The Ancient Regime Part 28

Words have become actions. Every sensitive heart praises with joy a publication inspired by humanity and which appears full of talent because it is full of feeling." When Latude is released from the prison of Bicetre Mme. de Luxembourg, Mme. de Boufflers, and Mme. de Stael dine with the grocer-woman who "for three years and a half moved heaven and earth" to set the prisoner free. It is owing to the women, to their sensibility and zeal, to a conspiracy of their sympathies, that M. de Lally succeeds in the rehabilitation of his father. When they take a fancy to a person they become infatuated with him; Madame de Lauzun, very timid, goes so far as to publicly insult a man who speaks ill of M.

Necker.--It must be borne in mind that, in this century, the women were queens, setting the fashion, giving the tone, leading in conversation and naturally shaping ideas and opinions[4245]. When they take the lead on the political field we may be sure that the men will follow them: each one carries her drawing room circle with her.

VI. Well-Meaning Government.

Infinite, vague aspirations.--Generosity of sentiments and of conduct.--The mildness and good intentions of the government.--Its blindness and optimism.

An aristocracy imbued with humanitarian and radical maxims, courtiers hostile to the court, privileged persons aiding in undermining privileges, presents to us a strange spectacle in the testimony of the time. A contemporary states that it is an accepted principle "to change and upset everything."[4246] High and low, in a.s.semblages, in public places, only reformers and opposing parties are encountered among the privileged cla.s.ses.

"In 1787, almost every prominent man of the peerage in the Parliament declared himself in favor of resistance. . . . I have seen at the dinners we then attended almost every idea put forward, which, soon afterwards, produced such startling effects."[4247] Already in 1774, M. de Vaublanc, on his way to Metz, finds a diligence containing an ecclesiastic and a count, a colonel in the hussars, talking political economy constantly[4248]. "It was the fashion of the day. Everybody was an economist. People conversed together only about philosophy, political economy and especially humanity, and the means for relieving the people, (le bon peuple), which two words were in everybody's mouth." To this must be added equality; Thomas, in a eulogy of Marshal Saxe says, "I cannot conceal it, he was of royal blood," and this phrase was admired.

A few of the heads of old parliamentary or seigniorial families maintain the old patrician and monarchical standard, the new generation succ.u.mbing to novelty. "For ourselves," says one of them belonging to the youthful cla.s.s of the n.o.bility,[4249] "with no regret for the past or anxiety for the future, we marched gaily along over a carpet of flowers concealing an abyss. Mocking censors of antiquated ways, of the feudal pride of our fathers and of their sober etiquette, everything antique seemed to us annoying and ridiculous. The gravity of old doctrines oppressed us. The cheerful philosophy of Voltaire amused and took possession of us. Without fathoming that of graver writers we admired it for its stamp of fearlessness and resistance to arbitrary power. . . . Liberty, what-ever its language, delighted us with its spirit, and equality on account of its convenience. It is a pleasant thing to descend so long as one thinks one can ascend when one pleases; we were at once enjoying, without forethought, the advantages of the patriciate and the sweets of a commoner philosophy. Thus, although our privileges were at stake, and the remnants of our former supremacy were undermined under our feet, this little warfare gratified us.

Inexperienced in the attack, we simply admired the spectacle. Combats with the pen and with words did not appear to us capable of damaging our existing superiority, which several centuries of possession had made us regard as impregnable. The forms of the edifice remaining intact, we could not see how it could be mined from within. We laughed at the serious alarm of the old court and of the clergy which thundered against the spirit of innovation. We applauded republican scenes in the theater,[4250] philosophic discourses in our Academies, the bold publications of the literary cla.s.s."--If inequality still subsists in the distribution of offices and of places, "equality begins to reign in society. On many occasions literary t.i.tles obtain precedence over t.i.tles of n.o.bility. Courtiers and servants of the pa.s.sing fashion, paid their court to Marmontel, d'Alembert and Raynal. We frequently saw in company literary men of the second and third rank greeted and receiving attentions not extended to the n.o.bles of the provinces. . . .

Inst.i.tutions remained monarchical, but manners and customs became republican. A word of praise from d'Alembert or Diderot was more esteemed than the most marked favor from a prince. . . It was impossible to pa.s.s an evening with d'Alembert, or at the Hotel de Larochefoucauld among the friends of Turgot, to attend a breakfast at the Abbe Raynal's, to be admitted into the society and family of M. de Malesherbes, and lastly, to approach a most amiable queen and a most upright king, without believing ourselves about to enter upon a kind of golden era of which preceding centuries afforded no idea. . . . We were bewildered by the prismatic hues of fresh ideas and doctrines, radiant with hopes, ardently aglow for every sort of reputation, enthusiastic for all talents and beguiled by every seductive dream of a philosophy that was about to secure the happiness of the human species. Far from foreseeing misfortune, excess, crime, the overthrow of thrones and of principles, the future disclosed to us only the benefits which humanity was to derive from the sovereignty of Reason. Freedom of the press and circulation was given to every reformative writing, to every project of innovation, to the most liberal ideas and to the boldest of systems.

