C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Halting Steps toward Democracy
By Alfred Rambaud (1842–1905)
From the ‘History of Civilization in France’
N
APOLEON, as First Consul and Emperor, modeled his court on that of former kings, and endeavored to give good manners to his officers and their wives, and to attract the members of the old noblesse; saying, “They alone know how to serve.” The revolution of 1848 gave back to the popular classes their rights and power; but the impatience of the workmen and the apathy of the peasants let a new Cæsar rise, who treated democracy and universal suffrage as children. To-day they are full-grown men. Among the nations of Europe, France stands alone as being the sole important State at once democratic, republican, and with universal suffrage.
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