I have shown how the royal government abolished the provincial liberties, usurped the place of the local authorities in three fourths of the kingdom, and mo- nopolized public business, great and small; and I have also shown how Paris consequently became of neces- sity the master of the country instead of the capital, or rather, became itself the whole country. These two facts, which were peculiar to France, would alone suf- fice to show how a revolt could achieve the overthrow of a monarchy which had endured so violent shocks during so many centuries, and which, on the eve of its destruction, seemed immovable to its very assailants.^ Political life had been so long and so thoroughly ex- tinguished in France — individuals had so entirely lost the habit of mixing in public affairs, of judging for themselves, of studying popular movements, and even understanding the people at all, that the French quite naturally drifted into a terrible revolution without see- ing it — the very parties who had most to fear from it taking the lead, and undertaking to smooth and widen the way for its approach.
In the absence of free institutions, and, consequent- ly, of political classes, active political bodies, or organ- ized parties, the duty of leading public opinion, when it revived, naturally fell to the lot of philosophers. Hence it might be expected that the Eevolution would 248 THE OLD REGIME be conducted less in view of specific facts than in con- formity with abstract principles and general theories. It might be conjectured that, instead of assailing spe- cific laws, it would attack all laws together, and would assume to substitute for the old Constitution of France a new system of government which these writers had conceived.
The Church was mixed with all the old institutions that were to be destroyed. Hence it was plain that the Revolution would shake the religious while it over- threw the civil power; and this done, and men's minds set free from all the restraints which religion, custom, and law impose on reformers, it was impossible to say to what unheard-of lengths of boldness it might not go. Every careful student of the state of the country could perceive that there were no lengths of boldness that were too distant, no pitch of violence too frantic to be attempted.
"What!" cried Burke, in one of his eloquent pam- phlets, " one can not find a man that can answer for the smallest district; not a man who can answer for his neighbor. People are arrested in their houses for royalism, for moderation, or any thing else, and no one ever resists.", Burke had no idea of the state in which the monarchy he so deeply regretted had left us. The old government had deprived the French of the power I and the desire to help each other. When the Eevolu- tion broke out, there were not ten men in the greater part of France who were in the habit of acting in con- 1 cert, in a regular manner, and providing for their own I defense; every^ thing was left to the central power. 1 And so, when that power made way for an irresponsi- AND THE EEVOLUTION. 249 We sovereign assembly, and exchanged its former mild- ness for ferocity, there was nothing to check or delay it for an instant. The same cause which had over- thrown the monarchy had rendered every thing possi- ble after its fall.
At no former period had religious toleration, gentle- ness in the exercise of authority, humanity, and be- nevolence, been so generally advocated or so thorough- ly accepted as sound doctrine as during the eighteenth century: the very spirit of war — last refuge of the spirit of violence — had been limited, and its rigors softened. Out of the bosom of this refined society how inhuman a revolution was about to spring! And yet the refinement was no mere pretense, for no sooner had the first fury of the Eevolution been deadened than the spirit of the laws and political customs was softened and assuaged.
To comprehend the contrast between the benign the- ories and the violent acts of the Eevolution, one must remember that it was prepared by the most civilized classes of the nation, and executed by the roughest and most unpolished. The former having no bond of mutual union, no common understanding among them- selves, no hold on the people, the latter assumed the whole direction of affairs when the old authorities were abolished. Even where they did not govern they in- spired the government; and a glance at the way they had lived under the old regime left no room for doubt as to what they would prove.
The very peculiarities of their condition endowed them with some rare virtues. They had long been free and landholders; they were temperate and proud L2 250 THE OLD KEGIME in their independent isolation. They were hardened to toil, careless of the refinements of life, resigned to misfortune however great, firm in the face of danger. A simple, manly race, hereafter to constitute armies under which Europe shall bow the neck; but hence, also, a dangerous master. Crushed for centuries under the weight of abuses which no one shared with them, living alone, and brooding silently over their preju- dices, their jealousies, and their hatreds, they were hardened by their hard experience, and were as ready to inflict as to bear sufibring.
Such was the French people when it laid hands on the government, and undertook to complete the work of the Revolution. It found in books a theory which it assumed to put in practice, shaping the ideas of the writers to suit its passions.
