The noble ideals of the French Revolution — Liberty, Equality and Fraternity — continue to shape the destinies of the people, globally
Published Date – 12:30 AM, Sun – 16 July 23
By KSS Seshan
France celebrates its National Day on July 14. An Indian contingent of Army men participated in this year’s celebrations in Paris. This is an indication of our appreciation of the values associated with the French Revolution that occurred at the fag end of the 18th century. It was on this day, 234 years ago, that the famous ‘Sack of Bastille’ took place, heralding the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 — the mother of all revolutions in the modern world.
Though a number of more violent incidents, including the execution of the Bourbon King, Louis XVI, took place during the decade-old revolution, the ‘Sack of Bastille’ has a significant place in the history of the French nation. Bastille’s destruction symbolised the deathblow of the Ancien Régime or the old order in France.
Prologue to New Age
The French Revolution refers to a series of events that occurred in France between 1789 and 1799 during which the despotic Bourbon monarchy was violently repudiated, a Republic was set up with equality as the basis, social inequalities were removed, feudalism was abolished and all that which were inimical for the commoners were given up for the establishment of an egalitarian society with the lofty principles of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.
According to the German historian Johann Gottfried von Herder, there are three great things in History: the birth of Christ, the Reformation and the French Revolution. The French Revolution marks the commencement of a new era in the history of Europe. The 18th century with its grave features found its dissolution in this great revolution; and the 19th century with its new hope, glamour and fresh ideas had its birth in it. It was an epilogue to the dying age and a prologue to a new age.
Revolution never descends on people suddenly, never by chance. The French Revolution was the grand result of a number of deep-rooted causes. It was slowly gaining ground even from the time of Louis XIV (1643-1715) and exploded during the regime of innocent and harmless Louis XVI (1774-1793).
The nature of the Bourbon monarchy was such that it invited trouble from the people and could produce a revolution at any time. It exhibited the worst forms of absolutism in the 18th century. The Ancien Régime was primarily based on the Divine Right theory of monarchy. On the eve of the revolution, the French monarch lost contact completely with the people and, therefore, the people were not prepared to tolerate an irresponsible government conducted by an irresponsible king.
Three Estates
Like monarchy, the social setup was also most unjust. Society in France was broadly divided into three divisions or estates. The Clergy constituted the First Estate. The Nobility formed the Second and the rest of the French people came under the Third Estate. The first two were privileged classes while the third was the unprivileged.
Roman Catholic clergy, which formed the First Estate, had the right to collect taxes like Tithes (one-tenth of earnings). The church had several welfare duties to do. But they never cared to render them as they were always busy enjoying worldly pleasures. The French army consisted of officers who were from the nobility. The nobles enjoined several rights and liberties over the peasantry and one of them was the right to hunt. They could even destroy crops with their horses in pursuit of their game.
The majority of the people who did not fall under the first two heads came under the Third Estate. They had only taxes to pay and duties to do. They constituted workers, peasants, lawyers, teachers, artisans, bankers, manufacturers, lawyers, physicians, men of letters, etc. The lot of peasants was very miserable. Villagers cultivated in the same old fashion working hard for meagre returns.
But with the setting up of industries, a new middle class came up in France. It consisted of rich industrialists, wealthy merchants etc. While this bourgeoisie possessed wealth and influence, they had no share in the administration of the country. Many were highly educated, intelligent and energetic. They instilled in the minds of others the injustices in society and made them realise their conditions. This realisation resulted in discontentment among the peasants against the established rule.
Museum of Economic Errors
France then was a great ‘Museum of Economic Errors’. There were hardly any uniform methods of taxation. The entire system was haphazard. There were several direct and indirect taxes. The privileged classes were exempt from taxation. The burden of taxes fell only on those who could not oppose them. They were poor peasants. It has been estimated that peasants paid 53% to the state as direct taxes, 14% as Church tithes and another 14% as feudal dues. Thus, a mere 19% was left with them and from this, they had to pay indirect taxes like salt tax.
In certain provinces, a person had to purchase seven pounds of salt from government salt shops (Quotars) at a price ten times its real value. Road-making was also a duty of the peasants and labour on roads took several days in a week. Thus, for the support of the three
Pillars of the old regime — the King, the Clergy and the Nobility — the peasants were indiscriminately taxed.
Political Philosophers
France was awakened from a deep slumber by its great political philosophers. Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau, Jean le Rond d’Alembert, Denis Diderot and others exposed the French political system. Montesquieu took 20 years to write his invaluable masterpiece The Spirit of Laws. He explained how the concentration of powers in the hands of a single individual (king) led to great abuses, and pleaded for separation of powers— Legislative, Executive and Judiciary.
The American War of Independence that broke out in 1776 influenced the French Revolution in more ways than one. French participation in the American War of Independence sank the country into financial bankruptcy. The success of the American Revolution also taught French men to start a revolution in their own country. As Lord Acton said, “The American principles profoundly influenced France and determined the course of the French Revolution.”
It was from America that France derived the idea that resistance to tyranny is the most sacred duty. The principle that Liberty is the end of the government was also transplanted from America. The French people, influenced by their philosophers, began to ask the question that if America was able to overthrow the despotic rule of George III, then why can’t they overthrow the autocratic Bourbon rule? Apart from this ideological nourishment and examples which the American Revolution supplied, it also trained French leaders. People like Lafayette and others fought for Americans and when they returned to their country, they had become Republicans and Democrats.
