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.[Footnote: Paxson, The Independence of the South-American Republics, chap.i.]The institutions of France which were transferred to the New World or which exercised a direct influence onits political development belong to a period a century or a century and a half later than those of Spain whichhave just been described.Yet during that period there had been no essential alteration in the general directionof political development in France, and the system which Canada reflected in the seventeenth century was amore elaborate rather than a different system from that of the sixteenth.This development had, indeed, been inprogress since the Hundred Years' War, and consisted in the steady rise of the power of the centralizedmonarchy.In Spain we have seen a sudden growth of absolutism and centralization within one reign.InFrance the foundation of the absolute monarchy was laid earlier, it was constructed more uniformly, and theresulting edifice was more firm and symmetrical.The extension of the royal household, the sub-division of the royal councils, the creation of the parlements,[Footnote: Lavisse, Histoire de France, V., pt.i., 215.] the appointment of governors of provinces, bailiffs, andintendants, and the establishment of a complicated hierarchy of financial and judicial officers and officialbodies, [Footnote: Ibid., V., 247.] were processes which arose from the fundamental conditions of France andfrom the genius of her government.In this development there were periods of rapid growth, as that of FrancisI.; of temporary reaction, as that of the religious wars.Of the periods of the former none was more importantand definitive than that which was in progress during the years in which Canada was struggling intoexistence--that is to say, the reigns of Henry IV.and Louis XIII., from 1589 to 1643.By the latter date, thatof the accession of Louis XIV., the work was accomplished.France was, in theory and in practice, adespotism.It was so in theory, for Louis himself could declare, "All power, all authority, are in the hand of theking, and there can be none other in the kingdom than those which be established there." The epigramattributed to that monarch, "L'etat, c'est moi," was not an exaggerated description of the royal functions,according to the views of the king and of his most thoughtful ministers."The ruler ought not to renderaccounts to any one of what he ordains.No one can say to him, 'Why do you do thus?'" said Bossuet.In hiscopy-book as a child Louis XIV.was taught to write, "To kings homage is due; they do what they please." Inpractice the absolute power was no less a reality, since by royal decree the king not only made war and peace,determined upon foreign and internal policy, established religion, and codified law, but also disposed of theproperty of his subjects through arbitrary taxation.A systematic scheme of government, in which all linesshould converge upward to the sovereign, could be drawn more justly for France in the seventeenth centurythan for any political structure since the Notitia Dignitatum was drawn up for the later Roman Empire.The royal government was as simple territorially as it was in functions.It extended over all the territory ofFrance and of the French possessions beyond the seas.Instead of a collection of provinces, of some of whichthe king was direct ruler, of others only feudal lord, as had been his position in the fourteenth century, he wasnow king equally over every one of his subjects in every part of his dominions.The administration of thisterritory had been transferred from its feudal lords to the king by the appointment in the fifteenth century ofgovernors of the provinces, whose position was almost that of viceroys.An even more effective instrument of royal control was afterwards created in the form of the intendants.Dating in their beginning from the middle of the sixteenth century, reintroduced by Henry IV.in hisreconstruction of France after the religious wars, [Footnote: Rambaud, Hist.de la Civilisation Francaise, I.,537.] these officials were settled upon by Richelieu in the period between 1624 and 1641 as the principalagents and representatives of royal power.Eventually each province had its intendant alongside of theCHAPTER VI 47governor, and these thirty- four officials exercised the real government over France.They were drawn notfrom the great nobility, as were the governors, but from the petty nobility or purely official class; they had nolocal connections or interests apart from the crown which they served; they could be removed at will; theyexercised powers only by consent and direction of the crown; they were, therefore, absolutely dependent.Onthe other hand, they were habitually invested with powers of almost unbounded extent [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]