An Introduction to the History of Western Europe Part 59

[Sidenote: Reforms proposed by Calonne.]

218. It was necessary, in order to avoid ruin, Calonne claimed, "to reform everything vicious in the state." He proposed, therefore, to reduce the _taille_, reform the salt tax, do away with the interior customs lines, correct the abuses of the guilds, etc. But the chief reform, and by far the most difficult one, was to force the privileged cla.s.ses to surrender their important exemptions from taxation. He hoped, however, that if certain concessions were made to them they might be brought to consent to a land tax to be paid by all alike. So he proposed to the king that he should summon an a.s.sembly of persons prominent in church and state, called _Notables_, to ratify certain changes which would increase the prosperity of the country and give the treasury money enough to meet the necessary expenses.

[Sidenote: Summoning of the Notables, 1786.]

The summoning of the Notables in 1786 was really a revolution in itself.

It was a confession on the part of the king that he found himself in a predicament from which he could not escape without the aid of his people. The Notables whom he selected--bishops, archbishops, dukes, judges, high government officials--were practically all members of the privileged cla.s.ses; but they still represented the nation, after a fas.h.i.+on, as distinguished from the king's immediate circle of courtiers.

At any rate it proved an easy step from calling the Notables to summoning the ancient Estates General, and that, in its turn, speedily became a modern representative body.

[Sidenote: Calonne denounces the abuses.]

In his opening address Calonne gave the Notables an idea of the sad financial condition of the country. The government was running behind some forty million dollars a year. He could not continue to borrow, and economy, however strict, would not suffice to cover the deficit. "What, then," he asked, "remains to fill this frightful void and enable us to raise the revenue to the desired level? _The Abuses!_ Yes, gentlemen, the abuses offer a source of wealth which the state should appropriate, and which should serve to reestablish order in the finances.... The abuses which must now be destroyed for the welfare of the people are the most important and the best guarded of all, the very ones which have the deepest roots and the most spreading branches. For example, those which weigh on the laboring cla.s.ses, the pecuniary privileges, exceptions to the law which should be common to all, and many an unjust exemption which can only relieve certain taxpayers by embittering the condition of others; the general want of uniformity in the a.s.sessment of the taxes and the enormous difference which exists between the contributions of different provinces and of the subjects of the same sovereign; the severity and arbitrariness in the collection of the _taille_; the apprehensions, embarra.s.sment, almost dishonor, a.s.sociated with the trade in breadstuffs; the interior custom-houses and barriers which make the various parts of the kingdom like foreign countries to one another ...,"--all these evils, which public-spirited citizens had long deprecated, Calonne proposed to do away with forthwith.

[Sidenote: Calonne and the Notables dismissed.]

The Notables, however, had no confidence in Calonne, and refused to ratify his programme of reform. The king then dismissed him and soon sent them home, too (May, 1787). Louis XVI then attempted to carry through some of the more pressing financial reforms in the usual way by sending them to the _parlements_ to be registered.

[Sidenote: The _parlement_ of Paris refuses to register new taxes and calls for the Estates General.]

219. The _parlement_ of Paris resolved, as usual, to make the king's ministry trouble and gain popularity for itself. This time it resorted to a truly extraordinary measure. It not only refused to register two new taxes which the king desired, but a.s.serted that "_Only the nation a.s.sembled in the Estates General can give the consent necessary to the establishment of a permanent tax_." "Only the nation," the _parlement_ continued, "after it has learned the true state of the finances can destroy the great abuses and open up important resources." This declaration was followed in a few days by the humble request that the king a.s.semble the Estates General of his kingdom.

The refusal of the _parlement_ to register the new taxes led to one of the old struggles between it and the king's ministers. A compromise was arranged in the autumn of 1787; the _parlement_ agreed to register a great loan, and the king pledged himself to a.s.semble the Estates General within five years. In the early months of 1788 many pamphlets appeared, criticising the system of taxation and the unjust privileges and exemptions enjoyed by a few of the citizens to the detriment of the great ma.s.s of the nation.

