Adams J.T. Empire on the Seven Seas. The British Empire 1784-1939
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THE
UPHEAVAL
IN
FRANCE
Pitt,
had
appealed
to
reactionary
sentiment with his
philosophy,
Paine was
unwittingly
even
more
instrumental
in
fostering
it
by
his
republicanism.
He
did
not
realize
how
deeply
rooted
was
the
British
attachment to
their
institutions,
even
though
many
called
loudly
for
reform.
The
war of
pamphlets,
not
only
the
above-named,
but
many
more,
set men
of
all
classes
thinking,
but
unfortunately
it
also
drowned them
in
the
passions
of fear
and hatred. These
were
largely
directed
against
all
who desired
change
of
any
kind,
the
reformers
of
all
sorts,
the
Dissenters,
the
nascent labor
leaders,
and
others.
In
1791
a
mob
in
Birmingham
sacked
the
house of
the
noted
scientist,
Joseph
Priestley,
because
he was
a
Unitarian,
had
worked for the
repeal
of the
religious
Test
Acts,
for Parliamen-
tary
Reform,
and had
approved
the
early
stage
of
the French
movement,
though
he
was neither
a
radical
nor
a
Republican.
The
rioters
continued
to
destroy
other
homes of
Dissenters and
also
Dis-
senting
chapels.
Fox
and his
minority
of
Whigs,
who refused
to
go
over
like
Burke,
to
the
Tories,
kept
their
heads but had
no
power.
Both
government
and
the
nation
in
general
abandoned
themselves
to
panic
and
repression.
These were
increased
by
the
rapid
movement
of
events
in
France.
Many
French
nobles had fled over
the
borders,
and
in
1
792
the
National
Assembly,
then
under
control
of
the
Girondists,
declared
war
against
Austria
and
Prussia.
In
September
a
Paris
mob
stormed the
prisons
and
massacred
many
of the
prisoners,
while
a
little
later the
French
Convention,
then
in
power,
con-
demned
the
King
to
death.
The French
arms had
been
successful,
and the Convention
had also offered
its
help
to
all
nations
to
de-
stroy
feudal
rights
and
proclaim
the
sovereignty
of
the
people.
When on
January
21,
1793,
the head of
Louis
was severed
by
the
guillotine,
a
thrill of horror and fear of the
overturn
of
all
civ-
ilized
society
ran over
the
countries
of
Europe,
With
the
execu-
tion
of
the
Queen
in October
began
the hideous
Reign
of
Terror
which
lasted for seven
months until
Robespierre
himself
went
to
the
scaffold.
Meanwhile
a
minor
reign
of
terror,
cruel
but
not
bloody,
had
25
EMPIRE
ON
THE
SEVEN
SEAS
been
carried
on
in Scotland
and
England.
Trials
for
sedition
were
held
in the
former
country,
under the brutal
judge,
Lord Brax-
field,
of
people
whose
only
crime
had
been that
of
membership
in
societies
for
the
reform
of
Parliamentary representation.
A
young
lawyer,
Thomas
Muir,
was
sentenced to
fourteen
years
7
transpor-
tation
5
Thomas
Palmer,
a
Unitarian
minister,
to
seven;
and
sev-
eral
others
to
fourteen
each.
The
fifty
or
more
organizations
for
Parliamentary
reform
were
totally
and
ruthlessly
crushed
out
of
existence.
In
England,
in
1792,
an
organization
called
"Friends
of the
People"
had
been
formed
by
the
then
Charles
Grey,
who in
1832
as
Lord
Grey
and
Prime
Minister was
to
carry
the
great
Reform
Bill.
Charles
Fox had the
courage
to
join
him,
ruining
his
own
career
in
his
lifetime
but
winning
his
highest place
in
history.
With
him
went
what
was left of the
Whig
Party,
and
thus was founded
what
was
later to
be
the
Whig-Liberal
Party
of
the
next
gen-
eration.
Repudiating
Paine
and
his
doctrines,
they
continued
to
stand
for
the reform of
Parliament,
forlorn
as
the
hope
was.
Al-
though
hated
by
government,
most of
their
own
class,
and
much
of
the
nation,
the
"Foxites" from their
position
could
escape
perse-
cution
where
lesser
folk
could not.
