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Title: History of Civilization in England, Vol. 2 of 3
Author: Henry Thomas Buckle
Release Date: December 28, 2013 [EBook #44494]
Language: English
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HISTORY
OF
CIVILIZATION IN ENGLAND.
BY
HENRY THOMAS BUCKLE.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
_NEW EDITION._
TORONTO:
ROSE-BELFORD PUBLISHING COMPANY,
60 YORK STREET.
1878.
ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF THE FRENCH INTELLECT FROM THE MIDDLE OF
THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY TO THE ACCESSION TO POWER OF LOUIS XIV.
PAGE
Importance of the question, as to whether the historian should
begin with studying the normal or the abnormal condition of
society 1-3
Greater power of the church in France than in England 4
Hence in France during the sixteenth century everything was more
theological than in England 6-8
Hence, too, toleration was impossible in France 9-11
But at the end of the sixteenth century scepticism appeared in
France, and with it toleration began, as was seen in the Edict
of Nantes 11-15
The first sceptic was not Rabelais, but Montaigne 15-18
Continuation of the movement by Charron 18-21
Henry IV. encouraged the Protestants 23-24
And they were tolerated even by the queen-regent during the
minority of Louis XIII. 24-26
The most remarkable steps in favour of toleration were,
however, taken by Richelieu, who effectually humbled the
church 27-34
He supported the new secular scheme of government against the
old ecclesiastical scheme 34-42
His liberal treatment of the Protestants 42-46
They are deserted by their temporal leaders, and the management
of the party falls into the hands of the clergy 46-51
Hence the French Protestants, being headed by the clergy,
become more intolerant than the French Catholics, who are
headed by statesmen 51-55
Evidence of the illiberality of the French Protestants 55-72
They raise a civil war, which was a struggle of classes rather
than of creeds 73
Richelieu put down the rebellion, but still abstained from
persecuting the Protestants 73-76
This liberal policy on the part of the government was only part
of a much larger movement 76-77
Illustration of this from the philosophy of Descartes 77-92
Analogy between Descartes and Richelieu 92-93
The same anti-ecclesiastical spirit was exhibited by their
contemporaries 93-95
And by Mazarin 96-98
It was also seen in the wars of the Fronde 99-102
But notwithstanding all this, there was a great difference
between France and England; and the prevalence of the
protective spirit prevented the French from becoming free 102-107
CHAPTER II.
HISTORY OF THE PROTECTIVE SPIRIT, AND COMPARISON OF IT IN FRANCE AND
ENGLAND.
About the eleventh century the spirit of inquiry began to
weaken the church 108-110
Coinciding with this, the feudal system and an hereditary
aristocracy appeared 110-112
The nobles displace the clergy, and celibacy is opposed by the
principle of hereditary rank 112
In England the nobles were less powerful than in France 113-116
And were glad to ally themselves with the people against the
crown 116-118
Hence a spirit of popular independence unknown in France, where
the nobles were too powerful to need the help of the people 118-119
Effects of this difference between the two countries in the
fourteenth century 119-122
Centralization was in France the natural successor of feudality 122-126
This state contrasted with that of England 126-127
Power of the French nobles 128-131
Illustration from the history of chivalry 131-135
Another illustration from the vanity of the French and pride of
the English 135-137
Also from the practice of duelling 137
The pride of Englishmen encouraged the Reformation 138
Analogy between the Reformation and the revolutions of the
seventeenth century 138-139
Both were opposed by the clergy and nobles. Natural alliance
between these two classes 139-142
In the reign of Elizabeth both classes were weakened 143-146
James I. and Charles I. vainly attempted to restore their power 147
Chapter III.
THE ENERGY OF THE PROTECTIVE SPIRIT IN FRANCE EXPLAINS THE FAILURE OF
THE FRONDE. COMPARISON BETWEEN THE FRONDE AND THE CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH
REBELLION.
Difference between the Fronde and the great English rebellion 148-150
The English rebellion was a war of classes 150-159
But in France the energy of the protective spirit and the power
of the nobles made a war of classes impossible 160-162
Vanity and imbecility of the French nobles 162-170
As such men were the leaders of the Fronde, the rebellion
naturally failed 167-173
But the English rebellion succeeded because it was a democratic
movement headed by popular leaders 174-175
CHAPTER IV.
THE PROTECTIVE SPIRIT CARRIED BY LOUIS XIV. INTO LITERATURE. EXAMINATION
OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF THIS ALLIANCE BETWEEN THE INTELLECTUAL CLASSES
AND THE GOVERNING CLASSES.
The protective spirit in France, having produced these
political evils, was carried into literature under Louis XIV.,
and caused an alliance between literature and government 176-177
Servility in the reign of Louis XIV. 177-181
Men of letters grateful to Louis XIV. 182
But his system of protecting literature is injurious 183-188
Its first effect was to stop the progress of science 188-192
Even in mechanical arts nothing was effected 192-194
Decline in physiology, in surgery, and in medicine 194-197
Also in zoology and in chemistry 197
Nor was anything done in botany 198-202
Intellectual decay under Louis XIV. was seen in every
department of thought, and was the natural consequence of
patronage 202-205
Illustrations from the history of French art 205-208
And from every branch of literature 208-210
Universal decline of France during the latter part of the reign
of Louis XIV. 210-212
CHAPTER V.
DEATH OF LOUIS XIV. REACTION AGAINST THE PROTECTIVE SPIRIT, AND
PREPARATIONS FOR THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
English literature unknown in France in the reign of Louis XIV. 213-214
But began to be studied after his death, when the most eminent
Frenchmen visited England. This caused a junction of French and
English intellects 215-227
Admiration of England expressed by Frenchmen 228-229
Hence liberal opinions in France, which the government
attempted to stifle 229
Consequent persecution of literary men by the French government 230-242
Violence of the government 242-246
In France literature was the last resource of liberty 246-247
Reasons why literary men at first attacked the church and not
the government 247-253
Hence they were led to assail Christianity 254-258
But until the middle of the reign of Louis XV. the political
institutions of France might have been saved; after that period
all was over 258-259
CHAPTER VI.
STATE OF HISTORICAL LITERATURE IN FRANCE FROM THE END OF THE SIXTEENTH
TO THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
Historical literature in France before the end of the sixteenth
century 261-265
Improvement in the method of writing history late in the
sixteenth century 266-267
Still further progress early in the seventeenth century 268-270
Which became more marked in Mezeray's history in 1643 271-272
Retrograde movement under Louis XIV. 273-279
Illustration of this from the work of Audigier 279-282
And from that of Bossuet 282-291
Immense improvements introduced by Voltaire 292-313
His History of Charles XII. 292-295
His Age of Louis XIV. 296-297
His Morals, Manners, and Character of Nations 297-298
His views adopted by Mallet, Mably, Velly, Villaret, Duclos,
and Hénault 299-300
His habit of looking at epochs 301
A remark of his adopted by Constant 302
He advocated free trade 304
His anticipation of Malthus 304-305
His attack on the Middle Ages 305-306
And on the pedantic admirers of antiquity 306-308
He weakened the authority of mere scholars and theologians 308-309
Who had repeated the most childish absurdities respecting the
early history of Rome 309-310
In attacking which Voltaire anticipated Niebuhr 310-313
Ignorant prejudice against him in England 313
His vast labours were aided by Montesquieu 314
The works of Montesquieu, and value of his method 314-319
The discourses of Turgot, and their influence 320-321
All this hastened the advance of the French Revolution 321-322
CHAPTER VII.