[Sidenote: The _parlement_ of Paris protests against the 'reform' of the judicial system.]

Suddenly the _parlement_ of Paris learned that the king's ministers were planning to put an end to its troublesome habit of opposing their measures. The ministers proposed to remodel the whole judicial system and take from the courts the right to register new decrees and consequently the right to protest. This the _parlement_ loudly proclaimed was in reality a blow at the nation itself. The ministers were attacking the court simply because it had acknowledged its lack of power to grant new taxes and had requested the king to a.s.semble the representatives of the nation. The ministers, it claimed, were bent upon establis.h.i.+ng an out-and-out despotism in which there should no longer be any check whatever on the arbitrary power of the king.

[Sidenote: Protests from the provinces.]

Some of the provinces became very apprehensive when they learned that the king proposed to take from the local _parlements_ the right to examine edicts before registering them. Might not the tyrannically inclined ministers proceed to make new laws for the whole realm and ignore the special privileges which the king had pledged himself to maintain when Brittany, Dauphiny, Bearn, and other important provinces were originally added to France? The cause of the _parlements_ became in this way the cause of the people.

[Sidenote: The Estates General summoned.]

Meanwhile the ministers were becoming very hard pressed for funds to meet the regular expenses of the government. The _parlements_ had not only refused to register taxes but had done everything that they could to embarra.s.s the ministers and destroy the confidence of those who might otherwise have lent money to the government. There seemed no other resort except to call the representatives of the people together. The Estates General were accordingly summoned to meet on May 1, 1789.

[Sidenote: General ignorance in regard to the Estates General.]

[Sidenote: The old system of voting by cla.s.ses in the Estates General.]

220. It was now discovered that no one knew much about this body of which every one was talking, for it had not met since 1614. The king accordingly issued a general invitation to scholars to find out all they could about the customs observed in the former meetings of the Estates.

The public naturally became very much interested in a matter which touched them so closely, and there were plenty of readers for the pamphlets which now began to appear in greater numbers than ever before.

The old Estates General had been organized in a way appropriate enough to the feudal conditions under which they originated.[393] All three of the estates of the realm--clergy, n.o.bility, and third estate--each sent an equal number of representatives, who were expected to consider not the interests of the nation but the special interests of the particular social cla.s.s to which they respectively belonged. Accordingly, the deputies of the three estates did not sit together, or vote as a single body. The members of each group first came to an agreement among themselves and then a single vote was cast for the whole order.

[Sidenote: Objections to this system.]

It was natural that this system should seem preposterous to the average Frenchman in 1788. If the estates should be convoked according to the ancient forms, the two privileged cla.s.ses would be ent.i.tled to twice the number of representatives allotted to the other twenty-five million inhabitants of France. What was much worse, it seemed impossible that any important reforms could be adopted in an a.s.sembly where those who had every selfish reason for opposing the most necessary changes were given two votes out of three. Necker, whom the king had recalled in the hope that he might succeed in adjusting the finances, agreed that the third estate might have as many deputies as both the other orders put together, namely six hundred, but he would not consent to having the three orders sit and vote together like a modern representative body.

[Sidenote: The _cahiers_.]

Besides the great question as to whether the deputies should vote by head or by order, the pamphlets discussed what reforms the Estates should undertake.[394] We have, however, a still more interesting and important expression of public opinion in France at this time, in the _cahiers_,[395] or lists of grievances and suggestions for reform which, in pursuance of an old custom, the king asked the nation to prepare.

Each village and town throughout France had an opportunity to tell quite frankly exactly what it suffered from the existing system, and what reforms it wished that the Estates General might bring about. These _cahiers_[396] were the "last will and testament" of the old regime, and they const.i.tute a unique historical doc.u.ment, of unparalleled completeness and authenticity. No one can read the _cahiers_ without seeing that the whole nation was ready for the great transformation which within a year was to destroy a great part of the social and political system under which the French had lived for centuries.

[Sidenote: Desire of the nation for a const.i.tutional, instead of an absolute, monarchy.]

