Page 1399 - les-miserables

croachments were our rights.
When the hour seemed to it to have come, the Resto-
ration, 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 sov-
ereignty, 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 ac-
complished, with it alongside.
Under the Restoration, the nation had grown accus-
tomed 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 Eu-
rope. 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 intel-
ligence 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

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