condemned, and would have been executed, had not the king died. Francis II. is described as an excellent young man; but he was a weak prince. His brother Charles IX. succeeded him at the age of ten years. The states were now very much agitated: L'Hospital, a virtuous citizen, and philosophical magistrate, a prodigy for his time, endeavoured in vain to bring their minds back to moderation and union. He merely succeeded in re-establishing the Pragmatic sanction in relation to the election of bishops. Catharine then turned about from the Calvinist or Huguenot party (from a German word signifying confederates), and proposed to terminate the existing differences, by a conference at Poissy which only revived them. It was at this period that the Jesuits first established themselves in France. A massacre of the Huguenots now took place at Vassy in Champagne, in consequence of some injuries committed by the duke of Guise's people. At Toulouse 4000 of the Protestants were murdered; an outrage which the people of Toulouse, for two centuries, have annually celebrate 1, and this furnished a fresh motive for rupture. The civil war broke out; the Protestants were conquered by the royalists at Dreux; and two of their ablest generals were taken. The rapacious and ambitious duke of Guise laid siege to Orleans, and was assassinated there: he had made use of religion wholly as a means of aggrandising himself. Ashort peace ensued; but the persecution of the Protestants soon re-commenced; and was continued with impunity. The Huguenots were driven to extremities. Condé undertook to carry off the king, in order to get possession of the government; for so absurd are the consequences of absolute power, that it is often exercised in the name of the titulary sovereign against himself. This attempt failed, and the doubtful battle of St. Denis took place soon after (A. D. 1567), in which the able Montmorency was slain. On a renewal of the war, the Huguenots, assisted by the Protestants of Germany and England, ventured upon another pitched battle at Jarnac, and were defeated by the duke of Anjou, the king's brother. Here the prince of Condé fell; assassinated it is said, near the field of battle, and while surrendering himself to his enemies as a prisoner. Coligny, a prudent chief, repaired this defeat, and rallied the forces, until Henry of Navarre, whom he had formed for war, was placed at the head of the party. The duke of Anjou was again victor, however, at Mocontour. After these checks, the Protestants again made an advantageous peace, and having had four cities surrendered to them as pledges for their civil and religious liberty, Catherine drew their chiefs to court, and lulled them into a false confidence of security. Young Henry had just married the king's sister; and scarcely had the festivities closed, when on a sudden, in the dead of the night, the alarm bell was sounded, and the royalists rushed into the houses of the Huguenots, and massacred them without distinction of age or sex. The Louvre flowed with blood; the infamous king fired from his balcony upon the French. At the same moment similar horrors were perpetrated in the different provinces of the kingdom; but in the midst of this infatuation of cruelty, every one was filled with admiration at beholding two of the king's officers (D'Orthez and Curzay) who refused to act as executioners. The illustrious Coligny, however, was sacrificed; and on this occasion the infamous Charles IX. said, 'A dead enemy always smells well.' Henry and the new prince of Condé were compelled to a sudden abjuration of their sentiments; and the king openly avowed that every thing had been done by his orders: even the parliament applauded this massacre, and decreed an annual procession to commemorate the murder of 100,000 Frenchmen! It is sufficient at this day to mention St. Bartholomew's day to excite horror; and yet at this day, observes an able French writer, it finds some apologists. If ever men were justified in assuming the sword in defence of religion, the Protestants of France were at this period. (A. D. 1573). The war was again kindled; and the duke of Anjou lost 4000 men at the siege of La Rochelle; the women even fought with the courage of despair. The year following the party of the malcontents was formed, to which the Huguenots united themselves, and the contest still continued. In the midst of these transactions the king died. We learn with some surprise, says the worthy writer above alluded to, that this monster had some sense, wrote verses, and protected learning. During this reign the long continued council of Trent terminated its sitting; after being occupied wholly in matters of diplomatic etiquette, and in condemning the doctrines of the Protestants. At this time also the Belgians and the Hollanders rose against the Catholic despot, Philip II. The duke of Alva, his general, committed in those countries horrible excesses against the Huguenots, who were here called Beggars. But the latter found happily those means of resistance which enabled them to found one of the richest and most industrious communities of Europe. The manners of this aze are a mixture of corruption and barbarity, of stoicism united with superstition, and debauchery with crime. By an ordinance of 1574, in conformity with a bull of Gregory XIII., the year, which used to commence with Easter, and consequently to alter every year, was fixed to begin