In the
middle
cksSS,
Major
Cartwright,
Home Tooke
and
others
revived
the moribund
"Society
for Constitutional
Information,"
and,
in 1
792,
a London
shoemaker,
Thomas
Hardy,
organized
the
first
distinctively
labor-class
political
organization,
called
the
"Lon-
don
Corresponding
Society"
and
made
up
of
skilled
workmen.
It
was
organized
to secure
reform,
including
universal
suffrage
and
annual
Parliaments,
and
was
chiefly
educational,
disavowing
any
illegal
or
violent actions* The two
societies were
in
touch
with
one
another,
and
the movement
quickly spread
throughout
England.
The
government
pretended,
and
perhaps
believed,
that
prepara-
tions
were
being
made
for
a
general
uprising
and threw
Tooke,
Hardy
and
some of
the other
leaders into
jail.
Although
the
jury
refused to
convict,
the
societies
were
practically
destroyed
because
some
of
the leaders
were
lost
to
them,
and
most
of
the
members
were
sufficiently
frightened
to cease
their
active
connections.
26
THE
UPHEAVAL IN FRANCE
In
1794
Pitt
secured
the
suspension
of habeas
corpus,
and in
the
following
year
the
people
had
an
opportunity
to
express
their
anger.
As the
King
drove
in
his
coach
to
open
Parliament
the
starv-
ing
crowds
cried
"No
Pitt!
No
War!
Bread!
Bread!
Peace!
Peace!
",
and a
stone
was
thrown at
the
window
of the
royal
coach.
The
episode
was
magnified
by
Pitt
and the
reactionaries,
and
the
Prime
Minister
forced
through
Parliament
two
bills,
which
it was
said
his
father would
have
cut
off
his
right
hand
sooner
than
sign.
One
of
these declared that the
writing
or
speaking
against
the
King's
authority
was
treason,
and
even
the
stirring
up
of
hatred
against
the
government
or
constitution
was
a
misdemeanor.
The
other
forbade
all
public
meetings
unless advertised
in
advance
and
gave
the
right
to
any
two
justices
of
the
peace
to
disperse
them
when
held,
if
considered
dangerous.
In
the
debates on the
bills
the remark which
had
perhaps
the
most
influence
and
most
deeply
stirred resentment
was
that
of the
Bishop
of
Rochester,
who
said
"he
did
not know
what
the
mass
of
the
people
in
any country
had
to
do with
the
laws
but to
obey
them."
Grey,
however,
opposed
the
legislation
with
all
his
power,
and Fox remarked that
a
man
could now be
sent
to
Botany
Bay
if
he
suggested
that
Manchester
ought
to
have
as
many
represen-
tatives
in
Parliament as
Old
Sarum.
When
the bills
passed, open
political
discussion died
and
fear
bound
all
men's
tongues.
It
may
be
noted
that
panic
was
general
not
in
England
alone,
and
the
above
two
bills
remind an.
American
of the Alien
and Sedition
Acts
passed
by
Congress
in
1798.
If
the
Congress
of
republican
America
could
be thus
terrified,
it
is
not
strange
that the
wealthy
and
con-
servative
in
England, speaking
almost under their
breath
of the
anarchy
only
a
few
miles from
them
over
the
Channel,
should
have
felt that
the
end
of their own
comfortable
world
might
be
at
hand.
Parliament
had their
support,
and
in
1799
further
declared
that
all
national
associations
with
branches
or
corresponding
with
local
associations were
illegal.
The
following
year
it
suppressed
all
forms
of
Trade
Unionism.
Thus
almost
at
the
beginning
of
the
industrial
revolution
and
of
the
twenty years
of the
greatest
armed
struggle
in
Europe
until
27
EMPIRE
ON
THE SEVEN
SEAS
the
World
War,
with
the
ensuing
alteration
of
social
and economic
conditions,
both
the
middle
and
working
classes were
estopped
from
securing
the
desired
representation
in Parliament or
from
improv-
ing
their
condition
through
voluntary
organization.
The
result
was
to
bring
on
the
people
misery
and
suffering
which
might
other-
wise
have
been
minimized
and
to
lessen in
time
the
old
solidarity
of
classes.
III.
WAR
WITH FRANCE
Pitt had
desired
a
policy
of
peace
with
France,
although
he
had
remonstrated
when
the
French
threatened
to
invade the
Dutch
Netherlands,
England
having
always
refused
to
allow the
coasts
of
the
Low
Countries to
be
under
control
of
any
great power.
