " is the only name which can be assumed in strict accord- 
 ance with the fact, for we have not lost the hope of seeing 
 united to us the still absent members of the other orders : 
 the moment they appear, whether individually or collec- 
 tively, our doors will be open to receive them, and we will 
 hasten to concur with them in the great work of the , 
 
 2 Parl. Hist. 
 
 regeneration of France." 2 Loud applause followed these 1 443J 444. 
 words, and numerous orators were hastening to the tribune 
 to inscribe their names for the support of the motion,
 
 488 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 GHAP. when Mirabeau excited universal surprise by demanding 
 to be heard against it. 
 
 1789. w e are about," said he, " to depart from that circle 
 s p <h in within which your wisdom has long kept you circumscribed. 
 b I>p Mir n Time, meanwhile, has rolled on ; the pretensions, the 
 beau - usurpations of the two other orders have increased ; your 
 wise caution has been taken for weakness hopes have 
 been entertained that weariness, uneasiness, the public 
 misfortunes, unavoidable in such unheard-of circumstances, 
 would precipitate you into some step either pusilanimous 
 or inconsiderate. Now is the time to reassure every 
 mind to inspire your adversaries with the restraint, the 
 fear, I had almost said the terror, of respect, by showing, 
 .: in the very outset of your measures, the foresight of skill 
 
 joined to the firmness of reason. Every one of you feels, 
 gentlemen, how easy it would now be, by vehement 
 speeches, to impel you to extreme measures ; your rights 
 are so evident, your demands so simple, the proceedings of 
 the two other orders so clearly irregular, their principles . 
 so contestable, that any parallel between them and you is 
 out of the question. It is said we must constitute our- 
 selves, and assume a denomination. Unquestionably we 
 must ; but let us take care that, in the assumption of a 
 name, we do not give a handle to our enemies, and undo 
 in one day the work of six weeks. ' The States-general,' 
 all admit such a title would be improper : it supposes 
 three orders, and we are but one. But it is said we may 
 find another name, nearly synonymous, without implying 
 the whole three orders. But the question always recurs, 
 have you the sanction of the King for such an assumption, 
 and can you dispense with it ? Can the authority of the 
 monarch slumber an instant \ Is it not indispensable 
 that he should concur in your decree *? Is it not by that 
 concurrence alone that he is bound by it "? And even if 
 we should deny, contrary alike to principle and precedent, 
 that his concurrence is necessary to render obligatory 
 every act of this assembly, will he adhibit to subsequent
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 489 
 
 decrees a sanction, which it is admitted we cannot do CHAP. 
 without, when they are consequent upon a mode of con- 
 
 stitution which he cannot admit \ 1789 - 
 
 " Are you sure of the support of your constituents in 
 the step you now meditate 1 Do not believe the people 
 are interested in the metaphysical discussions which have 
 hitherto occupied us. They are worthy, doubtless, of 
 more consideration than has hitherto been attached to 
 them, for they lie at the bottom of the whole system of 
 national representation but are the people prepared to 
 see their importance I The people wish relief, for they 
 have no longer the strength to suffer ; they would throw 
 off oppression, because they can no longer breathe under 
 the horrible load which crushes them ; but they ask only 
 not to be taxed beyond what they can endure, and to be 
 allowed to bear their misery in peace. Doubtless, we 
 have more elevated views, and have formed wishes more 
 suitable to the dignity of freemen ; but we must accom- 
 modate ourselves to circumstances, and make use of the 
 instruments which are in our hands. It is alone by so 
 doing that you will obtain the support, by attending to 
 the interest, of your constituents. It is thus alone that 
 you will secure on your side the inestimable support of 
 public opinion. Till that is obtained, it will be easy to 
 divide the people by ephemeral gifts, passing succours, 
 feigned conspiracies, or real dangers. It is no difficult 
 matter to make the multitude sell a constitution for bread. 
 " Is principle clearly with you 1 We are all here by 
 the King's convocation, and by it alone. Doubtless you 
 may, and should, seek to obtain a more secure and inde- 
 pendent mode of assembling, when you are constituted, 
 and your powers have commenced ; but can you make 
 any such change just now 1 Can you do so before being 
 constituted ? Can you do so, even when constituted, of 
 your single authority, without the concurrence of the 
 other orders 1 What right have you to advance -beyond 
 the limits of your title \ Does not the legislature imply
 
 490 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, three orders, though convoked in a single assembly ? Do 
 ' your mandates, your cahiers, authorise you to declare 
 1789. yourselves the assembly of the only representatives recog- 
 nised and verified t The consequences of such a step are 
 evident an unchaining of every passion, a coalition of 
 every aristocracy, and that hideous anarchy which never 
 fails to end in despotism. You will have pillage and 
 butchery ; you will have the fearful horrors of civil war 
 for the French have never fought for things, but for one 
 individual or another. What do you make of the veto of 
 the King, if he should refuse it to your constitution "? Will 
 you in your turn refuse it to the King ? For myself, 
 gentlemen, I believe the sanction of the King is so indis- 
 pensable to your constitution, that I would rather live at 
 Constantinople than in France if it did not exist. Yes, 
 I declare I know nothing more terrible than an aristocracy 
 of six hundred men, self-constituted, who will soon become 
 i. 445,' 460.' hereditary, and end, like all aristocracies of the world, by 
 swallowing up everything." 1 
 
 The debate was prolonged during three days, and con- 
 
 The Tiers tmued on the third till past midnight. It was conducted 
 
 thc'titk'rf with the utmost violence. " Who are the nobility," cried 
 
 Assembly. S&yes, " that we should have so much consideration for 
 
 June 17. them ? They represent a hundred and fifty thousand 
 
 individuals, we twenty-five millions. If we yield, it is 
 
 an ignominious betrayal of our trust it is surrendering 
 
 twenty-five millions of men to the yoke of a few thousands 
 
 of the privileged orders." Carried away by the apparent 
 
 force of this argument, the Assembly, by a majority of 
 
 491 to 90, resolved "that they are the representatives of 
 ninety-six hundredths, at the very least, of the nation. 
 Such a mass cannot be rendered inactive by the absence 
 of the representatives of a few bailiwicks, or a particular 
 class of citizens ; for the absent, who have been summoned, 
 cannot prevent the present from exercising the plenitude 
 of their rights, especially when the exercise of those rights 
 has become an imperious and pressing public duty. More-
 
 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 491 
 
 over, since it belongs only to the verified representation CHAP. 
 to concur in the formation of the national will, and since ' 
 
 all the representatives ought to be in that Assembly, they 1789 - 
 declare further, that they, and they alone, are entitled to 
 interpret and represent the general will of the nation ; 
 and that there exists not between the throne and this 
 Assembly any veto, any negative power. The Assembly 
 declare that the great work of national regeneration should 
 be begun by the deputies present, and that they will pur- 
 sue it without either obstacle or interruption." Struck by 
 the flagrant nature of this usurpation, which assumed the 
 whole powers of the States-general into one of the orders, 
 and which even denied the King's veto on their resolutions, 
 the minority, though without hope, continued a strenuous 
 opposition. The cries of the opposite parties drowned the 
 voices of the speakers ; the wind blew with terrific vio- 
 lence, and shook the windows as if the edifice in which 
 they were sitting was about to fall. But Bailly, the pre- 
 sident, remained immovable ; and the minority, wearied 
 with a fruitless opposition, retired at one in the morning, 
 leaving the Assembly in the hands of the popular party. 
 It was then resolved, by a majority of 491 to 90, to 
 assume the title of the NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ; and intima- 
 tion was sent to the other orders that they would proceed 
 to constitute themselves, with or without their adherence, 
 which they immediately afterwards did, by that dignified 
 appellation. By the assumption of this title, and passing 
 of the resolution, the Tiers Etat openly evinced their i Mig ; 39 
 determination to erect themselves into a sovereign power, ^ 5 ac - ^ 3 / 2 ' 
 and, like the Long Parliament of Charles I., disregard ^w.^Pari. 
 alike the throne and the nobility. Mirabeau was absent 470. Mich. 
 at the vote so strongly did he foresee the perilous tend- R6v.' i. 45. 
 ency of the measure. 1 
 
 On the day following, the Assembly met in presence 
 of above four thousand spectators, who crowded every 
 gallery, passage, and crevice in the hall, and there with 
 great solemnity took an oath, " We swear and promise
 
 492 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, to fulfil with zeal and fidelity the duties with which we are 
 charged." Next they passed resolutions to the following 
 
 1789. effect : " The National Assembly declares and decrees, that 
 s all taxes or imposts levied without its express, formal, and 
 f ree concurrence, shall instantly cease over the whole 
 " kingdom, on the day on which this Assembly is dissolved ; 
 taxes illegal in the mean time, all imposts and contributions, how illegal 
 
 if they were . . . . in i i i -i i_ 
 
 dissolved, soever in their origin, shall continue to be levied until the 
 day of its separation. As soon as it shall, with the 
 concurrence of his majesty, fix the principles of the 
 national regeneration, it will devote itself to the con- 
 solidation of the public debt putting from this moment 
 the whole creditors of the State under the safeguard of 
 the honour and loyalty of the French nation. In fine, 
 the Assembly, now become active, declares that it will 
 without delay proceed to the consideration of the causes 
 which have produced the present scarcity which afflicts 
 the nation, and the investigation of the most efficacious 
 means for its removal ; for which purpose a committee 
 shall be instantly appointed." These resolutions, so well 
 iparLHist emulated to meet the wishes of the great body of the 
 i. 471, 472. public, were ordered to be printed, and sent into all the 
 provinces. 1 
 
 The able leaders of the Revolution knew human nature 
 
 oo. 
 
 immense well when they passed these resolutions. On the one 
 
 enthusiasm i -i -i i n /. . 111 
 
 over France hand, by declaring all imposts of every description illegal 
 events! 6 from the moment of their own dissolution, they took the 
 most effectual means that could be devised to prevent such 
 an event ; for it was evident that, in the present vehe- 
 mently excited state of the public mind, the breaking up 
 of the Assembly, with such a resolution standing on their 
 journals, would be immediately followed by a general 
 refusal to pay taxes, and consequent cutting off of the 
 royal revenue, over the whole kingdom. On the other 
 hand, the resolutions in favour of public creditors, and for 
 the immediate investigation of the causes of the scarcity, 
 held out the prospect of security to the former of these
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 493 
 
 important bodies, and that of relief to the immense mul- CHAP. 
 titudes who were suffering from the latter. No language, 
 
 accordingly, can describe the enthusiasm which these 1789 - 
 decisive measures awakened over all France. Tears of 
 joy were shed when the intelligence was received in the 
 provinces. " A single day/' it was said, " has destroyed 
 eight hundred years of prejudice and slavery. The nation 
 has recovered its rights, and reason resumed its sway." 
 But the more thoughtful trembled at the consequences of 
 such gigantic steps. " Not only," said they, " are the 
 noblesse and the clergy set aside, usage disregarded, rights 
 abolished, but the authority of the throne itself is under- , 
 
 * , * Riv. 18. 
 
 mined. In England, a balance is preserved between the Lab. HI. 64, 
 three estates ; but here the national assembly has a. 215. 
 swallowed up everything." 1 """ 
 
 And now began a system hardly less ruinous in the end 
 than the flagrant usurpation of the whole powers of the 
 State, which the Tiers Etat had just committed. This was 
 the practice of publishing lists of the deputies who had J 
 voted against the popular side, and exposing them to the tie 
 indignation or vengeance of the people. On the very next 
 day after the decisive vote on the title of the Assembly, 
 the names of the ninety constituting the minority were 
 placarded at the Palais Royal and in the clubs, and the 
 most extravagant falsehoods put forward to increase the 
 excitement which prevailed. The multitude were every- 
 where told that the minority had voted against any con- 
 stitution ; and to such lengths did the calumnies go, and 
 so completely were the people worked up, that little was 
 wanting to make them burn the houses of the unpopular 
 deputies. Mirabeau, aware of what was going on, took 
 
 * Mirabeau, at this crisis, wrote to his friend Major Mauvillon in Prussia : 
 " If, as I cannot anticipate, the King gives his sanction to the new title which 
 we have assumed, it will be evident that the deputies of the Tiers Etat have 
 played away the monarchy at a game of hazard. Nothing can be clearer than 
 that we are not ripe. The excessive folly, the fearful disorder of government, 
 have made the Revolution red-hot : it has outstripped both our knowledge and 
 our habits." MIRABEAU to MAJOR MAUVILLON, June 19, 1787; Lettres de 
 Mirabeau d. sea amis en Allemagne, 469.
 
 494 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, care not to be present at the final division, so that his 
 name did not appear in the obnoxious list ; and his friends 
 
 im appeased the people by telling them that he had voted on 
 the right side. The multitude, ever carried away by the 
 exhibition of a courage which they feel themselves in- 
 capable of imitating, were intoxicated with admiration of 
 1 Droz, ii. the majority of the Assembly, and vowed vengeance on all 
 in. 66. ' sides against the minority of traitors and aristocrats who 
 had dared to oppose them. 1 
 
 The aristocratic party were thunderstruck by this 
 Measures measure, but they possessed neither power nor capacity 
 bless! 110 sufficient to counteract its influence. The Marquis de 
 18 ' Montesquiou proposed what appeared the only rational 
 course, which was, that to counterbalance this stretch of 
 power by the commons, the nobles and clergy should 
 address the King to constitute them into an Upper Cham- 
 ber ; but they wanted resolution, or were too blinded by 
 passion to adopt it. It was with difficulty he could bring 
 his speech to a conclusion, so frequent and vehement were 
 the clamours with which he was assailed. In truth, the 
 proposal itself was, in the circumstances of the two Upper 
 Chambers, fraught with difficulty, if not danger. Ven- 
 geance on the rebellious commons was what the more 
 vigorous breathed : the prudent, with reason, dreaded the 
 infusion into their order of the numerous democratic cures 
 in the order of the clergy. The number of the clergy 
 attached to the Revolution was so great that it was 
 doubtful how the majority would stand, if they were united 
 with the noblesse in a single chamber. The Duke of 
 Luxembourg, the Cardinal Rochefoucauld, and the Arch- 
 bishop of Paris, besought the King to adopt energetic 
 measures, and support their orders against the usurpation 
 of the commons ; and the nobility by a large majority 
 J 464 1 ' M';"*' pa 8156 ^ a solemn and most vigorous resolution to that effect, 
 39. TH. i n the form of a protest, which was laid before the King, 
 v'ii. 39. But it was all in vain. The majority of the nobles indeed 
 were resolute, but the court was vacillating. 2 Decision in
 
 HISTOEY OF EUROPE. 495 
 
 action belonged only to the commons, who had the ad- CHAP. 
 vantage of depending on their own will alone, and they, 
 
 in consequence, speedily obtained the whole power of the 1789 - 
 State.* 
 
 But though the nobles were thus resolute to resist the 
 usurpation of the commons, a very different spectacle was Debate's on 
 exhibited in the chamber of the clergy. The numerous m ti^dfam- 
 body of the cures in that assembly, who sympathised, cf e r rgy. the 
 both from interest and inclination, with the commons, June 19> 
 made the most strenuous efforts to induce their order to 
 take part with the Tiers Etat. The debate lasted eight 
 days. The Abbe Maury poured forth, in prophetic and 
 eloquent strains, the loudest denunciations of danger and 
 ruin, alike to the throne and the altar, if the usurpations 
 of the commons were not arrested. But all his efforts, and 
 all the influence of the prelates and higher orders of the 
 clergy, were unable to preserve the cures and lower eccle- 
 siastics from being carried away by the torrent of demo- 
 cracy. On the roll being called, one hundred and thirty- 
 seven voted for the motion of the Archbishop of Paris, 
 which was, that they should verify their powers in their 
 own Chamber one hundred and twenty-nine for the 
 
 * The address of the nobles on this occasion stated : " The spirit of innova- 
 tion threatens the fundamental laws of the constitution. The order of the 
 noblesse have observed the law and former usage ; they respectfully solicit the 
 same observance from others. Your majesty has suggested, by your ministers, 
 a plan of conciliation ; the order of noblesse have adopted it, with the reserva- 
 tion of the principles with which it is imbued it has presented its resolution 
 to your majesty, aud deposited it in your hands. The deputies of the order of 
 the Tiers Etat conceive that they can concentrate in their own hands the whole 
 powers of the States-general, without awaiting either the concurrence of the 
 other orders or the sanction of your majesty; they have arrogated to themselves 
 the power of converting their decrees into laws ; they have ordered them to be 
 printed and sent to all the provinces ; they have, by a single decree, destroyed 
 the whole taxes, and revived them for a period fixed by themselves, of their 
 single authority, without the concurrence of the King or the other orders. It 
 is in the hands of your majesty that we deposit our protests, and we have no 
 warmer desire than to concur with you in measures for the general good. If 
 the rights which we maintain were personal to ourselves, we should have less 
 confidence in maintaining them : but the interests we defend are common to 
 your majesty with ourselves ; they are the bulwarks of the Tiers Etat them- 
 selves in a word, of the whole French people." Protestation de la A'oblesse, 
 Jan. 19, 1789 ; Hist. Parl. il 476, 478.
 
 496 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, verification in common, and nine for the same measure, 
 IV ' but with the restriction, that they should dispose of the 
 
 1789> matter of the* powers themselves in the common hall. 
 The dignified clergy, upon this result being announced, 
 clapped their hands, and exclaimed that they had the 
 majority. But their triumph was of short duration. The 
 minority of one hundred and twenty-nine now proposed 
 to the nine dissentients, that they should acquiesce in 
 their proposal of a simple and unqualified verification in 
 common ; and upon the latter refusing, they all declared 
 in one voice that they would accept the reservations, and 
 that they now had the majority, which was certainly true, 
 of ONE. On this the Archbishop of Paris, and the whole 
 prelates who had voted with them, declared that the 
 matter had been settled by the previous decision in their 
 favour ; and rising from their seats withdrew, without 
 having closed the meeting or adopted any resolution. 
 The majority of one hundred and thirty-eight, however, 
 remained ; and, others having come in before the roll was 
 again called, their number was ultimately swelled to a 
 hundred and forty-nine, which was published the same 
 night to the capital, and received with unbounded trans- 
 ports. Thus was the decisive vote in the clergy, as well 
 \ D * on as that in the Tiers Etat, carried in favour of the Revolu- 
 
 Amis,i. 208, 
 
 209. Hist, tion by a majority of one an extraordinary coincidence, 
 476.' ' ' when it is recollected that the same majority brought 
 in the Reform Bill in Great Britain. 1 
 
 Great was the consternation of M. Necker at these 
 decisive events, which so clearly demonstrated that he had 
 " 1 lost the control of the movement, and that his power of 
 directing the tempest he had had so large a share in con- 
 juring up was at an end. Such was his vanity, and 
 ignorance of the nature of a popular insurrection, that he 
 flattered himself to the very last with the idea that the 
 commons, out of gratitude to him for the duplication of 
 their numbers, would prove entirely submissive to his will, 
 and that they would willingly acquiesce in any arrange-
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 497 
 
 ment which he might propose to the King. Unhappily CHAP. 
 
 Louis himself, trusting to the popularity of his minister, 
 
 and desirous of avoiding extremities, entertained the same 1789- 
 opinion. In pursuance of this belief, Necker had prepared 
 a plan for adjusting the differences between the orders, 
 the foundation of which was to be, that the orders were 
 to deliberate and vote in common during the present 
 States-general on subjects of taxation and national or 
 public concern, and in their separate orders on those in 
 which their respective interests or privileges were con- 
 cerned ; but the King was positively to announce that he 
 would consent in future to no arrangement in which the 
 legislature was not divided into at least two chambers 
 pointing thus, not obscurely, to the English constitution as 
 a model. This plan was earnestly pressed by the minis- 
 ter upon the monarch, accompanied with the alarming 
 intimation, which subsequent events proved to be well 
 founded, that in truth no other resource remained, for 
 that the army could not be relied upon if required to act 
 against the States-general* It argued little for the 
 sagacity or knowledge of mankind which the Swiss minis- 
 ter possessed, that he could have for a moment supposed 
 such a system feasible ; or have deluded himself into a 
 belief that an ambitious, reckless majority, formed of the 
 doubled Tiers Etat and the minority of the nobles and 
 clergy, would not, on these national questions of general 
 
 * " Sire, I am afraid they deceive you on the spirit of your army : the cor- 
 respondence of the provinces makes me believe that it will not act against the 
 States-general. Do not, then, bring it near Versailles, as if it was your intention 
 to employ it in a hostile manner against the deputies. The popular party do 
 not, as yet, know against whom the forces which are approaching are directed. 
 Take advantage of the same uncertainty to maintain your authority in public 
 opinion ; for if the fatal secret of the insubordination of the troops once 
 becomes known, how will it be possible to restrain the factious spirit ? What is 
 now indispensable is, to accede to the reasonable wishes of France ; deign to 
 resign yourself to the English constitution. Personally you will experience no 
 annoyance from the restraint of the laws, for never will they fetter you so 
 much as your own scruples ; and in anticipating the desires of the people, you 
 will have the merit of giving to-day what may, perhaps, be taken from you to- 
 morrow." NECKER, Meinoire au Roi, 8th June 1789 : DE STAEL, Revolution 
 Franchise, i. 213, 214. This was really sage advice; would that Necker had 
 never given the King any other ! 
 
 VOL. I. 2 I
 
 498 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, concern, have speedily succeeded in tearing the monarchy 
 
 ' to pieces. But events succeeded each other with such 
 
 1789. rapidity that his projects could not be matured before 
 
 decisive steps became necessary ; and the resolution of the 
 
 majority of the clergy, on the evening of the 1 9th, to join 
 
 *Lac. vii. the Tiers Etat, rendered immediate steps indispensable. 
 
 Ne'cker It was accordingly resolved, in a royal council held on 
 
 ?244 F 5g c> that very evening, to proclaim a royal sitting on the 23d, 
 
 i)e staei, i. to announce the King's project for settling the mode of 
 
 2\5. voting ; and, in the mean time, to close the hall of the 
 
 States-general. 1 
 
 In pursuance of this resolution, the heralds-at-arms in 
 Tennis' Versailles, early on the following morning, proclaimed 
 June 20! ' that the King would meet the Estates on the 23d, and 
 on the same day the doors of the hall of the States- 
 general were closed by grenadiers of the guard against the 
 deputies of the commons. This step was certainly unfor- 
 tunate ; it announced hostile intentions without any expla- 
 nation of what was really intended, and irritated the 
 deputies without subduing them. Bailly, the president of 
 the Assembly, went in form to the doors, and finding them 
 closed by orders of the King, he protested against the 
 despotic violence of the Crown. Opinions were at first 
 much divided what course to adopt some proposing that 
 they should instantly adjourn to the palace, and lay their 
 grievances before the sovereign in person ; others, that 
 they should move into the capital, and throw themselves 
 on the support of its immense population. At length it 
 was proposed, on the suggestion of Gtiillotin* an ominous 
 name, as events turned out to adjourn to the Tennis- 
 court hall, in the neighbourhood, which was at once 
 agreed to. The following oath, drawn up by Mourner, 
 was immediately tendered to the deputies, and first taken 
 by Bailly himself : " The National Assembly, considering 
 
 * A medical man of some celebrity, who suggested the terrible instrument 
 for execution which has rendered his name imperishable. See MICHELET, 
 Histoire de la Revolution, i. 51.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 499 
 
 that they have been convoked to fix the constitution of CHAP. 
 
 TV 
 
 the kingdom, to regenerate the public order, and fix the 
 
 true principles of the monarchy ; that nothing can prevent 1789< 
 them from continuing their deliberations, and completing 
 the important work committed to their charge ; and that, 
 wherever their members are assembled, there is the 
 National Assembly of France decree, that all the mem- 
 bers now assembled shall instantly take an oath never to 
 separate ; and, if dispersed, to reassemble wherever they 
 can, until the constitution of the kingdom, and the regene- i Mo niteur, 
 ration of the public order, are established on a solid basis ; J 2l ^ 
 
 and that this oath, taken by all and each singly, shall be - i 1 - 
 fiii- f -i i f " "" "* 
 
 confirmed by the signature of every member, in token of Riv. 19. 
 
 their immovable resolution." 1 
 
 The court on this occasion committed a capital error, 
 in not making the royalist or constitutional party in the Error of 
 Assembly acquainted with their intentions, and preventing on thili 
 that unanimity which necessarily arose from the appear- oc 
 ance of measures of coercion without any knowledge of 
 their object. The consequence was, that the most mode- 
 rate members, apprehensive of the Crown, and alarmed at 
 the apparatus of military force directed against the Assem- 
 bly, joined the violent democrats, and the oath was taken, 
 with the exception of one courageous deputy, unanimously. 
 This decisive step committed the whole Assembly in a 
 contest with the government ; the minds of the deputies 
 were exasperated by the apprehended violence ; and the 
 oath formed a secret bond of association among numbers 
 who, but for it, would have been violently opposed to each 
 other. Mirabeau, in particular, whose leaning from the 
 beginning was as much towards the aristocracy as was 
 consistent with a popular leader, openly expressed, at a 
 subsequent period, his dissatisfaction at not having been 
 made acquainted with the real designs of the King. " Was ^j v -. ^ 
 there no one," said he, in the Assembly, " whom they Lac. vii. 20. 
 could make acquainted with their designs \ It is thus 89, 97. ' 
 that kings are led to the scaffold !" 2
 
 500 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. This step was followed on the 22d by an important 
 accession of strength. On that day the Assembly met in 
 
 1789 - the church of St Louis, as the Tennis Court had been 
 us !!f the closed by order of the princes to whom it belonged ; and 
 theicni n ^ e y were ^ ere ji ne( l by a hundred and forty-eight of 
 the clergy, who participated in their feelings, and were 
 resolved to share their dangers. This great reinforcement 
 was headed by the Archbishop of Vienne, the Archbishop 
 of Bordeaux, and the Bishop of Chartres. By this junc- 
 tion, their majority over the other orders became so great 
 that the victory of the commons, if they continued in one 
 assembly, was rendered certain. The spectacle of the 
 union of the clergy with their brethren of the commons 
 excited the most lively transports, and they embraced 
 each other amidst tears of joy. Who could then have 
 foreseen, that in a few weeks the whole ecclesiastical body 
 wig 9 !' 4 were to be reduced to beggary by those who now received 
 2<J3 1Iy 'R; v tnem as deliverers, and that a clergyman could not appear 
 2- . ^eux in the streets without being exposed to the grossest insults ! 
 216. ' ' Such is the fate of those who think, by concessions dic- 
 tated by fear, to arrest the march of a revolution. 1 
 
 It is impossible to refuse a tribute of admiration to 
 Reflections those intrepid men, who, transported by a zeal for liberty 
 of the'com- and the love of their country, ventured to take a step 
 fraught with so many dangers, and which, to all appear- 
 ance, might have brought many to prison or the scaffold. 
 Few situations can be imagined more dignified than that 
 of Bailly, crowning a life of scientific labour with patriotic 
 exertion, surrounded by an admiring Assembly, the idol 
 of the people, the admiration of Europe. But he did 
 wrong on this occasion, for he denied to the King the 
 right of dissolving the States-general, and so put the 
 commons in direct rebellion against the Crown. Mourner, 
 who drew up the oath, lived to express his regret for 
 having done so, in exile in a foreign land.* How vain 
 are the hopes of permanent elevation founded on the 
 
 * MOUNIEB, Causes qui ont Empechg leg Francois de Devenir Libres, 96, 97. 

 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 501 
 
 applause of the multitude ! Could the eye of prophecy CHAP. 
 then have unveiled the future, it would have discovered ! 
 
 Bailly, now the idol of the people, shivering on his face 1789 - 
 in the Champ de Mars, with his arms tied behind his 
 back, and the guillotine suspended over his head, con- 
 demned by the Convention, execrated by the multitude, 
 subjected to a cruel and prolonged punishment, to gratify 
 the peculiar hatred and savage revenge of the populace, 
 whom he now incurred these dangers to support. 
 
 Mirabeau, who was in the secrets both of the Orleanists 
 and republicans, seeing matters coming to such a crisis, Repulse by 
 made private advances through Malouet, a common friend Minbeaui 
 of both, to Necker, for the purpose of allying himself to 
 the throne. " I am not," said he, " a man to sell myself 
 basely to despotism, and far from wishing to shake the 
 throne. But if steps are not immediately taken to stop 
 the effervescence, there are in our Assembly such a multi- 
 tude of selfish turbulent spirits, and so many carried away 
 by inconsiderate asperity against the first orders, that I 
 fear the most horrible commotions. Without doubt, 
 MM. Necker and Montmorin have a fixed plan ; if that 
 plan is reasonable, and they communicate it to me, I 
 will defend it to the utmost of my power." Mirabeau was 
 already a person of too much weight to be disregarded ; 
 and Necker, in pursuance of this overture, though with 
 great reluctance, agreed to receive him in his cabinet. 
 But their interview came to nothing. " You wish," said 
 Necker, " to govern by policy, and I by morality ; we 
 cannot act together." After a brief and dry conversation, 
 they separated in mutual irritation. Shortly after, meet- 
 ing Malouet, he said, " I will not return there ; but they 
 shall hear of me." Immediately he threw himself with 
 eagerness into the arms of the Orleans faction, and be- 
 came one of the most ardent and dangerous supporters of 
 the Revolution. He frequented all the nocturnal meet- 
 ings, both at the Palais Royal and the Republican clubs, 
 and proved an inveterate enemy of the court, where he
 
 502 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, was regarded with equal aversion. The Queen alone, 
 strongly impressed with a sense of his talents, still con- 
 
 1789 - tinued to maintain that the only hope for the monarchy 
 was to attach him to their interest. Meanwhile, Mira- 
 v i d< 2i a beau's establishment underwent a total change : he took 
 22. Hist. a handsome hotel, lived sumptuously ; and his brilliant 
 
 des Causes i / i 
 
 Secrfetesde equipages, which drove about the streets, sufficiently 
 7o-3i2.Lab. proved that, with the direction of the intrigues, he had 
 *"* ' 2< received the wages of the Orleans family. 1 
 
 Meanwhile Louis, now that matters had reached a 
 Grand' crisis, was sorely beset by the different parties which 
 at Mariv, agitated the kingdom ; and such was the weight of the 
 arguments which they severally adduced in their support, 
 that the strongest intellect might have felt difficulty in 
 coming to a decision among them. Necker besought him 
 to ally himself, frankly and in good faith, to the constitu- 
 tional party in the Assembly, as the only means of 
 avoiding the most terrible calamities, when the fidelity of 
 the army was more than doubtful. The Cardinal La 
 Rochefoucauld and the Archbishop of Paris, struck with 
 consternation at the scene they had witnessed in the 
 chamber of the clergy, threw themselves at his feet, and 
 touched the inmost chords of his heart, by beseeching him 
 to protect religion and its ministers, now threatened with 
 destruction, who would involve in their ruin the throne 
 itself. The Parliament, on the motion of d'Espremenil, 
 who was at length thoroughly alarmed, having become 
 fully sensible of the extreme peril of the passions they 
 had awakened, sent a secret deputation to the King, 
 entreating him instantly to dissolve the States-general, 
 and solemnly promising to register whatever edicts he 
 might deem necessary, either for the relief of the finances 
 or the removal of the grievances of the people. The 
 Queen, the Count d'Artois, and the Count de Provence, 
 united their efforts to those of that powerful body, and 
 implored Louis, by the obligations he owed to his people, 
 his children, his successors, to interpose his authority, and
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 503 
 
 dissolve an assembly which had already usurped so much, CHAP. 
 and was evidently advancing by rapid strides to supreme 
 
 dominion. The whole subject was solemnly and ably im 
 debated before the King in a grand council held at Marly 
 on the 21st and 22d June, and it was at length resolved to 
 make great concessions on all the material points demanded 
 in the cahiers of the deputies, so as to lay the foundations 
 of a constitutional monarchy ; but, at the same time, to : 
 annul the usurpations of the Tiers Etat, and maintain the Necker, i. 
 vital point of the separation of the chambers. Necker Hist, des 
 wisely and generously concurred in this arrangement, Semites 
 though, as will soon appear, some alterations made in the f*^ R ^-. 
 royal speech, which he had drawn up, in matters which ]?* ^\ SS Y 
 
 , . . , d Anglas s 
 
 he deemed material, led to his remaining absent from the vie d e Male- 
 decisive meeting of the Assembly, and this was attended 279. 
 with the most calamitous consequences. 1 
 
 At length the famous sitting of the 23d June took place. 
 The King took his seat on the throne, surrounded by his R 0ya i sit- 
 guards, and attended by all the pomp of the monarchy ; he F 5? 
 was received in sullen silence by the commons, but with ^^^SF 
 loud applause by the majority of the nobles, and the theKin s- 
 minority of the clergy. His discourse commenced by 
 condemning the conduct of the commons, and lamenting 
 the spirit of faction which had already made such progress 
 among the representatives of the people, and was alike 
 opposed to the interests of the nation and the warmest 
 wishes of his heart. The declarations of the monarch 
 were then read. The first prescribed the form of the 
 meetings of the Estates, and enacted their assemblage by 
 three orders, as essentially linked with the constitution of 
 the State : it regulated the form of their deliberations ; 
 annulled the declarations of the 17th June by the Tiers 
 Etat, as contrary to law ; reserved to the Crown the 
 right of regulating the future meetings of the States- 
 general, and closed their deliberations against the public. 
 The second embraced an exposition of the rights which 
 the monarch conceded to his people, and they contained
 
 504 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, the whole elements of rational freedom. In particular, he 
 declared the illegality of all taxes not expressly consented 
 
 1789 - to by the States-general, and that they should be imposed 
 only from one session of that body to the other ; abolished 
 the pecuniary privileges, and exemption from taxation, of 
 the nobles and clergy ; put an end to the taille and the 
 impost of franc-fief ; regulated the expenses of the royal 
 household ; provided for the consolidation and security of 
 the public debt ; secured the liberty of the press ; estab- 
 lished the security of property and of titles of honour ; 
 reformed the criminal code ; took care of the personal 
 freedom of the subject, and provided for the maintenance 
 of the public roads, the equality of contributions, and the 
 establishment of provincial assemblies. On the important 
 question of the union of the orders he gave no express 
 injunctions, but simply " exhorted the three Estates, for the 
 public good, for this session only, to deliberate in common 
 on matters of public interest, with the exception of those 
 which regard the ancient and constitutional rights of the 
 three orders, the forms of convoking the next States- 
 general, the feudal and seignorial rights, and the patri- 
 monial rights and honorary titles of the two first orders." 
 
 1 Parl. Hist. * 
 
 ii. 13, 15. With truth could the monarch exclaim, " I mav say, 
 
 Riv. 23, 24. . . . . i-i 
 
 Th. i. 67, without fear of self-deception, that never king did so 
 vu. 43. at ' much for his people as I have done for mine ; but what 
 other could so well deserve it as the people of France V 1 
 These important concessions, which, if supported by 
 which'give proper vigour in the government, might have stopped the 
 n. atls " Revolution, had no effect in allaying the public discon- 
 tents. The period was past when the language of 
 moderation could be heard ; the passions were roused, 
 the populace excited and when does passion yield to 
 reason, or the multitude pause in the prospect of the 
 acquisition of power \ The concluding words of the King 
 had the air, without the reality, of vigour ; they took from 
 the grace of the gift without adding to the authority 
 of the giver. " You have heard, gentlemen, the result
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 505 
 
 of my dispositions and views they are in conformity CHAP. 
 with my ardent desire for the public good ; and if by a 
 
 fatality, which I am far from anticipating, you shall 1789 - 
 abandon me in so noble an enterprise, alone I shall 
 work out the good of my people alone I shall consider 
 myself as their true representative : and knowing your 
 cahiers, knowing the perfect coincidence of the general 
 wish of the nation and my beneficent intentions, I shall 
 feel all the resolution which so rare a confidence ought 
 to inspire ; and I shall advance towards my object with 
 all the courage and firmness which such an object deserves. 
 Reflect on this, gentlemen ! none of your projects, none 
 of your dispositions, can have the force of law without my 
 especial approbation. Thus I am the natural guarantee 
 of your respective rights, and all the orders of the State 
 may repose with confidence on my entire impartiality. 
 The slightest distrust on your part would be a great 
 injustice. It is I, gentlemen, who have hitherto striven 
 alone for the good of my people : it is rare, perhaps, that 
 the only ambition of a sovereign is to prevail on his 
 subjects to come to an understanding to accept his 
 beneficent acts. / command you, gentlemen, to separate 
 immediately, and to meet here to-morrow, each order in 1 parf H . gt 
 its own chamber, to resume your sittings; and I have K. 21. Deux 
 
 . .*' 01 Amis, i. 
 
 given directions to the grand-master of the ceremonies 219, 222. 
 to prepare the halls accordingly." 1 
 
 At the conclusion of this address, the King rose, and 
 withdrew from the hall. The great majority of the The Com- 
 noblesse, the whole bishops, and a considerable part of tTiTave the 
 the inferior clergy, followed in his train ; but the whole halL 
 commons, and the majority of the clergy who had joined 
 them, continued in the great hall. Hesitation and uncer- 
 tainty prevailed in the body which remained ; they were 
 confounded by the magnitude of the concessions made by 
 the sovereign, and knew not what part to adopt. At 
 this crisis Mirabeau rose, " What you have heard, gen- 
 tlemen, might be sufficient for the safety of the country,
 
 506 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, if the presents of despotism were not always dangerous. 
 
