DC llol CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY DATE DUE BllW^ — 5^ ;[ j'Jn — ,JO-i J^ ^-K. ■-■ 1 mA!\ iJbO MsI! - ft-2r " — ■ w^^ w^^*^'^ GAYLORD PRINTED IN U S A Cornell University Library DC 161.L46 3 1924 024 315 446 Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924024315446 W. E H. LECKY'S WORKS HISTORY OF THE RISE AND INFLUENCE OF THE SPIRIT OF RATIONALISM IN EUROPE. 3 vols. 8vo. Cloth, $4.00; half calf, extra, $8.00. HISTORY OF EUROPEAN MORALS FROM AUGUSTUS TO CHARLEMAGNE. 2 vols. lamo. Cloth, $3.00; half calf, extra, $7.00. HISTORY OF ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 8 vols. 8vo. Cloth, $20.00; half calf, $36.00. Cabinet Edition. 12 vols. 7 of England and 5 of Ireland. i2mo. Cloth, per vol., $1.00. THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION : 1763-1783. i2mo. Cloth, $1.25. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 1 2mo. Cloth, $1 .25 net ; postage additional. D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION CHAPTERS FROM THE AUTHOR'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY BY WILLIAM EDWARD HARTPOLE LECKY ADTHOE OF THE HISTORY OF EDEOPEAN MORALS, DEMOCSACV AND UBEETY, EATIONALISM IJT EUEOPE, ETC. WITH HISTORICAL NOTES BY HENRY ELDRIDGE BOURNE PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN WESTERN EE3EEVE UNIVEESITY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, Publishers NEW YORK •:• BOSTON •:• CHICAGO ♦ * CormiGHT, 1904, BT D. APPLETON AND COMPANY Publiahed, February, 1904 Y ^tu mTEODUCTIOIS' This volume is made up of the three chapters in Mr. Lecky's History of England during the Eigh- teenth Century which discuss the causes of the French Revolution and describe its progress until the out- break of the war with England. Mr. Lecky paused at this point because he felt that here the history of English politics in the eighteenth century came to an end. "From this time," he remarks, "Eng- lish parties and politics assumed a new complexion, and trains of causes came into action which only attained their maturity at a much later period." Accordingly his work, save in the portions on the Irish troubles, makes no allusions to later events in France, such as the Reign of Terror, the overthrow of Robespierre, and the conquest of the "Natural Frontiers." It should also be noted that he does not treat the internal history of even the early Revo- lution quite in the same manner or in as much detail as if this had been his principal theme. He describes it sufficiently to make clear its influence upon English VI INTEODUCTION politics or upon the general European situation as this was likely sooner or later to affect England. Burke's opinions and his "Reflections on the Revo- lution in France" are set forth with masterly lucidity. The diplomatic history which led to the beginnings of war between France and the Allies and later to the outbreak of war with England are also treated in detail. It may seem questionable to detach portions from a great work of historical construction like the His- tory of England in the Eighteenth Centxiry. In this case little violence is done to the original plan. The three chapters stand by themselves; they elucidate one important incident of the larger whole. It is in the controlling thought of the consequences to Eng- land that they gain their unity. They could hardly possess greater unity had they been composed orig- inally as a distinct piece of work. For the student of the French Revolution it is clearr ly an advantage to have these critical descriptions emphasized by bringing them out from their place in the larger structure. They do not merely explain how the Revolutionary propaganda finally embroiled England and led to the war which, before its conclu- sion, had involved even America. This of itself is a topic worthy the consideration of an historian like Mr. Lecky. They also show how Mr. Lecky mter- prets the early and most significant period of the Revolution. After all, the subject needs interpreters INTEODUCTION VU quite as much as it needs editors of documents or narrative historians. And the interpretation may be singularly valuable though it may not upon all points command the assent of readers provided with a dif- ferent set of political principles. The main thing is that the principles which direct or inform it be so clearly conceived that the reader knows exactly from what point of view the author is studying the phenomena. If the point of view is as well defined as in the case of Mr. Lecky's writings, or as was the case with Burke, the interpretation is altogether enlightening. It brings into sharp relief the revo- lutionary character of the reforms of the Constituent Assembly apart from the violent scenes which ac- companied some of them. This is a gain, although the reader himself may still be cherishing remnants of belief in the soimding paragraphs of the Declara- tion of Rights. Since Mr. Lecky's work was originally published, much has been done upon special phases of the Revo- lution. M. Sorel's incomparable L'EUrope et la Revo- lution frangaise has grown from one to five volumes. Professor Aulard has pubUshed his Histoire politique de la Revolution frangaise. He has edited several important collections of documents, and among them the proceedings of the Jacobin Club and the acts of the Committee of Public Safety with its correspond- ence with the deputies on mission. M. Gomel's vol- I umes on the financial causes of the Revolution and Viii INTRODUCTION upon the financial history of the Constituent Assembly have also appeared. For the reader's convenience in making further inquiries various references to such works and to the points of view or the additional facts which they embody have been inserted at the end of the volume. H. £. B. CONTENTS. GHAPTEK I. FAGE Great influence of the French Revolution on English thought and politics 1 Its Literary Antecedents. Change in the literary spirit after Lewis XIV. ... 2 Voltaire and Montesquieu visit England .... 3 First writings not revolutionary. Voltaire's early career . 4 His ill-treatment by the Government .... 4 His exile and antichristian writings ..... 6 The literature of the Encyclopaedists .... 7 Total aUenation of the French intellect from Christianity . 7 Persecution of opinion ....... 9 How far freethinking prepared the Revolution . . .11 Freethinkers not naturally revolutionists. Politics of Voltaire 12 General character of his mind ...... 20 Extent of his influence. Spread of toleration through , Europe 21 Expectation of a bloodless revolution .... 24 The Parliaments. First opposition to the Crown originated with them . . 25 Their character and powers ...... 25 Opposition to the Bull TJnigenitus. Claim of the Parlia- ments to represent the nation ..... 27 Conflict with the Crown and Episcopacy in the Ministry of Fleury 29 Magistrates recalled from exile in 1733 .... 30 "Hie Parliaments naturally conservative .... 30 Renewed conflict in 1747. Attempts to check new taxation ......... 31 The tickets of confession ....... 32 Exile of the parliament of Paris, 1753 .... 33 Popular excitement in Paris. Predictions of revolution . 34 The journals of D'Argenson 35 Chesterfield foresees the Revolution ..... 37 FarUament recalled, 1754. Its violence against priests . 37 ix X CONTENTS. PASS Brief of Benedict XIV. Suppressed by the Parliament . 39 New prominence of the provincial Parliaments. Growth of scepticism ........ 40 Court turns against the Parliament. Renewed conflict . 41 Parliament condemns letters of cachet, beds of justice, and the financial administration ...... 42 Persecution of freethinkers. Suppression of the Jesuits . 42 Decline of royal authority ...... 43 Taxes forced through Parliament in 1763. Arrest of magistrates ......... 44 No edicts obligatory which had not been registered by all the Parliaments ........ 45 Predictions of a revolution ...... 45 Disputes with the clergy, 1765, 1766. Declining interest in theology ......... 46 Execution of La Barre. Iiftoler^nce, impiety, and super- stition . . . . . . . . • . ,47 Seizure of Avignon ........ 48 Important political questions relating to the ParUaments . 48 King asserts his absolute power ..... 49 Trial of the Duke of Aiguulon ...... 51 Suppression of the Parhaments by Maupeou, 1771 . . 52 Popular disturbances ....... 53 Success of the conp d'etat. Judgment of Burke . . 54 Voltaire's approval of the suppression of ParUaments . 56 Opposition to the Court passes chiefly to Men of Letters. Decline of the influence of Voltaire . . . . .57 Rising influence of Rousseau. ■ The * Contrat Social ' . .58 Its relation to English speculation 58 Its chief doctrines ........ 61 TJieir adaptatioi) to French ideas. English and French ideals .......... 66 Rousseau quaUfies his theories . . . . . .70 Dangers of the absolutism of majorities .... 74 English and American theory of the suffrage ... 77 Rousseau's dislike of violence . . .^ _ . . .78 His advocacy of small states and local patriotism . . 79 General estimate of Rousseau 82 His political influence 83 The Economists 89 Character of the Government. Its despotism 90 Destruction of provincial government . . . .92 And of the independence of tribunals. Division of classes 94 The gentry attracted to the towns 94 Growth of a peasant proprietary 96 CONTENTS. XI FAGS The feudal burdens 97 Unjust and oppressive taxation ..... 101 Comparison of French and English taxation . . . 106 Other abuses and oppressions. Low state of agriculture . 107 Frequency of famines during the eighteenth century . .109 Contrasts of great poverty and luxury . . . .110 Beign of Lewis XVI. Lewis XVI. restores the Parliaments .... Ill Ministry of Turgot Ill Kffects of his dismissal . . . . . . .114 First ministry of Necker. The provincial Assemblies . 115 Effects of the American War in accelerating the Revolution 117 French society in the early years of the reign . . . 118 Increase of prosperity ....... 120 Intellectual activity .121 Moral aspects of the time ...... 123 Its rare charm 124 Character of the King . . . . . . .126 AH fear of Revolution had passed . . . . .127 Disillusion of the nation under Calonne. Deficit declared. 128 Assembly of the Notables, Feb. 1787 . . . .129 Ministry of Brienne. Notables refuse to vote a land tax . 129 Provincial States. Free trade in corn. AboUtion of the . corvfSe . . . . . . . . . . 13(? Effect of the meeting of the Notables .... 131 Insubordination in the army and its causes . . . 133 The Parliament, on the dissolution of the Notables, be- comes the centre of opposition ..... 135 Declares that the States-General alone have the right to impose new taxes ........ 136 Exiled to Troyes 137 Recalled, Sept. 1787 , 138 Loan raised ......... 138 Destruction of French influence in the Netherlands. Civil rights granted to Protestants ..... 139 Forecast of Arthur Yoiuig ...... 140 Character and danger of the parliamentary opposition . 142 Attitude and policy of the King. States-General promised 143 Coup d'etat, May 1788 146 Revolts in the provinces ....... 148 Declaration of bankruptcy. Resignation of Brienne. Re- call of Necker . . . . . . . . 149 Question of the form in which the States-General should meet . . . . . . . . . . 151 King grants a double representation to the commons . .153 Mode of election Faults of Necker . . 153 The Sovereign still retained much authority . . . 158 Agitation produced by the election. Multiplication of pamphlets and newspapers . . . . . .160 XU CONTENTS. PAOE Famine, 1788-1789 ,......;; ; .162 The caUers of the three orders ..... 164 Constitutional monarchy easily attainable . . . 167 Meeting of the States-General. The leading men . . 168 Opinions of Arthur Young and Morris .... 170 Should the three orders vote separately or together? . . 171 Bicameral arrangement rejected ..... 173 The third estate proclaim themselves the National Assem- bly. Scene in the tennis court ..... 174 Large body of the clergy joins them .... 176 Royal Session, June 23. The King's offers . . . 176 Rejected by thef commons. Nobles join them . . . 178 Rise Of the anarchists. Capture of the Bastille . . 179 The Revolution not inevitable. Summary of its causes . 180 CHAPTEK II. First Effects of the Revolution on English Politics. General belief that the Revolution would promote Euro- pean peace ......... 183 Long antagonism of France and England . . . 183 Advantages derived by England from the eclipse of French influence . 184 Whig antipathy to France ...... 185 Refusal of permission to export flour to France . . 186 French influence revives English democratic societies . . 188 Price's sermon . . . . . . . . 191 How far French examples were likely to be dangerous to England 193 Enthusiasm caused by the destruction of the Bastille . 195 First impressions of Fox and Burke . ... . . 196 Fox praises the Revolution in Parliament, Feb. 5, 1790 . 198. Burke's speech, Feb. 9 199 Close of the debate . . , 203 Motives attributed to the speakers 203 Their sincerity ........ 204 Burke's ' Reflections on the French Revolution ' . . 207 His predictions of the course of the movement . . 219 His estimate of the effects of the spoliation of Church pro- perty , . . . 224 Incompatibility of pure democracy with the security of property 229 Examination of the connection of the Revolution with sociaUsm ......... 230 Constituent Assembly not socialistic .... 232 Causes that checked socialistic tendencies in France . . 236 Burke insists on the proselytising character of the Revolu- tion 238 Reception and influence of the ' Reflections on the French Revolution' . ........ 239 Dissolution of Parliament, autumn 1790 .... 241 CONTENTS. XIU PAen Progress of the Revolution. National Assembly transferred to Paris .... 242 Complete change m the laws and administration of France 242 Genuine reforms effected ....... 247 General anarchy 248 Judgment of Morris 249 English enthusiasts for the Revolution. Mackintosh and Paine 250 Democratic societies and addresses ..... 252 Biirke looks forward to European intervention against the Revolution ......... 253 All nations not fit for political liberty . . .. . 255 Conflict between Burke and Fox on the Quebec Bill . 256 Isolation of Burke from his party ..... 263 ' Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs ' . . . 266 Lord Stormont's interview with Bvu-ke .... 268 True character of the Whig party ..... 269 The Prince of Wales follows Fox 271 Camden sanctions Burke's Whiggism .... 272 Burke's intense sympathy with the French emigrants . 272 His belief that the Revolution, if triumphant, must be cos- mopolitan ......... 275 Government separated from propertj' .... 279 Righteousness of an anti-revolutionary war. Imminence of the danger ........ 280 General estimate of Burke's policy on the Revolution . 282 His three conditions of intervention .... 283 Effects of the question on Burke's health .... 285 His diffidence about political prophecy .... 287 Public opinion turns towards him ..... 288 The Birmingham riots . . . . • . .291 Events on the Continent. Death of Mirabeau 292 FUght of Varennes 293 Conduct of the Assembly. Its character .... 295 Lewis XVI. accepts the Constitution .... 298 Dissolution of the National Assembly. Constitution of its succes.sor ......... 299 Menacing aspect of surrounding Powers .... 299 Pacific spiritin France - . ■ 301 Guiding principles of Russia and the Emperor . . . 302 Of Prussia 303 The Polish ^Question. State of Poland since the death of Sobieski . . . 305 Its first partition in 1772. The three Powers guarantee its remaining territory ....... 307 Prussian alliance with Poland . < . . t . 308 XIV CONTENTS. PAGE Revolution in the Polish Constitution, May 1791. Its dan- gers and merits ........ 309 Poland refuses to cede Dantzig and Thorn to Prussia . . 310 Judgment of Hailes . . . . . . . .311 King of Prussia approves of the new Constitution . . 312 Attitude of England . • 313 The French emigrants. Their negotiations with foreign Powers . . . . . . . . . 314 The Emperor and the King of Prussia negotiate for an alli- ance .......... 316 Hesitation of Leopold about French affairs . . . 317 Refuses to assist Lewis XVI. unless he was supported by other Powers ........ 318 His pohcy before and after the flight of Varennes . 319 Letters of Marie Antoinette to Leopold .... 321 AUianoe between Prussia and the Emperor consummated. Secret ambitions of the Powers .... 323 Designs on Alsace and Lorraine ..... 325 The Kmg of Prussia more anxious than the Emperor for intervention with France ...... 326 Interview and Declaration of Pilnitz .... 327 Absolute neutrality of England in French affairs . . 328 The Emperor and Marie Antoinette consider her hostile . 332 E^ddence from confidential diplomatic correspondence of the sincerity of English neutrality . . 333 Indifference of English public opinion to foreign affairs . 337 Objects of Pitt's foreign policy. Estimate of French affairs 338 Conduct of Lord Efhngham during the insurrection at St. Domingo . . . . . . . . . 340 Pitt regretted the outbreak of the war on the Continent . 340 Catherine urges the Emperor and King of Prussia to engage in the war ... . . . . . . 342 Her motives. Weakness of Poland ..... 342 Gradual rise of the conspiracy against Poland . . . 344 Increasing reluctance of Leopold to intervene in France . 347 Enthusiasm when' Lewis XVl. accepted the Constitution . 347 Growth of anarchy ........ 348 Increase of the emigration. Growing hostility of foreign Powers 349 French suspicions of England ...... 351 Distrust of the King and Queen. Their relations to foreign Powers 352 Leopold refuses to assist them ...... 356 The Legislative Assewhly. Its composition ........ 357 Its measures against the emigrants ..... 357 Indisposition of the continental Powers to act without the Emperor ......... 359 Growing belief in peace. In France a war spirit arising . 360 Prevailmg b^ief that France was completely paralysed . 360 CONTENTS. XV Influences that impelled her towards war . , . 361 Division in the Republican party. Triumphs and de- mands of the Girondins ....... 365 Narbonne organises the war. Secret appeal of the King to foreign Powers ........ 366 Letter of Marie Antoinette to Mercy .... 367 Difficulties of the position of Leopold .... 368 His hesitating pohcy ....... 370 French ultimatum to the Emperor ..... 373 Alliance between the Emperor and Prussia ratified. Ger- man-army approaches the frontier .... 373 The Emperor still anxious to avoid a war . . . 374 His fears for Poland . . .... 375 Change in the Spanish Ministry. Death of Leopold. Assassination of Gustavus III. ..... 375 The Polish Qiiestion. Signs of the conspiracy forming against Poland , . 376 Whitworth discovers the intentions of Catherine . . 378 The King of Prussia agrees to a partition .... 379 Keith describes the position of the Court of Vienna . . 380 Approach of the French War. Attitude of the Powers . 380 Austrian reply to the French ultimatum .... 380 The war party triumph in France. Anarchy of the country 382 France declares war against the Emperor . . . 383 CHAPTBE III. Relations of France and Erigland. Great distrust of Leopold in England .... 385 But no fear of danger from France ..... 386 Pacific King's speech, Jan. 1792 . . . . . 388 Reduction of the army and navy. Sinking fund , . 388 French diplomatists distrust England .... 389 Mission of Talleyrand ....... 391 Amicable relations of the two countries. ChauveUn sent to England 396 His instructions ........ 397 His first impression of English politics .... 400 Personal unpopularity of Chauvelin and Talleyrand . . 402 Their intercourse with the Opposition .... 403 Gower's report on the French army ..... 403 State of English politics 405 Attempted coalition. Close of the Indian War . . 405 French defeats in the Netherlands. Hopes of speedy peace 406 Lewis XVI. -breaks with his Girondin ministers . . 409 The Tuileries captured (June 20) 409 XVI CONTENTS. Indiscretion of Chauvelin. Neutrality of Hanover Proclamation of the Duke of Brunswick (July 26) Its origin. Marie Antoinette and Mallet du Pan Increase of Jacobinism. Death.of Paul Jones . Grenville refuses to interfere in favour of the King PAOB 409 410 411 415 416 The Invasion of 'France. Extent of th!e Coalition. Predictions of its triumph . . 417 French frontier crossed (Aug. 19) ..... 418 Revolution of Aug. 10. Monarchy abolished . . . 418 Recall of Lord Gower ....... 420 Not considered in France a hostile measure . . . 424 Dilatoriness of Brunswick. Opinion of Mortis . . . 425 Capture of Longwy and Verdun. Siege of Thionville . 426 Jacobin ascendency in Paris ...... 427 The September massacres ...... 429 Their effect on English statesmen ..... 431 Battle of Valmy 434 Retreat of the allies (Sept. 30) 436 The Revolution Triumpfiavf; Austrian attack on Lille repelled 436 Conquest of Savoy and Nice ...... 436 Custine invades Germany. Character of the war . .. 437 Disputes with Geneva and Spain. French emissaries . 438 Dumouriez invades and conquers Flanders . . . 439 The King of Naples humiliated ..... 440 Boundless confidence of the Revolutionists . . . 441 Negotiations with England. Chauvelin declares England to have no ill-will to France . 441 French Minister differs from him. New agents sent to .England 444 Chauvelin takes a more hostile turn ..... 446 Du Roveray demands speedy recognition of the Republic , 446 Chauvelin's picture of English opinion (Oct. Nov.) . . 447 Lebrun's policy . ...... 449 Despatches of Noel ........ 449 Grenville's opinions and policy ..... 451 Prosecution of Paine. English addresses to the Convention 453 Great distress. Growing sedition in England . . . 455 Grenville's estimate of the danger ..... 456 French provocations. Decree of Nov. 19 ... 457 The Belgic provinces passing under French rule . . 458 Pitt's chief anxiety about Holland ..... 460 French encouragement of disaffected Dutchmen . . 460 Grenville to Auckland. Nov. 6 ..... 461 England assures Holland of her determination to fulfil the 'Treaty of Alliance 463 Negotiations opened with Berlin and Vieima . . . 464 Disquieting news from. Holland 466 CONTENTS. XVll PAGE French Provocations to Holland. French Generals ordered to pursue the Austrians even on Dutch territory ...... . 469 Decree opening the Scheldt and Meuse . . . 469 Threatening letter of Clavi^re ... . . 471 General Eustache demands -access to Maestricht . . 471 French ships sail up the Scheldt . . • . 472 French intrigues with Dutch ' Patriots ' . . . . 472 Recall of De Maulde. His interview with the Pensionary 473 Gained over by England ....... 474 Compromising papers seized at Utrecht .... 475 Auckland's opinion of the danger . . 476 Grenville calls on Holland to arm ..... 478 English militia called out. Parliament summoned . . 480 Division among the Whigs ...... 481 The Alien Bill. Incendiary speeches of Fox . . . 482 His French sympathies repudiated in his own party . . 484 His followers a sinall minority . ... 486 French reform the Government of Flanders on the French type . . .... 487 Decree of Dec. 15 487 French reverses . ... 489 Position of Poland . . . . 489 Invaded by the Russians . . . 490 Conduct of Prussia towards Poland ..... 492 Explanation on the Polish question to Grenville. English protests ..... ... 499 Increasing arrogance of Chauvelin ..... 601 Instructions of Lebrun ....... 502 Mission of Maret. His interview with Pitt . . . 504 French Ministers decline a secret negotiation . . . 506 Warlike tendencies of English opinion . . , 507 Attitude of the Opposition . ... 508 Invasion of Holland suspended ..... 509 Violence at Paris. Refusal to restrict the decree of Nov. 19 to the enemies of France ..... 509 Chauvelin's note, Dec. 27, 1792 . . . . 510 Grenville's communication to Russia . . 512 His reply to Chauvelin, Dec. 31 ..... 513 Circular of Monge ........ 516 The Dutch Constitution impedes military preparation 517 De Curt and the French West Indies . . 518 Notes of Chauvelin and Lebrun (Jan. 7, 13) . . 524 English reasons for believing in war .... 520 Report of Brissot. French fleet armed and increased . 525 Replies of Grenville to Chauvelin . . 526 Letter of Miles to Maret . . . . . 526 Proposed exchange of the Netherlands for Bavaria . 527 Signs of a coming invasion of Holland .... 528 2 XVm CONTENTS. PAGE Peace party in France. Supported by Dumouriez . . 531 Grounds for the hostility of Dumouriez to the Jacobins . 531 Deplorable state of his army ...... 533 Dumouriez commissioned to negotiate with Auckland . 535 De Maulde's visits to Auckland ..... 535 .Execution of Lewis XVI 539 Its effect in England 540 Dismissal of Chauvelin. King's message to Parliament . 540 Lebrun's letter recalling Chauvelin . . . 542 Maret sent to London ....... 543 His report to Lebruu ....... 545 The Convention declare war against England and Holland 546 Maret quits London ....... 547 Terras of a proposed English alliance with Prussia and the Emperor ......... 548 Proposed representation to France ..... 550 Ought England to be blamed for the French War? . . 551 Changes in the character of the war. Pitt's blindness to its magnitude ........ 554 The opening of the French War begins a new era in Eng- lish politics ......... 556 THE FRENCH EEYOLUTION CHAPTEE I.i There are no pages in history more instructive, and there are few which are more humiliating and depressing, than those which record the judgments of great thinkers and politicians on the verge of the changes that have most profoundly affected the destiny of mankind. The triumph of Christianity in the Roman Empire, and the great religious reformation of the sixteenth century, had both been prepared by influences that had interacted and co-operated through many generations, yet each of them appears to have fallen upon the governing classes of Europe almost as a surprise. The French Revolution, at which we are now arrived, was only inferior to these in its magnitude and its significance, and I propose to devote the present chapter to a brief examination of the causes that produced it, the degree in which it was pre- dicted, and the manner in which it was judged. Such an examination can hardly be regarded altogether as a digression, for the French Revolution influenced English history in the latter years of the eighteenth century more profoundly than any other single event. It gave a completely new direction and character to the Ministry of Pitt ; it determined absolutely, for nearly a genera- tion, the course of English foreign policy ; and while it was itself largely influenced by political speculations of English origin, it in its turn reacted most powerfully on the internal policy, and on the modes of political thought prevailing in England. ' Chapter xviii. Leoky's History of England in the EigMeenth Century^ 2 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. i. Of its antecedents or causes the literary and philo- Bophical were those which attracted most attention. There is no more striking picture in intellectual history than is furnished by that great literature which arose amid the profound political and moral decrepitude of the reign of Lewis XV., filling Europe with its splendour and its influence ; and it was impossible for the most superficial observer to overlook the immense difierence of tendency and character that separated it from the French literature of the seventeenth century. A few writers of the earlier period were, no doubt, partial excep- tions. The ' Method ' of Descartes, the ' Telemachus ' of Fenelon, above all the critical writings of Bayle, threw out ideas which appeared to belong to a later age, but in general there runs through the great French literature of the seventeenth century a profound content with the existing order in Church and State, an entire absence of the spirit of disquiet, scepticism, and innovation that leads to organic change. But from the death of Lewis XIV. a complete change of spirit may be detected. The mingled austerity and hypocrisy of the latter days of Lewis XIV. had produced a reaction very similar to that which followed the Commonwealth in England ; but it was supported by men of far higher intellect and of far loftier aims. At this time Voltaire began that wonderful career, unparalleled in its brilliancy and ver- satility, almost unparalleled in the deep contrasts of its good and evil. The ' OEdipus,' which was his first tragedy, was represented in 1718, and it contained two famous lines which clearly foreshadowed the mission of his life.' The ' Epistle to Urania,' which was written, though not published, before Voltaire visited England, already expressed in the clearest and fullest form both his total disbelief in the Christian feith and his firm and genuine theism. The ' Persian Letters ' of Mon< • • Nos prfitres ne sont pas oe qu'un vain peuple pense, Notre crSdulit^ fait toute leur science.' OH. I. MONTESQUIEU AND VOLTAIEE. 6 tesquieu, which were published in 1721, contained the germ of a great part of the characteristic speculation of the century, and the remarkable junction of the French and English intellect which took place in the next few years, and which was admirably represented by Voltaire's ' Letters on the English,' strengthened the new ten- dencies. Montesquieu spent two and Voltaire nearly three years in England, and the effects of these visits may be traced through the whole of their later lives. The philosophies of Bacon, Newton, and Locke; the writings of the English deists ; English notions of liberty ; English canons of criticism, were soon made familiar to the French public, and up to the very eve of the Revolution nearly all the best works of English literature were translated and studied. It was soon seen that men of letters were rising to a new influence and importance in France, but until the middle of the century had passed they cannot be said to have been openly and systematically hostile to the Church. Religious scepticism had, indeed, already spread widely through Paris society.' A Church in which Dubois was a cardinal, and was unanimously elected by the Bishops president of their general as- sembly,^ neither deserved nor obtained respect, and in all the many departments of knowledge that were now explored a new spirit of independence was displayed, but as yet literary activity in France was turned chiefly to imaginative literatiire or to departments of serious literature very remote from theological or political revo- lution. The two great works of Montesquieu — ' The Causes of the Decline of the Roman Republic,' which appeared in 1734, and 'The Spirit of the Laws,' which appeared in 1748 — were books to teach the teachers, but certainly not to inflame the passions of men ; and ' Bocquain, Z'Ssprit Bevoiutumnaire avant la lievolution, pp. 83, 34. = Ibid, [There is now a condensed English tranalntion of Eocquain.— Ed.] 4 THE FEENCH EEVOLDTION. oh. i. most of the writings of Voltaire during the same period could have given little or no legitimate offence. In addition to his ' Letters on the English,' he produced during these years his ' Henriade ' and several of his other poems, several of his noblest dramas, his popular ex- position of the philosophy of Newton, and his ' History of Charles XII.,' and at this time also he composed, wholly or in part, though he did not yet publish, hia ' History of Lewis XIV.,' his ' History of Manners,' and that shameful work of genius, his ' Pucelle.' During the fifteen fruitful and happy years from 1734 to 1749, which he spent chiefly at Cirey with Madame du Cha- telet, he was largely occupied with pursuits that were exceedingly remote from revolution. One of his great objects was to introduce into France the English habit of burying the dead outside the limits of towns and away from centres of population. Another was to diffuse the practice of inoculation. He wrote a scien- tific memoir on the nature of fire, and another on the motive forces, and he occupied himself keenly with geometry, and with a comparison of the philosophies of Descartes, Newton, Leibnitz, and Euler.' He had already found how impossible it was for a man of letters to live unmolested in France. Im- mediately after the death of Lewis XIV. he had been confined for nearly eleven months in the Bastille on a false charge of having written a satire on the memory of that prince. In 1725, having attempted to resent an outrageous insult by the Chevalier de Rohan Chabot, he was again arbitrarily imprisoned and then exiled trom France. On his return he was refused permission to print his tragedy on ' The Death of Caesar,' because he had treated Brutus with respect. He was exiled from Paris because in his ' Elegy on the Death of Saigey, La Physique de Voltaire. on. 1. VOLTAIKE AND THE GOVEENMENT. 5 Lecouvreur,' he had censured the bigotry which, on account of her profession, denied that great actress Christian burial. His ' Letters on the English,' though a most temperate and truthful description of the ten- dencies of English thought and character, were burnt by the public executioner. His ' History of Charles XII.' was printed by permission, but the permission was afterwards withdrawn, and he was obliged to go to Holland to print his ' Elements of the Philosophy of Newton,' as the French Government refused permission to print a work which was opposed to the system of Descartes. The only liberty for which he at this time really cared was a very moderate amount of liberty of thought and writing, and he was extremely anxious to place himself under the protection and patronage of the Court. In consequence of the opera ballet of ' The Princess of Navarre,' which was played before the King, and through the favour of Madame de Pompadour, he for a time succeeded ; he was made Gentleman of the Court and historiographer to the King, and was shortly after elected to a seat in the French Academy, purchasing his success by a shameful profession of his attachment to the Catholic faith and to the Jesuits. He was profuse in his flatteries to the King and the King's mistresses, and he dedicated his 'Tragedy of Mahomet ' to Pope Benedict XIV., and received from the Pope a complimentary letter. He soon, however, fell into disfavour with the French Court. Voltaire indeed could flatter grossly ; he could lie shamelessly ; he had no scruples in baffling tyran- nical laws by disavowing or denying his works, and in professing opinions which he did not hold, with all the solemnities of a religion which he heartily despised ; but a life of continued hypocrisy and reticence was impos- sible to his nature. To think and write freely ; to utter every thought that passed through the most fertile, b THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. .. brilliant, petulant, and capricious of human brains, was with him an imperative need, and he soon found that he could only attain it in a foreign land. After his journey to Berlin and his famous quarrel with Frederick, he had a long period of hesitation, but he at last resolved to retire to Switzerland. He was then past sixty, but his energies were as powerful and his intellect was as youthful and as buoyant as when he had visited England. He had now wealth and a real inde- pendence, and, casting aside nearly all other pleasures and ambitions, he threw himself into the task of his life with an industry and a fertility that have scarcely ever been equalled. To this period belong many of those works which are among the most enduring monuments of French literature. To this period belong the noble efforts in favour of the family of the murdered Galas, and of many other victims of ecclesiastical or judicial persecution, which constitute the chief moral glory of his life ; ' and to this period also belong his systematic and persistent' attacks upon the Christian faith. He assailed it with the most fiery impetuosity for nearly twenty years ; sometimes by serious argument and in works of considerable value, but chiefly by showers of anonymous pamphlets, lampoons, dialogues, parodies, or letters, which were printed for the most part under false names and in foreign printing presses, but were eagerly bought and read throughout France. At the same time he maintained a vast correspondence with the leading writers in Paris, and it was his main object to combine them in a great and systematic attempt to sap the creed which he believed to be the root of the superstition and the intolerance of France. French literature had never been so brilliant as in the second half of the eighteenth century. Buffon, ' See a very full and excellent account of these efforts in Mr, Parton's Life of Voltaire, ii. 352-407. OH. I. ANTI-CHEISTIAN LITEEATUEE. 7 Diderot, D'Alembert, Eousseau, Duclos, Condillac, HelvStius, Holbach, Raynal, Condorcet, Mably, and many others adorned it, and the ' Encyclopaedia,' which was begun in 1751 under the direction of Diderot, became the focus of an intellectual influence which has rarely been equalled. The name and idea were taken from a work published by Bphraim Chambers in Dublin in 1728. A noble preliminary discourse was written by D'Alembert ; and all the best pens in France were enlisted in the enterprise, which was con- stantly encouraged and largely assisted by Voltaire. Twice it was suppressed by authority, but the interdict was again raised. Popular favour now ran with an irresistible force in favour of the pliilodophers, and the work was brought to its conclusion in 1771. This is not the place to estimate the immense ser- vice rendered by the French writers of this time to physical science, to jurisprudence, to political economy, to nearly every branch of human knowledge. It is sufficient here to mention that almost the whole of this literature was opposed to the recognised religion of the country, though the writers differed greatly both in the degree of their hostility and in their own positive opinions. Voltaire and Rousseau were firm believers in the truths of natural religion, and Voltaire, while inces- santly attacking revealed religion with every weapon of argument, eloquence, invective, ridicule, and buffoon- ery, has left many admirable pages in defence of the existence of God, the freedom of the will, the eternal distinction between right and wrong, and the absolute necessity of religious belief to the well-being of society. But Holbach, Diderot, and their followers were simple atheists, and atheism had never been advocated so boldly or unequivocally as in France between 1758 and 1776. The treatise of HelvStius on ' Mind,' which appeared in 1758, and which traced the whole superiority of man 8 THE FEENCII REVOLUTION. oh. i. over the animals to the structure of the human hand, and the ' System of Nature ' by Holbach, which appeared in 1770, and which was perhaps the most elaborate de- fence of atheism ever published, were welcomed with enthusiasm ; a system of metaphysics which reduced all knowledge to the impressions of the senses, and a passion for physical science which directed attention mainly to the external world, strengthened the tendency, and there is overwhelming evidence that at the eve of the Revolution almost all the guiding intellects and the immense majority of the educated classes of France, however they might be divided on the question of atheism or deism, were total disbelievers in the Church which was alone recognised by law, and which was endowed with vast power, privileges, and wealth. There were still, indeed, men of splendid talents in its ranks, but they were men who had embraced or been forced into the ecclesiastical profession as a mere lucrative calling, and were utterly indifferent to its doctrines. Such a man was Talleyrand, the Bishop of Autun, and such were the Abbe St. Pierre, the Abb6 Raynal, the Abb6 de Condillac, the Abb6 Morellet, the Abbe Siey6s, the Abbs Deschamps. But since the destruction of Jan- senism, all the independent characters, and all the honest ititellect of France, seemed alienated from the Christian faith. Fashion, which in no other country was so powerful, was on the same side. The most brilliant salons of Paris, almost the whole body of the Court aristocracy,' a great part even of the higher clergy,^ had caught the prevailing tone. Among the poorer aristocracy, who were thinly scattered over the country districts, and especially among the legal or parliamentary nobility, there might still be found a ' See the striking and vivid ' Taine, Ancien Rigime, pp. picture in the Mimoi/res de Sigur, 881-384. i. 26-28 ; ii. 53-57. OH. I. PERSECUTION OF PROTESTANTS. 9 strong attachment to the old decorous manners, and to the forms of old belief, and there was still much real and sober religious life among the country cur§s ; but the utter absence of any considerable literary effort, either serious or satirical, to stem the tide, showed how completely the philosophical party had conquered or absorbed the intellect of France. The Desfontaines, the Fr6rons, the Palisots, the Linguets, the La Beau- melles, the Bergiers, the ' Annfie littSraire ' and the ' Journal de Trevoux ' had scarcely any real influence upon opinion, and all the efforts of the enemies of the philosophers have been unable to galvanise them into any semblance of reputation. The significance of these facts is very great, but it is much increased when we remember that the Church which was so discredited, so corrupt, and at the same time so intellectually despicable, was a persecuting Church connected with a persecuting government. I have elsewhere described the atrocious provisions of the law that was made in 1724 against the French Protest- ants, and four years later Fleury issued a declaration condemning to prison or to the galleys anyone who printed anything in France contrary to papal bulls.' In the full blaze of the civilisation of the eighteenth century, hundreds of French Protestants were condemned to the galleys or to long periods of imprisonment for the crime of attending their religious worship ; women were flogged ; children were torn from their parents, and more than one Protestant pastor was executed.^ In 1757 a new edict was issued threatening with death anyone who wrote, printed, or sold any work attacking • Vol. i. p. 337. Eooquain, Ancien Begime, pp. 78-81 ; Sis- L'Esprit Bivolutionnaire avant mondi, Sist. des Franqais, xx. ia Bivolution, p. 49. 178. ' Vol. i. pp. 336-338 ; Taine, 10 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. i. . religion or the royal authority.' Up to the period of the Revolution nothing could be legally printed in Prance, and no book could be imported into Prance without Government authorisation, and in 1789 there were no less than 169 persons employed in the censor- ship of books.^ The severities of the Government were exercised not only against books on religion, or govern- ment, or finance, but even against books relating to the most abstruse branches of physics and metaphysics.* One of Voltaire's printers was condemned to nine years in the galleys, and eight printers and binders employed in the same printing office were condemned to the pil- lory and three years of banishment.'* During the whole of the reign of Lewis XV. there was scarcely a work of importance which was not burnt or suppressed, while the greater number of the writers who were at this time the special and almost the only glory of Prance, were imprisoned, banished, or fined. Their works, however, circulated far and wide, and in the early years of Lewis XVI. a more liberal adminis- tration and the overwhelming pressure of public opinion broke down the persecution. Still the toleration was' pre- carious, intermittent, and unsanctioned by law, and the Church was openly hostile to it. In 1 7 70 the whole body of the Prench bishops drew up a memoir to the King ' on the dangerous consequences of liberty of thinking and printing.' ° In 1780 they presented a new memoir pro- testing against the admission of Protestants to public em- ployments, and against any relaxation of the laws against heresy, and at the same time strenuously demanding an increased severity against anti-Christian writings.^ Up ' Eooquain, p. 204. of Civilisation, i. 671-682. « GranierdeCassagnao, Causes ■* Parton's Life of Toifeiire, ii ie la Bivohition, i. 28, 29. 299. ' See the list of condemned ' Eoquain, p. 275. books in Granier de Gaasagnac, ' Ibid. pp. 381-383. i.32-34. See, too, Buckle's ilisi. OH. I. SCEPTICISM AND EEVOLUTION. 11 to the very eve of the French Revolution the marriages of French Protestants were invalid, and unrecognised by law ; and when this scandalous abuse was at last abo- lished in 1788 by Brienne, his measure giving non- Catholics the rights of citizenship in France was carried with difficulty through the Parliaments, in the face of a furious opposition raised by an important section of the French clergy.' The spirit of reform had twice appeared in France associated with strong positive Christian beliefs, and with a code of severe and even austere morality, and twice by the assistance of the State the French Church had succeeded in crushing it. She had driven from the land the Huguenots, who represented the very flower of the industrial population. She had humbled and sup- pressed the Jansenists, who included the finest intellects and purest characters within her pale. A new enemy was now at her doors. The very foundations of Christian and even Theistic belief were giving way, and the code of morals was by no means untouched. The hostility between the intellectual classes and the clergy, the col- lision between legal authorities and public opinion, and the almost total destruction of Catholic belief among educated Frenchmen, had a real and a considerable part in preparing the Revolution. All respect and reverence had ebbed away from one of the great institutions of the country. The empire of authority, prescription, and tradition over the minds of men was broken, and it became easy, when the storm of Revolution began, to turn the movement against Church property. At the same time, if the religious movement had stood alone, it is exceedingly improbable that it would have led to any sanguinary convulsion. History fur- nishes us with several examples of periods of great re- ' ChSrest, La Chute de I'Ancien Bdgime, i. 382-396. 12 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. i. ligious decadence, and it abundantly shows that such convulsions are by no means their natural accompani- ments. The evils to be feared at such a time are of another kind — ^the decline of morals when the dogmas with which they had been associated are abandoned, a relaxation of energy, a material, selfish, epicurean cast both of thought and character. The purest and noblest blood has been shed like water in connection with reli- gious beliefs ; but it has not been shed by the sceptic, but by the believer. Mohammedan fanaticism, the Cru- sades, the massacres of the Albigenses and of St. Bartho- lomew, the long religious wars that desolated Etirope, the savage persecutions of Protestants by Catholics, of Catholics by Protestants, and of witches by both, were due to a spirit which was very different from that of Voltaire. Regicide has found its strongest advocates in the writings of Jesuit theologians, and the fanaticism and heroism of revolt have never been more fully dis- played than among the Huguenots of France, the Ana- baptists of Germany, and the Covenanters of Scotland. But there is certainly no natural or necessary affinity between freethinking in religion, and democracy in politics. In England, Hobbes, who was the first very considerable freethinker, constructed the political philo- Bophy which is beyond all others favourable to despotism. Bolingbroke was the most brilliant leader of the Tory party. Hume was the best exponent of the Tory view of English history, and all his sympathies were with a benevolent despotism. Gibbon, as a quiet Tory mem- ber, steadily supported the American policy of North ; and when the French Eevolution broke out, his judg- ment of it was precisely similar to that of Burke. In France, Bayle wrote with horror of the democratic and seditious principles disseminated among French Hugue- nots, and there ia no reason to believe that the great writers of the period of the ' EncyclopsBdia ' were ani- OH. I. POLITICS OF VOLTAIEE. 13 mated by a different spirit. Two only, Grimm and Ray- nal, survived till the Revolution, The first left Prance in disgust. The second wrote an eloquent letter, de- nouncing with the utmost detestation the events that were occurring. Of all the great French writers of the eighteenth century, Rousseau had the largest influence on the Revolution, and among those writers Rousseau was in religious matters one of the most conservative. Voltaire in his theory of government was essentially monarchical. In a writer who was so voluminous, and at the same time so infinitely mobile and various, a perfect consistency cannot be expected ; but in spite of occasional and warm eulogies of the constitutions of England, Holland, and Geneva, this aspect of his teach- ing is too evident to be overlooked. His admiration of the English Constitution was mainly based upon the freedom of thought and writing which it secured, and he seems to have been very slightly impressed with its Parliament. The whole tendency of his mind was to favour administrative reform rather than organic change. His political writings display most eminently the ad- mirable good sense and moderation of opinion, and the no less admirable good nature and humanity, which amid all his caprices, petulances, and meannesses, never wholly abandoned him ; but they are quite as remark- able for what they omit, as for what they contain. Ho desired a complete abolition of the laws restricting or destroying the liberty of the press ; of the laws against witches, and of the laws of religious persecution. It might not, he acknowledged, be prudent or necessary to admit Protestants to municipal or other dignities, or to permit them to build public churches ; but their mar- riages should be fully legal ; they should be as free as other citizens in educating their children, and inheriting property, and as long as they remained peaceful subjects, they should enjoy the full protection of the law. The 14 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. i. penal code he desired to see thoroughly reformed. He advocated the abolition of torture, of mutilation, of all forms of agonising or prolonged death, and also a great restriction in the number of capital offences. He wished the extravagant penalties which French law decreed against sacrilege to be mitigated, and the law which insulted the body, and confiscated the property of the suicide, to be repealed. No one wrote better on the folly of punishing murder and robbery by the same capital penalty, and thus making it the direct interest of the robber to assassinate his victim ; on the barbarity of making confiscation of goods an element of punish- ment, and thus beggaring the children for the crime of the father ; on the injustice of keeping accused persons before their trial in solitary confinement, and restricting their right of examining their witnesses ; on the evils of the excessive intricacy and diversity of French civil law, which varied in almost every province ; on the necessity of improving the administration and condition of the prisons. Turning to other subjects, he wished to abolish the sale of ofiRces, to diminish the taxes on articles of first necessity, to equalise taxation, to repeal the re- strictions on the internal commerce of com, to put an end to the enforced idleness of many Church holidays, to restrict the power of the priests in prescribing de- grading penances, and excessive abstinences. He wrote with great fervour against the serfdom which stUl lingered in Franche-Oomte, and some other parts of France. He defended the right of the serfs in the Jura against their monastic oppressors, and he welcomed with enthusiasm the administration and the reforms of Turgot. His keen and luminous intellect judged with admir- able precision most of the popular delusions of his time. He exposed with great force the common error which confounds all wealth with the precious metals. Ha an. I. POLITICS OF VOLTAIEE. 15 wrote against sumptuary laws. He refuted Eousseau's doctrine of the evil of all luxury. He had little sym- pathy with the prevailing tendency to aggrandise im- measurably the functions of the State, and he protested against the wild notions of equality that were coming into fashion. What should be aimed at, he wrote, is not 'the absurd and impossible equality that would confound the servant and the master, the workman and the magistrate, the pleader and the judge. It is rather equality such as exists in Switzerland, where every citizen depends only on the law, which maintains the liberty of the weak against the ambition of the strong.' 'Men are essentially equal, but they are intended to play different parts on the stage of Life.' At the same time, while strongly maintaining the necessity and ex- pediency of different orders and ranks, he wrote with admirable wisdom about the excessive division of classes that prevailed both in France and Germany.' ' A mer- chant hears his profession so often spoken of with con- tempt that he is fooUsh enough to blush for it himself. Yet who is the more useful to the State — a well- powdered nobleman who knows exactly when the Eng rises and when he goes to bed, and who gives himself airs of grandeur while playing the part of a slave in the antechamber of a minister, or a merchant who enriches his country, sends his orders to India and Egypt, and contributes to the happiness of the world ? ' He spoke ■ The division of classes was, le r^gne de Louis XV., et I'amour however, gradnaUy diminisliing de I'argent mit en relation de even in France. Necker writes consanguinity la haute noblesse on the subject : ' Indiquons en- et les hommes k grande fortune, core les mesalliances oomme une la haute noblesse et la haute alteration aux vieilles habitudes finance ; car ce dernier nom fut et aux prejugfe, si Ton veut, qui alors invents par les gens de la eervoient £b entretenir I'^clat de cour afin d'omer uu peu leura la noblesse. Ces mesalliances nouveaux parens.' — Necker, 'Sut turent multipliees k rexc^s soub la Bdvolutiou,' (Euvres, is. 12S. 3 16 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. ch. u with admiration of the custom in England — a custom, which, he says, was passing too much out of fashion — of younger sons of the nobility going into commerce.' He mentions that when Lord Townshend was Minister of the Crown, he had a brother who was a merchant in the City, and that, while Lord Oxford was governing England, his brother lived and died contentedly as a factor at Aleppo, and he predicted in a few admirable sentences the necessary growth of the commercial classes. ' The gains of commerce having increased, and the reve- nues from public offices having diminished in real value, there is less wealth than formerly among the great, and more among the middle class, and this in itself dimin- ishes the distance between men. There was once no resource for the small except to serve the great. Now industry has opened a thousand ways which were not known a hundred years ago.' ^ And in perfect accordance with these ways of judg- ing the present, were his views about the past. No previous writer can compare with him in the wideness and justness of his conception of history, and even now no historian can read without profit his essays on the subject. No one before had so strongly urged that his- tory should not be treated as a collection of pictures or anecdotes relating to Courts and battles, but should be made a record and explanation of the true development of nations, of the causes of their growth and decay, of their characteristic virtues and vices, of the changes that pass over their laws, customs, opinions, social and economical conditions, and over the relative importance and well-being of their different classes. Many of these views have so completely triumphed that they have become commonplace, but it is difficult ' See his ' Lettres sur la Com- ' SUcle de Louis XI7. oh. merce ; ' OSuvrea de Voltaire, zzz, aziv. a, 46. OH. I. POLITICS OF VOLTAIEE. 17 to over-estimate the services of the great man who did the most, when they were yet unrecognised or contested, to popularise and to defend them. But beyond these Voltaire refused to go, and he had not the smallest sympathy with democratic ideas. Popular representa- tion, and government by majorities, were completely foreign to his thoughts, and at a time when despotism was the prevailing form of government throughout Eu- rope his strongest sympathies were with royal authority. He would probably have agreed with the saying of Plato,' that when a young, virtuous, enlightened and magnanimous despot is on the throne, and when he has found a great legislator to serve him, God himself can do little more for the happiness of the State. The power of the Sovereign was in his eyes the one efficient barrier against ecclesiastical encroachments, and the chief instrument in effecting reform. ' Who would have thought,' he wrote to D'Alembert in 1765, ' that the cause of kings would be that of philosophers ? but yet it is evident that the sages who refuse to admit two powers are the chief support of the royal authority.' ' ' The greatest evil that can befall a state,' he elsewhere said, ' is a contested legislative power. The happiest years of the monarchy have been those of Henry IV., Lewis XIV. and Lewis XV. when these kings governed by themselves. There ought never to be two powers in. a state. . . . The presence of philosophers is of great use to a prince and to a state, ... for philosophers destroy superstition, which is always the enemy of princes.' ' Even on the rare occasions when he leaned towards a Eepublican Government, he showed himself utterly opposed to the idea of universal suffrage and poli- tical equality. ' There never,' he once wrote, ' was a ' Laws, Vk. iv. ' See Strauss' Vie de Voltaire, pp. 280, 28L • La Voix du Sage et du Peu^U. 18 THE FEENCH EEVOLTJTION. oh. i. perfect government, for men are always influenced by passions, and if they had no passions they would need no government. The most tolerable of all governments is undoubtedly the republican, because it is that which places men most in their position of natural equality. Every father of a family ought to be master in his own house and not in the house of his neighbour ; as a country is composed of many houses and many landed properties attached to them, it is contradictory that a single man should be master of these houses and of these properties, and it is natural that each master should have a voice in deciding on the welfare of the society. But should those who possess neither house nor land in the society have a voice ? They have no more right to it than a clerk paid by merchants has to regulate their commerce, but they may be made part- ners if they have rendered some special service or have paid for their partnership.' • In general, however, Voltaire was quite indifierent to representative government, provided the Sovereign regulated his conduct by fixed law, gave religious and intellectual liberty to his people, and favoured adminis- trative reform. Democratic government was equally repugnant to his judgment and to his tastes. All his leanings were towards rank and culture and refinement ; and while sincerely desiring to improve the material ' Id/es BipubUcaines. In one tli^ologien, aprJs avoir 6crit qu'il of his letters in 1760 (Sept. 20) ne falloit persecutor peraonne, he expressed yery frankly his pas mtoe ceux qui niaient la genuine opinion about republics: Trinity, fit brfller, tout vif, et * Si vous vous souvenez que les avec des fagots verts, nn Espag- Hollandais ont mangfi sur le gril nol qui s'exprimait sur la Trinity le oteur des deux fr^res De Witt ; autrement que lui ; en v6rit6, si voua songez que ces bons Monsieur, vous en conclurez qu'il Suisses mes voisins ont vendu le n'y a pas plus de vertu dans lea due Louis Sforce pour de I'argent rApubliques que dans les mon- comptant ; si vous songez que le archies.' — QSuvres de VoltaAre, r^publicain Jean Calvin, ce dlgne 1. 419. 420. OH. I. POLITICS OF VOLTAIEE. 19 condition of the masses of mankind, he had very little genuine sympathy with them, and an utter disbelief in their capacities. He could not forgive Shakespeare for his close contact and sympathy with common types of life and character, and for his complete disregard of the conventional elegancies and stateliness of the French stage ; and his ignoble sneers at the humble origin of the Maid of Orleans, and at the poor relations of Eous- seau, disclose a feeling which was expressed in innu- merable passages in his confidential letters. ' We have never,' he once wrote, ' pretended to enlighten shoe- makers and servants.' 'The true public is always a minority. The rest is the vulgar. Work for the little public' ' What the populace requires is guidance and not instruction — it is not worthy of the latter.' 'It is not the day-labourer, but the good bourgeois who needs instruction.' ^ No English Tory indeed, of the eighteenth century, can have believed less in popular enlightenment, and especially in popular government, than this brilliant Frenchman. There is in all great writers, in addition to their definite teaching, a certain tone which runs through all they write, and greatly determines their influence on the world. That of Vol- taire is very clearly marked. It is a mixture of scepti- cism, humanity, and practical good sense; with very little reverence and elevation, and without a tinge of mysticism or fanaticism. Aiming at no high or imprac- ticable ideal ; turning away from self-analysis, self- denial, and useless speculation ; meeting the perplexities of life with a smile of high-bred epicurean banter; ' CEuvres de Voltaire, U. 103 ; like those I have quoted may be UH. 318, 326 ; Ixii. 460. See on found in the correspondence of this aspect of Voltaire, Desnoir- Voltaire. Bishop Dupanlonp, in esterres, Toltcmre et la SocUU his virulent but able Lett/res sur au XVIII' siicle, torn. vi. pp. le Centenaire de Voltaire (1878), 337-240. Many other passages has industriously collected them, 20 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. i.' seeking in all things for clear ideas and practical and tangible benefits, he accepted cheerfully the facts of life, applied the touchstone of his criticism to all the beliefs that were around him, and laboured steadily, within the limits of his ideals and of his sympathies, to make the world a wiser, happier, and better place than he found it. It is a philosophy which will always be that of a great part, and by no means the worst part of mankind, but it is not a philosophy which produces either passion, heroism, or Utopia, and no one who was thoroughly pervaded with the Voltairian spirit was ever a genuine Revolutionist. Voltaire must indeed always stand out as the most truly representative figure of that portion of the eighteenth century which preceded the Revolution, and he was not less representative in his limitations than in his qualities. In the profound insight and the power of pursuing long trains of connected thought which con- stitute a great philosopher ; in the higher imaginative gifts of a great poet ; in the moral depth, purity, and seriousness of a great character ; in the strong passions and sympathies which appeal to the deepest feelings in human nature, he was very deficient, but the world never saw a man more fitted to popularise great masses of obscure knowledge, and to influence widely and variously the opinions of men. Untiring industry, an extra- ordinary variety of interests and aptitudes, a judgment at once sound, moderate, and independent, a rare power of seizing in every subject the essential arguments or facts, a disposition to take no old opinions on trust and to leave no new opinions unexamined, combined in him with the most extraordinary literary talent. Never, perhaps, was there an intellect at once so luminoA, versatile, and flexible ; which produced so much ; which could deal with such a vast range of difficult subjects without being ever obscure, tangled, or dull. What he OH. 1. PEOGEESS OF EEFOEM. 21 wrote was often superficial in thouglit and knowledge, and marred by great faults of temper and character, but it was always transparently clear, almost always brilliant and graceful, admirably proportioned and ad- mirably arranged. He had the manners and some of the tastes of Court society ; his wit was almost as con- spicuous in conversation as in his writings, and though he was looked on with extreme disfavour by the rulers of France, he exercised a great influence on the chief sovereigns of his time. Frederick of Prussia, Catherine of Russia, Joseph II. of Austria, Gustavus III. of Sweden, Christian VII. of Denmark, Frederick of Hesse, and Stanislaus of Poland were among his friends, corre- spondents, or admirers; and chiefly through their in- fluence a new spirit of enlightenment and tolerance began to pervade the legislation of Europe. I have already mentioned the immense steps which had at this time been taken in the direction of religious toleration.' It had been formally recognised, not only in the chief Protestant countries, but also in the wide dominions of the Empress of Russia. It had been prac- tically admitted through the Austrian dominions. Even in Italy and Spain the power of the persecutor was effectually bridled, and the great persecuting order of the Jesuits was expelled from most European countries and finally suppressed by the Pope. In the half-century before the Revolution measures were taken formally abolishing torture in Prussia, Russia, Austria, Poland, Switzerland, Hesse, Tuscany, and Sweden; where it was not abolished it fell into general disuse, and over a great part of Europe the penal codes were revised and mitigated in accordance with the principles of Beccaria and Voltaire.^ The remnants of serfdom, and of other ' See vol. iv. pp. 300, 301. 1791, p. 210. Voltaire, Prix de ' See Anmial Register, 1776, la Justice et de VHumaniU, art. pp. 146, 191 ; 1786, p. 169 ; xxiv. ; Lea, Superstition and 22 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. i. feudal oppressions, were at the same time slowly but steadily disappearing. In Italy especially, where the philosophical movement was admirably represented by the writings of Beccaria, Filangieri, Genovesi, and Galanti, a great movement had long been in progress tor the purpose of abolishing feudal and mediaeval privi- leges relating to land or to exemptions from taxation. It had been begun as early as 1723 by Victor Amadeus in Piedmont. It was continued by the Lorraine princes in Tuscany, and it was soon carried out in Naples, Sicily, and Savoy.' In Germany serfdom and many feudal obligations still existed very widely up to the time of the Eevolution," but the State serfs in Pome- rania had been enfranchised as early asl719.* A simil ar measure was carried out on the State domains in Austria,* while in Denmark the last traces of villenage was abolished by royal authority,* In Poland, though serfdom continued, it had become, under the patronage of the King, a sort of fashion among the more exdight- ened nobles to give freedom to their peasants, and in the words of an excellent observer, ' The peasantry of the North were travelling fast towards perfect and universal liberty.' ^ The exclusiveness of rank was at the same time diminishing. Never before, except in the small republics of Italy, had commercial and mer- cantile interests occupied so great a place upon the Continent of Europe ; and in France especially, the immense number of the new nobility recruited from these classes and from the professions, was one of the Farce, pp. 386-389 ; Buckle's ' Doniol, p. 174. His*, of CwiUsation, ii. 107-110. * Annual Register, 1776, p. ,' See the history of this very 191. important movement in Doniol, ' Gentz, On the State of La involution Franqaise et la Europe, p. 81. Fiodaliti, pp. 190-200. « Annual Begister, 1791, p, ' Tooqueville, Ancien Bigime, 207. pp. 84, 35. CH. I. PEOGEESS OF EEFOEM. 23 most characteristic features of the time. Men like Colbert and Louvois and Vergennes and Sartine and Necker, whose families had very recently risen from humble positions, directed in a great measure the Go- vernment, while the social influence of literature was continually increasing. The changed spirit I have described was everywhere perceptible in the laws. It was still more perceptible in their administration, and. the immediate impulse of reform all over Europe appeared to come from the sovereigns. The language of Condorcet in describing the condition of continental Europe in the period be- tween the death of Descartes and the French Eevolu- tion, is very remarkable. In Prance, Spain, Hungary, and Bohemia, he says, the feeble traces of political liberty that had existed had disappeared, but these more or less real losses were more than compensated by the destruction of arbitrary aristocracies. The quality of man was more respected. Royal despotism destroyed the more grievous oppressions and humilia- tions of feudalism. A new spirit of equality passed into the laws. A kind of despotism arose which had been hitherto unknown in Europe. It was almost ab- solute by law, but it was at the same time restrained by opinion, directed by enlighLened views, and miti- gated by a regard to its own interest, and it often con- tributed largely to the increase of riches, industry, and instruction, and sometimes even to that of civil liberty. Manners were softened by the decay of prejudices ; by the growth of the industrial and commercial spirit ; by the horror which the recollection of the religious" wars had produced ; by the difiusion of philosophic ideas of equality and humanity. Religious intolerance still lingered in the statute-book, but it was now regarded as a matter of human prudence, a necessary homage to popular prejudices, a precaution against the effer- 24 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. i. vescence of popular passions. It had lost its old char- racter of ferocity and fanaticism. It took milder forms, and had of late years greatly diminished. Everywhere, and on all subjects, though slowly, and perhaps reluct- antly, the practice of governments has followed the march of opinion and even the ideas of the philosopher.' This was the nature of the reform that Voltaire and his followers desired, and the revolution to which they looked forward was a peaceful and a happy destruction of superstition, barharous laws, and feudal oppression, initiated and supported by royal authority. In a little treatise called the ' Voyage of Eeason,' which he wrote as late as 1774, he enumerates with exultation the many and great reforms which had been accomplished during the century, and boasts that the spirit of en- lightenment and toleration had descended upon all the chief Courts in Europe, and was not unknown even in the Vatican.'' ' Everything I see,' he once wrote, ' scatters the seeds of a revolution which will indubitably arrive, and which I shall not have the happiness to witness.' . . . ' The young are indeed happy, for they will see great things.' * ' The general weariness of Christianity,' wrote his follower Grimm, ' which is manifested in all parts, and especially in Catholic States, the disquiet which is vaguely agitating the minds of men, and lead- ing them to attack religious and political abuses, is a phenomenon as characteristic of our century as the spirit of reform was of the sixteenth, and it foreshadows an imminent and inevitable revolution. One may say that France is the centre of this revolution, which will ^ GonioioetfProgrisdel'Espnt pp. 69-88. Jmmain, pp. 189-192 (abridged). ' CEuvres de Voltaire, torn. Compare the striking picture of zl. pp. 438-449. the reforms in the generation ' See Bocquain, p. 245. Thig that preceded the Bevolution, in was in 1764. Gentz, On the State of Europe, CH. I. THE FEENCH PARLIAMENTS. 25 at least have this advantage over the preceding ones, that it will be effected without costing any blood.' ' It will appear, I think, from the foregoing considera- tions that the influence of Voltaire and his followers in producing the Revolution, though real, has been greatly exaggerated. The first important signs of political opposition, indeed, are not to be found in the writings of the philosophers, but in those conflicts between the Court and the Parliaments which fill a great part of the Prench history of the first seventy years of the eighteenth century. The Parliament of Paris and the twelve provincial parliaments, which at this time existed in France, were not representative and legislative assemblies. They were judicial and magisterial bodies — High Courts of Justice consisting of the most eminent lawyers nominated by the Crown. They were divided into different chambers, and they exercised the highest jurisdiction in their several provinces, but they also exercised two functions which were of a political nature. They had a right of remonstrating against the edicts of the King, and they claimed the much more important power of a veto upon legislation. When the King issued an edict he sent it to the Parliament of Paris to be registered ; it only acquired the force of law after this registration, and the Parliament claimed the right of delaying or withholding its sanction. This power, however, was contested, and the King pos- sessed an authority, which, when fully exerted, com- pletely annihilated it. He could go down to the Parlia- ment, and by holding what was called ' a bed of justice,' could by his simple order compel the Parliament to register his edict on pain of banishment or exile. But Orirnm et Dideiot, Correspondance, Jan. 1768. 26 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. i. such a measure was an extreme, and generally an un- popular one, and the fact that every law required the sanction, and was exposed to the criticism, of an inde- pendent judicial body, had a real importance in mitigat- ing the despotism of the Government. The King was able to override the wishes of the Parliament ; but if that body was supported by strong public opinion ; if any circum- stances had contributed to weaken the authority of the Crown ; and especially if a public loan depending for its success on the credit of the Government was required, the parliamentary opposition became very serious.' The political powers of the Parliament had passed through several phases, which are not altogether free from controversy and obscurity. At first, and for a long period, the registration of edicts was probably nothing more than a legal form attesting their authenti- city, but carrying with it no further power or responsi- bility. Under Lewis XI., however, the Parliament of Paris began, before registering edicts, to make remon- strances or observations about them to the King, and this grew into a recognised right. The dignity of the Parliament was much increased under Lewis XII., when the Court of Peers, drawn from the highest nobility, and exercising the highest jurisdiction, was united with it ; * and during the civil wars, and especially during the Fronde, its political power and activity were enor- mously increased. The strong government of Lewis XIV. reduced it again to complete political impotence. ' The part played by the Par- a,iidLCh&iest,LaChutedel'Ancien liaments in preparing the Eevo- Bigime, i. 234-241. See, too, lution has been recently investi- Louis Blano, Hist, de la B&oolu- gated with singular learning and tion, i. 437, 438 ; Mme. de Stael, impartiality by two admirable his- Consid. sur la Bivolution, i, 129- torians,whoaremuoh less known 154; Voltaire, Sist. du Parle- in England than they ought ment de f am. to be. Bocquain, L' Esprit Bivo- ' Cassagnao, Causes de la lutionrumre avant la BAvolution ; Bivolution, i. 346-3SS. OH. i. THE JANSENIST DISPUTE. 27 It was forbidden to remonstrate. It was at last allowed to make representations, but only eight days after it had duly registered the royal edict, and it was now mainly confined to its judicial functions. But in the weak Governments that followed the death of Lewis XIV. the Parliament regained its authority. It an- nulled the will of the late King; it settled the Kegency, and it soon made itself a most powerful organ of opinion. The sale of offices had given it a great independence, for its members now held permanent and hereditary posts which they had purchased, and which they re- garded as their absolute property.' The Parliament consisted chiefly of men who had sprung from the richest families of the third estate ; but it included some who belonged or wjre allied to the first families in France, while its influence extended to the subordinate law courts and to all the humbler members of the legal profession.^ With the growth of industry and commerce that pro- fession had been rising rapidly in importance, and all over Prance it looked up to the Parliament of Paris as its supreme representative. A body so constituted, so widely connected, and with such great powers of obstructing and directing the administration of justice, only needed a popular cause to be very formidable. It found this in the dispute between the Jesuits and the Jansenists, when the Court supported the former, and the Parliament, representing a great body of public opinion, constituted itself the champion of the latter. For the first time for many years there was a direct, open, and serious opposition to the Crown. The immediate cause was the famous ' See Tooqueyille, Ancien ' See the excellent remarks Bigime, p. 162 ; L. Blano, Hist. of Grimm on the influence of de la Bivolution, i. 435 ; Ch^rest, the Parliaments, Mini. Histo- La Chute de I' Ancien Bdgime, i. riqttes, vii. 232, 233. 238, 239. 28 THE FEENCH REVOLUTION. oh. i. Bull Unigenitus, which had been promulgated at the inspiration of the Jesuits, in 1713, condemning one hundred and one propositions in a work of the Jansenisfc Quesnel, and among others several relating to free grace, which appeared almost literally extracted from St. Paul and St. Augustine. The dispute raged incessantly from the time of the promulgation of the Bull ; and in 1 730 and the two following years it took a very acute form. An Archbishop of Paris attempted to compel his clergy formally to accept the Bull, and he excommunicated some who resisted. They consulted the lawyers, and forty Paris advocates drew up a memorial, inviting an appeal to the Parliament, and at the same time con- taining some sentences which, in a despotic monarchy, were deemed absolutely revolutionary. ' By the con- stitution of the kingdom,' they said, ' the Parliaments are the Senate of the nation ; the sovereign depositors of the laws of the State ; the representatives of the public authority.' They have supreme jurisdiction over all the members of the State. No one has a right to place himself above their decisions. ' Laws are essen- tially conventions between those who govern, and those who are governed.' These doctrines were censured by the Council of State as attacking the first principle of the French monarchy, which is, that the whole supreme power rests in the person of the King. The advocates, in their reply, acknowledged this principle ; but they still maintained that by the fundamental laws of the king- dom the Parliaments had a right of judging on appeal abuses of ecclesiastical authority. The lawyers of Paris and Rouen fully supported their colleagues, and the quarrel was envenomed by the appearance in the arena of several bishops on one side, and of the Parliament of Paris on the other. The Parliament ordered the sup- pression of a number of Episcopal pastorals denying its OH. 1. OPPOSITION OF THE PAELIAMENTS. 29 jurisdiction and censuring the advocates, and in Sep- tember 1731 it issued a decree asserting in the very words of old French laws that ' the temporal power is independent of all other Powers, that it alone has the right of restraining the subjects of the King, and that the ministers of the Church are accountable to the Par- liament, under the authority of the monarch, for the exercise of their jurisdiction.' Cardinal Fleury at this time directed the adminis- tration of France, and he deeply resented these proceed- ings. By the advice of his minister and of his Council, the King exiled eleven of the recalcitrant advocates; annulled the recent decree of Parliament ; forbade the Parliament to engage in any discussion on ecclesiastical questions, or on the limits between the temporal and ecclesiastical power, and refused to see the members when they went to remonstrate against this restriction of their rights. On the other hand, the advocates of Paris refused to plead in the law courts until their ex- iled colleagues were recalled, and the members of the Parliament threatened to resign their offices', and thus stop the whole administration of justice if their juris- diction and liberty were curtailed. They were sum- moned to Compidgne, and sternly rebuked by the King; but they pursued their course in defiance of the royal commands. They censured a new pastoral issued by the Archbishop of Paris, and forbade its distribution. The King at once annulled the order, and ccused several of the offending members to be arrested and exiled. One hundred and fifty magistrates then resigned, leav- ing the Parliament House amid the acclamations of an immense crowd. Threats of degradation, exUe, and confiscation, were freely employed by the Court ; but in July 1732 a kind of truce was made, and the Parlia- ment consented to resume its functions. The quarrel, however, almost immediately revived* 30 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. i. The Court again attempted to prevent the Parliament from discussing ecclesiastical matters, and it determined to limit its power both of appeal and remonstrance. A bed of justice held to register a declaration with this object, was pronounced by the Parliament to be invalid on account of a technical flaw, and the Minister at once replied by exiling no less than 139 magistrates. Public opinion was now highly excited ; the administration of justice was seriously impeded, and as the war of 1733 was just breaking out, Pleury feared a continuance of intestine troubles. The sentence of exile against the magistrates was accordingly recalled in November 1733. The declaration limiting the rights of the Parliament was suspended, and that body having for the present substan- tially triumphed, the conflict was for a time terminated. Barbier, who has so fully related the proceedings of this time, notices that ' the good City of Paris was Jan- senist from head to foot.' The Parisians, in general, he admits, knew nothing, and cared nothing, about the theological distinctions that were at issue ; but they detested Eome and the Jesuits, and they vehemently applauded the resistance of the magistrates. A poli- tical doctrine analogous to the Galilean theory of Catho- licism now came into fashion. ' As the whole Church,' it was said, ' is above the Pope, so the nation is above the King.' Like James II. of England, Lewis XV. had contrived to throw into opposition the political forces which were naturally the strongest bulwarks of the throne. The G-allican form of Catholicism, while ex- tremely jealous of Eoman meddling, exalted the duty of passive obedience to the sovereign as highly as the Church of England, and on this point there was no dif- ference between the Galilean and the Jansenist. A Parliament of magistrates invested with high judicial duties, and holding by right of purchase hereditary oflices which conveyed the privileges of nobility, was an OH. I. OPPOSITION OF THE PAELIAMENTS. 31 essentially aristocratic and conservative body. It had' no sympathy with the school of freethinking which had arisen, and Voltaire's ' Letters on the English ' had been one of the very numerous books which the Parliament of Paris had ordered to be burnt. But by the force of circumstances, and in the absence of any real repre- sentative system, this body had now become the chief bulwark against despotism, and the best exponent of the popular feeling, and there was a great desire to aggrandise its power. A memoir was circulated argu- ing that the French Parliaments were coeval with the monarchy, and rightful representatives of the people, and that the power claimed by the King's Council over them was an usurpation. ' The business of a sovereign,' it continued, ' is to maintain, and not to destroy the laws. This is his oath — this is the contract which he has made with his people. As he cannot make laws without the concurrence of Parliament, he ought to ac- quiesce in its refusals or remonstrances. If the magis- trates abandoned their right of resistance, they would be false to their duties.' ' The peace of 1738, giving Lorraine to France, threw some credit over the Government of Lewis XV. ; but it was almost the last gleam of success in his long and ignoble reign. During the war that preceded it, the conflicts between the Court and Parliament were sus- pended ; but they revived in the last years of the life of Fleury, and again after a few years' interval, in 1747 and the following years. The questions at issue still related chiefly to the limits of ecclesiastical and tem- poral jurisdiction, and the right of Parliament as a judicial body to control the abuses of ecclesiastical ' See a very full account of tin, L' Esprit puhUo au XVJII this conflict in Eocquain, L'Es- siicle, pp. 200-272 ; Voltaiiei prit Bivolutiormaire avant la Hist, du Farlement, Bivolution, pp. 54-72 ; Auber- 4 32 THE FEENCH EEVOLtJTION. oh.i. power ; but the Parliament also made some real at- tempts to check, by repeated remonstrances against new taxes, the financial ruin which was approaching. The tax known as ' the tenth ' had been imposed as a war tax, and an attempt to continue it in time of peace caused violent and general discontent, and was resisted by several provincial Parliaments. A modified form known as ' the twentieth ' was at last adopted ; but it was only sanctioned by the Parliament at the express command of the King, and it was only collected with great difficulty, and sometimes by force of arms.' From 1748 to 1758, discontent arose in Paris almost to the point of revolution. The popularity of the King had totally gone. He was sunk in the lowest and most degraded vice, almost indiflPerent to public afiairs, and swayed to and fro by a succession of mistresses, and the extravagance of his Court was unchecked, while the finances of the country were all but ruined, and while its industry was crushed by excessive and unequal taxation. The peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 was extremely unpopular, for it terminated a costly war without obtaining for Prance a single advantage for the sacrifices she had made. An attempt to put an end to the exemption from taxation which the clergy enjoyed, was resisted and failed, and the fanaticism of De Beaumont, who had been made Archbishop of Paris in 1746, fanned the Jansenist quarrel into a flame. He ordered his priests to refuse the Sacrament, even in the agony of death, to any one who could not show a ticket of confession, proving that he had accepted the Bull Unigenitus, and he also endeavoured to obtain a complete control over the hospitals of Paris. On both points he was resisted by the Parliament. Priests who had refused the Sacra- ■ Bocquain, pp. 128, 129. OH. 1. OPPOSITION OF THE PAELIAMENTS. 33 meiits under these circumstances were prosecuted, im- prisoned, or exiled. The Government interposed in their favour, and in several cases annulled their con- demnation, and there were vehement recriminations between the Court and the Parliaments in which public opinion was unquestionably with the latter. Supported by the provincial Parliaments, the Parliament of Paris, in 1752,tormally condemned the tickets of confession,for- bade any ecclesiastics to refuse the Sacraments because those tickets were not produced, ordered its decree to be posted at the corners of every street in Paris, burnt a number of sermons and episcopal mandates, accused the Archbishop of Paris of ' schismatic manceuvres,' and of disobeying its orders, and even seized on his temporal possessions. The Government in February 1753 interposed by the form' called a ' main levee ' to prevent the confiscation, and ordered the Parliament, by letters patent, to abstain from any further action on the subject. The Parliament re- fused to register these letters, and declared its determina- tion to resist. In the night of May 8 and 9, 1753, letters of ' cachet ' were issued, and all the members of the Par- liament of Paris, except those who formed the ' grand chamber,' were exiled, and ordered to leave Paris in twenty-four hours. The ' grand chamber ' was the first of the seven chambers into which the Parliament of Paris was divided, and it was hoped that its members, as they consisted of the older magistrates, many of whom re- ceived pensions from the Court, would prove flexible. They declared, however, that they shared the sentiments of their colleagues, and they were accordingly exiled to Pontoise, and afterwards to Soissons. The remon- strances drawn up by the Parliament against the in- vasion of the rights of the civil power by ecclesiastics, and of the rights of Parliament by the Court, were widely circulated, and exercised a great influence on opinion. 34 THE FEENCH EEV0LT3TI0N. oh. i. The provincial Parliaments supported the Parlia- ment of Paris, and the conflict became continually more bitter. The University of Paris and a number of legal bodies sent deputations congratulating the magistrates on their firmness. Swarms of anonymous or pseudony- mous pamphlets and lampoons assailed the Government and the clergy. Seditious placards appeared upon the walls. Immense assemblages attended the funerals of those who had been refused the Sacraments on their deathbeds. Riots broke out in many quarters and nu- merous arrests were made. A spirit of fierce persecu- tion seemed to animate those in power. Refusals of the Sacraments greatly multiplied. There was a new and severe persecution of Protestants, and a greatly in- creased stringency in the censorship of the press. For eight nights after the disgrace of the Parliament of Paris the streets were patrolled by cavalry, and the palace of the Archbishop was protected by a large body of soldiers. It was at this time that D'Argenson wrote : ' The loss of religion in Prance cannot be attri- buted to the English philosophy ; which has only in- fluenced about a hundred philosophers in Paris, but to the hatred of the priests, which has now risen to excess. The ministers of religion can scarcely show themselves in the streets without being hooted, and all this comes from the Bull Unigenitus and from the disgrace of the Parliament.' ' A royal court established to fulfil the functions of the Parliament had no weight or influence, and words were spoken which seemed to belong to the time of the Revolution. There were rumours that all the Parliaments united would demand the assembly of the States-General to represent authoritatively the whole nation. A bishop of Montauban in 1753, in a pastoral which was suppressed by the Parliament of Toulouse, r©- • D'Argenson, M6moires, viii. 35 ; Eooquain, p. 170. OH. I. PREDICTIONS OF D'AEGENSON. 35 called the history of the conflict between the English Parliament and Charles I., and insinuated that another Parliament might be the means of conducting another king to the scaffold.' The suppression of the Chatelet, the law court which fulfilled some of the suspended functions of the Parliament, was expected, and D'Argen- son relates the prediction of a magistrate, with which he himself agreed, that in that case ' the shops would at once be closed, barricades would be thrown up in the streets, and in this way the Revolution would begin.' * ' Everything,' wrote that very acute observer in March 1754, 'is preparing the way for civil war. ... It is the priests who are everywhere pushing on these troubles and this disorder. The minds of men are turning to discontent and disobedience, and everything seems moving towards a great revolution, both in religion and government.' ^ ' The evil resulting from our absolute monarchical Government,' he wrote on another occasion, • is persuading all France and all Europe, that it is the worst of Governments. . . . This opinion advances, rises, strengthens, and may lead to a national revolution ; ' '' and he predicted forty years before the Revolution ac- tually broke out, that a great diminution of kingly power ' and even republicanism ' was the probable issue in France.® The journals of D'Argenson between 1 740 and 1756 are full of such predictions, and they paint with a won- derful sagacity the signs of the times. ' A philosophic wind of free and anti-monarchical government blows upon us — it is passing into the minds of men. ... A revolution may be accomplished with less opposition than is supposed, . , . it may be made by acclama* ' Eooquain, p. 175. • Ibid. vii. 294, 295. = D'Argenson, viii. 202, 203. ' Ibid. vii. 242. ' Ibid. viii. 241, 242. 36 THE FRENCH KEVOLUTION. on. i. tion. . . . All orders are at once discontented. Every- thing is combustible. A riot may pass into revolt, and a revolt into a complete Eevolution.' ' The words " nation " and " State " were never heard so often as now. They were never pronounced under Lewis XIV. There was then no idea corresponding to them. . . . This comes to us from the Parliament and from the English.' ' Our opinions are much influenced by the neighbourhood of England, and opinion governs the world. Who can say whether in the future, despotism will increase or diminish in Prance ? Por my part, I look forward to the latter, and even to republicanism. I have seen in my life the respect and love of the people for royalty diminish. Lewis XV. has not known how to govern either as a despot or as a good chief of a republic, and woe to the royal authority when neither course is taken.' The Government is ' an extravagant anarchy.' ' No firmness, no resolution, no decision of any kind. It is a weathercock blown on in turns by the courtiers who surround it/ ' Weakness and sub- mission to ill-directed impulses injure society much more seriously than the most refined malice. This reign is a proof, for with these faults it has produced more evil than the much more tyrannical reigns that preceded it.' ' It will be observed that the whole conflict I have described was almost unconnected with the philosophi- cal, freethinking, and literary movement to which the Revolution has been too largely attributed. It had risen to a great height by the middle of the century before Voltaire had made any serious attack on the Christian faith, before the publication of the ' Encyclo- paedia,' before any of the important writings of Rous- ' D'Argenson.yi. 464, vii. 242, lected by Eocquain and Auber- viii. 315. Many other passages tin. to the same effect have been col- OH. I. TRIUMPH OF THE PARLIAMENT. 37 seau, Diderot, D'Alembert, Helvetius, or Holbach. _ At the same time, as Voltaire had truly said, a spirit of inquiry and reasoning, unknown in the previous reign, had long been abroad, and it weakened the empire of authority and tradition. It was at the end of 1753 'that Chesterfield wrote the well-known letter to his son, in which he enumerates the signs of catastrophe which he saw gathering in France — the King at once despised and hated, ' jealous of the Parliaments who would sup- port his authority, and a devoted bigot to the Church that would destroy it' — his ministers disunited and incapable — the people poor and discontented — the clergy and the Parliaments irreconcilable , enemies. ' The French nation,' he continued, 'reasons freely, which they never did before, upon matters of religion and government, and begins to be spregiudicati : the officers do so too : in short, all the symptoms which I have ever met with in history previous to great changes and revo- lutions in government, now exist and daily increase in France.' ' Madame de Pompadour perhaps saved the country from an immediate rising, by inducing the King in the summer of. 1754 once more to reverse his policy. Em- ploying as a pretext the birth of the prince who was afterwards Lewis XVT., he suppressed the unpopular royal Court, recalled and reinstated the Parliament of Paris, and released the magistrates who had been im- prisoned. There was for a time great exultation in Paris, and it was increased when the King, having vainly endeavoured to induce the bishops to abandon their war against Jansenism, and especially the tickets of confession, exiled the Archbishops of Paris and Aix and the Bishops of Orleans and Troyes. For a time, the policy of the Court seemed completely changed. ' Chesterfield's Letters, ii. 318, 319. 38 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. on. i. The Parliaments were left free to prosecute and punish priests who refused the Sacraments to those who had not accepted the Papal Bull. The persecution of Pro- testants was arrested. The ' Bncyclopasdia,' which had been suppressed, was again allowed to appear, and the Parliament of Paris was once more in close alliance with the Court, and took no resolution without consult- ing the King. There seldom was a stranger example of that extreme vacillation, that instability of policy which was rapidly educating the French people into habits of insubordination and opposition, and it is also curious to observe even at this time the complete ab- sence of moderation and measure which is now the characteristic defect of French political Ufe. In coun- tries where constitutional government really flourishes, political disputes are habitually settled by compromise, and in the way of bargain. In France all political life is modelled after war, and it is the main object of the victorious party to pursue its advantage to the utmost. Some priests were condemned by the Parliament to perpetual banishment; some who refused to appear before it were, in their absence, condemned to the galleys; numerous writings against the Parliament were burnt ; the sentences were placarded in the most conspicuous parts of Paris, and the Parliament even went so far as to issue a decree declaring that the Bull was not a rule of faith, and forbidding any ecclesiastic, * of whatever order, quality, or dignity he might be, to attribute to it this character.' The decree was evi- dently directed against the bishops, and it was no less evidently an invasion of their rightful spiritual province. Public opinion, however, strongly supported it, and the hatred of the priests, and especially of the Jesuits, waa Buch that they could scarcely appear without insult in the streets. The Archbishop of Paris, availing himself of the September vacation of the Parliament in 1756, OH. I. BEIEF OF BENEDICT XIV. 39 issued an instruction excommunicating all priests who administered the Sacrament in obedience to orders from a secular tribunal, all Catholics who asked for such orders, and all magistrates who granted them, and he announced that more than sixty bishops were ready to support him. The Ohatelet, as the Parliament was not sitting, took up the matter, and the instruction of the Ai'chbishop was publicly burnt, amid the applause of a great multitude. The Archbishop retaliated by threat- ening with excommunication all who read the sentence of the Chatelet. The Chatelet forbade anyone to print or circulate this ' mandement ' under penalty of corporal punishment, and in the space of a fortnight condemned to the fire the pastorals of seven other bishops who had expressed their concurrence with the Archbishop.' The Grovemment, alarmed at the fury of the religious war which appeared daily increasing, privately appealed to Benedict XIV., who was at this time governing the Church with eminent wisdom and moderation. It was impossible, however, for a Pope to abandon or retract a Papal Bull, and with the best intentions Benedict only fanned the flame. He issued a brief, declaring the Bull Unigenitus to be a law of the Church which could not be repudiated without danger to salvation ; but in order to avoid scandal, the French priests were directed to ad- minister the Sacraments to suspected Jansenists 'at their own risk and peril,' and to refuse them only to ' notorious ' Jansenists. The King sent this brief to the bishops with an order to conform to it, but the Par- liament refused all conciliation and issued a decree suppressing the Papal brief.^ It was evident that the Parliament was obtaining an entirely new position and authority in the State, and it was equally evident that a very formidable public ' Eooquain, pp. 183-199. ^ Ibid. p. 199. 40 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh... opinion had suddenly arisen. Discussions about the fundamental laws of the State might be heard even among the common people in the market-place, and the question whether Prance was a tempered and represen- tative monarchy, or an uncontrolled despotism, like Turkey, was eagerly debated. If the King possessed the power he had frequently exercised, of giving hia edicts the force of law by means of ' beds of justice,' in spite of the remonstrances of the Parliament, France was in fact a pure despotism; but the opinion was now becoming almost universal, beyond the limits of the Court and of the clergy, that no edict had the force of law which had not been registered by the free consent of the magistrates. ' The people,' wrote D'Argenson, ' are become great lovers of Parliaments. They see in them a remedy for the vexations they suffer on all sides. All this foreshadows some revolt that is already smouldering.' ' If it should become necessary to as- semble the States-General, they would not assemble in vain.' The Parliaments were spoken of as the ' National Government,' ' the true Monarch of Prance,' 'the source of legitimate power.' • The provincial Parliaments had also begun to act in close concert with the ParHament of Paris, and the doc- trine had grown up that they were all only parts, or according to the received phrase ' classes ' of a single organic whole, which, in the absence of the States- General, was the permanent and legitimate representa- tive of the nation. The Parliaments themselves sup- ported this claim, and it was evident that if admitted it would completely transform the government of the country. Another consequence of this religious war was a portentously rapid spread of religious scepticism. Any- ' Eooquain, pp. 194-196; Aubertin, pp 274-278. OH. 1. THE KING SHPPOETS THE BULL. 41 one who has any real knowledge of life will have per- ceived that great changes of opinion among large masses of men are almost always effected, not by direct argu- ment, but by a change of predispositions and sympathies. When the tide of opinion flows strongly against a class, the minds of men will be prepared to question or reject what they teach. The great literary movement against Christianity was conducted with genius and persever- ance ; but it would never have had a wide and popular influence, if men had not ' been prepared to receive it. It was the hatred excited by arrogant, persecuting, and meddling priests ; it was the wrangling that constantly took place at marriages and deathbeds ; it was the per- petual interference of Jesuits with the relations of domestic life, that had gradually opened the French mind. It was noticed at the Carnival of 1756 that the most popular figures were ignoble caricatures of eccle- siastics, monks, and nuns,' and a swarm of writings were now circulated from hand to hand, assailing the very foundations of the Christian faith. The Court, alarmed at the growing claims of the Parliaments, desirous of obtaining a voluntary contribu- tion from the clergy for the Seven Tears' War, which was just breaking out, and justly indignant at the treat- ment by the Parliament of the Papal Bull, which had been recommended to it, turned violently to the other side. In December 1756, the King went down with great ceremony to the Parliament, and having held a bed of justice, he authoritatively enjoined the reception of the Bull as a decree of the Church ; curtailed the judicial functions of Parliament in ecclesiastical cases, and peremptorily declared that he would enforce his decision by the full weight of his authority. Menacing signs of popular indignation appeared ; but there was ' D'Argenson, ix. 216. 42 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. i. no actual outbreak, and tlie attempt of Damiens on tLe life of the King turned for the moment the popular sentiment. The next few years present a confused and stormy picture of conflict and vacillation. Great numbers of the magistrates resigned their offices. The courts of justice were again interrupted. Seditious placards again appeared in the streets. Nearly every new tax required for the war produced a wrangle, and the Parliament of Besanpon having distinguished itself by its opposition to an unpopular tax, four of its members were thrown into prison, and twenty-eight exiled. The Parliament of Paris now described arrests by letters of ' cachet ' as ' the irregular methods of absolute power,' and as contrary to the ' rights of the nation.' It remonstrated again and again, in terms which excited the warm admiration of Burke,' against the extravagance and complete absence of any real control, that prevailed in French finances. It openly questioned the authority of beds of justice to compel it to register decrees, to which it had not fully consented. It maintained in concurrence with the provincial Parlia- ments the doctrine of the unity of all the Parliaments of the nation, and of the existence of fundamental laws which the Sovereign could not disregard. On the other hand, the Chancellor in the name of the King sternly blamed the remonstrances of the Parliament, and em- phatically asserted that the whole sovereign power of the country resided in the King. The Archbishop was recalled from exile ; but soon on new provocation was again exiled, and the same system of alternate severity and indulgence was pursued in dealing with the magis- trates. Freethinking and seditious writers were fiercely pursued, and in this respect there was little diflerence ' See a remarlcable passage in his Observations on the State of tli4 Nation. OB. I. SIGNS OF DECADENCE. 43 between the opposing parties. Among other instances of petty persecution, an advocate was struck off the rolls, by order of the Parliament of Paris, for having written against the refusal of Christian burial to actors.' One great concession, however, was made to public opinion. A series of recent scandals had strengthened the hostility to the Jesuits, which had now become one of the strongest passions of the French mind. All the Parliaments were united in hatred of them, and the im- moral or seditious sentiments in their writings were abundantly exposed. Their books were now publicly burnt. Their houses were suppressed. Their schools were closed, and at last, in 1764, to the great delight of the nation, the order was absolutely banished from the soil of France. The royal power, however, seemed evidently sink- ing. The disasters of Rossbach, Orevelt, Minden, Belle- isle and Quebec fell with crushing effects, and the Peace of 1 763 was the most calamitous and humiliating in modem French history. It was more so even than the Peace of Utrecht, for then at least the original ob- ject of the war had been accomplished by the mainte- nance of a Bourbon prince on the Spanish throne. By claiming absolute authority the monarchy incurred and accepted undivided responsibility ; and it had given France neither internal peace, nor financial prosperity, nor military glory, and had led her into a disastrous conflict with a great constitutional kingdom. The splendour with which the genius of the elder Pitt irra- diated English parliamentary life, the soundness of English finance, the magnificence of the English con- quests, had all their part in discrediting by contrast the form of government existing in Prance. It had of ' Socquaiu, p. 220, 44 THE FEENCH KEVOLUTION. oh. i. late years become very common to compare the two countries, and there was hardly more than one point in which the comparison could at this time fill a french- man with legitimate pride. French contemporary lite- rature, indeed, was in influence and genius the first in the world, yet almost .every French writer had been treated as a criminal, and almost every French book of importance had incurred the hostility of the Govern- ment. The question of taxation again gave rise to serious conflicts. The war had ended, but a burden of over- whelming weight still continued. In May 1763, a bed of justice was held in which edicts, removing some taxes but imposing others, were registered by express royal command. The Parliament of Paris protested against these forced registrations as ' tending to the subversion of the fundamental laws of the kingdom,' and some of the provincial Parliaments positively refused to register the edicts until detailed accounts of the finances of the nation had been laid before them. ' The magistrates,' it was said, ' were not called together to register the royal edicts in order to approve of them blindly,' and they ordered their remonstrances to be printed and disseminated. The King on his side suppressed these remonstrances, and the commanders of the provinces were directed ' manu militari ' to obtain the registra- tion of the edicts. Numbers of magistrates were ar- rested. Some signed in the presence and under the intimidation of soldiers. Eighty members of the Par- liament of Rouen resigned. The Parliament of Paris in a strong remonstrance supported the provincial Parliaments, described the conduct of the Government in imposing its edicts by force of arms as placing the .French nation in the position of a humiliated and sub- jugated people, and declared that these attacks on a * sacred and inviolable magistracy' must shake the OH. I. PEEDICTIONS OF EEVOLUTION. 45 stability of tiie throne, and teacli the people that what was maintained by force might be overthrown by force. No edicts, the Parliament now boldly eaid, were law- fully obligatory which had not been ' freely registered,' not only by the Parliament of Paris, but by all the Parliaments in Prance. The Goyernment, alarmed at the resistance it encountered, modified its edicts, an- nounced to the Parliaments that the King was willing of his clemency to pardon their rebellion, invited them to communicate their views about possible improve- ments in the management of the finances, and enjoined an absolute silence on all that had happened.* If the Eevolution had at this time broken out, it would probably have excited but little surprise. In the 'Emile' of Eousseau, which was published in 1762, there occurs the remarkable prediction that ' Europe was approaching a state of crisis and the age of revolutions,' and that none of its great monarchies were likely to last long.^ In the summer of the following year Wilkes was in Paris, and in an interesting letter to Lord Temple he described the violence with wJiich the Parliaments were treated, and added, ' The most sensible men here think that this country is on the eve of a great revolu- tion.' ^ Burke, looking on the subject from another side, showed clearly in a pamphlet published in 1769 how financial disorders were preparing the way for a great convulsion that might affect not only Prance but all Europe.'* • The clergy, indignant at the expulsion of ' Eooquain, pp. 239-243. considered their affairs with any ' Bmile, ]ivxe in. degree of attention or information, ■ GrenviUe Papers, ii. 99, 100. but must hourly look for some * ' Indeed, under such extreme extraordinary convulsion in that Btraitness and distraction labours whole system ; the effect of which the whole body of their finances, on France, and even on all Europe, so far does their charge outrun it is difficult to conjecture.' — their supply in every particular. Observations on the State of tlie that no man, I believe, who has Nation. 46 THE FEENCH KEVOLUTION. oh. i. the Jesuits, at the contempt with which two Papal Bulls in favour of that order were treated, and at the rapid increase of sceptical writings and opinions, held a General Assembly in 1765, in which they condemned the writings of HelvStius, Diderot, Voltaire, and Rous- seau, and declared that ' the spirit of the century seemed to threaten the State with a revolution, which was likely to result in a general ruin and destruction.' ' In the same assembly they once more asserted as against the Parliaments the entire independence of the ecclesiastical power in all things relating to God, and especially in the administration of the Sacraments, and declaring that the Bull Unigenitus was ' a dogmatic judgment of the Universal Church,' they pronounced that those who were refractory to it must, like other public sinners, be publicly refused the Sacraments. The Parliament ordered this declaration to be sup- pressed, and a circular letter of the Archbishop of Rheims to be burnt. The King, on the petition of the bishops, cancelled this decree. The censured writings were assiduously circulated, together with pamphlets accusing the magistrates of * deliberately labouring to overthrow the throne and the altar,' and petitions ask- ing for the restoration of the Jesuits. At last in May 1766 an order of Council was published, ordering the observance of the Gallican maxims of 1682 fixing the bounds of the two powers, and it at the same time repeated the declaration of 1731 prescribing absolute silence on these questions.^ It was little more than a dead letter, and the contest between the Parliaments and the bishops continued with unabated virulence ; but it no longer excited the same interest. The anti-Christian movement was now at its ' Booquain, pp. 261-253. » Ibid. pp. 252-256. OH. I. INTOLEEANCE, ATHEISM AND SUPEESTITION. 47 height, and the public had ceased to care about the Bull Unigenitus. The atrocious punishment of the Chevalier de la Barre, a young soldier of nineteen, who was con- demned for blasphemy in 1766, tortured with horrible severity, and then beheaded, excited a deep-seated in- dignation, and innumerable writings were circulated advocating complete religious toleration, and attack- ing priests, monks, niins, Christianity, and even Theism itself. Many who sold these writings were thrown into prison, and some were sent to the galleys ; but it was plain that the anti-Christian literature represented the opinions, and met the demands, of the great body of the educated classes, and that crowds of administrators in all departments connived at or favoured its circulation. Atheism had penetrated into the monasteries, perhaps even into the episcopal palaces, and the sincere Catholics did nothing to make their religion respected. The faculty of theology selected this time to declare that religious intolerance was of the essence of Catholicism, and that it was the duty of princes to place their swords at the service of the faith.' I have already mentioned the episcopal memorial of 1770, 'on the evU conse- quences of liberty of thinking and printing.' ^ What little devotion remained was of a very sickly character. A skull illuminated with tapers, and adorned with rib- bons and pearls, might at this time be commonly found in a devout lady's boudoir. It was called ' La Belle Mignonne,' and the devotee was accustomed to spend a portion of every day in prayer and meditation before it. The Queen was much addicted to this devotion, and the skull before which she prayed was said to be that of Ninon de I'Enclos.^ Nearly everything strong, masculine, and intellec- • Eocquain, p. 262. ' Ibid. p. 276. ' D'Argenson, Mdm. vii. 16, 17. 48 THB FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. i. tual, was opposed to the Clrnrch, and the great favour which the chief sovereigns of Europe showed to the Encyclopsedists reacted upon and elevated their position in Prance. Voltaire boasted, with some truth, that their ideas were in the ascendant from St. Peterstiurg to Cadiz. How little the French Government itself regarded Papal anathemas, was shown by its conduct in 1768, when having quarrelled with the Pope, chiefly on a matter relating to Parma and Placentia, it seized upon the Papal town and territory of Avignon, incor- porated them for a time into the French monarchy, and refused to restore them till the end of 1773, when the Pope had at last yielded to the demand of France, Spain, and Naples, for the suppression of the Jesuits.' The political questions at issue between the Par- liaments and the Court were of a graver and more important character. Could the King impose taxes without the free consent of the Parliament ? Could he legitimately, by a ' bed of justice,' compel the magis- trates to register edicts of which they did not approve ? Could he arrest, imprison, and exile them if they refused to obey ? Had the Council of State, which was essen- tially the organ of the King, the power of annulling the decrees of the Parliament, and arresting the prose- cutions which it ordered ? What was the nature, and what were the relations, of the Parliaments? Were they merely a number of separate law courts, deriving all their force and authority from the Sovereign, or were they branches of one organic whole, of an institu- tion which was one of the oldest parts of the French Government, and which had, by right, original and independent powers? Was the registration of the royal edicts, which was required before they obtained the force of law, a mere matter of form, attestation, ot ' Sorel, L'Europe et la BivoluHon Frangaise, pp. 69, 70. OH. I. AUTHORITY OF THE PARLIAMENTS. 49 verification, in which the magistrates acted the parts of witnesses or clerks, or did it mean that those edicts were to be submitted to their free judgments, and that they might be annulled by their veto ? It is obvious that such questions touched the very foundations of French government, and they were not likely to be settled by archaeological, historical, or juridical argu- ments, but by the pressure either of opinion or of force. If, as appeared at one time probable, the Parliaments established the position for which they contended, the French monarchy would at once cease to be a despotism. The Government would not be in the English sense representative ; but it would have some affinity to the Government of Venice. The authority of the King would be tempered and controlled by a powerful and independent magistracy, partly concentrated in the metropolis, partly diffused through, and in some sense representing, the different provinces. If, on the other hand, the claims of the Parliaments were overthrown, the Government of Prance was essentially a pure auto- cracy. The question was now brought clearly to an issue. ' If they succeed,' writes Barbier, ' in diminishing the authority and the pretended rights of Parliament, there wUl no longer be any obstacle to a solid despotism. If, on the other hand, the Parliaments unite to resist by strong measures, this can only be followed by a general revolution in the State.'' In March 1766, the Parliament of Paris having issued a decree protesting against the arrest and trial of some members of the Parliament of Brittany, the King appeared in person in the Parliament, and ordered the decree to be expunged from their records. He informed the magistrates that this affair in no way concerned them. He accused ' Bocquain, p. 240. 50 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. i. tliem of disregarding the fundamental rights of the Crown in pretending that they formed with the other Parliaments of the kingdom an indivisible body which was the representative of the nation and participated with the monarch in making the laws ; and he pro- ceeded in the most emphatic and explicit terms to afiirm that the monarchy of France was an absolute and unlimited despotism. 'It is in my person alone,' he said, ' that the sovereign power resides. It is from me alone that my Courts derive their existence and their authority ; it is to me alone that the legislative power belongs without dependence and without division ; the whole public order emanates from me ; ' and he con- cluded by threatening that if the Parliament continued the scandal of opposing his will, he would find himself obliged to employ the power he had received from God, to preserve his people from the fatal consequences of such attempts.' It would be impossible to speak more plainly. In the face of the intense intellectual and political life that was now agitating the nation, in a country which boasted that it was at the head of civilisation, and ad- dressing a great judicial body which was said to be as ancient as the monarchy itself, the King of Prance claimed a power which was essentially that of an Orien- tal despot. And the Sovereign who used this language was not a Ceesar, a Frederick, or a Napoleon. He was contemptible in his abilities, sunk in sloth and in de- grading vice, and he spoke not in the moment of vic- tory or of brilliant prosperity, but at a time when his country was reduced by bad government to the verge of bankruptcy, and still lay under the shadow of a disastrous war and of an ignominious peace. Yet this language represented real power, and it was only the ' Bocquain, pp. 2C5, 256. op. i. ^ THE CONFLICT OF IWO. 51 precursor of corresponding action. A few more years of altercations, remonstrances, resignations, imprison- ments, exiles, and vacillations ensued, but at last the blow was struck. The occasion was the trial of the Duke of Aiguillon, who, having been accused of gross abuses in the government of Brittany, had asked for a trial before the Court of Peers, and had accordingly by the King's orders been arraigned before the Parliament of Paris. The trial began in April 1770. When it had proceeded in its regular course for rather more than' two months, the King intervened, annulled the proceed- ings by letters patent, and declared the Duke exone- rated from every charge. The Parliament retaliated by declaring that the Duke rested under grave sus- picion, and forbidding him to exercise any of the func- tions of the peerage, till he was formally acquitted. The King at once annulled the sentence, and going down to the Parliament he carried away the registers of the trial. The period of vacation followed, and soon the pro- vincial Parliaments rallied round the Parliament of Paris and pronounced these proceedings a gross in- fringement of parliamentary rights. But the Chancellor Maupeou, who now guided the counsels of the King, was prepared to carry the strife to extremities. Oa December 7 a new bed of justice was held, and the Chancellor read to the Parliament a royal edict, in which the King declared that ' he held his crown from God alone, that to him alone, without dependence of partition, belonged the legislative power, that the custom of making representations to him must not be converted by the magistrates into a right of resistance, that these representations had their limits, and that they coiild place none to his authority.' He accused the magis- trates of systematic opposition to the royal will and to his prerogative, and he peremptorily forbade the Par- 52 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. i. Haments of France by the use of the terms ' unity,' ' indivisibility,' and ' classes ' to describe themselves as a single body. He declared this doctrine seditious. He forbade all correspondence between the Parliaments of the kingdom, all joint resignations and all delays in registering the royal edicts, and he threatened, if these offences were committed, that the guilty magistrates should be deprived of their offices and punished as rebels. After vain though angry remonstrances, this edict was transcribed in the registers. The magistrates, insulted and branded before the country, had but one last remedy — that of refusing to perform their judicial functions. Four times the King ordered them to resume these functions, and four times they refused unless they received a pledge that the laws of France would be maintained, and the late edict re- voked. The struggle was ended by a coup d'etat. On the night of January 20, 1771, soldiers appeared by the bedside of every magistrate, demanding their signature to a paper stating whether or not they would resume their functions. A few, terror-stricken at the thought of imprisonment and exile, at first yielded, but after- wards recanted, while the great majority refused. A royal decree was then issued from the Council, exiling the magistrates, confiscating their offices, declaring them and their children incapable of filling any judicial post. The Parliament of Paris was absolutely sup- pressed, and six new courts of justice appointed by the King were created in its place. The ' Com- des Aides,' which refused to recognise the new authority, was suppressed. Its magistrates were driven by sol- diers from the bench, and their President Malesherbes — the same who in after years so nobly distinguished himself by his defence of Lewis XVI. — was exiled. The Chatelet was reorganised and made completely subservient to the Crown, and at the end of the year OH. 1. ABOLITION OF THE PAELIAMENTS, 1771. 