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- Herausgeber: Librorium Editions
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023
Like the rest of Western Europe, France, in the Middle Ages, was ruled by a feudal nobility, holding their lands of the king. Nowhere in Western Europe in the tenth century was the power of the king less, or the power of the nobles greater. The weight of their authority, therefore, fell heavily upon the peasants on their estates, and upon the inhabitants of the little towns scattered over the country. A feudal noble, if he were a seigneur, answering to our lord of the manor, ruled all dwellers on his estate. Their claims to property were heard in his courts, and they were amenable to his jurisdiction for crimes committed, or alleged to have been committed, by them. The seigneur may not have been a worse tyrant than many kings and princes of whom we read in history; but he was always close at hand, whilst Nero or Ivan the Terrible was far off from the mass of his subjects. He knew all his subjects by sight, had his own passions to gratify amongst them, and his vengeance to wreak upon those whom he personally disliked. To be free from this domination must have been the one thought of thousands of miserable wretches.
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THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
B. M. GARDINER
Larger
CENTRAL EUROPE 1789
Longmans, Green & Co., London, New York, Bombay, Calcutta & Madras.
Epochs of Modern History
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION1789–1795
© 2023 Librorium Editions
ISBN : 9782385743901
PREFACE.
In writing this handbook on the French Revolution, it has been my endeavour to give a correct and impartial account of the most important events of the revolutionary period, and of the motives by which the leading characters were actuated. Much has necessarily been omitted which finds a place in larger works. Those who wish to pursue the subject further, and have time at their disposal, would do well to study, besides general histories, some of the many books lately published which deal with special branches of the subject, and often enable the reader to form a more independent judgment both of men and events than is possible from the perusal of works of the former class alone. Amongst general histories those of Michelet and Louis Blanc will probably be found most serviceable. No satisfactory account of the relations of France with other countries is to be found in the French tongue, partly because French historians still write with bias, partly, also, because they hitherto either have been unacquainted with, or have ignored the results of German research. Professor Von Sybel’s well-known book, ‘Geschichte der Revolutionszeit,’ contains the fullest and best account of the relations which existed between the different States of Europe, but it is not an impartial one. Hermann Hüffer’s books are valuable contributions to our knowledge of diplomatic relations, and, being written from an opposite point of view, should be studied by all readers of Von Sybel. The history of the foreign policy of England during this period has still to be written. M. Sorel has lately published in the pages of the ‘Révue Historique’ a full account of the foreign policy pursued by the Committee of Public Safety after Robespierre’s fall, and of the negotiations leading to the treaties of peace signed in 1795 between France and Prussia and France and Spain. Much fresh information regarding the internal condition of France during the revolutionary period is to be found scattered in local and special histories of various kinds. Amongst such may be specially mentioned Mortimer Ternaux’s ‘Histoire de la Terreur,’ and ‘La Justice Révolutionnaire,’ by Berriat St. Prix. M. Taine in his great work has collected a large number of extracts from documents lying in the archives of the departments, but entire absence of classification, and the strong political bias of the writer, makes this work of less value to the student than others of less pretensions. Amongst the best of local histories are the works of M. Francisque Mège, which reveal the course taken by the Revolution in the province of Auvergne. Biographical works are numerous. Mirabeau’s character will best be learnt from his correspondence with the Count de la Marck. M. D’Héricault’s ‘Révolution de Thermidor’ contains a detailed account of the policy pursued by Robespierre after the expulsion of the Girondists. Danton’s life and character can best be studied in the works of M. Robinet. Schmidt’s ‘Pariser Zustände während der Revolutionszeit’ contains the best existing account of the economic condition of Paris between 1789 and 1800. As it is improbable that those for whom this book is in the first place intended will have any idea of the amount represented by so many thousand or million livres, I have invariably given the English equivalent of the French money, following the table inserted by Arthur Young in his ‘Travels in France.’ After the introduction of the revolutionary calendar, I have in giving dates followed the table in ‘L’Art de vérifier les Dates.’ In consequence of the different system of intercalation pursued in the two calendars, the correspondence of dates varies from year to year, and in consequence of leaving this fact unnoticed even French historians sometimes give the date in the old style wrongly. I have only further to add that the purple lines upon the map of France in provinces represent the frontiers where customs duties were levied under the old Monarchy. They are copied from a map published with Necker’s works. It will be seen that Alsace and Lorraine, as well as Bayonne and Dunkirk, were allowed to trade freely with the foreigner. Marseilles enjoyed the same privilege.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
FEUDALISM AND THE MONARCHY.
