PAGETranslator’s Preface to the Second Edition[5]Preliminary Notice[9]BOOK I.CHAPTERI.Opposing Judgments passed on the French Revolution at its Origin1II.The Fundamental and Final Object of the Revolution was not, ashas been supposed, the destruction of Religious Authority andthe weakening of Political Power5III.Showing that the French Revolution was a Political Revolutionwhich followed the course of Religious Revolutions, and for whatReasons9IV.Showing that nearly the whole of Europe had had preciselythe same Institutions, and that these Institutions were everywherefalling to pieces12V.What was the peculiar scope of the French Revolution16BOOK II.I.Why Feudal Rights had become more odious to the People inFrance than in any other country19II.Showing that Administrative Centralisation is an Institutionanterior in France to the Revolution of 1789, and not the product ofthe Revolution or of the Empire, as is commonly said28III.Showing that what is now called Administrative Tutelage was anInstitution in France anterior to the Revolution36IV.Administrative Jurisdiction and the Immunity of Public Officersare Institutions of France anterior to the Revolution45V.Showing how Centralisation had been able to introduce itselfamong the ancient Institutions of France, and to supplantwithout destroying them50VI.The Administrative Habits of France before the Revolution54VII.Of all European Nations France was already that in which theMetropolis had acquired the greatest preponderance over theProvinces, and had most completely absorbed the whole Empire63VIII.France was the Country in which Men had become the most alike67IX.Showing how Men thus similar were more divided than ever intosmall Groups, estranged from and indifferent to each other71X.The Destruction of Political Liberty and the Estrangement ofClasses were the causes of almost all the disorders which led tothe Dissolution of the Old Society of France84XI.Of the Species of Liberty which existed under the Old Monarchy,and of the Influence of that Liberty on the Revolution94XII.Showing that the Condition of the French Peasantry,notwithstanding the progress of Civilisation, was sometimes worse inthe Eighteenth Century than it had been in the Thirteenth105XIII.Showing that towards the Middle of the Eighteenth Century Menof Letters became the leading Political Men of France, and ofthe effects of this occurrence119XIV.Showing how Irreligion had become a general and dominantpassion amongst the French of the Eighteenth Century, andwhat influence this fact had on the character of the Revolution128XV.That the French aimed at Reform before Liberty136XVI.Showing that the Reign of Louis XVI. was the most prosperousepoch of the old French Monarchy, and how this very prosperityaccelerated the Revolution146XVII.Showing that the French People were excited to revolt by themeans taken to relieve them155XVIII.Concerning some practices by which the Government completed theRevolutionary Education of the People of France162XIX.Showing that a great Administrative Revolution had preceded thePolitical Revolution, and what were the consequences itproduced166XX.Showing that the Revolution proceeded naturally from the existingState of France175SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER.On the Pays d’États, and especially on the Constitutions of Languedoc182BOOK III.I.Of the violent and undefined Agitation of the Human Mind at themoment when the French Revolution broke out192II.How this vague perturbation of the Human Mind suddenly becamein France a positive passion, and what form this passion at firstassumed201III.How the Parliaments of France, following precedent, overthrew theMonarchy205IV.The Parliaments discover that they have lost all Authority, justwhen they thought themselves masters of the Kingdom224V.Absolute Power being subdued, the true spirit of the Revolutionforthwith became manifest229VI.The preparation of the instructions to the Members of theStates-General drove the conception of a Radical Revolution hometo the mind of the People240VII.How, on the Eve of the Convocation of the National Assembly, themind of the Nation was more enlarged, and its spirit raised243Notes and Illustrations247