THE authorities for a great part of what follows are _Mr. Rabaut's_
History of the Revolution, 1792; _Mr. du Laure's_ Paris, 1791,
_Geographie de France_, 1792, second edition, and _Voyage dans les
Departemens de la France_, 1792.
France is a country which extends nine degrees from North to South, and
between ten and eleven from East to West, making six and twenty thousand
square leagues, and containing twenty-seven millions of people. In 1790,
"There were four millions of armed men in France; three of these
millions wore the uniform of the nation." The number of warriors, or
fighting men is very considerably increased since that time.
"In this immense population is found at least three millions of
individuals of different religions, whom the present catholicks look
upon with brotherly eyes. The protestant and the catholick now embrace
each other on the threshold where _Coligni_ was murdered; and the
disciples of _Calvin_ invoke the Eternal after their manner, within a
few paces[35] of the balcony from whence _Charles IX._ shot at his
subjects."
[Note 35: The church of _St. Louis du Louvre_ is at present made use
of as a place of worship by protestants.
All the church lands are reverted to the nation.
In a speech which the Abbé _Maury_ made in the National Assembly, about
two years ago, he estimated the value of the property belonging to
ecclesiasticks in France at two thousand two hundred millions of livres,
_(Deux milliards deux cens millions_) near ninety-two millions sterling,
the interest or produce of which, at 3-1/4 per cent. per annum, amounts
to the three millions beforementioned.
France suffices to itself; it contains all the indigenous productions of
Europe.
The French hope, that the number of foreigners who will resort to their
country, after it shall be more settled, will abundantly compensate the
loss of the emigrants.]
The capital, when compared to London, for extent is as 264 to 195,
(nearly as 7 to 5) that is to say, according to the calculation
beforementioned (p. 28) Paris stands on 6-99/121 square miles of ground,
and London on 5-35/968.
It contains a million and 130 thousand inhabitants, which is fifty
thousand more than it did two years ago; these formerly inhabited
_Versailles_, and left it at the time the court did.
_Lyon_ contains 160 thousand persons.
_Marseille_, the most populous, in proportion to the size, of any city
in Europe, contains, in a spot of little more than three miles in
circumference, 120 thousand persons, which includes about 30,000
mariners on board of the ships in the harbour.[36]
[Note 36: I was there in 1768, and again in 1783 and 1784, above
four months. People of all nations are there seen in their proper
habits; all languages are spoken; it is a free port, and the staple of
the Levant trade, as well as of the West-Indian commerce.--There are
regular vessels which sail monthly to Constantinople.]
_Bordeaux_, 100,000. The population of many more cities is given in a
note,[37] besides which there are others, the number of whose
inhabitants I cannot learn, such as _Toulouse, Toulon, Brest, Orange,
Blois, Avignon_, &c.
[Note 37: _Thousand_ must be read after all the following figures.
_Dunkerque_ - 80|_Besançon_ - - 26|_La Rochelle_ - 16
_Rouen_ - - - 73|_Aix_- - - - - 25|_Poitiers_ - - 16
_Lille_ - - - 65|_Bourges_- - - 25|_Auxerre_ - - 16
_Nantes_- - - 60|_Tours_ - - - 22|_Perpignan_- - 16
_Nismes_- - - 50|_Arras_ - - - 22|_Chalons_ - - 15
_Strasbourg_- - 46|_Limoges_- - - 22|_Beauvais_ - - 15
_Amiens_- - - 44|_Abbeville_- - 20|_Riom_ - - - 15
_Metz_ - - - 40|_Verdun_ - - - 20|_Nevers_- - - 14
_Caen_ - - - 40|_Arles_- - - - 20|_Boulogne_ - - 12
_Orleans_ - - 40|_Dijon_- - - - 20|_Bayonne_ - - 12
_Rennes_- - - 35|_Valenciennes_ 20|_Soissons_ - - 12
_Nancy_ - - - 34|_St. Malo_ - - 18|_Angoulême_- - 11
_Montpellier_ - 32|_Beziers_- - - 18|_Pau_- - - - 11
_Reims_ - - - 30|_Sedan_- - - - 18|_Alby_ - - - 10
_Clermont_ - - 30|_Carcassonne_- 18|_Alais_ - - - 10
_Troyes_- - - 30|_Havre de Grace_18|_Grasse_- - - 10
_Grenoble_ - - 30|_Moulins_- - - 17|_Versailles_ - 10]
The nation gains five millions sterling _per annum_ by the reduction of
its expences, and by not having any unnecessary clergymen to
maintain,[38] and the forfeited estates of the emigrants are estimated
at immense sums.[39]
[Note 38: By a decree in November, 1789, no curate is to have less
salary than fifty _Louis_ per annum, not including his house and garden.
