The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 1

H >> Hippolyte A. Taine >> The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 1

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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."[46] High and low, in
assemblages, in public places, only reformers and opposing parties are
encountered among the privileged classes.

"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."[47]
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[48]. "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 succumbing to novelty. "For
ourselves," says one of them belonging to the youthful class of the
nobility,[49] "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,[50] philosophic discourses
in our Academies, the bold publications of the literary class."- If
inequality still subsists in the distribution of offices and of
places, "equality begins to reign in society. On many occasions
literary titles obtain precedence over titles of nobility. Courtiers
and servants of the passing 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 nobles of the provinces. . . . Institutions
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 pass
an evening with d'Alembert, or at the Hôtel de Larochefoucauld among
the friends of Turgot, to attend a breakfast at the Abbé 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 embarrassment 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
passive 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."[51] But the main
thing is to emancipate the oppressed; "we showed ourselves
philosophers by becoming paladins,"[52] 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 assemblies,[53] the
bishops, archbishops, abbés, 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 class convoked by the king, organize the budget, defend the tax-
payer against the fiscal authorities, arrange the land-registry,
equalize the taille, provide a substitute for the corvée, 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 procès-
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 class, aroused from their indolence, were again
becoming public men, and, restored to their functions, were returning
to their duties. In 1778, in the first assembly of Berry, the Abbé
de Seguiran, the reporter, has the courage to state that "the
distribution of the taxes should be a fraternal partition of public
obligations."[54] In 1780 the abbés, 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 assembly of Alençon the nobility and the clergy tax themselves
30,000 livres to relieve the indigent in each parish subject to
taxation[55]. in the month of April, 1787, the king, in an assembly
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 assemblies, the entire clergy, nearly all the nobility,
in short, the whole body of the privileged class 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
manuscript procès-verbaux.

"The nobility of the bailiwick of Tours," says the Marquis de
Lusignan,[56] "considering that they are men and citizens before being
nobles, 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 Buzançois 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 assembly 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 nobles 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 Abbé
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 classes 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 nobility of Clermont in Beauvoisis[57]
orders its deputies "to demand, first of all, an explicit declaration
of the rights belonging to all men." The nobles of Mantes and Meulan
affirm "that political principles are as absolute as moral principles,
since both have reason for a common basis." The nobles 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 nobles and clergy are greeted in the
assemblies 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,[58] "the most active pity
animates all breasts; 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 Hôtel-
Dieu. The intendant Berthier, who is to be massacred, draws up the
new assessment-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[59]. 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[60] down,
abolishes seigniorial corvées 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-Comté, follow the example of the king in emancipating their
serfs[61]. The bishop of Saint-Claude demands, in spite of his
chapter, the enfranchisement 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."[62] 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 institutions." 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
class, 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
corvée in kind, established the free circulation of grains, instituted
provincial assemblies, built up the marine, assisted the Americans,
emancipated 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[63]. 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[64]. No
sovereign was more humane, more charitable, more preoccupied with the
unfortunate. In 1784, the year of inundations and epidemics, he
renders assistance 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[65]. 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;"[66] 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[67]. 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 nobody had "any suspicion," nor fear of
the future. "A new State constitution is spoken of as an easy
performance, and as a matter of course."[68] - "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 anticipating any one of the extraordinary events
towards which the assembled states were drifting."

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Notes:

[1] Macaulay.

[2] Stendhal, "Rome, Naples et Florence," 371.

[3] Morellet, "Mémoires," 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.

[4] "L'Homme aux quarante écus." Cf. Voltaire, "Mémoires," the
suppers given by Frederick II. "Never in any place in the world was
there greater freedom of conversation concerning the superstitions of
mankind.

[5] Morellet, Mémoires," I. 133.

[6] Galiani, "Correspondance, passim.

[7] Bachaumont, III. 93 (1766), II. 202 (1765).

[8] Geffroy, "Gustave III.," I. 114.

[9] Villemain, "Tableau de la Litterature au dix-huitième siècle,"
IV. 409.

[10] Grimm, "corresp. littéraire," IV. 176. De Ségur,
"Mémoires," I. 113.

[11] "Princesse de Babylone." - Cf. "le Mondain."

[12] Here we may have an important motive for the socialist attitudes
towards sexual morality as it was during the activie nineteen
seventies until the unexpected appearance of AIDS put an abrupt end to
the proceedings. (SR.)

[13] 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.

[14] 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,
"Mémoires," I. 9).

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

[16] Montesquieu, "Lettres Persanes," (Letter 61). - Cf.
Voltaire, ("Dîner du Comte de Boulainvilliers").

[17] Aubertin, pp. 281, 282, 285, 289.

[18] Horace Walpole, "Letters and Correspondence," Sept. 27th,
1765, October 18th, 28th, and November 19th, 1766.

[19] "Journal et Mémoires de Collé," published by H. Bonhomme,
II. 24 (October, 1755), and III.165 (October 1767).

[20] "Corresp. littéraire," by Grimm (September, October, 1770).

[21] Mme. De Genlis, "Adèle et Théodore," I, 312.

[22] De Goncourt, "La femme au dix-huitième siècle," 371-373. -
Bachaumont, I. 224 (April 13, 1763).

[23] Mme. de Genlis, "Adèle et Théodore," II. 326.

[24] "Tableau de Paris," III.44.

[25] Métra. "Correspondance secrète," XVII. 387 (March 7,
1785).

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

[27] The Abbé 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).

[28] Bachaumont, III. 253. - Châteaubriand, "Mémoires," I.
246.

[29] Champfort, 279.

