The History of the French Revolution ... Translated from the last Paris edition, with notes

Preface

I purpose to commit to writing the History of a most extraordinary Revolution, one that has caused a deep sensation, and upon which public opinion is still divided. I have not concealed from myself the difficulties of my task ; for strong political feelings, which it was considered had expired under military despotism, are now awakening from their slumber. All at once, men, borne down with age and toil, have experienced the revival of passions apparently extinct, and have imparted those passions to us their descendants and inheritors. But although we may have to maintain the same cause with them, we are not, therefore, obliged to defend their errors, more especially as we have the faculty of distinguishing between liberty and those who, whether with good or evil intentions, have devoted themselves to her service, possessing also, as we do, the advantage of having seen and conversed with those veterans who, yet absorbed in their recollection, and impressed with the emotions of the past, instruct us to identify our associations with the memory of long past events.

Perhaps the moment when the actors of this great drama are about to quit the scene, is the most proper period to write their history, for then we can receive their testimony without being made parties to their preju dices or political inclinations. Be this as it may, I have done my best to soften in my own bosom every feeling of personal bias. I have alternately supposed myself as either drawing my earliest breath in a cottage, inspired with a laudable ambition, and striving to attain that eminence from which I was debarred by the pride of the higher classes ; or else as having been brought up in a palace, the inheritor of ancient privileges, feeling the mortification of being compelled to disclaim a possession which I had reason to consider as conferring a lawful title. The moment I entered on this train of reflection, all partiality or bias lost its hold upon my mind. I have mourned for the losers in the conflict, and have consoled myself by the admiration of elevated characters. TRANSLATOR'S

ADVERTISEMENT.

. The celebrated work of which the following pages contain a translation, was originally published in Paris in 1824 and 1825, and since then has passed through twelve editions, being considered as the best written, and the most authentic and statesmanlike history of the great and extraordinary events of which it treats, and is supposed to have been one of the causes of Mons. Thiers being subsequently exalted to the high political honour of minister of France. The publishers ofthe present edition issued a translation ofthe first three volumes on the first appearance ofthe work, which has now been carefully corrected, and re-translated where necessary. The subsequent volumes have been carefully trans lated from the last French edition, which in numerous and essential points varies from the earlier editions by the insertion of new, and the omission of unauthenticated or erroneous matter.

The rapidity of events, a circumstance tending to confuse the reader, has been considerably obviated in the present translation, by the careful reduction of the text into headlines, and by giving dates, at the head of every page. The translator has also added some concise yet explanatory notes, and it has been his unremitting endeavour to render the text with the utmost fidelity. The whole of the appendices have been for the first time given to the English reader, and a copious index added, as a work comprising so vast a series of important facts is one not only for perusal but con stant reference. The present translation, it is therefore hoped, is one worthy of the popular original, and of the momentous events it professes to record. HISTORY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY.

Chapter I. The Moral And Political State Of France Towards The End

OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY— THE ACCESSION OF LOUIS XVI.— THE MINISTRIES OF MAUREPAS, TURGOT, AND NECKER. CALONNE. ASSEMBLY OF NOTABLES. —THE MINISTRY OF P.RIENNE— OPPOSITION BY THE PARLIAMENT OF PARIS, ITS EXILE AND RECAL THE DUKE OF ORLEANS BANISHED THE COURT— ARREST OF COUNCILLOR d'eSPREMENIL— NECKER RECALLED TO FILL THE PLACE OF BRIENNE— NEW ASSEMBLY OF NOTABLES— DISCUSSIONS TO WHICH THE STATES GENERAL GATE RISE —CLUBS FORMED— THE PROXIMATE CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION— THE FIRST ELECTION OF DEPUTIES TO THE STATES-GENERAL— THE FIRING OF THE MANUFACTORY OF REVEILLON— THE DUKE OF ORLEANS; HIS CHARACTER. With the revolutions of the French monarchy, history is well acquainted ; it is well known that first the Greeks and then the Romans carried their arms and civilization among the half-savage Gauls ; that after these conquerors, the barbarians established their military hierarchy ; and that this system of government transferred from individuals to the land, became as it were permanently secured, aud thus formed the feudal system.

