Introductory Remarks-Condition of France previous to the revolution-State of agriculture and commerce-Abuses in the law-Corrupt state of the monarchy, nobility, and churchPrevalence of infidelity-Laxity of public morals-influence of the American revolutionary war.
On the 25th of December, 1753, there occurred in a letter, written by a British nobleman in France, the following remarkable passage: "All the symptoms I have ever met with in history, previous to great changes and revolutions in government, now exist and daily increase in this country." Lord Chesterfield was the author of this acute observation; and to him, therefore, must be allowed the credit of having foreseen, more than thirty years before its occurrence, the outbreak of that wonderful and portentous event-the French Revolution. To France as a nation, towards the middle and close of the