François Guizot
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François Pierre Guillaume Guizot (; 4 October 1787 – 12 September 1874) was a French
historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...
,
orator An orator, or oratist, is a public speaker, especially one who is eloquent or skilled. Etymology Recorded in English c. 1374, with a meaning of "one who pleads or argues for a cause", from Anglo-French ''oratour'', Old French ''orateur'' (14 ...
and statesman. Guizot was a dominant figure in French politics between the Revolution of 1830 and the Revolution of 1848. A conservative liberal who opposed the attempt by King
Charles X Charles X may refer to: * Charles X of France (1757–1836) * Charles X Gustav (1622–1660), King of Sweden * Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon (1523–1590), recognized as Charles X of France but renounced the royal title See also * * King Charle ...
to usurp legislative power, he worked to sustain a
constitutional monarchy Constitutional monarchy, also known as limited monarchy, parliamentary monarchy or democratic monarchy, is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in making decisions. ...
following the
July Revolution The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution (), Second French Revolution, or ("Three Glorious ays), was a second French Revolution after French Revolution, the first of 1789–99. It led to the overthrow of King Cha ...
of 1830. He then served the "citizen king" Louis Philippe, as Minister of Education 1832–37, ambassador to London 1840, Foreign Minister 1840–1847, and finally
Prime Minister of France The prime minister of France (), officially the prime minister of the French Republic (''Premier ministre de la République française''), is the head of government of the French Republic and the leader of its Council of Ministers. The prime ...
from 19 September 1847 to 23 February 1848. Guizot's influence was critical in expanding public education, which under his ministry saw the creation of primary schools in every French commune. As a leader of the "
Doctrinaires During the Bourbon Restoration in France, Bourbon Restoration (1814–1830) and the July Monarchy (1830–1848), the Doctrinals () were a group of Monarchism in France, French royalists who hoped to reconcile the monarchy with the French Revoluti ...
", committed to supporting the policies of Louis Phillipe and limitations on further expansion of the political franchise, he earned the hatred of more left-leaning liberals and republicans through his unswerving support for restricting suffrage to propertied men and supposedly advised those who wanted the vote to "enrich yourselves" (enrichissez-vous) through hard work and thrift. As Prime Minister, it was Guizot's ban on the political meetings (called the campagne des banquets or the Paris Banquets, which were held by moderate liberals who wanted a larger extension of the franchise) of an increasingly vigorous opposition in January 1848 that catalyzed the
revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...
that toppled Louis Philippe in February and saw the establishment of the
French Second Republic The French Second Republic ( or ), officially the French Republic (), was the second republican government of France. It existed from 1848 until its dissolution in 1852. Following the final defeat of Napoleon, Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle ...
. He is mentioned in the famous opening paragraph of the Communist Manifesto ("a spectre is haunting Europe...") as a representative of the more liberal faction of the counter-revolutionary forces of Old Europe, contrasted with that of the more reactionary forces, Klemens von Metternich. Marx and Engels published that book just days before Guizot's overthrow in the 1848 Revolution.


