The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-05-06

What rann-d fha Rfvnrh ~levrlutinuf
Tsafs haVe Iarn turing ihs IRns d~uar'~r ~
q opnnfrY q fnod many attempts to mint
mics ths prnvoratinn Owen to ths nannHa
q tita Prrnrf penple nv flta MONARCHY and
liz arfatarrnrv W. arr tnld. fnr Instance,
titat Tho PEASANTS "a nns dse ~ tho ltsvnins
Ion tho farna vhich they now pos-rsa In
~ stmplr; thHt, 10 a nattes " fart, they
alFuady owned q large frartian ~ he Ftunrh
aBil, that the thusea tn Nhich thsy had dncs
bean mbierted AZ tls hands ~ ths MOBILES,
The dgoa ia sesGnriir - had hecnme leg
sndnrY; chat DirksnE'4 Tale ~ Two Citiea'
was an anarhrnnism; and that the friendly
rsIationa betyesn Tie peasants IN their
annial siperinra WIN fairly exemplified In
BRITTANY, which undsrtonk . long and dss-
psrats rsvnlt against the Frpnrh Republic.
re- In doubtless tI7is that II the Bourbon
monarchy mad not haau in financial straits
and nesded thu support of tn Hibisufa in
drdar IN avert imminsut bankruptcy tbs
StAfea- General would not have heen onu-
voish just when they wore; namsly. in iTSe.
Mr. Bsesly, however, brings forward a
ayaat deal Of evidence to show that 10 the
French Revolution had not come just vsten
it did IL must have come not long after
ward, for ths situation ~ largo sections Of
the people had become intolerable.
Mr.. Beesly admits that no man can name
all the causes Of tho French Revolution,
because they ara countless, old az the world,
beginning at tho remotsst eras Of history
the same thing may be said Of all great
historical events-yet hs submits that,
from a less %nebulous point OF view, never
were causes more certainly known, or sus-
---eEtzLo - aaar. auaof daanifinu Da0nlQ
rebels when it In ~misgoverned or starved.
Unguestionably the French people were both
starved and misgovernsd. No doubt. the
writings OF Voltaire and Beaumarchais
had killed many superstitions. No doubt,
too, the writings Of Rousseau had created
many ~yearnings. The Encyclopaedia had
been the entrance gate to an avenue OF far
reaching thought. The example Of the
United States Of America may hav stimu-
lated some theorists and awakened some
aspirations No doubt, too, thu imbecility
Of the court Of Louis XVI. surpassed the
hopes of its most sanguine enemies. Never
theless, our author ia Inclined to think that
Zach Of these factors in the Revolution.
or all Of than put together, might not
improbably have failed to TsvoluioniDe
France, il it had not besn for the profound
WlEtTY anu utBI diidhipu VI VHV lciio
people.
Let us look at some Of the evidences on
which this conclusion ia based. In 1909 a
cure entered in his parish register, Il certify
to all those whom it may concern chat all
the persons who are named herein have died
Of famine, with the exception Of NJ. Des-
crots and his daughters" He adds: The
people have lpeen eating dead carrton for a
fortnight past; there ia no grain. and women
have smothered their children for dread Of
having to feed them" In 1879 D'Argenson
says, The men ara dying az thick al flies,
and the living ara eating grass In fen
years the population of France had dimin-
ished one-third. The people were already
full Of rage. When" ssys D~'Argenson,
"the people no longer fear anything. they are
everything. All these materials are COM
bustible." At the time Of Danton's marriage,
In 1877, there was no change for the better.
Michelet records that in the month OF May,
1880, famine had driven whols populations
from their homes. In the same year Niche
let testified that the French nation had been
prepared for revolution by the sense Of its
miseries rather thar by the progress OF en-
liRhtsnment All over Francs land was
going out ~ cultivation. The highroads
were deserted. Yon might 60 on ono thirty
miles from Paris and not meet a diligence
or a carriage. The fields, where titled,
were titled badly. The houses weie often
without glazed windows. The castle you
might see perchsd overhead on soma rock
would be kept garrisoned for the reception Of
prisoners sent by lettres de cuchet. In Paris
alone there were thirty prisons where you
could be incarcerated without trial. In
siS only Of the twenty hastiles Of France
there were in l775 three hundred prisoners.
There were vast wastes, huge forests and
here and there grand mansions, but the own
ers were absenuees, squandering the rents
wrunR from their serfs in the luxury Of
towns.
The wretched peasants, shoeless, stock
inRless, living on bread that was bread
only in name, were often hardly human
TO look upon, Women of ~ seemed like
women of 10, being deformed n dis
figured by incesssnt and grinding toll.
Wages were incredibly low. Inns we're
often less clean than an English pig atty.
Outside Paris and some of the larger towns
a new spaper waa a rare article. Yet every
where was an ominous era wing for news,
and, az a result, there was a constant crop
OF monstrous JUNIORS. The lazy swarm
Of monks was hated, and the tithes Of the
clergy, though less cruelty exacted than
other dues, we're a burden daily harder
to be borne, because famine. which had
never been unknown, q become chronic.
Mr.. Beesiy suggests that che words in
which an English poet consecrated Gar
mage" might nav been more truly used
by a Frenchman of Famine and hailed
"a Gods daughter, for, at the cost at in
finite suffering, IL was indirectly the sal
walton Of France. He adds that those who
spesk W d horror 6A the 200 ,iotims Of
the massacres Of September, 1892, might
dowell 10 bear in mind the appalling amount.
Of wrong and wretohedness which, though
unrecordeh by newspapers, and unexag-
gersted BY loud tongued pamphieteers,
had gone on accommodating during the in
ter1ninable years which preceded the
ven Gesnoe Of one week. We are reminded
that Arthur Young, who was an eye wit
ness Of the condition Of the French peas
antry before the Revolution, doubted the
wisdom Of those who feel no compassion
for the nan because they suffer, in hin
e7es, noe individually. but by Millions"