Hence the taxes were paid entirely by the agricultural population. But the peasants living in
dreary hovels, no longer in intimate contact with their former landlords, but victims of cruel
and incompetent land agents, were going from bad to worse. Why should they work and
exert themselves? Increased returns upon their land merely meant more taxes and nothing
for themselves and therefore they neglected their fields as much as they dared.
Hence we have a king who wanders in empty splendour through the vast hals of his
palaces, habitualy folowed by hungry office seekers, al of whom live upon the revenue
obtained from peasants who are no better than the beasts of the fields. It is not a pleasant
picture, but it is not exaggerated. There was, however, another side to the so-caled
"Ancien Regime" which we must keep in mind.
A wealthy middle class, closely connected with the nobility (by the usual process of the
rich banker's daughter marrying the poor baron's son) and a court composed of al the
most entertaining people of France, had brought the polite art of graceful living to its
highest development. As the best brains of the country were not alowed to occupy
themselves with questions of political economics, they spent their idle hours upon the
discussion of abstract ideas.
As fashions in modes of thought and personal behaviour are quite as likely to run to
extremes as fashion in dress, it was natural that the most artificial society of that day should
take a tremendous interest in what they considered "the simple life." The king and the
queen, the absolute and unquestioned proprietors of this country galed France, together
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with al its colonies and dependencies, went to live in funny little country houses al dressed
up as milk-maids and stable-boys and played at being shepherds in a happy vale of
ancient Helas. Around them, their courtiers danced attendance, their court-musicians
composed lovely minuets, their court barbers devised more and more elaborate and costly
headgear, until from sheer boredom and lack of real jobs, this whole artificial world of
Versailes (the great show place which Louis XIV had built far away from his noisy and
restless city) talked of nothing but those subjects which were furthest removed from their
own lives, just as a man who is starving wil talk of nothing except food.
When Voltaire, the courageous old philosopher, playwright, historian and novelist, and the
great enemy of al religious and political tyranny, began to throw his bombs of criticism at
everything connected with the Established Order of Things, the whole French world
applauded him and his theatrical pieces played to standing room only. When Jean Jacques
Rousseau waxed sentimental about primitive man and gave his contemporaries delightful
descriptions of the happiness of the original inhabitants of this planet, (about whom he
knew as little as he did about the children, upon whose education he was the recognised
authority,) al France read his "Social Contract" and this society in which the king and the
state were one, wept bitter tears when they heard Rousseau's appeal for a return to the
blessed days when the real sovereignty had lain in the hands of the people and when the
king had been merely the servant of his people.
When Montesquieu published his "Persian Letters" in which two distinguished Persian
travelers turn the whole existing society of France topsy-turvy and poke fun at everything
from the king down to the lowest of his six hundred pastry cooks, the book immediately
went through four editions and assured the writer thousands of readers for his famous
discussion of the "Spirit of the Laws" in which the noble Baron compared the excelent
English system with the backward system of France and advocated instead of an absolute
monarchy the establishment of a state in which the Executive, the Legislative and the
Judicial powers should be in separate hands and should work independently of each other.
When Lebreton, the Parisian book-seler, announced that Messieurs Diderot, d'Alembert,
Turgot and a score of other distinguished writers were going to publish an Encyclopaedia
which was to contain "al the new ideas and the new science and the new knowledge," the
response from the side of the public was most satisfactory, and when after twenty-two
years the last of the twenty-eight volumes had been finished, the somewhat belated
interference of the police could not repress the enthusiasm with which French society
received this most important but very dangerous contribution to the discussions of the day.
Here, let me give you a little warning. When you read a novel about the French revolution
or see a play or a movie, you wil easily get the impression that the Revolution was the
work of the rabble from the Paris slums. It was nothing of the kind. The mob appears
often upon the revolutionary stage, but invariably at the instigation and under the leadership
of those middle-class professional men who used the hungry multitude as an efficient aly in
their warfare upon the king and his court. But the fundamental ideas which caused the
revolution were invented by a few briliant minds, and they were at first introduced into the
charming drawing-rooms of the "Ancien Regime" to provide amiable diversion for the
much-bored ladies and gentlemen of his Majesty's court. These pleasant but careless
people played with the dangerous fireworks of social criticism until the sparks fel through
the cracks of the floor, which was old and rotten just like the rest of the building. Those
sparks unfortunately landed in the basement where age-old rubbish lay in great confusion.
Then there was a cry of fire. But the owner of the house who was interested in everything
except the management of his property, did not know how to put the smal blaze out. The
flame spread rapidly and the entire edifice was consumed by the conflagration, which we
cal the Great French Revolution.
