Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/397

 FRANCE 385 the privileged classes should not be exempt, there arose an opposition which compelled his retirement. He was succeeded by Brienne, archbishop of Toulouse ; but the notables con- tinued to oppose all plans for general taxation, and in May their assembly was dissolved. Various other methods of raising money were now devised ; but the parliament of Paris re- fused to register the royal edicts ordering their enforcement, and the king only compelled their registration by resorting to a so-called bed of justice. (See BED OF JUSTICE.) The parliament protested, and the king, in anger at this open resistance, banished the members to Troyes, but not before they had issued a spirited re- monstrance and a demand that the states gen- eral should be convened. This violent act on the part of the king caused general indignation, and partly owing to this, and partly to the ne- cessity for new loans, he retracted it soon after, and in September the parliament returned. The conflicts and disputes that followed its re- assembling, however, led to a new step, the constitution of a cour pleniere, which should pass upon the royal edicts ; and this measure aroused more opposition than ever, the duke of Orleans and several powerful nobles joining the general expression which pronounced it an illegal attempt to entirely set aside the parlia- ment's authority. In the provinces armed dis- turbances took place. All classes of the peo- ple, as well the privileged orders as the rest, now hoped for some amelioration through the calling of the states general; and this was everywhere loudly demanded. The king finally yielded; Brienne was deposed and Necker re- called; and the general assembly of deputies from all the recognized classes, constituting the states general, at last assembled at Ver- sailles in May, 1789 ; this being the first con- vocation of such a body since 1614. But the constitution of the new assemblage soon led to unexpected results. The privileged classes, the nobles and clergy, insisted that the meet- ings of the body and all its deliberations should be conducted with strict regard to the old class distinctions, the three estates meeting and vo- ting separately, as in former times, an arrange- ment by which the two higher estates would have been enabled to neutralize the action of the commons. For the first time this classi- fication met with the most determined oppo- sition; and in June, on the proposition of a member, the abbe Sieyes, the deputies of the third estate declared themselves the sole body having a right to act as the legislature of France, and summoned the nobles and clergy, as bodies representing only certain classes, to attend their deliberations. At first only eight clerical deputies and no nobles obeyed their summons, and the commons now (June 17) solemnly proclaimed themselves the legislators of the country, and constituted themselves a body under the name of the national assembly (in history specially designated the constituent assembly ; see CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION). A day or two later a majority of the clergy manifested a disposition to join them. Aroused by these proceedings, the king made an ill- advised attempt to check the course of events ; and on the 20th, when the deputies of the commons, accompanied by many clerical depu- ties, came to the place of meeting, they found their entrance prevented by a guard of soldiers. In the greatest indignation, they gathered in a tennis court near by, and here took a solemn oath not to dissolve their assembly until a con- stitution for the kingdom should be decided upon and established on a firm basis. A meet- ing in the church of St. Louis on the 22d gave them added strength ; and when, a few days later, the king appeared before them and, though delivering a half-conciliatory address, insisted upon their dispersing and meeting as prescribed, Mirabeau was unanimously sus- tained in sending to Louis his famous message : " We are here by the power of the people, and we will not be driven hence save by the power of the bayonet." With these events the revo- lution may be said to have begun. The finan- cial affairs and other business, to consider which the assembly had been called, had been pushed into the background, and the graver questions as to the rights of the people, the reorganization of government, and individual liberty, with which the American war had greatly aided to familiarize men's minds, now occupied the attention of all France. If the assembly had gone far beyond what had been foreseen, the body of the people, long oppressed, and now excited by the revolutionary clubs and the leaders who spoke to them of a republic, were ready to go much further than the assembly. A great part of the garrison of Paris shared the excited feeling of the populace, and events, of which we shall here give only a brief sum- mary, now followed in rapid succession. The king and his advisers collected a body of troops in Paris, and deposed and banished Necker. On July 12, when the people heard of decker's renewed dismissal and of his departure from Paris, the popular uprising began. A national guard under Lafayette was formed, and weapons and ammunition were taken from the public arsenals. On the 14th followed the attack and sack of the Bastile. (See BASTILE.) The people of the provinces speedily followed the example of the Parisians, and popular demonstrations of opposition began in all parts of the kingdom. Louis, who at first sought to conciliate the as- sembly by recalling Necker, and to quiet the people by confirming Lafayette's appointment, by appearing at the hotel de ville wearing the tricolored cockade, and by other means, met with only the most temporary success. The assembly, although they had long before, at the order of the yielding king, been joined by the nobles, daily took more decided measures. Schemes of general taxation were adopted; and on Aug. 4 the assembly took the decided step of abolishing all feudal rights and privi- leges of rank, and made their well known dec-