History of the French Revolution, from 1789 to 1814 / By F.A. Mignet.

  • François Mignet
Date:
1846
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: History of the French Revolution, from 1789 to 1814 / By F.A. Mignet. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    than that of the aristocracy. The struggle took place in a sphere, and on the part of interests, with which it was reputed to have no connexion. When the nobles were defi¬ nitively beaten in the time of the FrOnde, it laid down its arms; a clear proof how secondary was the part it had played. At length, after a century of absolute submission, it re¬ appeared in the arena, but on its own account. The past cannot be recalled; and it was not more possible for the nobles to rise from their defeat than it would now be for absolute monarchy to regain its position. The court was to have another antagonist, for it must always have one, power never being without a candidate. The third estate, which increased daily in strength, wealth, intelligence, and union, was destined to combat and to displace it. The parliament did not constitute a class, but a body; and in this new con¬ test, while able to aid in the displacement of authority, it could not secure it for itself. The court had favoured the progress of the third estate, and had contributed to the development of one of its chief means of advancement, its intelligence. The most absolute of monarchs aided the movement of mind, and, without intending it, created public opinion. By encourag¬ ing praise, he prepared the way for blame; for we cannot invite an examination in our favour, without undergoing one afterwards to our prejudice. When the songs of tri¬ umph, and gratulation, and adulation were exhausted, accusation began, and the philosophers of the eighteenth cen¬ tury succeeded to the litterateurs of the seventeenth. Every¬ thing became the object of their researches and reflections; governments, religion, abuses, laws. They proclaimed rights, laid bare men’s wants, denounced injustice. A strong and enlightened public opinion was formed, whose attacks the government underwent without venturing to attempt its sup¬ pression. It even converted those whom it attacked; cour¬ tiers submitted to its decisions from fashion’s sake, power from necessity, and the age of reform was ushered in by the age ot philosophy, as the latter had been by the age of the fine arts. Such was the condition of France, when Louis XVI. ascended the throne on the 11th of May, 1774. Finances, whose deficiencies neither the restorative ministry of cardinal
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