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A Time of Revolution



“Liberty, equality, brotherhood”—the ideals that spurred the French Revolutionfound an answering echo in the hearts of many of England’sfinest romantic poets and novelists. In the heady early years of France’srevolution, writers such as William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge,and William Blakesaw it as a turning point in the historyof humankind, a move toward a more ideal and civilized society. WilliamBlake summed up his hopes for those struggling under oppression inthese lines from his poem “The French Revolution”:

Then the valleys of France shall cry to the soldier,

‘Throw down thy sword and musket,

And run and embrace the meek peasant.’

Her Nobles shall hear and shall weep, and put off

The red robe of terror, the crown of oppression,

The shoes of contempt, and unbuckle

The girdle of war from the desolate earth.

England’s Ties to RevolutionGeorge III, later called by the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley“an old, mad, blind, despised, and dying king,” ruled England during the years of the American and French revolutions. Many blamed the loss of the American colonies chiefly on George’s inflexible and unsympathetic attitude toward the colonists.

George III was not a particularly capable king, and he was bewildered by the unprecedented political events taking place in America and France. In 1788, the year before the French Revolution began, he suffered a major attack of mental illnesses, and in 1811 he was declared permanently insane. His son George ruled as prince regent until the king’s death in 1820.

Initially, many English citizens felt sympathy for the French Revolution. William Wordsworth, who had traveled to revolutionary France as a young man, recalled those exciting times: “Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, / But to be young was very heaven!” However, when the moderate revolutionary party lost power to a radical and violent faction, English sympathy began to dissipate, and romantic writers turned elsewhere for inspiration. During the Reign of Terror,radicals massacred and persecuted thousands of French aristocrats and middle-class citizens, to the horror of the English people who were all too aware of the restless laboring masses in their own country and the social ills afflicting their own lower class.

Resisting ReformAt this time in England, there were indeed many social ills afflicting society. The new industrial centers in the north and west had no representation in Parliament, and archaic laws denied rights to many religious groups. The nation’s growing cities suffered from crime and poor sanitation, among other problems. The criminal justice system offered harsh penalties—for example, people were hanged for theft and thrown into prison for debt. In addition, Britain’s overseas empire faced a host of troubles, from corruption in India to the evils of the slave trade.

Yet for nearly 25 years, all efforts at reform were suppressed because of the fear that reform would lead to anarchy, as it had in France. Wary of revolution or a French invasion, Britain grew increasingly conservative, passing laws restricting the right to public assembly and outlawing writing or speech that was critical of the government.

War with France

Fear of InvasionWhen France invaded the Netherlands in 1793, Britain entered into a war with France that would ultimately last for more than 25 years. To complicate matters, near the end of the century rebellious Irishmen, encouraged by the promise of French assistance, rose up against their British-controlled rulers. Though this rebellion was quelled after poor weather prevented a major French landing, the threat of a French invasion of Britain by way of Ireland remained. Hoping to ease the situation, the Tory prime minister William Pitt(son of the William Pitt who had led Britain in the Seven Years’ War) persuaded Parliament to pass the Act of Unionin 1800. Ireland would be represented in the British Parliament, and all the British Isles would be joined as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

The Napoleonic WarsMeanwhile, the brilliant general Napoleon Bonapartehad taken over France’s government. Abandoning democratic principles, he made himself emperor and, through clever military and political maneuvers, established control over much of continental Europe. Britain was continually threatened with invasion until the British fleet, under Horatio Nelson,destroyed the French navy at the Battle of Trafalgarin 1805. After that, Britain gradually liberated the Iberian peninsula (Portugal and Spain) from Napoleon’s grip. In 1812, Napoleon overextended himself by invading Russia, where he lost many troops to the cold. Meanwhile, British forces were closing in on France from the south. After two more years of battles, Napoleon was finally captured and exiled to the island of Elba, and victorious diplomats met to decide Europe’s fate at the Congress of Vienna.Napoleon escaped and returned to power, but shortly thereafter met final defeat at the Battle of Waterlooin 1815.

 







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