 ! What is the insolent dictatorship to which you are sub- 
 
 1789. jected ? Is this display of arms, this violation of the 
 national sanctuary, the fitting accompaniment of a boon 
 to the people 1 Who prescribes these rules \ Your 
 mandatory ! he who should receive your commands in- 
 stead of giving them to you. The liberty of deliberation 
 is destroyed a military force surrounds the Assembly. 
 Where are the enemies of the nation "? Catiline is at your 
 gates. I propose that, proceeding with becoming dignity, 
 you act up to the spirit of your oath, and refuse to 
 separate till you have completed the constitution." Then 
 turning to the master of the ceremonies, who had just 
 entered and reminded them of the King's orders, he 
 exclaimed : " Yes, sir, we know the intentions which have 
 been suggested to the King, and you, who are not his 
 organ towards the States-general, have no right to take 
 back our answer. Nevertheless, to avoid all misunder- 
 standing, I declare, that if you are ordered to make us 
 depart hence you must employ force. Tell your master 
 i Lac vi; that we are here by the order of the people, and that we 
 4 5 'Th M i' g 68' w ^ not ke ex P e ll e d but at the point of the bayonet." 
 69. Hist ' " You are to-day," said Sieyes calmly, " what you were 
 22. 'Moni- yesterday ; let us proceed with our deliberations." On 
 Jtifl 1789. the motion of Camus, they ratified all their proceedings, 
 and declared the persons of the members inviolable. 1 
 Considered in themselves, these concessions were the 
 
 69. 
 
 greatest ever made by a king to his subjects, and at any 
 other time they would have excited transports of grati- 
 kingt tude. But democratic ambition was thoroughly awakened, 
 and this conciliatory conduct was only adding fuel to the 
 flame. If a government is powerful, whatever it gives is 
 hailed with gratitude as a gift ; if it is weak, its conces- 
 sions are considered as the discharge of a debt, and tend 
 only to rouse the popular party to fresh demands. " What 
 was wanting," said M. Moutmorin, one of the ministers, to 
 Mirabeau, " in the concessions of the King?" " Nothing,"
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 507 
 
 replied he, " but that we should have taken not he given CHAP. 
 them" Such, in truth, was the feeling which produced IV ' 
 the most fatal act of the Assembly their refusal to close 1789 - 
 with the proposals of the King. They were resolved to 
 have the credit of everything to make, not receive a 
 constitution ; and, by so doing, they destroyed the free- l Dum. 87. 
 doni of France. 1 
 
 On that day the royal authority was annihilated in 
 France. The Assembly had openly bid defiance to tile Royal' 
 mandates of the throne ; and public opinion supported overthrown. 
 them in the attempt. The initiative of laws, the moral 
 influence arising from the idea of supremacy, had passed 
 from the Crown to the people. M. Necker was not pre- 
 sent at this memorable meeting ; the evening before he 
 had tendered his resignation, as the measures adopted by 
 the court were not such as he thoroughly approved, but 
 the King prevailed on him to continue a little longer in 
 office. He was discovered in Versailles by the crowd, 
 and conducted home amidst the loudest acclamations, 
 across the court-yard of the palace, which he might have 
 avoided by withdrawing a back way. By his conduct he 
 had evinced the sincerity of his intentions, and his dis- , T 
 
 > ' 2 Lac. vn. 
 
 approval of the measures of the Crown ; and he was, for 47. Mi g . i. 
 
 44. Th. i. 
 
 a brief space, thenceforward considered as the leader of 70, 74. 
 the popular party. 2 * 
 
 The effects of this decisive victory were soon apparent. 
 On the following day the Duke of Orleans and forty-six 
 
 * The alterations in the royal speech of 23d June, of which M. Necker com- 
 plained, were for the most part verbal and unimportant ; but in one particular 
 they were material, and he regarded the change as vital. " In the all-impor- 
 tant article," says he, " of the union of the orders, the King, in the project 
 which he at first had adopted, had enjoined the three orders to deliberate in 
 common on all general affairs it was the principal object of the stance royale 
 to establish that ; while in the speech, as finally amended and delivered, he 
 only exhorted them to do this, and concluded by commanding them in the 
 mean time to separate, and meet in their respective chambers. This left the 
 question where it found it, and perpetuated that contest which it was the 
 object of the royal speech to terminate. NECKER, Revolution Francaise, i. 
 246, 248. Thus it was the want of an express command on the three orders 
 to unite on all subjects of general import, that is, on the reconstruction of the 
 monarchy, which made Necker resign.
 
 508 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, of the nobility joined the Tiers Etat in great state, in the 
 common hall. They were received with transport but 
 
 1789 - the duke was so strongly moved on leaving the order of 
 hi 8 fathers that he fainted on rising from his seat. He 
 was i m P e ^ e d into conspiracy and revolution by his needy 
 
 the nobility and guilty followers, rather than attracted by his inclina- 
 
 join the . J . . '. 
 
 commons, tion or ambition. Ihe days were past when he rode 
 naked from Paris to Versailles for a bet : he and his 
 mistresses had alike become conspirators. Individually 
 he had little faith in the support of the mob. " I 
 could give," said he, " all your public opinion for a 
 crown piece." But he was so surrounded by conspirators 
 that he literally breathed the air of revolution. They 
 went so far as to send his daughter Pamela, the accom- 
 plished pupil of Madame Genlis, alone into a crowd 
 on horseback, attended only by a servant in the Orleans 
 livery.* He was so apprehensive of his life that he 
 wore, on this occasion, five or six waistcoats around 
 his person, t Among his followers were to be found 
 the heads of the greatest families, as well as the ablest 
 men of the French nobility the Duke of Rochefou- 
 cauld, the Duke of Liancourt, Count Lally Tollendal, 
 Count Clermont Tonnerre, the two brothers Lameth, 
 and the Marquis Lafayette. They were almost all 
 guillotined, exiled, or ruined during the progress of the 
 Revolution a memorable example of the inability of the 
 i higher ranks ultimately to coerce a movement which 
 
 Amis,i.229. they themselves put in motion ; and of the futility of the 
 96,29. TL idea, so commonly entertained by the inexperienced in 
 i. 6^. > ich. p u kii c affairs, that no innovations are dangerous if they 
 are headed by the great proprietors in the State. 1 
 
 Overwhelmed with the difficulties by which he was 
 surrounded, and desirous above all things of avoiding an 
 immediate collision with the commons, whom it was 
 extremely doubtful, from the growing disaffection of the 
 
 * See Souvenirs of MADAME LEBRUN, i. 189, who witnessed that scene. 
 t FEKBIEBES, M^moires, i. 52.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 509 
 
 troops, whether he had any means of coercing, the King CHAP. 
 saw no resource but in concession. He thus hoped that 
 
 he would obtain what he above all things desired the 1789 - 
 love of his people and regain from their gratitude GreJt 2 diffi- 
 what he could no longer compel from their obedience. ui s . of , 
 
 r . tne Kings 
 
 In truth, such was the fermentation in the capital, and situation. 
 the manner in which the troops were reeling under the 
 varied temptations of money, wine, and women, with 
 which they were plied, that stronger heads than any 
 which now directed the royal councils in France might 
 have yielded to the tumult. The capital, already 
 labouring under severe scarcity, and teeming with the 
 famished and ferocious bands which had poured in from 
 all quarters in quest of subsistence or plunder, was in the 
 most violent state of agitation. Nor was this efferves- 
 cence confined to any one class all, from various 
 motives, were equally excited ; and no one thought either T Bert de 
 of rallying round the throne, or attempting the slightest MOIL i.ws, 
 restraint either upon its own delusions or those by which i. 126. 
 it was surrounded. 1 
 
 The young, the ardent, the visionary, believed a second 
 golden age was arriving that the regeneration of the immense 
 social body would purify all its sins, extirpate all its suf- cence in 
 ferings. The selfish and corrupt, a numerous and for- 
 midable party, paid little attention to such empty specu- 
 lations, but fixed their desires on the more substantial 
 objects of plunder, intoxication, and licentiousness. The 
 Palais Royal, recently constructed at an immense expense 
 by the Duke of Orleans, was the focus of their agitation ; 
 in its splendid gardens the groups of the disaffected were 
 assembled ; under its gorgeous galleries the democratic 
 coffee-houses were to be found. It was amidst the din 
 of gambling, and the glitter of prostitution, that liberty 
 was nurtured in France ; it must be owned it could not 
 have had a cradle more impure. The enlightened, from 
 a principle of patriotism ; the capitalists, from anxiety 
 about their fortunes ; the people, from the pressure of
 
 510 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, their necessities, which they expected immediately to find 
 . relieved ; the shopkeepers, from ambition ; the young, 
 
 1789. from enthusiasm ; the old, from apprehension all were 
 actuated by the most violent emotions. Business was at 
 a stand. Instead of pursuing their usual avocations, 
 multitudes belonging to all ranks filled the streets, anx- 
 iously discussing the public events, and crowding round 
 M?g. v 'i. 4 47. every one who had recently arrived from Versailles. In 
 ef ' Th I 8 ' one depraved class the fever of revolution was peculiarly 
 fi!' 126*1*7 P owei> f u l- The numerous body of courtesans unanimously 
 BI de supported the popular cause, and by the seduction of 
 256. ' ' ' their charms contributed not a little to the defection of 
 the military, which shortly afterwards took place. 1 * 
 
 Meanwhile the noblesse, seeing the royal power in 
 interview of a manner annulled, and the excitement in the capital 
 with M S de increasing to the very verge of open revolt, made a last 
 bo^g effort to raise the throne from the dust. The majority, 
 June27 - who had remained in the chamber of the nobles after 
 the secession of the Duke of Orleans and his adherents, 
 sent a deputation, headed by the Duke of Luxembourg, 
 their president, to remonstrate with the King against 
 the union of the orders, which it was known was in con- 
 templation. Their interview, which was committed to 
 paper the same day by the duke, was in the highest 
 degree interesting. " M. de Luxembourg," said the 
 King when he entered, " I expect from your fidelity, 
 and the affection for my person of the order over which 
 you preside, that you will unite with the other orders." 
 " Sire I " replied the duke, " the order of the noblesse 
 will be always ready to give to your majesty every 
 proof of its devotion to your person, and it has never 
 given a more striking one than on this occasion for 
 
 * " On ne peut peindre le frissonnement qu'eprouva la capitale a ce seul 
 mot ' Le Roi a tout casseY Je sentais du feu qui courait sous mes pieds : 
 il ne fallait qu'un signe, et la guerre civile e'clatait. Toutes les provinces 
 sont sans commerce, et presque sans pain : et qu'a-t-on de mieux a faire, que 
 de se battre, quand on meure de faim ? " Lettre au COMTE D'ABTOIS, June 
 27, 1789, p. 41.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 511 
 
 it is not its own cause, but that of your majesty, which CHAP. 
 it defends." " The cause of the Crown ! " said Louis _ 
 
 with surprise. " Yes, sire ! the cause of the Crown. 1789 - 
 The noblesse has nothing to lose from the union which 
 your majesty desires : a consideration established by 
 ages of glory, and transmitted from generation to gener- 
 ation, immense riches, and the talents and virtues of 
 many of its members, secure for it, in the National 
 Assembly, all the influence which it desires. But is 
 your majesty aware of the consequences which this 
 union may have on the powers of the Crown \ The 
 noblesse, sire ! will obey, if your majesty desires it ; but 
 as their president, as the faithful servant of your majesty, 
 I venture to portray to you the consequences of such 
 a step to the royal authority. Your majesty cannot 
 be ignorant what a degree of power public opinion, 
 and the rights of the nation, have awarded to its repre- 
 sentatives ; it is such, that even the sovereign authority 
 with which you are clothed is mute in its presence. 
 That unlimited power exists in all its plenitude in the 
 States-general, however it may be composed ; but the 
 division into three chambers fetters their actions, and 
 preserves your authority. United, they will no longer 
 acknowledge a master ; divided, they are your subjects. 
 The deficit in your finances, and the spirit of insubordi- 
 nation which has infected your army, have paralysed, I 
 am aware, the deliberations of your councils ; but there 
 still remains your faithful noblesse. It has now the 
 option to go, in obedience to your mandates, to share 
 with the other deputies the legislative power, or to die 
 in defence of the prerogatives of the throne. Its choice 
 is not doubtful ; and it demands no recompense it is 
 its duty. 1 But in dying it will save the independence of ^? s u ? 236 
 the Crown, and nullify the operations of the National jf^,^ 01 "*- 
 Assembly, which can never have the stamp of legality 244, 245. 
 when a third of its member shall have been delivered 264. 
 over to the fury of the populace or the dagger of assas-
 
 512 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. sins. I implore your majesty to deign to reflect on the 
 IV ' considerations I have the honour of submitting to you." 
 
 1789. " M. de Luxembourg," replied the King firmly, " my 
 
 Thek'in -s m i n d is made up ; I am prepared for all sacrifices ; I 
 answer to w m JJQ^ ] iave a s i n nri e person perish on my account. Tell 
 
 the repre- ' 
 
 nentatlonsof the order of the nobles, then, that 1 entreat them to 
 unite themselves to the other orders ; if that is not suffi- 
 cient, as their sovereign I command them. If there is 
 one of its members who conceives himself bound by his 
 mandate, his oath, or his honour, to remain in the cham- 
 ber, let them tell me ; I will go and sit by his side, and 
 die with him if necessary." The Cardinal Rochefoucauld 
 was soon after admitted with a deputation from the 
 clergy who had remained in the hall of their order, and 
 received a similar answer. Both returned with a letter 
 from the sovereign, absolutely enjoining the union of 
 the orders."'' 1 This order was the work of Necker ; it 
 was the condition of his remaining in office that the 
 King should issue it. 
 
 The real motives which induced the King to take 
 interview of this decisive step were more fully and openly stated in 
 with the 8 his interview with the Cardinal de la Rochefoucauld, and 
 the Archbishops of Rheims and Aix, who presented 
 the a( idress from the clergy. " My troops," said the 
 King, when the address was read, " are in a state of 
 defection. I am obliged to yield to the National 
 Assembly." " Your troops are in defection !" replied 
 the Archbishop of Aix, in surprise ; " since when, and 
 
 * The King's letter was in these terms : " My Cousin, Solely intent upon 
 the general good of my kingdom, and, above all, with the desire that the States- 
 general should occupy themselves with the objects which interest the nation, 
 according to the voluntary acceptation of my declaration of the 23d of this 
 month, 1 entreat my faithful clergy (or noblesse) to reunite themselves without 
 delay to the two other orders, to hasten the accomplishment of my paternal 
 views. Those who are prevented by their instructions from doing so, may 
 abstain from voting until they receive new powers from their constituents. 
 This will be a new mark of attachment on the part of my faithful clergy (or 
 noblesse). I pray God, my Cousin, to keep you in his holy keeping." Louis 
 to the CARDINAL DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD, June 27, 1789; BERTRAND DE MOLLB- 
 VILLE, Hiatoire de la Revolution, i. 246, 247.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 513 
 
 in what place "? Is it the Gardes Franaises \ Is it CHAP. 
 the Swiss \ Your majesty was not aware of it jester- IV ' 
 day. It could not be the work of a day. Were the 1789 - 
 officers ignorant of the plot "? Be assured, sire ! your 
 ministers have made you believe this in order to work 
 out the views which made them double the Tiers Etat, 
 and will infallibly lead to the overthrow of the throne." 
 The King, instead of making any answer, requested the 
 archbishops to pass into the adjoining apartment, where 
 they received the same answer from the Queen, the Count 
 d'Artois, and the other princes, whose desire for vigorous 1 Rert de 
 measures was well known ; and the event soon proved MOIL, Hist. 
 
 de la Rv. 
 
 that their information as to the disposition of the troops i. 245. 
 was too well founded. 1 
 
 The minority of the clergy, who had remained in the 
 chamber, yielded an immediate and implicit obedience The nobles 
 to the mandates of the sovereign. But, notwithstanding rehlc 
 the earnest entreaty and express command of Louis, the 
 noblesse were so alive to the imminent hazard of their i u f, ite 
 
 with the 
 
 being lost in the democratic majority of the commons, T ers Etat. 
 that a great proportion of them were still resolute to 
 hold out, and maintain, with mournful constancy, that 
 barrier against revolution which the veto that the law 
 still gave to their order seemed to afford. Cazales, 
 in eloquent terms, and with magnanimous constancy, 
 insisted that the only security for a monarchical govern- 
 ment was to be found in the separation of the orders, 
 which must be maintained at all hazards. In the midst 
 of the general agitation, the Marquis de la Queuille read 
 a letter from the Count d'Artois, who entreated the 
 nobles, in the most earnest manner, no longer to defer 
 the union, intimating that, if they did so, they put the 
 life of the King in danger. " The King is in danger ! " 
 exclaimed the Count de St Simon ; " let us hasten to 
 the palace, there is our place"- " If the King is in 
 danger," interrupted M. de Cazales, " our first duty is to 
 save the monarchy ; our next, to form a rampart with 
 
 VOL. I. 2 K
 
 514 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, our bodies for his person." The discussion upon this 
 ' was beginning anew amidst the most violent agitation ; 
 
 1789. k u t M. de Luxembourg, rising in the president's chair, 
 
 exclaimed, " There is no time to deliberate, gentlemen ! 
 
 The King is in danger who can hesitate a moment 
 
 where he ought to be ? " The generous flame caught 
 
 every breast. The nobles, believing the life of their 
 
 i Be a sovere ig n really in peril, rose tumultuously ; some laid 
 
 Moii. i. 247, their hands on their swords, and all hastened in a body, 
 
 Am, i. 240. headed by the Duke of Luxembourg, into the hall of the 
 
 commons. 1 
 
 It was four o'clock in the afternoon of the 27th 
 
 7ft 
 
 junction of June, when the two orders of the noblesse and clergy, 
 led by their respective presidents, with slow step and 
 downcast looks, advanced up the great hall of the 
 Menus, where the commons were assembled, the clergy 
 on the right, the nobles on the left. A profound silence 
 pervaded the assembly : every one felt the decisive 
 moment of the Revolution had arrived. " Gentlemen," 
 said the Cardinal de la Rochefoucauld, " we have been 
 led here by our love and respect for the King, our 
 wishes for the country, and our zeal for the public 
 good." " Gentlemen," said M. de Luxembourg, " the 
 order of the noblesse has determined this morning 
 to join you in this national hall, to give to the King 
 marks of its respect, to the nation of its devotion." 
 " Gentlemen," answered M. Bailly, the president of 
 the Tiers Etat, " the felicity of this day, which unites 
 the three orders, is such, that the agitation conse- 
 quent on it almost deprives me of the power of 
 utterance but that very agitation is my best answer. 
 Already we possess the order of the clergy ; now the 
 order of the noblesse unites itself to us. This day 
 will be celebrated in our annals : it renders the family 
 complete ; it for ever closes the divisions which have 
 so profoundly afflicted us ; it fulfils the desires of the 
 King ; and now the National Assembly, or rather the
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 515 
 
 States-general, will occupy themselves without distrac- CHAP. 
 tion or intermission in the great work of national 
 
 regeneration and the public weal." Universal joy was 1789 - 
 diffused over Versailles by the announcement of the 
 long wished-for union of the orders ; the Assembly 
 was adjourned to the 3d July, to afford leisure for 
 the general congratulation ; immense crowds hastened 
 to the palace, and, loudly calling for the King, the 
 Queen, and the dauphin, made the air resound with 
 acclamations when they appeared at the balcony. With- 
 out any order, Versailles was illuminated that night ; A ^i s u f 2 4i 
 for three days the rejoicings were continued at Paris, H 4 -;*- D ;f' 
 
 J . J . , 11- 263, 264. 
 
 and the people universally indulged in the most sanguine Bert - ^ 
 anticipations. "The Revolution is finished!" said -2.50. ' Hist.' 
 they : " it is the work of the philosophers, and will z ' 
 not have cost a drop of blood." 1 
 
 Rapid as was the march of events in the Assembly, 
 it was outstripped at the same period by that ofR' 
 extraneous agitation. Already, indeed, it had become th 
 apparent that the direction of the Revolution hadf 1 
 escaped from the hands, not only of the King, but 
 even of the Assembly, which had usurped the supreme 
 power. The MILITARY, thus early in its progress, 
 took upon them to act for themselves ; and, forgetting 
 their duty and their oaths, to fraternise with the insur- 
 gent people. The regiment of the Gardes Franchises, 
 three thousand six hundred strong, in the highest state 
 of discipline and equipment, had for some time given 
 alarming symptoms of disaffection. Their colonel had 
 ordered them, in consequence, to be confined to their 
 barracks, when three hundred of them broke out of 
 their bounds, and repaired instantly to the Palais 
 Royal. They were received with enthusiasm, and libe- 
 rally plied with money by the Orleans party ; and to 
 such a height did the transports rise that, how incredible 
 soever it may appear, it is proved by the testimony 
 of numerous witnesses above all suspicion, that women of
 
 516 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, family and distinction openly embraced the soldiers as 
 they walked in the gardens with their mistresses. After 
 
 1789. these disorders had continued for some time, eleven 
 
 of the ringleaders in the mutiny were seized, and 
 
 thrown into the prison of the Abbey ; a mob of six 
 
 thousand men immediately assembled, forced the gates 
 
 of the prison, and brought them back in triumph to 
 
 the Palais Royal. The King, upon the petition of the 
 
 GO, 63. Mig. Assembly, pardoned the prisoners, and on the following 
 
 I'. 82, 83. ' day they were walking in triumph through the streets of 
 
 Paris. 1 
 
 These alarming events rendered it evident that some 
 
 80 
 
 Vigorous decisive step had become indispensable to prop up the 
 declining authority of the throne. The noblesse recovered 
 thc fr m tne i r stupor ; even the King became convinced that 
 vigorous measures were called for, to arrest the progress 
 of the Revolution. For some time after their union 
 with the commons, the nobles still met at a different 
 house, and were preparing a protest against the ambi- 
 tion of the National Assembly, which subsequent events 
 rendered nugatory ; but the daily diminution of their 
 numbers proved how hopeless, in public estimation, their 
 cause had become. In this extremity the King, as a 
 last resource, threw himself upon the military. The old 
 Marshal de Broglie was appointed general of the royal 
 army, and all the troops on whom most reliance could 
 be placed were collected in the neighbourhood of Ver- 
 sailles ; as many foreign regiments as possible were 
 brought up ; and by the first week of July thirty 
 thousand men and a hundred pieces of cannon were 
 assembled between Versailles and Paris. " Marshal," 
 said the King, when he first received him, " you are 
 come to assist a King without money, without forces ; 
 for I cannot disguise from you that the spirit of revolt 
 has made great progress in my armies. My last hope 
 is in your honour and fidelity. You will fulfil the 
 dearest wishes of my heart if you can succeed, without
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 517 
 
 violence or effusion of blood, in frustrating the designs CHAP. 
 of those who menace the throne designs which would IV ' 
 
 ere long bring misery on my people." The Marshal, 1789. 
 ignorant of the changes of the times, became answer- j Lac vi; 
 able for the safety of the capital, and immediately ? 4 - ' M %- 
 established a numerous staff, whose insolence and con- * 85. Hist. 
 sequential airs only contributed to increase the public 3-2. ' 
 discontents. 1 
 
 The successive arrival of these troops, especially of the 
 German and Swiss regiments, in the neighbourhood of Great ag i- 
 Paris, excited the utmost indignation in the capital, and the capital. 
 entirely dispelled the fond illusions which had prevailed July l ' 
 as to the bloodless character of the Revolution which had 
 now decidedly begun. The troops which had mutinied 
 came by hundreds into the Palais Royal, instigated by 
 the Marquis of Valadi, one of their old officers, where 
 they were liberally supplied with wine, ices, money, tickets 
 for the theatres, and women, by the agents of the Duke 
 of Orleans. Won by such unwonted liberalities, the 
 soldiers unanimously shouted " Vive le Tiers Etat ! " The 
 crowds rent the air with their acclamations at the decisive 
 evidences thus afforded, that the forces brought up to 
 support the monarchy had added to the number of its 
 enemies. The Gardes Franchises for a week past had 
 been in a state of open revolt ; all the efforts of the 
 officers to make the men return to their duty had proved 
 unavailing. Almost universally the non-commissioned 
 officers took part with the privates, being entirely alien- 
 ated from the existing government by the powerful stimu- 
 lants applied to them by the agents of the Revolution, 
 and the impolitic confining of commissions to persons of 
 aristocratic birth. But the foreign regiments in the King's 
 service, consisting wholly of Germans and Swiss, were 
 known to be perfectly steady ; and the citizens, surrounded 
 by armed men some disposed to aid, others to resist 
 them beheld, with mingled feelings of exultation and 
 dismay, the long trains of artillery and cavalry which
 
 518 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, traversed the streets, or took their stations in such a 
 ' manner as to command all the approaches to Versailles. 
 1789. Marat incessantly stimulated the people in his seditious 
 journal : the whole disturbances, he said, were got up by 
 tne ministers and aristocrats, to furnish a pretext for in- 
 JJH9. Hut. troducing and employing the military ; their object was 
 Deux Amis, to dissolve the National Assembly to excite revolt, and 
 
 i 249 2.56 
 
 Lab. i.38, ' extinguish it in blood. Calm tranquil resolution, restrained 
 Monitcur, within the bounds of order, could alone defeat their 
 
 July4,1789. nefarioug projects. 1 * 
 
 Meanwhile the reins of power were daily more percep- 
 Power daily tibly slipping from the hands of those who yet held them. 
 fr^i"tL Terror of an approaching convulsion, added to the severity 
 to th^rnd- 4 already extreme over the whole kingdom, rendered the 
 supplies of grain deficient to an alarming degree in Paris. 
 The bakers' shops were surrounded from morning till 
 night by clamorous crowds demanding bread, and who no 
 sooner were relieved than others equally importunate suc- 
 ceeded. Such was the scarcity, now amounting almost to 
 famine, that part of the bread thus served out was un- 
 wholesome, and produced violent internal pains in some 
 persons who took it. This gave rise to new clamours : it 
 was the aristocrats who were adulterating the bread not 
 content with the pangs of hunger, they were actually 
 poisoning the people. Barnave, Petion, Buzot, and 
 Robespierre, at the club Breton, exerted themselves to 
 the utmost to fan these discontents, and stimulate to the 
 highest pitch the already excited passions of the multi- 
 tude. The assembly of electors had met daily at the 
 July 4. Hotel de Ville, since the 4th July, to deliberate concern- 
 
 * " O mes concitoyens ! observez toujours la conduite des Ministres pour 
 re"gler la votre. Leur objet est la dissolution de notre Assemble Nationale, 
 leur unique moyen est la guerre civile. Les Ministres, les aristocrates soufflent 
 la sedition ! Eh bien ! Gardez-vous de vous livrer a la sedition, et vous 
 de"concerterez leurs perfides manoeuvres. Us vous environnent de 1'appareil 
 formidable des soldats, des baionnettea ! Pe'ne'trez leurs projets inflammatoires. 
 Ce n'est pas pour vous contenir, c'est pour vous exciter a la re"volte, en aigris- 
 sant vos esprits, qu'ils agitent ces instruments meurtriers. Soyez paisibles, 
 tranquilles, soumis au bon ordre : laissez-les combler la mesure : le jour de la 
 justice et de la vengeance arrivera." MARAT, Avis au Peuple, 1 Juillet 1789.
 
 HISTOEY OF EUROPE. 519 
 
 ing the measures to be adopted, and already began to CHAP. 
 organise that power which, under the name of the Muni- IV ' 
 
 cipality of Paris, soon became so formidable. Numberless 1789 - 
 pamphlets issued daily from the press, teeming with 
 violent suggestions ; and the crowds at the Palais 
 Royal, feigning already to exercise sovereign authority, 
 passed decrees, banishing the leading aristocrats to 
 the distance of one hundred leagues from Paris. The 
 Count d'Artois, the Princes of Conde and Conti, the 
 Duke de Bourbon, the Abbe Maury, Madame Polignac, l;^'^ 
 M. d'Espremenil, and all the leading characters in Bert de 
 
 1 . Moll. i. 
 
 opposition to the Revolution, were denounced in this 269, 273. 
 manner, and their names placarded in all the streets of SSL y ' ' 
 the capital. 1 
 
 In this extremity, the chief minister of the King exhi- 
 
 83. 
 
 bited only that quality of all others the most fatal in pre- indecision 
 sence of danger indecision. Necker was still in office, and th e er 
 and took his place regularly at the council-table ; but his mmisters - 
 power was nearly extinct, from the revolt of the commons, 
 and the calamitous consequences of the measures he had 
 so strenuously advocated. Every one saw that he had 
 lost the command of the movement, that his influence 
 with the popular leaders was at an end ; and that even 
 the Assembly, which his counsels had elevated to such 
 fearful preponderance, was likely itself to become the 
 sport of fiercer and more impetuous passions among the 
 people. Firmer hands, a more intrepid heart, were looked 
 for to hold the rudder when the vessel was drifting on 
 the breakers. The war party in the council, without 
 actually displacing Necker, virtually supplanted him in 
 the direction of affairs. The troops arrived without his 
 orders, and were destined, he knew not to what purpose. 
 In truth, he was at a loss what to propose, and his only 
 resource was to do nothing the usual expedient in diffi- 
 culty of temporising characters, and the inevitable result, 
 in the end, of following popular opinion. If he adopted 
 or agreed to vigorous measures, his popularity was gone,
 
 520 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, and would in a few weeks be shivered to atoms. The 
 
 IV 
 
 King could as little see his way through the overwhelming 
 
 1789. difficulties with which he was surrounded, and which the 
 defection of the troops had so fearfully aggravated. He 
 could only cling to the hope that the presence and strength 
 of the military would overawe the turbulent in the city, 
 and a returning sense of their duty restrain the dema- 
 gogues in the Assembly. If not, he proposed, as a last 
 resource, to concede the whole fundamental laws of a free 
 constitution, agreeably to the cahiers of the deputies, and, 
 having made the best provision he could for the finances, 
 dissolve the Assembly. But he was determined, in no 
 S^^V, circumstances whatever, to make the military act against 
 
 Moll. i. 274. jo 
 
 Toui. i. 76, the people ; and in truth the temper of many of them, 
 \ii'. 94, 98. as the event proved, was such that it would have been 
 impossible, for they would not have done so. 1 
 
 But though the intentions of the King were thus mode- 
 More y'io- rate and pacific, he was in a manner overridden in his 
 of^'war own council by the more decided leaders, whom the immi- 
 coumsiL the nence of the danger had raised up to a preponderating 
 influence. The Count d'Artois, the Polignacs, M. de 
 Breteuil, and nearly all the courtiers, were of this party ; 
 and their language was as menacing as their real measures 
 were inefficient, and their means of action feeble. The 
 young officers openly spoke of throwing the deputies out 
 of the windows, and dissolving the Assembly by force. 
 " They have made fools of us hitherto," said they ; " but 
 this time we have sharpened our swords/' Patrols and 
 sentinels were stationed in every direction round Versailles : 
 the communications were often intercepted by hussars ; a 
 camp for twenty thousand men was traced out between 
 that palace and Paris : the foreign regiments were daily 
 arriving, to the manifest augmentation of the mutinous 
 spirit of the guards. The powers of the old Marshal de 
 Broglie were very extensive, embracing even the direction 
 of the household troops ; and he had offered " to disperse, 
 with fifty thousand men, all that rabble of famished wolves
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 521 
 
 who hoped to devour the high noblesse. A single discharge CHAP. 
 
 of musketry will be enough to revive the monarchical ! 
 
 power, instead of the republican influence which has over- 1789 - 
 shadowed it." But in the midst of this military confi- 
 dence, the essential measures necessary to justify it were 
 neglected. No reviews took place by the King or the 1 M , m du 
 royal family, to confirm the spirit of such of the troops as Marshal 
 
 11 i T Rocham- 
 
 still preserved their allegiance; no commanding stations beau, i. 350. 
 were seized or strengthened, and the military positions of eomte de 
 the capital were totally neglected. Nor were any precau- i. i95. sier ' 
 tions taken to preserve the soldiers from the contagion ^if*' "' 
 of the city, from whence wine and money were sent in P^l^l 8 ' 
 profusion to the camp and crowds of courtesans, who 253, 250. 
 
 1 L Lab. in. 
 
 embraced the soldiers, saying, " Comrades, belong to us, 164, 167. 
 and you shall want nothing." 1 
 
 Meanwhile the Assembly, for the first week after the 
 union of the orders, were occupied with the details of Speech of 
 protests lodged by individual members of the clergy and 
 nobles, regarding their remaining, or not remaining, in the 
 united States-general. But the growing accumulation of 
 the troops, and rumours which began to spread of Necker's 
 influence in the council being on the decline, roused them 
 again to decided measures. The great reliance of the 
 leaders of the movement was on the well-known humanity 
 of the King, and the influence of the Swiss minister, *who, 
 they were aware, would never endanger his popularity by 
 decided measures. But the prospect of his fall, and the 
 presence of the military, warned them of the necessity of 
 resuming the offensive. Mirabeau again stood forth on 
 this occasion, and never did he sway with more power 
 the energies of that fierce democracy. On the 8th July he July 8. 
 introduced a motion, which was received with enthusiastic 
 applause, to the effect that a petition should be presented 
 to the King, praying him to remove the troops, and raise J^Jy 9 - 
 an urban guard in Paris and Versailles, for the preservation H. 4-2,' 53. 
 of public order. 2 The petition, read and adopted next day, loo"' 
 is a model of condensed eloquence, and invaluable as a
 
 522 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, record of public feeling, and of the address of the leaders 
 of the Revolution at this time.* 
 
 " The movements of jour own heart, sire ! are the only 
 Address of safety of Frenchmen. When troops arrive on all sides, 
 biy to thT and camps are formed around us ; when the capital is 
 invested we ask with astonishment * Has the King 
 come to distrust his people \ What do these military 
 preparations mean \ Where are the enemies of the King 
 and of the State who are to be subjugated 1 Where are 
 the rebels, the conspirators, whom it is necessary to reduce \ ' 
 A unanimous voice answers in the capital and in the pro- 
 vinces ' We cherish our King ; we bless heaven for the gift 
 it has bestowed upon us in his love.' Sire ! the conscien- 
 tious feelings of your majesty can have been misled only 
 by deceitful representations regarding the public good. 
 If those who have given these counsels to our King would 
 now stand forth and avow their motives, this moment 
 would behold the most complete triumph of truth. The 
 throne has nothing to fear but from the bad counsels of 
 those who surround it, and who are incapable of appre- 
 ciating the motives of the most virtuous of kings. How 
 can they have succeeded in making you doubt the love of 
 your subjects "? What have you done to alienate them \ 
 Have you shed their blood "? Have you shown yourself 
 cruel, implacable towards them \ Have you abused justice \ 
 Do the people impute to you any of their misfortunes \ 
 Are they weary of your yoke, or tired of the sceptre of 
 the Bourbons ? No, sire ! calumny itself has never ven- 
 tured to advance anything so monstrous : it seeks a more 
 plausible ground to conceal its machinations, t 
 
 " We should deceive you, sire ! if we did not add, 
 forced by circumstances, that this empire of love is the 
 only one which it is now possible to exercise in France. 
 
 * It was not written by Mirabeau, but by Dumont, to whose auxiliary labours 
 he was throughout BO much indebted. See DUMONT, Souvenirs de Miraleau, 
 106, 107. 
 
 t It was a monarch thus painted by their ablest leaders that the Revolution- 
 ists afterwards dethroned and executed 1
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 523 
 
 France will never permit the best of kings to be misled, CHAP. 
 
 and withdrawn from the course which he himself has traced 1_ 
 
 out. You have been called on with us to fix the consti- ^89. 
 tution, to effect the regeneration of the kingdom. The 
 National Assembly has solemnly declared to you that 
 your wishes shall be accomplished ; that your promises 
 shall not be vain ; that difficulties, snares, terrors, shall 
 neither intimidate its march nor shake its resolution. 
 * Where, then, is the danger of bringing up the troops V 
 our enemies will perhaps say : ' What mean these com- 
 plaints, when the Assembly is incapable of discourage- 
 ment V Sire ! the danger is pressing, it is universal it 
 is beyond all the calculations of human prudence. 
 
 " The danger is for the people in the provinces : once 
 alarmed for their liberties, where is the rein that will 
 restrain them \ Distance will magnify everything, exagge- 
 rate every disquiet, envenom every feeling. The danger 
 is for the capital. With what eye will the people, in the 
 midst of want, tormented with anxiety, behold a numerous 
 body of soldiers absorb the scanty remains of subsistence 1 
 The presence of the troops will produce a universal 
 excitement : and the first act of violence committed under 
 the pretext of keeping the peace will lead to a horrible 
 succession of misfortunes. The danger is for the troops 
 themselves : French soldiers, close to the centre of dis- 
 cussion, sharing in the passions as in the interests of the 
 people, may forget that an engagement has made them 
 soldiers, to recollect that nature has made them men. 
 The danger, sire ! menaces the labours which are our first 
 duty, and which cannot obtain a full success, a real per- 
 manence, save so long as the people shall regard them as 
 entirely free. There is, moreover, a contagion in passion- 
 ate emotions ; we are but men ; distrust of ourselves, fear 
 of appearing weak, may transport us beyond our end : we 
 shall be besieged with violent, unmeasured counsels ; and 
 calm reason, tranquil wisdom, do not deliver their oracles 
 in the midst of tumult, of disorder, and of faction. The
 
 524 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, danger, sire ! is more terrible still, and judge of its extent 
 by the alarms which bring us before you. Great revolu- 
 
 1789. tions have sprung from causes less considerable ; more 
 than one enterprise, fatal alike to nations and kings, has 
 been announced in a manner less sinister and less formi- 
 dable. Believe not those who speak lightly of the nation, 
 and who represent it only in their own colours : sometimes 
 insolent, rebellious, seditious ; at others, submissive, docile, 
 crouching. Always ready to obey you, sire ! because you 
 command in the name of the laws, our fidelity itself some- 
 times orders resistance, and we shall always glory in the 
 reproaches which our firmness attracts. We beseech you, 
 sire ! send back the troops ; dismiss to the frontiers that 
 artillery intended to protect them ; dismiss, above all, 
 those strangers, whom we pay, not to disturb, but to 
 defend our hearths. Your majesty has no need of them : 
 , a monarch adored by twenty-five millions of Frenchmen 
 
 1 Hist. Par). ... 
 
 u. 54, 57. can derive no additional support from a few thousand 
 foreigners I" 1 
 
 The deputation, consisting of four-and-twenty members 
 Answer of of the Assembly, was introduced to the King on the suc- 
 Juiy iof* ceeding evening, and he made the following answer : 
 " No one can be ignorant of the scandalous scenes which 
 have taken place, and been renewed at Paris, under my 
 eyes and those of the States-general. It is necessary 
 that I should make use of the means which are in my 
 power to maintain public order in the capital and its 
 environs ; it is one of my first duties to watch over the 
 public tranquillity. These are the motives which have 
 induced me to assemble the troops around Paris : you 
 may assure the assembly of the States-general that they 
 have no other object but to maintain the public peace, 
 and preserve that freedom which should ever characterise 
 your deliberations. None but the evil disposed could 
 seek to mislead my people as to the intentions I had in 
 view in bringing them together. I have constantly aimed 
 at the happiness of my people, and always had reason to
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 525 
 
 be satisfied with their fidelity. If, however, the unavoid- CHAP. 
 able presence of the troops in the environs of Paris gives IV> 
 you any umbrage, I will, at the desire of the States- i? 89 - 
 general, transfer the Assembly to Noyon or Soissons, and MoiTi. 288. 
 repair in person to Compiegne, to maintain the communi- ^vS' 
 cation between the Assembly and myself." l 
 
 This well-advised answer satisfied all the reasonable 
 men, but it excited loud murmurs among the majority Dissatisfac- 
 of the Assembly. " The King," said the Count de Crillon, Assembly? 
 "has given us his royal word that the advance of the Julyll< 
 troops has been dictated solely by the necessity of pro- 
 viding for his own safety and that of the capital, and 
 that he has no intention of overawing the deliberations of 
 the Assembly. We are bound to believe the word of his 
 majesty. The word of an honourable man is a sufficient 
 guarantee it should dispel all our alarms. Let us then 
 remain with the King, and declare that in doing so we 
 yield alike to our love and his virtues." " The word of 
 the King," replied Mirabeau, "is a sufficient security for 
 his own intentions, but none at all for those of a minister 
 who has more than once violated his oath. Is any of us 
 ignorant that it is want of foresight, blind confidence in 
 others, which has brought us to our present predicament, 
 and which should open our eyes if we would not continue 
 for ever slaves 1 The answer of the King is in effect a 
 refusal. We asked the removal of the troops from our- 
 selves, we did not ask the removal of ourselves from the 
 troops. The presence of the troops near the capital 
 threatens public tranquillity, and may produce the greatest 
 dangers. Those dangers would not be diminished, but, 
 on the contrary, greatly augmented, by the removal of 
 the Assembly. Let us then continue to insist upon the 
 removal of the troops as the only means of safety." The 
 discussion dropped after these observations the subject 
 was too delicate to be further probed ; but they sufficiently 
 revealed the spirit of the Assembly. They had no real 
 fears of the soldiers, with whose mutinous spirit they
 
 526 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, were well acquainted, still less of any intention of being 
 removed from Paris even to a place of the most perfect 
 
 1789 - safety ; they had need of its enthusiasm, its riots, its 
 
 wine, and its women. What they wanted was to deliver 
 
 over the King defenceless to its violence and intimidation. 
 
