Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/396

 384 FRANCE a contest of 12 years' duration Louis succeed- ed in his bold undertaking, and by the treaties of Utrecht and Rastadt (1713 and 1714) the house of Bourbon inherited the best part of the Castilian monarchy. The burden which he had borne was, however, far too heavy for his weak successors ; he had moreover taxed the energies of France and stretched the royal power to such an extent that a reaction was unavoidable, and had by tyrannical and im- prudent acts already introduced many of those abuses and elements of discord which were to have such disastrous results. The 18th century was an age of depression, decay, and ruin for all the institutions, doctrines, and classes that had hitherto commanded respect. Royalty lost its prestige, both through the unbounded licen- tiousness of the regent duke of Orleans and the king himself, and through the irretrievable corruption or imbecility of its ministers ; no- bility became degraded ; the great constituted bodies fell into general contempt ; the national treasury was exhausted ; and an uncontrollable spirit of censure and raillery hastened the work of destruction. Even the remedies that were tried, such as the wild financial schemes of Law under the regent, only added to the uni- versal confusion. Politically the French gov- ernment, controlled in turns by unscrupulous princes, by Cardinal Fleury (who, however good his internal administration, failed to sup- port the national dignity abroad), by the clever and infamous Cardinal Dubois, and by the king's mistresses, gradually sank in the eyes of Europe ; and toward the end of Louis XV. 's reign it could scarcely be ranked among the great European powers. The four wars in which France then participated, against Spain (171 7-' 19), for the succession of Poland (1733 -'35), for the succession of Austria (l740-'48), and finally the seven years' war (l756-'63), were productive only of disgrace and disas- ter. The widespread political degeneracy of the time was in some degree offset, it is true, by the remarkable intellectual activity which made itself felt in all departments of literature, and especially manifested itself in the teach- ings of that school of philosophy whose social, political, and metaphysical theories so largely affected the course of events during the re- mainder of the century. Louis XV. died in 1774, and his grandson Louis XVI. ascended the throne at a period which was perhaps the most inglorious of French history. Carlyle, in one of the opening paragraphs of his "French Revolution," compares the country, as it was left by the dead ruler, to a powder tower about which unquenchable fire was smouldering. " With Pompadourism and Dubarryism, his Fleur-de-lis has been shamefully struck down in all lands and on all seas ; Poverty invades even the Royal Exchequer, and Tax-farming can squeeze out no more; there is a quarrel of twenty-five years' standing with the Parlement ; everywhere Want, Dishonesty, Unbelief, and hot-brained Sciolists for state physicians ; it is a portentous hour." This description is not ex- aggerated. The tyranny and lawlessness of the nobles and privileged classes, the burden of heavy taxation and oppression, which rested almost entirely on the lowest orders, the reck- less mismanagement exhibited in every branch of the public service, and the unrestrained personal vice and extravagance of those in au- thority, had driven the great mass of the peo- ple into a bitterness of feeling almost beyond description; while the exhausted kingdom, with its recuperative forces apparently de- stroyed, seemed to be on the verge of financial as well as political ruin. The various abuses that had grown up and increased during nearly the whole century were now at their height, and it seemed evident that a disastrous crisis was approaching. In this condition of affairs Louis XVI. began his reign, undoubtedly with some idea of the state of his kingdom, and with the best intentions toward reform; but, as events proved, without the strength necessary to carry out his good intentions. Maurepas, a man eminently unfit for the work in hand, was placed at the head of the ministry. An at- tempt to conciliate the people was made by the restoration of the parliament of Paris ; but instead of promoting reform, this body proved a positive hindrance to it. Turgot and Males- herbes, associated with Maurepas in the min- istry, acted with considerable efficiency in the endeavor to improve the state of affairs, but were deposed through the influence of the court party as soon as they sought to interfere with the immunities of the privileged classes. Similar causes defeated the less earnest efforts of the ministers who followed them in quick succession. Necker, who became minister of finance in 1777, and held the office during the time in which France carried on war against England and in aid of the American colonies, at first seemed to improve matters slightly; but the expenses of the war, the usual opposi- tion of the nobles and clergy to any scheme of general taxation, with other causes, led to his deposition soon after the publication of his celebrated Compte rendu au roi. Calonne, who succeeded him in 1783, by extravagance and a reckless contracting of loans, plunged the finances into a more hopeless condition than ever ; and in 1786 the king was induced to call together the assembly of notables to consider the state of affairs, and especially to deliberate on certain schemes of Calonne. This assembly, which had before been convened by Henry IV. and Louis XIII., consisted of a number of lead- ing persons selected by the king from all parts of the kingdom ; and on this occasion, the last time in French history of its convocation, it included 7 princes of the blood, 9 dukes and peers, 8 field marshals, 22 nobles, and 98 high officials of different classes; 144 members in all. These met in February, 1787 ; but when Calonne's report revealed to them the extent of the existing debt and deficit, and proposed, with other measures, a land tax from which