BOOKS .
SIR 4111...11S STEPHEN'S LECTURES ON THE HISTORY OF FRANCE.*
THE chief purpose of the Cambridge Professor of Modern History was to oonsider " the formation and growth of the civil govern- ment and of the national institutions of the French people." In the fulfilment of his task, he rather aims at deducing conclusions than at narrating events, except when a comprehension of events is necessary to understand the conclusion. In other words, the Lee- tures on the History of France involve an exposition of causes and results, more than an account of men and actions. Of the five in- quiries considered by the author unessential to his task, three only are contained in the volumes now published. 1. The changes, soeial and political, which conducted Gaul from the state of a Roman province to that of a feudal sovereignty of princes confederate [F] with each other, but all subject to one comma head or sovereign. 2. The causes, social and political, which conducted France from the state of a feudal confederation to that of an absolute monarchy. 3. What was the real character of that monarchy, and what its real influence on the future condition of France. The sub- ject which would have stood second—the real character of the feudal sovereignty, and its influence on the future condition of France—is omitted altogether, because it has been so admirably and completely treated by Guizot and Hallam ; to whose works the student is referred. The last, and in a contemporary point of view the most interesting—the causes of the Revolution of 1789—is not yet reached ; it will form the subject of a future course. Occupied as Sir James Stephen has been during the whole of his mature age in an arduous office, which of itself was sufficient to exhaust the energies of most men, and employing such leisure as he could make in various studies, but with a tendency to the religious and philanthropical, it is not likely that the lectnrer would bring any deep or extensive knowledge of French archaeo- logy and history to his new task : nor indeed does he lay claim to it On every opportunity Sir James takes occasion to disclaim originality in his facts, and frequently in his particular conclu- sions. At the outset, in a Dedicatory Letter addressed. to Dr. Whewell, he gives an account of the advice which he received from the eminent friends he consulted when he had settled what branch of modern history he should undertake. Macaulay pro- nounced strongly on the subject of the religious wars ; but added, that " no man could be competent to take possession. publicly of that, or any other wide subject of historical inquiry, without a prelimi- nary silence and a particular preparation of at least two or three years." But the lecturer wanted to begin. He therefore seems to have chosen a subject with which his previous reading had made him generally familiar ; parts of which he had studied. in Robertson, Hallam, Guizot, Voltaire, and other classics of ma- dimval and modern historical inquiry ; and for the whole of which materials were accessible, though little known to English readers in general or to university students in particular. The sub- ject possessed a further advantage : comprehensive manner of grasping and presenting the topics, philosophical oonclusions, criti- cal opinions, or general morals, with a clear, pleasant, attractive manner, might be a sufficient substitute for original knowledge, deductions profoundly just, and a well-constructed plan which should exhibit the governing events of French history with suffi- cient distinctness, without substituting the narrative for the critioa- philosophical style appropriate to exposition.
The two volumes contain two courses of lectures; the first course relates to the growth of the French nation and monarchy, and the causes which led it from a feudal to an absolute sovereignty;. the second, to the more remarkable class of institutions and govern- ment, when the despotism was established,—that is, from the ac- cession of Henry the Fourth to the death of Louis the Fourteenth. In the first course, the lecturer describes the state of Gaul as a Roman province, with the fiscal oppression and economical circum- stances which rendered it a ready prey to the first invader after the Roman power declined. He narrates the accession of Clovis, 427 A.D., and Pepin, 752, and the downfall of both their races ; dwelling at some length upon the character of Charlemagne. When he comes to the accession of Hugues Capet, 987, he affirms rather than proves, that the French monarchy became established as a feudal sovereignty ; and passing over the description of the feudal condition for the reasons already alleged, he proceeds to con- sider the various causes that turned the feudal into an absolute monarchy. These he traces to the influence or action of the munici- palities of France, the Eastern and Albigensian, crusades, the judi- cial system, and the privileged orders, An admirable and in- structive set of lectures on the States-General shows that the opportunities of establishing a constitutional monarchy did pass from them, rather than why it did.
