1793. Embassy of earl Macartney.

1795. Abdication of the emperor, who died in 1798.

Japan.

From 1654 to 1853 the history of this country is marked by few events of interest. Under the Tokugawa Shoguns, many of whom were famous for their active interest in science and literature, the people progressed in civilization and the diffusion of education. Toward the close of the second century the country began to feel the evil effects of the long peace: wealth, luxury, enervation. Iyetsuna 1650-1681; construction of a cooperative history of Japan, the Dai Nihon Shi, under the care of the prince of Mito; department of astronomy; growth of Yedo. Tsunayoski, 1681-1708, the friend of learning. Kaempfer in Japan. Yoshimune, 1717-1744, one of the ablest of the Tokugawas; revision of the criminal code; introduction of sugar-cane; foundation of a free hospital at Yedo; hygienic information distributed throughout the country (population of Japan in 1744, 26,080,000).1 From 1763-1770 an empress sat on the Mikado's throne. 1780-1816. The Mikado Kokaku; the Shoguns; Iyeharu 1763

1786; Iyenori 1787-1837. Reformation of the administration. During this reign the influence of the Dutch increased rapidly, while several attempts of the Russians to open intercourse with Japan were brusquely repulsed.

§ 10. FRANCE.

1715-1774. Louis XV., five years old,

the great-grandson of Louis XIV., whose son (the dauphin Louis), and grandson (the duke of Burgundy) died before him. 1715-1723. Philip, duke of Orleans, regent during the minority

of Louis XV. He set the country (and the king) an example of the most shameless debauchery. His favorite was cardinal Dubois († 1723), a man of low birth and character, but of considerable ability. Abandonment of the policy of Louis XIV.; alliance with England (1717, p. 349); religious tolerance. The quadruple alliance, p. 397. War with Spain; marshal Berwick in Spain; peace, Feb. 17, 1720 (treaty of London; the emperor received Sicily, Savoy obtained Sardinia).

1718-1720. Law's Mississippi scheme.

In his financial distress the regent grasped at the dazzling plans of the Scotchman, John Law. Royal bank; company of the west; grant of Louisiana. Popular infatuation. Enormous inflation of the currency; issue of notes to the amount of 3,000,000,000 francs, based on the land of the kingdom. Sudden collapse of the bank and the company, bringing widespread disaster (1720). See the South Sea Bubble (p. 437).

1723-1726. Administration of the duke of Bourbon. The young king married the daughter of the deposed king of Poland,

Reed, i. p. 236.

Stanislaus Lesczinski, having broken off the projected marriage with the Infanta of Spain and sent back the princess to the great indignation of Philip V. Louis was under the influence of his tutor, cardinal Fleury, who overthrew the duke of Bourbon and his favorite the marquise de Prie, and banished them from court.

1726-1743. Administration of Fleury.

Participation of France in the war of the Polish succession, p. 398; in the war of the Austrian succession, p. 400; in the Seven Years' War, p. 403; war with England and the peace of Paris, pp. 422, 441.

Persecution of the Jansenists. Miracles at the cemetery of St. Medard. Convulsionnaires. Closure of the cemetery, 1732.

"De par le Roi, défense à Dieu,

De faire miracles en ce lieu."

After the death of Fleury (1743), government of mistresses and of ministers whom they placed in office. Senseless expenditure and revolting arbitrary rule. Marquise de Chateauroux.

1745-1764. Marquise de Pompadour (Lenormant d'Etioles). 1745, May 5. Battle of Fontenoy; victory of Marshal Sare over the allies (p. 402 and 438).

Struggle between the church, parliament, and crown.

The duc de Choiseul, a friend of Pompadour, minister. 1756. Hostilities with England in North America led to war (p. 438).

1757, Jan. 5. Attempted assassination of Louis XV. by Damiens, who was barbarously tortured and torn by four horses.

1768. Death of the queen.

1769.

Annexation of Corsica.

The immorality and extravagance of the court reached its height when Louis XV., toward the close of his reign, came under the influence of the shameless prostitute Jeanne Vaubernier, by marriage with a superannuated courtier,

1769-1774. Countess DuBarry.

