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MODERN EUROPE.

IV.

MODERN EUROPE,

FROM THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE TO THE
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE,

A.D. 1453— 187I.

BY THOMAS HENRY DYER, LED.

{SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND CONTINUED.)

IN FIVE VOLUMES.

Vol. IV. from 1714 to 1796,

LONDON:
GEORGE BELL AND SONS,

YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
1877.

CHISWICK PRESS: CHARLES WHITT1NGHAM, TOOKS COURT,
CHANCERY LANE.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS

THE FOURTH VOLUME.

CHAPTER XLIL

Review of the Epoch. — Age of Louis XIV. — State of Germany, Spain,
and England. — The European System and Balance of Poiver. — Interna-
tional law. — Colonization and Commerce. — Political Consequences of
the Reformation. — Religious Consequpnces of the Reformation (pp.1 —
38).

Page

Results of the Peace of Westphalia . 2

Age of Louis XIV 4

The French Court 5

Social Manners 6

French Literature and Academies . 7

Colbert 8

Consequences of the Reformation on

Europe 9

Decline of the German Empire and

increased Rower of German

Sovereigns 10

Character of Leopold 1 11

The Diets lose their Authority . . —

Increased importance of France . . —

State of Spain . . 12

Of England 13

Theory of the Balance of Power . . 14

Rivalry of France and Austria . . —
The Peace of Westphalia restores

the Equilibrium —

Completion of the European System

by the addition of the Northern

Powers 15

Results of the League of Augsburg

and Treaty of Vienna . . . . 16

Rivalry of France and England . . —

Progress of International Law . . 17

Hugo Grotius 18

Page

The Mercantile System 19

Colonial System 20

Spanish and Portuguese Colonization — ■

Dutch Colonization 21

English Colonization 22

The Dutch in America 23

The English in America .... 24

The French in America 26

The Buccaneers 27

Effects of the Treaty of Utrecht on

English Commerce 28

The French and English in the East

Indies 29

Consequences of the Reformation on

particular States 30

In Holland —

In England and Prussia 31

Connection of Civil and Religious

Liberty —

Religious Sects 32

The Pietists 33

The Moravian Brethren —

The Jansenists 34

Port Royal 35

Quesnel's Moral Reflections ... 36

The Bull Unigcnitus 37

The Quietists and Fenelon .... —

Rise of the Fr< '-thinkers .... 38

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER XLIII.

Spain Governed by Alberoni. — Philip, Duke of Orleans, Regent
France. — Venetian and Turkish War. — General Affairs of Europe till
1731 (pp. 39— 61).

A.r>. Page

1714. Philip V. and Alberoni . . 39
Philip marries Elizabeth Far-

nese, of Parma —

The Princess des Ursins ba-
nished 40

1715. Treaty with England ... 41
The Duke of Orleans seizes the

French Regency .... —
The Mississippi Company . . 42
Foreign Policy of the Regent . —
The Abbe Dubois 43

1716. George I. allies himself with

Holland and the Emperor .

1717. Triple Alliance

Breach between Philip V. and

the Emperor

Retrospect of Turkish History
The 'Morea wrested from the

Venetians (1715) ....
The Emperor aids Venice . .

1718. Peace of Passarowitz. . . .
Convention between France

and England

Quadruple Alliance ....
Sardinia a Kingdom ....
Conspiracy of Cellamare . .

-1.:.

46
47

A.D.

1719.

1720,

1721.

1722.
1723.

1724.

1725.

1726.

1727,

1728,
1729.
1731.

Page

France and England declare
War against Spain ....

Spanish Expedition to Scotland

Alberoni dismissed ....

Philip V. accedes to the Quad-
ruple Alliance

Treaty between France and
Spain

French and Spanish Marriages

Death of Dubois and the Re-
gent

Abdication of Philip V. . . . —

He resumes the Sceptre ... —

Louis XV. marries Mary Les-
cinska 55

Pragmatic Sanction of Charles
VI

Alliance of Vienna ....

Alliance of Hanover ....

War between Spain and Eng-
land

Death of Catherine I. . . .

Congress at Soissons ....

Treaty of Seville CO

Second Treaty of Vienna . . —

The " Family Convention " . . 61

50
57

5-8

59-

CHAPTER XLIV.

Affa/i/rs of Poland. — Establishment of Augustus III. — War behoeen
France and the Empire. — Retrospect of Russian History. — Death of
Peter the Great. — Catherine I., Peter II., and Ivanovna. — Revolution
in Turkey. — Russian and Turkish War (pp. 62 — 81).

1733. Death of Augustus II. of

Poland 62

His Son, Frederick Augustus,
a Candidate i'<>r the Polish
Throne 63

Frederick II.'s Character of the
Polea 64

Double Election of Stanislaus
and Frederick Augustus as
King of Poland 65

The latter proclaimed as Au-
gustus III —

The French abandon Stanis-
laus 66

1733. Charles Emanuel III. in Sar-

dinia 66

Louis XV. declares War against

the Emperor 67

Alliance between France, Spain,

and Sardinia —

1734. Campaign 68

1735. Charles III. King of the Two

Sicilies 69

Campaign in N. Italy ... —
1738. Third Treaty of Vienna . . 70
Lorraine acquired by France . —
King Stanislaus, of Poland,

abdicates (1736) —

OF THE FOURTH VOLUME.

Vll

A.D. Page

1738. Augustus III. established . . 71

Retrospect of Russian History. 72

Peter attacks Persia .... —

His Death (1725) 73

Account of his son Alexis . . —

Reign of Catherine I. . . . 74

Peter II. Alexeio wit sch . . . 75

Death (1730) 76

Anna Ivanovna —

Revolution in Turkey ... 77

Achniet III. deposed (1730) . —

A.D. Page

1738. Russian and Turkish War

(1735) 78

Austria joins Russia .... 79

Campaign ■ —

1739. Successes of Marshal Miinnich 80
The Austrians defeated at

Grozka —

Peace between Austria and the

Porte —

Between Russia and the Porte. 81

CHAPTER XLV.

War between Spain and England. — Death of Charles VI. of Austria,
and Accession of Maria Theresa. — Her Bight disputed. — First Silesian
War. — Retrospect of Swedish History. — Hats and Nightcaps. — War
between Sweden and Russia (pp. 82 — 113).

1738. Disputes between Spain and

England 82

1739. Convention of the Pardo . . 83
War declared between England

and Spain —

Admiral Vernon takes Porto

Bello 84

1741. Fails at Cartbagena .... —
Anson circumnavigates the

Globe —

Death of Charles VI. ( 1 740) . —
Accession of Maria Theresa . 85
Her Right disputed .... 86
Frederick II. of Prussia ... —
Character of his father, Frede-
rick William 1 87

The Prussian Army .... 88
Ambition of Frederick II. . . 89
His Proposals to Maria Theresa 9 1
Natuie of his Claims. ... —
He overruns Silesia .... 92
Battle of Mollwitz .... 93
Negotiations of Belle-Isle . . 94
Alliance of France and Prussia —
Treaty of Nymphenburg . . 96
Coalition against Maria The-
resa 97

Alliance of Hanover .... 98

Anna, Russian Regent ... —
Elizabeth Petrovna, Empress

of Russia —

The Elector of Bavaria invades

the Austrian Dominions . . 99

Crowned at Prague .... —

1741. Forlorn Situation of Maria

Theresa 100

Takes refuge in Hungary . . —
Convention of Klein Schnellen-

dorf 101

Duplicity of Frederick II. . . 102
17-12. Charles Albert of Bavaria

elected Emperor .... 103
Frederick invades Moravia . . —

Battle of Czaslau 104

Peace between Austria and

Prussia —

The French driven from Bo-
hemia 105

Campaign in Italy . . . .106
Retrospect of Swedish History 107
Frederick I. and Ulrica Elea-

nora —

Parties of the Hats and Night-
caps 108

1738. Murder of Sinclair, the Swedish

Envoy, by the Russians . .109

1741. The Swedes declare War

against Russia 110

Revolution in Russia ; Anna
deposed in favour of Eliza-
beth Ill

1742. English and Russian Alliance . 112
Project of a Scandinavian

Union —

Treaty of Abo between Russia
and Sweden 113

1743. Adolphus Frederick elected to

the Swedish Crown ... —

Vlll

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER XLVI.

War of the Austrian Succession continued,. — Second Silesian War. —
Francis I. elected Emperor. — Peace of Aix-la-Chajyelle and Treaty of
Madrid (pp. 114—139).

1743. Death of Cardinal Fleury . .
Enthusiasm in England for

.Maria Theresa

Charles VII. flies to Augsburg
Anglo-German Campaign . .
Battle of Dettingcn ....

Page

114

115
116

117

Charles VII. at Frankfort . . —
Alliance of Fontainebleau be-
tween France and Spain . . 1 18
1741. Louis XV. aids the Pretender. 119
Italian Campaign (174.1) .120

Louis XV. declares War

against England and Austria —
Campaign in Flanders and on

the Rhine 121

Frederick II. makes a Treaty

with France 122

Union of Frankfort .... —
Second Silesian War . . . .123

Italian Campaign 124

1745. Quadruple Alliance .... 125
Death of Charles VII. . . . —
Peace between Bavaria and
Austria —

A.n.
1745

Page

The Porte offers its Mediation 126

Battle of Sorr 127

Frederick II. at Dresden . . 128
Peace between Austria and

Prussia -

Francis I. elected Emperor . .
Campaign in Flanders : Battle

of Fontenoy

Campaign in Italy ....
1746. Campaign in Flanders and

Italy

129

130

131

132

Death of Philip V. of Spain
Colonial War between France
and England 133

1747. Louis XV. attacks Holland . —
State of that Country . . .134
Campaign in the Netherlands

and Italy 135

1748. Negotiations and Conferences 136
Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle . .137

1750. Treaty of Madrid 138

Results of the War . . . . —
Conduct of Frederick II. . .139

CHAPTER XLVII.

Colonial Quarrels of France and England. — Origin and Progress of the
Seven Years' War. — Breach between Austria and England, and Alliance
betioeen, Austria and France. — Armed Neutrality of the Baltic (pp.
140—169).

1754. Colonial Quarrels of France and

England 140

1755. Naval Hostilities 141

Origin of the Seven Years9

War 142

Projects of Kaunitz . . . .143
Breach between England and

Austria 144

Bad Faith of the European

Courts 145

1756. Treaty between England and

Prussia 146

Austrian and French Alliance 147
The French seize Minorca . . 148
League against Prussia . . . 149
Commencement of the Seven

Years' War 150

1756. Frederick II. invades Saxony . 150
Surrender of the Saxon Army. 1 5 1
Augustus III. retires to Poland —
Sweden joins the League against

Prussia 153

Persecution of the Jansenists in
France —

1757. Louis XV. wounded by Da-

miens 154

Treaty between France and

Austria 155

The French enter Germany . 156
Defeat of the Duke of Cumber-
land —

Convention of Kloster-Seven . 157
War in Bohemia : Battle of
Prague —

OF THE FOURTH VOLUME.

a.d. Page

1757. Battles of Prague and Kolin . 158
Gloomy Prospects of Frederick —
Saved by the lukewarmness of

the Russians 159

Bat ties of RossbachandLeuthen 160
George II. repudiates the

Convention of Kloster-Seven 1G1

1758. Treaty between England and

Prussia 162

Frederick's necessitous State . — .
Ferdinand of Brunswick's Vic-
tories over the French . .163

A.D. Page

1758. Campaign 164

Battles of Zorndorf and Iloch-

kirch 165

1759. Battles of Minden and Kuners-

dorf 167

Naval Hostilities between France

and England 168

Armed Neutrality of the Baltic —

1760. Campaign 169

The Russians at Berlin ... —

CHAPTER XLVIIL

Continuation of the Seven Years' War.-
sion of Catherine II. — Portuguese
Hubertsburg (pp. 170 — 188).

-Revolution in Russia. — Acces-
History. — Peace of Paris and

1759. Death of Ferdinand VI. of

Spain 170

Wall, Spanish Minister . . .171

Views of Pitt —

State of Spain 172

Ferdinand IV. King of the Two

Sicilies 173

Accession of Charles III. in

Spain —

1760. Death of George II 174

Change of English Policy . . —

1761. Pitt's Negotiations with France 175
The Family Compact between

France and Spain . . . .176
Pitt rejects the French Ulti-
matum 177

Campaign in Germany . . .178

1762. War declared between Spain

and England 179

1762. Death of the Empress Eliza-
beth of Russia

Change of Policy of her Succes-

180

sor, Peter III.

Peter deposed by his Consort,

Catherine H 181

Campaign —

Retrospect of Portuguese His-
tory 182

Pombal's Reforms —

Plot against Joseph I. . . . 183
France and Spain attempt to

coerce Portugal 184

Negotiations for Peace . . . 185

1763. Peace of Paris 186

Peace of Hubertsburg . . .187
End of the Seven Years' War . —
Results 188

CHAPTER XLIX.

Russian History. — Murder of Peter III. and Accession of Catherine II.
— Anarchy in Poland. — Interference of Russia and Prussia. — Retro-
spect of Turkish History.— War between Russia and Turkey. — First
Partition of Poland (pp. 189 — 217).

1762. View of Russian History . .189
Character of Peter III. ... —

Of Catherine II 190

Deposition and murder of

Peter 191

Accession and Government of

Catherine II 193

1764. Murder of Ivan VI 194

1764. Death of Augustus III. of Po-
land (1763) 195

Anarchy in that Country . . —
Frederick II.'s Views with re-
gard to it 196

Tx-eaty with Russia .... 197
Stanislaus Poniatowski elected
King of Poland —

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS

a d. Page

17(54. Condition of Poland . . . .198

Religious Parties 199

Interference of Catherine II. . 200
1707. Confederation of Radom . .201
1768. Poland obtains a Russian Con-
stitution 202

Rising of the Poles .... 203
Confederation of Bar .... —
Breach between Russia and

Turkey 205

Retrospect of Turkish History —
Death of Mahmoud I. (1751) . —
Of OsmanHI. (1756) . . . —
Accession of Mustapha III. . —
Russian and Turkish War . . 206
1770. Romanzoff overthrows the

Turks on the Kaghul ... —
Catherine projects the Con-
quest of Greece 207

The Turkish Fleet burnt at
Chesmeh 208

1771.

A.D. Page
1770. Contemplated Partition of Po-
land 208

The Austrians and Prussians

enter that Country . . . 209
Agreement with Russia for a

Partition 210

Convention of St. Petersburg

for that purpose . . . .211
Treaties of Partition .... 212
Declarations of the Three

Powers 213

1773. New Polish Constitution. . . 214

Reflections 215

Conclusion of the Russian and

Turkish War 216

Death of Mustapha III. and

Accession of Abdul Hamed —
Peace of Kutsvhuk Kainardji . 217
Russian Pretenders .... —

CHAPTER L.

War of the Bavarian Succession. — Death of Maria Theresa, and Acces-
sion of Joseph II. — Disputes with the Dutch. — li evolutions in the
Netherlands. — Death of Frederick II. — War between Russia and Tur-
he y joined by Austria. — Scandinavian History. — Accession of Leopold
II. — Peace of Sistova and Jassy (pp. 218 — 254).

1765. Death of the Emperor Francis I.
and Accession of Joseph II. .
Maria Theresa continues to
reign in Austria ....
Question of the Bavarian Suc-
re ssion

1778. Preparations for War . . .

1779. ( Campaign

Peace of Teschen

1780. Death of .Maria Theresa . .
Reforms of Joseph II. .

1 782. Pope Pius VI. at Vienna . .

1781. Joseph razes the Barrier For-

tresses

1784. Disputes with the Dutch . .
Intervention of Louis XVI.

1785. Treaty of Fontainebleau

1 ! is in Holland .

1786. Death of Frederick II. . . .
Characti Reign . . .
Acces ii n • E r d< rick Win.

I!, of T is ia

1787. H<- restores the Stadholder

William V

1788. Alliance between Englan '

Hollance

Triple Alliance

Disturbances in the Austrian

Netherlands

218

219

220

221

222

225

226

227

228

229
230

1788. Friendship of Joseph II. and

Catherine II 231

Prince Potemkin 232

1783. Disputes renewed between Rus-
sia and Turkey .... —
The Russians enter the Crimea 233

1787. Catherine II. founds Cherson . —
The Porte declares War against

Russia 234

1788. Campaign 235

Review of Scandinavian His-
tory —

Policy of Gustavus III. of

Sweden 236

He overthrows the Oligarchy . —
Renews the Alliance with the

Porte 238

Attacks Russia —

Retrospect of Danish History. 239

Death of Frederick V. (1766) . —

Accession of Christian VII. . —
He marries Caroline Matilda of

England —

Struensee and bis Reforms . . —
Juliana, Queen Dowager, forms

a Party 240

Cowardice of Struensee . . . 241
Guldberg organizes a Con-
spiracy against him ... —

OF THE FOURTH VOLUME.

A.D. Page
1788. Execution of Struensee and
Banishment of Queen Caro-
line (1-772) 241

Rule of Guldberg .... 242
The Danes invade Sweden . . —
Gustavus III. becomes absolute —
Progress of the Russian and

Swedish War 243

1790. Peace of Werela —

1794. Treaty of Drottningholm . -244
Continuation of the Austro-

Russian War with Turkey . —
Death of Abdul Hamed, and

Accession of Sclimlll. (1789) —
Alliance of Prussia and Turkey —
1790. Death of Joseph II 245

1790. Revolution in Belgium . .
Belgian United Provinces .
Reign of Leopold in Tuscany .
He accedes to the Austrian

Dominions

Negotiations at Reichenbach .
Convention of Reichenbach

1791. Peace of Sistova between Aus-

tria and the Porte . .
Submission of Belgium . .

1792. Death of Leopold II. . . .
Francis II. Emperor . . .
Progress of the Russo-Turkish

War

Peace of Jassy

Page
246

247

248

249
250

252
253

254

CHAPTER LI.

Reign of Louis XV. in France. — Fall of the Jesuits. — American Revolt. —
France and Spain allied against Great Britain. — The Armed Neu-
trality.— War between England and Holland. — Peace of Versailles. —
Discontents in France. — The Notables. — The Etats Geueraux. — The
National Assembly (pp. 255 — 296).

1763. Decline of France 255

Infamy of Louis XV. . . . 256
The Corsicans revolt from

Genoa —

1768. Co rsi -a sold to France . . . 257

1771. The Parliament of Maupeou . 25S

French Parliaments abolished . 259

Fall of the Jesuits —

Superstition of John V. of Por-
tugal 260

Obtains the title of Fidelissmus —
Gabriel Malagrida .... 261
Pombal expels the Jesuits

(1759) 262

Proceedings against them in

France 263

Banished from Spain . . .264
Universal Persecution of the
Society 265

1773. It is suppressed by Pope Cle-

ment XIV 267

1774. Death of Clement —

Wretched State of France . . —
Peculations of Louis XV . . 268

His Death 269

Accession of Louis XVI. . . —
He re-establishes the Parlia-
ments —

The American Revolt . . . 270
Washington Commander - in -

chief 271

1776. Declaration of Independence . 272
The Americans aided by France 273

1778. Capitulation of Saratoga . . 274
War between England and

France 275

Battle of Ushant —

Hostilities in the Colonies . . 276

1779. Spain declares War against

Great Britain —

The combined French and Spa-
nish Fleets in the Channel . 277
Naval and Colonial Warfare . 278

1780. The Armed Neutrality . . . 280
Russian Declaration . . . .281
Causes of the Armed Neu-
trality 282

Rupture between England and
Holland 283

1781. Na\al War 284

War in America —

1782. Siege of Gibraltar 285

Peace between England and

America 287

1783. Peace of Versailles .... 288
Character of Marie Antoinette 289
Affair of the Diamond Neck-
lace —

Financial State of France . .290
1787. Assembly cf Notables . . .292
Parliament of Paris banished . 293
17S8. Plan to supersede the Parlia-
ments 294

1789. Meeting of the Etats Ge'neraux 295
They declare themselves a Na-
tional Assembly .... 296

Xll

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER LII.

A Vieio of the Causes, Character, and Effects of the French
Revolution (pp. 297—339).

Page
Character of the French Revolution . 297

The French Nobles 298

Policy of Richelieu 299

Feudal Privileges 300

Condition of the Peasantry .... 301

of the Burgesses .... 302

of the Church . . . .303

Despotism of the Crown .... —

State of the Provinces 304

Pays cV Election and Pays aVEtat . .305

Inequality of Taxation 306

Centralization 307

Physiocrats 308

Economists —

The New Philosophy 309

Infidelity 310

French Writers who influenced the

Revolution 311

Montesquieu —

Voltaire 312

His English Studies 313

Prolligacy of the Clergy 314

Character of Voltaire's Works . . 315

The Encyclopaedists 317

J. J. Rousseau 318

His Views of Society 319

Question of his Sincerity .... 320

Page
Doctrine of Sovereignty of the People. 321
Rousseau's Idea of Civil Freedom . 322
His Notion of Equality ...... 323

An Advocate of Aristocracy ... —
His influence on the Revolution . . 324
Difference between Sensibility and

Goodness 325

Effects of the Censorship examined . 326
Degradation of the Monarchy . . .327
Effect of the American Revolution . 328

Of the Deficit 329

Importance of the doubling of the

Tiers Etat 330

Necker's Conduct examined . . .331

Mistakes of the Court 332

Effects of Centralization .... 333
Sovereignty of the Paris Mob . . . 334
Character of the Deputies .... 335

Literary Influences —

Affectation of Ancient Manners . . 336
Extenuating Circumstances ... —
A Comparison of the French and

English Revolutions 337

Different Character of Charles I. and

Louis XVI 338

Effects of the French Revolution . . 339

CHAPTER LILT.

"Progress of the Revolution from the Royal Session in 1789 till the Flight
to Varennes in 1791 (pp. 340 — 375).

A.D.

1789. Proceedings of the National
Assembly

Royal Session

Oa'th in the Tennis Court . .

The King annuls the Proceed-
ings df the Assembly . . .

Union of the Three Orders . .

Si;itc of the Army . . . .

State of Paris

The National Guard instituted

Insurrection

Capture of the Bastille . . .

Louis visits Paris

The Emigration begins . . .

Massacres at the Lanterne and
other J 'laces

Return of Necker . . .

A.n.

17S9. The Constituent Assembly

. . 350

340

The Duke of Orleans .

. 351

—

341

Count de Mirabeau . .

. . 352

Debates of the Assembly

. . 353

—

Renunciation of Privileges

. — -

342

Question of the Veto . .

. . 354

343

Plot to seize the King .

. 355

344

Banquet at Versailles

. 350

345

The Mob at Versailles .

. 357

—

Storming of the Palace . ,

. 358

346

The Royal Family brought

3-17

Paris

. 359

348

349

350

Patriotic Contributions .

. 364

OF THE FOURTH VOLUME.

Xlli

a.d. Page

A.D.

1789. Abolition of Tithes .... 364

1791

1790. Origin of Assiqnats .... 365

Confiscation of Church Pro-

perty —

Sections of Paris 366

Mirabcau sells himself to the

Court 367

Federative Fete — Embassy of

the Human Race .... 368

Retirement of Neckcr ... —

Civil Constitution of the Clergy 369

Pago

, Death of Mirabcau .... 370

Hopes of Foreign Intervention 371

Conference at Mantua . . . 372

Louis compelled to approve the

Revolution —

Flight of the Royal Family to

Varennes 373

The King suspended .... 374
Letter of De Bouille to the

Assembly 375

CHAPTER LIV.

Progress of the Revolution from the Flight to Varennes till the Insurrection
of August 10th (pp. 376—403).

1791. Appearance of a Republican

Party 376

The Cordeliers and Feuillants . —

Jacobin Petition 377

Remonstrances of Foreign
Powers 378

Zeal of Frederick William II.
and Gustavus III ■

Declaration of Pilnitz . . .

Act of the Constitution . .

Close of the Constituent As-
sembly

Annexation of Avignon . . .

Self-denying Ordinance . . .

Louis accepts the Constitution.

The Legislative Assembly . .

Decrees against the Emigrants

The French prepare for War .

1792. Dumouriez Foreign Minister .
Roland and his Wife ....
Views of Prussia and the Ger-
man Sovereigns —

Louis declares War against
Francis 1 387

379
380

381
382

383

384
385
386

1792. First Hostilities : Flight of the

French 388

Indiscreet Letter of Lafayette . 389
Struggle between the Giron-
dists and Jacobins .... —
Insurrection of June 20th . . 390
Louis treats with the Coalition 392

The Marseillese 393

Fete of the Federation ... —
Advance of the Allies . . . 394
Insurrectionary Preparations . 395
Threatening Address to the

King 396

Manifesto of the Dukeof Bruns-
wick 397

The King's Abdication de-
manded 398

Preparations to defend the

Tuileries 399

Insurrection of August 10th . —
Murder of Mandat .... 400
The King takes Refuge in the

Assembly 401

Capture of the Tuileries . .403

CHAPTER LV.

Progress of the Revolution from the Insurrection of August 10th to the
Execution of Louis XVI., and Declaration of War against England
(pp. 404—432).

1792. The Girondists in Power :

Danton 404

The Municipality —

The Royal Family at the
Temple 405

Extraordinary Criminal Tri-
bunal 406

Proceedings of the Commune . —

92. Domiciliary Visits . .

. 407

Massacres of September . .

. 408

Question of Premeditation .

. 410

Principal Instigators . . .

. 411

Campaign on the Frontiers .

. 412

Battle of Valmy ....

The National Convention .

. 414

Royalty abolished. . . .

. 415

XIV

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS

a.d. Page

1792. Marat in the Assembly . . . 416
Battle of Jemappes . . .418
The French overrun Belgium . —
Royal Life in the Temple . . 419
Louis XVI. arraigned before

the Convention 420

Appeal to the People rejected . 421

1793. The King condemned . . . 422

Exec-uted 423

Opinion of Europe .... 424
Complaints of England . . . 425

a.d. Page
1793. Insolence of the Convention . 426
Revolutionary Clubs in Eng-
land 427

England prepares for War . . 428
Conduct of the Government ex-
amined 429

The Convention declares War . 430
Treaties concluded by England 431
Charles IV. of Spain and his
Minister Godoy ...... 432

CHAPTER LVI.

Progress of the Revolution from the Execution of Louis XVI. till tJie
Execution of Robespierre, July 28th, 1794 (pp. 433—484).

1793. Anarchy in France .... 433
Insurrection in La Vendee . . —
The Revolutionary Tribunal . 434
Campaign of Dumouriez . . 435
He threatens the Convention . 436
Arrests the Jacobin Commis-

saries

Compelled to fly

Committees of Public Welfare
and General Safety . . .

The Gironde and the Mountain

Trial of Marat

Banquet at Sceaux ....

Commission of Twelve .

State of the Provinces . . .

The Central Club

The Convention overawed . .

Arrest of the Girondists .

Marat assassinated ....

Blasphemous Honours paid to
him

Constitution of An I

Campaign on the Frontier . .

Committee of Public Welfare .

Proceedings of the Committee .

l-'cte of the Constitution . . .

The Criminal Tribunal re-
formed

The Reign of Terkoh inau-
gurated

The Loi des Suspects ....

Marie Antoinette arraigned

Executed

I'lir Girondists guillotined .

Duke of Orleans executed .

Republican Calendar .

437

438
439
440

441
442
443
444
446

447
448
449
450
451

452

453

454

455

456
457

1793. Worship of Reason .... 458
Opposed by Robespierre. . . 459
Insurrection in La Vendee . . 460
Admiral Hood at Toulon . .461
Reduction of Lyon .... —

Of Toulon 462

Atrocities at Bordeaux, Mar-
seilles, &c —

Carrier at Nantes 463

Siege of Dunkirk 464

Battle of Wattignies .... 465
Disputes between Austria and

Prussia 466

St. Just at Strasburg . . . 467
Campaign in Spain and Italy . —
French Republic and Factions . 46S
Robespierre and Camille Des-

moulins 469

1794. The Hebertistes exterminated. 470
Execution of Danton and others 471
Robespierre's Fete of the Su-
preme Being 473

Law of 22nd Prairial . . . 474
Robespierre absents himself

from the Committee . . . 475
The Chemises Rouges . . . 476
Plot against Robespierre . . 477

Catherine Theot —

The 9th Thermidor .... 478
Robespierre and others arrested 480
Scene at the Hotel de Ville . . —
Capture of Robespierre . . . 481
Execution and Character . . 482
Close of the Reign of Terror . 483
Its Character 484

OF THE FOURTH VOLUME.

CHAPTER LVII.

General Affairs of Europe. — Insurrection in Poland and Second and
Third Partitions of that Country. — Death of Catherine II. of Russia
and Accession of Peter III. — View of the Scandinavian Kingdoms. —
Of Germany, Naples, the Papal States, and Venice (pp. 485 — 515).

A.D.

1787.
1789.

I7KO.
1791.

Page
Insurrection in Puland . . . 484
Permanent Council abolished . 486
Defensive Alliance with Prussia 487

New Polish Constitution . . 488
Machinations of Catherine II. . 489

1 792. Confederation of Targowitz . 490
Prussian Treachery . . . .491
Thaddeus Kosciuszko . . . 492

1793. Treaty between Russia and

Prussia for the Partition of

Poland —

Diet of Grodno 493

Second Partition of Poland . . 494

1 794. Fresh Insurrection .... 495
Kosciuszko Generalissimo . . 496

National Council —

Warsaw besieged by Frederick

William II 497

Prussian Tyranny in Poland . 498
Siege of Warsaw raised . . ■ —
Kosciuszko defeated by the

Russians at Maciewice . . 499

Finis Polonies —

Third Partition of Poland . . 501

1795. Stanislaus resigns the Crown

1796. Death of Catherine II. . . .
Paul I. Petrowitsch ....
Scene at the Tomb of Peter III.
View of Scandinavia ....
Administration of Frederick

VI. as Prince Royal .

ZealofGustavus III. of Sweden
against the French Revolu-
tion

His Alliance with Catherine II.
(1791)

He is assassinated (1792)

Accession of Gustavus IV.

State of Germany

The Ilium inati

Accotint of Baron Thugut

Haugwitz and Hardenberg

Naples under Ferdinand IV

His Minister Tanucci .

Pope Pius VI. ...

Account of Venice .

Spain and Portugal .

Page
501
502
503

504

505

506

507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515

TABLE OF CONTEMPORARY SOVEREIGNS.

(The Years show the end

of their Reigns.)

THE EMPIRE.

FRANCE.

ENGLAND

TURKEY.

SPAIN.

JharlesVI. . . 1740
!harles VII. . 1745
•'rands I. . . 1765
oseph II. . .1790
,eopold II. . .1792
''rands II.
(Austria) . .1804

Louis XV. . .1774

Louis XVI. . . 1792

(Republic.)

PRUSSIA.

George I. . .
George II. . .
George III. . .

1727

1760
1820

Achmet III. . 1730
Mahmoud I. . 1754
Osman III. . . 1756
Mustapha III. . 1773
Abdul Hamed . 1789
Selim III. . . 1807

Philip V. . . .
Ferdinand VI. .
Charles III. . .
Charles IV. . .

1746

1759
1788
180S

FrederickWm. 1. 1740
Frederick II. . 1786
Fredck.Wm. II. 1797

POPES.

SWEDEN.

•
DENMARK.

RUSSIA.

PORTUGAL.

dement XI. . 1721
innocent XIII. 1724
Benedict XIII.. 1730
Element XII. . 1740
Benedict XIV. . 1758
Jlement XIII. . 1769
Hement XIV. . 1774
'iusVI. . . . 1S00

Charles XII. . 1718
Ulrica Eleanora 1720
Frederick I. . 1751
Ad. Frederick . 1771
Gustavus III. . 1792
Gustav. Ad. IV. 1809

Frederick IV. .
Christian VI. .
Frederick V.
Christian VII. .

1730
1746
1766
1808

Peter the Great
Catherine I.
Peter II. . .
Anne . . .
Ivan V. . .
Elizabeth
Peter III. .
Catherine II.
Paul I. . .

1725
1727
1730
1740
1741
1762

1796
1801

JohnV. . . .
Joseph I. . .
Maria Francisca

1750
1777
1816

IV.

HISTORY OF MODERN EUROPE.

CHAPTER XLII.

AT this epoch we pause a moment to cast a glance on some of
the characteristics of the period extending from the Peace
of Westphalia to the first French Revolution.

The wars which sprung out of the Reformation were closed by
the Thirty Years' War — a crime too gigantic to be repeated. So
long a strife, if it did not extinguish, at least mitigated religious
animosity; above all, Rome saw that she had no longer the power
to excite and nourish it. The results, both of the war and the
peace, must have convinced the most sanguine Pope that no
reasonable expectation could any longer be entertained of subju-
gating the Protestants by . force. Nearly all Europe had been
ene-aered in the strug-o-le, and the cause of Rome had been van-
quished. Nay, the Papal Court had been even foiled in the more
congenial field of negotiation and diplomacy. The influence exer-
cised by the Papal Nuncios at the Congress of Minister had been
quite insignificant. A peace entirely adverse to the Pope's views
had been concluded, against which, instead of those terrible
anathemas which had once made Europe tremble, Innocent X.
had contented himself with launching a feeble protest, which
nobody, not even the Catholic Princes, regarded.

The Peace of Westphalia may, therefore, be considered as in-
augurating a new era, whose character was essentially political. It
is true that the religious element is not altogether eliminated in
the intercourse of nations. The Catholic and the Protestant Powers
have still, in some degree, different interests, and still more dif-
ferent views and sentiments; and in the great struggle, for instance,
between Louis XIV. and William III., the former monarch may in
some measure be regarded as the representative of the Papacy, the

4 AGE OF LOUIS XIV. [Chap. XLII.

latter of the Reformation. Yet in these contests political interests
were altogether so predominant that what little of religion seems
mixed up with them was only subservient to them, and a means
rather than an end.

These changes were not without their effect on the intellectual
condition of Europe. The same causes which produced the Refor-
mation had set all the elements of thought in motion, had giverL
rise to bold and original geniuses and great discoveries. The
human mind seemed all at once to burst its shackles, and to march
forth to new conquests. It was the age which showed the way.
Columbus discovered a new hemisphere, Copernicus a new system
of the universe, Bacon a new method of all sciences. Boldness
and originality also characterized literature, and the age of the
Reformation produced Shakspeare and Rabelais. The following
period, of which we are here to treat, employed itself in working-
on the materials which the previous era had provided, and in set-
ting them in order. It was the age of criticism and analysis.
Intellectual efforts, if no longer so daring, were more correct.
Science made less gigantic, but surer steps; literature, if less
original, no longer offended by glaring blemishes at the side of
inimitable beauties. The spirit of the age was best exhibited in
France. French modes of thinking, French literature, French
taste, French manners, became the standard of all Europe, and
caused the period to be called the Age op Louis XIV. Its
influence survived the reign of that Monarch, and gave a moral
weight to France, even after her political preponderance had
declined.

When we talk of the "Age of Pericles/' the " Age of Augustus,"
the " Age of Louis XIV.", we naturally imply that the persons
from whom those periods took their names exercised a consider-
able influence on the spirit by which they were characterized. In
reality, however, this influence extended no further than to give a
conventional tone and fashion. The intellectual condition which
prevailed from about the middle of the seventeenth century till
towards the close of the eighteenth was the natural result of the
period which preceded it ; and it might, perhaps, not be difficult
to show that the same was the case with the two celebrated eras of
Athens and Rome. It would be absurd to suppose that the patron-
age of the great can call works of genius into existence. Such
patronage, however, especially where there is no great general
public to whom the authors of works of art and literature may
address themselves, is capable of giving such works their form and

Chap. XLII.] THE FRENCH COURT. 5

colour — in short, of influencing the taste of their producers ; and
this is precisely what the Courts of Augustus and Louis XIV.
effected. The literature and art of the Athenian Commonwealth
were subject to somewhat different conditions. Greek literature
was not so much the literature of books as the Roman, and still
more the modern. The appeal was chiefly oral, and made more
directly to the public, but a public that has not been found else-
where— a body of judges of the most critical taste and discernment.
Hence Attic literature and art present an unrivalled combination
of excellences ; all the vigour and fire of originality, subdued by
the taste of a grand jury of critics. We mean not, however, to
assert that the writers of the age of Augustus and Louis possessed
no original genius, but only that it was kept more in check. It
cannot be doubted, for instance, that Virgil and Horace, Racine
and Moliere, possessed great original powers, which, in another
state of society, they might probably have displayed in a different,
and, perhaps, more vigorous fashion, but at the sacrifice of that
propriety and elegance which distinguish their writings.

If Louis XIV. claimed to represent the State in his own person,
still more did he represent the Court, which set the fashion in
dress and manners, as well as in literature. There was much,
fortunately, in Louis's character that was really refined and ele-
gant, and which left an unmistakeable impress on the nation.
Although unrestrained in his earlier days by any notions of
morality, he was far removed from coarseness and indecency. His
manner towards women was marked by a noble and refined gal-
lantry ; towards men, by a dignified and courteous affability. He
is said never to have passed a woman even of the lowest condition
without raising his hat. There was no doubt a great deal of acting
in all this ; but it was good acting. He had made it his study to
support the character of a great king with a becoming dignity and
splendour, for he felt himself to be the centre of Europe as well as
of France. His fine person was also of much service to him.
Hence, as regards merely external manner, his Court has, perhaps,
never been surpassed, and it is not surprising that it should have
become a model to all Europe. It combined a dignified etiquette
with graceful ease. Every one knew and acquiesced in his position,
without being made to feel his inferiority. The King exacted that
the higher classes should treat their inferiors with that polite con-
sideration of which he himself gave the example. Thus the different
ranks of society were brought nearer together without being con-
founded. The importance of the great nobility was reduced by

6 THE FRENCH COURT. [Chap. XT.TT.

multiplying the number of dukes and peers ; while civic ministers
and magistrates were loaded with titles, and brought almost to a
level in point of ceremonial with persons of the highest birth. At
the same time certain honorary privileges were reserved for the
latter which afforded some compensation to their self-love. They
alone could dine in public with the King ; they alone could wear
the cordon bleu and the justaucorps a brevet ; a sort of costume
adopted by the King, which could be worn only by royal licence,
and established a sort of equality among the wearers. All these
regulations tended to produce a mutual affability between the
different classes, which spread from the Court through the nation,
and produced a universal politeness. Hence French society at-
tained an unrivalled elegance of manner, which it retained down
to the Revolution. There was nothing that could be compared to
the Court of France and French society. Hence also the French
language attained a grace and polish which render it so apt an
instrument of polite conversation, and caused its general diffusion
in Europe. The Courts of Austria and Spain were shackled by a
cold and formal etiquette, destructive of all wit, taste, and fancy.
The only Court which approached the French was that of England
under Charles II. Essentially, perhaps, Charles was not more
immoral than Louis; but he wanted that refinement which deprives
immorality of its grossness. The result is manifest in the contem-
porary literature- of the two nations, and especially the drama,
the best test of the manners of a people. The English drama-
tists of that age, tragedians as well as comedians, with quite as
much fire and genius as their French contemporaries, were grossly
indecent.

In patronizing literature and art, Louis XIV. only followed the
example given by Richelieu, with whom it was a part of policy.
He knew that literature glorifies a country, and gives it a moral
strength ; that it makes the prince who patronizes it popular at
home, respected and influential abroad. The benefits which Louis
bestowed on literary men were not confined to those of his own
country. Many foreign literati of distinction were attracted to
France by honourable and lucrative posts ; pensions, honorary
rewards, nattering letters, were accorded to others. There were
few countries in Europe without some writer who could sound the
praises and proclaim the munificence of Louis XIV .

Even if it were compatible with the scope of this work, space
would not allow us to enter into any critical examination of the
great writers who adorned the reign of Louis. The dramas of

Chap. XLII.] FRENCH ACADEMIES. 7

Racine and Moliere, the poems of Boileau and La Fontaine, the
sermons and other writings of Bossuet and Bourdaloue, besides
the works of numerous other authors, are still in the hands of all
persons of taste, not only in France, but also throughout Europe.
For a like reason we pass over the great French winters who
adorned the eighteenth century, many of whom will not suffer by
a comparison with their immediate predecessors. A bare list of
names — and our space would allow us to give but little more —
would afford neither instruction nor amusement. During this
period, however, arose that school of philosophical writers whose
works contributed so much to produce the Revolution. To
writings of this class, having a direct political bearing, it will be
necessary to advert with considerable attention in a future chapter,
when we come to consider the causes of that event.

If royal patronage can give a tone to works of imagination, it
can still more directly assist the researches of learning and science.
The King, in person, declared himself the protector of the Aca-
demic Francaise, the centre and representative of the national
literature, and raised it, as it were, to an institution of the State,
by permitting it to harangue him on occasions of solemnity, like
the Parliament and other superior courts. In the state of society
which then existed, this was no small addition to the dignity of
letters. Under the care of Louis and Colbert arose two other
learned institutions: the Academie des inscriptions et belles lettres,
and the Academie des sciences. The origin of the former was suffi-
ciently frivolous. It was at first designed to furnish inscriptions for
the public monuments, motives and legends for medals, subjects
for artists, devices for fetes and carousals, with descriptions destined
to dazzle foreign nations with the pomp and splendour of French
royalty. It was also to record the great actions achieved by the
Kino-;1 in short, it was to be the humble handmaid of Louis's
glory. But from such a beginning it became by degrees the centre
of historical, philological, and archaeological researches. The
Academie des sciences was founded in 1666, after the example of
the Royal Society of London. In the cultivation of science,
England had, indeed, taken the lead of France, and could already
point to many eminent names. The French Academy of Architec-
ture was founded in 1671, and the Academy of Painting and
Sculpture, originated by Mazarin in 1648, received a fresh de-
velopment at the hands of Louis and his ministers.

If we turn from the Court to the Cabinet of Louis, we find him

1 Martin, t. xiii. p. 161.

8 COLBERT.' [Chap. XLII.

here also affecting the first part. But it was in reality by the
ability of his ministers, Le Tellier, Colbert, Lionne, Louvois, that
he found the means of sustaining the glories of his reign. After
the death of Louvois, who, though a detestable politician, was an
excellent military administrator, the affairs of Louis went rapidly
to decay. Jean-Baptiste Colbert, one of the ablest ministers that
France had ever seen, was born in 1619, the son of a trader of
Rheims. After receiving the rudiments of a commercial educa-
tion, he became successively a clerk to a merchant, a notary, and
an attorney, and finally entered the service of the Government by
becoming clerk to a treasurer of what were called the parties
casuelles. Thus Colbert, though subsequently a warm patron of
art and literature, had not received the slightest tincture of a
classical education, and began at the age of fifty to study Latin,
to which he applied himself while riding in his carriage. He owed
his advancement to Le Tellier, who saw and appreciated his merit.
In 1649 that minister caused him to be appointed a counsellor of
state, and from this period his rise was rapid. He obtained the
patronage of Mazarin, for whom, however, he felt but little esteem.
The Cardinal on his death-bed is said to have recommended Col-
bert to the King; and, in 1661, after the fall of Fouquet, he ob-
tained the management of the finances. The mind of Colbert,
however, did not confine itself merely to his official department,
but embraced the whole compass of the State. He had already
conducted all the affairs of France during eight years, before he
obtained, in 1669, the office of Secretary of State, with the manage-
ment of the Admiralty, commerce, colonies, the King's household,
Paris, the government of the Isle of France and Orleans, the affairs
of the clergy, and other departments.

Colbert had taken Richelieu as his model, and like that states-
man had formed the grandest plans for the benefit of France by
promoting her agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, and by
developing the moral and intellectual as well as the material re-
sources of the kingdom. He increased the revenue by making the
officers of finance disgorge their unjust profits, by reforming the
system of taxation, and reducing the expenses of collection. He
improved the police and the administration of justice. He facili-
tated the internal communications of France by repairing the
highways and making new ones, and by causing the canal of
Languedoc to be dug, which connects the Mediterranean with the
Atlantic. He also formed the scheme of the canal of Burs-undv.
He caused Marseilles and Dunkirk to be declared free ports, and

Chap. XLII.] POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE REFORMATION. 9

lie encouraged the nobility to engage in commerce by providing
that it should be no derogation to their rank. He formed the
harbour of Rochefort, enlarged and improved that of Brest, and
established large marine arsenals at Brest, Toulon, Havre, and
Dunkirk ; while, by the care which he bestowed upon the fleet,
France was never more formidable at sea than at this period.
His commercial system, however, though perhaps suited to the
wants and temper of France in those days, would not meet the
approbation of modern political economists. He adopted the
protective system, and instead of encouraging private enterprise,
established monopolies by forming the East and West India Com-
panies, as well as those of the Levant and of the North. Colbert
retained office till his death, in 1683. His end seems to have
been hastened by the ingratitude of the King in appreciating his
great services.

We will now take a brief view of some of the political conse-
quences which attended the close of the era of the Reformation.
It can scarcely be doubted that Germany, the chief scene of that
event, viewed as a confederate State, was much enfeebled by it.
Had the Empire remained united in its allegiance to Rome, or
had it become, as it at one time promised, universally Protestant,
France and Sweden would not have been able to play the part
they did in the Thirty Years' War, and to aggrandize themselves
at its expense. The bad political constitution of the Empire, which
naturally contained within itself the seeds of perpetual discord,
was rendered infinitely more feeble by the introduction of Pro-
testantism. Having become permanently divided into two or three
religious parties, with opposite views and interests, materials were
provided for constant internal dissensions, as well as for the in-
troduction of foreign influence and intrigues. The same was also
the case in Poland. On the other hand, in those countries where
the Reformation was entirely successful, as England and the
Scandinavian Kingdoms, its tendency was to develop and in-
crease the national power. It is true that the different German
Princes, and especially the more important ones, grew indivi-
dually stronger by the Thirty Years' War and the Peace of West-
phalia. Such was the case even with the House of Habsburg,
which, after the battle of Prague, in 1620, was enabled to render
the Crown of Bohemia hereditary. The maintenance of a standing
foi'ce of mercenaries, which obtained in most of the German States
after the war, contributed to the same result, by enabling the
Princes to usurp the rights of their subjects. The provisions of

10 THE GERMAN EMPIRE WEAKENED. [Chap. XLII.

the Capitulation extorted from the Emperor Leopold, in 1658, had
the same tendency, by rendering the territorial Princes less de-
pendent on the grants of their people;1 and, as this Capitulation
was wrung from Leopold through the influence of France, it
must be regarded as a direct consequence of the Thirty Years'
War. The enhancement of the power of the Electors of Bavaria
and Brandenburg by this means, is particularly striking. In
Bavaria, the States, which were seldom assembled, intrusted' the
administration of financial matters to a committee appointed for a
long term of years ; with which the Elector found the transaction
of business much more easy and convenient. The power of the
Prince made still greater progress in Brandenburg under Fre-
derick William, the " Great Elector/' After the year 1653 the
States of the Mark were no longer assembled. Their grants were
replaced by an excise and a tax on provisions, which the Elector
had introduced in 1641, immediately after his accession ; and, as
these did away with the direct taxes levied monthly and yearly,
they were popular with the householders, and there was no diffi-
culty in making them perpetual. The conduct of Frederick Wil-
liam in Prussia was still more arbitrary. When the sovereignty
of that Duchy was finally confirmed to him by the Peace of Oliva,
he put an end, though not without a hard struggle, to the autho-
rity of the Prussian States, by abrogating their right of taxation;
and he signalized this act of despotic authority by the perpetual
imprisonment of Rhode, Burgomaster of Konisberg, and by the
execution of Colonel Von Kalkstein, another assertor of the
popular rights.

But it was in the direct ratio of the increase of strength in its
separate States, that the strength of the Empire as a Confedera-
tion was diminished, because the interests of its various territorial
Princes were not only separate from, but frequently hostile to,
those of the general Confederation and of the Emperor. The
minor States, which could not hope to make themselves important
and respected alone, attained that end by combining together.
Hence, the Catholic and Protestant Leagues, formed under French
influence soon after the Peace of Westphalia, and under the pre-
text of maintaining its provisions. These Leagues became still
more hostile to the Imperial power, when, soon after the election
of Leopold, they were united in one under the title of the Rhenish
League.

It must be confessed that the personal character of the Emperor

1 Menzel, Neuere Gcsch. der Beutschen, B. iv. S. 324.

Chap. XLII.] DECLINE OF IMPERIAL AUTHORITY. • 11

Leopold contributed not a little to produce this state of things.
Leopold, who reigned during forty-seven years as the contem-
porary of Louis XIV., was in every respect the foil of the French
Monarch. Hence much of the diversity in the political deve-
lopment of Germany and France. While the Imperial autho-
rity was being diluted by that of the German Electors and Princes,
Louis was epitomizing the State into his own person. Under
Leopold, the Diets, the chief bond of German Federation, lost all
their importance. That of 1663, summoned on account of the
Turkish "War, he opened not in person ; and he afterwards at-
tended it only as a kind of visitor. He took no care to terminate
its disputes on the important subject of the Capitulations of
future Emperors, and permitted the Assembly to be interminable.
Thus the authority and constitution of the Diet became completely
changed. Henceforth neither Emperor nor Prince of the Empire
appeared in it in person, and the Imperial Assembly shrank into
a mere congress of ambassadors and deputies without plenipo-
tentiary authority, who, before they could act, were obliged to
apply to their principals for instructions. Business was reduced
to a mere empty observance of forms and ceremonies, and a per-
petual contest of the most trivial kind arose about degrees of
rank and titles. Hence, from the Court and Diet, formality
penetrated through all the ranks of the German people. Even in
the promotion of science, literature, and art, which add so much
to the grandeur of a nation by extending its moral influence,
Leopold, though a more learned Prince than Louis, showed him-
self less judicious and efficient. Louis promoted the vernacular
literature of France by every means in his power, and with such
success that he rendered the French tongue the universal lan-
guage of educated Europe. On the other hand, little or no Im-
perial patronage shone on German literature, because almost all
the men of geuius were Protestants. Leopold, who, being bred
up to the Church, had received a scholastic education, amused
himself by inditing Latin epigrams and epistles, and by con-
versing in that language with the learned ; while, with his courtiers
and family, and in the literary assemblies which he held in his
apartments in the winter, the conversation was usually in Spanish
or Italian. Hence German literature was still confined in the
chains of scholastic bondage.

France, after the Peace of Westphalia, presents a picture the
very reverse of this. The scattered elements of political power,
instead of being divided and dissipated, were concentrated in a

12 STATE OF SPAIN. [Chap. XLII.

narrow focus, and an intense nationality was developed. The
progress of France, like that of Germany, had been arrested by
the consequences of the Reformation, and by the long wars of
religion under the Valois. It was Henry IV. who first restored
tranquillity, and prepared France to take that place in Europe to
which her resources and situation called her. But with the de-
mands for liberty of conscience had been mixed up a republican
spirit, to which even Henry's own example as the leader of a
faction may have contributed ; and this was further nourished by
the immunities which he granted to the Hugonots. It was often
difficult to distinguish between those who merely desired religious
freedom and those who wished to overthrow the monarchy. Riche-
lieu subdued this dangerous faction and founded the absolute in-
tegrity of the French monarchy. Having thus secured domestic
unity and strength, he turned his attention to the affairs of
Europe ; and by his able, but unscrupulous policy, well seconded
by Mazarin, France secured, at the Peace of Westphalia, the ad-
vantages already related, which were further extended by the
Peace of the Pyrenees, in 1658.

Thus, when Louis XIV. assumed the reigns of government he
had only to follow the course marked out for him. Without
wishing to detract from the merit of that Prince, it may be safely
affirmed that the state of Europe contributed very much to facili-
tate his political career. It was principally the weakness of Ger-
many, resulting from the misfortunes of the Thirty Years' War,
and that of the Spanish branch of the House of Austria, which
created the strength of France, and helped her to become for a
while the dictator of Europe. Spain, at the Peace of Westphalia,
was still, indeed, to all appearance, a great Power. She possessed
Naples, Sicily, and Milan, Franche-Comte, and Flanders, besides
immense territories in both the Indies. Yet this vast Empire,
from the necessity it entailed of defending remote provinces con-
nected with it by no natural tie, was a source rather of weak-
ness than of strength. France, entrenched within her own
boundaries, and with scarce a single foreign possession, was a
much more formidable Power. Spain was also internally weakened
through bad government, fanaticism, and bigotry. The spirit of
the two neighbouring countries was entirely opposite. While
France was founding a new era of progress, Spain was falling
back into the middle ages. In spite of the declining condition of
the kingdom, the number and the wealth of ecclesiastics increased
to such a degree that, in 1636, the Cortes of Madrid, in return

Chap. XLII.] STATE OF ENGLAND. 13

for a grant, obtained from Philip IV. a promise that for the next
six years no more religious foundations should be established ;
yet even this limited promise appears not to have been fulfilled.1
At the same time, while most of the principal towns of Spain had
lost the greater part of their trade, with a corresponding decay in
their population ; while whole districts were in some instances
reduced almost to desolation, and the kingdom to a state of
universal bankruptcy, the Court of Spain, mindful rather of its
ancient grandeur than of its present misfortunes, kept up a
splendour and magnificence far above its means, and opened in
this way another source of poverty. Add to all these evils the
revolts of Catalonia and Portugal. The annexation of Portugal
during a period of sixty years had tended to revive the declining
power and glory of Spain ; and now she was not only deprived of
this support, but the long wars which she entered into for the
recovery of that kingdom also became a source of weakness to
herself and of strength to her enemies.

If the condition of Germany and Spain favoured the progress
of France, that of England offered no obstruction. Cromwell,
who assumed the reigns of power soon after the Peace of West-
phalia, flung his sword into the French scale ; and the two suc-
ceeding Stuarts, the pensioners of Louis, seldom ventured to
dispute his behests. It was not till the accession of William III.
that England again became a considerable Power in the Euro-
pean system. From this time was established a new balance of
power, which may be best explained by throwing a hasty glance
on the origin and progress of that system.

The first well-marked symptoms of that national jealousy which
ultimately produced the theory of the balance of power, may be
traced to the ambition of the House of Austria, and the suspicion
that it was aiming at a universal monarchy. During the reign of
Charles V., such a consummation seemed no improbable event.
Master of Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, a great part of Italy,
besides his possessions in the Indies, that Monarch seemed to
encircle the earth with his power, and to threaten the liberties of
all Europe. It was natural that France, whose dominions were
surrounded by those of the Emperor, should first take alarm ; and
hence the struggle between Charles and Francis I. recorded in
the preceding volumes. But France had to maintain the struggle
almost alone. She sought, indeed, allies, and her treaties with
the Porte show how the ideas of religion were already beginning
1 Sempere, Hist, dcs Cortes, ch. xxxi.

14 THEOEY OF THE BALANCE OF POWER. [Chap. XLII.

to be superseded by political ones ; indeed, the subsequent
alliances between Catholics and Heretics were hardly so mon-
strous as this between Christians and Infidels. France also sought
the aid of England, and sometimes obtained it ; but from about
as much regard for the balance of European power as was enter-
tained by the Turks themselves. The policy of England, then
directed by the counsels of Wolsey, had for its object, as we have
before attempted to show, rather the national advantage, or even
sometimes the personal aggrandizement of the great Cardinal,
than the establishment of a balance of power. So far from this
being the case, English policy was often adverse to such a balance,
and, instead of supporting France, was thrown into the scale of
her gigantic adversary. Henry VIII. himself was, perhaps, more
influenced by a feeling of pride at the power he could display by
intervening between two such powerful sovereigns, than by any
regard to a political balance. Way, it may well be doubted
whether Francis was ever actuated by any abstract ideas of that
kind, and whether he was not rather governed in his hostility to
Charles sometimes by ambition and the love of military glory,
sometimes by the requirements of self-defence, or the cravings of
unsatisfied resentment.

Nevertheless, it is certain that the rivaliy between France and
Austria first gave rise to the idea of a balance of power. So great
was tho impression of alarm created by the exorbitant power of
the House of Habsburg, that even the abdication of Charles V.,
and its severance into two branches, could not dissipate it. Half
a century after that event, Henry IV., or his minister Sully, as
we have before related, formed the scheme of opposing the Theo-
cratic Monarchy, supposed to be the object of that House, by a
Christian Commonwealth, in which all the nations of Europe
should be united ; 1 a design in which, however chimerical it may
appear, we see the first formal announcement of the theory of the
balance of power as a rule of European policy. After the death
of Henry IV., French politics changed for a while, and a friendly
feeling was even established with Spain ; but on the accession of
Richelieu to power, Henry's anti- Austrian policy, though not his
extravagant scheme, was renewed, and was continued, as already
related, by Mazarin.

We are thus brought down to the Thirty Years' War and
Peace of Westphalia, which, as we have said, first in any degree
practically established the European equilibrium. We mean not

1 See Vol. iii. p. 63.

Chap. XL!!,] COMPLETION OF THE EUROPEAN SYSTEM. 15

to affirm that such a result was actually contemplated either by
the Princes who took part in the war, or by their plenipotentiaries
who negotiated the peace. The former were actuated by various
motives, and certainly not by any regard to the political balance ;
while the treaties afford no evidence that its future maintenance
was the object of their ministers' care. Such, nevertheless, was
the practical result of this great struggle. For although the
attempt of the House of Austria, during the period of Catholic
reaction, to extend its power along with that of the Roman
Church, and thus to found a religious and political absolutism
which would have been dangerous to all Europe, was chiefly
opposed by France and Sweden, yet most of the European
nations had been more or less directly engaged in the war ; and
we have seen that only three Powers, England, Russia, and
Poland, were absolutely unrepresented in the Congresses which
assembled to arrange the peace. At no preceding epoch, except,
perhaps, during the Crusades, had the nations of Europe been so
universally brought together. The Northern Powers now for the
first time became of any importance in the European system.
Sweden had played a part in the war more than equal to that of
France, and had reaped corresponding advantages from the peace ;
and an intimate alliance was contracted between these two Powers
which lasted a considerable period, and was of great importance
in the affairs of Europe. Sweden became a leading Power in the
North ; and though she did not long retain that place, she only
quitted it to make room for another Northern Power, that of
Prussia, whose influence had likewise been founded by the events
of the Thirty Years' War. Thus Northern Europe added another
member to the European system, and another element to the
balance of power. The discussion and adjustment of the diffe-
rences which had arisen amono- these various nations in the Con-

gresses of Munster and Osnabriick, and the rules then laid down
for further observance, naturally drew them closer together, and
cemented them more into one great commonwealth. It was now
that the practice of guaranteeing treaties was introduced. Before
the Peace of Westphalia it would be difficult to point to a treaty
formed with a direct view to the balance of power ; while after
that event such treaties are frequent. Such were the Triple Alliance
of 1668, the League of Augsburg in 1687, the Grand Alliance of
1701, and others. From the same cause also sprang that more
intimate, as well as more extended diplomatic intercourse which
now arose among the nations of Europe. Permanent legations

16 RIVALRY OF FRANCE AND ENGLAND. [Chap. XLII.

were generally established, and the forms and usages of diplomacy
were brought to perfection. The French ministerial despatches
of this period are among the best models of their kind.

The changes produced in the relative strength of nations
through the Thirty Years' War and its consequences materially
altered their European relations. Before that event the House
of Austria had been the dominant Power. But the policy of
Henry IV., of Richelieu, and Mazarin, against that House, had
been so successfully pursued and consummated, that it was France
herself which became in turn the object of jealousy and alarm.
Louis XIV., before the close of his reign, was thought to aim at
being the universal monarch ; and Europe, to save herself from
his extravagant ambition, formed new leagues to regulate the
political balance. It was not, however, till towards the close of
the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth century that all
the materials were provided for this purpose. Great Britain
finally took her proper station as one of the arbiters of Europe
only in the reign of William III. Nor was it till about the same
period that the strength of Prussia and Russia began to be de-
veloped, and to complete the balance.

The League of Augsburg, formed in 1686 under the auspices
of William III. (Vol. III., p. 419), may be regarded as inaugurating
a system of European policy which lasted far into the present cen-
tury ; of which, with some interruptions, the main-spring was the
rivalry between France and England. The alliance between Great
Britain and Austria in 1689 was purely political. There was no
question of trade or commerce between the two countries, while
their sentiments regarding civil and religious government were
entirely opposite. Their sole object was to check the exorbitant
pretensions of France, and preserve the political balance. On this
foundation England continued to build. She generally threw her
sword into the scale of Austria, though there is a period of re-
markable exception. After the war of the Austrian Succession,
Maria Theresa, as we shall have to relate in a subsequent chapter,
deserted her most faithful ally, and formed a connection with
France which lasted down to the time of the French Revolution.
The declining state of Frauce, however, at that period rendered
this unnatural alliance less important than it might otherwise
have proved.

The continental influence of Great Britain gradually increased.
During the war of the Spanish Succession she began to employ
the method of subsidizing foreign nations, whence the rise of her

Chap. XLII.] PROGRESS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW. 17

national debt. Prussia and Russia, as we said, began to assume
the rank of great European Powers, though their influence was
not fully developed till the latter half of the eighteenth century,
in the reigns of Frederick the Great and Catherine II. By their
means the north and east of Europe were brought into closer con-
nection with its southern and western nations. By this new state
of things both France and Sweden began in turn to feel that
opposition to their predominance which they had themselves
carried on against the House of Austria. Both those countries,
at the death of Louis XIV., had lost most of the power and pres-
tige which they had derived from the Peace of Westphalia.

As the intercourse between the European States became, after
that Peace, more frequent and intimate, so a more pei'fect system
of international law grew up, and was, indeed, required for its re-
gulation. This science had hitherto been very meagre and im-
perfect. There was no system of public law during the Middle
Ages. When difficult cases arose, appeals were made, sometimes
to the Pope, sometimes to the Jurists, and especially to the cele-
brated School of Bologna. Thus, for instance, the question be-
tween the Lombard cities and the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa,
at the famous Diet of Roncaglia, in 1158, was decided by the
opinions of four doctors of Bologna, who appear to have been
guided by the principles of the Roman law. It was natural, from
the spirit of those ages, that the Pope should be made the arbiter
of secular disputes, in which his authority supplied the place of a
code of public law. For the same reason we are not surprised
to find that the science had its origin among the monks and clergy,
in those times almost the sole depositaries of learning, and espe-
cially among the casuists of Spain. The bigotry of that country
and the proceedings of the Inquisition naturally attracted the
attention of the learned to cases of conscience ; and it is an appeal
to conscience which forms the basis of all international law.
Hence Spain became unrivalled, as well in the number of her
casuists as in their intellectual acuteness. The attention of these
men was first directed towards the principles of international law
by the discovery of America, which opened up so many questions
respecting the conduct to be observed towards the natives. Wre
find these principles first touched upon in the writings of Francis
de Victoria, who began to teach at Valladolid in 1525, and in
those of his pupil Dominico Soto. Soto, who was confessor to
Charles V., dedicated his treatise on " Justice and Law" to Don
Carlos. Soto was consulted by Charles V. when the conference

IV. C

18 SOTO SUAREZ — GENTILI — AYALA. [Chap. XLII.

was held at Valladolid between Sepulveda, the advocate of the
Spanish colonists, and Las Casas, the humane champion of the
natives of the West India Islands, respecting the lawfulness of
enslaving those unhappy people. The opinion of the monk, that
no distinction should be drawn, as to natural rights, between
Christian and Infidel, and that the law of nature is the same for
all, is highly honourable to him, and shows him far in advance of
his agfe. The Edict of Reform of 1543 was founded on Soto's
decision in favour of the West Indians, and he denounced slavery
altogether, in whatever shape.1

The science made some progress in the hands of Francis Suarez,
a Jesuit of Granada, who flourished at the end of the sixteenth and
beginning of the seventeenth century. One of the books of his
" Tractatus de Legibus ac Deo Legislatore " is devoted to the law
of nature and nations. It was Suarez who first perceived that the
principles of international law do not only rest on the abstract
principles of justice, but also on usages long observed in the
intercourse of nations, or what has been called the consuetudinary
law. His views on this point are even clearer than those of his
contemporary, the Italian Alberico Gentili, though the latter has
been by some considered as the founder of the science of public
law. Gentili's father, one of the few Italians who embraced the
Reformation, was forced to fly his country, and sent his son to
England, where he ultimately obtained the Chair of Law at Ox-
ford. Grotius acknowledges his obligations to Gentili's treatise
" De Jure Belli/' published in 1589, and dedicated to his patron
the Earl of Essex. He had previously published (1583) a trea-
tise " De Legationibus/'2 dedicated to Sir Philip Sidney.

Balthazar Ayala, a Spanish writer who flourished about the
same time, was not a casuist but a jurisconsult. He was Judge
Advocate of the Spanish army in the Netherlands, under the
Prince of Parma, to whom he addressed, in 1581, from the camp
at Tournai, his treatise " De Jure et Ofnciis Bellicis." It is
divided into three books; the first of which treats of war as viewed
by the law of nations, with examples from Roman history and juris-
prudence. The second book concerns military policy, and the third
martial law. The ninth chapter treats of the rights of legation.

Several other authors had written on the subject of public law
before the time of Hugo Grotius, who enumerates most of them at

1 See on this subject, -Mackintosh, Vis- s It was in this work, as we have be-

sertation on Ethical I'hilosojyhy, sect. iii. ; fore said, that Gentili defended Maekia-

Wheaton, Hist, of t\e Lavj of Nations, velli's Principe, as a disguised satire upon

p. 34. princes.

CuAr. XLII.] HUGO GROTIUS. 19

the beginning of his work " De Jure Belli ac Pacis." Their
treatises, however, were fragmentary, and the work of Grotius is
the first in which the subject is systematically handled. Hence
Grotius has been justly considered as the founder of the public
law of Europe, and his book must be regarded as forming an
epoch in the history of philosophy. We have already recorded
Grotius's flight to Paris on account of the Arminian controversy,
and the composition of his celebrated book in that capital,1 where
it was published in 1525. Thus, it was written during the first
fury of the Thirty Years' War, and he announces, as his motive
for composing it, the licence of wars waged without any adequate
pretext. Grotius recognizes, as the foundation of public law,
along with the law of nature, the right springing from custom
and the tacit consent of nations. In this respect he differs from
Puffendorf, who wrote about half a century later, and his followers
Wolf, Vattel, and Burlamaqui, who found the law of nations en-
tirely on the law of nature. Grotius supported his views of natural
law by passages drawn from the writers of antiquity, and thus
gave his work an appearance of pedantry for which he has been
sometimes unjustly reproached, as if he wished to cite those
writers as authorities without appeal, instead of mere witnesses
to the general sentiments of mankind. Few authors have exerted
a more extensive influence on opinion than Grotius. His work
soon became a text-book in foreign universities, though its pro-
gress was slow in England. Gustavus Adolphus is said to have
slept with a copy of it under his pillow.2 It was not, however, till
after the Peace of Westphalia that sufficient materials were col-
lected to build up a complete system of international law. Leib-
nitz first made a collection of treaties to facilitate the study.
Hence arose the technical school of publicists as opposed to the
speculative, showing the last development of the science. Moser
first founded that practical system of international law which rests
on custom alone ; in which school the works of George Frederick
de Martens are the most celebrated.3

Among other characteristics of the period under consideration
r was the growth of what has been called the financial, or mercan-
tile system. The production of wealth, the fostering of trade and
commerce, became principal objects with most of the European
Governments. But these subjects were still imperfectly under-
stood. The chief aim was to obtain a favourable balance of trade,

1 See Vol. iii. p. 113. of Literature, vol. iii.

2 Hallam has given an elaborate analysis 3 On this subject see Garden, Traitt de
of the De Jure ct Belli ac Pads, in his Hist. Diplomatic, t. i. p. 62 sq.

20 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE COLONIES. [Chap. XLII.

as it was called. With this view tariffs were framed aud commer-
cial treaties concluded. Recourse was had to restrictive, mono-
polizing, and prohibitory systems, which tended to produce isola-
tion and even war. It was not before the latter half of the
eighteenth century that philosophers began to promulgate more
rational theories, or rather to revise some ancient Italian ones,,
and it was reserved for our own age to see them carried into
practice. Commerce was now chiefly founded on colonization,
which had reached a high pitch of development, and exercised a
material influence on the prosperity and power of some of the
leading States of Europe, enriching them both by the products
of various climates and by the manufactures and other articles of
native industry exported in return. Yast mercantile navies were
thus created, the nurseries of hardy seamen ; while the large
fleets of war required for the protection of the colonies supplied
a new element of national strength. Hence the colonial system
has played so important a part in the wars and negotiations of
the last two or three centuries, that we shall here give such a
brief connected outline of its progress, down to the Peace of Paris
in 1763, as our limits will permit.1

We have already taken a general view of maritime discovery and
colonization down to the opening of the seventeenth century. The
Spaniards and the Portuguese, as they were the first ocean navi-
gators and discoverers, so they were the only nations which up to
that period possessed any settlements out of Europe. The Spanish
colonies were almost confined to the Western Hemisphere. They
comprised, on the North American continent, New Spain or
Mexico, with all the countries dependent on that viceroyalty ;
viz., California on the west, the vast and undefined region called
New Mexico on the north, and on the east, Yucatan, Honduras,
and all the countries on the isthmus which separates the two
American continents. Some of these, however, and especially the
northern and western districts, were but scantily settled, and sub-
dued rather than occupied. In South America, Spain possessed
Peru and its dependency, Chili, the kingdom of New Granada, the
kingdom of Tierra Firrne, stretching from the isthmus of Darien to

1 On this subject see Robertson. Hist. Frangais; Heeren, Handb. der Gesch.des

of America; Raynal, Hint, dcs etablisse- Europ. Staatensystems und seiner Colo-

mensdes Europe"ens dans les deux Indes ; nieen (for a general view of Colonization

the Hist. ge"n£rale des Voyages; Lafitau, and its European effects; in English.

Hist, des tUcowertes et conquetes des Por- Political System of Europe and its Colo-

fagais dans le nouveau monde; Liider, nies) $ Bancroft, Hist, of the United States

Gesch. des Hollandischen Handels (from of America; Mill's Hist, of British Im

Luzac's Hollands Eykdom) ; I)u Tertre, &c.
. gtnfrali dts Antilles habittts j ar les

Chap. XLII.] DUTCH EAST INDIA TRADE. 21

the mouth of the Orinoco, and the southern colony of La Plata, or
Paraguay. All these vast regions were subject to the Viceroy of
Peru. Besides these continental possessions, Spain also held all
the principal islands in the Caribbean Sea.

The maritime enterprises of the Portuguese, the rivals of the
Spaniards in discovery and colonization, were chiefly directed
towards the East. We have already indicated generally their
settlements in Asia and Africa, as well as the foundation of the
Empire of Brazil in South America.1 By the conquest of Portugal
by Philip II. in 1580, all the Portuguese colonies fell under the
dominion of the Spanish Crown ; so that at this period Spain was
the sole possessor of all the European settlements in America and
the East Indies. In the latter quarter the only Spanish possession,
previously acquired, was the Philippine Isles, occupied in 1564.
These were governed by a viceroy ; but they were chiefly valued
by the bigoted Court of Spain as the seat of Catholic missions, and
most of the soil belonged to the monks. A regular commerce,
carried on by a few South Sea galleons, had been established be-
tween Manilla and Acapulco, which diverted to the East much of
the Mexican silver. The union of the Portuguese colonies in Asia
under the Spanish sceptre, by exposing them to the attacks of the
enemies of Spain, as well as by the neglect which they experienced
from the Spanish Government, was one of the chief causes of their
ruin. Kor had they been governed by the Portuguese in a way
calculated to promote their strength and provide them with the
means of resistance. The frequent change of viceroys, who were
recalled every two or three years, prevented the establishment of
a strong administration. King Sebastian rendered matters still
worse by distributing the colonies under the three independent
governments of Monomotapa, India, and Malacca, and by further
lessening the authority of the viceroys by the addition of a council.
To these sources of decay must be added a wretched system of
administration, and the depressing influence which a bigoted aDd
superstitious church naturally exercised upon all enterprise.

The shutting of the port of Lisbon against the Dutch in 1594,
and the edict of Philip III. prohibiting his subjects from all com-
merce with that people, were followed by the most disastrous effects
to the Portuguese colonies. The Dutch being thus deprived of
their customary trade, and having discovered the weakness of the
Spaniards at sea, resolved to extend their enterprises beyond the
bounds of Europe, to which they had hitherto confined them, and

1 See Vol. II. p. 137. sq.

22 ENGLISH EAST INDIA COMPANY. [Chap. XLII.

to seek at the fountain-head the Indian trade, of which they had
up to this time partaken only at second-hand through the medium
of the Portuguese. We have already given a general sketch of the
progress of the Dutch in the East Indies.1 Batavia, founded in
1619, became the centre of their commerce and the seat of their
government in the East. Trade, not colonization, was their aim.
They at first avoided the Indian continent, where the Mogul
dynasty was then very powerful, and sought in preference to
establish themselves in the islands, with a view especially to the
spice trade. Throughout the century their power continued to
increase in Asia. In 1661 they wrested from the Portuguese
Palicata on the coast of Coromandel, Calicut, Cochin and Cananor
in Malabar, together with several places in Ceylon, Malacca, &c.
The Portuguese were also expelled from Japan, and the Asiatic
possessions of that nation were ultimately reduced to Goa and Diu.
The extensive jurisdiction of the Dutch East India Company was
divided into the five governments of Java, Amboyna, Ternate,
Ceylon, and Macassar, besides several directories and comman-
deries : the whole under the central government of Batavia. Their
colony at the Cape of Good Hope, founded in 1653, constituted a
sixth government, and formed a sort of defensive outwork to their
East Indian possessions.

The Dutch long enjoyed their pre-eminence in the East. The
enterprises of the English and French, their only rivals in this
quarter of the globe, were at first but slow and feeble. The
attempts of the English East India Company, founded as we have
said iu the year 1600, to open a trade with the Spice Islands,
excited the jealousy of the Dutch, and the most bloody engage-
ments ensued between the two nations in the Indian Ocean and
its islands. To put an end to these horrible scenes a treaty was
concluded in 1619, between James I. and the States- General, by
which the English were to be admitted to a share of the spice
trade ; but the Dutch, by their cruelties at Amboyna, to which we
have already referred,2 succeeded in excluding them from the
Moluccas. In other respects, also, the English East India Com-
pany made little progress during the first half of the seventeenth
century, and seemed on the point of dissolution. It had not
attempted to make settlements and build forts, and had contented
itself with establishing a few factories at Bantam and along the
coasts of Malabar and Coromandel. It had, however, acquired
Madras, by permission of the King of Golcondo (1640) . The-
1 See Vol. III. p. 54. * Vol. III. p. 294.

Chap. XLII.] THE DUTCH IN AMERICA. 23

Protector Cromwell somewhat revived the Company, by granting-
it new privileges (1658) . Madras was now erected into a presi-
dency. Charles II. also enlarged the Company's political privileges,
and increased its territorial dominion by assigning to it Bombay
(1668) , which he had acquired as part of the portion of his consort
Catharine of Portugal. Bombay rapidly increased in importance,
and in 1685 the Government was transferred thither from Surat.
The English power in the East now began to make more rapid
strides. Before the end of the century, factories and forts had
been established at Bencoolen in Sumatra and at Hooghly ; and
the district of Calcutta was purchased, and Fort William founded
in 1699. During this period the French East India Company,
established by Colbert, had planted a factory at Surat, in Malabar
(1675), and founded Pondicherry on the coast of Coromandel
(1679). Meanwhile, however, the Dutch continued to retain
their monopoly of the spice trade, the French and English com-
merce chiefly consisting in manufactured articles and raw stuffs.

The Dutch had not confined their enterprises to the East Indies.
They had also founded in North America, in the present State of
New York, the colony of Nova Belgia, or New Netherlands.
Hudson had explored the vast regions to the north, and the shores
of the great bay which takes its name from him ; and as Hudson
was an Englishman, though he sailed in the Dutch service, this
circumstance subsequently gave rise to conflicting claims between
the two nations. The Dutch had also established a West India
Company, chiefly with the design of conquering Brazil ; and in 1 630
they succeeded in making themselves masters of the coast of Per-
nambuco. John Maurice, Count of Nassau, who was sent thither
in 1636, subdued all Pernambuco, as well as some neighbouring
provinces ; and by the truce between the States-General and Por-
tugal, in June, 1641, after the latter country had thrown off the
Spanish yoke, it was stipulated that the Dutch were to retain these
conquests. In spite, however, of. the peace between the mother
countries, the war was renewed in Brazil in 1645 ; the Count of
Nassau had been recalled, the Portuguese possessions were
^heroically defended by Don Juan de Vieira ; and in January, 1654,
the Dutch were totally expelled from South America. This was
the chief, and, indeed, only important reverse which the Dutch
experienced up to this period, who were now at the height of their
commercial prosperity. Besides their settlements in the East
Indies, they had extended their trade in the Baltic, and were
become the chief carriers of Europe. They had also established

24 ENGLISH COLONIZATION IN AMERICA. [Chap. XLII.

themselves at St. Eustatia, Curacao, and one or two other small
West India Islands. The first check to this prosperity was ex-
perienced from the rivalry of England, and especially from the
celebrated Navigation Act, to which we have before adverted.

The English, indeed, under the sway of the pacific James, in-
stead of opposing the Dutch in the East, had chiefly directed their
attention to the Western Hemisphere, where their establishments
made a surprising progress during the first part of the seven-
teenth century. In this period they occupied the Bermudas, Bar-
badoes, St. Kitt's, Nevis, the Bahamas, Montserrat, Antigua, and
Surinam. In 1655, Jamaica fell into their power as it were by
an accident. But more important than all these settlements was
the vast progress made in the colonization of the North American
Continent, to which a great impulse had been given by the voyage
of Bartholomew Gosnold, in the last year of the reign of Queen
Elizabeth. By steering due west, instead of taking the usual
southern route, Gosnold made the land at the promontory which
he named Cape Cod, thus shortening the voyage by a third.
The reports which he brought home of the inviting aspect of the
country created a great sensation in England ; and, as they were
confirmed by other navigators who had been despatched pur-
posely to ascertain their correctness, plans of colonization began
to be formed. Richard Hakluyt, a Prebendary of Westminster,
the publisher of the well-known Collection of Aroyages, was a dis-
tinguished promoter of this enterprise. In 1606 King James I.
divided the whole western coast of America, lying between the
34th and 45th degrees of north latitude, into two nearly equal
portions ; which retained the name of Virginia, bestowed on
this part of the American continent in honour of Queen Elizabeth,
in whose reign, as already mentioned, Raleigh had made an
unsuccessful attempt to colonize it. The two divisions made
by James were respectively called the First, or South, and the
Second, or North Colony of Virginia; but the latter portion
obtained, in 1614, the name of New England. The settlement
of Southern Virginia was assigned to a London Company ; that
of the Northern portion to an association formed in the West
of England, and called the Plymouth Company. James Town,
in Virginia, founded by Captain Newport, in 1607, was the first
English settlement in the New World. It was, however, Captain
Smith who, by his courage and perseverance in defending the
infant colony from the attacks of the native savages, and in cheer-
ing the settlers when dejected by famine and disease, may be

>>•

Chap. XLII.] PROGRESS OF THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 25

regarded as its true founder. After an existence of only two or
three years, the colony was on the point of being abandoned, when
the arrival of Lord Delaware with supplies, and the wise measures
which he adopted as Governor, saved it from dissolution. Soon
afterwards tobacco began to be cultivated, negro slaves were in-
troduced, the colony gradually increased in numbers, and extended
its settlements to the banks of the Rappahannock and the Potomac.
Yet, in 1624, when the London Company was dissolved, scarce
2,000 persons survived out of 9,000 who had settled in Virginia.
Charles I, granted the Colony a more liberal Constitution in 1639,
after which it went on rapidly improving. At the beginning of
the Civil War it contained 20,000 inhabitants, and by 1688 their
numbers exceeded 60,000.

If the colonization of Virginia was a work of labour and diffi-
culty, that of New England at first proceeded still more slowly.
For many years the Plymouth Company effected little or nothing.
The first permanent settlement was made in 1620 at New Ply-
mouth, in the present State of Massachusets, not, however, under
the auspices of the Company, but by some members of the sect of
the Brownists, who had proceeded thither of their own accord.
A charter was granted in 1627 to a company of adventurers,
mostly Puritans, for planting Massachusets Bay, and by these
Salem was founded. Emigrants now began to pour in, and in a.
few years arose the towns of Boston, Charles Town, Dorchester,
and others. That spirit of fanaticism and intolerance which had
led the Puritans to cross the Atlantic, accompanied them in their
new abodes, and, by the disputes which it excited among them-
selves, was incidentally the means of extending colonization.
Thus many of the inhabitants of Salem followed, in 1634, their
banished pastor, Williams, and founded Providence and Rhode
Island ; while the secession of one of two rival ministers at Massa-
chusets Bay led to the settlement of Connecticut (1696). New
Hampshire and Maine were next established, but did not obtain
a regular Constitution till after the accession of William III.
Towards the period of the Civil Wars the tide of emigration to
the New England colonies set in so strongly that masters of ships
were prohibited from carrying passengers without an express
permission. It is computed that by 1640 upwards of 21,000
persons had settled in those districts. In 1643 the four settle-
ments of Massachusets, Plymouth, Connecticut, and Newhaven
formed a Confederation, under the name of the United Colonies
of New England. Maryland was settled in 1632, mostly by

26 FRENCH COLONIES IN AMERICA. [Chap. XLII.

Roman Catholics of good family, who proceeded thither under
the conduct of Lord Baltimore.

In the latter half of the seventeenth century the English began
to spread themselves beyond the boundaries of New England and
Virginia. In 1663 Charles II. bestowed the land between the
31st and 36th degrees of north latitude on eight lords, who
founded Carolina, afterwards divided (in 1729) into North .and
South Carolina. The colonization of this district had been pre-
viously attempted both by French and English settlers, but
without success. Locke drew up a plan of government for
Carolina, based on religious toleration, though its political prin-
ciples were not so liberal. The rulers of the colony became
tyrannical; and Granville, who, as the oldest proprietor, had
become sole Governor in 1705, endeavoured to make the non-
conforming settlers return to the Church of England. All the
Governors, except Carteret, who retained his eighth share, were
stripped of their prerogatives in 1728, when the government of
the province was vested in the Crown. The State of Pennsylvania
was settled by Penn, the Quaker, in 1682, the land being as-
signed to him by Charles II. for a debt. Thus all the religious
sects of England had their representatives in the New World.
Georgia, the last province founded by the mother country, had
its origin in 1732. It consisted of territory separated from South
Carolina. It was first settled, under the superintendence of
General Oglethorpe, by prisoners for debt, liberated by a bequest,
and aided by subscriptions and a Parliamentary grant. In 1735
it was increased by the arrival of some Scotch Highlanders, and
of German Protestants from Salzburg and other parts : but it was
ill-managed, and never attained the prosperity of the other settle-
ments. The erection of this colony occasioned disputes with the
Spaniards, who claimed it as part of Florida. The provinces of
New York, New Jersey, and Delaware — which last was subse-
quently incorporated with Pennsylvania — arose out of the con-
quest of the Dutch settlement of Nova Belgia, in 1664, confirmed
to England by the Treaty of Breda in 1667.

The French also began to turn their attention to colonization
early in the seventeenth century, but their attempts were not in
general so happy as those of other nations. Henry IV., indeed,
laid claim to all the territory of America situated between the
l"th and 52nd degrees of north latitude, under the title of New
France, embracing Newfoundland, Acadia, Canada, &c, besides
a great part of the subsequent English Colonies. The French first

Chap. XLII.] THE BUCCANEERS. 27

settled in Acadia, in 1604, and the more important colony of
Canada was founded in 1608. Its progress, however, was very-
slow. In 1626 it had only three wretched settlements, surrounded
with palisades, the largest of which counted only fifty inhabitants.
One of these was Quebec, the future capital. The continual at-
tacks to which Canada was exposed, both from the English and
the Iroquois, prevented it from attaining any importance till
about the middle of the centurv. Montreal was founded in 1641,
and in 1658 Quebec became the seat of a bishop. The colony
felt the impulse given by Colbert to French enterprise. Troops
were sent thither, the Iroquois were gradually subdued, and in
1687 Canada numbered 11,000 inhabitants. It was also under the
auspices of Colbert that Louisiana was explored and claimed by
the French Crown. Cavelier de la Salle, a native of Rouen, and
celebrated navigator, having discovered the Mississippi, descended
that river to its mouth in 16S2, and claimed for France the tracts
which it waters, as well as the rich countries on each side, lying
on the Gulf of Mexico. These vast regions obtained the name of
Louisiana, in honour of the French King.

The French also made some acquisitions in the West Indian
Archipelago. They settled at St. Kitt's in 1625 (though in con-
junction with the English) and at Martinique and Guadaloupe,
ten years later. These islands, first occupied by private enter-
prise, were purchased by Colbert for the French Government in
1664, together with several others, as St. Lucie, Grenada, Marie
Galante, St. Croix, Tortosa, &c, some of which had belonged to
the Maltese. A subsequently much more important settlement
than these was the French portion of St. Domingo, originally
formed by the Buccaneers; a band of desperate pirates and ad-
venturers, English1 as well as French, who, about the year 1630,
had established themselves at Tortuga, a small rocky island on the
north coast of Hispaniola, for the purpose of preying upon the
Spanish trade. Hence they began gradually to make settlements
in the western part of Hispaniola, or St. Domingo. After 1664
these freebooters were recognized and supported by the French
Government; the right of possession was not contested by Spain,
and after the accession of a Bourbon Prince to the throne of that
country, half St. Domingo remained in the hands of France.

The Dukes of Courland must also be ranked among the Ame-

1 One of the most celebrated of these Jamaica with an enormous fortune, and

adventurers was Henry Morgan, a Welsh- was knighted by Charles II. See Hist.

man. After several years of perilous and of the Buccaneers, pt. ii. and iii. Cf. Bryan

romantic enterprise, Morgan retired to Edwards, Hist, of St. Domingo.

28 INCEEASE OF ENGLISH COMMERCE. [Chap. XLII.

rican colonizers. Duke James II., who possessed a considerable
fleet, which he employed in discoveries and commerce, besides
erecting several forts in Africa, encouraged his subjects to settle
in the Island of Tobago. The flourishing condition to which they
brought it roused the avidity of the Dutch. Two Dutchmen,
the brothers Lambsten, by offering to hold Tobago as a fief under
Louis XIV., obtained the encouragement of that King. The
Duke of Courland claimed the protection of Charles II., to whose
father he had been serviceable; and, by a treaty of November
28th, 1664, he abandoned to England the fort of St. Andrew, in
Guinea, reserving only some commercial rights to his subjects,
and agreed to hold Tobago as a fief under the English Crown.1
The Dutch, however, would not surrender the island, which they
called New Walcheren. It was taken in 1678 by Marshal d'Es-
trees, who, after reducing it to the condition of a desert, aban-
doned it. After this it was long regarded as neutral.

The colonies of the various European nations remained down
to the Peace of Utrecht, in 1713, much in the same relative con-
dition that we have described, though they increased, of course,
in wealth and importance. The chief feature of the Spanish
colonies was the progress made by the Jesuit missions in Para-
guay. The Portuguese, more fortunate in Brazil than the East
Indies, enlarged their possessions by founding San Sacramento
on the Plata (1681); subsequently, however, the source of bitter
disputes with Spain. They were also enriched by the discovery
of gold mines near Villa Rica in 1696. The Dutch had added to
their possessions in America Surinam, Essequibo, and Berbice.

The Treaty of Utrecht gave a great impulse to the English
colonies and trade. The Asicnto, or right of supplying the
Spanish colonies with slaves, and the privilege of visiting the
fair of Vera Cruz, proved very profitable, though rather b}^ the
opportunities which they afforded for contraband trade than by
the direct advantages which they offered. Almost all the trade
of Spanish South America now fell into the hands of the English.
The South Sea Company, founded in 1711, began to flourish
apace. The questions, however, which arose out of this traffic
respecting the right of search occasioned a war with Spain, as
Ave shall have to relate in another chapter. Spain had beheld
with bitter, but helpless jealousy, the colonial progress of Eng-
land. By the donation of Pope Alexander VI., even as modified
by the Treaty of Tordesillas,2 she conceived herself entitled to

1 See Connor, Hist, of Poland, vol. ii. letter x. 2 See Vol. I. p. 322.

Chap. XLII.] THE FRENCH IN THE EAST INDIES. 29

all the continent of North America, as well as the West India
Islands. It was not till 1670, in the reign of the Spanish King-
Charles II., during which England and Spain were on a more
friendly footing than at any other period, that the English pos-
sessions in America had been recognized.1 After the accession of
his grandson to the Spanish throne, Louis XIV. conceived the
hope of checking the maritime and colonial power of England,
which, from an early period of his reign, had been the object of
his alarm and envy. The results of the war of the Spanish Suc-
cession were, however, as we have seen, favourable to English
commerce and colonization. Besides the advantages already
mentioned, conceded by Spain in the Peace of Utrecht, England
obtained from France Hudson's Bay, Newfoundland (though
with the reservation of the right of fishery), Acadia, now called
Nova Scotia, and the undivided possession of St. Kitt's. Thus
the sole possessions which remained to France in North America
were Louisiana, Canada, and the island of Cape Breton. The
places ceded to Great Britain were, however, at that time little
better than deserts. The alliance between France and England,
after the death of Louis XIV., was favourable to the progress
of the French colonies. Their West India islands flourished,
on the whole, perhaps better than the English, from the greater
commercial freedom which they enjoyed, as well as from the
custom of the French planters of residing on their properties.
In North America the attempt of the French to connect Canada
with Louisiana, by means of a line of forts, occasioned a bloody
warfare, as we shall have to relate in another chapter.

In the East Indies no material alteration took place either in the
French or English settlements till after the fall of the Mogul
Empire. The French had taken possession, in 1690, of the Isle of
France, and in 1720 of the Isle of Bourbon, both which places had
been abandoned by the Dutch. After the death of Aurengzebe in
1707, the Mogul Empire began to decline, and the incursion of
Nadir Shah in 1739 gave it a death-blow. The subordinate
princes and governors, the Soubahs and Nabobs, now made
themselves independent, and consequently became more exposed
Y to the intrigues and attacks of Europeans. The most important
of these princes were the Soubah of Deccan (the Nizam), on
whom were dependent the Nabob of Arcot, or the Carnatic, the
Nabobs of Bengal and Oude, and the Rajah of Benares.

1 By the Treaty of Madrid, July 18th, ap. Ranke, Pr. Gesch. B. ii. S. 178.

30 THE REFORMATION AND CIVIL LIBERTY. [Chap. XLII.

It seemed at this period as if the French, under the conduct of
Labourdonnaye and Dupleix, would have appropriated India;
but the bad understanding between those commanders prevented
the success which they might otherwise have achieved. Labour-
donnaye captured Madras in 1746, which, however, was restored
to the English by the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. The conquests
of Dupleix and Bussi were still more extensive and important.
They obtained the circars or circles of Condavir, Mustapha-Nagar,
Ellora,Radja-Mundri,andTehicacobe, with Masulipatam as capital,
together with large districts near Carical and Pondicherry, &c. ;
in a word, the French, about the middle of the eighteenth century,
held at least a third of India. But the recall of Dupleix, who was
succeeded by the unfortunate Lally, and the appearance of Law-
rence and Give, secured the preponderance of the English domi-
nation. Masulipatam was taken by the English in 1760, Pondi-
cherry in 1761, when its fortifications were razed; and though
Pondicherry was restored by the peace of 1763, it never recovered
its former strength and importance. In like manner, the success
of the English in the war which broke out in America in 1754,
and especially the taking of Quebec by General Wolfe in 1759,
compelled the French to abandon all their possessions on the
American continent, except Louisiana, at the same peace.

No great alteration was experienced during this period by the
colonies of other European nations. Though the English had
taken Porto Bello and Havannah, they were restored to Spain at
the Peace of Paris. Brazil, after the Peace of Utrecht, had
increased in prosperity and wealth. The Dutch experienced no
sensible diminution of their East India commerce before the
Peace of Versailles in 1783. The colonial transactions of other
nations are unimportant. The Danes, who had occupied the West
India island of St. Thomas since 1671, purchased St. Croix from
the French in 1733. In the East Indies they had obtained pos-
session of Tranquebar. The Swedes also established an East
India Company in 1731, but merely for trading purposes.

We will now turn our view for a moment on the inward and
domestic life of the European States after the close of the great
struggle for religious freedom. It does not appear that the
Reformation was immediately favourable to civil liberty, except
in the case of the Dutch Republic. The reasons for this it might
not perhaps be difficult to discover. The principles of the Refor-
mation had been introduced into Holland against the will of the
Sovereign, and while the Dutch people had become universally

Chap. XLIl] CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY CONNECTED. 31

Protestant, their ruler was one of the most bigoted Papists in
Europe. Hence persecution on the part of the Government,
resistance on that of the subject, brought the question of civil
obedience, as well as of religious submission, to an immediate
issue. Liberty of conscience could not be enjoyed unless sup-
ported by political freedom ; and, after a glorious struggle of
eighty years, both were confirmed to the Dutch by the Peace of
Westphalia. But in other countries where the principles of the
Reformation had been generally adopted, they had been intro-
duced at least with the connivance, if not with the direct support
of the Government. Such was the case in England and in the
Northern States of Europe. The immediate effect of this was
to strengthen the power of the Monarch, by throwing into his
hands a vast amount of ecclesiastical property and patronage.
He no longer shared with a foreign potentate the allegiance of
his subjects, and diverted into his own exchequer tributes which
had formerly flowed to Rome. Hence chiefly it was that the
Tudors became the most absolute monarchs that had ever swayed
the English sceptre. It "was also in a great measure from this
cause that the Electorate of Brandenburg was developed into the
powerful Kingdom of Prussia. In those countries also where
the Reformation, though partially introduced, did not succeed
in establishing itself, its effects, like the quelling of an ineffectual
rebellion, were at first favourable to the power of the Sovereign.
We have already adverted to this effect, in the case of some of
the German Sovereignties ; and the reader has seen how the
religious wars of France enabled the King to reduce the power
of the great nobles, and to concentrate the strength of the king-
dom in his own hands ; a work at length consummated by the
policy of Richelieu. Hence, generally speaking, and with regard
more especially to the European Continent, never was monarchial
power displayed in greater fulness than in the period extending
from the Peace of Westphalia to the first French Revolution. Most
of the wars of that era, certainly all the larger and more devas-
tating ones, were waged for dynastic interests and kingly glory.
It was impossible, however, that the impetus given to the
'human mind by the bursting of its religious bonds should be
altogether arrested and destroyed. It could not be that the
spirit of inquiry, when once awakened, and directed to all the
branches of human knowledge, should not also embrace the
dearest interests of man — the question of his well-being in
society, of his right to civil liberty. This question, as we have

32 RELIGIOUS SECTS. [Chap. XLIL

said, was first practically solved in Holland. Yet it was not
a solution calculated to establish a theoretical precedent. The
revolt of the Dutch can hardly be called a domestic revolution.
It was an insurrection against a foreign Sovereign ; nor was it in
its essence an appeal to the people, as the only legitimate source
of power.1 To establish a Commonwealth, so far from being the
object of the Dutch, was not even at first contemplated by them.
They became republicans only because they could find no eligible
master, and because it was the only method by which they could
maintain their ancient rights. The true solution was first given
in England. The absurd theories respecting kingly power, osten-
tatiously ventilated by a Sovereign with more pretensions, but
less strength of character, than the Tudors, as well as his affec-
tation of High Church principles, verging upon Romanism, incited
the ultra, or Calvinistic, followers of the Reformation to a course
of resistance which cost Charles I. his Crown and his life, and
ultimately, through a long chain of consequences, resulted in
establishing constitutional monarchy. It was these precedents,
and the debates and discussions with which they were attended,
the free utterances of the only truly national assembly in Europe,
and the writings of men like Milton, Sidney, Locke, and others,
which established not only for England, but all Europe, the true
model of liberty combined with law and order. Thus the most
striking instances and most influential examples of civil liberty
in modern times were mainly the offspring of the Reformation ;
nor can it be doubted that the impulse of that great movement is
still in operation, although its effects may not be so easily traceable.

It remains to view some religious phases of the period under
consideration. In conformity with its general spirit, fanaticism
itself seemed to assume a milder and more chronic form than in
the exciting period of the Reformation. Instead of the Anabap-
tists and their atrocious absurdities, we find the Pietists and the
Moravian Brethren. Even the Roman Catholic Church had its
sects of a somewhat analogous kind.

The Pietists were founded by Philip Jacob Spener.2 Born at
Rappoltsweiler in Upper Alsace, in 1635, Spener became a
preacher at Strasburg, and subsequently principal minister at
Frankfort. Instead of the dogmatical subtleties which had been
the chief themes of the Lutheran preachers, he endeavoured to

1 See Vol. II. p. 430 sq. to August Herman France, instead of

2 Mr. Carlyle, in his Hist, of Fried- Spener. Franke, a much younger man.
rich II.. vol. ii. p. 18. erroneously was one of Spener's followers.

ascribes the foundation of the Pietists

!'.-

Chap. XLIl] PIETISTS AND MORAVIAN BRETHREN. 33

introduce a more practical system of Christianity ; and with this
view he began, in 1670, to hold private prayer meetings, which he
called Collegia Pietatis — whence the name of his followers. In
these meetings, texts from the Bible were discussed in a con-
versational manner. His system, which is explained in his
work entitled Pia Desideria, was intended to put the finishing
hand to Luther's Reformation, which he considered as only
half completed. Such a system naturally led to separatism,
or dissent, which, however, he himself disclaimed. His sect
may be regarded as a • sort of German Methodists, or, as
we might say, Low Church party. In 1686 John George III.,
Elector of Saxony, invited Spener to Dresden. The old Lutheran
orthodoxy, by laying too much stress upon the saving power of
faith, had caused many of its followers to neglect altogether the
practice as well as the doctrine of good works. If they attended
church punctually, communicated regularly, and discharged all
the other outward observances of religion, they considered that
they had done enough for their justification, and were not over
strict about the morality of their conduct. The Elector himself
may be included in this category, and some remonstrances of
Spener's, which were considered too free, caused his dismissal
from Dresden in 1691. Spener now went to Berlin, and in 1705
he died at Halle.

One of Spener's most celebrated followers was Count Nicholas
Louis von Zinzendorf, born at Dresden in 1700. The inclination
which Zinzendorf displayed in early youth towards the sect of the
Pietists, induced his friends to send him to Paris, with the view
of diverting his mind from such thoughts. But his stay in that
capital (1719-21) was precisely the period when the Jansenist
controversy was at its height ; the discussion of which subject, as
well as his intercourse with Cardinal Noailles, only served to in-
crease his religious enthusiasm. After his return to Dresden
Zinzendorf began to hold Collegia Pietatis in imitation of Spener's.
At these meetings he became acquainted with Christian David, a
journeyman carpenter of Fulneck in Silesia. It was in the neigh-
bourhood of Fulneck that the Bohemian Brethren, the last rem-
nants of the Hussites, had contrived to maintain themselves, by
ostensibly complying with the dominant Church, whilst in private
they retained the religion of their forefathers.1 Some inquisitions,
made by the Imperial Government in 1720, having compelled the
members of this sect to emigrate, Christian David proceeded to

1 Menzel, B. iii. S. 481 ; B. iv. Kap. 39.
IV. D

34 JANSENISM. [Chap. XLII.

Dresden, where, as we have said, he became acquainted with
Count Zinzendorf, and obtained permission to settle with some
of his brethren on that nobleman's estate of Berth eld sdorf in the
neighbourhood of Zittau in Lusatia. The first colony was planted
on the Hutberg in 1722, and was called Herm-hut (the Lord's
care) . The creed of the Moravian Brethren seems to have been
an indiscriminate mixture of Lutheran and Calvinistic tenets with
those of their own sect. Count Zinzendorf added to these some
peculiar notions of his own ; establishing as his main dogma the
wounds and sacrifice of Christ ; or, as he styled it, the Blood and
Cross Theology. In 1737 he procured himself to be named bishop
of this new sect. Frederick II. of Prussia, after his conquest of
Silesia, protected the rising colony, and allowed it the open and
independent exercise of its worship. The numbers of the Herm-
huter, or Moravian Brethren (so called from the first members being
refugees from Moravia), soon wonderfully "increased, and they
spread themselves in most parts of the world. Count Zinzendorf
died in 1760, at Herrnhut, which is still a flourishing little town.

Of the sects which sprung up in the Roman Catholic Church,
the most celebrated was that of the Jansenists, so called from its
founder, Cornelius Janssen, a Fleming. Educated at Louvain,
which he quitted in 1617, Janssen ultimately became Bishop of
Ypres. The distinguishing feature of his system was the adoption
in their most rigid form of the tenets of St. Augustine respecting
predestination and absolute decrees. In fact, Jansenius and his
followers, except that they retained some of the sacraments of
the Romish Church, and especially that of the Eucharist, ap-
proached more nearly the doctrines of Calvin than those of Rome.
Jansenius explained his views in his book entitled A ugustinus.

Jansenism was introduced into France by Jean Duvergier de
Hauranne, the friend and fellow- collegian of Janssen. Duvergier,
by birth a Basque, became abbot of the little monastery of St.
Cyran, in Provence ; an office which he refused to exchange for
the episcopal mitre. In 1635 St. Cyran became the spiritual
director of Mother Angelica (Angelica Arnaud), the Superior of
Port Royal, the celebrated Parisian convent of Benedictine nuns.1
Under the auspices of St. Cyran, Jansenism became the creed of
the Society. Like other apostles, however, St. Cyran had to

1 The original Port Royal was at and subsequently it was divided into two

Chevreuse, about eighteen miles west of establishments, Port Royal de Paris and

Paris. In 1626 the community was trans- Port Royal des Champs. For the history

ferred to the Rue de la Bourbe in the of this celebrated institution, see the

Faubourg St. Jacques of that capital ; works of Racine and Sainte Beuve.

f>-

Chap. XLII.] TORT ROYAL. 35

endure persecution. Neither the political nor the religious tenets
of the Jansenists were agreeable to Cardinal Richelieu. The
Bishop of Ypres had violently opposed and denounced Richelieu's
designs upon Lorraine and the Spanish Netherlands in a pamphlet
entitled Mars Oallicus. St. Cyran himself, suspected on account
of his connection with an enemy of France, had opposed the
cassation of the marriage of the King's brother, Gaston d' Orleans,
with Margaret of Lorraine.1 His own freely expressed opinions
and those of his disciples of Port Royal respecting kings were
but ill suited to royal ears in those days. He had also offended
Richelieu by haughtily repulsing all his advances and repeatedly
refusing the offer of a bishopric. In May, 1638, a lettre de cachet
transferred St. Cyran to the dungeon of Vincennes. Persecution,
however, as usual, served only to attract attention and add a new
interest to his life and opinions. Port Royal acquired more
influence than ever. It was now that the distinguished recluses
began to gather round it to whom it chiefly owes its fame. The
first of these were kinsmen of the abbess — her nephew Antony
Lemaistre, her brother Antony Arnaud, the author of the cele-
brated treatise De la frequente communion. These hermits, as they
were called, and their pupils, inhabited a separate building called
La maison des hommes. It was Arnaud and his colleague Nicole
who published those works on grammar, logic, and other branches
of education which still preserve their reputation. The Jesuits
found themselves worsted in their own peculiar domain as instruc-
tors. A still greater champion appeared rather later in the
Society — Blaise Pascal,'2 the author of the Pensees, the redoubtable
adversary of the Jesuits. Pascal, who had become a convert
to Jansenism in 1646, entered Port Royal in 1654. His Lettres
Provinciates (Letters to a Provincial) were a terrible blow to the
Jesuits. It was after this period that they began to direct their
attention more to worldly affairs and commerce, to their ultimate
ruin.

The dangerous tendency of Jansenism had not escaped the
vigilance of Rome and the more orthodox clergy. Jansenius's
work Augustinus, was condemned by a bull of Pope Urban VIII.
in 1643. In 1644, at the instigation of the Jesuits, eighty-five
French bishops presented to Urban's successor, Innocent X., five
propositions, extracted, as they said, from the Augustinus, for

1 For these occurrences, see Vol. iii. 1623. St. Cyran was released from Vin-
p. 224 sqq. cennes after the death of Richelieu.

2 Born at Clermont in Auvergne in

36 DESTRUCTION OF PORT ROYAL. [Chap. XLII.

condemnation as heretical. Only a small minority of prelates
stood up in their defence, but it was not till 1653 that Innocent
condemned them. The Papal bull was accepted by Anne of
Austria and Mazarin, by the Bishops and the Sorbonne ; Port
Royal and the Jansenists seemed on the verge of destruction,
when they were saved by the Provincial Letters.

In spite of the hostility of Louis XIV., repeatedly manifested,
the Jansenists were destined to survive his reign, though Port
Royal fell before its close. The imprudence and disputatious
humour of the Jansenists brought their doctrines again into
question in 1702. The King's antipathy to them was increased
by some papers seized at Brussels in the house of their chief,
Father Quesnel ; from which it appeared that they had formerly
purchased the Isle of Nordstrand, on the coast of Holstein, to
form an asylum for their sect ; and also that they had endea-
voured to get themselves comprised in the truce of Ratisbon in
1684, under the name of the " Disciples of St. Augustine/' as
if they formed a political body like Lutherans or Calvinists.
Louis, in his own name, and in that of Philip V., now besought
Pope Clement XI. to renew against the Jansenists the constitu-
tions of his predecessors. Clement complied by a bull, which was
accepted by the French clergy, in spite of the opposition of
Cardinal de Noailles, Archbishop of Paris (1705). To revenge
themselves on Noailles, the Jesuits obtained from Clement a con-
demnation of Quesnel's Moral Reflections on the New Testament ;
a book of much repute, which had been published under the
superintendence of the Cardinal, and which Clement himself is
said to have praised. A ruder stroke was the suppression of the
Abbey of Port Royal. The nuns had refused to accept the Papal
bull of 1705. Le Tellier, who had succeeded Pere La Chaise as
the King's confessor, resorted to violent measures, and the Car-
dinal de Noailles, to clear himself from the suspicion of being a-
Jansenist, gave his sanction to them. In November, 1709, the
nuns of Port Royal were dragged from their abode and dispersed
in various convents; and the famous abbey itself, consecrated by
the memory of so much virtue, piety, and talent, was razed to its
foundations.

Although the Cardinal de Noailles had taken part in the perse-
cution of the Port Royalists, he refused to retract the approbation
which he had given to Quesnel's book. Louis's Jesuit confessor,
Le Tellier, instigated several bishops to denounce him to the King
as an introducer of new doctrines; the book was prohibited by the

C?ap. XLII.] BULL 'UXIGENITUS' — THE QUIETISTS. 37

Royal Council ; and Pope Clement XI. was requested to give it
a fresh condemnation in a form which might be received in France.
After waiting nearly two years, Clement replied by promulgating
the famous Bull Unigenitus (September 8th, 1713). Instead of
the general terms of the former bull, the present instrument ex-
pressly condemned 101 propositions extracted from the Reflexions
Morales. Many of these breathe the spirit of true Christianity, and
might be found in the writings of St. Augustine and even of St.
Paul. Noailles and a few other prelates protested against the bull;
but the King compelled the Parliament to register it, and the Sor-
bonne and other universities to receive it, the principal opponents
of it being sent into exile. Nevertheless, the recusant bishops,
who did not exceed fifteen in number, were supported by most of
the principal religious orders, by the majority of the clergy, and
by the opinion of the public, always adverse to the Jesuits. Le
Tellier now endeavoured to obtain the deposition of Noailles from
the Archbishopric of Paris ; and he was saved from that degrada-
tion only by the death of Louis XIV. The disputes proceeded
during the Regency. The Jansenists seemed to gather fresh
strength, and talked of appealing against the bull to a future
Council. To put an end to the contest, and to save the Parliament,
threatened with dissolution by the Court for refusing to register a
Royal Decree for the acceptance of the bull, Noailles at length
agreed to subscribe to it, with certain modifications. The question,
however, was by no means set at rest. It was again agitated in the
pontificate of Benedict XIII., in 1725 ; and, in 1750, it produced
a great public scandal and disturbance, as we shall have to relate
in a subsequent chapter.

The Quietists, another Roman Catholic sect, was much less im-
portant than the Jansenists. Their mystical tenets — a sort of in-
ward, quiet, contemplation of the Divine perfections, a worship of
the heart — were too refined and transcendental to attract many
followers. The founder of the sect in France was Madame Guyon,
who gave her principles to the world in two works, entitled Le
Moyen Court and Les Torrents. The talent and enthusiasm of
f Madame Guyon obtained for her an illustrious disciple in Fenelon,
Archbishop of Cambrai, the amiable and ingenious author of Tele-
maclius. The sect had previously appeared in Italy, where the doc-
trines of Quietism had been propagated by a Spanish priest named
Molinos. It had there been found, however — what is not unfre-
quently the case with exalted religious enthusiasm — that these
mystical tenets had been productive of gross immorality among his

38 FREETHINKERS. [Chap. XLII.

disciples, who imagined that, so long as the soul was wrapped up
in God, the acts of the body were of little consequence ; and, in
1687, Molinos had been condemned by the Inquisition at Rome to
perpetual imprisonment. These circumstances at first threw a
suspicion on the French Quietists, who, however, do not appear to
have deserved the reproach of immorality. But their doctrines
were approved neither by the orthodox clergy nor by the Jansen-
ists. Bossuet, the illustrious Bishop of Meaux, was their most
virulent opponent. He caused Madame Guyon to be imprisoned
at Vincennes, entered into a violent controversy with Fenelon,
and procured from Pope Innocent XII. a condemnation of that
prelate's work, entitled Explication des Maximes des Saints sur la
Vie Interieure, in which he had explained and defended his princi-
ples. This affair, as well as the publication of Telemachus, entirely
ruined Fenelon with Louis XIV. and Madame Maintenon, and
deprived him of all his former influence.1

It is not our intention to describe the various religious sects
which sprung up in England during this period, as the Indepen-
dents, Quakers, Methodists, &c. As the Reformation had a
tendency to produce sectarianism in men of enthusiastic tempera-
ments, so, on the other hand, among those of cooler and more
reasoning minds it was apt to beget scepticism and infidelity. The-
English School of Freethinkers took its rise in the seventeenth
century with Hobbes, Shaftesbury, Tindal, Bolingbroke, and
others; and hence was derived the French sceptical philosophy
which produced the Revolution.

1 See Bausset, Vie deFtndon, t. ii. and iii. (ed. 1817).

Chap. XLIII.] RISE OF ALBERONI. 39

CHAPTER XLIII.

THE Peace of Utrecht had reconciled all the contending Powers
in the War of the Spanish Succession, except the two Sove-
reigns principally concerned in the dispute. The questions at issue
between Philip V. and Charles VI. still remained to be settled by-
future wars and negotiations, In the military and diplomatic
transactions which ensued, Spain, directed by the will of a youth-
ful and ambitious Queen, and the counsels of a subtle and enter-
prising Minister, seemed inspired with new vigour, and promised
again to take a first rank in the affairs of Europe.

After the death of Philip V.'s first wife, Louisa of Savoy
(February, 1714), a woman of courage and understanding above
her sex, the Princess des Ursins, had assumed for a while the
government of the King and Kingdom. But the uxorious temper
of the melancholy, devout, and moral Philip, demanded another
consort ; and the Princess, too old herself to fill that post, though
rumour gave her credit for aspiring to it, resolved to procure for
him a Queen of a docile and pliant disposition, who would not
contest with her the empire which she exercised over the King.
With this view she consulted Alberoni, who now enjoyed a con-
siderable share of the royal confidence and favour. This extra-
ordinary man, the son of a working gardener, and a native of
Piacenza, had been by turns a bell-ringer, an abbe, the steward of
a bishop, the favourite and confidant of the Duke of Vendome,
and lastly, the agent of the Duke of Parma at Madrid. Alberoni,
as if by accident, and after running over a great many names, re-
commended Elizabeth Farnese, the niece of his Sovereign, the
reigning Duke of Parma, as the future Queen of Spain. She was,
he said, a good Lombard girl, brought up on the butter and cheese
of the country, and accustomed to hear of nothing in the little
Court in which she had been educated but embroidery and needle-
work. The consent of Louis XIV. was obtained to the union, and,
on September 16th, 1714, not much more than half a year after
the death of Philip's first wife, his nuptials with the Parmesan
Princess were celebrated by proxy at Parma.

40 ELIZABETH FARNESE, WIFE OF PHILIP V. [Chap. XLIII.

The Princess des Ursins learned, when it was too late, the real
character of Elizabeth Farnese. She discovered that, instead of a
simple, pliant girl, whom she might easily control, the new Queen
possessed a penetrating mind and a resolute and lofty spirit.
Alarmed by this intelligence, she had despatched a messenger to
Parma to prevent the marriage from taking place; but he arrived
on the very morning of the ceremony, and was not admitted to an
audience till it had been concluded. The very first interview with
the new Queen showed the Princess des Ursins how fatally she had
been deceived. Having preceded Philip to a small village beyond
Guadalaxara, in order to meet her new mistress in her capacity of
camerara-mayor , she approached Elizabeth with all the confidence
of a favourite, when, to her utter dismay, the Queen ordered her
to be arrested, and, though the weather was cold, to be conveyed,
as she was, in her court dress, to Burgos ! Alberoni had procured
the order for her arrest from Philip V., at the instance of the Duke
of Parma, and with the consent of Louis XIY.

" A wife and a hassock," Alberoni was accustomed to remark,
"are all that the King of Spain needs." From temperament, it
was a necessity for Philip to be governed ; and the function was
now principally shared by his Queen and his Confessor, the Jesuit
Daubenton. While one alarmed his mind with religious terrors,
the other soothed it with connubial joys. Alberoni's influence
was chiefly exercised by means of the Queen ; but he shared it
with her ancient nurse, Laura Pescatori. A young wife, an old
nurse, a priest, and a political adventurer; such was the camarilla
of the Escorial ! Laura Pescatori had some unpleasant recollec-
tions about the bells of Piacenza ; but Alberoni was not proud ;
he condescended to flatter her and study her tastes; he loaded her
with presents, and spared no pains to make her his friend. But
his own abilities also befriended him, and his bold and ambitious
views, which suited the temper of the Queen. He aimed at re-
storing Spain to the rank to which she seemed entitled by her
extent, her resources, and the character of her inhabitants. He
pursued the labours commenced by his predecessor, Orri, for the
restoration of the finances ; in which task he was assisted as well
by the wholesome amputations of territory which Spain had ex-
perienced, and which curtailed much needless expenditure, as by
the suppression of the privileges of Aragon and Catalonia. Several
plans occupied the imagination of Alberoni and his Sovereign,
when the finances should have been re-established, and the naval
and military forces of the kingdom restored to their ancient

Chap. XLIII.] DUKE OF ORLEANS REGENT. 41

vigour. As the throne of Spain was to descend to Philip V/s son
by his first wife, Elizabeth wished to secure for her own children
the Duchies of Parma and Tuscany, as well as the reversion to the
throne of France, in case of the death of Louis XV., a sickly boy
of fifteen years. To effect this latter object it would be necessary
to deprive the Duke of Orleans of the French Regency, and to
change the order of succession in Great Britain in favour of the
Pretender; in a word, to overthrow the Treaty of Utrecht. But
in order to mature these plans, and prepare the means necessary
for their execution, Alberoni demanded five years of peace ; and,
therefore, after the death of Louis XIV., in opposition to the
counsels of Cardinal del Giudice, the Minister for Foreign Affairs,
he made advances to Great Britain and Holland. On December
loth, 1715, a Commercial Treaty was concluded with England on
terms very favourable to this kingdom.

The exhausted state of France and the enormous debt con-
tracted by the late wars also rendered peace necessary to that
country, where the Regency had been seized by Louis XIV. 's
nephew, Philip Duke of Orleans. Louis had by his will appointed
a Council of Regency, of which, indeed, the Duke of Orleans was
to be the nominal chief, but with a preponderating voice only in
case opinions were divided ; and as the Duke du Maine, Louis's
natural but legitimated son, had, by the same instrument, been
intrusted with the guardianship of the young King, a general
expectation had prevailed that he would dispute the Regency with
the Duke of Orleans. But Du Maine had not the qualities requi-
site for such an enterprise ; while the Duke of Orleans, though
a voluptuary, could rouse himself when occasion called, and espe-
cially in matters which concerned his own interest. He resolved
to seize the Regency by means of the Parliament of Paris. Ac-
companied by the Princes of the Blood, the legitimated Princes,
and the Dukes and Peers, he proceeded, on the morning after
Louis XIV/s death, to the Palais, where the Parliameut was
assembled, and was received by that body with respect. In his
address to them he insisted on his right to the Regency, both by
his birth and by the wishes of the late King, verbally expressed
to him. He protested that it was his intention to relieve the
people of their burdens, to re-establish the finances, to preserve
the peace, to restore unity and tranquillity in the Church ; above
all, he flattered the Parliament, by demanding beforehand " the
wise admonitions of that august assembly." When he had thus
predisposed the mind of the Parliament in his favour, the will of

42 THE REGENT'S POLICY. [Chap. XLIII.

Louis XIV. was read amid a silence of disapprobation. Philip
then protested against an act which, he said, had been extorted
from the late King ; he silenced the attempted remonstrances of
the Duke du Maine, and the Parliament proclaimed him Regent
by acclamation. He was also invested with the guardianship of
the young King, and with the command of the forces ; in short,
he was intrusted with an almost absolute power, and the testa-
ment of Louis, as, indeed, that Sovereign had anticipated, was
entirely set aside.

The state of France, as we have said, rendered two objects of
paramount necessity — to keep the peace, that is, to observe the
Treaty of Utrecht, and to restore the finances. Into this last
subject, which belongs to the domestic history of France, we can-
not enter. It will suffice to remark that the chief feature of the
Regent's financial administration was his adoption of the schemes
of the adventurer Law ; the establishment of a national bank for
the issue of paper money, and the erection of the gigantic com-
mercial monopoly of the Mississippi Company, the shares in which
were to be purchased with the notes of the bank.1 The sudden
prosperity of this scheme, the gambling frenzy which it created
in the nation, the bursting of the bubble, and the utter ruin of
the credulous shareholders, found an exact counterpart in the fury
of the South Sea Scheme in England, which was excited by the
Mississippi speculation and ended with a similar result.

The foreign policy of the Regent, from whatever motive
adopted, though often vehemently attacked by French patriots,
was much better^than his domestic policy, and the only one suit-
able to France at that juncture. It would have been impossible
to continue buying glory at the price paid for it by Louis XIV.
The Regent's policy, guided by the Abbe Dubois, prevented the
outbreak of a general war, put an end to that begun by Spain,
and compelled the Courts of Vienna and Madrid to terminate
their quarrels. All the engagements contracted by the Regent
were conformable to the Treaty of Utrecht, and necessary to be
maintained for the interests of France herself as well as of Europe.
The connection between France and Spain, established at the ex-
pense of so much blood and treasure by Louis XIV., was at once
severed by his death. The relationship between the ruling families,
instead of a bond of union, proved a source of discord, and served
only to embitter the political disputes between the two coun-

1 The English reader will find a de- Lord Eussell's Europe from the Peace of
scription of Law's proceedings in Paris in Utrecht, vol. ii. ch. 3.

Chap. XLIII.] RISE OF DUBOIS. 43

tries. So futile is the expectation that the policy of nations
may be influenced for any length of time by the ties of kindred !

At first, however, the policy of the Duke of Orleans seemed
undecided. As Spain had approached George I.,1 so the Regent
appeared inclined to adopt the cause of the Pretender. He, at all
events, permitted James, who had been residing in Lorraine since
the Peace, to traverse France in order to embark at Dunkirk for
his descent on Scotland in December, 1715. The result of that
abortive enterprise is well known to the English reader. After
its conclusion the Pretender retired to Avignon. Both Philip V.
and the Regent, however, soon began to appreciate better their
true interests and position. Part of their policy, may, perhaps, be
justly ascribed to personal dislike. Their characters were entirely
opposite, except that idleness was the sultana queen of both.
Philip V. had conceived a perfect hatred for his cousin, and firmly
believed all the crimes which rumour imputed to him. He had
formed the design of claiming the Regency of France on the
death of Louis XIV. ; but when the moment arrived, he could
not summon courage to cross the Pyrenees.

As Philip V. was governed by Alberoni, so the Regent was
guided by the Abbe Dubois, who had been his preceptor. The
rise of Dubois was almost as extraordinary as that of the Spanish
Minister. He was the son of an apothecary at Brives-la-Gaillarde,
a small town in the Limousin, and was born September 6th, 1656.
Sent to Paris by his parents at the early age of twelve, and
almost abandoned to his own resources, he was only too happy to
obtain the means of studying at the College St. Michael, or
Pompadour, by becoming the servant of the principal.2 After
completing his studies and serving as tutor in several families, he
at length obtained a preceptorship in that of the Marquis de
Pluvant, master of the wardrobe to Monsieur, the Duke of
Orleans, brother of Louis XIV. Here he formed the acquain-
tance of M. de St. Laurent, tutor to Monsieur's son, the Duke of
Chartres, afterwards the Regent ; and finding thus an introduc-
tion to the Orleans family, with whom he contrived to ingratiate
himself, he was, on the death of St. Laurent, appointed to succeed
to his office. Under Dubois's care the natural abilities of the
young Duke of Chartres were developed with a rapidity which
delighted the Court ; but at the same time he is believed to have
secretly pandered to the premature vices of his pupil. Whilst

1 Coxe, Spanish Bourbons, vol. ii. p. 2 For an account of Dubois, see Seve-

218. linges, Mim. Secrets die Cardinal Dubois.

44 ABBE DUBOIS, MINISTER. [Chaf. XLIII.

serving ill this capacity Dubois gained the favour of Louis XIV.
by bringing about a match between the Duke of Chartres and the
King's natural, but legitimated daughter, Mdlle. de Blois, in spite
of the opposition of the Duchess of Orleans. In reward for this
service Louis gave him the Abbey of St. Just in Picardy, and
subsequently permitted him to join the embassy of Marshal Tallard
at London. Here he threw aside his ecclesiastical costume, took
the title of the Chevalier du Bois, and with the assistance of St.
Evremont made some distinguished acquaintances. That of Lord
Stanhope in particular afterwards became the source of his extra-
ordinary political fortune.

On the death of Monsieur, in 1701, Dubois, with the modest
title of secretary, became in fact the intimate adviser of his former
pupil, the new Duke of Orleans. He had accompanied the Duke
in his first campaign under Marshal Luxembourg, and was present
at the battle of Steinkerque (1692), where he displayed all the
courage and coolness of a professional soldier. But when in 1707
the Duke proceeded to Spain to take the command of the army,
the Princess des Ursins, who dreaded Dubois's intriguing spirit,
caused him to be excluded from the Prince's suite. The eleva-
tion of the Duke of Orleans to the Regency inspired Dubois with
the hope of realizing all his most ambitious dreams. One thing,
however, stood in his way. His character was so notorious for
dissoluteness and utter want of principle) that even the Regent
himself, who knew his abilities and loved him for some congenial
qualities, hesitated to incur the reproach of making- him a Minister.
But an appeal to their long friendship touched the Regent's heart,
and with the admonition, "Abbe, a little probity, I beg," he named
him Counsellor of State. Such was the man who was to direct for
some time the policy of France, and play a leading part in the
affairs of Europe. He was now in his sixtieth year, ruined alike
in health and reputation, and still only an abbe ; no time, there-
fore, was to be lost in pushing his fortune. In person he was
slender, light complexioned, with a sly and fox-like expression of
countenance.

Dubois took a rapid and correct view of the state of Europe,
in the interest of his master. This interest was twofold : to
assure the possession of the Regency, and to secure the French
throne in the line of Orleans, instead of that of Philip V., in case
of the death of Louis XV. To accomplish this an alliance was
to be made with England ; the interest of that country in exclud-
ing the King of Spain from the French Succession being identical

Chap. XLIII.] THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE. 45

with that of the Recent. George I. had need of such an alliance.
France was the only Power which could lend any material aid to
the Pretender, the so-called James III. ; while, on the other
hand, without the aid of England, Philip V. stood no chance of
prevailing against the Duke of Orleans.1 The policy of the French
and English alliance was thus founded principally on views of
family interest ; but this interest fortunately coincided with that
of the two nations, and indeed of all Europe, for which peace was
a necessity.

The return of the Whigs to power on the accession of George I.
had drawn closer the relations between England and the Dutch
Republic, and thus promised to facilitate the accession of tho
States-General to the contemplated alliance. Holland was become
almost a satellite of Great Britain, to which she looked for the
maintenance of her barrier. The ancient alliance between the
two countries was renewed by the Treaty of Westminster, Feb-
ruary 17th, 1716, by which former treaties were confirmed.
George I., with an eye to his newly-acquired Duchies of Bremen
and Verden, had also concluded a defensive alliance with the
Emperor, Charles VI. (May 25th).2 On the other hand, the
Whigs, as well as George I. himself, had always loudly expressed
their dissatisfaction at the Treaty of Utrecht ; they had denounced
the Tories as the authors of it, and it was a delicate task to
require them to turn round and support it. The clamours, too,
against France had been increased by the aid recently afforded
to the Pretender, and by the continuation of the works at Mar-
dyck. Thus many difficulties stood in the way of Dubois's pro-
ject ; but they were at length surmounted by his skill and perse-
verance. Finding that Lord Stanhope was to pass through
Holland in July, 1716, with Geoi'ge I., on his way to Hanover,
Dubois repaired to the Hague on pretence of collecting books and
objects of virtu ; where, as if by chance, he contrived to have an
interview with his old acquaintance, the English minister. He
availed himself of the opportunity to open and recommend his
plans ; matters were prepared for a treaty, and, in the following
August, Dubois went to Hanover, where the alliance was finally
arranged. The States-General, fearful of offending the Emperor,
. manifested at first great reluctance to accede to the treaty ; but
these scruples being at length overcome, the Triple Alliance
was signed at the Hague, January 4th, 1717. By this treaty the
provisions contained in the Treaty of Utrecht were renewed ;

1 Martin, t. xv. p. 80. - Dumont, t. viii. pt. i. p. 477.

46 BREACH BETWEEN THE EMPEROR AND SPAIN. [Chap. XLIII.

Louis XV. promised never to aid the Pretender, and to induce
him to cross the Alps ; fresh stipulations were made respecting
the destruction of the works at Dunkirk and Mardyck ; and it
was agreed that English commissaries should be appointed to see
that this Article was faithfully executed.1

Although this treaty was favourable to England, it experienced
much opposition from the Whigs. The Regent conciliated Pitt,
the leader of that party and father of the celebrated Lord Chatham,
by the present of a magnificent diamond. The alliance was also
most unwelcome to the Emperor, although there appears to have
been an understanding among the parties to it that he should
obtain Sicily in exchange for Sardinia. On receipt of the news
he wrote to the States-General that the Barrier Treaty was at an
end ; but this was a mere threat. Nobody, however, was so
vexed and surprised as the King of Spain. Relying on his treaty
with England, Philip deemed himself secure of that Power, and
when the Regent communicated to him the project of the Triple
Alliance, he had replied with indifference. Alberoni, however,
persuaded him at present to digest his anger. That minister
was not yet prepared to act, and wished to postpone a war till he
should have accumulated the necessary resources to conduct it
with vigour. For this purpose he had obtained the Pope's per-
mission to levy a tax on the Spanish clergy, under the pretence
of assisting the Venetians in the war they were then waging with
the Turks ; and, indeed, he actually despatched a force of 8,000
men to assist in the defence of Corfu. But before his prepara-
tions were complete, he was hurried into a war with the Emperor
by a comparatively trivial incident. In May, 1717, the Grand
Inquisitor of Spain, in returning from Rome, ventured to traverse
the Milanese without an Imperial passport, and was arrested as a
rebellious subject of Charles III. of Spain ! Exasperated by this
insult, Philip V. declared that he would immediately vindicate the
honour of his Crown. In vain did Alberoni remonstrate and re-
present to Philip that he had but the rudiments of a fleet and
army ; Philip was inflexible, and all that the minister could obtain
was that hostilities should first be directed against the Island of
Sardinia, instead of Naples and Sicily. Alberoni, finding himself
thus prematurely driven into a war by the hastiness of his Sove-
reign, resolved to surprise Europe by the boldness of his measures.
But, first of all, to secure himself a retreat in case of failure, he
extorted from the Pope a cardinal's hat, partly by threats, and

1 Dumont, t. viii. pt. i. p. 484 ; Lamberty, M6m. t. x. p. 1.

€hap. XLIII.] RETROSPECT OF TURKISH HISTORY. 47

partly by representing the services he had rendered to the Vene-
tians in their struggle with the Turks. Matters being1 thus
arranged, an armament was despatched for the conquest of Sar-
dinia. Nine thousand Spaniards were landed there towards the
end of August, 1717 ; and, with the aid of the discontented in-
habitants, got possession of the whole island in less than three
months.1

One of the first effects of this attack on the Emperor's western
possessions was to hamper him in his wars and negotiations with
the Ottoman Porte. But to explain this matter, it will be neces-
sary to take a short retrospect of Turkish history.

We have already recorded the peace concluded between the
Sultan and the Czar, and how Charles XII. of Sweden was subse-
quently compelled to quit the Turkish dominions.'2 One of the
chief motives with the Porte for assuring tranquillity on this side
was that it might turn its' arms elsewhere. Great activity was
observed in the Turkish arsenals, but the object of it was long
uncertain. The Emperor, then engaged in the war of the Spanish
Succession, assembled, in 1714, an army of observation of 50,000
men in Hungary and Transylvania. It appeared at last that the
mighty preparations of the Turks were directed against Venice,
with the view of recovering the Morea, a loss which the Porte had
not been able to brook. In December, 1714, the Venetian Bailo
at Constantinople was informed, in the grossest terms, by the
Grand Vizier Dainad Ali Pasha that it was the intention of his
master not to rest till he had recovered the Morea : he was directed
to leave Constantinople in three days, and, together with all other
Venetians, the Turkish territories in three weeks ; but before that
time had expired he was imprisoned in the castle of the Darda-
nelles, and his suite of forty-two persons in the Seven Towers, as
hostages for the safety of Turkish subjects in the Venetian do-
minions. The Signoria, relying on a peace guaranteed by the
Emperor, had made but small preparations for defence. Their
rule in the Morea was highly unpopular. The inhabitants pre-
ferred the Turkish Government as both cheaper and less oppres-
sive,3 and were not, therefore, disposed to fight in the cause of
their Venetian masters. Hence, when the Turks entered the

1 Alberoni was very generally accused 2 Vol. iii. p. 523 sq.

by his contemporaries of having been the 3 De la Mo tray e, Voyages, t. i. p. 462.

author of this war ; but it is now acknow- On the Venetian government of the Morea

ledged that it was undertaken against his (1685-1715), see Ranke, Hist. u. Pol.

will. See Coxe, Spanish Bourbons, vol. ii. Zeitschrift, B. ii. S. 405 ft'.; Finlay, Greece

p. 275 sq. under Othoman and Venetian Domination.

48 AUSTROVENETIAN AND TURKISH WAR. [Chap. XLIII.

Morea in the summer of 1715, the inhabitants in many places
hastened to submit ; and as the Venetians were neither strong
enough to cope with the Turks in the open field, nor the for-
tresses of the peninsula in a state to resist a lengthened siege,
the whole of the Morea was wrested from them in the course of a
few months. For not defending some of these towns, rendered
defenceless by their own neglect, the Signorta threw the com-
mandants into prison for life.

The Emperor was alarmed at the sudden and decisive success
of the Turks ; and as Louis XIV. had died during the campaign,
he was the more disposed to listen to the prayers of the Venetians
for help. He was strongly exhorted to this step by Prince
Eugene, who represented to him the danger that would accrue to
his Italian, and even to his German, States, if the Turks should
get possession of the Ionian Islands. A treaty of alliance was
accordingly signed with the Signoria, April 13th, 1716. It pur-
ported to be a renewal of the Holy League of 1684, and the casus
belli against the Porte was, therefore, the violation of the Peace
of Carlowitz ; but, instead of being merely directed against that
Power, it was extended to a general defensive alliance with the
Venetian Republic. Under the energetic superintendence of
Eugene, the preparations for war were soon completed. In the
course of April three Austrian divisions entered Hungary, Eu-
gene himself being at the head of the largest, of 70,000 men.
On the other hand, the Grand A^izier, with 100,000 men, marched
towards Belgrade ; while the agents of the Porte incited to insur-
rection the malcontent Hungarians, and their leader Ragoczy,
who aimed at obtaining the principality of Transylvania, and even
the title of King of Hungary. The Vizier having attacked Eu-
gene in his fortified camp before Peterwardein, on August 3rd,
that commander offered him battle on the 5th, in which the Vizier
himself was slain, and the Turks utterly defeated. This victory is
principally ascribed to the use of heavy cavalry, with which the
Turks were as yet unacquainted. The fruits of it were the sur-
render of Temesvar ; and even Wallachia declared for the Em-
peror; a manifestation, however, which led to no result. In the
same year an attempt of the Turks upon Corfu was repulsed,
chiefly through the military talents of Baron Schulenbui^g, whom
we have already met with in the Polish "War, and whose services
the Venetians had procured.

The Porte, discouraged by these reverses, made proposals to
the Emperor for a peace early in 1717 ; and Sir Wortley Montague

Chap. XLIII.] PEACE OF PASSAROWITZ. 49

and Count Colyer, the English and Dutch residents at Constanti-
nople, endeavoured to forward this object by their mediation.1
But their offers were not listened to. In the spring, Eugene took
the command of 140,000 men, and many princes and nobles
flocked to his standard as volunteers, desirous of sharing the re-
nown of so distinguished a commander. He now directed his
march on Belgrade, near Avhich place he was attacked, on August
16th, by a much superior Turkish force, which, however, he
entirely defeated. Belgrade capitulated on the 18th. The Porte
now renewed its offers of peace. Eugene declined to treat except
on the basis of uti possidetis; and the Cabinet of Vienna insisted
that Venice should be included in the treaty. As the Porte had
obtained some advantages over the Venetians in the course of the
year, it was at first unwilling to concede this point. In the spring
of 1718, Eugene increased his demands by requiring the cession
of Bosnia, Servia, and Wallachia. But the hostile attitude assumed
by Spain induced the Emperor to lower his terms. He abandoned
his pretensions to Wallachia and the other provinces, but insisted
on the basis of uti possidetis, which the Turks at last agreed to
accept, as well as to abandon the cause of Ragoczy. A congress
was now assembled at Passarowitz, which was opened by a speech
of Sir Robert Sutton, as English mediator, June 5th. Although
the Emperor had pretended to enter into the war on account of
the Venetians, they were made the scape-goats of the peace, as the
uti possidetis of course deprived them of the Morea, while Charles
VI. retained all his conquests. Thus the Peace op Passarowitz
(July 21st, 1718), gave a mortal blow to the power of Venice in
the East.'' But to return to the affairs of Western Europe.

Although victor at Peterwardein and Belgrade, some time must
elapse before the Emperor could freely wield all his forces against
Spain, and he therefore appealed to the Triple Alliance against the
violation of Italian neutrality. Alberoni, on the other hand, sought
to propitiate England by some commercial advantages, and strained
every nerve to raise men and money. Under these circumstances,
France and England entered into a convention in July, 1718, to
the following effect. The Emperor was to be compelled to renounce
j all pretensions to Spain and the Indies, and Philip V. to the ancient
^ Spanish provinces of which the Emperor was now in possession, as
well as to the reversion of Sicily in case of failure of heirs in the

1 This is the period of the well-known 2 The treaty is in Katona. t. xxxviii.

Letters of Lady Montague, the wife of the p. 371 sqq.
| English envoy.

IV. E

50 SARDINIA A KINGDOM. [Chap. XLIII.

House of Savoy. Sicily was to be assigned to the Emperor, the
Duke of Savoy taking Sardinia instead, with the title of King.
The Emperor was to promise the eventual investiture of the Duchies
of Parma and Tuscany to Don Carlos, or another son of the Queen
of Spain ; l but with a provision that they should never be united
with the Crown of Spain ; and Leghorn, Porto Ferrajo, Parma, and
Piacenza were to be provisionally occupied by Swiss garrisons, in
the pay of the mediating Powers. Three months were to be allowed
to Philip V. and the Duke of Savoy to accede to the treaty after
its ratification by the Emperor ; and in case of refusal their acces-
sion was to be enforced.2 The Emperor immediately agreed to
these terms, and on August 2nd was signed at London the treaty
known as the Quadruple Alliance,3 so called because the Dutch
were also invited to accede to it. But these Republicans, offended
at not having been previously consulted, and alarmed for their
trade with Spain, refused at first to do so ; and their accession
was not obtained till six months later. The King of Spain, and
also, at first, the Duke of Savoy, refused to accede to the treaty ;
but the latter gave his consent to it in November.

All these negotiations were the work of Stanhope and Dubois.
Alberoni had attempted to oppose one coalition by another ; and
as already related/ he tried to reconcile the Czar and the King of
Sweden, and unite them in a descent on Scotland in favour of the
Pretender. But this project failed, as well as his attempt to pre-
vent the Turks from concluding the Peace of Passarowitz with the
Emperor. He had already prepared to strike a blow by landing
30,000 Spaniards at Palermo, which was effected July 1st, 1718.
Agreat part of the Piedmontese troops had already been withdrawn,
and the rest now retired into the citadel ©f Messina. Alberoni
had attempted to persuade Philip V. to direct the Sicilian force
against England, and thus to pierce the Quadruple Alliance in the
heart;5 but the King very prudently declined so hazardous an
enterprise. In June a British fleet was despatched to the Medi-
terranean, and Stanhope hastened to Madrid to make a last effort
to obtain the submission of Philip. While he was at Madrid, news
arrived of the landing of the Spaniards at Palermo, and Stanhope
offered to restore Gibraltar if Philip would immediately accede to
the Quadruple Alliance ; but without effect/' Admiral Byng

1 Elizabeth Farnese's claims on Tus- berty, t. x. Suite, p. 40.
cany were derived from her grandmother, 4 See vol. iii. p. 529.

daughter of Cosmo II. 5 Coxe, Spanish Bourbons, vol. ii. p.

2 Martin, t. xv. p. 90 sq. 316.

3 Dumout, t. viii. pt. i. p. 531 ; Lam- 6 Ibid. p. 328 (Ed. London, 1815).

Chap. XLIII.] CONSPIRACY OF CELLAMARE. 51

almost annihilated the Spanish fleet of twenty-two sail in an
engagement off Syracuse, August 11th.1 Yet the Allied Powers
still hesitated to make a formal declaration of war. England
was unwilling to do so except in conjunction with France, and
the Regent was reluctant to take such a step against the grand-
son of Louis XIV. At last Dubois, who was now minister for
Foreign Affairs, found a pretext for it in the conspiracy of Cella-

mare

Alberoni,in conjunction with the Duchess du Maine, and through
Cellamare, the Spanish ambassador at Paris, had concocted an
absurd plot for surprising and carrying off the Regent ; upon
which Philip V. was to claim the Regency, and to procure con-
firmation of his authority from an assembly of the States- General
of France. This precious scheme was betrayed to Dubois by a
clei^k employed to copy the despatches, and a Spanish abbe, the
bearer of them, was arrested at Poitiers on his way to Spain.
This discovery was followed by the arrest of the Duchess du
Maine and her husband, as well as that of Cellamare, as a violator
of international law ; and Dubois availed himself of the popular
indignation excited by the plot to declare war against Spain,
January 10th, 1719." An English declaration had preceded it
by a fortnight. Dubois could afford to treat with contempt so
foolish a conspiracy, in which, besides the immediate concoctors,
the Cardinal de Polignac was the only considerable person con-
cerned. The culprits were dismissed, and Cellamare returned to
Spain.

Active operations were commenced in the spring. In April a
French division crossed the Bidasoa, pushed on to Passages and
destroyed the dockyard, where several men-of-war were building ;
then being joined by the main body under Marshal Berwick, laid
siege to Fuenterabia, which capitulated June 18th. Philip was
unable to stem this invasion ; yet in March he had despatched six
ships of war, with 6,000 men, and arms for 30,000 more, to make
a descent in Scotland under the conduct of the exiled Duke of
Ormond. The Pretender was invited from Rome to take advantage
of any events which might occur. But the Spanish squadron
was dispersed by a storm ; only two frigates succeeded in reaching
Xintail, and the partial rising of Highlanders which ensued was

1 M. Martin says : " Aucune significa- been communicated in the spring to

tion, aucune declaration de guerre, n'avait Monteleon, the Spanish ambassador at

eu lieu." (Hist, de France, t. xv. p. 94.) London. Coxe, ibid. p. 310.
Only the latter part of this sentence is * The Declaration was written by the

true. The destination of the fleet had celebrated Fontenelle.

52 END OF THE SPANISH WAR. [Chap. XLIII.

speedily quelled. In Spain, St. Sebastian surrendered to the
French August 19th. Berwick then re-entered France ; skirted
with his army the northern side of the Pyrenees, and entered
Cerdagne ; where, however, he effected little or nothing. In the
autumn an English fleet appeared off the coast of Galicia, captured
Yigo, October 21st, and did much damage.

It was clearly impossible for Spain to resist, single-handed, the
formidable combination organized against her. The Austrian
troops, released by the Peace of Passarowitz, had now had time to
proceed to the scene of action, and the English fleet had landed
large bodies of them in Sicily. The French invasion of Spain
would recommence next year, and the English were preparing to
attack Spanish America. But the French and English Cabinets
had resolved that the fall of Alberoni should be an indispensable
condition of a peace. Philip V. was influenced to dismiss his
entei'prising minister through his confessor Daubenton, whom
Dubois had gained ; while the Spanish Queen was threatened with
the withdrawal of the guarantee of the Italian Duchies to her chil-
dren. Alberoni, who had dissuaded the war (p. 46), was made the
sacrifice of the peace which concluded it. In December, 171(J,
he received orders to quit Madrid in eight days and Spain in three
weeks. This was the end of his political career, though he lived
till 1752. He retired through France to Genoa; whence, how-
ever, he was driven by Pope Clement XI., who threatened him
with prosecution as an enemy of the Catholic faith. Till the death
of that Pontiff he found a refuge in Switzerland ; and after that
event he regained his place in the Consistory.

After the dismissal of Alberoni, the Spanish ambassador at the
Hague acceded to the Quadruple Alliance (February, 1720) . The
Emperor was put in possession of Sicily ; the ex- King of Sicily
(Victor Amadeus II. of Savoy) became King of Sardinia, a posses-
sion which has since remained in his House ; and the reversion of
Parma and Tuscany was guaranteed to the children of the Spanish
Queen. The policy of Dubois was thus crowned with success,
and it was not surprising that he should look for his reward. The
method of it lay in ecclesiastical preferment. Might not the son
of the apothecary at Brives as justly aspire to a cardinal's hat as
the gardener's son of Piacenza ? But if this was a striking analogy,
the invasion of the Archbishopric of Cambray, so recently occupied
by the virtuous Fenelon, was as glaring a contrast. The eloquent
Masillon was one of the two prelates who became on this occasion
the necessary sponsors for Dubois's morality ! For the attainment

■Chap. XLIII.] FRENCH AND SPANISH MARRIAGES. 53

of the hat the most incongruous machinery was set in motion.
The affair was mooted by an application of the Protestant King of
England to the atheistical Regent ; and the Catholic Pretender,
then resident at Rome, who interceded for Dubois, is supposed
to have been bought with the guineas of George I. ! 1 But Clement
XI. contrived all his lifetime to evade the application. Dubois,
on Clement's death, inverted the parts of patron and client, and
promised the tiara to any Cardinal who would give him the hat.
Cardinal Conti, a very old man, became Pope on these terms, with
the title of Innocent XIII. j and Dubois, after a few more delays,
obtained the object of his ambition.

The accession of Philip V. to the Quadruple Alliance was fol-
lowed by several treaties. As the Emperor had shown symptoms
that he did not mean to execute his share of that alliance, by
carrying out the stipulations regarding the Italian Duchies, Philip
concluded a secret treaty with France in March, 1721, by which
that country engaged to support the interests of Spain in the
Congress about to be opened atCambray.2 The English Cabinet
manifested their displeasure at this treaty, which had been made
without their concurrence ; and Dubois, to appease them, hastened
to bring about another between Great Britain and Spain, to which
France also acceded, containing- terms very advantageous to
English commerce. On the other hand, Great Britain engaged
to replace the Spanish ships destroyed by Byng.3

The connection between France and Spain was at this time
drawn closer by some marriage contracts between the reigning
families. Louis XY. was to be affianced to the Infanta, then
only three years of age, who was to be educated in France ; while
the Prince of Asturias, the heir apparent of the Spanish Monarchy,
and Don Carlos, the heir of Parma and Tuscany, were to be united
to two daughters of the Regent Orleans. The young pi-incesses
were exchanged on the Bidasoa, January 9th, 1722. These mar-
riages had been effected through the influence of Daubenton, and
at the expense of religious freedom in France. Under Philip V.,
the slave of the Jesuits, religious bigotry and intolerance flourished
as vigorously as under the House of Austria ; 2,346 persons were
burnt during his reign,4 and the consort of the Prince of Asturias
^ras regaled on her arrival in Spain with the spectacle of an auto de
fe. Daubenton procured that the Jesuit Limieres should succeed

1 Dubois is said to have received a 3 Dumont, t. viii. pt. ii. p. 33 sqq.
.pension from George I. 4 Lemontey, Hist, de la Btgence, t. i.

2 Martin, t. xv. p. 114. p. 431.

54 DEATH OF THE REGENT ORLEANS. [Chap. XLIII..

the venerable Abbe Fleuri as confessor of Louis XV. j the press
and book trade in France were subjected to a rigorous surveil-
lance, and Fleuri's posthumous work, the Discours sur les Libertes
GaUicanes, was suppressed.

The term of the Orleans regency was now approaching.
Louis XV. would attain his legal majority February 16th, 1723,
and the Regent had caused him to be crowned in October, 1722.
When the King became major, the Duke of Orleans resigned the
title of Eegent, but as president of the Council of State continued
to conduct the Government under the guidance of Dubois, who
was now Prime Minister. The Cardinal, however, did not long
enjoy his newly-acquired honours. He died on August 10th,
1723; from the results of a painful operation, rendered necessary
by his former habits of profligacy. The Duke of Orleans did not
long survive him. He also became the victim of his debauches,
and was carried off by an apoplexy, December 2nd, 1723, at the
premature age of forty-nine. The Duke of Bourbon now became
Prime Minister. His administration was but a continuation of
the former system, though with infinitely less talent.

Soon after these events Europe was surprised by the abdica-
tion of Philip V. It is difficult to determine whether this act was
the result of his hypochondriac malady or of a deep political de-
sign. If it was madness it was not without method. The health
of Louis XV. was at that time supposed to be in a declining state,,
and in case of his death the European Powers would hardly allow
the French Crown to be assumed by the King of Spain. Couriers
were stationed between Paris and Madrid to bring the speediest
intelligence, and preparations were made for a journey to France
at the charming retreat which Philip had prepared for himself at
St. Ildefonso.1 The Crown of Spain was transferred to Don Louis,.
Prince of Asturias, then sixteen years of age, Philip's eldest son,,
by Louisa of Savoy (January 10th, 1724). But — such are the
contrarieties which attend the best laid schemes — Louis XV. sur-
vived, and Don Louis died of the small-pox in the August follow-
ing his accession ! Philip was now in a difficult position. His
renunciation of the Crown had resembled a solemn religious act,
and his resumption of it, under the circumstances, might occasion v
unfavourable comments. His religious scruples, however, were
removed by the Papal Nuncio ; after much apparent reluctance*.
Philip again ascended the throne, and Elizabeth Farnese reigned
once more, to the detriment of the peace of Europe.
1 Coxe, Spanish Bourbons, vol. iii. p. 50 sqq.

Chap. XLIII.] MARRIAGE OF LOUIS XV. 55

Meanwhile a congress had been opened at Cambray to decide
the questions between Austria and Spain. The Duke of Bourbon
was inclined to support Spain, and to form an intimate alliance
with that country; but he was governed by his mistress, Madame
de Prie, who had been bought by Walpole, the English minister,
and inherited Dubois's English policy, together with his pension.
The effrontery of this woman brought about a crisis in the policy
of Europe. Bourbon had not face enough to make Madame de
Prie's complaisant husband a duke and peer of France ; but he
solicited for him a Spanish grandeeship — a request which was scorn-
fully refused by the Court of Madrid. Madame de Prie revenged
herself by persuading the Duke of Bourbon to get Louis XV.
married at once, instead of waiting till the Spanish Infanta
should become marriageable ; and that Princess was sent back to
Spain without even a word of apology (April, 1725) . The French
Court at first endeavoured to procure for the young King a grand-
daughter of George I. ; but it was, of course, impossible that a
Sovereign who held his throne by virtue of his Protestant tenets
should consent to such a match. Mary Lesczinska, daughter of
Stanislaus, ex-King of Poland, was then selected to be Queen of
France. The family of Stanislaus was at that time residing at
Weissembourg, in Alsace, on a small pension allowed them by
the French Government, and were not a little surprised and de-
lighted at this unexpected turn in their fortunes. Mary, who was
nearly seven years older than Louis, was married to him Sep-
tember 4th, 1725.

The dismissal of the Infanta naturally gave the deepest offence
to the Spanish Court. Philip immediately recalled his ambassador
from Paris, and his ministers from the Congress of Cambray, which
was consequently broken up ; and he declared that he would
never be reconciled with France till Bourbon should come to
Madrid and beg pardon on his knees. Yet he had himself been
secretly preparing to inflict the very same insult of which he so
grievously complained. Philip, when he found it impossible to
come to any terms with the French Court, and that nothing was
likely to be done at the Congress of Cambray, had reconciled
himself with the Emperor, Charles VI, The Baron Eipperda, a
Dutchman, who had turned Catholic and had contrived to replace
Alberoni, of whom he was a sort of parody, in the confidence of
Queen Elizabeth, had been despatched, in the autumn of 1724, to
Vienna, with secret instructions to negotiate a marriage between
her son, Don Carlos — already affianced, as we have seen, to Mdlle.

56 THE PRAGMATIC SANCTION. [Chap. XLIII.

Beaujolais — and the eldest Archduchess, Maria Theresa.1 Almost
the sole object of the Emperor's policy at that juncture, he being
without male heirs, was to secure the succession of his daughters,
according to the Pragmatic Sanction which he had promulgated
in 1713. By this instrument the Austrian succession was regu-
lated in the order of primogeniture, first in favour of his male
descendants, and, in their default, of females . In case these also
should be wanting, Charles next appointed the Archduchesses,
daughters of the Emperor Joseph ; then the Queen of Portugal
and other daughters of the Emperor Leopold, and their descen-
dants in perpetuity.2 As he advanced in years, the Emperor,
despairing of male issue, caused the Pragmatic Sanction to be
confirmed by the Austrian States, and by those of Silesia, Bo-
hemia, and Hungary. The weak point of it was that Charles's
daughters were named to the succession before those of his elder
brother, the Emperor Joseph I. ; and this in the face of a contrary
Act of Succession made by his father, the Emperor Leopold, in
1703, by which it was provided that, in default of male heirs, the
Austrian inheritance should first fall to the daughters of Joseph.3
By cancelling this arrangement Charles VI. indicated that a like
fate might overtake his own, nay, make indeed a precedent for it ;
and hence his anxiety to obtain a confirmation of the Pragmatic
Sanction from foreign Powers as well as from his own subjects.
To procure the guarantee of Spain, he was inclined to meet the
advances of that Power ; while Philip, after the dismissal of his
daughter from France, urged Ripperda to conclude with the
Cabinet of Vienna almost at any price. Two treaties, a public
and a secret one, were accordingly signed at Vienna April 30th.
By the former, the two Sovereigns mutually renounced their
claims to each other's dominions ; Philip guaranteed the Prag-
matic Sanction and opened the Spanish ports to German com-
merce ; while Charles promised to use his good offices to procure
the restoration of Gibraltar and Minorca to the Spanish Crown,
and recognized Don Carlos as heir to Parma and Tuscany. The
assent of the Germanic body to this arrangement respecting the
Italian duchies was expressed in a subsequent treaty between the
Emperor, the Empire, and Spain, signed June 7th, 1725/

1 Coxe, Spanish Bourbons, vol. iii. Pai.r. t. iii. p. 135, note.
]>. 101. Ripperda had been the Dutch • Menzel, Neuere Gesch, der Dents

ambassador at Madrid in 1715; in which B. r. S. 127.

capacity he attracted the notice of Albe- 3 Pfeffel, Abrtf/t chronol. dc VHistovre

roni, and gained the confidence of Philip V. d1 Allemagne, t. ii. p. 453.
by his insinuating manners, who took * Dumont, t. viii. pt. ii. pp. 106,. 113,

him into his service. Garden, TraiUs de and 121 ; Lamberty, t. x. Suite, p. 128.

