The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 254: The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the King of France

After the outbreak of the French Revolution, the main participants had disputes over whether to retain the king.

However, there was no dispute about the policy direction of convening a national assembly, drafting a constitution to protect the country's bourgeoisie, and excluding the infiltration of Ming Dynasty capital.

So after initially controlling the situation, they immediately established a Paris Commune to manage the political and military affairs of Paris.

The main participants immediately organized an open national conference in the name of the Estates General.

Since this meeting was initiated by the riot organizers rather than being convened by the traditional king in the traditional form, the members were completely different from before.

Most of the elected representatives are representatives of French industrial and commercial groups.

Other local peasant representatives, commercial aristocratic representatives, and church institution representatives can only be considered a minority.

Historically, in the Estates General convened by Louis XVI, the third level where the industrial and commercial groups were located did not have a majority. Now the situation is completely reversed.

So this was a more direct bourgeois revolution than the French Revolution in history.

As the center of European Enlightenment thought, new ideas and systems had already matured in mainland France, especially around the capital Paris.

The agenda of the National Assembly, where the third level directly holds the majority of seats, is much less eventful than in history.

The conference directly announced the abolition of the unequal concept of the three-level conference and implemented the National Assembly which was nominally open to all citizens.

The National Assembly was declared the highest legislative body of France and would begin drafting the French constitution.

They soon published the first Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, also known as the Declaration of the Rights of Man, as they had done in history.

Then he went on to draft a detailed French Constitution based on the Declaration of the Rights of Man.

However, to draft a country's constitution, we must first determine the nature of the country, whether it is a republic or a kingdom.

This also has to do with whether they should find another king.

The delegates at the conference began to argue endlessly on this sensitive issue, and different political faction clubs began to form.

When the issue of the king was openly discussed at the meeting, there were many speeches and opinions openly opposing the king.

Jean Paul Marat used the United States as an example in his speech:

“Across the ocean, although the American people gained independence through their wisdom and courage, they found a king for themselves.

“As Thomas Paine wrote, the American people broke the yoke that the British had imposed on them, only to put on a Ming-style yoke of their own.

"The Americans have not achieved true freedom, and the free French people should take this as a warning.

"So the king should no longer exist!"

Maximilien Robespierre, building on Marat's speech, declared:
“Louis XVI colluded with the Ming Emperor and the King of Wu to turn France into a colony for Ming to dump its goods.

"Louis XVI is not our king, he is just a running dog of the Ming people, and he has betrayed the interests of the French people.

"Because of the sins of Louis XVI, the Bourbons are no longer qualified to continue to be the kings of the French."

Gilbert Dumotier, Marquis de Lafayette, who supported the king, argued in turn:

“His Majesty the King has not betrayed the country, and he has been busy with disaster relief efforts during natural disasters in the past few years.

“The point is, the king was assassinated, not deposed because of treason.

"We initially launched the uprising under the pretext of investigating the king's assassin, but now you want to depose the king outright.

"Anyone with a bit of moral integrity shouldn't be so hypocritical—"

The two sides argued for several days at the meeting, and in the end neither side was able to directly convince the other, so the conference held a vote on whether to retain the bill.

Robespierre, Marat and others were full of confidence, thinking that after these days of propaganda, most industrial and commercial representatives would support the abolition of the king.

Lafayette had no confidence at all. His appeal was just a token of his own good will, because he could not psychologically accept the betrayal of a deceptive nature.

But the result of the vote was beyond everyone's expectations.

Surprisingly, there were more people who believed that the king should be retained, although they were only slightly more than those who opposed the king and could not form an absolute majority.

But this result still seems to be the opposite of the atmosphere during the discussion.

There were loud calls for the abolition of the king, but in the end, the number of people who actually supported it was still less than half.

When Robespierre saw the statistical results, he was surprised and asked loudly:
"Why? Do I need to check the vote count to make sure no one has tampered with it?"

A group of representatives who supported the abolition of the king requested an inspection of the vote, and after the inspection, it was found that there was no problem with the vote.

That means more than half of the representatives do not support abolishing the king.

After a long pause, Marquis Lafayette felt that he understood the logic and began to speak loudly at the meeting:
“There is no problem with the vote, which shows that there are more moral people among those present, and they know that His Majesty the King has done nothing wrong.

