University Extension Lectures Syllabus of a Course of Six Lectures on The Epoch of the French Revolution by E. L. S. Horsburgh, B.A. Staff Lecturer in History and Literature for the Oxford and American I. Speculative Revolution in France: XVIII Century Century III. Democratic Revolution-The States General IV. The Constitution V. The Fall of the Monarchy VI. The Republic No. 232 Copyright, 1903, by Price, 10 cents The American Society for the Extension of University Teaching BOOKS RECOMMENDED FOR STUDENTS. TEXT-BOOKS. MRS. GARDINER. French Revolution (Longmans). J. H. ROSE. French Revolution and Napoleonic Epoch (Cambridge MORSE STEPHENS. French Revolution, Vols. I. and II. (Rivington). MORSE STEPHENS. Periods of European History, Vol. VII., 1789-1815. SPECIAL BOOKS. PRE-REVOLUTIONARY FRANCE. DE TOCQUEVILLE. France Before the Revolution. TAINE. L'Ancien Regime. JOHN MORLEY. Voltaire. Diderot. THE STATES-GENERAL AND THE NEW CONSTITUTION. LECKEY. History of the Eighteenth Century, Vols. V. and VI. THE FALL OF THE MONARCHY. LAMARTINE. History of the Girondists. Mémoires of Mme. Roland. Edited by EDWARD G. JOHNSON. AUSTIN DOBSON. Four French Women. M REIGN OF TERROR. JOHN MORLEY. Essays on Robespierre. Miscellanies. FRENCH HISTORIES OF THE REVOLUTION. THIERS. Full of detail, but partial. TAINE. Anti-Jacobin. LOUIS BLANC. Pro-Jacobin LECTURE I. SPECULATIVE REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. The old régime. XVIIITH CENTURY. Political, social and ecclesiastical conditions of France before the Revolution. Conditions in some other countries differed only for the worse. Why was there revolution in France? Because France had been made to realize that her institutions had ceased to be effective, and had become articulate in demands for reform. This realization was the work of speculative and theoretical reformers in the XVIIIth century, of Montesquion, Diderot, the Encyclopædists, but especially of Voltaire and Rousseau. Voltaire. "He constitutes a Renaissance in himself." He claims freedom for thought and the exercise of reason. Systems based on authority and usage unable to justify themselves against his attack. Application of his dictum "Ecrasez l'infame" to the church. His protest against XVIIIth century optimism. Voltaire as 'one that loved his fellow-men.” Voltaire not a democrat. His ideal was reform through beneficent despotism. No believer in the "sovereignty of the people." Rousseau. "But for Rousseau there would have been no French Revolution."-Napoleon. Rousseau's speculations on artificial civilization and on equality. He, like Voltaire, is deficient in the historical sense. Theoretical and academic character of his 'Dissertations;' nature and strength of their appeal. The "Social Contract" and the doctrine of the sovereignty of the people. His principle directly opposed to existing institutions. The social contract the microcosm of the French Revolution. The "Savoyard Vicar" and its influence on religious and ecclesiastical ideas. cf. Robespierre and the Festival of the Supreme Being. Thus Voltaire and Rousseau are the protagonists of the revolutionary movement. LECTURE II. BENEFICENT DESPOTISM AND ARISTOCRATIC REVOLUTION. XVIIITH CENTURY. Accession of Louis XVI. 1774. Theory of the French monarchy. Practical restraints upon absolutism. Decline of monarchical prestige under the regency of Louis XV. Power of the aristocratic and privileged classes. The French "Parlements." Nature and scope of their functions. Contests between the crown and the Parlements up to 1774. Their suppression by Louis XV. Louis XVI recalls the Parlements. Character of Louis XVI, of his wife, and brothers. Turgot is made Controller General. Nature of his office. Character of Turgot, and of his policy. Reforms effected or contemplated by Turgot. He fulfils the Voltairian ideal. Opposition of the privileged classes, of the Parlements, and of the people. The King deserts Turgot. His fall. 1776. He bases his system on economy and efficient administration. His plans thwarted by the French alliance with the American colonies. Effects of the Franco-American alliance on the French Revolution. Necker's "recueil des comptes" displays the bankrupt condition of France, and the causes of it. Fall of Necker. 1781. Counter-administration of Calonne. |