July Revolution of 1830

“ Console thyself, O poet! 'tis but little the world loses; thou hast long known that on this earth a man can be nothing worse than a German.
IV INFLUENCE OF THE REVOLUTION OF JULY
In 1830, while things were in this state of stagnation, oppression, and ferment, the news of the Paris Revolution of July arrived, and acted upon public feeling in Germany like an electric shock. All eyes were turned towards Paris, and among thinking people real enthusiasm was felt. ”

“ Put yourself in the perspective of the power of July; reminisce to yourself the institutions and ideas that had previously formed the moral capital of society, which composed, if I might say so, the armor of consciences: you will find no one who merited consideration as the Chief of State, no one who was worth on the part of the citizens the suffering of a pinprick, the sacrifice of the smallest enjoyment. ”

“ The equilibrium of Europe was destroyed, therefore, to our sole injury. The empire developed the seeds of revolution sown by the government of July. France descended lower than in 1830; she even lost all regard to decency, by giving herself up to the revolutionary current. The distinguished men of talent who devoted themselves to the service of Louis Philippe withdrew from the scene, and were replaced by a crowed of nobodies. Assemblies, ministers, and emperor entered on such a contradictory course that one might believe our country had fallen into its dotage. ”

“ The men of July, whether to curry favour with the new dynasty, or to assume the part of profound politicians, have pretended that they had prepared the fall of Charles X., and they boast that their machinations had aroused the tempest which, in three short days, swallowed up a whole generation of kings. These men have either sought to deceive public opinion, or else have been themselves grossly deceived. Nothing was ever more unlike a conspiracy than the Revolution of 1830 ”

“ The masses were in July only the militia of the bourgeoisie: only the latter had prepared for fifteen years and organized the victory; to them alone belonged the disposition of the victory. What do we say here of the popular vote? If the people had been consulted in the choice of the prince, from the time after the principle of the Charter had, conserving the form, changed, it is clear that the people, for whom form takes precedence over substance, would have chosen Henry V. Any other candidate would have been to their eyes illegitimate. ”

“ In addition, and beside all this, as it was no longer revolution and had become a monarchy, 1830 was obliged to take precedence of all Europe. To keep the peace, was an increase of complication. A harmony established contrary to sense is often more onerous than a war. From this secret conflict, always muzzled, but always growling, was born armed peace, that ruinous expedient of civilization which in the harness of the European cabinets is suspicious in itself. The Royalty of July reared up, in spite of the fact that it caught it in the harness of European cabinets. ”

“ The revolution of July resulted in lifting its tastes. We know that every bourgeois in France carries within him the imperishable type of the bourgeois gentleman, a type which never fails to appear immediately the parvenu acquires a little wealth and power. In 1830 the wealthy bourgeoisie had definitely replaced the old nobility in the seats of power. ”

“ False to its popular extraction, the revolution proceeding from the Days of July repudiated glory and courted shame. Except in a few hearts worthy of giving it an asylum, liberty, become the object of the derision of those who made it their [Pg 307] rallying-cry, that liberty which buffoons bandy about with kicks, that liberty strangled after dishonour by the tourniquet of the laws of exception will, through its destruction, transform the Revolution of 1830 into a cynical fraud.
Thereupon, and to deliver us all, Madame la Duchesse de Berry arrived. Fortune betrayed her; a Jew sold her ”

“ For when the mass of the people reach such a point; when they are driven to despair, as they are now fast being driven, and would long ago have been driven but for the circumstances stated, then comes the terrible reaction, the frightful revolution, the upheaval of all order, anarchy, and—who shall tell what else? The Riot of July is still ringing its solemn warning—all unheeded—in the ears of this people. Society has yet and speedily to lift the masses out of their ignorance, poverty, squalor, and accompanying brutality, or to sink awfully beneath their maddened retaliation. ”

“ It is necessary to raise the morale of the workers, to avenge the June insurrection of the calumnies of the reaction; to pose, with a redoubling of energy, with a sort of terrorism, the social question; to expand it, by making it traditional and European; to consolidate the Revolution, by forcing the conservatives to make themselves of democracy for the defense of their privileges, and by rejecting, by that means, monarchy on a secondary plane. ”

“ At no time is the subordination of men to circumstances more clearly manifested: revolutions employ many leaders, and when they submit, it is to one alone.
The consequences of the 14th of July were immense. The movement of Paris communicated itself to the provinces; the country population, imitating that of the capital, organized itself in all directions into municipalities for purposes of self-government; and into bodies of national guards for self-defence. Authority and force became wholly displaced; royalty had lost them by its defeat, the nation had acquired them. ”

“ On her return to Paris she became convinced, perhaps justly, that the revolution of July, in the minds of some persons purely political, would prove to be a moral revolution. The social class to which she belonged, not being able, during its unhoped-for triumph in the fifteen years of the Restoration to reconstruct itself, was about to go to pieces, bit by bit, under the battering-ram of the bourgeoisie. ”

“ He was a "citizen king," only in so far as he sent his children to the public schools and walked about the streets of Paris with an umbrella under his arm. The most lasting effect in France of the July revolution was the obliteration of clerical influences in the administration and public education. The Royalist nobility likewise lost what political ascendency they had regained during the Restoration. ”

“ The fifteen years of the Restoration, under a constitutional government, had given rise among us to that spirit of humanity, lawfulness and justice which twenty-five years of the revolutionary and warlike spirit had been unable to produce. The law of force introduced into our manners seemed to have become the common law.
The consequences of the Revolution of July will be memorable. This Revolution has pronounced a decree against all thrones: to-day, kings will be able to reign only by force of arms ”

