The Press.
London, England, 1857-06-13 00:00:00

585

At last, that is to say in the spring of the following year,
the King made severe rules with the object of bringing
about a reform in this particular. There is no country in
Europe where there are so many fine laws, or where the
observance of them is of shorter durition. It often
happens that in the first year all are infringed and in the
second forgotten. Such was the army at this time, and
we soon had abundant opportunities to note its incapacity
to overcome the enemies with whom we had to contend.

We should like to extract his account of the
battle of Ramillies, but we prefer to give a
specimen of the tone in which the social state
of France is described :
But to return to the year 1709. People never ceased
wondering what had become of all the money of the realm.
Nobody could any longer pay, because nobody was paid :
the country people, overwhelmed with exactions and with
valueless property, had become insolvent: trade no longer
yielded anything—good faith and confidence were at an
end. Thus the King had no resources, except in terror
and in his unlimited power, which, boundless as it was,
failed also for want of having something to take and to
exercise itself upon. There was no more circulation, no
means of reestablishing it. All was perishing step by
step ; the realm was entirely exhausted ; the troops, even,
were not paid, although no one could imagine what was
done with the millions that came into the King's coffers.
The unfed soldiers, disheartened too at being so badly
commanded, were always unsuccessful; there was no
capacity in oenerals or Ministers; no appointment
except by whim or intrigue ; nothing was punished,
nothing examined, nothing weighed : there was equal im•
potence to sustain the war and bring about peace : all
suffered, yet none dared to pot the hand to this arch,
tottering as it was and ready to fall.
This was the frightful state to which we were rednced,
when envoys were sent into Holland to try and bring
about peace. The picture is exact, faithful, and not
overcharged. It was necessary to present it as it WAS, in
order to explain the extremity to which we were re-
duced, the enormity of the concessions which the King
made to obtain peace, and the visible miracle of Him who
sets hounds to the seas, by which France was allowed to
escape from the hands of Europe, resolved and ready to
destroy her.
Meanwhile the money was recoined ; and its increase to
a third more than its intrinsic value, brought some profit
to the King, but ruin to private people, and a disorder to
trade which completed its annihilation.
That is a terrible picture ; but, in justice to
the old French monarchy, we must recollect
that " Red Republicanism and " Monarchies
of the Barricades" have chapters just as
frightful, and the decline of population in
France in our own days is not without signifi•
cance. Sir Edward Lytton, in " Devereux,"
has made powerful use of the following
description:—

Monseigneur, arriving and returning from the opera,
was assailed by the populace and by women in great
numbers, crying, " Bread! Bread! " so that he wes
afraid, even in the midst of his guards, who did not dare
to disperse the crowd for fear of worse happening. He got
away by throwing money to the people, and promising
wonders ; but as the wonders did not follow, he no longer
dared to go to Paris.

The King hims-lf from his windows heard the people
of Versailles crying aloud in the street. The discourses
they held were daring and continual in the streets and
public places ; they uttered complaints, sharp, and but
little measured, against the Government, and even
against the King's person and even exhorted each other
no longer to be so enduring. sa3ing that nothing worse
uld happen to them than what they suffered, dying as
they were of starvation.
All these scenes—and the volumes have many
more of the same kind—are still more inte-
resting to any one who is conversant with the
history of France between 1787 and 179 ti. The
same passions. under different forms, and the
same vacillations betweer firmness and weak-
ness, appear revived. In no country has the
philosophy of " race" received so many exem-
plifications as in France.
The mixture of light and serious matter in
these volumes contributes to their readability,
and makes them suitable for popular circula-
tion. They are full of lifelike strokes like
the following:—

That day the immense dowry was declared ; and on
Sunday there was a grand ball, that is, a ball opened by a
branle, which settled the order of the dancing throughout
the evening. Monsenzneur the Due de liourgogne danced
on this occasion for the first time ; and led off the branle
with Mademoiselle. I danced also for the first time at
Court. My partner was Mademoiselle de Sourches,
daughter of the Grand PreiOt ; she danced excellently. I
had been that morning to wait on Madame, who could not
refrain from saving, in a sharp and angry voice, that I was
doubtless very glad of the promise of so many balls,—that
this was natural at my age; hut that, for her part, she was
old and wished they were well over.

There are many coarse and even gross
descriptions in St. Simon. and Mr. St John
has generally managed his omissions with
tset. We think that the account of M. de
Vendomme should have been passed over
altogether; au4 the diction occasionally