Almost all the _cahiers_ agreed that the prevailing disorder and the vast and ill-defined powers of the king and his ministers were perhaps the fundamental evils. One of the _cahiers_ says: "Since arbitrary power has been the source of all the evils which afflict the state, our first desire is the establishment of a really national const.i.tution, which shall define the rights of all and provide the laws to maintain them."

No one dreamed at this time of displacing the king or of taking the government out of his hands. The people only wished to change an absolute monarchy into a limited, or const.i.tutional, one. All that was necessary was that the things which the government might _not_ do should be solemnly and irrevocably determined and put upon record, and that the Estates General should meet periodically to grant the taxes, give the king advice in national crises, and expostulate, if necessary, against any violations of the proposed charter of liberties.[397]

[Sidenote: The Estates General meet May 5, 1789.]

[Sidenote: The representatives of the third estate declare themselves a 'National a.s.sembly.']

221. With these ideas in mind, the Estates a.s.sembled in Versailles and held their first session on May 5, 1789. The king had ordered the deputies to wear the same costumes that had been worn at the last meeting of the Estates in 1614; but no royal edict could call back the spirit of earlier centuries. In spite of the king's commands the representatives of the third estate refused to organize themselves in the old way as a separate order. They sent invitation after invitation to the deputies of the clergy and n.o.bility, requesting them to join the people's representatives and deliberate in common on the great interests of the nation. Some of the more liberal of the n.o.bles--Lafayette, for example--and a large minority of the clergy wished to meet with the deputies of the third estate. But they were outvoted, and the deputies of the third estate, losing patience, finally declared themselves, on June 17, a "National a.s.sembly." They argued that, since they represented at least ninety-six per cent of the nation, the deputies of the privileged orders might be neglected altogether. This usurpation of power on the part of the third estate transformed the old feudal Estates, voting by orders, into the first modern national representative a.s.sembly on the continent of Europe.

[Sidenote: The 'Tennis-Court' oath.]

Under the influence of his courtiers the king tried to restore the old system by arranging a solemn joint session of the three orders, at which he presided in person. He presented a long programme of excellent reforms, and then bade the Estates sit apart, according to the old custom. But it was like bidding water to run up hill. Three days before, when the commons had found themselves excluded from their regular place of meeting on account of the preparations for the royal session, they had betaken themselves to a neighboring building called the "Tennis Court." Here, on June 20, they took the famous "Tennis-Court" oath, "to come together wherever circ.u.mstances may dictate, until the const.i.tution of the kingdom shall be established." They were emboldened in their purpose to resist all schemes to frustrate a general reform by the support of over half of the deputies of the clergy, who joined them the day before the royal session.

[Sidenote: The n.o.bility and clergy forced to join the third estate.]

Consequently, when the king finished his address and commanded the three orders to disperse immediately in order to resume their separate sessions, most of the bishops, some of the parish priests, and a great part of the n.o.bility obeyed; the rest sat still, uncertain what they should do. When the master of ceremonies ordered them to comply with the king's commands, Mirabeau, the most distinguished statesman among the deputies, told him bluntly that they would not leave their places except at the point of the bayonet. The weak king almost immediately gave in and a few days later ordered all the deputies of the privileged orders who had not already done so to join the commons.

[Sidenote: The fall of the Bastille, July 14, 1789.]

222. The National a.s.sembly now began in earnest the great task of preparing a const.i.tution and regenerating France. It was soon interrupted, however, by events at Paris. The king had been advised by those about him to gather together the Swiss and German troops who formed the royal guard, so that if he decided to send the insolent deputies home he would be able to put down any disorder which might result. He was also induced to dismiss Necker, who enjoyed a popularity that he had done little to merit. When the people of Paris saw the troops gathering and when they heard of the dismissal of Necker, there was general excitement and some disorder.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mirabeau]

On July 14 crowds of people a.s.sembled, determined to procure arms to protect themselves and mayhap to perform some daring "deed of patriotism." One of the bands, led by the old Parisian guards, turned to the ancient fortress of the Bastile, on the parapets of which guns had been mounted which made the inhabitants of that part of the city very nervous. The castle had long had a bad reputation as a place of confinement for prisoners of state and for those imprisoned by _lettres de cachet_. When the mob demanded admission, it was naturally denied them, and they were fired upon and nearly a hundred were killed. After a brief, courageous attack the place was surrendered, and the mob rushed into the gloomy pile. They found only seven prisoners, but one poor fellow had lost his wits and another had no idea why he had been kept there for years. The captives were freed amidst great enthusiasm, and the people soon set to work to demolish the walls.