“ The revolution of July gave birth to Parliamentary Reform; the Reform bill would never have brought forth July. It is because France is the heart of the world; the affairs of France interest all; the cause which she espouses is not that of a selfish ambition, but that of civilisation. When France speaks, she is listened to, because she speaks not her own feelings merely, but those of the human race. When she acts, her example is followed, because she does what all desire to do.
France was the first on the European continent to enthrone liberty ”

“ The revolution of July was a fine blast of the popular wind, suddenly followed by a blue sky, and the riot caused a cloudy sky to reappear, and compelled the revolution, originally so remarkable through unanimity, to degenerate into a quarrel. ”

“ They went on board their ships and sailed away, and Washington and his men marched joyfully into the town. That was a great day for America, and it was soon followed by the 4th of July and the glorious Declaration of Independence. Since that 4th of July no king has ever ruled over the United States.
We call this war the American Revolution. Do you know what a revolution is? It means the doing away with a bad government and replacing it with a better one. In this country it meant that our people were tired of the rule of England and [136] wished to govern themselves. ”

“ The July revolution in Paris and the declaration of the new king, Louis Philippe, that France, as a Liberal monarchy, would not only not intervene in the internal affairs of other countries, but would not permit other powers to do so, aroused great hopes among the oppressed peoples, and was the immediate cause of a revolution in Romagna and the Marches. ”

“ The Revolution of July instantly had friends and enemies throughout the entire world. The first rushed toward her with joy and enthusiasm, the others turned away, each according to his nature. At the first blush, the princes of Europe, the owls of this dawn, shut their eyes, wounded and stupefied, and only opened them to threaten. A fright which can be comprehended, a wrath which can be pardoned. ”

“ We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.
What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license ”

“ In the month of July, as the King is signing an order, a patriotic valet becomes alarmed and reads it over his shoulder.—There is no illusion here; it is not merely the bourgeoisie which ranges itself against the legal authorities and against the established regime. ”

“ Another pamphlet of the period, also published in Charleston, recommended as a practical cure for insurrection the copious administration of Episcopal Church services, and the prohibition of negroes from attending Fourth-of-July celebrations. On this last point it is more consistent than most pro-slavery arguments. "The celebration of the Fourth of July belongs exclusively to the white population of the United States. The American Revolution was a family-quarrel among equals. ”

“ Not less important is the second side, which the Social School presents in relation to the times. By the Revolution of July, not merely the political conditions, but also the political consciousness of the French people was thrown into confusion on all sides. ”

“ It does wrong towards itself and towards us. If it thinks there is indifference now in people's minds towards liberty of ideas, it is mistaken; it is only lassitude. It will demand severe account some day of all the illegal actions that have been accumulating for some time past. What a dance it has led us! Two years ago, one feared for order; now, one trembles for liberty! Questions of free thought, of intellect and of art are imperiously mowed down by the viziers of the King of the Barricades. It is profoundly sad to see how the revolution of July has ended, mulier formosa supernè. ”

“ The special editions of the Leipzig Gazette brought us the news of the July Revolution in Paris. The King of France had been driven from his throne; Lafayette, who a moment before had seemed a myth to me, was again riding through a cheering crowd in the streets of Paris; the Swiss Guards had once more been butchered in the Tuileries, and a new King knew no better way of commending himself to the populace than by declaring himself the embodiment of the Republic. ”

“ From that moment, the will of the people not encountering any obstacle, the Revolution had seemed to establish itself as sovereign. For a few years the Convention, to which power have been vested with a mission to protect the liberty won, and also, — one did not come of it! — to redo the Political Constitution, had experienced the energy that had given it the insurrection of 10 August, the menaces of the counter-revolution, and the vows of '89. ”

“ Even patriotism has become a Humbug—has been supplanted by partisanship, and now all are for party and none are for the state. On July 4 we shout for the old flag, and all the rest of the year we clamor for an appropriation. The man who is kicked by a nightmare while dreaming of the draft demands a pension and every burning patriot wants an office. Twice, yea, thrice within the memory of men now living, America has been on the very verge of an industrial revolution, a Reign of Terror ”

“ The French "July Revolution," as it is called, lighted the signal fires of liberty throughout Europe. In almost every country there were uprisings of the Liberals. Existing constitutions were so changed as to give the people a larger share in the government; and where there were no constitutions, original charters were granted. In some instances, indeed, the uprisings had no other result than that of rendering the despotic governments against which they were directed more cruel and tyrannical than they were before ”

“ It cannot be that the Revolution of July should continue much longer to result in the solemn mockery it has. It cannot be that its friends should much longer be withheld from those by whom it was achieved, only to aggrandize one old man and his sons. It cannot be that the unmitigated and disgusting selfism of Louis Philippe, and his efforts to ally himself with every crowned head in Europe—not for the glory of France, but for his own—will much longer be overlooked or their perils masked. ”

“ The conviction became general that the unification of all the German countries in one constitutional, strongly democratic State was at hand. Politically short-sighted, and imbued with all manner of optimistic ideas, the general public were unable to believe that such a movement as that originated by the Revolution of July could exhaust itself without any political result. The champions of Liberalism had preached "progress" as a religion, and people had arrived at the belief that progress must inevitably be victorious, and that each attempt at reaction would actually work for good in the end. ”