The Monarchy in France
Social condition of France
Feudal rights
Condition of the Church
Government and administration
The privileged classes
Taxation
Condition of the People
Interference with trade
Public opinion in France
Voltaire and his followers
The Encyclopædists
The Church and Christian Theology attacked
The Economists
Rousseau
CHAPTER II.
FRANCE UNDER LOUIS XVI., 1774–1789.
The Ministry of Turgot
Opposition raised to his reforms
Character of Louis XVI.
Character of Marie Antoinette
1776. Dismissal of Turgot
Movement of Reform extends over Europe
Condition of England
Pitt in Office
Reaction after Turgot’s dismissal
Ministry of Necker
Necker opposed by the Parliaments
1781. He resigns office
Desire for political liberty
1776. American Declaration of Independence
1783. Ministry of Calonne
1787. The Assembly of Notables
Ministry of Brienne
General disaffection
1788. Second Ministry of Necker, and calling of the States General
Pamphlets and Cahiers
Siéyès’ Pamphlet—What is the Third Estate?
Double Representation of the Third Estate
CHAPTER III.
THE ASSEMBLY AT VERSAILLES, 1789.
May 5, 1789. Meeting of the States General
Relation of the King to the Revolution
Question whether the States were to sit as one or as three chambers left undecided
Evil consequences of the Royal policy
Character and policy of Mirabeau
Title of National Assembly adopted by the Third Estate
Excitement and disorder in Paris
Louis takes part with the Upper Orders
June 20. Tennis Court Oath
Royal Sitting of June 23
The States constituted as one Chamber
July 14. The fall of the Bastille
Establishment of a Municipality and of a National Guard in Paris
Visit of Louis to the Capital
Risings in the Provinces
Decrees of August 4
Composition of the Assembly
The Reactionary Right
The Right Centre
The Centre and Left
The Extreme Left
Causes giving ascendency to the Left
Policy of Mirabeau
Declaration of the Rights of Man
New Constitution; Legislature to be formed of one House; Veto given to the King
Scarcity of Bread
Character of the National Guard of Paris
October 6. The King and Queen brought to Paris
CHAPTER IV.
THE CONSTITUTION, 1789–1791.
Results of the Movement of October 6
The Jacobins
The Constitution; Administrative Changes; Establishment of 44,000 Municipalities
Judicial Reforms
Increase of the State debt
Church Property appropriated by the State
Creation of Assignats
Civil Constitution of the Clergy
Feast of the Federation
Emigration of the nobles
Embitterment of the Relations between nobles and peasants
Weakness of the Central Government
Mutinies in the Army
Imposition of an Oath on the Clergy; Schism in the Church
The Constitution decried by the Ultra-Democrats
Brissot
Desmoulins
Marat
Sources of influence exercised by the Ultra-Democrats
Influence exercised by Jacobin Clubs
September 1790. Resignation of Necker
The Commune of Paris; Composition of its Municipality
Mirabeau’s policy; his Death, April 2, 1791
Position of the Constitutionalists
CHAPTER V.
THE FALL OF THE MONARCHY, 1791–1792.
Unpopularity of Marie Antoinette
June 20, 1791. Flight of the Royal Family
Ultra-Democrats seek the Establishment of a Republic
July 17. Massacre of the Champ de Mars
Attempt to revise the Constitution
The work of the National Assembly; legal and financial reforms
Creation of Assignats of small value
Plans of the Queen
Policy of territorial aggrandisement pursued by the Great Powers
Austria and Russia at war with Turkey
Death of Joseph II.