regularly on the 1st of January. parliament for three years opposed this reform: it had always an antipathy to useful innovations. The The duke of Anjou, who had just come from Poland, where he had been chosen king, returned to France under the name of Henry III. He proved himself a very successful general of an army: as a king he was idle, trifling, superstitiously devout, and given up to infamous debaucheries. He was advised to act mildly towards the Calvinists; he declared war against them. His brother, the duke of Alençon, and Henry of Navarre, afterwards Henry IV., united against him, and, in an edict of 1576, the Calvinists obtained some political advantages. The holy league was then formed: a combination of mad Catholics who pledged themselves to defend religion and the king in blind obedience to their chief, Henry of Guise. The states were assembled at Blois, and the leaguers had the ascendancy, for the king was compelled to authorise the league; but they soon began to treat him with little respect; and having consulted the pope, to know if they might disobey him for the service of religion, were answered in the affirmative. Guise put forward the old cardinal Bourbon, who issued a manifesto in the name of all the Catholic monarchs of Europe; and the court, intimidated, yielded entirely to the leaguers. After this, however, the war called that of the three Henries broke out. Sixtus V. excommunicated Henry of Navarre; and the punishment of Mary Stuart, ordered by the Protestant Elizabeth, increased the fury of the Catholics. Henry, however, beat the royalists, under the command of Joyeuse and other favorites, at Coutras; while Guise, on the other hand, defeated the German Calvinists who were coming to his assistance. In the mean time, insurrections were organised at Paris under the name of the Sixteen; that is, the sixteen quarters of the comThe Sorbonne, which supported them, decided that the government might be taken out of the hands of weak princes; and, having as sembled at Nancy, the leaguers dictated orders to the king, who sent for the Swiss to Paris. The fanatical citizens immediately ran to arms, barricadoed the streets, even up to the Louvre, and surrounded the troops. The king fled and left the capital to Guise and the league. This was the day of the barricading.' The leaguers imposed on the king a new union against the heretics; and, about the same time, the English defeated the great invincible fleet of Philip. mune. The states re-assembled at Blois (A. D. 1588), when the leaguers again had the majority. They occupied themselves much about the council of Trent, and not at all in the establishment of order. The Guises were now at the summit of their power, and could with equal ease play the parts of Pepin or of Capet. This the king perceived, and, being unable to resist them, procured, to his disgrace, their assassination. The rage of the leaguers was thus redoubled: in the duke of Mayenne they soon found a second head: they cursed the king in the pulpit; and those members of the parliament who resisted them were imprisoned in the bastile. At last the king, having only a few towns left, felt the necessity of being reconciled to Henry of Bearn; who received him very cordially and led him back towards Paris. They had already reached St. Cloud, when a young Dominican, under the direction of the leaguers, stabbed the king with a knife; a murder which the Parisians celebrated with joy: the Catholics generally, instigated by the Jesuits, ndeavoured to prove from Scripture that it was lawful to kill a tyrant; and Clé, the assassin, was regarded as a saint. In this reign the order of St. Michael, founded by Louis XI., having fallen into discredit, that of the Holy Spirit was instituted to flatter the Catholics. The intriguing Catherine died in 1589, detested by all parties. SECT. V.-THE BRANCH OF THE BOURBONS. The branch of the Valois being extinct, Henry of Bourbon Navarre ascended the throne as a descendant of Louis IX. he merited it by his virtues. Brought up in the mountains, and among shepherds, he had little knowledge of that which corrupts princes; he was a man long before he was a king; and became, so to speak, the author of that legitimacy which he had to prove sword in hand. Acknowledged only by a few provinces, in full possession of none, he first struggled against Mayenne, whose numerous army included a considerable body of Spanish infantry, at that time the best in Europe. He was on the point of determining to go over to England, when encountering Mayenne at Arques he defeated him with 5000 men, and marched immediately towards Paris, which he was very near surprising. Here the old cardinal of Bourbon, his cousin, had just been declared king under the title of Charles X. Henry, after this, vanquished Mayenne, in another battle, at Ivri, where he was heard to cry out Save the French,' and then blockaded Paris. The leaguers defended themselves with fury; fanaticism sup ported them; they even formed regiments of priests and monks; but the famine became frightful and bread was made of the bones of the dead. Henry at last suffered provisions to be sent in to the besieged until the celebrated Farnese, the general of Philip II. came with an army to raise the siege. the During this time the duke of Savoy invaded Dauphiny and Provence; and, the new pope having proscribed Henry IV., Philip II., demon of the south,' assisted by the