intimidate the king, nearly all the officers of the army, the campaign of 1788 against Turkey greatly chagrined, and fleet, and the civil department, threw up their commissions with fast-failing health. Had he been wise, he would have acand appointments, believing that they should thus completely cepted the overtures for peace made to him by the sultan, and paralyse his proceedings. But Gustavus remained undaunted. | have spent the few remaining days of his existence in tranHe filled up the vacancies, as well as he could, from the other orders of the state; he brought the nobles and officers to trial, and numbers of them were condemned to capital punishment, for treason and abandonment of their sworn duties. | Had Gustavus been a bloody-minded sovereign, Stockholm would have been deluged with blood. Some few examples were made; the rest, after a short confinement, were liberated, and they hastened to their estates in the country. Not a noble or a noble lady would appear at court, and, if Sweden had depended on so-called noble blood for its management, it must have been lost. But it was found there, as everywhere else, that rank confers no monopoly of talent. The three other orders warmly supported Gustavus, and he remodelled the diet, excluding from it almost all the most powerful nobles, and giving greater preponderance to the other three orders. In return for this, these orders sanctioned an act called the Act of Safety, which conferred on the king the same power which is attached to the English crown, namely, that of making peace or war. They granted him liberal supplies, and he quickly raised an army of fifty thousand men. As he considered the reduction of the restless and lawless power of Russia was equally essential to England, Holland, and Prussia, as to Sweden, he called on those powers to second his efforts. Had this been done, the blood of thousands, the expenditure of millions sterling at Sebastopol to-day would have been spared. But Pitt adhered to his blind half-measures. He would do nothing more than guarantee the neutrality of Denmark; and even this guarantee he permitted to become nugatory, by allowing the Danish fleet to give protection to the Russian fleet in the Baltic. A second Russian squadron, commanded by Dessein, a French admiral, descended from Archangel, entered the Baltic, menaced Gothenborg, and, by the aid of the Danish ships, was enabled to join the other Russian fleet at Cronstadt. The Swedes cursed the less than half assistance of their English allies, and Gustavus endeavoured to fight his way without them. He continued to win victory after victory on land; but Catherine soon brought down on his squadron of galleys, which attended his march along the coast to keep up his supplies, an overwhelming fleet of galleys of her own. A desperate battle ensued, but the Swedish galley-fleet was, at length, overcome. Gustavus was thus greatly embarrassed, and compelled to stand merely on the defensive, till time to go into winter quarters. Gustavus continued for twelve months to do stout battle with Russia, and, though with very insufficient forces, threatened the very capital of that country. A little support by England, Prussia, and Holland, would have enabled Sweden to regain its territories on the eastern shores of the Baltic, to curb the power of Russia, and to assume that station in the north which is essentially necessary to the peace of Europe. These countries, however, had not the statesmanship to see this, or the good feeling to effect it, and we must leave Gustavus to struggle on alone whilst we trace other events. The emperor Joseph of Austria had returned from the quillity. But his ambitious and persuasive ally, Catherine, prevailed upon him to make another effort. He mustered fresh troops. A hundred and fifty thousand men were marched against the Turkish frontier, early in the year of 1789, in different divisions. The chief command was confided to marshal Haddick, a very old man, with the witty prince de Ligne as second under him. The duke of Saxe Coburg, the prince of Hohenlohe, and marshal Laudohn, also now very old, took each their separate directions. It was a circumstance very much in their favour that the able sultan, Abdul Hamet, died suddenly in April, and was succeeded by his nephew, Selim, a young, rash, and unprincipled man. The acts of Selim, in murdering and dismissing his father's best ministers and commanders, and the unruly condition of the janissaries, rendered Turkey especially open to the attacks of its enemies. Marshal Laudohn, supporting his earlier fame, took the fortress of Gradiska, and stormed Belgrade. But this was not accomplished till the 8th of October, and an attempt was then made to reduce Orsova, but this failed. Coburg and Suvaroff having joined, won a great victory over the new vizier, Martinitzi, in Wallachia, on