 And on the same day, to augment the already formidable 
 
 popularity of the Duke of Orleans, a pretended offer of 
 
 that prince to the Committee of Subsistence in the As- 
 
 IfjfjF 1 sembly of 300,000 francs (12,000) was hawked about 
 
 MOM f^M *^e stree ^ s a tota l fabrication, but which answered the 
 
 290. beux purpose of increasing the general excitement, and pro- 
 
 Amig,i.26.5, r . r i i i r i 
 
 266. curing shouts from his hired retainers in praise of his 
 generosity and virtues. 1 
 
 The first signal for the revolt which overturned the 
 Commence- throne, was given at eleven on the evening of the llth 
 tosL-ec- e July, by the issuing of a mob from the quarters of New 
 dumi^ai of France and Little Poland, who attacked and burned the 
 Juifii ker ' barrier of the chaussee d'Antin. The object of this was 
 to let in the smugglers and desperate characters from the 
 environs ; and it was to have been immediately followed 
 by the burning, on the same day, of the Palais Bourbon, 
 which was the signal agreed on for a general insurrection, 
 during the confusion of which the Duke of Orleans was to 
 have been proclaimed lieutenant-general of the kingdom.* 
 But before these designs could be carried into complete 
 effect, intelligence arrived in Paris of an event which, as 
 it indicated the adoption of vigorous measures by the 
 court, added immensely to the general effervescence. The 
 King, seeing that matters had now come to such a pass 
 that resistance was necessary to prevent an immediate 
 revolt, at length resolved on the dismissal of M. Necker, 
 and embraced the views of the Count d'Artois, M. de 
 Breteuil, the Queen, and others, who urged vigorous 
 measures. The chief ministers were changed : M. de 
 
 * See the depositions of M. Guilheim, Dufraisse, Duchey, and Tailhardat de 
 la Maison-Neuve. Procedure du Chdtdet sur les attentats des 5 et 6 Octobre 
 (120 and 126 witnesses) ; and BERTRAND DE MOLLEVILLE, Histoire de la R6 volu- 
 tion, i. 293; and LABAUME, iii. 174.
 
 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 527 
 
 Breteuil as prime -minister, and the Marshal de Broglie CHAP. 
 as minister-at-war, were placed at the head of affairs ; 
 
 the saloons at Versailles were filled with generals and 1789 - 
 aides-de-camp, and everything indicated the adoption of 
 hostile resolutions.* Louis, preserving his calmness and 
 moderation in the midst of the general tumult, refused to 
 order Necker's arrest, as some proposed,! but sent him a 
 letter, in which he expressed his regret at his dismissal, 
 his regard for his character, and declared that he was 
 overruled bj necessity. Necker's bearing on this occasion 
 was worthy of the elevated principles by which, notwith- 
 standing his fatal errors of judgment, his conduct had 
 been regulated. He received the King's letter at dinner, 
 and, without testifying any emotion on reading it, said, as 
 if nothing had occurred, to M. de la Luzerne, the minister 
 of marine, who brought it, that he would meet him in the 
 evening at the council, and continued to converse, with 
 perfect self-possession, with the Archbishop of Bordeaux, i De staei, 
 and other gentlemen present. 1 After sitting the usual B^'de 
 time at table, he rose, and without communicating with ol V- 292- 
 
 Momteur, 
 
 any person in his family not even with his daughter, ^ 17 y 20 ' 
 Madame de Stael retired for the night to his country Mem. de ia 
 house at Saint Ouen, from whence he set out next morn- Labiiii'.iie. 
 ing for Brussels, accompanied by Madame Necker, to 
 
 * " J'allai trouver le Mare'chal de Broglie a Versailles. Le Mare'chal, prenant 
 le ton d'un ge'ne'ral d'armee, disposait de tout comme s'il avait. e'te' en face de 
 1'ennemi. Je lui repre"sentai que la position e"tait bien diffe'rente ; qu'il n'e"tait 
 pas question d'atteindre le but qu'on se proposait a coups de fusil : qu'il fallait 
 prendre garde de pousser les choses aux dernieres extre'mite's avec des esprits 
 tellement e'chauffe's qu'ils ne connaissaieut plus de frein. Le Mare'chal reut 
 mal mes representations : J'insistai ; il se facha. Le Mare'chal avait fait du 
 chateau de Versailles un camp. II avait mis un regiment dans 1'orangerie ; il 
 afl'ectait des apprehensions pour la personne du roi, pour la famille royale, 
 aussi deplacdes que dangereuses. Son antichambre e*tait remplie d'ordonuances 
 de tous les regimens, et d'aides-de-camp tout prets a monter a cheval. On 
 y voyait des bureaux et des commis occupds a e"crire ; on dounait une liste 
 d'officiers g^n^raux employe's ; on faisait un ordre de bataille. De pareilles 
 demonstrations ne pouvaient qu'accroltre 1'inquietude de I'Assemblde Nation- 
 ale." BESENVAL, Mm. ii. 371. 
 
 f- " ' Non,' disait le roi ; ' il m'a promis de se retirer sans bruit, si ses services 
 de"plaisent : je re"ponds de sa soumission, et il obdira a 1'ordre que je lui enver- 
 rai." LABAUME, iii. 175.
 
 528 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, whom ho revealed for the first time, when in the carriage, 
 
 ! that he had ceased to be a minister of the Crown. It 
 
 1789 - may safely be affirmed that Necker was greater in his 
 fall than he had ever been in his elevation. 
 
 The news of Necker's dismissal was not known at Paris 
 Progress of on the 11 th, when the revolt broke out ; on the contrary, 
 inpMis,and Dr Guillotm arrived there from Versailles at nine at 
 S^ce T ear night, with the intelligence that the Swiss minister was 
 Sims. more tnan eTer confirmed in the confidence of the King, 
 Jul y 12 - and that Lafayette had just presented a declaration on 
 the rights of man. But on the following morning, at nine 
 o'clock, accounts were received of the change of ministry 
 and of Necker's departure ; and soon afterwards placards 
 were put up about the streets bearing the old title, " De 
 par le Roi," in which the Parisians were invited to 
 remain at home, and not to be alarmed at the presence 
 of the troops, who had become necessary to defeat the 
 designs of the brigands. At the same time a considerable 
 movement of military was observed ; infantry and cavalry, 
 with a few pieces of artillery, entered the town ; and 
 aides-de-camp and officers were seen riding about in all 
 directions. Indescribable was the sensation which these 
 events occasioned. Paris was thrown into the utmost 
 consternation. Fury immediately succeeded to alarm ; 
 the theatres were closed ; the Palais Royal resounded 
 with the cry " To arms !" and a leader destined to future 
 distinction, Camille Desmoulins, armed with pistols, gave 
 the signal for insurrection by breaking a branch off a tree 
 in the gardens, which he placed in his hat. The whole 
 foliage was instantly stripped off the trees, and the crowds 
 decorated themselves with the symbols of revolt. " Citi- 
 zens," said Camille Desmoulins, " the moment for action 
 is arrived ; the dismissal of M. Necker is the signal for a 
 St Bartholomew of the patriots ; a hundred barrels of 
 powder are placed under the Assembly to blow the 
 deputies into the air ; a hundred guns on Montmartre 
 and Belleville are already pointed on Paris : furnaces for
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 529 
 
 red-hot shot are preparing in the Bastile : men, women, CHAP. 
 and children will be massacred, none spared : this very 
 
 evening the Swiss and German battalions will issue from 1789 - 
 the Champ de Mars to slaughter us ; one resource alone 
 is left, which is to fly to arms/' The crowd tumultuously 
 adopted this proposal, and, decorated with green boughs, 
 marched through the streets, bearing in triumph the busts 
 of M. Necker and the Duke of Orleans. They were 
 charged by the regiment of Royal Allemand, which was 
 put to flight by showers of stones ; but the dragoons of 
 Prince Lambesc having come up, the mob retreated, and 
 dispersed through the gardens of the Tuileries. In the 
 tumult, the busts were destroyed, a French soldier killed, 
 and an old man wounded by Prince Lambesc : this was 
 the first blood shed in the Revolution. From the lead i Hist Parl- 
 which he took on this occasion, Camille Desmoulins ^ ' d 2 - 
 acquired the name of the " First Apostle of Liberty." MOIL ^ 3 
 Associated with Danton, he long enjoyed the gales of. 70. Th. 
 
 i 89 Deux 
 
 popular favour. He died on the scaffold, the victim of Amis, 1.276. 
 the very faction he had so great a share in creating. 1 
 
 This tumult was shortly followed by another of a still 
 more important character, from the decisive evidence Combat in 
 which it afforded of the defection of the army. The barracks, 
 Prince Lambesc had placed a squadron of dragoons in chery'of the 
 front of the barracks of the French guards, to overawe troops> 
 that disaffected regiment. When intelligence of the rout 
 in the gardens in the Tuileries arrived, the troops broke 
 down the iron rails in front of their barracks, and opened 
 a volley upon the horse, which obliged them to retire : 
 they pursued them to the gardens of the Tuileries, and 
 posted themselves in order of battle in front of the popu- 
 lace, and between them and the royal troops. The 
 soldiers in the Champ de Mars received orders to advance 
 and dislodge them ; they were received by a discharge of 
 musketry, and were so much restrained by the orders not 
 to shed blood, that they did not venture to return the 
 fire. The monarchy was lost : the household troops had 
 
 VOL. i. 2 L
 
 530 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, revolted ; and the remainder of the army was not per- 
 '. mitted to act against the people. Encouraged by this 
 1789. impunity, the Gardes Fran9aises now openly joined the 
 insurgents : twelve hundred of them repaired to the Palais 
 Royal, with their arms, but without their officers, and 
 there, fraternising with the people, and plied with wine, 
 gave themselves up to the universal transports. Soon they 
 returned with a numerous band of the mob to the Place 
 Louis XV., in order to clear it entirely of the foreign 
 troops ; but Baron Besenval, who commanded them, seeing 
 the contagion of defection rapidly gaining their ranks, had 
 previously withdrawn them to the Champ de Mars. The 
 field was now clear ; all resistance had ceased for the 
 night on the part of the royal forces ; and bands of the 
 296 U 299 insurgents traversed the town in all directions, exclaiming, 
 is? ' iss " ^ arms to arms " Meanwhile a storm arose in the 
 Toui. i.73. heavens; the thunder rolled above even the cries of the 
 
 Xj&c vi i 74 
 
 Mi g . i. so. ' multitude ; and frequent discharges of fire-arms from the 
 brigands added to the general consternation. 1 
 
 Indefatigable were the efforts made by the satellites of 
 Efforts of the Duke of Orleans, and leaders of the Revolution, to 
 pa!rty to eans inflame the public mind, and turn to the best account this 
 prodigious ebullition of popular fury. There was no end 
 to the fabrications which they made, the avidity with 
 which they were listened to, or the credulity with which 
 they were believed. At one time the cry was " They 
 will burn Paris they will decimate its inhabitants." At 
 another " Lorraine is sold to the Emperor Joseph for 
 money to crush the Revolution the troops on the Champ 
 de Mars are about to massacre the people." No words 
 can adequately paint the mingled fury and enthusiasm 
 which these reports and announcements, rapidly succeed- 
 ing each other, produced in the public mind. In vain 
 the urban guard and police of the capital ran into every 
 street, and joined every group, to assure them that there 
 was no cause for apprehension, that no hostile designs 
 were contemplated. None listened to what they said.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 531 
 
 Numbers lay down and put their ears on the ground, to CHAP. 
 
 catch the first sound of the approaching cannon. All ! 
 
 business was at a stand. The courts of law were shut. 1789< 
 Almost all the shops were closed. Crowds thronged 
 every street. Unbearable anxiety filled every bosom. 
 Real alarms, as night approached, were joined to these 
 imaginary terrors. The hired brigands, encouraged by 
 the impunity with which their excesses on the preceding 
 evening had been committed, issued from the faubourgs, 
 and burned the barriers of St Antoine, St Marceau, 
 and St Jacques. The flames spread a prodigious light 
 over all that quarter of the heavens, and produced a 
 general belief that the conflagration of the city by the 
 foreign troops had already commenced. Meanwhile, the i BaiUy} ih 
 destruction of the barriers being completed, ferocious bands ^bh 184 
 of smugglers from the adjacent country broke in, joined ^- . D 2 eu g x 
 the tumultuous crowds of the suburbs, and, with loud 279. ' Hist.' 
 shouts and waving torches, proceeded to the attack of 83. ' 
 the remaining barriers of the city. 1 
 
 These alarming appearances had no effect whatever in 
 inducing the military authorities to take any effectual Continu- 
 steps for warding off the danger. Accustomed to see riots on the 
 Paris ruled without difficulty by a small body of police want 
 and an inconsiderable civic guard, they persisted in ^IhTp^t 
 regarding the disturbances as mere local outrages which of the court - 
 were attended with no public danger. No military posts 
 around Paris were occupied ; not a gun was mounted on 
 Montmartre or Belleville ; the garrison of eighty men in 
 the Bastile was not even reinforced ; and this slender 
 detachment, though abundantly supplied with ammuni- 
 tion, was almost destitute of provisions. M. Besenval, 
 who commanded the military around Paris, had no force 
 within its walls under his orders. Twenty-five thousand , Deux 
 men occupied St Denis, Courbevoie, Charenton, Sevres, ^ lis ' k crt 
 and all the villages round to the Champ de Mars; but deMoii. i.' 
 
 , , , . , ,, 301. Lab. 
 
 none were drawn nearer to the capital, which was left at m. 197. 
 the mercy of ferocious brigands and a maddened people. 2
 
 532 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. The Revolutionists acted very differently in their 
 preparations. At three on the morning of the 13th, a 
 
 1789. hideous mob, armed with clubs, sticks, and pikes, sur- 
 rounded the convent Saint Lazare, demanding bread. The 
 trembling inmates speedily emptied their stores, and the 
 iutionists. mo h become furious when the distribution ceased, broke 
 
 July 13. 
 
 into the building, pillaged it from top to bottom, and 
 
 were only prevented from burning it by the arrival of a 
 
 company of the guards. Rapidly they proceeded to the 
 
 Garde Meuble, containing a considerable store of arms, 
 
 and many relics of inestimable value belonging to the 
 
 Crown : the gates were forced open, and the whole 
 
 weapons seized and distributed among the people. The 
 
 lance of Dunois, the sword of Henry IV., became the 
 
 prey of the lowest of the populace, and were carried off 
 
 in triumph. At the same time, the great prison of La 
 
 Force was besieged, the gates forced, and the whole 
 
 prisoners set at liberty, who instantly proceeded to the 
 
 Conciergerie, where five hundred of the most abandoned 
 
 felons, all in a state of mutiny, were making strenuous 
 
 efforts for their liberation. A few only of them, however, 
 
 were selected by the popular liberators. These bands, 
 
 thus reinforced, forthwith began to traverse the streets, 
 
 vociferating loudly, and calling on all true Frenchmen to 
 
 join the arms of freedom. Such was the tumult, so loud 
 
 did the clamour soon become, that hardly was the dismal 
 
 1 Deux clang of the tocsin audible from sixty churches, which, on 
 
 2sT! 8 285. the signal of a standard hoisted from the Hotel de Ville, 
 
 IjJ'Se,^" 1 " all began to ring at once. No sooner, however, were 
 
 1^7,' 198 these sounds of alarm heard above the din, than the 
 
 Tableau* 1 ' w hl e citizens flew into the streets ; in the twinkling of 
 
 Hut. de ia an eye, posts were established, gunsmiths' shops pillaged, 
 
 Bert, de ' chaussees unpaved, waggons overturned, barricades erected, 
 
 3oi,3Q4. and every preparation made for a vigorous defence. 
 
 " Arms ! arms ! " was the universal cry. 1 
 
 Meanwhile the leaders of the Revolution were taking 
 measures, with unexampled energy, to organise and turn
 
 HISTORY OF EUEOPE. 533 
 
 to the best account this extraordinary effervescence. The CHAP. 
 Hotel de Ville, where a permanent committee of the 
 
 electors had been established since the 4th July, pre- 1789 - 
 
 95. 
 
 Tga- 
 
 sented a central point of direction the sixty electoral First oi _ 
 halls for the like number of districts, so many rallying- SN^^I 
 points where their orders might be received, and commu- jj^?_ 
 nicated to the obedient citizens. Night and day these paiityof 
 
 f Pans, and 
 
 points of rendezvous were thronged by crowds loudly Tricolor 
 demanding arms ; and the electors soon assumed and 
 received the supreme direction of affairs. A permanent 
 committee, which sat without intermission at the Hotel 
 de Ville, rapidly acquired the entire government of the 
 insurrection, and decreed the immediate raising of a 
 voluntary force in Paris of forty-eight thousand men. 
 Each of the electoral districts was to furnish a battalion 
 eight hundred strong : four battalions formed a legion, 
 which took its name from the districts from which they 
 were drawn. The committee named the officers of the 
 Etat-major ; but the nomination of the officers of bat- 
 talions was left to the privates. Government was neither 
 consulted, nor had it the slightest share, in the appoint- 
 ment or organisation of this formidable force. It of 
 course fell into the hands of the most ardent and least 
 scrupulous of the popular party.""" It was at first named 
 the Parisian Militia ; and M. de la Salle d'Offremont, 
 director of the arsenal, a well-known Liberal, was invited 
 to take the command. The device chosen was the red 
 and blue ribbon, the colours of the city, and white, to 
 mark the intimate union which should subsist between it 
 and the army. These colours were immediately adopted 
 by the National Assembly, and became the well-known i H i s t. p ar i. 
 standard of the Revolution. 1 Such was the origin of the BeS'd?" 
 MUNICIPALITY OF PARIS, THE NATIONAL GUARD, AND ?' lo "-.. i .-.^- 
 
 Lab. in. 200, 
 
 THE TRICOLOR FLAG, the three most powerful springs of SOL vx 
 the Revolution, and of the last of which Lafayette nearly soi. ' 
 
 * " Centurionutn ordines legionibus offerebat : eo suffragio turbidissimus 
 quisque delectus ; nee miles in arbitrio ducum, sed duces militari violentia 
 trahebantur." TACITUS, Hist. iii. 49.
 
 534 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, predicted the actual destiny, when he said it would make 
 
 the tour of the globe. 
 
 1789. Unbounded was the enthusiasm which the formation of 
 this voluntary force occasioned in men of all ranks and 
 tionof a g es From the aged veteran who could hardly march, 
 tionary to the youthful stripling who with difficulty bore the 
 weight of arms, all pressed to the various rallying-points 
 to offer their services. It was not merely the democratic 
 and the revolutionary who came forward ; the most re- 
 spectable citizens were the first to tender their services : 
 a sense of common danger, the dread of impending cala- 
 mities, united every one. Government appeared to have 
 abdicated its functions ; the law was in abeyance ; the 
 constituted authorities had disappeared ; society seemed 
 resolved into its pristine elements ; and self-preservation, 
 not less than patriotic duty, called on all to take common 
 measures alike for their own and for the general protection. 
 Money and arms, however, were wanting ; but such was 
 the general enthusiasm that this deficiency \vas not long 
 experienced. The treasure of the Hotel de Ville, amount- 
 ing to three millions of francs (120,000), presented an 
 immediate resource, which was instantly rendered available. 
 Orders for the manufacture of muskets were given to all 
 i Deux the gunsmiths ; their whole disposable arms instantly pur- 
 286. 18 ' rib!' chased. Every anvil rang with the making of pikes, of 
 TouS?? 3 ' which it was calculated fifty thousand would be ready in 
 82' Th ?' thirty-six hours. Scythes were affixed to the end of poles, 
 ?? 91 - .. rails beat out into swords, lead melted down into balls, 
 
 iMarm. 11. 
 
 3.17,359. and daggers or hatchets affixed to sticks. Never, in 
 ii. 83. ' modern Europe, had such sudden and energetic efforts 
 been made to arm the multitude. 1 
 
 But these methods were not suited to the exigences of 
 Capture of the moment, and could not at once produce a sufficient 
 d4 inva- supply of arms for the vast population, numbering at least 
 a hundred thousand men, who besieged the different elec- 
 toral halls to receive them. The great arsenal of the 
 Invalides presented an immediate resource, and the known
 
 HISTOKY OP EUROPE. 535 
 
 disposition of the troops stationed in the Champ de Mars, CHAP. 
 
 in its neighbourhood, rendered it all but certain that they '. 
 
 would make no resistance to the arms it contained being 1789 - 
 seized. Instantly the cry arose, " Allons aux Invalides !" uth July. 
 a prodigious crowd rolled in that direction, headed by the 
 Procureur du Roi, Ethys de Corny, who, by order of the 
 central committee at the Hotel de Ville, issued from its 
 halls to put himself at its head, and speedily the insur- 
 gents surrounded the Hotel des Invalides. M. de Som- 
 breuil, its governor, an old man of eighty years of age, 
 seeing the multitude headed by so high a functionary 
 and several persons of respectability, and being well aware 
 that the invalids and gunners in his establishment would 
 oppose no sort of resistance to the people, advanced at 
 the head of his staif, caused the gates to be opened, and 
 permitted the leaders of the insurgents to enter. They 
 asked for arms to put into the hands of the people, and 
 insisted for leave to search the building for that purpose. 
 Sombreuil, destitute of the means of resistance, replied 
 that he was not at liberty to comply with such a demand, 
 but that he had sent a courier to Versailles for instruc- 
 tions, and the answer would determine his conduct. But 
 the impatience of the people could brook no delay. While 
 the conference was yet going on, a furious multitude of 
 above forty thousand insisted on being instantly led to the 
 assault, and, in almost frantic impatience, had already 
 begun, with hideous yells, to descend into the ditches, and 
 escalade the parapets. Ten thousand men were encamped 
 in the Champ de Mars, in the close vicinity, under Baron 
 Besenval ; but that officer, intimidated by the cold recep- 
 tion he had received after his spirited suppression of the 
 revolt at Reveillon's, and his orders not to fire on the 
 people in this instance, did not venture to act ; and the 
 invalids in the garrison of the Invalides refused to point 
 their guns on the people, * and even threatened to hang the 
 
 * " Loin de s'opposer a 1'invasion, les soldats de l'H6tel des Invalides les 
 favoriserent, et peu s'en fallut que le gouverneur, a qui ces gens-la n'avaient pas 
 un reproche a faire, ne fCit pendu par eux a la grille." BESENVAL, ii. 366.
 
 536 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, governor if he persisted in his resistance. The regiment 
 of Chateauvieux, though raised in Switzerland, declared it 
 
 1789. would never fire on the people ; and many others, it was 
 well known, shared the same determination. Placed thus 
 iMoo P w> Detwecn a timorous court and an insurgent soldiery, 
 p'rudhom. Besenval could not hazard any decisive step, and left the 
 Paris, i7th Invalides to its fate.* In this extremity, Sombreuil con- 
 P. U IO. Hum- ceived he had no alternative but to submit ; the gates 
 SCV, a* 1 were P ene d, and instantly a prodigious crowd rushed in, 
 i?^,^!' an d got possession of the whole arsenal in the building. 
 e 364 Va 366 Twenty pieces of cannon, and eight-and-twenty thousand 
 ji ni 2o ur 2i mus ^ ets ai) d bayonets, disappeared in the twinkling of an 
 1789, P ! 90! eye, and a large part of the Parisian populace speedily 
 found themselves armed in the best manner. 1 
 
 This great success was immediately improved by the in- 
 it is deter- surgents. Pickets were placed at all the important posts 
 "tt^k tL around Paris, which intercepted the communication with 
 tlle ' Versailles, and got possession of the whole avenues to the 
 capital. A large body, armed with fifteen guns, took post 
 opposite the camp in the Champ de Mars ; but it soon 
 appeared, from the conduct of the troops, that the insur- 
 gents had more to hope than to fear from their operations. 
 On one of the intercepted couriers from Versailles was 
 found an order addressed to de Launay, the governor of 
 the BASTILE, enjoining him to hold out to the last extre- 
 mity. This order was immediately carried to the Hotel de 
 Ville ; and it was determined to proceed to the attack of 
 that fortress before a duplicate of the instructions could be 
 received by its governor. The strength of this celebrated 
 fortress which had been built in the fourteenth cen- 
 tury between Paris and the faubourg St Antoine, for the 
 purpose of coercing both its deep ditches, massy walls, 
 huge drawbridges, and lofty towers, armed with fifteen 
 pieces of heavy artillery, seemed to defy an assault from 
 
 * " Le regiment Suisse de Chateauvieux, campe" au Champ de Mars, declarait 
 que jamais il ne tirerait sur le peuple. Son refus evidemment paralysa Besen- 
 val, laissa Paris libre, et maitre de marcher sur la Bastille." MICHELET, Histoire 
 de la Involution, ii. 270.
 
 HISTOEY OF EUROPE. 537 
 
 an undisciplined multitude, however generally armed and CHAP. 
 strongly excited. But the accession of the Gardes Fran- 
 
 aises, three thousand five hundred strong, to the insurgent 1789 - 
 ranks, and the guns taken at the Invalides, promised them 
 the inestimable advantages of experienced discipline and 
 a siege equipage. It was known that though the fortress i Moniteur, 
 was amply supplied with ammunition, it was almost des- 17^, p ' 90. 
 titute of provisions ; the garrison consisted only of eighty- Lac!'vii. 7 83, 
 two Invalids and thirty-two Swiss ; * and the facility with 207 ^ ' 
 which the great arsenal of the Invalides had been captured P^^i 8 ' 
 and sacked, encouraged the belief that the humanity of DusaJit sur 
 the King would never permit its guns to be turned upon 400, 408.' 
 the people. 1 
 
 A few musket-shots were discharged during the night 
 of the 1 3th at the sentinels who mounted guard on the Prepar'a- 
 Bastile, but without doing any injury, or provoking any 
 
 act of hostility on the part of the garrison. At ten o'clock j h u e i y B i a f lIe ' 
 on the morning of the 14th, a crowd collected round its 
 gates, and attempted to force their way in, while several 
 shots were fired at the sentinels. De Launay upon this 
 directed a discharge of musketry, which, without injuring 
 any one, dispersed the crowd, and at the same time ordered 
 some of the great guns to be pointed down the Rue St 
 Antoine, the principal theatre of the assemblage. The 
 sound of this fusillade, and the intelligence that the can- 
 non of the Bastile were directed on Paris, speedily spread 
 like lightning, and drew larger crowds to the spot, who 
 alleged that they had been sent, some by the sections, 
 some by the districts, to avert the threatened calamity. 
 De Launay, anxious to avoid extremities, admitted M. 
 Belon, the deputy from the Hotel de Ville, and Thuriot de 
 
 * " Quatre-vingt-deux soldats iuvalides, dont deux canonniers de la compagnie 
 de Monsigni, et trente-deux Suisses du regiment de Salis-Sarnade, commando's 
 par M. Louis de Flue, lieutenant de grenadiers, composaient la garnison. Tel 
 e"tait I'e'tat de ses forces le 14 Juillet; mais les munitions de guerre lui avaient 
 fait oublier les provisions de bouche. Elles consistaient en deux sacs defarlne, 
 et un pen de riz. II n'avait pas d'autre eau que celle que fouraissaient des can- 
 aux par le moyen d'un bassin exteYieur faible ressource, dont on pouvait aisa- 
 ment les priver." Moniteur, 20 Juillet 1789, p. 90.
 
 538 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, la Roziere, the deputy from the Quarter of St Catherine ; 
 and at their entreaty agreed to draw the guns pointed 
 
 1789 - towards the capital within their embrasures, and informed 
 them that they were not loaded. At the same time some 
 slight measures of defence were taken : several waggon- 
 loads of balls and iron missiles were brought up and placed 
 on the ramparts, to defend the approaches to the bridge. 
 While these preparations were going on within the for- 
 tress, the crowd outside rapidly increased ; the faubourg 
 408 U8a Bio g . St Antoine emptied its immense population ; every avenue 
 leading to the Bastile was soon filled with a prodigious 
 
 P e ~? A 2V!!' multitude : and to those who, from the summit of its 
 
 11. > 1 - OJ -I. 
 
 SSfdT* towers, beheld the sea of heads, the spectacle was so 
 Paris, i2th appalling that de Launay, taking Thuriot by the arm, 
 
 to 17th July Vl 5 . c Ai i i 
 
 1789, p. 22. said, turning pale, Ah, sir ! you abuse a sacred name 
 to betray me." 1 
 
 The old castle of the Bastile was surrounded by eight 
 Description lofty round towers, the walls of which were six feet in 
 tile. e thickness, and they were joined to each other by a wall 
 still more massy, being no less than nine feet across. Its 
 entry was at the extremity of the Rue St Antoine : above 
 the principal gate was a considerable magazine of arms, 
 but they had all been removed to the Invalides shortly 
 before, with the exception of six hundred muskets, which 
 had been withdrawn into the interior of the building. 
 Within the exterior walls was, as in all other castles of 
 considerable extent, an interior court, in which were the 
 barracks of the troops, and stables of the governor ; access 
 could be obtained to this court both by the principal gate, 
 fronting the Rue St Antoine, and by another entrance on 
 the side of the arsenal, which was, in the same manner as 
 the first, defended by a drawbridge over the ditch, which 
 entirely surrounded the edifice. Within this outer, was 
 another inner court, separated from the first by a dry 
 ditch, traversed by a drawbridge, defended by a strong 
 guardhouse, intended as the last refuge of the besieged if 
 the outer house was carried, and in it was the governor's
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 539 
 
 house. After passing through this interior court, access CHAP. 
 was obtained by an iron gate to the great court, within the IV ' 
 
 donjon, which was a hundred feet long by seventy broad, 1789 - 
 surrounded by the state prison, flanked by lofty towers, 
 and in which the captives were allowed to take the air. 
 The exterior ditch was usually dry except in wet weather, 
 or when the Seine, with which it communicated, was high : 
 
 7 o y 
 
 but as the outer wall of the donjon was thirty-six feet in 
 height, and exposed to a flanking fire from the towers, l Deux 
 which were forty-six feet in elevation, the place was con- ^S is 'i2 
 sidered impregnable, except by regular approaches and Moniteur, 
 so it was, if it had been regularly garrisoned and pro- 1739, p. V 
 visioned. 1 
 
 Belon and Thuriot, being satisfied that no offensive 
 
 101 
 measures were intended by the governor, withdrew, and Th 
 
 endeavoured to persuade the crowd that their alarm was fnu 
 groundless. But the capture of the fortress had been fo ess ' 
 resolved on, and the multitude, every instant increasing, 
 surged round the walls. While the whole attention 
 of the garrison was fixed on the principal gate, two old 
 soldiers, named Louis Tournay and Aubin Bonnemere, 
 mounting on the roof of a house which rested on the 
 ramparts, contrived to reach the top of the parapet, and 
 descended into the court where the governor's house stood, 
 which they found deserted as the garrison, with the 
 exception of the guard at the outer gate, had all been 
 withdrawn into the keep. Seizing a hatchet, which they 
 found lying in the court, these brave men succeeded in 
 cutting the chains of a little drawbridge which admitted 
 foot-passengers from the outside, and thus gave an entry 
 to several of the insurgents, who speedily cut the chains 
 of the principal bridge, which fell with a terrible crash. 
 Instantly the crowd rushed in ; the governor's house was 
 immediately inundated ; and pillage had already com- 
 menced, when de Launay ordered a fire of musketry from 
 the top of the walls of the donjon into the court, which 
 was filled with people, and the ditches. Several of the
 
 540 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, assailants fell ; the court was cleared in an instant ; but 
 the combat continued round the drawbridge, and a sharp 
 
 1789. fi re O f musketry was kept up on both sides. Still the 
 Amis, i. governor declined to fire the great guns on the top of the 
 Lab. iii.' castle, which, loaded with grape, and discharged down on 
 Bertie' the dense crowd in front of the fortress, would have occa- 
 Toui' i' ?1 6 ' sioned a frightful loss of human life, but must speedily 
 have driven back the assailants. 1 
 
 Matters were in this state when a battalion of the 
 ' Gardes Fran9aises arrived, with part of the guns taken 
 that morning from the Invalides. This powerful reinforce- 
 ment, and, still more, the skill which they communicated 
 to the assault, had a decisive effect. Their first care was 
 to station a large part of their number on the roofs and at 
 the windows of the adjoining houses, who kept up a heavy 
 and well-sustained fire on the ramparts ; while, at the 
 same time, the guns began to batter the exterior walls. 
 Meanwhile the crowd, who had broken into the outer 
 court, returned, under cover of the fire of the cannon, and 
 set fire to the governor's house, which was speedily in 
 flames. Furious at the resistance they experienced, the 
 mob seized hold of a young and beautiful girl, daughter of 
 an officer in the garrison, named Monsigni, whom they had 
 found in the governor's house, and mistook for his child. 
 Exclaiming that she should be burned alive if the place 
 was not instantly surrendered, they stretched her on a 
 bundle of straw, to which they were just applying the 
 torches, when the dreadful spectacle caught the eye of her 
 a Deux father, who was on the top of one of the towers. Utter- 
 
 Amis, i. 31 9, . , .. 1 1 IT 1 1 1 
 
 320, 330. ing the most piercing cries, he descended and rushed into 
 Bert. n de ' the court, when he fell, pierced by two balls ; and the 
 329' 'nut*.' flames were just reaching Mademoiselle Monsigni, when 
 
 brave Aubin Bonnemere, coming forward, succeeded 
 in undeceiving the mob as to who she was, and conducting 
 her to a place of safety. 2 
 
 After the conflict had continued in this manner for 
 above three hours, without the guns of the fortress being
 
 HISTOKY OF EUROPE. 541 
 
 once fired, the besieged repelling the attack with musketry CHAP. 
 
 only, a deputation from the Hotel de Ville, preceded by ! 
 
 a flag of truce, and headed by Ethys de Corny, who had 1789 - 
 succeeded in getting possession of the Invalides, arrived p 
 at the principal gate of the Bastile. They were admitted ^ 
 
 1 * ^ civic autho 
 
 into the first court ; but de Launay, perceiving that the nti 
 pillage of his house and the conflagration of the buildings 
 around it continued, and that the attack on the inner 
 drawbridge went on with undiminished vigour, ordered 
 the fire of musketry to be renewed, which, without in- 
 juring any person, drove the deputation back out of the 
 court.* At the same time one of the great guns, the only 
 one which was fired during the assault, was discharged 
 from the top of the towers down the Rue St Antoine, 
 but did very little damage. Two other deputations after- 
 wards arrived, but they returned to the Hotel de Ville 
 without even entering the fortress, alleging they could not 
 do so for the fire of the garrison. Meanwhile de Launay 
 was sorely beset the French Invalids, swayed by seeing 
 the uniforms of the Gardes Franaises among the assail- 
 ants, vehemently urging him to surrender ; the Swiss, who, 
 though only thirty in number, had alone been hearty in 
 the cause, with the heroic constancy of their nation insist- 
 ing that he should hold out. Finding the outer gate 
 carried, he withdrew the garrison into the inner court or 
 keep of the castle, hoping he would be able to hold out 
 till the Baron de Besenval, who commanded the troops in 
 the Champ de Mars, should send forces to his succour, as 
 
 * " You see," said de Launay to his soldiers, " this deputation is not from the 
 town : it is a white flag of which the people have got possession, and with which 
 they seek to surprise us. If they had been really deputies, they would never 
 have hesitated, after the promises you made them, to have come forward to 
 make us acquainted with the intentions of the Hotel de Ville." Deux Amis, ii. 
 322, 323. The letter which they bore was in these terms, to which de Launay 
 could never have acceded : " The permanent committee of the Parisian militia, 
 considering that there should not be in Paris any military force which is not 
 under the control of the town, charges the deputies, whom it sends to M. le 
 Marquis de Launay, commandant of the Bastile, to inquire of him whether he 
 is willing to admit into the place the troops of the Parisian militia, to keep 
 guard jointly with his troops, who are to be at the disposal of the civic autho- 
 rities. DE FLESSELLES, Pre"vot des Marchands." Ibid. ii. 326.
 
 542 HISTORY OP EUKOPE. 
 
 CHAP, he had promised. But Besenval had himself received no 
 orders from the Duke de Broglie that day, though three 
 
 1789 - successive couriers had been sent soliciting them : his 
 previous orders were, not to fire on the people. The dis- 
 position of his troops was more than doubtful ; and he 
 ii. 36<)\3(i7. na d found that acting with energy at Reveillon's only 
 215*.' "Mont brought him into obloquy with the court. In these cir- 
 jTuT' 1789 cumstances, after remaining for some hours a prey to the 
 P. 90. Deux most cruel in*esolution, he took the determination of re- 
 333, 334. tiring with his whole troops which he did, first to Sevres, 
 and before night to Versailles. 1 
 
 Deserted thus in his last extremity by the external aid 
 p e Launay on which he had calculated, with a garrison of eighty 
 wavering French, and only thirty Swiss on whom he 
 could rely, in the midst of fifty thousand insurgents and 
 two thousand French Guards, the brave de Launay took 
 the only resolution which a high sense of military honour 
 permitted he resolved to perish rather than submit. 
 Taking a lighted match from one of the gunners on the 
 ramparts, he rushed towards the magazine, which con- 
 tained two hundred and fifty barrels of powder, with the 
 design of blowing the whole fortress into the air ; but he 
 was seized and forcibly withheld by the soldiers. With 
 piteous entreaties he besought these men to give him one 
 barrel of powder ; but they sternly repelled him with the 
 bayonet at his breast. " Let us then," said he, " at least, 
 reascend the towers ; and since we must die, let us die 
 with arms in our hands, bury ourselves under the ruins of 
 the Bastile, and render our death fatal to our implacable 
 enemies." But the French soldiers, crowding round him, 
 all declared that they would no longer fight against their 
 fellow-citizens, and that they insisted on a capitulation. 
 " Well then," said de Launay at last, " beat a parley, hoist 
 a white flag, and see if you can obtain a promise that you 
 shall not be massacred." Upon this M. de Flue, a Swiss 
 ensign, wrote on a piece of paper these words : "We 
 have twenty thousand barrels of powder ; we will blow
 
 HISTOEY OF EUROPE. 543 
 
 up the Bastile and all the adjacent quarter of Paris if CHAP. 
 you do not agree to a capitulation, and guarantee our 
 
 lives." With some difficulty one of the insurgents, named 1789 - 
 Maillaird, who will again appear in the bloodiest days of 
 the Revolution, got possession of this writing, which was 
 pushed on the end of a pike over the drawbridge, and 23d Tuiy 1 "' 
 being brought to Elie and Hullin, officers of the Gardes L 7 a b!iiL2i5,' 
 Franaises, who commanded the assailants, they ex- ^ J gu ^ 
 claimed " On the honour of French soldiers, no injury B"tUe, par 
 
 " > le Comte 
 
 shall be done to you." Upon this assurance, de Launay Agay, 74. 
 