Everybody thought himself on the road to perfection without being under any embarra.s.sment or fearing any kind of obstacle. We were proud of being Frenchmen and, yet again, Frenchmen of the eighteenth century . . . . Never was a more terrible awakening preceded by a sweeter slumber or by more seductive dreams."

They do not content themselves with dreams, with pure desires, with pa.s.sive aspirations. They are active, and truly generous; a worthy cause suffices to secure their devotion. On the news of the American rebellion, the Marquis de Lafayette, leaving his young wife pregnant, escapes, braves the orders of the court, purchases a frigate, crosses the ocean and fights by the side of Washington. "The moment the quarrel was made known to me," he says, "my heart was enlisted in it, and my only thought was to rejoin my regiment." Numbers of gentlemen follow in his footsteps. They undoubtedly love danger; "the chance of being shot is too precious to be neglected."[4251] But the main thing is to emanc.i.p.ate the oppressed; "we showed ourselves philosophers by becoming paladins,"[4252] the chivalric sentiment enlisting in the service of liberty. Other services besides these, more sedentary and less brilliant, find no fewer zealots. The chief personages of the provinces in the provincial a.s.semblies,[4253] the bishops, archbishops, abbes, dukes, counts, and marquises, with the wealthiest and best informed of the notables in the Third-Estate, in all about a thousand persons, in short the social elect, the entire upper cla.s.s convoked by the king, organize the budget, defend the tax-payer against the fiscal authorities, arrange the land-registry, equalize the taille, provide a subst.i.tute for the corvee, provide public roads, multiply charitable asylums, educate agriculturists, proposing, encouraging and directing every species of reformatory movement. I have read through the twenty volumes of their proces-verbaux: no better citizens, no more conscientious men, no more devoted administrators can be found, none gratuitously taking so much trouble on themselves with no object but the public welfare. Never was an aristocracy so deserving of power at the moment of losing it; the privileged cla.s.s, aroused from their indolence, were again becoming public men, and, restored to their functions, were returning to their duties. In 1778, in the first a.s.sembly of Berry, the Abbe de Seguiran, the reporter, has the courage to state that "the distribution of the taxes should be a fraternal part.i.tion of public obligations."[4254] In 1780 the abbes, priors and chapters of the same province contribute 60,000 livres of their funds, and a few gentlemen, in less than twenty-four hours, contribute 17,000 livres. In 1787, in the a.s.sembly of Alencon the n.o.bility and the clergy tax themselves 30,000 livres to relieve the indigent in each parish subject to taxation[4255]. in the month of April, 1787, the king, in an a.s.sembly of the notables, speaks of "the eagerness with which archbishops and bishops come forward claiming no exemption in their contributions to the public revenue." In the month of March, 1789, on the opening of the bailiwick a.s.semblies, the entire clergy, nearly all the n.o.bility, in short, the whole body of the privileged cla.s.s voluntarily renounce their privileges in relation to taxation. The sacrifice is voted unanimously; they themselves offer it to the Third-Estate, and it is worth while to see their generous and sympathetic tone in the ma.n.u.script proces-verbaux.

"The n.o.bility of the bailiwick of Tours," says the Marquis de Lusignan,[4256] "considering that they are men and citizens before being n.o.bles, can make amends in no way more in conformity with the spirit of justice and patriotism that animates the body, for the long silence to which it has been condemned by the abuse of ministerial power, than in declaring to their fellow-citizens that, in future, they will claim none of the pecuniary advantages secured to them by custom, and that they unanimously and solemnly bind themselves to bear equally, each in proportion to his fortune, all taxes and general contributions which the nation shall prescribe."

"I repeat," says the Comte de Buzancois at the meeting of the Third-Estate of Berry, "that we are all brothers, and that we are anxious to share your burdens. . . . We desire to have but one single voice go up to the a.s.sembly and thus manifest the union and harmony which should prevail there. I am directed to make the proposal to you to unite with you in one memorandum."

"These qualities are essential in a deputy," says the Marquis de Barbancon speaking for the n.o.bles of Chateauroux, "integrity, firmness and knowledge; the first two are equally found among the deputies of the three orders; but knowledge will be more generally found in the Third-Estate, which is more accustomed to public affairs."

