Outlines of Universal History Part 41

NEWTON: ADAM SMITH.--_Sir Isaac Newton_ (1642-1727), the discoverer of the law of gravitation, made, through his _Principia_, one of the most important contributions ever made to the advancement of physical science. In 1776 _Adam Smith_, a Scotchman, who had previously written on metaphysics and politics, published his treatise on _The Wealth of Nations_, the first complete system of political economy. He showed that money is not wealth, but simply one product serving as a means of exchange. He made it clear, that, for one nation to gain in trade, it is not requisite that another should lose. Much light was thrown on political economy by essays of _Hume._

V. AMERICA.

The most notable American writers before the War of Independence were _Jonathan Edwards_ (1703-58), a great metaphysical genius, and the founder of a school in theology; and _Benjamin Franklin_ (1706-90), whose writings, in excellent English, related mainly to ethical and economical topics. As the Revolution approached, there sprung up authors of ability on the political questions of the day. _The Federalist_, written after the war, by _Hamilton, Madison_, and _Jay_, in favor of the proposed Const.i.tution, is a work of high merit, as regards both matter and style.

NATURAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE.

The inductive method, or the "Baconian" method of observation and experiment, began to bear rich fruits. _Sir Isaac Newton_ (1642-1727) not only discovered the law of gravitation: other discoveries by him in mechanics and optics were of great moment in the progress of those sciences. Fluxions, or the differential calculus, was discovered independently by both _Newton_ and _Leibnitz_. _Euler_, a Swiss mathematician of the highest ability (1707-1783), contributed essentially to the advancement of mechanics. _Napier_ invented logarithms, to shorten mathematical calculations. _Huygens_, a Dutch philosopher (1629-1695), invented the pendulum clock. _Gregory_ (1638-1675) invented the reflecting telescope, _Halley_, an English astronomer (1656-1742), gave his name to a comet whose return he predicted. _Guericke_ invented (1680), and _Robert Boyle_ (1627-1691) perfected, the air-pump. _Boyle_ was active in founding the Royal Society (1660). _Volta_, by the invention of the pile called by his name, and _Franklin_, signally advanced the study of electricity. In the history of zoology, _Buffon_ is a great name, as is that of _Lavoisier_ in chemistry. _Linnaeus_, a Swede, born in the same year with Buffon (1707), attained to the highest distinction by reducing botany to a system. The lives of the eminent astronomers _Lagrange_ (1736-1813), _Laplace_ (1749-1827), and _Sir William Herschel_ (1738-1822), outlasted the eighteenth century.

The radical improvement of the steam-engine by _James Watt_, a Scotchman (1736-1819),--who obtained his first patent in 1769,--and the invention of the spinning-jenny by _Richard Arkwright_ (1732-1792), are indicative of a new era of progress in the application of science to practical arts and uses.

RELIGION AND THEOLOGY.

ENGLISH DEISM.--The religious debates and the religious wars of the seventeenth century were followed by much indifference and disbelief in the eighteenth. Weariness with sectarian struggles, and revolt against the yoke of creeds, were pushed to the extreme of a denial of revealed religion,--finally, in France, to a denial of the truths of natural religion also. In England, there appeared a school of deistical writers, beginning earlier with _Lord Herbert_ of Cherbury (1581-1648), and continued through _Tindal_, _Morgan_, _Bolingbroke_, _Shaftesbury_, _Collins_, and others. On the other side, _Butler_, _Lardner_ (1684-1768), _Bentley_, the best of England's cla.s.sical scholars and critics (1662-1742), and, later, _Paley_ (1743-1805), were among the authors who defended the divine origin of Christianity on rational and historical grounds. Of these writers, _Butler_ was the most profound, _Lardner_ and _Bentley_ the most learned, and _Paley_ the most lucid.