Chap. XLIII.] ALLIANCE OF CHARLES VI. AND PHILIP V. 57

By these treaties Philip renounced all the advantages which he
had hoped to obtain through the mediating Powers at the Con-
gress of Cambray, and acquiesced in the provisions of the Treaty
of Utrecht and of the Quadruple Alliance. They contained
nothing, therefore, calculated to offend either England or France ;
but such was not the case with the Secret Treaty. Nothing, of
course, was certainly known of this except through the imprudent
and foolish boasting of Ripperda ; but it was believed that mar-
riages had been arranged between the two Archduchesses, Maria
Theresa and Maria Anna, and Don Carlos and Don Philip, the
sons of Philip V. by Elizabeth Farnese ; that the contracting
parties had agreed to effect the restoration of the Stuarts ; and
that the Emperor had engaged to assist Philip in the recovery of
Gibraltar and Minorca by force. The marriage of Don Carlos
might one day revive the Empire of Charles V. through the
union of Spain and Germany. The exultation displayed by the
Court of Madrid, and the honours lavished upon Ripperda, who
was made a minister and gTandee of Spain, strengthened the
alarm of the French and English Cabinets. Their suspicions
were soon confirmed by the confessions of Ripperda himself,
whose vanity and presumption brought upon him the hatred of
the Spanish grandees, and deprived him of the confidence of the
Queen. In a few months he was driven from his office, and took
refuge in the hotel of Stanhope, the English Ambassador, to
whom he revealed the whole of the negotiations between Spain
and the Emperor. Philip dragged him by force from this asylum,
and caused him to be confined at Segovia. After these revela-
tions, war seemed inevitable. George I., during his sojourn at
Hanover in 1725, engaged Frederick William I. of Prussia to
conclude at Herrenhausen an alliance with France and England
(September 3rd) .* The Dutch, in the interests of their commerce,
threatened by the establishment of an East India Company by
the Emperor at Ostend, acceded to this alliance, known as the
Alliance of Hanover, by a treaty signed at the Hague, August
9th, 1726. 2 Sweden and Denmark, which Powers were to be
subsidized by England and France, also acceded in March and
April, 1727/ On the other hand, the Empress of Russia, incensed

Dumont, t. viii. pt. ii. p. 127; Lam- furnish a contingent of troops, in case

nerty, t. x. Suite, p. 159. This treaty the Empire should declare war against

affords the first instance of a Prince of France. Garden, Hist, des Traitts, t.. iii.

the Empire entering into a formal en- p. 140.

gagement with a foreign Power not to 2 Dumont, t. viii. pt. ii. p. 133.

execute the obligations imposed on him 3 Ibid. p. 141 sqq.; Kousset, Reeui.il,

by the Germanic Constitution, viz., to t. iii. p. 114.

58 ALLIANCES OF VIENNA AND HANOVER. [Chaf. XLIIL

by the conduct of George I. in protecting Denmark and Sweden
against her designs, as will be explained in the next chapter, (see
p. 79) joined the Alliance of Vienna August 6th, 1726 ;l and in the
following year Frederick William of Prussia, who had never
heartily approved of the Hanoverian League, secretly did the same.
Thus all Europe became divided between the alliances of
Vienna and Hanover ; and though both sides pretended that
these treaties were only defensive, yet each made extensive pre-
parations for war. George I. entered into a treaty with the
Landgrave of Hesse Cassel for the supply of 12,000 men; mani-
fests were published, ambassadors withdrawn, armies put on foot ;
the sea was covered with English fleets ; an English squadron
under Admiral Hosier annoyed the trade of Spain ; and in Feb-
ruary, 1727, the Spaniards laid siege to Gibraltar, and seized at
Vera Cruz a richly laden merchant vessel belonging to the Eng-
lish South Sea Company. But all these vast preparations led to
no results of importance. Of all the European Powers, Spain
alone had any real desire for war. The mediation of Pope Bene-
dict XIII.,2 the death of Catherine I. Empress of Russia (May
17th, 1727), the Emperor's principal ally, and above all the pacific
character of Cardinal Fleury, the French minister, prevented the
outbreak of a war. In June, 1726, Louis XV. had dismissed the
Duke of Bourbon and called Fleury to his counsels, who was then
seventy-three years of age.3 Fleury adopted the pacific policy of
the two preceding Governments ; and nothing can show in a
stronger light the necessity of peace for France, which could be
maintained only through the entente cordiale with Great Britain,
than that three statesmen of such different characters as Orleans,
Bourbon, and Fleury should have agreed in maintaining it. The
preliminaries of a general pacification were signed at Paris, May
olst, 1727, by the ministers of the Emperor, France, Great
Britain, and Holland, and a Congress was appointed to assemble
at Aix-la-Chapelle to arrange a definitive peace. But Spain still
held aloof and sought every opportunity to temporize. The hopes
of Philip being again awakened by the death of George I. in
July, 1727, he renewed his intrigues with the Jacobites, in-
stigated the Pretender to proceed to a port in the Low Countries,
and to seize an opportunity to pass over into England. But
these unfounded expectations were soon dispelled by the quiet

' Dumont, t. viii. pt. ii. p. 131. confounded with the Abb6 of the same

2 Cardinal Orsini, who had succeeded name, did not obtain a Cardinal's hat till

Innocent XIII. in 1724. September, 1726.
4 Eleury, however, who must not be

Chap. XLIII.] CONGRESS AT SOISSONS. 59

accession of George II. to the throne and policy of his father;
and by the readiness manifested by his first Parliament to sup-
port him with liberal grants of men and money. The Spanish
Queen, however, still held out ; till, alarmed by the dangerous
state of Philip's health, whose death might frustrate her favourite
scheme of obtaining the Italian Duchies, and leave her a mere
cypher without any political influence, she induced her husband
to accept the preliminaries by the Act of the Pardo, March 6th,
1728.1

A Congress was now opened at Soissons, to which place it had
been transferred for the convenience of Fleury, who was Bishop
of it. But though little remained to be arranged except the
satisfaction of Spain in the matter of the Italian Duchies, the
negotiations were tedious and protracted. Spain, by her large
military preparations, seemed still to contemplate a war ; and by
the conclusion of a double marriage between the Prince of Astu-
rias and the Infanta of Portugal, and the Prince of Brazil and
Infanta of Spain (January, 1729), was evidently endeavouring
to withdraw Portugal from the English alliance. The Spanish
Queen still entertained an implacable resentment against France
and England, and spared no exertion to bring the Emperor into
her views. But the conduct of that Sovereign at leno-th unde-
ceived her. In order to obtain the guarantee of all the Powers
to the Pragmatic Sanction, the sum of all his policy, he raised
every obstacle to the negotiations. He thwarted the Spanish
interests with regard to the Italian Duchies, by objecting to the
introduction of Spanish garrisons, and by reviving obsolete pre-
tensions of the Empire to Parmesan and Tuscan fiefs, so as to
diminish the value of those inheritances. Thus the negotiations
at Soissons became a mere farce, and the various plenipotentiaries
gradually withdrew from the Congress. Meanwhile the birth of
a Dauphin (September 4th, 1729) having dissipated the hopes of
Philip V. and his Queen as to the French succession, Elizabeth
devoted herself all the more warmly to the prosecution of her
Italian schemes; and finding all her efforts to separate France
and England unavailing, she at length determined to accept what
they offered. She had previously tested the Emperor's sincerity
by demanding that the Italian fortresses should be occupied by
Spanish, instead of neutral troops, and by requiring a categorical
answer with regard to the projected marriage between the Arch-
duchess and Don Carlos. The Emperor having returned an

1 Dumont, t. viii. pt. ii. pp. 146, 150; Coxe, Spanish Bourbons, vol. iii. p. 231.

60 SECOND TKEATY OF VIENNA. [Chap. XLIII.

evasive answer, she persuaded Philip to enter into a separate
treaty with France and England, which was concluded at Seville
November 9th, 1729.1 England and Spain arranged their com-
mercial and other differences ; the succession of Don Carlos to the
Italian Duchies was guaranteed ; and it was agreed that Leghorn,
Porto Ferrajo, Parma, and Piacenza should be garrisoned by
6,000 Spaniards, who, however, were not to interfere with the
civil government. Nothing more was said about Gibraltar.
Philip, indeed, seemed now to have abandoned all hope of re-
covering that fortress ; for he soon afterwards caused to be con-
structed across the isthmus the strong lines of San Eoque, and
thus completely isolated Gibraltar from his Spanish dominions.
The Dutch acceded to the Treaty of Seville shortly after its execu-
tion,2 on the understanding that they should receive entire satis-
faction respecting the India Company established by the Emperor
at Ostend.

Charles VI. was indignant at being thus treated by Spain, in
violation of all the engagements which the Spanish Sovereigns
had so recently contracted with him ; and above all was he dis-
appointed at seeing his hopes frustrated of obtaining a guarantee
of the Pragmatic Sanction. He recalled his ambassador from
Madrid, and despatched a considerable force into the Milanese to
oppose the entry of the Spanish troops into Italy. On the death
of Antonio Farnese, Duke of Parma, January 10th, 1731, he took
military possession of that State, and his agents persuaded the
Duke's widow to declare herself pregnant, in order to prolong
this occupation. The versatility of the Cabinets of that age,
however, enabled the Emperor to attain his favourite object at a
moment when he least expected it. The Queen of Spain, wearied
Avith the slowness of Cardinal Fleury in carrying out the provi-
sions of the Treaty of Seville, suddenly declared, in a fit of passion,
that Spain was no longer bound by that treaty. Great Britain
and the Dutch States, in concert with the Spanish Court, without
the concurrence of France, now entered into negotiations with
the Emperor, which were skilfully conducted by Lord Walde-
grave, to induce him to accede to the Treaty of Seville ; and, on
March 16th, 1731, was concluded, what has been called the Second f
Treaty of Vienna.3 Great Britain and the States guaranteed the
Pragmatic Sanction ; and the Emperor, on his side, acceded to
the provisions of Seville respecting the Italian Duchies, and
agreed to annihilate the commerce of the Austrian Netherlands

1 Dtimont, t. viii. p. ii. 158. i Ibid. p. 160. ' DM. p. 213.

Chap. XLIII.] THE "FAMILY CONVENTION." 61

■with the Indies by abolishing the obnoxious Ostend Company.
He also engaged not to bestow his daughter on a Bourbon
Prince, or in any other way which might endanger the balance of
power. The States of the Empire gave their sanction to the
treaty in July, and Philip V. acceded to it before the end of that
month. John Gaston de' Medicis, Grand Duke of Tuscany,
finding himself thus abandoned by the Emperor, concluded with
the Court of Spain what was called the Family Convention, and
named Don Carlos his heir. Charles VI. at first manifested some
displeasure at the Duke's thus disposing of his dominions like a
family possession ; but he was at length induced to authorize a
decree of the Aulic Council, by which the guardianship of Don
Carlos was assigned to the Grand Duke of Tuscany and the
Duchess of Parma. In Xovember an English squadron disem-
barked at Leghorn 6,000 Spaniai'ds, who took possession of that
place, as well as Porto Ferrajo, Parma, and Piacenza, in the
name of Don Carlos, as Duke of Parma and presumptive heir of
Tuscany.

62 DEATH OF AUGUSTUS II. OF POLAND. [Chap. XLIV.

CHAPTER XLIY.

THE incident which next disturbed the peace of Europe was
what has been called the " War of the Polish Succession."
The throne of Poland was rendered vacant by the death of
Augustus II., February 1st, 1733. 1 It had been foreseen that on
this event Louis XY. would endeavour to restore his father-in-
law, Stanislaus Lesczinski, to the throne of Poland, a project which
Austria and Eussia had determined to oppose. With this view
they selected, as a candidate for the Polish Crown, Emanuel,
brother of John V., King of Portugal ; and they engaged Frede-
rick William I. of Prussia to support their designs by a treaty
concluded December 31st, 1731, called the Treaty of Lowenwolde,
from the name of the Russian minister who had the principal hand
in its negotiation. The Duchy of Berg, the grand object of
Frederick William's ambition, was to be assured to him, and
Courland to a prince of the House of Brandenburg, upon the death
of the last reigning Duke of the House of Kettler. This article,
however, was unacceptable to the Court of St. Petersburg. The
Empress, Anna Ivanowna,2 wished to procure Courland for her
favourite, Biron ; she accordingly refused to ratify the treaty, and
matters were in this state on the death of Augustus II.

When that event occurred, Frederick Augustus, the son and
successor of Augustus II. in the Saxon Electorate, also became a
candidate for the Polish Crown ; and, in order to obtain it, he
sought the assistance of the Emperor Charles VI., which he hoped
to gain by adhering to the Pragmatic Sanction. In the previous
year the Emperor had brought that matter before the German
Diet, when a great majority of the States had ratified and guaran-
teed the Act (January 11th, 1732). The Electors of Bavaria and
Saxony and the Palatine had, however, protested against it. The >
Elector of Bavaria and the son of the Elector of Saxony, the
prince now in question, had married daughters of the Emperor

1 It is said, from the effects of a drink- 2 We shall return to the history of

ing bout. Mem. de Brandebourg, t. iii. Eussia since the Peace of Nystiidt.
p. 70 (ed. 1758).

Chap. XLIV.] HIS SON SEEKS THE POLISH THRONE. 63

Joseph I., whose eventual claims to the Austrian succession, as
children of the elder brother, might be considered preferable to
those of the daughters of Charles VI. ; and, on July 4th, the two
Electors had concluded, at Dresden, an alliance for the defence of
their respective rights and prerogatives. But Charles VI. availed
himself of the ambitious views of Frederick Augustus to obtain
from him a renunciation of his pretensions ; and the new Elector
now solemnly acceded to the decree of the Empire regarding the
Pragmatic Sanction, and agreed personally to guarantee it, the
Emperor, in return, engaging to assist him to the Polish throne.
In the treaty concluded between them, Charles VI. promised his
unconditional aid in excluding Stanislaus, or any French candi-
date; while he undertook to afford Frederick Augustus every
assistance for the attainment of his object that might be com-
patible with the constitution of the Polish Republic ; but on con-
dition that the Elector should consult the wishes of the Empress
of Russia and King of Prussia. When he should have done this,
Charles promised to furnish him with money to procure his elec-
tion, and to support him in it with arms;1 that is, first to corrupt,
and then to constrain the Polish nobles. In consequence of this
arrangement, a treaty was made in July, 1733, between the Elector
of Saxony and the Empress of Russia, by which the agreement to
elect a Prussian Prince to the Duchy of Courland was set aside ;
and it was agreed that when the anticipated vacancy should occur
by the death of Duke Ferdinand, resort should be had to an election ;
doubtless, of much the same sort as was now to be accorded to the
unhappy Poles. The Empress promised to support the election of
Frederick Augustus in Poland not only by negotiation and money,
but also by arms, " so far as could be done without violating the
liberty of election ;" 2 a clear impossibility. Thus the interests of
the Portuguese Prince were entirely disregarded, who was,
indeed, personally unacceptable to the Poles. After the with-
drawal of this candidate, the King of Prussia would have pre-
ferred Stanislaus to the Elector of Saxony for King* of Poland, as
less dangerous to Prussian interests;3 but he coquetted alternately
with the French and Imperial Courts, and ended with doing
nothing.

This conjuncture is principally important from the position now
definitively taken up by Russia as a European Power. It had
always been the policy of Peter the Great to nourish, under the

1 The treaty only in Wenck, Cod. Jar. 2 Eousset, Becueil, t. x. p. 1 sqq.

Gent. rec. t. i. p. 700. 3 Mem. de Brandebourg, t. iii. p. 71.

64 RUSSIAN POLICY AS TO POLAND. [Ch.vp. XLIV.

mask of friendship, the elements of discord existing in the Polish
constitution, to make the -weakness arising thence incurable, and
thus to render Poland's escape from foreign influence impossible.
It was only through the Czar that Augustus II. had been able to
maintain himself on the throne. Russian troops almost continually
occupied Poland, in spite of the remonstrances of the people, and
Peter disposed as arbitrarily of the lives and estates of Polish sub-
jects as if they had been a conquered people. Thus, for instance,
when he was celebrating the marriage of his niece, Catharine, with
the Duke of Mecklenburg at Dantzic in 1716, his fleet threatened
that town in the very midst of the solemnities, and he compelled
it to make a contribution of 150,000 dollars towards his war with
Sweden. This was done under the very eyes of King Augustus,
who was present in the town.1 The Poles owed their misfortunes,
as we have said, to their constitution, but also to their own faults
and vices. Frederick II., speaking of Poland shortly after this
time, says : " This kingdom is in a perpetual anarchy. All the
great families are divided in their interests ; they prefer their own
advantage to the public good, and only unite for the cruel oppres-
sion of their subjects, whom they treat more like beasts of burden
than men. The Poles are vain, overbearing in prosperity, abject
in adversity ; capable of any act in order to obtain money, which
they throw out of window immediately they have got it ; frivolous,
without judgment, equally ready to take up or abandon a cause
without any reason. They have laws, but nobody observes them,
because there is no executive justice. When many offices become
vacant, the power of the King increases in proportion, since he has
the privilege to dispose of them; but the only return he meets with
is ingratitude. The Diet assembles every three years, either at
Grodno or Warsaw ; when it is the policy of the Court to procure
the election of a person devoted to it as Marshal of the Diet. Yet,
during: the whole reign of Augustus II. there was but one Diet

o do

which lasted. This cannot be otherwise, since a single deputy can
interrupt their deliberations. It is the Veto of the ancient tribunes
of Rome. . . . The women conduct political intrigues and dispose
of everything, while their husbands get drunk. . . . Poland main-
tains an army of 24,000 men, but they are bad troops. In case
of need it can assemble its arriere-ban ; but Augustus II. in vain
invoked it against Charles XII. Hence it was easy for Russia,
under a more perfect government, to profit by the weakness of its
neighbour, and to gain an ascendant over it."

' Hermann, Gcsch. Busslands, B. iv. S. 342. 2 Mcta. d( Brandebourg, ap. Garden.

Chai\ XLIV.] DOUBLE ELECTION TO POLISH CROWN. 65

France also employed money to secure the election of Stanis-
laus j but in fact, as a native Pole, he was the popular candidate,
as well as by his personal qualities ; and, had the nation been
left to itself, and that liberty of election allowed to it which the
Eastern Powers pretended to secure, he would have been the
undisputed King of Poland. But as Austrian troops were massed
in Silesia, while a Russian army was invading Poland from the
east, it was necessary for Stanislaus to enter the Kingdom by
stealth, in order to present himself to the electors. Had Cardinal
Fleury, the French Minister, been more active, this necessity
might have been averted ; but he kept Stanislaus several months
in France, and to insure his safety it became necessary to resort
to an artifice. A person simulating Stanislaus was sent to Dantzic
with a small French squadron having 1,500 troops on board;
while the real Stanislaus proceeded to Warsaw by way of Berlin,
in the disguise of a merchant. He was a second time elected
King of Poland on the plain of Vola by a great majority of the
electors — 60,000 it is said ; and his election was duly proclaimed
by the Primate of the Kingdom, Theodore Potocki, September
12th, 1733. Some 3,000 of the Palatines, however, gained by the
Elector of Saxony, and having the Bishop of Cracow at their
head, quitted the field of election, crossed the Vistula to Praga,
and elected Frederick Augustus, who, being supported by the
Prussian army, was proclaimed King of Poland, with the title of
Augustus III. (October 5th), and was immediately recognized by
the Emperor Charles VI.

Louis XV. made some vain remonstrances to the Cabinet of
Vienna. He told them that his personal dignity would not permit
him to abandon Stanislaus, about which they probably did not
much care ; as neither he nor the Poles who had elected Stanis-
laus took any pains to maintain him in his Kingdom. The
junction of the Russian and Saxon tioops compelled Stanislaus
to fly from Warsaw, and take refuge at Dantzic, where he was
besieged by the Russians. That place, after a brave and obstinate
defence, was at length compelled to surrender, June 28th, 1734.
Stanislaus had previously escaped in the disguise of a peasant to
Marienwerder, and thence to Konigsberg, where the King of
Prussia afforded him protection. Thus Frederick William seemed
to play an equivocal part ; for while he sheltered Stanislaus, he
sent 10,000 men to join the Imperial army which was to fight
against his cause, but did nothing but rob and oppress the
people among whom it was quartered. The Crown Prince, afterwards

IV. F

66 THE FRENCH DESERT STANISLAUS. [Chap. XLIV.

Frederick the Great, accompanied these troops, and is said to
have acquired some useful knowledge, by observing the bad dis-
cipline of the Austrians. All that the French did in favour of
Stanislaus was to send a paltry expedition, consisting of three
battalions, to Dantzic, which landed on May 10th and re-embarked
on the 14th. These troops, on their return, touched at Copen-
hagen. Count Plelo, who was then French Ambassador in that
city, was so indignant at their conduct that he led them back to
Dantzic ; but only to his own destruction and that of the greater
part of his companions.1 This was the first encounter between
the Russians and French. After these events, the Russians
and Austrians began to dictate in Poland, and the seat of govern-
ment seemed to lie rather at St. Petersburg than Warsaw.2 Some
of the chief Polish nobles became Russian pensioners, and abused
their paymasters while they pocketed their money.

The French Court seemed more intent on what advantage they
might reap from the conjuncture than on supporting Stanislaus
and the " dignity" of his son-in-law, Louis XV., or maintaining
the balance of power. This last motive was indeed assigned in a
secret treaty concluded between France and Sardinia, September
26th, 1733, for the purpose of an attack upon the Emperor's
Italian provinces. The balance of power seemed rather to depend
on the fate of Poland. Russia, however, notwithstanding her
recent gigantic advances, does not yet appear to have inspired
much alarm in Europe ; at all events, France could promise
herself but little benefit from a war with that country. The
Sardinian sceptre had now passed to Charles Emanuel III.,
through the abdication of his father, Victor Amadeus II., in
1730. It was the custom of the House of Savoy to make peace
or war according to its political convenience ; and in the secret
treaty with the French Crown it was agreed that the Milanese
should be attacked, and, when conquered, annexed to the Sar-
dinian dominions. By a particular convention, when the King
of Sardinia should also acquire Mantua, Savoy was to be ceded
to France.3 The Austrian Netherlands were not to be attacked,
unless the conduct of the Powers interested in their preservation
rendered it necessary. So also the Empire was to be distin-
guished from the Emperor. Nothing was to be done to the

1 Mem. de Brandebourg, t. iii. p. 72. This, however, was a particular conven-

2 See the state-paper drawn up for the tion, and does not appear in the treaty,
instruction of Augustus III. ap. Her- which is given by Garden, t. iii. p. 173
mann, Gesch. Russtands, B. iv. S. 559 ff. sqq.

Martin, Hist, de France, t.xv. p. 182.

Chap. XLIV.] ALLIANCE OF FRANCE, SPAIN, SARDINIA. 67

prejudice of the former; and the King of Sardinia, when in
possession of the Milanese, was to acknowledge that he held it
as an Imperial fief. These arrangements were intended to pre-
vent Holland and England from interfering on the ground of the
Barrier Treaty, and to bring some of the German princes into the
alliance. Further, by separate articles, it was agreed that it
would be advisable to drive the Emperor from Naples and Sicily
and the Tuscan ports ; that is, to expel him entirely from Italy,
when his Italian possessions were to be made over to Don Carlos
and his heirs male, or, in their default, to the next sons of the
Queen of Spain, and their male descendants, in the order of pri-
mogeniture ; and, failing all male heirs, they were to be reunited
to the Spanish Crown. The King of Spain was to be invited to
accede to the treaty.

In consequence of this treaty, Louis XV. declared war against
the Emperor, October 10th, 1733. The Queen of Spain seized
the occasion to push the interest of her family. She longed to
see Don Carlos on the throne of Naples ; and her pride was hurt
by the ancient forms of vassalage which bound him, as Duke of
Parma and Tuscany, to the Emperor; as if these forms had been
invented for the express purpose of humiliating an Infant of
Spain ! She had also another son to provide for. By the skilful
administration of Patiiio, called the Colbert of Spain, the army
and navy had been brought into a flourishing condition ; the
former numbered 80,000 men, flushed with recent victories over
the Moors in Africa. As soon as a rupture between France and
Austria was certain, a defensive alliance was concluded at the
Escorial, October 25th, between France, Spain, and Sai'dinia,
according to the terms already mentioned. The Emperor endea-
voured to draw England and Holland on his side; but these
Powers determined to remain neutral, provided France abstained
from attacking the Austrian Netherlands. The English Ministry,
embarrassed by domestic affairs, and engrossed by the prospect
of a general election, contented themselves with offering their

\ mediation,1 and, on November 24th, 1733, a convention was signed

: at the Hague, by which Louis XV. engaged not to invade the

i Netherlands.2

France began the war by seizing Lorraine, whose Duke, Francis

I Stephen, was destined to marry the Archduchess, Maria Theresa,
and thus to become the stem of a new House of Austria. Marshal

1 Coxe's Memoirs of Sir Bohert Walpole, ch. xliii.
# 2 Rousset, Recutil, t. ix. p. 461.

68 CAMPAIGN OF 1734. [Chap.XLIV.

Berwick crossed the Bhine and captured Kehl, October 9th, 1733 ;
but as this fortress belonged to the Empire, Louis, in order not to
embroil himself with that body, declared that he would restore it
at the peace. The conquest of the Milanese was intrusted to
Marshal Villars, and, with the aid of the Piedmontese, was vir-
tually effected in three months. Mantua, however, the strong-
hold of Lornbardy, remained in possession of the Austrians, who
were assembling in large masses in Tyrol. Villars besought Don
Carlos and the Duke of Montemar, who had arrived in Italy with
' a Spanish army, to assist him in dispersing the Austrians ; but
they preferred marching to Naples, and in February, 1734, quitted
North Italy. The German Diet, by a decree of February 26th,
declared that France had violated the Peace of Baden by invad-
ing the Empire and the Duchy of Milan, as well as by levying
contributions in the Circles ; but the Electors of Bavaria, Cologne,
and the Palatine remonstrated against this declaration, and deter-
mined to preserve a strict neutrality. In the campaign of this
year, Berwick detached Count Bellisle against Treves and Trar-
bach, which he took, while Berwick himself, with the main body,
undertook the siege of Philippsburg, where he was killed in the
trenches, June 12th. The command now devolved on Marshal
d'Asfeld, to whom the place surrendered, July 18th. The Imperial
army, under the command of the aged Eugene, now only the
shadow of his former self, looked idly on during the siege. In
Italy, the principal theatre of the war, the allies were everywhere
successful. The conquest of the Milanese was completed by the
capture of Novara and Tortona. The Imperialists, worsted near
Parma, June 29th, gained indeed some advantage over Marshal
Broglie, near Quistello, but were completely defeated Sep-
tember 19th, between Guastalla and Suzzara. Yet the King of
Sardinia, who had displayed great courage in the battle, refused
to follow up the victory. The joy of these successes was damped
by the death of Villars at Turin, June 17th, within a few days of
that of Berwick. They were the last of those great commanders
who had illustrated the reign of Louis XIV.

The affairs of the Emperor went still worse in Southern Italy.
Don Carlos and Montemar entered the Neapolitan dominions in
May, 1734, and marched without resistance to the capital, which
immediately opened its gates ; for the Austrian sway was highly
unpopular. Instead of meeting the enemy in the open field, the
Emperor's forces had been weakened by being distributed into
garrisons ; the only considerable body of them which had been

•Chap. XLIV.] PEACE BETWEEN FRANCE AND AUSTRIA. 69

kept together consisted of 9,000 or 10,000 men, entrenched at
Bitonto,in Apulia, who were completely defeated by the Spaniards,
May 25th. This victory decided the conquest of all Naples. Monte-
mar then passed into Sicily and speedily reduced the whole of that
island. Don Carlos was crowned King of the Two Sicilies at
Palermo, July 3rd, 1735, with the title of Charles III. He was
an amiable Prince, and, under the guidance of his enlightened
minister, Bernardo Tanucci, an ancient professor of jurisprudence
at Pisa, the reign of the Spanish Bourbons in Italy began with a
promise which was not subsequently realized.

In Northern Italy, the campaign of 1735 was as favourable to
the allies as that of the preceding year. The Imperialists were
driven out of Austrian Lombardy, with the exception of Mantua,
and even this they preserved only through the dissensions of the
allies. As Spain claimed Mantua for Don Carlos, and would give
Charles Emanuel no guarantee for the possession of the Milanese,
that Prince was unwilling to forward the reduction of Mantua.
France also, satisfied with the possession of Lorraine, did not
wish Spain to reap any further advantages ; and by refusing to
supply battering artillery and by other means, endeavoured, in
concert with the maritime Powers, to obstruct the progress of
the Spanish arms.1 Nothing memorable occurred on the Rhine.
Marshal Coigny held Eugene in check, and prevented him from
crossing that river, though he was supported by a corps of
10,000 Russians under Count Lacy and General Keith.

The appearance of this corps, however, hastened the negotia-
tions between Austria and France, which had already been com-
menced. The reverses experienced by the Emperor led him to
desire peace, while England and Holland offered to mediate.
Their proposals were visibly in the Emperor's favour, and he
seemed at first disposed to accept them. The proffered mediation
was rejected, not by him, but by the allied Crowns; though Charles
was indeed displeased with England and Holland, thinking that
they had not afforded him that help which they were bound to
give by the Second Treaty of Vienna. He listened, therefore, not
unwillingly to the secret proposals of France, which were made
to him at the instance of Chauvelin, the French Minister for Foreign
Affairs ; and preliminaries were signed at Vienna, October 3rd,
1735. France not only abandoned the cause of Stanislaus, the
pretended object of the war, but also deserted Spain, whose sub-
sidies she had received. A cessation of hostilities took place in

1 Correspondence of Lord Waldcgrave, ap. Coxe, Spanish Bourbons, vol. iii. p. 271.

70 THIRD TREATY OF VIENNA. [Chap. XLIV.

November, but the signature of a definite treaty was delayed
more than three years through secret negotiations between the
Cabinets of Vienna and Versailles, the subject of which is not
certainly known, but probably related to the Pragmatic Sanction.
The delay seems to have been caused by Cardinal Fleury listen-
ing to the representations of the Elector of Bavaria.

The Spanish Sovereigns were naturally indignant at the con-
duct of France ; but the arming of the maritime Powers, and the
appearance of an English squadron on the coasts of Spain, alarmed
them into an acceptance of the peace (May, 1736) .1 By the Third
Treaty op Vienna, November 18th, 1738, it was arranged that
King Stanislaus should abdicate the Crown of Poland, but retain
the Royal title. Augustus III. was to be recognized in his stead,
while the Polish Constitution and liberty of election were guaran-
teed. Tuscany, on the death of the Grand Duke, was to be
assigned to the Duke of Lorraine, whose duchies of Bar and
Lorraine were to be transferred to Stanislaus;2 the former imme-
diately, the latter, so soon as the Duchy of Tuscany should become
vacant. Stanislaus was to hold these duchies for life ; and upon
his decease they were to be united to the French Crown. The
County of Falkenstein, however, a small district separated from
Lorraine, and situated at the foot of Mount Tonnerre, was reserved
to the Duke Francis Stephen, in order that he might hold a posses-
sion under the Empire, and that it might not be objected to him,
when he should hereafter aspire to the Imperial Throne, as son-
in-law of the Emperor Charles VI., that he was a foreign Prince.
The Diet subsequently agreed that the vote which the Dukes of
Lorraine had hitherto enjoyed in their quality of Marquises of
Nomeny should be attached to the County of Falkenstein. Naples
and Sicily, with the Tuscan prcesidia, were to remain in the posses-
sion of Don Carlos. The King of Sardinia to have the Novarese
and Vigevanese, or the Tortonese and Vigevanese, or the Novarese
and Tortonese, according to his option. Parma and Piacenza were
to be assigned to the Emperor. France guaranteed the Pragmatic
Sanction, and acquiesced in the marriage of the Duke of Lorraine
with the Archduchess, Maria Theresa3 — a union which had hitherto
been opposed by France, because Lorraine would thus have been
ultimately added to the Austrian dominions. The King of Sar-
dinia acceded to this treaty, February 3rd, 1739 ; and the Courts

1 Coxe, Spanish Bourbons, iii. p. 277. it the air of a little capital.

2 It is to Stanislaus that Nanci owes 3 Wenek, Cod. jur gent, rcc, t. i. p. 86-
those architectural pretensions which give and 88 sq.

Chap. XLIV.] AUGUSTUS III. IN POLAND. 71

of Madrid and Naples in the following April. Thus terminated
a war for which the question of the Polish Succession afforded
only a pretence.

The Emperor was the chief loser by this treaty ; yet, though
Naples and Sicily were wrested from his dominion, he recovered,
on the other hand, nearly all the possessions which had been con-
quered from him in Northern Italy, besides acquiring Parma, and,
indirectly, through his son-in-law, Tuscany. The recognition of
the Pragmatic Sanction by France was also no slight advantage
to him. The loss of Lorraine did not concern him directly, but
merely in its quality of an Imperial fief; whilst, on the other
hand, it was a direct and very important acquisition for France,
and a very unlooked-for, though important, consequence of the
ill-assorted marriage between Louis XV. and Mary Lesczinska.
It was finally united to the French Crown on the death of Stanis-
laus, in 1766. England and Holland looked quietly on. The
Spanish Sovereigns were highly discontented with the Treaty,
though two kingdoms like Naples and Sicily were hardly a bad
exchange for the two duchies of Parma and Tuscany. The Grand
Duke of Tuscany, the last of the Medicis, died July 9th, 1737,
worn out by debauchery ; and thus, on the signature of the
treaty, there was nothing to prevent the immediate execution of
its provisions. Stanislaus had abdicated the Crown of Poland by
an act signed at Konigsberg, January 27th, 1736, and Russia sig-
nified her adherence to the provisions about Poland in May.
The peace finally arranged at the Diet of Warsaw, July 10th,
1736, between Augustus III. and the Polish States, provided for
the maintenance of the Roman Catholic religion, and the right of
the Poles to elect their Sovereign. The Saxon troops were to
leave the Kingdom in forty days, except the body-guard of the
King, consisting of 1,200 men. The Russians were to evacuate
the kingdom at the same time. Dissenters were to enjoy security
of person and property; but they were not to be admissible into
the public service, nor to the dignities of Palatines and Starosts ;
nor were they to be allowed to seek the protection of foreign
Powers.1

One motive which had induced the Emperor to accede to the
terms offered by France was the prospect of indemnifying him-
self for his losses by a war with the Turks, which he had entered
into, in conformity with treaties, in conjunction with Russia.

1 Schmauss, Einleitung zu der Staatswissenschaft, B. ii. S. 601 sq.

72 EUSSIA AND THE PORTE. [Chap. XLIV.

But to explain this matter it will be necessary to revert to the
history of these countries since the Peace of Passarowitz.

Peter the Great had never digested his humiliation at the Pruth,
nor abandoned his favourite schemes for extending his Empire ;
but, so long as he was engaged in the Northern War, nothing
could be done. In contemplation of an expedition into Persia,
which rendered peace with the Porte indispensable, he had re-
newed, in 1720, the treaties of the Pruth and Adrian ople ; and,
in spite of the opposition of the English resident, Stanyan, he
obtained two important concessions, viz., the privilege of having
a resident minister at Constantinople, and the abrogation of the
yearly present or tribute made to the Tatar Chan of the Crimea.
It is remarkable that on this occasion both the contracting par-
ties guaranteed the Polish Constitution, and declared that none
of its territories or towns should be severed from Poland.1
Hence, when the Russian troops entered that country in 1733
to support Augustus III., the Porte remonstrated against it
as a 'breach of treaty ; but being occupied with domestic dis-
sensions, as well as with a Persian war, took no steps to pre-
vent it.

It was the Czar's expedition into Persia, in 1722, which ulti-
mately brought Russia into collision with the Turks. Persia was
then in the throes of a revolution. The Throne of the Sefi Dynasty,
which had reigned upwards of two centuries, was shaken by a re-
volt of the Afghans, and Hussein, the last of that Dynasty, was
deposed by Mir Mahmood in 1722.2 Peter complained of wrongs
done to Russian merchants, and not being able to obtain the re-
dress he demanded, declared war. In the summer of 1722 Peter
embarked at Astrachan, and traversed the Caspian Sea, which
he had previously caused to be surveyed, with a fleet carrying
22,000 soldiers. His real object was to obtain possession of
Daghestan, and he captured and garrisoned Derbent, the capital
of that province. He renewed the war in the following year, in
spite of the remonstrances of the Porte, and made himself master
of Ghilan and Bachu, while, on the other side, the Pasha of Erze-
rum broke into Georgia and seized Tiflis, the capital. A treaty
with Turkey for the partition of Persia, and the restoration of
some part of it to Shah Thamasp, Hussein's son, was one of the
Czar's last political acts. He died of a urinary disorder, the con-

1 Bacmeistor, Btitrage svr Gesch. Piter pire at this juncture, and of the character

dts G. B. iii. Beylage 21 ; Koch et Scholl, of Shah Hussein, will be found in Han-

t. xiv. p. 298. wa y's Revolutions of Persia, in his Travels,

2 The best account of the Pe r<ian Em- vol- ii.

Chap. XLIV.] DEATH OF PETER THE GREAT. 73

sequence of his debauches, February 10th, 1725, in the fifty-
second year of his age. A being of the wildest and most savage
impulse, yet capable of deep reflection and indomitable perseve-
rance ; addicted to debauchery, and: possessing unlimited means
for its indulgence, yet submitting himself voluntarily, for the sake
of his country, to all the hardships and privations of a common
mechanic ; bred up in what are perhaps the most obstinate of all
prejudices, those of a half -civilized people, yet one of the most
remarkable reformers of any age, and in the space of his short
reign, the real founder of the Russian Empire.

Peter's son Alexis, by his first wife, Eudoxia, had died in 1718,
in a mysterious manner. The conduct of Alexis had never been
satisfactory to his father. He was averse to all military exercises,
the slave of the priests, and the tool of the Old Russian Party,
which hated and opposed all Peter's innovations and reforms.
Hence, at an early period, the Czar had seriously meditated de-
priving him of the succession and shutting him up in a convent.
Peter, during his absence in the war of 1711, had left his son
nominal Regent ; but was so little content with his conduct that,
in a memorable letter addressed to the Senate, he directed them,
in case of his own death, to elect ' ' the worthiest" for his succes-
sor. His discontent with his heir went on increasing. During
Peter's journey to Holland and France, in 1717, Alexis had fled
for protection to the Court of Vienna. After a short stay in that
capital, and afterwards in the fortress of Ehrenberg, in Tyrol, he
proceeded under a false name to Naples, and found a refuge in
the Castle of St. Elmo. His hiding-place was, however, dis-
covered ; the Viceroy gave him up on the demand of the Czar's
envoys; and on February 3rd, 1718, he was brought back to
Moscow. On the following morniug he was arraigned before
a great council of the clergy, nobles, and principal citizens of
Moscow, in whose presence he was compelled to sign a solemn
act of renunciation of the Crown. The confessions which Alexis
made on this occasion led to the discovery of a plot which had
been hatching seven years, and in which some of the leading
Russian nobles were implicated. The objects of it were to mas-
sacre, after the accession of Alexis, all the chief Russians and
Germans who had been employed in carrying out the reforms of
Peter; to make peace with Sweden, and restore to that Power
St. Petersburg and the other conquests which had been gained
from it ; to disband the standing army, and restore the soldiers
to their original condition of peasants. On May 26th, 1718, a

74 CATHARINE I. OF RUSSIA. [Chap. XLIV.

large assembly of the clergy, and of the highest civil and mili-
tary officers, found the Czarewitsch guilty on these charges, and
pronounced sentence of death. This verdict was read to Alexis;
and, according to the account of the matter most favourable to
Peter, the fright occasioned by it produced an apoplexy of which
the young Prince died on the following day. According to another
account, he was subjected to the knout, his father administering
some of the first blows with his own hand ; the punishment was
twice renewed on the same day, and on the third application he
expired.1

Alexis had left two children : a daughter, Natalia Alexejewna,
born July 23rd, 1714, and a son, Peter Alexejewitsch, born Oc-
tober 22nd, 1715. These were his offspring by his consort, a
Princess of Bruns wick- Wolfe nbiittel, whom he hated because she
was a Protestant, and is said to have treated so ill as to cause her
death after her second lying-in. According to the laws of heredi-
tary succession, the son of Alexis, now nine years old, was en-
titled to the Crown on the death of the Czar. But by a ukase,
published in February, 1722, before proceeding on his expedition
into Persia, Peter had asserted his privilege to settle the succes-
sion of the Crown; and, in May, 1724, he had caused his wife
Catharine to be solemnly crowned in the cathedral at Moscow —
a ceremony which he intended as no vain and empty pageant, but
as an indication and pledge that she was to succeed him in the
Imperial dignity. He does not seem, however, to have made
any formal nomination of her ;2 and after her coronation he ap-
pears to have discovered that she had been unfaithful to him with
the chamberlain, Mons. Catharine's elevation to the throne was
effected, partly through corruption, partly by force, by her parti-
zans, the New Russian Party, in opposition to the Old Russian fac-
tion. The only evidence produced in favour of her claim to the
Crown was Peter's verbal declaration that he would make her his
successor. Nothing of much importance occurred during the two
years of Catharine's reign. She died May 6th, 1727. Soon after
her accession she had married her eldest daughter, Anna Pe-
trowna, then seventeen years of age, to the Duke of Holstein.

When Catharine I. lay on her death-bed, an assembly of the

1 Le Fort's Relation, ap. Hermann, piece. One of the articles insists on the
Gesch. Eusslands, B. iv. S. 330. necessity of approaching Constantinople

2 There is a document called The Po- and India, on the ground that " he who
liHcal Testament of Peter the Great, the commands them is the true ruler of the
authenticity of which has been much con- world." Zinkeisen, Gesch des osm. Reichs,
tested. It is, at all events, a remarkable B. v. S» 607 Anna.

Chap. XLIV.] MUSCOVITE REVOLUTIONS. 75

great civil and military officers of the Empire determined that the
Crown should be given to Peter, the son of Alexis. This grandson
of Peter the Great was now in his twelfth year, and the assembly
fixed his majority at sixteen. During his minority the Govern-
ment was to be conducted by the Supreme Council, under the
presidency of the Duchess of Holstein and the Princess Elizabeth,
second daughter of Peter and Catharine. This arrangement,
however, was somewhat modified by a pretended will of Catha-
rine's, which appears to have been manufactured by Prince Men-
schikoff and Count Bassewitz, and bore the signature of the Prin-
cess Elizabeth, who was accustomed to sign all documents for the
Empress. It contained not, like the resolutions of the Assembly,
any indemnity for the judges who had condemned Alexis. The
decision of the Supreme Council was to be governed by the
majority, and the Czar was to be present at their deliberations,
but without a voice. The Government was to effect the marriage
of the Czar with a daughter of Prince Menschikoff s. Should
Peter II. die without heirs, he was to be succeeded, first, by the
Duchess of Holstein and her descendants, and then by her sister,
the Princess Elizabeth, and her descendants. Failing heirs of
all these, the Crown was to go to Natalia, daughter of Alexis.1

In spite of these regulations, however, Menschikoff, who was so
ignorant that he could hardly read or write, virtually seized the
Regency, and exercised a despotism even more terrible than that
of Peter the Great. He was immediately made Generalissimo, and
betrothed the Czar to his eldest daughter, Maria. The only other
member of the Council who enjoyed any share in the Government
was Baron Ostermann, the Vice- Chancellor. The Duke and Duchess
of Holstein lost all influence, and to avoid Menschikoff s insolence,
proceeded to Holstein, where the Duchess died in the following
year, a few months after giving birth to a son, who, in course of
time, became Peter III. But the overbearing conduct, the avarice
and corruption of Menschikoff became in a few months so intole-
rable, that the youthful Czar summoned courage to banish him to
Siberia (September, 1727), where he died two years afterwards.
Ostermann continued to retain his influence, and a struggle for
power took place between the Golowkins, the Dolgoroukis, and
the Golizyns. Peter the Great's first wife, Eudoxia, had returned
to Moscow after the accession of her grandson, but she obtained
no influence. There is nothing memorable to be recorded during
the reign of Peter II., whose only passion was an extravagant
1 Hermann, Gesch. Busslands, B. iv. S. 497 u. Anm.

76 ANNA, EMPRESS OF RUSSIA. [Chap. XLIV.

fondness for the chase. He died of the small-pox in January, 1730,
just as he was on the point of being married to the Princess
Catharine Dolgorouki. His sister, Natalia, had preceded him to
the tomb. The Russian nobles now selected Peter the Great's
niece, Anna Ivanovna, the widowed Duchess of Courland, to suc-
ceed to the throne, but on condition that she should sign a capitu-
lation by which she engaged not to marry, nor to name a successor,
besides many other articles which could have rendered her only an
instrument in the hands of the Dolgoroukis and their party.
But soon after her accession, with the assistance of the nobles
who were opposed to that party, she cancelled this capitulation,
and sent the Dolgoroukis into banishment. Baron Ostermann
became the chief counsellor of the Empress Anna ; but she was
principally ruled by her favourite, Biron, the son of an equerry.

Under the reign of this Empress, the schemes of Peter the
Great against the Ottoman Empire were revived. In consequence
of the restoration of Azof and Taganrog to the Porte, and the de-
struction of the Russian forts, the Crim and Nogay Tatars had
again become troublesome, and made incursions into the Russian
territories ; while disputes had also been going on respecting
boundary lines on the Caspian and Black Seas and in the Ukraine.
The Persian conquests of Peter the Great were, however, almost
entirely abandoned. Besides the enormous sums required for their
defence, these provinces were found to be but the grave of brave
officers and soldiers. A treaty was, therefore, concluded in
January, 1732, between the Empress Anna and the celebrated
Taehmas Kouli Khan, by which a great part of the Russian con-
quests in Persia was restored.1 On the other hand, it was resolved
to recover Azof and to chastize the Tatars ; but this object was
retarded a while by the Russian interference in the affairs of Poland,
already recorded.

Turkey was now exhausted by her long war with Persia, as well
as by the revolution which had taken place at Constantinople, and
the consequent efforts of the Government to extirpate the Janis-
saries. These troops, alienated by the heavy taxes and the dearness
of provisions, and more especially by the reluctance displayed by
Sultan Achmet III. to prosecute a projected expedition against
Persia, had, in September, 1730, organized a revolt, under the
conduct of an Albanian named Patrona Chalil, one of their body,

1 Roussct, Recueil, t. vii. p. 457. Taeh- his first acts was to unite the sects of the
mas obtained the Persian throne, with Shiites and Sonnites, and to make peace
the title of Nadir Shah, in 1736. One of with the Turks. Hanway, ii. p. 343.

Chap. XLIV.] REVOLUTION IN TURKEY. 77

and a dealer in old clothes ; who, having spent his money in fitting
himself out for the war, was vexed to be disappointed of his expected
booty. "Weak, luxurious, and good-tempered, Achmet negotiated
with the rebels, and delaved till it was too late to strike a decisive
blow. The rebels seemed to receive his proposals favourably; they
wished him all prosperity, but required satisfaction of their demands
and the surrender of those persons to whom they imputed the
public distress, including the Mufti, the Grand Vizier, Ibrahim,
the Sultan's sons-in-law, and others. Finding that nobody would
fight in his cause, Achmet caused the persons demanded to be
strangled, and delivered to the Janissaries. But even this would
not satisfy them. They had stipulated that their victims should be
surrendered alive, and they pretended that the bodies of some
slaves had been substituted for those of the persons they had de-
manded. Achmet was now compelled to abdicate in favour of his
nephew, Mahmood, son of Mustapha II. Nevertheless, Patrona
Chalil continued several weeks to be the real Sovereign of Turkey.
At first he affected the purest disinterestedness. He caused the
treasures of the Grand Vizier and other victims to be fairly divided
among his confederates, and he demanded the abolition of all the
new taxes. But having incurred the suspicion of accepting bribes,
he lost the confidence of his associates, and the Government was
enabled to effect his destruction. Patrona was admitted to attend
the sittings of the Divan ; and on one of these occasions, he and
two other of the principal ringleaders were put to death in the
midst of the assembled ministers. After this, with the assistance
of the citizens, the revolt was gradually extinguished.

The war with Persia, however, still went on. In 1733 and 1734
the Osmanlis made two most unsuccessful campaigns against that
country, so that they confessed themselves " that they were never
more embarrassed since the establishment of their monarchy."1
The fate of the Turkish Empire had already become an object of
solicitude to the statesmen of Europe. It was remarked that the
Osmanli Dominion was supported, not by its own intrinsic power,
but through the jealousy of Christian princes, who did not wish to
see the States of others aggrandized by the partition of its pro-
vinces. It was at this time that Cardinal Alberoni amused his
leisure hours by drawing up a scheme for the annihilation of
Turkey as an independent Power, which is worth mentioning here
only as a proof of the interest excited by the fate of Turkey among

1 Hanway, vol. ii. p. 333.

78 KUSSIAN AND TURKISH WAR. [Chap. XLIV.

the politicians of that day.1 It does not appear, however, that any
jealousy then existed of Russia aggrandizing herself at the expense
of Turkey.

The French, opposed to Russia in the affairs of Poland, were
seeking to incite the Porte to a war with that country through
their resident Villeneuve and the renegade Count Bonneval, who
had turned Mahometan, and become Pasha of Bosnia.2 England
and Holland, on the contrary, endeavoured to maintain the peace.
These Powers desired not the ruin of the Turks, who were their
best customers for cloths and other articles ; nor did they wish
to see a Russian commerce established in the Mediterranean
through the Black Sea, which could not but be injurious to their
trade.3

The pretence seized by the Russians for declaring war against
the Porte was the passing of the Tatars through their territories
when marching to the war in Persia. Field-Marshal Munnich was
appointed to command the army destined to operate against the
Crimea and Azof. The first expedition took place in 1735, when
the Russians penetrated into the Steppes, but were compelled to
return with great loss. In the following year Munnich captured
Perekop, forced the lines which protected the Crimea, and overran
that peninsula, but was compelled to evacuate it again in the
autumn. In the same campaign, Azof surrendered to Field-Marshal
Lacy (July 1st). The operations of 1737 were directed more
against the proper dominions of Turkey. Otschakow was taken,
and Munnich entered the Ukraine.

Meanwhile the Emperor Charles VI. had also begun to take
part in the war, from causes which demand a few words of expla-
nation.

The relations between Austria and the Porte had not been
essentially disturbed since the Peace of Passarowitz ; though
Bonneval, who thought that he had been injured by Austria, and
who had leagued himself with the Transylvanian Prince, Joseph
Ragoczy, son of Francis Ragoczy, used every endeavour to in-
cite the Porte to an Austrian war. But, on the other hand, Russia
claimed the assistance of Austria, under an alliance which had been
concluded between them in 1726, the occasion of which was as

1 Alheroni's plan was published at 3 See Munnich, Tagibuch uher den
Frankfort and Leipsic in 1736. ersten Feldzug des in den Jahren 1735

2 The Mi-moires du Comte de Bonneval bis 1739 gefiihrten russisch-tiirkischen
contain his extraordinary adventures, in Kriegs (Hermann, Beytrage zur Gesch.
which, however, there is a good deal of des Buss. Belches). This journal is the
fiction. best authority for tbe ensuing war.

Chap. XLIV.] AUSTRIA JOINS THE RUSSIANS. 79

follows. The Empress Catharine had, in 1725, demanded from Den-
mark the freedom of the Sound, and the restitution of Schleswick
to the Duke of Holstein, and seemed preparing to enforce these
demands by a war. The King of Denmark hereupon appealed to
George I. for help, according to the treaties existing between
them; and early in 1726 a large English fleet, under the command
of Admiral Wager, appeared in the Baltic. As it was suspected
that the real design of the Russian Court was rather to support
the partisans of the Duke of Holstein in Sweden than to invade
Denmark, Admiral Wager informed King Frederick that he came
to maintain peace in the Xorth, and to protect Sweden against the
enterprises of Russia. The Russian fleet did not venture to leave
port. Catharine I., incensed by this conduct, joined the Alliance
of Vienna by the Treaty of August 6th, 1726, already mentioned
(supra, p. 58). It was under this treaty, by which Austria and
Russia, besides guaranteeing each other's possessions, had agreed
in case of war to assist one another with 30,000 men, that Russia
demanded the aid of Austria in her war with the Turks. The
latter Power sent the stipulated quota into Hungary as a corps of
observation, and, in January, 1737, the treaty of 1726 was re-
newed. Austria undertook to furnish 50,000 men; with the aid of
the Empire an army of 120,000 men was ultimately raised, and
placed under the command of Count von Seckendorf, with whom
the young Duke Francis Stephen of Lorraine, son-in-law of the
Emperor, was nominally associated as commander-in-chief.

War was publicly declared against the Turks, July 14th, after a
solemn service in St. Stephen's Church at Vienna. It Was ordered
that the Turks' bell should be rung every morning at seven p'clock
throughout the Empire, when all were to offer up their prayers for
the success of the Christian cause. The Austrian arms were at first
successful. Nissa capitulated June 23rd, and another division
subdued Possega and Kassova. But the fortune of the Imperialists
now began to change. Seckendorf had divided his forces too
much; an attempt on Widdin entirely failed, and in October
the Turks recovered Nissa. Seckendorf, who was a Protestant,
was now recalled, subjected to a court-martial and imprisoned,
and Field-Marshal Philip pi was appointed to succeed him.

The campaign of 1738 was unfavourable both to the Russians
and Austrians. The Russians again invaded the Crimea with the
design of taking Kaffa, but without success, and Munnich's cam-
paign of the Dniester was equally fruitless. The Imperialists, under
Counts Wallis and Neuperg, defeated the Turks at Kronia, near

80 CAMPAIGN OF 1739. [Chap. XLIV.

Mehadia, but with great loss on their part ; while the Turks soon
after took Seinendria, Mehadia, Orsova, and Fort St. Elizabeth j
when the Imperial army withdrew behind the walls of Semlin and
Belgrade. The unsatisfactory issue of this campaign, both for
Russia and Austria, produced a coolness between those Powers.
The Cabinet of Vienna complained that Miinnich had not carried
out the plan agreed upon by attacking Bender and Choczim ;
also that he had hindered a Russian corps of 30,000 men from
joining the Imperial army in Hungary. Both Powers now began
to meditate a separate peace, and Sweden and Prussia offered their
mediation. The events of 1739, however, gave a new turn to
affairs. Miinnich crossed the Dniester, stormed and took the
Turkish camp at Stawutschane (August 28th), and captured
Choczim. Then passing the Pruth, he entered Jassy, while the
Bojars of Moldavia signified their submission. His intention now
was to march on Bender, and in the following year, to penetrate
into the heart of the Grand Signor's dominions, when he was
arrested by the unwelcome news that a peace had been concluded
at Belgrade.

The fortune of the Austrians this year had been as ill as his own
was good. On July 23rd, they had been totally defeated at Grozka
with a loss of more than 20,000 men, and had abandoned the field
in panic flight. The Turks, who compared their victory to that of
Mohacs, now laid siege to Belgrade. The Imperial Cabinet saw
no hope of safety except in making a peace by submitting to some
losses, and Neuperg was commissioned to treat. The Empress of
Russia, against the advice of Ostermann, and at the instigation of
her favourite, Biron,1 now Duke of Courland, accepted, in con-
junction with Austria, the mediation of France, through Villeneuve,
the French ambassador at the Porte. This step is attributed to
Biron's envy of Miinnich, and fear of the Old Russian Party,
which was again raising its head, and necessitated peace abroad.
On September 1st, 1739, Neuperg signed preliminaries in the
Turkish camp, by which he engaged to surrender Belgrade and
Schabatz, to evacuate Servia, Austrian Wallachia, and Orsova, and
to raze Mehadia as well as the new works at Belgrade. These
preliminaries were guaranteed by France. Villeneuve, it is said,
had had the less difficulty to persuade Neuperg to surrender Bel-^
grade, because he knew the Duke of Lorraine and Maria Theresa

1 Ferdinand, Duke of Courland, the Russian influence and bayonets, and was
last of the House of Kettler, having died recognized by Augustus HI. and the
May 4, 1737, Biron was elected under Polish Senate in 17t>9.

Chap. XLIV.] PEACE BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE PORTE. 81

wished for peace at any price, lest, at the anticipated death of the
Emperor, and through the troubles which were likely to ensue there-
on, they should be hampered by this war.1 The Austrian Cabinet
repented when it heard of Munition's victory at Choczim, but did
not withhold its ratification of the definitive treaty, which was
signed September 18th. By the peace concluded between the
Porte and Russia on the same day, Azof was assigned to the
Russians ; but the fortifications were to be razed and the country
around it wasted, in order to serve as a boundary between the two
nations. Russia was authorized to build fortresses on the Don,
and the Porte to do the same on the borders of the Kuban. The
fortifications of Taganrog were not to be restored. Russia was
to maintain no fleet either on the Sea of Zabach (or Azof) or on
the Black Sea, and her commerce was to be carried on only in
Turkish vessels.2 Mtinnich, irritated at this peace, in contraven-
tion of orders from the Russian Court, continued the war a little
while, and cantoned his troops in Poland and Moldavia ; and it
was only on a repetition of the command to withdraw that he at
length retired into the Ukraine.

1 This, however, is denied by IMailatb.
(Gisch. v. Oestreich, B. iv. S. 643), who
alleges that Neuperg's son, in a biography
published in justification of his father,
Ignores this story, which would have
formed a plausible excuse. Both Xeuperg

and Wallis, the Austrian commander with
whom he acted, were thrown into prison
by the Emperor, but released soon after
his death.

2 Laugier, Xcgociat ions for the Peace of
ade, ch. xviii. sqq. (Engl. Trans.).

IV.

82 DISPUTES BETWEEN ENGLAND AND SPAIN. [Chap. XLV.

CHAPTER .XLV.

THE next epoch, of which we shall treat in the two following-
chapters, extending from the third Treaty of Vienna, in
1738, to the Peace of Aix la Chapelle in 1748, is marked by two
wars ; a maritime war between England and Spain, and the war
of the Austrian Succession. The complicated relations which
arose out of the latter soon caused these two wars to run into one ;
or rather, perhaps, the interest inspired by that of the Austrian
Succession caused the other to be forgotten.

Under the reign of Charles II. of Spain, the English merchants
had been allowed considerable privileges in their trade with the
Spanish colonies in America. The ministers of that King having
need of the friendship of Great Britain, had winked at the con-
traband trade carried on by the English, and had exercised the
right of search indulgently. But all this was altered after the ac-
cession of Philip V. We have seen that at the Peace of Utrecht
the privilege of supplying the Spanish possessions with slaves was
assigned to the English by the Asiento for thirty years, besides the
right of sending an annual ship to the fair of Vera Cruz. There
can be no doubt that these privileges were abused by the English
merchants; while, On the other hand, useless difficulties were
thrown in the way even of the legitimate trade by the Spaniards,
and illegal seizures were frequently made by their guarda costas,
or cruisers. Hence demands for redress on the part of the
English, and counter-claims on the part of Philip V., on account
of his reserved share of the profits of the Asiento, and for duties
evaded. Horrible stories were told on both sides of barbarities
committed; the tale of " Jenkins' ears" will be familiar to all
readers of English history.1 Disputes also arose respecting the
boundaries of Carolina and Florida, and the feeling against Spain -
ran so high in England that the peaceful Sir Robert Walpole was
at length reluctantly compelled to make some hostile demon-
strations.

! See Coxe, Memoirs of Sir B. Walpole, eh. li.

Chap. XLV.] CONVENTION OF THE PARDO. 83

The conjuncture was more important than, at first sight, it
might appear to be. It was far from merely involving some
commercial questions between England and Spain. It was nothing
less than the commencement of a struggle between the Anglo-
Saxon race and the nations of Roman descent to obtain a pre-
dominance in the colonies, and the principal share of the commerce
of the world. The Bourbon Courts of France and Spain had again
approached each other and formed a league against the maritime
and colonial power of Great Britain. In November, 1733, Philip V.
and Louis XY. had concluded, at the Escorial, a family compact,
in which Philip declared his intention of depriving the English of
their commercial privileges ; while Louis promised to support him
in that purpose by maintaining a fleet at Brest, and equipping as
many privateers as possible. Articles in favour of French mari-
time commerce were agreed upon, and Louis engaged to procure
the restoration of Gibraltar to Spain, even by resorting, if neces-
sary, to force.1 In pursuance of this treaty, the French, after the
close of the war of the Polish Succession, in 1735, devoted great
attention to their navy; and the Count de Maurepas, who was to
pursue the same policy forty years later with more success, made
preparations for building in the ports of Toulon and Brest twenty-
six ships of the line and thirty of an inferior class. Spain also
had been actively employed at Ferrol and Cadiz.

The English nation, or more properly, perhaps, the commercial
portion of it, had thus taken a juster view of its interests than
the ministry. The warlike demonstrations made by Walpole ex-
torted from the Spanish Cabinet the " Convention of the Pardo,"
January 14th, 1739. The King of Spain engaged to pay 95,000/.
in satisfaction of the damages claimed by English merchants ; but,
on the other hand, he demanded from the South Sea Company,
which traded under the Asiento, 68,000/. for his share of the
profits of the trade, and for duties on negroes imported. If this
sum were not shortly paid, he reserved the right to suspend the
Asiento, and he declared that the Convention entered into was
not valid except subject to this declaration. Walpole endeavoured
to persuade the English Parliament to accept these terms, but
the nation would not listen to them ; and the popular discontent
ran so high that he found himself compelled to make preparations
for war. A treaty of subsidies was concluded with Denmark,

1 Treaty in Cantillo, Tratados de Paz, croft (Hist, of America, ch. xxiv.)been ac-

ap. Ranke, Preuss. Gcsch. B. ii. S. 179. quainted with the contents of this treaty,

Ranke is of opinion that had Lord Mahon they would have modified their judgment

(Hist, of England, eh. xx.) and Mr. Ban- respecting the objects of the war.

84 ATTACKS ON SPANISH COLONIES. [Cn.vr. XLV.

March 25th, by which that Power engaged to keep on foot an
army of 6,000 men, for three years, at the rate of thirty crowns
for each foot-soldier, and forty-five crowns for each horse-soldier,
besides an annual subsidy of 250,000 crowns. A British fleet was
sent to Gibraltar — a proceeding which greatly irritated the
Spaniards. Philip V. complained of it as an insult, and announced
to Mr. Keene, the British Minister at Madrid, his determination
to revoke the Asiento, and to seize the effects of the South Sea
Company in satisfaction of his demands. This declaration
brought matters to a crisis. The English Government demanded
the immediate execution of the Convention of the Pardo, the ac-
knowledgment of the British claims in Georgia and Carolina, and
the unequivocal renunciation of the rights of search. Spain
replied by a manifesto and declaration of war, which was followed
by another on the part of England, November 9th. Letters of
reprisal had been previously issued, by which, at the outset, the
English appear to have been the greatest sufferers. During the
first three months of the war the Spanish privateers made forty-
seven prizes, valued at 234,000?. 1 All English merchandise was
prohibited in Spain on the penalty of death, so that many neutral
vessels arriving at Cadiz could not discharge their cargoes.
Meanwhile Admiral Vernon, setting sail with the English fleet
from Jamaica, captured Porto Bello, on the Isthmus of Darien,
December 1st — an exploit for which he received the thanks of (
both Houses of Parliament. His attempt on Carthagena, in the
spring of 1741, proved, however, a complete failure through his
dissensions, it is said, with General Wentworth, the commander
of the land forces. A squadron, under Commodore Anson, de-
spatched to the South Sea for the purpose of annoying the
Spanish colonies of Peru and Chili, destroyed the Peruvian town
of Paita, and made several prizes ; the most important of which '
was one of the great Spanish galleons trading between Acapulco ;
and Manilla, having a large treasure on board. It was on this j
occasion that Anson circumnavigated the °'lobe, having sailed !
from England in 1740, and returned to Spithead in 1744.
Meanwhile France, at the demand of Spain, had begun to arm
and equip her fleets, though protesting her pacific intentions.

Scarcely had the war broken out between England and Spun,
when the Emperor Charles VI. died, October 20th, 1740, soon
after completing his fifty-fifth year. He was the last male of the

1 Coxe, Spanish Bourbons, vol. iii. p. 2 See Anson's Voyage round tic World.

313. by Walter.

^hap. XLV.] ACCESSION OF MARIA THERESA. 85

use of Habsburg, which had filled the Imperial throne during
tlnW centuries without interruption. His eldest daughter,
Maria Theresa, had been appointed heir to the Austrian domi-
nions by the Pragmatic Sanction, which instrument, as we have
seen, had been guaranteed by most of the European Powers, and
sb.9 assumed the government with the title of Queen of Hungary
and Bohemia. Maria Theresa was now in her twenty-fourth
year, a handsome lad}^ of winning manners. She had married,
in 1736, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Francis of Lorraine, the
man of her choice, by whom she already had a son and heir, the
Archduke Joseph. Charles VI., in the forlorn hope that he
might still have male issue, had neglected to procure the Roman
Crown for his son-in-law, and the Imperial dignity consequently
remained in abeyance till a new Emperor should be elected.
After Charles's death, therefore, the Austrian dominions figured
only as one among- the numerous German States, and even with
less consideration than might be due to their extent, from the
circumstance that Maria Theresa's pretensions to inherit them
might soon be called in question. Eugene had counselled Charles
to have in readiness 200,000 men, as^TDetter^security for his
daughter's succession than any parchment sanctions ; but the
Emperor had left the army in a bad state, while the finances
were exhausted by the late wars, and by his love for magnificence
and art. The abuse of the Imperial revenue had been enormous.
One of the Queen's first cares was to put a stop to this extrava-
gance. Many superfluous servants, male and female singers,
painters, sculptors, architects, and other artists, who were in re-
ceipt of high salaries, were either dismissed or their emoluments
were reduced, and a shameful system of peculation was abolished.1

The announcement of Maria Theresa's accession was answered
by England, Russia, Prussia, and the Dutch States with assu-
rances of friendship and good will. France returned an evasive
answer ; the Elector Charles Albert of Bavaria refused to acknow-
ledge the Queen of Hungary before his pretensions to the
Austrian Succession were examined and decided. These he
founded not on his having married a daughter of Joseph I. — a
j claim which would have been barred not only by the renunciation

1 The following articles may serve by sleeping potion; for the Emperor's parrots,

j way of specimen of these abuses. In the every year, two pipes of Tokay, to soak

j butlers reckoning, six quarts of wine were their bread, and fifteen kilderkins of Aus-

| set down daily for each Court lady; for trian wine for their bath. In the kitchen

I the widowed Empress Amelia, wife of 4,000 florins were set down yearly for

Joseph I., twelve quarts of Hungarian parsley ! Gesch. vnd Thaten Maria Thcrc-

wine every evening, as a Sehlaftrwnk, or sias, a'p. Menzel, B. v. S. 289 Anm.

86 mama Theresa's eight disputed, [chap. xlv.

of that Archduchess, but also by the superior title of her elder
sister, the Queen of Poland. He appealed to two ancient instru-
ments—the marriage contract between Albert A7. Duke of Bavaria
and Anne, daughter of the Emperor Ferdinand I., and to the
testament of the same Monarch ; and he contended that by these
two deeds the Austrian succession was assured to Anne and her
descendants in default of male heirs, the issue of the Archdukes,
her brothers. Maria Theresa, however, having called together
the foreign ministers at her Court, caused the testament to be
laid before them ; when it appeared that it spoke not of the ex-
tinction of the male issue of Ferdinand's sons, but of their legiti-
mate issue.1 In fact, it was intended only to secure the Arch-
duchess Anne against the pretensions of the Spanish branch of
the House of Habsburg, and, after the extinction of that branch,
had no longer any meaning ; for, if the female issue of the Habs-
burg family was to have claims to the Austrian Monarchy, the
daughter of the last male was the natural heiress. The Bavarian
ambassador, however, was not satisfied. He narrowly scrutinized
the document, in hope of finding an erasure ; and having failed
in that search, he boldly contended that, according to the context,
the expression " legitimate heirs" could mean only male heirs.
But the indignation against him at Vienna having grown to a
high pitch, he found it prudent quietly to leave the city. The
dispute, however, between the two Courts was continued in
voluminous, unreadable documents, now almost forgotten.2

The first blow struck against the Queen of Hungary came not,
however, from any of the claimants of her inheritance, but from a
monarch who had recognized her right. This was Frederick II.,
the young King of Prussia, who, in the middle of December, 1740,.
entered the Austrian province of Silesia with 30,000 men.

Frederick's father, Frederick William I. of Prussia, had died
on May 31st, 1740, about five months before the Emperor
Charles VI. This second King of the House of Hohenzollern
disposed of the lives and property of his subjects as arbitrarily
as any Oriental despot; yet, as the simplicity of his life offered a
favourable contrast to the profligacy and luxury of many of the

1 The documents are in Kousset, Actes Baierns polit. Gesch., sip. Stenzel, B. iv.
et Mi in. t. xiv. xv. S. 70 f. It is hardly possible, however,

2 Mailath, Gisck dcs ostr. Kaiserstaats, that Ferdinand should have contemplated
B. v. S. 2; cf. Menzel, Neuere Gesch. der a wilful fraud. He left three legitimate
Deutschen, B. v. S. 290. The story, how- sons, and it must have been a matter of
ever, is not quite clear. Anne's marriage indifference to him whether, at a remote
contract in 1546 is said to have varied period, the Austrian dominions should be
from the will. See Ohlenschlager, Gesch. enjoyed by their female posterity or by
des Interregnums ,B. i. S. 45-224 ; Stumpf, that'of his daughter Anne.

Chap. XLV.] FREDERICK WILLIAM I. OF PRUSSIA. 87

German Princes of that age, as lie had a strong and determined
will, and was, on the whole, so far as his ignorance, prejudices,
and irascible temper would permit, a well-meaning man, he is still
admired by a few Germans, and perhaps by one or two English-
men. His very faults, however, served to prepare his son's
greatness. His avarice and meanness had enabled him to leave
a full treasury ; his military tastes, yet unwarlike character, had
prompted him to get together a large and well-appointed army,
which, from his avoidance of war, descended undiminished to his
son. It may even be suspected that his bigotry and narrow-
mindedness were among the chief causes which, by virtue of their
repulsiveness, produced the opposite qualities in Frederick. The
natural temper, as well as defective education of Frederick-
William, whose chief pleasure lay in muddling himself with
tobacco-smoke and small German beer in his evening club, or
" Tobacco College/' led him to hate and despise all learning and
accomplishments which aimed at something beyond the barely
useful and necessary j and hence, in the plan which he chalked
out for his son's education, he had expressly excluded the study of
the Latin language, of Greek and Eoman history, and many other
subjects necessary to form, or recreate, a liberal mind. But the only
effect of this prohibition on the active and inquiring mind of
Frederick was to make him pursue the forbidden studies with
tenfold ardour, and to give to the acquisition of them all the
relish of a stolen enjoyment.1 The conduct of Peter the Great
and Frederick William I. towards their sons forms a striking
parallel, though in an inverse sense. The harshness and brutality
of both these Sovereigns caused their heirs apparent to fly ;
Alexis ultimately met his death from his father's hands, and
Frederick only narrowly escaped the same fate. But Peter's
hatred of his son sprang from the latter's desire to return to the
old Eussian barbarism; while that of the Prussian King was
excited by Frederick's love of modern civilization and art.
Frederick William's bigoted Calvinistic tenets, the long prayers
which he inflicted on his household, the tedious, catechizings
which his son had to endure from Nolten and other divines,
instead of inspiring Frederick with a love of religion, drove him
to the opposite extreme ; a natural turn for scepticism was
heightened by disgust, and made him a disciple of Bayle and

1 The family history 'of the Prussian the Memoires of Frederick's sister, Wil-

Court, which cannot be entered into here, helmina, Margravine of Baireuth; Fbr-

will be found amusingly narrated in Mr. ster's Fricdrich Wilhdm, B. i., &c.
Carlyle's Frederick the Great. See also

88 THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. [Chap. XLV.

Voltaire. Even the arbitrary and absolute principles of bis
father in matters of government and police found no sympathy,
so far at least as speculation is concerned, in the breast of
Frederick II. If Louis XIV. had his maxim, L'etat c'est moi,
Frederick William asserted with equal force, if not elegance,
" Ich stabilire die Souverainete wie einen rocher von Bronze."1
His son, on the contrary, at all events in theory, considered a
king to be only the servant of his people ; and one of his first
announcements, on ascending the throne, was that he had no
interests distinct from those of his subjects. He immediately
abolished all distinctions and civil disabilities founded on religion,
and mitigated the rigour of the criminal law, which, under his
father's reign, had been administered with great cruelty, not to say
injustice.2 He also abolished many of the barbarities practised under
the name of military discipline, and in the recruiting service.

The care, however, which Frederick William had bestowed on
the army proved of the greatest benefit to his successor and to
the Prussian nation. The great Northern War, which had
threatened to sweep Frederick William into its vortex at the
commencement of his reign, the augmentation of the power of
his neighbours by the accession of the Elector of Hanover to
the throne of Great Britain, and of the Elector of Saxony to that
of Poland, as well as the growth of Russia into a large military
Power, had compelled him to keep up a considerable army.
Under the care of Prince Leopold of Dessau, who had distin-
guished himself in the war of the Spanish Succession, the Prus-
sian infantry were trained to the height of discipline. The
system, indeed, was somewhat overloaded with martinetism,
pipe-clay, and a too free use of the cane ; but its result was
to make the Prussian army act with the precision of a machine.
Vauban had already united the pike and the musket into one
arm by affixing the bayonet, and about the same time the old
inconvenient match-lock, or musket fired with a match, had
been exchanged for a fusil, or musket with flint and steel. The
weapon of the infantry soldier had thus been rendered what it

1 " I establish the sovereignty like a ment for a deficiency of 4.000 dollars in

rock of bronze." Forster's Friedrich H'il- his accounts, to be "hanged. After the

//■!/n I. B. i. Urkunrlenbuch, S. 50. poor man had been execureil. it was dis-

8 Frederick William was accustomed to covered that some false sums had been

confiscate the estates of his subjects, and posted to his debit. Some bags of money

even their lives, by scrawling his judg- were also found, .and it appeared evident

ments on the margin of the reports and that he had had no intention to commit a

decrees of his ministers. On one occasion wilful fraud. Biisching's Beitrrige cur

he condemned a tax-collector, who had Igbensgesck. denkwurdiger Ptrsotwn, ap.

been sentenced to four years' imprison- Menzel, B. v. 8. 282.

Chap. XLV.]

VIEWS OF FREDERICK II.

continued to be down to a recent date. The Prince of Anhalt-
Dessau improved the infantry drill, or tactics, by reducing the
depth of the line from six men to three, thus increasing the
extent and vivacity of the fire ; and especially by introducing
the cadenced step, the secret of the firmness and swiftness of the
Roman legions. From morning to night the Prussian soldiers
were engaged in this exercise, and in the uniform and simul-
taneous use of their weapons.1 All this was combined with
smaller matters of bright coat-buttons and spotless gaiters, which
were enforced as rigidly as the more important ; and those de-
ficient in them were subjected to the most unmerciful floggings.
But the young king knew how to select what was useful in the
system, and to reject what was superfluous; and the result, as
shown in his first battle, was very surprising.

One of Frederick II.'s first measures was to increase the
effective force of his army by several regiments ; but at the
same time he disbanded the three battalions of gigantic grena-
diers, the collecting and exercising- of which had been his father's
chief pastime and delight. Thus, having a well-filled treasury
and a large and well-disciplined army, all the means of acquiring
what is commonly called glory were at the young King's disposal;
and he candidly tells us that he resolved to use them for that
purpose, which he considered essential to the prosperity of his
reign.2 It was, he thought, an enterprise reserved for him to put
an end to the mongrel constitution of his State, and to determine
whether it should be an electorate or a kingdom.3 Frederick
William, towards the end of his reign, had thought himself
slighted and neglected by the Emperor ; a coldness had sprung
up between the two Courts ; but the late King does not seem to
have conceived any project of revenge. He appears to have felt
his own incapacity for entering- into a war ; but, pointing to the
Crown Prince, he exclaimed with a prophetic bitterness to General
Grumkow : — " There stands one who will avenge me!"4 He
little imagined, perhaps, how soon his prophecy would be realized.

1 Varnhagen von Ense, Preussisehe
Biographische Dink male, B. ii. S. 274 f.

2 See his letter to Jordan, March 3rd,
1741 : "Mon age, le feu des passions, le
de'sir de la gloire, la curiosite merae, pour
ne se rien eaeher, enfin tin instinct secret
m'ont arrache a la douceur du repos que
je goutois ; et la satisfaction de voir mon
nom dans les gazettes, et ensuite dans
l'histoire, m'a seduit." Frederick seems
to have made the same candid confession

of his motives in the first draft of his
Hist, de mon Temps, but the passage was
struck out by Voltaire in his revision of
the text. See that writer's Mi moires on
his connection with Frederick, quoted by
Menzel, B. v. S. 292.

3 Hist, de mon Temps, ch. i.

4 Seckendorf, Journal Secret, p. 139,
ap. Stenzel, Greseh. des Preussischev Staats,
B. iii. S. 671.

90 FREDERICK INVADES SILESIA. [Chap. XLV.

Yet he had evidently discovered, under those qualities which had
once excited his indignation and contempt, the superior genius-
of his son.

Frederick II. himself, soon after his accession, had found cause
to complain of Charles VI. 's conduct towards him in a dispute
which he had had with the Bishop of Liege. It was a long while
before he would admit to an audience the Imperial envoy, sent
to congratulate him on his accession ; and when he at length
received him, intimated that he perceived in this small affair
what he had to expect in more important matters from the
friendship of the Court of Vienna.1 He was thus confirmed in his
father's opinion that it was a fixed maxim with the House of
Austria rather to retard than advance the progress of the House
of .Brandenburg. The subject of the Duchy of Berg formed
another grievance. By a secret treaty concluded with Charles VI.
at Berlin, December 23rd, 1728, Frederick William had again
promised to guarantee the Pragmatic Sanction,2 provided the
Emperor procured for him the Duchy of Berg and county of
Bavenstein, in case of the extinction of male heirs of the House
of Xeuburg ; but in contravention of this agreement, the Emperor
had entered into a treaty with France, January loth, 1730, by
which it was arranged that the Duchies of Berg and Julich should
be assigned to the Sulzbach branch of the Neuburg family, and
guaranteed against the attempts of Prussia.3 Had Charles VI.
lived, however, Frederick's attempt upon Silesia would most
likely have been indefinitely adjourned. He had made some
preparations for obtaining possession of the Duchy of Berg, and
would probably have expended his military ardour in that direc-
tion had not the unexpected death of the Emperor opened out to
him a more promising field of enterprise.

Frederick's invasion of Silesia astonished all Europe, and none
more than Queen Maria Theresa, to whom he had given the
strongest assurances of friendship. These, indeed, he reiterated
after he had entered her territories with his army. He declared
to her and to all foreign courts that his only object in invading
Silesia, ou which he had some ancient claims, was to preserve it

1 Stenzel, Gesch. t/<s Preuss. Staats, 3 Neither the Treaty of 1728 nor 1739 ;
Th. iv. S. 60 f. is published, bur the tacts here stated are A

2 The Treaty of Wusterhausen, Octo- taken by Garden {Hist. <!<s Traitta, t. iii.
her 12th, 1727, which had also contained p. 251) from Dohm, Uiber (Ilk deutsehen
a provision to this effect, had never been Fwrstenbund, p. 70, who had the treaties
executed. under his eves.

Chap. XLV.] PRUSSIAN CLAIMS OX SILESIA. 91

from being seized by those who had pretensions to the Austrian
succession. At the same time he proposed to the Hungarian
Queen, in return for the cession of all Silesia, a close alliance with
himself, in conjunction with the Maritime Powers and Russia,
his assistance in upholding the Pragmatic Sanction, his vote for
her husband as Emperor, and an advance of two million dollars.1
The high-spirited Queen, who was naturally indignant at Fre-
derick's conduct, and had conceived but a mean opinion of the
Prussian monarchy, rejected these proposals with contempt.
Frederick now besran to barg-ain. He told Maria Theresa that
he should be content with part of Silesia; and he now first
brought forward in a distinct shape his asserted claims upon that
province. They related to the Silesian Duchies of Jagerndorf,
Liegnitz, Brieg and Wohlau, and the Lordships of Beuthen and
Oderberg. The Margrave John George, a younger son of the
House of Brandenburg, had held Jagerndorf, Beuthen, and Oder-
berg, which belonged to that house, in apanage, at the time of
the Thirty Years' War ; who having taken up arms against the
Emperor Ferdinand II. in favour of the Palatine Frederick, the
winter King of Bohemia, these possessions had been confiscated.
But it was contended that, admitting John George to have been
guilty, his fault could not annul the rights of his minor son, still
less those of the Electoral House of Brandenburg, in which all
alienation of its States was forbidden by family compacts. Lieg-
nitz, Brieg, and Wohlau were claimed in virtue of a treaty of
confraternity and succession2 between the Elector Joachim II.
and Duke Frederick II. of Liegnitz in 1537, but declared invalid
by the Emperor Ferdinand I. On the death, in 1675, of the last
Duke of Liegnitz, of the Polish Piast family, these Duchies had been
claimed by Frederick William, the Great Elector of Brandenburg.
The Emperor Leopold had, however, persuaded the Elector to
abandon his pretensions to them, as well as to Jagerndorf; and
by a treaty concluded in 1686 Frederick William had ceded his
claims in consideration of receiving the Silesian Circle of Schwie-
bus. By an understanding with the Electoral Prince, Frederick,
the successor of the Great Elector, Leopold, had retained these
possessions in 1694, on payment of 225,000 gulden, and on
assigning to Frederick the reversion to the principality of East

1 Menzel, Xeuerc Gcsch. tier Beutschen, the same year we find a renewal of a
B. v. S. 290. treaty of a similar nature between the

2 Such treaties were common in that Houses of Saxony, Brandenburg, and
age among German Princes. Thus in Hesse. Pfeft'el, vol. ii. p. 150.

92 Frederick's offers rejected. [Chap, xlv.

Friesland and the counties of Limburg and Speckfeld in Fran-
conia, together with some other privileges.1

Such was the nature of the claims advanced by Frederick II.
He seems not to have laid much stress upon them himself. They
were the pretence, not the cause, of his invasion, and had they
not existed, some other pretext for making war would have been
discovered. That he was not serious in asserting them appears
from his own mouth ; since he tells us in his History2 that in the
first months of 1741 he would have been content to accept the
duchy of Glogau, or that district of Silesia which lies nearest to
the Prussian borders. But in strange contrast with the specula- ,
tive theories he had laid down in his studies at Eheinsberg and in
his Anti-Macehiavel, Frederick had now adopted, as an avowed
principle of action, that system of lax political morality which
most other Princes were content tacitly to follow in practice.

Maria Theresa, who had determined not to begin her reign by
dismembering her dominions, and who had then no conception of
the part which France was preparing to play against her, again
gave Frederick's offers a fiat refusal. She accompanied it with the
somewhat contemptuous proposal that if he would retire he should
be forgiven, and no damages insisted on — an intimation which
nettled him exceedingly, though his huckstering negotiations seem
well to have deserved it. Frederick meanwhile had pushed on
his conquests in Silesia. They were facilitated by the want of
preparation on the part of the Austrians, and by the temper of
the Protestant inhabitants, who, in many places, welcomed the
'Prussians as deliverers. By the end of January, 1741, all Silesia,
with the exception of Glogau, Brieg, and a few other places, had
been overrun almost without opposition. As the season prevented
further operations, Frederick returned for a while to Berlin. In
March he again appeared at the head of his army. Glogau was
taken on the 9th of that month ; hence he proceeded to form a
junction with Field- Marshal Schwerin, whom he had left in occu-
pation of the southern parts of Silesia ; and ignorant of the motions
of the Austrians, who had at length assembled in force, he marched
upon Jagerndorf, on the frontiers of Moravia, pushing on some of
his divisions towards Troppau. Meanwhile Xeuperg, the unfor-
tunate commander of the Austrians at the Peace of Belgrade, yet J
no bad general, who had been released from prison on the acces-
sion of Maria Theresa, was advancing from Moravia by way of

1 See Menzel, fteuere Gesch, der Deut- 2 Hist, dc mon Temps, ch. i. (Liskenne

. B. iv. S. 4S4 Arm. et Sauvan, Bibl'wth. Hist. t. v. p. 53).

Chap. XLV.] BATTLE OF MOLLWITZ. 93

Freudenthal, at the head of 15,000 men, threatening to cut Frede-
rick's line of operation by crossing the mountains towards Ziegen-
hals and Neisse, and boasting that he would send the young King
back to Berlin, to Apollo and the Muses. At the same time
another body of Austrians was menacing the Prussians between
Jagerndorf and Troppau, and a third, under General Lentulus,
was pressing forwards from Glatz. The Prussians were now com-
pelled to retreat, while the Austrians pushed on towards Ohlau,
the chief Prussian depot, and encamped about five miles beyond
Brieg, at Mollwitz and the neighbouring villages.

Neuperg's plan of operations was well conceived, but he was
too slow in executing it. By advancing to Ohlau, he might have
seized all the Prussian artillery and stores. His march, however,
had cut off the King's communications with Lower Silesia, and
Frederick found it necessary to risk a battle. With this view
he advanced by Michelau and Lowen to the village of Pogarell,
about sis miles from Mollwitz. Here he gave his wearied troops
a day's rest, and on the 10th of April, marched in four columns to
attack the enemy. In infantry and artillery he was much superior
to the Austrians, having 16,000 foot against their 11,000, and 60
guns against 1 8 ; but his cavalry consisted of little more than
3,000 men, while the Austrians had 8,000. This explains the fate
of the battle. The Prussian cavalry were routed at the first charge ;
the battle seemed lost ; Frederick, at the earnest entreaty of Mar-
shal Schwerin, fled with all speed towards Lowen, escorted by a
squadron of cavalry ; thence he pushed on to Oppeln, which he
reached at night. That place had been occupied by the Austrian
hussars, and his demand for admittance was answered by a shower
of musket-balls. Frederick now rode back in all haste to Lowen,
where he arrived in an exhausted state, having accomplished
between fifty and sixty miles in the day. On the following morn-
ing he was surprised by the intelligence that his troops had gained
the Battle of Mollwitz ! This result was owing to the excellent
drill of the Prussian infantry, the precision of their manoeuvres,
the rapidity of their fire.1 Frederick now rejoined his army, not
without some feelings of shame at his premature flight and of
ang-er ao-ainst Schwerin, the adviser of it, whom he is said never
to have forgiven. He neglected, however, to pursue his victory,
and instead of attacking the Austrians, who were retreating in
disorder within a few miles of him, remained upwards of six weeks
inactive in his camp at Mollwitz.

1 They are said to have delivered five volleys to or.e of the Austrians.

94 POLICY OF FRANCE. [Chap. XLV.

It must be confessed that Frederick's first appearance against
the young and beautiful Queen of Hungary does not show either
his chivalrous, his diplomatic, or his military qualities in any very
favourable light. His enterprise, however, chiefly from its sudden
and unexpected nature, was attended with substantial success.
Though not apparently very decisive, the victory of Mollwitz was
followed by more important results than perhaps any other battle
of the eighteenth century. To Frederick himself it assured the
possession of Lower Silesia and the capture of Brieg, while it
established the hitherto equivocal reputation of the Prussian
troops. But its effect on the policy of Europe was infinitely of
more importance, by calling into action those Powers which had
postponed their schemes till they should have learnt the issue of
Frederick's attempt.

We have seen that Spain and England were already at war,
that France was preparing to aid the former Power, and that she
had given but equivocal assurances to Maria Theresa, while Eng-
land was hearty in her support. Among so many claimants, in
whole or in part, to the Queen of Hungary's dominions — the
Electors of Bavaria and Saxony, the Kings of Prussia, Spain,
and Sardinia, besides other minor pretenders1 — were provided
all the elements of a great European conflagration ; and France
considered it her interest to apply the torch. It seemed a
favourable opportunity to revive the schemes of Henry IV. and
Richelieu against the House of Austria, to despoil it of a great
part of its possessions, and to reduce it to the condition of a
second rate Power, so that, on the Continent, France might rule
without control. Cardinal Fleury, indeed, now eighty-five years
of age, wanted only to enjoy repose, and to respect the guarantee
which France had given to the Pragmatic Sanction ; but he was
overborne by the war party. At the head of this stood Marshal
Belle-Isle, a grandson of Fouquet. Belle-Isle saw in the affairs
of Austrja a favourable opportunity to oppose, and perhaps over-
turn, Fleury, and to display his own diplomatic and military
talents. Through the influence of Madame de Vintimille, one of
Louis XV .'s mistresses — for in French affairs these creatures
always played a leading part — he obtained the appointment of
French minister plenipotentiary at the Electoral Diet to be held
at Frankfort, as well as to the Courts of all the German Princes.
Thus armed with the power of mischief, he set off in the spring of
1741 on his mission into Germany.

1 Such as the Duke of Luxembourg, the House of Wurtemberg, &c.

Chap. XLV.] NEGOTIATIONS OF BELLE-ISLE.

France, the ancient, ally of the House of Wittelsbaeh, had by
several treaties between 1714 and 1738, promised her aid to
the Elector of Bavaria, in his claims to the Austrian succes-
sion, in case of the extinction of heirs male in the House
of Austria;1 but these treaties had been superseded by that of
Vienna, guaranteeing the Pragmatic Sanction, signed Novem-
ber 18th, 1738. 2 France, however, remained free to support the
election of Charles . Albert as Emperor ; but that would not have
suited her views without also investing him with part of the spoils
of Austria.3 The French Cabinet had therefore projected a par-
tition of the Austrian dominions in the following manner : —
Bavaria was to have Bohemia, Upper Austria, Tyrol, and the
Breisgau ; to the Elector of Saxony was to be assigned Moravia
with Upper Silesia, with the royal title ; to Prussia, Lower Silesia ;
to Spain, Austrian Lombardy ; while to Maria Theresa were to be
left the Kingdom of Hungary, the Lower Netherlands, Austria,
Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola.4

Belle-Isle's mission was a successful one. After visitiuo- the
Spiritual Electors and procuring their votes for Charles Albert, he
proceeded to the King of Prussia's camp at Mollwitz, where he
arrived towards the end of April. The camp was soon filled with
the ambassadors of other Powers, anxious to gain the support of
Frederick in the great contest which impended. In spite of the
ardeut popular feeling in England in favour of Maria Theresa, it
was perceived that, after his victory at Mollwitz, it would be neces-
sary to make some concessions to the King' of Prussia; and Lord
Hyndford, the English ambassador at the Court of Vienna, was
instructed to conciliate him at the smallest sacrifice possible on
the part of Austria. Frederick himself was not much inclined to
weaken Austria for the benefit of French policy, and still less to
become himself dependent on France. Nor had he any inclination
to work for Saxony and Bavaria. His sole wish was to secure the
greatest possible portion of Silesia, in whatever way that object
might be best accomplished. But the high tone assumed by the
Queen of Hungary, who insisted that the English and Dutch

1 Garden, Traites, t. iii. p. 255.

- Above, p. 70.

3 " Pouvait-on appnyer sa candidature
h l'emph-e sans appuyer ses autres pre-
tentions, an moius dans la limite neces-
saire pour lui donner les moyens de sou-
tenir la dignite imperiale?" — Martin,
Hist, de France, t. xv. p. 231. That is,
having undertaken to make a beggar an
Emperor, somebody must be robbed to tit

him out.

4 Garden, Hist, des Traites, t. iii. p. 257.
In this partition nothing seems to be
reserved for France ; but, according to
Sehlosser, Gesek. des 18. Jahrhunderts,
Th. ii. S. 24, the Elector, as Emperor,
was never to demand back the towns and
provinces which she possessed on the
Rhine, nor what she might conquer in the
Netherlands. Cf. Menzel, B. v. S. 294.

96 TREATY OF NYMPHENBURG. [Chap. XLV.

ambassadors should require Frederick totally to evacuate Silesia,
put au end to all negotiation in that quarter. Xeither Maria
Theresa nor her minister, Bartenstein, could believe that France
had any serious intention of making war upon her, and she re-
fused to listen to the moderate sacrifices proposed by England.
All that she could be prevailed upon to offer was, to place Schwie-
bus, Griinberg, and Glogau, for a certain time, as pledges in the
hands of Frederick.

The King of Prussia was thus, almost of necessity, thrown into
the hands of France. As the price of his alliance, however, he
stipulated that France should bring two large armies into the field;
that she should stir up Sweden to attack and hamper Russia ; and
that she should induce Augustus, the Elector of Saxony and King
of Poland, to join the league.1 For this last purpose, Belle-Isle
proceeded to the Court of Dresden. The conduct of Augustus, who
was entirely governed by his selfish and intriguing minister Count
Bruhl, had been wavering and equivocal. The Queen of Hungary
had at first counted upon his friendship, and the guarantee which
he had given ; but when, in spite of the Elector's warning to the
contrary, as one of the Vicars of the Empire during the interreg-
num, Frederick invaded Silesia, Augustus, instead of remonstrat-
ing, displayed a wish to profit by the occasion at the expense of
Austria. Maria Theresa had, therefore, found it necessary to pro-
pitiate him with the prospect of obtaining the duchy of Crossen,
which would connect Saxony with Poland ; and he had then en-
tered into an alliance with her for the maintenance of the Prag-
matic Sanction. Nevertheless, he claimed for his son the exercise
of the electoral vote of Bohemia, on the ground that it could not
be given by a female; and he took it very ill when Maria Theresa,
to evade this objection, made her husband Co-Regent, and trans-
ferred the vote to him.2 This afterwards served the Elector as a
pretext for joining the Queen's enemies, when he saw her placed
in a critical situation through the interference of France, to whose
policy he was won by the visit of1 Belle-Isle, and the prospect held
out to him by the Marshal of obtaining Moravia.3

The conclusion of the Treaty of Nymphenburg was another
motive with the Prussian King, besides Belle-Isle's success with
the Elector of Saxony, for joining France.

From Dresden, Belle-Isle had proceeded to Munich, where,

1 Stenzel, B. iv. S. 137 ff.

2 Li Inn n, id Character des Graftn von Briihl in vertraulichen Bricfen entworftf
(1760), S. 183 f. ^ Menzel, B. v. S. 294.

Chap. XLV.] COALITION AGAINST AUSTRIA. 97

towards the end of May, 1741, he had assisted at the conclusion of
a treaty between Spain and Bavaria, at the palace of Nymphen-
burg.1 The King of Spain pretended to the kingdoms of Hungary
and Bohemia, by virtue of a convention between Philip III. of
Spain and Ferdinand, Archduke of Gratz. By this instrument
Philip had ceded to the Archduke, his cousin, his claims to Hun-
gary and Bohemia through his mother, Anne, daughter of Maxi-
milian II., reserving, however, the rights of his descendants, in
case of the extinction of Ferdinand's male heirs.2 The Court of
Spain was not, however, serious in advancing these antiquated
pretensions, which, indeed, clashed with those of Bavaria, its new
ally. Its only aim was to profit by the conjuncture by finding
some pretext, no matter what, to procure for the Queen's second
son, Don Philip, lately married to a daughter of Louis XV., an
establishment in Italy, at the expense of Austria. Spain and
Bavaria were to enjoy the Austrian spoils, according to the parti-
tion already indicated. France made no open declaration of war
against Austria. She retained the appearance of supporting-
Bavaria with auxiliary troops and money, as her ancient ally, and
by virtue of the faith of treaties. The King of Spain promised to
pay the Elector 12,000 piastres a month for the maintenance of
5,000 men.3

The alliance between France, Spain, and Bavaria was soon
joined by other Powers. The King of Prussia acceded to it through
a treaty concluded in the greatest secrecy with France, June 5th.
France guaranteed to Frederick Lower Silesia and Breslau, and he,
in return, renounced his claims to Berg in favour of the Palatine
House of Sulzbach, favoured by France, and promised his vote for
the Elector of Bavaria at the Imperial Diet.4 The King of
Poland, as Elector of Saxony, the King of Sardinia, the Elector
Palatine, and the Elector of Cologne, also acceded to the league.
Charles Emanuel, King of Sardinia, renewed his pretensions to
the Milanese, founded on the marriage contract of his great-great-
grandfather with the Infanta Catharine, daughter of Philip II. of
Spain.5

To this formidable coalition Maria Theresa could oppose only
a few allies. England she regarded as the surest of them. The

1 The Treaty of Nymphenburg has 3 Souveau Su^l- «« Recueil, t. i. p. 721;
disappeared. It is probable that France ap. Stenzel, B. iv. S. 138.

was not a party to it, but merely guaran- 4 Ranke, Preuss. Gesck. B. ii. S. 274 ff.

teed it. Garden, t. iii. p. 254. France Flassan, Garden, and others, give the
had begun to subsidize Bavaria some date of the treaty wrongly as July 5th.
months before. Cf. Stenzel, B. iv. S. 143.

2 Rousset, t. xv. p. 6 sqq. 5 Rousset, t. xvi. p. 350.
IV. H

98 ALLIANCE OF HANOVER. [Chap. XLV.

English people espoused her cause with warmth ; but, while "VYal-
pole's administration lasted, little was done in her favour except
in the way of diplomacy. George II., being in Germany, had,
indeed, concluded with her a treaty called the Alliance of
Hanover (June 24th, 1741), by which he engaged to march 6,000
Danes and 6,000 Hessians to her succour, and to pay her within
a year a subsidy of oOO^OOZ.1 The States-General, who at that
period generally followed in the track of England, were also in
alliance with her ; but the aid of these two Powers was not for
the first year or two of much service to her cause. The Pope
(Clement XII.) had testified great joy at the birth of Maria
Theresa's son, the Archduke Joseph ; he was ready to lend his
spiritual assistance to the Queen, and had in a measure made Frede-
rick's invasion of Silesia an affair of the Church ; yet he refused
her the loan of a few hundred thousand crowns, and, by raising
some pretensions to Parma and Piacenza, even appeared to rank
himself among her enemies. A better prospect seemed to open on
the side of Eussia. The Empress Anna had died a few days after
Charles VI. (October 27th, 1740). Ivan, the heir presumptive to
the throne, was an infant of two months, the son of Peter's great-
niece, Anna,2 Princess of Mecklenburg, who, in 1739, had married
Anthony Ulric, Duke of Brunswick Beveren, the brother-in-law
of Frederick of Prussia. After the death of the Empress, her
favourite, Biron, Duke of Courland, had seized the Regency, but
after a few weeks was overthrown by Miinnich and the Princess
Anna (November 20th). Though Anna now became Regent,
Miinnich in reality enjoyed the supreme power, till, towards the
end of March, 4741, she dismissed him as too favourable to
Prussia. The Regency of Anna lasted till December 6th, 1741,
when Peter the Great's daughter, Elizabeth Petrowna, contrived
to overthrow her with the aid of only 200 private grenadiers, and
became Empress of Russia. Frederick had secured the neutrality
of Russia during his invasion of Silesia through Marshal Miinnich,
who detested the Austrians on account of the Peace of Belgrade;
but the Regent Anna had been gained for Maria Theresa's cause
by the handsome Pole, Count Lynar, and had promised the
Austrian ambassador, Count Botta, to support his mistress's cause
with 30,000- or 40,000 men. But the domestic troubles of the

1 Menzel, Seuere Gesch. der Deutschcn, ginal Christian name was Elizabeth Catha-
B. v. S. 295. rine Christina, which she changed to Anna

2 Anna was the daughter of Peter's on her conversion to the Greek Church in
niece Catharine Ivanowna, married to the 1733. Le Fort, ap Hermann, Gesch. Euse-
Duke of Mecklenburg in 1716. Her ori- lands, B. iv. IS. 633, Anm.

CH.vr. XLV.] INVASION OF AUSTRIA. 99

Muscovite Court, and subsequently the war with Sweden, pre-
vented the realization of this promise.

All being- ready for action, the Elector of Bavaria entered the
Austrian territories with his forces towards the end of June, 1741,
and being joined in August by a French army, he occupied Linz,
the capital of Upper Austria, without striking a blow. Here he
assumed the title of an Austrian archduke, and received the
homasre of the States. About the same time the Kino* of Poland
had set in motion an army of 20,000 men to march through
Bohemia, and take possession of Moravia, his allotted portion. As
the ground of his invasion, he proclaimed that Maria Theresa had
violated the Pragmatic Sanction by appointing her husband co-
Eegent. He also published another manifesto, in which he
asserted his wife's claims as well as his own to the Austrian in-
heritance. The former rested on the Act of Succession made by
the Emperor Leopold in 1703, as already explained.1 In his own
name he claimed the duchies of Austria and Styria, as descended
from the ancient Margraves of Meissen, who, on the extinction of
the House of Babenberg*, in 1250, should have reaped the Austrian
succession, but had been excluded from it by the usurpation, first
of Ottocar and then of Rodolph of Habsburg. Augustus also com-
plained that the House of Habsburg had never fulfilled its promise
to procure him the succession of Julich and Cleves, nor compen-
sated him for the damage done by the Swedes in Saxony in 1706,
which would not have happened had the Emperor fulfilled his
treaty engagements. He also demanded large sums of money
owing to him by the Court of Vienna.2

The Queen of Hungary's chief security lay in the jealousy which
her adversaries felt of one another, and the bad understanding
which consequently prevailed among them. The Elector of Ba-
varia, suspicious of the intentions of the King of Poland, instead
of marching on Vienna from Linz, turned to the left and entered
Bohemia. "With the assistance of the Saxons, who were advanc-
ing from the north, Prague was captured, November 26th ; and a
few days after, Charles Albert caused himself to be crowned King'
of Bohemia. Meanwhile a French army of more than 40,000
men, under Marshal Maillebois, had entered Westphalia to ob-
serve the Dutch, who were arming, and to threaten Hanover.
George II. had got together a considerable force, and was pre-
paring to enter Prussia ; but the advance of the French, as well

1 See above, p. 56.

2 Ohlenschlager, Gesch. des Interregnums, ap. Menzel, B. v. S. 295, Anm.

100 FORLORN SITUATION OF MARIA THERESA. [Chap. XLV.

as the presence of a Russian army on the Elbe, compelled him to
abandon his purpose. On September 27th he concluded a treaty
of neutrality, and promised to give his vote for the Elector of
Bavaria as Emperor. At the same time, Maria Theresa was de-
prived of the aid which she had expected from Russia, in conse-
quence of Sweden, at the instigation of France, having declared
war against that Power.1

"When the part which France meant to play against her became
at last but too plain, Maria Theresa wrote some touching- letters
to Louis XV. and Fleury. She is even said to have offered Louis
part of Flanders as the price of his friendship, but without effect.
To her complaints of the infraction of the guarantee given in the
last Treaty of Vienna, Fleury replied by a miserable subterfuge,
and pretended that it supposed the clause, " saving the rights of
a third party." To this he added another subtlety. He re-
minded her that the Emperor had not accomplished the principal
article of the treaty, by procuring the sanction of the States of
the Empire to the definitive peace.2 The French invasion had
struck Maria Theresa like a thunderbolt. To the last moment
she had refused to believe that the French Cabinet would be guilty
of so gross a breach of faith. Now everything seemed to threaten
impending ruin. She had no allies but the English, and they were
far away ; she had no money, and scarcely any army. Silesia had
been ravished from her, and Bohemia was threatened with the
same fate. In this extremity of misfortune she turned her eyes
towards Hungary. The House of Habsburg had but small claims
to the gratitude of that country. The Hungarian Constitution had
been overthrown by her grandfather, Leopold, who had converted
it from an elective into an hereditary Monarchy,3 and many a Hun-
garian noble preserved in the recesses of his chateau the portrait
of some ancestor veiled with black crape, whose head had fallen
by the Austrian axe. Maria Theresa had, indeed, attempted some
amends. At her coronation, in the preceding May, she had taken
the famous oath of King Andrew II., the Magna Charta of the
Hungarians; omitting only, with the consent of the Diet, the
clause which allowed armed resistance against the Sovereign.
The Hungarians, as we have said, had recognized the Pragmatic
Sanction, and, though their ancient customs excluded females from
the throne, they had proclaimed Maria Theresa after her corona-
tion as their King (June 25th) . Among this gallant but restless
people, she sought a refuge on the approach of her enemies. Ac-

1 Ohlenschlager, I.e. ~ Garden, t. iii. p. 257. 3 See vol. iii. p. 386.

-«

Chap. XLV.] CONVENTION OF KLEIN-SCHNELLENDORF. 101

•cording to the well-known story, she appeared before the Diet at
Pressburg clothed in mourning, with the Crown of St. Stephen upon
her head and the sword of the Kings of Hungary at her girdle. In
this costume she presented to the assembly her little son, whom
she carried in her arms, telling them that she had no longer any
hope for her own safety, and that of her family, but in their valour
and fidelity ; when the chief Magyars, moved by the sight of so
much beauty and majesty in distress, at these touching words
drew their sabres, crying enthusiastically, ' ' Moriamur pro rege
nostro Maria Theresa."1 Modern researches have shown that
the more romantic details of this story, like so many others in
history, have either been imagined or compressed for the sake of
effect, from the proceedings of two or three days, into one strik-
ing dramatic scene. What is really noble and chivalrous in the
story, however, consists, not in these extrinsic and theatrical in-
cidents, but in the fact that the gallant Magyars were excited to
the highest pitch of loyal devotion by the misfortunes of their
young and beautiful Queen. In reply to her appeal, the Diet
unanimously voted the (< Insurrection of the nobles/"2 or levee en
masse of 30,000 foot and 15,000 horse, besides 20,000 recruits for
the regular army. AVhole hordes of Croats, Pandours, Red-
mantles, and other tribes dependent on Hungary, flew to arms for
the Queen, led by such famous partisan chiefs as Mentzel, Trenk,
Barenklau, and others. Including these tribes the Kingdom of
Hungary must have provided at least 100,000 men. The Tyrolese
also rose almost in a mass. The ill-advised march of the Elector of
Bavaria into Bohemia afforded time to prepare and arm these
levies. During Maria Theresa's retreat at Pressburg, her fortune
seemed to lie, in a great measure, in the hands of Frederick II.,
who, with a superior force, was separated only by the Neisse from
the sole army which she held in the field, and threatened it with
an immediate attack. In these circumstances she listened to the
advice of the English Ambassador to conciliate the Prussian King-
by some concessions. Frederick had promised France and Ba-
varia to do nothing without their concurrence, and, therefore, he
would not commit himself by any written engagements. But at
the Castle of Klein- Schnellendorf, and in the presence of Lord

1 " Let us die for our king, Maria Archduke Joseph did not arrive at Press-
Theresa." The proceedings of the Him- burg till nine days after his mother had
gariaa Diets were conducted in Latin. demanded the " Insurrection ; " and at
Count Mailath has shown, in his Gesch. the second assembly he was carried not
des ostr. Kaiserstaates (B. v. S. 11 f.), that by his mother but by his nurse. Nor
the tale is compounded from the events were any swords drawn,
of September 11th and 21st. The little 2 Die adeluje Insurrection.

102 DUPLICITY OF FEEDERICK II. [Chap. XLV.

Hyndford, he came to a verbal agreement with the Austrian
generals, Neuperg and Lentulus, that he would content himself
with Lower Silesia, with the addition of the town of Neisse ; from
which, after a little sham fighting, the Austrians were to retire
unmolested. Frederick required that the agreement should be
kept a profound secret, and the draft of it bore only the signature
of Lord Hyndford.1 A definitive treaty was to be made, if pos-
sible, before the end of the year.

After this convention, Frederick expressed the liveliest interest
for the Queen of Hungary ; yet he broke it in a month, and per-
haps had never intended to observe it.2 Indeed, one might almost
suspect that his object was merely to get possession of Neisse and
Upper Silesia, without having to fight for them. The tenour of
the twelfth article, which empowered part of the Prussian army to
take up its winter quarters in Silesia, seems to favour this sup-
position. A few weeks after the conclusion of this convention, on
the pretext that the secret had not been kept, Frederick renewed
his connection with the anti- Austrian party by a secret alliance
with Saxony and Bavaria at Frankfort (November 1st), and by
another Treaty of Guarantee with the latter Power at Breslau
(November 4th); by which the Elector, as King of Bohemia, ceded
to the King of Prussia, for 400,000 dollars, the county of Glatz,
although it was not yet conquered. Meanwhile the Austrians,
after a few mock engagements, had surrendered Neisse to the
Prussians and evacuated Silesia; and before the end of the year
the Prussians occupied Troppau, and even entered Moravia..
During these events the Franco-Bavarian and Saxon armies had
marched upon Prague, as already related.

The Imperial election was now approaching. The Electoral
Diet having assembled at Frankfort in January, 1742, on the
24th of that month the Elector of Bavaria was unanimously chosen
King of the Romans and Emperor Elect. The Electors who be-
longed to the alliance, Saxony, Brandenburg, Cologne, were of
course in his favour; the Palatine was his' cousin; the Elector of"
Hanover, George II., as we have said, had bound himself by
treaty to vote for Charles Albert; those of Mentz and Treves had

1 The Convention is in Garden, t. iii. trouvait a Presbourg, se flattant que !e
p. 262 sq. Roi regarderait des pourparlers comme

2 His own History lends some con- des traite's de paix, lui ecrivit demandant
firmation to this view, where he styles the sa voix pour 1'election a l'Empire. La
Convention a " pourparler," and laughs reponse fut obligeante, mais concue dans
at the Duke of Lorraine (Maria Theresa's un style obscur et si embrouilel que l'au-
husband) for being so simple as to con- teur meme ivy comprenait rien." — Hist.de
fide in it. " Le due de Lorraine, qui se mon Temps, ch. ii. sub fin.

Ciiai. XLY.] ELECTION OF CHARLES VII. 103

been compelled to do so by the threats of Belle-Isle. In order
to render the election unanimous, and also apparently to avoid
recognizing Maria Theresa as the lawful possessor of Bohemia,1
the Electoral College had excluded the vote of that Kingdom.
The new Emperor was crowned February 12th, and assumed the
title of Charles VII. But at the moment when he had attained
the object of his ambition, his fortune began to turn. Maria
Theresa's Hungarian forces were now in motion ; 20,000 men,
with the addition of drafts from the Lombard garrisons, under
General Khevenhiller, recovered Upper Austria in January. A
Franco-Bavarian corps, under Count Segur and General Minucci,
surrendered Linz by capitulation on the 24th of that month.
Another Austrian army, under the Grand Duke of Tuscany, aug-
mented by the troops withdrawn from Silesia, after the Convention
of Klein-Schnellendorf, which thus proved of temporary advan-
tage to Maria Theresa, entered Bohemia. Khevenhiller, rein-
forced by 6,000 Croats who had penetrated through Tyrol, in-
vaded Bavaria in February, and took possession of Munich on
the loth, only a few days after Charles VII.'s election had been
celebrated in that capital.

On the other hand the King of Prussia had been advancing in
Moravia. Olmiitz was taken, December 26th. A Prussian division
which had been despatched into Bohemia subdued the town and
county of Glatz, with the exception of the castle, in January,
1742. When the Austrians were penetrating into Bavaria,
Frederick saw the necessity of making a diversion by marching
upon Vienna, in conjunction with a French and a Saxon corps.
But dissension was already springing up among the allies.
Augustus III., or rather his minister, Bruhl,2 was lukewarm in
prosecuting a war from which Saxony was to derive but little
benefit in comparison with Prussia. He excused himself from
furnishing heavy artillery for the siege of Brunn on the ground
of want of money, although only a little before Augustus had
given 400,000 dollars for a large green diamond ! At Znaym the
Saxons refused to march further southwards. A body of 5,000
Prussians pushed on, and a party of their hussars showed them-
selves at Stockerau, only about twenty miles from Vienna. This
advance caused 10,000 Austrians to be recalled from Bavaria, and
arrested Khevenhiller's further progress towards the west. But

1 Menzel, Neure Gesck. dcr Bcutschcn, that at one of the consultations Bruhl got
B. v. S. 302. rid of the King by telling him that the

2 Frederick, who went to Dresden to opera was about to begin ! — Hist, de mon
settle the plan of the campaign, relates Temps, ch. iv.

1 04 PEACE BETWEEN AUSTRIA AND PRUSSIA. [Chap. XLV.

the ill support which Frederick met with from his allies and the
approach of the Austrian and Hungarian forces, compelled him to
evacuate Moravia with all his army and to retreat into Bohemia.
Curing this march negotiations went on under the mediation of
Lord Hyndford for a peace between Frederick and Maria Theresa.
The latter, however, would concede nothing ; a bitter spirit was
engendered, and Frederick resolved to settle their differences by
the arbitrament of a battle with his pursuers ; which took place
on May 17th in the neighbourhood of Czaslau. The Austrians,
commanded by Prince Charles of Lorraine, had slightly the advan-
tage in point of numbers, but Frederick was much superior in
'artillery. After a long and hard-fought battle, the Austrians
retired in good order behind Czaslau, where Frederick forbore to
pursue them.

This victory was hailed by the Emperor as a fortunate event ;
but Frederick had resolved once more to change sides, and the
negotiations with the Court of Vienna were renewed. He had
now exhausted the greater part of his father's hoards, and he was
discontented with and suspicious of his allies. He had discovered
that Cardinal Fleury was in secret correspondence with the Court
of Vienna, and that the French Court was willing that Sweden,
in a peace with Russia, should be compensated at the expense of
his Pomeranian dominions.1 Maria Theresa on her side had been
induced by the English minister to make larger concessions.
Under these circumstances the preliminaries of a peace were con-
cluded at Breslau, June 11th, 1742, and were followed by the
definitive Treaty of Berlin, July 28th.2 By the preliminaries
Prussia was to obtain both Lower and Upper Silesia, except the
principality of Teschen, the town of Troppau, and the district
beyond the Oppa and in the mountains ; also, the county of Glatz.
But these concessions were somewhat curtailed in the definitive
peace. Frederick refused to give any active aid to the Austrian
cause, and stipulated only for his neutrality. George II., both
as King of Great Britain and Elector of Hanover, the Empress of
Russia, the King of Denmark, the States- General, the House of
Brunswick, and the King of Poland as Elector of Saxony, were
included in the peace ; the last, however, only on condition that he
should, within sixteen days after formal notice, separate his troops
from the French army and withdraw them from Bohemia.
Augustus III. hesitated not to avail himself of this article, and

1 Menzel, B. v. S. 305.

5 Rousset, t. xviii. pp. 27, 33; Wenck, t. i. pp. 734, 739.

Chap.XLV.] DISASTROUS RETREAT OF BELLEISLE. 105

reconciled himself with Austria by reciprocal declarations, without
any regular treaty. George II. guaranteed the preliminaries of
Breslau by an Act signed at Kensington, June 24th, 1742 ; and
in the following November, Great Britain, Prussia, and the
States-General entered into a defensive alliance by the Treaty of
Westminster.1

In consequence of these arrangements the French, under Belle-
Isle, deprived of the co-operation of the Saxons, were forced by
the manoeuvres of Charles of Lorraine to shut themselves up in
Prague, where they were blockaded by the Austrians under Count
Konigseck. Prague was bombarded by the Austrians on August
19th ; but the approach of Maillebois with the French army of
Westphalia compelled them to raise the siege and attack Maille-
bois, whom they drove with considerable loss into Bavaria. Here,
however, he obtained some compensation for his failure in Bo-
hemia. Having joined Field-Marshal Seckendorf, who had quitted
the Austrian service for that of Charles VII., their united forces
succeeded in expelling the Austrians and Hungarians from Bavaria
before the close of the year 1642. After Maillebois's retreat the
Austrians had again blockaded Prague. But Belle-Isle succeeded
in escaping with 16,000 men on the night of December loth,
and after unspeakable sufferings, during a ten days' march in a
rigorous season, he arrived, though with great loss, at Eger, on
the frontier of the Upper Palatinate. Hence he reached France
early in 1743, with only 12,000 men, the remnants of 60,000
with whom he had begun the campaign. The small garrison
which he had left in Prague obtained an honourable capitulation,
December 26th.

The fortunes of Maria Theresa in other quarters had been as
favourable as she might reasonably have anticipated. In Italy,
the King of Sardinia had been detached from the confederacy of
her enemies. Alarmed by the arrival of large Spanish armies in
Italy, Charles Emanuel signed a convention, February 1st, 1742, by
which he agreed to aid the Queen of Hungary in defending the
duchies of Milan, Parma, and Piacenza ; reserving, however, to
some future time his own pretensions to the Milanese.2 Towards
the end of 1741, 15,000 Spaniards entered the Tuscan ports,
^nd, in January, 1742, further reinforcements landed in the Gulf
3f Spezia. The Spanish fleet which conveyed them was accom-
panied by a French one ; an English fleet, under Admiral Haddock,

1 Rousset, Ibid. p. 45 ; Weuek, t. i. 2 Ibid. p. 85 ; Wenck, Ibid. p. 672.

. 640.

106 ITALIAN CAMPAIGN, 1742. [Chap. XLY.

"was also in those waters ; but the French admiral, having given
Haddock notice that if the Spaniards were attacked he should
assist them, the English admiral, who did not feel himself a match
for both, retired into Port Mahon.1 It is said, however, that his
object in not attacking the Spaniards was to make the King of
Sardinia feel his danger and alter his politics. The Spaniards
under Montemar were joined by some Neapolitan troops under the
Duke of Castropignano. The Spaniards had for their allies Naples
and Modena ; all the other Italian potentates had declared their
neutrality, and arnong them even Maria Theresa's husband, the
Grand Duke of Tuscany, with the view of preserving his dominions.
The Italian campaign of 1742 proved, however, altogether unim-
portant. The English fleet, appearing before Naples, compelled
Don Carlos, by a threat of bombardment, to declare his neutrality
(August 20th) . The Infant Don Philip and the Count de Glime,
having entered Provence with 15,000 Spaniards, endeavoured to
penetrate into Piedmont by way of Nice ; but being repulsed, they
entered Savoy by St. Jean Maurienne, and occupied Chambery
early in September. At the beginning of the following month,,
however, on the approach of the King of Sardinia and General
Schulenburg, they hastily evacuated Savoy. The Spaniards and
Neapolitans in Lombardy were repulsed by the Austrians, who
entered the Modenese, and drove the Spaniards into the Pontifical
States. In the north of Europe, the attack of Sweden upon Eussia,
undertaken in an evil hour, at the instigation of the French, had
resulted only in disaster to the Swedes. But in order to explain
this, we must for a moment interrupt the narrative, and briefly
advert to the history of the Swedish nation.

The treaties by which the great Northern War had been con-
cluded seemed to have placed the Scandinavian kingdoms in a
position to enjoy a long period of tranquillity. This was really
the case with Denmark, where the wise and paternal government
of Frederick IV., who died in 1730, and of his successor, Christian
VI., was, during many years, almost solely occupied with the care
of preserving the peace and increasing and consolidating the
national prosperity. Sweden, however, adopted a different line of
policy. She could not digest the losses inflicted upon her by the
Treaty of Nystadt,and thewar in which the question of the Austrian
Succession had embroiled Europe seemed to present a favourable
opportunity to avenge her injuries.

Unfortunately, however, the form of government which had
1 Coxe, Spanish Bourbons, vol. iii. p. 321.

Ciiai. XLV.] RETROSPECT OF SWEDISH HISTORY. 107

been adopted in Sweden since the revolution of 17 19,1 rendered
her peculiarly unfit for such an enterprise. The new constitution
had been principally the work of Count Arved Horn, one of the
chiefs of the old nobility. Horn wished to put an end to the
arbitrary absoluteness with which Charles XI. and Charles XII.
had reigned ; but he introduced in its stead only the abuse of
popular freedom clothed in legal forms. King Frederick L, the
husband of Ulrica Eleanora, who was also reigning Landgrave of
Hesse- Cassel, had neither talent nor resolution to oppose these
innovations, but tamely submitted to all the dictates of the
oligarchy. It was not he that governed, but the Council, or rather
that member of it who, as President of the Chancery, stood at the
head of the Ministry. The Council itself, however, whose mem-
bers were elected by a deputation from which the fourth estate,
or that of the peasants, was excluded, was under the control of
the Secret Committee of the Diet. To this committee, from
which it received its instructions, and which had the power of
retaining it or dismissing it from office, the Council was obliged
to give an account of its proceedings from one Diet to another.
The real power of the State, therefore, was vested in the Secret
Committee, which consisted of 100 members ; of whom fifty be-
longed to the Order of the Nobles, twenty-five to the clergy,
and twenty-five to the burgher class. The Order of the Peasants
was here also excluded. Such a constitution, of course, threw the
chief power into the hands of the nobility. This class, the majority
of which consisted, as in Poland, of impoverished families with

; lofty pretensions, whilst it thus tyrannized at once over king and

I people, was itself the slave of its passions and the sport of faction.

' The heads of the different parties sold themselves to foreign
Powers, which sought either to retain Sweden in a state of weak-
ness or to make her the tool of their own interests. The two
chief factions were led by Counts Horn and Gyllenborg. Till the
year 1734, Gyllenborg's faction had inclined to Russia, that of
Horn to France ; but at the Diet of that year they changed sides,
and in June, 1735, Gyllenborg persuaded the Secret Committee
to conclude a Treaty of Subsidies with the Court of Versailles.'2
Count Horn, however, having shortly after brought about, through
his intrigues, an alliance with Russia, France refused to ratify.

! The poorer nobility, a numerous body, whose chance of bettering
themselves lay only in war, and many of whom served in the
French army, were loud in their complaints of the King's love of
1 See Vol. III. p. 531. 2 Eousset, Becueil, t. xviii. Suppl. p. 302.

108 THE HATS AND NIGHTCAPS. [Ciiap. XLV.

peace, and now added their "weight to the Gyllenborg party. It
was the policy of the Court of Versailles to foment the hatred of
the Swedes against Russia, with the view of producing a war,
which seemed to be the surest means of re-establishing the
royal authority. Since the late revolution, Sweden had become
almost a nullity, because the least warlike movement required the
convocation of the States of the kingdom ; and hence, under this
system of government, the alliance of Sweden was almost useless
to France. Great Britain, on the contrary, together with Den-
mark and Russia, favoured a state of things which seemed to in-
sure the maintenance of peace — an assumption, however, which
the sequel proved to be erroneous.

After a few years Count Horn was driven from office by the
Secret Committee, composed almost wholly of members of the
Gyllenborg faction ; but the war and peace factions, or the par-
tisans of France and Russia, continued to exist ; and in their
disputes at the Diet of 1738 they reciprocally bestowed upon each
other the nicknames of Hats and Nightcaps. The conquest of
Livonia was the object of the Hats, or war party, who, in No-
vember, 1738, effected a treaty with France for an alliance of ten
years, during three consecutive years of which France was to
furnish an annual subsidy of 300,000 crowns.1 A brutal act on
the part of the Russian Government envenomed the hostility of
the Hats against that Power. The more extended political rela-
tions which had sprung up in the eighteenth century, chiefly
through Peter the Great and the appearance of Russia as a first-
rate Power, now embraced Europe through its whole extent.
Nations which had formerly been almost ignorant of one another's
existence, or, at all events, profoundly indifferent to one another's
policy, now found themselves brought into contact by common
interests and sympathies. The vast extent of the Russian Empire,
touching Sweden on the north and Turkey on the south, had
united the Scandinavian and the Osmanli against a common
aggressor; and the Swedish Government had perceived that the
aid and friendship of the Sublime Porte would be of essential
service to it in any contest with Russia. In January, 1737, a
Treaty of Commerce had been concluded with the Porte ;2 and in
the following year Major Malcolm Sinclair was despatched to
Constantinople to negotiate a Treaty of Alliance and Subsidies.

These negotiations had excited the jealousy and suspicion of
the Russian Government, which was then at war with the Porte.

1 Wenclc, Cod.jio: g. rcc. t. ii. p. 1. 2 Ibid. t. i. p. 471.

Chap. XLV.J MURDER OF A SWEDISH ENVOY. 109

In order to learn the object of thein it was determined to waylay
and murder Sinclair, and to seize his despatches, and the consent
of the King of Poland's Ministry, as well as of the Cabinet of
Vienna, was obtained to any act of violence which might be per-
petrated on Sinclair during his journey. On his return from Con-
stantinople, in June, 1738, he was tracked and pursued through
Poland by some Russian officers ; but it was not till he had reached
Silesia that they found a convenient opportunity to attack him.
The Austrian magistrates at Breslau gave them a warrant to
pursue him ; he was overtaken near Griineberg, dragged from his
carriage into a neighbouring wood, where he was shot and his
despatches seized. These, after they had been duly read by the
Russian officials, were transmitted to Gyllenborg, who then filled
the post of Swedish Vice-Chancellor, by the Hamburg post, in a
well-sealed and apparently original packet. One Couturier, how-
ever, who had accompanied Sinclair on his journey, and who, on
his arrival at Dresden, had, at the instance of the Russian Ambas-
sador in that capital, been confined for a short period at Sonnen-
stein, on his arrival at Stockholm, in August, related all that had
happened.1 The Russian Empress Anna, in a circular to the
foreign ministers, disclaimed all knowledge of this barbarous
violation of international law; the murderers of Sinclair were
banished into Siberia, probably in order that they might not
betray the real secret ; and they were not released till the ac-
cession of Elizabeth. But the fate of Sinclair roused in Sweden
a cry for vengeance which re-echoed through the Kingdom. The
Hats seized the occasion to lash the old national hatred of the
Swedes against the Russians into fury. Towards the end of 1739
a defensive alliance was concluded with the Porte ; preparations
were made for an attack upon Russia, and troops were despatched
into Finnland ; but the Peace of Belgrade, which enabled Russia
to march 80,000 men to Finnland, and the earnest dissuasions
of France from a war from which Sweden could derive no
advantage, induced the Swedish Government to postpone the
hour of veno-eance.

The breaking out of the war of the Austrian Succession seemed
to offer a favourable opportunity for attacking Russia. France,
"is we have said, in order to divert the Russian forces, now ex-
ported the Swedish Government to avail themselves of it ; and,
by encouraging the plans of the Princess Elizabeth against the
government of the infant Czar Ivan, and the Regent Anna, his
1 Hermann, Gesc7!. Russlands, B. iv. S. 600 f.

110 RUSSIAN AND SWEDISH WAR. [Chap. XLV.

mother, endeavoured to embarrass the Russian Government.
An extraordinary Diet, convoked at Stockholm, declared war
against Russia, August 4th, 1741. The Swedish manifest charged
the Court of St . Petersburg with violating the Peace of Nystadt,
interfering with the Swedish constitution, especially as regarded
the succession to the throne, prohibiting the exportation of grain
from Livonia, excluding the Princess Elizabeth and the' Duke
of Holstein-Gottorp from the Russian throne, and finally, with
causing the assassination of Major Sinclair.1 The object of
Sweden was to reconquer the boundaries which she had pos-
sessed in 1700. But the dominant party took not the proper
steps to insure success. Finnland, the destined theatre of war,
was unprovided with troops and magazines ; and General Lowen-
haupt, "to whom the chief command was intrusted, had neither
military knowledge nor experience. The hopes of a diversion by
the Ottoman Porte were frustrated, and even the expectations
founded on the French alliance proved exaggerated.

We shall not pursue the details of the war which ensued,
which was shamefully conducted through the selfishness of the
Swedish oligarchy. It was interrupted for two or three months
by an armistice consequent on the revolution, which, in December,
1741, placed the Empress Elizabeth, second daughter of Peter
the Great, on the throne of Russia. The Empress Anna might
have ruled without control, and probably have transmitted the
throne to her son Ivan, had Elizabeth been left to the quiet
enjoyment of her sensual propensities. Elizabeth indulged with-
out concealment or restraint in amours with subalterns, and even
privates of the guard whose barracks lay near her residence ; she
was addicted, like them, to strong drink, and had entirely gained
their favour by her good humour and joviality. Her indolence
made her utterly averse to business. She would never have
thought of encumbering herself with the care of government
had she not been restricted in her amusements, reproved for her
behaviour, and, what was worst of all, threatened with a com-
pulsory marriage with the ugly and disagreeable Anthony Ulrich,
of Brunswick Bevern, brother, of the Regent's husband. At the
instigation, and with the money, of the French ambassador, La
Chetardie, a revolution was effected, in which Lestocq, a surgeon, ,
son of a French Protestant settled in Hanover, and one of Eliza-
beth's friends, was the chief agent. In the night of December
5th, 1741, Elizabeth was escorted by about a hundred soldiers of
1 Biiscliing, Magazin, ap. Koch et ScholT, Hist, dcs Traitcs, t. xiii. p. 340.

Chap. XLV.] REVOLUTION IN RUSSIA. Ill

the guard, who had previously secured the officer of the watch,
to the Winter Palace, where they were joined by the rest of the
soldiery. The Empress, her son Ivan, and his sister, and all the
members of the Government were arrested by their own sentinels,
and by eight o'clock in the morning the revolution was accom-
plished. The Empress and her husband were conducted under
custody from one place to another ; while the unfortunate Ivan
was thrown into a wretched dungeon, and treated as an idiot.
Marshal Munnich, Ostermann, and others were banished to
Siberia.

Elizabeth, in the manifest which she published on the day of
her accession, declared that the throne belonged to her by right
of birth, in face of the celebrated ukase, issued by her father in
1722, which empowered the reigning Sovereign to name his
successor;1 and her whole reign promised to be a Muscovite
reaction against the principles of reform and progress adopted
by Peter the Great. On communicating her accession to the
Swedish Government, she expressed her desire for peace, and
her wish to restore matters to the footing on which they had
been placed by the Treaty of Nystadt. The Swedes, who took
credit for having helped the revolution which raised her to the
throne, demanded from the gratitude of the Empress the resti-
tution of all Finnland, with the town of Wiborg and part of
Carelia; but Elizabeth, with whom it was a point of honour to
cede none of the conquests of her father, would consent to nothing
further than the re-establishment of the Peace of Xystadt. On
the renewal of the war the Swedes were again unsuccessful in
every encounter. General Bousquet, who had succeeded Lowen-
haupt, cashiered for incapacity and afterwards beheaded, con-
cluded a disgraceful capitulation with the Russians, September
4th, 1742, by which ten Finnish regiments were disarmed, and
the Swedish regiments permitted to return home only on con-
dition of abandoning all Finnland.

These events spread consternation throughout Sweden. Peace
was now earnestly desired, and the Diet was summoned to delibe-
rate on the situation of the Kingdom. The Swedish Queen, Ulrica
Eleanora, who, in spite of her close affinity with the House of
|TIolstein, was always decidedly opposed to it, had died, November
i!3rd, 1741 ; and the Diet, in order to conciliate the Empress
Elizabeth, resolved to name her nephew, Charles Peter Ulric,
Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, to the succession of the Swedish

1 See vol. iii. p. 74.

112 ENGLISH AND RUSSIAN ALLIANCE. [Ciiai-.XLW

throne. But Elizabeth had higher views for that young prince.
Before the arrival of the Swedish deputies at St. Petersburg,
she had declared him Grand Duke and heir presumptive of the
Russian throne, and he publicly embraced the Greek confession of
faith.

At this period Russia renewed her alliance with Great Britain,
with a view to the preservation of the general peace of Europe,
and especially that of the North. By the Treaty of Moscow, De-
cember 11th, 1742, the two Powers were reciprocally to help and
advise each other in their wars, except those which Russia might
wage with the Ottoman Porte and the East, or those which
England might be carrying on in the Spanish peninsula and in
Italy. The Kings of Poland and Prussia and the States- General were
to be invited to accede to the treaty.1 This alliance increased the
difficulties of the Swedish Government, and caused them to throw
their eyes upon Denmark, as the only Power which could aid them
in their distress. A project was formed to renew the ancient union
of the three Scandinavian kingdoms, and Christian VI. of Den-
mark, on condition that his son Frederick should be appointed to
the succession of the Swedish Crown, offered the aid of twelve
ships of the line, and of an army of 12,000 men. The report of
this alliance helped the Swedes in their negotiations with Russia
in the Congress already opened at Abo in Finnland. The Russians
wished to preserve the greater part of their conquests ; but the
menace of the Swedish plenipotentiaries that if a peace were not
concluded by June 26th, 1743, the Prince Royal of Denmark
should be elected to succeed to the Swedish throne, induced the
Court of St. Petersburg somewhat to moderate its pretensions.
Elizabeth wished to procure the Crown of Sweden for Adolphus
Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp, Bishop of Liibeck, who was the
guardian of her nephew, Charles Peter Ulric. Preliminaries were
signed and an armistice agreed on, June 27th : when, after the
election of Adolphus Frederick by the Swedes, the restitution of
the Swedish provinces by Russia was to be arranged in a definitive
treaty.2

The peasants of Dalecarlia, incited, it is said, by a promise of
assistance from Denmark, and supported with Danish money,
opposed the election of the Russian nominee. They even entered
Stockholm in arms, and it became necessary to employ the regular
troops against them. After this insurrection had been quelled, the
Bishop of Liibeck was elected, July 4th, 1743; and the treaty of

1 Wenck, t. i. p. 645. 2 Ibid. t. ii. p. 31.

Chap. XLV.] PEACE OE ABO. 113

peace was then proceeded with and signed, August 17th. By the
Treaty op Abo1 Sweden ceded to Russia in perpetuity all the
provinces and places assigned to the latter Power by the Peace of
Nystiidt. Russia, on the other hand, restored her recent conquests,
except the Province of Kymnienegord, the towns and fortresses of
Friedrichshanm and Willmanstrand, and some other places.
Henceforth the river Kinimene was to form the boundary of the
two States. The inhabitants of the places ceded by Sweden were
to enjoy their former civil and religious privileges. The Russians
insisted upon a clause for the extradition not only of fugitive
criminals, but even subjects. Their object was to be able to reclaim
the serfs who might cross the borders ; but it is singular that the
Swedes should have made the condition reciprocal, the Swedish
peasants being not only free, but even forming one of the orders
of the national States.

By this peace Sweden for ever renounced the hope of recovering
the provinces situated on the Gulf of Finnland. The conclusion of
it, and the election of Adolphus Frederick of Holstein as successor
to the Swedish Throne, had nearly involved Sweden in a war with
Denmark. Christian VI. prepared to assert by force the rights of
his son ; George II., as Elector of Hanover, was disposed to assist
him ; while the Empress of Russia sent to the aid of Sweden a
formidable fleet and army, and promised a subsidy of 400,000
roubles. After much negotiation, however, an arrangement was
concluded in February, 1744, by which the Prince Royal of
Denmark renounced his pretensions to the Swedish Succession.

But we must now return, in another chapter, to the war of the
Austrian Succession, in which Great Britain was preparing to take
a more decisive part.

1 Wenck. t. ii. p. 36.

IV.

114 ENGLISH ENTHUSIASM FOR MARIA THERESA. [Chap. XL VI.

CHAPTER XLVI.

THE year 1743 opened with the death of Cardinal Fleury
(January 29th), who had attained his ninetieth year, and was
almost sunk in the dotage of a second childhood. A few months
before his death, when Belle-Isle and his army were in jeopardy
in Bohemia, Fleury had instructed him to make peace at any
price ; and at the same time, in a letter to Field-Marshal Konig-
seck, the Austrian commander, with whom Belle-Isle had to treat,
denounced him as the author of the war, declared that it had been
undertaken against his own feelings and principles, and made
something very like an appeal to the mercy of the Court of
Vienna. Maria Theresa immediately caused this effusion to be
published, and exposed the Cabinet of Versailles to the laughter
of all Europe.1 After Fleury's death Louis XV. declared that in
future he should govern for himself, but, in fact, left the conduct of
affairs to the heads of the four ministerial departments. The
natural consequence was an almost complete anarchy in the
Government.

England also had previously lost her pacific minister by the
retirement of Sir Robert Walpole.2 The cause of Maria Theresa
had begun to excite a remarkable enthusiasm in England. Even
the women had raised by private subscription a large fund for her
use, to which the Duchess of Marlborough is said to have contri-
buted 40,000?. ; but the high-spirited young Queen declined to
receive an aid which bore the appearance of alms. The desire of
the English for more decisive measures was further stimulated by
the ill-success which had hitherto attended their naval expeditions
to America, which was attributed to Walpole. The Convention of
Neutrality, entered into by George II. in September, 1741, and the
extortion of his vote for the Elector of Bavaria, properly concerned
that Prince only as Elector of Hanover; yet, as he was also King

1 Martin, 77^. r/V France, t.xv.p. 250 sq. vol. i. p. 6SG note, a pretended letter of

2 It is surely beneath the dignity of Walpole's to Cardinal Fleury, requesting
History that M. Martin (ibid. p. 248), three million livres to buy members of
after Klassan, should quote as genuine Parliament, without intimating that Coxe
from Coxe's Memoirs of Sir R. Walpole, cites it as a fabrication.

Chap. XL VI.] AUSTRIAN AND BAVARIAN WAR. 115

of England, these acts were deemed a disgrace by the English
people. The elections that year went against Walpole, and, in
February, 1742, he found himself compelled to resign. He was suc-
ceeded in the administration by Pulteney, Earl of Bath, though Lord
Carteret, an ardent supporter of the cause of Maria Theresa, was
virtually Prime Minister. Bath's accession to office was immediately
followed by a large increase of the army and navy ; five millions
were voted for carrying on the war, and a subsidy of 500,000Z.
for the Queen of Hungary. The Earl of Stair, with an army of
16,000 men, afterwards reinforced by a large body of Hanoverians
and Hessians in British pay, was despatched into the ^Netherlands
to co-operate with the Dutch. But though the States-General, at
the instance of the British Cabinet, voted Maria Theresa a subsidy,
they were not yet prepared to take an active part in a war which
might ultimately involve them in hostilities with France. The
exertions of the English Ministry in favour of the Queen of Hun-
gary had, therefore, been confined during the year 1742 to diplo-
macy, and they had helped to bring about, as we have already
seen, the Peace of Breslau. In 1743 they were able to do more;
but we must first cast our eyes on the affairs of the Emperor and
the Queen of Hungary.

By the expulsion of the Austrians from Bavaria, recorded in the
preceding chapter, Charles VII. was enabled to return to Munich
in April, 1743. Seckendorf now advised him to follow the example
of Prussia and Saxony, and make his peace with Maria Theresa.
Charles, however, could not resolve to humble himself before the
proud young Queen whose Crown he had so recently claimed as
ais property. While he was debating the point with the French
generals, a Bavarian division of 7,000 men under Minucci was
ittacked by the Austrians under Prince Charles of Lorraine and
(xkevenhiller at Simbach, near Braunau, and almost annihilated
(May 9th). After this blow, Broglie, who had assumed the com-
nand of the French army in Bavaria, and who was always at
variance with Seckendorf, suddenly set off for the Rhine with his
roops, thus leaving Bavaria again at the mercy of the Austrians,
i-s Seckendorf, with his remaining 10,000 men, was unable to de-
end it. On Jane 12th the Austrian general, Nadasti, took
'lunich after a short bombardment. Charles VII. was now again
bliged to fly, and took refuge at Augsburg. At his command
Seckendorf made a Convention with the Austrians, by which he
greed to abandon to them Bavaria, on condition that Charles's
roops should be allowed to occupy, unmolested quarters between

116 ANGLO-GERMAN CAMPAIGN. [Chap. XLVI.

Franconia and Suabia. Maria Theresa seemed at first indisposed
to ratify even terms so humiliating to the Emperor. She had
become, perhaps, a little too much elated by the rapid turn of
fortune. She had caused herself to be crowned in Prague, had
received the homage of the Austrians, and entered Vienna in a
sort of triumph. She now dreamt of nothing less than conquering
Lorraine for herself, Alsace for the Empire; of hurling Charles VII.
from the Imperial Throne, and placing on it her own consort. She
would not recognize Charles as Emperor, but accorded to him the
title only of " Elector of Bavaria," and threatened to treat his
troops as enemies wherever she should find them. But she was at
length mollified, and consented that the Bavarian army, so long
as it betrayed no design to renew hostilities, should remain in
some neutral State of the Empire. She now caused the Bavarians
to take an oath of fidelity and obedience to herself; whereupon
the Emperor published an indignant protest against this proceed-
ing of the " Grand Duchess of Tuscany."1

Meanwhile the allied army of English and Germans, under the
Earl of Stair, nearly 40,000 strong, which, from its destined ob-
ject, had assumed the name of " the Pragmatic Army," had
crossed the Meuse and Ehine in March and April, with a view to
cut off the army of Bavaria from France. George II. had not
concealed his intention of breaking the Treaty of Hanover, of
1741, alleging, as a ground, that the duration of the neutrality
stipulated in it had not been determined, and had joined the
army in person. He found it in a most critical position. Lord
Stair, who had never distinguished himself as a general, and
was now falling into dotage, had led it into a narrow valley near
Aschaffenburg, between Mount Spessart and the river Main;,
while Marshal Koailles, who had crossed the Ehine towards the
end of April, by seizing the principal fords of the Main, both
above and below the British position, had cut him off both from
his magazines at Hanau, and from the supplies which he had ex-
pected to procure in Franconia. Nothing remained for him but
to fight his way back to Hanau ; but to accomplish this it was
necessary to pass the village of Dettingen, at the other extremity
of the valley, which the French had occupied in force ; while the
line of march lay along the river Main, the opposite bank of which
was occupied by the French, whose artillery began to make
dreadful havoc among the British columns. JSToailles had fortu-
nately intrusted the command of the French division posted at
1 Menz >\ Neuere Gesch, der Deutscken, B. v. S. 308 £

Chap. XLVI.] BATTLE OF DETTINGEN. 117

Dettingen to his nephew, the Duke of Grarnont, an inexperi-
enced young man, who, thinking that he had to deal only with
j an advanced guard, quitted the strong position he had taken up
to give battle — a movement by which he placed himself between
the British and the French batteries, and compelled the latter to
suspend their fire. The British and Hanoverian infantry, with the
King and the Duke of Cumberland at their head, now charged
and routed the French, and thus opened the road to Hanau. In
the Battle of Dettingen, fought on June 27th, the French are
said to have lost about 6,000 men, and the British half that
number. It is the last action in which a King of England has
fought in person. But George II., or rather Lord Stair, did not
know how to profit by his victory. Although the Pragmatic
Army was joined, after the battle of Dettingen, by 15,000 Dutch
troops, under Prince Maurice of Nassau, nothing of importance
was done during the remainder of the campaign. The French did
not retire into Alsace till the approach of Prince Charles of Lor-
raine with the Austrians, in August. The Croats, Pandours and
other Austrian partisans made forays as far as Lorraine ; but to-
wards the end of autumn the allies cantoned their forces in winter
quarters.

The Emperor Charles VII., abandoned by all the world, had
endeavoured to obtain the neutrality of his hereditary dominions,
which Maria Theresa refused to grant without the concurrence of
her allies ; though, as we have said, she gave a verbal declaration
that she would not attack the Bavarian army so long as it re-
mained on neutral ground. Braunau and Straubing were surren-
dered to the Austrians ; Ingolstadt was taken early in October;
and Charles VII., without dominions or money, went to hold his
melancholy Court at Frankfort. Much negotiation went on in
the course of 1743 between him and Lord Carteret, for a settle-
ment of his affairs with the Queen of Hungary. In answer to his
last proposal in August, the English Minister finally told him
that Maria Theresa would make no peace unless she received
entire satisfaction; that she demanded Lorraine, and would mean-
while hold Bavaria in pledge for it ; that if Charles Albert desired
a sincere reconciliation he should cause the German States to de-
clare war against France, in order to reunite Alsace to the Empire,
and cause Lorraine to be ceded to the Queen ; and that on this
condition — which was of course an impossible one — Great Britain
and the States-General would furnish him with subsidies.

Much negotiation had also been going on in other quarters.

118 ALLIANCE OF FRANCE AND SPAIN. [Chap. XLVI.

As it was suspected that the King of Sardinia would not observe
the Convention of February, 1742, so unsatisfactory to his am-
bition, and that he would again listen to the overtures of France
and Spain, the English Ministry persuaded Maria Theresa to make
a sacrifice in order to retain him. By a treaty between Great
Britain, the Queen of Hungary, and the King of Sardinia, signed
at Worms, September 23rd, 1743,1 Charles Emanuel renounced
his pretensions to Milan ; the Queen of Hungary ceding to him
the Vigevanesco, that part of the Duchy of Pavia between the Po
and the Ticino, the town and part of the Duchy of Piacenza, and
a portion of the district of Angera : also whatever rights she might
have to the marquisate of Finale.2 The Queen of Hungary pro-
mised to increase her army in Italy to 30,000 men as soon as the
affairs of Germany would permit • while the King1 of Great Britain
engaged to keep a strong fleet in the Mediterranean, and to pay
Charles Emanuel annually 200,000^. so long as the war lasted, he
keeping in the field an army of 45,000 men.

While Maria Theresa was thus procuring a slippery ally her
enemies were drawing closer their league against her. France and
Spain signed a secret treaty of perpetual alliance at Fontainebleau,
October 25th, 1743. The treaty is remarkable as the precursor of
the celebrated Family Compact between the French and Spanish
Bourbons. The Spaniards, indeed, call it the Second Family
Compact, the first being the Treaty of November 7th, 1733 [supra,
p. 83), of which, with regard to colonial affairs, it was a renewal.
But this treaty had a more special reference to Italy. Louis XV.
engaged to declare war against Sardinia, and to aid Spain in
conquering the Milanese. Philip V. transferred his claims to
that Duchy to his son, the Infant Don Philip, who was also to be
put in possession of Parma and Piacenza. All the possessions-
ceded by France to the King of Sardinia, by the Treaty of
Utrecht, were to be again wrested from him. A public alliance
was to be formed, to which the Emperor Charles VII. was to
accede ; whose States, and even something* more, were to be re-
covered for him. Under certain circumstances war was to be de-
clared against England ; in which case France was to assist in
the recovery of Gibraltar, and also, if possible, of Minorca. The
new colony of Georgia was to be destroyed, the Asiento withdrawn

1 Rous8et,.5ecM«7,t.xviii.p.83; Wenck, sold to the Genoese by Charles VI., and
( 'od. jur. g. rec. t. i. p. 677. Maria Theresa hart, consequently, no legal

2 The marquisate of Finale hart been claim to it. Pfeffel, t. ii. p. 500.

Chap. XI.VI.] LOUIS XV. AIDS THE PRETENDEE. 119

from England/ &c. Hence the year 1744 opens a new phase of
the war, of which the most remarkable events are, the declaration
of war by France against Maria Theresa and George II., the
union formed in favour of the Emperor, and the fresh rupture
between Austria and Prussia.

Early in that year many indications betrayed the tone of France
towards Great Britain. Louis XV., at the instigation of Cardinal
Tencin, who owed his hat to the Pretender, called at Rome
James III., invited the Chevalier de St. George, son of that
phantom Monarch, into France, with the view of assisting him in
a descent upon England. An armament was prepared at Brest;
the English fleet was to be overpowered, although there had yet
been no declaration of war, and 15,000 men were to be thrown
on the coasts of Great Britain. The news of these preparations
created some alarm in England. Precautions were taken against
an invasion, and the Dutch, under the treaties of 1678 and 1716,
sent 6,000 men into England. In February a descent was
actually attempted, but without success, as Admiral Norris, aided
by a tremendous storm, proved too strong for the French fleet.
About the same time (February 24th) a drawn action took place
between the French, Spanish, and English fleets, near Toulon.
The disputes between the English admirals, Matthews and Les-
tock, prevented them from acting in concert, and compelled
Matthews to withdraw. The Spaniards and French, however,
also complained of each other, and the quarrels of their admirals
left the English masters of the Mediterranean f though the im-
mediate result of the battle was that the Spaniards were enabled
to send large supplies into Italy.

The campaign in that country, in 1743, had not proved much
more important than that of the preceding year. In December,
1742, and in the following February, the Spaniards and French
had renewed their attempts to penetrate into Piedmont {supra,
p. 106), but without success. On February 8th, Montemar, in at-
tempting to form a junction with them, fought a drawn action

1 The treaty docs not seem to have been etaient les plus faibles en navires et en

published in the usual collections, but it canons." — Hist, de France, t. xv. p. 267.

is in Cantillo, Tratados de Paz, 807, ap. Here M. Mai' tin suppresses the dissension

Ranke, Preuss. Gesch. B. iii. S. 142. between the English admirals, and the

5 M. Martin, speaking of this action, fact that the honour of the result was

says, " Les allies sortirent de la rade le claimed by the Spaniards alone, and that

19 Fevrier, et livrerent anx Anglais, le the French admiral, De Court, was dis-

22, un combat qui resta indecis. C'etait graced. See Coxe, Spanish Bourbons,

un resultat t res-honorable pour ceux qui vol. iii. p. 345 sq.

120 ITALIAN CAMPAIGN, 1743. [Chap. XL VI.

with the Austrians under Count Traun, at Campo Santo, on the
Tanaro. The Prince de Conti and Don Philip passed the Var
and succeeded in occupying Nice, in April ; but were compelled
to relinquish the enterprise, as the Genoese Senate, alarmed by
the threats of Admiral Matthews, who told them that if they per-
mitted the French and Spaniards to pass through their territories,
he should regard it as a breach of their neutrality and commence
hostilities against them accordingly, refused the invaders a pas-
sage. They were, therefore, compelled to retire, leaving garrisons
in Nice and Villa Franca. They then made an attempt by the
valley of Barcelonette (July) , penetrated into the valley of the
Stura, and laid siege to Coni, September 12th. The King of Sar-
dinia gave them battle on the 30th of that month at Madonna
dell' Olmo ; and, although they gained the advantage, the autumn
floods and want of supplies compelled them to raise the siege
(October 22nd), and retire with great loss over the mountains.
Meanwhile, in Southern Italy, the Austrians had advanced into
the Campagna. Don Carlos, believing himself menaced, marched
against them ; many bloody skirmishes took place in the neigh-
bourhood of Veletri, but nothing decisive was accomplished, and
in November the Austrians retired.

Louis XV. made a formal declaration of war against George II.
(March 15th, 1741), and against Maria Theresa (April 26th), and
in May he put himself at the head of the grand army of the
Netherlands. He is said to have been stimulated to this unwonted
energy by a new mistress, Madame de la Tournelle, whom he
created Duchess de CMteauroux; the fourth sister of the family
of Nesle that had successively passed into his incestuous embraces. '
The army numbered 80,000 men under the command of Marshal
Noailles and Count Maurice of Saxony. The latter, who, under
the name of Marshal Saxe, became so celebrated as a general, was
one of the numerous natural sons of Augustus II., the late King
of Poland, by the beautiful Aurora von Kdnigsmark, the foiled
tempter of Charles XII. of Sweden. He had procured himself to
be elected Duke of Courland by the States of that Duchy in 1720,
and, after disputing his title with an heroic temerity against
Russia and Poland, had finally placed himself in the service of
France. Noailles had seen and appreciated his military genius in

1 It is related that the King's confessor, so shocked with the proposal that he

thi' Jesuit Lemeri, not being able to give banished the confessor. Chroniqiu du

him absolution, advised him, in order to regrn d( Louis XV. ap. Martin, t. xv.

save appearances, to communicate Mi blank, p. 265. The story reflects still less credit

or with unconsecrated wafers. Louis was on the Jesuit than on the King.

Chap. XLVI.] CAMPAIGN ON THE RHINE, 1744. 121

Bohemia, and as France was in want of generals, procured forhini
a marshal's baton, though the King was prejudiced against him as
a Protestant. During the month of June, Courtrai, Menin, Ypres,
the fort of Knoque, Dixmude, successively yielded to the arms of
Louis. Meanwhile, however, the advance of the Austrians
threatened the safety of Alsace, and the King, after taking Furnes,
July 10th, hastened with* the elite of his troops to the protection
of that Province, leaving Marshal Saxe in Flanders to conduct a
defensive campaign, which covered him with glory.

Prince Charles of Lorraine and Field-Marshal Traun, crossing
the Rhine a few leagues from Philippsburg, had seized Lauterburg,
Weissenburg, and the line of the Lauter. The French Marshal,
Coigny, reinforced by the Emperor's Bavarians — the neutrality
agreed upon having been broken and repudiated — after retaking
Weissenburg, which he could not hold, had retreated behind the
Moder, and afterwards on Strasburg. Parties of Croats, Hun-
garians, and other Austrian partisans, now inundated Alsace, and
3ven pressed on into Lorraine. The King had fallen sick at
Metz, where his life was despaired of;1 but Xoailles succeeded in
ffecting a junction with Coigny by the defile of Ste. Marie aux
Mines. Prince Charles now received orders to recross the Rhine ;
m operation which he effected with little loss in the face of a
superior enemy. The Queen of Hungary, abandoning for the
present the project of reconquering Alsace and Lorraine, recalled
tier troops in order to repel an invasion of Bohemia by the King
3f Prussia. But Ave must trace this affair a little higher.

