The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-09-30
TERCENTENARY OF
 DISSOLUTION OF THE
 FRENCH STATES-GENERAL

Three centuries ago today, in 1914,
 the States-General of France was dis
 solved, and it did not meet again un- til convened by Louis XVI, in I789,
 when the commons triumphed over the
 clergy and nobility and laid the foun- dation for the republic. The history of the States-General Is the history Of Frances rise from despotfsn to Iib- erty.
 The ancient assembly of Francs first
 met in 1902 to settle a quarrel between
 King Philip and Pope Boniface VIII;
 The clergy barons, and burgessef
 thus called upon to pass Judgment, pronounced in favor of the monarch. Boniface answered with a bull in which
 he threatened to give the throne of
 France to the emperor of Germany.
 The States General retorted by accus- ing the Pope of sinony, heresy, and other crimes The KinE~ triumphed, the aged pontif died of grief, and the
 monarch established that series Of
 Popes who were at the mercy of
 France for seventy years.
 In 1855 the, States-General assumed
 greater powers exceeding the Magma Charta of England They proposed
 to collect the taxes and oversee the ex- penditures. The disasters of Crecy
 and. Poitiers, due to royal and noble incapacity, led the States-General to assume the guidance of public affairs. The s'great ordinance of reformation was Issued, and the assembly founded g. commission to superintend every thing-to levy and expend taxes, to control the coinage, and to reform the Judicial system. The popular move
 ment failed through general indiner- ence.
 In ASA the States General reasserted the doctrine of popular sovereignty, as opposed to that of the divine right
 of killings, and another step was taken toward the democracy of the future The States-GeneraI of 1914, the last conyoked before the Revolution, was remarkable for the appreciation shown
 by the Tiers Etat-Third Estate-ors Commons for the needs of the countr land the people. The nobility, the clergy. and the court, fearful of this latitude, brought about a speedy dis solution Of the assembly, and 1t was
 not convoked again until 1789. At the States-GeneraI Of 1914 Richeleu, then a young man, was the representative of ! the Poitou clergy, and attracted the
 notice of the queen-mother, thus be- ginning his rise to place and power For 1T5 years the monarchs of
 France refrained from convoking the laSsembly and ruled s'by right divine"
 During that period the monarchy was
 to be supported by sst11e goods of the Third Estate, the blood Of the nobles land the prayers Of the c1ergy,''s
 The prodigaI monarchs of the. eigh- Eteenth century found themselves more land more dependent upon the common CTS. and the taxes increased year by. lyear. Tn 17s9 Louis XVI. convened another States-GeneraI He expected | the members to cover the Gsacit and provide for the payment of debts, and I then go home. He was doomed to dis. Eappoip ipttnent. The assembly at Vor- Esail1e5 had 561 delegates representing 4 the clergy and nobility, and 584 rep-i
 resentatfves Of tf1e Third Estate, com Iprising more than nine-tenths Of the 1 lpeople. The commons merged the three orders Into one and the one became
 the National Assembly of France. Re
 tiring to the famous tennis court, the solennly that the assembly would not dissolve until the constitution of the
 country had been established and con-
 turned.