The French Revolution: A Short HistoryJohnston, R. M. (Robert Matteson)
History
The French Revolution: A Short History
Johnston, R. M. (Robert Matteson)
France -- History -- Revolution, 1789-1799
During the first part of 1792 the popular agitation grew. France was
now throwing all the enthusiasm, the vital emotion of patriotism into
her internal upheaval. Rouget de Lisle invented his great patriotic
hymn, christened in the following August the _Marseillaise_. Men who
could get no guns, armed themselves with pikes. The red Phrygian cap
of liberty was adopted. The magic word, citizen, became {134} the
cherished appellation of the multitude. And in the assembly the
orators declaimed vehemently against the traitors, the supporters of
the foreigner in their midst. Vergniaud, from the tribune of the
assembly menacing the Austrian princess of the Tuileries, exclaimed:
"Through this window I perceive the palace where perfidious counsels
delude the Sovereign. . . . Terror and panic have often issued from
its portals; this day I bid them re-enter, in the name of the Law; let
all its inmates know that it is the King alone who is inviolable, that
the Law will strike the guilty without distinction, and that no head on
which guilt reposes can escape its sword."
The thunders of Vergniaud and the other Jacobin orators rolled not in
vain. By March the Drissotins dominated the situation. They
frightened the King into acquiescence in their war policy and they
drove Narbonne and the Fayettists, their temporary allies, from office,
installing a new ministry made up of their own adherents. That new
ministry included Roland, Claviere and Dumouriez;--Roland, a
hard-headed, hard-working man of business, whose young wife with her
beauty and enthusiasm was to be the soul of the unfortunate Girondin
party; Claviere, a banker, speculator, {135} friend of Mirabeau, and
generally doubtful liberal; Dumouriez, a soldier, able, adventurous, of
large instincts political and human, ambitious and forceful beyond his
colleagues.
The Brissotin ministry was well equipped with talent, and was intended
to carry through the war, which was voted by the assembly on the 20th
of April. This step had been gradually led up to by an acrimonious
exchange of diplomatic votes. The war, now that it had broken out, was
found to involve more powers than Austria. The king of Prussia,
unwilling to let Austria pose as the sole defender of the Germanic
princes of the Rhineland, had in August 1791 joined the Emperor in the
declaration of Pillnitz, threatening France with coercion. He now
acted up to this, and joined in the war as the ally of the Emperor.
Leopold died in March, and was succeeded by his son, Marie Antoinette's
nephew, Francis II.
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.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account