Power was then divided between the feudal chief, styled king, and sub-chiefs named vassals, who in their turn became kings over their own subjects. In our time, when a new spirit of inquiry has rendered us more acute in detecting the faults of others, we have learnt with sufficient certainty, that the possession of power was first disputed by the vassals, which those who are placed very near its reach are always inclined to do ; that this power was afterwards divided between them, — thus forming the feudal anarchy ; and that, finally, it returned to the throne, where it became concentrated in despotism under Louis XL, Richelieu, and Louis XIV. The condition of the French population became progressively ameliorated by industry, the first source of riches and freedom. First in an agricultural, afterwards in a commercial and manufacturing point of view, she acquired sufficient importance to form a distinct nation.

When introduced in the character of a petitioner to the States-General, she appeared not but on her knees there to be reviled with pity and contempt *. Soon afterwards even Louis XlV. said that he would have no more of such abject assemblies, and declared it to the parliament, booted and with whip in hand. From this period a king was seen at the head of the state, fortified by a power badly defined in its theory but absolute in its practice, with grandees who had abandoned their feudal dignity in favour of the monarch, and disputed among themselves by intrigue that portion of the property of the people which was delivered into their hands ; besides this, an immense population existed, having no connexion with this royal aristocracy, except that of an habitual submission and the payment of taxes.

Between the court and the people parliaments intervened, invested with power to distribute justice, and to register the royal ordinances. Supreme authority is always disputed : when this is not the ease in the lawfully constituted assemblies of the nation, it takes place in the very palace of the prince. It is a known fact, that by a refusal to register, the parliaments suspended the effect of the royal ordinances, which always finished by a " lit de justice * " and an agreement when the king was weak, and a perfect submission when he was strong. Louis had not even to bind himself by any articles, for under his reign no parliament dared make remonstrances. He dragged the nation along with him in his train, and she covered him with the glory of the wonders she wrought in war and the arts and sciences.

Both subjects and monarch were unanimous, and drove towards the same end. But Louis XIV. had hardly expired, when the regent offered an opportunity to the par liament of revenging themselves of their long non entity. The expressed desire of a monarch so respected during his life, was disregarded after his death, and his will violated. Power was now con tested in earnest, aud a long struggle commenced between the parliaments, the clergy, and the court, in presence of a nation exhausted by long wars * In the States-general, the tiers 6tat, or thiid estate, a class not dissimilar to the burgesses when first summoned to English parliaments, remained uncovered, and never spoke but nn their knees ; but Mignet tells us on the present occa sion, that these days were past. Mignet, i. 31. Transl. • This expression means no more than that the king seated on his throne in parliament (lit de justice), ordained the measure he desired to pass.

Transl. n Accession of Louis XVI. Ministries of Maurepas „, -,-»T Turtfot dismissed and THIERS' FRENCH REVOLUTION. Necker introduced. 1777. 2 and Turgot. cession all his ministers ; and yielding finally to the public voice and the necessity of reform, called to the finances Necker, a Genevese who had accumulated great wealth as a banker, a partisan and disciple of Colbert, as Turgot had been of Sully. He was a skilful financier, and an upright econo mist, but a vain man, who set himself up as mode rator and judge in every question, whether of philosophy, religion, or liberty ; and deceived by the praises of his friends, and by the transports of a populace, flattered himself that he could lead the public mind into the adoption of his own views. Necker re-established order in the finances, and found means sufficient for the large expenses of the American war.

His genius being less com prehensive but more supple that than of Turgot, and trusting especially to the confidence of the capitalists, he obtained for the moment unexpected resources, and public confidence revived. But something more than financial artifices were necessary to terminate the embarrassment of the treasury, and he essayed the means of reform. The higher orders were not more tractable with him than they had been with Turgot: the parliaments, informed of his designs, combined against him, and compelled him to retire. The conviction of abuses was universal ; it was acknowledged on all sides ; the king was apprised of it, and suffered by it cruelly. The courtiers who enjoyed the fruits of these abuses wished to have seen the termination of financial difficulties, so long as it did not cost them a single sacrifice.

