ABSTRACT
The true cause of the disappearance of the ancien régime was simply the weakening of the traditions which served as its foundations. Regarding the division of the classes as one of its sources of power, the ancien régime had rigorously maintained that division. The writers who defend the Revolution as theologians defend religious dogmas draw the gloomy pictures of the existence of the peasants under the ancien régime. The monarchical feeling, with difficulty repressed by the Revolution, contributed to the success of Bonaparte when he came to occupy the throne of the ancient kings, and in great measure to re-establish the ancien régime. The royalist movements persisted during the whole of the Revolution, and were accentuated under the Directory, when forty-nine departments sent royalist deputies to Paris. A long-established system of government will always finally seem acceptable to the people governed.
