Page 1407 - les-miserables

and on the alert; it is the accomplished fact which posts sen-
tinels and holds itself on its guard.
The halt presupposes the combat of yesterday and the
combat of to-morrow.
It is the partition between 1830 and 1848.
What we here call combat may also be designated as
progress.
The bourgeoisie then, as well as the statesmen, required a
man who should express this word Halt. An Although-Be-
cause. A composite individuality, signifying revolution and
signifying stability, in other terms, strengthening the pres-
ent by the evident compatibility of the past with the future.
This man was ‘already found.’ His name was Louis
Philippe d’Orleans.
The 221 made Louis Philippe King. Lafayette undertook
the coronation.
He called it the best of republics. The town-hall of Paris
took the place of the Cathedral of Rheims.
This substitution of a half-throne for a whole throne was
‘the work of 1830.’
When the skilful had finished, the immense vice of their
solution became apparent. All this had been accomplished
outside the bounds of absolute right. Absolute right cried: ‘I
protest!’ then, terrible to say, it retired into the darkness.

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