And yet, to no other king does France owe such a debt of gratitude.

His remorseless hand placed a great gulf between the new and the old, in which were forever buried the men and the system which had fed upon her life.
The antagonism between the son and the father aroused great hopes of a reversal of policy and a rehabilitation of feudalism.

These hopes were soon undeceived.

So inscrutable and so tortuous was the policy of this strange being, so unexpected his changes of direction, so false and inconsistent his words and acts, and so unspeakably cruel the means to his ends, that a cowed and bewildered nation was soon crouching at his feet, not knowing whither he was leading them.
Warfare played no part in this reign.

Invasion was met by diplomacy, and slaughter and bloodshed were relegated to the executioner.
Incredible as it seems, it is said that from his windows this king could look out upon an avenue of gibbets upon which hung the bodies of his enemies.