History of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1814 | Page 4

which its curtailment was rendered possible
and even popular.

Understanding this, Mignet wrote. It would have been idle for him to
have denied that atrocities had been committed, nor had the day for a
panegyric on Danton, for a defence of Robespierre, yet dawned. Mignet
did not attempt the impossible. Rather by granting the case for his
opponents he sought to controvert them the more effectively. He laid
down as his fundamental thesis that the Revolution was inevitable. It
was the outcome of the past history of France; it pursued the course
which it was bound to pursue. Individuals and episodes in the drama
are thus relatively insignificant and unimportant. The crimes committed
may be regretted; their memory should not produce any condemnation
of the movement as a whole. To judge the Revolution by the Terror, or
by the Consulate, would be wrong and foolish; to declare it evil,
because it did not proceed in a gentle and orderly manner would be to
outrage the historical sense. It is wiser and more profitable to look
below the surface, to search out those deep lessons which may be
learned. And Mignet closes his work by stating one of these lessons,
that which to him was, perhaps, the most vital: "On ne peut régir
désormais la France d'une manière durable, qu'en satisfaisant le double
besoin qui lui a fait entreprendre la révolution. Il lui faut, dans le
gouvernement, une liberté politique réelle, et dans la société, le
bien-être matériel que produit le développement sans cesse
perfectionné de la civilisation."
It was not Mignet's object to present a complete account of the
Revolution, and while he records the more important events of the
period, he does not attempt to deal exhaustively with all its many sides.
It is accordingly possible to point out various omissions. He does not
explain the organisation of the "deputies on mission," he only glances
at that of the commune or of the Committee of Public Safety. His
account of the Consulate and of the Empire appears to be
disproportionately brief. But the complexity of the period, and the
wealth of materials for its history, render it impossible for any one man
to discuss it in detail, and Mignet's work gains rather than loses by its
limitations. Those facts which illustrate his fundamental thesis are duly
recorded; the causes and results of events are clearly indicated; the
actions of individuals are described in so far as they subserve the
author's purpose. The whole book is marked by a notable impartiality;

it is only on rare occasions, as in the case of Lafayette, that the
circumstances in which it was written have been permitted to colour the
judgments passed. Nor is the value of the work seriously reduced by
the fact that modern research compels its revision in certain particulars,
since it is so clearly not intended to be a final and detailed history of
the period. It is a philosophical study of a great epoch, and as such,
however its point of view may be criticised, it is illuminating and well
worthy of preservation. It supplies a thoughtful and inspiring
commentary upon the French Revolution.
L. CECIL JANE. 1915.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE.--François Auguste Marie Mignet was born
at Aix in Provence in 1796. He was educated at Avignon and in his
native town, at first studying law. But, having gained some literary
successes, he removed to Paris in 1821 and devoted himself to writing.
He became professor of history at the Athenée, and after the Revolution
of 1830 was made director of the archives in the Foreign Office, a post
which he held until 1848. He was then removed by Lamartine and died
in retirement in 1854. His Histoire de la Révolution Française was first
published in 1824; a translation into English appeared in Bogue's
European library in 1846 and is here re-edited. Among Mignet's other
works may be mentioned _Antoine Perez et Philippe II. and Histoire de
Marie Stuart_. As a journalist, he wrote mainly on foreign policy for
the Courrier Français.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Éloge de Charles VII., 1820; Les Institutions de Saint Louis, 1821; De
la féodalité, des institutions de Saint Louis et de l'influence de la
législation de ce prince, 1822; Histoire de la révolution française, 1824
(trans. 2 vols., London, 1826, Bonn's Libraries, 1846); La Germanie au
VIIIe et au IXe siècle, sa conversion au christianisme, et son
introduction dans la société civilisée de l'Europe occidentale, 1834;
Essai sur la formation territoriale et politique de la France depuis la fin
de XIe siècle jusqu'a la fin du XVe, 1836; Notices et Mémoires

historiques, 1843; Charles Quint, son abdication, son séjour, et sa mort
au monastère de Yuste, 1845; Antonio Perez et Philippe II., 1845
(translated by C. Cocks, London, 1846; translated from second French
edition by W. F. Ainsworth,