In the second volume, Professor Stephen describes the govern- ment of the absolute monarchy whose establishment he has thus traced, under -Henry the Fourth, Richelieu, and' three various aspects of the reign of Louis the Fourteenth, during his minority, under the rule of his ministers, and finally under his own. Some miscellaneous subjects are treated of in other lectures,—the sources and management of the revenues, the reformation and wars of religion, the power of the purse and the power of the pen in France; and the course closes with a comparison of the growth of the French. and English monarchies.
• Lectures on the History of France. By the Right Honourable Sir James Ste- hen, K.C.B., LL.D., Professor of Modern History in the University of Cambridge. twiewelutees. Published by‘ Longman and.co. . 41444., 112A. The distinguishing characteristics of these lectures are an inde- pendent criticism uninfluenced by previous authority, a religious philosophy,which traces the effect of moral causes, the knowledge
of a man of affairs rather than of a statesman, and a pellucid &sentry of *leaner Beyond these merits we do not think the tures advance, except occasionally. It is difficult to change the habits of a life by the exercise of a will. The lectures are less an exposition of the essential principles of the constitution and
monarchy of France than a series of " articles " on French history. The lecture on the influence of the crusades would have made a capital notice of the Crusades, for the Edinburgh Review ; at the same time, it is appropriate to the object of the lectures, I though the -conclusions strike us as being exaggerated. The three lectures on the power of the pen are nothing more than
three articles on French literature,—first, on the schoolmen, of whom Abelard and St. Bernard are the types ; second, on the.chro- niclers, Huguenots, and early wits and essayists, embracing Join-
Froissart, and Philip de Comines, Calvin, Rabelais, and Mon- taigne; third, the philosophers and literary men of the age of Louis the Fourteenth. In these papers there is a good deal of nice criticism and animated portraiture, but it is a misnomer to speak of them as showing the power of. the pen. in France. All they show, beyond the literary criticism, is that the greatest and most popular i of the French authors represented the French character in their writings. These three lectures represent most distinctly a remark- able trait of the article-writer (though it may be found elsewhere)— the substitute of something striking but incidental, which he can do, for that which is appropriate but beyond his knowledge. It may be said that in his dedicatory letter and in other places Professor Stephen disavows all claim to any merit but that of producing a simple, familiar, and elementary class or lecture book, "for the use of the students of our university." The topics and the tone both rise above this description: indeed, it may be ques- tioned whether the lectures can be well followed, or even understood, without a good deal more knowledge of facts and of the philosophy of history than this description would imply. But whatever may be the author's end, what he does should be done truly. The ne- cessary; events should be narrated ; which. we think is not done sufficiently as regards the growth of the monarchy under the Capets. The conclusions promulgated should be true • which is not alwayss the case. T.he lecturer traces the decline and ex- tinction of the Merovuigian. and Carlovingian dynasties—in spite of the abilities of some of the monarchs, and the interests of their subjects—to barbarism : but this was a quality common to Europe at the time • Spain, Germany, Italy, England, were in the same category. We want the circumstances that characterized French barbarism. It may be observed in passing,. that Sir James has a shade too much of the preacher, and that where churchmen are concerned his conclusions are generally unsound. Modern French writers, with whatever motives, have censured the Gaulish Christian priesthood for the exemptions and privileges they gained for themselves. Sir James, meets this by saying, it is better for economical reasons, that some property should. be exempt from heavy taxation in order to facilitate the accumulation of capital. This economical rule is by no means certain : there is no doubt about the moral question. Should Sir James Stephen ever be engaged in bearing a burden jointly, this morality would. justify him in thrusting his share of the load upon, his oomates. In like manner, he defends the ecele- siastieel exemption from the lay tribunals by