Contest with the parliament of Paris, which was abolished in 1771 by the chancellor, Maupeou, and superseded by a Conseil du Roi, without political privileges. The parliament was, however, restored under the next reign. Pacte de famine; a company in which the king was shareholder, which had a monopoly of the corn supply. 1774, May 10. Death of Louis XV. He was succeeded by his grand

son,

1774-1792. Louis XVI.,

whose moral purity and sincere good-will, neutralized by a total lack of energy, were unable to quiet the approaching storm of the revolution by feeble attempts at reform. Restoration of the parliament. Louis, while dauphin (1770) had married Marie Antoinette, daughter of Maria Theresa of Austria. The queen, at first extremely popular, soon incurred the dislike of the people, and became an object of the grossest slanders, particularly in connection with the scandalous affair of the diamond necklace (1785; given to the

queen by cardinal Rohan; countess Lamothe). Her influence was an evil one, being exerted for the maintenance of the system of favoritism, and for the resistance of reforms.

1774-1781. Maurepas, the king's favorite minister.

1774-1776, May. Turgot minister of marine and finance.

1777-1781. Necker, minister of finance; abolition of six hundred superfluous offices.

1778. Alliance between France and the United States of America (p. 429).

For the participation of France in the war of American independence, see p. 429, etc.

1781. Publication of the compte rendu by Necker. On the death of Maurepas the Comte de Vergennes succeeded to the favor of the king.

1783-1787. Calonne, a favorite of the queen, minister of finance. Great extravagance of the court; contraction of an enormous debt.

1787, Feb. 22. Assembly of notables summoned at Versailles. Fall of Calonne.

De Brienne, minister of finance. Dissolution of the assembly (May 25). Opposition of the parliament of Paris, which refused to register the reform.

Edicts, alleging that such changes needed the approval of the states-general. Banishment of the parliament to Troyes. An agreement was patched up, but on the recall of the parliament, a still more aggravated quarrel broke out concerning new loans.

1788, Jan. Presentation of grievances. Arrest of the leaders of the parliament. Abolition of that body, the place of which was to be taken by a cour plenière, nominated by the king. Revolts in the provinces.

Summons of a states-general for May 5, 1789.

1788, Aug. De Brienne resigned office. Necker recalled.

THIRD PERIOD.

FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE FIRST FRENCH REVOLUTION TO THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA (1789-1815).

The revolution ran through three stages to the extreme of a democratic republic, three other periods brought it gradually through a reaction back to absolute monarchy, after which came a time of constitutional monarchy, then a republic, then the second empire, then a republic again.

1. States General and Constituent Assembly (Constituante); from May 5 (June 17), 1789, to Sept. 30, 1791 (2 years). A limited (constitutional) monarchy. Influence of the higher middle classes.

2. The Legislative Assembly (Législatif); from Oct. 1. 1791, to Sept. 21, 1792 (almost a year). Monarchy still further limited, then suspended. Increase of the power of the lower classes.

3. The National Convention (Convention Nationale); from Sept. 21, 1792, to Oct. 25, 1795 (more than three years); called to frame a

new constitution, it first abolished the monarchy and condemned the king to death; it supported the Reign of Terror, and then overthrew it. It led the resistance to foreign foes.

N. B. The left of the constituent was the right of the legislative, and the left of the legislative was (at first) the right of the convention.

4. The Directory (Directoire): from Oct. 26, 1795, to Nov. 9, 1799 (18 Brumaire, An. VIII.) more than four years. The middle classes recovered their influence. Party divisions. The army. General Bonaparte's coup d'état.

5. The Consulate (consulat), at first provisional then definitive, from Dec. 25, 1799, to May 20, 1804 (41⁄2 years); civil and military rule, virtually of one man; progress of French arms.

6. The (first) Empire; from May 20, 1804 to (April, 1814) June 22, 1815 (about eleven years). Napoleon I. made France the controlling power on the continent, but was finally overthrown.1

General Causes of the Revolution.

