History of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1814 | Page 9

royal
prerogative was in progress, they were at first controlled, and finally
suppressed by it. The strongest and most determined opposition the
kings had to encounter in their projects of aggrandizement, proceeded
much less from these assemblies, which they authorized or annulled at
pleasure, than from the nobles vindicating against them, first their
sovereignty, and then their political importance. From Philip Augustus
to Louis XI. the object of all their efforts was to preserve their own
power; from Louis XI. to Louis XIV. to become the ministers of that of
royalty. The Fronde was the last campaign of the aristocracy. Under
Louis XIV. absolute monarchy definitively established itself, and
dominated without dispute.
The government of France, from Louis XIV. to the revolution, was still
more arbitrary than despotic; for the monarchs had much more power
than they exercised. The barriers that opposed the encroachments of
this immense authority were exceedingly feeble. The crown disposed of
persons by lettres de cachet, of property by confiscation, of the public
revenue by imposts. Certain bodies, it is true, possessed means of
defence, which were termed privileges, but these privileges were rarely
respected. The parliament had that of ratifying or of refusing an impost,

but the king could compel its assent, by a lit de justice, and punish its
members by exile. The nobility were exempt from taxation; the clergy
were entitled to the privilege of taxing themselves, in the form of free
gifts; some provinces enjoyed the right of compounding the taxes, and
others made the assessment themselves. Such were the trifling liberties
of France, and even these all turned to the benefit of the privileged
classes, and to the detriment of the people.
And this France, so enslaved, was moreover miserably organized; the
excesses of power were still less endurable than their unjust distribution.
The nation, divided into three orders, themselves subdivided into
several classes, was a prey to all the attacks of despotism, and all the
evils of inequality. The nobility were subdivided: into courtiers, living
on the favours of the prince, that is to say, on the labour of the people,
and whose aim was governorships of provinces, or elevated ranks in the
army; ennobled parvenus, who conducted the interior administration,
and whose object was to obtain comptrollerships, and to make the most
of their place while they held it, by jobbing of every description; legists
who administered justice, and were alone competent to perform its
functions; and landed proprietors who oppressed the country by the
exercise of those feudal rights which still survived. The clergy were
divided into two classes: the one destined for the bishoprics and abbeys,
and their rich revenues; the other for the apostolic function and its
poverty. The third estate, ground down by the court, humiliated by the
nobility, was itself divided into corporations, which, in their turn,
exercised upon each other the evil and the contempt they received from
the higher classes. It possessed scarcely a third part of the land, and this
was burdened with the feudal rents due to the lords of the manor, tithes
to the clergy, and taxes to the king. In compensation for all these
sacrifices it enjoyed no political right, had no share in the
administration, and was admitted to no public employment.
Louis XIV. wore out the main-spring of absolute monarchy by too
protracted tension and too violent use. Fond of sway, rendered irritable
by the vexations of his youth, he quelled all resistance, forbad every
kind of opposition,--that of the aristocracy which manifested itself in
revolt,-- that of the parliaments displayed by remonstrance,--that of the

protestants, whose form was a liberty of conscience which the church
deemed heretical, and royalty factious. Louis XIV. subdued the nobles
by summoning them to his court, where favours and pleasures were the
compensation for their dependence. Parliament, till then the instrument
of the crown, attempted to become its counterbalance, and the prince
haughtily imposed upon it a silence and submission of sixty years'
duration. At length, the revocation of the edict of Nantes completed this
work of despotism. An arbitrary government not only will not endure
resistance, but it demands that its subjects shall approve and imitate it.
After having subjected the actions of men, it persecutes conscience;
needing to be ever in motion, it seeks victims when they do not fall in
its way. The immense power of Louis XIV. was exercised, internally,
against the heretics; externally, against all Europe. Oppression found
ambitious men to counsel it, dragoons to serve, and success to
encourage it; the wounds of France were hidden by laurels, her groans
were drowned in songs of victory. But at last the men of genius died,
the victories ceased, industry emigrated, money disappeared; and the
fact became evident, that the very successes of despotism exhaust its
resources, and