Treaty of Reichenbach
Declaration of Pilnitz
Designs of Catherine II. on Poland
Leopold II. unwilling to engage in war with France
The new Legislative Assembly; its composition
Policy of the Girondists
Ecclesiastical policy of the Legislature
Emigrants encouraged by Princes of the Empire
Growth of a warlike spirit in the Assembly
The French Revolution is more than a National movement
Commencement of war with Austria and Prussia
The Jacobins embody a spirit of suspicion
Robespierre’s character
Administrative anarchy
Troubles at Avignon
The Girondists hope for the best
Lafayette denounces the Jacobins
The mob invades the Tuileries on June 20
The Country declared in danger; Manifesto of the Duke of Brunswick
Preparations made for an insurrection
Insurrection of August 10; Suspension of the King
CHAPTER VI.
THE FALL OF THE GIRONDISTS, 1792–1793.
Formation of the new Commune of Paris
The September massacres
The defence of the Argonnes
The meeting of the Convention, and the abolition of Monarchy
The Girondists and the Mountain
Weakness of the Centre
Re-election of the Commune
Conquest of Savoy, Mainz, and Belgium
Question of the annexation of Belgium
The Opening of the Scheldt, and the order to the Generals to proclaim the Sovereignty of the People
Objects of the Allies
Pitt’s ministry in England
Views taken of the French Revolution in England
Trial and Execution of Louis XVI.
War with England; the French expelled from Belgium
Establishment of the Revolutionary Court; Defeat of Neerwinden
Party strife in the Convention
Establishment of the Committee of Public Safety
Deputies in mission
Laws against Emigrants and Nonjurors
Policy of the Mountain
The economical situation
Popular remedies opposed by the Girondists
The Commune leads a movement against the Girondists
Expulsion of the leading Girondists
CHAPTER VII.
THE COMMUNE AND THE TERROR, 1793.
State of public feeling
Girondist and Royalist movements; Resistance in Lyons and Toulon
General submission to the Convention
War in La Vendée
Successes of the Vendeans
Successes of the Allies
Coolness between Austria and Prussia
Assassination of Marat
Sanguinary tendencies of the Government
Growing strength of the Committee of Public Safety
Power of the Commune
Views of Hébert and Chaumette
Introduction of the conscription
Maximum laws
Laws against speculation
Depression of trade and agriculture
Law of ‘Suspected Persons’
Increased activity of the Revolutionary Court
Execution of the Queen and the Girondists
Worship of Reason
Introduction of the Revolutionary calendar
Surrender of Lyons
Destruction of the Vendean army
The Terror in the Departments
The Terrorists a small minority
CHAPTER VIII.
THE FALL OF THE HÉBERTISTS AND DANTONISTS, 1793–1794.
Condition of the Army
Carnot’s military reforms
Campaign in Belgium and the Rhine; Victories of Hondschoote and Wattignies
The Allies expelled from Alsace by Hoche and Pichegru
Legislation of the Convention
Cambon’s financial measures
Growing feeling against the Commune
Robespierre attacks the Hébertists
The Old Cordelier
The Hébertists attack the Dantonists
Robespierre’s influence over the Jacobins
Robespierre abandons the Dantonists
Execution of the Hébertists and Dantonists
CHAPTER IX.
THE FALL OF ROBESPIERRE, 1794.
Despotism of the Committee of Public Safety
Aims of Robespierre
Aims of St. Just
Financial object of the continuation of the Terror
The Terror systematised
Renewal of the War in La Vendée
Treaty of the Hague between England and Prussia
Insurrection in Poland
Differences between England and Prussia
The Allied Forces driven from Belgium
Worship of the Supreme Being instituted by Robespierre
Increased activity of the Revolutionary Court
Position of Robespierre
Discords break out within the Committee of Public Safety
Insurrection of Thermidor
Execution of the Robespierrists
CHAPTER X.
FALL OF THE MONTAGNARDS, 1794–1795.
