a different light.

That mighty contest which developed the energies of this great
statesman, as well as the genius of a still more remarkable man,
therefore claims our attention.

* * * * *

REFERENCES.--Tomline's Life of Pitt. Belsham's History of
George III. Prior's and Bissett's Lives of Burke. Moore's
Life of Sheridan. Walpole's Life of Fox. Life of
Wilberforce, by his sons. Annual Register, from 1783 to
1806. Macaulay's Essay on Warren Hastings. Elphinstone's and
Martin's Histories of India. Mill's British India. Russell's
Modern Europe. Correspondence of Rt. Hon. Edmund Burke.
Campbell's Lives of the Lord Chancellors. Boswell's Life of
Johnson. Burke's Works. Schlosser's Modern History.

CHAPTER XXX.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.

If the American war was the greatest event in modern times, in view of
ultimate results, the French Revolution may be considered the most
exciting and interesting to the eye of contemporaries. The wars which
grew out of the Revolution in France were conducted on a scale of much
greater magnitude, and embroiled all the nations of Europe. A greater
expenditure of energies took place than from any contest in the annals
of civilized nations. Nor has any contest ever before developed so
great military genius. Napoleon stands at the head of his profession,
by general consent; and it is probable that his fame will increase,
rather than diminish, with advancing generations.

It is impossible to describe, in a few pages, the great and varied
events connected with the French Revolution, or even allude to all the
prominent ones. The causes of this great movement are even more
interesting than the developments.

[Sidenote: Causes of the French Revolution.]

The question is often asked, could Louis XVI. have prevented the
catastrophe which overturned his throne? He might, perhaps, have
delayed it; but it was an inevitable event, and would have happened,
sooner or later. There were evils in the government of France, and in
the condition of the people, so overwhelming and melancholy, that they
would have produced an outbreak. Had Richelieu never been minister;
had the Fronde never taken place; had Louis XIV. and XV. never
reigned; had there been no such women as disgraced the court of France
in the eighteenth century; had there been no tyrannical kings, no
oppressive nobles, no grievous taxes, no national embarra