the instance of the Gracchi : he forgets that the Gracehi opposed tyranny for their countrymen, the priests for themselves. In the following hard sketch of the feudal system, he falls more into the opinions of the age, perhaps with little more of truth. " Of all the varieties of political institutes under which the nations of the earth have ever lived, the feudal system is, perhaps, the only one which during its existence was sustained by no popular enthusiasm, and which after its overthrow was followed by no popular regrets. It was a protracted reign of terror; and, so far as I am aware, no trace exists, either in the lighter or in the more serious literature of the middle ages, of any eenti- manta having been entertained by the people at large towards the chatelaine, the barons, and the seigneurs, under whom they lived, but such as terror invariably inspires. The writers of gomance and poetry in, our own age have found their account in depicting the brilliant spectacles which the society of Europe is supposed to have exhibited in those warlike times, and in giving utterance to the patriarchal attachment and to the loyal reverence by which they have imagined the actors in those scenes to,have been animated. When we deliberately enter fairy land, we of course expect to be greeted with fairy tales ; but if we are willing to quit the world of fiction for the world of realities, we must acknowledge that feudalism was nothing better than a stern, relentless and unmitigated tyranny ; the nearest approach which has ever been made in the Western world, and in the lands which Christianity has claimed for her own, to the blighting and heartless cruelty which divides and governs the nations of the East by the institution of separate and inde- lible castes. Feudalism, indeed, had its appointed office in the history and Progress of Christendom. It was the discipline through which' it was neces- eery for mankind' to pass in their progress to social improvement and civil- ization. The Crusades, guilty, insane, and. wasteful as they were, had also their destined purposes to serve. Among them, not the least important, was that of bringing the feudal discipline tea close as soon as the office assigned to it had been accomplished."
The feudal rights—such as private war, and independent power within the bias own territory—were opposed to that general rule which is necessary to the full existence of the state ; though they might at the time be a choice of evils. The power of ad• ministering law, and the various dues that a lord could demand from-his vassal, might, easily with oppressive men be turned to in.- 4rtiments of oppression. Two great principles or opinions, sur- viving even to our day, indicate that feudalism could not have been altogether so bad as its modern assailants conclude. If feudal- ism required duty from the vassal, it also required protection from the lord ; and whether the sense of fidelity and kindness of a ne- ' ciprocal loyalty even to death is altogether well exchanged for the modern mode of "bargain and sale," may admit of some doubt. TO feudalism is perhaps to be traced that peculiar feature of mo- dern European society which has more than the advantages with- out the evils of the privileged classes. of classicantiquity and the castes of Egypt and Asia. Probably the sense of individual right is to be traced to the same source : most assuredly it would not be found in the despotism of the ancient republic, or the modern either ; while it would be as useless to seek for it in an absolute monarchy.
The author is most successful inIthe broader and more prominent features of French history. They are those with which his gene- ral studies have made him. moat familiar, and they are perhaps capable of more striking treatment than recondite archaeology. The following passage, drawn from a line of reading which has been a favourite with Sir James Stephen, may be placed. against Macau- ' lay's picture of England under the Stuarts : if it wants the gor- geous flashiness, it has a quieter and exacter truth. "The progress of barbarism, in the sense in whirl./ use and have explained that word, is, however, most distinctly illustrated by what we may gather from 3fabillon's Acts of the Saints of the Benedictine Order, and from the other hagiologies of that age. From those legends we learn. that large at- tricts of France had, under the later Carlovingian prinoea, been either eon- veiled into extensive sheep-walks, or given up to the natural growth of the forest. The saint is described in them, sometimes as inhabiting, and some- times as traversing, these desolate regions ;. and as reaching, at frequent in- tervals, either hermitages or oratories, where he pauses, either to worship et to seek repose and shelter, on. his way to some celebrated shrine. The ma- mastery appears there as no longer embellished by any of the decorative arts, nor as surrounded by its once smiling gardens,. nor as thronged as before by pious worshipers ; but as converted into a kind of fortress, with deep ditches, massive gates, and heavy portcullises, the necessary though often the in- effectual ramparts against Norman or domestic invaders. The town and village also, as depicted in these religious biographies, is surrounded by a ditch. and palisades, and defended by a tower or castle. The baronial resi- dence has been transformed from the mansion of a chieftain_ into the fastness of a robber. The burgher, the pilgrim, the pedlar, the Benedictine monk, and the husbandman, are representedas perishing,. sometimes by want, some- times by the sword of the foreign marauder, and sometimes by that of the neighbouring lord ; while, audacious by impunity, the chitelain, followed by a long line of lances, is exhibited as falling oaths helpless traveller, or imaz+ boding by the torch, the sword, or the scourge, a ransom from some unpro- tected monastery. Scarcely more attractive is the glance.we occasionally obtain of the domestic life of this formidable seigneur. When not engaged in the chase, he is portrayed as amusing himself in his fortified dwelling', either with boon companions in an intemperate debauch; or as listening to legends of freebooters of a yet older time, still more ferocious than himself, or as yielding to the blandishments of the courtesans by whom such fast- nesses were thronged, or as finding, in the daily masses and absolutions of his domestic chaplain, relief from the reproaches of his unquiet conscience, for the crimes which the succeeding day was destined to renew. Even the most populous and powerful of the Gallic cities, were impotent to resist the spoilers who thus ravaged the devoted land. Each coneiderable town placed itself under the protection of some military chieftain, who thenceforward be- came at once the occasional protector and the habitual oppressor of the help- less inhabitants. Every monastery, in the same manner, sought shelter be- neath the arms of some warlike seigneur; who, under the title of its vidame, afforded the monks protection, on such terms as reduced his monastic clients to a state of continual poverty and alarm.. " If from the aspect of the material and social world thus, presented to us in the Acta Sanctorum, we turn to the chroniclers of the ninth and tenth centuries, we shall learn, that while the village, the convent, and the city, were thus the prey of unrestrained violence, the minds of men were living under the despotism of superstitious terror& I do not refer to the errors with which Rome had already debased the purity of the Christian faith,. but to the belief which had been adopted and diffused by the interpreters of the Apocalypse, that the destruction of the world was to be coincident with the lapse of a thousand years from the birth of Christ. To what an extent this opinion prevailed, andof what strange results it was productive, may be seen in any of those chronicles. Preachers came forth, announcing that in.the visions of the night they had received from the Saviour himself an intim*, ton that his second coming was immediately at hand.. Mysterious voices were heard to mingle with the winds ; mailed combatants were seen to en- counter in the clouds ; monstrous births intimated the dislocation of the whole system of nature. Men sought to propitiate the approaching judge, by giving to the Church the lands which were about teperish in. the.generel conflagration. In many yet extant charters of that age, month termini) adpropinquante ' is recited as the inducement of such donations. The alarm, though of course transitory, was yet sufficiently deep and enduring to de- press the spirits of more than one generation, and to enhance the gloom of that disastrous age. So dismal; indeed, is the description which we ev where encounter of the state of Gaul during the century which immedia preceded the accession of Iluves Capet, that we might imagine it to. have been immersed in a darkness like that of Egypt—a darkness which might be felt—if experience had not taught us how many of man's dearest interests, how much placid enjoyment,mental activity, domestic peace, and spiritual repose, may flourish in those countless retirements which no historian's eye can penetrate and which no historian's pencil can depict."
