OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, &c. &c. &c. PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. FRANCE was converted in the fifth century from a Roman province, into one of those feudal aristocracies, which, about that period, were established all over Europe by the northern nations. This system contained some excellencies, but these were more than counterbalanced by its glaring defects. The trial by jury, and the representation of all who were not in a state of vassalage, gave it a striking pre-eminence over the codes of the eastern nations; but, on the other hand, the power of the crown was too limited to curb the licentiousness of the feudal lords, who exercised a civil and criminal jurisdiction within their respective territories, and held the people in a state of the most abject bondage. For some ages, the leading object of the sovereigns of France seemed to be the diminution of the formidable authority of the barons, to effect which, they exerted every means in their power * to sow discord between these turbulent chieftains; they conferred immunities and privileges on the towns to serve as a counterpoise to the overgrown power of the nobility, and united many of the fiefs to the crown either by treaty, marriage, or conquest; and, so anxious were the French Kings at length to accomplish this purpose, that Louis X. and Philip the Long proclaimed, "That all men. "were born by nature free; and, as their kingdom was called the kingdom of the Franks, they 56 were determined it should be so in reality as "well as in name; they declared, therefore, that "enfranchisements should be granted throughout "the whole kingdom upon just and reasonable "conditions," Deputies from the Commons, who had, about the fourteenth century, begun to acquire a considerable degree of respectability, were introduced into the States General by Philip the Fair, for the purpose, it is generally supposed, of strengthening his authority against the Pope.* This assembly was frequently convoked during the succeeding reigns, and possessed the power of granting subsidies, levying imposts, and exercising all the func tions of legislation, till Charles VII. availed himself of the popularity he had acquired by the expulsion of the English, to lessen their authority, and levy taxes without their concurrence. His successor, Louis XI. not only followed his steps in this particular, but, by his tyranny and cruelty, * Bossuet. completely broke down the spirit of the aristocracy. From this period the States were still convoked at intervals, but, apparently, for no other purpose than to increase the subsidies; the public spirit, however, which they sometimes displayed, induced Cardinal Richelieu, in 1614, to bereave his country of this last semblance of liberty; the feudal aristocracy was at the same time entirely destroyed, and all the separate sovereignties consolidated into one mass. Henceforth the will of the monarch became the supreme law, and the lives and liberties of an immense population depended on the character of the prince. The reign of Louis XIV. was extremely arbitrary, but his splendid actions and magnificent profusion dazzled his subjects, and the national vanity of the French character so predo minated, that, unmindful of their sufferings, they became delighted with the ideal superiority which his conquests gave them over the other states of Europe. Hence originated that reverence, approaching to adoration, which the French manifested towards this monarch and his family, and which continued uninterrupted during the succeeding reign. Under the government of these sovereigns, every privilege of the subject was rendered nugatory; the men of wealth and distinction were purchased by the court, at the expense of the poor and the industrious, the nobility, the clergy, and the magistrates, being exempted from all share in the taxes: these were rendered still more oppres |