Constitutional History of
France.
I.
The Revolution and the First Republic.
Whenever an advance in governmental evolution has been suggested, or advocated, by great parties springing from the people, the events of French history, from the time of the encyclopedists to the present day, have generally been distorted by the reactionary forces which usually constitute the opposition to reform; and when, in the last 100 years, it was proposed to do away with the remnants of feudalism, abolish slavery, extend the popular suffrage, and establish parliamentary government, by some strange paradox in reasoning, the experiences and struggles of this brave people, in their march from absolutism to democracy, have been paraded as furnishing a dreadful example against any attempt for the betterment mankind.
When it was suggested in England to abolish the slave trade, and repeal the Test Act, ghastly references were made to noyades, fusillades, and guillotines; and Sir Robert Peel was warned, in his effort to reform the corn laws, that he was bringing about a catastrophe like that of 1789, while Cobden and Bright were likened to Babœuf,
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