Many of the French at present think that clergymen should be retained
like physicians, and paid by those only who want them. By this means,
they say, religious quarrels would be avoided; of all quarrels the most
absurd, because nobody can understand any thing about the matter.
"Personne n'y entend rien."]
[Note 39: The civil list mentioned in page 62, was according to the
old establishment. In January, 1790, the king was requested to fix a sum
for the civil list himself, and in June following he sent a letter to
the National Assembly, demanding five and twenty millions of livres. It
was decreed that instant.]
The heavy taxes on salt (_la gabelle_) and on Tobacco are suppressed,
and those two articles are allowed to be objects of commerce.[40]
[Note 40: Salt, which was formerly sold at fourteen _sols_ per
pound, is now at a single sol. Tobacco is permitted to be cultivated by
"whoever will."]
"No city in the world can offer such a spectacle as that of Paris,
agitated by some great passion, because in no other the communication is
so speedy, and the spirits so active. Paris contains citizens from all
the provinces, and these various characters blended together compose the
national character, which is distinguished by a wonderful impetuosity.
Whatever they will do is done." Witness the taking of the _Bastille_ in
a single day, which had formerly withstood the siege of a whole army
during three and twenty days. And witness the 10th of August.
I have been frequently told by persons in England, that a regular and
disciplined army may easily crush a herd of raw and inexperienced
rabble, such as they supposed the French were, although ten times more
numerous. This may possibly be the event in small numbers, but if we
state the case with large numbers, for instance fifty thousand men of
the greatest courage, and of the most perfect discipline, and who are
fighting for pay, without any personal motive, against five hundred
thousand men, whom we shall suppose utterly ignorant of the art of war,
but who conceive they are fighting for their liberty and their country,
for their families and their property, and then reflect on the courage
and bravery of these very men, on their impetuosity, their
_acharnement_, or desperate violence in fight, which may be compared to
the irresistible force of water-spouts, and of whirlwinds, it may not
appear too partial to conjecture, that such persons may perceive some
little reason for suspending, if not for altering, their opinion,[41]
and may now estimate the degree of danger this nation may apprehend
from the attacks of extraneous powers, _provided its own people are
unanimous_.
[Note 41: I saw many thousands of these men (from my windows) on
their way to the _Tuileries_, early on _the_ Friday morning; their march
was at the rate of perhaps five miles an hour, without running or
looking aside; and this was the pace they used when they carried heads
upon pikes, and when they were in pursuit of important business, rushing
along the streets like a torrent, and attending wholly and solely to the
object they had in view. On such occasions, when I saw them approaching,
I turned into some cross street till they were passed, not that I had
any thing to apprehend, but the being swept along with the crowd, and
perhaps trampled upon. I cannot express what I felt on seeing such
immense bodies of men so vigorously actuated by the same principle. I
saw also many thousands of volunteers going to join the armies at the
frontiers, marching along the _Boulevarts_, almost at the same pace,
accompanied as far as the Barriers by their women, who were carrying
their muskets for them; some with large sausages, pieces of cold meat,
and loaves of bread, stuck on the bayonets, and all laughing, or singing
_ça ira_.
The French writers themselves say, "In all popular commotions the women
have always shown the greatest boldness."]