Abstract
At the beginning of the eighteenth century two meanings of the word patriot were used side by side: the lover of his own country and the lover of the welfare of mankind. It was only in the period of the French Revolution that these two meanings got into conflict with each other. The radicals those who were in favour of the ideas of the French Revolution claimed the word patriot for themselves whereas the Tories who believed that England had to fight against the threat posed by these ideas tried to establish that they were the true patriots and that, therefore, patriot was their word. When the conflict with France gained in intensity the Tory meaning finally won the day.
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