avocats-généraux in the eighteenth century, see a note in
Lettres d'Aguesseau, vol. i. p. 264.
796
And we should also remember what the circumstances were under which the accusation was first heard in France. ‘Les reproches d'avoir tout détruit, adressés aux philosophes du dix-huitième siècle, ont commencé le jour où il s'est trouvé en France un gouvernement qui a voulu rétablir les abus dont les écrivains de cette époque avaient accéléré la destruction.’ Comte, Traité de Législation, vol. i. p. 72.
797
The nature of this change, and the circumstances under which it happened, will be examined in the last chapter of the present volume; but that the revolutionary movement, while headed by Voltaire and his coadjutors, was directed against the church, and not against the state, is noticed by many writers; some of whom have also observed, that soon after the middle of the reign of Louis XV. the ground began to be shifted, and a disposition was first shown to attack political abuses. On this remarkable fact, indicated by several authors, but explained by none, compare Lacretelle, XVIIIe Siècle, vol. ii. p. 305; Barruel, Mém. pour l'Hist. du Jacobinisme, vol. i. p. xviii., vol. ii. p. 113; Tocqueville, L'Ancien Régime, p. 241; Alison's Europe, vol. i. p. 165, vol. xiv. p. 286; Mém. de Rivarol, p. 35; Soulavie, Règne de Louis XVI, vol. iv. p. 397; Lamartine, Hist. des Girondins, vol. i. p. 183; Œuvres de Voltaire, vol. lx. p. 307, vol. lxvi. p. 34.
798
See some striking remarks in M. Tocqueville's great work, De la Démocratie, vol. i. p. 5; which should be compared with the observation of Horace Walpole, who was well acquainted with French society, and who says, happily enough, that the French ‘love themselves in their kings.’ Walpole's Mem. of George III, vol. ii. p. 240.
799
Not only the political history of Spain, but also its literature, contains melancholy evidence of the extraordinary loyalty of the Spaniards, and of the injurious results produced by it. See, on this, some useful reflections in Ticknor's Hist. of Spanish Literature, vol. i. pp. 95, 96, 133, vol. iii. pp. 191–193.
800
Our admiration of Alfred is greatly increased by the fact, that we know very little about him. The principal authority referred to for his reign is Asser, whose work, there is reason to believe, is not genuine. See the arguments in Wright's Biog. Brit. Lit. vol. i. pp. 408–412. It moreover appears, that some of the institutions popularly ascribed to him, existed before his time. Kemble's Saxons in England, vol. i. pp. 247, 248.
801
The French writers, under the old régime, constantly boast that loyalty was the characteristic of their nation, and taunt the English with their opposite and insubordinate spirit. ‘Il n'est pas ici question des François, qui se sont toujours distingués des autres nations par leur amour pour leurs rois.’ Le Blanc, Lettres d'un François, vol. iii. p. 523. ‘The English do not love their sovereigns as much as could be desired.’ Sorbière's Voyage to England, p. 58. ‘Le respect de la majesté royale, caractère distinctif des Français.’ Mém. de Montbarey, vol. ii. p. 54. ‘L'amour et la fidélité que les Français ont naturellement pour leurs princes.’ Mém. de Motteville, vol. ii. p. 3. ‘Les Français, qui aiment leurs princes.’ De Thou, Hist. Univ. vol. iii. p. 381; and see vol. xi. p. 729. For further evidence, see Sully, Œconomies, vol. iv. p. 346; Monteil, Divers Etats, vol. vii. p. 105; Ségur, Mémoires, vol. i. p. 32; Lamartine, Hist. des Girondins, vol. iv. p. 58.
Now, contrast with all this the sentiments contained in one of the most celebrated histories in the English language: ‘There is not any one thing more certain and more evident, than that princes are made for the people, and not the people for them; and perhaps there is no nation under heaven that is more entirely possessed with this notion of princes than the English nation is in this age; so that they will soon be uneasy to a prince who does not govern himself by this maxim, and in time grow very unkind to him.’ Burnet's History of his Own Time, vol. vi. p. 223. This manly and wholesome passage was written while the French were licking the dust from the feet of Louis XIV.
802
‘La race des rois la plus ancienne.’ Mém. de Genlis, vol. ix. p. 281. ‘Nos rois, issus de la plus grande race du monde, et devant qui les Césars, et la plus grande partie des princes qui jadis ont commandé tant de nations, ne sont que des roturiers.’ Mém. de Motteville, vol. ii. p. 417. And a Venetian ambassador, in the sixteenth century, says, that France is ‘il regno più antico d'ogn' altro che sia in essere al presente.’ Relat. des Ambassad. vol. i. p. 470. Compare Boullier, Maison Militaire des Rois de France, p. 360.
803
Capefigue's Louis XIV, vol. i. pp. 204, 301; Koch, Tableau des Révolutions, vol. ii. p. 16. M. Ranke (Die Päpste, vol. ii. p. 257) ascribes this to the circumstances attending the apostasy of Henry IV.; but the cause lies much deeper, being connected with that triumph of the secular interests over the spiritual, of which the policy of Henry IV. was itself a consequence.
804
Lavallée, Hist. des Français, vol. iii. p. 408; Flassan, Hist. de la Diplomatie, vol. v. p. 3; Tocqueville, Règne de Louis XV, vol. i. pp. 35, 347; Duclos, Mémoires, vol. ii. pp. 42, 43, 154, 155, 223, 224. What was, if possible, still more scandalous, was, that in 1723 the assembly of the clergy elected as their president, unanimously (‘d'une voix unanime’), the infamous Dubois, the most notoriously immoral man of his time. Duclos, Mém. vol. ii. p. 262.
805
On this decline of the French clergy, see Villemain, XVIIIe Siècle, vol. iii. pp. 178, 179; Cousin, Hist. de la Philos. IIe série, vol. i. p. 301. Tocqueville (Règne de Louis XV, vol. i. pp. 35–38, 365) says, ‘le clergé prêchait une morale qu'il compromettait par sa conduite;’ a noticeable remark, when made by an opponent of the sceptical philosophy, like the elder M. Tocqueville. Among this profligate crew, Massillon stood alone; he being the last French bishop who was remarkable for virtue as well as for ability.
806
Voltaire says of the English, ‘quand ils apprennent qu'en France de jeunes gens connus par leurs débauches, et élevés à la prélature par des intrigues de femmes, font publiquement l'amour, s'égaient à composer des chansons tendres, donnent tous les jours des soupers délicats et longs, et de là vont implorer les lumières du Saint-Esprit, et se nomment hardiment les successeures des apôtres ils remercient Dieu d'être protestants.’ Lettres sur les Anglais, in Œuvres, vol. xxvi. p. 29.