France,
having
determined
on
the
invasion and
having already
had
a
taste
of that
military
success
which
was
to
be
her
ruin
for
a
cen-
tury
or
so,
settled Pitt's
policy
for him
by
declaring
war
on
both
Holland
and Great Britain
in
1793.
Pitt
had
little
of his
father's
genius
for
conducting
war
on
the
grand
scale
and
also
failed to
realize
that
this
was
the
first war
not
between
governments
but
peoples-
The
French
government
was
weak,
bankrupt
and
inefficient,
but the
people
were
inspired
by
their
new dream
of
liberty
and
equality
for
those of
all
nations.
The
heady
doctrine to
an
unforeseen
extent
offset,
for the
French
themselves
and
as
propaganda
in
other
countries,
the lack
of
the
money,
resources
and
strong
centralized
government
which
Pitt
ex-
pected
would
ruin
them in
a
couple
of
campaigns.
The
war,
how-
ever,
which
passed
through
four
phases
might
have
destroyed
France
and
long
delayed
the
coming
of
democracy
and
nationalism,
had
it
been
properly planned
and
conducted.
For
the
first
two
years
of
the
struggle
Britain
had
as allies
Prussia,
Austria,
Spain,
and
Piedmont,
Had
they
struck
with all
their
force
directly
at
Paris
against
the
undisciplined
troops
of
their
enemy,
they
might
well
have
conquered
and
stamped
out the
revolution.
The failure
to
do
so
altered
the
history
of
the
entire world
and,
for
better and
worse,
began
the
unrolling
of
that scroll
of
fate
which we are
today
en-
deavoring
to
decipher
in terror for
the future.
28
WAR
WITH
FRANCE
Pitt
determined
to
follow
the
lines laid
down
by
his
father,
send-
ing
few
troops
to the
Continent,
subsidizing
his
allies,
and
trusting
to
the
navy.
He
did
not,
however,
carry
it out
completely
or with
success.
The
army
was
honeycombed
with official
rottenness,
and
the
force
which
was
sent to
Flanders
under
the
Duke
of
York
was
defeated.
In
addition
Pitt
sent
so
large
a
force
to
the
West
Indies
that in
three
years,
owing
to the
climate,
disease
and
improper
medical
treatment
and
commissariat,
80,000
were
dead
or
rendered
unfit
for
service.
This
ill-designed
if not
fatal
move was
due
in
part
to
his
wish to
save
the
settlers
there from the horrors
of slave
up-
risings
but
also
to the
desire
to
capture
additional
islands
to
recoup
the
British
taxpayer
for
the cost of the war.
In
the
latter
respect,
at
least,
it
was
a
short-sighted
policy,
for
the
capture
of
Paris
might
have saved the
cost
of
twenty years
of
war
instead
of two or three.
As for
the
allies,
the
huge
sums
given
to Prussia
in
particular
were
largely spent
in
conquering
Poland instead of
France,
the
former
country
being
divided
among
Prussia,
Austria
and
Russia with
no
gain
to the
British
or
loss
to the French.
Prussia
withdrew
to
enjoy
her new
possessions,
and
by
1796
only
Britain
and Austria
were
left
in
the
coalition to
fight
the
real
enemy.
So
liberally
had Pitt
handed
money
to
his
allies
4,000,000
to
Austria
alone
in
1796
that even
English
resources
were
strained
to
the extent
that
the
following
year
the Bank
of
England
had
to
suspend
gold
payments,
remaining
on a
paper
basis
for the
next
twenty-four
years.
In
large degree
it
was the new
wealth
from
trade,
markets
and
manufactures that
carried
Britain
through.
So
disappointing,
however,
had
been
the results of the
contest
that
Pitt
actually
sued
for
peace,
provided
that
France
would
give
up
her
conquests
in
the Austrian
Netherlands
and in
Italy.
Meanwhile
France
had
secured
the
necessary
time
to
reorganize
her
army
under
Carnot,
and
the
rising
genius
of
Napoleon
was
beginning
to
shine. The
answer to
England
was
the
attempted
invasion
of
Ireland
by
20,000
French
troops,
which
was
only
prevented
by
the
storm
winds
over the
Channel,
which have
so often saved
England
at
moments
of
crisis
but
which
in our
own
day
no
longer
afford
their
boisterous
protection.
29
EMPIRE
ON
THE SEVEN
SEAS
The
year
1797
was
one of
almost
unalloyed
gloom.
