Stirrings of Revolt^595

Honore Daumier’s caricature of the less-than-inspiring members of the French

Chamber of Deputies.

Amid an economic crisis that had begun with the failure of the harvest the
previous year, elections in 1827 increased liberal strength in the Chamber of
Deputies. Two years later, Charles X threw caution to the wind, appointing
as his premier the reactionary Prince Jules de Polignac (1780-1847), one of
only two members of the Chamber of Deputies who had refused an oath of
allegiance to the Charter granted by Louis XVIII.
The opposition to the government of Charles X received a boost from a new
generation of romantic writers. In the preface to his controversial play Her­
nani (1830), the production of which caused a near riot outside the theater,
Victor Hugo (1802-1885) clearly set liberalism and romanticism against the
established order of the restored monarchy:

Young people, have courage! However difficult they make our present,

the future will be beautiful. Romanticism, so often badly defined,

is... nothing less than liberalism in literature.... Literary liberty is

the daughter of political liberty. That is the principle of this century,

and it will prevail.

In 1828, liberals formed an association to refuse to pay taxes in protest of

the government’s policies and worked to ensure that all eligible to vote regis­

tered to do so. Benjamin Constant (1767-1830), a Swiss novelist, political

essayist, and member of the French Chamber of Deputies, demanded that

the electoral franchise be extended. He espoused a philosophy of liberalism