WHY Dm NEW FRANCE XIST? It existed to be part of the French colonial system. But that is the beginning rather than the end of the matter because the French empire did not fall from heaven. It was part of the development of French society. The roots of mercantilism and of absolutism in France are identical; they are to be found in the transition from feudalism to capitalism. As an important debate x over the forces motivating this transformation shows, the causes of the decline of feudalism have been variously interpreted and it would not be useful at present o enter that discussion. Nevertheless, an idea of the kind of development which took place as well as a useful model for present purposes is provided by the stimulating analysis of the ancien r•gime by the Soviet historian Porshnev. o' Within feudal society the state represented and defended the collective interest of the nobility; at the same time each lord, as a feudal proprietor, possessed a measure of autonomous political power. In a sense the interest of each lord was in opposition to the state, that is, the common interest, and this opposition became clarified, as feudal society evolved and class antagonisms increased, in a period of civil war when one section of the nobility, capturing state power, used it against another section of its own class. In this struggle, which was essentially over revenues, the exploitation, aggravated by war, pressed with increasing weight on the peasantry, causing the