The Treaty of Worms (supra, p. 118) had given great offence
jo Frederick. By the second article of it the contracting parties
guaranteed to one another all the kingdoms, states, &c, which
liey then possessed, or which they were entitled to possess, in
irirtue of the Treaties of Turin (1703), Utrecht, and Baden, the
Quadruple Alliance, the Treaty of Vienna (March, 1731), the con-
sequent guarantee of the Empire (January, 1732), the Act of
Accession, signed at Vienna, November 12th, 1738, and that
signed at Versailles, February 3rd, 1739.2 This was, in fact, to
guarantee to the Queen of Hungary the reconquest of Silesia.
Frederick's anger and alarm were increased by a clause of the
rhirteenth Article : that as soon as Italy should be delivered from

1 The Parisians, in their joy for his a well founded astonishment. Voltaire,

•ecovery, and in admiration of his war- Git, ,;•■ de 1741, ap. Martin, t. xv. p. 271.
ike exploits, gave him the name of Louis 2 Garden, Hist, des Traitts, t. iii. p. 294 ;

■' bin ai, at ; a sobriquet which is said to Wenck, B. i. p. 682; ef. Hist, de moil

kave roused in him no feeling except Temps, eh. viii.

122 UNION OF FRANKFORT. [Chap. XLYI.

its enemies, the King of Sardinia should furnish men for the safe-
guard of Lombardy, in order that the Queen might be enabled
to withdraw part of her troops from that country and employ them
in Germany.

In Germany ? Against whom ? Maria Theresa was allied with
Saxony. She had humiliated Bavaria. Against whom, then, could
she meditate war but Prussia ? There was an end, Frederick
concluded, to the Peace of Breslau, especially as the Queen took
no pains to conceal her regret for the loss of Silesia. At the sight
of a Silesian, as the English Ambassador, Ptobinson, wrote to his
Court, she would forget the Queen, and burst into tears like a
woman.1 Frederick's jealousy was further increased by a treaty,
concluded December 20th, 1743, at Vienna, between Austria and
Saxony, containing a renewed guarantee of the Pragmatic Sanc-
tion, without any exception with regard to Silesia ; as well as by
another entered into at St. Petersburg, February 4th, 1744, be-
tween the King of Poland and the Empress of Russia, by which
the Alliance of 1733 was renewed with some modifications.2 Be-
sides these grounds for apprehension, Frederick was also of
opinion that the Queen of Hungary was pushing matters too far
against Charles VII. by aiming to deprive him of the Imperial
Crown. Against the League of Austria, Great Britain, Russia,
Saxony, Sardinia, and the States-General, he therefore resolved to
oppose a double league, one with France and one with the
States of the Empire.

The Secret Treaty with France was signed June 5th, 1744, but
had probably been arranged some time before. The Cabinet of
Versailles seems to have entered into it with a view to divert the
Austrians from their attack by engaging the King of Prussia in a
war with them, and encouraging him to invade Bohemia ; of which
Kingdom, after its conquest, Frederick was to retain certain dis-
tricts.3 The alliance with the Emperor Charles VII. seems to
have been designed by Frederick to give a colourable pretence to
his attack upon Bohemia. This alliance, known by the name of
the Union of Feankfort, was signed by the Emperor, the King of
Prussia, the Elector Palatine, and the King of Sweden, as Land-
grave of Hesse-Cassel, May 22nd, 1744. Its professed objects
were, to maintain the German Constitution, to compel the Court of
Vienna to recognize Charles VII. as Emperor, and restore to him
his Bavarian dominions. By separate articles, and by a further

1 Raumer, Friedrich II. S. 160. 2 Martens, SuppUm nt au Sicueil, t. ii:. p. 15.

3 Garden, t. iii. p. 311,

Chap. XLVI.] SECOND SILESIAN WAR. 123

secret treaty between the Emperor and the King of Prussia alone,
signed July 24th, Bohemia, after its conquest, was to be made
over to the Emperor and his heirs; in return for which Charles
was to cede Silesia to Prussia, together with the three circles of
Bohemia nearest to that Province, namely, Konigsgratz, Buntzlau,
and Leitmeritz, with some other places. Frederick also guaranteed
to the Emperor Upper Austria, so soon as he should have con-
quered it. France acceded to both these treaties.1

Early in August Frederick himself communicated the Union of
Frankfort to the Court of Vienna, and declared that, as a member
of the Empire, he could not evade his duty of providing a contin-
gent of auxiliary troops for the service of the Emperor, but that in
other respects he should observe all his engagements with the
Queen of Hungary. In the course of that month he commenced
what has been called the Second Silesian War by marching-
80,000 men into Bohemia. The army advanced in three columns.
One, led by the King in person, passed through Saxony, regard-
less of the protests of the Court of Dresden; another, under
Leopold of Dessau, took the route of Lusatia ; while the third,
under Field- Marshal Schmettau, debouching from Silesia and
Glatz, entered Bohemia by Braunau. The united columns marched
upon Prague, which surrendered, after a siege of six days, Sep-
tember 16th. Frederick, ignorant of the strong* alliance between
the King of Poland and the Court of Vienna, had hoped to gain
Augustus, and made some tempting offers to him and his minister,
Briihl. Augustus, however, ordered his army, 24,000 men strong,
to enter Bohemia ; nor could Frederick prevent their junction at
Eger with Charles of Lorraine and the Austrian army retiring
from Alsace. Neither the French under Noailles, nor the Im-
perialists under Seckendorf, who was suspected of having sold
himself to the Court of Vienna, had attempted to arrest the march
of the Austrians through Suabia, Franconia, and Bavaria. After
their junction at Eger the Austrian and Saxon forces amounted
to 90,000 men. The King of Prussia had but small prospect of
successfully opposing them ; especially as the Bohemian popula-
tion, mostly Catholics, were inimical to the Prussians, instead of
assisting them, like the Silesians. Frederick, therefore, deter-
mined to retreat. Leaving a garrison of 10,000 men at Prague,
he crossed the Elbe at Kolin, November 9th, and gained the
County of Glatz with rapid marches. The Prussian garrison was

1 Rousset, t. xviii. p. 4 46 ; "YVenck, separate article, are in the appendix to
t. ii. p. 163. The Treaty of Union and Garden's third volume.

124 CHARLES VII. RECOVERS MUNICH. [Chap. XLVI.

also compelled to evacuate Prague, and arrived at Friedland with
great loss.

Frederick seems rather to have outwitted himself on this occa-
sion. France obtained her ends by procuring the withdrawal of
the Austrian army from Alsace ; but the French did nothing to
assist Frederick, though they made some fine promises, of which
he now knew the value, for next spring. This was, however, a
game of which he was little entitled to complain. The French,
in turn, had their suspicions of him, and were apprehensive that
he might desert them, and again negotiate with Maria Theresa,
as he had done in 1742.1 Such mutual distrust is the necessary
penalty of finesse. To avenge Frederick's unlucky attempt upon
Bohemia, the Austrians under Nadasti, and the Hungarians under
Counts Palfy, Esterhazy, and Caroli — for another Hungarian
" insurrection " had taken place in favour of Maria Theresa —
broke into Upper Silesia and the County of Glatz, from which,
with the exception of the towns of Neisse, Kosel, and Glatz, they
totally expelled the Prussians before the end of 1744. In a pro-
clamation, issued December 4th, it was notified that the whole
Silesian territory had returned under the dominion of the Queen
of Hungary. But the assumption was premature. Old Prince
Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau, to whom Frederick committed the
task, succeeded in nearly clearing Silesia of the Austrians before
the following spring. Meanwhile the French, instead of succour-
ing Frederick, had emploj'ed themselves in taking Freiburg in
the Breisgau, which surrendered November 5th. The Prussian
attack upon Bohemia had also proved of service to the Emperor
by withdrawing a great part of the Austrian troops from his
Electorate in order to repel it. Seckendorf, assisted by some
French troops, took advantage of this circumstance to drive out
the remainder. Munich was recovered, October 16th, and Charles
VII. was enabled once more to return to his capital.

The Italian campaign of 1744 was unfavourable to the Austrians.
In the preceding year, they had, as we have seen, driven the
Spaniards almost to the Neapolitan frontier, and, in spite of the
neutrality imposed upon it, seemed to threaten an invasion of that
Kingdom. To avert it, Don Carlos, after taking- all possible pre-
cautions against an attack upon his capital from the sea, joined
the Spaniards with his forces, and enabled them to drive the
Austrians and Piedmontese out of the Papal territories.

The invasion of Bohemia by the Prussians produced what has
1 Adelung, Staatsgcsckichte, B. iv. S. 181.

Chap. XL VI.] DEATH OF CHARLES VII. 125

been called the Quadruple Alliance, established by the Treaty of
Warsaw, January 8th, 1745, between the King of Poland as
Elector of Saxony, Great Britain, the Queen of Hungary, and the
States-General. The Elector renewed his guarantee of the Prag-
matic Sanction, and promised to operate immediately in Bohemia
with 30,000 auxiliary troops. So long as this army should be
required Great Britain was to pay an annual subsidy of 100,000?.,
and the United Provinces 50,000/. Poland and Russia were to
be invited to accede to the alliance. By some separate and secret
articles Augustus III. engaged, not indeed directly, but in effect, to
procure the Imperial Crown for the Grand Duke of Tuscany; while
the King of England and the Queen of Hungary promised to
assist Augustus in his salutary views with regard to Poland, so far
as could be done without violating its Constitution ; that is, iu
other words, to assure the Succession to his son.1

Soon after the execution of this treaty an unexpected event
changed the face of affairs. The Emperor Charles VII. died Jan-
uary 20th, 1745; an event which virtually annulled the Union of
Frankfort. He was succeeded in the Bavarian Electorate by his
son, Maximilian Joseph, then only seventeen years of age, and
consequently too young to make any pretensions to the Imperial
Crown. Maximilian seemed at first inclined to remain faithful to
the league with France and Prussia ; but the war went so unsuc-
cessfully, and the clamours of his people became so loud in
demanding a termination of their miseries, that he listened to the
advice of Seckendorf to make peace with the Queen of Hungary
at any price. The advance of the Austrians under Bathyani had
compelled him to quit Munich soon after his accession, and fly to
Augsburg. The French, under Segur, had also been defeated.
Under these circumstances he despatched Prince Fiirstenberg to
Fiissen, where he concluded a peace with the Austrian Count
Colloredo, April 22nd, 1745. By this treaty the Queen of Hun-
gary engaged to re-establish the Elector in all his dominions, and
recognized the Imperial dignity of his father. The Elector, on
his side, renounced for himself and his heirs all claims to the
Austrian inheritance, acceded to the guarantee of the Pragmatic
[Sanction given by the Empire, engaged to observe a strict neu-
rality, supported the vote of Bohemia in the Imperial election,
and promised his own for the Grand Duke of Tuscany.2

1 Wenck, t. ii. p. 171 ; Rousset, Eecutil, follows: "The Emperor dies; his son

t. xviii. p. 516. makes peace with the Queen of Hungary ;

* Wenck, t. ii. p. 180; Menzel, B. v. the Grand Duke is to be Emperor; the

S. 317. Frederick sums up the results as Treaty of Warsaw leagues half Europe

126 THE QUADRUPLE ALLIANCE. [Chap. XLVI.

The objects of the Quadruple Alliance of Warsaw were more
clearly announced in a secret treaty between Austria and Saxony,
concluded at Leipsic, May 18th, 1745. Silesia was to be recovered
for the Queen, Prussia was to be confined in narrower bounds
than before the conquest of that Province, and reduced to a state in
which she should no longer be dangerous to the two allied Powers.
In case of the entire success of their arms, the Duchy of Magde-
burg, with the Circle of the Saal, the principality of Crossen, with
the district of Ziillichau, the Bohemian fiefs in Lusatia belonging
to the House of Brandenburg, and the circle of Schwiebus, were to
be assigned to the Elector of Saxony • from which apportionment
deductions were to be made in proportion as the war with Prussia
might prove less successful.1

While nearly all the Powers of Christendom were thus leagued
in hostile treaties and engaged in mutual slaughter, there was one
Power, standing without the pale, which took no part in their con-
tests, and even endeavoured to reconcile them. Engrossed by
their own interests, and confident in their power to repel all
attacks from without, the Turks concerned not themselves about
the maintenance of the political balance in Europe ; an indiffer-
ence also encouraged by their religion, which forbids them to
take too direct a part in the affairs of Christians, or to go to war
with any friendly Power except in case of a formal violation of trea-
ties.2 It seems to have been a whim of the Reis-Effendi Mustapha,
Secretary of Legation at Vienna, which prompted him to procure,
early in 1 745, an offer of mediation to the Christian Powers from
the Sublime Porte. Venice was proposed as the place of a Congress ;
and, as preliminaries, an armistice on the footing of uti possidetis,
on condition that the election of Emperor should take place only
by a unanimity of votes. Such a condition, which would make
the election depend on the King of Prussia, could not, of course, be
accepted by the Court of Vienna. The intervention of the Sultan
affected to be religious as well as political. He proposed that, if
the Pontiff of the Christians would send one of his apostles to
deliver his pacific exhortations to the Congress, he, on his side,
would despatch a dervise selected by the Mufti. Perhaps, how-
ever, the real motive of the Porte for this unheard-of proceeding
was the damage suffered by the Turkish commerce through the

against Prussia; Prussian money keeps p. 239.

Russia inactive; England begins to incline 2 Vergennes, Mimoire sur la Ports

towards Prussia." — Hist, de moil Temps, Ottomane, published in Politique cle tous

ch. x. sub Jin. les Cabinets de V Europe, t. iii. p. 142

' Stenzel, Gesch. Preussens, Th. iv. (2nd ed. Paris, 1801).

•>'

Chap. XL VI.] NEGOTIATIONS. 127

quarrels of the Christians.1 The proffered mediation was respect-
fully declined by the larger States, though some of the smaller
ones, as Naples and Venice, were in favour of it.

The King of Prussia, having no other ally but France, on whose
Loyal support he could not reckon, remained on the defensive in the
campaign of 1745. He entrenched himself in the neighbourhood
}f Frankenstein and Neisse, at Jauernik, not far from Schweidnitz,
md there awaited the approach of the Austrians and Saxons.
Prince Charles, who commanded them, advanced by Landshut into
:he plains of Hohenfriedberg, where he was unexpectedly attacked
md defeated by Frederick, near Striegau (June 4th) . After the
Dattle of Striegau, or Hohenfriedberg, Charles retreated into Bo-
lemia, followed by the Prussians ; but the advantageous position
occupied by the Austrians near Konigsgrtitz, as well as the necessity
vhich Frederick was under of maintaining his communications
vith Silesia, prevented his deriving any solid advantages from his
lecisive victory, and penetrating further into Bohemia. Towards
•he end of September he took up a very strong position near Sorr
nth 25,000 men. Here he was attacked by the Austrians with
uuch larger forces, September 30th ; but the inequality of the
ground deprived them of the advantage of their numerical supe-
iority, and Frederick gained a complete victory.

Meanwhile negotiations had been entered into at London to
e-establish a peace between the Queen of Hungary and the King
'f Prussia. Carteret (now Lord Granville) had retired from the
mglish Ministry, and had been succeeded by the Earl of Har-
ington, a man of more moderate views. The events of the year
745 had made the English Cabinet very desirous to bring about
peace between Frederick and Maria Theresa. The success of
he French arms in Flanders, consequent on their victory at Fon-
enoy, to be related presently, and the descent of the young* Pre-
ender in Scotland in July — an event in our domestic history, the
fell-known circumstances of which' we need not detail — by corn-
■elling the withdrawal of some of the British forces from the
Netherlands, rendered it desirable that the Queen of Hungary
hould be at liberty to act with greater vigour towards the Rhine.
k secret treaty with the King of Prussia had been signed at
|ranover, August 26th. Peace was to be concluded within six
j'eeks between Prussia and Austria on the basis of that of Breslau ;
ugustus was to make a separate act of cession of Silesia to Frede-
ck, who was to give his vote in the approaching election at
1 See Flassan, Dipl. Fmngaise, t, v. p. 252 ; Hammer, Osm. Gesch. B. viii. S. 59.

128 FREDERICK II. OVERRUNS SAXONY. [Chap. XLVI.

Frankfort for the Grand Duke Francis as Emperor. The English
Cabinet had had great difficulty to bring Frederick to these
terras, yet the Queen of Hungary would not listen to them. She
was already sure of her husband's election, and she was unwilling
to abandon the hope of recovering Silesia, on which she had set
her heart. The expectation, however, that something might
eventually be concluded, had prevented Frederick from pursuing
his victory at Sorr. But a piece of intelligence, which he obtained
through the indiscretion of the King of Poland's Minister, Count
Briihl, transmitted to him through the Swedish Minister, at the
Court of Dresden, induced him to take more vigorous steps.1
The Queen of Hungary had formed the project of detaching
10,000 men from the army of the Rhine who, in conjunction with
the Saxons, were to march upon Berlin ; while Prince Charles of
Lorraine was to enter Silesia with another army and attack the
King of Prussia in his winter quarters. Frederick resolved to
anticipate and divert this project by invading Saxony. Towards
the end of November he entered Lusatia with his army, and after
subduing that Province marched upon Dresden. Augustus, who
had refused Frederick's offer to treat separately, fled to Prague ;
while Prince Leopold of Dessau, entering Saxony by way of Halle,
took Leipsic and Meissen, and established communications with
Frederick. Prince Charles now marched to the defence of
Dresden ; but before he could join the Saxon army it had been
defeated by Prince Leopold at Kesselsdorf, December 15th. The
remnants of it escaped to Prince Charles, who, in the face of
Frederick's now much superior forces, found it prudent to retreat
into Bohemia. Dresden surrendered unconditionally to the King
of Prussia, December 18th, and all Saxony was laid under con-
tribution.

Maria Theresa was now compelled to listen to the appeals of the
King of Poland, as well as to the British Cabinet, which threatened
to withdraw its. subsidies unless she made peace with Prussia.
Frederick himself was desirous of peace, but only on the basis of
that of Breslau. His money was almost exhausted, he could not
rely upon the proffered help of France, he felt himself unequal to
another campaign, and was indeed content with what he had
achieved. Two treaties were signed at Dresden on the same day '
(December 25th, 1745) with Saxony and Austria. By the first
Augustus recovered what he had lost during the war, but Saxony
had to pay a million dollars, besides the contributions levied.

1 Hist, de men Temps, ch. xiii.

Chap. XL VI.] FRANCIS I. ELECTED EMPEROR. 129

The Queen of Poland, daughter of Joseph I., renounced all her
claims to the territories ceded to Prussia by the Peace of Breslau.
In the treaty with Austria, Maria Theresa again renounced
Silesia and the County of Glatz, the cession of which was guaran-
teed by England. Frederick, as Elector of Brandenbui'g, allowed
the electoral vote of Bohemia, and adhered to the election of Maria
Theresa's consort as Emperor, against which he and the Elector
Palatine had at first protested.1 The Grand Duke had been
elected at Frankfort, September loth, and crowned October 4th,
with the title of Francis I. Austria had regained the ecclesiastical
Electors, and could, of course, reckon on Bavaria, Hanover, and
Saxony. France had endeavoured to incite Augustus to become
a candidate for the Imperial Ci'own, but without effect. Thus the
Empire fell to the New House op Austria, that of Habsburg-
Lorraine, and France missed the principal object for which she
had gone to war. The Prussians evacuated Saxony within twelve
days after the signing of the treaties. A little before, East
Friesland, the reversion to which, it will be remembered, had
been assigned by the Emperor Leopold to the Elector Frederick
III., in compensation of the cession of Schwiebus, fell to the King
of Prussia by the death of the last Prince, Charles Edward, May
25th, 1744.2

Meanwhile in Flanders the French had achieved some brilliant
suceess, especially at the Battle of Fontenoy, gained by Marshal
Saxe over the Duke of Cumberland and Field-Marshal Konigseck
(May 11th, 1745), who were endeavouring to relieve Tournai.
Louis XV. and the Dauphin were present at this affair. It was
followed by the capture of Tournai, Ghent, Bruges, Oudenarde,
Nieuport, Ath. Little was done on the side of the Rhine. The
Prince of Conti passed that river and the Main, to threaten
Frankfort and prevent the election of the Grand Duke of Tus-
cany, and the Pragmatic Army was compelled to retire beyond
the Lahn ; and after it had formed a junction with the Austrians
under the Grand Duke, the French in turn were forced to retreat
and recross the Rhine. The campaign in Italy this year had also
been productive of events of more than ordinary importance. In
the spring the Spaniards, under Gages, dislodged Lobkowitz and
the Austrians from the Legation of Bologna, and pursued them into
the Modenese. At the same time was negotiated the Treaty of
Aranjuez, between France, Spain, Naples, and the Republic of

1 Wenck, t. ii. p. 194 sqq.

2 Menzel, Neuere Gesch. dtr Dcutschen, B. v. S. 321.

IV. K

130 CAMPAIGN OF 1745. [Chap. XL VI.

Genoa (May 7th, 1745). The object of it was to gain over the
Genoese, in order that Spain, besides what assistance the Republic
could afford, might obtain the advantage of sending her armies into
Italy by way of Genoa. The Genoese, who had been disgusted by
the Treaty of Worms, agreed to aid the contracting parties with
troops, &c; in return for which some places were to be added to
their dominions; their privilegesand possessions, including Corsica,
were to be guaranteed ; and, after the peace, the Republic was to
enjoy the same " royal distinction " as Venice, with regard to the
ceremonial of ambassadors, &C.1 The Infant Don Philip and
Marshal Maillebois arrived at Savona with their forces towards the
end of June, when the Genoese declared war against the King of
Sardinia. Gages now crossed the Apennines, amidst the greatest
difficulties and hardships, to Sarzana, and established his camp at
Langasto, near Genoa ; when, being reinforced by 10,000 Genoese,
he passed the Bochetta, and joined Don Philip and Maillebois
at Acqui. The combined army amounted to near 70,000 men.
The King of Sardinia and Schulenburg, who had succeeded Lob-
kowitz in the command of the Austrians, now retired to Bassig-
nano, and the combined army successively took Tortona,Piacenza,
Parma, and Pavia (August and September) . Schulenburg having
separated from the King in order to cover Milan, Gages attacked
and defeated Charles Emanuel in his camp at Bassignano, Sep-
tember 28th. Alexandria, Asti, Casale, successively surrendered
to the Spaniards, who spread themselves through Lombardy. The
Infant entered Milan, December 19th.

„ These disasters caused Charles Emanuel to desire peace; and the
Court of Versailles, alarmed at the negotiations between Austria
and Prussia, was disposed to grant liberal terms in order to with-
draw him from the Austrian alliance. The minister, D'Argenson,
had formed one of those magnificent schemes of which the heads of
French statesmen are so prolific. Italy was to be organized into a
Confederation, with a permanent Diet like Germany; the Austrians
were to be expelled, and all the Italian States liberated from any
bonds of vassalage towards the Holy Roman Empire ; France was
disinterestedly to renounce any pretensions she might have to
hold anything on the other side of the Alps ; the foreign princes
established in Italy were to be Italianized by being disabled from
possessing any dominions out of the Peninsula : such were the main
outlines of this grand scheme.2 The King of Sardinia, unfortu-

1 Garden, t. iii. p. 325.

2 D'Argenson, Mtmoires, ap. Martin, HUt. de France, t. xv. p. 292.

Chap. XL VI.] CAMPAIGN OF 1746. 131

nately, "was not up to the level of these " ideas ;" he seems to have
regarded with distrust the French propositions, although they did
not even claim Savoy, a French Province by language; but he had
some uneasy recollections of the war of 1733. However, as the
share allotted to himself was very considerable, including a large
part of the Milanese, he signed the preliminaries of a treaty,
December 26th, 1745. l The Court of Madrid, to which the nego-
tiations had not been communicated till the preliminaries were
laid before it for acceptance, naturally felt very indignant at what
it regarded as a treachery on the part of France j2 especially as it
knew that Louis XV. had also entered into secret negotiations
-with the Dutch. The reluctance of the Queen of Spain to accede
to the treaty produced a delay of which Maria Theresa availed
herself to send 30,000 men into Italy, who had been released
through the peace with Prussia. The Austrians, now under Prince
Lichtenstein, thus obtained so great a numerical superiority in
that country, that Charles Emanuel resolved to break off his secret
intelligence with France.

In the campaign in Flanders in 1746 the French followed up
the successes which they had achieved in the previous year.
Brussels, Antwerp, Mons, Charleroi, Xamur, and other places,
successively surrendered to Marshal Saxe and the Prince of Conti.
After the capture of Namur in September, Marshal Saxe, reunit-
ing all the French forces, attacked Prince Charles of Lorraine at
Raucoux, between Liege and Viset, and completely defeated him,
October 11th; after which both sides went into winter quarters.
All the country between the Meuse and the sea was now in the
power of France, Austria retaining only Luxembourg and Lim-
burg. It was, however, some drawback to French vanity that these
successes had been chiefly obtained for them by two foreigners,
Marshal Saxe and his principal lieutenant, Count Lowendahl, a
Dane, who had learnt the art of war under Miinnich. The Court
of Versailles, afraid that the Elector of Saxony would sell his
troops to Great Britain, bought his neutrality for three years for
two million francs per annum. The marriage of the Dauphin,
father of Louis XArL, to a daughter of Augustus III., was a result
of this connection (December, 1746).

In Italy, Charles Emanuel, as we have said, renouncing the
French alliance, seized Asti, March 8th. Don Philip quitted Milan
and retired to Pavia. The Austrian commander, Lichtenstein, and

1 The conditions will be found in Garden, t. iii. p. 349 sq.

2 Mt moires de Xoailles, t. vi. p. 176.

132 DEATH OF PHILIP V. OF SPAIN. [Chap. XL VI.

the King of Sardinia gained a signal victory over Maillebois and
Gages near Piacenza, June lGth, which ultimately compelled the
French and Spaniards to relinquish all their conquests, and recross
the Alps. But another event of greater importance contributed to
produce this result — the sudden death of Philip V. of Spain, July
9th. Philip, in spite of his wars of ambition, had left Spain in a
better condition than he found it. He had particularly encouraged
literature and art. In his reign were founded the royal library,
open to public use, the academy for the Spanish language, the
academy of S. Fernando for painting and sculpture, and the
academy of history.1 His successor, Ferdinand VI., then in his
thirty-fourth year, being Philip's second son by his first wife,
Maria Louisa of Savoy, was not interested in the ambitious pro-
jects of his father's widow, Elizabeth Farnese, and one of his first
steps was to recall his forces from Italy. Yet he treated his step-
mother, who had never discovered for him any feeling but aver-
sion, with great liberality, allowing her to retain the Palace of St.
Ildefonso, and, contrary to the practice of his predecessors, even
permitted her to reside at Madrid. He showed an equal affection
for his stepbrothers, and promised to promote their interests.2
The withdrawal of the Spanish forces from Italy was, however, too
precipitate, as it abandoned the Genoese to the Austrians. Gages
was superseded in the command. of the Spaniards by Las Minas,
who had orders immediately to retreat to Nice; Maillebois and
the French were compelled to accompany him ; the combined army
retired with precipitation along the coast of Liguria, pursued and
harassed by the Austrians and Piedmontese ; it did not even halt
at Nice, but crossed theVar, September 17th, 1746. Genoa, bom-
barded by an English fleet, opened her gates to the Austrians, and
submitted to hard conditions. The Doge and six senators pro-
ceeded to Vienna to implore Maria Theresa's mercy. After the
capture of Genoa, the King of Sardinia and Lichtenstein, with
40,000 Austrians and Piedmontese, passed the Var and invested
Antibes, which was also bombarded by an English squadron ; and
Belle-Isle, who had succeeded Maillebois in the command of the
French, retreated before them to within a few miles of Toulon.
But Provence was delivered from its invaders by a sudden revo-
lution. General Botta and the Austrians in possession of Genoa
treated the inhabitants in a tyrannical and revolting manner,
not only exacting the most oppressive imposts, but also insulting
and maltreating the citizens. These brutalities at length excited a.
1 Coxe, Spanish Bourbonz, vol. iii. cb. xlvii. 2 Ibid. vol. iv. p. '1-

Chap. XL VI.] WAR BETWEEN FRANCE AND ENGLAND. 133

spirit of resistance. Some Austrian soldiers having endeavoured
to harness the passengers in the streets to a mortar they were
carrying off, the people rose against them, and after five days of
street fighting, the Austrian general was compelled to retire with
a loss of 5,000 men (December 10th) . ' The Imperialists being thus
deprived of the supplies which they drew from Genoa, and
menaced by the approach of Belle-Isle, who had been reinforced,
abandoned the siege of Antibes, and retired into Italy, January,
1747. After the formal declarations between France and England
in 1743, hostilities had extended to the colonial possessions of
those nations. In 1745 the people of New England volunteered
to reduce Louisbourg, the capital of Cape Breton ; and having,
with the assistance of a squadron under Commodore Warren,
effected that object, the whole island submitted. In the following-
year the French fitted out a very formidable fleet, with a great
quantity of transports, to recover that colony, which arrived on
the American coast in September, 1746. But the enterprise proved
entirely abortive, without a single action having been fought.
The land forces, decimated by sickness, were conveyed back to
France, the fleet was dispersed and disabled by violent storms,
and the remnant of it compelled to take refuge at Quebec. In the
same year the English Ministry had organized at Portsmouth an
expedition against Canada ; but having been delayed till the season
of action was past, it was employed in making a descent on the
French coast, at Port L'Orient; which, however, proved a com-
plete failure. The French were more fortunate in the East, where,
as already mentioned, they captured Madras.

Ever since the year 1745 some negotiations had been going on
between France and the Dutch for the re-establishment of peace.
The States- General had proposed the assembling of a Congress to
the Cabinet of Vienna, but without success. In September, 1746,
conferences were opened at Breda, between France, Great Britain,
and the States-General; but as Great Britain had gained some
advantages at sea, the negotiations were protracted, and the
Cabinets of London and Vienna endeavoured to induce the Dutch
to take a more direct and active part in the war. In this state of
things the Court of Versailles took a sudden resolution to coerce
the States- General. A manifest was published by Louis XV.,
April 17th, 1747, filled with those pretexts which it is easy to find
on such occasions : not, indeed, exactly declaring war against the
Dutch Eepublic, but that he should enter her territories "without
For the affairs of Genoa, see Haderlin, Nachricht von der Bepublik Genua.

134 STATE OF HOLLAND. [Chap. XLVI-

breaking with her;" that he should hold in deposit the places he
might occupy, and restore them as soon as the States ceased to
succour his enemies.1 Count Lowendahl then entered Dutch
Flanders by Bruges, and seized, in less than a month, Sluis, Y sen-
dyke, Sas de Gand, Hulst, Axel, and other places.

Holland had now very much declined from the position she had
held a century before. There were indeed many large capitalists
in the United Provinces, whose wealth had been amassed during
the period of the Republic's commercial prosperity, but the State,
as a whole, was impoverished and steeped in debt. The national
debt, including that of the separate provinces, amounted to up-
wards of eighty millions sterling ; yet, so abundant was money,,
that the interest paid on it was only at the rate of 2f per cent. ;
and the Dutch citizens are computed to have had an almost equal
amount, or near seventy millions, invested in the English, French,
Austrian, Saxon, Danish, and even Russian funds.2 But in thus
becoming the capitalists and money-lenders of Europe, they had
ceased to be her brokers and carriers. The excessive taxes, by
raising the prices of necessaries, and consequently of labour, had
disabled her manufacturers and ship-owners from competing with
foreigners. .Holland was no longer the entrepot of nations. The
English, the Swedes, the Danes, and the Hamburghers had ap-
propriated the greater part of her trade. Such was the result of
the long wars in which she had been engaged : a great part of
which had, indeed, been incurred for self-preservation, or in the
interests of her commerce, though some of them must be attri-
buted to the ambition of playing a prominent part in the affairs
of Europe. Her political consideration had dwindled equally
with her commerce. Instead of pretending, as formerly, to be
the arbiter of nations, she had become little more than the satel-
lite of Great Britain;3 a position forced upon her by fear of
France, and her anxiety to maintain her barriers against that
encroaching Power. Since the death of William III., the Re-
publican, or aristocratic party had again seized the ascendency.
William III/s collateral heir, John William Friso, had not been
recognized as Stadholder, and the Republic was again governed,,
as in the time of De Witt, by a Grand Pensionary and grcffier.

1 Martin, t. xv. p. 316. 3 Frederick the Great says of her, in

1 See Baynal, Hist. Pkilosopkique des his view of Europe: "A la suite de lAn-

dettx I?id<s,\\v. xii. (vol. iv. p. 75 sqq., gleterre se range la Hollande, comme une

Justamond's Transl., London, 1776). The ehaloupe qui suit l'impression d'un vais-

Abbe Kavnal wrote near the time of Beau de guerre auquel elle est attachee."
which we are speaking.

Chap. XLVI.] CAMPAIGN OF 1747. 135

The dominant party had, however, become highly unpopular. It
had sacrificed the army to maintain the fleet, and the Republic
seemed to lie at the mercy of France. At the approach of the
French, consternation reigned in the provinces. The Orange
Party raised its head, and demanded the re-establishment of the
Stadholdership. The town of Veere, in Zealand, gave the ex-
ample of insurrection, and William IV., of Nassau-Dietz, who was
already Stadholder of Friesland, Groningen, and Gelderland, was
eventually proclaimed hereditary Stadholder, Captain - General
and Admiral of the United Provinces. William IV. was the son of
John William Friso, and son-in-law of George II., whose daughter,
Anne, he had married. The French threatening: Maestricht, the
allies, under the Duke of Cumberland, marched to Lawfeld in
order to protect it. Here they were attacked by Marshal Saxe,
July 2nd, 1747, and after a bloody battle compelled to recross the
Meuse. The Duke of Cumberland, however, took up a position
which prevented the French from investing Maestricht. On the
other hand, Lowendahl carried Bergen-op-Zoom by assault, July
16th. These reverses of the allies were in some degree compen-
sated by Anson's victory over the French fleet off Cape Finis-
terre, June 14th, and that of Admiral Hawke, near the Isle of
Aix, October 14th. These and other battles ruined the French
navy.

The Austrians, who had been exceedingly irritated by the loss
of Genoa, resolved this year to attempt its recovery. In a mani-
fest, breathing a spirit of vindictiveness and injustice, published
March 29th, 1747, the Genoese were declared rebels, and subject
to all the penalties of treason ; and their property, wherever
found, was to be confiscated.1 The Austrian general, Schulen-
burg, master of the Bocchetta, pressed hardly upon the town ;
but the French garrison under the Duke de Boufflers, son of the
celebrated marshal, made a vigorous resistance, and on the ap-
proach of Belle-Isle and Las Minas with the French and Spanish
forces, who had occupied the County of Nice, early in June, the
Austrians were compelled to raise the blockade and retire. The
Spaniards had now again begun to co-operate with the French,
and were making more vigorous preparations. Although Ferdi-
nand, at his accession, had assured Louis XV. of his resolution to
maintain the engagements contracted by his father, yet he had
not only, as we have seen, withdrawn his troops from Italy, but
had also entered into negotiations with the British Cabinet,
1 Haymann's Archiv ap. Garden, t. iii.

136 NEGOTIATIONS. [Ciiai. XLVI.

through the mediation of Portugal, and some steps towards a
pacification had actually been taken.1 But the influence of the
Queen Dowager and the policy of the party which favoured an
establishment for Don Philip in Italy, now regarded almost a
point of national honour, ultimately prevailed ; and, as it was
thought that the British Cabinet leaned too much to the side of
Maria Theresa, Spain again threw in her weight with France.

The campaign of 1 747 not having been fortunate for the Aus-
trian alliance, it was resolved to make a grand effort in the follow-
ing year. Great Britain, the Empress- Queen, the King of Sar-
dinia, and the States-General, signed a Convention at the Hague,
January 26th, 1748, by which they agreed to bring into the field
an army of 192,000 men. Great Britain and the States were each
to contribute 66,000 men, and Maria Theresa 60,000. The Dutch
also engaged to add ten or twelve vessels to the English fleet,
which " was destined to ruin the commerce of France and protect
that of the two nations." (Art. vii.) Maria Theresa was to keep
in Italy 60,000 effective troops, and the King of Sardinia 30,000.
The latter Monarch also engaged to add his galleys to the English
fleet of thirty ships of war. To support these armaments Great
Britain engaged to pay a subsidy of 400,000?. to Austria, and
another of 300,000?. to Sardinia.2 In the preceding June a treaty
had also been concluded between Great Britain and Russia, by
which the latter Power, in consideration of a subsidy of 100,000/.
sterling per annum, undertook to keep 30,000 infantry on the
frontiers of Livonia, besides fifty vessels on the coast, in readi-
ness to act on the first requisition of the English Cabinet.3 By
another treaty, in November, in which Holland joined, the force
to be provided by Russia was raised to 37,000 foot. These treaties
had considerable influence in inclining France to peace.

Negotiations had been going on throughout the winter, and a
Congress met at Aix-la-Chapelle, April 24th, 1748. Most of the
belligerent Powers were desirous of peace. Great Britain and
Holland were weary of the war ; France and Spain were almost
exhausted. Louis XV.'s new mistress, Madame de Pompadour,
also pressed for peace, because she did not like him to be absent
with the army several months in the year. In order to stimulate
the negotiations, the French had invested Maestricht, April 13th.
Marshal Saxe had remarked to Louis, " Sire, the peace must be

1 On the motion of Mr. Walpole, the 2 Wenck, t. ii. p. 410.

British Parliament repealed the Act pro- 3 Ibid. p. 244; Rousset, H< cu.il, t. xix.

hibiting commerce with Spain. Coxe. p. 492.
Spanish Bourbons, vol. iv. p. 9.

Chap. XL VI.] PEACE OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. 137

conquered at Maestricht." The taking of that place would, in-
deed, have opened Holland to the French, and they had com-
menced the siege in the face of the allies 80,000 strong. On the
other hand, the advance of the Russians, under Prince Repnin,
towards the Rhine, through Poland, Moravia, and Bohemia, also
tended to accelerate a peace. This was the second time that a
Russian army had appeared in Germany. Meanwhile, however,
as Austria, in whose behalf the war had been undertaken, seemed
not to the Maritime Powers to exert herself in proportion to her
interest in it, they had, in a secret conference, signed separate
preliminaries with France, April 30th. The principal articles
were : — Restitution of all conquests made during the war, which
involved the restitution of Cape Breton to France, Madras to
England, and to the Dutch the barrier towns conquered by the
French ; the Duchies of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla to be
assigned to Don Philip, on condition of their being restored to
the actual possessor if Don Carlos should mount the throne of
Spain, or if Don Philip should die without heirs ; the Republic of
Genoa and the Duke of Modena to be restored to their former
positions : Sardinia to hold what had been ceded to her in 1743 ;
the Asiento contract and annual vessel to be renewed to Great
Britain, as well as the article in the Treaty of 1718, respecting
the succession to the throne of that Kingdom; the Emperor Francis
to be recognized by all the contracting Powers, and the Pragmatic
Sanction to be confirmed ; Silesia and the County of Glatz to be
guaranteed to Prussia. A suspension of arms was to take place
in the Netherlands within six weeks, except with regard to the
siege of Maestricht.1 That place capitulated to the French,
May 7 th.

Maria Theresa, seeing that the Russians were prepared to come
n such force to her aid, was at first unwilling to accede to the
3eace. She could not digest the loss of the Italian Duchies, for
•vhich she had ceded to Sardinia a part of the Milanese. But her
ninister, Count Kaunitz Rittberg, had formed the plan of reco-
vering Silesia and humbling Prussia through a union with France
md Russia ; and on these grounds he persuaded his mistress to
ccept the preliminaries,2 after protesting against what they
night contain prejudicial to her interests (May 25th) . The
nvoys of Sardinia and Modena acceded at the same time ; those
Spain and Genoa in June. The definitive Treaty of Aix-la-

1 Wenck, t. ii. p. 310.

* Menzel, Neuere Gtsch. dcr Bcutschen, B. v. S. 321.

138 RESULTS OF THE WAR. [Chap. XL VI.

Chapelle, embracing the preliminaries already given, was signed
by the French, English, and Dutch ministers, October 18th, 1748,
and a few days after by those of Spain, Genoa, Modena, and
Austria. Sardinia refused to sign because the Treaty of Worms
was not guaranteed. ~No mention was made of the Emperor or
Empire, although the Italian Duchies were Imperial fiefs.1 The
Treaty of Madrid, October 5th, 1750, must be regarded as the
complement of the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. Spain had refused
to renew the Asiento, and to execute the sixteenth article of the
treaty, by which the profits of four years, during which the con-
tract had been interrupted by the war, were to be allowed to the
parties interested. Both sides armed, and war seemed again in-
evitable, when, by the treaty mentioned above, Great Britain
waived her claims in consideration of the King of Spain paying
100,000£. sterling within thiee months. The trade between the
two countries was put on the same favourable footing as in the
reign of Charles II. of Spain.2

Such was the end of the war of the Austrian Succession, which
had lasted eight years. Its object had been to establish four
States on the ruins of the House of Austria. But though that
House had been deprived of Silesia and the Italian Duchies, these
losses were small compared with the danger with which it had at
first been threatened ; while, on the other hand, it had established
the order of succession and still remained a first-rate Power.
France, the chief promoter of this bloody and ruinous war, gained
literally nothing by it, and increased her debt by 1,200 million
livres, or near 50 millions sterling — another seed of the ap-
proaching revolution. Her conduct had been neither just nor
worthy of a great Power; and, in consequence, she lost her
reputation and ceased to be regarded as the arbitress of Europe.
The part which England played in the war was conformable to
the faith of treaties ; though, so far as the continental struggle
only is concerned, more chivalrous perhaps than prudent. Yet
if she obtained no equivalent for her enormous expenses, she
procured compensation for her commercial losses, established her
maritime preponderance, and obtained the recognition of the
exclusion of the Stuart dynasty. Spain also made some acquisi-
tions in Italy. Russia had, for the first time, interfered with
effect in the affairs of Western Europe, and laid the foundation
of still more effective intervention. But the most important

1 The Treaty is in "Wenck, t. ii. p. 337 ; cf. Garden, t. iii. p. 373 sqq.

2 Wenck, t. ii. p. 464.

Chap. XL VI.] CONDUCT OF FREDERICK II. 139

consequence of the war was the elevation of Prussia to a first-rate
Power. The morality of the conduct by which Frederick II.
achieved this result will hardly bear a strict scrutiny. So long as
he attained his ends he was little scrupulous about the means.
He affected friendship for Maria Theresa at the moment when he
was preparing to wrest Silesia from her, and that under pretexts
which he himself did not consider valid. In pursuit of his object
he increased and lowered his demands according to circumstances,
and contracted alliances, sometimes under insidious pretences,
which were repudiated directly his interest required it : conduct
in which he has been only too well imitated by some of his suc-
cessors. If it be possible to justify these proceedings by the
" reason of State/' on which he laid so much stress, let us not at
least debase our judgment by also according to them a moral
sanction. In the absence of any last appeal between nations but
force, we can ill afford to corrupt and weaken the influence of the
only other and already but too feeble check upon ambition and
violence — that of public opinion. In some eyes, however, success
will be Frederick's great justification ; and it is certain that he
increased the Prussian dominions by a third.

140 QUARRELS OF ENGLAND AND FRANCE. [Chap. XL VII.

CHAPTER XLVII.

THE seven years which succeeded the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle
are described by Voltaire1 as among the happiest that Europe
ever enjoyed. Commerce revived, the fine arts flourished, and
the European nations resembled, it is said, one large family
reunited after its dissensions. Unfortunately, however, the Peace
had not exterminated all the elements of discord. Scarcely had
Europe begun to breathe again when new disputes arose, and the
seven years of peace and prosperity were succeeded by another
seven of misery and war. The ancient rivalry between France
and England, which had formerly vented itself in continental
struggles, had, by the progress of maritime discovery and co-
lonization, been extended to every quarter of the globe. The
interests of the two nations came into collision in India, Africa,
and America, and a dispute about American boundaries again
plunged them into war.

By the ninth article of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, France
and England were mutually to restore their conquests in such
state as they were before the war. This clause became a copious
source of quarrel. The principal dispute regarded the limits of
Acadia, or Nova Scotia, which Province had, by the twelfth article
of the Treaty of Utrecht, been ceded to England conformably to
its ancient boundaries ; but what these were had never been ac-
curately determined, and each Power fixed them according to its
convenience. Thus, while the French pretended that Nova Scotia
embraced only the peninsula extending from Cape St. Mary to Cape
Canso, the English further included in it that part of the Ame-
rican continent which extends to Pentagoet on the west, and to
the river St. Lawrence on the north, comprising all the Province
of New Brunswick.2 Another dispute regarded the western limits
of the British North American settlements. The English claimed
the banks of the Ohio as belonging to Virginia, the French as

1 Steele de Louis XV. eh. xxxi. vince was restored to them under the

3 These were the boundaries laid down name of Acadia. See Modern Una-.
by the French themselves when the Pro- Hist.

Chap. XLYII.] WAR BETWEEN FRANCE AND ENGLAND. 141

forming part of Louisiana; and they attempted to confine the
British colonies by a chain of forts stretching from Louisiana to
Canada. Commissaries were appointed to settle these questions,
who held their conferences at Paris between the years 1750 and
1755. Disputes also arose respecting the occupation by the
French of the islands of St. Lucia, Dominica, St. Vincent, and
Tobago, which had been declared neutral by former treaties.

Before the Commissaries could terminate their labours, mutual
aggressions had rendered a war inevitable. As is usual in such
cases, it is difficult to say who was the first aggressor. Each
nation laid the blame on the other. Some French writers assert
that the English resorted to hostilities out of jealousy at the
increase of the French navy. According to the plans of Rouille,
the French Minister of Marine, 111 ships of the line, fifty-four
frigates, and smaller vessels in proportion, were to be built in
the course of ten years. The question of boundaries was, how-
ever, undoubtedly the occasion, if not also the true cause of the
war. A series of desultory conflicts had taken place along the
Ohio, and on the frontiers of Nova Scotia, in 1754, without being
avowed by the mother countries. A French writer, who flourished
about this time, the Abbe Raynal, ascribes this clandestine war-
fare to the policy of the Court of Versailles, which was seeking
gradually to recover what it had lost by treaties.1 Orders were
now issued to the English fleet to attack French vessels wherever
found. This act has been censured as piratical, because it had
not been preceded by a formal declaration of war ; but it was
subsequently defended by Pitt, on the ground that the right of
hostile operations results not from any such declaration, but from
the previous hostilities of an aggressor; nor is this principle
contested in the reply of the French Minister.'2 It being known that
a considerable French fleet was preparing to sail from Brest and
Rochefort for America^Admiral Boscawen was despatched thither,
and captured two French men-of-war off Cape Race in Newfound-
land, June, 1755. Hostilities were also transferred to the shores
of Europe. Sir Edward Hawke was instructed to destroy every
French ship he could find between Cape Ortegal and Cape Clear ;
and the English privateers made numerous prizes.

A naval war between England and France was now unavoid-
able ; but, as in the case of the Austrian Succession, this was also

1 Hist, des ttablissernens des Europeens July 29th, 1761, ap. Garden, Hist, des
ians les deux Indes(\o\.v. p. 8:2, Eng.Tr.). Traitis, t. iv. p. 149, and the reply of

2 See Pitt's instructions to Mr. Stanley, M. de Bussy, ibid. p. 163.

142 ORIGIN OF THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR. [Chap. XLVII.

to be mixed up with a European war. The complicated relations
of the European system again caused these two wars to run into
one, though their origin had nothing in common. France and
England, whose quarrel lay in the New World, appeared as the
leading Powers in a European contest in which they had only a
secondary interest, and decided the fate of Canada on the plains
of Germany.

The war in Europe, commonly called the Seven Years' War,
was chiefly caused by the pride of one Empress, the vanity of
another, and the subserviency of a royal courtesan, who became
the tool of these passions. Maria Theresa could not brook the
loss of Silesia, especially as it had been inflicted on her by an un-
equal adversary, whom she despised. Her plans of vengeance
were aided by Elizabeth of Eussia, whose vanity had been hurt by
the impolitic sarcasms of the King of Prussia. But the Empress-
Queen would never have been able to execute her projects against
Frederick II. unless she had been helped by France. The manner
in which she obtained the aid of that Power forms a masterpiece
of diplomatic skill.

We have already alluded to the reluctance with which Maria
Theresa signed the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. Although England
had been her most powerful ally, she had begun to regard that
Power with aversion, as being, through its couusels, one of the
chief causes of her losing Silesia. She was also offended by the high
tone assumed by the English Cabinet, and she manifested her
discontent to the English Ambassador when he offered to con-
gratulate her on the Peace, by remarking that condolence would
be more appropriate.1 She was aware, however, that a rupture
with Great Britain must be made good by an alliance with France,
in short, by an inversion of the whole political system of Europe,
and the extinction of that hereditary rivalry which had prevailed
during two centuries between France and .Austria. Such a task
presented no ordinary difficulties ; yet it was accomplished by the
talents and perseverance of Count Kaunitz, one of the most
remarkable statesmen of that age, and the greatest minister that
Austria ever possessed. Kaunitz was now in the prime of life,
having been born in 1711. He had been destined for the Church,
but having, through the death of his elder brothers, become heir
to the family title and estates, his vocation was altered. After a
careful education, completed by foreign travel, he entered the
service of Charles VI., and after the death of that Emperor was
1 Stenzel, Geseh. des Preuss. Staats, B. iv. S. 374.

Chap. XLVII.] COUNT KAUNITZ. 143

employed by Maria Theresa in various missions to Rome, Florence,
Turin, and London, in the discharge of which his abilities pro-
cured for him her entire confidence. His success was, perhaps,
in no small degree owing to a singular combination of qualities
in his character. Under the easy exterior of a man of the world —
we might even say of a fop and a voluptuary 1 — were concealed
acute penetration, deep reflection, impenetrable reserve, indomi-
table perseverance. Even his bitter adversary, Frederick II., was
forced to acknowledge the depth and power of his intellect. His
political principles, like those of most statesmen of the age, were
despotic ; his residence at Paris had imbued him with the philo-
sophical ideas then current ; hence he was indifferent to religion,
and regarded the Church only as the servant of the State. The
energies of this remarkable man were directed during forty years
to one object — the aggrandizement of the House of Austria.
While the negotiations at Aix-la-Chapelle were still pending, he
aad already, as we have said, conceived the seemingly impracti-
:able project of uniting France and Austria against Prussia. The
»ckeine was a profound secret between himself and Maria Theresa.
Even the Queen's husband, Francis I., was ignorant of it till it
vas ripe for execution. The same thing happened at the French
Dourt. Louis XV. and his mistress, the Marquise de Pompadour,
brmed a sort of interior and secret Cabinet, which often acted
:ontrary to the views of the Ministers. Kaunitz, who, for the
mrpose of forwarding his plans, filled the post of Austrian Am-
>assador at Paris from the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle till the year
.753, had observed this peculiarity of the French Court, and availed
umself of the facilities which it afforded. To gain Madame de
^ompadour was no difficult task. She, too, like the Empress of
Russia, had been irritated by some railleries of Frederick's
especting herself and her royal lover. Kaunitz artfully kept
his feeling alive, and at the same time soothed the vanity of the
oyal favourite by the marks of favour and friendship which he
ersuaded his mistress to bestow upon her. He even prevailed
pon the reluctant Maria Theresa, the proud descendant of the
louse of Habsburg, the chaste mother of a new line of Emperors,
write an autograph letter, in which the Empress-Queen
ddressed the low-born mistress of Louis as " Ma Cousine! "

1 Thus he could not bear death to be {Mim. t. i. p. 339), that he surprised the

imed in his presence. The decease of any Count with his face smeared with the yolk

i his acquaintance was communicated to of an egg, to remove the effects of tha

m by a circumlocution, as " he will not sun after hunting !
me again,"' &c. Marmontel informs us

144 DISPUTES BETWEEN AUSTRIA AND ENGLAND. [Chap.XLVII.

After the conquest of Pompadour it was not difficult to gain
Louis. That Monarch felt a natural antipathy for Frederick. He
envied the Prussian King's splendid talents and achievements;
nay, though himself sunk in all the abominations and ordures of
the Pare aux Cerfs, he affected to abhor Frederick as a Protestant,
or rather a freethinker.1 It was necessary, however, that an
alliance between France and Austria should be justified in the
eyes of the French nation by some ostensible political object. To
provide this, Kaunitz was prepared to sacrifice the Austrian
Netherlands. Austria felt that she had been placed there by
Great Britain and Holland, two Powers for whom she had no
great affection, merely as a stop-gap, and to render those countries
a barrier against France ; but for that very reason, as well as
from their distance, they were felt to be rather a burden than an
advantage. Even during the negotiations for the Peace of Aix-
la-Chapelle, Kaunitz had proposed to cede Brabant and Flanders
to France, if that Power would compel Frederick to restore Silesia.
But France was then exhausted by the recent war, and cared not
to enter into the project.2 It was not till after many years of
patient expectation that the breaking out of hostilities between
France and England at length promised to crown Kaunitz's labours
with success.

The counterpart of that Minister's policy to conciliate France
was of course to provoke a quarrel with England. Austria refused
to pay the half million crowns which formed her share of the ex- :
pense of the Dutch garrisons in Austrian Flanders, and abolished I
the commercial privileges which the English enjoyed in that
country. When the British Cabinet remonstrated, the Empress- i
Queen petulantly replied that she was Sovereign in the Nether-
lands, and would not be dictated to. Matters grew worse in 1755.
France was evidently meditating an invasion of Hanover, and
with that view was negotiating with the Elector of Cologne to
form magazines in Westphalia. George II. now required of '
Maria Theresa, as he was entitled to do as guarantor of the Prag- '
matic Sanction, that she should increase her army in Flanders by '
20,000 or 30,000 men. But the Court of Vienna, forgetful of the
services which it had received from Great Britain, refused, on the '
plea that such a step would offend France ; alleging also the un-
founded excuse that Austria was threatened with invasion by

1 Martin, t. xv. p. 492. ched Richelieu, t. vii. p. 241 ; Duclos,

a For these negotiations see ffiuvrcs de Mem. Secrets (Coll. Michaud et l'oujuiilat,
Fred. II. t. iv. p. 16 ; Mi moires du. Mart- 3 se~r. t. x. p. 635).

Chap. XLVII.] BAD FAITH OF THE EUROPEAN COURTS. 145

Prussia. In vain the English Government assured her that
Russia, with whom they had just concluded a treaty, would pro-
tect her against any attempt, if such was to be feared, on the part
of Frederick. The treaty referred to, executed September 30th,
1755, was but a renewal of the alliance already subsisting between
Great Britain and Russia since 1742. The Empress Elizabeth
agreed to hold 55,000 men in readiness at the command of Eng-
land on the frontiers of Livonia, and forty or fifty galleys on the
coast, that Power paying 100,000L per annum while the army
remained within the Russian boundaries, and 500,000/. when it
marched beyond them. The invasion of Hanover to be a casus
foederis.1 But the real politics of the Court of St. Petersburg
were better known at Vienna than at London. Elizabeth, as the
event proved, had only signed this treaty in order to pocket the
subsidy which it stipulated, and immediately hostilities broke out
she joined Maria Theresa against Great Britain. In fact, a defen-
sive alliance had been concluded at Warsaw between Austria and
Russia in June, 1746, and, therefore, after the Peace of Breslau,
in a secret article of which Maria Theresa declared that if the
King1 of Prussia should attack either her dominions or those of
Russia or Poland, she would revive her rights to Silesia.2 In her
negotiations with Great Britain the Empress- Queen had already
begun to throw off the mask. Instead of being defended against
Prussia, she openly talked of attacking that Kingdom in order to
restore the European balance. Mutual recriminations and re-
proaches ensued ; but George II. declared that he would enter
into no paper war, and turned to seek an ally in his nephew,
I Frederick, who had formerly accused him of deserving the gallows
for stealing his father's will !

It was an anxious time for the Prussian King. He wished for

nothing more than to preserve what he had already obtained, and

was, therefore, sincerely desirous of peace. But he clearly saw that

the state of things precluded its maintenance. He was aware that

his boldness and bad faith had made him an object of universal

suspicion, that Maria Theresa was the centre of all the intrigues

against him, and he strongly suspected that one of her trustiest

I allies might be the Russian Empress Elizabeth. At that period

: none of the European Courts was honest either to friend or foe.

i It was a contest of knavery, of bribery of one another's under-

| secretaries and other officers ; each knew the most secret plans of

iris neighbour. Frederick had long been acquainted with the

1 Wenck, Corp. jur. g. rec. t. iii. p. 75. 3 Adelung, B. v. Beil. ii.

IV. L

146 TREATY BETWEEN ENGLAND AND PRUSSIA. [Chap. XLVII.

secret article of the Austrian and Russian Treaty of Warsaw, and
he felt that it was high time to fortify himself with an alliance.
But he was addressed at once by France and England — which
should he choose ? His treaty with France was just expiring ;
the Court of Versailles, not yet thoroughly resolved on the grand
stroke of an Austrian alliance, wished him to renew it, and to aid
in an attack upon Hanover. But the French negotiations were
unskilfully managed. Frederick's pride revolted at the haughty
tone in which he was treated. He seemed to be regarded almost
as a vassal of France ; nay, some of the French proposals were
positively insulting. Thus, for instance, the French Minister,
Rouille, told the Prussian Ambassador to write to his master that
an attack upon Hanover would afford a good opportunity for
plunder, as the King of England's treasury was well provided !
Frederick, naturally touchy after his somewhat equivocal exploits,
indignantly replied to this home-thrust, that he hoped M. Rouille
would learn to distinguish between persons — that such proposals
befitted only a contrabandist.1 The Duke of Nivernais, who was
sent on a special embassy to Berlin, tried to tempt Frederick by
the offer of Tobago, one of the islands in dispute between France
and England. Frederick requested him to find a more fitting
Governor "of Barataria." It is probable, however, that in choosing
the English alliance, Frederick was guided by policy alone. From
a due appreciation of the mercenary motives of the Russian Court,
he was of opinion that after all it would adhere to England for
the sake of her money ; least of all did he expect an event so
portentous as an alliance between Austria and France. He, there-
fore, entered into a Treaty of Neutrality with England, January
16th, 1756, the only object of which professed to be to preserve
the peace of Germany, and to prevent foreign troops from entering
the Empire. By a secret article, the Netherlands were excluded
from the operation of the treaty.2

This treaty, apparently so harmless, was followed by important
consequences. Kaunitz employed it as his strongest argument to
persuade the Cabinet of Versailles to a close alliance with Austria.
His plans embraced the partition of Prussia among various Powers;
to make the Polish Crown hereditary in the Saxon family; to give
the Austrian Netherlands to Don Philip in exchange for Parma
and Piacenza ; and to assign the ports of Nieuport and Ostend
to France. These propositions occasioned violent discussions in
the French Cabinet. The greater part of the Ministry was for
1 CEuvres, t. iv. p. 28. 2 Wenck, t. iii. p 84.

Chap. XLVII.] ALLIANCE OF AUSTRIA AND FRANCE. 147

adhering- to the old French anti- Austrian policy ; but Louis and
his mistress were for Maria Theresa. This momentous question was
debated at a little house belonging to Madame de Pompadour,
called Babiole. Madame de Pompadour, and her confidant, the
Abbe Bernis, without the intervention of any of the French
Ministers, arranged the business with Count Stahremberg, who
had succeeded Kaunitz as Austrian Ambassador at Paris. The
fate of France — nay, of Europe — lay at the discretion of a vain
courtesan. The Austrian alliance was resolved on. On May 1st,
1756, two treaties were executed by France and Austria, one of
which stipulated the entire neutrality of the Empress-Queen in the
impending war between France and England ; by the other, a de-
fensive alliance, the two Powers mutually guaranteed their posses-
sions in Europe, and promised each other a succour of 24,000 men
in case of attack — the war with England always excepted on the
part of Austria ; while France claimed no exceptions, not even in
the case of a war between Austria and the Porte. The virtual
effect of the treaties, therefore, was that Austria only engaged not
to aid England against France, while France engaged to help
Austria with 24,000 men against Prussia, in case of need. But by
secret articles the obligation of aid became reciprocal if other
Powers, even in alliance with England, should attack the European
possessions either of France or Austria.1 Russia subsequently
acceded to these treaties.

The wedge was thus got in, and Kaunitz hoped soon to drive it
further, and induce the French Court to take a more active part
in his project. The negotiations had been concluded without the
knowledge of the other Austrian Ministers, or even of the Emperor
Francis I., who detested France as the hereditary enemy of the
House of Lorraine. When Kaunitz communicated them to the
Council, the Emperor became so excited that, striking the table
with his fist, he left the room, exclaiming "that such an unnatural
alliance should not take place." 2 Kaunitz was so alarmed that he
could not say a word ; but Maria Theresa directed him to proceed,
and manifested such decisive approbation that the other ministers
did not venture to oppose him. The easy-tempered Francis, who,
in fact, took little part in the affairs of Austria, confining himself
to those of the Empire and of his grand duchy of Tuscany, was at
length brought to consent to the new line of policy, and even to
persuade the States of the Empire to second it.

1 Wenck, t. iii. p. 139, 141 ; Garden, t. iv. p. 19.

2 Coxe, House of Austria, vol. iv. ch. ex.

148 HOSTILITIES BETWEEN ENGLAND AND FRANCE. [Chap.XLVII.

Meanwhile hostilities had openly broken out between France
and England. In December, 1755, the Court of Versailles had
demanded satisfaction for all vessels seized by the English ; which
being refused till the reopening of negotiations, an embargo was
placed on British vessels in French ports. Great Britain, seeing
herself on the eve of a war with France, required from Holland the
succours stipulated by the Treaty of 1716 ; but though this de-
mand was supported by the mother and guardian of the young
Stadholder, who was George II/s daughter, yet the anti- Orange
Party, availing itself of the alarm occasioned by a threat of
Louis XV., persuaded the States- General to declare a strict
neutrality. The English Cabinet had entered into treaties for the
hire of troops with the States of Hesse-Cassel, Saxe-Gotha, and
Schaumburg-Lippe. These petty German Princes were at that
period accustomed to traffic in the blood of their subjects, whose
hire went not, like that of the Swiss, into their own pockets, but
contributed to support the luxury and profligacy of their Sove-
reigns. The military force of England was in those days but small ;
a dislike prevailed of standing armies, and her growing colonies
and commerce required that her resources should be chiefly
devoted to the augmentation of the navy. Hence the nation
was seized almost with a panic when it heard that large arma-
ments, the destination of which was unknown, were preparing at
Brest and Havre. The French, to increase the alarm and conceal
their real design, caused large bodies of troops to assemble in
their channel ports. Troops were hastily brought to England from
Hanover and Hesse. But the storm fell elsewhere. War had not
yet been formally declared when these armaments, joined by
others from the French Mediterranean ports, appeared off Minorca,
conveying an army of 12,000 men under Marshal the Duke of
Richelieu. The Duke of Newcastle's administration, now tottering
to its fall, had neglected the necessary precautions; the garrison
of Port Mahon had been reduced to less than 3,000 men ; and it
was only at the last moment that a fleet of ten ships, under
Admiral Byng, was despatched for the defence of Minorca. When
Byng arrived, the island was virtually captured. The French had
landed in April, 1756; on the 21st they occupied Port Mahon.
General Blakeney, who commanded in the absence of Lord
Tyrawley, the governor, now retired into the fort of St. Philip,
which was deemed impregnable. Byng did not appear off Minorca
till May 19th, and on the following day engaged the French fleet
in a distant cannonade ; after which he retired to Gibraltar, leaving

Chap. XLVII.] LEAGUE AGAINST PRUSSIA. 149

the island to its fate. The English garrison in St. Philip, despair-
ing of relief, capitulated June 28th, and was conveyed to Gibral-
tar. Byng was condemned next year by a court-martial of not
having done all that lay in his power to succour the place ; and
as popular clamour rose very high in England at the loss of
Minorca, and seemed to demand a victim, he was shot in Ports-
mouth harbour. After the attack on Minorca, England issued a
formal declaration of war against France, May 17th, which was
answered by the latter country June 9th.

The continental war had not yet begun. A league was preparing,
between Austria, Russia, Saxony, and Sweden, among which the
spoils of Prussia were to be divided. Silesia and the County of
Glatz were to be restored to Austria ; Prussia was to be given to
Poland, Courland to Russia, Magdeburg to Saxony, Pomerania to
Sweden. The Empress Elizabeth of Russia entered ardently into
Maria Theresa's plans, but Kaunitz demurred to act without the
consent of France. Frederick, who was acquainted with his
enemies' schemes, had to determine whether he should await or
anticipate the execution of them. He had learnt, to his alarm,
that Russia was to begin the war ; Austria was to get involved in
it, and would then demand the aid of France, under her treaty
with that Power. Saxony, as he discovered through Fleming, the
Saxon Minister at the Court of Vienna, was to fall upon him when
he had been a little shaken in the saddle. It is probable that
Kaunitz, who wanted to drive him to some rash step, permitted
him to get this secret intelligence.1 He had, however, also learnt
through his friend and admirer, the Grand Duke Peter, who had
secretly entered Frederick's service this very year as a Prussian
captain, that the Courts of St. Petersburg and Vienna had resolved
to attack him, but that the execution of the project had been de-
ferred till the next spring, in order to allow time for Russia to
provide the necessary recruits, sailors, and magazines.2 Frederick
armed, and resolved on an immediate invasion of Saxony. First
:>f all, however, by the advice of the English Ambassador, Mitchell,
he demanded in a friendly manner, through his Ambassador at
Vienna, the object of the Austrian preparations; and as Maria
Theresa gave an ambiguous reply to this question, as well as to a
lemand for a more explicit answer, repeated towards the end of
August, 1756, Frederick, after having first published at Berlin a
jleclaration of _his- motives, set his troops in motion. " It is

1 Stenzel, B. iv.

3 Hermann, Gesch. Bimlands, B. v. S. 131.

150 FREDERICK II. INVADES SAXONY. [Chap. XJLV1I.

better," lie wrote to George II., "to anticipate than to be
anticipated."1

Frederick's conduct on this occasion has been much canvassed.
It has been observed that the projects of his enemies were only
eventual, depending on the condition whether the King of Prussia
should give occasion to a war, and, consequently, on his own con-
duct ; that it was very possible their schemes would never have
been executed, and problematical whether to await them would
have been more dangerous than to anticipate them.2 Such specu-
lations it is impossible to answer, but it may be observed that the
course pursued by Frederick proved ultimately successful; and that,
by attacking his enemies before they were prepared, he not only
deprived Saxony of the power to injure him, but even pressed the
resources of that State into his own service. It must also be re-
membered that the scanty means of Prussia, in comparison with
those of her enemies, did not permit Frederick to keep a large
force imthe field for a long period of time, and it was, therefore, a
point of the most vital importance for him to bring the war to the
speediest possible conclusion. The morality of his proceeding may,
in this instance, be justified by the necessity of self-defence ; for
there can be no doubt that a most formidable league had been
organized against him.

The Prussians entered Saxony in three columns, towards the
end of August, 1756. Prince Ferdinand, of Brunswick, marched
with one by way of Halle, Leipsic, and Freiberg, towards Bo-
hemia; the King himself, with Marshal Keith, led another by
Torgau and Dresden; the third, under the Prince of Brunswick-
Bevern, marched through Lusatia.3 When Frederick entered

1 Lord Dover, Life of Frederick II. present, to enter into the details of the
vol. ii. ch. I. Seven Years' War. The principal autho-

2 These reasons were given in a paper rities on the subject are the Hist, de hi
read before the Berlin Academy of Sciences guerre de sept ans, in Frederick's (Euvn J
by M. von Hertzberg, a few months after Posthvmes ; \\ie History of the Seven Tears'
Frederick's death. The bad taste of this War, by General Lloyd, with plans (3 vols,
paper has been remarked upon by Menzel, 4to. ). This work has been translated into
Neuere Gesch. der Dcutschen, B. v. S. 425 German by Tempelhoff, with additions
Anm. ; as M. Hertzberg was the very which make it quite a new work (6 vols.
person employed by Frederick thirty years 4to.). Archenholz, Gesch. des sitbai-
before to draw up the Mt moire raisonne, jeihrigen Kriegs (2 vols. 8vo.); Stuhr,
in justification of the step he had taken. Forschungen and Erlih'terungen ilber
See further on this subject, Haumer, Frit d- Hcuiptpiinktc der Gesch. des sit bt njahrigi n
rich II. und seine Zcit. Abschnitt 28 ff. Kriegs, Hamburg, 1842. Jomini's Traitt
It may be observed that Frederick's pro- des grandes opcrettionx mifitaires contains
ceeding with regard to Saxony bears a a critical account of the King of Prussia's
strong analogy to the seizure of the campaigns. Napoleon has also criticized
Danish fleet by England in 1807. all Frederick's military operations in his

3 It is impossible, in a work like the Memoires.

Chaf. XLVH.] THE SAXON ARMY SURRENDERS. 151

Dresden, September 7th, lie seized the Saxon archives, and caused
the despatches, which proved the design of the Powers allied
against him to invade and divide Prussia, to be published with
the celebrated Memoir e of M. von Hertzberg.1 The Prussians at
first pretended to enter Saxony in a friendly manner. They de-
clared that they were only on their way to Bohemia, and should
speedily evacuate the country ; but they soon began to levy con-
tributions. The King* even established a so-called Directory at
Torgau, which was to collect the revenues of the electorate; and
he caused that town to be fortified. Augustus III. ordered the
Saxon army of about 17,000 men, under Kutowski, to take up a
strong position near Pirna ; but it was without provisions, am-
munition, or artillery. Count Briihl had neglected everything,
except his own interests and pleasures, and Augustus and he
shut themselves up in the impregnable fortress of Konigstein.
Frederick was unwilling to attack the Saxons. He wished to spare
them, and to incorporate them with his own army : and he, there-
fore, resolved to reduce them by blockade. The delay thus occa-
sioned afforded Maria Theresa time to assemble her forces in
Bohemia, under Piccolomini and Brown. As the latter general
was hastening" to the relief of the Saxons, Frederick marched to
oppose him. The hostile armies met on the plain of Lobositz, a
httle town in the Circle of Leitmeritz, where an indecisive battle
was fought, October 1st. The result, however, was in favour of
Frederick. He remained master of the field, and the advance of
the Austrians was checked. Frederick now hastened back to
Saxony, where the troops of Augustus, being reduced to a state
of the greatest distress by the exhaustion of their provisions, were
compelled to surrender (October 15th), in spite of an attempt of
the Austrians to release them. The officers were dismissed on
parole, and the greater part of the privates incorporated in Prus-
sian regiments. Augustus III. being permitted to retire into
Poland, endeavoured, but without effect, to induce the Poles to
embrace his cause. Frederick, who remained master of Saxony,
concluded in the winter (January 11th, 1757), a new treaty with
jGreat Britain, the professed object of which was, to balance the
'' unnatural alliance" between France and Austria. Great Britain
was to pay Prussia a subsidy of a million sterling during the war,

1 Memoire raisonn£ sur les desseins dan- any proof against Saxony. See Schlosser,

gerekix des cours de Vunne et de Bresde. Gesch. dcs cwhtzehnten Jahrhunderts, B. ii.

See note 2, p. 150. The papers seized, S. 306.
owever, do not appear to have afforded

152 SWEDEN JOINS THE LEAGUE. [Chap. XLVII.

to send a fleet into the Baltic, and to harass France on her coasts,
or in the Netherlands; while Frederick was to add 20,000 men
to the Hanoverian army of 50,000/

Frederick's attack upon Saxony set in motion, in the following
year, the powerful league which had been organized against him.
The Empress-Queen, the States of the German Empire, France,
Russia, and Sweden prepared at once to fall upon him. On the
complaint of Augustus, as Elector of Saxony, the German Diet,
at the instance of the Emperor Francis, assembled at Ratisbon
with more than ordinary promptitude; declared the King of
Prussia guilty of a breach of the Landfriede, or public peace of
the Empire ; and decreed, on the 17th of January, 1757, an ar-
matura ad triplum, or threefold contingent of troops, and the tax
or contribution called Roman-months, which would have brought
in three million florins, or about 250,000L sterling, could it have
been duly levied, for the purpose of restoring Augustus to his
dominions. But it was one thing to make these decrees, and
another to carry them out. The Prussian envoy at the Diet
treated the notary who handed him the decree with the rudest
contempt. The North of Germany protested against the decision
of the majority of the Diet, and the Sovereigns of Lippe, Wal-
deck, Hesse-Cassel, Brunswick, Hanover, and Gotha found it
more advantageous to let out their troops to England than to
pay Roman-months and furnish their contingents to the Imperial
army.

France, governed by the small passions of a boudoir rather than
by the dictates of sound policy, instead of devoting all her energies
and resources to the maritime war with Great Britain, resolved to
take a principal share in the continental war, and to assist in the
abasement of the only German Power capable of making head
against Austria. She determined to send three armies into Ger-
many, and exerted her diplomacy to induce Sweden to join the
league against Prussia. The revolution which had just taken
place in Sweden was favourable to the designs of France. Fre-
derick L, King of Sweden and Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, had
died in 1751, and had been succeeded by Adolphus Frederick, of
the House of Holstein-Gottorp, elected under Russian influence.
Ulrica, sister of the King of Prussia, and consort of Adolphus
Frederick, had, in 1756, organized a conspiracy to overthrow the
aristocratic faction and restore the royal power ; but it ended
only in the execution of some of the principal leaders, and the still
1 The tivnty will b? found textually in Garden, t. h. p. 29.

Chap. XLVII.] PERSECUTION OF THE JANSENISTS. 153

further increase of the power of the Hats. This party was sold to
France ; and the Senate, without even consulting the Estates of
the realm, compelled the King to take part against his brother-
in-law. The lure held out by France was the recovery, by Sweden,
of all her former possessions in Pomerania. In the course of
1757, two conventions were executed between France and Sweden,
in which Austria was also included (March 21st and September
22nd). By these treaties, Sweden, as one of the guarantors of
the Peace of Westphalia, engaged to maintain in Germany an
army of at least 20,000 men, exclusive of the garrison of Stral-
sund, and of her contingent to the Imperial army for the posses-
sions she still held in Pomerania. Subsidies were to be paid for
these succours, and for any increased force. An attempt was
also made to induce Denmark to join the league ; but the Danish
minister. Count Bernstorff, with a high moral feeling which dis-
tinguishes him among the politicians of the day, refused to lay
the application before his Sovereign, Frederick V., on the ground
that nothing more wicked and dreadful can be committed than to
enter into an unjust and needless war for the sake of acquiring a
piece of territory.1 A secret treaty was also concluded between
the Empress-Queen and Elizabeth of Russia, January 22nd, 1757.
Its contents are unknown, and even its existence would have re-
mained a secret but for its being cited in the Convention of St.
Petersburg, March 21st, 1760.2 France also drew closer her
alliance with Austria by a fresh treaty, executed on the anniver-
sary of the former one (May 1st, 1757). Between these periods
the Court of Versailles had become still more embittered against
the King of Prussia. The Dauphin had married a daughter of
Augustus III., and her tears and lamentations upon the invasion
of Saxony had had a great effect upon Louis XV. Another cir-
cumstance had also contributed to his hatred of Frederick. He
alone, among all the Princes of Europe, had neglected to condole
with the French King:, when wounded with the knife of an
assassin.

This attempt upon Louis's life had been produced by a fresh per-
secution of the Jansenists. Christophe de Beaumont, Archbishop
}f Paris, a violent champion of orthodoxy, had, in 1750, com-
nanded his clergy to refuse the last sacraments to such dying
oersons as were not provided with a certificate of confession, and
'efused to acknowledge the bull Unigenitus. The withholding of
lie last sacraments, it should be remembered, implied the refusal
1 Menzel, B v. S. 449. 2 Garden, t. iv. p. 24.

154 LOUIS XV. WOUNDED BY DAMIEXS. [Chap. XL VII,

of Christian sepulture, and affixed a stigma on the deceased and
his family. The French Parliament took up the cause of the
people against the clergy. Violent scenes ensued. Some of the
more prominent presidents and counsellors were banished; the
Parliament of Paris was suspended from its functions ; but a pas-
sive resistance continued, and, in 1754, the King found it expe-
dient to settle the matter by a transaction. The Bishops con-
sented to dispense with the obnoxious certificates, provided the
clergy were released from the tax of a twentieth, which the
Government, in a new scheme of finance, had extended to the
incomes of that order ; and the Parliament of Paris was restored,
amid the acclamations of the people, on agreeing to register a
Royal Declaration enjoining silence with regard to religious dis-
putes. The clergy, however, did not adhere to their bargain,
but continued to require the certificates ; whereupon the Court
changed sides, and banished the Archbishop and several other
prelates to their country-houses. The Parliaments, encouraged
by this symptom of royal favour, became still more contumacious,
and refused to register some royal edicts for the imposition of
new taxes required for the contemplated war. To put an end to
these contentions, Louis XV., in a Lit de Justice, held December
13th, 1756, issued two Declarations. The first of these, con-
cerning the ecclesiastical question, adopted a middle course, and
ordained that the bull TJnigenitus was to be respected, though it
was not to be regarded as a rule of faith. With respect to the
edicts of taxation, the Parliament of Paris was to send in its re-
monstrances within a fortnight, and to register the edicts the day
after the King's reply to them. These Declarations were accom-
panied with a royal edict suppressing the chambers of the Enquetes
and more than sixty offices of counsellors. This arbitrary pro-
ceeding was followed by the immediate resignation of all the
members of the Courts of Enquetes and Bequetes ; an example
that was followed by half the Grand' Chambre. Out of 200
magistrates, only twenty retained office.

This spontaneous dissolution of the Parliament produced an
extraordinary effect on the public, and impelled a crazy fanatic to
make an attempt on the King's life. As Louis was entering his
carriage at Versailles, on the evening of January 5th, 1757, a man
stepped out from among the spectators and wounded him in the
side. The wound, which appears to have been inflicted with a
small penknife, was not at all dangerous ; but the King, under the
apprehension that the instrument had been poisoned, kept his bed

Chap. XLVII.] TREATY BETWEEN FRANCE AND AUSTRIA. 155

several days, gave the Dauphin his last instructions, and like a
man at the point of death, caused himself, in the agonies of his
conscience, to be absolved five or six times over by a priest.
Louis, however, speedily recovered, and Damiens — such was the
name of the assassin — who appears to have been an imbecile, was
condemned to expiate his crime with torments which were a dis-
grace to the eighteenth century, and to a civilized nation. Like
Kavaillac, his flesh was torn with red-hot pincers, the wounds were
filled with molten lead, and he was finally torn asunder by four
powerful horses. It is, however, only justice to Louis to say that
he disapproved of this cruelty, and that he signified his disgust at
the conduct of some great ladies who paid large sums to obtain a
view of the execution. Expressions of condolence at Louis's mis-
fortune poured in from all the Courts of Europe : Frederick alone,
as we have said, expressed no sympathy and horror.1 But to
return to the negotiations between France and Austria.

By the second treaty between these countries France very much
augmented her succours both of troops and money. She was to
maintain on foot a force of 105,000 men, besides 10,000 Bavarians
and Wiirtembergers, till Maria Theresa, who was to employ at
least 80,000 of her own troops, should have recovered Silesia and
Glatz ; and was also to pay an annual subsidy of twelve million
florins, or about one million sterling, so long as the war should
last. Austria was further to obtain the principality of Crossen,
with a convenient extent of country ; the present possessors of
which were to be indemnified out of the Prussian dominions.
Negotiations were to be opened with Sweden, the Elector Palatine,
the Electors of Bavaria and Saxony, and with the Dutch States-
General, who were all to have a share of Prussia proportioned to
their exertions in the war. To the negotiations with Sweden we
have already alluded. Saxony was to have the Duchy of Magde-
burg and the Circle of the Saal, together with the Principality of
Halberstadt, in exchange for part of Lusatia. The Elector Palatine
and the Elector of Bavaria joined the league in the hope of
sharing in the spoils ; the Dutch, in spite of the bait of Prussian
Cleves, preserved their neutrality. Maria Theresa was to assign
the Austrian Netherlands, except what she ceded to France, to
the infant Don Philip, who in return was to abandon to her the
Duchies of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla. Maria Theresa re-
served, however, the vote and seat in the Imperial Diets annexed
to the Circle of Burgundy, the collation of the Order of the Golden
1 Stenzel, Gesch. des Preuss. Stoats, B. v. S. 23.

156 ADVANCE OF THE FRENCH. [Chap. XLVII.

Fleece, and the arms and titles of the House of Burgundy. To
France were to be ceded the sovereignty of Chimai and Beaumont,
the ports and towns of Ostend, Nieuport, Ypres, Furnes, and
Mons, the fortress of Knoque, and a league of territory around
each of these places.1 The French were at once to occupy Ostend
and Nieuport provisionally. But by assigning the Austrian Nether-
lands to a small Prince like the Duke of Parma, Maria Theresa
virtually abandoned the whole of them to France.

France had also endeavoured to persuade the Court of Madrid
to join the alliance against England and Prussia ; and as a lure to
Spain, Louis XV., after the conquest of Minorca, offered to make
over that island to Ferdinand VI., as well as to assist him in the
recovery of Gibraltar. But Ferdinand was not inclined to enter
into a war with England, and these offers were rejected.2

The forces to be brought into the field by the Powers leagued
against Frederick II. amounted to upwards of 400,000 men, to
which Prussia and Hanover could not oppose the half of that
number. In April, 1757, before the second convention with
Austi'ia had been executed, the French took the field with three
armies ; one of which, under Marshal the Duke de Richelieu, was
placed on the Upper Rhine; another, under the Prince de Soubise,
on the Main ; while the third and principal one, under the Marshal
d'Estrees, occupied the Duchies of Gelderland and Cleves, and the
greater part of the Prussian territories in Westphalia — Frederick
having abandoned these districts in order to concentrate his forces
on the Oder. In July the French took possession of Hesse-Cassel,
the capital of an ally of Great Britain; the Duke of Cumberland,
who commanded the Hanoverian army of observation of about
67,000 men, continually retreating before them. The plan of the
French was to reduce the Electorate of Hanover to neutrality, and
then to push on into Prussia. The Duke of Cumberland attempted
to make a stand at Hastenbeck, but was defeated by D'Estrees.
The Duke gave up the battle prematurely, the loss of the French
having been twice as great as that of the Hanoverians. In spite
of his victory, however, D'Estrees, who was accused of being too
slow in his movements, was by a court intrigue superseded in
favour of the more brilliant Marshal Richelieu, who had acquired
a military reputation by the conquest of Minorca. Richelieu
overraD the greater part of Brunswick and Hanover, the Duke of
Cumbei'land retiring to Kloster- Seven, between Bremen and

1 This treaty in extenso is in Garden. 2 Coxe, Spanish Bourbons, vol. iv. p.

t. iv.: Notes et Docu.mnis. No. iii. 172.

Chap. XLVII.] CONVENTION OF KLOSTER-SEVEN. 157

Hamburg. Thither Richelieu hesitated to pursue him, knowing
that Denmark, by the treaty of 1715, already mentioned, had
guaranteed the Duchies of Bremen and Verden to the House of
Brunswick Liineburg, and had promised, in case of an attack upon
them, to come to its aid with 8,000 men ; while the French com-
mander was ignorant that, by a recent Convention executed at
Copenhagen, July 11th, 1757, France had promised to respect
the neutrality of those two Duchies, reserving, however, the
right of pursuing a Hanoverian army which might take refuge
in them.1

Matters were in this position when Count Lynar offered, on the
part of Denmark, to mediate between the combatants. Lynar
belonged to the school of Spener and the Pietists, and according
to a letter of his which fell into the hands of the Prussians, he
attributed this idea to an inspiration of the Holy Ghost, which
enabled him to arrest the progress of the French arms, as Joshua
had formerly arrested the course of the sun.2 However this may
be, the Duke of Cumberland, pressed thereto by the petty interests
and passions of the Hanoverian Ministry and nobles, who were
anxious to save their own possessions from annoyance, consented
to accept the mediation of Denmark ; nor was Richelieu averse to
it, as the neutralizing of Hanover would enable him to march
against Prussia. Under these circumstances Lynar was employed
to draw up the Convention op Kloster- Seven, signed September
8th, 1757. By this Convention an armistice was agreed upon,
Cumberland's auxiliary troops, namely, those of Hesse, Brunswick-
Wolfenbuttel, Saxe-Gotha, and Lippe-Biickeburg — for there were
no British among them — were to be dismissed to their respective
ountries ; the Duke himself, with the Hanoverians, was to retire
within twenty-four hours beyond the Elbe, leaving only a garrison
Df not more than 6,000 men at Stade ; and the French were to re-
am possession of what they had conquered till a peace.3 But the
composition of this document neither reflected much credit on
Count Lynars statesmanship, nor on the penetration and foresight
)f Richelieu. The duration of the suspension of arms was left
mdetermined, nor was it stipulated that the Hanoverians and their
tuxiliaries should be disarmed.

The Prussians had entered Bohemia from Saxony about the
same time that the French invaded Westphalia, and a division

1 Garden, Hist, des Traitts, t. iv. p. 27. 3 Hinterlassene Staats -schrifttn des

i Frederick. Hist, de la c/nerre de sept Grafen zu Lynar (Hamburg, 1797).
'is, ch. 5.

158 BATTLE OF KOLIN. [Chap. XL VII.

under the Prince of Brunswick-Bevern, had repulsed Count Konig-
seck at Reickenberg, April 24th, 1757. Frederick in person, with
the main army, marched against Prince Charles of Lorraine and
Marshal Brown, who were strongly posted behind Prague, on
the Moldau. As the Austrian Marshal Daun was known to
be approaching with reinforcements, the King attacked Prince
Charles, May 6th, and, after an obstinately contested and bloody
battle, which lasted from nine in the morning till eight in the
evening, completely defeated him. The Austrian camp, military
chest, and sixty guns fell into the hands of the Prussians. The
battle of Prague was signalized by the death of two of the most
distinguished generals on either side — Marshal Brown, and the
Prussian Marshal Schwerin.

After this defeat, Prince Charles threw himself into Prague with
the remains of his army of about 40,000 men, where he was
blockaded by Frederick ; and, such was the prestige of the Prus-
sian arms, that although Frederick's forces were not much more
numerous than those which he surrounded, yet the Austrians ven-
tured not upon any attempt to escape. Nay, as Marshal Daun was
approaching to relieve them, Frederick was even bold enough to
march with a great part of his army to oppose him. But in this
hazardous step he was not attended with his usual good fortune,
which had hitherto proved so constant to him as to render him
somewhat presumptuous. Daun, though rather slow, was an able
and cautious general, and his army numbered 20,000 men more
than that of the King — 54,000 Austrians against some 34,000
Prussians. It is not surprising, therefore, that Frederick was, for
the first time, though after a severe contest, entirely defeated in
the Battle of Kolin, June 18th. In consequence of this defeat he
was compelled to raise the blockade of Prague, and to retire with
all his forces into Silesia. It was on the occasion of this battle
that the Empress Queen founded the Order of Maria Theresa.

During the next three or four months Frederick's prospects
were gloomy enough. To add to the misfortune of his defeat,
Westphalia, as we have seen, was lost; the Hanoverian army
beaten and neutralized ; the road to Magdeburg open to Riche-
lieu ; while the army of the Empire, called the Army of Execution,
together with a French division under Soubise, had assembled in
Thuringia. Marshal Apraxin, with 100,000 Russians, who had
occupied Riga early in February, entered Prussia in June, and
defeated the Prussians under Lehwald at Gross - Jagerndorf,
August 30th ; while Memel had been captured by a Russian

Chap. XLVII.] LUKEWABMNESS OF THE RUSSIANS. 159

maritime force. England had made no preparations to assist
Prussia in this quarter ; the Russian Court having notified that
it should consider the appearance of an English fleet in the Baltic
as a declaration of war — a step which the British Cabinet, having
its hands full with the French war, as well as for commercial
reasons, was anxious not to provoke. The Swedes, under Ungern
Sternberg, invaded Pomerania and the Uckermark in September,
and took several places. Silesia, and even Brandenburg, seemed
go be open to the Austrians ; aud the Austrian General Haddick
ictually pushed on to Berlin in October, and levied contributions
m that city during the few hours that he held it. In these critical
nrcumstances, Frederick was almost driven to despair. He tells us
rimself that he meditated suicide ; an idea which gave occasion
,o Voltaire to write him a dissuasive letter, in which he uro-ed
ill the topics which could occur to a man of genius and wit on such
\ subject. It was a more sensible step on the part of Frederick to
•ndeavour to open negotiations with the French. Marshal Riche-
ieu, a great nephew of the Cardinal's, had inherited the anti-
Austrian policy of that minister, and regarded with disapproval
he project of crushing Prussia. He was not, it is said, insensible
o flattery or even to bribes ; and Frederick made proposals to
im in a letter calculated to tickle his vanity, accompanied, it is
upposed, with a considerable present. The French Court did not
sten to these advances, but they probably contributed to the
lactive line of conduct pursued by Richelieu. Frederick was
wed by the want of concert and vigour among his enemies,
.praxin, instead of following up his victory at Jagerndorf, retired
wards Poland and Courland, and went into winter quarters,
his step is ascribed to the fondness and admiration with which
ie Grand Duke Peter of Holstein-Gottorp, the heir of the Russian
hrone, regarded the King of Prussia, an esteem which he believed
be reciprocated ; ' and may partly also be attributed to the
ussian Chancellor, Bestuscheff, who had sold himself to England
id Prussia.2 Bestuscheff was soon afterwards disgraced at the
stance of the Courts of Vienna and Versailles, and Apraxin was
called ; but, fortunately for the King of Prussia, all the com-
anders who succeeded him — partly from some defect in the
issian military system, partly also from the knowledge that
the young Court," as it was called, or the Grand Duke Peter
d his wife, were well disposed towards Frederick — carried on

Lynar's Hinterlassene Staat8-$chriften, * Hermann, Gesch. Busslands, B v
'• S. 469. S. 133, 141.

160 BATTLES OF ROSSBACH AND LEUTHEN. [Chap. XLVII.

the war with little vigour, and did only enough to insure their
claims to any conquests. They adopted the convenient custom
of putting their troops into winter quarters in defenceless Poland,
whence, in general, they did not break up till the middle of sum-
mer, to return to them again after a short campaign. The Swedes
also did little or nothing this year. Instead of marching on Ber-
lin, as they had agreed with France, they demanded the aid of
the French to hold Pomerania on the approach of Lehwald and
the Prussians, whom the retreat of the Russians had enabled to
advance against them. Lehwald drove them from Pomerania,
except the isle of Riigen and Stralsund, which town he invested.
Meanwhile the Imperial Army of Execution, under Hildburg-
hausen, in conjunction with the French under Soubise, marched
in September from Franconia into Saxony, which was still occu-
pied by the Prussians. But the Imperial Army was in bad con-
dition, ill provided, armed, and disciplined. Only a few Austrian
cavalry regiments were serviceable. Many, especially the Pro-
testants, deserted to Frederick, who was very popular among the
German troops, and especially with the officers, Hildburghausen,
besides being incompetent, was hated by the army; nor was
Soubise a much more skilful general. The greatest disunion
prevailed both between the two commanders and their troops.
The French looked upon the Germans as little better than a
burden. An army so composed was not very formidable, but
Frederick had not expected their advance at so late a season.
They took advantage of a retrograde movement which he made
towards Brandenburg, then infested by the Austrians, to advance
to Leipsic j but on his approach they retreated beyond the Saale.
Frederick crossed that river and came up with them, November
5th, at PiOSSBACH, near Weissenfels, where he gained one of his
most splendid victories, taking 7,000 prisoners and seventy-two
guns. His success was chiefly due to Seidlitz and his cavalry.
Frederick then turned towards the Austrians, who had invaded
Silesia, taken Glatz, except the fortress, and Schweidnitz, and
defeated the Prince of Brunswick-Bevern near Breslau, November
22nd. The Prince, while riding only with a groom, was captured
a day or two after by an Austrian outpost, apparently by his own
design ; Frederick having told him that he should be answerable
with his head for the holding of Breslau. That town was captured
by the Austrians, November 24th. But their success was of short
duration. Frederick defeated Prince Charles of Lorraine and
Marshal Daun, December 5th, at Leuthen, near Lissa, a battle

Chai. XIA'II.] ENGLAND AIDS PRUSSIA. 161

esteemed among the chef-d'oeuvres of the military art. Although
Frederick had only about 33,000 men, 40,000 Austrians were
either killed, wounded, dispersed, or made prisoners. The fruits
of this victory were the recapture of Breslau, December 19th,
although 20,000 men had been left behind for its defence, and
the hasty evacuation of all Silesia, with the exception of Schweid-
nitz, by the Austrians. Daun did not bring back 20,000 men
with him into Bohemia. Prince Charles, whose want of military
capacity was glaring, now laid down his command, though against
the wish of his sister-in-law, Maria Theresa, with whom he was a
great favourite, and went to Brussels as Governor of the Austrian
Netherlands.

Thus, fortune began again to smile from all sides upon Frede-
rick ; nor was a change of policy and the adoption of more vigorous
measures on the part of the British Cabinet among the last cir-
cumstances which served to encourage his hopes and raise him
from despondency. "William Pitt, the celebrated Lord Chatham,
who now conducted the affairs of England, had resolved to push
the war against France with more energy in all quarters, and
especially to lend Frederick, whom he regarded with esteem and
admiration, more effectual aid.1 The Convention of Kloster-
Seven had been received in England with universal indignation.
George II. had at first accepted the Convention, but when he
earnt all the circumstances of the conduct of his son, the Duke
if Cumberland, his anger knew no bounds. The Duke was
'ecalled, and never again held any military command. Pitt
vrote to the King of Prussia, assuring him of his support, and
equesting him to appoint a general to the command of the
3anoverian army. Frederick named Ferdinand of Brunswick,
)rother of the reigning Duke Charles ; a brave, accomplished,
nd amiable prince, of whose military talents he had had ample
xperience, and especially at the battle of Sorr.2 It was resolved
o repudiate the Convention of Kloster- Seven, which had been
qually as displeasing to the French as to the English Court, and
ad never been acknowledged by Louis XV. It had been re-
•eatedly violated by the French troops, and George II. declared
aat it was not binding upon him as King of England. The

1 Raumer, Frkdrick II. B. ii. S. 423. not, therefore, at all owing to Frederick's

2 This appointment was made October success in that battle, as stated by Coxe,
l$th, 1757, and consequently before the liussell, and other historians. See Schlos-
Utle of Rossbach. The change of the ser, Gesch. des l8ten Jahrh. B. ii. S. 331
nglish policy, and the repudiation of Anm.

e Convention of Kloster-Seven, were
IV. 31

162 Frederick's necessitous condition. [Chap, xlvii.

ai*my of the Hanoverian Electorate was now converted into a
British army, fighting avowedly for British interests, supported
by British troops as well as money, and destined to settle on the
plains of the Continent the colonial disputes with France in
America and elsewhere. These arrangements were confirmed
and carried out by a treaty between the Kings of England and
Prussia, signed at London, April 11th, 1758, by which Great
Britain engaged to pay a subsidy to Frederick of four million
Prussian thalers, or upwards of 600,000?. sterling, besides sup-
plying a British auxiliary force.1 On the other hand, the anti-
Prussian alliance was augmented by the accession of Denmark.
That Power, indeed, by the treaty with France of May 4th, 1758,2
only agreed to assemble in Holstein an army of 24,000 men, to
prevent any attempt on the possessions of the Grand Duke of
Eussia (Duke of Holstein-Gottorp) , or on the neutrality of the
towns of Hamburg and Lubeck, without pledging herself to
hostility against Prussia ; but the allies at least secured them-
selves from her siding with that Power. This treaty, however,
had no effect on the campaign of 1758.

The English subsidies, though somewhat offensive to Frede-
rick's pride, were indispensable to him. He was driven to hard
shifts to procure the means for carrying on the war. He told his
brother Henry that, though they might be heroes, they were
beggars ; and that, if the struggle should continue, he must go
upon the highway to find the means for supporting it. Hence, in
spite of his recent success, he would willingly have made peace.
His sister, the Margravine of Baireutk, made some advances to
the French Court to that purpose, through Cardinal Tencin, but
without effect ; nor were Frederick's own hints to Maria Theresa
of more avail. He was unwilling to increase the taxes in his he-
reditary dominions, and hence he made Saxony bear the chief
burden of the war, a course which he thought might induce the
King of Poland to come to an accommodation with him. V\ ith
the same view, as well as from the less worthy motive of personal
hatred and revenge, he caused the palaces and estates of Count
Briihl to be plundered and devastated. It is computed that be
levied in Saxony during the course of the war between forty and
fifty million dollars, without including unlicensed plundering,
which might amount to as much more. Anhalt, Dessau, and other

1 Wenck, t.iii. p. 173. This treaty was a Garden, Hist, dcs Traitts, t. iv.j

thrice renewed: December 7 th, 17 58, March Notes it Documens, No. viii.
9th, 1759, and December 12th, 1760.

Chap. XL VII.] FERDINAND OF BRUNSWICK'S VICTORIES. 163

small States, were subjected to the same hard pressure. Frederick
had also recourse to the expedient of coining light money. But
his chief resource was England.1 In consequence of the policy
adopted by the British Cabinet, Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick
had announced to Marshal Richelieu the renewal of hostilities,
November 26th, 1757. As the Hanoverian troops and auxiliaries
had not been disarmed, although the French, in spite of the
silence of the Convention on that head, had attempted to enforce
a disarmament, the army was soon reassembled. Nothing, how-
ever, was attempted during the remainder of the year, except the
siege of Harburg, and the troops were then put into winter
quarters.

Marshal Richelieu was recalled from his command in Germany
early in 1758, and was replaced by Count Clermont, a prince of the
blood royal. Nothing could exceed the demoralization of the French
troops under Richelieu and Soubise. The armies were encumbered
with multitudes of tradesmen, valets, and courtesans, and were fol-
owed by beasts of burden three times more numerous than the
iroop horses. Twelve thousand carts of dealers and vivandieres
iccompanied the arniy of Soubise, without reckoning the baggage
rain of the officers. The camp became a sort of movable fair, in
vhich were displayed all the objects of fashion and luxury.2
Richelieu had employed the winter to enrich himself by plunder-
tig Hanover and the adjacent provinces, and he permitted his
'fficers and men to follow his example. The soldiers called him
5ere la Maraude. These disorders were naturally accompanied
nth. a complete relaxation of discipline. The French soldiers, as
rell as their commanders, seemed almost to have forgotten the art
f war. Maillebois, chief of the staff, complained in an official re-
tort to the Minister that the troops pillaged churches, committed
very possible atrocity, and were more ready to plunder than to
ght. In the same report he attributes the victory at Hastenbeck
aiefly to the artillery.3 Manoeuvring was so little understood that
took a whole day to range an army in order of battle.4 Against
ich degenerate troops it is not surprising that the military talents
: Ferdinand of Brunswick, seconded by the more active assist-
lce of England, speedily destroyed the French preponderance in
ermany. Opening the campaign early in 1758, he drove the
rench from Hanover, Brunswick, East Friesland, and Hesse. On

Stenzel, Gesch. des^Pr. Stoats, B. v. 3 French Archives, ap. Schlosser, Gesch.

134 ff. des IBten Jahrh. B. ii. S. 330.

1 See Archenlioltz, GrscA. dcs " jcihrigen * Rochambeau, Memoires, ap. Mart hi,

legs, Buch. iii. t. xv. p. 522.

164 PRUSSIAN CAMPAIGN OF 1758. [Chap. XLVII.

March 14th he took Minden after a four days' siege, and pursued
the French to Kaiserswerth, which he entered May 31st. The
French lost in their retreat large quantities of ammunition; bag-
gage, and men. Having refreshed his army, Ferdinand crossed
the Rhine at Emmerich, driving the French before him. Cler-
mont, having attempted to make a stand at Crefeld, was entirely
defeated, June 23rd. The Hanoverians then took Ruremonde and
Diisseldorf, their light troops penetrating as far as Brussels, while
the French retreated to Xeuss and Cologne. Louis XV., after
these disasters, appointed three generals to assist Clermont, who
thereupon demanded his dismissal. He was succeeded by
Contades.

Ferdinand now determined on invading the Austrian Nether-
lands, but from this he was diverted by the French under Soubise
entering Hesse, whither that commander had been attracted by
Ferdinand's successes, instead of marching into Bohemia to assist
the Austrians. The Duke de Broglie, with the French van, de-
feated at Sangershausen, near Cassel, July 23rd, a division which
Ferdinand had left in Hesse; the French then overran that pro-
vince, entered Minden, and opened the road to Hanover. Ferdi-
nand now recrossed the Ehine, and marched upon Minister ; but
nothing of much importance occurred during the remainder of
the campaign. Ferdinand succeeded in preventing the junction of
Contades, who had followed him, with Soubise, although a division
of his army was attacked and defeated by Chevert at Lutternberg^
October 10th, and both sides went soon afterwards into winter
quarters ; the Hanoverians in the North of Westphalia, and the
French in the neighbourhood of Frankfort.

During this year, under the energetic administration of Pitt,
the war had been vigorously pushed in all quarters of the globe ;
several successes had been achieved at sea, the most notable of
which were Admiral Osborn's victory, near Carthagena. over a
French squadron under Du Quesne, and that of Sir Edward
Hawke, near the Isle of Aix. A descent, which Pitt had projected,
on the French coast, conducted by Commodore Anson and Lord
Howe, with 20,000 troops of debarkment, was not eminently
successful. A few ships of war and a considerable number of mer-
chantmen were burnt at St. Malo. A landing was effected at Cher-
bourg, and the forts and basin, together with a few ships, were
destroyed ; but a second attempt upon St. Malo was repulsed with
considerable loss to the invaders, September 11th.

Frederick's campaign of 1758 was not attended with his usual

■Chap. XL VII.] BATTLES OF ZORNDORF AND HOCHKIRCH. 165

good fortune, and it was with difficulty that he succeeded in main-
taining himself against his numerous enemies. He had opened the
campaign by retaking Schweidnitz from the Austrians, April 16th,
and being averse to stand on the defensive, he resolved to carry
the war into Moravia, whilst the Austrians were expecting him in
Bohemia. He, therefore, marched to Ohnutz, and laid siege to that
place ; but after wasting two months before it, finding that his
convoys were intercepted, and that the Russians were approach-
ing, he raised the siege, July 3rd, in order to march against the
latter, effecting an admirable retreat through Bohemia, instead of
Silesia, where the Austrians had made preparations to receive him.
The Russian army under Ferrnor had begun its march in January.
It took possession of Konigsberg on the 22nd of that month, then
of all Prussia, and advanced to the frontiers of Pomeraniaand the
N"ew Mark, the Russian irregular troops, especially the Cossacks
md Calmucks, committing fearful cruelties and devastations on the
vay. Fermor laid siege to Custrin, August 15th, but though the
own was reduced to ashes by the Russian fire, the commandant
efused to surrender the citadel. Frederick hastened to his relief,
tnd, having formed a junction with Count Dohna's division,
stacked the Russians at Zorndorf, August 25th. This battle, the
doodiest of the war, lasted from nine in the morning almost till
line at night. The Russians, who were much more numerous than
heir opponents, lost 19,000 men, besides 3,000 prisoners and 103
•uns, whilst the Prussian loss was 12,000 men and 26 guns. The
attle had been chiefly sustained by the Prussian cavalry under
Seidlitz.1 The Russians retired to Landsberg, and afterwards laid
iege to Colberg, but raised it October 30th.

Frederick, after the battle of Zorndorf, hastened to the assis-

mce of his brother Henry in Saxony, who was hard pressed by

le Austrians under Daun, and the army of the Empire under

rince Frederick of Deux-Ponts, who had formed a junction with

ie Austrians in Bohemia. Frederick having taken up an insecure

Dsition at Hochkirch, in Lusatia, and obstinately adhering to it,

i spite of the remonstrances of his generals, was surprised by

aun, for whom he had too great a contempt, on the night of

ctober 13th, and forced to abandon his camp-baggage and 101

ins. The Prussian loss on this occasion was 9,000 to the enemy's

1 Seidlitz having neglected an order plied, " Tell the King that after the battle

the King's, which would have ex- my head is at his disposal ; while the

?ed his men to needless loss, and battle lasts, let him suffer me to use it for

ederick having repeated it on pain of his service." Stenzel, B. v. S. 165.
general losing his head, Seidlitz re-

166 MARIA THERESA OPPOSES A PEACE. [Chap. XLVII.

7,000 ; and was aggravated by the death of Frederick's brother-
in-law, Francis of Brunswick, and also by that of Marshal Keith.1
In spite of this disaster, Frederick established his camp within a
league of Hochkirch ; whence, after being reinforced by his brother
Henry, he marched into Silesia to relieve Neisse. The Austrians
retired at his approach, and Frederick then returned into Saxony,
as the Army of Execution was investing Leipsic, and Daun
threatening Dresden. The allies now quitted Saxony, and went
into winter quarters in Bohemia and Franconia. The Swedes this
year accomplished nothing memorable in Pomerania and the
Ucker Mark.

England and Prussia had, in November, 1758, declared, through
Duke Louis of Brunswick, to the ambassadors of the belligerent
Powers at the Hague that they were ready to treat for a peace,
but without effect. It was chiefly Maria Theresa who opposed an
accommodation. She still hoped to humble Prussia, and she was
supported in the struggle by the resources of her husband, who
carried on a sort of banking trade. France was pretty well ex-
hausted by the war; yet Louis XV. and his mistress were con-
stant in their hatred of Frederick. The Duke de Choiseul, how-
ever, who had recently acceded to the Ministry, and who had more
talent than his predecessors, and a better view of French interests,
endeavoured to come to an understanding with the Empress-
Queen ; and he proposed to her to content herself with the County
of Glatz and part of Lusatia, that so a peace might be made with
England through the mediation of Prussia ; but if she should be
inclined to try the fortune of another campaign, then France must
give up the Treaty of May, 1757, and return to that of 1756.
Kaunitz, having rejected all thought of peace, especially under
Prussian mediation, a fresh treaty was concluded between France
and Austria, December 30th, 1758, less favourable to Austria than
that of 1757, but more so than that of the preceding year. The
French army in Germany was reduced from 105,000 to 100,000
men, and the subsidy from twelve million florins to about half that
sum. All the projects for a partition of Prussia, contained in the
treaty of 1757, were abandoned, and France even gave up the
share assigned to her of the Netherlands. That Power, however,
guaranteed Silesia and Glatz to Maria Theresa, but not the Duchy
of Crossen ; also the restoration of the Elector of Saxony in hi-

1 This distinguished officer, having bellion of 1715, fled his country, and after
been implicated with his brother, the having commanded with distinction in the
Earl-Mareschal of Scotland, in the Re- Russian service, entered that of Prussia.

Chap. XLVII.] BATTLE OF MINDEN. 167

dominions, with some compensation.1 Russia acceded to the
treaty, March 7th, 1760. Thus the condescendence of Louis XV.
for Maria Theresa seemed to make France a second-rate Power.
Except, perhaps, the chance of humbling George II. by the con-
quest of Hanover, Frauce had but little interest in the struggle on
the Continent after abandoning the prospect of obtaining the
Netherlands; and Maria Theresa inferred from that abandonment
that France would pursue the war but languidly, and take the first
opportunity to retire from it.

Prince Ferdinand, in the spring of 1759, attempted to surprise
the French in their winter quarters, but was defeated by the Duke
of Broglie at the battle of Bergen, April 13th, and compelled to
retreat with considerable loss. The French then advanced
through Hesse to Minden and Miinster, which last place sur-
rendered, July 25th. But Ferdinand defeated the French army
under Contades at Minden, August 1st, which compelled them to
evacuate Hesse and retreat to Frankfort, where they took up
winter quarters. The Battle of Minden was gained by the bold
and spontaneous advance of six English battalions, which broke
the French centre, composed of sixty-three squadrons of cavalry.
Contades confessed he had not thought it possible that a single
line of infantry should have overthrown three lines of cavalry in
order of battle.2 The victory would have been still more decisive
had not Lord George Sackville, who commanded the British
cavalry, neglected Prince Ferdinand's order to charge.

The King of Prussia contented himself this year with observ-
ing Marshal Daun and the Austrians. But his general, Wedell,
having been defeated by the Russians at Zullichau, in the Duchy
3f Crossen, July 23rd, and the Russians having subsequently
seized Frankfort on the Oder, Frederick marched against them
vith all the troops he could spare. They had now been joined
)y an Austrian corps, which increased their force to 96,000 men ;
et Frederick, who had just half that number, attacked them at
vunersdorf, August 12th. After a hard-fought day he was de-
eated and compelled to retreat with a loss of 18,000 men. In
his battle Frederick had two horses shot under him, and was
^imself hit with a bullet, which was fortunately stopped by a
folden etui. He acknowledged that had the Russians pursued their
lictory Prussia would have been lost. But they were tired of

i1 Wenck, t. iii. p. 185; Garden, t. iv. (t.xv. p. 555). in his account of the battle,
54 sq. suppresses this English achievement.

2 Stenzel, B. v. S. 204; M. Martin

168 PROJECTED INVASION OF ENGLAND. [CiiAr. XLVII.

bearing- the chief brunt of the war while the Austrians seemed to
rest upon their arms ; and Soltikoff, their commander, told the
Austrians that he had done enough. Meanwhile the army of the
Empire, under Frederick of Deux-Ponts, had entered Saxony,
and in the course of August took Leipsic, Torgau, and Witten-
berg; and on December 5th, Dresden. Frederick, after he had
got quit of the Russians, entered Saxony and recovered that
Electorate, with the exception of Dresden, where Daun entrenched
himself. This commander compelled the Prussian general, Fink,
with 10,000 men, to surrender at Moxen, November 21st.

Choiseul, the new French Minister, in order to create a diver-
sion, projected an invasion of England. The Pretender went to
Vannes, and large forces were assembled in Brittany and at Dun-
kirk. But the French were not strong enough at sea to carry
out such a design. Rodney bombarded Havre, and damaged the
French magazines and transports ; while Boys, Hawke, and Bos-
cawen blockaded Dunkirk, Brest, and Toulon. The English fleet
having been blown from Toulon by a storm, the French fleet
managed to get out ; but it was overtaken and defeated by Bos-
cawen off the coast of Portugal, August 17th, 1759. The grand
armament, under Conflans, which had sailed from Brest, was de-
feated and dispersed by Hawke off Belle Isle, November 20th.
Thurot, escaping in a hazy night with four frigates from Dun-
kirk, after beating about three months, landed at Carrick Fergus,
but was defeated and killed on leaving the bay.

This year the Northern Powers formed an alliance which may
be regarded as the precursor of the Armed Neutrality. By a
treaty between Russia and Sweden, signed at St. Petersburg,
March 9th, 1759, to which Denmark next year acceded, the con-
tracting Powers engaged to maintain a fleet in order to preserve
the neutrality of the Baltic Sea for the purposes of commerce.
Even the trade of Prussia was not to be molested, except with
blockaded ports, or in cases of contraband of war.1

The struggle on the Continent lingered on two or three more
years without any decisive result. The various turns of fortune
were no doubt highly interesting and exciting to the parties en-
gaged, and the details of the military operations might perhaps
even now be perused by the military student with amusement and
instruction ; but our limits will not permit us to enter into them
at any length, and we must, therefore, as before, content ourselves
with indicating the main incidents of each campaign. That of
1 Martens, Suppl. an Recueil, t. iii. pp. 36, 42.

Chap. XL VII.] THE RUSSIANS ENTER BERLIN. 169

1760 was unfavourable to the Hanoverians. The French ag-ain
invaded Hesse ; the hereditary Prince of Brunswick was defeated
at Corbach, July 10th, and Prince Xavier de Saxe took Casseland
penetrated into Hanover. By way of making a diversion, Prince
Ferdinand despatched his nephew to the Lower Rhine; but though
he reduced Cleves and Rheinsberg, and laid siege to Wesel, he
was defeated by the Marquis de Castries at Kloster Camp, Octo-
ber 16th, and compelled to recross the Rhine; and the French
remained during the winter in Hanover and Hesse.

The Austrians and Russians had formed a grand plan to conquer
Silesia and penetrate into Brandenburg. The Prussian general,
Fouque, was defeated near Landshut, June 23rd, by Loudon,1 with
much superior forces, and his whole division, consisting of more
than 10,000 men, were either killed, wounded, or made prisoners.
Frederick, opposing his brother Henry to the Russians in Silesia,
300k himself the command of the army in Saxony, and laid siege
:o Dresden, but was compelled to raise it on the approach of
Marshal Daun. Meanwhile, General Harsch, having taken Glatz,
July 26th, and Breslau being threatened by Loudon, Frederick
pitted Saxony to defend Silesia. He defeated Loudon at Pfaf-
endorp, near Liegnitz, August loth, and forming a junction
vith his brother Henry, took up a position where the enemy did
lot venture to attack him, and thus frustrated their plans. To
Iraw him from Silesia, the Russians marched on Berlin, entered
hat city, October 9th, and levied heavy contributions on the in-
labitants ; but, after an occupation of three days, they evacuated
jfc on the approach of Frederick, and recrossed the Oder. Mean-
pile the Imperialists, having occupied the greater part of Saxony,
Frederick, marching into that Electorate, retook Wittenberg and
■jeipsic, and attacked Marshal Daun near Torgau, November 3rd,
^hom he defeated with much difficulty and with great loss on both
ides. Frederick entered Torgau, November 4th, and subsequently
ttempted to recover Dresden, but without success. The move-
lents of the Swedes were unimportant.

Such is the true name of this dis- Loudon offered his sword to the King of

nguisked Austrian commander, and not Prussia, but being repulsed enteredthe

audon or Laudohn, as commonly written. Austrian service, and became one of Frede-

re derived his origin from a Scotch family rick's most dangerous opponents. Mailath,

j Ayrshire, but his ancestor had migrated Gisch. Oestr. B. v. S. 12.
J Livonia in the fourteenth century.

170 THE SPANISH COURT. [Chap. XLVIII.

CHAPTER XLVIII. .

AT this period of the Seven Years' War two events had
occurred which had a remarkable influence on the views
and operations of the contending Powers. These were the death
of Ferdinand VI. of Spain, August 10th, 1759, and that of
George II. of England, October 25th, 1760. Ferdinand VI.,
though a weak and hypochondriac, was an amiable Prince, whose
sole pursuits were music and the chase. He had always been
inclined to maintain peace with England, and the quiet temper of
his Consort, Barbara, daughter of John V. of Portugal, which
formed quite a contrast to that of Elizabeth Farnese, confirmed
him in this disposition.1 Ferdinand's chief Ministers were the
Marquis Villarias and the Marquis de la Ensenada; but Villarias
was soon supplanted by Don Joseph de Carvajal, a younger son of
the Duke of Linares, a cold, stiff, awkward person, but of a strong
understanding. Descended from the House of Lancaster, Car-
vajal, from family traditions, was attached to England, though as
a statesman, he was for keeping Spain politically independent of
any other country. The King was a good deal govered by his
Confessor, Father Ravago, a Jesuit. But one of the most in-
fluential persons at the Spanish Court was Farinelli, a Neapolitan
singer, who had achieved a great success at the London opera,
and realized a considerable fortune. Farinelli had been employed
by the late Queen of Spain to soothe her husband's melancholy
with his songs ; he gained Philip's favour and confidence, who
settled upon him a pension of 2,000Z. sterling. After the accession
of Ferdinand, he rose still higher in the royal favour. Both the
King and his Consort were fond of music, and Farinelli was made
director of the opera and of all the royal entertainments. Behind
all this, however, being a man of sense and of modest and unas-
suming manners, he exercised a material influence at Court ; his
friendship was sought even by Sovereigns, and Maria Theresa had
condescended to write to him with her own hand.

1 The characters of these sovereigns Despatches, aim. 1749 sq.; ef. Memoires
are described in Sir Benjamin Keene's de liichelieu, t. vi. ch. xxix.

Chap. XLVIII.] VIEWS OF PITT. 171

"When the war between France and England appeared imminent,
both Powers contended for the favour and support of the Court of
Madrid. Carvajal had died in the spring of 1754 ; but the English
party was supported by the Duke de Huescar, afterwards Duke of
Alva, and by Count Valparaiso. Ferdinand himself was averse to
the French alliance. He had been offended by the Court of Ver-
sailles concluding the preliminaries of the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle
without his concurrence, and by its refusal to accept his favourite
sister, Maria Antonietta, as Consort of the Dauphin after the
death of her elder sister, to whom that Prince had been betrothed.
Huescar and Valparaiso succeeded in excluding Ensenada, a par-
tisan of France, from the management of the Foreign Office ; but
as neither of those grandees wished to take an active part in the
Ministry, Sir Benjamin Keene, at that time British Minister at the
Court of Madrid, directed their attention to Don Ricardo Wall,
then Spanish Ambassador at London. Wall was an Irish adven-
turer, who had sought fortune in the Peninsula. He had distin-
guished himself in the action with the British fleet under Byng
off Sicily in 1718; had subsequently entered the land service, and
ultimately the Civil Service of Spain ; and was now, at the recom-
mendation of Keene, appointed Foreign Minister. Ensenada, in
order to recover his ascendency, had endeavoured to plunge Spain
into a war with Great Britain by despatching secret orders to the
Viceroy of Mexico to drive the English from their settlements at
Rio Wallis. This wicked attempt ended only in the dismissal and
arrest of Ensenada. The neutrality of Spain, however, became
somewhat dubious. France, after the capture of Minorca, had
endeavoured to lure Spain to her alliance with the offer of that
island, and with a promise to assist her in recovering Gibraltar ;
a sort of underhand privateering warfare, encouraged by the
Spanish underlings,1 had broken out between England and Spain,
which, together with the petty discussions which ensued, had
caused much irritation. Mr. Pitt took a very gloomy view of
'matters after the defeat of the Hanoverian army.*'4 The English
| Government was particularly alarmed by Maria Theresa having
iadmitted French garrisons into Ostend and Meuport, and looked
|With great suspicion on the plans of Austria in Italy. Under the
Influence of these feelings, and by way of counteracting the offers
iof France, Pitt authorized Sir B. Keene to propose to the Court
|of Madrid the restoration of Gibraltar, as well as the evacuation

1 Coxe, Spanish Bourbons, vol. iv. 2 See his Despatch to Sir B. Keene,

172. August 23rd, 1757. Ibid. p. 187 sqq.

172 SPAIN UNDER FERDINAND VI. [Chap. XLVIII.

of the settlements made by the English on the Mosquito shore
and Bay of Honduras since 1748, on condition that Spain should
assist Great Britain in recovering Minorca. These injudicious
proposals, which were highly disapproved of by Keene, were fortu-
nately not accepted by the Spanish Court ; and Ferdinand pre-
served his neutrality till his death, an event thought to have been
hastened by grief at the loss of his Consort, Barbara, who had
died a year before. Ferdinand VI. was forty-six years of age at
the time of his decease. His peaceful policy was stigmatized
during his lifetime as unpatriotic, but has since been recog-
nized as wise and salutary for his Kingdom . During the fourteen
years of his reign Spain quietly improved her agriculture, manu-
factures, and commerce. The enormous exactions and embezzle-
ments of the Court of Rome were also reduced by a Concordat
with Pope Benedict XIV., January 11th, 1755; who, in con-
sideration of a million Roman crowns, the patronage of fifty-two
benefices, the produce of marriage licences, and the perpetuation
of the Bull of the Cruzada, surrendered all further claims — a
tolerably advantageous composition.1

Ferdinand, by his will, appointed his half-brother Charles,
King of Naples, to be his successor, and Charles's mother, the
Queen Dowager Elizabeth, to be Regent till her son's arrival.
Yet a good understanding had not subsisted between the brothers
during Ferdinand's lifetime. Don Carlos, feeling assured of the
Spanish Succession, which, in failure of direct heirs, had been
guaranteed to him by the Peace of Vienna, and Ferdinand's weak
health and the age of his Consort rendering him pretty certain of
it, had affected an insulting independence, had caballed with
parties in Spain, and in conjunction with his brother, Don Philip,
Duke of Parma, had, in opposition to the Court of Madrid, formed
a close union with France. The hopes of that country were there-
fore revived by his accession to the Spanish Throne. His arrival
in Spain was, however, delayed by the necessary arrangements
for settling the succession to the Crown of Naples. At the Peace
of Vienna it had been arranged that the Two Sicilies should
always be separated from Spain ; and by the Treaty of Aix-la-
Chapelle, which assigned Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla to Don

1 Coxe. Spanish Bourbons, vol. iv. usually foreigners, gave bonds or bills

p. 219 sqq. The Pope had previously called cedulas bancarias, to pay a certain

enjoyed the nomination to all preferments sum to the Apostolic Chamber, which

falling vacant during eight months of the are said alone to have drained the Spanish

year, hence called Apostolical Months. benefices of one-fifth of their revenues.

Persons appointed to such benefices, Ibid.

Chap. XLVIII.] CHARLES III. OF SPAIN. 173

Philip, it was provided that if Don Carlos were called to the
Spanish Throne, and Philip should succeed his brother at Naples,
Parma and Guastalla were to revert to Austria, while the Duchy
of Piacenza, except the Capital and the district beyond the Nure,
was to be ceded to Sardinia. Charles, however, was desirous that
one of his sons should succeed him in his Neapolitan dominions ;
and the Court of Vienna, wishing to conciliate the new King of
Spain, did not press its claims to the Italian Duchies ; while the
King of Sardinia, unable singly to assert his rights, was compen-
sated with a sum of money. The Austro- Spanish Alliance was
consolidated by a marriage between the Archduke Joseph and a
Princess of Parma, and another between Leopold, successor to the
Grand Duchy of Tuscany, and a Spanish Infanta. Charles's eldest
son, Philip, being imbecile, was entirely set aside ; his second son,
Charles, was declared Heir of the Spanish Monarchy, and Ferdi-
nand, the third son, was proclaimed King of the Two Sicilies, with
the title of Ferdinand IV. ; * but as he was only eight years of
age, a Regency was appointed to govern the Neapolitan dominions
till he should come of age. The reign of Don Carlos had been
beneficial to Naples, where he was very popular. He arrived in
Madrid December 9th, 1759. One of his first acts was to dismiss
Farinelli, who retired to Bologna. Wall and most of the former
Ministers were retained ; Ensenada was pardoned and returned
o Court, but not to power. Charles caused his second son to be
icknowledged as Prince of Asturias.

The accession of Charles III. was followed by a change in the
)olicy of Spain. That King had conceived an antipathy against
he English for having compelled him to desert the cause of his
louse during the Italian "War ; and though his prejudices were
aitigated awhile by his Consort, Amelia, a Saxon Princess, favour-
ble to England, yet after her death in 1760 they broke out afresh,
nd were sedulously fomented by the French Court.

The signal defeats sustained by France at sea, and the almost
Dtal loss of her possessions in America and the East Indies, had
)rced upon the attention of the French Cabinet the necessity for
ome change of policy. For the first two or three years of the
,ar the French had been successful in America. They had formed
| plan to reduce all the English forts in the neighbourhood of the
kes ; and the capture of Oswego by the Marquis de Montcalm
■ 1756, when he seized a great quantity of vessels, as well as

1 Ferdinand was on this occasion in- presented to Nelson. Schlosser, Gcsch.
sted with a sword, which he afterwards d.s istcn Jahrh. B. ii. S. 386.

174 ACCESSION OF GEORGE III. [Chap. XLVIII.

stores and ammunition, gave them for a while the superiority in
that quarter. In the following year Montcalm captured Fort
William Henry on Lake George. But this was the term of the
French success. In 1758 the British besieged and took Louis-
bourg, the Capital of Cape Breton, reduced all that island, and
also made some conquests on the Lakes and the River Ohio. In
the same year, in Africa, they took Fort Louis on the Senegal,
and the Island of Goree. In 1759 the British arms were still
more successful. After the reduction of Cape Breton, a plan was
formed for the conquest of Canada; the French were defeated near
Quebec by General Wolfe, September 13th, in an action in which
both that Commander and the French General, Montcalm, lost
their lives ; a victory followed by the surrender of Quebec, and
in the following year by the capture of Montreal and the occu-
pation of all Canada by the English. In the same year Guada-
loupe, and some smaller islands also surrendered to the British
arms. In the East Indies the successes of the French and
English had been more balanced ; but on the whole the British
arms had the advantage.

Two courses lay open to the French minister, Choiseul ; either
to make a separate peace with Great Britain, or to fortify himself
by an alliance with Spain, and to draw that country into a war with
England. He resolved to try the former of these courses, and in
case of failure to fall back upon the other. The death of Geoi'ge
II. and accession of George III. were favourable to his views. The
young King was governed by Lord Bute, an opponent of Pitt's
policy, who had succeeded the Earl of Holdernesse as Secretary of
State for the Northern Department. George III.'s English birth
and education had weaned him from that fondness for the Hano-
verian Electorate which had been the mainspring of the conti-
nental policy of his two predecessors. He had declared in the first
speech to his Parliament that he gloried " in the name of Briton ;"
and though such an expression might be merely a bait for popular
applause, it might likewise indicate a determination to attend more
strictly to the insular interests of England. Already, indeed, in
the preparing of the speech, a difference of opinion had manifested
itself in the Council. In the first draft the King had been made
to declare that he ascended the throne in the midst of an expensive
war, which he would endeavour to prosecute in the manner most
likely to bring about an honourable and lasting peace ; and Pitt
obtained, with much difficulty, that, in the printed copy, the
words ' ' but just and necessary " should be inserted after

Chap. XLVIII.] NEGOTIATIONS. 175

" expensive/' and " in concert with our allies " after " lasting
peace/'1

Pitt, however, who continued to direct the English counsels
during the time that he remained in office, resolved to prosecute
the war as vigorously as ever, and it was with him that Choi-
seul had to negotiate for a peace. As the war between England
and France for their possessions beyond sea had really nothing in
oommon with the continental war, except that they were simul-
taneous, Louis X.V. obtained the consent of his allies that he should
ireat with Great Britain for a separate peace; while it was proposed
;hat a Congress should assemble at Augsburg with a view to a
general pacification. Negotiations were accordingly opened be-
ween the French and English Cabinets in March, 1761. 2 It must
)e admitted that in the course of them the natural haughtiness of
jStt's temper sometimes led him to reject with disdain proposals
pinch seemed reasonable enough. Thus, the French Minister
ffered to treat on the basis of utl possidetis, which was certainly
ivourable to England, as the English conquests had been far more
onsiderable than those of France. Pitt did not object to this basis,
ut to the periods fixed for it : namely, May 1st for Europe,
uly 1st for Africa and America, and September 1st for the East
adies ; and he declared that he would admit no other epoch than
mt of the signing of the Treaty of Peace. The French Cabinet
aturally objected to so loose and unreasonable a method ; yet,
lough they had offered to consider of other periods more con-
bnient to Great Britain, Pitt delayed to answer. He was, in fact,
vaiting the issue of the expedition which he had despatched
jainst Belle Isle. A squadron under Commodore Keppel, with
000 troops under General Hodgson, effected a landing in that
land towards the end of April, but the citadel of Palais, the
pital, was not finally reduced till June 7th. Belle Isle is small
id barren; but its situation off the coast of Brittany, between
Orient and the mouth of the Loire, seemed to give it importance;
Id it was thought that such a conquest in sight of the French
last might, merely as a point of honour, be set off against Minorca.
j|tt now consented, in a memorial, dated June 17th, to accept the
•ijtes of July 1st, September 1st, and November 1st, for the uti
wssidetis, two months later than those proposed by France,
£ idently for the purpose of including Belle Isle. Some discussion

i Coxe, Mem. of Lord Walpole. Duke of Choiseul himself, will be found

| An elaborate and able, but, of course, in Garden, Hist, des Traites, t. iv.

ial, account of them, with the different pp. 87-193.

s and memoirs, drawn up by the

176 THE FAMILY COMPACT. [Chap. XL VIII.

ensued, and the French Minister delayed his final answer till July-
loth. Meanwhile the negotiations which had been for some time
going on between France and Spain had been brought to maturity;
and the French memorial alluded to, of July 1 5th, was accompanied
with another relating to Spain. Several Spanish demands and
alleged grievances against England were brought -forward for set-
tlement, as the restitution by Great Britain of some prizes under
the Spanish flag ; the liberty of Spanish subjects to fish at New-
foundland ; and the destruction of English establishments on
Spanish territory in the Bay of Honduras ; and in order that the
future peace might not be disturbed by the quarrels of these two
countries, it was proposed that the King of Spain should guarantee
the peace between England and France. Pitt naturally rejected
such a proposal with surprise and indignation ; he expressed his
astonishment that disputes between friends should be submitted to
the mediation of an enemy, and that they should be brought
forward by a French envoy, while the ambassador of his Catholic
Majesty was entirely silent upon the subject ! The French Minister, j
in his subsequent correspondence, dropped, indeed, all mention of j
Spain ; but the reply to the application which the British Cabinet
now deemed it prudent to make to that of Spain, showed a perfect
understanding between the two Bourbon Courts. The Spanish
Minister, Wall, declared to Lord Bristol, who had succeeded Sir B.
Keene as English Ambassador at Madrid, that the French memorial
concerning* Spain had been presented with the entire consent of his
Catholic Majesty ; that nothing would induce his Sovereign to
separate his counsels from those of France, nor deter him from
acting in perfect harmony with that country.1 An unsatisfactory:
answer was also returned to Lord Bristol's inquiries respecting the
warlike preparations in the Spanish ports.

Shortly afterwards was signed at Paris, the celebrated treaty
between France and Spain, known, like two former ones, as the:
Family Compact (August 15th, 17(31). This measure had been!
carried through by the Duke de Choiseul and the Marquis de
Ossuna,the Spanish Ambassador at Paris, in spite of the opposition
of Wall. The lures held out to Spain were, as before, the restora-i
tion of Minorca and the recovery of Gibraltar. In the preamble
of the treaty, the motives of it were said to be the ties of blood and
reciprocal esteem. The two Bourbon Monarchs agreed in future
to consider the enemy of one as the enemy of both. They mutually
guaranteed each other's dominions when they should next be a
1 Coxe, Spanisk Bourhons, vol. iv. p. 261.

Chap. XLVIII.] FRENCH ULTIMATUM. 177

peace with all the world — for Spain did not undertake to reconquer
the possessions lost by France during the war — and stipulated the
amount of reciprocal succours. French wars on account of the
Peace of Westphalia, as well as those arising out of the alliances of
France with German Princes, were excepted from the operation of
the treaty unless some Maritime Power should take part in them,
or France should be invaded by land. The King of the Two
Sicilies was to be invited to accede to the treaty, and none but a
Bourbon Prince was to be admitted into the alliance.1 But neither
the King of Naples nor the Duke of Parma acceded to it.

On the same day a particular Convention was signed by the two
Powers, by which Spain engaged to declare war against Great
Britain, on May 1st, 1762, if a peace had not been concluded at
that date. Louis XV. undertook to include Spanish interests in
his negotiations with England ; to assign Minorca to Spain on
May 1st following, and to endeavour that it should be assured to
her at the peace. Portugal was to be invited to join in the war,
it being declared unjust that she should remain neuter in order to
enrich herself.2 This Convention related only to the present war,
while the treaty was to be perpetual. These treaties were to be
kept secret, in order to afford time for the American treasure-
vessels to arrive in Spain ; but the English Government obtained
intelligence of them. Such a league, of course, overthrew all
hopes of peace ; yet the Freuch Cabinet continued the negotiations,
and in its last memorial, of September 9th, repeated its offers of
large concessions, though with the renewed intimation that it
could not evacuate Wesel, Geldern, and the Prussian possessions
in Westphalia, nor consent that Great Britain should lend any help
to the King of Prussia after the peace.3 Pitt, with that high sense
of national honour which distinguished him, and which forms so
favourable a contrast to the subsequent conduct of Lord Bute,
would not for a moment entertain the thought of thus deserting
an ally. He did not even condescend to reply to the French
memorial, but instructed Lord Stanley, who had conducted the
negotiations at Paris, to apply for his passports, and the negotia-
tions terminated.

The Congress of Augsburg had also no result. The King of

1 Martens, Recueil des prvncipaux does not mention this Convention, but
Traites depuis, 176\, t. i. p. 1; Wenek, merely observes: "From this moment
Codex Juris. Gent. rec. t. iii. p. 278. the question of peace or war was evidently

2 Flassan, Diplomatic Franc, t. vi. decided by the two Bourbon Courts."—
P- 314 sq. and 322 sqq. ; Garden, Hist. Span. Bourbons, vol. iv. p. 264.

des Traites de Paix, t. iv. p. 79 sq. Coxe 3 Garden, ibid. p. 178.

IV. N

178 CAMPAIGN OF 1761. [Chap. XLVIII.

Prussia objected to any Imperial Ambassador appearing at it,
as he denied that he was at war with the Empire ; nor, through
the dissensions between the Catholic and Protestant members,
could the Emperor obtain from the Diet at Ratisbon authority to
conclude a peace. The Empress-Queen was for continuing the
war; and her party prevailed at the Russian Court, while Sweden
was in the hands of France. The King of Poland, whose Saxon
dominions suffered terribly by the war, was sincerely desirous of
peace; but, by himself, he had little weight, and, for fear of offend-
ing his powerful allies, he hardly ventured to display his peaceable
inclinations.1

The war had continued during these negotiations. In Feb-
ruary, 1761, Prince Ferdinand penetrated into Hesse, but being
repulsed by the French, under Broglie, near Grunberg, March
21st, was compelled to evacuate the Landgraviate. During the
remainder of the campaign he remained on the defensive on the
banks of the Lippe. The French, under Soubise and Broglie,
attacked his right wing near Wellinghausen, July 15th, but were
repulsed, and the campaign had no results, though Ferdinand had
not half the forces of his opponents. The Austrians, in Silesia,
under Loudon, assisted by a large Russian force, marched on
Breslau ; whilst another Russian army, supported by the Russian
and Swedish fleets, besieged Colberg. Frederick covered Schweid-
nitz and Breslau by establishing a fortified camp, first at Kunzen-
dorf, near Freiburg, where he lay six or seven weeks, and then at
Bunzelwitz. Here his small army was surrounded by 140,000
Austrians and Russians; the latter, however, were not anxious to
fight for the benefit of the Austrians, and retired, in September,
into Poland. After their departure Frederick marched to attack
Loudon, who had encamped near Freiburg ; when the Austrian
commander took advantage of his departure to surprise Sehweid-
nitz in the night of September 30th, and made the garrison
prisoners, to the number of 3,600 men. This action, and the
capture of Colberg by the Russians, December 16th, are the only
memorable events of the campaign in this quarter. Frederick's
brother, Prince Henry, succeeded in maintaining himself against
Marshal Daun in Saxony.

The year 1762 opened under gloomy auspices for the Alliauce
of Hanover. Spain was now added to the opposite side. After
the conclusion of the Family Compact, Pitt had counselled an im-
mediate declaration of war against Spain, before her preparations
1 Stenzel, Gesch. des Preuss. Stoats, B. v. S. 266 f.

Chap. XLVIII.] SPAIN DECLARES WAR. 179

should be completed ; but his opinion being overruled by Lord
Bute and the King, the great Minister resigned (October 5th,
1761). He was succeeded by the Earl of Egremont, but Bute
was the virtual director of the English Cabinet. The event showed
the wisdom of Pitt's advice. The Cabinet of London demanded,
at first in measured terms, that Spain should communicate the
treaty which she had concluded with France. "Wall evaded this
inquiry till the treasure had arrived from America, and then spoke
out more boldly, while the English demands also became more
peremptory. There were now no motives to check the explosion of
Castilian pride. The passports of the English Ambassador were
made out and delivered to him in December ; on January 2nd,
1762, England declared war against Spain ; to which the Cabinet
•of Madrid replied by a manifesto of the 18th of the same month.
If matters looked threatening for England, they were still
more menacing for the King of Prussia. The retirement of Pitt
Tiad deprived him of his best friend. Bute and the Tories de-
nounced the foreign policy of that Minister, and prepared to
withdraw the subsidies which Frederick had hitherto enjoyed.
The King of Prussia, they alleged, neither had done, nor could
do, anything for Hanover or England, and all the resources of
the country would be required for the war with Spain. Bute
was not unwilling to sacrifice Frederick for the sake of peace,
and he made a proposition to that effect, in 1761, to the Austrian
Court ; but Kaunitz, who took the offer for a snare to embroil
him with the Court of Versailles, rejected it with the more dis-
dain, as the prospects of the Empress-Queen were then so brilliant
that she confidently anticipated the conquest of Silesia.1 Nay,
so sure was she of an easy victory, that she reduced her army by
20,000 men. Frederick's own dominions were exhausted, and he
knew not where to look for help. The only gleam of hope arose
from the uncertain expectation of Turkish aid. He had negotiated
a treaty with the Porte and with the Khan of Tartary, and he was
not without hopes that they might be induced to make a diver-
sion in his favour by invading Hungary. But such an expecta-
tion was little more than the straw clutched by a drowning man.
Frederick's situation seemed truly desperate. He expressed his
gloomy forebodings, his almost utter despair, in his correspon-
dence with the Marquis d'Argens at this period; thoughts of
i suicide again took possession of his mind, and he is said to have

Garden, t. iv. p. 194 ; Frederick II. Guerre de Sept Ans. ch xiii. ; Schlosser, Gesch.
des 17 ten Jahrk. B. ii. S. 396 f.

180 DEATH OF THE EMPRESS ELIZABETH. [Ciiav. XL VIII..

carried about with him the poison which was to end his miseries.1
But in this extremity of misfortune he was rescued by the death
of the Russian Empress, Elizabeth, January 5th, 1762; an event
which more than compensated him for the change of ministry in
England. Abandoned to sensual indulgence of every kind, Eliza-
beth fell a victim to her intemperance. Her extravagance was-
as unbounded as her idleness and aversion to business. She is
said to have left between 15,000 and 16,000 dresses, few of which
had been worn more than once, besides whole chest-loads of
ribands and silk stockings. She would neglect all business for
months together, and could with difficulty be persuaded to affix
her signature even to letters of necessary politeness to the highest
potentates.2

The change of policy adopted by the Czar, Peter III., after
his accession, was the result of private friendship, just as Eliza-
beth's hostility to Frederick had been the effect of personal hatred,,
without any regard to objects of State policy. Peter, who car-
ried his admiration of Frederick, and of everything Prussian, to
a ridiculous extent, communicated his aunt's death to Frederick
in an autograph letter, written on the very evening that it oc-
curred, and desired a renewal of their friendship.3 He also
ordered an immediate suspension of hostilities between the Rus-
sian and Prussian armies. Peter had formed the design of reco-
vering that part of Sleswick and Holstein which Denmark had
gained through the Northern War ; for which purpose he meant j
to employ the troops opposed to the Prussians. A truce with
Prussia was accordingly signed at Stargard, in Pomerania, March
16th, 1762, and on May 5th a formal peace was concluded at ;
St. Petersburg, by which the Czar promised to restore, within ,
two months, all the Prussian territories which had been con-
quered.4 It was also agreed that a treaty for an alliance should
be prepared, the conditions of which are not known, except that
each Power was to aid the other with 15,000 men. Lord Bute \
had endeavoured to prevent this alliance by proposing to the
Czar to choose for himself any part of Prussia that he might i
desire.5

Sweden, which had suffered nothing but losses in her war with

1 Preuss, Ltbensgesch. Frkdrichs II. 3 Biographic Piters III. B. ii. S. 38 f. j
B. ii. S. 315. ap. Stenzel, B. v. S. 289.

2 She left the reply to Louis XV.'s * Wemk, t. iii. p. 299.
announcement of the birth of his grand- 5 Lord Dover, Life of Frederick IT.
son unsigned for three years ! Schlosser, to!, ii. p. 259.

Creech, des \§t<.n Jahrh, B. ii. S. 400.

•Chap. XLVIII.] THE CZAR PETER III. DEPOSED. 181

Prussia, followed the example of Russia in reconciling herself
with that country. The war had cost Sweden, the poorest
-country in Europe, eight million dollars. Adolphus Frederick,
had he been so inclined, might easily have overthrown the ruling
oligarchy, to which the Czar Peter was hostile ; but feelings of
piety and honour led him to respect the oath which he had taken,
and he contented himself with working on its fears. The con-
duct of the negotiations was intrusted to the Queen, Frederick II. 's
sister. An armistice was agreed to, April 7th, followed by the
Peace of Hamburg, May 22nd, by which everything was replaced
in the same state as before the war.1 These events enabled
Frederick to concentrate his forces in Saxony and Silesia. He
had not only got rid of the Russians as opponents, but even ex-
pected their friendly help; but in this hope he was disappointed
by another revolution. Peter was deposed through a conspiracy
organized by his own consort (July 9th), who mounted the
throne in his stead with the title of Catharine II.2 In the mani-
fest which she published on her accession, dated June 28th (O.S.) ,
she charged her husband, among other things, with dishonouring
Russia by the peace which he had made with her bitterest enemy,
and Frederick, therefore, could only expect that she would revert
to the policy of Elizabeth.3 But Catharine, the daughter of a
Prussian General, born at Stettin, and married into the Russian
Imperial family through the influence of Frederick, was not hos-
tilely inclined towards her native land ; and the King's alarm at
her manifest was soon assuaged by a communication that she in-
tended to observe the peace with him, but to withdraw the Rus-
sian troops from his service. Frederick, however, persuaded the
Russian General, Czernischeff, to remain by him with his corps for
three days after the receipt of this notice ; and during this interval,
aided by the support which he derived from their presence — for
though they took no part in the action, Daun, being ignorant of
their recall, was compelled to oppose an equal number of men to
them — he drove the Austrians from the heights of Burkersdorf.
Two or three months afterwards he took the important town of
Schweidnitz (October 9th), when 9,000 Austrians surrendered
themselves prisoners of war. This event closed the campaign in
Silesia. Prince Henry had succeeded in maintaining himself in

1 Martens, t. i. p. 12; YVenck, t. iii. ap. Stenzel.B. v. S. 300; Hermann. Gesch.
P- 307; Russlands, B. v. S. 288. The date of the

2 We shall return to this subject in a revolution, and consequently of the mani-
subsequent chapter. fest, is erroneously given by Schlosser,

3 Biographic Peters III. B. ii. S. 64, Gesch. des 18tcn Jahrh. S. 428, 431

182 THE MARQUIS OF POMBAL. [Chap. XLVIII.

Saxony; and, on October 29th, he defeated the Austrians and the
army of the Empire at Freiburg.

In Western Germany, Prince Ferdinand had also been, on the
whole, successful. He drove the French from a strong* position
which they had taken up near Cassel; and though the Hano-
verians were defeated at Friedberg, August 30th, they succeeded
in taking Cassel, October 31st. This was the last operation of the
war in this quarter, hostilities being terminated by the signing of
the preliminaries of peace, November 3rd. But before we de-
scribe the negotiations for it we must advert to the war with Spain.

Portugal had been forced into the war through the threats of
the Bourbon Courts. Joseph I. now occupied the throne of that
Kingdom. John V. died in 1750, and Joseph, then a minor, was
left under the guardianship of his mother, the Queen Dowager,
an Austrian Princess. During this period Sebastian Joseph of
Carvalho and Melo, better known afterwards in European history
as the Marquis of Pombal, acquired a complete ascendency over
the minds both of the young King and his mother, and con-
tinued many years to administer the affairs of Portugal with
absolute authority. He had established his influence through
his wife, the Austrian Countess Daun, a daughter of Marshal
Daun, and a friend and confidante of the Queen. Pombal intro-
duced many searching reforms both in Church and State, which
he carried through with an arbitrary despotism more resembling
a revolutionary reign of terror than the administration of a con-
stitutional minister.1 Like Charles XL of Sweden, he im-
poverished the nobles by revoking all the numerous grants
made to them by the Crown in the Portuguese possessions in
Asia, Africa, and America, for which he granted but very slender
compensation. Those who ventured to oppose his measures-
were treated with the greatest harshness and cruelty ; every
lonely tower, every subterranean dungeon, was filled with State
prisoners. His enlightened principles formed a strange contrast
to the despotic manner in which he enforced them. He abolished
the abuses of the middle ages by methods which seemed fitted
only for that period, and proceeded in his work of reform regard-
less alike of civil and ecclesiastical law. He gave a signal proof
of his severity after the terrible earthquake which, in 1755, shook
Lisbon to its foundations. Upwards of 30,000 persons are said

1 Kesreeting Pombal, see Jagemann, sau, 1782); Moore, Life of the Marquis
Las Leben Sebastian Josephs von Carvalho of Pombal, London. 1814; Smith, Memoir
■and Milo, Markis von Pombal. $c. (Des- of Marquis of Pombal, 1843.

Chap. XL VIII.] PLOT AGAINST JOSEPH I. OF PORTUGAL. 183

to have perished in that calamity ; thousands more, deprived of
all employment, wandered about homeless and starving ; the Go-
vernment stores were opened for their relief, and contributions
poured in from all parts of Europe. It was not one of the least
dreadful features of this terrible catastrophe that hundreds of
wretches availed themselves of the confusion to plunder and
commit all sorts of violence. Pombal put an end to these ex-
cesses in the most summary manner. Guards were stationed at
every gate and in every street, and those who could not satis-
factorily account for any property found upon them, were hanged
upon the spot. Gallowses were to be seen in every direction
amid the ruins filled with the dead and dying. Between 300 and
400 persons are said to have been hanged in the space of a few
days.

Perhaps the most searching and salutary of Pombal's reforms
were those which regarded the Church. He abolished the annual
autos defe, abridged the power of the Inquisition, and transferred
the judgment of accused persons to civil tribunals. He especially
signalized himself by his hostility to the Jesuits, as will be re-
corded in another chapter. The weak and superstitious Joseph
was by nature fitted to be the slave and tool of the Romish
Church ; it was only the still greater awe inspired by Pombal,
combined with fears for his own life, that induced him to banish
the Jesuits. The King had formed an adulterous connection
with the wife of the Marquis of Tavora. During the sojourn of
the Court at Belem, while Joseph was supposed to be occupied
with affairs of State in the apartments of his Minister, he would
steal out to visit his mistress. The Duke of Aveiro, head of the
family of Tavora, felt, or pretended to feel, indignant at the dis-
honour of his kindred, which, however, had been quietly endured
several years, and laid a plot against the King's life. The story
is involved in considerable mystery, and political motives were
probably mixed up in the plot. However this may be, several
desperadoes were placed in ambush at three different spots of
the road traversed by the King in his secret visits ; and, on Sep-
tember 3rd, 1758, while Joseph was proceeding incognito to the
house of the Marchioness in the carriage of his friend Texeira, an
attempt was made upon his life. The Duke of Aveiro himself
fired the first shot at the coachman without effect. The coach-
man turned back, and thus avoided the other ambushes ; but
those in the first fired after the carriage, and slightly wounded
the King in the shoulder. The members of the Tavora family

184 ENGLAND AIDS PORTUGAL. [Chap. XLVIII.

were now arraigned and condemned. The old Marchioness of
Tavora, mother of the King's mistress, was beheaded ; the Duke
of Aveiro was broken on the wheel ; their servants were either
burnt or hanged ; and even those distantly connected with the
accused were thrown into loathsome dungeons. The young
Marchioness alone, who was suspected of having betrayed her
mother and relatives, experienced any lenity. As the family of
Tavora was closely connected with Malagrida and the Jesuits,
Pombal seized the opportunity to involve that society in the ac-
cusation, and to procure their banishment from Portugal, though
it seems very doubtful whether they were at all connected with
the plot. The weak and superstitious King himself was blindly
devoted to the Jesuits ; Pope Clement XIII. took them under his
protection, and Joseph, haunted by the fear of hell, at length
consented to their banishment only from the more immediate
danger with which, according to his Minister, his life was
threatened from their machinations.

Pombal, among his other reforms, had not overlooked the
army ; but a horde of undisciplined vagabonds, who resembled
rather gipsies or bandits than soldiers, cannot be converted all at
once into effective troops. Joseph's ragged and hungry soldiers
would ask an alms from the passers by, even while they were
standing sentinel; nor were their officers much better, though
they strove to put on a military swagger. Even had the Portu-
guese army been better organized, it could apparently have offered
but a slender resistance to the military force of Spain, when, early
in 1762, Charles III. marched an army to the frontiers of Portugal,
and, in conjunction with Louis XV., required Joseph I. to join
them in the war against England. They offered to occupy Portu-
gal with a powerful army, to protect it against the vengeance of
England ; and they required an answer within four days, intima-
ting that they should consider any delay beyond that period as a
refusal of their demands. Joseph answered by declaring war
against Spain and France, May 18th, 1762; and he applied to
England for aid ; which Lord Bute, notwithstanding his pacific
policy, could not of course refuse. This step was immediately
followed by an invasion of Traz os Montes by the Spaniards, who,
aided by a French corps, made themselves masters of Miranda,
Braganza, Chaves, Almeida, and several other places ; but the
assistance of an English force, commanded first by Lord Tyraw-
ley, and afterwards by the celebrated German general, the Count
of Lippe Schaumburg, and ultimately reinforced by 15,000 men,

Chap. XLVIII.] NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE. 185

under Generals Burgoyne and Lee, turned the scales of fortune in
favour of the Portuguese. The Spaniards were not only com-
pelled to evacuate Portugal in the autumn, but the allies even
crossed the Spanish frontier and took several places.

Meanwhile the negotiations for a peace between England,
France, and Spain were brought to a close by the signing of
preliminaries at Fontainebleau, November 3rd.1 They would have
been completed earlier had not Grimaldi, the Spanish Minister,
deferred his signature in the hope that the English expedition
directed against the Havannah would miscarry. It proved suc-
cessful, and the British Cabinet consequently raised its demands.
Spain, besides the Havannah, had also lost, in her short war
with England, Manilla and the Philippine Isles, nine ships of the
line, and three frigates, and treasure and merchandize valued at
three millions sterling. She had fully realized the proverbial
fate of those who interpose in quarrels, and was not inclined to
prolong the war, even could she have reckoned on the continued
aid of France, for which country peace was become a necessity.
France also, in the course of 1761 and 1762, had lost the West
India Islands of Dominica, Martinique, Grenada, St. Lucie, and
St. Vincent, and in the East Indies, her important settlement
of Pondicherry. But the conclusion of a definitive treaty was
delayed till the differences between the other belligerents were
arranged.

Frederick, who had concluded an armistice with Austria, but
not with the Imperialists, resolved to hasten the peace by annoy-
ing the Princes of the Empire. In the autumn of 1762 a Prus-
sian corps entered Franconia and Bavaria, took Bamberg, menaced
Nuremberg, and pushed on to the very gates of Ratisbon. The
Elector of Bavaria, the Bishop of Bamberg, and other Sovereigns
now resolved to withdraw their contingents from the army of
execution, so that Prince Stolberg, who commanded it, was
compelled to negotiate with the Prussian commanders for a sus-
pension of arms.2 Peace was highly necessary for Prussia;
Frederick, therefore, readily listened to the overtures of Baron
von Fritsch, a counsellor of the King of Poland, and a congress
, assembled at Hubertsburg, a hunting seat of Augustus, between
Leipsic and Dresden, where the Conferences were opened at the
end of December.

