Madame de Stael's Considerations and the post-revolutionary French liberals

Considerations on the Principal Events of the French Revolution was Germaine de Stael's political testament. Published posthumously in 1818, the book offered a selective and provocative interpretation of the Revolution, making a clear distinction between the principles of 1789 and the ideas that had made possible the Terror of 1793-94. It eventually came to be considered as the Bible of a new generation of French liberals. They embraced Stael's argument that the Revolution had not been an accident, as Burke and others had daimed, but had, in fact, been prepared by a long series of events and factors with deep historical roots. The essay explores the reception of Stael's book in liberal cirdes, with special emphasis on two prominent journals such as the "Archives philosophiques, politiques et litteraires" and "Le Globe". In particular, it focuses on Francois Guizot and Charles de Remitsat's intellectual dialogue with Madame de Stael and her account of the Revolution.