Character-drawing, if not absolutely the forte of Sir James Stephen, is one of his favourite and one of his successful employ- ments. The volumes contain portraits of Charlemagne, Louis the Eleventh, Henry the Fourth, Louis the FOurteenth, eolbert, and most of the great French authors : but perhaps Richelieu in the moat remarkable for a nice and balancing- discrimination, though the balancing at last may end in an equalization producing no- thing. Here is a part of the great founder and yet the great de- stroyer of the French absolute monarchy. "He was not so much a minister es a dictator. He was rather the dope- 'Harp than the agent of the royal power.. A king in all things bat, the tame, he reigned with that exemption from hereditary and domestiehr- fluences which has so often imparted. to the Papal Monarchs a kind of pre- terhuman energy, and has as often taught the world to deprecate the eon- bacy of the throne. "Richelieu was the heir of the designs of Henry IV., and the ancestor of those of Louis XIV. But they courted, and were sustained by, the applause and the attachment of their subjects. He passed his life in one uninter- nutted struggle with each, in turn, of the powerful bodies over whom he ruled. By a long series of well-directed blows, he crushed for ever the tical and military strength of the Huguenots. By his strong hand, the sove- reign courts were confined to their judicial duties, and their claims to par- ticipate in the government of the state were scattered to the winds. Tramp- ling under foot all rules of judicial procedure and the clearest principles of justice, he brought to the scaffold one after another of the proudest nobles of France, by sentences dictated by himself, to extraordinary judges of his own selection ; thus teaching the doctrine of social equality, by lessons too im- pressive to be misinterpreted or forgotten by any later generation. Both the privileges, in exchange for which the greater fiefs had surrendered their in- dependence, and the franchises, for the conquest of which the cities, in ear- lier times, had successfully contended, were alike swept away by this re- morseless innovator. He exiled the mother, oppressed the wife, degraded the brother, banished the confessor, and put to death the kinsmen and fa- vourites of the King, and compelled the King himself to be the instrument of these domestic severities. Though surrounded by enemies and by rivals, his power ended only with his life. Though beset by assassins, he died in the ordinary course of nature. Though he had waded to dominion through slaughter, cruelty, and wrong, he passed to his great account amidst the ap- plause of people, with the benedictions of the church, and, as far as any human eye could perceive, in hope, in tranquillity, and in peace. "What, then, is the reason why so tumultuous a career reached at length so serene a close? The reason is, that amidst all his conflicts Richelieu wisely and successfully maintained three powerful alliances. He cultivated the attachment of men of letters, the favour of the commons, and the sym- pathyH of all Freiieh idolaters of the national glory. " e was a man of extensive if not of profound learning, a theologian of some account, and an aspirant for fame as a dramatist, a wit, a poet, and an historian. But if his claims to admiration as a writer were disputable, none contested his title to applause as a patron of literature and of art. The founder of a despotism in the world oflitics, he aspired also to be the founder of a commonwealth in the worldpo of letters. While crushing the national liberties, he founded the French Academy as the sacred shrine of intellectual freedom and independence : acknowledging no equal in the state, he forbade the acknowledgment in that literary republic of any superiority save that of genius. While refusing to bare his head to any earthly poten- tate, he would permit no eminent author to stand bareheaded in has pre- sence. By these cheap, and not dishonest arts, he gained an inestimable ad- vantage. The honours he conferred on the men of learning of his age they largely repaid, by placing under his control the mainsprings of public opinion. "To conciliate the commons of France, Richelieu even ostentatiously divest- ed himself of every prejudice hostile to his popularity. A prince of the Church of Rome, he cherished the independence of the Gallican Church and clergy. The conqueror of the Calvinists, he yet respected the rights of conscience. Of noble birth and ancestry, his demeanour was still that of a tribune of the people. But it was not by demeanour alone that he laboured to win their regard ; he affected the more solid praise of large and salutary reformations."
We look with expectation to the appearance of the third course of lectures. The present work contains much useful information, many striking pictures, and some broad philosophical conclusions regarding the history of France, conveyed in a style of subdued though pregnant rhetoric. The next course will treat of a period to which the author must long since have turned his attention, the consequences of which have been brought before him in his official life, and which has to a great degree the interest of contemporary events ; for many are yet living who were contemporary with the Revolutionary wars, and the present state of France originated in the downfall of the old monarchy.
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