They harangued at the court, and there retailed their philosophical maxims ; when at the chase, they affected to commiserate the petty oppressions exercised against the rustics ; they have been even heard to applaud the freedom of the Americans, and received with marked respect young French men who returned from the New World. The par liaments also pompously discussed the interests of the people, stated in measured language the suffer ings of the poor, yet nevertheless opposed an equal distribution of taxes, as well as the abolition of the relics of feudal barbarism. All spoke of the public good, little as they cared for it ; and the people, not as yet distinguishing their true friends, applauded all those who resisted power, an enemy always before their eyes. By discarding Turgot and Necker the state of things was not changed, financial distress was still the same ; yet the intervention ofthe nation would have been for a long time dispensed with, but that the means of ministering to the prodigalities of the court were wanting.

The difficulty, removed one moment by the dismissal of a minister, by a loan, or by the forced establishment of a tax, re-appeared the next with increased magnitude, as indeed does every neglected evil ; and the time appeared fast approaching when it would be requisite to take a fearful but necessary step. A political intrigue brought forward Monsieur de Calonne, no favourite in the public opinion, for he had promoted the persecution of le Chalotais. Calonne, intelligent, brilliant, and fertile in resources, trusted to his genius and fortune, and delivered himself up to the future with the gayest carelessness. His idea was not to give way to the premature alarm, and not to prevent the evil until the very eve of its appearance. He gained over the court by his manners, inand weary of ministering to the caprices of its masters, alternately voluptuous and warlike, and sometimes both at once.

Up to this time all the energies of the nation had been devoted to the service or pleasures of its monarch : they were now directed to their proper use, — the examina tion of their own interests. The human mind traverses incessantly from one object to another. From the theatre and the pulpit the genius of the Frencli people hurried precipitately into the study of ethics and politics ; and then of a sudden all was changed. Let the reader figure to himself the usurpers of every national right for a full century, disputing for a worn-out authority ; the parlia ments threatening the clergy, the clergy denounc ing the parliaments; all contesting the power of the court ; and the court careless and tranquil in the midst of this struggle, devouring the substauce of the people, while surrounded by the greatest dis orders ; the nation enriched, and roused to a sense of its wrongs, administering to these contentions, the powerful, enlightened, and active population of France inflamed by the spirit of these divisions, profiting by all the disclosures of the con tending parties, deprived of political rights, dog matising in the most violent extravagant manner, for the subject matter of dispute was purely theoretical, and vainly tendering its riches and its blood to regain that station which the weakness of its governors had lost : such was the eighteenth century.

Its iniquity had reached its height when Louis XVI., equitable, moderate in his inclinations, carelessly educated, but naturally a benevolent prince, while yet very young, ascended the throne. He elevated an old courtier to the highest place in his counsels, and divided his confidence between Maurepas and the queen, an Austrian princess of lively and amiable disposition, who had obtained the greatest ascendency over him. But Maurepas and the queen not agreeing together, and the king yielding sometimes to his minister and sometimes to his wife, began very early to shew his unstable disposition. Not disguising from himself the state of his kingdom, he believed the philosophers on this point ; but having been educated in severely religious principles, he was decidedly estranged from them. Public opinion, which at that time became clamorous, pointed out to him, as a proper person to call to his counsels, Turgot, a member of the Society of the Economists, a virtuous and simple man, of a steady character, of dull parts, but obstinate and reserved.

Convinced of his honesty and charmed with his projects of reform, Louis XVI. often declared, " There are none but myself and Turgot who are the friends of the people." Nevertheless the reformations of Turgot were thwarted by the resistance of the nobles, who were interested in preserving all those kinds of abuses which that austere minister wished to des troy. Louis dismissed him with regret. During his whole life, which was nothing but one long martyrdom, he had the misfortune to perceive how good might be effected, and sincerely to desire it, but also to be destitute of the strength necessary to put it into execution. The king, placed between the court, the parlia ment, and the public, exposed to intrigues and suggestions of every description, changed in suc- Notables proposed. Ministry of Brienne — Financial Debates.