Sixteen, labored to get himself elected king of France. Henry laid siege to Rouen, which Farnese delivered, and war raged throughout almost all the country. To increase the anarchy a new faction was formed at Paris, called the party of the politicians, which united with that of the malcontents. It consisted of some moderate Catholics who sought for peace by recognising the king. At length the various parties came to a conference. The king decided on recantation, and said, 'Paris is worth a mass;' Mayenne signed a truce, and the league fell by the power of ridicule and contempt in an attempt to assassinate Henry, who entered Paris on the 22nd of March, 1594. Thus closed the sixteenth century, the century of the Reformation, and of the most glorious events for mankind. Copernicus, Galileo, and Torricelli, notwithstanding the power of the inquisition, applied themselves in this memorable era to the study of the philosophy of experience and reason, while the pedants of the university were contending about the pronunciation of the letter Q. Bacon, the chancellor of England, introduced some order into the catalogue of human sciences; Montaigne carried independence of mind into the study of man; but political questions were still approached with much timidity. Morus, Bodin, and Grotius sought for the laws of the social body, rather among the ancients than in nature, while Boëtius attacked despotism with quotations and declamation. The Reformation, however. 't must be admitted, spread something of a republican spirit: the Calvinist politicians, in 1575. traced the plan of a constitutional organisation, and were the liberals of the age; but pube FRANCE. opinion was not ripe for their efforts. Then also, as at all times when the human mind is emancipated, the enemies of religious and civil liberty were leagued together to reduce it again under their yoke. The Spanish kings had strengthened their throne by a union of the tiara with the sword; the inquisition had been established; and though for this time, at least, it was repulsed by France, the policy and fanaticism of the priests again rallied, and the society of the Jesuits was founded, to become the curse of the world. Holland, struggling both against the ocean and the Spanish aggression, triumphed over both. Called forward by the states of this republic, the brother of Henry III. wanted to assume the authority of a king, but the French stupidly cried out Live the mass,' and they were irritated, and drove them away. Henry IV. at first re-established the parliament; then he undertook to allay the animosities of the Calvinists and the leaguers; which the Jesuits as steadily inflamed. They were, however, by the advice of the parliament, driven out of the university and the church, until they obtained from the pope the absolution of the king, as the price of their re-establishment. At this time Mayenne was not reduced, but the king defeated him at French Fontaine, and granted him an amnesty. The duke of Epernon also having revolted, submitted, and war was declared against Philip II., who took Calais. On this the king, who wanted money to oppose him, summoned the nobles at Rouen, to take their advice; that is to say, to ask for subsidies, and told them, that his fairest title was the quality of a gentleman. Ultimately, the Spaniards were driven back; Mercœur, governor of Brittany, who still held with the league, submitted, and a treaty was signed with Philip, who died soon after. At this time, the Calvinists having loudly expressed, in their meeting at Saumur, their discontent at the little favor they enjoyed, Henry issued the celebrated edict of Nantes, in which the exercise of their religion was tolerated under some restrictions. An event of this period leads us to speak of the French peerage. According to one of the principles of feudalism, a man was to be tried by his peers. The dukes of Normandy, Burgundy, and Aquitaine, the earls of Champagne, Toulouse, and Flanders, and other great vassals, could alone judge in matters that concerned each other; and they had a right to enter the king's council at any time, as they were themselves sovereigns: it has been seen how the royal power was oppressed by such counsellors; but, by their pride or their carelessness, the chief of them were kept from repairing to the court. Philip the Fair created new peers, in order to weaken and pervert this institution, which was still so imposing that the rank of peer was superior to that of prince of the blood. During the civil wars, however, the peerage had declined; the nobles, being divided, became less formidable, and Henry IV. lowered their claims by a vigorous display of the royal will. But the governors of the provinces had usurped immense power in the time of the anarchy. They formed the pro- The latter events of this reign were, the pro- Henry, assisted by Sully, his friend and minister, introduced order and economy into the public treasury, which formerly not more than one-fifth of the taxes ever reached. He was truly a good man, though he reigned like an absolute monarch; and repressed every rising attempt How, at freedom, even to the resistance of parliament, by the empty parade of seats of justice. indeed, could such a man sign the cruel edict, that condemned his subjects to the whip and the galleys for killing a rabbit? The reason may be easily given, though it is with pain; the despotism of Richelieu and of Louis XIV. is