THE ASCENDENCY OF FRANCE UNDER THE ABSOLUTE GOVERNMENT OF LOUIS XIV.
(1643-1715.)
THE DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS.--Louis XIV. stands as the representative of
absolute monarchy. This indeed was no new thing in the world, but Louis
was such an ideal autocrat that somehow he made autocratic government
strangely attractive. Other kings imitated him, and it became the
prevailing theory of government that kings have a "divine right" to rule,
and that the people should have no part at all in government.
According to this theory, the nation is a great family with the king as
its divinely appointed head. The duty of the king is to govern like a
father; the duty of the people is to obey their king even as children obey
their parents. If the king does wrong, is harsh, cruel, unjust, this is
simply the misfortune of his people: under no circumstances is it right
for them to rebel against his authority, any more than for children to
rise against their father. The king is responsible to God alone, and to
God the people, quietly submissive, must leave the avenging of all their
wrongs.
Before the close of the period upon which we here enter, we shall see how
this theory of the divine right of kings worked out in practice,--how dear
it cost both kings and people, and how the people by the strong logic of
revolution demonstrated that they are not children but mature men, and
have a divine and inalienable right to govern themselves.
THE BASIS OF LOUIS XIV.'s POWER.--The basis of the absolute power of Louis
XIV. was laid by Cardinal Richelieu during the reign of Louis XIII. (see
p. 580). Besides crushing the political power of the Huguenots, and
thereby vastly augmenting the security and strength of the royal
authority, the Cardinal succeeded, by various means,--by annulling their
privileges, by banishment, confiscations, and executions,--in almost
extinguishing the expiring independence of the old feudal aristocracy, and
in forcing the once haughty and refractory nobles to yield humble
obedience to the crown.
In 1643, barely six months after the death of his great minister, Louis
XIII. died, leaving the vast power which the Cardinal had done so much to
consolidate, as an inheritance to his little son, a child of five years.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF MAZARIN.--During the minority of Louis the
government was in the hands of his mother, Anne of Austria, as regent. She
chose as her prime minister an Italian ecclesiastic, Cardinal Mazarin,
who, in his administration of affairs, followed in the footsteps of his
predecessor, Richelieu, carrying out with great ability the comprehensive
policy of that minister. France was encouraged to maintain her part--and a
very glorious part it was, as war goes--in the Thirty Years' War, until
Austria was completely exhausted, and all Germany indeed almost ruined.
Even after the Peace of Westphalia, which simply concluded the war in
Germany, France carried on the war with Spain for ten years longer, until
1659, when the Treaty of the Pyrenees, which gave the French the two
provinces of Artois and Roussillon, asserted the triumph of France over
Spain. Richelieu's plan had at last, though at terrible cost to France
[Footnote: The heavy taxes laid to meet the expenses of the wars created
great discontent, which during the struggle with Spain led to a series of
conspiracies or revolts against the government, known as the _Wars of
the Fronde_ (1648-1652). "Notwithstanding its peculiar character of
levity and burlesque, the Fronde must be regarded as a memorable struggle
of the aristocracy, supported by the judicial and municipal bodies, to
control the despotism of the crown.... It failed;... nor was any farther
effort made to resuscitate the dormant liberties of the nation until the
dawning of the great Revolution."] and all Europe, been crowned with
success. The House of Austria in both its branches had been humiliated and
crippled, and the House of Bourbon was ready to assume the lead in
European affairs.
LOUIS XIV. ASSUMES THE GOVERNMENT.--Cardinal Mazarin died in 1661. Upon
this event, Louis, who was now twenty-three years of age, became his own
prime minister, and for more than half a century thereafter ruled France
as an absolute and irresponsible monarch. He regarded France as his
private estate, and seemed to be fully convinced that he had a divine
commission to govern the French people. It is said that he declared,
_L'État, c'est moi_, "I am the State," meaning that he alone was the
rightful legislator, judge, and executive of the French nation. The
States-General was not once convened during his long reign. Richelieu made
Louis XIII. "the first man in Europe, but the second in his own kingdom."
Louis XIV. was the first man at home as well as abroad. He had able men
about him; but they served instead of ruling him.