The definitive Peace of Paris, between France, Spain, Eng-

1 Martens, Eccucil, t. i. p. 17.

2 Menzel, Neuere Gesch. der Leutschen, B v. S. 508 f.

186 PEACE OF PARIS. [Chap. XLVIII.

land, and Portugal, was signed February 10th, 1763.1 Both
France and England abandoned their allies, and neither Austria
nor Prussia was mentioned in the treaty. While Bute expressly
stipulated that all territories belonging to the Elector of Hanover,
the Landgrave of Hesse, and the Count of Lippe Biicheburg
should be restored to their respective Sovereigns, he displayed
his enmity to the King of Prussia by making no such stipulation
with regard to Cleves, Wesel, and Geldern, but simply requiring
their evacuation by the French, who were, therefore, at liberty
to make them over to Maria Theresa. France ceded to Eng-
land Nova Scotia, Canada, and the country east of the Missis-
sippi, as far as Iberville. A line drawn through the Missis-
sippi, from its source to its mouth, was henceforth to form I
the boundary between the possessions of the two nations, except I
that the town and island of New Orleans were not to be included
in this cession. France also ceded the island of Cape Breton, I
with the isles and coasts of the St. Lawrence, retaining, under
certain restrictions, the right of fishing at Newfoundland, and '
the isles of St. Peter and Miquelon. In the West Indies she
ceded Grenada and the Grenadines, and three of the so-called i
neuter islands, namely, Dominica, St. Vincent, and Tobago, re- !
taining the fourth, St. Lucie. Also in Africa, the river Senegal,'
recovering Goree ; in the East Indies, the French settlements on J
the coast of Coromandel made since 1749, retaining previous]
ones. She also restored to Great Britain Natal and Tabanouly,!
in Sumatra, and engaged to keep no troops in Bengal. In Europe, j
besides relinquishing her conquests in Germany, she restored'
Minorca, and engaged to place Dunkirk in the state required byj
former treaties. Great Britain, on her side, restored Belle Isle,'
and in the West Indies, Martinique, Guadaloupe, Marie Galante,
and La Desirade. Spain ceded to Great Britain Florida and all
districts east of the Mississippi, recovering the Havannah and all1
other British conquests. British subjects were to enjoy thd
privilege of cutting logwood in the Bay of Honduras. Spanish
and- French troops were to be withdrawn from all Portuguese
territories ; and with regard to the Portuguese colonies, matter^
were to be placed in the same state as before the war. This
clause involved the restoration of San Sacramento, which the
Spaniards had seized. By way of compensation for the loss oi
Florida, France, by a private agreement, made over to Spain
New Orleans and what remained to her of Louisiana.

1 Martens, Riei<iil,t. i. p. 33 ; Wenck, t. iii. p. 329.

Chap. XLVIII.] PEACE OF HUBERTSBURG. 187

The Peace of Hubertsbukg, between Austria, Prussia, and
Saxony, was signed February 15th, 1763. l Maria Theresa re-
nounced her pretensions to any of the dominions of the King of
Prussia, and especially those which had been ceded to him by the
Treaties of Breslau and Berlin ; and she agreed to restore to
Prussia the town and county of Glatz, and the fortresses of Wesel
and Geldern. These places, as we have seen, were held by France,
between which country and Prussia no particular peace was con-
cluded ; but they were restored to Frederick by a Convention
between the French general, Langeron, and the Prussian Von
Bauer, in March.'2 The Empire was included in the peace, but the
Emperor was not even named. It would have been impossible
for Frederick, had such been his intention, to invent a more
cutting reply to the Emperor's threat of putting him under ban.
It was not, however, the King of Prussia's object to humble the
Emperor, but merely to avoid the unnecessary complications and
delays which his participation would have occasioned. The treaty
had two secret articles, by the first of which Frederick promised
to give his vote for the Archduke Joseph at the next election of
a King of the Romans. The other article regarded the marriage
of one of the younger Archdukes with a Princess of Modena, with
the expectation of succeeding to that Duchy, which Frederick
undertook to forward. In the peace with the Elector of Saxony
Frederick engaged speedily to evacuate that Electorate, and to
. restore the archives, &c. ; but he would give no indemnification
i for losses suffered. The Treaty of Dresden of 1745 was renewed.
Thus, after seven years of carnage, during which, according to
a calculation of Frederick's, 886,000 men had perished, every-
thing was replaced, in Europe, precisely in the same state in
which it was at the beginning of the war. The political results
were, however, considerable. England, instead of France, began
to be regarded as the leading Power, and the predominance of
the five great States was henceforth established by the success of
Prussia. This last result was wholly due to the genius and enter-
prise of Frederick II., who, in the conduct of the war, displayed
qualities which procured for him from his admirers the appella-
tion of the Great. Everything in this great struggle depended on
I his own personal exertions ; and it is impossible to overrate the
quickness, and, in general, the sureness of his conceptions, the
happy audacity of his enterprises, his courage and endurance

1 Martens, t. i. pp. 61 and 71 ; Wenck, t. iii. pp. 368 and 380.

2 Menzel, B. v. S. 510.

188 RESULTS OF THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR. [Chap. XL VIII. j

under reverses, and the fertility of his resources in extricating
himself from them. It will, however, be no derogation to him to
allow that his genius must, in all probability, have at last suc-
cumbed to superior force but for some fortunate circumstances, i
These were, the wretched organization of the French armies, the
want of cordial co-operation on the part of the Russians, the de-
sire of the Austrians in the last years of the war to spare their '•
troops, and, finally, the opportune death of the Empress Elizabeth.
The part played in the war by the Empress- Queen, though un-
fortunate in the result, can hardly be regarded with disapproba-|
tion, as her efforts were directed to recover what was lawfully her
own. But the conduct of France, Sweden, Saxony, and Spain,'
and especially of France, must be condemned as a political blunder.
With regard to England, the expediency of plunging into a con-
tinental war for the sake of the Hanoverian Electorate alone may
well admit of question. It should, however, be remembered that
the struggle also concerned the balance of European power, and
that the honour and dignity of the King were in some degree at
stake. And it must be admitted that, after once engaging in the
contest, England, under the counsels of Bute, acted no very
honourable part in abandoning her ally the King of Prussia. The
Peace was highly unpopular in England, and Bute resigned soon
after its conclusion.

111

Chai-. XLIX.] CHARACTER OF PETER III. 189

CHAPTER XLIX.

DURIXG the period which elapsed between the Peace of Paris
and the first French revolution, the affairs of Eastern and
Western Europe offer but few points of contact and connection.
The alliance between France and Austria, and the Bourbon family
compact, helped to maintain peace upon the Continent, and thus
the only war among the Western nations was a maritime one
between France, Spain, and England. The affairs of Eastern
Europe, on the other hand, were assuming a high degree of im-
portance, through the wars and intrigues of Russia, now rapidly
assuming the dimensions of a colossal Power. We shall, therefore,
pursue the affairs of these groups of nations separately in the fol-
lowing chapters.

We have already briefly alluded to the revolution which placed
Catharine II. upon the throne of Russia. Peter III. owed his
downfall to two causes ; he had lost the affections both of his sub-
jects and of his wife. Peter was, on the whole, a good-natured
well-meaning man, but wholly unfit to govern either a nation or a
household. He lost his throne and his life chiefly through his
want of tact and knowledge of the world. The slave of passion
and caprice, the sport of every impulse to a degree which caused
the soundness of his intellect to be suspected, he took no pains to
conceal his feelings. He openly displayed his contempt for the
manners of the Russians and the creed of their Church ; and as he
had not that strength of character which had enabled Peter the
Great to triumph over the prejudices of his subjects, he became at
once both hated and despised. Yet it was no difficult task to
govern the Russians. His predecessor Elizabeth had sat securely
on her throne, though she utterly neglected all business, and
abandoned herself to the most profligate extravagance, and the
rilest sensuality. Peter, on the contrary, began his reign with
some measures really good in themselves, but unwelcome because
hey had not the true Russian stamp. Although Elizabeth's
•lemency has been praised, she had banished 80,000 persons to

190 CHARACTER OF CATHARINE II. [Chap. XLIX. j

languish in Siberia.1 Most of these, except common criminals, !
were recalled by Peter, and among them Biron, the former Duke j
of Courland, Marshal Miinnich, and L'Estocq. He forbade the
use of torture and abolished the Secret Chancerv, a terrible in- 1
quisition of police. He enlarged the privileges of the nobles, i
permitted them to travel, or even to enter foreign service without
forfeiting their national rights ; and he did away with all mono- '
polies. But it was the reforms which he attempted in the army :
and the Church which proved most dangerous to himself. He:
dismissed Elizabeth's costly body-g-uard, converted his own Hol-
stein Cuirassiers into a regiment of horse-guards, and ordered that
all the rest of the army should be clothed and disciplined after
the Prussian fashion. Still more hazardous were his innovations;
in the Church. A Lutheran himself, he abolished at his Court;
the observance of the Greek fasts, and openly neglected most of
the established usages of that religion. He endeavoured to sup-
press the use of images, candles, and other external rites, and to!
reform the long, patriarchal beards, and distinctive habits of the
clergy. These attacks afforded that Order a handle to excite the;
populace against him ; but Peter's real offence had been his bene-
ficial attempt to reduce their enormous incomes by confiscating
the possessions of the convents.

As he thus estranged from him the affections of his people, sc
he had long before alienated those of his wife. The union had
never been a happy one. Catharine had lived on ill terms with1
her husband ever since their marriage, in spite of the attempts oil
Frederick II. to reconcile them. They had each their paramours.
Peter's favourite mistress was Elizabeth "Woronzoff, a woman oil
vulgar, unprepossessing appearance, and ordinary mind. On the
anniversary of his birthday, February 21st, 1762, he had insulted
his wife by compelling her to decorate this creature with the
Order of Catharine. The Empress, on her side, was no model
of domestic virtue. Her son, Paul Petrowitsch, the heir of the
Russian throne, was, as we have said, undoubtedly the offspring
of Soltikoff. Ever since 1755 she had lived apart from her hu>-
band, and had indulged herself in criminal amours. Even duriuj
the lifetime of the Empress Elizabeth she had conspired agains'
her husband with the chancellor, Bestuscheff : and after Peter 'i
accession it seemed unavoidable that one should fall. As h° hac

1 These wretches were compelled to and swear never to resume them. Her
change their names before their departure. niann, Gesch. Eusslands, !B. v. S. 178

Chap. XLIX.] REVOLUTION AT ST. PETERSBURG. 191

threatened to dismiss her, Catharine resolved to anticipate him,
and her character enabled her to accomplish his ruin.

Catharine was, in many respects, the reverse of her husband.
She possessed great talent and many accomplishments ; while a
certain geniality had, in spite of her profligacy, procured her
friends and admirers, not only in Russia, but also in Germany
and France. Instead of offending her future subjects by shocking
their prejudices, she had striven to conciliate their good- will by
conforming to them. She learnt their language, adopted their
customs, and scrupulously adhered to all their religious obser-
vances.1 Secure of popularity, she laid the plot of that tragedy
of lust and blood which recalls the worst days of the Roman
Empire. Her chief instruments were the Princess Dashkoff,
sister of Peter's mistress, and the five brothers Orloff. The
Princess, then only nineteen years of age, possessed a genius
for intrigue equal to that of Catharine herself, whose frivolity
j and taste for French literature she shared. Gregory Orloff, one
of the five brothers engaged in the conspiracy, was distinguished
by his handsome person, and had long been Catharine's lover.
Odard, a Piedmontese litterateur, contributed much to the success
of the plot, which was also communicated to the Count Panin,
subsequently Catharine's Minister. But one of its most zealous
supporters was Setschin, Archbishop of Xovgorod ; who incited
the multitude of }wpes or priests in his jurisdiction against the
"profane" Emperor. The existence of the conspiracy was widely
known • even Frederick II. had acquainted the Czar with it ; but
the careless Peter listened to no warnings. Fearful of discovery,
jDashkoff and the Orloffs compelled Catharine to give the signal
bf execution. Peter was then living at Oranienbaum, Catharine
it Peterhof, two residences at some distance from St. Peters-
burg. Early in the morning of July 9th, 1762, Catharine repaired
o the capital, and caused the soldiers, who had been bribed,
o take an oath of allegiance to her. The Senate followed the ex-
uiple of the soldiery in declaring Peter III. deposed, and recog-
nizing Catharine II. in his place. She was proclaimed in the
;rincipal church, by the Archbishop of Novgorod, sole Empress;
pile her son Paul was recognized only as her successor. Igno-
,int of all these events, Peter had gone in the morning to Peter-
:of to celebrate there the festival of Peter and Paul, and expecting*

Frederick II. thus characterized and the inclinations of her predecessor
ttliarine to Count von Finkenstein : (Elizabeth), together with her religious
The Empress has much wit, no religion, hypocrisy." Preuss, B. ii. S. 328.

192 MURDER OF PETER III. [Chap. XLIX.

to find his wife. When informed by a secret message of the
proceedings in the capital, his presence of mind entirely forsook
him. At length, by the advice of Marshal Miinnich, who, with
one or two others, alone remained faithful to him, he embarked
on board his yacht, and proceeded to Cronstadt, in the hope oi
securing that important fortress. But Catharine had anticipated
him. The commandant and garrison, who had been gained bj
the Empress, threatened to fire on the yacht, which so alarmed
Peter that he hid himself in the lowest hold of the vessel. Miinnicl
now attempted to persuade him to sail to Revel, go on board £
man-of-war, proceed to Pomerania, and place himself at the heacj I
of the army, which, as we have said, was preparing to invad
Denmark. But Peter had not the courage requisite for such i
step. He listened in preference to the advice of his suite, wh
recommended him to return to Oranienbaum and effect a reconj
ciliation with Catharine. Here he wrote a cowardly and subj
missive letter to his wife, offering to divide with her the Imperia
power; and as it remained unanswered, he despatched a secondj
in which he threw himself wholly on her mercy, and begged peri
mission to retire to Holstein. The bearer of the last, Ismailhofii
Peter's friend and confidant, was bribed by the promise of higlj
honour and rewards to become the betrayer of his unfortunatl
master. Ismailhoff, on his return, arrested the Czar ; and aftei
persuading, or rather compelling, him to sign a degrading docu;
ment in which he declared his incompetence to govern, an<j
which he signed only with the title of Duke of Holstein, brough:
him in his own custody to Peterhof. Catharine entered St. Petersj
burg in a sort of triumph. Gregory Orloff rode by her side ; an
it was evident what functions were reserved for him. Apartmen
were assigned to him in all the Imperial palaces. He was t'
first of twelve who successively held this post of favourite in t
household of the Empress. But the tragedy was not yet complet(
The chief criminals had gone too far to allow Peter to live. H
was murdered at a country-house near Peterhof, by Alexis Orlo
and some confederates, by whom he was strangled, after th
failure of an attempt to poison him in some Burgundy (July 17th_
It is to be hoped that Catharine was not privy to this last act
yet it is difficult to reconcile her ignorance of it with her refus;
to allow her husband to retire to Holstein. When Alexis Orlo
came to announce to her her husband's death, she was amusing
select circle with an entertaining anecdote. Alexis called h(
aside to relate the news, which she affected to deplore; and aft<

Chap. XLIX.] GOVERNMENT OF CATHARINE II. 193

giving, with great calmness, the necessary orders, she returned
to her company, and resumed the anecdote exactly where she had
broken off!

Catharine in her public announcement of Peter's death, attri-
buted it to hemorrhoidal colic ; invited all faithful subjects to pray
for the repose of his soul, and to regard his unexpected death as
the effect of a Divine Providence, pointing out by its unfathom-
able decrees paths which it alone knew for the good of herself, her
throne, and her country. The body of the Czar lay in state in the
convent of Alexander Newski, where the people were admitted to
view it. The throat, it was observed, was encircled with a much
deeper cravat than the Czar had been accustomed to wear.1 In a
hypocritical manifest, dated on the day of her husband's death,
Catharine heaped every possible obloquy on his memory, and
charged him with a design to murder herself, and deprive her son
of the succession.

Apart from her private life, the administration of Catharine II.,
like that of Cassar Borgia, was excellent. She introduced an ad-
mirable organization both into the Government and the army. Even
in the Church she carried through many of those reforms the at-
tempting which had proved her husband's ruin. Towards the end
of the year 1762 the ukase of Peter III. was submitted to an
ecclesiastical commission, the chief of whom were bribed ; the
rest were regarded as contemptible. They attempted, in revenge,
to excite against the Empress the latent elements of discord.
They sought to, awaken public sympathy in favour of Ivan VI.,
the rightful heir of the Russian Crown, who, dethroned in his
very cradle, had now been more than twenty years a prisoner
(supra, p. 111). Peter III., naturally kind-hearted, had visited
that unfortunate Prince in his wretched dungeon at Schliisselburg,
and had endeavoured in some degree to alleviate his misfortunes.2
The malcontent popes dispersed abroad a manifest, said to have
been drawn up during the last days of Peter III., in which that
I Sovereign, revealing the guilt of his wife, excluded her son, the
Grand Prince Paul, from the succession. The popular discontent
began to assume formidable dimensions ; the soldiery were in-
I fected with it, and everything seemed to promise the outbreak of

Old Field-Marshal Trubetskoi, on 2 During this interview Peter directed

approaching the body, involuntarily ex- the miserable prisoner to ask some favour,

claimed, "Fie, Peter Feodorowitsch, what Ivan requested a little fresh air. He had

a thick neckerchief have they given thee !" once enjoyed that luxury through a broken

a"d, rushing up to the bier, was about to window ! He was now, of course, almost

tear it away, when the sentinels drew him a confirmed idiot. Hermann, Gesek. Russ-

iback. Hermann, B. v. S. 307. lands, B. v. S. 273.

IV. 0

194 MURDER OF IVAN VI. [Chap. XLIX.

a fresh revolution. But Catharine was well served by her police.
The soldiers of the guard were forbidden to assemble, except at
the special command of their officers ; some of the most turbulent
were arrested, and either punished with the knout or banished to
Siberia ; fear reduced the remainder to obedience. The secular-
ization of Church property now proceeded without molestation.
That measure was even assisted by the Archbishop of Novgorod,
although he had delivered a bitter invective against the memory
of Peter III. shortly after his death, the chief topic of which was
the aggressions of that Prince on the property of the Church.
But Catharine had bought the time-serving prelate, and soon
after she deposed him ; in the just confidence that the contempt
which he had incurred with his Order would deprive him of all
power to hurt her.1 It was in consequence of these disturbances
and some that followed in 1763, that Ivan VI. lost his life. Well-
informed courtiers whispered that he must die ; insecure on her
still tottering throne, his name was a tower of strength to Catha-
rine's eneinies. In the summer of 1764 she undertook a journey
to Riga, in order, it was suspected, to have an interview with her
former favourite, Count Poniatowski ; but more probably that
she might escape, by her absence, the suspicion of being privy to
Ivan's murder. Before her departure she gave a written order to
the two officers who had the custody of Ivan to put him to death
in case of any attempt to deliver him from prison. Such an
attempt was actually made by Mirowitsch, a lieutenant of the
regiment in garrison at Schlusselburg, and the orders of Catha-
rine were executed. Mirowitsch's motives for this act are en-
veloped in mystery ; but the evidence seems to point to the con-
clusion that it had been concerted with the Court. He made uo
attempt to escape, went through his trial with the greatest com-
posure, and was even observed to laugh upon the scaffold. The
police had orders to delay the execution till a certain hour, and
Mirowitsch confidently expected a reprieve ; but his head fell
while the smile was still playing on his lips. The death of the
deluded tool was necessary to allay the suspicion excited by the
enigmatical death of Ivan.2

One of Catharine's first political acts after her accession was to
assure Frederick V. of Denmark of her peaceful intentions, and
to recall from Mecklenburg the Russian troops which Peter had
kept in that Duchy with the view of invading the Danish depen-
dencies. Catharine's project of aggrandizement lay nearer home,
1 Hermann, B. v. S. 310 f. 2 Ibid. S. 647 ff.

Chap. XLIX.] DEATH OF AUGUSTUS III. OF POLAXD. 195

•and she prepared to reinstate Biron as Duke of Courland. After
Biron's fall the Duchy had long remained without a head, and was
entirely governed by Russia. At length, in 1758, Charles, the
third son of Augustus III. of Poland, was invested with it through
•the influence of the Empress Elizabeth; but neither Peter III.
nor Catharine recognized him. Charles defended himself six
months against the Russian forces, but was then obliged to yield.
■Catharine's motive for deposing him was to bring Courland more
directly under Russian influence ; and she promised in return to
mediate the evacuation of Saxony, still held by the Prussian troops.
In vain Augustus represented that the matter belonged to the
jurisdiction of the King and Republic of Poland ; the presence of
15,000 Russian troops in Courland was an all- sufficing answer to
this objection.

This proceeding was a mere prelude to that larger drama which
Catharine was preparing to exhibit on the theatre of Poland itself.
At the very beginning of her reign, the health of the Polish King,
Augustus III., promising him but a short tenure of life, she had
prejDared to interfere-in the affairs of that Kingdom at the next
election, and with that view had sent Count Kayserlingk as her
ambassador to Warsaw. Augustus, who had not visited Poland
after the Peace of Hubertsburg, died at Dresden, October 5th,
1763. He was succeeded in the Saxon Electorate by his son,
Frederick Christian, who, however, also died in the following
December, leaving a minor son, Frederick Augustus, whose elec-
tion to the Polish Crown was out of the question. Meanwhile,
■since the death of Augustus III., Poland had fallen into a state of
complete anarchy. Two factions contended for the mastery ; on
one side the Czartorinskis, Oginskis, and Poniatowskis, supported
by Russia ; on the other the Radzivills and Braniskis, who relied
upon the influence of France. Catharine had resolved to place
the Polish Crown on the head of Count Stanislaus Poniatowski,
one of her former lovers j1 a choice, however, not dictated by any
recollections of that kind, but by the cool and politic advice of
Count Panin, her Foreign Minister, who saw, in the weak and
I courtier-like character of Stanislaus, all those qualities which
I would render him the fitting tool of the interested designs of

Count Poniatowski had formerly been abusing and ridiculing him, procured his
Polish Ambassador to the Russian Court. dismissal to Poland. Frightened, how-
One day Peter, having detected him, in ever, by the anger of Catharine, the coni-
| the disguise of a barber, in the garden of plaisant husband endeavoured to obtain
his wife at Oranienbaum. caused him to his recall, but the Empress Elizabeth
be arrested, brought him before his would not consent. Bioyraphie Peters III.
courtiers and companions, and after Th. i. S. 121, ap. Hermann, B. v. S. 154.

196 FREDERICK II.'s VIEWS OF POLAND. [Chap. XLIX.

Russia. But as this plan was likely to be opposed by Austria
and France, Catharine resolved to support it by a closer alliance-
with Prussia.

The conduct of Frederick II. at this juncture was most im-
portant to the future prospects and policy of Europe. He had to
choose whether he should aid the rising flood of Russian might,
which threatened to overwhelm the surrounding nations, or
whether he should endeavour to set a dam to it by forming a
close alliance with the Poles. At the beginning of the Seven
Years' War, Frederick, in a note addressed to the Poles, had de-
clared that the power of the House of Brandenburg and the free-
dom of the Polish Republic went hand in hand, that the fall of
one would certainly draw after it the destruction of the other.1
The time seemed now to be arrived when the sincerity of this de-
claration was to be put to the proof. Several of the Polish mag-
nates were inclined to elect Prince Henry of Prussia for their
Sovereign, and Frederick was solicited to support their choice.2
But other considerations now prevailed with the Prussian King.
The election of Prince Henry would have obliged him to change
his religion — a step to which Frederick was averse, not from
piety, but pride. He had already, in the year 1744, declined on.
this very ground the marriage of his sister Ulrica with the Grand
Duke Peter, heir of the Russian Throne,3 and had substituted for
her the daughter of his general, Prince Christian of Anhalt-Zerbst;
that very Catharine II. whose friendship and goodwill was now,
in so unforeseen and surprising a manner, of such unspeakable
importance to him ! Prince Henry, besides, was childless, and
his acceptance of the throne of Poland could only have assured
the union of the two kingdoms during the remainder of his life-
time. But Frederick's 'conduct was probably determined princi-
pally by the state of his foreign relations. The election of his
brother as King of Poland would, in all probability, involve him in
a lengthened war with Russia, and in such a struggle to whom
could he look for help ? Louis XV. opposed him, Maria Theresa
hated and suspected him, George III. and Lord Bute had de-
serted him. A Russian alliance, on the contrary, not only assured
him the support of that Power, but, by serving to maintain the
anarchy of Poland, held out to him the prospect of eventual
aggrandizement at the expense of that unhappy country.

1 Ilertzberg, Rcaieil de Deductions, t. i. milit.,et polit. du Prince Henri de P rust
p. 271. ap. Menzel, B. vi. S. 37.

8 De La Koche-Aymon, Vic pricte, 3 Ibid. B. v. S. J76.

Chap. XLIX.] STANISLAUS ELECTED KING OF POLAND. 197

The alliance was effected through Frederick's complaisance in
allowing Catharine to dispose of the Polish Throne. On April 11th,
1764, a treaty was concluded at St. Petersburg, which, during the
remainder of Frederick's reign, determined the political connection
between Russia and Prussia. Ostensibly, it was merely a defen-
sive alliance for a term of eight years, but its real character was
determined by certain secret conventions. The Empress and the
King engaged by a secret article to prevent Poland from being
deprived of its elective right, and rendered an hereditary kingdom,
or an absolute government — stipulations which, though agreeable
to the majority of the Poles themselves, deprived them of the only
chance of maintaining their existence as an independent nation.
The contracting Powers also agreed to protect the Polish dissidents,
or religious dissenters, against the oppressions of the dominant
Catholic Church. By a secret Convention, signed on the same day,
it was further arranged that the election should fall on a Piast, or
member of one of the native Polish families ; the person selected
for that honour being Count Stanislaus Poniatowski, Stohiic
(dapifer, or seneschal) of Lithuania.1 The election thus resolved
on was finally carried out by force of arms. In the spring of 1764
the Radzivills and Braniski, the crown grand-general, appeared at
the head of an army, and expelled the Russians from Graudenz ;
but the Czartorinskis, uncles of Stanislaus Poniatowski, placing
themselves at the head of a Confederation, and assisted by Russian
troops, drove the opposing faction from the field, and Stanislaus
was then chosen King, September 7th, 1764. To secure his elec-
tion, 10,000 Russians had marched to Warsaw, while Prussian
troops made demonstrations on the frontiers. Only 4,000 electors
were present on the plain of Wola, about a twentieth part of those
who sometimes appeared ; and in order to avoid the liberum veto,
the Elective Diet was converted into a Confederation, which was
bound by a majority.2

The policy pursued by Russia and Prussia in order to destroy
Polish nationality resembled that adopted by France and Sweden
it the Peace of Westphalia for the destruction of the German
Smpire. But though the Emperor retained at last little more
'lian an empty title, the German nation survived in its pristine
vigour, because two great and powerful monarchies had arisen in
he bosom of the Confederation, which were able to assert them-

1 Wenck, t. iii. p. 481, and p. 487 ; 2 Rulhiere, Hist, de V Anarchic de

lartens, t. i. p. 89 (without the secret Pologne, t. ii. p. 254 ; Frederic, (Euvris,

nicies); Frederic II., Mem. de 1763- t. vi. p. 13.
"75, ch. i.

198 STATE OF TOLAND. [Chap. XLIX.

selves against the surrounding nations, and even to take their
place among the leading Powers of Europe. But a kingdom like
Poland, in which were preserved all the abuses of the middle ages,,
and which possessed no centralized power, could not exist in the
neighbourhood of several powerful and despotic monarchies. We
have already briefly adverted to these abuses, and we shall here-
add, from the account of a contemporary observer, a few more de-
tails respecting the state of Poland immediately before its first
dismemberment.1 A multitude of serfs, estimated at about six
millions, formed two-thirds of the nation. They differed but little
from the brutes ; lived in dirt, misery, and ignorance, possessed
no property of their own, and if a single crop failed, died by
thousands of starvation. No change of government could render
their condition worse than it was. The remaining third of the
nation was composed of the clergy, the great lords or magnates,,
the middling and smaller nobility, the lawyers, the citizens, and
the Jews. The clergy were estimated at about 600,000, of whom
some thirty had immense revenues; the rest were poorly off, lived
in the idleness of convents, were, in general, profoundly ignorant,
and employed themselves only in caballing. The magnates or great
nobles numbered some 120 persons, of whom four or five might
be called dominant families, princes with large revenues, numerous
adherents, and even standing armies. The middling nobility com-
prised between 20,000 and 30,000 persons, all in tolerable circum- j
stances, who lived retired in their villages. Their only pursuit was '
to amass money and oppress their peasantry, or serfs ; their only '
ambition to shine in a Diet, or appear among the clients of the
great. The small nobility, estimated at 1,300,000 souls, may be
said to have composed the real body of the nation — the Polish
people. But what were they ? A mass of persons without property i
or profession, of an ignorance amounting to stupidity, the neces-
sary slaves of the great lords, yet claiming the quality of gentle-
men from their privilege of pronouncing the veto, of talking about ■.
their liberties, and getting drunk whenever they had the means ;
yet often reduced to mendicancy or to serve their more fortunate
equals. The military was composed of only a few thousand brave, I
but ill-disciplined men. The magistracy and lawyers were also few !
in number, and had but a very imperfect legal education. The
class of citizens, or burgesses, was almost an imaginary one. It

1 See the anonymous Memoir, entitled describes himself as "un ami des homnn-

Les Paradoxes, ouvrage plus vrai qu'utile, qui s'oceupe a- leur faire du bien, quij

ap. Hermann, Gesch Russlands, B. v. cherche a rectifier leurs travers, et qui

Anhiing ii. 21, p. 591 ff. The author e'tudie a rectifier les siens."

Chap. XL1X.~\ STATE OF EELIGION IN POLAND. 199

consisted of some 400 or 500 merchants, established in the four
or five walled towns of the Kingdom, and 40,000 or 50,000 artizans,
as tailors, shoemakers, weavers, &c, dispersed through the towns,
or rather hamlets, where they were exposed, almost as much as the
peasants, to the brutality of the nobles. Lastly came the Jews,
estimated at near a million. A part of these conducted almost the
whole traffic of the country, borrowed at a high rate of interest
the money of ecclesiastics and nobles, and generally finished by a
fraudulent bankruptcy. The remaining portion of this order were
keepers of inns, public-houses, &c, and formed the bulk of the
population of the towns. The Jews, the clergy, the tiers Stat,
which, as we have seen, was quite insignificant, and foreigners
residing in Poland, were alone liable to taxation, from which the
nobles claimed the privilege of exemption.1

A nation which possessed neither a middle class, nor commerce,
nor a fixed revenue, nor a regular army, nor fortresses and artillery;
whose National Assembly could be nullified by the veto of a single
wrong-headed or designing member, or overawed by a turbulent
Confederation; whose King possessed no real power, since the
heads of the army, the law, the finances, and the political govern-
ment of the State — that is, the Grand General of the Crown, the
Grand Chancellor, the Grand Treasurer, and the Grand Marshal —
were responsible, not to him, but to the anarchical assembly before
described, carried in itself all the elements of dissolution. Such a
catastrophe had been foretold a century before by John Casimir,
the last King of Poland of the House of Wasa, in an address to
the Diet in 1661, in which, adverting to the intestine divisions of
the Kingdom, he predicted, in a remarkable manner, its future
dismemberment by Muscovy, Austria, and the House of Branden-
burg.2 Its anomalous constitution, a union of republican and
monarchical forms, was fatal to its existence.

The religious dissensions, too, which prevailed in Poland were
not among the least of the causes which contributed to its ruin,
and served, indeed, as a pretext for effecting it. Under the name
of dissidents were comprised both the members of the Reformed
Church and a large number of Greek Christians, inhabiting the
Lithuanian provinces, formerly subject to the Russian Empire.
Calvinism had rapidly spread among a turbulent and republican
nobility, and before the close of the sixteenth century, Poland

1 Essen's Bericht, ap. Hermann, B. v. Europe, ap. Koch et Scholl, Eist, dts
S. 553 Anm. Truites, t. xiv. p. 7.

s See Lunigii, Orationes procerum

200

INTERFERENCE OF CATHARINE II. [Chap. XLIX.

counted a million Protestants. At first the dissentients had en-
joyed an equality of civil rights with their Catholic fellow-
countrymen. These rights, however, were gradually restricted ;
and towards the beginning of the eighteenth century, and especially
after the time of Charles XII., who had indiscreetly attempted to
render Protestantism the dominant religion, persecution became
more vigorous and methodical. A Diet in 1717 ordered the de-
struction of all Protestant churches built since the Swedish inva-
sion, and forbade the Reformed worship in all places where it had
not existed before that event. In 1724 the intolerance of the
Jesuits produced a bloody persecution at Thorn, which had nearly
involved the Republic in a war with the guarantors of the Peace
of Oliva. The decrees of a Diet in 1733, confirmed by another in
1736, excluded Dissenters from all offices and dignities.

The Dissenters availed themselves of the election of Stanislaus
Augustus to invoke the protection of the Czarina. Nothing could
be more acceptable to Catharine than such a pretext for meddling
in the affairs of Poland. In a note presented by her Ambassador,
Count Kayserlingk, and her Minister, Prince Repnin, which was
backed by another from Frederick II., she demanded that the dis-
sentients should be allowed the free exercise of their religion, and
enjoy the same political rights as Catholics. By thus interfering
in favour of liberty of conscience, as well as by helping to maintain
the Elective Monarchy, Russia and Prussia seemed to be acting in
accordance with the enlightened spirit of the age, when, in fact,
their object only was to serve their own purposes by keeping up
the anarchy in Poland. Toleration was to be established by
40,000 bayonets. But the Diet assembled in 1765, instead of
lending themselves to the views of the Empress, renewed, in a
moment of enthusiasm and reaction against Russian domination,
all the most objectionable constitutions against Dissenters.

Our space permits us only briefly to indicate some of the leading
events which preceded the partition of Poland.1 The King, by his

1 Among the principal works on this
subject may be mentioned : Rulhiere,
Hist.de VAnarchie de Pologne ; Ferrand,
Hist, des trois Dtmembremens de la Po-
logne (a continuation of the preceding
work); Gbrtz, Mt 'moires et Actes autken-
tiques relatifs aicx negotiations qui ont
pricidts lc partagc dela Pologne; Fre'deric
II., Mtm. depuis la Paix de Hubertsburg ;
Dohm, Dinku'urdigkeitcn meiner Z< if.
Lemgo, 1814; Souveqvrs du Comte de
* sur le premier Demimbrement de

la Polognr, in the Lettres particidierfi
du baron de Viosmenil sur /■ s flj 'airt s de la
Pologne, p. 87 sqq. An accurate and
valuable account of all the circumstances
which preceded the first partition ot
Poland, from the election of Stanislaus in
1764 till its final consummation, chiefly
compiled from the MS. despatches^ of
Von Essen, the Saxon Minister at War-
saw at that period, will be found in Her-
mann's Gesch. Eusslands, B. v. S. 381-
556.

Chap. XLIX.] CONFEDERATION OF RADOM. 201

weakness and vacillation, lost the confidence of all parties. He
had at first lent himself to the Russian plans in favour of the
dissidents ; but finding that the carrying- of them through the
Diet would be incompatible with the schemes which he had formed
for extending the power of the Crown, he broke with Prince
Repnin, the Russian Minister at Warsaw, and joined his uncles
theCzartorinskis. These Princes, after the election of their nephew,
had endeavoured to introduce some order into the State. They
wished to abolish the liberum veto, to establish a regular system
of taxation, and to put the army on an adequate footing ; and they
formed a Confederation to cany out their views ; but although
Stanislaus Augustus, in the Diet which met in October, 1766,
declared himself against the Russian plans in favour of the dissi-
dents, yet the anti-Russian party suspected his sincerity, and
refused to give him their confidence. Catharine, on the other
hand, enraged that her creature should presume to show any will
jof his o\fn, resolved, not indeed to dethrone him, but to leave him
nothing but an empty title. Defeated in her projects by the Diet
above mentioned, she resolved to effect them in another way.
Her chief instrument in this work was Prince Charles Radzivill,
a man of great authority in Lithuania, whom she had bought.
Through his influence, and with the aid of Russian gold, no fewer
than 178 Confederations were formed in Poland in 1767. These
consisted not only of dissidents, but also of malcontent Catholics,
•vho were led away with the idea that the King was to be deposed ;
)ut were perhaps more governed by Russian money than by any
political or patriotic views. These Confederations, which are
aid to have numbered 80,000 members, were united into one at
ladom, a town in the Palatinate of Sandomierz, under Prince
Wzivili and Brzotowski as Marshals, June 23rd. According to
Polish customs, a general Confederation thus formed exercised a
prt of irresponsible dictatorship. Laws and magistrates were
iilent in its presence ; the King, the Senate, the holders of the
ighest offices and dignities, were amenable to its jurisdiction;
ersons who refused to join it were liable to have their property
pnfiscated. Having effected this object, Prince Repnin now
jirew off the mask. A manifest was laid before the general
lonfederation of quite a different tenour from the propositions
ade to the separate ones. In these little had been said about
te dissidents ; but now a complete political equality was
-manded for them ; and the assembly was still further disgusted
w the intimation that they were to request the Russian guarantee

202 POLAND OBTAINS A RUSSIAN CONSTITUTION. [Ciiap. XLIX.

to the laws and constitutions which they were to promulgate. As
they had also discovered that Eussia would not consent to the
dethronement of the King, they refused to sign the Act of Con-
federation ; whereupon the Russian Colonel, Carr, surrounded the
assembly with his troops, and would permit nobody to depart
till the Act had been signed. To the 178 Marshals of the various
Confederations views of self-interest were also held out, and thus
partly by force, partly by persuasion, they were induced to take
an oath of fidelity to the King, and to invite his accession to the
Confederation.

Repnin now ruled despotically. Under his auspices an extra-
ordinary Diet was opened, October 4th, 1767, whose decisions, as
it was held under the form of a Confederation, were regulated by a
majority. Repnin arranged its proceedings in daily conferences
with the Primate, Prince Radzivill, the Grand Treasurer of the
Crown, and the King. The Bishops of Cracow and Kioff, the
Palatine of Cracow and his son, and a few others who seemed in-
clined to oppose the proceedings, were seized and carried into the
interior of Russia. A delegation or committee of sixty members,
and another smaller one of fourteen, were now appointed; and
the Diet was prorogued to receive their report. The smaller
Delegation was empowered to make binding resolutions by a
majority of votes, and thus eight men could decide upon the future
fate and constitution of Poland, although by the will of Russia
and Prussia the liberum veto — in other words, unanimity in the
proceedings of the Diet — was to remain the fundamental principle
of the Constitution ! Repnin governed all the proceedings of the
Delegation, and the report laid before the Diet contained only
such matters as had been approved of by him.1 On March 5th,
1768, the King and the two Marshals of the Confederation signed
an Act comprizing, in the name of the nation, the resolutions
of the Diet, and the Confederation was then dissolved. The result
of their deliberations was incorporated in a treaty with Russia,
and two separate Conventions, which established the future Con-
stitution of Poland. The treaty confirmed the Peace of Moscow

1 The following anecdote will show his rity of the Pope in this Kingdom, hut I

absolute authority. A resolution had have the commands of my Sovereign to

been passed in the smaller delegation say that she does not insist upon it. With

which almost annihilated the authority your permission, therefore, I destroy it:

of the Papal nuncio in Poland. Catha- and, tearing it in yjieces, he handed them

rine disapproved of it, and Repnin, in to one of the most zealous sticklers for j

the greater delegation, drawing a paper the Pope, saying, " Receive from my :

from his pocket, said, with an air of con- hands these fragments of a project, ami

descension, '• Gentlemen, here is a project preserve them as a relic' Essen s

of the committee, annulling all the autku- Bcrichtc, ap. Hermann, B. v. S. 426.

Chap. XLIX.] RISING OF THE POLES. 203

of 168G. By the first separate Act,1 the Roman Catholic religion
was made dominant in Poland. It was provided that the King
must be a Papist ; that the Queen could not be crowned unless
she belonged to the Romish communion ; that any Pole who
abandoned that creed after the establishment of this Act, should
incur the penalty of banishment. But, on the other hand, the
Protestant Confederation was recognized as legal; Dissenters were
authorized to retain the churches and foundations of which they
were in possession ; and were to be admitted into the Senate and
public offices on the same footing as Papists. The second separate
Act contained the cardinal laws of the Republic, as settled with
Prince Repnin. The liberum veto was retained, so far as it sub-
served the purposes of foreign intervention. For though, during
the first three weeks of a Diet, during which only economical ques-
tions were discussed, a majority of votes was to decide, yet, during
the last three weeks, which were devoted to affairs of State policy,
it was required that the votes should be unanimous. Some really
good regulations were, however, introduced. Thus the wilful
murder of a serf by a noble was no longer to be redeemable with
money, but was to be punished capitally.

These proceedings excited great discontent among the Poles,
which was increased by the brutality of Repnin. The nation
became convinced that the King had sold himself and them, that
he had always been the secret ally of Russia, and that the apparent
breach between the Courts of St. Petersburg and Warsaw was a
mere sham and delusion. Radzivill received the reward of his
treachery in being restored to his Palatinate, from which he had
been driven in the Czartorinskis, as well in as large sums of
money. The fanaticism of the populace was excited by the
priests, who gave out that Russia, in accord with King Stanis-
laus, intended to abolish the Roman Catholic religion. The dis-
content was fanned by France. Choiseul, the French Minister,
Endeavoured, but without success, to detach Frederick II. from
Russia; but he succeeded in raising the Poles, and at length
lin persuading the Porte to enter into a Russian war. In March,
17G8, a Confederation was formed by the Polish Catholics in the
town of Bar, in Podolia, a Province neighbouring on Turkey, for

'The preamble states that it was con- fluence in favour of the dissidents, and

luded between the Emperor of Russia, though their ministers assisted at the

he Kings of Prussia, Denmark, England, sittings of the Commission, the Act was

nd Sweden on the one part, and the signed only by Prince Repnin and the

^ing and Republic of Poland on the Polish plenipotentiaries. Wenck, Codex

■tner But though it is true that the Jur. Gent., rec. t. iii. pp. 651. 701 ; Mar-

3ur Fowers named employed their in- tens, Eecueil, t. i. pp. 391, 398.

204 STATE OF TURKEY. [Chap. XLIX.

the purpose of dethroning the King, driving out the Russians, and
restoring Polish freedom.1 The principal leaders were Count
Krasinsky, who was elected Marshal, Pulmoski, and Potocki —
persons of no great consideration. This Confederation gave rise
to others in Great and Little Poland and Lithuania. Even Radzivill
himself, a fickle, drunken, and despicable character, was for a
while carried away by the stream, and joined one of these asso-
ciations ; but surrendered immediately the Russians appeared be-
fore his fortress of Nieswicz. The separate Confederations were
finally converted into a general one, which, on account of the Rus-
sian troops, held its council abroad ; first at Eperies in Hungary,
and then at Teschen in Silesia. From this place the deputies of
the Confederation betook themselves to the little town of Bielitz,
close to the Polish frontiers, and separated only by a small stream
from the lordship of Biala, belonging to the Sulkowski family, so
that the necessary papers could be signed on Polish ground.
France assisted the Confederates with a small subsidy till the fall
of the Minister Choiseul, and sent to their aid the afterwards
noted Colonel Dumouriez, and some other officers. But she never
lent them any effectual help. Almost ten years before, the
French Cabinet had contemplated the partition of Poland as
highly improbable ; and even in the event of its occurrence, had
decided that it was not likely to interest France.2 Although
want of discipline and subordination among the Poles, aud the
disunion which prevailed among their leaders, caused them, in
spite of their bravery, to be worsted in almost every rencounter
with the Russians ; yet the insurrection was found difficult to
suppress, and the fate of Poland was postponed a few years longer
by a quarrel between Russia and the Porte.

Turkey had now enjoyed a long interval of tranquillity. Sultan
Mahmoud I., who reigned abovetwentyyears, though not endowed
with great abilities, and entirely governed by his ministers, en-
couraged the arts of peace.3 He built numerous mosques,
and founded several schools and professorships, as well as four
libraries. He encouraged the art of printing, which had been

1 Rulhiere, Hist, de V Anarchic dc Po- 3 For this period of Turkish history
logne, t. iii. p. 13 sqq. may be consulted, Tott, Mtm. sur let

2 "Lors inenie que, contre toute vrai- Twrvs tt les Tartans ; Turkey, its J:
semblance, lesquatre puissances (including a, ul Progress, from the journals :uul cur-
Turkey) s'arrangeraient pour partager respondence of Sir James Porter, edited
la Pologne, il est encore tres-douteux que by Sir George Larpent ; London, 1854.
cet evenement put interesser la France."' Sir J. Porter was ambassador at Con-
— Mimoire lu au Conseil 8mai 1763, ap. stantinople from 1747 to 1762.

St. Priest, Part, hit de la Pologne.

Chaf. XLIX.] BREACH BETWEEN RUSSIA AND TURKEY. 205

introduced at Constantinople by a Hungarian renegade ; but it
had many opponents and made but very slow progress. By
granting the Janissaries an exemption from import duties, he
induced a large number of them to engage in commerce, and thus
rendered them anxious for the tranquillity of the government.
These regulations, however, contributed to break the military
spirit of the nation, as was but too manifest in its subsequent
struggles with Russia. Mahmoud I. died in his fifty- eighth year,
December 13th, 1754, while returning from Friday prayers. He
was succeeded by his brother, Osman III., whose tranquil reign of
two years presents nothing of importance. On his death, December
22nd, 1756, Mustapha III., son of Achmet III., then forty-one
years of age, became Sultan and Caliph. Mustapha was an accom-
plished and energetic Prince, an astrologer and poet, and deeply
religious.

The Porte had at first manifested great indifference to the fate

of Poland. During the vacancy of the Crown it had contented

itself with presenting a moderate note to the Russian Resident,

protesting against any interference in the election. When the

tumults broke out, Count Vergennes, the French Ambassador to

the Porte, endeavoured to incite it in favour of the Polish

oatriots. Catharine II., stimulated by ambition and the desire of

iggrandizement, had not confined her views to Poland. She had

ilso cast her eyes on some of the Turkish provinces, and had

narked them out as her future prey ; but, so long as the affairs of

5oland remained unsettled, she wished to remain at peace with

he Porte, and with this view she had bought with large sums the

otes of some of the most influential members of the Divan. Hence,

hough Mustapha himself was inclined for war, the counsels of his

linisters were long undecided. The progress of the Russian

rms was, however, watched with jealousy and alarm. The incur-

ons of Russian troops across the borders in pursuit of the Poles,

ad especially the burning by the Russians and Saporogue

ossacks, of Balta, a little town on the frontier of Bessarabia,

jlonging to the Tartar Khan, excited the anger of the Porte in

e highest degree ; but it was not till after the taking of Cracow by

e Russians that an appeal to arms was decided on. The Mufti

jive his long expected Fetwa for war ; the Grand Vizier, who had

pen an advocate of peace, was deposed ; and, although Catharine

Id made apologies, and promised satisfaction for the damages

vrnmitted by her troops, the new Grand Vizier, after upbraiding

{ jreskoff, the Russian Resident, with the treacherous conduct of

206 DEFEAT OF THE TURKS. [Chap. XLIX.

his mistress in keeping her troops in Poland, caused him to be
confined in the Seven Towers.

Sultan Mustapha now made vigorous preparations for war, and
assembled a numerous army. But the time of his declaration had
been badly chosen. A great part of the Turkish troops Avere only
bound to serve in the summer, and thus six months were spent in
inaction, during which the Russians had time to prepare them-
selves. TheTurkish regular troops were no longer very formidable ;
but the Tartars who inhabited the Crim, and the desolate regions
between the Dnieper and Dniester, and even to the Pruth, were
numerous and warlike. The Tartars of the Budziac, and the Nop/ai
Tartars, inhabiting the Crimea, were under a Khan who was subject
to the Sultan. The reigning Khan was now deposed, and his pre-
decessor, Krim Girai,1 who was living in banishment, being a
bitter foe to the Russians, was recalled, and commissioned to begin
the war with his hordes. Early in 1769, supported by 10,000
Sipahis and a few hundred Poles, Krim Girai invaded New Servia,
where he committed the most terrible devastations.2 But soon
after his return, this last of the Tartar heroes was poisoned
by his Greek physician Siropolo, an emissary of the Prince of
Wallachia.

The main Turkish army, under the Grand Vizier Mohammed
Emir Pasha, effected little or nothing. The Russians, under
Galitzin, were indeed repulsed in two attempts upon Choczim, hut
Emir Pasha, accused of conducting the war with too little vigour,
was recalled and beheaded at Adrianople. His successor, Mus-
tapha Moldawanschi Ali Pasha, was still more unfortunate. After
two or three vain attempts to enter Podolia, the Turks were com-
pelled to make a general retreat, and the Russians occupied
Moldavia and Wallachia ; in which last province a strong Russian
party had been formed. An attempt made by a Turkish corps
to recover Bucharest, in February, 1770, was frustrated. Roman-
zoff, who had succeeded Galitzin as commander of the Russians,
gained two decisive victories and compelled the Turks to abandon
Ismail. By the end of the year the Russians had penetrated into -
the Crimea. Their arms had also been successful in Asia, where
a great part of Armenia, Circassia, and Kabarda had been reduced.

1 The family of Girai, or Glierai, de- 2 For this war see the Memoirei i

bcended from Zingis Khan, formed a par- Baron de Tott, t. ii. l)e Tott's father

ticular dynasty of the Mongols of Kipzak, was a Hungarian who had fled intj1

called the Great Horde, or Golden Horde, Turkey with Ragotski. He himself took

which, from 1237 till the end of the fif- refuge in France, and assisted the Turks

teenth century, had ruled Russia with a in this war as an engineer,
rod of iron. Kochet Schbll, t. xiv. p. 458.

Chap. XLIX.] PROJECTS OF A GREEK REVOLUTION. 207

Voltaire was at this time endeavouring to awaken a spirit of
Phil-hellenism in Frederick and Catharine ; he ui'ged them to
partition Turkey, and to restore the Greeks to independence.
Frederick, however, avowed that he should prefer the town of
Dantzic to the Pmeus.1 His dominions were at too great a dis-
tance from Greece to enable him to derive any material advan-
tage from such a project. But with Catharine the case was
different. Her views had long been directed towards this quarter,
and for some years Russian emissaries had been striving to awaken
a spirit of revolt among the Greek Christians in all the Turkish
provinces. The conquest of Greece is said to have been suggested
by a Venetian nobleman to Count Alexis Orloff ; and in 1769
Orloff had concluded a formal treaty with the Mainotes and
other tribes of the Morea and of Rounielia. He had ens^o-ed to
supply them with the necessaries of war, and they had promised
bo rise so soon as the Russian flag should appear on their coasts.
Fleets were prepared at Cronstadt, Archangel, and Revel, which,
mder his conduct, were to attempt the conquest of Constantinople.
The British Ministry of that day approved the project, and even
ignified to the Cabinets of Versailles and Madrid that it should
•egard as an act of hostility any attempt to arrest the progress of
he Russian fleet into the Mediterranean.2 Choiseul, on the con-
rary, endeavoured, but without effect, to persuade Louis XV. to
ink it, as the only method of reviving the credit of France, both
nth the Porte and Europe.3 The first division of the Russian
eet, consistiug only of three ships of war and a few transports,
riith about 500 men onboard, appeared off Port Vitolo, near Cape
fatapan, towards the end of February, 1770. The Mainotes rose,
ut no plan of a campaign had been arranged, and the whole affair
egenerated into a sort of marauding expedition. Kavarino
lone seemed for a time likely to become a permanent conquest.
>ut after some fruitless attempts on Modon and Coron, the
ussians took their departure towards the end of May, abandon -
ig the Greeks to their fate. They suffered dreadfully at the hands
? the Turks for their temerity, and the Morea became a scene of
>.e most frightful devastation. The Russian fleet, under Admiral
tpiridoff, which originally consisted of twelve ships of the line,
•id the same number of frigates, besides smaller vessels, remained
j the Mediterranean three or four years ; but the only action of

See his correspondence with Voltaire. 3 Politique de tons les Cabinets, t. ii.

Eton's Survey of the Turkish Empire, p. 173 sq.
Zinkeisen, B. v. S. 929.

208 PARTITION OF POLAND IN EMBRYO. [Chap. XLIX.

any importance which it performed was the burning of the Tur-
kish fleet in the Bay of Ckesmeh, near the Gulf of Smyrna, after
defeating it off Chios. This victory (July oth, 1770) was wholly
due to the British officers serving in the Russian fleet, namely,
Admiral Elphinstone, Captain Greig, and Lieutenant Dugdale,
though all the honours and emoluments fell to Orloff. Elphinstone
now wished to force the passage of the Dardanelles, and sail to
Constantinople, but Orloff prevented him.1

These successes awakened the jealousy and alarm of the Euro-
pean Powers. England now recalled her seamen from the Rus-
sian service, and proposed her mediation to the Porte, while
France offered to supply the Sultan with men-of-war, in conside-
ration of a subsidy. Austria and Prussia, neither of which desired
to see Turkey destroyed, were still more nearly interested in the
Russo-Turkisk war. The Eastern question formed the chief
subject of the conferences between Joseph II., who had now
ascended the Imperial throne, and Frederick II. of Prussia, in
their interviews at Neisse, in Silesia, in August, 1769, and at
Neustadt, in Moravia, in September, 1770. A collateral effect of
the war was to hasten the partition of Poland. There can be no
doubt that, at the interview at Neustadt, where Kaunitz was also
present, the necessity was recognized of setting bounds to the
advance of Russian power;2 or rather the main object was, that
Russia should not be suffered to aggrandize herself alone, and
without the participation of Austria and Prussia. Of this policy
Poland was to be the victim. Frederick, indeed, in his account
of these proceedings, says not a word to this purpose ; whence
some writers have concluded that the affairs of Poland were not
discussed at these interviews.'1 But this conclusion socms highly
improbable. The partition of Poland must for some years have
occupied the thoughts of Austrian and Prussian statesmen as an
inevitable catastrophe. Such a conviction had at all events forced
itself long before upon the minds of observant politicians. Already,
in 17G6, Von Essen, the Saxon Minister at Warsaw, had expressed
in his despatches his opinion that the Court of St. Petersburg
and the Kings of Prussia and Poland were agreed on a partition ;
and he further thought that Austria was also implicated in the
scheme.4 The steps taken by Austria and Prussia, in 1770,

1 Hermann, B. v. S. 623. 4 Essen's Bcricht vom 1 October, 1766.

2 Frederic II., (Euvres, t. vi. p. 29 (ed. ap. Hermann. Gcsch. Rusdands, B. v-
1847). S. 394 f. It may also be shown I'm"

3 See Ferrand. Hist, des trow Demnn- Von Hammer's account of the events '
brenitns, t. i. p. 119. immediately preceding the war between

Chap. XLIX.] THE AUSTRIAN S AND PRUSSIANS IN POLAND. 209

were almost universally regarded in political circles as the result
of the conferences of the two monarchs.1 About the middle of
that year, Austrian troops took possession of the Starosties of
Zips and Zandek, the salines, or salt works of Bochnia and
Wieliczka, whence the King of Poland chiefly drew his revenues,,
and spread themselves even beyond Cracow. In November these
districts were declared reunited with the Kingdom of Hungary ;
an Austrian government was established in them, the motto of
whose official seal purported that they had been lawfully reco-
vered." In the autumn of the same year the King of Prussia,
on pretence of forming a cordon against the plague, caused his
troops to enter Polish Prussia and other districts. In the anarchy
which reigned in Poland, and the devastation which ensued,
commerce and agriculture were almost suspended; the peasants
sought refuge in the towns, the nobles carried their property into
neighbouring countries ; and the want and famine which followed
produced a pestilence. The Prussians, if they did not, like the
Austrians, take formal possession of the districts they had in-
vaded, acted at least as if they were the absolute masters of
them, and even conducted themselves more arbitrarily than the
Russians. Wood, forage, provisions of all sorts, were collected
and forwarded into Brandenburg, which were paid for in a base
and depreciated currency worth about one-third of its nominal
value, and thousands of the inhabitants were carried off as recruits
or colonists.3

In such a state of things it seems idle to inquire to whom the

guilt attaches of first proposing a partition of Poland. The idea

|probably originated with the Empress Catharine, whose two

great objects of ambition were, the subjection of Poland and

lie annihilation of Turkey. Since the time of Peter I. Poland

lad been virtually dependent on the will of Russia, and in the

"arlier part of her career Catharine was content with a vassal

ving of Poland ; but in process of time she began to entertain

he idea of making it a Russian province. Pozzo di Borgo ex-

•lained to the Emperor Alexander, at Vienna, in 1814, that the

ussia and Turkey (B. viii.), that Austria roneously denies this. From a certain

(as then acquainted with the views of number of acres Frederick required a

ussia and Prussia respecting Poland, young woman, a cow, a bed, and three

id in general agreed with them. See ducats in money. Essen's Despatch,

chlosser, Gesch. des \&ten Jahrb. B. iii. March 18th, 1771, ap. Hermann, B. v.

212. S. 497. From these and other oppressions

1 Hermann, ibid. p. 484. the Poles detested the Prussians even

2 " Sigillum administrationis terrarum more cordially than they hated the Rus-
cuperatarum." sians.

Von Raumer, Polens Untcrgang, er-
IV. P

210 AGREEMENT FOR A PARTITION. [Chap. XLIX.

destruction of Poland was undertaken to bring Russia into more
immediate connection with the rest of Europe ; to obtain a lever
wherewith to move Germany and other States.1 The aims of
Russia seem first to have been directed to obtain exclusive pos-
session ; but for this she was not strong enough ; Austria and
Prussia stepped in, and Austria was the first Power which actually
occupied some of the Polish dominions. Russia, hampered with
the Turkish war, was compelled to come to terms with her two
rivals. The proposal for a partition seems to have been brought
about as follows : — Prussia and Austria had offered their media-
tion between Russia and Turkey, which the Porte had at first
rejected. But after the misfortunes in the North, and in the
Bay of Chesmeh, it became more pliable. When Frederick, the
Emperor, and Kaunitz were at ISTeustadt, in September, 1770, a
note arrived from the Porte expressing its desire for peace, and
begging the mediation of the Courts of Vienna and Berlin. Fre-
derick undertook to acquaint the Czarina with this wish. His
brother, Prince Henry, after a visit to his sister at Stockholm,
arrived in St. Petersburg in October, with instructions to come
to an understanding with Catharine, both on the Polish and
Turkish questions. A scheme for a partition of Poland was first
formally broached during this visit. Whether it came from Prince
Henry or Catharine is unimportant.2 Before the Prince quitted
St. Petersburg, towards the end of January, 1771, the Czarina told
him that she was prepared to come to an agreement with bis
brother on the subject. She had overruled the objections of her
minister Panin, who opposed the partition, not because it violated
international rights, but because he wished not that others should
share with Russia what he thought she might obtain alone.

1 Von Sybel, Revolution&zeit, vol. ii. understanding should be come to respect-
p. 347 (Eng. Transl.). ing the division of some of the Polish

2 The majority of writers incline to provinces between Austria, Russia, and
believe that Frederick was the first pro- Prussia ((Euvrcs, t. vi. p. 27, Berlin,
poser of the scheme. He himself, indeed, ed. 18-46). Nor is it likely that the pro-
denies it, but probability seems to lie so posal of a partition should have first come
much the other way that one almost feels from the Court of St. Petersburg, which
inclined to believe, with a French his- was desirous of obtaining the whole of
torian, that the denial was made " pour Poland. On this subject, see Coxe,
tromper la posterite " (Martin, t. xvi. House of Austria, and Rulhiere, Hint, de
p. 299, note). As early as 1733, when V Anarchic de Pologne.

Frederick was still Crown Prince, he On the other side of the question see

recommended his father to invade Polish Dohm, Benkwurdigkeiten, B. i.Beilage A..

Prussia, and thus unite the Kingdom of and an elaborate note in Koch et Schbll,

Prussia with Brandenburg (ibid. p. 258) ; Hist.des Traitts, t. xiv. p. 24 sqq., with the

and as soon as the Turkish war broke out, authorities there cited. The whole athnr

he insinuated to Catharine that in order is a labyrinth of dirty intrigue, in which

to deter Austria from opposing the pro- each party was endeavouring to circuni-

gress of the Russian arms in Turkey, an vent the other.

Chap. XLIX.] CONVENTION OF ST. PETERSBURG. 211

Frederick was, or pretended to be, astonished at the overture ;
but finding that Catharine was in earnest, he undertook to obtain
the consent and co-operation of Austria. Kaunitz at first alleged
that he feared to propose the scheme to his mistress, Maria
Theresa, who either felt or affected aversion to the project ; he
also apprehended that it might induce Louis XV. to break the
alliance with Austria, which he regarded as the chef-d'oeuvre of
•his policy. But after a little display of that diplomacy for which
he was so famous, he came to a complete agreement with the
Court of St. Petersburg, and succeeded in procuring Maria
Theresa's consent to the scheme, on the ground that it would
avoid an effusion of blood. Kaunitz now displayed the greatest
jzeal and disinterestedness in the cause of Catharine, and even
offered to back an ultimatum which she had proposed to the
Sultan. Yet at this very time he concluded with the Porte a
secret treaty against Russia ( July Gth, 1771);1 not, however, with
any real purpose of aiding either the Porte or the Polish Re-
public ; but that he might be able, according to circumstances,
to thwart the plans of Russia, and render more secure the parti-
cipation of Austria in the spoils of Poland. He even assured
Prince Galitzin that he was prepared to assist the policy of
Russia and Prussia in Poland. And though he pretended that
he would not hear of a partition, yet, by refusing to abandon
Austria's pretensions to the County of Zips, he virtually chal-
lenged those two Powers to make proposals for such a
J measure.'2

However secret was this treaty, it came to the knowledge of

Catharine, and its effect was, though from motives of policy she

dissembled her acquaintance with it, to hasten the settlement of

Poland. An attempt of the Confederate Poles, in November,

1771, to carry off" King Stanislaus Augustus, operated in the

?ame direction. Catharine drew from this event a fresh pretext

?or hostility against the Republic, and the King of Poland was

nore than ever inclined to throw himself into the arms of Russia.

Che chief difficulties in the negotiations between the Courts of

^t. Petersburg and Berlin regarded the towns of Thorn and

)antzic, and Catharine's demand that Frederick should assist her

[nth all his forces in case she became involved in a war with

Austria. To this Frederick at last consented, on the condition

hat, in her peace with the Porte, Russia should relinquish her

1 Wenck, t. iii. p. 820.

8 Galitzin's Letter to Panin, in Gortz, Mi 'moires et Actes Authentiques, p. 75.

212 TREATIES FOR DIVIDING POLAND. [Chap. XLIX.

conquests of Moldavia and "Wallachia, and thus obviate all cause-
of quarrel with Austria. In return for this concession Frederick
desisted from claiming Thorn and Dantzic, certain that, when
once master of the mouth of the Vistula, he should sooner or later
obtain those important places. The Convention of St. Peters-
burg, of February 17th, 1772, between Russia and Prussia, is
known only by what Frederick tells us of it.1 The limits of the
partition were determined, the period for taking possession fixed for
June, and the Empress-Queen was to be invited to partake the spoil.
Russia and Prussia reciprocally guaranteed their possessions, and
agreed to assist each other against Austria in case of need.

The Court of Vienna, stimulated by the restless ambition of
Joseph II., made the most extravagant demands. Maria Theresa
afterwards told Baron Breteuil, the French Ambassador at Vienna,
that she had done so in order to break off the whole matter, but
to her surprise her claims were granted by Frederick and Catha-
rine.2 The sincerity of this declaration is somewhat suspicious y
at all events, these exaggerated demands were long obstinately
insisted on; but this was probably owing to Joseph II. and
Kaunitz, who appeared to have overruled the more moderate
counsels of the Empress-Queen. An armistice had been con-
cluded between Russia and Turkey, May 30th, 1772, and early in
August a Congress was opened at Fokchany to treat for a peace,
so that the three Powers were at liberty to prosecute their de-
signs on Poland. The Confederates of Bar had hitherto been
able to make some resistance, as the Russian troops in Poland,
under the command of Suvaroff, did not exceed 10,000 or 12,000
men ; but after the armistice they were increased to 30,000.
Pulawski, the principal leader of the Confederation, when he
heard of the union of the three Powers, retired fuom a hopeless
contest, and exhorted his followers to reserve themselves for
better times. After some further negotiations between the three
Sovereigns, a triple treaty, assigning to each his respective share
of Poland, was signed at St. Petersburg, August 5th, 1772 ;
namely, between Austria and Russia, Russia and Prussia, and
Austria and Prussia. Of these the first two only have been pub-
lished, and are of the same tenour.3

1 (Euvres Posth. t. vi. p. 42. cause so many great and learned men will

2 Flassan, Diplomatic Frangaise, t. vii. it; but when I am dead, the consequences
p. 125 si). will appear of this violation of all that

3 A summary of them will be found in has been hitherto held just and sacred.
Koch and SchoU, Hist, des Traitesde Paix, Mailath, Gesch. Ocstrckhs, B. v. S. 109.
t. xiv. p. 42 sqq. Maria Theresa gave Lodomeria, assigned to Austria, is Wladi"
lier consent in these words : " Placet, be- mir, in Volhynia.

•Chap. XLIX.] DECLARATIONS OF THE THREE ROWERS. 213

Eussia obtained by this act Polish Livonia, the greater part of
the Palatinates of Witepsk and Polozk, all the Palatinate of
Mstislavl, and the two extremities of that of Minsk. These dis-
tricts afterwards formed the governments of Polozk and Mohilev.
They comprised an area of 2,500 geographical square miles, and
a population of about one and a half million souls.

To Austria were assigned the thirteen towns of the County of
Zips, which King Sigismund of Hungary had hypothecated to
Poland in 1412 ; about half the Palatinate of Cracovia, a part of
that of Sandomierz, the Palatinate of Red Russia, the greater part
of that of Belz, Procutia, and a very small portion of Podolia.
The towns of the County of Zips were again incorporated with
Hungary ; the other districts were erected into a separate State,
with the title of Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria. They were
estimated at 1,300 square miles, with a population of about two
and a half millions.

Prussia obtained all Pomerelia except Dantzic and its territory,
together with Great Poland beyond the Netze, extending from
the New March to Fordon and Schulitz on the Vistula. Also
the rest of Polish Prussia, the Palatinate of Marienburg, Elbing,
the Bishopric of Warmia, and the Palatinate of Culm, except
Thorn, which, like Dantzic, was to remain to the Republic of
Poland. These provinces embraced 700 square miles, and had
a population of about 800,000 souls. Although the Prussian
share was smaller than the others, yet it was very valuable to
Frederick, because it joined his Prussian Kingdom to the main
body of the monarchy. The population, too, was richer and
more commercial. The districts thus confiscated formed about a
third part of Poland.

In September, the three Powers published Declarations pro-
claiming and justifying the steps which they had taken. The
most odious of these Declarations was the Prussian. Frederick II.
jwent back to the thirteenth century to find a colour for part of
his usurpations, and claimed the remainder by way of compensa-
tion for rights so long withheld from his house. Maria Theresa,
more prudently and more honestly, passed lightly over the ques-
tion of right, and pleaded her engagements with her allies.
Catharine II. chiefly insisted on the distracted state of Poland,
the necessity of restoring peace, and of establishing a natural
ind more secure boundary between the possessions of the two
States.1 Simultaneously with these Declarations, the combined

1 The Declarations are in ^Martens, Recucil, t. i. p. 461 sqq.

21-4 NEW POLISH CONSTITUTION. [Chap. XLIX.

Powers proceeded to occupy the districts respectively allotted to
them. In this they found but little difficulty. The Confederates
had been driven from their last strongholds in the spring ; and
the generals of the allies had declared that they should treat
those who combined together, under whatever pretence, as ban-
dits and murderers.1

The memoirs of the three Courts were answered by the Polish
Government in a counter-declaration, full of truth and force, in
which they recalled the treaties which had guaranteed to the
Eepublic the integrity of its possessions ; and they justly ob-
served that if titles drawn from remote antiquity, when revo-
lutions were so common and so transient, were to be enforced
against Poland, provinces possessed by those very Powers which
now urged such titles against her, might also be reunited to that
Kingdom. ; but the admission of them, they remarked, would
shake the foundations of all the thrones in the world.2

The unfortunate King of Poland, abandoned by all the world,
was compelled by the allied Courts to convoke a Diet in order to
confirm their usurpations by a Treaty of Cession, and to establish
regulations for the pacification and future government of the
country. At the same time each Power caused 10,000 men to
enter the provinces which they had agreed to leave to Poland ;
and the three commanders of them were ordered to proceed to
Warsaw and to act in concert, and with severity, towards those
nobles who should cabal against the novelties introduced.3 The
Diet, which was opened April 19th, 1773, was very small, con-
sisting only of 111 Nuncios. Those nobles whose possessions lay
in the confiscated provinces were excluded from it. Nearly all
the members accepted bribes. A sum of 200 or 300 ducats was-
the price of silence ; they who took an active part in favour of
the allies received more. The national character had, indeed,
sunk to the lowest point of degradation. The ruin of Poland was
consummated by its own children amidst every kind of luxury,
frivolity, and profligacy;4 — balls, dinners, assemblies, and gaming
tables. To avoid the Veto, the Diet was converted into a Con-
federation, which the King was forced to recognize by the threat
that Russia, Austria, and Prussia would otherwise each send
50,000 men into Poland. After long and turbulent debates,
treaties were signed with the three Powers, September 18tb,.

1 Ferrand, t. ii. liv. v. * Martens, Becucil, t. i. p. 470.

3 CEuvrcs de Fr£d. II. t. vi. p. 58 (ed. 1847).
* Essen's Bericht, ap. Hermann, B. v. S. 541 .

Chap. XLIX.] REFLECTIONS ON THE PARTITION. 215

1773. The whole business, however, was not concluded till
March, 1775, by the execution on the part of the Polish King
and Republic of seven separate acts or treaties, namely, three
with Russia, two with Austria, and two with Prussia.1 These
acts included, the cession of the confiscated provinces. A new
Constitution was established for Poland, which Russia guaranteed.
The Crown was to be perpetually elective, and none but a Piast
noble having possessions in the Kingdom was to be eligible.
The son or grandson of a deceased King could, not be elected till
after an interval of two reigns. The Government was to be com-
posed of the King and two estates, the Senate, and the Equestrian
Order. A permanent Executive Council was to be established,
composed of an equal number of members of the two estates,
without, however, either legislative or judicial power. Thus
the seal was put to the vicious Constitution of Poland ; the King-
was reduced to a mere puppet, and the ground prepared for the
final extinction of the Kingdom.

The first partition of Poland is the most remarkable event of
the eighteenth century, before the French Revolution. Breaches
of national rights as gross as this have undoubtedly been perpe-
trated both before and since ; but what rendered it particularly
odious, and most revolted public opinion in Europe, was the
circumstance that three great and powerful Sovereigns should
combine together to commit such an act of spoliation. The
Cabinets of Europe, however, were either silent or confined
themselves to feeble remonstrances. The political effects of the
partition were not, indeed, so important as it has been sometimes
supposed. Poland itself was of but little weight in the political
'.balance of Europe, and the three great Powers which divided the
spoils, by receiving pretty equal shares, remained much in the
same position with respect to one another as they had occupied
before. Great Britain, engaged in paying court to Catharine II.,
jin order to separate her from the Prussian alliance, took no steps
to prevent the partition, and contented itself, in the interests of
its commerce, with inciting Catharine not to let Dantzic and Thorn
?all into Frederick's hands. With regard to France, the Due
1'Aiguillon, who had succeeded Choiseul in the Ministry, either
hrough his own fault or that of the Cardinal de Rohan, the
French Ambassador at Vienna, seems not to have been acquainted
vith the partition till informed of it at Paris by the Imperial

1 Martens, Secueil, t. iv. p. 142 sqq.

216 DEATH OF MUSTAPHA III. [Chap. XLIX.

Ambassador.1 To amend the fault of his improvidence, he tried
to persuade Louis XV. to attack the Austrian Netherlands ; but
this proposition was rejected by the majority of the Council, on
account of the state of the finances. It was also proposed to
England to send a French and English fleet into the Baltic, to
prevent the consummation of the dismemberment, but the pro-
posal was coldly received.2

We now resume the history of the Russian and Turkish war,
interrupted in order to bring to a conclusion the affairs of Poland.
The Porte, as we have said, had in 1770 accepted the mediation
of Austria and Prussia. But Russia rejected the interference of
any Power, and put her terms so high, by insisting on occupying
Moldavia and Wallachia for a term of twenty-five years, which,
of course, meant permanently, that it was impossible to listen to
them. Kaunitz, therefore, entered into the treaty with the Porte
of July 6th, 1771, already mentioned, by which Austria was to
receive 20,000 purses (10,000,000 piastres, or 11,250,000 gulden),
on the score of her warlike preparations, and was also to obtain a
portion of Wallachia ; while she engaged to assist the Porte in
recovering all the conquests of the Russians, and to compel them
to evacuate Poland. Kaunitz's secret object in this treaty we
have already seen. Russia showed herself so compliant, that the
Austrian Minister did not think it necessary to ratify the treaty,
although he received a good part of the subsidy.

The campaign of 1771 was unimportant on the Danube; but
the Russians, under Dolgorouki, subdued the Crimea, as well as
Arabat, Yenikale, Kertsch, Kaffa, and Taman. The Tartars
now submitted to Russia, on condition of retaining their ancient
customs, and Catharine appointed a new Khan. We have already
mentioned the truce of 1772, and the Congress of Fokchany;
which, however, like a subsequent one at Bucharest, proved
fruitless. The war, when renewed in 1773, went in favour of the
Turks. The Russians were compelled to recross the Danube and
remain on the defensive.

Sultan Mustapha died towards the end of this year (Decem-
ber 24th) . His death had little influence on the course of events.
His weak brother and successor, Abdul Hamed, then forty-eight
years of age, was in the hands of the war party. The ensuing
campaign was opened with great pomp by the Turks in April,
1774, but they were soon so thoroughly beaten as to be glad of a

1 S^gur, Politique de totes les Cabinets, * Flassan, Diplomatie Franc., t. vii.

t. i. p. 18a. p. 87 ; Coxe, House of Austria, vol. v.

Chap. XLIX.] RUSSIAN PRETENDERS. 217

peace on almost any terms. Never was a celebrated treaty con-
cluded in so short a space of time as that dictated in four hours
by Count Romanzoff, in his camp at Kutchuk Kainardji (July
16th), where the Turks were almost entirely surrounded. By
this peace the Tartars of the Crimea, Kuban, &c, were declared
independent of either empire, and were to enjoy the right of elect-
ing their Khan from the family of Zingis ; only they were to re-
cognize the Sultan as Caliph and head of their religion. Russia
restored to the Tartars her conquests in the Crimea, &c, retain-
ing only Kertsch and Yenikale. She also restored to the Porte
Bessarabia, Moldavia, TVallachia, &c, and the islands in the Archi-
pelago ; retaining Kinburn and its territory, Azof, the two Kabar-
das, but evacuating Georgia and Mingrelia. The Turks, how-
ever, abandoned the tribute of young men and women, which
they had been accustomed to exact from these countries ; and
they agreed to pay four million roubles for the costs of the war.
Poland, which had caused the breach between the two Empires,
was not even named in the treaty.1 A year after this peace, the
Porte ceded to Austria the Bukovina, or Red Forest, a district
brmerly belonging to Transylvania, which connected that country
with the newly-acquired Kingdom of Galicia.

During the course of this war (1773) , Catharine II. was alarmed
:>y the rebellion of a Cossack deserter named Pugatschefi', who
personated the character of Peter III., to which Prince he bore
some resemblance. Many thousand discontented Cossacks flocked
o his standard, and at one time it was apprehended that Moscow
tself would rise in his favour. But the peace put an end to his
lopes, and he was shortly afterwards captured and put to death/

1 The treaty will be found in Wilkin- turer named Stefano. An insurrection
jons Account of Moldavia and Wallachia. which he excited in 1767 was quelled in

2 Peter III. had also been personated the following year,
i Dalmatia by a Montenegrin adven-

218 JOSErH II., EMPEROR. [Chap. L.

CHAPTER L.

THE Emperor was celebrating at Innsbruck the marriage of
his second son, Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany, with
Maria Louisa, Infanta of Spain, when, on entering his son's apart-
ment, on the evening of August 18th, 1765, he sank into his arms
in a fit of apoplexy, and immediately expired. By this event, his
eldest son Joseph, who had been elected King of the Romans, and
crowned at Frankfort1 in the spring of 1764, became Emperor, with
the title of Joseph II. Francis I. was fifty-eight years of age at
the time of his death. He was a good-humoured, polite gentle-
man, and had enriched himself by entering into various commer-
cial and banking speculations. He had so little ambition, that he
was better pleased to appear as a private man than as an Emperor,
and although co-Regent with his wife, took little or no part in the
government of the Austrian Monarchy. The Austrian Govern-
ment, therefore, proceeded in much the same train as before.
Maria Theresa, who had experienced in her early days the evils
and horrors of war, was inclined to pursue a peaceful policy. It
was her aim to strengthen the connection with the Bourbon
Courts, with which view she gave the hand of her daughter, Maria
Antoinette,2 to the Dauphin, afterwards Louis XVI., May 19th,
1770. Another Archduchess married Ferdinand IV., King of the
Two Sicilies, and a third was united with the Duke of Parma.

But the character of Joseph II. differed from his mother's.
Although possessed of considerable talents, he was tormented
with a febrile and restless ambition, without any very fixed or de-
finite object. During his father's lifetime he had endeavoured to
procure the reversion to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, to the pre-
judice of his brother Leopold; alleging, that although he should
become an Emperor on his father's death, he should not possess a
foot of territory. Maria Theresa, to satisfy this craving, had pro-
mised to make him co-Regent of Austria on the death of her hus-

1 Goethe, then a youth of fifteen, was present at the ceremony, anrl has left a
description of it in his Wahrheit und Dichtung, Bach. v.

2 Born November 2nd, 1755.

Chap. L.] CLAIMANTS OF BAVARIA. 219

band ; but, during his mother's lifetime, that office remained little
more than nominal. It was chiefly through Joseph's ambition and
desire of aggrandizement that Austria was threatened with the
War of the Bavarian Succession. This affair, which assumes very '
small dimensions when compared with the wars of the Spanish
and Austrian Successions, need not occupy any great share of our
attention.

By the death of Maximilian Joseph, Elector of Bavaria, De-
cember 30th, 1777, the younger branch of the House of Wittels-
bach became extinct, and with it the Bavarian Electorate, which
had been vested only in that family. Charles Theodore, Elector
Palatine, as representative of the elder, or Rodolphine, branch of
the House of Wittelsbach, was undoubtedly entitled to succeed
to the Bavarian dominions, with the exception of the allodial
possessions. The common ancestor of the two branches, Louis
:he Severe, Elector Palatine and Duke of Bavaria, had divided
ike succession to those possessions between his two sons, Rodolph
md Louis, in 1310; and the latter, after obtaining the Imperial
rown as Louis V., had confirmed this partition by a treaty with
lis nephews, sons of his elder brother, Rodolph, in 1329. By this
reaty the two contracting parties had reserved the right of reci-
)rocal succession in their respective dominions, the Rhenish Elec-
oral Palatinate and the Duchy of Bavaria.1 Several claimants,
lowever, burrowing in the inexhaustible chaos of the German
rchives, advanced pretensions to various parts of the Bavarian
ominions. Maria Theresa, as Queen of Bohemia, claimed the fiefs
f Upper Bavaria, and, as Archduchess of Austria, all the districts
/hich had belonged to the line of Straubingen. But of this line
he was not the true representative, but rather Frederick II. of
'russia, as descended from the eldest sister. Xor were her pre-
Imsious as Queen of Bohemia better founded.2 Joseph II. also
aimed several portions of Bavaria as Imperial fiefs. But his pre-
msions were contrary to the provisions of the Golden Bull, as
ell as the Peace of Westphalia and the public law of Germany,
hich recognizes as valid such family compacts as those made by
ie House of "Wittelsbach, even though detrimental to the rights
J the Empire.3 Other minor claimants were the Electress Dow-
ser of Saxony, who, as sister of Maximilian Joseph, claimed the
lodial succession; and the Duke of Mecklenburg- Schwerin,
ho claimed the Landgraviate of Leuchtenberg by virtue of an

Pfeffel, t. i. pp. 472, 49-i. 2 See Garden, Hist des Traitts, t. iv. p. 246.

3 Ibid. p. 248.

220 WAR OF THE BAVARIAN SUCCESSION. [Chap. L.

expectative granted by the Emperor Maximilian I. to one of his
ancestors.

Charles Theodore, having no heirs, agreed to the claims of the
House of Austria, which comprised half Bavaria, in the hope of
thereby procuring protection and provision for his numerous
illegitimate children ; and the Court of Vienna had indulged the
hope that the King of Prussia, now bent down by age and infir-
mities, would not endanger the glories of his youth by forcibly
opposing the arrangement. The Convention, however, appeared to
Frederick not only to menace the constitution of the German
Empire, but, by giving to Austria so large an accession of territory,
even to imperil the safety of his own Kingdom. Such being his
views, he formed an alliance with the Duke of Deux-Ponts, nephew
of Charles Theodore, and next heir to the Bavarian Duchy, whose
inheritance had been thus mutilated without his consent; and he
undertook to defend the Duke's rights against the House of
Austria. Joseph II. would listen to no terms of accommodation ;
war became inevitable, and, in 1778, large armies were brought
into the field by both sides, which, however, did nothing but
observe each other. Austria claimed the aid of France by virtue
of the treaty between the two countries. Louis XVI., who then
occupied the throne of France, pressed by his Austrian consort,
Maria Antoinette, remained for some time undecided. But France,
then engaged in a war with England, on the subject of the revolted
North American colonies,1 wished not to be hampered with a
European war, and Louis at length declared his intention to
remain neutral. Yet, to appease his brother-in-law, the Emperor,
who reproached him with his desertion, Louis was weak enough
secretly to furnish the fifteen million livres stipulated by the
treaty.2 Maria Theresa endeavoured to avert an effusion of blood.
Without consulting her son, or her minister, Prince Kaunitz, she
despatched Baron Thugut to Frederick with an autograph letter
containing fresh offers of peace, and painted to him her despair
at the prospect of their tearing out each other's grey hairs.'' But
the negotiations were again broken off by the anger and im-
patience of Joseph. The Emperor threatened, when he heard of
them, to establish his residence at Aix-la-Chapelle, or some other
Imperial town, and never again to return to Vienna.

The campaign of 1779 was almost as barren of events as that of

1 See next chapter. Maria Theresa's letter to Mercy. 31*t July,

5 Soulavie, Mem. du B'cgne de Louis 1778 (D'Arneth, Correspond SvcrtU,

AVI. t. v. p. 53. \<:. iii. 229),
3 Coxe, House of Austria, ch. exxix.

Chap. L.] DEATH OF MARIA THERESA. 221

the preceding- year. The only notable event of the war was the
surprise and capture of a Prussian corps of 1 ,200 men at Habel-
schwerdt by the Austrian general, Wurrnser, January 18th.
Under the mediation of France and Russia, negotiations for a peace
were opened at Teschen, in Austrian Silesia, March 14th, and a
treaty was signed, May 13th, the anniversary of Maria Theresa's
birth. The principal points were that the Court of Vienna withdrew
its opposition to the reunion of Anspach and Baireuth with the
Electorate of Brandenburg on the extinction of the reigning line,
by abandoning, on that event, the feudal claim of the Crown of
Bohemia to those margraviates. Charles Theodore ceded to Austria
Arhat is called the quarter of the Inn, or the district extending from
Passau along the Inn and Salza to Wildshut; comprising about one-
lixteenth part of Bavaria. The claims of Saxony were satisfied with
ix million florins.1 Thus was established a new House of Bavaria,
nore powerful than the former one, since it reunited Bavaria with
he Palatinate. Russia guaranteed the Peace of Teschen ; and as
his treaty renewed the Peace of Westphalia, it afforded that
Jower a pretext to meddle in the affairs of Germany. We will
ere anticipate the sequel of this affair. An attempt of Joseph II.
a 1784 to appropriate Bavaria by exchanging for it the Aus-
trian Netherlands, together with some acts of the Imperial
'ourt, deemed contrary to the German Constitution, occasioned
tie Fuesten Bund, or League of the German Princes, formed in
785, under the auspices of Frederick the Great, to uphold the
'eace of Teschen." With regard to Europe the most significant
art of this league was the reconciliation of Prussia with Eng-
nd, through George III. as Elector of Hanover, a change
Jon to bear its fruits : with regard to Germany, it marks the
^ginning of dualism, or Austrian and Prussian rivalry.

Maria Theresa did not Ions; survive the war of the Bavarian
accession. She expired November 29th, 1780, in the sixty-fourth
3ar of her age, after reigning forty years. Exemplary in her
:ivate life, and sincerely desirous of the welfare of her people,
iiere are few serious blemishes in the life of this excellent
overeign, except, perhaps, her intolerance. At the commence-

1 Hertzberg, Eecueil, t. ii. p. 267 ; The members of the League were Frede-
irtens, t. ii. p. i. rick, as Elector of Brandenburg, the Elec-

2 Dohm, Benwurdigkeiten meiner Zcit, tors of Hanover, Saxony, and Mentz, the
nd iii. Kap. xvi. ; J. von Miiller, Bar- Dukes of Saxe-Weimar, Saxe-Gotha,
Hung des Furstenbitnds, in the 9th vol. Deux-Ponts, Mecklenburg, the Land-
his Works; Ranke, Bie Bcutschin grave of Hesse, the Bishop of Osna-
ichte und der Fursttnbund ; Hertzberg, burg, the Prince of Anhalt, the Margrave
cueil, t. ii. p. 292 ; Martens, t. ii. p. 553. of Baden.

222 REFORMS OF JOSEPH II. [Chap. L.

ment of her reign, she formed the design of banishing the Jews
from her dominions; from which she was dissuaded by the Elector
of Mentz, the Kings of England and Poland, and the Pope.1 She
even lent herself in some degree to oppress the Protestants. Yet
she was far from being the slave of the Pope. Having resumed
with his consent the title of " Apostolical/' conferred by Syl-
vester II. on St. Stephen, first King of Hungary, she exercised
under that almost forgotten appellation an extensive and indepen-
dent jurisdiction in the Hungarian Church. Of her abolition of
the Jesuits we shall speak in the next chapter, when we shall have
to relate the fall of that Society.

The Emperor Joseph II. was forty years of age when he suc-
ceeded to the Austrian dominions. He possessed, as we have said,
no despicable talents ; but he had been badly educated, had little
taste for literature or art, though, like his model, Frederick II.,
he had imbibed some of the French liberalism of the period, and
as he was naturally impetuous, his ill-regulated ambition plunged
him into misfortunes. First, as we have seen, he coveted Bavaria;
then he turned his views towards Turkey; next he embroiled him-
self with Holland ; and, finally with the Netherlands and his own
hereditary States.

Joseph's meddling activity was first displayed, to the great re-
lief of Frederick II., in domestic reforms, especially in the Church.
By a decree of October 30th, 1781, such monastic orders were
first dissolved as were of no practical use in the State, by keeping
school, tending the sick, preaching, confessing, and the like ; as
the Carthusians, Camaldolenses, Hermits, and in general all female
orders which did not employ themselves in education, nursing,
&c. Other orders were then attacked, and in all about 700 con-
vents were dissolved. Frederick maliciously remarked that the
richer convents were suppressed in preference to the poorer,
though the public good required a contrary proceeding. Thus,
about 36,000 monks and nuns were secularized and pensioned. It
was forbidden to send money to Eome or to receive dispensations
thence, except gratis ; and the investiture of all spiritual prebends
in Lombardy was appropriated by the Emperor. An edict of
toleration was published, by which the religious privileges of
Protestants and non-united Greek Christians were considerably
extended. The Papal nuncios were told that they would be

1 Raumer, Biitruge zur N. Gcsch. sex,''he writes to D'Alembert. in January.

Th. ii. Abs. 20. Frederick II. had formed 1781. " I have made war upon her, but

a high opinion of Maria Theresa: "She I have never been her enemy." — &

has done honour to the throne and to her t. xi. p. 292.

€h.vp. L.] POPE PIUS VI. IN VIENNA. 223

regarded only as political ambassadors by the Austrian Ministers
at the various Courts where they resided.1 Prince Kaunitz, an
esprit fort of the French school, was, doubtless, in a great degree,
the author of this policy, which was adopted by Joseph II. partly
because he did not wish to appear behind the other enlightened
princes of the age, and partly to increase the wealth and popula-
tion of his States by attracting to them Protestant traders and
irtizans.

Pope Pius VI., who had succeeded Clement XIV. in the Papal
yhair in 1775, was so alarmed by these vigorous reforms that he
esolved on visiting Vienna, in the hope of encouraging by his
)resence the dejected Catholics, as well as of overawing the Em-
>eror by his dignity and captivating him by the charm of his
aanner. He made his entry into Vienna in great state in March,
782, accompanied by Joseph and his brother, who had gone out
3 meet him. His appearance caused great excitement. Vast
rowds thronged to the Burg to obtain a sight, and receive the
lessing of the Holy Father ; and he was obliged to show himself
a the balcony several times every day. He celebrated the festival
f Easter in St. Stephen's Church ; but the absence of the Emperor
as remarked; who was unwilling, it was said, to gratify the
ontiff s vanity by occupying a lower throne than that erected for
te successor of St. Peter. Pius succeeded in filling the people
ith enthusiasm, but made no impression on the Emperor, and
us derived no advantage from a visit by which he seemed to
;grade his dignity and abdicate his infallibility. Joseph over-
timed him with honour, but would enter into no negotiations;
lile from Prince Kaunitz, whom he tried to conciliate, he ex-
rienced nothing- but rudeness and repulse.2 The Emperor
<bompanied the Pope on his return as far as Mariabrunn. Here
i by prayed together in the convent church, and seemed to part
^|th emotion ; but on the very same day Imperial commissaries
speared in the convent, and pronounced it dissolved. After the
I pe's return to Rome an angry correspondence ensued between
la and the Emperor. Joseph returned the visit of Pius by
a rearing unexpectedly at Rome in December, 1783, under the
*- e of Count Falkenstein. He was now meditating a complete

jMenzel, B. vi. Kap. xi. the excuse that his head could not bear

Kaunitz not having paid him a visit, the cold, and dragged the Pope about by

I was humble enough to ask to see his the arm, on the pretence of putting him

l1' ce and its curiosities. The Prince re- in a proper light to see the pictures.

■cepd him in a morning dress, shook the Bourgoing, Mem. Hlstorique sitr Pie VI.

hs 1 held out to him to kiss like that of ap. Menzel.
ar Id acquaintance, put on his hat with

224: THE BARRIER FORTRESSES RAZED. [Chap. L.

breach with the Papal See, froui which, however, he was dissuaded
by the Chevalier Azara, the Spanish Resident at Rome. He made
an advantageous treaty with the Pope regarding the Lombard
Church ; but from this time forward he treated the Holy Father
less roughly.1

Joseph's measures were highly unpopular in Hungary. The
idea of the independent nationality of the Hungarians was dis-
agreeable to him, and he disappointed their hopes that he would
celebrate his coronation and hold a Diet among them. The Holy
Crown of St. Stephen, an object venerated by the Magyars during
eight centuries, was carried to Vienna, and deposited in the
treasure-chamber ; Hungary was divided into ten circles, all
public business was transacted in the German tongue,2 and the
ancient Hungarian Constitution was annihilated. Joseph was of
opinion that all his subjects should speak the same language, and,
as his German possessions were the most important, that the
German tongue should have the preference. The nobles protested,
but obeyed, while an insurrection of the peasants was speedily
quelled.

The Emperor was as hasty in his foreign policy as in his domes-
tic, and hence it had seldom a happy issue. He succeeded, how-
ever, in overthrowing the Barrier Treaty, which had always been |
disagreeable to the House of Austria. Joseph made a journey into
the Netherlands and Holland in 1781. His attention was chiefly
attracted in this tour by two things — the disastrous effects arising
from the closing of the Scheldt, and the blind bigotry of the
Brabanters, which kept them behind other nations; and he resolved
if possible to remedy these evils. During the Seven Years' War
the Dutch had withdrawn their garrisons from the Austrian
Netherlands, in order to prevent their coming in contact with the
French or English, but sent them back after peace had been con- j
eluded. Maria Theresa had overlooked this conduct ; but towards
the end of 1781, Joseph gave notice to the States-General to with-
draw their troops from the barrier towns. In vain the States i
remonstrated : Kaunitz only replied, " The Emperor will hear
no more about barriers ; they no longer exist." He confided in
the French alliance ; and as the Dutch, besides being harassed by
intestine discord, were then involved in a war with England, to
which we shall advert in the following chapter, they had no re-

1 Menzel, JV. Gcsck. dcr Dcutschen, language was to awaken the expiring |
B. vi. Kap. xi. Magyar tongue to a new life. Mailath,

2 An unforeseen consequence of this Gesch. des ostr. Kaiserstaatcs, B. v. a
arbitrary introduction of the German 150.

Chap. L.] JOSEPH'S DISPUTES WITH THE DUTCH. 225

source but to protest and comply. The barrier fortresses were
then razed — a step which Austria had afterwards cause to rue.

The Emperor soon afterwards demanded from the Dutch the
free navigation of the Scheldt ; and this demand was accompanied
with others respecting boundaries.1 The States-General, in reply,
appealed to the fourteenth article of the Treaty of Minister, order-
ing the closing of the Scheldt, and the fifth article of the Treaty of
"Vienna in 1731, abolishing the Ostend Company, and proscribing
all commerce between the Austrian Netherlands and the Indies.
They placed a Dutch squadron at the mouth of the Scheldt,
renewed their treaty of alliance and subsidies with the Elector of
Cologne, who was Joseph's brother, October 30th, 1784,2 and also
endeavoured to renew their alliance with England, broken since
the American war, to which we shall advert in a subsequent
chaptei\ The English Cabinet determined to remain neutral, but
the fear of such an alliance induced the French to support Holland.
France continued to regard Austria, in spite of the alliance be-
tween the two countries, as a probable rival, and had always op-
posed the wish of Maria Theresa to be admitted into the Family
Compact.3 Catharine II., on the other hand, supported the de-
mands of the Emperor. To bring the question to an issue, Joseph
ordered some Austrian ships to ascend the Scheldt, in attempting
which they were fired upon by the Dutch. The Emperor now
put an army of 30,000 men in motion ; the Dutch opened their
sluices, and everything seemed to threaten the outbreak of a war.
But Louis XYI. declared to the Court of Vienna, that he should
oppose any hostile attempt upon Holland ; and causing two armies
to assemble, one in Flanders, and the other on the Rhine, he
offered his mediation. This led to a settlement. The Emperor
relinquished his demands for a sum of nine and a half million
guilders. The Dutch would pay only five million; but Louis
engaged to make good the difference — a step which bred much ill
blood among the French, who imputed it to Maria Antoinette's
love for her brother Joseph. The Emperor had likewise demanded
an apology for the insult to his flag ; but he interrupted the Dutch
leputies as soon as they began it. The definitive treaty, guaranteed
by France, was signed at Fontainebleau, November 8th, 1785.4,
The Treaty of Miinster was taken as its basis, and the Barrier

1 See Tableau sommaire des Pretentions 2 Martens, t. ii. p. 540.

?e VEmpereur, presented at the Confe- 3 Politique cle tous les Cabinets, ap.

ences in Brussels in May, 1734, in Mar- Coxe, Spanish Bourbons, vol. iv. p. 311.

ens, Ersahlung merkw. Fiille des neuern * Martens, t. ii. p. 602.
vMr. Volkcrrechts, ii. 50 f.

IV. Q

226 DISSENSIONS IN HOLLAND. [Chap. L.

Treaty, and that of Vienna of 1731, were annulled. The Dutch
having attained their main object in shutting up the Scheldt,
made more cessions of forts, &c, even than the Emperor had
demanded.

The Dutch followed up this treaty with another of alliance with
France, November 10th, 1785. l Holland, as we have hinted, was
at this time the scene of domestic disturbances, and one of the
objects of the French alliance was to procure for the Republican
party the support of France against the House of Orange. The
dissensions of the two factions had been nourished by the long
minority of the hereditary Stadholder William V. At the death
of his father, in 1751, that Prince was only three years of age.
Until 1759, the regency was conducted by his mother, an English
Princess ; and, after her death, the guardianship of the young
Stadholder was divided between the States-General and Louis
Ernest of Brunswick, Field-Marshal of the Republic. "When, in
1766, William V. attained his majority, he signed an act called
the Act of Consultation, engaging the Duke of Brunswick to assist
him in his affairs — a proceeding regarded as unconstitutional by
the patriotic or Republican party. The provinces of West Fries-
land, Holland, Zealand, and Utrecht, where that party chiefly pre-
vailed, demanded the Duke's dismissal ; who, fatigued by the
clamours of the people, at length resigned, in October, 1784,
abandoning the Stadholder, who had little political capacity, to
the intrigues of his enemies. During this long and stormy period
the patriot party had courted the protection of France, while those
who were attached to the family of Orange, and desired to uphold
the Stadholderate, cultivated the friendship of England. The
chief leaders of the aristocratical or patriot party were Van Berkel,
Pensionary of Amsterdam, to whom Van Bleiswyk, Grand Pen-
sionary of Holland, though far superior in rank, was entirely
subservient; Gyzlaas, Pensionary of Dordrecht, and Zeebergen,
Pensionary of Haarlem. The superior influence of the patriot
party dragged the United Provinces into the maritime war
against England, which, for the present, we pass over, as we shall
have to relate it in the ensuing chapter. We have already re-
corded the struggle of the Dutch with the Emperor Joseph II.
Their accommodation with that Sovereign was hastened by
their domestic dissensions. A tumult had broken out at the
Hague in September, 1785. The States-General deprived William
of the command of the garrison in that town, who thereupon

1 Martens, t. ii. p. 612.

Chap. L.] DEATH OF FREDERICK II. 227

-claimed the protection of his uncle-in-] a w, the King of Prussia.
Frederick II. did not show much zeal in the cause of his relative/
but he took some steps in his favour, and the apprehension of
Prussian interference caused the States-General to conclude the
arrangement with the Emperor, and the subsequent alliance with
France, already recorded.

The Republican party, encouraged by this alliance, proceeded to
lengths which ultimately produced a revolution. William V., at
the request of the States of Gelderland, who were devoted to his
cause, had taken military possession of two towns in that province,
which, in contempt of his prerogative, had ventured to name their
own magistrates. Hereupon the States of Holland, arrogating to
themselves a right to judge the proceedings of a neighbouring-
province, suspended the Prince from his office of captain-general
(September, 1786). These events were followed by great excite-
ment and irritation ; which France endeavoured to allay by sending
M. Rayneval to the Hague, to act in concert with the Prussian
Minister, Baron Gortz.

A new Sovereign now occupied the throne of Prussia. Frede-
rick II. died August 17th, 1786, after a reign of forty-six years.
If the title of Great may be justly bestowed on the Sovereign,
who, by his abilities and conduct, adds largely to his possessions,
without inquiring very strictly into the means by which these
icquisitions were made, Frederick is undoubtedly entitled to the
ippellation. Silesia, conquered by his arms, the Polish provinces,
icquired by his diplomacy, formed an immense and highly valuable
iddition to the Prussian Monarchy, and may entitle him to be
egarded as its second founder. The increase of his means
nd power is thus stated by a contemporary diplomatist : " He
jound, on his father's death, a revenue of 13,000,000 crowns ; a
reasure of 16,000,000 ; no debts, and an army of 50,000 men ;
nd, at the time, this was reckoned the greatest effort of economy,
le has now an income of 21,000,000 crowns ; three times that
im, at least, in his coffers ; and nearly 200,000 effective men."2
rederick had employed the years of peace which followed the
3ven Years' War in alleviating, by a paternal administration, the
'ils which that struggle had brought upon his country. This
'riod, though not the most brilliant, was the happiest of his reign,
anufactures and agriculture flourished ; the towns and villages

See Frederick's Letters in Hertzbevg, Suffolk, March 18th. 1766, in Adolphus,

'I'lil de Deductions, t. ii. p. 394 sqq. Hist, of George III. vol. ii. App. No. ii.

Despatch of Sir James Harris (after- The same letter contains a discriminating

1 "ds Earl of Malmesbury) to the Earl of character of Frederick.

228 THE STADHOLDEK RESTORED BY PRUSSIA. [Chap. L.

ruined during the "war were rebuilt and repeopled; the army was
again raised to a formidable footing, and the finances wTere re-
established by the introduction of the strictest order and economy
into all branches of the administration. Frederick's measures
with regard to commerce, though well meant, were not so happy.
In political economy he was an admirer of Colbert and the French
school, and hence was led to adopt a narrow and exclusive system.
He had a natural genius for art and literature as well as war, and
to the fame of a great general added that of a respectable author.
His extravagant admiration of the French school served, however,
rather to retard than promote the intellectual progress of his own
subjects. The philosophical and freethinking principles which he
had imbibed from the same school, as he forbore to force them
upon his subjects, were perhaps on the whole beneficial, as they
helped to introduce more tolerant views, and to mitigate the
rabid bigotry which had too often characterized the professors of
Lutheranism. These maxims, however, led him not to any relaxa-
tion in his method of civil government, and Prussia under his
administration remained as complete a despotism as it had been
under that of his predecessors.

Frederick II. was succeeded by his nephew, Frederick Wil-
liam II. The new Monarch seemed dispose to take more interest
than his uncle in the affairs of Holland; and he had, immediately
after his accession, sent Baron Gortz to the Court of the Stad-
holder. The negotiation of that Minister led, however, to no
result. The views of the two parties were too opposite for con-
ciliation ; but an event which occurred towards the end of June,
1787, brought matters to a crisis. The consort of William V., a
princess of a high spirit, resolved to visit the Hague, although
her husband could not go thither. At Schoonhoven she was
stopped by the troops belonging to the States of Holland, treated
almost like a prisoner, and turned back. For this affront the
Princess of Orange demanded vengeance at the hands of her
brother the King of Prussia ; but although the States of several
Provinces disapproved of what had been done, the States-Genera1,
relying on the aid of France, refused to give befitting satisfaction.
Frederick William II. seized the occasion to re-establish the
Stadholder in his prerogatives. In September a Prussian army
of 30,000 men, under the Duke of Brunswick, entered Holland.
The dryness of the summer prevented the Hollanders from having
recourse to inundation. Utrecht surrendered without a blow,
and other places followed the example. The patriots, disunited

Chap. L.] TRIPLE ALLIANCE, 1788. 229

among themselves, found the free companies, which they had
raised in imitation of the Middle Ages, and which they had placed
under the command of the incapable Rhinegrave, Von Salms,
totally unable to oppose an army of disciplined troops ; while
the nobles, who dreaded a popular government, favoured the
Prussian invasion. The Prince of Orange entered the Hague,
September 20th, after an absence of two years, amid the accla-
mations of the populace ; Amsterdam surrendered, after a short
resistance, October 10th, and the free companies were disarmed.

France made some show of assisting her ally, and declared,
September 16th, that she would not suffer the Constitution of the
United Provinces to be violated. But it was well known that
the internal condition of France, now on the brink of a revolution,
precluded her from all active interference. England declared that
she would defend the Stallholder, if attacked, and prepared her
fleets for action. The Court of Versailles submitted, and ex-
changed declarations with England, October 27th. The disgrace
reflected on the French Government by these transactions as-
sisted the designs of the revolutionary party in France. But the
Stadholder, though thus restored by force of arms, did not over-
step the limits of the Dutch Constitution. All the satisfaction he
exacted was, that seventeen magistrates, directly concerned in
the outrage upon his consort, should be deposed and declared
for ever incapable of serving the Republic ; and he cashiered
several hundred officers who had borne arms against him. After
establishing his authority, William proposed a general amnesty,
from which only some of the ringleaders were excepted. Banished
from their country, these turbulent men carried their democratic
principles into France, and helped to foment the troubles of that
Kingdom. By a solemn Act, signed by the various States, entitled
Act of Mutual Guarantee of the Seven United Provinces, the here-
ditary dignities of Stadholder, Captain-General, and Admiral-
General were declared an essential part of the Constitution.1

By the extinction of the patriot party an end was put to the
alliance between the United Provinces and France. It was re-
placed by a treaty of mutual defence between Great Britain and
the States- General, April 15th, 1788, by which Great Britain
guaranteed the hereditary Stadholdership to the family of Orange.
3n the same day a defensive alliance was also signed at Berlin

1 Among the authorities for this re- darauf erfolgten Revolution in den verein-
olution are Jacobi, Vollstandige Gesoh. igten,Niederlanden,\Ha\le,\7%9t2'B.%vo.'
er siebtii jdhrigen Vtrwirrungen and do- Segur, Tableau dc V Europe, t. i. p. 342.

230 DISTURBANCES IN THE AUSTRIAN NETHERLANDS. [Chap. L.

between the States-General and Prussia.1 These treaties were
followed by a defensive alliance between Great Britain and
Prussia, concluded at Loo, in Gelderland, June 13th; renewed
and confirmed by another treaty signed at Berlin on the loth of
the following August.2 By a secret article England undertook
to support Prussia, in case of need, with its whole naval power,
and with an army of 50,000 men.3 Thus was formed the Triple
Alliance, which exercised for some years a decisive effect upon
the affairs of Europe.4

The Emperor's conduct in selling the freedom of the Scheldt
to the Dutch made him very unpopular in the Austrian Nether-
lands ; and the attempt to exchange these Provinces for Bavaria,
converted dislike into hatred. His Church reforms were also
highly distasteful to that bigoted population. As in Austria,,
convents were dissolved, pilgrimages and spiritual brotherhoods
abolished, appeals to the Pope forbidden, in short, all the mea-
sures adopted of an incipient Reformation. Towards the end
of 1786 tumults broke out at Louvain, on the suppression of the
episcopal schools in that city and the removal of the university
to Brussels. The disturbance was increased by alterations in the
civil government. An Ordinance of January 1st, 1787, abolished
the various councils by which the Government was conducted, and
established in their place a Central Board. Innovations were also
made in the constitution of the courts of law. The boundaries
of the provinces were soon afterwards altered, and the whole
country was divided into nine Circles, each under a commissary
named by the Court of Vienna. Symptoms of insurrection ap-
peared at Brussels in April. De Hont, a merchant of that city,
implicated in a criminal case, had been arrested and tried at
Vienna, contrary to the privileges of the Brabanters, to be judged
by their countrymen. The States of Brabant took up his cause,
and declared that this violation of the Joyeuse Entree prevented
them from voting the annual supplies. A general fermentation
ensued, which was increased by the manifest weakness of the
Government. The States presented to the Archduchess Christina,
Joseph's sister, who, with her husband, Duke Albert of Saxe
Teschen, acted as governors, a list of their grievances in nine

1 Hertzberg, t. ii. p. 444; Martens. Sweden; by dictating at Reichenbach the

t. iii. p. 133. conditions of a peace between Austria and

- Hertzberg, t. ii. pp. 449, 452; Mar- the Porte; by forcing Russia to renounce

tens, t. iii. pp. 138, 146. great part of her Turkish conquests; and

3 Zinkeisen, B. vi. S. 697. by restoring tranquillity to the Austrian

4 Namely, by compelling Denmark to Netherlands,
desist from succouring Russia against

Chap. L.] PROJECTS OF JOSEPH II. AND CATHARINE II. 231

heads. The Council of Brabant, or first court of justice, went
still further, and abrogated all the new tribunals (May 8th). In
consequence of a riot at Brussels towards the end of the month,
the governors notified their resolution to maintain all the privi-
leges of the States, and to revoke all regulations contrary to the
Joyeuse Entree. This compliance occasioned their recall. Count
Trautmannsdorf was now appointed governor, with instructions
to carry out the Imperial decrees, for which purpose military
preparations were made. Negotiations, however, ensued; ap-
parent reconciliations were repeatedly effected, and the final
outburst was postponed for a year or two. But the latent dis-
content was not extinguished. A secret society was formed, with
ramifications throughout the provinces, which numbered 70,000
persons, and matters wore an alarming aspect when Joseph
entered upon a Turkish war, of which we must retrace the
origin.

Joseph had cultivated a close friendship with the Czarina,
Catharine II. He had flattered her vanity by paying her a visit
at St. Petersburg in 1780, when it had been verbally agreed that,
in case of a rupture with the Porte, Russia and Austria should
aggrandize themselves at its expense. Magnificent projects were
discussed. Catharine inflamed Joseph with the idea of seizing
Italy and Rome, and establishing a real Empire of the West,
while she should found at Constantinople a new Empire of the
East.1 This suggestion only struck an old chord in the tra-
ditional policy of Austria ; but it was an apt snare for the restless
md short-sighted ambition of Joseph, while the hope of more
oractical advantage lay on the side of Catharine. The friendship
)f the two Courts was cemented by a family alliance. Joseph's
lephew, Francis, afterwards Emperor, was married to the younger
ister of the Grand Duchess of Russia, and thus the presumptive
leirs of two Imperial thrones became brothers-in-law. The King
>f Prussia, to efface the impression of the Emperor's visit, sent
is nephew and heir, Prince Frederick William, to St. Petersburg.
>ut a new and adverse influence reigned at that Court. After a
3ng enjoyment of Catharine's favour, Gregory Orloff had been
isgraced in 1772, and dismissed with presents of untold value.
Le was succeeded in his office by Alexander Wassiltschikoff, an
fficer in the Guards. But Catharine soon grew tired of a man
hose only recommendation was his handsome person, and in

1 We learn this fact from Joseph himself. See Dohm, Denkwwrdigkeiten, B. i.

232 PRINCE POTEMKIN. [Chap. L.

1774 Wassiltschikoff was superseded by Potemkin. Gregory
Alexandrowitsck Potemkin was the son of a Russian noble, and
had played a subordinate part in the revolution which placed
Catharine on the throne. His countenance was manly, but not
prepossessing ; his figure gigantic, but not well-proportioned ; his
temper violent and overbearing. He is said to have been the
only man, except Orloff, who continued to retain his influence
over Catharine after connections of a more tender nature had
ceased. He obtained the conduct of affairs soon after his pro-
motion, and continued to retain it till his death, though compelled,
in 1776, to resign his more peculiar office to another. His brutal
energy, which kept the nobles in awe, was useful to the Czarina.

Potemkin had long set his heart upon a war with Turkey, with
the design of seizing the Tartar countries which had been declared
independent by the Peace of Kutchuk Kainardji. With this
view he employed himself in exciting disturbances in the Crimea.
He compelled the Porte to restore the Khan Sahim Gherai,
whom it had deposed, and who was in the Russian intei*est ; and
when the Turks assumed a threatening attitude against Sahim,
supported him by sending an army under Suvaroff into the
Crimea (1778). The Porte on its side had, indeed, afforded
ground for complaint, and especially it had infringed on the Peace
of Kainardji by opposing the passage of Russian vessels from
the White Sea, or Egean, into the Black Sea. The war which
seemed imminent was, however, averted by the mediation of
France, and a new Convention was executed at Constantinople in
March, 1779.1

Frederick II., with a view to maintain the peace of Europe,
had proposed a quadruple alliance between Russia, Prussia,
Poland, and the Porte. But he soon discovered that the Court
of St. Petersburg regarded the Peace of Kainardji only as a
stepping-stone to greater enterprises, and Catharine, on her side,
abandoned an ally on whom she could no longer reckon. Thus
was terminated the Russian and Prussian Alliance. The breach,
perhaps, was not quite complete till the death, in 1783, of Count
Panin, who had always favoured the Alliance ; but Potemkin was
the decided adversary of Prussia, and when, in 1782, the Grand
Duke Paul and his wife made the tour of Europe, they were
forbidden to visit Berlin.

After the Convention of 1779 further disputes arose between ,

1 Called the Convention of Ainali Kara':, from ii Garden-ralace near the arsenal,
wher.-> \\ was signed.

Chap. L.] CATHABINE II. FOUNDS CHEESON. 233

Russia and the Porte, which, however, were amicably settled till
the final explosion in 1789. Potemkin gradually induced Sahim.
Gherai, after renouncing his religion, even to abdicate his do-
minions in favour of Catharine, and to pass his life as her Lieu-
tenant, in ease and luxury. A Russian manifesto had appeared
in April, 1783, declaring the Crimea, the Isle of Taman, and the
Province of Kuban on the other side of the Straits subject to the
Russian sceptre, and Prince Potemkin took possession of them.
Potemkin had diverted the pension assigned to the Khan to his
own use ; and when Sahim Gherai naturally complained of this
wrong, he was banished from the Crimea,1 which, together with
the other Tartar lands, was occupied by Russian soldiers. The
unfortunate inhabitants, who rose to assert their freedom, were
put down with a terrible massacre, in which 30,000 persons
perished of all ages and both sexes. The Turks at first acquiesced
^n these proceedings ; and by a Convention between Russia and
:he Porte,'2 signed at Constantinople, January 8th, 1784, the
lomination of the Tartars was put an end to ; but it was easy to
see that a war would ensue so soon as an opportunity should offer
tself.

Catharine now seemed to have made a step towards realizing
ler project of a new Eastern Empire. She adopted Voltaire's
Idea of erecting a new Greek Kingdom on the coasts of the Black
5ea. The recently-acquired possessions received the names of
^auria and Caucasia, and Cherson was erected in the midst of a
esert as the Capital of the new Kingdom, but on a site so ill
hosen that it was soon eclipsed by Odessa. Potemkin, who was
onoured with the pompous name of the " Taurian/' was made
rovernor-General of the conquered Provinces, and Grand- Admiral
f the Black Sea. But, under Russian government, the Tartar
*rovinces began rapidly to decline. Such were Potemkin' s in-
istice and violence that the, greater part of the inhabitants fied
ie country. Two years after their union with Russia these Pro-
inces counted no more than 17,000 males; while in former times
ie Khan of Tartary had often appeared in the field with 50,000
orsemen.

The relations between Russia and the Porte continued to be
aeasy. Disputes arose respecting the Turkish government in
[oldavia and Wallachia, and on other points ; whilst the Porte,

He subsequently sought refuge in 2 This Convention will be found in

n-key, where he was strangled as a Zinkeisen. Gesch. des osm. Seiches, B. v.
titor a few years after. S. 933 sq.

234 RUSSIAN AND TURKISH WAR. [Chap. L.

on its side, accused the Cabinet of St. Petersburg of frequent
violations of the Peace of Kainardji. Catharine II. resolved, in
1787, to visit her new possessions, and to receive at Cherson the
homage of her Tartar subjects during a grand festival in honour
of the founding of that metropolis. After a visit to Kiev, she em-
barked on the Dnieper with her suite in a flotilla of twenty-two
richly -decorated galleys (May 3rd) . At Kaniev she had an inter-
view with the King of Poland, her former lover, now her creature
and victim. At Koidok she was met by the Emperor Joseph II.,
who, as usual, travelled incognito under the title of Count Falken-
stein. Joseph had devotedly attached himself to her fortunes.
Louis XVI. had endeavoured to dissuade his brother-in-law from
the alliance ; but Joseph had declared to the Court of Versailles,
in August, 1783, that he would support the Czarina against the
Turks with 120,000 men. The present position of his affairs had,
however, somewhat cooled his ardour. As the two Sovereigns-
approached Cherson, large bonfires were kindled at every fifty
rods, to enable them to travel by night. To give her new do-
minions an air of prosperity, Potemkin caused temporary villages
to be erected along the route, which were peopled with inhabitants
brought from afar, and dressed in holiday attire ; while vast herds
of cattle were grazing in the pastures. But, after Catharine had
passed, villages, peasants, and herds vanished like a scene in a
play, and left the country in its native solitude. At Cherson, one
of the gates of which bore the ambitious inscription, " The road
to Constantinople," Joseph paid assiduous court to the Czarina,
and every morning attended her levee as a private individual.
Future projects against Turkey were cautiously and suspiciously
discussed during this journey, but no definite plans were formed,
and neither Sovereign desired immediate war.1 Catharine feared
a diversion on the side of Prussia and Sweden, while Joseph
received at Cherson alarming tidings respecting the state of
Belgium. This position of affairs was favourable to Turkey, and
the Divan listened to the exhortations of the English and Prussian
residents not to let slip the opportunity of taking vengeance upon
Catharine.2 The Czarina, who had been scared from continuing
her journey to Kinburn by the apparition of a Turkish fleet in the
Liman, had scarcely returned to St. Petersburg, when the Russian
Minister at Constantinople was arrested and confined in the Seven
Towers, August 10th, 1787. At the same time war was declared
against Russia. Chabaz Gherai was proclaimed Khan of tin1
1 Zinkeisen, B. vi. S. 622. 2 Se'gur, Tableau hist.etpol. ch l' Europe, t. i. p. 93-

Chap. L.] SCANDINAVIAN HISTOKY. 235

Tartars, and the Emperor was required to declare his views.
Joseph replied that he was bound by treaties to Russia ; and that
he should repel force by force. But he offered to mediate a recon-
ciliation; and he accompanied this declaration by placing a cordon
of troops on the Hungarian frontier.

The war began with a fruitless attack of the Turkish fleet upon

Kinburn, heroically defended by Suvaroff, September 2 1th. The

winter was passed in negotiations. France attempted to mediate

i peace, and would probably have succeeded, had not a courier

3f M. de Segur, the French Minister at St. Petersburg, who was

:he bearer of Catharine's approval of a scheme of conciliation, been

nurdered on the road. In June, 1788, Potemkin crossed the

Bug and invested Otchakov. The Turkish fleet, which had attacked

Jie Russians in the Liman near that place, was totally defeated

md destroyed, June 26th. Otchakov, after a furious resistance,

vas taken by assault, December 17th, the day of St. Nicholas, the

tatron saint of Russia. A dreadful massacre ensued, in which

•0,000 persons are said to have lost their lives. Meanwhile

oseph II. had declared war against the Porte, February 9th,

788. Two fruitless attempts to surprise Belgrade before the

eclaration threw a shade over the Austrian policy. The plan of

ie campaign was bad. The Austrian forces were weakened by

eing spread in five divisions over an extent of 800 or 900 miles

'om the Bukovina to the Adriatic. The Emperor led his division

gainst Belgrade, but failed through dilatoriness. Prince Liech-

mstein attempted Dubitza with the same result, which place,

owever, was taken by Loudon, August 26th, 1788. On the left

ing Prince Coburg occupied a considerable part of Moldavia ;

it, on the whole, the campaign was unfavourable. The Grand

izier Yussuf broke the Austrian centre and penetrated as far as

smesvar. The Turks were indeed compelled to evacuate the

mat before the end of autumn ; but, on the whole, the campaign

ust be regarded as a failure ; and the Emperor returned to

ienna ill and dispirited. One cause of this failure was the in-

iciency of the Russians, hampered by an attack of Gustavus III.

<j Sweden. But to explain this event it will be necessary to take

iprief review of the Scandinavian kingdoms.

I During the Seven Years' War the faction of the Hats had

tygned supreme in Sweden ; but they lost their influence after

t3 Peace, and in the Diet which assembled in 1765 the Caps

citrived to seize the Government. To the people, however, this

mge was of little benefit. They were still oppressed by an

236 GUSTAYUS III. [Chap. L.

oligarchy differing but little from that which had been supplanted
except in its views of foreign policy. The old King Adolphus
Frederick was too fond of peace and tranquillity to attempt any
changes in the State ; but his son, the Crown Prince Gustavus, a
nephew by his mother of Frederick the Great, had already begun
to appear in public as the defender of the people against the op-
pressions of the nobles, and by his talents and popular qualities
excited much admiration and enthusiasm. He had compelled the
Council to convoke the States, before the usual period of assembly,
in April, 1769 ; a step, however, which only resulted in the estab-
lishment of the Hats. In 1771 Gustavus made a journey to
Paris; and he was in that metropolis when he heard of his father's
death, on February 12th. Gustavus, while at Paris, entered into
a solemn engagement with the French Ministry to bring about a
Monarchical Revolution in Sweden. Yet, at this very time, he
signed, at the demand of the Swedish Council, an Act of Security
which they had forwarded to him, by which he promised to take
on his return a solemn oath to the Constitution of 1720, and to
regard as enemies of their country all who should attempt to
restore the Kingly power.1

The talents and manners of Gustavus III. made him very
popular at the beginning of his reign, and great hopes were en-
tertained of him. The gold furnished to him by the French
Court was applied to corrupt the soldiery, and the mutual hatred
of the two prevailing factions was employed to work their own
destruction. Gustavus was called upon at his coronation, which
was celebrated with great pomp in May, 1772, to sign the Act ot
Security ; but though he pledged himself by an oath to its obser-
vance, he declared that he had not read it, so great was his con-
fidence in the States ! and he was hypocritical enough to add that
he had long taken the oath in his heart, being convinced that it
was intended for the good of the nation. Yet he was already
preparing the overthrow of the Constitution.

Gustavus was sure of the people. He had also formed a party,
called the Court Party, which included many of the Hats; he ban
Avon the military, and especially the garrison of Stockholm, to
which the Council, in order to retain its obedience, allowed double
pay. In July, 1772, disturbances broke out in the remoter pro-
vinces. Rudbeck, one of the chief members of the oligarchy, who

1 For this period of Swedish history English Emhassv in that country); P°5"
see Sheridan, Hist, of the late Revolution se\t,Libi>i Gustavus III.
i , s eden | Sheridan was secretary to the

Chap. L.] RUSSIAN AND SWEDISH WAR. 237

had been despatched on this account to Gothenburg and Carls-
krona, was refused admittance into the little fortress of Christian-
stadt. The King's brothers, Frederick Adolphus and Charles,
began to put their regiments in motion in Schonen. The Council
now appointed Funk, one of their body, governor of Scania,
with dictatorial power ; required the King to recall his brothers,
placed patrols in the streets of Stockholm, and forbade the King-
to leave the city (August 19th, 1772). Gustavus at this crisis
jeemed immersed in the most frivolous amusements, such as de-
signing patterns for embroidery, and other pursuits of the like
dnd. But under this veil he had prepared the blow which he
neditated striking. On the very morning that the Council had
bus declared war upon him, he repaired to that assembly and
oadcd them with the bitterest reproaches. He next proceeded
o the main guard, and assembling the officers who were in his
onfidence, he addressed them with that popular eloquence for
rhich he was famed, and persuaded all but three to sign a paper,
transferring their allegiance to himself instead of the Council. By
he common soldiers and the populace he was received with
niversal applause. His next step was to surround the Council
i their chamber, and place a guard upon all the avenues. Then
lounting his horse, he rode through the city, announcing with
is own mouth the fall of the tyrannical oligarchs amid general
claination. Before evening-, Gustavus was undisputed master
? Stockholm. In his address to the people on the following day,
ustavus assured them that he should claim only the limited pre-
gatives enjoyed by Gustavus Adolphus and Charles X. Yet the
Dnstitution, drawn up by himself, to which he compelled the Diet
swear by pointing his cannon on the assembly, invested him
ith extraordinary prerogatives, so that, in case of need, he was
en empowered to levy new taxes, without the consent of a com-
ittee of the States. The King now dismissed the old Council,
d appointed a new one entirely dependent on himself. But in
'ite of these arbitrary and unconstitutional proceedings, the
1st measures of Gustavus were highly popular. He abolished
tn abuses introduced by the late oligarchical government, and
(lised justice and order to flourish in the Kingdom.
!,This revolution deprived Russia of the influence she had hitherto
I n-cised in Sweden by means of the prevailing anarchy. In order
I regain it, Russian emissaries were constantly inciting the nobles
a linst the Court. Gustavus, to revenge himself, seized the occa-
s q of the Russian war with the Turks. He renewed the ancient

238 DANISH HISTORY. [Chap. L.

connection between Sweden and the Porte, and by treaties con-
cluded in 1787 and 1788, engaged to attack Russia, on condition
of receiving Turkish subsidies.1 Catharine II. having equipped
at Cronstadt in the spring of 1788 a fleet destined for the Medi-
terranean, Gustavus caused his brother, the Duke of Sudermania,
to issue from Carlscrona with the Swedish fleet, while at the same
time he assembled some troops in Finnland. Count Rasumoffski,
the Russian Minister at Stockholm, hereupon presented a note de-
manding an explanation of these preparations ; but as the note
was addressed c ' to all those of the nation who participated in the
government," Gustavus, instead of explaining, ordered Rasu-
moffski to quit the kingdom as a disturber of the public peace ;
and, on July 1st, he caused an ultimatum to be presented td Catha-
rine, in which he demanded the punishment of Rasumoffski, the
cession of Russian Finnland and Carelia with Kexholm, and the
acceptance of Swedish mediation between Russia and the Porte.
He also demanded that Catharine should disarm her Baltic fleet
and recall her troops from Finnland, whilst he reserved to himself
the right of remaining armed till a peace should be concluded
with the Porte. Catharine replied by a declaration of war,
July 11th.

The Swedes began the campaign by taking Nyslot and invad-
ing Carelia. Gustavus in person laid siege to Frederickshanm,
but either false news or want of provisions compelled him to raise
it and retire to Kymenegord. Terror reigned at St. Petersburg.
The Russian fleet had fought a drawn battle with the Swedish in
the Gulf of Finnland. But the force of Gustavus was parabjzed
by an unforeseen event. The news of preparations making in
Norway by the Danes compelled him to return to Stockholm. He
had scarce left the army when a number of officers assembled to-
gether, and alleging that the Constitution of 1772 forbade the King
to undertake an offensive war without the consent of the States,
required the Duke of Sudermania to propose an armistice ; and,
on the Duke's refusal, they sent a deputation to St. Petersburg to
declare that the army would not pass the frontiers provided
Catharine instructed her troops not to enter Finnland. Catharine
gave the deputation a gracious reception ; an armistice was agreed
on, which the Duke of Sudermania was compelled to accept ; and
he retired from Russian Finnland.

The preparations making by Denmark to interfere in the con-
test recall our attention to that country, of whose history we sbad

1 Wenck, t. iii. p. 504.

Chap. L.] CAROLINE MATILDA AND STRUENSEE. 239

}ffer a brief retrospect. Frederick V., who, towards the end of

lis life, grew somewhat weak and superstitious, died at the early

ige of forty-two, January 14th, 1766. He was a munificent

patron of literature and science, and a favourer of courtly splen-

lour ; but for the people little was done, and the peasant remained

he serf of the landed proprietor. He left a son only seventeen

ears of age, who succeeded him with the title of Christian VII.

Ii. generous, or rather, perhaps, a politic, act on the part of

'atharine II. had, early in Christian's reign, attached Denmark to

ussia. By a treaty, concluded in 1767, she had renounced, in

le name of her son Paul, his pretensions to the Duchy of Schles-

ick, and agreed that the part of Holstein still governed in Paul's

ime should be reunited to Denmark.

The history of Denmark from Frederick's death down to the
;riod at which we are arrived presents little of importance. A

Imestic tragedy forms its chief incident. Christian VII. married
English princess, Caroline Matilda, a sister of George III.,
to, in January, 1768, bore him a son and heir. In this year
3 young King, who had been badly educated, and whose mental
akness approached fatuity, was sent on a tour to England and
auce with a suite of near sixty persons, while his young consort
named at home. In Holstein the travellers were joined by a
oarkable man, Struensee, town physician [Stadtphysilms) of
Aona. Struensee, who was destined to exert a powerful in-
flpnce both over Christian and his Kingdom, was a handsome,
sljmg-built man, of witty and agreeable conversation. Bred up
iim ascetic pietism by his parents, he had, like many talented
P'isons of that age, ended with discarding all religion and becom-
inla disciple of the French philosophy. During this journey the
K|g lost the little bodily and mental strength he had before
Pressed, and fell entirely under the influence of Struensee, who
Jejune Christian's body physician after his return to Copenhagen.
Stkensee now formed a criminal connection with the young Queen,
Caliline Matilda; the imbecile and impotent Christian was brought
enj'ely under their control ; Count Bernstorf, Baron Hoik, and
Mfprmer ministers were removed ; and Struensee, associating
^A himself Falkenskiold as commander-in-chief,1 and Brandt,
wh succeeded to Hoik's office of amusing the King, began in
171 to assume the entire direction of affairs. Struensee was an
aut ratio reformer, after the manner of Pombal in Portugal.

le Mtmoires of Falkenskiold, translated into French by Secretan (Paris, 1826),
are i ource for this period.

240 CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE SWEDISH COURT. [Chap. L.

During- his short tenure of office he is said to have issued no fewer
than 600 reformatory decrees, many of which were highly salutary.
He abolished the censorship of the Press ; suppressed the many
honorary titles which had crept in to an absurd extent during
the preceding* reign ; abolished monopolies and reversions to
vacated offices ; reformed the relations between the peasants and
landed nobles, as well as municipal corporations, the magistracy,
the universities, courts of law, &c. He made debts recoverable
by legal process from the highest noble as well as from the
meanest citizen. He introduced economy into the military ser-
vice by reducing the royal horse-guard. He also attempted some
reforms in the Church, especially by abolishing most of the
numerous holidays. In short, he tried to imbue Denmark, which
was near a century behind the rest of Europe, with the spirit of
the age, and with this view invited thither many foreigners dis-
tinguished by their learning or ability.

These innovations naturally produced great discontent and oppo-
sition among the privileged classes. Struensee had touched the
interests of three powerful orders — the clergy, the army, and the
nobles. Nay, with the best intentions for their welfare, he had
contributed to offend the prejudices of the whole nation ; for the1
greater part of the Danes, who were bigoted Lutherans, regarded
Struensee, on account of his reforms in the Church, as no better
than an atheist. The national prejudices were also shocked by the
introduction of foreign teachers and outlandish ideas, and especially
because the edicts of reform had been promulgated in the German
language instead of the Danish. Hence, a "Danish" party was
formed, in opposition to the " German/' and these names became
the watchwords of national antipathy. The widowed Queen Juliana
Christian VII. 's stepmother, who saw her own son Frederick
neglected, retired from Court in disgust, and put herself at th<
head of the Danish party. The conduct of the young Queen
Caroline and Struensee soon supplied this faction with the mean
of overthrowing them. In the well-known condition of Christian
the birth of a princess had manifested the nature of the connec
tion between Caroline and her Minister. Struensee, on his sid'
began to abuse his influence, and effaced the merit of his reform
by his ambition, avarice, and vanity. He enriched himself, whil.-
he forced economy on others ; nay, elated with his success, he wr
even weak enough to assume some of the official titles which b
had abolished, and he caused himself and his colleague Brandt 1
be created Counts. He lived in princely style in the royal palac

Chap. L.] EXECUTION OF STRUENSEE. 241

and instead of a democratic reformer made himself a sort of Dic-
tator, with the title of Privy Cabinet Minister. All papers signed
by him, and furnished with the cabinet seal, were to be regarded
as valid as if they had received the royal signature.

In spite, however, of the opposition formed against him,
Struensee might probably have maintained his hold of power
had he possessed the requisite courage and resolution. But in
the presence of danger this bold reformer did not show himself
equal to the task which he had undertaken. He displayed his
cowardice by flying with the whole Court from Copenhagen on
the occasion of a riot of some 300 sailors, who compelled him to
grant a request he had previously refused. He acted with equal
pusillanimity on two or three other occasions. Thus he had de-
termined to reduce the Norwegian guards, a privileged corps, and
distribute them among the regiments of the line ; yet, when a
mutiny arose, he not only complied with their demand to be dis-
charged, but even conciliated them by a distribution of money.
By such instances of weakness he inspired his enemies with
contempt as well as hatred, and encouraged them to work his
ruin.

The chief instrument of his fall was Guldberg, a miller's son,

a ci-devant student of theology, who, as tutor to Prince Frederick,

had acquired great influence over the Queen Dowager. Under

Guldberg's direction, a conspiracy was organized against

Struensee, which included Queen Juliana, Prince Frederick,

Rantzau, the Minister-at-War, and others. In the morning of

January 17th, 1772, the chief conspirators, who had gained the

nilitary, suddenly entered Struensee's bed-chamber, and by work-

ng on his fears compelled him to sign the documents which they

md prepared. Several orders of arrest were next extorted from

he imbecile Christian, by virtue of which Queen Caroline Matilda,

Struensee, Brandt, and ten of their colleagues were placed in

onfinement. The young Queen was conducted to Kronborg ;

'truensee and Brandt were cast into horrible dungeons and loaded

"ith chains. Stupefied by the sense of his danger, and terrified

7 the threats of his judges, Struensee was induced to sign a full

mfession of his guilt with the Queen. But his hopes of saving

s life by this step were disappointed. He and Brandt were

;ecuted, April 28th. Frankenskiold was banished to Funkholm

i Norway, and compelled to subsist on half-a-dollar a day ; till

length, in 1777, at the intercession of the Court of St. Peters-

|irg, he was liberated and indemnified. Queen Caroline Matilda

IV. R

242 GUSTAVUS III. BECOMES ABSOLUTE. [Chap. L.

signed a confession of her guilt, March 8th, 1772. Her trembling
hand was able to form only the first four letters of her name, and
was guided to the end by Baron Schak. A divorce was then
pronounced between her and Christian VII. ; but she was
liberated from confinement and conveyed to Celle, in the Hano-
verian dominions, where she died in 1775.

The hypocritical Guldberg was now triumphant, and ruled
twelve years in Denmark under the modest title of Cabinet Secre-
tary. He took an opposite course to Struensee. Instead of
abolishing abuses he restored them, and introduced fresh ones.
Thus he acquired the gratitude and favour of the nobles ; but the
people discovered that the restoration of Lutheranism did not
involve the return of happiness, and began to regret the Minister
over whose fall they had rejoiced. Guldberg ruled till 1784.
Two years before he had dismissed the greatest ornament of this
period, Peter Andrew von Bernstorf, nephew of the former
Minister of that name, who to great talents united strict integrity.
But in the year named the young Crown Prince succeeded in ob-
taining possession of his father's person, dismissed Queen Juliana, |
Guldberg, and their creatures, and restored Bernstorf to power.

Agreeably to its treaties with Russia, Denmark prepared to |
succour that Power in its war with Sweden. In September,
1788, an army of 20,000 Danes, under Prince Charles of Hesse- ■
Cassel, invaded Sweden from Norway, and advanced as far as i
Uddevalla, near Gothenburg. Gustavus hastened into the
northern provinces of his Kingdom, and by his popular eloquence |
incited the people to defend their country. The threats of the j
three allied Powers, England, Holland, and Prussia, to send a
fleet to the help of the Swedish King, induced the Danes to with-
draw from Sweden ; an armistice was concluded under British
mediation, and Christian VII. declared his neutrality.

In the Diet which assembled at Stockholm in January, 1789,
the nobles manifested a disposition to oppose the King; but j
Gustavus, being supported by the other three estates, caused'
twenty-five of the nobles to be arrested, February 20th. On the'
following day he laid before the Diet a new Constitution, under
the title of an "Act of Union and Surety." its object was to
increase the royal prerogative, and confer on the King the power
of declaring war. This Act received the immediate assent of tliei
clergy, burgesses, and peasants. The nobles rejected it, but the
King compelled their speaker to affix his signature ; and though
this order protested, they agreed, like the rest, to furnish supplies

.Chap. L.] PEACE OF WERELA. 243

for the war. Hostilities continued during 1789 and 1790 ; but
though a great many actions took place, both by sea and land,
they were, for the most part, indecisive ; and, with the exception
of some of the maritime operations of 1790, which brought the
war to a close, are scarcely worth detailing.

In May of that year Gustavus, after defeating the Russian
galleys off Frederickshamn, proceeded to Wiborg, and disem-
barked troops within thirty leagues of St. Petersburg. Here he
was joined by his brother, the Duke of Sudermania, with the
main Swedish fleet. But meanwhile the Eussian fleets, stationed
at Cronstadt and Revel, had formed a junction, constituting a
force of thirty ships of the line and eighteen frigates, and they
now blockaded the whole naval power of Sweden, with the King
himself, in the Gulf of Wiborg, during a period of four weeks.
Provisions began to fail the Swedes, and the Russian commander,
sure of his prey, proposed to Gustavus to surrender by capitula-
tion. Fortunately, an easterly wind sprang up. The Swedes,
i taking advantage of it, and clearing the way by means of fire-
ships, succeeded in forcing a passage ; but with the loss of seven
ships of the line, three frigates, and 5,000 men. Gustavus, who
followed with the Swedish galleys, succeeded in escaping to
Svenksund, but with the loss of thirty sail. The Russians, how-
ever, were subsequently defeated with great loss in an attack
upon that place, and were thus hindered from any attempt upon
Stockholm.

These events accelerated a peace. Russia, mistress of the

jBaltic, could no longer be prevented from sending a fleet into

jtlie Mediterranean ; the aid of Sweden had therefore become

useless to the Porte, and she could no longer reckon on subsidies

from that quarter. It was known, too, that Catharine was

legotiating a peace with the Porte, on the conclusion of which

bweden would be exposed to all the weight of her anger. But

'Catharine, on her side, was aware that the negotiations between

Prince Potemkin and the Turks had been broken off, and that

uistria was about to conclude a separate peace with them, which

'ould leave Prussia and Poland at liberty to turn their arms

gainst her. She therefore proposed a conference, which termi-

atedin the Peace of TVerela, on the strict status quo ante helium,

august 14th, 1790/ The progress of the French Revolution

jibsequently converted Gustavus and Catharine from personal

aemies into warm friends and allies, and in October, 1791, an

1 Martens, t. iii. p. 175.

244 ALLIANCE OF PRUSSIA AND TURKEY. [Chap. L.

alliance was concluded at Drottningholin, called the Treaty of
Friendship and Union.1

We must now return to the Austro-Bussian war with Turkey,,
the narrative of which was interrupted at the close of the cam-
paign of 1788 (supra, p. 235).

Prince Bepnin had now succeeded to the command of the
Russian army of the Ukraine, and defeated the Turks, who had
crossed the Danube at Ismail, September 20th, 1789. General
Platoff, at the head of the Cossacks, took Akerman, or JBialogrod,
at the mouth of the Dniester, October loth; and Potemkin closed
the campaign by the capture of Bender, November 14th. The
Austrians had been equally fortunate, under the command-in-
chief of General Haddik. Prince Coburg, in conjunction with
Suvaroff, defeated the Turks at Fokchany, Augus.t 1st, and again
at Martinesti, September 22nd ; while Count Clairfait overthrew
them at Mehadia, August 28th, and drove them from the Banat.
But the chief hero of the campaign was Loudon, who took the
suburbs of Belgrade by storm, September 30th, and compelled
Osman Pasha and the Turkish garrison to capitulate, October
8th : Semendria and Passarowitz surrendered a few davs after.

Meanwhile, Sultan Abdul Hamed had been carried off by a
stroke of apoplexy, April 7th, 1789. His nephew and successor,
Selim III., son of the unfortunate Mustapha III., a young Prince
of twenty-eight years, possessing considerable energy and talent,
resolved to prosecute the war with spirit ; and he issued a decree
commanding all the " Faithful/'' between sixteen and sixty years
of age, to take up arms. But, like some of his predecessors, he
acted with more zeal than discretion. Dressed as a sailor, or in
other disguises, Selim went alone, by night as well as day, through
the streets of Constantinople ; he entered manufactories, shops,
and coffee-houses, and endeavoured to learn the wants and wishes
of the people from their own mouths.2 By such a course, how-
ever, he was often led into error. By the revival of obsolete
sumptuary laws, and the severity with which he enforced their
provisions with respect to apparel, &c, he lost more hearts '
than he had gained by his apparent zeal for the welfare of his
people.

Selim' s warlike ardour suspended for a while the negotiations

which the Court of Berlin, under the counsels of Hertzberg, had

for some time been carrying on with the Porte, with the view of

bringing about a peace. Frederick William II. had offered his

1 Martens, t. v. p. 38. ' Zinkeisen, Gcsch. des osm. Eciches, B. vi. S. 721.

Chap. L.] DEATH OF JOSEPH II. 245

mediation between Austria and the Porte : but the Emperor re-
jected it in an angry letter, in which he reproached the House of
Hohenzollern with their encroachments ever since the days of
Albert of Brandenburg.1 The reverses suffered by the Turkish
arms, in the campaign of 1789, favoured the renewal of these
attempts on the part of Prussia, and a close alliance between that
Power and the Porte was concluded at Constantinople, January
31st, 1790. By this treaty Prussia undertook to assist the Porte
in the following spring with all her forces. But Diez, the Prus-
sian Minister at Constantinople, exceeded his instructions. The
Cabinet of Berlin, of which Hertzberg was still the director, had
only contemplated a war against Austria ; but Diez, instead of
using the general expression " enemies of the Porte/' specifically
undertook to declare war " against the Russians and Austrians •"
and inserted the " Crimea/' by name, as one of the provinces to
be recovered by the Sultan, although he had been instructed to
avoid mentioning any particular provinces.2 The King- of Prussia
I delayed the ratification of the treaty till June 20th, when these
clauses were evaded by adding the condition, " so far as it shall
be in our power, and circumstances will permit ;" while all men-
tion of the Crimea was omitted ; and the words u the provinces
lost in the present war," substituted for it.3 The Porte, on its
side, promised to use its endeavours to procure the restitution of
iGalicia and the other Polish provinces seized by Austria, to the
(Republic of Poland.4 In this piece of liberality towards that
unfortunate country, Hertzberg, however, was not so disinterested
is he seemed. His object in procuring the restoration of these
provinces was to extort from Poland, Dantzic and Thorn in ex-
change for them. By the political relations then subsisting in
Europe, this alliance assured to the Porte the friendship of Poland
Itnd Sweden, as well as the powerful intervention of Great Britain
jnd Holland ; which two Powers were to be the mediators of the
;^iture peace.

Soon after the conclusion of this treaty between Prussia and
jue Porte, the death of the Emperor Joseph II. (February 20th,
1790), also contributed to give a new turn to affairs. Although
pe success of the Austrian arms in the last Turkish campaign
tight serve to throw a cheering ray on Joseph's last days, yet
ie gloomy aspect of affairs in his own dominions is thought to

It is given by Menzel, B. vi. S. 215. t. iii. p. 51 sq.j cf. Zinkeisen, JB. vi. S.

j™\ 781.

I Zinkeisen, B. vi. S. 749. * Hertzberg, t. iii. p. 44 ; Martens,

The Ratifications are in Hertzberg, t. iv. p. 560.

246 REVOLUTION IN BELGIUM. [Chap. L.

have hastened his end. While the Prussians were preparing to-
strike a blow against him, discontent was increasing in Austria;,
an insurrection was daily expected to break out in Hungary;
Tyrol was in a state of general ferment ; and in the Netherlands
Joseph had actually been deposed. The discontent in those pro-
vinces had continued to smoulder, and, in 1789, it burst into a
flame.1 Even the arbitrary act of Count Trautmannsdorf, in
abolishing the Joyeuse Entree, June 18th, did not produce an im-
mediate insurrection. But the breaking out of the French Revo-
lution encouraged the insurgents. The same cause also occasioned
an insurrection in the bishopric of Liege, which then belonged to
the Circle of Westphalia. An imperfect attempt of the Emperor
to conciliate matters in the Netherlands served rather to aggra-
vate than soothe the general discontent. By the Edict of August
14th, 1789, he re-established at Louvain the episcopal schools,
but without suppressing the general seminary, and left to theolo-
gical students the choice of either. In the following September,
several thousands of the malcontents, with Cardinal Frankenberg,
Archbishop of Mechlin, and the Duke of Arenberg at their head,
crossed the frontier to Breda; and having formed a pretended
assembly of the States, they addressed a remonstrance to' the
Emperor, demanding the restoration of the privileges enjoyed by
Brabant from time immemorial, and threatening, in case of refusal,
to appeal " to God and their swords." The people rose in arms ,
under the conduct of Van der Meersch, a retired officer, who i
styled himself " General of the Patriots ;" and they defeated
3,000 Austrians under General Schroder, who had attacked them
at Turnhout. One Van der Noot, an advocate, who called him-
self " Agent of the Brabanters," now assumed the direction of
the movement, and became for a time the virtual ruler of the
Austrian Netherlands. In November the Austrian garrison was
expelled from Ghent, and all Flanders renounced its allegiance.
The Archduchess Christina and her husband quitted Brussels
about the middle of that month, and soon after the Austrian
troops were driven out, though Trautmannsdorf had, for a time,'
apparently re-established tranquillity by restoring the Joyeu^
Entree. A Declaration of Independence was published in that
capital, December 13th, 1789, to which the other provinces, with.
the exception of Luxembourg, acceded. Before the end of the
year the Austrians were entirely expelled. On January 11th.

1 For these events see Arer.dt, We Brabantische Revolution, in Raumer's Tascfon-
buch, 1848.

Chaf. L.] CHARACTER OF JOSEPH II. 247

1790, deputies from most of the provinces of the Austrian Nether-
lands having assembled at Brussels, signed an Act of Union of
the Belgian United Provinces. The Government of the new-
Republic, which was of an aristocratic nature, was intrusted to a
Congress ; of which Cardinal Frankenberg was President, Van
der Noot Prime Minister, and Van Eupen Secretary.

Such was the state of affairs at the death of Joseph II., a
Monarch who appears to have sincerely desired the welfare of his
subjects, but who undertook the impossible task of ruling them
according to the philosophic ideas of his age, with the view of
rendering them happy and enlightened in spite of their interests
and prejudices, and, as it were, against their will. In Hungary
he found it expedient to revoke all his innovations before his
death, except the Edict of Toleration and the abolition of serfdom.
He also sent back to that country the Holy Crown of St. Stephen,
which was carried in triumph to Buda. In short, he summed up,
not altogether inaccurately, his own political character in the
epitaph which he proposed for himself a little before his death :
" Here lies a Sovereign who, with the best intentions, never
carried a single project into execution/" Personally, however,
Joseph had many excellent qualities. He was industrious, he
mixed freely with his people, and permitted even the meanest of
them to approach him. To a courtier, who proposed to reserve a
portion of the Augarten for the higher classes, he replied : " If I
wished to mix only with my equals, I must spend my life among
the coffins of my ancestors in the Imperial vault." He declined
a proposal of the inhabitants of Buda to erect a statue to him,
with some remarks which may serve to show his ideal of a State.
He observed that he should deserve a statue when prejudices
were extirpated, and genuine patriotism and correct views of the
public good established in their stead ; when everybody should
I contribute his proportion to the necessities and security of the
'State; when the whole of his dominions should be enlightened by
means of improved education, a simpler and better teaching of
the clergy, and a union of religion and law ; when a sounder ad-
ministration of justice should be introduced, wealth increased by
'augmented population and improved agriculture, better relations
established between the nobles and their dependents, and trade
md manufacture put on a better footing.2 But the harshness

1 Coxe, House of Austria, vol. ii. p. 661. the Netherlands; while the regulations

In this epitaph, however, Joseph was which he made for his other dominionscon-

K little too severe upon himself. His tinue still in force. SeeMenzel,B. vi.S.252.

evocations related only to Hungary and 2 Menzel, B. vi. p. 255.

248 PROPOSITIONS OF 1TSTOIA. [Chap. L.

with which he enforced minute and vexatious police regulations
deprived him of the popularity which his many good qualities
were calculated to attract.

Joseph II. died at the age of forty-eight, and in the tenth year
of his reign. Although he had been twice married/ he left no
living issue, and he was therefore succeeded as King of Hungary
and Bohemia, and in the Sovereignty of Austria, by his brother
Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Leopold had ruled Tuscany
twenty-five years, with the reputation of liberality and wisdom.
Like his brother Joseph, he had sought to reform the Church, and
had seconded the efforts of Scipio Ricci, Bishop of Pistoia, for that
purpose. An assembly of all the Jansenist prelates and clergy of
Tuscany, which Eicci had convoked in the metropolis of his see
in 1787, drew up the projects of reform, celebrated as the Propo-
sitions of Pistoia. In these Propositions the Papal power was
questioned, the showy and merely external worship introduced by
the Popes was condemned, and the strict morality of the Jansenists
declared the essential principle of Christianity. Pius VI., who
then filled the Papal throne, threatened Ricci with excommunica-
tion. But the firm attitude of Leopold, who forbade all appeals
to Rome, refused to recognize the spiritual powers of the Nuncio,
and abolished the dependence of the religious orders on foreign
superiors, deterred the Pope from proceeding to this extremity.
Such reforms, however, were as distasteful to the mass of the
Italians as they were to the Austrians. The populace regarded
Ricci as a heretic, and on that score thought themselves justified
in plundering his palace. The Propositions of Pistoia were con-
demned by a small assembly of prelates at Florence, dignified with
the name of a general synod ; and Pius had only to await with
patience a reaction, which soon dissipated the reforms of the
Tuscan clergy.2 Equal liberality was observed in Leopold's civil
administration. He mitigated the rigour of the penal laws, and
abolished capital punishment, even in cases of murder. Observ-
ing that this mildness was attended with beneficial effects, he in-
troduced, in 1786, his celebrated Code, by which the criminal law
was entirely revised, and the prosecution and punishment of
offenders reduced to a minimum of harshness and severity.

Leopold, who was forty-three years of age at the time of his

1 First to Maria Isabella of Bourbon, second wife was distasteful to him, and

daughter of Don Philip, Duke of Parma; he never married again, but lie indulged

by whom he had two daughters who died in promiscuous amours, which sometimes

young. His second wife was Josepha of endangered his health.

Ba\ aria, daughter of the Emperor Charles a See Memoires sur Pie VI. et

VII., by whom he had no issue. His Pontificat.

Chap. L.] ACCESSION OF LEOPOLD II. 249

brother's death, immediately left Florence for Vienna. The politi-
cal atmosphere, as we have seen, was anything but clear. Leopold
felt that the most pressing necessity was to accommodate matters
with Prussia. Immediately after his arrival in Vienna, he ad-
dressed a letter to the King of Prussia, in which he expressed a
desire for his friendship, and candidly declared that, as an in-
demnity for the expenses of the war with Turkey, he should be
content with the boundaries assigned to Austria by the Peace
of Passarowitz in 1718; and he concluded with assurances of
moderation with regard to his future policy.1 He did not, how-
ever, neglect the precautions rendered necessary by the attitude
assumed by Prussia, and ordered an army of 150,000 men to
assemble in Moravia and Bohemia ; although this step compelled
him to reduce his forces on the Danube. Frederick William
replied in a conciliatory autograph letter, in which he intimated
that he could not act without the concurrence of his allies (April
15th). At this juncture England proposed an armistice to Prussia
and the belligerents, in order to treat for a peace on the status quo
ante helium; but the proposal failed, chiefly through the obstinacy
of Kaunitz, now an old man of eig'hty, whose senile caprices were
treated with great deference by Leopold, although opposed to his
)wn convictions.2 After the rejection of the armistice Prussia
submitted the following- project for a peace : That Austria and
Russia should restore to the Porte all the territory they had con-
mered between the Danube and Dniester ; Austria, however, re-
aming those parts of Wallachia and Servia which had been as-
igned to her by the Peace of Passarowitz, but restoring Galicia
o Poland, except the district from the borders of Hungary and
^ransylvania to the rivers Dniester and Stry. In order to restore
be balance between Austria and Prussia, the latter country was
3 have Dantzic and Thorn. On these conditions Frederick
Villiam II. agreed not to oppose Leopold in the Netherlands,
ad to vote for him as EmjDeror.3 The Prussian note accompany-
g these proposals was peremptory, almost challenging. Austria
teclined the terms offered, on the ground that the districts assigned
1 her were no equivalent for the sacrifices required of her, and
lat it was unreasonable to demand that peace should be made at
r expense.

Hertzberg, Becueil dt Deductions, Emperor, when he had any business to

'i- p. 61. transact, was obliged to go to Kaunitz's

■' See Memoirs and Correspondence of house, as he never came to Court. MS.

K. M. Keith (the British Minister Journal, ibid. p. 290 note.

Vienna). Despatch to the Duke of Leeds, 3 Hertzberg, t. iii. p. 74.
yilltk, 1790, vol. ii. p. 277 sqq. The

250 NEGOTIATIONS AT REICHENBACH. [Chap. L.

Both parties now prepared for war. Loudon resigned the com-
mand on the Danube, to place himself at the head of the Austrian
army on the frontier of Saxony. The main body of the Prussians,
under the King, the Duke of Brunswick, and General Mollendorf,
assembled in Silesia; another division was stationed in East
Prussia, on the borders of Lithuania, and a third in West Prussia,
towards the Vistula. It was in his camp at Schonwald that Frede-
rick William ratified his treaty with the Porte, as already men-
tioned (June 20th). But in spite of these hostile demonstrations,
both Sovereigns were secretly longing for peace. Leopold wished
to allay the intestine disorders of his dominions ; Frederick Wil-
liam apprehended that his proposals might be distasteful to Poland
and the Porte ; while both Monarchs were filled with alarm at the
rapid progress of the French Revolution. Fresh negotiations were,
therefore, opened at Reichenbach, a town in the principality of
Schweidnitz. Russia refused to take part in them, having resolved
to treat separately with the Porte. Hertzberg, bent on carrying
his views against Austria, even at the risk of a war, endeavoured
to exclude England from the Conference, because that Power, as
well as Holland, advocated the strict status quo ante helium.; and
they had declared that if Prussia should persist in her scheme of
indemnification, and a war should be thereby kindled, they should
not consider it a casus foederis, and should forbear to take any
part in it. Lucchesini, too, the Prussian Minister at Warsaw, dis-
suaded the irresolute Frederick William from adopting Hertz-
berg's policy ; which he and others represented as the offspring
of a false ambition, and a blind and passionate hatred of Austria.
Leopold's firmness had almost occasioned the breaking-off of
the negotiations, when they suddenly took a new turn. A party
had sprung up in Poland which opposed the cession of Dantzic and
Thorn, its only ports, and preferred to renounce Galicia. As this
party was supported by the Maritime Powers, Frederick William
deemed it prudent to postpone his endeavours to obtain those j
places till a more convenient opportunity. In revenge, the Prussian
Cabinet required that Austria should give up Turkish Wallachia,
and signified that the non-acceptance of this condition within ten
days would be considered a declaration of war. Leopold consented
to accept the strict status quo ante helium. As there had been ,
no war between Austria and Prussia, those two Powers contented
themselves with reciprocal declarations, which were combined in

1 Sir R. M. Keith characterizes them as " schemes of partition, exchange, and dtprc-
clation." — Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 361. ••

Chap. L.] PEACE OF SISTOVA. 251

the Convention of Reichenbach,1 signed August 5th, 1790. On.
the 21st of the same month an armistice was concluded at Giur-
gevo, between Austria and the Porte. Before its conclusion the
Austrians had gained some advantages in the campaign of that
year. Old Orsova had capitulated to them, April 16th, and some
successes had been achieved in Wallachia.