"A new order of things is unfolding before us," says the Abbe Legrand in the name of the clergy of Chateauroux; "the veil of prejudice is being torn away and giving place to Reason. She is possessing herself of all French hearts, attacking at the root whatever is based on former opinion and deriving her power only from herself."

Not only do the privileged cla.s.ses make advances but it is no effort to them; they use the same language as the people of the Third-Estate; they are disciples of the same philosophers and seem to start from the same principles. The n.o.bility of Clermont in Beauvoisis[4257] orders its deputies "to demand, first of all, an explicit declaration of the rights belonging to all men." The n.o.bles of Mantes and Meulan affirm "that political principles are as absolute as moral principles, since both have reason for a common basis." The n.o.bles of Rheims demand "that the king be entreated to order the demolition of the Bastille." Frequently, after such expressions and with such a yielding disposition, the delegates of the n.o.bles and clergy are greeted in the a.s.semblies of the 'Third-Estate with the clapping of hands, "tears" and enthusiasm. On witnessing such effusions how can one avoid believing in concord? And how can one foresee strife at the first turn of the road on which they have just fraternally entered hand in hand?

Wisdom of this melancholy stamp is not theirs. They set out with the principle that man, and especially the man of the people, is good; why conjecture that he may desire evil for those who wish him well? They are conscientious in their benevolence and sympathy for him. Not only do they utter these sentiments but they give them proof. "At this moment,"

says a contemporary,[4258] "the most active pity animates all b.r.e.a.s.t.s; the great dread of the opulent is to appear insensible." The archbishop of Paris, subsequently followed and stoned, is the donator of 100,000 crowns to the hospital of the Hotel-Dieu. The intendant Berthier, who is to be ma.s.sacred, draws up the new a.s.sessment-roll of the Ile-de-France, equalizing the taille, which act allows him to abate the rate, at first, an eighth, and next, a quarter[4259]. The financier Beaujon constructs a hospital. Necker refuses the salary of his place and lends the treasury two millions to re-establish public credit. The Duc de Charost, from 1770[4260] down, abolishes seigniorial corvees on his domain and founds a hospital in his seigniory of Meillant. The Prince de Beaufremont, the presidents de Vezet, de Chamolles, de Chaillot, with many seigniors beside in Franche-Comte, follow the example of the king in emanc.i.p.ating their serfs[4261]. The bishop of Saint-Claude demands, in spite of his chapter, the enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of his mainmorts. The Marquis de Mirabeau establishes on his domain in Limousin a gratuitous bureau for the settlement of lawsuits, while daily, at Fleury, he causes nine hundred pounds of cheap bread to be made for the use of "the poor people, who fight to see who shall have it."[4262] M. de Barral, bishop of Castres, directs his curates to preach and to diffuse the cultivation of potatoes. The Marquis de Guerchy himself mounts on the top of a pile of hay with Arthur Young to learn how to construct a hay-stack. The Marquis de Lasteyrie imports lithography into France. A number of grand seigniors and prelates figure in the agricultural societies, compose or translate useful books, familiarize themselves with the applications of science, study political economy, inform themselves about industries, and interest themselves, either as amateurs or promoters, in every public amelioration. "Never," says Lacretelle again, "were the French so combined together to combat the evils to which nature makes us pay tribute, and those which in a thousand ways creep into all social inst.i.tutions." Can it be admitted that so many good intentions thus operating together are to end in destruction?--All take courage, government as well as the higher cla.s.s, in the thought of the good accomplished, or which they desire to accomplish. The king remembers that he has restored civil rights to the Protestants, abolished preliminary torture, suppressed the corvee in kind, established the free circulation of grains, inst.i.tuted provincial a.s.semblies, built up the marine, a.s.sisted the Americans, emanc.i.p.ated his own serfs, diminished the expenses of his household, employed Malesherbes, Turgot and Necker, given full play to the press, and listened to public opinion[4263]. No government displayed greater mildness; on the 14th of July, 1789, only seven prisoners were confined in the Bastille, of whom one was an idiot, another kept there by his family, and four under the charge of counterfeiting[4264]. No sovereign was more humane, more charitable, more preoccupied with the unfortunate. In 1784, the year of inundations and epidemics, he renders a.s.sistance to the amount of three millions.

