The Recollections of Alexis de TocquevilleTocqueville, Alexis de
History
The Recollections of Alexis de Tocqueville
Tocqueville, Alexis de
France -- History -- February Revolution, 1848
"I am informed that a number of military executions have taken
place, and that many more are announced. I do not understand
why these facts have not been reported by you, nor why you
have not sought to prevent them, without even waiting for
instructions. We have assisted as much as we could, without
taking up arms, in suppressing the rebellion; all the more
reason for desiring that the victory to which we have given
our aid should not be sullied by acts of violence of which
France disapproves, and which we regard as both odious and
impolitic. There is another point which causes us much
anxiety, and which does not seem to excite your solicitude to
the same degree: I refer to the political institutions of the
Grand-Duchy. Do not forget that the object of the Government
of the Republic in that country has been to assist in putting
down anarchy, but not in destroying liberty. We can in no way
lend our hand to an anti-liberal restoration. The
Constitutional Monarchy felt the need to create or maintain
free States around France. The Republic is still more obliged
to do so. The Government therefore asks and imperiously
insists that each of its agents shall faithfully conform to
these necessities of our situation. See the Grand Duke, and
give him to understand what are the wishes of France. We shall
certainly never allow either a Prussian province or an
absolute government to be established on our frontier in the
stead of an independent and constitutional monarchy?"
* * * * *
After some time, the executions ceased. The Grand Duke protested
his attachment to constitutional forms, and his resolution to
maintain them. This was for the moment all he was able to do, for
he reigned only in name. The Prussians were the real masters.]
The Baden revolutionaries took refuge in Switzerland. Refugees were then
arriving in that country from Italy, France, and to tell the truth, from
every corner of Europe, for all Europe, with the exception of Russia,
had undergone or was undergoing a revolution. Their number soon amounted
to ten or twelve thousand. It was an army always ready to fall upon the
neighbouring States. All the Cabinets were alarmed at it.
Austria and especially Prussia, which had already had reason to complain
of the Confederation, and even Russia, which was in no way concerned,
spoke of invading Swiss territory with armed forces and acting as a
police in the name of all the governments threatened. This we could not
allow.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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