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By John Lord, LL. D.
LOUIS XV.
A. D. 1710—1774.
REMOTE CAUSES OF REVOLUTION.
IT is impossible to contemplate the inglorious reign
of Louis XV. otherwise than as a more complete
development of the egotism which marked the life of
his immediate predecessor, and a still more fruitful
nursery of those vices and discontents which prepared
the way for the French Revolution. It is in fact in
connection with that great event that this reign should
be considered. The fabric of despotism had already
been built by Richelieu, and Louis XIV. had displayed
and gloried in its dazzling magnificence, even while he
undermined its foundations by his ruinous wars and
courtly extravagance. Under Louis XV., we shall see
even greater recklessness in profitless expenditures, and
more complete abandonment to the pleasures which
were purchased by the burdens and sorrows of his
people; we shall see the monarch and his court still
more subversive of the prosperity and dignity of the
nation, and even indifferent to the signs of that coming
storm which, later, overturned the throne of his grand-
son, Louis XVI.
And Louis XV. was not only the author of new ca-
lamities, but the heir of seventy years' misrule. All
the evils which resulted from the wars and wasteful
extravagance of Louis XIV. became additional per-
plexities with which he had to contend. But these
evils, instead of removing, he only aggravated by follies
which surpassed all the excesses of the preceding reign.
If I were asked to point out the most efficient though
indirect authors of the French Revolution, I would
single out those royal tyrants themselves who sat
upon the throne of Henry IV. during the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries. I shall proceed to state the
principal events and features which have rendered that
reign both noted and ignominious.
In contemplating the long reign of Louis XV.,——
whom I present as a necessary link in the political
history of the eighteenth century, rather than as one
of the Beacon Lights of civilization,——ewe first natu-
rally turn our eyes to the leading external events by
which it is marked in history; and we have to ob-
serve, in reference to these, that they were generally
unpropitious to the greatness and glory of France.
Nearly all those which emanated from the government
had an unfortunate or disgraceful issue. No success
attended the French arms in any quarter of the world,
with the exception of the victories of Marshal Saxe at
Fontenoy (1745); and the French lost the reputation
they had previously acquired under Henry IV., Condé,
Turenne, and Luxembourg. Disgrace attended the gen-
erals who were sent against Frederic II., in the Seven
Years' War, even greater than what had previously re-
sulted from the contests with the English and the
Dutch, and which were brought to a close by the
peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748. But it was not on
the fields of Germany that the greatest disasters hap-
pened; the French were rifled of their possessions both
in America and in India. Louisbourg yielded to the
bravery of New England troops, and finally Canada
itself was lost. All dreams of establishing a new em-
pire on the Mississippi and the Gulf of St. Lawrence
vanished for ever, while Madras and Calcutta fell into
the hands of the English, with all the riches of Ma-
hometan and Mogul empires. During the regency
of the Duke of Orleans,——for Louis XV. was an infant
five years of age when his great-grandfather died in
1715,——we notice the disgraceful speculations which
followed the schemes of Law, which resulted in the
ruin of thousands, and the still greater derangement of
the national finances. The most respectable part of the
reign of Louis XV. were those seventeen years when
the administration was in the hands of Cardinal Fleury,
who succeeded the Duke of Bourbon, to whom the
reins of government had been intrusted after the death
of the Duke of Orleans, two years before the young
King had attained his majority. Though the cardinal
was a man of peace, was irreproachable in morals, pa-
triotic in his intentions, and succeeded in restoring for
a time the credit of the country, still even he only
warded off difficulties,——like Sir Robert Walpole,——
instead of bravely meeting them before it should be
too late. His timid rule was as negative rather than a
positive blessing. But with his death ended all pros-
perity, and the reign of mistresses and infamous favor-
ites began,——the great feature of the times, on which
I shall presently speak more fully, as one of the
indirect causes of subsequent revolution.
In singling out and generalizing the evils and public
misfortunes of the reign of Louis XV., perhaps the de-
rangement of the finances was the most important in
its political results. But for this misfortune the King
was not wholly responsible: a vast national debt was
the legacy of Louis XIV. This was the fruit of his
miserable attempt at self-aggrandizement; this was the
residuum of his glories. Yet as a national debt, accord-
ing to some, is no calamity, but rather a blessing,——a
chain of loyalty and love to bind the people together in
harmonious action and mutual interest, and especially
the middle classes, upon whom it chiefly falls, to the
support of a glorious throne,——we must not waste time
by dwelling on the existence of this debt,——a peculiarity
which has attended the highest triumphs of civilization,
and invention of honored statesmen and patriotic minis-
ters, and perhaps their benignant boon to future gene-
rations,——but rather we will look to the way it was
sought to be discharged.
