Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/31

 REVOLUTION

REVOLUTION

LiNGARD, Hist, of England, X (London, 1849), the standard Catholic account; Lodge in Hunt and Poole, Political Hist, of England, VIII (London, 1910); Temperley in Cambridge Modern Hist., V (London, 1908); Trevelyan, England under the Stuarts (London, 1904); Wtatt-Davies, Hist, of England for Catholic Schools (London, 1903); Green, Hist, of the English People (London, 1877-80); Macaulay, Hist, of England (London, 1849); Taswell-Langmead, English Constitutional Hist. (London, 1875); Bright, Hist, of England, 2nd period (London, 1880); GuizOT, Pourquoi la Revolution a-t-elle reussif {1640-1688) (Paris, 1850) ; Mazure, Hist, de la revol. de 1688 (3 vols., Paris, 1825). For earlier accounts consult Defoe, Revol. of 1688 re- printed in Arber, English Garner, XII (London, 1903) ; Eachard, Hist, of the Revol. in 1688 (London, 1725); Burnet, Hist, of my Own Times (last edition, Oxford, 1897-1900); Dodd, Church Hist. (Wolverhampton vere Brussels, 1737-42); Speke, Secret Hist, of the happy Revol., 1688 (London, 1715).

Edwin Burton.

Revolution, French. — The last thirty years have given us a new version of the history of the French Revolution, the most diverse and hostile schools having contributed to it. The philosopher, Taine, drew attention to the affinity between the revolutionary and what he calls the classic spirit, that is, the spirit of abstraction which gave rise to Car- tesianism and produced certain masterpieces of French literature. Moreover he admirably demonstrated the mechanism of the local revolutionary committees and showed how a daring Jacobin minority was able to enforce its will as that of "the people ". Following up this line of research M. Augustin Cochin has quite recently studied the mechanism of the socieles de pensee in which the revolutionary doctrine was devel- oped and in which were formed men quite prepared to put this doctrine into execution. The influence of freemasonry in the P>ench Revolution proclaimed by Louis Blanc and by freemasonry itself is proved by the researches of M. Cochin. Sorel has brought out the connexion between the diplomacy of the Revolu- tion and that of the old regime. His works prove that the Revolution did not mark a break in the continuity of the foreign policy of France. The radically inclined historical school, founded and led by M. Aulard, has published numerous useful documents as well as the review, "La Revolution Frangaise". Two years since, a schism occurred in this school, M. Mathiez undertaking in opposition to I\L Aulard the defence of Robespierre, in consequence of which he founded a new review, "LesAnnales Revolution- naires". The "Societe d'histoire contemporaine", founded under Catholic auspices, has published a series of texts bearing on revolutionary history. Lastly the works of Abbe Sicard have revealed in the clergy who remained faithful to Rome various ten- dencies, some legitimist, others more favourable to the new political forms, a new side of the history of the French clergy being thus developed. Such are the most recent additions to the history of the French Revolution. This article, however, will emphasize more especially the relations between the Revolution and the Church (see France).

Meeting of the Estates. — The starting point of the French Revolution was the convocation of the States General by Louis XVL They comprised three orders, nobility, clergy, and the third estate, the last named being permitted to have as many members as the two other orders together. The electoral regulation of 24 January. 1789, assured the parochial clergy a large majority in the meetings of the bailliages which were to elect clerical representatives to the States General. While chapters were to send to these meetings only a single delegate for ten canons, and^ each convent only one of its members, all the cures were permitted to vote. The number of the "order" of clergy at the States General exceeded 300, among whom were 44 prelates, 208 cures, 50 canons and commendatory abbots, and some monks. The clergy advocated almost as forcibly as did the Third Estate the establishment of a constitutional government based on the separation of the powers,

the periodical convocation of the States General, their supremacy in financial matters, the responsibility of ministers, and the regular guarantee of individual liberty. Thus the true and great reforms tending to the establishment of liberty were advocated by the clergy on the eve of tlie Revolution. When the Estates assembled 5 May, 1789, the Third Estate demanded that the verification of powers should be made in common by the three orders, the object being that the Estates should form but one assembly in which the distinction between the "orders" should disappear and where every member was to have a vote. Scarcely a fourth of the clergy had formally advocated this reform, but from the opening of the Estates it was evident that the parochial clergy desired individual voting which would give the mem- bers of the Third Estate, the advocates of reform, an effectual preponderance.

As early as 23 May, 1789, the cur^s at the house of the Archbishop of Bordeaux were of the opinion that the power of the deputies should be verified in the general assembly of the Estates, and when on 17 June the members of the Third Estate pro- claimed themselves the "National Assembly", the majority of the clergy decided (19 June) to join them. As the higher clergy and the nobility still held out, the king caused the hall where the meetings of the Third Estate were held to be closed (20 June), where- upon the deputies, with their president, Bailly, re- paired to the Jeu de Paume and an oath was taken not to disband till they had provided France with a constitution. After ^lirabeau's thundering speech (23 June) addressed to the Marquis de Dreux-Brcze, master-of-ceremonies to Louis X\T, the king himself (27 June) invited the nobility to join the Third Estate. Louis XVFs dismissal of the reforming minister, Necker, and the concentration of the royal army about Paris, brought about the insurrection of 14 July, and the capture of the Bastille. M. Funck- Brentano has destroyed the legends which rapidly arose in connexion with the celebrated fortress. There was no rising en masse of the people of Paris, and the number of the besiegers was but a thousand at most; only seven prisoners were found at the Bastille, four of whom were forgers, one a young man guilty of monstrous crimes and who for the sake of his family was kept at the Bastille that he might escape the death-penalty, and two insane prisoners. But in the public opinion the Bastille symbolized royal absolutism and the capture of this fortress was regarded as the overthrow of the whole regime, and foreign nations attached great importance to the event. Louis XVI yielded before this agitation; Necker was recalled; Bailly became Mayor of Paris; Lafayette, commander of the national "militia; the tri-colour was adopted, and Louis X\T consented to recognize the title of "National Constituent Assem- bly". Te Deums and processions celebrated the taking of the Bastille; in the pulpits the Abbe Fauchet preached the harmony of religion and liberty. As a result of the establishment of the "vote by order" the political privileges of the clergy may be considered to have ceased to exist.

During the night of 4 August, 1789, at the instance of the Vicomte de Noailles, the Assembly voted with extraordinary enthusiasm the abolition of all priv- ileges and feudal rights and the equality of all French- men. A blow was thereby struck at the wealth of the clergy, but the churchmen were the first to give an example of sacrifice. Plurality of benefices and annates was abolished and the redemption of tithes was agreed upon, but two days later, the higher clergy becoming uneasy, demanded another discus- sion of the vote which had carried the redemption. The result was the abolition, pure and simple, of tithes without redemption. In the course of the dis- cussion Buzot declared that the property of the clergy