THE REVOLUTION.
1. Attempts at Reform.—It was evident
that a change must be made. Louis XVI. himself
knew it, and slurred over the words in his coronation
oath that bound him to extirpate heresy; but he was
a slow, dull man, and affairs had come to such a pass
that a far abler man than he could hardly have dealt
with the dead-lock above, without causing a frightful
outbreak of the pent-up masses below. His queen,
Marie Antoinette, was hated for being of Austrian
birth, and, though a spotless and noble woman, her
most trivial actions gave occasion to calumnies founded
on the crimes of the last generation. Unfortunately,
the king, though an honest and well-intentioned man,
was totally unfit to guide a country through a dangerous
crisis. His courage was passive, his manners
were heavy, dull, and shy, and, though steadily industrious,
he was slow of comprehension and unready in action;
and reformation was the more difficult because to
abolish the useless court offices would have been
utter starvation to many of their holders, who had
nothing but their pensions to live upon. Yet
there was a general passion for reform; all ranks
alike looked to some change to free them from the dead-lock
which made improvement impossible. The Government
was bankrupt, while the taxes were intolerable, and
the first years of the reign were spent in experiments.
Necker, a Swiss banker, was invited to take the charge
of the finances, and large loans were made to Government,
for which he contrived to pay interest regularly;
some reduction was made in the expenditure; but the
king’s old minister, Maurepas, grew jealous of
his popularity, and obtained his dismissal. The
French took the part of the American colonies in their
revolt from England, and the war thus occasioned brought
on an increase of the load of debt, the general distress
increased, and it became necessary to devise some mode
of taxing which might divide the burthens between
the whole nation, instead of making the peasants pay
all and the nobles and clergy nothing. Louis
decided on calling together the Notables, or higher
nobility; but they were by no means disposed to tax
themselves, and only abused his ministers. He
then resolved on convoking the whole States-General
of the kingdom, which had never met since the reign
of Louis XIII.
2. The States-General.—No one exactly
knew the limits of the powers of the States-General
when it met in 1789. Nobles, clergy, and the
deputies who represented the commonalty, all formed
the assembly at Versailles; and though the king would
have kept apart these last, who were called the Tiers
Etat, or third estate, they refused to withdraw
from the great hall of Versailles. The Count of
Mirabeau, the younger son of a noble family, who sat
as a deputy, declared that nothing short of bayonets
should drive out those who sat by the will of the people,
and Louis yielded. Thenceforth the votes of a