Appeals are made to him direct, even for personal accidents. On the 8th of June, 1785, he sends two hundred livres to the wife of a Breton laboring-man who, already having two children, brings three at once into the world[4265]. During a severe winter he allows the poor daily to invade his kitchen. It is quite probable that, next to Turgot, he is the man of his day who loved the people most.--His delegates under him conform to his views; I have read countless letters by intendants who try to appear as little Turgots. "One builds a hospital, another admits artisans at his table;"[4266] a certain individual undertakes the draining of a marsh. M. de la Tour, in Provence, is so beneficent during a period of forty years that the Tiers-Etat vote him a gold medal in spite of himself[4267]. A governor delivers a course of lectures on economical bread-making.--What possible danger is there for shepherds of this kind amidst their flocks? On the king convoking the States-General n.o.body had "any suspicion," nor fear of the future. "A new State const.i.tution is spoken of as an easy performance, and as a matter of course."[4268]--"The best and most virtuous men see in this the beginning of a new era of happiness for France and for the whole civilized world. The ambitious rejoice in the broad field open to their desires. But it would have been impossible to find the most morose, the most timid, the most enthusiastic of men antic.i.p.ating any one of the extraordinary events towards which the a.s.sembled states were drifting."

NOTES:

[Footnote 4201: Macaulay.]

[Footnote 4202: Stendhal, "Rome, Naples et Florence," 371.]

[Footnote 4203: Morellet, "Memoires," I. 139 (on the writings and conversations of Diderot, d,Holbach and the atheists). "At that time, in this philosophy, all seemed innocent enough, it being confined to the limits of speculation, and never seeking, even in its boldest flights, anything beyond a calm intellectual exercise."]

[Footnote 4204: "L'Homme aux quarante ecus." Cf. Voltaire, "Memoires,"

the suppers given by Frederick II. "Never in any place in the world was there greater freedom of conversation concerning the superst.i.tions of mankind."]

[Footnote 4205: Morellet, "Memoires," I. 133.]

[Footnote 4206: Galiani, "Correspondance, pa.s.sim."]

[Footnote 4207: Bachaumont, III. 93 (1766), II. 202 (1765).]

[Footnote 4208: Geffroy, "Gustave III.," I. 114.]

[Footnote 4209: Villemain, "Tableau de la Litterature au dix-huitieme siecle," IV. 409.]

[Footnote 4210: Grimm, "corresp. litteraire," IV. 176. De Segur, "Memoires," I. 113.]

[Footnote 4211: "Princesse de Babylone."--Cf. "le Mondain."]

[Footnote 4212: Here we may have an important motive for the socialist att.i.tudes towards s.e.xual morality as it was during the activie nineteen seventies until the unexpected appearance of AIDS put an abrupt end to the proceedings. (SR.)]

[Footnote 4213: Mme. d'Epinay, ed. Boiteau, I. 216: at a supper given by Mlle. Quinault, the comedian, at which are present Saint-Lambert, the Prince de. . . . , Duclos and Mme. d'Epinay.]

[Footnote 4214: For example, the father of Marmant, a military gentleman, who, having won the cross of St. Louis at twenty-eight, abandons the service because he finds that promotion is only for people of the court. In retirement on his estates he is a liberal, teaching his son to read the reports made by Necker. (Marshal Marmont, "Memoires," I.

9).]

[Footnote 4215: Aubertin, "L'Esprit public," in the 18th century, p. 7.]

[Footnote 4216: Montesquieu, "Lettres Persanes," (Letter 61).--Cf.

Voltaire, ("Diner du Comte de Boulainvilliers").]

[Footnote 4217: Aubertin, pp. 281, 282, 285, 289.]

[Footnote 4218: Horace Walpole, "Letters and Correspondence," Sept.

27th, 1765, October 18th, 28th, and November 19th, 1766.]

[Footnote 4219: "Journal et Memoires de Colle," published by H.

Bonhomme, II. 24 (October, 1755), and III.165 (October 1767).]

[Footnote 4220: "Corresp. litteraire," by Grimm (September, October, 1770).]

[Footnote 4221: Mme. De Genlis, "Adele et Theodore," I, 312.]

[Footnote 4222: De Goncourt, "La femme au dix-huitieme siecle,"

371-373.--Bachaumont, I. 224 (April 13, 1763).]

[Footnote 4223: Mme. de Genlis, "Adele et Theodore," II. 326.]

[Footnote 4224: "Tableau de Paris," III.44.]

[Footnote 4225: Metra. "Correspondance secrete," XVII. 387 (March 7, 1785).]

[Footnote 4226: De Goncourt, ibid. 456.--Vicomtesse de Noailles, "Vie de la Princesse de Poix," formerly de Beauvau.]

[Footnote 4227: The Abbe de Latteignaut, canon of Rheims, the author of some light poetry and convivial songs, "has just composed for Nicolet's theater a parade in which the intrigue is supported by a good many broad jests, very much in the fashion at this time. The courtiers who give the tone to this theater think the canon of Rheims superb." (Bachaumont, IV.

174, November, 1768).]