![]() ![]() ![]() The popular invasion of the royal residence at the Tuileries in early August 1792, forcing the submission of the king to popular authority, his refuge in the National Assembly and eventual arrest shocked the British public. White’s Hotel and the British Club in ParisĢ While early reactions to the Revolution of 1789 in Britain allowed for a range of opinions, by the time of the events of August and September 1792, there remained little scope for even the most temperate support. Such convergences were not necessarily contradictory, and demonstrate the centrality of an Enlightenment culture which gave importance to exchange in a variety of different forms. Finally, it seeks to examine the complexity of the interests of British radical activists, many of whom combined entrepreneurship, politics and private initiatives while resident in the French capital. It then goes on to consider some of the ways in which British expatriate radicalism manifested itself in space, with White’s Hotel as a crucial hub, situated as it was at the heart of revolutionary action. It first explores the nature and surprising tenacity of the British radical community in Paris during this turbulent era, particularly after the outbreak of the Anglo-French war. This paper addresses the expression of British radical culture and sociability in exile at this crucial phase of the French Revolution. Supporting the Revolution and living in revolutionary Paris from 1792 onwards was a radical gesture from British nationals whose government had cast even mildly enthusiastic onlookers as potential traitors. He wrote, “This is a lively, but shocking picture of the commencement and progress of a revolution, where the newly created authority meets the worn out and dying power with nearly equal force, as two contrary currents of water form a swell and throw up or swallow in turn whatever is found to float between them.” 1 British supporters of the Revolution formed an official club in Paris at a critical junction, when not only the old and new orders in France were colliding to produce a new, republican outcome, but when Britain and France were on the brink of a war which would have an indelible human and diplomatic impact on both countries. 1 Sampson Perry, An Historical Sketch of the French Revolution Commencing with its Predisposing Caus (.)ġ One of the British activists who took up residence in Paris in late 1792 wrote of the conjunction of old and new regimes he had witnessed in some of the makeshift prisons while incarcerated in 1793-94 under the measures taken against foreigners whose countries were at war with France. ![]()
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