SECTION I.

TOWARDS the close of the fifth century, the Franks, a nation the very name of which implies the free condition of the individuals who composed it, determined to leave their native forests, situated in that part of Germany enclosed by the Rhine, the Elbe, and the sea. They accordingly crossed the former of these rivers under Clovis, defeated their enemies in a pitched battle, acquired full possession of an extensive territory, which some of their countrymen had before invaded, and imposed at once their dominion and their name on Gaul.-Under the first, or Merovingian, and the second, or Carlovingian race, the throne was elective; and the people not only possessed the power of nominating, but according to indisputable testimony, they also exercised the right of deposing the sovereign if he proved unworthy of his station.

The great council of the nation was assembled every year in the Field of Mars, so called from the month in which they usually met. In this assembly the king presided as chief, and decided on all public affairs.

In the year 987, on the demise of Louis V. a new dynasty, called the Capetian, succeeded to the crown of Franco-Gallia, as it was then called, in the person of Hugh Capet, son to Hugh, Earl of Paris, to the prejudice of Charles, Duke of Lorraine, uncle to the deceased monarch, and his heir by blood. This prince, after overcoming and imprisoning his less fortunate rival, associated his own son with him on the throne, and even contrived to get him declared his successor. The crown having thus become vested in his family, in the course of the same reign, and in consequence of this very event, the dukedoms, earldoms, and all the magistracies and honours of the kingdom, which before were temporary, now became hereditary also.

See Hottoman's Franco-Gallia, eap. VI.
(No. 1.)

No sooner had a middle class arisen among SECT. I. the people, and begun to acquire some degree of opulence and respectability, than Philip le Bel determined to introduce their deputies into the general councils; and that they might be more at his devotion, these were chosen from the cities and towns within his own domains. This memorable event, which occurred in the first year of the fourteenth century, was productive of correspondent consequences; and the third state sat ever after in the assembly of the nation called the states-general, which was convoked occasionally during a period of three hundred and fifteen years. The states-general were again convoked under Charles V. in 1369, when they granted certain his successor, thinking, no doubt, that an assembly subsidies during the war only; and Charles VI. of notables might prove moretractable, summoned one accordingly in 1413. He appears to have solicited and obtained the consent of the university and citizens of Paris to this measure, which was rendered more agreeable by the plausible pretext of reforming the state: to keep up appearances, commissioners were chosen from the three different orders of the notables, but nothing beneficial appears to have been effected.

But it was not until the reign of Charles VII. that any thing resembling an uniform system of tyranny was aimed at; and it is to the long and bloody contests with England, that we are to attribute that despotism which overwhelmed ing himself of the popularity he had acquired by France for ages. The victorious monarch, availhis success, retained a body of men at arms in his pay, amounting to no more, however, than seventeen hundred.† To this increase of power, Charles added the influence of corruption; and by means of both, became the first King of France, who, by his own royal edict, and with

The French lawyers had by this time introduced the maxim, "Qui veut le roi, si veut la loi,"-the will of the king is the will of the law. B

out the concurrence of the states-general of the kingdom, levied subsidies at his pleasure.

Louis XI. who to the policy of our Henry VII. added a far more cruel and capricious tyranny than Henry VIII. succeeded but too well in reducing the innovations of his predecessor to a regular system. He also contrived to render his own despotism more formidable by adding to the military establishment of his father; and to lessen the general odium, he had recourse occasionally to the states-general, which he garbled at his pleasure, taking care that his own creatures only should be permitted to repair to the assembly, where no one was allowed to deliver sentiments in opposition to the will of the monarch.

Richelieu, a great and fortunate minister, about the year 1614, undertook the management of public affairs, and bereaved his country even of the hope of regaining any portion of her liberties. During his administration, the catholic grandees were kept in subjection, and the protestants, who always entertained liberal notions respecting government, were completely humbled; in short the crown was rendered independent both of the nobles and the people.

