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At the close of the French revolutionary and Napoleonic wars (1789-1815) the Bourbon dynasty was
restored in France in the person of a brother
of the King who had been sent to the guillotine during the revolution. This restoration King,
Louis XVIII, alienated opinion due to his absolutist tendencies and his 'legitimate' monarchy was
usurped in 1830
with a junior, Orleanist, branch of the dynasty being recognised as Kings of the French rather than
as Kings of France. The King installed in 1830, Louis Phillipe, was himself a son of Phillipe,
Duke of Orleans, a Bourbon prince
who had offered some support to the revolution of 1879 and who had become known as Philip Egalite.
Notably disagreeable weather across much of Europe in 1845-6 affected agricultural production
leading to rising food prices
and to generally depressed economic conditions of widespread unemployment. Such sufferings as this brought
to those badly affected led, in turn, to a radicalisation of political
attitudes.
During these times France was yet a monarchy under Louis
Phillipe but with his "Liberal" monarchy having few real
supporters. Elections were held on the basis of quite limited
suffrage, many felt excluded from any possibility of gaining
wealth, and others felt that his "Bourgeois and Liberal" monarchy
compared unfavourably with earlier, "Glorious", eras of French Monarchy or
Empire.
On 14th January 1848 the authorities banned a "banquet", one
of a series that had intermittently been held by 'liberal' interests after July 1847 in Paris, and subsequently
widely across France,
in protest at such things as limitations
on the right of
assembly and the narrow scope of the political franchise, with the result that the it was postponed by its
organisers. Although the banquet, now set for the 22nd February,
was cancelled at the last minute there were some serious disturbances on
the Paris streets on the 22nd and on 23rd February where a number of fatalaties and serious injuries ensued.
The were instances of units of the National Guard that had been deployed by the authorities refusing to act
to contain the protest.
Faced with such unrest Louis Phillipe
dismissed Guizot, his unpopular Prime Minister on the 23rd and himself, reluctantly, abdicated on the 24th.
The French Chamber of Deputies accepted that the Crown would now pass to a youthful grandson of
Louis Phillipe,
the Comte de Paris, with powers of regency being vested in his mother.
In the wake of these dramatic developments what had effectively become a French
revolution of 1848 continued with the Chamber of Deputies being invaded and replaced with the
establishment of a Provisional Government of a French
Republic. This government was formed in a climate where power needed to be exercised
by a central authority but where there was also a divergence of opinion as to the desireable
political and social outlook of that government. Although Louis Phillippe
had abdicated in favour of his grandson this was disregarded given the popular mood in
favour of a republican form of government. Monarchy was pronounced to be abolished in France "without
possibiliy of return". Important figures in the Provisional Government
administration included established moderate, liberal, middle-class, "reformers - now become republicans", such
as Lamartine. A campaign sponsored by a newspaper named Réforme culminated in some more
radical persons
being accepted into the new government. These included the prominent French socialist Louis Blanc and
a "working man" named Albert Martin who was popularly known as "Albert" and addressed by this forename all
the while he was involved in the government.
It was accepted that elections
based on universal adult (male) suffrage would return delegates who would more fully decide the future
direction of the governance of France.
By this time some twelve thousand muskets formerly held within government arsenals had fallen
into the hands
of radicalised protestors. On the
25th February socialists in
Paris secured a decree which proclaimed that the newly formed Provisional Government
would undertake to provide opportunities for paid
work for all citizens and would also recognise workers rights to "combine in order to enjoy the legitimate
benefits of their labour." A system of "National Workshops" was instituted in relation to
this guarantee of "labour to every citizen".
These revolutionary developments were perhaps more Parisian than French, they were orchestrated by
a radical section
of the population of Paris but they did not generally receive the support of the French provinces. The
socialistic radicals of Paris urged the adoption of the red flag of socialism whilst those
supportive of constitutional republicanism preferred to re-adopt the red, white, and blue, "Tricolour" flag
that had been adopted in the early days of the French Revolution of 1789. The stresses incidental to this
divergence of aspiration and outlook between Republicans and Socialists
resulted in a compromise where a red rosette was added to the standard of the Tricolour.
Lamartine, who
was something of a poet and orator later self-flatteringly recorded
his own refusal, as a prominent member of the new government whilst faced with a radicalised crowd outside the City Hall
of Paris in the earliest days of the new republic, to accept the red flag as being a turning point
in this debate.
"I will push away until death this blood flag, and you should repudiate it even more than I will! Because the red flag that you have brought back
here has done nothing but being trailed around the Champ-de-Mars in the people's blood in [17]91 and [17]93, whereas the Tricolore flag went
round the world along with the name, the glory and the liberty of the homeland!"