Early years

Guizot was born at
Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Located between the Med ...
to a
bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...
Protestant family. On 8 April 1794, when François Guizot was 6, his father was executed on the scaffold at Nîmes during the
Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror (French: ''La Terreur'', literally "The Terror") was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the French First Republic, First Republic, a series of massacres and Capital punishment in France, nu ...
. From then on, the boy's mother was completely responsible for his upbringing. Driven from Nîmes by the
Revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...
, Madame Guizot and her son went to
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, where he was educated. In spite of her decided Calvinistic opinions, the theories of
Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Republic of Geneva, Genevan philosopher (''philosophes, philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment through ...
influenced Madame Guizot. A strong Liberal, she even adopted the notion inculcated in '' Emile'' that every man ought to learn a manual trade or craft. Guizot learnt carpentry, and succeeded in making a table with his own hands, which is still preserved. In 1805, he arrived in Paris and he entered at the age eighteen as tutor into the family of M. Stapfer, formerly
Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...
minister in France. He soon began to write in a journal edited by Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Suard, the ''Publiciste''. This connection introduced him to the literary society of
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
. In October 1809, aged twenty-two, he wrote a series review of François-René de Chateaubriand's ''Martyrs'', which won Chateaubriand's approbation and thanks, and he continued to contribute largely to the periodical press. At Suard's he had made the acquaintance of Pauline de Meulan (born 2 November 1773), a contributor to Suard's journal. Her contributions were interrupted by illness, but immediately resumed and continued by an unknown hand. It was discovered that François Guizot had substituted for her. In 1812 Mademoiselle de Meulan married Guizot. She died in 1827. (An only son, François, born in 1819, died in 1837 of consumption.) In 1828 Guizot married Elisa Dillon, niece of his first wife, and also an author. She died in 1833, leaving two daughters, Henriette (1829–1908), a co-author with her father and prolific writer herself, and Pauline (1831–1874) and a son, Guillaume (1833–1892), who attained some reputation as a scholar and writer. François Guizot and historian François Mignet invented the concept of the ''bourgeois revolution''. On 15 June 1837, Guizot sat next to the Princess Lieven at a dinner given by the Duc de Broglie. After twenty years as Russian Ambassadress to London, she had separated from her husband and sought refuge in Paris, where from 1835 she had held an increasingly influential salon occasionally attended by Guizot. She had sympathised with him over his son's death earlier in 1837. From 15 June, they formed a close and loving friendship, exchanging over 5000 letters. He was present at her death in Paris in 1856. Her role in supporting and influencing his aims in aristocratic, political and diplomatic circles was considerable, aided by her retaining many contacts in England and her brother being Chief of Secret Police in Russia and a confidant of the Tsar. During the
First French Empire The First French Empire or French Empire (; ), also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. It lasted from ...
, Guizot, entirely devoted to literary pursuits, published a collection of French
synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...
s (1809), an essay on the fine arts (1811), and a translation of
Edward Gibbon Edward Gibbon (; 8 May 173716 January 1794) was an English essayist, historian, and politician. His most important work, ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1789, is known for ...
's ''
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', sometimes shortened to ''Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', is a six-volume work by the English historian Edward Gibbon. The six volumes cover, from 98 to 1590, the peak of the Ro ...
'', with additional notes, in 1812. These works recommended him to the notice of Louis-Marcelin de Fontanes, grand-master of the University of France, who selected Guizot for the chair of modern history at the Sorbonne in 1812. He delivered his first lecture (reprinted in his ''Memoirs'') on 11 December of that year. He omitted the customary compliment to the all-powerful emperor, in spite of the hints given him by his patron, but the course which followed marks the beginning of the great revival of historical research in France in the 19th century. He had now acquired a considerable position in Paris society, and the friendship of Royer-Collard and leading members of the liberal party, including the young duc de Broglie. Absent from Paris at the moment of the fall of Napoleon in 1814, he was at once selected, on the recommendation of Royer-Collard, to serve the government of King
Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. Before his reign, he spent 23 y ...
, in the capacity of secretary-general of the ministry of the interior, under the abbé de Montesquiou. Upon the return of
Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
from Elba he immediately resigned, on 25 March 1815, and returned to his literary pursuits.


"The Man of Ghent"

