III. 1789. CHAP. in the three last months of 1788 alone, they exceeded two thousand five hundred. The general excitement increased when the result of the elections was known; for it was then ascertained that at least four-fifths of the deputies of the Tiers Etat were decided in their movement principles; that two-thirds of the clergy were of the same way of thinking; and that even among the nobles, a strong minority, with the Duke of Orleans and several of the oldest peers at its head, would support the union of the orders and the voting by head. Political regeneration was now, therefore, more than a visionary speculation. It had acquired a majority in the great ruling assembly : and it was obvious to all, that if the union of the orders and the voting by head could be established, the government would be overthrown, and society might be remodelled in all its parts, at the pleasure of the revolutionary leaders. To the attainment of these objects, accordingly, the whole efforts of the popular party were directed. Projects of radical change and an entire remodelling of society became universal; the sixty electoral halls of Paris became so many centres of political fervour, where, in anticipation of the States-general, all the great questions about to be canvassed in that assembly were nightly debated with inconceivable warmth, and that general agitation was observable in the public mind which is the invariable precursor of political catastrophes. Yet, so little were the leaders of the movement aware of Genlis, the tendency of this universal excitement, that, so far 258. Droz, from anticipating the general overthrow of society from Vie de the convocation of the States-general, their only fear was Marmontel, that they would do nothing. "The States-general,” said Mém. ii. the Duke of Orleans, "will not effect the reform of a single abuse, not even of lettres-de-cachet."1 1 Lab. ii. 376, 377. Mém. iii. ii. 158, 159. Siêyes, p.20. 296 An event, however, soon occurred in the capital, calculated, if any thing could, to open the eyes of Necker to the perilous and ungovernable nature of the spirit he had evoked. In the Faubourg Saint Antoine, a celebrated III. 1789. 141. Riot at manufacturer of furniture papers, named Reveillon, had CHAP. long been at the head of a wealthy and prosperous establishment, which gave employment to three hundred persons. Indulgent and humane in the extreme to all in his employment, he was adored by his workmen, and Reveillon's. respected by every person of worth within the sphere of April 27. his acquaintance. But these very qualities rendered him obnoxious to the Revolutionists, who were envious of worth which they could not imitate, and jealous of influence emanating from others than themselves. They gave out that he was an aristocrat, who was practising these arts in order to render the noblesse popular in the district where democratic influence had its principal stronghold, and that he had said his workmen could subsist on fifteen sous a-day—a smaller sum than was adequate for the support of their children. So far were these calumnies from being true, that, having risen by his good. conduct from being a common workman, he had, in consequence of his known benevolence of disposition, and interest in the welfare of the poor, been shortly before named one of the commissioners for drawing up the cahiers for the Tiers Etat of Paris. In the present excited state of the public mind, however, the leaders of the populace could make them believe any thing. On the evening of the 27th April, while Reveillon was at the April 27. elections, a crowd, which soon swelled to six thousand 1 Droz, ii. persons, issued from the Faubourg St Marceau, burnt him 168. Lab. in effigy before his door, and declared they would return Prudhom. on the following night, and consume himself in good ear- Rév. iii. 77. nest, with all his establishment. They were as good as their word.1 Early on the following morning a hideous crowd, armed with clubs, sabres, and old muskets, arrived in the Rue Montreuil, where Reveillon's manufactory was situated, and with loud shouts and direful imprecations commenced the work of destruction. A body of thirty police, who at his request had been stationed in the vicinity to pre ii. 383, 384. Crimes de la CHAP. III. 1789. 142. Destruction of Reveil lon's manu violent tumult to which it gave rise. April 28. serve order, were unable to resist a mob which soon swelled to six thousand persons; a few courageous workmen, whom he had armed in his defence, were overpowered; and a furious mob, shouting "Vive le Duc d'Orléans !" "Vive le successeur du Bon Henri!" burst factory, and open the doors, and instantly filled every apartment in the building. Reveillon himself narrowly escaped destruction from these bloodthirsty assassins; but his house and manufactory were utterly sacked, and soon after reduced to ashes. His cellars were broken open, and the wine drunk amidst loud cheers; the furniture and rich stock of papers all committed to the flames, and every thing portable carried off or destroyed. Towards evening the troops arrived, consisting of three regiments, with two pieces of artillery, under the command of the Baron Besenval. He thrice ordered the mob to disperse and evacuate the premises; but, thinking the military would not fire, they treated the summons with derision. guards then received orders to expel them by force; they made their way with fixed bayonets into the courtyard, and were received by a shower of stones and burning rafters from the ravaged edifice, which killed and wounded several soldiers. Regular volleys were then fired by the troops, and they at length drove the mob, who fought with desperation, out of the burned premises. A frightful scene presented itself; drunken brigands, half burned, were lying on all sides, many of them exiii. 