It was not till January, 1791, that a congress for the establish-
ment of peace between Austria and the Porte was opened, under
the mediation of England, Holland, and Prussia, at Sistova, a
town in Bulgaria. During its progress, the Austrians, raising a
distinction between the status quo de jure and de facto, made some
new demands, which they ultimately carried; not, however, in the
treaty, but by a separate convention with the Porte, by which the
latter ceded Old Orsova and a district on the Unna. The Porte
retained Moldavia and Wallachia. The Peace of Sistova and the
Convention were signed on the same day, August 4th, 1791. 2

The reconciliation with Prussia had many beneficial results for
Leopold. Besides promoting the Peace of Sistova, it enabled him
to put down the disturbances in the Netherlands and Hungary,
and helped him to the Imperial Crown. The three allied Powers
did not wish to see Austria deprived of the Belgian provinces by
a revolution, though they wanted her to make a new barrier treaty.
After the Congress of Reichenbach had settled the affairs of Tur-
key, the Prussian Minister delivered to those of Austria a declara-
tion of the Maritime Powers, expressing their readiness to guaran-
tee, in conjunction with Prussia, the constitution of the Austrian
Netherlands, and to take the necessary steps to bring them again
under the dominion of the House of Austria. On intelligence of
this, the Brussels Congress sent deputies to London, Berlin, the
Hague, and Paris, to make remonstrances and demand succours.
Leopold, before he left Florence, had declared his disapproval of
the innovations of his predecessor in the Netherlands, had pro-
mised a complete amnesty, confirmed the J oyeuse Entree, and even
extended the privileges of his rebellious subjects; but without
effect. An army of 20,000 men was raised, and placed under the
'command of Van der Noot; but this force, which attacked the
Austrians on the Meuse, in the autumn of 1790, was beaten in
almost every rencounter. It had been settled at Reichenbach to
hold a congress at the Hague, which was opened in September,
and attended by Austrian, Prussian, English, and Dutch Minis-
ters. The Belgian provinces also sent deputies ; but as they still

1 Hertzberg, t. iii. p. 103 sqq. 2 Martens, t. v. p. 18.

252 SUBMISSION OF BELGIUM. [Chap. L.

continued refractory, and demanded that France should be asso-
ciated in the negotiations, the mediating Powers declared, October
31st, that unless they made their submission within three weeks,
they would be abandoned to their fate. This declaration was in
accordance with a manifesto published by Leopold at Frankfort,
on the 14th of that month, announcing that if the Netherlander
should not have returned to their duty by November 21st, he
should cause an army of 30,000 men to enter their provinces. The
insurgent States made use of the last moments of their indepen-
dence to offer the sovereignty to Leopold's third son, the Arch
duke Charles. This step, however, did not arrest the march of the
Austrians, under Field-Marshal Bender. They entered Naniur,
November 24th, and Brussels, December 2nd, when the rest of
the Belgian towns submitted. On December 10th the Ministers
of the Emperor and the mediating Powers signed, at the Hague,
a definitive convention,1 and the provinces sent deputies to tender
their submission. The Netherlander were guaranteed in their
ancient rights and privileges, with some new concessions, and a
general amnesty, containing only a few exceptions, was proclaimed.
The Republic of the Belgian Provinces had lasted scarce a year.
The Archduchess Christina and her husband, the Duke of Saxe
Teschen, made their solemn entry into Brussels, June 15th, 1791;
but though the aristocratic and more powerful party, which was
in favour of kingly government, had submitted, democratic dis-
turbances, in connection with the dominant faction in France, still
continued.

The disturbances in Hungary had also been calmed. Leopold
was quietly crowned at Pressburg, November 15th, 1790. The
Emperor's son, Alexander Leopold, whom the Hungarians had
unanimously elected their Palatine, assisted in placing the Crown
upon his father's head. The new King of Hungary had, in the
previous October, received at Frankfort the German and Imperial
Crown, to which he had been unanimously elected, with the title
of Leopold II. Leopold's government in the Austrian dominions
was reactionary. One of his most important regulations was the
introduction of the secret police, which he had established m
Tuscany, principally, it is said, for his amusement. Leopold died
suddenly, March 1st, 1792, in consequence of errors in diet, and
the use of incentives which he prepared himself. He was forty-
five years of age at the time of his death. He had had sixteen
children, of whom fourteen survived him. He was succeeded m

1 Martens, t. iii. p. 3-42.

Chap. L.] FRANCIS II. EMPEROR. 253

the Austrian Monarchy by his eldest son, Francis, then twenty-five
years of age, who, in the following1 July, was elected and crowned
at Frankfort, with the Imperial title of Francis II. Leopold had
invested his second son, Ferdinand, with the Grand Duchy of
Tuscany.

Meanwhile the war had continued between Russia and the Porte.
The campaign of 1790 began late. Under Potemkin, Suvaroff, and
other generals, the Russians captured Kilia Nova, October 29th,
and two or three other places subsequently surrendered. But the
grand feat of the year was the taking of Ismail by assault, by
Suvaroff, December 22nd. This desperate enterprise was not
achieved without great loss on the part of the Russians, who stained
their victory by the horrible butchery which they committed. The
campaign on the Kuban and in the Caucasus was also favourable to
the Russians. Several engagements took place at sea. A bloody
but indecisive battle was fought near the Gulf of Yenikale, July
19th, 1790, and, on September 9th, Admiral Ouschakoff entirely
lefeated the Turkish fleet near Sebaatopol.

Fortune also favoured the Russian arms in 1791 . The principal

went in the campaign of that year was the defeat of the Grand

v'izier, Yussuf Pasha, by Prince Repnin, near Matchin, July 10th.

The victory was chiefly due to General Kutusoff, who commanded

he Russian left wing. On the 3rd of the same month, General

Tudowitsch, with the army of the Caucasus, took Anapa, the key

f the Kuban. On August 11th, Admiral Ouschakoff, after a severe

ngagement, defeated the Turkish fleet off Kara Burur, or the

Hack Cape. But on that very day the preliminaries of a peace

ad been signed at Galatz.

Catharine II. having refused to accede to the Congress of Rei-

benbach, or to accept the mediation of Prussia with the Porte,

rederick William put a large army on foot ; and Great Britain

eclared to the Cabinet of St. Petersburg, that, whether the

ediation of the allied Powers were accepted or not, she should

3rnand for the' Porte the strict status quo ante helium. In

irsuance of this declaration a large fleet, destined for the Baltic,

is equipped in the English harbours, and the Dutch were called

f>on to furnish their contingent. But a war with Russia was

ry unpopular in England, on account of the lucrative commerce

th that country. It was warmly opposed by Fox and Burke ;

tt himself was not anxious for it ; and the retirement of the

ike of Leeds, the Foreign Secretary, who was succeeded by

>rd Grenville (April, 1791), marked the adoption of a more

254 PEACE OF JASSY. [Chap. L.

pacific policy. Shortly before the allies had obtained the consent
of Denmark to act as mediator between Russia and the Porte ; a
mediation which Catharine accepted. She continued, however,
to reject the strict status quo, though she was not unwilling to
accept a modified one, which should give her Otchakov and its
territory ; and in this demand she was supported by Count Bern-
storff, who, as Danish Minister, conducted the mediation ; but on
oondition that the fortifications of Otchakov should be razed. The
allies consented ; new propositions were made to Catharine on this
base, and, after considerable negotiation, preliminaries were signed,
August 11th, at Galatz, between Prince Repnin and the Grand
Vizier. The negotiations for a peace were transferred to Jassy,
whither Prince Potemkin hastened from St. Petersburg to con-
duct them. The idea of a peace was very distasteful to Potemkin,
who was in hopes of obtaining Moldavia and Wallachia for him-
self, as an independent principality; nor did he altogether despair
of attaining that object by his negotiations. But the sittings
of the Congress had scarcely begun when he was seized with a
malignant fever then raging in those parts ; and to which, perhaps,
the agitation of his spirits contributed to give a fatal result. He
left Jassy, October 15th, for his favourite residence, Nicolajeff.
But it was not permitted him to reach it. He died on the road
the following day, in the arms of his favourite niece, the Countess
Branicka. The Peace or Jassy was signed January 9th, 1702.
The Dniester was now established as the boundary between the
Russian and Turkish Empires, and thus Otchakov was tacitly
assigned to Russia ; which Power restored to the Porte its other
conquests.1

We must now revert, in a fresh chapter, to the States of
Western Europe, and especially to France; of the affairs of which
country our account has been brought down to the Peace of
Paris (above, p. 185 sq.).

1 Martens, t. v. p. 67. Also in Wilkinson's Moldavia and Wallachia, p. 230 sq.

Chap. LI.] DECLINE OF FRENCH INFLUENCE. 255

CHAPTER LI.

IN the events which agitated Eastern Europe since the Peace
of Paris in 1763, as recorded in the two preceding chapters,
we cannot help observing the decline of the political influence of
France. That Power seemed to be no longer the same which had
lictated the Peace of Westphalia, and during the reign of Louis
SIV. had terrified all Europe by her arms and embroiled it by
ler negotiations. An abstinence so repugnant to her natural
temper was imposed upon her by the necessities of her internal
:ondition, and especially by the disorder of her finances. So
jreat was her need of repose, that one object alone, the desire of
triking a blow at England, might tempt her to draw the sword.
ihe Peace of Paris was felt as a humiliating blow by both the
bourbon Courts, and especially by that of Versailles. The Duke
.e Choiseul, in conjunction with Grimaldi, Minister of Charles III.
f Spain, made some endeavours to reopen the treaty of 1763,
nd renew the war with England. Circumstances, however, were
ot yet ripe for such an undertaking, and they deemed it prudent
b defer their projects of revenge to a more favourable opportunity.
l diabolical scheme which they had formed (1764), to burn the
ockyards at Portsmouth and Plymouth, was fortunately dis-
pvered in time by Lord Rochford, our Ambassador at Madrid,
id happily frustrated.1
As the financial embarrassments of France paralyzed her foreign
)licy, so the profligate conduct of Louis XAr. and his Court was
lily alienating the people and producing in their minds that
sgust and aversion which ultimately overthrew the Monarchy.
ie death of Louis's mistress, Madame de Pompadour, in 1764,
is only followed by a deeper plunge into vice and shame, by
e now elderly Monarch. He seemed, indeed, for a while, to be
•■'akened to a sense of repentance and amendment by the death
' his ill-used consort, Maria Leczynska, in June, 1768 ; but these
mptoms were of short duration. In the autumn of that year
i valet de chambre Lebel, the purveyor of his infamous pleasures,

1 Coxe, Spanish Bourbons, vol. iv. p. 317.

256 INFAMY OF LOUIS XV. [Chap. LI.

introduced to his notice one Jeanne Vaubernier, a woman of
abandoned character, the mistress of the proprietor of a tennis
court. This creature at once acquired a complete ascendency over
the sensual Monarch. He married her to an elder brother of her
former keeper, created her Countess du Barri, and introduced her
at Court, nay, even to his own daughters. . It might be dero-
gatory to history to narrate these particulars, but for the fact
that, under the ancient regime, the reigning mistress too often
controlled the destinies of France. Such was the case in the
present instance. The pride of Choiseul forbade him to court the
infamous favourite ; and he even tried to awaken Louis to a sense
of his disgrace in " succeeding all France." His indignation, which
we cannot characterize as entirely virtuous, appears to have been
sharpened by disappointment. His sister, the Duchess de Gra-
mont, had failed to attract the notice of the King, and found her-
self supplanted not only by a woman without reputation, but even
a roturiere. The new mistress, however, was supported by the
Chancellor Maupeou, and by the Duke d'Aiguillon, a bitter enemy
of Choiseul's, who had formerly purchased the King's favour by
sacrificing to him his mistress, Madame de la Tournelle, after-
wards Duchess of Chateauroux. In about a year the intrigues of
this faction effected the overthrow of Choiseul. Louis dismissed
that Minister, December 24th, 1770, on the ground that he had
nearly involved France and Spain in a Avar with England, and in
a letter brutally abrupt, directed him to proceed forthwith to his
chateau of Chanteloup.

The annexation of Corsica to France was among the last acts
of ChoiseuPs administration. That island had been under the
dominion of the Genoese since the year 1284, when they had
conquered it from the Pisans. The government of the Genoese
Republic had been harsh and tyrannical. The cruelty exercised by
its agents in collecting the taxes had occasioned an insurrection in
1729; since which time the island had been in a constant state of
anarchy and semi- independence. They elected their own chiefs,
and in 1755 they had chosen for their general the celebrated
Pascal Paoli, second son of Hyacinth Paoli, one of their former
leaders. Pascal Paoli, whose father was still alive, was now
in his thirtieth year. He held a command in the military ser-
vice of Naples, and was distinguished by his handsome person
as well as by his abilities and courage. Having established
himself at Corte, in the centre of the island, he organized some-
thing like a regular government, and diverted the ferocious energy

Chap. LI.] COKSICA SOLD TO FRANCE. 257

of the Corsicans from the family feuds in which it found a vent, to
a disciplined resistance against the common enemy. The French
had assumed the part of mediators between the Genoese and their
rebellious colonists as early as 1751. That Republic had succeeded
in retaining only some of the maritime places ; and three of these
had been occupied by the French in 1756, but without hostilely
interfering between the contending parties, and only in their
quality of mediators. The occupation, however, was abandoned
at the end of two years ; till, in 1 764, the Genoese having expe-
rienced the difficulty, not only of subduing the rebels, but even of
retaining the places which they held, besought the French to
return ; and by the Treaty of Compiegne put into their hands for
a term of four years Ajaccio, Calvi, Bastia, and San Fiorenzo.
The Corsicans made a fruitless attempt to induce France to recog-
nize their independence by offering the same tribute which they
had been accustomed to pay to the Genoese. It may be men-
tioned, as illustrating the degree to which the philosophical notions
then prevalent had affected the minds even of practical men, that
Colonel Buttafuoco, the Corsican agent, was instructed to request
the groundwork of a constitution from the pen of J. J. Bousseau,
and to invite that philosopher to Corsica in the name of Paoli's
government. The French Court behaved disloyally both towards
their allies the Genoese and to the Corsicans. The latter were
deceived with false hopes ; while, during a four years' occupancy, a
debt was contracted which the Republic of Genoa was unable to
discharge. The Genoese, too proud to recognize the independence
of their rebellious subjects, made over Corsica to France for a sum
of two million francs, May 15th, 1768. The Corsicans resolved
to defend themselves, but in the following year were subdued by
superior forces, and placed under the government of France.
These proceedings excited great indignation in England. General
Paoli and many of his companions fled their country. Paoli
came to England, where he was feted and caressed ; but the
English Government did nothing for Corsica, and ultimately
icquiesced in its subjection.1

Among the causes of Choiseul's fall was the part which he had
jaken against the Duke d'Aiguillon. That nobleman had been
iccused of maladministration in his office of Governor of Brittany,
nd a process had been instituted against him in the Parliament

SeeKlose, Leben Pascal Paolis. Anec- He died in London. February 5tb, 1807,
otes of Paoli's residence in England will and was buried at St. Pancras.
e found in Boswell's Life of Johnson.

258 REFORM OF MAUPEOU. [Chap. LI.

of Rennes. The King evoked the suit before the Parliament of
Paris ; and finding that body hostile to his favourite, he annulled
their proceedings in a Lit de Justice, and published an Edict in-
fringing the privileges of the Parliament. That body tendered
their resignation, and refused to resume their judicial functions,
though commanded to do so by the King, till the obnoxious Edict
should be withdrawn. The Court solved the question by a coup
d'etat. On the night of January 19th, 1771, the members of the
Parliament were awakened in their beds by the Royal musquetaires,
with a summons from the King to declare yes or no, whether they
would resume their functions. All but thirty or forty refused.
Even these, having speedily retracted, were sent into exile, as their
refractory comrades had been before, and the Council of State was
charged with the provisional administration of justice. These
proceedings were followed by others still more arbitrary and
illegal. The Parliaments throughout the Kingdom were entirely
suppressed, and in their place six Superior Councils (conseils
superieurs) , with power to pronounce judgment without appeal,
except in a few cases, both in civil and criminal causes, were
erected in the towns of Arras, Blois, Chalons, Clermont-Ferrand,
Lyon, and Poitiers. For the Parliament of Paris was substituted
a body of seventy-five persons, nominated by the King, whose
places, therefore, were neither purchased nor hereditary as
formerly, and who were forbidden to take presents (epices) from
suitors. This body was nicknamed, after its contriver, the
Parlement Afaupeou.

All this was done under the colour of reform and intellectual
progress, affected in those days by the most arbitrary Sovereigns.
Louis XV. was to figure as a liberal with Frederick II. of Prussia,
Catharine II. of Russia, and Joseph II. of Austria. The preamble
of Maupeou's Edict, abolishing the Parliaments, developed ideas
designed to attract the philosophers, and really succeeded in
catching some of the Encyclopedists, including their chief and
patriarch, Voltaire. Nor can it be denied that some of the alleged
motives were sufficiently specious. Thus Maupeou took credit
for abolishing the sale of offices, which often prevented the ad-
mission of persons into the magistracy who were most worthy of
it ; and for rendering the administration of justice both prompt
and gratuitous, through the suppression of the Judges' fees, and
by relieving, through the establishment of the conseils superieurs,
provincial suitors from the necessity of going to Paris.1 Nor, it
1 Martin, Hist, de France, t. xvi. p. 284.

Chap. LI.] ABOLITION OF FRENCH PARLIAMENTS. 259

we regard the political functions assumed by the Parliament of
Paris, was there much to regret in its fall. Never, surely, was a
political machine invented of so much pretension and so little
power. A Royal Edict was of no avail till sanctioned and regis-
tered by the Parliament ; yet, if this sanction was withheld, the
King had only to hold a Lit de Justice, and enforce compliance.
A body so constituted, and composed principally of one class in
the State, could never hope to be a constitutional power; and,
accordingly, its resistance to the Royal will, though sometimes
productive of serious disturbance, always ended in defeat. Never-
theless, the abolition of the Parliaments was unpopular with the
great majority of the French nation. In the first place, the
Ministry from which these reforms proceeded was not only sus-
pected, but despised. The Parliaments, again, despite the vices of
their constitution, were really popular. They were the only expo-
nents of the national voice ; and in general the members, whose
dignity and independence were secured by their places being
hereditary, though pui'chased, had shown themselves the friends
of liberty and progress. The people recollected that it was they
who had opposed the feudalism and Ultramontanism of the Middle
Ages, and that to them alone they could now look for any barrier
against Regal despotism. These sentiments were shared by many
of the very highest rank. Out of twenty-nine Peers present,
eleven had opposed the registry of the Edicts against the Parlia-
nents ; and what seemed still more serious, all the Princes of the
|)lood Royal, except one, had protested against the proceedings
>f the Court, and even denied the King's power to issue such an
indict as that of the Lit de Justice. The Advocate- General Seguier,
ad, at the time, warned the King to his face against the course
e was pursuing, and bade him remember that even in the
reatest Monarchies, disregard of the laws had often been the
ause or the pretext of revolutions.

This blow against the State had been preceded a few years

efore by one against the Church. Choiseul, in conjunction with

[adame de Pompadour, had effected the expulsion of the Jesuits

torn France ; and it has been thought that the fall of that

anister was hastened by the revenge and intrigues of the dis-

ples of Loyola. The fall of the Jesuits concerns the general

story of Europe, and we have, therefore, abstained from touching

t it, till it could be narrated in its totality. We have already

id that this movement originated in Portugal, and was the work

Pombal. To the influence of the Jesuits it was ascribed that

260 SUPERSTITION OF JOHN V. OF PORTUGAL. [Chap. LI.

the weak and superstitious John V. had annihilated all hope of
progress, by throwing his Kingdom entirely into the hands of the
clergy ; and this circumstance is the best justification of Pombal's
harsh and arbitrary proceedings against the Society. Amidst the
enlightenment of the eighteenth century, the conduct of John
might have befitted the most benighted period of the Dark Ages.
Among other instances of his extravagance may be mentioned
the foundation of the Royal Convent of Mafra, at an expense of
forty-five million crusades, or near four millions sterling. In one
wing of this building 300 lazy Franciscans were lodged in regal
splendour ; their church occupied the centre, and the other wing
formed the King's Palace ! John founded a patriarchate in Lisbon,
and towards the end of 1741 caused at least a hundred houses to
be pulled down in that city, in order to build a patriarchal church
and palace. In 1744, after recovering from an attack of sickness,
he summoned to his Court four-and-twenty prebendaries, whom
he had instituted, gave all a cap, violet stockings, red shoes, a
golden hat-band, and a cardinal's staff; conferred upon them
ducal rank, with an income of 2,000 crusades apiece, and on the
following day enjoyed the spectacle of seeing them perform divine
service in their new attire. The Civil Government was also under
ecclesiastical control, and promulgated the strangest regulations.
Thus, for instance, the importation of costly manufactures in gold,
silver, silk, fine stuffs, &c, was suddenly prohibited, except such
as were to be used by the clergy, and in the churches. The liberty
to display his whims and caprices in Church matters was bought
by John at a high price from the Court of Rome, and no country
was more profitable to the Papal Court than the little Kingdom
of Portugal. Hence he earned from Pope Benedict XIV. the
equivocal title of Fldelissimus, which might signify his excessive
devotion either to the Holy See or to Christ.

In these and the like acts there was enough to excite the bile
of a less fiery reformer than Pombal. That Minister regarded the
Church, and especially the Jesuits, as the chief authors of the
declining state of the Kingdom ; and he had been further incensed
against that Society by their conduct in Paraguay. Through the
influence of John V.'s daughter, Barbara, who had married Ferdi-
nand VI. of Spain, a settlement had been effected, in 1750, of the
long disputes respecting the colony of San Sacramento on the
river Plata, which had been assigned to Portugal by the Treaty
of Utrecht. Portugal abandoned that colony to Spain, receiving
in return the town and district of Tuv, in Galicia, and the Seven

■Chap. LI.] GABRIEL MALAGRIDA. 261

Missions of Paraguay. The native Indians of this district were to
be transferred to Spanish soil; but their rulers, the Jesuits, in-
cited them to oppose this arrangement, and for some time they
succeeded in resisting the 3,000 or 4,000 Spaniards and Portu-
guese, under the command of the Commissaries appointed to
effect the exchange. Pombal despatched his brother with a
considerable army, in 1753, to put an end to the dominion of the
Jesuits; which, however, was not effected till 1756. Meanwhile,
the great earthquake of Lisbon had taken place. The Jesuits did
not let slip so favourable an opportunity for working on the
superstition of the people. Pombal was denounced from the
pulpits, and the earth cpaake was appealed to as the visible judg-
ment of God upon his profanity.

The Portuguese Minister was not a man to be daunted by
such attacks. He resolved on the destruction of the Jesuits.
His first victim was Malagrida, apparently a harmless fanatic, if
fanaticism ever can be harmless. Gabriel Malagrida, the inventor
of certain mechanical spiritual exercises which he alone could
conduct, had obtained the odour of sanctity by setting afloat,
through the efficacy of his prayers, a ship which had been
stranded ; but, regardless of these merits, the Minister banished
Saint Gabriel to Setubal. This step was followed up by a seizure
of all the Jesuits at Court (September, 1757), and the publication
of a manifesto against them which created a great sensation in
Europe. The principal charge alleged against them in this docu-
ment was their conduct with regard to the Indians of Paraguay.
In the following year Pombal denounced them to Pope Bene-
dict XIV. as violating the laws of their Society by illicit traffic
and plots against the Government ; he forbade them to engage in
commerce, and finally even to preach and confess. The answer
of the Papal See to this application was deferred by the death of
Benedict (May, 1758) ; but, soon after, the attempt on the life of
King Joseph, already related, afforded Pombal a pretext to root
out the Society.1 They were accused of being privy 'to that
ittempt ; the new Pope, Clement XIII., was applied to for a
Jrief authorizing their degradation and punishment ; and on the

1 Joseph I. of Portugal died in Feb- his consent to the arrangement. But

uary, 1777, and was succeeded by his Charles III. of Spain announced his resolu-

uughter, Maria Francisca. Pombal had tion of supporting his niece's rights with

ndeavoured to set her aside by abolish- his whole force, and the design against

ig the decrees of the Cortes, which es- her was abandoned. On the accession of

iblished the female succession, and Maria Francisca, Pombal was dismissed

•ansferring the Crown to Joseph, grand- Coxe, Span. Bourbons, ch. lxix.

m ot the reigning monarch, who gave

262 THE JESUITS EXPELLED FROM PORTUGAL. [Chaf. LI.

Pope's hesitating, Ponibal caused all the Jesuits in Portugal, to-
the number of 600, to be seized and thrown on the Italian coast
at Civita Vecchia (September, 1759) . Clement, in retaliation,
ordered Pompal's manifesto to be publicly burnt ; to which that
Minister replied by confiscating all the possessions of the Society,
and breaking off diplomatic relations with Pome. Pombal, who
was no philosophic reformer, and was not averse even to an auto
defe which might increase his popularity, proceeded against the
unfortunate Malagrida by ecclesiastical methods. Instead of
arraigning him for high treason, he caused him to be declared
a heretic by the Inquisition, which was conducted by Domini-
cans. He was then delivered to the secular arm and burnt Sep-
tember 20th, 1761.

Considering the light in which the Jesuits were generally re-
garded, Pombal's act did not meet so much approval from the
public opinion of Europe as might have been anticipated. The
hypocrisy of the proceedings against them was revolting to the
philosophical spirit of the age, while their illegality and cruelty
excited disgust in England and other Protestant countries. Never-
theless a strong feeling of dissatisfaction with the Society pre-
vailed throughout the greater part of Europe, which the example
of Portugal served to stimulate to action. France was the first
nation to imitate it. The Jesuits, generally so accommodating to
the manners of the age, had been imprudent enough to display
their hostility towards Madame de Pompadour, and, by a strange
coalition, the Royal mistress combined with the Jansenists of the
Parliament for their destruction. Their commercial transactions
in the French colonies afforded a handle against them. Their
house at Martinico, governed by La Valette, had been converted
into a great commercial and banking establishment. Their con-
signments having been intercepted by the English, the merchants
who had accepted their bills became insolvent, and the creditors
then proceeded against La Valette, who declared himself bank-
rupt. The creditors hereupon brought an action at Marseilles
against the whole Society established in France, and obtained a
verdict (May, 1760), which was confirmed on appeal by the
Parliament of Paris.

The scandal of this affair caused a great sensation in Europe.
The Genoese Government ordered the Jesuits to close their com-
mercial establishment in that city. Venice forbade them to re-
ceive any more novices. In France, their trade, principally m
drugs, was suspended, and their affairs, as well as the constitu-

Chap. LI.] PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THEM IN FRANCE. 263

tions of their Society, were submitted, in spite of the intervention
of Pope Clement XIII., to the examination of the various Parlia-
ments. That of Paris severely denounced their doctrines as mur-
derous and abominable, condemned a multitude of their books, and
forbade them any longer to teach. Louis XV., who, from fear, it
is said, of a Jesuit knife, was not so inimical as his mistress to
them, endeavoured to effect a compromise, and, by the advice of
some of his chief prelates, proposed to them to modify their in-
stitutions. But to permit these to be regulated by a civil power
would have been a kind of suicide. Their General, Ricci, at once
rejected the proposal, and declared that they must remain as they
were, or cease to exist.1 Clement XIII. in vain endeavoured to
rouse the fanaticism of France in their favour. Choiseul and
Pompadour triumphed over all opposition, though the Queen and
the Dauphin were ranged on the other side. But the Minister
prudently left the odium and responsibility of the proceedings
against the Jesuits to the Parliament, who, in the winter of 1761,
issued against them several celebrated comptes renclus. The Par-
liament of Rouen took the lead in these proceedings by a decree
annulling the statutes of the Society, condemning them to be
burnt, and directing all the Jesuits in their jurisdiction to evac-
uate their houses and colleges (February, 1762) . The Parliament
of Paris followed this example in April, and similar measures were
adopted by those of Bordeaux, Rennes, Metz, Pau, Perpignan,
Toulouse, and Aix. Some of these Courts, however, as those of
Dijon and Grenoble, did not go to such lengths, while others, as
those of Besancon and Douai, were altogether favourable to the
Society. The Parliament of Paris, in a decree of August 6th,
charged the Jesuits with systematically justifying crimes and
vices of all sorts ; brought against them the political charge of
owing their allegiance to a foreign Sovereign, thus forming a
j State within the State; and finished with pronouncing them irre-
vocably excluded from the Kingdom.2 But though this decree
was published in the King's name, it did not bear his signature ;
jind it was not till November, 1764, that the Society was entirely
'suppressed in France by Royal authority.

Choiseul's enmity against the Jesuits was not satisfied with their
Expulsion from France. He resolved to effect their entire destruc-
jion, and especially he contributed to their banishment from Spain ;
vhere he is said not to have scrupled at circulating forged letters

1 " Sint ut sunt, aut non sint.'' — Flassan, t. vi. p. 500.
a Anc. Lois Fran^aists, t. xxii. p. 328.

264 THE JESUITS BANISHED FROM SPAIN. [Chap. LI.

in the names of their generals and chiefs, with the design of bring-
ing them into hatred and suspicion.1 Several of the Spanish
Ministers of that day, Aranda, Campomanes, Monino (afterwards
better known as Florida Blanca) , were imbued with the spirit of
the French philosophy, and were disposed to follow the example
of Choiseul ; but Charles III. hesitated long before he adopted
any violent measures against the Society. Some occurrences,
however, which took place in 1765 and the following year, excited
his suspicions against them. They were accused of being the
authors of the disturbances which arose in the Spanish colonies in
America on the occasion of a new code of taxes, as well as of the
tumults at Madrid in the spring of 1766. These riots, however,
were really caused by the conduct of the Marquis Squillaci,
Minister of Finance and War. Squillaci had introduced a better
system of police at Madrid ; but being himself an Italian, he had
paid little attention, in prosecuting his reforms, to the national
customs and prejudices ; nor were these much more respected by
the King, who, though born in Spain, had quitted it too early to
retain much love for its manners. Squillaci had also incurred the
hatred of the people by establishing a monopoly for supplying
Madrid with oil, bread, and other necessaries. But his inter-
ference with the national costume was the immediate cause of the
insurrection. The huge mantles and hats with flaps that could
be let down had been found, by the concealment which they
afforded to the person, to favour the commission of murders,
robberies, and other crimes, and Squillaci therefore published an
edict forbidding them to be worn. Its appearance was the signal
for an uproar. The populace surrounded the Royal Palace ; loud
cries arose for the head of Squillaci ; nor could the tumult be
appeased till the King appeared on his balcony, promised to
dismiss the obnoxious Minister, and to appoint a Spaniard in his
stead. Instead of doing so, however, Charles fled to Aranjuez
in the night with Squillaci. But the tumult was renewed, the
King was again forced to capitulate, and to perform his promise
of dismissing the Minister. Charles attributed these affronts to a
conspiracy of the Jesuits with a view to drive him into a retro-
grade policy. They were also charged with a design to exter-
minate the King and all his family, of which, however, there
appears to be no proof. The Society was suppressed in Spain by
a Royal Decree, April 2nd, 1766, and all the members of it were
banished the Kingdom. It was further ordered that the Jesuits

1 Coxe, Spanish Bourbons, vol. iv. p. 354.

Chap. LI.] UNIVERSAL PERSECUTION OF THE JESUITS. 265

in all the Spanish possessions throughout the world should be
arrested on the same day and hour, carried to the nearest port,
and shipped off to the Roman States, as being the subjects of the
Pope rather than of the King. Clement XIII., at the instigation
of Ricci, declared that he would not receive them. The Spanish
vessels which arrived at Civita Vecchia were fired upon ; they
I were repulsed at all the ports on the Italian coast ; and the
i miserable exiles with whom they were filled, after enduring
terrible hardships, were at length indebted to Charles III. for
procuring them an asylum in Corsica. The Court of Rome ulti-
mately relaxed in its severity, and received the Jesuits despatched
from the East Indies and America ; to each of whom the King of
Spain allowed a small pittance of two pauls, or about a shilling a
day.1

The decree of Charles III. was followed by another blow

igainst the Jesuits in France. The measures taken against them

n that country had not been rigorously carried out. They had

?ound support in the differences of opinion respecting them which

)revailed in the various parliaments, as well as the quarrels of

hose bodies with the Court, and they had still retained influence

mough to cause fear and embarrassment to their opponents.

3ut when the news of the proceedings against them in Spain

rrived in France, the Parliament of Paris was encouraged to

declare them public enemies, to command them to quit the King-

.om in a fortnight, and to supplicate the King, in conjunction

rith all Catholic Princes, to obtain from the Pope the entire sup-

ression of the Society (May 9th, 1767). Choiseul, in conjunc-

on with Pombal, urged the King of Spain to support them in

lis undertaking ; but though Charles had acted so rigorously

g'ainst the Jesuits in his own dominions, he could not at first

ersuade himself to aid in their entire destruction. While he was

ms hesitating, the Pontiff, by an imprudent provocation, deter-

ined him to assist the views of the French and Portuguese

[imsters. The Bourbon Sovereigns in Italy, the King of Naples,

id the Duke of Parma, had followed the example of Spain, and

Spelled the Jesuits. Clement XIII. was impolitic enough to

low his displeasure by attacking the weakest of these Sovereigns.

e excommunicated the Duke of Parma, and declared him de-

ived of his principality as a rebellious vassal of the Church

anuary 20th, 1768). To avenge this insult to the House of

Respecting the Spanish Jesuits, see Viardot, Les Jtsuites jugfs par les rois, les
ques, et lepape, 1857.

266 CLEMENT XIV. SUPPRESSES THE JESUITS. [Chap. LI. j

Bourbon, Charles III. urged the Kings of France and Naples to i
take vigorous steps against the Pope. Louis XV. responded to
his appeal by seizing Avignon and the Venaissin, whilst the
Neapolitans invaded Benevento. The movement against the
Jesuits spread throughout Catholic Europe. They were expelled ,
from Venice, Modena, and even from Bavaria, the focus of Ger-
man Jesuitism. The pious scruples of Maria Theresa deterred
her at present from proceeding to such extremities ; although her !
son Joseph II., and her Minister Kaunitz, disciples of the French
philosophy, would willingly have seen them adopted ; but the
Jesuits were deposed from the chairs of theology and philosophy
in the Austrian dominions. At length an alarming proof of the <
influence still retained by them in Spain induced Charles III. to
co-operate vigorously for their suppression. On St. Charles's
day, when he showed himself on his balcony, the people having
raised a unanimous cry for their recall, the Spanish Ambassador ,
at Rome was instructed, in conjunction with those of France ,
and Naples, to require from the Pope the abolition of the Society
(January, 1769). This demand proved a death-blow to the aged
Clement XIII., who died on the very eve of the day when the |
question was to come before the Consistory (February 3rd). The
Jesuits moved heaven and earth to procure the election of a Pope
favourable to their cause ; but they missed their aim by two
votes. The choice of the conclave fell on Ganganelli, a minor
conventual, whose opinion on the subject was unknown. Gan-
ganelli, who assumed the title of Clement XIV., was of quite a
different character from his mediocre, rigid, and obstinate prede-
cessor. He possessed considerable abilities, was enlightened
and tolerant, and bore some resemblance to Benedict XIV., but
had less vivacity and gentler manners. The Jesuit question was
a terrible embarrassment to him. On one side he found himself,
menaced by the Bourbon Sovereigns ; on the other, the obscure
threats of the Jesuits filled him with the apprehension of poison.
To conciliate the former, he revoked the Brief against the Duke
of Parma, suppressed the famous bull In Ccena Domini, aud even
wrote to the King of Spain (April, 1770), promising to abolish
the Jesuits. That Society struggled with all the tenacity "1
despair, and scrupled not to invoke the aid even of heretic;) 1
Powers, as England, the Czarina, and Frederick II. The fall of
Choiseul filled them with hope ; but Charles III. was now become
even more implacable than he, and appealed to the Family Com-
pact to urge on the French King. The last support of the

Chap. LI.] WRETCHED STATE OF FRANCE. 2G7

Jesuits gave way when Maria Theresa, at the instance of her son
Joseph, at last consented to their abolition. Clement XIV. now
found himself compelled to defer to the wishes of the allied
Courts. On July 21st, 1773, he issued the bull Dominus ac
Redemptor noster, for the suppression of the Society, in which he
acknowledged that they had disturbed the Christian Common-
wealth, and proclaimed the necessity for their disappearance.
The houses of the Society still remaining were now shut up, and
their General Ricci was imprisoned in the Castle of St. Angelo,
where he died two years after. It was in Protestant countries
alone that the Jesuits found any sympathy and defence. Frederick
the Great especially, who considered their system of education to
be useful, forbade the bull against them to be published in his
lominions. But the Jesuits were destined to revive. Clement XIV.
was rewarded for his compliance by the restoration of Avignon
md the Venaissin, which, however, the Revolution was soon to
eunite to France. On the other hand, this measure is thought
o have cost him his life. In the Holy Week of 1774 he was
suddenly seized with symptoms which appeared to indicate
)oison ; and though he survived till September 22nd, he was
ubject to constant torments. All Rome ascribed his death to
he aqua tofana ; and such also was the opinion of Cardinal Bernis,
he French Ambassador at Rome, as well as of Pius VL, Clement's
uccessor.1 The Spanish and Neapolitan Ministers, on the other
and, attributed his malady to fear.* But to return to the affairs
f France.

After the dismissal of Choiseul, the government of that country
ras conducted by a sort of triumvirate, composed of the Chan-
sllor Maupeou, the Abbe Terrai, who administered the finances,
ad the Duke d'Aiguillon, who was appointed Secretary for
oreign Affairs in June, 1771 ; while over all the infamous Du
arri reigned supreme. Nothing of importance occurred in the
eternal relations of France during the remainder of Louis XV/s
■ign. The only event of European interest was the partition of
bland, which country, as we have seen, D'Aiguillon abandoned
\ its fate. Meanwhile domestic maladministration was pro-
icing those evils and exciting those class-hatreds, which, though
>pt down for a time, exploded so fearfully in the Revolution.

See Bernis's Despatches, September Priest, Suppression de la Soci6te de Jesus ;

h and October 2tith, 1774, and Oc- Theiner, Geschichte des Pontificats Clc-

Br 28th, 1777, ap. Martin, Hist, de mens XIV.; Abbe' Georges, Mem. pour

J 'nee, t. xvi. p. 222 note. servir a VHistoire des 6venemens de la Jin

On the fall of the Jesuits, see St. du xviiieme siicle.

2G8 PECULATIONS OF LOUIS XV. [Chap. LI.

The finances were every day growing worse and worse. Terrai,
to avert a total bankruptcy, resorted to a partial one by cheating
the public creditors, plundering annuitants, and arbitrarily re-
ducing the interest on Government debts. These measures,
indeed, touched only the richer classes of society, but the arbi-
trary taxes which he imposed were felt by the people at large.
The wide-spread misery and discontent were aggravated by dearth.
Several bad harvests had succeeded one another; the scarcity
became intolerable, although the exportation of corn had been
prohibited, and frequent riots took place in the provinces. In
this state of things the public hatred found an object in the King
himself. The Parliament of Rouen openly charged Louis XV.
with being a forestaller, nor could he satisfactorily refute the
imputation. About the year 1767 a company had been estab-
lished under the control of Government called the Societe Afalisset,
with the professed object of keeping the price of corn at a certain
level, and insuring a supply for Paris by buying up and storing
grain in plentiful years in order to resell it in times of scarcity.
The design, perhaps, may have been good ; but a measure so
easy of abuse and so liable to suspicion, was in the highest degree
dangerous. Profligate, expensive, and avaricious, Louis XV. j
scrupled not to avail himself of the advantages of his situation to
fill his private treasury at the expense of his subjects. He was
accustomed to speculate in all kinds of securities, and when an
Edict was in preparation by the Council which might depreciate
the value of any of these, he withheld his signature till he had I
realized ! In like manner he converted the Societe Malisset into
an instrument of private gain. Through the agency of Terrai, I
who bought up corn at low prices in Languedoc, where exporta-
tion had been prohibited, large quantities were sent to Jersey, ]
through the ports of Brittany, which had been opened, in order
to be reimported into France after prices should have been raised
to a maximum by artificial methods. The King's participation in
these nefarious transactions was notorious. The prices of gram
throughout the Kingdom lay constantly on his writing table;
nay, among the officers of finance, the name of a " Treasurer of
grain on account of His Majesty" was inadvertently suffered to j
appear in the Royal Almanack for 1774. The Court endeavoured
to divert the popular odium by accusing the Parliaments of causing
the scarcity ; the Parliaments retorted the charge on the Minis-
ters ; the people regarded them all as equally guilty, and ended !
by considering the upper classes as so many vampires leagued to

Chap. LI.] ACCESSION OF LOUIS XVI. 269

suck their blood. The Societe Malisset obtained the name of the
Pade de Famine, under which it was destined to appear at the
breaking out of the Revolution.1

The notoriously depraved and licentious character of the King,

combined with this baseness, caused him to be contemned as well

as hated. Already in his lifetime the people bestowed on his

heir the title of Louis le Desire, so low had Louis, once the bien

Aime, fallen in the popular estimation. The universal wish for

bis death was gratified May 10th, 1774. It was caused by the

sinall-pox, caught from a scarcely marriageable girl, one of the

victims of his lust ; which, falling on a man of sixty-four with a

constitution already contaminated by vice, proved fatal. He had

•eigned fifty-nine years, during which he had contrived totally to

lestroy the prestige of Royalty, created by the brilliant reigns of

lenry IV. and Louis XIV.

He was succeeded by his grandson, Louis XVI., whose father
he Dauphin had died in 1765. The new Monarch, as we have
aid, had married, in May, 1770, the Austrian Archduchess, Marie
Antoinette, daughter of Maria Theresa. He was now in his
wentieth year, and his character was yet undeveloped. It seemed
d promise both good sense and good principles, unrecommended,
owever, by grace and dignity of manner, and accompanied with
want of energy and resolution which ultimately proved the
hief cause of his ruin. He was fond of books, and still more of
le natural sciences and mechanical arts. His first act was to
:nd Madame du Barri to a convent ; but, with his usual indeci-
on, this severity was not sustained, and she was permitted to
?tire to her estate near Marli. The fall of the mistress was soon
llowed by that of the Ministers who had supported her. Mau-
3ou, D'Aiguillon, and Terrai were succeeded by Maurepas, Ver-
snnes, and Turgot. The last, who had distinguished himself
a political economist, after filling the office of Minister of
arine, was placed at the head of the finances.
Soon after his accession, Louis XVI., by the advice of Mau-
pas, re-established the Parliaments — one of the greatest mis-
ses, perhaps, of his reign. Turgot had opposed this measure.
)uis's address to the Parliament of Paris was, however, very
'Ispotic, and he made several alterations in its constitution,
aerially by the suppression of the two chambers of requests.

The Provost de Beaumont, who had 1790, he was discovered in a dungeon,

flounced the Societe Malisset to the Martin, t. xvi. p. 293 sq. : Vie frivie de

1 'liament of Rouen, suddenly disap- Louis XV. t. iv. p. 152.
I red. On the celebrated 14th of July,

270 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. [Chap. LI.

By the dismissal of Turgot, in May, 1776, through the intrigues
of Maurepas and other enemies, the Monarchy lost its last chance;
he was, perhaps, the only man in France who, by means of re-
form, might have averted revolution. His fall is said to have
been accomplished by means of a letter, in which his hand was
forged, containing sarcasms upon the Queen and Maurepas, and
even expressions calculated to wound the King.1 Turgot was
succeeded as controller of the finances by M. de Clugni, and,
after his death, by Taboureau de Reaux. The latter was an in-
significant person, and the finances were really managed by
Necker, a Genevese banker, under a new title of Director of the
Royal Treasury. In the following year, on the resignation of
Taboureau, Necker was made Director- General of the Finances,
but without a seat in the Council, on the ground of his religion.
Nevertheless, France and Europe called it the Necker Adminis-
tration. Necker was a good practical man of business, and in-
troduced many useful reforms; but he possessed not the broad
and daring grasp of mind and the statesmanlike views which
characterized Turgot.

The state of the revenue compelled France, at this period, to
play but a minor part in the general affairs of Europe, and the
reign of Louis XVI. might probably have been passed in pro-
found tranquillity, had not the quarrel of Great Britain with her
North-American colonies offered an opportunity, too tempting to
be resisted, to gratify the national hatred and revenge. The his-
tory of that quarrel belongs to the domestic annals of England,
and is connected with European history only by its results, and
the maritime war to which it gave rise. Its details must be
familiar to most of our readers, and we need, therefore, only
briefly recapitulate some of its leading events : — the Stamp Act
of 1765, attempted to be thrust on the Americans by the mother-
country, and resisted by them on the ground that they were not
represented in the British Parliament ; its withdrawal in the fol-
lowing year, accompanied, however, with an offensive declaration
of the supreme rights of the mother-country over her colonies ;
the renewed attempt, in 1767, to raise duties in America, on tea,
paper, painters' colours, and glass ; the abandonment of these by
Lord North, except the duty on tea, in 1770; the permission
given to the East India Company, in 1773, to export their surplus
stock to America, and the destruction of some of these cargoes in
Boston Harbour. The quarrel was now becoming serious and
1 See (Euvrcs de Turgot, Notice Hint, par M. Daire, t. i. p. cxi.

Chap. LI.] WASHINGTON COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. 271

complicated. In the spring- of 1774, Acts were passed by the

British Parliament for suppressing the Port of Boston, for abolish-

ng the charter and democratic government of Massachusetts, and

or authorizing the governors of colonies to send home persons

guilty of rebellion, to be tried by the Court of King's Bench.

jeneral Gage was sent to Boston to enforce these measures ; but

he troops at his disposal were not adequate to support such

igorous proceedings. The colonists agreed to abstain from

sing British merchandise till Massachusetts should be restored

o its privileges ; while a General Congress, which met at Phila-

elphia, in December, 1774, resolved to repel force by force.

'hey drew up addresses to the people of Great Britain, as well as

) the Colonies ; and a petition to the King, in which they pro-

tssed, or pretended to profess, their loyalty. But, in spite of

ord Chatham's eloquent warnings, the Government persisted in

s course. In February, 1775, bills were brought in to restrain

te commerce of the New England provinces, and to exclude them

om the Newfoundland fishery. These measures were shortly

llowed by a collision. General Gage, who had received rein-

rcements, having dispersed some American militia at Lexington,

pril 19th, 1775, the colonists assembled on all sides, and drove

e English back to the suburbs of Boston. The Congress now

i pointed George Washington commander-in-chief; and on the

l of July they published a Declaration explaining their motives,

t denying any intention to separate from the mother-country.

ashington, with 20,000 men, now blockaded Boston. In an

empt to relieve themselves, the English, under Generals Howe

1 Burgoyne, fought the Battle of Bunker's Hill, July 17th,

en, but with considerable loss, they ultimately defeated the

lericans under Putnam. The blockade of Boston, however,

1 continued, and in March, 17 76, Howe was compelled to

akndon that town, and to retire to Halifax in Nova Scotia. The

1 lericans, elated with their success, made an attempt upon

tiada, but were repulsed.

The English Ministry had felt the necessity for making more

Drous efforts, and, early in 1776, treaties had been concluded

i some German Princes, the Duke of Brunswick, the Landgrave

°f lesse-Cassel, his son, the Count of Hanau, and the Prince of

^ldeck, by which they engaged to supply between 17,000 and

l-'OO men to serve against the Americans. The country had to

ps clearly for the degradation of incorporating these foreign hire-

l* s in her armies. Much deeper, however, was the shame of the

v
w

272 DECLARATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. [Chap. LI.

Princes who engaged in this white slave trade, and sold thebloodj
of their subjects to fill their own coffers, and support their pomp:
and luxury. The Duke of Brunswick alone appears to have applied'
the wages of blood to the benefit of his remaining subjects. These'
proceedings afforded the Americans a motive, or at all events a:
pretext, for taking the last step, and altogether renouncing theii\
connection with the mother-country, in order that they might bei
able to hire foreign mercenaries themselves. Public opinion in
America had been stimulated in this direction by many publica-
tions and addresses, and especially by Thomas Paine's celebrated
pamphlet entitled Common Sense. On July 4th, 1776, Congress,.
under the Presidency of John Hancock, made its Declaration oi
Independency ; and, in the following October, thirteen States'i
confederated themselves together at Philadelphia, under the title.
of the United States or America.

The German contingents had raised the British army in Ame-
rica to 55,000 men, and the campaign of 1776 proved very un
favourable to the Americans. From elesertion and other causes
Washington at one period found his army reduced to 8,000 meu-
But he retrieved his fortunes in a winter campaign, in which, being
aided by reinforcements under General Lee, he reconcuiered tin
greater part of Jersey, and drove the English back to Brunswick'
The American declaration of Independency encouraged Franco
to afford more active, though still underhand, assistance to the,
nascent Republic. Already before that event, Silas Deane hac
been despatched to France, where, under the guise of a merchant
he intrigued with the Government, and endeavoured to obtaii
supplies of arms and money. His negotiations were carried ci)
through Baron de Beaumarchais, now best known as a lively ant1
successful dramatist, but who himself regarded literature as ver;
subordinate to his commercial and political pursuits. Louis XVI
was averse to a war with England, and in this view he was sup
ported by Maurepas and decker. Marie Antoinette, on the othe
hand, led away perhaps by an unreflecting enthusiasm, was arc!
in the cause of American liberty, and this feeling was shared h
what was called the Austrian party. Yergennes, the Minister fo
Foreign Affairs, inclined the same way, but from different mQ
tives ; a bitter hatred of England, and a desire of overthrowni*
the peace of 1763, which he regarded as ignominious, and detr:

1 New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolinj
Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jer- and Georgia,
sey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland,

Chap. LI.] FRANCE AIDS THE AMERICANS. 273

mental to French interests. This party prevailed. The French
Ministry secretly encouraged the Americans, flattered their mili-
tary ardour, and gave circulation to the writings of their partisans,
while, at the same time, the French Ambassador in London was
instructed frequently to assure that Court of the strictest neutrality
on the part of France ! The French Government did not merely
connive at the Americans being furnished with supplies and
munitions ; it gave them active assistance. Beaumarchais was
provided with a million livres to found a commercial house for
supplying- the Americans with the materials of war, and the public
arsenals were placed at his disposal for the purchasing of warlike
stores. On the recommendation of the Court of Versailles, Beau-
marchais obtained a second million from Spain. Other commer-
cial houses were also assisted with money by the Government,
and from these Silas Deane procured all that he wanted. Aids
in money were also directly forwarded to the Congress through
private channels.1 Privateers, fitted out in France, but sailing
under American colours, committed great depredations on the
English trade. Towards the end of 1776, the arrival of Dr.
Franklin and Dr. Lee, in Paris, as envoys from the American
ongress, excited great enthusiasm. These representatives of
he New World, by the simplicity of their dress and manners,
ttracted the attention and homage of a frivolous people, which
ancied that it had grown philosophical. To many of the tetes
xaltees of the times, the opportunity of striking a blow at once
a the cause of liberty and against Fngland was irresistible.
Lmong the most distinguished Frenchmen who offered their
words to the Americans, may be named La Fayette, the Viscount
e Noailles, and the Count de Segur.
It was not, however, till 1778 that France formally recognized
rnerican independence. The American campaign of that year
id at first gone in favour of the English. Howe had defeated
Washington at Brandy wine September 11th, had subsequently
jken Philadelphia (26th), and again repulsed Washington at
lerman Town, October 24th. But these successes were more
Ian counterbalanced by the fate of General Burgoyne. That
!>mmander, advancing from Canada by Lake Champlain, was
jrrounded by the enemy at Saratoga ; where, not having re-
ived the support which he expected from General Howe and

Flassan, t. vii. p. 149 (Lettev of Ver- Lomenie, Beaumarchais, sa vie, ses tcrits,
J mes to the King, May 2nd, 1776): cf. et son temps.

IV. T

274 CAPITULATION OF SARATOGA. [Chap. LI.

Sir II . Clinton, lie was compelled to surrender with his whole
remaining force to the American General Gates (October 16th).

The capitulation of Saratoga formed a crisis in the American '
war. France, which had been gradually increasing her navy and i
preparing for events, was induced by this disaster of the British
arms to side openly with the revolted colonists. She entered i
into a treaty of friendship and commerce with them, February ;
6th, 1778, and on the same day was concluded between them an j
eventual defensive and offensive treaty, to take effect in case I
Great Britain should break the peace with France ; an event i
which France was at all events determined to brine: about, and ,
which must have been foreseen as a certain consequence of the
recognition of American independence. She promised pecuniary
aid, and both parties agreed not to lay down their arms, nor to
conclude a separate truce or peace with Great Britain, till she
should have recognized the United States.1 Long: after these
treaties had been arranged, both Maurepas and De Yergennes,
the latter upon his honour, denied all knowledge of them when
questioned by Lord Stormont, the British Ambassador.2 On
March 13th. the French Ambassador at London announced with
offensive brusquerie the measures taken by his Court. He declared
that Louis XVI., having resolved to uphold the commercial I
liberties of his subjects, and to maintain the honour of the French
flag, had taken for this purpose eventual measures with the
United States.3 Such an announcement so delivered could only I
be regarded as a declaration of war, and accordingly the
English Ambassador was recalled from Paris.

Louis XVI. had thus struck a blow, which, it can hardly be j
doubted, contributed to his appearance on the scaffold. The
financial embarrassments of France were augmented by the ex-
penses of the war, and the maxim, new in France, was sanctioned
by the Sovereign himself, that a people who consider themselves
oppressed are at liberty to rebel. A school was opened to young
Frenchmen who brought back with them from America a spirit
of innovation and a resolution to carry this maxim into execution
in their own country.1

1 Martens, t. ii p. 701. It is called a Washington's head-quarters, in the French
defensive alliance, but some of the articles notification to England that the United
stipulate respecting a contemplated attack States were recognized as being "en \»»-
by France on British Possessions. session de l'inde'pendance par leur Aete

2 Adolphus, Reign of George III. vol. ii. de tel jour," he exclaimed: " Voilii une
p. 537 sq. grande verite' que nous leur rappellerons

3 Flassan, t. vii. p. 167. un jour chez eux ! " Memoires deLa

4 Thus, when La Fayette read at Fayette, ap. Martin, t. xvi. p. 426.

Chap. LI.] WAR BETWEEN FRANCE AND ENGLAND. 275

Menaced by a war with France, Great Britain had offered
Congress the most liberal terms of accommodation provided the
Declaration of Independence should be withdrawn. But it was
now too late ; the proposals were answered by the Americans
with insulting- virulence, and denounced as contrived only to
make them languid in pursuing the war.

Finding a war with France inevitable, George III., in a mes-
sage to Parliament, declared that the peace of Europe had been
disturbed against his will, that he could hardly be reproached
for his feelings against so unjust and so unprovoked an aggres-
sion on the honour of his Crown and the interests of his Kingdom,
contrary to the most solemn assurances, in violation of the laws
of nations, and injurious to the rights of all the Sovereign Powers
of Europe.

The war, which had not been formally declared, was begun by
an affair off Ushant, June 17th, between Keppel's fleet and two
French frigates, one of which was captured. On July 27th an
indecisive engagement took place in the same neighbourhood
between the fleets of Keppel and D'Orvilliers. The Duke of
Chartres, afterwards the noted Duke of Orleans, was on board
jthe latter; and some imputations on his courage during the
action, attributed to Queen Marie Antoinette, caused him to
conceive against her an implacable hatred.

A French fleet, under the Count d'Estaing, had been despatched

;o surprise Admiral Howe in the Delaware. D'Estaing, however,

vas three months in sailing to America, and the English division

>ccupying Philadelphia had time to escape to New York. An

j'ngagement between Howe and D'Estaing was prevented by a

jtorni. An English fleet, under Admiral Byron, which had been

despatched in quest of D'Estaing, compelled him to abandon an

nterprise against Rhode Island which he had concerted with the

Americans, and to retire to Boston, where he was blockaded by

>yron ; but in November he succeeded in escaping to the Antilles.

>ther operations this year were the taking, by the English, of

t. Lucie, and of St. Pierre and Miquelon, two small islands off

ewfoundland, and the capture of Dominica by the French. The

nd campaign terminated on the whole in favour of the English,

olonel Campbell, towards the close of the year, having reduced

ie greater part of Georgia.

The war had also extended to the East Indies. In that country,

in America, the French had secretly assisted the enemies of

e British Crown, and especially Hyder Ally, the formidable

276 HOSTILITIES IN THE COLONIES. [Chap. LI.

Sovereign of Mysore ; who had been disgusted with the refusal
of the English to grant him the aid against the Mahrattas to
which he thought himself entitled by a treaty concluded with
them in 1769. But the efforts of the French were not so suc-
cessful in these regions as in the other hemisphere. As soon as
the certainty of a war with France was known in India, the
Government of Calcutta suddenly attacked the possessions still
retained by France in India. Chandernagor and the factories at
Masulipatam and Karical surrendered without a blow. A military
force, supported by a naval squadron, was then directed against
Pondicherry, which surrendered after a siege of seventy days
(October, 1778). Fort Mahe was captured in the following i
March, and the French flag disappeared, for a while, from the
Indian continent.

The year 1779 added Spain to the list of Powers arrayed
against England. That country had long displayed a hostile
feeling against England, and the Spanish Minister, Florida
Blanca, had been endeavouring to raise up enemies against her
by his intrigues and negotiations with Hyder Ally, the King
of Prussia, the Empress of Russia, and even the Emperor of
Morocco, whose aid might be of service in an attempt to recapture
Gibraltar. Charles III., however, when summoned by the Court
of Versailles to afford his aid in conformity with the Family
Compact, at first pretended a desire to restore tranquillity,,
although he had already determined on a war, and was making
preparations for it, which were to be completed under this veil, j
He offered his mediation, proposing terms which were wholly
inadmissible by the British Government, although they met the
views of France and the American Envoys ; and when they were
declined, he declared war against Great Britain, June 16th, 1779.
The declaration was accompanied with a long, laboured manifesto,
one of the most singular compositions in the annals of diplomacy
for the minuteness with which the most trifling grievances were
enumerated, and the pomp and vehemence with which they were
denounced.1 France, also, after a year's war, now first published ;
a manifesto in justification of her views and conduct, which was
answered by the historian Gibbon.

The union of France and Spain threatened England with |
dangers such as she had not experienced since the days of the

1 Coxe, Spanish Bourbons, vol. v. p. 42. iii. and iv. ; Adolphus, Rrign of George
See also for these negotiations, Dohni, III. eh. xxxv.
MateriaUen fur die Statistick, Lieferung,

Chap. LI.] FRENCH AND SPANISH ALLIANCE. 277

Armada. The combined fleets, when united in July, formed a
total of sixty-eight ships of the line, besides frigates and smaller
vessels. On the coasts of Brittany and Normandy a host of
60,000 men had been assembled for a descent upon England,
and 300 transports had been prepared for their conveyance.
The precautions taken in England against this threatened inva-
sion, and the efforts made to raise a military force, served to
increase the panic. Many of the inhabitants of the south coast
sought refuge in the interior of the kingdom. The English
Government, lulled into a false security by the professions of
Spain, and by the idea that a war was quite opposed to her
interests, had neglected to take the necessary precautions ; and
an appeal to Holland to furnish the succours stipulated by treaty
had proved unavailing. The fleet which mustered under the flag of
Admiral Hardy numbered only thirty-eight ships of the line, and
was therefore compelled to remain on the defensive. The com-
bined French and Spanish fleets appeared three consecutive days
before Plymouth, and chased Hardy towards the Wight. An
iction was momentarily expected, when the French and Spanish
commanders suddenly retired to their ports. The only mischief
hey had effected was the taking of a sixty-four gun ship. This
nortifying failure occasioned for a time a serious misunder-
tanding between the Bourbon Courts. Florida Blanca induced
Jharles III. to make a clandestine proposition to the English
cabinet for a peace, on condition of the surrender of Gib-
altar; but, though the English Government seemed inclined to
sten to the offer, the negotiations came to nothing, and were
robably only intended by Spain to stimulate France to more
igorous action. The Spaniards, however, had much at heart the
scovery of that fortress. They had laid siege to it immediately
fter the rupture with England ; but Rodney managed to revictual
, and reinforce the garrison by landing a regiment. On his way
p had captured a convoy of fifteen sail, with a sixty-four gun ship,
!id four frigates, carrying naval stores and provisions to Cadiz,
jhich thus contributed to the supply of Gibraltar. In the following
'tnuary he defeated, off Cape St. Vincent, the Spanish blockading
[uadron under Admiral Langara, after a severe engagement of'
ght hours, during a dark and tempestuous night. Rodney,
ter relieving Gibraltar, sailed for the West Indies. The Spaniards
d soon after some revenge, by surprising and capturing, off the
iores, a British West Indian fleet. Near sixty vessels were carried
'o Cadiz, with property estimated at two millions sterling.

278 NAVAL AND COLONIAL WARFARE. [Chap. LI.

The chief incident of the war in America, during the year 1779,.
was the capture of St. Vincent and Grenada by D'Estaing. An
indecisive action took place between him and Admiral Byron,
July 6th. Towards the autumn, D'Estaing made an attempt to
reconquer Georgia, and, in conjunction with the American general,
Lincoln, he attacked Savannah, October 9th, but was repulsed with
great loss. In Africa, the English took the Isle of Goree from the
French. The campaign of 1780 was also marked with varying
success. General Clinton undertook from New York an expedition
into South Carolina, and captured Charlestown, May 12th; but by
Clinton's departure, Rhode Island was left exposed, and, in July,
the French established themselves in it. Lord Cornwallis, whom
Clinton had appointed commandant at Charlestown, defeated the
American general, Gates, who was endeavouring to surround him
with superior forces, at Camden, August 16th. In the South, the
Spaniards took most of the English forts on the Mississippi. At
sea, Rodney fought three indecisive actions with Count de Guichen
off Martinico. During this year, the formation of the league called
the Armed Neutrality, and the rupture between Great Britain
and Holland, seemed to array against the former Power nearly the
whole of Europe. To explain this league, we must premise a few
brief remarks on the state of maritime law.

From the earliest periods of maritime commerce the attention
of European jurists had been directed to the question of the rights
of neutrals during war. One of the oldest Maritime Codes, the '
Consolato del Mare,1 established the principles " that neutral
merchandise carried by an enemy is free ; but that the neutral
flag does not neutralize an enemy's merchandise/'2 These princi- '
pies were subsequently restricted ; the former was rejected, the
latter retained. Francis I. of France, by an Edict in 1543, rendered
maritime law still less liberal, by declaring that the goods of an
enemy found in a neutral vessel, entailed the confiscation of the
rest of the cargo, and even of the ship. This continued to be the
general maritime law, especially in France, though with some
particular exceptions, down to about the middle of the seventeenth
century, when greater privileges were accorded to the neutral ,
flag. The reverse of the principle laid down by the Consolato <'< I
Mare had, about the period named, been pretty generally estab- 1
lished ; namely, that in all instances goods follow the flag ; so that
neutral goods on board an enemy's vessel might be confiscated ; j
whilst the neutral flag rendered an enemy's merchandise sacred,

. ' See Vol. II. p. 147. 2 Garden, Hist, des Traitts, t. v. p. 15 sq.

Chap. LI.] MARITIME LAW. 279

always excepting contraband of war. This principle it was that
enabled the Dutch to become the carriers of Europe. It had been
recognized in several treaties by the States- General, France, Great
Britain, Spain, and Portugal, between the years 1642 and 1674;
but Denmark and Sweden adhered to the old system. Louis XIV.,
however, finding himself in possession of an enormous fleet, and
considering himself master of the seas, issued in 1681, in contempt
of treaties, the famous Ordinance, which condemned all ships
laden with an enemy's goods, as well as the goods of his own sub-
jects and allies found in an enemy's vessel; or, in other words, he
ordained that the neutral flag does not cover the goods, and, on
the other hand, that the enemy's flag condemns neutral merchan-
dise. In the war of the Spanish Succession, the French Govern-
ment became still more illiberal, and established the maxim that
the quality of the merchandise seized does not depend on the
quality of the owner ; but that every production of the soil or
manufacture of an enemy, whoever the proprietor might be, was
liable to confiscation.

Great Britain restrained these excesses by the Treaty of Utrecht
in 1713, by proclaiming the principle that the neutral flag covers
an enemy's goods ; though it was tacitly recognized that neutral
merchandise in an enemy's vessel was not exempt from seizure.
France subsequently repudiated this principle in various treaties ;
[ind Louis XV., by an ordinance of October 21st, 1744, declared as
awful prize not only an enemy's goods on board a neutral vessel,
out, in general, all productions of an enemy's soil or manufacture,
3y whomsoever owned; with exceptions, however, in favour of the
)utch and Danish flags. Even so late as 1779, when the war with
Treat Britain had commenced, France had not yet recognized the
)rinciple that the flag covers the goods. An ordinance of July
16th, 1778, confirms that of 1681, in all particulars not altered by
he later one; and as in this nothing is said about the principle in
uestion, it must, of course, be regarded as recognizing the ancient
heory. Nay, this theory was acted upon in a treaty concluded
etween France and the Duke of Mecklenburg- Schwerin, Sep-
3mber 18th, 1779. i It was not till 1780 that France, veering with
er interests, suddenly changed her tone, and subscribed to the
rinciples adopted by the Armed Neutrality.2

1 Garden, HUt. des Traitcs, t. v. p. 26. be their interest, were the most illiberal

2 It will be seen from this statement, and tyrannical of all the maritime Powers.'
hich is taken from the impartial work Yet M. Martin, in his account of the

M. le Comte de Garden, that the Armed Neutrality, with a want of candour
•ench, till they found the contrary to unworthy of an historian, suppresses these

280 THE ARMED NEUTRALITY. [Chap. LI.

This famous League was caused as follows. The North of
Europe abounds with materials, such as timber, hemp, pitch, &c,
for the construction and equipment of ships. When the war
between Great Britain and the Bourbon Courts broke out, the
English cruisers intercepted neutral vessels conveying such mate-
rials to French and Spanish ports, on the ground that they were
contraband of war. To prevent this practice was one of the
motives of Catharine II. for forming the Armed Neutrality; a
measure which has been considered as redounding to her glory,
yet which was, in fact, effected, almost against her will, by a minis-
terial intrigue. A struggle was going on between England and
the Powers inimical to her to obtain the friendship and support of
the Czarina. Catharine herself was disposed toward England, and
these sentiments were shared by Prince Potemkin. The British
Cabinet, to lure Catharine, had offered to cede to her Minorca;
and Potemkin, in return for the exertion of his influence, was to
have two millions sterling, the computed value of the stores and
artillery.1 On the other hand, Potemkin was enticed by Prussia
and France with the prospect of Courland and the Polish Crown.
Catharine's minister, Count Panin, was, however, adverse to Great
Britain, and a warm supporter of Frederick II., who, at that time,
entertained a bitter animosity against George III. and the English
nation. Florida Blanca, according to the apology for his adminis-
tration, published by that Minister, by his intrigues and nego-
tiations with Count Panin, was the chief instrument in bringing
about the Armed Neutrality. Orders were issued directing the
Spanish cruisers to imitate the example of England in overhauling
neutral vessels ; and when Russia, and other neutral Powers, com-
plained of this practice, the Cabinet of Madrid replied that, if they
would defend their flags against the English, when conveying
Spanish effects, that Spain would then respect those flags, even if
conveying English goods. The decision of the Russian Court was
influenced by two occurrences. A fleet of Dutch merchantmen,
bound for the Mediterranean, and convoyed by some ships of war
under Count Bylandt, was encountered and stopped by an English -
squadron under Commodore Fielding ; Bylandt made some show
of resistance, but submitted, after an exchange of broadsides, and

circumstances, and makes it appear as if that France "had laboured to introduce

the French had always been the friends. the principle that neutral ships might

the English always the enemies, of a carry on the trade, both coasting and

liberal maritime policy. (Hist, de France, general, of hostile nations," appears to be

t. xvi. p. 453 sqq.) Hence also Coxe's incorrect.

assertion (Spanish Bourbons, vol. v. p. 87) ' Coxe, Spanish Bourbons, v. p. 100.

Chap. LI.] RUSSIAN DECLARATION. 281

a few of the merchantmen were captured and carried to Spithead
(January 1st, 1780). This affair concerned not only the Dutch,
but also all neutral maritime Powers, among which it was a very
generally received maxim that neutral ships, under neutral convoy,
were exempt from the right of search ; the presence of the ships
of war being* a Government guarantee that the vessels under
convoy were not abusing the rights of neutrals. England had not
accepted a principle easy of abuse, and which, in fact, the contra-
band articles in some of the vessels captured sufficiently proved
had been abused in this instance. The other occurrence touched
Catharine still more nearly. The Spaniards, in conformity with
Florida Blanca's policy, having seized two Russian ships in the
Mediterranean, the Czarina, at the instance of Sir James Harris
(Lord Malmesbury), the English Ambassador, proceeded to fit out
i fleet at Cronstadt, to demand satisfaction. Panin at first pre-
tended to approve ; but, passing from this incident to general
considerations, he chalked out a magnificent plan, founded on the
•ighta of nations, and calculated to rally every people round the
Russian flag, and render the Czarina the arbitress of Europe.
Catharine, ever dazzled by brilliant ideas, gave her assent to the
cheme, without perceiving that it was principally directed against
England. Panin immediately seized the opportunity to forward
o the Courts of London, Versailles, Madrid, Stockholm, and
Copenhagen (February 28th, 1780), a Declaration announcing the
3ur following principles: — 1. That neutral vessels may freely
javigate from one port to another on the coasts of belligerent
ations. 2. That goods, except contraband of war, belonging to
ie subjects of such belligerent Powers, are free on board of
eutral vessels ; in other words, that the flag covers the cargo.
That with regard to contraband, the Empress adhered to the
efinition in her commercial treaty with Great Britain, June 20th,
776. 4. That a blockade, to be effective, must be maintained by
?ssels sufficiently near to render the entrance of the blockaded
)rt dangerous. And she declared her resolution to uphold these
'inciples by means of an armed force.1

(This declaration was joyfully received by the Courts of Versailles

id Madrid. Great Britain abstained from discussing the prin-

ples which it promulgated, and continued to act on the system

lich she had adopted. That system was certainly contrary to

!e regulations she had laid down at the Peace of Utrecht in the

See Count Gcirtz, MJmoire sur la neu- 1805): cf. Statement of Florida Blanca,
Ut6 arrnie maritime, &c. (8vo. Paris, Coxe, Spanish Bourbons, vol. v. App.

282 FAILURE OF THE LEAGUE. [Chap. LL

treaties between herself, France, and Holland; but she defended
her course on the ground that these were only particular Conven-
tions, not intended to assert any general principle ; and that
nothing had been said about any such principle in the other
treaties which go to make up the Peace of Utrecht. Denmark and
Sweden accepted the declaration of Russia, as advantageous to
their commerce, and concluded with that Power the treaties which |
constitute the Armed Neutrality. The King of Denmark further |
declared to the belligerent Powers (May, 1780) that the Baltic,
being in its nature a closed sea, he should not permit their armed
vessels to enter it. This regulation was also adopted by Russia \
and Sweden, and recognized by France.1 The three Northern j
Powers agreed to maintain their principles by arms, and to i
assemble, if necessary, a combined fleet of thirty-five ships.

The Armed Neutrality obtained the approbation of most of the j
European Courts, as well as of the philosophic writers of the period. ;
The United Netherlands acceded to it January, 3rd, 1781, but not
unanimously; the three Provinces of Zealand, Gelderland, and ,
Utrecht, in which the Orange interest prevailed, withheld their j
consent ; Zealand even entered a formal protest against the acces- |
sion. The King of Prussia, the Emperor Joseph II., Portugal,
and the Two Sicilies, also gradually declared their adhesion to the
League. Joseph II., however, acceded only to the principles laid
down by the League, and not to the Conventions formed on them.
That Sovereign took a lively interest in the success of the
Bourbon Courts against England, though he was far from approv-
ing the American rebellion.'2 After all, however, this great combi-
nation produced very insignificant results. Catharine II. soon
repented of it, called it the armed Nullity, and took no measures
to follow it up. After the conclusion of the American war it fell
into oblivion, and Europe did not derive from it the advantages
which had been anticipated.

The Armed Neutrality was in some degree connected with the
rupture between Great Britain and the United Netherlands. Be-
tween these countries several disputes had arisen. The English
Cabinet had demanded from the States-General certain succours
which the Dutch had engaged to supply by the Treaty of West-
minster in 1674. The Republic, as we have seen (supra, p.
226 sq.), was torn by two factions: the patriot party, which

1 Martens' Recueil, t. ii. p. 84. ject, he replied, " Mon metier est cFeirc

2 When he was in Paris in 1777, a lady royaliste.'' Martin, t. xvi. p. 412.
having asked his opinion on this sub-

Chap. LI.] KUPTURE BETWEEN ENGLAND AND HOLLAND. 283

favoured France, and whose main object was to increase the navy
for the protection of commerce; and the Orange party, in the
interest of England, which was for maintaining the army on a
respectable footing as a security against French aggression. This
latter party was for complying with the demand of England for
aid, but it was opposed by the Republicans, and in this division
of opinion no definitive answer was returned to the application.
Paul Jones, the noted pirate, who sailed under the American flag,
but who was in reality a Scotchman, having put into the Texel to
refit, with two English frigates which he had captured, the States-
General not only refused the demand of the British Cabinet for
the extradition of Jones, but also declined to detain his prizes.
The affair with Count Bylandt, arising out of the practice of the
Dutch of conveying to the enemy materials for shipbuilding and
contraband articles, has been already related. But the incident
which led to the war was the discovery of proof that the Dutch
had formed treaties with the United States of America. On Sep-
tember 3rd, 1780, an English frigate having captured an American
packet bound for Holland, and carrying Henry Laurens, formerly
President of Congress, it was discovered from the papers on
board not only that Laurens was authorized to negotiate defini-
tively with the Dutch, but also that a treaty of commerce, fully
recognizing the independence of the American States, had been
signed by the authority of Van Berkel, the Burgomaster of
Amsterdam, so long back as September, 1778. The States-
aeneral having refused to disavow or punish Van Berkel and his
iccomplices, war was declared by England, December 20th, 1780. '
3-reat Britain precipitated this step in order to anticipate the ac-
cession of the Dutch to the Armed Neutrality, which would place
hem under the protection of the Northern Powers. The States-
jeneral, owing to the dilatoriness inseparable from the form of
!he Dutch Government, did not, as we have seen, formally accede
jo that League till January 3rd, 1781, though a majority of the
'rovinces had resolved on the accession a month or two earlier,
lie States, pretending that the English declaration of war was
he consequence of that step, demanded from the three Northern
Vwers the aid stipulated to be afforded by the Armed Neu-
trality to members of the League. But although these Powers

1 Adolphus, George III. vol. iii. p. 222 : him. M. Martin liberally assigns as

artens' Erzahlungen merkw. Falle, B. ii. one cause of the English declaration of

39. The latter authority, however, war a wish to confiscate Dutch money

ates that the Dutch did disavow Van invested in England. Hist, de France,

;rkel, though they refused to punish t. xvi. p. 455.

284 NAVAL WAR. [Chap. LI.

recognized the accession of the Dutch as the cause of the English
declaration, they inconsistently excused themselves from giving
any help, on the ground that the rupture had occurred before
the accession of the Republic. They offered, however, their
mediation; but England rejected it, and the Dutch were left to
their fate.

The seas were covered with English privateers, and the Dutch
commerce suffered immensely. In February, 1781, Rodney seized
the Dutch West India Islands St. Eustatia, Saba, and St. Martin,
and captured a rich merchant fleet of thirty vessels ; which, how-
ever, when on its way to England, was retaken by a French
squadron and conducted to Brest. The Dutch settlements in
Demerara and Essequibo were reduced in March by a detachment
of Rodney's fleet. Vice-Admiral Parker, with a far inferior force,
attacked off the Doggerbank, August 5th, a Dutch squadron con-
voying a merchant fleet to the Baltic. The conflict was undecided,
and both fleets were much crippled ; but the Dutch abandoned
their voyage and returned to the Texel. An attempt by Commo-
dore Johnstone on the Cape of Good Hope was unsuccessful. He
was attacked off the Cape de Verde Isles by a superior French
squadron, under the celebrated Commander, the Bailli de Suffren,
who arrived first at the Cape, and took possession of that colony.
Suffren then proceeded to the East Indies, where he distinguished
himself in several engagements with the English. The French
were also successful in the West Indies. The Count de Grasse
captured Tobago, June 2nd. The Marquis de Bouille surprised the
English garrison at St. Eustatia in the night of November 25th,
and compelled them to surrender. He also took the small
adjacent islands, which, with St. Eustatia, were restored to the
Dutch.

The result of the campaign in North America was also adverse
to the English. Lord Cornwallis, after defeating General Green
at Guildford, March 15th, 1711, penetrated into Virginia, captured
York Town and Gloucester, and made incursions into the interior.
All the enemy's forces were now directed to this quarter. ~V\ ash-
ington, Rochambeau, and La Fayette, formed a junction in "\ ir-
ginia ; the Count de Grasse entered Chesapeake Bay with his fleet,
and landed 3,000 men. Cornwallis was now compelled to shut
himself up in York Town, and finally, after exhausting all his
resources, to capitulate, October 10th. In the South, the
Spaniards, by the capture of Pensacola, May 8th, 1781, com-
pleted the subjugation of Florida, which they had commenced

Chap. LI.] LORD NORTH RESIGNS. 285

in 1779. In Europe they succeeded in recovering the important
Island of Minorca. The Duke de Crillon landed with a Spanish
army, August 2ord, and laid siege to St. Philip. He endeavoured
to bribe the Commandant, General Murray, with 100,000/. and
the offer of lucrative employment in the Spanish or French ser-
vice; which proposals were indignantly rejected. After a long*
siege, in which the Spaniards were aided by a French detach-
ment, sickness and want of provisions compelled General Murray
to capitulate, February 5th, 1782, but on honourable terms.

The defeat of Lord Cornwallis, the loss of Minorca, to which
was soon added the news of the capture of St. Kitts, Nevis, and
Montserrat, by De Grasse (February, 1782), occasioned the down-
fall of the English Ministry. Lord North, finding himself in a
ninority, was compelled to retire, March 20th, and was succeeded
?y the Rockingham Administration, including Fox and Lord
Shelburne, the last of whom, on the death of the Marquis of
-iockingham in June, became Prime Minister. The views of the
lew Ministry were directed to peace. One of their first measures,
he recall of Admiral Rodney, to whom they had conceived an
ntipathy, was very unfortunate and unpopular. Before Admiral
•'igot, who had been appointed to succeed him, could arrive in
he West Indies, Rodney achieved one of the most splendid vic-
Dries of the war, by defeating the Count de Grasse near Dominica,
pril 12th, 1782. The French were endeavouring to form a
motion with the Spanish fleet at St. Domingo, which, had it
een effected, must have resulted in the loss of all the English
/"est India colonies. Five French ships of the line were captured
i this occasion, including the Admiral's, and De Grasse was
'ought prisoner to London.
This year was remarkable by the efforts of the enemy to obtain
)ssession of Gibraltar. Encouraged by their success at Minorca,
e Spaniards converted the blockade of Gibraltar, which had
5ted three years, into a vigorous siege, directed by the Duke de
'illon, who, including a French division, commanded more than
,000 men, while the bay was blockaded by more than forty
>anish and French ships of the line. The eyes of all Europe
;re directed on General Elliot's admirable defence. Two French
inces, the Count d'Artois and the Duke of Bourbon, hastened
I view this imposing spectacle, and enjoy the anticipated
tumph. On September 13th, ten floating batteries, heavily
aned, ingeniously constructed by the French Colonel d' Arc on
a 1 thought to be fireproof, were directed against the place, but

]

286 SIEGE OF GIBRALTAR. [Chap. LI.

they were destroyed with red-hot shot. About a month after-
wards Admiral Howe, in face of the greatly superior force of the
enemy, which, however had been damaged by a storm, contrived
to revictual Gibraltar, and fling in a reinforcement of 1,400 men.
The combined fleet subsequently pursued and came up with him
near Cadiz, October 20th, when a combat of a few hours had no
result. The siege of Gibraltar was now again converted into a
blockade.1 During this year the Dutch concluded with the
Americans the treaty of commerce projected in 1778. They had
gradually lost all their settlements on the coasts of Malabar and
Coromandel. Trincomalee, in Ceylon, surrendered to the English
January 11th, 1782, but was retaken by Suffren in the following
year. That commander also achieved several victories over
Admiral Hughes.

The English Ministry was now earnestly bent on effecting a
peace. France had declined the offers of Austria and Russia to
mediate, because Great Britain had required as an indispensable
base, that France should abandon the American cause. Lord
North, a little before his resignation, had attempted direct nego-
tiations at Paris, and this course was also followed by Lord Shel-
burne. Several envoys were successively despatched to Paris,
and on the side of the French, M. Eayneval was sent with a secret
commission to London. This eagerness to negotiate increased
the demands of France. Vergennes proposed a scheme essen-
tially at variance with the Peace of 1763, and calculated to ruin
the commerce and naval power of England. All the captured
French colonies were to be restored, while France was to retain
many which she had taken. It was also demanded that England
should acquiesce in the principles of the Armed Neutrality.

These demands could not be conceded ; but at length, in Octo-
ber, 1782, conferences for a definite peace were opened at Paris,
under the ostensible mediation of the Emperor and the Czarina,
though, in fact, those Sovereigns had no voice in them. The
general negotiations were nearly upset by the signing of a secret
treaty between Great Britain and America. The discovery ot
Vergennes' duplicity had produced this result. The French
Ministry were, in fact, alarmed at the magnitude of the
new Power which they had conjured up in America, and
even seem to have apprehended a future league between that

1 For this famous siege, see Drink- D'A^on, Mem. pour servir a I'histo
water, Account of Si"c/e of Gibraltar; Siege de Gibraltar.
Coxe, Spanish Bourbons, ch. lxxiv. ;

Chap. LI.] PEACE BETWEEN ENGLAND AND AMEKICA. 287

country and Great Britain, though such an event was highly im-
probable. Hence, while pretending conciliation, Yergennes en-
deavoured to sow dissension between the two countries, as well as
to weaken the new Republic. With this view he secretly insti-
gated the Americans to claim, and the English to withhold, a share
in the Newfoundland Fishery. But what induced the Americans
to conclude with Great Britain was a despatch of Marbois, the
French agent at Philadelphia, to his Government, in which, at
their desire, he had drawn up an elaborate plan for dividing and
weakening the new Republic. This despatch being intercepted
Dy an English cruiser, was forwarded by the Government to Mr.
Oswald, a merchant and shipowner whom Lord Shelburne had
■mployed to negotiate with the American Commissioners at Paris.
The production of this despatch filled them with such indignation
hat, as the English Government had now resolved to concede
hnerican independence, they signed the preliminaries of a peace
?ith Great Britain without the knowledge of M. de Vergennes,
November 30th, 1782. l The French Minister, on being acquainted
[rith this step, bitterly reproached the American Commissioners,
ho excused themselves by protesting that the treaty should not
edefinitive tillFranceand Spam had also terminated their arrange-
lents with England. The English Cabinet used the advantage
ley had obtained to press on France the necessity for a speedy
mclusion of the negotiations : the financial condition of that
mntry rendered a peace desirable ; and on January 20th, 1783,
I'eliminaries were signed at Versailles between Great Britain,
ranee, and Spain. The Dutch, who, from the forms of their
Institution, moved very slowly, and who had refused to enter
■ to separate negotiations with England, were thus left without
lp, though a suspension of arms was agreed upon, and Louis
VI. promised to use his good offices that the Republic might
tain an honourable peace. After the ratification of the peace
litween Great Britain and America in August, Yergennes, how-
■tpr, told the Dutch Ministers that the definitive treaty between
Jjance, Spain, and Great Britain could no longer be delaj^ed, and
"% States- General were compelled to sign preliminaries 'with the
li't-named Power on the terms which she had demanded (Sep-
I iber 2nd) .2 The definitive treaties of the Peace op Versailles,

Coxe, Spanish Bourbons, vol. v. p. who entertained a bitter animosity towards
1 jsqq. ; House of Austria, vol. ii. p. 603 Great Britain, at first objected, but was

nM (ed. 1807). The American Commis- overruled
si' ;rs were John Adams, Benj Franklin, 2 Martens, t. ii. p. 457

i Jay, and Henry Laurens. Franklin,

288 PEACE OF VERSAILLES. [Ciiap. LI.

between Great Britain, the United States of America, France, and
Spain, were signed on the following day. By the treaty with
America, Great Britain recognized the thirteen United States as
sovereign and independent. The second article, defining boun-
daries, comprised vast regions inhabited by unsubjected races,
which belonged to neither of the contracting parties. The Ameri-
can loyalists were rewarded with lands in Xova Scotia, or pensions
in Great Britain.1

The loss of the American colonies to the mother- country was
rather apparent than real. They contributed nothing to the
British treasury ; and though the commercial monopoly was lost,
the trade between the two countries actually went on increasing
after the peace of Versailles, as the agricultural population of
America could not dispense with British manufactures.

By the definitive treaty with France that country acquired
Tobago (assigned to Great Britain by the peace of 1763), as well
as the establishments on the Senegal. All other conquests were
restored on both sides. France was delivered from the commis-
saries residing at Dunkirk since the Peace of Utrecht, and her
political consideration seemed placed on a better footing than at
the peace of 1763. But, on the other hand, she had rendered the
disorder of her finances irretrievable, and thus hastened the catas-
trophe of the Revolution. She not only abandoned the Dutch, j
but also her ally, Tippoo Saib, Sultan of Mysore, the son and ;
successor of Hyder Ally. It was stipulated that the Peace of
Versailles should be followed by a commercial treaty between
France and England, which was accordingly concluded at Paris,
September 26th, 1786. By the 20th Article it was established
that the neutral flag covers the cargo, except, of course, contra-
band of war.

Spain was the greatest gainer by the peace, the best she bad
made since that of St. Quintin. She recovered Minorca and the
two Floridas ; but she was reluctantly compelled to abandon
Gibraltar. Count d'Aranda, the Spanish Plenipotentiary, dis-
played great violence on this subject. He declared that his
Sovereign would never consent to a peace without the restora-
tion of that fortress, and he was encouraged in this course by
Vergennes and Franklin. At an early period of the negotiations
Lord Shelburne had seemed disposed to cede Gibraltar, but be-
came alarmed on finding how much the heart of the English

1 Jenkinson (Lord Liverpool), Collection of Treaties, vol. iii. p. 410 ; Martens, t. n.
p. 497.

Chap. LI.] THE DIAMOND NECKLACE. 289

people was set upon that rock, now doubly endeared to it by
Elliot's glorious defence ; and its retention became a sine qua non
with the British Ministry, though Spain showed a disposition to
give Porto Rico and OraU in exchange for it.1

The definitive treaty between Great Britain and the States-
General was not signed till May 20th, 1784. Negapatam was
ceded to England ; but a more important concession was, that
British navigation should not be molested in the Indian seas,
where the Dutch had hitherto maintained an exclusive commerce.2
The Peace of Versailles was received with loud murmurs in
England. Lord Shelburne was driven from the helm, and was
succeeded by the Duke of Portland and the Coalition Ministry.
Yet, on the whole, considering the extent and power of the com-
bination formed against her, England seems to have escaped better
than might have been anticipated. France, meanwhile, in spite
of her apparently advantageous peace, was rapidly sinking both at
home and abroad. We have seen in the preceding chapter that
in the affairs between Holland, her protegee, and the Emperor,
Joseph II., she no longer ventured to assume that haughty tone to
which she had formerly been accustomed. The French people were
shocked by the payment of a sum of money to Joseph on that
occasion ; which was ascribed to the Austrian influence of Marie
Antoinette, and increased her unpopularity. The character of
Marie Antoinette, which bore a considerable resemblance to that
}f her brother Joseph II., made her the easy victim of malice.
Lively and impetuous, governed by her feelings rather than byre-
lection, badly educated and of unregulated judgment, she exposed
lerself from the first day of her entry into France to the calumnies
»f her enemies. These were chiefly to be found in the party of
jladame du Barri, and among the ex- Jesuits, who regarded her
jiarriage as the work of Choiseul. Among them was her own
jrother-in-law, the Count of Provence, afterwards Louis XVIII.
f'he celebrated affair of the diamond necklace, which happened
bout the time of the Dutch Treaty, also contributed to injure her
i the public opinion. This necklace, worth 1,600,000 francs, had
3en ordered by the Cardinal de Rohan, as he affirmed, for the
'ueen, by order of the Countess de La Motte Valois ; but the
ueen, when applied to by the jeweller for payment, denied all
jiowledge of the matter. It is impossible for us to enter into all
e particulars of this mysterious transaction, which would demand

1 Coxe, Spanish Bourbons, vol. v. p. 140 sq.
' The treaties are in Jenkinson, vol. iii. p. 334 ; Martens, t. ii. p. 462, and p. 520.
IV. U

290 KECKEE AND THE COMPTE RENDU. [Chap. LI.

several pages. The questions at issue were, whether the Queen had
really ordered the necklace and wished to evade paying for it ;
whether Madame de La Motte had falsely used the Queen's name,
with a view to appropriate the jewels for herself; or whether Rohan
was the swindler.1 The Cardinal was notoriously expensive, pro-
fligate, and unscrupulous. He openly professed that his enormous
income of 1,200,000 francs sufficed not for a gentleman; and he
paid his mistresses by defrauding the poor of the money which
passed through his hands as almoner. But the Court took an im-
prudent step in dragging the matter before the Parliament of Paris.
Rohan, Bishop of Strasburg and Grand-Almoner of the Crown, a
member of the family of Conde, was seized at Versailles in his
pontifical robes as he was about to enter the chapel, and conducted
to the Bastille (August, 1785) . He, and Madame de La Motte and
her husband, were then arraigned before the Parliament ; the first
time that a Prince of the Church had been brought before a secular
judge. The trial, a great public scandal, lasted nine months,
affording a rich treat to curiosity and malice. The efforts of the
Court to procure the acquittal of Madame de La Motte had only the
effect of turning public opinion the other way. The Parliament,
glad of an opportunity to avenge the affronts it had received, ac-
quitted Rohan by a majority of five, and condemned Madame de
La Motte and her husband to be whipped and branded ; after which
the latter was to be sent to the galleys, and the lady to the Salpe-
triere. The public hailed with frantic joy a decree that degraded
the Throne, while the Cardinal was honoured with a complete ova-
tion. The Queen avenged herself by banishing Rohan to Auvergne
by a lettre de cachet.

While the Court was thus plunging deeper into public odium,
the ever-declining state of the finances threatened a national bank-
ruptcy. Necker had for some time made head against the deficit
by reforms, reductions of expenditure, and especially by loans.
Credit, however, the only support of the last method, began to get
exhausted ; and in order to revive the public confidence, Necker ,;
persuaded Louis XVI. to publish the celebrated Compte rendu
(January, 1781) . The effect at first was prodigious. The public
was overwhelmed withjoy at being for the first time intrusted with
the secret of the national balance-sheet. The statement, too, seemed j
really satisfactory. The receipts appeared to exceed the ordinary

1 M. L. Blanc, in his Hist, de la Etvol. he considers guilty. Yet, on bis own
Franc, t. ii. ch. 4, has produced some showing, the probabilities are, we think,
fresh evidence against the Queen, whom in her favour.

•Chap. LI.] ASSEMBLY OF NOTABLES. 291

disbursements by eighteen million livres ; while the promise of ex-
tinguishing a great part of the enormous sum paid in pensions, of
reforming the system of taxation, &c, showed a sincere disposition
to amend past disorders. In the first moments of enthusiasm
Necker succeeded in raising an enormous loan. But gradually the
enchanting visions of the Compte rendu began to melt away. The
statement was found to be anything but trustworthy, and the
asserted surplus a pure delusion. On the other hand, the persons
interested in the abuses denounced, with De Vergennes at the
head of them, began to league themselves against Necker, and
in May, 1781, he found himself compelled to tender his resigna-
tion. The management of the finances, after passing through two
[or three hands, came, in October, 1783, into those of Calonne, a
frivolous man of profligate morals, with a reputation for talent.
During two or three years, by clever expedients, and especially
by loans, Calonne contrived to keep the machine in motion, and
sven to carry on a reckless expenditure. But at length his sub-
:erfuges were exhausted ; he was compelled to acknowledge a
leficit of 100 millions (four millions sterling) per annum, and to
ionsider the alternative of a national bankruptcy or a thorough
eform of the State. The first of these, in the state of public feei-
ng, could not be contemplated a moment. On the other hand,
eform seemed almost equally dangerous. It could not be effected
hrough the Parliaments, the only constitutional bodies in the
tate, as they would resist the diminution of their privileges
'hich it involved; while an appeal to the people, and the assembling
f the Etats generaux, seemed fraught with danger. In this per-
lexity Calonne hit upon a middle term, an Assembly of Notables,
hich had sometimes been convoked in the exigencies of the
ingdom.

The Notables, to the number of 144, were accordingly as-
imbled at Versailles, January 29th, 1787. The Tiers etat, or
jmmons, was represented by only six or seven municipal magis-
jites ; all the rest were clergy and nobles, or persons having the
yivileges of nobles. The Assembly had been announced in the
*\umal de Paris in the most offensive terms, intimating that the
Hion should be transported with joy at the condescension of
lb King in appealing to it.1 The Count de Vergennes died
fore the Assembly proceeded to business. He was succeeded
1| the Count de Montmorin, a respectable man, but quite un-
cial to the position. The Assembly was opened by the King,

" La nation verra avec transport que son souverain daigne s'approcher d'elle."

292 PLANS OF COLONNE. [Chap. LI.

February 22nd. Calonne, in an elaborate and clever, but indis-
creet and presumptuous address, communicated his plans to the
Notables. The main feature of them was the abolition or reform of
some obnoxious imposts, and the substitution for them of a land-
tax, varying from one-fortieth to one-twentieth, to be received in
kind, and to which all orders alike were to be liable, including
the clergy and even the royal domains. On the other hand, the
privileged classes were to be relieved from the capitation, or poll-
tax, to which roturiers were still to be subject, as well as to the
taille, but at a largely reduced rate. Calonne also proposed a
stamp act, and a reduction of the public expenditure, including
that of the King's household. It was soon evident, however,
that the proceedings of an Assembly not based upon popular
representation could never be satisfactory.1 Irritated by the
opposition of the Notables, Calonne threatened them with an
appeal to the people. This threat produced an almost universal
coalition against him, which was joined by the Queen. The
King's brother, afterwards Louis XVIII., had made himself con-
spicuous by his opposition ; and almost the only supporter of
Calonne was the Count d'Artois, afterwards Charles X. Among
his most formidable adversaries was Necker, whose Compte rendu
he had attacked. That document was not invulnerable; but
Necker proved that Calonne had wrongfully accused him of not
having left a sufficient sum in the treasury to cover the expenses
of 1781. The result of the league against Calonne was, that, at
the instigation of Marie Antoinette, he was dismissed. Necker's
turn, however, was not yet come. In fact he also was banished
twenty leagues from Paris, for having ventured to publish without 'k
permission an apologetic memoir. >.?.

Calonne was succeeded by Brienne, Archbishop of Toulouse,
with the title of Chief of the Council of Finance ; while the Con-
troller Fourqueux was little more than a head clerk. Brienne
had been among the foremost of Calonne' s opponents ; yet he
found himself compelled to bring forward several of his plans. (
Amid the stormy discussions which ensued, La Fayette proposed
the convocation of a National Assembly within five years. The

1 Mirabeau's father characterized the et le par-de-la; et nous allons tacherfl

Assembly vigorously, though somewhat trouver le moyen de ce par-de-la sur les

coarsely, as follows : " Cet homme (Ca- riches, dont l'argent n'a rien de eommim

lonnc) a;1semble une troupe de guillots" avec les pauvres ; et nous vous avertis>

(guillemots '! a sort of stupid-looking que les riches, c*est vous ; dites-n

bird. — Bouillet)"qu'ilappelle nation, pour maintenant votre avis sur la maniere.

leur donner la vache par les comes, et M&m. de Mirabeau, ap. Martin, t. xvi.

leur dire: 'Messieurs, nous tirons tout, p. 568. %•■

Chap. LI.] THE PARLIAMENT BANISHED. 293

Notables would not take upon themselves the responsibility of
voting the taxes proposed. They left the decision to the King;
in other words, they resigned their functions. The Government
now proceeded to publish edicts in conformity with the plans of
taxation proposed by Colonne. When the edict for raising stamp
duties was brought before the Parliament of Paris, that body
refused to register it without first receiving a statement of the
public accounts ; and ended by beseeching the King to withdraw
the edict, and by declaring that the Etats generaux alone were
entitled to grant the King the necessary supplies. Such was the
extraordinary change in public opinion ! The Parliament, for-
merly so opposed to these National Assemblies, now declared
them indispensable. The King- frustrated the opposition of the
Parliament by causing the different edicts to be registered in a
Lit de Justice, and when they protested against this step, he
Danished them to Troies ; where, however, their opposition only
became more violent. The feeling which animated them spread
ihrough all ranks of the people. It was taken up by the clubs
ecently established in Paris in imitation of the English. The
Minister caused them to be closed. Popular hatred had fixed
:self on the Queen more than the King. The irritation against
er had reached so high a pitch that Louis XVI. forbade her to
aow herself in Paris.

The fermentation spread through the Kingdom. The pro-
incial Parliaments loudly denounced the banishment of that of
aris, demanded the convocation of the Etats generaux, and the
.dictment of Calonne. Brienne compromised matters by allowing
lie Parliament to return, and engaging to call the Etats in 1792.
lie return of the Parliament to Paris was celebrated by an
umination, accompanied with serious riots, in which Calonne,
ao had escaped to England, was burnt in effigy. Brienne hoped
four years to re-establish the finances, so that the meeting of
ie Etats in 1792 should be a mere parade and spectacle. But
Wnt de Mirabeau, who now began to play a prominent part,
ipited the Parliament to demand that they should be assembled
i|1789 ; and a loan of 120 millions was agreed to by the Parlia-
itmt only on this condition. The King was present at the sitting,
tjiich was suddenly converted into a Lit de Justice, and Louis
cbreed the registry of the edict for the loan in the usual forms,
a id the murmurs of the Assembly. The Duke of Orleans rose,
a 1 ventured to observe that the step appeared to him illegal.
I uis hesitated, stammered, and at length faltered out — " Yes;

294 ROYAL EDICTS. [Chap. LI.

it is legal, if it is my will." The protest of the Duke was re-
corded, but he was banished to Viller Cotterets, and two coun-
sellors, supposed to have incited him, were imprisoned.

The disputes between the Court and Parliament continued
more violently than ever. Among the parliamentary agitators,.
Duport and D'Epreniesnil were conspicuous. The boldest senti-
ments were uttered in the name of law and liberty. It having
been discovered that the Court was preparing edicts, intended
to strike a blow at the Parliaments, of which proof-sheets were
obtained by means of a printer's boy, meetings to organize resis-
tance were held at Duport' s house, and were attended by La
Fayette, Condorcet, the Duke de la Rochefoucauld, Talleyrand-
Perigord, the famous Bishop of Autun, and others. On May 3rd,
1788, the Parliament, having drawn up a sort of Remonstrance
and Declaration of Rights, the King, two days after, caused
Goislard and D'Epremesnil, the chief promoters of them, to be
seized in their places and thrown into prison. On the 8th the
Parliament was summoned to Versailles to hear the edicts read..
Their effect was, in a great measure, to supersede the Parlia-
ments, by substituting other Courts for them, and especially a
Cour pleniere. At the same time resort was to be had to Etats
generaux whenever the public necessities should require it. It
was, in fact, a new Constitution, many of the features of which
were excellent. But it was clearly perceived that the object of
the Court was only to temporize, and to cover despotism under
the veil of progress and reform. The provincial Parliaments,
and especially those of Brittany and Dauphine, displayed the most
violent resistance against the edicts. The latter may be said to
have initiated the Revolution by the first act of the sovereignty
of the people. The Parliament, having been banished by the
Government, the citizens of Grenoble assembled at the Hotel de
Ville in August and decreed the spontaneous Assembly of the
States of Dauphine, which had fallen into desuetude for many
generations. They were accordingly held at the Chateau de
Vizille, and the Government found itself compelled to come to a
compromise with them. Everything seemed to threaten universal
anarchy. As a last resource, Brienne assembled the clergy, m
hope that the danger with which their order was threatened by
a meeting of the Etats generaux would induce them to grant him
a loan, and thus obviate the necessity for that Assembly. Vain
hope ! the clergy sided with the Parliaments, their ancient adver-
saries, and demanded the Etats; at the same time protesting,

Chap. LI.] THE ETATS GENERAUX. 295

with a ludicrous inconsistency, against ecclesiastical property
being subjected to taxation ! Brienne now found it impossible
to resist the popular voice. The Etats genercmx were summoned
for May 1st, 1789; and, meanwhile, the establishment of the
Cour pleniere was suspended. Brienne, after some steps which
very much resembled a national bankruptcy, found himself com-
pelled to resign, and Louis had no alternative but to recall
Necker. Brienne's retirement was soon after followed by that
of Lamoignon. Serious riots occurred on both occasions, the
latter being attended almost with a massacre.

With the return of Necker financial prospects revived. His
second Ministry closes the ancient regime. By engaging his per-
sonal fortune and other methods, he contrived to tide the nation
over the few months which preceded the Revolution. The Parlia-
ment was now re-established for the second time during this
^eign. But it lost its popularity by enregistering the Royal
Declaration that the Etats genera ux should be convoked according
o the form observed in 1614 ; which implied that their votes
ihould be taken by orders and not per capita. Necker, however,
hough a good financier, was a mediocre statesman. He re-
ssembled the Notables to decide on the composition of the Tiers
tat, or Commons. That Assembly adhered to ancient forms as
o the number to be summoned, but sanctioned a democratic con-
fcitution of the Commons. Necker nevertheless persuaded the
ang to summon at least 1,000 persons, of whom the Tiers etat
ras to consist of as many as the other two orders united, or half
pe whole Assembly. This concession, which had been demanded
7 most of the municipalities, would, as Necker pretended, be
(nimportant, if the States were to vote by orders, according to
jicient custom ; yet in a Report to the King previously to the
joyal Declaration of December 27th, 1788, he appears already to
ive anticipated their voluntary union in certain cases.
The Etats generaux, elected amid great excitement, were opened
7 the King, May 5th, 1789. The Assembly consisted, in all, of
145 members, of whom more than one-half belonged to the
Vers etat. The first business was to verify the returns. For this
iirpose the Commons invited the other two orders to the great
•|.U in which they sat ; but as this proceeding would also have
•tplied the mode of voting, that is en masse, the nobles and
'iBrgy declined the proposal, although the latter order consented
| a conference. The Commons refused to proceed to business,
d nothing was done for several weeks ; till, on the motion of

296

THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY.

[Chap. LI.

the Abbe Sieyes/ deputy of the Tiers etat of Paris, a last invita-
tion was sent to the clergy and nobles (June 10th) , and on their
failing to appear, the Commons proceeded to business. After the
verification of powers, Sieyes, in spite of the opposition of Mira-
beau, moved and carried that the Etats should assume the title
of the National Assembly. The Revolution had begun !

1 Sieyes had previously traced the plan
of operations, and laid down the pro-
gramme of the Revolution, in his cele-

brated pamphlet, entitled, Qu'est-ce que U
Tiers Etat?

Chap. LII.] NATURE OF THE FRENCH HE VOLUTION. 297

CHAPTER LII.

THE celebrated phrase of Louis XIV. , "1 am the State," pro-
claimed the consummation of despotism. He asserted, and
j was true, that the people, as a body politic, had been annulled
y the Crown. Before a century had elapsed the maxim was re-
ersed. The head of Louis's second successor fell upon the scaf-
)ld, and the revolutionary disciples of Rousseau established the
rinciple that the real sovereign is the people itself. Hence it
ould appear that, for all practical purposes, the causes of the
rench Revolution may be sought between the reigns of
ouis XIV. and Louis XVI.; or, in other words, that the inquiry
ay be limited to the nature of the institutions left by the former
.onarch, and the causes which gradually led the people to desire
eir overthrow under the latter. Even within these limits the
:tent of the subject might demand a volume rather than a
lapter. We can pretend only to indicate its principal heads,
wing the historical student to fill up the outline from his own
searches and reflections.

It would be a great mistake to consider the French Revolution
?rely as a political one. It was likewise a social revolution of
e most extensive kind. Hence its peculiar character and its
ibst abiding results. Many nations have experienced as sudden
'<■ d violent a change in their political institutions ; few or none
ljve undergone, in a similar period of time, so complete an altera-
t n in their habits and manners.

One of the most striking defects in the French social svstem
t der the old regime was the anomalous position of the nobility,
^e vast power of the old nobles in the early days of the French
ijmarchy caused the Crown to regard them as rivals, and to
I irt against them the aid of the people. This traditional policy
efn survived the occasion of it, and down to the very eve of the
solution, Louis XVI. continued to regard the aristocracy as his
t dangerous enemies.1 Louis XL and his successors had

Burke's observation to this effect is quoted with approbation by M. Tocqueville,
• de I'Ancicn Bigime, p. 218.

298 STATE OF THE FRENCH NOBLES. [Chap. LII.

begun to undermine their power, which was terribly shaken by the .
wars of the League, and finally overthrown by Richelieu. One of |
the most successful measures adopted by the Cardinal Minister for
that purpose was, to entice the nobles to reside in Paris by the
attractions of that capital, and thus to destroy their influence in j
their own provinces ; a policy which was continued by Louis XIV. I
and his successors. By the middle of the eighteenth century, the
abandonment of their estates for a town life had become almost I
general among the nobles ; few remained in the provinces who j
had the means of living with becoming splendour in the capital.
The dissipation and extravagance in which they thus became in-
volved leading to their gradual impoverishment, they were com-
pelled to sell their lands bit by bit; so that in the reign of
Louis XVI. it was computed that five-eighths of all the land in
France was in the hands of roturiers,1 and for the most part of
very small proprietors. Arthur Young, who travelled in France
at the outbreak of the Revolution, had often seen a property of ten
rods with only a single fruit tree upon it.

As the policy of Richelieu depressed the nobles, so it tended to
enrich and elevate the Tiers t'tat, or commons. The inhabitants
of towns, the commercial and manufacturing classes, made rapid
progress. The advance of the French people in wealth and civili-
zation after Richelieu's Ministry is depicted in glowing colours
by an author who has made that epoch his peculiar study.2 The
high roads of the kingdom, previously infested by brigands, be-
came safe channels for the operations of trade and industry.
Abundance everywhere prevailed ; the fields were covered with
rich crops, the towns were animated with commerce and embel-
lished by the arts. The impulse once given went on increasing.
Hence the Tiers e'tat which attended the States- General of 1789
bore but little resemblance to their predecessors a century or two
before. Wealth had given them weight and importance; educa-
tion had sharpened their intelligence, opened their eyes to the

1 Granier deCassagnao, Hist, des causes peasantry much where they were, but

de la Revolution Francaise, t. i. p. 151. vastly to increase the landed possessions

This computation seems much too high, of the Tiers ttat, at the expense, of

but authorities on the subject differ very course, of the higher classes ( See Von

much. According to Arthur Young, only Sybel, Gesch. der Revohctions-zeit, vol. i.

one-third of the land was in the hands of p.* 23 sq. Eng. Trans.). This result

small proprietors ; while Leonce de La- might have been expected from the many

vergne (quoted by M. Taine, Ancien voluntary and compulsory sales during

Regime, p. 18) says that two-fifths were the Revolution, and especially of the

held by the Tiers (.ted and peasantry, the Church lands.

rest, except common lands, by the nobles, s Jay, Hist, du Ministers du Cardinal

clergy, and Crown. The effects of the Richelieu, t. ii. p. 226 sqq.
Revolution seem to have been to leave the

Chap. LII.] KICHELIEU'S POLICY. 299'

political and social abuses wliich prevailed, and inspired tliemwitli
the desire of obtaining that influence and consideration in the
State to which their altered condition justly entitled them. But
this glowing picture must be estimated only by comparison ; and
the peasantry at least, as we shall presently see, instead of sharing
in this advance, had terribly retrograded.

Richelieu's policy was ultimately followed by effects which he
had neither foreseen nor intended. It contributed, in short, to
make the Revolution possible. Hence the different views which
have been taken by French political writers of Richelieu's cha-
racter. The advocates of a constitutional monarchy, regarding a
substantial aristocracy as the only sure support of a solid liberty,
utterly condemn the policy of Richelieu. Montesquieu, in his-
Pensees, calls him one of the worst citizens that France had ever
seen ; and the same view is adopted by Madame de Stael, in her
Considerations sur la Revolution Frangaise. Ultra-democratic
writers, on the contrary, look upon the great Cardinal Minister as
a deliverer from aristocratic tyranny, in fact, as the founder of the
French nation. In their view, a royal despotism is more endu-
rable, and more favourable to the progress of civilization, than the
despotism of an aristocracy, because it is less extensively felt, and
because it is more amenable to the control of public opinion, and
of such protective institutions, however imperfect, as France pos-
sessed, for instance, in her Parliaments. That Louis XL was an
unfeeling tyrant, that Richelieu, as appears from his Testament
Politique, in his heart contemned the people, is disregarded by
such writers. They look only to the results, and contend, not
without some show of reason, that such rulers are unjustly charged
with introducing a despotism, which had, in fact, existed long-
before.1 They even acknowledge a sentiment of gratitude towards
them, as the founders of the French nationality, and in this sense
the authors of the Revolution. In this reasoning we behold that
apparently paradoxical, but really natural alliance between ex-
treme democracy and absolutism, which seems so suitable to the
genius of the French, and which manifested itself even during the
wildest excesses of the Revolution ; when royal tj^ranny was re-
placed by that of a virtual dictatorship.

But whilst in the eighteenth century the wealth and the political

influence of the French nobility were almost annihilated, a titular

i aristocracy still remained, possessing many of the peculiar and in-

; vidious privileges of the feudal times. Although the nobles were

1 See Bailleul, Examcn crit. de Youvrage de Madame de Stael, t. i. p. 46.

300 FEUDAL PRIVILEGES. [Chap. LII.

no longer obliged to make war at their own expense,1 although
they were now enregimented and received the King's pay, yet
they still enjoyed that immunity from direct taxation which had
been accorded to them for their military services. The profession
of arms, however, was still considered as the proper destination
of the nobility, and a sort of monopoly of their order. No man,
except of noble birth, could become a military officer. On the very
eve of the Revolution, a lieutenant in a inarching regiment had to
prove a nobility of at least four generations. The nobles also en- i
joyed a monopoly of the greater civil offices. These exclusive i
privileges tended to make the noblesse a sort of caste. A noble
who engaged in trade or commerce forfeited his rights and privi- i
leges. As it is computed that there were in France, in 1789, j
40,000 noble families, comprising some 200,000 persons,3 the in- i
vidiousness of these privileges must have been very extensively I
felt. Of the whole nobility, however, there were not 200 families
really belonging to those ancient races which prided themselves,
though mostly without foundation, on their Frankish origin, and
on holding their estates and dignities by right of conquest. Their
titles had been mostly purchased. The practice of selling patents i
of nobility had been adopted by the French kings at a very early
period, though it was not carried to any great extent till the six-
teenth century. It was resorted to partly as a means of depress-
ing the order, partly as an expedient to raise money. Charles IX.
issued a vast number of these patents, and his successor, Henry III.,
is said to have created no fewer than a thousand nobles. Roturiers
were sometimes compelled to buy these patents, which were even
issued with the name in blank. Louis XIV. granted 500 letters
of nobility in a single year.

The feudal privileges enjoyed by the nobles, or by those who
had stepped into their places, were very grievously felt in the
rural districts. Even where the land was no longer in the hands
of a seigneur, the feudal rights attached to it, or what was called
la servitude de la terre, still remained in force, though held per-
haps, by neighbouring proprietors, almost as poor as the peasant
who was subject to them.3 In some instances these rights had

1 The ban and arriire ban, a vast and merce might, however, reinstate himself
undisciplined moh which the nobles had by purchasing lettres de rehabilitation.
been accustomed to furnish, was called * 3 Ibid. p. f46. Some writers, however,
out for the last time in 1674. Michelet, estimate them considerably lower. M.
Rtvol. Francaise, Introd. p. ci. Taine (Anc. Regime, App. note 1) com-

2 Glass-making alone seems to have pntes them at 26,000 or 28,000 families,
been excepted. Granier de Cassagnac, and 130.000 or 140,000 individuals.

t. i. p. 141. A noble degraded by com- 4 Tocqueville, Anc. Regime, liv. ii. ch. i.

Chap. LII.] STATE OF THE PEASANTRY. 301

been acquired by the Crown, and the peasant was compelled to
labour gratuitously, often at a distance from his home, in making
roads, building barracks, and other works of a like description,
experiencing, at the same time, the most brutal and unfeeling
treatment. Besides this compulsory task-work, called the corvee,
the peasant saw his fields exposed, without defence, to the ravages
of game ; he was obliged to pay heavy market-tolls, to make use
of a certain ferry, to have his corn ground at a particular mill,
his bread baked at a particular oven. Not the least among these
feudal grievances were the justices seigneur iales, or private courts
of justice attached to certain titles and possessions. The pro-
prietors of these courts, of which there are said to have been
more than 2,400, leagued themselves with the Parliaments against
the reforms in the administration of justice proposed by the Royal
Edict of May 8th, 1788; in the preamble of which it is stated
that trifling civil causes had often to undergo six hearings.

Noble proprietors were commonly absentees, and left their
estates to be managed by agents, whose only object it was to ex-
tort as much as they could from the peasantry. The smaller
landowners had not the means of properly cultivating their land,
nor of laying anything by, so that a bad year brought actual
famine and deaths by thousands. The misery of the agricultural
districts at the close of the 1 7th century, and during the following
one, exceeds all imagination. La Brueyre, writing about 1689,
describes the rural population as resembling wild animals in their
appearance and way of life. Massillon, Bishop of Clermont-
Ferrand, tells Cardinal Fleury, in 1740, that the misery of the
rural population was frightful ; they had neither beds nor furni-
ture ; for half the year, in spite of their industry, the greater part
of them were without the barley or oaten bread which constituted
their only food, of which they were obliged to deprive them-
selves and their children in order to pay the taxes ; in short, the
| negroes in the French colonies were infinitely happier. We hear
of their being forced to resort to the herbs of the field and the
bark of trees to appease the cravings of hunger. Official memoirs
of 1698 state that many districts had lost from the sixth to the
half (!) of their population. Between that time and 1715 the
population of France is said to have decreased by more than two
millions, and from that period to the middle of the century it
made no advance.1

Taine, Anc. Regime, liv. v. ch. i., where many more details will be found. Cf. Von
Sybel, p. 25 sq.

302 CLASS HATREDS. [Chap. LH.

The nobles, having often little interest in the land except
the title and the feudal privileges, without any consideration for'
those who were subject to them, it requires no very profound
knowledge of human nature to foretell the consequences of such:
.a relationship between the privileged and non-privileged classes. i
Where great pretensions are supported by little real power, pridei
becomes more sensitive and exacting ; while in those subjected^
to its caprices, contempt mingles with hatred. Madame de StaelJ
an acute observer of her own times, remarks that the different:
classes in France entertained a mutual antipathy for one another.1)
In no other country were the gentry so estranged from the restl
of the nation ; their contact with those below them served only to:
wound. Hence even the elegant manners of the noblesse, thel
most estimable part, perhaps, of the ancient regime, which it was
difficult to imitate,2 served only to increase the envy inspired by
the exclusive prerogatives of that class : a circumstance which
may account for much of the cynicism and sans-culotterie of the
Revolution.

The burgesses, like the peasantry, were oppressed by peculiar
burdens originating in the middle ages. The trade of France!
was monopolized by guilds and corporations, which fettered in-
dependent industry by a system of maitrises SLndjtwandes (master-1
ships and wardenships) , and thus even the bourgeoisie had its
aristocracy. A stranger, or non-freeman, could not become an
apprentice even to the meanest trade, without paying a consider-
able premium. On the expiration of his apprenticeship, a young
man became a compagnon and was entitled to wages; but a
long interval must still elapse before he could set up for himself
as a maitre jure, or master in his trade ; and this again entailed
heavy expenses. Even a Paris flower-girl had to pay 200 livres
to become a maitresse. On the other hand, the son of a maitin
could avoid these expenses by being apprenticed to his father.]
Hence trades came to be perpetuated in certain families, and ari
exclusive system was formed which gave occasion to perpetualj
disputes. The publishers were continually disputing with thel
booksellers as to the difference between an old book and a new
one ; and many thousand lawsuits are said to have taken place
between the tailors and second-hand clothiers without settling
the distinction between a new coat and an old one. The verv
beggars had their privileges, and it was only those belonging fc<

1 Considerations, $c. partie iii. ch. xv. ingly described in the second book ol

2 T!te manners of the period are araus- M. Taine's Anc. Higime.

Chap. III.] STATE OF THE CHURCH. 303

-a certain order, called troniers, who were entitled to ask alms at
the door of a church.1

Among other relics of the feudal times, the ecclesiastical sys-
tem of France was diametrically opposed to the growing- spirit of
the age. We now speak of the French Church only as a corpo-
ration. The clergy were a landed aristocracy, and like the nobles,
were exempt from direct taxation ; or rather, they claimed the
privilege of taxing themselves by what were called dons gratuits,
or voluntary offerings. The collection of tithes brought them into
direct collision with that numerous body of small landed proprietors
which, as we have already said, had now sprung up in France ;
and thus the notice of an inquiring age was all the more strongly
attracted to the flagrant abuses which prevailed in the Church.
The higher ecclesiastical dignities were mostly filled by the younger
sons of noble families, and were no longer, according to the spirit
of their institution, the rewards of virtue, piety, and a zealous
discharge of holy functions. While some of the hierarchy were
rolling in untold wealth, and displaying anything but those
Christian virtues which should characterize their profession, the
ecclesiastics who really performed the duties of the Church had in
many cases scarcely wherewithal to support a decent existence.
The abuses of the property belonging to the regular clergy, or
monastic orders, were especially notorious. The revenues of many
abbeys, so far from being applied to ecclesiastical purposes, were
often enjoyed by laymen.

The arbitrary power of the Crown shared the hatred felt by
the people for the privileges of the aristocracy, both lay and
clerical. The French Government was, indeed, both in theory
and practice, a perfect despotism. The King was the only legis-
lative and supreme executive power. As he claimed to be the
sole proprietor and absolute lord of all France, he could dispose
of the property of his subjects by imposts and confiscations, and
pi their persons by lettres de cachet. Thus France had no Consti-
tution; which is equivalent to saying that the social structure
iad no secure foundation. Had the States- General or National
Assembly continued to subsist, and been regularly convened, the
ong-standing abuses which we have described would probably
tave been gradually abolished, instead of remaining to be swept
way by the convulsions of a revolution ; but having been suffered
^ accumulate for ages, they at length exploded, to the destruction

1 See L. Blanc, Hist, de la Btvol. Franc., t. i. liv. iii. ch. 3.

304 STATE OF THE PROVINCES. [Chap. LI]i

of the system which contained them, like steam pent up withou
a safety-valve. The only constitutional principle which could b:
perceived was, as Madame de Stael observes, that the Crowil
was hereditary. Public opinion, and the passive and unavailing
resistance of the Parliaments, were the sole checks upon th.
exercise of the Eoyal prerogative. A dangerous result of thi
all-disposing power of the Crown was that the people looked ui
to it for everything, even for aid in their private affairs, and at-
tributed to it the most inevitable calamities. If agriculture wa'
in a bad state, it was ascribed to want of succour from th!
Government ; in times of scarcity, which frequently occurred i:|
the eighteenth century, the different districts looked to thei!
Intendant for food.. Every misery, even the badness of th;
seasons, was imputed to the Government.1 It is easy to see ho^(
such a feeling might become, in times of commotion, a dangeroul
element of discontent ; nor will proofs of such effects be wantinj!
in the following narrative. The caprices and injustice of thi
Government added to the general indignation. Royal domain;
which had been sold were reseized ; privileges granted in perpetuitj
were constantly revoked. Towns, communities, even hospital
and charitable institutions, were compelled to fail in their engage
ments in order to lend money to the Crown.

Besides the invidious and oppressive privileges of the nobles'
the monopolies of guilds and corporations, the abuses in th
hierarchy, and the arbitrary power of the Sovereign, the ano
malous condition of the French provinces was another source c
discontent. Although Richelieu had consolidated the authorit;
of the Crown throughout France, he had not amalgamated it
various provinces ; which differed so widely in their system
of law, religion, and nuance, that they could hardly be said tJ
form one kingdom. There were Gascons, Normans, Bretons
Provencals, &c, but a French nation could hardly be said t"
exist. There was France of the Langue ctoc, subject to th
Roman law, and France of the Langue (Toil, obeying the comnio:
law ; France of the Concordat, and France of the Pays d'obedienc
more immediately subject to the Papal power; France of tb
Pays d' 'election and France of the Pays d'etats. These anomaliC
chiefly arose from the gradual manner in which the Monarchy ha
been developed. Down to the twelfth century the patrimony c
the French Crown continued to be only the province of the Isl
of France, with Paris for its capital, together with the Orleanai
1 Tocqueville, Anc. Btgimc, p. 106 sq.

Chap. III.] PAYS D'ETAT AND PAYS D'ELECTION. 305

and a few adjacent districts. The King's authority over the rest
of France was rather that of a feudal suzerain than of a Sovereign.
By marriage, bequest, confiscation, conquest and other means,
related in the preceding pages, these slender possessions had been
augmented before the reign of Louis XVI. to between thirty and
forty provinces; embracing, with the exception of Avignon and
the Venaissin, which still belonged to the Pope, the whole of
modern France.

Of these provinces, acquired at such different times and in such
various ways, many had continued to retain their peculiar laws
and privileges. On a general view, the most important distinc-
tion between them was that of Pays cV election and Pays d'etats.
The Pays d'election were so called because originally the terri-
torial taxes were assessed by certain magistrates called elus (per-
sons chosen or elected) , whose fiscal jurisdiction was entitled an
Election. In early times these magistrates had really been
chosen by the communities, a practice which ceased under
Charles VII., though the name was still retained. As a general
rule, the Pays d'election were the provinces most anciently united
to the Crown. The Pays d'etats derived their name from the
states, or administrative assemblies, which they had possessed
before their union with the French Realm, and were allowed subse-
quently to retain. The provinces comprised under this name were
Rousillon, Brittany, Provence, Languedoc, Burgundy Franche-
Comte, Dauphine, Alsace, the Trois Eveches (Metz, Toul, and
Verdun), Flanders, Hainault, Lorraine, and Corsica. In these
provinces the administration was vested, nominally, at least — for
the authority of the Crown often overrode their ancient constitu-
tions— in the States. The right of sitting in these assemblies,
was attached, with regard to the clergy, to certain preferments,
with regard to the nobles, to certain families, and with regard to
the Tiers Stat, or burgesses, to certain offices. Some of these
provinces, by virtue of treaties concluded with the Crown, claimed
an immunity from various taxes. In such cases the Crown fixed
the contribution of each province, and the privilege of the States
consisted principally in determining the method in which it
should be assessed. The King was said to demand a tax of the
Pays d'etats, and to impose it on the Pays d'election.

This state of things was attended with great inconvenience and
many evils. One of the most striking of these was the enormous
difference which prevailed, perhaps in contiguous provinces, in
the duties on the same article, and consequently in its price. In

IV. X

306 INEQUALITY OF TAXATION. [Chap. LII.

some provinces, for instance, as Bretagne and the Artois, there was
no gabelle or salt tax, while in others it was oppressive. In the free
provinces salt was worth only from two to eight livres the quintal,
while in those subject to the grande gabelle it sold for sixty-two
livres. The Crown alone enjoyed the right to sell salt, and in the
provinces subject to the gabelle its consumption was obligatory;
every person above seven years of age was compelled to purchase
seven pounds annually at the Grenier du Roi.1 A cask of wine
passing from the Orleanais into Normandy increased at least
twenty fold in price, while goods from China could be imported at
only five times their original cost. The taxes were chiefly assessed
on the most necessary articles of life, such as bread, salt, meat,
and wine ; so that the burden was thrown chiefly on the poor.
Salt alone contributed fifty-four million livres to the revenue. The
great difference in the duties on the same articles in different
provinces made the same precautions necessary to prevent
smuggling between them as if they had been foreign countries,
and an army of 50,000 men was employed to guard 1,200 leagues
of internal barriers. It was estimated that smuggling and the
illicit manufacture of salt occasioned annually 4,000 domiciliary
visits, 3,400 imprisonments, and 500 convictions, some of which
were capital.2 In years of scarcity these barriers produced the
greatest inconvenience and distress by preventing the ready
transit of grain from one district to another. The independent
fiscal system of the provinces also rendered possible to persons in
authority that peculation to which we have already alluded in the
instance in which Louis XV. himself was implicated in 1771, and
which was consigned to infamy under the name of the Pacte de
famine.3 One province was ignorant of the condition of another •
the total amount of direct taxation was known only by the King's
council. The fermiers generaux or traitants, to whom the taxes
were farmed, treated France like a conquered country. The
galleys, the prisons, the gallows were at their service. No man
could tell the amount of their gains. But out of them they had
to make large presents to courtiers and mistresses. Even the
King himself, when they closed their accounts, condescended to
receive from them large sums of gold in velvet purses.4 And

1 Necker, Administration des Finances, Granier de Cassagnac, Hist, des Cain

t. ii. p. 12 sq. 4'c- l- i- P- !83.

8 Ordonnance des Gabelles, 1680, tit. vi. 3 See above, p. 268.

ap. Louis Blanc, Hist, de la Eecol. Franc. 4 Monteil, Hist, des Francais, t. x. ;

t. i. p. 506; Necker, Ibid. t. i. ch. viii.; Dtcade des onze soupers, ap. Blanc, liv. iii.

Mtm. de Calonne a ax Notables, No. viii.; ch. iii.

Chap. LH.] CENTRALIZATION. 307

not unfrequently the arm of the law or the strong hand of power
compelled them to disgorge their ill-gotten wealth.

These very anomalies, however, created a necessity for a strong
central government. It was by this method that Richelieu obviated,
or, at least, palliated, the inconveniences which it lay not in his
power to remove. Under his Ministry, all France was divided,
for fiscal and administrative purposes, into thirty-two districts
called generalites, each under the superintendence of an Inten-
dant, who was commonly selected from the maitres des requetes
attached to the Royal Council. His functions were to superintend
the construction and maintenance of high roads, bridges, &c; to
control hospitals, prisons, and the relief of the poor ; to take care
that taxes were equitably assessed, and justice impartially ad-
ministered; to direct the police, with other duties of the like
kind. The Intendants in central France were dependent on the
Controller of Finance, those in the frontier provinces on the
Secretary at War. Thus the whole Kingdom was subjected to the
surveillance of the King and his Ministers; and the despotism of
the Crown was brought home to the very doors of the people.
Law bade d'Argenson observe that France was entirely governed
by some thirty Intendants, the clerks of the provinces, on whom
depended their happiness or misery, their sterility or abundance.1
Thus also a system of centralization was established which ma-
terially contributed to render Paris the censorium, as it were, of
France — a result, of which the disastrous effects upon the Revo-
lution will claim our attention in the sequel.

All the miseries and abuses we have described had been
endured without inquiry or complaint till about the middle of
the eighteenth century, when a school of writers sprang up
which began to attack them from the administrative point of
view.2

One of the first, and perhaps the most distinguished of this
kind of reformers was the Marquis d'Argenson, Minister for
Foreign Affairs in 1744, and previously Intendant of Hainault.
His treatise entitled Considerations sur le Gouvernement de France,
published in 1740, and consequently several years before the
appearance of the Encyclopedic, contains many liberal principles.
He was for doing away with the invidious fiscal privileges of the
nobles, abolishing Protestant disabilities, and making all alike
admissible to public office. But his scheme presents no bold and
striking outline. The main feature of it was to divide France
1 Taine, Anc. Bigime, p. 320. 2 Voltaire, Diet. PhilosopJiique, article Bit.

308 PHYSIOCEATS — ECONOMISTS. [Chap. LIIj

by degrees into new departments and arrondissemens, which
were all to be endowed with an administration resembling that
of the Pays d'etats. Thus there was to be a municipal council in
each parish ; an assembly in each district composed of deputies
from the different parishes, and the States of the province or
department, formed of deputies from the districts. But these
bodies were to be intrusted only with the administration of their
local concerns. They were to have no voice in the general affairs
of the Kingdom, nor could anything be submitted to them that
had not first been sanctioned by the King. In a word, he would
have created a multitude of little provincial democracies under
a central despotism.

With the administrative reformers arose the Physiocrats and
the Economists. Physiocracy, or the government of nature,
derived its name from the fundamental tenet of the sect, that
the soil alone was the source of all wealth, its cultivators the
only productive class, the rest of the world was designated as
classe sterile. Quesnay, physician to Madame de Pompadour,
was the founder of this sect. They denounced such institutions
as stood in the way of their theories ; but they had no wish to
diminish the absolute power of the Crown ; on the contrary, they
considered it essential to their purposes, and better adapted to
them than English liberty. We are not, therefore, surprised
to find that some of them felt an extraordinary admiration for
China ; where an absolute, yet unprejudiced Sovereign cultivated
the earth once a year with his own hands, in honour of the useful
arts; where all places were obtained by literary competition;
where philosophy took the place of religion, and learning was a
title to aristocracy.1 Some of the physiocrats held a sort of
socialist doctrine, as Morelly, who, in his Code de la Nature,
published in 1754, advocated the community of goods. This
school made a great parade of analysis and philosophical method,
though their main theory was not a very wise one. The earth, as
the sole source of all wealth, was to bear the whole burden of
taxation; and hence their grand aim was to augment the net
product of the land, in other words, the income of the landed pro-
prietor; and bread was to be made dear in order that agriculture
might flourish! It was to ridicule this school that Voltaire
wrote his Homme aux 40 ecus.

Side by side with this school grew up another, that of the
Economists, whose attention was directed to commerce. Opposed

1 Tocqueville, Anc. Regime, p. 249.

Chap. LII.] THE NEW PHILOSOPHY. 309

on other points to the views of the Physiocrats, they held one
doctrine in common with them — the removal of all restrictions.
The mottoes common to both schools were laissez faire, laissez
passer. The Marquis of Mirabeau, father of the orator, belonged
to the Economists, and was among the first advocates of free
trade, especially in corn. In a passage of his Ami des Hommes,1
he asks : " In order to maintain abundance in a Kingdom, what
should be done ? — Nothing." Thus he opened the road, though
often erroneously and inadequately, which was afterwards im-
proved and completed by Adam Smith. The virtuous Turgot,
whose constant aim was the good of the people, was the most
eminent member of this school. The views of Turgot embraced
the abolishment of corvees and jurandes, the suppression of pro-
vincial barriers and custom-houses, the establishment of a free-
trade in corn, and the compelling the nobles and clergy to con-
tribute to the taxes. It was Turgot who first asserted, in his
article Fondation in the Encyclopedic, that church lands were
national property.

It was not, however, such gradual and incomplete reforms,
even if these could have been carried without some convulsion,
that could satisfy the present temper of the French nation. In-
stead of lopping off a few abuses of the ancient regime, a spirit
was abroad which was to overthrow both the throne and the
altar, and to shake society to its foundations. This spirit had
been engendered by the literature and pseudo-philosophy of the
eighteenth century. The material progress of the middle-classes,
accompanied with a corresponding advance in their manners and
education, had produced an apt and ready audience for its doc-
trines. The citizen had become as enlightened as the noble in
the philosophy and literature which then prevailed ; for Paris was
the common source whence all derived their lights, and had
impressed upon all a nearly uniform way of thinking. Into the
effects of this new philosophy we must now inquire.

The French literature of the seventeenth century, formed under
the auspices of Richelieu, Mazarin, and Louis XIV., had been
developed in the spirit of the anti-reformation, and rested on
classical antiquity, the Roman Catholic religion, and absolute
Monarchy. It had been encouraged by Richelieu and his suc-
cessors as a means of extending their own as well as the national
glory ; nor can it be denied that it had a vast effect in promoting
French influence abroad. Richelieu, however, seems to have felt

1 Tom. iii. Commerce etranger, p. 40.

310 INFIDELITY. [Chap. LII.

some apprehension of the consequences it might one day produce
at home. In a remarkable passage of his Testament Politique, he
almost foretells the spirit of the eighteenth century, and betrays
his anxiety to prevent the diffusion of knowledge among the
vulgar ; unconscious that its floodgates, when once opened, cannot
again be closed.1 Already before the end of the seventeenth
century symptoms had begun to appear of a change in the
literary taste of the nation. The almost superstitious reverence
for classical antiquity was the first idol to be destroyed, and Per-
rault's attack on the ancients was the harbinger of a new era.
The French writers of the eighteenth century sought their inspira-
tion not in classical, but in modern literature, especially the
English. After this school, they began to occupy themselves
with questions of politics and religion; to discuss the elementary
principles of society as they may be discovered by the light of
reason and the law of nature ; and to investigate the grounds of
religious belief. Thus the age of Bossuet and Pascal was suc-
ceeded by that of Voltaire, Rousseau, and the Encyclopaedists.

Infidelity had, indeed, taken root in France before the close of
Louis XrWs reign, under the auspices of the profligate Duke of
Vendome and his brother ; and it was in this school that the Duke
de Chartres, afterwards the Regent Orleans, imbibed his prin-
ciples of atheism and immorality. It is the nature of extremes
to produce their opposites ; and there can be little doubt that
disgust at the bigotry, superstition, and hypocrisy which marked
the later years of Louis XIV., contributed to produce this de-
plorable reaction. Infidelity, however, would not probably have
spread itself among the great mass of the nation, but for the
writers who subsequently sprung up. Fontenelle was their pre-
cursor, whose long life, extending from the middle of the seven-
teenth to the middle of the eighteenth century, rendered him the
connecting link between the literature of the two periods. Xot
that Fontenelle can be exactly styled an infidel author. He was,
as M. Villemain remarks, but the discreet echo of the bolder
thinkers, such as Bayle and others, who wrote in Holland. Yet
his writings are marked by a certain want of orthodoxy, a dispo-
sition to question received opinions, and to treat grave subjects
in that tone of badinage which became characteristic of the
eighteenth century. Such especially is the style of his Histoire

1 " Si les lettres etoient profanees a de les re'soxidre. et beaucoup seraient plus
toutes sortes d'esprits, on verrait plus de propres a s'opposer aux veYites cju'a les
gens capables de former des doutes que defendre."' Ch. ii. § 10.

Chap. LII.] MONTESQUIEU. 311

des Oracles, while his Dialogues of the Dead betray a genius
kindred with that of Lucian.

Lord Bolingbroke, and the Club of the Entre-sol, which he
founded during his banishment in France, tended greatly to pro-
mote the liberalism and infidelity of the eighteenth century, and
to give them a literary and philosophical turn. Among the most
remarkable members of the Club of the Entre-sol, was the Abbe
de St. Pierre, whose works, says M. Villemain,1 present the
programme of a social revolution so bold and complete as to .
astonish even J. J. Rousseau. But Montesquieu must perhaps
be regarded as the first writer whose works had any direct in-
fluence upon the French Revolution. After travelling over great
part of Europe Montesquieu took up his abode in England, in
1729. Here he applied himself to the study of our Constitution,
for which he imbibed a great admiration, as appears from his
panegyric on it in the eleventh book of his Esprit des Lois, pub-
lished about twenty years afterwards. At first, however, this, his
greatest work, was not understood by his countrymen. They
were hardly yet ripe for serious political studies, and Montes-
quieu's first work, the Lettres Persanes, seems to have given
them a wrong idea of his genius. In the disguise of Eastern
masquerade Montesquieu in that work aimed some sly blows at
French customs and institutions ; and hence, while uttering in
the Esprit des Lois his earnest convictions, he was still regarded
by many of his countrymen only as a concealed satirist. His
book was much better received in England, and it was only
by Frenchmen of the next generation that it began to be duly
understood and appreciated.

Montesquieu must be regarded as the father of that school of
reformers, including Necker, Lally Tollendal, Mounier, and others,
who at the commencement of the French Revolution wished to
establish in France a Constitution on the English model. Hence,
in the vain pursuit of institutions, which, it may be confidently
asserted, would never have suited the genius and habits of the
French nation, they were led to assist the beginnings of a move-
ment which it was not afterwards in their power to stop. There
was no analogy whatever between the France of 1789 and Eng-
land at any period of its history. The want of an aristocracy in-
fluential through its dignities and wealth, yet without particular
privileges, except that of an hereditary peerage, and identified in
its private interests with the great mass of the people, would alone

1 Tableaux des Litt. Franc., Fartie ii. Le^on xiv.

312 VOLTAIRE. [Chap. LII.

have tendered English institutions impossible in France. The
democratic inclinations of the French, their military habits, their
large standing army, all tended the same way. The principles of
Montesquieu obtained however, at length, a sort of triumph in the
Charter of 1814; which appears to have been founded on the
scheme of a Constitution modelled on that of England, and sub-
mitted by Lally Tollendal to the Constituent Assembly. 1

Voltaire, who also acquired much of his philosophy in England,
had a far greater influence than Montesquieu on the French Revo-
lution. Not, however, from any love of constitutional liberty.
Voltaire throughout his life was an aristocrat and a royalist, qtiand
Mir me. The son of a notary, he drops the paternal name of Arouet,
assumes the title of Mons. de Voltaire, and mixes in the highest
circles of Paris. And what society might not have been proud of
him ? what circle would not have been adorned by his wit and
genius ? Unfortunately, however, his talent for satire produced
effects calculated to remind him unpleasantly of his plebeian origin.
He offended a young nobleman, the Chevalier de Rohan, who
caused him to be horse-whipped, and in reply to a demand for
satisfaction, obtained alettre de cachet which consigned him to the
Bastille, whence he was released only to be banished into England.
Here was enough to have cured most men of a love of aristocracy
and despotism. Not so with Voltaire. On his return we find him
throwing himself at the feet of Madame de Pompadour, nay, of
Madame du Barri ; courting Louis XV. by every means in his
power ; degrading his fine genius by representing that vicious
and profligate Monarch under the character of Trajan in a little
piece entitled Le Temple de Gloire,2 which he wrote for the theatre
of Versailles ; meanly thrusting himself in the King's way after
the performance, to catch the smile and the approving word that
were to reward him ; and when repulsed with the most marked
disdain, for Louis liked neither his principles nor person, still re-
taining all the devotion of loyalty. Thus, as late as 1771, during
the quarrel between Louis XV. and his Parliaments, we find him
writing, " For my part, I think the King is right; and if we must
serve, it is better to serve under a lion of a good house than under
two hundred rats of my own kind." He showed the same compla-
cency towards foreign potentates. Failing to attract the notice
of his own Court, he became the guest and literary satellite of
Frederick II. of Prussia; and though ultimately treated with the
grossest indignity and insult by that Monarch, condescended to
1 See L. Blanc, Hist, de la Rivol. t. iii. p. 64. 2 See Marmontel, Mtmoi

Chap. LII.] HIS ENGLISH STUDIES. 313

congratulate him on his victory at Rossbach. He approved of
Catharine II.'s arbitrary designs against the national existence of
Poland and Turkey.1 Nay, we even find him corresponding with
that Sovereign on the shameful and secret events of her private
life, and venturing to bestow upon her the name of Semiramis ;
whilst the Empress, so far from being offended at the equivocal
compliment, tells him " that the eldest of the Orloffs has the
soul of a Roman, that he is worthy of the best times of that
Republic." '2

How, then, did Voltaire contribute to the Revolution ? Prin-
cipally by his attacks on the established religion. Between the
Church, almost invariably the upholder of the existing state of
things, and a tyranny which founds itself on Divine right, the
connection is so close that one cannot be shaken without en-
dangering the other. The sceptical nature of Voltaire's writings
had, moreover, a natural tendency to sap belief in all fixed prin-
ciples whatsoever. The overthrow of the Church, the absorption
of ecclesiastical property, the proclamation of the Age of Reason,
are among the most marked and striking features of the French
Revolution ; and thev must be ascribed in the main to the teach-
ing of Voltaire.

Voltaire's scepticism, if not imbibed, was at least confirmed, by
his residence in England. His study of the English deistical
writers, as Shaftesbury, Toland, and others, and his friendship
and intercourse with Lord Bolingbroke, gave it a body and a
method. From the study of Locke's metaphysical works he im-
bibed the theory of Sensation ; a doctrine which was afterwards
developed in France by Condillac in his Traite des Sensations, and
laid the foundation of the materialism of the French Encyclo-
paedists. Voltaire's residence in England, during which he ob-
tained a very considerable mastery of our language, imbued him
with much admiration for our literature and customs. Hence he
contributed to spread in France what has been called the Anglo-
mania; which, by promoting travelling in England, the studying
of the English language, the reading of English newspapers, and
even the affecting of English tastes and manners, undoubtedly
became a strong predisposing cause of the Revolution.3

It was natural that on his return to France Voltaire should be
struck with the different state of thino-s that he found there.
Having studied in England the philosophy of Newton, he drew

1 See his letters of January 1st and - Viilemain. (Euvres, t. ix. p. 356.

November 2nd. 1772. 3 Marmontel, Memoires, t. iv. p. 37 sq.

314 THE FRENCH CHURCH. [Chap. LII. j

up his Systeme du Monde to explain it to his countrymen ; but
the chancellor d'Aguesseau refused his visa to the publication.
Such was the narrow spirit which then prevailed among the
French authorities, and especially in the Church ! All new ideas
were looked upon as dangerous, even the most certain and de-
monstrable conclusions of science. Cardinal Polignac, a fashion-
able Latin poet of that day, had denounced Newton's discovery in
his Anti-Lucretius, as a dangerous reminiscence of Democritus and
Epicurus ! l Still worse was the fate of Voltaire's Lettres Philo-
sophiques sur les Anglais, which he published soon after his
return to France, and which contained much praise of our customs
and institutions. The Parliament of Paris ordered them to be
burnt by the common hangman, and deprived the publisher of his
maitrise. Voltaire afterwards recast them in his Dictionnaire
Philosojphique.

Such treatment was not likely to increase Voltaire's respect for
the Church. And, indeed, there was much in its practice that
might serve to explain, and to a certain extent to justify, the
hostility of an observant philosopher. The higher clergy were
often open profligates and atheists ; while that portion, including
the Jansenists, which pretended to devotion, exhibited little more
than an anile superstition united with a bloody persecuting
spirit. What should be thought of a Church in which the pro-
fligate Abbe Dubois could obtain a Cardinal's hat, as well as the
Archbishopric of Cambray, the see of the virtuous Fenelon ? And
could find two bishops, one the illustrious Massillon, to vouch for
his orthodoxy and worthiness ? Prelates of high rank lived in
open adultery and fornication ; as Cardinal Montmorenci, Grand
Almoner of France, with Madame de Choiseul, an abbess. The
Bernardine monks of Granselve, in the department of Gers, cele-
brated their patron's fete with orgies that lasted a fortnight, to
which women were admitted, and in which all sorts of excesses
were perpetrated.2 These scandalous scenes were diversified not
only with the ridiculous disputes about the billets de confession,
the exhibitions of the convulsionaries, &c, already related, but
also with cruel and revolting persecutions. In February, 1762, m
pursuance of a sentence of the Parliament of Toulouse, Pochette,
a Protestant pastor, was hanged for having exercised his ministry
in Languedoc. Soon after, Calas, another Protestant of Toulouse,
was broken on the wheel on the false accusation of having killed

1 Vilkmain, pt. i. lee. i. gaillard, an eye-witness, in his Hist, de

2 See the account of the Abbe' Mont- France, t. ii. p. 246.

Chap. LII.] CHARACTER OF VOLTAIRE'S WRITINGS. 315

his son in order to prevent his turning Catholic. Voltaire pro-
tected Calas's widow and children, who had themselves been
subjected to torture; and by bold and persevering efforts vindicated
the memory of Calas and obtained an indemnification for his
family, by procuring a revision and reversal of his sentence. At
a later period he interfered, but with less success, for another
victim of clerical fury. In 1766 two young officers, La Barre
and D'Etallonde, were prosecuted by the Bishop of Amiens for
mutilating a crucifix erected on a bridge at Abbeville. D'Etallonde
escaped by flight ; La Barre was convicted on very vague
testimony, and sentenced by the Jansenist Court of Abbeville to
have his hand and tongue amputated, and to be burnt alive. The
Parliament of Paris, on appeal, confirmed the sentence in spite of
all Voltaire's efforts ; according, however, to the criminal the
favour of being beheaded instead of being burnt.1 If such scenes
were calculated to excite the indignation of a philosophic observer,
the intellectual state of the Church might inspire him with con-
tempt. Its glories had been extinguished with Bossuet and the
eminent prelates of the age of Louis XIV. ; since which period its
intellect had sunk in an inverse ratio to the growing enlightenment
of the age.

Hence the Church, like the other institutions of France, con-
tributed to its own destruction. Unhappily, however, the
opposition which it engendered, not content with attacking the
Church alone, aimed at upsetting Christianity itself; just as the
Monarchy perished in the attacks directed against its abuses. But
for these results the authors and abettors of these abuses are
mainly responsible. Revolutions act by extremes, just as the
overstrained bow regains not its equilibrium till it has been
equally distorted in an opposite direction.

The popular form in which Voltaire disseminated his principles
procured for them a ready and extensive circulation. In England
the attacks upon religion were made in a learned and didactic
manner, and hence they were little read except by the higher and
more educated classes, while the popular literature was rather
of a religious cast. Voltaire's attacks were often insinuated in
a novel or a poem, and being indirect were perhaps the more
effective. The stealthy blow finds us unguarded, and our self-love
is flattered by being left to apply a covert insinuation. The
Piicelle was calculated to degrade at once the national and the
religious traditions of France. In the Henriade a higher subject
1 See Martin, Hist, dc France, t. xvi. p. 140 sq.

ol6 POPULARITY OF VOLTAIRE. [Chap. LII.

is treated in a more elevated tone; but the apotheosis of Henry IV.
implies the condemnation of Louis XIV., and the pi-aises of the
author of the Edict of Nantes are a concealed satire on its
abolisher. Voltaire first made history entertaining-, released it
from its pedantic fetters, and communicated to it graces hitherto
deemed incompatible with the gravity proper to its style. At the
same time he made it subservient to his attacks upon the Church.
Adopting in his Essai sur les Moeurs the exactly contrary prin-
ciple to that followed by Bossuet in his Discours sur Vhistoire
universelle, Voltaire attributed all the misfortunes of the Middle
Ages to Christianity and the faults and errors of the clergy. By
his tone of mockery, as an eminent critic has remarked,1 Voltaire
altered the truth of history, and failed in the very object which
he chiefly professed, an impartial judgment of the different his-
torical epochs. The same writer observes that Voltaire is not so
incorrect in his facts as is generally represented. His chief fault
is that he substitutes caricature for a true picture of the human
mind. His Siecle cle Louis XIV. is less marked with this defect,
and is in every way his best and most trustworthy historical pro-
duction. At a later period he assailed religion in a more direct and
formal manner in his Philosophical Dictionary, but not perhaps
with such popular success.

Voltaire's wit, vivacity, and admirable style made him the most
popular of authors. No writer, perhaps, has exercised a greater
and more general influence on his age. It was not in France
alone that he was regarded as the Apostle of Reason, and the
harbinger of a new era. Many of the sovereigns and statesmen
of Europe, Frederick the Great of Prussia, Catharine II. of
Russia, Joseph II. of Austria, were among his admirers and
correspondents. He even exchanged compliments with Pope
Benedict XIV. about his tragedy of Mahomet ; and Cardinal
Quirini amused himself with translating the Henriade into Latin
verse. It was through Voltaire's inspiration that D'Aranda in
Spain, Pombal in Portugal, were led to expel the Jesuits. Pombal
caused the works of Voltaire and Diderot to be translated into the
Portuguese language. Thus through the medium of England, the
spirit of the Reformation, degenerating into scepticism, reoperated
through the genius of Voltaire upon the most bigoted nations of
Europe.

Sarcasm and ridicule were Voltaire's great weapons, and to an
institution like the French Church of that day none could have

1 yillemain, le<;. xvi.

Chap. LII.] THE ENCYCLOPEDISTS. 317

been more dangerous. No man ever had a keener eye for absurdity
and hypocrisy, nor a keener relish in exposing* them. His mind,
nevertheless, was endowed with some poetical fervour, and hence
he recoiled from the cold and repulsive doctrine of materialism,
and from the philosophy of the Encyclopedists. Voltaire believed
in a Deity ; and what man had more cause than he to think that
his soul, the source of so many brilliant emanations, was some-
thing more than a product of brute matter ? He may even
be suspected of a lingering affection for the Church which he
had reviled. It is at least certain that in his last visit to Paris, he
was induced during a dangerous illness to receive the sacrament;1
and that he helped to erect a church near his chateau at Ferney.
The philosophical, school known as the Encyclopaedists, who
outran their master Voltaire, were the contemporaries of his later
years. D'Holbach, a rich German baron, was their Maecenas.
D'Holbach had himself some literary pretensions, and was the
author of the Systeme de la Nature, the most complete code of
atheism that had yet appeared. D'Holbach gave the philo-
sophers two dinners a week for a period of forty years ; whence
the Abbe Galliani called him the Maitre d' Hotel de la Pliilosophie.
His table was frequented by Diderot, D'Aleuibert, Helvetius,
Grimm, Eaynal, and other beaux esprits of the day. Most of
these were contributors to the famous Encyclopedie, whence the
school derived their name. This storehouse of knowledge, pro-
jected by Diderot in 1750, was the first work of the kind, and was
intended also to be a vehicle for the propagation of liberal
opinions. Diderot's chief assistant was D'Alembert, a man of great
mathematical attainments ; who was intrusted with the writing of
the preface, intended to throw a veil over the principles advocated
in the work. From this school also proceeded many separate
works aimed against the Church and the Monarchy. Of all its
members Diderot had the most original genius ; several of his
works, which take a wide range from philosophy to comedy and
romance, have considerable merit ; but he was desultory in his
studies, and deficient in that application by which alone great
things can be produced. Among the works of his associates the
best known are Helvetius's treatise De I'homme, a poor production,
borrowed from the thoughts of his predecessors and contemporaries;
and the Abbe Ra}rnal's Histoire des etablissemens des Europeens
dans les deux Indes. In this last, in many respects valuable

1 Condoreet, Vie de Voltaire, (Euvres, t. i. p. 294; Grimm, Correspondance, <§c.
t. x. p. 22.

318 JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU. [Chap. LII.

work, Raynal contrived to insert denunciations against kings
which seem hardly to belong to his subject. Some of the chapters
are said to have been written by Diderot. Raynal was ultimately
bought by the Court, and wrote, in 1791, a censure of the Revo-
lution.1

Among the guests at D'Holbach's table by far the most re-
markable was Jean Jacques Rousseau. He did not, however, long
remain a member of that brilliant society. Naturally of an un-
social disposition, Rousseau seems to have felt ill at ease among
men whose position in life was superior to his own, and who had
established a literary reputation to which, though already past
middle life, he was only beginning to aspire. Marmontel, who
was also one of D'Holbach's guests, has left us a picture of Rous-
seau at this period, "before he had become savage." "Nobody,"
he says, " better observed the dreary maxim to live with his
friends as if they were one day to become his enemies. ' Yet, as
his delicate and irritable self-love was well known, he was treated
with the same attentions as would have been bestowed on a pretty
but vain and capricious woman, whom one might desire to please."2
It may be, also, that his disapproval of the tenets of those philo-
sophers, which at all events formed a strong contrast to his own,
was among his motives for withdrawing into solitude.