Alphonse de Lamartine held considerable power in the new government and was appointed Foreign Minister. He shortly thereafter, March 7, 1848,
wrote to
French diplomatic representatives abroad instructing them as to the ways in which they were to present
the French Revolutionary developments to foreign governments who might be somewhat
concerned that the France of 1848 might emulate the earlier revolutionary France, after 1789, in seeking to
forcefully export its revolutionary principles abroad:-
You know the events of Paris - the victory of the people; their heroism, moderation, and tranquillity; the
re-establishment of order by the co-operation of the citizens at large, as if, during this interregnum of the visible powers, public reason was, of
itself alone, the Government of France
The French revolution has thus entered upon its definitive period. France is a republic. The French republic does
not require to be acknowledged in order to exist. It is based alike on
natural and national law. It is the will of a great people, who demand the privilege only for themselves. But the French republic, being desirous of
entering into the family of established governments, as a regular power,
and not as a phenomenon destructive of European order, it is expedient
that you should promptly make known to the Government to which you are
accredited, the principles and tendencies which will henceforth guide the
foreign policy of the French Government.
The proclamation of the French republic is not an act of aggression against any form of government in the world.
Forms of government have diversities as legitimate as the diversities of
character - of geographical situation - of intellectual, moral, and
material development among nations. Nations, like individuals, have
different ages; and the principles which rule them have successive phases.
The monarchical, the aristocratic, the constitutional, and the republican
forms of government, are the expression of the different degrees of
maturity in the genius of nations. They require more liberty in proportion
as they feel equality, and democracy in proportion as they are inspired
with a greater share of justice and love for the people over whom they
rule. It is merely a question of time. A nation ruins itself by
anticipating the hour of that maturity; as it dishonours itself by
allowing it to pass away without seizing it. Monarchy and republicanism
are not, in the eyes of wise statesmen, absolute principles, arrayed in
deadly conflict against each other; they are facts which contrast one with
another, and, which may exist face to face by mutually understanding and
respecting each other.
War, therefore, is not now the principle of the French republic, as it was the fatal and glorious necessity of the
republic of 1792. Half a century separates 1792 from 1848. To return,
after the lapse of half a century, to the principle of 1792, or to the
principle of conquest pursued during the empire, would not be to advance,
but to regress. The revolution of yesterday is a step forward, not
backward. The world and ourselves are desirous of advancing to fraternity
and peace......
Whilst foreign governments might draw some slight comfort from these words Lamartine nevertheless instructed French
diplomats abroad that the settlements arrived at in 1815, at the close of the earlier French Revolutionary and
Napoleonic Eras of 1789-1815, would not be fully accepted by the new French government and that the new republic would
support what it saw as being progressive developments abroad:-
......
The treaties of 1815 have no longer any lawful existence in the eyes of the French republic; nevertheless, the
territorial limits circumscribed by those treaties are facts which the republic admits as a basis, and as a starting-point, in her relations with foreign nations.
But if the treaties of 1815 have no existence - save as facts to be modified by common consent - and if the republic openly declares that her right and mission are to arrive
regularly and pacifically at those modifications - the good sense, the moderation, the conscience, the prudence of the republic do exist, and
they afford Europe a surer and more honourable guarantee than the words of
those treaties, which have so frequently been violated or modified by Europe itself.
Endeavour, Sir, to make this emancipation of the republic from the treaties of 1815, understood and
honestly admitted, and to show that such an admission is in no way irreconcilable with the repose of Europe.
Thus we declare without reserve, that if the hour for the reconstruction of any of the oppressed nations of Europe,
or other parts of the world, should seem to have arrived, according to the decrees of Providence; if Switzerland, our faithful ally from the time of
Francis I, should be restrained or menaced in the progressive movement she is carrying out, and which will impart new strength to the fasces of
democratic governments; if the independent states of Italy should be invaded; if limits or obstacles should be imposed on their internal
changes; if there should be any armed interference with their right of allying themselves together for the purpose of consolidating an Italian
nation, - the French republic would think itself entitled to take up arms in defence of these legitimate movements towards the improvement and
nationhood of states.......
Elections were put in train, on the basis of an Universal Suffrage which recognised some nine million persons as being
competent electors (compared to the 250,000 previously recognised voters under the previously more
restrictive suffrage), towards the forming of a National Assembly which was to deal with important constitutional
issues.
