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

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m n n Ne appsadlcss NJ. fe.uiy -.
turns In the aBh1aUt aHd desies that Y 10
n answer n NJ statements oonoeFntaa ths
seelea Tegiee IA my that IN ITO thefS wefs
otheY RHeOtpaa egtfatries wUfes ~ thaa
Hsanee which ~ M aSt revolt, e. that
the peaaaatgy owned q quarter u ths susi,
~ thea under Louis WI. they wess bSttef
on than they had beua Under fouia wv
~ that Ia vendts fought Tor ths King
~ AIN leo account are aneeFs a. Arthur
Young, q thoroughly HONEST and oompetens
witness, who records nOt only what he
heard hut whas he saw, and 20 much thu
- ..a@Z@a 81. eAa ueaHUwaalUQA AHA
Bruyerv, writing in the time u Louis XVI
"Thefe bs certain fierce n Wild animals,
male and female. which are scattered up
and down our countrywide. They are sun
burned TO o sort Of dull black, and walk
bent toward the earth they delve; on stnight-
eninR themselves they show. II In true,
q human face. and. In fact, they are mel
and women; they withdraw from the fields
at niehtfall to their dens. where thsy sup
on black bread. roots and water. They
SPARE their fellow mon the labor 81 secd
time and harvest, and do not deserve 10
lack the bread they SOW
Mr.. Beesly, for his part, makes no COM
paFison Of France under the dneien regime
with other countries. Neither docs he
assert that all France vas equally miser-
able, or that there were no other causes
Of the Revolution but misery and misgov.
eminent. What he does say Is that misery
and misgovernmcnt are the main causes
Of revolution all the world over; that. In
fact, revolution postulates them. and that
they and the accumulated memories OF
them were the main incentives Of the French
revolution. IF q peasants memory Is
one Of inherited degradation he Graves
for revenge. II his belly pinches him he
takes revenge when he has the &iance.
unless. as sometimes happens, sentiment
restraints him.
sThe chance came in France, and II was
taken. 1t has been taken when it came in
other countries. II has been taken during
the last twelvemonth in Russia. Give a
rustic pdnem ct cireenses "a loaf Of bread
and amusement), and he will grin and
bear his lot, and perhaps vote for you
into the bargain. Subtract the circeHses
and he will bear 1t without the grin.
Subtract the pdnem and II he cannot
rebel he will shoot from behind a hedge
or burn ricks, II he IL an Irishman,
though he may take it lying down and die
IL he 10 a Hindu Our author sees many
points Of resemblance in the state OF things
in France on the eve of the Revolution and
the situation in Russia to-day. Famine
and luxury check by jowl. hatred Of the
mobiles and their tools, rancorous memories,
long lingering " OF the monarch. The
parallel Ia plain. and the story OF the one
country might almost serve for that OF the
other For instance: "On the eve Of the
Revolution the Provincial Assembly of
declared that unless measures
Of relief were speedily taken the province
would lose half it's population by famine
and half of its area would become a waste
II now we turn for q parallel to oontem-
porary observers, we read In the news
papers that "the rising among the peasants
Of Kieff, Podolia, volhynia and Kharkoff
ia due partly TO the widespread distress
and partly to harsh administrations" Or
again: THE imminence Of an economic
catastrophe is the goad which has driven
them TO clamor for q evolution Once
more: Political agitation has only sue
oeeded because it found the ground pre-
pared by economic Distress
Why, then, 1t may be asked, was La Ven
doe 90 long the stronghold Of royalism2
Whv did it not welcome the Revolution?
Mr.. Beesly replies that at first it did well
IT. One r6dbon why CcdSou Wv o.
was the compulsory consumption. Far
from the scene of war themselves. the
vendeaps lent all the reader an ear to
those who told them that their sacrifices
were not only disproportionate, but made to
a false idol. In La Vendee, moreover, the
petty mobiles not only resided at home, but
managed their own estates, and their infu-
was not exhausted, because among
them feudal obligations still retained vital
ity. Their influence was reinforced, more
over, twentyfold by the priests, who.
brought to bay by the Republic, appealed
to rural ignorance and superstition with
effect. "Those who say hat the Revolution
was not caused by material misery. but was
in the air. would be puzzled to explain how
IL got there. The rustic listened TO his
priest. He had no halfpenny journal, and
he did not read Diderot, who, according to
Mallet du Pan, was In his own person the
TONS ct oripo of the Revolution, the didbolus
er machine to whom we're due all its crimes.
Diderot, he says, had preached (proclams)
equality before Marat. the rights Of man
before Sieyes, the holiness Of insurrection
before Mirabeau and Lafayette, the massa-
ores Of the priests before September, i7s2.''
In view Of these and other facts brought
forward in this volume, Mr.. Beesly submits
that his preeentment Of the state Of things
- = 49, ,va ~ Tho pavoh,tion In