Politically the French government, controlled in turns by unscrupulous princes, by Cardinal Fleury (who, however good his internal administration, failed to support the national dignity abroad), by the clever and infamous Cardinal Dubois, and by the king's mistresses, gradually sank in the eyes of Europe; and toward the end of Louis XV.'s reign it could scarcely be ranked among the great European powers. The four wars in which France then participated, against Spain (1717-'19), for the succession of Poland (1733 -'35), for the succession of Austria (1740-'48), and finally the seven years' war (l756-'63), were productive only of disgrace and disaster. The widespread political degeneracy of the time was in some degree offset, it is true, by the remarkable intellectual activity which made itself felt in all departments of literature, and especially manifested itself in the teachings of that school of philosophy whose social, political, and metaphysical theories so largely affected the course of events during the remainder of the century.-Louis XV. died in 1774, and his grandson Louis XVI. ascended the throne at a period which was perhaps the most inglorious of French history.

Carlyle, in one of the opening paragraphs of his "French Revolution," compares the country, as it was left by the dead ruler, to a powder tower about which unquenchable fire was smouldering. " With Pompadourism and Dubarryism, his Fleur-de-lis has been shamefully struck down in all lands and on all seas'; Poverty invades even the Royal Exchequer, and Tax-farming can squeeze out no more; there is a quarrel of twenty-five years' standing with the Parlement; everywhere Want, Dishonesty, Unbelief, and hot-brained Sciolists for state physicians; it is a portentous hour." This description is not exaggerated. The tyranny and lawlessness of the nobles and privileged classes, the burden of heavy taxation and oppression, which rested almost entirely on the lowest orders, the reckless mismanagement exhibited in every branch of the public service, and the unrestrained personal vice and extravagance of those in authority, had driven the great mass of the people into a bitterness of feeling almost beyond description; while the exhausted kingdom, with its recuperative forces apparently destroyed, seemed to be on the verge of financial as well as political ruin.

The various abuses that had grown up and increased during nearly the whole century were now at their height, and it seemed evident that a disastrous crisis was approaching. In this condition of affairs Louis XVI. began his reign, undoubtedly with some idea of the state of his kingdom, and with the best intentions toward reform; but, as events proved, without the strength necessary to carry out his good intentions. Maurepas, a man eminently unfit for the work in hand, was placed at the head of the ministry. An attempt to conciliate the people was made by the restoration of the parliament of Paris; but instead of promoting reform, this body proved a positive hindrance to it. Turgot and Males-herbes, associated with Maurepas in the ministry, acted with considerable efficiency in the endeavor to improve the state of affairs, hut were deposed through the influence of the court party as soon as they sought to interfere with the immunities of the privileged classes. Similar causes defeated the less earnest efforts of the ministers who followed them in quick succession.

Necker, who became minister of finance in 1777, and held the office during the time in which France carried on war against England and in aid of the American colonies, at first seemed to improve matters slightly; but the expenses of the war, the usual opposition of the nobles and clergy to any scheme of general taxation, with other causes, led to his deposition soon after the publication of his celebrated Compte rendu auroi. Calonne, who succeeded him in 1783, by extravagance and a reckless contracting of loans, plunged the finances into a more hopeless condition than ever; and in 1786 the king was induced to call together the assembly of notables to consider the state of affairs, and especially to deliberate on certain schemes of Calonne. This assembly, which had before been convened by Henry IV. and Louis XIII., consisted of a number of leading persons selected by the king from all parts of the kingdom; and on this occasion, the last time in French history of its convocation, it included 7 princes of the blood, 9 dukes and peers, 8 field marshals, 22 nobles, and 98 high officials of different classes; 144 members in all.

These met in February, 1787; but when Calonne's report revealed to them the extent of the existing debt and deficit, and proposed, with other measures, a land tax from which the privileged classes should not be exempt, there arose an opposition which compelled his retirement. He was succeeded by Brienne, archbishop of Toulouse; but the notables continued to oppose all plans for general taxation, and in May their assembly was dissolved. Various other methods of raising money were now devised; but the parliament of Paris refused to register the royal edicts ordering their enforcement, and the king only compelled their registration by resorting to a so-called bed of justice. (See Bed of Justice.) The parliament protested, and the king, in anger at this open-resistance, banished the members to Troyes, but not before they had issued a spirited remonstrance and a demand that the states general should be convened. This violent act on the part of the king caused general indignation, and partly owing to this, and partly to the necessity for new loans, he retracted it soon after, and in September the parliament returned.

The conflicts and disputes that followed its reassembling, however, led to a new step, the constitution of a cour pleniere, which should pass upon the royal edicts; and this measure aroused more opposition than ever, the duke of Orleans and several powerful nobles joining the general expression which pronounced it an illegal attempt to entirely set aside the parliament's authority. In the provinces armed disturbances took place. All classes of the people, as well the privileged orders as the rest, now hoped for some amelioration through the calling of the states general; and this was everywhere loudly demanded. The king finally yielded; Brienne was deposed and Necker recalled; and the general assembly of deputies from all the recognized classes, constituting the states general, at last assembled at Versailles in May, 1789; this being the first convocation of such a body since 1614. But the constitution of the new assemblage soon led to unexpected results. The privileged classes, the nobles and clergy, insisted that the meetings of the body and all its deliberations should be conducted with strict regard to the old class distinctions, the three estates meeting and voting separately, as in former times, an arrangement by which the two higher estates would have been enabled to neutralize the action of the commons.