Cassell's History of England, Vol. 5 (of 8): From the Peninsular War to the Death of Sir Robert PeelAnonymous
History
Cassell's History of England, Vol. 5 (of 8): From the Peninsular War to the Death of Sir Robert Peel
Anonymous
Great Britain -- History
he should show some favour to the surviving chiefs of La Vendée; but
these things had the worst effect on the public mind, as tending to
inspire fears of vengeance for the past, or of restoration of all that
the past had thrown down. In these circumstances, the Royalists were
discontented, because they thought Louis did too little for them, and
the rest of the community because he did too much. The Jacobins, who
had been suppressed, but not exterminated, by Buonaparte, now again
raised their heads, under so mild and easy a monarch, with all their
old audacity. They soon, however, despaired of reviving the Republic,
and turned to the son of their old partisan, Philip Égalité, the Duke
of Orleans, and solicited him to become their leader, promising to make
him king. But the present duke--afterwards King Louis Philippe--was
too honourable a man for their purpose; he placed the invitation
given him in the hands of Louis, and the Jacobins, then enraged, were
determined to bring back Napoleon rather than tolerate the much easier
yoke of the Bourbons. Carnot and Fouché soon offered themselves as
their instruments. Carnot, who had been one of the foremost men of the
Reign of Terror, had refused to acknowledge the rule of Buonaparte, who
suppressed the Revolution, for a long time, but, so late as the present
year, he had given in his adhesion, and was appointed engineer for
carrying on the fortifications of Antwerp. He had now the hardihood to
address a memorial to Louis XVIII., which, under the form of an apology
for the Jacobins during the Revolution, was in truth a direct attack on
the Royalists, describing them as a contemptible and small body, who
had allowed Louis XVI. to be destroyed by their cowardice, and now
had brought back the king by the hands of Englishmen and Cossacks to
endeavour to undo all that had been done for the people. He represented
kings as naturally prone to despotism, and priests and nobles as
inciting them to slaughter and rapine. The pretence was to lead the
monarch to rely only on the people; the object was to exasperate the
people against kings, nobles, and the Church.
[Illustration: ELBA.]
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