D'Espremenil. 1787. THE REIGN OF LOUIS XVI. 3 His character. Duport. fluenced it by his anxiety to accord every thing, procured for the king and every one some moments of ease, and caused a short season of happiness and blind confidence, to succeed to the most dark and sinister appearances. whom they pretended to have resisted ; public opinion triumphed. Calonne was pursued with maledictions, aud the notables invested with public favour, regretted nevertheless an honour gained at the price of such great sacrifices. If Mon sieur de Brienne had now known howto make use of the advantages of his position ; if he had pur sued with activity the execution of those measures consented to by the notables, if he had presented them all at once and without delay to the parlia ment at that critical moment when consent on the part of the nobles seemed absolutely neces sary, then was the time to have done so : for then the parliament, pressed on all sides, must have conceded every thing, and this measure, although partial and forced, would probably have prevented that struggle in which it was so soon engaged.

But nothing of the kind took place. By ill-timed delays time was given for repentance ; edicts were presented singly, and the parliament were thus allowed time to discuss them, to gain courage, and recover from the advantage obtained over the notables. After long discussions, the act respecting the edict for the second abolition of the cvrcees*, was passed and registered, and also another, per mitting the free exportation of grain. The greatest opposition was made to the land-tax subsidy, but it seemed dangerous by au open refusal to enlighten the public, and thus permit them to see that their opposition was purely from self-interest. Parlia ment at first merely hesitated, but afterwards, by making the land-tax subsidy and the timber-tax taken together the subject of one act, all diffi culty was obviated, for by opposing the timber tax, which affected the bulk of the tax payers, the public interest seemed to be promoted, and under the cloak of this popular measure the question of the land-tax subsidy was easily passed by.

During one sitting, where the peers were present, they loudly complained of the excesses, follies, and prodigalities of the court, and demanded a state ment of its expenses. One member, playing upon the word, exclaimed, " It is not statements, but states-general that we want." This unexpected requirement struck every one with astonishment. Hitherto the resistance of the parliament had been occasioned by their own grievances; every kind of opposition, whether favourable or not to the popular cause, had been seconded, provided it was directed against the court, to which all the evils complained of were attributed. Nevertheless the real object of complaint was hardly as yet clearly defined : the parliaments had always possessed so little influence with government, that they com plained rather from a habit of complaining, than from any idea that their remonstrances could occasion a revolution.

One single expression suggested an unexpected termination, every one echoed the cry, and the states-general were loudly demanded. D'Esprememl, a young councillor, a violent ora- This future, on which every one had calculated, at last approached ; decisive measures evidently became necessary. The people were unable to bear the weight of new taxes ; and the public purse was empty. There was but one way of meeting the impending evil, a reduction of the civil list ; and this measure not being sufficient, the including the nobility and clergy amongst the payers of taxes. Tlie financial projects already attempted by Turgot and by Necker, and adopted by Calonne, did not appear to him likely to meet with the consent of the privileged orders ; Calonne consequently determined to try the experiment of uniting them in an assembly composed entirely of notables, there to open his plans, and obtain his object, either by his address, or by the conviction of his arguments.

The too-confident minister was mistaken. The public opinion had not forgiven him for taking the places of Turgot and Necker. The people were delighted at the idea of a minister being rendered accountable, and supported the resistance of the notables. The most animated discussions took place. Calonne incurred the odium of attributing to his predecessors, and partly to Necker, the low state of the treasury. Necker replied and was banished, aud the opposition only became the more vigorous. Calonne, with great calmness and presence of mind, withstood all his adversaries ; and at his instigation Monsieur de Mironie'nil, keeper of the great seal, who had joined the parliaments, was deprived of his place. But his triumph only lasted two days. The king, who had a strong regard for him, engaged to more than he could perform, when he promised to support him.