the 22nd of September, and the remains of the Turkish army retired to the pass of Shumla, on the Balkan mountains. Potemkin, on his part, had greatly increased his forces after the reduction of Oczakoff, and after a desperate resistance took Bender, famous for the abode of Charles XII. of Sweden, after the battle of Pultawa. Before winter, the Russians had made a decided progress in their inroads into the Turkish dominions on the Red Sea. They had gained possession of Bialogrod, or Ackermann, at the mouth of the Dniester; of Keglia Nova, on the northern banks of the Danube, and of other places on the Black Sea. They had also extended their froutier to the left bank of the Danube, and they had actually reduced every important place between the Bug and Dniester and that river. Had Catherine had a sufficient fleet in the Black Sea, Constantinople might have trembled for its safety. But Catherine's ally, Joseph, was fast sinking, and his mortal sun was going down amid storm clouds, all collected by his reckless disregard to the rights of his subjects, great reformer as he desired to be. He had wantonly invaded the ancient constitution of Hungary, just as his successors have done later; and on this the high-spirited and martial Hungarians had expressed their deterinination not to submit to it. They insisted that he should restore the regalia of their ancient kingdo.n, which he had carried off from Buda, the old capital, and where the Austrian emperors, as kings of Hungary, were always expected to be crowned, and to take the oath to observe the constitution. The Turks, already in possession of the Banat of Temeswar, invited their alliance, offering to assist them in driving out the Austrians, and establishing their independence. Joseph, alarmed at this prospect, made haste to avert the danger by conceding the restoration of the Hungarian constitution, and of the regalia; and the generous Hungarians were at once appeased. But far different was the issue of the troubles with his A.D. 1789.] DISTURBED CONDITION OF THE NETHERLANDS. Flemish subjects, which, with an unaccountable folly and absence of good faith, he had again excited, though he had appeared to concede the question of the rights of the university of Louvaine, and the privileges of the Netherlands in general. He recalled count Murray as too lenient, and sent into the Netherlands count Trautmansdorff as governor, and general Dalton, a hot and brutal Irishman, as commander. He ordered the professors of theology at Louvaine to give way to the emperor's reforms, and, as they refused, Dalton turned them out by force, shut up the colleges, and Joseph sent back again the German professors, who had been before recalled, to appease the popular indignation. But the colleges remained empty; not a student would attend the classes of the Germans. As the volunteer corps had disbanded themselves, in reliance on the emperor's wish, Trautmansdorff calculated on an easy compulsion of the people, and he called on the grand council at Brussels to enforce the decrees of the emperor. The council paid no regard to the order. The people having collected in great crowds in the neighbourhood of the council-house, Dalton ordered out a company of soldiers, under a young ensign, to patrol the streets, and overawe any attempts at demonstrations in support of the council. The young ensign, having a stone flung at him, without further ceremony ordered his men to fire into the crowd, and six persons were killed, and numbers of others wounded. No sooner did Joseph hear of this rash and cruel act, than he wrote highly approving of it, and promoting the ensign. The people, greatly enraged, rose in the different towns, and were attacked by the imperial troops, and blood was shed in various places. With his usual disregard to consequences, Joseph was at this moment endeavouring to raise a loan in the Netherlands, to enable him to carry on the war against Turkey. But this conduct completely quashed all hope of it; not a man of capital would advance a stiver. Trautmansdorff continued to threaten the people, and Dalton was ready to execute his most harsh orders. It was determined to break up the university of Antwerp as that of Louvaine had been broken up; and on the 4th of August, 1788, troops were drawn up, and cannon planted in the public square, to keep down the populace, whilst the professors were turned into the streets, and the college doors locked. Here there occurred an attack on the unarmed people, as wanton as that which took place at Brussels, and no less than thirty or forty persons were killed on the spot, and great numbers wounded. This massacre of Antwerp, as it was called, roused the indignation of the whole Netherlands, and was heard with horror by all Europe. The monks and professors who had been turned out became objects of sympathy, even to those who regarded with wonder and contempt their bigotry and superstition. But Joseph, engaged in his miserable and disgraceful war against the Turks, sent to Dalton his warmest approval of what he called these vigorous measures. He appeared as forgetful of the past history of these Netherlanders as he was unmindful of what was passing in France, where the masses were up in the wildest revolution, and scores of enthusiastic apostles of the new principles of liberty, fraternity, and equality, were flying about in all directions, and spreading a ferment that threatened destruction to all the ancient conditions of things. 