PROXIMATE CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AFTER THE MIDDLE OF THE
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
Recapitulation of preceding views 323
Difference between certainty and precision 324-326
The intellect of France began to attack the state about 1750 326-327
Rise of the political economists 327-330
Influence of Rousseau 330-331
Just at the same time the government began to attack the church 332-334
And to favour religious toleration 334-336
Abolition of the Jesuits 336-346
Calvinism is democratic; Arminianism is aristocratic 339-342
Jansenism being allied to Calvinism, its revival in France
aided the democratic movement, and secured the overthrow of
the Jesuits, whose doctrines are Arminian 343-345
After the fall of the Jesuits the ruin of the French clergy was
inevitable 347-348
But was averted for a time by the most eminent Frenchmen
directing their hostility against the state rather than against
the church 349-351
Connexion between this movement and the rise of atheism 351-353
Same tendency exhibited in Helvétius 353-357
And in Condillac 357-360
The ablest Frenchmen concentrate their attention on the
external world 360-361
Effects of this on the sciences of heat, light, and electricit 361-363
Also on chemistry and geology 364-373
In England during the same period there was a dearth of great
thinkers 374-375
But in France immense impetus was given to zoology by Cuvier
and Bichat 375-376
Bichat's views respecting the tissues 377-421
Connexion between these views and subsequent discoveries 383-386
Relation between inventions, discoveries, and method; and
immense importance of Bichat's method 386-389
Bichat's work on life 390-395
Great and successful efforts made by the French in Botany 395-399
And in mineralogy by De Lisle and Haüy 399-403
Analogy between this and Pinel's work on insanity 403-404
All these vast results were part of the causes of the French
Revolution 405
Physical science is essentially democratic 406-410
The same democratic tendency was observable in changes of dress 410-412
And in the establishment of clubs 412-415
Influence of the American Rebellion 415-418
Summary of the causes of the French Revolution 418-420
General reflections 420-424
CHAPTER VIII.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF THE SPANISH INTELLECT FROM THE FIFTH TO THE
MIDDLE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
In the preceding Chapters four propositions have been
established 425-426
The truth of which may be further verified by studying the
history of Spain 426
In Spain, superstition is encouraged by physical phenomena 426-434
It was also encouraged by the great Arian war with France 434-439
And, subsequently, by the war with the Mohammedans 439-444
These three causes influenced the policy of Ferdinand and
Isabella 444-446
Continuation of the same policy by Charles V. and by Philip II. 446-453
Philip II., notwithstanding his repulsive qualities, was loved
by the nation 453-455
Their affection for him was the result of general causes,
which, during several centuries, have made the Spaniards the
most loyal people in Europe 455
Origin of Spanish loyalty, and evidence of it 455-461
Loyalty became united with superstition, and each strengthened
the other 461-462
In consequence of this union, great foreign conquests were
made, and a great military spirit was developed 461-465
But this sort of progress, depending too much upon individuals,
is necessarily unstable 465-466
The progress of England, on the other hand, depends upon the
ability of the nation, and therefore, continues, whether
individual rulers are skilful, or whether they are unskilful 466-467
In Spain, the ruling classes were supreme; the people counted
for nothing; and hence the grandeur of the country, which was
raised up by the able princes of the sixteenth century, was as
quickly pulled down by the weak princes of the seventeenth 467-472
The decay of Spain, in the seventeenth century, was connected
with the increasing influence of the clergy 472-483
The first use which the clergy made of their power was to expel
all the Moors 483-496
Effect of this expulsion in impoverishing Spain 497-499
Decline of manufactures, and of population, and increase of
poverty 499-511
In 1700, when affairs were at their worst, the Austrian dynasty
was succeeded by the Bourbon 513-514
Spain was now ruled by foreigners 514-520
Who endeavoured to improve the country by weakening the church 521-525
But the authority of the church had so enfeebled the national
intellect, that the people, immersed in ignorance, remained
inert 525-543
Government attempted to remedy this ignorance by calling in
foreign aid 534-545
The influence of foreigners in Spain was displayed in the
expulsion of the Jesuits, in 1767 545-546
And in the attacks made on the Inquisition 547-548
It was also displayed in the foreign policy of Spain 548-550
All this was promoted by the authority and high character of
Charles III. 552-554
But it was of no avail; because politicians can do nothing,
when the spirit of the country is against them 534-555
Still, Charles III. effected great improvements, from which, on
a superficial view, permanent benefit might have been expected 555-568
Summary of what was accomplished for Spain, by the government,
between the years 1700 and 1788 568-570
Inasmuch, however, as these ameliorations were opposed to the
habits of the national character, a reaction was inevitable 570-571
In 1788, Charles III. was succeeded by Charles IV., and the new
king, being a true Spaniard, the reaction began 571-573
In the nineteenth century, political reformers again
endeavoured to improve Spain 574
For the reasons already stated, their efforts were fruitless,
notwithstanding the early establishment in that country of
municipal privileges, and of popular representation 575-576
In this way, general causes always triumph over particular
actions 577-578
Those general causes predetermined the country to superstition,
and it was impossible for individuals to make head against them 578-583
Nothing can weaken superstition but knowledge 583
Such failures are the more observable, because Spain enjoys
immense natural advantages 583-585
And has possessed great patriots and great legislators 585
The Spaniards have, moreover, long been celebrated for honour,
courage, temperance, humanity, and religious sincerity 585-588
So far, however, as national progress is concerned, these noble
qualities are useless, while ignorance is so gross and so
general 588-592
This it is, which, isolating Spain from the rest of the
civilized world, keeps alive that spirit of superstition, that
reverence for antiquity, and that blind and servile loyalty,
which, as long as they last, will render improvement
impossible; and which must last until ignorance is removed 592-597
HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION IN ENGLAND.
CHAPTER I.
OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF THE FRENCH INTELLECT FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE
SIXTEENTH CENTURY TO THE ACCESSION TO POWER OF LOUIS XIV.
The consideration of these great changes in the English mind, has led me
into a digression, which, so far from being foreign to the design of
this Introduction, is absolutely necessary for a right understanding of
it. In this, as in many other respects, there is a marked analogy
between investigations concerning the structure of society and
investigations concerning the human body. Thus, it has been found, that
the best way of arriving at a theory of disease is by beginning with the
theory of health; and that the foundation of all sound pathology must be
first sought in an observation, not of the abnormal, but of the normal
functions of life. Just in the same way, it will, I believe, be found,
that the best method of arriving at great social truths, is by first
investigating those cases in which society has developed itself
according to its own laws, and in which the governing powers have least
opposed themselves to the spirit of their times.[1] It is on this
account that, in order to understand the position of France, I have
begun by examining the position of England. In order to understand the
way in which the diseases of the first country were aggravated by the
quackery of ignorant rulers, it was necessary to understand the way in
which the health of the second country was preserved by being subjected
to smaller interference, and allowed with greater liberty to continue
its natural march. With the light, therefore, which we have acquired by
a study of the normal condition of the English mind, we can, with the
greater ease, now apply our principles to that abnormal condition of
French society, by the operations of which, at the close of the
eighteenth century, some of the dearest interests of civilization were
imperilled.
[1] The question as to whether the study of normal phenomena should or
should not precede the study of abnormal ones, is of the greatest
importance; and a neglect of it has introduced confusion into every
work I have seen on general or comparative history. For this
preliminary being unsettled, there has been no recognized principle
of arrangement; and historians, instead of following a scientific
method suited to the actual exigencies of our knowledge, have
adopted an empirical method suited to their own exigencies; and
have given priority to different countries, sometimes according to
their size, sometimes according to their antiquity, sometimes
according to their geographical position, sometimes according to
their wealth, sometimes according to their religion, sometimes
according to the brilliancy of their literature, and sometimes
according to the facilities which the historian himself possessed
for collecting materials. All these are factitious considerations;
and, in a philosophic view, it is evident that precedence should be
given to countries by the historian solely in reference to the ease
with which their history can be generalized; following in this
respect the scientific plan of proceeding from the simple to the
complex. This leads us to the conclusion that, in the study of Man,
as in the study of Nature, the question of priority resolves itself
into a question of aberration; and that the more aberrant any
people have been, that is to say, the more they have been
interfered with, the lower they must be placed in an arrangement of
the history of various countries. Coleridge (_Lit. Remains_, vol.
i. p. 326, and elsewhere in his works) seems to suppose that the
order should be the reverse of what I have stated, and that the
laws both of mind and body can be generalized from pathological
data. Without wishing to express myself too positively in
opposition to so profound a thinker as Coleridge, I cannot help
saying that this is contradicted by an immense amount of evidence,
and, so far as I am aware, is supported by none. It is contradicted
by the fact, that those branches of inquiry which deal with
phenomena little affected by foreign causes, have been raised to
sciences sooner than those which deal with phenomena greatly
affected by foreign causes. The organic world, for example, is more
perturbed by the inorganic world, than the inorganic world is
perturbed by it. Hence we find that the inorganic sciences have
always been cultivated before the organic ones, and at the present
moment are far more advanced than they. In the same way, human
physiology is older than human pathology; and while the physiology
of the vegetable kingdom has been successfully prosecuted since the
latter half of the seventeenth century, the pathology of the
vegetable kingdom can scarcely be said to exist, since none of its
laws have been generalized, and no systematic researches, on a
large scale, have yet been made into the morbid anatomy of plants.
