III. 1788. CHAP. they "declared infamous all those who should accept any place either in the new courts, or the administration of the province, contrary to its laws and constitution," and delivered it to the governor. Twelve hundred gentlemen assembled at St Brieux and Rennes, and deputed twelve of their number to bear the remonstrances of the estates of Brittany to the King, but with a positive order not to see either Brienne or Lamoignon. No sooner did they arrive in Paris than they attended the meetings of the liberal leaders, who afterwards took so prominent a part in the Revolution-particularly the Dukes of Rohan and Praslin, Lafayette, Boisgelin, and others. The twelve deputies were forthwith sent to the Bastile. Upon this violent disturbances broke out in Rennes, Nantes, and the chief towns of the province; the military were publicly insulted; mobs paraded the streets without resistance, and the officers, indignant at the passive inaction to which they were constrained, protested against it in a solemn instrument, and endeavoured to vindicate their outraged honour by a duel of fifteen of their number against fifteen Breton nobles. Symptoms of insubordination even appeared in some regiments. The officers of one-that of Bassigny-publicly protested against the orders with the execution of which they were intrusted; and the weakness of the governor admiration for a constitutional government, and the forms of the English parliament, which distinguished him throughout his political career. When the parliament of Paris, in August 1787, gave the signal for general resistance to the government in regard to the proposed duty on stamps, he took an active part in the parliament of Grenoble in following up the movement; and his great weight as a judge gave him the lead in their deliberations. He was an able, upright, and patriotic man; his sense of justice was profound, his passion for liberty disinterested-no one meant more sincerely to do good to his country; and yet, on the opening of the States-general in 1789, few did it, by imprudent zeal, more essential injury. Of that no one was soon more thoroughly sensible than himself. He was, early in the Revolution, denounced as a traitor at Paris; obliged to fly from France, and the latter years of his life, down to his death in 1806, were devoted to combating, with sincere and honourable zeal, those ideas of equality, in promoting which, at first, he had borne so prominent a part.-Biographie Universelle, xxx. 310, 321, (MOUNIER.) III. 1788. of the province was excused, perhaps justified, by the CHAP. doubt whether his troops could be relied on for acting against the people. In lieu of the twelve imprisoned deputies, the province sent up eighteen others to lay their remonstrances before the King: an order not to enter Paris or approach the court, was disregarded; the clergy of the whole province agreed to addresses requiring the liberation of the imprisoned deputies, the 69,71. restoration of the parliament of the province, and the 207, 209. convocation of the States-general; and to such a length Lab. ii, 227, did the general enthusiasm proceed, that many Breton 200, 204. officers, holding commissions in the guards, resigned i. 316, 320. them, and hastened to their homes, to stand by their country in the hour of danger.1 1 Droz, ii. 238. Sallier, Besenval, 114. general are announced Matters now looked sufficiently ominous for the royal authority, in the temper both of the capital and the pro- The Statesvinces; but, serious as those difficulties were, they were at length outdone by those arising from the exhausted state of the for May 1, public exchequer. Brienne preserved his accustomed 1789. indifference. "Every thing," said he, "is foreseen and provided for even a civil war. The King shall be obeyed; the King knows how to cause his authority to be respected." But these vague assurances did not replenish the exchequer, and it was at length announced that all the resources were exhausted: that there remained only 400,000 francs (£16,000) in the royal treasury; and that, without some extraordinary resource, the public creditors, whose dividends fell due in August next, could not be paid. This brought matters to a crisis. Brienne, having failed in his application to the nobles, the parliaments, and the clergy, resolved to endeavour to propitiate the Tiers Etat, at once the wealthiest and the most numerous class in the state, from whose gratitude he hoped to obtain that assistance which he had sought in vain from the justice or patriotism of the privileged classes. On 8th August, an edict appeared CONVOKING THE STATES- Aug. 8, GENERAL FOR THE 1ST MAY 1789. The Cour Plénière 1788. III. 1788. July 15, 1788. CHAP. and edicts of 8th May were meanwhile suspended till that event took place, so that the old parliaments resumed their functions. Nothing was said as to the form of their convocation, the qualifications of the electors, or whether they were to vote by order or by head. As if, too, it had been intended purposely to excite the people to the highest pitch on these vital points, an ordinance appeared soon after, which not only authorised the municipal authorities to tender their advice to government on the approaching emergency, but invited all private persons to come forward with their ideas and plans, as to the best method of convoking them, and to publish them for the public information. So little was Brienne aware of the extreme peril of the course he was thus adopting, that, when a hint was dropped in the council as to the dangers with which the convocation of the States-general might be attended, he replied with imperturbable sang froid,— Bertrand de "Sully had no difficulty with them,"-forgetting that he was not Sully, that Louis XVI. was not Henry IV., and that 1614 was not 1789.1 1 Lab. ii. 266, 268. Molleville, i. 1, 2. 