And again restored Insurrection of the 31st of May against the Girondists Insurrection of the 2nd of June Girondists expelled Numerous victims ; Malesherbes, Lavoisier Robespierre's fêtes the Supreme Being Robespierre and his friends arrested Are liberated, and join the Commune Barras marches against the Hôtel de Ville; Seizure and Execu- Convention once more invaded by the mob, March Attempt to rescue Collot and Billaud defeated by Pichegru FROM THE PEACE OF NIMEGUEN TO THAT OF RYSWICK. 1678-1697. SELDOM has arisen a state of society so polished at the surface, so rotten at the core, as that which Louis the Fourteenth fashioned. His court and palace surpassed all others, not only in splendour, but in elegance and taste. The ministers and diplomatists of the early part of his reign were of first-rate ability, and his generals unequalled in the field. His divines were renowned for eloquence. Intellect gushed forth, as the water from his fountains, in every shape and in copious flow. From the serious drama to the infantine fable, genius stamped its mark upon all. And, if the higher regions of philosophy were not as successfully explored, it could not be the fault of the countrymen of Descartes, but of that theological yoke which bade men to grovel and to be blind under the plea, that the Divinity was best worshipped in ignorance. But all this splendour, whether of wealth, of taste, CHAP. XXXII. CHAP. XXXII. or of intellect, was confined to the capital and to the court, which, as it grew more gorgeous in display, contrasted with the physical and mental poverty of the country. The provinces were sunk in misery and ignorance, especially their productive classes, which were crushed, spoliated, reduced to want, or decimated by persecution. Colbert, indeed, was fully aware how peace developed and war dried up the resources of a nation. But the king listened to other counsellors, such as Louvois, who flattered his desire for the fame of a conqueror. And even Colbert himself was ignorant that liberty applied to trade and industry, as well as to action and thought, was so vivifying a principle, as to be able to compensate even for the expenditure and the ravages of war, were it largely granted. Instead of liberty, reigned the mania of ordering everything, which brought France to resemble those Eastern countries in which the laws of caste prevail. Classes were parked off from each other with a rigidity for which in the East superstition was an excuse, but which in France seemed to spring from the mere itch of reglementation. To the gentleman, all modes of gain or livelihood were forbidden, save the military or the priestly, no advancement being possible in either, except by successful servility. Civil functions were handed down in certain families, or transferred amongst them by purchase or by marriage. This kind of property in place had once given independence. But, in time, all came to feel themselves at the king's disposal and mercy, and blind obedience became a necessity of existence. The soul of the functionary, thus bowed down, gave way to the natural temptation of grasping riches at the expense of justice and of duty. The Protestants, systematically excluded from place by Louis, flung themselves into trade, of which they soon monopolised the wealth *The Mémoires of Noailles attest the utter ignorance and incapacity of the Catholic clergy of the South, and the South was no exception. |