The consciousness of brilliant intellect led Rousseau to regard
with disgust the cynical materialism of the Encyclopgedists,
which, like the Darwinism of our own times, degraded man to a
level with the beasts. What ! Should the only being which
could observe and understand the phenomena of nature, study
other beings and their relations, be sensible of order, beauty,
virtue, and from contemplating the works of the creation could
rise to the Creator, love what was good and act accordingly, be
nothing" but a brute ! 3 The man who could feel and reason thus
had in him the seeds at least of nobleness and virtue, though
partly from his peculiar temperament, partly from the circum-
stances of his life, they produced only abortive fruits. Endowed
with an exquisite sensibility, bordering on, if it did not sometimes
actually reach, insanity, Jean Jacques had some real, and many
imaginary, grievances to allege against society. From childhood
his life had been an almost constant struggle with adversity ; he
was often in positions which he felt to be unworthy of his genius,

1 Montgaillard, Hist, de France, t. ii. a Marmontel, M&moires, t. i. p. 327 sq.

p. 329. That writer had seen Raynal's 3 See the Confession de fox d\m vicaire

receipt for 24,000 francs. Savoyard.

Chap. LII.] ROUSSEAU'S VIEWS OF SOCIETY. 319

and he sometimes descended to acts which must have made him de-
spise himself. "When a little prosperity at length dawned upon him
he found himself, from innate shyness and early habits, incapable
of playing* a becoming part in society, and thus his irritable pride
sustained a thousand wounds. So constituted, it is not surprising
that he should have conceived a deadly hatred against the whole
social system. His thoughts reverted to man in his unsophisti-
cated state and to an ideal primitive society, which existed only
in his own imagination. Of this imaginary world, and of the
actual world with which it was contrasted, he wrote with burning
thoughts, and with an eloquence and purity of style never ex-
celled in French prose. He appealed to the feeling rather than,
like Voltaire and the Encyclopasdists, to the reason, and in times
of ferment sentiment touches the heart, which argument leaves
unmoved. When he reasoned, indeed, as he generally started
from false premisses, he fell into contradictions and absurdities,
though the flaws were concealed by a show of rigorous logical
deduction highly captivating to his French readers. Among
those readers, how many thousands were there who had' the
same quarrel with society as Rousseau himself, and now saw their
secret feelings so admirably expressed ! Especially he captivated
the women, who had an immense influence on the Revolution.
As his theories tended to the complete demolition of the existing
order of things, and the reconstruction of society from its foun-
dations, they coincided in a great degree with the actual situa-
tion ; for, as we have before observed, there was no means of
reforming the State, no method left but a thorough revolution.

As a writer on social and political science Rousseau's views
are glaringly inconsistent. It is well known that he established
his literary reputation by his answers to two theses proposed by
the Academy of Dijon for prize essays. The first subject was :
" Whether the progress of Literature and Art has contributed to
purify or to corrupt manners ?" the second, " What is the origin
of the inequality among mankind ? and is it authorized by the law
of nature V In his answers to these questions Rousseau main-
tained that letters and the arts are a source of corruption ; that
civil society is an unnatural state of existence ; that the develop-
ment of the higher faculties is prejudicial to mankind ; that a
rude, contented sort of animal life, without any care for mental
culture, is the proper and normal condition of man, and that
every deviation from it is degeneracy. From this view it follows,
that the institution of property, the source of inequality, was a

320 WAS HE SINCERE? [Chap. LII. j

crime, because property is a necessary condition of that abnormal <
state called civilized life. " The first man who, having enclosed
a piece of land, undertook to say — this belongs to me, and
found people simple enough to believe him, was the true founder \
of civil society." But in the Contrat Social the very basis of
these earlier publications is entirely thrown aside. Instead of
rejecting civil society, the Social Contract is an elaborate attempt
to construct a system of it; and the right of property is expressly I
recognized in the problem whose resolution is proposed as the
foundation of his system. " To find a form of association which i
shall defend and protect with all the force of the community the
person and the property of each associate; and by which each, '
uniting himself to all, shall nevertheless obey only himself, aud
remain as free as he was before."1

Rousseau, then, was not always consistent — was he always sin-
cere ? This point has been a subject of much dispute. He him-
self represents the paradoxes of his first essay as the offspring of
a sudden inspiration.2 Diderot, however, used to relate that,
when a prisoner at Yincennes, Rousseau, who often visited him
there, mentioned one day his intention of competing for the
prize of the Dijon Academy, and being asked which side he
meant to take, replied that he should maintain the affirmative of
the question; that is, the purifying effect of literature. " It is
the ass's bridge/' observed Diderot ; " all the mediocre talents
will take that road, which affords only commonplace ideas; while
the opposite side presents a new and fertile field of philosophy and
eloquence." After a moment's reflection Rousseau assented, aud
said that he would adopt the advice." 3 The truth of this anecdote
has been disputed by some eminent writers, from whose opinion
we venture to differ only with the greatest diffidence,4 and it is
true enough that, from Rousseau's cast of mind, the more para-
doxical view might easily have been original. The evidence of
Diderot, is, however, confirmed by that of Hume. Burke, in his
Reflections on the French Revolution, says : " Mr. Hume told me
that he had from Rousseau himself the secret of his principles of
composition. That acute, though eccentric, observer had per-
ceived that to strike and interest the public, the marvellous must

1 "Trouver une forme dissociation qui trat Social, liv. i. chap. vi.
defende et protege de toute la force com- - See his Confessions, liv. viii.

mune la personne et les biens de chaque 3 Marmontel, Mtmoires, t. ii. p. 40.

associe, et par laquelle chacun, s'unissant 4 See Martin. Hist, de France, t. xvi.

a tons, n'obeisse pourtant qu'a lui-meme, p. 67 note; Yillemain. Tableau, $c. t. ii.

et reste aussi libre qu'auparavant." — Con- lecon xxiv.

Chap. LII.] SOVEREIGNTY OF THE EEOPLE. 321

be produced ; that the marvellous of the beatheu mythology had
long since lost its effect — that it was necessary to resort to the
marvellous in life, manners, character, and situation."

Sincere or not, however, Rousseau was indisputably inconsis-
tent. Yet many of the French democrats, and even some writers
of the present day, have confounded together all his principles, as
if they formed part of some great philosophical whole. The socialist
doctrines of property in common, of fraternity as opposed to what
M. L. Blaric calls individualism, must be sought in Rousseau's
earlier works; they form no part of his Social Contract.1 This last,
his most practical work, and on which his fame as a political philo-
sopher must rest, was, perhaps, partly founded on hints derived from
the Republican Constitution of his native city. It contains much
that might be practicable — we do not say expedient — under certain
conditions of society, and was so regarded not only by the French
democrats, but also by the Corsicans and the Poles, who made
Rousseau their legislator, and asked for a constitution at his hands.
The assumption of an original contract as the basis of civil society
had been made by less eccentric philosophers than Rousseau ; it
had been solemnly asserted by the practical English statesmen of
1688. Although a fiction, it afforded at least convenient grounds
for inquiring into first principles. Even the chief characteristic
doctrine of the Social Contract, the sovereignty of the people, had
been promulgated by the Dutch in their Declaration of Indepen-
dence, and had been maintained by Locke in his Treatise on Govern-
ment; nor in so far that the last appeal in all questions affecting
the vital interests of a nation should be to the people itself, will
any enlightened mind be disposed to contest the doctrine. But
the difference between Locke and Rousseau is this, that while both
thought that the sovereign power resides inalienably in the people,
Locke allows that it may be delegated ; while Rousseau holds that
the sovereign, that is, the people, can only be represented by him-
self.2 Even this might not be impracticable in a small State, and
was, indeed, actually done at Athens ; but Rousseau is forced to
admit its unsuitableness for a large one ;3 and hence his theory
sinks at once from the rank of absolute to that of only relative

1 See L. Blanc, Hist, de la Etvol. Fr. 3 Ibid. liv. iii. chap. xv. Rousseau, how-
t. i. p. 535 and passim. ever, had a plan for obviating this ditfi-

2 ■' Je dis done, que la souverainte, culty, which he intrusted to the Count
n'etant que l'exercise de la volonte gene'- d'Antraigues, afterwards a deputy in the
rale, ne peut jamais s'aliener, et que le Constituent Assembly, who, by the advice
souverain, qui est un etre collectif, ne peut of a friend, destroyed the MS. as dan-
etre represents queparlui-meme.'5 — C'ontr. gerous to royal authority. See GEuvns
Soc. liv. ii. chap. i. de Eousscau, t. v. p. 269 (ed. 1823).

IV. Y

322 EOUSSEAU'S IDEA OF CIVIL FREEDOM. [Chap. LII.

truth. And, as we shall see in the course of the following narra-
tive, the active assumption of the sovereignty by the French
people, or rather by the people of Paris, during the Revolution,
and their utter contempt for their representatives, gave birth to
some of its most absurd and atrocious scenes. As a legitimate
deduction from these views, Rousseau condemned representative
government altogether. He recognized not such bodies as Parlia-
ments and National Assemblies ; for as the people cannot dele-
gate the sovereignty, so neither can they delegate the legislative
power, the highest function of the sovereign. Hence Rousseau was
no admirer of the English Constitution. He even ridicules the
English for thinking themselves free ; a condition which, accord-
ing to him, they enjoy only during the short period employed in
electing members of Parliament.1

As Rousseau had been the advocate of a state of nature before
he undertook to construct a civil society, the problem was to
invent a scheme which, while it protected person and property,
should leave a man as free as he was supposed to have been
before, so that he should still obey only himself. Such a paradox
could, of course, be supported only by the most transparent so-
phistry. The individual was always to obey the general will by
making it his own, so that if he had maintained his private opinion,
in opposition to it, he would, in fact, have given up his will, and
lost his freedom ! 2 Let us see how this unanimous will was to be
produced. The ideal Republic begins with proscribing all diffe-
rence of opinion . Certain abstract principles, called f ' sentiments
of sociability," must be assented to by every citizen, nay, must
be subscribed as articles of religious faith ! Those who decline
to do so must leave the country, those who after subscription act
contrary to these principles are to be punished with death.3 Truly,
a precious scheme of liberty, involving the confession that it is
impossible to make men think alike, and, consequently, to will
alike, without the use of violence. When some are banished, others
killed, those left at home, or alive, may be of one mind. The very
system of the Reign of Terror !

Nor is Rousseau more consistent and reasonable in his notions
about equality, a doctrine which played so great a part in the Re-
volution. At the end of the first book of the Social Contract we

1 Contrat Soc. liv. iii. chap. xv. Sub- Cf.Lettres de la Montagne. Buthe thought

sequently, however, he somewhat modified that the English system required annual

these views. Thus, in the Considerations parliaments and universal suffrage.

sur le Gouvernement de la Pologne, chap. 2 Contrat. Soc. liv. iv. chap. ii.

vii.. he admits representative government. 3 Ibid. liv. iv. ch. viii.

Chap. LII.] ROUSSEAU'S NOTION OF EQUALITY. 323

read : " I shall conclude this chapter and book with a remark
which should serve as the basis of the whole social system ; it is,
that the fundamental contract, instead of destroying natural
equality, substitutes, on the contrary, a moral and lawful equality
for whatever physical inequality nature may have established
among men ; and while they may be unequal in strength and
genius, makes them all equal by convention and right/' But, as
it may be presumed that, in the supposed state of nature, men
obey no law but their own will, and, as it is admitted that they
are unequal in strength and genius, how should there be any
natural equality ? The end of civil society, then, is not to preserve
natural equality, for there is none, but to remedy the want of it,
so far as may be done. This, as Rousseau truly says, is effected
by convention and right. The result, however, is not equality but
justice. All that society can do is to make men equal before the
law.

Another inconsistency in Rousseau is, that he has at bottom
but a very mean opinion of the sovereign he has set up. He is,
after all, unwilling to intrust the people with their highest pre-
rogative— that of legislation — although he has before informed us
that it cannot possibly be delegated. " How," he says, " can a
blind multitude which often knows not what it wishes, since it
rarely knows what is good for it, execute so great and difficult a
task as a system of legislation ? " Again : " But there are a
thousand sorts of ideas which it is impossible to translate into the
language of the people. Views too general, objects too remote, are
alike beyond its reach ; every individual relishing only that plan
of government which concerns his private interest, perceives with
difficulty the advantages which he may derive from the continual
privations imposed by good laws," &cl Hence Rousseau is com-
pelled to appoint a legislator.

In like manner he considers an aristocracy to be the best form
of government, or of the executive power; which we must not con-
found with the sovereignty. He even thinks, and perhaps he is
right, that there can be no perfect popular government without
slavery. ' ' The Greek people," he obseiwes, ' ' lived in a mild
climate ; it was not avaricious ; its work was done by slaves ; its
chief business was its liberty. Having no longer the same advan-
tages, how shall we preserve the same rights ? . . . What ! can
liberty only be maintained through servitude ? Perhaps even so.
The two extremes meet. ... As for you, people of modern times,

1 Contrat Soc. liv. ii. chs. vi. and vii.

324 ROUSSEAU'S INFLUENCE ON THE REVOLUTION. [Chap. LII.

you have no slaves, but you are slaves yourselves instead ; you buy
their liberty at the price of your own. It is in vain that you boast
this preference ; I see in it more of cowardice than humanity."
He deprecates, indeed, being considered as the advocate of slavery,
though, after what he has said, we hardly see on what grounds.
But the fact remains, that he thinks there can hardly be a good
government without a certain aristocratic mixture ; for what is a
people, whose work is done for them by slaves, but an aristocratic
people ? The Athenian Republic is again an instance in point.

These few specimens may serve to show that Eousseau was
not always consistent with himself, and it is certain that his
doctrines were often misunderstood, exaggerated, and misapplied
by his revolutionary disciples.2 Yet no writer, as we have before
remarked, had a greater influence on the Eevolution. Before it
broke out, Marat was accustomed to read and comment on the
Contrat Social in the streets amid the applause of an enthusiastic
audience. Professors of jurisprudence put it into the hands of
their pupils as a manual.3 The majority of the first National
Assembly were Eousseau' s disciples, as appears from their voting
him a statue, as the author of the Contrat Social, the elementary
book of public liberty and the science of government ; and from
their giving a pension of 1,200 francs to his widow.4 They seem
to have borrowed from Eousseau the idea of giving the King the
title of " King of the French," instead of " King of France."
But the Declaration of the Eights of Man by the Constituent
Assembly is perhaps the strongest instance of his influence. In
the third Article his dogma of the sovereignty of the people is
laid down in its full extent. As the Eevolution pursued its head-
long course, Eousseau's authority grew all the stronger. The
first Declaration of Eights only proclaimed that men are equal in
rights ; the second (June 24th, 1793) asserted that they are equal
by nature.0 Thus the natural was sophistically confounded with
the social state, the savage with the civilized man ; and the people,
instead of being instructed in their duties, were taught to believe
themselves entitled to rights utterly incompatible with their social
condition.

As Voltaire was the laughing philosopher, the Democritus of
the Eevolution, so Eousseau was its Heraclitus. Uniting an

1 Contr. Soc. liv. iii. ch. xv. 4 Toulongeon, Hist, de France, $c. t. i.

2 See to this effect the testimony of p. 266.

Bailleul, a member of the Convention, 5 See Contrat Soc. liv. i. chap. ix.

Esprit de la Bivol. chap. vi. 6 See these Declarations in Toulongeon,

3 Taine, Anc. Regime, p. 415. t. i. App.

Chap. III.] ROUSSEAU'S SENSIBILITY AND GOODNESS. 325

ardent imagination with extraordinary dialectic subtlety, he was
enabled to support his extravagant hypotheses with a display of
reasoning which to some minds made them appear truths. But
we do not believe that he was the dupe of his own paradoxes.
He threw them out as baits for the vulgar and unreflecting. He
would perhaps have been filled with regret could he have fore-
seen their consequences, for he had the greatest aversion to
violence. In one of his letters he observes : " In my opinion,
the blood of one man alone is more precious than the liberty of
the whole human race;"1 where, however, his temperament led
him to a wrong conclusion.

A morbid sensibility, like that of Rousseau, is, however, so far
from being incompatible with the most atrocious cruelty that
their union forms one of the strangest and most striking features
of the French Revolution. M. Michelet has remarked that many
of the terrorists " were men of an exalted and morbid sensi-
bility;"2 and he goes on to observe that artists — not, we sus-
pect, of the highest order — and women were particularly sub-
ject to it. Thus Panis and Sergent, the bloodthirsty miscreants
who took so active a part in the massacres of September, burst
into tears because a Marseillese to whom they had refused
ball-cartridges on August 10th, threatened to shoot himself.3
Jourdan Coup-tete, who cut off the heads of the governors of
the Bastille and of the gardes clu corps at Versailles, and after-
wards took a leading part in the atrocities at Avignon, was
easily moved to tears, and would sometimes cry like a child.
The perpetrators of the September massacres were occasion-
ally seized with a fit of frantic joy when one of their in-
tended victims was acquitted, and, by "a strange reaction of
sensibility," would shed tears and throw themselves into the
arms of those whom a moment before they were about to slay.
The same sort of " sensibility " appears to have characterized
Danton.6 It has been remarked that the novels and other pub-
lications of the bloodiest period of the Revolution are full of the
word sensibility. Fabre d'Eglantine even talked about " the
sensibility of Marat." But this expression, as M. Michelet
observes, will surprise nobody but those who confound sensibility
with goodness. In fact this sort of feeling is so little connected

1 Lettre a Madame * * *, September Roux, Hist. Parlementaire, t. xix. p. 94.
7th, 1776. 4 Michelet, t. hi. p. 295.

2 Hist, de la Bti-ol. Frang. liv. ii. 5 Ibid. t. iv. p. 158.

chap. ii. 6 L. Blanc, Hist, de la Bevol. Fr. t. viii.

3 See Panis's speech in Buchez and p. 97.

326 CENSORSHIP OF THE PEESS. [Chap. LH.

either with the head or heart that it might almost be displayed
by a galvanized corpse.

In the absence of all public debate, literature was, under the
old regime, the only channel of political discussion. The growing
audacity of its tone had not escaped the attention of the Govern-
ment. A Royal Declaration of 1757, in the very zenith of Vol-
taire's ascendant, condemns to death those who should write or
print or disseminate anything hostile to religion or the established
Government.1 The censorship of the Press, however, which was-
in the hands of the clergy, was on the whole exercised with
tolerable leniency, though often capriciously. Thus Rousseau's
prize essay was left unnoticed, while his harmless Emile was con-
demned to be burnt by the executioner. In like manner the
Sorbonne refused their imprimatur to MarmonteFs innocuous
Belisaire, and extracted from it thirty-two propositions, which
they published with their anathema as heretical, under the title of
Indiculus ; to which Turgot subjoined the epithet ridicuhis.
One of the propositions denounced was : " It is not by the light
of the flaming pile that souls are to be enlightened;" whence
Turgot drew the legitimate conclusion that, in the opinion of
the Sorbonne, souls were to be so enlightened ! Such were
the clerical censors of those days.

A living French writer somewhat paradoxically maintains that
the restrictions on literature were really effective, and that the
philosophers had thus little or no influence in producing the
Revolution. In corroboration of this view he asserts, on the
authority of the Introduction to the Moniteur, that their works
were to be found only in the libraries of the educated and rich/
But what more could be required ? It is notorious that the
Revolution was begun by the higher classes. Thus Marmontel
tells us that among the nobles, a considerable number of enthu-
siasts (tetes exaltees) , some from a spirit of liberty, others from
calculating and ambitious views, were inclined towards the
popular party.3 Madame de Stael says that not only all the men,
but also all the women, who had any influence upon opinion
among the higher classes, were warm in favour of the national
cause ; that fashion, all powerful in France, ran in this direction ;
and that this state of things was the result of the whole century.

The privileged classes adopted the same language as the Tiers

1 Tocqueville, Anc. Regime, p. 100. 3 Memoires, t. iv. p. 104.

2 Granier deCassagnac,/^. des Causes 4 Considerations sur la\ Revol. Fr.
de la Re vol. Fr. t. i. p. 51 sq. (Euvres, t. xii. p. 179.

Chap. LII.] DEGRADATION OF THE MONARCHY. 327

etat, and were disciples of the same philosophers. As early as
1762, women of fashion had taken from Rousseau the ominous
name of citoyenne, as a pet appellation.1 In like manner, among-
the clergy, the most pronounced scepticism was found in the
hierarchy. The Grand Vicar would smile at a little blasphemous
talk, the Bishop laughed outright, the Cardinal would contribute
something of his own. We need hardly advert to the rapidity
with which, in a country like France, opinion spreads from class
to class. This circumstance had not escaped the notice of Vol-
taire,2 who had remarked the rapid diffusion of the new principles.
A traveller who had been long absent from France being asked
on his return at the commencement of Louis XVI/s reign what
change he observed in the nation ? replied : "None, except that
what used to be the talk of the drawing-rooms is now repeated
in the streets." 3

The persecution which authors experienced from the Censor-
ship was more vexatious than terrible, and calculated rather to
excite than to deter. Hume even expressed to Diderot his opinion
that French intolerance was more favourable to intellectual pro-
gress than the unlimited liberty of the Press enjoyed in England.4
However this may be, it is certain, and may serve as another refu-
tation of M. Granier de Cassagnac's theory, before mentioned, that
the progress of public opinion in France had led acute observers to
predict a revolution even so early as the middle of the eighteenth
century. Lord Chesterfield, in a letter dated April 13th, 1752, ad-
verting to the quarrel between Louis XV. and the Parliament of
Paris, observes : " This I see, that before the end of this century,
the trade of both king and priest will not be half so good a one as it
has been. Du Clos, in his Reflections, hath observed, and very
truly, ' qu'il y a un germe de raison qui commence a se de-
velopper en France/ A development that must prove fatal to
regal and papal pretensions."5

While such was the progress of public opinion, the Monarchy
had been gradually sinking into unpopularity, we might almost
say into contempt. The French people, till towards the close of

1 Taine, Anc. Regime, liv. iv. ch. ii. s. v. s See to the same effect another letter
See the whole section. of December 25tb, 1753. The French

2 "La lumiere s"est tellement repandue Revolution was also foretold by Leibnitz
de proche en proche, qu'on e'clatera a la in his New Essay on the Human Under-
premiere occasion," &c. — Lettre a M. standing, B. iv. ch. xvi. ; by Voltaire, in
Chauvelin, Avr. 22, 1764. the letter to M. Chauvelin, already

3 De Barante, Lit. Francaise au 18eme quoted; and by Rousseau in his Emile,
Steele, 312. t. ii. p. 99 (ed. Geneva, 1780).

4 Tocqueville, Anc. Regime, p. 233.

328 EFFECT OF THE AMERICAN REVOLT. [Chap. LII.

Louis XIV.'s reign, had loved their kings with an affection
bordering on idolatry. They looked up to them as their pro-
tectors against the aristocracy, and as the promoters of national
glory, both in arms and letters. But this popularity began to
wane with Louis XIV.'s good fortune, and the approach of that
misery which his ambition had occasioned. The Regency of the
Duke' of Orleans was calculated to bring all government into
contempt. Yet the loyalty of the French seemed to revive a
little in the first part of Louis XV/s reign, till his mean and
abominable vices entirely extinguished it. The masses ordered
by private individuals for the King's safety form a kind of baro-
meter of his popularity. During his illness at Metz in 1744, they
amounted to 6,000 ; after Damiens' attempt on his life in 1757 to
600 j at his last illness in 1774 to 8.1 Such was the natural fate
of the lover of Madame Du Barri, of the hoary voluptuary of the
Pare aux Cerfs, of the mean and avaricious speculator in the dis-
tress of his people. The King and the corn-dealer were for ever
confounded, and consigned to everlasting infamy. Frequent
scarcities constantly recalled the Facte cle Famine, till at length
it resounded as the death-knell of the French Monarchy, when on
the 6th of October, 1789, the populace led the Royal Family
captive to Paris, with shouts that they were bringing the baker,
his wife, and the little apprentice ! Thus Louis XVI. inherited
a Crown sullied by the vices of his predecessors, and became the
innocent victim of faults that were not his own. The feebleness
of his character, nay, even his very virtues, assisted the Revo-
lution. Had he possessed more energy and decision, had he
felt less reluctance to shed the blood of his subjects, he might
probably have averted the excesses which marked his own end
and that of the Monarchy. "It is frightful to think," says
Mounier, " that with a less benevolent soul, another Prince might
perhaps have found means to maintain his power."

The aid which, against his better judgment, Louis XYI. was
induced to lend to the American rebellion, must, no doubt, as we
have had occasion to remark before, be reckoned among the
causes of his fall ; not only by aggravating the financial distress,
but also, and more materially, from the support which the doc-
trines of the revolutionary philosophers derived from the establish-
ment of the American Republic. While, as M. Tocqueville re-
marks,3 the American rebellion was only a new and astonishing

1 Taine, p. 413. 2 Becherches sur les Causes, $c.

s Anc. Regime, p. 223.

Chap. LII.] THE DEFICIT. 329

fact to the rest of Europe, to the French people it rendered more
sensible and striking things which they had meditated on already.
The Americans seemed only to be executing what the French
writers had conceived, and to be giving to their dreams all the
substance of reality. The aid which the French Government
lent to rebels appeared a sanction of revolt. Lafayette and other
Frenchmen, who had taken a personal share in the American
struggle, were among the foremost to promote the Revolution in
France, and the enthusiastic feeling which the declaration of
American Independence excited among the French, was perhaps
heightened by the circumstance that it had been achieved at the
expense of a rival nation. During the first tumults in Paris, the
name of Washington was the principal watchword in the different
sections.

Louis XVI. himself, in his speech on opening the States-
General in 1789, attributed the financial pressure to the American
war. Its cost was estimated at 1,194 million livres, or about 48
millions sterling ; and so bad was the state of credit in France,
that this money was borrowed at an average of about 10 percent.1
We cannot, however, regard the disordered state of the finances
as much more than the occasion of the Revolution, by necessi-
tating the convocation of the States-General. It was none of
the essential causes of the outbreak. Preceding monarchs had
triumphed over greater financial embarrassments; and had every-
thing else in the State been sound, even a national bankruptcy
might have been surmounted. In fact, though the deficit set the
Revolution in motion, it occupied but little attention after the
movement was once begun. The importance of the deficit as a
revolutionary motive, arose not so much from its amount, as from
the temper of the nation. The wide-spread discontent among the
middling and lower classes forbade the imposition of any new taxes,
while the higher orders were not inclined to relinquish their fiscal
privileges. Calonne, though the Minister of the courtiers, was
compelled to acknowledge that the only hope of safety lay in the
reform of all that was vicious in the State. He proposed to
abolish the exemption from taxation enjoyed by the clergy and
nobles ; to increase the product of the direct taxes by a more
equal distribution of them, and that of the indirect taxes by re-
leasing agriculture, commerce, and manufactures from their fetters
by abolishing internal barriers and obsolete rights and privileges ;

1 Granier de Cassagnac, Hist, des Causes, ti-c. t. i. p. 108 note.

330 DOUBLING OF THE TIEES ETAT. [Chap. LII.

in short, by adopting many of the plans of D'Argenson already men-
tioned, including the establishment of provincial councils. These
plans he was unable to carry out, but from this time any Ministry
but a reforming one became impossible. Thus Calonne's sue- \
cessor, besides adopting many of the financial schemes of that
Minister, proposed to reform the whole administration of justice, I
both civil and criminal ; busied himself with amending the sys-
tem of education, and abolished Protestant disabilities. Necker,
a Protestant and a Swiss, naturally carried his views still further.
He counselled the admission of all citizens, without distinction, to
public employments, the abolishment of lettres de cachet, and of
the censorship of the Press ; and at a later period he showed that
he was not disinclined to alter and modify the Monarchy itself.
These reforms seem substantial enough, and would perhaps have
given France all that she required, short of a Constitution. But
they involved an attack upon all the privileged classes and con-
stituted powers ; they threatened provincial administration, com-
mercial customs, and the privileges not only of the clergy and
nobles, but also of the robe or legal order, and, in some degree of
the bourgeoisie. Hence they provoked the opposition of these
classes ; and it soon became evident that this opposition could be
overcome only by assembling the States- General.

The cry for this assembly had indeed originated in the Parlia-
ment of Paris (July, 1787), but rather with the design of thwart-
ing the Court than helping the people. The Pai'liament was
popular, because it was the opponent of the Crown, and it conse-
quently expected that the States would sanction all its preten-
sions. When it was restored to its functions in September, 1788,
after its suspension for having opposed the judicial reforms of
Brienne, it was feted by the people with extravagant demonstra-
tions of joy. But in a few days it lost all its popularity by en-
registering the Royal declaration for the summoning of the States,
with the clause that they should be convened and composed agree-
ably to the forms observed in 1614 ; a clause which frustrated the
popular wish that the tiers etat should be represented by deputies
equal in number to both the other orders combined.

This last point, the doubling of the tiers etat, was one of the
most important immediate causes of the Revolution. It gave the
movement a beginning. Necker's conduct in the matter, though
perhaps only the result of a want of firmness, and of broad states-
manlike views, was so equivocal, that some have accused him of

Chap. LII.] CONDUCT OF NECKER. 331

premeditated treachery.1 It will be recollected2 that he caused
the Notables to be summoned a second time, in order to decide this
question ; yet, though they refused their sanction to the measure,
Necker persuaded the King to adopt it. To judge his conduct
fairly, we must recollect the circumstances in which he was placed.
Except that the Notables had vaguely allowed, on their second
convocation, that the taxes should be borne by all Frenchmen,
the privileged orders were obstinately opposed to all concession.
Yet it was absolutely necessary to overcome this opposition ; and
the only method of doing so was to appeal to the people, and to
give them a preponderating voice in the Assembly. But Necker's
conduct was hardly straightforward. In a Report to the King on
the subject, he pretended to think that the importance of the
question was exaggerated, since by ancient custom the three
estates were authorized to deliberate and vote separately, and
thus the respective numbers of the different Chambers would be
of no moment. Yet the very next sentence shows that he was at
least contemplating the occasional union of the States in one
Chamber, " for the examination of all such matters in which their
interest is absolutely equal or alike."3 Necker induced the Parlia-
ment, through D'Epremesnil, to reverse, or rather to explain, their
decree on this subject ; and they declared, December 5th, that
by "the forms of 1614," they meant only the summoning by
bailliages and sene'chausses ; and they left the decision as to the
number of the deputies to the wisdom of the King. But by this
tardy recantation, though accompanied with a recommendation of
other popular measures, they failed to regain the goodwill of the
people, whilst they alienated the privileged orders. The doubling
of the tiers Stat was announced in the Royal declaration entitled,.
Resultat du Conseil clu Boi tenu a Versailles, December 27th,
1788.

The question with the Court was, how to tide over the present
conjuncture, and to retain as much as possible of its former power.
The question with the people was, how to obtain their clue share
in the government ; in short, a Constitution. Necker's vacillating-
policy and attempts to compromise matters tended only to preci-
pitate the crisis. In his speech on the opening of the Assembly,
| he suggested, in conformity with his Report to the King, that on
j certain occasions, at least, the three orders should deliberate and

1 See Sallier, Annates Francaises, p. 2 Above, p. 295.

I 269 sqq.; Granier de Cassagnac, Hist. 3 Report in the Introd. au Moniteur,.

des Causes, $c. t. ii. p. 385 sqq. p. 500 sqq. ap. Martin, t. xvi. p. 621.

332 CONDUCT OF THE COURT. [Chap. LII.|

vote in common ; but he adduced some arguments to dissuade them
from adopting such a method as a general rule.1 If they did not,
indeed, deliberate in common on matters of finance, Necker would
not have obtained his end, his object being to force the privileged
orders to pay taxes. But, if he was loyal and sincere, it betrays
a lamentable want of statesmanship and knowledge of human
nature not to have perceived that the Commons, having once ob-
tained a union of the Chambers, would never abandon it; and
that such a union would necessarily lead to a revolution. Necker's
character as a statesman cannot be cleared from this reproach
except on the assumption that he foresaw and wilfully incurred
the consequences of his policy. For ourselves, we are inclined to
adopt the view of an historian of this period :2 that Necker was
in this conjuncture too much the mere Minister of Finance; that
in his anxiety to fill up the deficit, he overlooked the fatal results
with which his measures for that purpose might be attended;
that he had conceived too high an opinion of the moderation of
the people, and perhaps, it may be added, of his own ability to
control and direct them. However this may be, it is certain that
Necker^ policy was one of the chief proximate causes of the
Revolution, which was thus mainly owing to two natives of
Geneva, one of whom supplied its ideas, and the other the means
of putting them into execution. But the classes which suffered
most from its effects brought their calamities on themselves by
the tenacity with which they clung to their unjust, absurd, and
antiquated privileges, and by the obstinacy with which they
opposed even the most necessary and moderate reforms.

The Court must also share in the condemnation of the Minister.
It could not have been ignorant of the state of public opinion.
Five Princes of the blood, the Count d'Artois, the three Condes,
and the Prince de Conti, in a memorial addressed to the King in
December, 1788, had declared that a revolution was in progress.'
The state of the public mind must also have been known from the
various publications and pamphlets of the day, and especially
from the cahiers, or papers of instructions, given by the electors
to their deputies. The Court committed a fatal mistake in doing
too much and too little. It awakened the just hopes of the people
by allowing the tiers etat to equal the numbers of the other two

1 Toulongeon, t. i. App. p. 43 sqq. the Venetian Senate inDaru(liv. xxxiv.),

2 Alison, Hist, of Europe, eh. iii. § 144, which contains an excellent view of the
ch. iv. § 10. Such also was the opinion causes of the French Revolution.

of C'apello, the Venetian ambassador at 3 Martin, Hist, de France, t. xvi. p. 619.

Paris at that period. See his report to

Chap. LII.] CONDUCT OF THE DEPUTIES. 333

orders ; and then attempted to frustrate these hopes by the Royal
Session of June 23rd. At a later period, Necker, in his work on
the Revolution, regretted that the union of the three orders had
not been conceded with good grace and at once. It will, indeed,
appear in the following narrative that the conduct of the Court
throughout the Revolution was a series of blunders.

The centralization of all France in Paris, rendering it as it were
the sensorium of the Kingdom, contributed much to the origin as
well as to the peculiar character of the Revolution. Here sprung
the ideas which gave it birth ; here took place all the scenes which
decided its course. From the very first moment the fate of the
Revolution was in the hands of the Parisian mob, and of the dema-
gogues who led it. The destruction of Reveillon's paper manu-
factory by the populace, during the election of deputies to the
States, though too much stress has perhaps been laid upon it as
a political movement,1 showed at least what extensive elements of
discontent and danger were lurking in Paris. No sooner was the
National Assembly opened than the Parisian electors, having
formed themselves into a permanent and illegal committee, began
to dictate to it. The deputies were regarded as the niere servants
and organs of the sovereign people, and were bullied and insulted
by the mob that filled the tribunes ; who, as Arthur Young tells
us, interrupted the debates by clapping their hands, and other
noisy expressions of approbation.2 The right of petition began
very early to be abused. Sometimes these petitions were only
ludicrous and unseemly. During the Constituent Assembly they
were chiefly of a sentimental character. Thus the Assembly heard
" with admiration " the address of a citizen who had sent a
nosegay composed of ears of corn mingled with pomegranates
gathered by the hands of his spouse/ Under the Legislative
Assembly the petitioners were often accompanied by a band,
which played symphonies and marches. On the 20th of June,
1792, they danced several hours before the Assembly. Under the
Convention, petitioners became still more extravagant and menac-
ing. They obtained permission to sing popular songs and
romances at the bar ; 4 they often came armed ; they dictated to
the deputies in the most insolent manner, and sometimes

1 Michelet, Hist, de la Eivol. t. i. p. 11. disapproved. Droz, ap. Michelet, t. i.

2 While the deputies were discussing p. 43.

the subject of constituting themselves into 3 Moniteur, t. i. p. 336, ap. Cassagnac,

a National Assembly, a man rushed from t. iii. p. 442.

the tribunes and collared Malouet for 4 Granier de Cassagnac, Hist, des

! uttering some exclamations which he Causes, $c. t. iii. p. 343.

334 SOVEREIGNTY OF THE MOB. [Chap. LII.

threatened their lives. When the party of the Gironde at length
began to feel the intolerable tyranny of the mob which they had
themselves used to promote their ends, they sought to protect
themselves, and to secure the freedom of debate, by moving for a
guard to be composed of provincials. The manner in which this
project was denounced by the orator of the Paris Sections affords
a good specimen of the later style of petitioning. " Proxies of
the Sovereign/' he exclaimed, " you see before you the deputies
of the Sections of Paris. They are come to tell you eternal
truths, to recall to you the principles which nature and reason
have engraved upon the heart of every freeman. A proposition
has been made to put you on a level with tyrants, by surrounding
you with a separate guard, different from that which composes
the public force. The Sections, after duly weighing the principles
in which the sovereignty of the people resides, declare to you
through us that they find the project odious, and dangerous in
execution. . . . Far be from us all egotism. We are not defend-
ing here the interests of Paris, but those of the whole Republic. . . .
People say Paris wants to isolate itself. Insulting calumny ;
absurd pretext ! Paris has made the Revolution ; Paris has
given liberty to France ; Paris will know how to maintain it ! " 1

Such was the self-constituted sovereign people of the Revolu-
tion— the dregs of a large and profligate city. How unlike the
sovereign dreamt of by the Genevese philosopher ! Nay, how
unlike the great mass of the French nation, who were desirous
only of a moderate social reform . " The labourer in the fields,"
says Marmontel,2 " the artizan in the towns, the honest burgess
engrossed by his trade, demanded only to be relieved, and had
they been left alone, would have sent to the Assembly deputies
as peaceable as themselves. But in the towns, and especially in
Paris, there exists a class of men, who, though distinguished by
their education, belong by birth to the people, make common
cause with them, and, when their rights are in question, take up
their interests, lend them their intelligence, and infect them with
their passions. It was among this class that an innovating, bold,
and contentious spirit had long been forming itself, and was every
day acquiring more strength and influence."

But, while the ascendency of the Parisian rabble effected the
speedy downfall of the Monarchy, it was also the principal cause
of the failure of the Republic. The throne was no sooner over-
turned than its overthrowers, instead of consolidating the new

1 Hist. Pari. t. xix. p. S50 sq' 8 Mtmoires, t. iv. p. 37 sq.

Chap. III.] LITERARY INFLUENCES. 335

State, began among themselves a deadly struggle for power, a
struo-o-le of which the mob were still the arbiters. How this state
of things soon found its natural termination in a military
despotism will appear in the following narrative.

The character of the national representatives was another cause
of the failure of the Revolution. From the want of all public life
in France, they had no political experience. Their knowledge of
politics rested entirely on theory and speculation ; and thus, as
M. Tocqueville observes/ they carried their literary habits into
their proceedings. Hence a love of general theories, complete
systems of legislation, exact but impracticable symmetry in the
laws ; a contempt for existing facts, and a taste for what was
original, ingenious, and new ; a desire to reconstruct the State
after a uniform plan, instead of trying to amend the parts of it.
To this political ignorance, or worse still, illusory knowledge,
must be ascribed some of the greatest evils of the Revolution.
Vague and undefined notions of liberty and equality produced the
worst and most ridiculous excesses. As it was impossible to
establish an equality by raising up the lower orders, it was deter-
mined to pull down the higher ones, and thus to reduce every-
thing: to a uniform low level. Polite manners were exchanged for
the grossness of the least educated class. The rich dissembled
their enjoyments, and hid their pride under a modest, not to say
miserable exterior ; even wit itself, as something above the vulgar
level, was compelled to assume the carmagnole or dress of the
people.2 As the bounds of the liberty aimed at were undefined,
\ so they were never thought to be attained ; and the entering
I thus on an unknown course necessarily inflamed and exaggerated
all passions and opinions. This is no sketch from fancy, but the
confessions of an actor in those scenes, a Republican, and a
member of the Convention.3 "We were but weak creatures/' he
says, " abandoned to ourselves, and scarcely knowing how to
profit by the errors of the preceding day. We could only ad-
vance through a thousand obstacles, a thousand dangers, and
thus, from mistake to mistake, from catastrophe to catastrophe,
;from overthrow to overthrow, painfully arrive at the grand result
desired by all, but which no individual wisdom could assure to us
.beforehand."

1 Anc. Regime, p. 224 sq. black hair, a terrible moustache, the

* Bailleul, Esprit, de la Btvol. ch. viii. bonnet rouge, and an enormous sabre. It

The carmagnole consisted of enormous was also the name of a song and dance,
plack pantaloons, a short jacket, a three- 3 Idem, Examen crit. de Vouvrage de

ploured vest, a Jacobite wig of short Mdme.de Stael, t. i. p. 129.

336 AFFECTATION OF ROMAN MANNERS. [Chap. LII.

The literary character of the Revolution was thus the cause of
many of its mistakes and follies, and perhaps of some of its
atrocities. As the English Puritans assumed Scriptural names,
and set up as their example the scenes of the Old Testament, so
many of the French demagogues imagined that they were emu-
lating Brutus and other heroes of Roman story. The members of
the Convention talked familiarly of poignarding one another ; and
it is possible that the memory of the proscriptions of Sulla and
the Triumvirs may not have been without some influence on the
massacres of the Revolution. M. Yillernain attributes this affec-
tation of antiquity to the influence of Rousseau.1 Another cause,
perhaps, was, that the French, finding no example of patriotism in
their own annals, were obliged to recur to those of ancient times.
This pedantry of patriotism seems to have been more especially
characteristic of the Girondists. In the time of the Directory
fetes were given, in which ancient chariots were introduced, and
the guests appeared in Greek costumes.2 When Bonaparte made
the Peace of Tolentino, and stipulated for the delivery of Roman
statues and other works of art, he wrote to the Directory: "1
have particularly insisted on the busts of Junius and Marcus
Brutus, which shall be the first sent to Paris." The five Direc-
tors, at their reception of Bonaparte at the Luxembourg in 1797,
appeared in Roman dresses ; while he himself, who, no doubt,
laughed at them in his sleeve, was very plainly attired.3

But we must remember, after all, that the French had a good
cause ; and though the crimes and follies with which they disgraced
it, under the leadership of monsters like Danton, Marat, and
Robespierre and their fellows, prevent us from looking on their
struggles for liberty with the same unmixed satisfaction with
which we regard those of some other great nations, yet we must
not suffer ourselves to be diverted from taking a calm and equi-
table view of their revolution by the disgust or contempt which
many of its scenes inspire. We must not confound the great
body of the French people with the wretches to whom we have
alluded. We must recollect that they had many just grounds of
provocation; that the state of France demanded not a mere
political revolution, but the reorganization of society from its
very foundations ; that such a change cannot suddenly be effected
without inflicting for a time the severest social misery ; that a

1 " C'est lui (Rousseau), et non pas — Le(;on xxii.
l'education des colleges, comme on Pa dit, 2 Madame de Stael, Consideration?, .J< .

qui avait cree cet enthousiasme de 1'an- p. iii. ch. ix.
tiquite, fecond en parodies et en crimes." 3 Ibid. chs. xxiii. xxvi.

Chap. III.] FRENCH AND ENGLISH REVOLUTION. 337

reform begun under circumstances of violence is difficult, perhaps
impossible, to be arrested at the point when it ceases to be any-
longer salutary ; that the evils and calamities of the French
Eevolution must in great part be ascribed to the wretched govern-
ment which rendered it inevitable. We must make allowance
for a people oppressed and irritated by despotism, and accustomed
to be guided and controlled in all their acts, who suddenly became
their own masters, and who, from the arbitrary proceedings and
coups d'etat of the old regime, had ceased to feel any reverence for
law and justice, and had come to regard them as mere fictions. We
must also allow for their new and unexampled situation, for the
alarm and suspicion which it necessarily created. A vague fear of
brigands, which nobody could define, a fear of famine, more real
and tangible ; a fear of treachery, of foreign plots, of Pitt and
Coburg-. The alarm was increased by sudden calls to arms, the
sound of the tocsin, the strange dresses and emblems, the new
magistracies and tribunals, the dislocation and disruption of all
social life. Thus terror ruled uncontrolled, and terror is soon
precipitated into deeds of cruelty.

Resemblances between the French and English Revolutions
have been ingeniously pointed out, which at first sight seem
striking enough. In both countries an unpopular queen ; the
Long Parliament in England, and the self-constituted National
Assembly in France ; the flight of Louis to Varennes, and of
Charles to the Isle of Wight; the trial and execution of both
those monarchs ; the government by the Parliament, and the
government by the Convention ; Cromwell and Bonaparte, who
expel these assemblies and rule by the sword ; the setting aside
of the heirs of these usurpers, and the restoration of the legiti-
mate Kings.1 These resemblances, however, lie only on the sur-
face. A deeper examination will discover that no two events of
the same kind can be more opposite in their essential character
than the French and English Revolutions. While the object of
the one was to destroy, that of the other was to restore. In the
Petition of Right, the English Parliament protested against cer-
tain of the King's acts which were the acknowledged prerogative
of the French Monarch ; such as the levying of taxes by his own
authority, imprisoning his subjects and confiscating their property
arbitrarily and without legal trial, billeting soldiers and mariners
upon householders, &c. Against these abuses they appeal to the
rights and liberties which they have inherited according to the

1 See Croker's Essays on the French Bevolution, p. 10.
IV. Z

338 CHARLES I. AND LOUIS XVI. [Chap. LII.

laws and statutes of the realm, such as the Great Charters, statutes
of Edward I., Edward III., and others.1 Such was the beginning
of the English Revolution. But what was the course of the first
National Assembly ? After a long and splendid career in arts and
arms, the most polished nation in Europe found it necessary to
assume the position of Man just emerged from his primeval
forests, and like the original societies imagined by Kousseau and
other speculative politicians, to settle the elementary conditions
of its civil state. Everything that had gone before was swept
away, and a constitution was built up on paper from first prin-
ciples as deduced from the supposed natural rights of Man.
A practical statesman would refrain from enunciating these ele-
mentary principles, which, in fact, are little more than truisms,
though it maybe said that they had a peculiar significance in France,
as showing the hatred towards the privileged classes, and indi-
cating the levelling system which was to follow. Another striking
difference is, that while in England the quarrel was in great part
founded on religious disputes, and fanaticism was a principal
ao-ent, in France religion was discarded altogether.

As the whole method and character of the two revolutions was
diametrically opposed, so also was the conduct of the two Kings.
Charles I. had violated the Constitution by not calling a Parlia-
ment during a space of twelve years ; Louis XVI., though bound
by no law but his own will, assembled the Etats generaux, which
had not been summoned for nearly two centuries; during the
abeyance of the English Parliament, the Star Chamber had pro-
ceeded in the most absolute and illegal manner, while the French
King, instead of increasing, considerably mitigated the arbitrary
powers, such as lettres de cachet, &c, which were at his disposal;
Charles began a civil war and took up arms against his subjects;
Louis could not be persuaded to shed the blood of his people,
even in the most urgent cases of self-defence.

In iudo-inff the French Revolution from its effects, which,
however, may still be said to be in progress, we must on the
whole pronounce it to have been beneficial. It delivered France
from an arbitrary and unbounded royal prerogative, from an in-
tolerant Church and a tyrannical feudal nobility ; and it welded
the previously ill-cemented provinces into one compact and
powerful body; in short, into the present French nation. It
will hardly be disputed that France of the present day is an in-

1 The characters of the French and criminated in Mr. Massey's Reign of
EnHisti Revolutions are very justly dis- George III. vol. iv. ch. 33.

Chap. LII.] EFFECTS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 339

comparably greater and more powerful State than it ever was
under the ancient dynasty. But notwithstanding the vast effects
of the French Revolution on the material condition of Europe,
its moral influence does not appear to have been permanent. In
the latter respect it is far behind the Reformation. Had the
Revolution been successful, had it established a democratic
republic or even a stable constitutional monarchy, its moral
effects would have been incalculable. France would have be-
come the model country of Europe and perhaps the foster-mother
of a universal democracy ; as it is, her example offers rather
warning than encouragement. It may be remarked, for the credit
of human nature, that the excesses of the French democrats were
not imitated in those countries where their principles had pro-
duced a revolution. Neither massacres, nor incendiarism, nor
sacrilege, nor proscriptions took place in the Netherlands, on the
banks of the Rhine, in Switzerland, and Italy. It may, too, be
observed as a singular fact that in foreign countries their absurd
and abominable principles found readier acceptance among the
higher classes of society than among the lower and more unedu-
cated. In Germany the peasants of Suabia and the Palatinate
were the chief opponents of the French Revolution, while the
Princes and States of the Empire made but a feeble resistance,
and ultimately took advantage of it to forward their own selfish
interests. It was to the peasants of Northern Italy that the allies
were considerably indebted for their rapid triumphs in 1799; it
was the lazzaroni and peasants of Naples who defended the capital
against the French, re-established the King, and drove the
French from Rome. The same class of people in Piedmont
displayed the greatest devotion to their Sovereign, and often
proved a serious impediment to the progress of the French
arms.

340 EOYAL SESSION. [Chap. LIII.

CHAPTER LIII.

THE first acts of the French tiers e'tat, or Commons, after
constituting themselves a National Assembly/ were to
declare the legislative power indivisible, and to annul all the
existing taxes, on the ground that only those are lawful which
have received the formal consent of the nation j but to obviate a
dissolution of the Assembly, they decreed the continuance of the
present taxes so long as their session should last. These vigorous
proceedings filled the Court with dismay. To avert the danger,
recourse was had to one of those false steps which ultimately
caused the ruin of the Monarchy. It was resolved that the King,
in a royal session, should endeavour to restore a good under-
standing between the different orders, and reduce their pro-
ceedings to some regularity. It was thought that, as in the
ancient days of the Monarchy, the Assembly might be over-
awed by the King's presence, and by a few words delivered in
the accustomed tone of absolute authority. Such a step was in
obvious contradiction to the very nature of the Assembly; for, if
the King's voice was to prevail, to what purpose had he summoned
the representatives of the people ?

Necker must share the blame of this measure, though not of
the manner in which it was executed. That Minister still hoped
to carry his favourite project of two Chambers, voting in common
on general and financial matters, but separately in things that
more particularly concerned the respective orders. His own
scheme was not a very liberal one. Everything was to come
from the King's concession. Necker drew up a royal address in
a tone of mildness and conciliation, in which the vote per capita
was placed first, and the less palatable part of the scheme in the
sequel.2 The Council, however, took the matter out of his hands,
and altered his draft of the speech so materially, and, it must be
allowed, so injudiciously, that Necker considered himself justified
in absenting himself from the royal session.

1 See above, p. 296. Necker, will be found in the Appendix to

2 The address, as first proposed by Bertrand de Moleville's Mtmoires.

Chap. LIII.] OATH IN THE TENNIS-COURT. 341

The royal session, originally fixed for June 22nd, was postponed
till the following day ; meanwhile the Assembly was adjourned,
the hall where they sat was ordered to be closed, and the deputies
who presented themselves were brutally repulsed. But the more
turbulent leaders of the tiers e'tat, particularly Bailly, assembled
the larger part of that order in a neighbouring tennis-court ; where
the Abbe Sieyes, perceiving their excited state, proposed that they
should at once leave Versailles for Paris, and proceed to make
decrees in the name of the nation. It was to avert this step that
Mounier proposed the celebrated oath that they should not separate
till they had established a constitution.1

On the following day, the tennis-court having been hired by
some of the princes in order to prevent these meetings, the de-
puties repaired to the church of St. Louis. Here, to their great
joy, and to the consternation of the Court, they were joined by the
Archbishops of Bordeaux and Vienne, the Bishops of Chartres
and Rhodez, and 145 representatives of the clergy, besides all the
nobles of Dauphine ; in the states of which province it was custo-
mary for the three orders to sit together.

When the Chambers again assembled, on June 23rd, the King
undoubtedly made some important concessions, and such as, under
other circumstances, might probably have been satisfactory. He
abolished the taille, vested solely in the States- General the power
of levying taxes, submitted the public accounts to their examina-
tion, did away with corvees and several other vexatious and oppres-
sive grievances. But these concessions were made to spring from
the royal grace and favour, and not from constitutional right, thus
giving no security for their continuance. The clergy were to have
a special veto in all questions of religion. The equality of imposts
would be sanctioned only if the clergy and nobles consented to
renounce their pecuniary privileges. The admission of roturiers
to commands in the army was expressly refused. All that the tiers
Mat had hitherto done was annulled. Above all, the King willed
that the three orders should remain distinct, and deliberate sepa-
rately; though, if they wished to unite, he would permit it for this
session alone, and that only for affairs of a general nature ; and he
concluded by ordering the members to separate immediately, and
to meet next morning, each in the chamber appropriated to his
order. This, as a modern histdrian remarks, was again to hand

1 Such is the real history of this famous himself. See Mem. et Corr. de Mallet du
bath, according to Mallet du Pan, who Pan, t. i. p. 165 note,
•appears to have had it from Mounier

342 UNION OF THE ORDERS. [Chap. LIII.

over France to the privileged classes.1 The speech was delivered
in a tone of absolute authority, neither suitable to the present pos-
ture of affairs, nor to the natural temper of the King.2

The nobles and part of the clergy followed the King when he
retired. But the Commons, by the mouth of Mirabeau, when sum-
moned to leave the hall by M. de Breze, the master of the cere-
monies, refused to do so, unless expelled by military force ; and
they proceeded to confirm their previous resolutions, which the
King had annulled, and to declare the persons of the deputies
inviolable ; thus showing their determination to maintain the
sovereignty which they had usurped. In short, the attempted
coup d'etat had failed ; while the applause with which Necker was
everywhere greeted afforded a striking proof of the popular feel-
ing. On the very same evening the King felt himself compelled
to the humiliating step of requesting that Minister to retain his
portfolio ; thus virtually condemning his own speech. Although
some attempt had been made at military display, it was impos-
sible to carry out by force the royal dictates so haughtily
delivered ; and the Ministers had only succeeded in making the
King to be disobeyed in person, and bringing his authority into
contempt.

The consequences of this imprudent policy soon became ap-
parent. On the day after the royal session the majority of the
clergy, composed of cures, who, from their constant intercourse
with the people, were disposed to take the popular side, joined
the Commons ; and, on June 26th, the Bishops of Orange and
Autun, and the Archbishop of Paris, did the same. The Bishop of
Autun, Talleyrand Perigord, here gave the first proof of that un-
erring sagacity which, through all the eventful changes of the
Revolution, enabled him to distinguish the winning side. The
conduct of the Archbishop of Paris was the result of popular
violence. A mob had stormed his palace, and, with threats of
assassination, extorted his promise to join the Commons. The
secession of the clergy was immediately followed by that of forty-
seven of the nobles, chiefly the friends of Necker, and including
the Duke of Orleans. The Court, alarmed by reports that exten-
sive massacres were planning, that 100,000 rebels were in full
march, and others of the like kind,3 now deemed it prudent to
yield to the popular wish. The King addressed letters to the

1 Von Sybel, Bevolutions-Zeit, i. 67 Bevol. t. i.; Pieces just if. p. 77; and in
(Eng. transl.). the Hist. Pari. t. ii.

2 The King's speech will be found in 3 Eerrieres, Mzmoircs, t. i. p. 65 sq.
Toulongeon, Hist, de France d'epuis la (Coll. Berville et Barriere).

Chap. LIII.] STATE OF THE ARMY. o43

clergy and nobles, who remained out, requesting them to join the
Commons without delay ; these were backed by others from the
Count d'Artois, stating that the King's life was in danger j and
under these representations the union of the whole Assembly was
effected, June 27th, amid the enthusiastic cheers of the tiers etat.
Thus the nobles who, in the States-General of 1C14, had ex-
claimed, " There is the same difference between us and the tiers
etat as between master and valet," were at length compelled to
abandon their arrogant pretensions.1

One of the worst symptoms for the royal cause was the disaffec-
tion of the soldiery. There had been great abuses in the adminis-
tration of the army. While forty-six million livres were allotted in
the budget to the officers, only forty-four million were distributed
among the men.'2 The Count de St. Germain, appointed Minister
of War in 1775, had contributed to the disaffection of the troops
by reforms and innovations in discipline, and especially by the
introduction of corporal punishment. The army, corrupted by a
long peace, had become almost a body of citizens, and had exten-
sively imbibed the prevailing democratic opinions. This was more
particularly the case with the Gardes Franqaises, who, being
quartered in Paris, mixed freely with the people, and were thus
exposed to every kind of seduction. This regiment, when called
out to defend the archbishop's palace, had refused to fire upon the
mob. Their colonel, M. de Chatelet, had imprisoned in the Abbaye
eleven of his men, who had taken an oath not to obey any order
at variance with the resolutions of the Assembly, but they were
delivered and feted by the people; while the dragoons sent to dis-
perse the mob had fraternized with them.3

The Court, however, had not yet abandoned the project of
carrying matters with a high hand. Large bodies of troops, con-
sisting chiefly of German and Swiss regiments, who could be best
relied on, were assembled in the neighbourhood of Paris, and
Marshal Broglie was summoned to Versailles to take the command
of them. All this was done with too much display, if the intention
was to act; and with too little, if the object was only to overawe
and intimidate. The King was to appear in the Assembly, and
compel it to accept the Declaration of June 23rd, of which 4,000
copies had been printed for circulation in the provinces ; and the
Assembly was then to be dissolved.4 The King suffered these

1 Florimond Rapine, ap. L. Blanc, t. i. Miehelet, Hist, de la Eevol. t. i. p. 72.
p. 178. 3 Michelet, ibid. t. i. p. 82.

2 Necker, Administration, §c. ap. Eerrieres, t. i. p. 70 sqq.

344 STATE OF PARIS. [Chap. LIII.

preparations to be made, though it lay not in his character ever
to employ them. When his advisers, comprising the more resolute
or violent party of the Court, including the Queen, the Count
d'Artois, the Polignacs, the Baron de Bretueil, and others, thought
themselves sufficiently strong, they persuaded him to dismiss
Necker and three other Ministers, July 11th ; another false step,
which may be said to have put the seal to the Revolution.

At this time the aspect of Paris was alarming. Thousands of
ragged and starving wretches had crowded thither from the pro-
vinces. The bakers' doors were besieged; bread was upwards of
four sous a pound, then a famine price, and very bad ; a sort of camp
of 20,000 mendicants had been formed at Montmartre. Thus all
the materials for sedition and violence were collected, and the
Palais Royal, belonging to the Duke of Orleans, was a centre for
setting them in motion. No police officer could enter its privileged
precincts, and, by the connivance of the Duke, its garden and
coffee-houses became the resort of all the agitators and demagogues
of Paris. The Cafe Foy, especially, was converted into a sort of
revolutionary club, whose leading members were Camille Des-
moulins and Loustalot, two advocates who had abandoned the
profession of the law for the more profitable one of journalists,
and a democratic nobleman of herculean proportions and sten-
torian voice, the Marquis de St. Huruge. A secret conclave sat
in an upper story, concocting inflammatory addresses, and plan-
ning seditious riots ; whilst on the floor of the cafe, where a bar
had been erected resembling- that in the National Assembly, the
demagogues appeared and made their incendiary motions. At
night the garden was filled with a promiscuous crowd ; little
groups were formed, in which calumnious denunciations were
made, and the most violent resolutions adopted. It seems to have
been by this conclave of sedition that the brigands called Mar-
seillese were brought to Paris, who took the lead in every act of
violence and blood, and inspired the Parisian populace with their
own ferocity.1

The news of Necker's dismissal reached Paris the following day
(Sunday, July 12th) about four o'clock in the afternoon. The
people immediately crowded to the Palais Royal. Camille Desmou-
lins appeared at a window of the Cafe Foy with a pistol in his
hand, and exhorted the people to resistance. He then descended

1 See Camille Desmoulins, Be'vol. de t. iii. pp. 59, 119; Marmontel, Mtmoires,

France ; Actes dts Apotres, No. xxvii. ap. t. iv. p. 12a.
Granier deCassagnac,//*.^. des Causes, cjv.

Chap. LIII.] NATIONAL GUARD. 345

into the garden, plucked a leaf, and placed it in his hat by way of
a green cockade, the colour of Necker's livery, an example which
was immediately imitated by the mob. Busts of Necker and the
Duke of Orleans were seized at a sculptor's on the Boulevard du
Temple, and paraded through the streets by the rabble, some
thousands of whom were armed with pikes, sabres, and other
weapons. The theatres were compelled to close their doors, and
several houses and shops were plundered. The mob, on entering
the Place Louis XV., now Place de la Concorde, were charged and
dispersed by a cavalry regiment, the Eoyal Allemand, com-
manded by the Prince de Larnbesc, and some blood was shed.
The person who carried the bust of Necker, described as " an
elegant young man/' was shot, and a Savoyard, who bore that of
the Duke of Orleans was wounded. The Guards sided with the
people.

The riots were continued on the following day. The populace
crowded to the Hotel de Ville to demand arms and ammunition,
which were distributed to them by a member of the Electoral
Committee. Parties, headed by some of the Guards, broke open
the prisons, liberated the prisoners confined for debt, plundered
the Convent St. Lazare of grain, and the Garde Meuble of arms.
But the most important event of July 13th was the creation of a
civic militia of 48,000 men, by the self-constituted Permanent
Committee of the Electors of Paris. These Electors, for the
most part wealthy burgesses, had resolved, in spite of the pro-
hibition of the Government, to remain assembled, in order to
complete their instructions to the Deputies. After the coup
d'etat of June 23rd, they met at a traiteur's, and resolved to
support the Assembly. Thuriot, one of the most active of their
number, advised them to go to the Hotel de Ville and demand
the Salle St. Jean for their permanent sittings, which was aban-
doned to them.1 The institution of the Civic Guard proclaimed
the assumption of the sovereignty by the people. It consisted of
citizens of some substance, and its creation had been suggested
by the numerous acts of violence and rapine which had taken
i place.

Next day, July 14th, the insurrection assumed a still more

| violent and decided character. A vast crowd repaired to the

; Hotel des Invalides, which they entered without resistance, al-

| though six battalions of Swiss and 800 horse were encamped in

the immediate neighbourhood. Here the people seized 28,000

1 Michelet, Hist, de la Re vol. t. i. p. 70.

346 CAPTURE OF THE BASTILLE. [Chap. LIII.

muskets and several cannon. Arms and ammunition had also
been procured at the Hotel de Ville. Shouts of " To the
Bastille !" were now raised, and the armed multitude directed
themselves upon that fortress. Its garrison consisted of only
eighty-two Invalides, and thirty-two Swiss, and these were desti-
tute of provisions for a siege ; but the place was strongly forti-
fied, and well supplied with cannon and ammunition. The
Governor, M. de Launay, had made preparations for defence,
and a determined commander might have held the place against
an undisciplined mob till succour should arrive. But De Launay
was not a regular soldier. He was weak enough to admit Thuriot,
the Elector already mentioned, into the fortress, and to parley
with him. Although Thuriot assured the people of the pacific in-
tentions of the Governor, he could not persuade them to desist
from the siege. Many of the assailants displayed remarkable in-
stances of valour, especially Elie and Hullin, belonging to the
Guards, who had joined the mob, and a man named Maillard,
whom we shall meet again in other scenes of the Revolution.
The cure of St. Estephe was one of the leaders. After a siege of
a few hours, when the garrison had lost only three or four men,
and the people nearly two hundred, De Launay, urged by his
French troops, offered to capitulate, in spite of the remonstrances
of the Swiss commander. The capitulation stipulated that the
lives of the garrison should be spared ; but when the populace
burst into the fortress they slew many of the Invalides as well as
the Swiss, their fury being especially directed against the officers.
De Launay, and his second in command, Major de Losme, were
conducted towards the Hotel de Ville, but were barbarously mas-
sacred in the Place de Greve, in spite of the efforts of Elie and
Hullin to save them. These murders were immediately followed
by that of M. de Flesselles, Prevot des Marchands, or Provost of
Paris, who was accused of having misled the people in their
search for arms. The bleeding heads of De Launay and the
Provost were hacked off, stuck upon pikes, and paraded through
the streets in a sort of triumphal procession of the conquerors of
the Bastille, and the bearers of them appear to have been paid by
the civic authorities for their revolting services.1 When the
Bastille was invaded, only seven prisoners were found, the greater
part confined for forgery, and not a single one for a political

1 See the Report of the Abbe Lefevre, and the Interrogatory of Desnot at the
one of the Committee of Electors, in Chatelet, in Croker's Etsays on the French
Toulongeon, t. i.; Piices Justif. p. 94; Revolution, p. 67.

Chap. Lin.] THE KING VISITS PARIS. 347

offence. The fortress was soon after demolished to the founda-
tions, by order of the National Assembly.

On the day after the capture of the Bastille an elector proposed
Lafayette as commander of the Civic Guard, a nomination which
was received with universal approbation. As civic guards had
also been instituted in many provincial towns, Lafayette, with a
view to unite all the militias of the Kingdom, now changed their
name to that of " National Guard. " And as the metropolitan
force had hitherto worn a cockade composed of blue and red,
which were the Orleans colours as well as those of the City of
Paris, he added the Bourbon white, by way of distinction. Such
was the origin of the tricolor, which the new commander-in-chief
declared would travel round the world.1 In like manner Bailly, the
astronomer, now President of the National Assembly, was proposed
as Prevot des March ands, in place of the murdered De Flesselles.
" No/' exclaimed Brissot, " not Provost of the Merchants, but
Mayor of Paris •" and the new magistrate and his new title were
adopted by acclamation.2

The Monarchy was evidently in the throes of a crisis. Two
courses only were open to the King : either to fly to some other
part of the Kingdom and place himself at the head of his troops in
defence of his throne, or to accept the Revolution. The former of
these steps was advocated by Marie Antoinette and a considerable
portion of the Court and Council. But its success would have been
very doubtful. The greater part of the army, as well as of the
nation, were favourable to the Revolution ; above all, Louis XVI.
possessed not energy enough to carry out successfully so bold a
step. He decided for the other alternative. On July 15th, after
learning from the Duke de Liancourt the capture of the Bastille,
which it had been endeavoured to conceal from him, he proceeded
without state and ceremony, and accompanied only by his two
brothers, Monsieur and the Count d'Artois, to the Assembly;
where, addressing the Deputies as the representatives of the
nation, and expressing his confidence in their fidelity and affec-
tion, he informed them that he had ordered the troops to quit
Paris and Versailles, and authorized them to acquaint the autho-
rities of the Capital with what he had done.

Not content with this step, Louis declared his intention of
visiting Paris, in order, as he said, to put the seal to the recon-
ciliation between Crown and people. The Queen was very much

1 Von S}Tbel, Revolutionszeit, 1-89 2 Ferrieres, Mtmoires, t. i. p. 145;

(Eng. Trans.). Bailly, Mem. t. ii. p. 25.

348 THE EMIGRATION BEGINS. [Chap. LIU.

'iii

opposed to this proceeding, which certainly seems something
worse than a mere work of supererogation ; a voluntary and even
pompous acknowledgment of the degradation of the throne, which
afforded a triumph to the populace, and was calculated to in-
crease its audacity. But the King, having first taken the sacra-
ment, and having given his elder brother, the Count of Provence,
a paper appointing him Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom, in
case anything should happen to himself, set off for Paris, July
17th, accompanied by 100 members of the National Assembly.
He was received at the gates of Paris by Bailly, the new Mayor,
and by the National Guard, under arms. In an address, more re-
markable for its truth than for its politeness and good taste, Bailly
observed, in presenting the keys of the City : " These, Sire, are
the same keys that were offered to Henry IV., the conqueror of
his people; to-day it is the people who have reconquered their
King." Louis then passed on to the Hotel de Ville, escorted by
those armed bands which had recently given such terrible proofs
of their ferocity ; yet he betrayed not the least sign of trepidation.
He appeared at a window of the Hotel de Ville, with the national
colours on his breast ; he confirmed Bailly and Lafayette in their
respective offices ; announced his consent to the recall of Necker ;
and after listening to a few speeches, and expressing his satisfac-
tion at finding himself in the midst of his people, he took his
departure amid cries of Vive le Bo't !

These scenes of violence, the inability of the Government to
repress them, the manifest ascendency of the Revolution, induced
many of the princes and nobles to emigrate. The King's brother,
the Count d'Artois, the Prince of Conde, the Prince of Conti, the
Duke d'Enghien, the Duke of Bourbon, the Duke of Polignac, and
his family, and numerous other persons of distinction, left Paris
for Turin a few days after the capture of the Bastille. This con-
duct of the nobles is inexcusable. It was they who had contri-
buted to the Revolution by bringing into vogue the new philo-
sophy, and now they deserted the throne, as well as their own
cause, which they had endangered ; made by their flight a sort of
declaration of war against the nation, and, at the same time, a
confession of the hopelessness of resistance. It can hardly be
said, however, with Madame de Stael,1 that they were in no
danger. A list of proscriptions had been formed at the Palais
Royal, in which the Queen, the Count d'Artois, the Duchess of

1 (Euvres, t. xiii. p. 262.

^k*

y
it

Chai\ Lin.] MASSACRES. 349

Polignac and others, were marked for death.1 Such was the sur-
veillance already exercised over the royal family that the Queen
dared not to be present at the departure of her friend, the Duchess
of Polignac.2

The King's visit to Paris had no effect in taming the ferocity
of the people, which had been whetted by the taste of blood. A
few days after, July 22nd, Foulon, an old man of seventy-five,
one of the new ministers appointed after Necker's dismissal, and
his son-in-law, Berthier de Sauvigny, were hanged at a lamp in the
Place de Greve, in spite of all the attempts of Bailly and Lafayette
to save them. This crime was committed by assassins hired at a
great cost by the revolutionary leaders.3 Foulon had made him-
self unpopular by his harshness, and by some contemptuous re-
marks which he was reported to have made about the people, but
which were most probably calumnies of the journals. Berthier
had been an honest and intelligent administrator, but disliked for
his haughtiness. A dragoon ripped out his heart ; his head, as
well as that of his father-in-law, was cut off and paraded through
Paris. Lafayette, disgusted at brutalities which he could not
control, tendered his resignation ; but the Sections refused to
accept it. These atrocities were approved of even by men of
position and education. Barnave, a member of the Assembly, who,
however, afterwards displayed a better spirit, remarked in refer-
ence to the murder of Foulon and his son-in-law : " Was, then,
the blood that has been shed so pure ?" And Camille Desmoulins,
who possessed considerable talent, and was far from being the
most depraved of the revolutionary leaders, assumed, with a re-
pulsive levity, the title of Procureur-General de la lanteme, or
solicitor-general for the lamp.4 The lanteme of the Place de
Greve was made to play the part of Pasquin's statue at Rome,
and facetious addresses to the people were issued in its name.

The example of the metropolis was speedily imitated in the pro-
vinces. Municipal guards were everywhere instituted under the
ostensible pretence of averting plunder and violence ; but the men
composing them were all adverse to the ancient institutions. Tolls
and custom-houses were destroyed, and many unpopular officials

1 Ferrieres, Mtmoires, t. i. p. 136 ; cf. that the burlesque pleasantry of the term
Michelet, Hist, de la Bivol. t. i. p. 107. tended to render murder " une gaiete a

2 Madame Campan, Memoirs, vol. ii. la mode." The lamp became one of
ch. iii. (Engl. Transl.). the curiosities of Paris, and was visited

3 Mirabeau's Letters, ap. Von Sybel, i. by every traveller. Ibid. Pieces Justif.
p. 81. p. 114.

4 Toulongeon observes, t. i. p. 115,

350 THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY. [Chap. LIII.

and suspected engrossers of corn were hanged. The movement
spread to the rural districts of central and southern France, and
especially of Brittany ; chateaux and convents were destroyed, and
in Alsace and Franche-Comte several of the nobles were put to
death, in some cases with horrible tortures. It was about this
time that the term aristocrat began to be used as synonymous with
an enemy of the people. At Caen, M. de Belzunce, a major in the
army, denounced in the infamous Journal of Marat, was slain by
the people for endeavouring to maintain discipline in his regiment ;
a woman tore out his heart, and is said to have devoured it ! 1 In
the northern parts of France the peasants were less violent, and
contented themselves with refusing to pay tithes or to perform any
feudal services. Throughout great part of France a vague terror
prevailed of an army of brigands said to be paid by the aristocrats
to destroy the crops by mowing them in the blade, in order to
produce a famine.

The order for Necker's recall overtook him at Basle. He
returned to Versailles towards the end of July, presented himself
to the National Assembly, then hastened to Paris, where, by dint
of intreaty, he procured from the Committee of Electors a general
amnesty for the enemies of the Revolution; a decree, however,
which the Sections immediately compelled the Electors to reverse,
and which had only the effect of rendering Necker himself sus-
pected. He had not even yet discovered the true character of the
Revolution. He was still infatuated enough to think that he could
direct a movement to which his own acts had so essentially contri-
buted ; and in his overweening confidence he neglected to form a
party in the Assembly, and to conciliate its more dangerous leaders.

The National Assembly, or, as it was called from its labours in
drawing up a constitution, the Constituent Assembly, contained
some of the ablest men in France, and many of its members were
undoubtedly animated with a sincere desire to establish, on a lasting
basis, the liberty and welfare of the French people. It was divided
into three principal parties. On the right of the President sat the
Conservatives, or supportersof theancient regime, composed mostly
of the prelates and higher nobles. The chief speaker, audit may
be said the only orator, on this side was the Abbe Maury, though
Cazales defended with considerable ability the cause of the nobles.
The centre was occupied by the Constitutionalists, who were
desirous of establishing a limited monarchy, somewhat after the
English model. The most distinguished members of this party

1 Prudhomme, Hist. Gtntrale, p. 14G ; Dumouriez, Mtmoircs.

Chap. LIII.] ROBESPIERRE. 351

■were the Count of Clermont Tonnerre, Count Lally Tollendal,
Mounier, Malouet, the Duke de la Rochefoucault, the Duke de
Liancourt, the Viscount Montrnorenci, the Marquis de Montes-
quiou, and others. From the supposed stagnation of its principles
this section was called the Marais. The popular, or ultra-demo-
cratic party occupied the benches on the left. The principles of
this party were neither very defined nor very consistent. They,
of course, carried their views further than the Constitutionalists ;
but none of them were yet Republicans, though some may have
desired a change of dynasty. The chief political principle which
they held in common was the union of the Monarchy with a single
Chamber, or what has been called a Royal Democracy. Among
them might be seen the Duke of Orleans, the Marquis Lafayette,
Bailly, Mirabeau, Duport, Barnave, the two Lameths, the Abbe
Sieyes, Talleyrand, Robespierre, and others. As the Revolution
proceeded, many of these men became Republicans, whilst others,
on the contrary, joined the Constitutional party.

Louis Philippe Joseph, Duke of Orleans, great-grandson of the
Regent, possessed all his ancestor's profligacy and want of principle,
without his ability. The chief motives of his political conduct
were hatred of the reigning family, and especially of the Queen,
and some vague hopes that their overthrow might enable him to
usurp the Crown. But nature had not qualified him for such a

I part. He was destitute of the qualities which inspire confidence
and devotion, and at no time does he appear to have had adherents
enough to constitute a party.1 Exhausted by a dissolute life, the

i tool of designing men, who employed his enormous wealth to
forward their own purposes, he was but the dupe, and at last the
victim, of the Revolution.

Robespierre, an advocate of Arras, whose name became at last
the epitome of the Revolution, played but a subordinate part in
the Constituent Assembly. He was considered a dull man, and
his appearance in the tribune was the signal for merriment. When
with pain and difficulty he expressed his opinions in dry, inflexible
formulas, transports of insulting mirth broke out on all sides.2
Such was then the man who was afterwards to inspire his audience
with very different emotions. But Robespierre was not to be so
put down. He continued his efforts with the perseverance which
iforms so marked a trait in his character ; and after the death of

1 Both Madame de Stael, Conside- 336, are at one upon this point.
ations, §c. Partie ii. ch. vi. and her 2 Louis Blanc, Hist, de la Be col. t.

iritic, Builleul, Examen, Sfc. t. i. p. p. 36.

352 MIRABEAU. [Chap. LIII.

Mirabeau, lie began to be heard with more attention, and even
acquired a considerable influence in the Assembly.

Of all the early leaders of the Eevolution Mirabeau was by far
the most remarkable. Honore Gabriel Riquetti, Count de Mira-
beau, was the son of the Marquis Mirabeau, to whom we have
already alluded as the author of I/Ami du Peuple, and was born
at Bignon,in March, 1749. The family was originally of Neapolitan
extraction, but had been long settled in Provence. The early
youth of Count Mirabeau was marked by profligacy, united, how-
ever, with brilliant talents, and considerable literary acquirements.
After being imprisoned more than once at the instance of his
father, after marrying a rich heiress, squandering her fortune, and
then deserting her for the wife of the Marquis de Mounier, whom
he had seduced, he was compelled to fly to Holland with his new
mistress, where their sole support was derived from his pen.
Many of his early productions are licentious in the extreme, but
were mingled with works on political subjects. Sometimes he was
base enough to receive the wages of a hired libellist ; sometimes he
sold to a new purchaser manuscripts which had been already paid
for. His father called him, ' ' My son, the word-merchant." 1 From
Holland he was transferred by a lettre de cachet to the dungeons
of Vincennes ; and after his liberation from that prison he passed
some time in England and in Prussia. By temper and inclination
an aristocrat, the French Revolution found Mirabeau ready to
plunge into all the excesses of democracy in order to retrieve his
ruined fortunes. His personal qualities fitted him for the part of
a tribune of the people. In person stout and muscular, though
somewhat undersized ; having a countenance seamed with the
small-pox, and of almost repulsive ugliness, but animated with the
fire of genius, and capable of striking an adversary with awe, he
possessed an eloquence of that fiery and impetuous kind which is
irresistible in popular assemblies. His disorderly and adventurous
life had made him reckless and abandoned to a degree that he
seemed almost to glory in his infamy ; while the debts with which
he was overwhelmed rendered him willing to sell, or rather as he
himself expressed it, to hire himself, to the Government, or to any-
one who would pay an adequate price for his talents and services."

The debates of the Assembly were conducted with that mixture
of formality and vivaciousness which is peculiar to the French
character. They consisted for the most part of long and laboured

1 Le Blanc, ibid. t. ii. p. 241.

,J Fur Mirabeau's private character, see Dumont, Souvenirs de Mirabeau.

Chap. LIII.] PRIVILEGES ABANDONED. 353

harangues, or rather regular treatises, beginning from first prin-
ciples, prepared and generally written beforehand. Even the
impetuous Mirabeau adopted this method, and his orations are
said not to have been always composed by himself. Hence it
followed that the different speeches had little connection with one
another; the arguments of preceding speakers were left un-
answered, and the debates resembled a series of essays delivered
in an academy, rather than the intellectual gladiatorship of a
popular assembly.1 The Chamber frequently became the scene of
indescribable disorder and tumult. All the members spoke at
once with violent gesticulations and confused and unintelligible
apostrophes, which were echoed back by the spectators in the
tribunes. In vain the President endeavoured to restore order by
ringing his bell with all his might ; while the orators, with animated
looks, their lips in motion, but quite inaudible, beat the air with
their arms, and resembled wrestlers preparing for a contest. A
German who was present at some of these debates compares them
to the hubbub and confusion of a Jews' Synagogue." But the
Assembly were no more their own masters than were the King
and Government. The persons styling themselves " The Patriotic
Assembly of the Palais Royal," overawed the Deputies with open
threats. Thus, for instance, they compelled Thouret, who passed
for an aristocrat, to resign the Presidency of the Assembly.''
Another means of intimidation was through the admission of the
public into the tribunes, or spectators' galleries. This custom
had been established by Duport, Lameth, and Barnave, a trium-
virate which at this time formed the nucleus of the democratic
party, and became subsequently the principal leaders in the
Jacobin Club. The tribunes, when occasion required, were filled
with the most ferocious of the populace, who are supposed to have
been paid.

While such was the character of the Assembly and such the state
of France, the chateaux and convents blazing in the provinces, the
capital in a state of open revolt, and while no authority appeared
either able or willing to put a stop to these excesses, the famous
sacrifice of their privileges by the nobles and clergy, on the night
of August 4th, has at least as much the appearance of a concession
extorted from fear as of that generous and patriotic devotion to
which some writers have ascribed it. The privileged orders were
in fact giving up only what they had no longer any hope of retain-

1 Blanc, Hist, dc la Btvol. iii. 76. 3 Mounier, Expose de ma Conduitc,

2 See Campe, Britfe aus Paris, S. 175. p 31, ap. Cassagnac, t. iii. p. 103.

IV. A A

354 THE KING'S VETO. [Chap. LIII.

ing. The self-sacrifice was initiated by the Viscount de Noailles,
who proposed the abolition of all feudal rights and of the remains
of personal servitude. Moved by a sort of contagious enthusiasm,
the nobles and landed proprietors now vied with one another in
■offerino- up their privileges. In this memorable night were decreed
the abolition of serfdom, the power of redeeming seignorial rights,
the suppression of seignorial jurisdiction, the abolition of exclusive
rights of chase and warren, the abolition of tithe, the equalization
of imposts, the admission of all ranks to civil and military offices,
the abolition of the sale of charges, the reformation ofjurandes and
maitrises, and the suppression of sinecure pensions. The Assembly,
as if overcome with a sense of its own liberality, and desirous of
connecting the King with such important reforms, decreed that a
medal should be struck in commemoration of them, on which
Louis should be designated as the restorer of French liberty. These
renunciations were followed on the part of many of the bishops and
hio-her clergy by the resignation of their richest benefices and pre-
ferments. Hereditary nobility had already been abolished by a
Decree of June 19th. Thus the abuses of centuries fell at a single
blow. And though, when the enthusiasm of the moment had
cooled, and these general resolutions came to be discussed in detail
in order to be embodied in decrees, enough opposition was mani-
fested to destroy all gratitude, yet they were substantially carried
out and presented to the King, who presided at a Te Deum per-
formed on the occasion. It was, however, observed with dismay
that concessions so ample failed to tranquillize the public mind.
Acts of atrocious violence were still committed in the provinces ;
chateaux continued to be burnt; and the people, not content
with the enjoyment of their newly-acquired rights, perpetrated
frightful devastations on the estates of their former oppressors.

The Assembly having thus cleared the ground, entered on
their task of building up a new Constitution. By way of preamble
they drew up a Declaration of the Eights of Man, at the end of
which they recapitulated all the privileges, distinctions, and
monopolies which they had abolished.1 On the motion of La-
fayette, at whose suggestion the Declaration had been made, the
right of resistance to oppression was included in it. The consti-
tutional labours of the Assembly will claim our attention at its
dissolution, and it will here suffice to state that the three principal
questions first discussed were those of the King's veto, of the per-
manence or periodicity of the Assembly, and whether it should
1 In Lacretelle, Hist, de France, t. vii., and in the Hist. Partem, t. ii.

Chap. LIII.] PLOT TO SEIZE THE KING. 355

•consist of one or more Chambers. The veto gave rise to much
angry discussion, both within and without the Assembly. It was
warmly debated whether there should be any at all, and, if any,
whether it should be absolute or merely suspensive. The patriots
of the Palais Royal addressed a letter to the President, in which
they said, " they had the honour to inform him that, if the aristo-
cratic part of the Assembly continued to disturb the public har-
mony, 15,000 men were ready to ' illumine' (eclairer) their
chateaux and houses, and particularly that of the President him-
self." l At this time, however, there was a sort of reaction at the
Hotel de Ville, and the Palais Royal was kept in order. Mirabeau,
to the surprise of many, was a warm partisan of the veto. He had
declared that, without it, he would rather live at Constantinople
than in France ; that he knew nothing more terrible than the
aristocratic sovereignty of 600 persons.2 Louis himself is said to
have preferred a suspensory to an absolute veto j and it was at
last decreed that the King should have the power of suspending
a measure during two legislatures, or, as we should say, two par-
liaments, each lasting two years. Montesquieu's school, or that
which proposed the English Constitution as a model, and conse-
quently advocated two Chambers, mustered very strong in the
Committee of Constitution. But the idea of an Upper House
was contrary to the current of popular feeling; the people re-
garded it as a counter-revolution, while the ancient noblesse con-
temned it as a new-fangled dignity. The establishment of a
single Chamber was also aided by the counter-revolutionary party,
who, not unreasonably, imagined that such a Constitution could
not be durable, though they did not anticipate the manner of its
fall. It was decided that the Legislature should be permanent.
It was also decreed by acclamation, September 15th, that the
King's person was inviolable, the Throne indivisible, the Crown
hereditary in the reigning family from male to male in the order
of primogeniture.3

"While the Assembly were still engaged on this subject an
event occurred which gave a new turn to the Revolution, and
may be accounted the chief cause which ultimately rendered all
their labours nugatory. A plot had been formed to bring the
King to Paris, and rumours of it had reached the Court. Mira-

1 Moniteur, ap. Cassagnae, t. iii. p. 104. one man voted him a la lantcrne! Tou-

2 Michelet, Hist, de la Rc'vol. t. i. longeon, t. i. p. 1 14.

p. 42. The nature of the veto was a 3 Moniteur, Seance du Septembre loeme,

great puzzle to the common people. Many ap. L. Blanc, t. iii. p. 82.
took it to be some dangerous person, and

356 BANQUET AT VERSAILLES. [Chap. LIIL

beau appears to have been in the secret, and had obscurely
intimated it to Blaizot, the King's librarian. He had also been
heard to say that an insurrection would be possible only if the
women should take part in it and place themselves at its head.
It can hardly be doubtecl that the Duke of Orleans was at the
bottom of the plot, whose creature Mirabeau at that time was..
The Duke and his partisans hoped at least to alarm the King into
flight; perhaps to effect his deposition, or even his murder.
Several Royalist deputies had received confidential letters that a
decisive blow was meditated, and had attempted, but without
effect, to persuade Louis XVI. to transfer the Assembly to Tours.
But Lafayette, who virtually held the control of the Revolution, —
a vain man, desirous of playing a part, but without settled prin-
ciples, or even definite aims, — had also conceived the idea of
bringing the King to Paris. He had been encouraged in it, if not
incited to it by the grenadiers of the National Guard, consisting
of three companies of the gardes FranQaises enrolled in that force,
and receiving pay, who demanded to be led to Versailles. An
event which occurred at this time hastened the catastrophe.

The military service of the Palace was performed by the Na-
tional Guards of Versailles, and the only regular force there was
a small body of gardes du corps. Under these circumstances it
was thought necessary to provide for the security of the King
and Royal family. The commanders of the National Guard of
Versailles, declining to undertake that they would be capable of
resisting some 2,000 well-armed and disciplined men, the muni-
cipality of the town were persuaded to demand the aid of a regi-
ment; the King's orders were issued to that effect, and on
September 23rd the regiment of Flanders arrived.1 Efforts were
soon made to seduce this regiment from its allegiance ; while the
Court, by marks of favour, sought to retain its affections. The
officers of the gardes du corps and those of the National Guard of
Versailles invited the newly-arrived officers to a dinner. There
was nothing unusual in this ; but the Court, by lending the
Palace Theatre for the banquet, seemed to make it a kind of
political demonstration. The boxes were filled with the ladies
and retainers of the Court ; the healths of the different members
of the Royal family were drunk with enthusiasm, and, it is said,

1 Annals of Bertrand de Moleville, the Chdtelet, Procedure, §c. p. 51, ap.

translated by Dallas, vol. ii. ch. xv. ; L. Blanc, t. iii. ch. viii. ; Croker, Esi

Prudhomme, Hist, des erreurs.des f aides, on the Fr. Bevol. p. 45; Touloiigeon, t. i.

it des crimes commis pendant la Bevol. p. 234.
t. iii. p. 1G4 sq. ; Evidence of Blaizot before

Chap. LIII.] THE MOB AT VERSAILLES. 357

with drawn swords ; the toast of " The Nation " was either
refused, or, at all events, omitted. As the bottle circulated, the
enthusiasm naturally increased, and was wound up to the highest
pitch of excitement when the Queen appeared, leading the
Dauphin in her hand. The loyal song, 0 Richard, 6 mon Roi !
i'univers i'abandonne, was sung; the boxes were escaladed, and
white cockades and black, the latter the Austrian colour, were
distributed by the fair hands of the ladies.

The news of these proceedings, accompanied, of course, with
the usual exaggerations, as that the national cockade had been
trampled under foot, &c, caused a great sensation at Paris. Little
groups assembled in the squares and public gardens, and alarming
reports were circulated that a counter-revolution was preparing.
The excitement was purposely increased by agitators, whose
designs were promoted by the scarcity of bread which prevailed
at that time. The supply of flour to the metropolis was always
ill-regulated. There was never any considerable stock on hand;
and Bailly, as appears from his Memoires, was in a constant state
of anxiety as to how the Parisians were to be fed. The cry
against forestallers frightened the merchants from keeping* any
large stocks ; the farmers, being molested in their trade, would
not thrash ; the millers would not grind. The municipality
advanced large sums to keep down the price; but the conse-
quence of this was that the banlieue for ten leagues round came
•to Paris to supply themselves with bread.1 The emigration of the
rich added to the distress. The scarcity seems also to have been
aggravated by the artifices of designing persons, by buying up
the bakers' stocks or by bribing them not to light their ovens.
Thus all the materials of sedition were collected, and needed only
the application of a torch to set them in a flame. At daybreak,
October 5th, the Place de Greve was suddenly filled with troops
of women ; one of them, seizing a drum at a neighbouring
guard-house, and beating it violently, went through the streets,
followed by her companions, shouting b read! bread! They were
gradually joined by bands of men, some of them in female attire,
armed with pikes and clubs. A cry was raised, To Versailles !
and the grotesque but ferocious army, led by Maillard, one of the
heroes of the Bastille, took the road to that place.

Meanwhile Lafayette had lost many hours in obtaining the
sanction and instructions of the Commune for his proceeding to
^Versailles with the National Guard, and it was not till late in the

1 MicVelet, Hist, de la Re vol. i. p. 233.

358 THE PALACE STORMED. [Chap. LIII.

day that he began his march with a considerable body of that
force. He was accompanied by two representatives of the Sec-
tion of the Cannes, who were to present to the King, on the part
of the Commune or municipality, the four following demands i
That he should intrust the safety of his person to the National
Guards of Paris and Versailles ; that he should inform the Com-
mune respecting the supply of corn ; that he should give an un-
conditional assent to the Declaration of the Rights of Man ; and
that he should show proof of his love for the people by taking
up his residence at Paris; that is, put himself in the power of the
National Guard and their commander.1 Lafayette halted his
troops on the road, and caused them to take an oath to respect
the Royal residence.

While the insurgents were approaching, St. Priest had in vain
advised that their march should be arrested at the bridges over
the Seine. When they arrived he urged the King to fly, telling
him, what the event proved to be true, that if he was conducted
to Paris his Crown was lost. Necker opposed both these counsels.
The King's best safeguard, he said, was the affections of the
peoj)le; and as the other Ministers were divided in opinion, nothing
was done.2 Meanwhile the women arrived ; and a large body of
them, headed by Maillard, penetrated into the Assembly. Maillard
addressed the members with insulting words and gestures; asserted
that there was a counter-revolutionary party among them ; de-
nounced the aristocrats as conspiring to starve the people, the-
gardes du corps as having insulted the national cockade. Outside-
a disturbance arose between the crowd and the King's Guards,
which, however, was appeased by the arrival, about eleven o'clock
at night, of Lafayette and his troops. Tranquillity seemed at
last to be restored ; five of the women, led by a notorious prosti-
tute,3 had been admitted to an audience of the King, and had
retired overwhelmed with a sense of his kindness. With a base
dereliction both of duty and humanity, Lafayette had retired to
rest about an hour after his arrival, and without having taken
due precautions for the safety of the Royal family. About five
o'clock he was aroused by the report of fresh tumults. Some
fighting had taken place between the mob and the troops, and
several of the gardes du corps had been killed or wounded. The
people had penetrated into the Palace through a gate negligently

1 See for these occurrences, Von Sybel, 3 Letter of Baron Goltz, ap. Von Sybel..
B. ii. ch. 4. i. 129.

2 Blanc, Hist, cle la Revol. iii. p. 207.

Chap. LIII.] THE KING'S MARCH TO PARIS. 359

left open; the Queen was barely able to escape, half-dressed, from
her chamber to the King's apartments ; the guards at her door
had sacrificed their lives with heroic devotion, and the mob did
not succeed in forcing an entrance. Lafayette persuaded the
King to show himself on the balcony of the Palace ; he himself led
forward the Queen, accompanied by her children, and knelt down
and kissed her hand amid the applause of the people. Tumul-
tuous cries now arose of " The King to Paris ! " Louis had ex-
pressed some hesitation on this point to the deputies of the Com-
mune, though he had acceded to their other demands ; but after a
short interval he reappeared on the balcony and announced his in-
tention of proceeding to the capital.

On this eventful morning" the Duke of Orleans, dressed in a
grey surtout and with a little switch in his hand, was seen mixing
with the mob of rioters. He was saluted with cries of " Long live
father Orleans ! Long live King Orleans ! " at which he was ob-
served to smile. It was he who pointed out to the mob the stair-
case leading to the Queen's apartments. The man who kept the
buvette of the Assembly distributed to all comers pates, ham, fruits,
and wine at the Duke's expense. Mirabeau had been seen, on
the previous day, going from group to group, with a sabre under
his arm, and was heard to say, " My friends, we are with you."
And it is certain, says M. Louis Blanc, that he had loug been in-
triguing for somebody.1

The march of the crowd and captive King to Paris was at once

horrible and grotesque. The Royal carriage was preceded by a

disorderly cavalcade, composed of gardes du corps and gardes

Francaises, who had exchanged parts of their uniform in token

of peace and fraternity. Then followed several pieces of cannon,

on which rode some of the women, bearing loaves and pieces of

meat stuck on pikes and bayonets. Maillard and some of the

women had been sent back to Paris in the Royal carriages. The

heads of two of the faithful gardes du corps, which had been

hacked off by the wretch known as Jourdan Goupe-tete, had been

1 Hist, de la Btvol. t. iii. p. 251. For encore." Ducoin, Ph. d'Orleans, ap. Von

the facts adduced above, see the Procedure Sybel. Revolutionsseit, vol. i. p. 132

before the Chatelet. The most striking (Eng. trans.). M. Blanc starts a novel

proof that the Duke of Orleans was plot- hypothesis, which he supports with some

ting against the King's life, is a paper plausible arguments, that Monsieur the

found several years after the Duke's exe- King's brother, and not the Duke of

cution, and dated October 6th, 1789, in Orleans, was the usurper in prospectu for

which he orders his bankers not to pay whom Mirabeau was intriguing. The

the sums agreed upon, as Louis was still question is too long to be discussed here;

alive. Ci Courez vite, mon cher, chez le but we must confess that we have not

banquier, qu'il ne delivre pas la somme ; been convinced by M. Blanc's reasoning.
1'argent n'est point gagne, le marmot vit

360 THE ASSEMBLY AT PARIS. [Chap. LIII.

despatched to Paris early in the morning. The way was lined by
the inhabitants of the surrounding villages, who came out to o-aze
upon the strange and melancholy spectacle. From the encum-
bered state of the roads the procession moved only at a foot-pace,
and was often compelled to stop ; when those furies in the shape
of women would dance round the Royal carriage like cannibals
before a feast of human flesh. "We shall not die of hunger/'
they exclaimed, " for here is the baker, his wife, and the little
apprentice ! " The King was accompanied by two bishops of his
council, who, as the carriage entered the capital, were saluted with
cries of " All the bishops to the lamp ! " Thus were the Eoyal
family conducted to the Tuileries, which had not been inhabited
for a century, and contained no proper accommodation for its new
inmates.

The events of October 6th may be said to have decided the fate
of the French Monarchy. The King was now virtually a prisoner
and a hostage in the hands of the Parisian rabble and its leaders.
The Assembly, which soon followed the King to Paris, lost its in-
dependence at the same time. It met at first in the apartments
of the archeveche, on an island of the Seine, between the faubourgs
St. Antoine and St. Marceau, the most disturbed districts of Paris ;
but early in November it was transferred to the manege of the
Tuileries, a large building running parallel with the terrace of the
Feuillants, the site of which now forms part of the Rue de Rivoli.
No distinction of seats was now observed ; nobles, priests, and
commons all sat pele-mele together. It was plain that there could
be no longer any hope of a stable Constitutional Monarchy ; and
several moderate men withdrew from the Assembly, as Mounier,
then its president, Lally Tollendal, and others. The Duke of
Orleans, suspected of being the author of the insurrection, was
dismissed to London on pretence of a political mission. He
arrived in that capital towards the end of October, and was re-
ceived, both by Court and people, with marked contempt. He
was frightened into accepting this mission by the threats of
Lafayette.1 Mirabeau was furious at his departure, and ex-
claimed, with a vulgar epithet, that he was a poor wretch, and
deserved not the trouble that had been taken for him. The Duke
returned to France in the summer of 1790, but from this time
forward he had lost his popularity.2

1 Mim. de Lafayette, ap. Louis Blanc, sqq. Tableau hist, de hi R6vol. par le
Hist, de la Rdv. t. iii. Conite d'Escherny, t. i. p. 237.

2 Ferrieres, Mem. t. i. liv. iv. p. 336

Chap. LIII.] THE JACOBIN CLUB. 361

At this period the reign of the Palais Royal was supplanted by
that of the Jacobins. The Jacobin Club was one of the most
portentous features of the Revolution, or rather it may be said
to have ultimately become the Revolution itself. It originated
at Versailles soon after the meeting of the States- General, and
was at first called the Club des Bretons, from its having been
founded by the forty deputies of Bretagne, who met together to
concert their attacks upon the Ministry. It was soon joined by
the deputies of Dauphine and Franche Comte, and gradually by
others ; as the Abbe Sieyes, the two Lameths, Adrien Duport,
the Duke D'Aiguillon, M. de Noailles, and others. When the
Assembly was transferred to Paris, the Breton Club hired a large
apartment in the Rue St. Honore, belonging to the preaching-
Dominican Friars, who were commonly called Jacobins because
their principal house was in the Rue St. Jacques ; and hence the
same name was vulgarly given to the club, though they called
themselves " the Friends of the Constitution." After a little
time, persons who were not deputies were admitted j the debates
were thrown open to the public ; and as no other qualifications
were required for membership than a blind submission to the
leaders, and a subscription of twenty-four livres a year, it soon
numbered 1,200 members, including several foreigners. There
was a bureau for the president, a tribune, and stalls round the
sides of the chamber. The club held its sittings thrice a week, at
seven o'clock in the evening ; the order of the day in the Assembly
was often debated over night by the Jacobins, and opinions in a
certain measure dictated to the deputies. The club disseminated
and enforced its principles by means of its Journal and. Almanacks,
its hired mob, orators, singers, applauders and hissers in the
tribunes of the Assembly. For this last purpose soldiers who
had been drummed out of their regiments were principally selected;
' and in 1790 they consisted of between 700 and 800 men, under
the command of a certain Chevalier de St. Louis, to whom they
swore implicit obedience. The Jacobins planted affiliated socie-
ties in the provinces, which gradually increased to the enormous
number of 2,400. At first the club consisted of well-educated
and distinguished persons ; 400 of them belonged to the As-
sembly, and may be said to have been the mastei-s of it. The
young Duke de Chartres, son of the Duke of Orleans, and after-
wards King Louis Philippe, was an active member of the club.
I By degrees it grew more and more democratic, and became at
j last a sort of revolutionary Inquisition, and a legion of public

3G2 JOURNALISM. [Chap. LIII.

accusers. It was known abroad by the name of the Propaganda,,
and was a terror to all Europe.1 In the spring of 1790 several
members of the club who did not approve its growing violence, as
Sie yes, Talleyrand, Lafayette, Raederer, Bailly, Dupont de Nemours,
and others, established what they called the Club o/1789, with the
view of upholding the original principles of the Revolution. They
hired for 24,000 livres a splendid apartment in the Palais Royal,
in the house afterwards known as the Trois Freres Provenqau.c,
• where they dined at a louis d'or a head, after groaning in the
Assembly over the miseries of the people. Mirabeau and a few
other members continued also to belong to the Jacobins. A cer-
tain number of literary men were admitted, among whom may be
mentioned Condorcet, Chamfort, and Marmontel. This club also
had its journal, of which Condorcet was the editor.2

Journalism was also one of the most potent engines of the
Revolution. A flood of journals began to be published contem-
poraneously with, or soon after, the opening of the States-General,
as Mirabeau's Courrier de Provence, Gorsas' Courrier de Versailles,
Brissot's Patriate Franqais, Barere's Point du jour, &c. The
Revolutions de Paris, published in the name of th« printer, Prud-
homme, but edited by Loustalot, the most popular of all the
journals, circulated sometimes 200,000 copies. At a rather later
period appeared Marat's atrocious and bloodthirsty Ami du
peuple, Camille Desmoulin's Courrier de Brabant, the wittiest,
and Freron's Orateur du peuple, the most violent of all the
journals, and ultimately Hebert's Pere Duchesne, perhaps the
most infamous of all.3 For the most part, the whole stock of
knowledge of these journalists had been picked up from Voltaire,
Rousseau, and the authors of the Encijclopedie ; but their igno-
rance was combined with the most ridiculous vanity. Camille
Desmoulins openly proclaimed that he had struck out a new
branch of commerce — a manufacture of revolutions.4 Marat
seems to have derived his influence chiefly from his atrocious
cynicism and bloodthirstiness ; for his ability was small, though
he had the most unbounded conceit of his own powers.5 He was
born at Boudri, near Neufchatel, in Switzerland, in 1743. As a

1 Ferrieres, Mtm. t. ii. p. 117 sqq.; Cassagnac, t. iii. p. 403.

Bertrand^ de MoleviJle, Mtm. t. ii. eh. s Thus, in one of the numbers of his

xxxn. ; Toulongeon, t. i. p. 278 ; Michelet, Ami du penile, lie says : " Je crois avoir

t. n. p. 298 sqq. epuise toutes les combinaisnns de l'esprit

2 Barere, Mtm. t. i. p. 293 ; Ferrieres, humain. sur la morale, la philosophie, et
Mtm t. ii. ]a politique."— Ap. Michelet, Hist, d, la

3 Michelet, t. i. p. 252 sq. Uevol. t. ii. p. 386.
Etvol. de France, ap. Granier de

Chap. LIII.] MARAT. 3 6 3*

child he displayed a sort of precocious talent combined with
a morose perversity j and in manhood the same disposition was
shown by his attacks upon everybody who had gained a repu-
tation. Thus he attempted to upset the philosophy of Newton
and disputed his theory of optics, which he appears not to have
comprehended, as well as Franklin's theory of electricity ; and in
a book which he published in reply to Helvetius, he spoke with
the greatest contempt of Locke, Condillac, Malebranche, and
Voltaire. His own writings abound with commonplace, which
he abandons only to become absurd. He spent some time in
England, during part of which he seems to have been employed
as an usher at Warrington. In 1775 he published, at Edinburgh,
a work in English, entitled the Chains of Slavery, which indicated
his future course. On his return from England he obtained the
place of veterinary surgeon in the stables of the Count d'Artois,
which he abandoned on the breaking out of the Revolution to be-
come an editor. The bitterness of his literary failures seems to have
excited the natural spleen, envy, and malignity of his temper to
an excess bordering upon madness. Cowardly as well as cruel,
while he hid himself in garrets and cellars, he filled his journal
with personal attacks and denunciations, and recommended not
only murder but torture, as the cutting off of thumbs, burying
alive, &C.1

After the removal of the King to Paris the political atmo-
sphere became somewhat calmer, though disturbances sometimes
broke out on the old subject of the supply of bread. The popu-
lace seemed astonished that the presence of the King had not
rendered that article more abundant ; and about a fortnight after
his arrival, they put to death a baker named Francois, on the
charge of being a forestaller, and paraded his head through the
city. But justice, this time, did not altogether sleep. Martial
law was proclaimed ; and a market-porter, who had taken part in
the outrage, was executed, to the great disgust of the populace,
who exclaimed : ( ' What liberty have we ? Shall we not then be
permitted to hang anybody ?"'2

2 The Assembly was divided into various committees of war,
j marine, jurisprudence, &c, of which the committee charged with
I drawing up the Constitution was alone permanent. Its members
jWere Mirabeau, Target, Duport, Chapelier, Desmeuniers, Talley-
jrand, Barnave, Lameth, and Si eyes. The Abbe Sieyes, whose

1 Michelet, Hint, de laBevol. t. iii. p. 119.

2 Toulongeon, Hist, de France, t. i. p. 168.

3G4 ABOLITION OF TITHES. [Chap. LIII.

studious and tacit urn habits, and abrupt, sententious way of
speaking had procured for him a reputation for wisdom which
he scarcely deserved, was one of the most active members of the
committee. It was he who presented the project for dividing
France into eighty- three departments. The question of the
revenue, the real cause for summoning the States -General, seemed
almost neglected. Necker had attempted to negotiate two loans,
but they failed ; partly because the Assembly reduced the pro-
posed interest too low, and partly from a want of confidence on
the part of capitalists. Necker now proposed an extraordinary
contribution of a fourth of all incomes, or an income-tax of
twenty-five per cent., for one year. He accompanied the project
with an earnest appeal to all good citizens to contribute to the
necessities of the State. This appeal was cheerfully responded to
by people of all ranks. The members of the Assembly deposited
at the door their silver shoe-buckles ; the King and Queen sent
their plate to the Mint ; Necker himself placed bank notes for
100,000 francs on the President's bureau ; labouring men offered
half their earnings, the women their rings and trinkets ; even the
very children parted with their playthings. Such expedients, how-
ever, could afford only a temporary and precarious relief. In this
extremity the property of the Church offered a vast and tempting
resource. Such property, it was argued, could be seized, or
rather resumed, without injustice ; it had been erected only for a
national purpose, and the State might approju'iate it if that pur-
pose could be fulfilled in another way.

The decree for the abolition of tithes had already passed among
the offerings made on August 4th, in spite of the arguments of the
Abbe Sieyes, who pointed out that tithes, as a charge upon land,
had been allowed for in its purchase, and that to abolish them un-
conditionally was to make a present to the landed proprietors of
an annual rent of 120,000,000 francs, or near 5,000,000?. sterling.
Yet Mirabeau, and the greater part of the Assembly, either could
not, or would not, understand this simple question of arithmetic;
while Sieyes, who was the real democrat, by preventing the rich
from being favoured at the expense of the poor, who would have
to contribute to the new tax proposed for the maintenance of the
clergy, lost much of his popularity by reminding the Assembly of
common sense and common justice.1 Well might he exclaim:
" They want to be free, and know not how to be just ! " At the
same time, Buzot, afterwards a member of the Gironde, had pro-
5 L. Blnn-\ Hist, de la Btvol. t. iii. p. 16 sijo.

Chap. LIII.] ASSIGNATS. 365

posed to seize the Church lands and other property.1 This proposi-
tion, which was supported by Mirabeau, was not then attended
to, but was renewed a few months later by the Bishop of Autun ;
and, after violent debates, was finally decreed by a large majority,
November 2nd, 1789.2 The confiscation of ecclesiastical property
was very ill received by the peasantry, with whom the Church
was popular, and in some districts led to strife and bloodshed.
The discontent was increased by the prevalent agricultural dis-
tress, which was at its height in the summer of 1790, and was
particularly felt among the small farmers of the central pro-
vinces.

By this confiscation, to which were added the domains of the
Crown, except those reserved for the recreation of the King, a
large national fund was created. But there was a difficulty in
realizing it. A sum of 400,000,000 francs was required for 1790
and the following year; yet it was almost impossible to effect sales
to so large an amount, even at great sacrifices. The clergy made
a last attempt to save their property by offering a loan of the sum
required ; but it was refused on the ground that it implied their
recognition as proprietors. To meet this difficulty, the Finance
Committee resolved, in the spring of 1790, to sell certain por-
tions of the newly-acquired national property to the municipalities
of Paris and other towns. These purchases were to be paid for
in paper guaranteed by those bodies ; such paper to have a legal
circulation, and all anterior contracts to be liquidated in it. Such
was the origin of the currency called assignats. The issue of these
notes was at first regulated by the amount of property actually
sold ; but this precaution being subsequently neglected, naturally
produced a rapid fall in the value of the new currency. One of
the results of this financial measure was to create a large number
of small landed proprietors. Ecclesiastics were now paid by the
Government; the incomes of the higher dignitaries of the Church
were reduced ; while those of the cures, or parish priests, were
augmented. In February, 1790, monasteries were abolished and
monastic vows suppressed.

These attacks upon the Church were accompanied with others
upon the Parliament. Alexander de Lameth had proposed and
carried a decree, November 3rd, 1789, that the Parliaments should
remain in vacation till further orders, and that meanwhile their
functions should be discharged by the Chambres cles vacations.
Some of them endeavoured to resist, but were silenced by the
1 Michelet, t. ii. p. 560 note. 2 Hist. Pari. t. iii. p. 256.

366 SECTIONS OF PARIS. [Chap. LIII.

Assembly ; and from this time they- virtually ceased to exist,
though not yet legally abolished.

We must here also record the reforms in the municipality of
Paris, a body which played a leading part in the Revolution. By
an ordinance of Louis XVI., April 13th, 1789, Paris, which had
hitherto consisted of twenty-one quarters, was, with a view to the
elections for the States-General, divided into sixty arrondisse-
mens, or districts ; and this division was adopted as the basis of
the municipal organization, established spontaneously after the
taking of the Bastille. But as several of these districts had pro-
moted disturbances, the Constituent Assembly, in order to break
the concert between them, made a new division into forty-eight
Sections, by a law of June 27th, 1790. This arrangement, how-
ever, ultimately proved no better than the former one. It had
been ordained that the Sections should not remain assembled after
the elections of deputies were concluded; but this wise provision
was rendered nugatory by another, authorizing their assembly on
the requisition of any eight of them. To exercise this right, a
permanent committee of sixteen persons was established in each
Section ; and thus were provided forty-eight focuses of perpetual
agitation ; a circumstance which produced the most fatal effects
upon the Revolution.1

Early in 1790 occurred the obscure plot of the Marquis de
Favras, the object of which seems to have been to assassinate
Lafayette and Necker, and to carry off the King to Peronne.
The plot was to be carried out by means of 1,200 horse, supported
by an army of 20,000 Swiss and 12,000 Germans, and by raising
several provinces ; but it was detected. Favras was tried and
condemned by the CMtelet, and hanged, February 19th, 1790,
affording the first instance of equality in the mode of punishment.
Favras forbore to make any confessions, and the whole matter is
involved in mystery.2

After the failure of the Orleans conspiracy, and the withdrawal
of the Duke to England, Mirabeau, ever profligate and needy,
finding all resources from that quarter cut off, had determined on
selling himself to the Court. Mirabeau's connection with it was

1 Mortimer Terneau, Hist, de la Tcr- the possession of Lord Houghton, ad-
reur, t. i. p. 25 sqq. and note iii. dressed to some unknown person, and

2 Toulongeon, t. i. p. 181. We must which, he thinks, was that found on
confess our inability to follow M. Louis Favras when arrested. (Hist, de la Be vol.
Blanc's attempts to connect the Count of t. iii. p. 426.) But on referring to it at
Provence and Mirabeau with this con- p. 169, we find that it is dated November
spiracy. In support of his views he 1st, 1790, and Favras was hanged in the
adverts to a MS. letter of Monsieur in preceding February.

Chap. LIII.] VENALITY OF MIRABEAU. 3G7

effected through his friend, the Count de la Marck, who repre-
sented to Count Mercy, the Austrian Ambassador, the friend of
Marie Antoinette, and confidential correspondent of her mother,
Maria Theresa,1 the real state of Mirabeau's feelings. The French
Queen entertained for Mirabeau the bitterest aversion, as the
author of the attack of the 5th of October ; but she had lono-
wished to come to an understanding with some of the leaders of
the Assembly, and Mercy succeeded in appeasing her resentment.
There was to be no question of the restoration of the ancient
"Regime; the safety of the Eoyal family seems to have been all
that was contemplated.2 Mirabeau offered to manage the Assembly,
which he called " a restive ass/5 in the interests of the Court,3
and drew up the scheme of a Ministry, in which he himself was to
be included ; but his conduct had already begun to be suspected,
and a motion was made and carried in the Assembly that no
deputy should be capable of holding office.4 Mirabeau, neverthe-
less, continued his connection with the Court, abandoned his
former humble lodging, and set up a splendid establishment. His
debts, amounting to 208,000 livres, were to be paid ; he was to
receive a monthly pension of 6,000 livres ; and at the end of the
session, if he had served the King well, a sum of one million
livres. But, to insure his engagement for the payment of his
■debts, a kind of tutor was to be set over him ; and a priest, M.
de Fontanges, Archbishop of Toulouse, undertook this strange
office ! 5

It was resolved to celebrate the anniversary of the capture of
the Bastille by a grand federative fete in the Champ de Mars, at
which deputations from all the departments were to assist ; and
as the labour of 12,000 workmen sufficed not to prepare in time
this vast amphitheatre, they were assisted by citizens of all ranks,
ages, and sexes. A few score vagabond foreigners, headed by a
half-crazed Prussian baron, styling himself Anacharsis Clootz,
appeared at the bar of the National Assembly as " an embassy
from all the nations of the universe," to demand places for a large
number of foreigners desirous of assisting at the sublime spectacle
of the Federation. This demand is said to have inspired the As-
sembly with profound enthusiasm, though many of the members

1 Their correspondence, published by 2 See Corresp. entre le Comte de Mira-
the Chevalier d'Arneth, throws a good beau et le Comte de la March, t. i. p. 387.
deal of light on the secret history of the This correspondence affords the most con-
French Court a little before the Eevolu- vincing proofs of Mirabeau's corruption,
'ion. 4 Moniteur, Seance de Novembre 7eme,

2 See Von Sybel, vol. i. p. 212 (Eng. 1789, ap. Blanc, t. hi. p. 401.

.ransl.). 5 Correspondance, §c. t. i. p. 162 sqq.

368 FEDERATIVE FETE. [Chap. LIIL

could not refrain from laughter on perceiving among these am-
bassadors their discarded domestics, who, in dresses borrowed
from the theatres and fripperies, personated, for twelve francs,
Turks, Poles, Arabians, Chinese, and other characters. In the
excitement of the moment, the Assembly decreed the abolition of
all titles of honour, of armorial bearings, and liverie3. A motion
that the title of Seigneur should be retained by Princes of the
Blood Royal was opposed by Lafayette, and lost.1

On July 14th the deputies from the departments ranged them-
selves under their respective banners, as well as the representa-
tives of the army and of the National Guard. The Bishop of
Autun officiated in Pontifical robes at an altar in the middle of the
arena ; at each of its corners stood a hundred priests in their
white aubes, with three coloured girdles. The King and the Presi-
dent of the Assembly occupied, in front of the altar, thrones
which had little to distinguish them from each other. Behind
were their respective attendants, the members of the Assembly,
and, in a sort of balcony, the Queen and Royal family. Lafayette,
as Commandant of the National Guard, first took the oath, nest,
the President of the Assembly, and then the King. His oath
ran : " I, citizen, King of the French, swear to the nation to
employ all the power delegated to me by the constitutional law of
the State to uphold the Constitution, and enforce the execution
of the laws." The Queen, lifting up the Dauphin in her arms,
pledged his future obedience to the oath. The ceremony, so
calculated, by its dramatic effect, to please the French, was con-
cluded with a hymn of thanksgiving and the discharge of artillery.
" Such/' says a French historian, " was this memorable day,
which, by its formalities, its grandeur, and its simplicity, may be
compared with anything that the majesty of the ancient Republics
has left us as a model/' 2 A medal was struck in commemoration
of the event, which was also celebrated by fetes that lasted several
days. Among the most remarkable of them was a ball in the
ruins of the Bastille, in which former abode of grief and suffering
might be read the inscription, Igi Von clause.

But the nation thus newly constituted seemed already hastening
to dissolution. All the springs of government appeared relaxed
and distorted. Necker, disgusted at seeing his functions assumed
by the Assembly, retired into Switzerland (September, 1790). The

1 Toulongcon, Hist, de France, t. i. p. 217 sq. ; Hist. Pari. t. vi. p. 280 sq<j. : Granier
de Cassagnac, Hist, des Causes, $c. t. iii. p. 187.

2 Touluiigcon, ibid. p. 224.

Chap. LIU.] CIVIL CONSTITUTION OF THE CLERGY. o()9

communication in which he notified his retirement was received
with coldness and silence ; the deputies, with marked contempt,,
passed to the order of the day. It was evident that his public
career was closed. The words liberty and equality, ill understood,
had turned every head ; had penetrated even into the army, and
filled it with insubordination. In some regiments the officers had
been forced to fly, in others they had been massacred. In August
a revolt of the troops stationed at Nanci had assumed a most
serious character. General De Bouille was compelled to march
against them from Metz, and the mutiny was not quelled without
a sharp engagement and considerable bloodshed.

The Church was also in a state of disturbance. Not content
with depriving the clergy of their property, the Assembly pro-
ceeded to attack their consciences, by decreeing the civil consti-
tution of the clergy, July 12th, 1790, which abolished all the
ancient forms and institutions of the Church. The title of arch-
bishop, as well as all canonicates, prebends, chapters, priories,
abbeys, convents, &c, were suppressed; bishops and cures were
no longer to be nominated by the King, but to be chosen by the
people. To these and other momentous changes in the constitu-
tion of the Church, the Pope refused his sanction ; but by a decree
of November 27th, 1790, the Assembly required the clergy to take
an oath of fidelity to the nation, the law, and the King, and to
maintain the Constitution. This oath they were to take within a
week, on pain of deprivation. The King, before assenting to this
measure, wished to procure the consent of the Pope, but was per-
suaded not to wait for it, and gave his sanction, December 3rd.
Mirabeau, by an apparently violent speech against the clergy,
was, it is said, in reality endeavouring to procure them a milder
lot ; but it completely destroyed his good understanding with the
King. Louis, whose religious feelings were very strong, was more
hurt by these attacks upon the Church than even by those directed
against his own prerogative. They induced him to turn his
thoughts towards aid from abroad, and shortly afterwards he
began to correspond with General De Bouille, respecting an
escape to the frontier.

Of 300 prelates and priests who had seats in the Assembly,
those who sat on the right unanimously refused to take the oath,
while those who sat on the left anticipated the day appointed for
that purpose. Out of 138 archbishops and bishops, only four con-
sented to swear : Talleyrand, Lomenie de Brienne (now Archbishop
of Sens), the Bishop of Orleans, and the Bishop of Yiviers. The
IV. B B

370 DEATH OF MIR ABE AU. [Chap. LIII.

oath was also refused by the great majority of the cures and vicars,
amounting, it is said, to 50,000. Hence arose the distinction of
pretres sermentes and insermente's, or sworn and non-juring priests.
The brief of Pius VI., forbidding the oath, was burnt at the
Palais Eoyal, as well as a manikin representing the Pope himself
in his pontificals. Many of the deprived ecclesiastics refused to
vacate their functions, declared their successors intruders, and the
sacraments they administered null, and excommunicated all who
recognized and obeyed them.1

The death of Mirabeau, April 2nd, 1791, deprived the Court
of a partisan in the Assembly, though it may well be doubted
whether his exertions could have saved the Monarchy. He fell
a victim to his profligate habits, assisted probably by the violent
exertions he had recently made in the Assembly, in a question
concerning the private interests of his friend, the Count de la
Marck.2 He displayed his sensualism in his last moments, by
desiring the attendants to remove all the apparatus of a sick
chamber, to bring perfumes and flowers, to dress his hair, to let
him hear the harmonious strains of music. His treachery was not
yet publicly known, and his death was honoured with all the marks
of public mourning. The theatres were closed and all the usual
entertainments forbidden. He was honoured with a sumptuous
funeral at the public expense, to which, says a contemporary his-
torian, nothing but grief was wanting.3 In fact, to most of the
members of the Assembly, eclipsed by his splendid talents, and
overawed by his reckless audacity, his death was a relief. His re-
mains were carried to the Pantheon, but were afterwards cast out
to make room for those of Marat. After Mirabeau's death, Duport,
Barnave, and Lameth reigned supreme in the Assembly, and
Robespierre became more prominent.4

The King, as we have said, had now begun to fix his hopes on
foreign intervention. The injuries inflicted by the decrees of the
Assembly on August 4th, 1789, on several Princes of the Empire,
through their possessions in Alsace, Franche Comte, and. Lorraine,
might afford a pretext for a rupture between the German Confede-
ration and France. The Palatine House of Deux Ponts, the Houses
of Wiirtemberg, Darmstadt, Baden, Salm Salm, and others had

1 Barruel, Hist, dti Clerge ■pendant la " Votre cause est gagn£, et moi je suis
Eevol. t. i. p. 61 sq.; Ferrieres, Mem. mort." See Correspondence entre Mira-
t. ii. liv. viii. ; Bertrand de Moleville, beau et La Marck, t. iii. p. 92 sq.
Annates, §c. t. iii. oh. 35. a Toulongeon, t. i. p. 274.

2 On returning to La Marck's house, 4 Mt moires de Mirabeau, t. viii. liv. x.;
he exclaimed, throwing himself on a sofa, Lacretelle, Hist, de France, t. viii. p. 234.

Chap. LIII.] FOREIGN INTERVENTION. 371

possessions and lordships in those provinces ; and were secured
in. the enjoyment of their rights and privileges by the treaties
which placed the provinces under the sovereignty of France. The
German prelates, injured by the civil constitution of the clergy,
were among the first to complain. By this act the Elector of
Mentz was deprived of his metropolitan rights over the bishoprics
of Strasburg and Spires ; the Elector of Treves of those over
Metz, Toul, Verdun, Nanci, and St. Diez. The Bishops of Stras-
burg and Bale lost their diocesan rights in Alsace.1 Some of these
princes and nobles had called upon the Emperor and the German
body in January, 1790, for protection against the arbitrary acts of
the National Assembly. This appeal had been favourably enter-
tained, both by the Emperor Joseph II. and by the King of Prussia;
and though the Assembly offered suitable indemnities, they were
haughtily refused. On the other hand, the Assembly having an-
nulled seignorial rights and privileges throughout the French
dominions, could not consistently make exceptions. The Em-
peror, besides the alarm which he felt in common with other ab-
solute Sovereigns at the French revolutionary propaganda, could
not forget that the Queen of France was his sister ; and he was
also swayed by his Minister, Prince Kaunitz, whose grand stroke
of policy — an intimate alliance between Austria and the House of
Bourbon — was altogether incompatible with the French Revolu-
tion. The Spanish and Italian Bourbons were naturally inclined to
support their relative, Louis XVI. In October, 1790, Louis had
written to request the King of Spain not to attend to any act done
in his name, unless confirmed by letters from himself.2 The King
of Sardinia, connected by intermarriages with the French Bour-
bons, had also family interests to maintain. Catharine II. of Russia
had witnessed, with humiliation and alarm, the fruits of the philo-
sophy which she had patronized, and was opposed to the new
order of things in France. The King of Prussia, governed by the
counsels of Hertzberg, the inveterate enemy of Austria, though
disposed to assist the French King, had at first insisted on the
condition that Louis should break with Austria, and conclude an
intimate alliance with the House of Brandenburg,3 a proposition
which was, of course, rejected. But, in April, 1791, Hertzberg
retired from the Ministry, leaving the field open to Bischofs-
werder,4 the friend of Austria, and the policy which had inspired

1 Garden, Traitts, t. v. p. 152 sq. 4 Bischofswerder, and his brother mys-

* Homme d'etat, t. i. p. 78. tics, or illuminati, exercised a great in-

3 Ibid. p. 98 sq. fluence over the weak-minded Frederick

372 CONFERENCE AT MANTUA. [Chap. LIU.

the Convention of Rcichenbach once more prevailed. Thus all the
materials existed for an extensive coalition against French demo-
cracy.

In this posture of affairs the Count d'Artois, accompanied by
Calonne, who served him as a sort of Minister, and by the Count
de Durfort, who had been despatched from the French Court, had
a conference with the Emperor, now Leopold II., at Mantua, in
May, 1791, in which it was agreed that, by the following July,
Austria should march 35,000 men towards the frontiers of Flan-
ders, the German Circles 15,000 towards Alsace ; the Swiss 15,000
towards the Lyonnais; the King of Sardinia, 15,000 towards Dau-
phine ; while Spain was to hold 20,000 in readiness in Catalonia.
This agreement, for there was not, as some writers have supposed,
any formal treaty, was drawn up by Calonne, and amended with
the Emperor's own hand. But the large force to be thus assem-
bled was intended only as a threatening demonstration, and hos-
tilities were not to be actually commenced without the sanction of
a congress.1 The flight attempted a few weeks after by Louis XVI.
was not at all connected with this conference. Such a project was,
indeed, mentioned at Mantua, but it was discouraged by the Em-
peror, as well as by the Count d'Artois and Calonne. The King's
situation was become intolerably irksome. He was, to all intents
and purposes, a prisoner at Paris. A trip, which he wished to
make to St. Cloud during the Easter of 1791, was denounced at
the Jacobin Club as a pretext for flight ; and when he attempted
to leave the Tuileries, April 18th, the tocsin was rung, his carriage
was surrounded by the mob, and he was compelled to return to
the Palace. On the following day Louis appeared in the Assembly,
pointed out how important it was, on constitutional grounds, that
his actions should be free; reiterated his assurances of attachment
to public liberty and the new Constitution, and insisted on his
journey to St. Cloud. But the President was silent on this head,
though the Assembly received the King with respect.2

A few days after thus protesting against the restraint to which
he was subjected, the leaders of the Revolution, who appear to
have suspected his negotiations abroad, exacted that he should
address a circular to his ambassadors at foreign Courts, in which
he entirely approved the Revolution, assumed the title of "Re-

William II. by their pretensions to super- ' Homme d'etat, t. i. p. 110 sq.; Ber-

natural power. They pretended to evoke trand de Moleville, Annates, t. iv. eh. 1 1 ;

Jesus Christ and Moses, to show the Lacrctelle, t. viii. p. 239 sqq.

shadow of Cnpsar upon the wall, &e. 2 Moniteur, Seance du 19eme Avril,

Segur, Tableau Politique, $c. t. i. p. 82. 1791.

Chap. LIU.] FLIGHT TO VARENNES. 373

storer of French liberty/' and utterly repudiated the notion that
he was not free and master of his actions.1 The Powers to whom
the note was addressed, knew, however, perfectly well that he did
not love the Constitution ; and, indeed, he immediately despatched
secret agents to Cologne and Brussels with letters for the King of
Prussia and for Maria Christina, governess of the Austrian Nether-
lands, in which he notified that any sanction he might give to the
decrees of the Assembly was to be reputed null; that his pre-
tended approval of the Constitution was to be interpreted in an
opposite sense, and that the more strongly he should seem to
adhere to it, the more he should desire to be liberated from the
captivity in which he was held.'2

Louis soon after resolved on his unfortunate flight to the army
of the Marquis de Bouille at Montmedy. He appears to have
been urged to it by the Baron de Breteuil, in concert with the
Count de Mercy, at Brussels, who falsely alleged that it was the
Emperor's wish.'5 Marie Antoinette, as well as De Bouille,
strongly opposed the project, but at last reluctantly yielded to
the King's representations/

Our limits will not permit us to enter into the interesting
details of the flight to Varennes.5 Suffice it to say, that having,
after some hairbreadth escapes, succeeded in quitting Paris in a
travelling berlin, June 20th, they reached St. Menehould in
safety. But here the King was recognized by Drouet, the son of
the postmaster, who, mounting his horse, pursued the Royal
fugitives to Varennes, raised an alarm, and caused them to be
captured when they already thought themselves out of danger.
In consequence of their being rather later than was expected, the
military preparations which had been made for their protection
entirely failed. The news of the King's flight filled Paris with
consternation. When the news of his arrest arrived, the As-
sembly despatched Barnave, Latour-Maubourg, and Petion to
conduct him and his family back to Paris. In discharging this
office, Petion, who appears to have been a solemn coxcomb,6 dis-

1 The Circular, dated April 23rd, 1791, ing narrative of it in Ouker's Essays on
is in tlie Hist. Pari. t. ix. the French Revolution, Essay iii.

2 Homme d'etat, t. i. p. 106 sqq. 6 Petion wrote an account of the journey

3 Ibid. t. i. p. 115. back, which was found among his papers,

4 Weber, Mim. t. ii. ch. iv. p. 315 sqq.; and has been published by M. Mortimer
Mem. de Bouille', ch. x. sq. Terneau, in his Hist, de la Terreur, t. i.

5 One of the most authentic accounts note 5. Pe'tion is here condemned by his
•of it will be found in Weber's Memoires, own mouth. Among other things he is
t. ii. ch. iv., drawn up by M. de Fon- vain and insolent enough to imagine that
tanges, Archbishop of Toulouse, from in- the princess Elizabeth had fallen in love
formation furnished by the Queen herself. with him during this miserable journey.
The English reader will find an interest-

374 THE KING'S RETURN. [Chap. LIII.

played a vulgar brutality, combined with insufferable conceit;
while Barnave, touched by the affliction and bearing of the Eoyal
fugitives, won their confidence and regard by his considerate
attention.1 Notices had been posted up in Paris that those who
applauded the King should be horsewhipped, and that those who
insulted him should be hanged ; hence he was received on entering
the capital with a dead silence. The streets, however, were
traversed without accident to the Tuileries, but as the Royal
party were alighting, a rush was made upon them by some ruffians,
and they were with difficulty saved from injury. The King's
brother, the Count of Provence, who had fled at the same time
by a different route, escaped safely «to Brussels.

This time the King's intention to fly could not be denied ; he
had, indeed, himself proclaimed it by sending to the Assembly a
manifest, in which he explained his reasons for it, declared that
he did not intend to quit the Kingdom, expressed his desire to
restore liberty and establish a Constitution, but annulled all that
he had done during the last two years. Amongst many well-
founded complaints, he condescended to allude to his poverty,
although he had a civil list of twenty-five millions ; and of the
inconvenience of the Tuileries, where, he said, he had not the
comforts of a private person in easy circumstances.'2 In judging
the conduct of the Assembly at this crisis, we must consider the
feelings with which the idea of the King's flight inspired the
whole French nation. His intrigues with D'Artois and the
Emigrants were more than suspected, and it was thought that he
would introduce a vast foreign army and restore the ancient
regime by force and bloodshed. The leaders of the clubs trembled
for their necks ; the artisans foresaw the loss of the State wages ;
the peasantry dreaded the restoration of feudalism ; the burghers
pictured to themselves the return of the insolent noblesse ; the
army beheld, in prospectu, a return to low pay and the whip, and
commissions monopolized by the nobles ; the purchasers of eccle-
siastical property saw their new acquisitions slipping from their
grasp ; while even disinterested patriots revolted at the idea of
seeing France trampled on by foreign Powers, and stripped, per-
haps, of some of her provinces.3 The King, after his return, was

1 That Barnave; however, as commonly before. Lcttrcs de Montmorin. ap. Von

related, was induced to change his politics Sybel, Bevolutionszeit, B. i. S. 258, Anm.

during this journey, by the compassion (vol. i. p. 301, Eng. tr.).

which he felt for the "Queen, is only a s Hist. Pari. t. x. p. 269 ; of. Micbelet.

little piece of biographical effect. He t.iii. p. 19.

had been going over several months 3 Von Sybel, i. 306 (Eng. tr.).

Chap. LIII.] THE KING SUSPENDED. 375

provisionally suspended from his functions by a decree of the
Assembly, June 25th. Guards were placed over him and the
Queen ; the gardens of the Tuileries assumed the appearance of
a camp ', sentinels were stationed on the roof of the Palace, and
even at the Queen's bedchamber. Three commissaries, Tronchet,
d' Andre, and Duport, were appointed to examine the King and
Queen. The Duke of Orleans was talked of for Regent, but he
repudiated the idea in a letter addressed to some of the revolu-
tionary journals. Barnave, who had adopted the policy of Mira-
beau, though with purer motives, namely, to arrest the Revolu-
tion, to save the Monarchy, and govern in conjunction with the
Queen,1 suggested to Louis and Marie Antoinette what answers
they should give to the questions put to them. While things
were in this state, the Marquis de Bouille addressed a highly
intemperate and injudicious letter to the Assembly, threatening
that if the least harm was done to the King or Queen, he would
conduct the army to Paris, and that not one stone of that city
should be left upon another ; but this effusion only excited the
laughter of the deputies.2

1 Michelet, ibid. p. 179. 2 Toulongeon, t. ii. p. 44 and App.

376 THE CORDELIERS. [Chap. LIV.

CHAPTER LIV.

FROM the period of the King's flight to Varennes must be
dated the first decided appearance of a Republican party in
France. During his absence the Assembly had been virtually
sovereign, and hence men took occasion to say, "You see the
public peace has been maintained ; affairs have gone on in the
usual way in the King's absence.'"1 The chief advocates of a
Republic were Brissot, Condorcet, and the recently-established
club of the Cordeliers, so called from its meeting in a former con-
vent of that order. This club, an offset from the Jacobins,
contained all the most violent promoters of a revolution. Brissot
began to disseminate Republican opinions in his journal, and the
arch-democrat, Thomas Payne, who was now at Paris, also endea-
voured to excite »the populace against the King. The Jacobin
Club had not yet gone this length ; they were for bringing
Louis XVI. to trial and deposing him, but for maintaining the
Monarchy. Robespierre, a leading member of the club, who
probably disliked to see the initiative taken by Condorcet and
Brissot, in an equivocal speech supported the Constitution.2 He
did not yet venture openly to speak of a Republic, but he called
upon the Assembly to bring the King and Queen to trial ; and by
whining complaints against his colleagues, whose daggers, he
said, were pointed at his breast on account of his frankness and
liberality, he won the sympathies of the Jacobins. Marat was more
outspoken. He proposed the appointment of a military tribune,
who should make a short end of all traitors, among whom he and
his faction included Lafayette, Bailly, Barnave, the Lameths, and
other leaders of the Constitutionalists.'3 But for the present the
party prevailed who were both for upholding the Monarchy and
retaining Louis XVI. The Jacobins resolved to get up a petition
to the Assembly, inviting them to suspend their decision till the
eighty-three departments should have been consulted, well know-
ing that, from their numerous affiliations, a vote for the King's

1 Terneau, La Turreur, t. i. p. 33. 2 L. Blanc, Hist.de la Rtvol. t. v. p. 461.

3 Yun ISybel, i. p. oil (Eng. tr.).

Chap. LIV.] JACOBIN PETITION. 377

deposition would be carried. The leaders of the Constitutionalists
now separated from the Jacobins, and, with their party, which
included all the members of the Assembly belonging to that club,
except ten or twelve, established the Club of the Feuillants.
This name was derived from their occupying an ancient convent
of that order, founded by Henry III., an immense building in
the Rue St. Honore, adjoining on one side the Manege, where the
Assembly sat.

The Jacobins gave notice to all the patriotic societies that
their petition would be signed on the altar of the Federation in
the Champ de Mars on July 17th. On the evening of the 16th,
the Assembly, by decreeing that the Constitutional Charter, when
finished, should be presented to Louis XVI. for acceptance, having
implicitly pronounced his re-establishment, Camille Desmoulins
and Marat openly incited the populace to acts of violence against
the deputies. Marat pointed out by name Sieyes, Le Chapelier,
Duport, Target, Thouret, Barnave, and others ; and exhorted the
people to impale them alive, and to expose their bodies three
days on the battlements of the Senate House.1 The Government
gave notice that the proposed petition was illegal, and that the
signing of it would be prevented by military force. Never-
theless a vast multitude congregated in the Champ de Mars on
the 17th : and, as it was a Sunday, the crowd was augmented by
many holiday people, women and children. The petition appears
to have received many thousand signatures. Meanwhile martial
law had been proclaimed; the National Guards arrived, and
having been assailed by the mob with volleys of stones, and
even with pistol-shots, fired upon the people. Many persons
were killed or wounded, and the crowd was dispersed. The
leading ultra democrats displayed the most abject cowardice.
Marat hid himself in a cellar; Danton withdrew into the country;
Robespierre was afraid to sleep at home ; Desmoulin suspended
the publication of his journal. By this decisive act the Consti-
tutionalists established for awhile their authority ; but Lafayette
and Bailly lost their popularity, and the Jacobins were not long
in regaining their ascendency.2

The constitutional party, in absolving the King, appears to
have been a good deal influenced by the attitude assumed at this
time by foreign States, though this circumstance is ignored by
the French historians of the Revolution. Several of the European

1 L'Ami dupeuple, No. 514, ap. L.Blanc, t. v. p. 475.

2 Ferrieres, Mem. t. iii. p. 70 sqq.

378 VIEWS OF FOREIGN COURTS. [Chap. LIV.

Powers had begun to manifest a lively sympathy for Louis.
Gustavus III. of Sweden, then at Aix-la-Chapelle, had made a
vigorous declaration against the outrages to which the French
King was subjected after his attempted flight, and had directed
his Ambassador to break off all intercourse with the Ministers
of the Assembly. Eight of the Swiss Cantons had forbidden their
troops in the pay of France to take any oath except to Louis XVI.
The King of Spain had addressed a memoir to the Assembly,
calling upon it to respect Louis's dignity and liberty. The
Emperor Leopold, on learning the capture of the French King,
had addressed a circular from Padua to the principal Sovereigns
of Europe, calling upon them to demand his liberation, and to
declare that they would avenge any further attempt on the free-
dom, honour, and safety of Louis, his Queen, and the Royal family.1
Many of the principal Courts declined to receive a French Am-
bassador so long as the King should be under constraint.2 The
leaders of the Revolution appear to have made some military
preparations to resist this dictation ; but finding themselves
unable to sustain a war, they resolved to avoid, or, at all events,
to postpone it; a result to which the discordant views of the
different parties contributed. It has even been affirmed that,
towards the end of 1791, it might have been possible to regulate
the political state of France by means of a Congress, aided by the
Constitutional party."

No Sovereign was more zealous in Louis's cause than Frederick
William II. of Prussia, who must be regarded as the very Aga-
memnon of the Coalition. After the French King's arrest, he
despatched Bischofswerder to the Emperor in Italy, and a pre-
liminary treaty between these two Sovereigns was signed, July
25th, to be converted into a defensive alliance so soon as Austria
should have concluded a peace with the Turks. The accession of
the Czarina was expected ; and in fact these events appear to have
hastened the Peace of Galatz between Catharine and the Porte,
August 11th. The impetuous Gustavus III. was for immediate

1 It is said that at the date of this seded by the Treaty of Vienna. Garden,

circular, a treaty for the partition of t. v. p. 160 sq.

France was concluded between the Em- '2 Garden, ibid. p. 159. Austria and

peror, the King of Prussia, the King of Prussia, in their joint note to the Danish

Spain, and the emigrant French princes. Court, May 12th, 1792, take credit for

The treaty is in Martens' Rccneil, t. v. having procured the release of Louis in

p. 5 (from the Coll. of State Papers) ; the preceding summer, as well as the

but it is very apocryphal ; and still more establishment of his inviolability, and of

so the pretended accession of Great Britain a Constitutional Monarchy. Ibid. p. 211.

and Holland in March, 1792. It was pro- 3 Homme d' it at , t. i. p. 116 sqq. I46,

bably only a project, afterwards super- kc.

Chap. LIV.] DECLARATION OF PILLNITZ. 37!)

action. He engaged to land 16,000 men at Ostend, requested
George III. to furnish 12,000 Hanoverians, to be paid by the
French Princes, and took De Bouille into his service, who pointed
out how easily France might be invaded. The French Constitu-
tionalists exerted themselves to avert an interference that would
upset their whole policy. Barnave, Duport, and the Lameths
addressed a letter to the Count d'Artois, begging him to return
when the King should have accepted the Constitution; and it
was forwarded to that Prince by Louis's order. The Constitu-
tionalists also assured the Emperor that their object was to save
the throne.1

At this juncture the Emperor and the King of Prussia met at
Pillnitz, a residence of the Elector of Saxony on the Elbe, prin-
cipally for the purpose of considering the affairs of Poland, which
then occupied the attention of the Eastern Powers ; but the state
of France was also debated, and the Count d'Artois, attended by
CaLonne, obtruded himself on the Conference. This Prince, with
a view to gain the Emperor, had offered to cede Lorraine ; but
the scheme which he drew up for the government of France, by
which his elder brother, Monsieur, was to be declared Regent,
and the King completely set aside, filled Leopold with disgust.
He was chiefly actuated by his wishes for the safety of the King
arid Queen, his relatives, and was inclined to listen to the repre-
sentations of his sister, Marie Antoinette, who deprecated civil
war and an invasion of the Emigrants. She recommended that
the King should accept the Constitution, and that the European
Powers should combine in demanding that the King should be
invested with the authority necessary for the government of
France and the safety of Europe.2 The Emperor and the King
of Prussia, in their answer to D'Artois, dated August 27th, de-
clined his plans for the government of France; they sanctioned
the peaceable residence of emigrants in their dominions, but de-
clared against armed intervention unless the co-operation of all
the European Powers should be obtained. And as it was well
known that England was not inclined to interfere, this declaration
was a mere brutum fulmen meant to intimidate the Parisian de-
jmocrats, but fitted rather to irritate than to alarm the French/
lEngland had at this period declared for a strict neutrality. Public

1 Bouille, Mem. ch. xii. p. 274; Corr. (Eng. trans.).

entre Mirabeau et La March, t. iii. p. 163 3 Homme d'etat, t. i. pp. 137, 143. Von

sqq.; L. Blane, t. v. p. 29. Sybel, ibid. p. 364.

2 Von Sybel, Revolutionszeit, i. 366

380 CLOSE OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY. [Chap. LIV.

opinion was against a war, and Pitt himself advocated the policy
of non-intervention in Continental affairs.1

The labours of the Constituent Assembly were now drawing to
a close. On September 3rd, 1791, the Act of the Constitution
was presented to the King, who had been restored to the exercise
of his functions. Louis notified his acceptance of it in a letter
addressed to the Assembly, September 13th, and on the follow-
ing day he appeared in the Chamber to confirm it with an
oath. A few weeks after, he wrote to his two brothers inform-
ing them of what he had done, and calling upon them to
acquiesce. Leopold, on hearing of the King's acceptance of
the Constitution, announced to the Powers that the necessity
for a Coalition was for the present at an end. The new Con-
stitution was as liberal as the French might reasonably have
desired ; but as it lasted scarcely a year it is not necessary to
enter into any lengthened examination of it. Its chief, and, it
may be added, its most lasting merit was the destruction of
ancient abuses. Feudalism and its exclusive privileges were
abolished ; the abuses which spring from an arbitrary govern-
ment, such as lettres de cachet, &c, were reformed; uniformity
of taxation was established, and the power of the purse vested in
the representatives of the people ; the monopolies of trade corpo-
rations, maitrlses and jurandes, as well as corvees and all the fetters
which shackle manufacture and agriculture, were suppressed ; the
admission to civil offices and military commands was thrown open ;
the freedom of religious worship recognized ; barbarous punish-
ments were done away with ; juries introduced in place of the
suppressed Parliaments, and, in short, all the English forms of
administering justice adopted. But there were some things
which the Assembly did, and others they omitted to do,
which rendered nugatory all their labours. They had, indeed,
recognized an hereditary monarchy, and declared the person of
the King inviolable ; but they had not given him the means of
maintaining himself on the throne ; they had stripped him of his
prerogatives, deprived him of the support of the clergy and nobles,
placed him face to face with a wild democracy, and established no
strong executive power which might control its excesses. Of the
fall of their new Constitution by democratic violence they seem to
have entertained no fear. The apprehensions of the Assembly,
as well as of the people, were directed only against the aristocracy;
whence an able writer on the Revolution has drawn a proof " how
1 Diaries am! Correspondence of the Earl of Malmesbury, vol. ii. p. 441.

Chap. LIV.] ANNEXATION OF AVIGNON. 381

wretched and how oppressive had been the ancient government,
with its own abuses, and the abuses of the aristocracy, when men
seemed to have no terror but of its return.'"1

The annexation of Avignon and the Venaissin to France was
among the last acts of the Constituent Assembly (September 14th,
1791). Avignon and its territory had been a possession of the
See of Rome ever since the sale of it to the Pope by Joanna,
Queen of Naples and Countess of Provence, in 1348. But the
existence of a foreign colony in the heart of France was a source
of much inconvenience ; it became the refuge of the disaffected
and the entrepot of the smuggler. A party in Avignon, favourable
to the Revolution, had risen in June, 1790, and solicited its union
with France ; formidable riots had occurred, much blood had
been spilt, and many atrocities committed. The Assembly, says
Toulongeon, after discussing the diplomatic titles and treaties
which assured the sovereignty to the Popes, was naturally led by its
principles to the original title, which gives a people, when its will
is unequivocally pronounced, a right to change its government.2
The people of Avignon do not, however, appear to have been
altogether so unanimous. Within a month after the annexation
the Papal party rose, but were put down by the horrible massacres
in the tower called La Glaciere — a foretaste of the horrors which
ensued in France.

The Act of the Constitution having been proclaimed with great
pomp, September 18th, the Assembly declared its labours termi-
nated and the Revolution accomplished. Such was their security,
I such their foresight ! The Chamber was closed, September 30th.
As the members were departing, the populace crowned Robes-
pierre and Petion with garlands of oak-leaves, and carried them
home in triumph. Robespierre was now very popular, and had
latterly enjoyed a large share of influence in the Assembly. It
was on his motion that they had passed a sort of self-denying
ordinance by which they had declared themselves ineligible to the
Assembly that was to succeed them. He had also procured a
decree, only a few days after the death of Mirabeau, that no mem-
jber of the Assembly should become a Minister within four years
after the conclusion of the session.3 Both these measures were
icarried by acclamation. The royalists and aristocrats hoped that
jan entirely new Assembly might undo all that had been done ;

1 Smyth, Lectures on the French Revo- 3 See Hist. Pari. t. ix. p. 318, t. x.
lution, vol. ii. p. 10. r>. 25.

2 Hist, de France, t. i. p. 243.

382 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY — GIRONDISTS. [Chaf. LIV.

while some were moved by that false generosity which led the
public men of France to abandon what seemed for their own
private advantage without considering whether it was not also
for the public good ; some by pique and personal resentment, the
despair of seeing themselves again returned, and the desire to
reduce others to their own level ; a few from deeper and more
designing motives. By their assent to these acts, Barnave,
Duport, the Lameths, and the whole Constitutional party, pro-
nounced their own political annihilation ; and such was, doubt-
less, Robespierre's design. It is true that by the same act he
excluded himself; but he knew full well that the real power of
the State lay not so much in the National Assembly, as in the
Paris mob and the Jacobins who directed it, among whom he was
a ruling power. Louis accepted the Constitution, and sent a
notification to that effect to the foreign Powers.1

After the acceptance of the Constitution, the great mass of the
middle classes were content with what had been done. They
were weary of the long struggles and disturbances, were desirous
only of returning peaceably to their ordinary pursuits, and had
fallen into a sort of political apathy. In Paris not a quarter of
the enfranchised citizens came forward to vote for members of
the new Assembly. This Chamber, which opened its sittings
October 1st, 1791, assumed the title of the National Legislative
Assembly. It was far from being composed of such distinguished
men as had sat in the Constituent. France had exhausted her
best talent, and, by Robespierre's self-denying ordinance, had
also deprived herself of the services of men who had acquired
some political experience. The new deputies were mostly young
men of the middle class. The aristocrats sneeringly observed
that they could not muster among them 300,000 livres of income
from landed and other property. The Right of the Legislative
Assembly was composed of the Feuillant party, whose pi'inciples
were represented by the club already mentioned. The Centre
consisted of moderate men attached to the new Constitution.
The Left was chiefly formed by the party called Girondists, so
named from the twelve deputies of the Gironde, for the most part
lawyers and men of talent, natives of Bordeaux and the southern
provinces. The three most distinguished and eloquent members
of this deputation were Vergniaud, Guadet, and Gensonne. The
Girondists, however, were also joined by deputies from other

1 Garden, Traitts, t. v. p. 169 sq.; Homme d'etat, t. i. p. 163.

■
I

Chap. LTV.] THE EMIGRATION. 383

parts, as Brissot, Condorcet, Rabaud St. Etienne, Petion, and
others ; and as Brissot was one of their principal leaders, the
party is also sometimes called Brissotins. On the left sat also a
still more democratic faction, led by such men as Chabot, Bazire,
and Merlin. At the first sitting of the new Assembly, the Book
of the Constitution was solemnly presented to it by the Archivist
and twelve of the oldest members of the Constituent Assembly ;
when the deputies took an oath to observe it and to live as free-
men or to die.

The Constitutional party, however, were now fast declining.
Besides the loss of their parliamentary influence, they were also
deprived of municipal power and the command of the armed force.
The functions of Lafayette as commandant of the National Guard
had been suppressed by a decree of September 12th ; and Bailly,
alarmed at his retirement, resigned the' mayoralty. Lafayette
aspired to succeed him, but found a competitor in Petion. Lafay-
ette's reputation with the people was of that equivocal sort which,
in a momentous crisis, must always attach to a man who takes no
very decided part ; while Petion was at this period the idol of the
people, and was also supported by the Court, which hated Lafay-
ette, and had taken a just view of Petion'' s calibre and incapacity.1
The election of Petion by a large majority was a triumph for the
Gironde. Soon afterwards, Manuel was appointed Procureur de
la Commune, with Danton as substitute. A change of ministry
also took place in October. Montmorin resigned the portfolio of
Foreign Affairs, and was succeeded by De Lessart ; Bertrand de
Moleville became Minister of Marine, and Count de Narbonne,
the friend, some say something more, of Madame de Stael, suc-
ceeded Duportail as Minister of War. This Cabinet is thought
to have been a good deal inspired by Madame de Stael.

Among the more important questions that first engaged the
attention of the Legislative Assembly, was that of the emigration.
The number of emigrants was increasing every day ; 1,900 officers
had quitted the army, and crossed the frontiers.2 Monsieur, by
his flight, drew many nobles after him, who should have remained
in France, and rallied round the throne. He now took the lead of
he emigration instead of his brother, the Count d'Artois; a kind
of little Court gathered round him at Coblenz, which place became
the head-quarters of the emigration. The Emperor Leopold dis-
countenanced them. He even punished some Brabanters who had

1 Bertrand de Moleville, Mtinoires. 2 Tuul jngeon, t. ii. p. 95.

384 PREPARATIONS FOR WAR. [Chaf. LIV.

insulted the French national cockade, and he forbade all assemblies
of the emigrants within his dominions, even without arms.1 The
King of Prussia followed his example. The Elector of Treves
alone openly favoured the emigrants. The Assembly voted a Pro-
clamation, October 31st, requiring the King's eldest brother, Louis
Stanislas Xavier, to return to France within two months ; or, iu
default, to forfeit his eventual title to the Eegency. On the 9th of
November they declared all emigrants whatsoever suspected of
conspiracy, and liable to the punishment of death, with confiscation
of their properties, if they remained assembled together after
January 1st, 1792.'2 The King wrote to his brothers ordering
them to return ; but they made a flippant answer. Louis
sanctioned the decree against his brother, but put his veto on that
of November 9th. This was a sort of victory for the Gironde, who
took advantage of it to describe the veto as a conspiracy between
the King and the emigrants, backed by the foreign Powers.

Louis XVI. wrote to the Elector of Treves and other German
Princes, December 20th, declaring that he should regard them as
enemies if they encouraged the assembling of emigrants ; while
the Emperor, on his side, announced that he had instructed
General Bender to assist the Elector, if his territories should be
invaded ; on condition, however, that he had fulfilled his engage-
ment to disperse the emigrants.3 The Girondists, and especially
Brissot, Gensonne, and Isnard, were at this time using every
endeavour to bring about a war by their inflammatory speeches.
They regarded it as a means of establishing the Revolution at
home, and spreading revolutionary principles abroad. Narbonne
and Lafayette were also for war ; but Robespierre and the Jacobins
opposed it. Not that they did not approve the contemplated
ends, but they were jealous of Narbonne and Lafayette, and they
feared that a powerful general might make himself a Dictator.
But it was resolved to raise three armies consisting of 150,000
men in all, to be commanded respectively by General Rochara-
beau,Luckner, and Lafayette. On January 1st, 1792, the Assembly
decreed the accusation of Monsieur, the Count d'Artois, the Prince
of Conde, Calonne, and a few others,4 and by a resolution of
January 25th, they invited the King to demand of the Emperor
his intentions, and to call upon him to renounce all treaties and
conventions directed against the sovereignty, independence, and

1 Homme d'etat, t.i. p. 167 ; VonSybel, 3 Souvenirs de M. Dumas, t. ii. p. 47,
i. 358 (Kng. tr.). ap. Blanc, t. v. p. 253.