53 the work was completed by the suppression of the pro- vincial Parliaments. One great act of the contest that led to the Revolution was thus terminated, and the royal authority remained triumphant, and absolute in Prance. As might have been expected, public opinion was excited by these events. Large bodies of troops were assembled in the capital, and the new authorities put under strong military protection. Innumerable sedi- tious placards and other writings appeared. Most oi the subordinate courts of justice protested. The Cour des Aides and the Parliament of Eouen distinguished themselves by demanding a convocation of the States- General to decide the question at issue between the King and the magistracy. With a single exception, the princes of the blood were opposed to the policy of the Elng, and six of them, headed by the Duke of Orleans, and followed by thirteen peers of Prance, drew up a protest against the recent violence, declaring that ' it had ever been the right of the princes and peers of France to be judged only by the first and indestructible Corporation of the nation, and by judges who were by right immovable.' Placards and anonymous letters urged the Duke of Orleans to put himself at the head of a revolution, and it was the opinion of a well- informed contemporary observer,' that if at this time a leader had been found, a most formidable rebellion might have broken out.^ Mile. Genest, who was afterwards Mme. de Oampan, had become reader at the Court in 1767, and she tells us that twenty years before 1789 it had become a common subject of discourse, that the insti- tutions of the ancient monarchy were falling into ruin, ' Hardy. xx. 403-425 ; Eocquain, L'Esprit ' See on this whole history Bivolutionnaire avant la U6iio- Bismondi, Rist. des Frangais, lution, pp. 282-297. 54 THE FEENCH EEVOLDTION. and that the century would not close without some great revolution in Prance.^ The fact, however, remains that this great change, which swept away the last semblance of constitutional opposition and control in France, was effected by royal authority without the effusion of a drop of blood. It made a deep impression both in France and in other countries ; from this time the predictions of revolution, which during the preceding years had been so frequent, almost absolutely ceased, and they did not again acquire any importance till the convocation of the Notables in 1787. On both sides of the Channel it had long been the custom to contrast the loyalty or servility of the French to their Sovereign with the insubordination and jealousy of the English,'' and the destruction, with- ' Mim, sur la Vie de Marie- Antoinette,'par Mme. de Cajnpan ; ftvant-propos. ' See some striking examples of this in Buckle's History of Civilisation, i. 689, and Taine's Ancien Rigime, p. 15. An in- telligent English traveller named Moore, who visited France to- wards the close of the reign of Lewis XV., gives many illustra- tions of the semi-adoration with which the French seemed then to regard their king, and adds this curious prediction : ' The philosophical idea that kings have been appointed for pubUo convenience, that they are ac- countable to their subjects for maladministration and for con- tinued acts of injustice and op- pression, is a doctrine very oppo- site to the general prejudices of this nation. If any of their kings were to behave in such an imprudent and outrageous manner as to occasion a revolt, and if the insurgents actually got the better, I question if they would think of new modelling the Government, and limiting the power of the Crown, as was done in Britain at the Eevolu- tion, BO as to prevent the like abuses for the future. They would never think of going fur- ther, I imagine, than placing another prince of the Bourbon family on the throne, with the same power that his predecessors had, and then quietly lay down their arms, satisfied with his royal word or declaration to govern with more equity. Tht French seem so delighted and dazzled with the lustre of mon- archy, that they cannot bear tho thought of any qualifying mixture which might abate its violence.' •^Moore's Travels in France, dc, (6th ed.), i. 44, 45. D'Argenson writes : ' Louis XV est eh6ri de son peuple, sans lui avoir fait aucun bieu . . . regardons en cela CH. .. ABOLITION OF THE PAELIAMENTS. 55 out a serious effort of resistance, of an institution which had existed for many centuries, and which alone dis- tinguished the French Government from pure despotism, appeared to contemporary observers to show that no real opposition to royal authority was possible in Prance. To foreigners, indeed, who could not follow the minor currents of passion and opinion, the submission seemed even greater than it was. The account of the event in the ' Annual Eegister ' is peculiarly interesting, as it is almost certainly from the pen of Burke. ' The noble efforts,' he writes, ' of that faithful repository of the laws, and remembrancer of the ancient rights of the people, the Parliament of Paris, in the cause of liberty and mankind, have fatally terminated in its own final destruction. . . . That ancient spirit from which the Pranks 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 monarchs, 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 . . . suddenly acquire that strength and tenor of mind, which is alone capable of forming great resolutions and of undertaking arduous and danger- ous tasks. Thus has this great revolution in the history and government of Prance taken place without the smallest commotion, or without the opposition that in other periods would have attended an infraction of the heritable jurisdiction of a petty vassal.' ' nos Franijais oomme le peuple le French character given long after plus port6 ^ I'amour des rois qui (art. ' Ca,Ta,ckk:e') in the Encyclo- Bera jamais. II p6n^tre leur oarao- podia, 'I'amour de leurs rois et tfee.ilprend leg intentions pour de la monarchie mSme' has a I'action.' — D'Argenson, Mim. iv. prominent place. 167. In the description of the ' Annual Register, 1771, p. 89. 56 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. i. The public feeling on the question was stronger than Burke imagined, but the Parliament had powerful ene« mies. The courtiers and fte priests detested it, while, on the other hand, Voltaire, separating himself on this occasion from what was undoubtedly the popular opi- nion, warmly and repeatedly expressed his approval of the act of the Government. In his eyes any political merits the Parliaments might possess were much more than counteracted by the hostility they had shown to toleration and to reform. As late as 1762 a young Protestant minister named Rochette had by order of the Parliament of Toulouse been hanged in his shirt, with head and feet naked, ' for having performed the func- tions of a minister of the so-called reformed Church,' and it was the same Parliament which had been guilty of the atrocious judicial murder of Galas. The Parlia- ment of Paris had borne a leading part in the earlier persecutions of the Huguenots ; it had instituted an annual procession in honour of the massacre of St. Bartholomew ; it had steadily persecuted the party of freethinkers and burnt their books ; it had come for- ward conspicuously in condemning loans upon interest, and in opposing the practice of inoculation, and it was responsible for the recent disgraceful sentences against La Barre and against Lally.' The abolition of the venality of judicial posts, which Voltaire had long de- sired, was decreed when the Parliament was abolished, I have already noticed Burke's cent peroration to his magni- warm eulogy of the remon- ficent reply on the Hastings Btrances of the French ParUa- impeachment — he introduced a ments, expressed in his Observa- noble eulogy of it. tions on the State of the Nation, ' Sismondi, Sistoire des Fran- His admiration for the Parlia- fats, xx. 325-327 ; Mme. de ment of Paris was very steady. Stael, Cons, sur la involution, i. Almost in the last words he ut- 140. tered in pubUo — ^in the magnifi- OH. I. DECLINING INFLUENCE OF VOLTAIEE. 57 and the multiplication of courts of justice was considered a real reform. One of the most important results of the suppression of the Parliaments was that the opposition to the Court fell almost exclusively into the hands of men of letters, who had no practical experience in the conduct of affairs. Political writings immensely multiplied, and political speculation acquired a greatly increased im- portance. The events which have been hitherto re- corded belong strictly to French history, but political doctrines at this time acquired an ascendency in France which speedily influenced surrounding countries, and was nowhere felt more powerfully than in England. Voltaire was now a very old man, and, though still in the zenith of his fame, his influence had greatly de- clined. He was looked upon as belonging to a bygone generation, and both religious and political thought had taken forms with which he had no sympathy. Believing that natural religion was not only true, but indispens- ably necessary to the well-being of society, he detested the aggressive atheism which had arisen, and on one occasion, when Condorcet and D'Alembert expressed such opinions at a supper party, Voltaire ordered his servants to leave the room, saying that he did not choose them to hear such doctrines, as he had no desire to be robbed or murdered. On the other hand, he had a complete contempt both for speculative and democratic politics. His aim, as he once said, was not to make a revolution like that of Luther or Calvin, but to enlighten the minds of the rulers of men. He totally disbelieved in popular political judgments, and emphatically denied to his own countrymen, and especially to the Parisians, the qualities of wisdom and sobriety that are necessary for self-government. But a new star had now arisen in the sphere of political thought. The diseased but 58 THE FKENCH EEVOLCTION. ch. i. Bplendid genius of Eonsseau was acquiring that complete ascendency which it retained undiminished for many years. His wonderful eloquence, in which passion and reason were so finely blended, appealed with a tran- scendent force to the imaginations and the feelings of his contemporaries ; and if Voltaire continued to be the favourite of good society, of the critic, the literary epi- curean, and the sceptic, Rousseau had an immeasurably stronger influence over a far larger section of the French people.' It is a well-known saying of Napoleon, that if Rous- seau had never lived, there would have been no French Revolution ; and in spite of its manifest exaggeration, there is a sense in which this saying is not without plausibility. That which distinguishes the French Revo- lution from other political movements is, that it was directed by men who had adopted certain speculative, d priori conceptions of political right, with the fanati- cism and proselytising fervour of a religious belief, and the Bible of their creed was the ' Contrat Social ' of Rousseau. The doctrine of the social contract was, indeed, far from new. It had been fully and ably expounded by Locke, and it may be found before Locke in the writings of Hooker, of the Jesuits, and of St. Thomas Aquinas. Society, according to the English Whig doctrine of the Revolution, was originally formed for the protection of the lives and properties of those who composed it, and who would otherwise have been perpetually at the mercy of the strongest. Its first object is that every man should be enabled to live in peace and security as long as he does not molest his neighbour, and to enjoy with- ' See an extremely able dis- Eevolution, by Mallet du Pan, cussion of the influence of the Mercure Britannigue, ii. 342- philosophers, but especially of 370. Voltaire and Bousseau on the OH. 1. WHIG THEOEY OF GOVERNMENT. 59 out disturbance the property which he has honestly acquired either by his own industry or by the favour of others. To attain these ends it is necessary for men to agree upon certain settled laws which are to be the standard of right and wrong in the community, the common measure deciding their controversies. It is also necessary to create an organisation which can exe- cute and enforce these laws, and punish those who in- fringe them. This cannot be done without expense, and as the object is one of common interest, it must be supported by common contributions. Everyone who enjoys a share of the protection, should pay his propor- tion out of his estate, and this should be as far as possible levied by his own consent. Unanimous con- sent, indeed, is practically impossible, but the consent of the majority by themselves or their deputies should be obtained. There is, however, such a thing as the consent of acquiescence, and there is such a thing as virtual representation, and all that is really necessary is that the acts of the Government should tend to the benefit, and express the wishes, of the whole community. The true theory of taxation is that society is a great joint-stock company in which all have shares, some more and some less, and it is right that all should be taxed at the same rate, and that each should pay in propor- tion to the number of his shares.' The community has many and complex relations to external bodies, and it is found that in addition to the protection of life and property, there are within the country itself many ends useful to the whole body, which can be better accom- plished by the machinery of government than by any other means, and in this manner the action of govern- ment is gradually extended. But the protection of property and the pursuance of common interests by • Thiers, LaPropriiti, 60 THE FKENCH KEVOLUTION. oh. i. common consent lie at the basis of the whole conception of the State, and no measures which are inconsistent with these primary ends of government can be obli- gatory. Such, in a very few lines, was the substance of that Whig philosophy which was elaborated, chiefly by Locke, in opposition to the Tory theory of the divine right of kings, and which generally prevailed in Eng- land during the eighteenth century. It is open to con- siderable criticism both from an historical and from a logical point of view, and no (government has ever strictly acted up to its requirements ; but on the whole I it furnishes an excellent working theory for free govern- ments, a general criterion by which their aims and prin- ciples may be tested. It is altogether inconsistent with absolute monarchy ; it establishes, as far as a doctrine can, the indefeasible right of every man to his own property, subject to the obligation of contributing his proportion to the expenses of its protection and to the other common interests of society, and it guards against the general and most subtle vice of all governments, the subordination of the common interests to the interests of a class. At the same time, as Burke was never weary of urging, speculation has had only a slight part in directing the course of English politics. There have been fundamental laws, old traditional customs and un- derstandings, numerous institutions representing with more or less fidelity the different interests, classes, and opinions in the country, and determining by their balance the preponderance of political power and the tendencies of political development. It is when one power has unduly encroached upon the others, when old laws or traditional observances are strained or violated, when a conflict arises between the public opinion of the nation and some of its institutions, when classes or in- terests or opinions have grown up which find no ade- OH. I. THE 'CONTEAT SOCIAL.' 61 puate recognition in the old framework of the Govern- ment, when in a word some practical grievance or un- easiness has disclosed itself, that changes are usually effected. And these changes have been commonly en- largements or modifications of existing institutions, made by practical politicians in obedience to the strong pressure of opinion, with very little regard to symmetry, logic, or consistency, but with the object of remedying particular grievances or satisfying particular wants. Speculative writers have afterwards defended them on general principles, but these have been to a great ex- tent afterthoughts. In France, however, the course of events was en- tirely different. Absolute monarchy having destroyed almost every organisation that could become a centre of opposition, and having prevented the growth of a school of practical and experienced reformers, politics came to be treated like a problem of geometry or ethics, to be worked out on general principles, with a com- plete disregard to the traditions and special circum- stances of the nation. In Eousseau, the French found one of the most eloquent and seductive political writers who have ever lived, and he furnished the archetype or pattern on which the revolutionary school endeavoured to build. The ' Contrat Social ' ranks with the ' Wealth of Nations ' as one of the two political works of the eighteenth century which have had the greatest prac- tical influence upon public affairs; but while the in- fluence of Adam Smith has been almost entirely for good, the political influence of Rousseau appears to me to have been almost wholly evil. The first great characteristic of the theory of Rous- seau, is the distinction which he draws between sove- reignty and government. Sovereignty in every country resides in the whole mass of the population, and no government is morally legitimate, which does not rest 62 THE FEENCH EEVOLTJTION. oh. i. upon a decision in which the whole nation takes part. The sovereign power is compelled, by the nature of things, to construct governments for the purpose of carrying on its affairs ; but its sovereignty can never be fully or even partially alienated. It is absolutely inalienable. Neither conquest nor any kind of com- pact can affect it, and governments subsist only as its agents. The inferences drawn from this proposition are as much opposed to the English notions of constitutional government, as they are to absolute monarchy. In the first place, the English theory of representative govern- ment is wholly erroneous. ' The sovereignty cannot be represented, for the same reason that it cannot be alienated, because it consists essentially in the general will. The deputies of the people are not, and cannot be, its representatives ; they are only its agents. They can conclude nothing definitely. Every law is null, which the people have not directly ratified. It wants the true character of a law. The English people imagines itself free ; but it is wholly mistaken. It is free only during the election of its members of Parlia- ment. Once they are elected, it is a slave. The idea of representatives is modern ; it comes to us from the feudal government, from that iniquitous and absurd government which degraded the human species.' ' This doctrine has a manifest affinity to that which we have already traced among the Radicals of the school of Home Tooke and Sawbridge, who maintained that members of Parliament were simply delegates, that their constituents should furnish them with binding instructions, and had a right to dictate authoritatively their conduct on every question that arose. No Eng- lish Eadical, however, had asserted that every law was ' Con. Soc. iii. o. 15. OH. I. THE ' CONTRAT SOCIAL.' 63 invalid, which had not been directly ratified by a popular vote. A very important doctrine of the British Constitu- tion is that the Sovereign, or supreme magistrate of the State, like all other magistrates, is invested with a political power which is at once guaranteed, defined, and limited by contract. In opposition to the theory of the divine right of kings, the statesmen of the Eng- lish Revolution placed the royal power in England in the hands of a dynasty, which received by parliamentary authority hereditary right to rule, subject to clearly de- fined conditions. Certain fundamental obligations were laid down by law, and the Sovereign swore that he would fulfil them. If he broke his compact with his subjects, they in their turn were released from their allegiance. As it was possible that a sovereign without breaking any fundamental law might desire to act in a way very in7 jurious to the State, his power was so limited by the two Houses of Parliament, that his political action, if contrary to the national will, is speedily checked by obstacles which cannot be constitutionally surmounted. If, however, the Sovereign fulfilled the conditions of his trust, he reigned by a full and perfect right ; it was made a crime of the first magnitude to impugn his authority, and in this manner the society, while guard- ing its own freedom, maintained the dignity of its ruler, and secured for itself the incalculable advantage of sta- bility and continuity in the Government. In opposition to this doctrine, Rousseau maintained that there can be no contract whatever between the sovereign nation and its rulers or magistrates ; that such a contract, though it may be expressed in words, embodied in oaths, and enrolled in the statute book, is absolutely null. 'The sovereign authority can be no more modified than alienated. To limit it is to destroy it. There can only be one contract in the State, tlM 6 64 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. i. original contract of association, and this alone excludes all otkers.' Prom the highest to the lowest, every func- tionary of the Government depends upon the immediate will of the people, is bound absolutely to obey them, and may at any time be arbitrarily dismissed. Such a course may not be expedient ; but it is always legiti- mate. ' If the people institutes hereditary government, either monarchical in a family, or aristocratical in an order of citizens, this is not an engagement which it takes. It is a provisional form which it gives to the Administration, until it pleases it to ordain otherwise.'' Voltaire, commenting on these passages, described them with great truth as nothing less than ' a code of anarchy,'^ and Burke has devoted some admirable pages to exposing their fallacies and their dangers. ' By this unprincipled facility,' he wrote, ' in changing the State as often, and as much, and in as many ways as there are floating fancies and fashions, the whole chain of continuity of the commonwealth would be broken. No one generation could link with the other. Men would become little better than the flies of a summer.' * A few more extracts will complete our view of this side of the teaching of Eousseau. In the first place, every member of the community has a natural and in- alienable right to vote in every act of sovereignty, and as all laws are acts of sovereignty, those only are valid which have been directly sanctioned by universal suf- frage, the majority binding the minority.* ' The mo- ment the Government usurps the sovereignty, the social compact is broken, and all the simple citizens regaining by right their natural liberty are forced, but not morally obliged, to obey.' ^ ' Whenever the people are lawfully ' Cont. Soc. iii. o. 16-18. * Cont. Soc. iii. o. 12-15, iv„ c ' Idies EdpubMcaines. 1, 2. ■ Beflections on the French * Ibid. iii. o. 10. Bevolution. OH. .. ' THE ' CONTEAT SOCIAL.' 65 assembled in a sovereign body, all the jurisdiction of Government ceases, and tlie executive power is sus- pended.' ' It will be evident to anyone who has grasped the full meaning of these doctrines, that they would invali- date the legislation and the authority of every Govern- ment in Europe, with perhaps the exception of those small Swiss cantons, where the whole people assemble to make their laws ; and it is also evident that they wotild make all settled government impossible, and all authority precarious, and would multiply incalculably the opportunities and temptations of change. This w;;3 one aspect of the teaching of Rousseau. But if his doctrines led on the one side to utter anarchy, they led on the other, not less clearly, to the most grinding tyranny. For the first condition of the social compact is, ' the total alienation of each associate, with all his rights, to the whole community.' 'As nature gives each man absolute power over his own limbs, so the social contract gives the body politic absolute power over its members,' and makes it ' the master of all their possessions.' ' The right of each individual to his own property is always subordinated to the right of the com- munity to the whole.' * The most efficient check which has been discovered in a free country against the tyranny, either of indivi- duals or of majorities, is found in a strong repre- sentation of classes and interests. Montesquieu had especially insisted upon the importance of checks of this kind. Eousseau utterly repudiated them. The unity, the indivisibility, the homogeneity of the sove- reign power is one of his favourite tenets. The ex- istence of any separate orders or interests in the community, any division, restriction, or balance of ' Cant. Soc. iii. c. 14. ' Ibid. i. o. 6, 9, ii. i. 66 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. ch. i. power, he emphatically rejects. The absolute equality of all members of the body politic is one of his great doctrines. The absolute authority of the body politic, as expressed by universal suffrage, over its members is another. I have already mentioned the religious policy which he deduced from these principles — the civil religion which he desired to impose, on pain of banishment or death, on every member of the community, the proposed expulsion from the State of all who held the doctrine of exclusive salvation. Opinions in as far as they relate exclusively to another world are, he admits, beyond the competence of the legislator ; but whenever they appear likely to affect the conduct of men as members of the State, they should be brought under civil control. ' Whenever the clergy form a distinct body, that body is master and legislator in their country. There are, therefore, two powers, two sovereigns in England and in Eussia, as elsewhere. Of all Christian writers, the philosopher Hobbes alone saw rightly the evil and the remedy, when he dared to propose to unite the two heads of the eagle, and bring everything back to that political unity, without which no State or Government will ever be well constituted.' ' On the subject of education, his views are very similar. The father should be wholly lost in the citizen. It is for the State to prescribe the form and substance of education, and even the amusements of the young, and, as in the Republic of Plato, to mould their minds systematically to its ends.* Such sentiments fell in perfectly with the prevailing tendencies of French thoiight. It is not necessary here to enter into any discussion of the theory, which attri- Cont. Soc. iv. 0. 8. 4 ; Emile, liv. iv. ; Discown Gouvemement de Pologne, o. sur I'Mconomie Polit, OH. I. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDEALS. 67 butes to the Latin as distinguished from the Teutonic race a special tendency towards centralisation and unity. It is at least abundantly evident why such a tendency should have prevailed in France, and prevailed in it to a much greater degree than in the other Latin nations. Italy had been for many centuries divided into separate principalities differing widely in their character and government, and it contained several cities which were so illustrious from their art, history, commerce, or lite- rature, that even the supreme majesty of Rome was unable to reduce them to moral insignificance. The provinces of Spain differed profoundly in their histories, characters, and institutions, and in Spain a large mea- sure of local and provincial self-government had sur- vived the loss of political freedom. But France was a highly centralised despotism, and Paris had no rival or counterpoise in its attractive influence. France, too, was a great military monarchy. The habits and ideals of military life coloured the whole thought of the nation, and the lines of national character were still further deepened by the unifying, organising, and intensely intolerant spirit of the Catholic Church. The result of this combination of influences has been, that the French political ideal has remained substantially unaltered amid the most violent changes of Government. Alike under the despotism of Lewis XIV. and under the despotism of the Convention, it has been the great object of French statesmen to attain a complete unity of type ; to expel or subdue all interests, elements, and influences, that do not assimilate with the prevailing spirit of the Government ; to mould in a single die, to concentrate on a single end, all the forces of the nation. The English political ideal has been essentially diffe- rent. ' I know but one policy,' said one of the writers of the time of the English Revolution, 'whereby to establish any Government, of what sort soever it be, 68 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. on. i, which is to take away all causes of complaint, and make all the subjects easy under it, for then the Government will have the whole strength of the people in its defence, whenever it shall want it.' ' English statesmen have commonly aimed at a Government, in which different interests, opinions, and classes, may expand as much as possible unmolested, and without friction or restraint, and in which the hand of authority is felt as lightly, and as rarely, as possible. They have believed that the largest sum of human happiness and useful perform- ance, the highest level of self-reliance, the broadest foundations of stability and content, are likely to be attained, when each member of the community is given the fullest latitude and opportunity of pursuing the course which seems to him most fit, of gratifying as far as possible his tastes and idiosyncrasies, and even bis weaknesses and prejudices, as long as he does not injure his neighbour. The virtue of the English Government has lain much less in the concentration of the national power, and the expulsion of hostile or heterogeneous elements, than in the strengthening by freedom of the spontaneous energies of the nation ; in a diffused sense of security and comfort, and in the attachment to the Government which it produces. As a consequence of this theory, there has been very little symmetry, or unity of plan, in English govern- ment. When competing interests or principles cannot both be fully satisfied, they are appeased by illogical but practical compromise. Many different types of in- stitution directed to the same ends exist simultaneously. The main principles of measures are qualified. Schemes of policy are deflected now in this direction, now in that, to satisfy as far as possible eccentric forms of opinion, Bud while the general scope of a measure is governed ' Somers Tracts, xii. 242. OH. I. ENGLISH CONSERVATISM. 69 by the wish of the majority, particular provisions are nearly always introduced to disarm the hostility, and satisfy the desires, of minorities. The practical eifects, however, of this characteristic of English politics have been greatly qualified by another influence, which like the foregoing is wholly foreign to the general tenor of the philosophy of Eous- seau. It is the strong conservative instinct, which in England endeavours to preserve a continuity of national life, by governing mainly under the forms, and through the institutions, of the past. Never to destroy an in- stitution which works well ; to keep up institutions if they discharge efficiently secondary uses even though their original and primary uses have become wholly obsolete ; to remove abuses, and introduce changes according to immediate necessities, and not according to any settled plan, have been among the most per- manent maxims of English politics. And the result has been the maintenance of an immense heritage of the past, which, though it does not any longer act in the way of restriction, does undoubtedly act in the way of bias and privilege. Opinions and modes of life may all develop themselves ; but they do not develop on the same plane, and with equal advantages. The restrain- ing hand of authority is little felt ; but the ecclesiastical and aristocratical institutions of the past, with their vast ramifications, their multifarious social, educational, political, and economical influences, form deep grooves or channels, and in a very large measure determine the current of English life. The destruction of the controlling influence of aris- tocracies, and of all local bodies, had produced upon the Continent a steadily increasing concentration of political authority ; and exaggerations of the powers and functions of government scarcely less extreme than those of Rousseau may be found in the writings of 70 THE FEENCH KEVOLOTION. ch. i. Bossuet, and of the chief lawyers of the monarchy. In the case of Rousseau, however, this exaggeration was largely due to his adoption of the old Greek doctrine that the sphere of government is co-extensive with that of moral education,^ and especially to his admiration for the institutions of Lycurgus at Sparta, and of Calvin at Geneva. Its evil effects were greatly in- creased by his persuasion that man is bom good ; that all his vices, and nearly all his calamities, are the result of external circumstances ; that government is princi- pally responsible for them, and that it may be made the instrument of raising him to almost ideal happiness. At the same time, though the political theory of the ' Contrat Social ' was plain, logical, and consistent, and was accepted by great multitudes of Frenchmen in its broad and obvious signification, Rousseau himself re- coiled from many of the conclusions that were drawn from it, and he tried, sometimes with much inconsist- ency, to evade or attenuate them. His book, he said, was simply an abstract or ideal theory of politics. His principles were exactly the same as those of Locke. His model was substantially the aristocratic republic of Geneva.* He had drawn an ideal picture of a free nation ; but he acknowledged that he did not see how ' ' Formez done des hommes partie de I'admimstration, et on Ei vous Youlez commander a des les voyoit attentif s k corrompre hommes. . . . C'^toit 1^ le grand les mceurs de leurs esolaves a^eo art des Goavernemens ajiciens, autant de soin qu'en avoient les dans ces tems recul^s oh les magistrats k corriger celles de philosophes donnoient des loix leurs concitoyens. Mais nos gou- aux peuplea et n'employoient vernemens modernes, qui oroient leur autorit6 qu'i les rendre avoir tout fait quand lis ont sages et heureux. Be la tant tirS de I'argent, n'imaginent pas de loix Bomptuaires, tant de mfime qu'il soit nfeeessaire ou r^glemens sur les moeurs, tant possible d'aJler jusques la.' — de maximes publiques admises Discours sur I'Economie ;poli- ou rejetfees aveo le plus grand tigm. Boin. lies tyrans m&nea n'ou- ■* See his Lettres de La Man- blioient pas cette importaute tagne, especially letter vi. OH. I. QUALIFICATIONS OF EODSSEAU'S DOCTEINE. 71 tte sovereign people could preserve its rights except in a very small state, in wliicli all the citizens could as- semble to legislate.' In his ' Considerations on the Government of Poland,' he admitted the validity of legislation by representatives, provided they were con- trolled by imperative mandates.' While maintaining under all forms of government the inalienable sove- reignty of the nation, his sympathies were not with the democratic form. ' A democratic government,' he says, ' is suitable for small, an aristocratic government for moderate, a monarchical government for great states.* ' A democratic or popular government is more subject than any other to civil wars and internal agitations, for there is no other government which tends so strongly and so constantly to change its form, and which requires, more vigilance and courage to maintain.' ' If there were a people of gods, they would govern themselves as a democracy. So perfect a form of government is not suited for men.' 'It is contrary to the order of nature, that the many should govern, and the few be governed.' 'The best and most natural order is, that the wise should govern the multitude, provided one is sure that they govern it for the profit of the multitude, and not for their own.' ^ ' Government belongs to the small number, the superintendence of government to the people at large.' ' There is no freedom where anyone is above the law ; but a people is free, whatever may be the form of its government, when it recognises in the ruler, not the man, but the organ of the law.' ■• In one of his letters he says that ' the two main principles of • Ccmtrat Social, iii. o. 15. m^dioores d'etre soumia 4 un ' Omivern. de Pol. a. 7. monarque, celle des grands em- • Contrat Social, iii. c. 3, 4, pires d'etre domin^s par un 5. Montesquieu had long before despote.' — Esp. des Lois, viii. o. said : ' La preprints naturelle 20. des petits 6tats est d'Mre gou- * Lettres de La Montagne. vern^s en r^publique, celle des 72 THE FRENCH EEVOLtJTIO'N. oh. i. government established in the " Contrat Social " are, that the sovereignty always belongs legitimately to the people, and that aristocratic government is the best.' ' He shows also in many places a great desire to qualify his very dangerous doctrine of the omnipotence of the sovereign people. The people, he says, must always act by law ; and what is a law ? ' It is a public and solemn declaration of the general will on an object of common interest. I say on an object of common interest, for the law would lose its force and cease to be legitimate if the object was not of importance to all.'* He imagined that he could guard against the dangers of a tyranny of majorities by extinguishing separate interests in politics, and arbitrarily restricting to purely common interests the sphere of the power which he had made omnipotent. ' All that each man alienates by the social compact of his power, his goods, and his liberty, is the portion of which the use is required by the com- munity ; ' ' but,' he adds, ' it must be acknowledged that the Sovereign alone is the judge of this require- ment.' When, however, the people of Athens decreed penalties or honours to particular individuals, it acted not as a sovereign, but as a magistrate. ' By the nature of the social compact every act of sovereignty, that is, every authentic act of the general will, binds or favours equally all the citizens, so that the Sovereign knows only the body of the nation, and does not distin- guish any of those who compose it. . . . The act of sovereignty is not a convention of a superior with an inferior, but a convention of the body with each of its ' To Marcel (1762), Corre- est I'aristooratique.' — Letlres d» spondance, ii. 78. So he else- La Montagne, letter vi. where says: 'Le meilleur des ^ Lettres de La Montagnt, Gouvernemens est I'aristoora- letter vi. tique. La piie des souverainetSa OH. I. EOUSSEAU ON PEOPEETY. 73 members. It is legitimate, because it is based on the social compact ; equitable, because it is common to all ; useful, because it can have no other object than the general good. ... It cannot pass the boundaries of general conventions, and every man can freely possess the goods and the liberty which these conventions have left him ; so that the Sovereign has never a right to burden one subject more than another, for then the affair becomes individual, and his power is no longer competent.' ' In his article on political economy in the ' Encyclo- paedia,' following exactly in the steps of Locke, he says that ' the foundation of the social compact is property, and that its first condition is that every individual should be protected in the peaceful enjoyment of that which belongs to him.' ' The right of property ' he describes as ' the most sacred of all rights of citizens, in some respects even more important than liberty itself.' Taxa- tion can only be legitimately imposed by the common will of the people, or by their representatives; and while he claims for the Government a great power of regulating successions, he examines the principles on which taxation should be imposed with a skill and equity that leave little to be desired. As a general principle, he maintains that taxation should be exactly propor- tioned to property, so that a man who possesses ten times as much as his neighbour should pay ten times more than him. But this principle should be modified by another — that there is a broad distinction between the necessaries and the superfluities of life, and that he who possesses only what is strictly necessary should pay nothing. On the great question, however, whether the right of property existed antecedently to civil society, whether ' Contrat Social, ii. o. i. 74 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. ch. .. it was created or merely sanctioned and protected by the social contract, he shows some vacillation. In his early ' Discourse on Inequality,' copying very closely a well-known passage of Pascal, he speaks of the first man who inclosed a piece of land, and said ' This is mine,' as an impostor and usurper who founded civil society and thereby brought countless calamities upon mankind ; but in the very same discourse he shows with much justice how the necessity of cultivating the soil necessarily led to private property in land. In one passage in his ' Social Contract,' he describes this contract as ' that which changes usm-pation into right,' but in many other passages he acknowledges fully a right of property anterior to the social compact, but contends that by that compact this right is under certain conditions surrendered to the community, and tries to show that these conditions were such as to pre- clude the danger of inequitable taxation and of partial confiscation. ' If it is on the right of property,' he says, ' that the sovereign authority is founded, this right is that which ought to be most respected. It is inviolable and sacred so long as it remains a particular and indi- vidual right. As soon as it is considered as common to all the citizens, it is submitted to the general wUl, and that will can annihilate it. So the Sovereign has no right to touch the goods of one or of many, but may legitimately take the goods of all, as was done in Sparta in the time of Lycurgus. The abolition of debts by Solon was an illegitimate act.* * The real difficulties of a system which invests a mere numerical majority with absolute power, Rousseau never faced. He states that the protection of property is a primary end of government, but realised property ' Emile, livre v. In his Dis- rale n'eet Mablie que pour assurer cours stir V Economie politiqiie la propri6t6 particuli^re qui Jui hesays: 'L'admiuistrationg^n^- est snt^rieure.' OH. I. DAN6EES OF UNIVEESAL SUFFEAGE. 75 to any considerable extent is necessarily mainly in the hands of a few ; and if an overwhelming preponderance of unlimited and uncontrolled voting and taxing power is given to those who do not possess it, is it likely that this power will not be abused? Where irresistible power is given, and where interest or passion impel, it is idle to trust to the cobweb barriers of metaphysical or ethical distinctions. The assertion of Eousseau that ' the condition being equal for all, no one is interested in making it burdensome to the others,' fails almost ludicrously to represent the real facts of the case. Whether legislators like it or not, there must always be diversities and antagonisms of interests, orders, and classes ; there must always be envy, jealousy, covetous- ness, and hatred in the State, and the supreme end of statesmanship is to give security to every interest and class. This can only be done by giving to each some share, and not too large a share, of political power. Uncontrolled power is always abused, and a class may be as effectually reduced to impotence by being swamped as by being disfrancliised. Is it probable, too, that adequate skill can be found in the legislators when no special competence is exacted from the electors who choose them ? It is the inexor- able law of nature, established by all the competitions of life, that sound judgment and capacity belong to the few and not to the many, and that without judgment and capacity, human affairs can never be successfully conducted. The government of a great empire, with its infinitely various and intricate characters, relations, circumstances, and wants, is one of the most difficult as well as one of the most important duties that can be im- posed upon man. The qualities of mind and character it requires are so numerous, the chances of error are so great, the consequences of political miscalculation are 80 terrible and so enduring, that the greatest intellect 76 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. ou. i. "^ might well shrink from the task ; and there is no other sphere in which superficial appearances are more often at variance with realities, or in which the distorting in- fluence of passion is more frequently or more powerfully felt. Is it likely, is it conceivable, that the best and final form of human government should be that in which all power of choice and of control is ultimately vested in the least instructed, the least intelligent, and the most dependent portion of the community ? This was the system which Rousseau advocated, and which he advocated as of universal application. The shape or structure of the government might depend upon the special circumstances of the nation, but the sovereignty of the nation, its right to determine and at any moment to change its government, its right to give or refuse its sanction by universal sufirage to every law that was proposed, was absolutely inalienable. This was equally true of the rudest barbarians and of the most civilised communities, of nations which had but just emerged from centuries of despotism and of nations that had enjoyed for centuriies the education of self- government. Under such a system, if it could have been maintained, the fires of the Inquisition would have burnt for at least a century after they were actually ex- tinguished, and it is by no means certain that they would even now have been at an end. In truth, how- ever, such theories bring their own sharp remedy, for they would speedily reduce any nation that adopted them to anarchy. The notion that universal suffrage is an inalienable right has now become so familiar throughout Europe, that few persons realise how strange it seemed in the writings of Rousseau. It is obvious, however, that in this, as in so many other paints, his disciples have proved very inconsistent, for if a vote be a matter of natural right it is impossible to justify the exclusion 96 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. ch. i. in industrial life from the land market unless they had previously purchased titles of nobility.' Among the peasants, however, the desire for land was very strong. Their savings were generally invested in it. Land naturally sold best in small quantities, and the landlords were in general very williag to sell. Many of them had ceased to take any interest in their estates, and had been ruined by the extravagance of Paris and of the Court, and many others were glad to get rid of large tracts of unproductive land which peasants were ready to purchase and cultivate, or had found profitable openings for their capital in the pur- chase of Government employments and in the rapidly expanding sphere of industrial life. If the peasants were unable to raise the whole of the purchase money, it was usually commuted into a perpetual fixed rent. Under these various influences possibly a fourth part, certainly not less than a fifth part, of the soil of France had passed before the Revolution into the possession of peasant proprietors.^ In this fact there was laid the foundation of a great » CEuvres de Necker, ix. 90, 91. tory ol France, says : ' On peut ' Compare Tooapeville, pp. 55- se faire une idfie assez exacte de B6;Gh&iest,LaChutederAncien, I'fitat de la propri6t6 aTantl789, Bigime, ii. 532-539 ; laiae. An- en diyisantle sol national en cinq cien Bigime, pp. 453-455. Arthur portions k pen pr^s 6gales, une Young conjectured in 1789 that poss^d^e par la oouronne et les a third part of the land was in communes, une par le clergfi, une the hands of peasant proprietors, par la noblesse, une par le tiers This is said to be (exclusive of 6tat et une par le peuple dea communal property) about the campagnes.' — Larergne, Les As- present proportion ; but Arthur sembUes Provinciales sous Louis Young almost certainly exagge- XVI. p. 19. See, too, on the rated. Taine quotes an estimate growth of peasant proprietors of 1760, which gives a fourth between 1760 and 1789 the valu- part of the soil to peasant pro- able book of M. Gasquet, Les prietors, but M. L. de Lavergne, Institutions PoUtiguesetSooiales who is probably the best au- de I'Ancienne France, ii. 330- (hority on the agricultural his- 336. OH. I. ■ TITHES AND FEUDAL DUES. 97 part of the future conservatism of France, but its im- mediate effects were as far as possible from conservative. The small proprietor, who had usually purchased with money borrowed on hard terms, soon found himself struggling with difficulty and want, and exposed to various exactions from which as a tenant he had been exempt. The tithes were less severe than in England,' but falling on a much poorer population they were bitterly resented, and they strengthened the anti-eccle- siastical spirit in the country districts, while hatred of the many feudal privileges of the nobles became one of the strongest feelings of the French mind. These privileges were of many kinds, and they had many different origins. One class were essentially of the nature of propertj'- — rights or dues or tributes which had been reserved when the land was conceded to the peasant, and which were the conditions, and, in part at least, the price of the purchase. Another large class were derived from the period when the nobles discharged many of the duties of sovereignty, and conducted in person the administration of the provinces, and they continued to be exacted when the services for which, they had originally been imposed were no longer rendered ; while others again were relics of ancient serfdom. There were fixed annual payments of the nature of ground rents. There were tributes in kind, of wine and corn and chickens. There were duties to a feudal lord when a farm changed hands ; duties or tolls on markets, fairs, auctions, bridges, ferries, high roads, weights and measures. There were rights to the property of those who were condemned to death ; to the ' See Arthur Young. Pinker- the tithes of doubtful legality ton, iy. 419, 449. There was the imposed on agricultural pro- same distinction as in Ireland, ducts more recently introduced, between the old tithes, which Ch^rest, La Chute de I'Ancien were universally recognised, and Bigime, i. 45. 98 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. on. i. property of those who died without an heir ; to the property of foreigners who died on the domain of the lord. There were exclusive rights of hunting, shooting, keeping pigeons and rabbit warrens, and there were many quaint, antiquated, and sometimes degrading rights of homage of a purely honorary description. The monopoly which the feudal lord possessed of the right of building mUls, baking-ovens, and winepresses, and the obligation imposed on the peasant of giving annually a certain number of days' labour gratuitously to his feudal lord, were among the most oppressive portions of the system. In some provinces the lord had the right of selling his wine for thirty or forty days before that of the peasant could be brought into the market. The feudal burdens varied greatly in their amount ; and in some districts, especially Languedoc, Dauphine, and the Lyonnais, much land was ' allodial ' or exempt.' But over by far the greater part of France the feudal system was in full force. It was less severe than in Germany and some other countries, where serfdom was still general, and it had been slightly alleviated in the course of the century. The number of the days of forced labour had been by custom reduced ; many ancient tolls had been abolished, and it was the spirit of the law courts to construe strictly the right to feudal services, and to recognise only those which were distinctly authorised by title deeds, and which were therefore usually due to an ancient contract. But when all this is admitted, it remains true that the small proprietor as well as the peasant found himself involved in a per- fect maze of intricate, vexatious, oppressive, and often ruinous obligations for which he seemed to receive no corresponding advantage. While some parts of the Bystera were plainly unjust, being payments for services * Bee LomSnie, Les Mirabeau, ii. 20-26. OH. I. FEUDAL EIGHTS. 99 that were no longer rendered, other dues were strictly of the nature of property, being elements of a regular sale. Even the most legitimate, however, were now resented, and the resentment became the stronger be- cause those to whom they were paid lived chiefly in the towns and had lost the power and the popularity both of landlords and administrators. With frequent sales of laud the feudal rights had constantly changed hands. They often passed into the hands of men who had no other connection with the soil. A great part were in the possession of the Church. Another, and perhaps still larger, part had been acquired by the middle classes.' The incessant subdivision of small farms had at the same time broken many feudal dues into minute fractions, greatly increased the cost of their collection, and given rise to a vast amount of complication and ob- scurity, and as a consequence to much expensive and irritating litigation.^ DArgenson as early as 1751 had very wisely re- commended their compulsory purchase, and such a measure was actually carried out with great success in Piedmont twenty years later by Charles Emmanuel III. In France, however, these rights were preserved with little change till the Eevolution, and they gave that movement some of its worst and most distinctive characteristics. Famine, avarice, and revolutionary in- citements conspired in producing a great revolt against feudal rights. All classes were thrown into the same ' Doniol, ia Rivolution Fran- contemporain. See, too, an ex- false et la ViodaliU, p. 39. cellent lecture by Sir H. Maine '' There is a large literature on in his Early Law and Gust om. the subject of feudal rights. I The chief earher authoritie s on have chiefly made use of the the subject are Boncerf, Les In- works of Doniol, Tocqueville, conv^nients des Droits fiodaux, Taine, Ch&est, Lom^nie and and the report presented to the Garet, Arthur Young's Tour, and Constituent Assembly by EStii Janet's Origines du SociaUsme de Merlin of Douay. 100 THE FEENCH EEVOLTJTION. ch. i. category, and it became the main object of the peasantry to annihilate all without compensation. Hence the atrocious Jacquerie which formed one of the most hideous scenes of the first act of the Revolution; the burning of castles in order to destroy the muniment rooms and the title deeds they contained ; the frequent murder of the feudal lords. The Constituent Assembly attempted to abolish feudal obligations by a discrimi- nating and statesmanlike measure purchasingthat portion of them which was clearly of the nature of property, but it was unable to induce the excited peasantry to accept the decree, and at last in 1793 the Convention crowned the work of revolution by sweeping away without com- pensation the whole feudal system, including many money dues which had been purchased, and as it was believed secured, by the most legitimate contracts. While the feudal system turned the peasantry against the nobles, other causes not less powerful were arraying them against the Government. If there had been at this time a really strong, intelligent, and re- forming despotism, it would have certainly represented a large portion of public opinion. Such a Government, provided it is not under clerical influence, has always •Jbeen popular in France, and it would have found a wide sphere for its exertions. It might have employed the strength of the Executive in placing the taxation of the country on a broad and equitable basis ; sweeping away a crowd of invidious class privileges, obsolete and barbarous laws, commercial and industrial restraints; giving a very ignorant population some measure of technical and agricultural education, and stimulating by the many means in its power material prosperity. If it had made Prance respected abroad and prosperous at home, if it had given her a sound and equal administra- tive system as well as religious and intellectual liberty, it would have fulfilled the desire both of Voltaire and OH. I. EXCESSIVE TAXATION. 101 the Economists, and it would have found so much public support that it might probably have defied all the efforts of the revolutionary school of Rousseau. A Government of this kind, however, is easily con- ceived but rarely realised, and the despotism of France was weak and imbecile, and corroded with unrighteous privilege. The taxation of the country had grown to a colossal height through the wars of Lewis XIV., and subsequent mismanagement had greatly aggravated the burden. There are fewsubjectsof inquiry more difficult than a comparison of the financial condition of France before and after the Revolution. The great change in the value of money throughout Europe ; the special in- crease in the national wealth of France ; the complete alteration of the whole system of taxation ; the extreme complexity, obscurity, and confusion in which the finances of ancient France were involved ; the habit of deferring accounts till several years after they had be- come due, and the frequent false representations which were given upon authority, create many pitfalls for the historian. Much research has, however, been devoted to the subject, and in the opinion of one of the best judges, the annual imposts borne by the French people at the outbreak of the Revolution, including the tithes and local dues and taxes, may be estimated at eight hundred and eighty millions of livres, while the whole wealth of the country was less than one-third of what it became eighty years later. According to this estimate the taxation of France in 1789 bore a higher proportion to its wealth than under any of the Governments up to the fall of Napoleon III., with the single exception of the Reign of Terror.' Under any circumstances such taxation would have been burdensome, but it was rendered intolerable by ita ' Sybel, Hist, de la Bivdlution, i. 34, 38, 39. 102 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. ch. i. enormous, its scandalous injustice. The whole noble class and the whole body of the clergy were exempted from the greater part of it. From the ' taille ' or per- sonal tax, which was the heaviest tax in France, and which had increased tenfold in two centuries, they were in nearly all cases absolutely free ; and although they did pay the capitation tax and the tax called the ' vingt- i6me,' they paid it on a separate and a lower scale. The number of the so-called ' privileged ' individuals is said to have been not less than 270,000, and it was continually increasing by the sale of oflSces which carried with them the privilege of nobility. Necker mentioned that in his time there were no less than 4,000 of these offices. Yet even this does not by any means measure the whole amount of the exemptions. There were many thousands of petty offices which did not confer the rights of nobility, but which freed those who held them from the ' taille ' and reduced some of their other taxes to small dimensions.^ There were whole towns which had secured for themselves considerable exemptions,^ and nearly all over France the full weight of the taxation fell mainly upon the small peasantry, upon the classes of the community who were the most poor and the most helpless. At a time when the passion for equality was at its height this astounding inequality of the poor, crushed by taxation in order that the rich might be re- lieved, was continually before the eyes of the people. There was probably not a parish, not a village, in the country districts in which it was not illustrated by ex- amples. An historian who has examined with great care the details of French taxation has estimated that over a great part of France the class which was ' taill- able,' and which consisted chiefly of the farmers of the ' Taine, Ancien Bigime, pp. ' See the examples in Taine, 474-481 ; Tocqueville, pp. 138, pp. 478, 479. 139. OH. I. DNJDST TAXATION. 103 country, paid on an average out of every 100 francs of their nett revenue no less than 53 francs in direct taxa^ tion, 14 francs 28 centimes in tithes, and 14 francs 28 centimes in feudal dues, leaving less than a fifth part for the support of themselves and their families.' It has been estimated by the same historian that the proportion of taxation to revenue, borne in several provinces by those who were ' taillable,' was about five times as great as at present,^ and its enormity was mainly due to the exemptions enjoyed by almost all the wealthier members of the community. For the poor there were no such exemptions. The capitation tax, especially, pursued the humblest and the most helpless. The workman who gained but fivepence a day for his labour sometimes paid eight, nine, or ten livres of capi- tation, and the tax was paid even by those wretched beings who hovered round the gutters of the great towns in search of rags or broken bottles, or pieces of iron, or who sold old hats and clothes through the streets.^ The system of taxation was as .arbitrary as it was unjust. The King's Council decided' the amount which each province should pay, and had even the right of ■ increasing the ' taille ' by a simple ' arret,' until Necker in 1780 induced the King to consent that this should in future only be done by a regular law registered by Parliament.^ In the 'pays d' election' the intendants and their subordinates exercised an almost absolute power in assigning to each district and individual their proportion of the burden. Enormous abuses naturally grew up ; despotic power was encountered by conceal- ment and falsehood, but on the whole those who pos- > Taine, Ancien Bigime, pp. be found in the great works ol 458-461, 542, 543. Taine and TooqueviUe. ' Ibid. p. 461. ' Lavergne, Assemblies Pro- •< Ibid. pp. 461-463. Full de- vinciales, p. 61. tails about these anomalies will 104 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. i. Bessed wealth and influence were usually favoured. Many branches of the revenue were farmed out, and the ' fermiers ' were not less extortionate and oppressive than the Irish tithe proctors, to whom they bore a marked resemblance. The exemption of the nobles from taxation originated at a time when they were a small body, and its justifica- tion was the gratuitous military service they were then bound to render. But after the institution of standing armies this reason no longer existed, while the amount of the taxes was vastly increased. Montesquieu de- Bcribed the gigantic armies of his day as ' a new malady,* which had spread over Europe, and which was threaten- ing its chief countries with absolute ruin.' It was im- possible that the whole burden of supporting them should rest permanently on the poor, and some feeble efforts were accordingly made to diffuse it. The taxa- tion of the privileged classes began after the Peace of Ryswick with the capitation tax and the ' tenths,' and from this time French finance ministers steadily en- deavoured to mitigate the inequality.^ It gradually became a settled maxim among them that every in- crease of taxation should be met by augmenting the ' twentieth,' which applied to the property of all classes, rather than the ' taille,' from which the privi- leged classes were exempt, and a serious effort was ' Esprit des Lois, xiii. u. 17. en gto^ral tous les privileges, ' Turgot, recommending the sans en excepter oeux de la abolition of corv6es for the re- noblesse et da olerg^.' — Turgot, pair of the roads and the substi- Expanses aux Objections du tution for them of a tax paid by Garde des Sceaux. (Kuvres (ed. nil classes, says : ' H faut suivre 1809), viii. 226, 227. This work ... la marche que tous les contains a great deal of valuable ministres des finances ont con- information about the inequali- stanlment suivie depuis quatre- ties of taxation in France. See, vingts aus, et davantage ; oar il too, Lomtoie, Les Mirabeau, ii. n'y en a pas un qui n'ait con- 93-99. Btamment cherch6 k restreindre OH. i. UNJUST. TAXATION. 105 made to amend the shamefully low valuation upon which the privileged classes paid the former tax. Something was done in this direction, though slowly and imper- fectly, but the further prosecution of the scheme appears to have been abandoned in 1782 through the opposition of the Parliaments.' In the meantime the inequality of taxation was becoming continually more intolerable through the double process of an increasing aggregate burden and of an increasing number of exemptions. The character, numbers, and position of the French aristocracy had wholly changed, since Eichelieu and Lewis XIV. had drawn the more important and opulent members from the management of their estates to the dissipations of Paris, and since Mazarin had begun the system of annexing hereditary titles to the magistracy, and to a crowd of other offices purchased from theKiag.^ It had become so easy to buy nobility with money that Turgot scarcely exaggerated when he wrote that ' the class of the nobles comprised the whole class of the rich,' ^ and it was this class which was refusing to bear its reasonable proportion of the burdens of the State. The injustice was glaring and intolerable, but it was not peculiar to Prance. It may be found during the eighteenth century in almost every leading country on ' See the history of this trans- des requites, de tr^soriers de action in Chferest, La Chute de France, de secretaires du rol du VAncien Bigime, i. 38-40. grand et du petit college, et par * Necker, CBttiires, ix. 122, 123. d'autres charges encore ; comma Necker says : ' Pr^s de la moiti6 aussi par des places de capitouls, de I'ordre de la noblesse tel qu'il d'fiohevins, et par des brevets existait k I'approche des derniers 6man4s dela faveur des rois, des etats gSnSraux fetait compost de ministres et des premiers com- familles ennobKes depuis deux mis. On doit ajouter encore & si^cles par les charges de con- tous oes jets de noblesse moderne seillers aux parlemens, de con- les droits acquis par une cer- seillers k la oour des aides, taine suite de services militaires d'auditeurs, de correcteurs et de oombinfa aveo la nature dea maltres des comptes, de con- grades.' seillers du Chdtelet, de maitres ' CEuvres de Tii/rgot, viii. 234. 106 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. i. the Continent,' and it is one of the points in which tha contrast between English and continental Governments is most remarkable. The predominating influence of a landed aristocracy in England may indeed be plainly seen in laws which artificially foster the agglomeration of land. It may be seen in the severity of the game laws. It has been seen by some writers in the continued lowness of the land tax, but such writers forget the number and magnitude of the special burdens on land, and the immense change which has taken place in the relative importance of real and personal property since the Revolution, and they forget also the remarkable fact that the so-called land-tax was originally imposed, not solely on land, but also on personal property, and that it is personal property and not land which has since been exempted.^ Land was, however, exempted from the succession duties which Pitt's Acts of 1789 and 1796 imposed on personal property, and the law of distress gives landlords a preferential claim as cre- ditors in the case of the insolvency of their tenants. But in general the richer classes in England have never claimed any exemption from taxation, while they have readily accepted many special burdens, and when they secured for themselves a virtual monopoly of places of dignity and power their usual method was to make those offices either absolutely gratuitous or exceedingly under- paid. As Tocqueville has truly said : ' For centuries the only inequalities of taxation in England were those which had been successively introduced in favour of the necessitous classes. ... In the eighteenth century it was the poor who enjoyed exemptions from taxation in England, in Prance it was the rich. In the one case the aristocracy had taken upon its own shoulders the ' Sorel, L'Europe et la Bivolu- and Landowners, p. 246 ; M'Cul- tion Franqaise, pp. 95-99. loch on Taxation, p. 62. The '' 4 William and Mary, cap. 1. assessment on personal property Bee Mr. Brodriok's English Land was abandoned in 1833. OH. I. ENGLISH AND FRENCH TAXATION. 107 heaviest public charges in order to be allowed to govern. In the other case it retained to the end an immunity from taxation, in order to console itself for the loss of government.' ' It is true that the position of the Eng- lish working classes'in relation to taxation was not quite so favourable in the eighteenth century as at present, when almost all articles of first necessity and all the raw materials of industry are untaxed, but still they had no special burdens, and they had many special exemptions. Arthur Young relates the enthusiasm and the astonish- ment with which a French mob during the Revolution received a short speech which he made them, on the difference between taxation in England and Prance. ' We have many taxes,' said the English traveller, ' in England which you know nothing of in France, but the tiers etat, the poor, do not pay them. They are laid on the rich. Every window in a man's house pays, but if he has no more than six windows he pays nothing. A seigneur with a great estate pays the vingti^mes and tallies, but the little proprietor of a garden pays nothing. The rich pay for their horses, their carriages, their ser- vants, and even for liberty to kill their own partridges ; but the poor farmer pays nothing of all this, and what is more we have in England a tax paid by the rich for the relief of the poor.' ''■ To complete the picture of the evils of French ad- ministration, we have to remember the enormous multi- plication of pensions, sinecures, and absurdly overpaid offices reserved exclusively for the privileged classes, and the enormous multiplication of judicial and other offices habitually put up for sale. The sale of offices extended to the army, the navy, the ordnance, and even the ecclesiastical employments about the household.^ ' L'Ancien Regime, pp. 146, " See an essay by St. Pierre 147. on ' Manners in Prance,' Ann, 2 Pinkerton, iv. 200. Beg. 1762, p. 154. 108 I THE FBENCII EEVOLUTION. oh. i. The burden of tte militia fell wholly on the peasantry, and as married men were exempted, it was one cause of the commonness of improvident marriages among them, which contrasts so remarkably with the rareness of such marriages in our day.' Unpaid labour was exacted twice a year for making and repairing the roads. The sale of salt was a strict monopoly of the Govemmentj and its price, making full allowance for the alteration in the value of money, was eight times as high as in the present day.^ Bread was made artificially dear by the restrictions on the internal commerce of com ; similar restrictions were imposed on the internal com- merce of wine and brandy, and the system of jurandea placed every trade on the basis of monopoly, and forbade the workmen to migrate in search of more profitable markets for their industry. Endless tolls and restric- tions and ancient privileges interlaced and impeded in- dustry at every turn, and between ignorance and poverty and oppression, agriculture, over a great part of France, was little more advanced than in the Middle Ages. Arthur Young calculated that an acre of land produced in England on an average from twenty-four to twenty- five bushels of grain, but in Prance only eighteen, and that while the produce of arable land in the one country might be estimated at 50s., in the other it was only 35s.' In this manner France, in spite of its extraordinary advantages in soil and climate, its admirable geogra- phical position, and the great energy and skill of its manufacturers, continued to be a poor country, and while its towns ranked among the most brilliant in Europe, every bad season reduced a great part of its ' Pinlcerton, iv. 416. condition of the French pea- ' Taine, p. 468. santry will be found in the works • Arthur Young's Towr (ongi- of Lavergne and of Babeau, and nal edition of 1792), i. 341, 462. in the first chapter of Sybel'i Very full examinations of the Kist. de la involution. OH. X. FEEQUENT FAMINES. , . 109 country population to absolute famine. Vauban and St. Simon have drawn in imperishable lines the picture of their misery under Lewis XIV., and the constant and formidable bread riots during the whole of the eighteenth century show how persistently that misery continued. In 1739 and 1740 the distress was such that D'Argen- son expressed his belief that in those years more French- men died of misery than in all the wars of Lewis XIV.' In 1750 and 1761 the same scenes were reproduced. Whole villages were deserted. At least 20,000 work- men fled across the frontier. In some districts field labour could hardly be accomplished, for the few re- maining peasants were so extenuated by hunger that they could scarcely hold the spade or direct the plough, and gaunt, famine-stricken crowds, shouting for bread, besieged the town halls and followed the Dauphin as he drove to Notre Dame.^ In one month in 1753, and in one quarter of Paris, no less than 800 persons died of misery.' 1770 and 1773 were both years of famine,'' and although the commercial wealth of France increased rapidly during the early years of Lewis XVI. it left the condition of the peasantry little changed. The provinces, it is true, diiFered greatly in taxation, feudal burdens, soil, cultivation, and general well-being. Turgot described Normandy, Flanders, Picardy, and the districts around Paris and Orleans as flourishing, biit he added that at least four-sevenths of France was cultivated by tenants who were absolute paupers, who held their land for the most part by the metayer tenure, and who were very generally reduced to the most abject misery through the burden of the ' taille ' and the oppression of ■ Mimoires,iii.92. See several ^ Eocquain, pp. 144, 145 j particulars of this famine in Eoo- Taine, pp. 433-436. quain, pp. 103-1 05, and in Taine, ' Eocquain, p. 168. pp. 431-433. * Ibid. pp. 274, 306. 110 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. i. the middleman.' Tlie detailed investigation of Arthur Young, about twenty years later, amply corroborates the picture. While he found a few provinces fairly prosperous, he estimated that there were in France not less than 40,000,000 acres that were absolutely or nearly waste, that country labour was paid seventy-six per cent, less than in England, that the metayers who formed the great mass of the French tenantry were sunk in a poverty to which there was no parallel in England, and which was certainly not exceeded in Ireland, and that their extreme poverty was mainly to be ascribed to the arbitrary and excessive ' taille,' and to the manifold oppressions of the feudal system. ' What a miracle,' he wrote, ' that all this splendour and wealth of the cities of France should be so unconnected with the country. There are no gentle transitions from ease to comfort, from comfort to wealth. You pass at once from beggary to profusion, from misery in mud cabins to . . . spec- tacles at 600 livres a night ; the country deserted, or if a gentleman in it, you find him in some wretched hole to save that money which is lavished with profusion in the luxuries of a capital.' '^ As in the Eoman Empire in the period of its decadence, great districts fell wholly out of cultivation, on account of the overwhelming weight of the burdens on agriculture. I have now enumerated the chief intellectual, social, political, and moral influences that prepared the great catastrophe of the Revolution. The enumeration, how- ever imperfect, will throw some light on the con- trasts between the conditions of England and France ; the alleged danger of French principles spreading to ' Mimoires sur Us Impositions ' Pinkerton, iv. 158. See, too, dans la GiniraliU de Limousin Taine, Ancien Bggime, pp. 42^ (1766) J CEuvres de Turgot, torn. 455. CH. I. PAELIAMENTS EESTOEED— TUEGOT. ■ 111 England, and the causes which made the Revolution in France much more than a merely national or merely political event. It is unnecessary, however, for my present purpose, to examine with the same detail the fifteen memorable years between the accession of Lewis XVI. and the final catastrophe ; when, under a virtuous and most well-meaning, but feeble, sluggish, and vacil- lating King, the experiment of reform was tried and failed. Contrary to the wishes of Voltaire, but amid great popular rejoicing, the Parliaments and other law courts which had been abolished under Lewis XV. were restored, and in the person of Turgot the best and greatest of the Economists assumed the reins of power. Thoroughly imbued with the most enlightened econo- mical teaching of his time, thoroughly acquainted, through his thirteen years' experience as intendant of Limousin, with the conditions, wants, and misery of the French people, this great minister attempted reforms which would have remedied, or at least alleviated, nearly all the more important abuses that have been described. He was supported warmly, and on the whole loyally, by the King, and in Malesherbes he found a colleague who was as pure-minded and con- scientious as himself. The Ministry of Turgot lasted little more than twenty months,' and during a considerable part of it he was confined to his room by the gout, but it formed one of the most memorable pages in the century. No minister ever showed a more untiring energy, a more single-minded desire for public good, a more thorough knowledge, both of existing abuses and of the remedies by which they might be cured; but he was wholly wanting in the art of managing and conciliating men, ' This was as ControUeT-General. He bad been, for about a moQtb before, Minister for the Navy. 9 112 THE FEENCH EEVOLtJTION. oh. i. and in the art of measuring his reforms by the state of public opinion. Austere, absolute, and rigid in his character and in his manners, he was too much governed by general maxims and by considerations of abstract utility, and his conviction of the precariousness of his power, and of the probable shortness of his life, gave a feverish energy to his poHcy, and led him to attempt far more than he could possibly have accomplished. The enumeration of the reforms which he effected, at- tempted, or proposed makes one of the most wonderful pictures of political activity in history. They comprised the suppression of the corvees and of the jurandes, a complete readjustment of the taxation of France, the establishment of a most elaborate system of local self- government in the form of assemblies which were to be elected in every province, the removal of all, or nearly all, the barriers on internal commerce, a commutation of the feudal dues, the reorganisation of the courts of justice, the concession of full religious liberty to the Protestants, a general system of national secular educa- tion. Something was accomplished, but the most im- portant designs were defeated, and all the classes whose interests and privileges were menaced soon con- spired against him. The reconstituted Parliaments, fully verifying the prediction of Voltaire, and forgetting their old quarrels with the clergy, made themselves the most formidable defenders of the old privileges. The Parliament of Paris burnt the work in which Boncerf^ at the instigation of Turgot, pointed out the evils of the feudal system ; and it protested vehemently against the abolition of the corvees and jurandes, and against the equalisation of the taxes. The clergy rose in indigna- tion against the proposed measures of toleration, and they looked with horror on a minister who was in open sympathy with the philosophers. The merchants were enraged at the abolition of the jurandes, and countless OH. I. LTUEGOT. 113 particular interests were alarmed and irritated by the measures of equalisation and economy. Courtiers and magistrates, the clergy and the merchants, were soon leagued against the minister; and although Voltaire defended him with admirable force, he could not turn the stream. Even among the poor, whom he so deeply loved, Turgot was not wholly popular. One of his best measures was the removal of the restraints upon the in- ternal commerce of com ; but a bad year happened to follow, and in the fierce bread riots that ensued, the cry was raised that Turgot was starving the people. Though one of the greatest of reformers, he had no wish to strengthen the popular element in the French Government. He entirely rejected the advice of Males- herbes, who desired the convocation of the States- General. The work of Boncerf, which he inspired, maintained that it was in the power of the Sovereign by his royal au.thority to abolish the feudal system. The bread riots were suppressed under Turgot quite as energetically and quite as severely as under former ad- ministrations, and his attitude towards the Parliaments was one of uncompromising hostility. He had never approved of their revival ; he saw plainly that their doctrine that no tax was obligatory which they had not freely registered, was the most formidable obstacle to his design of putting an end to the exemptions of the privileged orders from taxation ; and his two greatest measures — the abolition of the corvees and the abolition of the jurandes — were forced through a hostile and pro- testing Parliament by beds of justice, and with the strongest possible assertion of the omnipotence of the royal power. The whole legislative power of the nation, he emphatically declared, was rightly concentrated in the Sovereign ; and although he desired to confer upon local bodies large powers of administration and of advice, he was inflexibly opposed to any restriction or 114 THE FBENCH BE VOLUTION. en. ., partition of the authority of the King.' But the party at Court which was opposed to him, and the party of the privileged orders, daily increased ; and the Queen, who disliked his manners and still more his economies, used her influence in favour of the opposition. The King wished to support him, but he had little confidence in his own judgment, and found that nearly all with whom he came in contact were hostile to the minister. He was himself disturbed by Turgot's religious views, disappointed at the number of animosities that he aroused, alarmed at the effect of his policy in producing riots of peasants against their feudal lords, and of workmen against their masters. Maurepas, who from the beginning of the reign had a great influence over the King's judgment, was hostile to Turgot. The Queen, indignant at Turgot's removing one of her favourites, gave the last blow. Malesherbes had already resigned in disgust; and in May 1776 Turgot was dismissed and disgraced. ' I shall never,' wrote Voltaire, ' con- sole myself for having seen rise and perish the golden age, which these two ministers were preparing for us.' The dismissal of Turgot was speedily followed by the restoration of the corvees and jurandes, amid many manifestations of popular indignation. The influence of Maurepas on the mind of the King was strengthened, " See Sorel, L'Europe et la the Americans should have col- Bivolution Fran^aise, pp. 206, leoted all authority into one 212. It is characteristic of Tur- centre, instead of dividing it be- got's love of strong government tween a president and two Houses that he altogether objected to of Congress with defined and the provisions in the Constitu- limited powers. It was these tion of the United States for criticisms which chiefly produced restricting, qualifying, and ba- John Adams' remarkable Defeiict lancing the democratic element. of tJie Constitutions of the United Having adopted the principle of States. democracy, he maintained that OH. 1. FIKST MINISTRY OF NECKEE. 115 but the vision of innumerable great reforms unex- pectedly presented, and then suddenly withdrawn, sti- mulated the restless and innovating spirit which had been steadily growing in Prance, while among the pri- vileged classes a feeling of insecurity began to spread. Madame de Stael happily described or defined the philo- sophical spirit of the time as a growing habit of measuring all things by reason and not by habit, and institutions which had long been acquiesced in without a murmur were now submitted to a jealous scrutiny. After a short interval, however, the policy of reform was resumed, though within narrower limits, by Necker whose first financial ministry extended from Octobei 1776 to May 1781. The Genevese banker was beyond all things a financier, and he viewed the whole ques- tion mainly in its financial aspect. The confidence he inspired among the moneyed classes was remarkably shown by the great success of his war loans ; he in- troduced many skilful economies into many difierent branches of public service ; he endeavoured with praise- worthy courage to check the enormous and criminal extravagance of Marie Antoinette, and he took the bold and, in truth, somewhat doubtful step of making the nation aware of the magnitude of the financial crisis by publishing for the first time a full account of the revenue and expenditure. He abstained from the am- bitious and systematic measures of Turgot, but a reform of the hospitals, the establishment of monts de piete for the benefit of the struggling poor, the abolition of servitude on the royal domains, a royal proclamation inviting the feudal lords to follow the royal example, and the abolition of torture inflicted previous to trial, mark the spirit of his administration. He was deeply sensible of the enormous injustice inflicted on the pro- vinces by the absolute power of the intendants to determine the amount of the taille, and he also saw 116 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. i. clearly that the financial equilibrium could never be restored unless the existing exemptions from taxation were abolished. But such a measure could not be carried by simple royal authority, in the face of the opposition of the aristocratic Parliaments, which had been violently suppressed, and then unwisely restored. His plan was, in part at least, substantially the same as that which had been recommended by Fenelon to the Duke of Burgundy. Penelon had proposed the revival in each province of the Provincial States con- sisting of the three orders, and he desired to entrust to them, and ultimately to the States-General, which they were to elect, the reform of the system of taxation. With a foresight, however, which subsequent events signally justified, he perceived that the usual form of the old Provincial States, in which the three orders voted separately, gave the privileged orders a preponderance which would be fatal to the scheme. In the States of Languedoc alone, the three orders voted together, and the representatives of the third order equalled those of the other orders combined. This model Penelon pro- posed for imitation, and he recommended at the same time the abolition of the intendants. The death of the Duke of Burgundy destroyed the prospects of a scheme which, if it had been adopted in time, might have introduced into French administration a most efficient and active principle of freedom and of reform. Several writers recurred to the proposal, but Turgot sought to attain the objects of Penelon in another way. He entirely disregarded the existence, division, and balance of orders which lay at the root of the old States-General and Provincial States, but he recom- mended the formation of a hierarchy of elective assem- blies, parochial, municipal, and provincial, culminating in a National Assembly, all resting on the basis of landed property alone, and entrusted merely with the OH. I. FAIL OF NECEEE— AMEEICAN WAE. 117 duty of advising the Government. This violent de- parture from the traditional form of French assemblies was not sanctioned by the King, and Necker proposed to recur to the division by orders, but to follow the precedent of the States of Languedoc in the manner of the voting and in the number of the representatives of the commons. His provincial assemblies were not, however, at first to be elective bodies, though they were ultimately to become so. The King was to choose the first sixteen members ; they were themselves to elect their colleagues, and they were to sit for two years. Necker proposed to invest them with very considerable powers both of administration and taxation, and gradu- ally to confine the Parliaments to purely magisterial and judicial functions. Three provincial assemblies were actually established when the intentions of Necker about the Parliaments were treacherously disclosed. The Parliament of Paris at once refused to register the edict for a fourth provincial assembly, and such a storm of opposition arose that Necker abandoned his task. His resignation was given on May 19, 1781.' But before these events had taken place, all real hope of restoring the finances had been destroyed by the war into which France had entered in support of the American Revolution. Turgot had solemnly warned the King that the first shot from a French cannon would make bankruptcy inevitable, and the King with his frequent good sense clearly sav7 the danger, though with his usual weakness he suifered himself to be over- ruled by those who were about him. The American war surrounded the Court and the Government with a new and genuine popularity. It turned the minds of men for a time from internal contests, and although it ended with a crushing naval defeat, and was at no See Lavergne, Les Assemilies ProvinciaUt. 118 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. i. period particularly glorious to the French arms, it was pursued with great energy and crowned with ultimate success. The loss of Canada by France, in 1763, was more than balanced by the severance of the other American colonies from England. But the war which so humbled and depressed England left her rival bur- dened with a debt which she could never pay,^ and inoculated with a passion for republicanism and revo- lution which it was no longer possible to resist. ' The American Eevolution,' wrote Arthur Young a few years later, ' has laid the foundation of another in France, if Government do not take care of itself.' ' A strong leaven of liberty has been increasing every hour since the American Revolution.' ^ Prom the time of the fall of Necker, the Government of France drifted for several years under a succession of feeble, extravagant, and incompetent ministers almost idly to its fate. Yet it is strange to observe how little the shadow of coming evil was at this time felt. The Court and capital had never been so brilliant and so charming. The King was very popular. The Queen was adored by her Court and not yet whoUy unpopular with the nation ; and the doctrine of the infinite per- fectibility of man, which had long been in the ascendant, stUl gave the charm of extreme hopefulness to all French society and thought. When Turgot proposed his plan of national education to the King, he predicted that if it were adopted, ' the French people in ten years would be scarcely recognisable, and would infinitely transcend all other nations in their enlightenment, goodness, loyalty, and patriotism.' ^ S6gur has described, in some ' For a calculation of the ' Pinkerton, iv. 140, 159. money cost of the American war • Lom^nie, Les Mirabeau, ii. (o France, see ChSrest, La Chute 426. de VAnoien Bigvme, i. 91. OH. I. OPTIMISM Of FEENCH SOCIETY. 119 admirably vivid pages, the optimism and the enthu- siasm of French society during the American war. It was the time when the passion for nature and simplicity, and the revolt against all factitious and conventional distinctions, produced by the writings of Eousseau and by the imitation of English customs, was at its height. In the country houses the gardens of Le Notre with their long straight alleys, their symmetrical squares, and their carved trees, were replaced by the wilder beauties of the English garden. In society uniforms and decorations disappeared, and a republican simplicity of dress became general. In the theatres the absurd habit of representing ancient heroes and heroines in modem Court dress was suddenly discarded. In the Court the Queen systematically threw aside etiquette, and introduced a freer tone of manners and conversa- tion. 'A word of praise from D'Alembert or Diderot was now more valued than the highest favours of a prince.' ' The republican maxims of " Brutus " were applauded at Court. Monarchs were disposed to sup- port a people in rebellion against their King ; the lan- guage of independence might be heard in the camps, the language of democracy among the nobles, the lan- guage of philosophy at the balls, the language of the moralist in the boudoir.' ' Opinions seemed to have lost their influence on passions. In those happy days men could always love those who thought differently from themselves.' ' Old doctrines and manners ap- peared at once ridiculous and wearisome, and the gay philosophy of Voltaire was supreme.' It was believed that the ' spirit of liberty would change the face of the world by enlightening it.' ' Everyone foresaw the happiest future. No one dreamed of a Revolution, though it was forming rapidly in opinions.' ' The ad- vantages of old institutions and the freedom of new manners seemed to subsist together.' 'Never was a 120 THB FRENCH REVOLUTION. oh. i. more terrible awakening preceded by a calmer sleep, or by more seductive dreams.' ' The genuine popularity of the American war greatly strengthened the Grovernment, and the Peace of 1783 appeared to have secured for France a complete pre- ponderance in Europe. The political and commercial alliance with Holland at the end of 1785 was a new triumph for French foreign policy, and a new blow to what was believed to be the waning influence of Eng- land ; and Prance, as we have seen, fearlessly supported and stimulated the revolutionary and democratic spirit that had arisen in the Netherlands. Industry and com- merce made a sudden bound after the Peace, and before 1789 the foreign commerce of France was double what it had been at the accession of the King.^ Travellers were astonished at the vast works of internal navigation that were designed and accomplished, at the extra- ordinary growth of the commercial importance of St. Domingo, at the new docks and harbours that were constructed along the French coast, but especially at Cherbourg, at the splendour and growing opulence of the great provincial towns. Bordeaux was pronounced by Arthur Young in 1787 to be incomparably superior to Liverpool in wealth, commerce, and magnificence. With improved roads and more rapid public carriages which had been established by Turgot, a new life was felt in the provinces ; and though agriculture lagged far behind commerce, a few good harvests had given it some im- pulse. The multiplication of agricultural societies, the rapid rise of rent, the rapid increase of the revenue derived from the duties on articles of food, were indis- ' Mimoires de Sigur, i. 22-28, French trade,' wrote Arthur 152-160. Toung, 'has ahnost doubled since '■' Lavergne, Assemblies Pro- the Peace of 1763, but ours haa vinciales, p. 9. See, too, Taine, increased not near so much.'— Ancien Bigime, p. 402. ' The Tour in France, ch. xix. OH. I. TEIUMPH OF FRENCH IDEAS. 121 putable signs of progress.' It was about this time that the use of the potato became general in France, and that Daubenton introduced the Spanish breed of sheep.^* Population was increasing with extraordinary rapidity, but the country was becoming also visibly richer. Calonne, who had been made Controller-General at the close of 1783, borrowed in time of peace almost as largely as Necker in time of war,' and the success of his loans gave an appearance of great prosperity. The luxury and expenditure of the Court continued unchecked,^ and the millennial dream was unbroken. Intellectual activity was never greater. In 1774 it was computed that the book trade in Paris was four times as large as in London.^ French ideas reigned in the chief Courts, in almost all the universities and academies of the Continent, and boundless vistas seemed on all sides opening. It was believed that the iirvention of the balloon by Montgolfier was about to give men the empire of the air, and that Mesmer had found a cure for all diseases. Lavoisier, with several other less distinguished labourers, now raised chemistry into a science. Lagrange and Laplace were giving a vast ex- tension to astronomy ; De Lisle and Hatiy to mineralogy. The study of physiology, botany, comparative anatomy, and electricity advanced with gigantic strides ; and in the enthusiasm that prevailed, it was imagined that physical science would soon unlock the secret of the universe and disclose the mystery of Ufe.^ In other ' Tooqueville, Ancien Bigime, * See Michelet, Histoire de pp. 252-255 ; Gasquet, InstitM- France, xvii. 362, 363. tions poUtiques et sociales de ' Aubertin, L'Esprit public VAncienne France, ii. 353. au XVIIIme Siicle, p. 482. - Lavergne, Economic Burale ° See a striking picture of the de France, i. 3, 4. approaches that were believed to ^ ' Cinc[ cents millions d'em- have been madetowardsdisoover- prunt en trois ann^es de paix.' ing the nature and genesis of life, Michelet, Hist. xvii. 360. in Cabanis, Ba^orts du Phy- 122 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. oh. i. fields, the Oriental researches of Volney, the sculpture of Houdon, the paintings of David, the many noble works of architecture that were erected in Paris, the art criticisms which Diderot published annually between 1759 and 1781, the almost unparalleled success of the ' Mariage de Figaro ' of Beaumarchais, excited a corresponding enthusiasm. Political clubs came into fashion about 17841, and gave a new energy to the move- ment of thought, while French society still maintained the character of intellectual brilliancy, that made it without a rival in Europe. The Due de la Roche- foucauld, the Due de Nivernais, the Prince de Beauvau, and many other of the leaders of society were passion- ately devoted to letters.' A spirit of innovation and speculation, a love of liberty and toleration, an immense hopefulness, and a disposition to underrate all difficulties, almost universally characterised French society. The great writers indeed were passing rapidly away, and they left no successors. Montesquieu had died in 1755 ; Voltaire and Rousseau in 1778 ; D'Alembert in 1783 ; Diderot in 1784 ; Mably in 1785. But the work of popularising obscure and difficult knowledge, which was the supreme achievement of the eighteenth century, was never so industriously pursued. Buffijn, illumina- ting the whole field of natural history with the charm of the most brilliant eloquence, had in this respect a tran- scendent influence, and the popularity of literary and scientific lectures was now at its height. The lectures of La Harpe on literature, of Fourcroy on chemistry, of Petit on anatomy, of Nollet on electricity, were thronged by all that was most brilliant in Parisian society. The empire of superstition seemed passing away like the sique et du Moral de VHomme. preceded the Eevolution. Sitt, Buckle has given an admirable of Civilisation, i. 796-836. picture of the passion for phy- ' S6gur, ii. 34. ileal science that immediately CH. I. . MORAL TENDENCIES. 123 shadows of night before the rising sun. The questions / about tickets of confession, Jansenist doctrines, and Ultramontane pretensions which had excited such an interest under Lewis XV. had disappeared amid general contempt, and the influence of the clergy, as an influ- ence of superstition, seemed almost extinct. At the same time, though religious beliefs were rapidly waning, there never was a period less characterised by hardness, coldness, and selfishness. French society was much less frivolous, and also much more moral, than in the days of the Regency and of Lewis XV., and severe moral criticism was in fashion. It was noticed that the novels of CrSbillon were now very generally excluded from the salons on account of their indecency, and that the 'Can- dide ' of Voltaire was severely censured.' That part of morals, indeed, which grows out of the ascetic concep- tion of the sinfulness of men, and which advocates self- restraint as the first of duties, was little taught ; * but ' Sfigur, ii. 33, 34. strain the appetite. These are ' Burke, -who hated the ten- at least nine out of ten of the dencies of French philosophy, virtues. In the place of all this has dwelt on its moral dangers they substitute a virtue which with great power and aouteness : they call humanity or benevo- ' The greatest crimes do not lence. By these means their mo- arise so much from a want of raUty has no idea in it of re- feeling for others, as from an straint, or indeed of a distinct over-sensibility for om-selves, and and settled principle of any kind, an over-indulgence to our own When their disciples are thus desires. ... In my experience left free, and guided only by I have observed that a luxurious present feeling, they are no softness of manners hardens longer to be depended upon for the heart at least as much good or evil. The men who to- as an over-done abstinence. day snatch the worst criminals ... I haife observed that from justice will murder the the philosophers, in order to in- most innocent persons to-mor- sinuate their polluted atheism row.' — Correspondence, iii. 213- into young minds, systematically 215. These lines were written flatter all their passions, natural in June 1791, before the terrible and unnatural. They explode or confirmation of the last sentence render odious or contemptible which was furnished by tha that class of virtues which re- career of Eobespierre. 124 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. i. the excessive sensibility which was the prevailing affec- tation, was only an exaggeration of a very real spirit of practical humanity. Many new institutions of charity were founded. The differences of rank and class were perceptibly softening, and a new spirit of sympathy was abroad. Mothers of high rank were now eager, in obedience to the precepts of Rousseau, to nurse their own children. The Abb6 de I'Epee had lately invented the deaf and dumb alpha- bet, and the Government threw itself ardently into the work of disseminating it. Valentin Haliy devoted him- self with similar enthusiasm to the care of the blind. Pinel had begun his great researches into the cause and cure of insanity.' There never was a period to which men afterwards looked back more fondly. ' He who did not live before 1789,' Talleyrand once said, 'has never known the charm of life.' ' The best and most virtuous men,' said another contemporary, ' saw the beginning of a new era of happiness for Prance and for all the civilised world.' * It was noticed by Malouet that the tone of manners had never been so gentle, or society so en- chanting, or social liberty so great, as a few years before the horrors of the Revolution.^ Segur, returning from the American war, found, as he tells us, ' the Court and society of Paris more brilliant than ever ; France proud of her victories and satisfied with the Peace ; and the whole aspect of the kingdom so flourishing that, without the mournful gifb of prophecy, it would have been impossible to foresee the abyss towards which a rapid current was hurrying us.' It was, he said, as when one has just climbed a high tower, looked for a moment on a boundless and glorious prospect stretch- ' See Eocquain, pp. 412, 413. ' Mathien Dumas, quoted by Taine, p. 398. * Mim. de Malouet, i. 66, 67. oil. I. EXTRAVAGANCE OF THE COUET. 125 ing beneath, and then grown' dizzy, stumbled and fallen.' Madame de Stael, when describing the period before the Revolution, has acutely and truly remarked that there is often a special charm about the decadence of Governments, for the feebleness that precedes their fall gives them an appearance of great gentleness and liberality.^ That important changes were at this time impending over Prance, was indeed very evident. A close observer might have easily seen that the inequali- ties of taxation must before long be abolished, that the feudal system must be annihilated or mitigated, that the question of finance was becoming continually more desperate, that the monarchy must some day acquire something of a representative character. It was evi- dent, too, that the King and especially the Queen were not blameless. England was a richer country than France, but the English Court exhibited little or no- thing of the ostentatious extravagance of the Court of Versailles, and foreigners who compared the noble proportions of Greenwich and Chelsea Hospitals with the Palace of St. James's, declared that the English lodged beggars in palaces and kings in almshouses.' The Prussian Court, on which political and literary in- fluences had lately concurred to throw a strong light, presented a still more impressive contrast. No clerk in the Prussian dominions worked harder than Frederick the Great. He might be seen at four o'clock in the morning, in uniform and in his top boots, seated at his desk examining the petitions of the humblest of his subjects, regulating the minutest details of civil and military administration. His personal expenses were ' Mim. de Sigur, ii. 28, 29. Buckingham Palace was only ' Consid. sur la Biv. i. 117. built under George IV., to whom, " Hanway's Defects of the also, Windsor Castle owes verj Police (1773), p. 281. It will be much of its magnificence. remembered that the present 126 THE FRENCH EEVOLTJTION. ch. .. managed with penurious economy. There was less luxury and comfort in his palace than in the home of an English nobleman, and it was the first principle of his Government that pubHc revenues should be as much as possible applied to public purposes. What a con- trast, it was said, to the enormous extravagance and the elaborate idleness of the French King, to the endless succession of hunts and balls and receptions and unmean- ing ceremonies that filled up the greater part of his life. But the manners of the French Court had been re- gulated by French habits, traditions, and tastes, and no French Sovereign seemed less likely than Lewis XVI. to arouse popular animosity. In'the events which have been related and in the events which have still to be told, he always showed himself ready to support if not to originate measures of reform, amenable almost to a fault to the judgments of his ministers, completely free from any tendency to harshness or cruelty and from any desire to overstrain his authority. He had not a tinge of the characteristic faults which brought Charles I. to the scafibld and drove James II. into exile. As Burke truly said, he was ' a prince the acts of whose whole reign were a series of concessions to his subjects, who was willing to relax his authority, to remit his prerogatives, to call his people to a share of freedom not known, perhaps not desired, by their ancestors.' ' No throne in Europe was surrounded with greater traditional respect than that which he occupied ; and the unbroken loyalty of the French to their sovereigns, through every vicis- situde of fortune and character, had long been a favourite national boast. To the best judges it would have seemed incredible that the nation which had borne so patiently the despotism, the vices, the incom- petence and the political disasters of the long reign of * Bejlections on the French Revolution, OH. I. NO FEAB OF EEVOLUTION. 127 Lewis XV. should have brought his successor to the scaffold, and that France with her wealth and greatness, and her ancient and venerable civilisation, was soon to lie at the mercy of ferocious mobs, fanatics, and adventurers. I have already quoted the curious passage in which John Adams in 1778 contrasted the popularity of the French Eling and Queen in Paris, with the extreme unpopularity of George III. in London.' FranklLn and Frederick the Great were two of the most acute ob- servers of their time. They had both of them special reasons and special opportunities fOr watching French affairs ; but there is, I believe, no evidence that either of them caught the faintest glimpse of the political catastrophe that was impending. No English diplo- matist was better acquainted with continental life than Sir James Harris, but as late as the close of 1786 he entirely disbelieved in the possibility of a Eevolution in France. ' A Madame de Pompadour,' he wrote to Lord Carmarthen, ' or even a Madame de Barri will never effectually diminish or hurt the grandeur of the French monarchy, which is settled on a foundation beyond the reach of the follies of the Court to shake.' * 'There is a universal agreement,' wrote one of the ablest German contemporary observers, ' that at the beginning of the year 1787 no one in Prance had the faintest presentiment of the catastrophe that was pre- paring.' ^ ' I doubt,' said an excellent French observer, ' whether any period can be named in which the French monarchy enjoyed a higher degree of consideration than in the years between 1783 and 1787, that is from the end of the American war till the Revolution of Holland.'* ' Vol. iv. p. 416. de I'Opinion publique relative- ' Malmesbury Corresp. ii. 248, ment k la Eevolution Frangaise,' 849. Mercure Britannique, ill. 216. » Gentz, 'ExamendelaMarohe * SSgur, Politique de tous let 10 128 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. i. The illusions of the nation were suddenly and sharply dispelled in the last months of 1786, when Calonne was obliged to coiifess that there was a deficit which, alter much hesitation and variation, was at last reckoned at about 115 millions of livres,' and that he had no means of meeting it. As Turgot had predicted, the American war proved a fatal turning-point in French finance, and in the space of ten years not less than 1,630 millions had been borrowed.^ The system of deferring accounts from year to year, and the extreme complexity in the manner of levying taxes, had led to almost inextricable confusion; but it was plain that there had been for a long time such a deficit in the ordinary annual revenue, and such an accumulation of extraordinary expenses, that nothing short of a com- plete reform and readjustment of taxation could save the country from bankruptcy. In order to meet the difficulty, Calonne recommended a measure which had not been adopted since the reign of Lewis XIII. It was to summon by royal authority an assembly called Cabinets de I'Europe, ii. 97. I ther revolutions are to come, may add the following striking The most probable, or, rather, passage by John Adams, which the only probable, change is was written in 1787, and is the introduction of democratioal the more remarkable because branches into those Govern- it was written in Europe, and ments. If the people should written by a very able Ameri- ever aim at more they will de- can statesman who had special feat themselves ; and, indeed, if means of knowing the state of they aim at this by any other France : ' After all the turbu- than gentle means, and by gia- lence, wars, and revolutions dual advances.' — Adams, De/e?tc8 which compose the history of of the Constitutions of tlie United Europe for so many ages, we find States, Preface. simple monarchies established ' Calonne, Etat de la France everywhere. Whether the sys- (ed. 1790), pp. 36, 37. See, too, tem will now become stationary Booquain, pp. 431, 439, 440 ; and last for ever, by means of Chassin, Oinie de la B&volu- a few further improvements in tion, p. 29. monarchical Governments, we " Taine, Ancien Bigitne, p. know not, or whether still fur- 403. OH. I. THE NOTABLES. 129 the Notables, consisting of the chief persons in the kingdom, to consult upon its affairs. This assembly was composed of 144 members of the privileged order. Seven princes of the blood were among them, and the remainder were drawn from the higher clergy and nobility, the Parliaments, the King's Council, the pro- vincial States, and the municipal councils.' They began their sittings in February 1787, and Calonne hoped to obtain by their assistance the requi- site reforms, and especially to break down the exemp- tions of the privileged orders from taxation by the imposition of a general land tax. • But he soon found that the Notables were less unanimous and less subser- vient than he had hoped. They insisted, in the first place, on an investigation of the financial proceedings of the minister, and they discovered such abuses that they speedily drove Calonne with disgrace from power. There were loud cries for the appointment of Necker to replace him, but Necker had lately been exiled, and was still in great disfavour with the Court, and in an ill-omened hour the Queen employed her influence in favour of Lomenie de Brienne, the Archbishop of Toulouse. This supple, ambitious, immoral, and un- believing churchman had made himself very accept- able in the gay circle of the Trianon, and had borne a conspicuous part in opposition to Calonne in the Assembly 'of Notables ; but his talents were chiefly those of a courtier and an intriguer, and he was now placed in a position that needed the highest gifts of statesmanship and character. He attempted to imitate Calonne, as Calonne had tried to imitate Necker. He hoped, among other measures, to induce the Notables to vote a considerable land tax to be paid by all classes. But the Notables, who were themselves members of tha > Lavergne, Assemblies Provinciales, p. 102. 130 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. oh. i. privileged class, though quite ready to recommend many reforms, recoiled from this measure, alleged that they were incompetent to carry it, refused even to recommend it, and declared that they left it to the King to determine what tax was most suitable. They were dissolved on May 25, 1787. But although the Government failed in inducing the Notables to assist them in dealing with the vital and pressing question of finance, some other reforms of great importance were effected. Calonne, following in the steps of F6nelon, Turgot, and Necker, clearly saw that a wide diffusion of local self-government and re- presentation should precede the establishment of any general system of constitutional liberty and would greatly facilitate the reorganisation of taxation, and he accordingly recommended to the Notables the esta- blishment of a provincial State in every ' generality ' ' in which it did not exist. This very important re- commendation received the warm approbation of the Notables, and it was carried into eifect in 1787 by a royal edict which was promulgated by Brienne. The Notables did not, it is true, approve of the first design of Calonne, which was to constitute provincial assem- blies of the type recommended by Turgot. They in- sisted that the three orders should be represented in a defined proportion, and that a member of the privileged orders should preside over every assembly, but they agreed without difficulty that the commons should have a double representation, that the three orders should vote not separately but together, and that elective councils should be established in every parish. At the same time, and with their approval, two other edicts of considerable importance were issiied. Turgot had ' The 'g^n^ralitS ' was an of taxes and for all matteig le- ancient division of France, esta- lating to finance, blished to facilitate the collection OH. I. THE NOTABLES. 131 established a free commerce of corn witHn the king*- dom ; but Brienne went much further, and an edict which remarkably anticipated the teaching of later political economists, fully authorised its exportation. The King only reserved to himself the power of sus- pending it in case of necessity for a year, and then only in provinces where such a suspension had been demanded by the provincial States. The ' corvee ' also, or forced labour for the roads, which was the worst practical op- pression of the peasantry, and which had been already aboHshed by Turgot, but restored after his fall, was now commuted into a money payment and passed finally out of the list of French grievances. The measure was, however, a less liberal one than that of Turgot, for the commutation was provided from taxes that fell solely on the commons. The King by the mouths both of Calonne and Brienne had formally and repeatedly announced his wish and his determination to abolish those inequalities of taxation, which were the chief cause of the embarrass- ments of the country, and the great and just grievance of his poorer subjects.' The main object of his whole policy was to put an end to a ruinous deficit, by abolish- ing exemptions which were flagrantly unjust. He hoped that the Notables representing the privileged orders would have assisted him, and that with their support the measure could easily have been carried, but this hope was disappointed. At the same time it was no- ticed that no member of the Assembly spoke in favour of inequalities of taxation. All professed their full will- ingness to make large sacrifices of their class privileges, and an important section strenuously urged the neces- sity of abolishing the ' gabelle' or salt tax, which pressed most severely upon the poor. The debates did not turn • See Ch^rest, La Chute de VAncien Begime, i. 146, 163, 204, 206. 132 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. i. upon the question of equal or unequal taxation, but upon the amount of the deficit ; on the right of the Assembly to inquire into past expenditure ; • on the nature of the new taxes to be proposed ; on the possi- bility of imposing a general and uniform tax with- out violating the privileges of the Pays d'Etat ; on the amount of power which the Notables themselves possessed. Personal and factious ambitions, personal antipathies, and mistakes in management played a great part in the proceedings. To manage a deliberative Assembly, and especially an Assembly which is itself inexperienced, is an art which requires much experience as well as much skill, and skill of a particular kind in which Calonne was wholly wanting. He succeeded, much less by his proposed measures than by his language and demeanour, in irritating, dividing, and disorganising the Assembly. The Notables had not the composition or authority of a representative body, and they had not the power of a legislative body ; but the mere fact that the Crown had been driven by financial distress to seek their assistance ; the unaccustomed spectacle of opposition and debate; the strong light thrown on the financial diflSculties of the Government ; and the failure of the proposed measures for alleviating them, had an immense and disquieting influence on public opinion. The Mi- nisters announced to the Notables in the clearest terms that the King alone had a sovereign right of fixing the amount and proportion of the taxes, and that their task was confined to carrying out the royal designs and meeting the difficulties that were created by the ex- treme variety of customs, privileges, and administrations in the difierent provinces. But the Assembly showed much indisposition to accept so humble a sphere, and a theory of taxation which a few years before would have been perfectly unchallenged, now provoked much hostile OH. I. AGITATION IN THE AEMY. 133 criticism. It was noticed that some of the bishops were the first to dispute it. The word 'States-General,' which had been for generations almost unheard in France, had been of late more than once publicly pro- nounced, and it passed rapidly from lip to lip. A fever of political excitement pervaded the country and seemed daily increasing, and as bankruptcy after bankruptcy took place the condition of the finances became clearly understood. Necker had shortly before published a work in three volumes on the administration of the finances, and not less than 80,000 copies of it were sold.' Grimm at this time noticed the very ominous fact that the prevailing spirit of agitation and insubordina- tion had already gained the army, that discipline was giving way, and that the soldiers were no longer dis- posed to maintain obedience.^ Many causes operating through many years had contributed to this result. The system of Prussian discipline, and especially of corporal punishment, which some French generals in their admiration for Frederick the Great had incautiously introduced, excited profound discontent in the ranks, and the American war instead of strengthening had immensely impaired the military spirit. In general a considerable period of active service in a foreign country effectually extinguishes all political feeling in an army, and gives it such a degree of military discipline and enthusiasm that, under a good commander, there is little danger of the contagion of civil agitation pene- trating to the ranks. But the American war being conducted on the part of France mainly by sea, the ' Mme. de Stael, Consid. sur M. Ch^rest. See, too, Bocqnain, la Biv. i. 111. An excellent and pp. 431-445. very detailed account of the pro- ^ Grimm et Diderot, Mim, ceedings of the Notables will be Hist. vii. 236. found in the valuable history of 134 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. oh. i. French army in America had no opportunity of dis- tinguishing itself in the field, and remained almost inactive in the centre of a great democratic revolution. It returned to Prance saturated with republican ideas, and fully prepared to receive the seed which was so abundantly scattered. The division of classes that separated the French officers from the soldiers made the latter peculiarly open to democratic appeals, and this division had very recently been aggravated. As late as 1781, in the reaction that followed the fall of Necker, the Government had committed the amazing folly of issuing an ordinance excluding ' roturiers ' even fi:'om the rank of sub-lieutenant, and providing that no officer could obtain the rank of captain who had not been noble for four generations. It would be impossible to conceive an enactment showing a more complete ignorance of the tendencies of the time, and it was one of the great causes of the disorganisation of the army.' The evil was more keenly felt on account of the enor- mous and scandalous multiplication of posts of high rank, created in order to be sold, and reserved for the privileged orders. Dubois-Crance, who took a leading part in the military organisation of the Revolution, declared that in 1789 there were more than twelve hundred general officers in the French army ; that since the ministry of Choiseul nearly every regiment had been divided for the express purpose of multiplying its officers; that the number of the superior officers had been in fact quadrupled, and that military grades had been created, sold, and distributed with such reckless profusion that, in one day, four thousand children had been made captains without troops and without any prospect of obtaining them.* ' Compare Eocquain, pp. 396, ' Dubois-Cranci, par Jung, L 897 ; Ch&est, i. 14-25 ; S6gur, 91, 107-110. Mint, et Souvenirs, i. 286-292. OH. 1. THK PAELIAMENT OF PAEIS. 