Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-07-13
sroRMINa rfE pAsrII.E.

we are as far removed from tho wildly
enthusiastic eulogies Of Danton as from
the frantic denunciations Of Edmund
Burke. The theologue who tries to show
that the "Reign of Terror" was caused
entirely by "infidel writers like Voltaire
and Tom Paine" is ridiculed as merci-
lessly as the wild eyed agnostic who
says with ungrammatical emphasis that
"priestcraft done II ALL" All common
sense men now realize that there was
something far back of priestcraft and
infidelity, something that touched the
French people moro painfully than the
atheism Of Hebert or the folly of Mario
Antoinette, which made that revolution
so terrible.
If the reader would know why the fall
of the Bastile Is such an epoch to French
men, and why when they rose against
tho ruling classes they were SO merciless
In their wrath, he must look at their
previous history and note how complete
ly tho old condition of things had brutal
lied the people. II you think the hor-
rors Of tho Revolution were due to
"want Of religion" consider that France
had enjoyed close union CT chorch and
state for 1000 years; IL you accept any
of the other Bourbon theories, consider
that France had then the strongest and
most paternal government in Europe.
For the real trouble let US briefly review
her history.
As is known to all readers, tho north
ern nations which overran the Roman
empire brought with them well defined
ideas of personal liberty and free par.
liaments. "All the warriors met in
arms" says Dion Cassius "The men of
influence endeavored to persuade them;
they expressed their assent by clashing
their shields and their dissent by muir
murs; nor was there any need Of nice
scrutiny Of votes where opinion inclined
one way or the other with such force"
The result was that in England, France,
Italy, indeed, in all the kingdoms which
grew upon the ruins of the Roman en-
pire. there were intermediate bodies be-
tween the high and the low, there were
parliaments or other legislative and mod
Grating bodies which preserved the prin-
ciples Of liberty. In England alone did
this embodiment Of freedom survive.
In all the other kingdoms it was either
abolished outright by the dcspotism Of
the rulers or 80 perverted that it became
all additional engine Of oppression.
In Spain the cortes, in Italy the coun-
ellis, in Franco and the Netherlands the
states general and local "parlements'
finally sunk into mere registering bodies
they did what the king asked or Or
dered, aud as far as can now be deter
mined their functions became merely
formal. Indeed, no writer Is now able
10 state with any precision what were
The original powers Of the parliament
VI Paris" the Estates of Brittany" the
"Cortes of CASTLE" or the Council OF
Arragon." The summary Of the whole
matter was this: There was time when
the king could not change local laws
without the assent Of the local "parle.
ment' or raise money without tho vote
Of q general parliament; there came a
time when Except in England) he could
do as he willed unless his people re-
belled. II they rebelled, the peasants
were footmen, the cavaliers, mounted
and cased in armor; one thousand Of the
latter could overawe fifty thousand Of
the former.
The invention Of gunpowder practi-
cally put an end to the old distinctions.
Knights In armor could no longer gal
lop over peasants at will: castles could
be bombarded or blown up. But before
the oppressed could realize on that fact
the ruin Of the old parliamentary insti-
tutions was complete. In France the
farce terminated in 1914, tho states gen.
eral assembled no more. and in due time
Louis XIV aTogantly declared, ~ am
the state" His long wars reduced the
French peasantry to the last extremes
very often in the early spring laborers
were found dead by the roadside, in
their mouths the grass which they had
gnawed In the rage Of hunger. There
was O slight improvement. but the de-
baucherics Of Louis XIV destroyed popu-
lar respect for the crown Louis XVI
honestly desired to improve the peoples
condition, but was too feeble. All the
sap and nutriment Of the country had
gone TO swell the cancerous growth OF
court and nobility.
At length there came time when ex-
hausted nature could bear no more.
Several bad harvests reduced the peas
antry to a condition where death was
less an evil than life, and they rose in
various places, burning the castles and
numbering the collectors. The middle
classes were infatuated by the success in
America, and imbued with infidel phil
osophy. The nobility were licentious,
arrogant, worthless. The condition Of
the ruling classes is thus forcibly de-
scribed by Gouverneur Morris, American
agent in Paris: "Treachery, Inconsistency
and Punic faith inhere in the very bone,
blood and marrow Of the people, SO that
IL man Of the highest rank tells you
today the exact opposite Of what he told
you yesterday, you are laughed at for q
fool If you insist on the former state
ment."
The king convened the assembly Of the
notables in 1857, and asked them to tax
themselves for the relief Of the country.
They laughed him TO scorn. He then
called the states general, which met May
8, l7s9-ths 6rst time since ielA On