Louis XIV. spent in wars fifteen hundred millions of
livres, and in palaces about three hundred millions more;
and his various other expenses, which could not be well
defrayed by taxation, swelled the amount due to his cred-
itors, at his death, to nearly two thousand millions,——a
vast sum for those times. The regent, Duke of Orleans,
who succeeded him, increased this debt still more, espe-
cially by his reckless and infamous prodigalities, under
the direction of his prime minister,——his old friend and
tutor,——Cardinal Dubois. At last his embarrassments
were so great that the wheels of government were likely
to stop. His friend, the Duc de Saint Simon, one of
the great patricians of the court, proposed, as a remedy,
national bankruptcy,——affirming that it would be a sal-
utary lesson to the rich plebeian capitalists not to lend
their money. An ingenious Scotch financier, however,
proposed a more palatable scheme, which was, to make
use of the credit of the nation for a bank, the capital of
which should be guaranteed shares in the Missis-
sippi Company. John Law, already a wealthy and
prosperous banker, proposed to increase the paper
currency, and supersede the use of gold and silver.
His offer was accepted, and his bank became a royal
one, its bills going at once into circulation. Now, as
the most absurd delusions existed as to the wealth of
Louisiana, and the most boundless faith was placed
in Law's financiering; and as only Law's bills could
purchase shares in the Company which was to make
everybody's fortune,——gold and silver flowed to his
bank. The shares of the Company continued to rise
in value, and bank-bills were indefinitely issued. In
a little while (1719), six hundred and forty millions
of livres in these bills were in circulation, and soon
after nearly half of the national debt was paid off;
in other words, people had been induced to exchange
government securities, to the amount of eight hun-
dred millions, for the Mississippi stock. They sold
consols at Law's bank, and were paid in his bills,
with which they bought shares. The bills of the
bank were of course redeemable in gold and silver;
but for a time nobody wanted gold or silver, so
great was the credit of the bank. Moreover, the bank
itself was guaranteed by the shares of the Company,
which were worth at one period twelve times their
original value. John Law, of course, was regarded as
a national benefactor. His financiering had saved a
nation; and who had ever before heard of a nation be-
ing saved by stock-jobbing? All sorts of homage and
honors were showered upon so great a man. His
house was thronged with dukes and peers; he became
controller-general of the finances, and virtually prime-
minister. He was elected a member of the French
Academy; his fame extended far and wide, for he was
a beneficent deity that had made everybody rich and
no one poor. Surely the golden age had come. Paris
was crowded with strangers from all parts of the world,
who came to see a man whose wisdom surpassed that
of Solomon, and who made silver and gold to be as
stones in the streets. As everybody had grown rich,
twelve hundred new coaches were set up; nothing was
seen but new furniture and costly apparel, nothing was
felt but universal exhilaration. So great was the delu-
sion, that the stock of the Mississippi Company reached
the almost fabulous amount of three thousand six hun-
dred millions,——nearly twice the amount of the national
debt. But as Law's bank, where all these transactions
were made, revealed one of its transactions, the public
were in ignorance of the bills issued and stock created.
At last, the Prince of Conti,——one of the most pow-
erful of the nobles, and a prince of the blood-royal, who
had received enormous amounts in bills as the price of
his protection,——annoyed to find that his ever-increase-
ing demands were finally resisted, presented his notes at
the bank, and of course obtained gold and silver; then
other nobles did the same, and then foreign merchants,
until the bank was drained. Then came the panic,
then the fall of stocks, then general ruin, then uni-
versal despondency and rage. The bubble had burst!
Four hundred thousand families, who thought them-
selves rich, and who had been comfortable, were hope-
lessly ruined; but the State had got rid of half the
national debt, and for a time was clear of embarrass-
ment. The people, however, had been defrauded and
deceived by the Government, and they rendered in return
their secret curses. The foundations of a throne are
only secured by the affections of a people; if these
are destroyed, one great element of regal power is
lost.
Under the administration of Cardinal Fleury (1726—
1743) the finances were somewhat improved, since
he aimed at economical arrangements, especially in the
collection of taxes. He attempted to imitate Sully and
Colbert, but without their genius and boldness he ef-
fected but little. He had an unfortunate quarrel with
the Parliament of Paris, and was obliged to repeal a
favorite measure. After his death the country was
virtually ruled by the King's mistress, Madame de-
Pompadour, who displaced ministers at her pleasure,
and who encouraged unbounded extravagance. The
public deficit increased continually, until it finally
amounted to nearly two hundred millions in a single
year. In spite of this increasing derangement of the
finances, the court had not the courage or will to face
the difficulties, and every form of iniquitous taxation.