His successor, Mazarine, imposed a series of enormous taxes during the minority of Louis XIV. The long and extensive hostilities carried on by that monarch, after he had attained manhood, contributed also to subdue the spirit of the nation. The wars and dissipation of Louis XV. tended equally to harrass the public; arbitrary arrests by means of lettres de cachet, rendered personal liberty insecure; and had it not been that the parliaments, from time to time, exhibited a noble spirit of resistance, every notion of public liberty would have been extinguished, and the government of France must have speedily approximated to an oriental despotism.*

Having thus briefly exhibited the means by which France lost her liberties, it now remains to enumerate the 'events, in consequence of which, the power of the monarch was overthrown.

SECTION II.

AFTER the demise of Louis XV. who, like Francis II. fell a martyr to his debaucheries, the eares of government were destined to be endured, rather than sustained, by his grandson, a prince only twenty years of age. The young king had, however, conducted himself with great propriety while dauphin, and it was fondly hoped by the French, that they had at length found a good and virtuous sovereign.

Louis XVI. finding himself in want of a Mentor to superintend his conduct and regulate his judgment, selected the Count de Maurepas, and that nobleman, formerly banished from court, * Coramines, 7.

and now more than seventy years of age, was immediately elevated to the post of prime minister; and to restore confidence to the nation, and security to the state, Turgot was soon after placed at the head of the finances, and exhibited a series of talents and virtues which rendered his administration uncommonly brilliant but his severe probity, and strict economy, accelerated his fall, and the Queen, MARIE ANTOINETTE, whose expen-. sive habits began to give umbrage, solicited, and at length obtained his dismission.

When the unhappy contest occurred between Great Britain and her colonics, France, though already involved in a labyrinth of debts and anticipations, took part in the war in favour of the Americans, and Louis XVI. the descendant of so many absolute monarchs, did not deem it either impolitic or unjust, to enter into a treaty with, and acknowledge the independence of a people struggling for liberty. struggling for liberty. At this period, M. de Vergennes directed the department for foreign affairs; de Sartine was at the head of the navy; and M. Necker regulated the revenues as Compro troller-general.

This was, the first conflict with the same enemy, during some centuries, that did not prove inglorious to France; for although England dis played her ancient valour, and superiority on the occasion, yet she failed in the object of the con test; while the alliance of the American states, the temporary the temporary humiliation of an ancient rival, and the triumph ever attendant on success, gratified in no small degree the national vanity of the French people..

This triumph was but of short duration, for it was soon discovered that the profusion, of a race of weak and profligate princes, added to the expences of the war, and aggravated by the extravagance of an intriguing and luxurious court, had plunged the finances into a state of extreme embarrassment, and Necker was exiled to make way for De Calonne, his enemy and rival. Calonne, ever, fertile in expedients, resolved to have recourse to a measure, which had. often been resorted to in former reigns. This was the convocation of the notables, a body nominated by the prince, but yet bearing some resemblance to the states-general. This assembly accordingly met, on the 22d of February, 1787, and was dissolved on the 25th of May following, without having contributed in any degree towards removing the public difficulties. The disgrace of Calonne followed close upon the dissolution of the convocation of notables, and that. minister was in his turn succeeded by Cardinal Leomine de Brienne.

Recourse was now had to the odious measure. of raising money by the king's edict alone; and the doubling of the land-tax, the re-establishment of the third-twentieth, and a stamp duty,

SECT. II. province, experienced an unusual degree of agitation. Of the members constituting the parliaments of Toulouse and Grenoble, part were in exile, and part in prison; and the inhabitants were so irritated, that they had driven the governor of Languedoc out of his capital; while the troops, hitherto the firm supporters of arbitrary power in every monarchy, and particularly in France, refused to fire upon the populace. At Grenoble in Dauphiny, the peasants collected in large bodies from the neighbouring country, to assist the townsmen if necessary, against the soldiery: and terror and indignation, rage and dismay, prevailed every where by turns.