The careful student of France during the eighteenth century must have noticed in the preceding pages the birth and development of two leading passions, which were not' coeval, and not always similar in their ten- dencies.
One — ^the deepest and most solidly rooted — was a violent, unquenchable hatred of inequality. It took its rise and grew in the face of marked inequalities; drove the French with steady, irresistible force to seek to destroy utterly all the remains of the mediae- val institutions; and prompted the erection on their ruins of a society in which all men should be alike, and as equal in rank as humanity dictates.
The other — of more recent date, and less solidly rooted — prompted men to seek to be free as well as equal.
AND THE REVOLUTION. 251 Toward the close of the old regime th^se two pas- sions were equally sincere, and apparently equally ac- tive; they met at the opening of the Eevolution, and, blending together into one, they took fire from contact, and inflamed the whole heart of France. No doubt 1789 was a period of inexperience, but it was also a period of generosity, of enthusiasm, of manliness, of greatness — -a period of immortal memory, upon which men will look back with admiration and respect when aU who witnessed it, and we who follow them, shall have long since passed away. The French were then proud enough of their cause and of themselves to be- lieve that they could enjoy freedom and equality to- gether. They planted, therefore, free institutions in the midst of democratic institutions. JSFot content with pulverizing the superannuated laws which divided men into classes, castes, corporations, and endowed them with rights more unequal even than their ranks, they likewise annulled at a blow those other laws which were a later creation of the royal power, and which had stripped the nation of all control over itself, and s&t over every Frenchman a government to be his pre- ceptor, his tutor, and, in case of need, his oppressor. Centralization fell with absolute monarchy.
But when the vigorous generation which began the Eevolution perished or became enervated, as all gener- ations must which undertake such enterprises; when, in the natural course of events of this character, the love of liberty had been discouraged and grown lan- guid in the midst of anarchy and popular despotism, and the bewildered nation began to grope around for a master, immense facilities were offered for the restora- 252 THE OLD EEGIME tion of absolute government; and it was easy for the genius of him who was destined both to continue and to destroy the Revolution to discover them.
The old regime contained, in fact, a large body of in- stitutions of modern type which, not being hostile to equality, were susceptible of being used in the new or- der of things, and yet offered remarkable facilities for the establishment of despotism. They were sought for and found in the midst of the ruins. They had for- merly given birth to habits, passions, and ideas which tended to keep men divided and obedient; they were restored and turned to account. Centralization was raised from its tomb and restored to its place; whence it happened that, all the checks which had formerly served to limit its power being destroyed, and not re- vived, there sprang out of the bosom of a nation which had just overthrown royalty a power more extensive, more detailed, more absolute than any of our monarchs had ever wielded. The enterprise seemed incredibly bold and unprecedentedly successful, because people only thought of what they saw before them, and forgot the past. The despot fell; but the most substantial portion of his work remained: his administrative sys- tem survived his government. And ever since, when- ever an attempt has been made to overthrow an abso- lute government, the head of Liberty has been simply planted on the shoulders of a servile body.
During the period that has elapsed since the Revo- lution, the passion for liberty has frequently been ex- tinguished again, and again revived. This will long be the case, for it is still inexperienced, ill regulated, easily discouraged, easily frightened away, easily over- AND THE REVOLUTION. 253 come, superficial, and evanescent. Meanwhile, the passion for equality has retained its place at the bot- tom of the hearts it originally penetrated, and link- ed with their dearest sentiments. While the one is incessantly changing, now increasing, now diminish- ing, now gaining strength, now losing it, according to events, the other has remained uniformly the same, striving for its object with obstinate and often blind ardor, willing to sacrifice every thing to gain it, and ready to repay its grant from government by cultivat- ing such habits, ideas, and laws as a despotism may require.
The Eevolution will ever remain in darkness to those who do not look beyond it; it can only be com-, prehended by the light of the ages which preceded it. Without a clear view of society in the olden time, of its laws, its faults, its prejudices, its suffering, its great- ness, it is impossible to understand the conduct of the French during the sixty years which have followed its fall; and even that view will not suffice without some acquaintance with the natural history of our nation.