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For the sake of convenience, we can divide the French Revolution into two parts. From
1789 to 1791 there was a more or less orderly attempt to introduce a constitutional
monarchy. This failed, partly through lack of good faith and stupidity on the part of the
monarch himself, partly through circumstances over which nobody had any control.
From 1792 to 1799 there was a Republic and a first effort to establish a democratic form
of government. But the actual outbreak of violence had been preceded by many years of
unrest and many sincere but ineffectual attempts at reform.
When France had a debt of 4000 milion francs and the treasury was always empty and
there was not a single thing upon which new taxes could be levied, even good King Louis
(who was an expert locksmith and a great hunter but a very poor statesman) felt vaguely
that something ought to be done. Therefore he caled for Turgot, to be his Minister of
Finance. Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de l'Aulne, a man in the early sixties, a
splendid representative of the fast disappearing class of landed gentry, had been a
successful governor of a province and was an amateur political economist of great ability.
He did his best. Unfortunately, he could not perform miracles. As it was impossible to
squeeze more taxes out of the ragged peasants, it was necessary to get the necessary
funds from the nobility and clergy who had never paid a centime. This made Turgot the
best hated man at the court of Versailes. Furthermore he was obliged to face the enmity
of Marie Antoinette, the queen, who was against everybody who dared to mention the
word "economy" within her hearing. Soon Turgot was caled an "unpractical visionary" and
a "theoretical-professor" and then of course his position became untenable. In the year
1776 he was forced to resign.
After the "professor" there came a man of Practical Business Sense. He was an industrious
Swiss by the name of Necker who had made himself rich as a grain speculator and the
partner in an international banking house. His ambitious wife had pushed him into the
government service that she might establish a position for her daughter who afterwards as
the wife of the Swedish minister in Paris, Baron de Stael, became a famous literary figure
of the early nineteenth century.
Necker set to work with a fine display of zeal just as Turgot had done. In 1781 he
published a careful review of the French finances. The king understood nothing of this
"Compte Rendu." He had just sent troops to America to help the colonists against their
common enemies, the English. This expedition proved to be unexpectedly expensive and
Necker was asked to find the necessary funds. When instead of producing revenue, he
published more figures and made statistics and began to use the dreary warning about
"necessary economies" his days were numbered. In the year 1781 he was dismissed as an
incompetent servant.
After the Professor and the Practical Business Man came the delightful type of financier
who wil guarantee everybody 100 per cent. per month on their money if only they wil
trust his own infalible system.
He was Charles Alexandre de Calonne, a pushing official, who had made his career both
by his industry and his complete lack of honesty and scruples. He found the country
heavily indebted, but he was a clever man, wiling to oblige everybody, and he invented a
quick remedy. He paid the old debts by contracting new ones. This method is not new.
The result since time immemorial has been disastrous. In less than three years more than
800,000,000 francs had been added to the French debt by this charming Minister of
Finance who never worried and smilingly signed his name to every demand that was made
by His Majesty and by his lovely Queen, who had learned the habit of spending during the
days of her youth in Vienna.
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At last even the Parliament of Paris (a high court of justice and not a legislative body)
although by no means lacking in loyalty to their sovereign, decided that something must be
done. Calonne wanted to borrow another 80,000,000 francs. It had been a bad year for
the crops and the misery and hunger in the country districts were terrible. Unless
something sensible were done, France would go bankrupt. The King as always was
unaware of the seriousness of the situation. Would it not be a good idea to consult the
representatives of the people? Since 1614 no Estates General had been caled together. In
view of the threatening panic there was a demand that the Estates be convened. Louis
XVI however, who never could take a decision, refused to go as far as that.
To pacify the popular clamour he caled together a meeting of the Notables in the year
1787. This merely meant a gathering of the best families who discussed what could and
should be done, without touching their feudal and clerical privilege of tax-exemption. It is
unreasonable to expect that a certain class of society shal commit political and economic
suicide for the benefit of another group of felow-citizens. The 127 Notables obstinately
refused to surrender a single one of their ancient rights. The crowd in the street, being now
exceedingly hungry, demanded that Necker, in whom they had confidence, be
reappointed. The Notables said "No." The crowd in the street began to smash windows
and do other unseemly things. The Notables fled. Calonne was dismissed.
A new colourless Minister of Finance, the Cardinal Lomenie de Brienne, was appointed
and Louis, driven by the violent threats of his starving subjects, agreed to cal together the
old Estates General as "soon as practicable." This vague promise of course satisfied no
one.
