Quatorze Juillet -
"... upon the immortal 14th 0f July, 1789, a day which gave new life to man, the pillars of superstition were shaken by the capture of the Bastille, and the thunderbolt of reason hurled despotism from its throne." Citizen Robert Watson
(Quoted by Graham Bain in his biography of Watson)
Virtually the same entry as I posted last year, but it bears repeating, I think.
A little historical aside on the Irish diaspora and the storming of the Bastille. I've read several times that an Irishman led the popular assault on the prison, but the name keeps changing. I've developed a theory that several Irishmen took part in the act, and all placed themselves at the head of the force as they told it later.
Another Irish exile who played a role in this historic event was one of the seven released prisoners, James Whyte, Comte de Malleville, a veteran of the Irish Brigades in the French Army. He was found to be barking mad,and was soon confined to the Charenton Asylum.
Robert Watson, quoted above, was a Scottish Jacobin, also exiled in Paris, and a welcome guest at the St. Patrick's Day celebrations of the Paris-based United Irishmen.
(More in the article linked below)
5 comments:
"...a day which gave new life to man, the pillars of superstition were shaken by the capture of the Bastille."
I don't think so. A sadistic orgy of violence followed. New oppressors and superstitions replaced the old.
"A sadistic orgy of violence" - the first? The last?
Wasn't your country built on the corpses of whole nations?
I was responding specifically to the quote and its romantic notions about the storming of the Bastille. There is nothing in my comment that could possibly be construed as implying: 1)The violence of the French Revolution had never before or since been equaled or surpassed... or 2.)The United States was a shining city upon a hill without the stain of violence as it grew and expanded. So, I really do not see the point of your questions, Jemmy.
It was a spontaneous assault on a symbol of autocracy and oppression. It was a signal that the claim to rule by divine right was no longer going to pass unquestioned. It was the moment when the ideas of the enlightenment were backed by a force of volunteers.
The subsequent invasions of Republican France by the armies of Emperors and Kings, determined to eradicate this threat to their previously unquestioned power led to a paranoia among the leaders of the revolution that resulted in the"sadistic orgy of violence". All too predictable, and oft repeated.
I should have written above that the claim to rule by divine right was no longer going to pass unchallenged. The questioning had occurred.
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