CHARLOTTE CORDAY 229 life was blameless. To the physical endowments of dignity of person and resist- less charm of manner he added all desirable qualities of head and heart, a daunt- less courage, an enthusiasm beautiful and yet consistent, a sublime patriotism, a disinterested generosity. If, with all these, he seems to have failed of achieving the highest success, it was because not of what he lacked but of what he pos- sessed in the fullest degree, a lofty integrity that forbade him to pander to the passions of the mob, a supreme regard for the rights of the community and of the individual. He might have snatched the sovereign power, but in doing it he would have lost his self-respect. In place, then, of glittering success, he obtained the quiet admiration of mankind and the loving gratitude of two nations. CHARLOTTE CORDAY* T By Oliver Optic (i 768-1 793)
- he despotism of Louis XIV. and the exhaustion of
the finances by his wars and his reckless extravagance had reduced France to a very unhappy condition. His son the Grand-Dauphin, died four years before his father, . and his grandson, the Duke of Burgundy, a year later. Louis the Great was therefore succeeded by his great- grandson, Louis XV. During this reign the nation con- tinued on the decline. He was followed by his grandson, Louis XVI., a better man than his immediate predecessor, but too weak to carry out the reforms necessary to restore the prosperity of the nation. Voltaire, Rousseau, Mon- tesquieu, and many other writers, as well as the influence of the American Revolution, had fostered democratic ideas among the people, for the government was reeking with abuses. The parliament had not assembled for three-quarters of a century ; but rep- resentatives of the people met in 1789, in spite of f/PP 05 !^^^ The extreme of license followed the extreme of absolutism. The king oppo sed the Constituent Assembly, for this body changed its name several time ^ till the political conflict ended in the ^*^ F X^^rJZ XliZ^Z I^^^Z- "f the nobility who was ex- emoted from 2 payment of any land tax, though this kind of property -w aZst exclusively in their possession, and from many other taxes and burdens,
- Copyright, 1894, by Selmar Hess.
