usseau,
although he attacked civilization, depicting its miseries and
inconsistencies, was more constructive, for in his _Social Contract_ he
advocated universal suffrage and government by the people through the
principles of natural rights and mutual aid. These writers aroused a
spirit of liberty among the thoughtful which could not do otherwise
than prove destructive to existing institutions.

_The Failure of Government_.--It soon became evident to all that a
failure of the government from a practical standpoint was certain. The
burdens of unequal taxation could no longer be borne; the treasury was
empty; there was no means of raising revenue to support the government
as it was run; there was no one who could manage the finances of the
nation; the administration of justice had fallen into disrepute; even
if there had been an earnest desire to help the various classes of
people in distress, there were no opportunities to do so. Louis XVI,
in his weakness, called the States-General for counsel and advice. It
was the first time the people had been called in council for more than
200 years; monarchy had said it could run the government without the
people, and now, on the verge of destruction, called upon the people to
save it from the {405} wreck. The well-intended king invoked a storm;
his predecessors had sown the wind, he reaped the whirlwind.

_France on the Eve of the Revolution_.--The causes of the revolution
were dependent, in part, upon the peculiarity of the character of the
French people, for in no other way can the sudden outburst or the
course of the revolution be accounted for. Yet a glimpse at the
condition of France before the storm burst will cause one to wonder,
not that it came, but that it was so long delayed.

A careful examination of the facts removes all mystery respecting the
greatest political phenomenon of all history, and makes of it an
essential outcome of previous conditions. The French people were
grossly ignorant of government. The long period of misrule had
distorted every form of legitimate government. One school of political
philosophers gave their attention to pointing out the evils of the
system; another to presenting bright pictures of ideal systems of
government which had never been put in practice. The people found no
difficulty in realizing the abuses of government, for they were intense
sufferers from them, and, having no expression in the management of
affairs, they re