135 Joseph II., shortly before his death, told SSgur that the French Ministers had committed a great error in declining to throw themselves into the Eastern war, for the Parliament would then have been unable to refuse money to the King, and the ardour of the nation would have expended itself in the field of foreign conquest.' The judgment was not a disinterested one, nor was it that of a really wise man; but it is at least possible that a foreign war might have restored the efficiency of the army, preserved it from the contagion of the Eevolution, and raised up some popular and trusted general on whom the Government might have relied. 40,000 or 50,000 men under a commander like Turenne or Cond6 might have given a very different aspect to Parisian politics. On the dissolution of the Notables, the Parliament of Paris became the chief centre of the thickening drama of French politics. While the Notables were still sit- ting, it had registered a new loan of sixty millions ; and it now without difficulty registered the edicts which the Notables had recommended for the establishment of the provincial Assemblies, for free trade in com, and for the abolition of the corv^es ; but when the Govern- ment put forward a scheme for additional taxation in the form of a stamp duty and of a general land tax, the old parliamentary opposition was at once renewed. The Parliament denounced the extravagance of the Court, attempted without success to extort a detailed account of the public expenditure, disobeyed the peremptory order of the Bang to register the stamp duty, and finally took the momentous step of petitioning the King to convoke the States-General before imposing any new tax upon his people. The Government, startled and as usual vacillating, without giving any answer to the ' Sfigur, Mim.et Souvenirs, iii. 553. 136 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. t. petition of the Parliament, vpithdrew for the present the stamp duty which had been first proposed, but sent back the land tax with peremptory orders to register it. The Parliament with still greater emphasis persisted in its resolution. It complained that it had vainly sought for 'information showing the necessity of imposing a new and disastrous tax after five years of peace. It declared that the nation alone through the States-General had the right of imposing new taxes, and it again petitioned the King to convoke that body. It would be difficult to conceive a step of more tre- mendous significance and importance. As the Court of Peers sat with the Parliament, the two corporations representing with the highest authority the privileged classes now demanded the convocation of the States- General ; repudiated formally the absolute power of the Crown, as it had existed for centuries, and branded as illegitimate the method of taxation which had been uni- formly pursued in Prance for about three hundred years.' The act of the Parliament was an act of rebellion. Its motives were probably very mingled ; but its popularity had never been so great. The Government resorted to the old measure of a bed of justice, and the edicts esta- blishing the stamp duty and the land tax were duly registered at Versailles. Next day the magistrates formally declared the registration by a bed of justice null and illegal. The war was thus openly declared, and fierce mani- festations of popular applause showed that the Parlia- ment had won the public feeling of Paris altogether to its side. The Parliament, pushing its advantages, ordered an inquiry into the administration of Calonne, pronounced the edicts for a stamp duty and a land tax > See Mounier, Becherches sur Us Causes gui ont einpichi Us Franfais de devenir litres, p. 53. OH. 1. PAELIAMENT EXILED ASD BECAILED. 137 ' null and illegal,' and issued a strong protest against their publication. The Government responded by exil- ing the Parliament to Troyes. The conflict resembled those in the preceding reign, but the spirit of agitation and independence in the country had enormously increased, and the aspect of Paris in the autumn of 1787 was almost that of a revo- lution. In the streets, in the theatres, around the chief public buildings there were demonstrations of the most alarming kind. The Government at once closed the clubs, and the streets were patrolled by a large military force. The Oour des Comptes, the Cour des Aides, and the Ghatelet, the three law courts that ranked next after the Parliament of Paris, all supported that body and petitioned for its recall, and the two former strongly asserted the new and astonishing doctrine that the King could not impose taxes by his edicts, and that the assent of the States-General was necessary to their validity. All the provincial Parliaments assumed an attitude of the most virulent hostility, demanding the recall of the Parliament to Paris, the impeachment of Calonne, above all the convocation of the States-General. Serious measures of retrenchment had lately been adopted in the Palace, but the denunciation of Court and courtiers was unabated. The language employed had all the violence of revolution, and it was employed by the magistracy of Prance, by grave judicial bodies which were the most authorised exponents of the law. Once more, as on so many previous occasions, the Govern- ment flinched before opposition, and thereby fatally weakened its authority. It entered into a negotiation with the exiled Parliament, and agreed on certain conditions to recall it to Paris. The Parliament, in flagrant violation of the new doctrine it had just pro- fessed about its own incapacity in matters of taxation, agreed to prolong for two more years the second 138 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. ch. i. • twentieth,' and to extend it to the clergy, who had hitherto been exempt, while the Government on their side abandoned the two obnoxious taxes. All attempts to abolish on a large scale the exemptions of the privileged classes, and to impose additional taxation sufficient to restore the finances, were for the present suspended. The Parliament returned to Paris in September 1787 amid great manifestations of popular triumph and applause, more than ever confirmed in its attitude of resistance to the Court, more than ever determined to maintain that political character which a long course of events had so strangely given to a body which was naturally purely magisterial or judicial. It is not sur- prising under these circumstances that the truce should have been hollow and short. The clubs were still kept closed and the troops prepared for action. The King annulled the order for an inquiry into the administra- tion of Calonne, and there were rumours of a possible coup d'Stat. Money was absolutely wanted, and as the Parliament refused its assent to new taxes, it was ne- cessary again to borrow. The Miuisters dreaded greatly the convocation of the States-General, which would at once give a totally new character to the Government of Prance, but they saw that it had become inevitable, and all that could be hoped for was a postponement. Brienne now proposed a loan of no less than 420 millions of francs to be issued by instalments over five years, at the end of which period he promised that the States-General should be convoked. AH efibrts to obtain a miuisterial majority in the Parliament proved vain, and on No- vember 19 after a long and anxious debate the King authoritatively forced the edict for the loan through, by a bed of j ustice. The Duke of Orleans protested against this act as illegal, and next day the ParUament issued a similar protest. The King ordered the register con* OH. I. CHAEACTEE OF THE STRUGGLE. 139 taining their protest to be destroyed ; banished the Duke of Orleans to the country, and imprisoned two active members of the Parliament by letters of ' cachet.' The Parliament protested against these measures and against all use of letters of 'cachet.' The provincial Parliaments at once joined in the fray, and it was at this time that Mirabeau wrote, 'France is ripe for a revolution.' As might have been expected, the Govern- ment loan was completely discredited by these proceed- ings and proved a total failure. Two facts, somewhat apart from the chief current of events, must here be noticed. The Government, para- lysed by internal dissensions, was obliged to acquiesce in the complete destruction of the French influence in Holland by the Prussian invasion, and the restoration of the House of Orange to full power under an Anglo- Prussian guarantee ; and civil rights were at last con- ceded to the Protestants of France. The last measure had been advocated before the Notables by Lafayette and the Bishop of Langres, and had been very favourably received. Brienne, among whose faults intolerance cannot be reckoned, issued an edict for carrying it into effect, and after some violent opposition it was registered by the Parliament in January 1788. The main conflict, however, continued without abate- ment. It is extremely curious to observe how, at this advanced stage, the popular and revolutionary move- ment was mainly guided by privileged bodies who were resisting additional taxation which was absolutely neces- sary, who were contending for an exemption from taxa- tion which was the most odious and indefensible of privileges, and who nevertheless by their revolt against the theory of absolute monarchy and by their de- mand for the States-General had attained to the high- est degree of popularity. It was this circumstance which explains the remarkable uncertainty of the fore- 140 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. oh. i. cast of at least one most competent observer. Arthur Young in the autumn of 1787 noticed how the best judges in France clearly foresaw that they were on the eve of some great revolution in the Government, that a bankruptcy was probable if not inevitable, that the States-General alone could grapple with the evil, and that unless ' some master hand of very superior talent and inflexible courage was found at the helm, to guide events instead of being driven by them,' a great cata- strophe was probable. Having faithfuUy recorded these opinions, he adds his own judgment. ' All agree that the States of the kingdom cannot assemble without more liberty being the consequence, but I meet with so few men who have any just ideas of freedom that I question much the species of this new liberty which is to arise. They know not how to value the privileges of the people ; as to the nobility and the clergy, if a revo- lution added anything to their scale I think it would do more mischief than good.' ' The King must by this time have clearly seen the mistake that he had made in restoring, contrary to the judgment of both Turgot and Voltaire, the Parliaments which had been abolished by his predecessor. The ne- cessity of obtaining their assent had no doubt qualified the despotism of the monarchy and had given France a kind of constitution, but no constitution could have possibly been less adapted to her wants. Two reforms were of the most pressing and urgent necessity. If bankruptcy was to be averted, it was absolutely neces- sary that new taxation should without delay be imposed on the privileged classes ; and it was scarcely less neces- sary that the feudal system should be speedily com- muted. But to both of these reforms the Parliaments were insuperable obstacles. They were aristocratic, ' Young's Tow. Finkeiton, iv. 140. OH. i. CONSERVATISM OF THE PAELIAMENT8. 141 privileged, judicial bodies, consisting of men who were nearly all landowners, who themselves enjoyed the ex- emptions from taxation which it was necessary to abo- lish, who had for the most part purchased their privileges with money, and who had all the natural leaning of judicial bodies towards tradition, precedent, antiquated forms of property and rights. Their circumstances, their professional habits of thought, the narrowness pro- duced by their purely legal education, all made them peculiarly unfit to exercise, in the interests of the entire community, a controlling influence over the vast and various field of legislation, and being much smaller bodies than the nobles and the clergy, the corporate spirit that pervaded them was much more concentrated and intense.' It is impossible to read the account of the proceedings of the provincial Assemblies through- out Prance, in the years before the Revolution, without being struck with the degree in which enlightened, re- forming, and humane principles had begun to pervade the privileged classes. But the conservatism of the Parliament was much more than the conservatism of an aristocracy. It was the conservatism of judges ; of judges who had purchased their position ; of judges who were in the highest degree tenacious of their privileges ; of jiidges who claimed an absolute right of veto. The conflicts under Lewis XV. had accustomed a large and able section of the Parliament to habits of systematic opposition, and to extreme jealousy of the Crown, and the events of the last few years had greatly strength- ened these feelings. The provincial Assemblies of Necker were manifestly intended to supersede the political im- portance of the Parliaments. Necker himself had stated his anxiety to reduce them to purely judicial functions, and the assembly of the Notables was clearly meant ' See some excellent remarks on this- in Mackintosh, Vindicim GalliccB, pp. 103, 104. 142 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. i. to counterbalance the influence of the Parliament of Paris. And while the Parliaments were manifestly unfit to carry out the most indispensable reforms, their opposi- tion was peculiarly dangerous. It is in the highest degree inexpedient that magisterial and judicial bodies should take a leading part in politics, and a systematic opposition to the Government conducted by the chief exponents of the law is of all oppositions the worst. It is the most dangerous, unnatural, and demoralising ; the most fitted to lower the respect both for law and for government. Pew causes contributed so much as the parliamentary opposition to break up the compact edifice of the French monarchy, to sap the ancient and deep-rooted traditions of obedience and loyalty. The whole question of the relations of the Parlia- ments to the Crown was still unsettled. On the one side was the royal doctrine, confirmed by a long series of precedents, that the King had the right by holding a bed of justice to overthrow the plainest wishes of his Parliaments. On the other was the parliamentary doc- trine that no measure was obligatory which had not been submitted to the deliberations, and had not received the free assent, of no less than thirteen Parliaments. The first doctrine led directly to despotism. The second led no less clearly to anarchy, and, as the King bitterly said, it would convert the monarchy of Prance into ' an aristocracy of magistrates.' And now the Parliament of Paris had gone stiU further, and destroyed both its own authority and that of the Sovereign, by declaring that no tax could be legitimately imposed on Prance except by the States-General. The word had gone forth, and it was impossible to recall it. Prom all sides the spirit of discontent was rising with the suddenness of a tropical storm, over- casting a political sky which but a few months before OH. I. DEMAND FOE THE STATES-GENEEAX. 143 had appeared almost without a cloud. The right of registering edicts by a bed of justice ; the right of arbitrary imprisonment and exile ; the right of imposing taxes by a royal edict, had been for generations undis- puted. The body which was now spoken of as an in- dispensable agent of taxation had met just four times in three hundred years, and none of these later States- General had claimed the power which the Parliament attributed to them. Whether the Parliament in launch- ing its new doctrine had merely sought for a ready weapon against the Crown, or whether it believed that a body in which the privileged orders had hitherto had an indisputable ascendency would be more favourable to its interests than assemblies which were at present mainly or partly nominated by the Crown, it is im- possible to say. It is at least certain that the seed fell on a soil that was prepared to receive it, and it rapidly became the doctrine of the most active classes in France that the States-General formed an essential part of the French Government, and that they should exercise habitually the same powers as the Parliament of Eng- land. It is no less certain that the Parliaments gave a mighty impulse to a movement which in a few months swept away every vestige of their own privileges and powers, and in a few years brought some of the most conspicuous of their leaders to the guillotine. It is not surprising, it is certainly not unpardonable, that the King should have looked with much dislike on the demand for the States-General. Though his govern- ment had shown deplorable weakness and vacillation, he liad exercised his powers with uniform moderation and with an earnest desire for reform. The abolition of the ' corvees,' of torture before trial, of serfdom on the royal domains ; the reforms that had been introduced into the hospitals and prisons ; the civil rights conceded to Pro- testants: the considerable economies that had lately 11 144 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. oh. i. been made at the Court ; the removal of the restrictions on the commerce of corn and wine ; the large and libe- ral system of provincial and parochial self-government which had been established, and his avowed determina- tion to put an end to the unjust exemptions from taxa- tion, sufficiently show the spirit of his reign. The parliamentary opposition seemed to him in a high degree ungrateful, as it was carried on by bodies which he had himself of his own free will restored ; and selfish, as it was a struggle for class privileges by a section of the privileged class ; and he probably underrated the strength and depth of the national discontent that sustained it. But although he desired to exercise his rightful powers mildly and moderately, he desired also to transmit them unimpaired to his successors. It was evident that they were being one by one assailed. The dark unknown future of the States-General, with the dangerous ques- tions that were certain to arise relating to their powers and their composition and to the possible transformation of the monarchy, filled him with alarm. When it ap- peared necessary, he consented, indeed, to promise the convocation of that body, and there was not the smallest reason to believe that he would fail in his promise ; but he asserted strongly that as King of Prance it was for him and for him alone to summon it ; his language in promising it seemed to foreshadow an assembly that would be rather consultative than legislative ; and he postponed the convocation till 1791. By that time it was hoped that the present efferves-i cence would have subsided, and the provincial, municipal, and parochial councils which had been lately established would have taken root. It must not be forgotten that three-fourths of France was now passing through a great and fundamental change of administration. The absolute power which had once been exercised by the intendants had been taken away. The old routine of administra- CH. I. THE PEOVINCIAl ASSEMBLIES. 145 tion had been suddenly broken. New assemblies with large functions of local government had been created. Provinces which were totally unaccustomed to self- government and had long been sunk in a profound political apathy were violently disturbed by a great ex- periment in government ; by the agitation of popular election ; by the rise of untried men to power ; by the inevitable conflict between the supporters of the old and of the new order. The proceedings of the new provincial Assemblies were on the whole very encouraging, and showed great promise of usefulness ; there was every reason to hope that a real step had been taken towards putting an end to the chaos of heterogeneous and conflicting administrations which had made the govern- ment of France so diflScult, but as yet everything was in a state of transition. When the new provincial bodies were consolidated, they might bear a great part in the election of the States-General. If time had not been pressing, if the finances had been in such a condition that a great and radical change in the system of taxation had not been a matter of im- mediate necessity, the policy of the Government would probably have been a wise one, and a national repre- sentation might have arisen seciirely and tranquilly out of local self-government. But this essential condition was wanting. With the failure of the loan it was becoming evident that the Government must choose' between bankruptcy and the discovery of some method of uniform and productive taxation which would put an end to the innumerable exemptions of classes, provinces, and towns. But what chance was there of such a reform when, in order to effect it, it was necessary to obtain the assent of the Parliament of Paris, of the provincial Parliaments, of the Pays d'Etat, and perhaps also of the Cours des Comptes and of the Cours des Aides ? • ' See Necker, CEiMjres, ix. 46, 47. 146 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. oh. ,. The situation became almost daily more tense, and the language of the hostile parties was such that re- conciliation seemed impossible. It was becoming more and more evident to Brienne that it was necessary to do again, but under circumstances infinitely more dangerous and difficult, what had been done by the chancellor Maupeou in the last reign. The word bank- ruptcy was now in every mouth. Incendiary placards appeared on the walls of Paris. The Queen as the special patron of Brienne was growing daily more un- popular, and was accused of exercising a preponderating influence in the councils. Troops were pouring from the provinces into Paris, and there were all the signs of a coming conflict. On May 5, 1788, the first great blow was struck, when two of the most conspicuous opponents of the Court were by order of the King arrested by soldiers in the midst of the Parliament. On May 8, the Parliament was summoned to Versailles, and the King proceeded to hold a bed of justice. After severely and angrily rebuking the Parliament for its conduct during the past year, he ordered six edicts to be read and registered, which annihilated its political, and greatly restricted its judicial, functions. By the first two edicts a number of new law courts were in- stituted, to which all civil and criminal cases hitherto tried by the Parliaments were transferred, except civil cases of over twenty thousand livres, and criminal cases relating to the privileged orders of nobles and eccle- siastics. The number of members in the Parliaments was greatly reduced. The third and fourth edicts were intended, like the abolition of the venality of offices in the time of Maupeou, to conciliate the genuine reformers. They abolished the ' tribunals of exception ' and torture after condemnation.' The fifth edict, which was the ' The ' Question pr^paratoire ' IVSO.butthe'Questionpr^alaWe' bad been abolishod by Necker in was not abolished till 1788, and cH.i. CODP D'ETAT, MAY, 1788. 147 most important, constituted a new tribunal with the sole right of verifying and registering laws for the kingdom. It was to be called the ' Oour P16ni6re,' and to be composed of a number of great dignitaries selected by the King. It was to have the power of remonstrance, but the King was to have the right of overcoming its resistance by the usual method of a bed of justice, and he was to have an independent and exclusive power of borrowing. If new taxes were required before the assembly of the States-General, they were to be registered by the ' Cour P16ni&re,' but this registration was only to have a provisional effect till the States-General had actually met. The taxes were then to be definitely enacted by the King ' on the deliberations ' of that body. The sixth edict forbade the Parliaments to unite on any subject, public or private, till further orders.' Such was the new constitution or form of govern- ment imposed on Prance by the sole and despotic authority of the King. All consideration of its in- trinsic merits and defects appeared insignificant in comparison to this fact, and it was immediately followed by an aristocratic revolt which was the prelude of the democratic Revolution of 1789. Even the promise of a more speedy convocation of the States-General had no effect in mitigating the blow, and the language in which it was announced was understood to imply that the Government intended this body to be little more than the assembly of Notables and invested merely with even then the King reserved his was torture applied after con- right to restore it if, after a demnation, for the purpose of few years' experience, the judges compelling the condemned man pronounced it necessary. The to name his accomplices. — ' Question pr^paratoire ' was tor- Ch&est, Chute de I'Ancien Bi- ture for the purpose of compelling gime, i. 454, 455. the accused person to avow his ' Eocc[uain, pp. 468, 469. crime. The ' Question pr^alable ' 148 THE FEENCH BEVOLTJTION. oh. i. consultative powers. The Parliament protested vehe- mently against its own extinction, and the various law courts in Paris pronounced all that had been done to be illegal, while throughout the country provincial Parlia- ments assembled in defiance of the royal mandate, and issued proclamations which in various forms and with various degrees of emphasis were direct appeals to revolution. The members declared any Frenchman * infamous and a traitor to his country ' who accepted office in the new tribunals ' illegally established,' bound themselves in some places by oath never to lend them- selves directly or indirectly to carrying out the new edicts, stigmatised the ministers who had advised the late measures as ' traitors to the Eing and the nation,' and pronounced the ascription of despotic power to the Sovereign to be contrary to the fundamental laws of the kingdom. 'The people,' said the Parliament of Toulouse, ' having no longer any barrier between them- selves and the King, there remains to them only the consciousness of their strength.' ' Were these idle words? Could the Parliaments, could the gentry of the country who were virtually in. a state of insurrection, count upon popular support ? The question was a difficult and an all-important one, but it seemed at first probable that it would be answered in the affirmative. The whole legal profession, nearly all the public writers of France, seemed on the side of the Parliaments. Paris was surging and seething with indignation, but as yet kept down by an overwhelming military force, while the great mass of the peasantry in large districts seemed prepared to take arms in defence of their provincial Parliaments. There was scarcely any province where the new edicts did not pro- duce riots, and in some provinces these riots amounted Bocquain, p. 472. OH/ I. THE PAELIAMENTAET EEVOLT-BANKEUPTCT. 149 to inBurrection. In Pau the people compelled by force the pjected magistrates to resume their seats. In Brittany the abolition of the Parliament was violently resisted. Almost the whole province was under arms, and a number of Breton noblemen were thrown into prison for petitioning and protesting against the aboli- tion. In Dauphine, the tocsin sounded from the church towers, and thousands of peasantry from the mountains took arms to defend their provincial liberties. There were furious and bloody conflicts with the soldiers, and the insurgents so far succeeded that the Government consented in this province to make terms with them, and even to restore the old provincial States which had not existed for a century and a half. There were grave signs of discontent among the officers of the army, and all justice was suspended by the impossibility of finding lawyers to serve in the new courts. Even the clergy refused to support Brienne and to vote the subsidies he expected. Bishops formally protested against the extinction of the Parliaments and the establishment of the ' Cour Pl6ni6re,' denied that taxes could be imposed by the will of the Sovereign, and joined with the rest of the nation in demanding the States-G eneral.' Deserted by almost all in whom he trusted, Brienne at last bowed before the storm. On August 8, 1788, the nation was startled by a decree suspending the new ' Cour Pleniere,' and convoking the States-General for May 1, 1789. A week later the calamity came which had long been dreaded, and the Government acknow- ledged and declared its bankruptcy, ordering that for six weeks the payments of the State should be partially made in paper with a forced circulation. On ' Eocquain, Michelet, Sismon- empSchi Us Frangais de devenif di. See, too, Mounier, Be- Ubres, i. 44, 46. cherches stir les Causes qui out 150 THE FRENCH EEVOLDTION. oh. i. August 25, Brienne resigned his office amid a stonn of execration, and Necker was once more called to the management of the finances. He undertook the task reluctantly, for he well knew that it was a hopeless one, and that the fifteen precious months which had been wasted under Brienne had ruined all prospect of a peaceful solution. He found not more than a few hundred thousand francs in the treasury, the taxes anticipated, credit absolutely ruined, even the funds which had been recently sub- scribed for the hospitals fraudulently seized by the late Minister,' several millions of francs required for the first week. The confidence, however, inspired by his name restored the State to solvency. With a rare patriotism he pledged his whole private fortune for the public payments, and a number of large capitalists rallied around him. In one morning the public funds rose thirty per cent.* The exiles were recalled. The many persons who had been flung into prison during the late troubles were released, and the suppressed Parliaments were once more restored. The constant fluctuations of policy, the alternate violence and concession during the last few years, had by this time produced an agitation in France, which it was impossible to repress, and extremely difficult to guide. The traditional feelings of loyalty and respect had been fatally impaired. The privileged classes had been separated from the Throne and driven into violent opposition, while the appearance of union among them was very deceptive. The nobles, who had caught much of the spirit of the philosophic movement, were in general very anti-clerical, while among the clergy the bishops and the cures were greatly divided. In the ' Sismondi, xxi. 257. ' Mme. de Stael, Cons, swr la Biv. i. 159. OH. I. THE THREE OEDEES. 151 autumn of 1787, Arthur Young painted tLe situation in a single phrase : ' A great ferment amongst all ranks of men, who are eager for some change withoiit knowing what to look to or hope for,' ' and the agita- tion was enormously increased when the Parliament of Paris, stultifying its whole history, declared that no tax could be legitimately imposed without the con- sent of the people by the States-General, and when Brienne in the name of the King had promised the speedy convocation of that body. It had not been as- sembled since 1614, and the prospect filled France with the wildest hopes. The question at once rose, in what form it was to assemble. The former States-General had met at a time when the democracy of France was in its infancy ; the third order had only a little more than a third part of the representation,^ and the three orders voted separately, so that the two privileged orders whenever they were united could command the situation. The same custom of the three orders de- liberating apart, had subsisted in all the ancient pro- vincial States, with the exception of that of Languedoc, where the three orders formed only a single chamber and voted together, and where the number of the deputies of the third estate was equal to that of the nobles and clergy combined. We have seen how the example of Languedoc was proposed for adoption by Fenelon, and how it was actually adopted in the pro- vincial Assemblies, that were formed by Necker in 1778, and by Brienne in 1787.» In the face of the growing importance of the commons, it was plain that » Pinterton, iv. 140. and 134 ; in those d 1566, 150, ' In the States-General of 72, and 104. (Euvres da Necker, 1614 there were 192 bourgeois, ix. 72. 132 nobles, and 140 eoolesias- " Lavergne, AssembUs Provin- tios ; in the -States-General of dales, pp. 15, 16 ; Mme. de 1688 the numbers were 191, 104, Stael, Cons, sur la Biv. i. 170. 152 THE FEENCH REVOLUTION. oh. i. the third order would never be content with the posi- tion it held in the States-General of 1614. It would have probably been better if the King had settled by his own authority the form in which the States-General should meet; but this was not done, and Brienne gave an enormous scope to poUtical dis- cussion, and also virtually abandoned the authority of the Crown by formally inviting the opinion of all the writers and bodies corporate in the kingdom, on the subject. Necker, adopting a similar policy, again assembled the Notables to discuss the question. They were emphatically in favour of the precedent of 1614, and the Parliament of Paris took the same view, though it soon after, alarmed by the unpopularity of its advice, partially receded, statiag that neither law nor constant usage fixed the number of each order, and that the decision must rest with the King. But the immense force of public opinion, expressing itself by innumerable pamphlets, memoirs, and petitions pouring in from every province and town, now turned with irresistible power in the democratic direction. Rousseau had specially denounced the old constitution of the States-General ; and it was sulBciently obvious that if the two privileged orders had a complete as- cendency, the very reforms which were most needed might never be carried. The Abbe Sieyes in a book which produced an immense impression, and of which 30,000 copies were sold in three weeks, urged that the third estate, or commons, had hithei-to been nothing, and that it ought to be supreme ; and the question immediately became the most pressing in French poli- ticsJ The long indecision on the subject was especially unfortunate, and it was one great cause of the demo- cratic and levelling direction which the stream now took. Immediately after the separation of the Notablea, OH. I. THE THREE OEDEES— NEW EEFOEMS. 153 all the princes, witli the exception of the Duke of Or- leans, signed a memorial to the King, in which, in the name of the nobles, they protested against any deviation from the forms of 1614, and asserted that the writings which were pouring in from almost every corporation in France showed clearly that a spirit of reasoned insub- ordination and contempt for the laws was abroad. If, they continued, the ancient privileges of the two upper orders in the States-General were curtailed, those orders would have a right to refuse to confirm their degradation by appearing in that body, and they might dispute the legality of its proceedings.^ At last, after some hesitation, a royal edict, on December 27, partially solved the question. The King decided, in opposition to the opinion of the majority of the Notables, that the commons should have a double representation, thus making their representatives equal in number to those of the two other orders united. Such an increase of numbers was of no importance if the three orders voted separately, but if they voted either habitually or occasionally together it was of the ■ utmost consequence. But this vital question of separate or joint voting was left undecided, to be settled only when the States-General met ; and it continued to divide France fiercely, and to dig a chasm between the privi- leged orders and the people. By a report of the same council the King announced the future suppression of letters of ' cachet,' the establishment of liberty of the Press, and a periodic meeting of the States-General for the revision of the finances.^ This was followed, on January 24, 1789, by royal letters prescribing the method of election for the States- General. The precedent of 1614 was in its main out- ' Sismondi, xxi. 279, 280. See, ii. 195-207. too, on the deliberations of the ^ Mme. de Stael, Considiram Notables on this subject, Ch6rest tions swr la Bivolution, i. 177. 154 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. i. lines followed, with some considerable enlargements that had been recommended by the Notables. The nobles and the ecclesiastics of all classes were to elect their representatives separately and directly. The elec- tions for the commons, or third estate, were to be con- ducted on a different and complicated system. The suffrage was almost universal, a vote being given to every Frenchman who was twenty-five years old, who had a settled abode and who paid direct taxes; but these voters were not to vote directly for members of the States-General, but for members of numerous elec- toral bodies, to whom the ultimate choice was entrusted. The elections were so arranged that those of the pro- vinces were to be completed before those of Paris began. The months that followed were among the most agitated and critical that France had- ever undergone, and it was at this time that the revolutionary spirit, which had hitherto been almost confined to the great centres of population, began to pei-vade the whole country. To the best and most sagacious judges, the conduct of Necker during this crisis has appeared very blamable; and to his grave faults of judgment and character they have attributed much of the calamities that followed. History is full of examples of men who, possessing to an eminent degree certain intellectual and moral qualities of the highest value, were placed by an unhappy fate in situations where those particular qualities were almost wholly useless, and where a totally different set were urgently required. Such was at this time the position of Necker. In a regular parliamen- tary Government he might have been an excellent Chancellor of the Exchequer, or a safe, sound, and sagacious Prime Minister ; but he had nothing of that dazzling personality which can fascinate and Iwid great masses of excited men ; nothing of that spirit of com- OB. I. POLICY OF NECKEE. 155 mand, daring, and initiative, whicli was at this time imperatively needed. French public opinion was now like a ship driven before a furious gale, with no hand at the helm. Everything was undecided and in question — the nature of the States-General, the limit of their powers, the reforms they were to effect. The nation was seething with agitation, maddened by Utopias and subversive political theories, which were disseminated through a thousand channels and through every pro- vince. As there had been no States-General since 1614, there was a total want of political experience ; and there were none of the party lines, organisations, and traditions, which in a settled parliamentary Govern- ment at once direct and restrain the torrent of opinion. It was pre-eminently a time when a great minister would have boldly assumed the direction of opinion, placed a clear programme before the electors, defined and limited the reforms which he meant to ask the States-General to sanction. But Necker adopted a totally different course. He had no sympathy with the principles of the ' Contrat Social,' which were now dominant in France, and he had a strong constitutional dislike to all revolutionary changes. Considering, he has himself said, the dangers attending great political changes, the difficulty of forecasting their issue and of regulating their course, he would never have convoked the States-General had he not found that body solemnly pi'omised under his predecessor. If he could have followed his own wishes he would have occupied him- Belf in carrying out, with the assistance of the pro- vincial Assemblies, a long series of administrative reforms which might have greatly ameliorated the con- dition of the country without producing any strong passions or convulsions.' Such a policy was no longei ' CEwores de Necker, ix. 38, 39. 156 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. ch. i. open to Mm, but he determined, at least, to restrict as much as possible the circle of his action, and to postpone, if he could not avoid, the most important decisions. Timid, irresolute, and cautious to a fault, it was the character of his mind to see with special clearness the possible dangers and evils of any course that was pro- posed, and he shrank instinctively from any step which, by bringing him into opposition to strong currents of opinion, might imperil the high degree of esteem which he enjoyed and to which he most tenaciously clung. By assembling the Notables he had shown that he had no fixed policy of his own on the great question of the composition of the States-General, and it was now his manifest policy to ask advice on all sides, to commit himself to nothing, and to leave the nation to find its own way and to frame its own programme. Even after the elections had been completed, he dis- played the same fatal inaction. The States-General, from the complete inexperience of their members, and from the circumstances of excitement under which they were elected, required more than almost any other Parliament firm and skilful guidance. But Necker met them without any clear and definite plan; and when Mirabeau, who alone possessed the talents that might have ridden and directed the storm, desired to support him, he met the overtures of the great tribune with freezing and contemptuous indifference.' ' See especially the Mimoires recognised. Adam Smith was de Malouet, i. 246, 247, 250-253, acquainted with Necker, and he 282, 283, 293, 297, and many judged him with much severity, other passages in the same work. He said, ' He is but a man of It must be remembered, however, detail,' and predicted that he that Mirabeau was at this time would fail totally in a foremost a man whose character was com- place. See Mackintosh, VindAe< pletely discredited, and whose Gall. p. 30. genius was only very partially OH. 1. POLICY OF NECKEfi. 157 There was sometliing of timidity, something of pride, something of a kind of constitutional pedantry, and something of simple miscalculation in the attitude he assumed. When he was remonstrated with, he said that he considered it wrong for a minister to interfere in any way with popular elections ; and when he was further pressed, he added, ' What would you have me do when there is no longer any obedience in any quarter, and when we are not sure of the troops ? ' ' Military discipline, indeed, was only too evidently giv- ing way, and bands of soldiers might be seen in the early summer of 1789 marching through the streets of Paris, shouting, ' Long live the Third Estate ! ' and ' We are the soldiers of the nation ! ' When public opinion was so excited and disorganised, Necker deemed it best to temporise, to be governed by circumstances, to wait until the nation had clearly determined its wishes. To an undecided and desponding man, who was conscious that he was surrounded by enemies at the Court and in the Council, who knew that a single false step might lead to a catastrophe, and who was confronted with the immediate and pressing necessity of meeting a great famine, such a course had an irresistible attraction, and it does not appear to have been as much condemned by contemporaries as by posterity. Malouet, who has severely blamed it, acknowledges that the great majority of the more moderate of the politicians who afterwards formed the Constituent Assembly, agreed with Necker that the King should propose no plan and adopt no important measure till after the first deli- beration of the States-General.^ But by leaving the country without control or guidance in a moment of supreme crisis and agitation, Necker suffered the revolutionary passions to acquire a force and a scope ' Mini, de Malouet, i. 254, 255. ' Ibid. i. 289. 158 THE FRENCH EEVOLDTION. oh. .. wMcli placed them beyond the reach of any states- manship. Malouet, who was one of the most sagacious judges of this period of the Revolution, has expressed his firm conviction that at this time popular opinion had only fixed itself irrevocably on two points, the convocation of the States-General and the doubling of the repre- sentatives of the Third Estate, and that the Government could in all other points have efiectually guided and ■ limited the movement for change. The sovereign power still retained its authority, and it was as yet by no means obnoxious to the democratic party. The recent conflict with the Parliaments had been essen- tially a conflict between the Crown and the privileged orders, in which the Crown was contending for a system of taxation which would lighten the burden of the people. Necker has borne an emphatic testimony to the complete honesty with which, both in public and private, the King was resolved to carry out his promise of convoking the States-General, though he must have well known that it would give a representa- tive character to the Government of France.' The doubling of the number of the representatives of the Third Estate, which was the first great triumph of the popular party, was carried out with his cordial appro- bation, and contrary to the opinion of the majority of the Notables ; and it was remarked that on this occa- sion the Queen was for the first time present at the Council, as she desired to give her sanction to the measure.' It was believed that the situation resembled that of Sweden under Gustavus III., when a popular king, supported by the democracy, engaged in a suc- cessful struggle with the privileged orders. All over ' CEuvres de Necker, ix. 38. ■ Mme. de Stael, Considirations sur la involution, i. 180. OH, I. INFLUENCE OF THE MONAECHY. 159 the Contment — in Sweden, in Germany, in Poland, in Hungary, in Botemia, and in France — ^the diets, assemblies, or parliaments which represented the p)i« vileged orders had during the eighteenth century been hostile to reform, while Catherine, and Frederick, and Joseph II., and Leopold of Tuscany, and Gustavus III. of Sweden, and Charles III. of Spain had been the great reformers of their age.^ The Prince who was afterwards Lewis XVIII. , addressing the municipality of Paris in 1789, said that ' a great revolution was im- pending, and that the King by his dispositions, his virtues, and his supreme rank, was its natural chief.' ' The edict and report of December 27, 1788, were received with general applause,' and Madame de Stael has even stated that at this late period ' the authority of the King over the minds of men was more powerful than ever.'* Nor was the spell quite broken in the agitated weeks that followed. I have already men- tioned the remarkable fact that all, or nearly all, the instructions furnished by the constituents to their re- presentatives in the States-General, while urging the largest and most searching reforms, expressly directed them to maintain the authority and dignity of the King.* It seemed, indeed, as if the monarchy was the last of the old institutions of France which was in danger ; but a spirit of insubordination and passion had for some years been abroad, and the unregulated excite- ment engendered by the elections was not likely long- to confine itself within any barriers. ' It was as much ' See on this subject Sorel, " Malouet, Mint, i, 265. M, L'Eti/rqpe et la BivoluUpn Fran- Chassin, who is a violently de faise, pp. 107-133. mooratio writer, is obliged to ' Mme. de Stael, i. 177. acknowledge this fact, though ' See Necker, CSuvres, ix. 68, he tries to attenuate its import- 78. ance. — Ginie de la BivokitLon, * Considerations, i. 177, 178. pp. 329, 333. 12 160 THE FKENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. i. the fashion,' the Prince of Ligne once said, 'to disobey under Lewis XVI. as to obey under Lewis XIV.' ' Under Lewis XIV.,' the old Marshal Eichelieu said to Lewis XVI., ' no one ventured to utter a complaint ; under Lewis XV. they spoke low ; under your Majesty they speak aloud.'' 'The universal spirit,' wrote Malouet, describing the elections of 1789, ' was that of independence. Clergy, nobles, Parliament, third estate, all wished an increased power. . . . The nobles of the provinces would no longer endure the superiority of those of the Court. The inferior clergy wished to share the dignities of the higher clergy ; the officers and sub- alterns of the army used a similar language. . . . The word liberty was for ever ringing in the ears of an igno- rant populace,' and they understood it in its widest and most extravagant sense.^ The electoral meetings in every parish maintained a constant fever of excitement. In three or four months there are said to have been at least 40,000,^ and they carried the spirit of agitation and discussion into the remotest village. At the invi- tation of the Government, 'cahiers,' representing the grievances and conveying the instructions of the three orders, were prepared in every parish, and all over France the busiest brains were employed in collecting, comparing, and elaborating grievances. Innumerable newspapers sprang into existence, and the activity of the political press was unequalled. One of the most remarkable signs of the enormous intensity of political life in England during the civil war and the Commonwealth, is to be found in the vast literature of pamphlets and broadsides that was then suddenly pro- duced. In Prance and on a larger scale, the election of 1789 at once produced the same phenomenon, and it " Aubertin, p. 478. '- Mdm. de Malouet, i. 203, 294 ' Chassin, p. 243. OH. i. POLITICAL AGITATION. 161 continued for a long time without diminution. In the last months of 1788 a private collector is said to have accumulated no less than 2,500 pamphlets which had recently appeared.' Arthur Young, who had known England in several periods of great political excitement, had never seen anything which even faintly approached the activity of the French political press when he visited Paris in the summer of 1789. ' The business,' he says, ' going forward at present in the pamphlet shops of Paris is incredible. I went to the Palais Royal to see what new things were published, and to procure a cata- logue of all. Every hour produces something new. Thirteen came out to-day, sixteen yesterday, and ninety- two last week. We think sometimes that Debrett's and Stockdale's shops in London are crowded, but they are mere deserts compared to Deseih's and some others here, in which one can scarcely squeeze from the door to the counter. The price of printing two years ago was from twenty-seven to thirty livres per sheet, but now it is from sixty to eighty livres. The spirit of reading political tracts, they say, spreads into the pro- vinces, so that all the presses of France are equally employed. Nineteen-twentieths of these productions are in favour of liberty, and generally violent against the clergy and nobility. ... Is it not wonderful that while the press teems with the most levelling and even seditious principles, which, put in execution, would overturn the monarchy, nothing in reply appears, and not the least step is taken by the Court to restrain this extreme licentioiisness of publication? It is easy to conceive the spirit that must thus be raised among the people. But the coffee-houses in the Palais Eoyal pre- sent yet more singular and astonishing spectacles ; they are not only crowded within, but other expectant crowds ■ Ch^rest, ii. 254. See, too, Chassln, pp. 133 135. 162 THE FKENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. i. are at the doors and windows listening d gorge deploy&e to certain orators who from chairs or tables harangue each his little audience. The eagerness with which they are heard, and the thunder of applause they receive for every sentiment of more than common hardiness or violence against the present Government, cannot easily be imagined. I am all amazement at the Ministry per- mitting such nests and hotbeds of sedition and revolt, which disseminate amongst the people every hour prin- ciples that by-and-by must be opposed with vigour, and therefore it seems Httle short of madness to allow the propagation at present.' ' Another agency, more terrible and more powerful than any mere political propagandism, was, however, now hastening the Revolution. At the very time when the promise of the States-General had let loose the tor- rent of speculations, and passions, and wild hopes and fears, a great famine fell upon the land. A long drought in the summer of 1788, and a hailstorm almost unex- ampled in the extent of its devastations, were followed by an extremely bad harvest and by the severest winter that had been known in Prance for eighty years. The olives, the mulberries, the chestnut forests over great districts were almost totally destroyed. Bread rose quickly to famine price. The distress was as acute in the towns as in the country. Manufactures and indus- try in all their forms had already suffered deeply from the derangement of the national finances. The English competition which followed the recent commercial treaty had almost annihilated some of its important branches and thrown thousands of workmen out of employment, and the destruction of the mulberry trees now ruined the silk manufacture. In Lyons alone 40,000 workmen employed in this industry were lefb without bread ' Pinkerton, iv. 169. OH. I. FAMINE, 1W8, 1789. 163 Many master manufacturers left the country, and count- less factories were closed. Abbeville, Amiens, and Eouen were equally distressed, and great numbers of workmen are said to have died of literal starvation. Disease springing frorti insufficient nourishment rapidly spread. The roads were infested with famished brigands. The bakers' and butchers' shops, the mills, the offices where duties were levied on provisions, were everywhere attacked. There were almost daily conflicts between the soldiers and the populace, and all the great towns were besieged by starving countrymen seeking for employment. In Paris, where great public works had already produced an unnatural agglomeration of workmen, the number of the indigent soon tripled. In the single quarter of St. Antoine there were 30,000. A fourth part of the population of the city are said to have been driven in the winter of 1788-1789 to sell their clothes and tools and furniture, and it was easy on the smallest pretext to collect thousands of desperate and hungry men, ready to welcome any change and to take part in any enterprise. The freezing of the Seine in December greatly added to the difficulty of supplying the city with food. But the distress was never greater than at the time of the opening of the States-General. The whole country was disorganised by famine, and in the four months before the capture of the Bastille there had been more than 300 violent outbreaks in France.* It would be difficult to exaggerate the importance of this famine among the causes of the French Revolu- tion. It gave the revolutionary movement its army, and its impulse, and its character of desperate and savage earnestness. The presence in Paris of a vast multitude of idle and half-starving men, largely re- ' Ta.me, La Bivolution, i. 4-14, 30, 33; Chassin, pp. 292-296; Michelet, svii. 45S, 456. 164 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. i. cruited from the provinces, at a time when political excitement was at its height, and when the discipline of the army had been fatally corrupted, amply accounts for the scenes of violence that followed. Whenever a legislative body is elected on a very low suffrage, a bad harvest is likely to have a great influence on elections, for the minds of men are then full of uneasiness, prone to change, and readily turned against the Government. But this election, which was beyond all others critical and dangerous, took place not merely amid distress, but amid famine. Necker showed great skill and energy in supplying the capital with food, but it was easy to persuade an ignorant and starving populace that the Government were responsible for all they suffered. ' It appears plain to me,' wrote Arthur Young, ' that the violent friends of the commons are not dis- pleased at the high price of com, which seconds their views greatly, and makes any appeal to the common feeling of the people more easy and much more to their purpose than if the price were low.' ' At the time when the violent scenes of 1789 began, food in Paris was almost at famine rates, and it was computed that there were not less than a hundred and twenty thousand destitute persons in the city, who depended wholly on public works for their employment.^ The aims and dispositions of the electors were clearly shown by the ' cahiers ' of the three orders. It was plain that there was no alliance between the nobles and the clergy, and among the wishes most strongly expressed in the cahiers of the former class were the suppression of tithes and of religious orders, the esta- blishment of perfect liberty of conscience, and the sale of a portion of the ecclesiastical property, in order to restore the prosperity of the finances. It was evident, ' Pinkertou, iv. 169. ' Taine, La Eivolution, i. 33, OH. I. CAHIEES OF THE NOBLES. 165 too, that the nobles were as far as possible from being animated by a general hostility to reform. They de- sired the establishment of constitutional government by periodic assemblies of the States-General, complete individual liberty, and a crowd of reforms in the ad- ministration of the finances and of justice. Almost with one voice they announced their readiness to aban- don their exemption from direct taxation ; their deter- mination to accept a reasonable money commutation for their feudal rights ; their wish to see all the higher ranks in the army thrown open to commoners. If these three measures had been accomplished, almost every serious grievance which the country suffered from its aristocracy would have been removed. On the other hand, the nobles insisted, strongly that they should remain a separate order in the nation ; that they should retain their old privilege of voting separately in the States-General ; that their dignities and honorary dis- tinctions should be maintained. Some of the cahiers even asked that the privileged orders should wear a special dress, and that a separate order of peasants should be constituted, and very many of them protested against the sale of offices which introduced a crowd of lawyers and other functionaries into the nobility.' These views may not have represented everything that extreme reformers could desire, but historians mnst be very false or very prejudiced if they describe them as the views of a class that was opposed to reform and incapable of discharging a useful function in a free State. It was a remark of SieySs that in the literature that preceded the Eevolution, the most powerful de- fences of the rights of the commons came from the pens of members of the privileged orders,^ and it is an incon- ' See an excellent analysis of the cahiers of the nobles in Tocque- viUe, Ancien iJ^jtme, pp. 387-401. 2 ChSrest, ii. 255-257. 166 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. ch. i. testable fact that a great part of the French aristocracy were at this time thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the eighteenth century, and prepared to make serious sacrifices for the public welfare. The Parliaments had, as I have already shown, in some respects misrepresented their spirit, but the Parliaments had at least been dis- tinguished by two great qualities — a strong dislike to arbitrary power, and a strong desire to introduce a spirit of economy into the State ; and in the provincial councils the upper class had of late years shown them- selves both liberal and enlightened, and ready to per- form a great deal of useful and unobtrusive work.' The cahiers of the clergy also showed a frank and general willingness to surrender all privileges in matters of taxation ; and wherever the cur6s preponderated, there was displayed a genuine sympathy with liberal ideas. A better administration of the Church, the opening of all offices to all classes, the establishment of a general system of religious national education, free trade, and constitutional government, were among their leading demands, and some of them expressed a wish that the tools of workmen should never be seized for debt, and that the poorest class should be exempt from taxa- tion.* Among the commons the language was more vague, and while the monarchy was still respected, the ideas of the ' Oontrat Social ' were very apparent. The electors for the third order asked equality before the civil and criminal law, unity of legislation, liberty of the Press, abolition of all servitude and feudal rights, responsibility ' See Lavergne, Les Assem- utiles ; plusieurs resteront tela blies Provinciales ; Taine, La jusque sous le oouteau de la Bivolutum, i. 192, 193. M. Taine guillotine ' (p. 192). says : ' Jamais I'Aristocratie ne ' Louis Blanc, Mist, de la Biv, tat plus lib^rale, plus hnmaine, ii. 221, 222 ; Chassin, pp. 253- plus convertie auz r^formeg 256 ; Tocqueville, pp. 16S-170. OH. I. CONSTITUTIONAL MONAECHY ATTAINABLE. 167 of ministers, a readjustment of taxation.' In this class, however, the desire for equality was still stronger than the desire for reform, and they especially urged that iu the States-General the three orders should vote not separately, but together. If the prevailing wish had been simply, to make France a free and constitutional country, in the English or American sense of those terms, the victory was already won. The peremptory instructions of the three orders were of such a nature, that there was no doubt whatever that this end could have been attained with general consent. In April 1789, Gouvemeur Morris, whose admirable letters give one of the truest and calmest pictures of the events that ensued, wrote to Washington : ' The elections are finished throughout this kingdom except in the capital, and it appears from the instructions given to the representatives that certain points are universally demanded which, when granted and secured, will render Prance perfectly free as to the principles of the Constitution. I say the principles, for one generation at least will be required to render the practice familiar.' * On the part of the King there was nothing to be feared. Jefierson, one of the most demo- cratic as well as one of the most conspicuous of the leaders of the American Revolution, was at this time in Paris representing the American Republic, and he has left an account of his own experience, which throws a very remarkable light on the secret history of the French Revolution. ' I was much acquainted,' he writes, ' 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 strenu- ' Sismondi, xxi. 296 ; Grille, Bivokition Fran^aise, i. 135-155, ' Morris's Works, ii. 67. 168 THE FEENCH REVOLUTION. oh. i. ously an immediate compromise to secure what the Government were now ready to yield, and to 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 ; second, freedom of conscience ; third, freedom of the Press ; fourth, trial by jury ; fifth, a representative Legislature ; sixth, annual meetings ; seventh, the origi- nation of laws ; eighth, the exclusive right of taxation and appropriation; and ninth, the responsibility of ministers ; and with the exercise of these powers they could obtain in future whatever might be further neces- sary to improve and preserve their Constitution.' ' They thought otherwise, however,' continues Jefferson, ' 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, nor even that securely.' ' The representatives of the three orders included a few men of real genius, and many who would have risen into prominence in any Legislature. It is remarkable that Mirabeau and the Abbe Sieyds, who were the most conspicuous figures in the third order, had both aban- doned their own orders to sit in it. Among the steady advocates of moderate reform in the commons were Mounier, who had been the leading member of the States of Dauphin6, a man of great intellect and histo- rical knowledge, and one of the best political writers in Prance ; Malouet, the experienced and high-minded intendant of Toulon ; Tronchet, a veteran lawyer who represented Paris, and who presided over the commission for framing the Constitution. A young and eloquent Jefferson's Memoirs, i. 80. on. X. OPENING OF THE STATES-GENERAL. 169 soldier named CazalSs represented the extreme Royalist party, while violent democratic opinions were supported by the passionate eloquence of Barnave, by the logic of Dupont, by Rabaut de St. Etienne, a Protestant pastor who wrote the history of the Assembly in a strain of the highest enthusiasm, and who, like so many of the enthu- siasts of the Revolution, soon ended his days on the guillotine. Another distinguished member of the com- mons who underwent the same fate was Bailly, member of the French Academy, a distinguished man of science, twice Mayor of Paris, and first President of the National Assembly ; and there was a group of darker and more dangerous spirits who were as yet unnoticed and ob- scure, including Buzot and Petion, and the young ad- vocate of Arras, Maximilien Robespierre. The clergy had a brilliant but superficial rhetorician in the Abbe Maury ; an eminently wise and high-minded statesman in Luzerne, the Bishop of Langres ; a political intriguer of deep and subtle ability in Talleyrand, Bishop of Autun. Among the nobles was the Duke of Orleans, whose evil influence may be traced in most of the earlier stages of the Revolution ; and there too might be seen Lafayette, still glittering with the aureole of his Ameri- can reputation ; the eloquent and chivalrous Lally Tol- lendal ; the two Lameths, vehement advocates of revolu- tionary change ; D'Espr6m6nil, who had once enjoyed boundless popularity as he led the opposition to the King in the Parliament of Paris, and who was soon to lose his head as a Royalist. A characteristic feature of the Assembly was the large number of cures among the clergy, and of lawyers among the commons. Of the latter profession there were no less than 374.' Though containing many men of ability and high character, the Assembly was for the most part almost ' Carlyle's Hist, of the French Bevoluticm, i. 113. 170 THE FEENCH EEVOLDTION. '" oh. i. totally destitute both of the education of intellect and of the education of character that fit men for pubHc life, and it was completely intoxicated with the doctrines of Rousseau. There were at this time two excellent ob- servers in Paris who had watched carefully political life in the two countries where.it was the most active, and it is remarkable how closely they agreed in their inde- pendent estimates of the situation. In the discussions of the States-General, Arthur Young said : ' I find a general ignorance of the principles of government, a strange and unaccountable appeal on one side to ideal and visionary rights of nature, and on the other no settled plan that shall give security to the people for being in future in a much better situation than hitherto.' ' The spectators in the galleries are allowed to interfere in the debates by clapping their hands and by other noisy expressions of approbation. . . . More than once to-day there were one hundred members on their legs at a time, and M. Bailly absolutely without power to keep order.' • Gouverneur Morris compared the new legislators to young scholars fresh from the university, who would bring everything to a Roman standard. They desired, he said, to produce an American constitution without having American citizens to support it. He was struck with the large number of members who had ' much imagination ' but ' little knowledge, judgment, or reflec- tion,' with their ' romantic spirit ' and their ' romantic ideas of government.' Further experience did not im- prove his estimate of the Assembly. ' It may be di- vided,' he wrote in January 1790, ' into three parts, one called the aristocrats . . . another which has no name, but which consists of all sorts of people really friends of ' good government. The third is composed of what is • Pinkerton, iv. 170, 174, 176. OH. 1. ALTEENATIVE DANGERS. 171 called here the enrages, that is, the madmen. These are the most numerous, and are of that class which in America is known by the name of pettifogging lawyers, together with a host of curates and many of those per- sons who in all revolutions throng to the standard of change because they are not well. This last party is in close alliance with the populace here, and derives from that circumstance very great authority.' ' It soon appeared that the quarrel between the com- mons and the two privileged orders could not be averted or even deferred. The vital question was whether the three orders should vote as separate bodies, each possessing a right of veto, or two combined exercising it on the third, or whether, as the commons desired, the threfe orders should form a single assembly and should vote by head. The question was a very unhappy one, for each alterna- tive led to grave evils. A constitution in which the assent of three distinct legislative assemblies was re- quired for the validity of a law, would be in the highest degree cumbrous and inefficient, and a constitution in which the two privileged orders could always by a coalition outnumber and paralyse the order which re- presented the bulk of the nation, would be extremely unfavourable to liberty and utterly inconsistent with democratic ideas. On the other hand, the adoption of the other alternative would practically place the whole government of Prance, without any control, in the hands of a single popular chamber, and such a government is the very worst with which a nation can be cursed. It is a despotism more dangerous, as well as more ineffi- cient for good, than an absolute monarchy ; for the sense of responsibility is divided and deadened, and the infamy attaching to unjust actions, to excesses of tyranny, or to usurpations of power is comparatively unfelt when Morris's Wcyrks, ii. 75, 79, 88, 89. 172 THE FRENCH EEVOLIJTION. ch. i. diffused among many instead of being concentrated on one. Besides this, every large assembly partakes of the nature of a mob. It is sure to be swayed by passion, faction, party spirit, personal influence, and rhetorical skill, and in no other form of uncontrolled government is there likely to be so little of the higher qualities of judgment and prescience that are most necessary for the wise and temperate administration of affairs. These remarks apply to all countries, but there were special evils to be feared in France if the plan of the commons was realised. In the first place, it would manifestly make the democratic element supreme, for the number of the commons was equal to that of the two other orders combined, and a considerable propor- tion of the nobles and a still larger proportion of the clergy were certain to join them. In the next place, it would put the direction of affairs, without any control- ling, revising, or modifying senate, in the hands of an assembly which was totally without experience ; and in the last place, that assembly would consist of twelve hundred members. It may be boldly asserted that there never was a legislative assembly which from its circum- stances and its composition was less fitted to legislate without a second chamber than that which now assem- bled in France ; and it may also be truly said that even in the most phlegmatic nation, and in the nation most accustomed to parliamentary usages, a parliament of twelve hundred members would become totally un- manageable. If the difiSculty had arisen either in England or America, it would almost certainly have been met by the obvious compromise of dividing the orders into two chambers. Necker desired this, but in accordance with his usual timid policy he refrained from bringing it forward, and contented himself with trying very ineffec- tually to induce the contending parties to adjourn the on. I. BICAMEKAL ASEANGEMENT EEJECTED. 173 question till after the verification of powers. A small party, headed by Luzerne, the Bishop of Langres, argued in favour of a bicameral division, and the project was strongly supported by Malouet, Mounier, and Lally Tollendal. It was soon, however, found to be extremely unpopular, and when at a somewhat later period it was formally brought before the National Assembly, it was rejected by a majority of more than ten to one. It is remarkable that the aristocratic section of the Assembly joined with the democratic section in opposing it. If the bicameral system had been adopted, the upper cham- ber would have consisted of the bishops and of the one hundred or one hundred and fifty families of the ancient nobility of France. The cures and the new nobility of the robe would have sat in the lower chamber, and accordingly these classes, who formed the greater part of the two privileged orders, at once repudiated the pro- ject. On the other hand, the democratic party violently resisted it as an imitation of the aristocratic govern- ment of England; as consecrating and strengthening hereditary distinctions ; as introducing into the Legis- lature a division of powers which was directly opposed to the principles of Rousseau. ' The very nature of things,' it was said, ' resists this division of the legisla- tive authority. The nation is one, so should then be the body that represents it.' ' The result of all this was that when the States- General, on which the hopes of Prance were so passion- ately fixed, met, this Assembly found itself at the very outset of its proceedings completely paralysed, and a revolution in its constitution became inevitable. The first business to be accomplished was the verification of the election of the members. In the opinion of some ' A very good account of the will be found in Smyth's French discussions on these questions Revolution, leo. xvii. 174 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. on. i. politicians, this verification should have taken place before the King in council ; but he left it, perhaps un- wisely, to the Assembly, and it at once produced a a dispute between the orders. The Third Estate, assuming a position of superiority and ascendency, now invited the other orders to come to them for the purpose of verifying their powers con- jointly. The invitation was refused, and from May 5 till the middle of June no public business was accom- plished. At last, however, on the proposal of Siey6s and amid a storm of frantic excitement, the Third Estate alone voted themselves ' the National Assembly,' invited the other two orders to join them, and, pushing their pretensions to sovereignty to the highest point, declared that the existing taxes, not having been consented to by the nation, were all Ulegal. The National Assembly, however, allowed them to be levied till its separation, after which they were to cease if not formally re- granted. This great revolution was effected on June 1 7, and it at once placed the Third Order in a totally new rela- tion both to the other orders and to the Crown. There were speedy signs of yielding among some members of the privileged orders, and a tierce wave of excitement supported the change. Malouet strongly urged that the proper course was to dissolve the Assembly and to appeal to the constituencies, but Necker declined, and a feeble and ineffectual effort of the King to accomplish a, reimion, and at the same time to overawe the Third Order, precipitated the Revolution. The King an- nounced his intention of holding a royal session on June 22, and he summoned the three orders to meet him. It was his design to direct them to unite in order to deliberate in common on matters of common interest, and to regain the royal initiative by laying down the lines of a new constitution. He hoped to on. I. THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY. 175 effect a bicameral arrangement, and he determined also to recommend an abolition of all privileges in matters of taxation, and tlie admissibility of all citizens to civil and military employments. On Saturday, the 20th, however, the course of events was interrupted by the famous scene in the tennis court. Troops had lately been pouring to an alarming extent into Paris, and exciting much suspicion in the popular party, and the Government very injudiciously selected for the royal session on the following Monday the hall in which the Third Order assembled. The hall was being prepared for the occasion, and therefore no meet- ing could be held. The members, ignorant of the fact, went to their chamber and were repelled by soldiers. Furious at the insult, they adjourned to the neighbour- ing tennis court. ' A suspicion that the King meant to dissolve them was abroad, and they resolved to resist such an attempt. With lilted hands and in a transport of genuine, if somewhat theatrical, enthusiasm, they swore that they would never separate ' till the constitu- tion of the kingdom and the regeneration of public order were established on a solid basis.' The oath was proposed by no less a man than Mounier, and Bailly claimed his privilege as president to be the first to take it. One single member, Martin d'Auche, refused his assent. The Third Estate had thus virtually assumed the sole legislative authority in France, and, like the Long Parliament in England, had denied the King's power to dissolve them. The public excitement had reached fever point, and in the council of the King there were grave divisions. A powerful section accused Necker of ruining the cause of the King and of the privileged orders, and there was a widely spread impression that he did not possess the qualities of command and deci- sion needed for the occasion. This impression wa» 13 176 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. cii. i. probably a just one, but it is not clear that the King had any servant who was more fit to meet the emer- geiicy ; and the difficulties of a minister with a divided council, and in a' moment of revolution, are always greater than either contemporary opinion or historical judgments are inclined to recognise. Owing to the dissension that had arisen, the royal session was post- poned till the 23rd, but on the preceding day the National Assembly met in a church, and its session was a very important one, for on this occasion a great body of the clergy formally joined it. One hundred and forty-eight members of the clergy, of whom one hundred and thirty-four were cur6s, had now given their adhe- sion. Two of the nobles, separating from their col- leagues, took the same course.' Next day the royal session was held. The project adopted in the council differed so much from that of Necker, that this minister refused to give it the sanc- tion of his presence. Instead of commanding the three orders to deliberate together in the coramon interest, it was determined in the revised project that the King should merely invite them to do so. The King, in the scheme of Necker, while reserving to himself the right of sanctioning or rejecting any changes in the constitu- tion of future States-G-enfiral, left the examination of the faults in the existing constitution of the States- General to the Assembly of the Three Orders, with a declaration that he would refuse his consent to any legislative organisation which was not composed of at least two chambers. It was now, however, determined to withdraw altogether from the common deliberation ' the form of the constitution to be given to the coming States-General,' and to recognise fully the essential iiatinction of the three orders as political bodies, though * Louis Blanc, ii. 301. OH. r. ■ EOYAL SESSION, JUNE 23. 177 they might, with the approval of the Sovereign, delibe- rate in common. Necker had proposed, too, that the King should decisively, and of his own authority, abolish all privileges of taxation, but in the amended article the King only undertook to give his sanction to this measure on condition of the two orders renouncing their privileges.' On the other hand, the King an- nounced to the Assembly a long series of articles of reform which would have made France a thoroughly constitutional country, and have swept away nearly all the great abuses in its government. They gave the States-General complete control of the purse, abolished absolutely letters of ' cachet,' the taille and the corvee, established liberty of the press and very complete local self-government, and, in a word, reformed almost the whole administration of Prance. He recommended these reforms to the three orders, but declared that if they unfortunately could not agree to effect them, he would endeavour to carry them out himself. I have already quoted the remarkable passage in which Jefferson has recorded his judgment of the pro- posed constitution. At the same time, while divesting himself for the future of some of the most important of his prerogatives, the King endeavoured to secure and assert for himself that share of power which rightly belongs to a constitutional sovereign. He annulled the proceedings of June 17, by which the Third Estate alone declared itself the Legislature of France. He reminded the Assembly that none of its proceedings could acquire the force of law without his assent, and he asserted his sole right as French Sovereign to the command of the army and police. He concluded by directing the three orders to withdraw and to meet next day to consider his proposals. (Euvrea de Necker, ix. 182-188. 178 THE FEENCH REVOLUTION. ■ on. i. The King, with the nobles and the majority of the clergy, at once withdrew, but the Third Order defiantly remained. It was evident that the attempt to conciliate and the attempt to assert the royal authority had both failed. The Assembly proclaimed itself inviolable. It confirmed the decrees which the King had annulled. SieySs declared, in words which excited a transport of enthusiasm, that what the Assembly was yesterday it still was to-day ; and two days later, the triumph of the Assembly became stUl more evident by the adhesion of forty-seven of the nobility. After this defection the King saw the hopelessness of resistance, and on the 27th he ordered the remainder of the nobles to take the same course. It was becoming evident that force alone must decide the issue, and it was also daily becoming more evident on which side that force lay. Arthur Young, it is true, believed that almost to the moment of the catastrophe, vigour and ability might have turned every- thing to the side of the Court; that not only the majority of the nobles, the higher clergy, and the Parlia- ments, but also the soldiers would have been with the King ; and that a resolute and military ruler might still have triumphed.' But the feeble, amiable, and most pacific Sovereign whom an unhappy fate had placed on the throne in this great crisis of French history, had none of the qualities that were needed to rally the forces of the Crown ; and day by day the defection of the troops became more apparent. 'The ferment at ' Pinlcerton, iv. 184. Even a tait par la bont6 de son coeur tme year later Malouet believed this autre destines ; il y a tel capi- to be true. 'Le Eoi,' he says, taine de grenadiers, qui I'edt ' ne pouvait se r^soudre A tirer sauvd, lui et I'Etat, s'il I'avait l'6piie centre ses sujets. Je laiss6 taive'—Mim, de Malouet, m'arr^te k regret sur les fautes i. 305, 306, de ce prince iofortun^, qui m^ri- OH. I. MOB EULE— MILITAEY INSUBOKDINATION. 179 Paris,' writes Young on June 24, 'is beyond concep- tion; 10,000 people have been all this day in the Palais Koyai. . . . The King's propositions are received with universal disgust. . . . The people seem with a sort of frenzy to reject all idea of compromise. . . . The con- stant meetings at the Palais Royal, which are carried to a degree of licentiousness and fury of liberty that is scarcely credible, united with the innumerable inflamma- tory publications that have been hourly appearing since the assembly of the States, have so heated the people's expectations, and given them the idea of such total changes, that nothing the King or Court could do would now satisfy them.' ' In the mean time the real rulers of the country were coming rapidly to the surface. All nations are in truth governed by aristocracies, but these aristocracies vary greatly in their character. The ' Club Breton,' which soon became the ' Club des Jacobins,' was already formed ; and an aristocracy, half criminal, half fanatic, consisting of groups of local agitators and of the. scum of the Paris mob, began to overawe the representatives of the nation, and to direct the course of its policy. Troops were poured into Paris, but their presence was an excite- ment without being a protection, for day after day it became more evident that their discipline was gone, and that they shared the sympathies and the passions of the mob. They had caught the contagion of the time, and the revolutionary party had two most powerful instru- ments for acting upon them. They promised to throw open all ranks to the private, and they also, in accord- ance with the instructions of many of the cahiers, pro- mised an increase of pay. At the same time famine grew daily more intense, and the mobs more passionate and more formidable. The dismissal of Necker on the ' Pinkerton, iv. 180, 181. 180 THE FEENCH EEVOLDTION. oh. .. evening of July 11 was the spark wMch produced the conflagration that had long been preparing. Next day Paris flew to arms. The troops with few exceptions abandoned the King ; and when, with scarcely any serious resistance, the Bastille was captured on the 14th, and • the head of its murdered governor carried by a triumphant procession through the streets, the Revolu- tion may be said to have definitely triumphed. Power had now passed both from the King and from the Assembly into the hands of the mob. As was truly said, it was not a revolt, but a revolution ; not a change of government, but a dissolution of all government; and France began that terrible career of anarchy which was only completely terminated by the wars and the despotism of Napoleon. Por the next few years she lay among the great Powers of Europe a portent and a wonder ; cut away from all her ancient moorings, drifting without a compass or a helmsman, like some exploding flreship, scattering terror and desolation along her path. There has been in the present generation a strong reaction against the old habit of treating history merely as a series of biographical studies, and military in- cidents and pictures, and it has become the special de- light of historians to trace through a remote past the causes that have prepared and produced great changes. It is possible, however, for this mode of writing history to be carried too far, and it has produced a school of historic fatalists who appear to me to have greatly underrated the part which accident, political wisdom, and political folly have borne in human affairs. To me at least it appears, from the facts that have been related in this chapter, that the French Revolution, though un- doubtedly prepared by caiises which had been in opera- tion for centuries, might, till within a very few years of CH. I. MISTAKES OP THE FRENCH GOVEENMENT. 181 the catastrophe, have been with no great difficulty averted. A profound change in the character of the government and institutions of France had indeed be- come inevitable, but such a change need not have been a revolution, and if it had been effected, as very similar changes have been effected in other countries, without the subversion of the monarchy and a total disorganisa- tion of the State, its influence both on French and on European history would have been wholly different. In spite of the wars and debts of Lewis 2!lV., in spite of the vices and incapacity of the Regency and of Lewis XV., in spite of much class selfishness and a great sub- version of ancient opinions, the position of the French monarchy on the accession of Lewis XVI. was far from desperate. If a Henry IV. or a Frederick the Great had then mounted the throne, or if Lewis XVI. had found for his Minister a Richelieu or a Pitt, a Cavour or a Bismarck, France would never have drifted into anarchy. The chief faults that made the situation irremediable may, I think, be easily traced. The policy of Lewis XV. towards his Parliaments was of the kind which beyond all others discredits and weakens governments. Either resistance or concession if consistently and skilfully con- ducted might have succeeded, but a policy of alternate resistance and concession, of bold acts of authority re- peatedly and ignominiously reversed, could have no other effect than to uproot all feeling of reverence for the Crown. The same weak and fluctuating policy was pursued under much more critical circumstances by Lewis XVI. The restoration of the Parliaments by that Sovereign appears to me to have been a capital migr take. It raised up without necessity an opposition tQ the Crown of the most dangerous and ewbarrassing description; and it at the same time eflprpiou^ly irt^ creased the difficulty of accomplishing the equalisation 182 THE FEENCH REVOLUTION, oh. i. of taxation and the commutation of the feudal system, which were the two measures most absolutely necessary if a revolution was to be averted. If at the beginning of his reign, when his power was still uncontested and when his popularity was its height, the King, instead of restoring the Parliaments, had summoned the States- General to carry these measures, or if without sum- moning the States-General he had decreed them by his own royal authority, he would probably have succeeded. But the propitious moment was suffered to pass. A false step was taken which produced endless embarrass- ments, and the great fault of the American war soon followed. This war for the first time made French finances irremediable. It inoculated French public opinion with republican ideas, and it produced that fatal disorganisation of the army which was still further aggravated by the decree of 1781, making the higher ranks a strict monopoly of the nobles. The extrava- gance of Oalonne and the incapacity of Brienne con- tinued the work of ruin, and although Lewis XVI. and Necker were on the whole greatly superior to the average of French kings and ministers, they proved totally destitute of the qualities that were most needed in the crisis of a revolution. In this way the founda- tions of authority were completely sapped. Concessions which at an earlier period would have been welcomed with enthusiasm, only whetted the appetite for change. A great famine occurring at a time of great political excitement immensely strengthened the elements of disorder. The edifice of government tottered and fell| and all Europe resounded with its fall. CHAPTER II.i In the remarkable letter written in 1753, in which Lord Chesterfield described the signs of revolution which he saw already gathering in France, he added, ' I am glad of it ; the rest of Europe will be quieter and have time to recover.' The judgment expressed in this passage was very generally shared by English statesmen when the French Revolution actually began. It was believed that for a long period the influence of France would be withdrawn from European poHtics, and that this with- drawal was certain to be very favourable to the interests both of England and of peace. With the exception of a few years that followed the accession of the House ot Hanover, when dynastic and Hanoverian interests con- spired to bring the English Government into close con- nection with the Government of France, the whole course of foreign policy since the Revolution of 1688 had been one continued contest against French power and ambi- tion. From 1689 to the Peace of Ryswick in 1697, and from 1702 to the Peace of Utrecht in 1713, England had been engaged in a desperate struggle against Lewis XIV. The war which broke out in 1739 was, it is true; originally a Spanish war, produced by a Spanish trade quarrel, but it was soon merged in the French war of the Austrian Succession, and the original object was so completely forgotten. that it was not even mentioned in the Peace of Aix la Chapelle. The Seven Years' War, which terminated in the glorious peace of 1763, was directed against French influence in Germany ; and tlie • Chapter xix. of History of England in the Eighteenth Centnry. 184 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. on. ii. American quarrel only became really formidable when Prance threw her sword into the scale and involved England in a great European and Asiatic struggle. From these facts it was inferred that England was likely to benefit by the temporary eclipse of her rival ; and many things had happened since France had en- tered into the zone of revolution which appeared to justify the prediction. In the autumn of 1787 her financial and other internal embarrassments secured the success ofthe Prussian invasion of Holland, and enabled England and Prussia to overthrow the French ascend- ency in that country. In the summer of 1788 three ambassadors from Tippoo Sahib arrived in Paris, ofiering the French great commercial privileges if they would support that chief against the English, as they had supported his father, Hyder Ali, and would send 3,000 men to his assistance. The ambassadors were received with great demonstrations of popular enthusiasm, but the condition of France was so critical that the Govern- ment did not venture to assist them, and England was enabled to carry her Indian war to a triumphant issue.' In 1790, the threatened war between England and Spain on account of Nootka Sound was only averted because France was unable to support her ally; and during the whole of the Eastern war, which affected so deeply the interests and the relative power of Eussia, Turkey, Austria, Sweden and Prussia, France, contrary to all previous example, remained almost absolutely passive.^ As we have already seen, the English Govern- ment rejected the Prussian project of interference with the revolt in the Austrian Netherlands, on the ground that there was no serious danger of those provinces • See Mim. de Malouet, i. 206. revolution in France will prevent ' On July 28, 1789, Ewart that country effectually from In- wrote : ' TMa Court [Prussia] is terfering in any shape in favour persuaded that the great popular ofthe Imperial Court.' CH. II. ENGLISH AND FRENCH ElVALKY. 185 passing under the influence or dominion of France, as recent events must have diverted the Flemish noblesse and clergy from the French system, and as ' the present apparent and increasing weakness and distraction of that country must prevent any body of men from looking to that quarter for any present and effectuial support.' ' Hostility to France, and especially to the House of Bourbon, had from the first formation of the great Eng- lish parties been a characteristic sentiment of the Whigs. The subservience of the later Stuarts to French influence had been one of the great grounds for grievance against them ; and the Revolution of 1688 had made France more than ever a natural enemy. It was said that a French king had once asked the Abbe Gaultier the dif- ference between a Whig and a Tory, and the Abbe had answered, that the Tories were the French King's only friends in England, and that the Whigs were all his enemies, ' with this circumstance, that it is possible the Tories may become your enemies, but impossible the Whigs can become your friends.' * After the peace of 1763, it had indeed been noticed that there had been a considerable tendency to approximation between the two nations. A writer in 1767 observed that ' more French of distinction had visited England since the last war than at any other period since the English lost their great possessions in that country,' and he added that the friendly communication of knowledge between the ' Leeds to Ewart, Feb. 26, vowed eternal enmity and ever- ] 790. lasting hatred against a king who ^ Toland's State Anatomy of kept more than twenty-five mil- Englcmd. As a Radical writer lions of his subjects in slavery ; Bays, ' The Whigs of that day al- and they would willingly have ways beheld France with an in- waged perpetual war with a vicQous eye, and rejoiced at her nation base and abject enough humiliation and disgrace. Con- to hug their chains.' — Stephens' Bidering the example of success- Life of Home Tooke, i. SO. (ul tyranny as contagious, they 186 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. ch. ii. learned of all countries, even in time of war, was ' a dis- tinction peculiar to the present age.' ' The influence of English thought upon French literature was one of the most remarkable facts of the eighteenth century ; and although French literary influence was much less appa- rent in England, the splendid scientific discoveries of Frenchmen were eagerly welcomed. But it may be doubted whether the popular feeling was really changed, and Pitt had seldom shown more political courage than when he introduced his commercial treaty with France, and maintained that the two great nations which con- fronted each other across the Channel were intended by Nature to be friends and not enemies. We have already seen with what vehemence Fox repudiated the assertion, declaring that France and England were and always must be natural enemies. Before the capture of the Bastille, the events that were taking place in France appear to have excited only a rare and languid interest in England. Parliamentary government carried on by party conflicts has many merits, but it greatly narrows the horizon of political knowledge and interests ; for the constant succession of domestic questions which it produces is quite sufiicient to absorb the amount of time and attention that ordinary men can devote to public affairs. The King's illness, and the Regency question that grew out of it, fully engrossed the popular mind, and what little interest was felt in foreign affairs had of late been directed much more to St. Petersburg than to Paris. The only question relating to France which at this time came before the public was an application from the French Government, in the spring of 1789, for permission to export 20,000 ' Ann. Beg. 1787, p. 4. Horace Ireland, after the peace. Mem. Walpole also notices that great of Geo. III. ill. 107. See, too, numbers of French travellers his letter to Maun, April 30, visited England, and some even 1763. OH. II. ENGLISH INTEREST IN FEENCH AFFAIRS. 187 Backs of flour from England to the northern provinces of Prance, which were suffering severely from famine. As the price of corn in England was higher than that at which the exportation was allowed by law, the French request could not be granted without the sanction of Parliament. The request was referred to a committee, and apparently carefully considered on its merits, and it was finally decided that, in consequence of the very high price of corn in England and the very bad prospects of the coming harvest, it could not be safely granted.' The capture of the Bastille, however, was so startling and so dramatic, that it at once excited in England a strong and general interest, which the events that followed were well fitted to stimulate. The creation of a great national army independent of the Crown ; the virtual assumption of absolute power by a representative body, which had transformed its own constitution, placed itself above the instructions of its constituents, and denied the King the right of dissolving it ; the strange triumphal procession of July 17, when the King was carried almost a captive to the H6tel de Ville and com- pelled to assume the national cockade ; the blazing country houses and the innumerable scenes of pillage and murder that accompanied the insurrection of the country people against their feudal lords ; the abolition on August 4 of the whole feudal system, and of nearly all the privileges of classes, provinces, and towns ; the decree which ordered all tithes to be commuted for money, followed within a few days by the decree which abolished them without compensation ; and finally, the promulgation of a Declaration of Eights of the most abstract and far-reaching character — all indicated the complete transformation of the Government of Prance. The most splendid and ancient monarchy of Europe was virtually overthrown. The Assembly rejected by great ' Pa/rl. Hist, xxviii. 226-230. Wilberforce's Life, i. 226-228. 188 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. ii, majorities all proposals to share its power with a second chamlier, and it denied the King not only his ancient right of initiating laws and of dissolving the Assembly, but also the right of imposing more than a temporary veto on its proceedings. Then came the horrible days of October 5 and 6, when Versailles was invaded by a furious and famished mob, when the Queen only saved her life by flying half- naked from her room, when the sentinels and several gentlemen of the Court were cut down and murdered in the palace, and when at last, after marvellous escapes, the Royal Family were conducted as prisoners to Paris by the mob. The journey lasted for six hours, and in the course of it muskets were more than once levelled at the royal carriage. In front were borne, transfixed upon pikes, the heads of two gentlemen of the Court. The disarmed and captive bodyguard were led one by one. Around the carriage of the Royal Family the mob danced, and sang, and shouted, 'All bishops to the lamp-post.' On the arrival of the procession in Paris, it was met by Bailly the mayor, who described the scene as ' a beautiful day,' while in the Assembly Mira- beau declared that the vessel of State, instead of being retarded by it, would only advance the more rapidly towards regeneration, and Bamave replied to those who spoke with horror of the murders, by asking whether the blood that was shed was indeed so pure. From this time the King of France was a helpless prisoner in the Tuileries, with scarcely any voice or power in the government of France. All these events soon had their influence in Eng- land. The many small democratic societies which had arisen during the Wilkes troubles and during the Ame- rican war, and which had of late been almost dormant, began to stir again. There were men of the school of Cartwright and Jebb, who had long been advocating, OH. n. ENGLISH PAETISANS OP THE EETOLUTION. 189 amid general neglect, parliamentary reform on grounds of d priori right, and who now, to their own astonish- ment, found their principles triumphant in the foremost nation of the Continent. There were political Dis- senters who detested the Church Establishment, and especially the system of tithes, and who saw with un- speakable delight the total abolition of that system in France. The principles enunciated in the Declaration of Rights were of the broadest and most ssveeping character, applicable to all nations, and well fitted to fascinate unguided, half-educated, and adventurous en- thusiasts ; and it was not unpl easing to the many local busybodies, who might be found in every great town, putting themselves forward as representatives of the people and trying to force themselves into political notoriety, to find that men who were very much of their own class and intellectual calibre were practically directing the Government of Prance. The unsuccessful efforts of the Dissenters in 1787, 1789, and 1790 to obtain a repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts had given a new energy and union to their political forces, and the very fact that the events in Prance were already beginning to throw great masses of men into violent and unreasonable opposition to all change gave a corre- sponding impulse to the opposite party. A few men of station and ability belonged to it. Priestley was a really great man of science, and though his works on other subjects have little value, the amazing fertility and facility of his pen had made him very pro- minent, and he was a bitter enemy of the Established Church. His enthusiasm for the Revolution was from the first unbounded. 'There is indeed,' he wrote in October, 'a glorious prospect for mankind before us. Flanders seems to be quite ripe for a similar revolution; and other countries, I hope, will follow in due time ; and when civil tyranny is all at an end, that of *^ 190 THE FEENCH EEVOLCTION. ou. ii. Church will soon be disposed of. . . . Our Court and courtiers will not like these things, and the bishops least of all.' ' ' I do not wonderj' he wrote a little later, ' at the hatred and dread of this spirit of revolution in kings and courtiers. Their power is generally usurpa- tion, and I hope the time is approaching when an end will be put to all usurpation in things civil or religious, first in Europe and then in other countries.' ' Dr. Price, who had a still greater weight with the Nonconformists, and who had obtained a considerable political import- ance on account of the part he had taken in the Ameri- can contest, and on account of the popularity of his financial schemes, was passionately on the side of the Revolution, and a small section of the aristocracy had also adopted extreme principles of democratic reform. Only a few years had passed since the Duke of Rich- mond had harangued the House of Lords in favour of universal suffrage, equal electoral districts, and annual Parliaments. Lord Stanhope's political opinions fell little, if at all, short of republicanism, and there was a strong tinge of something very like republicanism in no less a person than Lord Lansdowne.' In 1793 Burke wrote to the Duke of Portland : ' It is truly alarming to see so large a part of the aristocratic interest engaged in the cause of the new species of democracy.' * A few years later, on the occasion of Fox's birthday, it was the Duke of Norfolk, the head of the English aristocracy, who proposed as a toast ' The health of our Sovereign — the Majesty of the People.' On November 9, 1789, a not very important body of advanced politicians, called ' A Society for Commerao- ' Eutt'sit/e of Priestley, ii. 38. * Letter to the Dulte of Port- * Ibid. p. 81. land, aooompanying the ' Obser- ■ See his very curious letter to vations on the Conduct of the Morellet about the Eevolution, in Minority.' Burke's Woika, vii Fitzmaurioe's Life of Shelbwme, 220. ui. 438-408. OH. u. THE EEVOLDTION SOCIETY. 191 rating the Revolution in Great Britain,' or more shortly, ' The Revolution Society,' met under the presidency of Lord Stanhope at the London Tavern, and drew up an address of congratulation to the National Assembly, expressing a hope that ' the glorious example given in France ' might ' encourage other nations to assert the inalienable rights of mankind, and thereby introduce a general reformation into the Governments of Europe.' It was on this occasion that Dr. Price preached before the Society the famous sermon which Burke afterwards made the text of his ' Reflections on the French Revo- lution.' It was an enthusiastic eulogy of all that had taken place in France. The preacher declared himself ready to repeat the ' Nunc Dimittis ' of Simeon, as he had lived to see thirty millions of men spuming slavery ; ' their king led in triumph, and an arbitrary monarch surrendering himself to his subjects,' and he predicted that the example of France would soon destroy the do- minion both of kings and of priests, and would sweep away all despotism from Europe. These proceedings gradually excited a large share of public attention. The National Assembly of France at once responded by a warm vote of thanks, and directed the Archbishop of Aix, who then presided over it, to write in its name to Lord Stanhope, and in almost every considerable town in France patriotic societies took the same course. The Revolution Society, which hitherto had been very little known in England, found itself suddenly invested with an extraordinary import- ance, and treated as the special and accredited repre- sentative of the English people. It printed a large volume of its correspondence with different societies in France ; and other democratic societies, following its instigation or its example, began to spring up in the great towns, to pass resolutions expressing admiration of the French Revolution, and to send complimentary 14 192 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. n. addresses to Paris. ' The Press,' wrote one of the prin- cipal chroniclers of the time, ' teemed with the most daring libels upon the Constitution of this country, and all its constituent parts. They were distributed gratis, and circulated with astonishing industry not only amongst the lower class of the community, but through the army and the navy. In these writings, the people were invited to form themselves into clubs and societies after the manner of the French ; and many were actually formed in a great number of the most populous towns of the kingdom, avowedly affi- liated (to use an expression of their own) by the demo- cratic clubs in Prance.' ' The sermon of Price was published, widely distributed, and translated into French. Priestley declared that it ' moved him to tears,' and h6 predicted that it would have as great an effect as the work on ' Civil Liberty,' by which the same writer had so powerfully stirred public opinion during the Ameri- can war. The Eevolution Society resolved to celebrate the anniversaries of the capture of the Bastille, and at the first anniversary Price made a speech which was much remarked. 'Oh, heavenly philanthropists,' he ex- claimed, apostrophising the Eevolutionists in France, ' well do you deserve the admiration not only of your own country, but of all countries ! You have already determined to renounce for ever all views of conquest and all offensive wars. This is an instance of wisdom and attention to human rights which has no example. But you will do more : you will invite Great Britain to join you in this determination, and to enter into a com- pact with you for promoting peace on earth, good will among men. . . . Thus united, the two kingdoms will be omnipotent. They will soon draw into their con- federation Holland and other countries on this side of Annual Register, 1700, p. 65. OH n. HEALTHY CONDITION OF ENGLAND. 193 the globe, and the United States of America on the other." ' We have already seen that in the debate on the Unitarian disabilities Burke had brought the pro- ceedings of the Revolution Society prominently before Parliament ; but as long as they were confined to mere irresponsible politicians they did not appear deserving of much serious attention. In no respect is the saga- city of a true statesman more needed or more displayed than in distinguishing between the strong, permanent, and for the most part silent currents of national opinion, and the noisy and frothy imitations which small knots of agitators can always produce. As far as can be now judged, the danger of England being seriously afiected by the contagion of French example was as yet very small. It was true, indeed, that the British Constitution in nearly all its parts was hopelessly cor- rupt if measured by the canons of Rousseau ; but the philosophy of Rousseau was not adapted to the English mind, and the conditions of England were in nearly every respect the extreme opposite of those of Prance. The unpopularity of the King, which had been very great during the ministry of Bute and during part of the American war, had wholly passed away, and his recent illness had raised the spirit of loyalty to the highest point. The administration of public affairs, which in Prance had been of late conducted with asto- nishing weakness and astonishing vacillation, was in England in the hands of a popular, brilliant, and most successful statesman ; and there is no reason to believe ' Butt's Life of Priestley, ii. in London with the National 79, 80. See, too, Morgan's lAfe Assembly, and with varioua of Price, pp. 161-163 ; and a Societies of the Friends of Li- volume (printed, I believe, pri- berty in France and EnglancU vately) called The Correspond- (London, 1792.) tnce of the Bevolution Society 194 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. ii. that any possible change in the suffrage would have overthrown or even seriously weakened his power. The approach of bankruptcy was one main cause of the Revolution in France, but the ministry of Pitt had in no respect been more distinguished than for the singular skill with which he had managed the national finances. There was in England no genuine republicanism, no exemption of the rich from taxation, no antagonism between the law courts and the Government. There were very few feudal rights which were seriously op- pressive, and although there was a great aristocracy and an established Church, with many privileges, ano- malies, and abuses, there was little or nothing of that profound separation of classes which made the social condition of France so dangerous. Nor were the intellectual influences in the two countries at all similar. English literature, over which Dr. Johnson at this time exercised an extraordinary influence, presented a strange contrast in its orthodox and conservative tone to the great antichristian literature which was animated by the spirit of Voltaire ; and the political philosophy of Hume, Burke, and Adam Smith was as far as possible removed from the philosophy of Rousseau. The highly conservative Whiggism of Burke and the highly liberalised. Toryism of Pitt seemed equally safe, and among the middle and lower classes the Methodist and Evangelical movement was now at its height, and was drawing the strongest enthusiasm in directions wholly remote from politics and from French ideas. In England, it is true, as in France, there was at this time a series of bad harvests which produced much distress and much political discontent ; but distress in England fell far short of famine. The general level of well-being was very high, and the recent developments in manufacturing industry had opened out great fields of employment and prosperity. CH. II. FIEST IMPEESSIONS OF THE EEVOLCTION. 195 When we add to tliis the insular and unspeculative habits of the English mind, the large measure of politi- cal experience that pervaded all classes, and the strong English distrust for everything French, it appeared very improbable that the French Eevolution should have a dangerous influence in England. The Bastille had no doubt gathered around it so many enormously exaggerated associations of oppression and cruelty' that its destruction produced much genuine enthusiasm. Cowper as early as 1785 had predicted the exultation which its downfall would produce ; ^ Dr. Darwin praised French insurrection in rapturous strains, and the early enthusiasm of Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey re- presented a feeling which was widely spread, but there was a deep chasm between such a feeling and any wish or design to subvert the ancient Constitution of England. Much, however, depended on the wisdom and dis- cretion of the party leaders, and while Pitt, at first at least, maintained a studied reticence> the French Revo lution soon led to a complete schism among the Whigs. We are fortunately able, from private letters which are preserved, to trace from the very beginning the im- pression which the events in Paris made both on Fox and Burke. A curious note is extant, written by Fox a few days after the arrival of the news of the capture of the Bastille, to Fitzpatrick, who was about to go to Paris. Referring apparently to the recent capture, Fox writes : ' How much the greatest event it is that ever ' When the Bastille was taken, p. 397. According to the regis- it was found to contain only ters which were published in seven prisoners, four of whom 1789, 300 persons had been con- were accused of forgery ; one fined in this prison in the space was an idiot, and one was de- of three centuries. Mallet du Pan, tained at the request of his Mercure Britannique, iii. 213. family. Taine, Ancien Rigime, '' The Task, book v. 196 THE FRENCH EEVOLCTION. on. IL happened in the world ! and how much the best ! ' He sends his warm compliments to the Duke of Orleans, who was in violent opposition to the Court, and con- cludes : ' Tell him and Lauzun that all my prepossessions against French connections for this country will be at an end, and indeed most part of my European system of politics will be altered, if this Revolution has the con- sequences that I expect.' ' A few days after this letter, Burke wrote to Lord Charlemont : ' Our thoughts of ever3rthing at home are suspended by our astonishment at the wonderful spec- tacle which is exhibited in a neighbouring and rival country. What spectators and what actors ! England gazing with astonishment at a French struggle for liberty, and not knowing whether to blame or applaud. The thing, indeed, though I thought I saw something like it in progress for several years, has still somewhat in it paradoxical and mysterious. The spirit it is im- possible not to admire ; but the old Parisian ferocity has broken out in a shocking manner. It is true that this may be no more than a sudden explosion ; if so, no indication can be taken from it ; but if it should be 'character rather than accident, then that, people are not fit for liberty, and must have a strong hand like that of their former masters to coerce them. Men must have a certain fund of natural moderation to qualify them for freedom, else it becomes noxious to themselves and a perfect nuisance to everybody else. What will be the event it is hard, I think, still to say.' ^ The doubts that were expressed in this characteristic letter deepened rapidly in the mind of Burke. He had long paid much attention to the affairs of France and had several correspondents in that country, and to one ' Fox's Correspondence, ii. ' Prior's Life of Burke (2nd 861. This was written July 30, ed.), ii. 41, 42. 1789. oil. II. BURKE'S JUDGMENT OF THE EEVOLTTTION. 197 of them towards the end of September he expressed his antipathy to the Eevolution in no ambiguous terms. The freedom at which the French were aiming, he main- tained, was a spurious freedom. True freedom is ' that state of things in which the liberty of no man and no body of men is in a condition to trespass on the liberty of any person or any description of persons in society.' ' When I shall learn that in France the citizen, by what- ever description he is qualified, is in a perfect state of legal security with regard to his life, to his property, to the uncontrolled disposal of his person, to the free use of his industry and his faculties ; that he is pro- tected in the beneficial enjoyment of the estates to which, by the course of settled law, he was born, or is provided with a fair compensation for them ; that he is maintained in the full fruition of the advantages belong- ing to the state and condition of life in which he had lawfully engaged himself, or is supplied with an equit- able equivalent ; when I am assured that a simple citizen may decently express his sentiments upon public affairs without hazard to his life or liberty, even though against a predominant and fashionable opinion ; when I know all this of France, I shall be as well pleased as anyone must be who has not forgot the general communion of mankind ... in local and accidental sympathies.' It was evident, however, to him that France was advancing to no such ideal. He predicted that ' the same ferocious delight in murder and the same savage cruelty ' which had been already displayed would appear again, 3,pd he ridiculed the importance that was attached ip. Fpancp to the capture of the Bastille, ' As a prison if, wa3 of little importance. Give despotism, and the [trisons of despotism will not be wanting, any more than amp irons will be wanting to democratic fury.' In his judgment the new system in France was ' a most bung- ling and unworkmanlike performance,' and the members 198 THE FEENCH REVOLUTION. oh. ii. of the National Assembly had constructed little, though they had destroyed much, and among other things, • completely broken up their country as a State.' The ' Contrat Social ' he considered the work of an eloquent madman, ' a performance of little or no merit.' ' Little did I conceive,' he said, ' that it could ever make revo- lutions and give law to nations. But so it is. I see some people here are willing that we should become their scholars too, and reform our State on the French model.' ' Considering the vehement characters of the two men, it was scarcely likely that these grave differences should be suppressed in public, and the first provocation was given by Fox. In a speech on the army estimates on February 5, 1790, he argued in favour of a reduction of the army, partly on the ground that the new form of government which had arisen in France was likely to make her a better neighbour than she had been, and one passage of his speech was universally understood as a eulogy of the conduct of the French army in taking part, during the insurrection, with the people against the Crown. ' If there ever could be a period,' he said, ' in which he should be less jealous of an increase of the army from any danger to be apprehended to the Con- stitution, the present was that precise period. The example of a neighbouring nation had proved that former imputations on armies were unfounded calumnies, and it was now universally known throughout all Europe that a man by becoming a soldier did not cease to be a citizen.' ^ It would be diflBcult for a responsible statesman to speak more mischievously, and, as a member who was an officer in the army justly remarked. Fox would have found a much more substantial ground for panegyric » Prior's Burke, ii. 43-50. » Pari. Hist, xxviii. 330. OH. II. BUEKE'S SPEECH, FEBEUAEY 9, 1790. 199 in the conduct of the English army when the Gordon riots in 1780 had threatened for a time to reduce London to ruin. Little more was said on this occasion, but on the 9th the debate was resumed, and it took more formidable proportions. Pitt again dwelt on the necessity of keeping up the army at its present level, and he alluded to the French question in terms which were both generous and discreet. France, he said, was now passing through a period of convulsion and of trial, and was temporarily wrecked, but sooner or later the crisis must terminate in regular order. The period seemed to him distant, but if the result, as he hoped, was the establishment of that freedom which results from order and good government, France would at once become one of the most brilliant Powers in Europe. She would become more formidable than she ever had been, but also, he hoped, less obnoxious as a neighbour, and for his part he refused to ' regard with envious eyes an approximation in neighbouring States to those senti- ments which were the characteristic features of every British subject.' Burke then arose and made a most elaborate speech. He spoke ostensibly on the side of Fox and in opposition to Pitt, for he argued in favour of a reduction of the military expenditure, but the main portion of his speech was devoted to a consideration of the events that had taken place in France. A large army in England he thought unnecessary, for he could not find that England was in the smallest danger from any State in Europe. ' France had hitherto been our first object in all considerations concerning the balance of power. The presence or absence of France totally varied every sort of speculation relative to that balance. France is at this time in a political light to be considered as ex- punged out of the system of Europe. Whether she could ever appear in it again as a leading Power was 200 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. en. ii. not easy to determine; but at present he considered France as not politically existing, and most assuredly it would take up much time to restore her to her former active existence. " Gallos quoque in bellis floruisse audivimus" might possibly be the language of the rising generation. . . . The French had shown them- selves the ablest architects of ruin that had hitherto existed in the world. In the short space of time since the House had been prorogued in the summer, they had completely pulled down to the ground their monarchy, their Church, their nobility, their law, their revenue, their army, their navy, their commerce, their arts, and their manufactures. They had done their business for us as rivals, in a way which twenty EamUlies or Blen- heims could never have done it.' • But if France was no longer dangerous from her power, it did not follow, in the judgment of Burke, that she was not dangerous from her example. France had always, he said, exercised to an extraordinary degree an attractive influence on surrounding States. He described vividly the system of splendid military des- potism established by Lewis XIV., and how, in conse- quence of its example, ' the same character of despotism insinuated itself into every Court in Europe ; the same spirit of disproportioned magnificence ; the same love of standing armies above the ability of the people.' In England the attractive influence of France gave a fatal ' It is curious to compare sent, this (late) kingdom will be these very erroneous predictions cast into a congeries of little de- with the judgment formed about mocracies, laid out not according the same time in Paris by to the rivers, mountains, &c., Gouverneur Morris. Writing to but with the square and com- Washington (Jan. 24, 1790), he pass. . . . Their Assemble Na- says, ' It is very difficult to guess tionale will be something like whereabouts the flock will settle the old Congress, and the King when it flies so wild ; but as far will be called Executive Magis- as It is possible to guess at pre- trate.' Morris's Works, ii. 91. OH. II. BUEKE'S SPEECH, FEBEUAEY 9, 1790. 