THE "QUAKERS."--During this period, the Society of Friends, "Quakers,"

was founded in England by _George Fox_ (1624-1691), who in 1647, impelled by what he considered a divine call, began the life of an itinerant preacher. He and his followers were subjected frequently to cruel persecution, both in England and America. In exceptional cases, they fell into extravagances of enthusiasm, interrupted public wors.h.i.+p, walked in the streets clothed in sackcloth, or in some instances naked. They condemned war, practiced non-resistance, objected to oaths and to a paid ministry, and set an example of the utmost plainness and simplicity in speech and dress. Among their many converts were _William Penn_, and their able and learned theologian, _Robert Barclay_ (1648-1690). The Friends, by their Christian forbearance and patience, their purity of conduct and their philanthropy, and their tranquil piety, gradually won the respect of the other religious bodies, who were at first offended by their novel tenets and manners, and by the occasional occurrence of revolting manifestations of a half-insane enthusiasm.

METHODISM.--Of the religious movements in Protestant countries, Methodism is the most noteworthy. This movement was originated by a little group of students at Oxford, of whom _John Wesley_, his brother _Charles_, and _George Whitefield_ were the chief. Of these, _John Wesley_ (1703-1791) united with intellectual ability and cultivation, and religious fervor, a remarkable organizing capacity. _Whitefield_ was an orator in the pulpit, of unrivaled eloquence. He was a Calvinist in his theology, and separated from _Wesley_ on account of Wesley's Arminian views. They were nicknamed "Methodists," from their strictness of life in the University, and their systematic ways. _Wesley_ and his a.s.sociates preached to the common people in England, including the poor colliers and miners, with untiring ardor and surprising effect. Their converts were very numerous, and were formed into societies under a definite polity and discipline. The Wesleyan movement was much opposed in the Church of England by those who stood in dread of enthusiasm. By ordaining lay preachers and superintendents for America, and by putting its chapels under the protection of the Toleration Act,--measures which _Wesley_ deemed necessary,--Methodism became separate from the Anglican Established Church. As a distinct body, it gained a. mult.i.tude of adherents in England and America.

MORAVIANISM.--In 1722 a company of persecuted Moravian Christians was received by Count _Zinzendorf_ (1700-1760) on his estate, situated on the borders of Bohemia. They founded a town called _Herrnkut_. _Zinzendorf_ became their bishop. The new community was distinguished for sincere piety and for missionary zeal. They did not in the least antagonize the Lutheran churches, yet had an organization of their own. Some of them settled in America. The Moravians never became a very numerous body; but their influence in promoting spiritual religion and education, and in carrying Christianity to the heathen, has been more potent than that of many larger bodies of Christians. It was specially wholesome in Germany, at a time when, under the auspices of _Frederick the Great_, the French type of unbelief prevailed in the higher cla.s.ses of society.

PIETISM.--Prior to _Zinzendorf_, _Spener_ (1635-1705), a man of devout feeling, had given rise to the "Pietists," as the promoters of a warmer type of religious experience than was approved by the current opinion were derisively named.

SWEDENBORG.--_Swedenborg_ (1688-1772), a Swedish n.o.ble, a mathematician and naturalist of large attainments, communicated, in copious writings, what he sincerely professed to consider special revelations made to him respecting G.o.d, the unseen world, and the sense of the Scriptures. His adherents are called "The New Church," or Swedenborgians.

THE JESUIT ORDER.--Under the influences that had sway in the eighteenth century, the authority of the popes sank in the Catholic countries. The spirit of innovation was rife. One of the remarkable incidents of the time, characteristic of its tendency, was the conflict of Portugal and the Bourbon courts of France and Spain, with the Society of Jesuits. The Jesuits had secretly established, un.o.bserved, a state under their own exclusive control in _Paraguay_, a part of which, by a treaty of Portugal with Spain, fell to Portugal. Other charges, some relating to interference in political affairs, and some to other and different grounds of complaint, led to the expulsion of the order from all Portuguese territory (1757); and soon after, it was suppressed in France and in Spain, and in several of the Italian states. The Jesuit order was formally abolished by _Pope Clement XIV._ in 1773, to be again restored by papal authority in 1814.

ESSAYS AT POLITICAL REFORM.