115. excitement mind. The consequences of this royal invitation to all classes Vehement to go back to first principles, and tender their ideas to of the public government on the approaching regeneration of society, were soon apparent. Hundreds of pamphlets immediately inundated the capital and the provinces, in which, disregarding all reference to usage, law, or precedent, an appeal was at once made to first principles and the natural rights of man. The King's permission to tender advice on the convocation of the States-general was made a pretext for disseminating doctrines, with impunity, subversive not merely of the royal, but of any authority whatever. The most vehement fermentation instantly seized the public mind. Social regeneration became the order of the day; the ardent and philanthropic were seduced by the brilliant prospects of unbounded felicity which appeared to be opening upon the nation, the selfish entranced by the hope of individual elevation in the midst CHAP. III. 1788. of the general confusion. But though all classes were unanimous in desiring the convocation of the Statesgeneral, and the commencement of the public reforms, they differed widely as to the measures which they deemed likely to advance the general welfare, and already were to be seen the seeds of those divisions which afterwards deluged the kingdom with blood. The higher classes of the noblesse, and all the prelates, desired the maintenance of the separation of the three orders, and the preservation of their exclusive privileges: the philosophic party, from whom the Girondists afterwards sprung, considered the federal republics of America as a model of government; while the few cautious observers whom the general whirl had left in the nation, in vain suggested, that, as they 267, 268. Montgail. were about to embark on the dark and unknown sea of lard, Hist. innovation, the British constitution was the only haven in 466. which they could hope to find a secure asylum.1 1 Lab. ii. de Fran. i. 116. This great victory had been gained by the united efforts of all classes-the nobles had supported the Tiers Divisions Etat, and the clergy had been almost unanimous on the already apsame side; but, as usual on such occasions, divisions country on were consequent on success. the different bodies who had appeared when it was over. The separate interests of had entertained different views in demanding the Statesgeneral. The parliaments had hoped to rule them as in their last assemblage; the nobles expected, by the convocation of this body, to regain their lost influence; the Tiers Etat to rise into political importance. These discordant views were immediately supported by their respective adherents, and divisions broke out between the three estates. The commons vehemently maintained that the vast increase in the numbers and consideration of their body, since the last assemblage of the estates in 1614, rendered it indispensable that a great addition should be made to the number of their representatives; that many places, formerly of no moment, had risen into VOL. I. 2 B pear in the the subject. III. 1788. CHAP. opulence and importance within the last two centuries, which were wholly without representatives; that no national assembly could stand on a secure basis, which was thus rested only on a partial representation; that the light of the age was adverse to the maintenance of feudal distinctions, and that the only way to prevent a revolution was to concede in time the just demands of the people. On the other hand, the parliament of Paris, the nobles and privileged classes, alleged, that the only way to arrest innovation was to adhere to the practice of the constitution; that no human wisdom could foresee the effect of any considerable addition to the representatives of the people; and that, if such a deviation from established usage could ever be expedient, the last time Th. i. 27,28. when it should be attempted was in a moment of great i. 125, 126. public excitement, when the object of political wisdom should be to moderate rather than increase the ambition of the lower orders.1 1 Mig. i. 25. De Stael, Lab. i. 268, 269. 117. fluence of the Abbé Sièyes' pamphlet. 66 A pamphlet published at this period, by the Abbé Great in- Sièyes, under the title, "Qu'est-ce-que le Tiers Etat?" had a powerful influence on the future destinies of France. The Tiers Etat," said he, "is the French nation, minus the noblesse and the clergy." Public opinion ran daily more strongly in favour of the commons; extravagant expectations began to be formed, visionary schemes to be published, and that general unhinging of opinions took place which is the sure prelude of a revolution. The country was daily more and more deluged with pamphlets, many written with great talent, others indulging in the most chimerical projects.* Every thing tended to increase the public effervescence, and to disqualify men from forming a rational judgment on public affairs. Sièyes, in consequence of the celebrity of his pamphlet, acquired a lead in public estimation, to which he was far from being * The author is in possession of a collection of seventeen thick octavo volumes of these lucubrations, all published in 1788 and 1789. Their united bulk is double of the whole of this History, and many of them had reached a fifth and sixth edition. |