COLBERT.--Mazarin when dying said to Louis, "Sire, I owe everything to
you; but I pay my debt to your majesty by giving you Colbert." During the
first ten or twelve years of Louis's personal reign, this extraordinary
man inspired and directed everything; but he carefully avoided the
appearance of doing so. His maxim seemed to be, Mine the labor, thine the
praise. He did for the domestic affairs of France what Richelieu had done
for the foreign. So long as Louis followed the policy of Colbert, he gave
France a truly glorious reign; but unfortunately he soon turned aside from
the great minister's policy of peace, to seek glory for himself and
greatness for France through new and unjust encroachments upon neighboring
nations.
THE WARS OF LOUIS XIV.--During the period of his personal administration
of the government, Louis XIV. was engaged in four great wars: (1) A war
respecting the Spanish Netherlands (1667-1668); (2) a war with Holland
(1672-1678); (3) the War of the Palatinate (1689-1697); and (4) the War of
the Spanish Succession (1701-1714).
All these wars were, on the part of the French monarch, wars of conquest
and aggression, or were wars provoked by his ambitious and encroaching
policy. The most inveterate enemy of Louis during all this period was
Holland, the representative and champion of liberal, constitutional
government.
THE WAR CONCERNING THE SPANISH NETHERLANDS (1667-1668).--Upon the death of
Philip IV. of Spain (1665), Louis immediately claimed, in the name of his
wife, portions of the Spanish Netherlands (see p. 568, n.). The Hollanders
were naturally alarmed, fearing that Louis would also want to annex their
country to his dominions. Accordingly they effected what was called the
Triple Alliance with England and Sweden, checked the French king in his
career of conquest, and, by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, forced him to
give up much of the territory he had seized.
THE WAR WITH HOLLAND (1672-1678).--The second war of the French king was
against Holland, whose interference with his plans in the Spanish
Netherlands, as well as some uncomplimentary remarks of the Dutch
humorists on his personal appearance, had stirred his resentment. Before
entering upon the undertaking which had proved too great for Philip II.
with the resources of two worlds at his command, Louis, by means of bribes
and the employment of that skilful diplomacy of which he was so perfect a
master, prudently drew from the side of Holland both her allies (Sweden
and England), even inducing the English king, Charles II., to lend him
active assistance. Money also secured the aid of several princes of
Germany. Thus the little commonwealth was left alone to contend against
fearful odds.
The brave Hollanders made a stout defence of their land. It was even
seriously proposed in the States-General, that, rather than submit to the
tyranny of this second Philip, they should open the dykes, bury the
country and its invaders beneath the ocean, and taking their families and
household goods in their ships, seek new homes in lands beyond the sea.
The desperate resolve was in part executed; for with the French
threatening Amsterdam, the dykes were cut, and all the surrounding fields
were laid under water, and the invaders thus forced to retreat.
The heroic resistance to the intruders made by the Hollanders in their
half-drowned land, the havoc wrought by the stout Dutch sailors among the
fleets of the allies, and the diplomacy of the Dutch statesmen, who,
through skilful negotiations, detached almost all of the allies of the
French from that side, and brought them into alliance with the republic,--
all these things soon put a very different face upon affairs, and Louis
found himself confronted by the armies of half of Europe.
For several years the war now went on by land and sea,--in the
Netherlands, all along the Rhine, upon the English Channel, in the
Mediterranean, and on the coasts of the New World. At length an end was
put to the struggle by the Treaty of Nimeguen (1678). Louis gave up his
conquests in Holland, but kept a large number of towns and fortresses in
the Spanish Netherlands, besides the province of Franche-Comté and several
Imperial cities on his German frontier.
Thus Louis came out of this tremendous struggle, in which half of Europe
was leagued against him, with enhanced reputation and fresh acquisitions
of territory. People now began to call him the _Grand Monarch_.