RUSSIA: GERMANY.--The minds of men were unsettled, not only by the prevalent tone of literature and speculation, but by governmental changes and reforms. The disposition was to introduce French methods of administration. _Catherine II._ of Russia (1762-1796) tried the experiment of various judicial and educational reforms. _Frederick the Great_, with more wisdom and consistency, introduced many changes for the benefit of the industrial cla.s.s. The most sweeping reforms were undertaken by the Emperor _Joseph II_. (1780-1790), after the death of his mother, _Maria Theresa_. His measures for the reduction of the power of the clergy and of the n.o.bility, the closing of monasteries, and the weakening of the connection of the Austrian Church with Rome, were of a very radical character. He himself finally became convinced that they were too radical to be completely realized, in the existing state of opinion among his subjects. Two of his reforms--the abolition of serfdom, and the edict of religious toleration--remained in force. The other changes did not survive him. The attempts to impose his reforms in the Austrian Netherlands provoked an insurrection. _Leopold II. _(1790-1792), _Joseph's_ successor, suppressed the Belgian revolt, but repealed the ordinances of his brother which had occasioned it.

TUSCANY.--In Tuscany, the brother of _Joseph II., Leopold,_ prior to his becoming emperor, undertook likewise a great plan of ecclesiastical reform in the same line as that of _Joseph_ (1786); but there the opposition of the bishops prevented him from practically carrying out his scheme.

PORTUGAL.--In Portugal, the house of _Braganza_ had ascended the throne in 1640. _Joseph Emanuel_ (1750-1777) left the management of the government to his minister, _Pombal_. His measures were contrived to weaken the power of the n.o.bles and the clergy. By him the warfare against the Jesuits was carried forward. The fall of _Pombal_, which followed the death of the king, led to the abolition of all his reforms, which had the same fate as those undertaken later in Austria by _Joseph II_.

LITERATURE.--See the lists of works on pp. 16, 395, 450, and Adams's _Manual of Historical Literature_; SCHLOSSER'S _History of the Eighteenth Century_ (8 vols,); NOORDEN'S _Europaische Gesch. im 18tn. Jahr.: Der Spanische Erbfolgekrieg_ (2 vols.); Lord John Wakeman, _European History_, 1598-1715; Ha.s.sall, _European History_, 1715-1789; Perlcins, _Regency_ and _Louis XV_, (3 vols.); St. Simon, _The Memoirs of the Reign of Louis XIV. and the Regency_ [an abridgment, 3 vols.]; Voltaire, _Age of Louis XIV_.; PHILIPPSON (in Oncken's Series), _Das Zeitalter Ludwigs d. Vierzehten_; A. de Broglie, _Louis XV: The King's Secret Correspondence with his Agents_, etc. (2 vols.); A. Thiers, _The Mississippi Bubble_; Morley's _Life of Voltaire_, and _Life of Rousseau_.

A. v, Arneth, _Geschichte Maria Theresas_ (10 vols., 1863-79): DUNCKER, _Aus der Zeit Friedrichs d. Grossen_, etc.; RANKE, _Memoirs of the House of Brandenburg, and History of Prussia during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries_ (3 vols); CARLYLE'S _History of Frederick the Second_ (6 vols.); Tuttle, _History of Prussia_ (4 vols.); Von Raumer, _Frederick the Second and his Times_; A. de Broglie, _Frederick the Great and Maria Theresa_ (2 vols.); ONCKEN, _Das Zeitalter Friedrich d. Grossen_ (2 vols.).