Reactionary Movement in Paris and in the Departments
Parties in the Convention
Readmission of the expelled Girondist Deputies to the Convention
Repeal of Maximum Laws, and suffering in Paris
Insurrection of Germinal 12
Reaction in Paris, and in the Departments
The public exercise of all forms of worship permitted by the Convention
The White Terror
Insurrection of Prairial 1
Proscription of Montagnards
CHAPTER XI.
THE TREATY OF BASEL AND THE CONSTITUTION OF 1795.
Conquest of Holland by Pichegru
Foreign policy of the Convention
Foreign policy of Thugut
Foreign policy of Catherine II.; Alliances between Russia and Austria
English foreign policy; Successes at Sea, and conquest of French Colonies
Prussian foreign policy; Peace made at Basel between Prussia and France
Position of Spanish Government; Treaty of Peace between France and Spain
War in the West; Hoche appointed Commander-in-Chief
Expedition of Emigrants to Quiberon
Position of the Convention; its unpopularity
Death of the Dauphin
The Convention sanctions the use of Churches for Catholic worship
Position of the Clergy; Parties amongst them
The Convention frames the Constitution of 1795
Special Laws passed to maintain the Republican Party in Power
Insurrection of Vendémiaire 13 suppressed by Napoleon Bonaparte
Law of Brumaire 3, excluding relations of Emigrants from Office
The Five Directors; Position of the New Government
INDEX
MAPS.
Europe in 1789 To face title page
Map of France in Provinces
Revolutionary Paris
Map of France in Departments
Map of Belgium
Map of the Rhine
Map of Quiberon
REVOLUTIONARY CALENDAR.
Vendémiaire
Sept.
Oct.
Brumaire
Oct.
Nov.
Frimaire
Nov.
Dec.
Nivose
Dec.
Jan.
Pluviose
Jan.
Feb.
Ventose
Feb.
March
Germinal
Mar.
April
Floréal
April
May
Prairial
May
June
Messidor
June
July
Thermidor
July
Aug.
Fructidor
Aug.
Sept.
LEADING DATES IN THE HISTORY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
Dates relating to military or foreign affairs are given in italics in order that the attention of the reader may be drawn to the relation between them and the domestic occurrences.
1774
Accession of Louis XVI.—Ministry of Turgot.
1776
Dismissal of Turgot—Ministry of Necker—American Declaration of Independence.
1778
France allies itself with America.
1781
Resignation of Necker.
1783
Calonne’s Ministry.
1787
The Assembly of Notables—Brienne’s Ministry.
1788
Necker’s Second Ministry.
1789
May 5.
Meeting of the States General.
June 17.
Adoption of the title of National Assembly.
June 20.
The Tennis Court Oath.
June 23.
The King comes to the Assembly to command the separation of the Orders.
July 14.
Capture of the Bastille.
Aug. 4.
Abolition of feudal rights.
Oct. 6.
The King brought to Paris.
1790
July 14.
Feast of the Federation.
Nov. 27.
Oath imposed on the Clergy.
1791
April 2.
Death of Mirabeau.
June 20.
The Flight to Varennes.
July 17.
The Massacre of the Champ de Mars
Aug. 27.
Declaration of Pilnitz.
Sept. 30.
End of the Constituent Assembly.
Oct. 1.
Meeting of the Legislative Assembly.
1792
April 20.
Declaration of War against the King of Hungary and Bohemia, entailing also a War with Prussia.
June 13.
Dismissal of the Girondist Ministers.
June 20.
The King mobbed in the Tuileries.
July 26.
The Duke of Brunswick’s Manifesto.
Aug. 10.
Overthrow of the Monarchy.
Aug. 24.
Surrender of Longwy.
Sept. 2–7.
The September Massacres.
Sept. 20.
The Cannonade of Valmy.
Sept. 21.
Meeting of the Convention.
Sept. 22.
Proclamation of the Republic.
Nov. 6.
Victory of Jemmapes, followed by the occupation of Belgium, Savoy, Nice, and Mainz.
Nov. 19.
The Convention offers assistance to all Peoples desirous of freedom.
Dec. 2.
The French driven out of Frankfort.
Dec. 15.
The Convention orders its Generals to revolutionise the Foreign Countries in which they are.
1793
Jan. 21.