 1 iii-i'-i-iT i i Deux Amis, 
 
 lowered the drawbridge leading to the inner tower, and i. 333, 337. 
 the infuriated multitude instantly rushed in." 1 
 
 A bloody and treacherous revenge dishonoured the 
 first triumph of the Revolution. The garrison had capi- violation 
 tulated on a solemn guarantee of their lives : a decisive piuJiathm, 
 success, which gave them the entire command of Paris, l^r^f' 
 had been gained, with the loss of only fifty killed and 
 seventy-three wounded : everything called for and en- 
 joined humanity in the moment of victory. The feeble 
 garrison, on the faith of the capitulation, laid down their 
 arms in the inner court in two ranks ; the officers of the 
 Gardes Franaises, who had really gained the success, in 
 token of the treaty, shook the officers of the garrison by 
 the hand. But nothing could restrain the bloodthirsty 
 passions of the people. Infuriated by the sight of their 
 comrades slain or wounded by the fire of musketry which 
 had issued from the walls, they surrounded the prisoners, 
 overwhelmed them with maledictions and indignities, and 
 demanded, with loud yells, that they should be instantly 
 put to death. The Gardes Franchises, who exerted them- Amis,i.ss7, 
 
 OOQ T 1 
 
 selves to the utmost to restrain their fury, were unable m. 218,219. 
 
 to save the officers from destruction. B^quart himself, 
 
 who had held the arm of de Launay when he attempted 
 
 to blow up the fortress, and thus saved all their lives, was p" 08 <?.<: 
 
 seized with frantic cries, his right hand cut off, and he ns, iis. ' 
 
 himself, with another grenadier named Asselin, hanged on MOIL i. 337. 
 
 a lamp-post near the gate. 2 Many of the Invalids and
 
 544 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. Swiss were despatched on the spot. In a few minutes 
 the whole rooms of the Bastile were ransacked and pil- 
 
 1789. lage^ the furniture thrown out of the windows and burnt. 
 De Launay and Major de Losme, the second in com- 
 of mand, were conducted by Hullin and Elie to the Place 
 de Greve. " Is this the capitulation you promised us V 
 '"at said the former, as the mob seized him, in spite of the 
 herculean strength of Hullin, who strove to protect them, 
 and observe the capitulation, which he bore aloft on the 
 point of his sword. Despite all his efforts, these two 
 unfortunate men were captured by the populace on the 
 steps of the Hotel de Ville. De Launay was instantly 
 hanged upon the lamp-post ; his head cut off, and borne 
 about with Bequart's hand aloft on pikes, amidst shouts 
 of triumph. De Losme was the next victim. In vain 
 the Marquis de Belport, who, during five years, had 
 experienced his kindness when a prisoner in the Bastile, 
 ran after the crowd, exclaiming, " Hold, for God's sake 1 
 you are going to massacre the best of men during five 
 years he was my father in the Bastile." " Young man," 
 said the generous de Losme, " retire you will destroy 
 yourself without saving me." But the Marquis de Bel- 
 port was not to be outdone in this noble strife, and still 
 following the crowd, exclaiming, " I will defend him to 
 the last drop of my blood," he wrested a musket from one 
 of the mob, with which, with almost frantic courage, he 
 strove to deliver his benefactor. It was all in vain. Sur- 
 rounded by multitudes, shot through the neck, and pierced 
 with bayonets, he fell senseless on the steps of the Hotel 
 de Ville ; while de Losme was murdered near the 
 Arcade St Jean, and his head put on a pike, which was 
 paraded amidst fearful yells through the streets. Miray 
 and Persan, officers of the Invalids who had defended 
 the Bastile, were in like manner murdered, the one in the 
 Rue des Tournelles, and the other at the Port-au-Ble, and 
 their mangled remains, yet streaming with blood, borne 
 in triumph through every quarter of the city. M. de
 
 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 545 
 
 Flesselles, the provost of the merchants, soon after CHAP. 
 
 perished. He had for some days been obnoxious to the ' 
 
 mob, who suspected him of not being cordial in the cause im 
 of the insurrection, though he had joined in it, and was 
 chairman of the committee in the Hotel de Ville. Find- 
 ing himself surrounded by distrust and apprehension after l 
 the Bastile was taken, he rose calmly and said, " I see Ami s ,i.337, 
 I am suspected by my fellow-citizens ; let us go to the HL 223, 224. 
 Palais Royal, and there I will justify myself." He rose 
 accordingly, and was proceeding thither, surrounded by a 
 furious multitude, when a young goldsmith shot him from % 
 behind through the head, exclaiming, " Traitor, you shall ^J-j 6 
 go no farther ! " Flesselles fell dead, and the murder 340, 342. 
 excited neither pity nor indignation among the crowd. 1 * 
 In the midst of such hideous cruelty, it is consolatory 
 
 i 107 
 
 to have one redeeming trait to recount, which proves that, The rest of 
 in some breasts at least, the generous feelings were not an a Swiss 3 
 wholly extinct, and which effaces part of the disgrace 
 which must for ever attach to the French Guards, for the Guards - 
 treacherous part they took in the revolt that overturned 
 the throne. When the privates of the Invalids and Swiss, 
 who had capitulated in the Bastile, were brought to the 
 Hotel de Ville, the populace loudly demanded their 
 blood, and insisted they should instantly be strung up in 
 the streets to the lamps.t Such was the fury of the 
 mob, that there seemed not a chance of their escape ; and 
 preparations were already making for carrying the popular 
 mandate into execution, when the French Guards, roused 
 
 * To extenuate this atrocity, it was maintained by the Republicans, that 
 there had been found in the pocket of de Launay a note from M. de Flesselles, 
 in which he said, " I amuse the Parisians with cockades and promises : hold 
 out till the evening, and you will be reinforced." This is now proved to be a 
 falsehood. The pretended letter was never produced, though the above 
 alleged extract was inserted in the Moniteur ; and Bailly himself " admitted to 
 me," says Bertrand de Molleville, " when he quitted the mayoralty, that he 
 had never seen that letter, and that it would be impossible to produce any 
 one who had." See Moniteur, 27th July 1789 ; and BERTRAND DE MOLLEVILLE, 
 Histoire de la Revolution, i. 342. 
 
 + Those who have visited Paris will require no explanation of this cry, 
 (a la lanterne!) so common in the Revolution, or the ready means thus 
 VOL. I. 2 M
 
 546 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, to better feelings by the prospect of destruction to their 
 ancient comrades in arms, clustered around them, and 
 
 1789- asked, as the only recompense to themselves for the share 
 
 they had taken in the capture of the Bastile, that pardon 
 
 should be extended to the prisoners. Passing from one 
 
 extreme to another, the multitude were strongly moved 
 
 by the appeal. " Grace ! grace !" resounded on all sides ; 
 
 and M. Marque, sergeant of grenadiers in the Gardes 
 
 Franyaises, taking advantage of the enthusiasm, marched 
 
 off twenty-two Invalids, and eleven Swiss, surrounded by 
 
 a detachment of the guards, who succeeded in conveying 
 
 them in safety to the barracks, and rescuing them from the 
 
 dreadful fate which threatened them. At the same time 
 
 M. de Montbarrey, formerly minister of the marine, who 
 
 had been torn from his fainting wife, was brought in, 
 
 almost suffocated by the throng pressing round him and 
 
 clamouring for his head ; while twenty bayonets were 
 
 i Deux held to the breast of M. de la Salle, a popular leader, 
 
 348. 8 'Bert.' who was striving to protect him. At length, by a pro- 
 
 sss^m 1 ' digious exertion of strength, M. de la Salle extricated 
 
 ^ScT-M*' himself, and tore M. de Montbarrey from the gripe of his 
 
 1789. bloodthirsty assassins : the multitude, admiring his prowess, 
 
 applauded loudly, and both escaped. 1 
 
 Seven prisoners only were found in the Bastile when it 
 
 interior' of fell into the hands of the insurgents to such a degree 
 
 tlle ' had the mild government of Louis XVI. thinned that 
 
 gloomy abode of the victims of former tyranny. They 
 
 were all imprisoned on charges of forgery, chiefly for 
 
 falsifying letters of exchange ; none were implicated in 
 
 afforded of despatching at once any number of persons who happened to be 
 obnoxious to the populace. To those who have not, it is right to observe, 
 that the lamps of Paris then, as in general now, were not, as in most other 
 towns, affixed to the top of iron pillars placed on the sides of the pavement, 
 but suspended directly over the middle of the street by cords, which were let 
 down, for the purpose of the lamps being lighted, from pulleys affixed to the 
 houses on either side ; so that nothing was easier than to lower the lamp till 
 some unhappy wretch had it directly above his head, and then attaching a 
 cord to it, and fastening it round his neck, hoist him up and hang him in a 
 few seconds over the heads of the multitude, who commanded and applauded 
 the execution. Personal Observation.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 547 
 
 political offences. When they heard the frightful din CHAP. 
 within the fortress, they never doubted that their last 
 
 hour was come an impression which was not diminished 1789 - 
 when, after repeated strokes of the sledge-hammer, the 
 ponderous gates rolled back on their hinges, and a vehe- 
 mently excited armed multitude broke in. It may be 
 conceived, then, what was their astonishment when, on 
 being brought out, they beheld de Launay's head on the 
 top of a pike, with the inscription, " Traitor to the 
 people ! " Everything in the prison was ransacked ; and 
 among the remnants of the olden time which were brought 
 to light were many relics of feudal barbarity, sufficient to 
 rouse to the highest pitch a less excitable people than the 
 French. Arms of an old and now disused kind, frightful 
 instruments of torture, the names and purposes of which 
 had passed into oblivion, were dragged into light from its 
 gloomy vaults and exhibited to the multitude. Among 
 the rest was an iron corslet, which extended over every 
 part of the body, and precluded the possibility of moving 
 a single limb. Stone seats and couches were found, 1 Dussauit, 
 
 1 Tl 
 
 worn with the number who had lain upon them. But no tile, lueT 
 skeletons were discovered no persons chained to walls ; AmiM.354, 
 and the appearance of the instruments of torture sum- f e 6 ^ |^ m ~ 
 ciently proved that, for a very long period, they had ^j/J^. 
 ceased to be applied to their horrid destination. The jQ^j',? 08 - 
 fortress was, by order of the National Assembly, soon P. 1*9. 
 after razed to the ground. 1 
 
 The night which followed this decisive success was one 
 of extraordinary excitement in Paris. Though their Great a'gita- 
 victory was complete, and the troops had all been with- during the' 8 
 drawn from the neighbourhood of the capital, and grouped night ' 
 round Versailles and the adjoining villages, yet the agita- 
 tion was still extreme. Many houses were illuminated, 
 but less from triumph than a dread of being left in the 
 dark. Few eyes were closed, even after the wearisome 
 labours of the three preceding days : the women watched 
 in their houses ; the men were congregated in the streets,
 
 548 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, on the quays, and in the squares. A nocturnal attack 
 was generally expected ; men could not conceive that a 
 
 1789. military monarchy would so soon abandon the contest. 
 
 The frequent march of the armed city guard and the Gardes 
 
 Franaises, with their cannons and caissons, to the 
 
 different points thought to be menaced, increased the 
 
 general alarm.* All night the mournful clang of the 
 
 tocsin was heard, interrupted by the cry, incessantly 
 
 repeated in the streets, " Don't go to bed keep your 
 
 lamps burning." The most fearful reports were circulated 
 
 that the foreign troops were to issue out of the cellars 
 
 and sewers, and massacre the inhabitants that a second 
 
 St Bartholomew was in preparation. The people barri- 
 
 ! Prudhom . caded the streets, tore up the pavement, carried stones to 
 
 Paris d No *ke *P S f *^e h uses > an d established guards in the 
 
 i. P . 21, 22. principal quarters. But nothing occurred to justify the 
 
 343. Lab : alarm, and the anxiety of a sleepless night only added to 
 
 Monhour, ' the intense feelings which agitated the populace. Mean- 
 
 i?89 Ju iJeux while, the energy displayed at the Hotel de Ville con- 
 
 & ln Lkc!''rii. tinued unabated ; and such was the astonishing activity 
 
 ctermont f ^ oreau de St Mery, who had been chosen to supply 
 
 ia.4m. sur the place of Flesselles, the former president, that, without 
 
 125. ' rising from his chair, he despatched before morning above 
 
 three thousand orders. 1 
 
 While these terrible scenes were passing at Paris, the 
 sute of government at Versailles was very imperfectly informed 
 f wna ^ was gi n g forward ; and its policy underwent, 
 * n ^ ie course f tne insurrection, a complete alteration. 
 Misled by the confidence of the old officers by whom it 
 was surrounded, and urged on by the vehemence of a 
 gallant but inconsiderate noblesse, the court at first enter- 
 tained the idea of restoring tranquillity to the capital by 
 
 x.a.} 
 
 Jl rcivf fi.it "Ajxf, revt St y^.ecuxtJn; ' ' i 
 
 , 
 
 jrag tin 
 laitti." 
 
 Iliad, A, 439-443.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 549 
 
 military force ; and as the people were in a state of open CHAP. 
 insurrection, that was doubtless the course which duty, 
 
 equally with policy, enjoined, if the troops could have 1789 - 
 been depended on. This measure, if successful, was to 
 have been followed by the dissolution of the Assembly in 
 a lit de justice, and the publication of forty thousand 
 copies of the royal declaration of 23d July ; and as that 
 body had openly usurped the whole powers of govern- 
 ment, and supplanted the King in his royal prerogative, 
 there can be no doubt such a step would have been 
 perfectly justifiable. Still the insurmountable and well- 
 known aversion of the King to the shedding of blood 
 controlled all the measures of the army, and would pro- 
 bably have paralysed any vigorous movement ; for there 9 4 La %^f 
 seems no doubt that he never would have permitted 76, 77. 
 
 . . , . Bert, de 
 
 them to fire, except in resisting the aggression of the m- MOIL u. 1,9. 
 surgents. 1 
 
 But the alarming accounts received on the 12th, of 
 the defection of the troops, and especially of the open The King 
 adherence of the Gardes Franchises to the side of the in- concession! 
 surgents, induced the King, on the morning of the 13th, y 
 to abandon the idea of using force, to which he had always 
 felt the strongest aversion ; and he accordingly wrote to 
 the Count d'Artois, at eleven o'clock on the forenoon of 
 that day, to the effect that he had given up all idea of 
 coercion, and ordered the troops to withdraw from Paris. * 
 It was in consequence of this total change of measures 
 in the most critical period of the revolt, that the troops 
 occupied on the 14th no posts in Paris that they 
 
 * "Versailles, 13 Juillet, 11 du matin. J'avais ce'de', mon cher frere, a vos 
 sollicitations, aux representations de quelques sujets fideles ; mais j'ai fait 
 d'utiles reflexions. Register en ce moment, ce serait s'exposer a perdre la 
 monarchie ; c'est nous perdre tons. J'ai retract^ les ordres que favais (tonnes : 
 mes troupes quitteront Paris ; j'employerai des moyens plus doux. Ne me 
 parlez plus d'un coup d'autorite", d'un grand acte du pouvoir ; je crois plus 
 prudent de temporiser de cdder h, 1'orage, et de tout attendre du temps, du 
 reVeil des gens de bien, et de 1'amour des Francais pour leur Roi. (Sign) 
 Louis." This letter, written at the most critical point of his agitated life, 
 expresses the whole policy of Louis. See Correspondence Inedite de Louis X VI., 
 L 131 ; and Histoire Parlementaire de la France, ii. 101.
 
 550 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, remained passive spectators of the pillage of the Invalides, 
 and retired from the Champ de Mars, during the attack 
 
 1789 - on the Bastile, to Sevres and Versailles. Situated as the 
 King was, there can be no doubt that this was the only 
 prudent course that remained to him ; for the defection 
 of part of the troops, and the hesitation of all, had in 
 truth deprived him of the only means of enforcing his 
 orders. But such a change of policy, in the middle of 
 an insurrection, even when constrained by external and 
 irresistible events, was one of the most fatal circumstances 
 that could have occurred ; for it at once revealed, and 
 perhaps magnified, the weakness of the throne, and by 
 depriving it of the prestige of military power, converted 
 an urban tumult into a national revolution. " Ipse inutili 
 
 1 Corresp. . r . 
 
 Poi.etconf. cunctatione agendi tempora consultando consumpsit ; mox 
 xvi. i. ss, utrumque consilium aspernatus, quod inter ancipitia deter- 
 
 and99. Lab. . , ,. r ., . 
 
 iii.23o,23i. rimum est, dum media sequitur, nee ausus est satis nee 
 providit." 1 * 
 
 During these events the Assembly was in the most 
 violent' violent state of agitation. The most alarming reports ar- 
 th^Assem- rived every half-hour from Paris ; the members remained 
 bly> in the hall of meeting in the utmost anxiety ; the sound 
 
 of the cannon was distinctly heard, and they applied their 
 ears to the ground to catch the smallest reverberation. 
 No less than five deputations, during forty-eight hours, 
 waited on the King, who was in as great a perplexity 
 and terror at the effusion of blood as themselves. The 
 addresses they brought were all in the same strain, and 
 clearly revealed the revolutionary spirit of the Assembly. 
 Nothing was said of re-establishing order in Paris ; no 
 address was issued against the insurgents in that city ; 
 the constant demand was for the King to remove the 
 troops in other words, surrender himself and the govern- 
 ment to the rebels. Great part of the members were in 
 
 * " He himself wasted the time for action in useless deliberation ; and then, 
 rejecting the counsels of both sides, sought a middle course the worst possible 
 policy in perilous circumstances, as he neither foresaw nor dared enough." 
 TACITUS, Hist. iii. 40.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 551 
 
 a state of undisguised apprehension. But nothing could CHAP. 
 daunt the audacious spirit of Mirabeau. " Tell the King," 
 
 said he to the last deputation which set out, "that the 1789 * 
 foreign bands bj which we are surrounded have yesterday 
 been visited and flattered by the princess and prince, and 
 received from them both presents and caresses. Tell him, 
 that all night, in his palace even, these foreign satellites, 
 amidst the fumes of wine, have never ceased to predict 
 the subjugation of France, and to breathe wishes for the 
 destruction of the Assembly. Tell him that, in his very 
 palace, the courtiers have mingled dancing with their * TH. i. 104. 
 
 J A i. i. n. i j n. Hist, Part. 
 
 impious songs ; and that such was the prelude to the n us, ne. 
 massacre of St Bartholomew." 1 * 
 
 The sound of the cannon employed at the storming of 1]g 
 the Bastile was distinctly heard at Versailles during the state of the 
 afternoon of the 14th; but the couriers despatched by night of th e e 
 the military commanders in its vicinity were so effectu- * ' 
 ally intercepted by the insurgents, that it was only 
 known, and that in a very indistinct way, that the 
 arsenal of the Invalides had been taken and pillaged. 
 The old officers, however, laughed at the idea of the 
 Bastile sharing the same fate, and persisted in repre- 
 senting the tumults as mere local disorders which would 
 soon be appeased. Every eifort was made to secure 
 the fidelity of the regiments in the vicinity of the 
 palace : the princesses and ladies of the court walked 
 in the orangery where one of them was stationed, and 
 
 * The following was one of these addresses ; they were all in the same 
 strain: "12 Juillet 1789. L'Assemblee Nationale, profondement affecte'e 
 des malheurs qu'elle n'avait que trop preVus, n'a cesse" de demander a sa 
 Majeste" la retraile entiere et absolue des troupes extraordinairement rassemblees 
 dans la capitale et aux environs. Elle a encore envoye 1 dans ce jour deux 
 deputations au Roi sur cet objet, dont elle n'a cesse de s'occuper nuit et jour. 
 Elle fait part aux electeurs des deux re'ponses qu'elle a recues. Elle renou- 
 velera domain les memes demarches ; elle lea fera plus pressantes encore, s'il 
 est possible. Elle ne cessera de les re'pe'ter, et de tenter de nouveaux efforta > 
 jusqu'a ce qu'elles aient eu le succes qu'elle a droit d'attendre, et de la justice 
 de sa reclamation, et du cceur du Roi, lorsque des impressions e"trangeres n'en 
 arreteront plus les mouvemens." BERTRAND DE MOLLEVILLB, Histoire de la 
 Re volution, ii. 12.
 
 552 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, music and dancing for the last time enlivened that scene 
 
 IV 
 
 of former festivity. But in the night intelligence of 
 
 1789> the real state of things was received that the Bastile 
 was taken, Paris in insurrection, the guards in open 
 revolt, the regiments of the line in sullen inactivity. 
 The soldiers knew that an increase of their pay had 
 been recommended in most of the cahiers of the depu- 
 ties ; and thus, by interest as well as inclination, they 
 were disposed to take part with the citizens in the con- 
 test which was approaching. The Assembly, which had 
 been constantly sitting for the two preceding days, was 
 violently agitated by the intelligence. It was proposed 
 to send a new deputation to the King, to urge the re- 
 moval of the troops. "No," said Clermont Tonnerre, 
 " let us leave them this night to take counsel : it is well 
 that kings, like private men, should learn by experience." 
 The Duke de Liancourt took upon himself the painful 
 .' duty of acquainting the King with the events which had 
 XT 1 '/' 6?' occurre d, an d proceeded to his chamber in the middle of 
 Caiokne 3 ' *^ e n ^ nt ^ OT tnat purpose. " This is a revolt," said the 
 390. King after a long silence. " Sire," replied he, " it is a 
 revolution." L 
 
 Finding resistance hopeless, from the general defec- 
 The King tion of the troops, the King immediately resolved upon 
 Assembly 6 submission a measure which relieved him from the 
 3 dreadful apprehension of causing the effusion of blood. 
 On the following morning he repaired, without his 
 guards or any suite, accompanied only by his two 
 brothers, to the Assembly. He was received in pro- 
 found silence. "Gentlemen," said he, "I am come to 
 consult you on the most important affairs : the fright- 
 ful disorders of the capital call for immediate attention. 
 It is in these moments of alarm that the Chief of the 
 nation comes, without guards, to deliberate with his 
 faithful deputies upon the means of restoring tranquil- 
 lity. I know that the most unjust reports have been 
 for some time in circulation as to my intentions that
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 553 
 
 even your personal freedom has been represented as CHAP. 
 
 being in danger. I should think my character might '. 
 
 be a sufficient guarantee against such calumnies. As 1789 - 
 my only answer, I now come alone into the midst of 
 you ; I declare myself for ever united with the nation ; 
 and, relying on the fidelity of the National Assembly, I 
 have given orders to remove the troops from Versailles 
 and Paris, and I invite you to make my dispositions 
 known to the capital." Immense applause followed this 
 popular declaration ; the Assembly, by a spontaneous 
 movement, rose from their seats, and reconducted the 
 monarch to the palace. A deputation, with the joyful 
 intelligence, was immediately despatched to Paris, and 
 produced a temporary calm among its excited popula- ! Toul ; 79 
 tion. Bailly was named mayor of the city, and Lafayette ^ff/^j 
 commander of the armed force. The King had the pru- Th - * i 6 - 
 
 . . . i . 1, Mi g- i- 67- 
 
 dence to sanction these appointments, which in truth he Bert. a e 
 
 i, U A. L J' '*U A''' Moll. ii. 24. 
 
 could not prevent, but they originated with the msur- 26. 
 rectionary authorities in Paris. 1 
 
 On the 17th the King set out from Versailles, with 
 few guards and a slender suite, to visit the capital, upon The King 
 whose affections his sole reliance was now placed. A juiy 3 ^ 18 ' 
 large part of the National Assembly accompanied him 
 on foot ; the cortege was swelled on the road by an 
 immense concourse of peasants, many of whom were 
 armed with scythes and bludgeons, which gave it a 
 grotesque and revolutionary aspect. The Queen parted 
 with him in the most profound grief, under the impres- 
 sion that she would never see him more. He had 
 received in the morning intelligence of a design to 
 assassinate him on the road, but that made no change 
 on his resolution. The march, obstructed by such 
 strange attendants, lasted seven hours ; during which 
 the King underwent every humiliation that a monarch 
 could endure. He was received at the gates by Bailly, 
 at the head of the municipality, who presented to him 
 the keys of the city. " I bring your majesty," said he,
 
 554 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. " the same keys which were presented to Henry IV. 
 He entered the city as a conqueror ; now it is the 
 
 1789. people who have reconquered their sovereign." Louis 
 advanced to the Hotel de Ville, through the midst of 
 above one hundred thousand armed men, under an arch 
 formed of crossed sabres. His air was composed, but 
 melancholy ; his countenance pale, and with an expres- 
 sion of sadness. The whole of the immense crowd 
 bore tricolor cockades, now assumed as the national 
 colours. At the Pont Neuf he passed a formidable 
 park of artillery, but at the touch-hole and mouth of 
 each had been placed a garland of flowers. Few cries 
 Moil ii. 47, of Vive le Roi met the ears of the unfortunate monarch 
 , those of Vive la Nation were much more numerous ; 
 ^5 9 but when he appeared at the window of the Hotel de 
 
 109 '' TWI Ville, with the tricolor cockade on his breast, thunders 
 i.82, 83. of applause rent the air, and he was reconducted to 
 
 liurkc v 
 
 139. ' Versailles amidst the most tumultuous expressions of 
 public attachment. 1 
 
 The Orleans conspirators were thus disappointed in 
 
 share of the the result of the insurrection of 1 4th July, which they 
 had so large a share in promoting. They had expected 
 that, during the confusion consequent on the revolt of 
 the people and defection of the troops, the King and 
 royal family would have taken to flight, and then the 
 Duke of Orleans was to have been proclaimed lieu- 
 tenant-general of the kingdom. Mirabeau, Laclos, and 
 Latouche, were the chiefs of this conspiracy ; and from 
 their dark councils had issued the orders, as from the 
 coffers of the Duke the treasures, which had originally 
 put the revolt in motion. In pursuance of this plan, 
 their adherents in the Assembly had vehemently 
 declaimed against the employment of troops in the 
 suppression of the insurrection, and pressed the King 
 with those repeated addresses, which at length, from 
 his inability to remedy the evils complained of, led 
 to his answering them in a voice so penetrated with
 
 HISTORY OF EUEOPE. 555 
 
 grief as to move their hearts. ~* Mirabeau, in par- CHAP. 
 ticular, thundered with all the force of his eloquence 
 
 against the military, and concluded with the words, 1789 - 
 ominous of the reign of blood " I demand the head 
 of the Marshal de Broglie." So confident were the 
 conspirators that this situation would be given to the 
 Duke without hesitation, that the great object to which 
 their efforts were directed was to determine him to 
 ask it, and to prepare for him the speech which he 
 was to employ on the occasion.t Indeed Mirabeau 
 openly avowed in the National Assembly, on a sub- 
 sequent occasion, the design of supplanting Louis XVI. 
 by Louis Philippe4 But the Duke of Orleans failed 
 at the decisive moment. He went so far, at the instiga- 
 tion of his accomplices, as to go to the King, with the 
 intention of demanding from the prostrate monarch the 
 office of lieutenant-general of the kingdom ; but want * Femeres, 
 of courage, or a lingering feeling of loyalty, prevented de Moil. H.' 
 him from preferring the request ; and he contented tio'ns au p s 
 himself with asking leave, if affairs turned out ill, to fia^iMp". 
 retire into England. Mirabeau's indignation at this v e ir ^ d ab 
 failure knew no bounds, and exhaled in vehement : 23 ^- 
 
 Hist, des 
 
 expressions of contempt ; and from that day he sought causes s e - 
 
 , . r , . , -, f . , cretes de la 
 
 an opportunity to disconnect himself from so irresolute Rev. i. 37. 
 and unprofitable a conspirator, 1 " His cowardice," said 
 
 * " ' Vous dechirez de plus en plus mon cceur, par le re"cit que vous me 
 faites des malheurs de Paris. II n'est pas possible de croire que les ordres qui ont 
 e'te' donnes aux troupes en soient la cause.' L'e"motion avec laquelle le Roi 
 pronon9a ces paroles montrait assez la douleur dont il e"tait penetre*. La 
 deputation fut affecte'e, et 1'archeveque de Paris en rendit compte k 1'Assemble'e, 
 de la maniere la plus propre a la disposer a entendre la reponse de sa Majeste" ; 
 mais la majorite, composee des deputes les plus timidesque la terreur entrainait 
 avec les plus audacieux, persista a trouver cette reponse insuffisante, et per- 
 sonne n'osa ouvrir, ou soutenir, une autre opinion." BERTKAND DE MOLLE- 
 VILLK, Histoire de la Revolution, ii. 14. 
 
 f- " De lui faire son theme" Mirabeau's words on the occasion. BERTRAND 
 DE MOLLEVILLE, Histoire de la Revolution, iii. 14. 
 
 J " Qui vous conteste que la France n'ait besoin d'un roi, et ne veuille un 
 roi ? Mais Louis XVII. sera roi comme Louis XVI. ; et si Ton parvient a 
 persuader a la nation que Louis XVI. est fauteur et complice des execs qui ont 
 lasso sa patience, elle invoquera un Louis XVII." Discours de MIRABEAU d 
 I' Assemble Nationals, 4th Oct. 1790. Moniteur.
 
 556 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, he, " has made him lose the greatest advantages ; they 
 - L_ would have made him lieutenant-general of the king- 
 1789. ( j om . ft res t e d w jth himself alone : his throne was 
 made : they had prepared what he was to have said." 
 
 The throne was irrecoverably overturned by the insur- 
 wi,o aid rection of the 1 4th July. The monarch had endeavoured, 
 
 at the eleventh hour, to restrain the encroachments of 
 
 the^Revolu- ^ rjv^ g^ ^ ^ft^y fo^ an( J Qe fo& f^ft m 
 
 the attempt. All classes had seen the weakness of the 
 government ; the power of opinion, the prestige of force, 
 had passed over to the other side for it was obvious 
 that it was in it the supreme authority was vested. This 
 is the true date of the destruction of the old French 
 monarchy ; the subsequent years of Louis were nothing 
 but a melancholy, painful, and abortive attempt to rule, 
 by following the changes of public opinion when the 
 power of controlling it was gone. It will appear in 
 the sequel what unbounded calamities followed this great 
 change, from which at the time nothing but felicity was 
 anticipated. In the mean time, before advancing further, 
 the all-important question arises, Who did wrong in this 
 stage of the Revolution f 
 
 The Tiers Etat did wrong, and committed at once a 
 Usurpation flagrant moral crime, and an irremediable political fault, 
 of uj Tilers by compelling the union of the orders, and usurping the 
 supreme authority in the State. The constitution of 
 France, as of all European monarchies, was founded on 
 the separation of the representatives of numbers from 
 those of property a separation, not fanciful or acci- 
 dental, but resting on the nature of things, coeval with 
 civilisation, and one which, in one form or other, has 
 existed in all forms of government which have had 
 any durability, since the beginning of the world. The 
 duplication of the numbers of the Tiers Etat by Necker 
 rendered it still more imperative to uphold this separa- 
 tion ; because, as their numbers now equalled those of 
 the two other orders put together, and a large portion of
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 557 
 
 the clergy were known to belong to the levelling party, it CHAP. 
 was evident that the union of the whole would give num- 
 
 bers an immediate and decisive preponderance over pro- 
 perty. This, accordingly, was what instantly happened. 
 Strong in a decided predominance of votes, the majority 
 at once usurped the whole authority in the State, and, by 
 assuming the exclusive right of taxation, in effect centred 
 all power in themselves. This was not less an act of 
 rebellion against the King than of disobedience to the 
 mandates of their constituents and it inflicted, in the 
 end, as fatal a wound on the cause of freedom they were 
 sent to support as on that of the throne against which it 
 was directed. 
 
 II. The military did wrong, in violating alike their U9 
 duty and their oaths, by revolting against the Crown, and The mm- 
 
 . . -IT i tarydid 
 
 uniting with the populace in an open insurrection to wrong in 
 subvert the royal authority. Generally as this act of Iglbsu 
 treachery was praised at the time as wicked deeds 11 
 usually are by those whose interests they advance it 
 is now apparent that it was it which inflicted the death- 
 blow alike on the happiness of France and the cause of 
 its freedom ; because it rendered the march of the Revo- 
 lution inevitable, and destroyed all chance of arresting 
 the evils which blasted its hopes. It will immediately 
 appear, that within a fortnight of the revolt of the 
 French guards, a series of causes and effects were in 
 motion which necessarily, in their final result, induced 
 the Reign of Terror and the carnage under Napoleon. 
 On the heads of the faithless soldiers who deserted their 
 King on the approach of danger, or under the influence 
 of delusion, rest all the miseries which afterwards afflicted 
 their country. This shameful defection had not even the 
 excuse for it, lame as it would have been, that they meant 
 well in deserting their duty ; that their error proceeded 
 from a generous motive. They were actuated by no real 
 patriotic spirit ; they forgot not that they were soldiers 
 to remember they were men. Their loyalty perished in
 
 558 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, the fumes of intoxication their oaths were forgotten 
 
 amidst the embraces of courtesans. Let history hold 
 
 1789- them up to the eternal execration of mankind. 
 
 III. The error of the King, in this stage of the Revo- 
 Error of the lution and it was an error of judgment, and having 
 period ch<^ reference only to time was, that he selected the wrong 
 ing astand. moment for making his stand. That it had become indis- 
 pensable to take strong steps for arresting the encroach- 
 ments of the Tiers Etat ; and that an Assembly which 
 had, in defiance alike of its mandates from the people, 
 and its duty to the throne, usurped supreme and exclu- 
 sive authority, required to be dissolved, is perfectly 
 apparent. But Louis took the wrong time for effecting 
 that object : he was too late in attempting it. He first 
 acquiesced in the forced union of the orders, and even, 
 by the power of his prerogative, compelled the unwilling 
 nobles into the union ; and then he summoned up the 
 military to dissolve the united Assembly. By so doing, 
 he committed the Crown, in appearance at least, in a 
 contest with the whole States-general ; and lost the in- 
 estimable advantage he would have enjoyed, when resis- 
 tance became unavoidable, of representing his hostility as 
 directed against one only of its orders, which was striving 
 to overwhelm the others. It is easy to see to what this 
 calamitous delay was owing. It arose from the un- 
 bounded confidence of the monarch in the love of his 
 subjects, which made him deem warlike preparations 
 unnecessary till they were too late ; and his unconquer- 
 able aversion to the shedding of blood, which induced 
 him to postpone to the last moment any measures which 
 might even have a chance of causing blood to be shed. 
 But still the delay deprived him of his last chance of 
 enlisting any considerable portion of the moral influence 
 of the nation on his side ; and the error in regard to 
 time was the more inexcusable, that the nobility had 
 clearly pointed out the period when resistance should 
 have been made viz. opposing the union of the orders
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 559 
 
 and bravely offered to throw themselves into the CHAP. 
 
 . . iv 
 
 breach to prevent that union. In marking this error of 
 
 judgment, however, on the part of the King, history 1789 - 
 must, at the same time, do justice to the motives from 
 which it sprang, and distinguish it from the insatiable 
 ambition which actuated the Tiers Etat, and the infamous 
 treachery which disgraced the army. 
 
 And what has been the final result of this general 
 dereliction of duty by all classes, which at the time was Fatal results 
 the subject of such unbounded praise, such enthusiastic Li an/ 63 
 exultation 1 Have the people secured liberty to them- the^ause of 
 selves and their children by revolting against the throne \ 
 Have the soldiers chained victory to their standards, and 
 preserved their capital inviolate, by deserting their sove- 
 reign "? Has the fair fabric of general freedom been here, 
 for the first time in the history of mankind, erected on 
 the foundation of treachery and treason ? Passing by the 
 immediate consequences of these acts, drawing a veil 
 over the Reign of Terror and the guillotine of Robes- 
 pierre, as the first outbreak merely of popular license, 
 what have been the results which have appeared at such 
 a distance of time as to evince the lasting consequences 
 of these deeds ? Have they not been the subjugation of 
 France by foreign armies ; the occupation of its capital 
 twice by the forces of the stranger ; the failure of all 
 attempts to establish freedom in the land ? Has not a 
 constitutional monarchy been found, after repeated at- 
 tempts, and half a century of striving, bloodshed, and 
 turmoil, impracticable in France \ and is not the capital 
 now surrounded with a circle of fortifications, ready to be 
 mounted with two thousand pieces of cannon, to let fall 
 the tempest of death upon its rebellious inhabitants I 
 Have not twenty bastiles arisen instead, and one upon 
 the very site of the fortress which has been destroyed ? * 
 
 * "To-morrow, the 14th July, fifty-four years will have elapsed since the 
 Parisians subverted the Bastile. On the site it occupied there has been 
 erected since that time, in honour of another revolution, a column surmounted 
 by the genius of liberty ; but, melancholy to say, if some citizens should wish
 
 560 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, and is not a girdle of steel now put round the neck of 
 the maniac city ? Such have been the consequences of 
 
 1789 - the attempt to establish freedom on the basis of treachery 
 and treason. 
 
 " What," it is often asked, "could the patriots of 1789, 
 AII daises the real lovers of freedom in France, have done at the 
 drae'thriT' crisis which has now been described 1 Were the Tiers 
 Etat to have submitted to the blasting of all their aspira- 
 tions by the continued separation of the orders ? Were 
 the people to have done nothing to assert their liberties ? 
 Were the soldiers to have shed the blood of their fel- 
 low-citizens, striving for the first of human blessings \ " 
 It may be admitted that human wisdom, shaping its 
 course by the probabilities of experience, would have 
 found it difficult to have determined what course to 
 pursue ; and perhaps no possible foresight could have 
 avoided the dangers with which the course was beset. 
 But every man possessed within his own breast an 
 inward monitor, the dictates of which, if duly attended 
 to, would have saved the nation from all the calamities 
 which ensued. ALL CLASSES MIGHT HAVE DONE THEIR 
 DUTY ; and if so, the good Providence of God would 
 have rewarded them, even in this world, with peace and 
 freedom and happiness. 
 
