252 



FRANCE. (HISTORY.) 



See farfAolomeic, St.) The haughty Guises removci 

 Uie Bourbons, princes of the blood, from court 

 because they were Huguenots, and finally aspired to 

 ascend the throne themselves. The feeble Henry 

 HI. caused the duke of Guise to be assassinated, and 

 his brother, the cardinal, to be murdered in prison 

 (1588). This was the signal to the confederates at 

 Paris, for the death of the king (1589). See Henry 



III. and //'*. 



5. France, a European Power under the Bourbons 

 until 1789. Two hundred years before the revolu- 

 tion, the first Bourbon of the Capetian race, Henry 



IV. king of Navarre, ascended the throne of France. 

 He restored order, embraced the Catholic religion, 

 and placed the Calvinists under the protection of the 

 edict of Nantes (1598). Henry, aided by counsel of 

 the wise Sully, laboured diligently for the welfare of 

 the state. The French now began to perceive the 

 importance of colonial establishments : they founded 

 the colony of Pondicherry in the East, those of Mar- 

 tinique, Guadaloupe, and St Domingo in the West 

 Indies, and that of Quebec in North America. After 

 the assassination of Henry IV. (1610), French policy 

 was wavering in the first years of the minority of 

 Louis XIII. until the prime minister, cardinal Riche- 

 lieu (q. v.), gave it a steady direction. He took 

 advantage of the thirty years' war, to humble Aus- 

 tria and Spain. He created that domestic despotism 

 in France, which rendered the government com- 

 pletely absolute, but finally occasioned the overthrow 

 of the monarchy. The states-general were assembled 

 for the last time, 1614. The policy of Richelieu was. 

 carried to perfection by Mazarin, in the reign of 

 Louis XIV. (See Louis, and Mazarin.) The peace 

 of Westphalia (1648) gave France Alsace, the Sun- 

 gaw, and confirmed her in possession of the bishop- 

 rics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun; the treaty of the 

 Pyrenees (1659) with Spain united a part of the Low 

 Countries, and the county of RoussiUon, with France. 

 After the death of Mazarin (1660), and the fall of 

 Fouquet, superintendent of the finances (1661), Col- 

 bert (q. v.) raised France to a high degree of pros- 

 perity and refinement. He executed his splendid 

 projects with an indefatigable activity. Louvois 

 (q. v.) was at the head of the department of war ; 

 the generals Turenne, Luxembourg, Catinat, Bouf- 

 flers, Vendome, bound victory to the banners of 

 France; and Vauban girded the kingdom with for- 

 tresses. Thus Louis became powerful enough to dic- 

 tate to the other powers of Europe in all important 

 questions. But the revocation of the edict of Nantes 

 (1685),* his interference in foreign affairs, and parti- 

 cularly in the Spanish war of succession (1701 13), 

 destroyed the greatness of France. The ministers 

 and generals of Louis were dead, and his cabinet 

 was guided by his confessor, Le Tellier, and ma- 

 dame de Maintenon. On the death of Louis, 1715, 

 whom, as well as Henry IV., the French call the 

 Great, the national debt amounted to no less than 

 4500 million livres. He was succeeded by his great- 

 grandson, Louis XV., aged five years. The regency 

 of the duke of Orleans, Law's scheme of finance, the 

 administration of the infamous Dubois, the three 

 years' ministry of Louis, duke of Bourbon, the ad- 

 inirabie economy and honest policy of the venerable 

 Fleury, the pernicious influence of the notorious 

 marchioness de Pompadour, and the activity of the 



* See the work of Rulhieres on the causes of this event, 

 called Eclaircisiemens historiques sur les Causes de la Re- 

 vocation de I' Editde Nantes ct sur V Etatdes Protestans 

 enFrance, etc., 1788. France lost, particularly in the seven 

 great emigrations of 1666, 1681, 1685, 1688, 1715, 1724, and 

 1744, hundreds of thousands of industrious subjects, and a 

 great amount of capital, besides experiencing great deteri- 

 oration in point of morals. 



