It does not seem fair to attribute the excesses of mobs during the French  
Revolution to the Enlightenment.  The Philosophes were more associated with  
the monarchy, the "Enlightened Despots" who patronized them; some of them,  
like DuPont, fled the country. The Remonstrance of the leaders of the 2nd  
Estate against Turgot, leading to his dismissal, helped dissociate  
Philosophers from both parties; but the Philosophers certainly did not lead  
the mobs, who took direct and violent action, which they could understand,  
against the proximate and most visible agents of their exploitation, who had  
rid themselves of the Philosophers who were trying to make the system work  
without overturning it.  
  
Mason Gaffney