His resolution was shaken by the notables, who promised to accede to the plans of Calonne, if their execution was committed to a minister more upright and worthy of confidence. The queen, by the suggestions of the Abbe" de Vermont, proposed a new minister, Monsieur de Brienne, Archbishop of Toulouse, one ofthe notables who had been most active in ruining Calonne, in the hopes of succeeding him. The Archbishop of Toulouse, a man of obstinate mind and feeble character, had dreamt of the ministry from his boyhood, and pursued by every means this object of his ambition. His chief sup port was in the ladies, whom he endeavoured to please, and succeeded. He on every occasion boasted of his administration of Languedoc, and if he did not, on arriving at the ministry, obtain that favour which had surrounded Necker, he had in the eyes of the public the merit of making amends for Calonne.

He was not at first prime minister, but became so soon. Seconded by Monsieur La moignon, keeper of the seals aud the obstinate enemy of parliaments, he commenced his career with sufficient advantage. The notables, engaged by the promises they had made, consented with alacrity to all which they had before refused : the land-tax, the timber-tax, the suppression of cortees, and provincial assemblies, were all consented to with the greatest affectation of willingness. It was not the measures themselves, but their author, • Corvee was, in the language of the Feudisls, the Averayium, days-work or bind-days, viz. drudging services performed by feudal tenants to their loids, in harvest and et other seasons. This was one of the most oppressive Incidents of feudality, and bore baidest on the tiller of the soil.

In England it was compounded for by a payment called reap silver, from a very eaily peiiod. See Monastic and Social Life in the 12th century, p. 46. (vote.) B2 Interference of Duke of Orleans at the Sept. 1787. Notables incompetent to consent to taxation. 4 THIERS' FRENCH REVOLUTION. Seance Royale. Public ferments. agitation. The disturbances assumed a grave as pect, so much so, that the constituted authorities found it difficult to repress them. The parliament sitting at Troyes, assembled every day, and called the causes. Neither advocates nor solicitors appeared, and justice was suspended, an event which had often happened during the course of the century. In the meanwhile, the parliament remained in exile, and Mons. de Brienne was with out money ; he maintained with assurance that he should not want any, and tranquillized the court, who were uneasy on that sole account : but his funds soon became exhausted ; and incapable of terminating his difficulties by an energetic reso lution, he negotiated with some members of par liament.

The conditions demanded were, the loan of 440 millions, the whole to be paid by equal yearly dividends in four years, at the end of which the states-general were to be convoked. At this price Brienne gave up the two taxes, the subject of so much discord ; and being sure of the co-operation of some members, he trusted to the whole body, and the parliament was recalled on the 10th of September. A royal sitting took place on the 20th of the same month ; the king came in person to present an edict relative to the creation of a successive loan, and the convocation of the states-general in five years. The nature of this sitting was not ex plained, nor was it known whether it was a " lit de justice" or not. A solemn silence was preserved by the whole assembly, whose faces were clouded with melancholy.

The Duke of Orleans rose, his features agitated with all the marks of violent emotion. He addressed himself to the king, and demanded, if this assembly was a " lit de justice," or a free consultation ? " It is a royal sitting," replied the king. The councillors Fre'teau, Saba tier, and D'Esprerne'nil, spoke after the Duke of Orleans, and declaimed with their usual violence. The recording of the edicts was immediately forced. Fre'teau and Sabatier were banished to the isles of Hyeres, and the Duke of Orleans to Villers-Cotterets. The states-general were discharged for five years. Such were the principal events of the year 1787- The year 1788 commenced by new hostilities. On the 4th of January the parliament passed an act against " lettres de cachet," and for the recall of exiled persons. The king annulled this act, and the parliament confirmed it anew.