[Sidenote: Formation of the 'national guard.']

The actual occurrences of this celebrated day were soon "disfigured and transfigured by legends," and the anniversary of the fall of the Bastile is still celebrated as the great national holiday of France.[398] The rising of the people to protect themselves against the machinations of the king's a.s.sociates who, it was believed, wished to block reform, and the successful attack on a monument of ancient tyranny appeared to be the opening of a new era of freedom. The disorders of these July days led to the formation of the "national guard." This was made up of volunteers from among the more prosperous citizens, who organized themselves to maintain order and so took from the king every excuse for calling in the regular troops for that purpose. Lafayette was put in command of this body.

[Sidenote: Establishment of communes in Paris and other cities.]

The government of Paris was reorganized, and a mayor, chosen from among the members of the National a.s.sembly, was put at the head of the new _commune_, as the munic.i.p.al government was called. The other cities of France also began with one accord, after the dismissal of Necker and the fall of the Bastile, to promote the Revolution by displacing or supplementing their old royal or aristocratic governments by committees of their citizens. These improvised communes, or city governments, established national guards, as Paris had done, and thus maintained order. The news that the king had approved the Paris revolution confirmed the opinion that the citizens of other cities had done right in taking the control into their own hands. We shall hear a good deal of the commune of Paris later, as it played a very important role in the Reign of Terror.

[Sidenote: Disorder in the country districts.]

By the end of the month of July the commotion reached the country districts. A curious panic swept over the land, which the peasants long remembered as "the great fear." A mysterious rumor arose that the "brigands" were coming! The terrified people did what they could to prepare for the danger; neighboring communities combined with one another for mutual protection. When the panic was over and people saw that there were no brigands after all, they turned their attention to an enemy by no means imaginary, i.e., the old regime. The peasants a.s.sembled on the village common or in the parish church and voted to pay the feudal dues no longer. The next step was to burn the castles of the n.o.bles in order to destroy the records of the peasants' obligations to their feudal lords.[399]

[Sidenote: The decree abolis.h.i.+ng the survivals of serfdom and feudalism, August, 1789.]

223. About the first of August news began to reach the National a.s.sembly of the serious disorders in the provinces. This led to the first important reforms of the a.s.sembly. A momentous decree abolis.h.i.+ng the survivals of serfdom and feudalism was pa.s.sed in a night session (August 4-5) amid great excitement, the representatives of the privileged orders vying with each other in surrendering their ancient privileges. The exclusive right of the n.o.bility to hunt and to maintain pigeon houses was abolished, and the peasant was permitted to kill game which he found on his land. The president of the a.s.sembly was "commissioned to ask the king to recall those persons who had been sent to the galleys or exiled simply for the violation of the hunting regulations." The t.i.thes of the church were done away with. Exemptions from the payment of taxes were abolished forever. It was decreed that "taxes shall be collected from all citizens and from all property in the same manner and in the same form," and that "all citizens, without distinction of birth, are eligible to any office or dignity." Moreover, inasmuch as a national const.i.tution would be of more advantage to the provinces than the privileges which some of these enjoyed, and,--so the decree continues,--"inasmuch as the surrender of such privileges is essential to the intimate union of all parts of the realm, it is decreed that all the peculiar privileges, pecuniary or otherwise, of the provinces, princ.i.p.alities, districts, cantons, cities and communes, are once for all abolished and are absorbed into the law common to all Frenchmen."[400]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FRANCE IN DEPARTMENTS]