After the Hundred Days, he returned to
Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...
, where he saw Louis XVIII, and in the name of the liberal party pointed out that a frank adoption of a liberal policy could alone secure the duration of the restored monarchy – advice which was ill-received by the king's confidential advisers. This visit to Ghent was brought up by political opponents in later years as unpatriotic. "The Man of Ghent" was one of the terms of insult frequently used against him in the days of his power. The reproach appears to be wholly unfounded. He was acting not to preserve the failing empire, but to establish a liberal monarchy and to combat the reactionary ultra-royalists. On the second restoration, Guizot was appointed secretary-general of the ministry of justice under de Barbé-Marbois, but resigned with his chief in 1816. In 1819 he was one of the founders of the Liberal journal '' Le Courrier français''. Again in 1819 he was appointed general director of communes and departments in the ministry of the interior, but lost his office with the fall of Decazes in February 1820. During these years Guizot was one of the leaders of the
Doctrinaires During the Bourbon Restoration in France, Bourbon Restoration (1814–1830) and the July Monarchy (1830–1848), the Doctrinals () were a group of Monarchism in France, French royalists who hoped to reconcile the monarchy with the French Revoluti ...
, a small party strongly attached to the charter and the crown, and advocating a policy which has become associated (especially by Émile Faguet) with the name of Guizot, that of the '' juste milieu'', a middle path between absolutism and popular government. Adhering to the great principles of liberty and toleration, they were sternly opposed to the anarchical traditions of the Revolution. They hoped to subdue the elements of anarchy through the power of a limited constitution based on the suffrage of the middle class and promoted by the literary talents of the time. They were opposed alike to the democratic spirit of the age, to the military traditions of the empire, and to the bigotry and absolutism of the court. The Doctrinaires fell out of influence following the
July Revolution The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution (), Second French Revolution, or ("Three Glorious ays), was a second French Revolution after French Revolution, the first of 1789–99. It led to the overthrow of King Cha ...
in 1830. In 1820, when the reaction was at its height after the murder of the Duc de Berry, and the fall of the ministry of the duc Decazes, Guizot was deprived of his offices, and in 1822 even his course of lectures were interdicted. During the succeeding years he played an important part among the leaders of the liberal opposition to the government of
Charles X Charles X may refer to: * Charles X of France (1757–1836) * Charles X Gustav (1622–1660), King of Sweden * Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon (1523–1590), recognized as Charles X of France but renounced the royal title See also * * King Charle ...
, although he had not yet entered parliament, and this was also the time of his greatest literary activity. In 1822, he published his lectures on representative government (''Histoire des origines du gouvernement représentatif, 1821–1822'', 2 vols.; Eng. trans. 1852); also a work on capital punishment for political offences and several important political pamphlets. From 1822 to 1830 he published two important collections of historical sources, the memoirs of the history of England in 26 volumes, and the memoirs of the history of France in 31 volumes, a revised translation, of
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
, and a volume of essays on the history of France. Written from his own pen during this period was the first part of his ''Histoire de la révolution d'Angleterre depuis Charles I à Charles II'' (2 vols., 1826–1827; Eng. trans., 2 vols., Oxford, 1838), which he resumed and completed during his exile in England after 1848. The Martignac administration restored Guizot in 1828 to his professor's chair and to the council of state. During his time at the
University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...
his lectures earned him a reputation as a historian of note. These lectures formed the basis of his general ''Histoire de la civilisation en Europe'' (1828; Eng. trans. by
William Hazlitt William Hazlitt (10 April 177818 September 1830) was an English essayist, drama and literary criticism, literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher. He is now considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in the history ...
, 3 vols., 1846), and of his ''Histoire de la civilisation en France'' (4 vols., 1830). In January 1830 he was elected by the town of Lisieux to the
Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...
, and he retained that seat during the whole of his political life. Guizot delivered an address in March 1830 calling for greater political freedom in the Chamber of Deputies. The motion passed 221 against 181. Charles X responded by dissolving the Chamber and called for new elections which only strengthened opposition to the throne. On his return to Paris from Nîmes on 27 July, the fall of Charles X was already imminent. Guizot was called upon by his friends Casimir Perier, Jacques Laffitte, Villemain and Dupin to draw up the protest of the liberal deputies against the royal ordinances of July, while he applied himself with them to control the revolutionary character of the late contest. Personally, Guizot was always of opinion that it was a great misfortune for the cause of parliamentary government in France that the infatuation and ineptitude of Charles X and Prince Polignac rendered a change in the hereditary line of succession inevitable. Once convinced that it was inevitable, he became one of the most ardent supporters of Louis Philippe. In August 1830 Guizot was made minister of the interior, but resigned in November. He had now joined the ranks of the moderate liberals, and for the next eighteen years was a determined foe of democracy, the unyielding champion of "a monarchy limited by a limited number of bourgeois."