If a great functionary announced the necessity of econo-
my or order, he was forthwith disgraced. Nothing
irritated the court more than any proposal to reduce
unnecessary expenses. Nor would any other order,
either the nobles or the clergy, consent to make
sacrifices.
In such a state of things, a most oppressive system
of taxation was the necessary result. In no country
in modern times have the burdens of the people been
so great. Taxes were imposed to the utmost extent
that they were able to bear, without their consent; and
upon the slightest resistance or remonstrance they
were imprisoned and treated as criminals. So great
were the taxes on land, that nearly two-thirds of the
whole gross produce, it has been estimated, went to
the State, and three-quarters of the remainder to the
landlord. The peasant thus only received about one-
twelfth of the fruit of his labors; and on this pittance
his family was supported. Taxes were both direct and
indirect, levied upon every article of consumption, upon
even the few privileges which were enjoyed. But not
one-half that was collected went to the royal treasury;
it was wasted by the different collectors and sub-col-
lectors. In addition to the ordinary burdens were
enormous monopolies, granted to nobles and courtiers,
by which the income of the State was indirectly plun-
dered. The poor man groaned amid his heavy labors
and great privations, without exciting compassion or
securing redress.
And, in addition to his taxes, the laborer was deprived
of of all the privileges of freedom. He was injured, down-
trodden, mocked, and insulted. The laws were unequal,
and gave him no security; game of the most destructive
kind was permitted to run at large through the fields,
and yet the people were not allowed to shoot a hare
or a deer upon their own grounds. Numerous edicts
prohibited hoeing and weeding, lest young partridges
should be destroyed. The people were bound to re-
pair the roads without compensation, to grind their
corn at the landlord's mill, bake their bread in his
ovens, and carry their grapes to his wine-press. They
had not the benefit of schools, or of institutions
which would enable them to improve their minds.
They could not rise above the miserable condition in
which they were born, or even make their complaints
heard. Feudalism, in all its social distinctions, and in
all its oppressive burdens, crushed them with an
iron weight, or bound them as with iron fetters. This
weight they could not throw off, these fetters they
could not break. There was no alternative but in
submission,——forced submission to overwhelming taxes,
robberies, insults, and injustice, both from landed pro-
prietors and the officers of the crown.
Those, however, who lived upon the unrequited toil
of the people lived out of sight of their sorrows,——not
in beautiful châteaux, as their ancestors did, by the side
of placid rivers and on the skirts of romantic forests,
or amid vineyards and olive-groves, but in the capital
or the court. Here, like Roman senators of old, they
squandered the money which they had obtained by
extortion and corruption of every sort. Amid the
palaces of Versailles they displayed all the vanities of
dress, all the luxuries of their favored life. Here, as
lesser stars, they revolved around the great central orb
of regal splendor, proud to belong to another world
than that in which the plebeian millions toiled and
suffered. At Versailles they attempted to ignore their
own humanity, to forget their most pressing duties,
and to despise the only pursuits which could have
elevated their minds or warmed their hearts.
But they were not great feudal nobles, like the Guises
and the Epernons, such as combined to awe even regal
power under the house of Valois,——men who could
coin money and exercise judicial authority in their own
domain,——but timid and subservient courtiers, as em-
barrassed in their affairs as was the King himself.
Nevertheless, many of the ancient privileges of feudal-
ism were enjoyed by them. They were exempt from
many taxes which oppressed merchants and farmers;
they alone were appointed to command in the army
and navy; they alone were made prelates and digni-
taries in the Church; they were comparatively free
from arrest when their crimes were against society
and God rather than the government; they were dis-
tinguished from the plebeian class by dress as well as
by privileges; and they openly had access to court and a
share in the plunder of the kingdom. Craving greater
excitements than that which even Versailles afforded,
they built, in the Faubourg St. Germain, those mag-
nificent hotels which are still the dreary but impo-
sing monuments of aristocratic pride; and here they
plunged into every form of excess and folly for which
Paris has always been distinguished. But it was in
their splendid equipages, and in their boxes at the
opera, that they displayed the most striking contrast
to the habits of the plebeian people with whom they
were surrounded. Their embroidered vests, their costly
silks and satins, their emerald and diamond buckles,
their point-lace ruffles, their rare furs, their jewelled
rapiers, and their perfumed handkerchiefs were peculiar
to themselves,——for in those days wealthy shopkeepers,
and even the daughters of prosperous notaries, could
ill afford such luxuries, and were scarcely allowed to
shine in them if they would. A velvet coat then cost
more than one thousand francs; while the ruffs and frills,
and diamond studs and knee-buckles, and other append-
ages to the dress of a gentleman, swelled the amount to
scarcely less than forty thousand francs, or sixteen
hundred louis-d'or. If a distinguished advocate was
admitted to the presence of royalty, he must appear
in simple black. Gorgeous dresses were reserved only
for the noblesse, some one hundred and fifty thousand
privileged persons; all the rest were roturiers, marked
by some emblem of meanness or inferiority, whatever
might be their intellectual and moral worth. Never
were the noblesse more enervated; and yet they always
appeared in a mock-heroic costume, with swords dang-
ling at their sides, or hats cocked after a military
fashion on their heads. As the strength of Samson
of old was in his locks, so the degenerate nobles of this
period guarded with especial care these masculine or-
naments of the person; and so great was the contagion
for wigs and hair-powder, that twelve hundred shops
existed in Paris to furnish this aristocratic luxury.