413 These propagandists most gladly observed the state of affairs in the Netherlands, and spread themselves through its cities, preaching up equality of human rights, but keeping a prudent silence about the principles of atheism and materialism, which formed as essential a part of their philosophy. Joseph, in the face of these things, passed an edict sequestrating all the abbeys in Brabant. The states of Brabant therefore refused the voting of any subsidies, and Joseph, irritated to deeper blindness, determined to abolish the great charter entitled the Joyeuse Entrée, so called because granted on the entry of Philip the Good into Brussels, and on which nearly all their privileges rested. To compel them to vote a permanent subsidy, the military surrounded the states of Hainault, forcibly dissolved their sitting, and then calling an extraordinary meeting of the states of Brabant, Trautmansdorff ordered them to pass an act sanctioning such a subsidy. But the deputies remained firm, and thereupon the Joyeuse Entrée was annulled by proclamation, and the house of assembly dissolved. Joseph vowed that he would extinguish the rebellion in blood, and reduce the Netherlands to the same despotism which ruled all his other states, except Hungary and the Tyrol. Trautmansdorff declared that, if necessary, forty thousand troops should be marched into the country; but this was an empty boast, for Joseph had so completely engaged his army against Turkey, that he could only send a thousand men into the Netherlands. On the contrary, the French revolutionists offered the oppressed Netherlands speedy aid, and the duke d'Aremberg, the archbishop of Malines, and other nobles and dignitaries of the church, met at Breda, on the 14th of September, and proclaimed themselves the legitimate assembly of the states of Brabant. They sent the plainest remonstrances to the emperor, declaring that unless he immediately repealed his arbitrary edicts, and restored their great charter, they would assert their rights by the sword. In proof of these being no empty vaunts, the militia and volunteers again flew to arms. Scarcely a month had passed after the repeal of the Joyeuse Entrée before a number of collisions had taken place betwixt these citizen soldiers and the imperial troops. In Tirlemont, Louvaine, Antwerp, and Mons, blood was shed; at Diest, the patriots, led on by the monks, drove out the troops and the magistrates. Dalton and Trautmansdorff, instead of fulfilling their menace, appeared paralysed. Numbers of persons fled from the different towns to the frontiers of Holland; trade became stagnant, manufactories stood empty; the whole country began to assume a melancholy and ruinous aspect. Many of the refugees formed into revolutionary clubs by French emissaries, were prepared not merely to oppose Joseph's despotism, but all monarchical government whatever. A powerful body of these placed themselves under the leadership of Vander Noot, a lawyer, who assumed the title of plenipotentiary agent of the people of Brabant; and of Vander Mersch, an officer who had served in the seven years' war, who was made their commander-in-chief. These two men were in league with the new assembly of Breda, and issued their proclamations. These Trautmansdorff caused to be burnt by the executioner. The patriots in Brussels who sympathised with those in arms were, many of them, arrested; the citizens were disarmed, the fortifications strengthened by palisades, tyranny and injustice; they proclaimed their entire indeand every means of defence resorted to. pendence, and ordered a levy of twenty thousand men. But in October the patriots of Breda surprised the forts Trautmansdorff now hastened to conciliate in earnest. of Lillo and Liefenskoeck, on the Scheldt. Dalton dis- He issued two-and-twenty separate proclamations, made patched general Schröder with a strong force, who retook all kinds of fair promises, restored the arms of the citizens, the forts; but on Schröder's venturing to enter Turn- and liberated the imprisoned patriots. But it was too hout, after the insurgents, a body of three thousand of late. The insurgents, under Vander Mersch, were fast them, under Vander Mersch, armed with pitchforks, advancing towards Brussels, and