duke de Choiseul, these are the chief features in 

 the history of a period in which the welfare of Urn 

 kingdom and the happiness of the subjects became 

 the sport of the vilest passions. The acquisition of 

 Lorraine and Corsica, the changes in the colonial 

 relations of France, produced by the peace of Aix-la- 

 Chapelle (1748), and that of Paris (1763), the war 

 on account of the election to the Polish throne (1733), 

 the war of the Austrian succession (1740), and the 

 war in support of Austria (1756 63), the suppres- 

 sion of the order of the Jesuits, the family compact 

 of the house of Bourbon, the constantly increasing 

 despotism, which was principally felt in the innumer- 

 able lettres de cachet, the distinguished names of 

 Montesquieu, Buffon, Voltaire, Rousseau, &c... 

 these are the subjects most worthy of notice in the 

 reign of Louis XV., who, by all kinds of prodigality, 

 by foolish enterprises, by his confidence in men who 

 shamefully abused their trust, loaded the nation with 

 oppressive taxes, and accumulated an immense mass 

 of debt. (See the articles Louis XIP. and Louis 

 XV.) Much good was done under his grandson and 

 successor, Louis XVI. (177492; see this art.). But 

 all that Maurepas and Vergennes, Turgot and 

 Necker, did, were but palliatives of an incurable 

 disease. By her participation in the war of the 

 American revolution (1778- 83), France hastened 

 her own catastrophe. Necker left the difficult post 

 of minister of finance, and Calonne, who followed 

 him, succeeded for a time in his efforts to conceal the 

 embarrassments of the treasury. By his advice, the 

 notables of the kingdom were finally assembled at 

 Versailles (Feb. 22, 1787), to the number of 146; 

 but they refused the proposition of the minister to 

 introduce a land-tax and stamp-duty. Calonne was 

 dismissed, and Brienne, archbishop of Sens, succeeded 

 him as prime minister. Brienne proposed economical 

 reforms, with new loans and taxes, to cover the 

 yearly deficit of 140 million livres ; the personal 

 services of the feudal tenants were commuted into 

 pecuniary supplies, and the king held a lit de justice, 

 to compel the parliament of Paris to register the 

 taxes proposed by Calonne, to which the notables 

 had refused their consent. The parliament resisted 

 with firmness, and was exiled to Troyes. It was 

 soon after recalled, but refused to register a loan of 

 440 million livres. The exile of the duke of Orleans, 

 who was at the head of the peers, and of two mem- 

 bers of parliament, had no other consequence than a 

 declaration of the parliament against the abuse of the 

 lettres de cachet; upon which Uie king decreed the 

 suppression of all the parliaments, and the introduc- 

 tion of a court of justice depending on his own will 

 (four pleniere). This work of Brienne and Breteuil 

 excited universal displeasure. The parliament of 

 Rennes declared infamous whoever should accept a 

 seat in that court. The people saw the constitution 

 of the kingdom violated in its most vital parts, and 

 never before spoke with such ardour and sympathy 

 of the freedom of North America. Montesquieu, 

 Voltaire, Diderot, D'Alembert, and Rousseau were 

 read, and analyzed, and their bold ideas placed in 

 contrast with the actual state of things. The real 

 state of affairs could not remain secret to the prime 

 minister: he therefore yielded to the wish of the 

 nation, and proposed an assembly of the states-gene- 

 ral : at the same time, he received his dismission, the 

 king confiding solely on the personal reputation of 

 ihe famous Necker, who was now recalled as super- 

 intendent of the finances and minister of state. He 

 found in the treasury of France only 419,000 iivres 

 in cash ! His first steps were the restoration of the 

 parliaments, and the convocation of the notables 

 smew (Nov. 5, 1788), in order to adopt measures re- 

 lative to the organization of the states-general. The 