THE REVOCATION OF THE EDICTS OF NANTES (1685).--Louis now committed an act
the injustice of which was only equalled by its folly,--an act from which
may be dated the decline of his power. This was the Revocation of the
Edict of Nantes, the well-known decree by which Henry IV. secured
religious freedom to the French Protestants (see p. 578). By this cruel
measure all the Protestant churches were closed, and every Huguenot who
refused to embrace the Roman Catholic faith was outlawed. The persecution
which the Huguenots had been enduring and which was now greatly increased
in violence, is known as the _Dragonnades_, from the circumstance that
_dragoons_ were quartered upon the Protestant families, with full
permission to annoy and persecute them in every way "short of violation
and death," to the end that the victims of these outrages might be
constrained to recant, which multitudes did.
Under the fierce persecutions of the _Dragonnades_, probably as many
as three hundred thousand of the most skilful and industrious of the
subjects of Louis were driven out of the kingdom. Several of the most
important and flourishing of the French industries were ruined, while the
manufacturing interests of other countries, particularly those of Holland
and England, were correspondingly benefited by the energy, skill, and
capital which the exiles carried to them. Many of the fugitive Huguenots
found ultimately a refuge in America; and no other class of emigrants,
save the Puritans of England, cast
"Such healthful leaven 'mid the elements
That peopled the new world."
[Footnote: See Baird, _History of the Huguenot Emigration to America._]
THE WAR OF THE PALATINATE (1689-1697).--The indirect results of the
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes were quite as calamitous to France as
were the direct results. The indignation that the barbarous measure
awakened among the Protestant nations of Europe enabled William of Orange
to organize a formidable confederacy against Louis, known as the League of
Augsburg (1686).
Louis resolved to attack the confederates. Seeking a pretext for beginning
hostilities, he laid claim, in the name of his sister-in-law, to portions
of the Palatinate, and hurried a large army into the country, which was
quickly overrun. But being unable to hold the conquests he had made, Louis
ordered that the country be turned into a desert. The Huns of an Attila
could not have carried out more relentlessly the command than did the
soldiers of Louis. Churches and abbeys, palaces and cottages, villas and
cities, were all given to the flames.
This barbarous act of Louis almost frenzied Germany. Another and more
formidable coalition, known as the "Grand Alliance," was now formed
(1689). It embraced England, Holland, Sweden, Spain, the German emperor,
the Elector Palatine, and the Electors of Bavaria and Saxony. For ten
years almost all Europe was a great battle-field. Both sides at length
becoming weary of the contest and almost exhausted in resources, the
struggle was closed by the Treaty of Ryswick (1697). There was a mutual
surrender of conquests made during the course of the war, and Louis had
also to give up some of the places he had unjustly seized before the
beginning of the conflict.
[Illustration: DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH. (After a painting by F. Kneller.)]
WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION (1701-1714).--Barely three years passed
after the Treaty of Ryswick before the great powers of Europe were
involved in another war, known as the War of the Spanish Succession.
The circumstances out of which the war grew were these: In 1700 the king
of Spain, Charles II., died, leaving his crown to Philip of Anjou, a
grandson of Louis XIV. "There are no longer any Pyrenees," was Louis's
exultant epigram, meaning of course that France and Spain were now
practically one. England and Holland particularly were alarmed at this
virtual consolidation of these two powerful kingdoms. Consequently a
second Grand Alliance was soon formed against France, the object of which
was to dethrone Philip of Anjou and place upon the Spanish throne Charles,
Archduke of Austria. The two greatest generals of the allies were the
famous Duke of Marlborough (John Churchill), the ablest commander, except
Wellington perhaps, that England has ever produced, and the hardly less
noted Prince Eugene of Savoy.
For thirteen years all Europe was shaken with war. During the progress of
the struggle were fought some of the most memorable battles in European
history,--Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet,--in all of which
the genius of Marlborough and the consummate skill of Prince Eugene won
splendid victories for the allies.
Finally, changes wrought by death in the House of Austria brought the
Archduke Charles to the imperial throne. This changed the whole aspect of
the Spanish question, for now to place Charles upon the Spanish throne
also would be to give him a dangerous preponderance of power, would be, in
fact, to reestablish the great monarchy of Charles V. Consequently the
Grand Alliance fell to pieces, and the war was ended by the treaties of
Utrecht (1713) and Rastadt (1714).
By the provisions of these treaties the Bourbon prince of Anjou was left
upon the Spanish throne, but his kingdom was pared away on every side.
