The almost complete centralization of power in the monarch, which became an accomplished fact in France during the reign of Louis XIV and continued to be the national policy under his successor, had the inevitable result of destroying all semblance of political life in the country. Cut off from participation in their government, the French people gradually lost interest in the affairs of the nation. During this period, until the Seven Years' War, the manifestations of a genuine spirit of patriotism are few. Faguet is essentially right when he states that one of the salient characteristics of the eighteenth century is the progressive diminution of the spirit of patriotism. For want of opportunities to express itself this spirit had become dormant, but it was far from being dead, as later events showed.