75, 77. piring in the most dreadful tortures from the sulphuric Besenval, and other acids used in the manufactory, which they had Bertrand de swallowed in their frenzy, taking them for spirits. At Hist. de la length the disgraceful assemblage was dispersed; but not before two hundred of the insurgents had been killed, and three hundred wounded in the contest.1 1 Duval, Souv. de la Terreur, i. 23, 26. Prudhom. i. 345, 347. Molleville, Rév. i. 136, 137. The Baron Besenval was warmly applauded by all persons of worth and sense in Paris for this seasonable act of vigour, which, if duly followed up and imitated in subsequent times, would probably have arrested the whole horrors of the Revolution. III. 1789. Who was of this But it was otherwise at the court; he CHAP. was coldly received there; and no one even mentioned to him a circumstance, so evidently calculated, according to the manner in which it was received and acted upon, to 143. determine the course of future events. No prosecutions the author took place; none of the guilty persons were arrested; no tumult. investigations even were instituted regarding it.* Necker's system of conciliation and concession, and the King's horror at the shedding of blood, made them on this occasion forget the first duty of government, that of protecting life and property. Meanwhile, the Orleans and movement party at Paris, as usual in such cases, unable to palliate the excesses of the insurgents, endeavoured to lay the blame of them on others. It was the court who had secretly provoked the tumult, in order to give them an excuse for introducing troops into the capital; it was English gold which had bought the riot, to stain the Revolution in its outset with blood, and for ever debar France from those blessings which Great Britain had long enjoyed. The character of the King and of Necker sufficiently demonstrate the absurdity of the first hypothesis; for the last, the French historians now confess there never has been discovered a vestige of evidence.+ Machiavelli's maxim, "If you would discover the author of a crime, consider who had an interest to commit it," enables us to solve the mystery. The States-general were on the eve of meeting: by vigorous measures the union of the orders might be effected the whole members were already arrived in Paris every thing would depend on intimidating the court, and giving a striking example of popular power at * Two of the rioters were hung by the provost-marshal in the act of plundering, several prisoners were made, and the parliament commenced an investigation. In a few days, however, they were all liberated, and the inquiry was stopped, some said in consequence of orders from the King, others from discovery of the exalted personages whom the inquiry would implicate.-DROZ, ii. 171. +"De nombreuses recherches ont été faites pour découvrir si le gouvernement Anglais avait pris une part active à nos premiers troubles, et n'ont donné contre lui aucune apparence de preuve. C'est plus tard qu'il s'est mêlé de nos affaires."-DROZ, Histoire de Louis XVI., ii. 270. CHAP. III. 1789. that decisive crisis. The cries of the insurgents when they broke into Reveillon's premises, pointing to the Duke of Orleans as the successor of Henry IV.; the five-franc pieces found in the pockets of the dead rioters; the large sums spent by the mob in the neighbouring cabarets; the concert and vigour of their operations; the number of Besenval, ii. them who did not belong to Paris, and had come for that special purpose-evidently point to the source from whence this first great outrage of the Revolution proceeded. 1 1 Droz, ii. 170, 171. Lab. ii. 386, 387. 347. Duval, i. 25, 27. 144. views on the orders. A Neither, however, the fervour which had become uniNecker's versal in the middle classes of society, nor the savage union of the passions which had displayed themselves among the lower, could shake Necker in his determination to accede to the wishes of the Tiers Etat, and permit, at least to a certain extent, the union of the three orders in one chamber. devout believer in human perfectibility, unbounded in his confidence in the wisdom and virtue of the middle class of society, he could not be brought to believe that any risk was to be apprehended from the intermingling of their representatives with those of the nobles and clergy.* On the contrary, he saw the greatest possible danger, and a prolongation of the whole difficulties of government, in their exclusion. It was this opinion, the result of inexperience, and of the general reluctance of well-meaning but speculative men to believe in the wickedness of those with whom they have not been brought in contact, which even his warmest and ablest supporters admit was his fatal error at this decisive moment. He had not moral courage "Enfin et pourquoi le dissimulerais-je ? Je m'associais de tous mes vœux aux espérances de la nation, et je ne les croyais point vaines. Hélas! peut-on songer aujourd'hui à l'attente universelle de tous les bons Français, de tous les amis de l'humanité le peut-on sans verser des larmes? Les uns se disaient, Enfin le trésor de l'état ne sera plus à la merci d'un ministre des finances; il ne sera plus dans la dépendance de ses vices ou de ses combinaisons personnelles ; une assemblée composée d'hommes élus par la nation fixera les dépenses publiques en les proportionnant d'une main ferme à l'étendue des revenus; aucun écart ne sera possible, et le monarque lui-même sera mis à couvert de ses erreurs, et de ses regrets. Que de richesses d'opinion seront alors créées !"—NECKER, Sur la Révolution, i. 52. "Après ses devoirs religieux, l'opinion publique était ce que l'occupait le plus: il sacrifiait la fortune, les honneurs, tout ce que les ambitieux récherchent, |