Dalton marched out to blu lgeons, and staves, attacked and drove him out. Ge- meet them; but he was confounded by the appearance of neral Bender, who had been dispatched against the insur- their numbers, and entered into an armistice of ten gents at Tirlemont, was driven out in the same manner. General Arberg was compelled to retreat behind the Scheldt, and the people were victorious in Louvaine, Ghent, Bruges, Ostend, and most towns of the district. Both Joseph and his governor and commander in the Netherlands now fell into the utmost alarm. The news which Marie Antoinette sent from Paris to her imperial brother, only rendered this consternation the greater. Joseph, with that sudden revulsion which he had manifested on other occasions, after equally astonishing rashness, now issued a conciliatory proclamation, offering to redress all grievances on the condition of their laying down their arms. But the Netherlanders were not likely after former experience to trust any such promises of Joseph. On the 20th of November the states of Flanders assuined the title of the High and Mighty States; they declared the emperor to have forfeited the crown by days. But this did not stop the progress of insurrection in Brussels. There the people rose, and resolved to open the gates to their compatriots without. The women and children tore up the palisades, and leveled the entrenchments. The population assumed the national cockade, and the streets resounded with the cries of "Long live the patriots!" "Long live Vander Noot!" Dalton retreated into Brussels, but found no security there. The soldiers began to desert. The people attacked those who stood to their colours, and Dalton was glad to secure his retreat by a capitulation. In a few days, the insurgents from Breda entered, Trautmonsdorff having withdrawn at their approach, and the new federal union of the Netherlands was completely established. The state of Luxemburg was the only one yet remaining to Joseph, and thither Dalton retired with his forces, five thousand in number. But Joseph did not live to see the full extent of the alienation of the Netherlands. He had dispatched count Cobenzel to Brussels on the failure of Trautmansdorff's efforts. Cobenzel was an able diplomatist, but all his offers were treated with indifference. On the last day of 1789 the states of Brabant, in presence of the citizens of Brussels, swore to stand by their new freedom-an act which was received by the acclamations of the assembled crowds. They soon after ratified their league with the other states, and were in active negotiation with the revolutionists of France for mutual defence. On the 20th of February Joseph expired, leaving a prospect full of troubles to his brother Leopold, the new emperor. CHAPTER XII. THE REIGN OF GEORGE III-(Continued.) who preached up the equality of the human race, had broken through their ancient subserviency, and were pulling down all the old constituted powers, all ranks and distinctions, with a rapidity and a ferocity which electrified the whole world. They had destroyed the great state prison, the Bastille; they had brought the king and queen in triumph from Versailles to Paris, where they kept them in the palace of the Tuileries as mere state prisoners, and, by the agency of the National Assembly, were proceeding to still more startling deeds. Already they had decreed that orders and titles of nobility should cease; already they had compelled the nobles and the dignified clergy to take their places in the assembly with the commons; already they had confiscated the property of the clergy, and the plate of the churcheshad abolished the old divisions of the kingdom into provinces, and divided France into eighty departments. They had taken from the king the title of the "King of France," OUTBREAK OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION -The Causes of this Revolution long and given him that of the "King of the French," preparatory accumulating in the History of France -Various preceding Revolutions in France, all having the same Bloody and ferocious Character, though less in degree-The Elements of this mingled Levity and Ferocity inherent in the French Nature-Age of Louis XIV.-Its Licentious Tyranny, and sanguinary Repression of Religious Progress-Extermination of Protest antism-Consequent universal ascendancy of Priestcraft and Ignorance -The Regency-Louis XV.