201 bias to the Government of the Stuarts ; it affected in some degree all ranks of the people, and in consequence it became a main object of English patriots of the seventeenth century 'to break off all communication with France, and to beget a total alienation from its councils and examples,' which, through the religious animosities that divided the nations, they were able in some degree to effect. ' This day the evil is totally changed in France, but there is an evil there . . . and the natural mental habits of mankind are such that the present distemper is far more likely to be contagious than the old one ; for it is not quite easy to spread a passion for servitude among the people, but in all evils of the opposite kind our natural inclinations are flat- tered. . . . Our present danger from the example of a people whose character knows no medium is, with regard to government, a danger from anarchy — a danger of being led, through an admiration of success- ful fraud and violence, to the excesses of a . . . pro- scribing, plundering, ferocious, and tyrannical demo- cracy. On the side of religion, the danger is no longer from intolerance, but from atheism.' He then proceeded to advert to the recent speech of Fox. In his own opinion, he said, ' the very worst part of the example set is in the late assumption of citizen- ship by the army.' It was with ' inexpressible pain ' that he heard Fox, whom of all living politicians he most venerated and loved, drop some expressions eulo- gising the conduct of the French army. He attributed his language wholly to a ' zeal for the best of all causes — liberty,' and he digressed into a very eloquent eulogy of his character and services. If he came forward to mark ' an expression or two of his best friend,' it was on account of his anxiety ' to keep the distemper of France from the least countenance in England, where he was sure some wicked persons had shown a strong 202 THE FEENCH REVOLUTION. oh. ii. disposition to recommend an imitation of the French spirit of reform ... a spirit well calculated to over- turn States, but perfectly unfit to amend them.' That he was himself no enemy to reformation, the whole of his parliamentary career abundantly showed, but he protested against those who gloried in making a re- volution, as though revolutions were good things in themselves, and he declared that 'everything which unnecessarily tore to pieces the contexture of the State, not only prevented all real reformation, but introduced evils' of the gravest kind. 'The French have made their way, through the destruction of their country, to a bad constitution. . . . They have destroyed all the balances and counterpoises which serve to fix the State and give it a steady direction, and which furnish sure correctives to any violent spirit which may prevail in any of the orders. . . . They have, with the most atro- cious perfidy and breach of faith, laid the axe to the root of all property, and consequently of all national prosperity, by the principles they established and the example they set, in confiscating all the possessions of the Church,' and they have justified their proceedings by ' a sort of digest of anarchy, called the Rights of Man,' which was well fitted to destroy every hold of authority by opinion, religious or civil, on the minds of the people. Having dilated at considerable length on this theme, and especially on the ruinous consequences of emanci- pating the army from the obligations of discipline and obedience, Burke proceeded, by arguments which were more fully developed in his later writings, to show the great differences between the French Revolution and the English Revolution of 1688 ; and he concluded a very eloquent speech by declaring, that for his part he wished few alterations in the English Constitution, OH. n. CLOSE OF THE DEBATE. 203 • happy if lie left it not the worse for any share he had taken in its service.' It was a strange speech to have been made upon the army estimates, but it foreshadowed clearly the whole course of Burke's French policy, and the approaching and inevitable disruption of the Whig party. Fox answered in a strain of the highest personal respect. If he put, he said, into one scale all the political in- formation he had derived from books, from science, from knowledge of the world and its afiairs, and in the other the improvement which he had derived from Burke's instruction and conversation, he would find it difficult to decide which scale preponderated. He de- clared himself equally the enemy of all absolute forms of government, whether they were monarchies, aristocra- cies, or democracies ; and he deplored the recent blood- shed and cruelty in France, while ascribing these evils mainly to the tyranny of the old monarchy. At the same time, he reiterated his eulogy of the conduct of the French soldiers, and his gratification at the events in France ; and he maintained that there was a closer parallel than Burke admitted between the French Revolution and the English Revolution of 1688. Sheridan, apparently nettled by some observations of Burke, greatly aggravated the situation by a speech in which he praised the French Revolution almost without reserve, and dilated with some acrimony on the incon- sistency of Burke. Pitt in a short speech warmly praised Burke, and expressed a general agreement with his views.' As is always the case, many personal motives were attributed to the principal actors in the drama. Fox, who during the Regency question had found himself in a ' Pari. Hist, xxviii. 337-374. Life of Sir Q. Elliot, i. 349- There is an interesting account 854. of this debate in Lady Minto'g 204 THE FKENCH KEVOLPTION. oh. n. great measure displaced by Pitt as the representative of popular opinions, was now accused of endeavouring to revive a waning popularity by appealing to strong democratic passions, while accusations of a corresponding character were more persistently urged against Burke, It was noticed that for the last three years his confi- dential intercourse with Pox had greatly diminished; that he was known to be dissatisfied with the manner in which Fox had conducted the Eegency question ; that he was much alienated from Sherida,n, whose character he disliked, and who, through his personal intimacy with the Prince of Wales, had recently acquired a new prominence in the party.' It was said, too, that Burke was profoundly disappointed and acidulated by the extreme unpopularity he had incurred both within and without the House ; tired of long and fruitless opposition in company with men who were growing less and less con- genial to him ; overwhelmed with pecuniary embarrass- ments from which there seemed no outlet in opposition. How far considerations of this kind may have biassed the judgments of the two statesmen, it is impossible to say ; but no one, I think, who has studied their private letters, no one who has really gauged their characters, will doubt the sincerity or the energy of their convictions. The attitude of Fox on the French question was perfectly in harmony with the passionate and unqualified partisanship with which he had espoused the cause of the American Revolutionists ; and all that I have written on the character and opinions of Burke has been written to no effect, if it has left any doubt in the minds of my readers that his later opinions were the natural, if not the legitimate, outcome of hia earlier ones. The opinions he had invariably urged on the subject of parliamentary reform and triennial or ' See Prior's Life of Burke, ii. 23, 24, 70, 71, 76-78. en. u. BUEKE'S CONSEEVATISM. 205 annual parliaments; his abhorrence of the Bill of Rights Men, and of all those democratic societies which had been for some years advocating in England political theories closely resembling those of Rousseau; his re- pudiation of the authority of instructions by constituents in elections ; the strongly aristocratic spirit that from iirst to last coloured his politics; the emphasis with which he always dwelt on the necessity of counterpoises, balances, and limitations in government ; on the political value of habit, tradition, and unbroken continuity in institutions ; on the danger of framing political measures by abstract reasoning, and of carrying a spirit of theory, experiment, and Utopia into practical poHtics — all in- dicated a nature organically and profoundly conservative. The very anomalies and inconsistencies of constitutions were venerable in his eyes, if they had been harmonised and consecrated by time ; if they were compromises resulting from the pressure of multiform and con- flicting interests ; mitigations or adaptations created by, and suited to the feelings, habits, and necessities of society.' The kind of politics which discards the traditions and institutions of the past, and endeavours to build up government anew on a logical and symmetrical plan furnished by political speculators, was beyond all others abhorrent to his mind, and it was this kind of politics which was now in the ascendant in France, and which ' I have quoted in former vo- attached to the very perfection lames much from Burke in this of our political mechanism that sense, but I may add a charao- some defect in it— something teristic and beautiful passage in that stops short of its principle, a letter to a French gentleman something that controls, that •written in 1789. ' There is, by mitigates, that moderates it — the essential, fundamental con- becomes a necessary oorrectivt stitution of things, a radical in- to the evils that the theore- firmity in all human contrivances, tic perfection would produce.' — and the weakness is often so Burke's Correspondence, iii. 117. 206 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. n. was countenanced by some considerable men in Eng- land. Nor was the moral vehemence with which he threw himself into the contest other than might have been expected from him. No man ever possessed to a higher degree some of the noblest qualities of a judicial intellect ; but no man was ever more wanting in the calmness, the coldness, and the discrimination of the judicial temperament. Acts of cruelty and oppres- sion appealed to his imagination with an ungovernable force ; and in the impeachment of Hastings, which was wholly unconnected with party interests, he showed exactly the same kind and measure of vehemence as in his speeches and writings on the French Revolution. His speech on February 9 had an immense and immediate effect. During the debates on the Eegency question, his ebullitions of extravagance and bad taste had almost deprived him of the ear of the House, and he often spoke amid an incessant clamour of scornful interruption. But it was impossible to mistake the deep thrill of approbation which now passed through all parts of the House, and the speech of the Minister, which contrasted curiously with that which he had made a few days before, showed clearly that Pitt shared the general feeling. Nor was the impression confined to Parliament. It was evident that Burke had ex- pressed the unspoken fears of great sections of the community. 'The ferment and alarm are universal,' wrote Dr. Parr soon afterwards. ' All the papers are with Burke, even the Foxite papers which I have seen. . . . He is uncorrupt, I know, but his passions are quite headstrong.' ' From this time the division in the Whig party rapidly deepened. Two days after the debate that haa been described, there was a long interview at Burling- • Prior's Life of Burke, ii. 72, 79. OH. II. BUEKE OS THE REVOLUTION. 207 ton House between the Duke of Portland, Fox, Burke, Sheridan, and one or two others, but no agreement was arrived at.' There was, however, still no open breach. Sheridan and Burke, though profoundly alien- ated, met at the tables of the Prince of Wales and of the Duke of Portland. In the beginning of March, when. Fox introduced his motion for the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, Burke, as we have already seen, opposed it, on the ground that revolutionary opinions had extended widely among the Dissenters, and that additional political power should never be given to those who were likely to misuse it ; but in the course of his speech, he spoke warmly of Fox, and answered an attack which Pitt had made on that states- man, and a few weeks later Sheridan spoke in terms of high eulogy of Burke.^ Burke was in the mean time busily engaged in throwing into a matured and highly elaborated form his opinions on French affairs, and in November 1790 he published his ' Reflections on the French Revolu- tion,' one of the most famous and valuable books of the eighteenth century. His earlier pohtical works had been pamphlets, speeches, or letters, relating for the most part to passing and not very important questions, and they would now be as little read as the speeches of Pitt and Fox, if it were not for the skill with which Burke was accustomed to interweave in transient con- troversies political principles and observations of peren- nial interest. But the French Revolution was a subject worthy of all his powers. It naturally opened out the great questions of the foundations of political authority, the object and scope of government, the principles which underlie the English Constitution as established in the ' Compare Moore's Life of Sheridan, ii. 107. Lady Minto'g Lift of Sir G. Elliot, i. 351-354. " Pari. Hist, xxviii. 433, 694. 15 208 THE FRENCH KEVOLTJTION. oh. a. seventeenth century, the fundamental rights of property, the place which corporations and especially ecclesias- tical establishments occupy in the political system. Like nearly all Burke's works, his work ' On the French Kevolution' is unfortunate in its form. It is a long, undivided, and ill-arranged letter to a menibur of the French Constituent Assembly, and some parts of it are much less valuable than the rest; but it is not too much to say that it contains pages of Mt eloquence which has never in any language been surpassed, and that no other English book affords so many lessons of enduring value to those who are engaged in the study either of the British Constitution or of the general prin- ciples of government. Together with the ' Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs,' which is its supplement and its defence, it should be read, re-read, and tho- roughly mastered by everyone who desires to acquire wide and deep views on political questions, and to understand the best English political philosophy of the eighteenth century. It is not a book to which adequate justice can be done by a simple abstract. Much of its charm lies in the numerous detached observations — the fruit of the lifelong experience of the most profound intellect that has ever been devoted in England to political ques- tions — which are scattered over its pages, and in the wonderful power and beauty with which the writer expanded lines of argument which had been clearly foreshadowed, though less completely developed, in his earlier works. His main object was to contrast the system of government existing in England, in its prin- ciples and its genius, with that which had now obtained an ascendency in France. Dr. Price had represented the French Eevolution as only a more perfect repetition of the English Revolution of 1688, and he maintained that Englishmen had then asserted their undoubted and OH. n. BUEKE ON THE EEVOLDTION. 209 unlimited right to elect their governors, to cashier them for misconduct, and to form their Government for themselves. In opposition to this doctrine, Burke undertook to demonstrate the essentially hereditary, prescriptive, and traditional character of English free- dom. He argued that the authors of the English llevolution, when they were compelled to deviate from the strict line of succession to the throne, justified this deviation on no plea of the rights of men, and on no vague and general charge of misconduct, but solely on the ground that the sovereign had committed a grave and manifest breach of the compact by which he held his crown ; and he showed how carefully they studied in their legislation and public declarations to preserve unimpaired the hereditary character of the English monarchy, to maintain the continuity of English insti- tutions and traditions, and to avoid grafting any alien or republican element on the old English stock. De- veloping this view, he proceeded to show, with a power of insight and an amplitude of illustration which no previous writer had approached, how institutions, laws, and governments only acquire their maximum of use- fulness and strength, when they grow organically out of the traditions of the past, and form around themselves an appropriate atmosphere of habits and affections; how political institutions have indirect, remote, and often unforeseen effects which are frequently more important than their direct results; how good governments are formed by a slow and gradual process of adaptation and compromise extending over many generations, and not by either violent revolutions or political speculations. To the steadiness with which this method had been maintained in English history, he mainly attributed the permanence of English freedom and prosperity. ' Our political system,' he wrote, ' is placed on a just corre- spondence and symmetry with the order of the world 210 THE FKENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. ii. and with the mode of existence decreed to a permanent body composed of transitory parts, wherein by the dis- position of a stupendous wisdom, moulding together the great mysterious incorporation of the human race, the whole at one time is never old or middle-aged or young, but in a condition of unchangeable constancy moves on through the varied tenor of perpetual decay, fall, renovation, and progression. Thus by preserving the method of nature in the conduct of the State, in what we improve we are never wholly new, in what we retain we are never wholly obsolete,' and it has been ' our old settled maxim never entirely nor at once to depart from antiquity.' Old local institutions and bonds of union should be carefully preserved, for ' to be attached to the subdivision, to love the little platoon we belong to in society, is the first principle (the germ as it were) of public affection.' Hereditary institutions in addition to their other merits have the great virtue of strength- ening those traditional feelings, habits, and opinions which at once support, mitigate, and restrain authority and bind together successive generations in one organic whole. The union of Church and State gives a moral consecration to the acts of Government, and sustains and diffuses a sentiment of reverence and a tone of manners very conducive to political stability. Even prejudice and superstition, which were the special enemies of the new school of writers, have their place in the political system, and will not be despised or neglected by a wise statesman. The language of Burke on this subject is curiously characteristic : * It has been the misfortune (not, as these gentlemen think it, the glory) of this age, that everything is to be discussed, as if the Constitution of our country were to be always a subject rather of altei> cation than enjoyment.' ' To avoid the evils of incon- stancy and versatility, ten thousand times worse than OH. n. BUEKE ON THE EEVOLUTION. 211 those of obstinacy and the blindest prejudice, we bave consecrated the State, that no man should approach to look into its defects or corruptions but with due caution, that he should never dream of beginning its reformation by its subversion, that he should approach to the faults of the State as to the wounds of a father, with pious awe and trembling solicitude. By this wise prejudice we are taught to look with horror on those children of their country who are prompted rashly to hack that aged parent to pieces and put him into the kettle of magi- cians, in hopes that by their poisonous weeds and wild incantations they may regenerate the paternal consti- tution.' ' You see, sir,' he continues, ' that in this en- lightened age I am bold enough to confess that we are generally men of untaught feelings ; that instead of casting away all our old prejudices, we cherish them to a very considerable degree, and to take more shame to ourselves we cherish them because they are preju- dices, and the longer they have lasted and the more generally they have prevailed, the more we cherish them.' We are afraid to put men to live and trade ' Compare Pascal: 'L'art de dices which (under good manage- bouleverser les Etats est d'^bran- ment) may become the surest ler les ooutumes Stabiles, en support of his Government, is Bondant jusques dans leur source, he not afraid that the discussion pour y faire remarquer le d^faut may go further than he wishes ? d'autoritfi et de justice. II faut, If he excites men to inquire too dit-on, recourir aux loix fon- scrupulously into the foundation damentales et primitives de of all old opinion, may he not I'Etat, qu'nne coutume injuste have reason to apprehend that a abolies. C'est un jeu sAr pour several will see as little use in tout perdre. Kien ne sera juste monarchs as in monks ? The 4 cette balance.' Pensies, 'Poi- question is not whether they blesse de I'Homme.' In a very will argue logically or not, but characteristic letter expostulat- whether the turn of mind which ing against the ecclesiastical in- leads to such discussions may novations which the Emperor not become as fatal to the former was introducing into the Aus- as the latter. Correspondence, trian Netherlands, Burke wrote : iii. 209. 'Whilst he is destroying preju- 212 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. ii. each on Ms own private stock of reason because we bus- pect that this stock in each man is small, and that tho individuals would do better to avail themselves of the general bank and capital of nations and of ages. Many of our men of speculation, instead of exploding general prejudices, employ their sagacity to discover the latent wisdom which prevails in them. If they find what they seek, and they seldom fail, they think it more wise to continue the prejudice with the reason involved, than to cast away the coat of prejudice and to leave nothing but the naked reason, because prejudice with its reason has a motive to give action to that reason, and an affection which will give it permanence. Preju- dice is of ready application in the emergency. It previously engages the mind in a steady course of wisdom and virtue, and does not leave the man hesita- ting in the moment of decision, sceptical, puzzled, and unresolved. Prejudice renders a man's virtue his habit, and not a series of unconnected acts. Through just prejudice his duty becomes a part of his nature.' It is true that certain ' institutions savour of superstition in their very principle, and they nourish it by a per- manent and standing influence; . . . but this ought not to hinder you from deriving from superstition itself any resources which may thence be furnished for the public advantage. Tou derive benefits from many dis- positions and many passions of the human mind which are of as doubtful a colour in the moral eye as supersti- tion itself. . . . Superstition is the religion of feeble minds, and they must be tolerated in an intermixture of it in some trifling or some enthusiastic shape or other, else you will deprive weak minds of a resource found necessary to the strongest. . . . Wise men . . . do not violently hate these things. Wisdom is not the most severe corrector of folly. They are the rival follies which mutually wage so unrelenting a war.' Nothing OH. u. BUEKE ON THE EEVOLTJTION. 213 is morft to be dreaded by statesmen than a shock in which old and traditional manners and opinions perish ; ' public affections combined with manners are required, sometimes as supplements, sometimes as correctives, always as aids to law. . . . There ought to be a system of manners in every nation which a well-formed mind would be disposed to relish. . . . When ancient opinions and rules of life are taken away, the loss cannot possibly be estimated. From that moment we have no compass to govern us.' Applying these principles to political action, Burke once more drew in strong and vivid lines his picture of a wise statesman. ' The science of constructing a commonwealth or renovating it or reforming it is, like every other experimental science, not to be taught d priori. Nor is it a short experience that can instruct us in that practical science, because the real effects of moral causes are not always immediate. That which in the first instance is prejudicial may be excellent in ita remoter operation, . . . and very plausible schemes with very pleasing commencements have often shameful and lamentable conclusions. In states there are often some obscure and almost latent causes, things which appear at first view of little moment, on which a very great part of its prosperity or adversity may most essentially depend. The science of government being ... a matter which requires experience, and even more experience than any person can gain in his whole life, however sagacious and observing he may be, it is with infinite caution that any man ought to venture upon pulling down an edifice which has answered in any tolerable degree for ages the common purposes of society. . . . The nature of man is intricate, the objects of society are of the greatest possible complexity, and therefore no simple disposition or direction of power can be suitable either to man's nature or to the quality of 214 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. ou. u. his affairs. . . . The simple governments are funda- mentally defective, to say no worse of them. If you were to contemplate society in but one point of view, the simple modes of polity are infinitely captivating. . . . But it is better that the whole should be imper- fectly and anomalously answered, than that while some parts are provided for with great exactness, others might be totally neglected.' ' The fixed form of a constitution whose merits are confirmed by the solid test of long experience, and an increasing public strength and national prosperity,' can never be too sedulously protected. ' The true lawgiver ought ... to love and respect his kind and to fear himself. ... In my course I have known, and according to my measure have co-operated with, great men, and I have never yet seen any plan which has not been mended by the observations of those who were much inferior in understanding to the person who took the lead in the business. By a slow but well-sustained progress, the effect of each step is watched ; the good or ill success of the first gives light to see the second, and so from light to light we are conducted with safety through the whole series. We see that the parts of the system do not clash. The evils latent in the most promising contrivances are provided for as they arise. One advantage is as little as possible sacrificed to another. We compensate, we reconcile, we balance. We are enabled to unite into a consistent whole the various anomalies and contending principles that are found in the minds and affairs of men. Prom hence arises not an excellence in simplicity, but one far superior, an excellence in composition.' In opposition to this spirit of cautious and expe- rimental legislation, he places the modes of politica.1 thought that had arisen among the politicians of France, ' who think little or nothing has been done before their time, and who place all their hopes in discovery ; who on. 11. BDEKE ON THE EEVOLUTION. 215 conceive very systematically that all things which give perpetuity are mischievous, and are therefore at inex- piable war with all establishments ; who think that government may vary like modes of dress and with as little ill effect, and that there needs no principle of attachment, except a sense of present conveniency, to any constitution in the State.' ' A good patriot and a true politician always considers how he shall make the most of the existing materials of his country ; ' he is animated at once by ' a disposition to preserve, and an ability to improve ; ' his supreme merit is found in the skill with which he corrects the errors and defects, without weakening the foundations, of old establish- ments, and cures common distempers by regular methods. But the Parisian legislators begin by making a clear sweep of all old establishments. They at once despair of making any use of common means in their legislation. They treat their country ' as a kind of cofrte blanche on which they may scribble whatever they please.' They endeavour to reconstruct the whole framework of govern- ment and society from its basis, on principles of geome- trical equality, with a total disregard for the antecedents and traditions of their country ; for ' the ancient per- manent sense,' and ' great influencing prejudices ' of mankind ; for that prescription which is the chief foundation of all property, and which alone ' mellows into legality governments that were violent in their commencement.' It would carry us too far to follow Burke into his very elaborate and skilful examination of the measures of the National Assembly and of the revolutionary leaders in France. The magnificent pages in which he described the outrages which the King and Queen had received, and the ingratitude with which the repeated and ample royal concessions had been repaid, are well known. The contrast between Lewis XVI. and the 216 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. ob. ii. two Stuart sovereigns who had been dethroned by revo- lution, was indeed very marked, and Burke predicted with but too good reason that the fate wjnch had fallen on the French King, Church, and aristocracy would put an end to that enlightened and tolerant spirit which had of late been so signally displayed by the chief sove- reigns of Europe, and would make the governing classes everywhere suspicious, distrustful, and hostile to reform. Reviewing the state of the French Government as it existed before the Revolution, he said that, ' though usually, and I think justly, reported the best of the un- qualified or ill-qualified monarchies, it was still full of abuses ; ' but he argued from the increase of French population and wealth, from the splendid achievements of France in so many forms and fields of greatness, that these abuses were far from intolerable. The Go- vernment was certainly not so ' incapable and unde- serving of reform ' that it was necessary that ' the whole fabric should be at once pulled down and the area cleared for the erection of a theoretic, experimental edifice in its place.' All France, he says, was of this opinion in the beginning of 1789. ' The instructions of the representatives to the States-General from every district in that kingdom were filled with projects for the reformation of that Government, without the re- motest suggestion of a design to destroy it. Had such a design been even then insinuated, I believe there would have been but one voice, and that voice for re- jecting it with scorn and horror.' He showed that the Sovereign had for some years been continually favour- ing reform, that although there were great abuses in the French Church, the spirit of intolerance had been steadily declining, and that the clergy as well as the nobles in their instructions to their representatives had expressly declared their willingness to abandon their exemptions from taxation. It was no doubt a great OH. n. BUEKE ON THE EEVOLTJTION. 217 and scandalous abuse that the privileged orders in France should be exempt from the payment of the taille, which was the heaviest tax ; but Burke showed the gross falsehood of the assertion, wliioh was so often made at the time of the Revolution, and which has been frequently repeated to our own day, that the privileged orders paid no taxes. The nobles paid the capitation, which was a progressive impost ; they paid the land tax known as the ' 20th penny,' ' to the height some- times of three, sometimes of four shillings in the pound ; ' they paid all the indirect taxes which made up a great part of the French revenue. The clergy, it is true, ex- cept in certain provinces, did not pay the capitation and the twentieths, but they had purchased their ex- emption from the first tax by a large sum, and they were accustomed to make what they termed ' free gifts,' which were a partial compensation for their exemption from the latter. At all events, by the free act of the clergy and nobles, the grievance of the exemptions was now at an end. For the abuses in the collection of the revenue, which Burke truly described as the most serious, the privileged orders were not responsible. The sale of offices was in some respects a great evil, but it had at least the effect of bringing a constant stream of new men into the French nobility. They maintained, how- ever, too punctiliously their distinction from other classes, but, as Burke truly and acutely observed, less punctiliously than the same class in Germany and some other countries. So far from being opposed to reform, they had caught to an excessive degree the innovating spirit of the time. The theory which attributed the excesses of the Revolution to the desperation of a downtrodden people struggling against intolerable op- pression, appeared to Burke fundamentally and demon- strably false. Like Gouverneur Morris and Jefferson, 218 THE FEENCH EEVOLDTION. oh. il he maintained that, when the States-General met in 1789, no violence whatever was required to make France a free country, for no resistance was to be apprehended. ' Read the instructions ' (of the nobility), he wrote, ' to their representatives. They breathe the spirit of liberty as warmly, and they recommend reformation as strongly, as any other order. Their privileges relative to contri- bution were voluntarily surrendered, as the King from the beginning surrendered all pretence to a right of taxation. Upon a free Constitution there was but one opinion in France. The absolute monarchy was at an end. It breathed its last without a groan, without a struggle, without convulsion. All the struggle, all the dissension arose afterwards, upon the preference of a despotic democracy to a Government of reciprocal con- trol. The triumph of the victorious party was over the principles of the British Constitution.' The English admirers of the Revolution were accus- tomed to enumerate with triumph the many measures of incontestable reform which the National Assembly had carried. It was undoubtedly true, Burke answered, that ' among an infinite number of acts of violence and folly, some good may have been done. They who de- stroy everything will certainly remove some grievance. They who make everything new have a chance that they may establish something beneficial. But to give them credit for what they have done in virtue of the authority they have usurped ... it must appear that the saiae things could not have been accomplished without producing such a revolution. Most assuredly they might ; because almost every one of the regula- tions made by them, which is not very equivocal, was either in the cession of the King, voluntarily made at the meeting of the States, or in the concurrent instruc- tions of the orders.' Of the old Constitution of France — if indeed that OH. iL BUEKE ON THE EEVOLUTION. 219 could be regarded as a constitution which had never more than a shadowy and precarious existence — he spoke with more respect than it deserved. ' You had the elements,' he wrote, ' of a constitution very nearly as good as could be wished. In your old states you possessed that variety of parts corresponding with the various descriptions of which your community was hap- pily composed. You had all that combination and all that opposition of interests which in the natural and in the political world from the reciprocal struggle of dis- cordant powers draws out the harmony of the universe. Those opposed and conflicting interests which you con- sidered as so great a blemish in your old, and our pre- sent Constitution, interpose a salutary check to all pre- cipitate resolutions; they render deliberation a matter not of choice but of necessity ; they make all change a sub- ject of compromise, which naturally begets modera- tion . . . preventing the sore evil of harsh, crude, unqualified reformations, and rendering all the head- long exertions of arbitrary pewer in the few or in the many for ever impracticable. . . . You had all these advantages in your ancient states, but you chose to act as if you had never been moulded into civil society and had everything to begin anew.' What, then, was likely to be the issue of the Eevo- lution ? The wisdom of a statesman is mainly shown in the justice of his forecasts, and in order to estimate the amount of sagacity which was exhibited by Burke we must remember that the ' Reflections ' appeared as eaiiy as November 1790, in the golden days of the Eevolution, before the September massacres, before tie trial and execution of the King, before the Convention, before the Reign of Terror. The work of the Revolu- tion was regarded by its admirers as substantially achieved, and it was believed that the National Aa- 220 THE FEENCH REVOLUTION. oh. a. Bembly had constructed on a sure basis a great and enduring edifice of freedom. The opposition of Burke to these views was funda- mental. He not only predicted — which perhaps needed but little sagacity — that the paper money, with which the new governors of France were now flooding the country, could not possibly maintain its value, and that the confiscation of Church property would be wholly insufficient to avert bankruptcy ; but he also maintained that the new system of government in all its parts was inevitably transitory. He declared that the position assigned to the King was an impossible one, and that it must lead to the complete destruction of the mon- archy ; that the new civic constitution of the clergy could only be considered ' preparatory to the utter abolition under any of its forms of the Christian re- ligion ; ' that the present constitution of the legislative power could not possibly last ; and that, as the Revo- lution proceeded, power would pass more and more into the most violent hands. ' When the leaders choose to make themselves bidders at an auction of popularity . . . they will become flatterers instead of legislators ; the instruments, not the guides, of the people. I fancy if any of them should happen to propose a scheme of liberty, soberly limited and defined, he will be im- mediately outbid by his competitors, who will produce something more splendidly popular. Suspicions will be raised of his fidelity to his cause. Moderation will be stigmatised as the virtue of cowards, and com- promise as the prudence of traitors.' Already in the National Assembly ' their idea of their powers is always taken at the utmost stretch of legislative competency, and their examples for common cases from the excep- tions of the most urgent necessity. The future is to be in most respects like the present Assembly ; but by the mode of the new elections, and the tendency of the OH. n. BUKKE ON THE REVOLUTION. 221 new circulations, it will be purged of the small mi- nority chosen originally from various interests, and pre- serving something of their spirit. If possible, the next Assembly must be worse than the present.' All these predictions, though indignantly repudiated by the admirers of the Revolution, proved literally and accurately true. But beyond the immediate future there were other consequences which it was perhaps more difficult to anticipate. That the movement was not in the direction of true political liberty, Burke firmly believed. Political liberty, according to his con- ception, flourishes when various interests are strongly organised, wheu power is so divided, limited, balanced, and controlled that no single element can obtain omni- potence. The three branches of legislative power in the British Constitution, the federal system in the United States and in Switzerland, the independent Parliaments of France, and the three orders in her States-General, supplied the indispensable materials for compromise and control ; but the path which was taken by the National Assembly was a path that led to des- potism, though it might be the despotism of an un- qualified democracy. Nor were the moral conditions more favourable. 'All other people have laid the foundations of civil freedom in severer manners and a system of a more austere and masculine morality. Prance when she let loose the reins of regal authority doubled the licence of a ferocious dissoluteness in manners, and an insolent irreligion in opinions and practice.' In the opinion of Burke, the probable close of the anarchy of the Eevolution was a military des- potism. ' The army will remain for some time mutinous and full of faction, until some popular general, who un- derstands the art of conciliating the soldiery and who possesses the true spirit of command, shall draw the eyes of all men upon himself. . . . But the moment in which 222 THE FEENCH KEVOLUTION. that event shall happen, the person who really com- mands the army is your master j the master (that is little) of your King, the master of your Assembly, the master of your whole republic' ' Should such a despot arise, he will find that the legislation which crushed and levelled all the orders in the State has greatly facilitated his career. ' If the present prospect of a Republic should fail, all securities to a moderated freedom fall along with it ; all the indirect restraints which mitigate despotism are removed ; insomuch that if monarchy should ever again obtain an entire as- cendency in Prance, under this or any other dynasty, it will probably be, if not voluntarily tempered at setting out by the wise and virtuous counsels of the Prince, the most completely arbitrary power that has ever appeared on earth.' ^ But while Burke as early as 1790 clearly foresaw ' This prediction may be oom- paied with the forecast of Cathe- rine II. as it appears in her most curious and most un- reserved correspondence with Grimm, which has been pub- lished by the Sooi6t6 Hist, of Eussia. In 1791 she wrote: ' Quand vieudra ce Cfear ? Oh 1 il viendra, gardez vous d'en douter. II faudrait feuilleter I'histoire et voir si jamais pays ait &t& sauv6 par autre qu'un r^ellement grand homme, et d'apr^s cette d^couverte je pr6- dirais ce qu'il en sera de la France. " Finis coronat opus." . . . Selon moi ils sont bien pro- pres k discrSditer pour longtemps la liberty et k la rendre odieuse itouslespeuples.' ' Sila E^volu- tion Franijaise prend en Europe, U viendra un autre Gengis ou Tamerlan la mettre & la laison. Voila son sort, soyez en assure. ' Lettres de Catherine d Qrimm, pp. 503, 520, 537, 555. John Adams, who, like Morris, looked with great repulsion on the French Bevolution, predicted, in 1789, that it would probably lead to the destruction of a million of human beings. Mor- gan's Life of Price, p. 158. ^ So Machiavelli maintained that a usurper who has acquired sovereignty without right, and who does not wish to govern by fixed laws, can find no better way of maintaining himself up- on the throne than by revolu- tionising at the very beginning of his reign all the old institu- tions of the State. Discorsi sojpra Tito Liv. lib. i. o. 26. on. II. BUEKE ON THE REVOLUTION. 223 the probable rise of a Napoleon, lie did not undertake to forecast the final issue. A revolution which destroyed old orders, institutions, traditions, manners, reverence, and beliefs, and which concentrated all power in a single democratic chamber, seemed to him to destroy the essential elements that give permanence and security to Governments. No Government in Europe had hitherto been more firmly rooted through every vicissitude of fortune than that of France, but in the judgment of Burke a new principle of instability was now passing into French affairs. ' Tou are young,' he wrote, ' you cannot guide but must follow the fortunes of your country ; but hereafter my sentiments may be of some use to you in some future form which your Common- wealth may take. In the present it cau hardly remain, but before its final settlement it may be obliged to pass, as one of our poets says, " through great varieties of untried being," and in all its transmigrations to be purified by fire and by blood.' Such were the judgments formed by Burke of these new and startling events which were regarded by Fox as so fortunate and so glorious, and it would be difficult to find a more striking instance of sagacity justified by the event. On some points, however, his forecast proved mistaken. Though much less confident than when he spoke in Parliament, he had not yet abandoned the opinion, which was at this time general among European statesmen, that the Revolution would reduce France to a long period of military and political impotence. He beKeved — as the event proved, very erroneously — ^that she would lose that wonderful recuperative energy which she had displayed after the civil wars of the Fronde, and he shared the delusion of Morris that when she was divided into eighty-three independent municipalities, all animated by the popular spirit of insubordination, those municipalities would never submit to the central 16 ' 224 THE FKENCH KEVOLUTION. oh. ii. Government in Paris. Revolts like that of La Vendue seemed to him likely to be frequent, and like Morris he thought it not impossible that Prance would be for a time broken up into a number of small republics. His estimate also of the effects of the spoliation of Church property is ' tinged with much exaggeration and error. It is closely connected with his views of the nature of Church establishments, and the eloquent pages which he devoted to this subject, though extremely impressive to his contemporaries, are very alien to the opinions of our own day. On this subject, as we have already had some occasion to see, he agreed much less with Hoadley, Warburton, and Paley, than with Hooker and the Nonjurors. His opinions were in truth not Whig, but Tory, and they belonged to a kind of Toryism which, though once very prevalent, has now almost wholly ceased to be an operative principle in European politics. The prevailing Whig doctrine of an Esta- blished Church was simply, that the secular State of its own free will conferred certain endowments and privi- leges on the clergy of the most considerable religious body in the community, in order that they might more efficiently discharge functions which are of the highest importance to the nation. The connection between Church and State was based upon expediency, and it was defended by purely utilitarian arguments. These arguments have been rarely stated more skilfully than by Burke, but he himself always looked upon the con- nection between Church and State as something of a mystical and transcendental nature. One of the first principles of his political philosophy is that a nation is a distinct corporate entity, bound together by institu- tions, habits, opinions, and tendencies, and preserving its separate and continuous individuality from age to age. One of the supreme ends of politics is to strengthen this national life ; to maintain that steady OH. II. BUEKE ON THE EEVOLUTION. 225 stream of habit, interest, and feeling, without which ' the Commonwealth itself would in a few generations crumble away, be disconnected into the dust and powder of individuality, and at length dispersed to all the winds of heaven.' Chief among these influences is the national religion, and without it the nation would be almost like a body without a soul. But not only is a National Church the chief cement- ing influence in the State, it is ' the oblation of the State itself ' to the Divinity. The people of England, he said, ' persuaded that all things ought to be done with reference, and referring all to the point of reference to which all should be directed, think themselves bound ... in their corporate character to perform their na- tional homage to the Institutor, and Author, and Pro- tector of civil society, without which civil society man could not by any possibility arrive at the perfection of which his nature is capable, nor even make a remote and faint approach to it. They conceive that He who gave our nature to be perfected by our virtue, willed also the necessary means of its perfection. He willed, therefore, the State. He willed its connection with the source and original Archetype of all perfection. ... It is on some such principles that the majority of the people of England, far from thinking a religious Na- tional Establishment unlawful, hardly think it lawful to be without one. . . . They do not consider their Church Establishment as convenient, but as essential to their State ; not as a thing heterogeneous and separ- able, something added for accommodation which they may either keep up or lay aside according to their tem- porary ideas of convenience. They consider it as the foundation of their whole Constitution, with which and with every part of which it holds an indissoluble union. Church and State are ideas inseparable in theii- minds, and scarcely is the one ever mentioned without mention- 226 THE FRENCH EEVOLTJTION. oh. n. ing the otiier,' and he added, probably with perfect truth, that in attributing this high religious sanctity to the union of Chul-ch and State he faithfully repre- sented the general sentiments of the English people. It is obvious that such a doctrine has a vital bearing on the question of the right of the State to dispose of ecclesiastical property. The doctrine which is now most generally received is that the property of an Esta- blished Church, in as far as it is derived from public sources, is national property, and that the State has a right to alienate or resume it, subject to the obligation of compensating fully the life interests of its ministers. A doctrine of this kind was clearly implied in the ad- mirable chapter of Paley on ' Eeligious Establishments,^ and in the no less admirable article on Endowments in- serted by Turgot in the ' Encyclopaedia.' It appears to have been widely, perhaps generally, held by the political classes in England ; * and even after the great struggles of the Reformation, the power of the State over Church property had been repeatedly and sometimes most vio- lently exercised. The secularisation of some of the richest benefices in Germany that followed the Peace ' ' When I entered life,' Wil- this time have lost their pro- berforee once wrote, ' it is asto- perty.' Life of Wilberforce, i. nishing how general was the dis- 261. The arguments of those position to seize upon Church who maintain that the tithes of property. I mixed with very the Anglican Church were not various circles, and I could derived from the State, and that hardly go into any company, their alienation from the Church where there was not a clergy- is beyond its moral competence, man present, without hearing and would be an act of plunder, some such measure proposed. will be found powerfully stated I am convinced that if the in Dr. Brewer's Endowments public feeling had not been al- and Establishment of the Church tered by our seeing how soon of England, and in Lord Sel- every other kind of plunder home's Defence of the Church followed the destruction of tithes of England against Disestablish' in fraoce, our clergy would by ment. OH. n. BDKKE ON THE KEVOLUTION. 227 of Westphalia ; the destruction of the Episcopal Church in Scotland; the suppression of some hundreds of monasteries by Joseph II.; and the confiscation of Jesuit property by the chief Catholic Governments of the Continent, are conspicuous examples. But Burke treated the sale of Church property in 1789 as if it was exactly equivalent to the confiscation of private pro- perty, except that it carried with it the added guilt of sacrilege. Nor did he base his argument to any great extent upon the inadequacy of the salaries that were granted to a portion of the dispossessed priests. ' The estate of the Church' he considered as 'incorporated and identified with the mass of private property, of which the State is not the proprietor, either for use or dominion, but the guardian only and the regulator.' ' When once the Commonwealth has established the estates of the Church as property, it can consistently hear nothing of the more or the less. Too much and too little are treason against property.' The act of the National Assembly in seizing the ecclesiastical pro- perty appeared to him a 'dishonest, perfidious, and cruel confiscation of that property which it was their first duty to protect,' and he declared that the paper money, which was issued on the security of this con- fiscated property, was 'stamped with the indelible character of sacrilege.' For this reason, though not for this reason alone, he considered the Revolution in France a most formidable blow to the rights of property. It was one of his firm convictions that property never can be secure under a representative Government in which it does not possess a preponderating power,' and the property qualification ' ' Nothing is a due and ade- But as ability is a vigorous and quate representation of a State active principle, and as property that does not represent its is sluggish, inert, and timid, it ability as well as its property. never can be safe from the inva- 228 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. n, which, was exacted from the French electors under their new Constitution seemed to him wholly inadequate. The confiscation of Church property, he considered an act of robbery, and the certain precursor of still greater invasions of property. I have quoted the passage from his speech in February 1790, in which he denounced the French Assembly for having ' laid the axe to the root of all property, and consequently of all national prosperity, by the principles they established and the example they set, in confiscating all the possessions of the Church,' ' and in his ' Reflections on the French Revolution ' he expressed his firm belief that the pre- cedent was likely to be followed, and applied in turn to other large denominations of men. It was not, he said, so much the confiscation of Church property that he dreaded, though this would be no trifling evil. What he feared was ' lest it should ever be considered in England as the policy of a State to seek a resource in confiscations of any kind,' and lest ' one description of citizens should be brought to regard any of the others as their proper prey.' The danger sion of ability unless it be out of many has not the same opera- all proportion predominant in the tion. Its defensive power is representation. It must be re- weakened as it is diffused. In presented, too, in great masses this diffusion each man's por- of accumulation, or it is not tion is less than what in the rightly protected. The character- eagerness of his desires he may istio essence of property formed flatter himself to obtain by dis- out of the combined principles sipating the accumulations of of its acquisition and conserva- others. The plunder of the few tion is to be unequal. The great would indeed give but a share masses, therefore, which excite inconceivably small in the dis- envy and tempt rapacity must tribution to the many, but the be out of the possibility of many are not capable of making danger. There they form a this calculation.' See, too, Aris- natural rampart about the lesser totle's remarks on the causes of properties in all their grada- revolution in democracies, PoM- tions. The same quantity of Hcs, book v. o. v. property which is by the natural ' Pari. Hist, sxviii. 358. course of things divided among OH. n. BTJEKE ON THE EEVOLUTION. 229 seemed the more imminent as the burden of national debts was rapidly increasing, and he predicted that ' public debts, which at first were a security to Govern- ments by interesting many in the public tranquillity, were likely in their excess to become the means of their subversion.' But, in addition to these considerations, he main- tained that the essential principles and modes of reason- ing of a pure democracy were incompatible with the security of property. ' If prescription be once shaken,' he writes, ' no species of property is secure when it once becomes an object large enough to tempt the cupidity of indigent power.' But ' with the National Assembly of France possession is nothing; law and usage are nothing.' They ' openly reprobate the doctrine of pre- scription, which one of the greatest of their own lawyers tells us, with great truth, is a part of the law of nature.' They teach their followers ' to abhor and reject all feu- dality as the barbarism of tyranny,' and the people will soon come to recognise that ' almost the whole system of landed property in its origin is feudal,' and that the origin of the oldest properties was ' the distribution of the possessions of the original proprietors, made by a barbarous conqueror to his barbarous instruments.' ' The peasants,' he continued, ' in all probability are the descendants of these ancient proprietors, Romans or Gauls, but if they fail in any degree in the titles which they make on the principles of antiquaries and lawyers, they retreat into the citadel of the rights of men. There they find that men are equal, and the Earth, the kind and equal mother of all, ought not to be monopolised to foster the pride and luxury of any men who by nature are no better than themselves, and who if they do not labour for their bread are worse. They find that by the laws of nature the occupant and subduer of the soil is the true proprietor, that there is no prescription against 230 THE FBENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. ii. nature, that the agreements (where any there are) which have been made with their landlords during the time of slavery are only the effects of duress and force, and that when the people re-entered into the rights of men, these agreements were made as void as everything else which had been settled under the prevalence of the old feudal and aristocratic tyranny. ... As to the title by suc- cession, they will tell you that the succession of those who have cultivated the soil is the true pedigree of pro- perty, and not rotten parchments and silly substitutions; that the lords have enjoyed their usurpation too long ; and that if they allow to these lay monks any charitable pension, they ought to be thankful to the bounty of the true proprietor, who is so generous towards a false claimant to his goods.' Such language has a strangely familiar sound to a modern politician, but the connection of nineteenth century socialism with the French Eevolution, though probably real, is not very close. In the great intel- lectual and speculative movement of innovation that preceded that Revolution, there were indeed several doctrines which, if pushed to their ultimate conse- quences, were very unfavourable to the existing social system. The doctrine that all morals spring from and depend on utility, and that therefore there can be no consideration of right in opposition to a well-ascertained and general utility ; the doctrine that the State is omni- potent over its members, and that it is its task and duty to exert its powers to raise them to the highest level of virtue and happiness ; the doctrine that man is essentially good, and that his vices and misery are mainly the result of the social system ; and finally, the doctrine that equality is the supreme ideal at which the legislator should aim, were all well fitted to prepare the way for socialistic changes. A habit of mind was widely diffused, which systematically depreciated custom OB. n. FRENCH SOCIALISM. 231 and prescription, and the great prominence which the wiitings of Plato and the institutions of Sparta had obtained in political speculation, tended in the same direction. But on the whole, in the immense mass of specula- tion which appeared in France in the fifty years before the Revolution, there was very little directed against the institutions of property. I have already quoted the famous passage in the ' Discourse on Inequality,' in which Rousseau declared that the earth and its fruits were the property of all, and that the man who first claimed a portion of the earth as his own was the true founder of civil society, and the source of innumerable calamities to mankind. As we have seen, however, this passage by no means represents the true opinions of its author when he had arrived at his maturity, and it loses much of its significance when it is remembered that it forms part of an argument to prove the superiority of savage to civilised life. Doctrines of a more consistently and violently socialistic character had been promulgated by Morelly in his ' Code of Nature,' and in one of the early writings of Brissot de Warville, but neither of these works had much importance or influence. The true father of French socialism is Mably, who, in several of his writings, preached the necessity of a social revolution, and elaborately attacked the whole institution of pro- perty.' Equality, he maintains, is the first object at which the legislator should aim, but equality can never permanently subsist where private property is suffered to accumulate. The true remedy for human ills is to be found in a community of goods such as he supposed to ' See especially his TraiU de ditary property were afterwards la Legislation, his Entretiens made by Godwin, and by one or de Phocion, and his Voutea aur two other less known writers. V Ordre Natural des SociiUs. In See Godwin's PoHttcaZ Justice, England, similar attacks on here- book viU. 232 THE FRENCH BEVOLUTION. oh. ii. have existed in Sparta. Such a system, he admitted, was no longer practicable, but Government can at least do much to mitigate the evil. Instead of being intended to protect the property and the energies of individuals, and to promote the development of national resources, it should be its main object to maintain the citizens in an equality of fortune and of position ; to prevent the accumulation either of individual or of national wealth, and to extirpate as far as possible from society the passions of ambition and avarice. A poor country with few wants, no luxury or art, and no division of classes, is the best, and the legislator should always remember that private property, with the passions and the ine- qualities it produces, is the supreme evil in the State. He should combat it systematically by severe laws of succession ; by sumptuary laws crushing all luxury and commerce ; by agrarian laws limiting the amount of land which each man may possess; by a system of education discouraging every kind of luxury and ine- quality ; by imposing every trammel in his power on those natural superiorities of intellect and character that enable some men in the competitions of life to outrun their fellows. Startling and systematic paradox, when accompanied by some real literary ability, seldom fails in attaining a speedy, though transient, notoriety, and the works of Mably were very widely read by the generation which preceded and which made the Revolution. But although the violence of class warfare, and the extreme necessities of the State, led to some gigantic measures of confisca- tion, and although some of the acts and language of the Convention were clearly socialistic, the Revolution did not ultimately turn in this direction. In the Declaration of Rights it is stated that, ' property being an inviolable and sacred right, no one can be deprived of it except when public necessity, legally established, evidently OH. n. THE REVOLUTION NOT SOCIALISTIC. 233 requires it, and then only on condition of a just indem- rdty paid in advance,' and it would be a great injustice to the National Assembly to regard this declaration as mere idle words. In abolishing the sale of offices, and suppressing innumerable functionaries and corporations, it fully recognised rights to indemnity. It granted 450,000,000 livres for the magisterial posts, 35,000,000 for military employments, and 52,000,000 for places in the King's household. It laid down the principle that it is the duty of the nation to repay the price of every purchased office, and to assume the debts of every cor- poration which it suppressed,' and it carried out this principle with an integrity which contrasts very favour- ably with many episodes in the history of the monarchy. It rejected, as inconsistent with the public faith, a proposed tax on the interest of the national debt, and it entirely abstained from the favourite socialistic policy of imposing excessive or confiscating duties on successions.^ In judging its legislation about the feudal system, it must be remembered that the revolt of the peasantry, reducing a great part of France to anarchy, and making the collection of feudal dues almost impossible, had preceded by some weeks the famous sitting of August 4. That day is perhaps the most glorious in the French Eevolution, and it ought not to be forgotten that it was the Vicomte de Noailles and the Due d'Aiguillon, two conspicuous members of the privileged orders, who took the leading part in the abolition of the feudal rightSi The Assembly declared the feudal system abolished, but, as I have already observed, it distinguished clearly the rights that grew out of ancient servitude, or old admi- nistrative functions which were no longer performed, from those which were of the nature of property and ' Laferridre, Hist, des Principes, des Institutions, et des Loisjpendcmt la involution, pp. 104, 105. ' Ibid. pp. 44, 45, 47. 234 THE FRENCH KEVOLUTION. oh. ii. sprang for the most part from contract. The former it abolished without compensation, but the title of the owners of the latter to compensation was fully recognised. The Assembly may be blamed for having decreed the abolition of the feudal system, before it had taken measures for commuting the rights it recognised, but its original intention was a perfectly honest one, though it was defeated by the pevolt of the peasantry, and abandoned in the confiscating legislation of the Con- vention.' It is impossible, also, to deny the extreme and pressing necessity under which the measure for confis- cating the ecclesiastical property was adopted. The Assembly had inherited a financial condition which was nearly desperate, and some of its most popular, and in the end most beneficial, measures contributed to make it hopeless. It abolished the gabelle, or salt monopoly, which had long been the occasion of deep popular dis- content, and an amount of salt which had previously cost fourteen sous could now be purchased for one sou. It abolished or reduced the duties on tobacco, oil, leather, soap, and some other articles largely used by the poor. It put an end to the sale of offices, which had been a great source of revenue to the Crown, and, at a consider- able cost to the State, it attached the army to the Revolution by raising its pay. Great sums were at the same time required for the indemnities for suppressed oflSces, and to meet the necessities of the famine. In the sphere of finance, as in all else, the National As- sembly effected a complete revolution. It repealed most of the old taxes, and imposed a new stamp duty and new taxes on land, capital and industry, and it abolished all ' The history of the abolition et la Fiodaliti, and by Ch^non, of the feudal system has been Les Dimembrements de la Pro- very carefully examined by priMi fonciire avant et apris la Doniol, La Bivolution Fran^aise Bivolulion, OH. n. THE EEVOLUTION NOT SOCIALISTIC. 235 the old exemptions from taxation, the arbitrary methods of fixing contributions, and the abusive and wasteful system of farming the revenue. But in the complete social and moral anarchy that prevailed, it was found scarcely possible to collect taxes, and every source of revenue diminished, while the expenditure was rapidly increasing. Desperate attempts were made to borrow ; but though Necker was still at the head of the finances, the credit of the country was gone. In August 1789 two separate loans, one of thirty and the other of eighty millions, were decreed, but they proved almost absolute failures, Necker then proposed, as the only hope, an extraordinary contribution, amounting to a fourth of the revenue of each citizen ; but although this brought in something, it proved wholly inadequate. Bankruptcy, complete or partial, was spoken of, and there were abundant precedents for it in the monarchy. It has been calculated that the public faith had been violated no less than fifty-six times between Henry IV. and the Eevolution.' But the Assembly protested strongly and earnestly against such a course, and it was as the one possible alternative, that it appropriated the ecclesiastical property and the domains of the Crown, compensating the clergy by salaries, and the King by a very liberal civil list.^ These are not the proceedings of a Legislature that was indifierent to the rights of property. It is true, however, that under the assemblies that followed, the prospect rapidly darkened. Enormous mob outrages unpunished and even uncensured ; enormous and al- most indiscriminate confiscations; laws of maximum regulating the prices of commodities; a forced paper • Taine, L'Ancien Bigime, p. tion, pp. 195-199 ; Laferri^re.pp, 405. 37-49 ; Garet, pp. 177-233. ' Eabaut, Pricis de laBivohi- 236 ' THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. u. currency, reducing to a small fraction all ancient debts ; forced loans ; requisitions on the rich, and the plunder of all charitable, literary, or educational corporations, fill the later history of the Revolution ; and much of the language of Eobespierre and of some of his colleagues, as well as the conspiracy of Baboeuf, show clearly the influence of the socialistic element. That element, however, proved transitory. It was never the most powerful, and the violence of civil war, the necessities of a country engaged in a desperate contest against foreign enemies, and the hatred of the rich as an anti-revolution- ary class, inspired the violences of the Revolution much more than any deliberate negation of the legitimacy of private property. The codes of law that have sprung out of the Revolution recognised the sanctity of property and the stringency of contracts at least as fully as the codes of the ancient monarchy ; and, contrary to the anticipations of Burke, the Revolution which has de- stroyed, enfeebled, or remodelled almost all French institutions, has not permanently injured either French credit, French industry, or French property. The causes of this fact form a matter of curious and important inquiry, but the more prominent may, I think, be easily ascertained. On no other subject is the con- servative sentiment so powerful and so sensitive as in the protection of property. On most political questions, great multitudes of quiet and moderate men exhibit an habitual languor, which too often enables fanatical minorities and dexterous leaders to carry measures that are quite opposed to the genuine sense of the majority of the nation; while many others throw their influence into great movements of change, with a careless and unreflecting levity they would never have displayed on any matter directly affecting their private interests. But when the rights of property are touched, these in- terests are at once alarmed. The indifference and the OH. n. THE PEASANT PEOPEIETOES. 237 levity in a great measure disappear, and an unwonted spirit of earnestness and caution is aroused. In France there was a strong bulwark of resistance in the great multitude of small owners of land. The extent to which peasant proprietors had abeady multiplied, seems to have been almost entirely unknown in England until the publication in 1792 of Arthur Young's Tour; and Burke, though in general singularly well-informed about the social condition of France, appears to have been altogether ignorant of it.' This class was still further strengthened by the great masses of Church and royal property thrown into the market at the Revolution, and by the extension of the law of equal division. At the same time, the sense of property among them was greatly intensified by the simplification of titles, which put an end to the confdsed, divided, and imperfect ownership growing out of the feudal system. The de- struction of the feudal obligations, as it was actually accomplished, was in many instances an act of the most barefaced robbery. A crowd of money rights, which had been for ages sold and purchased imder the fiill sanction of the law, and which had grown out of the most legitimate contracts, were swept away without compensation. But one of the results was the creation of a large class who, themselves enjoying absolute and ' I infer this not only from the England, bnt was also • not so silence of Burke, but also from equal in the distribution, nor so his statement that ' the general readyin the circulation.' Henry circulation of property, and in Swinburne, who travelled from particular the mutual converti- Bayonne to Marseilles in 1776, bility of land into money, and of and published his travels in money into land,' was less in 1785, noticed the passion of the France than in England. In people of Bigorre for purchasing another passage of his Beflec- little plots of land out of their tions he says that the compara- earnings, and their proneness to tve wealth of France was not run into debt for that purpose, only much inferior to that of 238 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. ii. undivided property, exhibited the instincts of proprietors in their utmost intensity. This class was much in- creased at a later period, by the wide diffusion of small portions of the obligations of the national debt. Revo- lutionary and anarchical doctrines relating to property have again and again risen to the surface, but the know- ledge that an immense proportion of the French people are always ready, if the rights of property are seriously menaced, to throw themselves for protection into the arms of a military despotism, has hitherto proved a sufficient check upon socialistic tendencies in France. In estimating the relations of the French Revolution to other countries, the language of Burke was much more moderate than it afterwards became. He admitted fully that the English party which sympathised with the Revolution was a small one, and one of the best known passages in the ' Reflections ' is that contrasting the half-dozen grasshoppers which make the field ring with their importunate clink, with the herds of great cattle that chew the cud in silence under the shelter of the British Oak. He maintained, however, that the beginnings of disorder were very lately even more feeble in France. The world was in the presence of ' a revolution of sentiments, manners, and moral opinions,' and such a revolution could not be confined, to one country. ' France has always more or less in- fluenced manners in England ; and when your fountain is choked up, the stream will not run long and not run clear with us, or perhaps with any nation.' ' Of all things Wisdom is the most terrified with epidemical fanaticism, because of all enemies it is that against which she is the least able to furnish any kind of re- source.' It was idle to say that French affairs did not concern Englishmen, when they were steadily and per- Bistently held up as a model. Nor was this a merely spontaneous and unforced admiration. One of the CH. n. INFLUENCE OF BURKE'S BOOK. 239 cliaracteristic features of the new Prencli fanaticism was its proselytisiag spirit. ' They have societies to cabal and correspond at home and abroad, for the pro- pagation of their tenets. The Republic of Berne, one of the happiest, the most prosperous, and the best governed countries upon earth, is one of the great ob- jects at the destruction of which they aim. I am told they have in some measure succeeded in sowing there the seeds of discontent.' They are busy throughout Germany; Spain and Italy have not been untried. England is not left out of the comprehensive scheme of their malignant charity, and in England we find those who stretch out their arms to them.' The abstract I have now given of the contents of the ' Reflections on the French Revolution ' has extended to considerable, and I fear somewhat tedious, length, but it is not, I think, disproportioned to its historical importance. ' The first considerable check,' wrote the French writer Dumont, ' that was given to the general enthusiasm in the cause of the Revolution, came from the famous publication of Burke; when he attacked, himself entirely alone, the gigantic force of the Assem- bly, and represented these new legislators, in the midst of all their power and glory, as maniacs who could only destroy everything and produce nothing.' Very few books have ever combined so remarkably the wide and rapid popularity of a successful political pamphlet with the enduring influence of a standard political treatise. With the doubtfal exception of Swift's ' Conduct of the A] lies,' it had probably a greater immediate effect on political opinion than any other English work of the ' Burke's statement about sur la Destruction de la lAgut Berne in fully corroborated by Eelvdtique, ch. ii. Mallet du Pan, Essai Historigue 17 240 THE FRENCH EEVOLTJTION. oh. ii. eighteenth century. With the exception of 'The Wealth of Nations,' no other English book of the eighteenth century has so deeply and permanently influenced the modes of thought of serious political thinkers. Within the year of its publication about 19,000 copies were sold in England and about 13,000 in France, and the number of English copies sold soon rose to 30,000. It became the main topic of conver- sation in every political circle, and it rarely failed to produce violent feelings either of admiration or dislike. In the upper circles, both in England and on the Continent, it was, in general, received with unbounded enthusiasm. The King spoke of it with the warmest admiration, and himself distributed several copies ; and messages or letters of approval soon poured in to the author from the sovereigns assembled at Pilnitz, from Catherine of Russia, from Stanislaus of Poland, from the French Princes, from some of the leading members of the French clergy. His own University of Dublin conferred on Burke an honorary degree; an address expressive of admiration was presented to him by the graduates of Oxford; and among the many private persons who warmly applauded the work were Gibbon and Reynolds. In Whig circles, however, a deep divi- sion of opinion was already shown. The Duke of Portland, Lord Pitzwilliam, the Duke of Devonshire, Lord John Cavendish, Montagu, and several other members of the old Rockingham connection, expressed their full approbation of the principles of the work, and among younger men Sir Gilbert Elliot was emphatic on the same side. On the other hand Fox, Sheridan, Francis, Erskine, and Grey, regarded the work with unconcealed dislike. Fox not only expressed in private his entire disapprobation of it, but even declared that in point of composition it was the worst which Burke OH. n. NEW PAELIAMENT, NOVEMBER, 1790. 241 had ever produced ; ' and as early as December 1 790 Sir Gilbert Elliot clearly saw in the leaning of Fox towards Sheridan and in his alienation from Burke the sign of the approaching disruption of the Whig party.' In the Radical party there was a moment of consterna- tion, and it was noticed that the attendance at the revolutionary clubs for a time greatly fell off, but a host of pens were soon employed in answering Burke. Among his opponents were Priestley, Price, Mrs. Mac- aulay, and Mary Wollstonecraft, but the only answers which made any considerable impression were the ' Vindiciae Gallicae,' which was the earliest and one of the best works of Mackintosh, and the ' Rights of Man,' which was the most popular work of Paine. But though the subject was rapidly becoming the main topic of political discussion in the country, it was still kept in a great degree out of Parliament. As we have already seen, in the early session of 1790 it was not Burke but Pox who had introduced it, and the one great speech in which Burke had stated his views on the subject, cannot be accused of recklessness or vio- lence. Parliament was dissolved in the autumn of 1790, and the new Parliament met on November 25. In the short session between its first meeting and the Christmas holidays, no allusion appears to have been made to French affairs. The difficulties with Spain and with Tippoo Sahib were the chief subjects of dis- cussion, and Fox, Burke, and Pitt contended side by side, and with triumphant ability, for the doctrine that ' See a letter of Burke, in Tolution was published, ' he con- Lady Minto's Life of Sir G. demned that book both in public Elliot, i. 365-368, and Burke's and private, and every one ol Correspondence, iii. 171, 172. the doctrines it contained.' PoW. In the famous debate on May 6, Hist. xxix. 389. 1791, Fox said that as soon as ' Lady Minto's Life of Sir Q, Burke's book on the French Ee- Elliot, i. 368-370. 242 THE FEENCH REVOLUTION. oh. ii. the impeacliinent of Hastings was not terminated by a dissolution. This impeacliment and the French Eevolution now almost equally divided the attention of Burke. Prom the time when the events of October 5 and 6, 1789, had made the French King a virtual prisoner in the hands of the democracy, the movement of revolution had been advancing with terrible energy towards its goal. The National Assembly as well as the King had been transferred from Versailles to Paris, and it was now exposed to the ceaseless intimidation of the clubs and of the mob. Soon after the outrageous scenes of October 5 and 6, nearly three hundred of the most respectable members, including Mounier, Lally Tollen- dal, and the Bishop of Langres, seceded in disgust, and power fell more and more into the most violent hands. Measure after measure was pushed on with a feverish haste, blotting out all the institutions, traditions, and characteristics of ancient France. The privileges en- joyed by particular provinces in matters of taxation had been already abolished, but now the ancient divi- sions of the provinces, with their names, laws, orga- nisations, usages, customs, and infinite diversities of administration, were all swept away. The whole coun- try was reorganised on a plan of perfect uniformity in eighty-three departments, divided symmetrically into districts, cantons, and municipalities, governed by an entirely new set of administrative and judicial institu- tions. Functionaries of almost every order were made elective, and the basis of the whole fabric was an elec- toral body comprising all Frenchmen, except domestics, who were twenty-five years of age, who had resided in one district for a year, and who paid direct taxation to the value of three days' labour. The old Parliaments, which had for centuries played so great a part in French history, were destroyed. The judges were made tern- CH. II. • LAWS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY. 243 porary and elective. The clergy, who had shown them- selves imbued with the liberal ideas of the age to a degree which those who know the spirit of their suc- cessors find it difficult to realise ; who had so readily abandoned their privileges in taxation ; who had been the first of the privileged orders to join the commons in the States-General ; and who, by the mouth of the Archbishop of Paris, had consented with signal gene- rosity to the abolition of their tithes, soon found that they had gained nothing by their policy. They ceased to be a separate corporation in the State. Their Church property was seized and sold, and they were reduced to the position of mere salaried functionaries. The monas- teries were abolished. Monastic vows were forbidden, and soon the ' civil constitution ' drove the clergy to the alternative of abandoning either their cures or their allegiance to the Pope. This measure was not, it is true, altogether unpre- cedented in its general character, for it bore a striking resemblance to the legislation of Joseph II. in Austria. The State by its own authority diminished the number of bishoprics, rearranged the dioceses in accordance with the new division of departments, made the bishops and cur6s eligible by the same electors as the members of the National Assembly, forbade the newly elected bishops to demand their confirmation from the Pope, and finally exacted from the clergy an oath of adhesion to a constitution which was directly opposed to the principles of their Church. Out of 138 bishops only four consented to take it. Out of 70,000 priests 46,000 were deprived of their cures,' and a great schism divided France. The nobles had lost their privileges, their political power, and their feudal revenues. It was de- creed that there should be no longer any distinction of ' Xaine, Bisf. de la Eivolution, i. 237, 238. 244 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. on. ii. orders in France, and all titles were forbidden. The great commercial companies were dissolved, and the first steps were taken in the legislation for the equal division of successions. The moral authority of the Eng had been totally destroyed by successful revolts, and although the As- sembly sincerely desired to maintain the monarchical constitution of the Government, it had left him scarcely a shadow of his influence. He was deprived of almost all patronage, of all initiative in legislation, of the right of pardon, of the right of dissolving the Assembly. His ministers were excluded from the Assembly, and superseded in their chief administrative functions by committees appointed by it. The King could only de- clare peace or war in accordance with its decrees. His veto on its proceedings was limited to two Legislatures. At the same time the condemnation of the hereditary principle and the destruction of all the natural bul- warks of the throne had made him a manifest anomaly in the State,' while the disorganisation of the regular army and the creation of a great democratic force wholly independent of the Crown had deprived him of every element of power. Even the right of command- ing the army had passed into the hands of the new municipal bodies.* ' ' Corporations whicli have a whatsoever existing in the minda perpetual succession, and here- of the people. It is a solitary, ditary noblesse who themselves unsupported, anomalous thing, exist by succession, are the true Burke's Correspondence, iii. 212. guardians of monarchical sucoes- ' To think of the possibility of sion. On such orders and in- the existence of a permanent stitutions alone an hereditary and hereditary royalty where monarchy can stand. Where all nothing else is hereditary or per- things are elective, you may call manent in point either of per- a king hereditary, but he is for sonal or corporate dignity, is a the present a cipher ; and the ruinous chimera.' ' Bemarks on Buocession is not supported by the Policy of the Allies.' Burke'a any analogy in the State, nor Works, vii. 130. combined with any sentiments ' Sybel, pp. 92, 127, 128. OH. II. PROGRESS OF THK REVOLUTION. 245 It is strange to look back and remember how lately the Sovereign, who was now so impotent, had been, in the eyes of the law and of the people, the absolute ruler of France, the sole initiator of legislation, the sole source of political power. The States-General could only be convened by his free will, and he was fully authorised by the precedents of French history to regard them as a mere consultative body which had no legislative power except by his concession. , As late as the end of 1788 Necker in his report to the King had declared that ' it would never enter into the mind of the Third Estate to diminish the seigneurial and honorary prerogatives that distinguish the first two orders in their properties and their persons.' In the royal declaration of June 23, 1789, the King had for- mally announced that all properties without exception must be respected, and that under the name of property were comprised tithes and all the feudal and seigneurial rights and obligations, all the useful and honorary pre- rogatives, attached to lands or fiefs or belonging to persons. The complex and balanced Constitution of the States-General, as it had existed in 1614!, seemed to contain ample guarantees that the change from an absolute to a representative Government would pro- ceed with a measured and orderly course. Under such a Constitution the new Assembly would be like one of those engines which are intended to descend by a steep declivity from the mountain to the plain, and are fur- nished with elaborate and powerful machinery to regu- late and moderate their course. But the rope had snapped. The springs had broken. The whole ma- chinery of control had given way, and it was now hurrying on with a speed which no power could check. The Third Order had dominated and absorbed the two others. The Assembly, which was convoked to give a moral support to the Crown, had destroyed the royal 246 THE FEENCH EEVOLCTION. oh. iL prerogatives ; it had set aside the instructions of its constituents ; it had by its own will prolonged its tenure of power ; it had usurped the whole authority, it had transformed the whole political character of the State. All the old orders, corporations, tribunals, customs, checks and counterpoises, heterogeneous and complex forms of administration that had surrounded and re- stricted the most absolute sovereigns, had in a few months been swept away by the resistless energy of one democratic chamber, and all compromise and partition of power had been rejected. It was in vain that the King at the very outset of the movement had agreed to accord to the States-General the functions of a complete legislative body, with annual meetings and a complete control of the purse ; it was in vain that the nobles had formally renounced their exemptions from taxation, had welcomed the opening to all classes of the higher grades in the army, and had shown themselves on August 4 perfectly willing to abandon one class of their feudal rights and to accept a reasonable commutation for the rest ; it was in vain that the clergy had abandoned all their privileges relating to taxation, had consented to the entire abolition of their tithes, and had offered to raise a loan of 400 millions for the State, if their other property was maintained. All this, together with a complete system of provincial self-government, might have been obtained without violence or revolution, but all this proved insufficient. In a few months the insti- tutions, traditions, and governing maxims of centuries had been overthrown. In the total destruction of the political power of the King, of the privileged orders, of the Parliaments, and of all provincial corporations, authority seemed wholly concentrated in one great, un- manageable assembly ; but behind that assembly were the Jacobin clubs, wlaich were multiplying rapidly in every part of Prance; the Paris mobs, which were OH. n. EEFOEMS OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY. 247 threatening the more moderate deputies, and shrieking their orders from the galleries of the Assembly ; the new elective and almost independent councils of inex- perienced men, which were springing up in every part of France, pushed on by fierce democratic passions and burning to realise the conceptions of Rousseau. Much, however, was done by the Constituent As- sembly which was of great and permanent value, and which has remained unchanged through all the fluctua- tions of French Governments. The abolition of the feudal system with its manifold and intolerable abuses proved the first condition of the prosperity of France. The laws which abolished all religious disqualifications and all exemptions from taxation, which opened all civil and military employments to all Frenchmen, which emancipated trade and industry and labour from the countless restrictions and monopolies that encumbered them, and which remitted some of the taxes that were most wasteful, and most oppressive to the poor, were measures of incontestable value. The Assembly was full of able lawyers, and its reforms in the judicial in- stitutions were of great importance, and carried out some of the chief recommendations of Voltaire and Beccaria. The scandalous abuses of the sale of judicial as of other ofiices, the infinite variety and complexity of the administration of justice in the difierent provinces, the exceptional tribunals by which the King could with- draw cases from the ordinary law courts, the shameful privileges which gave the upper orders lighter penalties for crime, all disappeared. The same system of law was now established through the whole of France, and it was enacted that all privilege in matters of jurisdiction should ce^ase, and that all citizens without distinction should plead before the same tribunals and in the same form, and should be liable to the same penalties. The admirable institution of the 'juge de paix' greatly diminished 248 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. oh. ii. litigation. Juries were introduced into criminal cases. It was provided that the reasons of every judgment should be fully set forth. Confiscation of goods, and penalties inflicting degradation on the family of the culprit, were abolished. Corporal punishment was no longer admitted into the military code. It is idle to question the value of these reforms, but many of them might easily have been attained without revolution, and the others were dearly purchased by the fatal enfeeblement of the great pillars of order in the State. Through the whole country anarchy was rapidly spreading, and it was anarchy intensified by famine. The revolt of the peasants against the nobles, which seemed for a time to have diminished, broke out again with redoubled violence. Prom almost all parts of France came accounts of the plunder and destruction of country houses ; of the refusal of peasants to pay rents or any of those feudal dues which the Assembly had reserved for future compensation ; of fierce conflicts between the supporters of the old and new order of things ; of the revival of ancient feuds and passions, and the total destruction of order and subordination. The events of the last months had spread a vague and unwonted agitation through classes which had very rarely been touched by any political emotion, and the French peasants were now as passionate supporters of the Eevolution as any of the worshippers of the ' Contrat Social.' For forms of government and speculative politics they cared nothing, but they hated tithes ; they hated the feudal system with an intensity which neither the privileged classes nor the literary politicians had ever understood, and their instinct of acquisition was aroused to the utmost. They had seen with astonish- ment a great part of their burdens suddenly removed. They were told that the feudal system was abolished, and they were resolved that like the system of tithes it OH. n. LETTER OF MOEEIS, NOVEMBEE, 1790. 249 should be abolished absolutely and without compensation. The Revolution in their eyes meant simply the cessation of all the dues and services to which they were liable, and with the complete destruction of the institutions and customs under which they had grown up, all their landmarks of authority and of morals had disappeared. The landed gentry were for the most part ruined, and multitudes were flying persecuted and panic-stricken to seek shelter in the towns or in foreign lands. In the beginning of 1790 six thousand estates were said to have been in the market, and they could find no pur- chasers.' The great emigration of the nobles had already begun. Some had gone with the Prince de Cond6 in July and many others after October 6, and it was already known that a large party were imploring foreign princes and especially the German Emperor to take arms for the restoration of the monarchy of France. In November 1790 Morris wrote to Washington: •The country I now inhabit, on which so many other countries depend, having sunk to absolute nothingness, has deranged the general state of things in every quarter. . . . This unhappy country, bewildered in the pursuit of metaphysical whimsies, presents to our moral view a mighty ruin. . . . The Sovereign humbled to the level of a beggar's pity, without resources, without authority, without a friend. The Assembly at once a master and a slave, new in power, wild in theory, raw in practice. It engrosses all functions though incapable of exercising any, and has taken from this fierce, fero- cious people every restraint of religion and of respect. Sole executors of the law, and therefore supreme judges of its propriety, each district measures out its obedience by its wishes, and the great interests of the whole, split up into fractional morsels, depend on momentary impulsa ' Atmual Register, 1790, p. 131. 250 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. oh. n. and ignorant caprice. Such a state of things cannot last. But how will it end ? .. . . One thing only seems to be tolerably ascertained — that the glorious oppor- tunity is lost, and (for this time at least) the Revolution has failed. . . . But I think from the chaos of opinion and the conflict of its jarring elements a new order will at length arise which, though in some degree the child of chance, may not be less productive of human happi- ness than the forethought provisions of human specula- tion.' ' The enthusiasm of the English admirers of the French Revolution was, however, still unqualified, and they admired it with no mere speculative or Platonic devotion. It was as a lesson to Englishmen that Price and Priestley especially praised it, and Mackintosh de- clared that the one point on which its friends and ene- mies were agreed, was that its influence could not be con- fined to France, but must produce important changes in the general state of Europe.^ This brilliant, conscientious, and on most subjects moderate writer, did not hesitate to say that though ' the grievances of England did not at present justify a change by violence,' ' they were in a rapid progress to that fatal state,' and he declared that, 'whatever may be the ultimate fate of the French Revolutionists, the friends of freedom must ever con- sider them as the authors of the greatest attempt that has hitherto been made in the cause of man.' ^ By far the most popular answer to Burke was Paine's ' Rights of Man,' of which the first part was published in the beginning of 1791, and this work was throughout a comparison of the French and English theories of government, to the infinite advantage of the former. Burke, Paine said, had done real service in exhuming ' Morris'8 Works, ii. 116-119. " VrndioUe OalliccB, p. 358. ' Ibid. p. 362. OH. n. PAINE'S EIGHTS OF MAN. 251 the servile language of tte authors of the Eevolution of 1688, for he had shown how little the rights of men were then understood, and how absurdly the English Eevolution had been overrated. It would now, how- ever, soon find its level. ' It is already on the wane, eclipsed by the enlarging orb of reason and the lumi- nous Eevolutions of America and France.' The time would soon come when ' mankind would scarcely be- lieve that a country calling itself free would send to Holland for a man and clothe him with power, on pur- pose to put themselves in fear of him, and give him almost a million sterling a year for leave to submit themselves and their posterity like bondmen and bond- women for ever.' ' Everything,' he continues, ' in the English Government appears to me the reverse of what it ought to be,' and he proceeded to show how the true model for Englishmen was the new French Constitu- tion, and to contrast its provisions, clause by clause, with the corruption and injustice of the English one. In France, he says, every man who pays a tax of sixty sous a year has a vote ; the number of representa- tives bears a fixed ratio to the number of electors ; the National Assembly is to be elected every two years ; game laws and monopolies are abolished ; no member of the National Assembly is suffered to be an officer of the Government, a placeman, or pensioner ; the right of making peace or war has been taken from the King and vested with the nation ; all titles and other aristocratic privileges have been extinguished; tithes have been put an end to ; liberty of conscience has been established, not as a matter of toleration but as of universal right ; and while the King is still retained as an official, the sole sovereignty of the nation itself has been fully and formally acknowledged. ' Much is to be learned from the French Constitution. Con- quest and tyranny transplanted themselves with William 252 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. ch. n. the Conqueror from Normandy into England, and the country is yet disfigured with the marks. May, then, the example of all France contribute to regenerate a freedom which a province of it destroyed.' 'From the Revolutions of America and France and the symp- toms that have appeared in other countries, it is evi- dent that the opinion of the world is charging with respect to systems of government. . . . All the old Governments have received a shock from the revolu- tions that already appear, and which were once more improbable, and are a greater subject of wonder, than a general revolution in Europe would be now. When we survey the wretched condition of man under the monarchical and hereditary systems of government ... it becomes evident that those systems are bad, and that a general revolution in the principle and construction of Governments is necessary.' ' Such was the character of the work which the Revo- lution Society was zealously disseminating. The leaven was rapidly spreading. Early in 1791 there was a branch society established at Norwich, and another, which was especially active in disseminating the works of Paine, at Manchester. The London society hired Ranelagh for the celebration of the anniversary of the French Confederation in July, and it was announced that Sheridan would be present. A flag had been sent from France to be used on the occasion, in which the national colours of France and England were blended, but as it was composed of contraband materials .it was seized in the Custom House.' The addresses of the Revolution Society to the French patriots continued in a strain of the most devoted enthusiasm. 'The admiration,' they said in April 1791, ' with which you ' Bights of Man, part i. Elliot, i. 379 ; Burke's Corre- » Lady Minto's Life of Sir 0. sjpondence, iii, 398. OH. n. BUEKE SUPPORTS EUBOPEAN INTERVENTION. 253 Frenchmen have long beheld the British Government has, we believe, arisen from your having hitherto con- templated with more attention the excellencies of our Constitution than its defects; a moderate portion of political freedom and the existence of bearable oppres- sions appeared to you an enviable condition.' ' Royal prerogatives,' they wrote a few months later, ' injurious to the public interest ; a servile peerage ; a rapacious and intolerant clergy ; and a corrupt representation, are grievances under which we suffer, but as you perhaps have profited from the example of our ancestors, so shall we from your late glorious and splendid actions.' ' To Burke, on the other hand, the dangers of the Revolution as a centre of malefic contagion appeared continually more terrible, and he soon began to change his first opinion of the military impotence to which France had been reduced. It is remarkable, too, and I think melancholy, to observe how entirely he shared the hopes and wishes of the French emigrants, and looked forward to European intervention in favour of the King. Turin was a great centre of the French emigration, and in a letter to the English Minister at that city, written as early as January 1791, he clearly stated his views on the subject. He urged that nothing could be effected in France without a great force from abroad ; that the predominant faction was undoubtedly the strongest, and not likely to be overturned by inter- nal resistance. ' Nothing else,' he emphatically added, ' but a foreign force can or will do. In this design too Great Britain and Prussia must at least acquiesce. Nor is it a small military force that can do the business. It is a serious design, and must be done with combined strength. Nor must that strength be under any ordi- nary conduct. It will require as much political manage- ' Smyth's Lectures on the French Revolution, iii. 36. 254 THE FEENCH EE VOLUTION. oh. u. ment as military skill in the commanders. Prance ia weak, indeed, divided and deranged ; but God knows when the things came to be tried, whether the invaders would not find that the enterprise was not to support a party but to conquer a kingdom. . . . Every hour any system of government continues, be that system what it will, the more it obtains consistency, and the better will it be able to provide for its own support. . . . If the Powers who may be disposed to think, as I most seriously do, that no monarchy, limited or unlimited, nor any of the old republics can possibly be safe as long as this strange, nameless, wild, enthusiastic thing is established in the centre of Europe, may not be in readi- ness to act in concert, and with all their forces — if this be the case, to be sure nothing is to be attempted but the preluding war of paper. For my part, I am entirely in the dark about the designs and means of the Powers of Europe in this respect. However, this I am quite sure of, all the other policy is childish play in com- parison. . . . Theoretic plans of constitution have been the bane of France, and I am satisfied that nothing can possibly do it any real service but to establish it upon all its ancient bases. Till that is done, one man's specu- lation will appear as good as another's.' ' In a letter written about the same time, apparently to a lady in attendance on the Queen of France, he ex- pressed similar views with equal energy. ' I feel,' he wrote, ' as an Englishman great dread and apprehension from the contagious nature of these abominable prin- ciples and vile manners, which threaten the worst and most degrading barbarism to every adjacent country. No argument can persuade me that if they are suffered finally to triumph in France, they will want more than the occasion of some domestic trouble or disturbance ' Burke's Correspondence, iii. 182-186. cu. II. BUEKE SUPPOETS EDEOPEAN INTEEVENTION. 255 ... to extend themselves to us, and to blast all the health and vigour of that happy Constitution which we enjoy. . . . You have an armed tyranny to deal with, and nothing but arms can pull it down.' ' It was not in the nature of Burke to conceal views which he strongly held, and in February 1791 he publicly stated them in his ' Letter to a Member of the National Assembly.' In this pamphlet he emphatically declared that no country could be secure while there was established in the centre of Europe ' a State (if so it may be called) founded on principles of anarchy, and which is in reality a college of armed fanatics.' The creed of Mohammed, he maintained, in the first days of its fierce and proselytising fanaticism was not a more necessary danger to the Christian communities about it, than this new and revolutionary State to the settled Governments of Europe. Nothing but a force from without would be sufiBcient to quell it. ' The princes of Europe in the beginning of this century did well not to sufier the monarchy of Prance to swallow up the others. They ought not now, in my opinion, to sufier all the monarchies arid commonwealths to be swallowed up in the gulf of this polluted anarchy. They may be toler- ably safe at present, because the comparative power of France for the present is little. But times and occasions make dangers. Intestine troubles may arise in other countries.' If the King of Prussia was justified in inter- fering to save Holland fii'om confusion, much more would he be justified in employing the same power to rescue a virtuous monarch dethroned by traitors and rebels. Burke, at the same time, entirely disclaimed all desire to see the English Constitution established in France. All reformation in a State, he contended, should be based upon existing materials, and the tra- ' Burke's Correspondence, iii. 192, 193, 18 256 THE FEENCH REVOLUTION. oh. ii. ditions and ancient constitution of the estates in France, the circumstances of the country, and the state of its property pointed to a form of government essentially different from that prevailing in England. Nor was the English Constitution one which could be easily or safely imitated. It was ' a much more subtle and arti- ficial combination of parts and powers than people were generally aware of,' and depended very largely for its efficacy on restraints, limitations, understandings, and customs which are not to be found in the statute book. ' The parts of our Constitution have gradually and almost insensibly, in a long course of time, accommo- dated themselves to each other and to their common as well as their separate purposes.' It was, however, in the opinion of Burke a total mistake to suppose that political liberty of any kind can be, or ought to be, possessed by all nations, and he greatly doubted whether France was ripe for it. 'Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moi'al chains upon their own appetites ... in propor- tion as they are more disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good, in preference to the flattery of knaves. Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.' Pox, in a private letter, spoke of the recommenda- tion in this pamphlet of ' a general war for the purpose of destroying the present Government of Prance ' as ' mere madness ; ' ' and it greatly accelerated the breach. It is remarkable, however, that in Parliament the pro- vocation still came steadily from Fox. On April 8, ' Fox's Cmrcspondmce, ii. 368. OH. II. DIVISION BETWEEN FOX AND BDEKE. 257 1791, in a debate on the Quebec Crovemment Bill, when Burke was not present, Fox expressed his delight at the enlighteued principles of freedom which were now advancing rapidly over a considerable part of the globe ; and with an evident allusion to the treatise of Burke, ridiculed the alleged attempt of the ministers to revive in Canada that ' spirit of chivalry ' which had fallen into disgrace in the neighbouring country. On the 15th, in a debate on the Russian armament, he again most gratuitously introduced the subject, declaring that he ' admired the new Constitution of France, con- sidered altogether, as the most stupendous and glorious edifice of liberty which had been erected on the founda- tion of human integrity in any time or country.' ' Burke at once, with much visible emotion, rose to reply, but it was the end of a long debate, and the cries of ' Question,' chiefly from his own side of the House, were so loud that he was forced to resume his seat. It was tolerably certain that the division was too serious to be closed. It was impossible that Burke, with his position in the Whig party, with his opinions of the French Revolution, and after the writings he had published, could acquiesce by his silence in the language of the leader of his party. There was a slight skirmish between the two leaders on April 21, in the course of which Burke, while speaking with much courtesy, uttered a most significant warning : ' Should it happen,' he said, ' as he hoped would not be the case, that he and his right honourable friend dif- fered from each other on principles of government, he desired it to be recollected that, however dear he con- sidered his friendship, there was something still dearer to his mind — the love of his country.' * > Pari. Hist. xxix. 105-107,249. • Ibid. xxix. 363. 258 THE FBENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. a. It was not, however, till the strange, disorderly, and passionate sitting of May 6, that the breach was fully consummated. The subject, which was the pro- posed new Constitution for Canada, seemed at first sight wholly unconnected with the French Revolution, but Burke privately informed Pox that he intended to make use of this occasion to express his views upon French affairs. The question being the nature of the Constitution to be given to a French province under English dominion, a comparison of French and English ideas of government appeared to him not irrelevant, and he also selected the occasion because the House being in committee, each member had a right to speak as often as he pleased. Pox called upon Burke, and endeavoured without success to induce him at least to postpone the discussion till a later period. Burke urged the extreme importance of the subject; the manner in which it had been already more than once introduced into Parliament ; the impossibility that he could, with his opinions, and after the part which he had taken, suffer the doctrines that had been pro- pounded to pass unchallenged ; the improbability of any equally favourable opportunity of expressing his views occurring during the present session of Parliament. The two statesmen entered largely into the question, and Burke stated fully and particularly the grounds of his opinions ; the plan of his intended speech ; the limits which he meant to impose upon himself. Neither party convinced the other, but there was no quarrel, and they walked together to the House still conversing amicably on the subject. This interview took place on April 21.^ The Quebec ' Annual Begister, 1791. See, Windham mentions {Diary, p. too, Burke's Appeal from the 223) that on the 22nd he had an New to the Old Whigs. The in- angry discussion with Sir Gilbert tentiou of Burke was soon known. ElUot on the Bubjeot. OH. n. DEBATE OF MAY 6. 259 Bill was postponed till after the Easter holidays, and when on May 6 the House went into committee, Burke opened the debate by a speech on the rights of man as illustrated by the Constitutions of Canada, the United States, and Great Britain, and soon launched into an elaborate dissertation upon the measures and prin- ciples now prevailing in France, and upon the enor- moufc dangers they threatened to England. ' If,' he said, ' the French Revolutionists were to mind their own affairs, and had shown no inclination to go abroad and to make proselytes, neither he nor any other member of the House would have had any right to meddle with them,' but they showed as much zeal in making proselytes as Lewis XIV. in making con- quests. It was soon evident that his own party were anxious that he should not be heard. At least seven times he was called to order,^ and at last Lord Sheffield formally moved that a discussion of the French Constitution when the House was in committee on the Quebec Bill was out of order. Pitt, however, after being more than once appealed to, interposed, and supported the contention of ' Lord Sidmouth was aocus- evidently drawn up under Burke's tomed to relate a strange, cha- eye, that the interruptions all raeteristio incident in this debate, came from his own side, and it which is not mentioned in the is plain that they were pre- Parl. Hist. As long as the meditated, for on April 21 Mr. interruptions came from the Taylor had announced that he leaders of the party, Burke bore would call anyone to order who, them with tolerable composure, in considering the Quebec Bill, but when the lesser lights ven- entered into a discussion of the tured to treat him in the same constitutions of other countries, way, he broke out in the words Compare Pari. Hist. xxix. 360, of Lear, ' The little dogs and all and Prior's Life of Burke, ii. —Tray, Blanche, and Sweet- 149. Burke evidently attributed heart: see, they bark at me.' the interruptions to Fox, but Fox Pellew's Life of Sidmouth, i. 85. very emphatically repudiated tha It is noticed in the account in imputation. Pari, Hist. zxix. the Annual Register, which was 391. 260 THE FKENCH REVOLUTION. oh. n. Burke that a discussion of the general principles on which political power should be based was germane to a consideration of the new Constitution to be established in Canada, though he added that as a matter of discre- tion he greatly wished that French politics had not been introduced into the debate. But Fox, in his reply, completely threw away the scabbard. He dilated with keen irony upon the disorderly character of the speech of Burke, who, he said, was manifestly seeking to force on a quarrel with ' his nearest and dearest friend ' by introducing a subject which was totally alien to a de- tailed examination of the clauses of the Quebec Bill, and who had selected as the occasion for that quarrel a time when his friend had been ' grossly misrepresented and traduced ' as a Republican. For his part he refused to countenance such an irregularity as a discussion of the French Constitution in a committee on the Quebec Bill. If such a discussion continued he would leave the House. A.t the same time he had no hesitation in re- peating his former statement, that he considered the French Eevolution, ' on the whole, one of the most glorious events in the history of mankind.' He accused Burke of abandoning the principles of his whole life, and especially those which he held during the American Eevolution ; and he pronounced his recent writings and speeches to be libels on the British Constitution, which was founded, like the new Constitution in France, on the rights of man. He had said more, he added, than he intended, possibly more than was wise and proper ; but the ministerial side of the House had encouraged this discussion apparently in order to elicit his views. It was very unnecessary, as he never concealed them. On the French Revolution his opinions and those of his right honourable friend * were wide as the poles asunder.' The sequel of the debate has been often told. Burke OH. II. DEBATE OF MAY 6. 261 began his reply in slow, grave, and measured tones, but rose at last into a perfect tempest of passion. He had not introduced the topic of the French Revolution into Parliament; he had spoken only after repeated provocation, and he now complained bitterly of the virulence of the attacks of one who had for twenty- two years been his intimate friend ; of the charges of something like treachery that were brought agaiust him, though he had fully and fairly warned his opponent of his determination to raise this discussion ; of the per- sistent and organised attempts to prevent him from being heard — attempts which seemed doubly ungrateful, as he had himself, during the twenty-six years of his parliamentary Ufe, never called a member to order. He repeated that the. discussion of a new Constitution to be provided for a portion of the British Empire, was a proper occasion for examining the principles on which Constitutions should be framed, and he persisted in the strain of argument that had been denounced. He ex- patiated with passionate eloquence on the revolutionary doctrines that were now industriously propagated by clubs and papers ; the perpetual comparison of the Con- stitutions of England and France, to the disparagement of the former; the active correspondence established between English demagogues and French revolutionists ; the enormous aggravation of the danger when French principles were countenanced and eulogised by the leader of one of the great parties in the State. He had on several previous occasions differed from Fox, but no such differences had ever for a moment interrupted their friendship. He now knew that he stood in Parliament isolated and unsupported, and that he was sacrificing his oldest friendship at an age when friendships could not be replaced. But the call of public duty was im- perative, and if it was with his last breath he would say, ' Fly from the French Constitution.' At this point Fox 262 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. ii. interposed and whispered, ' There is no loss of friends.' ' Yes,' Burke fiercely rejoined, ' there is a loss of friends ; I know the price of my conduct. Our friendship is at an end.' It was but too true. Fox, over whose healthy, affectionate, and not very profound nature political pas- sions never acquired the fierce and undivided empire they ■ obtained in Burke, had now but one wish — to appease the quarrel. As he rose to answer, the tears trickled down his cheeks. For some moments he was unable to speak, and men who were but too apt to look on the conflicts of party as they looked on those of the cock pit or the prize ring, were moved to an unwonted emotion by the pathos of the scene. ' It was painful,' he said in beginning a most admirable and temperate defence of his views, ' painful to be unkindly treated by those to whom they felt the greatest obligations, and who, notwithstanding their harshness, they must still love and esteem. He could not forget that when Httle more than a boy he had received favours from his right honourable friend, that their friendship had grown with their years, that it had continued for upwards of twenty- five years, and that for the last twenty years they had acted together and lived on terms of the most familiar intimacy. He hoped that, notwithstanding what had happened, his right honourable friend would think on those past times, and however any imprudent or intem- perate words might have offended him, it would show that he had not been intentionally ia fault.' Much more was said in the same strain, but the language of conciliation had no longer any influence on Burke. The prophetic fury, whether of inspiration or possession, was iipon him, and that night closed a friendship which was one of the most memorable in English history. The two statesmen met and co-operated in the impeach- ment of Hastings, and they sometimes conversed amicably OH. n. ISOLATION OF BtTEKE. 263 together;* but the breach was never healed, and the Whig party for at least a generation was shattered by their quarrel.^ A trivial incident which took place at the close of the sitting illustrated but too plainly the morbid excitement under which Burke was labouring. It was a wet night, and he asked a member, whose carriage was standing near, to set him down at his house. As they drove they began to speak on the question that had been discussed, but when Burke discovered that his friend had French sympathies he seized the check string in a fary and was with difficulty restrained from descending into the rain. When the carriage at length arrived at his house, he hurried out without speaking a word, nor did he ever renew his ac- quaintance.