HISTORY OF EUROPE.

INTRODUCTION.

PROGRESS OF FREEDOM IN THE WORLD BEFORE THE FRENCIT

REVOLUTION

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1.

ficence of

THERE is no period in the history of the world which INTRODUCcan be compared, in point of interest and importance, to that which embraces the progress and termination of the Importance French Revolution. In no former age were events of such and magnimagnitude crowded together, or interests so momentous at the subject. issue between contending nations. From the flame which was kindled in Europe, the whole world has been involved in conflagration; and a new era has dawned upon both hemispheres from the effects of its extension. With the first rise of a free spirit in France, the liberty of North America was established, and its last exertions spread the discordant passion for independence through the regions of its Southern continent. In the midst of a desperate contest in Europe, the British empire in India has unceasingly extended, and the ancient fabric of Hindoo superstition at length begun to yield to the force of European civilisation. Though last to be reached by the flame, the power of Russia has been indefinitely strengthened by the contests in which she has been engaged; and the dynasties of Asia can now hardly

VOL. I.

A

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INTRODUC- withstand the arms which the forces of Napoleon were unable to subdue. Assailed by the energy of England on the south, and by the might of Russia on the north, the desolating reign of Mahommedan oppression seems drawing to its close; and from the strife of European war two powers have emerged, which appear destined to carry the blessings of civilisation and the light of religion as far as the arm, of conquest can reach, or the waters of the ocean extend.....

2.

of the era of

with others

in the world.

In the former story of the world different eras are Comparison to be observed, which have.always attracted the attention Napoleon of men, from the interest of the events which they present, and the importance of the consequences to which they Jrave led. It is in the midst of the greatest struggles of the species, that the fire has been struck which has most .contributed to its improvement. In the contest between Greeran freedom and Persian despotism, the genius was elícited, which has spread the spirit of philosophy and the charms of art among mankind; in the severer struggle between the Romans and Carthaginians, that unconquerable spirit was produced, which in half a century spread the Roman empire over the whole surface of the civilised 1 Polyb. 1, world. It was amidst the first combats between the Mahommedans and the Christians that the genius of modern Europe took its rise, and ingrafted the refinements of ancient taste on the energy of barbarian valour; from the wars between the Moors and the Spaniards, the enterprise arose which burst the barriers of ancient knowledge, and opened to modern ambition the wonders of another hemisphere. The era of Napoleon will be ranked by future ages with those of Pericles, of Hannibal, and of the Crusades, not merely as regards the splendour of the events which it produced, but as to the magnitude of the effects by which it was followed.

i. c. I.

3.

Within the space of twenty years, events were in that Splendour era accumulated which would have filled the whole annals of a powerful state, in any former age, with instruction

of its events.

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and interest. In that brief period were successively pre- INTRODUCsented the struggles of an aged monarchy, and the growth of a fierce democracy; the energy of Republican valour, and the triumphs of Imperial discipline; the pride of barbarian conquest, and the glories of patriotic resistance. In the rapid pages of its history will be found parallels to the long annals of ancient greatness: to the genius of Hannibal, and the passions of Gracchus; the ambition of Cæsar, and the splendour of Augustus; the triumphs of Trajan, and the disasters of Julian. The power of France was less durable than that of Rome, only because it was more oppressive; it was more stubbornly resisted, because it did. not bring the blessings of civilisation with its eagles. Its course was hailed by no grateful nations-its progress marked by no experienced blessings: unlike the beneficent sun of Roman greatness, which shone only to improve, its light, like the dazzling glare of the meteor, "rolled, blazed, destroyed, and was no more."