 The King might have done his duty. He might have 
 recollected that in this world the coercion of the bad is 
 not less necessary than the protection of the good ; and 
 that the monarch who fails in the first, is often the cause 
 
 to celebrate the glorious anniversary by going and saluting the names inscribed 
 on the column of July, they will see there a third monument of a very different 
 nature, which is rising upon the very spot whence the Bastile threatened 
 Paris. Under the humble name of a guardhouse, a real citadel is at this 
 moment being constructed, on the axis of the canal, which commands the 
 main street of the faubourg, the Rue St Antoine, and the line of the Boule- 
 vards. That little fort, built of freestone, with battlements, and surrounded 
 with iron palisades, will hold a numerous garrison, isolate the Faubourg, and 
 prove in the hands of an oppressive government a very advantageous substi- 
 tute for the old Bastile. It will be against Paris an advanced work of the 
 intrenched camp of Vincennes. The men of 1789 must be astonished at the 
 way their sons are treated, and the docility with which they suffer it." 
 National de Paris, July 13, 1843.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 561 
 
 of calamities as great as he who neglects the last. The CHAP. 
 Tiers Etat might have done their duty. They might - 
 
 have sacrificed their private ambition to their public l789 ' 
 obligations, and closed with the offer of a beneficent which ' 
 sovereign, who tendered to them, without a struggle, the Avoided alf 
 whole guarantees of real freedom, and a constitution con- ^ ofthT 
 ferring even greater liberty than experience has proved Revolution - 
 the nation was capable of bearing.* The soldiers might 
 have done their duty. They might have recollected that 
 fidelity to their colours is the first of military duties ; 
 that the armed force, in Carnot's words, " is essentially 
 obedient it acts, but should never deliberate;" and 
 that a revolution brought about by the revolt of troops, 
 though generally successful in the outset, never fails to 
 be disastrous in the end ; because it rests the public weal 
 on the quicksands of Praetorian caprice. The people 
 might have done their duty. They might have recol- 
 lected that treason is the greatest of crimes, because it 
 leads to the commission of all the others ; they might 
 
 * Mr Jefferson, whose extreme democratic opinions are so well known, was 
 at Paris in June 1789, as ambassador of the United States, and he has left the 
 following valuable account of his view of what the patriots should have done 
 to secure the liberties of their country : " I consider a successful reformation 
 of government in France as insuring a general reformation throughout Europe, 
 and the resurrection to a new life of their people, now ground to dust by the 
 abuses of the governing powers. I was much acquainted with the leading 
 patriots of the Assembly. Being from a country which had successfully 
 passed through a similar reformation, they were disposed to my acquaintance, 
 and had some confidence in me. I urged most strenuously an immediate 
 compromise, to secure what the government was now ready to yield, and trust 
 to future occasions for what might still be wanting. It was well understood 
 that the King would grant at this time, first, freedom of the person by habeas 
 corpus; secondly, freedom of conscience; thirdly, freedom of the press; 
 fourthly, trial by jury ; fifthly, a representative legislature ; sixthly, annual 
 meetings ; seventhly, the origination of laws ; eighthly, the exclusive right of 
 taxation and appropriation ; and, ninthly, the responsibility of ministers : and 
 with the exercises of these powers, they could obtain in future whatever might 
 be further necessary to improve and preserve their constitution. They 
 thought otherwise, however, and events have proved their lamentable error : 
 for after thirty years of war, foreign and domestic ; the loss of millions of 
 lives ; the prostration of private happiness and the foreign subjugation of 
 their own country for a time they have obtained no more, not even that 
 securely." JEFFERSON'S Memoirs, June 1789; and SMYTH'S Lectures on the 
 French lletolitiion, i. 303. 
 
 VOL. I. 2 N
 
 562 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, have seen that the strength of public opinion had become 
 
 ! such, that its force without violence was irresistible, that 
 
 1789 - the acquisition of freedom was secured without shedding 
 a drop of blood, and that the only danger it ran was 
 from the crimes of its supporters. The simple path of 
 duty would have saved France and Europe from all the 
 crimes and misfortunes which ensued : what led to them 
 all, was the selfishness of ambition and the delusions of 
 expedience.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 563 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 FROM THE TAKING OF THE BASTILE TO THE REVOLT AT 
 VERSAILLES. JULY 14 OCTOBER 6, 1789. 
 
 NEVER had the government of a great country been CHAP. 
 
 overturned with so much facility as that of France was ! 
 
 by the insurrection of the 1 4th July ; never had the 1789 - 
 liberties of a great people been purchased at the expense E^J^. 
 of so little bloodshed. Hardly any resistance had been nary and 
 
 , .,. . ., . . almost 
 
 made, either by the military or civil authorities ; not so bloodless 
 many lives had been lost as usually perish in a trifling the Revohi- 
 skirmish in the field : fifty men only had fallen in over- tu 
 turning the monarchy of Clovis. The rapid concessions 
 and beneficent intentions of the King had long postponed 
 a collision ; his well-known aversion to the shedding of 
 blood paralysed one of the parties engaged in it when 
 it commenced his humanity stopped it before the conflict 
 had advanced any length. In truth he had then no 
 alternative. The defection of the troops, the universal 
 delusion and transports of the people, had destroyed 
 all the means of resistance ; and the monarch, not less 
 impelled by necessity than urged by inclination, had capi- 
 tulated on the very first attack. The prediction of the 
 philosophers seemed about to be realised ; the Revolution 
 was finished, and it had scarcely cost a drop of blood. 
 All France was in transports at the auspicious events, 
 which, breaking in one day the chains of a thousand 
 years, had set a whole nation free, without causing the
 
 564 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, widow or the orphan to weep. Europe sympathised with 
 
 ! these sentiments : philosophy everywhere anticipated a 
 
 1789. bloodless triumph over oppression. Genius was eager to 
 celebrate the advent of the emancipation of the human 
 race.'* Yet from this very triumph is to be dated the 
 commencement of the reign of violence : with the fall of 
 the Bastile was closed the last hope of a pacific regenera- 
 tion of society ; with the transference of the sword from 
 the Crown to the people, began the series of causes and 
 effects which, in their final results, induced the whole 
 subsequent calamities which befell the kingdom. 
 
 It was the dissolution of the governing power which 
 Necessity brought about these disastrous consequences. Mankind 
 cutiveocca- can never exist, even for a day, without a ruling autho- 
 dier t 8 he rity- Moral influence is guided entirely by the intellec- 
 fo1 tua ^ strength of a few physical force by the daring and 
 combinations of one. The most imperious of all neces- 
 sities to mankind is a government. Individuals can sub- 
 sist days, and sometimes weeks, without food, but no body 
 of men ever could exist an hour without a ruler. Within 
 a short period after the existing government has been 
 overturned, another authority never fails to be installed 
 
 * The effect of this event on the ardent spirits in England may be judged of 
 by the following magnificent lines of Darwin : 
 
 " Long had the giant form on Gallia's plains 
 Inglorious slept, unconscious of his chains : 
 Round his large limbs were wound a thousand rings, 
 By the weak hands of Confessors and Kings : 
 O'er his closed eyes a triple veil was bound, 
 And steely rivets locked him to the ground ; 
 While stern Bastile with iron cage enthrals 
 His folded limbs and bones in marble walls. 
 Touch'd by the patriot flame, he rent amazed 
 The flimsy bonds, and round and round him gazed : 
 Starts up from earth above the admiring throng, 
 Lifts his colossal form and towers along : 
 High o'er his foes his hundred arms he rears, 
 Ploughshares his swords, and pruning-hooks his spears ; 
 Calls to the good and brave in voice that rolls 
 Like heaven's own thunder round the echoing poles ; 
 Gives to the winds his banners broad unfurled, 
 And gathers in the shade the living world." 
 
 DARWIN'S Botanic Garden.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 565 
 
 in its stead : so much the more powerful that it has been CHAP. 
 cradled in violence so much the more despotic that it 
 
 has learned to rule excitement. If the people ever really 1789 - 
 enjoy the illusion of self-government, it is but for an hour : 
 with the choice of the demagogue who is to rule, or the 
 cabal which is to direct them, their brief authority is at 
 an end ; and the new sovereign, under the name of a 
 tribune, a consul, or a committee, enters upon the exercise 
 of irresistible power, at once established on too broad a 
 basis to be shaken down for years. 
 
 The mildness of the former government, the beneficent 
 intentions and liberal principles of the King, are thus Gentle' c 
 described by M. BaiUy, the originator of the " Tennis- T ^ g 
 court Oath," and the first democratic mayor of Paris : 
 " Despotism was what never entered into the character of 
 the King ; he never had any wish but the happiness of 
 his people this was the only consideration which could 
 be employed to influence him ; and he never could be 
 induced to sanction any act of authority until he was 
 convinced that some good was to be thus obtained, or 
 some evil avoided some relief to the nation afforded, 
 or some additions to the happiness of all secured. His 
 power was never considered by him, nor did he wish to 
 maintain it, except for the tranquillity and peace of the 
 community. The first cause which produced the regene- 
 ration of the country was the character of Louis XVI. : 
 had the King been less good, the ministers more able, we l 
 should never have had a Revolution." 1 Such was the M&n. i. 
 sovereign, on the testimony of his opponents, whose 
 reforms were rejected, whose concessions were despised by 
 the Tiers Etat, and whose power was overthrown by the 
 revolt of July. Contrast this with the universal excitement 
 which prevailed after the fall of the Bastile, as drawn by 
 a master hand, who had himself a principal share in 
 bringing about that event. 
 
 " So many extraordinary changes/' said Mirabeau, 
 " have occurred within these few days, that one can
 
 566 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, hardly believe them real. The capital passing from 
 despotism to liberty from the extreme of terror to per- 
 
 1789. f ec j. secur ity a m ilitia of citizens established the Bas- 
 Mirabeau'g *^ 6 taken by assault a conspiracy averted perverse 
 picture of counsellors dispersed a powerful faction put to flight 
 
 these events. m . . \ n i i 
 
 ministers, clandestinely exiled, recalled in triumph their 
 successors recoiling before the storm the King, whom 
 they had deceived, restored to confidence, and voluntarily 
 showing himself to his people all these events, astonish- 
 ing in themselves, and from their rapidity almost incred- 
 ible, will produce incalculable effects, which are beyond 
 the reach of human foresight to divine/' The con- 
 sequences of these events did indeed outstrip all human 
 calculation, and proved diametrically opposite to what 
 their authors anticipated. " Scelera impetu, bona con- 
 silia mor4 valescere.* But four were of such importance 
 that they eclipsed all the others, and are to be regarded 
 as * ne great corner-stones on which the revolutionary 
 
 1789 f f^ric was erected. These were the formation of the 
 
 mumc ip au ty of Paris of the National Guards over all 
 i. 246. France the insurrection of the peasants and the emi- 
 
 gration of the noblesse. 1 
 
 5 The overthrow of the royal authority had left Paris 
 
 Unceasing without a government, and that too in the most critical 
 
 agitation .,.,. , , , , . . , 
 
 of the peo- period or its history, when the public passions most stood 
 their'mire'ry in need of control, and public misery had nearly reached 
 ]9th f ju]y. e ' the most alarming height. Such had been the excitement 
 of the three days which had preceded the capture of the 
 Bastile, that it was found impossible to induce the people 
 either to return to their work, or engage in any regular or 
 continuous employment. Though all danger was over, 
 from the defection of the army and submission of the 
 Crown, yet, such was the enthusiasm which prevailed, that 
 they did nothing but wander about the streets, wondering 
 at the magnitude and ease of their triumph, and devouring 
 the multitude of journals, pamphlets, and addresses, which, 
 
 * " Crimes succeed by haste : good designs by delay." TACITUS, Hist. i. 32.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 567 
 
 in every direction, were extolling it to the skies. The CHAP. 
 
 funeral obsequies of those who had fallen in the attack of 
 
 the Bastile were celebrated with extraordinary pomp, in 1789 * 
 presence of an immense crowd of spectators. " It is the 
 aristocracy," said the Abbe Fauchet, " which has crucified 
 the Son of God I" This impious speech was received 
 with unbounded applause. Vast crowds continually 
 thronged the ruins of the Bastile, which already, by orders 
 from the Hotel de Ville, was in process of being demol- 
 ished. The people were never weary of examining the 
 dark vaults and gloomy corridors of that long-dreaded 
 prison : the stone couches, worn by continued lying 
 the huge rings to which chains had once been attached 
 the frightful implements of ancient torture, were sur- 
 veyed with insatiable avidity. But meanwhile all work 
 was at a stand, and the usual symptoms of division after 
 success were apparent. Already murmurs were heard 
 against the Electoral Assembly at the Hotel de Ville 
 from some for having done too much, from others for 
 having done too little : provisions were beginning to be 
 scarce ; the people without work had no money to buy 
 food ; and so pressing did the danger become, that within 
 four days after the Bastile had been taken, a provisional 
 committee of sixty persons was appointed by the muni- 
 cipality to superintend the distribution of provisions, 1 De Co ^ 
 organise an urban guard, and establish a police ; and to Hist - fa ia ' 
 pay considerable sums of money to every workman who Lac.'iii.'246. 
 could produce a certificate of his having given up his arms u. 144 " 
 and resumed his labour. 1 * 
 
 But all the efforts of the provisional government at the 
 Hotel de Ville were unavailing : the money indeed was Efforts' to 
 got by the applicants, but it was on false certificates of pTo 
 the arms having been given up : the people did not resume ficient- 
 
 * " L'Assemblde des electeurs arrdte Qu'il sera forme un comite" provisoire 
 pour remplacer le comite permanent ; qu'il sera compose de soixante membres 
 61us dans son sein ; et qu'il sera divise en quatre bureaux ; le premier de dis- 
 tribution, le second de police, le troisieme des subsistences, le quatrieme sera 
 le comite militaire, dans lequel entreront les officiers d'e"tat-major de la garde
 
 568 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, their labours ; and ere a few days had elapsed, the most 
 
 pressing dangers, as well from anarchy as famine, were 
 
 1789 * experienced. All the efforts of Moreau de St Mery, the 
 new provost of the merchants, and of Bailly, who had 
 been appointed mayor of Paris, proved inadequate to 
 arrest the growing evils. The capital was in such a state 
 of confusion, the disorder arising from so many coexisting 
 authorities was so excessive the supply of provisions so 
 precarious the suspension of credit so universal that 
 the utmost exertions of Bailly and the magistrates were 
 required to prevent the people from dying of famine in the 
 streets. Tailors, shoemakers, bakers, blacksmiths, assem- 
 bling at the Louvre, the Place Louis XV., and other 
 quarters, deliberated on the public concerns, and set at 
 defiance the Hotel de Ville and the municipality. Night 
 and day Bailly and the Committee of Public Subsistence 
 were engaged in the herculean labour of providing for the 
 wants of the citizens ; the usual sources of supply had 
 totally ceased with the public confusion ; the farmers no 
 longer brought their grain to market, fearing that it would 
 be seized without payment by the sovereign multitude ; 
 and the people, as the first consequence of their triumph, 
 were on the point of perishing of famine. Everything 
 required to be provided for and done by the public autho- 
 rities : large quantities of grain were bought up by their 
 agents in the country, and conducted into Paris, as if into 
 a besieged city, in great convoys, guarded by regiments of 
 horse. This grain was ground at the public expense, and 
 sold at a reduced rate to the citizens ; but such was the 
 misery of the people, that all these measures would not 
 suffice, and loud complaints that the citizens were starving 
 
 nationale. Les Gardes Franchises demandent que Ton choisisse les future 
 officiers parmi les sous-officiers et soldats du regiment. L'Assemble'e arrete 
 Que les ouvriers sont invites a reprendre leurs travaux, et qu'en rapportant 
 un certificat de leur maitre ou chef-d'atelier, portant qu'ils ont repris leurs 
 travaux, et un certificat de district, portant qu'ils ont depose leurs armes dans 
 le depot indique pour le district, il leur sera paye" une somme de 9 francs." 
 Extrait des Procts Verbal de la Commune Paris, 18 Juillet 1789; Histoire 
 Parlementaire, ii. 142.
 
 HISTOEY OF EUROPE. 569 
 
 incessantly assailed the Assembly. The loss sustained by CHAP. 
 the municipality within a week after the taking of the Bas- 
 
 tile, in thus feeding the people at a reduced rate, amounted 1789 - 
 to 1 8,000 francs (720) a-day :* and yet such was the fury 
 of the populace in consequence of the general want, that 
 great numbers of carts and stores were seized and pillaged A ^ g u *; 93 
 by clamorous and starving multitudes. All the efforts of i- '??* 
 
 ~ de Moll. n. 
 
 the government could not supply the absence of that 65, 67. 
 
 1 f 4- f 1 J V 1.' t. ' Bailly,ii.96. 
 
 perennial fountain of plenty and prosperity, which arises Th. i. in. 
 from general security and public confidence. 1 
 
 Notwithstanding all the vigour of the public authori- 
 ties, the distress of Paris, both as regarded the muni- which no- 
 cipality and the citizens, soon became overwhelming. 
 Almost every species of manufacture was at a stand : 
 purchases by the wealthy classes had totally ceased ; and 
 all the numerous artisans who depended on these, in that 
 great mart of luxury and indulgence, were in the utmost 
 straits. The popular magistrates were obliged to dissi- 
 pate all the corporation funds at their disposal, and con- 
 tract large debts, in order to provide for the necessities 
 of the people, who had already fallen as a burden on the 
 public funds. Above 2,500,000 francs (100,000) were 
 expended in this way by the municipality of Paris within 
 a few months ; but even this ample supply afforded only 
 a temporary relief ; and after exhausting their credit, and 
 overwhelming with debt the public revenue, they were 
 obliged to come to the National Assembly with the piteous 
 tale that their resources were exhausted, and that Paris, 
 as the first-fruits of its political regeneration, was on 
 the verge of ruin.t Meanwhile the people, feeling their 
 
 * " D'abord la farine revenait le plus souvent au gouverneinent a 90 francs 
 le sac ce qui donne le pain a 16 sous, 4 deniers, les 4 livres; en le donnant a 
 14 sous et demi, le gouvernement perdait done deux sous pour 4 livres ; a ce 
 qui fait relativement a la consommation de Paris, environ 18,000 francs de 
 perte par jour." Mem. de BAILLY, ii. 96. 
 
 t " In July 1789," said M. Bailly, mayor of Paris, " the finances of the city 
 of Paris were yet in good order ; the expenditure was balanced by the receipts, 
 and she had 1,000,000 francs (40,000) in the bank. But the expenses she has 
 been constrained to incur, subsequent to the Revolution, amount to 2,500,000
 
 570 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, wants continually increasing, loudly demanded the heads 
 of the monopolisers who kept back the grain : one named 
 
 1789. Thoinassin was seized by them near St Germain, and 
 with difficulty saved from instant death when the rope 
 20Unad ' was round his neck. The Assembly, glad to veil its 
 I789?p! y 92. weakness under the guise of moderation, was constrained, 
 28?' "S' i nstea d of vindicating the law, to limit itself to passing a 
 ES'-Ji-!;* 6 ' vote of thanks to the Bishop of Chartres, who, by force 
 
 147. Bailly, . r . . . 
 
 ii. 86, 96. of tears and entreaties, rescued the unhappy victim from 
 his murderers when already at the foot of the scaffold. 1 
 
 It was sufficiently evident that this state of distress 
 Necessary and anarchy could not be permitted to continue ; and as 
 of 8 the U Mu- the former authorities were wholly annihilated by the 
 ade^oc/aT prostration of the Crown and the defection of the troops, 
 tic basis, there was no alternative but to organise an effective 
 government at the Hotel de Ville. But the municipality 
 had no regular or paid force at its command : its strength 
 was based entirely on the support of the multitude, and 
 the co-operation of the great civic militia, which had 
 sprung up as if by enchantment during the late insurrec- 
 tion. Thus the formation of a municipality on a purely 
 democratic basis became a matter of necessity ; and it 
 arose so naturally from the circumstances in which men 
 were placed, after the overthrow of the royal authority, 
 that it excited very little attention. The electors, about 
 three hundred in number, chosen to appoint the deputies 
 to the States-general, who had at first organised the 
 2 Moniteur, urban force at the Hotel de Ville, were speedily alarmed 
 1789. 28 ' a t the magnitude of the responsibility which was thrown 
 trend! Rev. u P on them, when they beheld the disorders with which 
 praclivUb *k e 7 were surroun( ied ; and gladly acceded to the pro- 
 de i a Com- position of their constituents, that each of the sixty elec- 
 ris, i. 65. toral districts of Paris should elect two deputies, 2 who 
 should form a temporary administration, and who, being 
 
 francs (100,000) in a single year. From these expenses, and the great falling 
 off in the produce of the free gifts, not only a temporary, but a total want of 
 money has taken place." See BDRKE'B Consid., Works, v. 431.
 
 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 571 
 
 the acknowledged representatives of the people, might CHAP. 
 assume, in conformity with the new principles of govern- ' 
 ment, a legitimate authority. Their number was after- w* 9 - 
 wards raised to a hundred and eighty, 'and by a final 
 decree, on 28th July, was fixed at three hundred. 
 
 These three hundred deputies formed the new munici- 
 pality of Paris ; but such was the jealousy which univer- The primary 
 sally prevailed of all power, even when directly delegated begin to 
 by the people, that, in order to control and compel them MunTci- the 
 to bend to the popular will, each electoral district retained pallty< 
 its hall of assembly the same where the first election of 
 the deputies for the States-general had taken place in 
 which meetings of the whole primary electors were held 
 almost every night to discuss public affairs, and constrain 
 the representatives at the Hotel de Yille to obey the 
 popular voice. These primary meetings speedily became 
 little national assemblies for their own districts : they 
 issued proclamations, passed decrees, raised armed bands, 
 and granted passports ; and these acts of power were 
 implicitly obeyed, as the direct and immediate voice of 
 the sovereign people. Thus Paris became tormented with 
 sixty republics, each with a general assembly, where every 
 Frenchman was permitted to speak and to vote ; and the 
 general municipality, and armed force at its disposal, the 
 only remaining relic of sovereign power, was nothing but 
 the executive committee of the highly excited majority. 
 To those who duly reflect on these things, the subsequent ].^i\- P ar '- 
 
 J , * 11. 151, lo'2. 
 
 history of the Revolution, and the atrocious part which Smyth's 
 the municipality of Paris took in all its excesses, will i. 317. 
 appear noways a matter for surprise. 1 
 
 M. Dumont, the friend of Mirabeau, and framer of the 
 Declaration of the Rights of Man, an eyewitness of these DumonVs 
 scenes, has left the following graphic picture of these ^ese ^ 
 primary assemblies : " The noise which prevails in these "ir 
 meetings is enough to distract any one who is not accus- 
 tomed to it. Every speech is followed or interrupted by 
 the loudest and most clamorous applause, or the most
 
 572 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, tumultuous expressions of disapprobation. The president 
 of one, finding it impossible to command silence by any 
 
 1789. other means, has stationed a drummer behind him ; and 
 when all is noise, tumult, and confusion, he gives the 
 signal to beat the drum till tranquillity is restored. As 
 nearly a hundred thousand of the upper ranks have 
 emigrated, the number of valets, servants, and labourers 
 out of employment is immense, and they throng all the 
 public assemblies, and are always loudest in approval 
 of extreme measures. Falsehood is the constant and 
 favourite resource of the cabals which prevail here. It 
 is impossible to conceive the impudence with which the 
 most palpable lies are published and propagated among 
 the people. The most positive assertions, the most minute 
 detail of facts, the strongest appearance of probability, are 
 made to accompany the grossest falsehoods. Foulon and 
 Besenval were the victims of pretended letters, of which 
 were seen a thousand copies, but not one original. The 
 convent of Montmartre has been twice beset by twenty or 
 thirty thousand men, who threatened it with destruction 
 for having engrossed the provender of Paris ; it was 
 searched, and there was scarcely found provision enough 
 for the inmates of the house. At one moment, it is 
 affirmed that the aristocratic conspirators have thrown 
 a great quantity of bread into the Seine ; at another, 
 that they have mowed the green corn. The public is 
 t overwhelmed with lies and calumnies/' Such, on the 
 (^ U on 0< d testimony of an eyewitness, and that eyewitness the 
 Smyth's author of the " Declaration of the Rights of Man," were 
 
 French Rev. . ..... 1 .. II-IP 
 
 i. 317, 319. the assemblies, and such the arts, by which, from the 
 
 outset of the Revolution, Paris and France were directed. 1 
 
 This terrible organisation of the multitude into primary 
 
 Establish- assemblies, and of municipalities from the deputies whom 
 they elected, was speedily imitated over all France. It 
 was to much in the spirit of the age it fell in too com- 
 
 aii France. pl e tely with the passions of the moment, not to be the 
 object of universal adoption. The old magistracies, based
 
 HISTOKY OF EUROPE. 573 
 
 in a great degree on the incorporations, and therefore CHAP. 
 identified with property, were in a few days everywhere 
 
 superseded, and never more heard of. The new munici- 1789 - 
 palities, formed of the deputies of the primary assemblies 
 that is, resting on universal suffrage became universal, 
 and soon engrossed the whole civil authority, as well as 
 the direction of the armed force of the kingdom. Incal- 
 culable and irreparable were the effects of this change. 
 Coupled with the simultaneous institution of the National 
 Guard and the defection of the army, it rendered the 
 march of the Revolution inevitable, because it deprived 
 the Crown of all power, either by civil or military autho- 
 rity, to restrain or even modify it. The Jacobin clubs 
 which, in imitation of the great parent one in the capital, 
 were speedily established in every town in the kingdom, 
 ere long, by the vehemence of their language and the 
 energy of their proceedings, acquired the direction of 
 these primary assemblies, and through them of the muni- 
 
 cipalities, and communicated the impulse of popular fer- R ^^. a e 
 vour to the whole constituted authorities. This was the 67, i.' 
 true secret of the future progress of the Revolution. 1 
 
 This great innovation did not escape the notice of the 
 National Assembly, and some feeble attempt was made to Feeble con- 
 prevent the civil power in the State from thus slipping js"ationai e 
 from the hands of the legislature ; but it came to nothing, ^T t e h7s y 
 and they were glad to veil their weakness under the guise pomt> 
 of moderation. " Do you propose," said Mounier, who 
 already began to perceive whither the current was flowing, 
 " that all the towns of France should create municipalities 
 like Paris \ That power should be confined to the 
 National Assembly ; there is no saying whither such 
 multiplying of states within states, sovereignties within 
 sovereignties, may lead us." " The disorders of Paris," 
 answered Mirabeau, "have all arisen from one cause, 
 that no popular authority exists, and that the primary 
 assemblies were not in harmony with the municipality. 
 The latter had seized the reins of power in the public
 
 574 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, confusion, without the previous consent of the people. 
 They retained it after they had lost their popularity, 
 
 1789. even after the electoral districts had manifested a wish 
 to have a municipality established on the basis of the 
 formal consent of the people. What circumstance can 
 be so fortunate, as that municipalities are now erected on 
 the basis of direct popular election, conducted with all 
 the orders united into one, under the condition of a 
 frequent removal and rotation of functionaries, and that 
 Paris has offered to the other cities of France so admir- 
 able a model to imitate "? The National Assembly should 
 make no attempt to organise municipalities ; they should 
 arise in every instance from the direct will of the people. 
 Look at the Americans ; they have done this, and hence 
 the stability of their institutions." " The terrible strokes 
 aimed by the minister," replied Lally Tollendal, "have 
 produced frightful reprisals. We must not deceive our- 
 selves : the people demand vengeance, but we require 
 subordination ; else we shall fall from the yoke of minis- 
 terial power under that of arbitrary democracy. One 
 may have much talent, great ideas, and be a tyrant. 
 Tiberius thought, and thought profoundly : Louis XI. 
 felt, and felt warmly." But these recriminations deter- 
 mined nothing ; and the Assembly contented itself with 
 issuing a proclamation, in which they declared that they 
 alone were invested with the right of directing prosecu- 
 tions for high treason, but left to the towns the power of 
 
 23d Jui choosing municipalities, and arresting suspected persons. 
 
 i Hist. pari. Soon after, the new constitution of the municipality of 
 
 ii. 151, 159, ' J 
 
 180. Moni- Pans was solemnly sanctioned by a decree of the Assem- 
 Jutyi789. bly, and of course was immediately imitated over all 
 France. 1 
 
 AVhat rendered this newly-born power of the munici- 
 Generai palities peculiarly formidable, in fact irresistible, was the 
 
 N simultaneous creation of an armed force, under the name 
 Guard. ^ * ne National Guard, which, in imitation of that insti- 
 tuted in Paris, speedily sprang up in every part of the
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 575 
 
 kingdom. As fast as the news of the taking of the CHAP. 
 
 Bastile spread through the provinces, the lower orders, 
 
 in imitation of the capital, organised themselves into im 
 independent bodies, subject to their respective munici- 
 palities, and established national guards for their protec- 
 tion. The immediate cause of the formation of this 
 prodigious armament was the propagation through all 
 France of the most alarming reports as to the approach- 
 ing destruction of the harvest by brigands, who were 
 traversing the country in all directions a stratagem 
 played with the most complete success by the leaders of 
 the Revolution, in order to place the armed force of the 
 kingdom at their disposal. Three hundred thousand men 
 were by these means speedily enrolled for the support of 
 the popular side ; the influence of government, as well as 
 the power of the sword, passed into the hands of the 
 people. The officers in the new regiments were all elected 
 by the privates ; the new magistrates were appointed by 
 the mob, and of course taken from the most zealous sup- 
 porters of the popular demands ; their authority alone 
 was respected. The old functionaries, finding their power 
 gone, everywhere became extinct. In less than a fort- 
 night there was no authority in France but what emanated 
 from the people. Arms were in some places wanting for 
 a time ; but the zeal of the new municipalities soon sup- 
 plied this deficiency. The royal arsenals were generally 
 opened by the officers in charge of them, who feared to 
 disobey the orders of the sovereign people ; and although 
 a few, like M. de Bouille at Metz, held out for some time, 2^- ?. e K , 
 
 ' Moll. 11. 60, 
 
 yet they were ere long constrained, by direct mandates 7 3 - Toul - 
 from Louis, to comply. 1 * This force speedily acquired a;- 120. Mi g . 
 surprising degree of discipline and efficiency, chiefly from Bourns, 79. 
 the number of old soldiers, or non-commissioned officers 
 
 * M. de Bouille", whose firmness nothing could shake, and who had, by the 
 ascendancy of his character, preserved subordination among his troops, con- 
 tinued for a month after the 14th July to refuse to issue arms to the national 
 guard of Metz, where he commanded, till he received the orders of the King. 
 But on 26th August 1789, the new minister at war, La Tour Dupin, indirectly 
 enjoined it in the following words, " Un point essentiel et dont vous sentez
 
 576 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, of the line, who obtained commissions in it ; and who, in 
 '. secret ashamed of the desertion of their sovereign, were 
 
 1789. gj a( j ^0 ve ji jjjgjj. disgrace under a new uniform and the 
 assumption of the popular colours. 
 
 Frightful disorders, originating in Paris, and soon 
 The mini- spreading over the whole kingdom, signalised the first 
 lEkeV is transference of the supreme power from the Crown to the 
 July 21! people. Louis, immediately after his submission, sanc- 
 tioned the appointment of General Lafayette as commander 
 of the national guard at Paris, and recalled M. Necker to 
 the office of prime-minister. The messenger overtook the 
 Swiss minister at Bale, at which place he had arrived on 
 his journey to his native country. His return to Paris 
 was a continued triumph. Everywhere he received the 
 most intoxicating proofs of public gratitude ; the newly 
 constituted authorities waited on him to testify their 
 admiration ; but his entry to Paris was not only the 
 zenith of his popularity, but also its end. He proceeded 
 to the Hotel de Ville amidst the shouts of two hundred 
 thousand admiring citizens, and from its balcony addressed 
 the people in generous terms, imploring them to crown 
 their glorious victory by a general amnesty. For a moment 
 the generous sentiment prevailed ; loud applause followed 
 , Tou] . his words. But he seemed to have a presentiment of his 
 85. Mi g . ;. approaching fall ; for, on entering his apartment at Ver- 
 Stoei,i.255. sailles, he exclaimed to one of his friends "Now is the 
 moment that I should die!" 1 
 
 A melancholy proof awaited him of the inability even 
 Murder of of the most popular minister to coerce the fury of the 
 populace. Long lists of proscription had for a considerable 
 time been fixed at the entrances of the Palais Royal, at 
 the head of which was the name of M. Foulon, an old man 
 above seventy years of age, who had been appointed to 
 
 I'importance, c'est de ne delivrer des armes qu'avec beaucoup de management." 
 Bomlle" now felt himself bound to issue out arms, which he did, however, as 
 prudently as possible. He was one of the last governors of provinces who 
 withstood the universal demand for arms. M. La Tour Dupin to M. de BonUle", 
 26th August 1789 ; BOUILLE, Memoirs, 79.
 
 , HISTORY OF EUROPE. 577 
 
 the ministry which succeeded Necker, but never entered .CHAP. 
 upon his office. He was seized in the country, and brought v ' 
 into Paris with his hands tied behind his back. What had 1789. 
 worked the mob up to a pitch of frenzy against him was 
 a falsehood propagated, and at once believed, that he had 
 said, " The people were fit for nothing but to eat grass." 
 Anxious to save him from their fury, Lafayette, when 
 he was brought to the Hotel de Ville, proposed to send 
 him to the prison of the Abbaye, in order to gain time to 
 discover his accomplices. He was on the point of succeed- 
 ing in the humane attempt, when a voice in the crowd 
 exclaimed " They understand each other : this is all a 
 ruse what need have we of a trial for a wretch con- 
 demned thirty years since 1" Upon this the vengeance July 22. 
 of the people could not wait for the forms of trial and 
 condemnation ; they broke into the committee-room, where 
 he was undergoing an examination before Lafayette and 
 Bailly, overthrew twelve hundred electors there assembled, 
 and, in spite of the most strenuous efforts on the part of 
 the magistrates, tore him from their arms, and hanged 
 him. Twice the fatal cord broke, and the agonised wretch 
 fell to the ground in the midst of the multitude ; and 
 twice they suspended him again, amidst peals of laughter ] Hist. Pari. 
 and shouts of joy. Some of the assassins, more humane vai, Souv.de 
 
 than the rest, proposed to despatch him with their swords ; 
 but the majority declined that mode of death as too speedy, ^5 
 and kept the unhappy wretch in mortal agony for a quarter ^ ^* 
 of an hour, till a third cord was got. It was with such R-. i"i7. La ' b - 
 terrific examples of wickedness that the regeneration ofvii. 117. 
 the social body commenced in France. 1 
 
 M. Berthier, son-in-law to M. Foulon, soon after shared 
 the same fate. He was arrested at Compiegne, and, after And of 
 undergoing the utmost outrages on the road, was brought 
 to the Hotel de Ville, where the mob presented to him 
 the head of his relative, still streaming with blood. He 
 averted his eyes, and, as they continued to press it towards 
 his face, bowed to the ghastly remains. Falsehood had 
 
 VOL. i. 2 o
 
 578 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, here, as in the case of Foulon, rendered justice impossible. 
 He was preceded by a crowd of people, who shouted, 
 
 1789. jj e h^ ro bbed the King and France ; he has devoured 
 the substance of the people ; he has drunk the blood of 
 the widow and the orphan." The efforts of Bailly and 
 Lafayette were again unsuccessful he was seized by the 
 mob, and dragged towards the lamp ; but at the sight 
 of the cord, which they prepared to put about his neck, 
 he was seized with a transport of indignation, and, wrest- 
 ing a musket from one of the National Guard, rushed 
 1 Lac. vii. among his assassins, and fell pierced with innumerable 
 Tcmi Vile Bounds. One of the cannibals fell on his body, plunged 
 DuVaiYss n * s nan ^ i n * hi g man gled bosom, and tore out his heart, 
 Hist. pari. which he bore about in triumph, almost before it had 
 ceased to beat. The heads of Berthier and Foulon were 
 
 Pads, u. 27. put on the end of pikes, and paraded, in the midst of an 
 immense crowd, through the streets of Paris. 1 
 
 It was from horror at these sanguinary excesses that 
 
 Necker's M. Necker demanded of the assembly of electors at Paris, 
 by and obtained, a general amnesty for political offences. His 
 cn * e f object in doing so was to save the life of the Baron de 
 Besenval, second in command under the Marshal Broglie, 
 formerly his political opponent, whom, at the hazard of 
 his own life, he had generously saved from the fury of the 
 people on his road from Bale, at the distance of a few 
 leagues from Paris. But in taking this humane step, 
 Necker experienced, once again, his inability to rule the 
 Revolution, and felt the weakness of the thread on 
 which the applause of the people is founded. His efforts 
 were nugatory. Mirabeau, in the Assembly, stood forth 
 as the opponent of humanity. The success he met with 
 proved but too clearly that the reign of blood was 
 approaching. On the following day that fearful orator 
 brought the matter under the consideration of the legis- 
 lature. " Whence comes it," said he, " that the municipality 
 takes upon itself, under the very eyes of the Assembly, 
 to publish an amnesty for offences ? Has the cause of
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. ' 579 
 
 freedom, then, no more perils to encounter \ We may CHAP. 
 pardon M. Necker his generous but indiscreet proceeding, v ' 
 which in any other but him would have been criminal ; !789. 
 but let us, with more calmness and equal humanity, esta- 
 blish the public order, not by general amnesties, but by a 
 due separation of the judicial functions from those of the 
 multitude." " The multitude/' said Barnave, " may have 
 been right : the main thing we have to think of is the 
 formation of a constitution : we must not be too much \%{$' 
 alarmed at the storms of freedom. Was, then, the blood ^ig. ^ 
 which has been shed so very pure?" Moved partly by 119. Hist, 
 terror, partly by fanaticism, the Assembly reversed the Monitor, ' 
 decree of the electors of Paris, and political revenge 1/89,^99. 
 received ample scope for its development. 1 
 
 Nor was it only on persons in an elevated sphere of life 
 that the fury of the unchained multitude was exercised, ' 
 Every one in any rank who was denounced by their 
 leaders, or was suspected of thwarting their wishes, became 
 the victims of their barbarity. Engravings were distri- 
 buted, representing crowds composed of citizens, peasants, 
 and women, carrying pikes, on the top of which the heads 
 of the obnoxious persons were placed, with the inscrip- 
 tion below each " It is thus that we avenge traitors."* 
 Worked up by these arts, the people were not slow in 
 taking vengeance on their supposed oppressors. A convoy 
 of grain having come from Poissy, near St Germain, on the 
 1 6th July, the farmer who led the party, named Sauvage, 
 was seized by the multitude and brought into Paris, 
 guarded by three hundred armed men, accused of being a 
 monopoliser. Quickly the drum went through the town 
 with this announcement " Citizens ! by order of the King 
 and the Tiers Etat ! Notice is hereby given, that Sauvage 
 will be hanged at three o'clock." At that hour an immense 
 multitude assembled at the Hotel de Ville ; the unhappy 
 wretch, who was entirely innocent, was brought out and 
 instantly hung up to the lamp. The rope broke, and 
 
 * Copies of these engravings still exist. Histoire Parlementaire, i. 150.
 