No such severe winter had been experienced for almost a century. The crops had been
either destroyed by floods or had been frozen to death in the fields. Al the olive trees of
the Provence had been kiled. Private charity tried to do some-thing but could accomplish
little for eighteen milion starving people. Everywhere bread riots occurred. A generation
before these would have been put down by the army. But the work of the new
philosophical school had begun to bear fruit. People began to understand that a shotgun is
no effective remedy for a hungry stomach and even the soldiers (who came from among
the people) were no longer to be depended upon. It was absolutely necessary that the
king should do something definite to regain the popular goodwil, but again he hesitated.
Here and there in the provinces, little independent Republics were established by folowers
of the new school. The cry of "no taxation without representation" (the slogan of the
American rebels a quarter of a century before) was heard among the faithful middle
classes. France was threatened with general anarchy. To appease the people and to
increase the royal popularity, the government unexpectedly suspended the former very
strict form of censorship of books. At once a flood of ink descended upon France.
Everybody, high or low, criticised and was criticised. More than 2000 pamphlets were
published. Lomenie de Brienne was swept away by a storm of abuse. Necker was hastily
caled back to placate, as best he could, the nation-wide unrest. Immediately the stock
market went up thirty per cent. And by common consent, people suspended judgment for
a little while longer. In May of 1789 the Estates General were to assemble and then the
wisdom of the entire nation would speedily solve the difficult problem of recreating the
kingdom of France into a healthy and happy state.
This prevailing idea, that the combined wisdom of the people would be able to solve al
difficulties, proved disastrous. It lamed al personal effort during many important months.
Instead of keeping the government in his own hands at this critical moment, Necker
alowed everything to drift. Hence there was a new outbreak of the acrimonious debate
upon the best ways to reform the old kingdom. Everywhere the power of the police
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weakened. The people of the Paris suburbs, under the leadership of professional agitators,
gradualy began to discover their strength, and commenced to play the role which was to
be theirs al through the years of the great unrest, when they acted as the brute force which
was used by the actual leaders of the Revolution to secure those things which could not be
obtained in a legitimate fashion.
As a sop to the peasants and the middle class, Necker de-cided that they should be
alowed a double representation in the Estates General. Upon this subject, the Abbe
Sieyes then wrote a famous pamphlet, "To what does the Third Estate Amount?" in which
he came to the conclusion that the Third Estate (a name given to the middle class) ought to
amount to everything, that it had not amounted to anything in the past, and that it now
desired to amount to something. He expressed the sentiment of the great majority of the
people who had the best interests of the country at heart.
Finaly the elections took place under the worst conditions imaginable. When they were
over, 308 clergymen, 285 noblemen and 621 representatives of the Third Estate packed
their trunks to go to Versailes. The Third Estate was obliged to carry additional luggage.
This consisted of voluminous reports caled "cahiers" in which the many complaints and
grievances of their constituents had been written down. The stage was set for the great
final act that was to save France.
The Estates General came together on May 5th, 1789. The king was in a bad humour.
The Clergy and the Nobility let it be known that they were unwiling to give up a single one
of their privileges. The king ordered the three groups of representatives to meet in different
rooms and discuss their grievances separately. The Third Estate refused to obey the royal
command. They took a solemn oath to that effect in a squash court (hastily put in order for
the purpose of this ilegal meeting) on the 20th of June, 1789. They insisted that al three
Estates, Nobility, Clergy and Third Estate, should meet together and so informed His
Majesty. The king gave in.
As the "National Assembly," the Estates General began to discuss the state of the French
kingdom. The King got angry. Then again he hesitated. He said that he would never
surrender his absolute power. Then he went hunting, forgot al about the cares of the state
and when he returned from the chase he gave in. For it was the royal habit to do the right
thing at the wrong time in the wrong way. When the people clamoured for A, the king
scolded them and gave them nothing. Then, when the Palace was surrounded by a howling
multitude of poor people, the king surrendered and gave his subjects what they had asked
for. By this time, however, the people wanted A plus B. The comedy was repeated.
When the king signed his name to the Royal Decree which granted his beloved subjects A
and B they were threatening to kil the entire royal family unless they received A plus B
plus C. And so on, through the whole alphabet and up to the scaffold.
Unfortunately the king was always just one letter behind. He never understood this. Even
when he laid his head under the guilotine, he felt that he was a much-abused man who had
received a most unwarrantable treatment at the hands of people whom he had loved to the
best of his limited ability.
Historical "ifs," as I have often warned you, are never of any value. It is very easy for us to
say that the monarchy might have been saved "if" Louis had been a man of greater energy
and less kindness of heart. But the king was not alone. Even "if" he had possessed the
ruthless strength of Napoleon, his career during these difficult days might have been easily
ruined by his wife who was the daughter of Maria Theresa of Austria and who possessed
al the characteristic virtues and vices of a young girl who had been brought up at the most
autocratic and mediaeval court of that age.
