New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-06-15

been reached II * possible but not probab BILE.
that if Louis XIV had been succeeded by series
of strong and capable rulers, the repression anu
oppression of tic nation might have continued
some years longer; hut when people nave suhN
TO the pitch of misery prevalent III FRANCE dO
the middle of the eighteenth century IL haroiS
requires the spur of a new liberal PHILOSOPHY W
set their desperation at work. Inc IeVoiu'i'"
must have come. because the governing classes
had neither conscience, pity nor prudence W.
cause the royal system ny keeping the mobiles at
Court. steadily aggravated the sufrerings OF the
provinces; because the extravaganza OF hlhe'
courtiers and farmers general, necessitated a
scheme of TAXATION which crushed the life ont OF
the masses because in depriving these masses
of every rational incentive to life and industry, the
government threw them back upon the single
consolation Of an cver-augmenting hatred 10 tielr
rulers They had. in a word nothing ~ lose ana
everything to gain by revolution. and the instant
the pressure upon them was lishtencd they rose
in irrepressbc revolt.
Mr. Mccarthy has not emulatcd the example OF
Taine in his attention 10 the provinces prelcrrihS
to concentrate himself upon the more central pro-
ceedings and upon the characters OF the lcadlng
actors He presents gallery of striking PORTRAITS
and n series of graphic sketches OF particular
situations. No previous English writer has given
a clearer and more picturesque view OF the farls
of 1880 of the court of Louis XVI, Of the Incl
dence of taxation IN the country at large. Of the
famous salons which formed public opinion al the
capital. Many of these pictures are admirably
executed full Of color and light and at once en-
Pertaining and instructive. 1t would he dlfiicult
10 nut more substance into such a sketch than
is 10 be found for example, i'll the chapter headed
The People of Paris" which the character
kob at ba
lightly but firmly drawn. Condensation. IN
deed. is carried further than is apt to be sus-
pected in this book. Take the twentieth chap
ter for instance Here a sufficiently full. vet
extremely compact, account is given of the taxes,
the clerical and seignOrial rights which descended
in such complex and crushing force upon the mead
of the peasant. Here, too. is shown the fatality
of that feudal system which in giving TO the
under lords many independent privileges made
il inrpossible for the overload TO do justice in
the country; while the provincial parliamcnts,
invested with partial legislative powers. used
their authority chiefly TO promote personal In
terests at the expense o, the people and TO the
homeless prostitution of the courts. Mr.. Met arthN
also brings out clearly the reasons for that in
tense hatred for the nobility which was TO iind
expression before the outbreak OF the Revolution
in dreadful deeds Of violence and cruelty. All
of such piilcss oppression as might have made
brutes of angels. The kings and mobiles of france
had steadily sown the wind and they feaped the
whirwind in due time. After all, the worst hor-
rors of The Terror were not much when compared
with the age-long miscrics and pains endured
not by few thousand people, but by millions
under the feudal system and lis outgrowths
The impetus given to the Revolution carried
il so far beyond all moderation that before II
could he checked it had passed ont OF the hands
of those who might have directed II wisely. ana
had crushed them under its Juggcrnaut wheels.
II was this excess that brought the reaction upon
which th61iI>t Empire was founded, and which. III
the name of the Revolution, undertook 20 undo
so many things for the doing of which the Rcvo-
luton had been destined But there is an aspect
of the great uprising the true account Of which
will never ~ written. Mr.. Mccarthy aliudcS 10
it, exhibits the ustiiiabc curiosity every earnest
student of the period must feel, but can make no
more OF il than his predecessors have done We
refer to the mysterious undercurrcnt Of apparent
purposo which is caught sight of here and there
throughout the earlier proceedings. The curious
case of the "Brigands" in the provinces, the at
tack on Revelons factory in the Faubourg 81.
Antoine the constant rumors and reports OF pro-
fcssional agitatOrs distributing money and incit-
ing the mob 10 overt violence the whispered stories
about the Duke of Orleans and his revolution
fund-who can tell whether all this represents
simply the effects of excited popular imagination,
or whether il indicates the actual existence OF
plots against the government supported by some
Of the mobiles themselves?
What renders it the more difficult 10 Judge
is the notorious fact that Orleans was quite capa-
bic of everything that was or could be charged
against him, and if he did not actually spend
his money in organizing tumult, he assurcdly did
so in preaching revolution through swarm OF
pamphleteers more treacherous and unscru-
pulous man it would he hard to find, and 1t is
a comfort to think that be ultimately fell into
his own trap But neither he nor any other man
could have greatly helped or greatly hindered the
Revolution, which was coming because the fulness
of TIME had been reached. There is, indeed, some
thing marvellous in the faulty which caused the
government 10 remove, one by one, all the bar
ricrs and to provide, one after another, all the
openings that were necessary for the revolution
airy current to flow in. For it is now quite clear
that the Court committed every blundcr and neg
lected every opportunity that was possible, and
that from the time the Statcs-Gencral assembled it
was as irredcemaby lost a wherry within the
suck Of the Falls of Niagara. Yet TOO much may
easily be made Of the blindness of the Court. 1t
is not sufficiently remembered that until quite
recently the whole Of France had apparently ac-
quiesced in the existing situation II had been
regarded as normal, however unpleasant in many
respects Moreover, if the Court had possessed
the ability To realize the truth il would have be
gun reforms long before. IL was only blind in the
face of revolution because it had been blind
throughout, and it fell not so much because il
blundercd in its policy Of the moment. but be-
cause, in the face Of nation whose eyes were
opening it had become an impossibility
Mr.. McCarthy's first volume closes with the fall
Of the Bastille, the drama of which he relates
with cautions regard 10 the many contradictory
and perpleXng features of it. On one point we
think him certainly right Modern criticism
tends TO belittlc the capture Of the Bastile, as
signing the event to an Outburst Of popular
Ignorance pointing TO the obsolcscencc OF the old
tyranny represented by the prson-fortress, and
dwelling on tho fact that at the time Of its sur