If ever France needed a strong ruler, it was at the death of Louis XV. No doubt, Louis XVI was a good-natured king and was interested in the welfare of the people. But, unfortunately, he lacked the determination to formulate a policy of his own. During the days of the National Convention in 1793, which came up after the National Assembly was wound up, the king was arrested, tried and executed as he was working against the interests of the people and the nation.
Revolution and India
The post-French Revolution could see the world with great hope of the triumph of the commoners, the working class, the peasants and artisans the world over. Though the revolution occurred in France against the backdrop of the Bourbon monarchy, its ideals, objectives and lessons were applicable the world over, irrespective of the country, race, religion and class. Its values are timeless.
Indian national leaders such as Dadabhai Naoroji and RC Dutt had read extensively Voltaire, Rousseau and Montesquieu in translations and learnt how to oppose political oppression. The French Revolution also impacted the Indian independence movement when several leaders like Annie Besant launched a bitter attack against British colonialism. For them it was: “My country is great, come what may be. My country will never do bad”. This type of Romantic phase of Nationalism was the product of the values associated with the French Revolution. Dr Annie Besant gave extensive lectures on the French Revolution and also published a book on the revolution from the “Point of View of the People”.
Lasting Legacy
Gift of Democracy
The French Revolution dealt a powerful blow to absolute monarchy. After the revolution, no notable monarch in Europe dared to put forward the claim of unlimited authority. No one claimed the Divine Right theory of monarchy. The revolution destroyed the remnants of the old order, Ancien Régime, and serfdom. By proclaiming the doctrine of Equality, the revolution prepared the way for notable triumphs in the cause of individual Liberty. It also dealt a blow to the much-despised mercantilism. One of the greatest achievements of the revolution was to perpetuate the cause of democracy and sovereignty. The most precious legacy left by the revolution certainly was the recognition of the sovereignty of the people ie, the right of the people to govern themselves through representatives. The history of Europe since then has been the history of the progress of ideas. Even today, the noble ideas of the French Revolution — Liberty, Equality and Fraternity — continue to shape the destinies of the people, globally. There can be no better assessment of the French Revolution than what the poet Wordsworth wrote: ‘Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, But to be young was very heaven!—Oh! times’
Human Rights
During the decade-old French Revolution (1789-1799), France was governed successively by the National Assembly, Legislative Assembly, National Convention and Directory. It was this National Assembly that formulated several constitutional liberties for the people. On 16 August 1789, it issued the ‘Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen’. It declared that men are born free; they remain free and are equal in rights. It abolished feudalism and slavery, thus making class distinctions a thing of the past. The Church was brought under the state. The French National Assembly was the first ever written Constitution in the world. The United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted on 10 December 1948, is based on the French declaration of the rights of man and citizen.
Citizen Tipu
Md Darvesh Khan
Tipu Sultan of Mysore (1750-1799), who had the French support while fighting against the British, had great admiration for the French. He sent an embassy under the leadership of Md Darvesh Khan to France in 1788, the year before the revolution broke out. During the revolution, in 1797, the French Republic chose to send an emissary, Francois Ripaud, to the court of Tipu Sultan. On arrival, Ripaud founded the Jacobin Club in Srirangapatna, the capital of Mysore, with Tipu as a member. The Tiger of Mysore, Tipu Sultan, also adopted the name ‘Citizen Tipu’. In the presence of Ripaud, Tipu Sultan planted the Tree of Liberty in his palace gardens and thus expressed his solidarity with Republican France. It is a great wonder that an Indian king like Tipu Sultan styled himself as an agent of the French Revolution.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy
The great 19th Century social and religious reformer Raja Ram Mohan Roy was also highly influenced by the ideals of the French Revolution. He was highly inspired by nationalism, democratic rights, the right to Liberty and Social Equality of the French Revolution.
Imbibed in our Constitution
The entire process of the Indian freedom struggle was inspired by the ideals of the French Revolution. Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, the watchwords of the revolution, worked as an awakening during the struggle for independence against British rule. These ideals also were imbibed in our Constitution when it was framed after independence. BN Rau, the legal adviser to the Constitution Drafting Committee, before presenting his rough draft visited France along with several other countries and studied their constitutions. Fundamental Rights enshrined in our Constitution to a large extent are drawn from the tenets of the French National Assembly.
Jana Gana Mana connection
Before Jana Gana Mana was adopted as our national anthem in 1950, Pandit Nehru, the then interim Prime Minister, requested Herbert Murrill, a Professor of Compositions at the University of London, to give his opinion on the musical tunes that Margaret Cousins had composed to Jana Gana Mana earlier in 1919 at Madanapalle in Andhra Pradesh where her husband Dr James H Cousins, a follower of Annie Besant, was the Principal of the College. Murrill, while endorsing the tunes composed by Margaret, found it was slow and hymnal, and suggested a racy rendering on the lines of the French national anthem La Marseillaise, a marching song of the French volunteers during the revolution. Our national anthem now is thus racy and is rendered within 53 seconds!
(The author is a retired Professor of History, University of Hyderabad)