* It seemed as though the victory lay with Fox. The newspapers of the party in general assailed Burke with great bitterness as a deserter — a charge which must have been especially painful to one who more than any other living man had dwelt upon the importance and the obligation of party discipline. In the debate on May 6 the interruptions appear to have all come from his own party, and no member of that party openly supported him, nor did any yet follow him in his secession. In a ' In a letter to his sod dated ings's trial, spoke to me about Feb. 19, 1792, Burke said : ' As the business of the Catholics of to opposition, and my relation to Ireland, and expressed himself, them, things remain nearly as as I thought he would, very they were ; no approximation on strongly in their favour ; but the part of Fox to me, or of me with little hopes of anything to him, or to or from any of his being done.' Burke's Correspond- people, except general civility, ence, in. 415. when seldom we meet. 1 never " Pari. Hist. See, too, the stay in the House to hear any excellent account in the Annual debates, much less to divide on Register, 1791. any question. On the affair of ' Viiox's Life of BurTce,ii.loi, Hastings we converse just as we 155. did. Fox sitting by me at Hast- 264 THE FEENCII EEVOLUTIOIT. oh. n. debate a few days later Fox guarded himself against the imputation of republicanism by a speech, which has been quoted in a former chapter,' strongly asserting the ne- cessity of a monarchical and aristocratic element in a well-constituted State, while Burke spoke of himself in melancholy terms as excluded from and disgraced by his party. This language was hardly exaggerated, for a few days after the rupture the ' Morning Chronicle,' which was known to represent especially the opinions of Fox, contained the following paragraph : ' The great and firm body of the Whigs in England, true to their principles, have decided on the dispute between Mr. Fox and Mr. Burke, and the former is declared to have maintained the pure doctrines by which they are bound together and upon which they have invariably acted. The consequence is that Mr. Burke retires from Parlia- ment.' * Scarcely a year, however, had passed when all this was changed. The signs of discontent and division began to multiply rapidly in the Whig party, and at length in 1794 a great portion of it adopted the prin- ciples of Burke and seceded openly from Fox. Public opinion warmly supported them, and the minority which adhered to Fox became one of the weakest and most discredited oppositions ever known in England. The position of Burke for some time after his quarrel with Fox was very painful and isolated. The impeach- ment of Hastings still occupied much of his thoughts, but in addition to Fox he was now much alienated from Francis, with whom this impeachment had brought him into close contact, and for whom he seems to have entertained a warm respect. Francis, who had seen part of Burke's book on the French Revolution before its publication, had expressed his strong disapprobation ' P. 56 ' Prior's Life of Burke, ii. 169 OH. n. BDEKE'S POLICY ABOUT EEFOEM. 265 in letters of very powerfiil and skilful criticism, and as time rolled on he identified himself closely with Fox and with the democratic section of the party.' Burke himself now seldom appeared in Parliament. Much has been said of the extreme horror of reform which the French Revolution produced in his mind, but on this subject there is some prevalent exaggeration. His opposition to parliamentary reform, as we have already seen, dates from a much earlier period, and although he undoubtedly now thought that the main danger was not, as at the beginning of the reign, from royal influence but from democratic innovation ; although he was now strongly opposed to any measures in favour of the Dissenters, and especially the Unita- rians, which might either furnish a precedent for attacks against the Church or strengthen the political power of the partisans of the Revolution, there was still a large class of questions on which he was an earnest reformer. He spoke powerfully in favour of the abolition of the slave trade. He advocated the abolition of imprison- ment for debt, and he threw himself with great ardour and efiect into the movement for the relief of the Irish Catholics. One of the causes with which he had espe- cially identified himself in his early life, now triumphed with general concurrence. The Bill which he had framed in 1771 giving juries jurisdiction in cases of libel was revived by Pox in 1791 with very slight alterations, and was carried with scarcely any opposi- tion. Pox had himself opposed this measure when it ' See Paries and Merivale's of my name and reputation, Life of Francis, ii. 453. In though from 1791 we had been those very acute notes in which almost entirely disunited after a Francis delineated some of his real friendship and intimacy of contemporaries, he says, after many years ; because I am sure describing Fox : ' I would have that if he had undertaken the much sooner trusted Edmund task he would have performed ii Burke with the posthumous care heartily and bond fide.' 266 THE FBENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. ii. had been previously introduced, and it is remarkable that in taking up the question he appears to have made no acknowledgment whatever of the previous services of Burke, who treated the neglect with a disdainful silence. Burke did not join Pitt, and his relations to the Whig party were very ambiguous. In his ' Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs ' he not only defended with triumphant power the consistency of his own poli- tical career, but also continued the line of argument which he had pursued in his ' Eeflections on the French Revolution,' showing that the original doctrines of the Whigs of 1688 were essentially opposed to the new French maxims. From the words of the Declaration of Eights and of the Act of Settlement ; from the lan- guage of Somers ; from the speeches of the managers of the impeachment of Sacheverell, when the Whig doctrine of resistance was defined and elaborated with special care by the most accredited lawyers and states- men of the party, he showed that according to the original Whig theory the English Grown was in no sense elective, but was a limited and hereditary mon- archy settled in one family by a stringent, permanent contract, which was equally binding on the ruler and on the subjects. He showed that the English Revolu- tion was justified only on the ground that the Sovereign had broken his contract, and that no other means were left for the recovery, maintenance, and security of the ancient Constitution, and that those who made it took the utmost pains to restrict it within these limits, and to avoid giving the smallest countenance to the doctrine that had prevailed during the Commonwealth, of the inalienable right of nations to change their Government when they pleased. ' Resistance,' said Walpole, ' ought never to be thought of but when an utter subversion of the laws of the realm threatens the whole frame of our OH. n. APPEAL TO THE OLD WHIGS. 267 Constitution, and no redress can otherwise be hoped for. It therefore does, and ought for ever to stand in the eye and letter of the law as the highest offence.' ' In no case,' said Sir Joseph Jekyll, ' can resistance be lawful but in case of extreme necessity and when the Constitution cannot otherwise be preserved ; and such necessity ought to be plain and obvious to the sense and judgment of the whole nation, and this was the case' at the Eevolution.' ' Neither the few nor the many,' wrote Burke, ' have a right to act merely by their will in any matter connected with duty, trust, engagement or obligation. The Constitution of a coun- try being once settled upon some compact, tacit or expressed, there is no power existing of force to alter it without the breach of the covenant or the consent of aU the parties. Such is the nature of a contract. And the votes of a majority of the people, whatever their infamous flatterers may teach in order to corrupt their minds, cannot alter the moral any more than they can alter the physical essence of things. The people are not to be taught to think lightly of their engagements to their governors ; else they teach governors to think lightly of their engagements to them.' ' It will hardly be denied that there is something in this language very alien to the tone of thought now prevailing in England, and especially in the English Liberal party. Their sentiment is probably expressed with much greater fidelity by Paine. ' What is govern- ment,' he asked, ' more than the management of the affairs of a nation? It is not, and from its nature cannot be, the property of any particular man or family, but of the whole community at whose expense it is sup- ported ; and though by force or contrivance it has been usurped into an inheritance, the usurpation cannot alter ' Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs. 268 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. ph. ii. the right of things. Sovereignty as a matter of right appertains to the nation only, and not to any indivi- dual, and a nation has at all times an inherent, inde- feasible right to abolish any form of government it finds inconvenient, and establish such as accords with its interest, disposition, and happiness.' The success of the ' Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs ' was very great, but the leading Whigs kept a careful silence, §,nd without disputing Burke's theory of the Constitution blamed the precipitance with which he had brought the question to an issue in Par- liament. Lord Stormont had a long interview with him, in which he said that the breach in the party was solely due to the mutual imprudence of Fox and Burke. There was, he believed, no real material difference of principle between them, and on the subject of the con- fiscation of Church property they were completely at one. Fox was too sensible a man to wish for the de- struction of the Constitution, and as for the rest of the party, he had not seen a single man who approved of the doctrines of Paine, or of anything like them, or who differed in any considerable degree from the principles of Burke. It was therefore in the highest degree im- prudent to force these questions into discussion, and exceedingly unfavourable to the interests of the French aristocracy to represent a great English party as adverse to them, when ia reality it was not. Burke fully admitted that there was some force in these views. He did not himself believe that more than ten, or at most thirteen, members of the two Houses of Parliament really sympathised with the French, and he believed that ' inwardly even Fox did not differ from him materially, if at all,' but he answered that doctrines of the most dangerous character, and absolutely inconsistent with the British Constitution and with the original principles of the Whig party, OH. u. THE WHIG PARTY AEISTOCEATIC. 269 were now industriously circulated by societies and newspapers which purported to represent that party, and that all his endeavours to induce the Whig leaders to disclaim such doctors and doctrines had proved fruit- less. On the contrary, Pox had repeatedly pronounced unqualified ■ eulogies on the French Kevolution, and in the very speech in which he had endeavoured to heal the quarrel, he had taken occasion to express his entire dissent from ' every doctrine ' contained in the book in which Burke had most fully expressed his views on the British Constitution as well as on French affairs.' Stormont could only answer that Fox could not really have meant to condemn every part of Burke's book, and that the silence of the other Whig leaders was due to their fear of showing that there were divisions among them. Burke retorted that ' the sort of unanimity pro- duced was a supposed common adherence to sentiments odious to the best of them.' ^ He strenuously and fiercely maintained, in his private correspondence, that it was ' now absolutely necessary to separate those who cultivate a rational and sober liberty upon the plan of our existing Constitution, from those who think they have no liberty, if it does not comprehend a right in them of making to themselves new Constitutions at their pleasure.' The Whig party, he urged, as it had been originally formed and as he had always defended it, was as far as possible from a democratic party; and if it ever became a democratic party, it lost all right to the allegiance of those who joined it on its original principles. 'The party,' he wrote, ' with which I acted had by the malevolent and unthinking been reproached, and by the wise and good always esteemed and confided iu as an aristocratic party. ' See Pari. Hist. xxix. 389. ' Burke's Correspondence, iii. 224-226, 235, 236, 274. 270 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. on. ii. Such I always uuderstood it to be in the true sense of the word. I understood it to be a party in its composi- tion and in its principles connected with the solid, permanent, long-possessed property of the country ; a party which, by a temper derived from that species of property and affording a security to it, was attached to the ancient, tried usages of the kingdom; a party, there- fore, essentially constructed upon a ground plot of stability and independence, . . . equally removed from servile Court compliances and from popular levity, pre- sumption, and precipitation.' Its members were bound ' by the very constitution of the party ... to support these aristocratic principles and the aristocratic interests connected with them as essential to the real benefit of the body of the people, to which all names of party, all ranks and orders in the State, and even Government itself ought to be entirely subordinate.' ' Against the existence of any such description of men as our party is in a great measure composed of, against the existence of any mode of government on such a basis, we have seen a serious and systematic attack attended with the most complete success, in another country, but in a country at our very door. . . . If I were to produce an example of something diametrically opposite to the composition, to the spirit, to the temper, to the character and to all the maxims of our old and unregenerated party, some- thing fitted to illustrate it by the strongest opposition, I would produce what has been done in France. . . . They who cry up the French Eevolution, cry down the party which you and I had so long the honour and satisfaction to belong to. . . . My party principles, as well as my general politics and my natural sentiments, must lead me to detest the French Revolution in the act, in the spirit, in the consequences, and most of all in the example.' Among the many examples of apostasy from the OH. n. THE PEINCE OF WALES. 271 old Whig creed tlie most flagrant was fiimished by the Prince of Wales. In the Eegency debates no one had taken so prominent a part, no one had incurred so much odium on behalf of the claims of the Prince, as Burke, and he had argued against the Government measure on essentially the same principles as those on which he was arguing against the French Eevolution. ' I endeavoured,' he wrote, ' to show that the hereditary succession could not be supported whilst a person who had the chief interest in it was, during a virtual in- terregnum, excluded from the Government ; and that the direct tendency of the measure, as well as the grounds upon which it was argued, went to make the Grown itself elective, contrary (as I contended) to the funda- mental settlement made after the Revolution.' The Prince ' is much more personally concerned in all ques- tions of succession than the King, who is in possession ; ' yet ' he has been persuaded not only .to look with all possible coldness on myself, but to lose no opportunity of publicly declaring his disapprobation of a book written to prove that the Grown to which (I hope) he is to succeed is not elective. For this I am in disgrace at Carlton House ! . . . Those the most in his favour and confidence are avowed admirers of the French democracy. Even his Attorney and his Solicitor General ' . . . are enthusiasts, public and declared for the French Revo- lution and its principles. ... A Prince of Wales with democratic law servants, with democratic political friends, with democratic personal favourites ! If this be not ominous to the Crown, I know not what is.' * There had already, as we have seen, in the early years of the reign, been a marked divergence of ten- dency between the more aristocratic Whigs of the Rockingham section to whicli, Burke belonged, and the " Erskine and P%gott. ' Burke's Comspondince, iii. 388-401. 19 272 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. cii. ii. more democratic Whigs who followed the standard of Chatham. It is, however, a remarkable fact that Lord Camden, who had been the most trusted colleague of Chatham, and who more than any other man might be regarded as the exponent of his opinions, now wrote to Burke expressing his warm admiration of the ' Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs,' and his ' perfect con- currence in every part of the argument from the begin- ning to the end.' ' I have always,' he said, ' thought myself an old Whig and held the same principles with yourself; but I suppose none or very few of us ever thought upon the subject with so much correctness, and hardly any would be able to express their thoughts with such clearness, justness, and force of argument.' ^ Burke was now living to a great degree among French gentlemen who had been driven into exile by the Revolution. The fearful sufferings that were in- flicted in France. during its first stage by the peasant war against the gentry, by the cessation of rents and feudal dues, by the violent expulsion of immense numbers from their homes, by the new oath which drove the clergy by thousands from their cures, and by the sudden suppression of the monasteries, is in general but little realised. These things have been thrown into the shade by the still darker and more dramatic atrocities of the Reign of Terror, and by the art of those French historians of the Revolution, who have laboured to persuade the world that the horrors which incontestably accompanied the movement they admire were mainly due to the emigration of the gentry and to the fear of invasion. This is a theory which will hardly survive among educated men its recent crush- ing exposure by Taine, and it was not likely to occur to those who came in contact with the innumerable Burke's Correspondence, iii. 228, 229. OH. n. THE EMIGEANT GENTET.- 273 fugitives who appeared in England within the first year of the Revolution. ' Prance,' said Fox in the debate on May 6, ' has established a complete, unequivocal toleration, and I heartily wish that a complete toleration was also established in England.' It is easy, replied Burke, to estimate the value of this toleration under which the whole French clergy have been deprived of their bread, unless they take an oath inconsistent with the teaching of their Church, while Sisters of Charity, engaged in tending the sick in the hospitals, have been dragged into the streets and scourged, for no other crime than that of receiving the Sacraments from a priest who had not submitted to the revolutionary test.' The sufferings of the ruined gentry of France, with whom he was constantly associating, filled Burke with a compassion which at last blinded him to every other consideration, and excited his passions against their spoliators to the very verge of madness. In appeals for subscriptions to the English public he enumerated their wrongs with an admirable pathos,'' and as early as November 1790 he described the Eevolution with little exaggeration as ' the entire destruction (for it is no less) of all the gentlemen of a great country, the utter ruin of their property, and the servitude of their per- sons.' His indignation was all the greater because he knew as few Englishmen knew the many reforms which had been effected in France in the preceding decade ; the readiness with which the EJing had surrendered his arbitrary power, and the privileged orders their most obnoxious privileges; the liberal spirit they displayed in the provincial assemblies, in the elec- toral assemblies, and at the opening of the States- General; and the perfect facility with which a sys- ' Pari. Hist. xxix. 393, 397. ' Prior's Life of Burke, ii. Compare Taine, Hist, de la B&oo- 171-175. lution, i. 489-450. 274 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. ii, tern of constitutional liberty could have been esta- blislied with their concurrence. The Trench, he wrote, ' possessed a vast body of nobility and gentry, amongst the first in the world for splendour, and the very first for disinterested services to their country, in which I include the most disinterested and uncorrupt judicature (even by the confession of its enemies) that ever was. These they persecuted; they hunted them down like wild beasts ; they expelled them from their families and their houses and dispersed them into every country in Europe, obliging them either to pine in fear and misery at home, or to escape into want and exile in foreign lands; nay,. . . they abrogated their very names and their titular descriptions as something horrible and ofiensive to the ears of mankind. The means by which all this was done leaves an example in Europe never to be efiaced, and which no thinking man, I imagine, can present to his mind without consternation, that is, the bribing of an immense body of soldiers taken from the lowest of the people to a universal revolt against their oflScers, who were the whole body of the country gentle- men and the landed interest of the nation.' ' When I saw,' he continued, ' this mingled scene of crime, of vice, of disorder, of folly, and of madness, received by very many here not with the horror and disgust which it ought to have produced, but with rapture and exul- tation as some almost supernatural benefit showered down upon the race of mankind ; and when I saw that arrangements were publicly made for communicating to these islands their full share of these blessings, I thought myself bound to stand out and by every means in my power to distinguish the ideas of a sober and virtuous liberty (such as I thought our party had ever cultivated) from that profligate, immoral, impious, and rebellious licence which, through the medium of every sort of disorder and calamity, conducts to some kind OH. II. COSMOPOLITAN CHAEACTEE OF EEVOLUTION. 275 or otlier of tyrannic domination.' ' The name of the Monarchy and of the hereditary Monarchy, too, they preserve in France . . . but against the nobility and gentry they have waged inexpiable war. There are at this day' no fewer than 10,000 heads of respectable famihes driven out of France. . . . What are we to think of a Constitution as a pattern, from, which the whole gentry of a country ... fly as from a place of infection ? ' * The extreme terror and hatred, however, with which Burke regarded the Revolution, sprang mainly from his deep conviction that its influence must be necessarily contagious, and probably cosmopolitan. The English Revolution of 1688 had been a purely national event, turning mainly on the question whether James II. in dispensing with the penal statutes against Roman Catholics, and committing the other acts com- plained of in the Declaration of Rights, had exceeded the defined and legitimate powers of an English king. The American Revolution had turned mainly on the constitutional question whether the Imperial Parlia- ment in imposing, for the defence of the Empire, direct taxation on the colonies, had transgressed its lawful province and invaded that of the local Legislatures. But the French Revolution, in the opinion of Burke, was of a wholly different kind. It belonged to the same category of events as the foundation of Moham- medanism and the Reformation of the sixteenth cen- tury. It was not a revolt against local or particular grievances, but the introduction into Europe of a new species of government resting on doctrines of the rights of man, which were equally applicable to all nations, and absolutely inconsistent with all ancient govem- ' Jan. 31, 1792. ' Burke's Correspondence, iii. 392-394, 403, 404, 406. 276 THE FEENCH EEVOLIJTION. oh. ii. ments. It was emphatically one of those revolutions of doctrine in which a spirit of proselytism forms an essential part, which mnst affect not only the external relations but also the internal constitutions of all sur- rounding countries, must introduce into them new interests, passions, and divisions, and must, like the religious movement of the sixteenth century, weaken and supersede the spirit of local patriotism, and com- bine in a single connection the inhabitants of many countries. ' In the modem world,' it is true, ' before this time there had been no instance of this spirit of general political faction, separated from religion, per- vading several countries and forming a principle of union between the partisans in each,' ' but it was quite in accordance with human nature that a political doctrine should act as widely and powerfully upon the passions and interests as a religious one. ' There is a wide difference between the multitude when they act against their Government from a sense of grievance, or from zeal for some opinions. When men are thoroughly possessed with that zeal, it is diflScult to calculate its force. It is certain that its power is by no means in exact proportion to its reasonableness. It must always have been discoverable by persons of reflection, but it is now obvious to the world that a theory concerning government may become as much a cause of fanaticism as a dogma in religion.' ^ The new political creed which it was attempted to establish in Europe was a perfectly definite one. It was ' that the majority, told by the head, of the taxable people in every country, is the perpetual, natiu-al, un- ceasing, indefeasible sovereign ; that this majority is perfectly master of the form as well as the administra- ' Thoughts on French Affairs. ' Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs. CH. u. THE BEVOLUTIONAEY DOCTEINE. 277 tion of the State, and that the magistrates, under what- ever names they are c-alled, are only functionaries to obey the orders (general as laws or particular as decrees) which that majority can make ; that this is the only natural government, and that all others are tyranny and usurpation.'' 'The principle of the French Revolution admits of no compromise, no temperament, no qualifica- tion. Like all metaphysical positions, if true at all, it must be true at all times, at all places, and under all circumstances ; and it is a principle pointing necessarily to practice, inasmuch as it requires the perpetual exer- cise of the sovereignty by the existing majority, who cannot bind their good faith by any compact however solemn, for a year, a month, a week, or a single day.' ' All forms of government are but provisional till it shall please the Sovereign to change them, which he may do without any motive of moral or political necessity, with- out any consideration of expediency.' 'The tendency of such a creed is obvious. At a touch it crumbles the bond of every political society now in existence to a rope of sand. It is a sentence of deposition to all the kings of Europe, who claim to be sovereigns by the respective constitutions of their countries ; it is an edict of pro- scription to all aristocratical bodies, which must be always dangerous to the necessary equality of this new system, and in mixed governments have a share in legislation directly incompatible with the right of a majority told by the head ; and it is an absolute grant of every kingdom to the inferior orders, for they are and ever will be the many.' ^ The existence in the centre of Europe of a powerful government resting on this creed was, in the eyes of Burke, the most tremendous fact in modem politics. ' Thoughts on French Affairs. little doubt that this was -written ' Annual Register, 1791, pp. by Burke himself. 211- 215. There is, Ithink, very 278 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. ch. ii. By the confiscation and division of great masses of property, by the annihilation of all old privileges and monopolies, by the destruction in a few months of all the institutions, corporations, traditional controls, usages and settled maxims of a great and venerable monarchy, the French politicians had appealed irresistibly to the most dangerous passions in societies — cupidity, envy, extravagant ambition, inordinate and intoxicating self- confidence. If a government founded on these principles, and appealing systematically to these passions, was firmly established in the country which, from its geo- graphical position and from the character of its people, bad at all times exercised the greatest influence over its neighbours, no government in Europe would be safe. French emissaries of sedition would multiply in every land. French examples and influence would be every- where felt, stimulating into activity the most dangerous classes, shaking the whole settled order of Europe, hold- ing out ideals of spoliation and anarchy which would make sober and regulated progress impossible. As Athens had once been at the head of a democratic, and Sparta of an aristocratic, faction in every Greek State, as the King of Sweden had once been at the head of a Protestant, and the King of Spain of a Catholic interest in many countries, so France would now become the head of a party of anarchy in every land. The new system, ' as it has first been realised dogmatically and practically iu France, makes France the natural head of all factions formed on a similar principle, wherever they may pre- vail.' ' As long as it exists in France it will be the interest of the managers there, as it is the very essence of their plan, to disturb and distract all other govern- ments, and their endless succession of restless politicians will continually stimulate them to new attempts.' ' ' Thoughts on French Affairs. more or less, there is, and must 'Wherever this principle prevails be, a French faction proportion- OH. II. EEVOLUTIONAEY PEOSELYTISM. 279 This was the estimate of the Eevolution which now obtained a complete empire over the mind of Burke, and 'vhich inspired all he wrote. The activity of the corre- spondence between English democrats and French revo- lutionists ; the multiplication of aifiliated societies in the great English towns ; the constant accounts of French political proselytism in the Netherlands, in Switzerland, and in some parts of Germany ; and the avowed intention of the French, if a European war broke out, to make an encouragement of revolutionary passions in other coun- tries their chief weapon in the conflict, corroborated and intensified his fears, and he was fully convinced of ' the utter impossibility of a counter revolution from any in- ternal cause.' All the calculations and analogies drawn from the old settled governments of Europe seemed to him misleading when applied to this new and portentous phenomenon. 'The political and civil power in France,' he wrote, ' is now wholly separated from its property of every description, and neither the landed nor the moneyed interest possesses the smallest weight or consideration in the direction of any public concerns.' Eeckless, un- scrupulous, proselytising fanatics, commanding all the energies and ambitions unconnected with birth and property, were at the head of affairs ; they had effectually bribed the richer peasantry by the confiscation of Church property and of feudal dues ; they had constructed in ately strong; audit will be much tics. Tliat spirit of ambition more closely united in politics to which wag formerly dreaded in the great head at Paris, than the French Monarchy, has ac- even were the rehgious factions tnated the French Eepubhc from which so long distracted Europe, its birth, and with such a power- and have been so recently laid ful lever planted under the at rest. For the latter became foundations of every Govern- pohtical, not primarily and ne- ment in Europe, she threatena cessarily, but secondarily and in- sooner or later to shake them oidentally. Hers the very ground all to pieces.' Anrmal Register, of distinction is the first and 1791, p. 215. most important question of poll- 280 THE FEENCH REVOLUTION. ch. ii. the municipalities the most tremendous engine of govern- ment and terrorism ; they had infused into politics all the fanaticism and distempered energy of a new religion, and they taught a system of doctrine which was certain to spread if it was recommended for but a short time by the authority of example and of success. It had already ' very many partisans in every country in Europe, but particularly in England.' 'It is gaining ground in every country. Being founded on principles most de- lusive indeed, but the most flattering to the natural propensities of the unthinking multitude, and to the speculations of all those who think without thinking very profoundly, it must daily extend its influence.' ' Such were the opinions and such the feelings that animated Burke in preaching with the passion of another Peter the Hermit a crusade against the French Revo- lution. He had from the beginning watched with sym- pathy the great combination of the continental Powers that was forming against it, and at the request of Calonne, who acted as minister for the emigrant princes, Burke's son paid them a visit in the summer of 1791 as the representative of his father.^ Of the legitimacy of the intended war Burke had no doubt. It was to be undertaken for the relief of the oppressed Bang, Church, and landed gentry of France. All treaties with France had been made with the mon- arch, and supposed a monarchy to be the legal govern- ment of the country, and they were all, therefore, in his opinion, annulled when the monarchy was virtually de- stroyed. He quoted the opinion of Vattel, that when any country is divided the other Powers are free to take which side they please, and that when any country in the great federation of Europe has made itself a manifest ' Thoughts on French Affairs. > Burke's Ccyrrespondejice, iii. 220, 221. OH. n. THE CASE FOR INTERVENTION. 281 source of danger and disturbance to its neighbours, they have a right to interfere. He pointed to the recent Isup- pression of popular movements in Holland, in the Aus- trian Netherlands, and in the bishopric of LiSge, and he contended that such an invasion as he desired would be welcomed as a relief by all that was best in the French nation. Interference in a divided country ' must indeed always be a right whilst the privilege of doing good to others and of averting from them every sort of evil is a right. Circumstances may render this right a duty. It depends wholly on this, whether it be a hand fide charity to a party, and a prudent precaution with regard to yourself, or whether under the pretence of aiding one of the parties in a nation, you act in such a manner as to aggravate its calamities and accomplish its final destruc- tion.' ' Of the magnitude and imminence of the danger to all nations, but especially to England, he had no doubt, and although he did not at first urge that she should take an active part, he claimed for the allies her moral support, and he predicted that she would be inevitably drawn into the conflict. Never before in the long history of the antagonism of the two nations had France, in his opinion, been so much a danger to England, and none of the many struggles to maintain the balance of power in Europe had involved more vital issues. ' This league is for the preservation of that state of things in Europe, to which we owe all that we are, and which furnished just grounds of expectation for further and safe improve- ment. Its foundation is just and honest.' ^ ' Tins evil in the heart of Europe must be extirpated from that centre, or no part of the circumference can be free from the mischief which radiates from it, and which will spread ' Remarks on the Policy of the Alliet. " Corresipondence, iii. 271. 582 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. ch. ii. circle beyond circle, in .spite of all the little defensive precautions whicii can be employed against it.' ' The French policy of Burke will now find few de- fenders, and the present writer is certainly not among the number. It is incontestable, indeed, that Burke realised the true character and the wide influence of the French Revolution much earlier and more clearly than his contemporaries ; that he foresaw in the palmy days of 1790 the deepening horrors that ensued, and that he alone truly estimated the tremendous force both for aggression and defence which the revolutionary move- ment was about to generate. He was right in predict- ing that England would be dragged into the war, and whether he was right or wrong in urging the necessity to the peace of Europe of a Bourbon restoration, it is at least certain that long after he was in his grave the great Powers of Europe adopted and acted on his opinion. It is impossible to say with confidence whether he ex- aggerated the evils that would have ensued if a revolu- tionary government, such as Robespierre conceived, had been permanently established in France. The experi- ment was not tried, and after a brief period which forms one of the most hideous pages in the history of humanity, a great military despotism arose, which terminated the anarchical phase of the Revolution, at the cost of appal- ling calamities to the world. To a discriminating reader even the most violent writings of Burke on the French Revolution are full of interest and instruction, but it is impossible to deny that they are steeped in passion and exaggeration. Mirabeau and Lafayette were scarcely less abhorrent to him than Clootz and Robespierre ; the sale of Church property under manifest and pressing necessity, and with a provision for paying salaries to the \ife tenants, seemed to him not less outrageous than the ' Considerations on the present State of Affain, CH. n. BUEKE'S CONDITIONS OF INTERVENTION. 283 wholesale confiscations of the revolutionary tribunals ; and the Constituent Assembly, with its manifest good intentions, and its many great and lasting reforms, was denounced in language scarcely less vehement than that which was justly applied to the Convention. It showed a strange flaw in his judgment that he should have ever imagined that the great Powers of Europe would combine in a disinterested crusade for the restoration of the old order in France, or that a foreign invasion could fail to aggravate the evil it was intended to cure. For the reasons already stated, Burke appears to me to have enormously exaggerated the dangers to England from French example. A policy of strict non- interference was probably that which would have given France the best chance of speedily throwing off the fever under which she was suffering, and if such a policy was not pursued by the other Powers it was at least in the highest degree for the advantage of England to remain as long as \iossible neutral in the conflict, while preparing herself foi any eventuality. Wliether, however, Burke had any real influence in plunging England into the war with France is extremely doubtful. He taught the nation to look with horror on the Revolution, and to wage the war against it with energy and unanimity, but it is not probable that any policy could have avoided it. It must be remembered, too, that he strenuously insisted on three conditions as essential to the justifica- tion of an armed interference. The first was that the war should not be undertaken for any territorial aggran- disement, but for the sole purpose of restoring a settled order of government to a leading nation in Europe, and suppressing a system of rebellion, and contagious and proseljrtising anarchy, which was a manifest source of danger and disturbance to surrounding nations. The second was that in this war the part of the foreigner should not be that of a principal but of an ally. ' If I 284 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. ii. could command the whole military arm of Europe,' he wrote, ' I am sure that a bribe of the best province in that kingdom would not tempt me to intermeddle in their affairs, except in perfect concurrence and concert with the natural legal interests of the country, composed of the ecclesiastical, the military, the several corporate bodies of justice and of burghership, making under a monarch (I repeat it again and again) the French nation according to its fundamental constitution. No con- siderate statesman would undertake to meddle with it upon any other condition.' ' The third condition was that the war should not be one for the restoration of despotism. On this subject he wrote most earnestly to his son, who was advising the French princes. They ought, he said, to promise distinctly and without ambiguity the restoration with the monarchy of a free constitution ; the meeting of the States freely chosen, and voting by order, according to the ancient legal form; the abolition of letters of 'cachet' and all other arbitrary imprisonment. All taxes should be voted by the States ; the Ministry sliould be made responsible ; the revenue should be put out of the reach of malversation, and a synod of the Galilean Church should be summoned to reform its abuses. ' Without such a declaration,' he continued, ' or to that effect, they can hope no converts. For my part for one, though I make no doubt of preferring the ancient course, or almost any other, to this vile chimera and sick man's dream of government, yet I could not actively, or with a good heart and clear conscience, go to the re-establishment of a monarchical despotism in the place of this system of anarchy.' * If these three conditions were observed, Burke be- ' Bemarks on the Policy of the Alliaa, ' Burke's Correspondence, iii. 349. OH. D. BUEKE'S PEEDICTIONS. 285 lieved that all the more respectable classes in France would welcome an invasion which freed them from intolerable terrorism, but he soon saw that his views were little likely to be adopted. ' I fear,' he once said, ' that I am the only person in France or England who is aware of the extent of the danger with which we are threatened.' ' In the whole hemisphere of politics I can scarcely see a ministerial head which rises to the level of the circumstances.' ' His letters are full of complaints of the supineness of the French King and nobles ; of the inveterate in- trigues of the French Queen ; of the selfishness of the continental Sovereigns, who thought only either of their own order or of territorial aggrandisement ; of the blindness and the levity of English politicians. While Fox — though with growing misgiving — looked upon the Revolution as a millennial dawn, while Pitt con- sidered it as little more than a passing cloud, Burke saw plainly that it was a great crisis in human affairs, portending terrible and as yet unknown calamities to mankind. To many he seemed a mere dreamer of dreams, but the event soon justified his forecast. The tyranny of the Convention and the Committee of Public Safety which was fast approaching, was on the whole the most sanguinary and odious in modern history, and the career of Napoleon, which was a direct consequence of the subversion of the old order of French govern- ment, sacrificed about two millions of human lives, and all but ended in a total eclipse of the liberties of Europe. For some time, as we have already seen, Burke had been painfully conscious that he was unfit to bear the strain of political excitement. . He could not cast it off; it haunted him like a nightmare, and threw his nervea ' Butler's Eeminiscences, i. 171. 286 - THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. ii. into a morbid irritation. He complained that he was not well, and that he scarcely slept.' He had ardently wished to leave Parliament, and only shrank from doing so on account of the Indian business which he had undertaken, and which had more and more assumed in his mind the character of a solemn religious duty.^ In private life Miss Bumey noticed that while no one on other subjects could be more attractive, politics had to be carefully avoided. ' His irritability is so terrible on that theme, that it gives immediately to his face the ex- pression of a man who is going to defend himself from murderers.'^ Age was beginning to press visibly upon him, and although it had taken nothing from the power of his intellect, although it seemed to have even im- parted a richer and more gorgeous splendour to his eloquence, it had robbed him of all elasticity of spirits. He felt himself, and his friends clearly saw, that he needed absolute repose, but French affairs plunged him into a condition of the most violent and painful excite- ment, and the correspondence which poured in upon him from all Europe, and his constant intercourse with men who had lost everything by the calamities in France, never suffered it to flag. No one saw so deeply or so accurately into the ' Pellew's Life of Sidmouth, the case against Hastings, but i. 85. no one who reads Burke's later '' See the singularly solemn, letters and speeches can have touching, and characteristic let- any doubt about the spirit in ter which he wrote, when he which Burke undertook it. knew himself to be dying (July ' Diary of Madame d'Arblay, 1796), to Dr. Laurence, who had 1792. Francis, comparing Fox been one of the counsel of th Grenville to Keith, Scpi 27, 179t OH. II. INDIFFERENCE TO EOEEIGN AFFAIES. 337 • The line of the British Government,' he said, ' to adhere to an honest and fair neutrality being taken and every- where announced, it is impossible for any member of Government to give way to the indulgence of any specu- lations on the subject of French affairs. I had a visit from your father this morning, and I took occasion to express to him my surprise at the contents of your last letter : never having heard, and at this moment not believing, that this country ever interfered directly or indirectly to prevent the Emperor moving any of his troops in any manner he pleased.'' Edmund Burke himself had several conversations with Pitt, and fully recognised that there was no moving him from his idea of ' a neutrality,' ' a very literal ' neutrality.^ It is impossible to resist the force of this evidence. The Emperor in September 1791 informed Bouille that he had received replies from all the Powers he had addressed on the French question, assuring him of their co-operation, ' with the exception of England, which is resolved to preserve the most strict neutrality,'^ and the French Minister of War in the following month, in a report enumerating in great detail all that had been done by different Powers in Europe hostile to France, made no charge of any kind against England.* During the whole of 1791, and, indeed, until the closing months of 1792, French affairs occupy a curi- ously small place in the correspondence of Pitt and of the other ministers,'' and Lord Auckland, who had lived long on the Continent, was greatly struck with the general indifference to foreign politics. Ewart returned to England in November 1791, and Auckland says, ' Burke's Correspondence, iii. * Ibid. pp. 40, 41. 224, 265, 266, 268, 274, 336. ' See the remarks of Eoae, on '■' Ibid. pp. 343, 347. Pitt's correspondence at thia ' Marsh's Politics of Cheat time. Diaries and Correspon' Bri'Min and France, i. 36. dence, i. 108. 338 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. n. ' He thinks that on coining home, he will be listened to respecting foreign politics. He will be astonished to find that nobody here enters into such subjects.' ' This indifference to foreign affairs/ he wrote five months later, ' is general through the kingdom. You may find it even in our newspapers ; perhaps it may be justly attributed to the great prosperity of the country, which confines all attention to interior and insular details.' ' Lord Malmesbury wa3 persuaded that it was ' the fixed opinion ' of Lord Grenville, ' that we should not inter- fere at all in the affairs of the Continent.' * Pitt was generally believed to know and care less about foreign politics than about any other department of administra- tion, and all his correspondence shows that his thoughts were at this time mainly directed to commercial ex- tension, to financial reform, and especially to the re- duction of the debt. The two great ends of his foreign policy were to prevent disturbances in Europe and to multiply commercial treaties, and he was fully convinced that a long period of peace lay before England. Opinions on the French Revolution greatly differed, but the one point on which the vast majority of states- men agreed, was that for a long period France was not likely to be aggressive. ' The state of Prance,' wrote Pitt, at a time when the Eevolution was still impending, ' whatever else it may produce, seems to promise us more than ever, a considerable respite from dangerous projects.' * ' J^Vom France,' wrote Lord Malmesbury,- two years later, ' I fear very little. Its situation puts it as a Power quite out of the line, and it is not worthy to be reckoned either as a friend or foe.' * By strength- ' Auckland's Correspondence, in Sept. 1788. li. 392, 398. * Malmesbury's Correspon- ' Malmesbury's Correspon- dence, ii. 437, 438 (Oct. 1790). dcnce, ii. 441. See, too, Auckland's CorrespiM' ^ Eose's Diaries and Corre- dence, ii. 377. spondcnce. i. 85. This was written OH. II. PACIFIC SPIRIT OF PITT. 339 ening as much as possible the internal resources of Eng- land, Pitt and his colleagues believed that she must rise steadily and spontaneously in the European system. It is a curious illustration of the spirit of his Govern- ment that at a time when the complications of the Continent were rapidly thickening, one of his great preoccupations appears to have been the arrival of a few shipwrecked Japanese at St. Petersburg. In a long, anxious, and able despatch, which though signed by Grenville was probably written by Pitt himself, he represented to Whitworth the extreme importance to the East Indian dominions of the King, of making use of the occasion to form some commercial connection with Japan ; and Whitworth was directed to employ all his efforts to indiice the Japanese to go to London, where their presence might ' possibly lead to conse- quences in the highest degree advantageous to the com- mercial interests of this country.' He was directed to negotiate with the Empress on the subject, but as the Empress was not likely to consent, the object must be disguised, and some pretext, such as the convenience of embarking in Holland, must be invented. This is perhaps the only instance in the Government of Pitt of a diplomacy which was not perfectly straightforward.' I have dwelt long on this subject, for in order to judge fairly the causes of the outbreak of the war of 1793, it is necessary to ascertain what were the disposi- tions of England when the great struggle first began on the Continent. It is, I believe, absolutely impossible to study the evidence with candour without acknowledging that, up to this time at least, the English Government was thoroughly pacific, and that the neutrality which it ' Grenville to Whitworth, Japanese from all contact with April 20, 1792. Whitworth was Englishmen and Dutchmen, May not able to succeed, for special 18, 1792. Whitworth to Greii< trders were given to keep the ville. 340 THE FRENCH EEVOLDTION. cii. ii. professed was a sincere neutrality, honestly professed and faithfully observed. If Pitt had any designs of aggression, the opportunity was not wanting, for in the French navy insubordination and disorganisation were at their height, and the great negro insurrection at St. Domingo in the summer of 1791 almost led to the total destruction of that important French colony. In their extreme distress the colonists appealed for assistance to Lord Effingham, the Governor of Jamaica, who saved them from almost certain massacre by sending to their assistance three English frigates with ammunition, and his conduct received the full and formal approbation of the British Government.' Though he made no efficient effort to prevent it, the language of Bwart at Berlin tended to discourage Prus- sia from embarking in a war with France,^ and the evident reluctance of the King, in his capacity of Elector of Hanover, to support any warlike policy, was one of the reasons alleged by the Emperor for shrinking from the contest.* There is, indeed, little doubt that the English ministers sincerely regretted the continental war. In a conversation with Burke shortly before it broke out, Pitt and Grenville observed ' that they had now in Europe a situation in which it never stood before and might never be again — a general peace among the Powers, and a general good disposition to support the common cause of order and government.' ■• They feared new troubles in the Netherlands, which lay within the sphere of English interests ; they profoundly distrusted the Emperor, and they entirely rejected Burke's estimate of the dangers and even of the importance of the Revo- ' Marsh's Politics of Great 240, 260, 261. Keith to Grpn- Britain and France, i. 43-57. ville, Deo. 31, 1791. '' See Eden to Grenville, Feb. ' JBurke's Correspondence, iiii 14, 1702. 845. ' Burke's Correspondence, iii. CH. II. DESIGNS OF CATHERINE. 341 lution. After a long conversation with Pitt and Gren- ville in September 1791, Burke wrote to his son : ' They seem to be quite out of all apprehension of any effect from the French Revolution on this kingdom, either at present or at any time to come.' ' ' Do not fear,' Pitt once said to Burke, ' depend upon it we shall go on as we are till the day of judgment ; ' ^ and he recom- mended him to praise the Constitution of Great Britain as much as he pleased, but not to attack that of France. The ministers probably agreed with Stanley that the present anarchy could only be very transient, and must lead in a short time to the re-establishment of the mon- archy under constitutional limitations ; * and Pitt, look- ing on the whole question with the eye of a Chancellor of the Exchequer, believed that a speedy bankruptcy must destroy the credit of the Assembly and terminate the crisis.* So little danger did he fear from France, that almost to the eve of the great struggle which lasted for more than twenty years, he was reducing the armaments of England. The attitude of England was very little calculated to disturb or influence that of other Powers ; but the attitude of Catherine was very different. She had just concluded her Turkish war, and was able to turn her energies to the destruction of the new Constitution and independence of Poland. This now became her main object, but in order more easily to attain it, it was her first desire to embroil the Emperor and Prussia with ' Burke's Correspondence, iii, weakest reasonings, because they 344, 345. discover the strongest passions.' " Pellew's Life of Sidmouth, Letter to Sir H. Langrishe. i. 72. ' Very likely, sir,' Burke > ' Auckland's Correspondence, answered. ' It is the day of no I ii. 380. judgment I am afraid of.' In j * Burke's Correspondence, iii politics, Burke once said, he was 345. Bomctimes ' most afraid of the 342 THE FEENCH KEVOLUTION. en. ii. France. She received with the utmost warmth the emigrant princes. She issued a circular to all the princes ' of Europe, calling them to take arms for the common cause of monarchy. She appealed specially and vehemently to the honour of the two German sovereigns, and she lost no occasion of protesting the ardour of her enthusiasm for the royalist cause in Europe. It was unfortunate for these protestations, Whitworth somewhat sarcastically observed, that the two revolutions of the century which had been most favourable to the cause of hereditary monarchy — the Revolution in Sweden and the recent Revolution in Poland — had both found in the Empress the most im- placable enemy. Those, however, who will read the letters to Grimm, in , which Catherine expressed, apparently without a shadow of reserve, her opinions about the Revolution, will, I think, agree with me that the English ambas- sador somewhat underrated her sincerity. She had, I believe, a real interest in the royal cause, a real pity for the Queen of France, and a strong dread of the con- tagious influence of the Revolution in Europe. She was quite ready to take some part as a member of an anti-revolutionary confederation, but she was never likely to allow her enthusiasm to divert her from the objects of her own ambition. In one of her confidential ^letters she very frankly said : ' I am breaking my head to make the Cabinets of Vienna and Berlin intervene in the affairs of France. I wish to see them plunged in some very complicated question in order to have my own hands free. I have before me so many enterprises not finished. It is necessary that these two Courts should be occupied, in order that they may not prevent me from bringing them to a good ending.' • Sybel, ii. 142. CH. II. SITUATION OF POLAND. 343 Poland by herself was wholly unable to resist her powerful neighbour. The great constitutional changes which had been recently effected, had indeed been carried with admirable unanimity, and they promised the best results, but very little had been done to put the country in a condition of security. "With an indefen- sible frontier, a governing class by no means destitute of real patriotism, but corrupted and divided by a long period of anarchy and foreign intrigue, an army wholly inadequate to the wants of the nation, and a peasantry cowed and broken by repeated Russian invasions and occupations, the safety of this unhappy country was certain to depend for some years on the abstinence or the assistance of its neighbours. In Leopold, Poland / had a real friend. In spite of the participation of Austria in the first partition, the long alliance between the two countries, strengthened by the community of faith, was not forgotten, and Leopold, in the spirit of a true statesman, recognised the importance of interposing a powerful kingdom between Muscovite ambition and Western Europe. Prussia also was attached to Poland by every engagement that could bind the hoiiour of a nation. She had guaranteed the integrity of Poland. She had bound herself by a solemn treaty to prevent any foreign interference with her internal concerns. She had entered into alliance with her. The Prussian King had been the first to express his gratification at the recent changes in her Constitution. He had re- iterated his assurances of friendship again and again. He had quite recently entered into a new agreement with the Emperor to respect the integrity and the Con- stitution of Poland, and to induce the Elector of Saxony to accept the hereditary crown.* If public faith was ' SeeSybel,i. 307,31L 344 THE FEENCH REVOLUTION. oh. n. more than an empty name, Poland seemed likely to find powerful supporters in her diiEculties. It is one of the chief interests in reading history in original diplomatic despatches, that it enables us to trace almost from the beginning the rise of great questions, which first appear like small clouds scarcely visible on the horizon, and gradually dilate and darken till the whole political sky is overcast. The earliest clear notification of what was impending, which was received by the ministers in England, appears to have come from a secret despatch of Ewart written in August 1791. He relates a long conversation with Count Schulenburg, the Prussian Minister, chiefly about the concerns of France, but in the course of it there was a digression on Polish affairs which must have afforded the ambassador grave subject for thought. Schulenburg described himself as much pleased that the Emperor had guaranteed the integrity of Poland; but he ex- pressed his belief that this would be of little use against the ambition of Eussia ; that Russia having obtained an advantageous port on the Black Sea, would be confirmed in the -idea of fixing the seat of empire there ; that the Emperor, finding it impossible to stop the ambition of Russia, will find himself obliged to participate in some plan for the partition of Poland, and that Prussia will not be able to avoid joining.' Ewart was soon after recalled from Berlin and re- placed by Eden, a brother of Lord Auckland. A few extracts from his confidential despatches will carry us further in our story. At the end of November he wrote : ' In several of my letters from Dresden I informed your lordship of the express orders sent to the Prussian Minister there, to remove if possible the apprehensions entertained at that ' Ewart to Grenville (most secret), Aug. 4, 1791. CH. II. EDEN ON POLISH PROSPECTS. 345 Court of the evils which might arise to Saxony, should the Elector accept the offered succession to the crown of Poland. This line of conduct appears contrary to that ever pursued by his late Prussian Majesty, who looked for his own aggrandisement from the anarchy of Poland. The Dutch Minister now tells me, that he has good reason to believe that the instructions given to M. de Luchesini are to endeavour to replunge that country into the anarchy from which it is scarcely emerged.' ' The more Eden saw of Prussian statesmen, the worse he augured for the future of Poland. The Court of St» Petersburg, he says, will never be brought to any favourable declaration, and the King of Prussia refuses to give a formal guarantee to the new Constitution, ' alleging that that assurance which he had already given of his approbation, when it was communicated to him, proceeded merely from his personal regard for the Elector.' ^ That sovereign was still procrastinating, and it is believed that he will not accept the succession to the Polish throne until the three Powers give their consent.' ' With regard to Poland,' Eden wrote a little later, ' I shall briefly state that thoiigh there may be no actual concert, yet it appears to be equally the system of the three Courts to prevent that kingdom from rising into consequence. The Polish Minister at Dresden boasts, I understand, of his country being assured of the good will and protection of his Prussian Majesty ; yet the language of his ministers to me has uniformly been, that his Majesty's approbation of the new Constitution was in as much only as it regarded the choice of the Elector. . . . They expect the Elector's silence or his refusal will produce a perfect anarchy in Poland, and > Eden to Grenville, Nov. 26, ' Ibid. Dec. 3, 1791. 1791. • Ibid. Dec. 3, 5, 1791, 346 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. ii. they add that as the Poles formed their Constitution without foreign intervention, they must be lefb to them- selves to accomplish it. I should observe that the little bickerings relative to trade which the Poles have im- prudently too much given rise to, will strengthen the arguments of those who think the aggrandisement of this country can be secured only by the anarchy and spoils of that unhappy kingdom.'' 'The Poles must not expect any support from hence. Even the friendly professions of this Court towards Poland ceased, from the moment that all appearance of war with Eussia was at an end, and her assistance was no longer wanted'.' ^ As the probabilities of war with Prance increased, the situation became more clearly defined. Count Schulenburg observed that ' he did not suppose her Imperial Majesty would give a decisive answer to the communication of the Court at Warsaw, nor to the pressing instances of the Elector ; but that she would order the troops to be withdrawn from Moldavia and Wallachia, to be stationed on the frontier of Poland to encourage the malcontents ; that new confederacies will be formed, and anarchy with its usual train of ills ensue. He added that the Elector was aware of this, and would not venture to accept the crown.' * A week later Schu- lenburg said to Eden ' that it was evidently the Em- press's intention to station her troops on the frontiers of Poland, that she might encourage her partisans and foment the divisions in that country.' ' I have uniformly,' Eden continued, ' described to your lordship the dis- position of this Court as no longer favourable to the Revolution, since the appearance of a rupture was at an end, and I stated that the general opinion here is that Prussia can alone look for aggrandisement from the ' Ellen to Grenville, Deo. 17, ' Ibid. Jan. 3, 1798. 1791. • Ibid. Feb. 7, 1792. OH. II. LEWIS XVI. ACCEPTS THE CONSTITCTION. 347 spoils of that unhappy country. In the Act signed at Vienna its present limits are indeed fully guaranteed. This I fear will prove but a feeble barrier; and if Russian troops overrun the country and the Empress proposes a now partition, plausible arguments will easily be found for the political necessity of its being accepted. Resist- ance even would be difficult, if this Court and that of Vienna be once fully embarked in the prospect of an armed negotiation with France, for as in tlmt business it does not appear probable that the Empress can take any effective part, she will be left the sole arbiter of the fate of Poland.'! This consideration was undoubtedly one of those which made the Emperor especially reluctant to embark in a French war, and the acceptance of the Constitution by Lewis XVI. appeared to furnish a valid reason for relinquishing the enterprise. It was, indeed, the opinion of a great part of the European world that this accept- ance substantially closed the Revolution. On Septem- ber 14 the King went down in state to the Assembly to swear to the Constitution, and he returned to the Tuileries accompanied by the members, through a vast and applauding multitude.^ An amnesty was granted on the occasion, for all offences connected with the Revolution ; and the King, in the opinion of the Eng- lish ambassador, did everything in his power to win popularity, and to convince the people that, the course he was pursuing was voluntary. The Tuileries were twice splendidly illuminated. The King and Queen drove through the Champs Elysees to see the illumina- tions which the municipality had ordered. They ap- peared, for the first time since the Revolution, at the opera and in the theatres. They sent 50,000 livres to be ' Edon to Grenville, Feb. 16, ' Gower to Grenville, Sept. 14, 1702. 1701. 348 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. oh. ii, distributed among the poor. The King wrote official letters to all the sovereigns of Europe, notifying his acceptance of the Constitution, and he wrote a long and earnest letter to the emigrant princes, urging them to abstain from any measures that could indicate hos- tility to it, or lead to foreign invasion or civil war.' When the King closed the Constituent Assembly on Septeinber 29, he was received with enthusiasm, and one of the last acts of this body had been to decree that the members of any club or other society which should oppose any act of legal authority should lose for two years the rights of French citizenship.^ But in spite of these reassuring signs, a careful observer could easily discern the growing dangers of the situation. It was an ominous proof of the little confidence felt by serious men in the permanence of the new Constitution, that the funds fell when the King signed it.' All the chief municipal posts in Paris were passing into the hands of Eepublicans,* and when Bailly, in November, ceased to be Mayor of Paris, he was suc- ceeded in that great ofiSce by Petion, a vehement and intolerant Jacobin. Lafayette had resigned the com- mand of the National Guard, which was then divided under six commanders, and it could no longer be counted on to support the cause of order. Over a great part of France there was a total insecurity of life and property, such as had perhaps never before existed in a civilised country except in times of foreign invasion or successful rebellion. Almost all the towns in the south — Mar- seilles, Toulon, Nimes, Aries, Avignon, Montpellier, Carpentras, Aix, Mbntauban — were centres of repub- licanism, brigandage, or anarchy. The massacres of ' See Feuillet de Conches, ii. ' Gower to GienyiUe, Sept. 1^ 828-336. 1791. ■' Gower to Grenville, Sept. 9, ' Ibid. Nov. 18, 1791. 14, 16, 23, 30 ; Oct. 7, 1791. OH. II. STATE OF FEANCE. 349 Jourdain at Avignon, in October, are conspicuous even among the horrors of the Revolution. Caen in the fol- lowing month was convulsed by a savage and bloody civil war. The civil constitution of the clergy having been condemned by the Pope, produced an open schism, and crowds of ejected priests were exciting the religious fanaticism of the peasantry. In some districts in the south, the war between Catholic and Protestant was raging as fiercely as in the seventeenth century, while in Brittany, and especially in La Vendee, there were all the signs of a great popular insurrection against the new Government. Society seemed almost in dissolution, and there was scarcely a department in which law was ob- served and property secure. The price of com, at the same time, was rising fast under the influence of a bad harvest in the south, aggra- vated by the want of specie, the depreciation of paper money, and the enormously increased difficulties of transport. The peasantry were combining to refuse the paper money. It was falling rapidly in value, and month after month Lord Gower sent the English Government estimates of the vast excess of national expenditure over national income. The new Legislative Assembly, which met on October 1 , filled sober men with alarm. All the experienced politicians who sat in the Constituent Assembly had been disqualified. The elections had begun amid the excitement caused by the flight to Varennes. They were conducted with the utmost violence and directed maialy by Jacobin clubs, and it was soon evident that the Republican party, which in the first Assembly was said not to have numbered more than seven members, was about to obtain a great pro- minence. In the meantime the stream of emigrants continued unabated, and it included the great body of the officers of the army who had been driven from the regiments 350 THE FEENCH KEVOLUTION. oh. n. by their own soldiers.' BouiIl6, one of the best French generals, was among theml The greater part of the Irish regiment of Berwick had left its garrison at Landau, and gone over to the Prince de Conde.'' At Brussels, Worms, and Coblentz, emigrants were form- ing armed organisations. On September 10, when the intention of the King to accept the Constitution was well known, the King's brothers published a letter to the King, protesting against that Constitution, declaring their belief that if the King accepted it this would be only through compulsion, denying his right to sacrifice the ancient prerogatives of the French monarchy, and threatening France with invasion.^ And while the emigrant leaders were holding this language, nearly all Europe seemed arming. Spain appears to have been the first to have excited seri- ous alarm, for Florida Blanca, who then directed its affairs, was in complete sympathy with the emigrants. In August 1791, Lord Gower mentions the efforts of French ministers to allay the alarm arising from this quarter. ' They own,' he says, ' that the Spanish mi- nisters will not treat with their minister at the Court of Madrid ; they acknowledge the defenceless state of that frontier and the impossibility of sending any num- ber of regular troops into that part of France, owing to the greater necessity for them in other parts of the kingdom ; they acknowledge also the danger of trusting some of the regular regiments on the frontiers ; they have been obliged, for instance, to order into the in- terior part of the kingdom the regiments of Berwick and Nassau, or rather what remain of those regiments, lest the fancy should take them to join their fellow- Boldiers on the other side of the Rhine, and a total want • Gower to Grenville, June 8, ' Bourgoing, Hist. DipJ. de la 10, 1791. RiSvokiHon, i. 398. ' Feuillet de Conches, iv. 135. OH. II. THE ARMING OF EDEOPE. 351 of subordination will render useless the regiment of Auvergne which is now at Phalsbourg.' ' The negotia- tions between the emigrant princes and foreign Powers were only dimly suspected, till the Declaration of Pilnitz flashed a sudden light upon the hostile dispositions of Europe. The Emperor was believed to be more desirous of war than he actually was. Prussia had a great army ready for the field. The Empress of Eussia and the King of Sweden were ostentatiously preaching a cru- sade against revolutionary France. The Kings of Sar- dinia and Spain were likely to be on the same side, and suspicions were now industriously circulated that England, the old rival of France, was secretly negotia- ting the alliance between Austria and Prussia, and, without avowing her policy, had become the real soul of the league.* When the news arrived of the negro insurrection at St. Domingo, it appears to have been at once attributed to English machinations.^ These suspicions, as we have seen, were absolutely unfounded, and I have already adduced abundant evi- dence, which might be still further increased,^ of the sincerity of English neutrality, and even of the great indifference of English ministers to foreign affairs. But, as is usually the case, England was suspected on ' Gower to Grenville, Aug. 19, the beginning of the French 1791. troubles his Majesty had invari- '' Laeretelle, Precis de la Bivo- ably observed the strictest neu- lution, pp. 58, 59. trality respecting them, abstain- = Gower to Grenville, Oct. 31, ing from mixing himself in any 1791. manner whatever in the internal * I have quoted the language dissensions of that country, and of the English ministers to their that with respect to the measures ambassadors at Paris, Vienna, of active intervention which and Berlin. In Sept. 1791, when other Powers might have in con- Woronzow, the Eussian ambaa- templation, it was his Majesty's Bador in London, made an appeal determination not to take any to the English Government re- part either in supporting or in Bpecting the affairs of Prance, opposing them.' Grenville to Grenville answered that ' from Whitworth, Sept. 27, 1791. 34 352 THE FKENCH BEVOLXJTION. oh. ii. both sides, and on opposite grounds. In September, Marie Antoinette expressed her belief that English influence was being secretly exerted for the ruin both of the Emperor and of the Eoyal Family of France;' and Mercy, in whom she placed the greatest confidence, steadily encouraged the idea. This diplomatist, during a short journey to England in August 1791, had seen the King, Pitt, Burke and Grenville, and he came back with his unfavourable impressions only confirmed. ' Foreign assistance,' he wrote to the Queen, ' will be of no avail unless England shares all the chances ; her neutrality is not sufficient, and there is little appearance of her departing from it.' * He wrote to Kaunitz that the affected silence maintained on political matters by Pitt and Ghrenville during his interview with them, ' seemed a new proof that it was the decided system of the Cabinet of St. James's to observe a passive and free attitude in the events of France, so as to derive advan- tages for herself from the measures on which the other Powers may decide ; ' and he believed that, in spite of her enormous prosperity, discontent was rapidly gain- ing ground in England, and that she was menaced by the same doctrines and the same dangers as France.* In other letters he accused the English Government of dissuading Spain from joining the alliance against the Eevolution, and of throwing every obstacle in her power in the way of the coalition.* Another element of anxiety was the deep and by no means unfounded distrust of the King and Queen, pre- vailing in France. Could it be doubted, it was asked, that their sympathies were with a league which was formed for the restoration of the royal prerogatives, • Ameth, Marie Antomette, ' Ibid. ii. 274. fosephvnd Leopold, p. 209. « Ameth, pp. 214, 231. ' Feuillet de Conches, ii. 244. OH. II. THE KING SEEKS FOEEIGN AID. 353 promoted by the brothers of the King, directed by the brother of the Queen, and supported by the head of the Spanish Bourbons ? In truth, after the flight of Varennea and the total destruction of the chief pre- rogatives of the French Crown, the monarchy under the existing sovereign had become impossible, and it would have been probably a wise policy to have at once changed the form of government, or at least placed a new sovereign on the throne. The King sincerely dreaded civil war and foreign invasion, but if he ac- cepted the Constitution it was only because he 'deemed it inevitable, and with a full conviction that it would be impracticable and ruinous to the country.' He ob- jected to most of the proceedings of the emigrants, and especially to their designs of making an armed incursion into France ; but as early as July 1791 he gave powers to his brothers to negotiate with foreign sovereigns for the restoration of order and tranquillity in France, though he at the same time added his hope that force might be kept in the background.^ The Queen, who played a far more active and important part in the political correspondence of the time, never for a moment seriously accepted the Constitution, and never aban- doned the hope of foreign intervention. We have al- ready seen the sentiments she expressed in the weeks that followed the flight of Varennes, and her confidential letters show that during the whole of the latter half of 1791, while she dreaded and detested the emigrants and deprecated any immediate invasion, she still placed her one hope of safety in a European Congress supported by an armed force. On September 8, only a few days before the King formally accepted the Constitution, she sent the Em- peror a remarkable memoir clearly indicating her policy ■ Ameih, p. 218. ' Feuillet de Conches, ii. 156. 354 THE FRENCH EEVOLTJTIOH. ch. n. and her hopes. The Constitution, it was argued, can- not possibly endure, and the danger of an immediate civil war was extreme. It was the first object of the King to avert such a calamity, and he was therefore inflexibly opposed to an invasion of France by the emi- grants or to a declaration of Eegency, either of which measures would infallibly produce it. At the same time nothing but armed foreign intervention could possibly restore Prance to tranquillity, and Europe to safety. The present condition of France, says the writer, is altogether unparalleled. The King has no liberty. A frantic minority is ruling by undisguised terrorism. All the ancient forms and modes of administration, aU. the traditions and habits of the nation, have been de- stroyed, and the disturbing influence of the Revolution will certainly not be confined to France. Its principles are of a nature to incite all nations against their sove- reigns, and to sap every constitutional authority. It has established a great centre of political propagandism. Its emissaries have taken a leading part in the troubles in Brabant, and have endeavoured to sow seeds of an- archy in Switzerland, Holland, Turin, Rome, and Spain. The whole public system of Europe will be endangered or ruined if the monarchy of France is subverted, for by such a catastrophe all the treaties, engagements, and alliances of France will be cancelled, and left) at the mercy of an armed democracy, governed by abstract notions of the rights of men, hostile on principle to all monarchies, and perfectly disdainful of the compacts of the past. Nor is this all. There is a tacit agreement among nations that a certain proportion must be main- tained between their armies, and no sovereign can be allowed to increase his forces to such a point as to become a menace to his neighbours. But the present armaments of France are beyond all ancient and modern example. The revolutionary chiefs have armed and OH. n. LETTERS OF MAEIE ANTOINETTE. 355 equipped no less than four millions of men, in addition to the troops of the line, which amount to 150,000 men on a peace footing, and to more than 250,000 men on a war footing ; and all citizens under sixty are to serve in the National Guard. If such a force was properly disci- plined, and suffered to acquire the organisation and con- sistency of a regular army, no Power ia Europe would be safe. It is impossible, the memoir argues, that such a state of affairs could be indifferent to the continental Powers. Those Powers ought clearly to lay down the principle that they will not attempt to interfere with the internal government of Prance except so far as it affected its neighbours. But it was a vital iuterest to the public system of Europe that France should con- tinue a monarchy ; that her monarch should maintain the freedom necessary for contracting and enforcing engagements ; that her institutions should not be es- tablished on principles and maxims subversive of all the settled Governments of the world. To maintain this policy a Congress of the European Powers, supported by overwhelming force, should be employed, and the writer of the memoir hoped that without the necessity of actual warfare such a demonstration would be suffi- cient to restore the monarchy to its proper place in the Government of France.^ The same policy was persistently maintained by the Queen in her later letters. ' There must be a demon- stration,' she wrote, ' of armed forces, or at least pre- parations for the march of troops. I am sure that if the Emperor showed himself thus the other Powers will not hesitate.' * ' I insist on an armed Congress. . . . It alone can stop the follies of the princes and the ' Feuillet de Conches, ii. 287-309. See, too, Bourgoing, HiiU Diplomatique de la Bivolution, i. 400. " Arneth, pp. 219, 220. 356 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. ch. n. emigrants, and I see on all sides that there may soon be such a degree of disorder here, that every one but the Republicans will be delighted to find a superior force able to bring about a general settlement. But let my brother be well persuaded that all the ostensible steps we are obliged to take are the consequence of our position ; that we must at any price win the confidence of the majority here, but that we neither will nor can keep to a Constitution which would be the calamity and the ruin of the whole kingdom. We desire to arrive at a tolerable condition of things, but this cannot be established by the French. The spirit of party rules exclusively on both sides. It is therefore necessary that the Powers should come to our assistance, but in a manner both useful and imposing.' ' The Queen, however, soon saw with great bitterness that there was little hope of the assistance she asked. ' Since the almost unqualified acceptance [of the Con- stitution] by the King,' wrote Mercy, in November, 'foreign Powers have evidently grown somewhat cold about the affairs of France.' ' Kaunitz sent a circular to the different Courts to whom the Emperor had appealed, stating that the free acceptance of the Constitution had essentially changed the situation, and that the King and monarchy of France were no longer in any immediate danger.^ The plan of a Congress of the Powers was rejected at Vienna, and Marie Antoinette complained with much pathos of her abandonment, and of her almost complete ignorance of the intentions of her brother. The Legislative Assembly fully justified the fear of those who anticipated that it would consist mainly of violent, ignorant, and incapable men, swayed to and • Ameth.p. 226. ' Ibid. p. 221. ■ Bourgoing, Hist. Diplomatique de la Bivolution, i. 404. OH. n. THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY. 357 fro by mobs, and Jacobin clubs, and childish rhetoric. The most conspicuous fact in its composition was the almost complete absence of the old privileged orders, who had borne so large a part in the previous Assembly. The majority of the members were petty advocates or petty writers without fortune or distinction. They began by voting, by a large majority, that when the King came down to open formally the Session he should not be addressed by the terms ' Sire ' and ' Majesty,' or suffered to sit on a gilt chair ; but next day, probably because it became known that the King under these circumstances would refuse to take part in the cere- mony,' they rescinded their vote. The first serious legislation related to the emigrants and the refractory priests. The Constituent Assembly in the preceding June and July had forbidden any one to pass the frontier without passports, and had subjected every Frenchman who did not return to France within an assigned period to a triple taxation ; but when the Constitution was completed these measures were re- voked, and the Assembly asserted that it was the constitutional right of every Frenchman to leave the countiy, as well as to travel in it without restriction.* In October, however, the King wrote a letter to his brothers, summoning them to return to France, and he issued at the same time a proclamation against the emigration, and sent letters to the same effect to his commanders by land and sea. The Legislative Assembly took much stronger measures. By one de- cree it summoned the eldest brother of the King to return to France within two months on pain of losing ' Bertrand de Molleville, An- cree. Gower to GrenviUe, Oct. 7, naUs de la Eivolution. Accord- 1791. ing to Lord Gower, the revoca- ^ Laferri&e, Hist, des Institu- tion was due to the sudden fall lions et des Lois de la RivoluUon, in the funds caused by the de- p. 249. 358 THE FKENCH REVOLUTION. ch. ii. all right to the Regency. By a second decree the French princes and all other Frenchmen assembled beyond the frontiers were declared suspected of con- spiracy against France, and were condemned to death and confiscation of their property unless they returned before January 1. By a third decree all the priests who had hitherto refused to take the civil oath which was condemned by the Church, were deprived of the pensions which the previous Assembly had granted them. The first of these decrees received the sanction of the Ejng, but to the second and third he opposed his veto, and the result was that in November 1791 the King and the new Chamber were already at enmity. The question of emigration, however, being brought into such prominence could not be neglected, and it was soon evident that, unlike the Constituent Assembly, the Legislative Assembly contained a strong party desirous of war. That it should have been so was not surprising, for the European sovereigns had undoubtedly given to France a kind and degree of provocation which no powerful monarchy would have accepted with pa- tience, and their attitude, which was in reality menacing, appeared much more so to perfectly ignorant and inex- perienced legislators who had at their command scarcely any of the secret information of a regular diplomatic service. Montmorin, indeed, who still for a short time held the portfolio of foreign afiairs, was a skilfal and experienced statesman, and he was fully convinced that since the acceptance of the Constitution the principal Powers of Europe had given up every idea of war against Prance, and that although the hopes of the emigrants were kept alive by vain and conditional promises, they would receive no real support.' When the King informed the difierent Powers of Europe that ' Bertrand de Molleville, Annales, Got. 1791. OH. 11. ATTITUDE OF f OEEIGN POWEES. 359 he had accepted the Constitution, the Kings of Spain and Sweden and the Empress of Russia refused to acknowledge this acceptance as the act of a free agent, and the Swedish and Russian Ministers soon after left Paris on an indefinite leave of absence ; but the answers of the other Powers, if vague, were at least amicable and reassuring, and Montmorin, on the last day of October 1791, presented to the Assembly a report on the rela- tions of France with foreign Powers, in which he showed in detail that the position had very greatly improved.' The key-note of the situation lay in the fact, which is established beyond all doubt, that the Emperor now fully shared the opinion of Kaunitz, and was deter- mined to do the utmost in his power to avoid a war with France. Such a war he clearly saw would lead to two of the events which he most dreaded, a revolutionary explosion in the Austrian Netherlands, and a Russian invasion of Poland ; and the new Constitution seemed to him to furnish a sufficient pretext for abstaining. Neither Spain, nor Naples, nor Sardinia, nor the smaller German Powers, were in the least likely to take any part against France except as very subordinate members in a great coalition. The King of Sweden could do nothing without subsidies, which no one was inclined to give him. The Empress of Russia wrote, ardently hoping that the Allies had not abandoned the French princes, and proclaiming her readiness to exert herself vigorously in their cause ; but it was tolerably clear that she would not risk a man or a rouble in the enter- prise unless the two German Powers embarked in it. The King of Prussia, who was now greatly separated from his own ministers, and very much under the in- fluence of Bischoffswerder, appears to have regretted the acceptance of the Constitution by the French King, and Bertrand de Molleville, Armales, appendix. 360 THE FRENCH KEVOLUTION. oh. n. to have really desired a war; but he distrusted the Emperor, and was perfectly resolved not to engage in a French invasion without his assistance, especially at a time when a new Polish question was impending. The armed emigrants were much fewer and m.uch more imperfectly equipped than was supposed in France, and without foreign support they were little to be feared. Under these circumstances the confidential diplo- matic correspondence of Europe, which for some weeks after the flight of Varennes had indicated rapidly ap- proaching war, pointed in September, October, and till near the end of November, with a striking unanimity to peace. If France desired it, or if the decision was still left in the hands of the Emperor, it would almost certainly have been preserved. But the tide in France, impelled by many and very various influences, was now beginning to run violently in the direction of war. According to the ofiicial view, which prevailed in nearly all the Courts, Cabinets, and armies of Europe, France was at this time almost helpless, and certainly totally unfit to encounter a European coalition. The facts of the situation were few and simple. The French army, which had lately been incontestably the first in Europe, was now utterly disorganised, nearly all the higher officers having been erpelled by their own sol- diers, and ail obedience and subordination having ceased. The fleet,, which had been greatly improved by Lewis XVI., and which was only second to that of England, was in a very similar state. The finances were so dis- ordered that speedy bankruptcy seemed inevitable, and there was scarcely a department which was not in a con- dition of anarchy or even of civil war. To suppose that a country so situated could encounter with any prospect of success the settled Governments and great disciplined armies of Europe, seemed to most statesmen absurd. There was, however, another order of considerations, OH. u. THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. 361 which, though at this time generally neglected, in reality governed the event. It was true that the French army was in a condition of extraordinary disorganisation, but it was also true that there never had been a period in which so large a proportion of the nation was under arms, acquainted with at least the rudiments of the military art, and at the same time wound up to the highest pitch of excitement. Those who know French character, know how quickly in a great emergency Frenchmen can acquire the habits and capacities of mili- tary life ; how large a part the element of enthusiasm bears among the conditions of their military success, and how easily strong passions when once excited among them take new forms and directions. In spite of the multitude of officers who had fled to Coblentz, France was still rich in military talent, and the army was full of excellent subordinate officers, who were thoroughly capable of higher commands, and well aware that a war would open to them fields of ambition much like that which the Fire of London had given to the architectural genius of Wren. All restrictions on promotion having been abolished, and almost all the superior officers having been removed, there seemed a boundless prospect to an ambitious and capable soldier. A great war under such conditions could hardly fail to stimulate to an un- exampled degree military enthusiasm, enterprise, and talent, and it was the one remaining chance of restoring the tone and discipline of the army. Bankruptcy, again, if it took place when the nation was at peace, would be manifestly due to the Revolu- tion, and it might completely discredit it ; but bank- ruptcy incurred in a desperate struggle against united Europe would have no such moral effect, and was not likely even to check the impetus of the war. A settled Government, depending mainly on the owners of pro- perty, will calculate carefully material consequences, 362 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. ch. ii. and will shrink from too serious sacrifices of the present resources and future prospects of the nation. But the new French Government could not be judged by the ordinary methods of political calculation, for it was fasTj passing into the hands of men who were wholly uncon- nected with property, who were at violent enmity with the wealthier classes, who shrank from no measure of confiscation or violence, who were absolutely indifferent to every end except the triumph of their cause. It was possible, too, that the very excess of anarchy into which the country had fallen, and the apparent hopelessness of repressing it, might lead many to desire a foreign war, which, by giving a new vent or channel to the passions of the nation, might enable it to throw off the internal fever that was consuming it. Nor was there any difficulty in exciting a military enthusiasm. It was only necessary to say — what was partly true — that France was surrounded by despotic Powers who were conspiring with the Royal Family and the anti-revolutionary classes against it on account of its Revolution ; and to add — what was wholly false — that they intended to reimpose on the French peasantry the feudal and ecclesiastical burdens which had been abolished. The danger seemed the more imminent from the obscurity that hung over the dispositions of the different Courts in Europe. The attitude the French Chamber had assumed towards monarchy and mon- archical institutions had excluded French diplomatists from all intimate and confidential intercourse with foreign Powers, and public opinion was therefore left, unguided and unchecked, to its own suspicions and alarms. It was not likely that an armed and excited nation would remain passive in such a position, and of all nations France was the least likely to do so. No nation can meet approaching dangers with a swifter, a fiercer, a more tiger-like spring, but no nation is con- i I OH. n. GROWTH OF THE WAE SPIRIT. 363 stitutionally less fitted to endure the tension of long- continued and inactive suspense. Besides this, as Burke had long warned the world, the Revolution was an es- sentially cosmopolitan thing, aiming at a fraternity of nations, and the subversion of all ancient Gorernments. Such a movement passed easily into a military phase. To carry the torch of liberty through benighted Europe was now preached as the mission of France, and if kings and armies were leagued against her, she was to look to insurgent nations for her allies. There was at least little doubt that it needed but a spark, to throw the Austrian Netherlands into a flame. With these considerations, motives of national am- bition were blended. Such motives did not, indeed, occupy a foremost place in the revolutionary movement, but it would be an entire mistake to suppose that they were ever altogether absent. The implacable hatred with which Marie Antoinette was pursued, was not wholly due to the extravagance of her Court or to her supposed hostility to the Revokition. It was also in- dustriously fomented by politicians who regarded the daughter of Maria Theresa as the chief support of that Austrian alliance which it was their main object to dis- solve. Through the whole of the Revolution there were a few able and cool-headed men who were never dupes of the passions which they flattered and stimulated, but who saw in them a great force that might be directed to the attainment of old objects of French ambition- To such men it was no immaterial circumstance that the country which was likely to be most quickly revolu- tionised by French ideas, was the country over which, for more than a century, French statesmen had most desired to establish their ascendency and dominion.' If ' On the steady persistence the Belgic provinces, see Sorel, with -which French policy was L'Europeetla BivolutionFran- directed to the acquisition of faise, pp. 319-322. 364 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. oh. n, Austrian Flanders could become French, a capital object of French ambition would be attained, and if French armies could overrun Austrian Flanders, they were not likely to stop there. One of the most humiliating defeats which French policy had of late years undergone, had been the overthrow of the French party and influence in Holland, and there is some evidence that as early as 1791 the prospect of restoring them had been con- ceived. It was a daring game, but the men who took the most prominent part in the Legislative Assembly were not men from whom any prudence or measure could be expected. Obscure young provincial lawyers, petty writers of no antecedents or character, adventurers and fanatics without any reputation or position to lose, with- out any practice in affairs or any serious political know- ledge, had climbed into the foremost places, commanded the wealth and power of France, and found themselves able to defy the sovereigns of Europe. Was it surpris- ing that they should have proved arrogant and reckless, eager for adventure, ready like desperate gamblers to risk everything on a throw ? There was also one clear and definite calculation among them. The most energetic section of the As- sembly desired to overthrow the new Constitution, which had in their eyes the great fault of maintaining the monarchical form of government. If, however, a war with the Emperor was declared, it was scarcely possible that the monarchy could continue. The relations of the Queen to the Emperor would make the position of the Court intolerable. A war of nations against sovereigns, it was calculated, would speedily turn France into a Republic, and give the more violent party a complete command of the Ministry. The Republican party, however, was divided on this question. Robespierre, Oouthon, and their friends, OH. n. THE WAE PABTY TRIUMPHS. 365 feared that a war might concentrate new powers in the hands of the King, and that a victorious invasion might shatter the Revolution ; but the party of the Gironde, which had now obtained the ascendency under the guidance of Brissot and Vergniaud, vehemently advo- cated a war, and Brissot has himself acknowledged that his main object in pushing it on was to overthrow the monarchy.' The French tribune began to ring with passionate appeals to arms, with denunciations of the kings and Governments of Europe, with predictions of the coming war between insurgent nations and despotic sovereigns. As late as October the Austrian Minister had replied to one of the appeals of the King of Sweden that ' all thoughts of active interference in the affairs of France on the part of his Imperial Majesty were entirely laid aside,' ^ and in accordance with this policy the Emperor had in August forbidden any enrolments of French emigrants in his dominions, and in October had ordered the dispersion of emigrants who had assembled in too great numbers at Ath and Toumay.^ The Electors of TrSves and Mayence, however, still suffered French emigrants to arm in their dominions, and on November 29 the Assembly passed a decree calling on the King to demand their disbandment within a short period, on pain of war, and requesting the Emperor to enforce the demand. They at the same time urged the King to settle the claims of the Ger- man princes on the lines indicated by the Constituent Assembly, and to change the diplomatic agents who had not efficiently represented French demands.'* These demands were not in themselves unreasonable, ' See a remarkable passage ' Taine, Hist.de la Bivolution, fcom one of his pamphlets, H. 129, 130. quoted in the Annual Begister, * Bourgoing, i. 421. SybeL i, 1792, part i. p. 273. 326, 327. 2 Keith to Grenville,Oot.8,1791. 366 THE FEENCH REVOLUTION. oh. ni but they were accompanied by Bpeeches of the most violent provocation against the sovereigns of Europe. The country was rapidly arming ; Narbonne, the young Minister of War, showed extraordinary power and promptitude in organising three armies under the com- mand of Eochambeau, Luckner, and Lafayette ; and a manifesto clearly foreshadowing war was addressed to all the Courts of Europe. Refugees from the Austrian Netherlands were received with ostentatious favour, and all the language and proceedings of the dominant party in the Assembly proved that they were not only ready but eager for war. The French King considered that he had no altei^ native but to yield to the wishes of the Assembly. Montmorin, who represented the policy of peace, re- signed, and soon after a great number of changes were made in the diplomatic body. On December 14, the King announced to the Assembly that in accordance with their decree he had summoned the Elector of TrSves to put a stop, before January 15, to all enrol- ments on pain of immediate war, and that he was about to write to the Emperor desiring him if necessary to exert his authority as head of the Empire to avert the miseries which the conduct of some of the members of the Germanic body, if not speedily altered, must neces- sarily produce. An immense war credit was voted, and a French army marched to the German frontier. But while the King was thus apparently consenting to the wishes, and making himself the mouthpiece, of the dominant party in the Assembly, his secret- wishes and policy were very different, and he now for the first time formally and in person requested the assistance of foreign Powers against his subjects. On December 3, he wrote to the King of Prussia, stating that in spite of his acceptance of the new Constitution there was a manifest determination in the Assembly to destroy OH. n. APPEAL TO THE EMPEEOE. 367 altogether what remained of the monarchy; that he accordingly addressed the King of Prussia, the Em- peror, the Russian Empress, and the Kinga of Spain and Sweden, and that he suggested to them a Congress of the chief Powers of Europe supported by an armed force, as the best means of stopping the factions in France, making it possible to establish a better order of things, and preventing the evil under which Trance was suffering from spreading to the other European Powers. He trusted that the King of Prussia would approve of his ideas, and would at the same time main- tain a profound secrecy about this overture.' To the same effect, but in language still more com- promising, Marie Antoinette wrote to Mercy on the 16th, only two days after the King had made his declaration to the Assembly. She reminded the Aus- trian ambassador that ever since July she had been asking for a Congress of the Great Powers of Europe, but that her brother had hitherto abandoned her. Even now, however, it was not too late, and the fate of the Royal Family in France was in his hands. He had seen how the Assembly in its late message had invited the King ' in a manner to declare war against the Electors and princes of Germany ; ' how the King had taken the only course open to him in declaring that he would comply with the wishes of the Assembly, and how he had assured them that if in the fixed period he did not receive the satisfaction which he demanded it would only remain for him to propose a war. ' No comment is necessary,' the Queen proceeded, ' to show the folly of this step. Without army, or discipline, or money, it is we who wish to attack. But the King is not free. He must obey the general wish, and for our personal safety here, it is necessary for him to follow ' Feuillet de Conches, iv. 269-271. 25 368 THE FBENCH EEVOLUTION. ch. ii. exactly the course which is prescribed to him. It ia for the Emperor and the other Powers now to help us. ... It is at this moment that an armed Congress appears to us likely to be of the greatest use. Let my brother not deceive himself. Sooner or later he will be mixed in our affairs. First of all, if we are fools enough to attack, he will be obliged as chief of the Empire to support the Germanic body, and moreover, with soldiers as undisciplined as ours, his territory will soon be violated on all sides. It is no longer time to fear for om* persons. The course which we have adopted here, of appearing to move frankly in the direction they desire, places us in safety, and the greatest danger of all would be to remain always as we are. , . . There ia no longer any time to procrastinate. The moment to help us is come. If it is missed there is no more to be, said. The Emperor will then only have to accept in the eyes of the whole universe the shame and the re- proach of having suffered his sister, his nephew, and his ally, to be dragged through the very depths of humiliation when it was in his power to have saved them.' ' The situation of the Emperor was very perplexing. His anxiety for peace cannot reasonably be doubted. The reader will remember the letter deprecating foreign interference which the French Queen had written after the acceptance of the Constitution, at the dictation of the constitutional party ; and he will also remember the passionate manner in which the Queen, almost im- mediately after, wrote to her brother declaring that this letter did not contain her real sentiments, that she had written only on compulsion, that she placed all her hopes on foreign assistance. She now complained bitterly that her brother had taken no notice whatever ' Arneth, pp. 231-235. OH. n. DIFFICULTIES OF THE EMPEEOE. 369 of ttese latter letters, while the former letter had been made use of all over Europe as a justification of his neutrality.' But in addition to foreign Powers, the German Diet was now pressing upon the Emperor, urging him to support the claims of the princes to their rights in Alsace, and beginning manifestly to resent his passive endurance of the insults of the French Assembly,^ and the French Eoyal Family were almost as much prisoners as after their capture at Varennes. The Emperor, indeed, in his interviews with the emigrant princes appears to have denied this,^ but he was well aware of the fact, and he was exceed- ingly alarmed lest new outrages should force him to intervene.* He was also probably troubled and irri- tated by learning that Segur had been sent from Paris to Berlin, if not to obtain a Prussian alliance for France, at least to detach Prussia from Austria. The Prussian King, it is true, entirely rejected the French overture, but there was an uneasy and suspicious feeling at Vienna.* The menace and the influence of the Revolution were beginning to be felt even in very remote parts of the Austrian dominions. ' The tiers etat in several of the provinces of this monarchy,' wrote Keith, ' are extremely urgent in their solicitations to the Emperor to obtain the right of sending representa- tives from their body to their provincial States. A deputation from the peasantry of Styria has been sent hither with a petition to that effect, which the Emperor has referred to the Bohemian Chancery, with orders to each councillor of that board to deliver to his Imperial Majesty his opinion in writing and sealed. . . . The example set by Styria will probably be followed by the ' Arneth, p. 232. * Ibid. Dee. 17, 1791. ' Ibid. p. 228. ■* See on S^gur's mission, Ar- ' Keith to Grenville, Dec. 3, neth, p. 237. Eden to Grenvillei 1791. Jan. 10, 14. 21. 1792. 370 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. a. other countries in the Emperor's dominions.' ' The Austrian Netherlands were evidently on the verge of revolt under the influence of French example and incitements, and a French irruption into the territory of the Empire might at any time take place. ' If,' wrote Keith, ' to these events the near prospect of a war in Poland should be added (which appears to me far from improbable), the wisdom as well as firmness of the Austrian Cabinet will be put to hard trials.'^ Under these circumstances, the Emperor tried to strike out a middle course which would at once support his dignity, satisfy his allies, and make it not wholly impossible to preserve the peace. He sent the most urgent and peremptory directions to the Elector of Treves, and to the other minor German princes, to put an end to all enrolment, organisation, and assembling of French emigrants in their dominions ; and his in- junctions were so fully carried out, that in January the French Minister at Ooblentz informed his Government that this grievance had been entirely removed. On the other hand, the Austrian Chancellor officially informed the French ambassador at Vienna that any act of vio- lence to the Elector would be immediately repelled by an Austiian force. The Emperor, he said, had full confidence in the moderate intentions of the French King, but he had daily reason to fear that those inten- tions might not be respected, and he therefore, while oflicially informing the French Government that all armed assemblies of emigrants had been dispersed in Germany, as they had previously been in the Austrian Netherlands, thought it necessary to inform them also, that Marshal Bender had received orders to give the Elector efiectual assistance if he were attacked. The ' Keith to Grenville, Dec. 21, 1791. ' Ibid. Dec. 24, 1791. OH. 11. POLICY OF THE EMPEEOE. 371 Emperor also wrote a letter to the French King, re- minding him that the feudal rights of the German princes in Alsace and Lorraine, which had been swept away by the French Chamber in August, had never been subject to the sovereignty or legislation of France ; that they had been expressly reserved in a long series of international treaties ; that they had been placed under the protection and guarantee of the German Empire. He protested against the decree of the Na- tional Assembly as an arbitrary usurpation and violation of the rights of the Empire, and he declared his full resolution of supporting the German princes and the Diet, if they did not obtain a full restoration of their property and rights, as settled by treaties. He also sent a declaration to the different Courts of Europe suspending and explaining away the Declara- tion of Pillnitz. The measures, it said, taken by the allied Powers at that time, had been taken on the sup- position that the King of France was a prisoner. But the situation had changed. The Emperor considered that the King of France should now be deemed free, and consequently his acceptance of the Constitution and all the acts which had ensued from it as valid. He hoped that the acceptance of this Constitution would restore order to France, and raise the moderate party to power. As, however, it was possible that the former excesses and violence might be renewed, he considered that the Powers should hold themselves in a state of observation, and cause their respective Ministers at Paris to declare that their alliance still exists, and that they will be ready on every occasion to support in con- cert the rights of the King and of the French monarchy.' On January 5, 1792, almost identical notes were pre- sented at Paris by the ambassadors of the Emperor and Bertrand de MoUeville, Annales, Dec. 1791. 372 THE FRENCH EEVOLDTION. oh. ii. of the King of Prussia, declaring that if, in spite of the determination of the German princes to maintain in their territory the regulations relating to the emi- grants which were in force in the Austrian Netherlands, the German territory was violated, the two sovereigns would consider this proceeding a declaration of war against themselves.' These measures left the French Assembly a very large practical latitude. If it wished for war, the feudal claims of the German princes and the attempted or threatened interference with French affairs furnished obvious grounds. If it desired peace, the complete concession of the demands about the emigrants paved the way, and the other questions might easily be sub- mitted to negotiations, which in the present disposition of the Emperor would almost certainly be successful. The French were at the same time clearly informed that the attempt to disunite the two German Powers had failed, and that both must be encountered in the event of a war. There was soon no doubt of the alternative which was preferred. Brissot, Isnard, and other Girondins who now led the Assembly, at once attacked the Emperor with a fury of invective which could scarcely be surpassed, and they openly advocated immediate war. ' The one calamity to be feared,' said Brissot, ' is that there should not be a war.' ' There can be no sincere treaty between tyranny and liberty. Tour Constitution is an eternal anathema to despotic thrones. All kings must hate it, for it tries them and it sen- tences them ; ' and his answer to the treaties which were cited in support of the feudal rights of the Ger- man princes was that the ' sovereignty of the people is not bound by the treaties of tyrants.' The Diplomatic ' Bourgoing, i. 450, 451. OH. n. WAE BECOMES INEVITABLE. 373 Committee, in a report which was presented to the Assembly on January 14,. called upon the King to exact from the Emperor before February 10, and on pain of immediate war, a distinct promise to do nothing against the French nation and its independence, and to assist France in accordance with the treaty of 1756 against any Power that attacked her, and the Assembly itself on January 25, after several days of the most insulting and frantic denunciation, formally accused the Emperor of having violated the treaty of 1766 by pro- moting a coalition against France, and called upon the King to demand, in an interval which was now pro- longed to March 1, a full explanation and satisfaction, on pain of war. This debate and vote made peace impossible. The Emperor, indeed, determined that he would still en- deavour to temporise, but the preliminary treaty of July, between Austria and Prussia, was at once con- verted into a close definitive alliance, and a united army under the Duke of Brunswick was concentrated on the French frontier. The English diplomatic despatches of the time show very vividly the dispositions of the dif- ferent parties. ' Nothing short of dire necessity,' wrote Keith, on the last day of 1791, ' will determine his Im- perial Majesty to unsheathe the sword in good earnest against France or any other foreign Power,' and Keith described the anxiety with which the Austrian Court sought for pretexts to avoid immediate action, and their repeated and urgent warnings to the minor German princes to avoid any provocation to France.' 'I am persuaded,' he wrote a week later, ' that this Court at length conceives imminent danger of a rupture with France, and will proceed to make serious military pre- parations. . . . With this I remain in the conviction ' Keith to Grenville, Deo. 31, 1791 ; Jan. 7, 1792. 374 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. n. that the reluctance of the Emperor to draw the sword on any account, is in no shape diminished, notwith- standing that he has been heard to say within these ten days, that if the French madmen are determined to force him into a war, they should find that the pacific Leopold knew how to wage it with the greatest vigour, and would oblige them to pay the expenses of that war in more solid coin than their assignats.' ' No formal proposition had been made on the part of France for the re-establishment of the rights and possessions of the German princes in Alsace and Lorraine, ' who by the Constitution of the Empire are not at liberty to accept any pecuniary compensation for those rights ; ' but even after the hostile vote of January 25, there was still hope at Vienna that France would propose a territorial indemnification to the princes. ' The Emperor has it extremely at heart to preserve peace with Prance if it can be done with any degree of dignity and propriety. It is well understood here that the French King has not put a direct veto on the hostile decree of the National Assembly, and that although he has been able to throw a momentary barrier in the way of the democratical impetuosity, he may soon find himself obliged to go all lengths which the madness of that party may dictate.' ^ The King of Spain, Keith reports, had said he could take no more part in French affairs than to form a cor- don around his own frontiers, and pay a subsidy to the troops of Russia and Sweden. The chances of Russian and Swedish assistance seemed to the Emperor doubtful and distant. The Imperial treasury was very low ; the Emperor would be obliged, if the war broke out, to impose a heavy war tax in the first year ; but he still, in the opinion of Keith, hoped to intimidate the French by making his war preparations very public.^ ' Keith to Grenville, Jan. 7, " Ibid. Jan. 18, Feb. 11,1792. 1792. • Ibid. Feb. 15, 18, 1792. OH. II. THEEE GREAT CHANGES. 375 Among his most serious causes of anxiety were his relations with Prussia and with Poland. Prussia had just acquired the Margravates of Anspach and Baireuth through the resignation of their sovereigns and by right of succession, a good deal to the dissatisfaction of the Emperor,' and she was beginning to lean towards Russia in a manner that was not a little disquieting. As I have already remarked, it was the sincere and earnest desire of Leopold that the integrity and independence of Poland should be preserved, and he was perfectly aware that the Empress of Russia was plotting against both. The signature of the definitive Peace of Jassy on January 9, by putting an end to all alarms from Turkey, had left her free to pursue her policy, and on this side of Europe the moment of crisis was at hand. At this anxious period, when the issues of peace and war were in suspense, Europe was startled in quick succession by three great events — the fall of the Minis- try of Florida Blanca in Spain on February 28 ; the death, after an illness of only two days, of the Emperor Leopold, on March 1 ; and the assassination of Gustavus III. sixteen days later at a masked ball at Stockholm. Two of these events had a great and immediate effect on French affairs, Florida Blanca had been one of the first, and Gustavus III. had been the most zealous, of the supporters of the emigrants ; but Spain, under the Ministry of Aranda, and Sweden, under the Regency of the Duke of Sudermania, now adopted the English policy of complete neutrality. The effects of the death of Leopold were somewhat more complex. An emi- nently wise, experienced, cautious, and pacific sovereign, in the prime of his powers and in the most critical period of his reign, disappeared from the scene, and Keith to Grenville, Feb. 8, 1792. 376 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. a. was replaced by a mere boy without knowledge, ex- perience, or talent. War witk Prance, however, had become inevitable before the death of Leopold, and it is not probable that this event even accelerated it. But it gave Prussia an ascendency in the new alliance, and it deprived Poland in the moment of her extreme need of her only friend. The English diplomatic correspondence shows clearly how quickly the Polish question was coming to ma- turity. We have seen, in the despatches from Berlin, the evident signs of the great act of treachery which the Prussian King was already meditating, and in April Count Schulenburg informed Eden that he would never admit that Prussia had guaranteed the new Polish Con- stitution, which he considered contrary to Prussian interests, ' since the Polish monarch, if ever he should become hereditary, might rapidly rise into a very for- midable neighbour.' ' At Vienna, Keith learnt from the Austrian ministers that they had certain knowledge that the Empress of Russia had already sent a large sum of money to her minister at Warsaw for the ex- press purpose of fomenting internal troubles in Poland.' and it was the belief both at Vienna and St. Petersburg that the new King of Hungary had Russian sympathies dei'ived from his uncle Joseph.' Bischoffswerder had arrived at Vienna shortly before the death of Leopold, and it was noticed that he was in close and constant communication with the Russian Minister, who was an active fomenter of the discord in Poland. ' Should a connection,' wrote Keith, ' be formed between the King of Prussia and the Czarina, the unhappy kingdom of Poland may possibly become the propitiatory sacrifice.' > Eden to Grenville, April 14, 1792. 1792. ' Ibid. March 3. Whitworth 2 Keith to Grenville, Feb. 18, to Grenville, March 16, 1792. CH. u. PLOTS AGAINST POLAND. 377 He observed that there was a growing belief in Vienna that Bischoffswerder was instructed to make an alliance with Russia, allowing the Empress to carry out her designs in Poland; and Keith confessed himself at a loss to reconcile the proceedings of the Prussian favourite ' with the very friendly professions he is constantly making to the PoHsh charg6 d'affaires here, of the up- right intentions of the King his master towards the Republic of Poland.' * It was evident that some kind of compact was established between Prussia and Russia, and the terms were beginning to ooze out. ' The first principle,' wrote Keith, 'laid down by these two Courts is that the " intggritS " of the Polish dominions shall be in- varibly preserved. For all the rest a very wide scope will be left to the Russian efforts to bring back the government of that country to its ancient form. Tour lordship will best judge how much that counter revolu- tion is to be effected without drawing the sword, and whether or not, if the connivance of Austria and Prussia shall be carried so far as to abet that enterprise (though by less violent means), the former ideas of aggrandise- ment may not once more creep into the Cabinets of the Triumvirate.' Grenville, on the other hand, wrote that many circumstances convinced the English Government that it was the intention of the Empress of Russia to make use of the first favourable opportunity, to over- throw by arms the new Constitution of Poland, and that she was only restrained by the Courts of Vienna and Berlin ; and he expressed his earnest hope that this restraint might continue.^ At St. Petersburg the extreme and general cor- ruption gave great facilities for obtaining information. • Keith to Grenville, March 7, ^ Ibid. March 17. Grenvillo 10, 14, 1792. to Keith, March 26, 1792. 378 THE f EENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. ii. WHtworth, the English ambassador, appears to have been the first who succeeded in discovering the inten- tions of the Empress. He had once believed that she would content herself with protesting against the new Constitution, but he soon discovered that he had been deceived. ' I have learnt,' he wrote, ' through a very particular but sure channel, that it is the intention of this Court to fall upon the Republic of Poland in the spring with an army of 130,000 men, which will be brought from Moldavia and continue on the frontier till the proper season. . . . Should other neighbouring Powers interfere, as they naturally will, a plan of par- tition is already framed, and it is silpposed will meet with the concurrence, as it will do the convenience, of all three. In this plan Dant2sic and Thorn, with a dis- trict in Great Poland, are allotted to the share of the King of Prussia. Advantages in the same propor- tion (the particulars of which the person who gave me the intelligence does not recollect) are made to the Emperor, and there is no doubt that her Imperial Majesty will secure to herself as much as will reduce the remains of the devoted Republic to a state of the most wretched and humiliating dependence, and indem- nify herself fully for the expense of the war with the Turks.' Whitworth had reason for believing that this scheme was still unknown to most of the ministers of Catherine ; that the Prussian ambassador at St. Peters- burg knew nothing of it, and that the chief ministers at Berlin were equally in the dark ; but he added, ' I am, however, very much inclined to believe that those most in the confidence of his Prussian Majesty, and particularly General Bischoffswerder, are acquainted with the business, and it is not impossible that even the King of Prussia himself may have been sounded upon it. I have for some time suspected that there has been a mysterious negotiation of some kind or OH. II. IMPENDING PARTITION OF POLAND. 