It appears, therefore, that different ages and different sciences
bear unconscious testimony to the uselessness of paying much
attention to the abnormal, until considerable progress has been
made in the study of the normal; and this conclusion might be
confirmed by innumerable authorities, who, differing from
Coleridge, hold that physiology is the basis of pathology, and that
the laws of disease are to be raised, not from the phenomena
presented in disease, but from those presented in health; in other
words, that pathology should be investigated deductively rather
than inductively, and that morbid anatomy and clinical observations
may verify the conclusions of science, but can never supply the
means of creating the science itself. On this extremely interesting
question, compare _Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire_, _Hist. des Anomalies de
l'Organisation_, vol. ii. pp. 9, 10, 127; _Bowman's Surgery_, in
_Encyclop. of the Medical Sciences_, p. 824; _Bichat_, _Anatomie
Générale_, vol. i. p. 20; _Cullen's Works_, vol. i. p. 424;
_Comte_, _Philos. Positive_, vol. iii. pp. 334, 335; _Robin et
Verdeil_, _Chimie Anatomique_, vol. i. p. 68; _Esquirol_, _Maladies
Mentales_, vol. i. p. 111; _Georget_, _de la Folie_, pp. 2, 391,
392; _Brodie's Pathology and Surgery_, p. 3; _Blainville_,
_Physiologie comparée_, vol. i. p. 20; _Feuchtersleben's Medical
Psychology_, p. 200; _Lawrence's Lectures on Man_, 1844, p. 45;
_Simon's Pathology_, p. 5.
Another confirmation of the accuracy of this view is, that
pathological investigations of the nervous system, numerous as they
have been, have effected scarcely anything; the reason evidently
being, that the preliminary knowledge of the normal state is not
sufficiently advanced. See _Noble on the Brain_, pp. 76-92, 337,
338; _Henry on the Nervous System_, in _Third Report of Brit.
Assoc._ p. 78; _Holland's Medical Notes_, p. 608; _Jones and
Sieveking's Patholog. Anat._ p. 211.
In France, a long train of events, which I shall hereafter relate, had,
from an early period, given to the clergy a share of power larger than
that which they possessed in England. The results of this were for a
time decidedly beneficial, inasmuch as the church restrained the
lawlessness of a barbarous age, and secured a refuge for the weak and
oppressed. But as the French advanced in knowledge, the spiritual
authority, which had done so much to curb their passions, began to press
heavily upon their genius, and impede its movements. That same
ecclesiastical power, which to an ignorant age is an unmixed benefit, is
to a more enlightened age a serious evil. The proof of this was soon
apparent. For when the Reformation broke out, the church had in England
been so weakened, that it fell almost at the first assault; its revenues
were seized by the crown,[2] and its offices, after being greatly
diminished both in authority and in wealth, were bestowed upon new men,
who, from the uncertainty of their tenure, and the novelty of their
doctrines, lacked that long-established prescription by which the claims
of the profession are mainly supported. This, as we have already seen,
was the beginning of an uninterrupted progress, in which, at every
successive step, the ecclesiastical spirit lost some of its influence.
In France, on the other hand, the clergy were so powerful, that they
were able to withstand the Reformation, and thus preserve for themselves
those exclusive privileges which their English brethren vainly attempted
to retain.
[2] A circumstance which Harris relates with evident delight, and goes
out of his way to mention it. _Lives of the Stuarts_, vol. iii. p.
300. On the amount of loss the church thus sustained, see
_Sinclair's Hist. of the Revenue_, vol. i. pp. 181-184, and
_Eccleston's English Antiquities_, p. 228.
This was the beginning of that second marked divergence between French
and English civilization,[3] which had its origin, indeed, at a much
earlier period, but which now first produced conspicuous results. Both
countries had, in their infancy, been greatly benefited by the church,
which always showed itself ready to protect the people against the
oppressions of the crown and the nobles.[4] But in both countries, as
society advanced, there arose a capacity for self-protection; and early
in the sixteenth, or probably even in the fifteenth century, it became
urgently necessary to diminish that spiritual authority, which, by
prejudging the opinions of men, has impeded the march of their
knowledge.[5] It is on this account that Protestantism, so far from
being, as its enemies have called it, an aberration arising from
accidental causes, was essentially a normal movement, and was the
legitimate expression of the wants of the European intellect. Indeed,
the Reformation owed its success, not to a desire of purifying the
church, but to a desire of lightening its pressure; and it may be
broadly stated, that it was adopted in every civilized country, except
in those where preceding events had increased the influence of the
ecclesiastical order, either among the people or among their rulers.
This was, unhappily, the case with France, where the clergy not only
triumphed over the Protestants, but appeared, for a time, to have gained
fresh authority by the defeat of such dangerous enemies.[6]
[3] The first divergence arose from the influence of the protective
spirit, as I shall endeavour to explain in the next chapter.
[4] On the obligations Europe is under to the Catholic clergy, see some
liberal and very just remarks in _Kemble's Saxons in England_, vol.
ii. pp. 374, 375; and in _Guizot's Civilisation en France_. See
also _Neander's Hist. of the Church_, vol. iii. pp. 199-206,
255-257, vol. v. p. 138, vol. vi. pp. 406, 407; _Palgrave's
Anglo-Saxon Commonwealth_, vol. i. p. 655; _Lingard's Hist. of
England_, vol. ii. p. 44; _Klimrath_, _Travaux sur l'Hist. du
droit_, vol. i. p. 394; _Carwithen's Hist. of the Church of
England_, vol. i. p. 157.
[5] The way in which this acted is concisely stated by Tennemann: 'Wenn
sich nun auch ein freierer Geist der Forschung regte, so fand er
sich gleich durch zwei Grundsätze, welche aus jenem Supremat der
Theologie flossen, beengt und gehemmt. Der erste war: die
menschliche Vernunft kann nicht über die Offenbarung
hinausgehen.... Der zweite: die Vernunft kann nichts als wahr
erkennen, was dem Inhalte der Offenbarung widerspricht, und nichts
für falsch erkennen, was derselben angemessen ist,--folgte aus dem
ersten.' _Gesch. der Philos._ vol. viii. part i. p. 8.
[6] As to the influence of the Reformation generally, in increasing the
power of the Catholic clergy, see M. Ranke's important work on the
_History of the Popes_; and as to the result in France, see
_Monteil_, _Hist. des divers Etats_, vol. v. pp. 233-235. Corero,
who was ambassador in France in 1569, writes, 'Il papa può dire a
mio giudizio, d'aver in questi romori piuttosto guadagnato che
perduto, perciochè tanta era la licenza del vivere, secondo che ho
inteso, prima che quel regno si dividesse in due parti, era tanta
poca la devozione che avevano in Roma e in quei che vi abitavano,
che il papa era più considerato come principe grande in Italia, che
come capo della chiesa e pastore universale. Ma scoperti che si
furono gli ugonotti, cominciarono i cattolici a riverire il suo
nome, e riconoscerlo per vero vicario di Cristo, confirmandosi
tanto più in opinione di doverlo tener per tale, quanto più lo
sentivano sprezzare e negare da essi ugonotti.' _Relations des
Ambassadeurs Vénitiens_, vol. ii. p. 162. This interesting passage
is one of many proofs that the immediate advantages derived from
the Reformation have been overrated; though the remote advantages
were undoubtedly immense.
