New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-09-05
PIONEERS OF DEMOCRACY.
RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN.

II has been we'll saif by NJ. Legouv6 in his re-
GENTLY published memoirs that the point of view
which the world takes of the past changes with the
progress of ideas Thus whereas Ricneheu ana
Mazarln up TO the close of the last century were
regarded as the agents of tyranny and as deserving
the condemnation of posterity it is now generally
Recognized that they were the avant-courlers OF
democracy. and that ever though they budeu
better than they knew. they entitled TO respect
full recognition as having done more than any othei
two men to break up the feudal system and 10 c'e"
The way for the reign of the pe0p C. Mr.. ferkns.
in the handsome volumes before MS, has given inii
account of Richeieu's successor and amuch orieioi
review of Rchelieu No doubt good reasons can
be shown for this arrangement; but 1t must DC 'u-
mitted that Richelieu's administration presents
more interesting and striking material than tha' Vi
his successor and Mr.. Perkins has shown SO many
qualifications for the task he has W'uo'
taken that probably many of his rea"e''
would have been pleased had he devoted more sl"''
TO the career Of the great Cardinal VIM man
so romantic figure in history both NJ"
Mazarin set before themselves a cehn", oo'oI''
.xaIt tho monarchy and 10 repress the noblllty'
But their me hods were very different hchoiiou
sought 10 govern more by force than concession.
He was determined to put an end to the revots ana
ohrorc Decentralization of the great MOBILES and he
hlock when in carrying out his policy it became
necessary 10 inspire a wholesome terror His
foreign policy was adroit and successful. His III
ternal policy save IN finance. was not less so.
There however he failed, and the reckless shifts
resorted 10 by him to procure money produced
confusion which, but for Colbert wonld almost
certainly have brought about collapse In
Mazarins time
The period during which these great ministers
fonrshed antedated any historical record of the
French people. History. up TO and including that
period. was concerned with kings aud dynasties,
with the quarIes and treasons and lntrlgues OF
princes and great mobiles, with wars waged for the
ACKNOWLEDGMENT of royal and noble families TAXA
ton was a scarcely disguised form of plumber and
the methods of applying it were so crude and de-
fectye that the State seldom received 90 per cent
of the amount collected, and often no more than
80 or 40 per cent. The masses endured sufterlngs
and oppression which seem scarcely credible now.
1t is very difficult TO realize the truth
concerning those times Such security for
life and property as could be fouhd
anywhere existed almost solely in few of
the larger walled cities and even these were liable
at intervals to be besieged and exposed TO the
horrors of the sack. But it a time when the
sensibilites of all were very dull; when, for ex-
ample one of the most horrible crimes IN all his
tory. the sack of Magdeburg. in which thirty
thousand men, women and children were massacTed
with every conceivable outrage and cruelty,
scarcely elected a murmur throughout Europe. IL
was period during which the Thirty Years war
had so famillarlzed the people with horrors that
they were Indifferent to them What the life of the
French peasants was while Rchelieu and Mazarin
were contending with the Condos and Gulses, with
the treason of the Fronde and the brgandage o.
Spanish invaders aud robber-chi is like the Duke
Of Lorraine, Mr.. Perkins has very fully shown IN
his final chapters aud the picture is one which de-
serves careful study There were certain regions
in France which were always more or less exposed
10 the ravages of war; and it mattered very little to
the inhabitants ofthose regions whether the armies
winch destroyed their growing crops. killed their
cattle. empted their barns aud cellars, phndered
their houses and outraged their women,w re French
OF English. Italan Spanish OF Dutch. Whatever
the nationality of the combatants the same ruin
and devastation was visited upon the neigh Dor
hood of the strife. In some ca Ses this rum was
repeated again and again in the course OF
few wears. One small town suffered thus no
less than twenty-five times. The inevitable result
was that destitutiOn parayzed aud depopulated
whole districts. Nor this all, or even the
worst for pesllence followed the track of the de-
vourlng armies and decimate1 the wrctched
ppasaniry whose means OF SuDSlsteHCc ndu Vco-
troyed When the neglected fields were not strewn
with the bolies of those who had fallen III battle,
they were made hideous with the remains of the
victims of the plague or starvation Men, women
and children by the hundreds were TO be seen
proving about looking for roots, wild herbs ana
vegetables anything to keep life in them: and fire.
quenty their emaciation WAS such that they fell
and died where they fell.
Tho 0;onc ordorc 40 smOdic eff
leve the widespread suffering, bat the work was
too onesous for their undlscipined hands. and they
effected little, though prOfuse lameutatlon. As
for he kings neither LOUIS KILL nor his successor
ever evinced the least sympathy with the people,
aud the infames perpe rated continually by the
tax-faImers added enormously to the popular suf-
ferngs Never, indeed, was system of taxation
better devised to defy the three laws of Adam
Smith The taxes were so LAID as to inflct the
greatest inconvenience, and they were 50 collected
as to take the most from those wlo
paid them and render the least to the Govern
meGt Every kind of tax almost was farmed
out, and the farmers made immense fortunes
by the arrangement while the people were lmpov-
crushed and the state received but moety of the
collections. Colbert it is true. made out strong
q case against the most greedy of the mlddlemen
that they compelled to dlsgorge part of their
plumber, but there can be no doubt that what they
gave up was bagatelle to what they retained
Mazarln not of such stern stuff as his great
master. Where Richelicu would have punished IN
surrection with the axe and gibbet. the Italian
sought to dlsarm it by gifts and concessions. 1t
q dangerous precedent to establish, and it is by
means improbable that it led TO the foundation of
the Fronde MORE unpatrohc orler than the
French mobiles then it would be hard to find
Each and all were bent upon self-aggrandizement,
and never cared at all what became of the State so
long as they fed fat upon slnecures and monopoies
and royal subsidies. The worst and most shame
lessly rapacous was Condo who did not hesitate to
ally himself openly with the enemies of France
when 1t was seen that reasonable bride would
secure his allegiance the throne HIS demands
had grown more and more outrageous. For each
Ia iral List az