11:

THE EVE OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

by Edward J. Lowell

When Louis XVI. came to the throne in the year 1774, he inherited a power
nearly absolute in theory over all the temporal affairs of his kingdom. In
certain parts of the country the old assemblies or Provincial Estates still met at
fixed times, but their functions were very closely limited. The Parliaments, or
high courts of justice, which had claimed the right to impose some check on
legislation, had been browbeaten by Louis XIV., and the principal one, that of
Paris, had been dissolved by his successor. The young king appeared,
therefore, to be left face to face with a nation over which he was to exercise
direct and despotic power. It was a recognized maxim that the royal was law.
Moreover, for more than two centuries, the tendency of continental
governments had been toward absolutism. Among the great desires of men in
those ages had been organization and strong government. A despotism was
considered more favorable to these things than an aristocracy. Democracy
existed as yet only in the dreams of philosophers, the history of antiquity, and
the example of a few inconsiderable countries, like the Swiss cantons. It was
soon to be brought into greater prominence by the American Revolution. As
yet, however, the French nation looked hopefully to the king for government,
and for such measures of reform as were deemed necessary. A king of France
who had reigned justly and strongly would have received the moral support of
the most respectable part of his subjects. These longed for a fair distribution
of public burdens and for freedom from unnecessary restraint, rather than for
a share in the government. The admiration for the English constitution, which
was commonly expressed, was as yet rather theoretic than practical, and was
not of a nature to detract from the loyalty undoubtedly felt for the French
crown.
Every monarch, however despotic in theory, is in fact surrounded by many
barriers which it takes a strong man to overleap. And so it was with the king
of France. Although he was the fountain of justice, his judicial powers were
exercised through magistrates many of whom had bought their places, and
could therefore not be dispossessed without measures that were felt to be
unjust and almost revolutionary. The breaking up of the Parliament of Paris,
in the latter years of the preceding reign, had thrown the whole body of judges
and lawyers into a state of discontent bordering on revolt. The new court of
justice which had superseded the old one, the Parlement Maupeou as it was
called, after the name of the chancellor who had advised its formation, was