When I examine that nation in itself, I can not help thinking it is more extraordinary than any of the events of its history. Did there ever appear on the earth an- other nation so fertile in contrasts, so extreme in its acts — more under the dominion of feeling, less ruled by principle; always better or worse than was anticipat- ed— now below the level of humanity, now far above; a people so unchangeable in its leading features that it may be recognized by portraits drawn two or three thousand years ago, and yet so fickle in its daily opin- ions and tastes that it becomes at last a mystery to it- 254 THE OLD REGIME self, and is as much astonished as strangers at the sight of what it has done; naturally fond of home and rou- tine, yet, once driven forth and forced to adopt new customs, ready to carry principles to any lengths and to dare any thing; indocile by disposition, "but better pleased with the arbitrary and even violent rule of a sovereign than with a free and regular government un- der its chief citizens; now fixed in hostility to subjec- tion of any kind, now so passionately wedded to servi- tude that nations made to serve can not vie with it; led by a thread so long as no word of resistance is spoken, whoUy ungovernable when the standard of re- volt has been raised — thus always deceiving its mas- ters, who fear it too much or too little; never so free that it can not be subjugated, nor so kept down that it can not break the yoke; qualified for every pursuit, but excelling in nothing but war; more prone to wor- ship chance, force, success, eclat, noise, than real glory; endowed with more heroism than virtue, more genius than common sense; better adapted for the conception of grand designs than the accomplishment of great en- 'terprises; the most brilliant and the most dangerous nation of Europe, and the one that is surest to inspire admiration, hatred, terror, or pity, but never indiffer- ence?
'No nation but such a one as this could give birth to a revolution so sudden, so radical, so impetuous in its course, and yet so full of missteps, contradictory facts, and conflicting examples. The French could not have done it but for the reasons I have alleged; but, it must be admitted, even these reasons would not suffice to explain such a revolution in any country but France.
AND THE REVOLUTION. 255 I have now reached the threshold of that memora- ble Kevolution. I shall not cross it now. Soon, per- haps, I may be enabled to do so. I shall then pass over its causes to examine it in itself, and to judge the society to which it gave birth.
APPENDIX, OF THE PAYS D'ETATS, AND LANGUEDOC IN PARTICULAR.
IT is not my intention to examine in detail, in this place, the condition of affairs in each of the jpays d^etats, as they stood before the Kevolution.
I merely design to state how many there were; which of them Were distinguished by local activity; on what footing they stood as regards the royal gov- ernment; wherein they departed from the rules I have mentioned, and in what particulars they were govern- ed by these rules; and, lastly, to show, by the exam- ple of one of them, what they all might have become.
States had existed in most of the French provinces — that is to say, their government had been adminis- tered by members of the Three Estates {gens des trots etats), as it was then the fashion to say; in other words, by an assembly composed of representatives of the clergy, the nobility, and the burghers. This pro- vincial institution, like most of the political institu- tions of the Middle Ages, had flourished in a similar form throughout almost all civilized Europe, orj at all events, in every country into which German customs and ideas had made their way. In many German provinces States existed up to the French Kevolution; in the others they did not disappear till the seven-- teenth or eighteenth century. For two centuries sov- 258 APPENDIX.
ereigns liad uniformly and steadily waged war against them, sometimes openly, sometimes secretly. No at- tempt had been any where made to adapt them to the improved condition of the times; but monarchs had never let slip an opportunity of destroying them, or de- forming them when this was the worst they could do.
In France there were but five provinces of any ex- tent, and a few small, insignificant districts, in which States still existed in 1789. Provincial liberty, prop- erly speaking, subsisted in two only, Bretagne and Languedoc; every where else the substantial features of the institution had been taken away, leaving only the semblance behind.
I shall examine Languedoc separately, and at some length.
It was the largest and most populous of the pays d'Hats. It contained more than two thousand com- munes, or, as they were then called, communities, and nearly two millions of inhabitants. It was, moreover, the best ordered and prosperous, as well as the largest of these provinces. We may therefore learn, from an inquiry into its condition, what provincial liberty was under the old regime, and to what extent, in those sec- tions of country where it was most vigorous, it had been subordinated to the royal power.