379 other on foot between the two Courts, unknown to the Cabinets of either.' ' The information and conjectures of Whitworth ap- pear to have been perfectly correct. Goltz, the Prus- sian ambassador at St. Petersburg, contrived to see an autograph letter written by the Empress during the Turkish war, stating that as soon as this war was over she intended to send a Eussian force iato Poland, and if the Emperor and Prussia resisted, to bribe them by an indemnity or a partition.^ It soon appeared that the scheme was by no means unwelcome to the Prussian Eang. On March 12, 1792, he wrote a confidential letter to his ministers on the afiairs of Poland, which places his intentions beyond dispute. ' Russia,' he said, ' is not far from the idea of a new partition. It would be in truth the best means of restricting the power of the King of Poland, whether he be hereditary or elective, but I doubt whether we can find for Austria a suitable indemnity, and whether the Elector of Saxony, after such a diminution of power, would still accept the crown of Poland. Nevertheless, if Austria could be indemnified, the Russian plan would be always the most advantageous for Prussia. It is well understood that we should gain all the lefb bank of the Vistula, and that we should be thus perfectly secure on that frontier, which it has hitherto been so diflScult for us to protect. Such is my opinion with reference to Poland.' * This letter has been truly described by a German historian, as the death sentence of Poland. It did not, of course, come to the knowledge of the English minis- ters ; but, as we have seen, they were under no illusions about the character and intentions of the Prussian King. ' Whitworth to Grenville, Jan. • Sybel, i. 455. 30, 31, 1792. • Ibid. pp. 460, 461. 380 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. ob. ii. At Vienna, Keith received tte communications of Whit- worth without surprise, and he was able to bring strong corroborative evidence. ' I wish,' he wrote, in report- ing the matter to Grenville, ' that I could see any- ground for supposing that his Prussian Majesty will oppose an effectual resistance to these ambitious views of Eussia. . . . That the Court of Vienna has not been an original projector in this new system of depredation, I believe I may safely aver ; but where this Court is to find the national vigour or the political virtue to with- stand the other Powers, I cannot see.' ' In the meantime the inevitable French war was rapidly approaching. The real dispositions of the dif- ferent parties are clearly disclosed in the correspondence of the time. The Bang of Prussia, who was governed by Bischoffswerder, by views of military and territorial ambition, and by a violent personal hatred of the Revo- lution, was resolved upon war ; and he pushed on his policy in spite of the opposition of his most experienced counsellors, and especially of Count Schulenburg and General Mollendorf. At Vienna the young Sovereign was more warlike than his father, and war was now generally looked on as inevitable, but it was not con- templated with pleasure. The French decree of January 25, and the despatch which was based on it, arraigning the recent conduct of the Emperor and demanding an immediate explanation on pain of war, could hardly be looked upon in any other light than as an insulting ultimatum, and one of the last acts of Leopold had been to revise the Austrian reply. It was written temperately and in some parts almost apologetically. The French complained that the Emperor had ordered General Bender to repel any attack on the Elector of Treves. ' Keith to Grenville, April 25, 1792. OH. n. AUSTRIAN ANSWER TO FKANCE. ' 381 It was answered that the Emperor had only taken this step after he had secured the full satisfaction of the French demand for the disbandment of the emigrants, and that he had only authorised his general to draw the sword in case of an actual invasion of German territory, and on the express condition that all provocation to France had ceased. Such a policy was no menace; it was only a fulfilment of his strict duty as head of the Empire. The French complained that by the circular from Padua and the alliance and Declaration of Pilnitz, the Emperor had interfered with their internal aifairs, and violated the treaty of alliance of 1756. The Em- peror answered that he had taken these measures solely for the support of the French monarch and mon- archy, at a time when his brother-in-law and ally was so manifestly a prisoner that he had fled by night from his palace and had been brought back by an armed force, and when the legal Government of France was destroyed by usurpation. No sooner had the King re- gained his freedom, accepted the Constitution, and thus reconstituted a legal Government, than the Emperor recognised the fact and ordered that all active measures should be suspended. The coalition, however, still existed though it was dormant, for France was stiU a cause of the gravest European concern. Its justifica- tion was found in the enormous French armaments, continued and augmented when the dispersion of the emigrants had taken away every reasonable pretext ; in the fury of the republican party, which was seeking to overthrow both the monarchy and the new Con- stitution ; in the manifest determination of the Jacobins to force on a war, contrary to the wishes of the King and, as the Emperor believed, of the great majority of the French nation. To that nation the Emperor now made a solemn appeal against the Jacobin party. In the interests of France as well as of the rest of Europe, 382 THE FEENCH EEyOLUTION. cii. ii. he denounced this pernicious sect as the enemies at once of their King, their Constitution, and the peace of Europe.' Keith has mentioned the curious fact that 'in a moment of extreme deference to his Prussian ally, and with the mistaken hope of intimidating France,' the Emperor added ' with his own pen ' to the draft drawn up by Kaunitz, those expressions relating to the Jacobins which so greatly added to the flame in Paris. After the death of Leopold, Bischoffswerder strongly urged upon his successor the poHcy of immediately declaring war, but Kaunitz resisted, and although military pre- parations were rapidly pushed on, a few weeks still passed before the sword was drawn.^ In France, meanwhile, the movement towards war was sweeping on with resistless impetuosity. The few moderate men who still remained in the ministry and the diplomatic service were now weeded out, and the whole direction of affairs passed into the hands of violent Eepublicans. De Lessart, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, was not only displaced, but impeached on the ground that he had not sufficiently upheld the dignity of France, and Dumouriez took his place. This eminently skilful, daring, and ambitious soldier, while echoing in their extreme forms the shibboleths of the Revolution, had objects of his own which were perfectly distinct. He wished, if possible, to isolate Austria from Prussia, and from the minor German princes, but at all events to provoke a war that would give the Austrian Netherlands to France. The anarchy and excitement of the country were now at their height. Nineteen de- partments were in a state of open insurrection. Even around Paris the price of corn in the markets was regu- ' Bertrand de Molleville, ap- ' Eeiih to Grenville, Sept. 10, peudiz xir. 1792. OH. IL FRANCE DECLAEES WAR, Al'KIL, ir92. 383 lated by great bands of armed peasantry. The National Guard in the southern provinces not only connived at, but assisted in, the destruction and pillage of country houses ; and while the most atrocious murders of func- tionaries and suspected Eoyalists were reported from all sides, the Assembly passed an Act of Amnesty in favour of Jourdain and his fellow-murderers at Avignon, and suffered them to return in triumph to the scene of their crimes. A great civic festival was given to forty Swiss soldiers who had been condemned to the galleys for mutiny at Nancy. The monthly deficit in December was above 35,000,000 livres, and it rose rapidly in January and February. At the end of December, Lord Gower stated that 2,100,000,000 of assignats had been already decreed, and that on the best calculation the whole of the national property did not exceed 3,000,000,000. Multitudes of forged assignats were abroad, and in spite of the supplies that were expected from the sale of the forest lands and from a vast confiscation of the estates of the emigrants, the prospect to any statesman formed in the school of a settled Government might have seemed absolutely desperate. But the one wish of the great majority of the Assembly was for immediate war. A despatch was sent to Vienna summoning the King of Hungary at once to renounce all alliances unsanctioned by, or hostile to, France, and to withdraw the troops that menaced her, and the answer being evasive, the Assembly, on April 20, 1792, declared war against him. Only seven members opposed the decree. In this way the war was begun which for more than twenty years deluged Europe with blood. Before ten days had passed, a French army had invaded the Aus- trian Netherlands, and within a month a Eussian army was invading Poland. For a short time, however, Eng- land kept clear of the struggle, and she still looked forward to a long course of political and financial re- 26 384 THE FEENCII REVOLUTION. ch. n. forms. We must now trace the faults and the mis- fortunes that baffled the hopes of her statesmen, drew her speedily into the vortex, and soon made her the most important member of the great coalition against Franca CHAPTEE III.i There are few things more remarkable in the political correspondence of the time than the almost complete absence of alarm with which the English ministers viewed the events that have been described in the pre- ceding chapter. They appear to have wholly scouted the idea that serious danger from Prance was approaching England, and their chief apprehensions were turned to another quarter. A deep and settled distrust of the Emperor Leopold was one of the strongest motives of their foreign policy, and they seem to have greatly mis- understood and undervalued his character, and exag- gerated his designs. The alarm which the aggressive measures of his predecessor, against Holland, had pro- duced in England, and the close alliance with Prussia which it was a main object of Pitt to maintain, had given a strong anti-Austrian bias to English statesmen, and it was confirmed by the long delay of the Emperor in concluding the peace of Sistova, and by some obscure and now forgotten disputes which had ended in the Emperor giving the Austrian Netherlands a constitution ■ Chapter xx. of the History of Englmid in the EigUeenth Century. 386 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. ch. iii. considerably less liberal than he had promised, and in the maritime Powers withholding their guarantee. The diplomatic correspondence of 1791 is full of English complaints of the efforts of the Emperor to dissociate Prussia from England ; of fears lest the Emperor should obtain by negotiation some permanent influence in the affairs of Holland ; of expressions of an extreme distrust of his sincerity ; of regrets that Prussia, in allying herself with him, should have guaranteed the Austrian Netherlands without any frank concert or communica- tion with England.' The English ill-feeling towards Austria was fully reciprocated at Vienna, and the Emperor, who was in truth the most unambitious and pacific of the great sovereigns of Europe, was looked upon by English statesmen as the most formidable danger to the peace of Europe. From France, however, they seemed to have feared nothing, and they looked forward with a wonderful con- fidence to a long continuance of peace. They were perfectly resolved to maintain a strict neutrality, and they had no doubt that they could do so. The relations of the two nations were very amicable, and even if it were otherwise, it was the prevailing belief, which was continually expressed in Parliament,* that recent events had made France wholly powerless for aggression. The suspicions aroused in Prance by the negro insurrection of St. Domingo were allayed by the conduct of Lord Effingham, and the approbation of that conduct was officially transmitted to Paris.^ The Assembly, it is true, somewhat ungraciously refused to vote its thanks to the British Government, but it passed a vote of thanks ' See Bwart to Grenville, Aug. 1792. 4 ; Grenville to Ewart, Aug. 26 ; " Ptm'l. Bist. xxix. 44, 170, 919, GrenviUe to Eden, Dec. 16, 20, 929, 940. 1791 ; Grenville to Keith, March ' Grenville to Gower, Oct. 1791, 26 ; GrenviUe to Eden, March 27, OH. ui. RELATIONS OF ENGLAND AND FEANCE. 387 to ' the BritisH nation, and especially to Mr. Effingham, Governor of Jamaica.' ' But in general there was as yet no hostility to the British Government, and a very friendly feeling towards the British nation. In November 1791, however, a report was brought to England of a design which was believed to have been formed by the younger Rochambeau, to raise an insurrection in several towns in the Austrian Netherlands with the assistance of some Imperial troops who had been corrupted, and to support the rebels with some French troops of the Hne, while at the same time an attempt was to be made to excite a sedition in Holland in favour of the ' Patriots.' The report seemed to Granville wild and improbable, but he thought it right to send it to Gower, whose reply was not altogether reassuring, From the character and opinions of Eochambeau he thought such a project not unlikely, but added, ' If such a scheme does really exist, it must iDe believed that this Government has not as yet given any countenance to it ; but when one considers that the object of it, that part at least which regards Holland, is of great national importance, and is a point on which the honour of the nation has been offended — " haeret lateri lethalis arundo " — one should be less surprised than hurt to find if it should be suffered to ripen, that it should be adopted by this Government, especially when one reflects that a diversion ot this sort abroad would tend to compose matters at home.' ' A few weeks later, Clootz made one of his mad harangues at the bar of the Assembly in his capacity of ambassa- dor of the human race, denouncing the despotic Powers of Europe, and in the course of it he inveighed bitterly against the maritime ambition of England, and against ' Marsh's Politics of Great 1791 ; Gower to Grenville, Not. Britain and France, i. 48-50. 18, 1791. '' Grenville to Gower, Nov. 388 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. oh. m. the Anglo-Prussian Catal which reigned in Holland. The Assembly received his discourse with great serious- ness and admiration, and it was ordered to be printed.' English statesmen, however, are certainly not in- clined to attach undue importance to wild words. When the news of the Peace of Sistova arrived in England, in August 1791, Grenville, who had recently assumed the direction of foreign affairs, believed that the last serious cloud had vanished from the horizon. ' I am repaid for my labour,' he wrote, ' by the maintenance of peace, which is all this country has to desire. We shall now, I hope, for a very long period indeed, enjoy this blessing, and cultivate a situation of prosperity unexampled in our history. The state of our commerce, our revenue, and above all of our public funds, is such as to hold out ideas which, but a few years ago, would indeed have appeared visionary, and which there is now every hope of realising.' * The same sanguine estimate of the situation con- tinued through the winter, and was most decisively shown in the session of Parliament which opened on January 31, 1792. The King's Speech was delivered after the debate and decree of the French Assembly, which had made a continental war almost certain, but it did not even mention Prance. ' The friendly assur- ances,' the King said, ' which I receive from foreign Powers, and the general state of Europe, appear to promise to my subjects the continuance of their pre- sent tranquillity;' and the chief recommendation of the speech was a diminution of the naval and military forces. With the enthusiastic approval of Fox,^ this policy was carried out. The number of sailors and marines to be employed in 1792 was reduced to 16,000. • Anrmal Begister, 1792, p. 267. Cabinets of Geo. III. ii. 196. ■ Buckingham, Courts and ' Pari. Hist. xxix. 767. CH. III. RELATIONS OF ENGLAND AND FEANCE. 389 The army in England was reduced to about the same number. The Hessian Subsidy had just expired, and Pitt announced that it would not be renewed, and the saving of 400,000Z. which was thus made was divided between the reduction of taxation and the diminution of the debt. I have already referred to Pitt's triumphant Budget speech on February 17, but one passage in it is peculiarly relevant to our present subject. Having explained how his Sinking Fund would accumulate for fifteen years, he added : ' I am not, indeed, presump- tuous enough to suppose that when I name fifteen years I am not naming a period in which events may arise which human foresight cannot reach . . . but unques- tionably there never was a time in the history of this country when from the situation of Europe we might more reasonably expect fifteen years of peace, than we may at the present moment.' ' The Cassandra warnings of Burke were indeed still heard, but they had never been so completely disre- garded.* Lord Auckland complained that even among very prominent English politicians the change of minis- try which altered the foreign policy of Spain, and the death of the Emperor Leopold, hardly excited more attention than the death or removal of a Burgomaster at Amsterdam.' At the same time a strong distrust of England may be already detected in French diplomatic correspon- dence, and especially in the letters of Hirsinger, the Charge d' Affaires, who managed French afiairs in Lon- don for a few weeks after the recall of BarthSlemy in January 1792. Hirsinger acknowledged that Grenville had received him with great courtesy, and had given • Pari. Hist. xxix. 826. ' Auckland Correspondmct, ii » Burke's Corres;pondence, iii. 398. 414, 415. 390 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. m. him the most explicit assurances of the friendly dis- position of the British Government and of their fixed determination to abstain from all interference with the Revolution, but he was for some time sceptical and hostile, and his letters to Paris were filled with alarm- ing rumours. He had heard that the Hanoverian troops were ready to march, and that the King as Elector of Hanover was about to join the coalition. He suspected that the English ministers were secretly stirring up the Emperor against France; that they were intriguing to alienate Spain ; that they had de- signs upon the Isle of Bourbon and the Isle of France. He was told that it was only through the influence of Pitt that a proposal of the King and of the Chancellor to bring England into the coalition had been rejected. England, he said, watched with perfidious pleasure the embarrassments of France. Her flag was steadily dis- placing that of France in the commerce of the world, and in spite of all legislative prohibitions great quanti- ties of French coin were brought to her for security. He soon, however, convinced himself that the dominant portion of the ministry was fully resolved upon neu- trality. Pitt, he said, ' does not love us,' but he is too enlightened not to see the enormous advantages Eng- land derives from her present position, and nothing but a French invasion of the Netherlands could induce him to declare openly against us. The sentiments of the King were, no doubt, hostile to the Revolution. When Hirsinger was presented to him on January 20, George III. received him very cordially, but spoke with ' his usual frankness.' ' I pity your King and Queen,' he said, 'with all my heart, they are very unfortunate; your National Assembly is a collection of fools and madmen who are in a fair way to ruin their beautiful country by their stupidity and their folly. In truth Constantinople and London are now the only places OH. III. MISSION OF TALLEYRAND, 1792. 391 where a French " employ 6 " can live safely. 1 am very glad for you that you are here.' These last words, Hirsinger said, reminded him of Grenville's assurances of neutrality. On the whole he was of opinion that the English Government had no further plan than to extend English commerce at the expense of Prance. The power of Pitt appeared to him almost absolute. Last session his majority was two to one, this session it was likely to be three to one.' At the end of January, De Lessart, who was still French Minister of Foreign Affairs, sent Talleyrand to England accompanied by Lauzun, Duke of Biron, for the purpose of sounding the dispositions of the Eng- lish Government. As an act of the late Constituent Assembly had incapacitated its members from holding any oflSce for the space of two years, Talleyrand was invested with no diplomatic character, but De Lessart gave him a letter of introduction to Lord Grenville recommending him as a very eminent Frenchman, peculiarly competent to discuss the relations between the two countries. The objects at which he was to aim were clearly defined. He was in the first place to endeavour to obtain an assurance of the neutrality of England in the event of a war between France and the Emperor, even though that war led to an invasion of the Austrian Netherlands. Such an invasion, De Lessart explained, was very probable, but it would be a mere matter of military defence, produced by the aggression of the Emperor and intended to draw away the war from France and especially from Paris. It ought, therefore, to excite no alarm in England, and it was certainly not a case to which the provisions of the Treaty of Utrecht applied. Talleyrand was also to > Hirsinger to the French Fo- Feb. 3, Mar. 9, 1792 (Frenoh teign Minister, Jan. 17, 20, 27, Foreign OfBoe). 392 THE FEENCH EEVOLDTION. ob. m. endeavour to, obtain a similar assurance of the neutrality of the King in his capacity of Elector of Hanover, in which capacity he could dispose of an army of 30,000 or 40,000 men, and he was to feel his way towards the possibility of an alliance between England and France with a mutual guarantee of their possessions. Towards the close of the mission he himself suggested another object which was accepted by the minister. He thought it possible that the English Government might be in- duced to guarantee a French loan of 3,000,000Z. or 4,000, OOOi., and in return for such financial assistance and for a reciprocal guarantee of territory, Talleyrand was authorised to offer the cession of Tobago. This island was of little consequence to France ; its inhabi- tants were chiefly of English origin, and its loss had been a cause of some regret in England. Talleyrand arrived in London on January 24. He found, somewhat to his annoyance, that the newspapers had already described him as having had an interview with Pitt, and his mission began with a very disagreeable incident. Biron was arrested for an old debt, thrown into prison, and detained for nearly three weeks ; and, as he had no diplomatic capacity, Grenville declined to interfere for his release. Talleyrand himself, however, was exceedingly satisfied with his reception. He de- scribed the ministers as full of courtesy^ while leading members of the Opposition at once called on him with warm expressions of good-will. ' Believe me,' he wrote only three days after his arrival, ' a " rapprochement " with England is no chimera.' He saw the King, Pitt, and especially Grenville. With the King the interview consisted of merely con- ventional civilities. Pitt dwelt significantly on the fact that Talleyrand had no official position, but added that he would be most happy to talk with him about the relations of England and France, and reminded him OB. m. PEOPOSAIS OF TALLEYEAND. 393 that many years before they had met at Eheims. His really important interviews were with Granville, and he described them in detail to the French minister. He did not enter into the question of the loan or of the cession of Tobago, and, although he convinced himself that there was no doubt whatever that England would, in fact, be neutral in case of a war between France aaid the Emperor, he came, after some hesitation, to the conclusion that it was better not to demand a formal and categorical statement to that effect, but rather to aim at once at the higher object of a close and positive alliance. He endeavoured to convince Grenville that the prevailing notion that the Revolution was unfinished and precarious was erroneous ; that with the acceptance of her new Constitution France had definitely taken her place among the free nations of Europe, and that it was the earnest desire of all well-judging Frenchmen to be on intimate terms with England. He proposed, therefore, that each Government should guarantee all the posses- sions of the other. The guarantee should be drawn up in the widest terms so as to include India and Ireland, the two great objects of English solicitude. Having explained his policy at much length, he begged that he might receive no answer till the proposal had been deli- berately considered by the ministers. Grenville, he says, listened very attentively. If the proposal had been accepted it would have almost inevit- ably drawn England from her position of neutrality, would have made her, as an ally of France, a party to the impending contest, and would have wholly changed the course of European history. Nearly a fortnight elapsed before Grenville sent for Talleyrand to give him the answer of the Cabinet, and, although Talleyrand did not obtain what he asked, he described the interview to De Lessart as extremely eatisfactory. It confirmed him, he said, in his convio- 394 THE FRENCH KEVOLUTION. oh. m. tion ' that the intentions of England are far from being disquieting, and that her de facto neutrality ' is incon- testable.' Grenville began by assuring him that the dispositions of the English Government towards France were perfectly friendly; that not only were they not among her enemies, but that they sincerely desired to see her free from her present embarrassments; that they were persuaded that a commercial people could only gain by the liberty of surrounding nations, and that it was entirely untrue that they had taken any part in fomenting the troubles of France. At the same time the King's council, after deliberate consideration, had decided that no answer should be given to the pro- posal of Talleyrand. This reply Talleyrand attributed to a division in the council, for he said it was known that Pitt, Grenville, and Dundas were tolerably favour- able * to a ' rapprochement ' with France, while Camden, Thurlow, and especially the King, were strongly opposed to it. ' I do not yet know,' he continued, ' when they will be for us, but I can guarantee you that they will do nothing against us even in the case about which you are anxious, of the Netherlands becoming the theatre of war.' ' England is sincerely anxious for peace, and fully aware that this is her interest.' In the course of the interview he said to Grenville that he had no doubt that sooner or later an Anglo-French alliance would be formed. Grenville answered that he hoped it would be so. Writing confidentially to the French minister, Talleyrand said that it was a great misfortune that France had no accredited ambassador in London. Hirsinger was barely competent for a subordinate post. The dispositions of Pitt and the other ministers were not what had been re- presented. In order to carry out the ideas of the French Government an intelligent minister, sufficiently young ' ' NeutraliW de fait.' ' ' Assez favorable." TALLEYEAND EETCENS TO PAEIS. 395 not to be Belf-opinionated, should be speedily sent to London; and he strongly recommended the young Marquis de Chauvelin, son of a favourite of Lewis XV., ' who has talent in a large measure,' as a fitting man for the post.' Talleyrand returned to Paris on March 10, and expressed himself to everyone with whom he spoke as extremely satisfied with his reception and with the dis- positions of England.^ Grenville's account of the mission is not materially different from that of Talleyrand, but it accentuates rather more strongly the determination of the English Government to keep itself from any kind of engagement, especially with diplomatists who had no formal or official character.* It was possible, Grenville ' The mission of Talleyrand to England has been sometimes narrated with a good deal of in- accuracy, but the whole collec- tion of Talleyrand's own letters to De Lessart describing his pro- ceedings (Jan. 27, 31, Feb. 3, 17, 27, March 2, 1792), as well as De Lessart's letter to Grenville (Jan. 12) introducing him, and his letter to Talleyrand, will be found in one of the supplemental volumes for 1791-1792 in the French Foreign Office, while Lord Grenville gave his own ac- count of the mission to Gower, Feb. 10 and March 9, 1792. Morris was aware of the mission {Works, ii. 166), but he was not accurately informed about its circumstances or about the in- structions of Talleyrand. I must take this opportunity of express- , ing my gratitude to the officials at the Foreign Office in Paris for the kind assistance they have given me when examining these and other despatches. Since the first edition of this book M. Pal- lain has pubhshed the letters of Talleyrand in his Mission de Talleyrand d Lcm6/res en 1792 (1889). ' Gower to Grenville, Mar. 10, 1792. ' ' Since I wrote to your Excel- lency on the subject of M. de Talleyrand, I have seen that gentleman twice on business of his mission to this country. The first time he explained to me very much at large the disposi- tion of the French Government and of the nation to enter' into the strictest connection with Great Britain, and proposed that this should be done by a treaty of mutual guarantee, or in such other manner as the Government of this country should prefer. Having stated this, he earnestly requested that he might not re- ceive any answer at that time, but that he might see me again for that purpose. I told him that in compliance with his request I 396 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. ih. said, that some similar application might be made to Gower to ascertain how far England might be disposed to make a formal declaration of neutrality in the event of a war, or to interpose her good offices as mediator and arbitrator. Gower was directed to decline to enter on such subjects with anyone but the Minister of Foreign Affairs ; he was to say nothing to that minister which might appear to lead to them, and if asked officially and ministerially, he was to confine himself to general assurances of the friendly and pacific sentiments of England, and to a promise that he would transmit to England any request made by the French minister, provided it was put in writing.* The diplomatic relations between the two countries continued for some time to be very amicable. An act of indiscretion on the part of some Custom House officers, who in January had searched the French Legation in London for contraband goods, shortly after Barthelemy had been recalled, was followed by prompt and ample expressions of regret from Grenville and Burges,'' and some disputes which had arisen between French and would see him again for the pur- being the disposition of the Go- pose he mentioned, though I vernment to endeavour to foment thought it fair to apprise him or prolong the disturbances there that in all probability my answer with a view to any profit to be would be confined to the absolute derived from thence to this impossibility of my entering into country.' — Grenville to Gower, any kind of discussion or nego- March 9, 1792. Sybel quotes tiatiou on points of so delicate a {Hist, de I'JSurope pendant la nature with a person having no JRdvolution, i. ,Bfil-363) some let- official authority to treat upon ters of Talleyrand to Narbonna them. When I saw him again I also describing the mission, repeated this to him, telling him ' GrenviUe to Gower, March 9, that it was the only answer I 1792. could make . . . although I had " See a report of Nettement, no difficulty in saying to him who was in charge of the Lega- individually, as I had to every tion at the time when the search Frenchman with whom I had took place, Jan. 10. Hirsinger conversed on the present state of to De Lessart, Jan. 18, 1793 France, that it was very far from (French F.O.) OH. in. MISSION OF CIIAUVELIN. 397 English sailors on the coast of Malabar were settled in April with little difficulty. ' It is evident,' wrote Gower on this occasion, ' that the ministry here have a most earnest desire to be upon the best possible terms with England, which is a sufficient reason for inclining the cdt& droit to be otherwise.' ' At the time of the declara- tion of war against the Emperor, Chauvelin was sent over as a duly accredited minister plenipotentiary to England, and Talleyrand, though without any public capacity, was directed to accompany him, and also Du Roveray, a former Procureur-General of Geneva. Like Dumont, Clavidre, and Marat, Du Roveray had taken part in the unsuccessful revolution in that city in 1782.^ He had afterwards lived in exile in England and Ireland, and was actually in enjoyment of a pension from the Irish Government.^ The knowledge which Talleyrand and Du Roveray possessed of England and of its leading men was likely, to prove very useful, and Chauvelin was directed on all occasions to consult with them. Hirsinger was at the same time recalled. The selection of Chauvelin was, as we have seen, a suggestion of Talleyrand, and the plan of his mission was formed upon the lines which Talleyrand had drawn. The instructions of Chauvelin stated that as the nature ' Gower to Grenville, April 11, be printed in 1791, I find that 1792. Du Koveray had a pension of 2 Duniont says of him : ' Duro- 300Z. a year which had been yrai naturalist en Irlande, ayant granted him in 1785, and was mdme une pension du gouveme- held during pleasure. He ap- ment Irlandais, devait toe con- pears to have taken a leading sid6r6 comme plus attach^ au part in the negotiations for the gouvernement de I'Angleterre par establishment of a colony of un intfirdt permanent qa'k la Genevese refugees in Ireland France par une place passagfere.' which were carried on by the Souvenirs de Mirabeau, ch. xxi. Irish Government in 1783. See ' In a complete list of the ¥lo^ien's Hist. Review, h:paxtu pensions paid by Ireland, which p. 24 ; Irish Commons Journals, the Irish Parliament ordered to zxviii. part ii. p. cczix. 398 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. in. of the mission of Talleyrand had not permitted anything official to pass between him and the English Govern- ment, the friendly assurances which had been given him had no binding character, and that at a moment when a French invasion of the Netherlands, and perhaps of Germany, was very probable, it was highly expedient that France should obtain positive assurance that Eng- land would not in any way directly or indirectly favour her enemies. While asserting the full right of France to divert the war from her own frontiers into the Austrian Netherlands, Ghauvelin was directed to dis- claim on the part of France in the strongest and most explicit terms all projects of conquest or aggrandise- ment, and all wish to interfere with the internal concerns of other nations. In dissuading the English minister from taking any part hostile to France he was instructed to dilate upon the dangers of the excessive aggrandise- ment of the great German Powers and of Eussia ; upon the almost certain destruction in the event of war ' of the existing constitution of the German Empire, which would lead to a complete change in the disposition of power ; upon the equally certain downfall of the House of Orange if it showed itself hostUe to France ; upon the danger of turning France from a friend into an enemy. He was also directed, in his private interviews with the minister, to dwell strongly on the important and delicate topic of the condition of Ireland. The difference of re- ligion and the progress of enlightenment and public spirit had, in the opinion of the French minister, brought that country to such a state that nothing but a close union between France and England could prevent its separa- tion from England, and the first cannon-shot fired in war between the two countries would make that separa- ' The instructions were drawn the French Assembly voted tha np on April 19, the day before war. CH. m. INSTRUCTIONS OF CHAUVELIN. 399 tion inevitable. The decisive moment had now arrived when England, by consolidating her union with Prance, might obtain a warm and lasting gratitude. The instructions then proceeded to sketch the other objects at which Chauvelin was to aim, A defensive alliance between England and France, by which each Power guaranteed the other all its possessions, would probably arrest the war at its outset, through the in- fluence which England could exercise over Prussia and Holland. If Spain enters into the war it may be con- sidered whether measures may not be taken by England, Prance, and perhaps the United States, which would give these Powers the Spanish commerce. This was not to be ministerially proposed, but tbe suggestion was to be thrown out. In the last place the French Govern- ment was extremely anxious to raise a loan in England of not less than three or four millions sterling, with the approbation and, if possible, with the guarantee of the British Government. This object was so important that the King was ready to purchase it by the cession of Tobago.' Some months still passed without any apparent change in the relations between the two countries. In the last despatch which Hirsinger wrote to his Govern- ment before leaving England, he mentioned that Pitt had just been assuring a commercial deputation that England would take no part in the war, and he added that the English minister, ' who neglects no means oi obtaining popularity,' knows that the nation is solely occupied with commercial interests and does not wish for war.^ The Government issued a proclamation agaia ■ Instructions for M. Chanve- (French Foreign OfBce). lin, Talleyrand and Du Roveray, = April 28, 1792. Chauvelin April 19, 1782. ' E^flexions pour had arrived in London the day les negotiations d'Angleterre en before, oas de guerre,' March 30, 1792 27 400 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. in. affirming the strict neutrality of England and warning all British subjects against any acts that might inftinge it ; and when a rumour was circulated that a press of seamen had been ordered, a paragraph, which Chauvelin stated to have been sent by Pitt himself, was inserted in the papers positively contradicting it, and declaring that ' there was not the smallest appearance that any event would endanger our present tranquillity, which we have so great an interest to preserve.' ' Chauvelin had him- self no doubt whatever of the pacific dispositions of the English Government, and his despatches — which were now confessedly drawn up with the assistance of his two colleagues, and in which the hand of Talleyrand may, I think, be clearly traced — at this time show none of the violence, hostility, and levity they afterwards displayed. We may find in them a singularly able analysis of English politics. Those deceive themselves strangely, he wrote, who suppose that England is on the verge of revolution, that it is possible to separate the English people from their Government, and that the division between Ministry and Opposition is a division between the supporters of privilege and authority, and the sup- porters of the people. The kind of political discussion which makes so much noise in Prance, is in England a matter of general indifference. Attached to their con- stitution by old prejudice and habits, by constantly comparing their lot with that of other nations, and by the prosperity they enjoy, the English people have no belief that a revolution would improve their condition. Agriculture, arts, manufactures, commerce, the rise and fall of the funds are their chief interests ; parliamentary debates come in the second line. An Opposition is re- garded as almost as essential an ingredient of Parlia- ment as a Ministry, but the question of liberty is not ' Chauvelin to Lebrun.May 1, 1792. OH. ra. CHACVELIN ON ENGLISH OPINION. 401 Biipposed to be at stake. The existing ministry is not all with the King. Thurlow and Hawkesbiiry are, Pitt, Grenville and Dundas are net ; and the ascendency of Pitt is indisputable. The Opposition is very feeble, it is rather anti-ministerial than popular, and it has been fatally weakened by raising the question of parlia- mentary reform. Paine is utterly unpopular. The great landlords who were the chief supporters of the Opposition now lean towards the Court. The mass of the people are profoundly inert, and it is only by gain- ing and convincing the minister, that the ends of Prance can be attained. The prevailing sentiment in England was on the whole favourable to the Revolution. Men praised its results though they sometimes blamed its means, but there are influences abroad which are acting very prejudicially on English opinion. The unfortunate Bpirit of propagandism which is connected with the Revolution ; the growing suspicion that French agents are fomenting disorder and endeavouring to produce insurrections ; the constant attacks of the French papers on the English minister, and their habit of representing every sign of disorder in England or Ireland as a triumph of liberty, have the worst effect ; and the manifestly in- creasing violence of the Revolution, and especially the attack on the Tuileries on June 20, are alienating Eng- lish opinion in both parties and persu-ading even the most favourable judges that a general disorganisation is taking place. The King would be quite ready to join the Coalition, but his ministers will never suffer it ; they would gladly see the Coalition dissolved, and Pitt especially is inflexibly opposed to connecting himself with it. The King does not like Pitt, but he detesta Fox ; and the chiefs of the Opposition are so hostile to Pitt, that Chauvelin believed that they would be ready to go far towards the ideas of the King if they could by Buch means obtain ofiBce. On the whole, Chauvelin 402 THE FRENCH KEVOLUTION. ch. m. concluded ttat there was no fear that the Prussian alliance would draw England into the Coalition, or that the English would regard an invasion of the Austrian Netherlands as an occasion for war, and there were grounds for hoping that English influence might be employed in dissolving the Coalition, or at least pre- venting a dismemberment of France. French ministers, however, must act with much moderation and circum- spection, and abstain from exciting disturbances in other countries. The proposed Batavian legion of Dutch patriots was a very dangerous measure, for it would certainly be regarded in England as a measure directed against Holland and her constitution, which England was bound by treaty to support.' These despatches seem to me full of wisdom and moderation, but there is evidence that the conduct of the French Embassy was now not altogether in accord- ance with them, and faults, which were by no means all on one side, were gradually producing a serious tension. Dumont, who accompanied the embassy, noticed the extreme coldness they met with from the Court and from the society which it could influence, and the fre- quent attacks on them in the ministerial newspapers.* An apostate bishop, who had taken a leading part in the spoliation of his Church, and a recreant nobleman who was conspicuous for his hostility to his own order, could hardly find favour with a society already scandalised and alarmed by the excesses of the Revolution. When the Duke of Orleans came to England he was treated with general coldness, and when Chauvelin and Talley- rand appeared at Ranelagh it was noticed that men drew aside to avoid them. Dumont acknowledged that » Chauvelin to the French Foreign Minister, May 23, 28, June 6, 18, July 3, 5, 10, 14, 1793. > Souvenirs de Mirabeau, ch. xxi. BH. III. PROSPECTS OP THE WAR. 403 they had made a mistake in the alacrity with which they welcomed the advances of the Opposition, and in the eagerness with which they sought the company of Sheridan and Fox, and they soon Uved almost exclu- sively with the members of the Opposition.* ' M. Chauvehn,' wrote the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs in May, ' continues a stranger to his diplomatic brethren, and does not gain upon the public opinion. As for M. Talleyrand, he is intimate with Paine, Home Tooke, Lord Lansdowne, and a few of that stamp, and generally scouted by everyone else.' ^ It was the prevailing belief in England that the contest would be short, and that the French army was totally incapable of encountering a regular and dis- ciplined force. Lord Gower, it is true, informed his Government that he found it to be 'a very general notion, at least in the Assembly, that if France can preserve a neutrality with England she will be able to cope with all the rest of Europe united,' and he added that ' this notion is encouraged by a persuasion that the influence of the Jacobins and an inoculation of their principles will occasion an insurrection, which accord- ing to their language is " le plus saint des devoirs," in every country whose Government shall dare to oppose them.'* He mentioned also that great efforts were already making to induce the enemies' troops to desert, but it is evident that he had himself no faith in the possibility of meeting disciplined soldiers with an army as disorganised as that of France. ' The state of the French army on the frontiers,' he wrote, ' is such, that in no other time or country would it be possible to suppose that it could venture to oppose a regular well- ' Souvenirs de Miraheau, ch. xxi. • Atickland Correspondence, ii. 410. » Gower to GrenviUe, AprU 22, 1792. 404 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. hi. disciplined army although far inferior in numbers, and it is believed that the impetuosity of the ministry will be counteracted by the prudence of the generals. Both seem to place their greatest confidence in the desertion of the enemy's forces. Corruption of every sort and in every manner is employed without reserve, and this mode of making war seems to be the boast of the Assembly as well as of the ministry. The miserable state of the army exceeds all belief. . . . They embrace the offers of any foreign officer who is willing to serve, and in fact they are absolutely reduced to this measure from the great scarcity of French officers who remain.' ' The Session in England lasted till June 15, and during its course there appears to have been no ap- prehension of coming war. Public opinion was much more interested in those domestic questions which have been already noticed than in foreign politics, and personal and purely party combinations absorbed much of the attention of the more active politicians. It was at this time that the first serious opposition which Pitt encountered in his Cabinet was put an end to by the summary dismissal of Lord Thurlow, and the Great Seal was placed for a few months in commission and then given to Lord Loughborough. Chauvelin, in in- forming his Government of the fall of Thurlow, observed that by weakening the party of the King in the Cabinet, it was of great advantage to France. In the Whig party the line of division was perceptibly deepened by the formation of the Society of the Friends of the People for the advocacy of parliamentary reform on a democratic basis, which sharply separated Grey, Sheridan, Erskine, and some other advanced members of the party, from Whigs of the school of Fitzwilliam, ' Gower to Grenville, April 27, lar judgment of Morris {Workt, June 1, 1792. See the very simi- ii. 152, 1S3}. OH. lu. PROPOSALS FOE A COALITION. 405 Portland, and Eockingham. Fox did not belong to the new society and did not approve of it, but he supported the demand for reform, which Pitt as well as a large section of the Whig party considered at this time pecu- liarly inopportune. The multiplication of small demo- cratic societies corresponding with France, the very wide circulation of some extremely seditious writings, and especially the appearance of the second part of Paine's ' Rights of Man,' which was published in the beginning of the year, induced the Government to issue a proclamation against such writings and societies. The proclamation produced long and interesting debates in both Houses, and it again divided the Opposition. The Prince of Wales spoke on this occasion on the side of the Government. The Bang's speech at the close of the Session again expressed the confidence of the Govern- ment in the continuance of peace. The tendencies, however, in English politics at this time were not altogether in the direction of divisioiu There was a widely spread conviction among politicians that the differences between Pitt and Fox were mainly personal differences or differences of situation and not differences of principle, that a united Government might be formed which would contain no greater divergence of opinion than had existed in the Govern- ment of Rockingham, or than existed now in the Whig Opposition, and that a strong and united Government would be of great national advantage. In the summer of 1792 negotiations were actively pursued for the pur- pose of effecting a coalition. As they proved abortive, it is not necessary to describe them in detail.' It is ' Accounts of these negotia- edited by Mr. Oscar Browning tions, differing somewhat in de- for the Camden Society, in the tails, will be found in the Mai- Auckland Correspondence, and mesbury Correspondence, in the in the Correspondence of Burke. Diaries of the Duke of Leeds, 406 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. m. sufficient to say that Leeds, Portland, Malmesbuiy, Dundas, and Loughborough took an active pai-t in them, but it is plain that neither the King, Pitt, nor Fox really desired a Coalition. It was evident indeed that if a new combination of parties took place, it was likely to result from the secession to the ministry of a large section of the followers of Pox. The prosperity of the country was attested from all sides ; the Govern- ment was too strong both in Parliament and in the con- stituencies to need fresh support, and the Session had hardly closed when the news arrived of the triumphant termination of the long war in India with Tippoo Sahib. • Thank God ! ' wrote the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, ' we have once more shut the temple of Janus. May it be long before we open it again ! For my own part, I do not see any object immediately likely to give us any occasion. . . . Hitherto the star of Pitt has been so prevalent that I depend upon it like an Arabian astrologer.' ' The contrast between the position of England and France was at this time extreme. The French had lost no time after the declaration of war in throwing their troops over the frontier of the Austrian Netherlands, but they were beaten back at once, decisively and ignominiously. An expedition sent from Lille under General Dillon fled in the wildest panic at the first colli- sion with the enemy, and the soldiers murdered their own general, whom they accused of having betrayed them. An expedition under General Biron, which was directed against Mons, fled in equal disorder to Valen- ciennes, abandoning their camp to the Austvians. Such events were well fitted to confirm the opinion which had been formed in all the Courts and armies of Europe, that the impending war would be little more than a ' Auckland Correspondence, ii. 413, OH. in. MILITARY PEEDICTIONS. 407 contest between an army and a mob; scarcely more difficult or formidable than the expeditions which had lately restored the power of the House of Orange in Holland, and of the Emperor in Flanders. In Vienna, Keith wrote, it was the firm conviction of the Court that the war would be 'brought to a happy and glorious termination in this single campaign.' ' In Berlin there were doubts about its profit and doubts about its eifect on the' discipline of the Prussian army, but there was no doubt about its complete and speedy military success. ' The operations of the campaign,' wrote Eden, ' are talked of by those in place as likely to be very trifling and of short duration, but the undertaking continues to be unpopular, and it is even said that it would be wiser to draw a cordon as in the time of plague to prevent the spirit of innovation from entering the country, than to send so many men out, to imbibe its pernicious principles.' ' Count Schulenburg spoke of the re-esta- blishment of order in Prance as easy to be effected, and makes no doubt of being able to return hither before the winter ;' but he thought it not improbable 'that the most violent of the democratic party will retire towards the Cevennes and the southern parts of France, and there endeavour to form a republic' Catherine offered to send a Russian contingent to the French expedition, but she was told that ' the business would probably be terminated before these troops could reach the Rhine,' and that an equivalent in money would therefore be more acceptable.'' The predictions of those who calculated that the war would make the continuance of the monarchy of Lewis XVI. impossible proved much better founded, and the King's republican ministers were the first to ' Keith to Grenville, July 21, == Eden to Grenville, May 6, 29, 1792 June 30, 1792. 408 THE FEENCn EEVOLUTION. ch. m. plot against him. ECis most trusted counsellors were furiously denounced in the Chamber as the ' Austrian Committee.' His 'constitutional guard' of eighteen hundred men, which was guaranteed to him by the Con- stitution, and which might be trusted to defend him, was disbanded by the Assembly. The language of the tribune became daily more violent. The press teemed with brutal insults against the Queen, who was now constantly designated as ' the Austrian panther.' The very gardens of the Tuileries were thronged with farioua agitators. The Queen complained to Dumouriez that when she ventured to look out of a window in her palace a cannonier of the National Gruard seized the opportunity of shouting to her, ' How gladly would I carry your head on the point of my bayonet ! ' and she could see in one part of the garden a man standing on a chair read- ing out horrible calumnies against the royal family, while in another an officer and an abb6 were thrust into a pond with insults and blows. The dregs of the population of Paris were speedily armed with pikes, and everything was fast preparing for the final sacrifice. The King made one serious effort to assert his authority. The Assembly decreed the formation of a camp at Paris of 20,000 volunteers. It was to be com- posed of volunteers drawn from all the departments, and there was little doubt that the choice would be made by the Jacobin Club, who were virtually the masters of France. According to the Constitution, no increase of the military force could be made except on the proposition of the King, but this was proposed to the Assembly by the King's minister, avowedly and ostentatiously, without having even been submitted to the King.' It excited great division, even in the revolutionary camp, and the King boldly vetoed it, aa ' Bertrand de Moleville. OH. ni. UNDIPLOMATIC CONDUCT OF CHAUVELIN. 409 ■well as a decree ordering the transportation of all nonjuring priests. Eoland read to the King a long, insolent, and pedantic letter of remonstrance written by his wife, but Lewis for once was firm, and dismissed Eoland, Servan, and Clavifere, the three Girondin mi- nisters. How helpless he was, however, was only too clearly shown on June 20, when his palace was besieged and captured by a great armed mob. After being com- pelled to assume the red cap of Liberty, and exposed for hours to humiliation and insult, his life was at last saved by the tardy interposition of some popular deputies, and by the impression which his own placid and good- humoured courage made upon the mob. It was obvious, however, to all, on what a slender thread not only his position but his life depended. These events had their natural effect upon public opinion in England, and the French Embassy became more and more unpopular. When the Government, in the month of May, issued its proclamation against seditious writings, Chauvelin delivered an ofiicial note protesting against its terms, and desired Grenville to communicate this note to the two Houses of Parliament before the proclamation was discussed. Such an inter- ference of a foreign diplomatist with a measure of internal police was justly resented, and Gren^alle answered with much force that, as Secretary of State to his Majesty, he .could receive no communication from a foreign minister but in order to lay it before the King, and that the deli- berations of the two Houses of Parliament, as well as the communications the King should make to them relative to the affairs of his kingdom, were matters absolutely foreign to all diplomatic correspondence.' Chauvelin still further aggravated the situation by publishing hia official correspondence.* • Pari. Sist. xxx. 242-245. ' AticJcland Papers, ii. 423r 410 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. oh. iii. In addition to the proclamation which was issued in England, warning British subjects against all breach of neutrality, the King, in his capacity of Elector of Han- over, announced at the outbreak of the war his deter- mination to take no part in it,' and when the Emperor and the King of Prussia endeavoured to induce Holland to join the Coalition, English influence was promptly and powerfully employed to counteract their endeavours.' The simple and steady policy of Pitt was to remain strictly neutral as long as Holland was unmolested ; to give Holland the fullest assurance of English support if she were menaced or attacked, and at the same time to confirm the Dutch statesmen in their resolution of scrupulous neutrality. On June 18, when the invasion of France was immediately impending, Chauvelin presented to Lord Grenville a memorial inveighing against the conduct of the invading sovereigns, and urging the English Government to employ their influence to break up the league and prevent the invasion. Grenville replied that the same sentiments that determined the King to abstain from all interference with the internal affairs of France, determined him also to respect the rights and independence of other sovereigns, and that he did not conceive that his counsels or good oflBces would be of any use unless they were desired by all parties.' On July 26, the Duke of Brunswick published at Coblentz that famous proclamation by which he hoped to intimidate, but only succeeded in exasperating. Prance. He disclaimed on the part of the allies all views of con- quest, and announced that the allied sovereigns were on the march to put an end to anarchy and to restore ' Bourgoing, Eist. Diploma- ' Aiickland Correspondence, ii. Ugue de la Bivolution, i. deux- 149. iAme partie, p. 136. " Pari. Hist. xxx. 247-249. OH. m. BEUNSWICK'S PEOCLAMATION. 411 the French King to security and liberty. Until they arrived, he made the National Guard and the existing departmental and municipal authorities responsible with their lives and properties for all outrages that might take place. All towns and villages that submitted to the invaders were to be in perfect safety, but all that resisted them were threatened with the most rigorous treatment. The city of Paris and all its inhabitants, without distinction, were commanded to submit at once to the King, and to insure to the royal family the in- violability and respect which were due to sovereigns by the laws both of nature and of nations, ' their imperial and royal majesties making personally responsible for all events, on pain of losing their heads pursuant to mili- tary trials, without hope of pardon,' all the members of the National Assembly, the National Guard, and all the municipal authorities. It was added that if the palace of the Tuileries was forced or menaced, if the least out- rage was offered to the King or to the royal family, if they were not immediately placed in safety and set at liberty, the allied sovereigns would give up the city of Paris to military execution. No declaration issued by the French King as long as he remained in the hands of the revolutionists would be reckoned as his free act, but he was invited to retire to a town near his frontiers, under strong and safe escort, which would be sent for that purpose, and there to take measures for the restora- tion of order and of the regular administration of his kingdom.' This unfortunate document was little more than a clumsy German attempt to carry out a policy which the King, and especially the Queen, had long advocated. Prisoners, powerless and in daily fear for their lives, they had little hope except in foreign assistance, and they ' Aimual Register, 1792, pp. 283-287. 412 THE FEENCH REVOLUTION. oh. in. had for some time maintained a correspondence which nothing but the excess of their danger could palliate, at a time when war with the Emperor had become almost certain. In March the Queen wrote to Mercy warning him that it had been determined in the council to poui one French army into Savoy and another into the bishopric of Liege.' In April, almost immediately after the declaration of war, she wrote urging, at length, her views of the policy the Emperor ought to pursue. He must dissociate, she said, as much as possible his cause from that of the emigrants. He must announce, but with great caution, his desire to rally all those of what- ever opinions who supported the King, but he must take care not to speak too much of the King, to avoid any expressions that could wound the national pride, and to express his sincere anxiety for peace with France. The hopes of the French ministers, the Queen added, are placed on insurrections in neighbouring countries, de- sertions from the foreign armies, and the possibility of detaching Prussia from the Coalition.^ In the beginning of July, shortly after the attack on the Tuileries, she wrote in a more poignant strain : ' Our position becomes daily more critical. . . . All is lost unless the factions are stopped by fear of approaching punishment. They wish at all costs a republic, and to attain it they have determined to assassinate the King. It is necessary that a manifesto should make the National Assembly and Paris responsible for his life and for the lives of his family.' ' On the 14th of the same month a memorial was pre- sented to the allied sovereigns at Coblentz on the part of the French King by Mallet du Pan, which was no doubt a main reason of the proclamation of the Duke. ' Arneth, Marie Antoinette, Joteiph II. and Leopold II. pp. 259, 260ii • Ibid. pp. 263, 264. « Ibid. p. 265. OH. III. MEMORIAL OF MALLET DU PAN. 413 of Brunswick. After an elaborate examination of the disposition of parties in France, the memorial points to the extreme and pressing danger of the royal family. Nothing but one of those sudden, spontaneous, and un- expected revulsions of feeling to which crowds are liable saved them on June 20. Their position is such that any day may be their last. Their assassination will be the signal for a general massacre. Civilised society in France hangs on a thread, and the anarchy may in a few weeks be worse than at San Domingo. The Jacobins are rapidly filling Paris with their satellites. If the courage of the King in this 'fatal moment is not seconded by the declaration of the European Powers and by the rapidity of their operations, nothing will remain for him but to fold his robe around his head and to submit to the decree of Providence. The only hope of safety is an immediate manifesto, supported by an overwhelming military force, declaring that the allies will not lay down their arms till the King is restored to liberty and to his legitimate authority. Terror is the only remedy by which the Jacobin tyranny can be overthrown. There must be an energetic declaration making the National Assembly and all the authorities personally responsible with their lives and goods for any injury done to the royal family or to any citizens. This de- claration must especially apply to the town of Paris ; but it must at the same time be said that the Coalition is in arms against a faction but not against the King or against the nation ; that it is defending legitimate governments and nations against a ferocious anarchy which is threatening at once the peace of Europe and the whole structure of society. ' Their majesties count the minutes tiH the manifesto is published ; their life ia one frightful agony.' * ■ This memoir is given in full in Smyth's Lectures on the French Bevolution, ii. 245-259. 414 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. ni. It is evident that this memorial was the germ of the proclamation of the Duke of Brunswick, though the latter document was unskilfully drawn, and more ex- clusively menacing and offensive than the King desired. The position of Lewis was now hopelessly false. He would gladly have prevented civil war and acted as a kind of mediator between the allied sovereigns and his people, but he was in fact corresponding secretly with the sovereign against whom he had been forced to declare war. He looked to that sovereign for his de- liverance, and his brothers were in the enemies' camp. He was at the same time betrayed by his own servants ; a prisoner in his own palace, and living in daily fear of assassination. There was, it is true, a real though transient reaction in his favour after the outrage of June 20, and if the King had cordially accepted the assistance which Lafayette now offered him, or if La- fayette had shown more resolution, a new turn might have been given to affairs. But the Court had long looked with extreme distrust on Lafayette ; they were committed to an alHance with the Emperor, and as on all former occasions they suffered the critical moment to pass. Lafayette returned to the army which he had lefb, and the ascendency and the terrorism of the Jacobins were confirmed. Prom Marseilles, which was now one of their fiercest centres, great numbers were brought to Paris, armed, and installed in the barracks. The troops of the line were all sent to the frontiers. The gendarmerie was chiefly placed in the hands of men who had deserted their flag to join the revolution in 1789. The Commune was organised with a terrible efiiciency, and all power was fast passing into desperate hands. In the meantime a decree of the Assembly pronounced the country to be in danger. 300 millions more of assigncds were issued. The dethronement of the King was openly and constantly discussed, and 06. ni. ENGLISH INTERVENTION ASKED. • 415 while the German armies were already known to be on' their march, the King and Queen were almost daily denounced from the tribune as accomplices of the enemy and the chief obstacle to the defence of France. The letters of Lord Gower graphically describe ' the awful suspense ' that now hung over the French capital ; the wild rumours that were readily believed ; the grow- ing terror as band after band of ferocious Jacobins arrived from the South ; the fears of the foreign diplo-* matists, who believed their own lives to be in danger. One line in this correspondence which is not connected with French politics may not be without interest to. my. i-eaders, for it records the close of a stormy life which has often been noticed in these volumes : ' Paul Jones died here on Wednesday last of a dropsy in the heart.' In the terrible and almost desperate situation of the Bang and of his family one last appeal was made to the English ambassador. ' In the present extremely precarious state of the royal family,' wrote Gower to Grenville, 'I have been desired to express to the Minister of Foreign Affairs the sentiments of his Majesty with regard to the proceedings of the National Assembly and Municipality and sections of Paris de- rogatory to, or attacking the safety of, their Most Chris- tian Majesties. I have declined to act in this business tUl I can receive instructions from your Lordship. The. person of his Most Christian Majesty is certainly in imminent danger. On Thursday the Extraordinary Committee is to make its report upon the King's desti- tution. I wish therefore to receive your Lordship's instructions as soon as possible.' ^ With this official letter Gower wrote privately to Grenville entreating an immediate answer as the case was very urgent. The answer was not long delayed,* • Gower to Grenville, Atfg, 4, 1792» 28 416 • THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. ob. hi. and it showed that the English ministers still carried their desire to be neutral in French affairs to the verge, if not beyond the verge, of inhumanity. ' I am strongly inclined. to apprehend,' wrote Grenville, ' that no intima- tion of the nature alluded to by your Excellency could be of the smallest advantage in contributing to the safety of their Most Christian Majesties in the present crisis. Your Excellency is well acquainted with the system of strict neutrality which his Majesty has in- variably observed during the whole course of the troubles which have distracted the kingdom of Prance. ... If the King saw reason to believe that from an authorised and official declaration of his sentiments of friendship towards their Most Christian Majesties, and of concern for their personal honour and safety, their Most Christian Majesties would derive real assistance or protection in the present critical moment, his Majesty's feelings might probably lead. him, for the sake of so in- teresting an object, to depart, in so far as is now pro- posed, from the line which he has hitherto pursued as the most consistent with his own dignity and with the interests of his subjects. But it seems too evident that any measure of this nature would only lead to com- mitting the King's name in a business in which his Majesty has hitherto kept himself unengaged, without any reasonable ground for hoping that it would produce the effect desired from it. . . . It might give the appearance of the King's partaking in the views of the allied Powers, in which his Majesty has uniformly declined all participation.' While, therefore, Lord Gower was authorised to express, as he had always done, the King's friendship towards the Prench sove- reigns, he was expressly forbidden to make any new official declaration.' ' August 9, 1792. Grenville to Gower. OH. III. TEE COALITION AGAINST FKANCE. 417 It is impossible, I think, for any candid person to follow the English policy and declarations up to this point without acknowledging the strictness and the consistency of the neutrality that was maintained. The ministers had been again and again appealed to from opposite sides, but neither the alliance of Prussia nor the personal danger of the French King, nor the immi- nent peril of the Austrian Netherlands, nor the Hano- verian interests of the King, nor his strong antipathy to the Revolution, nor any of the violent movements of public opinion which had arisen at home, had as yet induced them to depart one hair's breadth- either in word or deed from the path of peace and neutrality. It is also perfectly certain that when Parliament closed in the summer of 1792 the English Government had no doubt whatever of their ability to preserve the neutrality which they had prescribed to themselves. We must now examine in some detail the causes which defeated their efforts. The Coalition, which had once threatened to com- prise all the chief Powers of the Continent, had shrunk greatly in its dimensions when the period of action arrived. The Emperor and the King of Prussia only received in Germany the active support of the Electors of TrSves and Mayence, and of the Landgrave of Hesse.' The Empress of Russia and the King of Sardinia also proclaimed their adhesion to the league, but the assist- ance of Russia was confined to a small subsidy in money, and that of Sardinia to a promise. Towards the end of July the whole allied army, consisting of about 100,000 men, and comprising several thousands of French emigrants, was slowly on its march for the French frontiers, and there was probably hardly a com- Bourgoing, Hist. DipUmiatiqiie, i. deuxi^me partie, 136, 137. 418 THE FEENCH BEVOLUTION. oh. m. petent judge outside France who did not predict its speedy military success. Mercy, writing to the Queen on ^uly 9, expressed his great fear lest the royal family should be carried by the republicans to the southern provinces ; but if they could avoid this, he predicted that in a month all would be safe.' ' All our specula- tions,' wrote Lord Grenville, ' are now turned towards France. I expect no resistance, or next to none, to the progress of the troops ; but what can restore good government and good order in that country, and who is to do it, and under what forms, is covered caliginosa node.' ' ' The comedy,' said the King of Prussia, ' will not last long. . . . The army of advocates will soon be annihilated ; we shall be home before autumn.' ' The opinions of Lord Gower have been already given, and Morris had long been describing to his Government in equally emphatic terms the utter disorganisation of the French army. ' If the enemy be tolerably successful,' he added, ' a person who shall visit this country twd years hence will inquire with astonishment by what means a nation which in the year 1788 was devoted to its King, became in 1790 unanimous in throwing off authority, and in 1792 as unanimous in submitting to it.'* It was not till August 19 that the German army crossed the French frontier, but before that date the inefficiency of the Proclamation of Brunswick had been terribly displayed. The Jacobin insurrection for the purpose of dethroning the King, which had been for some weeks prepared almost without concealment, and had been more than once postponed, was at last ac- complished on August 10. With the details of that ' Arneth, p. 266. ' Mimoires tiris des paxiicri ' .iuckland Correspondence, ii. d'un homme d'lttat. 426. « Works, U. 163. OH. III. .LEWIS XVI. DETIIEONED. 419 memorable and terrible day we have no concern. The treachery of Petion, the Mayor of Paris ; the murder of Mandat, the brave and honourable commander of the National Guard ; the invasion of the Tuileries ; the treachery of the artillery; the treachery of the great body of the National Guard ; the flight of the King and royal family to the National Assembly ; the massacre of the heroic Swiss Guard who alone threw some moral splendour over the hideous scene, have been often de- scribed, and the curtain soon fell on the oldest monarchy in Europe. By the decree of the Legislative Assembly the King was deprived of his functions and imprisoned :with his family in the Temple. The civil list was sus- pended. A National Convention was summoned. The This is the estimate of Sybel ; Thiers says 800 or 900. CH. m. EESDLTS OF VALMr. 435 far more glorious for the French arms. But in spite of all this, the battle of Valmy occupies in the history of the French Revolution a position very similar to that of the equally insignificant battle of Bunker's Hill in the Revolution of America. The highly disciplined forces of the old monarchies had fallen back before the soldiers of the Revolution, and the result was a dejection on one side, and a confidence on the other, such as the greatest of victories in other times might hardly have produced. It was not without reason that Keller-i- mann, after a long and splendid career of victory under Napoleon, selected Valmy as his title, and bequeathed his heart to its village church. Goethe, who was in the Prussian camp during the battle, as secretary to the Duke of Weimar, predicted that ' on that day a new era of history began.' After the battle some negotiations took place be- tween Dumouriez and the King of Prussia on the possi- bility of terminating the war. It was the special desire of the French general to separate the Prussians from the Austrians, and if a more conciliatory spirit had pre- vailed at Paris the attempt might not have been unsuc- cessful. The delay was, at all events, of great service to the French cause. France was now universally arming. The patriotic enthusiasm animated all classes against the invader, and multitudes sought relief in the battle^ field from the horrors which were being perpetrated both in Paris and the provinces. A vast portion of that abnormal and volcanic energy which the Revolution had generated now threw itself into the contest. Every day brought crowds of fresh soldiers to the camp of Du- mouriez. On the other hand, the season was now break- ing. The rain fell in torrents. The roads were becoming almost impassable with mud. The difficulties of pro^- viding the German armies with food in a hostile country had become very great. Their communications were in 436 THE FSEXCH KEVOLUTION. oh. hi. danger, and dysentery was raging fiercely in their camp. On the evening of September 30 they began their re- treat. The blockade of Thionville was raised ; Verdun and Longwy were retaken without a blow , and before the end of October the whole invading army of the Coalition had recrossed the Rhine. There had seldom been a more complete, a more unexpected failure, and it occurred in one of those great crises of human affairs in which men are peculiarly sus- ceptible to moral influences of encouragement or the reverse. A wild thrill of martial exultation and enthu- siasm now swept through Prance, and a few weeks were sufficient to change the face of Europe. In the Con- vention which had now been assembled, all parties were in favour of a war which might lead to a universal Re- public under the guidance and hegemony of France.' The war raged in the most various quarters, but every- where to the advantage of the French. From Flanders the Duke Albert, availing himself of the removal of a great part of the French army to support Dumouriez, had endeavoured to efiect a diversion by besieging and bombarding Lille, but the town resisted heroically and the Austrians were compelled ignominiously to retreat. The King of Sardinia, without taking an active part in the invasion of France, had openly identified himself with the Coalition. On September 10, France declared war against him. Before the end of the month one French army, under General Montesquieu, had invaded and conquered Savoy, while another, under General Anselme, had annexed nearly the whole of the country of Nice. The Piedmontese fled beyond the Alps, and the chief towns received the French with enthusiasm. Still more striking and still more significant were the proceedings of Custine in Germany. If France had • Sybel, ii. 19-22. OH. m. FRENCH VICTOEIES IN GEEMANY. 437 been governed by any of the ordinary rules or calcula~ tions of policy, she would have carefully shrunk from multiplying enemies at a time of such disorganisation and bankruptcy, and when a formidable coalition was in arms against her. The German Empire had hitherto remained neutral, and in the changed conditions of the war it was not likely to depart from this policy. A great part of it, however, and especially the part along the Rhine, was ruled by ecclesiastical princes, whose governments, mild and pacific, but full of abuses and wholly wanting in energy, were very incapable of de- fence. On September 28 Custine, at the head of about 1,800 men, who had been collected for the protection of Alsace, marched into Germany. On the 30th he surprised and captured Spires, with vast war magazines intended for the army of the Coalition. On October 4 he entered Worms without resistance, alleging the assistance which that town had given to the emigrants. The wildest panic now spread through the Palatinate and along the border of the Rhine, and it extended through the whole German Empire when the news arrived that on October 21 the French had entered without resistance the ^eat fortified city of Mayence, one of the chief bulwarks of Germany against France. It was believed that Coblentz would fall next, in spite of the great fortress of Ehrenbreitstein, and the Elector of Treves, who then lived there, hastily took flight ; but Custine saw a richer and easier prey in the free town of Frankfort. That great commercial city had remained scrupulously neutral, but it was now occupied without a blow, and it contributed largely to the expenses of the war. The war had already a clearly defined character. It was self-supporting, for the French general everywhere raised enormous sums from the conquered territory. These sums, however, were chiefly obtained by vast 438 THE FEENCH EEVOLTJTION. oh. in. confiscations of Church and Government property, and by crushing taxation imposed on the rich, while the French made every efibrt to flatter the poor. They came, their general said, to proclaim war to the palaces but peace to the cottages ; to overthrow all tyrants ; to give liberty to all peoples, and he invited the conquered towns to reorganise themselves as free democracies. The Ehenish towns were full of societies of Freemasons or Illuminati imbued with revolutionary doctrines, and prepared to receive the French as liberators. Between fear and sympathy all resistance seemed to have dis- appeared. Coblentz, at the end of September, sent a deputation to the French general, inviting him to take possession of the town, and imploring his indulgence. At Bonn and Cologne the authorities prepared to take flight. The family of the Landgrave of Cassel had already done so. Wurtemberg and Baden loudly declared their neutrality.^ While the little army of Custine had thus established a complete ascendency in the richest part of Germany, the menace of invasion disquieted other countries. A dispute with the aristocratic Government of Geneva had nearly produced a war, but it was for the present de- ferred by a treaty made by the General Montesquieu. The treaty, however, was not confirmed by the Conven- tion, and the General was obliged to save his life by flight. On another side Genoa was already threatened, and preparations were made for the invasion of Italy. The French ambassador at Madrid haughtily remon- strated at the large Spanish force which had been collected in Catalonia, and Aranda not only withdrew it but also consented to pay an indemnity to France for the expense she had incurred in watching the Spanish frontier.* Both in Switzerland and Italy democratic ■ Sybel, i. 583. ' Ibid. ii. 23. OH. m. , CONQUEST OF FLANDERS. 439 societies were multiplying, and French agents were actively preparing the way for the invaders. Lord Malmesbury, who traversed a great part of Europe in the summer of 1792, declared that there was scarcely a State through which he passed from Naples to Ostend in which there were not emissaries employed by the French in propagating the doctrines of the Revolution.' Dumouriez, meanwhile, was at Paris preparing the master object of his ambition — the conquest of the Belgic provinces. The folly of the dismantlement of the barrier fortresses by Joseph, and of the invasion of old local privileges by both Joseph and Leopold, was now clearly seen, and Dumouriez lost no opportunity of winning the Flemish democracy to his side. A large body of refugees from Belgium and from Liege accomy panied his army, and as he entered the country he published a proclamation in French and Flemish, assur- ing the inhabitants that the French came as brethren and deliverers ; that they only asked them to establish the sovereignty of the people, and to abjure all despots; that, freed from Austrian tyranny, the Belgic provinces should now resume their sovereignty and elect their magistrates and their legislators ; and that the French Republic did not intend in any way to infringe their rights or prescribe their government.^ Dumouriez achieved his task with a rapidity and completeness that filled Europe with astonishment and dismay. On November 6 the Austrians under Duke Albert were totally defeated in the great battle of Jemmapes. Next daj' the French entered Mons. On the 14th they entered Brussels in triumph, amid the acclamations of the people, Liege and Aix-la-Chapelle Were successively evacuated ■ Lady Minto's' Life of Sir Biveluiion Frangaise, L deU' Gf. Elliot, ii. 52. xi^me partie, 254, 255. , ' Bourgoing, Hist. Dipl. de la 440 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. ch. ni. by the Imperial troops ; the citadel of Antwerp capitu- lated on November 28, and the citadel of Namur on December 2, and Luxemburg alone remained in the hands of the Emperor. Nearly at the same time the Republic gave another signal illustration of the tremendous energy that in- spired it, and of the reckless disregard for consequences with which it multiplied its enemies. From the corre- spondence that was seized at the Tuileries on August 10 it was discovered that the Neapolitan ambassador at Constantinople had used his influence, in conjunction with the ambassadors of Prussia and Austria, to prevent the Porte from receiving the French ambassador. It was wholly unnecessary to take any oflBcial cognisance of a matter thus discovered; but a large French fleet was lying unemployed. On December 16 it appeared in the Bay of Naples. A single grenadier was sent on shore to the palace of the King, where he demanded, on pain of instant bombardment, that the French minister should be recognised as representative of the French Eepublic, that theNeapolitan minister at Constantinople should be recalled and disavowed, and that a Neapolitan minister should be sent to Paris to renew this disavowal and to negotiate a commercial treaty with the French Republic. There was no possibility of resisting, and the King, who was a descendant of Lewis XIV. and brotheivin-law of Marie Antoinette, was compelled to submit. The aspect of affairs had changed with the sudden- ness of the transformation scene in a theatre. It was difficult to realise that only three months before, nearly all the statesmen and soldiers in Europe had agreed that the Revolution had reduced France to a long period of hopeless debility and insignificance, and had pre- dicted that an army of 100,000 Austrians and Prussians was amply sufficient to seize her capital and to overturn OH. III. EFFECT ON NECTEAL POWEES— CHAUVELIN. 441 her Government. Yet within that time a country whose Government, finances, and armies seemed all in hope- less disorder, had annexed Savoy and Nice, penetrated to the heart of Germany, conquered the whole of Belgium, and intimidated Naples and Spain. Lewis XIV. in his greatest days had scarcely been so powerful or so arro- gant, and, as Burke alone had predicted, the Revolution was everywhere finding its most powerful instruments in the democratic principles which it propagated, and in the numerous allies which those principles secured for it in every country which it invaded. The confidence of the Revolutionists was unbounded. 'We must break with all the Cabinets in Europe,' said Brissot. ' What are the boasted schemes of Alberoni or Richelieu com- pared with the great revolutions we are called upon to make ? . . . Novus rerum nascitur ordo.' It was inevitable that neutral Powers should look with alarm on the terrible phenomenon which was un- folding itself, and should find a serious and menacing significance in correspondences with Paris that were established by societies within their borders. In order to form a just judgment of the conduct of the English Government in this great crisis, we must follow its proceedings very closely. We may first examine the situation as it is disclosed in the secret correspondence of the French agents with their Government. OhauveUn, as we have seen, strongly urged, at the time of the recall of Lord Gower, that this should not be regarded as in any way a measure of hostility to Prance, and that it should not be followed by his own recall. To anyone, he wrote, who considers the conduct of England since the beginning of the Re- volution, it will appear evident that she can have no real ill-will to Prance. Her constant refusal to accede to the Pillnitz Convention, the neutral attitude assumed 442 THE FEENCH REVOLUTION.. " oh. ra„ by the King, as Elector of Hanover, in the German Diet when the German feudatory rights were first men- tioned, and the neutrality which England openly de- clared at a time when the French troops were entering the Low Countries, abundantly shows it, and she will, never accept the position of a secondary Power by placing herself at the service of a league which she cannot direct. England only asks to be treated with respect and consideration,' and to be allowed to enjoy in peace the fruits of her industry and commerce. If the moment is not favourable for a close connection with her, if she takes great interest in the fate of the King, and is disquieted by fear of revolutionary pro- pagandism, it is the interest of France to calm her. It should be the task of the French ministers to prevent a momentary suspension of official interpo.uyse from degenerating into a rupture. He did not expect to be sufiered to hold any official communication with the English Government till after the Convention had settled the new Constitution of France ; but he urged up to the end of September, that there was no doubt of the pacific intentions of England, and he mentioned that the Lords of the Admiralty, in their recent tour of in- spection through the ports, had been actually reducing the number of seamen on active service. He complained that French" agents in London were exciting much suspicion, and that many refractory priests who were sent to England would probably ultimately find their way to Ireland, where, as 'the lowest classes are as superstitiously attached to Catholicism as in the thir- teenth century,' they might easily excite a general feeling against the Revolution. He repudiated with some scorn a new suggestion of Lebrun, that England might be induced to join France ■ Qu'on la respecte et qu'on la mdnage.' OH. m. CHAUVELIN'S LETTERS, AUG., SEPT. 1792. 443 with a view to seizing the Spanish colonies. It was idle to suppose that she would abandon her pacific system which she had deliberately adopted, and the acquisition of Louisiana, which the French minister supposed might be an inducement, was perfectly indifferent to her since she had lost her chief American colonies. ' The most lively interest,' he said, ' is taken by all classes in the fate of the King and royal family, and even those most attached to us think that any act against their personal safety would be most fatal to the cause of liberty.' When Lebrun, at the end of September, announced to Chauvelin the abolition of royalty in Prance, Ohauvelin answered that this was only what was expected, but that it would be most imprudent to require an immediate recognition from neutral Powers. Let Prance make herself a strong and united Power ; let her act with magnanimity and humanity towards her deposed King, and she will soon find the neutral Powers quite ready to recognise the Republic, perhaps even before the Convention shall have fully settled the Constitution.' These despatches show clearly the policy of Chauvelin to the beginning of October. They were not written in conjunction with Talleyrand, for Talleyrand had returned to Paris in the beginning of July, and although he came again to England in September for his own safety, he was then in disgrace with his Government, and appears to have had no further connection with Chauvelin, and little or no communication with English ministers.* ' Chauvelin to the French nister after Dumouriez) Chauve- minister, Aug. 28, 31, Sept. 13, lin mentions that Talleyrand 22, 26, 29, 1792 (French Foreign himself wished to go to Paris for Office). a fortnight and that his presence ^ Talleyrand's return to Paris there might be useful (Chauvelin is generally ascribed to a dis- to Chambonas, June 22, July 6, agreement with Chauvelin, but 1792). On returning to England in u, letter to Chambonas (who in disgrace, Talleyrand wrote to was for a short time Foreign Mi- GrenviUe (Sept. 18) stating thai 444 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTIOK. oh. ni. But at Paris, a change in the attitude of the Govein- ment towards England was already perceptible. The French minister directed Chauvelin indeed to remain at his post, and to maintain a prudent and circumspect conduct, but he expressed his complete distrust of the amicable professions of England. In 1756 and in 1778, he said, she had carried out all the preparations for war without the knowledge of French ambassadors. The same thing might occur again, and the Provisional Executive Council, without withdrawing their confidence from Chauvelin, had already sent over several persons on special missions to England.' Some of them may be traced in the correspon- dence. There was Scipio Mourges, who was sent over as second Secretary of Legation, to the great indigna- tion of Chauvelin, who had never asked for a second secretary, who knew nothing of the appointment till it was made, and who at first positively refused to receive Mourges into his house. There was Noel — better known as the author of innumerable school books — who became a kind of supplemental ambassador with regular in- though he had no mission of any F.F.O. on the relations of France kind, he would be happy to give with other countries. It con? any information in his power tends that the only relations about the state of France, but France should seek with England there is, I believe, no evidence are those of industry and corn- that Grenville responded to his merce. There should be a con- offer. (See Lord Balling's Hist. vention between the two coun- Characters, i. 158-161.) Noel tries for the enfranchisement of wrote to his Government in Oo- their respective colonies. The tober (Oct. 26, F.F.O.), ' J'ap- commercial prejudices of Eng- prends que I'Ev^que d'Autun a land, Talleyrand says, are no des conferences tr^s fr^quentes doubt opposed to Free Trade* avec Fox. Les gens qui tienneni but the fact of the constant in- au gouvernement m'affirment crease of her commerce with ^u'il ne jouit ici d'aucune estime America since its enfranchise- di d'auoun credit,' There is a ment ought to be conclusive, memoir by Talleyrand, dated ' Aug. 28, Sept. 6, 1792. jijondon, Nov. 25, 1792, in the OH. m, FRENCH AGENTS IN ENGLAND. 445 Btructions, including the proposed loan and cession of Tobago, and who carried on a voluminous correspondence with the French minister. There was Maret, whose very important negotiations with Pitt will be presently related ; and there were a number of obscure adventurers, whose business appears to have been to plot with the many seditious English societies that were now in cor- respondence with the Jacobins at Paris. One man, named Randon de Lucenay, writes that Fox had lodged with him on his last visit to Paris ; that he had in con- sequence come in close contact with many Englishmen ; that if the Government would approve of him he would be happy to go at his own expense (for he was, he said, a man of fortune) on a secret mission to England, to propagate ' the principles of Liberty and Equality.' His offer was accepted, and he soon wrote from London that he had seen some of the Opposition leaders ; ' that Pitt was the irreconcilable enemy of the Revolution, and that the French must assist the efforts of the party opposed to him. He thought that the subscription for the refugee priests had produced a discontent which it must be the business of the French agents to increase. He had been ' explaining ' the September massacres, on which the enemies of the Revolution were fond of dwell- ing, and he trusted much to his high rank among the Freemasons to assist his mission. By means of the Freemasons, he wrote, the new principles may be best diffused, and he gravely assured Lebrun that he had, through their agency, so disposed the minds of men, that if the Republic engaged in a maritime war with Spain, she would be able to dispose of half the sailors of England. Another Frenchman, named Marc Antoine Jullien, wrote to Lebrun that since his arrival in London be had been carefully studying English opinion, and had > ' Lord fields, fox, Sch^ridom, milord Williams Gordon ' (tic). 446 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. m. no doubt that it was strongly in favour of the Eevolu- tion. Prom six to twelve more secret agents, however, should be at once sent over, who would be in correspon- dence with French patriots.' In October a great change began to pass over the correspondence of Chauvelin. It was partly due to the brilliant and unexpected victories of the French, which had profoundly changed the situation, and had evidently exercised an intoxicating influence on his not very steady judgment, and partly also, I think, to influences of a more personal kind. As long as Chauvelin was unrecognised by the English Government, his position was little more imporiiant than that of the many other agents the French Executive Council were, to his great disgust, employing in England. It was evident, too, that more violent counsels were prevailing in Paris, and those who wished to maintain their position must keep abreast of the stream. In England, the successes of the Revolution had immensely increased the Repub- lican and Democratic party who were overwhelming the French representatives with their sympathies ; while the Government, and in general the upper classes of society, were manifestly alarmed, alienated by the deposition of the King, and horror-stricken by the September murders. Parties were becoming much more sharply divided, and the French envoy was naturally gravitating towards the leadership of a Republican party. On October 22 Du Roveray had an interview with Grenville, urging him to accelerate the recognition of the Republic, and Chauvelin informed Lebrun that he would now make it his single object to obtain this recognition from the English Government. All the exterior relations of France, he wrote, had wholly ' All these letters are in the French Foreign Office. OH. in. CHAUVELIN'S LETTEES, OCT., NOV. 1792. 447 changed since 'the satellites of tyranny' had been driven from the French soil, and he complained that he had no instructions except those which he had received from a ' perjured King,' and at a time when the situa- tion of Prance was wholly different. ' France,' he said, ' like one who has just received a rich heritage,' must now address herself in turn to all her creditors, and in England the power with which she must treat is public opinion. The Government fully counted on the success of Prussia, and they are in consternation at her defeat. The King and the Prince of Wales are in the most violent alarm. The emigrants are in despair, and numbers wish to return to France. Some of the old friends of France in the upper classes are abandoning her. The Convention had directed Ohauvelin to oflFer to some of them the right of French citizenship, but not one of them, he complained, had yet answered. Mackintosh, who was among the number, had been heard to say that since August 10 and the September massacres he only wished to forget France. The policy and intentions of Fox were very equivocal. No one knew whether he was for peace or war, and after a long delay he had sent ChauveUn a message that it would be extremely embarrassing to him to be made a French citizen, especially if he shared the honour with Home Tooke. But if the Eepublic was losing ground with the upper classes, it was very different with the popu- lace. The French successes, wrote Chauvelin, had an immediate and extraordinary effect on English opinion. ' No one now doubts the success of the Revolution. The people are tending to our principles, but those principles are combated by the enormous influence of the ministry and more dreaded by the rich merchants than even by the peers. The Patriotic Societies, however, through- out England are daily increasing in numbers, are voting addresses to the Convention, and are preparing a festival 30 448 THE FEENCH KEVOLUTION. oh. m. in honour of our triumphs. Grave troubles are gather- ing in Ireland. The Catholics are very discontented, and three regiments have been already sent over. In Scotland, also, there is much discontent. It is not im- possible that the triumph of the Revolution in Prance may accelerate revolution in England. "The God Re- public has opened the eyes of the people of Great Britain. They are now ripe for all truths." ' He acknowledged that many members of the Opposi- tion were moving towards the Government, alarmed at the revolutionary propagandism and also at the French invasion of Brabant. This invasion, he says, is now causing the gravest disquietude in the ministry, and they will do all they can to baffle it by intrigue. Pitt is full of fears lest Prance, in spite of her declarations, or authorising herself by a popular vote, should incorpo- rate Belgium in the French Republic, raise Holland against the House of Orange, and, extending her own power to the sea, reduce England to insignificance. England had borne placidly the first fruitless invasion of Brabant, but he believed that although Pitt detested Austria and never considered himself bound by treaty to guarantee the Austrian dominion in Flanders, he would draw the sword rather than acquiesce in a permanent French Government at Brussels. The fear of seeing Brabant in our power and Holland menaced, he repeated, is now the strongest preoccupation of the Government. What policy they would ultimately pursue he con- sidered very doubtful, and his own judgment somewhat fluctuated. ' Men give the British Cabinet the credit of many intrigues and much activity in Europe. I believe that for a year past its sole policy has been »pathy and the most perfect inaction.' The people are now so much in our favour that war would be very un- popular. Councils are continually held, but no decision has been arrived at. Pitt, he was informed, lately stood CH. m. LETTEES OF LEBEUN AND NOEL. 449 alone in opposing an armament whicli even Lord Gren- ville desired. The ministry is torn by divisions. There are rumours of the retirement of Pitt, and the King is very cold to him. Nothiag, Chauvelin was convinced, but anxieties relating to Holland ' can decide the very timid British minister to the smallest hostile proceedings against us. Since the Eepublic has decided to respect Holland, you may fully count upon the entire inaction of the British Government.' ' The last sentence was written in reply to Lebrun, who had authorised Chauvelin to assert that while France was going to free the Belgic Provinces from the Austrian rule, and was determined that they should never again be reunited to Austria, she had no intention of incorporating them in the French Republic or of attacking Holland. France had already disclaimed all views of conquest, and Belgium and Holland w"ould both be perfectly free to follow their wishes. At the same time Lebrun informed Chauvelin that he had no belief either in an alliance or in a cordial friendship with England. He directed him to pay special atten- tion to the agitation for reform and to the fermentation in Ireland, and he sent him the new ' Hymn to Liberty,' duly set to music, for the use of the Society of the Revolution in London.^ The despatches of Noel from London give an inde- pendent and a very similar picture of the state of affairs in England. Nothing, he said, can be more evident than the growth of popular feeling in favour of the Revolution, and democratic clubs and societies are starting up on all sides. England appeared to him in exactly the same state as France in 1789. All the signs of a coming ' Chauvelin to Lebrun, Oct. 22, ^ Lebrun to Chauvelin, Got. SQL 25, 26, 30, 31, Nov. 14, 21, 1792 Nov. 6, 1792 (ibid.). (French Foreign Office). 450 THE FEENCH EEVOLDTION. oh. m. revolution are there. In Scotland and Ireland disquiet- ing symptoms are multiplying fast. The Government is anxiously investigating the dispositions of the troops. The Tower of London is not safe from a popular out- break like that which captured the Bastille. An insur- rection is very probable, and France should prepare her fleets. The ministers are in the utmost embarrassment. Pitt, who ' cares only for popularity,' would be an ardent revolutionist if it were not for the party of the King, but he is in great perplexity ; he is losing ground, and the party of the King is strengthening. The triumphs of Dumouriez in Belgium are producing the keenest anxiety in the ministry and among the diplomatists, and a corresponding exultation among the friends of France. Noel hears that Pitt has fully decided not to make war, and that Calonne denounces him as a democrat. But Pitt is extremely anxious about Holland, and says that if the French foment troubles there, England must interfere. The City shares this opinion and is full of alarm. The Opposition is divided between the aristo- cracy, which is much the stronger section, and the sympathisers with France. Fox is utterly undecided. His opinions lean one way ; the money which he owes certain great people draws him in the other, and he gives himself up to sporting in order to avoid taking a decision. Sheridan is equally trammelled by his own debts. The storm is steadily gathering. Lord Lans- downe alone, who has always proclaimed himself a partisan of our Revolution, is taking his measures. His boundless ambition, his great talents, and his great fortune mark him out as destined to take a conspicuous part in directing it, and he knows that if he does not it will fall into the hands of Home Tooke and men of that Btamp. Noel is trying to enter into a negotiation with the ministry, but all parties agree that the essential preliminary of success is the recall of Chauvelin. He is OH. m. GEENVILLE'S OPINIONS AND POLICY. 451 a man of talent, and may be usefully employed else- where, but in England lie is quite discredited.' From these accounts of the situation derived from French sources we must now turn to those which were given by the English ministers themselves. They had been repeatedly sounded by foreign Powers as to their wishes and speculations relating to France, but they had hitherto uniformly refused to answer except in the vaguest terms. ' Our neutral conduct,' they said, ' gives us no claim to interfere either with advice or opinion,' and they had added a general hope that France might give up her old restless foreign policy and attain order and stability at home.^ A full and perfectly confidential letter, however, of Grenville to his brother, written on November 7, remains, and it puts us in complete possession of the opinions, intentions, and spirit of the English Minister for Foreign Affairs. ' I bless God,' he writes, ' that we had the wit to keep ourselves out of the glorious enterprise of the combined armies, and that we were not tempted by the hope of sharing the spoils in the division of France, nor by the prospect of crush- ing all democratical principles all over the world at one blow.' The events of the last two months, he says, he can only explain by conjecture, for one of the results of the strict neutrality of England is that the allied Powers have left her in complete ignorance of their conduct and ' Noel to Lebrun, Got. 20, Nov. from Dumouriez' army, he found 22, 24, 1792. Noel's letters everything much changed. He appear to have been opened in has written that there is nothing England. In Jan. 1793, Lord more to be done here ; he dreaded Bhef&eld wrote to Auckland : the suspension of the Habeas ' Noel, Maret's second, remains Corpus ; he had, however, al- here still, or at least was here ready placed his papers in safety.' very lately. He wrote to France — Auckland Correspondence, ib the end of November that iusur- 482. rection would immediately break * Ibid. ii. 443, 444. out in England. On his return 452 THE FKENCH EEVOLUTION. ch. m. their intentions.* He proceeds, however, to enumerate with considerable sagacity the probable causes of the collapse of the last invasion of France ; he predicts that next spring the Coalition will find themselves obliged to attempt another invasion under much more difficult circumstances, and he describes the probable action of the chief Powers. England, he emphatically says, will ' do nothing,' and Portugal and Holland will follow the English policy. ' All my ambition,' he continues, ' is that I may at some time hereafter, when I am freed from all active concern in such a scene as this, have the inexpressible satisfaction of having been able to look back upon it and to tell myself that I have contributed to keep my country at least a little longer from sharing in all the evils of every sort that surround us. I am more and more convinced that this can only be done by keeping wholly and entirely aloof, and by watching much at home, but doing very little indeed ; endeavouring to nurse up in the country a real determination to stand by the Constitution when it is attacked, as it most infallibly will be if these things go on ; and above all trying to make the situation of the lower orders among us as good as it can be made. In this view I have seen with the greatest satisfaction the steps taken in the different parts of the country for increasing wages, which I hold to be a point of absolute necessity, and of ' See, too, on this ignorance, for a peace, mainly to the in. Tomline's Life of Pitt, iii. 450. fluence of Pitt, who, it appears, It is a striking illustration of the knew that the Duke wished his extravagant misrepresentations daughter to marry the Prince of of English policy which have Wales, and who, by flattering his been disseminated and believed hopes, was able to induce him to on the Continent, that M. de submit all his military and po- Lamartine has ascribed the litioal proceedings to the direo- feebleness of the campaign of tion of the Cabinet in London 1 — Brunswick, his failure to crush Hist, des Girondins, livre xxxvL Dumouriez, his retreat before ch. v. the French and his negotiation OH. III. SEDITIOUS WEITINGS. 453 a hundred times more importance than all that the most doing Government could do in twenty years towards keeping the country quiet. I trust we may again be enabled to contribute to the same object by the repeal of taxes, but of that we cannot yet be sure.' ' This last sentence is very remarkable when we con- sider the date at which it was written. It shows that the Government had not even yet decisively abandoned the policy of retrenchment which inspired the budget of 1792. It is now certain that the diminution of the naval and military forces, which was effected by Pitt in the beginning of that year, was a mistake, resting upon an entirely false estimate of the situation of Europe. It can only be said in defence of Pitt that his prediction of the course of events in France, if not more sagacious, was not more erroneous than that of all the wisest statesmen on the Continent. There were two ways in which French affairs might affect England — by internal agitation and by their action on continental Powers. The proclamation against seditious writings in the summer had shown that the Government were not without anxiety at the great multiplication in England of such writings, and of societies corresponding with or affiliated to the French Jacobins. The second part of Paine's ' Rights of Man ' had been an attack, as violent and as uncompromising, as it is possible to conceive, upon the whole framework of monarchical and aristocratical government, and there could be no doubt whatever that it was of the nature of a seditious libel. A prosecution was directed against it, but Paine fled to France, where he was at once ad- mitted to the rights of citizenship and elected a member of the Convention. The trial, however, proceeded, and a verdict of guilty was brought against him in his absence. ' Buckingham's Courts and Cabinets, ii. 222-224. 454 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. en. m. For a time the circulation of libels diminished, but after the overthrow of the French monarchy on August 10, and especially after the retreat of the armies of the allies, the republican societies in England started into a renewed activity. As early as August 14, Englishmen appeared at the bar of the French Assembly to congra- tulate it on the events of August 10 ; and in December Lord Grenville stated in Parliament that no less than ten different addresses from English subjects had been already presented to the National Convention, which had met in Paris in September.' One of these was voted on November 7 by 5,000 members of the ' corresponding societies ' of London, Manchester, and other great towns. It spoke with indignation of the neutrality of the English Government. 'It is the duty,' the memorialists said, ' of true Britons to support and assist to the utmost of their power the defenders of the " Rights of Man," the propagators of human felicity, and to swear inviolable friendship to a nation which proceeds on the plan which you have adopted. . . . Frenchmen, you are already free, and Britons are preparing to become so ; ' and it expressed a hope of seeing ' a triple alliance, not of crowns, but of the peoples of America, France, and Great Britain.' A fortnight later, deputies from certain British societies appeared at the bar of the National Convention, announcing their intention of establishing a similar Convention in England, and their hope 'that the troops of liberty will never lay down their arms as long as tyrants and slaves shall continue to exist.' 'Our wishes, citizen legislators,' they continued, 'render ua impatient to see the moment of this grand change.' ' Royalty in Europe,' replied the President of the French Convention, 'is either destroyed, or on the point of perishing in the ruins of feodality. The Declaration of ' Tomline's Life of Pitt, iii. 452. OB. m. ENGLISH REPUBLICANS. 455 Rights placed by the side of thrones, is a devouring fire which will consume them. Worthy Republicans . . . the festival you have celebrated in honour of the French Revolution is the prelude to the festival of nations.' ' These are but specimens of the movement which was continually going on. A bad harvest had pro- duced much distress in the manufacturing districts. In November there were 105 bankruptcies in Eng- land, and it was noticed that there had scarcely ever before been more than half that number ia a single month.* Riots, springing from want of bread and want of work and low wages, were very frequent, and they usually assumed a republican character. In the county of Durham, at Shields, Sunderland, Carlisle, and Leeds, such disturbances were especially formidable. . Busy missionaries were traversing the country preaching the coming millennium when French principles would have triumphed; when property would be divided; when monarchy, aristocracy, and established Churches would all be at an end. The words ' Liberty and Equality ' might be seen written up at the market places. Paine's ' Rights of Man,' published ia a very cheap form, had an enormous circulation. Rich democrats or democratic societies were distributing it by hundreds gratuitously among the workmen of the manufacturing towns. It was widely circulated in Erse among the Scotch High- landers and in Welsh among the mountains of Wales, and it was said that the soldiers were everywhere tam- ' Marsh's History of Politics, sung, an address to the Conven- i . 203-212. ChauTelin described tion was voted unanimously, and the festival of the ' Society of more than 1,000 persons were the Revolution of 1688 '(at which unable to get admission into the he thought it prudent not to be crowded room. (To Lebrun, Nov. present) as one of the grandest 12, 1792.) triumphs of liberty ever known ' Maopherson's^nnoZso/CoW" in England. The toasts were all merce, iv. 254. for France, the ' Marseillaise ' was 456 THE FEENCII REVOLUTION. ch. iil pered with.' The country was full of foreigners, and many of them, in the opinion of the best judges, were engaged in the propagandisra. In Paris the uniform language was that all royalty was tyranny, that the mission of France was to sweep it from the world, that French principles were to prepare the way for French arms by raising nations against their rulers. The amount of attention which a Government may wisely pay to treasonable writing, speaking, or even action, is not a matter that can be settled by any general rule. It varies infinitely with the character and habits of the nation and with the spirit of the time, and cer- tainly the closing months of 1792 were not a period in which these things could be looked upon with indif- ference. The manifestly expansive, subversive, and epidemical character of the French Revolution, the dan- gerous national ambitions that were wedded to it, and the great part which the propagandism of opinions and the establishment of affiliated societies had actually borne in attracting or faicilitating invasion, could not reason- ably be doubted. At the same time the Government shrank much from measures of repression. On No- vember 14, Grenville wrote an interesting letter to his brother, who had accused him of negligence. He assured Buckingham that the ministers were not indif- ferent, or inobservant of what was passing, but they believed that the accounts of disturbances were much exaggerated, and that at all events the intervention of the Government should be only very sparingly and cautiously employed. ' If you look back,' he continued, ' to the last time in our history that these sort of things bore the same serious aspect that they now do — 1 mean the beginning of the Hanover reigns — you will find that the Protestant succession was established, not by the ' Wilberforce'sX^/e, ii. 1-5. Auckland Correspondence, ii. 4G9. OH. III. DECEEE OF NOVEMBER 19, 1792. 457 interference of a Secretary of State or Attorney-General in every individual instance, but by the exertions of everj' magistrate and officer, civil and military, through- out the country. ... It is not unnatural, nor is it an unfavourable symptom, that people who are thoroughly frightened, as the body of landed gentlemen in this country are, should exaggerate these stories. ... It is, however, not the less true that the danger exists. . . . The conquest of Flanders has, I believe, brought the business to a much nearer issue than any reasonable man could believe a month ago. The hands of the Government must be strengthened if the country is to be saved ; but, above all, the work must not be lefb to the hands of Government, but every man must put his shoulder to it according to his rank and situation in life, or it will not be done.' ' It was impossible for English ministers not to be struck with the importance given in the French Con- vention to deputations from the most obscure English societies ; with the manner in which the most obscure democratic addresses were officially published in France as the voice of the English people ; with the honour of French citizenship ostentatiously conferred upon Priest- ley and Paine, and with the constant intercourse between the French representatives in England and the opponents of the Government. But a much more serious provo- cation was soon given by the decree of November 19, in which the French Convention, without drawing any distinction between hostile and neutral Governments, formally announced that the French nation would grant fraternity and assistance to all nations that desired to regaiQ their liberty, and directed the Executive Power to order the French generals to put this decree into execution. In order that it should be universally ' Buckingham's Courts and Cabinets, ii. 226-228. 458 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. m. known, the Convention commanded that it should be translated into all languages. This decree in its obvious signification was an invi- tation to all nations to revolt against their rulers. In the new Parisian dialect, not only the most mitigated monarchy, but even aristocratic republics like Holland and Switzerland were tyrannies, and the French Govern- ment now pledged itself to assist revolted subjects by force of arms, even though their Governments had not given the smallest provocation to France. The decree was in perfect harmony with the language of the most conspicuous French politicians, and with the hopes or promises held out by French emissaries in many lands ; but it was an interference with the internal aflfairs of other countries at least as gross as that which was com- mitted by Lewis XIV. when he recognised the son of James II. as King of England, It was a provocation much more serious than the greater number of those which had produced wars during the eighteenth century. It is quite certain, however, that the decree of No- vember 19 if taken alone would never have induced Pitt to engage in hostilities with France. The attitude of the French Convention reluctantly convinced him of the necessity of taking special measures for the protection of order at home, but nothing short of grave and mani- fest external danger could provoke him to draw the sword. In my own judgment, one of the most remarkable features in his foreign policy is the apathy or at least the quiescence with which he witnessed the French conquest of the Belgic Provinces. Ever since the English Revolution, it had been one of the first objects of English foreign policy to secure this tract of country from the dominion and the ascendency of France. Its invasion by Lewis XIV. first made the war of the Spanish succession inevitable. Its security had been OH. HI. FRENCH DOMINION IN FLANDEKS. 459 the main object of the Barrier Treaty, and we have already seen the importance attached to this point in the negotiations of 1789. If Pitt's father had been at the head of affairs, there can, I think, be little doubt that the entry of the French troops into the Belgic Provinces would have been immediately followed by English intervention. It is indeed true that one of the results, of the recent policy of the Emperors had been that England no longer guaranteed the Austrian do- minion in Flanders. Joseph II. by expelling the Dutch garrisons had torn the Barrier Treaty into shreds, and the Convention signed at the Hague in December 1790, by which Prussia and the maritime Powers guaran- teed these provinces to Austria, had not been ratified, on account of the refusal of Leopold to grant the full and promised measure of their ancient liberties.' But although there was no treaty obligation, it was a matter of manifest political importance to Eng- land that Brussels, Ostend, and, above all, Antwerp, should not be in the hands of the French. All these had now been conquered, and although the French Government and their representatives in England had publicly disclaimed ideas of aggrandisjcient, although they represented the invasion of the !Mgic Provinces as a mere matter of military necessity, and contented themselves as yet with decreeing that they should be for ever sundered from the Imperial rule, it needed but little foresight to perceive that, in the event of the final victory of France, they would remain French territory. Savoy was already formally incorporated into the French EepubHc. In Belgium, only a very few weeks had passed before the French, contrary to the wishes of the ' See Code's House of A^lstria, Austrian Netherlands, but nel. ii. 695-697. Prussia, as we have ther England nor HoUand had seen, afterwards guaranteed the done so. 460 THE FEENCH EEVOLDTIOX. oh. hi. people, began a general confiscation of ecclesiastical property, forced their assignats into circulation, and treated the country exactly as a French province. There is a large amount of chance in the judgments which history ultimately forms of statesmen. If events had taken a somewhat different course, it is probable that Pitt's foreign policy would now have been chiefly censured for having, without an effort to prevent it, suffered the whole of Belgium to fall into the hands of France. But whether the acquiescence of the English Government was right or wrong, it at least furnished one more emphatic proof of the ardent desire of Pitt to avoid a war. The line which he adopted was perfectly clear. The invasion and conquest of Belgium he de- termined not to make a casus belli. The contingency of France retaining it in spite of her disclaimers was not yet brought into question. But England was con- nected with Holland by the closest and strictest alliance, and she had most formally guaranteed the existing Dutch Constitution. If therefore Holland and her Con- stitution were in real danger, England was bound, both in honour and policy, to draw the sword. The justification or condemnation of English inter- vention in the great French war turns mainly upon this question. We have already seen that there had long existed in Holland a democratic and revolutionary party which was violently opposed to the House of Orange, which had been defeated by the efforts of Prussia and England, and which, before the French Eevolution, had been in close alliance with France. We have seen also how bitterly the defeat of that party had been resented in Paris ; how warmly its refugees were welcomed by the French Revolutionists, and how early the overthrow of the existing Dutch Constitution was spoken of as a possible result of the Eevolution. In January 1792, a deputation of ' Dutch Patriots' had presented a petition OH. in. DANGEES TO HOLLAND. 