to be traced to Henry IV. After this we may cease to reproach him for loving gambling, and seducing the wives of his subjects. But he was popular, and still lives in the gratitude of the nation; a glory which, to the present day, belongs almost solely to him. Louis XIII. being only nine years old, the parliament gave the regency to his mother, Mary of Medicis: this tribunal thus again assumed the rights of the states-general. The benefits of the preceding administration were lost; Sully was dismissed, and his savings dissipated. The Florentine Concini, since marshal of Ancre, and his wife Galigai, ruined France by their influence over the regent. The nobles and the factions rose again, and, when the statesgeneral were assembled, their time was spent in empty discussions. They had not since that time been convened up to the period of the revolution. The complaints of parliament about the bad administration of affairs were resented; the prince of Condé was arrested; he was at the head of the discontented and the Calvinists, who rose several times, and obtained some advantageous treaties. One of the king's young pages, who had his ear, persuaded him to dismiss his minister, in order to shake off the yoke of the regent, whom he treated very harshly and banished. She twice revolted, assisted by some of the lords. The prince, cruel through his weakness, caused Concini to, be assassinated, while his wife was accused of sorcery and burned. The new favorite received, as a gif. from the, king, the immense riches arising from their malpractices. Louis XIII. was one of those men, who execute without energy the suggestions of others, and who avenge themselves for their habitual submission, by tits of brutality. At this time appeared the celebrated cardinal Richelieu; he was the creature of Concini, and had lived retired since the fall of the latter. Possessed of a disposition the most inflexible, and the most ardent desire of making others feel his power, he subjected every thing to the force of his despotic but able mind. He at first attempted to make himself feared by the great, and caused several of them to be condemned to death by commissions. He surrounded himself with guards; suppressed the high offices of admiral and constable, which formerly conferred immense authority; and treated the Calvinists with sufficient kindness to excite their hopes, that he might afterwards succeed in his project for oppressing them, by taking away their towns. After a famous siege, which he conducted in person, and a truly heroic resistance of a year, displayed in all the horrors of famine, he took Rochelle, which was defended by an English fleet, and he caused this bulwark of the Calvinistic faith to be rased to the ground. IIe then reduced Rohan, the general of the reformed army, and discovered, it is said, that the plan of the Protestants was to found a federative republic, like that which they had seen so prosperous in Holland. Had they succeeded, how different would the history of Europe have appeared! We are, in fact, not now treating of the reign of Louis, but of Richelieu, before whom every thing bowed. Roussillon was conquered in 1628; the house of Austria was humbled, and several wars were carried on against the Spaniards with various success: Catalonia was given up to France. The genius of Richelieu could avail itself of all the resources of policy; and he is entitled to the praise of gloriously maintaining the rank of France among the nations of Europe. There is, however, something sad and monotonous in this reign; every thing in it bears the mark of despotism. Weak attempts were made, from time to time, to resist its progress, but they were always effectually suppressed; even the noblest families connected with them did not escape. The marshal Marillac was executed in 1630; the duke of Montmorency, taken in arms, and condemned by the parliament of Toulouse, was doomed to the same fate, notwithstanding he obtained the king's pardon, in 1632; and his estates of St. Maur, Ecouen, and Chantilly passed to the house of Condé, as national domains. Cinq Mars and de Thou were beheaded in 1642, for having conspired against the cardinal, with the knowledge even of the king himself, who was weary of the haughty pomp of his minister. At length this tyrannical priest died. Louis XIII. breathed a little, and then died also, as if,' say our French authorities, 'Richelieu had ordered him to follow him to the tomb!' The absolute power of Charles VII. and Henry IV. at least preserved the elasticity of the French character. Richelieu, like Louis XI., humbled and degraded it; under him France was rendered miserable; it seems as if despotism stupified the people, and inflicted barienness on the soil. The claims of parliament were of very little avail under such a master. One day, the magistrates having refused a registration, Richelieu had them cited before the king, and kept them on their knees during the whole of the audience. He, however, instituted the academy, which had the patience to draw up his apotheosis annually for 150 years; but the Cid, which he suppressed, gave scope to the genius of French literature, and Descartes, persecuted by the devotees, went to philosophise in Sweden. Louis XIV. was at this time (A. D. 1643) five years old. The parliament still arrogated to itself the right of appointing the regency. The queen dowager, Anne of Austria, a coquettish and versatile