The Ancien Régime and Marie Antoinette
"Count Mercy has doubtless informed you of the details of our misfortune. Happily his cruel malady left the king fully conscious to the last moment, and his end was very…
From: 1715 C.E. To: 1774 C.E.
Location: Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From Readings in European History: A Collection of Extracts from the Sources by James Harvey Robinson, 1906.
The Ancien Régime
The abuses of arbitrary imprisonment by lettres de cachet had begun to excite the indignation of the law courts some time before the Revolution, as the following protest of one of them clearly indicates.
Sire:
Your Court of Excises, having been impeded in the administration of justice by illegal acts which cannot have emanated from your Majesty personally, have determined that a very humble and very respectful protest should be made to you concerning the matter….
[By means of these arbitrary orders (i.e. the lettres de cachet) the most sacred rights are violated, and the victim has no means of learning who is his persecutor. If any one who is able to impose upon your Majesty and procure a lettre de cachet is to be shielded from the courts,] how indeed can we be said to live to-day under any laws, sire, since such orders have prodigiously increased of late and are granted for all sorts of reasons and for personal considerations? Formerly they were reserved for affairs of state, and then, sire, it was proper that the courts should respect the necessary secrecy of your administration. Subsequently these orders began to be granted in certain interesting cases, as, for example, when the sovereign was touched by the tears of a family which dreaded disgrace. To-day they are considered necessary every time a common man offers any slight to a person of consideration,—as if persons of quality had not enough advantages already. It is also the usual form of punishment for indiscreet remarks....
These orders signed by your Majesty are often filled in with obscure names of which your Majesty cannot possibly have heard. They are at the disposal of your ministers, and it would appear, in view of the great number which are issued, of their clerks as well. They are confided to officials in both the capital and the provinces, who make use of them in accordance with the suggestions of their subdelegates and other subordinates. They doubtless find their way into many other hands….
The result is, sire, that no citizen in your kingdom can be assured that his liberty will not be sacrificed to a private grudge; for no one is so exalted that he is safe from the ill will of a minister, or so insignificant that he may not incur that of a clerk. The day will come, sire, when the multiplicity of the abuses of the lettres de cachet will lead your Majesty to abolish a custom so opposed to the constitution of your kingdom and the liberty which your subjects should enjoy.
Of the hunting rights and royal preserves (capitaineries) a celebrated English traveler gives a good account.
The capitaineries were a dreadful scourge on all the occupiers of land. By this term is to be understood the paramountship of certain districts granted by the king to princes of the blood, by which they were put in possession of the property of all game, even on lands not belonging to them; and what is very singular, on manors granted long before to individuals; so that the erecting of a district into a capitainerie was an annihilation of all manorial rights to game within it. This was a trifling business in comparison to other circumstances; for in speaking of the preservation of the game in these capitaineries it must be observed that by game must be understood whole droves of wild boars, and herds of deer not confined by any wall or pale, but wandering at pleasure over the whole country, to the destruction of crops, and to the peopling of the galleys by wretched peasants who presumed to kill them in order to save that food which was to support their helpless children.
The game in the capitainerie of Montceau, in four parishes only, did mischief to the amount of 184,263 livres per annum. No wonder then that we should find the people asking, "We loudly demand the destruction of all the capitaineries and of all the various kinds of game." And what are we to think of demanding as a favor the permission "to thresh their grain, mow their fields, and take away the stubble without regard to the partridge or other game" Now an English reader will scarcely understand without being told that there were numerous edicts for preserving the game, which prohibited weeding and hoeing lest the young partridges should be disturbed, steeping seed lest it should injure the game….mowing hay, etc., before a certain time so late as to spoil many crops; and taking away the stubble which would deprive the birds of shelter.
Accession of Louis XVI; Marie Antoinette
Louis XV died of smallpox, May 10, 1774. Marie Antoinette, now become queen at eighteen, writes to her mother as follows:
Choisy, May 14, 1774.
Madame, my very dear mother:
Count Mercy has doubtless informed you of the details of our misfortune. Happily his cruel malady left the king fully conscious to the last moment, and his end was very edifying. The new king seems to have gained the heart of the people. Two days before his grandfather's death he had two hundred thousand francs distributed to the poor, which produced a fine effect. Since the late king's death he has worked constantly, and replies with his own hand to the ministers, whom he is not able to see yet, and to many other letters. One thing is certain; he has a taste for economy, and his greatest anxiety is to make his people happy. In short, his eagerness to learn is equal to his need of information, and I trust that God will bless his good will.