In Languedoc the Estates could not meet without an express order from the king. Each member must have received individually a letter addressed to him in- viting him to be present at each session. Hence a malcontent of the time remarked: * ' Of the three bodies which compose our Estates, one, the clergy, is appoint- ed by the king, as all livings and bishoprics are in his APPENDIX. 259 gift; and the two others are assumed to Tbe in the same position, for the king can prevent any member from Ibeing present by simply withholding the invitation, though the member excluded has not been exiled or even put on his trial."
The period when the session of the Estates must end was likewise fixed by the king. An Order in Council limited their ordinary sessions to forty days. The king was represented in the assembly by com- missioners who had seats whenever they chose to de- mand them, and were the organ of the government. The authority of the Estates was strictly limited. They could come to no important decision, pass no appropriation bill, without an Order in Council approv- ing the measure: they could neither impose a tax, nor effect a loan, nor institute an action at law without the express permission of the king. All their rules, in- cluding those which regulated their own sittings, were invalid till the king had sanctioned them. Their re- ceipts and expenditures, their budget, as we should say at present, was subject to the same control.
The government exercised the same political rights in Languedoc as elsewhere. Whatever laws it chose to promulgate, whatever general rules it laid down, whatever measures it took, applied to Languedoc as well as the j)ays d^ election. It performed the natural functions of government, maintained the same police, employed the same agents there as elsewhere, and cre- ated, from time to time, a host of new functionaries, whose offices the province was obliged to buy up at very high rates.
Languedoc, lilie the other provinces, was governed 260 APPENDIX.
by an intendant. In every district this intendant had sub-delegates, who were in relation with the heads of the communities, and directed them. The intendant was public guardian, precisely as in the 'pays d^ elec- tion. The smallest village, buried in the gorges of the Cevennes, could not make the least outlay without being authorized by an Order in Council from Paris. That branch of legal business wjiich is now called the Department of Private Claims {contentieux adminis- tratif) was even more extensive there than elsewhere. The intendant had original jurisdiction over all ques- tions of highways and roads, and generally over all dis- putes in which the government was, or chose to con- sider itself, interested. Nor were government agents less carefully protected there than elsewhere against prosecutions by citizens who were aggrieved by them.
"Wherein, then, did Lang-uedoc differ from the other provinces? How came it to be so envied by its neigh- bors? It differed from the rest of France in three re- spects: 1st. It possessed an assembly composed of substan- tial men, enjoying the confidence of the people and the respect of the general government. No government functionary, or, as they were called, king's officer, could be a member. The assembly discussed freely and seriously the affairs of the province every year. The proximity of this centre of intelligence obliged the gov- ernment to exercise its privileges very cautiously and moderately: though its agents and its tendencies were the same there as elsewhere, they produced very differ- ent results.
2dly. Many public works were carried on in Lan- APPENDIX. 261 guedoc at the cost of the king and directed by his agents; others were partly defrayed and substantially directed by the crown; but a still larger number were executed at the cost of the province. When the king had once approved the design and authorized the out- lay necessary for the latter, they were prosecuted by officials chosen by the States, under the inspection of commissioners selected from the assembly.
3dly. The province was entitled to levy, in the way it liked best, a portion of the royal taxes, and all the taxes that were required for its own necessities.
We shall now see the use which Languedoc made of these privileges. It is a matter which deserves close attention.
A most striking feature in the pays d^ election was the rarity of local taxes. The general taxes were oft- en burdensome, but the province spent little or nothing on itself. In Languedoc, on the contrary, enormous sums were spent by the province for public works; in 1780 the annual appropriation exceeded 7,000,000 livres.
The central government was occasionally shocked at such extravagance. It began to fear that such appro- priations would exhaust the province, and incapacitate it from paying the royal taxes. It reproached the States with a want of moderation. I have read a me- morial in which the assembly replied to these criti- cisms. A few extracts from that document will de- pict the spirit which animated that little government better than any thing I could say.
The memorial admits that the province has certain- ly undertaken and is prosecuting immense works; but.