Not
only
had
the Bank of
England
suspended gold
payments,
but
Spain
and
Holland had become
allies
of France while Austria
had
made
her
peace.
In view
of
the threat
of
a
combined
naval
attack
against
England,
Admiral
Sir
John
Jervis
decided
to
anticipate
it
by
one
on
the
Spanish
Fleet
off
Cape
St.
Vincent in which
a decisive
vic-
tory
was
won,
largely
by
the
genius
and
intrepidity
of
Nelson,
who
turned
a
possible
defeat into
victory by disobeying
orders. This
vic-
tory,
the
one
bright spot
in
the
operations
of
the
year,
which was
darkened
also
by
the
conditions
in
Ireland
to
which
we shall
refer
later,
was
followed
by
mutinies in
the fleets at
Spithead
and
on the
ships
stationed
to
guard
the entrance
to
the
Thames
at
the
Nore.
Again
Pitt offered to
make
terms
with the
French,
even
agreeing
to
Austrian
cession
of
her
Netherland
provinces
and
to
the transfer
to
France
of
some of the British West India Islands. On her
re-
fusal,
Britain found
herself
facing
the world
alone.
Meanwhile,
Napoleon
had become
the
military
leader
of
France,
and was
indulging
in
his first
great
romantic
fantasy,
which,
like
his
later
one
of
conquering
Russia,
was
to
prove
almost a fatal
failure.
The French had
tried to strike a
blow
at
England
by way
of
disaf-
fected
Ireland,
which
was a
reasonable
enough
plan,
but
now
Na-
poleon,
with
the
dream
of Oriental
conquest,
which has
lured
so
many
from Alexander
the
Great to the
Germans
in our
own cen-
tury,
decided to
pass
by
way
of
conquest
of
Egypt
to India
to
take
advantage
of the situation
there,
which
we shall
mention in
the
next
chapter.
In
spite
of the almost
impossible
odds
against
Britain,
Pitt
had
determined
again
to send a
fleet into
the
Mediterranean,
which
France
was
threatening
to
make
a French
"lake."
With Lord
Spen-
cer,
who
was at the
head
of the
Admiralty,
he
chose,
by
stroke of
luck
or
ability
in
sizing up
men,
one
of
the
youngest
flag-officers
in the
service,
the
young
Horatio
Nelson,
to
hold
the
Mediter-
ranean
open*
Part
of the
Spanish
fleet
was still
afloat,
and the
French
fleet was
supposed
to
be in Toulon-
There
was
danger
in
the
enterprise
and
meanwhile
Napoleon
had
sailed
with
his
army.
Nelson
cruised,
uncertain
where
to
find
his
enemy,
and
did
not
do
30
WAR
WITH
FRANCE
so until
Napoleon
had
landed
safely
and
conquered
the
lower
part
of
Egypt.
Then
the
British Commander
found the
French
fleet
anchored
in
Aboukir
Bay,
but it was so near
dusk
that
it was
un-
certain whether
light
would
last
for
the lines to
form.
The
fleet
was
anchored
rather close to
shore,
and
Nelson
had
no
good
chart
of
the
harbor.
However,
he was
prepared,
though
he moved
with
caution,
having
that
rare
ability
to
realize that
"five
minutes are at
once
the
most
important
and
the
least
important
of
considerations."
Before
morning practically
the
entire
French
fleet
had
been
destroyed
or
captured,
in what
the
leading
naval
authority
in the world has
called
"unquestionably
the most
nearly
complete
and
derisive
(victory)
ever
gained
by
a
British
fleet."
1
The
details
of
the
battle
belong
to the
specialist,
but we
may
note a
few
points.
In
spite
of
the
harsh
and often
inhumane
treat-
ment of
the
so-called
"lower
classes,"
and,
notably
in
the
eigh-
teenth
century,
the
gross corruption
in
government,
the
British
Em-
pire
has been
built
up
and
saved,
bit
by
bit and
over
and
over
again,
by
the
dogged
courage
and
patriotism
of
the
ordinary
man and the
brilliant
leadership
of the
extraordinary
one. Nelson was
one
of
the
latter,
but
he
was sincere in the
general
order of
thanks
he
issued the
day
after
the
battle
in
expressing
appreciation
and
grati-
tude to the
men
of
every
rank,
mentioned
by
name,
in
his
ships.
His men
had
both the
deepest respect
and
affection
for
him,
as
he
had
also for them.