The _Diaries_ of PEPYS and EVELYN; R. Vaughan, _Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell_; MACAULAY'S _History of England from the Accession of James II_. (4 vols.); MAHON'S _History of England_ (1701-13), also _History of England_ (1713 to 1783) (7 vols.); BURTON, _History of the Reign of Queen Anne_; E.E.MORRIS, _The Age of Anne_; Alison, _Military Life of the Duke of Marlborough_; _Life of Marlborough_, by Gleig, by c.o.xe (3 vols.); LECKY'S _History of England in the Eighteenth Century_ (2 vols.); Froude, _The English in Ireland in the Eighteenth Century_ (2 vols.); Mahan, _Influence of the Sea Power on History_; Egerton, _Short History of British Colonial Policy_; Seeley, _The Expansion of England_; Payne, _European Colonies_; Lucas, _Introduction to a Historical Geography of the British Colonies_; H. Walpole, _Memoirs of the Reign of George II._ (3 vols.), and of _George III_. (4 vols.); J. G. Phillimore, _History of England during the Reign of George III_.; J. Adolphus, _History of England_ [1760 83] (3 vols.); Wraxall (1751-1831), _Historical Memoirs of his own Time_ (4 vols.). and _Posthumous Memoirs of his own Time_, (3 vols.); May, _Const.i.tutional History of England_ [1760-1860] (2 vols.); STOUGHTON, _History of Religion in England from the Opening of the Long Parliament to the End of the Eighteenth Century_ (6 vols.); TYERMAN'S _Life of Wesley_; SOUTHEY'S _Life of Wesley_; TYERMAN'S _Life of Whitefield_; TYLER'S _History of American Literature_; VAN LAUN, _History of French Literature_ (3 vols.); MORLEY'S _Series of English Men of Letters_; TAINE'S _History of English Literature_.

Schuyler's _Life of Peter the Great_; Catherine II., _Memoirs written by herself_; RAM-BAUD'S _History of Russia_.

Histories of the United States by BANCROFT, HILDRETH, McMaster, Bryant and Howard, DOYLE, Wilson, Laboulaye, NEUMANN, Fiske, Schouler; Winsor, _Narrative and Critical History of America_ (8 vols.); Hart, _American History told by Contemporaries_ (4 vols.); Macdonald, _Select Charters_ and _Select Doc.u.ments_; Preston, _Doc.u.ments_; Channing, _The United States of America_ (1765-1865); Higginson, _Larger History of the United States_; Goldwin Smith, _The United States_; LODGE'S _Short History of the English Colonies in America_; PARKMAN'S Series of Histories of the French in America; Frothingham, _Rise of the Republic_ [to 1790]; Weeden, _Economic and Social History of New England_; Palfrey's _History of New England_; Sabine's _American Loyalists_; Bruce, _Economic History of Virginia_; Trevelyan, _The American Revolution_ (1766-76); LOSSING, _Field Book of the American Revolution_; Fiske's _Old Virginia_ and _Dutch and Quaker Colonies_; brief treatment of epochs by Fisher, Thwaites, Hart, Sloane, Walker.

_Lives_ of Was.h.i.+ngton, by MARSHALL, SPARKS, IRVING, Weems; _Lives_ of John Adams, by C. F. ADAMS, by MORSE; _Life of Franklin_, by himself (Bigelow's ed.), by SPARKS, by Parton; _Lives_ of Jefferson, by RANDALL, Parton, Morse; Tudor's _Life of James Otis_; _Life_ of Samuel Adams, by Wells, by Hosmer; _Life_ of Hamilton, by MORSE; _Life_ of Madison, by RIVES; W. Jay's _Life of John Jay_ (2 vols.); H. Von Hoist, _Const.i.tutional and Political History of the United States_ [from 1759]; Sparks's _American Biography_ (2 series, 25 vols.). WINSOR's _Reader's Handbook of the American Revolution_ (1761-83), a very useful work, gives the literature on the subject (1880); Bancroft, _History of the Formation of the Const.i.tution of the United States_.

PERIOD IV. THE ERA OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. (1789-1815.)

INTRODUCTION.

CHARACTER OF THE REVOLUTION.--The French Revolution was a tremendous upheaval of society, which brought with it the abolition of feudalism and monarchy, and the securing of an equality of political rights. Its immediate result in France was the establishment of a democratic republic, followed by an empire resting on military power. Its conquests, and the predominance of France, provoked an uprising of the other European peoples in behalf of national independence. This overthrew the French empire, and produced a temporary restoration of the old dynasty. But the effect of the Revolution, in which the other civilized nations largely shared, was the subst.i.tution, in the room of the _medieval state_, of the _modern state_ resting on a broader basis of equality as regards the rights and obligations of different cla.s.ses. In the Western nations of the Continent, serfdom, and manifold abuses, civil and ecclesiastical, were abolished.

CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION.--First among the causes of the Revolution in France, was the hostility felt towards the privileged cla.s.ses,--the king, the n.o.bles, and the clergy,--on account of the disabilities and burdens which law and custom imposed on the cla.s.ses beneath them. When _Charles Vll_. organized a standing army, and laid direct taxes to support it, the burghers and peasants rejoiced (p. 328). The monarchy was thus enabled to s.h.i.+eld them, and subdue the great n.o.bles. _Louis XIV_., as long as he was successful, was sustained by the pride and national spirit of the country. Yet his domination over the n.o.bility and the Church left the higher orders in possession not only of the offices and honors which helped to fasten them submissively to the monarch, but also left them in the exercise of the numberless complicated privileges of local rule and taxation,--privileges which were the growth of ages, and which laid on the necks of the people a yoke too heavy to be borne.

1. THE LAND: THE PEASANTS.--Nearly two-thirds of the land in France was in the hands of the n.o.bles and of the clergy. A great part of it was ill cultivated by its indolent owners. The n.o.bles preferred the gayeties of Paris to a residence on their estates. There were many small land-owners, but many had individually too little land to furnish them with subsistence. The treatment of the peasant was often such that when he "looked upon the towers of his lord's castle, the dearest wish of his heart was to burn it down, with all its registers of debt." There was not a large middle cla.s.s of land-owners, possessed of farms which, although small, were yet adequate to yield them a living. The clergy, besides having the whole management of education, held an immense amount of land, seigniorial control over thousands of peasants, and a vast income from t.i.thes and other sources. In some provinces, there was a better state of things than in others; but, in general, the rich had the enjoyments, and the poor carried the burdens.

2. MONOPOLIES.--Manufactures and trade, although encouraged under _Colbert_, were fettered by oppressive monopolies and a strict organization of guilds.

3. CORRUPT GOVERNMENT.--The administration of government was both arbitrary and corrupt. Places in parliament and in the army, and most higher offices, were sold, but sold, as a rule, only to n.o.bles. When parliament refused to register decrees of taxation, the king held "beds of justice,"--a method of pa.s.sing laws against parliamentary protest (p. 299). Warrants of arrest and imprisonment--_lettres de cachet_--were issued by his sole authority.

4. LOSS OF RESPECT FOR ROYALTY.--Respect for the throne was lost. Under _Louis XIV_., the number of salable offices was incredibly multiplied. In his last days, "in many towns the trade in timber, wine, and spirits was taken out of private hands; nay, even the poor earnings of those who towed boats on the rivers, of porters and funeral mutes, were made a monopoly, and secured to certain families exclusively, in consideration of a large premium." "Famine prevailed in every province. The bark of trees was the daily food of hundreds of thousands." The debauchery of _Louis XV_., and his feeble foreign policy, tended to dissipate what reverence for royalty was left.

5. ABORTIVE ESSAYS AT REFORM.--The efforts at political and social reform in France and in other countries, emanating from sovereigns after the great wars, produced a restless feeling without effecting their purpose of social reorganization.

6. POLITICAL SPECULATION.--The current of thought was in a revolutionary direction. Traditional beliefs in religion were boldly questioned. Political speculation was rife. _Montesquieu_ had drawn attention to the liberty secured by the English const.i.tution.

_Voltaire_ had dwelt on human rights,--the rights of the individual. _Rousseau_ had expatiated on the sovereign right of the majority.

7. EXAMPLE OF AMERICA.--Add to these agencies, the influence of the American Revolution, and of the American Declaration of Independence, with its proclamation of human rights, and of the foundation of government in contract and the consent of the people.

8. THE IMMEDIATE CAUSE.--The immediate cause of the Revolution was the immense public debt, and the virtual bankruptcy of the government.