The National Workshops system set out to offer constant work and did this at a relatively high rate of pay
such that it soon
attracted the services of all the casual labour of Paris and also began to draw in a large influx of other casual
labour from the provinces. Within two or three months there were some 66,000 persons on the payroll. The unsettled times
tended to contribute to a fall off in expenditure by the rich, many of whom left Paris for the countryside. As there
proved to be insufficient work provided by the National Workshops for all the facility was rationed in that those involved
reported to the workplace on two days of the week but were recognised as being entitled to a 'salary
of inactivity' payment of one franc per day for other days. The main initial task tackled
being a public works scheme levelling a small hill - a scenario that did not involve the receipt of revenues to
offset the expense to the public purse. Other tasks included planting trees, building roads, and building railway stations
- the authorities even oversaw the performance of "the same tasks" over and over to provide sufficient paid occupation.
They did not want to sponsor economic activities that might
seem to be in competition with the interests of existing capitalist enterprise.
Some additional taxes were raised,
that mainly impacted upon the rural
peasantry, in efforts to help to meet the expense of the National Workshops.
The National or Constituent Assembly resulting from the processes of election convened on May 4th 1848.
Some 900 deputies had been returned to serve in the National Assembly. About half were returned as supportive of
(Orleanist or Legitimist) monarchy rather than republicanism, about 350 were returned on a clericalist 'freedom of
education' ticket, there were only a minority, about 100 strong, of variously comitted republicans or socialists.
Despite the breadth of the franchise,
that had recognised some nine million persons as being voters, the main voting bloc - the peasantry - proved to be
content with the legacy of the 1789-1815 French Revolutionary and Napoleonic era that had left them as owners of their small farms with the
result
that they voted for conservative candidates that would not threaten the rights of property. In these times of
widespread illiteracy the political opinions of rural voters were often guided by respected local figures
such as
parish priests.
It proved to be the case that the political representatives of France as a whole were not prepared to
endorse many of the policies that were preferred by Parisian radicals. The administration recognised by the
assembly did not include an important role for Louis Blanc. The Assembly declined to send assistance to
the Polish reformers who, in their struggles against Russian Tsarist authority, enjoyed the sympathies of
the French radicals. On May 15th the National or Constituent Assembly was invaded by persons seeking
its overthrow and replacement by an administration headed up by Louis Blanc.
In the event the National Guard acted to prevent the overthrow of the Assembly. Radicalism had showed a
willingness to attempt to turbulently impose its own agendas. The stage
was now set for a continuance of a serious confrontation between French conservatism and Parisian radicalism.
The European Revolution of 1848 represents a widespead emergence of situations where
populist aspirations, or human aspirations as less limited by traditions of respect for monarchical or religious authority, variously sought constitutional, liberal, nationalist or socialistic changes in society.
- 1 The European Revolution of 1848 begins
- A broad outline of the background to the onset of the turmoils and a consideration of some of the early events.
- 2 The French Revolution of 1848
- A particular focus on France - as the influential Austrian minister Prince Metternich, who sought to encourage the re-establishment of "Order" in the wake of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic turmoils of 1789-1815, said:-"When France sneezes Europe catches a cold".
- 3 The Revolution of 1848 in the German Lands and central Europe
- "Germany" had a movement for a single parliament in 1848 and many central European would-be "nations" attempted
to assert a distinct existence separate from the dynastic sovereignties they had been living under.
- 4 The "Italian" Revolution of 1848
- A "liberal" Papacy after 1846 helps allow the embers of an "Italian" national aspiration to rekindle across the Italian Peninsula.
- 5 The Monarchs recover power 1848-1849
- Some instances of social and political extremism allow previously pro-reform conservative elements to support
the return of traditional authority. Louis Napoleon, (who later became the Emperor Napoleon III), attains to power
in France offering social stability at home but ultimately follows policies productive of dramatic change in the wider European
structure of states and their sovereignty.
Other Popular European History pages
at Age-of-the-Sage
The preparation of these pages was influenced to some degree by a particular "Philosophy
of History" as suggested by this quote from the famous Essay "History" by Ralph Waldo Emerson:-
There is one mind common to all individual men...
Of the works of this mind history is the record. Its genius is
illustrated by the entire series of days. Man is explicable by
nothing less than all his history. Without hurry, without rest,
the human spirit goes forth from the beginning to embody every
faculty, every thought, every emotion, which belongs to it in
appropriate events. But the thought is always prior to the fact;
all the facts of history preexist in the mind as laws. Each law
in turn is made by circumstances predominant, and the limits of
nature give power to but one at a time. A man is the whole
encyclopaedia of facts. The creation of a thousand forests is in
one acorn, and Egypt, Greece, Rome, Gaul, Britain, America, lie
folded already in the first man. Epoch after epoch, camp,
kingdom, empire, republic, democracy, are merely the application
of his manifold spirit to the manifold world.
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![[French revolution of 1848]](../../enlightenment.gif)