“We shouldn’t depose the king in the name of catching an assassin.

"Since the majority of representatives support retaining the king, we should immediately invite His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to return and take the throne!"

Marat on the other side immediately stood up to object:
"Louis Joseph, the crown prince of Louis XVI, and his younger brother have lived in the cities of the Ming people for a long time in recent years and received a Ming-style education.

“If we welcome Joseph back as king now, he will most likely turn to Ming as his father did when he comes of age.

"Everything Louis XVI did will happen again, and all our efforts now will be in vain!"

Robespierre put it more bluntly:
"We really shouldn't depose the king in the name of catching his assassin.

"We should abolish the king in the interests of the French people, for the freedom and equality of the French people.

"If we allow the king to continue to exist, there is no way to completely avoid the king colluding with external forces such as the Ming Dynasty and selling out the interests of the French people."

The royalists led by Lafayette also responded tit-for-tat:

“We are drafting a constitution where we can limit the king’s power, require him to exercise power within reasonable limits, or even give up power.

"Crown Prince Joseph is less than ten years old this year. As long as he receives education from our French scholars in the future, he will not become the spokesperson for the Ming Dynasty."

Although Lafayette said this, some people still couldn't believe it.

Robespierre objected again, particularly loudly:

"No one can guarantee that when Crown Prince Joseph grows up and recalls his childhood memories, he will not try to collude with the Ming Dynasty."

“Although the vote showed that more than half of the representatives supported retaining the king, it was only just over half.

“For such a major matter, we cannot simply rely on more than half of the votes, it should at least be implemented with the support of an absolute majority.

"That is, at least two-thirds of the representatives should agree to retain the king."

In fact, there is a very important reason that no one has said publicly.

The assassination of Louis XVI itself was planned by the participants of the riot.

It is just that most of the ordinary National Assembly representatives are not aware of this matter, so they are discussing it.

The representatives who directly planned the action would try their best to prevent Louis XVI's descendants from becoming the new king.

So after a round of public discussions, the core delegates who were actually still able to guide the proceedings decided to suspend the National Assembly.

Then a small secret meeting was held for more direct and in-depth complaints and discussions.

“The representatives’ awakening is still not enough!”

"They are still sympathizing with the traitor Louis XVI!" "We must use the public newspapers to increase propaganda!"

"These are things for the future. Let's discuss the current situation. What should the king do?"

"No matter what, even if you insist on keeping the king, the descendants of Louis XVI must not continue to serve as king."

"Then let the Count of Provence take over the throne?"

"No, it's better not to choose Louis XVI's brother. It's better to directly choose a more remote branch, preferably one that is in conflict with Louis XVI's own branch..."

"The Duke of Orleans? Philippe Equal?"

"Your Excellency should be happy to accept our Constitution..."

The Count of Provence was the younger brother of Louis XVI. According to the original history, after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, he returned to France to serve as king and was called Louis XVIII.

Philippe Equality's original name was Louis Philippe Joseph of Orleans. Because he openly supported revolutionary ideas, he called himself Philippe Equality.

The ancestor of the current Duke of Orleans was Philippe I, the second son of Louis XIII and brother of Louis XIV.

Louis XIV was preceded in death by his sons and grandsons.

When Louis XIV died, his only direct descendant in France was his great-grandson, Louis XV, who was just five years old.

In that era, the probability of child mortality was very high.

If Louis XV did not live to adulthood and left no offspring, the French throne would be inherited by the nearest Duke of Orleans.

The second Duke of Orleans launched a coup, appointed himself regent of France, and waited for Louis XV to die so that he could succeed him as king.

As a result, Louis XV tenaciously lived to adulthood, and this matter became a concern for the head of the Orleans family.

Since then, most of the Dukes of Orleans have sung a different tune from the king.

The current generation directly and openly supports the revolution, providing revolutionaries with information and a venue for discussion.

His support was finally rewarded.

In the original history, this generation of Duke of Orleans was sent to the guillotine after the Jacobins came to power.

After the July Revolution of 1830, his son finally became king, but was eventually overthrown after the Revolution of 1848 and went into exile in Britain.

The world's pattern has changed dramatically, but the inertia of history has not completely disappeared.

