A Modern History, From the Time of Luther to the Fall of Napoleon / For the Use of Schools and Colleges

by John Lord

The National Assembly contained many great men, who would never have been heard of in quiet times; some of great virtues and abilities, and others of the most violent revolutionary principles. There were also some of the nobility, who joined them, not anticipating the evils which were to come. Among them were the Dukes of Orleans, Rochefoucault, and Liancourt, Count Lally Tollendal, the two brothers Lameth, Clermont Tonnerre, and the Marquis de La Fayette, all of whom were guillotined or exiled during the revolution.

The discussions in the Assembly did not equal the Commotions. tumults of the people. All classes were intoxicated with excitement, and believed that a new era was to take place on earth; that all the evils which afflicted society were to be removed, and a state of unbounded liberty, plenty, and prosperity, was about to take place.

In the midst of the popular ferments, the regiment of guards, comprising three thousand six hundred men, revolted: immense bodies of workmen assembled together, and gave vent to the most inflammatory language; the Hotel of the Invalids was captured; fifty thousand pikes were forged and distributed among the people; the Bastile was stormed; and military massacres commenced. Soon after, the tricolored cockade was adopted, the French guards were suppressed by the Assembly, the king and his family were brought to Paris by a mob, and the Club of the Jacobins was established. Before the year 1789 was ended, the National Assembly was the supreme power in France, and the king had become a shadow and a mockery; or, rather, it should be said that there was no authority in France but what emanated from the people, and no power remained to suppress popular excesses and insurrections. The Assembly published proclamations against acts of violence; but it was committed in a contest with the crown and aristocracy, and espoused the popular side. A famine, added to other horrors, set in at Paris; and the farmers, fearing that their grain would be seized, no longer brought it to market. Manufactures of all kinds were suspended, and the public property was confiscated to supply the immediate wants of a starving and infuriated people. A state was rapidly hastening to universal violence, crime, misery, and despair.

The year 1790 opened gloomily, and no one could tell when the agitating spirit would cease, or how far it would be carried, for the mob of Paris was rapidly engrossing the power of the state. One of the first measures of the Assembly was to divest the provinces of France of their ancient privileges, since they were jealous of the sovereignty exercised by the Assembly, and to divide the kingdom into eighty-four new departments, nearly equal in extent and population. A criminal tribunal was established for each department and a civil court for each of the districts into which the department was divided. The various officers and magistrates were elected by the people, and the qualification for voting was a contribution to the amount of three days' labor. Rule of the People. By this great stop, the whole civil force in the kingdom was placed at the disposal of the lower classes. They had the nomination of the municipality, and the control of the military, and the appointment of judges, deputies, and officers of the National Guard. Forty-eight thousand communes, or municipalities, exercised all the rights of sovereignty, and hardly any appointment was left to the crown. A complete democratic constitution was made, which subverted the ancient divisions of the kingdom, and all those prejudices and interests which had been nursed for centuries. The great extension of the electoral franchise introduced into the Assembly a class of men who were prepared to make the most impracticable changes, and commit the most violent excesses.

The next great object of the Assembly was the regulation of the finances. Further taxation was impossible, and the public necessities were great. The revenue had almost failed, and the national debt had alarmingly increased,—twelve hundred millions in less than three years. The capitalists would advance nothing, and voluntary contributions had produced but a momentary relief. Under these circumstances, the spoliation of the church was resolved, and Talleyrand, Bishop of Autun, was the first to propose the confiscation of the property of his order. The temptation was irresistible to an infidel and revolutionary assembly; for the church owned nearly one half of the whole landed property of the kingdom. Several thousand millions of francs were confiscated, and the revenues of the clergy reduced to one fifth of their former amount.

This violent measure led to another. There was no money to pay for the great estates which the Assembly wished to sell. The municipalities of the large cities became the purchasers, and gave promissory notes to the public creditors until payment should be made; supposing that individuals would buy in small portions. Sales not being effected by the municipalities, as was expected and payment becoming due, recourse was had to government bills. Thus arose the system of Assignats, which were issued to a great amount on the security of the church lands, and which resulted in a paper circulation, and the establishment of a vast body of small landholders, whose property sprung out of the revolution, and whose interests were identified with it. The relief, however great, was momentary. New issues were made at every crisis, until the over issue alarmed the reflecting portion of the community, and assignats depreciated to a mere nominal value. At the close of the year, the credit of the nation was destroyed, and the precious metals were withdrawn, in a great measure, from circulation.

Soon after, the assembly abolished all titles of nobility, changed the whole judicial system, declared its right to make peace and war, and established the National Guard, by which three hundred thousand men were enrolled in support of revolutionary measures.

On the 14th of July, the anniversary of the capture of the Bastile, was the celebrated National Federation. National Federation, when four hundred thousand persons repaired to the Champ de Mars, to witness the king, his ministers, the assembly, and the public functionaries, take the oath to the new constitution; the greatest mockery of the whole revolution, although a scene of unparalleled splendor.

Towards the close of the year, an extensive emigration of the nobles took place; a great blunder on their part, since their estates were immediately confiscated, and since the forces left to support the throne were much diminished. The departure of so many distinguished persons, however, displeased the Assembly, and proposals were made to prevent it. But Mirabeau, who, until this time, had supported the popular side, now joined the throne, and endeavored to save it. His popularity was on the decline, when a natural death relieved him from a probable execution. He had contributed to raise the storm, but he had not the power to allay it. He exerted his splendid abilities to arrest the revolution, whose consequences, at last, he plainly perceived. But in vain. His death, however, was felt as a public calamity, and all Paris assembled to see his remains deposited, with extraordinary pomp, in the Pantheon, by the side of Des Cartes. Had he lived, he might possibly have saved the lives of the king and queen, but he could not have prevented the revolution.