Anarchism; Atheism; Christianity -- Controversial literature
Soon it split. A considerable portion of the purchasers of national
property having become rich, and supporting themselves no longer on the
proletariat of the cities, but on the major portion of the peasants of
France, these also having become landed proprietors, had no aspiration
left but for peace, the re-establishment of public order, and the
foundation of a strong and regular government. It therefore welcomed
with joy the dictatorship of the first Bonaparte, and, although always
Voltairean, did not view with displeasure the Concordat with the Pope
and the re-establishment of the official Church in France: "_Religion is
so necessary to the people!_" Which means that, satiated themselves,
this portion of the bourgeoisie then began to see that it was needful
to the maintenance of their situation and the preservation of their
newly-acquired estates to appease the unsatisfied hunger of the people
by promises of heavenly manna. Then it was that Chateaubriand began to
preach.[11]
Napoleon fell and the Restoration brought back into France the
legitimate monarchy, and with it the power of the Church and of the
nobles, who regained, if not the whole, at least a considerable portion
of their former influence. This reaction threw the bourgeoisie back into
the Revolution, and with the revolutionary spirit that of skepticism
also was re-awakened in it. It set Chateaubriand aside and began to read
Voltaire again; but it did not go so far as Diderot: its debilitated
nerves could not stand nourishment so strong. Voltaire, on the contrary,
at once a freethinker and a deist, suited it very well. Béranger and P.
L. Courier expressed this new tendency perfectly. The "God of the good
people" and the ideal of the bourgeois king, at once liberal and
democratic, sketched against the majestic and thenceforth inoffensive
background of the Empire's gigantic victories--such was at that period
the daily intellectual food of the bourgeoisie of France.
Lamartine, to be sure, excited by a vain and ridiculously envious desire
to rise to the poetic height of the great Byron, had begun his coldly
delirious hymns in honor of the God of the nobles and of the legitimate
monarchy. But his songs resounded only in aristocratic salons. The
bourgeoisie did not hear them. Béranger was its poet and Courier was
its political writer.
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. It naturally tended to establish a new aristocracy. An
aristocracy of capital first of all, but also an aristocracy of
intellect, of good manners and delicate sentiments. It began to feel
religious.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account