 580 "HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, lie fell to the earth ; again he was hoisted up with a fresh 
 cord, and at the same time pierced through with swords 
 
 1789> and bayonets amidst savage shouts. His head was then 
 cut off, put on the top of a pike, and paraded through the 
 streets, followed by a butcher who had severed an arm, 
 brandishing his bloody knife, while another occasionally 
 opened the lips to make them receive the stream of blood 
 which flowed down the ghastly cheeks.* Not content 
 with these atrocities, the heart and pieces of the body of 
 Berthier were thrown into a goblet of wine, in which they 
 were boiled ; and the savages, standing round the caldron, 
 drank the fuming liquor red with blood, with naked arms 
 Deux Amis uplifting their glasses, and chanting a song, the burden 
 ii. 73. ' of which was death to all aristocrats who should oppose 
 
 the will of the people. 1 1 
 
 19 Confounded by these and similar atrocities, of which 
 
 Lafl ly e tte d *key were doomed to be the impotent spectators, Bailly 
 wish to re- and Lafayette sent in the resignations of their respective 
 ed! offices of mayor of Paris and commander of the National 
 Guard. " What a magistracy is this," cried the former, 
 " which has not power to prevent a crime perpetrated 
 under its very eyes!" "The people," said Lafayette, 
 " have not listened to my advice ; and the day on which 
 they broke the promise which they made to me is that on 
 which I feel I ought to resign my office, in which I can 
 no longer be of any use." But it is easier to put a revo- 
 lutionary torrent in motion than to withdraw from it when 
 in the middle of its course. Earnest entreaties were made 
 
 * " On ae met en marche pour la pompe sanguinaire. Le cliqueteur est 
 toujours en te"te : le gar9on boucher, amid de son coutelas, et le bras tout 
 sanglant, vient ensuite ; un troisieme porte la tete, et ouvre la bouche pour 
 y recevoir les gouttes de sang qui de"coulent de cette t6te." PBUDHOMME, 
 (Republican writer,) Crimes de la Revolution, i. 137. 
 
 t " Le cceur du traitre proscrit (Berthier) e*tait porte dans les rues au bout 
 d'un coutelas. Eh bien ! dans un lieu public, qui le croirait ! Des Francais, 
 <Jes etres sensibles, Dieux ! ils ont osl tremper des lambeaux de chair, im- 
 prdgnds de sang, dans leur breuvage, et leur haine a pu s'en repaltre avec 
 acharnement : ce fait a eu lieu dans un cafe" Rue Saint Honord pres de celle 
 de Richelieu." PRUDHOMME, Revolutions de Paris, No. ii. p. 25. 18 a 25 Juillet 
 1789. The murder of Berthier was immediately owing to the fabrications
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 581- 
 
 to them to resume their appointments ; fair promises were CHAP. 
 lavished, that the disorders inseparable from the rise of 
 
 freedom should not be repeated ; and these well-meaning 1789 - 
 but deluded men, seeing that their withdrawing would ^m^'ea 
 probably make matters worse, by removing the only peux Ami, 
 restraints on the popular fury, were obliged, much against ni. 299. 
 their will, to resume their functions. 1 
 
 It can hardly be conceived that human cruelty could- 
 go beyond these dreadful massacres ; but the scenes which Atrocities 
 followed the fall of the Bastile in the provincial towns, and vLces. prc 
 many of the provinces of France, threw the atrocities of 
 the capital into the shade. The regular soldiers almost 
 everywhere declared for the people ; and as this gave the 
 latter the command of the whole arsenals in France, the 
 populace were in every quarter speedily armed, and na 
 power existed in the State which could coerce or restrain 
 them. In many provinces the peasants rose in arms, 
 ransacked and burned the chateaus of the landlords, and 
 massacred or expelled the possessors. The horrors of the 
 insurrection of the Jacquerie, in the time of Edward III., 
 were revived on a greater scale, and with circumstances 
 of deeper atrocity. In their blind fury the insurgents did 
 not even spare those seigneurs who were known to be 
 inclined to the popular side, or had done the most to 
 mitigate their sufferings or support their rights. The most 
 cruel tortures were inflicted on the victims who fell into 
 their hands : many had the soles of their feet roasted over 
 a slow fire before being put to death ; others had their 
 hair and eyebrows burnt off, while their dwellings were 
 
 already alluded to ; but it is now known that it was owing to a deeper cause, and 
 implicated more exalted personages. He had transmitted to Louis two secret 
 memoirs, in which he had advised him either to yield and concede at once the 
 whole demands of the Assembly, or to put himself at the head of his army, and 
 arrest several members of the Assembly who were implicated in the Orleans 
 conspiracy. These memoirs were read in presence of Louis de Narbonne, who 
 informed Madame de Stael of their import, and she had the imprudence to make 
 Mirabeau acquainted with them. Hence the. virulence of the chiefs of the revolt 
 against this estimable man, the father of eight children, alike distinguished by 
 their virtues and their manners. See MADAME CAMPAN, ii. 62; and CONDORCET'S 
 Memoirs, i. 259.
 
 582 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, destroyed, after which they were drowned in the nearest 
 v ' fishpond. The Marquis of Barras was cut to pieces 
 
 1789. before his wife, far advanced in pregnancy, who shortly 
 AJKT' a ft er died of horror ; the roads were covered with young 
 i2 9 vFi'.i3o', women of rank and beauty flying from death, and leading 
 12?' ^CH '" their a ged parents by the hand. It was amidst the cries 
 of agony, and by the light of conflagration, that liberty 
 
 arose in France. 1 
 
 At Caen, and several other towns of Normandy, the 
 
 Hideous massacres of the metropolis were too faithfully imitated. 
 
 SrdeBei- M. de Belzunce, an amiable young man of a noble family, 
 
 Aug. e 'n. major in the regiment of Bourbon, stationed at that town, 
 
 had endeavoured to preserve his men from the contagion 
 
 of revolt ; and he had so far succeeded as to have attracted 
 
 the notice of Marat, who in several numbers of his incen- 
 
 diary journal had stigmatised him as an aristocrat who 
 
 should forthwith be delivered over to popular vengeance. 
 
 Soon a furious multitude arose and demanded his head ; 
 
 the magistrates, to avoid a civil war, requested him to go 
 
 to the Hotel de Ville with them, which he at once did, 
 
 and from thence, for additional security, he was sent under 
 
 an escort of the national guard, who pledged themselves 
 
 for his safety, to the citadel ; while, to remove all cause of 
 
 irritation, his regiment was ordered by the commandant 
 
 of the province to leave the town. No sooner were they 
 
 gone than the crowd, worked up by a fresh journal of 
 
 Marat's, in which he was again denounced, broke into the 
 
 Avis au' citadel ; the national guard, as usual, did nothing to 
 
 Aug?8,' coerce the people, and M. de Belzunce was dragged out 
 
 Duvai, Sou. aQ d shot in the chief square of the town, in presence of the 
 
 ? e i75 T i76 P ow erless magistrates. No sooner was he dead than his 
 
 Prudhom. body was torn in pieces his head paraded through the 
 
 ia R<?V. iii. streets on a pike, and his entrails hanging on other spears 
 
 vii.'i29. ac ' like ribbons. 2 Bits of his flesh were divided among the 
 
 people ; some were eaten by the cannibals,* others put into 
 
 * " Beaucoup de citoyens de Caen voulurent avoir un lambeau de sa chair, 
 beaucoup en emporterent dans leurs poches, d'autres firent pre"ce"der la
 
 HISTOEY OP EUROPE. 583 
 
 bottles of spirits to be preserved. These hideous atroci- CHAP. 
 ties sank deep into the heart of a young and beautiful 
 
 woman of rank, with whom, in early life, M. de Belzunce im 
 had been acquainted, and who, though belonging to the 
 liberal party, was tinged by none of its vices, and lived 
 to take a signal revenge on the author of his murder : her 
 name was CHARLOTTE CORDAY. 
 
 Similar atrocities disgraced many other of the large 
 towns in France, especially Strasbourg, Troyes, Nismes, Atrocities 
 and Orleans. At St Denis the crowd fell upon M. Troyes, ems ' 
 Chatel, the mayor of the town, cut off his head, and oS 
 paraded it into Paris : his wife, who witnessed the deed, 
 threw herself into a well and was drowned. On the 
 same day M. Montesson was seized in the Chateau de 
 Juigne, near Mans, with M. Cureau, his father-in-law, by 
 a furious mob, which broke open the house. First the 
 noses and ears of these unhappy men, and at length their 
 heads, were cut off, and paraded on pikes in presence of 
 the magistrates, who were compelled to be present at 
 this act of popular atrocity. In Strasbourg, a frightful 
 tumult took place ; six hundred rioters besieged the 
 Hotel de Ville, pillaged it, and threatened the whole 
 town with conflagration. At Troyes, a mob assembled 
 round the Hotel de Ville, exclaiming that the bread was 
 made of unwholesome flour ; and though the mayor, Huez, 
 pronounced a sentence condemning it to be burnt, yet 
 such was the fury of the people that they fell upon him 
 in the Hippodrome : he was knocked down, and instantly 
 a frantic mob of men, women, and children, fell upon him 
 and murdered him on the spot one woman, seeing that 
 his body yet quivered, plunged her scissors in his eyes, 
 
 spectacle de sa tSte par la vue de ses entrailles attache'es au haut d'une 
 pique en guise de rubans. Un homme envoya un morceau de sa chair 
 a un four de boulanger pour etre cuite et pour en faire un repas de 
 famille. Une sage-femme alia plus loin : elle n'eut pas de relache qu'elle 
 n'eut obtenu un fragment des parties sexuelles de la victime, qu'elle con- 
 serva dans un bocal rempli d'esprit de vin." PRUDHOMMJE, Crimes de la Rfao- 
 lution, iii. 149.
 
 684- 
 
 CHAP, and scooped them out. At Marseilles, the fury of the 
 populace was only suppressed after a vehement contest 
 
 1789 - between the national guard and the insurgents. At 
 
 Orleans a still greater calamity ensued. There vigorous 
 
 efforts were made by the troops of the line and police to 
 
 protect the convoys of provisions coming into the town 
 
 from pillage, and in the conflict eight men were killed 
 
 and twelve wounded. Instantly a furious mob of some 
 
 thousand persons got up and assailed the troops, but 
 
 Pradhom. tne J were boldly met : eighty men were killed, and a 
 
 crimes de g^jjj greater number wounded : but the insurrection was 
 
 la Kev. in. 
 
 i 57 ' i?ooo a t once suppressed. If the same fidelity and vigour had 
 
 Lab.iii.322. *> -n < 
 
 Duvai,i.i7. been generally exerted in France, the reign of blood 
 would have been stifled in its cradle. 1 
 
 But nothing in these frightful days equalled the atro- 
 
 Burning cities which were committed by the insurgent peasants 
 
 chateaus. upon the inmates of the chateaus, which they sacked and 
 
 burnt in the first transports consequent on the taking of the 
 
 Bastile. In the space of a few days sixty-seven chateaus 
 
 in the districts Maconnais and Beaujolais alone were deliv- 
 
 ered over to the flames, and all the churches containing 
 
 the tombs of the ancestors of the nobility were destroyed. 
 
 In Dauphiny, thirty-six shared the same fate, and their 
 
 whole inhabitants were burnt or massacred. In Bur- 
 
 gundy, several of the nobles strove to resist, and, by arm- 
 
 ing their servants and a few faithful retainers, succeeded 
 
 in inflicting some severe losses on the insurgents ; but 
 
 the latter soon became so numerous that all attempts to 
 
 withstand them only aggravated the sufferings of the 
 
 landowners, without averting their fate. A forged pro- 
 
 clamation of the King was spread, in which he was made 
 
 sjMomteur, ^ ca ^ on t he p eO p} e to rise and avenge themselves on 
 
 i7$i, roL2. the oppressors alike of the sovereign and themselves. 
 
 Prudhom. & . 
 
 Crimes de Inis at once stimulated revolt and disarmed resistance. 
 179, 181."' A body of six thousand armed brigands traversed the 
 
 uva, in. coun t r y on k th sides of the Saone, burning and destroy- 
 ing chateaus and churches indiscriminately ; 2 while French
 
 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 Flanders, Dauphiny, Alsace, and the Lyonnais, were the CHAP. 
 prey of similar disorders.* ' 
 
 Nothing in this hideous catalogue could exceed the 1789.- 
 cruelty exercised by the peasants in endeavouring to ex- 
 tort from the seigneurs their title-deeds. As possession 
 of the land for nothing was the real object of the move- s 
 ment, they were impressed with the idea, which often 
 proved well-founded, that if they could only discover 
 and destroy these, no one could claim the lands and 
 property, and they would enjoy their farms without dis- 
 turbance. Incredible were the efforts they made, if they 
 could not find the title-deeds in the chateaus, to torture 
 the landowners and their families into a discovery of 
 where they were. In Normandy, one of the seigneurs 
 was placed on a blazing pile, to make him give up 
 his deeds ; he was taken from it, with his two hands 
 burnt to the bone, without disclosing the secret. In 
 Franche-Comte, the axe was raised over the head of 
 Madame de Batteville, to extort from her the same dis- 
 covery, and a pitchfork held at the throat of the Prin- 
 cess de Listenay. Cruelties of the same sort were exer- !, a 01 R<?v - > . 
 
 181. Moni 
 
 cised on Madame de Tonnerre and many others often tew, Aug. 
 without extracting, even by the dread of instant death, P ! ib. 
 the desired disclosure. 1 f 
 
 * " Ce fut dans le Maconnais et le Beaujolais que la desolation des campagnes 
 offrit le tableau le plus affreux. Soixante-douze chateaux furent la proie des 
 flammes, ou de la rapacite" de 6000 brigands. Seigneurs, proprie"taires, fermiers, 
 cure's, jusqu'aux e"glises tout portait les marques de leur furieux sacrilege. 
 Les cultivateurs, menace's de 1'incendie, tremblants de voir leurs maisons 
 re"duites en cendres, n'oserent pas y renfermer leurs moissons. Cette troupe 
 de forcene"3, enhardis par 1'impunite, grossissait avec une rapidite" effrayante". 
 Us se portaient dans tous les villages, sonnaient toutes les cloches, et foryaient 
 tous les hommes, le pistolet a la gorge, de marcher avec eux." Moniteur, 6 a 7 
 Ao-dt 1789, col. 2. 
 
 f " Dans les premiers momens de 1'eflervescence ce fut un crime d'etre 
 gentilhomme, et le sexe m6me ne put se garantir de la fureur de la multitude. 
 M. de Montesson fut fusille" au Mans apres avoir vu egorger son beaupere ; en 
 Languedoc M. de'Barras fut coupe" en morceaux, devant sa femme prete 
 d'accoucher; en Normandie un seigneur paralytique fut abandonne 1 sur un 
 bucher, dont on le retira les mains brule'es ; en Franche-Comte" Mad. de 
 Batteville fut forcde, la hache sur la te"te, de faire 1'abandon de ses titres ; la 
 Princesse de Listenay y fut egalement contrainte, ayant la fourche au col et 
 ses deux filles eVanouies h ses pieds. Madame de Tonnerre, M. 1'Allemand
 
 586 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. The National Assembly was well aware of the general 
 prevalence of these horrors ; its own proceedings and 
 
 1789. proclamations contain official notice of their extent.* 
 Disgrace- But they did nothing whatever of an efficient character to 
 repress them. They issued, indeed, several proclamations 
 against the disorders, and calling on the people to respect 
 property ; but they made no inquiries as to their authors ; 
 they instituted no prosecutions, punished no offenders. 
 They even declined to interfere, though violently affected, 
 when M. Berthier flew to Versailles to implore their pro- 
 tection for M. Foulon, his father-in-law, and adjured 
 Lally Tollendal, by the love he had borne to the memory 
 of his parent, to save his father, now tottering on the 
 edge of the tomb. Though they had now, by their 
 direction of the national guard, the control of the whole 
 armed force of France, they gave no orders tending to 
 discharge the first duty of government, that of protecting 
 life and property. Thus their proclamations remained a 
 dead letter ; and the people easily saw that they were 
 not sincere in their professed desire to terminate the 
 devastations, by the constant apologies which Mirabeau, 
 Robespierre, Sieyes, and the other popular orators, made 
 for these excesses, as the natural and inevitable result of 
 
 subirent le me'me sort ; Le Chevalier d'Ambly, traind nu sur un fumier, vit 
 danser autour de lui les furieux qui venaient de lui arracher les cheveux et 
 les sourcils. M. d'Ormenan et Madame de Monteran eurent pendant trois 
 heures le pistolet a la gorge, demandant la mort comme un grace ; et ne voulant 
 pas consentir a la cession de leurs droits, ils furent tire's de leurs voitures pour 
 etre jetes dans un <jtang." Moniteur 3 a 4 AoHA 1789, p. 138, coL i. 
 
 * In their report on the disorders on 3d August 1789, the Assembly stated: 
 " Letters and memorials received from all the provinces have proved that pro- 
 perty of every kind is everywhere the prey of the most atrocious plunderers ; 
 that through the country the houses are burned, the convents destroyed, and 
 farms given up to pillage ; imposts, seignorial rights, all are annihilated ; the 
 laws are without force, the magistrates without authority, and justice is now 
 but a phantom which it is vain to seek in the courts of law." Memorial of 3d. 
 August 1789. 
 
 " On s'est arme" de toutes pieces ; on s'est jete* sur les chateaux voisins ; le 
 peuple que ne connait plus de frein, lorsqu'il croit qu'on a meYite sa fureur, 
 s'est porte et se porte encore aux derniers exces, a brule", saccage" les chartriers 
 des seigneurs, les a contraints a renoncer a leurs droits ; a de"moli et inonde* 
 plusieurs chateaux et incendie" des abbayes." Histoire Parlementaire de fa 
 France, ii. 162.
 
 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 587 
 
 centuries of previous oppression. 1 The real motives of CHAP. 
 their conduct are thus revealed by Dumont : " Indeed 
 
 they were so far committed in a contest with the Crown 1789 - 
 and the aristocracy, that, instead of repining, they rejoiced ^jfuf 
 in secret at atrocities which seemed necessary to complete 83 84 - 
 the intimidation of their adversaries. They felt that 
 they had put themselves in a situation where they must 
 either fear the noblesse, or be feared by them. Thus, 
 for decency's sake, they blamed openly and applauded 
 privately ; they conferred praises on the constituted autho- 
 rities, and in secret gave encouragement to license. The 
 usual consequence of violent usurpation is, to compel men to 2 Dumont 
 plunge deeper into the stream of revolution, and commit the Vie de 
 
 . iic Mirabeau, 
 
 greater crimes, to save themselves from the consequences IBS, 134. 
 of the lesser which they have already perpetrated." 2 
 
 It soon appeared what objects the revolutionists had 
 in view in perpetrating or screening and palliating these C 
 excesses. They led at once to the general EMIGRATION 
 OF THE NOBLESSE the cause of evils unnumbered to their biesse. no ~ 
 country and to themselves, and which powerfully con- 
 tributed to stamp its peculiar and fatal character on the 
 French Revolution. The first emigration of the Royalist 
 leaders began on the day when the King, having resolved 
 on submission, repaired to Paris. The Count d'Artois, 
 the Prince of Conde, the Prince of Conti, the Marshal de jui y 17. 
 Broglie, M. de Breteuil, and the whole obnoxious members 
 of the ministry, seeing their plans of resistance overturned, 
 and the army generally in revolt, set off secretly from 
 Versailles, and arrived safe at Brussels. With profound 
 affliction the Queen bade adieu to her faithful friend 
 Madame de Polignac, with the sad presentiment, which 
 was too fatally realised, that she should never see her 
 more. The Prince of Bourbon and the Duke d'Enghien 
 soon followed. Monsieur, afterwards Louis XVIIL, who 
 inclined to liberal opinions, and was not exposed to the 
 same danger, remained for some time longer with the 
 King, but was at length likewise constrained to leave the
 
 588- HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, country. The Duke de Luxembourg, though a moderate 
 
 ' ; adherent of the new opinions, and the Marshal de Carrier, 
 
 J789 - the friend of Necker, retired, the one into England, the 
 
 a L^ ij; other to Germany. M. d'Espreme'nil, the former idol of 
 
 TouiTss tne P e pl e > M. de Cazales, and the Abbe' Maury, also 
 
 Bert.de withdrew : but they were arrested in Picardy, and 
 
 Moll. ii. 51, , , , , i * 11 i 11 
 
 62. brought back to the Assembly, who placed them under 
 
 the shield of its inviolability. 1 
 
 Although, however, the emigration of these leaders of 
 
 The insur- the Royalist party was a very disastrous thing for France, 
 by abandoning the sovereign without either counsels or 
 support in the midst of a rebellious people, yet the great 
 
 general raaS8 O f ne noblesse had not as yet left the country. It 
 was the insurrection of the peasants, the burning of the 
 chateaus, and the frightful cruelties exercised on the 
 nobles in so many of the provinces of France, which 
 rendered emigration general. It is not surprising that, 
 when the landed proprietors saw such numbers of country- 
 houses sacked and reduced to ashes, and their unhappy 
 inmates murdered or burnt alive, without any attempt 
 being made by the National Assembly, the army, the 
 national guard, or the constituted authorities, either to 
 defend them or to punish their assassins, they should have 
 given up the cause for lost and deemed that, as in a 
 shipwreck at sea, the only hope that remained was to quit 
 the vessel, and make, destitute of everything, for the 
 nearest shore. But however natural or unavoidable it 
 might be, in the first moments of alarm at these infamous 
 cruelties, yet was the emigration of the noblesse, and, still 
 more, their continued residence abroad when the disorders 
 had in a great degree subsided, a great fault, a most 
 calamitous circumstance. It left the King destitute alike 
 of moral and physical support, and deprived the nation 
 of all leaders who could have taken advantage of the re- 
 
 3 Lab. ;;;. action in favour of order which ensued ere long, when the 
 
 270, 271 
 
 Toui. i. 95. woeful consequences of democratic government had been 
 practically experienced. 2
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 589 
 
 'The fatal effect of this universal discouragement and CHAP. 
 
 v 
 general emigration of the noblesse was speedily felt in the 
 
 measures of the Assembly ; and it soon appeared that if 1789 - 
 the people require an executive to retain them in their Ab J^; 
 duty, the legislature stands not less in need of its protec- ment of the 
 
 ,. . f, i n T 11- feudal rights 
 
 tion to prevent it from being impelled to the destruction by the no- 
 of the national institutions. The dissolution of the royal Aug. 4, 
 authority was ere long followed by an unexampled pro- 
 ceeding on the part of the National Assembly. On the 
 night of the 4th August, amidst general consternation at 
 the accounts received from the provinces on the preceding 
 day, the Viscount de Noailles gave the signal for innova- 
 tion, by proposing that the burden of taxes should fall 
 equally on all classes ; that the feudal rights should be 
 declared liable to redemption, and personal servitude be 
 simply abolished. The Duke d'Aiguillon, in an eloquent 
 speech, seconded the proposal. This, though a great con- 
 cession, founded alike in justice and expedience, was far 
 from satisfying the popular party. A painful picture of 
 the oppression of feudal rights was drawn, and the gene- 
 rosity of the nobles piqued to consent to their voluntary 
 surrender. All parties began, contrary to all expectation, 
 to vie with each other in proposing the abolition of abuses ; 
 the contagion became universal ; in a few hours the whole 
 feudal rights were abandoned. The Duke de Chatelet 
 proposed that the right of buying up tithes should be 
 allowed, and that they should be commuted into a pay- 
 ment in money ; the Bishop of Nancy, the general re- 
 demption of ecclesiastical property ; the Bishop of Char- 
 tres, the suppression of the exclusive right of the chase. 
 The more important rights of feudal jurisdiction in 
 matters of crime, of the disposal of offices for gain, of n. 225, 242! 
 pecuniary immunities, of inequality of taxes, of plurality St vfc 
 of benefices, of casual emolument to the clergy, of annats MiTTi 2 ' 
 to the court of Rome, were successively abandoned : finally, Lac. vji 
 the incorporations and separate states sacrificed their 129, isi.' ' 
 privileges ; l the Bretons, the Burgundians, the Langue-
 
 590 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, docians, renounced the rights which had withstood the 
 assaults of Richelieu and Louvois. All the monuments 
 
 1789. O f f reec iom which the patriotism of former times had 
 erected were swept away, and the liberty established in 
 its stead was founded on an imaginary and untried basis. 
 On this occasion the most remarkable speech was that 
 Speech of made by the Duke d'Aiguillon, which gives a picture of 
 the views that dictated these immense and sudden con- 
 cessions, and shows how large a share the horrors of 
 which the country was at that moment the theatre had 
 in producing them. " There is no one," said he, " who 
 must not groan over the scenes of horror which France at 
 this moment exhibits. The effervescence of the people, 
 who have conquered freedom when guilty ministers sought 
 to ravish it from them, has now become an obstacle to 
 freedom, at a time when the views of government are 
 again in harmony with the wishes of the nation. It is 
 not merely the brigands who, with arms in their hands, 
 wish to enrich themselves in the midst of the public 
 calamities ; in many provinces the entire mass of the 
 peasantry have formed themselves into a league to destroy 
 the chateaus, ravage the lands, and, above all, get posses- 
 sion of the charter-chests where the feudal titles are 
 deposited. They seek to shake off a yoke which for 
 centuries has weighed upon them ; and we must admit 
 that, though that insurrection is culpable (what violent 
 aggression is not so ?) yet it finds much excuse in the 
 vexations which have produced it. The proprietors of 
 fiefs, or of seignoral rights, it is true, have seldom them- 
 selves perpetrated the injustice of which their vassals 
 complain, but their stewards and agents have done so ; 
 and the unhappy labourer, subjected to the barbarous 
 yoke of the feudal laws which still subsist in France, 
 groans under the constraint of which he is the victim. 
 These rights, it must be admitted, are property, and all 
 property is sacred ; but they are burdensome to the 
 people, and all are agreed as to the continual vexations
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 591 
 
 which they produce. In this enlightened age, when a CHAP. 
 sound philosophy has resumed its empire ; at this fortu- 
 
 nate moment, when, united for the public good, and free 1789 - 
 from all personal interest, we are called upon to labour 
 for the regeneration of the State, it appears to me that, 
 before proceeding to the construction of a constitution, so 
 ardently desired by the nation, we should prove to all 
 the citizens that our wish is even to anticipate their 
 desires, and to establish, as quickly as possible, that 
 equality of rights which should ever prevail among men, 
 and can alone secure their liberty. I doubt not that the 
 proprietors of fiefs, the lords of estates, will be the first to 
 agree to the renunciation of their rights on reasonable 
 indemnity. They have already renounced their pecuniary 
 exemptions ; we cannot expect them to renounce gratui- 
 tously their feudal rights but we may expect them to 
 consent to the purchase of their seignorial rights by their x 
 vassals, at a price to be fixed on a moderate scale by the a. 225, 227! 
 Assembly." 1 
 
 Such was the enthusiasm produced by these words, 
 and by the graphic descriptions of feudal oppression Universal 
 which followed from succeeding orators, that the Assembly, pf^a^t- 
 who were in the excited state of an evening meeting, mg " 
 went on abandoning and voting away one right after 
 another, till there seemed no end to their extravagance. 
 " Every one," says an eyewitness, Dumont, " hastened 
 forward to lay a sacrifice on the altar of the country, by 
 denuding himself or some one else. There was not a 
 moment left for reflection ; a sort of sentimental contagion 
 carried away every heart. That renunciation of all privi- 
 leges that sacrifice of all rights burdensome to the Moniteur, 
 people those multiplied abandonments, had an air of $H' f p'. 6 ' 
 magnanimity which made their consequences be entirely ^ de 
 overlooked." 2 To such a height did the enthusiasm arise, ^ o] \. \\- l< j?- 
 
 Bmyth s r r. 
 
 that the Archbishop of Paris deserved no small credit for Rev. ;. 330. 
 
 ... Uuraont, 
 
 having dexterously contrived to terminate the sitting by 144. 
 the proposal that a Te Deum should be sung in the chapel
 
 592 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, of the King, in presence of 'his majesty and the Assembly, 
 
 '. which was received with universal acclamation. The 
 
 1789 - archbishop concluded with a proposal that the King 
 should receive the title of " Father of his people, Restorer 
 of the Liberty of France ;" and the sitting terminated at 
 four in the morning amid unanimous acclamations, which 
 lasted a quarter of an hour. 
 
 Indescribable were the transports which this memorable 
 
 Prodigious sitting awakened in Paris, and throughout all France. 
 
 these " In a single night," said the Moniteur, " the whole fabric 
 of feudal power has fallen to the ground, and the glorious 
 edifice of general liberty emerged in its stead." It has 
 been truly said, that this night changed the political 
 condition of France. It delivered the land from feudal 
 domination, the person from feudal dependence secured 
 the property of the poor from the rapacity of the rich 
 the fruits of industry from the extortion of idleness. By 
 suppressing private jurisdictions, it paved the way for 
 public justice ; by terminating the purchase of offices, it, 
 in appearance at least, seemed to lead to purity in the 
 discharge of their duties. The career of industry, the 
 stimulus of ambition, was thenceforward open to all the 
 people ; and the odious distinctions of noble and roturier, 
 patrician and base-born, the relics of Gothic conquest, 
 were for ever destroyed. Had these changes been intro- 
 duced with caution, or had they gradually grown out of 
 the altered condition of society, there can be no doubt 
 that they would have been highly beneficial ; but, coming, 
 as they did, suddenly and unexpectedly upon the kingdom, 
 they produced the most disastrous consequences, and 
 contributed, more than any other circumstance, to spread 
 abroad that settled contempt for antiquity, and total 
 disregard of private right, which distinguished the subse- 
 quent periods of the French Revolution. 
 
 The whole ideas of men were subverted, when rights 
 established for centuries, privileges maintained by succes- 
 sive generations, and institutions held the most sacred,
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 593 
 
 were at once abandoned. Nothing could be regarded CHAP. 
 as stable in society after such a shock ; the chimeras of 
 
 every enthusiast, the dream of every visionary, seemed 1789 - 
 equally deserving of attention with the sober conclusions Dangers 
 of reason and observation, when all that former ages had ^ ^l h 
 done was swept away in the very commencement of attendedt 
 improvement. All that the eye had rested on as most 
 stable, all that the mind had been accustomed to regard 
 as most lasting, disappeared before the first breath of 
 innovation. " Nullo tribunorum centuriomnnve adhor- 
 tante, sibi quisque dux et instigator ; et prsecipuum 
 pessimorum incitamentum, quod boni mcerebant."'* The 
 consequences of such a step could not be other than 
 fatal. It opened the door to every species of extrava- 
 gance, furnished a precedent for every subsequent spoli- 
 ation, and led immediately to that intense excitement, 
 amid which the most audacious and the least reasonable 
 are sure of obtaining an ascendancy. The event, accor- 
 dingly, proved the justice of these principles. " The 
 decrees of the 4th August," says Dumont, " so far from 
 putting, as was expected, a stop to the robbery and 
 violence that was going on, served only to make the 
 people acquainted with their own strength, and to 
 inspire them with a conviction that all their outrages 
 against the nobility would pass with impunity. Nothing 
 done through fear succeeds in its object. Those whom 
 you hope to disarm by concessions, are only led by 
 them to still bolder attempts, and more extravagant i49. um< 
 demands/' 1 
 
 The consequences of this invasion of private right 
 were soon apparent. Three days after, the popular Argument 
 leaders maintained that it was not the power of redeem- Jj 
 ing, but the abolition of tithes, which had been voted ; {^ 
 and that all that the clergy had a right to was a decent Si 
 
 * " Without any incitement from the tribunes or leaders, every one in- 
 dulged in his own vagaries ; and that greatest of excitements to the bad, the 
 grief of the good, took place." TACITUS, Hist. i. 38. 
 
 VOL. I. 2 P
 
 594 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, provision for their members. The church found an able 
 v> but unexpected advocate in the Abbe* Sieves. " If it is 
 1789. ve t possible," said he, " to awaken in your minds the 
 Aug- 7- love of justice, I would ask, not if it is expedient, but 
 if it is just, to despoil the church ? The tithe, what- 
 ever it may be in future, does not at present belong to 
 you. If it is suppressed in the hand of the creditor, 
 does it follow from this that it is extinguished also in 
 that of the debtor, and become your property \ You 
 yourselves have declared the tithe redeemable ; by so 
 doing you. have recognised its legal existence, and can- 
 not now suppress it. The tithe does not belong to the 
 owner of the soil. He has neither purchased it, nor 
 Aug 01 ?, r ' acquired it by inheritance. If you extinguish the tithes, 
 i58?if' you confer a gratuitous and uncalled-for present on 
 the landed proprietor, who does nothing ; while you 
 ni * n *ke true proprietor, who instructs the people in 
 257. ' return for that share of its fruits. You would be free, 
 
 and you know not how to be just." 1 
 
 ^ Mirabeau supported the abolition of the tithes. He 
 
 Argument argued i " The burden of supporting the public worship 
 spoliation should be borne equally by all : the State alone was 
 bLu/ n the judge whether it should fall exclusively on the landed 
 proprietors, or be made good by a general contribution 
 of the citizens ; it robs no one if it makes such a dis- 
 tribution of the burden as it deems most expedient ; 
 and the oppressive weight of this impost on the small 
 proprietors loudly called for its imposition on the State 
 in general. For this purpose the clergy should be paid 
 by salaries. It is time, in the midst of a revolution 
 which has brought forth such generous sentiments, that 
 we should abjure the haughty pride which makes us 
 disdain the word salary. I know but three ways of 
 living in society : you must be either a beggar, a robber, 
 or a stipendiary. The proprietor is nothing but the 
 first of stipendiaries. What we call property is nothing 
 but a right to rent that is, a certain payment out of
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 595 
 
 the land. The landowners are the stewards, the agents CHAP. 
 of the social body." The clergy had the generosity to v ' 
 intrust their interests to the equity of the Assembly ; 1789 - 
 the only return they met with was the suppression of 
 tithes, under the condition that the State should fitly 
 provide for religion and its ministers an obligation 
 which was solemnly committed to the French nation, 
 but which was afterwards shamefully violated, and 
 in fact became perfectly illusory. Thus the first fruit 
 which the clergy derived from their junction with the 
 Tiers Etat was the annihilation of their property, and 
 the reduction of themselves to beggary. In this there 
 was nothing surprising ; gratitude is unknown in public i Hist Parl> 
 assemblies. When men vote away the property of^J 5 ^ 239 - 
 others, they can expect no mercy for their own ; when ' 
 the foundations of society are torn up, the first to be 
 
 sacrificed are the leaders of the movement, or the most iss! 
 defenceless of its supporters. 1 
 
 The clergy acted on this occasion with a noble dis- 
 interestedness worthy of their mission. The first in Dignified 
 rank, the chief in station, the richest in possessions, the clergy. 
 were the foremost to make the sacrifice of worldly goods Aug- n ' 
 on the altar of their country. The Archbishop of Aix 
 first signed an unqualified renunciation of his benefices ; 
 many of the richest bishops in France immediately fol- 
 lowed his example. During more than an hour the 
 signature of these renunciations continued, amidst a 
 transport of applause from the Assembly and the 
 galleries. When the sacrifice had terminated, Juigne, 
 Archbishop of Paris, rose and said, in a voice penetrated 
 with emotion : " We surrender the ecclesiastical tithes 
 into the hands of a just and generous nation : let the 
 Gospel be preached ; let the Divine worship be celebrated 
 with decency and dignity ; let the churches be provided a Moniteur 
 with virtuous and zealous pastors ; let the poor be f 4 ug j 7 l 8 9 and 
 succoured these are the objects to which we devote P. 'i 65. 
 our tithes; 2 these are the ends of our ministry and
 
 596 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, our cares." " Such," said the Cardinal de Rochefoucauld, 
 " is the wish of all the clergy ; and they put their 
 
 1789 - trust in the magnanimity of the nation." With such 
 dignified and elevated sentiments did the church fall 
 in France. 
 
 Louis perceived in the clearest manner, amidst this 
 Foresight of chaos of selfishness in some, enthusiasm in others, and 
 decree of delusion in all, whither the current was tending; and, 
 {Jy ^ l " in a letter addressed to the Archbishop of Aries, he has 
 Aug. n. i e f t fa e mogt decjgiyg evidence, both of the sagacity of 
 his perception and the strength of his understanding.* 
 But meanwhile the revolutionary party, seeing their 
 advantage, pursued their aggressions with unabated 
 vigour ; and the noblesse and clergy, panic-struck and 
 disunited, and overwhelmed by a decided majority in the 
 Assembly, were unable to oppose any effective resistance. 
 In the evening sitting of the llth August, the subject 
 1 Deux of the feudal rights, the game-laws, and the tithes, was 
 resumed ; and, after a warm debate, a decree was 
 passed in such terms as abolished the first, partly on 
 C011 dition of an indemnity, partly without it ; the second 
 261 - 'without any indemnity; 1 and the third absolutely with- 
 out compensation in the case of secular or ecclesiastical 
 
 * " Je suis content de cette demarche noble et ge"ne"reuse des deux premiers 
 ordres de 1'^tat. Us ont fait de grands sacrifices pour la reconciliation 
 ge'ne'rale, pour leur patrie, pour leur Roi. Le sacrifice est beau ; ma is je ne 
 puis que 1'admirer. Je ne consentirai jamait d dtpouiller mon clergi t ma 
 noblesse. Je ne donnerai pas ma sanction a des d<crets qui les de"pouille- 
 raient ; c'est alors que le peuple Fran9ais un jour peut m'accuser d'injustice 
 ou de faiblesse. M. 1'ArcheVSque, vous vous soumettez aux ddcrets de la Pro- 
 vidence ; je crois me soumettre en ne me livrant pas it cet enthousiasme qui s'est 
 empare de tous les ordres, mais qui ne fait que glisser sur mon ame. Je ferai 
 tout ce qui de"pendra de moi pour conserver mon clerge", ma noblesse. Si la 
 force m'obligeait k sanctionner, alors je cederai ; mais alors il n'y aurait plus 
 en France, ni monarchic, ni monarque. Les momens sont difficiles. Je le saia, 
 M. 1'Arche'veque, et c'est ici que nous avons besoin des lumieres du ciel : 
 daignez les solliciter. Nous serons exauce"s. Louis. Aodt 12, 1789."- 
 What a picture does this letter exhibit of the wisdom and foresight of the 
 monarch at this crisis, when all heads were reeling ! and how bitterly does it 
 augment our regret at the unpatriotic and pusillanimous emigration of the 
 noblesse, which left such a sovereign unarmed and helpless in the midst of hia 
 enemies ! See Correspondance Inedite de Louis XVI., i. 140 ; _and Histoire 
 Parkmentaire, ii. 248.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 597 
 
 bodies, and on the promise of an indemnity in that of CHAP. 
 the parochial clergy. This indemnity was never given. 
 