Minister of King Louis Philippe

In 1831 Casimir Périer formed a more vigorous and compact administration, terminated in May 1832 by his death; the summer of that year was marked by a formidable republican rising in Paris, and it was not until 11 October 1832 that a stable government was formed, in which Marshal Soult was first minister, Victor, 3rd duc de Broglie took the foreign office,
Adolphe Thiers Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe Thiers ( ; ; 15 April 17973 September 1877) was a French statesman and historian who served as President of France from 1871 to 1873. He was the second elected president and the first of the Third French Republic. Thi ...
the home department, and Guizot the department of public instruction. Guizot, however, was already unpopular with the more advanced liberal party. He remained unpopular all his life. Yet never were his great abilities more useful to his country than while he filled this office of secondary rank but of primary importance in the department of public instruction. The duties it imposed on him were entirely congenial to his literary tastes, and he was master of the subjects they concerned. He applied himself in the first instance to carry the law of 28 June 1833, which established and organized primary education in France. The branch of the Institute of France known as the , which had been suppressed by Napoleon, was revived by Guizot. Some of the old members of this learned body – Talleyrand, Sieyès, Roederer and Lakanal – again took their seats there, and a host of more recent celebrities were added by election for the free discussion of the great problems of political and social science. The Société de l'histoire de France was founded for the publication of historical works, and a vast publication of medieval chronicles and diplomatic papers was undertaken at the expense of the state. The
July Monarchy The July Monarchy (), officially the ''Kingdom of France'' (), was a liberalism, liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 9 August 1830, after the revolutionary victory of the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 26 Februar ...
was threatened in 1839 by Louis-Mathieu Molé, who had formed an intermediate government. Guizot and the leaders of the left centre and the left, Thiers and Odilon Barrot worked together to stop Molé. Victory was secured at the expense of principle, and Guizot's attack on the government gave rise to a crisis and a republican insurrection. None of the three leaders of that alliance took ministerial office, and Guizot was not sorry to accept the post of ambassador in London, which withdrew him for a time from parliamentary contests. This was in the spring of 1840, and Thiers succeeded shortly afterwards to the ministry of foreign affairs. Guizot was received with distinction by
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
and by London society. His literary works were highly esteemed, and he was sincerely attached to the alliance of the two nations and the cause of peace. He also secured the return of Napoleon's ashes to France at the insistence of Thiers. As he himself remarked, he was a stranger to England and a novice in diplomacy; the embroiled state of the Syrian War question, on which the French government had separated itself from the joint policy of Europe, and possibly the absence of entire confidence between the ambassador and the minister of foreign affairs, placed him in an embarrassing and even false position. The warnings he transmitted to Thiers were not believed. The treaty of 15 July was signed without his knowledge and executed against his advice. For some weeks Europe seemed to be on the brink of war, until the king ended the crisis by refusing his assent to the military preparations of Thiers, and by summoning Guizot from London to form a ministry and to aid his Majesty in what he termed "''ma lutte tenace contre l'anarchie''."


