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CHAP.

III.

1788.

entitled either by his judgment or his principles. He was a good dialectician, had great facility in writing, and an ingenious speculative mind; but he was neither a profound thinker nor a judicious legislator. Ignorant of mankind, he thought human affairs were to be regulated on abstract principles, as physical objects are by the laws of mechanics. Extravagantly vain of his own abilities, he boasted to Dumont that he had brought the science of politics to perfection, while in effect he proved himself incapable of constructing a constitution which could subsist two years. Nor was he without a strong intermixture Souvenirs of worldly ambition; he seldom took a decided part in de Mirapolitics, except when his own interest was concerned; De Stael, and permitted, at last, all his aspirations after liberty to Lab. ii. 312. be quietly stifled by the gift of a valuable estate in the c.xxix. §29. park of Versailles, when Napoleon rose to the head of affairs.1*

1 Dumont,

beau, 64.

i. 169, 170.

Vide Infra,

118.

to national bankruptcy.

It soon appeared to what cause this sudden and decisive change in the politics of the courts had been owing. By Edicts a royal edict, dated August 16, 1788, it was declared mounting legal for the King to pay the whole public creditors, whether holders of annuities or of capital stock, the interest due to them, if above twelve hundred francs, (£48,) twofifths in paper, and only the remaining three-fifths in

The Abbé Sièyes was born at Frejus, on the 3d May 1748, so that at this time he was forty years old. He was bred to the church, and in 1784 was appointed dean of the cathedral of Chartres, and vicar-general of the diocese. His abilities having soon made themselves known, he was, in 1787, named a member of the Provincial Assembly which Necker had established at Orleans. For long his studies had been directed to the questions of politics and constitutional government which had for some years agitated France, and in consequence he was one of the first to publish, in pursuance of Brienne's invitation, an essay on the States-general about to assemble, entitled "Vues sur les Moyens d'Exécution dont les Représentans de la France pourront disposer en 1789." Soon after he published another pamphlet, entitled "Essai sur les Privilèges," in opposition to the decision of the Notables against the duplication of the Tiers Etat, and the voting by head; and then a third, which gained a prodigious reputation, “Qu'est-ce-que le Tiers Etat?" The tendency of this able production may be judged of from two words. He asked what has the Tiers Etat been hitherto? Rien." What will it be in future? "Tout." Rien ou Tout were thus made the watchwords of the movement in commencing the Revolution: we shall see in the sequel that "tout ou rien" was the maxim

Aug. 16.

III.

Aug. 18.

CHAP. cash. This was followed two days afterwards by a second edict, which declared that billets de la caisse d'escompte, 1788. (exchequer bills,) down to the 1st January 1789, were not to be paid in money to holders presenting them for payment, but in bills only on private individuals; they were declared at the same time a legal tender, in payment both to government and between man and man; and all prosecutions on these bills were suspended till the 1st January ensuing. As these exchequer bills were the principal resource of government, and two-fifths of the interest on the public debt was declared payable in these bills thus bearing a forced circulation, these edicts were equivalent to a declaration of national bankruptcy. This last and melancholy resource was not adopted till imposed by absolute necessity; a few days after, when Necker was i. 251, 252. recalled to the ministry, he found only two hundred and 157, 158. fifty thousand francs (£10,000) in the royal treasury— a sum not equal to a single day's expenditure by government.1

1 Hist. Parl.

De Stael, i.

Lab. ii. 269,

270.

119.

to the fall

Financial embarrassment is the real cause of the overWhich leads throw of most administrations in countries where the of Brienne people have either legally or practically an effective control over the measures of government. Mankind can stand any thing rather than a stoppage or diminution of their accustomed payments. Brienne, though to the last

and Lamoi

gnon.

of Napoleon at its close, and which occasioned its fall. There is more here than a mere play upon words; these words are descriptive of the march, in its earliest, equally as its last stages, of revolutionary ambition-seeking to engross every thing at first; losing every thing by its reluctance to abandon any thing at last.

Sièyes's reputation now became such, that not merely his entrance into, but his great influence in the States-general, was a matter of certainty. Soon after he published another pamphlet, entitled “Projet de délibération à prendre dans les assemblées des bailliages;" and so great was the public anxiety to obtain the benefit of his talents that, after the electors of Paris had passed a resolution to the effect that neither nobles nor priests should be included among their representatives, they rescinded it purposely to let in Sièyes. He was one of the members for Paris, accordingly, in the States-general, and was the person who proposed that they should assume the title of National Assembly. But his talents for speaking were by no means equal to his ability in writing; and he was soon eclipsed in that assembly by Mirabeau, and many other orators.—See Biographie des Contemporains, xix. 189, 190, (SIEYES.)

CHAP.

III.