461 to the National Assembly, describing tbeir plans for establishing liberty in Holland, and restricting the au- thority of the Stad.holder, and requesting the favour of France, and the President had replied that the French people would always be their allies as long as they were the friends of Uberty.' In the following June, Lord Gower mentioned to the English Government that the French intended to raise for their service a body of between three and four thousand Dutch patriots, and in the same month Grenville informed Gower that Lord Auckland had been writing from Holland 'that a pro- ject was supposed to be in agitation for an attack upon some of the Dutch ports from Dunkirk, by the legion of Dutch patriots now raising.' Gower at first regarded this report as wholly untrue, but he soon after wrote : ' I must retract my opinion that apprehensions enter- tained in Holland with regard to the Dutch legion are perfectly ill-founded. It was originally to have con- sisted of 4,250 men, but it is now to be augmented to 6,000.' 2 The apprehensions of danger, however, in this quarter did not become acute until after the totally unexpected issue of the expedition of the Duke of Brunswick, and the triumphant invasion of the Austrian Netherlands. A great revolutionary army flushed with victory was now on the borders of Holland, and a rising of the ' Patriotic ' party in that country might at any moment be expected. Lord Auckland was then English minister at the Hague. On November 6 — the day on which the battle of Jemmapes was fought — Grenville wrote him a con- fidential letter describing the extremely critical condition * Annual Begister, 1792, pp. 29 ; Grenville to Gower, June 12, 852,353. 1792. ' Gower to Grenville, June 22, 462 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. en. m.^ of Europe, and defining the course which the English Government intended to pursue. It was written in much the same strain as the almost contemporaneous letter to Lord Buckingham from which I have already quoted. ' I am every day,' he said, ' more and more confirmed in my opinion that, hoth in order to preserve our own domestic quiet and to secure some other parts, at least, of Europe free from the miseries of anarchy, this country and Holland ought to remain quiet as long as it is possible to do so, even with some degree of forbearance and tolerance beyond what would in other circumstances have been judged right.' It appears probable that the Austrians and Prussians will make another campaign against France, but in the opinion of Grenville ' the re- establishment of order in France can be eSected only by a long course of intestine struggles,' and foreign inter- vention will only serve the cause of anarchy. English ministers consider that the best chance of preserving England from the dangers of the Revolution is to ab- stain resolutely from all interference with the struggle on the Continent, and they strongly recommend a similar course to the Dutch. * Their local situation and the neighbourhood of Germany, Liege, and Flanders, may certainly render the danger more imminent, but it does not, I think, alter the reasoning as to the means of meeting it; and those means will, I think, be always best found in the preservation of the external peace of the Republic, and in that attention to its internal situa- tion which external peace, alone, will allow its Govern- ment to give to that object.' The States-General desired to know what course the English Government would pursue if the Republican Government in Prance notified its establishment, and demanded to be acknowledged. Grenville answered that no step of this kind was likely to be taken till the new French Constitution was settled by the Assembly, and before that time the whole aspect OH. m. ENGLISH DECLAEATION TO HOLLAND. 463 of afifairs may have changed. If, however, contrary to his expectation, such a demand were at once made, it would probably be declined, but declined in such terms that England would be free to acknowledge the Re- publican Government in France at a later period, if such a Government should be fully established.' A week later the danger had become far more imminent by the flight of the Austrian Government from Brussels, and it now appeared in the highest degree probable that the army of Dumouriez would speedily press on to Holland. Dutch ' patriots ' were going over to him in great numbers, and it was re- ported that he had boasted that he would dine at the Hague on New Year's Day." Under these circum- stances the English ministers considered that in the interests of peace the time had come for England to depart from her system of absolute reserve, and they took two important steps, which we must now examine. The first of these was to send to Lord Auckland a formal declaration which was to be presented to the States-General and to be made public, assuring Holland of the inviolable friendship of England and of her full determination to execute at all times, and with the utmost good faith, all the stipulations of the treaty of alliance she had entered into in 1788. The King is persuaded, the memorial said, that the strict neutrality, which the United Republic as well as England had kept, will be sufficient to save her from all danger of a violation of her territory or an interference on the part of either belligerent with her internal affairs. But as the theatre of war was now brought almost to the frontier of the Republic, and as much uneasiness had ' Auckland Correspondence, ii. Lord Auckland's letters (Becord 464-467. Office) in the beginning of N* ^ This is mentioned in one of vember. 31 464 THE FKENCH REVOLUTION. oh. hi., naturally arisen, his Majesty thought it right to give the States-General this renewed assurance. He recom- mended them, to repress firmly all attempts to disturb internal tranquillity, and he expressed his full belief that a close union between the two countries would contribute most effectually to the welfare of both and to the general tranquillity of Europe.' We have letters both from Pitt and Grenville ex- plaining the motives of this step.^ Lord Auckland had represented, no doubt with great truth, the danger of Holland as extreme, and in the event either of an invasion or an insurrection England was bound to interfere. ' However unfortunate it would be,' wrote Pitt, ' to find this country in any shape committed, it seems absolutely impossible to hesitate as to supporting our ally in case of necessity^ and the explicit declara- tion of our sentiments is the most likely way to prevent the case occurring.' Such a declaration appeared to the English Government the best measure for prevent- ing either a rising in Holland or an infringement of the Dutch territory, and although it did not ultimately save Holland from invasion it is certain that it greatly strengthened the Dutch Government, and discouraged attempts at local insurrection. It was plain, however, that unless the war in the Netherlands was speedily arrested, the chances of pre- serving the Dutch territory inviolate were infinitesimally small. On the same day, therefore, on which the Eng- lish Government despatched their memorial to Holland, they sent instructions to the English ambassadors at Berlin and Vienna, directing them to break the silence on French affairs they had hitherto observed in their ' Annual Register, 1792, pp. dence, i. 114-116, and the letter 852, 833. of Grenville to Auckland (in the ■' See the letter of Pitt in Eeoord Office) Nov. 13, 1792. EoBe's Diaries and Correspon- OH. in. mSTRTJCTIONS TO EDEN AND KEITH. 465 communications with those Courts. 'These instruc- tions,' wrote Pitt, ' are necessarily in very genera terms, as, in the ignorance of the designs of Austria and Prussia, and in the uncertainty as to what events every day may produce, it seems impossible to decide definitely at present on the line which we ought to pursue, except as far as relates to Holland. Perhaps some opening may arise which may enable us to contri- bute to the termination of the war between different Powers in Europe, leaving France (which I believe is the best way) to arrange its own internal affairs as it can. The whole situation, however, becomes so delicate and critical that I have thought it right to request the presence of all the members of the Cabinet who can without too much inconvenience give their attendance.' ' The letters of instruction to Eden and Keith are substantially the same, but a little more may be gleaned from the former than from the latter, as England was on much more intimate terms with Prussia than with Aus- tria. The King, it was said, knows very little of the plans of the Courts of Prussia and Austria in Prance, or of their views of the termination of the war. 'His Majesty, having so repeatedly declined to make himself a party to that enterprise, forbore to urge for any more distinct explanation,' but 'the unforeseen events which have arisen, and most particularly the success of the French arms in Flanders, have now brought forward considera- tions in which the common interests and engagements of his Majesty and the King of Prussia are deeply con- cerned.' There are grave reasons to fear ' for the security and tranquillity of the United Provinces,' and the King now asks for confidential communications ' Bose's Diaries, i. 115. This ance of all the members of the letter is addressed to the Marquis Cabinet seems to have been con< of Stafford. It is carious as sidered a matter of course, showing how little the attend- 466 THK FKENCH EEVOLUTION. on. iii. from the Court of Berlin. His object is, if possible, to assist in ' putting an end to a business so unfortunate for all those who have been engaged in it, and which threatens in its consequences to disturb the tranquillity of the rest of Europe.' Eden, however, is to he ex- tremely cautious 'not to commit this Court to any opinion with respect to the propriety and practicability of any particular mode ' of effecting this object. He may say that, as the King knows nothing about the plans of the two Courts, he could give no instructions, and if he finds that the Prussian King is reluctant to make communications, he is at once to drop the subject.' It cannot be said that in these very cautious pro- ceedings the English Government in any way departed from its neutrality, nor can they, I think, be regarded as at all in excess of what the danger of the situation warranted. Scarcely a day now passed which did not bring disquieting intelligence. From Zealand and from Ostend, it was reported that the French meant to send a squadron to force the passage of the Scheldt, and the rumour obtained some confirmation when two French gunboats appeared on the coast of Holland. It was at first said that they came to buy horses, but the com- mander soon asked the Dutch Government on the part of Dumouriez for permission to sail up the Scheldt for the purpose of assisting in reducing the town and citadel of Antwerp, though he must have well known that the Dutch could not grant such permission without a plain violation of their neutrality. There were re- ports from Breda of an intended insurrectionary move- ment. There were fears of complications from the crowds of emigrants who were now pouring into Hoi- ' Grenville to Eden, Nov. 13. See, too, Grenville to Keith, Nov. I3fl792. OH. in. EEPOETS FEOM HOLLAND. 467 land from Ligge and Brabant. There was a question whether it would not he advisable at once to send English ships of war to Mushing. Staremberg, the Austrian minister, succeeded in bribing one of the officials of the French embassy, and, by his means, obtaining a copy of a confidential letter from Dumouriez to De Maulde, the French minister at the Hague. In this letter, Dutnouriez promised that he would try to prevent the recall of De Maulde, and he added : ' I count upon carrying liberty to the Batavians, as I have already done to the Belgians, and the Revolution will be accomplished in Holland in such a manner that things will be brought back to the point in which they were in 1788.' Auckland believed this letter to be certainly genuine, but he did not despair of peace, nor did he think that the time had yet come when it was necessary to send English ships to Flushing. It was important, he said, to avoid giving signs of apprehension or distrust, though he would be glad to know that there was some English naval force in the Downs which could be forth- coming at short notice. The season of the year was very unfavourable for invasion. ' Those who ought to know best the interior of this country,' he wrote, ' con- tinue to assiu-e me that they see no immediate ground of alarm, and the exterior will, for the present, be (I hope) defended by nature and by the seasons. It would have a great efiect, and might possibly save mankind from a deluge of general confusion and misery, if the loyalty and good sense of England could be roused into a manifestation of abhorrence of the wickedness and folly of the levelling doctrines.' Possibly the English Government might even now be able to arrange the preliminaries of a general pacification of Europe.' • Auckland to Grenville, Nov. 23, 25, 1792. 468 THE FRENCH EEVOLL'TION. oh. m. Grenville also took at first a somewhat hopeful view. While sending Auckland alarming reports which he had received from Ostend, he expressed his belief that they were exaggerated, though they must not be neglected. He rejoiced to hear that the Engligh de- claration of friendship to Holland had a good effect, and hoped that Auckland would do all in his power to sustain confidence. ' I am strongly inclined,' he wrote, ' to believe that it is the present intention of the pre- vailing party in Prance to respect the rights of this country and of the Republic, but it will undoubtedly be necessary that the strictest attention should be given to any circumstance which may seem to indicate a change in this respect.' It was impossible, however, to disguise the fact that the prospect was full of the gravest danger and uncertainty, and the demands of the commander of the French ships of war seemed to indicate a plain desire to force on a quarrel. Such preparations as could be made without attracting much notice, had already been made in England. All hemp in England had been bought by the Government lest it should be exported to France, and Grenville recommended a similar measure to the Dutch. The French appeared to have as yet imported little hemp, and might there- fore have difiiculty in equipping their navy. The Go- vernment did not at present think it wise to send an English fleet either to Flushing or to the Downs.^ The fury of the thunderstorm is less trying to the nerves of men than the sultry, oppressive, and ominous calm that precedes it ; and it was through such a calm that England was now passing. To the last letter from which I have quoted, Grenville appended a postscript announcing proceedings in Paris which at last con- vinced him that war was inevitable. On November 16, Grenville to Auckland, Nov. 23, 25, 26, 1792. OH. m. OPENING OF THE SCHELDT. 469 the Executive Council at Paris adopted two memorable resolutions abolishing as contrary to the laws of nature the treaty rights of the Dutch to the exclusive naviga- tion of the Scheldt and of the Meuse, and ordering the commanders of the French armies to continue to pursue the Austrians, even upon the territory of Holland, if they retired there. Three days later the Convention passed its decree, promising French assistance to all nations that revolted against their rulers. The last of these measures has already been con- sidered. Its significance, at a time when there was a triumphant French army in Austrian Flanders, and a defeated but still powerful party in Holland which was notoriously hostile to the House of Orange and notoriously in sympathy with France, was too manifest to be mistaken. The decree of November 19 was ob- viously intended to rekindle the civil war which had so lately been extinguished, and it made it almost certain that even the most partial insurrection would be im- mediately made the pretext for a French invasion. The direction given to the French commander to pursue the Austrians if they retired into Dutch territory was a flagrant violation of the laws of nations, while the open- ing of the Scheldt was a plain violation of the treaty rights of the Dutch. Their sovereignty over that river dated from the Peace of Westphalia, by which the in- dependence of Holland was first recognised. It had been confirmed by the treaty of 1785, in which France herself acted as guarantee ; * and it was one of those rights which England, by the treaty of alliance in 1788, was most formally bound to defend. It would be im- possible to conceive a more flagrant or more dangerous violation of treaties than this action of the French. It implied that they were absolute sovereigns of the ' Pari. Sist. xxx. 47 ; Marsh's Hist, of Politics, i. 194- 98. 470 THE FEENCH EEVOLtlTION. ch. m. Austrian Netherlands, for these provinces alone were interested in the question. It established a precedent which, if it were admitted, would invalidate the whole public law of Europe, for it assumed that the most formal treaties were destitute of all binding force if they appeared in the light of the new French philosophy to be contrary to the laws of nature or ' remnants of feudal servitude ; ' and the decree of the French Execu- tive was confirmed by the Convention, immediately after the memorial to the Dutch States-General, by which England had pledged herself in the most formal manner to fulfil all the obligations she had assumed by the treaty of 1788. Nor was it possible to say that the measure was of no practical importance. Its immediate object was to enable the French to send ships of war to attack the citadel of Antwerp. If the Dutch acceded to the demand in spite of the protest of the Imperial minister, they would at once be forced out of their neutrality. But beyond this, if the navigation of the Scheldt was open to armed vessels, it would enable the French, as the Dutch truly said, to carry their troops into the heart of Holland. A great French army was already on its border. Eefugees from Holland had been enrolled by thousands ; there were sufficient small boats collected at Ostend to transport an army; and there was an active French party in Holland itself. Could it be questioned that the opening of the Scheldt formed a leading part of a plan for the conquest of Holland? Could it be doubted that if the mouth of the river passed, into French hands it would, in the event of a war, give great facilities for an attack upon England ? It is impossible, I think, to consider all the circum- stances of the case without concluding that the decree was an act of gross and deliberate provocation, that it was part of a system of policy which plainly aimed at the conquest of Holland, and that England could not OH. m. NEW FEENCH PROVOCATIONS. 471 acquiesce in it with any regard either for her honour or her interests. The last assertion has indeed been denied on the ground that Joseph II. had attempted to carry a similar measure in 1785 and that England had remained passive. But this argument is obviously futile. Eng- land was at that time not in alliance with Holland ; she had but just made peace with her after a long war, and the act of Joseph was not one which in any way aiFected English interests, for Austria never had any maritime force, and could not, under any circumstances, become a danger to England. All the proceedings of the French only conspired to deepen the impression which the decrees of November 16 and 19 had produced. A letter written by Clavidre, a member of the French Executive Council, was inter- cepted, in which he wrote that if Holland wished to live at peace with France she must take care to receive no Prussians or Austrians into any part of her territory, for the Republic would leave ' neither truce nor repose in any quarter to her enemies either secret or open.' ' When Dumouriez conquered Liege, the French general Eustache ^ appeared at the gates of Maestricht, one of the strongest frontier towns of the United Provinces, and he sent a message to the Prince of Hesse, who com- manded, demanding that 15,000 French soldiers might pass through the town. The Prince replied that to give such permission would be contrary to the Dutch neu- trality. Eustache rejoined in a menacing letter, stating that he had two objects, to express the fraternal disposi- tion, of the French Republic towards the Republic of Holland, and to recommend the Governor at once to expel from Maestricht all the enemies of France. He ' Auckland to Grenville, Nov. vice, he was by birth an Ameri- 27,1792. . can, and wrote in English. Ibii 2 Though in the French ser- Dec. 18, 1792. 472 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. iii. would be sorry, he said, to act with violence, bat his orders were strict and formal, 'to punish as the enemies of the French Republic all the protectorsof the Austriana and of the emigrants.' The Dutch persisted in refusing to allow the French to enter Maestricht, and Eustache soon dropped his demand, but the whole episode was a characteristic and alarming illustration of the manner in which the Republic was disposed to treat neutral Powers.' It is now known that at this time an im- mediate invasion of Holland was fully intended by Dumouriez, but at the last moment the Executive Council shrank from a step which would at once pro- duce a war with England.* Still more serious was the conduct of the commanders of the French war-ships at the mouth of the Scheldt. The Dutch took the only course which was possiblo consistently with their neutrality, and refused the per- mission that was asked ; but the French vessels sailed up the Scheldt to Antwerp in defiance of their pro- hibition.* There were at the same time evident efforts made to stimulate the French party in Holland. A report was industriously propagated ' that the disposition of the people of England is become such as to put it out of the power of his Majesty's Government to give in any event any species of succour' to Holland,^ and Lord Auckland stated that it was known with certainty that large sums had been expended by the French Executive Council for the purpose of exciting simultaneous insurrections in the great towns of England and in Holland.* Auckland expressed his perfect confidence that in England this ' Auckland to Grenville, Dec. ' Auckland to Grenyille, Deo. i, 2, 4, 1792. _ _ 1792. ' Mimoires de Dumouriez, iii. ' Ibid. 380 ; Morris's Letters ; Works, ' Ibid. Deo. 7, 1792. ii. 254. OH. HI. EECALL OF DE MAULDE. 473 plan would be foiled, but, he added, ' in this Republic the case is different. . . . The animosities which were necessarily created by the transactions of 1787 have not yet subsided, and are now combined with the wild democratic notions of the day, and are encouraged by the example of the Austrian Netherlands and the near neighbourhood and multiplied successes of the French armies. I nevertheless hope that interior tranquillity may (for the present at least) be maintained.' The Prince of Orange one day hastily summoned Auckland, and assured him that he had received intelligence that Dumouriez had actually sent orders from Antwerp for a descent upon Holland, which was to be the signal for an insurrection. De Maulde, he was informed, had pointed out on the map the places at which the French meant to penetrate into Holland, adding that it was all Dumouriez's doing, that, for his own part, he thought it very impru- dent, and that in fifteen days all communication with England would be stopped.' De Maulde was suddenly and unexpectedly recalled by his Government and replaced by a man named Tain- ville, a violent Jacobin, ' of brutal manners and evident indiscretion.' The first act of his mission was ' to make himself the colporteur ' of an incendiary work of Con- dorcet entitled ' Adresse aux Bataves,' which he brought with him.^ • Auckland to GrenviUe, Deo. 5, ignorance and folly remains un- 7, 1792. proscribed by tlie universal con- ' Ibid. Dec. 7, 1792. Lord sent of mankind, union between Stormont afterwards quoted in free states is their primary want, the House of Lords the following their dearest interest. George passage from this production of III. sees, with anxious surprise, Condorcet, which gives an idea that throne totter under hird of its character : ' So long as the which is founded on sophistry, earth is stained by the existence and which Bepublican truths of a king, and by the absurdity have sapped to its very founds- of hereditary govenmient, so long tion.' — Adolphus, v. 238. as this shameful production of 474 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. m. De Maulde was by no means inclined to acquiesce patiently in his dismissal, and Auc^^l^iid was present at Ms farewell interview with the Dutch Pensionary, De Maulde, he says, burst out into a violent invective against his Government, but still believed that Dumouriez would protect him and maintain him in Holland. Re- ferring to a former conference with Auckland, he ex- pressed his hope that the English minister's views of a pacification were unchanged. Auckland answered that a month ago he individually would have gladly pro- moted a peace on the basis even of an acknowledgment of the French Republic, provided the royal family were put in security and well treated, but that now every- thing was changed. Savoy was annexed. Flanders, Brabant, Li6ge, and the districts on the Rhine were undergoing the same fate. A war of unprovoked depre- dation was carried on against the Italian States. The Dutch Republic had been insulted by the dition in England ; the constant encouragement of th.ii sedition by the French; OH. m. DEBATE ON FEENCH POLICY. 485 the necessity of putting an end to the perpetual treason-' able correspondence of English societies with the French Convention ; the extreme danger of Holland ; the gross, wanton, and repeated provocation which had been offered to this old ally of England, appeared to the immense majority of the House of Commons abundantly proved. The present, it was said, was no time for entering into a course of extended internal reforms, which might easily be made the pretext or the instrument of revolu- tion, and it was perfectly certain that no reform short of a total subversion of the mixed Constitution of England would satisfy the zealots of the new French creed. It was wholly untrue that the present attitude of the Eng- lish Government towards Prance was due to the fact that she was a republic. The relations of England to Holland, Switzerland, Genoa, and Venice were perfectly amicable. But ' these were not regicidal republics, nor republics of confraternity with the seditious and dis- afl'ected in every State.' Was it reasonable, it was asked, to expect the King of England to send an ambassador to Prance at a time when Prance had still no settled administration or Government ; when the French Convention had just declared its implacable hatred of all kings and of all monarchical institutions ; when it had been receiving and encouraging seditious Englishmen, who had come over to complain of the Constitution of their own country, and to seek for an alliance to subvert it; when a decree had gone forth from Paris which was a general declaration against all existing Governments, and an invitation to universal revolt ; when the rulers of France were on the eve of crowning a long series of confiscations and murders by the murder of their inoffensive sovereign ? It would be an eternal disgrace to the British Empire, it was said, if England at this time sent an ambassador to Paris, for by doing so she would not only be the first nation in 486 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. OH. in. Europe to recognise a Government created by ft train of atrocious crimes, but would also be looked upon as giving her countenance to the horrid deed which was manifestly impending. Such a policy would result in 'the complete alienation of those Powers with which England was at present allied,' and by giving the whole weight of the character of England to France at a time when France was endeavouring to arm the subjects of every kingdom against their rulers, it would place all Europe in a deplorable situation. No nation had ever observed neutrality in difficult circumstances more strictly or scrupulously than England. She had given France no provocation whatever. She had again and again declared her resolution to meddle in no way with her internal concerns, and she tolerated in the country an unofficial representative who was perfectly competent to discharge any duties of negotiation that might arise. Nor was there, in truth, any question of difficulty or complexity impending. The whole danger rose from acts of patent and wilful provocation on the part of France ; from her pretension to set aside the plainest and most formal treaties on the ground ' that they were extorted by avarice and consented to by despot- ism ; ' from her ceaseless eflEbrts to foment rebellion in other countries, and from the ungovernable ambi- tion with which she was disturbing the equilibrium of Europe. Such was, in a few words, the substance of the rival arguments in the debates in the first weeks of the Session. There can be no question that the Govern- ment carried with them the immense preponderance of opinion, both within the House and beyond its walls. Fox's amendment on the Address was negatived by 290 to 50, and in the opinion of Lord Malmesbury a full half of this small minority consisted of men who, through personal attachment to Fox, voted in opposition to their OH. ui. DECBEE OF DECEMBER 16. 487 genuine sentiments.' His motion for sending a minister to France was negatived, and tlie Alien Bill was carried without a division. Measures were at the same time carried, prohibiting the circulation in England of French assignat bonds, and enabling the King to prohibit the export of naval stores. While these measures were passing through Parlia- ment, several important events were occurring on the Continent. It was already evident that the declarations of the French, that they sought no conquests, and that they would not interfere with the free expression of the will of the inhabitants of the Austrian Netherlands, were mere idle words. Although there was a revolutionary party in Flanders, and especially in the bishopric of Liege, it soon became plain that the general wish of the population of these countries did not extend beyond the re-establishment of their ancient constitution ; that they clung tenaciously to their old local privileges, customs, and independence, and that they had not the least wish to see the destruction of their Church or of their nobility. But the French had not been many weeks in the Austrian Netherlands before they proceeded to treat them as a portion of France, to introduce the assignats, to confis- cate the Church property, to abolish all privileges, and to remould the whole structure of society according to the democratic type. In the famous decree of December 15, the National Convention proclaimed its policy in terms which could not be misunderstood. ' Faithful to the principles of the sovereignty of the people, which will not permit them to acknowledge any of the institutions militat- ing against it,' they ordered that, in every country which was occupied by French arms, the French com- mander should at once proclaim the sovereignty of ' Malmesbury's Diaries, ii. 476. 488 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. oh. in. tlie people, the suppression of all existing authorities, the abolition of all existing taxes, of the tithes, of the nobility, and of all privileges. The people were to be convoked to create provisional administrations, from which, however, all the civil and military agents and . officers of the former G-ovemment and all members of the lately privileged classes and corporations must be excluded. If, however, as in the case of Flanders, the people of the occupied country preferred their old form of government, the course to be pursued was clearly laid down. ' The French nation will treat as enemies the people who, refusing or renouncing liberty and equality, are desirous of preserving their prince and privileged castes, or of entering into accommodation with them. The nation promises and engages never to lay down its arms until the sovereignty and liberty of the people on whose territory the French armies shall have entered shall be established, and not to consent to any arrangement or treaty with the princes or privileged persons so dispossessed, with whom the Republic is at war.' The Convention added a commentary to this decree, in which its intentions were still more emphati- cally asserted. ' It is evident,' they said, ' that a people so enamoured of its chains, and so obstinately attached to its state of brutishness as to refuse the restoration of its rights, is the accomplice not only of its own despots but even of all the crowned usurpers, who divide the domain of the earth and of men. Such a servile people is the declared enemy, not only of the French Republic, but even of all other nations, and therefore the distinc- tion which we have so justly established between Govern- ment and people ought not to be observed in its favour.' Such a people must, therefore, be treated ' according to the rigour of war and of conquest.' ' ' Marsh, oh. xii. ; Annual Be- 360 ; Bourgoing, Hist. Dipt, i, gister, 1792, part ii. pp. 358- deuxieme partie, pp. 268-272. OH. m. FEENCH EEVEESES-THE POLISH QOESTION. 489 The decree excited fierce discontent in the Belgic provinces, but petitions and protests were unavailing, and the Convention sent commissioners, among whom Danton was the most conspicuous, to carry their wishes into execution. While, however, France was thus veri- fying the predictions of Burke by proclaiming that the war was essentially a war of revolutionary pro- pagandism, and while by this proclamation she stimu- lated into new energy the many revolutionary clubs and centres that were scattered throughout Europe, a few reverses checked the hitherto unbroken success of her arms. The attempt which had already been made to make a separate peace with Prussia at the expense of the Emperor was resumed in the early winter of 1792,' but it had no result, and a combined army of Prussians and Hessians easily drove the small army of Custine out of Germany. He was compelled to evacuate Frankfort in the beginning of December, and a month later he recrossed the Rhine. An attempt which was made by Beumcinville, at the head of the army of the Moselle, to seize Ooblentz and Treves in the middle of December was defeated by the Austrians, and a descent upon Sardinia which followed the expedition to Naples proved a total failure. The letters which Grenville had addressed on Novem- ber 13 to the English ambassadors at Vienna and Berlin, inviting confidential communications, were answered with a vagueness which might have been perplexing to the English ministers, if the clue to the riddle had not been furnished by their representatives. It is to be found in the Polish question, which was now absorbing the attention of the German Powers, almost to the exclusion of French afiairs. We have already seen tha ' Sybel, ii. 40-42. 490 THE FEENCH REVOLUTION. oh. ni. first stages of the plots against Poland which were concocted in the Courts of St. Petersburg and Berlin, and the hopeless impotence to which Poland had been reduced. Her military resources were utterly incapable of meeting the powerful enemies that hemmed her in. Her frontier was almost defenceless. The spirit of her peasantry was broken by repeated Russian invasions and occupations. Her new constitution, though it ap- peared to the malevolent perspicacity of her neigh- bours likely to give her order, stability, and prosperity, had not yet time to take any root, and she was com- pletely isolated in Europe. Prance and Turkey were her two oldest allies ; but France had neither the power nor the disposition to interfere for her protection, while Turkey, having but just emerged from an exhausting war, was certain to remain quiescent. But the greatest calamity was the death of the Emperor Leopold. That very able sovereign had regarded the independence and power of Poland as one of the leading elements of European stability, and while he lived he was likely to have the strongest influence in the coalition that had been formed. He died, leaving his empire to an ignorant boy, without a policy or any strength of intellect or will. The policy of Russia towards Poland was one of cynical, undisguised rapacity, and as soon as she had seen the two German Powers engaged in the war with France, she proceeded to put her plans into execution. At the end of May an army of 60,000 Russians crossed the Polish frontier, and in spite of some brave resistance from Kosciusko, they entered Warsaw in the beginning of August.' The course of events depended largely on the King ' Hailes to Orenville, May 22, 30, June 27, July 25, August 8, 1792. OH. in. PEDSSIA BETEAYS POLAND. 491 of Prussia. That Sovereign, as we have seen, had first induced the Poles to assert their independence of Russia. He had himself urged them to amend their constitution. He had been the first to isongratulate them on the con- stitutional reform of May 1791. He had bound himself before God and man, by two solemn and recent treaties, to respect the integrity of Poland ; to defend the in- tegrity of Poland against all enemies; to oppose by force any attempt to interfere with her internal affairs. Yet, as we have also seen, he had resolved as early as March 1792, not only to break his word and to betray his trust, but also to take an active part in the partition of the defenceless country which he had bound himself in honour to protect. By this means the territorial aggrandisement at which he had long been aiming might be attained. The full extent of the treachery was only gradually disclosed, and the very instructive letters which Eden sent from Berlin enable us to complete a story which is one of the most shameful and most melancholy in the eighteenth century. At the end of May he relates a conversation with Schulenburg which fully confirmed him in his previous opinion that Poland must rely on its own efforts for its safety. 'Your Lordship will observe,' he adds, 'that his .sentiments have been uniformly hostile to its prosperity. He scrupled not yesterday to say that Russia was playing the game of this country, and repeated that it must ever be the interest of Prussia to prevent Poland from rising into a great and independent State.' He denied that Prussia was bound to anything more ' than to maintain Poland in the state in which she was before the Revolution,' but added that ' the most solemn assurances had been ad- vanced here and to the Prussian minister at St. Peters- burg that nothing further was meant by the Empress 492 THE FRENCH EEVOLDTION. oh. m. tbsn to re-establish everything on the same footing as it stood prior to May 3, 1791.'' When the Eussians crossed the Polish frontier, the Poles at once appealed to Prussia, and the English minister strongly supported their petition. Eden de- scribes at length the conference between the Polish envoy, Count Potocki, and Schulenburg. The former appealed to ' the article of their treaty which expressly stipulated the assistance to be given, should any Power, under any pretence whatever, interfere in the internal arrangements of the Republic' Schulenburg denied that the casus foederis had arisen, for the change in the Polish constitution, which had been effected subsequent to the signature of the treaty, and without the privity of the King of Prussia, had essentially changed the political connection of the two countries. * Count Po- tocki here observed that if his Prussian Majesty's appro- bation of the revolution subsequent to its taking place, were alone wanting to justify the claims of his country to his Majesty's protection, he was willing to rest it on that ground, and immediately produced the copy of the despatch dated May 19 of the same year, from his Prussian Majesty himself to Baron Goltz, Charge d'Affaires at Warsaw. ... In this despatch his Prus- sian Majesty extols the revolution as likely to strengthen the alliance between the two countries, approves of the choice made of the Elector of Saxony, and expressly enjoins Baron Goltz to communicate his sentiments to his Polish Majesty. To this paper the Prussian minister could oppose nothing except several censures of the indiscretion of having given a copy of it to the Polish Government. Count Potocki observed very properly, ' Eden to Grenvillo, May 29, 1799. CH. ui. PBDSSIA BETKAYS POLAND. 493 that that appeared to him to be immaterial, since a mere verbal assurance by his Prussian Majesty would have been equally obligatory.' ' Eden a few days later sent to England ' a copy of one of the notes presented by the Prussian minister at Warsaw, exhorting the Poles to meliorate their consti- tution ; a copy of the second and sixth articles of their treaty with Prussia, and also a copy of a despatch written May 16, 1791, by his Prussian Majesty to Count Goltz, his Charge d'Afiaires at Warsaw, expressing his full and entire approbation of the revolution effectuated on May 3, 1791.' He noticed, however, that on all sides the Poles encountered systematic coldness. Hertzberg said that they deserved their fate, because they would not cede Dantzig and Thorn to Prussia. Potocki, though a man of the first position, was not invited to dine with the King, while an obscure Russian subject obtained this honour, and the Prussian ministers refused an invitation to the house of Potocki. General Mollen- dorf expressed frankly to Eden his opinion of the ruinous folly of a war with France, which left Russia ' sole arbiter of the fate of Poland.' ' He, however, said,' writes Eden, ' what every Prussian, without any exception of party, will say — ^that this country can never acquiesce in the establishment of a good government in Poland, since in a very short time it would rise to a very decided superiority.' The pretence, however, was still kept up that the question at issue was not a ques- tion of the integrity and independence, but only of the constitution of Poland. ' The Prussian minister repeated that the Empress's views did not extend beyond the total overthrow of the new constitution.' But Eden added significantly, ' I continue of opinion that if pro- posals for a new partition be made, plausible reasons • Eden to Grenville, June 12, 1792. 494 THE FEENCH BEVOLUTION. oh. m. will be found to remove the scruples of his Prussian Majesty.' ' For a short time, Eden himself doubted what policy would be pursued. It was possible, he thought, that Russia might prefer to establish a Russian ascendency in Poland, since the more violent measure of a partition would strengthen Austria and Prussia as well as herself. ' Hopes may be entertained that this act of violence will not be proposed. It would, as I have more than once observed, be readily adopted here, and be approved even by those who in general censure the measures of the Government, Poland having ever been looked upon as fair prey, and the only source of aggrandisement to this country.' * It was sufficiently evident that one of these two fates was almost inevitably impending over Poland. From the young Emperor nothing was to be hoped. ' I am not without suspicion,' Keith wrote early in May, ' that Austria already knows that Prussia will set up no direct opposition to the Empress's views, and . . . that a co- partnership of the three Powers may renew the former scenes of depredation, and consummate the ruin of the miserable kingdom of Poland.' ' A week later a new Russian ambassador brought to Vienna the manifesto of the Empress of Russia against the new Polish Constitu- tion ; • I am well informed,' wrote Keith, ' that Austria is dismayed, and at bottom prepared to act a subservient part in that tragedy which Russia no longer hesitates to bring on the stage. I fear that a similar conduct may be expected on the side of Prussia, but not without the purpose of seizing her long-coveted and valuable portion of the plunder. However, Austria has not, to my know- > Eden to Grenville, June 6, " Keith to Grenville, May 12, 16, July 7, 10, 17, 1792. 1792. ■' Ibid. July 14, 1792. OH. m. PROJECTS FOE PARTITION. 495 ledge, concerted any project of dismemfeerment ; but lier principles are not of so rigid a stamp as to hinder her coming in (sneakingly) at the hour of partition for such a share of the garment as may suit her views.' ' Information which was not at this time before the English ministers enables us to fill up the picture. Prussia, in entering upon the French war, had from the very beginning asserted her determination to obtain a territorial indemnity,* and shortly after the death of Leopold, Schulenburg had sounded the Austrian minister about the possibility of this indemnity consisting of the Polish province of Posen. At the very time when the Prussian statesmen were assuring Eden that there was no question of any violation either of the integrity of Poland or of the pledges of Prussia, she was busily intriguing with Austria and Russia about the plunder of Polish territory. Before Catherine ordered her troops to enter Poland she had been assured from Berlin that she had no opposition to fear from Prussia, provided that country received her share of the spoil,* and at the same time Schulenburg endeavoured to negotiate a treaty by which Austria was to obtain her old wish of exchanging the Austrian Netherlands for Bavaria, while Prussia was to obtain the coveted territory in Poland. At Vienna, however, it was desired that Anspach and Baireuth should, in that case, pass to the Emperor, and on this question the negotiations were broken off.'' The French war accordingly began without anything being settled. The two Sovereigns anticipated an easy con- quest of Alsace, perhaps of something more, and the question of final indemnities might therefore be deferred. The invasion, however, proved a total failure. The allied army was rolled back, and it became evident that ' Keith to Grenville, May 19, 1792. • Sybel, ii. 143, 144. « Ibid. i. 452, 453. * Ibid. i. 473-477. 33 496 THE FRENCH EEVOLDTION. oh. iii. if Prussia obtained an indemnity it was not likely to be from Prance. Great preparations were making for a new campaign, but it was soon rumoured that a part at least of the forces that were raised was not intended to act against France. It was not, however, till a few days after Grenville had written his despatch of Novem- ber 13, that these rumours acquired consistency. On the 20th, Eden sent to England a despatch which must have been peculiarly unwelcome at a time when the probability of a Prussian alliance against Prance was being painfully forced on the minds of the English ministers. He began by mentioning the fears he had before expressed that, 'notwithstanding the different solemn guarantees of its present territory,' the new armament which Prussia was organising was intended not for the Rbine but for Poland. ' I was contradicted,' he continued, 'in this opinion by the assertions of General MoUendorf and Count de Schulenburg to the Dutch minister, who both so solemnly and strenuously renounced it that I was induced to state it merely as a report.' He has now learnt that the report was per- fectly true. The Prussians were to enter Poland osten- sibly for the relief of the Russians who were to march against Prance. General MoUendorf now confesses as much, and that he is himself to command, though he still persists that he had expected to have been sent to the Rhine. ' However iniquitous,' continues Eden, • the measure may be in itself, and however daring at this awful moment, I will venture to repeat that a new partition will have the general approbation of this country. The unquiet state of Poland . . . will, of course, be alleged as an excuse.' ' The English ministers had from the beginning strongly discouraged the plots against Poland, and ' Eden to Grenville, Nov. 20, 1792. OH. ra. PEUSSIAN PEEVAEICATION. 497 Eden, in a conference with Schulenburg and another Prussian statesman, begged leave ' formally and minis- terially to inquire the real destination of the present armament.' 'I scrupled not,' he says, 'to tell them my suspicions. . . . They both most solemnly protested that no order relative to those troops had been sent to the Cabinet ; that that to the War Office directed their march to the Ehine, and that if they had any other destination it was unknown to them.' Eden insisted that the new armament was to be sent to Poland, and expressed his most earnest hope that if it were not too late, this order might even now be cancelled, ' as a measure which furnishes such strong grounds of appre- hension for the fate of Poland would naturally alarm his Majesty's ministers, might in its consequences accelerate the general dissolution which at present threatens all governments on the continent of Europe, and would certainly increase the popular cry of animosity against monarchy.' ' To be mistaken on the present occasion,' he continued, ' would give me infinite pleasure, but both the Dutch minister and myself possess such un- questionable proofs of the fact as force my assent to it, however unwilling I may be to believe the Prussian ministers guilty of so gross a prevarication.' ' The term 'prevarication' was delicately chosen. Schulenburg, as we have seen, had borne a leading part in the plot, and there can be no doubt that he was perfectly aware of what was intended. Two or three days later the English ambassador was informed by the Prussian ministers that, as the King had made no communication to his Cabinet about the destination of his armament, they could not ' ministerially authorise him ' to contradict the reported invasion of Poland,* and a letter of Eden written on tho first day of 1793 » Eden to Grenviile, Nov. 23. 1792. ' Ibid. Nov. 27, 1792. 498 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. on. m. tells the sequel of the story. General MoUendorf, he says, is on the eve of starting at the head of his army for the Polish frontier. ' This business is no longer a mystery here, and it is publicly said that the four Bailiwicks of which he is to take possession in Great Poland were the promised price of his Prussian Majesty's interference in the affairs of France, and that he has now exacted the discharge of the promise, with threats of otherwise making a separate peace with Prance. Russia, it is added, consents with reluctance, induced principally by fear of the Turks. . . . Having more than once re- presented to the Prussian ministers the extreme injustice of this measure and even its impolicy at this awful crisis, and having been answered only by miserable elu- sions, it appears unnecessary to say anything further on the subject.' ' Few things could have been more embarrassing to the English Government than these proceedings. The conduct of the French had brought them to the very brink of war. They were in daily expectation of hear- ing that a French army had crossed the Dutch frontier, and everything appeared to announce a struggle of the most formidable character. If it took place it was inevitable that England should be closely leagued with those continental Powers from whose French policy she had hitherto held steadily aloof. It was now discovered that these Powers were at this very time engaged in a scheme of plunder at least as nefarious as any that could be attributed to the French democracy. Poland lay almost wholly beyond the sphere of English interests and influence, and England could probably under no circumstances have prevented the partition ; but it was peculiarly unfortunate that she should be obliged to ■ Eden to Grenville, Jan. 1, Polish frontier on the 14th. 8f 1793. MoUendorf crossed the bel, ii. 17C. OH. in. COMMUNICATION TO GEENVILLE. 499 begin her great struggle, by entering into a close alli- ance with the spoliators. A true statesman must have clearly seen that the contest which was impending was one in which moral influences must bear an unusual prominence. To the wild democratic enthusiasms, to the millennial dreams of a regenerated world which France could evoke, it was necessary to oppose the most powerful counteracting moral principles of the old world — the love of country and creed ; the attach- ments that gather round property and traditions and institutions ; the instinct of reverence ; the sense of honour, justice, and duty. But what moral dignity, what enthusiasm, what real popularity could attach to a coalition in which the three plunderers of Poland occu- pied a prominent place ? If, indeed, the picture of the morals of democracy which is furnished by the accu- mulated horrors of the I^rench Revolution should ever induce men to think too favourably of the morals of despotism, the story of the partition of Poland is well fitted to correct the error. The Polish machinations explain the tardiness of the German Powers in responding to the EngHsh overtures of November 13. The time at last came when a full explanation had to be made, and Lord Grrenville him- self may relate what occurred. On January 12 Count Stadion and Baron Jacobi, the Imperial and Prussian representatives, came to him and delivered in writing a vague and formal reply to the English note. Having done this, continues Lord Grenville, they ' informed me that they had a further communication to make, but that they had agreed to do it verbally only, and in such a manner that my reply to it (if I made any) might not form part of the official answer to be given to their written communications. They then explained that they had received information from their respective Courts that, with a view to indemnifying them for the 500 THE FEENCn REVOLUTION. ch. hi. expenses of the war, a project had been brought forward by which Prussia was to obtain an arrondissement on the side of Poland; and in return was to withdraw any opposition to the exchange formerly proposed of the Low • Countries and Bavaria. ... I told them that I was glad they had mentioned this project in the form they had chosen, that I was much better satisfied not to be obliged to enter into any formal or oflBcial discussion on the subject of Poland, but that I thought it due to the open communication which I wished to see estab- lished between our respective Courts not to omit saying at once and distinctly that the King would never be a party to any concert or plan, one part of which was the gaining a compensation for the expenses of the war from a neutral and unoffending nation ; that the King was bound by no engagement of any sort with Poland, but that neither would his Majesty's sentiments suffer him to participate in measures directed to such an object, nor could he hope for the concurrence and support of his people in such a system.' If France persisted in a war of mere aggrandisement, her oppo- nents might justly expect some compensation ; but ' this compensation, however arranged, could be looked for only from conquests made upon Prance, not from the invasion of the territory of another country.' ' Such a protest was useful in defining the position of the English Government, but it could have no in- fluence on the course of events. Eden immediately after wrote, stating the King of Prussia's determination to act no longer as a principal in the war if the indem- nification in Poland were refused him. Eden asked the Prussian minister 'if Eussia had preferred any claims. He said, as yet nothing had been settled, but that Kussia also had views of aggrandisement on the ' Grenville to Eden, Jan. 12, 1793. en. III. AEEOGANCE OF CHAUVELIN. 501 side of Poland. Austria too must look there for in- demnification, since it is not likely that the projected exchange can be carried into execution.' ' We must now return to the negotiations that were still carried on between England and France. Before the end of November the proceedings of the French both at Paris and in Belgium had made war almost inevitable, and Chauvelin, who believed that Eng- land was on the verge of revolution, who was in constant communication with disafiected Englishmen, and who had for some time interpreted the pacific lan- guage and conduct of Pitt as a sign of timidity, was the last man to avert it. His first object was to force on an immediate recognition of the Eepublic, and he is stated on good authority to have openly declared that his dearest wish, if he were not recognised at St. James's, was to leave the country with a declaration of war.' On November 29, he had an interview with Grenville in which he held language of the haughtiest kind. He told him that the triumphant march of Dumouriez upon Brussels had wholly changed the situation, and that the language a French minister might have held ten days before was inapplicable now. He evidently believed that he was the master of the situation, and that the English ministers would soon be at his feet. They were quite ready, he told Lebrun, to recognise the French Republic, and the nearer the war drew, the more anxious they were to find pretexts for avoiding it, if France would give them such.* • Eden to Grenville, Jan. 19, cvurious account of how, on en- 1793, taring Grenville's room, he found ' Miles, Authentic Correspon- a small chair apparently in- dence with Lebrwn, p. 84. tended for him to sit on. ' J'ai " Chauvelin to Lebrun, Nov. d6rang6 cette chaise qui m'a 29, 1792. Chauvelin gives a paru une petite d^chfianee in- 502 THE FRENCH EEVOLDTION. CH. iii. Grenville had indeed assured Chauvelin that ' out- ward forms would be no hindrance to his Britannic Majesty, whenever the question related to explanations which might be satisfactory and advantageous to both parties,' and Pitt declared that ' it was his desire to avoid a war and to receive a proof of the same senti- ments from the French ministry.' ' It is abundantly evident, however, from Lebrun's confidential correspon- dence with Chauvelin that there was no real prospect of England obtaining on any point the satisfaction she desired. France, he wrote, intended to examine the treaties forbidding the opening of the Scheldt according to ' natural principles,' and not according to the rules of ancient diplomacy. The clauses in the Treaty of Utrecht relating to it were null because they were contrary to justice and reason.^ On the subject of the hostile intentions of France towards Holland, towards the House of Orange, and towards that constitution which England had guaranteed, Chauvelin was directed for the present to avoid a categorical explanation. The military situation was not yet such as to justify it. If, however, conversation arose on the subject, he was in- structed to say that France would never interfere with the incontestable right of every country to give itself what government it pleased, but if any other Power, on the ground of ' a pretended internal guarantee,' at- tempted to prevent the Dutch from exercising this right of changing their government, the ' generosity of the French Republic would at once call her to their tentionnelle, et me suis emparfi aujourd'hui." ' d'un grand fauteuil. Ce mouve- ' Marsh's History of the Pcli- ment trSa marqufi a frappS Lord tics of Oreat Britain and Frame, Grenville, qui m'a dit avec ii. 12, 13. embanas : " Vous n'avez pas ■' Lebrun to Chauvelin, Nov, voulu Mre plus prAs du feu. 30, 1792 (French Foreign Office), II fait pourtant grand froid qH.m. FEENCH PROVOCATIONS— LEBEUN'S INTENTIONS. 503 assistance.' Sach a guarantee, lie was to add, as that signed by England and Prussia was a plain violation of the rights of nations ; it was radically null, and any attempt to enforce it would immediately produce a Trench intervention.^ At the very time when Ohauvelin was instructed to assure Granville that France had no hostile intentions towards Holland, he was informed by Maret that Dumouriez intended to attack Maestricht ; ^ and although the intention was soon abandoned, it was evident that if the French party in Holland succeeded in making an insurrection, the army on the frontier would assist them. The complaints of the political propagandism of the French and of their meddling with the internal consti- tutions of other countries were abundantly justified. Not only the Paris Jacobins, but also the representative of the French Kepublic in England, corresponded actively with the disaffected clubs, and French agents were already intriguing with United Irishmen in order to produce an insurrection in Ireland. It is somewhat difficult to ascertain the real inten- tions of Lebrun. They probably fluctuated according to the violence of that Parisian public opinion which he was bound on pain of death most absolutely to obey ; according to the sentiments of his colleagues in the Executive Council, and also according to his belief in the imminence of a revolution in England, and in the supposed timidity of the English Government. The many different agents at this time employed by the French Government pursued different lines of action, and, while some were actively fomenting revolution, an attempt was made at negotiation in the beginning of December, which gave real promise of peace. ' Lebrun to Chauvelin, Dec. 5, ^ Chauvelinto Lebran.Nov. 14, 1792. 1792. 504 THE FEENCH EEVOLDTION. oh. m. Maret, who was afterwards better known as the Duke of Bassano, and who had lately been employed' with Dumouriez in Belgium, was sent over to England in November 1792.' He came ostensibly about some private affairs of the Duke of Orleans, but he was in reality a political agent, in the confidence of Lebrun, and acting in close combination with Noel. He ob- tained an introduction to William Smith, a philanthropic member of Parliament who was closely connected with Wilberforce in the movement against the slave trade, and who was also an ardent advocate of peace, and he entered into discussion with Smith on the differences between the two countries. Smith was not a supporter of the Government ; but he was on friendly terms with Pitt, and he was so much struck with the moderation of Maret that he appears to have exerted himself to bring Pitt and Maret together. A meeting, however, had been already arranged by an agent named Miles, and it took place on December 2. Maret found Pitt extremely courteous, and came away strongly impressed with his desire for peace. He believed it to be stronger and more genuine than that of the leaders of the Opposition, but he was also of opinion that the King and the majority of the ministers now leaned to war. Pitt declared himself absolutely and irrevocably decided not to suffer any aggression upon Holland, and to execute rigorously the treaties of England with her allies. The conversation passed to the decree of November 19, and Maret maintained that, notwithstanding the general expressions employed in it, it was intended only to apply to countries with which France was actually at war. Pitt answered that ' if an interpretation of that kind were possible, its effects would be excellent,' and ' On the mission of Maret see the valuable work of Baron Ernonf, Maret, Dice de Bassano. OH. ni. NEGOTIATION OF MAEET. 505 Maret added that the decree had been carried by a surprise and that the Executive Council did not really approve of it. On the subject of the navigation of the Scheldt, Maret avoided discussion, and Pitt, seeing his desire, did not press him. Speaking of the fate of the French royal family, he expressed some hope that the majority of voters would not be in favour of death, but he said that the state of feeling in France was now such that any foreign interference would defeat its own end, as completely as the manifesto of the Duke of Brunswick had done. He touched also on a recognition of the Eepublic. Pitt told him that this was not at pre- sent possible ; he showed himself very unfavourable to Chauvelin, but declared that if the French would send a confidential secret agent who could be trusted, he would be cordially welcomed. Pitt dwelt earnestly on his anxiety to avoid a war, which must be disastrous to both countries, and on the great danger of the present state of things, which inflamed suspicions and distrust on both sides, and he finally suggested that Maret should send to Paris asking for instructions and powers. He begged him very earnestly to do so without delay, as every day was precious.' Maret did as he was asked. It was his evident im- pression that, provided the security of HoUand were ' The account of this interview mainly due to Smith, but Canon as published by the French Go- Miles has shown that Miles had vemment will be found in a col- arranged an interview before Ma- lection of State Papers relating ret came to England,_and that he to the War against France took a leading part in the nego- (London, 1794), i. 220-223, tiation. See Miles to Lebrun, and a much fuller account in Deo. 14, 18, 21 ; Noel to Lebrun, Bmouf. For the part played by Dec. 13, 1792 (F.F.O.), and also Smith see Noel to Lebrun, Oct. Miles's Gorrespcmdence, which 29, Nov. 22 ; Maret to Lebrun, has recently been published by Nov. 29, Dec. 2. Maret believed hia son, Canon Miles. the interview of Dec. 2 to be 506 THE FEENCH REVOLUTION. oh. hi. fully established, and the decree of November 19 ex- plained in the sense which he had indicated, every other point of difference might be arranged, and that the recognition of the Kepublic was only deferred. Chau- velin, however, complained bitterly of the confidence that had been given to Maret as a slur upon himself. He wrote to the Executive Council asking to be recalled, if another agent was employed, and he assured them that the English ministers were undoubtedly hostile, but that he was seeking in other quarters more worthy allies. Lebrun would probably have given Maret the powers he asked for, and have negotiated on friendly terms with Pitt, but the majority of the Executive Council preferred a less conciliatory course. On De- cember 9 the French ministers wrote declining the pro- posal for a secret negotiation, and directing that all communications with the English Government must be made through Ohauvelin, ' the known and avowed re- presentative of the Eepublic' On the 14th, Maret was obliged to communicate this decision to Pitt, and he almost immediately after lert England.' The hopes of peace had now almost gone, and the decree of December 15 greatly increased the imminence of the danger. It was now evident that, in spite of their previous assurances, the French Government had fully resolved to incorporate the Belgic provinces, to break up the whole structure of their ancient society, to destroy all their national institutions in order to assimilate them absolutely and without delay to the new French democracy. The decree opening the Scheldt already implied that the French considered themselves the sovereigns of these provinces, but the course they were now pursuing placed their intention beyond reasonable doubt. It was an intention which no Ernouf, pp. 98-104. CH. ra. CHAUVELIN ON ENGLISH OPINION 507 minister, who had not wholly abandoned the traditions of English policy, could regard without the gravest alarm. It was plain that English public opinion now measured the magnitude of the danger, and was rapidly preparing for the struggle. Chauvelin wrote, indeed, that Fox and Sheridan were fully resolved to oppose the war ; that Fox's speech on the subject on December 13 was so noble, that the French Convention would have at once ordered it to be printed ; that he himself was indefatigable in urging ' the Friends of Liberty ' to come forward ; that he had established relations with some rich merchants in the City, and that ' under his auspices ' numerous addresses to the Convention re- pudiating the idea of war were being signed in Eng- land. But the illusion that the nation was with him was now fast ebbing away. The militia were called out, and public opinion evidently supported the measure. The Government, he wrote, is determined to adopt a system of violence and rigour. ' The infamous Burke ' has been consulted by the Privy Council. The English people are evidently not ripe for revolution. Their apathy and blindness to French principles is deplorable. They have so changed within a month that they are scarcely recognisable. In that time, 'merely through fear of convulsions dangerous to property, they have passed from admiration of us to hatred, and from the enthusiasm of liberty to the delirium of servitude.' The infinitesimal minority that followed Fox in Parliament reflected but too truly his weakness in the country. In the theatres the National Anthem was enthusiasti- cally sung, and deputations of merchants to assure the Government of their support were hastening to the Treasury. Pitt, said Chauvelin, ' seems to have killed public opinion in England,' but he added in another letter these memorable words, 'The King of England 508 TUE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. hi. and all his council, with the exception of Pitt, do not cease to desire this war.'' Fox avowed in Parliament his belief that the course he was pursuing would be ruinous to his popularity, but still Chauvelin deplored the weakness and the timidity of the Opposition. On December 7, Sheridan, on the part of Pox and of his friends, had a long inter- view with Chauvelin, and used some language which was very remarkable. He expressed great indignation at the decree of November 19, offering French assist- ance to all revolted subjects. Nothing, he truly said, in the language of this decree, restricted it even to cases where a clear majority of a nation were in insurrection, and it seemed to pledge the French to support by an invasion the rebellion of a few thousand men in Ireland. The Opposition, Sheridan said, desired a thorough but constitutional reform, and they desired peace with France, unless she made an aggression on Holland. They would strenuously oppose war on account of the open- ing of the Scheldt, and if it was declared on that ground they would represent it as a device for turning aside all reform. They would, perhaps, even go so far as to propose the impeachment of Pitt ; but they warned the French envoy, that, in common with nine-tenths of the people of the three kingdoms, they would support the ministers in repelling any attempt of the French Government to intermeddle with English internal afiairs. England had given France the example of a Eevolution; she was quite capable of following the example of France in her own manner and with her own forces.^ On the side of Holland, the prospect at this time ' Chauvelin to Lebrun, Deo. 8, pp. 100, 101. Fox used very 7, 8, 11, 18, 1792. Birailar language in Farliamenti • Ibid. Deo. 7, 1792. See, too, See Eoae's Diary, i. 144. Einouf, Maret, Dttc de Bassatio, OH. m. SITUATION OF HOLLAND. - ', 509 had slightly improved. A French army entered Pma- Bian Guelderland and encamped on the border of the Dutch territory, but the advance of the Prussians pro- duced a change of plan. Fearing to be shut up between the floods of the Meuse and the Prussians, the French 'repassed the Meuse without penetrating to Cleves, and returned to Ruremonde, taking with them hostages for large sums of money to be raised in the lately occupied territory. From this fact as well as from some other indications, Auckland inferred that the project of an invasion of Holland was, for the present, laid aside, and the number of desertions from the lYench, and the difficulties they found in obtaining subsistence, made him hope that the worst was over. At the same time, he wrote, 'these provinces have every reason to continue vigilant, and to pursue their preparations with the utmost energy. Quarters are preparing near Anvers for 17,000 French troops, and the Legion Batave is to be cantoned at this side of Anvers, probably for the purpose of correspondence with the patriots and to draw recruits out of the Republic. . . . The internal tranquillity is, for the present, complete, but it is certain that there are many ill-disposed individuals in the principal towns.' ' I cannot doubt that it is the intention and plan of the French leaders to commence hostilities against this Republic on the first practicable occasion.' The Prince of Orange urgently asked for English vessels, stating that he had certain knowledge of a French plan to attack Holland on three sides — by Nimeguen, by Breda, and by Friesland.' In Paris, the most violent and most reckless section of the Jacobins had now completely triumphed. The trial of the King had begun, and it was openly repre- sented as the first act of a tragedy, which was only to ' Auckland to Grenville, Deo. 25, 26. 1792. 510 THE FRENCH BEVOLUTION. oh. hi. end with the destruction of monarchy in Europe. ' The impulse is given to the whole world,' said GrSgoire in the Assembly. ' The nations are throwing themselves in the path of liberty. The volcano is about to break forth, which will transform the globe.' ' Passions were raised to fever-heat, and the car of the Eevolution flew on with a maddening speed, crushing every obstacle in its path. In the exultation and arrogance of the moment, temporising was hardly possible. The English Government, it was said, was arming. The English Court hated the Eevolution. The English privileged orders were denouncing the September massacres. But behind them there was an English nation only waiting the signal for deliverance, and the peaceful language of Pitt to Maret was interpreted in Paris as a sign of fear. On December 24, one of the more pacific members of the Convention called attention to the great uneasiness which had been excited in England by the decree of November 19, offering French assistance to all subjects revolting against their tyrants ; and in order to dispel that uneasiness he moved the addition of a clause re- stricting the decree to countries with which Prance was actually at war, but the motion was at once rejected without discussion.* Appeals to the English people against the English Government became habitual in the tribune ; the language of Lebrun took a tone of unmistakable menace,* and on December 2'7, Chauvelin as - Minister Plenipotentiary, of Prance,' and in obedi- ence to the instructions of the Executive Council of the French Eepublic, presented to Lord Grenville a long and peremptory note charging the British ministry with having shown in their public conduct a manifest ' Sybel, ii. 64. • Ibid. pp. 833-338; Bourgo- ' Marsh's History of Politics, ing, deuxiJme partie, i. 315, 316. 340. 341. OH. in. CHAUVELIN'S NOTE, DECEMBER 27. 511 ill-will towards Prance, and demanding in writing a speedy and definite reply to the question whether France was to consider England a neutral or a hostile country. The note proceeded to examine the grievances alleged in England against France. The decree of November 19 was not meant to favour insurrections or disturb any neutral or friendly Power. It applied only to nations which had already acquired their liberty by conquest, and demanded the fraternity and assistance of France, by the solemn and unequivocal expression of the general will. The French minister was authorised to declare that France would not attack Holland so long as that Power preserved an exact neutrality. The opening of the Scheldt was irrevocably decided ' by reason and justice.' If the English Government made use of it as a cause for war, it would be only ' the vainest of all pretences to colour an unjust aggression long ago determined upon.' It would be a war ' of the Administration alone against the French Eepublic,' and France would appeal to the English nation against its Government.' The note was couched in a haughty and imperious strain, manifestly intended either to provoke or to in- timidate. Grenville clearly saw that it was meant to accelerate a rupture.'^ The opening of the Scheldt was the violation of a distinct treaty based on grounds which would justify the abrogation of any treaty, and it acquired a peculiar danger from the great maritime power and preparations of France, and from the attitude which France was assuming both towards Belgium and towards Holland; while the active correspondence of French agents with the disaffected, both in Great Britain, in Ireland, and in Holland ; the public recep- • Pa/rl. Hist. xxx. 250-253. " Grenville to Auckland, Deo. 28, 1792. 34 512 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. m. tion and encouragement by the Convention of English- men who were avowedly seeking to overturn the Constitution of their country ; the emphatic refusal of the Convention to exempt England from the terms of the decree of November 19, and the intercepted letters of Tainville and De Maulde, deprived the more pacific portions of the note of all credit. Just at this time the Russian ambassador came to Grenville and proposed a concert with his Court on the subject of French affairs. Grenville expressed the willingness of the King to enter into such a concert, ' confining it to the object of opposing a barrier to the danger that threatens the tranquillity of all other countries and the political interests of Europe from the intrigues and ambitious views pursued by France, without directing his views to any interference in the interior government of that country.' Much doubt, Grenville explained to Auck- land, was felt by the King's ministers about the real motives of the Empress, but it seemed to them that a qualified acceptance of the proposal was the best means of ascertaining them. ' If either the original intention, or the effect of this step on our part, induced the Empress to take an active share in the war which seems so little likely to be avoided, a great advantage will be derived from it to the common cause. If she withdraws the sort of overture she has made, no inconvenience can result from the measure taken by the King, at all to be put in comparison with the benefit of success.' It was probable, Grenville thought, that before any answer could arrive from St. Petersburg the matter would have come to a crisis.' ' Grenville to Auckland, Deo. zow urged as a reason for again 28, 29, 1792. See, too, the account making a proposal of concert of this transaction sent by Gren- ■which had previously been re- ville to the English ambassador jected, that the Empress felt that at St. Petersburg. Count Woron- the question was no longer what OH. m. GEENVILLE'S EEPLT, DECEMBEE 81. 513 On the 31st, Grenville sent his answer to Chauvelin. He began by reminding him that he had never been recognised in England in any other public character than as accredited by the French Ejng, and that, since August 10, his Majesty had suspended all official inter- course with France. Chauvelin was therefore peremp- torily informed that he could not be admitted to treat with the King's ministers in the character he had assumed. Since, however, he had entered, though in a form which was neither regular nor official, into explana- tions of some of the circumstances that had caused strong uneasiness in England, the English ministers would not refiise to state their views concerning them. The first was the decree of November 19. In this decree England ' saw the formal declaration of a design to extend uni- versally the new principles of government adopted in France, and to encourage disorder and revolt in all countries, even in those which are neutral. . . . The application of these principles to the King's dominions has been shown unequivocally by the public reception given to the promoters of sedition in this country, and by the speeches made to them precisely at the time of this decree and since on several different occasions.' shoold be the iBterior govern- even than the success of her ment of France, but whether arms.' Grenville observed to ' that Power should be permitted Whitworth that there was a great to extend its conquests over all distinction between ' an interfer- the countries in its neighbour- enoe for the purpose of establish- hood, carrying with it principles ing any form of government in subversive to all government and France, and a concert between estabUshed order; that the views other Governments to provide of aggrandisement entertained by for their own security at a time France were sufficiently manifest when their political interests are from what had happened both in endangered both by the intrigues Savoy and in the Netherlands, of France in the interior of other and that the means which she countries and her views of con- employed for that purpose were quest and aggrandisement.' Gren- more dangerous to the tranquil- ville to Whitworth, Dec. 29, 1792, lity and security of other Powera 514 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. hi. The ministers would have gladly accepted any satis- factory explanation of this decree, but they could find neither satisfaction nor security ' in the terms of an explanation which stUl declares to the promoters of sedition in every country what are the cases in which they may count beforehand on the support and succour of Prance, and which reserves to that country the right of mixing herself ia our internal affairs whenever she shall judge it proper, and on principles incompatible with the political institutions of all the countries of Europe.' Such a declaration was plainly calculated to encourage disorder and revolt in every country ; it was directly opposed to the respect which is due to all inde- pendent nations ; and it was in glaring contrast to the conduct of the King of England, who had scrupulously abstained from all interference in the internal affairs of France. The assurance that France had no intention of attacking Holland as long as that Power observed an exact neutrality, was drawn up, the note observed, in nearly the same terms as that which was given last June.' But since that assurance, a French captain had violated both the territory and neutrality of Holland by sailing up the Scheldt in defiance of the prohibition of the Dutch Government, to attack the citadel of Antwerp, and the French Convention had ventured to ' annul the rights of the Republic, exercised within the limits of its own territory and enjoyed by virtue of the same treaties by which her independence is secured.' Nay, more, Chauvelin, in this veiy letter of explanation, emphatic- ally asserted the right of the Convention to throw open the navigation of the Scheldt. France could have no right to annul the stipulations relating to that river unless she had also a right to set aside all treaties. She ' On the terms of this deolaration see Marsh, ii. 71. OH. III. GEENVILLE'S EEFLY, DECEMBEE 31. 515 could have ' no pretence to interfere in the question of opening the Scheldt unless she were the sovereign of the Low Countries or had the right to dictate laws to all Europe.' To such pretensions the reply of the English Government was lofty and unequivocal. 'England never will consent that EVance should arrogate the power of annulling, at her pleasure, and under the pre- tence of a pretended natural right, of which she makes herself the only judge, the political system of Europe, established by solemn treaties and guaranteed by the consent of all the Powers. This Government, adhering to the maxims which it has followed for more than a century, will also never see with indifference that France shall make herself either directly or indirectly sovereign of the Low Countries, or general arbitress of the rights and liberties of Europe. If France is really desirous of maintaining friendship and peace with England, she must show herself disposed to renounce her views of aggression and aggrandisement, and to confine herself within her own territory without insulting other Go- vernments, without disturbing their tranquillity, without violating their rights.' ' His Majesty has always been desirous of peace. He desires it still,' but it must be a peace 'consistent with the interests and dignity of his own dominions, and with the general security of Europe.' ' The hand of Pitt may be plainly traced in this memorable document. It proved decisively to France and to Europe that it was vain to attempt to intimidate his Government, and the part which related to the Austrian Netherlands cleared up a point which had hitherto been somewhat ambiguous. It is curious to compare the grave and measured terms of the note of Grenville with another ministerial utterance, which was Pari. Eist. xxx. 253-256. 516 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. m. penned on the very same day. On December 31, Monge, the French Minister for the Navy, sent a cir- cular letter to the seaport towns of Prance containing the following passage : ' The King [of England] and his Parliament wish to make war with us. But will the English Republicans suffer it ? Those free men already show their discontent and their abhorrence of bearing arms against their French brethren. We shall fly to their assistance. We shall make a descent on that isle ; we shall hurl thither 50,000 caps of liberty ; we shall plant the sacred tree and stretch out our arms to our brother republicans. The tyranny of their Government will soon be destroyed.' ' It was plain that the breach was very near. Tlie French were levying enormous contributions in the towns of Brabant, imprisoning burgomasters who were not in accordance with their views, plundering the churches and monasteries, reorganising all branches of the administration with an impetuous haste, endeavour- ing by every means to flatter and secure the populace, while they crushed the clergy and the rich. They encountered, however, in many quarters considerable resistance. In Ostend especially, there was a fierce riot, and great crowds paraded the streets demanding the old Belgie constitution and the restoration of the priests. The Batavian Legion of disaffected Dutchmen in the French service now numbered at least three thou- sand men, and they issued a violent manifesto in French and Dutch, which was industriously disseminated by the ' patriots ' in Holland.'' The Dutch Government was acting in perfect har- mony with that of England, but Auckland regarded the prospect with a despondency which the event too fully ' Marsh, i. 341-344. Grenville, Jan. 1798, also Ml. ' See several letters of Infor- moires de Dumouriez, Uv. yii. mation inclosed by Auckland to on. HI. WEAKNESS OF HOLLAND. 517 justified. The objects of Governments are not only- various, but in some measure incompatible, and the Dutch constitution, like the old constitution of Poland, being mainly constructed with the object of opposing obstacles to the encroachments of the central power, had left the country wholly incapable of prompt and ener- getic action in times of public danger. No augmenta- tion of the military or naval forces, no serious measure of defence, could be effected without the separate assent of all the provinces, and the forms that were required by law were so numerous and so cumbrous that it was probably chiefly its more favourable geographical posi- tion that saved the United Provinces from the fate of Poland. It was intended to add 14,000 men to the Dutch army, and there was a question of subsidising foreign troops, but in the meantime the Dutch army, though 'well trained, well appointed, and in general well disposed,' was far below the necessities of the time, utterly unpractised in war, and scattered in seventeen or eighteen feeble garrisons. Nor was the spirit of the people what it had been. The Stadholder and the ministers were most anxious to do their best; but Auckland warned his Government that Holland would make Httle efficient exertion unless there was a great pressure of danger. ' Nor,' he said, ' in the estimate of that danger will she be guided by any long-sighted views. It must be a danger apparent to all eyes and palpable at the moment. This arises partly from the mixture of the mercantile spirit with political deliberations, but principally from the consti- tution of the provinces which call themselves a Union, with every defect that can contribute on questions of general moment to contrariety of decision and to pro- crastination of execution.'' I Auckland to GrenyiUe, Jan. 2, 11, 1793. 518 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. m. A French loyalist named De Curt, who had been a member of the first National Assembly and who had afterwards served as an emigrant under the French Princes, had about this time some remarkable confi- dential conversations with Lord Hawkesbury. De Curt was a native of Guadaloupe, and he held a mission from its Assembly. He seems to have been a man of high character and liberal views, sincerely attached to the House of Bourbon, and so disgusted with the course events had taken in France that he was anxious to be naturalised as an Englishman. The French West Indian Islands he represented as vehemently loyalist. The Assemblies of Guadaloupe and Martinique had driven from those islands all persons suspected of demo-» cratic principles, as well as notorious bad characters who might be made use of in revolution, and these men had chiefly taken shelter in the British island of Domi- nica, where, if they were suffered to remain, they were likely to become a source of much trouble. He stated that the French West Indian Islands would never sub- mit voluntarily to the Republican Government; but that their successful resistance depended largely on the chances of assistance from England. Lord Hawkesbury said that he could only speak to him unofficially and as a private individual, but in this capacity he spoke with great freedom. ' I told him,' he says, 'that we certainly wished to con- tinue at peace with France . . ; but that many events had lately happened which afforded great probability that Great Britain and Holland would be forced to take a part in the war ; that the moment of decision, however, was not yet arrived,' and that the ministers were anxiously awaiting the development of the French policy about Holland. De Curt was strongly of opinion that the French ministers, even if they wished it, would not dare to recede, and he declared his deter- OH. m. XNTEEVIEW WITH DE CUET. 519 mination to send at once a messenger to Guadaloupe to advise the colony to resist. Hawkesbury begged that it should be clearly understood that such a course was not taken in consequence of any engagement with England. De Curt replied that he would advise it on his own re- sponsibility ' as the most prudent which they could pur- sue for their own interests in the present state of affairs between Prance on the one hand and Great Britain and Holland on the other. He then told me,' continues Hawkesbury, ' that his connections were solely with Guadaloupe, but that Martinique would certainly pursue the same line of conduct, that the inhabitants of Mar- tinique had also an agent here, whom he named, with whom he would consult, who would give, he was sure, the people of Martinique the same advice. . . . He added that the agent of St. Lucia would necessarily follow the fate of Martinique, and that in the end St. Domingo would adopt the same conduct.' Guadaloupe in his opinion could, without assistance, resist for at least two months any force the Convention could send against it, and if England and Holland engaged in the war, the French would have no port except the Danish island of Ste. Croix to resort to. ' In his opinion the war must be ended in one campaign, from the ruin of French commerce, the destruction of the French fleets, and the surrender of the French islands to Great Britain.' He said with much emotion that the authority of the House of Bourbon was at an end ; that the anarchy in France was likely to last for at least thirty years, and that it was his wish and his duty to follow the fate of Ms real country, the West Indian Islands. In a subse- quent interview he described a plan for the invasion of England from Cherbourg by boats made of copper or tin, which had been proposed by an engineer named Gautier to the Maritime Committee of the National Assembly at a time when De Curt was a member of that 520 THE FEENCH ilEVOLTJTION. oh. ni. body, and which had been approved of in case a rupture should take place. A letter nearly at the same time came from the Marquis de Bouill6 representing that Martinique and Guadaloupe were in revolt against the Convention, and imploring that England would assist them, if possible openly, if not clandestinely.' On January 7 Chauvelin sent a new note to Gren- ville, again asserting his character of minister pleni- potentiary of the French Republic, and complaining in very angry terms of the Alien Act as an infraction of that portion of the Treaty of Commerce which secured to the subjects and inhabitants of each of the two coun- tries full liberty of dwelling in the dominions of the other, travelling through them when they please and coming and going freely ' without licence or passport, general or special.' He described the Treaty of Com- merce as a treaty to which England owed a great part of her actual prosperity, but which was ' burdensome to Prance,' and had been ' wrested by address and ability from the unskilfulness and from the corruption of the agents of a Government ' which France had destroyed. He now demanded from Lord Grenville a ' speedy, clear, and categorical answer ' to his question whether the French were included under the general denomina- tion of ' foreigners ' in the Bill. Grenville simply re- turned the note with a statement that Chauvelin had assumed a diplomatic character which was inadmissible. In another letter Chauvelin protested against the pro- clamation prohibiting the export of grain and flour from England.* ' Minutes of a conference be- ■ Parf.Sist.xxx. 256-262. On tween Lord Hawkeabury and M. the 11th Chauvelin announced de Curt, Deo. 5, 18. Note of the that the French considered the Marquis de Bouill6, Dec. 30, 1792 Treaty of Commerce annulled on (French Correspondence at the account of its infraction by the Becord Office). English. OH. m. LEBEUN'S REPLY TO GEENVILLE. 521 The complaint relating to the Alien Act might be easily answered. The restriction imposed on foreigners travelling in England was a matter of internal police rendered necessaiy by a great and pressing danger ; the measure included a special clause in favour of those who could ' prove that they came to England for affairs of commerce,' and it is a curious fact that the French themselves only seven months before had imposed still more severe restrictions upon foreigners in Prance. Neither the English nor any other ambassador had com- plained of the decree of May 1792, under which no foreigner was suffered to travel in France on pain of arrest without a passport describing accurately his person or his route.' A much more important document was a note drawn up by Lebrun, and presented by Chauvelin on January 13. It is an elaborate answer to the letter of Lord Grenville which has been already quoted, and it was drawn up in moderate, plausible, and dignified language very unlike some of the late correspondence. Grenville in communicating it to Auckland said that it was evi- dent from it that the tone of the Executive Council was much lowered ; though it was impossible to say whether the present rulers of France would comply with the de- mands which alone could insure permanent tranquillity to England and Holland.^ Lebrun began by emphatically declaring the sincere desire of the Executive Council and of the French nation to maintain friendly relations with England, and the importance of having a competent and accredited representative to explain the differences between the two countries. In order that this should be accomplished the Executive Council of the French ' See Marsh's Hist, of PoU- ' Grenville to Aucldand, Jan, tics, i. 277-285 ; Sybel, Eist. de 13, 1793. I'Europe, ii. 101. 522 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. on. m. Eepublic sent formal letters of credence to Chauvelin, wkich would enable him to treat with all the severity of diplomatic forms. He then proceeded to explain that the decree of November 19 was not intended, as the English minister alleged, to encourage the seditious, for it could have no application except in the single case in which the general will of a nation, clearly and un- equivocally expressed, should call the French nation to its assistance and fraternity. In the opinion of the Executive Council, the decree might perhaps have been dispensed with, but with the interpretation now given to it, it ought not to excite uneasiness in any nation. On the subject of Holland the French minister said Grenville had raised no definite point except the open- ing of the Scheldt. This measure, he contended, was of no consequence to England, of very little consequence to Holland, but of vital importance to Belgium, and especially to the prosperity of Antwerp. It was in order to restore to the Belgians the enjoyment of a precious right, and not in order to offend any other Power, that France had thrown open the navigation. The restriction closing it had been made without the participation of the inhabitants of these provinces. The Emperor, in order to secure his despotic power over them, had without scruple sacrificed their most inviolable rights. France in a legitimate war had expelled the Austrians from the Low Countries, called back its people to freedom, and invited them to re-enter into all the rights which the House of Austria had taken away from them. ' If the rights of nature and those of nations are consulted, not France alone but all the nations of Europe are authorised to do it.' A passage follows which if it could have been fully believed might have done much to appease the quarrel, 'The French Republic does not intend to erect itself into a universal arbitrator of the treaties which bind ou. m. LEBEUN'S ANSWEE TO GEENVILLE. 523 nations. She will know how to respect other Govern- ments, as she will take care to make her own respected. She has renounced, and again renounces, every conquest ; and her occupation of the Low Countries will only continue during the war, and the time which may be necessary to the Belgians to insure and consolidate their liberty; after which let them be independent and happy. Prance will find her recompense in their felicity.' If England and Holland continue to attach any importance to the navigation of the Scheldt, they may negotiate on the subject directly with Belgium. 'If the Belgians through any motive consent to deprive themselves of the navigation of the Scheldt, France will not oppose it. She will know how to respect their independence even in their errors.' ' After so frank a declaration, which manifests such a sincere desire of peace, his Britannic Majesty's minis- ters ought not to have any doubts with regard to the intentions of France. If her explanations appear in- sufficient, and if we are still obliged to hear a haughty language ; if hostile preparations are continued in the English ports, after having exhausted every means to preserve peace we will prepare for war with a sense of the justice of our cause, and of our efforts to avoid this extremity. We will fight the English, whom we esteem, with regret, but we will fight them without fear.' i A few words of comment must be added to this skilful note. It will be observed that the French still reserved their right of interfering for the assistance of insurgent nations under circumstances of which they themselves were to be the judge ; that they still main- tained their right to annul without the consent of the ' Pari. Hist. xxx. 262-266. 524 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. iii. contracting parties the ancient treaties regulating the navigation of the Scheldt, and that, while repudiating all views of incorporating the Low Countries in France, they announced their intention of occupying those proviaces, not merely during the war, but for an un- defined period after the war had ended. It will be observed, too, that moderate and courteous as it was in form, the note of Lebrun was of the nature of an ulti- matum, threatening war if its explanations were not accepted as satisfactory, and if the military preparations of England continued. The question, however, which is most important in the controversy between the two nations, is the sincerity of the French repudiation of views of conquest. Was it true that the annexation of Belgium and the invasion of Holland had been aban- doned ? In order to judge these points, the reader must bear in mind the whole train of events which have been narrated in this chapter. The English case was essen- tially a cumulative one, depending on many indications of French policy no one of which might perhaps alone have been decisive, but which when taken together pro- duced an absolute certainty in the minds of the ministers that the French were determined to incorporate the Belgic provinces ; that they were meditating a speedy invasion of the Dutch Republic, and that if an insur- rection broke out in that Eepublic it would be imme- diately supported by French arms. Everything that has since become known of the secret intentions of the French Government appears to me to corroborate this view. At the very time when the correspondence that has been cited was continuing, urgent orders were sent to the French Commissioners to press on the measures assimilating the Belgic provinces to France in accord- ance with the decree of December 15, while the Execu- tive Council received a memoir from seme of the Dutch OH. m. EEPOKT OF BEISSOT. 525 'patriots' pointing out the defenceless condition of Zealand and inviting an immediate invasion of Holland. The project for invasion, which had for a time been laid aside, was revived ; it was being carefully discussed at Paris at the precise period when the note of Lebrun was drawn up, and on January 10 it appeared to have been fully decided on, though on further reflection the enter- prise^ was for the moment deferred.' Well-informed English agents reported that the Executive Council were looking forward to an insurrection in Ireland and afterwards in England which would paralyse the English Government while the French troops poured into Hol- land.^ The violence of language of prominent members of the Convention against all kings and monarchies, and against the Government of Great Britain in paT> ticular, exceeded all bounds,' and on January 12, Brissot, in the name of the Diplomatic Committee, presented a long report to the Convention on the attitude of the British Government towards Prance. It foreshadowed war in every line. As usual, it professed much sympathy for the British nation, but it accused their Government, in a strain of violent invective, of having not onlybrought wholly frivolous charges against the Prench Republic, but of having also acted towards that Republic with systematic malevolence and insult. It urged the Prench Government to demand the repeal of the Alien Act, the removal of all restrictions on the export of provisions from England to France, and an immediate explanation of the armaments of England. War with England, it argued, would be a matter of ' Sybel, ii. 102, 103. Compare present limits to do justice to Marsh's Hist, of Politics, i. 353- this part of the case, but the 864. reader will find many specimens '' See a letter of Miles, Jan. 18 ; of the language used at this time Marsh, i. 366. in the Convention in Marsh, ch. ' It is impossible within my xiv. 526 THE FEENCH EEVOLXJTION. ch. in. little danger, for the English were already overwhelmed by their debt and taxation ; Ireland was ripe for revolt, and India would almost certainly be severed from the British rule.' The day after this extraordinary report was pre- sented, the Convention ordered fifty-two ships of the Una and thirty-two frigates to be immediately armed, and twenty-four new vessels to be constructed.^ Gren- ville, on the other hand, in two peremptory and haughty notes, dated January 18 and 20, pronounced the French explanations wholly unsatisfactory, declared, in reply to the threat of Lebrun, that England would persist in those measures which her Government deemed essential for her security and for that of her allies, and refused either to receive the letters of credence of Chauvelin, to recognise in him any other position than that of an ordinary foreigner, or to exempt him from the pro- visions of the Alien Act.' The attitude of Chauvelin was so hostile, and his connection with disaffected Englishmen so notorious, that the English Government would hold no confidential communication with him ; but through the instrumen- tality of Miles, some correspondence was still kept up with Maret, who had now become Chef de Departement at the Foreign Office under Lebrun, and even with Lebrun himself. In a very earnest though very amicable letter, dated January 11, Miles had warned Maret that, unless the French Convention could be induced to recede from its present policy, war was absolutely inevitable. Could it be doubted, he urged, bhat the order given to the French generals to pursue the enemy into neutral territory was a violation of the independence of Powera ' Moniteur, Jan. 15, 1793. • Bourgoing, deuxifeme partie, i. 318, 319. » Pari. Hist. xxx. 266-269. OH. III. DIFFICULTIES OF THE GOVEENitENT. 527 that were not at war with Prance ; that the decree opening the Scheldt was a violation of treaties which England had solemnly bound herself in 1788 to defend ; that the incorporation of Savoy in the French Republic was in flagrant opposition to the French professions that they desired no conquests; that the decrees of November 19 and of December 15 were drawn up in such general terms that they were an invitation to all nations to revolt against their Governments, and a promise that France would assist every rebellion ; that the reception by the National Assembly of English subjects who were openly conspiring against their Government was a gross insult, and a clear proof that England must consider herself comprised among the nations to whom French ' fraternity ' was ofifered ? If the Executive Council would retrace its steps on these points, war would not break out. Otherwise neither the interests nor the honour of England would permit her to acquiesce.* All the English diplomatic correspondence of this time shows not only the extreme gravity but also the extreme difficulty of the situation. It was on January 1 2 that the Imperial and Prussian representatives an- nounced to Grenville the approaching partition of Poland and the project of the exchange of the Austrian Netherlands for Bavaria, and thus introduced a new and most fotmidable element of complication and divi- sion. Grenville at once communicated to Auckland the interview which had taken place, and the total disappro- ' Authentic Correspondence, and especially of the tone of pp. 106-108. This letter is also Grenville's despatch of Dec. 31... printed by Marsh, ii. 143-145. A great part of it is given by On the 7th, Maret had written a Ernouf, pp. 113, 114. I do not long letter to Miles complaining quote it, as the arguments' ara of the hostile attitude and Ian- much the same as those used by guage of the English ministers, Lebrun. 35 528 THE FEENCH REVOLUTION. ch. hi. bation whicli he had expressed in the name of the King's Government of the intended partition. ' It is impossible,' he continued, ' to foresee what the effect may be of his Majesty's determined resolution not to make himself a party to any concert of measures tending to this object.' On the proposed exchange of the Austrian Netherlands, however, he hesitated. ' I thought it advantageous,' he wrote, ' not to conceal from either of the ministers that I felt there were many circumstances in the present moment which might make such a project less objection- able in the eyes of the maritime Powers than it had hitherto been. His Majesty's servants are, however, extremely desirous of knowing the general ideas enter- tained by the Dutch ministers on a point in which the interests of the Republic are so immediately and materially concerned.' For the present every encourage- ment should be given for a reconciliation of the Austrian Netherlands to their former rulers. ' I am inclined to believe nothing would be so advantageous to our interests as the re-establishment of the sovereignty of the House of Austria there, on the footing of the ancient constitu- tion, if that could be made the consequence of the French withdrawing their troops, according to the plan proposed from hence.' ' English and Dutch intelligence fully concurred about the imminence of an attack on Holland. On the 18th, Auckland reported that revolutionary papers were in- dustriously scattered among the Dutch soldiers, and that Hope, the great banker at Amsterdam, who had excellent means of information, had warned him that an invasion of Holland was certainly resolved on ; and the letter of Auckland crossed a letter of Grenville stating that he had received from Paris private and trustworthy information that the French had determined that their ■ Grenville to Auckland, Jan. 13, 1793, CH. ni. SITUATION OF HOLLAND. 529 next campaign should be chiefly against Holland.' Auckland wrote that intelligence had arrived that 70,000 Austrians were ordered to march for the Low Countries. It was most important that they should come quickly. In the meantime, he said, he would do all he could to induce Holland to make the best of the short interval of peace. ' By the nature of the Dutch Constitution, under which the discretionary power given to the provinces and their representatives is extremely narrow in all deliberations tending to war, it will be impossible for their High Mightinesses to give me that explicit answer which it is my duty to require, without a previous reference to the provinces." • There is, in this country,' he added, ' a considerable party disposed to subvert the Government ; ' another party ' inclined to keep clear of French intervention, but solicitous to impede the measures of this Government ; ' a third party, ' per- haps the most numerous,' who from self-interest, short- sightedness, and ' attachment to commercial habits,' wish at any cost to keep neutral. Others, with, the best intentions, ' sink under a sense of their own weak state, so ill prepared to withstand the first inevitable shock.' Under such circumstances it was idle to expect much enthusiasm, cordiality, or promptitude, but Auck- land believed that the announcement that an English land force might be expected, would be well fitted to encourage the Dutch.^ It would be a mistake to suppose that all who were in authority in France really desired war with England. Many sagacious men — and Lebrun was probably among the number — ^perceived the extreme danger of such a war, and dreaded the spirit that was prevailing; but the > Auckland to Grenville, Jan. ^ Auckland to Grenville, Jan. 13. Grenville to Auckland, Jan. 23, 1793. 82, 1793. 530 THE FEENCH REVOLUTION. frenzy that was abroad blinded most men to diflBculties; others knew that the guillotine lay beyond the most transient unpopularity, and believed that violent counsels were most likely to be popular,' and others, again, had speculated largely in the public funds, and desired a war through the most sordid persona,l motives.'' Maret, who was now assisting Lebrun at the Foreign Office, still hoped that a war between England and France might be averted, and he dictated instructions to Chau- velin strongly urging patience and moderation.^ Talley- rand and Benoit, a secret agent employed in London, assured the French Government that the dispositions of Pitt were such that war with England could be avoided without difficulty if France desired it, provided the ' Thus Gouverneur Morris, who observed events in Paris very closely, was convinced in Decem- ber that it would be impossible for England to avoid war ( Works, ii. 262). He describes how the French politicians ' affect to wish Britain would declare against them, and actually menace the Government with an appeal to the nation ' (ib. 263), but, he added, ' in spite of that blustering they will do much to avoid a war with Great Britain if the people will let them. But the truth is that the populace of Paris in- fluence in a great degree the public councils ' (ib. 265). See, too, a, letter of Captain Monro, Jan. 7, 1793. I may mention here that ChauveUn wrote to Le- brun, Jan. 7, that it was reported that Morris was in correspon- dence with the English minister tind informed him of all that passed in Paris. Lebrun an- swered (Jan. 15) that he was eonfirmed in his suspicions of the iU-will and perfidy of Morris. ' II travaille sourdement k nous nuire, et k donner oonnaissauce an Gouvernement anglais de ce qui se passe chez nous.' I have not found any confirmation of this statement. ' Maret, in a conversation with Lord Malmesbury in 1797, gave a curious account of the cause of the failure of his mission to England in 1792 and 1793. He said that Mr. Pitt had received him very well, that the failure of the negotiation should be at- tributed to the then French Go- vernment, who were bent on war, and that the great and decisive cause of the war was, ' quelques vingtaines d'individus marquans et en place, qui avaient jou6 i, la baisse dans les fonds, et \k ils ■avaient port6 la nation k nous declarer la guerre. Ainsi,' said he, ' nous devons tons nos malhem's A un principe d'agiotage.'-ilfaZ»i«». bury Diaries, iii. 502, 503. ' Ernouf, pp. 116, 117. OH. III. DISCONTENT OF DCMOURIEZ. 53l negotiations were placed in more conciliatory hands than those of Chauvelin ; and similar language was held by De Maulde, who had come to Paris to complain of his removal from the Dutch Embassy, and who was able to attest the pacific sentiments both of Auckland and of the Dutch Pensionary, Van de Spiegel.' But the most important influence in favour of peace was now Dumouriez. This general, who seemed at one time lihely to play in the history of the French Revolution the part of Monk, if not the part of Napoleon, had long been feared and distrusted by the Jacobins. A grave division of opinion had broken out at the end of November, when Dumouriez wished to attack Holland by taking Mae- stricht, which he considered essential for the defence of LiSge and of the Meuse, and when the Executive Council refused his request and resolved for the present to respect the neutrality of Holland. To the imprisonment, the trial, the execution of the King, Dumouriez was violently opposed, and he has declared in his Memoirs that France was at this time in reality governed by fifty miscreants equally cruel and absurd, supported by two or three thousand satellites drawn from the dregs of the provinces and steeped in every crime.'' The Decree of December 15, and the measures that followed it, filled him with indignation. He had himself published, vsdth the sanc- tion of the Convention, a proclamation assuring the Belgians that the French came to them only as friends and brothers ; that they had no intention of meddling with their internal affairs, and that they left them at perfect liberty to frame their own Constitution. But the Convention had now proclaimed every nation which . ■ Compare Dumouriez, Mimoires, iii. 383, 384. Emouf, pp. 110. 113, 121. '' Mimoires, iii. 281, 532 THE FEENCH EEVOLL'TION. oh. hi. refused to throw off its old aristocratic institutions the enemy of France, and had sent down a troop of despotic French Commissioners, whose government was one con- tinued scene of pillage, confiscations, proscriptions, and barefaced attempts to force the people to declare them- selves French subjects. Like the Girondins, Dumouriez desired an independent but friendly Belgium, and he complained that the French were rapidly turning the population of these provinces into implacable enemies.' He refused to take any part in executing the Decree of the Convention, but when he remonstrated against it he was told very frankly that France had to wage a great war and to support an army of six hundred thousand men ; that the plunder of Belgium was essential to the task, and that in the opinion of the ministers a total disorganisation of all neighbouring States was the most favourable condition for the spread of the Revolution.^ This policy was deliberately pursued in the destruction of all the institutions and constituted authorities of the Belgic provinces. Dumouriez endeavoured to prevent it, by hastening the convocation of the Primary As- semblies, and thus giving the inhabitants some voice in the management of their own affairs, but the Commis- sioners at once interposed and prevented this step.* They viewed his authority with constant jealousy ; they interfered even with his military administration; and the Jacobin papers in Paris denounced him as a traitor, sold to the interests of the Duke of Orleans, or aspiring to a dictatorship or to an independent sovereignty as Duke of Brabant.* ' Mimovres de Dumouriez, iii. ters justified the predictions ol 277, 278, 296. Burke. 2 Ibid. pp. 339, 340, 361. The ' Ibid. pp. 302, 303. reader will observe how perfectly * Ibid. pp. 285, 294, 295, Uiis opinion of the French minis- OH. m. FRENCH AEMY IN FLANDERS. 533 The military situation also appeared to him extremely alarming. He had advocated an attack on Holland, partly because he believed it to be a rich and easy prey, and partly because he regarded the possession of Maestricht and Venlo as a matter of vital strategical importance. But he had been forbidden to attack Maestricht, and his army was rapidly sinking into ruin. The whole organisation for the administration of the army, as it had existed in Paris under the monarchy, had been shattered by the Revolution. Almost all the old, experienced and competent administrators had been driven away to make room for men whose chief claim was the prominent part they had taken in the events of August 10 and in the September massacres, and the result was that the conquerors of Jemmapes, the men who had in a few weeks subdued the whole of the Belgic provinces, found themselves in a state of utter destitution. About 15,000 men had deserted. An equal number were in the hospitals. Six thousand horses of the artillery died at Tongres and at Li6ge for want of forage. During the months of December and January the troops at Lifege were only half clothed. There was such a want of shoes, that thousands of soldiers were wearing wisps of straw tied round their feet. Their pay was long in arrear. Numbers were dying from want of food. Guns, saddles, equipments of every kind were deficient. The little discipline which had formerly existed had completely given way, and when Dumouriez attempted to restore it by the esta- blishment of capital punishment for insubordination, the Commissioners interposed their veto. If under these circumstances the Austrians had advanced in force there seemed little chance of resistance, and Dumouriez feared that the Belgians, exasperated almost; to madness by the oppressions of the Commissioners, 534 THE FEENCH EEVOLTJTION. oh. in. would rise behind him, and cut off all possibility of retreat." Happily for the French, they had to deal in Flanders with most fatuous and incapable enemies. The Austrians, having dismantled the barrier forts and alienated the inhabitants by their constitutional innovations, had left these provinces so inadequately garrisoned, that at Jem- mapes they had been overwhelmed by a French army which was nearly, if not quite, the double of their own;^ and now, when the tide of popular feeling had turned, and when the invading army seemed almost reduced to impotence, they did nothing, still clinging to the anti- quated military tradition that no important expedition should be undertaken in the winter.' Dumouriez there- fore found it possible to quit his post. On the plea of ill health, and under the threat of resignation if he was refused, he obtained leave of absence, and hastened to Paris, where he arrived on January 1. He hoped to ' M&movres de Dwnouriez, iii. fare in the eighteenth century. 247, 287-292, 338, 380. Dumou- Thus Walpole wrote in Jan. 1760 : riez's strong statement oi the ' Our army was under arms for hatred with which the inhabi- fourteen hours on the 23rd, ex- tants of the Austrian Netherlands pecting the French, and several now regarded the French, and of of the men were frozen when the probability that they would they should have dismounted, rise against them if a foreign What milksops the Marlboronghs army appeared within their bor- and Turennes, the Blakes and ders, is fully corroborated by Van Tromps appear now, who Morris, Works, ii. 255, 269, 276. whipped into winter quarters and ' On the enormous prepon- into port the moment their noses derance of the French at Jem- looked blue. Sir Cloudesley Sho- mapes see the facts collected by vel said that an admiral would Bourgoing, Hist. Diplomatique deserve to be broke who kept de V Europe pendant la BivoVu- great ships out after the end of tion, 2me partie, tome i. 257. September, and to be shot if after " Frederick the Great had al- October. There is Hawke in the ready shaken this notion, which bay weathering this winter, after the French Bevolutionists and conquering in a storm.' — Wal- Napoleon destroyed. A similar pole to Montagu, (bange passed over naval war- OH, III. DE MAULDE VISITS AUCKLAND. 535 obtain a revocation of the Decree of December 15, to organise measures for providing his army with neces- saries, to acquire the direction of the war, and, if possible, to prevent the execution of the King. He found some strong supporters in the ministry, but on the whole he had Little success, and several weeks passed in weary and unprofitable wrangling. The execution of the King on January 21 filled him with unfeigned horror, but a new scene of ambition was now suddenly opened to him. He emphatically maintained that even at this late period, if France desired it, it was not only possible, but easy, for her to continue at peace with both England and Holland,' and the reports of Benoit from England and of De Maulde from Holland pointed to him as the negotiator who was most likely to be acceptable to Pitt.^ There was a proposal to send him to London, and he accepted it with eagerness, but after a long discussion in the Council it was rejected by three to two. Lebrun, however, and Garat, who formed the minority, without the knowledge of the other ministers arranged with Dumouriez that he should return to Holland, and undertake a negotiation with England through the medium of Lord Auckland. It was at the same time decided that Maret should return to England to negotiate with Pitt.* It was on January 28, when the execution of the King was already known, and when war was looked upon in Holland as certain and imminent, that Auck- land received in the middle of the night a secret and unexpected visit from De Maulde. He said that Du- mouriez had returned to Ghent to take command of the army, and that he wished for a conference with Auck- land in order to try to arrange a peace. Auckland • mmoi/res, iii. 364, 379. " Ibid. pp. 383-885. » Ibid. pp. 385-387. 