The second Soult government

Thus began, under dark and adverse circumstances, on 29 October 1840, the important administration in which Guizot remained the master-spirit for nearly eight years. He himself took the office of minister for foreign affairs, and upon the retirement of Marshal Soult, he became prime minister. His first care was the maintenance of peace and the restoration of amicable relations with the other powers of Europe. His success gave unity and strength to the moderate liberal party, who now felt that they had a great leader at their head. During Guizot's tenure as foreign minister, he and Lord Aberdeen, the foreign secretary to Sir Robert Peel, carried on well, and thus they secured France and Britain in the entente cordiale. Part of the formation of the entente came about when Guizot secured the transfer of Napoleon's ashes from St. Helena to the French government. The opposition in France denounced Guizot's foreign policy as basely subservient to England. He replied in terms of unmeasured contempt: "You may raise the pile of calumny as high as you will; you will never reach the height of my disdain! (''Vous n'arriverez jamais a la hauteur de mon dédain!''") In 1845 British and French troops fought side by side for the first time in the Anglo-French blockade of the Río de la Plata. The fall of Peel's government in 1846 changed these intimate relations; and the return of Palmerston to the foreign office led Guizot to believe that he was again exposed to the passionate rivalry of the British cabinet. A friendly understanding had been established between the two courts with reference to the future marriage of the young
queen of Spain The monarchy of Spain or Spanish monarchy () is the constitutional form of government of Spain. It consists of a Hereditary monarchy, hereditary monarch who reigns as the head of state, being the highest office of the country. The Spanish ...
. The language of Lord Palmerston and the conduct of Sir Henry Bulwer (afterwards Lord Dalling) at Madrid led Guizot to believe that this understanding was broken, provoking the Affair of the Spanish Marriages after Guizot came to believe that Britain intended to place a Coburg on the throne of Spain. Determined to resist any such intrigue, Guizot and the king plunged headlong into a counter-intrigue, wholly inconsistent with their previous engagements to Britain and fatal to the happiness of the queen of Spain. By their influence she was urged into a marriage with a despicable offset of the house of Bourbon, and her sister was at the same time married to the youngest son of the French king, in direct violation of Louis Philippe's promises. This transaction, although it was hailed at the time as a triumph of the policy of France, was in truth as fatal to the monarch as it was discreditable to the minister. It was accomplished by a mixture of secrecy and violence. It was defended by subterfuges. Its immediate effect was to destroy the Anglo-French alliance, and to throw Guizot into closer relations with the reactionary policy of Metternich and the Northern courts. His first object as prime minister was to unite and discipline the moderate liberal party, which had been broken up by previous dissensions and ministerial changes. In this he entirely succeeded by his courage and eloquence as a parliamentary leader, and by the use of all those means of influence which France supplied to a dominant minister. No one ever doubted the purity and disinterestedness of Guizot's own conduct. He despised money; he lived and died poor; and though he encouraged the fever of money-getting in the French nation, his own habits retained their primitive simplicity. But he did not disdain to use in others the baser passions from which he was himself free. Some of his instruments were mean; he employed them to deal with meanness after its kind. In 1846, the opposition accused the government of buying the votes of the electorate. Guizot acknowledged that corruption happened but the government could not really prevent it. Non-voters exaggerated the occurrences of corruption to point to their need for enfranchisement. Guizot utterly failed to satisfy the demand for expansion of suffrage. Some scholars point out that corruption, while certainly present, did not have a large effect on the voting records of those in the Chamber of Deputies. The strength of Guizot's oration was his straightforward style of speaking. He was essentially a ministerial speaker, far more powerful in defence than in opposition. Nor was he less a master of parliamentary tactics and of those sudden changes and movements in debate which, as in a battle, sometimes change the fortune of the day. His confidence in himself, and in the majority of the chamber which he had moulded to his will, was unbounded; and long success and the habit of authority led him to forget that in a country like France there was a people outside the chamber elected by a small constituency, to which the minister and the king himself were held responsible. Guizot's view of politics was essentially historical and philosophical. His tastes and his acquirements gave him little insight into the practical business of administrative government. Of finance he knew nothing; trade and commerce were strange to him; military and naval affairs were unfamiliar to him; all these subjects he dealt with by second hand through his friends, Pierre Sylvain Dumon (1797–1870), Charles Marie Tanneguy, Comte Duchâttel (1803–1867), or Marshal Bugeaud. The consequence was that few measures of practical improvement were carried by his administration. Still less did the government lend an ear to the cry for parliamentary reform. On this subject the king's prejudices were insurmountable, and his ministers had the weakness to give way to them. It was impossible to defend a system which confined the suffrage to 200,000 citizens and returned a chamber of whom half were placemen. Nothing would have been easier than to strengthen the moderate liberal party by attaching the suffrage to the possession of land in France, but blank resistance was the sole answer of the government to the moderate demands of the opposition. Warning after warning was addressed to them in vain by friends and by foes alike, and they remained profoundly unconscious of their danger till the moment when it overwhelmed them.


1848 Revolution

In the afternoon of 23 February 1848, King Louis-Philippe summoned Guizot from the chamber, which was then sitting, and informed him that considering the situation in Paris and elsewhere in the country during the Banquet agitation for electoral reform, and the alarm and division of opinion in the royal family, led him to doubt whether he could retain Guizot as his prime minister. Guizot instantly resigned, returning to the chamber only to announce that the administration was at an end and that the king had sent for Louis-Mathieu Molé. Molé failed in the attempt to form a government, and between midnight and one in the morning Guizot, who had according to his custom retired early to rest, was again sent for to the Tuileries. The king asked his advice. "We are no longer the ministers of your Majesty," replied Guizot; "it rests with others to decide on the course to be pursued. But one thing appears to be evident: this street riot must be put down; these barricades must be taken; and for this purpose my opinion is that Marshal Bugeaud should be invested with full power, and ordered to take the necessary military measures, and as your Majesty has at this moment no minister, I am ready to draw up and countersign such an order." The marshal, who was present, undertook the task, saying, "I have never been beaten yet, and I shall not begin to-morrow. The barricades shall be carried before dawn."
Adolphe Thiers Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe Thiers ( ; ; 15 April 17973 September 1877) was a French statesman and historian who served as President of France from 1871 to 1873. He was the second elected president and the first of the Third French Republic. Thi ...
and Barrot decided to withdraw the troops. Guizot found a safe refuge in Paris for some days in the lodging of a humble miniature painter whom he had befriended, and shortly afterwards escaped across the Belgian frontier and from there to London, where he arrived on 3 March. His mother and daughters had preceded him, and he was speedily installed in a modest habitation in Pelham Crescent, Brompton. The society of England, though many people disapproved of much of his recent policy, received the fallen statesman with as much distinction and respect as they had shown the king's ambassador in 1840. A professorship at Oxford was spoken of, which he was unable to accept. He stayed in England about a year, devoting himself again to history. Back in Paris in 1850, Guizot published two more volumes on the English revolution -- ''Pourquoi la Révolution d'Angleterre a-t-elle reussi?'' and ''Discours sur l'histoire, de la Révolution d'Angleterre''. In February 1850
Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...
and Frederick Engels co-wrote a critical assessment of this two-volume history.


