Talk:Orléanist
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[edit] Orléanist
I'm going to move this to Orléanist. Unless someone objects. Piet 09:41, 24 February 2006 (UTC)
- Done. Piet 21:10, 6 March 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Wikification
This article could use some subsections and a picture or two.-- Mystman666 (Talk) 19:11, 24 February 2006 (UTC)
[edit] A Review
The article on the Orleanist party, while providing the reader with great context, is often difficult to read and shows a bias towards the Orleanist party. The author of this article argues that the Orleanist party was extremely capable and benefited France but is now misunderstood in the context of history. The author downplays their failings during the Revolution of 1848 and instead emphasizes their progressive view of government, insinuating that the Orleanists were ahead of their time in looking to adopt a system of virtual representation as found in Britain and were responsible for creating political freedom during the Restoration. The author speaks of this move as “inevitable” but offensive to the French people. The author also refers to the Orleanists as being “very ably led” and their rule from 1830 to 1848 as being “profitable to France” and laments that the Orleanists were “unfairly associated with Philippe Petain’s National Revolution.” In writing this article, the author assumes that in cases where the Orleanists did not hold power, the legitimate government was somehow deficient. The author does not seem to think very highly of Legitimists, Bonapartists, or Republicans. When talking of these groups, the author always manages to mention the prestige and continued influence of the Orleanist party. The author also seems to assume that the French peasants and lower class were unwarranted in demanding that they too be included in the political process when the Orleanists granted suffrage to the middle class. It is this desire for equality on the part of the lower classes that the author blames for the downfall of Orleanist rule. I found these assumptions to be less than convincing. It is my opinion that the author has overstated the importance of the Orleanist party in French history. The Orleanists held power for only eighteen years in the nineteenth century and the author gives little information about what this government actually managed to accomplish. Though the author consistently refers to the able Orleanist leaders, the party’s continued prestige, and alludes to the party holding a leadership role during the Third Republic but he or she gives little evidence to support these claims. Additionally, I was not convinced that the Orleanists were not at fault for being ousted from power in 1848 as the author has not provided enough information about how they fell from power for the reader to make an objective judgment. What was convincing, however, was the author’s depiction of the Orleanists as a viable compromise between the Legitimist Monarchists and Republicans. By supporting a monarchy derived from the will of the people rather than from God and by putting forth a king who was not a territorial landholder but ruler of a people, the author has convinced me that this was an ideal government for France as it transitioned from the injustices of the Bourbon monarchy and the Republicans of the French Revolution. I was also convinced that the Orleanists had a continued influence in the social and artistic life of France, even after they fell from power. With members of the party including historians Guizot and Thiers and the banker Lafitte as well as their role in the press and the Academie Francaise, there is no doubt that Orleanists had an influence on the intellectual life of urban France in the nineteenth century. As far as sources for this article, the author has cited the Encyclopedia Britannica and several French works. While I think that using a French perspective in an article pertaining to French history is highly effective, two of the works were written by Guizot who, being an Orleanist himself, was probably biased towards his party. Some more up-to-date material could also have given a better perspective on the role of the Orleanist party in French history as all of the sources were either from the nineteeth or early twentieth century. Additionally, the coherence of this article was often problematic. The syntax and word choice as well as some grammar errors lead me to believe that this was translated or not written by a native speaker of English. Also, I was disappointed that the author omitted information as to what the Orleanists actually accomplished when in power and how exactly they fell from power in 1848. While I really appreciated the author establishing the context of the rise and existence of the Orleanist party in French politics, I wish that the article had included more on the individual Orleanist leaders and what their and the party’s beliefs and aims were in regards to international politics, economic policy, and religion. Again, it would also have been nice to know what the Orleanists managed to accomplish other than suffrage for the middle class.
-K. Englund 3/20/2006