262 APPENDIX.
instead of apologizing therefor, it declares that, if the king has no objection, this policy will be still farther carried out. The province has already improved and facilitated the navigation of the chief rivers which cross its territory, and is now engaged in prolonging the Burgundy Canal — which was constructed under Louis XIY., and is now inadequate — through Lower Langue- doc, by Cette and Agde to the Ehone. It has adapted the port of Cette to commercial purposes, and keeps it in repair at great expense. These outlays, it is ob- served, are for national rather than provincial objects, but the province has made them, as it will be the chief gainer by the works. It is further engaged in drain- ing and reclaiming the marsh of Aigues-Mortes. But its chief outlays have been for roads. It has either opened or repaired all the high roads which traverse its surface and lead into neighboring provinces. It has mended all the roads between the diiferent cities and bourgs of Languedoc. All these roads are ex- cellent even in winter, and compare very favorably with the hard, rough, ill-kept roads which are met with in most of the neighboring provinces, such as Dau- phine, Quercy, and Bordeaux (which, it is observed, axe pays d' election). On this head the memorial refers to the judgment of travelers and merchants; nor with- out reason, for Arthur Young, who traveled through the country a year afterward, notes, "Languedoc, pays d'etat — good roads, made without eorvees.'"''
If the king will grant permission, continues the memorial, the Estates will do more yet; they will undertake to improve the parish roads, which affect as many interests as the others. " For if produce," con- APPENDIX. 263 APPENDIX. 263 tinned the memorial, " can not find its way from the producer's barn to the market, it is of very little use to provide for its exportation to a distance." " The principle of the States with regard to public works," the memorial adds, "has always been to look at their usefulness, not at their cost." Rivers, canals, roads, give value to all products of the soil and of industry, by facilitating their conveyance at all seasons and at small expense to a market, and spreading commercial activity throughout the province; they are always worth more than they cost. Moreover, works of this character, if undertaken moderately, and spread uni- formly over the territory of the province, sustain the value of labor, and give employment to the poor. " The king," adds the memorial, proudly, "■ need be at no expense for the establishment of work -houses in Languedoc, as he has been obliged to do in the rest of France. We seek no favors of the kind: the works of public utility which we undertake ourselves stand us in the stead of work-houses, and furnish a remun- erative demand for all our labor."
The more I study the regulations which the kin^ permitted the States of Languedoc to establish in those branches of administration which were left under their control, the more I admire the wisdom, the equity, the mildness which characterize them, and the more sat- isfied am I of the superiority of the policy of the local government over that which obtained in the provinces administered by the king.
The province was divided into communities, towns, or villages — into administrative districts, which were called dioceses; and, lastly, into three great depart- 264 APPENDIX.
ments, called senechaussees. Each of^ these divisions was separately represented in the Assembly; each had its own separate government, which acted under the direction of the States or the king. Public works for the benefit of any particular division were only under- taken when that division expressed a desire for them. If the work demanded by the community would be beneficial to the diocese, the latter was bound to bear a proportionate share of the expense. If the sene- chaussee was interested, it paid a share. But diocese, senechaussee, and province were all bound to contrib- ute to works which the interests of a community re- quired, if they were necessary, and beyond the means of the body directly concerned; for, as the States fre- quently observed, " The fundamental principle of our constitution is that all the divisions of the province are jointly and severally liable to each other, and bound to contribute to each other's progress."
Works undertaken by the province were required to have been planned deliberately, and to have received the assent of all the secondary bodies concerned. All labor consumed was paid for in cash; corvees were un- known. I have stated that in j)ays d' election land taken for objects of public utility was always tardily and inadequately paid for, and that occasionally the owner was not paid at all. This was one of the lead- ing grievances of the Provincial Assemblies when they met in 1787. Some even complained that it was im- possible to estimate the debts that had been thus in- curred, as the property taken had been destroyed or transformed before it had been valued. In Languedoc, every foot of land taken from its owner was caarefully APPENDIX. 265 valued before it was touched, and the value paid he- fore the expiration of a year from the time the works were begun.
This system of the States of Languedoc with regard to public works appeared so excellent to the central government, that, without imitating, it admired it. The Royal Council, after having authorized its establish- ment, had it printed at the royal printing-office, and sent it to the intendants as a useful document to con- sult.