He
had
been
severely
wounded in the
fight,
by
a
flying
piece
of
iron which cut
the
skin and flesh
off
his
forehead
so
it
hung
down
over his
face,
covering
his
one
good
eye,
but al-
though
he
thought
he
had
been
mortally
wounded,
he
refused
any
aid
from
the
surgeon
until those
waiting
ahead
of him
had had
their
turn
first.
Genuinely
religious,
he ordered
a
service
of thanks-
giving
to be held
the
morning
after the
victory,
on the
blood-
stained
decks
and
amid the confusion
of
damage
on
his
flagship.
Six
hundred men
took
part,
and
it is said that
the
French
prisoners
on
board
were
deeply impressed,
not
by
the
service but
by
the
quiet
discipline
displayed
by
all,
and,
as
Admiral
Mahan
has
pointed
out,
nothing
could
have
been
better
calculated to "facilitate
the
transfer
1
Admiral
A.
T.
Mahan,
The
Life of
Nelson,
1897,
Vol.
I,
p, 361.
31
EMPIRE
ON
THE
SEVEN SEAS
from
the
excitement
of
battle
to
the
resumption
of
daily
life."
It
is
an incident
and
a
trait
worth
noting
for
our
story*
The
news
of
Nelson's
victory
took two
months
to
reach
London,
but
its effect
was
far-reaching.
Not
only
was new
spirit
infused
into
the
British
people
and
government
but Austria
and Russia
joined
Britain
in
a
new coalition
against
France,
and the
Austrians soon
drove
a
French
army
across
the
Rhine and defeated others in two
great
battles
in
Italy.
Napoleon,
meanwhile,
had
continued his cam-
paign
into
Syria
in
spite
of the loss of
his
fleet,
but
having
learned
of
the
changed
situation
in
Europe,
he
returned
to
Egypt,
aban-
doned
his
army,
and succeeded
in
reaching
France,
almost alone.
The
French were
not
merely
discouraged
by
military
disaster
but
were
also
tired
of the disorder
and
anarchy
which the Direc-
tory
had
shown itself
incapable
of
controlling.
The revolution
had
been
accomplished
but
without
the
replacing
of
the
old
government
by
any
strong
and
efficient
new
one. The situation
was
ripe
for
a
dictator,
and
Napoleon
met with
practically
no
opposition
when he
declared
himself
First Consul
and
took
all
power
into
his
own
hands.
The overturn
of the
old
regime
in
1789
had
been
justified,
but
the
French
had tried
to
sever the
new
society
wholly
from the
old
by
a
river
of
blood.
As
we
have
pointed
out,
no
such
complete
severance
is
possible,
and
France and
the world rere
to
pay
the
penalty
for
the renewed
experiment
France
needed
a
master
and
had
found
him.
He
was
more than
merely
one
of the
greatest
military
geniuses
of
all
time.
He was
also
an
organizer
of the
first
rank,
and
was
to
reorganize
French
law,
government
and
society
into the formr
which,
fundamentally,
they
have
ever
since
retained.
In view
of the
interest
and
ability
which
he showed in such
tasks,
the
year
1799
offers
one of the
fas-
cinating
"ifs"
in
history,
for
one of
his first acts
after
assuming
supreme
power
was to
offer
peace
to
England,
which
was
refused
with scorn.
As
after the
ensuing military
operations,
which
included
the
almost
immediate
reconqucst
of
Italy
and
the
great victory
of
Hohenlinden,
he
carried out no
great
military
operations
outside
the
frontiers
of
the
enlarged
France
for five
years,
it
might
have
been
that he would
have
devoted himself to
the
consolidation
of
32
WAR
WITH FRANCE
his
own
power
and
that
of
France
inside
her
new
boundaries,
though
such is
not
the
way
of
dictators. In
any
case,
he
had
de-
stroyed
the
second
coalition,
and
Austria and
Russia
retired
to
leave
Britain
again
alone.
She
was
worse
than
alone,
for
Napoleon's diplomacy,
added
to
the
ambitions
and
vagaries
of
the
madman,
Paul,
who
was
Czar
of
Russia,
built
up
an
alliance
against
England
of
Russia,
Prussia,
Sweden and
Denmark
in a
League
of
Armed
Neutrality.
Although
each
country
had
its
separate
motives
and
ambitions,
the
ostensible
object
of
the
League
was to
protest
by
force
of arms
against
the
claim of
England
to
search
neutral
vessels for
contraband.
