Page 594 - les-miserables

order was the unwilling result of Waterloo, to the great re-
gret of the conquerors. It is because revolution cannot be
really conquered, and that being providential and absolute-
ly fatal, it is always cropping up afresh: before Waterloo, in
Bonaparte overthrowing the old thrones; after Waterloo,
in Louis XVIII. granting and conforming to the charter.
Bonaparte places a postilion on the throne of Naples, and
a sergeant on the throne of Sweden, employing inequality
to demonstrate equality; Louis XVIII. at Saint-Ouen coun-
tersigns the declaration of the rights of man. If you wish to
gain an idea of what revolution is, call it Progress; and if
you wish to acquire an idea of the nature of progress, call it
To-morrow. To-morrow fulfils its work irresistibly, and it is
already fulfilling it to-day. It always reaches its goal strange-
ly. It employs Wellington to make of Foy, who was only a
soldier, an orator. Foy falls at Hougomont and rises again
in the tribune. Thus does progress proceed. There is no such
thing as a bad tool for that workman. It does not become
disconcerted, but adjusts to its divine work the man who
has bestridden the Alps, and the good old tottering inval-
id of Father Elysee. It makes use of the gouty man as well
as of the conqueror; of the conqueror without, of the gouty
man within. Waterloo, by cutting short the demolition of
European thrones by the sword, had no other effect than
to cause the revolutionary work to be continued in another
direction. The slashers have finished; it was the turn of the
thinkers. The century that Waterloo was intended to arrest
has pursued its march. That sinister victory was vanquished
by liberty.

594 Les Miserables