The New International Encyclopædia/Ça Ira

ÇA IRA, sȧ ḗ'rȧ' (Fr., it will go, equivalent to our “it's all right”). A French Revolutionary song, the words by Ladre, a street singer, and the melody originally a popular carillon by Bécourt, and a favorite air of Marie Antoinette. The song is said to have been first sung when the mob marched to Versailles, October 5, 1789. At the beginning of the Revolution, when all France was wild over Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, the song ran,

“	Ah, ça ira, ça ira, ça ira.
	Celui qui s'élève, on l'abaissera,
	Celui qui s'abaisse, on l'élèvera;”

but later, when the fierce passions began to stir, came the refrain, Les aristocrates à la lanterne.