1. The spirit of the eighteenth century -a spirit devoted to the destruction or reformation of all existing institutions. Attacks of French writers upon church and state. Montesquieu (1689-1755); Voltaire (1694-1778); Rousseau (1670-1741); the Encyclopedia (1751-1780), the work of the Encyclopedists: Holbach (1723– 1789); Helvetius (1715–1771); Diderot (1713–1784); D’Alembert (1717-1783); Condillac (1715–1789).

2. The unequal division and miserable cultivation of the land (nearly two thirds of which was in the hands of the clergy and the nobles), and the strict control exercised by the guilds, which checked the development of trade and industry.

3. The arbitrary government, the abuses in the administration, the unequal apportionment of the burdens of taxation. Since 1614, the constitutional assembly of the kingdom, the états-généraux had not been summoned (p. 325). Control of the liberty of the subject by arbitrary warrants of imprisonment (lettres de cachet, Bastille) of their property by arbitrary taxation.

In opposition to the right assumed by the parliament of Paris, to refuse the registration of edicts of taxation, the court had recourse to beds of justice (lits de justice, a despotic enforcement of registration), and the banishment of members of parliament. Commissions in the army, places in parliament, and most of the higher offices, were purchasable, but as a rule, only by the nobles. The privileged classes (nobility and clergy) were allowed many privileges in regard to the direct taxes, although by no means exempt by them.2 Continuation in the country of the oppressive feudal burdens (corvées, enforced labor on the estate of the lord and on public roads without pay), exactions of the feudal lords, who wasted their revenues in the capital and gave the peasants neither protection nor assistance in return. Taille, land and property tax; gabelle, tax on salt.

1 Assmann.

2 Von Sybel, Geschichte der Revolutionszeit.

Special Cause.

The immense public debt and the deficit. The yearly deficit owed its origin to the wars of Louis XIV., to his costly, often senseless buildings (Versailles with its basins and fountains lying in a district totally without water), and to his extravagant court; it grew under the profligate expenditure of Louis XV. and the cost of the North American war under Louis XVI. till it amounted to nearly half of the yearly income. As Turgot's (1774-1776) attempts at reforms (removal of internal duties on commerce; abolition of the corvée, abolition of many guilds), Necker's (1776–1781) economical administration, and the assembly of notables summoned upon the advice of Calonne (1787), brought no relief, the king took the advice of Necker, who had reassumed office (1788), and resolved upon the 1789, May 5. Summons of the États-Généraux to Ver

sailles, with a double representation of the middle classes, the third estate (tiers état), nobles 300, clergy 300, commons 600. Dispute about the manner of debating and of voting (whether votes should be cast by the orders as such, or by each member individually) which broke out during the verification of the powers of the members The nobles and the clergy demanded a separate verification, the commons wished that it should take place in common. The true question was whether the legislative body should consist of a lower house of commons, and an upper house of nobles and clergy which would check the lower, or of one house in which the commons equaled in number the nobles and clergy together. Upon the motion of the abbé Sieyes (author of the remarkable pamphlet asking, What is the third estate?) the representatives of the third estate assumed the title of the 1789, June 17-1791. National Assembly (constituante) and invited the other orders to join them.

1789. Suspension of the meetings for three days; the hall June 20. closed to the members, who at last resorted to a neighboring tennis court (jeu de paume) and took an oath not to separate until they had given the realm a constitution. President Bailly. Many of the clergy and some nobles joined the assembly.

June 23. Fruitless royal sitting; the king ordered the assembly to meet in three houses.

Principal orator of the assembly: Mirabeau (Riquetti, count of Mirabeau, born 1749, of remarkable talent, but dissolute, in debt, at variance with his family, elected in Provence as representative of the third estate). The representatives of the clergy and the nobility join the third estate by request of the king. Concentration of troops near Paris. Rumors of a purpose to dissolve the national assembly, and the dismissal of Necker (July 11) caused the

1789.

Storm and destruction of the Bastille in Paris July 14. (murder of De Launay), Camille Desmoulins. Paris in the