The consequence of all this was, that in France, every thing assumed a
more theological aspect than in England. In our country, the
ecclesiastical spirit had, by the middle of the sixteenth century,
become so feeble, that even intelligent foreigners were struck by the
peculiarity.[7] The same nation, which, during the Crusades, had
sacrificed innumerable lives in the hope of planting the Christian
standard in the heart of Asia,[8] was now almost indifferent to the
religion even of its own sovereign. Henry VIII., by his sole will,
regulated the national creed, and fixed the formularies of the church,
which, if the people had been in earnest, he could not possibly have
done; for he had no means of compelling submission; he had no standing
army; and even his personal guards were so scanty, that at any moment
they could have been destroyed by a rising of the warlike apprentices of
London.[9] After his death, there came Edward, who, as a Protestant
king, undid the work of his father; and, a few years later, there came
Mary, who, as a Popish queen, undid the work of her brother; while she,
in her turn, was succeeded by Elizabeth, under whom another great
alteration was effected in the established faith.[10] Such was the
indifference of the people, that these vast changes were accompanied
without any serious risk.[11] In France, on the other hand, at the mere
name of religion, thousands of men were ready for the field. In England,
our civil wars have all been secular; they have been waged, either for a
change of dynasty, or for an increase of liberty. But those far more
horrible wars, by which, in the sixteenth century, France was desolated,
were conducted in the name of Christianity, and even the political
struggles of the great families were merged in a deadly contest between
Catholics and Protestants.[12]
[7] The indifference of the English to theological disputes, and the
facility with which they changed their religion, caused many
foreigners to censure their fickleness. See, for instance, _Essais
de Montaigne_, livre ii. chap. xii. p. 365. Perlin, who travelled
in England in the middle of the sixteenth century, says, 'The
people are reprobates, and thorough enemies to good manners and
letters; for they don't know whether they belong to God or the
devil, which St. Paul has reprehended in many people, saying, Be
not transported with divers sorts of winds, but be constant and
steady to your belief.' _Antiquarian Repertory_, vol. iv. p. 511,
4to, 1809. See also the remarks of Michele in 1557, and of Crespet
in 1590; _Ellis's Original Letters_, 2nd series, vol. ii. p. 239;
_Hallam's Constitutional History_, vol. i. p. 102; _Southey's
Commonplace Book_, 3rd series, p. 408.
[8] An historian of the thirteenth century strikingly expresses the
theological feelings of the English crusaders, and the complete
subordination of the political ones: 'Indignum quippe judicabant
animarum suarum salutem omittere, et obsequium c[oe]lestis Regis,
clientelæ regis alicujus terreni postponere; constituerunt igitur
terminum, videlicet festum nativitatis beati Johannis Baptistæ.'
_Matthæi Paris Historia Major_, p. 671. It is said, that the first
tax ever imposed in England on personal property was in 1166, and
was for the purpose of crusading. _Sinclair's Hist. of the
Revenue_, vol. i. p. 88: 'It would not probably have been easily
submitted to, had it not been appropriated for so popular a
purpose.'
[9] Henry VIII. had, at one time, fifty horse-guards, but they being
expensive, were soon given up; and his only protection consisted of
'the yeomen of the guard, fifty in number, and the common servants
of the king's household.' _Hallam's Const. Hist._ vol. i. p. 46.
These 'yeomen of the guard were raised by Henry VII. in 1485.'
_Grose's Military Antiquities_, vol. i. p. 167. Compare _Turner's
Hist. of England_, vol. vii. p. 54; and _Lingard's Hist. of
England_, vol. iii. p. 298.
[10] Locke, in his first Letter on Toleration, has made some pungent,
and, I should suppose, very offensive, observations on these rapid
changes. _Locke's Works_, vol. v. p. 27.
[11] But, although Mary easily effected a change of religion, the
anti-ecclesiastical spirit was far too strong to allow her to
restore to the church its property. 'In Mary's reign, accordingly,
her parliament, so obsequious in all matters of religion, adhered
with a firm grasp to the possession of church-lands.' _Hallam's
Const. Hist._ vol. i. p. 77. See also _Short's Hist. of the Church
of England_, p. 213; _Lingard's Hist. of England_, vol. iv. pp.
339, 340; _Butler's Mem. of the Catholics_, vol. i. p. 253; and
_Carwithen's Hist. of the Church of England_, vol. i. p. 346.
[12] 'Quand éclata la guerre des opinions religieuses, les antiques
rivalités des barons se transformèrent en haîne du prêche ou de la
messe.' _Capefigue_, _Hist. de la Réforme et de la Ligue_, vol.
iv. p. 32. Compare _Duplessis Mornay_, _Mém. et Correspond._, vol.
ii. pp. 422, 563; and _Boullier_, _Maison Militaire des Rois de
France_, p. 25, 'des querelles d'autant plus vives, qu'elles
avoient la religion pour base.'
The effect this difference produced on the intellect of the two
countries is very obvious. The English, concentrating their abilities
upon great secular matters, had, by the close of the sixteenth century,
produced a literature which never can perish. But the French, down to
that period, had not put forth a single work, the destruction of which
would now be a loss to Europe. What makes this contrast the more
remarkable is, that in France the civilization, such as it was, had a
longer standing; the material resources of the country had been earlier
developed; its geographical position made it the centre of European
thought;[13] and it had possessed a literature at a time when our
ancestors were a mere tribe of wild and ignorant barbarians.
[13] The intellectual advantages of France, arising from its position
between Italy, Germany, and England, are very fairly stated by M.
Lerminier (_Philosophie du Droit_, vol. i. p. 9).
The simple fact is, that this is one of those innumerable instances
which teach us that no country can rise to eminence so long as the
ecclesiastical power possesses much authority. For, the predominance of
the spiritual classes is necessarily accompanied by a corresponding
predominance of the topics in which those classes delight. Whenever the
ecclesiastical profession is very influential, ecclesiastical literature
will be very abundant, and what is called profane literature will be
very scanty. Hence it occurred, that the minds of the French, being
almost entirely occupied with religious disputes, had no leisure for
those great inquiries into which we in England were beginning to
enter;[14] and there was, as we shall presently see, an interval of a
whole generation between the progress of the French and English
intellects, simply because there was about the same interval between the
progress of their scepticism. The theological literature, indeed,
rapidly increased;[15] but it was not until the seventeenth century that
France produced that great secular literature, the counterpart of which
was to be found in England before the sixteenth century had come to a
close.
[14] Just in the same way, the religious disputes in Alexandria injured
the interests of knowledge. See the instructive remarks of M.
Matter (_Hist. de l'Ecole d'Alexandrie_, vol. ii. p. 131).
[15] _Monteil_, _Hist. des divers Etats_, vol. vi. p. 136. Indeed, the
theological spirit seized the theatre, and the different
sectarians ridiculed each other's principles on the stage. See a
curious passage at p. 182 of the same learned work.
Such was, in France, the natural consequence of the power of the church
being prolonged beyond the period which the exigencies of society
required. But while this was the intellectual result, the moral and
physical results were still more serious. While the minds of men were
thus heated by religious strife, it would have been idle to expect any
of those maxims of charity to which theological faction is always a
stranger. While the Protestants were murdering the Catholics,[16] and
the Catholics murdering the Protestants, it was hardly likely that
either sect should feel tolerance for the opinions of its enemy.[17]
During the sixteenth century, treaties were occasionally made between
the two parties; but they were only made to be immediately broken;[18]
and, with the single exception of l'Hôpital, the bare idea of toleration
does not seem to have entered the head of any statesman of the age. It
was recommended by him;[19] but neither his splendid abilities, nor his
unblemished integrity, could make head against the prevailing
prejudices, and he eventually retired into private life without
effecting any of his noble schemes.[20]
[16] The crimes of the French Protestants, though hardly noticed in
_Felice's History of the Protestants of France_, pp. 138-143, were
as revolting as those of the Catholics, and quite as numerous
relatively to the numbers and power of the two parties. Compare
_Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. xviii. pp. 516, 517, with
_Capefigue_, _Hist. de la Réforme_, vol. ii. p. 173, vol. vi. p.
54; and _Smedley_, _Hist. of the Reformed Religion in France_,
vol. i. pp. 199, 200, 237.
[17] In 1569 Corero writes: 'Ritrovai quel regno, certo, posto in
grandissima confusione; perchè, stante quella divisione di
religione (convertita quasi in due fazioni e inimicizie
particolari), era causa ch' ognuno, senza che amicizia o parentela
potesse aver luoco, stava con l'orecchie attente; e pieno
disospetto ascoltava da che parte nasceva qualche romore,' _Relat.
des Ambassad. Vénitiens_, vol. ii. p. 106. He emphatically adds,
'Temevano gl' ugonotti, temevano li cattolici, tenieva il
prencipe, temevano li sudditi.' See also, on this horrible state
of opinions, _Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. xviii. pp. 21,
22, 118-120, 296, 430. On both sides, the grossest calumnies were
propagated and believed; and one of the charges brought against
Catherine de Medici was, that she caused the Cesarean operation to
be performed on the wives of Protestants, in order that no new
heretics might be born. _Sprengel_, _Hist. de la Médecine_, vol.
vii. p. 294.