The public are looking for many changes just now. But the king has confined himself to sending away that creature [Maîtresse-en-titre to Louis XV, Madame du Barry] to a convent and driving from court all connected with her. The king owed this example to the people of Versailles, who at the time of the catastrophe attacked Madame de Mazarin, one of the most humble domestics of the favorite. I am often urged to preach clemency to the king toward a number of corrupt souls who have been up to much evil during the last few years....
They have just come to forbid me to visit my Aunt Adelaide, who has a high fever and pain in her loins; they fear smallpox. I tremble and dare not think of the consequences. It is terrible for her to pay so speedily for the sacrifice she has made [in nursing the late king].
I am sincerely delighted that Marshal Lascy was pleased with me. I must confess, my dear mamma, that I was much affected when he came to take leave of me, as I thought how rarely it happened that I saw people of my own country, particularly those who have the additional happiness of approaching you….
The king has left me, as queen, free to fill the vacant positions in my household. I took pleasure in according a mark of attention to the people of Lorraine by selecting Abbe Sabran as my first almoner,—an upright man of exalted birth and already appointed to the bishopric of Nancy, which has just been created.
Although it pleased God to cause me to be born to the station I occupy to-day, I cannot but wonder at the dispensation of Providence, who chose me, the youngest of your children, for the finest kingdom of Europe. I feel more than ever all that I owe to the affection of my august mother, who has been at such pains and trouble to secure this beautiful position for me. I have never so longed to be able to throw myself at her feet, kiss her, show her my whole soul, and let her see how it is filled with respect, love, and gratitude….
[The king here adds in his own hand]
I am very glad to have an opportunity, my dear mamma, to express my love and attachment. I would that I might have your advice in these days which are so full of embarrassment. I should be delighted to be able to satisfy you, and to prove in that way the affection and gratitude that I owe you for granting me your daughter, with whom I could not be better satisfied.
[The queen then closes]
The king would not let my letter go without adding a word for himself. I am sensible that he might have been expected to write a letter of his own, but I beg that my dear mamma will excuse him in view of the great number of things he has to occupy him and also a little on account of his natural timidity and shyness. You can see, dear mamma, by what he says at the end, that while he is fond enough of me he does not spoil me with insipid compliments.
In a letter dated May 15, 1776, Marie Antoinette writes to her mother:
"Monsieur de Malesherbes retired from the ministry day before yesterday and was immediately replaced by Monsieur Amelot. Monsieur Turgot was dismissed the same day, and Monsieur de Clugny is to take his place. I confess, dear mamma, that I do not regret the departure of these men, but I had nothing to do with it."
Maria Theresa replies with a characteristic warning:
... I am very glad that you had nothing to do with the dismissal of the two ministers, who enjoy a high reputation with the public at large and who, in my opinion, have only erred in attempting to do too much at once. You say that you do not regret them. Doubtless you have good reasons; but of late the public no longer praises you as it did, and attributes to you all sorts of little intrigues which would be most unfitting to your station. The king loves you and his ministers should respect you. By asking for nothing contrary to the established order and general welfare, you will make yourself both loved and respected.
My only fear for you (being so young) is an excess of dissipation. You have never cared to read or to apply yourself in any way; this has often troubled me, and accounts for my having tormented you so often with inquiries as to what you were reading. I was so pleased to see you devoting yourself to music. But for a year now there has been no question of either reading or music, and I hear of nothing but racing and hunting, and always without the king and with a lot of ill-chosen young people; all this troubles me very much, loving you, as I do, so dearly. Your sisters-in-law behave very differently, and I must own that all these boisterous diversions in which the king takes no part appear to me unseemly. You will say, "He knows and approves of them." I reply that he is kind and good and that that is all the more reason that you should be circumspect.
Robinson, James Harvey. Readings in European History: A Collection of Extracts from the Sources. Vol. 1. Ginn and Co. 1906.
About TOTA
TOTA.world provides cultural information and sharing across the world to help you explore your Family’s Cultural History and create deep connections with the lives and cultures of your ancestors.
