land of that
province. M. Baudrillart's analysis of this _Avis_ shows conclusively
that a judicious and systematic overhauling of these ecclesiastical
properties was absolutely necessary; but it also shows conclusively that
the people of Artois who desired this wished to see it done decently and
in order. They had a strong love of their provincial independence. Even
Maximilian Robespierre, who was then bestirring himself in public
matters at Arras, addressed his first political publication, which he
called a 'manifesto,' not to the people of Artois, but to 'the Artesian
nation.' This from the future executioner of the French federalists is
sufficiently edifying as to the great 'national' impulse to which we are
asked by a certain school of political rhapsodists to attribute that
outbreak of chaos in France called the 'great French Revolution.'

What the Tiers-Etat of the great and solidly constituted province of
Artois really wanted before 1789 is clearly set forth in this remarkable
_Avis_. They did not want the 'Rights of Man,' or the downfall of
tyrants, or any vague nonsense of that sort. They wanted a more fair and
equitable system of taxation, and a better system of agriculture. They
had some practical ideas, too, as to how these things could be got, for
they knew that these things had been got in England. 'The Englishman of
our times,' they said, 'gets an income of 48,000 pounds from a square
mile of land, whereas the Artesian can hardly get 12,000 pounds from the
same area. Yet the soil of Artois is in nowise inferior to that of
England. The enormous difference can only be attributed to the
encouragement and the distinctions which the English Government bestows
upon agriculture, and to the better system of the English
administration.'

This passage reads almost like an extract from the diary of Arthur
Young, and it is noteworthy that Arthur Young at this same time, while
he was commending in his diary the admirable quality of the deep,
'level, fertile plain of Flanders and Artois,' also expressed his
opinion that 'nowhere in the world was human labour better rewarded than
there.' Taken together, however, the _Avis_ and the diary of Arthur
Young prove that the leaders of the Tiers-Etat of Artois in 1787 were
neither radicals nor revolutionists, but practical men, who wished to
see the value of their property improved, and the natural advantages of
their province more adequately developed. To this end they thoug