Execution of the King.
Feb. 1.
Declaration of War against England and Holland.
Mar. 3.
Miranda driven from Maestricht.
Mar. 9.
Establishment of the Revolutionary Court.
Mar. 18.
Defeat of Neerwinden, followed by the loss of Belgium.
April 6.
Constitution of the Committee of Public Safety.
June 2.
Expulsion of the Girondists.
July 3.
Assassination of Marat.
July 8.
Surrender of Mainz, Condé, and Valenciennes.
Aug. 23.
The Levy of all men capable of bearing arms decreed.
Sept. 8.
Victory of Hondschoote.
Sept. 17.
The great Maximum Law and the Law against Suspected Persons.
Oct. 7.
Capture of Lyons.
Oct. 16.
Execution of the Queen.
Oct. 16.
Victory of Wattignies.
Oct. 31.
Execution of the Girondists.
Nov. 10.
Worship of Reason at Notre Dame.
Dec. 10.
Capture of Toulon.
Dec. 12.
Destruction of the Vendean Army at Le Mans.
1794
Mar. 24.
Execution of the Hébertists.
April 5.
Execution of the Dantonists.
April.
Insurrection in Poland.
April 18.
Victory of Turcoing.
June 1.
Battle of June 1.
June 8.
Feast in honour of the Supreme Being.
June 26.
Victory of Fleurus, followed by the evacuation of Belgium by the Allies.
July 28.
Execution of the Robespierrists.
Nov. 12.
Jacobin Club closed.
Dec. 8.
Seventy-three Deputies of the Right readmitted into the Convention.
Dec. 24.
Repeal of Maximum Laws.
1795
Jan.
Invasion of Holland.
Mar. 8.
Readmission to the Convention of survivors of Girondist Deputies proscribed on June 2, 1793.
April 1.
(Germinal 12) Insurrection of Lower Classes against the Convention.
Feb. 22.
Public exercise of all forms of worship permitted by the Convention.
May 20.
(Prairial 1) Second insurrection by Lower Classes against the Convention.
April 5.
Treaty of Peace made at Basel between France and Prussia.
June 8.
Death of the Dauphin.
July 12.
Treaty of Peace between France and Spain.
July 21.
Defeat of Emigrants at Quiberon.
Sept. 23.
Proclamation of the Constitution of the Year III. (1795).
Oct. 5.
(Vendémiaire 13) Insurrection of the Middle Classes against the Convention.
Oct. 26.
(Brumaire 4) Meeting of the New Legislature.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
CHAPTER I.
FEUDALISM AND THE MONARCHY.
The Monarchy in France.
Like the rest of Western Europe, France, in the Middle Ages, was ruled by a feudal nobility, holding their lands of the king. Nowhere in Western Europe in the tenth century was the power of the king less, or the power of the nobles greater. The weight of their authority, therefore, fell heavily upon the peasants on their estates, and upon the inhabitants of the little towns scattered over the country. A feudal noble, if he were a seigneur, answering to our lord of the manor, ruled all dwellers on his estate. Their claims to property were heard in his courts, and they were amenable to his jurisdiction for crimes committed, or alleged to have been committed, by them. The seigneur may not have been a worse tyrant than many kings and princes of whom we read in history; but he was always close at hand, whilst Nero or Ivan the Terrible was far off from the mass of his subjects. He knew all his subjects by sight, had his own passions to gratify amongst them, and his vengeance to wreak upon those whom he personally disliked. To be free from this domination must have been the one thought of thousands of miserable wretches.
To shake off the yoke by their own efforts was an impossibility. The nearest ally on whom they could count was the king. He too was opposed to the domination of the nobles, for as long as they could disregard his orders with impunity, he was king in name alone. He was, in fact, but one nobleman amongst many, with a higher title than the rest.