CHAPTER I. FROM THE a.s.sEMBLING OF THE STATES GENERAL TO THE EXECUTION OF LOUIS XVI. (1789-1793).

LOUIS XVI. (1774-92): THE QUEEN.--_Louis XVI_. differed from his two predecessors in being morally pure, and benevolent in his feelings; but he was of a dull mind, void of energy, and with an obstinacy of character that did not supply the place of an enlightened firmness. He had married (1770) _Marie Antoinette_, the daughter of the Empress _Maria Theresa_. The vivacious young queen, as well as the youthful king, at first charmed the people. But her disregard of court etiquette, and her gay, impulsive ways, provoked the dislike of many high in station, and exposed her to the natural but unmerited suspicion, on the part of the people, that she had faults worse than mere indiscretion. A great scandal connected with a _diamond necklace_, which an unprincipled woman, the _Countess Lamotte_, falsely a.s.serted that the queen desired the _Cardinal de Rohan_ to purchase for her, did much to make her the victim of gross defamation (1785). Her forbearance towards unworthy favorites, and her intermeddling in the affairs of government, in opposition to political reforms, gradually kindled against her wide-spread disrespect and aversion.

TO THE STATES GENERAL.--Helpless under the pressure of the heavy debt and the deficit in revenue, the king called to his side _Turgot_ (1774) as controller-general of finance, a political economist and statesman of remarkable integrity and insight. He set to work to reduce the enormous and extravagant public expenditures, and to introduce reforms for the purpose of increasing the public income. He proposed to do away with internal duties on articles of commerce; to break up many guilds; to abolish the _corvee_, or the hard and hateful requirement upon the peasant to labor so many days on the land of the lord; and to introduce a greater amount of local self-government. These, and other wholesome reforms in the civil service and in the army, excited the violent opposition of the n.o.bles and the clergy, and of the whole body of interested courtiers. The king weakly yielded; the great minister was dismissed; and France lost its golden opportunity to prevent infinitely greater calamities than any which the selfish opponents of change dreaded for themselves. _Necker_, a Genevan banker of far less financial ability, was now placed at the helm (1776-1781). His remedies were not radical; yet his movements in the direction of economy, and for giving publicity to the financial situation of the government, provoked such hatred in the cla.s.ses affected that he had to withdraw. _Calonne_, a prodigal and incapable successor, in connection with the increased expenses of the government consequent on the American War, brought things to such a pa.s.s that the king called together (1787) an _a.s.sembly of Notables_, not so much to get their advice as to obtain their support for a plan of reform not unlike that of _Turgot_. This necessary reform they selfishly refused to sanction. _Calonne_ fled to London. _Necker_, to the joy of the people, who built on him vain hopes, was recalled (1788); and it was resolved to summon the States General, who had not met since 1614. To this measure the incompetence and selfishness of the ruling cla.s.ses had inevitably led.

THE TRIUMPH OF THE THIRD ESTATE.--The States General met at Versailles, May 5, 1789. The clergy numbered three hundred, the n.o.bles three hundred, and the third estate (_tiers etat_)--whose plain black dress was in contrast with the more showy costume of the higher orders--numbered six hundred. A pamphlet of Abbe _Sieyes_, in answer to the question, "What is the Third Estate?" declared that is the nation in its true sovereignty and supreme authority. A contest arose at once on the question, whether there should be three houses, or whether all the members should sit together. The Third Estate insisted on the latter plan. The Parisian astronomer, _Bailly_, was their president. Among the members were _Sieyes_, and _Mirabeau_, a man of great intellect and of commanding eloquence. They declared themselves to be the _National a.s.sembly_; and they persisted, against the king's will, in sitting apart until, at his request, the other orders gave away and joined them. It was resolved not to adjourn until the nation should be put in possession of a const.i.tution; meantime, however, that, so long as the body should not be dissolved, money should be raised by increase of taxation, and the interest be paid on the public debt. The attempts of _Louis_ to dissolve the a.s.sembly were firmly resisted by the third estate, which was joined by _Talleyrand_, Bishop of Autun, _Gregoire_, afterwards Bishop of Blois, and, of the n.o.bility, by the rich, ambitious, and unprincipled _Duke of Orleans_. The king again yielded, and advised the n.o.bles and clergy to remain.

