FRANCE 



further taxes, and seized the land. 

 There was still, however, no at- 

 tempt to upset the monarchy. So 

 long as the king agreed to the de- 

 cisions of the States-General he was 

 acclaimed as a " patriot." The 

 power was exercised by the middle 

 class, which had been captivated 

 by the doctrines of the philoso- 

 phers, but did not consider that 

 any violent change of system was 

 necessary. The people were not so 

 patient. As they learned more 

 about the state of the kingdom, 

 and as they felt their power, they 

 became resolved that they would 

 not be deceived again. The king, 

 they said, must be in Paris. At 

 Versailles there were military 

 plotters against the Revolution. 

 So they brought the royal family 

 by force to Paris, and the States- 

 General went to the capital also, 

 and the first act closed. 



In the next act the chief of the 

 new performers was Mirabeau, an 

 aristocrat who threw in his lot 

 with the people, yet aimed at 

 saving the monarchy. If Mirabeau 

 had lived he might have saved 

 France. After his death the voices 

 which controlled the new Legisla- 

 tive Assembly were those of Dan- 

 ton, Robespierre, and Marat. All 

 three belonged to the middle class, 

 and were men of ability, but failed 

 because they could not dominate 

 the passions of the Paris mob. At 

 last the mob broke into the Tuile- 

 ries palace, carried off the king and 

 his family, and put them in prison. 

 The National Convention 



In the third phase the National 

 Convention comes into being and, 

 more important, the National 

 Army, which was to sweep away 

 the Revolution altogether for a 

 time and make Napoleon supreme. 

 This army was raised as a reply to 

 the threat that the other Jungs 

 and emperors of Europe would 

 avenge their brother, Louis XVI, 

 who had been executed in January, 

 1793. Another consequence of this 

 interference was the Reign of 

 Terror. Everyone suspected every- 

 one else of plotting against the 

 Revolution. Upon flimsy pretexts 

 men and women were arrested and 

 guillotined. The Terror affected 

 those who carried on the butchery 

 not less than those who were its 

 victims. The leaders were am- 

 bitious, and, jealous of each other, 

 struck wildly at any who stood 

 in their way. Yet amid all the 

 horrors and uproar there went on 

 the work of creating a new machine 

 of government. Officials sat in 

 their rooms day after day dis- 

 regarding the turmoil and the 

 bloodshed. The life of the country 

 went on. The new army went on 

 from triumph to triumph. 



3299 



Gradually from these victories 

 arose the star of Bonaparte. He 

 had impressed the order-loving ele- 

 ments by his " whiff of grape-shot" 

 which ended a rising in 1795. Then 

 followed his Italian victories. In 

 1799 Bonaparte overthrew the 

 Directorate, proclaimed himself 

 First Consul (there were three, but 

 the other two were shadows), and 

 began his vigorous and in many 

 ways admirable rule. It-was so 

 productive of results that in 1804 

 he became emperor. From now on 

 he governed not less despotically 

 than Louis XIV, and by much the 

 same methods, such as a wide- 

 spread spy system and the crushing 

 of all ideas which did not suit him. 

 The Genius of Napoleon 



Yet there was one immense 

 difference between Napoleon and 

 Louis XIV : he was a man of ex- 

 ceptional ability. His mind was 

 capable of vast and beneficent con- 

 ceptions, and he could think out his 

 plans with accuracy and harmony 

 down to small details. He had the 

 knack of enforcing men to enjoy 

 obeying him, to sacrifice themselves 

 for him willingly. All this increased 

 his vanity, took away his sense of 

 proportion, shook the balance of 

 his reason, brought him to ruin in 

 the end. He was not great as a 

 man, for his human qualities were 

 conditioned by his colossal selfish- 

 ness ; but he possessed a great 

 capacity, an intellect of the rarest 

 temper and usefulness, a person- 

 ality which has never been sur- 

 passed in its power to influence the 

 world's imagination and create 

 that legend which alone can secure 

 popular support. Partly because 

 he was an ambitious soldier, partly 

 because the other sovereigns re- 

 sented his appearance among them, 

 he was perpetually occupied in 

 making war. 



Combinations were formed 

 against him time after time, yet 

 his power still increased. His in- 

 vasion of Russia in 1812, however, 

 led to disaster, and encouraged all 

 the Great Powers to combine 

 against him. His armies retreated 

 further and further ; one after 

 another the territories he had con- 

 quered had to be given up. In 

 March, 1814, Paris was taken by 

 the Allies, and the emperor re- 

 signed the throne. Sent to Elba, he 

 refused to accept defeat. The old 

 monarchy had been restored, 

 Louis XVIII was king, but as soon 

 as Napoleon returned to France 

 there was a hurried flight of royalty 

 and the emperor was once more at 

 the head of affairs. But at Water- 

 loo his strength was broken. The 

 restored monarchy lasted 15 years. 

 Then it was swept away by a Re- 

 publican rising, which did not, how- 



FRANCE 



ever, result in a restored Republic. 

 The opportunity was seized to 

 put on the throne Louis Philippe, 

 a prince of the Orleans branch of 

 the reigning family, who kept his 

 uneasy seat for 18 years and was 

 driven out to make room for the 

 Second Republic in the year of 

 revolutions, 1848. The first presi- 

 dent of the new republic was the 

 holder of the great name of Napo- 

 leon, a nephew of the emperor, a 

 man of small capacity, but of un- 

 bounded faith in himself. He had 

 lived in England as an exile. He 

 had been imprisoned in France for 

 a theatrical violation of the law 

 excluding him from the country. 

 Now he was elected president by 

 an immense majority, which was 

 repeated in 1851, when he seized 

 supreme power and prepared the 

 way for his " acceptance " of the 

 title of emperor at the end of 1852. 

 Once again the French people were 

 under the domination of a tyranny. 

 All institutions which aimed at 

 keeping alive the spirit of freedom 

 were suppressed. No criticism 

 upon the doings of the government 

 was permitted. Yet on the whole 

 the nation was not dissatisfied. 

 There was material prosperity to 

 console it for the loss of liberty, if 

 indeed liberty had ever really been 

 either its possession or its desire. 

 The second of the " great exhibi- 

 tions" held in Paris in 1855 seemed 

 to most observers to be evidence 

 that the country was contented as 

 well as prosperous, and that the 

 revival of the Empire was likely 

 to endure. 



The Wars of Napoleon III 



It has been said of Louis Napo- 

 leon that he spoke of its endurance 

 as contingent upon " a war every 

 four years." Whether he used the 

 words or not, he skilfully carried 

 out the policy they suggest. He 

 drew England into the Crimean 

 War for the defence of the Turkish 

 Empire ; he fought Austria for the 

 supposed purpose of liberating 

 Italy ; he sent an expedition to 

 Mexico to bolster up an empire 

 there. Finally, he was foolish 

 enough to try to humiliate Prussia, 

 and so gave Bismarck the oppor- 

 tunity he wanted for war with 

 France and for consolidating the 

 German Empire. 



Bismarck was only too glad to 

 take up the challenge rashly 

 thrown down, and France alone had 

 to face the armies of Prussia, 

 Bavaria, Saxony, and Wurttem- 

 burg. Europe looked in amazement 

 while the Germans gained victory 

 after victory, and in the early 

 autumn, with the emperor a 

 prisoner in their hands, encamped 

 round Paris. The siege was gal- 

 lantly endured, but at the close of 



