ABSTRACT
If one had spoken of the initiative to M. Guizot, the famous doctrinaire statesman of the July monarchy, he would have demonstrated with his wonderful eloquence that it was the enthronement of anarchy in government and in legislation. The great historian believed that representative government, exercised by the upper middle class, was adequate recognition of democracy and the surest guarantee of political liberty. Direct government by the people seemed to him an utterly subversive idea. And yet, had the initiative existed in France at that time, it might perhaps have maintained Guizot in power and Louis-Philippe on his throne. Revolution swept them both away.
