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雨果 悲惨世界 英文版2-第107章

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t。
  What are the qualities of a dynasty?
  It should be national; that is to say; revolutionary at a distance; not through acts mitted; but by reason of ideas accepted。
  It should be posed of past and be historic; be posed of future and be sympathetic。
  All this explains why the early revolutions contented themselves with finding a man; Cromwell or Napoleon; and why the second absolutely insisted on finding a family; the House of Brunswick or the House of Orleans。
  Royal houses resemble those Indian fig…trees; each branch of which; bending over to the earth; takes root and bees a fig…tree itself。 Each branch may bee a dynasty。
  On the sole condition that it shall bend down to the people。
  Such is the theory of the skilful。
  Here; then; lies the great art:
  to make a little render to success the sound of a catastrophe in order that those who profit by it may tremble from it also; to season with fear every step that is taken; to augment the curve of the transition to the point of retarding progress; to dull that aurora; to denounce and retrench the harshness of enthusiasm; to cut all angles and nails; to wad triumph; to muffle up right; to envelop the giant…people in flannel; and to put it to bed very speedily; to impose a diet on that excess of health; to put Hercules on the treatment of a convalescent; to dilute the event with the expedient; to offer to spirits thirsting for the ideal that nectar thinned out with a potion; to take one's precautions against too much success; to garnish the revolution with a shade。
  1830 practised this theory; already applied to England by 1688。
  1830 is a revolution arrested midway。
  Half of progress; quasi…right。 Now; logic knows not the 〃almost;〃 absolutely as the sun knows not the candle。
  Who arrests revolutions half…way? The bourgeoisie?
  Why?
  Because the bourgeoisie is interest which has reached satisfaction。 Yesterday it was appetite; to…day it is plenitude; to…morrow it will be satiety。
  The phenomenon of 1814 after Napoleon was reproduced in 1830 after Charles X。
  The attempt has been made; and wrongly; to make a class of the bourgeoisie。
  The bourgeoisie is simply the contented portion of the people。
  The bourgeois is the man who now has time to sit down。 A chair is not a caste。
  But through a desire to sit down too soon; one may arrest the very march of the human race。
  This has often been the fault of the bourgeoisie。
  One is not a class because one has mitted a fault。
  Selfishness is not one of the divisions of the social order。
  Moreover; we must be just to selfishness。
  The state to which that part of the nation which is called the bourgeoisie aspired after the shock of 1830 was not the inertia which is plicated with indifference and laziness; and which contains a little shame; it was not the slumber which presupposes a momentary forgetfulness accessible to dreams; it was the halt。
  The halt is a word formed of a singular double and almost contradictory sense:
  a troop on the march; that is to say; movement; a stand; that is to say; repose。
  The halt is the restoration of forces; it is repose armed and on the alert; it is the acplished fact which posts sentinels and holds itself on its guard。
  The halt presupposes the bat of yesterday and the bat of to…morrow。
  It is the partition between 1830 and 1848。
  What we here call bat may also be designated as progress。
  The bourgeoisie then; as well as the statesmen; required a man who should express this word Halt。
  An Although…Because。 A posite individuality; signifying revolution and signifying stability; in other terms; strengthening the present by the evident patibility of the past with the future。
  This man was 〃already found。〃
  His name was Louis Philippe d'Orleans。
  The 221 made Louis Philippe King。
  Lafayette undertook the coronation。
  He called it the best of republics。
  The town…hall of Paris took the place of the Cathedral of Rheims。
  This substitution of a half…throne for a whole throne was 〃the work of 1830。〃
  When the skilful had finished; the immense vice of their solution became apparent。
  All this had been acplished outside the bounds of absolute right。
  Absolute right cried: 〃I protest!〃 then; terrible to say; it retired into the darkness。


BOOK FIRST。A FEW PAGES OF HISTORY
CHAPTER III 
  LOUIS PHILIPPE
   Revolutions have a terrible arm and a happy hand; they strike firmly and choose well。
  Even inplete; even debased and abused and reduced to the state of a junior revolution like the Revolution of 1830; they nearly always retain sufficient providential lucidity to prevent them from falling amiss。
  Their eclipse is never an abdication。
  Nevertheless; let us not boast too loudly; revolutions also may be deceived; and grave errors have been seen。
  Let us return to 1830。
  1830; in its deviation; had good luck。 In the establishment which entitled itself order after the revolution had been cut short; the King amounted to more than royalty。 Louis Philippe was a rare man。
  The son of a father to whom history will accord certain attenuating circumstances; but also as worthy of esteem as that father had been of blame; possessing all private virtues and many public virtues; careful of his health; of his fortune; of his person; of his affairs; knowing the value of a minute and not always the value of a year; sober; serene; peaceable; patient; a good man and a good prince; sleeping with his wife; and having in his palace lackeys charged with the duty of showing the conjugal bed to the bourgeois; an ostentation of the regular sleeping…apartment which had bee useful after the former illegitimate displays of the elder branch; knowing all the languages of Europe; and; what is more rare; all the languages of all interests; and speaking them; an admirable representative of the 〃middle class;〃 but outstripping it; and in every way greater than it; possessing excellent sense; while appreciating the blood from which he had sprung; counting most of all on his intrinsic worth; and; on the question of his race; very particular; declaring himself Orleans and not Bourbon; thoroughly the first Prince of the Blood Royal while he was still only a Serene Highness; but a frank bourgeois from the day he became king; diffuse in public; concise in private; reputed; but not proved to be a miser; at bottom; one of those economists who are readily prodigal at their own fancy or duty; lettered; but not very sensitive to letters; a gentleman; but not a chevalier; simple; calm; and strong; adored by his family and his household; a fascinating talker; an undeceived statesman; inwardly cold; dominated by immediate interest; always governing at the shortest range; incapable of rancor and of gratitude; making use without mercy of superiority on mediocrity; clever in getting parliamentary majorities to put in the wrong those mysterious unanimities which mutter dully under thrones; unreserved; sometimes imprudent in his lack of reserve; but with marvellous address in that imprudence; fertile in expedients; in countenances; in masks; making France fear Europe and Eu
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