Gibraltar and the island of Minorca were ceded to England; while Milan,
Naples, Sardinia, and the Netherlands (Spanish) were given to Austria.
France was forced to surrender to England considerable portions of her
possessions in the New World,--Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and the Hudson
Bay territory.
DEATH OF THE KING.--Amidst troubles, perplexities, and afflictions, Louis
XIV.'s long and eventful reign was now drawing to a close. The heavy and
constant taxes necessary to meet the expenses of his numerous wars, and to
maintain an extravagant court, had bankrupted the country, and the cries
of his wretched subjects clamoring for bread could not be shut out of the
royal chamber. Death, too, had invaded the palace, striking down the
dauphin, the dauphiness, and two grandsons of Louis, leaving as the
nearest heir to the throne his great-grandson, a mere child. On the
morning of September 1st, 1715, the Grand Monarch breathed his last,
bequeathing to this boy of five years a kingdom overwhelmed with debt, and
filled with misery, with threatening vices and dangerous discontent.
THE COURT OF LOUIS XIV.--The Court sustained by the Grand Monarch was the
most extravagantly magnificent that Europe has ever seen. Never since Nero
erected his Golden House upon the burnt district of Rome, and ensconcing
himself amid its luxurious appointments, exclaimed, "Now I am housed as a
man ought to be," had prince or king so ostentatiously lavished upon
himself the wealth of an empire. Louis had half a dozen palaces, the most
costly of which was that at Versailles. Upon this and its surroundings he
spent fabulous sums. The palace itself cost what would probably be equal
to more than $100,000,000 with us. Here were gathered the beauty, wit, and
learning of France. The royal household numbered fifteen thousand persons,
all living in costly and luxurious idleness at the expense of the people.
[Illustration: LOUIS XIV. IN HIS OLD AGE.]
One element of this enormous family was the great lords of the old feudal
aristocracy. Dispossessed of their ancient power and wealth, they were
content now to fill a place in the royal household, to be the king's
pensioners and the elegant embellishment of his court.
As we might well imagine, the life of the French court at this period was
shamefully corrupt. Vice, however, was gilded. The scandalous immoralities
of king and courtiers were made attractive by the glitter of superficial
accomplishment and by exquisite suavity and polish of manner.
But notwithstanding its immorality, the brilliancy of the Court of Louis
dazzled all Europe. The neighboring courts imitated its manners and
emulated its extravagances. In all matters of taste and fashion France
gave laws to the continent, and the French language became the court
language of the civilized world.
LITERATURE UNDER LOUIS XIV.--Louis gave a most liberal encouragement to
men of letters, thereby making his reign the Augustan Age of French
literature. In this patronage Louis was not unselfish. He honored and
befriended poets and writers of every class, because he thus extended the
reputation of his court. These writers, pensioners of his bounty, filled
all Europe with their praises of the Great King, and thus made the most
ample and grateful return to Louis for his favor and liberality.
Almost every species of literature was cultivated by the French writers of
this era, yet it was in the province of the Drama that the greatest number
of eminent authors appeared. The three great names here are those of
Corneille (1606-1684), Racine (1639-1699), and Molière (1622-1673).
DECLINE OF THE FRENCH MONARCHY UNDER LOUIS XV.--The ascendency of the
House of Bourbon passed away forever with Louis XIV. In passing from the
reign of the Grand Monarch to that of his successor, Louis XV. (1715-
1774), we pass from the strongest and most brilliant reign in French
history to the weakest and most humiliating.
France took part, but usually with injury to her military reputation, in
all the wars of this period. The most important of these were the War of
the Austrian Succession (see p. 644), and the Seven Years' War (see p.
631), known in America as the French and Indian War, which resulted in the
loss to France of Canada in the New World and of her Indian possessions in
the Old.
Though thus shorn of her colonial possessions in all quarters of the
globe, France managed to hold in Europe the provinces won for her by the
wars and the diplomacy of Louis XIV., and even made some fresh
acquisitions of territory along the Rhenish frontier.
But taken all together, the period was one of great national humiliation:
the French fleet was almost driven from the sea; the martial spirit of the
nation visibly declined; and France, from the foremost place among the
states of Europe, fell to the position of a third or fourth rate power.