FRANCE. 
ing with favourable circumstances, developed them- 
etlochp dasdilep pale’ apdvesintirdltendeidjuene ilnitelths 
pe mr But, in the first place, it may well be 
t whether any great number of the officers and 
en ee ee inci 
and feelings of liberty there. - er rpm mae 
(especially in France at that period) seldom — 
to the nature of the cause for which they fight, 
or fee] much ven weed for liberty. Some, no doubt, 
went to America from the laudable desire of assisti 
in establishing the independence of that country ; am 
many who went from motives, may have return- 
ed with a change in their sentiments favourable to li- 
dered by their government ; fought there, as they would 
ery gen 
spirit of liberty, yet it by no means follows that they 
had it in their power to Defuse thie spirit into any large 
portion of their countrymen. Indeed, the remarks of 
travellers confirm this ; for while, even before the Ame- 
rican war, and much more so after it, they observe; 
that very free notions respecting government and reli- 
x | eer Re Rem the hi classes of the 
rench nation, they do not mention that such notions 
ie were entertained by.the mass of the people ;. and: we 
should recollect, that in France, at this time, there was 
no middle class in the country at large. 
The next cause which we shall consider, attributes 
the Revolution to the despotism 
at the period of the Revolution, this despotic govern- 
Feedom 
and the the subject, it had ever been 
period. To this cause, therefore, the 
ascribed. 
ing observations, it will be sufficient- 
that in tracing and 
operate lest effect. 
In the first » the causes which operated to pro- 
ution as they existed in the higher and 
classes of the community, may be 
kinds; those which originated 
liberty, and those which ori- 
a desire to throw off particular 
i 
) 
= 
: 
: 
u 
& 
s 
i 
1 
643 
me by the crown. The provincial noblesse be- _ History. 
held with contempt and indignation the follies, the “~~ 
fligacy, and the power of the higher nobility. The 
inferior y regarded their superiors with the same 
feelings ; but, more especially, “ the practising lawyers, 
almost entirely excluded from the chance of becoming 
j wished eagerly for a change of affairs, not 
doubting that their talents and professional skill would 
render them necessary amidst any alterations that might 
occur.” In short, there was a mutual repulsion among 
the leading classes of the community, arising from a 
change in their feelings and wishes, without this change 
being accompanied by a corresponding change in their 
situation, or in-the conduct of government towards 
them: 
It-ought also to be meas a say these who 
wished, or were prepared for a Revolution, i 
poe -it, either she realization of oe rong od 
opes respecting liberty, or the removal of their par- 
ticlar igrievances, there were; in Paris particularly, am 
immense number of desperate and unprincipled ns 
sons, who eagerly looked: forward toa convulsion which 
they had no doubt would be, the accompaniment of a- 
Revolution, and frem which they anticipated the full 
indulgence of their most violent and depraved. pas- 
sions. 1 
The causes which revolutionized the great mass of 
the people, are quite distinct from those we have just 
enumerated. When, indeed, the first symptoms of the 
Revolution became manifest, many thought it would 
not spread over the nation, when they reflected how ig- 
norant the people were, how blindly-and obstinately at- 
tached to old establishments, how-passionately devoted 
to their monarch, and every thing that concerned him ; 
and that, though oppressed by the nobility, and neglect- 
ed by the government, they seemed quite insensible to 
the miseries of their condition, and exhibited more stri- 
king symptoms of content and happiness than nations 
— freer a highly favoured. How ae were 
such a people: , and changed so: com; yas 
to hear of rae nce of their monarch with expe 
tion? The cause when explained is very simple. ‘The 
peasantry, though accustomed, .were not utterly insen- 
sible to the tyranny of the nobles; nor could they be- 
hold with indifference, scenes of profligate and wanton 
extravagance displayed at their chateaus, at the very 
time when their own cottages were the abode of misery 
and famine. . Though utterly ignorant: of the meaning 
of political liberty, they knew what was meant by  be- 
ss from the ressions, taxes, and vexations to 
which they were subject, and still more keenly did they 
enter into the prospect of having it in their power 
to retaliate on the nobility the ode they had suffered 
from them. In short, at the commencement of the Re- 
volution, they received, or seized on power ; and v 
naturally became attached to that-event, from whiak 
such a blessing in their estimation proceeded. Had the 
Revolution only promised them — liberty, they 
would have regarded it with indifference ; with them it 
would have found no su ; but addressing itself 
to their ions and feelings, they rose in favour of it, 
and in their exultation, at their liberation from the op- 
pressions under which re had long groaned, and at 
re their mi 
been 
Among 
mass of the 
people. 
the ruin of those who misery with 
indifference, or perhaps essentially contributed towards 
it, they forgot their loyalty, and beheld in their mo- 
narch only the chief of their oppressors. 
We are now to consider the circumstances in which . 