Later life

After having resigned as Prime Minister of France, he left politics. He was aware that the link between himself and public life was broken forever, and he never made the slightest attempt to renew it. The greater part of the year he spent at his residence at Val Richer, a former cistercian monastery near Lisieux in Normandy, which had been sold at the time of the first
Revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...
. His two daughters married two descendants of the patrician family De Witt of
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
, not be confused with the illustrious
Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Western Netherlands, lo ...
family De Witt of former Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt. Both where so congenial in faith and manners to the Huguenots of France, kept his house. One of his sons-in-law farmed the estate. Guizot devoted his later years with undiminished energy to literary labour, which was in fact his chief means of subsistence. In 1854, Guizot published his ''Histoire de la république d'Angleterre et de Cromwell'' (2 vols., 1854), then his ''Histoire du protectorat de Cromwell et du rétablissement des Stuarts'' (2 vols., 1856). He also published an essay on Peel, and amid many essays on religion, during the ten years 1858–1868, appeared the extensive ''Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de mon temps'', in nine volumes. His speeches were included in 1863 in his ''Histoire parlementaire de la France'' (5 vols. of parliamentary speeches, 1863). As his grandchildren grew up around him, he began to teach them French history. From these lessons sprang his last work, the ''Histoire de France racontée à mes petits enfants''. The history came down to 1789, and was continued to 1870 by his daughter Madame Guizot de Witt from her father's notes.


Learned societies

Two institutions may be said even under the Second Empire to have retained their freedom: the Institut de France and the Protestant Consistory. In both of these Guizot continued to the last to take an active part. He was a member of three of the five academies into which the Institute of France is divided. The Academy of Moral and Political Science owed its restoration to him, and he became in 1832 one of its first associates. The Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres elected him in 1833 as the successor to Dacier. In 1836, he was selected as a member of the
Académie Française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
, the highest literary distinction of the country. In these learned bodies Guizot continued for nearly forty years to take a lively interest and to exercise a powerful influence. He was a keen advocate of their independence. His voice had the greatest weight in the choice of new candidates; the younger generation of French writers never looked in vain to him for encouragement, and his constant aim was to maintain the dignity and purity of the profession of letters. In 1842, he was elected a foreign member of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...
, and a foreign honorary member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...
in 1855.


Protestant Consistory

In the consistory of the Protestant church in Paris Guizot exercised a similar influence. His early education and his experience of life conspired to strengthen the convictions of a religious temperament. He remained throughout his life a firm believer in the truths of revelation, and a volume of ''Meditations on the Christian Religion'' was one of his latest works. But though he adhered inflexibly to the church of his fathers and combated the rationalist tendencies of the age, which seemed to threaten it with destruction, he retained not a tinge of the intolerance or asperity of the Calvinistic creed. He respected in the Church of Rome the faith of the majority of his countrymen, and the writings of the great Catholic prelates, Bossuet and Bourdaloue, were as familiar and as dear to him as those of his own persuasion, and were commonly used by him in the daily exercises of family worship.


