FRENCH REVOLUTION
717
FRERE
He was born at Ripple in Kent on Sept. 28, 1852, and early entered the navy, but exchanged into the army (1874), where he became noted as an excellent cavalry-officer. Before the outbreak of the Boer War (October, 1899) he was in command of the ^ cavalry brigade at Aldershot, which he resigned to accompany Redyers Buller to take command of the British cavalry in Natal. He fought the battle of Elands-laagte, and later, under Lord Roberts in Orange River Colony, he raised the siege of Kimberley (Feb. 15, 1900), and became one of the most successful of the British generals in the war. He now is the head of the British army.
French Revolution, The, a period in France, in the latter years of the i8th century (specifically between 1789 and 1795), of wild tumult and revolt, marked in the capital by the ungovernable and unnatural excesses of a frenzied populace. The occasion of the violent outbreak was the effort of the nation, represented by the Third Estate in the states-general, which was convened in May, 1789, to free itself from absolutism in the monarchy and to secure the abolition of the privileged classes and of all the caste distinctions and feudal abuses; the reform of the church; the reorganization of the national finances; and the reconstitution of the government. These things occurred when Louis XVI was king, surrounded by an extravagant and profligate court and by^ a corrupt and licentious nobility. The Mng, who had come to the throne in 1774, though well-meaning and recognizing the need of economy and reform, was weak and wanting in firmness for so new and exacting a situation. The financial situation, grappled with by Necker, might itself have been remedied but for the unwise interference of the king. Necker finally demanded the convocation of the states-general, which had not met since 1614. They met on the 5th of May, 1789, but as the nobles and clergy refused to recognize the Third Estate properly, the deputies of this body assumed the title of the national constituent assembly and proposed to give France a constitution. The clergy and nobles yielded; foreign troops were brought to Paris; but the people flew to arms, and on the i4th of July the Bastille was captured and destroyed. On the fifth of October Versailles was attacked by the mob and the royal family were taken to Paris, virtually prisoners. A new constitution formed by the assembly was sworn to by the king on the i4th of September. This constitution deprived the king of arbitrary powers, providing liberty of worship and freedom of the press, of commerce and of industry. In accordance with the constitution the legislative assembly succeeded the constituent assembly, meeting on Oct. i* 1791. In this body there were
two parties, the Girondists, moderate republicans, and the Montagnards, extreme radicals. The monarchists already were powerless. Threats of foreign intervention on behalf of the king led to a declaration of war against Austria and Prussia, April 20,
1792. With French reverses came a popular uprising, and the Tuileries, after a bloody combat, was taken and sacked. A national convention was convened in place of the assembly, and its first act was to proclaim a republic. The king was sentenced to death and was executed on Jan. 21, 1793. A committee of public safety, with sovereign authority, was appointed, and the Reign of Terror was- begun. The Montagnards or Jacobins came into power, Christianity was formally abolished, opposing factions were put down with frightful bloodshed, the queen was executed on Oct. 16,
1793. the Girondists on Oct. 31, and the bloody work went on under the leadership of Robespierre. The Reign of Terror finally came to an end by the execution of Robespierre and his associates, July 27 and 28,
1794. In 1795 the convention gave the republic a new constitution and was dissolved on Oct. 26. Then arose Bonaparte and the diversion of the national mind by the campaign in Italy and the expedition to Egypt. The era closed with the return to Prance of the future idol of the nation, the rise of the consulate and, finally, the establishment of the empire.
French Somali Coast or Protectorate. See SOMALILAND.
French West Africa has had one general government since Oct. i, 1902, being divided into the colonies of Senegal, French Guinea, the Ivory Coast and Dahomey and the territories of Senegal and the Niger, each of which is treated independently. Each colony has a lieutenant-governor under the governor-general of the entire tract assisted by a secretary-general and a permanent delegate situated at Dakar. With the divisions mentioned are to be included the territories of the Upper Senegal, of the Middle Niger, and the Military Territory, toward which each of the four colonies contributes. In 1907 France expended 1^,813,115 francs, most of it for military purposes. A loan of 65,000,000 francs has been contracted, the money to be spent in railways, harbors and sanitary work. * Great Britain has ceded a port accessible to sea-going vessels on the Gambia, as well as the Los Islands, formerly belonging to Sierra Leone. By the convention of 1904 about 8,000 square miles had been taken from British and added to French territory, giving a better route from the Niger region to Zinder and Lake Chad.
Frere (frdr), Pierre Edouard, a French painter, was born at Paris, Jan. 10, 1819. He studied under Delaroche. His paintings arc mostly figures and scenes from domestic life. They are good subjects for engraving,
