last, came a time when there was no money in the royal treasury. After
all the waste and corruption, nothing was left to pay the army and
keep up the expenses of the government. One minister of finance after
another tried to devise some scheme whereby the country might meet its
debts, but without success. The costly wars and wasteful extravagances
of the past hundred years were at last to bring a reckoning. In
desperation, the king summoned a meeting of representative men from
all over the kingdom. There were three classes represented, the
nobles, the clergy, and what was called "the third estate," which
meant merchants, shopkeepers, and the poor gentlemen. A great
statesman appeared, a man named Mirabeau. Under his leadership, the
third estate defied the king, and the temper of the people was such
that the king dared not force them to do his will. In the midst of
these exciting times, a mob attacked the great Paris prison, the
Bastille. They took it by storm, and tore it to the ground. This
happened on the fourteenth of July, 1789, a day which the French still
celebrate as the birthday of their nation's liberty. All over France
the common people rose in revolt. The soldiers in the army would no
longer obey their officers. The king was closely watched, and when he
attempted to flee to Germany was brought back and thrown into prison.
Many of the nobles, in terror, fled from the country. Thus began what
is known as the French Revolution.

[Illustration: The Palace of Versailles]

As soon as the king was thrown into prison and the people of France
took charge of their government, a panic arose throughout the courts
of Europe. Other kings, alarmed over the fate of the king of France,
began to fear for themselves. They, too, had taxed and oppressed their
subjects. They felt that this revolt of the French people must be put