If the mainspring of popular government in peacetime is virtue, amid revolution it is at once virtue and terror: virtue, without which terror is fatal; terror, without which virtue is impotent.
Direct Link: 3.37- The Republic of Virtue
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English-French Revolution Tour 2015
In Parliament with John Hampden:
The spot where Charles I stood during his trial and refused to enter a plea. Uh...what do we do now, sir?:
First edition of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. On a random shelf in the British Museum:
From an exhibition of Napoleanic-era political cartoons at the British Museum. Yes, that is Napoleon farting the French fleet across the Channel:
The converted Manor House we stayed at outside Stratford-Upon-Avon. It was as nice as it looks:
The American Oak planted at Fort Royal Park in Worcester, commemorating the time John Adams yelled at the locals for not caring about the spot where men once fought for liberty:
In the underground of Yorkminster Cathedral in York which was built on the site of the old Roman legionary barracks. This column is in the spot where the banqueting hall would have been...where they are pretty sure Constantine was first declared Emperor by his men.
Onto Paris!. Right in front of the Champ de Mars, site of the Fete de la Federation and (duh) the Massacre of the Champ de Mars. There is also a tourist trap in the background.
The Revolution never dies. This is the badge worn by our guide as a part of a running protest against government budget cuts. That's Mona Lisa wearing the Phrygian Liberty Cap and Tricolor Cockade:
The foundations of the Bastille in the Paris metro:
Inside the Picpus Cementary, site of one of the two mass burial grounds for victims of the Terror. Over a thousand people were dumped here. This is one of two walls commemorating the dead:
The Picpus Cemetery is also where Lafayette rests in peace:
Inside the Chapelle Expiatoire, the first mass burial ground. This is where all the major figures were buried. Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Charlotte Corday, all the Girondins, Danton, Desmoulins, every poor sod who got put in charge of the Army of the North. The crypts in the background honor the massacred Swiss Guard:
Can't win em all. Went to the Carnavalet Museum specifically to see their room dedicated to the French Revolution. But of course, this being France, it was randomly closed for the day:
Dinner at the Cafe Procope--the oldest continuously operating restaurant in Paris (opened 1686). Located in the heart of the old Cordeliers district it was a hotbed of Revolutionary activity. The plaque I was sitting under talks about how Jefferson used to eat here all the time when he was Ambassador to France:
Inside the Palace at Versailles. The painting in the background depicts the convening the of the Three Estates in May 1789:
And finally...Inside the Tennis Court! What a thrill.
American Revolution Tour 2015
Started out in Boston at Paul Revere's House:
Site of the Boston Massacre in front of the Old State House:
Actual tea from the Boston Tea Party. No joke. A bunch of it got in one guys' boots and he intentionally saved some it for posterity:
Revolutions crossover. Original van Dyck portrait of Charles I inside the Old State House. On loan from her majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The guide said I was the only person who ever asked her about it:
Grave of John Hanock in Granary Burying Ground. Also in there were Samuel Adams, James Otis, Paul Revere, and the victims of the Boston Massacre.
Boston Tea Party. Now a farce of a tourist trap...so we skipped it! This picture is taken from the perfectly lovely Harbor Cruise we did instead.
On Lexington Green:
At the Clark House in Lexington. This is the house Hancock and Adams were staying at when Revere came along and told them to clear out. Behind me is the door to the cellar Hancock's servant would have gone through when they sent him back for the fine specimen of salmon:
The drum used to muster the guys out of the Buckman Tavern after a scout showed up and said holy crap you guys the Regulars are actually on the way:
Inside the Monroe Tavern in Lexington, which the British used as a field hospital during the fighting on April 18. After Independence was won President George Washington went on a tour of New England, had dinner int he tavern and sat in this very chair. They wouldn't let me touch it.
The Old North Bridge. Where once embattled farmers stood and fired The Shot Heard Round the World:
At Trophy Point inside West Point next to a cannon captured at Saratoga. With two-time Tour alumnus Peggy sporting her Gentleman Johnny shirt.
Inside the West Point museum. Napoleon's sword. Given to Eisenhower by de Gaul after WWII for, you know, liberating France:
At Washington's Crossing with Legend Has It collaborator Mason Fields who just so happened to be in the neighborhood:
Replicas of the Durham boats used to cross the Delaware. Praise be to 14th Continental Regiment:
At Valley Forge. Washington's headquarters:
On to Philadelphia. Inside Independence Hall where they debated both Independence and the Constitution. Nice to finally stand in the room:
The Syng Inkstand, which they're 99% sure was used to sign both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution:
TOTALLY AWESOME
10 May 2015
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