Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Reflections on the Revolution in France, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Use and Abuse of History
Nature, Tradition, and Wisdom
Revolution and Reform
Theory vs. Practicality
Summary
Analysis
The second “cementing material” is the superiority of Paris. Burke believes this issue is closely tied to the monetary issue and the way France is being divided up. The power of Paris is central to the success of the new government. This compact city enjoys disproportionate strength compared to any of the “square republics” newly formed as subdivisions of France. With Paris at the enter of power, “people should no longer be Gascons, Picards, Bretons, [or] Normans,” but Frenchmen.
Burke believes that the centralization of power in Paris will also serve to weaken French culture and society. Though Paris has always been a significant cultural center, locating so much power in the capital pulls people’s loyalties away from their natural regional identities, vacating much of what makes French culture rich and various, and ultimately undermining the whole.
Themes
Burke argues that the call to be mere “Frenchmen” will not work: “no man ever was attached by a sense of pride, partiality, or real affection […] to a description of square measurement.” This is because affection begins in families. From there, it grows to include neighborhoods and provinces. It’s nourished by habit, not by “a sudden jerk of authority.”
Burke’s comments here recall his earlier remark about “little platoons”—the local basis for citizenship and love of one’s country. This is something that must be locally nurtured and not something that can be forcefully imposed from without.
Themes
Burke next discusses the National Assembly, which he says is constituted with “every possible power, and no possible external control.” Because it has no established procedures, it can’t be held to any specific system. This means that the current Assembly’s successors will have nothing to go on, and are more likely to act boldly than with “perfect quietude.”
The structure of the National Assembly is a good example of that ignorance of history and future that Burke so often bemoans. It has been given no guidelines, which encourages the Assembly to be as bold as possible.
Themes
In their “hurry to do every thing at once,” the legislators have neglected to form a senate, or a similar body, to which foreign governments might address themselves, and which might give “a bias and steadiness.” Most monarchies have them, occupying a middle space between the people and the executive power; but France has no such thing.
In another example of haste, the revolutionaries have focused on investing power in the people’s hands and neglected the value of placing a buffer between the people and both their own and foreign executive governments.
Themes
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France’s executive power consists of “a degraded king.” He is really just “a channel” to convey information to the National Assembly. He is not viewed as “the fountain of justice.” He is now entrusted with only the most “odious” duties of justice, basically “one degree above the executioner” and able neither to respect himself nor command respect. Similarly, he has no real executive powers; his name and authority are merely used to execute others’ decrees.
The monarchy has been stripped of most of its traditional dignities and privileges. The king is a king in name only—more of a figurehead who can’t act in his own name.
Themes
Burke argues that nobody can truly a respect a king whom they have mistreated and imprisoned; if they expect otherwise, “you ought to make a revolution in nature, and provide a new constitution for the human mind.” Moreover, the king’s current situation is so degraded that it has unfitted him for office: “at best, his conduct will be passive and defensive.”
Burke argues that there is no point in maintaining such a “king,” because he cannot command respect; in fact, he cannot even respect himself, and his situation will not dispose him to act in a kingly manner, even if he has the opportunity.
Themes
The dauphin (the heir to the throne) will be educated so as “to conform to his situation,” but Burke argues that this will be no education at all. As soon as he learns of his royal ancestry, he will be moved by “Nature” to avenge his parents. The executive ministers are not in a much better position, as they have no real discretion or choice, but must carry out what committees of the National Assembly tell them to do.
Similarly, Burke argues that the plan for raising the young heir to the throne is self-defeating. If, as Burke believes, nature wins out over theory, the dauphin will likely seek to escape his figurehead role. France is attempting to maintain some traditional structures while emptying them of their historic meanings, which will not prove to be tenable in the long run.
Themes
The judicature is little better. For one thing, instead of reforming the parliaments, the French Revolution abolished them. Their strength had been their independence and the stability this afforded during times of upheaval. Thus the parliaments had served as a “corrective to the excesses and vices of the monarchy.” Such a body is not less necessary under a democracy, but more so. In their place have been appointed “elective, temporary, local” judges, who are bound to be factional. Worse, they have no settled jurisprudence, but are to be supplied with rules from the National Assembly from time to time.
In a supposed attempt to make the judicatory more fair, the Revolution has established a parliament that is more likely to be beholden to the public will. It also has no consistent body of jurisprudence to guide its reasoning, unlike the centuries-old judicial institution prized in England.
Themes
Next, Burke addresses the state of the army, the third “cementing principle” for the French nation. There has been a breakdown of discipline in the army, unsurprising given that they have been encouraged in the name of the king to join in public feasts and entertainments, rather than undergoing military training. The “mixing [of] mutinous soldiers with seditious citizens” cannot have a good outcome. The relationship between army and crown is likewise problematic, since the army cannot be expected to “yield obedience to a prisoner.” It will probably not be long, either, until the army begins to demand the “right” to elect their officers. And overall, the problem is that, with internal bonds of the nation weakened by revolution, much may depend on the army’s ability to keep order.
Much like the other institutions, the army has lost much of what make it cohesive and effective. By mixing soldiers and citizens, the army weakens itself, and its inability to respect the king undermines its existence, too. Democratic sentiments are likely to impact an army that has nothing beyond itself to command its respect. All of this becomes even more ominous in light of the fact that France’s other internal structures are not self-supporting, and the weak army might be called upon to supply that lack.
Themes
Burke observes that there has been no respect paid to property rights since the French Revolution. When people refuse to pay their rents, as has lately happened in Lyons, they are threatened with troops, But this will not be a long-term solution to unrest—they cannot continue undermining principles of subordination in the army, yet expect to “hold in obedience an anarchic people by an anarchic army.”
The practical example of unrest in Lyons reinforces the problem of the army. People who refuse to pay their rents are unlikely to be controlled by an army that doesn’t even command respect in itself.
Themes