 At the same time, all privileges of incorporations, burghs, l789 - 
 and provinces, were abolished, and all Frenchmen declared 
 eligible alike to all offices, civil and military, in the king- 
 dom."'' This decree was sanctioned with great solemnity 
 by the King on the 13th August. 
 
 Those innovators in the Assembly who had joined 
 with the popular party, from a belief that in doing so Unavailing 
 lay their only chance of preserving the wreck of their 
 property, now perceived, with bitter regret, the infatua- 
 tion of the course they had pursued, and the hopelessness 
 of any expectation that, by yielding to revolutionary 
 demands, they would satisfy the people. The Bishop 
 of Chartres, one of the popular bishops who had sup- 
 ported the union of orders, the vote by head, and the 
 new constitution, was at this time visited by Dumont, 
 when he was dismissing his domestics, selling his effects, 
 and leaving his house to discharge his debts. With 
 tears in his eyes, the benevolent prelate deplored the 
 infatuation which had led him to embrace the cause of 
 the Tiers Etat, which violated in its prosperity all the 
 engagements contracted in its adversity. The Abbe 
 
 * " I. L' Assemble Nationale de"truit entierement le regime fe"odal. Elle 
 de"crete que, dans les droits et devoirs, tant fe'odaux que personnels, ceux qui 
 tiennent a la main-morte re"elle ou personnelle, et a la servitude personnelle, et 
 ceux qui les repr&entent, sont abolis sans indemnite; tous les autres sont 
 declares rachetables, et le prix et le mode du rachat seront fixes par 1'Assem- 
 ble"e Nationale. 
 
 " II. Le droit exclusif de la chasse et des garennes ouvertes est pareillement 
 aboli, et tout proprie'taire a le droit de detruire, et faire detruire, seulement 
 sur ses possessions, tout espece de gibier. 
 
 "III. Les dimes de toute nature, et les redevances qui en tiennent lieu, sous 
 quelque denomination qu'elles soient connues et perfues, posse'de'es par les corps 
 se"culurs et rtguliers, par les be'ne'ficiers, les fabriques, et tous genres de main- 
 morte tenues par 1'ordre de Malte, et autres ordres religieux et militaires, 
 moins celles qui auraient et6 abandonnees a des la'iques en remplacement et pour 
 option de portions congrues, sont abolies. Sauf a aviser aux moyens de subvenir 
 d'une autre maniere a la ddpense du culte divin, a 1'entretien des ministres des 
 autels, au soulagement des pauvres, aux reparations et reconstructions des 
 e"glises et presbyteres, et a tous les etablissemens a 1'eutretien des quels elles 
 sont actuellement affecte"es." Histoire Parlementaire de la Revolution, ii. 259, 
 263; Decret, 11 Ao&t 1789.
 
 598 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. Sieyes, who had taken so decided a part in the early 
 
 - ! usurpations of the Assembly, was hissed and coughed 
 
 1789. down when he strove to resist this iniquitous confisca- 
 
 tion. Next day he gave vent to his spleen to Mirabeau, 
 
 1 Dumont w ^ answere ^ " ^7 ^ ear abb6, you have loosed the 
 ee, 67, uV. bull ; do you expect he is not to make use of his 
 
 horns?" 2 
 
 M This first and great precedent of iniquity, the confisca- 
 
 Secret tion of the property of the church, was brought about 
 
 by the selfish apathy, or secret wishes, of the great 
 
 church, at majority of the laity. All classes felt that the financial 
 ch^TOn- difficulties of the State were nearly insurmountable, and 
 all anticipated a sensible relief from any measure, how 
 violent soever, which might lead to their extrication. It 
 was the universal belief that this embarrassment was 
 the main cause of the public difficulties, and the secret 
 hope that the property of the church would at once put 
 an end to it, which was the real cause of this general 
 and iniquitous coalition. All imagined that some inte- 
 rest must be sacrificed, and the church was pitched upon 
 as at once the most wealthy and defenceless body in 
 the State. But, like all other measures of spoliation, 
 this great invasion of private right rapidly and fatally 
 recoiled on the heads of those who engaged in it. The 
 ecclesiastical estates, it was soon found, in the hands of 
 the revolutionary agents, encumbered as they were with 
 the debts of the clergy, yielded no profit, but were rather 
 a burden to the State. To render them available, the 
 contraction of debt on their security became necessary ; 
 the temptation of relieving the public necessities by such 
 a step was irresistible to a public and irresponsible body, 
 holding estates to the value of nearly two hundred mil- 
 lions sterling in their hands. Extraordinary as it may 
 appear, it is a well-authenticated fact, that the expenses 
 of managing the church property cost the nation at first 
 2,000,000 a-year more than it yielded, besides in a few 
 years augmenting the public debt by 7,000,000. The
 
 HISTOEY OF EUROPE. 599 
 
 reason was this : in the confusion consequent on so CHAP. 
 
 great an act of spoliation, no account of ecclesiastical '. - 
 
 domains could be obtained ; and the leaders who had 1789> 
 sanctioned so prodigious a robbery found it impossible, 
 after its commission, to restrain the peculation of their 
 inferior agents. Hence ere long, as will appear in the 
 sequel, arose the system of ASSIGNATS, which speedily 
 quadrupled the strength of the republican government, 
 rendered irretrievable the march of the Revolution, and 
 involved all classes in such inextricable difficulties, as , _, , 
 
 l Calonne, 
 
 rapidly brought home to every interest in the State the |i, 82. 
 spoliation which they had begun by inflicting on the 421. 
 weakest. 1 
 
 The abolition of the exclusive right of shooting and 
 hunting was made the pretext for the most destructive Abolition of 
 disorders throughout all France. An immense crowd of shootmgami 
 artisans and mechanics issued from the towns, and, join- 
 ing the rural population, spread themselves over the fields 
 in search of game. The greatest violence was speedily 
 committed by the armed and uncontrollable multitude. 
 No sort of regard was paid to the clause in the decree of 
 the Assembly, that the right of the chase was given to 
 each man on his own ground only. It was universally 
 considered as conferring a general right to shoot over any 
 ground whatever. Enclosures were struck down, woods 
 destroyed, houses broken open, robbery perpetrated, un- 
 der pretence of exercising the newly regained rights of 
 man. Meanwhile, the burning of the chateaus, and the 
 plunder of the landed proprietors, continued without 
 intermission ; while the Assembly, instead of attempting 
 to check these disorders, issued a proclamation, in which 
 they affected to consider them as the work of aristocrats, 
 who were desirous of bringing odium upon the Revolu- 
 tion. One of the most singular effects of the spirit of 
 faction, is the absurdities which it causes to be embraced 
 by its votaries, and their extraordinary credulity in re- 
 gard to everything which seems calculated to advance
 
 600 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, the interests of their party. The people of Versailles 
 
 . - ! already insulted and pelted the nobles and clergy at the 
 
 1789. g a t e O f the Assembly, whom they stigmatised as Aristo- 
 
 crats an epithet which afterwards became the prelude 
 
 AnHoi. to certain destruction. It may readily be imagined what 
 
 ikrt^e' an en ec t this name had in influencing the minds of men, 
 
 ISO 1 '"! 1 *?' a l rea dy sufficiently inflamed from other causes. " Epi- 
 
 vii. U9. thets and nicknames," said Napoleon, " should never 
 
 Dumont, ,.,.., . 
 
 i. 72. be despised : it is by such means that mankind are 
 governed." 1 
 
 But in the midst of these mingled transports and dis- 
 
 orders, Paris was in the most deplorable state of distress, 
 Paris. and the finances of the kingdom, from the general cessa- 
 tion in the payment of taxes, were rapidly approaching a 
 state of complete insolvency. Even the columns of the 
 Moniteur* openly announced that the municipality was 
 bankrupt, and the people starving. Nor was the public 
 Aug. 7. exchequer in a more flourishing condition. M. Necker, 
 on 7th August, drew the following dreadful picture of the 
 state of the kingdom and of the finances : " You are all 
 aware that property has been violated in the provinces ; 
 that bands of incendiaries have ravaged the houses ; that 
 the forms of justice are disregarded, and replaced by vio- 
 lence and lists of proscription. Terror and alarm have 
 spread universally, even where the bands of depredators 
 have not penetrated ; licentiousness is unrestrained, law 
 powerless, the tribunals idle ; desolation covers a part of 
 France, terror the whole ; commerce and industry are 
 suspended, and even the asylums of religion afford no 
 longer a refuge to the innocent. Indigence or misfor- 
 tune has not produced these evils. The season has been 
 propitious, and at this time of the year should furnish 
 
 * " J'ai parle" de la capitale, du de"sespoir de ses habitans. Le deVeloppe- 
 ment de cette ve'rite' peut 4tre dangereux, et n'est pas ne"cessaire. La prudence 
 ordonne de taire ; et votre penetration saura bien saisir 1'exces du mal qu' 
 entraine a Paris dans cet instant une suspension de payement. Qu'oppose-t-on, 
 quo peut-on opposer a cette premiere n^cessit^, a ce premier devoir de venir 
 au secours de la chose publique qui p^rit?" Discours de M. DE LALLY TOL- 
 LENDAL, 7 Av&t 1739 ; Moniteur, p. 155.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 601 
 
 employment to all. The beneficence of the King has CHAP. 
 been shown in every possible way ; the rich have never 
 
 shared so large a portion of their wealth with the poor. 1789 - 
 No, gentlemen ! It is the total subversion of the police, and 
 of all regular authority, which has occasioned these evils. 
 The royal revenues have been in great part absorbed 
 in the purchase of grain to feed the people. The pay- 
 ment of imposts and taxes of every sort has almost 
 entirely ceased. The deficiency in the exchequer is 
 enormous. So vast has this evil become that every one 
 can judge of it it is notorious to all the world. Let us 
 then all unite to save the State, for matters have come , 
 
 l Momteur, 
 
 to such a pass that nothing but the immediate and firm Aug. e, 7, 
 
 r n f r .1 1789, pp. 
 
 union of all men of property can preserve us from the 152, 154. 
 most dreadful convulsions." 1 
 
 It was not surprising that even the popular leader of 
 the Tiers Etat made such a mournful exposition of the Anarchy in 
 state of the nation, for matters had in reality reached 
 such a height in Paris, and over all France, that they 
 amounted almost to total anarchy. Every body of men 
 in the capital instantly entered on the exercise of their 
 new and intoxicating rights ; and the electors invariably 
 assumed the government of their representatives. One Au |- 15 
 hundred and eighty delegates, nominated by the districts, 
 usurped a legislative power in the metropolis ; but they 
 were in their turn controlled by their constituents, who, 
 without hesitation, annulled their decrees when not suited 
 to their inclinations and nothing was agreeable but 
 what flattered their ambition. The idea of ruling by 
 commanding their delegates speedily spread among the 
 multitude, and was too delicious a one not to be every- 
 where well received. All those who were not legally vested 
 with authority began to meet, and to give themselves im- 
 portance by discussing public affairs; the soldiers had ^fii'' 85 ' 
 debates at the Oratoire, the tailors at the Colonnade, the ert - * 
 
 /^i Tii s i Moll. ii. 147, 
 
 hairdressers at the Champs Mysees, the valets at the 149. 
 Louvre. 2 Subsequent ages' might smile at such proceed-
 
 602 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, ings, if woeful experience had not demonstrated how fatal 
 they are in their consequences, and how rapidly the 
 
 1789. m i n ds of the lower orders become intoxicated by the 
 enjoyment of powers which they are equally incapable of 
 exercising with discretion, or abandoning without con- 
 vulsion. 
 
 Meanwhile the finances of the kingdom, the embarrass- 
 statcofthe ments of which had first occasioned the convocation of 
 the States-general, were daily falling into a worse con- 
 dition. The lower orders universally imagined that the 
 Revolution was to liberate them from every species of 
 impost ; and, amidst the wreck of established authority, 
 and the collision of self-constituted powers, they suc- 
 ceeded for some time in realising their expectations. 
 The collection of the revenue became everywhere difficult, 
 in many places impossible ; and the universal distrust 
 which followed a period of general agitation, occasioned a 
 lamentable deficiency in the excise and customs. The 
 public revenue of 1790 was above one-third less than that 
 of 1789 ; in many places the taxes had almost wholly 
 disappeared ; payment of the salt -tax, the most con- 
 siderable of the indirect imposts, was everywhere refused ; 
 and the boasted credit of a revolutionary government was 
 soon found to amount to nothing. Alarmed at a de- 
 ficiency which he had no means of supplying, M. Necker 
 1 Moniteur, made a full and candid statement of the finances to the 
 p. u i52.'Hist! Assembly, and concluded by demanding a loan of 
 Is" 1 ' '7?' 30,000,000 of francs. The falling off in the revenue 
 D^'ia ' was above 200,000,000 francs, or 8,000,000 yearly. 
 Burkes 170 ' r ^ [ie Assembly in vain endeavoured to negotiate such an 
 co ns - advance. Terror at the unsettled state of the kingdom, 
 
 Works, v. ' 
 
 406, 408. uncertainty with regard to the future, prevented any of 
 the capitalists from coming forward. 1 
 
 In the midst of these alarms and anxieties, the As- 
 sembly were occupied with their great task, the composi- 
 tion of a succinct statement of rights, which was soon 
 drawn up under the name of the RIGHTS or MAN. This
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 603 
 
 famous composition, which was solemnly adopted by CHAP. 
 them on the 18th August, amidst much obvious and im- 
 
 portant truth, contains a most dangerous mixture of 1789 - 
 error, which, if not duly chastened by the lessons of Decl ^ t . on 
 experience and the observation of history, is calculated f the Rights 
 
 J of Man. 
 
 to overturn society. It declares the original equality of Aug. is. 
 mankind ; that the ends of the social union are liberty, 
 property, security, and resistance to oppression ; that 
 sovereignty resides in the nation, and all power emanates 
 from them ; that freedom consists in doing everything 
 which does not injure another ; that law is the expres- 
 sion of the general will ; that public burdens should be 
 borne by all the members of the State in proportion to 
 their fortunes ; that the elective franchise should be 
 extended to all, and that the exercise of natural rights 
 has no other limit but their interference with the rights 
 of others. In these positions, considered abstractly, 
 there is much in which every reasonable mind must 
 acquiesce ; but the promulgation of the agreeable but 
 perilous principles of sovereignty residing in the people, 
 of the natural equality of mankind, and of the extension 
 of the elective franchise to every citizen, only proves how ^j^u 
 ignorant the legislators of that period were of the real ^ Ionit 1 e " r i, 
 
 . Aug. 19,21, 
 
 character of the human ' mind, and how little aware of 1789. NO. 
 
 44. Lac. 
 
 that inherent depravity in human nature, to which so vu. 153. 
 many of themselves ere long became victims. 1 
 
 It is a curious and instructive circumstance, illustrative 
 
 44 
 
 of the tendency of revolutionary excitement to deprive Opinion 
 the representatives of the people of anything approaching of it by Its 
 to freedom of deliberation, that the authors of this cele- authors - 
 brated declaration were, at the time they wrote it, fully 
 aware of the absurdity and peril of many of its parts. 
 Dumont, its principal composer, has justly asked, " Are 
 men all equal ? Where is the equality ? Is it in virtue, 
 talents, fortune, industry, situation 1 Are they free by 
 nature \ So far from it, they are born in a state of com- 
 plete dependence on others, from which they are long of
 
 604 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, being emancipated." Mirabeau himself was so sensible of 
 the absurdity of laying down any code of rights anterior 
 
 1789> to the formation of the constitution, that he laboured to 
 induce the Assembly to postpone it till that was accom- 
 plished ; observing, that "any enunciation of right at that 
 time would be but an almanac for a year." But it was 
 too late : the people would admit of no delay ; and the 
 deputies, afraid of losing their popularity, published the 
 famous declaration, inwardly execrating the work of their 
 own hands a step so perilous, that, as its author him- 
 i Dumont, se if admits, it was like placing a powder-magazine under 
 Th.'i. U2. an edifice, which the first spark of fire would blow into 
 the air. 1 
 
 The great question which next occupied the Assembly 
 Formation was the formation of a constitution ; and the discussions 
 regarding it kept the public mind in a state of incessant 
 
 agitation during the whole of August and September. 
 The committee to which it was referred to report on the 
 subject, recommended that it should include the inviolabi- 
 lity of the King's person, the permanence of the legislative 
 body, and a single chamber for the legislature. This im- 
 Au g . 28. portant question, upon which the future progress of the 
 Revolution hinged, was warmly discussed in the clubs of 
 the capital, and the most vehement threats were held out 
 to those of the Assembly who were suspected of leaning 
 to the aristocratic side. On the one hand, it was argued 
 that the very idea of an assembly composed of hereditary 
 legislators was absurd in a free country ; that if it united 
 itself to the throne, it became dangerous to freedom if 
 to the people, subversive of tranquillity ; that it would 
 operate as a perpetual bar to improvement, and, by con- 
 stantly opposing reasonable changes, maintain a continual 
 discord between the higher and lower orders ; and that 
 the only way to prevent these evils was to blend the whole 
 legislature into one body, and temper the energy of popu- 
 lar ambition by the firmness of aristocratic resistance. 
 On the other hand, it was maintained that the constitu-
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE.- 605 
 
 tion of society in all the European states necessarily im- CHAP. 
 plied a separate body of nobles and commons ; that the 
 
 turbulent spirit of the one was fully counteracted by the 1789> 
 conservative tendency of the other ; that a monarchy Aug. si. 
 could not subsist without an upper house to support the 
 throne ; that the English constitution afforded decisive 
 evidence of the happy effects of such a separation ; that 
 the best consequences had been found to follow the discus- 
 sion of public matters in separate assemblies, and many 
 fatal resolutions prevented, by allowing time for considera- 
 tion between their deliberations ; and that it was a mere 
 mockery to pretend that these restraints could take place, 
 if the legislature was all contained in one chamber, when i H i s t. p ar i. 
 the nobles would be immediately outnumbered, and the L'Jf 2 ^ 374 ' 
 whole rights of the monarchy might be voted away in a J 5 ^. *^ v -. 
 single sitting. Unfortunately for France, these arguments is. 2 . is4. 
 did not prevail, and a single chamber was voted in Dum/isa. 
 the Assembly. 1 ''" 
 
 The discussions on the constitution first brought pro- 
 minently forward the laxity of opinion on all subjects First ap - 
 connected with religion, by which the great majority of of entire 
 the Assembly were actuated, and their evident anxiety to 
 abolish a national faith altogether, and leave every man to 
 believe or not to believe, to worship or not to worship, as 
 it suited his fancy, his passions, or his convenience. When 
 the article of the constitution relative to public worship 
 came on for discussion, it was proposed to insert this 
 amendment : " As laws cannot reach secret delinquencies, 
 it is religion alone which can coerce them. It is therefore 
 essential and indispensable for the good order of society 
 that religion should be maintained and respected." 
 Mirabeau immediately rose : " Are you disposed, in per- 
 mitting worship, to make religion a matter of accident ? 
 Every one will choose a religion according to his passions. 
 The Turkish religion will be that of young people ; the 
 
 * It was carried by a majority of 499 to 89. No less than 122 members 
 remained away, intimidated by the threats of the populace.
 
 606 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. Jewish that of usurers ; all women incline in secret to that 
 of Buddha. We are told man does not bring religion into 
 
 1789 - society. Such a system is very strange. What feelings 
 arise in every bosom on contemplating nature, or raising 
 one's eyes to heaven ? What is the first sentiment of 
 any one who in solitude meets his fellow-creature ? Is it 
 not to fall on their knees together, and to offer to the 
 Creator their homage ? You may forbid a worship which 
 interferes with public decency or morals, but you cannot 
 go farther." " Religion V said Talleyrand; "yes, but 
 what religion \ Do you mean all religions, or any 
 religion "? It is very well to say religion and morality are 
 to be respected ; but come a little nearer : what religion 
 do you mean ? The only way is to let every man choose 
 his own." " A worship," said Rabaud de St Etienne, " is 
 a dogma ; a dogma depends on an opinion ; an opinion 
 on free-will. You attack freedom if you constrain a man 
 to adopt a worship other than what he inclines to. Error 
 is not a crime ; and the State has no concern but with 
 crimes." It was at length unanimously agreed, " that no 
 1 Hist Pari one snou ^ be disquieted for his opinions, provided their 
 ii. 3-27, 338. manifestation does not disturb the order established by 
 the law." 1 
 
 A few days after, the parties in the Assembly defini- 
 Division of tively took their places, and obtained, from that circum- 
 biv inuTthe stance, denominations which have survived all the changes 
 wuHttuT' f the Revolution. The supporters of the church and 
 Aug28 the throne ranged themselves on the right of the presi- 
 dent's chair ; the liberals and revolutionists took their 
 place on the left. These places have been kept by the 
 opposite parties ever since that time, insomuch that the 
 " C6te gauche " is still a watchword universally known 
 to denominate the innovating party, and the " C6te droit" 
 signifies that body which adheres to conservative and 
 a Hist P monarcn i ca l opinions. 2 The Cote droit at first applied to 
 ii. 349, 3o.' their adversaries the epithet " Coin du Palais Royal" 
 from the influence which the clubs of that focus of sedition
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 607 
 
 had over its movements ; but this and all other sobriquets CHAP. 
 were soon merged in the general names of Girondists 
 
 and Jacobins, who, under the Convention, acquired an 1789 - 
 immortal celebrity. 
 
 The proceedings of the Assembly in the formation 
 of this constitution were so precipitate, that, in the eyes Extraordi- 
 of the few reasonable men left in the commonwealth, they ^L for- 
 prognosticated nothing but ruin to the country. Medita- J?S. 
 tion and thought there passed for nothing ; every one tution - 
 seemed only desirous to gratify his own vanity by antici- 
 pating the notions of his rivals ; everything was done at 
 the sword's point, as in a place taken by assault ; every 
 change pressed on at full gallop. No interval was allowed 
 for reflection, no breathing-time given to the passions. 
 After having demolished everything, they resolved to re- 
 construct the whole social edifice with the same breathless 
 rapidity ; and so extravagant was the opinion of the 
 Assembly as to its own powers, that it would willingly 
 have charged itself with the formation of constitutions for 
 all nations. In these monstrous pretensions and ruinous , 
 
 Dumont, 
 
 innovations, is to be found the remote but certain cause 159, ico. 
 of all the blood and horrors of the Revolution. 1 * 
 
 The question of the veto, or of the royal sanction being 
 required to validate the acts of the legislature, was next Question of 
 brought under discussion, and excited still more violent ve to! ^hldi 
 passions. One would have thought, from the anxiety [heTing.* 
 manifested on the subject, that the whole liberty of 
 France depended on its decision, and that the concession 
 
 * The particulars of this constitution, which was soon swept away amidst 
 the violence and insanity of subsequent times, are too complicated and prolix 
 to be susceptible of enumeration in general history ; but one vital part of the 
 fabric is deserving of especial attention. By a fundamental article, France was 
 divided into 83 departments : the primary assemblies, 8000 in number, which 
 were to be convoked every two years to elect the legislature, consisted of 
 5,000,000 citizens : in addition to this, there were established 48,000 municipal 
 assemblies, composed of 900,000 citizens : 547 district assemblies, and 83 
 departmental assemblies, for the management of the local concerns of the pro- 
 vinces. But the most dangerous part of this highly democratic constitution 
 remained behind. Each of the primary assemblies named an elector for every 
 hundred citizens, who constituted 83 assemblies of 600 persons each, making in 
 all 50,000 for the whole kingdom, who remained permanently in possession of
 
 608 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, of this right to the throne M-ould be sufficient to restore 
 - the ancient regime. The multitude, ever governed by 
 1789. W ords, imagined that the Assembly, which had done so 
 much, would be left entirely at the mercy of the King if 
 this power were conceded, and that any privilege left to 
 the court would soon become an anti-revolutionary engine. 
 This was the first question since the Revolution in which 
 the people took a vivid interest, and it may easily be 
 conceived how extravagant were their ideas on the subject. 
 They imagined that the veto was a monster which would 
 devour all the powers they had acquired, and deliver them 
 over, bound hand and foot, to the despotism of the throne. 
 Those who supported the veto were instantly stigmatised 
 as inclining to every species of tyranny. Many, without 
 understanding even so much as that, imagined that it was 
 a tax which it was necessary to abolish, or an enemy who 
 should be hanged ; and they loudly demanded that he 
 should be suspended on the lamp. Others, better in- 
 formed, asked, " Should the veto be vested in a single 
 individual, or twenty-five millions of men ? " The clubs 
 of the Palais Royal took the most violent measures, and 
 incessantly besieged the Assembly with menacing depu- 
 tations ; efforts were made to array the municipality in 
 'Hist Pari insurrection ; and the multitude, armed since the 14th of 
 Th^iJa 1 ' ^J' began to give symptoms of revolt. Alarmed by such 
 153. Mig.'i. dangerous signs, the ministry recommended concession to 
 Aug. 10. ' the King, and he himself preferred a conditional to an 
 absolute vote. 1 The Assembly, by a majority of two to 
 
 their functions for the two years that the legislature sat. These 83 assemblies 
 were invested with powers so considerable, that they almost amounted to the 
 establishment of so many separate republics in one great federal union. They 
 nominated, to the exclusion of the King, the whole local authorities, including 
 the bishops and clergy, the judges, both supreme and inferior, the magistrates 
 and functionaries of every description. They constituted, in short, a perma- 
 nent political union, legally established in every department, elected by univer- 
 sal suffrage, and wielding within that department nearly the whole influence 
 and authority of government. The Legislative Assembly, which succeeded the 
 Constituent, was chosen under this constitution, and when the nation had 
 become habituated to the exercise of these powers. See CALONNE, 360, 361, 
 and Const. 1789, 17 ; Jfistoire Parkmentaire, iii. 41, 56.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 609 
 
 one,""" decreed that the King should have a veto, but that CHAP. 
 
 his power to decline sanctioning any legislative measure _ _ 
 
 should not extend beyond two successive legislatures. 1789 - 
 
 On this occasion Mirabeau supported the Crown, and 
 argued strenuously in favour of the absolute veto. " Let 
 
 us not/' said he, " arm the sovereign against the legislature, cro^i L 
 by allowing a moment to exist in which he may become th 
 its involuntary instrument. The nation will find more 
 real security in laws consented to by its chief, than in the 
 revolution which would follow the loss of his power. 
 When we have placed the crown in the hands of a 
 particular family, it is in the last degree imprudent to 
 awaken their alarms, by subjecting them to a control which 
 they cannot resist ; and the apprehensions of the deposi- 
 tary of the whole forces of the monarchy cannot be contem- 
 plated without the most serious alarm. I would rather 
 live in Constantinople than in France, if laws could 
 be made without the royal sanction," words of striking 
 and prophetic import, which were then ill understood or 
 angrily interpreted, but which were recollected with bitter 
 and unavailing regret when the course of events had 
 proved their truth, and the most vehement of their revilers 
 had perished from their neglect. Mounier and Lally 
 Tollendal on this occasion, though members of the com- 
 mittee appointed to frame the constitution, were the 
 leaders of the party who contended for the division of 
 the chambers, the absolute veto, and the formation of the 
 constitution on the model of that of England. They 
 even contended for it after the King had, by Necker's ^ Par] Higt 
 advice, agreed to yield the point. After the vote was 247 \ 
 
 J \ . Deux Amis, 
 
 passed, they were so much disconcerted that they with- 343, 346. 
 drew from the committee on the constitution, and shortly La^ues. 
 after left the Assembly. 1 
 
 It is a remarkable fact, singularly illustrative of the 
 rapid progress of revolutionary ideas, when the fever of 
 innovation has once seized upon men's minds, that, in all 
 
 * By a majority of 613 to 325. 
 VOL. I. 2 Q
 
 610 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, the instructions of the electors to the deputies, without 
 - exception, the absolute veto, as well as personal inviola- 
 i/89. biiity, had been conceded to the sovereign. A few weeks 
 of agitation the revolt of the 14th July the Tennis- 
 court oath had overturned all these sober resolutions, 
 f and the Crown was compelled to recede from a privilege 
 which had been unanimously agreed to by the whole 
 kingdom. The instructions in the cahiers, indeed, were 
 most express against almost all the illegal acts and usur- 
 pations of the Assembly. They almost invariably secure 
 to the sovereign all the essential prerogatives of the 
 monarchy. They unanimously prescribed a monarchical 
 government for France ; that all laws should require the 
 King's sanction to their validity ; that he should have 
 the unrestrained right of making peace or war, and 
 appointing the judges ; that private property should be 
 inviolate ; * and, by a great majority, that the rights, 
 estates, and privileges of the clergy should be maintained. 
 The new constitution, the abolition of the absolute veto, 
 the spoliation of the church, already violated these instruc- 
 tions in their most essential particulars : yet not a voice 
 was raised in France to protest against these monstrous 
 and unauthorised stretches of power on the part of the 
 124^ 12"!' popular representatives. So intoxicating is the possession 
 215', lol' f power to mankind, and so little are they qualified to 
 320' 3 i!ac kear ^ s seduction, even when the measures to which it 
 vii. 162. leads are most opposed to preconceived ideas, or most at 
 variance with settled resolutions. 1 
 
 But, in the midst of these projects of political recon- 
 struction, the distress of Paris and of the kingdom was 
 daily increasing, and matters, by the middle of September, 
 had come to such a pass, from the effects of the insurrec- 
 
 * So strongly was this principle expressed in all the cahiers, that the Assem- 
 bly, by act 17 of the constitution of 5th October 1789, sanctioned it by a special 
 clause in these terms : " Property of every sort being a sacred and inviolable 
 right, no one can be deprived of it but on the ground of public necessity, 
 legally established and evidently requiring it, and on the condition of a full 
 and ample indemnity." See Const. 1789, act 17 ; CALONNE, 215.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 611 
 
 tion of 14th July, that it was already apparent that a CHAP. 
 second popular outbreak was approaching. The usual 
 
 effects of a revolution were experienced an unavoidable 1789> 
 and most alarming increase in the public expenditure, ac- Incr ^' ed 
 companied by a corresponding diminution in the income. miser y and 
 
 rm i i -r* 111 ITIT agitation in 
 
 The exchequer, the city of rans, all the public bodies, Paris. 
 were on the verge of bankruptcy ; and while the increas- 
 ing, and now appalling, misery of the working-classes 
 rendered an immediate expenditure of money indispen- 
 sable, the prevalent confusion had entirely stopped the 
 collection of the revenue, and general insecurity kept the 
 now trembling capitalists aloof from all advances of money 
 by them. Specie had disappeared from circulation ; dis- 
 trust was universal ; credit annihilated. The days were 
 past when, on the return of Necker to power, the funds 
 rose thirty per cent in a day ; the reality of revolution 
 had dispelled its illusions. The loan of 30,000,000 
 francs, voted by the Assembly to assist the government, 
 had proved entirely nugatory, for no one would advance 
 money : a second loan of 80,000,000, at a much higher 
 rate of interest, since attempted, had met with little better 
 success. At the same time, not only were the forced 
 purchases of grain by government, and their sale at a re- 
 duced price, unavoidably increasing ; but a large body of 
 workmen, thrown out of employment, were maintained at 
 the public expense, for whose support not less than 12,000 
 francs, or about 500, were daily issued from the treasury 
 in Paris alone. The King and Queen had sent the whole 
 of their plate to be melted down at the mint, but this Sept. -:j. 
 proved an inadequate supply for the public necessities, and 
 assuaged but for a short time the miseries of the poor. 
 Finding these projects ineffectual, the minister had the 
 boldness to propose a contribution of a fourth of the in- ^^y 1 ; 
 come of each individual, and did not disguise that there Jt^- v !j: h . 
 was no other alternative, and that the rejection of the }w, itji. 
 
 ft Deux Amis, 
 
 measure would lead to a stoppage of the pay of the army, iii. 31, 33. 
 and of the interest of the public debt. 1
 
 612 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP. Necker, in this debate, drew a graphic and memorable 
 picture of the state of bankruptcy to which a successful 
 
 Y. 
 
 1789 - and almost bloodless revolution had, in two months, 
 53. reduced the finances of so great and flourishing a king- 
 
 Ncckcr s 
 
 picture of dom. " The finances," said he, " are daily falling into a 
 diJE; worse condition. Since August last every species of 
 Sept ' 24 ' credit has disappeared. During the same time every 
 imaginable difficulty has accumulated round the sinking 
 exchequer. The lessened supply of grain, the necessity 
 of making purchases of food at the royal expense in 
 foreign countries, have gone far to diminish the circula- 
 tion. Distrust has augmented with fearful rapidity, and 
 political events have carried to the utmost point the con- 
 traction of the currency. Money has disappeared : every 
 one is hoarding. For a brief period I indulged the hope 
 that the loan of 30,000,000 francs might succeed; but my 
 expectations were disappointed. I next flattered myself 
 that the second loan, at an advanced rate of interest, 
 would be more successful ; but here, too, lenders have 
 come in so slowly, that it has become indispensable to 
 have recourse to some extraordinary resources. Alarm 
 is continually increasing : distress is universal : the de- 
 mands on the treasury increase ; its receipts disappear. 
 The discounting office (Caisse d'Escompte) is labouring 
 under the utmost difficulties ; the distress of the royal 
 treasury is at its height ; it has become such that it is no 
 longer possible to conceal it under the veil of mystery. 
 The King prefers making a full disclosure ; he and the 
 Queen have sent their whole plate to be melted down ; 
 the ministers have all followed their example ; but it is 
 not an extraordinary supply of 900,000 francs (36,000) 
 1 Rapport de thus obtained, which will relieve the public distress. The 
 MoniteurT' pay of the troops, the interest due to the public creditors, 
 SfiySpp'! the service of the court, will all be stopped, if an im- 
 254, 255, me di a te and effectual supply is not obtained for the public 
 exchequer." l 
 
 This project, like all proposals for taxation in a popular
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 613 
 
 body, was coldly received in the National Assembly ; and CHAP: 
 it was strongly insisted by the democratic orators, that no 
 contributions were necessary, as the funds of the church, 1789 * 
 after providing for the whole ecclesiastical establishments 
 and the wants of the colleges and the poor, would yield 
 a clear surplus of 60,000,000 francs (2,400,000) yearly, 
 which might be applied to the public service. To the sur- 
 prise of all, however, Mirabeau, in a speech of unequalled 
 power, supported it. " Two centuries of depredation and 
 abuse/' said he, " have created the gulf in which the king- 
 dom is in peril of being lost. It must be filled up : take 
 the list of the French proprietors, choose among them 
 those whose fortune is adequate to supply the deficiency ; 
 let two thousand be sacrificed to the good of the whole. 
 You recoil at the barbarous proposal ; alas ! do you not 
 see that if you proclaim a bankruptcy, or, what is the 
 same thing, refuse this impost, you commit an action not 
 less unjust, and still more destructive ? Do you believe 
 that the millions of men who will instantly be ruined by 
 such a step, or by its necessary consequences, will allow 
 you to enjoy the fruits of your villany \ that, starving for 
 food, they will suffer you to indulge in your detestable 
 enjoyments ? Shall we be the first to give to the world 
 the example of an assembled people being wanting in 
 public faith ? Shall the first apostles of freedom sully 
 their hands by an action which will surpass in turpitude 
 those of the most corrupt governments \ The other day, 
 on occasion of a ridiculous movement in the Palais Royal, 
 they exclaimed, ' Catiline is at the gates of Rome, and you 
 deliberate I' With truth may it be said now, hideous 
 bankruptcy is there ; it threatens to consume yourselves, j Bert de 
 your honours, and your fortunes; and you deliberate I" ^oniteur 6 
 Carried away by this reasoning, the Assembly voted the o? p j^fg al 
 supply ; but the relief to the treasury was inconsiderable, 255, 260.' 
 for the distracted state of the kingdom prevented the ITH.' v ' 
 decree from being carried into execution. 1 
 
 But while the Assembly was occupied with these dis-
 
 614 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, cussions, a still more pressing evil began to be felt in the 
 v ' capital. Famine, the natural consequence of the public 
 
 !789. convulsions want of employment, the inevitable result 
 
 55. of the suspension of credit pressed severely upon the 
 
 Pa. Aug. labouring classes. Mobs became frequent in the streets ; 
 
 10 tf\ ^0 
 
 the bakers' shops were surrounded by clamorous multi- 
 tudes demanding food. The most extravagant reports 
 were circulated by the press, and greedily swallowed by 
 the populace, in regard to the causes of the distress. It 
 was the aristocrats who caused the corn to be cut green ; 
 they paid the bakers to suspend their labours ; they 
 turned aside commerce ; they threw the grain into the 
 river ; in a word, there was no absurdity or falsehood 
 which was not implicitly believed. The cry soon became 
 universal, that the measures of the court were the cause 
 of the public suffering, and that the only way to provide 
 for the subsistence of the people was to secure the person 
 of the King. An attack upon the palace was openly 
 discussed in the clubs, and recommended by the orators 
 of the Palais Royal ; while the agitated state of the 
 public mind, and the number of unemployed artisans who 
 filled the streets, rendered it but too probable that these 
 threats would speedily be carried into execution. Alarmed 
 at these dangers, the court deemed it indispensable to 
 provide for its own security, which hitherto had depended 
 entirely on the fidelity of four hundred of the Gardes du 
 Corps, who remained on guard at the Palace. For this 
 purpose, the regiment of Flanders, and some squadrons 
 of horse, were brought to Versailles. The arrival of these 
 i Bert, dc troops renewed the alarm of the people ; the King, at the 
 S 175. ^ ieac ^ f n f teen hundred soldiers, was supposed to be ready 
 ni eu i43 A i47' to ^ ll P on ^ 1C insurgent capital, containing a hundred 
 Dumont, thousand armed men. 1 And it was alleged with more 
 
 176. Lac. 
 
 vii. 184. probability by the better informed, that the design of the 
 
 MiJ.'i!'87. ' court was to retire, with such of the troops as remained 
 
 ice. 1 ' 164 ' faithful, to Metz, where the Marquis de Bouille, at the 
 
 head of his army, was to join them, and there declare
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 615 
 
 the States -general rebellious, and revert to the royal CHAP. 
 declaration of the 23d June. '. 
 
