While
France
remained
in many
ways a
prosperous
and
powerful
state,
largely
because of
colonial
trade, the
tensions
between
central
government
and
traditional
vested
interests
proved too
great to
be
reconciled.
The parlement
of Paris
became
more and
more the
focus of
opposition
to the
royal
will,
eventually
bringing
the
country to
a state of
virtual
ungovernability
in the
reign of
Louis XVI.
Meanwhile,
the
diversity
of
mutually
irreconcilable
interests
sheltering
behind
that
parliamentary
umbrella
came more
and more
to the
fore,
bringing
the
country to
a climax
of tension
which
would only
be
resolved
in the
turmoil of
Revolution..
The
next king,
Louis
XV ,
was two
when his
great-grandfather
died.
During the
Regency
, the
traditional
aristocracy
and the
parlements,
who for
different
reasons
hated
Louis
XIV's
advisers,
scrabbled
-
successfully
- to
recover a
lot of
their lost
power and
prestige.
An
experiment
with
government
by
aristocratic
councils
failed,
and
attempts
to absorb
the
immense
national
debt by
selling
shares in
an
overseas
trading
company
ended in a
huge
collapse.
When the
prudent
and
reasonable
Cardinal
Fleury
came to
prominence
upon the
regent's
death in
1726, the
nation's
lot began
to
improve.
The
Atlantic
seaboard
towns grew
rich on
trade with
the
American
and
Caribbean
colonies,
though
industrial
production
did not
improve
much and
the
disparity
in wealth
between
the
countryside
and the
growing
towns
continued
to
increase.
In the
mid-century
there
followed
more
disastrous
military
ventures,
including
the War
of
Austrian
Succession
and the Seven
Years War
, both of
which were
in effect
contests
with
England
for
control of
the
colonial
territories
in America
and India,
contests
that
France
lost. The
need to
finance
the wars
led to the
introduction
of a new
tax, the
Twentieth,
which was
to be
levied on
everyone.
The parlement
, which
had
successfully
opposed
earlier
taxation
and fought
the Crown
over its
religious
policies,
dug its
heels in
again.
This led
to renewed
conflict
over
Louis'
pro-Jesuit
religious
policy.
The Paris parlement
staged a
strike,
was exiled
from
Paris,
then
inevitably
reinstated.
Disputes
about its
role
continued
until the
parlement
of Paris
was
actually
abolished
in 1771,
to the
outrage of
the
privileged
groups in
society,
which
considered
it the
defender
of their
special
interests.
The
division
between
the parlements
and the
king and
his
ministers
continued
to sharpen
during the
reign of Louis
XVI ,
which
began in
1774.
Attempts
by the
enlightened
finance
minister
Turgot to
co-operate
with the parlements
and
introduce
reforms to
alleviate
the tax
burden on
the poor
produced
only
short-term
results.
The
national
debt
trebled
between
1774 and
1787.
Ironically,
the one
radical
attempt to
introduce
an
effective
and
equitable
tax system
led
directly
to the
Revolution.
Calonne,
finance
minister
in 1786,
tried to
get his
proposed
tax
approved
by an Assembly
of
Notables
, a device
that had
not been
employed
for more
than a
hundred
years. His
purpose
was to
bypass the
parlement
, which
could be
relied on
to oppose
any
radical
proposal.
The
attempt
backfired.
He lost
his
position,
and the parlement
ended up
demanding
a meeting
of the Estates-General
,
representing
the
nobles,
the clergy
and the
bourgeoisie,
as being
the only
body
competent
to discuss
such
matters.
The town
responded
by exiling
and then
recalling
the parlement
of Paris
several
times. As
law and
order
began to
break
down, it
gave in
and agreed
to summon
the
Estates-General
on May 17,
1789.