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She decided that some action must be taken and planned a counter-revolution. Necker
was suddenly dismissed and loyal troops were caled to Paris. The people, when they
heard of this, stormed the fortress of the Bastile prison, and on the fourteenth of July of
the year 1789, they destroyed this familiar but much-hated symbol of Autocratic Power
which had long since ceased to be a political prison and was now used as the city lock-up
for pickpockets and second-story men. Many of the nobles took the hint and left the
country. But the king as usual did nothing. He had been hunting on the day of the fal of the
Bastile and he had shot several deer and felt very much pleased.
The National Assembly now set to work and on the 4th of August, with the noise of the
Parisian multitude in their ears, they abolished al privileges. This was folowed on the 27th
of August by the "Declaration of the Rights of Man," the famous preamble to the first
French constitution. So far so good, but the court had apparently not yet learned its
lesson. There was a wide-spread suspicion that the king was again trying to interfere with
these reforms and as a result, on the 5th of October, there was a second riot in Paris. It
spread to Versailes and the people were not pacified until they had brought the king back
to his palace in Paris. They did not trust him in Versailes. They liked to have him where
they could watch him and control his correspondence with his relatives in Vienna and
Madrid and the other courts of Europe.
In the Assembly meanwhile, Mirabeau, a nobleman who had become leader of the Third
Estate, was beginning to put order into chaos. But before he could save the position of the
king he died, on the 2nd of April of the year 1791. The king, who now began to fear for
his own life, tried to escape on the 21st of June. He was recognised from his picture on a
coin, was stopped near the vilage of Varennes by members of the National Guard, and
was brought back to Paris.
In September of 1791, the first constitution of France was accepted, and the members of
the National Assembly went home. On the first of October of 1791, the legislative
assembly came together to continue the work of the National Assembly. In this new
gathering of popular representatives there were many extremely revolutionary elements.
The boldest among these were known as the Jacobins, after the old Jacobin cloister in
which they held their political meetings. These young men (most of them belonging to the
professional classes) made very violent speeches and when the newspapers carried these
orations to Berlin and Vienna, the King of Prussia and the Emperor decided that they must
do something to save their good brother and sister. They were very busy just then dividing
the kingdom of Poland, where rival political factions had caused such a state of disorder
that the country was at the mercy of anybody who wanted to take a couple of provinces.
But they managed to send an army to invade France and deliver the king.
Then a terrible panic of fear swept throughout the land of France. Al the pent-up hatred
of years of hunger and suffering came to a horrible climax. The mob of Paris stormed the
palace of the Tuileries. The faithful Swiss bodyguards tried to defend their master, but
Louis, unable to make up his mind, gave order to "cease firing" just when the crowd was
retiring. The people, drunk with blood and noise and cheap wine, murdered the Swiss to
the last man, then invaded the palace, and went after Louis who had escaped into the
meeting hal of the Assembly, where he was immediately suspended of his office, and from
where he was taken as a prisoner to the old castle of the Temple.
But the armies of Austria and Prussia continued their advance and the panic changed into
hysteria and turned men and women into wild beasts. In the first week of September of
the year 1792, the crowd broke into the jails and murdered al the prisoners. The
government did not interfere. The Jacobins, headed by Danton, knew that this crisis meant
either the success or the failure of the revolution, and that only the most brutal audacity
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could save them. The Legislative Assembly was closed and on the 21st of September of
the year 1792, a new National Convention came together. It was a body composed
almost entirely of extreme revolutionists. The king was formaly accused of high treason
and was brought before the Convention. He was found guilty and by a vote of 361 to 360
(the extra vote being that of his cousin the Duke of Orleans) he was condemned to death.
On the 21st of January of the year 1793, he quietly and with much dignity suffered himself
to be taken to the scaffold. He had never understood what al the shooting and the fuss
had been about. And he had been too proud to ask questions.
Then the Jacobins turned against the more moderate element in the convention, the
Girondists, caled after their southern district, the Gironde. A special revolutionary tribunal
was instituted and twenty-one of the leading Girondists were condemned to death. The
others committed suicide. They were capable and honest men but too philosophical and
too moderate to survive during these frightful years.
In October of the year 1793 the Constitution was suspended by the Jacobins "until peace
should have been declared." Al power was placed in the hands of a smal committee of
Public Safety, with Danton and Robespierre as its leaders. The Christian religion and the
old chronology were abolished. The "Age of Reason" (of which Thomas Paine had written
so eloquently during the Amer