1788.

degree unpopular, had weathered the storm as long as the public creditors were regularly paid; but that which neither the Cour Plénière, nor the resistance of the parliaments, nor the revolt of the provinces, could effect, was at once accomplished by the edicts concerning the Aug. 25. public creditors, and the diminution of the wonted dividends. Indescribable was the sensation which these financial measures produced. Credit of every kind was violently shaken. Money became scarce, creditors clamorous, debtors desperate; the holders of the public securities were loud in their complaints that the paper money was forced on them at a third more than they could get for it the excitement was universal. Alarmed at this

perilous state of affairs, the Queen privately sounded Necker, through the Austrian ambassador M. de Merey, as to whether he would resume his post at the finances in conjunction with the present ministry; but he wisely declined. Upon this the Comte d'Artois represented to the King the absolute necessity of Brienne's removal, which was agreed to. The archbishop was reconciled to his fall by the gift of considerable ecclesiastical preferment, in addition to the immense benefices he already enjoyed, and the promise of a cardinal's hat, which, by the King's influence, he soon after obtained. His retreat was, two days afterwards, followed by that of Lamoignon; who, having ever acted on honourable and conscientious motives, was regretted by his friends, however disliked by the people, whose advances he had opposed.* The victory of the parliament was complete; its functions were imme- 203. Hist. diately resumed; and Necker, with the general approbation of the nation, but with great reluctance on the part of the King, was recalled to the direction of the finances.1

* Lamoignon was shortly after found in his demesne, where he had retired, with a fowling-piece in his hand, shot dead. It is not known whether his untimely end was the result of design or accident.-LABAUME, ii. 273. The King, from esteem for his upright character, made him a present of 400,000 francs (£16,000) on his retiring from office; but so low was the treasury, that he only received the half of that sum.-Ibid.

1 Sallier,

Parl. i. 252,

Lab. ii. 273. 328, 329.

Besenval, ii.

CHAP.
III.

1788.

120.

Riots in

25th Aug.

It soon appeared in what an extraordinary state of excitement the public mind was, and how prone to violence the people were, even in that moment when, having gained a complete victory, it was least excusable. The Paris on the police of Paris, formerly so admirable under Lenoir and Sartines, had sensibly declined in efficiency since the frequent contests for power had rendered it uncertain which party was likely to be long in the ascendant, and the known repugnance of the King to vigorous measures had rendered it doubtful whether the authorities did not run greater risk in repressing than permitting disorders. Taking advantage of this circumstance, a violent mob assembled on the evening of the 25th August, the day on which Brienne left Paris, and, traversing the Pont Neuf, obliged all the passers-by to shout out "Long live Henry IV. To the devil with Brienne and Lamoignon!" As these disorders were not checked, the mob soon swelled immensely, and began to throw stones at the adjoining houses; and these obnoxious ministers were burnt in effigy.* A detachment of cavalry having been sent to disperse the assemblage, were assailed by the populace, fired in return, and killed a man. The people, now

1 Hist. de la

par deux

Liberté, i.

Souv. de la

become furious, advanced to attack the soldiers:

Revolution, eight persons fell on the side of the troops, who were amis de la driven across the Pont Neuf. The mob, with loud 55. Duval, shouts, paraded the adjoining streets, celebrating their Terreur, i. triumph, and burning several watch-houses which fell ii, 280, 281. in their way. They were only arrested on the Place de Grève by a discharge from the armed police, which

8, 11. Lab.

* The Abbé Sabatier, who had first demanded the States-general in the parliament of Paris, made a narrow escape on this occasion. He was mistaken for the Abbé Vermond, preceptor to the Queen: and the people insisted he should alight, go down on his knees, and make the amende honorable for his misdeeds." What would you have?" exclaimed the counsellor of parliament, in great alarm. "I am the Abbé Sabatier, your best friend." Upon this the air rang with acclamations of "Vive notre père! Vive notre sauveur !" Yet he had been the principal means of throwing out the equal territorial assessment which the King had made such efforts to lay on the noblesse, to the relief of the Tiers Etat! Such is popular judgment.-DUVAL, Souvenirs de la Terreur, i. 11-14.

brought down twenty of the foremost, and dispersed the CHAP.

rest.

III.

1788.

121. Riot at

hotel. Aug.

But in every age the populace of Paris have been found to be the most resolute and intractable of any recorded in history. Far from being deterred by so bloody a Brienne's termination of their triumph, the people collected in still 26. greater force on the succeeding evening, armed with sabres, bayonets, and torches; and after burning Lamoignon in effigy, proceeded with their brands to set fire to the hotel of M. de Brienne, minister at war, and brother to the fallen prelate. Already they had got entire possession of the street, and were just beginning to force the doors, when Brienne himself arrived, and ordered two companies of the Gardes Françaises to charge with fixed bayonets, which at length dispersed the crowd, but not before several of their number had been killed and wounded. At the same time a vast assemblage collected in the Rue Meslay, and attacked the house of the commander of the city guard, Du Bois, who was the object of great hatred, from the vigour he had displayed on the preceding day. But he arranged his troops in his hotel and the adjoining houses, and received the assailants with so vigorous a fire of musketry that thirty of their number were stretched on the pavement; and a troop of horse, which arrived at the Sallier, same time, completed their defeat. Symptoms of irreso- . 14, 19. lution, however, had already appeared among some of the Montgailtroops; and the frequent shouts from the mob, "Vivent de France, les Gardes Françaises," proved that the soldiers of that Lab. ii. 283, body had already begun to experience that debauching Pari. i. 255. influence, which afterwards proved fatal alike to the monarchy and the cause of freedom.1

208. Duval,

lard, Hist.

i. 451, 452.

284. Hist.

the govern

The disorders were, by these vigorous military measures, 122. effectually arrested, though not before above two hundred Want of persons had perished on the two sides, in the tumults vigour in which had taken place. But now began a system, both men in on the part of the government and the magistracy, which the offenrevealed at once the weakness of the monarchy, and was

prosecuting

ders.

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