4.

nary varie

racter which

Nor were the varieties of character, which appeared on the scene during those eventful years, less deserving of Extraordiattention. If the genius displayed was unprecedented, so ties of chaalso was the wickedness; if history has little to show it exhibited. comparable to the triumphs that were gained, it has no parallel to the crimes that were committed. The terrible severity of Danton, the fanatical cruelty of Robespierre, are as unexampled as the military genius of Napoleon, or the naval career of Nelson. If France may, with reason, pride herself upon the astonishing accumulation of talent which was brought to bear upon the fortunes of the state during the progress of the Revolution, she must share the disgrace of the inhuman crimes which were committed by its leaders, and borne with by its supporters among the people. It is the peculiar duty of the historian to preserve, for future admiration, the virtues which adorned, and to consign to eternal execration the vices which disgraced, that eventful age :-"Exsequi sententias haud institui, nisi insignes per honestiam, aut notabila dedecore;

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INTRODUC- quod præcipuum munus annalium reor, ne virtutes sileantur, utque pravis dictis factisque ex posteritate et infamia metus sit. Ceterùm tempora illa adeo infecta, ut non modo primores civitatis, quibus claritudo sua obsequiis protegenda erat, sed omnes consulares, magna pars eorum qui nal. iii. 65. Præturâ functi, multique etiam pedarii senatores, certatim exsurgerent, fœdaque et nimia censerent." 1*

1 Tac. An

5.

and virtues

of the Euro- trous years.

pean nations which were

The peculiar virtues and character of all the European Character nations were eminently exemplified during those disasThe obstinate hostility of the Spaniards, the enthusiastic valour of the French, the ardent spirit of exhibited. the Prussians, the persevering steadiness of the Austrians, the devoted courage of the Russians, the freeborn bravery of the English, have been successively put to the test. The boasted triumphs of Louis XIV. sink into insignificance compared to those of Napoleon; and the victories of Marlborough produced less important consequences than those of Vitoria and Waterloo. Since the Western World was arrayed against the Eastern on the plains of Palestine, no such assemblages of armed men have been seen as those which followed the standards of Napoleon; and the hordes which Attila displayed on the field of Chalons were less formidable than those which Alexander led from the deserts of Scythia.

6.

tual efforts.

Nor were the intellectual exertions of this animating Its intellec- period less conspicuous than its warlike achievements. In this bloodless contest the leaders of civilisation, the lords of the earth and the sea, outstripped all other states. The same age which witnessed the military glories of Wellington and Napoleon, beheld the advancement of astronomical investigation by Laplace, and the hidden recesses of the

"I have resolved to record no sentiments save such as are remarkable for their magnanimity or their baseness. And this is the chief use of annals, to hinder virtues from being forgotten, and to consign wicked deeds and words to eternal and dreaded infamy. But those times were so corrupted, that not merely the chiefs of the State, to whom their lustre should have proved a shield, but all persons of consular dignity, great part of those who had passed through the prætorship, many even of the ordinary senators, seemed to vie with each other in base and disgraceful actions."-TACITUS, Annals, iii. c. 65.

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heart unfolded by Sir Walter Scott. Earth told the his- INTRODUCtory of its physical revolutions through the remains buried in its bosom, and the secrets even of material composition yielded to the powers of philosophical analysis. Sculpture revived under the taste of Canova, and the genius of Thorwaldsen again charmed the world by the fascinations of design; architecture displayed its splendour in the embellishments of the French metropolis, and the rising capital of Russia united to the solidity of Egyptian materials the delicacy of Grecian taste.1 Even the rugged ridges of the Clarke's Alps yielded to the force of scientific enterprise, and the Travels, xi. barriers of nature were smoothed by the efforts of human perseverance; while the genius of Britain added a new element to the powers of art, and made fire the instrument of subduing the waves.

391, 392.

7.

these cha

Effects so various could not have arisen in the ordinary course of human events. The talent developed was too Causes of great, the wickedness committed too appalling, to be racteristics. explained on the usual principles of human nature. It seemed rather as if some higher powers had been engaged in a strife in which man was the visible instrument; as if the demons of hell had been let loose to scourge mankind, and the protection of Heaven for a time withdrawn from virtue, to subject its firmness to the severest test. The fancy of antiquity would have peopled the scene with hostile deities, supporting unseen the contests of armies; the severer genius of Christianity beheld the visible interposition of Almighty Power, to punish the sins of a corrupted world. There was nothing, however, supernatural in the events of that momentous age. The magnitude of the effects produced arose entirely from the intensity of the feelings which were roused; the extremes of virtue and vice which were exhibited, from the force of the incitements to the former, and of the temptations to the latter, which were presented. The interests which were at stake were not the loss of provinces or the retreat of armies, but the fate of whole ranks in society,