Tea at Trianon: The Multiculturalists

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, August 26, 2024

The Multiculturalists

From Laura Crockett at The History Desk:

I like the Swiss because they were able to blend their citizens even though they speak four different languages; French, German, Italian, and the ancient tongue, Romansh. This is a testament that there can be different languages spoken, and still be Swiss because the other aspects of Western culture are accepted. The Swiss are for the Swiss. They have their standards, and the hell with anyone who doesn’t buy into their program. You cannot come and live among them unless you too want to be Swiss. And that includes being willing to keep your weapon ready to go in case of an invasion. Their politics are also different, so living in Switzerland is about the individual conforming to their system. One doesn’t hear of fake intellectuals talking about improving the Swiss system.
True, not all who live in that tiny country are there as citizens. Some are permanent guests, with money and prestige. They still had to pass muster to live there. Hungary is the other country that controls its borders. One can find a few celebrities living in that nation because it is safer. If only the other nations in the West would do the same, the world would be a better place. And perhaps the citizens of those other nations that produce many refugees, their citizens could learn to shoot their psychotic leaders instead of bowing to them. (Read more.)