Victor Hugo

Down the long path of history, traffic across centuries and continents and the graves of kings and the next of dictators, seeking always a way of life where the people have their freedom, believing, praying, fighting, dying.

We came this way. Tonight the National Broadcasting Company presents the third. In the new series, we came this way. A dramatic account of man's struggle down through the ages toward a democratic way of life.

NBC has prepared a booklet to aid in your understanding and enjoyment of this series, listen at the close of this evening's program for more information about it. Tonight we are concerned with France and the way in which he was held toward freedom by one of her greatest citizens.

NBC presents Victor Hugo on We Came This Way. Ladies and gentlemen, somehow into the framework of time bounded by now and the next ringing of the chimes and measured by the ticking of your living room clock.

Somehow into that scant space of time, we must put a picture. A picture of a man in the shadow that man cast across the century in which he lived. Well then, the picture. No man exists in a vacuum.

He is born into a family, lived among people, and has his being under a society or a government. If he's a little man, these things shape his destiny. If he's great, he may shape them.

What we need now is the backdrop for our drama. It's getting in a people event that we the tapestry of France in 1841. And that's a job for you historians. But do it quickly. Minutes are escaping.

History of France in ten sentences, please. Young man, you can't hurry, history. Maybe not, but you can't historians. Now, what are the facts? Well, let's see. 1841. King Louis Philippe was on the throne of France.