History is like a train. When it runs normally on the rails, it is basically certain what should happen and when.

The details may be different, but the general framework remains the same.

However, if the boiler that supports the train's operation breaks down, the fuel on the train runs out, or even the rails are damaged.

The train might continue to move forward, but the situation might change dramatically.

It may slowly stop, or it may lose control and run off the track, or it may continue to move forward after being repaired.

Passengers on board may have to wait for the train to resume or may be forced to get off early.

But no matter what, it will not be exactly the same as before, unless the machine forcibly restores everything.

However, it will not be completely different from the original. There will always be some things that seem to be true but are not. This is the normal historical inertia.

After the assassination of Louis XVI, the Duke of Orleans became the best candidate for king.

After the core representatives who controlled the situation had an idea, they met with Philippe, Duke of Orleans in private on an equal footing.

The delegates hinted at the idea of ​​inviting him to be king.

Louis Philippe, Duke of Orleans, was immediately overjoyed. His family’s nearly century-old wish was finally going to be realized before his eyes.

Philip immediately and firmly expressed his support for the revolution again, his sympathy and support for the people, and his admiration for equality and freedom.

The core representatives were very satisfied.

After a brief discussion and coordination, the proposal to make Philip the king was formally put forward at the new round of National Constitutional Convention.

Philip was invited to give a speech, in which he once again publicly expressed his support for revolution and equality, and his admiration for the Enlightenment.

The key was to express willingness to accept the constitution drawn up by the Assembly and establish a constitutional monarchy in France.

The royalists wanted a king, and the opposition could accept the Duke of Orleans.

After a series of discussions and compromises, and then a new round of voting, Philippe Ely, Duke of Orleans, became the new King of France.

The historical Orleans Dynasty appeared ahead of time, but the situation is far from that of the historical Orleans Dynasty.

After the National Assembly placed the Duke of Orleans on the throne, it immediately went on to draft the formal constitution of the Kingdom of France.

After Philip became king, he also began to interfere and participate in the drafting of the constitution.

Philip promised to accept the Enlightenment ideas of equality and freedom, but still racked his brains to fight for his own rights in the constitution.

These little actions of Philip left a very bad impression on some representatives.

While the parliament was drafting the constitution, the core members who launched the riot formed a new French cabinet government with their own personnel in the name of the king.

New reform orders were issued in the king's name to Paris and the localities.

The new French cabinet is ready to make big moves to gain more benefits for France's industrial and business communities.

Domestically, of course, it was to abolish the king’s monopoly on dumping of Ming Dynasty goods and prohibit the continued import of Ming Dynasty goods into France.

Externally, it maintained France's security and exported Enlightenment revolutionary ideas.

But just as their business was getting started, they found out that what they had taken over was a complete mess.

If the import of Ming Dynasty goods was stopped, and the French government no longer had the means to exchange Ming Dynasty goods for wealth from the nobles, it would probably go bankrupt directly.

However, the ultimate goal of this riot and revolution is to eliminate the influence of the Ming Dynasty on the French economy. It is now impossible to rely on the power of the Ming Dynasty.

In this situation where they were stuck between two ends, the clever French businessmen quickly found a solution.

Although we don’t have the luxury goods of the Ming Dynasty to exchange for wealth with the nobles, we can directly seize the wealth of the nobles who do not support the revolution.

This seizure can be divided into two aspects: one is to directly seize the wealth accumulated in the noble families, and the other is the source of wealth of the traditional nobles, which is land.

Radicals in the new government proposed that all land in France should be declared to belong to the state and that farmers should pay taxes directly to the state.

The traditional land nobility and the church no longer had the right to control the land and collect rent and taxes from the peasants.

This proposal was supported by most radicals and representatives of industry and commerce.

Although a large part of the traditional aristocracy "did not support the revolution" and had been controlled during the riots.

But there was still a group of nobles who participated in the revolutionary riots, including the current new king Philip.

Of course, the nobles who participated in the revolution strongly opposed it, and this seemingly good plan was aborted.

As a result, radical representatives including Marat and Robespierre began to resent the "revolutionary aristocrats".

In the process of discussing the government's new policies, contradictions within the revolutionary faction began to expose and brew.

More importantly, the financial problem cannot be solved well.

(End of this chapter)