woman, obtained it. Mazarine, an Italian cardinal, her favorite, who had been elevated by Richelieu, governed for her. He was a clever and supple man, who cunningly acted the despot, and seemed to regard the art of making dupes as the only art of reigning. The war with Austria continued, but without any result. The young d'Enghien, afterwards the great Condé, showed himself on this occasion: he triumphed at Rocroy and at Fribourg; Turenne was victor (1644) at Nordlingen, and took Dunkirk; and Condé was again victorious at Lens. This war, in which the Swedes were useful allies, terminated in the treaty of Westphalia (A. D. 1648), which arranged the Germanic body, and limited the imperial power. At the peace, the discontents of the nobles broke out against cardinal Mazarine, and, united with the parliament, they began the association called La Fronde, while the people sometimes supported them, and opposed the two magistrates appointed by the court. There was, however, hardly any thing interesting to them in these quarrels of a few ambitious and turbulent men: bowed down under the yoke, they gained nothing by these disputes; these factions were in fact the clubs of despots, who laughed and jested at the public wrongs while they were contending for power. A libertine prelate was seen playing the part of Catiline, and, while he recited his strange explots, he rendered civil war amusing. At length Condé, discontented with the court, which he had at first served, forsook it; and though Mazarine had him arrested, he afterwards released him. Seeing the storm growing blacker, this great man at first left France; but, a price being set on his head, he returned, raised 7000 men, and united himself with the Frondeurs and the Spaniards. Mazarine now raised a force, which he placed under the command of Turenne, and an engagement ensued near the fauxbourg of St. Anthony; in which Condé was victorious after a bloody battle. The parliament on this appointed the irresolute Gaston, duke of Orleans, lieutenant of the kingdom. Mazarine retired from court, and the Fronde having no longer any pretext dispersed; but the king and the cardinal soon re-entered Paris, and the natural result of this parade of insurrection was to render their power more absolute. Conde now FRANCE. rejoined the Spaniards in the Low Countries, and the war continued for a long time between him and Turenne; it was terminated, however, at last, by the treaty of the Pyrenees. France retained possession of Artois, Roussillon, and Alsace, and Louis XIV. married (A. D. 1659) the infanta Maria Theresa of Spain. Mazarine died, leaving the despotism in good hands. Louis declared, that he wished to reign in his turn. He had already gone into the parliament in his hunting dress, his boots, and his whip in his hand, to forbid them meddling with state affairs. Louis XIV. formed the design of being the most powerful monarch in Europe; he succeeded in it by the assistance of some superior men, whom he had the talent of discovering. Colbert restored the finances, encouraged commerce and industry, protected the sciences, and organised the administration. A man of genius, named Riquet, devoted his fortune and his life to the construction of the canal of Languedoc. A marine was formed, which was able to contend with those of Holland and England; the king made his ambassadors respected abroad; and, Philip IV. being dead, pretended claims were set up in favor of his daughter Maria Theresa, in order to declare war upon Spain. Flanders was conquered in 1668, and Franche Comté in three weeks. Holland, England, and Sweden united as mediating powers; and, by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, la Comté was restored, but Flanders was retained by this fortunate prince and fortified by Vauban. Louis, however, became enraged against Holland; he must necessarily have an antipathy to a republic as bold as it was proud. He raised against them 200,000 men; and, after having entered into an alliance with the king of England, effected the passage of the Rhine (A. D. 1672) in company with Condé, Turin, and Luxembourg, which at that time was extolled as a great military exploit. Holland was invaded, and the king proposed the most ruinous conditions as the price of peace; but despair produced exasperation; Ruyter, who had risen from the rank of a cabin-boy to that of an admiral, often beat the English and French fleets; the Hollanders laid their country under water to preserve its liberty, and Louis evacuated it. Various neighbours of this imperious despot now took arms to quell his pride; he reconquered Franche-Comté, and made Turenne burn the palatinate. Condé gave battle to the stadtholder of Holland, which cost the lives of 25,000 men. Duquesne by three naval victories rendered the French flag formidable; and the peace of Nimeguen consolidated the conquests of the French arms. After this, however, the stadtholder attempted an invasion of France, and the marshal of Luxembourg was sent to repulse him. In 1681 Strasburg was taken. The king sent a fleet about the same time to bombard Algiers, in order to teach the pirates of the Mediterranean to respect the French commerce; he afterwards bombarded Genoa for having assisted Algiers. He was now at the height of his power; his person, his palaces, his exploits, were endless themes of flattery; he was said to be the model The king of Spain, having no direct heir, suf- |