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Article CHARACTER OF LOUIS THE SIXTEENTH. ← Page 2 of 3 →
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Character Of Louis The Sixteenth.
mortality , are perfectly in harmony with philosophy ; and while they ¦ year its column on those most solid of all foundations , they likewise adorn it with the most finished capital . Wretched are tiie legislators , who despise these powerful means of inspiring political virtues , and pf forming the morals of a nation . If they were even illusions , we ht to cherish themfor the consolation of mankind : but the
relioug , gion of our priests presented us only v / ith objects of childish fear , and miserable mummeries instead of good works ; and also consecrated the whole code of despotism , on which the authority of the established church is founded . Louis XVI . was literally afraid of hell , the horns and hoofs of the . deviland excommunication ; and with all this it was impossible he
, should be any thing but a poor creature of a king . If he had been born two hundred years earlier , and had had a reasonable wife , he would have made no more noise in the world than other princes bf his Jine , who have passed across the stage without doing either much good or evil : but ascending the throne amidst the dissoluteness of the court of Louis XV . and the disordered state of the treasury , and
surrounded by corrupted men , he was drawn on by a giddy woman , . who joined to Austrian insolence the forwardness of youth , and to ihe arrogance of grandeur ' the intoxication of the senses , and the carelessness of levity ; and who was herself seduced by all the vices of an Asiatic court . Louis XVI . too weak to hold the reins of government , which was
now falling headlong into ruin , and crumbling to dissolution , hastened his own by faults without number . Neckar , who always acted the pathetic in politics as well as in writing ; a man of moderate abilities , but of which the world entertained a high opinion , because , he had formed a high opinion of them himself , which lie . was careful to make known ; without foresight ; a sort of a retail financier , who could only calculate the contents of a purseand was talking
con-, tinually of his reputation , as women of intrigue talk of their chastity ; Neckar was but a sorry pilot for the storm that was gathering . France was , as it were , exhausted of- men : it is a thing highly surprising that they should have been so scarce in this revolution ; it lias brought forth scarcely any but pigmies .. It is not because there was any want of witof informationof knowledgeof philosophy :
, , , these ingredients had never been more common : it was the blaze of , t . he torch just expiring . B . ttt that energ } ' of soul which J . J . Rousseau has so ath-qirabi y defined as the first characteristic of the hero , supported by that solidity of judgment which knows the just value pf every thing ; with that foresight which penetrates into futurity , the re-union of which constitutes character , and forms the superior man ,
we have looked for it every where , but it has been no where to be found . ' " Louis XVI . continually floating between the fear of irritating his subjects , and his wish to keep them within bounds , and unable to govern them , convened the States-General , instead of reforming the expences , and regulating his court . After , having himself unveiled ihe spring , and shewed the way to innovation , he hoped to stop its
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Character Of Louis The Sixteenth.
mortality , are perfectly in harmony with philosophy ; and while they ¦ year its column on those most solid of all foundations , they likewise adorn it with the most finished capital . Wretched are tiie legislators , who despise these powerful means of inspiring political virtues , and pf forming the morals of a nation . If they were even illusions , we ht to cherish themfor the consolation of mankind : but the
relioug , gion of our priests presented us only v / ith objects of childish fear , and miserable mummeries instead of good works ; and also consecrated the whole code of despotism , on which the authority of the established church is founded . Louis XVI . was literally afraid of hell , the horns and hoofs of the . deviland excommunication ; and with all this it was impossible he
, should be any thing but a poor creature of a king . If he had been born two hundred years earlier , and had had a reasonable wife , he would have made no more noise in the world than other princes bf his Jine , who have passed across the stage without doing either much good or evil : but ascending the throne amidst the dissoluteness of the court of Louis XV . and the disordered state of the treasury , and
surrounded by corrupted men , he was drawn on by a giddy woman , . who joined to Austrian insolence the forwardness of youth , and to ihe arrogance of grandeur ' the intoxication of the senses , and the carelessness of levity ; and who was herself seduced by all the vices of an Asiatic court . Louis XVI . too weak to hold the reins of government , which was
now falling headlong into ruin , and crumbling to dissolution , hastened his own by faults without number . Neckar , who always acted the pathetic in politics as well as in writing ; a man of moderate abilities , but of which the world entertained a high opinion , because , he had formed a high opinion of them himself , which lie . was careful to make known ; without foresight ; a sort of a retail financier , who could only calculate the contents of a purseand was talking
con-, tinually of his reputation , as women of intrigue talk of their chastity ; Neckar was but a sorry pilot for the storm that was gathering . France was , as it were , exhausted of- men : it is a thing highly surprising that they should have been so scarce in this revolution ; it lias brought forth scarcely any but pigmies .. It is not because there was any want of witof informationof knowledgeof philosophy :
, , , these ingredients had never been more common : it was the blaze of , t . he torch just expiring . B . ttt that energ } ' of soul which J . J . Rousseau has so ath-qirabi y defined as the first characteristic of the hero , supported by that solidity of judgment which knows the just value pf every thing ; with that foresight which penetrates into futurity , the re-union of which constitutes character , and forms the superior man ,
we have looked for it every where , but it has been no where to be found . ' " Louis XVI . continually floating between the fear of irritating his subjects , and his wish to keep them within bounds , and unable to govern them , convened the States-General , instead of reforming the expences , and regulating his court . After , having himself unveiled ihe spring , and shewed the way to innovation , he hoped to stop its