Condillac, a disciple of Locke, in 1754, published his "Traité des Sensations "-" Treatise on Sensations"-seeking to prove that all our ideas spring from sensation, or are the effect of the action of the external world upon us.

Helvetius, in 1758, wrote a book on "L'Esprit""The Mind"-to prove that man only differed from the brute by his external organization. He denied that he had any spiritual nature. All his faculties he

asserted were created by physical impressions. He concluded that man in all his opinions and conduct was only guided by self-instinct. "Everything we have," says Helvetius, "everything we are, we owe to the external world; nor is man himself aught else except what he is made by the objects which surround him." These views were meant to overthrow every code of Morals hitherto known, and were hailed with applause.

The two writers, however, who made the most impression on their epoch were Rousseau and Voltaire.

J. J. Rousseau was a Swiss, born at Geneva in 1712; but his reputation was made in France, where he wrote nearly all his books. His celebrated romance “La Nouvelle Heloise "The New Heloise," 1759, fascinated the literary and fashionable world by its charms of style and passionate sensibility; but the book that followed this, "Le Contrat Social"-"The Social Contract," 1761, made a far more lasting impression. was in this work that he expounded those principles of Absolute Equality that later became the keynote of the Revolution. He touched on the same topic in an essay, "De Origine de l'Inégalité parmi les Hommes "On the Origin of the Inequality amongst Men"-written previously, 1753. His

It

well-known book, "Mes Confessions"-"My Confessions was published after his death, which

occurred in 1778.

The most prolific and versatile writer of his epoch was Voltaire, born near Paris, 1694. Poet, dramatist, historian, and philosopher, his works constitute in themselves a library. Acquiring in England a thorough knowledge of the language, he made known in France, by translations, the astronomy of Newton, the philosophy of Locke, and the dramas of Shakespeare. Beyond doubt, he towered over all the literary giants of his time by the variety of his knowledge, the depth of his observation, the lucidity of his style, and, above all, by the gift of a sarcastic wit that accomplished more than solid argument could effect. Voltaire appeared at the very moment when France began to cast off, as it were, her vestments of the Middle Ages, and don the costume of modern times.

Of all the men who shared in the demolition going on, Voltaire cut the deepest. He seemed especially endowed for the work. His vast learning challenged all past knowledge, and his scathing wit destroyed all reverence for the present. The Monarchy, the Aristocracy, the Clergy, even Christianity itself, were all assailed in turn, and seemed to wither at his touch. He did more than all the rest to open the Gulf into which the France of the Middle Ages was destined to fall. He died in 1778, and must have foreseen the catastrophe that was hourly approaching. A striking. proof of his comprehensive and penetrating mind may be seen in the fact that he was the first who ever suggested Universal Freedom of Trade. It was then regarded as a monstrous paradox.

Many other able thinkers appeared at this epoch;

and the object of them all was to concentrate the French mind on the Material world, and emancipate it from all sense of authority, religious and political.

This tendency to material views and interests led to an ardent culture of Physical Science.* Chemistry, Geology, Botany, and Zoology made immense progress, and brought forth Lavoisier, Cuvier, Bichat, and Jussieu. To this same tendency is due the birth of Political Economy, which is simply the Science of the Material welfare of Nations.

Beyond cavil the founder of the new study was Quesnay, who from his youth was remarked for his love of Agriculture, and his earnest desire to raise the condition of the peasantry. He wrote constantly on all topics connected with the Soil, declaring in 1758 that it was the sole Source of Wealth, and for that reason should bear the weight of all taxation. He also advocated Liberty of Labor and Free Trade. Gournay, who wrote on the same subjects, differed from his contemporary as to the Soil alone being productive of a Nation's Wealth, arguing that the Products of Industry were also a source of Income. Turgot, at the same period, devoted his great intellect to the material condition of France, and published, 1766, his "Réflexions sur la Formation et la Distribution des Richesses" "Reflections on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth."

It was from these remarkable and practical men that Adam Smith of Scotland received his first

* Buckle remarks that in the eighteenth century each of the three leading nations of Europe had a separate part to play. England diffused a love of freedom; France, a knowledge of physical science; while Germany revived the study of metaphysics and created philosophic history.

lessons in Political Economy-lessons which he embodied with singular ability in his work on the "Wealth of Nations," 1776. Smith declared that the Wealth of a Nation is its Labor; and, further, that its Trade and Commerce should be Free.

It should be born in mind, however, that it was Descartes * who destroyed the intellectual structure of the Middle Ages, by proving that all authority was fictitious which was not based on human reason; as it was Richelieu who overthrew the political system of the Middle Ages, by suppressing Feudality and undermining Ecclesiastical power. These two men, by their writings and policy, put an end to the power of the Nobles and Priests, who controlled France for several centuries. The period which followed, when the Royal authority freed from the opposition of the Nobles and Clergy found itself Absolute, was only a resting-place as it were for the Nation. France during this interval was really maturing for the new phase of national existence on which she was about to enter. The thinkers of the time suspected this, and by reflection and travel were training for the role of Pioneers. Most of them, as related, hurried to England to study the nature of the Government best adapted for the coming epoch. There the authority of the King, and the authority of a Class, had disappeared. The New authority represented the Nation-its intellect, its interests, and its will. In England there was much for the political missionaries of France to contemplate, but nothing for them to export, as the history of their country was so dissimilar. In France for centuries two classes, the Aristocracy and the Clergy, had governed, and these gave way to an *See chapter on the Papacy for summary of the labors of Descartes.

Absolute Monarchy. Moreover, the Middle Class that had grown up had neither political rights nor the knowledge to use them. If, then, the Monarchy were overthrown, where was the political power to go? What class or institution existed in France fit to wield it? The Aristocracy, the Clergy, the Monarchy, knew of but one kind of power-the most absolute; the Middle Class had conceived of none else; the masses were unfit for any other; yet the knell of Absolute Government in France had sounded. was to succeed was the affair of other generations. The French reformers of the eighteenth century had only one task, that of clearing the way for National emancipation. Arbitrary Monarchy was a relic of a bygone age: it was a solecism in the new one. Its sudden fall might lead to chaos, but with reckless ardour the axe was applied to its roots.

What

The cardinal feature of the reign of Louis XV. was universal Scepticism. Not only were the claims of the Church over the conscience denied, not only was the right of the State to obedience rejected, but Christianity itself was canvassed and repudiated. For centuries blind belief had prevailed in France. When it came to be regarded as only ignorance and superstition, a violent reaction ensued; and all authority, divine and human, was spurned.

The amazing activity of the French intellect during the latter part of the eighteenth century arose from its having broken through the fetters which Spiritual and Political tyranny had imposed on it for centuries; and its investigations took an exclusively Material direction, because it now doubted the truth of every theory in Science, Politics, and Religion that had been hitherto recognized. In a very short time the