lic
benefactor.-Services of this character challenge a proportionate
recompense; it is allowed that from father to son he is wedded to
France; that she acts only through him; that he acts only for her;
while every souvenir of the past and every present interest combine to
sanction this union. The Church consecrates it at Rheims by a sort
of eighth sacrament, accompanied with legends and miracles; he is the
anointed of God.[1116] The nobles, through an old instinct of military
fealty, consider themselves his bodyguard, and down to August 10, 1789,
rush forward to die for him on his staircase; he is their general by
birth. The people, down to 1789, regard him as the redresser of abuses,
the guardian of the right, the protector of the weak, the great almoner
and the universal refuge. At the beginning of the reign of Louis XVI
"shouts of Vive le roi, which began at six o'clock in the morning,
continued scarcely interrupted until after sunset."[1117] When the
Dauphin was born the joy of France was that of a whole family.
"People stopped each other in the streets, spoke together without any
acquaintance, and everybody embraced everybody he knew."[1118] Every
one, through vague tradition, through immemorial respect, feels
that France is a ship constructed by his hands and the hands of his
ancestors. In this sense, the vessel is his property; it is his right
to it is the same as that of each passenger to his private goods. The
king's only duty consists in being expert and vigilant in guiding
across the oceans and beneath his banner the magnificent ship upon which
everyone's welfare depends.-Under the ascendancy of such an idea he was
allowed to do everything. By fair means or foul, he so reduced ancient
authorities as to make them a fragment, a pretense, a souvenir. The
nobles are simply his officials or his courtiers. Since the Concordat
he nominates the dignitaries of the Church. The States-General were
not convoked for a hundred and seventy-five years; the provincial
assemblies, which continue to subsist, do nothing but apportion the
taxes; the parliaments are exiled when they risk a remonstrance. Through
his council, his intendants, his sub-delegates, he intervenes in
the most trifling of local matters. His revenue is four hundred and
seventy-seven millions.[1119] He disburses one-half of that of
the Clergy. In short, he is absolute master, and he so declares
himself.[1120]--Possessions, freedom from taxation, the satisfacti