 The Orleans conspirators, with Mirabeau at their head, 1789 - 
 took immediate advantage of this agitation to attempt ^ . 56> , 
 
 . O Designs of 
 
 bringing to maturity their long-cherished design of sup- the oriean- 
 
 i i i 1^11 ist conspira- 
 
 piantmg, by the younger, the elder branch of the House tors. 
 of Bourbon. The partisans of this ambitious and wicked, 
 but irresolute prince, had important purposes in view in 
 fomenting this burst of popular fury, and directing it 
 against the royal family at Versailles. Their object was 
 to produce such consternation at the court as would induce 
 the King and all the royal family to follow the example of 
 the Count d'Artois, and leave the kingdom. The moment 
 this took place, they intended to declare the throne vacant, 
 and offer it, with the title of lieutenant-general, to the 
 Duke of Orleans. But the firmness of the King and his 
 brother, afterwards Louis XVIIL, who saw through the 
 design, caused the plot to fail ; and the multitude, who 
 were to be the instruments in producing the alarm, but 
 could not, of course, be let into the secret, rendered it 
 totally abortive, by insisting, at the close of the tumult, 
 that the King and royal family should be brought to Paris 
 the event of all others which the Orleans party most 
 ardently desired to avoid. So little anxious were they ] vl o l e l rt j i de 
 to conceal their schemes, that Mirabeau spoke openly of \ 73 > 174. 
 
 r . Lab. in. 
 
 them in public, and even warned some of his friends at 474. Moni- 
 Versailles not to be alarmed when the storm burst there, 28 U , \7w. ' 
 for it would roll over their heads. 1 * 
 
 The ministers of Louis were warned by their friends 
 in Paris of the designs which were in agitation, and a 
 
 * On the 24th September Mirabeau said to Blaizot, the librarian of the court, 
 " Mon ami, je prevois de malheureux eVenemens ici dans dix a douze jours. 
 Mais que tous les honnetes gens, et tous ceux qui ressemblent a Blaizot, ne 
 s'alarment point : 1'orage ne crevera pas sur eux ;" and about the same time he 
 said, " Qu'importe, aprfcs tout, a la chose publique, un Louis XVI. ou un Louis 
 XVII.? Voulez-vous que ce soit toujours ce bambin qui nous gouverne!" 
 And to Mr Jefferson, the American minister, he said : " Qu'on ne se flatte pas 
 d'atteindre a la libertd sans opeYer une revolution au sein meme des salons. La 
 gangrene est la; a tout prix il faut 1'extirper." PRUDIIOMME, Crimes de la 
 Involution, ii. 162.
 
 616 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, royal council was in consequence held at the hotel of M. 
 Malouet on the 15th September, in which the project of 
 
 1789 - the Orleans conspirators was disclosed, and it was pro- 
 view B 7 of the P ose( l ^at, to defeat it, the King should transfer the 
 King at this court to Tours, where they would be beyond the reach 
 Sept. is. of the mobs of Paris, and where they had reason to 
 believe they would be followed by a majority of the 
 Assembly. After much deliberation, it was agreed to 
 recommend this to the King ; but Louis could not be 
 brought to agree to it,* although he acquiesced in the 
 necessity of doing something to put the Assembly and 
 himself in a state of safety. But nothing definitive was 
 arranged ; and, meanwhile, the Orleans conspirators, to 
 i Bert de inflame the populace, spread abroad the report of the 
 i73 U 'i74 discovery of a conspiracy for the flight of the King and 
 the overthrow of the Assembly, which speedily appeared 
 in the columns of the Moniteur, and diffused universal 
 constemation.f At the same time, a letter, imprudently 
 '! written by the Count d'Estaign, commander of the 
 OL474* 1 "' na tional guard of Versailles, to the Queen, warning her 
 Se-nfT' ^ tne danger f sucn a project, and requesting an 
 263, 267. audience, which appeared in the same journal, augmented 
 the general alarm. 1 
 
 The minds of the populace were in the highest state of 
 
 Banquet at excitement from these causes, when an accidental incident 
 
 Oet,i. fired the train. A public dinner, according to an old 
 
 custom in the French army, was given upon their arrival, 
 
 by the Gardes du Corps, to the officers of the regiment 
 
 of Flanders, and of the urban guard of Versailles. The 
 
 banquet was held in the saloon of the opera, while the 
 
 boxes were filled with illustrious spectators, and all the 
 
 * " ' II est douteux,' dit-il, ' que mon Evasion put me mettre en surete", et il 
 eat hors de doute qu'elle serait le signal d'une guerre qui ferait vereer des 
 torrens de sang.' " Note de MALOUET, Sept. 14, 1789 ; LABAUME, iii. 475. 
 
 f " On r6solut d'investir encore une fois la capitale et Versailles, de dissoudre 
 I'Assemblee les annes a la main, d'allumer dans tout 1'empire la guerre civile, 
 et d'ensevelir dans les flammes la constitution, les droits de 1'homme, et 
 jusqu'au nom de patrie et de citoyen. La ville de Metz fut choisie pour la scene 
 de I'enterprise et le centre d'opgrations." Moniteur, 28th Sept. 1789, p. 261.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 617 
 
 rank and elegance which still adhered to the court graced CHAP. 
 the assembly with their presence. The enthusiasm of the 
 
 moment the recollections of the spot, formerly the scene 1/89- 
 of all the splendour of Versailles the influence of as- 
 sembled beauty, all conspired to awaken the chivalrous 
 feelings of the military. The health of the King was 
 drunk with enthusiasm, and the wish loudly expressed 
 that the royal family would show themselves to their 
 devoted defenders. The officers of the Swiss and of some 
 other regiments were admitted to the repast ; and the 
 King, who had just returned from hunting, yielding to 
 the solicitations of the Duke of Luxembourg, appeared, 
 attended by the Queen, the Dauphin, and Madame 
 Elizabeth. At this sight the hall resounded with accla- 
 mations, and the monarch, unused to the expression of 
 sincere attachment, was melted into tears. After the 
 royal family retired, the musicians of the court struck up 
 the pathetic and well-known air, " Oh, Richard ! oh, my i Bert, de 
 King! the world abandons thee!" At these sounds the cami/ii. H.' 
 transports of the moment overcame all restraint ; the ^' r l},'i.276" 
 officers drew their swords and scaled the boxes, where ^- 1-.. 89 - 
 they were received with enthusiasm by the ladies of the i 85 < 189 - 
 
 * -i i Toul. 1. 132. 
 
 court, and decorated with white cockades by fair hands Th. i. 107. 
 trembling with agitation. 1 
 
 Accounts of this banquet were speedily spread through 
 Paris, magnified by credulity, and distorted by malignant Agitation in 
 ambition. It was universally credited the following news of it. 
 morning at the Palais Royal, in the clubs and market- 
 places, that the dragoons had sharpened their sabres, 
 trampled under foot the tricolor cockade, and sworn to 
 exterminate the Assembly and the people of Paris. The Oct. 5. 
 influence of the ladies of the court, and the distribution 
 of the white or black cockades, was represented as 
 particularly alarming by those who had employed the 
 seductions of the Palais Royal to corrupt the allegiance 
 of the French Guards. Symptoms of insurrection speedily 
 manifested themselves ; the crowds continued to accumu-
 
 G18 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, late in the streets in an alarming manner, until at length, 
 - on the morning of the 5th, the revolt openly broke out. 
 1789 - A young woman seized a drum, and traversed the streets, 
 exclaiming, "Bread! bread!" She was speedily followed 
 by a crowd, chiefly composed of females and boys, which 
 rolled on till it reached the Hotel de Ville. That building 
 was at once broken up, and pillaged of its arms. It was 
 even with difficulty that the infuriated rabble were pre- 
 vented from setting it on fire. In spite of all opposition, 
 they broke into the belfry and sounded the tocsin, which 
 soon assembled the ardent and formidable bands of the 
 Faubourgs. The cry immediately arose, raised by the 
 agents of the Duke of Orleans, "To Versailles!" and 
 a motley multitude of drunken women and tumultuous 
 men, armed and unarmed, set out in that direction. 
 Such was the multitude of females in the crowd, that the 
 French Republican writers do not hesitate to say the 
 triumph of 5th October was owing to the women.* The 
 national guard, which had assembled on the first appear- 
 ance of disorder, impatiently demanded to follow ; and 
 although their commander, Lafayette, exerted his utmost 
 influence to retain them, he was at length compelled to 
 yield, and, at seven o'clock, the whole armed force of 
 Paris set out for Versailles. The Gardes Fra^aises, 
 who, notwithstanding the medals, fetes, bribes, and cour- 
 tesans they had received as a reward for their treachery, 
 i Deux were in secret ashamed of the part they had taken, 
 160, 155^ announced their determination to resume their service at 
 MM. \L the royal palace. They formed the centre of the national 
 L^'. IH!' guard, and openly declared their resolution to seize the 
 199' 19 Toui K* n o> an d exterminate the regiment of Flanders and the 
 !' Jo 4 ' Th g " body-guard, who had dared to insult the national colours. 
 ;. i7o, 174. Hints were even openly thrown out that the monarch 
 ' ' ' should be deposed, and the Duke of Orleans nominated 
 lieutenant-general of the kingdom. 1 
 
 * " Les femmes font le 5 Octobre." MICHELET, Histoire de la Revolution, 
 L 126; Introduction.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 619 
 
 The minds of the members of the Assembly, and of the CHAP. 
 
 inhabitants of Versailles, though less violently excited, '. 
 
 were in an alarming mood. The King had refused his 1789 - 
 sanction to the declaration of the Rights of Man ; and Stat f^'f the 
 the Assembly, piqued at any obstacle to their sovereignty, ^gffi' 
 were in sullen hostility. The Queen had been heard to Court, and 
 
 -"111 ft * i arr i y al o* 
 
 express her delight with the banquet of the omcers ; and the mob at 
 the assemblage of troops, joined to some hints dropped by 
 the courtiers, led to a general belief that a movement of 
 the seat of the Assembly, and of the court, to Tours or 
 Metz, was in contemplation. No one, however, antici- 
 pated any immediate danger ; the King was out on a 
 hunting party, and the Queen seated, musing and melan- 
 choly, in an arbour in the gardens of Trianon, when the 
 forerunners of the disorderly multitude began to appear 
 in the streets. She instantly rose and left the gardens 
 to go to the palace : she never saw them again. At the 
 first intelligence of the disturbance, the monarch returned 
 with expedition to the town, where the appearance of 
 things exhibited the most hideous features of a revolution. 
 The gates in front of the court-yard of the palace were 
 closed, and the regiment of Flanders, the body-guards, 
 and the national guard of Versailles, drawn up within, 
 facing the multitude ; while without, an immense crowd 
 of armed men, national guards, and furious women, 
 uttering seditious cries and clamouring for bread, were 
 assembled. The ferocious looks of the insurgents, their 
 haggard countenances, and uplifted arms, bespoke but too 
 plainly their savage intentions. Nothing had been done 
 to secure the safety of the royal family. Though the 
 Swiss Guards lay at the distance of only a few miles, at H. ?]"^. 
 Ruel and Courbevoie, no attempt was made to bring |; JJ^ JJi 
 them to the scene of danger a decisive proof that the }? ^ 
 reports of the warlike designs ascribed by the Orleans 2 5 - Bert - 
 
 . J de Moll. 11. 
 
 conspirators and furious democrats to the court were iso, 201. 
 entirely destitute of foundation. 1 The commander of u. 177, 17J>! 
 the national guard of Versailles, the Count d'Estaing,
 
 G20 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, seemed to have lost that daring spirit which he had 
 formerly evinced, and subsequently displayed on the 
 
 1789. scaffold. 
 
 The multitude soon broke into the hall of the Assembly ; 
 Thei'nsur- and that august body, for the first time, beheld them- 
 rouJd'the selves outraged by the popular passions which they had 
 Assembly. awa k ene( j 4 ]?or above an hour they were insulted by the 
 insolent rabble, who seated themselves on the benches, 
 menaced some of the deputies with punishment, and 
 commanded silence to others. " Lose no time," they 
 exclaimed, " satisfying us, or blood will soon begin to 
 flow!" Maillard, the orator of the insurgents, who had 
 taken so active a part in the attack on the Bastile, openly 
 denounced Mounier, Clermont Tonnerre, and other coura- 
 geous deputies, who had exposed the designs of the 
 Orleans faction. " We have come to Versailles," said he, 
 " to demand bread, and at the same time to punish the 
 insolent body-guard who have dared to insult the national 
 colours. We are good patriots, and have torn all the 
 black and white cockades which we have met on our road. 
 The aristocrats \vould have us die of famine. This very 
 day they have sent two hundred francs to a miller to 
 bribe him not to grind flour." " Name him ! name him !" 
 resounded from all parts of the Assembly ; but Maillard 
 was obliged to confess he could not specify a name. A 
 voice in the crowd then called out, " the Archbishop of 
 Paris ; " but on all sides the cry arose, that he was incapable 
 of such an atrocity. Still the intimidation of the Assembly 
 i Deux was such, that they were obliged to give in to all their 
 Hj7! s i82." demands. In the gallery a crowd of fishwomen were 
 I8i m i82. assembled, under the guidance of one virago with stento- 
 <m' V Toui an l un s > w ^o ca H e d to the deputies familiarly by name, 
 i. 135. Bert, and insisted that their favourite Mirabeau should speak. 
 
 <le Moll. ii. r . .. . , . TT , , 
 
 207, 209. " fepeak, said they to one deputy ; " Hold your tongue, 
 to another. 1 
 
 In the confusion on the outside, an officer of the guard 
 struck with his sabre a Parisian soldier, who immediately
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 621 
 
 fired his musket at him ; a general discharge of fire- CHAP. 
 
 arms from the guards ensued, which produced great con- ! 
 
 sternation, but did little or no execution. The national 1789 - 
 guard of Versailles, aided by the multitude, followed And 6 s ~ on 
 the body-guards to their barracks, whither they had ?fter break 
 been ordered by the King to retire, forced the gates, palace. 
 pillaged the rooms, and wounded some of the men. The 
 court was in consternation, and the horses were already 
 harnessed to the carriages, to convey the royal family 
 from the scene of danger ; but the King, who knew the 
 real object of the conspirators, and was with reason 
 apprehensive that, if he fled, the Duke of Orleans would 
 be immediately declared lieutenant-general of the king- 
 dom, resolutely, at whatever hazard, refused to move. 
 The mob soon penetrated into the royal apartments, as 
 the guards were prohibited from offering any resistance, 
 and were received with so much condescension and dignity \ c ,ampan, 
 by the King and Queen, who listened attentively, and Deux' Amis, 
 
 J -Ul 11 A. rt. * * "'-188J89. 
 
 answered mildly, to all their requests, that they forgot Memoirs 
 the purpose of their visit, and left the royal presence xvnTiv. 
 exclaiming Vive le Roi ! A heavy rain, which began to f 8 ^ 1 ^ 1 ; 
 fall in the evening, cooled the ardour of the multitude, {f&MiSs 
 and before nightfall, the arrival of Lafayette, with the JJem. a e 
 
 "L Mirabeau, i. 
 
 national guard of Paris, restored some degree of order 212, 225. 
 to the environs of the palace. 1 
 
 During these tumults the King was distracted by the 
 most cruel incertitude. Mounier, at the head of a depu- in-esoiu- 
 tation from the Assembly, conjured him to vanquish his King" and 
 scruples, and accept simply the articles of the constitution theQien. 
 proposed by the Assembly the Queen to act boldly and 
 defend his kingdom. Two carriages, ready harnessed, 
 were kept at the gate of the Orangerie ; but the crowd 
 discovered them, and assembled to prevent their depar- 
 ture : the King commanded the Count d'Estaing to dis- 
 perse the mob at that point ; but he declined, alleging 
 that the thing was impossible : the King urged the Queen 
 to depart, and take the royal family with her ; but she
 
 622 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, declared that nothing should induce her, in such an 
 
 y 
 
 extremity, to separate from her husband. " I know," she 
 
 1789 - added, " that they seek my life ; but I am the daughter 
 of Maria Theresa, and have learned not to fear death." 
 Nothing could induce Louis to allow the troops in front 
 of the palace to fire on the people. " Come now," said 
 he, "would you have me declare war on women 1" The 
 cries, in consequence, redoubled ; the crowd, seeing their 
 impunity, became furious. Assailed by so many subjects 
 of anxiety, the monarch at length resolved upon submis- 
 sion, and Mounier was authorised to announce to the 
 Assembly his unqualified acceptance of the nineteen 
 articles of the constitution already framed, and his adhe- 
 sion to the Declaration of the Rights of Man. But mat- 
 ters had now arrived at a pass when these concessions 
 could produce no effect. A multitude of drunken women 
 had broken into the hall of the Assembly, lay extended 
 i Bert de on its benches, and one shameless Amazon occupied the 
 ^'"i, 209 ' P resi dent's chair, and in derision was ringing his bell, 
 vii. 215,219. The deputies in vain endeavoured to restore order ; the 
 
 rpi " 1 7f* 
 
 Deux Amis, debates were incessantly interrupted by cries of " Bread ! 
 Camp.ii.75i bread !" and nothing but the authority of Mirabeau could 
 [ 6 43M35. r ' procure silence even for the discussion of measures for 
 ^" L ' 15 . 9 - providing for the public subsistence. At three in the 
 
 DelaMarck, i 
 
 i. 230, 234. morning the sitting was broken up, and the hall left in 
 
 possession of its unruly invaders. 1 
 
 (54 Lafayette had an interview with the royal family, 
 
 Lafayette and, misled by his usual childish belief in the virtue of 
 
 retires to i i i i i 
 
 sleep. mankind, assured them in the strongest terms, in presence 
 of a numerous circle, that he could guarantee the security 
 of the palace. He added, that he was so well convinced 
 of the pacific disposition of his army, and had so much 
 confidence in the preservation of the public tranquillity, 
 that he was resolved to retire to rest. Misled by these 
 assurances, the Assembly dispersed and repaired to their 
 several homes ; and the King and Queen, overcome with 
 fatigue, withdrew to their apartments. The Queen went to
 
 HISTOEY OF EUROPE. 623 
 
 bed at two in the morning, and, being utterly exhausted, CHAP. 
 fell asleep. The external posts were intrusted to the 
 
 troops commanded by Lafayette ; the interior were still 1789 - 
 in the hands of the body-guard of the King. Unfortu- 
 nately for his reputation, and for the honour of France, 
 General Lafayette followed the example of the sovereign, J ; c 7 a p ^' v 
 and repaired, for the remainder of the night, to the chateau ??- ^ Ve ^ r 
 de Noailles, at some distance from the palace, where he i. ITS. 
 soon after fell asleep. 1 
 
 Nothing occurred to interrupt the public tranquillity 
 from three till five in the morning ; but the aspect of the The mob 
 
 i , , . T again break 
 
 populace presaged an approaching storm. Large groups into the pa - 
 of savage men and intoxicated women assembled round hTrokde- 
 the watchfires in all the streets of Versailles, and relieved S- 
 the tedium of a rainy night by singing revolutionary 
 songs. In one of these circles their exasperation was 
 such, that, seated on the corpse of one of the body-guard, 
 they devoured the flesh of his horse half-roasted in the 
 flames, while a ring of frantic cannibals danced round 
 the group. Everything announced that they were deter- 
 mined to assuage their thirst for blood by some indiscri- 
 minate massacre. The whole leaders of the Orleans party 
 Mirabeau, Laclos, Sillery, Latouche, and d'Aguilar 
 were in the crowd. * At six o'clock a furious mob 
 surrounded the barracks of the body-guard, broke them 
 open, and pursued the flying inmates to the gates of the 
 palace, where fifteen were seized, and doomed to imme- 
 diate execution. At the same time another troop of 
 insurgents besieged the avenues to the palace, and finding 
 a gate open, rushed in, and speedily filled the staircases 
 and vestibules of the royal apartments. Two of the body- 
 guard, posted at the head of the stair, made the most 
 heroic resistance, and by their efforts gave time to the 
 Queen to escape into the apartments of the King, but 
 
 * It was said by some of the witnesses at the trial relating to these proceed- 
 ings, that the Duke of Orleans was there on horseback, but this was never 
 clearly proved.
 
 624 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, they perished in the heroic act. The assassins, by 
 '. continued efforts, drove the body-guard back into the 
 apartment of the Queen, but did not reach it themselves. 
 Meanwhile Marie Antoinette, in passing almost undressed 
 into the apartments of the King, found an inner door 
 barred, but by knocking violently, it was at length opened. 
 The King was absent. Alarmed at the noise, he had 
 repaired, by the principal passage through the (Eil de 
 Boeuf, into the Queen's apartment, which he found filled 
 with the body-guard ; but, soon after, the dauphin and 
 children came in, and the King having returned, the inner 
 doors of the (Eil de Bceuf were closed, and the ante- 
 chamber filled with grenadiers, who succeeded in keeping 
 out the mob from that last asylum. But, with that 
 exception, the whole interior of the palace was ransacked 
 by the savage multitude ; the splendour of ages was 
 suddenly exposed to the indiscriminate gaze of the lowest 
 of the people. 
 
 " Apparet domiis intiis, et atria longa patescunt : 
 Apparent Priami et veterum penetralia regum : 
 Armatosque violent stantes in limine primo." * 
 
 But for the intrepid defence of the body-guard, and 
 the exertions of the Marquis de Vaudreuil, who succeeded 
 i n reviving in the French Guards some sparks of their 
 4/237 vH ' ancient loyalty, the King himself, and the whole royal 
 Jjj- -JJ?' . family, would have fallen a prey to the assassins. They 
 180 w' '' Dragged tne bodies of two of the body-guard, who had 
 i. 442, 448.' been murdered, below the windows of the King, beheaded 
 i. 241, 24?.' them, and carried the bloody heads in triumph upon the 
 point of their pikes through the streets of Versailles. 1 
 
 At the first alarm General Lafayette, whose unfortu- 
 nate absence from the scene of danger had produced 
 
 * " A mighty breach is made : the rooms concealed 
 Appear, and all the palace is revealed 
 The halls of audience and of public state 
 And where the lovely queen in secret sate, 
 Arm'd soldiers now by trembling maids are seen." 
 
 DBTDEN'S Virgil, Book II.
 
 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 625 
 
 such alarming effects, threw himself upon his horse, and CHAP. 
 hastened to the spot. He made an impassioned harangue 
 
 to the grenadiers of the guard, and succeeded in prevail- 1789 - 
 ing upon them to defend the captives. The fifteen pri- Tardy 6 ar- 
 soners were thus rescued from impending death ; and the ^ii* e ' 
 King himself having come to the windows and demanded fa >' ette - 
 their lives from the multitude, they ultimately escaped. 
 Three others, who had already the halter about their 
 necks, and were on the point of being strangled, were 
 saved by some of the Gardes Franchises, who flew to 
 their deliverance, exclaiming, " Let us save the body- 
 guard, as they saved us at Fontenoy." Amidst the fury 
 of the multitude, and the atrocities of faction, it is pleasing 
 to record that, in moments of extreme danger, the ancient t Lac v .. 
 generosity of the French military character frequently |38. Riv. 
 manifested itself on both sides during this dreadful iso! 
 contest. 1 
 
 The conduct of the Queen during these moments of 
 alarm was worthy of the highest admiration, and she ' 
 
 tlieu, for the first time, gave proof of that heroic courage Qu e en. 
 which has since given immortality to her name. Not- 
 withstanding the shots which were fired at the windows, 
 she persisted in standing on the balcony, to endeavour to 
 obtain the pardon of the body-guards, who were in peril 
 from the exasperated multitude ; and when M. Luzerne 
 strove to place himself between her and the danger, she 
 gently removed him, alleging that that was her post, and 
 that the King could not afford to lose so faithful a servant. 
 Shortly after, the crowd vociferously demanded that she 
 should appear at the window ; she came forth, accom- 
 panied by her children : twenty thousand voices imme- 
 diately exclaimed, "Away with the children !" and the H C 8 7 pan> 
 Queen, sending them in, reappeared alone, in presence of ^f 1 **^ 
 
 a mob from whom she expected instant death. 2 This 312. Lac. 
 
 ii if vii< ^**- 
 
 generous contempt of personal danger overcame the fury Th. i. 182. 
 
 e . ., , r . , , r 1 J.-.C J DelaMarck, 
 
 of the populace, and universal shouts of applause testified ;. 247, 255. 
 at once their sense of the reality of the peril which she 
 VOL. i. 2 R
 
 626 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, had braved, and the impression which her courage had 
 made upon the multitude. * 
 
 1789. rp ne Republican leaders of the tumult, seeing themselves 
 The mob foikd in their design of making the King fly, resolved to 
 insist on the derive some advantage from their success, by removing 
 
 royal family ,. ,, i i T* i i 111 
 
 going to him and the royal family to Fans, where they would be 
 oct*6. entirely subjected to their control. Immediately the cry 
 was raised among the populace, " Let us bring the King 
 to Paris ! it is the only way of securing bread to our 
 children." Lafayette persuaded the monarch, as the only 
 means of appeasing the tumult, to accede to the wishes of 
 the people ; and, accompanied by the King and Queen, 
 appeared at the balcony of the palace, and gave that 
 assurance to the multitude. Mirabeau and his associates 
 violently opposed this design, as it entirely thwarted the 
 views of the Orleans conspirators ; but the incessant 
 clamour of the populace, who deemed their victory com- 
 plete if they could secure their august captives, overbore 
 all opposition. " My children," said the monarch, " you 
 wish that I should go to Paris : I consent, provided I am 
 not to be separated from my wife and children, and that 
 my guards are to be protected." Loud cries of " Vive le 
 Roi Vivent les Gardes-du-Corps," immediately resounded 
 on all sides. The Assembly, informed of his determina- 
 95 Mlg Ri'v. 4 ' tion, hastily passed a resolution, that it was inseparable 
 ?82. T c'am- from the King, and would accompany him to the capital. 
 ST'webeV Thus the democratic party, as the fruit of their violence, 
 i'a1vrck De obtained the immense advantage of having both branches 
 258, 26i.' of the legislature transferred to a place where their own 
 influence was irresistible. 1 
 
 At noon the royal party set out for Paris ; a hundred 
 deputies of the Assembly accompanied their carriage. 
 
 * " L'air de grandeur de la reine," says an eyewitness, " cette preuve de 
 courage dans une obe"issance si perilleuse, 1'emporterent a force de surprise sur 
 la barbarie du peuple. Elle fut applaudie universellement. Son ge"nie redressa 
 tout-a-coup 1'instinct de la multitude e'gare'e : et il fallait a ses ennemis des 
 crimes, des conjurations, et de longues pratiques pour la faire assassiner." 
 Tgmoin Ocidaire, given in WEBER, i. 451.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 627 
 
 Such was the haste used to urge them on, that, in passing CHAP. 
 to the carriage, the King and Queen were compelled to 
 
 step in a pool of blood which had collected where the two 1789 - 
 gardes-du-corps had been beheaded.* All the exertions, 69 - , 
 
 I -I -, . The royal 
 
 ail the authority of M. Lafayette, were unable to prevent famil y come 
 
 ,i ir i .to Paris. 
 
 tne people from carrying in the front of the procession Oct. 8. 
 the two heads of the privates of the body-guard who had 
 been decapitated under the windows of the palace. At 
 Sevres, a village on the road to Paris, they forced a hair- 
 dresser to powder and curl the gory locks of the heads. 
 Jourdan, a monster in human form, afterwards nicknamed 
 Coupe-tete, marched first with naked arms, bearing a huge 
 hatchet on his shoulder, drenched in blood. The remain- 
 der of the noble gardes-du-corps, two hundred in number, 
 almost all wounded and still bleeding, in the deepest 
 dejection, followed the carriage ; around it were cannon, 
 dragged by the populace, bestrode by frantic women, 
 many armed with swords and pikes. From every side 
 arose shouts of triumph, mingled with revolutionary songs. 
 "Here is the baker, his wife, and the little apprentice !" 
 exclaimed the women in derision at the King, the Queen, 
 and the Dauphin. These exclamations were intermingled 
 with the cries of "All the bishops to the lamp-post I" 
 which were received with unbounded applause, and demon- 
 strated the general and deadly hostility to religion. 
 Loaves of bread, borne on the point of pikes, everywhere t M; . 95 
 appeared, to indicate the plenty which the return of the Rfr. 323, _ 
 sovereign was expected to confer upon the capital. The ija Lac. 
 regiment of Flanders followed, in heart-rending affliction at Burke, V. 
 being obliged to surrender their sovereign to his rebellious de Ch&teiet, 
 subjects. The Gardes Franchises, profoundly ashamed of ^ - I{ C Q~ 
 the associates who had seduced them from their duty, ^ w ^ ' 
 marched in military order in the hideous procession, ^;^' arck 
 without ever taking their eyes from the ground. 1 The 1.267,271.' 
 monarch, after a painful journey of seven hours, during 
 
 * A fact communicated by General Lafayette to the historian Labaume. 
 LABAUME, iii. 545, note.
 
 628 HISTORY OP EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, which he was compelled to drink, drop by drop, the 
 bitterest dregs in the cup of humiliation, entered Paris, a 
 
 1789 - captive among his own subjects, and adorning the triumph 
 of his most inveterate enemies. He was conducted to 
 the Hotel de Ville, and thence to the Tuileries, which 
 thenceforward became his palace and his prison. 
 70 Thus terminated the first era of the revolutionary 
 
 government ; the first period, during which a shadow of 
 introduced independence was left to the legislature. The revolution 
 of the 14th July had overturned the Crown, by depriving 
 it of the whole military force of the kingdom ; but the 
 revolt of the b'th October subjugated the legislature as 
 well as the sovereign, by bringing them both captive and 
 defenceless into the capital, where the only armed force 
 was at the disposal of the municipality, elected by the 
 universal suffrage of the inhabitants. Just five months 
 had elapsed since the meeting of the States-general ; and 
 during that time not only the power of the sovereign 
 had been overthrown, but the very structure of society 
 changed. Instead of an absolute government, there was 
 now to be seen a turbulent democracy ; instead of an 
 obsequious nobility, a discontented legislature ; instead of 
 the pride of ancient, the insolence of newly-acquired 
 power. The right to tithes, the most venerable institution 
 of the Christian church ; the feudal privileges, flowing 
 from the first conquest of Gaul by the followers of Clovis ; 
 the immunities of corporations, purchased by the blood of 
 infant freedom all had perished. The principle of uni- 
 versal equality had been recognised ; all authority admit- 
 ted to flow from the people ; and the right of insurrection 
 numbered amongst the most sacred of the social duties. 
 The power of the sovereign was destroyed ; he had been 
 insulted, and narrowly escaped being murdered in his 
 own palace, and was now a captive, surrounded by perils, 
 in the midst of his capital. Changes greater than those 
 brought about in England from the time of Alfred, were 
 effected in France in less than five months.
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 629 
 
 Experience might well have taught the promoters of CHAP. 
 the French Revolution, that such excessive precipitation 
 
 could lead to nothing but disastrous results. Nothing 1789 - 
 durable in nature is formed except by the slowest degrees ; ^J^. 
 the flowers of the summer are as ephemeral as the warmth ces |>ive 
 
 rashness. 
 
 which produces them : the oak, the growth of centuries, 
 survives the maturity and the decay of empires. The 
 dominion of Alexander, raised in a few campaigns, was 
 divided within the lifetime of those who witnessed its 
 birth ; the Roman empire, formed in a succession of ages, 
 endured a thousand years. It is in vain to suppose that 
 the habits of a nation can be changed, and its character 
 altered, by merely giving it new institutions. We cannot 
 confer on childhood the firmness of maturity by putting 
 on it the dress of manhood. It is no apology for the 
 Constituent Assembly to say, that they committed no 
 violence themselves ; that their measures were in great 
 part adopted from the purest philanthropy ; that they 
 were themselves the victims of the faction which dis- 
 graced the Revolution. In public men we expect not 
 merely good intentions, but prudent conduct ; it is no 
 excuse for those who have done evil, to assert that they 
 did so that good might come of it. " Words," says 
 Lamartine, "put nations in motion, bayonets alone arrest 
 their course." If we pull down with too much haste, we 
 do as much mischief as if we retain with too much obsti- 
 nacy. The virtuous should always recollect that, if they 
 remove the half, the reckless will speedily destroy the 
 whole. 
 
 The danger of political changes arises not from their 
 immediate, but their ultimate consequences ; not so much Danger of 
 from those who originate, as those who follow them up. novation? 
 Alterations, once rashly commenced, cannot easily be 
 stopped ; the fever of innovation seizes the minds of the 
 energetic part of mankind, and the prudent speedily 
 become unable to stem the torrent. The prospect of gain 
 rouses the ambitious and the reckless ; they issue from
 
 630 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, obscurity to share the spoil, and in the struggle rapidly 
 acquire a fatal ascendancy. They do so, because they 
 
 1789. are no t restrained by the scruples which influence the 
 good, nor fettered by the apprehensions which paralyse 
 the opulent. Having nothing to lose, they are indifferent 
 as to the consequences of their actions ; having no prin- 
 ciples, they accommodate themselves to those of the most 
 numerous and least worthy of the people. Revolutions 
 are chiefly dangerous, because they bring such characters 
 into public situations ; the Constituent Assembly was 
 chiefly blamable, because it pursued a course which roused 
 them in every part of France. It was itself the first to 
 experience the truth of these principles. In its haste to 
 subdue the throne it raised the people, and speedily 
 became subjected to the power it expected to govern. 
 
 The victory of the 6th October was not less over the 
 The victory legislature than the throne. Brought to Paris without 
 October was protection, it was at the mercy of the populace, and 
 SSJMem- not I GSS enthralled than the King. The ultimate conse- 
 bly ' quences did not appear for some years ; but the Reign 
 of Terror flowed naturally from the publication of the 
 Rights of Man, and the decimation of the Convention 
 from the rashness of the Constituent Assembly. It soon 
 became apparent that the position of the National Assem- 
 bly, and the residence of the monarch, during its sitting, 
 in the capital, was a fatal circumstance, of which both 
 had ample cause to repent. Freedom of deliberation was 
 out of the question in such a situation : at first, the depu- 
 ties were carried away by the applause of the galleries, 
 and the contagion of popular feeling ; latterly, they were 
 enslaved by the terror of popular violence. All the insur- 
 rections which established the Reign of Terror, the capti- 
 vity of the King, the subjugation of the Assembly, were 
 owing to the perilous vicinity of Paris. If the great 
 work of national reformation is to be successfully carried 
 through, it must be in a remote or secure situation, where 
 the applause and the violence of the multitude are equally
 
 HISTOEY OP EUKOPE. 631 
 
 removed, and the minds of men are not liable to be CHAP. 
 
 v 
 swayed bj the flattery, or intimidated by the threats, of _ '. _ 
 
 the people intrusted to their care. 1789 - 
 
 Before the era at which we have now arrived, the period 
 had come when it was evident that the popular party had The period 
 resolved on an entire usurpation of the whole powers of whenTesfst 
 the State ; and that determined resistance was the only ^cesslry. 
 course which could have arrested their treasonable 
 encroachments. The forcible union of the legislature in a 
 single chamber the confiscation of the church estates 
 the formation of a highly democratic constitution, incon- 
 sistent with anything like public order, and the refusal of 
 the absolute veto, in defiance of the cahiers from every 
 part of France, were all acts of violence, from which 
 nothing but the establishment of democratic tyranny was 
 to be anticipated. But when, in addition to all this, the 
 King was besieged by a furious mob in his own palace, 
 when his apartments were ransacked, and his consort all 
 but murdered by hired assassins, the rule of law as well 
 as of authority was at an end ; the hour had arrived to 
 conquer or die. By resistance in this extremity, he at 
 least had the chance of rousing the better class of the 
 nation to his and their own defence but for the fatal 
 emigration of the noblesse, he unquestionably would have 
 done so. When, by their desertion and the treachery of 
 the army, he was compelled to yield to such outrages to 
 submit to be led a captive amidst savage and drunken 
 mobs to his own palace he was in effect forced to place 
 his neck beneath the lowest of the populace, and prepare, , , 
 
 ~ ,, , . Mounicr, 
 
 in the unresisted ascent of guilt, for all the sanguinary u. 90, 91. 
 excesses which followed. 1 
 
 If the army and the Tiers Etat were the parties chiefly 
 in fault in the previous stage of the Revolution, the Great fault 
 nobility have most to answer for in this. It was their bmty 
 
 fatal defection which paralysed the monarch, when he and penod ' 
 all his councillors had become sensible of the insatiable 
 ambition of the commons, and which rendered it impos-
 
 G32 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
 
 CHAP, sible to adopt any plan that might extricate the Assembly 
 
 1__ and himself from their fatal state of dependence on the 
 
 1789 - mobs and armed force of Paris. That they were entirely 
 at the command of the Orleans wealth and the revolu- 
 tionary leaders, was sufficiently apparent ; but Paris was 
 then at least not France, and the elements of strenuous, 
 and perhaps successful, resistance were to be found in the 
 provinces, if the nobility had remained to lead and direct 
 it. In many districts, indeed, the fury of the populace, 
 and the treachery of the soldiers, had deprived the landed 
 proprietors of the possibility of continuing on their estates, 
 and removal to the capital or some considerable town had 
 become a matter of necessity ; but this was far from being 
 the case universally ; and in at least a half of France, the 
 people in the country were still steady in their loyalty 
 to the throne. It required some courage, doubtless, to 
 remain and face the revolutionary dangers which were 
 arising on all sides ; but when does duty not require 
 courage, and where are men entitled to expect it, if not 
 in the descendants of a chivalrous and military nobility "? 
 Recollecting what the peasants of La Vendee and Brit- 
 tany, the citizens of Lyons and Toulon, subsequently did, 
 it is impossible to admit the excuse for the whole French 
 nobility, that emigration had become a matter of necessity. 
 This widespread and paralysing defection, therefore, was 
 the great sin of the noblesse after the Revolution had set 
 in, as their obstinate retention of their pecuniary exemp- 
 tions was their great sin before it commenced. 
 
 Nor can the peasantry and citizens of France be 
 sins of the absolved from a still greater share of blame for the 
 ie. savage ferocity which they evinced from the very outset 
 of the struggle. Never had a revolution been accom- 
 plished with so little difficulty : never had power been 
 transferred from the Crown to the people with so little 
 bloodshed. With the loss of fifty killed and a hundred 
 wounded, at the attack on the Bastile, the military 
 monarchy had been overthrown. No resistance had any
 
 HISTORY OF EUROPE. 633 
 
 where else been attempted. Everything, therefore, called CHAP. 
 for humanity and moderation in the use of victory : 
 
 never had so few deaths, in achieving so great a conquest, 1789 - 
 required to be avenged. Yet the people generally evinced 
 the most savage and malignant spirit, and assailed their 
 unresisting landlords with a degree of barbarity of which 
 history has preserved few examples. It was no excuse 
 for these hideous atrocities that they were taking vengeance 
 on centuries of oppression, and rising against the chains 
 of feudal slavery. It belongs to God alone, in his inscru- 
 table wisdom, to visit the sins of the fathers upon the 
 children ; it is the first principle of human justice to deal 
 with every one according to his individual deserts. The 
 melancholy catalogue of predial and urban crimes which 
 stained the very first stages of the Revolution, proved but 
 too clearly that the French were unfit for liberty, and 
 unworthy of that blessing ; for they had not yet laid the 
 corner-stone of the structure in learning to be just. 
 
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