THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

The strength of France had grown up as the strength of her kings. The States-General, representative of nobles, clergy and people, which had not been summoned for 175 years, was comparable to the English Parliament of the fourteenth century, in that it was summoned at irregular intervals and stated its grievances with no power of redress. The people of France had, in fact, no effective cheek on the prerogative of the King.

The whole social system was based on privilege and inequality. Enormous taxes were levied on the peasants by the nobles. The bourgeois, on the whole a rich and educated class, could get no exemption from taxes as the nobles could. They were really responsible for starting the revolution. The nobles were forced to live at Versailles in conditions of great luxury. Consequently they got all they could out of the serfs. Justice was virtually non-existent. By a "Lettre de Cachet," sold by the King, one could detain and imprison one's neighbour on no charge whatsoever.

Although the poorer classes were powerless to protest, and all society was based on inequality, there were many able thinkers and writers, mostly of the middle class, who had long felt the ancien régime to be intolerable and did not hesitate to publish their views. The most influential of these were Montesquieu, Voltaire and Rousseau. In his "Social Contract" Rousseau advocated a return to the state of nature. Man is born free and yet is everywhere in chains. These ideas of liberty and equality had become familiar during the War of American Independence when, by their intervention, the French had ensured the triumph of a people over their king. In the event the cost of this war hastened the coming of Revolution, for the actual outbreak in 1789 was due to bankruptcy.

Louis XVI had the very best intentions; Yet his qualities were negative; he lacked the imagination to realize how acute the crisis had grown. The Austrian birth and reckless extravagance of the Queen soon led to hatred and mistrust. It was felt, too, that her influence with the King was responsible for the frustration of economic reforms. The National Debt increased until the revenue no longer sufficed to meet the needs of the government. The King was left with no alternative but to summon the States-General.

The first causes of the Revolution.

The States-General having assembled, the Third Estate demanded that it should sit with the nobles and clergy as one House, instead of, as formerly, the three Estates sitting and voting apart. Louis XVI yielded and the National Assembly was formed. Unfortunately, he then took steps to overthrow the new Assembly with his troops and dismissed his Minister, Necker. The Paris mob rose, stormed the Bastille, the symbol of the ancien regime, and forced Louis to yield.

"How much the greatest event it is that ever happened in the world and how much the best!" was the judgment of Fox when he heard of the fall of the Bastille.

The Revolution spread to other cities, and on August 4th the clergy and nobles renounced their privileges. The attempt of the King to escape from France (June 1791) convinced the revolutionaries that he was not to be trusted. A Constitutional Monarchy having been established, the National, or as it was known, the Constituent Assembly dissolved (September 1791).

War with Austria

With the meeting of the new Legislative Assembly, composed entirely of men without experience. In April 1792 France declared war on Austria for refusing to interfere with the "emigrés" who were preparing to attack her from the Rhone valley, and this also involved war with Prussia. At first the Allies were successful, and the King was accused of trying to aid the invaders of France and was suspended.

Reign Of Terror

The enemy continued to advance and, in panic, the Paris mob broke open the prisons and murdered those suspected of disloyalty to France. The defeat of the Austrians at Valmy restored confidence, and the National Convention decreed that France should be a Republic. The Girondists, or Moderates, had at first the supremacy in the Convention, but on January 21st, 1793, the Mountain, as the Jacobin or extreme Radical party was called, secured the execution of the King and Queen.
Europe was horrified and the execution led directly to England's entry into the war. The disasters of the French in Belgium led to the appointment of the Revolutionary Tribunal for the punishment of suspected persons, and of the Committee of Public Safety consisting of nine persons holding supreme power. Meanwhile the Reign of Terror was being carried on. In the provinces the guillotines were found to do their work too slowly and at Lyons prisoners were shot wholesale; 12,000 victims were accounted for in the provinces alone, for the ancien régime must be completely stamped out. The successes of the French armies alone put an end to the Terror, and the Convention regained power. There arose a flame of enthusiasm for France and the Republic; abroad France was to become the protector and helper of all revolutionaries; all the world was to become republican.
The fourth stage was now reached. A Republican constitution was drawn up by which the Directory (an executive body of five members) was established (October, 1795). Until 1799 the Directory ruled France, and them, with a new constitution, the fifth stage was reached. Three consuls, of whom Napoleon was one, were appointed, and Napoleon soon made himself supreme. The Treaty of Lunévilc (1801), which established a French ascendancy in Europe, marks the close of the Revolution in its international aspects, while the assumption by Napoleon of the title Emperor (1804) marks its close in the domestic history of France.

On October 5th, 1795. a mob marched on the Convention, sitting in the Tuileries. It was an attempt, mainly Royalist, to overthrow the Republic before the new constitution could come into force. For the first time since 1789 the Paris mob was cowed by regular troops. Napoleon's swift action in sweeping the crowd with skillfully placed guns was the beginning of the reign of order. The history of the Revolution from this event is merged in the story of Napoleon's rise to power. The romance of the Revolution was ended.

Progress gained by way of revolution may be a doubtful blessing; yet it would be hard to deny that the world was well rid of the ancien régime, even when dispensed by the most enlightened of despots. The legacy of the Revolution may be summed up in its principles of the Rights of liberty, and equality. These were not at once realized.

In England rebellion produced Cromwell, and raised the hopes of the working classes for political freedom, in France the Revolution roused a national consciousness and established the Committee of Public Safety and a military despot in Napoleon.