[18] _Mably_, _Observations sur l'Hist. de France_, vol. iii. p. 149. In
the reign of Charles IX. alone, there were no less than five of
these religious wars, each of which was concluded by a treaty. See
_Flassan_, _Hist. de la Diplomatie Française_, vol. ii. p. 69.
[19] For which l'Hôpital was accused of atheism: 'Homo doctus, sed verus
atheus.' _Dict. Philos._ article _Athéisme_, in _[OE]uvres de
Voltaire_, vol. xxxvii. pp. 181, 182.
[20] I have not been able to meet with any good life of this great man:
that by Charles Butler is very superficial, and so is that by
Bernardi, in _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxiv. pp. 412-424. My own
information respecting l'Hôpital is from _Sismondi_, _Hist. des
Français_, vol. xviii. pp. 431-436; _Capefigue_, _Hist. de la
Réforme_, vol. ii. pp. 135-137, 168-170; _De Thou_, _Hist. Univ._
vol. iii. pp. 519-523, vol. iv. pp. 2-8, 152-159, vol. v. pp.
180-182, 520, 521, 535, vol. vi. pp. 703, 704; _Sully_,
_[OE]conomies Royales_, vol. i. p. 234. Duvernet (_Hist. de la
Sorbonne_, vol. i. pp. 215-218) is unsatisfactory, though fully
recognizing his merit.
Indeed, in the leading events of this period of French history, the
predominance of the theological spirit was painfully shown. It was shown
in the universal determination to subordinate political acts to
religious opinions.[21] It was shown in the conspiracy of Amboise, and
in the conference of Poissy; and still more was it shown in those
revolting crimes so natural to superstition, the massacres of Vassy and
of St. Bartholomew, the murder of Guise by Poltrot, and of Henry III. by
Clement. These were the legitimate results of the spirit of religious
bigotry. They were the results of that accursed spirit, which, whenever
it has had the power, has punished even to the death those who dared to
differ from it; and which, now that the power has passed away, still
continues to dogmatize on the most mysterious subjects, tamper with the
most sacred principles of the human heart, and darken with its miserable
superstitions those sublime questions that no one should rudely touch,
because they are for each according to the measure of his own soul,
because they lie in that unknown tract which separates the Finite from
the Infinite, and because they are as a secret and individual covenant
between Man and his God.
[21] 'Ce fut alors que la nation ne prit conseil que de son fanatisme.
Les esprits, de jour en jour plus échauffés, ne virent plus
d'autre objet que celui de la religion, et par piété se firent les
injures les plus atroces.' _Mably_, _Observations sur l'Hist. de
France_, vol. iii. p. 145.
How long these sad days[22] would, in the ordinary course of affairs,
have been prolonged in France, is a question which we now perhaps have
no means of answering; though there is no doubt that the progress even
of empirical knowledge must, according to the process already pointed
out, have eventually sufficed to rescue so great a country from her
degraded position. Fortunately, however, there now took place what we
must be content to call an accident, but which was the beginning of a
most important change. In the year 1589, Henry IV. ascended the throne
of France. This great prince, who was far superior to any of the French
sovereigns of the sixteenth century,[23] made small account of those
theological disputes which his predecessors had thought to be of
paramount importance. Before him, the kings of France, animated by the
piety natural to the guardians of the church, had exerted all their
authority to uphold the interests of the sacred profession. Francis I.
said, that if his right hand were a heretic, he would cut it off.[24]
Henry II., whose zeal was still greater,[25] ordered the judges to
proceed against the Protestants, and publicly declared that he would
'make the extirpation of the heretics his principal business.'[26]
Charles IX., on the celebrated day of St. Bartholomew, attempted to
relieve the church by destroying them at a single blow. Henry III.
promised to 'oppose heresy even at the risk of his life;' for he said,
'he could not find a prouder grave than amidst the ruins of heresy.'[27]
[22] The 19th and 20th volumes of _Sismondi's Histoire des Français_
contain painful evidence of the internal condition of France
before the accession of Henry IV. Indeed, as Sismondi says (vol.
xx. pp. 11-16), it seemed at one time as if the only prospect was
a relapse into feudalism. See also _Monteil_, _Hist. des divers
Etats_, vol. v. pp. 242-249: 'plus de trois cent mille maisons
détruites.' De Thou, in the memoirs of his own life, says, 'Les
loix furent méprisées, et l'honneur de la France fut presque
anéanti ... et sous le voile de la religion, on ne respiroit que
la haîne, la vengeance, le massacre et l'incendie,' _Mém. de la
Vie_, in _Histoire Univ._ vol. i. p. 120; and the same writer, in
his great history, gives almost innumerable instances of the
crimes and persecutions constantly occurring. See, for some of the
most striking cases, vol. ii. p. 383, vol. iv. pp. 378, 380, 387,
495, 496, 539, vol. v. pp. 189, 518, 561, 647, vol. vi. pp. 421,
422, 424, 426, 427, 430, 469. Compare _Duplessis_, _Mém. et
Correspond._ vol. ii. pp. 41, 42, 322, 335, 611, 612, vol. iii.
pp. 344, 445, vol. iv. pp. 112-114; _Benoist_, _Hist. de l'Edit de
Nantes_, vol. i. pp. 307, 308; _Duvernet_, _Hist. de la Sorbonne_,
vol. i. p. 217.
[23] This, indeed, is not saying much; and far higher praise might be
justly bestowed. As to his domestic policy, there can be only one
opinion; and M. Flassan speaks in the most favourable terms of his
management of foreign affairs. _Flassan_, _Hist. de la Diplomatie
Franç._ vol. ii. pp. 191, 192, 294-297, vol. iii. p. 243. And see,
to the same effect, the testimony of M. Capefigue, an unfriendly
judge. _Hist. de la Réforme_, vol. vii. p. xiv. vol. viii. p. 156.
Fontenay Mareuil, who was a contemporary of Henry IV., though he
wrote many years after the king was murdered, says, 'Ce grand roy,
qui estoit en plus de considération dans le monde que pas un de
ses prédécesseurs n'avoit esté depuis Charlesmagne.' _Mém. de
Fontenay_, vol. i. p. 46. Duplessis Mornay calls him 'le plus
grand roy que la chrestienté ait porté depuis cinq cens ans;' and
Sully pronounces him to be 'le plus grand de nos rois.' _Duplessis
Mornay_, _Mém. et Correspond._ vol. xi. pp. 30, 77, 131; _Sully_,
_[OE]conomies Royales_, vol. vii. p. 15. Compare vol. vi. pp. 397,
398, vol. ix. pp. 35, 242, with some sensible remarks in _Mém. de
Genlis_, Paris, 1825, vol. ix. p. 299.
[24] So it is generally related: but there is a slightly different
version of this orthodox declaration in _Smedley's Hist. of the
Reformation in France_, vol. i. p. 30. Compare _Maclaine's note_
in _Mosheim's Eccles. Hist._ vol. ii. p. 24, with _Sismondi_,
_Hist. des Français_, vol. xvi. pp. 453, 454, and _Relat. des
Ambassad. Vénitiens_, vol. i. p. 50, vol. ii. p. 48. It was also
Francis I. who advised Charles V. to expel all the Mohammedans
from Spain, _Llorente_, _Hist. de l'Inquisition_, vol. i. p. 429.
[25] The historian of the French Protestants says, in 1548, 'le nouveau
roi Henry II. fut encore plus rigoureux que son père.' _Benoist_,
_Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes_, vol. i. p. 12.
[26] M. Ranke (_Civil Wars in France_, vol. i. pp. 240, 241) says, that
he issued a circular 'addressed to the parliaments and to the
judicial tribunals, in which they were urged to proceed against
the Lutherans with the greatest severity, and the judges informed
that they would be held responsible, should they neglect these
orders; and in which he declared plainly, that as soon as the
peace with Spain was concluded, he was determined to make the
extirpation of the heretics his principal business.' See also, on
Henry II., in connexion with the Protestants, _Mably_, _Observ.
sur l'Hist. de France_, vol. iii. pp. 133, 134; _De Thou_, _Hist.
Univ._ vol. i. pp. 334, 335, 387, vol. ii. p. 640, vol. iii. pp.
365, 366; _Felice's Hist. of the French Protestants_, p. 58.