DESTRUCTION OF THE BASTILLE: EMIGRATION OF n.o.bLES.--The aristocratic party, on account of this victory of the third estate, and because they could not trust the guard of the king, procured the subst.i.tution for it of German and Swiss troops. The excitement caused by this proceeding, and the news of _Necker's_ dismissal, led to a mob of the rough Parisian populace, who seized weapons from the workshops, and forced the surrender of the _Bastille_, the grim old prison where political offenders had been immured,--the visible monument of ages of royal tyranny,--which they razed to the ground. The heads of _Delaunay_ the governor, and several of the garrison, were carried on pikes through the streets by the frenzied crowd. The mob wore _c.o.c.kades_ on their hats; these became the badges of the Revolution. This first outbreaking of mob violence had at once important effects. _Necker_ was recalled. _Lafayette_ was made commander of the militia of Paris, organized as a _National Guard_. The _tricolor_--red, white, and blue--was adopted for the flag. _Bailly_ became mayor of Paris. The king came to Paris, and showed himself, with the national colors on his breast, to the people, at the _Hotel de Ville_, thereby giving a tacit sanction to what had been done. Then began the _emigration_ of the n.o.bles to foreign countries: the king's brother, the _Prince of Conde_, and others high in rank, left the country. The vices which the n.o.bles had learned to practice at home were now to be exhibited abroad. The pa.s.sions of the revolutionary party were to be inflamed by the suspicion of a complicity of the king and court with the plots of their absent supporters, who strove to enlist other nations in the work of trampling down liberty in France. The emigrants had some reason to fear. Munic.i.p.al guards were formed in various towns by the party of progress. Soon there were risings of peasantry in several districts. Individuals in _Paris_--among them one of the ministers who succeeded _Necker_-were ma.s.sacred. Nevertheless, the emigration was a grand error. The danger at the moment was not great; and, whatever the peril, the evils of desertion were far more to be deprecated.

THE NEW CONSt.i.tUTION: a.s.sIGNATS.--The National a.s.sembly, at the instigation of _Lafayette_, pa.s.sed a Declaration of Rights, after the pattern of the American Declaration of Independence. On motion of his brother-in-law, the _Vicomte de Noailles_, the representatives of the n.o.bles, in an outburst of enthusiastic self-renunciation, gave up their feudal rights and privileges. They liberated the peasants from their burdensome obligations: the clergy relinquished their t.i.thes; the sale of offices and t.i.tles was abolished; equality of taxes was ordained; all citizens were made eligible to all stations, civil and military. The new const.i.tution provided for one legislative chamber, to which should belong the right to initiate all enactments. The king's veto only suspended the adoption of a measure for two legislative terms. The a.s.sent of the chamber was necessary for the validity of all foreign treaties, and for declaring war or concluding peace. The State a.s.sumed the support of the clergy. It was a _const.i.tutional monarchy_ that was framed,--such a system as _La Fayette_ and moderate republicans desired. The essence of republicanism was secured under old forms. _a.s.signats_, or notes, were issued as a currency, for which the public lands were to be the security,--a safeguard that was ineffective.

THE MOB AT VERSAILLES.--The delay of the king to proclaim the const.i.tution, the call of a regiment of troops to _Versailles_, imprudent speeches and songs at a court banquet, stirred up the Parisian mob, who ascribed the scarcity of food to the absence of the king from Paris. A countless throng, made up largely of coa.r.s.e women, went out to _Versailles_, intruded into the legislative chamber, and at night (Oct. 5) made their way into the palace, over the bodies of the guards. The royal family were rescued by La Fayette and the National Guard. The next day they were forced to go to Paris, attended by this wild and hungry retinue, and took up their abode in the _Tuileries_. To Paris, also, the National a.s.sembly transferred itself. More and more, _Paris_ gained control.