FALL OF THE OLD ORDER	371
Revolution proved the harbinger of a new and better order
in the world. 'Liberty, Equality, Fraternity,1 still rever-
berates among many countries and peoples because of its
flaming example. Let us see how it came about.
The fall of the Bastille on 14 July 1789 is usually taken
as the beginning of the French Revolution. On that day an
infuriated Parisian mob attacked the Bastille—the Central
Prison—wherein were incarcerated political offenders no less
than ordinary criminals. After a violent and dramatic scene
the prisoners were liberated as indiscriminately as they had
been arbitrarily locked in. This outburst would not have
gained.its great reputation in history, but for its being the
symptom of deeper causes. France had long been suffering
from insupportable social and political burdens under the
Grand Monarchy. The nation had been divided into two
unequal classes : the rulers and the ruled ; the former, a
microscopic minority of hereditary nobles with the King as
their patron; and the latter, the vast masses who groaned
under the weight of tyranny. All power and wealth were
concentrated in the hands of the upper few; and the sub-
ject classes had only taxation and miserable service for their
lot. All high offices, both civil and military, were the mono-
poly of the noblesse who were free from taxation. The poor
people, mostly peasants, manned the armies, paid taxes, and
rendered compulsory service of a feudal character. Louis
XV (1715-74), who succeeded Louis XIV, was a worse man
and a worse monarch than his great-grandfather. But all
the same, he indulged in all the reckless dreams and adven-
tures of his more capable predecessor. His luxuries, vices,
and wars dug deeper the grave of the Grand Monarchy, while
the pampered and corrupted nobility, equally purblind,
abetted in all the doings of their wicked patron who help-*
lessly but prophetically declared, " After me the deluge !'"