[27] He said this to the Estates of Blois in 1588. _Ranke's Civil Wars
in France_, vol. ii. p. 202. Compare his edict, in 1585, in
_Capefigue_, _Hist. de la Réforme_, vol. iv. pp. 244, 245, and his
speech in vol. v. p. 122; and see _Benoist_, _Hist. de l'Edit de
Nantes_, vol. i. p. 328; _Duplessis Mornay_, _Mém. et Corresp._
vol. i. p. 110; _De Thou_, _Hist. Univ._ vol. i. p. 250, vol.
viii. p. 651, vol. x, pp. 294, 589, 674, 675.
These were the opinions expressed, in the sixteenth century, by the
heads of the oldest monarchy in Europe.[28] But with such feelings, the
powerful intellect of Henry IV. had not the slightest sympathy. To suit
the shifting politics of his age, he had already changed his religion
twice; and he did not hesitate to change it a third time,[29] when he
found that by doing so he could ensure tranquillity to his country. As
he had displayed such indifference about his own creed, he could not
with decency show much bigotry about the creed of his subjects.[30] We
find, accordingly, that he was the author of the first public act of
toleration which any government promulgated in France since Christianity
had been the religion of the country. Only five years after he had
solemnly abjured Protestantism, he published the celebrated Edict of
Nantes,[31] by which, for the first time, a Catholic government granted
to heretics a fair share of civil and religious rights. This was,
unquestionably, the most important event that had yet occurred in the
history of French civilization.[32] If it is considered by itself, it is
merely an evidence of the enlightened principles of the king; but when
we look at its general success, and at the cessation of religious war
which followed it, we cannot fail to perceive that it was part of a vast
movement, in which the people themselves participated. Those who
recognize the truth of the principles I have laboured to establish, will
expect that this great step towards religious liberty was accompanied by
that spirit of scepticism, in the absence of which toleration has
always been unknown. And that this was actually the case, may be easily
proved by an examination of the transitionary state which France began
to enter towards the end of the sixteenth century.
[28] With what zeal these opinions were enforced, appears, besides many
other authorities, from Marino Cavalli, who writes in 1546, 'Li
maestri di Sorbona hanno autorità estrema di castigare li eretici,
il che fanno con il fuoco, brustolandoli vivi a poco a poco.'
_Relat. des Ambassad. Vénitiens_, vol. i. 262; and see vol. ii.
p. 24.
[29] Indeed, Clement VIII. was afterwards apprehensive of a fourth
apostasy: 'Er meinte noch immer, Heinrich IV. werde zuletzt
vielleicht wieder zum Protestantismus zurückkehren, wie er es
schon einmal gethan.' _Ranke_, _die Päpste_, vol. ii. p. 246. M.
Ranke, from his great knowledge of Italian manuscripts, has thrown
more light on these transactions than the French historians have
been able to do.
[30] On his conversion, the character of which was as obvious then as it
is now, compare _Duplessis Mornay_, _Mém. et Correspond._ vol. i.
p. 257, with _Sully_, _[OE]conomies Royales_, vol. ii. p. 126. See
also _Howell's Letters_, book i. p. 42; and a letter from Sir H.
Wotton in 1593, printed in _Reliquiæ Wottonianæ_, p. 711. See also
_Ranke_, _Civil Wars in France_, vol. ii. pp. 257, 355;
_Capefigue_, _Hist. de la Réforme_, vol. vi. pp. 305, 358.
[31] The edict of Nantes was in 1598; the abjuration in 1593.
_Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. xxi. pp. 202, 486. But in
1590 it was intimated to the pope as probable, if not certain,
that Henry would 'in den Schooss der katholischen Kirche
zurückkehren.' _Ranke_, _die Päpste_, vol. ii. p. 210.
[32] Of this edict, Sismondi says, 'Aucune époque dans l'histoire de
France ne marque mieux peut-être la fin d'un monde ancien, le
commencement d'un monde nouveau.' _Hist. des Français_, vol. xxi.
p. 489.
The writings of Rabelais are often considered to afford the first
instance of religious scepticism in the French language.[33] But, after
a tolerably intimate acquaintance with the works of this remarkable man,
I have found nothing to justify such an opinion. He certainly treats the
clergy with great disrespect, and takes every opportunity of covering
them with ridicule.[34] His attacks, however, are always made upon their
personal vices, and not upon that narrow and intolerant spirit to which
those vices were chiefly to be ascribed. In not a single instance does
he show any thing like consistent scepticism;[35] nor does he appear to
be aware that the disgraceful lives of the French clergy were but the
inevitable consequence of a system, which, corrupt as it was, still
possessed every appearance of strength and vitality. Indeed, the immense
popularity which he enjoyed is, almost of itself, a decisive
consideration; since no one, who is well informed as to the condition of
the French early in the sixteenth century, will believe it possible that
a people, so sunk in superstition, should delight in a writer by whom
superstition is constantly attacked.
But the extension of experience, and the consequent increase of
knowledge, were preparing the way for a great change in the French
intellect. The process, which had just taken place in England, was now
beginning to take place in France; and in both countries the order of
events was precisely the same. The spirit of doubt, hitherto confined to
an occasional solitary thinker, gradually assumed a bolder form: first
it found a vent in the national literature, and then it influenced the
conduct of practical statesmen. That there was, in France, an intimate
connexion between scepticism and toleration, is proved, not only by
those general arguments which make us infer that such connexion must
always exist, but also by the circumstance, that only a few years before
the promulgation of the Edict of Nantes, there appeared the first
systematic sceptic who wrote in the French language. The Essays of
Montaigne were published in 1588,[36] and form an epoch, not only in the
literature, but also in the civilization, of France. Putting aside
personal peculiarities, which have less weight than is commonly
supposed, it will be found that the difference between Rabelais and
Montaigne is a measure of the difference between 1545[37] and 1588, and
that it, in some degree, corresponds with the relation I have indicated
between Jewel and Hooker, and between Hooker and Chillingworth. For, the
law which governs all these relations is the law of a progressive
scepticism. What Rabelais was to the supporters of theology, that was
Montaigne to the theology itself. The writings of Rabelais were only
directed against the clergy; but the writings of Montaigne were directed
against the system of which the clergy were the offspring.[38] Under the
guise of a mere man of the world, expressing natural thoughts in common
language, Montaigne concealed a spirit of lofty and audacious
inquiry.[39] Although he lacked that comprehensiveness which is the
highest form of genius, he possessed other qualities essential to a
great mind. He was very cautious, and yet he was very bold. He was
cautious, since he would not believe strange things because they had
been handed down by his forefathers; and he was bold, since he was
undaunted by the reproaches with which the ignorant, who love to
dogmatize, always cover those whose knowledge makes them ready to
doubt.[40] These peculiarities would, in any age, have made Montaigne a
useful man: in the sixteenth century they made him an important one. At
the same time, his easy and amusing style[41] increased the circulation
of his works, and thus contributed to popularize those opinions which he
ventured to recommend for general adoption.
[33] On Rabelais, as the supposed founder of French scepticism, compare
_Lavallée_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. ii. p. 306; _Stephen's
Lectures on the History of France_, vol. ii. p. 242; _Sismondi_,
_Hist. des Français_, vol. xvi. p. 376.
[34] Particularly the monks. See, among numerous other instances, vol.
i. pp. 278, 282, vol. ii. pp. 284, 285, of _[OE]uvres de
Rabelais_, edit. Amsterdam, 1725. However, the high dignitaries of
the church are not spared; for he says that Gargantua 'se morvoit
en archidiacre,' vol. i. p. 132; and on two occasions (vol. iii.
p. 65, vol. iv. pp. 199, 200) he makes a very indecent allusion to
the pope. In vol. i. pp. 260, 261, he satirically notices the way
in which the services of the church were performed: 'Dont luy dist
le moyne: Je ne dors jamais à mon aise, sinon quand je suis au
sermon, ou quand je prie Dieu.'
[35] His joke on the strength of Samson (_[OE]uvres de Rabelais_, vol.
ii. pp. 29, 30), and his ridicule of one of the Mosaic laws (vol.
iii. p. 34), are so unconnected with other parts of his work, as
to have no appearance of belonging to a general scheme. The
commentators, who find a hidden meaning in every author they
annotate, have represented Rabelais as aiming at the highest
objects, and seeking to effect the most extensive social and
religious reforms. This I greatly doubt, at all events I have seen
no proof of it; and I cannot help thinking that Rabelais owes a
large share of his reputation to the obscurity of his language. On
the other side of the question, and in favour of his
comprehensiveness, see a bold passage in _Coleridge's Lit.
