The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-09-01
2OOth Anniversary
 of Death of Frances
 "Grand Monarque'

This first of September marks the 200th anniversary of the death of Frances "Grand Monarque," Louis XIV, during whose long reign the French house of Bourbon attained the pinnacle of it's grandeur and power. "L'etat- c'est moi' q am the state) expressed the Grand Monarque's idea of his rights and privileges. He re-
 gained the royal authority which his predecessors had lost, encouraged
 commerce, literature and art, and extended the boundaries of France by
 victories in war. During the latter
 part of his reign he met with severe reverses on the battlefield, but he re-
 mained the absolute monarch and the
 master of the ancient craft of king
 ship to his last moment.
 The death of Le Grand MonarQue two centuries ago may be said to
 mark the passing of the old regime in
 France. Beneath the surface those
 hidden forces were already at work which were to enguIf the monarchy
 and bring about the revolution. With 4n century after the passing of Louis XIV the Bourbon regime gave
 way to the republic, and that in turn
 to the empire of Napoleon. followed
 by the brief restoration of the Bour-
 bons.
 Louis XIV was 77 years old when
 he died, and he had reigned for 72
 years, having come to the throne at Che tender age of five. Although the
 administration of his government was
 marked by the highest magnifcence,
 And although he hurnbIed the no
 blesse and raised the Indd1e class to
 places of trust. the great masses of
 the people were kept in poverty, and
 subjection. During the Grand Mon arque'S7 reign the downtrodden multi lence, for they had no spokesman and no leaders. By his encouragement of literature, however, Louis XIV gave rise to those forces which were to destroy his house. The age of Louis the Grand was succeeded by the age of Voltaire. Francois Marie
 Arouet was a, youth of 21 when the
 King died, and it was not till the fol- lowing year that he achieved the dis tincdon of being sent to the Bastille on suspicion of being the author of a satirical poem on the subject of the followed, however, Voltaire was des- tined to become greater than Kings, and to act as the inspired spokesman
 for the inardculate multitude.
 One of the greatest blunders of Louis XIV was his revocation of the edict of Nantes, granted by Henry " in favor of the Protestants- By this act of bigotry he drove from France half million or more Huguenots, among them the most ingenious me l. l thrifty people emigrated to England, Holland and America, and what was
 Frances loss was the gain of these countries America gained much from these exi1es, and many thriving cities of the present were founded by them.
 One of the sambitions of the Grand 1Ionarque was to build up a great empire in the New world. During the early part of his reign his sway ex- tended over the Hudson's Bay coun- try, Arcadie, Canada proper, or New France, a large part of Maine, DOT
 lions of New York and Vermont, and the entire valley of the Mississippi. In later wars-marked in America by
 massacres tide turned against
 France, and the beginning of the end of the French spreInacy in America
 was reached Two years before his
 death Louis XIV was forced to give up Newfoundland, Arcadie and the
 Hudson's Bay country, and his dream of seInpire was shattered