2 Hist. Pari. t. xii. p. 218 sqq. * Hist. Pari. t. xiii. p. 13.

Chap. LIV.] KOLAND AND HIS WIFE. 385

security of the French nation. His refraining to answer before
March 1st, was to be considered equivalent to a declaration of war.
The news of this proceeding excited the Emperor's anger. He
now converted the preliminary treaty with Prussia of July 25th,
1791, into a definitive alliance by the Treaty of Berlin, February
7th, 1792; l he gave orders for the formation of a corps d'armee in
Bohemia, and marched 6,000 men into the Breisgau. The orders
given to Bender were justified; complaints were made of the
captivity in which the French King, the Emperor's brother-in-law,
was held, and of the anarchy in France; and all these misfortunes
were imputed to the pernicious sect of the Jacobins.2 This reply
was received by the Assembly with insult and derision. The
somewhat sudden death of Leopold II. (February 29th), arrested
for a while the proceedings of the Coalition ; which was also
weakened by the assassination of Gustavus III. of Sweden, a
fortnight afterwards : an event hailed with joy by the Girondists
and Jacobins. The brother of Gustavus, Regent during the
minority of his nephew, Gustavus IV., determined to observe the
strictest neutrality ; and Spain seemed to incline the same way,
after the Count d'Aranda became Prime Minister.3 The corre-
spondence with the Emperor led to a change of Ministry in France.
De Lessart, the Foreign Minister, was impeached for having
concealed the real state of affairs ; Narbonne had already been
dismissed ; and the Girondists achieved a triumph by forcing on
the Court a Ministry selected from their own party. These men
had already begun to display the violence of their principles.
Vergniaud, in accusing the Minister, had not obscurely threatened
some of the Royal family with death; and his words had been
greeted with thunders of applause.4 The Gironde now imposed
Dumouriez on the King as Foreign Minister ; Roland was made
Minister of the Interior ; De Graves, of War ; Lacoste was ap-
pointed to the Marine in place of Bertrand de Moleville ; Claviere
to the Finances, Duranton to the Department of Justice.

The most remarkable of the new Ministers were Dumouriez and
Roland, the latter, however, chiefly through his extraordinary wife.
Roland himself is a good specimen of the talking, scribbling,

1 Martens, Secueil, t. v. p. 5, and the 3 Garden, Traitds, t. v. pp. 180 and 219.
Suppl. t. ii. p. 172. 4 " Que tous ceux qui habitent le palais

2 Homme d'rtat, t. i. p. 232 sqq. Ac- sachent que le roi seul est inviolable, que
I cording to Madame de Stael, Considira- la loi y atteindra sans distinction tous les

tions, SfC partie iii. ch. 5, this note was coupables, et qu:il n'y a pas une tete qui

! drawn up by Barnave and Duport, the convaincue d'etre criminelle, puisse echap-

i secret counsellors of the Queen, and by per a son glaive." — Hist. Fad. t. xxiii.

her transmitted to Leopold. p. 397 sqq. Cf. L. Blanc, t. vi. p. 296.

IV. c c

386 VIEWS OF THE GERMAN POWERS. [Chap. LIV.

philosophical, and factious Girondists. He had dissipated in his
youth the greater part of his patrimony, and at the mature age of
fifty-eight he married Marion, or Marie Jeanne Phlipon, the
daughter of an engraver on the Quai des Lunettes. Handsome,
clever, inquisitive, self-educated, Marion had devoured, but with-
out judgment or selection, a vast quantity of books ; had studied
by turns Jansenius and Pascal, Descartes and Malebranche,
Voltaire and the Encyclopasdists ; and had been alternately a Jan-
senist, a Cartesian, and a Deist. The reading of Plutarch, whose
works she took to church instead of the Semaine Sainte, had made
her at an early period an ardent Republican, and her chief regret
was not to have been born a citizen of Athens, Sparta, or Rome.
With these unfeminine studies and aspirations, she possessed an
inhuman and bloodthirsty mind.1 She had so far outstripped
the leaders of the Revolution, that in a letter, written soon after
the taking of the Bastille, she urged, in obscene language, either
the trial and execution of the King and Queen, or their assassina-
tion. But she had great talent and a ready pen ; she shared the
official labours of her husband, wrote many of his papers, and
became the very soul of the Gironde.

The Girondists were thus masters of the Government, but un-
fortunately not of the Jacobins. In fact their advancement to the
Ministry produced an open breach between them and Robespierre,
the Jacobin leader, who was jealous at seeing all place and power
in their hands. The Girondists on their side dreaded Robespierre's
influence with the people ; and, on April 25th, 1792, Brissot and
Guadet, two leading members of the Assembly, denounced him
to the Jacobin Club as an agitator. But Robespierre made a
triumphant defence in a speech which was much applauded, and is
also remarkable as giving the first indication of his system of
blood and terror. He conjured the Brissotins to unite with him
against the common enemy, and to cause the sword of the execu-
tioner to move horizontally, so as to strike off the heads of all the
conspirators against liberty.2

Francis, who at the age of twenty-two succeeded to the Austrian
hereditary dominions on the death of Leopold II., adopted his
father's policy with regard to France; though, not having been
yet elected Emperor, he was under no obligation to support the
cause of the German Princes. One of the first acts of his reign
was to assure the King of Prussia of his adherence to the principles

1 Croker, Essays on Fr. Bevol. p. 175 sq.

2 Mem. de Weber, ch. v. p. 322 ; Cruker, Essays, p. 335 sqq.

Chap. LIV.] LOUIS XVI. DECLARES WAR. 387

of the recent alliance. Frederick William was inclined to co-
operate in the deliverance of Louis XVI. and his restoration to his
former power ; but this feeling was not shared by his Cabinet, nor
by the Duke of Brunswick, one. of his principal advisers. Indeed,
the sympathy of the King himself did not go the length of any
great self-devotion ; and he told the Austrian Cabinet that, though
he was not unwilling, under certain circumstances, that an armed
intervention should be threatened, yet, should war unhappily
arise, he must insist upon a just compensation for any losses and
dangers,1 by which he meant a share in the contemplated partition
of Poland. The views of Prussian statesmen were now directed
towards a second partition of that country, and if they were in-
clined to assist the King of France, it was only in compliance with
the wishes of the Czarina, who had made it a condition of admit-
ting Prussia to a share of the Polish spoils. Catharine II. had
■exhibited a violent animosity against the French Revolution,
which was, perhaps, partly sincere, but which was also suspected
of originating in a desire to facilitate her views upon Poland, by
despatching to a distance the armies of Austria and Prussia. In
some negotiations with M. de Noailles, the French Ambassador at
Vienna, Prince Kaunitz laid down as points from which Austria
could not depart: 1st, the satisfaction of the German Princes for
their possessions in Alsace and Lorraine ; 2nd, the satisfaction of
the Pope for the County of Avignon ; 3rd, France to take such
domestic measures as she might think proper, but which should
be such that the Government should be sufficiently strong to
repress everything calculated to disturb other States.2 These
demands were ill-received. The Girondists, especially Brissot
and Dumouriez, were for an immediate appeal to arms, and com-
pelled the King to proceed to the Assembly, April 20th, and to
declare war against his nephew, Francis I., King of Hungary and
Bohemia, which he did with a trembling voice and evident reluc-
tance. But the announcement was hailed with enthusiasm by the
French nation.

At this time the French army of the North, numbering about
50,000 men, under Marshal Rochambeau, was cantoned between
Dunkirk and Philippe\rille. The army of the Centre, under La-
fayette, which was rather stronger, stretched from Philippeville
to Weissenburg ; while that of the Rhine, about 40,000 men,
under Luckner, was posted between Weissenburg and Basle.

1 Letter ap. Yon Sybel, ii. 7.

2 Hist. Pari. t. xiv. p. 26 ; Homme d'etat, t. i. p. 322.

388 INVASION OF BELGIUM. [Chap. LIV.

The frontier of the Alps and the Pyrenees was confided to the-
care of General Montesquiou; but this quarter was not yet-
threatened. Dumouriez, who had sent secret agents into Belgium
to excite the Brabanters to revolt, determined on taking the
offensive ; and he ordered columns of attack from the armies of
Eochambeau and Lafayette to be rapidly directed on different
parts of Belgium, in the hope that the inhabitants would rise and
aid the invasion. But in this he was disappointed. The leading
columns, which were too weak, advanced as far as Lille and
Valenciennes ; but although there was only a small Austrian force
at present in the Low Countries, the French fled in panic at the
first sight of the enemy, April 28th ; and Lafayette, who had ad-
vanced to Bouvines, was compelled by their flight also to retire.
The retreating troops fired on their officers, and massacred
General Dillon and other of their commanders. Rochambeau was
now superseded by Luckner, and the French army stood on the
defensive.

This reverse, which was imputed to treachery, excited great
distrust and suspicion at Paris, and increased the dissensions be-
tween the Feuillants and the Girondists. The Assembly declared
itself en permanence, and seized the whole management of affairs.
The Girondist faction had begun a course of policy which was
highly distasteful, not only to the King, but also to Durnouriez.
They denounced, through the journalist Carra, what they called
an Austrian Committee, or a conspiracy of the Court with the
Coalition, an accusation aimed chiefly at the Queen. They
carried a decree forbidding ecclesiastics to appear in public
in their costume. They obtained the dismissal of the King's
guard of 12,000 men, and sent their commander, the Duke de
Brissac, a prisoner to Orleans. They procured a decree for
the transportation of priests who refused to take the civic oath.
Servan, the new Minister of "War, without saying a word to his
colleagues in the Council, suddenly proposed to the Assembly
to form a federal army of 20,000 men, selected from all the
departments of France, to be encamped on the north side of
Paris ; and the Assembly decreed the measure, June 8th.1

The King could not help showing his aversion to these mea-
sures, and he refused to sanction the decrees for the banishment
of the priests and the establishment of a federal army. Eoland
now addressed to him his famous letter, written by his wife, ex-

1 Stance du 4 Jain, 1792, Hist. Pari. t. xiv. p. 419.

•Chap. LIV.] ROBESPIERRE ATTACKS THE GIRONDISTS. 389

horting Louis to put himself at the head of the Revolution.1 But
it only confirmed the King in his intention to break with the
Gironde; and on June 13th, Servan, Roland, and Claviere were
dismissed. A few days afterwards, Dumouriez also resigned,
being offended at the coldness and disdain with which the King
treated him. Of the Girondist Ministry only Lacoste and Du-
ranthon were retained; and the places of the others were supplied
by persons of no note, selected from the Feuillant party.

Lafayette, at this crisis, by an ill-judged attempt to support
the Constitutional Monarchy, addressed a dictatorial letter to the
Legislative Assembly from his camp at Maubeuge (June 16th),
in which he denounced the Jacobin faction, demanded the sup-
pression of the clubs, and exhorted the Assembly to rally round a
Constitutional throne.2 This imprudent step gave the finishing
blow to Lafayette's reputation as a patriot, and helped to prepare
the insurrection of June 20th and August 10th. None had
hitherto been admitted into the National Guard except those
who could provide their own uniform and equipments, a regula-
tion which had kept the force in some degree select ; but now it
was ordered that pikes should take rank with bayonets, and that
all who presented themselves should be admitted to serve. The
sixty battalions were also reduced to forty-eight, the number of
the new sections; which served to create a fresh mixture of
the men, and still further to destroy Lafayette's influence over
them.3

It must be borne in mind that, besides the quarrel of the
Gironde with the King, a struggle for power was now going on
between Robespierre and the Girondists. The measures of that
party just described, the persecution of the priests, the raising of
a federal army, even the declaration of war against Austria, were
bids for mob popularity ; and they were now contriving how they
might regain power by means of an insurrection. Robespierre,
irritated at seeing his functions taken out of his hands, denounced
the Girondists as "hypocrites of liberty;" inveighed, in the
Jacobin Club, June 13th, against any partial insurrections, as
calculated only to weaken the popular cause ; sent Chabot and
others into the Faubourg St. Antoine to persuade the inhabitants
to confine themselves to a simple petition in favour of the decrees
of May 24th and June 8th ; exhorted them to await the expected
arrival of the Marseillese, and not to rise till the decisive moment

' It will be found in the M(moires de Madame Roland, t. i. App. C.
8 Hist. Pari. t. xv. p. 69 sqq. s Toulongeon, t. ii. p. 160 sq.

390 INSURRECTION OF JUNE 20TH. [Chap. LIV.

had come for overturning the throne.1 He thus affected mode-
ration in order to annoy his adversaries. He even started a
journal called Le defenseur de la Constitution, which he made a
vehicle for attacking the Girondists/ and in which he vehemently-
denounced their contemplated insurrection.

Most historians have considered the insurrection of June 20th,
1792, the anniversary of the oath at the Tennis-Court, as the im-
mediate response of the people to the King's refusal to sanction
the two decrees, and the dismissal of the Girondist Ministers ; but
it had, in fact, been prepared some time before.3 The " recall of
the good Ministers" was, however, made its watchword. Danton
seems to have been the chief mover in it ; Petion, divided between
hope and fear, only gave it his connivance.4 The rumours of it
had filled the Royal family with alarm, and the King had deposited
copies of his will with three notaries. On the whole, however,.
it was a more peaceable and good-humoured mob than might
have been expected. The petitioners, as they called themselves,,
consisted of some 8,000 men armed with pikes and other weapons,
and were accompanied by a large crowd of unarmed persons.
One fellow, indeed, carried on a pike a calf's heart, with the in-
scription, " heart of an aristocrat," and there were other menacing
emblems, but intermixed with peaceable ones, such as ears of
corn, green boughs, and nosegays. Led by Santerre and St.
Huruge, they were permitted to defile through the Chamber of
the Assembly, singing Ca ira, dancing and shouting Vive la
nation ! Vivent les sans-culottes ! A has le veto !

From the Assembly the mob proceeded to the Tuileries. The
King displayed great firmness during this terrible visit. He
ordered the doors to be thrown open, advanced to meet the
crowd, asked them what they wanted, observed that he had not
violated the Constitution. He then retired into the embrasure of
a window, surrounded by a few faithful attendants. When the
people urged him to sanction the two decrees, he replied, " This
is not the time nor the place." To their demands that he should
recall his Ministers, he merely answered, " I shall do what the

1 Deposition of Chabot before Revol. self-sacrifice." (Ibid. p. 339.) After

Tribunal, Hist. Pari. t. xxx. p. 40. Kobespierre"s election to the Convention,

s See Croker, Essays, §c. p. 182 sqq. he continued this Journal under the title

The first number of the Dtfoiseur ap- of Lettres a ses Constituants.

peared in May, 1792; the twelfth and 3 Mortimer Terneau,Zfc*I. dela Terreur,

last, August 10th. "Every line of it t. i. p. 129.

shows," says Mr. Croker, "that in the self- 4 Michclet, Hist, de la Btvol. t. iii,

denying ordinance nothing was further p. 465 sq.
from Robespierre's intention than any

Chap. LIV.] INDISCRETION OF LAFAYETTE. 391

Constitution directs." He put on a bonnet-rouge thrust towards
him on a pike ; but with the exception of a brutal and insulting
speech from the butcher Legendre, afterwards a notorious member
of the Convention, and the attack of a ruffian, who menaced him
with a pike, but was hindered from doing any mischief, no further
violence occurred. After this scene had lasted two hours, Petion,
the mayor, arrived, and, with the assistance of the deputies,
Vergniaud and Isnard, persuaded the mob to depart. The King's
sister, the Princess Elizabeth, had stood by his side the whole
time. A scene somewhat similar passed in the Queen's apart-
ments. Here Santerre, the brewer, took upon himself the office
of master of the ceremonies, and as the crowd defiled through the
room, pointed out to them Marie Antoinette and her son, ob-
serving, ' ' This is the Queen, this is the Prince Royal \" Both
the Queen and her son put on the bonnet-rouge. Napoleon Bona-
parte, then a young officer, who was a spectator of this scene
from the gardens of the Tuileries, exclaimed, " The wretches !
400 or 500 should be shot, and the rest would soon take to
flight I"1

Thus the insurrection of June 20th proved a failure, and had
even the effect of giving the King a little brief popularity. But
Lafayette, by another ill-judged, though well-meant, step, con-
trived to make matters worse. On June 28th, leaving his army at
Maubeuge, he suddenly appeared in the Assembly, and demanded
the punishment of the rioters and the suppression of the Jacobin
Club. Failing in this quarter, he sought to effect his objects- by
means of the National Guard, and attempted a review of them in
the Champ de Mars, which was forbidden by Petion. A depu-
tation from some of their battalions had called upon him to lead
them against the Jacobins ; but Lafayette hesitated, and the
opportunity was irrevocably lost. He now proposed to aid the
King's flight to Compiegne, and place him at the head of the
army ; should that fail, that Luckner and himself should march
on Paris with their forces. But Marie Antoinette opposed these
projects, observing that, if Lafayette was to be their only re-
source, they had better perish.2 The Queen also possibly knew,
what the result showed, that the army would not have followed
Lafayette. His ill-judged protection only served to rally all
parties more violently against the Throne. He was attacked in

1 Bourienne. Memoires, t. i. ch. iv. Campan, Memoirs, vol. ii. ch. ix. (Engl.

2 Lally Tollendal's Letter to the King, Transl.)
HUt. Pari. t. xvii. p. 243 sqq. ; Madame

392 LOUIS TREATS WITH THE COALITION. [Chap. LIV.

the journals, denounced in the Assembly, burnt in effigy by the
Jacobins, and compelled to quit Paris. The Feuillant Club was
now closed ; the grenadier companies and chasseurs of the Na-
tional Guard, who had displayed some loyalty, were cashiered ;
the soldiers of the line were removed from the capital.

The refusal of Lafayette's aid sprang, no doubt, in a great
degree from hatred of him, as one of the earliest promoters of the
Revolution. But a proposal of the Duke de la Rochefoucauld
Liancourt, Commandant of Rouen, whose troops were devoted to
him, that the King should fly to that city, was also refused ; and
hence we are led to the conclusion that the Court, at this junc-
ture, relied on the invasion of the allied Powers for their deliver-
ance in preference to venturing on a civil war. The failure of
the French troops, in their first encounters with the enemy, was
calculated to nourish this hope. This view is confirmed by the
fact that the King had now entered into secret negotiations with
the Coalition, and by the advice of M. Malouet had sent Mallet
du Pan to treat with the allied Sovereigns. A Memoir was drawn
up for this purpose from the King's instructions by Mallet du
Pan, and corrected with Louis's own hand.1 The very first sen-
tence of this document expresses that a counter-revolution was
contemplated ; a project for which the insurrection of June 20th,
to which it alludes, can alone afford the King some justification.
The paper sets out with a description of parties in France. The
Girondists, as well as the other section of the Jacobins, are
denounced as virtually Republicans, though the Girondists would
leave a sort of nominal Monarchy. The other two parties, the
Feuillants, or Constitutionalists, and the Indep end ants, or Neu-
trals, are spoken of with contempt. The King congratulates
himself on the foreign war, as destined to effect all that could
have been hoped from a civil war, with less peril, misfortune, and
uncertainty.'2 The main object of the Memoir is to inform the
allied Sovereigns of the manner in which the King wished the
counter-revolution to be effected. It is strongly impressed upon
them that the war should have as much as possible the appearance
of a foreign war, and that the emigrants should not take any
active and offensive part in it. Mallet du Pan had an interview

1 It will be found in Mem et Corr. de Providence a inspire' la declaration aux

Mallet du Pan, t. i.; Pieces Justif. p. 427 factieux, est destinee a faire maintenant

sqq. It was first published by Professor avec moins de perils, de malheurs, et d'in-

Smyth, in his Lectures on the Fr. Revol. certitude, ce qu'on pourrait esperer de la

t. ii. p. 245 sqq. guerre civile." — Mini, ei Corr. de Mallet

a "Mais la guerre exterieure, dont la duPan, <$r. t. i. p. 440.

Chap. LIV.] THE MARSEILLESE. 393

at Frankfort, in July, with the Ministers of the Courts of Vienna
and Berlin, who were in the suite of the King of Hungary and
Bohemia. That Sovereign, as we have already said, was elected
Emperor, July 5th, with the title of Francis II. ; and on the 11th
he had entered Frankfort in state, accompanied by the Empress,
the Archduke Joseph, and a brilliant Court, for the ceremony of
his coronation.

After the insurrection, and the attempt of Lafayette, the
leaders of the Gironde began to declaim violently against the
King. All Paris seemed moved with a patriotic phrenzy. La-
mourette having exhorted the Assembly to have but one soul,
the members of the Right and Left rushed into one another's
arms and hugged each other in a fraternal embrace : next day
they were greater enemies than ever. On the motion of Herault
de Sechelles a decree was passed, July 11th, that "the country
is in danger/' 1 The day before all the Ministers had resigned,
an act which produced no impression. Their places were filled
up by unimportant persons.

As the King had put his veto on the decree summoning the
federal volunteers to Paris, another had been passed appointing
Soissons as the place of the federal camp ; and to this he gave his
sanction. The troops were first to visit the capital, to participate
in the anniversary fete of the Federation which was now approach-
ing. The Jacobins of Brest and Marseilles were most active in
forwarding these men. Marseilles especially, besides isolated
bands, sent three regular battalions, in February, July, and
I October, 1792, the first of which was led by Barbaroux. A great
(many of these men remained in Paris, at the instance of Danton.
Though called Marseillese, they were, for the most part, the scum
of the prisons of Italy and the Mediterranean coasts.2 They sang
the well-known hymn, composed at Strasburg by Rouget de
l'Isle, an officer of engineers, but first published at Marseilles,
and thence called the Marseillaise.3

On July 14th, the fete of the Federation, the Champ de Mars
was covered with eighty-three tents, one for each department.
In the centre rose a symbolical tomb for those who should die on
he frontiers, with the inscription : " Tremblez, tyrans, nous les

1 Hist. Pad. t. xv. p. 358 sq. p. 205. " Les Marseillais,'' says this

2 Blanc Gilli, Re veil cTalarme, ap. Bar- Chronicle, " le chantent avec beaucoup
baroux, p. 40 ; Terneau, t. ii. p. 142. d'ensemble ; et le moment oil agitant leurs

a See Lautard, Marseilles depuis 1789 chapeaux et leurs sabres ils orient tous a

uusgu'en 1815, t. i. p. 133, ap. Cassagnac, la fois, Aux armes citoyens! fait vraiment

Hist, des Causes, §c. t. iii. p. 221. Cf. frisonner."
\Chroniuue de Paris, in Hist. Pari. t. xvii.

394 ADVANCE OF THE ALLIES. [Chap. LIV,

vengerons." Behind the altar of the country was a tree, called;
the "tree of feudality/' from the branches of which hung bucklers,
casques, escutcheons, crowns, tiaras, cardinals' hats, ermined
mantles, &c. After taking the oath to the Constitution at the
altar, the King was invited to set fire to this tree, but excused
himself on the ground that feudalism no longer existed.1 This
was the last time that he appeared in public. Petion, who had
been suspended from his office of Mayor, for his conduct on June
20th, by the superior authority of the Directory of the Depart-
ment of Paris,2 was now reinstated in his functions.

Amid these somewhat melodramatic displays the French showed
no lack of patriotism and constancy in the imminent danger with
which they were threatened. Hatred of the foreigner and dread
of an invasion united men of all shades of opinion. The armies
of the Coalition were now collecting on the frontiers of France,
under the command-in-chief of the Duke of Brunswick, a Prince
of mature years, the companion in arms of Frederick the Great,
and enjoying a high reputation both for military and other talent.
The Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, William IX., through whose
dominions the march of the Prussians lay, and whose geographical
position was incompatible with neutrality in a war between
Prussia and France, had joined the Coalition in the hope of
gaining the Electoral Hat. The Electors of Treves and Mentz
had done the same. The Circles of Suabia had also consented to
furnish their contingents as States of the Empire. The Electors
of Hanover and Saxony had declared themselves neutral. The
Elector of Bavaria also contrived to maintain his neutrality till
the spring of 1793 ; when, at the urgent remonstrance of the
Imperial Court, he found himself compelled to add his contingent
of 8,000 men to the combined army.3 The Austrian and Prussian
Cabinets had invoked the aid of the Danish Court, in a joint note,
dated May 12th, 1792, in which the principal motives alleged for
interfering in the affairs of France were her revolutionary propa-
gandism and the violence exercised towards the King. But the
Danish Minister, Count Bernstorff, declined to interfere, on the
ground that Denmark, like other States, had recognized the new
French Constitution, and that no direct and public step had as
yet been taken to overthrow it. The King of Denmark, it was
added, had already preserved his subjects from the dangers of

1 Weber, Mem. ch. v. p. 212.

2 The Department of Paris comprised the forty-eight sections and sixteen rural
districts. 3 Homme d'etat, t. ii. p. 273.

Chap. LIV.] INSUEEECTIONAEY PEEPAEATIONS. 395

infection, by a measure adapted to the genius of the nation ; a
reply which must have sounded very like a reproof to the allied
Governments.1

The Duke of Brunswick arrived at Coblenz, July 3rd, in the
environs of which place the troops under his command were as-
sembling. The emigrant Princes now retired to Bingen. The
Emperor and the King of Prussia had a conference at Mentz,
July 19th and two following days. The allied Sovereigns ex-
hibited a bitter jealousy of each other, and a selfish anxiety as to
what territories they should get by way of compensation. The
Emperor's army in the Netherlands was commanded by the Duke
of Saxe Teschen. From this 15,000 men were to be detached to
cover the right of the Prussian advance and join them near
Longwy; while another Austrian army of 20,000 men under
Prince Hohenlohe, was to be directed between the Rhine and
Moselle to cover the Prussian left, menace Landau, and lay siege
to Thionville. A third Austrian corps cVarmee, under Prince
Esterhazy, assembled in the Breisgau, and with 5,000 emigrants
under the Prince of Conde, menaced the French frontiers from
Switzerland to Phillipsbourg. The French armies were inferior
in number to those of the allies ; that of Lafayette could hardly
be relied on, and, to add to the danger, symptoms of insurrection
had manifested themselves in La Vendee and other provinces.
Yet when the decree that the country was in danger was pro-
claimed, July 22nd, in the principal places of Paris, amid the roll
of drums and the booming of cannon, thousands rushed to enrol
themselves as volunteers in the tents and booths erected for that
purpose.

Amidst these hostile preparations the fate of both the King'
and Monarchy was drawing to a crisis. The federal troops, in-
stead .of proceeding- to Soissons after the fete, had remained at
Paris; and on July 17th they sent a deputation to read to the
Assembly an address drawn up by Robespierre, in which the
suspension of the King's executive power, the impeachment of
Lafayette, the discharge of military commanders nominated by
the King, the dismissal and punishment of the departmental
directors, &c, were imperiously demanded.2 Meanwhile the
Girondists, threatened on one side by the Court and Lafayette,
and on the other by the more violent Jacobins, were endeavour-
ing to work on the King's fears, and reduce him to the dilemma
either of throwing himself into their hands, or being crushed by
1 Garden, Traitts, t. v. p. 207 sqq. 2 Blanc, Hist, de la Etvol. t. vi. p. 486.

396 THREATENING ADDRESS TO THE KING. [Chap. LIV.

Robespierre and the Republican party. Vergniaud, Guadet, and
Gensonne found means to send a letter to Louis XVI. through
his valet de chambre, Thierry, in which they told him that a
terrible insurrection was preparing ; that his abdication, or some-
thing still more dreadful, would be the result, and recommended,
but without effect, as a means to avert the catastrophe, that
Roland, Servan, and Claviere should be immediately reinstated in
the Ministry. A threatening address to the King, got up in the
secret conclaves of the Gironde, was also read in the Assembly,
July 26th. It concluded thus : " You can still, Sire, save the
country, and with it your Crown ; dare then to will it. Let the
name of your Ministers, let the sight of the men who surround
you, appeal to the public confidence." But the address was
greeted with tumultuous disapprobation by the people in the
tribunes.1

Measures had now been taken to organize an insurrection. A
central bureau of correspondence among the forty-eight sections
had been established at the Hotel de Ville, July 17 th, at which
commissaries from the various sections appeared every day ; and
thus a rapid communication was established among them all.
These commissaries ultimately formed, on the day of the insur-
rection, the revolutionary Commune, which ejected the legitimate
General Council of the Municipality.-2 Already some affairs had
occurred which foreshadowed the coming event. The Marseillese
had got up a quarrel with some grenadiers of the National Guard,
in which blood had been spilt. This affair increased the agitation
among the respectable classes, and filled every bosom with hatred
or fear. The National Guards of the more aristocratic quarters of
Paris were burning to put an end to the Revolution, and a band
of courageous gentlemen had offered their services in defence of
the Palace.

The 20th of June had been the day of the Gironde; the 10th of
August, for which, after some postponements, the second insur-
rection was ultimately fixed, was to achieve the triumph of the
Montague, or ultra- democrats. Most of the leading Girondists,
Brissot, Vergniaud, Condorcet, Isnard, Lasource, and others, op-
posed the movement ; Brissot and Isnard even talked of sending
Robespierre before the Court at Orleans, which would have been
equivalent to bringing him to the scaffold ;3 Petion and Raederer,

1 Raederer, Chronigue-de 50 jours, ap. 2 M. Terneau, La Terrn/r, t. ii. p.

Croker, Essays on the French Eevol. p. 212 ; 138.
L. Blanc, Mist, dc la Bevol. Fr. t. vii. p. 4. 3 L. Blanc, t. vii. p. 20.

Chap. LIV.] DUKE OF BRUNSWICK'S MANIFESTO. 397

though with fear and doubt, ultimately lent their aid to the insur-
rection. But the men who had incited it, and were to reap its
fruits, kept themselves in the background. Neither Robespierre
nor Danton, though each after his manner was urging on the
movement, took part in the secret insurrectional committee at the
Jacobins, which consisted for the most part of obscure persons.
Danton, whose character, if more corrupt,1 was at least more open
than Robespierre's, made no secret of his hopes of profit and ad-
vantage from the event. The views of the sly and egotistical
Robespierre were more designing and ambitious. He sounded
Barbaroux on the subject of procuring for him a dictatorship by
means of the Marseillese ; but Barbaroux flatly refused.2 Marat
was afraid to abide the outbreak which his atrocious writings had
so much contributed to produce ; and feeling himself insecure in
his cellar, he besought Barbaroux to conduct him to Marseilles in
the disguise of a jockey.3

While Paris was thus on the eve of an insurrection, the bitter
feeling which prevailed against the Court was increased tenfold by
a highly injudicious manifesto, published by the Duke of Bruns-
wick, July 25th, on breaking up from Coblenz to invade the
French frontier. In this paper it was declared: That the object
of the Coalition was to put an end to anarchy in France, and to
restore Louis XVI. to his legitimate authority ; that if the King-
was not immediately restored to perfect liberty, or if the respect
and inviolability due to him and the Royal family were infringed,
the Assembly, the Department, the Municipality, and other public
bodies would be made responsible with their heads ; that if the
Palace was insulted or forced, and any violence offered to the King
or his family, Paris would be abandoned to military execution and
total destruction. But — what was felt as more insulting than all
this — if the Parisians promptly obeyed these orders, then the allied
Princes engaged to obtain from Louis XVI. a pardon for their faults
and errors. By a second declaration, dated July 27th, the Duke
threatened that if the King or any member of the Royal family
should be carried off from Paris, the road through which they had

1 He had already touched 30.000 livres, pierre's public speeches. Barbaroux
the money of the Court. See Corr. entre charged Robespierre with the design to his
Mirabeau et le Comte de la March, t. iii. face in the Convention, September 25th,
p. 82 ; Mtmoires de Lafayette, ap. L. Blanc. 1792. Robespierre was silent ; and tin nigh
t. v. p. 378, t. vii. p. 27 and 96. his creature Pan is denied the charge, it

2 Mtmoires de Barbaroux, ch. v. p. 62 was supported by Rebecqui. See Hist.
sqq. We see no reason for doubting this Pari. t. xix. p. 88 sqq.

statement, with M. L. Blanc (t. vii. p. 30), s Barbaroux, ibid.

merely because it agrees not with Robes-

398 THE KING'S ABDICATION DEMANDED. [Chap. LIV.

been conducted should be marked by a continued series of exem-
plary punishments.1

The tone of this manifest was not at all in accordance with the
suggestion of Mallet du Pan. It had been drawn up by the
Marquis de Lirnon, according to the views of Calonne, and had
obtained the approbation of the allied Sovereigns, though the
Duke of Brunswick himself disapproved of it. The passage re-
specting the destruction of Paris is even said to have been inserted
after it had received the Duke's signature.'2 At all events, the
manifest should not have been published till the allied armies
were nearer to Paris, and, after issuing it, the march of the troops
on that capital should have been precipitated. We do not, how-
ever, believe that this manifesto caused the overthrow of the
French Monarchy ; that was already determined on ; but by
wounding the national pride of the French, it strengthened the
impending insurrection, and also roused them to a more vigorous
defence against the invasion. A little after Monsieur, the King's
brother, and other emigrant Princes, published at Treves (August
8th), a declaration of their motives and intentions. Their army,
of about 12,000 men, was to keep in the rear of the Prussians,
and follow their line of operations.0 The accession of the Court
of Turin to the Coalition, July 25th, which offered to furnish
40,000 men,4 must also have tended to irritate the French.

The Duke of Brunswick's manifesto was officially communicated
to the Assembly, August 3rd ; when the King thought proper to
assure the Chamber in a letter, that he would never compound the
glory and interests of the nation, never receive the law at the hands
of foreigners or a party ; that he would maintain the national in-
dependence with his last breath.5 Such professions were, to say
the least, very uncandid, when he was negotiating with the
enemies of France. On the same day, Petion, at the head of a
deputation from the Commune, appeared at the bar of the Assembly,
denounced the crimes of Louis XVI., his sanguinary projects
against Paris, and demanded his abdication.0 The petition which
he presented to this purport had been approved by all the Sections
of Paris except one. The insurrection would have taken place
immediately, but Santerre,the leader of the Faubourg St. Antoine,
and the devoted servant of Robespierre, was not yet prepared.

1 The manifest will be found in the 3 Homme d'ttat, t. i. p. 434 sq.

Hist. Pari, t. xvi. and in L. Blanc, Hist. * Garden, Traitts, t. v. p. 180.

de la Etvol. ch. viii. App. 5 Ap. Smyth, vol. ii. p. 327.

8 Mem. et Corr. de Mallet du Pan, t. i. 6 Hist. Pari. t. xvi. p. 315 sqq.
p. 316 sqq.

■

Chap. LIV.] PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENCE. 399

The King was informed almost hourly of the state of the pre-
parations for the attack on the Tuileries. The anxiety that
reigned in the Palace may be easily conceived. Extensive means
of defence were adopted, and the King and Queen were not alto-
gether without hopes that it might be successful. Royalty had
not yet lost all its supporters. There was in the Assembly a
large, but timid party, the friends of order ; and the accusation
of Lafayette, proposed by Brissot, had been rejected by a ma-
jority of almost two to one. But the members who had voted the
rejection were hissed and maltreated on leaving the House. The
Palace of the Tuileries was at that time much more defensible
than it is at present. The Place du Carrousel was covered with
small streets ; the court of the Palace was enclosed with a wall
instead of a railing, and not open, as at present, but divided by
ranges of small buildings. Mandat, whose turn it was to com-
mand the National Guard, a man of courage, and who had been
an officer in the regular army, was a zealous Constitutionalist, and
several battalions of that force were also*ardently attached to the
Throne. Mandat' s arrangements were judicious. Twelve guns
were planted round the Palace, others on the Pont Neuf, to pre-
vent the junction of the men of the Faubourg St. Marceau with
those of the Fauboui'g St. Antoine ; a force was stationed to
observe the Hotel de Ville, with instructions to let the mob pass
from the Faubourg St. Antoine, and then to attack them in the
rear. The most effective force, however, was the Swiss Guard,
about 950 men.

None of the leading Jacobins took any active part in the exe-
cution of the attack. Even Barbarous and his friends Rebecqui
and Pierre Bailie excused themselves from leading their com-
patriots, the Marseillese, on the ground that they were the official
representatives of the town of Marseilles.1 On this eventful day
the destinies of France were left in the hands of the Commissaries
of the Sections, all of them obscure persons, though a few, as
Billaud Yarennes, Hebert, Bourdon de l'Oise, and two or three
more, afterwards became noted in the annals of the Revolution.
These men proceeded to the Hotel de Ville on the night of August
9th, formed themselves into a new Commune, and expelled the
existing legitimate Council ; retaining- of the previous magistrates
only Petion, Manuel, and Danton, and the sixteen Administrators.
One of the first acts of the insurrectionary Commune was to send
for Mandat. On entering the Council Hall he was astonished to

1 Mem. de Barbaroux, p. 66 sq. ; Terneau, t. ii. p. 307 note.

400 MURDER OF MANDAT. [Chap. LIV.

find it filled with new faces. Before he could recover from his;
surprise he was overwhelmed with questions. Why had he
doubled the guard at the Palace ? Had he not detained the i
Mayor there ? Had he not told Petion that he should answer j
with his head for any disturbance ? Mandat replied as well as i
he could. He pleaded an order of the Mayor for the arrangements :
he had made, which he appears really to have received, though
he had it not about him. The President of the Commune required !
him to withdraw half the forces at the Tuileries, but Mandat I
refused to sign the order. Suddenly is handed in the order ho
had o-iven to the battalion of the National Guards at the Hotel de i
Ville to attack the insurgents in the rear, which excites loud cries
of indignation. The insurrectionary Commune now decide that
Mandat shall be transferred to the prison of the Abbaye, for his
greater security. The assassins at the command of the Com-
missaries understand what this means. They drag Mandat from
the place where he was temporarily confined and hurry him
towards the staircase leading to the Place de Greve ; but on the
first step he is shot through the head with a pistol bullet. The
Commissaries must have heard his groans and the shouts of bis
assassins; but they interrupted not their deliberations.1 They
now appointed Santerre to be provisional commandant-general of j
the National Guard.

The tocsin had been sounding since midnight from all the
steeples of Paris, but at first the affluence of the people was not
very great. The inmates of the Palace had passed a sleepless
nio-ht. The Queen and Madame Elizabeth wandered about the apart-
ments ; the King spent a long time with his confessor, and then
in vain sought a little repose upon a sofa. At five o' clock in the
morning of August 10th he visited the military posts; but his
appearance was calculated to excite anything but courage and
enthusiasm. He was dressed in a violet suit ; his chapeau de bras
being placed under his arm permitted the disorder of his hair to
be seen ; which, on one side, had become unpowdered, from lying
on the sofa. His eyes were red from weeping and want of sleep,
his unconnected phrases betrayed the trouble and agitation of his
mind. At six o'clock he held a sort of review. Some of the
National Guards received him with cries of Vive le Roi ! but the
cannoniers and the battalion Croix Rouge shouted Vive la Nation!
On crossing the garden to visit the posts at the Pont Tournant,
he was saluted by the battalions of pikemen with yells of a has le
1 Mortimer Terneau, La Tcrreur, t. ii. p. 278-

Chap. LIV.] LOUIS ABANDONS THE TUILER1ES. 401

Veto ! a has le traitre ! These men took up a position near the
Pont Royal, and turned their guns on the Tuileries ; others did
the like on the Place du Carrousel. Thus the Palace was menaced
by those summoned to defend it ! Marie Antoinette could not
help deploring the want of energy shown by .the King, and
remarked that the review had done more harm than good.1 Even
contemporary Revolutionists were unanimously of opinion that
if the King had displayed any resolution he would have carried
with him half the National Guard. Santerre had hesitated to
advance till he was threatened with death by a man named
Westermann. Danton and Desmoulins were among the insur-
gents, but Robespierre and Marat were nowhere to be seen.2
Petion, who was at the Tuileries on pretence of official duties,
seemed ill at ease, and even in danger, among the crowd of
royalist gentlemen; but he was summoned away by the new
Commune and consigned to his hotel.3

The insurgent columns were now advancing in dense masses.
The death of Mandat, the withdrawal of the cannon from the Pont
Neuf, had spoilt the whole plan of defence. To Rasderer, pro-
cureur-syndic of the Department, and a Girondist, who was at the
Palace in his official capacity, must be mainly attributed the
result of the day. It was he who, with treacherous counsels, and
in order to throw the King into the hands of his faction, per-
suaded him to abandon the Palace and take refuge in the As-
sembly. As early as four o'clock in the morning, before
there was any pressing danger, he had suggested this course,
but the Queen opposed it. Rasderer then pretended to super-
intend the defence and animate the troops; but the word ran
from rank to rank, " we cannot fire on our brethren." The can-
noniers especially would not listen to him. One of them extin-
guished his match, drew the charge of his gun, and threw it on
the ground.4 Rasderer now repeated his advice to the King to
fly to the Assembly, and after a little hesitation Louis consented,
to the great chagrin of the Queen. At seven in the morning he
left his Palace, never to return. It was with great difficulty the
Royal family made their way into the hall of the Assembly. The
King was received tolerably well by the mob ; but the Queen

1 Madame Cam pan, Memoirs, vol. ii. charge uncontradicted more than thirty
ch. x. (Engl. Transl.). years. See Croker, Essays, §c. p. 228.

2 Von Sybel, i. 527 sq. (Engl. Transl.). It was also Raederer who persuaded Man-

3 Terneau, t. ii. p. 296. dat to go to the Town Hall. He published

4 Several publications of the time an account of the period between the
charged Rsederer with suggesting this act 20th of June and 10th of August, called
of disaffection and mutiny, and he left the Chroniqiie de Cinquante Jours.

IV. D D

402 CAPTURE OF THE PALACE. [Chap. LIV.

experienced gross insults and horrible threats, and was robbed
of her purse and watch.

The Royal family, on entering the Assembly, took their seats
on the benches appropriated to the Ministers. The King said :
" I am come hither to avoid a great crime, and I think,
gentlemen, that I can nowhere be safer than among you." —
Vergniaud, the president, replied: "Sire, you may rely upon
the firmness of the National Assembly ; its members have sworn
to die in support of the rights of the people and of the constituted
authorities." A member having remarked that the Constitution
forbade them to debate in the King's presence, the Royal family
were conducted to a small room appropriated to the short-hand
writers.

The departure of the King spread consternation through the
Palace and was fatal to its defence. Who should fight in a self-
abandoned cause ? Whole battalions of the National Guard either
dispersed themselves or joined the men of the faubourgs. The
Swiss alone showed admirable fidelity, courage, and discipline,
though two, even of these, were induced to fraternize with the
insurgents. They were brought down by shots from the gentle-
men in the apartments of the Palace. The first report of firearms
caused a horrible confusion. Rage or terror filled every breast.
The Swiss, ranged on the staircase of the Palace, were ordered to
fire, and in a moment scores of those who filled the vestibule
were extended on the floor. Then, led by their colonel, Pfyffer,
the Swiss made a sortie, cleared the Carrousel with much
slaughter, seized three cannons and dragged them to the Palace.
But they had routed only the advanced guard of the insurrection.
The bands of the faubourgs still came pouring on with horrible
shouts for vengeance. At this crisis the defence was abandoned
■by order of the King, who sent to the Swiss, by M. d'Hervilly,
an order to that effect, hastily written in pencil.1 The greater
part of this heroic band were killed in attempting a retreat, some
towards the Assembly, some through the gardens of the Tuileries.
Bonaparte, then in a state of poverty approaching destitution,2
who beheld the attack on the Palace from a shop on the Carrousel
belon^ino- to the brother of his friend and schoolfellow Bourrienne,
observed, when at St. Helena, that after none of his battles had
he been so struck with the aspect of death as by the heaps of

1 Mortimer Terneau, La Ttrreur, t. ii. project of making a living by taking
p. 320 sqq. Most previous historians re- houses and underletting them. Bour-
present the Palace as forced by the mob. rienne. Mim. t. i. p. 48.

2 He had formed with Bourrienne the

Chap. LIV.]

CAPTURE OF THE PALACE.

403

corpses in the Tuileries garden.1 The number killed on the
side of the assailants appears, however, from recent researches,
to have been under 200.2 After the withdrawal of the guard the
Palace was entered by the mob, when every male inmate was
murdered and the furniture stolen or destroyed.

1 M'./i. de Las Casas, t. v. p. 129.

2 Terneau, ibid, notes, p. 494.

404 DANTON. [Chap. LV.

CHAPTER LV.

THE Girondists seemed at first to reap the fruits of a victory-
achieved by others. The Assembly, in which that party
prevailed, assumed at once all the executive power of the State,,
and, at the instance of Vergniaud, its president, directed the pro-
visional suspension of the King, the nomination of a tutor for the
Prince Royal, the installation of the King and Royal family at
the Luxembourg, sanctioned the decrees on which the King had
placed his veto, ordered the accusation of the Minister, Abancourt,,
for not carrying out a decree against the Swiss Guard, sent com-
missaries to the armies to suspend the Generals, decreed domi-
ciliary visits to suspected persons.1 All this was done, August
10th, in the presence of the King. The Assembly, of which only
members of the Left were present, also took upon itself to form a
new Ministry ; restored Roland, Servan, and Claviere to their
former places, appointed Lebrun Minister for Foreign Affairs,
Monge to the Department of Marine, Danton to that of Justice.
Danton, a sort of caricature of Mirabeau, with all his animal sen-
sualism, but without his genius, had been an advocate in the
King's Council since 1787, but had little practice. He was
remarkable for his high stature, athletic form, stentorian voice,
and what he called his audacity, which was rather effrontery.
These endowments served to qualify him for a demagogue and
bully; but he quailed if boldly met.2 He had taken little part in
the insurrection ; but after the victory he appeared at the head of
the Marseillese with a great sabre, as if he had been the hero of
the day.3 He appointed Camille Desmoulins and Fabre d'Eglantine
his secretaries.

But the reins of power were really held at this juncture by the
new Commune, or Municipality, supported by the armed mob. It
was not till the morning of August 11th that the wary Robes-
pierre had caused himself to be named a member of it for the
Section in which he lived, that of the Piques, Place Vendome.*

1 Hist. Pari. t. xvii. p. 18 sq. de Carsagnac, t. iii. p. 449 sq.

2 Prudhomme, t. ii. p. 326. 4 He now lived with Duplay, the joiner,

3 Loirvet, Mimoires, p. 12, ap, Cran. Rue St. Honore.

Chap. LV.] THE ROYAL FAMILY AT THE TEMPLE. 405

But he avoided appearing prominently in it, kept himself in a
corner of the Council Chamber, yet directed all the steps of the
Commune ; and while the Legislative Assembly existed, headed
several violent deputations to its bar.1 Marat was also a leading
member of the insurrectionary Commune ; such was their respect
for him that they assigned him a private tribune.2 A Committee
of Surveillance was appointed, which assumed all the functions of
Government; ordered, among other things, the barriers to be
closed, passports to be suspended ; non-juring priests to leave
France within a fortnight ; the ladies of the Queen and several
officers of the National Guard to be interrogated ; decreed a
number of arrests, thus filling the prisons for the ensuing mas-
sacres. The National Guard was reformed and increased by vast
numbers of mere proletaries ; the property in the Royal Palaces
and the plate in the churches were seized ; the Registers at the
Hotel de Ville began to be dated " First year of the Republic."
On August 12th the Assembly surrendered the custody of the
King and his family to the Commune, and on the following day
Petion conducted them from the Luxembourg to the Temple.
Here the King- was lodged in a gloomy apartment lighted by a
single window, and furnished with a wretched bed and a few
chairs. The Royal family were not even provided with necessary
clothes. The Countess of Sutherland, lady of the English Am-
bassador, sent some of her son's for the Dauphin. The Tuileries
had been abandoned to be plundered by the mob.

The Legislative Assembly was itself to be dissolved to make
room for a National Convention. Robespierre had proposed this
step at the Jacobin Club on the evening of August 10th.3 On
the 11th the Assembly decreed its own abdication, and fixed the
mode of electing a Convention. The electoral franchise was now
extended ; the distinction of active and inactive citizens was sup-
pressed ; every Frenchman, aged twenty-five, living by his own
labour or income, and not in domestic service, if he had taken
the civic oath, was declared an elector.4 But the double degree
of election was retained ; that is, primary assemblies to choose
electoral assemblies, which last returned the deputies. The former
were to meet on Sunday, August 26th; the latter on Sunday,
September 2nd.

A mixed commission, composed of members of the Assembly

1 Mortimer Terneau, t. iii. liv. ix. creed that a contribution of three days'

3 Hist. Pari. t. xvii. p. 196. labour was a necessary qualification to

3 Ibid. p. 178. vote in the primary assemblies. Hist.

* The Constituent Assembly had de- Pari. t. iii.

406 PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMUNE. [Chap. LV.

and of the Commune, appointed to search the Tuileries, found
some letters and documents, which proved that the King had
compromised himself with the counter-Revolution.1 The Commune
compelled the Assembly to appoint an extraordinary criminal
tribunal. Robespierre refused the presidency of it, and had also
resigned, in April, the office of Public Accuser, which he had
exercised since the preceding February. On the establishment
of the new tribunal, August 18th, the Commune directed the
guillotine to be permanently erected in the Place du Carrousel,
but the knife to be removed every night.2 The first victims of
this tribunal were Delaporte, intendant of the Civil List, D' Angre-
mont, the Queen's master of languages, one Solomon, convicted
of forgery, and the journalist Durozoy. Thus was inaugurated
the reign of blood ; Robespierre had invoked it in the last number
of his Defense ur.3 The dominion of the ochlocracy had commenced,
of the men who were to strangle the Revolution by their excesses,
and prepare the way for a military despotism. Its advent was
signalized by some acts of senseless brutality. By order of the
Commune, the statues of Henry IV., of Louis XIV., and Louis
XV., and other monuments, were overthrown ; they also decreed
the destruction of all emblems and monuments of feudality and
despotism, even in private houses.4 The title of Citoyen was to
be substituted for that of Monsieur; and in public acts after Van
IV cle la liberie was to be added, Fan I cle Vegalite.

But, though Paris seemed unanimous, the Revolution of August
10th was not universally welcomed in France. Symptoms of dis-
satisfaction were manifested at Metz, Nanci, Rouen, Amiens,
Strasbourg, and other places.5 Lafayette conceived the idea of
uniting the Directories of the Departments in a Congress, and
opposing them to the National Assembly — in short, of confront-
ing Paris with the provinces. The Municipality of Sedan, where
his army was stationed, was ready to second the measure. ■ He
also thought of marching to Paris, with some regiments devotedly
attached to him, when the National Guards would, in all proba-

1 Eeipport de Gohier, Hist. Pari. t. xvii. guillotine was designed and manufactured
p. 82. by one Schmidt, a pianoforte maker, of

2 Hist. Pari. t. xvii. p. 211. This in- Strasbourg. See Granier de Cassagnac,
strument derived its name from Dr. Guil- Hist, des Causes, §c. t. iii. p. 182; Croker,
lotin, a physician of Paris, and member Essay viii.

of the Constituent Assembly, who first 3 Croker, Essays, p. 343.

proposed it in October, 1789. His sug- 4 Duval, Souvenirs de la Terreur, t. ii.

gestion, however, was not attended to, p. 176 sq.; Hist. Pari. t. xvii. p. 119. It

and it was not till March, 1792, that, by was a singular coincidence that the statue

the advice of M. Louis, secretary to the of Louis XIV., erected August 12th,

College of Surgeons, it was first adopted 1692, was overthrown August 12th, 1792.

by the Legislative Assembly. The first 6 Terneau, t. iii. p. 44.

Chap. LV.] DOMICILIARY VISITS. 407

bility, have joined hiin, and the Marseillese and pikenien might
easily have been dispersed.1 Thus he might have saved the King
and Constitution, but he wanted resolution for so bold a stroke,
and only did enough to insure his own fall. The Government
superseded him, and, on the night of August 19th, he fled with
many of his officers, hoping to reach the Dutch frontier and
England; but he was arrested by the Austrian outposts, trans-
ferred for some unknown reason to Prussian custody, and suc-
cessively imprisoned at Wesel, Xeisse, and Glatz.2 Dumouriez
was now appointed Commander-in-Chief of the two armies which
covered the frontiers, and Luckner was superseded by Kellermann.
The allies were now advancing. The Prussian light troops had
entered the French territory, August 12th. Some of the inhabi-
tants of Sierck having fired upon them from their windows, that
place was abandoned to military execution ; a debut which pro-
duced a bad impression.3 The main body of the Prussian army,
which had taken three weeks to accomplish forty leagues, crossed
the frontier, August 18th, and encamped at Tiercelet, where it
formed a junction with the Austrians under Clairfait. Longwy,
invested by the Duke of Brunswick and General Clairfait, August
20th, capitulated on the 24th. This event was seized upon by the
Jacobin leaders, who artfully fomented the excitement which it
naturally produced. The Assembly decreed that every citizen, in
a besieged place, who talked of surrender, should be put to death;
that Longwy should be razed, and a new levy of 30,000 men
made.4 On August 27th was given a grand funeral fete, in honour
of those who had fallen on the 10th ; the passions of the people
were roused by a long procession of their widows and orphans.
Next day Danton declared in the Assembly that the despots
could be made to retreat only by " a great national convulsion,"
insisted on the necessity of seizing all traitors ; demanded autho-
rity to make domiciliary visits, for the purpose, as he said, of
seizing the arms of suspected persons.5 These visits were made, by
order of the Commune, on the night of August 29th, when several

1 Von Sybel, vol. ii. p. 51 sqq. (Eng. 3 Homme d'etat, t. i. p. 436.
Transl.). Dumouriez says that two-thirds 4 Hist. Pari. t. xvii. p. 126. It was in
of the army of Flanders were with the midst of these alarms that several
Lafayette, ibid. p. 51. distinguished foreigners were admitted to

2 Terneau, t. iii. p. 72 sq. At the French citizenship, as Priestley, Payne,
Peace of Basle, 1795, the Prussians handed Bentham, Wilberforce, Clarkson, Mackin-
him over to Austria. He was now con- tosh, Pestalozzi, Washington, Hamilton,
fined at Olmiitz, and was at length re- Maddison, Klopstock, Kosciusko, &c. —
leased by Bonaparte at the Peace of Fastes de laBtvol. ap. Blanc, t. vii. p. 117.
Campo Formio, after a harsh confinement 5 Hist. Pari. t. xvii. p. 214.

of four years.

408 MASSACRES OF SEPTEMBER. [Chap. LV.

thousand persons were arrested, but the greater part were released
on the following day. The Assembly at last made an endeavour
to stem the insolent assumption of authority by the Commune,
and decreed, August 30th, the election of a new Municipality; but
Petion appeared at the bar at the head of a deputation on the 31st,
and frightened the Chamber into an abandonment of the measure.
On this occasion, Tallien, who read the address, uttered this
ominous sentence, inserted with Robespierre's own hand:1 "We
have caused the refractory priests to be arrested ; they are con-
fined in a private house, and in a few days the soil of liberty will
be purged of their presence ! "

On Sunday morning, September 2nd, news arrived at Paris that
Verdun had been invested; that the Duke of Brunswick, in sum-
moning it, had declared that places which did not surrender would be
abandoned to the fury of the soldiery.3 The Commune now directed
the barriers to be closed, horses to be seized to convey troops to
the frontier; citizens to hold themselves in readiness to march at
the first signal. Alarm-guns were fired, the tocsin was rung, the
generate beaten. These measures had the intended effect. " Let
us fly to meet the enemy V cried the people. But another por-
tion, better instructed, shouted : " Let us hasten to the prisons,"
— which had just been filled — " shall we leave these traitors be-
hind us, to murder our wives and children if we perish V' A
rational fear of a few thousand unarmed prisoners !

Such was the beginning of the horrible Massacres of September.
The first victims were some priests, who were being conveyed in
carriages to the prison of the Abbaye, about half- past two in the
afternoon ; several of whom were murdered before they reached
the prison. When the carriages entered the court it was found to
be filled with a multitude of people, who must have been admitted
by the authorities. The massacre at this place lasted till five
o'clock, when a voice exclaimed, " There is nothing more to be
done here ; let us go to the Carmelites." This prison contained
1 86 ecclesiastics and three laymen. The priests were asked whether
they would take the civic oath ? and on their heroically refusing,
they were conducted to the garden of the convent, and despatched
with muskets and swords. Only fourteen contrived to escape over
the walls. About six in the evening an officer of the National
Guard informed the General Council of the Municipality of what
was passing. This body could, doubtless, have arrested the mas-

1 Terneau, La Terreur, t. iii. p. 175 2 Hist. Pari. t. xvii. pp. 163—167.

note. 3 Ibid. p. 336.

Chap. LV.] MASSACRES OF SEPTEMBER. 409

sacres, had they been so inclined, by ordering out the National
Guard; but they contented themselves with sending commissaries
to the different prisons to protect persons incarcerated for debt ;
thus showing that they had the power to save the rest, had they
been so disposed, and, therefore, virtually sanctioning their
murder. They went through the farce of sending a message to
the Assembly to deliberate respecting the crowds assembled at
the prisons.1 But the Assembly was frightened and powerless.
All it did was to send some commissaries, who, after a few vain
attempts to be heard, retired. The prisoners were subjected to
a sort of burlesque trial. Maillard, the grim hero of the Bastille,
acted the part of judge; ten armed men, seated at a table, formed
an extempore jury. Similar scenes passed at the other prisons
during five consecutive days. The verdict, "Liberate the gentle-
man," was the signal to kill the unhappy wretch who thought he
had escaped. Some who boldly avowed that they were Royalists
were spared ; any equivocation or falsehood was attended with
certain death. A young lady, Mdlle. Sombreuil, saved her father
by consenting to drink a glass of wine mixed with human blood.2
Among the victims were the Minister Montmorin, and the beau-
tiful Princess de Lamballe, one of the Queen's favourites, who was
murdered because she refused the oath of hatred of Royalty. Her
body was subjected to the most obscene brutalities ; her head was
cut off, stuck on a pike, and paraded before the Temple, when a
municipal officer insisted that the Queen should go to the Avindow.
She fainted at the sight. When the murderers had cleared the
chief prisons, they went to the Bicetre and La Salpetriere, and
massacred women and children, paupers and lunatics. While these
revolting scenes were enacting, Danton, Desmoulins, Fabre d'Eg-
lantine, and Robert, with their wives, sat down to a luxurious
banquet. The total number of victims at Paris is reckoned at
between 1,400 and 1,500,3 to whom must be added the prisoners
detained at Orleans — forty-three in number. Alquier, President
of the Department Seine et Oise, rode post-haste to Paris to in-
treat Danton to spare them ; he was told by the " Minister of
Justice ! " to mind his own business. These prisoners were all
massacred but three, September 9th. Among them were the ex-
Minister De Lessart and the Duke de Brissac, formerly com-
mander of the King's guard. The ruffian Fournier, called the

1 Hist. Pari. t. xvii. p. 350. ap. Gr. de Cassagnac, t. iii. p. 240 sq. ;

2 See Terneau, La Terreur, t. ii. p. 288 L. Blanc, t. vii. p. 196. M. Terneau
note. (t. iii. p. 548) estimates them at 1368.

3 Prudhomme, Hist. gen. et impart.

410

QUESTION OF PREMEDITATION.

[Chap. LV.

American, but who was in reality a native of Auvergne, leader of
the band which committed this massacre, had a regular commis-
sion from Roland, Minister of the Interior.1

The Committee of Surveillance addressed a circular to the
different departments, September 3rd, calling upon them to follow
the bloody example set by the capital, as a necessary means of
public safety. This circular, which bears among other signatures
that of Marat, was forwarded with the counter-sign of Danton.
It is not so generally known that Danton added a circular of his
own, exhorting the inhabitants of the provincial towns to fly to
arms and leave nobody behind who might trouble them during
the march against the enemy.2 The exhortations produced, how-
ever, but little effect, and, on the whole, the Septembrists failed
in the provinces. At Rheims about eight persons were murdered,
eleven at Lyon, fourteen at Meaux. At the last place the assassins
are said to have come from Paris.3

There can be no doubt that the September massacres were pre-
meditated, though a few ultra-revolutionary writers, including
M. Louis Blanc, have maintained the contrary. They appear to
have been determined on at latest by August 26th, and probably
one of the chief objects of them was to influence the elections for
the Convention.4 It can be proved that the Ministry knew of
them beforehand ; that the concierges and other authorities at the
prisons were prepared for what was to happen ; that the assassins,
consisting chiefly of Marseillese and Federal soldiers, were quietly
admitted into the prisons ; that great part of them were hired and
paid for their bloody work ;5 that records of the Sections still
existing, as those of the Sections Luxembourg and Poisonniere,
show that the massacres were deliberately voted ; and that the

1 Terneau. La Terreur, t. iii. p. 368.
For details of the massacres, see the Rt la-
tum of the Abbe Sicard, and Jourgniac
St. Meard, Mom agonie de 38 heures, in
Barriere's Biblioth. des Mini. t. xviii.

a From the archives of Angers, ap. Von
Sybel, lievolutionszeit, B. i. !S. 548, vol. ii.
p. 99 (Eng. Trans.).

3 Hist. Pari. t. xvii. p. 433 sqq.; Tou-
longeon, t. ii. p. 292.

4 Von Sybel (ibid. p. 69).

5 M. L. "Blanc, Hist, de la Be vol. t. vii.
p. 206, denies this fact ; asserts that no
traces can be found in the accounts of the
Commune of wages paid to the execu-
tioners, and contends that any entries of
money paid to workmen at this time relate
only to the burial of the bodies. But
though he has diligently used the Hist.

Parlementaire, he seems to have over-
looked the following passage : " Mandat
du 4 Sept. signe N — , Je — , La — , com-
missaires de la Commune, vise' Me — :
au profit de Gil — Pet — , pour prix da
temps qu:ils ont mis, lui et trois de ses
camarades ii l'expe'dition des pretres de
St. Firmin pendant 2 jours, suivant la
requisition qui est faite aux dits con-mis-
saires par la section des Sans Culottes,
qui les a mis en ouvrage, ci . . . 48 liv." —
H. P. t. xviii. p. 231. The word expedi-
tion, evidently a euphemism, can hardly
mean buried. See further respecting pay-
ment of the murderers, Gr. de Cassagnac,
Hist, des Causes, dje. t. iii. p. 240 ; Ter-
neau, La Terreur. t. iii. note xviii. This
last note may be considered as decisive of
the question of organization.

Chap.LV.] PRINCIPAL INSTIGATORS. 411

same thing was done in other places may be inferred from the
circumstance that in the registers of several Sections the leaves
containing the transactions of September 2nd and 3rd are torn
out.1 A further proof of foreknowledge and design is that many
prisoners were liberated by the leaders of the Commune before the
massacres began, either from private friendship, or for the sake of
money. The Prince de Poixand Beaumarchais bought their lives
of Panis and Manuel.2 But there were doubtless some volunteer
assassins. It is said that among the murderers at the Abbaye
were persons established as apparently respectable tradesmen in
the neighbourhood, and that the murderers of the priests at the
Cannes were well-dressed men armed with fowling-pieces, and
belonging evidently to the wealthier class.3

The chief instigators of the massacres were Danton, Marat, and
the Committee of Surveillance; one of the principal agents of
them was Billaud Varennes. At the prison of La Force, members
of the Municipality, in their scarves of office, presided over and
legalized the butchery.4 Robespierre's share in these atrocities,
if more obscure, is hardly less certain. He was too wary to take
any prominent part. But that he had a foreknowledge of the
massacres appears from the fact, that he, as well as Tallien and
others, reclaimed from the prisons some priests who had been
their tutors.5 Panis, one of the most active of the Committee of
Surveillance, was Robespierre's creature, acting only by his com-
mand. Robespierre afterwards endeavoured to exculpate himself
by some glaring falsehoods. He affirmed that he had ceased to
go to the Commune before the massacres occurred ; yet the minutes
record his presence September 1st and 2nd.6 Petion also declared
that he saw Robespierre at the Hotel de Ville during the massacres,
and reproached him with the part he had taken in the denuncia-
tions and arrests.7

The Girondists are not exempt from blame, though their part
in the massacres was that of cowardly connivance. We have
mentioned Roland's agency in the matter of the Orleans prisoners.
The journals published under the patronage of the Minister of the
Interior represented the massacres as necessary and just.8 Petion,
when applied to by men bespattered with blood for orders respect-

1 The proceedings of all the Sections 3 Blanc, t. vii. pp. 154, 21-4.

will be found in Terneau, La Terreur, 4 Michelet, t. iv. p. 175.

t. iii. note xiii. See also Sorel,Ze Convent s Ibid. p. 121.

des Cannes, ch. ix. ; Michelet, Hist, de la 6 Ibid. p. 124.

Re vol. t. iv. p. 132. 7 Prudhomme, ap. Cassagnac, t. iii.

, 2 Prudhomme, ap Von Sybel, Revolu- p. 240. M. Blanc omits this ant dote.

tionszeit, B. i. S. 530. 8 Blanc, t. vii. p. 186 sq.

4 1 2 BATTLE OF VALMY. [Chap. LV.

ing eighty prisoners at La Force, exclaimed, " Do for the best ! "
and offered the assassins some wine.1 Brissot was publicly charged
by Chabot with having informed him, on the morning of Sep-
tember 2nd, of the plot to massacre the prisoners.2 When it was
too late, the Girondists bestirred themselves a little, and procured
the dissolution of the Committee of Surveillance.

The massacres were attended and followed in Paris by the
greatest disorders. The populace broke into the royal cellars
in the Carrousel, and, in their new capacity of sovereign, appro-
priated the contents. Watches and trinkets were demanded in
the streets as offerings to the country. The Garde Meuble was
broken open and many of the crown diamonds stolen, among
them the celebrated Regent. Sargent, Panis, Deforgues, and
other members of the Municipal Committee, divided the spoils of
the murdered.3 The property stolen must have amounted to
many million francs.

From these revolting scenes we turn with pleasure to view the
French character on a brighter side. With patriotic enthusiasm
volunteers enrolled themselves in great numbers ; during a fort-
night 1,800 men left Paris daily for the frontier.4 The Marseillese,
however, the perpetrators of the massacres, who had been main-
tained at the expense of the Commune, refused to march.5 Marat
proclaimed that he had other work for them to do at Paris.
Patriotic gifts poured in ; even the market women brought 4,000
francs. Verdun had surrendered, September 2nd, after a bom-
bardment of fifteen hours ; but the suicide of Beaurepaire, the
commandant, who had opposed the capitulation, might apprize
the Prussians of the resistance they were likely to meet. Dumouriez
who had only 25,000 men to oppose to the much superior forces
of the Duke of Brunswick, had determined to occupy the forest of
Argonne, a branch of the Ardennes which separates the Trois
Eveches from Champagne Pouilleuse, and to make it the Ther-
mopylae of France.6 But being driven from two of the passes he
had occupied, and a superior force of the allies threatening to turn
his flank, he retreated in the night of September 14th to St.
Menehould. Here he was joined by Kellermann and Bournon-
ville with their divisions, which brought up his army to more
than 50,000 men. The Prussians attacked Kellermann at Yalmy,

1 Evidence of Chabot in the trial of the Re vol. t. v. p. 117 ; Idem. t. iv. p. 223.
Girondists, Hist. Pari. t. xxx. pp. 49, 4 Hist. Pari. t. xviii. p. 333.

71, 88, 106. 5 Terneau, t. iii. p. 126.

2 Hist. Pari. t. xx. p. 444. 6 For this campaign see the Mimoircs

Archives de la Seine, ap. Michelet, of Dumouriez, t. iii.

Chap. LV.] RETREAT OF THE PRUSSIANS. 413

September 20th, but the Duke of Brunswick withdrew the
columns which had been formed, and were actually marching to
storm the heights, to the great chagrin of the King of Prussia,
who was present, and had ordered the advance. The Duke de
Chartres, eldest son of the Duke of Orleans, and his brother,
the Duke de Montpensier, were present at this battle, which was
little more than a cannonade. It had, however, important conse-
quences. The Prussians, deceived by the representations of the
French emigrants, that their advance would be a mere military
promenade, had not provided themselves with magazines ; the
peasants had laid waste the surrounding country, bad weather set
in, the roads became almost impracticable, the men were suffer-
ing severely from dysentery. The stories about the Duke of
Brunswick having been tampered with by the French are most
probably false, but it is certain that he did not push the war with
much ardour.1 Instead of advancing on Chalons, as the Kino- of
Prussia, the Russian, Austrian, and emigrant parties desired, the
Duke renewed negotiations with Dumouriez; offered much milder
conditions than those previously threatened; said nothing about
restoring the ancient regime; demanded only the release of the
King, and the cessation of all propagandism. Dumouriez would
have willingly made a separate peace with Prussia ; but the Con-
vention had now assembled ; the Executive Council refused to
listen to any terms till the French territory had been evacuated ;
and Dumouriez, in reply to the Duke's proposals, handed to the
Prussian envoy the decree establishing a Republic ! There was
now nothing left to the Prussians but to retreat, and Dumouriez,
authorized by Danton, did not molest them. They crossed the
Rhine at Coblenz towards the end of October, and Dumouriez re-
turned to Paris to enjoy his success2 and arrange a plan of opera-
tions against Belgium. On the 17th of October King Frederick
William II. wrote to the Empress Catharine that the inclemency
of the weather had forced him to retreat ; that he should not for-
sake the great cause, but that he must be compensated with a still
larger share of Poland ! At the same time Austria was urging on the
Russian Court her claim to Baireuth and Anspach ; and Francis II.,
in a letter to the King of Prussia (October 29th) , expressed his
resolution to act with him against the common enemy, and at the
same time to procure the compensation to which both were entitled.3
The National Convention charged with the drawing up of a

1 Homme d'6tat,t. i. pp. 351, 481, &c. d'ttat, t. i. p. 496 sq.

2 Hist. Pari. t. xix. p. 179 sq.; Homme 3 Von Sybel, ii. 185 sqq. (Eng. Ti\).

414

THE CONVENTION.

[Chap. LV.

new Constitution, assembled September 21st. The Girondists, or
Brissotins, who had sat on the left or opposition benches in the
Legislative, formed the right of the Convention. In appearance
they had the superiority. They occupied the Ministry, they
had a majority in the Assembly, and were supported by the
moderate party. But they had placed themselves in a false posi-
tion. They had gone too far for the Constitutionalists, and not
far enough for the ultra-democrats and Jacobins. Opposite to them
in terrible array was the faction of the Mountain, so called from
the members of it occupying the highest benches on the left. The
nucleus of this faction was formed by the twenty-four Parisian
deputies and some violent Republicans from the Departments.
The election of deputies had commenced at Paris, September 2nd,
and there can be no doubt that the massacres had a vast influence
on the returns.1 The list, headed by Robespierre and closed by
the Duke of Orleans, now called Philippe Egalite,2 contains, among
other names notorious in the annals of the Revolution, those of
Danton, Collot d'Herbois, Manuel, Billaud Varennes, Camille
Desmoulins, Marat, Legendre the butcher, Panis, Sergent, Freron,
Fabre d'Eglantine, Robespierre's brother Augustine, David the
painter, &c. The Duke of Orleans, by accepting a seat in the
Convention, identified himself with the mortal enemies of the
King, his relative. Towards the end of 1791 a reconciliation
had been attempted through Bertrand de Moleville. The King
received the Duke and appeared entirely satisfied. But when
the latter attended the levee on the following Sunday, the courtiers
pressed round him, trod on his toes, and drove him to the door.
Other insults followed so marked and numerous that he was com-
pelled to retire. On descending the stairs he was spit upon.
From this moment he abandoned himself to an implacable hatred,
and vowed to revenge himself on the King and Queen.3 The
strength of the Mountain lay, not in their number, but in their
being supported by the Jacobin Club, the Commune, and conse-
quently the Parisian populace, then the supreme power in the
State. They had succeeded in driving the Jacobins from the

1 Terneau, La Terreur, t. iii. p. 192 ;
Croker, Essays, §c. p. 346; Michelet,
t. iv. pp. 206, 217.

2 The origin of this name is thus ex-
plained: all persons absent from E ranee
having been placed on the list of Emigres,
and the Duke of Orleans's daughter, with
her governess, Madame de Genlis, being
in England for purposes of education, the
Duke went to the Hotel de V ille, to solicit

the striking out of their names. Manuel
said, that no petition in the name of
Bourbon could be received, and pointing
to the statue of Egalitt, invited the Duke
to take it for his god-mother, which he
did to save his chdd. Bevue Bitrosp.
2 Se'r. No. viii. ap. Cassagnac, Hist, des
Causes, $c. t. iii. p. 395.

3 Bertrand de Moleville, Mini. t. i.
p. 278 sq.

Chap. LV.] ROYALTY ABOLISHED. 415

Club, and had filled their places with Sans- culottes. Between the
Gironde and the Mountain, voting sometimes with one, some-
times with the other, was seated the Plain, or the Marsh (Marais),
consisting principally of new members without settled political
connections. Their principles generally inclined them to the
Ei'jJit, but terror often compelled them to vote with the Left.1

The Convention, on the very first day it assembled, although
only 371 members were present out of 749, decreed, on the motion
of the Abbe Gregoire, the abolition of royalty.2 This event had
been prepared in the Legislative Assembly. At the instance of
Chabot, September 4th, all the members had cried^ aXo King!"
and taken an oath of eternal hatred to royalty.3 On September
22nd, the Republic was proclaimed under the windows of the
Temple. Louis XVI. heard, it is said, the sentence of deposition
without emotion, and continued to read a book on which he was
engaged. It was now ordered that the date of fourth year of
liberty should be altered to first of the Republic.

A struggle for power between the Girondists and the Mountain
was inevitable. The Girondists charged their adversaries with
promoting social anarchy in order to establish a dictatorship ;
while the Mountain denounced the Girondists as aiming to divide
France into several Federated Republics, after the manner of the
United States of America ; nay, they even imputed to them a
design to restore royalty by means of a civil war. These were the
war-cries of the two parties. Danton made some attempt to
conciliate them, but without success. It was the^ Girondists who
began the attack. Brissot preluded it by an article in his Journal,
September 23rd;"1 and Kersaint followed it up next day by a
speech in the Convention. The massacres were made the chief
topic of offence. " It is tinie," exclaimed Kersaint, " to erect
scaffolds for assassins, and for those who promote assassination;"
adding, " Perhaps, it requires some courage to speak of assassins
in this place."5 Barbarous was put forward to made a desultory
and unformal attack upon Robespierre, which led to nothing.
The debate is chiefly remarkable for the first appearance in public
of Marat. The Convention was not composed of very scrupulous
persons ; yet, when Marat mounted the tribune he was greeted
with universal shouts of astonishment and horror. " I have a

1 Thos. Payne had been returned for the 2 Hist. Pari. t. xix. p. 81.

Pas de Calais, Dr. Priestley for the Depart- 3 Hid. t. xvii. p. 437.

ment of the Orne, and Anacharsis Clootz 4 Patriate Francais, No. 1140.

for that of the Oise. Priestley declined 3 Hist. Pari. t. xix. p. 59.
to serve because he did not speak French.

416 MARAT IN THE TRIBUNE. [Ciiap. LV.

great many personal enemies here," he coolly remarked. " All,
All ! " exclaimed the deputies, rising simultaneously. Nothing
daunted, Marat went on to defend Robespierre. In the course
of his speech he avowed having incited the people to the
massacres, and concluded it with denouncing the Assembly as
useless.1 Cries now arose on all sides, "To the Abbaye ! to the
Abbaye ! " But Marat outbraved all attempts to put him down.
He had an inexhaustible fund of self-love and self-conceit. In a
debate on October 4th, he declared his contempt for the decrees
of the Assembly, and replied to the bursts of laughter which this
excited by exclaiming, " No ! you cannot hinder the man of genius
from throwing himself into the future — you cannot appreciate the
man of education who knows the world and anticipates events." 2
He despised the people, whose friend he called himself, and to
whose blood-thirsty passions he pandered.3 His cynicism, his filthy
exterior and affectation of austere poverty, were but masks. He
was not half so dirty at home as abroad. His cadaverous com-
plexion, his greenish eyes, his greasy locks, bound up in a Madras
handkerchief, his well-worn apparel, made his person squalid and
disgusting ; but his rooms are said to have been adorned with silk
draperies, flowers, gilding, luxurious ottomans.4

On October 8th Buzot proposed to the Convention a project
for a departmental guard of 4,470 men. The scheme was violently
denounced at the Jacobins and in Robespierre's Journal. " The
two preceding Assemblies had not needed any guard ; now, when
a Republic was established, the Convention could exist only by the
means which support a tyranny ! Was not the Assembly guarded
by Frenchmen ? What were the Parisians but a portion of the
French people ? " But the strongest arguments against the mea-
sure were the threatening deputations from the Sections, and
especially from the Faubourg St. Antoine. The Girondists were
compelled to abandon their guard ; but the arrival of a third band
of Marseillese, under the auspices of Barbaroux, encouraged them
to proceed to their attacks upon the Mountain. On October 29th,
Louvet, the author of the licentious novel of Faublas, made a
formal, but rambling accusation of Robespierre,5 when Barere
assisted his escape by an insult. " If/' he said, "there was in the
Assembly a man like Caesar, Cromwell, or Sylla, he would accuse

1 Hist. Pari. t. xix. p. 97 sq. that of Parisians!"— V Ami du Peuple,

2 Ibid. No. 402, ap. Cassagnac, t. iii. p. 419.

3 Thus, for instance, he exclaims in his 4 Madame Roland, Memoires, t. ii.
Journal: "Eternal asses (badauds), with p. 227 (ed. Berville et Barriere, 1827).
what epithets would I not overwhelm s Hist. Pari. t. xix. p. 422 sqq.

you, if I knew any more humiliating than

Chap. LV.] PROGRESS OF THE FRENCH. 417

him, for such men were dangerous to liberty; but the little
dabblers in revolutions, politicians of the hour, who would never
enter the domain of history, were not worthy to occupy the valu-
able time of the Assembly." He then moved that they should pass
to the order of the day : which was accordingly done.

We must now revert to the war on the frontiers. After the
retreat of the Prussians, the French General Custine, who was
acting against the Austrians, had pushed on with his division to
Spires, which he took by a coup cle main. Learning here that
the French would be welcomed as deliverers in the Rhenish pro-
vinces, he sent a detachment of 4,500 men to Worms, who were
received with open arms ; and he published a proclamation con-
taining the democratic maxim then in vogue : " War to the palace,
peace to the cottage.'"2 Custine appeared before Mentz, October
19th, which place surrendered on the 21st. Here he opened a
club on the model of the Jacobins, and was joined by many
ecclesiastics, eager to break their vows ; while the peasants also
manifested a disposition to rise. Another French corps had
occupied Frankfort without resistance, October 22nd. These
successes, however, were not unmixed with reverses. Bournon-
ville, repulsed in an attempt upon Treves at an advanced season
of the year, retired into Lorraine. Custine, instead of seizing
Coblenz, whither the Elector of Mentz had fled with his Court
after the capture of his capital, remained inactive, bribed, it is
said, by the Prussians ; he also neglected the defence of Frankfort,
which the Prussians re-entered, December 2nd.

In conformity with their scheme of revolutionizing all Europe,
the French had also declared war against the King of Sardinia ;
a French army under General Montesquiou soon after entered
Savoy, and occupied Chambery, September 23rd. The Savoyards
received the French with open arms. Hence Montesquiou was
to have pushed on to Geneva, threatening Switzerland and Italy ;
but his negotiations with the Genevese displeased the Assembly ;
his impeachment was decreed, and it was with difficulty that he
saved himself by flying to Geneva itself.3 About the same time
a French division under General Anselme entered Nice, and
captured Villa Franca on the first summons/

Meanwhile on the side of Flanders, the Austrians, under Duke
Albert of Saxe-Teschen, had bombarded Lille, but without effect;

1 Hist. Pari. t. xx. p. 221 sq. 433-519, t. ii. pp. 1-99.

2 Ho m me d'etat, t. ii. p. 46. See this 3 Von Sybel, ii. 163 sq. (Eng. Transl.).
work for the whole campaign, t. i. pp. 4 Hist. Pari. t. xix. p. 189 sq.

IV. E E

418 BATTLE OF JEMAPPES. [Chap. LV.

and finding- themselves deserted by the Prussians, had taken up,
under Clairfait, a fortified position at Jemappes, near Mons. Here
they were attacked and defeated by Dumouriez, now appointed
General of the army of the Ardennes (November 6th) . The
Duke de Chartres (Louis Philippe) was present in this action.
The victory of Jemappes opened Belgium to the French ; Mons,
Brussels, Liege, Nainur, Antwerp, and other places, fell succes-
sively into their hands ; and by the middle of December the con-
quest of the Austrian Netherlands was completed. The Jacobins
now sent agents thither to propagate their revolutionary doctrines.
But the Flemings, who had at first received the French with
enthusiasm, soon discovered that their yoke was heavier than
that of their former masters ; were disgusted by the requisitions
made upon them, and a system of general pillage. Dumouriez,
who disapproved these things, and had a scheme for the conquest
of Holland, to which the Girondists were opposed, now came to
Paris to remonstrate. He wished also to baffle the Jacobins and
rescue the King from their hands. In addition to these successes,
a French fleet had appeared in November before Naples, and had
compelled the Bourbon King to recognize the French Republic
— the first acknowledgment of it by a foreign Power.

On December 3rd the Convention decreed that Louis XYI.
should be brought to trial before them. A committee of twenty-
four which had been named to examine the papers found at the
Tuileries, delivered a report conceived in a spirit of the most viru-
lent hostility towards the King.1 His death had been demanded
by deputations of the sections, and in addresses from the affiliated
Jacobin Clubs, and had been represented in puppet shows in the
public streets and squares. The Constitution had declared the
King inviolable, and his Ministers responsible. The only head
under which he could be arraigned was treasonable negotiations
with foreign Powers, for which the penalty was abdication ; but
that penalty he had already paid on the 10th of August. It was
necessary, therefore, to abandon all appeal to the law, and to
substitute the plea of State necessity, of which the Sovereign
People was the judge, and the Convention as its representative.
In a debate on November 13th the fanatical St. Just con-
tended that the King could not be judged as a citizen, but as an
enemy ; that he was not included in the national contract, and
could not, therefore, be tried by the civil law, but by the law of

1 Hist. Pari. t. xx. p. 239 sqq. It being an accapareicr, or forestaller of
charged Louis, among other things, with sugar, wheat, and coffee.

Chap.LV.] ROYAL LIFE IN THE TEMPLE. 419

nations. He denounced the inoffensive Louis as another Catiline,
•complained that the eighteenth century was less advanced than
the age of Caesar ; then the tyrant was immolated in the Senate
with no other formalities than twenty-two dagger thrusts, with
regard to no other laws than the liberty of Home.1 Robespierre
adopted the arguments of his friend St. Just. Louis, he exclaimed,
is King, the Republic is founded ; either then Louis is already
condemned, or the Republic is not acquitted. You invoke the
Constitution in his favour ; but the Constitution forbids what you
have already done ; go, fling yourselves at his feet and implore
his mercy ! 2 The Ministry and the majority of the Convention
were also for a trial, in order to promote their foreign propagan-
dise, by the terror which it would inspire. But when they found
that England, instead of favouring their views, had been com-
pletely alienated by the September massacres, and might pro-
bably institute a war of vengeance for the King's death,3 they
■changed their tone, especially as they began to feel some appre-
hensions about their own fate; for the attacks of the Jacobins
were now directed against them as well as the King. They pro-
posed, indeed, that the trial should proceed, but they hoped to
avert the sentence by demanding that it should be ratified by
the primary electors. A futile method ! for the scim-culottes of
Paris were the real arbiters of the question, and to get the better
of them was a plain impossibility. For though the great mass of
the people sympathized with the King and the Gironde, the
Mountain prevailed by its unscrupulous audacity, and the better
classes were paralyzed by fear.

While Louis was thus savagely denounced, he and his family
were leading a most exemplary life at the Temple. The King
rose at six o'clock and devoted himself to relio-ious exercises. At

nine the family assembled for breakfast, after which Louis in-
structed his son in Latin and geography ; Marie Antoinette gave
lessons to her daughter; while Madame Elizabeth read books of
devotion or employed herself with needlework. At one, the
family again met for dinner ; after which the children played
together, while the King and Queen played a game of chess or
piquet, or took a walk in the wretched garden, but under the
inspection of two municipal officers. Nine was the hour for bed-
time, when Louis, having given his blessing to his family, con-
cluded the day, as he had begun it, with exercises of devotion.

1 Hist. Pari, t, xx. p. 330. 2 Idem, t, xxi. p. 162 sqq.

3 Von Sybel ii. p. 273 sq. (Eng. Tr.).

420 THE KING ACCUSED. [Chap. LV.

But they were not suffered to enjoy even this quiet life without
molestation. Petion appointed as their warder the ferocious
vagabond who had threatened the King's life on June 20th.
This fellow took a pleasure in annoying the royal prisoners :
sometimes he would sing the Carmagnole before them ; sometimes,
knowing that the Queen disliked tobacco, he would puff it in her
face. Manuel, with a malicious pleasure, related to the King the
victories of the Republic, and ordered all his decorations and
orders to be removed.1

On December 10th the accusation of the Kino* was read to the
Convention. The principal charges alleged against him were :
his having suspended the sittings of the National Assembly,
June 20th, and subsequently attempted to dictate to and overawe
it • having collected troops to support despotism by force- having-
caused many persons to be killed at the siege of the Bastille, and
having ordered the governor to hold out to the last extremity ;
havino- summoned the regiment of Flanders to Versailles, followed
by the jete of the gardes du corps, &c. ; having sanctioned
Bouille's massacre at Nanci : having corruoted Mirabeau and
others ; the flight to Varennes and manifest drawn up on that
occasion ; having caused the people to be fired on in the Champ
de Mars ; having kept secret the Convention of Pilnitz, of which
he was the head ; having paid large sums of money to the
emigrants ; having purposely neglected the army, thus causing
the fall of Longwy and Verdun ; having neglected the navy ;
having provoked the insurrection of August 10th in order to
massacre the people, &c. But this last charge was felt to be so
shameless that it was subsequently withdrawn.2

On the following day Louis was brought before the Convention
to be interrogated on these charges. Some he justified, some he
denied ; of some he declared that he had no knowledge, of others
he threw the responsibility on his Ministers. ISTor must it be
concealed that his denials were sometimes not only in the face of
facts, but even of his own handwriting. He disclaimed all know-
ledge of an iron safe found in the walls of the Tuileries, and of
the papers it contained. Some of these revealed Mirabeau's
venality • in consequence of which his bust at the Jacobins was
overthrown, and that in the Convention veiled till his guilt should
be more fully proved.

1 Journal de Clery (containing the Kzvol.it des malkcurs qu'elle a occasionnrsr
/St'* •tides zvini mc-nts arrivts au 1\ mple, by t. ii. liv. ii.
the King's daughter); Hist, ahrnjzc de la 2 Hist. Purl. t. xxi. pp. 259-276.

Cii.vr. LV.] APPEAL TO THE PEOPLE REJECTED. 421

Louis, after a furious resistance of the Mountain, was allowed
counsel for his defence ; and he selected Target and Tronchet for
that purpose. Target being too ill to act, Lanioignon de Male-
sherbes volunteered to supply his place. When that venerable
old man appeared at the Temple, Louis embraced him and .ex-
claimed : " Your sacrifice is the more generous, as you will
expose j'our own life without being able to save mine ! " Both
Malesherbes and Tronchet being old and feeble, they procured,
with the consent of the Assembly, the aid of Deseze, a young and
brilliant advocate of Bordeaux. When the Kino- was arraigned.
December 26th, Deseze made a powerful speech in his defence.
Dividing- the heads of accusation into things done before and
things done after the King's acceptance of the Constitution, he
argued that the former were covered by that act, the latter by
the inviolability which the Constitution conferred upon him ; and
he concluded with a glowing eulogium on Louis's virtues, his
benevolence, his mildness, and his justice. After his counsel had
concluded, the King read a short address, in which he only pro-
tested against the imputation of having shed his subjects' blood
on August 10th.1

When Louis had retired it was decreed, on the motion of Cou-
thon, that the debate on the judgment of Louis Capet should be
continued without interruption till sentence had been pronounced.
The Girondists, either from a sentiment of compassion, or for
their own political ends, wished to save the King's life. Verg-
niaud's speech deprecating regicide was a masterpiece of eloquence.
The Girondists proposed an appeal to the people, which, as
sovereign, possesses the prerogative of mercy, and ought, there-
fore, to be consulted. This was opposed by Robespierre and
Marat. Robespierre, the cold-blooded and sophistical disciple of
Rousseau, now showed, by excellent arguments, the absurdity
and inconvenience of consulting the people on affairs of State;2
yet, if they were competent to decide any political question at all,
surely none more simple could be submitted to them than that of
the condemnation or acquittal of the King. The appeal was lost ;
and it was decided that the question, as to the King's guilt,
should be put on January 14th, 1793. The Convention, during
the interval, exhibited scenes of the most extraordinary violence.
To work upon the passions of the people and of the deputies, a
procession of the wounded of August 10th, accompanied by the
"widows and orphans of the slain, defiled through the Convention ;

1 Hist. Pari. t. xxii. p. 57. 2 Ibid. p. 103 sqq.

422 THE KING. CONDEMNED. [Chap. LV.

the orator of the Sections called for the death of Louis, the in-
famous assassin of thousands of Frenchmen ! 1 In discussing the
King's fate, the Girondists and Mountain seemed, observes
M. L. Blanc, to be contending over his corpse. The members of
the different sides rushed one upon another as if about to engage
in a general fight ; vociferous cries continued for hours, during
which nobody could be heard ; the President broke his bell in
vain attempts to restore order.

On January 14th the three following questions were submitted
to the Convention : — 1. Is Louis guilty? 2. Shall the decision
of the Assembly on this point, whatever it may be, be submitted
to the people for ratification ? 3. What punishment has Louis
incurred ?

The first of these questions was decided almost unanimously in
the affirmative. The second was negatived by a majority of 423
against 281. The debate on the King's punishment commenced
on January 16th. The public flocked to the sitting, as to a fete
or opera ; bets were made upon the result ; women, elegantly
dressed and decked with tricolour ribbons, filled the tribunes ;
wine and refreshments circulated ; any trivial incident, as the
appearance of a sick deputy carried in to vote, excited the mirth
of this gay and heartless crowd ; among it might be observed
a few serious faces, while some were marked with ferocity and
fury.

Danton, who had returned to Paris only that day, proposed and
carried a motion, that the King's fate should be decided by an
absolute majority, instead of a majority of two-thirds, as usual in
criminal cases. It had been determined that the members should
give their votes by the appel nominal, that is, by calling their
names. This was commenced at eight o'clock on the evening-
of the 16th. The Girondists had been alarmed by threats of fresh
massacres. Already some twenty votes had been recorded, most
of them for death, when the name of Vergniaud was called, the
eloquent leader of the Gironde. A breathless silence prevailed y
his vote would probably guide the rest of his party, and thus
decide the King's fate. It was for death ! but he asked, with a
sort of shuffling evasion, as if ashamed of his vote, whether exe-
cution would be deferred ? Philippe Egalite pronounced his
relative's condemnation without any visible emotion, observing:
" Guided only by duty, and persuaded that those who have
attempted, or shall attempt, anything contrary to the sove-

1 Hist. Pari. p. 131 sqq.

Chap. LV.] EXECUTION OF LOUIS XVI. 423

reignty of the people deserve to die, I vote for death ! " The
appel lasted till the evening of January 17th, when the votes
were declared. As 721 members were present, the absolute
majority would be 361, and exactly this number of members
voted for death unconditionally; 26 more pronounced the same
sentence, but demanded a discussion whether it should not be
deferred; thus making the total majority 387. On the other
side, 334 voted for banishment, imprisonment, &c, including
46 who were for death with reprieve.1 Vergniaud, as President
of the Convention, now pronounced the sentence of death. The
King's counsel offered some objections to the proceedings, but
they were overborne by Robespierre, and the sitting was closed.

On January 19th Brissot and others proposed that the King's
execution should be deferred, on the political ground that it
would alienate the friends of the Revolution in England and
America ; but Barere opposed the motion, and it was decided
by a majority of 380 against 310 that Louis should be executed
within twenty-four hours.2 Next day the Executive Council,
and Garat, as Minister of Justice, officially announced to the
King his sentence, which he had previously learnt from Male-
sherbes. Louis heard his doom without emotion. He made three
requests : a respite of three days to prepare himself for death,
the services of a priest, and an interview with his family : the last
two only were granted. He slept peacefully the night before his
execution, and being awakened at five in the morning (January
21st) by his faithful valet, Clery, received the sacrament at the
hands of the Abbe Edgeworth de Firmont. Having had an inter-
view the day before with his family, he resolved not to see them
again, in order to spare them the pain of a last separation.

At nine o'clock Santerre arrived with a military force to con-
duct Louis to the scaffold. The Abbe Edgeworth seems to have
entertained a hope that he would be rescued,3 and something of
this sort had been mentioned to the King by M. de Malesherbes;
but Louis expressed his disapproval of any such attempt, and
said that he would rather die.4 The melancholy procession passed
in unbroken silence through the streets, except a few cries of
" Mercy ! mercy ! " from some women. It arrived at the foot
of the scaffold, which had been erected in the Place de la Revo-
lution (now Place de la Concorde), a few minutes before ten

1 Hist. Pari. t. xxiii. p. 206. 2 Ibid. p. 269.

3 Memoirs of the Abb6 Edgeworth, p. 78 (London, 1815). **"

4 Rotes of Madame d'Angoideme, ap. Croker, Essays, Sfc. p. 257.

424 OPINION OF EUROPE. [Chap. LV.

o'clock. A little delay occurred through the King's unwillingness
to take off his coat, and again from his repugnance to have his
hands tied. He attempted to address the people, but the brutal
Santerre drowned his voice by ordering the drums to beat, and
all that could be heard was a protestation that he died innocent.
A^ter the guillotine had done its office, the executioner, Sanson,
held up the King's head, and the crowd shouted, " The Republic
for ever ! " Louis XVI. was thirty-nine years of age, of which
he had reigned eighteen. His remains were parried to the church
of the Madeleine, and consumed with quicklime.1 When the
catastrophe was accomplished Marat exclaimed, " We have burnt
our ships behind us ! " 2 And indeed nothing was now left for
the Jacobins but their own extermination or that of their
enemies.

The murder of Louis XVI., for such it must be called, created
a great sensation throughout Europe. A general mourning was
assumed in England and other countries. The Empress of Russia
interdicted all commerce with France, and expelled the French
from her dominions, unless they abjured revolutionary principles,
and renounced all commerce with their native country.3 Spain
prepared to take up arms, nor could the sentiments of the Court
of Naples be doubtful, where Caroline of Austria, sister of Marie
Antoinette, ruled in the name of her husband. The Papal Court
had denounced the proceedings in France before the King's exe-
cution, and Basseville, the French Secretary of Legation at Rome,
had been murdered for taking down the royal arms at his hotel,
and substituting those of the Republic. Spain alone, however,
of all the neutral Powers, had made any attempt to save Louis ;
but the Convention refused to consider the application.4 The
Marquis of Lansdowne and Mr. Fox in the British Parliament
had moved for some intervention in favour of the King, and the
opposition of Mr. Pitt and the Ministry has been attributed by
some French historians to the most sinister and unworthy mo-
tives.5 But, as Mr. Pitt stated in the House of Commons, the

1 M. L. Blunc, who represents the con-
duct of Louis on this occasion in the
most invidious light, affirms among other
things that he had a sort of struggle with
the executioner ; but nothing of the kind
appears in the extracts from the news-
papers in the Hist. Pari. t. xxiii. p. 298
sq., giving an account of his death.
M. Blanc seems strangely to have over-
looked Sanson's letter to the editor of the
Thirmomitredujoiir. Surely there could

not have been better

authority. See

Croker, p. 255.

2 Von Sybel, \

ol.

ii. p.

295 (Eng.

Transl.).

3 Homme cVttat,

t. ii

p. 191

; Garden,

Hist des Traitts, t.

v. p.

195.

4 Hist. Pari. t. xxii.

p. 98;

Montgail-

lard, t. iii. p. 314.

5 Michelet, Hist

. de

la E4v

Fr. t. v.

p. 318 ; L. Blanc,

ibid.

t. viii.

p. 92. 6cc.

M. Blanc charges

Pit

■ with

displaying

Chap.LV.] ENGLISH COMPLAINTS AGAINST FKANCE. 425

intervention of England would only have alarmed the national
pride and jealousy of the French, and have hurried on the very
crime which it was intended to prevent ; nor could Fox deny the
justice of this view.1 Such, undoubtedly, would have been the
effect in the relations then existing between England and France,
which we must here briefly describe.

Immediately after August 10th, Lord Gower, the English
Ambassador, had been recalled from Paris, on the ground that his
credentials were annulled by the imprisonment of the King; but
he was instructed, while professing the determination of his royal
master to observe strict neutrality in respect to the settlement of
the French Government, to express his solicitude for the situation
of Louis XVI. and his family, and to deprecate any act of violence
towards them." The Marquis de Chauvelin, the French Ambas-
sador at London, with whom M. de Talleyrand, Bishop of Autun,
was associated as a sort of Mentor, also ceased from the same
period, and for similar reasons, to be recognized by the English
Court in his official capacity, though he was allowed to remain at
London. But, between the French King's imprisonment and
execution, the British Cabinet found several just causes of
complaint against the proceedings of the Convention, not at
all connected with their internal administration. Pache, the
French Minister at War, Danton, Robespierre, and their party,
had determined on the acquisition of Belgium at any risk; a
proceeding which the English Ministry could not regard with
indifference, especially as England had guaranteed that country
to the Emperor. Their formulated complaints were chiefly three: 3
viz. 1. A Decree of the French Assembly of November 19th
(subsequently complemented by another of December loth), by
which they had established a system of revolutionary propa-
gandism and conquest, by directing their generals to proclaim,
in the countries which they entered, fraternity, liberty, and
equality, the sovereignty of the people, the suppression of the
existing authorities, &c. Peoples who refused or renounced
liberty and equality were to be treated as enemies. That these
principles were also to be applied to England, was shown by
the receptions publicly given in France to the King's seditious
subjects ; 2. A project for the invasion of Holland by the Repub-

" le sang froid le plus cruel," p. 96, a 2 Instructions to Lord Gower, ibid.

charge rather amusing in the mouth of a p. 263.

defender of the regicides. 3 See Lord Grenville'sZffte?- in answer

1 Adolphus, Reign of George III. vol. v. to M. Chauvelin's note, State Papers, Ann.

p. 264. Register, 1793.

426 INSOLENCE OF THE CONVENTION. [Chap. LV.

lican armies iu Belgium, which had begun to be canvassed by-
French statesmen after the battle of Jemappes;1 3. The procla-
mation by the French of the freedom of the Scheldt (November
22nd, 1792), showing a total disregard and contempt of the rights
of neutral nations. That river, as we have already related (above,
p. 225), had been closed by the Treaty of Miinster, confirmed
by the Treaty of Fontainebleau between the Emperor, as sove-
reign of the Netherlands, and the United Provinces, under French
mediation, November 8th, 1785. Yet the Convention haughtily
proclaimed that the obstruction of rivers was contrary to those
natural rights which all Frenchmen had sworn to maintain, a
relic of feudal servitude and odious monopoly. No treaties, it
was asserted, could authorize such concessions, and the glory of
the Republic demanded that liberty should be established and
tyranny overthrown wherever her arms prevailed.'2 Nor was this
decree a mere brutum fuhnen ; several French vessels of war had
forced a passage up the Scheldt in order to bombard Antwerp.
These complaints were aggravated by the insolent and offensive
tone in which the Minister Lebrun, as he publicly announced to
the Convention, instructed M. de Chauvelin to reply to them ;
namely, by attempting to separate the British Ministry from the
British people, and. to establish the latter as the proper judge of
the questions at issue ; a process, it was intimated, that might
lead to consequences of which the Cabinet of St. James's had little
dreamt.3

Thus France, regardless of all existing treaties, even though
sanctioned by her own former Government, was to be the self-
constituted arbiter of all international questions ; wherever, at
least, her arms and her proselyting spirit might prevail. England
was called on to resist such pretensions, not alone from motives
of general policy, but also by her positive engagements towards
Holland, entered into by the Treaty of the Hague, April 15th,
1788.4 Other grounds of complaint against France were, the
annexation of Avignon, Savoy, and Nice, the conquest of Aus-
trian Flanders, &c. ; though French statesmen plausibly main-
tained that these aggregations sufficed only to balance the gains
of Austria, Prussia, and Russia, by the dismemberment of Poland.5
A more particular cause of offence was the attempt to propagate

1 See Brissot's Letter to Dumouriez, in Garden, Hist, des TraiUs, t. v. p. 68.
Homme d'etat, t. ii. p. 159. 'gHommt d'etat, t. ii. p. 149.

2 Hist. Pari. t. xxi. p. 351 sqq. Ann. 4 Garden, t. v. p. 89.
Register, 1792, p. 356 ; ibid. 1793. Lord 5 Homme el'ttat, t. ii. p. 136.
Grenville's Letter to M. de Chauvelin;

Chap. LV.] REVOLUTIONARY CLUBS IN ENGLAND. 427

revolutionary ideas in England by means of Jacobin agents, and
even, it was supposed, through Talleyrand and Chauvelin, the
French Ministers in London.

The French Revolution had o-iven birth to several democratic
and revolutionary clubs in England, and had communicated fresh
activity to those which previously existed. Such were the Con-
stitutional Society, the London Corresponding Society, the Friends
of the People, &c. The greater part of these societies were in
correspondence with the Jacobin Club ; nay, their seditious ad-
dresses, though expressing the sentiments of only a small portion
of the British people, were publicly and favourably received by
the Convention. Thomas Payne, an active agent in the French
Revolution, had published this year in England the concluding-
part of his Bights of Man ; in which he attempted to show that
the English Government was utterly bad, and incited the people
to mend it by following the example of the French ; and a cheap
edition of the work had been published to enable every class to
read it. Monge, the French Minister of Marine, had written to
the Jacobin societies in the seaport towns of France, December
31st, 1792, threatening to make a descent on England, hurl
thither 50,000 caps of liberty, destroy the tyranny of the Govern-
ment, and erect an English Republic on the ruins of the throne.1
Pitt attached, perhaps, more than their due weight to these and
some similar proceedings, which, relying on the good sense of the
English people, he might securely have despised. But they were
nevertheless acts of hostility, and therefore afforded just ground of
complaint.

In this state of feeling between the two nations, the English
Government had found themselves compelled to adopt some mea-
sures of a hostile tendency. The circulation of assignats in Eng-
land was prohibited ; the Government was empowered to prevent
the exportation of arms, ammunition, and naval stores ; the send-
ing of corn and flour to France was forbidden, an invidious mea-
sure. On December 1st a proclamation appeared for embodying
the militia. The English Ministry appear to have now foreseen ,
that war was inevitable. Towards the end of November they had
made communications to the Court of Vienna tending to reani-
mate the Coalition.2 The Parliament, which had been prorogued
to January 3rd, was summoned to meet December 13th, 1792,
when the King, after lamenting in his speech the attempts at

1 Homme d'etat, t. ii. p. 177 j Smyth's 2 Homme d'etat, t. ii. p. 133 sqq.

Lectures, vol. iii. p. 33.

428 GEORGE III.'S SPEECH. [Chap. LV.

sedition in England, pursued in concert with persons in foreign
countries, remarked that he had observed a strict neutrality in
the war, and abstained from interference in the internal affairs of
France ; but he could not without serious uneasiness observe the
strong and increasing indications in that country of an intention
to excite disturbances in other States, to disregard the rights of
neutral nations, and to pursue views of conquest and aggrandize-
ment, as well as to adopt towards his allies, the States-General
(who had been equally neutral) , measures neither conformable to
the law of nations nor to existing treaties. Under these circum-
stances he had taken steps for augmenting his naval and military
force, and by a firm and temperate conduct to preserve the bless-
ings of peace.1 This statement may be regarded as the English
manifesto. A few days after Lord Grenville introduced an Alien
Bill, by which foreigners were placed under surveillance.

All these were no doubt unfriendly steps, and the French added
to them the shelter which their emigrants found in England ; but
they were no more than what the safety of the country demanded,
or what had been its usual practice.

On the 28th of January, 1793, four days after the execution of
the French King, George III. sent a message to Parliament that,
"in consequence of the atrocious act recently perpetrated at
Paris/' it would be necessary to increase the military and naval
forces.2 In the relations then subsisting between the two countries
this step was unavoidable ; but it has given rise to a charge
against the British Ministry of provoking a war. This, however,
is far from the truth, for they had done all they could to avoid
one. Pitt's policy had been essentially pacific, directed towards
the financial and domestic interests of the country, to which a war
would be highly injurious ; nay, in common with a large portion
of his countrymen, he had viewed with satisfaction the commence-
ment of the French Revolution, and had expressed his wish to see
a solid liberty established in France.3 Brissot himself, a leading
member of the Committee of General Defence, and one of the
most ardent promoters of a war, was compelled to acknowledge
that up to August, 1792, England had observed a scrupulous
neutrality, though he, of course, attributes it to unworthy
motives.4 The English Government, at the request of the French,
had prohibited their officers and soldiers from entering the

1 Adolphus, George III. vol. v. p. 237. 4 See his Rapport to the Convention,

2 Ann. Register, 1793. January 12th, 1793. in Hist. Purl. t. xxiii.

3 See his speech of Fehruary 9th, 1790, p. 64.
in Earl Stanhope's Life of Pitt, vol. ii. p.48.

Chap. LV.] CONDUCT OF THE ENGLISH GOVEBNMENT.

429

armies of the Coalition. Nay, they had even used their influence
to prevent the States- General from joining Austria and Prussia.1

In truth, a peace policy would have been simply impossible.
The leading members of the Whig party supported Pitt's views,
and even Fox himself was compelled to acknowledge that ground
for complaint existed.2 When Fox ventured to divide the House
he constantly found himself in small minorities, and it is plain that
he could uot have carried on the government a single week. For
the views of the Ministry were those of the great majority of the
nation. An almost universal feeling had been excited against the
French by the aggressions before mentioned, inflamed by horror
and disgust at the September massacres.3 This feeling, which is
displayed in the Parliamentary speeches of the period, must have
been much stronger than anything we can now imagine, and was
highly creditable to the English people.4 Bat even had the
nation suppressed this natural indignation, connived at the inso-
lence and aggressions of the French, and basely truckled to a
government of assassins, would war have been avoided? No.
The Girondists had determined on propagating their principles
of liberty and equality, or rather their own dominion under those
sacred names, with the sword. Brissot, in a letter to one of the
French Ministers, observes : " Set fire to the four corners of
Europe — there lies our safety."" ° " The national thought and the
plan of the Girondists/' observes a French historian of the Revo-
lution, "decided on a long while beforehand, was to take the
offensive in all quarters, to launch throughout the world the crusade
of liberty." 6

The French Government had anticipated the dismissal of M.
Chauvelin by recalling him. On February 1st, 1793, the Con-
vention unanimously declared war against the King of England
and the Stadholder of the United Provinces.7 Thus, in point of
fact, the French were the aggressors. Yet, at this time, nego-
tiations were actually g'oing on between Lord Auckland, the
English Minister at the Hague, and Dumouriez, with the view of
preserving peace, and a Conference had been fixed for February

1 Massey's Reign of George III. vol. iv.
p. 2. The English grounds for a war
will be found very clearly and forcibly
stated in this work, ch. xxxiii.

2 Ibid. p. 6.

3 Brissot, in the report before quoted,
confesses that the massacres had alienated
the English. Hist. Pari. t. xxiii. p. 69.

4 " Si Ton avait vu la nation Anglaise
envoyer des ambassadeurs a des assassins,

la vraie force de cette isle merveilleuse,
la confiance quelle inspire, l'aurait aban-
donnee.'" — Mad. de Stael, Considerations,
§~c. CEuvres, t. xiii. p. 98.

5 " Incendiez les quatre coins de l'Eu-
rope, notre salut est la." — Ap. Michelet,
Hist, de la Bivol. t v. p. 350.

6 Michelet, ibid. p. 342.

7 Hist. Pari. t. xxiv. p. 204.

430 THE CONVENTION DECLARES WAR. [Chap. LV.

10th, at Mardyck. But Durnouriez, instead of going to London,
as he wished, was directed to attack Holland with all possible
speed. Soon after declaring war, the Convention decreed a levy
of 500,000 men, and assumed the superintendence of the armies
by means of nine commissaries armed with power to remove those
who were incapable, to punish those who were indifferent, to an-
nihilate (foudroyer) traitors. A progressive income-tax was as-
sessed on the rich, and all Frenchmen between the ages of
eighteen and forty, being bachelors or widowers without children,
were held in permanent requisition for the war.

Thus was initiated by far the greatest struggle ever witnessed
by modern Europe, or, perhaps, by all time ; a war that was to last
with little intermission more than twenty years, and to be con-
cluded only by the exhaustion of France, and it may almost be
said of Europe combined against her. Austria and Prussia had,
indeed, commenced the war ; but those Powers would speedily
have retired from the contest had not Great Britain intervened ;
and this country must be regarded as the main prop of all the
coalitions subsequently formed against France. Both England and
France seem to have underrated each other's resources. Brissot
concludes the report already referred to with a most deprecia-
tory account, which it is curious to read at the present day, of the
resources and population of England, and of the precarious tenure
of her colonies, especially India. British statesmen seem also to
have undervalued the power of France, and to have concluded
that internal anarchy would, before long, compel her to succumb.
Pitt was of opinion that the war would be ended in one, or at most,
two campaigns. Lord Grenville even thought that the capture of
Toulon would be a decisive blow.1 But the social earthquake
which had shaken France to her foundations, and seemed to
threaten her with dissolution, was, in fact, the secret of her
strength. A French political writer of those times, and a Royalist,
observed that the Eepublic was richer and put forth more
resources than all the Sovereigns of the Coalition together.2

After the declaration of war Great Britain proceeded to con-
clude a series of treaties with various Powers, which we shall
here record together, though some of them were not made till
several months later. A treaty with Hanover, March 4th, 1793,
for 15,000 men, augmented by 5,000 in January, 1794. 3 A double

1 See Life of Wilberforcc, and Courts for Lord Elgin, Mim. ct Corr. dc MallA
and Cabinets of George III. ap. Massey, du Pan, t. ii. p. 20.

vol. iv. p. 45 note. 3 Martens, Becueil, t. v. p. 422 (2e

2 Mallet du Pan's Btsumi, drawn up Ed.).

Cn.w. LV.] TREATIES CONCLUDED BY ENGLAND. 431

treaty with Russia, at London, March 25th, 1793 — one commer-
cial, the other directed against France.1 The ports of both coun-
tries were to be shut against France ; no provisions were to be
exported thither ; her commerce was to be molested ; neutrals
were to be hindered from assisting her. This clause was intended
to cut off the commerce of France with her colonies by means of
neutral vessels. Notwithstanding this treaty, however, the Em-
press Catharine took no part in the war upon the Continent, direct-
ing all her efforts against Poland, though she sent a fleet into the
Baltic and North Sea in August to assist in intercepting the com-
merce of neutrals with France. A treaty with Sardinia, April 25th.
The King of Sardinia to keep on foot an army of 50,000 men dur-
ing the war, receiving a subsidy of 200,000/. sterling per annum.
Great Britain to send a fleet into the Mediterranean.2 A treaty
with Spain, May 25th. Both countries to shut their ports against
French vessels and to prevent neutral vessels from aiding French
commerce.3 A treaty with the King of the Two Sicilies, July 12th,
who was indignant at having been forced to recognize the French
Republic. Great Britain undertook to maintain a respectable
fleet in the Mediterranean, while the King of the Two Sicilies
was to provide 6,000 soldiers, four ships of the line, and four
smaller vessels.4 A treaty between England and Prussia at the
camp before Mentz, July 14th, for the most perfect union and con-
fidence in carrying on the war against France,0 subsequently con-
verted into a treaty of Subsidies. A treaty at London, August 30th,
between Great Britain and the Emperor.6 Portugal also entered
into the Coalition by a treaty signed at London, September 26th,
by which she undertook to shut her ports against the French dur-
ing the war, and to prohibit her subjects from carrying warlike
stores and provisions to France." Treaties for troops were also
concluded with some of the smaller German States. The execu-
tion of Louis XVI. had decided the Spanish Government to join
the Coalition ; the French Ambassador was dismissed, and the
Convention unanimously declared war against Spain, March 7th,
1793. Thus, all the Christian Powers except Sweden, Denmark,
the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Switzerland, Venice, and Genoa,
entered successively into the League against France, which re-
mained completely isolated and dependent on her own resources.
The Spanish Court had been disposed to war chiefly by the

1 Martens, Bccucil, t. v. pp. 433, 439 ; 4 Martens, t. v. p. 4S0 (2e Ed.).
Garden, t. v. p. 202. 5 Ibid. p. 483.

2 Ibid. p. 462. 6 Ibid. p. 447.

3 Garden, t. v. p. 204. 7 Ibid. p. 519.

432 GODOY. [Chap. LV.

counsels of Don Emanuel Godoy, and in opposition to tlie opinion
of the Count d'Aranda. Charles IV., who had succeeded his
father Charles III. in 1788, and who, as Prince of Asturias, had
displayed the most ungovernable violence of temper, manifested
after his accession quite a contrary disposition, the result, it is
said, of an illness with which he was afflicted. He was destitute
neither of intelligence nor education ; his heart was good, his
judgment sound ; but he was of a pusillanimous temper, and of
so idle a disposition that anything requiring thought and applica-
tion became a fatigue. His sole delight was in the chase, and,
in order to enjoy it without interruption, he gladly resigned affairs
of State into the hands of his Queen, Maria Louisa, daughter of
the last Duke of Parma. Unfortunately, Maria Louisa was an
artful, violent, and vindictive woman, of dissolute morals, vulgar
mind, and imperious temper. She gladly seized the reins of
power, though totally unqualified to rule, and she handed them
over to a favourite not much better fitted for the task than herself.
Don Emanuel Godoy, born at Badajoz in 1767 of a poor but noble
family, has, perhaps, in some respects been defamed by the envy
which his success could not fail to attract. He seems naturally
to have possessed a good understanding and a humane temper;
he was well acquainted with mankind, and used his knowledge
with tact. But he was so ignorant that he could not even speak
his own language correctly, and was deficient in grace and dignity
of manner. He owed his advancement to his personal beauty.
He attracted the notice of the Queen, and was suddenly advanced
from the station of a simple garde du corps to manage the affairs
of Spain. Charles IV. showed an entire submission to his Queen;
Godoy also became his favourite and Prime Minister, and was
loaded with favours and distinctions. But this sudden elevation
perverted all his natural good qualities. He became idle and
avaricious, fond of show, extravagantly ambitious, corrupted, and
debauched. Modern history presents few instances of a crowned
head and a favourite who have made a more frightful use of their
power, or more shamelessly abused a great and generous nation.

Chap. LVI.] ANARCHY IN FRANCE. 433

CHAPTER LVI.

HILE the French were thus throwing down the gauntlet
to all Europe, their own country seemed sinking into
anarchical dissolution. Paris was filled with tumult, insurrection,
and robbery. At the denunciations of Marat against " forestallers/'
the shops were entered by the mob, who carried off articles at their
own prices, and sometimes without paying at all. The populace
was agitated by the harangues of low itinerant demagogues.
Rough and brutal manners were affected, and all the courtesies
of life abolished. Moderate persons of no strong political opinions
were denounced as " suspected," ' and their crime stigmatized by
the newly-coined word of modera/ntisme. The variations of popular
feeling- were recorded like the heat of the weather, or the rising1
of a flood. The principal articles in the journals were entitled,
" Thermometer of the Public Mind •/' the Jacobins talked of the
necessity of being " up to the level. " Many of the provinces
were in a disturbed state. A movement had been organizing in
Brittany ever since 1791, but the death of the Marquis de la
Rouarie, its principal leader, had for the present suspended it.
A more formidable insurrection was preparing in La Vendee.
Chiefly agricultural, with few roads or large towns, and thus
almost isolated from the rest of France, La Vendee had been
little infected by the new opinions. It contained a class of haughty
gentlemen, warmly attached to their ancient feudal customs and
privileges, who had not joined the emigration, and still resided
on their estates ; while the peasantry were super stitiously devoted
to their priests. La Vendee, from its undulating surface, numerous
streams, narrow roads, and the cover afforded by hedges and small
woods, is well adapted to defensive warfare. On March 10th,
1793, the day appointed for levying men for the war, the insur-
rection broke out at several points at once, principally under the
leadership of Cathelineau, a working man, Stofflet, a gamekeeper,
and Athanase Charette, a naval officer styling himself Le Chevalier
Charette. They were afterwards joined by Henry de la Roche-

1 Hist. Pari. t. xxiv. p. 421.
IV. F F

434 REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL. [Chap. LVI.

jaquelein, Bonchamps, De Lescure, D'Elbee, and others ; under
whose auspices a force was raised of some 40,000 or 50,000 men,
in seven divisions of unequal size. In the course of April and
May they took Bressuire, Thouars, Parthenay, and other places,
and they applied for assistance to England and Spain.

It was in the midst of these disturbances, aggravated by a sus-
picion of General Dumouriez' s treachery, which we shall presently
have to relate, that the terrible court known as the Revolutionary
Tribunal was erected. Danton, after his return from Belgium,
whither he had been despatched by the Convention to inquire into
the state of that country and the conduct of Dumouriez, had be-
come impressed with the necessity of establishing a dictatorship,
or some despotic power in France, in order to restore order and
enable her to meet the dangers with which she was surrounded.
In this view Robespierre participated, who had become disgusted
with the proceedings of the Hotel de Ville, and imagined that he
should get on better with the Convention. The Tribunal was first
formally proposed in the Convention, March 9th, by Carrier, the
miscreant afterwards notorious by his massacres at Nantes, urged
by Cambaceres on the 10th, and completed that very night at the
instance of Danton, who rushed to the tribune, and insisted that
the Assembly should not separate till the new Court had been
organized. The Girondists had hoped at least to adjourn the sub-
ject ; but Danton told them, in his terrible voice, that there was
no alternative between the proposed tribunal and the more sum-
mary method of popular vengeance. The extraordinary tribunal
of August, 1792, had not been found to work fast enough, and it
was now superseded by this new one, which became, in fact, only
a method of massacring under the form of law. The Revolutionary
Tribunal was designed to take cognizance of all counter-revolu-
tionary attempts, of all attacks upon liberty, equality, the unity
and indivisibility of the Republic, the internal and external safety
of the State. A commission of six members of the Convention
was to examine and report upon the cases to be brought before it,
to draw up aud present the acts of accusation. The tribunal was
to be composed of a jury to decide upon the facts, five judges to
apply the law, a public accuser, and two substitutes ; from its
sentence there was no appeal.1

Meanwhile Dumouriez had returned to the army, very dissatis-
fied that he had failed in his attempts to save the King and baffle
the Jacobins. He had formed the design of invading Holland,

1 Hist. Pari. t. xxv. p. 59 sq.; Cf. Crcker, Essay*. #c. p. 445.

Chap. LVI.] PLANS OF DUMOURIEZ. 435

•dissolving the Revolutionary Committee in that country, annulling
the decree of December 15th, offering neutrality to the English, a
suspension of arms to the Austrians, reuniting the Belgian and
Batavian Republics, and proposing to France a reunion with them.
In case of refusal, he designed to march upon Paris, dissolve the
Convention, extinguish Jacobinism ; in short, to play the part of
Monk in England.1 This plan was confided to four persons only,
among whom Danton is said to have been one ; it is, at all events,
certain that he supported Dumouriez at this time, as appears from
his praises of him in the Convention.2

Dumouriez, having directed General Miranda to lay siege to
Maestricht, left Antwerp for Holland, February 22nd, and by
March 4th had seized Breda, Klundert, and Gertruydenberg.
England had despatched 2,000 guards to the aid of the Dutch, and
at her instance Austria had pushed forward 112,000 men under
Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg. Clairfait, with his army, at this
time occupied Bergheim, where he was separated from the French
only by the little river Roer and the fortress of Jiilich. Coburg,
having joined Clairfait, March 1st, crossed the Roer, defeated the
French under Dampierre at Altenhoven, and thus compelled
Miranda to raise the siege of Maestricht, and retire towards
Tongres. Aix-la-Chapelle was entered by the Austrians after a
smart contest, and the French compelled to retreat upon Liege,
while the divisions under Stengel and Neuilly, being cut off by
this movement, were thrown back into Limburg. Large bodies
of the French made for the frontier in disorderly flight. The
Austrians then crossed the Meuse, took Liege, March 6th, and
following up their success, arrived within two days' march of
Brussels. The Flemings, disgusted by the brutalities and ex-
tortions of the Jacobin Commissioners, and encouraged by the
presence of the Austrians, rose against the French. Dumouriez,
who was on the point of crossing the frith called Hollands Diep,
at the mouth of the Meuse, was directed to return into Belgium,
to arrest the progress of the Austrians. His first acts on arriving
there were to abrogate all the doings of the Commissioners, to
shut up the Jacobin clubs, and order the restoration of all stolen
property. He concentrated his forces, about 50,000 men, at
Louvain. From this place he wrote a threatening letter to the
Convention, March 11th, denouncing the proceedings of the
Ministry, the acts of oppression committed in Belgium, and the

1 See Mem. de Dumouriez, t. iv. liv. 2 Sitting of March 10th, Hist. Pari.

viii. eh. i. t. xxv.

436 PLOT AGAINST THE CONVENTION. [Chap. LVI.

Decree of December 15.1 This letter threw the Committee of
General Defence into consternation. It was resolved to keep it
secret, and Danton and Lacroix set off for Durnouriez's camp, to
try what they could do with him, but found him inflexible.

Dumouriez routed the Austrians at Tirlemont, March 16th, but
was defeated by Prince Coburg at Neerwinden, on the 18th, where
the battle was decided by a charge of the Archduke Charles,
which routed the French. In an interview with the Austrian
Colonel Mack, at Ath, he announced to that officer his intention
to march on Paris, establish a Constitutional Monarchy, and pro-
claim the Dauphin. The Duke de Chartres (Louis Philippe) was
present at this conference. The Austrians were to support
Dumouriez's advance upon Paris, but not to show themselves ex-
cept in case of need, and he was to have the command of what
Austrian troops he might select.'2 The French now continued
their retreat, which, in consequence of these negotiations, was un-
molested. The Archduke Charles and Prince Coburg entered
Brussels March 25th, and the Dutch towns were shortly after
retaken.

When Dumouriez arrived with his van at Courtrai, he was
met by three emissaries of the Jacobins, sent apparently to sound
him. He bluntly told them that his design was to save France,
whether they called him Csesar, Cromwell, or Monk, denounced
the Convention as an assembly of tyrants, and said that he despised
their decrees. All this the emissaries reported to the Convention
on their return. At St. Amand he was met by Beurnonville, then
Minister of War, who was to supersede him in the command, and
by four commissaries despatched by the Convention. Camus, one
of these, presented to him, in the midst of his officers, a decree
summoning him to the bar of the Convention. After an angry
altercation, in which Dumouriez declared that he would not sub-
mit himself to the Revolutionary Tribunal so long as he had an
inch of steel at his side, Camus boldly pronounced him suspended
from his functions, whereupon Dumouriez called in some hussars,
and arrested the commissaries and Beurnonville, who were handed
over to Clairfait, and ultimately carried to Maestricht.3

The allies were so sanguine that Dumouriez's defection would
put an end to the Revolution, that Lord Auckland and Count

1 Supra, p. 425. The Decree is in the a See the account of Camus, in Tou-

Appendix to Dumouriez's Memoires, t. iii. longeon, t. v. App.; Dumouriez, Mtmoirt s,

note D. t. iv. liv. viii. ch. xii.; Homme d'etat,.

3 Dumouriez, Mem. t. iv. liv. viii. t. ii. p. 223.
ch. viii.

Chap. LVI.] COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC WELFARE. 437

iStahremberg, the Austrian Minister, looking upon the dissolution
and flight of the Convention as certain, addressed a joint note to
the States-General, requesting them not to shelter such members
of it as had taken any part in the condemnation of Louis XVI.1
But Dumouriez's army was not with him. On the road to
Conde he was fired on by a body of volunteers and compelled to fly
for his life (April 4th) . In the evening he joined Colonel Mack,
when they employed themselves in drawing up a proclamation in
the name of Prince Coburg, which was published on the following
day. Dumouriez ventured once more to show himself to his
army, but was received with such visible marks of dissatisfaction,
that he was compelled to return to the Austrian quarters at
Tournai with a few companions, among whom was the Duke de
Chartres. Thus terminated Dumouriez's political and military
career.

The situation of France at this time seemed almost desperate.
The army of the North was completely disorganized through the
defection of Dumouriez ; the armies of the Rhine and Mosello
were retreating ; those of the Alps and Italy were expecting an
attack ; on the eastern end of the Pyrenees the troops were
without artillery, without generals, almost without bread, while
on the western side the Spaniards were advancing towards
Bayonne. Brest, Cherbourg, the coasts of Brittany, were
threatened by the English. The ocean ports contained only six
ships of the line ready for sea, and the Mediterranean fleet was
being repaired at Toulon.'2 But the energy of the revolutionary
leaders was equal to the occasion. The Convention seized the
direction of military affairs, and despatched eight commissaries,
among them Carnot, not only to superintend the operations of the
army, but also to keep it under the surveillance of the Assembly.
Dumouriez was declared a traitor, a price was set upon his head,
and General Dampierre was appointed to his vacant place. In
compliance with a petition of the Commune, it was voted that a
camp of 40,000 men should be formed under the walls of Paris.

But the most important measure suggested by the present
posture of affairs was the establishment, at the instance of Barere,
of the Comite de Salut Public, or Committee of Public Welfare,3

1 Homme cVitat, t. ii. p. 27 sqq. by German writers, seems nearer to its

2 L. Blanc, t. viii. p. 318. true meaning, and discriminates better

3 This Committee is generally called the functions of the two Committees. To
by English writers the Committee of watch over the public safety or security
Public Safety, sometimes the Committee (surety) was the object of the older Coin-
qf Public Salvation. But the word Wold- mittee.

fahrt (welfare), by which salut is rendered

438

THE GIKONDE AND THE MOUNTAIN. [Chap. LVI.

April 6th, 1793. There already existed a Comtte de Siirete
Ge'nerale (or Committee of General Safety), established Oc-
tober 2nd, 1792, but this was rather a board of police than
a political body. The new Committee was to be composed of
nine Members of the Convention, who were to deliberate in
secret, to watch over and accelerate the deliberation of the
Ministry, and to control the measures of the Executive
Council. Thus it was in fact little short of a dictatorship of
nine persons ; though, by way of check upon them, they
were to have no power over the national treasury, were to be
renewed every month, and were to render to the Convention
every week an account of their proceedings, and of the situation
of the Republic. l The Girondists did not oppose the erection of
this Committee. Nearly half its first members were indeed taken
from the centre or the right of the Convention ; the rest from the
more moderate section of the Mountain, including, however, the
terrible Danton. Robespierre and the more violent Jacobins
were not yet admitted ; an exclusion which they resented by
agitating and getting up inflammatory petitions.'2 After this
period, the Committee of General Safety was charged with the
administration of the police, became in fact a sort of executive
power, while the functions of the new Committee were higher and
more general, and indeed essentially functions of government.
Nevertheless, the Committee of General Safety recognized no
authority superior to its own, except the decrees of the Conven-
tion, till after the fall of the Girondists ; when the Committee of
Public Welfare, instead of consulting, began to dictate to it.3

By the creation of the Revolutionary Tribunal and of the
Committee of Public Welfare, all the instruments of the Reign of
Terror had been provided ; but Robespierre and the men who
were to wield them were still in the background. The deadly
struggle for place and power between the Gironde and the
Mountain was, however, in progress. The Convention was the
daily scene of the denunciations and quarrels of the two parties,
which sometimes rose to such a pitch of violence that swords were
drawn and the lives of the members threatened. The inviolability
of the deputies had been abolished by a decree of April 1st, by
which the two parties voted their right to proscribe one another.
The populace was incited to agitate against the Girondists. On
the 8th of April, a deputation from the Section Bon Conseil

1 Hist. Pari, t. xxv. p. 301.
8 Mic-helet, t. v. p. 460 sq.

3 Montgaillard, Hist, de France, $c.
t. iv. p. 25.

Chap: LVI.] TRIAL OF MARAT. ' 439

declared in the Convention that the public voice condemned
Gaudet, Gensonne, Brissot, Barbaroux, Louvet, Buzot, and other
members of that party. On the same day the Convention had
decreed that all the members of the Bourbon family, including
Philippe Egalite, should be detained at Marseille.1 On the 15th
of April a deputation from thirty-five of the forty-eight Sections,
headed by Pache, now Mayor of Paris, presented to the Conven-
tion a petition demanding in the most violent language the ex-
pulsion of twenty-two of the leading Girondists ; and when
Fonfrede suggested an appeal to the sovereign people of France,
in their primary assemblies, the Commune, by a fresh deputation,
intimated that the Sections did not contemplate any such appeal,
but required the punishment of the traitors — that is, in other
words, the execution of a judgment not pronounced.2 The Giron-
dists did not venture to persist in their demand for an appeal,
though they had a majority in the Assembly, and contented
themselves with decreeing that the National Convention repro-
bated as calumnious the petition presented by the thirty-five
Sections, and adopted by the Council General of the Commune ;
and with directing that this decree should be forwarded to the
different departments.3 But they procured a decree for the
arraignment of Marat before the Revolutionary Tribunal for
having signed an incendiary address as president of the Jacobin
Club. This most impolitic act resulted, as might have been fore-
seen, only in the triumph of Marat and the Jacobins, from which
faction the jury of that tribunal were selected, and most of whose
members were friends of Robespierre. Some of these jurymen
were so ignorant that they could neither read nor write, others
were habitually intoxicated.4 The new tribunal had not yet done
much business, though it had perpetrated some most absurd and
cruel acts, such as sending a poor kitchen-maid to the guillotine
for having- cried Vive le Boi ! when drunk. When Marat sur-
rendered himself prisoner he was treated with the most delicate
attentions. He did not even pretend to defend himself; on the
contrary, he assumed the part of accuser instead of defendant,
boasted of what he had done, and laid all the blame on the
Girondists. He was of course immediately acquitted (April 24th) .
On his release the mob almost stifled him with kindness, crowned
him with laurel, bore him on their shoulders to the hall of the

1 Hist. Pari. t. xxv. pp. 302, 310 sqq. J Hist. Pari. t. xxi. p. 84.

* Ibid. t. xxvi. pp. 3 and 16; Michelet, 4 Proves Foitquur Tinville, ap. Croker,

Hist, de la Be vol. liv. x. ch. vii. Essays, §c. p. 436.

440 COMMISSION OF TWELVE. [Chap. LVI.

Convention, through which they denied amidst the cheers of the
galleries and the ill-concealed fear of the deputies. At the Jacobins
that evening Marat congratulated himself that he had put a rope
round the necks of the Girondists.1

At this time Danton would willingly have effected a reconcilia-
tion with the Gironde. He prepared a grand banquet in the Park
of Sceaux, to which the leaders of that party were invited ; cham-
pagne flowed in abundance, and the presence of many Parisian
courtesans lent excitement to the feast. But when, after dinner,
Danton proposed an amnesty for the past, Guadet, though with
silent disapprobation of Vergniaud, replied with an unconditional
refusal. The Girondists had now proclaimed themselves the ad-
vocates of security and order, and could not with any consistency
ally themselves with Danton, the patron of the Septembrists, and
still the advocate of violence. Danton ascribed their rejection of
him to personal hatred, and for his own safety threw in his lot
with the Mountain, though he had repented of his former courses,
and even after the banquet publicly voted with the Gironde on
the question whether the Government should be named by the
people or by the legislative body. It is also said that in a noc-
turnal conference at Charenton with Pache, Robespierre, Henriot,
and others, he opposed a massacre of the Girondists, and preferred
to extort a decree against them by threats and intimidation.2 The
Gironde made some feeble attempts to oppose the Commune and
the Jacobins with their own weapons. The Commune, by a
Decree of May 1st, had ordered a levy to be made in Paris of
12,000 men for the war in La Vendee, and had laid a heavy
income-tax upon the rich. These measures excited great discon-
tent among the clerks, apprentices, and other young men of the
better classes subject to the conscription ; riots ensued, which
were stimulated by the Gironde and by articles in Brissot's Patriots.
But such partisans were no match for a mob of sans-culottes, a
regular army of whom was taken into pay at the instance of
Robespierre. a On the 2nd of May the Convention was compelled
by the threats of the Hotel de Ville to place a maximum on the
price of corn. The Girondists, after a vain attempt to remodel
the Municipality, obtained, on the motion of Barere, the appoint-
ment of a Commission of Tivelve, armed with extraordinary power,
and selected from their own party (May 18th) .4 This step tended
to bring matters to an issue between the contending factions.

1 Hist. Pari. t. xxi. p. 144. 3 Michelet, t. v. p. 515.

2 VonSybel, Hi. p. 70 sq. (Eng. Trans.). * Hist. Pari. t. xxvii. p. 132.

Chap. LVI.] THE GIRONDISTS STRONGER IN THE PROVINCES. 441

The Twelve forbade nocturnal assemblies of the Sections, dis-
missed Boulanger from the command of the National Guard, and
by ordering the arrest of two administrators of police charged
with provoking massacre, of a low demagogue named Yarlet, and
of Hebert, substitute of the Procureur de la Commune, and editor
of the infamous journal called Pere Duchesne, who in a calumnious
article had threatened the Girondists with the guillotine, provoked
a trial of strength between the parties. A deputation from the
Commune appeared at the bar of the Convention, May 25th, to
demand that Hebert, " a magistrate estimable for his virtues and
enlightenment," should be restored to his functions. Amidst the
clamour which ensued, the Girondist Isnard, then president of the
Assembly, in an angry and foolish speech, declared that France
had confided the national representatives to Paris, and if they
were attacked, he threatened in the name of all France that Paris
should be annihilated, that the spot which it had occupied should
soon be sought in vain.1 The clamour with which this address
was greeted may be imagined.

The Girondists had unquestionably a majority in the provinces,
though the Commissioners of the Convention had done their best
to spread terror through the length and breadth of the land.
Yast numbers were arrested and imprisoned in some of the prin-
cipal towns, without either charge or examination. At Sedan
the Commissioner declared that sans-culottes were the only citi-
zens ; Chabot, at Toulouse, told the people that they wanted no
priests, that the citizen, Christ, was the first Sans-culotte.2 It
was only a few of the larger municipalities, as Bordeaux and
Rouen, that were able to defend themselves against these out-
rages. The walls of Bordeaux had been covered with placards
threatening to revenge its deputies, if killed ; the party of Bar-
baroux, at Marseille, had manifested anti-revolutionary senti-
ments, and Girondist addresses had been presented from that
town, as well as from Bordeaux, Lyon, Avignon, Nantes, and
other places.3 But there was no hope of deriving material aid
from the provinces ; the fate of France was to be decided at Paris,
and here the Girondists could reckon only on three of the forty-
eight Sections, the Butte-des-Moulins, Quatre-vingt-douze, and
Du Mail. Robespierre, who had been gradually organizing the
means of overthrowing the Gironde, observed in the Jacobin
Club, May 26th : " The Faubourg St. Antoine will crush the

1 Hist. Pari. t. xxvii. p. 224 sqq. 2 Von Svbel, iii. p. 59.

3 Hist. Pari. ibid. pp. 91, 153, 197, &c.

442 THE CENTRAL CLUB. ' [Chap. LVI.

Section du Mail. Generally speaking, the people should repose
on their strength ; but when all laws are violated, when des-
potism is at its height, they ought to rise. This moment is
come. For my own part, I declare that I place myself in insur-
rection against the President and all the members of the Con-
vention/'' ' Some stormy scenes ensued in that Assembly, and
the decreasing majority in favour of the Gironde showed that
the Mantis was going over to the Mountain. The Convention,
menaced by a deputation, voted the release of Hebert and the
other prisoners.

The insurrection which overthrew the Girondists was organized
by commissaries from thirty-six of the Sections, who met at the
Eveehe. They were about 500 in number, including 100 women,
and assumed the name of the Central Club. The destruction of
the Gironde was resolved on at a meeting of this Assembly, May
29th ; Robespierre, with his usual craft, withdrew as the moment
of action approached. He observed that day at the Jacobin
Club : " I cannot prescribe to the people the means by which it
must save itself. I am exhausted by four years of revolution,
and by the heartrending spectacle of the triumph of tyranny.
It is not for me to indicate the course of action. I am consumed
by a slow fever — the fever of patriotism. I have spoken : I have
no further duty to accomplish at this time."2 But he had re-
marked that if the Commune did not join the people, it would
violate its first duty.

Early in the morning of May 31st the Central Club, having
previously declared the Commune and the Department in a state
of insurrection, sent Commissaries to the Hotel de Ville to declare
that the people of Paris annulled the constituted Municipal autho-
rities ; and they exhibited the unlimited powers which they had
received from thirty-three Sections to save the Republic. Upon
this the Municipal officers and General Council abdicated, but
were immediately reinstated in their functions. The latter now
assumed the title of Revolutionary Council General ; an epithet
which signified that all the usual laws and observances were sus-
pended. Henriot, a brutal ruffian who had been a gentleman's
servant, and afterwards a clerk at the barriers, was named Pro-
visional Commander- General of the Parisian forces.3 An act
of impeachment against the Girondists was drawn up ; every pro-
letary was offered a day's wages of forty sous, and the tocsin

1 Hist. Pari. t. xxvii. p. 243 sqq. a Ibid. p. 279 sq.

3 Ibid. p. 306 sqq.

Chap. LVI.] THE GIRONDISTS DENOUNCED. 443

was sounded in every quarter. In order to give the movement
an appearance of order, and to convert it into what was called " a
■moral insurrection," the Jacobins had convened a meeting of
deputies from the forty-eight Sections and representatives of the
authorities of the Department, who elected a commission of
eleven, to be incorporated with the Council General of the Com-
mune. These men pretended to restrain any open violence. But
the Girondists were soon undeceived by the appearance of peti-
tioners, violently demanding that the price of bread should be
fixed at three livres, that workshops should be established to
make arms for the sans-culottes, that Commissaries should be sent
to Marseille and other southern towns, that the Ministers Le
Brun and Claviere should be arrested, that the obnoxious twenty-
two members, as well as the twelve, should be arrested. Soon
after arrived the members of the administration of the Depart-
ment, the authorities of the Commune, and the Commissaries of
the Sections, accompanied by a crowd of savages armed with
clubs, pikes, and other weapons. L'Huillier, the procureur Gene-
ral Syndic, their spokesman, denounced by name several of the
leading Girondists, stigmatized the crime they had been guilty of
in threatening- to destroy Paris, the centre of the arts and sciences,
the cradle of liberty. The populace now spread themselves in the
Assembly, and fraternized with the Mountain. In this scene of
indescribable confusion, Robespierre, adopting the vulgar preju-
dices of the day, demanded the accusation of " the accomplices of
Dumouriez," and of all those named by the petitioners. Verg-
niaud, the orator of the Gironde, was too terrified to reply ; in
his alarm, he had himself moved that the address of the previous
petitioners should be printed and circulated in the Departments !
The debate was closed by the adoption of a decree proposed by
Barere : " That the armed force of the Department of Paris should
be in permanent requisition till further orders ; that the Com-
mittee of Public Welfare, in concert with the constitutional autho-
rities, should investigate the plots denounced at the bar ; that the
Twelve should be suppressed ; that a proclamation explaining
these proceedings should be forwarded to all the Departments "
(May 31st.)1

These measures, and especially the establishment of a per-
manent insurrectionary force with regular pay, convinced the
Girondists that their power was at an end. , Their discouragement
was completed by the news that the men of the three Sections on

1 Hist. Pari. t. xxvii. p. 350 sq.

444 THE GIRONDISTS ARRESTED. [Chap. LVI.

which they relied, had fraternized with those of the Faubourg
St. Antoine. Some now proposed to fly into the provinces and
raise an insurrection, but this was negatived by the majority.
On the following day they absented themselves from the Con-
vention. When that body assembled, June 2nd, it was surrounded
by 80,000 armed men, with 163 guns. Among them were the
12,000 men destined for La Vendee, who had been purposely
detained at Courbevoie. A scene of indescribable tumult and
violence ensued. Hoping to overawe the people by the majesty
of the National Assembly, Herault de Sechelles, who that day
presided, descended with the greater part of the members among
the crowd, he himself with his hat on, the rest uncovered. Ad-
dressing Henriot, who with his staff was stationed in the court
leading to the Carrousel,1 he asked what the people wanted ?
remarked that the Convention was occupied only with promoting
its happiness. "The people," replied Henriot, pressing his hat
over his brow with one hand, and drawing his sword with the
other, " has not come here to listen to phrases, but to give
orders. What it wants is thirty-four criminals." Then, reining
back his horse, he shouted in a voice of thunder, " Cannoniers to
your guns V* The members of the Convention, after attempting
a retreat through the gardens, from which they were driven by
Marat and his myrmidons, were compelled to resume their sitting
in profound dejection.

The Commune and the Jacobins were now victorious. It was
a repetition of the 10th August for the Gironde. On the motion
of Couthon a list of the deputies to be proscribed was read in
the Convention ; Marat added to or retrenched from it as he
pleased.2 A decree was passed for the arrest of twenty-one of
the leading Girondists, including Yergniaud, Brissot, Gensonne,
Guadet, Gorsas, Petion, Barbaroux, Buzot, Rabaud St. Etienne,
Lasource, Lanjuinais, Louvet, and others ; also of the Ministers,
Claviere and Le Brun, and of the whole Commission of Twelve,
except Fonfrede and St. Martin — in all, thirty-three persons.3
Isnard and Fouchet, having resigned their functions, were not
arrested, but were forbidden to leave Paris. The proscribed
Girondists were merely placed under the surveillance of gen-
darmes, from which most of them contrived to escape, and fled to
the Departments of the Eure and the Calvados, to Lyon, Nimes,

1 The Convention had transferred their 2 Mfm.cU Meillan , ap. Blanc, Be vol. Fr,

sittings from the Manege to the Tuileries, t. viii. p. 468.
May 10th. * Hist. Pari. t. xxvii. p. 401.

Cii.u'. lvl] reaction in the provinces. 445

Moulins, and other places. Vergniaud, Valaze, and Gensonne
remained in custody. Seventy-three deputies, who subsequently
signed a protest against the arrest of the Girondists, were ex-
pelled from the Convention and imprisoned.1

Thus the Gironde fell by the same power it had itself employed
to overwhelm the nobles, proscribe the priests, and sap the
throne — the power of the Parisian mob. They had relied too
much on their oratory and their journals, were vain enough to
imagine that they could control the spirit which they had con-
jured up, and complacently assumed the name of homines d'etat or
statesmen. They were indeed, by the admission of Danton him-
self, vastly superior to the Montague in talents and education ;
V but," he added, " we have more audacity than they, and the
canaille is at our command."2 Such, no doubt, was the true
state of the case. The Girondists had lost all influence with the
mob, and it was not till too late that they attempted to find a
counterpoise in the provinces. A strong reactionary spirit ex-
isted in many parts of France, which required only leading, and
I the arrest of the Girondists was followed by some serious insur-
rections. At Caen an association, calling itself the " Central
Assembly of resistance to oppression," published a violent mani-
fest against the Jacobins of Paris. Two commissaries, Prieur and
Romme, whom the Convention had despatched into the Calvados,
were arrested and confined in the Castle of Caen. Felix Wimpfen,
a brave soldier, who headed the insurrection in this quarter,
failed, however, in the attempt to raise an army, and the Girondists,
who had fled to the Calvados, now made their way to Quimper
and embarked for Bordeaux. The authorities of this city had
declared themselves in a state of provisional independence under
the title of " Popular Commission of Public Safety." At Rennes
the primary assemblies voted a violent address to the Conven-
tion. At Lyon, when news arrived of the insurrection in the
Calvados, the citizens openly raised the standard of revolt, forti-
fied the town, levied an army of 20,000 men, and opened commu-
. nications with the emigrants and the King of Sardinia. Dis-
i turbances had broken out in this city before the end of May.
The Girondists, united with the royalists, had had some serious
rencounters with the republican party, led by Chalier, a member
of the Municipality ; the banner of the Gironde proved victorious,
and Chalier was seized and executed July 16th. An army of

1 Hist. Pari. t. xxviii. p. 148. 2 Prudhomme, ap. Cassagnac, t. iii. p. 287.

446 CHARLOTTE CORDAY. [Chap. LVIJ

[it

•

counter-revolutionists, formed at Marseille, and increased by-
battalions from Aix, Nimes, Montauban, Toulouse, and other
places, marched towards Lyon, took possession of Avignon, Aries,
and both banks of the Rhone ; Carteaux, at the head of a small
force, was the only obstacle to their junction with the Lyonese.
Even at Paris a reactionary spirit was displayed in several of the
Sections.

The death of Marat was another result of the fall of the
Girondists. In the neighbourhood of Caen, whither many of them
had fled, lived Charlotte Corday, a descendant, it is said, of a
sister of the great Corneille. She was then about twenty-five years
of age, having been born at St. Saturnin near Seez, in July, 1768.
A partisan of the Gironde, and enraged by its fall, she proceeded
to Paris ; obtained admission to Marat on pretence of giving him
some valuable information on the state of the Calvados; found him
in a bath, and plunged a knife into his breast with so determined
a thrust that he expired in a few minutes (July 13th, 1793). She
attempted not to escape, and being condemned to death by the
Revolutionary Tribunal, met her fate with serenity and courage.
It was a just retribution that the apostle of massacre and murder
should fall by the dagger of an assassin ; but his death only en-
hanced his popularity and inaugurated his apotheosis. The blas-
phemous honours paid to the memory of so vile a wretch show the
depravity and degradation to which a great part of the French
had sunk. His heart, deposited in an agate vase, one of the most
precious spoils of the Garde Meuble, was exposed on an altar erected
in the Luxembourg, amidst flowers and the smoke of incense, to
the adoration of the Parisians, who sang litanies in its honour, in
which it was compared with the heart of the Saviour ! x A sort of
pyramid was also erected to his memory on the Carrousel, in the
interior of which were placed his bust, bath, inkstand, and lamp.
In November his remains were carried to the Pantheon in place
of those of Mirabeau, which were ejected.

Amidst these dangers and alarms the new Constitution, drawn
up from the ideas of Condorcet but modified by Robespierre, was
decreed by the Convention, June 23rd, with a listlessness and
apathy betraying their appreciation of its efficacy. It is unneces-
sary to describe the (t Constitution of '93," or of An I, since it was

1 " O cor Jesus — 0 cor Marat— Cceur subsequently obtained possession of the

sacre" de Jesus — coeur sacre dc Marat— heart, and suspended it from their roof,

vous avez les memes droits 'a nos honv Here also it was addressed in prayer,

mages!" — Granier deCassagnae, Hist, dcs Hist. Pari. t. xxviii. p. 395.
Causes, #c. t. iii. p. 439. The Cordeliers

Chap, lvi.] constitution of AN I. 447

soon virtually suspended by the dictatorial authority assumed by
the Committee of Public Welfare. It was based on the principles
current at that time of the sovereignty of the people, universal
suffrage, libert}^, equality, the fraternity of all mankind, &C.1 Con-
dorcet attacked it in a pamphlet, complained that his own ideas
had been spoilt, that the new Constitution had been drawn up
and passed with indecent haste at a time when the liberty of the
national representatives had been grossly outraged, and passed a
glowing eulogium on the proscribed Girondists; for uttering which
sentiments in this free Republic he was denounced in the Conven-
tion by Chabot, July 8th, and a decree was issued for his arrest.2
The widow of Louis Francois Vernet sheltered him a while in her
house ; but he was at length driven to commit suicide in order to
avoid the guillotine. The new Constitution was also opposed by the
extreme democratic party called the enrages, led by Varlet, Le-
clerc, Jacques Roux, an unfrocked priest, and other low dema-
gogues. This faction attacked even the Mountain; but their chief
objects were tumult and plunder. They got up a riot which lasted
three days, during which, under the usual pretext of forestallers,
they seized cargoes of soap and other articles, which they paid for
at their own prices.3

It was fortunate for France during this domestic anarchy that
the allies combined against her, divided by their own selfish views
and jealousies, had no well-concerted plan of action. After the
flight of Dumouriez, General Dampierre, his successor, had col-
lected the scattered remnants of the French army in a camp at
Famars ; and he proceeded to form entrenched camps at Cassel,
Lille, Maubeuge, Charleroi, and Givet. The Imperial army under
Prince Coburg entered the French territory, April 9th, but the
movements of that commander were as slow and indecisive as
those of the Duke of Brunswick had been ; and though Lille,
Conde, Valenciennes, and Maubeuge were threatened, nothing of
importance was done. Coburg was of opinion that the strife of
parties would reduce France to a state of impotence, and that
about the spring of 1794 an invasion might be securely under-
taken. Hence he had already determined in April to attempt
nothing further in the ensuing- campaign of 1793 than the reduc-
tion of some frontier fortresses.4 The Duke of York, with 10,000
English, having disembarked at Ostend, April 20th, proceeded to

1 There is a brief analysis of it in 4 Mallet clu Pan, Memoire for Lord
Montgaillard, t. iv. p. 48 sq. Elgin, Mem. et Corr. t. i. p. 408; Oestr.

2 Hist. Pari. t. xxviii. p. 271. milit. Zeitschrift, 1813, ap. Von Sybel,
« Ibid. p. 216 sq. B. ii. S. 391.

448 campaign or 1793. [chap. lvi.

join the Dutch and Hanoverian divisions. Their united canton-
ments extended from Tournai and Courtrai to the sea. In vain
the Duke of York and the Austrian general, Clairfait, urged an
advance ; Coburg would not stir. His views respecting the cam-
paign were, no doubt, a good deal influenced by the Austrian
policy at this time, which was to secure the reconquered Belgian
provinces; the states of which were restored to their former
rights, and the Archduke Charles was appointed Governor- General
of the Austrian Netherlands. Attacks were made by the French
with the view of saving Conde ; against the better judgment of
Dampierre, who saw their inutility, but was urged to them by the
Convention. In one of these, May 8th, he sought and found his
death in preference to the alternative of the guillotine. At length
the allies attacked the French at Famars, and drove them from
their camp, May 23rd. The victory was won by the Duke of York
turning the French flank ; Coburg had wasted his time in useless
manoeuvres.1 A twelve days' march might now have brought the
allies to Paris ; but Coburg would not leave the frontier towns
behind him. The French army, in a state of disorganization, had
retreated under the walls of Bouchain.

On the death of Dampierre, Custine, commander of the army
of the Rhine, was appointed to his post. Before Custine's depar-
ture, Frederick William, soon after the battle of Neerwinden, had
crossed the Rhine at Bacharach, dispersed some republican batta-
lions, intercepted Custine's communications between Mentz and
"Worms, and compelled him to retreat behind the Lauter. Custine
was joined here by the army of the Moselle ; but though he had
60,000 men against 40,000 Prussians, he ventured not to attack
them. The Prussians, on their side, though reinforced by an
Austrian corps under Wurmser, and by the emigrants under
Conde, confined their whole attention to the reduction of Mentz.
Custine, before proceeding to take the command of the army of
the North, made a feeble and unsuccessful effort to relieve that place
(May 17th). He was succeeded in the command of the army of
the Rhine by Houchard, and in that of the army of the Moselle
by Alexander Beauharnais, husband of the celebrated Josephine.
The allies did not act cordially together. Austria was jealous of
Prussia's designs on Poland, and had counter schemes of aggran-
dizement of her own : of an exchange of territory with Bavaria,
of seizing Alsace, of occupying, in her own name, the French
frontier fortresses. Great Britain was more intent on acquiring

1 Homme d'etat, t. ii. p. 285.

Chap. LVI.] COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC WELFARE RENEWED. 449

Dunkirk, and seizing the French possessions in the East Indies,
than on pushing* the continental war with vigour ;' Prussia had
little to gain in the struggle ; disliked the Austrian schemes, and
wished to husband her forces, in case they should be wanted in
Poland ; but it was important for her to drive the French from
Mentz, the key of Germany. Hence the mighty preparations of
the allies for the campaign of 1793 were chiefly employed in the
reduction of two towns, Mentz and Valenciennes ! The former
place capitulated to the Prussians, July 22nd. Conde had surren-
dered to the Austrians, July 12th; and on the 28 th, Valenciennes
also capitulated. The garrisons of Mentz and Valenciennes,
amounting to upwards of 20,000 men, were dismissed, on condi-
tion of not bearing arms against the allies for a year ; but this
did not prevent the French from employing them with great
effect against the Vendeans.1 Custine, suspected of collusion with
the enemy, had been summoned to Paris on the motion of Bazire,
before the surrender of Mentz.2 Kilmaine, his successor, withdrew
the army of the North from Cassar's camp before Bouchain, and
established it with little molestation in a strong position behind
the Scarpe, between Douai and Arras (August 10th).

