Europe Reacts to the French Revolution and Napoleon, 1789-1815

Evaluate the extent to which reactions to the French Revolution and Napoleon in the rest of Europe changed in the period 1789 to 1815.

Edmund Burke, an Irish-born member of the British Parliament from the Whig party, Reflections on the Revolution in France, 1790

The science of constructing a commonwealth, or renovating it, or reforming it, is, like every other experimental science, not to be taught a priori. . . . The science of government being, therefore, so practical in itself, and intended for such practical purposes, a matter which requires experience, and even more experience than any person can gain in his whole life, however sagacious and observing he may be, it is with infinite caution that any man ought to venture upon pulling down an edifice which has answered in any tolerable degree for ages the common purposes of society, or on building it up again without having models and patterns of approved utility before his eyes.

Emperor Leopold II of Austria, brother of the French queen Marie Antoinette, and King Frederick William II of Prussia, joint declaration at Pillnitz in Saxony, August 1791

His Majesty the Emperor and his Majesty the king of Prussia, having given attention to the wishes and representations of Monsieur [the brother of the king of France], and of Monsieur le Comte d'Artois, jointly declare that they regard the present situation of his Majesty the king of France as a matter of common interest to all the sovereigns of Europe. . . . In that case their said majesties the emperor and the king of Prussia are resolved to act promptly and in common accord with the forces necessary to obtain the desired common end. In the meantime they will give such orders to their troops as are necessary in order that these may be ready to be called into active service.

Mary Wollstonecraft, an English writer, dedication of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman to Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand, a member of France's revolutionary assembly who had proposed a plan for national education, 1792

If the abstract rights of man will bear discussion and explanation, those of woman, by a parity of reasoning, will not shrink from the same test . . . . Consider, I address you as a legislator, whether, when men contend for their freedom, and to be allowed to judge for themselves, respecting their own happiness, it be not inconsistent and unjust to subjugate women, even though you firmly believe that you are acting in the manner best calculated to promote their happiness? Who made man the exclusive judge, if woman partake with him the gift of reason?

London Corresponding Society, a club for the reform of Parliament founded by the shoemaker Thomas Hardy, whose members were mostly artisans and shopkeepers, address to France's National Convention, September 1792

Frowned upon by an oppressive system of controul, whose gradual, but continued encroachments, have deprived this nation of nearly all its boasted liberty, and brought us almost to that abject state of slavery, from which you have so emerged, 5,000 British citizens, indignant, manfully step forth to rescue their country from the opprobrium brought upon it by the supine conduct of those in power. . . . Men now ask each other. What is freedom? What are our rights? Frenchmen, you are already free, and Britons are preparing to become so. . . . Seeking our real enemies, we find them in our bosoms, we feel ourselves inwardly torn by, and ever the victims of a restless, all consuming aristocracy, hitherto the bane of every nation under the sun! Wisely have you acted in expelling it from France.

Johann Gottlieb Fichte, a German philosopher, Addresses to the German Nation, lectures given in Berlin while French troops occupied the city, 1807-1808

To begin with and before all things: the first, original, and truly natural boundaries of States are beyond doubt their internal boundaries. Those who speak the same language are joined to each other by a multitude of invisible bonds by nature herself, long before any human art begins; they understand each other and have the power of continuing to make themselves understood more and more clearly; they belong together and are by nature one and an inseparable whole. . . . it is not because men dwell between certain mountains and rivers that they are a people, but, on the contrary, men dwell together . . . because they were a people already by a law of nature which is much higher.

Supreme Junta of Seville, a council of local officials and leading townspeople formed in revolt against French control of Spain after Napoleon forced the Spanish king to give up his throne, proclamation, 1808

The king, to whom we all swore allegiance with emotions of joy, unprecedented in history, has been decoyed from us. The fundamental laws of our monarchy are trampled under foot; our property, our customs, our wives - all which the nation holds most dear, is threatened with imminent danger. Our holy religion, our only hope, is doomed to perdition, or will be reduced to mere external appearances, without support and without protection. And all this is done by a foreign power, not by dint of arms, but by deceit and treachery . . . . this supreme council of government was formed, invested with all necessary powers, and charged to defend the country, the religion, the laws, and the king.

King Frederick William III of Prussia, proclamation "To My People" calling his subjects to war against Napoleon, Breslau, March 1813

Brandenburgers, Prussians, Silesians, Pomeranians, Lithuanians! You know what you have borne for the past seven years; you know the sad fate that awaits you if we do not bring this war to an honorable end. . . . Look at the great example of our powerful allies, the Russians; look at the Spaniards, the Portuguese. . . . Great sacrifices will be demanded from every class of the people . . . . But would you not rather make these sacrifices for the fatherland and for your own rightful king than for a foreign ruler, who, as he has shown by many examples, will use you and your sons and your uttermost farthing for ends which are nothing to you?