Page 43 - History 2020

Macaulay’s Whig Interpretation of History, it was a story that could persuade the

people, or enough of the people, that it was true. The cult of stability became our
national narrative.

Now we can see why, to the British, the 1688 Revolution was “Glorious” and the 1832
Reform Act “Great”; it was because they changed so little; they were merely the
minimum concessions needed at the time to keep the possessing and ruling classes
secure in their power and property. 1832 did not, as Wellington feared, destroy the
British monarchy and its constitution; when the first parliament met to be elected

under the new rules of the 1832 Reform Act, the worst thing he could find to say
about it was, “I never saw so many shocking bad hats in my life.”

The quality that the British were encouraged to admire most was stability. But were
they right? There is certainly merit in believing that we should be sceptical of
revolutions. “Revolutions never keep their promises,” said historian Theodore Zeldin.
They are by nature unpredictable. Things can get out of control. Modern history

shows that revolutions devour the innocent as well as the guilty.

Burke had claimed, through his theory of “virtual representation”, that even without
a vote, people could be represented in parliament. Britain’s unwritten constitution is
also in a sense virtual. Sometimes, although it is not the British way, maybe a
revolutionary shake-up is what is needed, to turn the virtual into the real. Progress, if
such a thing exists, may need more than “law-abiding moderation”.

We can test this theory looking at France’s Story of Revolution and comparing it to
Britain’s, which we will do in Part Two. These three sessions will focus on:

• The Enlightenment, a revolution in ideas which involved French thinkers
• The French Revolution of 1789, the classic template of modern political

revolution
• Napoleon Bonaparte, who it could be said embodied the Enlightenment, or the
French Revolution, or both, or neither.

We’ll also compare London and Paris to reveal some interesting contrasts.