At length the court, seriously alarmed by the agitation in the provinces, dismissed the ministers, and such was the deplorable state of the finances, that only part of the demands on the treasury was paid in cash; the remainder being liquidated by means of bills, due at the end of the year; and the appearance of a partial bankruptcy was only avoided by a royal edict, enjoining all bankers, and others, to receive the paper of the caisse d'escompte as money. In addition to this, a scareity was threatened, and many of the people were actually perishing for want of bread the notion therefore became prevalent, that the states-general alone could rescue the nation from misery and despair.

At the earnest entreaty of M Necker, who had been recalled to the office of Minister of Finance, his Majesty consented to the convocation of the states-general, and much debate took place relative to the mode of forming that assembly; but an order of council was at length procured on the 27th of December, declaring that the deputies to the states-general should at least amount to one thousand: that the number sent by each bailiwick should be in a ratio compounded of its population and taxes; and lastly, that the members of the third should be equal to the joint amount of the other two estates.

The meeting of this celebrated assembly being at length fixed for the first of May, 1789, the whole nation appeared to be electrified. The city of Paris was divided into districts for the elections, and the bailiwicks began to draw up their instructions to the deputies, for the reformation of a multitude of abuses that had prevailed for ages.

SECTION III

At length the states-general, which had been by turns, promised, delayed, and precipitated, after a lapse of one hundred and twentyfive years, assembled at Versailles, on the 5th of May, 1789. The ceremony commenced with an act of devotion; the representatives of the nation, preceded by the ministers of the altar, and followed by the king, repaired to the temple of the Deity, amidst an immense crowd, who

offered up vows for the success of their endeavours to reform and regenerate the state. The splendour and variety of the robes of two of the orders, added greatly to the brilliancy of the spectacle; for the dignified clergy, were dressed in a style of grandeur suitable to their respective ranks, being adorned with scarfs, crosses, and crosiers, while the nobility were decorated as in the days of chivalry, with flowing mantles covered with lace; plumes of feathers waving in the air, stars and ribbons, calculated to, produce a theatrical effect, and swords glittering with gold and diamonds. The third estate, on which the people chiefly relied, on the other hand, seemed to affect simplicity, the members appearing in plain clothes, surmounted by short woollen cloaks, as in the time of Philip le Bel; but they were hailed by the surrounding multitude as the hope of their country, while a solemn and inauspicious silence prevailed during the procession of the rest of the assembly.

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After a long and tedious ceremonial, the king, who was seated in a magnificent alcove, with the queen on his left hand, and the princes and princesses of the blood around him, delivered a discourse to the assembly, in which he expressed his hope, that the convocation of the statesgeneral would communicate new vigour to the nation, re-establish public credit, and open additional sources of happiness. The speech of his Majesty was listened to with profound attention, and hailed with repeated bursts of applause. The keeper of the seals followed, and enlarged on the advantages of a limited government, equally remote from absolute monarchy on the one hand, and anarchy and republicanism on the other. M. Necker succeeded the keeper of the seals, in a speech of great length, in which he wished to direct the attention of the assembly principally to the state of the finances, which he allowed to be deranged, but stated the actual deficit not to exceed fifty-six millions of French livres.

Subsequent to this sitting, some disputes arose between the respective orders. The third estate (the commons) to the number of 583, declared themselves the representatives of the nation; and their first act was to declare all the imposts illegal, because they had not been consented to by the nation. They however, re-enacted them instantly in the name of their constituents, declaring, that they ceased on the very day on which the present assembly should be dissolved. All future proceedings were prevented in consequence of an extraordinary step on the part of the king, who on the 20th of June, declared by a herald at arms, that the debates of the assembly were suspended, and that it was his Majesty's intention to hold a Royal Session on the 22d. This assumption of power, wholly unprecedented in the history of the states-general, led to the most disastrous consequences. The members of the

assembly, finding themselves excluded from the national hall, by a guard of soldiers, assembled in the Tennis-court at Versailles, and the people, electrified by the conduct of their deputies, in their turn excited new zeal by their plaudits; some of the soldiery, partaking of the general enthusiasm, formed a guard of honour at the entrance*, while one of the members, who had been confined to his bed, caused himself to be carried into the Hall. And as if actuated by one general impulse, all the deputies rose and took an oath never to separate until the constitution should be formed, and the regeneration of France completed.

