CHAPTER XL. FRENCH REVOLUTION AND NAPOLEON. SECTION I.-LAST YEARS OF THE BOURBON ABSOLUTE Louis and His Migtresses vorites. LOUIS XV. had at first secured the esteem of the French people to such an extent that he was surnamed the Well-beloved. When he was taken seriously ill at Metz, in 1744, the whole kingdom was filled with sorrow; and his recovery was hailed with transports and Faof joy. But Louis soon lost the affections of his subjects when he plunged into the most excessive vices and riotous debauchery and left the government of his kingdom to the most profligate and licentious favorites, such as Madames Pompadour and Du Barri. Of these favorites Madame Pompadour possessed the greatest influence at court. For twenty years she controlled the affairs of France, procured the appointment of her favorites to the most responsible offices, used the public revenues for her own private purposes and determined when the nation should be at peace or war. The favorites of the king encouraged his debauchery, so that he would leave the affairs of state entirely in their hands. As the king grew older his licentiousness increased, so that at length he lost all respect and was regarded with contempt. Tithes and Feudal Dues. The voluptuousness and extravagance of the French court and the unnecessary and expensive wars with the other European states ex- Taxation, hausted the French treasury, increased the public debt and burdened the French people with the most oppressive taxes. The taxes were all paid by the middle and lower classes, while the nobility and the clergy were exempt from all taxation. In addition to the land and property tax, capitation tax, house tax and duties upon certain articles, the lower classes had to pay tithes, labor dues and other feudal taxes to the aristocracy. Although the French nobility were a distinct class, an hereditary caste, and although all their descendants were noble and enjoyed the and Immunities of the French Nobility. Privileges privileges and immunities inherited from birth, their number was an intolerable burden upon the country, although they possessed no political power since the days of Cardinal Richelieu. About this time the French nobility numbered almost one hundred and forty thousand. Only persons of noble birth were eligible to high rank in the French army or to lucrative preferments in the Church; and, as all military and ecclesiastical promotion depended upon the king's pleasure, assidious attendance at court was indispensable for the ambitious who desired active service and for the indolent who wished for honors or sinecures. The habit of court or military life tended to further separate the French nobility from their countrymen, upon whom they looked down with the pride of privileged rank and with the arrogance frequently attaching to military command. But with all their privileges and immunities, the mode of life of the French nobility and their contemptuous disregard of economy and business were such that most of them were poor, many being reduced to absolute indigence. The King's Disputes with the Parliament of Paris. Lettres de Louis XVI., A. D. 17741793. All laws and decrees respecting taxation, in order to be valid, required registration by the Parliament of Paris. Whenever the Parliament refused to register or sanction the tax laws and decrees it became involved in a vehement dispute with the court, which generally ended in a Bed of Justice, by which the king overcame all opposition and carried his point. Another cause of strife between the court and the Parliament were the lettres de cachet, written orders bearing the seal of the king, banishing the person to whom they were addressed or ordering him to be confined in prison. This power was greatly abused. Any person hating another could easily gratify his malice by obtaining, for a certain sum of money, a lettre de cachet from the ruling favorite of the king, consigning the innocent victim to a lonely dungeon, from which death, in the majority of cases, was the only release. The only check on the absolute power of the king was the Parliament of Paris. After a ten years' contention with the Parliament, Louis put an end to the matter by causing the most refractory members to be arrested; and, by a series of edicts, he deprived the Parliaments of all their privileges. The profligate Louis XV. died in 1774, sighing: "Après moi le déluge "-" After me the deluge." He was succeeded on the throne. of France by his grandson, LOUIS XVI., who was then only twenty years of age. Louis XVI. was a pious prince, and sincerely anxious for the good of the people over whom he reigned; but he lacked the ability and firmness necessary for the circumstances by which he was surrounded. The extravagance and wickedness of the court of Louis XV. had reduced France to a most deplorable condition. The finances of the kingdom were in a disordered state, the public credit was gone, |