Dwellers in towns could more readily coalesce and resist the authority of the seigneurs than dwellers in the country. By trade they acquired wealth, and with wealth influence. In the twelfth century they formed themselves into municipal communities, and, bidding defiance to their seigneurs, called upon their king to aid them in achieving independence. From that time to the end of the seventeenth century the power of the Monarchy grew stronger with every succeeding generation. The king was the dispenser of law and order, while the enemies of law and order were the feudal nobles. When Louis XIV. took the government into his own hands, in 1661, his will was law. Justice was administered by parliaments or law courts acting in the name of the king. The affairs of the provinces were administered by intendants, acting by his commission. No nobleman, however wealthy or highly placed, dared to resist his authority. With the frank gaiety of their nation the nobles themselves accepted the position, and crowded to his court or confronted death in his armies. He was able to say, without fear of contradiction, ‘I am the State.’
Unhappily for his people, he could not say ‘I am the Nation.’ In him the Monarchy had been victorious over its enemies, but it had not accomplished its task. The nation wanted more work from its kings, wanted simply that they should go on in the path which had been trodden by their ancestors. The national wish was too feebly expressed to reach the ears of Louis. He was thinking of military glory and courtly display, not of the grievances of his people. He had overthrown the power of the nobility so far as it threatened his own. He did not care to inquire whether there was enough left to produce cruel wrong far off from the splendid palace of Versailles. His great-grandson, the vile, profligate Louis XV., had even less thought for the exercise of the duties of a king, as father of his people. The Monarchy was in its decline, not because it was intentionally tyrannical, but because it had ceased to do its duty. The French people were not Republican. They needed a government, and government in any true sense there was none.
Social condition of France.
In consequence of the king thus deserting the path trodden by his ancestors, a state of things arose in France such as was found in no other country. Nowhere did the nobility as a class do so little for the service of their countrymen, yet nowhere were they in possession of more social influence or greater privileges. Nowhere were the mercantile and trading classes comparatively more wealthy and intellectual, yet nowhere was the distinction between the noble and the plebeian or bourgeois more rigorously maintained. Finally, in no other country where, as was the case in France, the mass of peasants were free men, did the owners of fiefs retain so many rights over the dwellers on their estates, and yet live in such complete separation from them.
After the nobles had lost political power they were cut off from all healthy communication with their fellow subjects. In France all sons and daughters of noblemen were noble, and their families did not blend with those of other classes like the family of an English peer. Nobles contemned the service of the administration as beneath their birth; on the contrary, no one who was not of noble birth could hold the rank of an officer in the army. The great lords flocked to Paris and Versailles, where they wasted their substance in extravagant living; the lesser nobles, men who in England would have occupied the position of country gentlemen, were often through poverty compelled to reside in their châteaux, where they lived in isolation, having no common interests with their neighbours, while clinging tenaciously to the possession of their rights as proprietors and feudal lords. ♦Feudal rights.♦ These feudal rights varied in every province, but were of three general kinds. (1) Rights which had their origin when the seigneur was also ruler—as, for instance, the right of administering justice, though this he now almost invariably farmed to the highest bidder; the right of levying tolls at fairs and bridges; and the exclusive right of fishing and hunting. (2) Peasants in the position of serfs were only to be found in Alsace and Lorraine; but rights still existed all over the country which betrayed a servile origin. Thus, the farmer might not grind his corn but at the seigneur’s mill, nor the vine-grower press his grapes but at the seigneur’s press; and every man living on the fief must labour for the seigneur without return so many days in the year. (3) Finally, the courts ruled that wherever land was held by a peasant from the owner of a fief, there was a presumption that the owner retained a claim to enforce cultivation and the payment of annual dues. Land so held was termed a censive—resembling an English copyhold. The granting of land on these terms never stopped from the close of the Middle Ages down to the Revolution. The dues retained were often petty. One tenant might pay a small measure of oats; another a couple of chickens. Yet the payments were often sufficiently numerous to form the chief maintenance of many of the nobles. The holders of these censives possessed however, all the rights of proprietors. They could not be dispossessed so long as they paid the dues to which they were liable, and they could sell and devise the land without the consent of the owners of the fief. Properties held on these terms abounded in all parts of France, and though the extent of each censive was often no more than a couple of acres, it is probable that before the Revolution at least a fifth of the soil had by these means passed into the possession of the peasantry.