Remains_, vol. i. pp. 138, 139.
[36] The two first books in 1580; the third in 1588, with additions to
the first two. See _Niceron_, _Mém. pour servir à l'Hist. des
Hommes illustres_, vol. xvi. p. 210, Paris, 1731.
[37] The first impression of the Pantagruel of Rabelais has no date on
the title-page; but it is known that the third book was printed in
1545, and the fourth book in 1546. See _Brunet_, _Manuel du
Libraire_, vol. iv. pp. 4-6, Paris, 1843. The statement in _Biog.
Univ._ vol. xxxvi. pp. 482, 483, is rather confused.
[38] Mr. Hallam (_Lit. of Europe_, vol. ii. p. 29) says, that his
scepticism 'is not displayed in religion.' But if we use the word
'religion' in its ordinary sense, as connected with dogma, it is
evident, from Montaigne's language, that he was a sceptic, and an
unflinching one too. Indeed, he goes so far as to say that all
religious opinions are the result of custom: 'Comme de vray nous
n'avons aultre mire de la vérité et de la raison, que l'exemple et
idée des opinions et usances du païs où nous sommes: _là est
tousiours la parfaicte religion_, la parfaicte police, parfaict et
accomply usage de toutes choses.' _Essais de Montaigne_, p. 121,
livre i. chap. xxx. As a natural consequence, he lays down that
religious error is not criminal, p. 53; compare p. 28. See also
how he notices the usurpations of the theological spirit, pp. 116,
508, 528. The fact seems to be, that Montaigne, while recognizing
abstractedly the existence of religious truths, doubted our
capacity for knowing them; that is to say, he doubted if, out of
the immense number of religious opinions, there were any means of
ascertaining which were accurate. His observations on miracles
(pp. 541, 653, 654, 675) illustrate the character of his mind; and
what he says on prophetic visions is quoted and confirmed by
Pinel, in his profound work _Aliénation Mentale_, p. 256. Compare
_Maury_, _Légendes Pieuses_, p. 268 note.
[39] His friend, the celebrated De Thou, calls him 'homme franc, ennemi
de toute contrainte.' _Mémoires_, in _De Thou_, _Hist. Univ._ vol.
i. p. 59: see also vol. xi. p. 590. And M. Lamartine classes him
with Montesquieu, as 'ces deux grands républicains de la pensée
française.' _Hist. des Girondins_, vol. i. p. 174.
[40] He says (_Essais_, p. 97), 'Ce n'est pas à l'adventure sans raison
que nous attribuons à simplesse et ignorance la facilité de croire
et de se laisser persuader.' Compare two striking passages, pp.
199 and 685. Nothing of this sort had ever appeared before in the
French language.
[41] Dugald Stewart, whose turn of mind was very different from that of
Montaigne, calls him 'this most amusing author.' _Stewart's
Philos. of the Mind_, vol. i. p. 468. But Rousseau, in every
respect a more competent judge, enthusiastically praises 'la
naïveté, la grâce et l'énergie de son style inimitable.' _Musset
Pathay_, _Vie de Rousseau_, vol. i. p. 185. Compare _Lettres de
Sévigné_, vol. iii. p. 491, edit. Paris, 1843, and _Lettres de
Dudeffand à Walpole_, vol. i. p. 94.
This, then, is the first open declaration of that scepticism, which,
towards the end of the sixteenth century, publicly appeared in
France.[42] During nearly three generations, it continued its course
with a constantly increasing activity, and developed itself in a manner
similar to that which took place in England. It will not be necessary to
follow all the steps of this great process; but I will endeavour to
trace those which, by their prominence, seem to be the most important.
[42] 'Mais celui qui a répandu et popularisé en France le scepticisme,
c'est Montaigne.' _Cousin_, _Hist. de la Philos._, II. série, vol.
ii. pp. 288, 289. 'Die erste Regung des skeptischen Geistes finden
wir in den Versuchen des Michael von Montaigne.' _Tennemann_,
_Gesch. der Philos._ vol. ix. p. 443. On the immense influence of
Montaigne, compare _Tennemann_, vol. ix. p. 458; _Monteil_,
_Divers Etats_, vol. v. pp. 263-265; _Sorel_, _Bibliothèque
Françoise_, pp. 80-91; _Le Long_, _Bibliothèque Historique_,
vol. iv. p. 527.
A few years after the appearance of the Essays of Montaigne, there was
published in France a work, which though now little read, possessed in
the seventeenth century a reputation of the highest order. This was the
celebrated _Treatise on Wisdom_, by Charron, in which we find, for the
first time, an attempt made in a modern language to construct a system
of morals without the aid of theology.[43] What rendered this book, in
some respects, even more formidable than Montaigne's, was the air of
gravity with which it was written. Charron was evidently deeply
impressed with the importance of the task he had undertaken, and he is
honourably distinguished from his contemporaries, by a remarkable purity
both of language and of sentiment. His work is almost the only one of
that age in which nothing can be found to offend the chastest ears.
Although he borrowed from Montaigne innumerable illustrations,[44] he
has carefully omitted those indecencies into which that otherwise
charming writer was often betrayed. Besides this, there is about the
work of Charron a systematic completeness which never fails to attract
attention. In originality, he was, in some respects, inferior to
Montaigne; but he had the advantage of coming after him, and there can
be no doubt that he rose to an elevation which, to Montaigne, would
have been inaccessible. Taking his stand, as it were, on the summit of
knowledge, he boldly attempts to enumerate the elements of wisdom, and
the conditions under which those elements will work. In the scheme which
he thus constructs, he entirely omits theological dogmas;[45] and he
treats with undissembled scorn many of those conclusions which the
people had hitherto universally received. He reminds his countrymen that
their religion is the accidental result of their birth and education,
and that if they had been born in a Mohammedan country, they would have
been as firm believers in Mohammedanism as they then were in
Christianity.[46] From this consideration, he insists on the absurdity
of their troubling themselves about the variety of creeds, seeing that
such variety is the result of circumstances over which they have no
control. Also it is to be observed, that each of these different
religions declares itself to be the true one;[47] and all of them are
equally based upon supernatural pretensions, such as mysteries,
miracles, prophets, and the like.[48] It is because men forget these
things, that they are the slaves of that confidence which is the great
obstacle to all real knowledge, and which can only be removed by taking
such a large and comprehensive view, as will show us how all nations
cling with equal zeal to the tenets in which they have been
educated.[49] And, says Charron, if we look a little deeper, we shall
see that each of the great religions is built upon that which preceded
it. Thus, the religion of the Jews is founded upon that of the
Egyptians; Christianity is the result of Judaism; and, from these two
last, there has naturally sprung Mohammedanism.[50] We, therefore, adds
this great writer, should rise above the pretensions of hostile sects,
and, without being terrified by the fear of future punishment, or
allured by the hope of future happiness, we should be content with such
practical religion as consists in performing the duties of life; and,
uncontrolled by the dogmas of any particular creed, we should strive to
make the soul retire inward upon itself, and by the efforts of its own
contemplation, admire the ineffable grandeur of the Being of beings, the
supreme cause of all created things.[51]
[43] Compare the remarks on Charron in _Tennemann_, _Geschichte der
Philosophie_, vol. ix. p. 527, with two insidious passages in
_Charron_, _De la Sagesse_, vol. i. pp. 4, 366.
[44] The obligations of Charron to Montaigne were very considerable, but
are stated too strongly by many writers. _Sorel_, _Bibliothèque
Françoise_, p. 93; and _Hallam's Literature of Europe_, vol. ii.
pp. 362, 509. On the most important subjects, Charron was a bolder
and deeper thinker than Montaigne; though he is now so little
read, that the only tolerably complete account I have seen of his
system is in _Tennemann_, _Gesch. der Philosophie_, vol. ix. pp.
458-487. Buhle (_Geschichte der neuern Philosophie_, vol. ii. pp.
918-925) and Cousin (_Hist. de la Philos._ II. série, vol. ii. p.