During this time the Duke of Orleans, exiled to Villers-Cotterets, was unable to support his banish ment with resignation. This prince, embroiled with the court, had reconciled himself with public opinion, which had not at first regarded him favourably. But being devoid either of the dignity of a prince or the firmness of a tribune, he could not endure the slightest pain, and to obtain his recall, condescended to solicit the good offices of the queen, his known enemy. Brienne, although irritated by the obstacles he had met with, had not the energy to overcome them Weak in Europe against Prussia, to whieh he had sacrificed Holland ; powerless in France against the parliament and the grandees of the state, he was no longer supported by any save the queen, and moreover was frequently disabled from attendine to business by bad health.

He could neither retor, a reckless agitator, a demagogue in the par liaments, and aristocrat in the states-general, and who was afterwards declared to be in a state of insanity by a decree of the constituent assembly, this D'Espremenil, I say, showed himself on this occasion one of the most violent parliamentary declaimers. But the opposition was secretly con ducted by Duport, a young man of distinguished talent, and of a firm and persevering character, who alone perhaps in the middle of these troubles, proposed to himself a definite object, and wished to lead his party, the court, and the nation, to an end entirely distinct from a parliamentary aristo cracy. The parliament was divided into old and young councillors. The first sought a countervailing ba lance against the royal authority for the honour of their own body ; the latter, more ardent and more sincere, wished to introduce liberty into the state, without overturning, nevertheless, that political system under which they had been bred.

The parliament made a grave declaration, declaring itself unauthorised to consent to taxes, and main taining that that power solely belonged to the states-general ; and it also demanded from the king an account of the public receipts and expenses. This declaration of in competency-, and even of usurpation, for the parliament had until then arrogated to itself the right of consenting to taxes, astonished every one. The prelate minister irritated by this opposition, commanded the parliament to assemble immediately at Versailles, and had tho two acts registered in a " lit de justice." (Aug. G, 1787.) The parliament on their return to Paris, made protests, and ordered an inquiry into the prodigalities of Calonne. Suddenly a decision of the council broke up its proceedings, and banished it to Troyes.

(Aug. 15, 1787.) Such was the situation of things on the 15th day of August, 1787- The two brothers of the king, Monsieur and the Count d'Artois, were sent, one to the Court of Accounts, and the other to the Court of Aids, to have the edicts there registered. The first, who had become popular by the opinions he had manifested in the assembly of notables, was received by an immense crowd with acclama tion, and reconducted to the Luxembourg in the midst of universal plaudits. The Count d'Artois, who was odious on account of the support he had given to Calonne, was saluted by murmurs of dis content ; his suite was attacked, and he himself was obliged to have recourse to an armed force for his protection. As to the parliaments*, at this time they were protected by numerous defenders, composed of lawyers and persons employed in official capacities in the palace, of clerks, students, and an active population, disposed to insurrection.

To these natural allies of the parliaments were to be added those capitalists who apprehended a national bank ruptcy, the enlightened classes who were devoted to all who formed an opposition, and lastly, the mob, which always ranges itself on the Bide of * The parliaments of France bore scarcely any analogy to the English parliament. The French parliaments were supreme courts, assigned by charter and ancient pre scription, to cities and provinces, within which their juris diction was absolute. The parliament at Rouen was termed the Exchequer. Transl. Lamoignon's scheme. Declaration of the parlia- 17S8. D'Espr6m6nil arrested. The tiers etat suggested. THE REIGN OF LOUIS XVI. 5 ment of Paris. press revolts, or put into execution the reductions decreed by the king ; and in spite of the approach ing exhaustion of the treasury, he affected an in conceivable security.

Nevertheless, in the middle of so many difficulties, he did not neglect to pro vide for himself new offices, and to load his family with fresh dignities. Lamoignon, the keeper of the seals, not so weak, but possessing less influence than the archbishop of Toulouse, concerted with him a new plan for the accomplishment of their chief object— that of striking a blow at the political power of the parliament, for there was the principal seat of power at that period. It was necessary to keep this secret. All was prepared in silence : sealed letters wei*e sent to the commandants of the pro vinces ; the press where the edicts were prepared was surrounded by guards. It was intended that this project should not be known till the mo ment of its promulgation to the parliaments. The time approached, and a report was spread abroad that a great political act was in preparation.