536 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. m. answered that, though he had once expressed a readinesa for such a conference, everything was changed by the horrid murder of the King ; that he had no wish to see anyone representing the murderers ; that even if Du- mouriez wished to make peace he could not control the anarchy in Paris. A repudiation of the decrees authoris- ing the opening of the Scheldt in defiance of the Treaty of Miinster and" claiming to interfere with the internal affairs of other countries, and the withdrawal of the French troops within their own borders, were the only terms England could now accept ; and these were terms to which it was hopeless to expect the French Convention to consent. The reception was not promising, but De Maulde earnestly persisted, and his language opened out strange vistas of possibility to the English minister. Dumouiiez, he said, was most anxious to meet Auckland, and he would do so even within the Dutch frontier. Time was pressing, for if no arrangements were made, the invasion of Holland must at once take place ; but it was a com- plete mistake to suppose that it was impossible to come to an arrangement. The Executive Council were most anxious to avoid war with England, and Dumouriez himself was by no means inclined to act the part of a mere agent. Auckland spoke of him as the representa- tive of the murderers of the King. In truth he looked upon that tragedy with unmixed detestation, and if he had consented to resume the command of the French army after it had been accomplished, this was simply because he was nowhere safe except at the head of his troops. The danger of any man who had any name had tiow become extreme. ' Paris was in the possession of 20,000 or 30,000 desperate ruffians from the different departments, capable of every excess that human de- pravity can dictate and the most hardened cruelty execute.' ' He suggested,' Auckland continues, ' a on. HI. DE MAULDE VISITS AUCKLAND. 537 Btrange idea, that Dumouriez's great ambition is to negotiate matters into a practicable system of govern- ment, and when the whole is completed to be received as ambassador in England.' While the negotiation was in suspense De Maulde thought that hostilities would not begin, and if they did, it would be only in a very small and merely colourable way. Auckland promised at once to refer the matter for instructions to his Government, but he told him frankly that he could give him no hope of success. He gave money, however, in this interview both to De Maulde and to his secretary, Joubert, and he wrote home that he was ' inclined to gather ' that Dumouriez himself might be gained. He asked Grenville if in that case he might offer him 20,000Z. or 25,000Z. and half as much to De Maulde.i Next day De Maulde returned, bringing a letter from Dumouriez asking for an interview on the frontier, and in this conversation and in a third, which took place on the following day, he more fully developed his project. He assured Auckland that he would find Dumouriez's sentiments about the murder and the murderers of the King very like his own, and he sug- gested that the question of the Austrian Netherlands might be settled by giving those provinces to the Elector of Bavaria, and allowing Bavaria to pass to Austria. If the neutrality of the maritime Powers continued only a short time longer, this exchange, he thought, might without much difficulty be effected. The ultimate object of Dumouriez, if Auckland would assist him, was to make England the ' armed mediator' for restoring peace to Europe. Auckland naturally asked how far these plans were sanctioned by the ' Auckland wrote to Grenville secret and confidential) desorib* no less than three letters on Jan. ing this interview. 28 (one official and the other two 538 THE FEENCH EEVOLTJTION. oh. m. authorities in Paris. De Maulde answered that Du- mouriez had told the Executive Council that he would seek an interview with Auckland ; that he had received from them full powers and had shown them his letter to Auckland,* but that he had further views of which they were ignorant. His main object was to gain the full confidence of the army, and with its assistance to restore peace and prosperity under some form of government, and at the proper moment ' he would attempt it in a way which would astonish all mankind.' * Auckland expressed himself to his Government over- whelmed by the responsibility which these strange inter- views had thrown upon him, and quite unable to come to any decision about the sincerity or intentions of Du- mouriez. His doubts must always be shared by historians, and it is now idle to conjecture what might have been the consequences to Europe if the projects foreshadowed by De Maulde had come to pass. Dumouriez, m his own brief account of the matter, has greatly exaggerated the alacrity with which Auckland received the overture, and it may, I think, be confidently added that he has greatly misrepresented his own intentions. He says that his object was to secure the neutrality of Holland and England at a time when the military situation was almost desperate, but that, having rendered this service to his country, he meant publicly to detach himself from the murderers of the King, and to retire as an emigrant to the Hague.^ This account is not consistent with the letters of Auckland, and it is, to me at least, incredi- ble that a man as ambitious and as clear-sighted as ' According to the account not brought before the Council, given by Dumouriez in his Mi- Mimoires, iii. 385. moires, this statement was not ^ Auckland to Grenyille, Jan. true. Lebrun and Garat alone 29, 31, 1793. were informed of the intentions • Mimmres, iii. 394, 395. of Dumouriez, and the affair waa CH. III. BREACH WITH FKAIJCE INEVITABLE. 539 Dumouriez undoubtedly was, can have either wished to sacrifice the power which he obtained through his com- mand of the army, or imagined that, if he did so, any treaty which he signed would be observed. Before the interview between Dumouriez and Auck- land could take place, another train of events had come to maturity, which made it useless or impossible. The execution of the King on January 21 had hurried on the inevitable catastrophe. Morris, in relating to Jeffer- son the circumstances of the tragedy, predicted with his usual sagacity some of its effects. ' I believe,' he said, ' that the English will be wound up to a pitch of enthu- siastic horror against France which their cool and steady temper seems to be scarcely susceptible of.' ' The ghastly scenes of the September murders ; the almost daily accounts of fresh murders and outrages perpetrated by the present rulers of France ; the torrent of insults poured upon the English Government by prominent French politicians ; the circular letter of Monge ; the report of Brissot ; the reception of disaffected Englishmen by the Convention ; the constant rumours of French intrigues in England and Ireland, had all contributed to raise the anti- Gallican sentiment to a point of horror and repulsion that it was not easy to restrain. The diplomatic negotia- tion between the two countries had already ceased. Lord Grenville had formally announced to OhauveUn that England would not permit the treaty relating to the navigation of the Scheldt to be annulled, and that if France desired peace with England she must abandon her conquests and confine herself within her territory. The French Government had, as formally, announced their determination of maintaining the opening of the Scheldt and of continuing their occupation of Belgium, and they had threatened to declare war if the hostile » Works, a. 276., 540 THE FEENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. m. preparations of England continued. Grenville had re« joined that England would persist in the measures which she deemed necessary for her security, and he had posi- tively refused to receive the credentials of Chauvelin, or to recognise him as possessing any other position than that which he had derived from the King of France. Such was the situation when the news of the murder of Lewis XVI. arrived. Since the massacre of St. Bar- tholomew no event in a foreign country had produced such a thrill of horror in England. The representations in the theatres were countermanded. The Court mourn- ing was adopted by the whole population. With the exception of a single Whig politician,^ it was worn by every member of the House of Commons. At the corners of streets, in every public place, the details of the exe- cution were placarded, hawked about, and eagerly dis- cussed by indignant crowds, and when the King drove out, his carriage was surrounded by a mob crying, ' War with Prance ! ' The horror of the nation was expressed from countless pulpits, while the Sacrament was exposed on the Catholic altars. For a time scarcely a dissentient voice was heard, and Fox himself declared in an address to the electors of Westminster that there was not a per- son in Europe, out of France, who ' did not consider this sad catastrophe as a most revolting act of cruelty and injustice.' * Pitt at once seized the opportunity. On January 24, when the torrent of emotion was at its height, Gren- ville wrote a letter to Chauvelin directing him within eight days to leave the country. ' The character,' he wrote, ' with which you have been invested at this Court, and the functions of which have been so long ' See Ashton's Old Times, p. duoed in England, see some illus- 285. trations ooUeoted by Einouf, p ^ Anniial Register, 1793, p. 119. 229. On the impression> pro- OH. III. EXPULSION OF CHATJVELIN. 541 suspended, being now entirely terminated by the fatal death of his late Most Christian Majesty, you have no more any public character here. The King can no longer, after such an event, permit your residence here.' On the 28th the whole correspondence between the King's ministers and Chauvelin was laid before Parlia- ment, with a royal message, in which the late event in Paris was designated as an ' atrocious act,' and an im- mediate augmentation of the military and naval forces was demanded. It was necessary, the message said, ' for maintaining the security and rights of the King's dominions, for supporting his allies, and for opposing views of aggrandisement and ambition on the part of France which would be at all times dangerous to the general interests of Europe, but are peculiarly so when connected with the propagation of principles which lead to the violation of the most sacred duties, and are utterly subversive of the peace and order of all civil society.' ' Pitt had probably never represented more truly the prevailing sentiments of the English people than when he dismissed Chauvelin. His act was intended as a pro- test against what nearly all Englishmen regarded as the cruel and unprovoked murder of a friendly sovereign ; and it must be remembered that Chauvelin had no acknowledged diplomatic character, that his unofficial negotiation had ended in an irreconcilable difference, and that he had, as an individual, given the gravest provocation to the Government. As it was truly said, no English minister who mixed in monarchical, as Chauvelin had done in republican intrigues, would have been tolerated in Paris for a week. Besides this, if, as Pitt believed, the war had become inevitable, it was a matter of high policy to enter into it supported by a strong wave of popular feeling. Nothing can be more ' PaW.Siisi!. XXX. 238,239,269. 542 THE FRENCH EEV0LT3TI0N. oh. m. certain than that neither the murder of the King nor any other change in the internal government of France would have induced him to commence it ; but when for other reasons it had become unavoidable, he naturally sought to carry with him the moral forces of indignation and enthusiasm which might contribute to its success. By refusing to hold any further communication with the representatives of the murderers in Paris, Pitt represented and satisfied those feelings, and he was certain of a genuine popular support if the French chose to make his action the occasion for war. The question was, I think, essentially a question of policy. After all that had happened, Pitt had, it appears to me, a full right to dismiss Chauvelin, and the expe- diency of the measure depended mainly on conditions of public feeling which are best judged by contemporary opinion. Two evil results, however, undoubtedly fol- lowed this measure of the Government. It precipitated a war which, however, had become almost absolutely certain, and it alone gave some faint colour of plausi- bility to the charge of those who have endeavoured to represent the great French war as an unwarrantable attempt to interfere with the internal government of France. The end was very near, but it had not yet come. Chauvelin might have stayed in England for eight days, but he chose to depart on the day following his dis- missal. The next day a despatch arrived from Lebrun formally recalling him. It was written on January 22, and is said to have been drawn up by Maret.' Like everything which at this time fell from his pen, it was plausible, dignified, and conciliatory, and it was evi- dently intended to delay, if not to prevent, the rupture. As the English Government had declined to receive his ■ See Ernout, p. 119. OH. ra, MAEET SENT TO ENGLAND. 543 credentials, Chauvelin was directed at once to quit Lon- don, but he was to leave a letter for Lord Granville, saying that, as his presence there could be of no further use, he was going to France to lay the case before the Executive Council. He was to add, however, that if the British Government, ' reverting to more seemly senti- ments,' desired to be at harmony with France, the French ministers would do everything which was ho- nourably in their power to re-establish good relations between the two countries. They wished for peace. They respected England as the oldest of free countries. They knew that even the most successful war with her would be a calamity to the world ; but they were per- Buaded that if this crime against humanity were com- mitted, impartial history would throw the whole blame on the English Government. The only definite point at issue on which the note touched was the Alien Act. It could not, the writer urged, be defended by the French regulations about passports, for those applied to all travellers, while the English law was directed against foreigners alone. The importance of the despatch did not lie in its arguments. It lay in its conciliatory tone, and especi- ally in the concluding announcement that Maret was about immediately to go to England as Oharg6 d' Affaires to take care of the papers at the French Legation. Chauvelin, before going, was to inform Lord Grenville of this fact.' Had it been known a few days earlier, it might have had a great influence, but it was now too late. Chauvelin received the despatch while he was already on the road, and the contents were in consequence never communicated to the English ministers. On the 28th, Reinhard, the secretary who had been ' Lebrun to Chauvelin, Jan. 22, 1793 (French Foreign Office). 36 544 THE FEENCH BEVOLUTION. oh. ni. left in charge of the French Legation, wrote describing the meeting of Parliament and the excitement and rumours that were abroad. ' It seems evident,' he said, 'that the British Cabinet has unanimously de- cided on war with France, that public opinion is wholly unfavourable to us, and that, even if there were less unanimity, we could not prudently separate the Govern- ment from the nation.' At the same time, he adds, the first excitement produced by the death of the King has abated. The dangers of the war are more clearly seen, and a pacific overture might have excellent effects. It would either prevent the war, and thus deprive France of half her enemies, or it would embarrass the ministry and break the present formidable unanimity in Parlia- ment, or * even if, as I believe, war is inevitable, what we now do will decide whether that war shall last three months or three years.' ' Maret arrived in London on the afternoon of the 30th. He had passed Chauvelin in the night without recognition, and it was not until his arrival that be learnt the details of what had taken place, and the non- delivery of the despatch which was intended to prepare the English ministers for his arrival. He at once announced his presence by letter to Lord Granville, but he thought it advisable not to describe himself as Gharg6 d'Affaires, but simply as an agent entrusted with the archives at the French Legation. Such a character, he explained to his Government, opened the door to informal and confidential communications, whereas, if he at once assumed a diplomatic character, the English Government would be driven to the alter- native of either formally accepting him or expelling him from the country. He did not see the ministers, but he saw Miles, and apparently some other persona Beinhard to Lebrun, Jan. 28, 1793. OB. III. MAEET'S EEPOET. 545 who were behind the scenes, and he sent Lebrun a full and curious report on the state of affairs. Miles agreed with Reinhard that a certain reaction in favour of peace had shown itself among the middle classes, but the Prince of Wales was reported to have said that the mission of Maret was too late ; that if God Almighty- came over as an envoy He could not now prevent a war, and that it would break out before three weeks. The ministry had held a council late at night to con- sider the question whether the French envoy should be received. He was informed that the King's personal influence had been employed, through the intervention of Lord Hawkesbury, to induce the ministers to refuse to see him, as it had before been employed in favour of the dismissal of Ohauvelin. But Pitt and GrenvUle urged the opposite policy, and a strong party on the ministerial side in Parliament insisted that wlule every preparation should be made for war, any reasonable pro- posal of the French ministry should still be listened to. 'The death of the King,' continued Maret, 'has produced the effect which we have foreseen. The hatred of the French name is now at its height. That portion of the nation which is not engaged in commerce and which does not possess property wishes for war. The mourning ordered by the Court is worn by every man who is able to procure for himself a black coat. This universal mourning obliges me to see no one, for I should be received nowhere, nor could I even leave the house without being exposed to the insults and ignorant ferocity of the portion of the nation which is still called here the populace.' He added, however, that the merchants of the City and also the country gentry wished for peace; that the news of his own arrival in London had caused the funds to rise three per cent. ; that the party which desired parliamentary re- form was still active, and that the ministry were dividedi 546 THE FRENCH EEVOLUTION. oh. in. Pitt sincerely desired peace. He knew that both hia supremacy and his favourite schemes of policy depended on it, but, since the death of the King, Maret believed that the other ministers inclined to war. Chauvelin had made himself personally obnoxious, and his dis- missal was due to the irresistible instinctive explosion of indignation that followed the execution of the King. Ministers, however, were surprised, and the warlike party gratified, by the precipitation with which he left the country, and those who wished for war were hoping that the French would declare it. If the French Government acted in accordance with this wish, there was no more to be said; if not, Lebrun was en- treated to send immediate instructions whether he wished Dumouriez to be the negotiator or desired to entrust the task to Maret himself. ' Time is pressing. . . . To-day they are disposed to hear me, and it is not improbable that they would receive our illustrious general ; but dispositions may change in a few days.' The newspapers, he added, had mentioned his arrival, and he noticed that it was the ministerial papers that spoke of it most favourably.' Before this report could arrive at its destination the die was cast. On February 1, almost immediately after the arrival of Chauvelin in Paris, the Convention declared war against both the King of England and the Stadholder of Holland, and orders were sent to Dumouriez at once to invade Holland. On February 4, before the news of the French declaration of war had reached London, Grenville wrote to Auckland that the ministers had been very seriously considering the proposal of Dumouriez for an interview. ' Ernouf, pp. 124-129. Du- but had been turned back at mouriez erroneously stated in his Dover, and this statement has Mimoires that Maret had not been often repeated, been suffered to go to London, CH. ui. NEGOTIATION WITH DUMOUEIEZ. 547 Doubts of Ids sincerity, objections to treating with anyone wbo could be regarded as a representative of the regicides, and a profound disbelief in the possibility of anyone now answering for the future proceedings of France, weighed heavily on their minds ; but neverthe- less the King, wishing to omit no honourable means to peace, directed Auckland to see Dumouriez. He must tell him, however, that he could enter into no negotia- tion till the embargo which the French had just laid on all English ships in French ports was raised, and he must tell him also that in consequence of that embargo, and also of 'the inconvenience which arose from the speculations in our public funds occasioned by the equivocal situation and the conduct of M. Maret,' his Majesty has thought fit to order that person and his secretary to quit the kingdom, and will permit no other agent employed by the Executive Council to remain there. Auckland was instructed to hear the suggestions of Dumouriez, and to ask how he could carry them into effect, but he must state clearly that the Chauvelin correspondence contained the sole grounds on which England would negotiate, and that an abandonment of all French conquests and a withdrawal of the obnoxious decrees were necessary conditions of a peace. England was now connected with other Powers, and she must take care that no act of hers was injurious to their interests. She had not, however, broken her neutrality ; she would not do so unless French acts left her no alternative ; but from the recent tenor of French policy the English Government had no doubt of the aggressive designs of France, and it was partly because Holland was still so unprepared that the smallest delay was to her advantage, that they permitted this negotiation to take place.' » Grenville to Auckland, Feb. 4, 1793. 548 THE FEENCH REVOLUTION. oh. uu It was evident that a negotiation undertaken in this spirit could have no result. For the past fortnight the English Government seemed to have given up all hopes of peace, and on neither side was there now any- real disposition to make sacrifices for it. On the 7th Maret quitted London in obedience to the order of the King, and at Calais he met the messenger who was sent from Paris to recall him, and to communicate to him the declaration of war. Another messenger from Paris arrived in time to prevent the proposed interview between Dumouriez and Auckland. To complete this long diplomatic history one more despatch must be quoted, which does much to elucidate the true sentiments of the English Government. It shows that it was their determination to form at once a close connection with Austria and Prussia against France, but that they had still great hopes of defining and limiting the war and of bringing about a speedy pacification of Europe. The letter I refer to was written to Eden, who was just moving from Berlin to Vienna, and was dated February 5, before the news of the French declaration of war had arrived in London. Eden was instructed to endeavour to establish a close connec- tion with Austria on the afiairs of Prance, and in order that there should be no jealousy or concealment he was to inform the Emperor of the overture of Dumouriez, and to add that while the King thought it best not wholly to reject it, he was fully resolved not to depart from any of the views or principles laid down in the correspondence with Chauvelin. ' The King,' Grenville said, ' desires to enter into a formal engagement with the Emperor and the King of Prussia on the principles which have always been opened to both those Powers. . . . Feeling the interests of his own dominions and the general security of Europe endangered by the con- ijuests made by France in the course of the present OH. III. LETTER TO EDEN, FEBRUARY 5. 549 war, connected as they are with the propagation of the most destructive principles, he engages to consider no arrangement as satisfactory on the part of Prance which shall not include the abandonment of all her con- quests, and the renunciation of all views of interference on her part in the interior of other countries, and of all measures of aggression or hostility against them ; pro- vided that the Emperor shall on his part engage that if France shall, within the space of two months from this time, agree to make peace upon the terms above stated, adding to them stipulations for the security of her Most Christian Majesty and of her family, the Emperor will on his part consent to such a peace ; and lastly that if in consequence of the refusal of these terms by France the present war should be continued and his Majesty should take part in it, their Majesties engage not to make peace with France, except by mutual consent,' on any terms short of these. ' The proposal,' the despatch continues, 'of concluding peace with France in the present moment on the terms of the abandonment of her conquests and the renunciation of all hostile mea- sures as above stated, may appear at first view to militate with the general ideas held out by the two Courts of Vienna and Berlin of being indemnified for the expenses of the last campaign. You will, however, observe that, with respect to the particular objects of indemnification stated by those Courts,' it is not incon- sistent with either of them. Of that part of the plan which relates to Poland, I have already stated, both to M. Jacobi and M. Stadion, in the most unequivocal terms, the King's disapprobation of that project against which you have made such frequent though ineffectual representations. It is, however, of a nature entirely • The partition of Poland and the exchange of the Austrian Netherlands for BaTaria. 550 THE FEENCH EEVOLOTION. oh. ni. unconnected with the settlement of the affairs of France, and though his Majesty never can consider it but with disapprobation and regret, he has no interest to oppose himself to its execution by any active measures on his part. The Austrian part of the plan appears in every point of view considerably less objectionable, though certainly attended with great diflSculties. But the exe- cution of such a plan, if it can at all be carried into effect, obviously depends on obliging the French to withdraw their forces from those provinces, and is so far not inconsistent with the proposal of a pacification on the terms above mentioned.' ' Similar overtures were at the same time made by the EngUsh Government to Russia. As early as Decem- ber 29, indeed, Pitt had proposed to that Power that a joint representation should be made to France assuring her that if she would abandon her conquests, withdraw her troops within her own limits, rescind the acts which were injurious to the rights of other nations, and give pledges that she would for the future abstain from molesting her neighbours, all acts of hostility against her should cease, and no attempt would be made to interfere with her Government or Constitution. The French declaration of war interrupted these negotiations, and it was not until 1800 that the intended representa- tion was disclosed. The language of Fox on this occa- sion is veiy remarkable. He expressed his complete approbation of the policy indicated in the despatch, but said that as its contents had never been communicated to the French it was mere idle verbiage. The obvious answer is that as far as England was concerned, the terms on which Grenville insisted were simply a repro- duction of those which were formally announced to France in the correspondence with Ghauvelin, and the ' GrenviUe to Eden, Feb. 5, 1793. OH. m. PACIFIC INTENTIONS OF PITT. 551 English Government had in fact lost no opportunity of declaring its firm intention not to interfere with the internal government of France.' There are few pages of English history which have been more grossly and mischievously misrepresented than that which we are considering.^ The account which I have given will, if I mistake not, fully establish that the war between England and France was of a wholly different kind from the war between Prance and the great German Powers which had broken out in the preceding year. France might, indeed, with no great difficulty, have avoided the German war ; but she had undoubtedly received much real provocation, and provo- cation of a kind which no powerful monarchy would have endured. The German war was also, in a very great degree, an anti-Revolutionary war, undertaken in the interests of monarchy. This was the attitude which Burke from the beginning desired England to assume, but Pitt wholly rejected his policy. It ia cer- tain beyond all reasonable doubt that he sincerely and earnestly desired peace with France ; that from the out- break of the Revolution to the death of Lewis XVI. he abstained from any kind of interference with her internal concerns ; that he never favoured directly or indirectly the attacks of Austria and Prussia upon her ; that he again and again announced, in the most formal terms, the determination of England to remain neutral in the struggle, and especially to abstain from all interference ' See Pari. Hist, xxxiv. 1313, into my History of Rationalism ]31i 1359; Wilberforce's Life, a sentence (which has been ex- ii. 13 ; Bussell's Life of Fox, ii. punged in the later editions) 301-303. blaming Pitt for the French war. 2 I must acknowledge that, It shows at least that I had no many years ago, misled by a undue bias in favour of the con- most misleading pamphlet of elusion to which a more careful Cobden and by the much higher investigation has led me. authority of Buckle, I introduced 552 THE FEENCH EEVOLtlTION. oh. hi. with the internal affairs of France. All the schemes of policy to which he had especially attached his reputa- tion and his ambition, depended for their success upon the continuance of peace, and there is overwhelming evidence that, until an advanced period in 1792, the English Government had no doubt that they could keep clear of the contest, and had made no adequate prepara- tions for a war. It is also, I conceive, certain beyond all reasonable doubt that the war of 1793 was forced upon England by gross and various provocations proceeding from the Revolutionary party in France. The decree of Novem- ber 19 promising French assistance to any subjects who revolted against their rulers, the manner in which English disaffected citizens were received by the French Convention, the language of insult which was habitually employed by the most prominent politicians in France, and the public attitude and well-known intrigues of Chauvelin, constituted together an amount of provoca- tion of the most serious kind. No continental nation which was strong enough to resent it would have endured such provocation. Most assuredly Eevolu- tionary France would not have done so, and it is almost certain that if the father of Pitt had been at this time directing English affairs, these things alone would have produced a war. But these things alone would never have moved Pitt and Grenville from their policy of peace. The real governing motives of the war are to be found elsewhere. They are to be found in the formal and open violation by France of the treaty rela- ting to the Scheldt, which England had guaranteed — a violation which was based upon grounds that would invalidate the whole public law of Europe, and attempted under circumstances that clearly showed that it was part of a scheme for annexing Belgium, conquering Holland, and perhaps threatening England with inva* OH. m. GEODNDS OF THE WAE. 553 sion. They are to be found in the overwhelming evidence of the intention of the French to incorporate in their own republic those Belgic provinces whose inde- pendence of France was a matter of vital interest to the security of England ; in the long train of circumstances which convinced the English ministers of the determi- nation of Revolutionary France to invade Holland, and to overthrow that Dutch Government which England had distinctly bound herself by a recent treaty to defend. These were the real grounds of the French war, and they were grounds by which, in my judgment, it may be amply justified. Several of the English wars of the eighteenth century were undertaken for reasons which were either unjust or doubtful or inadequate, but the war of 1793 is not among the number. Probably the only policy by which a collision with France could have been avoided would have been a policy, not of neutrality, but of active sympathy with the Eevolution. But such a policy would have outraged the conscience of England, would have placed the ministry which adopted it in violent opposition to English public opinion, and would have added incalculably to the dangers that were threatening Europe. Nor is it in the least likely that in the scene of combustion, aggression, and general anarchy that was opening, England could even then have escaped a war, though she might have possibly fought with other enemies and in another cause. Till within a fortnight of the declaration of war by France, the English Government does not appear to me to have taken any step that cannot easily be defended, but its conduct during that last short interval is more doubtful. Whether the expulsion of Ohauvelin after the execution of the King was not precipitate and un- wise, whether the language of Grenville in his later cor- 554 THE FKENCn EEVOLUTION. oh. hi. respondence with Chauvelin and Lebrun was not unduly haughty and unconciliatory, whether the overtures of Dumouriez might not have been more cordially received, are points which are open to serious doubt. In judging these things, however, it must be remembered that the provocations which produced and justified the war had come to their full maturity before the death of the King. The case was complete. The war, in the opinion of the English ministers, had become absolutely inevitable, and their object was therefore no longer to avert it, but rather to rouse and brace the energies of England for the struggle. In entering on a great war the manage- ment and guidance of popular passions and prejudices is one of the supreme arts of statesmanship, and it is by its effects on English public opinion that the some- what haughty and unconciliatory attitude of the English Government in these last weeks must be mainly judged. There are some questions upon which the opinion of a later historian is always of more value than that of a contemporary statesman. He writes when the tangled skein has been unravelled, when the doubtful issues have been decided, when the wisdom of a policy has been judged by its results. But the course of conduct which is most adapted to the transient conditions of public feeling can never be so truly estimated as by a great statesman of the time. There is a period when attempts to delay an inevitable war are only construed as signs of weakness, timidity, and vacillation, and there is much reason to believe that a more conciliatory or procrastinating policy after the execution of the King would have had no result except to damp the ardour of the English people, and to alienate or discourage their allies. It is certain, however, that the French war was entered upon by Pitt with extreme reluctance, and that not only the formal declaration of war, but also the reaJ. OH. m. PITT'S MISCALCULATION. 555 provocation, Came from Paris. The war was not in its origin either a war against revolutiou, or a war of con- quest, though it speedily and by an inevitable process acquired something of both characters. When the struggle had once begun, the party which had been preaching a crusade against France as the centre of a contagious anarchy naturally acquired increased power and influence, which the horrors of the Reign of Terror, the growth of sedition in Great Britain and Ireland, and the triumphs of the Revolutionary armies, all contributed to strengthen. On the other hand, Pitt found himself indisputably superior to his enemies on sea. The financial schemes for which he specially cared had been interrupted, and it is not surprising that he should have come to adopt the policy of Dundas, and look to the conquest of the rich sugar islands of Prance as a chief end of the war. ' Indemnity for the past,' as well as ' security for the future,' became the avowed object of the English Government, and, while their military enter-' prises nearer home were marked by extreme debility and inefficiency, island after island was speedily con- quered.' To the magnitude and danger of the war Pitt was for a long period entirely blind. ' It will be a very short war,' he is reported to have said, ' and certainly ended in one or two campaigns.' ' No, sir,' Burke answered, when such language was addressed to him, ' it will be a long war and a dangerous war, but it must be undertaken.' That a bankrupt and disorganised Power like France could be a serious enemy, seemed to Pitt wholly incredible. The French were already, he was accustomed to say, ' in a gulf of bankruptcy, and he could almost calculate the time by which their resources ' See Wilberforce's Life, ii. 92, 391 ; Moore's Life of Sheridan, ii 203, 204. 556 THE FKENCH REVOLUTION. oh. in. would be consumed.'' So convinced was he that the enterprise before him would be short and easy, that this great financier entirely abstained at the opening of the war from imposing any considerable war taxation, and at once added enormously in its very earliest stage to that national debt which he believed it to be his great mission to liquidate. A speedy peace, the rich colonies that were certain to be wrested from France, and the magical virtues of the Sinking Fund, would soon, he believed, restore the finances of England to their former prosperity. It was only very slowly and painfully that the conviction was forced upon him that England had entered on a mortal struggle, the most dangerous, the most doubtful, and the most costly she had ever waged. In the history of Continental Europe, the nineteenth century may be truly said to begin with the French Eevolution. In the Hstory of England the great line of secular demarcation is to be found in the opening of the French war of 1793. From this time English parties and politics assumed a new complexion, and trains of causes came into action which only attained their maturity at a much later period. WMerforce^a Life, ii. 10, U, 92, 382. NOTES. Paqb 5. In reference to Voltaire's practice of denying author- ship, see Morley, Voltaire, 338-340. PAOBi 6. Cf. Morley, Voltaire, 216-294, for a detailed analysis of this attempt. There Is a brief treatment of the subject In Lowell, Eve of the French Revolution, 50-69. Page 9. The Abb6 Slcard In his Evigues avant la Bivolution brings a mass of evidence to show that among all the bishops and archbishops there were only four actual unbelievers. He passes over the question of their morals. Much earlier, Tocquevllle had remarked that the French church was no more assailable than other churches, ' les vices et les abus qu'on y avalt mSl^s fitalent, au contraire, molndres que dans la plupart des pays cathollques.' L'Anoien R6gime et la Bivolution, 222. In his own Mimoirea Tal- leyrand divided the clergy into three parts: ' quelques uns 6talent tr6s pleux, d'autres sp6cialement admlnlstrateurs, d'autres enfin, mondalns et mettant, comme M. I'archev^que de Narbonne, une certalne gloire a quitter les formes de leur 4tat pour vivre en gen- tilshommes . .' i. 31. Page 16. Morley's Judgment of Voltaire's work as an his- torian is equally favourable except for the following qualiflcatlon : ' In short, Voltaire's great panorama, magnificent as it Is and most royally planned, is not drawn in lines and with colour that explain the story or lay bare the principles of Its progress. The plan Is Imposed from without, Just as in Bossuet's case, not care- fully sought from within the facts themselves,' and, with changed metaphor, ' we see the links of the chain, but not the conditions which fastened each to the other ; conditions. Indeed, only to be grasped through a scientific study of human nature, which Vol- taire had never made.' Voltaire, 325, 327, cf. 295 CE. Page .22. It Is true that Frederick William I. attempted to enfranchise the State serfs in Pomerania in 1719 ; but unhappily the attempt was a failure, on account of local opposition, which a half-hearted administration made little effort to overcome. More- over, the word ' enfranchise ' does not accurately define what the King desired. His aim was not so much humanitarian as prac- tical ; he wished to prevent the running away of the serfs. Under the existing conditions, though tied to the soil, they could be evicted 557 558 NOTES. at the pleasure of the steward or lord directly In control of the estate. The enfranchisement consisted in guaranteeing the peasant from such arbitrary eviction. In return the peasant was to swear not to leave the estate. This was an improvement, but, as noted above, it was not carried out, save in one or two districts. Fred- erick the Great's attempt to abolish serfdom on the domains of the nobles in Fomerania in 1763 was doomed to failure for similar rea- sons. It must further be remarked that this sort of serfdom, or Leibeigenschaft, could be abolished without touching the personal services which the peasants were obliged to render or the other limitations on their rights summed up under the term Brhunter- thanigkeit. From 1763 there were some changes for the better, re- lieving the peasants of the requirement to furnish their lords do- mestic service ; but more fundamental changes were not seriously begun until 1799. How much the Influence of France stimulated the Prussian reformers at this late period it is difficult to determine. The history of the efforts at improvement made by the Prussian kings before the Bevolution suggests the thought that some more powerful impulse was needed to make any comprehensive scheme of betterment practically possible. Cf. Knapp, Die Bauern^Befrei- ung und der Vrsprung der Landarieiter in den alteren Theilen Preussens, Cavaignac, La Prusse contemporaine, 1. 65 fE. Page 25. The King sent edicts for registration to the provin- cial parliaments also. The registration of treaties simply by the Parliament of Paris was commonly thought sufficient. Page 26, note 2. An attempt had been made by the peers In the thirteenth century to constitute themselves into a separate court, but this had failed. As Esmein remarks, ' La cour des pairs se confondit dans le parlement, s'unit avec lui ; et la r&gle fut seulement reconnue que, dans certains cas, pour les procfis oil un pair Stait partie, an parlement devaient se Jolndre les autres pairs de France, ou du moins ceux-ci devaient §tre reguli&rement con- voqufis.' Histoire du Droit franQais, 379-380. Cf. also Gasquet, Institutions politiques de I'ancienne France, I. 259, and Vlollet, Histoire des Institutions politiques et administratives de France^ ill. 315-316. Page 28. The quarrel was in a sense forced upon Parliament because Louis XIV. compelled the registration of the Bull or ' Con- stitution ' as a law. This misuse of his power by the King, under the influence of Le Tellier, is the more significant if it be compared with the long and successful resistance of the monarchy to the ' re- ception ' of the decrees of the Council of Trent. Page 32. By the edict of 1695 Louis XIV. had attempted to define more clearly the respective limits of the jurisdictions of the royal and ecclesiastical courts ; but although all cases concerning the sacraments had been assigned as purely spiritual to the eccle- siastical courts, the edict in effect permitted the control of the acts of these courts by the process known as appel comme d'atus. NOTES. 559 Page 35. Selections from the journals of D'Argenson have been made by Armand Brette, with the title La France o« milieu da XVlIIe Siicle (1747-1757). Page 40. For further comments on this doctrine, see Esmein, Sistoire du Droit fran^ais, 543-544. Page 43. The suppression of the Jesuits is often regarded as the Jansenist and Parliamentarian revenge, for the controversy which began with the promulgation of the Bull Unigenitus had been In part a struggle between an Ultramontane policy, urged by the Jesuits, and an extreme form of Gallicanlsm, supported by the magistrates. Page 49. The Government of France was, however, limited, as Mr. Lecky himself notes, pp. 23, 91, by all sorts of traditional and local rights, legally established customs, etc. Page 53. It should be remembered, as Mr. Lecky later inti- mates, that this change Included many useful reforms in the admin- istration of justice ; that it abolished the venality of judicial posi- tions, and rendered Justice actually free. One of Louis XVI. 's worst blunders was his restoration of the old system, for Parlia- ment became the chief obstacle to the reforms which would have prevented the Revolution by rendering it unnecessary. Page 58. Cf. Lowell, Eve of the French Revolution, 274-302 ; Morley, Rousseau, 11. 119-196. There is a good English translation of the Contrat Social, by H. J. Tozer. Page 62, note 1. In his Souverainet6 du Peuple et Oouverne- ment Eug6ne D'Eiehthal has an Instructive discussion of Rous- seau's doctrine of the sovereignty of the people. The inalienability of this sovereignty, even for an Instant, he regards as Rousseau's Innovation. See especially pp. 43, 55 tf. Page 76. For a more detailed development of Mr. Lecky's views on the suffrage, see his Democracy and Liberty, especially ch. i. Page 86. It is curious to note the contempt which several of the constitution-makers of the National Assembly expressed for this , book or its author. Lanjuinals spoke of him as ' the Anglo-Amer- ican Mr. Adams, whose vote is only that of a blind partisan of inequality' (Uerciire de France, Sept. 19, 1789). Adams was also referred to as 'the Don Qulchotte of the nobility ' iLogographe, ii. 321). Thouret spoke of the doctrine of the balance of powers as ' this machine, repaired recently by Mr. Adams, which has lost in good minds its ancient credit' (Point du Jour, ii. 256). Page 92, note 1. For a discriminating appreciation of the r6le of the intendants, see Gasquet, op. clt., 1. 158 S. M. Gasquet re- marks on the fashion prevalent since the seventeenth century to attribute the ills of France to these men, who, he adds, reflected in their character and conduct the varying character of the royal 37 660 NOTES government. In the eighteenth century ' on trouveralt, difficile- ment des polltigues plus sages, plus avises, plus exp6riment£s. D'Argenson, Amelot, Orry, Trudaine, Turgot, S£nac de Meilban, Malouet, Calonne et bien d'autres sent sortis de la carriire de I'intendance.' Page 93. The ' pays d'ftlection ' were, more exactly, those regions in which the g6nSralit6s were divided into smaller dis- tricts, called elections, so named because presided over by Slus, ap- pointed by the Crown, but originally elected by the States-General of 1355. By the second half of the fifteenth century the monarchy had systematically destroyed the provincial estates in the central part of France, and substituted these minor financial circumscrip- tions. See article G6nSralit6, Cheruel, Diet. Hist, des Institutions de la France; Esmein, op. cit., 609 ; and Viollet, op. cit., iii. 499 f£. PAGE 98. M. Sagnae, in his Legislation civile de la Revolution franCaise, remarlis upon a feudal reaction which began about 1776, and which sought to revive old claims and to establish new ones, pp. 64 a. Page 99, note 2. At the end of his volume Tocqueville has inserted an extended note, explaining, after the manner of a good dictionary, the feudal rights which existed at the time of the Eevolution according to the lawyers of the day. Cf. Toung's re- marks in his essay ' On the Revolution of France,' which is included In his Travels in France. Page 101, note 1. A full account of the financial causes of the Revolution is to be found in Gomel, Les Causes flnancidres de la Revolution franQaise, 2 vols. ; or, more briefly, in Stourm, Les Finances de I'Ancien Regime et de la Revolution, 2 vols. Page 117. The success of the French intervention is indicated by a later Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Comte de Montmorin, in a despatch dated Aug. 31, 1787 : ' Nous n'avons eu d'autre but que d'oter le vaste continent t, la grande Bretagne.' Archives des Affaires Etrangires, Correspondance, Btats Unis, xxxii. 350. Page 120, note 2. A treaty of commerce was also negotiated with England in 1786. French manufacturers complained bitterly of the competition to which the new arrangements subjected them, especially in view of the fact that the mechanism of manufacture had recently made rapid progress in England. French exports to England, however, nearly doubled in the three following years. Page 129, note 1. Cf. Gomel, op. cit.. Vol. II.. pp. 265 ff., for an instructive account of Calonne's struggle with the notables. Page 132. It is Gomel's opinion that the spirit of resistance in the Assembly of Notables was aroused chiefly by the fear of the nobles and the clergy that by such reforms they would lose their privileged position. Op. cit., li. 295 ff. Page 135. Brienne made the mistake of submitting for regis- tration first the stamp duty, which implied an Increase In taxation. NOTES. 561 Instead of the land tax, which was a deadly blow at Inequality In taxation, so that Parliament got the credit of resisting Increase of taxation, while It was only blocking reform. Page 143. The Queen's attitude towards the proposed meeting of the States-General Is made evident by these words In a letter to her brother, the Emperor Joseph, Nov. 23, 1787 ; ' Ce qui me fait beaucoup de peine, c'est que le Roi a annonc6 qu'il tiendrait les Etats ggnferaux d'lcl a cinq ans. II y a sur ce point une fer- mentation g^ngrale, et telle qu'on a cru que le Roi devalt pr^venir une demande dlrecte, et qu'en prenant ses mesures et se rendant maltre du temps, 11 pourralt empScher les inconv6nlents de ces as- semblies.' Lettres de Marie Antoinette, edition of Rocheterle and Beaucourt, 11. 109. Page 149. Brienne's effort to use Government paper In meet- ing payments might be described more exactly as an attempt to obtain some of the advantages of bankruptcy without acknowledg- ing that the Government was bankrupt. Brienne hoped by giving notes, which were to bear five per cent. Interest and were to be received as coin by the Government when it negotiated further loans, to avoid the odium of a frank confession of failure. It was the notes of the Caisse d'eacompte that were given forced circula- tion. PAGE 1^2. The title of the pamphlet by the Abb6 SleySs was Qu'est-ce que le Tiers Etatf Critical edition, by Edme Champion, published by the Soci6t6 de la Revolution Frangalse, 1888. Page 153. Although the question of joint or separate voting was left undecided. It Is clear from certain passages In Necker's Rapport of December 27 what was the intention of the King and his Council. This Rapport was composed for the guidance of pub- lic opinion, and did not necessarily represent Necker's personal views. The first important passage Is as follows : ' II seralt sans doute a dSslrer que les ordres se rSunlssent volontairement dans I'examen de toutes les affaires oil leur Intfirfit est absolument fgal et semblable ; mals cette dStermination D)Sme dependant du voeu distinct des trois ordres, c'est de I'amour commun de i'Etat qu'on dolt I'attendre.' Matters of taxation and finance would naturally be among the subjects considered in common, since infiuential groups of the nobles and the clergy had urged upon their orders the renunciation of these odious privileges. And even though there were no such comnlete renunciation, there might be ' une telle Inaction dans les deliberations des Etats-G6neraux, que. d'un com- mun accord, et sollcltSs par rint6r§t public, lis d^slrassent de dfilibSrer en commun, fOt-ce en obtenant du souveraln que leur voeu pour toute I'lnnovation exlgeJlt une superiority quelconque de suffrages. Une telle disposition, ou toute autre du mSme genre, quolque n6cessitee par le blen de I'Etat, seralt peut-6tre Inadmls- sable ou sans effet, si les reprgsentans des communes ne com- posaient pas la moltle de la representation natlonale." Once the 562 NOTES. pecuniary privileges of the two first orders were abolished, the Interests of the three orders would be Identical, for ' II n'entrera jamais dans I'esprit du tiers-etat de chercher a dlmlnuer les prfiro- gatiyes seigneuriales ou honorlfiguee qui dlstinguent les deux premiers ordres, ou dans leurs propri6t§s, ou dans leurs per- sonnes; 11 n'est aucun Frangais qui ne sache que ces prerogatives sont une proprl6t6 aussi respectable qu'aucune autre : que plusieurs tiennent k I'essence de la monarchie, et que jamais Votre Majeste ne permettralt qu'on y portat le plus 16g6re attelnte.' In the latter part of the Bapport are roughly indicated the fundamental reforms the King purposes to undertake with the as- sistance of the States-General — no taxes, not even those already established, were to be levied without consent of States-General ; periodical sessions of States-General ; a budget and a civil list, admitting no ministerial arbitrariness in matters of expenditure ; regulation of conditions of arrest by lettres de cachet ; a regulated liberty of the press ; development of provincial estates, attributing to them a larger control In local administration. The King had no intention to abandon the substance of his power, for ' Les determinations que Votre MajSstS a prises lul laisseront toutes les grandes fonctions du pouvoir supreme, car les assemblies nationales, sans un guide, sans un protecteur de justice, sans un dSfenseur des falbles, pourraiSnt elles-mSmes s'figarer.' As to the decision that the Third Estate should have as many deputies as those of the first two orders taken together, Neeker afterwards declared that the principal reason was omitted In the Rapport, and that this reason was ' necessity.' Rapport fait au Eol, dans son conseil, par le minlstre de ses finances, Duvergier, Collection des Lois, I. 4 ff. Cf. Neeker, Revolution franQOise, i. 81. Page 154. For the complexity of the elections, see A. Brette, Le Recueil des actes relatifs & la convocation des Etats-O^n^raux. Page 159, note 5. Professor Aulard believes that it should still have been the case of ' a popular king, supported by the democracy, engaged in a successful struggle with the privileged orders.' He says : ' TTn roi Intelligent, qui eflt h6rlt6 de I'esprit de Henri IV., se fdt dfgagfi des embrassements dangereur de sa " fldeie noblesse," pour faire d'urgence k ses " fldSles communes " les concessions nficessaires, et rester roi h la mode nouvelle : au- trement roi, mals roi tout de m§me, et mSme roi plus puissant qu'auparavant, appuyfi qu'll eflt etfi sur le peuple, sur la nation.' Bistoire politique de la Revolution franQaise, 32. Page 160. It Is to be noted that until the fall of the Bastille had rendered Impossible any censorship of the press, this activity generally took the form of non-periodical pamphlets. Mlrabeau's first newspaper was suppressed in May. Page 163, note 1. The picture that Talne gives in the first chapter on ' Spontaneous Anarchy ' Is constructed by collecting NOTES. 563 from all over France Incidents of riot and putting them together seriatim without mentioning dates or local conditions. Page 167. M. Edme Champion, author of Lea Cahiera de 89, remarks, in reference to this, that it has been said that ' les Francais n'#tant pas faits pour la liberty, ne se sont pas souclfis d'elle, lis n'ont en aucun temps eu de passion que pour I'figalitg. L'gtude des Cahiers dissipera cette erreur. Quand le Tiers, dans les assemblies de ballliage s'explique sur la future constitution, II ne parle autrement que la Noblesse ; dans les Cahiers de ces deux ordres et dans une grande partle de ceux du Clergg, le plan et les moyens proposes sont Identiques ..." He adds. It Is true that the country people asl^ed to be relieved of some of the most obnoxious of their feudal burdens ; but this was not from jealousy, it was to free themselves from a sort of slavery. In Lavlsse and Rambaud, Histoire Oin6rale, vill. 45-46. Page 168, note 1. These Memoirs were composed in Jefferson's old age, when the qualifications which the Court party had per- suaded the King to throw about the concessions, promised In De- cember, 1788, and soon to be announced, on June 23, had been forgotten. A more balanced view of the situation may be ob- tained from Jefferson's contemporary letters. It appears that early in June he proposed to Lafayette and to Eabaut de St. Etienne ' that the King, in a seance royale, should come forward with a Charter of Rights In his band, to be signed by himself and by every member of the three orders. This charter to contain the five great points which the Resultat of December offered, on the part of the King; the abolition of pecuniary privileges, oltered by the privileged orders ; and the adoption of the national debt, and a grant of the sum of money aslsed from the nation.' He went on to say, ' You will carry back to your constituents more good than ever was effected before without violence, and you will stop ex- actly at the point where violence would otherwise begin.' The text of the proposed Charter is annexed to this letter. Jefferson, Writ- ings, 111. 45-48. Page 169, note 1. For an account of the leading orators, see Aulard's Les Orateurs de la Constituante, and, more briefly, Stephens's Orators of the French Revolution. Page 173, note 1. The attitude of the National Assembly towards the bicameral system may be better understood if the earlier and later discussions be more definitely distinguished. In- deed, there was no thorough agitation of the subject when It was first broached. The Bishop of Langres published a pamphlet, en- titled Sur la Forme d'Opiner aux Etats-Giniraux, In which he suggested that the nobility and the clergy be organized as one chamber and the Third Estate as another. In a letter to Jay, dated May 9, Jefferson refers to such a proposal. ' A middle proposition Is talked of,' he says, ' to form the two privileged orders into one chamber.' (Writings, ill. 27.) Ten days later he 564 NOTES. wrote to Dr. Price : ' The Noblesse, as some think, would be In- duced to unite themselves Into one house, with the higher Clergy, the lower Clergy and the Tiers forming another. But the Tiers are firm, and will agree to no modification.' (Ibid. 42.) The States-General was in a sense a constitutional convention, which brought from the electors the mandate to effect certain fundamen- tal changes. The leaders of the Third Estate thought that to di- vide such a body Into two chambers along the line of privilege would be to check the reform movement. When the question came up again it concerned the legislature which was to come into ex- istence as a part of the new government provided for in the con- stitution. Many of those who had insisted that the States-General should vote as a single body were ready to divide the legislature into two houses, some on the model of the English Parliament, others upon that of the American Congress or the State legisla- tures. The discussion began late in August. Just at this Juncture Mounier published a pamphlet, entitled Considirations sur le Oou- vernement et pHncipalement sur celui qui Convient A la France. In this he argued for the bicameral system, and declared that a Senate~Ilke most of those in the American States was the least his party would be able to accept. Lally-Tollendal urged that such a Senate would be hardly more than a second section of a single chamber. He argued for a Senate which was simply a thinly disguised chamber of peers. The partisans of the single-chamber idea were ready to compromise the matter if Mounier would leave the upper chamber without the right to change projects of law and the King without the power to dissolve the lower chamber, and if he would agree to a scheme of national conventions for the revision of the constitution. Mounier apparently overestimated the strength of his following, and would not yield upon these points. Many who were inclined to consider a bicameral system were con- vinced that such a means of ensuring mature discussion was un- necessary if the King was to have the veto. September 7 the Due de la Rochefoucauld remarked : ' I shall not be frightened out of my conclusion by the example of the two American States, of which one (Georgia) has already exchanged Its single legislature for two legislative bodies, and the other (Pennsylvania) will soon, it is reported, adopt this complicated system.' He explained that the French had one ' means not possessed by the Americans of providing against the dangers which come from the unity of the legislative body, namely, the royal sancUon.' With this the or- dinary gubernatorial veto was not to be compared, and the Presi- dent's veto a mere shadow. In regard to the heavy vote cast against the bicameral system it Is to be noted. In addition to what Mr. Lecky says in the text, that the manner In which the question was put placed the advocates of the system at a serious disad- vantage. See further an article in the American Historical Review (vUi. 466 fC.), by H. B. Bourne, on 'American Constitutional Precedents in the French National Assembly.' NOTES. 565 Page 174. The aim of the Assembly's decree relative to taxes was to prevent a premature dissolution of the States-General. Page 177. It should not be inferred from this that Jefferson thought the King's declaration June 23 a definite guarantee of such a constitution or an act of wisdom. Cf. his letter to Jay, June 24, Writings, 111. 59 fC. Page 179. Some distinction should be made between the Jacobin Club during the Constituent Assembly and its later phases. On the list of presidents are the Due d'AIguillon, In February, 1790 ; the Vicomte de NoalUes, in July ; the Prince de Broglie, in Jan- uary, 1791. The progress of opinion in the Club may best be studied in Professor Aulard's La 8oci€t€ des JacohinSj recueil de documents pour I'histoire du Club des Jacoiins de Paris, 6 vols. Page 180. It would be an ungrateful task to review the gen- eral statements In a concluding paragraph of this sort. The reader should note, however, that Mr. Leclsy has not alluded to the in- trigues of the court party under the influence of the Count of Artols which led to the dismissal of Necker and to the tumult in Paris ; further, that Paris did not remain under the control of the mob more than three days, although there were later out- breaks of mob violence ; and finally, that the fall of the Bastille excited great enthusiasm among liberal-minded men in Germany, in America, and In England. From the point of view of the old royal administration, France fell into a state of anarchy ; but out of this anarchy came a sound reconstruction of French society. Had the Constituent Assembly not carried its zeal for reform too far, for example, attacking the church. It is probable that the end of the Revolution would have been peace. Page 187. The decrees abolishing the feudal system were par- tially accepted in principle by the King September 21, and pro- mulgated November 3. It remained to draw up the specific laws which were to render them effective. The first law touching the redemption or abolition of feudal rights was ready in March, 1790. Page 188. In practice this veto would have been absolute had the King dared to use it, for the measure could only become law in spite of this veto if it were again brought forward by the two succeeding legislatures. This would require from a little more than two to a little less than six years. PAGE 189. Altliough their form was more ornate, the differ- ent articles of this Declaration of Rights were, with one or two exceptions, similar to those in the ' Bills of Rights ' prefixed to the new American State constitutions. Like their American pre- decessors, these principles were In part simply echoes of the great doctrines of English jurisprudence. Had they been stated In a form less obnoxious to the legal mind, and had one or two refer- ences to the equality of men been omitted, they could not have been regarded as other than admirable. 566 NOTES. Page 195, note 2. See, further, Dowden, TJie French Revolu- tion and English Literature. Cf. the impressions of contemporary Americans in C. D. Hazen's Oontemporary American Opinion of the French Revolution. Page 207. Cf. Morley's Burke, ch. vlli. Morley's estimate of Burlse's Reflections Is in substantial agreement with that given in the text, but he criticizes unsparingly certain portions of the work. He says : ' It lives because it contains a sentiment, a method, a set of Informal principles, which, awakened Into new life after the Kevolutlon, rapidly transformed the current ways of thinking and feeling about the most serious objects of our at- tention, and have powerfully helped to give a richer substance to all modern literature. In the Reflections we have the first great sign that the ideas on government and philosophy which Locke had been the chief agent in setting into £/uropean circulation, and which had carried all triumphantly before them throughout the century, did not comprehend the whole truth nor the deepest truth about human character — ^the relations of men and the union of men in society.' In another passage he remarks : ' Burke offers in their highest and most comprehensive form all the considerations that belong to one side of the dispute. He was not of those of whom Coleridge said that they proceeded with much solemnity to solve the riddle of the French Revolution by anecdotes. He suspended It In the same light of great social Ideas and wide principles In which its authors and champions professed to represent It. Un- happily, he advanced from criticism to practical exhortation, In our opinion the most mischievous and indefensible that has ever been pressed by any statesman on any nation. But the force of the criticism remains, its foresight remains. Its commemoration of valuable elements of life which men were forgetting. Its discern- ment of the limitations of things. Its sense of the awful emergencies of the problem.' Pp. 249, 210. Morley further remarks, apropos of the replies to Burke, ' But the substantial and decisive reply to Burke came from his former correspondent, the farmer at Brad- field, In Suffolk. Arthur Young published his Travels in France some eighteen months after the Reflections (1792), and the pages of the twenty-first chapter in which he closes his performance, as a luminous criticism of the most important side of the Revolution, are worth a hundred times more than Burke, Mackintosh, and Paine all put together.' 236. Page 215. Apropos of the pages describing the outrages suf- fered by the King and Queen, Morley remarks that If Burke bad kept all sensibility out of his argument his attitude would have been defensible ; but he showed feeling merely for one set of wrongs, those of the royal family. He adds : ' It was well to pity the unmerited agonies of Marie Antoinette, though as yet, we must remember, she had suffered nothing beyond the Indignities of 'he days of October at Versailles. But did not the protracted agonies of a nation deserve the tribute of a tear? ' Burke, 232-235. NOTES. 567 Page 216. Morley tbtnks Burke showed himself lamentably Ignorant of the constitution of Fiance before the Revolution, and particularly of social conditions. Ibid. 235 ff. Page 217. The clergy should have paid eight millions an- nually on the capitation tax. They redeemed the tax for twenty- four millions. This transaction amounted for the State to a loan at sixteen per cent. When the dlxlimes, which later developed Into the vlngtlSmes, were created, the clergy bought exemption for eight millions, the sum which they might have been expected to pay annually. Cf. Stourm, op. clt., 1. 9-10. Page 237. The result of recent careful and detailed Investi- gations of the actual sales of church property in three or four fairly typical regions shows that the class of peasant proprietors was not relatively Increased by the process — Indeed, the majority of the purchasers were from the bourgeoisie. See particularly an article by M. Lecarpentler in the Revue Historique, Ixxvll. 70 ff. Page 240. Morley notes the same popularity of Burke's book In these quarters, and adds, ' The great army of the Indolent good, the people who lead excellent lives and never use their reason, took violent alarm. The timorous, the weak-minded, the bigoted, were suddenly awakened to a sense of what they owed to them- selves. Burke gave them the key which enabled them to interpret the Kevolutlon in harmony with their usual ideas and tempera- ment. ... It Is when we come to the rank and file of the reaction that we find it hard to forgive the man of genius who made himself the organ of their selfishness, their timidity, and their blindness.' Ibid. 222-223. Page 242. It should be noted that however uniform was the new subdivision of France, every effort was made to give due weight to historical lines of division. Page 243. The question of this oath was highly complex. It should be remembered that the constitution which the clergy were to swear to maintain was not the Civil Constitution of the clergy, for this was a law and not a part of the constitution. Priests like GrSgolre thought they could take the oath without becoming schismatics. In reality, the exaction of any oath was part and parcel of the blunder of meddling with the church without its co- operation. The content of the oath for the bishops was ' De vell- ler avec soln sur les fiddles du dloefise qui lul est conflfi, d'etre fidSle S. la nation, a la lol et au Eol, et malntenir de tout son pouvolr la constitution d6cr§t§e par I'Assemblfe natlonale et ac- cepts par le Rol.' Title II., art. 21, Duvergler, Lois, I. 245. Page 249. Not all this emigration was necessary. An Im- portant phase of it Is described by M. Sorel as ' I'Smlgration vol- ontaire, celle de la premiere heure, qui forma le parti politique et constitua le noyau de la future armfie des princes. Elle est analogue & toutes les factions qui, dans tous les pays et dans 568 HOTES. tous les temps, valncues dans la patrle, sont allies & I'Stranger se preparer une revanctie et cherclier des allUs.' UEwope et la B6volution IranQaise, ii. 165 fE. Page 262. Apropos of the Impression made by this outburst of Burke, Morley remarks : ' The members who sat on the same side were aghast at proceedings which went beyond their worst appre- hensions. Even the ministerialists were shocked. Pitt agreed much more with Fox than with Burke, but he would have been more than human if he had not watched with complacency his two most formidable adversaries turning their swords against one an- other. Wiiberforce, who was more disinterested, lamented the spectacle as shameful.' Burke, 264. Page 264. Meantime, the King had been overthrown and exe- cuted, the war with England begun, and France had plunged into that fierce factional struggle, intensified by civil war and foreign invasion, which is known as the Reign of Terror. For. the progress of the reaction in England and the curtailment of the liberties of Englishmen in consequence, see May, Constitutional History of England, ii. 278 ff. Page 272. Cf. the remarks of Gabriel Monod upon Taine's French Revolution in the Contemporary Review, Ixiii. 535 ; also A. Gazier's criticisms in the Revue Uistorique, viil. 453-466. Page 283. It may be noted that another political writer, who has had a great reputation for perspicacity, the journalist Mallet du Pan, fell into the same strange error. See Bernard Mallet's Mallet du Pan, especially eh. v., for a general account of this. Cf. Sorel, op. cit., 11. 475 ff. Page 295. It is true that the local authorities were often too weak or cowardly to repress disorder, but the National Assembly should not be accused of indifference in this matter. It had no sooner attempted, by the generous measures of August 4, to re- move many just grievances, than it passed a decree wliich re- quired that all mobs be dispersed by the national guards, assisted, upon requisition of the municipalities, by the regular troops. Vaga- bonds were to be kept under strict surveillance. At the special prayer of Paris, October 21, a severe martial law was decreed. These are simply two examples of what the Assembly did. Du- vergier, Loia, i. 36-57, 52-53. Page 300, note 1. There is some curious information about this deputation from the human race in Alger's OUmpses of the French Revolution, ch. ill. In his speech Clootz referred to his deputation as ' A number of foreigners of all countries. ..." The use of the word embassy is incidental and in a comparison. ' Never,' said he, ' was an embassy more unimpeachable.' Soon afterwards he discovered that he was everywhere decorated with the title ' Orateur du genre humaln.' Cf. G. Avenel, Anacharaia Cloots, I. 188; Monitem; iv. 675. NOTES. 569 Page 316, note 1. Sorel thinks that the Initiative was taken by Prussia because of England's sudden change of policy. For the change of policy, see Lecky, ch. xvll. Page 319, note 2. Leopold had no Intention of bringing about BO complete a restoration of the King's authority that France could again assume a preponderant rdle In European a,Sairs. He believed England also would look with disfavour upon such an effort. See evidence in Sorel, 11. 225-226. Page 828. The Declaration of PUlnltz was, according to Sorel, hardly more than a scheme to quiet the clamours of the Emigres, who begged for a bellicose manifesto somewhat after the fashion of the later Manifesto of Brunswick. Its Impression upon the French was heightened because It became public about the same time that a letter from the Princes, dated Coblentz, September 10, was published. This letter explained the Declaration as an ef- fective alliance for intervention, and further asserted that they protested against any adhesion which the King might give to the constitution as obviously insincere. ' C'est alnsl que cette acte, combing pour retarder les fiv6nements, les prficiplta, et qu'au lieu de soutenlr les comblnaisons de Louis XVI., 11 contrlbua S. miner les dernl^res ressources dont ce malheureux roi attendalt son sa- lut.' 256 tf. Page 348, note 3. Part of the reason is given in the first por- tion of Gower's sentence : ' The sincerity of the acceptation is, nevertheless, doubted by many.' Despatches of Lord Gower, 123. Nearly all the outbreaks In the south had their special and local causes, which should be considered In forming an opinion of the condition of France in 1791. Cf. Stephens, French Revolution, 1. 471-516. Page 349. Most of the electors who were to choose the depu- ties were, however, elected by the primary assemblies before the Flight. Page 350, note 1. Many officers deserted, moved by a ' point of honor,' believing that since the King was not free to obey his nominal commands was to be unfaithful to him. Many also be- came emigres for the same reasons which moved other nobles. Page 356, note 3. Cf. Sorel, 11. 277 tf. Kaunltz remarked : ' La Poltronnerle et la faiblesse du bon Louis XVI., nous tlreront d'atfalre.' Page 358. The third decree further provided that such priests should be deprived of their rights as citizens and subjected to sur- veillance by the authorities as suspicious persons. Duvergler, Lois, f. 130. Page 369. S6gur's mission Is a striking Illustration of the In- triguing character of French diplomacy at this time, for though he was officially the King's minister the King sent word through BreteuU disavowing him. He was further discredited by a cor- 570 NOTES. rupt scheme, of which he knew nothing. It had occurred to BIron and to Talleyrand that the simplest way to control Frederick Will- iam II. was to purchase bis venal courtiers. The French minis- ter of foreign affairs was Inclined to permit the experiment. But the agent who was used was secretly in the service of the Aus- trians, and revealed the plot to them. It was immediately repre- sented at Berlin that this was the real mission of SSgur. For details, see Sorel, 11. 338 ff. ; 352 tt. PiGB 386, note 1. Arthur Young was alarmed at the pos- sibility that the allies might succeed. He said at the conclusion of his book ; ' Gentlemen, who Indulge tbelr wishes for a counter- revolution In France, do not, perhaps, wish to see the Prussian colours at the Tower, nor the Austrian at Amsterdam. Yet success to the cause might plant them there. Should real danger arise to France, which I hold to be problematical, it is the business, and direct Interest of her neighbours, to support her.' Travels to France, Bobn edition, 358. Page 392. In his own M6moires Talleyrand remarks slight- ingly of this mission : ' Je d^slrals m'^lolgner pour guelgue temps ; i'fitals fatigue, d§goflt§, et quoique je susse blen que cette mission avait pen de chances de succSs, j'acceptai.' Mimoires, 1. 220-221. Sorel says that the 6migr6s had done everything to discredit Tal- leyrand before his arrival, and that the King had disavowed him. The Blron affair was, he adds, arranged by the emigres. 11. 387 ff. Page 400. Chauvelin appears to have been oflCended that Tal- leyrand and Duroverai were to accompany blm ; ' . . . he found himself Just like a young man sent to a foreign court under the care of a couple of tutors. Such a thing appeared to him So humiliating that at first he refused to go.' Dumont, Becolleotiona of Mirabeau, 348-349. Dumont was at Paris at the time. Page 406. For the details of these military operations, see Chuquet, La premiere Invasion prussiennCj 46 ff. Pagb 409. The King was strengthened in his resolution to veto these bills by a letter which he received from Lafayette, and which enclosed a copy of the letter which Lafayette had sent to the Legislative Assembly denouncing the intrigues of the Jaco- bians. The concluding paragraph of this letter to the King began: * Perslstez, Sire, fort de I'autorite que la volonte nationale vous a deiSguSe, dans la ggnfireuse resolution de defendre les princlpes constltutionnels coutre tous leurs ennemls.* MSmoires, Corre- spondance et Manusorits du GinSral Lafayette, 111. 325 ff., 438 ff. Page 414. For the change in the tone and emphasis of the Manifesto It Is necessary to hold the emigres, Fersen — the Queen's confidant — and probably the Queen herself, responsible rather than the allied sovereigns. The Manifesto in Its later form was drawn up by M. de Llmon, a former ofllclai of the Duke of Orleans. See, further, Sorel, 11. 508 ff. Cf. Mallet's Mallet du Pan, 146 ff. NOTES. 571 Page 418, note 2. Arthur Young was more clear-sighted. April 26 he wrote : ' Oil and vinegar — Are and water — Prussians and Austrlans are united to carry on war amongst 26 millions of men, arranged behind 100 of the strongest fortresses In the world. — If we are deceived, and Frenchmen are not fond of freedom, but will fight for despotism — something may be done ; . . . but If united but tolerably, the attack will be full of difficulties in a country where every man, woman, and child Is an enemy, that fights for freedom.' Travels in France, 357-358. Page 419. Monge was a distinguished mathematician, later the chief founder of the Ecole Polytechnique. Page 429. This description of the conduct of Robespierre and Danton, especially of Danton, requires modification. The evidence offered in support of the charge that Danton was directly respon- sible for the massacres of September is unsatisfactory. The only documentary proof is the circular sent out, apparently under the authority of the ministry of justice, urging the example of Paris upon the other towns. Since Madame Holand herself, who was one of Danton's accusers, says he scarcely occupied himself at all with the duties of this office, it is not dlfllcult to suppose that others might have made use of the official seal to further their villanies. Sorel, whose impartiality may not be questioned, re- marks, ' Quant 9. I'expfditlon sous le couvert du ministre, II ne s'ensult pas n6cessalrement, comme le suppose Mortimer-Ternaux, que Danton et Fabre d'Eglantine Talent autorlsSe.' And as Mme. Roland speaks of the circulars In one passage as sent out ' sous le contreselng du ministre,' and in another passage ' sous son convert,' Sorel is Inclined to think she meant ' convert,' because the only copy which has been found had no ' contreselng.' Aulard, who is an admirer of the Jacobins, Is, nevertheless, inclined to con- cede more than does Sorel. He says, ' C'est trSs probablement Fable d'Eglantine qui fit la chose ou la laissa falre, pour plalre a Marat, en qui 11 voyalt le grand eiecteur de' Paris. Danton ne le sut pas ou I'apprit trop tard : les contemporalns ne Ten crurent pas responsable, on ne lul reprocha rlen, et 11 d^daigna de se Justlfler — en quol 11 eut grand tort.' As to Danton's rdle in general, Sorel remarks : ' Danton lou- voya. II essaya sans rompre avec la Commune et sans lul r^sis- ter ouvertement, de dfirlver le flot du c5tS de la defense. II fit proposer, le Ire septembre, a I'Hotel de viUe, par le procureur- syndic Manuel, et voter par la Commune que, le 2, le tocsin son- neralt, le canon d'alarme serait tlrfe, la g^ngrale seralt battue, tous les cltoyens en 6tat de porter les armes seraient convoqufis au Champ de Mars : Paris seralt Invitfi a fournlr solxante mllle volontalres. Cette diversion devalt entralner, loin des prisons, la majorlte du peuple de Paris; mals en mPme temps elle faisait I'affalre des massacreurs : elle leur Ilvrait la vllle. . . . Dan- ton, honteux de son Impulssance, cherche, dans la soir6e [of the third], a dfirober " a droite et a gauche autant de vlctlmes qu'il 572 NOTES. est possible & la hache." ... II n'a pu nl prSvenlr nl rS- primer le crime, 11 saura au molns en profiler. 11 n'en laissera pas le b6n6flce, c'est a dire i'effrol rSpandu et TautorltS con- guise, aux seuls §nergum6nes de I'Hotel de vlUe. II veut de la force, a. tout prlx. II aime mieux passer pour I'auteur d'un for- fait, qui effraye, que pour le comparse d'un gouvernement finervS.' Aulard says much the same, except that he regards the massacres much less In the light of a plot carried out by a tew blood-thirsty men under the leadership of Marat than as the result of an irre- sistible popular movement of hatred and fear. He says Danton ' fut d'avis, alnsl que le Consell exScutif qu'il insplrait, de ne pas entreprendre a ce propos une guerre civile oil le gouvernement, vaincu d'avance, aurait perdu tout son prestige et toute sa force.' The direct instigators were the comitfi de surveillance of the. Com- mune, not the consell-g«n6ral. Sorel, ill. 31 tt. ; Aulard, Etudes et Legons sur la Revolution fransaise, 39 ft. ; and in Lavisse and Eambaud, Histoire OinSrale, Till. 153 tt. Page 437. The French minister accredited to the Diet had sent word September 16 that the Empire had decided to break with France. For details of the French operations on the Rhine, see Bambaud, Les FratiQata sur le Rhin (1792-1804). Page 449, note 2. Sorel does not think the reports of the French agents in England should be taken seriously. He says they announced their negotiations with revolutionary organizations ' en les grosslssant pour se faire valoir. . . . No§l y dfiployalt une Imagination partlculifrement fgconde. A I'entendre, la fermenta- tion crolssalt toujours ; les whIgs voulaient se dSbarasser des arls- tocrates; le peuple de Londres voulait dStrulre la Tour, cette Bas- tille.' The Parisians readily believed such tales, and were still further flattered by the deputations which presented themselves at the bar of the Convention. They concluded It needed but a spark to republlcanlze both Islands. Sorel adds: ' C'fitalt une Strange m«prlse.' Hi. 214-215. Page 457. The Executive Council had already concluded that It was Impossible to ensure an indefinite prolongation of British neutrality. Lebrun wrote to Dumourlez, ' A la gloire d'avoir af- franchl les Beiges cathollques j'esp&re que vous .-folndrez celle de delivrer leurs frjres bataves du joug stadhoudSrlen.' For the growth of opinion In the Convention leading to the declaration of November 19, see Sorel, ill. 144 tt. Page 469. For text of decree of November 19. see Aulard, Becueil des actea du comite de Balut publio, 1. 239-240. VJnm 472, note 2. The decree of December 5 declared ' qu'lI convlent, quant a present, d'employer toutes les forces de la R6- publique contre les ennemis qui I'ont attaqufie les premiers,' that is, the Austrlans. Aulard, Rrcueil des actes du comity de Sahtt puiUc, i. 295. Sorel thinks this action partly due to the reception NOTES. 573 from Talleyrand of a Mimolre sur lea rapports actuels de la France ODec les autres Etats de I'Europe. Sorel's discussion of the rela- tions with England at this time may be read with special profit In connection with Mr. Lecky's treatment, III. 212-232. Page 484. The French agents appear to have been under no illusions as to the real attitude of Pox and other sympathizers with France. Fox told Chauvelin, ' Nous ne Toulons pas de guerre pour I'Escaut ; mals nous yous d£clarons en mSme temps que nous ferons cause commune avec le minlstSre, ct que nous sommes assures des neuf dlxl^mes des trois royaumes pour repousser I'ln- tervention des Frangais dans nos affaires Intferleures.' Quoted by Sorel from Chauvelln's December 7 report. See other passages, 111. 227, 230. May remarks, ' There is no longer room for doubt that the alarm at this period was exaggerated and excessive. . '. . The societies, however mischievous, had a small following : they were not encouraged by any men of Influence : the middle classes repudiated them : society at large condemned them.' Con- stitutional History of England, II. 284. Page 488, note 1. For the text of this decree, the accompany- ing proclamation, and the Instructions which were drawn up later, see Aulard, Rectieil, etc., I. 331-335, 416 ff. The terms were aggra- vated Jan. 31, 1793, In order to force the French system more effectively upon reluctant populations. Duvergier, Lois, v. 130. Page 532, note 2. It should be noted that Dumouriez wrote his M^moires when he had become an exile. He was not likely to present the opinions of the men he detested In a favourable light. Page 536. On the same day Chauvelin appeared before the Comiti de Defense gfinfiraie and gave an account of the English situation. He accused the English of practising an apparent neu- trality only because they had expected the Allies to be victorious. He commented on the bad effect the September massacres and the execution of the King had had upon public opinion, and opposed the scheme of Issuing an address to the English people. Aulard, Becweil, il. 38-39. The Executive Council ordered the expedition against Holland January 29. It also ordered French ships to at- tack ail vessels bearing the English flag. Aulard, Ibid. 22. Page 546. This Is followed by a few pages describing the effects of the Revolution upon the Whig party. INDEX Acts (and bills) : Allen (1792), 482, 487, 520; Quebec, 257. Alguillon, Duke d' : tried for abuses In Brittany, 51. Alguillon, Duke d' (son of the above) : leader In abolition of feudal rights, 233. Alsace, 324, 371, 374, 437. Anspach, margravate of, acquired by Prussia, 375 ; desired by Austria, 495. Argenson, d' : predicts the French Kevolutlon, 35. Artels, Comte d' : negotiations against French Republic, 315, 317 327. Assignats( French), 414, 460, 487. Auckland, Lord (William Eden) : on English IndltCerence to for- eign politics, 337, 389 ; English minister at The Hague, 461 ; reports from Holland, 466 ; ne- gotiations with De Maulde, 473 sqg., 535. Austria : policy In 1790, 302 ; guarantees integrity of Poland, 308 ; proposals of French emi- grant Princes, 314 : revolution- ary agitation, 321 ; alliance with Prussia, 323 ; war with France (see Coalition) ; In- trigues about partition of Po- land, 110. Avignon : seized 1^ France, 481 ; massacre by Jourdaln there, 531. Balrenth : acquired by Prussia (1790), 375, 495. Barbier : on Parisian religious disputes in 1733, 30 ; on French Parliaments. 49. Barre, Chevalier de la : tortured and beheaded, for blasphemy, 47. 88 Bastlle : capture of, 180 ; predict- ed by Cowper, 195 ; number of prisoners In it, 199 n. Beaumont, de, Archblshop(Paris), 32 38 42 "Bed' of 'justice," 25, 30, 48. Belgium : invaded and conquered by France, 439 sq., 448 ; pass- lug under French rule, 74 ; re- formed on French type, 487 ; fierce discontent, 489 ; harsh treatment, 516 ; proposed ex- change for Bavaria, 527, 537; fatuity of Austrlans, 534. Bender, Marshal, 370, 380. Benedict XIV. : Voltaire's "Ma- homet" dedicated to, 5 ; Brief about Bull "Unlgenitus," 39. Bessarabia : Russian designs on, 468. Beurnonvllle, General : against Coalition, 427, 433, 489. Bintinaye, Chevalier de la, 329, 335. Birmingham : antl-Bevolutionary riots (1791), 291. Blron, Duke of (Lauzun), 392. Blanca, Florida, 350, 369. Boncerf : his work inspired by Turgot, 113. Bouilie, Marquis de : faithful to Lewis XVI., 319, 325, 337, 350. Brienne, LomSnie de, Archbishop (Toulouse) : abolished law against Protestant (French) marriages, 11 ; Calonne's suc- cessor, 120 ; execrated, 150. Brunswick, Duke of : in command of Coalition forces, 373 ; procla- mation to the French, 410, 426 ; his slowness and Indecision, 432 ; battle of Valmy, 434. Bull baiting, 81. Bull "Unlgenitus," 28, 39, 41, 46. Burgundy, Duke of, 116. Burney, Miss, 286, 289. 575 576 INDEX. . Galas, judicial murder of, 56. * Calonne, M. de, 128, 333. Catherine II. (Kussia) : negotia- tions with Poles, 308 ; favours Intervention In France, 315 ; urges Austria and Prussia to war against France, 341 ; mo- tives, 342 ; designs against Po- land, 378 ; Invades that coun- try, 485; intrigues with Prus- sia, 495. Catholicism : state of, in France before the Eevolution, 2 sqq., 11. Chambers, Ephraim, author of an "Encyclopaedia," 7. Chatelet (French court of law), 52, 137. Chatelet, Mme. du, 4. Chauvelln, M. de : French minis- ter plenipotentiary to England, 397 ; estimate of English opin- ion, 400 ; on the proclamation against seditious writings, 409 ; on English neutrality, 441 ; aim to get Bepublic recognized, 444 ; relations with Sheridan, 508 ; peremptory note to Lord Gren- vllle, 510 ; Grenviile's reply, 513 ; complaint about Allen act, 520 ; Chauvelin's dismissal from England, 540. Church, French : many sceptics, 8 ; exemption from taxation, 32 ; priests banished, 38 ; con- demnation of sceptical writings, 46 ; conflicts with Parliaments, ib. ; Influence almost extinct (1774), ViS; in States-General, 166; "Civil Constitution," 243, 349 ; clergy slaughtered in Sep- tember massacres, 429 sq. "Civil Constitution " (French Church), 243, 349. Classes : division of, In France, 94. Clootz, Anatcharsls, 300, 387. Club Breton (afterwards Club des Jacobins), 179. Coalition against France (1792) : French defeats In Netherlands, 406 ; Neutrality of Hanover, 410 ; proclamation of Duke of Brunswlcl:, lb. ; extent of Coali- tion, 417 ; French frontier crossed, 418 ; dllatoriness of Brunswick, 425 ; capture of Longwy and Verdun, 426 ; siege of Thlonvllle, lb. ; battle of Valmjr, 434 ; retreat of allies, 436 ; (rermany Invaded by Cus- tlne, 437 ; French in Flanders, 430 ; Jemmapcs. ib. ; flight of Austrian Government from Brussels, 463 ; Custlne driven out of Germany, 489. Coblentz : centre of French emi- gration, 314, 361. Commercial classes : younger sons of nobility engaged In com- merce, 12. Condfi, Prince de, 249, 314. CornwalUs, Lord : Governor-Gen- eral of India, 454 ; defeat of Tlppoo Sahib, 455. Corvges (In France), 112, 114, 131. Cour : des Aides, 52, 137, 145 ; des Comptes, 137, 231; P16nl6re, 147, 149. Curt, M. de, 518. Custlne, General (French) : Inva- sion of Germany, 436 sg. ; de- feat, 489. Dancing : proscribed by Danton, 428 sq. Dantzlg, Prussian desire to ob- tain, 310, 378. Darwin, Dr. : praised the French Revolution, 195. Declaration of Bights (French), 232. Democratic spirit : societies and writings, 404, 454. Descartes, 2. Despotism : of French sovereigns, 90 sq. Didferot, 7. Dletlnes (polish), 309, 312. Dissenters : Joy at French Revo- lution, 189 sq. See also Eng- land — religious. Dubois-Cranc6 : military organiz- er of French Revolution, 134. Dumourlez, French Minister for Foreign Affairs, 382, 427, 433, 449, 471. Dundas, Henry : on English neu- trality (1791), 332. Du Roveray : with Talleyrand on mission to England, 397, 446. Dutch Legion (Legion Batave), 509, 516. Economists, school of (French), 88. ESngham, Lord, Governor of Ja- maica, 340 ; received vote of thanks from France, 386. Elliot, Sir Gilbert, 289. Emigres. French, 249, 272, 314, 317, 349. Encycloptedlsts, the, 7, 36, 38, 48. England— foreign, 1787-91 : atti- tude towards Poland (1791), INDEX. 577 313 ; absolute neutrality in French aCEalrs, 328, 351 ; neu- trality sincere, 332 ; popular Indifference to foreign affairs, 337 ; object, of Pitt's foreign policy, 388 ; second partition of Poland, 490 sqq. ; protest, 500. England — Effects of French Revo- lution on politics : belief that It would promote European peace, 183 ; benefit expected from eclipse of ITrance, 184 ; Whig antipathy to France, 185 ; re- fusal to send flour there, 186 ; revival of democratic .societies, 188, 252 ; hopes of Dissenters, 189 ; aristocratic democrats, 190; libels on Constitution, 192 ; healthy condition of coun- try, 193 ; salutary literary and religious Influences, 194 ; first Impressions of Fox and Burke, 195 ; speeches of Fox, 198, 203 ; of Pitt and Burke, 199 ; mo- tives attributed to Fox and Burke, 203 ; Burke's "Reflec- tions on French Revolution," 207 sqg. ; schism In the Whig party, 240 ; enthusiasts for Revolution, 250. England — Relations vplth France (1792) ; English distrust of Leopold rather than France, 385 ; pacific King's speech, 388 ; reduction of army and navy, 388 sq. ; French seek alliance with England, 393 ; and a loan, 399 ; state of politics, 405 ; at- tempted coalition, lb. ; French and English positions contrast- ed, 406 sq. ; refusal to interfere in favor of Lewis, 416 ; French King dethroned, 418 ; recall of English ambassador, .420 ; Sep- tember massacres : effect on English statesmen, 429 sqq. ; re- fiorts of French political agents n England, 441 ; speedy recog- nition of Republic demanded, 446 ; Grenvllle'3 opinions and policy, 451 ; English addresses to the Convention, 454 ; growing sedition, 455 ; Grenville's esti- mate of danger, 456 ; French provocations, 457 ; Pitt's chief anxiety about Holland, 460 ; apprehensions of danger, 461 ; determination to abide by Treaty of Alliance (1788), 463 : negotiations with Prussia and Austria, 464 ; disquieting news from' Holland, 466; Grenvllle on the alert, 468 ; French prov- ocations to Holland, 469 sqg. ; De Maulde gained over by Eng- land, 474 ; compromising pa- pers seized, 475 ; Auckland's ad- vice, 477 ; Grenvllle calls on Holland to arm, 478 ; English militia called out, 480 ; Parlia- ment summoned, lb. ; division among Whigs, 481 ; Allen bill : incendiary speeches of Fox, 482 ; arrogance of Chauvelin, 501 ; French provocations, 503 ; propagandism, lb. ; negotiations of Maret, 504 ; warlike public opinion, 507 ; relations of Oppo- sition with Chauvelin, 507 sq. ; invasion of Holland postponed, 609 ; peremptory note from Chauvelin, 510 ; Grenville's communication to Russia, 512 ; reply to Chauvelin, 513 ; un- equivocal language about Hoi- land, 515 ; question of French West Indian Islands, 518 ; Chauvelin protests against Allen Act, 520 ; Lebrun's answer to Grenvllle, 521 ; French repudi- ation of views of conquest, 523 ; English reasons for believing in war, 524 ; replies of Gren- vllle to Chauvelin, 526 ; letter of Miles to Maret, 526 ; pro- Sosed exchange of Austrian etherlands for Bavaria, 527 ; Imminence of attack on Hol- land, 528 ; De Maulde visits Auckland, 535 ; negotiations with Dumourlez, 537, 546 ; English war-feeling roused by execution of Lewis, 539 ; dis- missal of Chauvelin, 540 ; King's message to Parliament, 541 ; terms of proposed alliance with Prussia and Emperor, 548 ; proposed representation to France, 550 ; ought England to be blamed for the French war? 551 sqq. ; changes in char- acter of war, 555 ; it opens new era in English politics, 556. Eustache, General (French) : de- manded to march through Maes- trlcht, 471. Ffineion, 2, 116. Fleury, Cardinal : treatment of Parliament of Paris, 29. Fox, Charles James : first impres- sions of French Revolution, 195 ; expresses his sentiments in the Commons. 198 ; rejoin- der to Burke, 203 ; motives at- tributed, lb. ; sincerity, 204 ; 578 INDEX. conflict with Burke on Quebec BUI, 257 sqg. ; Fox's defence of his views, 262 ; breach com- plete, 263 ; extent to which it weakened the Opposition, 264 ; associates with Talleyrand and Chaurelin, 403 ; denounces Sep- tember massacres, 431 ; incen- diary speeches on Allen Bill (1792), 482; conflicting senti- ments, 483 ; his French sympa- thies repudiated in his own party, 484 ; followers a small minority, 486 ; relations with Chauvelin, 507 ; denounces exe- cution of Lewis, 540. France, 1785-88 : Goyernment sys- tem, 90 sqg. ; feudal rights, 97 ; unjust taxation, 101 sgg. ; ex- emptions of nobles, 104 ; com- parison of French and English taxation, 106 ; commercial re- strictions, 108 ; famines, 109 ; extremes of poverty and lux- ury, 110; Turgot's reforms, 111 ; Necker's schemes, 115 ; effects of American war in ac- celerating Revolution, 118 ; op- timism, 119 ; increase of pros- perity, 120 ; intellectual activ- ity, 121 ; moral aspects of the time, 122: new institutions of charity, 124 ; charm of French society, 125 ; no fear of revo- lution, 126 sg. ; disillusion : def- icit, 128 ; Notables summoned, 129 ; local self-government rec- ommended, 130 ; free trade in corn, 131 ; corvSe abolished, ib. ; effect of meeting of Notables, 132 ; insubordination in army and its causes, 133 ; Paris Par- liament in conflict with Crown, 135, 139 ; destruction of French influence In Netherlands, 139 ; civil rights granted to Protes- tants, ib. France : States-General : demand- ed for, 143; convocation prom- ised but postponed, 144 ; coup d'Mat (1788), 146; revolts in provinces, 148 ; bankruptcy de- clared, 149 ; Necker's second ministry, 150 ; States-General convoked, 153 ; method of elec- tion, ib. ; Necker's policy, 154 ; excitement of the elections, 159 ; famine (1788-89), 162 ; reforms proposed by the three orders, 164 sgg. ; manner of voting, 1(37 ; constitutional monarchy attainable, lb. ; meeting of States-General : leading men, 168 ; separate or united vote of three orders, 171 ; Third Es- tate proclaim themselves Na- tional Assembly, 174 ; many clergy join them, 176 ; capture of BasUlle, 180 ; summary of causes of Revolution, 180 sgg. France : Revolution ; Antecedents — Literary: change in literary spirit after Lewis XIV., 2 ; Vol- taire and Montesguieu, 2 sg. ; Encyclopaedists, 7 ; total alien- ation of intellect from Chris- tianity, 8 ; persecution of opin- ion, 7; freetblnklng, 10; Vol- taire's politics, 13 ; spread of toleration, 21 ; expectation of a bloodless revolution, 24 ; op- position to Court passes to men of letters, 67 sgg. ; decline of Voltaire's influence, 57 ; rise of Rousseau's, 58 ; his doctrines, 58 sgg. ; political Influence, 83'; the Economists, 89. France : Revolution : Antecedents — Parliaments: character and powers, 25 ; claim to represent nation, 27 ; conflict with Crown and Bishops, 28, 32 ; Parlia- ments naturally conservative, 31 ; attempts to check new tax- ation, 32 ; tickets of confession, ib. ; exile of the Parliament of Paris, 33 ; provincial Parlia- ments support It, ' 34 .; predic- tions of revolution, 35. 45 ; Paris Parliament recalled, 37 ; violence against priests, 38 ; new prominence of provincial Parliaments, 40 ; they condemn letters of cachet, beds of jus- tice, and the financial adminis- tration, 42 ; persecution of free- thinkers, lb. ; suppression of Jesuits, 43 ; taxes forced through Parliament, 44 ; regis- tration of edicts, ib. ; disputes with clergy, 46 ; political gues- tlons at issue, 48 ; King asserts absolute power, 50 ; trial of Duke d'Algulllon, 51 ; Maupeou suppresses Parliaments, 52 ; popular disturbances, 53 ; suc- cess of coup d'itat, 54 ; Vol- taire's approval, 56 ; Parlia- ments restored. 111 ; defenders of old privileges, 112 ; Paris Parliament centre of opposition after dissolution of Notables, 135 ; claims for States-General right to Impose new taxes, 136 ; Parliament again exiled, 137 ; recalled, 138 ; character and INDEX. 579 danger of opposition, 142 ; new conetltutlon, Imposed by King, 146. France : Revolution : Antecedents — Character of Oovernment: des- potism, 90 ; destruction of pro- Tlnclal government, 93 ; and of Independence of tribunals, lb. ; division of classes, 94 ; gentry attached to towns, 95 ; growth of peasant proprietary, 96 ; feudal burdens, 97 ; unjust and oppressive taxation, 101 ; other abuses, It? ; low state of agri- culture, 108 ; frequency of fam- ines, 109 ; contrasts of great poverty and luxury, 110. France : Revolution : Constituent Assembly : deeds of anarchy, 187 ; October days, 188 ; As- sembly transferred to Paris, 242 ; complete change in laws and administration, lb. ; "Civil Constitution" for clergy, 243 ; Kiag's authority destroyed, 244 ; concentration of power, 246 ; genuine reforms, 247 ; anarchy and emigration, 248 ; persecu- tion of clergy and gentry, 273 ; proselytising character of the Revolution, 279 ; death of Mlra- beau, 292 ; situation after Var- ennes, 293 ; character of As- sembly, 295 sqq. ; revised Con- stitution, 297 sq. ; Assembly dis- solves itself, 299 ; constitution of successor, lb. ; menacing as- f>ect of surrounding Powers, b. ; pacific spirit in France, 301 : negro revolution in St. Domingo, 340, 351, 386 ; en- thusiasm when King signed Constitution, 347 ; growth of anarchy, 348 ; increase of emi- gration, 349 ; suspicions of England, 351 ; distrust of King and Queen, 352. France : Revolution — Legislative Assembly : composition, 349, 356 ; measures against emi- grants, 357 ; relations with for- eign powers, 358 ; military situ- ation, 359 ; influences impelling towards war, 361 ; national ambition, 363 ; desire to over- throw new Constitution, 364 ; division in republican party, 365 ; triumph and demands of Glrondlns, ib. ; attempt to alien- ate Prussia from Austria. 369 ; ultimatum to Emperor, 377 sq. ; Austrian reply, 380 ; war party triumph, 382 ; anarchy of coun- try, 383 ; war declared against Emperor, lb. France : Revolution — War of 1792 : diplomatists distrust England, 389 ; Hlrsinger's cor- respondence, ib. ; Talleyrand's mission, 391 ; alliance with England desired, 393 ; mission of Ohauveiln, 397 ; loan sought, 399 ; belief that France must soon succumb, 403 ; invasion of Netherlands, 406 ; defeats, lb. ; Tuiieries captured by mob, 409 ; expected invasion of France, 410 ; Brunswick's proclamation, ib. ; its origin, 411 ; memorial of Mallet du Pan, 412 ; treat- ment of King and Queen, 414. France : Revolution — Invasion of France : extent of Coalition, 417 : frontier crossed, 418 ; revolution of August 10 ; Mon- archy abolished, 418 sq. ; Na- tional Convention summoned, 419 ; recall of English ambas- sador (Gower), 420; not re- sented in France, 424 ; advance of allied armies, 425 ; Liongwy, Verdun, Thionville, 426 ; Sep- tember massacres, 429 sqq. ; Valmy, 434 ; allies retreat, 436. France : Revolution — Triumphant : Austrian attack on Lille re- pelled, 436 ; conquest of Savoy and Nice, ib. ; Custine Invades Germany, 437 ; propagandlsm, 438 ; invasion and conquest of Flanders, 439 ; King of Naples humiliated, 440 ; boundless con- fidence, 441. France : Revolution — Negotiations with England ; distrust, 442 ; new agents, 444 ; recognition of Republic demanded, 446 ; Le- brun's policy, 449 ; Noel's pic- tures of English affairs, lb. ; English addresses to Conven- tion, 454 ; decree offering fra- ternity and aid to nations de- sirous of liberty, 457 ; French dominion in Flanders, 458 ; en- couragement of disaffected Dutchmen, 460 ; proposed "Dutch Legion," 461. France : Revolution — Provocations to Holland : generals ordered to pursue Austrlans on Dutch ter- ritory, 469 ; decree opening Scheldt and Meuse, ib. ; threat- ening letter of Clavl6re, 471 ; General Eustache demands ac- cess to Maestrlcht, lb. ; French ships sail up Scheldt, 472 ; in- 580 INDEX. trlgues with Dutch "Patriots," lb. ; recall of ambassador (De Maulde), 473; "reforming" Flanders, 487; decree of De- cember 15, lb. ; reverses In Germany, 489. France : Revolution — Continued negotiations with England : in- creasing arrogance of Chauve- lin, 5U1 ; instructions of Lebrun, 502 ; mission of Maret, 504 ; interview with Pitt, lb. ; secret negotiation proposed by Pitt, 505 ; refused, 506 ; Sheridan and Chauvelin, 508 ; invasion of Holland suspended, 509 ; vio- lence at Paris, 509 sq. ; refusal to restrict decree of I^ovember 9 to enemies of France, 510 ; Chauvelin's note to Grenville, lb. ; reply, 513 ; circular of Monge to seaport towns, 516 ; Lebrun's answer to Greenville, 521 ; repudiation of views of conquest, 523 ; project against Holland revived, 524 ; Brissot's report on English attitude, 525 fleet armed and Increased, 526 peace party in France, 529 sq. , hostility of Dumouriez to Jac- obins, lb. ; deplorable state of his army, 533 ; Dumouriez com- > missioned to negotiate with Auckland, 535 ; execution of King, 539 ; Chauvelin dismissed by Lebrun, 542 ; Maret sent to London, 548 ; report to Lebrun, 545; Convention declares war against England and Holland, 546 ; Maret quits London, 548. Frederick William II. (Prussia) : Polish question (1791), 305; sqq. ; proposals of French emi- grant Princes, 314 ; negotiates alliance with Leopold, 316, 323 ; desires Intervention with France, 326 ; interview and Declaration of Pilnitz, 327 ; urged by Catherine to war against France, 34l sq. ; indis- posed to act without the Em- ?eror, 360 ; rejects overtures rom Paris, 369 ; alliance with Leopold ratified, 373 ; sends army to frontier, lb. ; agrees to partition of Poland, 379. Gabelle (salt tax) ; pressure on poor in France, 131. Galllcanism : Its political tenden- cy, 30 ; order In council enjoin- ing observance of maxims, 46. Game laws : in France, 94. Generality (French financial di- vision), 130, Genest, Mile. (Mme. de Campan), 53. Geneva, 438. Genoa, 438. Glrondins : Insolent treatment of Lewis XVI., 409. Goltz, Baron, Prussian charge d'affaires at Warsaw (1791j, 492. Gower, Earl : envoy in Paris, 349 ; on French financial con- dition, 383 ; instructions for dealing with French Eevolu- tionary Government, 396 ; on French desire for war, 403 ; letters on state of France, 415 sq. ; recalled after abolition of monarchy, 420 ; discussion about his recall, 420 sqq. ; In- terview with Lebrun, 424 ; the "Dutch legion," 461. "Grand Chamber" (Paris Parlia- ment), 33. Hawkesbury, Lord : interview with De Curt about French West In- dia Islands, 518. Haynault : proposed surrender to King of Hungary, 315. Helvetius, 5. Hereditary offices, sale of (France), 91. Hertzberg, Count (Prussian states- man), 316. Hesse, Prince of : refuses French access to Maestrlcht, 87, 471. Hessian soldiers In pay of Eng- land, 389. Hirsinger's correspondence (polit- ical reports from England to France), 387, 396. Holbach's . "system of Nature" (defence of Atheism), 8. Holland : dangers from France (1792), 460, 466; French de- cree opening Scheldt, 469 ; threatening letter of ClaviSre, 471 ; French demand access to Maestrlcht, lb. ; sail up Scheldt, 472; the "Patriots," it).; recall of French ambassador (De Maulde), 473; Pensionary ob- tains information from him, 474 ; compromising French pa- pers seized at Utrecht, 475 ; critical situation, 476 ; Gren- ville calls on Holland to arm, 478 ; French invasion post- poned, 509 ; Dutch Constitution impedes military preparation, 517 ; signs of coming Invasion, INDEX. 581 523, 527; Convention declares war, 546. Hume : bis Toryism, 12. Jacobins : masters of France, 408 ; ascendency and terrorism, 414. Jansenists : disputes with Jesuits, 27 sqg. Japan: shipwrecked Japanese at Bt. Petersburg, 339 ; fitt's de- sire of commercial connection with Japan, lb. Jefferson, Thomas : his opinion of the French Revolution, 167. Jemmapes, battle of, 439. Jesuits : teachers of regicide, 12 ; contest with Jansenists, 27 sqq. ; books burnt and order sup- pressed, 43. Jones, Paul : death, 415. Jourdaln, General : massacre of Avignon, 349 ; amnestied by Assembly, 383. "Juge de Palx" established, 247 ; greatly diminished litigations, ib. JuUers and Berg, Duchies of : Prussian desire for their pos- session, 315 ; arrangement with Elector Palatine suggested, 325. JuUien, Marc Antolne : report to Lebrun on English opinion, 445. Jurandes (France) : suppressed by Turgot, 112 ; restored by Maurepas, 114. Juries : introduced Into France, 248. Kaunltz (Austrian statesman, 1756), 303, 307, 316, 356, 882. Keith, Sir B. : English minister at Vienna (1788), 330, 369, 373 Kellermann, General (French) : in Coalition war (1792), 427, 433. "La Belle Mignonne" (skull used in religious devotions, France), 47. Lafayette : In France again, 348 ; assisted Lewis XVI., 414 ; pris- oner in Austria, 427,> l.amballe, Princesse de : murdered by French revolutionists, 430. Land tax : proposed introduction In France, 129. Lebrun (French Minister of For- eign Affairs), 419, 424, 442 sqq., 521. Leopold, Emperor : Interested In French affairs, 303 j proposals to him of French Princes, 315 ; seeks alliance with Prussia, 316 ; hesitation about French affairs, 317 ; refuses to act alone In behalf of Lewis XVI., 318 ; policy before and after flight of Yarennes, 319 ; letters of Marie Antoinette to him, 321 ; proposes a Congress, 323 ; designs on Alsace and Lorraine, 324 ; Declaration of Pilnltz, 327 ; believes England hostile to the French King, 332 ; friend of Poland, 343 ; Increased re- luctance to intervene in France, 347 ; refuses to assist Lewis, 356 ; forbids enrolments of French emigrants In his domin- ions, 365 ; demands of France, lb. ; appeal from his sister, 367 ; perplexing situation, 368 ; reply to France, 370 ; French ultima- tum, 372 ; alliance with Prussia ratified, 373 ; still anxious to avoid war, lb. ; fears for Po- land, 375 ; death, lb. Lessart, de, French Minister of Foreign Affairs, 382, 391. Lewis XV. : political and moral decrepitude, 2 ; change in liter- ary spirit under, ib. ; persecu- tion of opinion, 9 ; disputes with Parliaments, 25 sqq. ; Bull "Dnlgenltus," 26, 27, 51 ; advocates and magistrates ex- iled, 29 ; character of Lewis, 32, 50 ; exile of Parliaments, 33 ; conflict of ecclesiastical and civil jurisdiction, lb. ; in- fluence of Mme. de Pompadour, 37 ; triumph of Parliament, lb. ; "beds of justice," 40, 48 ; con- flict and vacillation, 42 ; royal power sinking, 43 ; conflicts about taxation, 44 ; signs of coming revolution, 45 ; power of imposing taxes, 48; Lewis asserts his absolute power, 49 ; trial of Duke d'AlguIllon, 51 ; suppression of Parliaments (1771), 52; protest of princes of the blood, 53 ; success of the coup d'itat, 54. Lewis XVI. : restores Parlia- ments, 111 ; Turgot's reforms, 112 ; Influence of Maurepas, 114 ; effects of Turgot's dis- missal, lb. ; Necker's first min- istry, 115 ; series of Incompe- tent ministers, 118 ; Increased prosperity, 120 ; Court luxury and expenditure, 121, 126 ; Lewis's character, 126 ; dislllu- 582 INDEX. Blon under Calonne : deficit de- clared, 128 : assembly of the Notables (1787), 128 sq. ; re- sults, 129 sqg. ; unequal taxa- tion, 131 ; state of army, 13!i ; conflict with Parliament of Paris, 135, 139 ; retrenchment at Court, 187 : banishes Duke of Orleans, 139 ; civil rights conceded to Protestants, ib. ; character of Parliamentary op- position, 142 ; attitude and pol- icy of Lewis, 143 ; States-Gen- eral promised, 144 ; new con- stitution Imposed by King (1788), 146; proportion of commons In States-General, 152 ; their method of election, 153 ; Necker's policy, 154 ; po- litical agitation, 159 ; reforms demanded by the three orders, 164 sqq. ; what the King was ready to grant, 168 ; quarrels of commons with privileged or- ders, 171; "National Assem- bly,' 174 ; scene In tennis court, 175 ; King holds a ses- sion, 176 ; his offers, lb. ; re- jected, 178 ; defection of troops, 179 ; capture of Bastile, 180 ; revolution still not inevitable, ib. ; Lewis's weak and fluctuat- ing policy, 181 ; authority de- stroyed, 244 ; flight to Varennes, 293 ; accepts revised Constitu- tion, 298, 348 ; disavows pro- ceedings of emigrant Princes, 317 ; King distrusted in France, 352 ; refused help by Leopold, 356 ; Issues proclamation against emigration, 357 ; sanc- tions decree against emigrant Princes, 358 ; yields to Assem- bly's demand for war, 366 ; se- cret appeal to Powers for Con- gress, 367 ; breaks with Giron- ain ministers, 408 sq. ; Tulle- ries attacked, 409 ; hopelessly false position, 410 ; Grenvllle refuses to Intervene, 416 ; de- throned and imprisoned, 418 sq. ; executed, 639. Liberalism, English : its desire to restrict the functions of Gov- ernment, 123 sqq. ; modifica- tions in Its later type, 127 ; de- velopment of manufactures, 129 ; need of sanitary laws, ib. ; Influence of railways, enlarged philanthropy, the press, 130 ; old tendency reversed : Govern- ment Interference sought rather than resented, 131 ; large in- crease of taxation resulting, 132. Liberum Veto : meaning, 305 ; abolition proposed (1780), 206; Anally abolished, 209. Lille : siege and bombardment by Austrlans repelled, 436. Literature, French, 2 sqq., 57 sqq., 121. Longwy : captured by Prussians, 426 ; retaken by French, 436. Lorraine : feudal rights in, 324, 371, 374. Loughborough, Lord (see Wedder- burn) : succeeds Tliurlow as Pitt's Chancellor, 404. Mackintosh : on the French Revo- lution, 250, 447. Maestricht : French demanded to pass through it, 471. "Main levfie" (French legal term), 33. Malesherbes (Turgot's colleague). Mallet du Pan : memorial to al- lied sovereigns on danger of Lewis XVI., 412 sq. Malouet : on election of States- General (1789), 160; a mem- ber of that body, 168. Marie Antoinette : opposes Turgot, 114 ; extravagance, 115, 125 sq. ; manners and conversation, 119 ; popularity, 127 ; becomes unpopular, 146 ; letters to her brother (Emperor Leopold), 317, 321, 353; believes Eng- land hostile, 332, 352 ; Queen distrusted in France, 352 ; pol- icy and hopes, 353 ; hated by people, 363 ; appeal to Emper- or, 367 ; brutal insults offered her, 408 ; imprisoned, 419. Maulde de : sells information to Auckland, 474, 535. Maupeou : coup d'6tat (1771), 52. Maurepas : Influence over Lewis XVL, 114. Mayence, Elector of : relations with French emigrants, 365, 370. Mercier de la Riviere (French economist) : advocate of des- potism, 89. Mercy (Austrian Ambassador to Paris) : correspondence with Marie Antoinette, 318, 323, 332, 352. Miles, Mr. : aids Maret In his mis- sion to England, 526, 544 sq. Mlrabeau : member of third order IHDEX. 583 in StateB-Geoeral, 168 ; death, 292. Mollendorfj General (distinguished Prussian politician and sol- dier), 360, 493, 496. Montesquieu : influence of his visit to England on his writings, 3 ; political opinions, 65. Montmorin (French Minister of Foreign Affairs) : opinion on war policy of the Republic, 358, 366 ; trial and acquittal, 428 sg. Morris, Gouverneur : letters on events of French Eevoiution, 167, 170, 249, 425, 539. Mourges, Sciplo : French mission to England, 444. Narbonne : French Minister of War, 366. National Assembly : the Declara- tion of Rights, 232 sq. National Convention (France), summoned by Legislative As- sembly, 419. Necker : first ministry, 115 ; Pro- vincial States, 116 ; scheme of reform, 117 ; resignation, lb. ; recalled to office, 150 ; propor- tion of Commons and method of election of States-General, 152 sq. ; Necker's faults, 154. 156, 172, 175; dismissal, 179 sq. Netherlands, Austrian : events of 1792, 386 sqq. ; invaded by France, 406 ; French defeats, ib. See also Holland ; Belgium. Nice : annexed to French Repub- lic (1792), 52, 436. Ninon de I'Enclos' skull : used in religious devotions, 47. Noaiiles, Vicomte de : leader in abolition of feudal rights (France), 233. Noel (author of school books) : mission from France to Eng- land, 444 ; despatches, 449. Notables, Assembly of : not sum- moned since reign of Lewis XIII., 128 ; assembled by Ca- lonne ; its composition, 129 ; again assembled, by Necker, 152. Parliament, English : winter ses- sion, 1792, 481 ; debates of Allen Bin, 482 ; Fox's argu- ments, 482 sq. ; answered by his own followers, 484 ; King's message after execution of Lewis XVI., 541. "Patriots, Dutch," 460. Pays d'eiection. Pays d'6tat (France), 93, 103, 132, 145. Feasants, French, 96, 187, 237, 247. Persecutions — political, 4, 12. PStion, Mayor of Paris, 348, 419. Philanthropy, 89. Pilnltz, Declaration of (by Aus- tria and Prussia), 327, 371. Pitt, William (the younger) : first reference to French Revolution, 199 ; supports Burke, 259 ; neu- trality In French affairs, 328 ; objects of foreign policy, 338 ; advice to Burke, 341 ; pacific policy (1792), 388, 394; Tal- leyrand's mission, 390 sgq. ; Chauvelin's, 397 sqq. ; dismissal of Thurlow, 404 ; proclamation against seditious societies and writings, 405 ; negotiations for a coalition of parties, ib. ; Lewis XVI. dethroned, 419 ; re- call of Lord Gower, 420 ; step blamed, 421 ; September massa- cres, 429 ; erroneous estimate of French affairs, 458 ; apathy towards French conquest of Belgic provinces, 458 ; chief anxiety about Holland, 460 ; de- termination to abide by Treaty of Alliance, 463 ; motives, 464 ; negotiations with Berlin and Vienna, 465 ; disquieting news from Holland, 466; war prepa- rations, 480 ; meeting of Parlia- ment, 481; Warden of Cinque Ports, 482 ; debate on Allen Bill, 482 sqq. ; pacific language and conduct, 501 ; Interview with Maret, 504 ; proposes se- cret negotiation, 505 ; refused by France, 506 ; warlike public opinion, 507 ; execution of Lewis XVI., 549; Pitt utilizes popular war feeling, 540 ; dis- missal of Chauvelin, ib. ; war precipitated, 542 ; proposes joint representation to France, 550 ; pacific intentions, 551 ; blind to magnitude and danger of the war, 555 ; character of his min- istry changed, 556. Poland: first partition (1772), 307 ; Prussian designs, 484 sq. ; alliance with Prussia, 508 ; state since death of Sobleskl, 305 ; corruption and anarchy, 306 ; three Powers guarantee remaining territory, 307 ; alli- ance with Prussia, 319 ; revolu- tion In Constitution (1791), lb. ; 584 INDEX. Its dangers and merits, 310 ; refusal to cede Dantzlg and Thorn to Prussia, lb. ; Oonstl- tutlon approved by Prussia, iil'6 ; weakness, SiS ; gradual rise of conspiracy against Po- land, 'Hi ; coming to maturity, 376 ; Intentions of Catherine, 377 ; helpless position, 49U ; in- vaded by Russians, lb. ; conduct of Prussia, 491 ; projects for partition, 4U4 sq. ; carried out, 498 sq. Potocki, Count (Polish envoy to Berlin, 1792), 492. Price, Dr. (nonconformist minis- ter) : sermon before the "Eevo- lutlon Society," 191. Priestley, Dr. (Dissenter) : joy at French Revolution, 291 ; his house, etc., destroyed by a mob, ib. ; driven to take refuge in America, 292 ; made a French citizen, 457. Protestants, French : persecution of, 9, 56 ; marriages Invalid, 11 ; obtain rights of citizenship, 11, 139. Provence, Comte de, 314, 327. Prussia : claims to Juliers and Berg, 315, 325 ; policy in 1790, 303 ; guarantees integrity of Po- land, 309 ; question of Dantzlg and Thorn, 309 sqq. ; approves new Polish Constitution, 313 ; Austrian alliance formed, 323 ; secret ambitions, 324 ; acquisi- tion of Mareravates of Anspach and Baireuth, 375 ; ascendency after death of Leopold, 376 ; war with France (see Coali- tion) ; treatment of Poland, 492 ; projects for partition, 494 ; invasion, 497 ; explanation to England, 449. Quebec: Act (Constitution of Can- ada), 257 sqq. Quesnay (leader of French Econ- omists) : his principles In poll- tics, 89. Quesnel (Jansenlst) : works con- demned by Bull "Unlgenltus," 28. "Question prfiparatoire," "Ques- tion prealable"( France) : mean- ing of the terms, 146 n. Randon de Lucenay ; French revo- lutionary emissary to London, 445. Raynal : denunciation of events of French Revolution, 13. Reign of Terror (France), events of, 272, 419, 423, 427 sq. Relnhard (Secretary of French Legation in London), 399, 546. Revolution Society (London;, 191 sq., 252. Reynolds, Sir Joshua : admiration tor Burke, 288 ; character of his painting, 25. Robespierre: in the States-Gen- eral, 169. Rochambeau, Count : employed in raising rebellion in Austrian Netherlands, 387. Rohan Chabot, Chevalier de : caused Voltaire's imprisonment, 4. Roland (Girondin French Minis- ter of Lewis XVI.), 409. Rousseau : rising influence, 58 ; "Contrat Social" : relation to English speculation, lb. ; chief doctrines, 61 ; sovereignty of the people, 63, 72 ; criticisms of, by Voltaire and Burke, 64 religion and education, 66 adaptation to French ideas, lb. , doctrine qualiUed, 70 ; right of property, 73 ; absolutism of majorities, 74 ; universal suf- frage, 75 ; not consciously a revolutionist, 78 ; dislike of vlo- . lence, 79 ; approved of bull fights, 81 ; general estimate of his writings, 81 sqq. ; Influence and spread of his doctrines, 84 ; enthusiastic admiration, 88. Russia : policy in 1790, 302 ; guar- antees integrity of Poland, 308 ; designs against that country, 342 sq. ; carried out, 491 sqq. ; proposes to England concert on French aSalrn, 512. Sacheverell, Dr. : speeches consid- ered as authentic expression of the Whig theory of the Con- stitution, 266. Savoy : vicissitudes In 18th cen- tury, 436. Scepticism, 6, 8 sq., 40. Scheldt : French opening of. In violation of treaty rights, 469, 472. Schulenburg, Count (Prussian minister) : designs on Alsace and Lorraine, 324 sq. : policy towards Poland, 344, 346 : op- posed to war with France, 380 ; statements in regard to Poland, 491 ; invasion and partition, 495 sqq. INDEX. 585 September massacres (Frencb Kevolutlon), 4^9. Sheridan, Richard B. : relations with Chauvelin, 5U8. SIey6s, Abb^ : work In favour of commons (France), lu^, 165; sat In third order In States- General, IBS. Sinecures : French, 107. Kinking Bounds, 138, 140 sqq., 389. Sobieskl : state of Poland after his death, 305. Society : social contract, 58 ; French socialism, 230 ; French Revolution not socialistic, 232. Societies : Supporters of Bill of Rights, 191 ; Constitutional So- ciety, 192. Spain : alarm at French Revolu- tion, 350. Spies : captured by General Cus- tine, 437. Stael, de, Mme., 125. St. Domingo, negro Insurrection, 340, 386. St. Btlenne, Rabaut de (historian of National Assembly), guillo- tined, 169. Stormont, Lord, 268. Suffrage : English and American theory, 77. Tail!e( French tax), 102, 104, 115. Talleyrand ; mission to England (1792), 392; afterwards came to England for safety, 443. Taxation and taxes : taxes In France, 30, 97 ; unjust taxation, 101 sqq. ; arbitrary system, 103 ; reforms : Turgot's schemes, 111. Thlonville : besieged by Coalition (1792), 426; blockade raised, 436. Third Order (Tiers Etat), 151 sq., 166. 245. Three Orders (France) : Turgot's treatment of old system of States-General, 116 ; Calonne's (the Notables), 128; Brienne's, 129 sq. ; Necker's, 151 sq. ; pro- portion of representation, 153. See also France — States-Gen- eral. Tickets of Confession (France), 32, 37. Tolerance, religious : spread of toleration through Europe, 21. Treves, Elector of : relations with French imigris, 365 sq., 370. Tuiieries, capture of (1792), 409. Tnrgot ; memorable work of his ministry. 111 ; fall, 114. Valmy, battle of : Importance In history of France, 434. Vendfee, La : Insurrection against B'rench Republic, 349. Verdun : captured by Prussians (1792), 426; retaken by French, 436. Voltaire : visit to England, 3 ; early writings and career, 4 ; ill-treatment by Government, lb. ; character, 5 ; exile and an- tlchrlstian writings, 6 ; assists Encyclopffidists, 7 ; his printers published, 10 ; theory of gov- ernment, 13 ; on division of classes, 15, 18 ; sympathies with royal authority, 17 ; against universal suffrage, lb.; and democratic government, 18 ; feneral character of his mind, ; influence, 21 ; Its decline, 57. Wales, Prince of (George Ill.'a son) ; follows Fox in opposi- tion, 271 ; spoke in favour of the proclamation against sedi- tious writings, 405. Whigs : Whig theory of social contract, 58 ; schism wrought by French Revolution, 195 ; se- cessions from Fox, 262 ; true character of the party, 268 ; schism Increased, 404. Wilkes : predicts the French Rev- olution, 45. 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