On the 23d of June, the three orders were assembled by the king's command, in Royal Session. The speech which the king was advised to deliver on this occasion, was not in the least calculated to give satisfaction to the nation. After lamenting the disputes that had taken place, his majesty insisted on maintaining the distinction of orders, and annulled the celebrated decree, by which the commons had declared themselves the national assembly. He, at the same time, alluded to the benefits which he was preparing to confer on his people; but nothing positive was said relative to the liberty of the press, or the participation of the states-general in the enaction of laws; on the other hand, he hinted at the retention of the most unpopular of all the prerogatives claimed by the crownthat of lettres de cachet, subject, howeyer, to certain restrictions; and the continuance of the tyrannical privileges arising out of the feudal incidents, the most cruel of all the restraints to which any nation can be subjected.

The sittings of the assembly having been continued, an union of the orders took place, and on the 27th, 47 of the nobles, headed by the Duke of Orleans, first prince of the blood, repaired to the hall of the states, and the minority of the clergy and the majority of the nobles, at the express recommendation of the king, followed their example.

In the mean time, notwithstanding these appearances of cordiality, orders had been for some time issued by the court, to collect a large body of troops; and as the French soldiery could not now be depended on, foreigners were preferred to the national regiments. Thirty-five thousand men were already cantoned in the neighbourhood of the capital; twenty thousand more were expected; a formidable train of artillery was provided at a prodigious expence; camps began to be traced out; the commanding eminences were crowded with batteries; the roads and bridges occupied by military posts; and the Marshal de Broglio was nominated to the chief command.

The capital, ever jealous of the court, and alarmed at these formidable preparations, was

* Précis de la Révolution Fran, par Rabaut de Saint Etienne.

(No. 1.)

now agitated to an extraordinary degree. The SECT. IV. people assembled in prodigious multitudes in the gardens of the Palais Royal, and dividing into groupes, were addressed by certain persons, whom they styled "orators," with a degree of eloquence that did not fail to please, and even to fascinate.

A large body of the soldiery, having become a part of the people, in consequence of their long residence in, and connection with the capital, began to make a common cause with its inhabitants, and to discriminate between the rights of men and the duties of soldiers. Nor were other means of seduction wanting; they were loaded with presents and caresses; they were feasted for whole days and nights in the Palais Royal, the residence of the Duke of Orleans; and to the delights of wine, were added the fascinations of gold, and the blandishments of women.

On the 12th of July, Necker, the only minister on whom either the nation or its representatives had any reliance, being suddenly deprived of his office, was sent once more into exile, and the new administration was said to consist of De Breteuil, Foulon, La Galesiére, La Porte, and the Marshal de Broglio; all of whom were considered as the decided advocates of the ancient anere despotism.

The period of the revolution was now advancing with rapid strides; and here, it may be proper shortly to advert to the numerous causes which conspired to shake the foundations of a throne, upheld by the veneration of fourteen centuries, and to facilitate the downfall of a prince, the successor of sixty-eight kings.

SECTION IV.

THE canses of that tremendous event, which was in its consequences to shake not only the monarchy of France, but all the kingdoms of Europe to their foundations, are various and palpable. Among these may be ranked the progressive improvement of the human mind: and the extension of letters and philosophy, as exhibited in the writings of Montesquieu, Raynal, Rousseau, Voltaire, Bailly, Buffon, Condorcet, Diderot, d'Alembert, &c. The age of Louis XIV. when writers of this description began first to flourish, and enjoy the fostering smiles of the great and powerful, has been considered as the Augustan epoch of French history; and it was then, that under the shelter of royal despotism, those weapons were forged which were afterwards destined to break its chains. Another of the. causes of the revolution may be traced to the extreme embarrassment of the national finances, and to the writings of the rival financiers, Necker, and Calonne, which disclosed secrets that proved ruinous to the credit of the monarchy; and