While such was the posture of affairs on the northern frontier,
a Spanish army under Don Ricardos had entered France on the
eastern side of the Pyrenees, had laid siege to Perpignan, captured
St. Laurent and the fort of Bellegarde. The Spaniards had also
been successful on the western side of that chain, and menaced
St. Jean Pie de Port. The Corsicans had risen in insurrection
towards the end of May, at the instigation of Pascal Paoli, who
was named Generalissimo or Governor of the Island. The clergy
reinstated, the emigrants recalled, the emissaries of the French
Republic proscribed, and Corsica thrown into the hands of the
English — such was the programme of the insurgents. Some slight
successes in Piedmont were all that the French could set off
against these reverses.

The vigour of the Revolutionary Government seemed to increase
as danger became wider and more imminent. On the 10th of
July the powers of the Committee of Public Welfare expired,
and a new election was held. Barere was re-elected; Danton
did not obtain a single vote, but he was in some degree repre-
sented by his friends Herault de Sechelles and Thuriot. St. Just,

1 Montgaillard, t. iv. pp. 61, 64. June 12th, that it was necessary to strike

2 Hist. Pari. t. xxviii. p. 392. Robes- at the generals. Ibid. p. 196.
pierre had remarked at the Jacobin Club,

IV. G G

450 ROBESPIERRE IN POWER. [Chap. LVI.

Couthon, and Robert Lindet retained their places ; the remaining
three, Gasparin, Prieur, and Jean Bon St. Andre, were Jacobins
of the deepest dye. Couthon and St. Just obtained the admission
of Robespierre, on the retirement of Gasparin, July 27th, but it
was not till the spring of the following year that he attained to
supreme authority. Thus was inaugurated the tyranny of abso-
lute and uncontrolled democracy. The number of the Committee
was raised to twelve, on the motion of Danton, September 6th ;
when Billaud Varennes, Collot d'Herbois, and Granet were
admitted. The members now divided themselves into smaller
committees. Barere and Herault de Sechelles assumed the Depart-
ment of Foreign Affairs ; Billaud Varennes and Collot d'Herbois
that of the Interior ; Robespierre and St. Just, that of Legisla-
tion. The Ministers waited every evening on the Committee for
instructions.1

The fresh organization of the Committee was soon testified by
its measures. On the 1st of August it was decreed that Marie
Antoinette, whose son, to her bitter anguish, was now taken from
her, should be transferred to the Conciergerie and arraigned
before the Revolutionary Tribunal ; that the expenses of her
children should be reduced to those necessary for two private
individuals ; that all the Capets should be banished, but Elizabeth
not till after the judgment of Marie Antoinette ; that the Royal
tombs and mausoleums at St. Denis and elsewhere should be
destroyed on August 10th; that the expenses and equipages of
general officers should be reduced to what was strictly necessary ;
that only patriotic expressions, or the names of ancient Republicans
and martyrs of liberty, should henceforth be employed as watch-
words ; that all foreigners belonging to countries at war with
France, not domiciliated previously to July 14th, 1789, should
be arrested, and their papers seized ; that the barriers of Paris
should be closed, and nobody suffered to pass unless charged with
a public mission ; that a camp should be formed between Paris
and the army of the North ; that all Frenchmen refusing to receive
assignats should be subject to a fine of 300 livres, and on a second
offence of double that sum, with twenty years of imprisonment in

irons.2

The decree against foreigners seems to have been suggested by
the finding, as it was asserted, of some papers on the person of an

1 Granier tie Cassagnao, Hist, ties M. Blanc, t. ix. 194, gives these decrees
Causes, Ac. t. iii. p. 606. imperfectly.

2 Hist. Pari. t. xxviii. pp. 396-400.

Chap. LVI.] PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMITTEE. 451

Englishman arrested at Lille, which were said to implicate
Mr. Pitt in a vast conspiracy to burn several of the French
arsenals, to forestall articles of the first necessity, to depress
the value of assignats, &cl The papers are manifest forgeries,
nor was the Englishman on whom they were said to have been
found ever produced and examined. Granier, however, pro-
posed in consequence in the Convention, August 7th, that
Pitt was the enemy of the human race, and that everybody was
justified in assassinating him. At the instance of Couthon, the
latter clause was omitted, but the Convention solemnly decreed
the former.2

On the 10th of August, the anniversary of the capture of the
Tuileries, the establishment of the new Constitution was celebrated
by a grand public melodramatic fete, arranged by the painter
David. The Convention having discharged the principal func-
tion for which it was elected, ought now to have given place to
another Assembly. But this would also have involved the disso-
lution of the Committee of Public Welfare ; and neither the Con-
vention nor the Committee was inclined to relinquish its hold on
power. Danton had proposed to make the Committee a provi-
sional Government, to grant it fifty million livres ; but the Com-
mittee found it prudent to accept only the grant. Its establish-
ment had raised a party against it called Hcbertistes, from Hebert,
one of its principal members, who was supported by Chaumette,
Vincent, and Ronsin. These men were embittered by seeing
Robespierre, with whom they had formerly acted, in possession
of supreme power, whilst they themselves were excluded. A few
days after the fete it was decreed that, till the enemy was ex-
pelled from France, all Frenchmen were in permanent requisition
for the armies. Bachelors were to enlist, married men were to
forge arms and transport provisions ; women were to make tents,
clothing, &c. ; children were to scrape lint ; old men were to excite
the warriors by preaching in public places hatred of Kings and
the unity of the Republic.3 France became one vast camp. To
stimulate the Republicanism of the people, it was proposed to
publish, under the title of Annates du Oivisme, the most striking
instances of patriotic devotion. The Committee of Public Welfare
also directed that such tragedies as Brutus, William Tell, Cains
Gracchus, &c, should be performed thrice a week, once at the
public expense.4

1 See the papers, Hut. Pari. t. xxviii. p. Sgtfsqq.
2 Ibkl. p. 413. 3 Ibid. p. 469. * Ibid. t. xxix. p. 6 sq.

452 CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL REFORMED. [Chap. LVI.

' The generals, as well as the Girondists, were made to feel the
power of the new Committee. Biron, commander of the army of La
Vendee, was summoned to Paris to give an account of his conduct.
Rossignol, his successor, was intrusted to perpetrate every sort of
enormity. " In two months, said Barere, La Vendee will cease
to exist."1 Custine, on his arrival in Paris, had been arrested,
and conveyed to the Abbaye. On the fall of Valenciennes, he
was condemned by the Revolutionary Tribunal, and guillotined
August 28th. Robespierre urged on his death, and complained
of the dilatoriness of the Revolutionary Tribunal, which he said
had " hampered itself with lawyer-like forms," and proposed that
it should be reformed. At this time Robespierre first became
President of the Convention. On September 5th a decree was
passed dividing the " Extraordinary Criminal Tribunal" into four
sections, all acting simultaneously and with equal power ; increas-
ing the number of judges to sixteen, including the President and
Vice-President, the number of the jury to sixty, and the substi-
tutes of the public accusers to five.2 Chaumette proposed a revo-
lutionary army to traverse the Departments, accompanied by the
guillotine ; and suggested that the gardens of theTuileries should
be used for plants serviceable in the hospitals. Danton, like
Robespierre, complained of the slowness of the Revolutionary
Tribunal — the head of an aristocrat should fall every day ! He
also procured two decrees : 1 . That there should be an extra-
ordinary assembly of the Sections every Sunday and Thursday,
and that each citizen attending them should receive, if he wished
it, forty sous ; 2. That one hundred millions should be placed at
the disposal of the Ministry to fabricate arms. These decrees
were voted with enthusiasm. A deputation from the Jacobins
demanded that the Girondists should be speedily brought to
justice ; a subject which had been agitated in the Jacobin Club a
few days before. On the entrance of this deputation Robespierre,
with his usual prudence, resigned the chair to Thuriot. Drouet,
the post-master, who headed another deputation, exclaimed: "The
hour is come to shed the blood of the guilty. Since our virtue,
our moderation, and our philosophic ideas have effected nothing,
let us become brigands for the public good. It suffices not
merely to have arrested suspected persons ; I entreat you to tell
these guilty men that if liberty should be menaced, you will

1 Von Sybel, iii. Ill (Eng. Trans].).

2 Hist. Pari. t. xxix. p. 48 ; Moniteur, No. 249, ap.'Blanc. t. ix. p. 234.

Chap. LVI.] REIGN OF TERROR. 453

massacre them without pity." This was too much even for the
Convention. Thuriot reminded the speaker that France did not
thirst for blood, but justice.1 Justice, however, as then practised,
was only massacre under a new name. Towards the close of the
sitting, Barere, as member of the Committee of Public Welfare,
presented a Report embodying the prayers of the various petitions.
Besides the measures already noticed, it was decreed that a stand-
ing army of 6,000 men and 1,200 gunners should be maintained in
Paris to execute revolutionary laws and measures of public safety ;
that Brissot, Vergniaud, Gensonne, Claviere, Le Brun, and his
secretary Baudry, should be immediately arraigned before the
Revolutionary Tribunal. Brissot had been arrested at Moulins.
A decree forbidding domiciliary visits during the night was
revoked. Barere observed in his Report, that according to the
grand mot of the Commune, terror was to be the order of the day.
" The Royalists desire blood ; they shall have that of the con-
spirators, of Brissot and his faction, of Marie Antoinette. The
Royalists wish to disturb the labours of the Convention; con-
spirators, it is your own that shall be disturbed ! they want to
destroy the Mountain — the Mountain will crush them ! " In this
memorable sitting of September 5th, the Reign of Terror was thus
distinctly and avowedly inaugurated. The Revolution from its com-
mencement had indeed been a Reign of Terror, and particularly
since the massacres of September ; but now these atrocities were
to be committed orderly and legally," and the means of committing
them were permanently organized.

We will here give a few specimens of the legislation of the
period. Collot d'Herbois proposed and carried a law that who-
ever possessed a store of the chief necessaries of life without
giving notice of them to the authorities, and offering them daily
for sale at the prices which they should fix, should be put to death
as a usurer and monopolist. Cambon, thinking to raise the value
of the paper money by diminishing the quantity in circulation,
proposed that 1,500 million assignats, bearing the image of the
King, should no longer circulate ; and as the value of all paper
of course immediately fell, Couthon carried a motion that any
one passing assignats at less than their nominal value should be

1 Hist. Pari. t. xxix. p. 40 sqq. elusion of bis Report, Barere announced,

2 Barere observed : " Ce ne sont pas amid great applause, that a nephew of
des vengeances illtgales, ce sont les tribu- Pitt's concealed in the chateau du Came-
naux extraordin aires qui vont operer le riat, at Dinan, had been arrested. Ibid.
niouvement." — Ibid. p. 43. At the con- p. 45.

454 MARIE ANTOINETTE CONDEMNED. [Chap. LVI.

liable to twenty years' imprisonment in chains, and another that
the investing of money in foreign countries should be punished
with death I1

To render despotism complete two things were still wanting :
the loi des suspects, and the investing of the Government with
uncontrolled power.

The loi des suspects, passed September 17th, defined suspected
persons to be : 1, those who by their conduct, their relations,
their conversation, or their writings, had shown themselves enemies
of liberty ; 2, those who could not prove their means of living,
and the discharge of their civic duties ; 3, those who had refused
certificates of civism ; 4, public functionaries deprived or sus-
pended by the Convention ; 5, gi-devant nobles, their husbands,
wives, fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters, also the agents of
emigrants ; 6, those who had emigrated between July 1st, 1789,
and the publication of the law of April 8th, 1792, notwith-
standing that they might have returned into France within the
term fixed by that law.2 Suspected persons were to be arrested
and kept under guard at their own cost. Under the extensive-
and vague definitions of this dreadful law, not a man in France
was safe. It was, moreover, to be wielded by Robespierre, who
had told Garat : " I have no need to reflect. I am always guided
by m y first impressions ! "3 It was ordered that 50,000 com-
mittees should be formed throughout France for the purpose of
discovering enemies of the Eevolution ; and about half that number
were actually established, composed of five members, each receiv-
ing five francs a day.

The new Constitution was suspended October 10th, on the
motion of St. Just, and the Government, till the conclusion of
peace, declared revolutionary ; a term which denoted the suspen-
sion of all custom and law, and signified sometimes the sovereign
authority of the mob, in this case, the sovereign authority of the
Government or Committee of Public Welfare. The Committee
now had the surveillance of the Executive Council, the Ministers,
the Generals, and all Corporations — in short, a dictatorship.4

After the transferrence of Marie Antoinette to the Conciergerie,
her fate could be no longer doubtful. She was suffered to languish
two or three months in that dungeon, deprived almost of the

1 Von Sybel, Revolutionsztit, vol. iii. 3 Memoirts de Garat, in the Hist. Pari.
172 (Eng. Transl.). t. xviii. p. 334.

2 Hist. Pari. t. xxix. p. 109; Montgail- 4 See 2nd Art. of the Decree in Hist.
lard,t. iv. p. 87 sq. M. Blanc gives this Pari. t. xxix. p. 172.

law very imperfectly (t. ix. p. 240).

Chap. LVI.] EXECUTION OF THE GIRONDISTS. 455

common necessaries of life. Her clothes had fallen to rags, nor was
she allowed the means of repairing them ; a compassionate turn-
key, who ventured to solicit for her a cotton coverlet, was menaced
by Fouquier Tinville with the guillotine.1 After her separation
from her son, a shoemaker named Simon, a fellow of vulgar and
brutal manners, had been appointed tutor to the young Prince,
whom he endeavoured to render as low and debased as himself.
The Queen was brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal,
October 14th, when Fouquier Tinville revived against her all the
calumnies circulated in her earlier days by debauched and malig-
nant courtiers, compared her to Messalina, Brunehaut, Fride-
gonda, Mary de' Medicis, accused her of corrupting the morals of
her own son, a boy of eight ! This last charge was repeated by
the infamous Hebert, amplified, dwelt upon with details which
make human nature shudder. Marie Antoinette was silent from
horror and indignation : a juryman having insisted on an answer,
she exclaimed: "If I have not replied, it is because nature
revolts at such a charge against a mother. I appeal to every
mother present." l This natural and noble answer excited a
momentary feeling in her favour. Robespierre exclaimed : " The
wretched fool ! he will make our enemies the objects of compas-
sion." 3 Hebert, who thus brutally and cynically insulted the
descendant of a long line of Emperors, had been a check-taker at
the Theatre des Varietes, had been discharged for dishonesty,
and had been convicted of robbing his furnished lodgings. Yet he
was now a leading member of the Commune! The political charges
against Marie Antoinette were, having sent large sums of money
to the Emperor, having favoured the Coalition, having exerted
an undue influence over her husband, having endeavoured to
excite a civil war, &c. Her condemnation was a matter of course.
She was drawn to the place of execution in the common cart, and
met her fate with unflinching fortitude (October 16th) .

The murder of the Queen was soon followed by the execution
of the Girondists. On the 24th of October twenty-one of that
party, including Brissot, Vergniaud, and Gensonne, were arraigned
before the Revolutionary Tribunal, and found guilty on the 30th
of a conspiracy against the unity and indivisibility of the Republic,
and the liberty and safety of the French people.4 The real cause
of their fate was their having opposed Robespierre and the Moun-

1 Btcit de Madame Bault, ap. Blanc, 3 Von Sybel, iii. p. 236 (Eng.Transl.)-
t. ix. p. 387. ' 4 Hist. Pari. ibid. p. 450.

2 Hist. Pari. t. xxix. p. 399.

456 DUKE OF ORLEANS EXECUTED. [Chap. LVI.

tain, and endeavoured to decentralize the Revolution? that is, to
resist the Paris mob by means of the Departments : but their own
conduct, and especially their treatment of the King, deprives them
of our commiseration. When their trial had lasted three or four
days, a Jacobin deputation having demanded of the Convention
that juries should be empowered to put an end to a criminal pro-
secution whenever they considered themselves satisfied, Robes-
pierre proposed and carried a law (October 29th) that the jury
should be interrogated on this point after a trial had lasted three
days. On the following morning this law was read to the Revo-
lutionary Tribunal by the Public Accuser, and, after a short deli-
beration, a verdict of guilty was pronounced against all the
prisoners, though not one of them had yet made his defence.1
The Girondists displayed an unseemly levity during their trial,
and amused themselves in prison by a representation of it, in
which they mocked and ridiculed the public accuser, the judges,
and the jury : symptoms rather of a want of reflection, or the
hallucination of despair, than the firmness becoming men who
called themselves patriots and statesmen. The body of Valaze,
who stabbed himself on hearing his sentence, was carried to the
place of execution with the rest.

The next victim of note was the Duke of Orleans, who had been
kept in arrest at Marseille since the spring, and had thence been
transferred to the Conciergerie. He was condemned on the most
inadequate evidence, but it is impossible to feel any pity for him.
He met his fate with a hardened indifference, November 7th.
Two days after Madame Roland submitted her head to the fatal
knife with undaunted courage. Her celebrated exclamation at the
scaffold, " 0 Liberty, what crimes are committed in thy name ! "
seems to show that she repented, when too late, of the atrocities
she had herself contributed to instigate. Her husband, who had
escaped into Normandy, on hearing of her death, committed
suicide on the high road near Rouen. Among other victims of
this period may be mentioned Bailly, the astronomer and ci-devant
Mayor of Paris, the deputies Barnave, Kersaint, and Rabaud St.
Etienne, the Generals Houchard, Brunet, and Lamartiere, and
Madame du Barri, the mistress of Louis XV. Of the Girondists
who had escaped into the provinces, Salles and Guadet were
captured and executed in June, 1794; Barbaroux shot himself
near Castillon ; Valady, arrested near Perigueux, was executed in
that town in December, 1793; the bodies of Petion and Buzot

1 Hist. Pari. t. xxx. p. 110.

Chap. LVI.] REPUBLICAN CALENDAR. 457

were discovered half devoured by wolves. A few, as Louvet and
LanjumaiSj succeeded in escaping.

In accordance with a maxim that all that is not new in revolu-
tions is pernicious, was introduced a fantastic alteration of the
calendar. As Royalty had been abolished September 21st, 1792,
it was resolved that the French era should begin from that event,
as the commencement of the first year of the Republic. The year
was to be composed of twelve months, each of thirty days, divided
into decades, each tenth day being a day of repose, instead of
Sunday. The names of the days in each decade were primidi,
duodi, tridi, quartidi, qumtidi, sextidi, septidi, octidi, nonidi, de-
cadi. The five supplementary days inserted at the end of the
year, and entitled sansculotides, formed a kind of festival, of which
the first day was sacred to genius, the second to labour, the third
to actions, the fourth to recompenses, the fifth to opinion. New
names for the months adapted to their character, were suggested
by Fabre d'Eglantine. The first month, which answered nearly to
October, was called Vendemiaire, followed by Brwmaire, Frimaire,
Nivose, Pluviose, Ventose, Germinal, Floreal, Prairial, Hessidor,
Th ermidor, Fructidor. The new calendar was decreed October 24th,
1793, and on the following day, in conformity with it, the proces
verbal of the Convention was dated 4 Brumaire an II de la
Republique Frangaise.1 It would, however, be unjust to conceal
that the Revolutionary Government adopted some useful schemes.
The Polytechnic and Normal schools were prepared, the founda-
tions of a civil code were laid, the Grand Livre, in which all the
national creditors were inscribed, was opened, a uniformity of
weights and measures was established, and the decimal system
introduced. A certain quantity of distilled water was taken as
the unit for weights, a certain fraction of the meridian as the
unit of measure, to be multiplied or divided ad infinitum by 10. 2

There now remained little to alter or abolish except in the
article of religion. Both Robespierre and the Deists, and Hebert
and the Atheists, were resolved to set aside Christianity, but they
were not exactly agreed as to what they should substitute in its
place. The Commune, however, in which the Atheists and Ma-
terialists ruled supreme, took the lead. Chaumette, the procureur-
general, a simpleton who fancied himself a philosopher, was one
of the principal leaders in this crusade against Christianity, if

.' If the French had now introduced, onse, &c, they would have done some

or rather revived, the words scptante, good.

octante, nonantc, for their present awk- 2 L. Blanc, Hist, de la Bivol. Fr. t. ix.

ward expressions, soLrante-dix, scixante- p. 400.

458 WORSHIP OF REASON. [Cha*. LVI.

such an expression may be allowed. He had adopted the motto
inscribed by Fouche over the gate of the cemetery of Nevers,
that " death is an eternal sleep/' and had made several absurd and
fantastic alterations in the rites of sepulture, among the rest that
the dead should be buried in a three-coloured flag. On the 10th of
November he obtained a decree of the Commune for inaugurating
the " worship of Reason " in the metropolitan Cathedral of
Notre Dame. Already, in the month of October, the churches
had been desecrated, the images thrown down, the plate and
other ornaments carried off, the sacristies broken open, the priests'
vestments sold to brokers and old-clothes-men. Petitioners-
dressed in chasubles, and bearing golden crosses, mitres, and
other insignia of the hierarchy, had appeared in grotesque
masquerade, and with encouragement instead of reproof, at the
bar of the Convention. In this confusion of everything sacred,.
Anacharsis Clootz and Chaumette, having persuaded Gobel, con-
stitutional Bishop of Paris, to renounce his episcopal office,
brought him, accompanied by his twelve vicars, by Pache, the
Mayor, and other members of the Municipality, into the Conven-
tion ; when, declaring that he had abdicated his functions, Gobel
resigned his cross and ring ; the vicars followed his example, and
the President having embraced him, he and his priests put on the
red cap, and traversed the Assembly amidst thunders of applause.
Gobel' s example was followed by a few other bishops and priests.
The Goddess of Reason, represented by an actress, was now
installed at Notre Dame. In the nave was erected a sort of
mountain, having a temple at the top, with the inscription, A m
PMlosophie, A prostitute, dressed as the Goddess of Liberty,
came forth from the temple, seated herself on a sort of cloud,
having at her feet a truncated column with a lamp called the
flambeau de la verite. Here she received the homage of a choir
of girls dressed in white, whilst a hymn composed by Marie
Joseph Chenier was chauted by all the sans-culottes present. The
Goddess of Reason was now carried in procession to the Conven-
tion; Chaumette introduced her by a speech at the bar; the
actress, descending from her throne, was embraced by the Presi-
dent, and took a seat by his side. By such absurd and blas-
phemous farces did these new Republicans, the legislators of a
great nation, delude and disgrace themselves.

These scenes were accompanied with a perfect carnival of
atheism, folly, and debauchery. Prostitutes dressed as the God-
dess of Reason were paraded in cars through the streets of Paris,

Chap. LVI.] OPPOSED BY ROBESPIERRE. 451)

accompanied by opera HercuWs, with pasteboard clubs, and
followed by a rabble rout of drunken men and women. Members
of the Convention might be seen dancing the carmagnole with
girls of the town dressed in sacerdotal habits. The relics of St.
Genevieve were publicly burnt in the Place de Greve, and a
proces-verbal of the proceedings was despatched to the Pope. On
November 20th the Section of l'Unite sent an enormous mass of
church plate as an offering to the Convention. Their deputies
were adorned with priestly vestments, copes, and dalmatics, and
carried a black flag, typifying the destruction of fanaticism. They
sung the air Marlbroug est mort et enterre, and danced in the
middle of the hall amid the applause of the Convention.1 The
churches were converted into public-houses and brothels, the
sculptures of Notre Dame were ordered to be destroyed, and
wooden saints, missals, breviaries, and Bibles were consumed in
bonfires.'2 The rural districts, however, refused to imitate the
madness and profanities of the capital.

Robespierre disapproved of these proceedings. Although a
man of blood, he was also a man of order ; although a Deist, he
was, like his master Rousseau, for tolerating all religions, includ-
ing that of the Roman Catholic Church. On November 21st he
denounced the Atheists to the Jacobin Club as more dangerous
enemies of the Revolution even than the priests and Royalists,
and stigmatized their tenets as subversive of all political society.
" Atheism," he said, " is aristocratic, while the idea of an Omni-
potent Being watching over innocence and punishing triumphant
crime is altogether popular." 3 He adopted the phrase of Voltaire,
that if a God did not exist it would be necessary to invent one ;
and he concluded by moving that Society should be purged
of the traitors concealed in its bosom, and the Committees re-
organized. These propositions were unanimously adopted. After
this speech the indecent scenes which had disgraced Paris were
no longer exhibited. One of the motives of Robespierre and the
Committee of Public Welfare for suppressing them was the scandal
which they created in foreign countries. Danton supported Robes-
pierre, and Hebert and Chaumette found themselves compelled to
make a sort of public recantation of their atheistical tenets.

While such was the state of Paris, the Revolutionary Govern-
ment was gradually triumphing over its enemies in the provinces.
The insurgents of La Vendee had been tolerably successful up to

1 Hist. Pari. t. xxx. p. 269 sq. 2 L. Blanc, t. ix. p. 482.

a Hist. Pari. t. xxx. p. 277.

460 INSURRECTION IN LA VENDEE. [Chap. LYI.

October. Robespierre's pro^e, Rossignol, proved totally incom-
petent for the command of the army sent against them, and sus-
tained some bloody defeats ; but he carried out to the letter his
instructions to burn and destroy all that he could. His successor,
Lechelle, was a man of the same calibre ; but Kleber, Marceau,
and Westermann, though nominally under his command, acted
independently of him, and inflicted on the Vendeans a succession
of defeats at Chatillon-sur-Sevre,La Tremblaye, and Chollet, where
Bonchamp was killed, at Granville, at Le Mans, and finally dis-
persed them at Savenay, December 22nd. An English expedi-
tion under Lord Moira fitted out for their aid arrived too late.
Henri de Larochejaquelein was killed in a skirmish in the follow-
ing March by two Republican grenadiers, whose lives he was en-
deavouring to save. La Vendee was converted into a smoking
desert. In the south Marseille had opened its gates to Carteaux,
August 25th. But this success decided the revolt of Toulon, a
step which the inhabitants had been some months contemplating.
Having opened communications with Admiral Hood, who was
cruising off that port, the English fleet, accompanied by a Spanish
and a Neapolitan squadron, entered the harbour August 27th, and
took possession of the place, after a short resistance from a few of
the French vessels. On the following day Admiral Hood pub-
blished a Declaration that he took possession of Toulon in the
name of Louis XVII. Two English regiments from Gibraltar,
under General O'Hara, and between 12,000 and 13,000 Spanish,
Piedmontese, and Neapolitan troops, were subsequently intro-
duced into the town,1 and the forts around it were occupied.
Lyon had been besieged by Kellermann since August 8th. The
operations were really conducted by Dubois Crance, but little
progress was made till the end of the month, when the besieging
force was largely increased and 100 guns brought into play. The
hopes of the inhabitants rested on a diversion to be made by a
Piedmontese corps, which, however, was defeated by Kellermann;
and Lyon, after sustaining a terrible bombardment, and being re-
duced to the extremity of famine, was compelled to surrender,
October 9th. On the 12th the Convention decreed that the por-
tion of the town inhabited by the rich should be demolished, that

1 The exact numbers of the garrison (vol. iii. p. 244, Eng. Tr.); where will

were 6,521 Spaniards, 2,421 Englishmen, he found new and more correct par-

4,334 Neapolitans, 1,584 Piedmontese, ticulars respecting the occupation of

1,542 National Guards of Toulon— alto- Toulon by the allies, from the account

pettier more than 16,000 men. See Von given by an eye-witness to the King of

Sybel, Revolutio?iszeit, B. i. S. 488 ff. Prussia.

Chap. LVI.] ADMIRAL HOOD AT TOULON. 4G1

its name should be effaced from the towns of the Republic ; that
what remained of it should henceforth be called Commune Affran-
chie ; and, in the mock sublime of that epoch, it was ordained
that a column should be erected on the ruins with the inscription,
" Lyon made war upon liberty : Lyon exists no more."1

The reduction of Lyon was soon followed by that of Toulon.
The force of the allies was weakened by those dissensions which
attended all the operations of the Coalition. The inhabitants of
Toulon were divided into the two parties of Constitutionalists and
Royalists. As the former were the more numerous, and possessed
all the municipal offices, the English consulted their views. The
Spaniards, on the other hand, adopted all the more warmly the
minority, whose religious and political principles coincided with
their own. This party demanded the recall of the clergy, and that
the Count of Provence should be summoned to Toulon as Regent
of France; but as these measures were opposed by the Constitu-
tionalists, they were declined by Admiral Hood. The Spaniards
then demanded that the Toulon fleet should be delivered to their
Sovereign as a member of the House of Bourbon, although by the
capitulation of the town it had been expressly given into English
keeping, and the demand was therefore refused.'2 These bicker-
ings, as we shall have to relate further on, laid the foundation of
a rupture between Spain and England. The English Government,
in conformity with its principle of not prescribing any particular
form of government to the French, had even disapproved of
Admiral Hood's act in taking possession of Toulon in the name
of Louis XVII. The most sinister imputations have been thrown
on this policy by French writers of all parties.3 But the English
Cabinet was of opinion that a single town, however respectable,
could not decide so momentous a question, nor England determine
it without appealing to all the allied Courts. Such a decision,
indeed, might have proved a serious embarrassment in any nego-
tiations for peace. The siege of Toulon was first undertaken by
Carteaux, a ci-devant painter. He was accompanied by the deputy
Salicetti, a Corsican, who retained at Toulon his countryman,
Napoleon Bonaparte, then a young captain of artillery, the mean-
ness of whose small and, at that time, meagre figure and pallid face
was redeemed by his piercing eye and intelligent appearance. The
siege made little progress till after the reduction of Lyon ; the

1 Hist. Pari. t. xxix. p. 192; Mont- 3 See Mont°;ail]ard, Hist, de France,
gaillard. t. iv. p. 96 sqq. t. iv. p. 168 ; L. Blanc, Hist de la Re vol.

2 Von Sybel, loc. cit. Fr. t. x. p. 89.

462 ATROCITIES AT MARSEILLE, LYON, ETC. [Chap. LVI.

troops from which place, together with large draughts from the
army of Italy, raised the besieging army to more than 60,000 men.
The command of this force was now given to Dugommier, an ex-
perienced general ; but the Convention appointed five commissa-
ries to watch over him, namely, Barras, Freron, Salicetti, Augus-
tine Robespierre (Maximilian's younger brother), and Ricord, with
instructions that Toulon must be taken, pointing clearly to the
alternative of the guillotine. The attack was ultimately conducted
after Bonaparte's plan, who saw that a fort occupied by the
English on a tongue of land separating the inner and outer road-
steads, was the key of the whole position. The fort was attacked
by a picked French column, on the night of December 16th, and,
after a desperate resistance, taken. As some of the surrounding
forts had also been reduced by the Republicans, General O'Hara,
the commander-in-chief, who, with Lord Hood and Sir Gilbert
Elliot, formed a directorial commission, found himself compelled
to evacuate Toulon ; but not before the arsenal and a large part
of the French fleet had been burnt, under the conduct of Commo-
dore Sir Sidney Smith. Three ships of the line and twelve frigates
were carried off by the English. About 4,000 Toulonese were put
on board the allied fleets ; but numbers were necessarily left be-
hind. The Republican Commissioners, Freron, Barras, and the
younger Robespierre, took a horrible vengeance on the citizens,
and within three months butchered more than 3,000 persons.1

Elsewhere, also, the Republican Government signalized its
triumphs by a series of the most horrible massacres, executed by
its commissaries or proconsuls. At Bordeaux, which had embraced
the Girondist cause but for a moment, Tallien and his colleague,
Ysabeau, caused 108 persons to be guillotined. Here these two
proconsuls lived in state, with a guard at their door, and, while
the town was almost in a state of famine, required to be served
with the finest wines, the most exquisite delicacies. Tallien ac-
quired a fortune by his peculations.'2 These atrocities were more
than rivalled by Freron and Barras at Marseille, and Collot
d'Herbois and Fouche at Lyon. At Marseille was established a
Commission of Six, divided for the sake of expedition into two
courts, without public accuser or jury. The persons accused,
having been asked their names, professions, and fortunes, were
sent down to the executioner's cart, which was always standing
before the Palais de Justice, and the judges appearing on the

1 Von Sybel, vol. iii. p. 249 sq. (Eng. Tr.). ' Prudhomme, Hist. G6n6rale, §c.

Chap. LVI.] THE NOYADES AT NANTES. 463

balcony, pronounced sentence of death. The head of this horrible
tribunal, a young man of twenty, condemned 160 persons in ten
days.1 Freron, in pursuance of his idea, " that every rebel city
should disappear from the face of the earth," mutilated most of
the public buildings and monuments of Marseille, and called it,
" the nameless town." He and Barras appropriated 800,000
francs, which they ought to have paid into the treasury, as the
spoils of this city, on pretence that their carriage had been over-
turned in a ditch.'2 At Lyon Couthon at first seemed inclined to
show some mercy; but he was superseded towards the end of
October by Collot d'Herbois and Fouche, who caused men, women,
and children, rich and poor, to be shot down in masses with artil-
lery ; those who escaped the shot were hacked to pieces by the
.soldiery.'' The number of victims is stated at 410, but the accounts
vary.4 About forty houses were demolished by artillery, and a
great many more damaged ; but to raze Lyon to the ground was
found to be too vast an undertaking.

But all these atrocities were outdone by the infamous Carrier,
at Nantes. The first act of this monster on arriving at Nantes,
October 8th, when the Vendean war was still going on, was to form
the Camjpagnie de Marat, to make domiciliary visits, and arrest
suspected persons, of whom 600 were thrown into prison. Carrier
was intoxicated with blood. He threatened to throw half the
town of L' Orient into the sea, and ordered General Haxo to ex-
terminate all the inhabitants of La Vendee, and burn their dwell-
ings.5 The noyades, or drownings, commenced towards the end
of Brumaire. Priests sentenced to transportation were placed in
a vessel, with a sort of trap-door, which proceeded down the
Loire, and, the bolts being withdrawn, the unhappy victims were
■drowned. Carrier facetiously called this vertical deportation.
Young men and women, bound together, were thrown into the
river, a mode of execution pleasantly styled " the Republican
marriage." Hundreds of infants were also drowned. This was
called " Republican baptism." The water of the Loire was in-
fected to such an extent by the multitude of corpses, that the
police forbade the citizens of Nantes to drink it, or to eat the fish
caught in it. The lowest estimate of the victims of Carrier's
blood-thirstiness during the four months of his operations at

1 L. Blanc, "t. x. p. 158. Ie mal a Lyon semblait appeler Femploi

2 Barere, Memoires, t. iv. p. 13. de remides energiques," t. x. p. 164.

3 M. Blanc appears to think that Lyon 4 See Hist. Pari. t. xxx. pp. 397,
required a little bleeding: "II convient 399.

de dire, pour etre juste envers tous, que 5 Hist. Pari. t. xxxiv. pp. 173. 218.

464 SIEGE OF DUNKIRK. [Chaf. LVI.

Nantes amounts to 15,00c.1 Carrier is said to have used bis power
to force the chastity of women, and to have put to death husbands
who would not consent to their dishonour.

We will now return to the campaign. After the fall of Valen-
ciennes, a rapid march on Paris would probably have proved suc-
cessful. The immense northern frontier of France was defended
only by a few isolated camps, the interior was in combustion,
while the allies had nearly 300,000 men between Basle and
Ostend. But their conduct was guided first by their own selfish
and separate interests, and next by the ancient routine maxims of
strategy, which required the reduction of the frontier fortresses.
Prince Coburg, therefore, resolved to reduce Quesnoy, and the
Duke of York had instructions from London to lay siege to
Dunkirk. From Paris as a centre Carnot2 directed all the opera-
tions of the French armies on the vast circumference threatened.
The Duke of York sat down before Dunkirk towards the end of
August, 1793. His total force, including 12,000 Austrians under
Alviuzi, amounted to about 30,000 men. These were divided into
two corps, one of siege, the other of observation ; the first being
commanded by himself, while the other, under Marshal Freitag,
was posted at Hondschoote. Houchard, an ignorant, incapable
man, who had gained the favour of the Committee of Public Wel-
fare by his democratic swagger, had succeeded Kilmaine in the
command of the French army of the North. He was popular with
the soldiery ; but the fate of Custine rendered him somewhat
solicitous about his own. This feeling was increased by a visit
from the terrible Billaud Yarennes, who caused twenty-two adju-
tants-general to be arrested in one night ! 3 Next morning
Houchard found himself without a staff. By orders from Paris,
Houchard attacked Freitag at Hondschoote, September 8th, and
completely defeated him. Freitag was slain in the engagement,
but Walmoden, who succeeded him, effected a retreat to Furnes.
The Duke of York was now in a perilous situation. He was en-
camped in a sort of peninsula : instead of an English fleet, which
he had expected, a French squadron had arrived, and molested his
right flank ; if the victorious enemy advanced, he must either lay
down his arms or be driven into the sea ; he was, therefore, com-
pelled to raise the siege precipitately, abandoning fifty-two guns
and his baggage. It was generally thought, even in England, that

1 Von Sybel, Revolutionszeit, B. ii. concentrating a superior tone on a given
S. 499 (vol. iii. p. 257 Eng. Ti\). point, effected such wonders in the hands

2 Carnot's military genius devised that of Napoleon.

new system of warfare which, by rapidly 3 L. Blanc, t. ix. p. 2S8.

Ciiaf. LVI.] BATTLE OF WATTIGNIES. 465

liad Houchard ptished on, the Duke and his whole array must have
been captured j1 but that general suffered him to form a junction
with Walmoden at Furnes, where they presented too strong a front
to be attacked. Houchard contented himself with dispersing an
isolated Dutch force at Menin, September loth. Advancing
thence, two days after, to meet the Austrian General Beaulieu,
his troops were seized with one of those unaccountable panics so
frequent in the wars of the Revolution, and which it was the
fashion to ascribe to treachery. Cries having arisen of " We are
betrayed ! Sauve qui pent!" the French fled in disorder to Lille.
For this misfortune, and for not having attacked the Duke of
York, Houchard was deprived of his command and subsequently
guillotined. He was succeeded by Jourdan.

Le Quesnoy surrendered to the Austrians September 9th, after
a siege of fourteen days. Prince Coburg now determined to close
the campaign by the reduction of Maubeuge and Landrecies,
which would render him master of the valley of the Sambre, and
to march on Paris the following year. But Jourdan, acting under
the directions of Carnot, who was present, saved Maubeuge by
defeating the Austrians at Wattignies, a neighbouring height,
after a bloody battle which lasted two days (October 16th).
General Ferrant, Commandant of Maubeuge, who had neglected
to assist the army of liberation, was arraigned before the Revolu-
tionary Tribunal and executed. But the victory of Wattignies was
followed by no results. General Davesnes having failed through
sheer capacity in an attempt to invade maritime Flanders, ex-
piated with his head his want of success ; and Jourdan himself
was deprived of the command for not passing the Sambre after
his victory. The retreat of the Austrians was unmolested, and
they soon after took up their winter quarters in the environs of
Le Quesnoy, Valenciennes, and Conde. The Duke of York did
the same at Tournay, covering Flanders, while the French
established themselves at Guise.

Towards the Rhine, the Prussians, after the capture of Mentz,
had remained almost entirely inactive, notwithstanding the press-
ing invitations of Wurmser, the Austrian general in Alsace, to
join him in vigorous operations. The views of the Prussians were
fixed on Poland, and the French campaign was little more than a
blind to their projects in that quarter. A temporary disappoint-
ment there, coupled with some discussions with Austria, induced
§

1 Ann. Eegistcr, 1793, p. 192. All Soult, &c, are of the same opinion.
French military authorities, Jomini, Von Sybel, iii. 201.

IV. H H

466 AUSTRIAN AND PRUSSrAN SQUABBLES. [Chap. LVI.

Frederick William suddenly to abandon his allies. It is impos-
sible for us to detail the sinuous policy of the two German States
at this period. It will suffice to state that Austria had wished
to reap the Bavarian succession after the death of the Elector
Charles Theodore, who had no legitimate children ; but had been
induced to relinquish the project through the repugnance to it of
the Bavarians themselves, the opposition of the next heirs, the
Princes of Zweybriicken, as well as of Prussia, the representations
•of England, and lastly also, the unwillingness of Charles Theodore
himself to consent. Although Austria had abandoned this claim,
yet, as her relinquishment of it was unknown to Prussia, she
brought it forward in some negotiations which took place at the
King of Prussia's head-quarters towards the end of August, with
the view of merely covering some demands for a share of Poland,
and making a merit of relinquishing Bavaria. The discovery of
this duplicity excited the King of Prussia's indignation, which
was increased by the knowledge that Austria intended seizing
Alsace for herself. Frederick William's ill humour was further
increased by news from Poland to the purport that the negotia-
tions for securing his share of that country were going on anything
but favourably. He now recollected that he had promised his aid
in the French war solely for the campaign of 1793, and that only
on condition of acquisitions in Poland ; and about the middle of
September he announced to the Austrians his intention of quitting
the Coalition.1 In this step he completely disregarded the treaty
which he had entered into with England only two months before
for the better prosecution of the war with France. Towards the
end of September, Frederick William II. withdrew from his army,
alleging the necessity of joining his troops assembling on the
frontiers of Poland.'2 Thus was the first blow struck at the
Coalition.

The French had made two ineffectual attempts to pass the
Rhine ; they had also been repulsed with great loss in an attack
upon the Duke of Brunswick's position at Pirmasens, September
14th; but neither this success nor the remonstrances of the British
Ambassador, could stimulate the Duke to action. At length he
was induced to join Wurmser in an attack upon the French lines
between Weissenburg and Lauterburg, October 13th; when the
French, defeated at every point, were compelled to evacuate those
two places, and to make a hasty retreat towards the Geisberg.

1 For these affairs see Von SybeL 2 For the affairs of that country see

Book vii. ch. 6. next chapter.

Chap. LVI.] ST. JUST AT STRASBURG. 467

Wurmser entered Hagenau October 17th; but he also displayed
some remissness, and allowed the French to escape to Strasburg.
This town would probably have opened its gates to the Austrians
if Wurmser would have assured the inhabitants that possession of
it should be taken in the name of Louis XVII. ; but such an
arrangement was contrary to the policy of the Austrian Cabinet,
which aimed at the recovery of Alsace. But the plot was dis-
covered. St. Just and Lebas arrived at Strasburg October 22nd,
as Commissaries or Proconsuls of the Convention. St. Just im-
mediately began to display his power. The day after his arrival
he degraded the Commandant Lacour to the ranks, for having
struck a soldier in a moment of excitement. On the 24th he
proclaimed that f< If there are in the army any traitors, or even
any men indifferent to the people's cause, we bring with us the
sword to strike them ! " L He erected the military tribunal at-
tached to the army of the Rhine into a special and Revolutionary
Commission ; and he ordered General Eisenberg and a number of
■officers who had been surprised by the enemy and fled, to be shot
in the redoubt of Hahnheim. Thus the Reign of Terror prevailed
even in the camp. St. Just, who has been characterized as having
-a head of fire with a heart of ice, was its fitting instrument.2
The citizens of Strasburg were treated like the soldiery. The
property of the rich, even their beds and apparel, was confiscated
for the use of the army. A forced loan of nine millions (360,000/.),
payable in twenty-four hours, was exacted from a certain list of
persons. One of them not having been able to raise his quota
in the given time, was exposed three hours on the scaffold of the
guillotine ; another, an hotel-keeper, who had been assessed at
40,000 francs, presented the keys of his house to St. Just, and
requested him to discharge his debts.3

Wurmser had engaged in the siege of Landau, in which he
expected the co-operation of the Prussians. But the Duke of
Brunswick having failed in an attempt upon the castle of Bitsch,
in the Vosges, took occasion to effect a retreat, which he had long
contemplated, and retired to Kaiserslautern. He was followed by
the French, under Hoche, who, however, after some bloody en-
gagements (28th, 29th, and 30th of December), were forced to
retreat. The Duke of Brunswick's movements having exposed
the Austrian right, Hoche despatched a division of 12,000 men
through the Vosges to take them in flank, while, Pichegru at-

1 Hist. Pari. t. xxxi. p. 37. : Barere, Mtm. t. ii. p. 235.

3 L. Blanc, t. x. p. Ii9.

468 REPUBLICAN FACTIONS. [Chap. LVI.

tacked theni in front. Hoche himself assailed and dispersed with-
out a blow the Palatine and Bavarian troops at Werdt, December
22nd, 1793. Wurniser was now compelled to retreat in disorder
to the Geisberg ; the armies of the Rhine and Moselle formed a
junction, while the retrograde movement of the Austrians had
also united them with the Prussians. But the Austrians being at-
tacked and defeated by the French at the Geisberg, December 2Gth,
Wurmser, disgusted with the conduct of the Prussians, resolved
to abandon them, and crossed the Rhine between Philippsburg
and Mannheim, December 30th ; when the Prussians fell back to-
wards Mentz.1 Thus, as the result of the campaign in this
quarter, the French reoccupied the lines of Weissenburg, raised
the blockade of Landau, recovered Alsace, and took up their
winter quarters in the Palatinate.

On the Spanish frontier, where the French were not able to
employ an adequate force, the campaign of 1793 left the Spaniards
in possession of St. Elmo, Collioure, and Port Vendre, on the
eastern side of the Pyrenees. On the western, nothing important
was done, and the Spaniards maintained their positions. On the
side of Piedmont, Massena succeeded in holding the Austro- Sar-
dinian army in check. The French arms were for the most part
unsuccessful in the colonies. In the East Indies Chandernagore,.
Pondicherry, and one or two smaller settlements fell into the hands
of the English, who also captured in the West Indies, Tobago, St.
Pierre, and Miquelon, but failed in attempts upon Martinico and
St. Domingo. In the last named island, the negroes had risen
against their masters ; the Commissaries Santhonax and Polverel,.
despatched thither by the Republican Government with unlimited
powers, sided with the insurgents, admitted the coloured population
to a sudden and complete participation in all political rights, and
rendered the colony one vast scene of desolation.2

As the Revolution proceeded, parties continued to separate.
The Gironde had supplanted the Constitutionalists, and had in its
turn been overthrown by the Montagne. The Revolution, it has
been said, like Saturn, devoured its own children. In the demo-
cratic residuum still left we find three distinct factions. First,
the ultra-democrats, called Hcbertistes and Enrages, who were for
terror in all its wildest excesses, for atheism in its most absurd
and blasphemous forms. In contradistinction to this faction had
sprung up what was called le •parii de la clemence, or party of
mercy, at the head of which was Canaille Desmoulins; and, strange
1 Homme d'etat, t. ii. p. 4*31 sqq. : Montgaillard, t. it. p. 45.

■Chap. LVl.] ROBESPIERRE AND CAMILLE DESMOULINS. 469

to say, Danton also seemed to incline to it. Danton was not
incorruptible, like Robespierre, but he had more of human nature
in his composition. He had made a comfortable fortune by his
patriotism, had marrieU a young wife, and was inclined to enjoy
the position he had achieved. Between these two parties stood
that of Robespierre, St. Just, and Couthon, who desired a sort
of political and regulated terror, which they disguised under the
sacred name of justice.1 Being now members of the Government,
they had become more conservative without being a whit less
cruel ; and they were indignant at seeing the direction of the
populace, by means of which they had themselves risen, taken out
of their hands by men like Hebert and his companions. As the
year 1793 drew to a close, it became evident that a deadly
struggle between these parties was at hand.

Robespierre at first showed symptoms of adhesion to the ' c party
of mercy/' Camille Desmoulins, who had been his schoolfellow,
had started a journal called the Vieux Cordelier, in which he ad-
vocated the principles of the old Cordelier Club, now governed by
Hebert's party. Robespierre had saved Danton as well as Des-
moulins from being expelled the Jacobins ; had patronized the
Vieux Cordelier, had even revised the first two numbers. But
the brilliant and fickle author soon overstepped the bounds of
discretion. In his third number, he not obscurely likened the
atrocities of the Reign of Terror, which he ascribed to the
treacherous plans of the Hebertistes, to some of the worst pas-
sages in the history of the Roman Emperors ; and, under pretence
of denying, betrayed his real design by protesting beforehand
against any comparison which malignity might draw between the
present times and those whose pictures he had borrowed from
Tacitus. By this language he offended a large number of the
Mountain, who had participated in, or approved of these atroci-
ties. In his fourth number he went still further. He demanded
a Committee of Clemency, the flinging open of the prisons, and
the liberation of 200,000 suspects. Unluckily, on that very day,
Robespierre had proposed in the Convention a Committee of

1 The Terrorists had bejmn to discover
that their favourite method would not
accomplish everything. Thus, St. Just
observes in his Institutions : " La terreicr
peut nous debarrasser de la monarchie et
de l'aristocratie ; mais qui nous delivrera
de la corruption I" And again: " L'exer-
cice de la tcrreur a blase le crime, comme
les liqueurs fortes blasent le palais." See
Hist. Pari, x. xxxv. pp. 284, 290. Mingled

with some sensible remarks, the Institu-
tions of St. Just present the most
monstrous specimens of fanaticism and
absurdity. Among other regulations, he
was for making every proprietor rear four
sheep annually for every acre he possessed
(Hist. Pari. t. xxxv. p. 340). France
would have been devoured by its own.
flocks.

470

THE HEBERTISTES EXTERMIXATED. [Chap. LVI.

Justice, the new name for Terror ;x which, however, was not
adopted.

It is probable that Robespierre had patronized for a while the
Party of Clemency only that he might the more securely over-
whelm that of the Hebertistes. The contest, however, was-
initiated by the Cordelier Club, then, as we have said, under the
influence of Hebert and Collot d'Herbois, by sending several in-
solent deputations to the Convention. Robespierre, by defending
Camille Desmoulins, seemed to have incurred the dangerous
charge of moderantisme. He explained and defended his views-
in his Report on the principles of the Revolutionary Government,
presented to the Convention in the name of the Committee of
Public Welfare, December 25th, 1793.2 He there described the
course of the Government as lying between two extremes, weak-
ness and moderantisme on the one hand, rashness and excess on
the other ; and he evidently hinted at the denunciation of Hebert
and Baron Clootz.3 But at this time he had begun to quail under
the attacks of Hebert and the Cordeliers. He publicly denied
having taken any part in Camille Desmoulins' journal, and even
proposed that it should be burnt. He also turned upon his former-
coadjutor, Fabre d'Eglantine, who was placed in confinement.
And to show that the charge of moderantisme, or clemency, was
an unjust imputation, he concluded by proposing a decree for
accelerating the judgment of foreigners and generals charged
with crimes like those of Dumouriez, Custine, Lamarliere, and
Houchard.

The Hebertistes thought of trying their strength by an insur-
rection. They took occasion of the distress produced by the
severe winter to spread pamphlets, attributing to the Convention
all the miseries of Paris ; but they failed in their attempt to excite
the Commune, and consequently to raise the mob. The proletaries
now looked up exclusively to the Committee of Public Welfare ;
among the citizens of a better class there was but one voice of
scorn and horror for Hebert and his companions ; while at the
decisive moment, Henriot, the military leader of the Commune,

1 M. Blanc, a partisan of Robespierre
quand meme, thinks that the views of
the party of clemency were altogether
unseasonable and absurd— that they de-
manded for the regime of liberty militant
what was only suitable for that of liberty
victorious. Hist, de la E£v. Fr. t. x.
p. 230 ; cf. p. 206. It was right, there-
fore, that the executions should go on.

2 See Hist. Pari. t. xxx. p. 458 sqq.

3 " L'ami des i-ois et le procureur gene-
ral du genre humain s'entendent assez-
bien. Le fanatique couvert de scapulaires
et le fanatique qui preche Vathiisme ont
entre eux beaucoup de rapports. Les
barons dtmocratcs sont les freres des-
marquis de Coblenz."' — Ibid. p. 461.

Chap. LVI.] DANTON AND OTHERS EXECUTED. 471

went over to Robespierre.1 On the night of March 13th, 1794,
after a speech by St. Just in the Convention, Hebert, and the
leaders of his party, Chaumette, Vincent, Clootz, Ronsin, and
others, were arrested. Their trial, which lasted three days, was,
like the others of that epoch, a mere parody of justice ; but though
the charges brought against them were futile, most of them richly
deserved their fate. They were executed, March 24th, to the
number of nineteen. Hebert died like a coward. Their execution
was followed by considerable changes. The Commune was re-
constructed; Pache, the Mayor, was replaced by Lescot Fleuriot;
the revolutionary army was disbanded ; and the Cordelier Club
was broken up.

The Dantonists were the next victims. Danton had been
troublesome by demanding an examination of the conduct of
public functionaries, and that the Committees should give an
account of their acts. As if a Government which had declared
itself revolutionary, that is irresponsible, was to be questioned !
Tallien brought about an interview between Robespierre and
Danton, in which the latter is said to have shed tears. On the
very same day that Robespierre had determined on his death, he
took Danton in his carriage for an excursion beyond the barriers !
Camille Desmoulins was included in the proscription. It is pro-
bable that he owed his fate to the spite of St. Just. He had said
of that demagogue, who wore a very stiff cravat, " that he car-
ried his head with respect, like the holy sacrament ;" on which
St. Just is said to have observed : " And I will make him carry
his like a St. Denis. " On the night of March 30th, Danton,
Desmoulins, Phillippeaux, and Lacroix were arrested, after a de-
liberation of the two Committees united. Legendre next day
demanded that they should be tried at the bar of the Convention.
Robespierre opposed this in a speech in which he described
Danton as a " pretended idol long since rotten ;" when Legendre
stuttered out some cowardly excuses. St. Just gave them the
coup de grace in an harangue in which he had the effrontery to
say that he denounced them as the last partisans of royalty !
Chabot, Bazire, Fabre d'Eglantine, Delaunay, Julien (of Toulouse),
were also at this time prisoners at the Luxembourg, on a charge
of forgery, and they were tried with the Dantonists, April 2nd ;
also Herault de Sechelles and Westermann. Danton bellowed
out his defence, so that his voice was audible on the other side
of the Seine. But it was to no purpose ; the prisoners were of

1 Levasseur, Mim. t. iii. p. 40. 2 Von Sybcl, vol. iii. 296 (Eng. Tr.).

472 TRIUMPH OF ROBESPIERRE. [Chap. LVI.

course foredoomed. The trial was stopped on the fourth day, and
the jury brought in a verdict of guilty, though not a fourth part
of the prisoners had been heard in their defence. From their
violence, and the symptoms displayed by the audience, the Court
was afraid to pass sentence on the accused at the bar; it was
read to them by their jailer. They were guillotined April 5th.
Camille Desnioulins, almost in a state of madness, tore his clothes
to pieces in the cart, and was almost naked when he arrived at
the scaffold. He cried to the people that they were deceived ;
but Danton told him to be quiet and leave that vile canaille
alone. Danton, during his imprisonment, had said of the Com-
mittee of Public Welfare that they were all Cain's brethren — that
Brissot would have guillotined him as Robespierre had done.
"What proves Robespierre a Nero/' he remarked, "was, that
he had never spoken to Camille Desmoulins with so much friend-
ship as on the eve of his arrest."1

By the defeat of the two factions of Dantonists and Hebertistes,
the Committee of Public Welfare seemed to have acquired irre-
sistible power. The triumph of Robespierre was complete. The
Convention decreed the dissolution of the Ministerial Council,
and the formation in its stead of twelve Committees, for the dis-
charge of the various functions of government. Robespierre
filled these boards with obscure persons. The Municipality was
also reformed, and the posts in it distributed according to Robes-
pierre's bidding. The tribunals of the Departments were sup-
pressed, and that of Paris became the sole one. Society was to
be reorganized, and every individual brought under the imme-
diate control of Government. But in this plenitude of power
Robespierre trembled for his existence. The members of the
governing Committee looked upon one another with hatred and
suspicion, as if each were plotting against his colleague's life,
whilst all were regarded by moderate people with abhorrence.
A strong body of men slept in Robespierre's house, and, armed
with clubs, accompanied him in his walks. At meals, two pistols
were placed by his plate, and he ate nothing that had not been
previously tasted.2 To show that the Government could not be
charged with moderantisme, the executions kept their usual
course. Good and bad were involved in a like fate. Among the
victims of this period may be mentioned Depresmenil, Le Cha-
pelier, the venerable Malesherbes, Lavoisier the chemist, General
Dillon, Chaumette, Gobel, the apostate bishop. The execution of

1 L. Blanr. t. x. p. 360. 5 Von Sybel, vol. iii. p. 299 (Eng. Tr.).

Cwlp. LVI.] FETE OF THE SUPREME BEING. 473

numbers of women outdoes the other brutalities of the Reign of
Terror. The wives of Danton and Camille Desnioulins, the Prin-
cess Elizabeth, the meek and saint-like sister of Louis XVI.,
were sent to the scaffold. Robespierre is said to have told Maret,
the bookseller, that he had wished to save Madame Elizabeth,
but that Collot d'Herbois prevented it.1 The latter, who had been
an unsuccessful actor and indifferent writer, was the only one of
Hebert's faction who had obtained a seat in the Committee of
Public Welfare.

Robespierre, having triumphed over the Atheists, proceeded to
establish the existence of a Supreme Being and the immortality of
the soul by a decree of the Convention ! (18th Floreal, May 7th,
1794). It was not, however, the God of the Scriptures, but the
God of Reason, substituted for the Goddess of Reason. The
new Calendar was retained, by which Sundays were abolished,
and, in their stead, every tenth day was set apart for worship.
A fete, planned by David the painter, was got up in honour of
the new Deity, intended to outrival that of the Hebertistes (June
8th). An amphitheatre was erected in the gardens of the
Tuileries, with seats for the members of the Convention, whilst
over the basin was erected a group of monsters representing
Atheism, Egotism, Discord, and Ambition. Robespierre, who
might himself be called the incarnation of the last three,
caused himself to be named President of the Assembly for
the occasion, and dressed himself in a sky-blue coat. After
a speech to the members, whom he had kept waiting some
hours, he proceeded to set fire to the monsters, when, after
their destruction, the figure of Wisdom was to appear in the
midst; unfortunately, however, the flames caught its veil,
and the statue appeared in a very blackened condition ! The
members of the Convention then walked in procession to the
Champ de Mars, dressed in the uniform of representatives en
mission, with feathers in their hats, and a three-coloured sash.
In the midst of them was an antique car, drawn by eight oxen
with gilt horns, and carrying a trophy composed of instruments
of art. Robespierre, as President, marched at the head of the
deputies ; his colleagues in the Committees kept as far behind
him as they could, in order, it is said, to make his position appear
the more invidious ; for they had already resolved on his destruc-
tion.2 In the centre of the Champ de Mars rose a symbolical

1 Beaulieu, Essais histor. sur la Etvol. s L. Blanc, Hist, de la Btvol. Fr. t. x.

t. vi. p. 10 note. p. 458.

474 law or 22nd prairial. [chap. lvi.

mountain, on which the deputies took their seats, and a hymn to-
the Supreme Being was sung, composed by the same Marie
Joseph Chenier,1 whose facile muse had a little while before cele-
brated the triumph of atheism. The spectacle, we are told, was-
one of inconceivable grandeur, and we may readily believe that
there was considerable scenic effect. Robespierre was at the
height of his glory. His customary morosity seemed to have
vanished: never had he been observed so radiant. But there
were not wanting those who, like the slave in the Roman
triumph, audibly whispered some discomforting doubts. " Is he
not the chief priest ? See, it is not enough to be master, he
must be a god as well ! There may, however, still be a Brutus!"
Among the foremost to insult him were Bourdon de l'Oise and
Merlin de Thionville. Robespierre, so exulting in the morning,
returned to his lodgings, at Duplay's, alarmed and dejected.2

St. Just had also given offence by his haughtiness ; he had had
a violent quarrel with Carnot, and a complete schism had taken
place in the Committee of Public Welfare. Robespierre, St. Just,
and Couthon now stood alone. The treatment Robespierre had
met with at the fete determined him to strike the terrorists of
the Committee of General Safety, and the Commissaries of the
Convention who had rendered themselves notorious by their
cruelties, such as Fouche, Freron, Tallien, Carrier. With this
view he introduced the terrible law called the " Law of 22nd
Prairial" (June 10th), intended to accelerate the trial of the
conspirators. By this law the Revolutionary Tribunal was again
re-formed. It was now to consist of a president, three vice-
presidents, a public accuser and four substitutes, twelve judges,
and fifty jurymen; and for practice it was to be divided into
sections of twelve members, each section having not fewer than
seven jurors. Its object was said to be to punish the enemies of
the people ; in which category were included those who had
sought to create dearth, to inspire discouragement, to spread
false news, to mislead public opinion, to corrupt the public con-
science, to alter the energy and purity of revolutionary and
republican principles, &c. &c. In short, it was a net to catch
all fish. The accused were not to be allowed counsel ; it was not
necessary to call witnesses ; the decision was left to " the con-
science of jurymen enlightened by the love of their country."
There was no appeal, and the sole punishment was death ! By

1 Andre Chenier, his brother, also a 2 Esquiros, Hist, dcs Montagnards, ap.

poet, and a much better one, was guil- Blanc, t. x. p. 459.
lotined July 25th.

Chap. LVI.] EOBESTTERRE QUITS THE COMMITTEE. 475

Article 20, all previous laws relating to the Tribunal were abro-
gated. This would do away with the law which forbade any
member of the Convention to be brought before the Tribunal,
unless a decree of accusation had been previously obtained against
him ; and thus the Convention would be placed at the mercy of
Robespierre and his two colleagues ; since the signatures of three
members of the Committee of Public Welfare sufficed to send a
man to trial. The Convention took the alarm, and though Robes-
pierre and Couthon succeeded in carrying the article, it was not
till after a long and warm discussion which served to expose their
motives.1 Robespierre and Couthon were next day called to a
severe account by the rest of the Committee, who had not been
consulted, when a violent scene ensued. Robespierre was so
loud that it was necessary to shut the windows, in order that
he might not be heard by the people on the terrace of the Tui-
leries. Billaud Varennes charged him with wishing to guillotine
the members of the Convention ; Robespierre retorted by accusing
Billaud of counter-revolutionary projects. Stormy scenes also
took place in the Convention. Bourdon and Tallien were so
alarmed by Robespierre's threats that the former took to his
bed for a month, while the latter wrote him a humble letter of
submission.12

After this Robespierre ceased to attend the Committee. This
was a mistake, as it enabled his adversaries all the better to
combine against him. What was his motive ? A real disgust of
the system of terror ? Such a supposition seems improbable.
By the law of 22nd Prairial he had increased the means of terror.
It was evidently a political move, though a mistaken one. As
he had overcome the Hebertistes or Enrages by means of the
inclulgens, and the indulgens by the cry for "justice/' so now he
wanted to overthrow his opponents in the Committee by recon-
ciling himself with the moderate party and the remnant of the
Girondists. In a speech at the Jacobins, 13th Messidor (July
1st), he denounced the system of terror, at the same time pro-
claiming unceasing war against all counter-revolutionists. In
another address at the same place, 23rd Messidor, he pursued
the same subject, and demanded that Fouche should be brought
to account for his atrocities at Lyon.3 In an artful passage of the
former speech, he complained that the calumnies forged against

1 See Hist. Pari. t. xxxiii. p. 193 sqq. Cf. t. xxxvi. p. 5.

2 Ibid. pp. 214, 224 ; Le Cointre, ap. Blanc, t. x. p. 490.

3 Ibid. t. xxxiii. pp. 323, 342.

476 THE CHEMISES ROUGES. [Chap. LVI.

him in London were repeated by his enemies in Paris ; thus
insinuating that all who said anything to his prejudice were
implicated in the great foreign conspiracy recently invented and
denounced.

The story of this conspiracy had been got up on occasion of an
attempt to assassinate Collot d'Herbois by a man named Admiral,
and was subsequently applied to a suspected design of a young
woman named Cecile Renault on the life of Robespierre. No
satisfactory evidence was produced against Cecile ; she had, how-
ever, avowed that she preferred a king to 50,000 tyrants, and
that she had gone to Robespierre's house to see what a tyrant
was like.1 The Committee of General Safety contrived to involve
fifty-two other persons of all ranks, ages, and sexes in this pre-
tended conspiracy. It is said that Robespierre had nothing to do
with their trial, that it was, in fact, got up by his enemies to
place him in an invidious light ; that in order to forward this
object, Fouquier Tinville, the Public Accuser of the Revolutionary
Tribunal, at the suggestion of a member of the Committee, ordered
fifty- four red shirts, the costume of parricides, to be prepared for
the condemned persons. The procession of the victims (June
17th, 1794) was all the more striking, as the guillotine had now
been removed to the Barriere du Trone, and the carts had conse-
quently to pass through the Faubourg St. Antoine. This affair
of the Chemises rouges, as it was called, was soon followed by
that of a pretended conspiracy in the prisons. The Committee
of Public Welfare authorized Hermann, a Commissary of Civil
Administration, to investigate plots in prisons, by an arrets,
dated 7th Messidor an II (June 25th, 1794), and signed by
Robespierre, Billaud Varennes, and Barere.2 Robespierre, there-
fore, appears to have retained the power of signing decrees,
though he had now absented himself from the Committee ; but we
are not aware that any later signature can be produced. An
arrete for the execution of some prisoners, though signed by
St. Just, 2nd Tliermiclor (July 20th), bears neither the name of
Robespierre nor of Couthon.3 One of the substitutes of the
Public Accuser charged Hermann with proposing to the Com-
mittee "to sweep out the prisons in order to depopulate France
and make Robespierre dictator."4 A list was made out of 159
persons confined in the Luxembourg, including the Prince
d'Henin, the Duke de Gevres, thirty- nine nobles, the ex-prior

1 Hist. Pari. t. xxxiii. p. 103. 3 L. Blanc, t. xi. p. 110.

* Ibid. t. xxxv. p. 43. ■» Hist. Pari. Inc. cit.

Chap. LVI.] PLOT AGAINST ROBESPIERRE. 477

of the Chartreux, several general and other officers, bankers, &c.
They were nearly all condemned and executed 19th, 21st, 22nd
Messidor (July 7th, 9th, 10th) . These executions were followed
by that of several prisoners in the Cannes.

It is impossible to ascertain Robespierre's share in these atroci-
ties after his withdrawal from the Committee. It is, however,
certain that after that event the number of executions vastly
increased. In the forty-five days which elapsed from the assumed
date of his retirement (June 11th) till his overthrow on the 9th
Thermidor (July 27th), 1285 persons were guillotined, while
during the forty-five days immediately preceding, only 577 per-
sons had suffered.1 It was after his retirement that people were
sent to the guillotine in what were called fourne'es or batches, by
which speedy method one person was often executed in mistake
for another. We must recollect, however, that Robespierre had
at least facilitated this wholesale butchery by his law of 22nd
Pr atrial.

The Committees of Public Welfare and of General Safety
endeavoured to persuade the Convention that they were all
embarked in a common cause ; that a massacre of the deputies
was intended, and they tried to convince each individually of his
personal danger. Robespierre and Couthon, on the other hand,
in their speeches at the Jacobins, professed the greatest respect
for the Convention, asserted that their eyes were fixed only on
five or six of its members — " five or six little human creatures,
whose hands are full of the wealth of the Republic, and at the
same time dripping with the blood of the innocent persons whom
they have sacrificed."2 Every means was used to show Robes-
pierre in an invidious light as a would-be dictator and a patron
of superstition and priestcraft. With the last view, a false and
ridiculous story was invented of his being a disciple of one
Catharine Theot, a crazy old woman, who, like Joanna Southcott
in England, gave out that she was the mother of God. The
Convention was convulsed with laughter at the story, whilst
Robespierre gnashed his teeth with rage. With respect to the
political charge, St. Just actually proposed in a meeting of the
two Committees (July 23rd) that Robespierre should be named
Dictator. The anecdote is recorded and believed by the repub-
lican editors of the Histoire Parlementaire* on the authority of a

1 This is M. Blanc's statement, t. xi. p. 1 15. But the number executed after
Robespierre's retirement seems understated by more than 1,000. See Croker's Essays,
p. 447 sqq.

5 Hist. Pari. t. xxxiii p. 387. 3 Ibid. p. 359.

478 PLOT TO MURDER ROBESPIERRE. [Chap. LVI.

man of probity who had heard it from Barere, and is confirmed by
Barere's Mcmoires,1 published subsequently to the Histoire
Parlementaire. We cannot, therefore, with M. Blanc, reject the
story merely on the negative ground that Billaud Varennes,
Collot d'Herbois, and Barere did not charge St. Just with this
act on the 9th Thermidor.

Robespierre might probably have overcome his enemies by an
insurrection, for Lescot Fleuriot, the Mayor of Paris, and Henriot,
the Commander of the National Guard, were devoted to him. But
Robespierre had never openly approved this mode of action, though
he had sometimes secretly stimulated it. He relied on his moral
influence, and imagined that he should overcome all opposition
by the speech which he had prepared. The Committee endea-
voured to come to an accommodation with him and his party, and
had sent for him for that purpose, 5th Thermidor (July 22nd).
But a reconciliation was found to be impracticable. Religious
differences seem to have been one of the chief obstacles to it — ■
such were the prejudices and animosities of these free-thinkers !
Billaud Varennes and Collot d'Herbois could not endure to hear
of a Supreme Being and the immortality of the soul, while St. Just
found it horrible that they should blush for a Divinity.2

After the failure of this attempt at accommodation, nothing
remained but a trial of strength in the Convention. Robespierre's
enemies bound themselves by an oath that they would assassinate
him in the midst of the Assembly, if they failed in persuading it
against him. Robespierre began the attack by a long speech,
8th Thermidor (July 26th), in which he explained and defended
his principles, repelled the charge of aiming at a dictatorship.
He concluded by proposing to purge and renew both the Com-
mittees, to constitute a United Government under the Conven-
tion, and to punish traitors.3 His speech, though elaborated and.
written with great care, was very ill suited to his purpose. It
consisted of vague and general charges, and was but the preface
to a Report to be delivered the following day by St. Just, in which
their opponents were to be personally denounced. Hence it
excited general alarm, nor would Robespierre respond to the
cries of "Name ! Name ! " Had he spoken his mind clearly, had he
denounced, without long phrases, the crimes which had been com-
mitted, the names of those who had committed them, and stated the

1 T. ii. p. 213 sq. See also Granier B. iii. S. 218 ff. (vol. iv. p. 53, Eng. Tr.)
rle Cassagnac, Hist, dcs Causes, Sfc. t. • Hist. Pari. t. xxxiv. p. 16.

iii. p. 59b ; Von Sybel, Bevolutionszeit, 3 Ibid. t. xxxiii. pp. 406-448.

Chap. LVI.] THE 9TH THERM1D0R. 479

good which he himself proposed to do, his address might probably
have been hailed with applause, and the accusation of his enemies
decreed. The manner in which his speech was received seems
to have alarmed Robespierre himself. He read it in the evening
at the Jacobins, where it was heard with great applause ; but he
called it his " testament of death," talked of drinking the hem-
lock. His friends exhorted him to try an insurrection, but he
declined. On the same evening some emissaries of the Moun-
tain persuaded several members of the Right to join them, and
thus to escape the guillotine and put an end to the Reign of
Terror.1

On the morning of 9th Thermidor (July 27th) , St. Just mounted
the tribune of the Convention and began to read his Report.
He had announced his intention to do so overnight in the Com-
mittee of Public Welfare, and had not concealed that he should
attack some of its members, He had scarcely read a few lines
when he was violently interrupted by Tallien and Billaud Va-
rennes,'2 who denounced the designs of Robespierre and his accom-
plices, and accused them of a plot to massacre the Convention.
These remarks were received with loud and general applause.
Robespierre rushed to the tribune, but his voice was drowned
with cries of A has le tyran ! Tallien violently exclaimed, that if
the Convention had not the courage to decree the accusation of the
"new Cromwell," he would stab him to the heart; at the same '
time drawing forth and brandishing a dagger. He then demanded
that Henriot and his etat-major should be accused, that the
Assembly should sit in permanence. Both were decreed by
acclamation, amidst cries of Vive la Republique ! as well as the
arrest of Dumas, Boulanger, and Dufraise, three of Robespierre's
boldest partisans. Robespierre, who still remained at the tribune,
made several ineffectual attempts to obtain a hearing; his voice
was always drowned by cries of J. has le tyran ! and by the bell of
the President Thuriot. He looked wistfully at the Mountain, but
it gave no signs ; he appealed to all sides of the Chamber, as well
as to the galleries — all were silent. At length, overcome with
rage and vexation, he exclaimed, " President of Assassins ! for the
last time I demand a hearing ! y' But his voice had become
hoarse; he foamed at the mouth, and finally sank down ex-
hausted. His aiTest was now decreed amid cries of Vive la

1 Hist. Pari. t. xxxiv. p. 5 ; Durancl de will be found in the Hist. Pari, t. xxxiv.
IMaillane, Hist, de la Convention, ch. x. pp. 6-20. It accused, by name, only

2 The Eeport was laid on the bar, and Cullot d'Herbois and Billaud Varennes.

480 ROBESPIERRE AT THE HOTEL DE VILLE. [Ciiap. LVI.

liberte ! Vive la Rejnihlique ! His brother Augustine demanded
to share his fate. Couthon, St. Just, and Lebaswere also ordered
to be arrested.

When the news of the arrest of the five members reached the
General Council of the Commune, which had assembled about six
o'clock in the evening-, they drew up a proclamation calling upon
the people to rise, ordered the tocsin to be rung, the Sections to
be convoked, and the cannoniers to repair to the Hotel de Ville.
The Jacobin Club also declared themselves in correspondence with
the Commune. Henriot, who was half tipsy, had been arrested by
two members of.the Convention; Coffinhal and Louvet were there-
fore sent in his place to liberate the prisoners. They brought
Robespierre to the Town Hall about nine o'clock in the evening.
By orders from the Commune the concierge of the Luxembourg
had refuse to receive him, and he had therefore gone to the
Bureau of Police, with the view, apparently, of obtaining a trial
before the Revolutionary Tribunal j and, as he hoped, a triumphant
acquittal, like Marat. The other prisoners were also successively
brought to the Town Hall. Meanwhile the Convention had
resumed its sitting, and Henriot, who had also been liberated by
Louvet and Coffinhal, had proceeded thither with his etat-major \
and some cannoniers, with the intention of shutting up the
Chamber. On his arrival, the President, putting on his hat in
sign of distress, exclaimed, " The moment is come when we must
die at our posts ! " The deputies responded with cries of appro-
bation, the spectators showed the same enthusiasm, and rushed
out crying " To arms ! let us repulse these wretches ! " Henriot,
having in vain exhorted the cannoniers to fire, took fright and
returned at full gallop to the Hotel de Ville. The Assembly now
proceeded to outlaw him, as well as the five arrested members,
and all functionaries who .should take part against the Con-
vention.1

It soon became evident that the tide of public opinion had
turned. At the summons of the Commune the Sections had
assembled about nine o'clock in the evening, and the insurgents
had desired them to march their battalions to the Hotel de Ville.
But they were in a state of uncertainty ; only some vague accounts
had reached them of a quarrel between the Convention and the
Commune, and therefore for the most part they sent but a few
men to the Hotel de Ville ; while, on the arrival of a summons
from the Convention, their battalions proceeded thither, defiled

1 Hist. Pari. t. xxxiv. p. 69.

Chap. LVI.] CAPTURE OF ROBESPIERRE. 481

through the hall, and swore to protect the Assembly. As the
Sections of the faubourgs St. Antoine and St. Marceau alone
showed any willingness to respond to the appeal of the Commune,
the Convention found itself strong enough to begin the attack.
Barras and Freron were despatched before midnight with two
columns against the Hotel de Ville ; while a sufficient guard, with
artillery, was left to protect the Assembly. Meanwhile, at the
Hotel de Ville, the Council of the Commune, with Robespierre and
the other outlawed deputies, were sitting in conclave. An insur-
rection was debated. Robespierre was at first irresolute; but as
the night wore on, and no other hope appeared, he reluctantly
consented to a rising. In conjunction with St. Just, he signed a
letter to Couthon, who had not yet arrived, inviting him to come
and aid the insurrection, as well as a proclamation to the same pur-
pose, addressed to his own section of the Piques; but such was
his agitation, that to the latter he only affixed the first two letters
of his name.1

The case did not seem altogether desperate. The Place de
Greve was filled with armed men and cannons ; the aid of the
Sections was confidently anticipated, from their having sent depu-
tations. But soon after midnight rumours began to arrive of their
defection ; emissaries from the advanced guard of the Conventional
forces began to penetrate among the armed masses in front of the
Hotel de Ville, and raised the cry of Vive la Convention ! which was
answered by several voices ; the proclamation of outlawry was
read, on which the crowd dispersed. \\ lien Henriot descended,
he found that all his troops and cannoniers had vanished. At the
same time the heads of Barras and Freron' s columns were beo*innino-
to appear; presently they surrounded the Hotel de Ville, with loud
shouts of Vive la Convention Nationale ! Some of them pene-
trated into the Council Chamber, when a strange sight presented
itself. The elder Robespierre was seen, his jaw broken by a pistol-
bullet;2 Lebas had blown out his brains ; Augustine Robespierre
had thrown himself out of window, but survived the fall ; Couthon
had contrived to escape from the Council Chamber, but was seized
by the mob and nearly thrown into the Seine ; Coffmhal, accusing
Henriot of cowardice, had thrown him out of window into a drain ;
he himself succeeded in escaping and concealed himself two or
three days in an island in the Seine, but was ultimately captured ;

1 Blanc, t. xi. p. 251 sqq. he was shot by Meda, a gendarme ; but,

2 It is doubtful whether he had at- on the whole, the former seems the more
tempted to commit suicide, or whether probable account.

IV. I I

482 DEATH AND CHARACTER OF ROBESPIERRE. [Chap. LVI.

St. Just alone awaited his fate with tranquillity. Robespierre
was conveyed to the apartments of the Committee of Public Wel-
fare, where, stretched on a table, wounded and dejected, his
countenance bloody and disfigured, he was exposed to the gaze
and maledictions of the spectators. His former colleagues came
to insult him, struck him, spat in his face; the clerks of the
bureau pricked him with their penknives.1 In the course of the
forenoon he was transferred to the Conciergerie, and thence
brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal, together with his
accomplices. After their identity had been proved, they were
sent to the scaffold, about five o'clock in the evening of 10th
Thermidor.

The guillotine had on this occasion been replaced in the Place
de la Revolution. The windows along the line of streets through
which the procession was to pass had been hired at large sums,
and were mostly filled by well-dressed women. Robespierre was
placed in a cart between Henriot and Couthon, who were also
mutilated. The gendarmes pointed him out with their swords to
the mob, who shouted A mort le tyran ! His jaw was wrapped in
a bloody cloth; his face already bore the lividness of death. Of
the twenty-one persons that were executed with him, Robespierre
mounted the scaffold last. He uttered a piercing shriek when the
executioner tore the bandage from his neck. The fall of his head
was hailed by the crowd with shouts of applause.

Robespierre had few or none of the qualities which are com-
monly supposed to characterize the leaders of great revolutions.
He had neither commanding ability, nor personal courage, nor
the popular manners and address which conciliate friends and
partisans ; his person was small and mean, his voice shrill and
disagreeable, his countenance repulsive, his habits selfish and
egotistical in the extreme. He had none of the coarseness that
marked the period.- He dressed himself with scrupulous neatness;
continued to wear hair-powder, though the disuse of it was a dis-
tinctive mark of Jacobinism ; abhorred the bonnet rouge and the
slang of the Revolution. He had the profoundest sense of his own
talents, and of his own virtue. His image was displayed in every
kind of art in his apartments. To what then must be attributed
the influence of such a man in those turbulent times ? First, he
seemed to be the living image of Rousseau's sentimentality, which
played so great a part in the Revolution. His discourses were
made up of commonplaces from Rousseau about the rights of man

1 Hist. Pari. t. xxxiv. p. 94.

Chap. LVI.] END OF THE REIGN OF TERROR. 483

and the sovereignty of the people, which he continuously and
monotonously repeated, without adding a single new idea of his
own.1 But amidst these commonplaces there was always a particu-
lar passage of sentiment and pathos respecting himself, his merits,
the labours of his painful career, his personal sufferings. These
appeals, which were aided by his pale and melancholy visage, had
a great effect, especially upon the women, and came so regularly
that the pocket-handkerchiefs were got ready beforehand.2 By
dint of labour he had acquired a style which bore some distant re-
semblance to Rousseau's. He was not covetous of money, and it is
said that at his lodgings were found only an assignat of fifty
livres, and some orders of the Constituent Assembly for his pay as
deputy, which he had not used.3 His passion was not avarice but
ambition, springing from boundless egotism and pride. His
cautiousness, cunning, and perseverance were among the chief
means of his success. He had the art to destroy his opponents
without exposing himself, by setting them against one another,
and then withdrawing from the scene of danger. But there was
one point of his character which fully identified him with the spirit
of the Revolution. He had no compunction in sacrificing human
life to any extent. In his case, however, this does not appear to
have arisen, as with Collot d'Herbois, Fouche, Carrier, and other
monsters of the period, from a mere savage thirst for human
blood, but because he thought such a course a necessary means
for carrying out his fanatical policy.

With the death of Robespierre the Reign of Terror may be said
to have ended. From the first establishment of the Revolutionary
Tribunal, down to the 9th Tkermidor, between 2,000 and 3,000
persons had perished by the guillotine in Paris.4 More than a
third of these victims were persons belonging to the lower classes,
such as workmen, soldiers, sempstresses, and women servants.
Bailleul, who was seven months in the Conciergerie, says that
almost all the persons who perished under his eyes belonged to
the class of citizens, and even smaller citizens. There were among-
them domestic servants, cobblers, and even a nightman ! 5 During
this period the public executioner was accustomed to apply daily
to the Revolutionary Tribunal, to know how many carts would be
required. But the Reign of Terror was not only dreadful through
these executions, it also interfered tyrannically in all the affairs of

1 Garat, in Hist. Pari. t. xviii. p. 333. 4 According to the Hist. Pari. (t. xxxiv.

2 Michelet, Hist, de la Eevol. t. iii. p. 97) 2669. Cf. Croker, Essays, p. 449.
liv. vi. ch. vi. 5 Kvamen, §c. t. ii. p. 216.

3 Blanc, t. xi. p. 263.

484 NECESSITY FOR A MILITARY DESPOTISM. [Chap. LVI.

life. The journals were subjected to a censorship; letters were-
officially and publicly opened at the post-office; the taxes were
unjustly levied; requisitions for money, horses, and other articles
were arbitrarily, and often fraudulently, made by the public officers
under terror of the guillotine.1 Nobody, not even the Treasury,
could tell the sums levied. To be rich was often a cause of accu-
sation, and always a certain ground of condemnation. Cambon,
the Finance Minister, used to call this "coining money on the
Place de la Revolution with the balance of the guillotine." 2

It has been thought that if the coup d'etat of the 9th Thermidot
had been favourable to Robespierre, the French Republic would
have terminated with him instead of Napoleon, and that, once in
possession of supreme power, he would have used it with modera-
tion. We must confess our opinion that though he had the art to
supplant his enemies, he had neither the genius nor the courage
which would have enabled him for any considerable time to have
been the ruler and dictator of a great nation. The facility with
which his overthrow was effected shows that his influence was
already on the wane ; and it seems probable that nothing but a
military despotism could have rescued France from the anarchy
into which she had fallen.

1 See Robespierre's Papers, No. 38, and Corr. inidltc du Comite de Salut Public,.
ap. Granier de Cassagnac, t. iii. p. 611 sq.
1 Barere, M&m. t. ii. p. 129.

Chap. LVII.] RISING OF THE POLES. 485

CHAPTER LVII.

WE must now direct our view to the general affairs of
Europe ; among which the state of Poland, to which we
have alluded in the preceding chapter/ first claims our attention.

The first partition of Poland and the Constitution of 1775,
guaranteed by Russia/ had placed it at the mercy of that Power,
more especially by means of the Permanent Council, composed of
Russian partisans, and directed by the Russian ambassador. King
Stanislaus Poniatowski himself was the mere creature of the Em-
press Catharine II., and had disgusted the Poles by the subser-
viency which he displayed towards her and Potemkin. Poland, in
short, was administered almost as if it already formed a Russian
province. Rumours were afloat of a fresh partition, which should
reduce it in reality to that condition, when the breaking out of
the war between Russia and the Porte, in 1787, seenied to offer
an opportunity for throwing off the Russian yoke. The patriot
party, led by Ignatius and Stanislaus Potocki, Kollontay, Kos-
ciuszko, Malachowski, and others, determined to embrace it.

Catharine II., desirous that the Poles should assist her in her
war against the Turks, proposed an alliance for that purpose to
Stanislaus Augustus and the Permanent Council. Such an
alliance, however, was contrary to ancient treaties subsisting*
between Poland and the Porte ; and King Stanislaus, however
willing to assist his mistress, was unable to do so without appeal-
ing to the constitutional, or four-years' diet, which was to meet in
October, 1788. As we have related in a former chapter,3 a com-
plete change had now been effected in the political aspect of
Europe through the triple alliance between Great Britain, the
United Provinces, and Prussia, with a view to oppose the designs
of Russia and Austria ; and the Polish patriots, reckoning on the

1 Supra, p. 466. See for the affairs of vercindcrungen ; Se'gur, Btgne de Fred.

Poland, Ferrand, Hist, des trois d6mem- Guillaume II. t. iii. ch. 12 ; K. A. Menzel,

hrements de la Pologne; Oginski, M6m. X. G-eseh. der Deutschen, B. it. Kap. 28;

sur la Pologne et les Polonais depuis 1788 Castera, Vie de Catherine II. sub fin.
jusqu'a 1815 (a work marked by candour 2 See vol. iii. p. 215.

and good feeling) ; Jekel, Polens Stoats- 3 See above, p. 230.

486 ENCOURAGED BY PRUSSIA. [Chap. LVII.

aid of Prussia and her allies, resolved to make a stand for liberty..
Great efforts were made by men of talent and energy to be elected
as nuncios to an Assembly which, it was believed, would alter and
fix the destinies of their country. Their first triumph was to con-
vert the Diet, the day after it met, into a Confederation, thus
obviating the liberum veto, and leaving matters to be decided by a
majority of votes. A note presented to the Diet by Courlt
Bucholtz, the Prussian Minister, October 12th, strongly protest- ]
ing, in the name of his master, against the alliance proposed by
Russia,1 inspired the patriots with unbounded confidence, espe-
cially as the Prussian Cabinet appeared resolved to support its
policy by arms; and the Russian ambassador found himself com- j
pelled to withdraw his proposal of an alliance. It must be remem- j
bered, therefore, as an important element in weighing the subse-
quent conduct of the King of Prussia towards the Poles, that it was
he who first sought their friendship, and by promises and profes-
sions encouraged them to expose themselves to all the dangers of
a rupture with Russia. Nor did he stop here. He approved the
projects of the Poles for reforming their Constitution, and libera-
ting themselves from Russian influence. These projects were in-
variably communicated to the Prussian Minister, and to Hailes,.
the English resident at Warsaw ; and when the Russian Minister
notified that the Empress would regard the slightest change
made in the Constitution of 1775 as a violation of treaties, the
Prussian Cabinet declared, in a note of November 19th, that no
previous guarantee could prevent the Poles from improving their
Constitution.

Thus encouraged, the Diet, in spite of the threats of Russia,
abolished the Permanent Council, January 18th, 1789, increased
the army, and instituted a Council of War, independent of the
King. But further reforms were too long delayed. It is probable
that if the Constitution of May 3rd, 1791, had been established a
year or two earlier, before the union of Prussia and Russia, with
regard to the affairs of France, had altered all Frederick William's
views as to Poland, she would not have lost the Prussian alliance,
and that her liberties might have been saved. There was, how-
ever, another condition necessary to secure the continued friend-
ship of Prussia. That Power had long coveted the possession of
Dantzic and Thorn. In April, 1789, the Marquis Lucchesini was
sent to Warsaw to negotiate for the cession of those places, with
instructions to denounce as an imposture the idea that Frederick

1 Mem. Oginski, t. i. p. 35 sqq.

Chap. LVII.] TREATY OF WAESAW. 487

William desired a fresh partition of Poland ; to assert that he
sought only the glory of delivering Europe from the ambition of
the barbarians of the North, and of restoring Poland to her former
position and liberty. Certain compensations were to be offered
to the Poles, and especially an advantageous treaty of commerce
with Prussia, England, and Holland. Several of the patriot party
were of opinion that the cession should be made.1 It was advo-
cated by the English Ministry, though not by the merchants of
England ; and probably it might have secured the Prussian
alliance, and have deprived that country of any motive for a
second partition of Poland. But it Was opposed by a numerous
party in the Diet, and especially by those who were in the interest
of Russia. Prussia, in consequence, abandoned the project for
the present, but she still kept her eyes fixed in that direction.
Meanwhile, as a war with Austria appeared imminent, Frederick
William, towards the end of 1789, expressed his desire of forming
an intimate connection with the Poles ; and urged them to fix, as
soon as possible, their form of government. In January, 1790,
the Prussian Minister signified that his Court approved of all the
reforms hitherto adopted by the Diet; proposed a defensive alliance,
coupled with a reduction of duties on Polish commodities ; and
though he concealed not how much the cession of Thorn and
Dantzic was desired, he did not insist upon that point, and all men-
tion of it was omitted in the defensive treaty concluded at Warsaw,
March 29th. In the treaty concluded between Prussia and the
Ottoman Porte in the previous January, it had been agreed that
Galicia, which had fallen to the share of Austria in the first par-
tition of Poland in 1772, should be wrested from her; and the
Cabinet of Berlin was inclined to restore this province, or, at all
events, a part of it, containing the salt works of Wieliczka, to the
Poles, as an equivalent for the cession of Dantzic and Thorn. But,
as we have said, the majority of the Diet were averse to cede those
ports, especially Dantzic, the key of the Vistula, and the subject
was therefore dropped.2 The sixth article of the Treaty of War-
saw is the most important, as having direct reference to Russia.'1
It purported that if any foreign Power whatever, in consequence
of preceding acts and stipulations, should assume the right of
meddling in the internal affairs of the Polish Republic, his Prus-

1 Mtm. Oginski, t. i. p. 34. Recueil, t. v. p. 125 sqq. (2nd ed.).

2 The correspondence between the 3 See Koch et Schbll, Hist, des Tr&itis,
Kings of Prussia and Poland on this t. xiv. p. 119. The treaty is in Martens,
subject will be found in Herzberg, Recueil, t. iv. p. 471.

Recueil, t. iii. p. 12 sqq. and in Martens,

488 POLISH CONSTITUTION OF 1791. [Chap. LVII.

sian Majesty would first employ his good offices to prevent any
hostilities that might arise from such a pretension ; and that if
these should fail, and Poland should be attacked, he would con-
sider himself bound to afford the assistance stipulated in the
present treaty, by which it was agreed that Prussia should furnish
30,000 men.

Meanwhile the framing of the new Constitution was proceeding
very slowly. The ill success of the Poles in their attempts to
establish their independence must in a great measure be ascribed
to themselves. Some of the magnates had sold themselves unre-
servedly to the enemies of their country ; others, who played the
double game of patriots, were still more dangerous to her.
Amongst the former were Branicki, the Crown General, who had
married a niece of Potemkm/s, and Count Rzewuski ; among the
latter, the most conspicuous was Felix Potocki, Marshal of
Lithuania; but the King himself was included in this category.
Potocki affected liberal principles, and, in common with Prince
Adam Czartoryski, Malachowski, Marshal of the Diet, and many
other nobles, had caused himself to be admitted a citizen of
Warsaw. At length the new Constitution was promulgated May
3rd, 1791.1 The principal articles of it were, that the Roman
Catholic faith should be the religion of the State, though dis-
senters were allowed the exercise of their worship, and full par-
ticipation in all civil rights ; the liherum veto was abolished ; and,
what was most important of all, the Crown was declared hereditary.
The discussion of this article had been attended with great
difficulties. To many of the Poles, to abandon the right of
election seemed to be to sacrifice their liberties, especially as every
noble might aspire to the Throne. The succession was settled, upon
the death of King Stanislaus, upon Frederick Augustus, Elector
of Saxony, and, in the event of his decease without male issue, on
the husband whom he might select for his daughter, with the
consent of the States. Should the reigning House become extinct,
then the elective right was to revert to the nation. The Elector
of Saxony, however, was far from being dazzled with the splendid
but precarious offer of the Polish Crown. He replied evasively,
and delayed a definitive answer till April, 1792; when he gave a
conditional assent, dependent on the approval of the neighbouring
Courts, and on certain changes to be made in the Constitution.2
The Constitution of May 3rd, and especially the article respecting

1 A risumi of it will be found in Koch and Scboll, t. xiv. p. 125, and in Ogin^ki,
Mt'm. t. i. p. 130 sqq. 2 Oginski, ibid, p 140.

Chap. LVH.] MACHINATIONS OF CATHARINE II. 489

the hereditary succession of the Crown, was far from being popular.
This article was carried in the Diet only by a small majority,
while of sixty Dietines or provincial Diets, only ten adopted it.1
Yet the elective right had mainly contributed to nourish anarchy
in Poland, and to afford the neighbouring Powers a pretence for
interfering in its affairs. The Russian party, by way of thwarting
the designs of Prussia on Dantzic and Thorn, had contrived to
obtain the insertion of an article prohibiting, under any circum-
stance, the transfer of any portion of the territory or sovereign
rights of Poland to a foreign Power. The Prussian Cabinet was
much opposed to the new Polish Constitution. They dreaded
that, as the Kingdom was to become hereditary, it might, by a
marriage with the Elector's daughter, fall into the hands of a
Russian or Austrian Prince, or of a small German Prince entirely
dependent on Austria or Russia. But Frederick William at that
time dreaded a breach with Russia, and was therefore desirous
of conciliating the Poles ; and he consequently both directly,2 and
through his Ambassador, Lucchesini, announced, both at Warsaw
and Dresden, his satisfaction at the happy revolution which had
been accomplished. These, however, as appeared from the result,
were mere perfidious compliments, on which the Poles laid too
much stress.

The Empress Catharine II., on the other hand, viewed the
proceedings of the Poles with a displeasure which she did not
attempt to conceal. Although the new Constitution substituted an
hereditary for an elective monarchy, and maintained the nobility
and their privileges, yet the patriot nobles, by their liberal mea-
sures, and especially by demanding the citizenship of Warsaw,
seemed to adopt the doctrine of equality ; and Catharine pre-
tended to recognize in the enthusiasm and effervescence which
reigned in Poland, the germ of those principles which agitated
France, and menaced every throne in Europe. The altered state
of things at the commencement of 1792 enabled her to wreak her
vengeance on the unhappy Poles. The Courts of Berlin and
Vienna were now reconciled, and jointly occupied in the war
against France, while the Peace of Jassy, between Russia and the
Turks, to which the English and Dutch had acceded, enabled
Catharine to dispose freely of her forces. Her first plan was to
occupy Poland without a participator; but from this she was

1 Essen's Berickt.&y. Hermann; Gesch. Justif. p. 252; and that to Stanislaus,
Busslands, B. vi. S. 354 ft'. May 23rd, ap. Oginski, t. i. p. 140. Cf. Von

2 See his letter to Count Golt. in Segur, Sybel, Revolutionszeit, vol. i. p. 340 scp
Begne de Fr. Guillaume II. t. iii. Pieces (Eng. transl.)

490 CONFEDERATION OF TAEGOWITZ. [Chap. LVII.

deterred by the good understanding between Austria and Prussia.
It was necessary, therefore, to conciliate those Powers, as well as
to offer them some allurement for the prosecution of the French
war, which interested her much, though she took no part in it.
Both the German Powers wanted compensation for their risks and
expenses in the war against France ; Prussia desired a Polish pro-
vince, and the imagination of the Austrian Emperor Francis II. was
inflamed by Catharine's suggestion of an exchange of Belgium for
some Bavarian territory.1 It was not difficult for Catharine to
get up a strong party in Poland itself, where she had already
numerous adherents, and where many of the grandees were dis-
gusted at being excluded by the new Constitution from all chance
of the throne. Among these last the principal were Felix Po-
tocki, Severin Rzewuski, and Branicki, the Crown General. These
nobles were invited to St. Petersburg, and formed with the Rus-
sian Cabinet a conspiracy for the overthrow of the Polish Consti-
tution. King Stanislaus, the slave of Catharine, lent himself to
the same design. All the projected reforms were delayed ; the
public offices were filled with the open or secret adherents of
Russia ; Branicki was appointed Minister at War, and all prepa-
rations for defence were neglected.2

The result of these plots was manifested by the Confederation
op Taegowitz, May, 1792, formed with the avowed object of re-
storing what may be called the Russian Constitution of 1775.
About the same time Catharine published a sort of manifesto, in
which she declared the new Constitution illegal and dangerous,
and intimated to the Poles that they must return to their ancient
laws, or she would constrain them by force. The manifest of the
Confederation had also been prepared at St. Petersburg, and
Potocki, Branicki, and Rzewuski only returned into Poland with
the Russian troops. The majority of the Poles, however, still
continued to retain their confidence in King Stanislaus and in
the King of Prussia. The Diet, after publishing a Declaration in
answer to that of Russia, and declaring their intention to defend
their rights, adjourned themselves, May 30th, for an indefinite
period, and thus put themselves in the power of , Stanislaus and
his ministry. Stanislaus for a while kept up appearances, and he
addressed a letter to Frederick William II. calling on him for
the aid stipulated by the Treaty of Warsaw (May 31st). The
Prussian King, in his answer (June 8th), stated whit was true

1 Von Sybelf Revolutionszeit. Book vi, ch. 2.

2 Homme d'etat, t. i. p. 384.'

Chap. LVII.] PRUSSIAN TREACHERY. 491

enough as to his private sentiments, but not, aa we have seen, as
to his public acts, that he had never approved of the new Consti-
tution, though he had done nothing to hinder it ; that, but for
this Constitution, and the measures taken to uphold it, Eussia
would never have resorted to coercive measures ; that, whatever
his friendship for Stanislaus, the state of things had completely
altered since the defensive alliance was made ; that the present
conjuncture, having arisen since the Constitution of May 3rd,
could not be brought under the obligations of the Treaty of
Warsaw ; that consequently he was not bound to oppose the
present attacks of Russia, so long as the patriotic party persisted
in their views ; but if this party would reconsider them, he would
unite with Russia and Austria in endeavouring to conciliate
matters.

It is true enough that the French declaration of war against
Austria, and the alliance of Prussia with the latter Power, had
made a great alteration in the state of things, though hardly
enough to release Frederick William from his solemn obligations.
It has been alleged in his defence that he was alarmed at the re-
semblance between some of the speeches made in the Diet and
those of the French revolutionists ; and that to carry on a war
with Russia and France at the same time was an absolute impos-
sibility.1 We have, however, before had occasion to remark," that
the war with France was little more than a screen and pretence
for Prussia's selfish designs upon Poland. In fact, months be-
fore Catharine had avowed her designs, and when the war be-
tween Austria and France, though imminent, was not yet de-
clared, the Cabinets of Berlin and St. Petersburg had already
come to an understanding upon the affairs of Poland ; and Catha-
rine, as we have already said, had offered Frederick William a
share in the second partition of that country, provided that, in
conjunction with Austria, he should consent to march against
France.3

King Stanislaus issued a proclamation, July 4th, calling on the
Poles to defend their independence, and asserting that he was
resolved to share their fortunes. Yet, instead of proceeding to
the camp, he remained at Warsaw, though the Russian army,
100,000 strong, had entered Poland in May. He had, indeed,
already entered into a secret understanding with Russia ; and had

1 See Menzel, loc. tit. * Supra, p. 387.

3 See the Duke of Brunswick's Letter to Bischofswerder, February 19th, 1792,
and Hardenberg's remarks upon it, Homme d'ttat, t. i. p. 353 sq.

492 THADDEUS KOSCIUSZKO. [Chap. LVII.

written a letter to the Empress proposing to her Prince Constan-
tine as his successor, imploring her to take a compassionate view
of his situation. He had also prevented the Polish army, of
which his nephew Joseph Poniatowski was commander-in-chief,
from undertaking anything important, had in fact forbidden his
nephew to venture upon a battle. Yet the Poles had proved in
several skirmishes that they had not degenerated from their
ancient valour. In these affairs, Thaddeus Kosciuszko, who had
received his military education in France, and completed it under
Gates and Washington in the American war of liberation, dis-
tinguished himself by his valour and conduct. His exploit at
Dubienka, July 17th, where, with 4,000 Poles, he had maintained
his post against the efforts of 18,000 Russians, showed what
might have been accomplished by courage and resolution. Yet
a few days after (July 23rd) Stanislaus acceded to the Confede-
ration of Targowitz. Catharine had directed him to do so in her
reply to his letter, as the sole condition on which she could con-
tinue to call herself his sister and friendly neighbour. Felix Po-
tocki was proclaimed Marshal of the Confederation, August 2nd,
which was now called the " Confederation of the Crown ;" an
armistice was concluded, the command of the Polish army was
restored to the ancient generals, the troops assembled near War-
saw were dismissed, and the Russians occupied Praga, a suburb
of that city. The confederates of Targowitz being now masters
of the Government, appointed an executive Commission of six,
who assumed the sovereign joower, and left the King not a shadow
of authority.

The Prussians were now to play their part. A treaty for the
partition of Poland had been signed between the Cabinets of
Berlin and St. Petersburg, January 4th, 1793, and soon after a
Prussian army occupied Great Poland. On January 16th, Prussia
published a Declaration stating that the grounds for this step
were, the disturbances that had arisen in Poland in consequence
of the new Constitution, established without consulting neighbour-
ing Powers ; the secret agitations still kept up, to the danger of
the public peace ; and especially the propagation of French prin-
ciples in Poland, which excited in the King of Prussia apprehen-
sions for the safety of his own dominions. Under these circum-
stances, being about to undertake another campaign, he had
come to an agreement with the Courts of Vienna and St. Peters-
burg that it would be impolitic to leave an enemy behind him ;
and it only remained for the well-disposed inhabitants to deserve

Chap. LVII.] DIET OF GRODNO. 493

his protection by their quiet behaviour.1 This was followed by
another Declaration, directed against Dantzic, February 24th,
and charging the inhabitants with having displayed for a long
series of years, an unfriendly feeling towards Prussia, harbouring
the dangerous sect of Jacobins, supplying the enemy with provi-
sions, &c. Nothing could be more unfounded than these charges
against the Poles of entertaining French revolutionary principles.
So far from there being any Jacobin clubs in Poland, her most
distinguished orators denounced the French levellers, who in
turn abused the Poles, and ridiculed their new Constitution.
Prussia was in every sense of the word the aggressor, without
the shadow of a legal pretext.2 The Council and citizens of
Dantzic offered to surrender, on condition that their ancient con-
stitution should be preserved, and that the fortifications of the
town should remain in possession of the municipality, and be
garrisoned by their troops. These terms were refused, Dantzic
was blockaded by General Yon Raurner, March 8th, the outworks
were gradually taken, and on April 8th it opened its gates.

Frederick William had published a patent on the 25th of
March, announcing to the States and inhabitants of the Palati-
nates of Posen, Gnesen, Kalisch, Siradia, Lentschitz, Rawa,
Plotzk, the town and convent of Czenstochowa, the districts
Wielun, Cujavia, Dobrzyn, the towns of Dantzic and Thorn, that
they were henceforth to consider themselves Prussian subjects.
They were invited to assemble as soon as possible in a Diet, in
order to settle these matters in an amicable manner. But, with-
out waiting for its decision, they were to regard Frederick Wil-
liam as their Sovereign, and to present themselves to do homage
to him. A proclamation of the Russian general, of a similar
tenor, appeared April 7th, announcing that he took possession for
the Empress of the counties of Poloczk, Yilna, Novogrodek,
Brzesc, the greater part of Yolhynia, of what remained of
Podolia, and of the Palatinates of Kiew and Bracklaw. The pro-
vinces now seized by Frederick William were put on the same
footing with those previously acquired, and received the name of
South Prussia. Homage was done to that Sovereign at Posen,
May 3rd.

The Diet of Grodno, which was to sanction the cessions to the
two Powers, assembled June 17th, 1793. The Permanent Council

1 Politisches Journal, January, 1793, t. iii. p. 152 note; Oginski, Mem. t. i.
ap. Menzel, B. iv. 8. 394. Of. Homme p. 226; Von Sybel, Eevolutionszdt, ii.
d'etat, t. ii. p. 193. p. -A20 (Eng. transl.).

2 Segur, Eigne de Fr. Guillaume II.

494 SECOND PARTITION OF POLAND. [Chap. LVII.

had been previously re-established at the instance, or rather by
the threats, of Sievers, the Russian ambassador. The Diet ex-
hibited the greatest reluctance to enter into the treaties demanded
by Russia and Prussia for the dismemberment of Poland ; and
they appealed against them, but of course without effect, to all
the Courts with which the Republic was connected. Finding
themselves at length compelled to submit, they endeavoured to
make a separate treaty with Russia, in the hope that Catharine
would defend them against the claims of Frederick William ; and
some authors have asserted that the Russian Empress made
them a promise to that effect, although the two Courts had de-
clared that they would treat only jointly.1 However this may be,
the Diet could at first be brought only to appoint a deputation
to treat with Russia. The treaty with that Power, signed July
13th, and ratified by the Diet, August 17th,2 transferred to
Russia the provinces already named, comprising a surface of 4,553
geographical square miles, and a population of more than three
million souls.

The Diet, after the arrangement of this treaty, with a credulity
which seems to have marked the Polish character, requested Sievers
to engage the mediation of his Sovereign with Frederick William, in
order to induce him to restore the provinces which he had occu-
pied, and to indemnify the Republic for the wrongs and losses
which that act had occasioned ! But Sievers insisted that they
should appoint a deputation to treat with the Prussian Minister ;
and, after a violent debate, the votes being equally balanced,
Stanislaus Augustus turned the scale in favour of Prussia, in the
hope, apparently, of saving some small remnant of his dominions.
But the members of the Diet, as if by common consent, remained
obstinately silent, although Sievers caused several of them to be
arrested by his Cossacks, and surrounded the chamber with
troops and cannon. In this state of things, Count Bialinski,
Marshal of the Diet, a devoted partisan of Russia, having thrice
demanded whether the Assembly authorized the deputation to
sign the treaty with the King of Prussia, and receiving no answer,
interpreted the silence as consent, and directed the deputation to
conclude.

The Treaty of Grodno with Prussia was signed September 25th,
1793.3 The provinces before enumerated, provisionally seized by
Frederick William II., were ceded to that Sovereign. They con-

1 Regur, he. cit. s Martens, Becueil, t. v. p. 530.

3 Martens, ibid. p. 544.

Chap. LVII.] FRESH INSURRECTION. 495

tained 1,061 square miles of territory, peopled by more than three
and a half million souls.

The Confederation of Targowitz having fulfilled its purpose,
Catharine caused it to be annulled, and the old Constitution was
nominally restored, September 15th. The Prussian treaty was
almost immediately followed by a treaty of alliance between the
Polish Republic and the Empress Catharine, October 16th.1 This
convention, under the names of an indissoluble union and defen-
sive alliance, virtually rendered the Poles subject to Russia. The
King and Republic of Poland engaged to leave the direction of
military and political matters to the Empress and her successors;
her troops were to have free entry into Poland; and the Republic
were to conclude no treaties with foreign Powers, nor even to
negotiate with them, except in concert with Russia.

Among the last acts of the Diet of Grodno were a revision of
the Constitution, the restoration of the King to the prerogatives
of which he had been deprived by the Confederation of Targowitz,
and the readjustment of what remained of Poland into eleven
Palatinates, eight in Poland and three in Lithuania. It separated
November 24th, after annulling all the acts of the Confederation
of Targowitz, and thus, among other things, re-establishing a
military order for those who should distinguish themselves in a
war against Russia ! For suffering these decrees to pass,
through inadvertence, Sievers was superseded in the Russian
embassy by General Igelstrom, a man of still more violent cha-
racter. Igelstrom compelled the King and Permanent Council to
cancel the Decrees by what was called a Universal, January 10th,
1794.

After the disastrous campaign of 1792 several of the Polish
patriots, as Kollentay, Ignatius Potocki, Kosciuszko, and others,
had retired into Saxony. But they were still animated with the
hope of rescuing their country from oppression ; and it was not
long before an arbitrary act of the Russian ambassador seemed to
offer an opportunity for accomplishing their purpose. Igelstrom
had directed the Permanent Council to reduce the Polish army to
15,000 men. This measure, besides wounding the national feel-
ings, was unjust in a pecuniary point of view. Many officers had
purchased their posts, and depended on them for subsistence ;
some were in advance for the pay of the soldiers, others had
enlisted them at their own expense. This offence was given at a
moment when the national feeling was already in a state of fer-

1 Martens, ibid. p. 536.

496 KOSCIUSZKO GENERALISSIMO. [Chap. LVII.

mentation. Much excitement and turbulence had been displayed
in the Didines assembled in February, 1794,for the elections under
the new Constitution. The symptoms were so alarming that Igel-
strbin deemed it necessary to form a Russian camp near Warsaw,
to retain that city in obedience. The insurrection of 1794 was
commenced by Madalinski, a general of brigade, stationed at Pul-
tusk, about eight leagues from Warsaw. Madalinski, having been
ordered to reform his corps according to the new regulations, re-
fused to do so till they had received their pay, which was two
months in arrear ; and he marched towards Cracow, skirting the
provinces recently annexed to Prussia. Kosciuszko, who was at
Dresden, hearing of this movement, hastened to Cracow, where he
was proclaimed generalissimo, March 24th, 1794. The Russian
garrison of that place had marched against Madalinski. Kos-
ciuszko, having assembled the citizens, proclaimed the Constitu-
tion of May 3rd, 1791, amidst the greatest enthusiasm. He also
issued a proclamation, calling on the whole nation to assert their
independence, and employed himself in organizing his little army,
to which he added a number of peasants armed with scythes. With
these tumultuary forces he attacked and defeated a body of 7,000
Russians at Raslawice, April 4th ; an affair, indeed, of no great
importance, but which encouraged the troops with hopes of further
victories.

The King and Permanent Council, in a Universal published
April 11th, declared the leaders of the insurrection rebels and
traitors, ordered them to be brought to trial, exhorted the Poles to
obedience, warned them by the example of France of the dangers
of rebellion. To this, however, little heed was given. The forces
of Kosciuszko increased daily, and Igelstrom, distrusting the
garrison of Warsaw, first occupied the castle and other posts with
Russian soldiers ; subsequently, being compelled to weaken his
troops there by detaching some of them against the insurgents,
he resolved to disarm the Polish garrison. But this scheme got
wind, and the insurrectionary leaders resolved to anticipate it.
On the night of April 16th, the Polish garrison and the citizens
of Warsaw flew to arms and massacred the Russians wherever
they were found in small numbers. A bloody fight ensued in the
streets, the Russians retreating from one quarter to another, till
at last, after a resistance of thirty-six hours, which cost the Rus-
sians more than 4,000 men, killed, wounded, or made prisoners,
Igelstrom, with the remainder of his troops, succeeded in escap-
ing from the town, and took refuge in the Prussian camp in the

CHAr. LVII.] SIEGE OF WARSAW. 497

vicinity.1 The citizens of Warsaw now signed the new Confede-
ration, and recognized Kosciuszko as their commander-in-chief;
King Stanislaus was deprived of his authority, but treated with
the respect due to his rank.

The news of this insurrection was the signal for a rising in
Lithuania. The citizens of Vilna flew to arms on the night of
April 23rd, and massacred or made prisoners nearly all the Russian
garrison. A similar scene took place at Grodno. A criminal
tribunal erected at Vilna condemned to death the Bishop Kossa-
kowski, a partisan of Russia. The insurrection now spread rapidly
through all the Palatinates. The entire Polish army declared for
Kosciuszko; the regiments which had entered the Russian service
deserted en masse, and ranged themselves under his colours. An
ordinance, published at the camp of Polanice, May 10th, 1794,
established a National or Supreme Council of eight members for
the government of the Republic. The King was entirely set
aside, though suffered to retain his title. Kosciuszko himself had
been invested with dictatorial power, which he employed only for
the good of his country.

Colonel Manstein now persuaded Frederick William II. to
enter Poland with his army, neglecting the campaign on the
Rhine; and, though Count Haugwitz and Marshal Mollendorf
protested against so open a breach of the treaty recently concluded
with England and Holland at the Hague, it was decided that, in
the French war,2 Prussia should do only what was absolutely un-
avoidable. The Prussian troops invaded Poland in various

I quarters, and on June 3rd, the King himself entered the territory
of Cracow with reinforcements, intending to form a junction with
a Russian corps under General Denisoff. Kosciuszko, to prevent
this, attacked Denisoff at Szczekociny, June 6th. He was not
aware that the Prussians were so near at hand till they fell upon
his left wing, and by their superior numbers compelled him to re-
treat with considerable loss. He now withdrew to Gora, a town
about ten leagues from Warsaw, where he entrenched himself. In
order to animate the Poles, the Supreme Council published a

j declaration of war against Prussia, June 12th, signed by Ignatius
Potocki. On the 15th Cracow surrendered to a Prussian corps;
an event which induced the Emperor Francis II. to declare him-
self. A change had taken place in the counsels of the Court of
Vienna, now directed by Thugut. Early in June, Francis re-

1 The Poles lost only 356 men killed and wounded. Von Sybel, vol. iii. p 391
'Eng. Tr.). 2 Von Sybel, iii. 399 sq. (Eng. Tr.).

IV. K K

498 PRUSSIAN TYRANNY IN POLAND. [Chap. LVII.

solved to abandon his Belgian provinces, and to seek compensa-
tion in Bavaria and Poland.1 Catharine had invited him to inter-
vene in the affairs of Poland by way of counterpoise to Prussia,
whose ambitious designs she was desirous of limiting.2 Having
quitted his army, and returned to Vienna, he directed General
D'Arnoncourt to announce by a proclamation, June 30th, that to
avert the danger arising to the Province of Galicia from the dis-
turbances in Poland, he had been ordered to enter that country
with his forces.3 A corps d'armee of 17,000 Austrians accordingly
marched on Brzesc and Dubnow.

Kosciuszko had retired from Gora to Warsaw. That city was
unfortified, and Kosciuszko covered it on its western side by an
entrenched camp. He had been followed by Frederick William,
who took up a position at Vola, about a league from Warsaw.
From his camp at this place he addressed a letter to King
Stanislaus, August 2nd, demanding the surrender of Warsaw,
threatening it with military execution if taken by assault. Stanis-
laus, who had, in fact, no authority in the matter, replied, that
as Kosciuszko's army lay between the town and the Prussians, he
had no power to order its surrender ; and he deprecated Frede-
rick William's threats of cruelty and vengeance, as contrary to
the example which kings owed to their people, and, as he sin-
cerely thought, at variance with the King of Prussia's personal
character.4

Many assaults had been delivered, Kosciuszko's entrenchments
were falling gradually into the hands of the Prussians, and the
capture of Warsaw appeared imminent, when Frederick William,
to the surprise of the Poles, suddenly departed with precipitation,
leaving behind his sick and wounded, and a large part of his bag-
gage (September 6th). The reason for Frederick William's retreat
was the breaking out of an insurrection in the provinces recently
annexed to Prussia. The Prussian yoke was much more intoler-
able to the Poles than the Russian. All civil employments in the
subjugated provinces were filled by Germans ; the inhabitants
were subject to a civil and criminal code, published in German,
and were constrained to learn that tongue. The withdrawal of the
Prussian troops for the siege of Warsaw affording an opportunity,
an insurrection broke out in Siradia, August 23rd, and soon
spread to the other provinces of Great Poland. The towns of

1 See the next chapter, campaign of 3 Oginski, Mim. t. i. p. 410.

1794. 4 Ibid. t. ii. p. 3 sqq. Homme d' (tat,

2 Homme d'etat, t. iii. p. 13. t. iii. p. 56.

'Chap, lvii.] finis poloni^e. 499

Posen, Petrikau, and one or two others, having Prussian garri-
sons, were alone retained in obedience. Kosciuszko took advan-
tage of the rebellion to despatch Dembrowski with a considerable
corps into West Prussia. Dembrowski seized the town of Brom-
berg and the magazines collected there, and compelled the inhabi-
tants to take an oath of fealty to the Polish Republic ; an exploit
which occasioned such alarm at Berlin that Prince Hohenlohe with
his corps was recalled from the Rhine.

But this success was only partial and temporary. On other
sides the prospects of the Poles began to lower. A Russian army
under Knoring and Souboff had assembled in Lithuania, and as it
advanced, that of the Poles melted away. The Lithuanians under
General Chlewinski were entirely defeated August 12th, Vilna
was compelled to open its gates, and the whole province was
speedily recovered by the Russians. Early in September, Suva-
roff, recalled from the Turkish frontiers, entered Volhynia with
20,000 men, and directed his march upon Warsaw. On the 18th
he dislodged the Polish general Sierakowski, posted with 15,000
men at Krupczyce, near Brzesc, and defeated him next day on the
banks of the Bug. The Poles lost 6,000 men and thirty guns on
this bloody day. Suvaroff having formed a junction with Prince
Repnin, who was marching* on Warsaw from Grodno, Kosciuszko
hastened to oppose them. At Maciejowice he met the corps of
General Fersen, who was waiting for Repnin and Suvaroff, and
immediately attacked him, October 10th. But the reinforce-
ments which Kosciuszko expected did not arrive ; the Russians,
irritated by the carnage at Warsaw, fell with inexpressible fury
upon the Poles, and made a terrible slaughter. As the fate of the
day hung doubtful, Kosciuszko, with his principal officers and the
elite of his cavalry, dashed into the thickest of the fight, when his
horse having fallen with him, he was made prisoner.1 He had
received some severe wounds in the head and other parts, and
was lono- insensible. On recovering his consciousness he is said
to have uttered the words, Finis Polonice ! On this fatal day,
3,000 more prisoners, including many distinguished officers, and
all the artillery and baggage, fell into the hands of the Russians ;
the field of battle was strewed with the bodies of 6,000 Poles.

The news of the disaster struck Warsaw with consternation.
Nevertheless the revolutionary leaders resolved not to abandon

1 Kosciuszko was liberated on the England, he established himself at Fon-
accession of the Emperor Paul. After tainebleau, and subsequently in Switzer-
passing some time in America and land, where he died in 1817.

500 SURRENDER OF WARSAW. [Chap. LYI1.

the national cause. The command-in-chief was confided to Wawr-
zecki, and Prince Poniatowski was directed to march to the aid
of Dernbrowski and Madalinski, who were returning from their
expedition into Prussia. Poniatowski, by attacking' the Prussians
at Sochaczen, October 22nd, occasioned a diversion which enabled
the two generals to effect their retreat to "Warsaw.

De Favrat, the commander of the Prussian army, crossed the
Vistula at Viszgorod, and surrounded Warsaw on the western
side, while the Russians, under Derfelden and Fersen, invested
the suburb of Praga, on the right bank of the Vistula. They were
joined towards the end of October by Suvaroff. Praga, though
defended by 100 guns, was assaulted and taken by the Russians,
and being chiefly built of wood, was almost entirely destroyed by
fire, November 4th. Of the Polish garrison, consisting of 26,000
men, 12,000 perished in the assault; 10,000 more were taken
prisoners ; of the remainder, who endeavoured to escape to War-
saw, 2,000 were drowned in the Vistula. The inhabitants of
Praga, to the number of 12,000 of both sexes, including infants
and aged persons, were massacred.1 This terrible catastrophe, to
which history offers but few parallels, filled Warsaw with conster-
nation and despair. The magistrates were desirous of capitulat-
ing, but the troops would not hear of it. At length the National
Council and General Wawrzecki replaced the sovereign power in
the hands of Stanislaus ; the latter retired with the troops and
122 guns, November 7th; and two days after, Suvaroff, after re-
pairing the bridge over the Vistula, which had been burnt, en-
tered Warsaw. He had refused to grant a capitulation, but had
promised the inhabitants that their lives and property should be
respected. Wawrzecki was pursued by Denisoff and Fersen.
Finding his provisions fail, he dismissed his infantry at Opoczno,
and with the other generals and his cavalry endeavoured to reach
Galicia; but they were attacked at Radoczyn, November 18th,
and made prisoners. Most of the leaders of the rebellion were
carried into Russia. Such was the end of the Polish insurrection
of 1794. In spite of the amnesty promised by Suvaroff, Catha-
rine caused Ignatius Potocki, Mostowski, and other leaders of the
insurrection who had remained at Warsaw, to be arrested. The
more distinguished patriots were proscribed, their estates were
confiscated, and those who had been captured were thrown into
dungeons at St. Petersburg, while some thousands of a meaner
sort were transported to the deserts of Siberia.

1 But this number is probably an exaggeration. See Von Sybel, iv. p. 147 note.

€hap. LVII "] THIRD PARTITION OF POLAND. 501

Russia, Austria, and Prussia now quietly divided their blood-
stained prey, and Poland was blotted out from the map of Europe.
It was arranged by the Convention of St. Petersburg-, January
3rd, 1795, that besides the Duchy of Courland, a former fief of
Poland, Russia should have the Duchy of Semigallia, the district
of Pilten, Samogitia, part of the Palatinates of Troki and Chelm,
the remainder of those of Vilna, Novogrodek, Brzesc, and Volhy-
nia. To Austria were assigned the town and greater part of the
Palatinate of Cracow, the Palatinates of Sandomeirz and Lublin,
and part of those of Chelm, Podlachia, and Masovia. The lot of
Prussia was the remains of the Palatinates of Rawa and Plotzk,
part of Masovia, including Warsaw, which the Prussians had not
been able to take, and portions of Podlachia, Troki, and Cracovia.
Each of these three shares contained a population of about
1,000,000 souls, some a little more or less. This division was
confirmed by a threefold treaty between the Powers, signed at
St. Petersburg, October 24th, 1795.1 Disputes had, however,
arisen between Austria and Prussia about the division of Cracovia,
the situation of which renders it important as the key both of
Galicia and Silesia. The Prussians were in possession of Cracow,
and seemed disposed to retain it by force. The point was reserved
for future negotiation under the arbitration of the Empress. It
was only through her threat to retain Warsaw that the Prussians
were brought to evacuate Cracovia. The Austrians entered that
province in January, 1796, when the Russians retired from War-
saw, and a Prussian garrison was admitted. The demarcation of
Cracovia was finally regulated under Russian mediation, October
21st, 1796.2

In October, 1795, King Stanislaus, who had been sent into a
kind of banishment at Grodno, was directed to lay down the
crown of Poland, which he had worn since 1764. He signed the
Act of Abdication, November 25th/ A pension of 200,000 ducats
was assigned to him. After the accession of Paul I. he took up
his residence at St. Petersburg, in which city he died February
12th, 1798. Pierre de Biron, last Duke of Courland, had abdi-
cated in favour of Catharine at St. Petersburg, March 28th, 1795.

Thus was completed one of the most shameful passages in the
history of Europe. Poland, however, or rather the great body of
the people, could hardly suffer by a change of masters. Nine-
tenths of the population consisted of wretched serfs, steeped in the

1 Martens, Recueil, t. vi. p. 168 sqq. 8 Martens, Recueil, t. vi. p. 175.

(2nd Ed.) 3 Ibid. p. 182.

502 DEATH OF CATHARINE II. [Chap. LVII.

lowest depths of poverty, ignorance, brutality, and wretchedness.
What really fell, as a modern writer observes, was the inhuman
rule of a few nobles.1 Catharine II. did not long outlive these
events. She was carried off by apoplexy, November 17th,
1796, in the sixty-seventh year of her age. The policy of her
latter years was marked by her hatred of the French Revolution,
modified by a paramount regard to her own interest. She renewed
the treaty of commerce with England, which expired in 1786,
granted the English fresh privileges, and forbade the importation
of French merchandise. She also endeavoured to persuade the
Ottoman Porte to expel all the French from their dominions, and
sent Kutusoff to Constantinople for that purpose, but without
success. By a new treaty with England in 1796, she agreed to
despatch twelve ships of the line and eight frigates to join the
English fleet, on condition of receiving an annual subsidy of one
million sterling, besides the expenses of the squadron ; but, at
the same time, she ordered her Admiral not to fight!2 She was on
the point of signing a treaty with England and Austria to supply
an army of 60,000 men against the French, but on condition that
they should assist her in driving the Turks from Constantinople,
when she was surprised by death. She was also implicated at
this moment in a war with Persia. Beholding England and the
greater part of Europe engaged in a war with France, her restless
ambition made her regret having abandoned her projects for the
subjugation of Turkey. The anarchy, however, which reigned in
Persia since the death of Thamas Kouli Khan, and which was
fomented by Russian policy, just as that of Poland had been for
its own interested purposes, inspired Catharine with the hope of
extending her conquests in that direction. She dreamt of nothing
less than conquering Persia, and reviving the magnificent but
impracticable and disastrous plan of Peter the Great for diverting
the commerce of the East towards Russia, through the Persian
Gulf, the Caspian, or the Black Sea. The details of this Asiatic
war belong not to our subject. It will suffice to state that an ex-
pedition was undertaken early in 1796, under the conduct of
Count Valerian ZoubofF, one of Catharine's favourites. Derband,
the capital of Daghestan, was taken . But the army was prevented
from penetrating much further by epidemic maladies occasioned
by the heats of summer and the immoderate use of fruit; and
Paul I., on his accession, recalled his troops from this hopeless
enterprise.

1 Von Sybel. 2 Castera, Vie de Catherine (Remarque Add.).

Chap. LVII.] PAUL I. PETROWITSCH. 503

Tho character of Catharine II. may be gathered from her
history. This extraordinary woman, a foreigner, with no legal
title to the throne, steeped in the grossest immorality, her hands
imbrued in her husband's blood, had governed Russia despotically
more than thirty years. This could not have been accomplished
without vast administrative talent ; but it could have been done
only in a country in the condition in which Russia then was.
In spite of her sensuality, Catharine had intellectual aspirations,
and corresponded with Voltaire. She was fond of children, and
her manners were affable and engaging. She had been pretty
when young ; her countenance was agreeable, and betrayed not
the crimes of which she had been guilty, though, as she advanced
in life, it assumed a somewhat sinister expression, and the lower
part betrayed her sensuality. She was of middling stature, well
proportioned, of a graceful and dignified carriage, though at last
too corpulent. Her complexion was light, with blue eyes and
chestnut hair.

Catharine was succeeded by her son, Paul I. Petrowitsch. At
the funeral of the Empress, Paul resolved to make some atone-
ment to his father's ashes. He directed the tomb in the church
of St. Alexander Newski, where the body of Peter III. had lain
since 1762, to be opened; the coffin to be placed upon a bed of
state, next to that of Catharine, having upon it the imperial
crown, which had been brought expressly from Moscow; a love-
knot united the two coffins, with the following inscription : " Di-
vided in life, united in death." Alexis Orloff and Prince Bara-
tinski were ordered to attend the funeral, and were kept three
hours before the eyes of the spectators. Orloff s nerves carried
him through the ordeal without his betraying any emotion, but
it was with difficulty that Baratinski could be kept from fainting.
Orloff received an intimation that he was permitted to travel, and
Baratinski was forbidden to appear at Court.1 It is probable
that Paul's conduct in this affair was dictated as much by
hatred of his mother as by respect for his father's memory.
It was impossible that he should feel any sentiments but those
of abhorrence for the unnatural parent who had murdered his
father, who had usurped his own crown, who had kept him at a
distance, it may be said in disgrace, unprovided with the neces-
saries of his condition, who had deprived him of the society
and government of his children, and whom he saw prostituting
herself, to the latest period of her life, to a continual succession

1 Castera, liv. xii.

504 THE SCANDINAVIAN KINGDOMS. [Chap. LVII.

of lovers. It may also be owing to the same cause, that Paul, as
we shall have occasion to see, reversed at first much of the policy
of his mother, though he, like her, was a determined enemy of
the French Revolution.1 He began his reign by a step which
testified his disapprobation of the cruelties exercised in Poland.
He restored to liberty more than 14,000 Poles exiled or im-
prisoned in consequence of the last insurrection. Kosciuszko,
Potocki, and many others, were not only liberated, but their
estates were also restored to them on their promising to live
peaceably.2 Paul, accompanied by his son Alexander, visited
Kosciuszko in his prison, and, being naturally tender hearted, is
said to have shed an abundance of tears at the sight of his misery ,3
Of the Scandinavian kingdoms, Denmark, as we have seen,
refused to participate in the great convulsion that was agitating
Europe. Christian VII. remained the nominal Sovereign of that
country down to his death in 1808, but imbecility of mind ren-
dered him incompetent to govern. The affairs of Denmark were
administered by the Prince Royal, Frederick, afterwards Frede-
rick VI., with the assistance of an able Ministry, and especially
Count Bernstoff. Under this beneficent government Denmark
enjoyed a remarkable prosperity. The liberties of the people
were extended, their grievances abolished, learning, science,
and education promoted. The French Revolution found, on the
other hand, no more zealous and active opponent than Gustavus
III. of Sweden. It was this feeling, which they had in common,
that united him with Catharine II. The political differences of
these sovereigns had assumed a character of personal animosity ;
but the abhorrence which both felt for the democratic principles
of the French converted this feeling into a friendship and union
which lasted till the death of Gustavus. The chivalrous but
imprudent spirit of Gustavus was flattered with the idea of
leading the crusade of the Sovereigns against France. He
entered into correspondence with Monsieur, the Count d'Artois,
the Marquis de Bouille, and other chiefs of the emigration. In
the spring of 1791 he repaired to Aix-la-Chapelle, under pretence
of taking the waters, but in 'reality to consult with the French
emigrants ; and he was concerned in the preparations for Louis
XVI. 's unfortunate flight to Varennes. After the failure of that
enterprise, he entertained the extravagant and hazardous scheme

1 Tooke's View of the Russian Empire under Catherine II. and Life of Catherine II.;
Castera, Vie de Catherine II.; Masson, Mem. Secrets sur la Bnssie.

3 Homme d'£tat, t. iv. p. 123. " Michelet, Jusqu'a Waterloo, p. 54.

Chap. LVII.] GUSTAVUS III. AND CATHARINE II. 505

of landing Swedish and Russian troops in the Seine, marching
upon Paris, and suppressing the Revolution. Gustavus was sup-
ported in this anti-revolutionary ardour, which amounted almost
to Quixotism, by Catharine II. She proposed to him, through
General Pahlen, an intimate alliance, and Gustavus readily ac-
cepted a proposal which would enable him to be absent from his
dominions without apprehension as to his powerful neighbour.
Such seems to have been the chief object of the Treaty of Drott-
ningholm, concluded October 19th, 1791. 1 The treaty is purely
a defensive one, in case the dominions of either Power should be
attacked ; though it is difficult to imagine against what enemies
they proposed to defend each other. A marriage had also been
agreed upon between the King of Sweden's son Gustavus Adol-
phus and Catharine's granddaughter, the Grand Duchess Alex-
andra. But this Russian alliance was highly unpopular in Sweden.
The Swedes viewed with disgust the abandonment of the Turks
and Poles to a Power which had seized so great a part of the
Swedish dominions ; they were indignant at Gustavus's distant
and chimerical schemes against France, in a cause of which the
majority of the nation disapproved, and in which the welfare of
the people seemed to be sacrificed to the vanity and ambition of
the King. The national feeling was displayed in the Diet which
Gustavus summoned at Geffle with the view of raising supplies.
But though assembled at that remote place in the Gulf of Bothnia,
in order the better to coerce it, and surrounded with the King's
mercenary troops, it would grant only part of his demands, and
proved so refractory that he was compelled to dismiss it (Feb.
24th, 1792).

An odious conspiracy for assassinating the King had long existed
among some of the Swedish nobles. Plots had been organized
for effecting this object at Aix-la-Chapelle, Stockholm, and other
places, which had hitherto failed ; but the dismissal of the States,
and the rumoured unconstitutional projects of Gustavus, brought
them to maturity. One of the chief promoters of the King's
assassination was General Pechlin, an old man of seventy- two.
Several other nobles were implicated in the conspiracy, and espe-
cially Counts Ribbing and Horn, and Captain Ankarstrom. These
three men took an oath to murder Gustavus, and drew lots to de-
termine who should perpetrate the deed. The lot fell on Ankar-
strom. Besides political enmity, Ankarstrom had, or conceived
he had, personal grounds for hating the King, on the score of an

1 Martens, t. v. p. 262.

506 GUSTAVUS III. ASSASSINATED. [Chap. LVII.

affront received from Gustavus many years previously. After the
King's return from Finland, too, in 1788, he had been accused
of treason and banished to Gothland, but was shortly after par-
doned. These grievances rankled in Ankarstrom's bosom; and
they were aggravated by a considerable loss entailed upon him
by the reduction of the currency. Impelled by these feelings,
Ankarstrom in a dastardly manner shot the King in the back at
a masquerade given at the Opera House at Stockholm, March
16th, 1792. Gustavus survived till the 29th. During the period
which intervened between his wound and his death, he displayed
the utmost fortitude and presence of mind, and settled the affairs
of his kingdom with all the composure imaginable. His thoughts
characteristically reverted to the subject ever uppermost in his
mind, the French Revolution; and he expressed a desire to
know what Brissot would think of his fate. He was forty-six
years of age at the time of his death. The chief conspirators
were captured j but Ankarstrom alone was executed, after three
public floggings and other tortures ; the rest were either banished
from Sweden or confined in fortresses.

Gustavus III/s son, then in his fourteenth year, succeeded to
the Crown of Sweden, with the title of Gustavus Adolphus IV.
Till he should attain his majority, the regency was assumed by
his uncle Charles, Duke of Sudermania, brother of the late King.
The Swedish Court, as we have before had occasion to remark,
now adopted a neutral policy ; a conduct which produced a mis-
understanding with the Court of St. Petersburg. Another cause
of dissension was the publication of a proposed marriage of the
young King of Sweden with a German princess (October, 1795),
in spite of Gustavus' s promise that he should be united to the
Archduchess Alexandra. Catharine having declared that she
should consider the proposed marriage of Gustavus Adolphus
as a ground of rupture, it was not prosecuted. Towards the
autumn of 1796 Gustavus IV., accompanied by his uncle, paid a
visit to the Empress at St. Petersburg. But though the young
King was much struck with the charms of the Grand Duchess
Alexandra, he refused to sign the marriage contract, on the
ground that it contained provisions contrary to the religion
which he professed, and to the laws and customs of his country.
Catharine was furious at this affront. Her death, however, pre-
vented any ill consequences from ensuing, and on the accession of
Paul a good understanding was renewed between the two Courts.1
1 Avndt, Gesch. Sckwedens; Brown's Northern Courts.

Chap. LVII.] STATE OF GERMANY. 507

The history of the German States at this period is unimpor-
tant, except in connection with the French Revolution and the
affairs of Poland ; and it will therefore suffice to offer a few brief
remarks on the effects produced on the German people and their
governments by the events that were passing in France.

The same spirit which produced the Revolution in that country
had penetrated into Germany and even into its Courts. It had,
as we have seen, animated and influenced Frederick the Great
and the Emperor Joseph II. The vast intellectual movement
observable throughout Europe in the last half of the eighteenth
century, the upheaving, as it were, and throes of the European
mind, had given birth almost to the first German literature that
can be called original and vernacular. The German authors of
this period, like the French literati themselves, discarded their
former classical and French models, and sought in English litera-
ture a new source of inspiration. The works of most of their
distinguished writers began to breathe a spirit of liberty. Salz-
mann, in his romance of Karl von Karlsberg, placed before the
eyes of his numerous readers a striking and perhaps exaggerated
picture of the political and social evils under which they laboured.
The epic poet Klopstock gave vent to his aspirations for freedom
in several Odes. The Dichterbund, or band of poets, established
at Gottingen about the year 1770, of which Count Stolberg was
one of the most distinguished members, looked up to Klopstock
as their master. In many of Stolberg's pieces love of liberty
and hatred of tyrants are expressed with a boldness which must
have grated strangely on the ears of some of the German Sove-
reigns. But in general these works were in too high a tone to
have much influence on the people. Schiller's early tragedies
were calculated to have more effect, especially his Don Carlos ;
which, from the speeches of the Marquis de Posa, has been
characterized as a dramatized discourse on the rights of man.
Yet when the French Revolution broke out, it found no partisan
in Schiller. He augured unfavourably of the Constituent As-
sembly, thought them incompetent to establish, or even to con-
ceive, true liberty ; foretold the catastrophe of a military despot-
ism1. Goethe, his contemporary, regarded the explosion in
France as an unwelcome interruption of the tranquil pleasures of
polite and cultivated society ; Wieland, in his essays on the
French Revolution, took the popular side. A more direct form
of propagating liberal principles than by literature was by means of

1 K. A. Menzel, N. Gesch.cler Deutscken, B. vi. S. 285.

508 THE ILLUMINATI. [Chap. LVH.

clubs and secret societies. The clubs of England and France were
most formidable political engines ; but, then, their debates were
public and their objects practical. Such associations would not
have been suffered in Germany. The reformers of that country had
therefore enlisted themselves in a secret society called the Order
of llluminati, founded in 1776 by Adam Weishaupt, a professor
of canon law at Ingolstadt, and modelled after the constitution of
the Jesuits, whose pupil Weishaupt had been. Its members
bound themselves to an unreserved obedience to their superiors,
were gradually initiated into the mysteries of the society, and
went through the successive ranks of priest, mage, regent, and
king. Its principles were characteristic of the German mind,
far-fetched and eminently unpractical. The grand doctrine which
it professed to disseminate was, that the misfortunes of mankind
spring from religion and the dominion of the powerful ; that as
religion had its source in superstition and priestcraft, so the
separation of mankind into peoples and states had been accom-
plished by fortunate pretenders through force and cunning. But
by means of the secret schools of wisdom, man would rise from
his fallen state, princes and nations would disappear without
violence from the face of the earth, the human race would form
one great family, and every father of a household, as in former
times Abraham and the patriarchs, become the priest and ruler of
his family with no other code of law than that dictated by wis-
dom. In a few years this society numbered thousands of mem-
bers, belonging chiefly to the higher classes. Its principles
seem not to have threatened any very immediate or alarming
danger. Nevertheless it was suppressed by Charles Theodore,
Elector of Bavaria ; Weishaupt was compelled to fly, and found
a refuge at Gotha.1 In other German States the llluminati
appear to have been left unmolested.

Prone to reflection, the German mind is not readily excited to
action. Little desire was manifested in Germany to imitate the
movement in France. It was only in the Ehenish provinces,
where the people came into immediate contact with the French,
and could be assisted by their armies, that any revolutionary
spirit was manifested. An appeal was even ventured on for
patriotic gifts in support of the war of the Empire against French
principles, and brought in a few hundred thousand florins. The
Austrian Freemasons, whom Joseph II. had patronized, spontane-
ously suppressed their meetings, in order, as they told the Em-

1 Menzcl, ibid. Kap. 15.

Chap. LVIT.] THUGUT. 509

peror, to relieve hirn of some of his cares in that season of
disturbance. Nevertheless Thugut, the Austrian Minister,
deemed some precaution necessary. Thugut had resided at
Paris during the early days of the Revolution, and from an
acquaintance with its scenes and personages, had imbibed a deep
hatred of popular government, as well as the conviction that if
the French Court and clergy had prevented, by means of the
police, the philosophers and beaux esprits from propagating their
principles, the outbreak would never have occurred. Hence he
was led to forbid all social unions, and to subject the press to a
rigid censorship. Even old and standard works, whose contents
were at all of an equivocal character, were prohibited. No allu-
sions were permitted in the theatre to political or religious
matters. It was forbidden to represent such plays as Otto von
Wittelsbach, Hamlet, Macbeth, King John, Richard II. &c, as
familiarizing the minds of the spectators with the murder or
deposition of kings ; King Lear, lest it should be thought that
misfortune turned the heads of monarchs ; still less plays directly
provocative of revolutionary ideas, as Egmont, Fiesco, William
Tell.1

The extraordinary career of Thugut deserves to be briefly men-
tioned. He was born at Linz, the son of a boatman on the
Danube, and received his education at the Oriental Academy at
Vienna. In 1754 he was sent with the Austrian Embassy to
Constantinople, and became consecutively, interpreter, agent,
resident, and internuntius. He distinguished himself by his
activity during the war between Turkey and Russia, and was
subsequently employed as ambassador and negotiator in all con-
gresses and acts of state. He entered the Ministry a little before
the death of Prince Kaunitz, who had so long directed the
Austrian policy; and to spare the feelings of the aged and
declining chancellor, he acted as his subordinate, and apparently
under his direction. On the death of the Prince, June 27th,
1794, Thugut obtained the supreme direction of affairs. With
an aptitude for business, he united an idleness which sometimes
proved detrimental to the public service. The acquisition of
Bavaria was regarded by Thugut as the paramount object of
Austrian policy, and he had conceived a violent hatred of Prussia
for having frustrated that project.

The affairs of Prussia at this period were conducted by Haug-
witz, a large landed proprietor of Silesia. In a journey which he
' K. A. Menzel, JV. Gesch. der Deutscken, B. vi. Kap. 27.

510 HAUGWITZ — HARDENBERG. [Chap. LVII.

made into Italy, Haugwitz acquired the favour of Leopold, then
Grand Duke of Tuscany, and after the accession of that Prince to
the Imperial throne, and the change produced in Prussian policy
by the Convention of Reichenbach, he was sent ambassador to
Vienna. He subsequently entered the Cabinet of Berlin as
Minister for Foreign Affairs. The fatal estrangement of Prussia
from Austria, and from the affairs of the Empire, must be chiefly
attributed to his policy. Another notable Prussian statesman of
this period, though by birth a Hanoverian, was Baron Harden-
berg.

The affairs of Italy will not long detain us, though that
country was destined to become before long the scene of events
of the greatest moment. In general it may be observed, that
although the French Revolution had of course its partisans in
Italy, the great mass of the Italian people were not favourable
to it. They entertained an ancient aversion to the French from
their frequent attempts and well-known desire to establish their
dominion in Italy.1 It has been already related how the French
compelled the King of Naples to acknowledge their Republic.2
Naples was at that time the most considerable of the Italian
Powers, and it will be proper to throw a retrospective glance
upon its history.3

When Charles of Bourbon ascended the throne of Spain in
1759, the Two Sicilies were assigned, as we have already said, to
his second son, Ferdinand IV., then nine years of age. The
Prince of St. Nicandro, appointed as his governor, was an unedu-
cated man, addicted to the sports of the field, and capable only of
instilling into the youthful monarch a love of his own pursuits.
Fortunately, however, the Marquis Tanucci, a man of liberal and
enlightened principles, possessed great influence in the Neapo-
litan counsels, and obtained the ear of the King. The main aims
of Tanucci were to set bounds to the pretensions of the Pope, and
to increase the royal prerogative by reducing the power of the
nobles. In no part of Italy were feudal privileges more strictly
maintained, or more oppressive, than in the Neapolitan dominions,
and especially in the two Calabrias. The barons, like the gi-
devant nobles of France, enjoyed exclusive rights of hunting and
fishing, of grinding corn and baking bread ; they named the
judges and the governors of cities ; besides the customary feudal

1 Botta, t. i. p. 137. 2 See above, p. 418.

3 For these affairs see Carlo Botta, Storia oV Italia dal 1789 al 1814, libra i. ; Col-
letta, Storia di Napoli.

Chap. LVII.] NEAPOLITAN HISTORY. 511

services, they claimed the first fruits of the vintage, the harvest,
and of all the productions of agriculture and pasturage, as well as
of custom, dues, &c. Thus at one and the same time the people
were oppressed, the royal authority was almost annihilated, and
the treasury deprived of its proper revenues. Tanucci moderated
all these abuses, and civilized the manners of the rustic nobles by
summoning them to Court. He also introduced many reforms
into the relations between Naples and the Court of Rome. By
his advice the tribunal of the Papal Nuncio was suppressed, and
all appeals to Rome forbidden ; the King asserted his right to
nominate bishops, abbots, and other prelates ; the presentation of
a palfrey on St. Peter's day, the badge of feudal subjection to
Eome, was converted into an eleemosynary offering ; the corona-
tion of the King was left uncelebrated, in order to avoid certain
formalities customary since the times of the Norman kings, which
indicated the sovereignty of the Holy See. The number of
mendicant monks was reduced, and the order of the Jesuits sup-
pressed. These reforms, of course, produced violent quarrels
with the Court of Rome ; the political disputes between Naples
and that Court had caused, indeed, the reform of ecclesiastical
abuses to be prosecuted with greater ardour in the Neapolitan
dominions than in Tuscany and Austrian Lombardy. Tanucci
had also turned his attention to a reform in the laws, which
formed an incongruous mixture derived from the Normans, Lom-
bards, Aragonese, French, Spaniards, Austrians, the former con-
querors and possessors of the country. But this was a work not
so easily accomplished.

Thus Italy remained not uninfluenced by the liberal tendencies
which marked the eighteenth century. The authority of the Papal
See had been also reduced in the Duchies of Parma andPiacenza,
which were likewise governed by a branch of the Spanish Bour-
bons. The new opinions had not made so much progress in Fer-
dinand IV/s kingdom of Sicily as in his Neapolitan dominions.
The feudal system was still vigorous in that island towards the
end of the eighteenth century. Sicily had from early times pos-
sessed a Parliament composed of three chambers, called bracci, or
arms ; namely, the military or baronial chamber, in which sat
such signori, or lords, as had at least 300 fuochi, or dwellings,
upon their properties ; the ecclesiastical braccio, consisting of
three archbishops, six bishops, and all the abbots ; and the third
chamber, called demaniale, because it consisted of the represen-
tatives of cities belonging to the King's domain, and not under

512 TANUCCI. [Chap. LVII.

the dominion of the barons. For, as in Germany, there were two
sorts of Sicilian cities, the baronial and the free. The last de-
pended immediately on the King, and were governed by their
own municipal laws. The baron of the oldest title was at the
head of the braccio baronale; the Archbishop of Palermo of the
braccio ecclesiastico, and the praetor, or mayor, of the same city
of the braccio demaniale. In ancient times the Parliament met
every year, but afterwards once in four years. It also lost its
legislative functions, and was assembled only to vote donatives.

Tanucci was not so successful in his foreign as in his domestic
policy. He was a partisan of France, and hence he incurred the
displeasure of Ferdinand's queen, the Austrian Princess Caro-
line, a woman of imperious temper, sister of the Emperor Joseph
II., and of Marie Antoinette. Tanucci was dismissed, and his
place filled at first by the Marquis Sambuca, and then by Acton,
the son of an Irish physician. The Neapolitans were indignant
at seeing the arms of the French Republic affixed to the hotel of
the French Embassy, and in January, 1793, a deputation of the
citizens presented an address to King Ferdinand, supplicating
him to declare war against France. It was easy to see that the
neutrality of Naples could not long be preserved. On the 12th
of July, 1793, a treaty was concluded, as we have already said,
between Sir W. Hamilton, the English Minister at Naples, and
Acton, Ferdinand's chief Minister, by which Ferdinand engaged
to unite to the British forces in the Mediterranean 6,000 soldiers,
four ships of the line, four frigates, and the same number of
smaller vessels, Great Britain undertaking to maintain a respect-
able fleet in that sea, and to protect Neapolitan commerce.1 The
Neapolitans, as we have seen, subsequently took part in the
occupation of Toulon.

The Papal throne was filled, at the time of the French Revolu-
tion, by Pius VI. His predecessor, Clement XIV. (Ganganelli),
who had risen to the Papacy from the condition of a poor monk,
had always retained the simple customs of his early life. These,
however, seemed out of place in an age of inquiry, doubt, and dis-
belief; and it was thought that, when arguments cease to per-
suade, and virtue to move by its example, the best substitutes
for them are pomp, splendour, and magnificence. The Cardinals,
therefore, on the death of Clement, in 1774, elected Cardinal
Braschi (Pius VI.) as his successor. Braschi was handsome in
person, eloquent in speech, refined in his tastes, of dignified

1 Martens, Eccucil, t. v. p. 480.

Chap. LVII.] POPE PIUS VI. 513

manners, and a generous disposition. He had been treasurer to
the apostolic camera, and had displayed in his demeanour and
actions no ordinary splendour. All these good qualities, how-
ever, tended to a vicious extreme. He entertained a great
opinion of himself as well as of his high dignity ; he was arbi-
trary and disdainful, and could ill brook opposition. A scheme
was agitated in his Pontificate, originated by Cardinal Orsini,
of uniting all Italy in a confederation, of which the Pope was to
be the head. The chief glory of Pius VI. is the draining of
the Pontine marshes, a work of extraordinary magnitude and
labour.

Pius VI. was naturally shocked and offended by the novelties
and innovations in matters of religion which accompanied the
breaking out of the French Revolution. The respect with which
ho was treated by the Constituent Assembly soothed and appeased
him for a time, but the excesses and blasphemies of the Legisla-
tive Assembly and of the Convention, and especially the loss of
Avignon, impelled him to resort to his spiritual weapons. Hence
the Emperor and the Italian Princes of his party had little diffi-
culty in persuading Pius to enter into an offensive league against
France.

The situation of Tuscany induced the Grand Duke Ferdinand,
though so nearly connected with the House of Austria, formally
to recognize the French Republic, January 16th, 1793, before the
execution of Louis XVI. Tuscany preserved its neutrality till
the following October, when the appearance of an English fleet
in the Mediterranean encouraged Ferdinand to declare himself
for the allies. Of the part taken in the war by Victor Amadeus
III., King of Sardinia, we have already spoken. The republic of
Genoa, secretly inclined to France, maintained for a considerable
time its neutrality, although summoned by the English and Spanish
fleet, in October, 1793, to change its policy. The port was now
blockaded. Venice had also declared herself neutral. The Vene-
tians, enervated by a long peace, and intent only on their mate-
rial interests, had sunk into an abyss of moral corruption and
degradation. Expecting their safety only from the sufferance of
their neighbours and the mutual jealousies of the great Powers,
they had lost all public spirit and fallen into a sort of political
quietism, which was carried so far that the government actually
forbade the representation of tragedies, as calculated to excite
and elevate the soul ! We are not, therefore, surprised to find

IV. L L

514 VENICE. [Chap. LVII.

that at the breaking out of the French Revolution they deter
mined on the policy of doing nothing ; and they persisted in
their neutrality, though solicited by many Powers, Sardinia,
Russia, Austria, Naples, to take a part against France. Yet their
hatred of that country peeped out on all occasions. They sent
back to the French Minister the note of the Assembly acquainting
them with the flight of the King to Varennes, because it did not
bear Louis's signature ; they refused to reply to the notice of the
King's acceptance of the Constitution; they suffered the Austrians
to violate the neutrality they had declared by marching troops
through their territories ; in October, 1792, when the allies were
entering France, they authorized their subjects to supply the
Emperor and the King of Sardinia with arms, provisions, and
other necessaries ; on the establishment of the French Republic
they refused to acknowledge it, and though they at length con-
sented to receive a charge d'affaires, they would only recognize
him with a puerile distinction as the Minister of the French
nation and not of the republic.1 These and other grievances of
the same kind, and especially the reception given to the Regent,
under the title of Count de Lille, at Verona, towards the end of
1794, drew down upon the Venetian Republic the hatred and
vengeance of the French, and served at least as pretexts for its
destruction.

Respecting the Spanish Peninsula, little need be added to what
has been already said. Although Godoy was despised by every
true Spaniard, yet Florida Blanca and d'Aranda had been suc-
cessively compelled to give place to him ; and, in 1792, he ob-
tained, with the title of Duke of Alcudia, the supreme direction
of affairs. The war, however, which he commenced with France
was at first popular. The Spaniards, devoted to the Church and
to their King, beheld in the republicans of France the enemies of
both. They contributed largely and spontaneously to the war ;
the feudal lords, as in ancient times, put themselves at the head
of their vassals, the smugglers, and even the monks formed regi-
ments. But the enthusiasm of the nation was ill-directed by
Godoy ; and the successes of the Spanish arms, already described,
were soon followed by reverses which rendered the King anxious
to conclude a peace.

The Portuguese had shared with the Spaniards in the French
war, and are said to have formed the best portion of the Spanish
1 See Darn, Hist, de Venise, liv. xxxvi.

OiiAr. lvil] Portugal. 515

army. Tho sceptre of Portugal had been held, since February,
1777, by Queen Maria I., but her intellect having become dis-
ordered through religious melancholy, the regency was assumed
in 1792 by her son Don John, Prince of Brazil. Don John was
governed by his confessors, as other Princes are by their favourites
or mistresses ; and he is said to have changed them as often.

END OF VOL. IV.

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