Death and legacy

Down to the summer of 1874 Guizot's mental vigour and activity were unimpaired. He died peacefully, and is said to have recited verses of Pierre Corneille and texts from the
Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
on his death-bed. During the 1820s, Guizot was among the darlings of the European liberal intelligentsia. His historical works such as ''Histoire générale de la civilisation en Europe'' (1828) and ''Histoire de la civilisation en France'' (1830) were widely admired by thinkers including
John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist, politician and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of liberalism and social liberalism, he contributed widely to s ...
("I have dinned into people's ears that Guizot is a great thinker and writer"),
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...
("Guizot is a man after my own heart...He possesses deep knowledge, combined with an enlightened liberality"), Charles Sainte-Beuve ("this astonishing man about whom one could say so many things"), and
Alexis de Tocqueville Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville (29 July 180516 April 1859), was a French Aristocracy (class), aristocrat, diplomat, political philosopher, and historian. He is best known for his works ''Democracy in America'' (appearing in t ...
. In 1840, he was elected as a member to the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...
. Guizot's later resolute opposition to universal suffrage has led his critics to argue that he was a conservative or even reactionary. However, it is more accurate to describe Guizot as a proponent of the ''juste milieu'' or political
centrism Centrism is the range of political ideologies that exist between left-wing politics and right-wing politics on the left–right political spectrum. It is associated with moderate politics, including people who strongly support moderate policie ...
that defended representative government against absolutism and the excesses of democracy. His doctrine of the sovereignty of reason was intended as a liberal strategy to divide and limit sovereignty, and to consolidate the constitutional gains of the Charter of 1814. He likewise called for the abolition of capital punishment. His ideas influenced subsequent liberal reformers throughout Europe such as József Eötvös in Hungary, Johan Rudolph Thorbecke in the Netherlands, and José Ortega y Gasset in Spain. In recent years, the scholarship of Pierre Rosanvallon, Larry Siedentop, Ivo Mosley and Aurelian Crăiuțu has renewed interest in Guizot's political thought and the Doctrinaires more generally.


Works

* ''Dictionnaire des synonymes de la langue française'', 1809. * ''De l’état des beaux-arts en France'', 1810. * ''Annales de l’éducation'', 1811–1815, 6 vol. * ''Vie des poètes français du siècle de Louis XIV'', 1813. * ''Quelques idées sur la liberté de la presse'', 1814. * ''Du gouvernement représentatif de l’état actuel de la France'', 1816. * ''Essai sur l’état actuel de l’instruction publique en France'', 1817. * ''Du gouvernement de la France depuis la Restauration. Des conspirations et de la justice politique'', 1820. * ''Des moyens de gouvernement et d’opposition dans l’état actuel de la France. Du gouvernement de la France et du ministère actuel. Histoire du gouvernement représentatif en Europe'', 1821, 2 vol. * ''De la souveraineté'', 1822. * ''De la peine de mort en matière politique'', 1822. * ''Essai sur l’histoire de France du Ve s. au Xe s.'', 1823. * ''Histoire de Charles Ier'', 1827, 2 vol. * ''Histoire générale de la civilisation en Europe'', 1828. 2e édition Langlet et Cie, 1838. * ''Histoire de la civilisation en France'', 1830, 4 vol. * ''Le presbytère au bord de la mer'', 1831. * ''Rome et ses papes'', 1832. * ''Le ministère de la réforme et le parlement réformé'', 1833. * ''Essais sur l’histoire de France'', 1836. * ''Monk, étude historique'', 1837. * ''De la religion dans les sociétés modernes'', 1838. * ''Vie, correspondance et écrits de Washington'', 1839–1840. * ''Washington'', 1841. * ''Madame de Rumfort'', 1842. * ''Des conspirations et de la justice politiques'', 1845. * ''Des moyens de gouvernement et d’opposition dans l’état actuel de la France'', 1846. * ''Histoire de la révolution d'Angleterre depuis l'avènement de Charles Ier jusqu'à sa mort'', 1846. * ''M. Guizot et ses amis. De la démocratie en France'', 1849. * ''Pourquoi la révolution d’Angleterre a-t-elle réussi ? Discours sur l’histoire de la révolution d’Angleterre'', 1850. * ''Études biographiques sur la révolution d’Angleterre. Études sur les beaux-arts en général'', 1851. * ''Shakespeare et son temps. Corneille et son temps'', 1852. * ''Abélard et Héloïse'', 1853. * ''Édouard III et les bourgeois de Calais'', 1854. * ''Histoire de la république d’Angleterre'', 1855, 2 vol., Sir Robert Peel. * ''Histoire du protectorat de Cromwell et du rétablissement des Stuarts'', 1856, 2 vol. * ''Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire de mon temps'', 1858–1867, 8 vol. * ''L’Amour dans le mariage'', 1860. * ''L’Église et la société chrétienne en 1861'', Discours académique, 1861. * ''Un projet de mariage royal'', 1862. * ''Histoire parlementaire de France, recueil de discours, '', 1863, 5 vol. Trois générations. * ''Méditations sur l’essence de la religion chrétienne'', 1864. * ''Guillaume le Conquérant'', 1865. * ''Méditations sur l’état actuel de la religion chrétienne'', 1866. * ''La France et la Prusse responsables devant l’Europe'', 1868. * ''Méditations sur la religion chrétienne dans ses rapports avec l’état actuel des sociétés et des esprits. Mélanges biographiques et littéraires'', 1868. * ''Mélanges politiques et historiques'', 1869. * ''L'Histoire de France : depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'en 1789. Racontée à mes petits-enfants'', 1870–1875, 5 vol. * ''Le duc de Broglie'', 1872. * ''Les vies de quatre grands chrétiens français'', 1873. * ''L'Histoire d'Angleterre : depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à l'avènement de la reine Victoria. Racontée à mes petits-enfants'', 1877-1878, 2 vol.