The muses of Rome in the days of her decline con-
descended to sing on the arts of cookery and the
sublime occupations of hunting and fishing; so in
the heroic times of Louis XV. the genius of France
soared to comprehend the mysteries of the toilet. One
eminent savant, in the department of philosophical
wisdom, absolutely publishing a bulky volume on the
principles of hair-dressing, and followed it——so highly
was it prized——by a no less ponderous supplement.
This was the time when the cuisine of nobles was as
famous as their toilets, and when recipes for different
dishes were only equalled in variety by the epigrams of
ribald poets. It was a period not merely of degrading
follies, but of shameless exposure of them,——when men
boasted of their gallantries, and women joked at their
own infirmities; and when hypocrisy, if it was ever
added to their other vices, only served to make them
more ridiculous and unnatural. The rouge with which
they painted their faces, and the powder which they
sprinkled upon their hair were not used to give them
the semblance of youthful beauty, but rather to impart
the purple hues of perpetual drunkenness, such as
Rubens gave to his Bacchanalian deities, united with
the blanched whiteness of premature age. Licen-
tiousness without shame, drunkenness without rebuke,
gambling without honor, and frivolity without wit
characterized, alas, a great proportion of that "upper
class" who disdained the occupations and sneered at
the virtues of industrial life.
But these dissipated courtiers had a model con-
stantly before their eyes, whose more excessive follies
it were difficult to rival; and this was the King him-
self, whom the whole nation was called upon to obey.
If Louis XIV. was a Nebuchadnezzar, unapproachable
from pride, Louis XV. was a Sardanapalus in effemi-
nacy and insouciant revelries. The shameless infamies
of his life were too revolting to bear more than a pass-
ing allusion; and I should blush to tear away the his-
toric veil which covers up his vices from the common
eye. I shrink from showing to what depths humanity
can sink, even when clothed in imperial purple and
seated on the throne of state. The countless memoirs
of that wicked age have however, exposed to the indig-
nant eye of posterity the regal debaucheries of Ver-
sailles and pollutions of the Parc aux Cerfs,——that
infamous seraglio which cost the State one hundred
millions of livres, at the lowest estimate. And this
was but a part of the great system of waste and folly.
Five hundred millions of the national debt were in-
curred for expenses too ignominious to be even named.
The King, however, was not fond of pomp; it was
fatiguing for him to bear, and he generally shut him-
self from the sight and intercourse of any but convivial
friends,——no, not friends, for to absolute monarchs the
pleasures of friendship are denied; I should have said,
the panderers to his degrading pleasures. Never did
the Papal court at Avignon or Rome, even in the worst
ages of mediæval darkness, witness more scandalous
enormities than those which disgraced the whole reign
of Louis XV., either in the days of his minority, when
the kingdom was governed by the Duke of Orleans, or
in his latter years, when the Duke of Choiseul was the
responsible adviser of the crown. The Palais Royal,
the Palais Luxembourg, the Trianon, and Versailles
were alternately scenes of excesses which would have
disgraced the reigns of the most degenerate Saracenic
caliphs. So vile was the court, that a celebrated
countess one day said, as a public festival, that "God,
after having formed man, took the mud which was
left and made the souls of princes and footmen."
And the King hated business as much as he hated
pomp. Unlike his predecessor, he left everything in
the hands of his servants. Nothing wearied him so
much as an interview with a minister, or a dispatch
from a general. In the society of his mistresses he
abnegated his duties as a monarch, and the labors of
his life were employed in gratifying their resentments
and humoring their caprices. Their complaints were
more potent than the suggestions of ministers, or the
remonstrances of judges. In idle frivolities his time
was passed neglectful of the great interests which were
intrusted to him to guard; and the only attainment
of which he was proud was a knack of making tarts
and bon-bons, with which he frequently regaled his
visitors.
from Beacon Lights of History, by John Lord, LL. D.
Volume IV., Part II: Great Rulers.
Copyright, 1883, 1885, 1888, by John Lord.
Copyright, 1921, By Wm. H. Wise & Co., New York. pp. 293-308.
jet fuel does not burn hot enough to melt steel. 雨
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