The
peculiar
nature
of
the
British
Empire
as
one scattered
overseas,
as
well
as
her
preference
to
fight
on sea
rather than
on
land,
has
always
brought
this
question
to the fore
when
England
has
been
hard
pressed.
Never
finally
settled,
it was
temporarily
determined
in
this
case
when
Nelson,
second
in command
under
the
incom-
petent
Admiral
Sir
Hyde
Parker,
captured
the Danish fleet
in
spite
of the
protection
of the
guns
of
Copenhagen. Although
these
were
finally
silenced
by
Nelson's
ships,
it
was
against
the orders
of the
timorous
Parker,
who
had
signalled
to
Nelson
to
withdraw,
and
it
was
on
this
occasion that
the well-known
incident
occurred
of Nel-
son
putting
his
telescope
to
his
blind
eye
and
declaring
that
he
could
see
no
signal flying.
Meanwhile,
owing
to events
in
Ireland,
Pitt had
been
forced to
resign
in
1801,
and the mediocre
Henry
Addington
had become
Prime
Minister.
A
year
later
he
succeeded
in
signing
the
peace
treaty
with
France which
the
people
had
long
demanded.
Pitt's
policies,
in
spite
of
the
genius
of
Nelson,
had led
nowhere
and
there
seemed
no
prospect
of
being
able
to force
France to
change
her
government,
restore the
Bourbons,
or
give
up
her
conquests.
On
the
other
hand,
by
the
Treaty
of
Amiens,
1
802,
Britain
relin-
quished
her
own
recent
acquisitions
beyond
the
seas,
including
the
Cape
of
Good
Hope
to
the
Dutch,
but
excluding
Ceylon
and
Trinidad,
and
also
consented
to
restore
Malta to
the
Knights
if
there
should
be a
guarantee
by
the
Great
Powers.
Although
she
had
defeated
the French
in
Egypt,
she
made
no
effort
to
maintain
33
EMPIRE
ON
THE
SEVEN
SEAS
even
a
sphere
of
influence
there,
as
that
country
had
as
yet
no
im-
portance
as
a
sea-way
to
India.
All traffic
to
the
Far
East rounded
the
Cape,
and
the
yielding
up
of
that
conquest
was
of far more
sig-
nificance
than
the
ignoring
of
Egypt.
Thus
ended,
ingloriously,
the first
war with France
of
this
pe-
riod.
Britain,
proud
of her own
freedom,
had
been
allied
with
the
despots,
who
had
preferred
their
own
selfish
purposes
to
the
success
of
the
general
cause.
That
cause had
been
obscured
by
the
excesses
of the
French,
who
had
given
themselves
over
to crime
in
the
name
of
liberty.
On
the
other
hand,
the
Revolution and
subsequent
events,
in-
cluding
the
Napoleonic
wars,
were
to
write
indelibly
across Eu-
rope
the idea
of
"peoples"
instead
of
"governments,"
and that
idea,
although
it
was to
foster those
of
freedom
and
nationality,
was
to
eventuate in
what
we have
to contend with
today,
nationality
based
on
force,
fed
by
force,
and
sucking
the
lifcblood
of
citizens
by
force.
The
English
and
American revolutions
hewed close to
the lines
of
precedent
and
human
nature,
and,
in
spite
of the
faults
of
both
the
Empire
and
the
United
States,
individual
freedom
and
self-government
have
developed
and
been
maintained.
Yet one
cannot
write
up
a
balance
sheet
of
history
and
humanity
as of
a
business
concern.
If
the
Revolution
was
followed
by
a
period
of
reaction and arrested
reform,
it nevertheless marked
the
end
of
an
era of
many
abuses.
The
claim
has been made
that for
Eu-
rope
it
was
more
important
than
the
English
Revolution
of
1688
or the
American
of
1776.
At
any
rate,
it
marked
the doom
of class
and
privilege
and
was
to
prepare
in
time
for
the turn
to
democracy.
On
the
other
hand,
it
was
also to
prepare
the
world,
only
a
cen-
tury
or
so
later,
for the
philosophy
of
the
conquering
State,
of
totalitarianism
and
of
the
dictatorships
with their
Napoleonic
dreams of
conquest.
If
today
the world
is in
the
throes
of
a
deadly
struggle
between
democracy
and
tyranny,
the
seeds of
both
were
largely
sown
in
the
French
Revolution
and the
Napoleonic
wars.
34