See also

* Aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera *'' Le Globe'' * Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques


References


Sources

Unless noted with a footnote below, this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). See
External links An internal link is a type of hyperlink on a web page to another page or resource, such as an image or document, on the same website or domain. It is the opposite of an external link, a link that directs a user to content that is outside its d ...
for full citation. ''
Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...
'' (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. The 1911 ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', in turn, gives the following references: * Guizot's own ''Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de mon temps'' (8 vols., 1858–1861) * ''Lettres de M. Guizot à sa famille et à ses amis'' (1884) * Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, ''Causeries du lundi'' (vol. 1., 1857) and ''Nouveaux Lundis'' (vols. i. and ix., 1863–1872) * E Scherer
''Etudes critiques sur la littérature contemporaine''
(vol. iv., 1873) * Mme de Witt, ''Guizot dans sa famille'' (1880) * Jules Simon, ''Thiers, Guizot et Rémusat'' (1885); * E Faguet, ''Politiques et moralistes au XIXe siècle'' (1891) * A Bardoux, ''Guizot'' (1894) in the series o
"''Les Grands Ecrivains français''"
ref>The EB1911 article for François Guizot has the error "G Bardoux" instead of the correct "A Bardoux".
* Maurice Guizot, ''Les Années de retraite de M. Guizot'' (1901) * For a long list of books and articles on Guizot in periodicals see HP Thième, ''Guide bibliographique de la littérature française de 1800–1906'' (s.c. Guizot, Paris, 1907). * For a notice of his first wife see Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, ''Portraits de femmes'' (1884), and Ch. de Rémusat, ''Critiques et études littéraires'' (vol. ii., 1847). * *


Citations


Further reading

*“François-Pierre-Guillaume Guizot.” Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 10 (1874): 511–13

* Crăiuțu, Aurelian. ''Liberalism Under Siege: The Political Thought of the French Doctrinaires'' (2003). * Drolet, Michael. “CARRYING THE BANNER OF THE BOURGEOISIE: DEMOCRACY, SELF AND THE PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS TO FRANÇOIS GUIZOT’S HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL THOUGHT.” History of Political Thought 32, no. 4 (2011): 645–90

* Johnson, Douglas. ''Guizot: Aspects of French History, 1787–1874'' (1963). * Richter, Melvin. "Tocqueville and Guizot on democracy: From a type of society to a political regime." ''History of European Ideas'' 30.1 (2004): 61–82. *


External links

* Official website on François Guizot at http://www.guizot.com/en/. Website created on the initiative of François Guizot's descendants and the François Guizot Association. Contains unpublished archives. * * * *
"The History of the Origins of Representative Government in Europe"


at the Modern History Sourcebook. {{DEFAULTSORT:Guizot, Francois 1787 births 1874 deaths People from Nîmes French Calvinist and Reformed Christians Politicians from Occitania (administrative region) Doctrinaires Orléanists Prime ministers of France French interior ministers Government ministers of France Members of the Chamber of Deputies of the Bourbon Restoration Members of the 1st Chamber of Deputies of the July Monarchy Members of the 2nd Chamber of Deputies of the July Monarchy Members of the 3rd Chamber of Deputies of the July Monarchy Members of the 4th Chamber of Deputies of the July Monarchy Members of the 5th Chamber of Deputies of the July Monarchy Members of the 6th Chamber of Deputies of the July Monarchy Members of the 7th Chamber of Deputies of the July Monarchy People of the Dominican War of Independence French people of the Revolutions of 1848 Historians of the French Revolution 19th-century French historians Founders of Sciences Po Academic staff of the University of Paris Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres Members of the Académie Française Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Knights of the Golden Fleece of Spain Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) International members of the American Philosophical Society