Page:Coubertin - France since 1814, 1900.djvu/17



would be difficult to exaggerate the profound difference between the Restoration of 1814 and that of 1815. In 1814 the dominant feeling in France was a general lassitude. The country had awakened from a splendid dream which little by little had assumed the aspect of a hideous nightmare. A quarter of a century had passed since the day when the States-General, transformed into the National Assembly, had inaugurated a Revolution which was meant to organise happiness for everybody, with the result that everybody was steeped in glory and tragedy and nobody was happy. More serious still, a general impression existed that