Page:Works of Heinrich Heine 07.djvu/159

Rh the dead of the Great Week who lie buried under the walls of the Louvre, should one ask them if the men of the Revolution of July really wanted nothing more than what the Opposition demanded in the Chamber during the Restoration. Such was in fact the definition which the Ministry and its men gave of the Revolution during the most recent debates. We can perceive how pitiful this explanation was in itself when we recall that the Opposition has since confessed that it merely played a comedy during the whole period of the Restoration. How can there then be any question here of any precise or exact manifestations? Even that which the populace cried during the three days amid the thunder of cannon was not the exact expression of its will, as the Philippistes subsequently declared. The cry Vive la Charte! which was afterwards interpreted as a general desire to maintain the Charte, was really nothing but a rallying word or signal which served as a signe de ralliment. We should not attach too exact a meaning to every expression which men use in such circumstances. This is true for every revolution made by the people. Then came invariably "the men of the morrow," who pick out and peel words, finding in them only the letter which kills, and not the spirit which giveth life. Yet it is the former, not the latter, which we must seek, for the populace understand as little of the meaning of words as of their