-Louis XVI. and his Family-Ministry of De Brienne-Bed of Justice-Duke of Orleans banished-ReturnsAssembly of Notables-Cour Plenière-Resignation of De Brienne, and Ministry of Necker-Proposes the Meeting of the States-General-Unpopularity of the Queen-License of the Press-Assembly of StatesGeneral-Tiers Etat double in number to the other Orders-Refuses to act till the other Orders sit with it-The Aristocracy and Clergy com to leaving him neither a crown nor a head to wear it. To enable the reader to comprehend, in some degree, the causes of this fierce and frightful phenomenon, we must take a brief retrospective glance at the past history and constitution of France, and at the character of the people. The French people had, through their whole history, never acquired any constitutional liberty. We have seen how, in our own country, the commons had gradually assumed a substantial place in the legislative life of the nation. Rising pelled to join the Tiers Etat-The National Assembly-Its Preceedings steadily and strongly, the commons of England have, indeed, Burning of Reveillon's Manufactory-Duke of Orleans, Lafayette, Mirabeau, Necker &c.-Conduct of the National Assembly and of Parisian Mob-Necker resigns-Conflict betwixt the People and Soldiery-Seduction of Gardes-Françoises-National Cockade - The Bastille taken-King goes to the Assembly - Necker recalled-More Bloodshed-Destruction of Privileges-Rights of Man-Proceedings at Versailles-Arrival of the Mob-Attempt to assassinate the Queen-The Royal Family compelled to go to Paris-The Jacobin Club-Proceedings at the Chatelet-Famine, Riots, Law against Tumults-New Division of the Kingdom-Abolition of Parliament-Lettres de Cachet-Armorial Bearings, Titles, Liveries, &c., abolished - Suppression of Monasteries and Seizure of the Property of the Clergy-Other Reforms-Commotions in the Provinces-Execu tion of Favras-Issue of Assignats-Views of the French Revolution in England-Burke denounces it -Admiration of it by Fox, Priestley, Price, &c.—Proceedings in the English Parliament -Differences with Spain regarding Nootka Sound - Slavery Question - Hastings' Trial - Irish Affairs-War in Belgium with the Austrians, in Turkey with Russia General Swearing in Paris to maintain the New Constitution-Danton, Desmoulins, and other Paris Democrats-Proceedings of the National Assembly-Abbé Maury defends Church Property-Anacharsis ClootzThe Fête of the Federation in the Champs de Mars-Marat-The Moderates attempt to put Limits to the Revolution-The Royal Family seek for Flight-Interview of the Queen with Mirabeau at St. Cloud-Charges against the Duke of Orleans and Mirabeau-Revolt of the Troops at Nancy against the Assembly -Suppressed by Bouillé-Necker resigns Atrocious Writings of the Jacobins, Marat. Danton, Carra, Desmoulins, &c.—Federation of the Friends of Truth-Growing Ascendancy of Marat and Robespierre-Suppression of the Insurrection in Belgium-War in India with Tippoo Sahib-Proceedings in the British Parliament. Ar the period at which we are now arrived, France was in a state of the wildest and most awful convulsion. A revolution had broken out, more terrible and furious than had ever yet appeared in the history of nations. The French people, so long trodden down by their princes, their aristocracy, and their clergy, and reduced to a condition of wretchedness and of ignorant brutality, almost unparalleled, seizing the opportunity of the distresses of the impoverished government, and encouraged by a new race of philosophers, become the chief power in the state. In the house of commons, all the great questions of reform and enfranchisement have arisen, and there chiefly been fought out. During the commonwealth, the commons completely extinguished the house of peers and the crown. After that, though the nobles managed to reintroduce royalty, the commons, uniting with the peers, drove out the monarch who would have destroyed the popular liberties, and fixed the general freedom on a new and firmer basis by the Bill of Rights. Since then, the freedom, the power, and the wealth of the mass of the nation have been constantly augmenting under the protection of these great constitutional guarantees. But very different was the case in France. The French With the people are, for the most part, a Celtic race. exception of the people of Normandy, and a certain infusion of German blood through the Franks, they are almost wholly of the Celtic family, lively, excitable, prone to fits of terrible cruelty and massacre, but wholly, so far as their history yet demonstrates, incapable of self-government, and therefore of the maintenance of social and political independence. Though the names of states-generals and parliaments present themselves in French history, the people, up to the time of the Revolution of 1789, had little or no concern in them. It was only in the states-general that the tiers état, or commons, appeared at all, and there in such a humble and equivocal shape as to give them no real influence. Their business was to vote money, and not to legislate. The power of the crown, indeed, far surpassed the power of the states-general in their collective capacity. and they were rarely called together except to sanction some extraordinary measures which the difficulties of the sovereign rendered necessary for them. |