he right of kings denied to such a point the right from
on high.

A capital error which led this family to lay its hand once more on the
guarantees "granted" in 1814, on the concessions, as it termed them.
Sad. A sad thing! What it termed its concessions were our conquests;
what it termed our encroachments were our rights.

When the hour seemed to it to have come, the Restoration, supposing
itself victorious over Bonaparte and well-rooted in the country, that is
to say, believing itself to be strong and deep, abruptly decided on its
plan of action, and risked its stroke. One morning it drew itself up
before the face of France, and, elevating its voice, it contested the
collective title and the individual right of the nation to sovereignty,
of the citizen to liberty. In other words, it denied to the nation
that which made it a nation, and to the citizen that which made him a
citizen.

This is the foundation of those famous acts which are called the
ordinances of July. The Restoration fell.

It fell justly. But, we admit, it had not been absolutely hostile to
all forms of progress. Great things had been accomplished, with it
alongside.

Under the Restoration, the nation had grown accustomed to calm
discussion, which had been lacking under the Republic, and to grandeur
in peace, which had been wanting under the Empire. France free and
strong had offered an encouraging spectacle to the other peoples of
Europe. The Revolution had had the word under Robespierre; the cannon
had had the word under Bonaparte; it was under Louis XVIII. and Charles
X. that it was the turn of intelligence to have the word. The wind
ceased, the torch was lighted once more. On the lofty heights, the
pure light of mind could be seen flickering. A magnificent, useful, and
charming spectacle. For a space of fifteen years, those great principles
which are so old for the thinker, so new for the statesman, could be
seen at work in perfect peace, on the public square; equality before the
law, liberty of conscience, liberty of speech, liberty of the press, the
accessibility of all aptitudes to all functions. Thus it proceeded until
1830. The Bourbons were an instrument of civilization which broke in the
hands of Providence.

The fall of the Bourbons was full of grandeur, not on their side, but
on the side of the nation. They quitted the throne with gravity, but
without authority; their descent into the night was not one of those
solemn disappearances