[30] Merlin de Thionville, "Vie et correspondance," by Jean
Raynaud. ("La Chartreuse du Val Saint-Pierre." Read the entire
passage). - "Souvenirs Manuscrits," by M - ..

[31] Rivarol, "Mémoires," I. 344.

[32] Mercier, IV. 142. "In Auvergne, says M. de Montlosier, I
formed for myself a society of priests, men of wit, some of whom were
deists and others open atheists, with whom I carried on a contest with
my brother." ("Mémoires," I.37).

[33] Lafayette. "Mémoires," III. 58.

[34] "Dict. Phil." article "Wheat." - The most important work of
Quesnay is of the year 1758, "Tableau économique."

[35] D'Argenson, "Mémoires," IV. 141; VI. 320, 465; VII. 23;
VIII. 153, (1752, 1753, 1754). - Rousseau's discourse on
Inequality belongs also to 1753. On this steady march of opinion
consult the excellent work of d'Aubertin, "L'Esprit public au dix-
huitième siècle."

[36] This seems to be prophetic of the night of August 4, 1789.

[37] "Corresp. de Laurette de Malboissière," published by the
Marquise de la Grange. (Sept. 4, 1762, November 8, 1762).

[38] Madame du Deffant in a letter to Madame de Choiseul, (quoted
by Geffroy), "Gustave et la cour de France," I. 279.

[39] Geffroy, ibid. I. 232, 241, 245.

[40] Geffroy, ibid. I.267, 281. See letters by Madame de
Boufflers (October, 1772, July 1774).

[41] Ibid.. I. 285. The letters of Mme. de la March (1776,
1777, 1779).

[42] A victim of religious rancor against the protestants, whose
cause, taken op by Voltaire, excited great indignation.- TR.

[43] Bachaumont, III. 14 (March 28, 1766. Walpole, Oct. 6,
1775).

[44] Geffloy, ibid. (A letter by Mme Staël, 5776).

[45] Collé, "Journal," III. 437 (1770) : "Women have got the
upper hand with the French to such an extent, they have so subjugated
them, that they neither feel nor think except as they do."

[46] "Correspondance," by Métra, III. 200; IV. 131.

[47] "Mémoires du Chancelier Pasquier, _Ed. Plon Paris 1893, Vol.
I. page26.

[48] De Vaublanc, "Souvenirs," I. 117, 377.

[49] De Ségur, "Mémoires," I. 17.

[50] Ibid. I. 151. "I saw the entire Court at the theater in
the château at Versailles enthusiastically applaud Voltaire's tragedy
of 'Brutus,' and especially these lines:

Je suis fils de Brutus, et je porte en mon coeur
La liberté gravée et les rois en horreur."

[51] De Lauzun, 80 (in relation to his expedition into Corsica).

[52] De Ségur, I. 87.

[53] The assemblies of Berry and Haute-Guyenne began in 1778 and
1779; those of other generalships in 1787. All functioned until
1789. (Cf. Léonce de Lavergne, "Les Assemblées provinciales").

[54] Léonce de Lavergne, ibid. 26, 55, 183. The tax department
of the provincial assembly of Tours likewise makes its demands on the
privileged class in the matter of taxation.

[55] Procés-verbaux of the prov. ass. of Normandy, the
generalship of Alençon, 252. - Cf. Archives nationales, II,
1149: in 1778 in the generalship of Moulins, thirty-nine persons,
mostly nobles, supply from their own funds 18,950 livres to the 60,000
livres allowed by the king for roads and asylums.

[56] Archives nationales, procès-verbaux and registers of the
States-General, vol. XLIX. p.712, 714 (the nobles and clergy of
Dijon); vol. XVI. p. 183 (the nobles of Auxerre) vol. XXIX.
pp.352, 455, 458 (the clergy and nobles of Berry); vol. CL. p.266
(the clergy and nobles of Tours); vol. XXIX; the clergy and nobles
of Chateauroux, (January 29, 1789); pp. 572, 582. vol. XIII.
765 (the nobles of Autun). - See as a summary of the whole, the
"Résumé des Cahiers" by Prud'homme, 3 vols.

[57] Prud'homme, ibid.. II. 39, 51, 59. De Lavergne, 384.
In 1788, two hundred gentlemen of the first families of Dauphiny sign,
conjointly with the clergy and the Third-Estate of the province, an
address to the king in which occurs the following passage: "Neither
time nor obligation legitimizes despotism; the rights of men derive
from nature alone and are independent of their engagements."

[58] Lacretelle, "Hist. de France au dix-huitième siècle," V.2.

[59] Procès-verbeaux of the prov. ass. of the Ile-de-France
(1787), p.127.

[60] De Lavergne, ibid.. 52, 369.

[61] "Le cri de la raison," by Clerget, curé d'Onans (1789), p.258.

[62] Lucas de Montigny, "Mémoires de Mirabeau," I. 290, 368. -
Théron de Montaugé, "L'agriculture et les classes rurales dans le pays
Toulousain," p. 14.

[63] "Foreigners generally could scarcely form an idea of the power
of public opinion at this time in France; they can with difficulty
comprehend the nature of that invisible power which commands even in
the king's palace." (Necker, 1784, quoted by De Tocqueville).

[64] Granier de Cassagnac, II. 236. - M. de Malesherbes,
according to custom, inspected the different state prisons, at the
beginning of the reign of Louis XVI. "He told me himself that he had
only released two." (Senac de Meilhan, "Du gouvemement, des moeurs, et
des conditions en France.").

[65] Archives nationales, II. 1418, 1149, F. 14, 2073.
(Assistance rendered to various suffering provinces and places.)

[66] Aubertin, p.484 (according to Bachaumont).

[67] De Lavergne, 472.