289) are short and unsatisfactory. Even Dr. Parr, who was
extensively read in this sort of literature, appears only to have
known Charron through Bayle (see notes on the Spital Sermon, in
_Parr's Works_, vol. ii. pp. 520, 521); while Dugald Stewart, with
suspicious tautology, quotes, in three different places, the same
passage from Charron. _Stewart's Philosophy of the Mind_, vol. ii.
p. 233, vol. iii. pp. 365, 393. Singularly enough, Talleyrand was
a great admirer of _De la Sagesse_, and presented his favourite
copy of it to Madame de Genlis! See her own account, in _Mém. de
Genlis_, vol. iv. pp. 352, 353.
[45] See his definition, or rather description, of wisdom, in Charron,
_De la Sagesse_, vol. i. p. 295, vol. ii. pp. 113, 115.
[46] _De la Sagesse_, vol. i. pp. 63, 351.
[47] 'Chacune se préfère aux autres, et se confie d'être la meilleure et
plus vraie que les autres, et s'entre-reprochent aussi les unes
aux autres quelque chose, et par-là s'entre-condamnent et
rejettent.' _De la Sagesse_, vol. i. p. 348; see also vol. i. pp.
144, 304, 305, 306, vol. ii. p. 116. Expressions almost identical
are used by M. Charles Compte, _Traité de Législation_, vol. i.
p. 233.
[48] 'Toutes trouvent et fournissent miracles, prodiges, oracles,
mystères sacrés, saints prophètes, fêtes, certains articles de foy
et créance nécessaires au salut.' _De la Sagesse_, vol. i. p. 346.
[49] Hence he opposes proselytism, and takes up the philosophic ground,
that religious opinions, being governed by undeviating laws, owe
their variations to variations in their antecedents, and are
always, if left to themselves, suited to the existing state of
things: 'Et de ces conclusions, nous apprendrons à n'épouser rien,
ne jurer à rien, n'admirer rien, ne se troubler de rien, mais quoi
qu'il advienne, que l'on crie, tempête, se resoudre à ce point,
que c'est le cours du monde, _c'est nature qui fait des siennes_.'
_Dela Sagesse_, vol. i. p. 311.
[50] 'Mais comme elles naissent l'une après l'autre, la plus jeune bâtit
toujours sur son aînée et prochaine précédente, laquelle elle
n'improuve, ni ne condamne de fond en comble, autrement elle ne
seroit pas ouïe, et ne pourroit prendre pied; mais seulement
l'accuse ou d'imperfection, ou de son terme fini, et qu'à cette
occasion elle vient pour lui succéder et la parfaire, et ainsi la
ruine peu-à-peu, et s'enrichit de ses dépouilles, comme la
Judaïque a fait à la Gentille et Egyptienne, la Chrétienne à la
Judaïque, la Mahometane à la Judaïque et Chrétienne ensemble: mais
les vieilles condamnent bien tout-à-fait et entièrement les
jeunes, et les tiennent pour ennemies capables.' _De la Sagesse_,
vol. i. p. 349. This, I believe, is the first instance in any
modern language of the doctrine of religious development; a
doctrine which, since Charron, has been steadily advancing,
particularly among men whose knowledge is extensive enough to
enable them to compare the different religions which have
prevailed at different times. In this, as in other subjects, they
who are unable to compare, suppose that everything is isolated,
simply because to them the continuity is invisible. As to the
Alexandrian doctrine of development, found particularly in Clement
and Origen, see _Neander's Hist. of the Church_, vol. ii. pp.
234-257; and in particular pp. 241, 246.
[51] _De la Sagesse_, vol. i. pp. 356, 365; two magnificent passages.
But the whole chapter ought to be read, livre ii. chap. v. In it
there is an occasional ambiguity. Tennemann, however, in the most
important point, understands Charron as I do in regard to the
doctrine of future punishments. _Geschichte der Philosophie_,
vol. ix. p. 473.
Such were the sentiments which, in the year 1601, were for the first
time laid before the French people in their own mother-tongue.[52] The
sceptical and secular spirit, of which they were the representatives,
continued to increase; and, as the seventeenth century advanced, the
decline of fanaticism, so far from being confined to a few isolated
thinkers, gradually became common, even among ordinary politicians.[53]
The clergy, sensible of the danger, wished the government to check the
progress of inquiry;[54] and the pope himself, in a formal remonstrance
with Henry, urged him to remedy the evil, by prosecuting the heretics,
from whom he thought all the mischief had originally proceeded.[55] But
this the king steadily refused. He saw the immense advantages that would
arise, if he could weaken the ecclesiastical power by balancing the two
sects against each other;[56] and therefore, though he was a Catholic,
his policy rather leaned in favour of the Protestants, as being the
weaker party.[57] He granted sums of money towards the support of their
ministers and the repair of their churches;[58] he banished the Jesuits,
who were their most dangerous enemies;[59] and he always had with him
two representatives of the reformed church, whose business it was to
inform him of any infraction of those edicts which he had issued in
favour of their religion.[60]
[52] The first edition of _La Sagesse_ was published at Bourdeaux in
1601. _Niceron_, _Hommes illustres_, vol. xvi. p. 224; _Hallam's
Lit. of Europe_, vol. ii. p. 509; _Biog. Univ._ vol. viii. p. 250.
Two editions were susequently published in Paris, in 1604 and
1607. _Brunet_, _Manuel du Libraire_, vol. i. p. 639.
[53] Sismondi (_Hist. des Français_, vol. xxii. p. 86) and Lavallée
(_Hist. des Français_, vol. iii. p. 84) have noticed the
diminution of religious zeal early in the seventeenth century; and
some curious evidence will also be found in the correspondence of
Duplessis Mornay. See, for instance, a letter he wrote to Diodati,
in 1609: 'A beaucoup aujourd'hui il fault commencer par là, qu'il
y a une religion, premier que de leur dire quelle.' _Duplessis_,
_Mém. et Corresp._ vol. x. p. 415. This middle, or secular party,
received the name of 'Politiques,' and began to be powerful in
1592 or 1593. Benoist (_Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes_, vol. i. p.
113), under the year 1593, contemptuously says: 'Il s'éleva une
foule de conciliateurs de religion;' see also pp. 201, 273. In
1590, and in 1594, the 'Politiques' are noticed by De Thou (_Hist.
Univ._ vol. xi. p. 171, vol. xii. p. 134); and on the increase, in
1593, of 'le tiers parti politique et négociateur,' see
_Capefigue_, _Hist. de la Réforme_, vol. vi. p. 235. See also,
respecting 'les politiques,' a letter from the Spanish ambassador
to his own court, in 1615, in _Capefigue's Richelieu_, vol. i. p.
93; and for the rise in Paris, in 1592, of a 'politisch und
kirchlich gemässigte Gesinnung,' see _Ranke_, _die Päpste_,
vol. ii. p. 243.
[54] The Sorbonne went so far as to condemn Charron's great work, but
could not succeed in having it prohibited. Compare _Duvernet_,
_Hist. de la Sorbonne_, vol. ii. p. 139, with _Bayle_, article
Charron, note F.
[55] In the appendix to Ranke (_Die Römischen Päpste_, vol. iii. pp.
141, 142), there will be found the instructions which were given
to the nuncio, in 1603, when he was sent to the French court; and
which should be compared with a letter, written in 1604, in
_Sully_, _[OE]conomies Royales_, vol. v. p. 122, edit. 1820.
[56] 'Sein Sinn war im Allgemeinen, ohne Zweifel, das Gleichgewicht
zwischen ihnen zu erhalten.' _Ranke_, _die Päpste_, vol. ii. pp.
430, 431. 'Henri IV, l'expression de l'indifférentisme religieux,
se posa comme une transaction entre ces deux systèmes.'
_Capefigue_, _Hist. de la Réforme_, vol. vi. p. 358. 'Henry IV.
endeavoured to adjust the balance evenly,' _Smedley's Hist. of the
Reformed Religion in France_, vol. iii. p. 19. See also _Benoist_,
_Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes_, vol. i. p. 136. Hence, of course,
neither party was quite satisfied. _Mably's Observations_, vol.
iii. p. 220; _Mezeray_, _Histoire de France_, vol. iii. p. 959.
[57] Compare _Capefigue_, _Hist. de la Réforme_, vol. viii. p. 61, with
_Bazin_, _Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. i. pp. 32, 33. See also, on
his inclination towards the Protestants, _Mém. de Fontenay
Mareuil_, vol. i. p. 91. Fontenay, p. 94, mentions, as a singular
instance, that 'il se vist de son temps des huguenots avoir des
abbayes.'
[58] _Sully_, _[OE]conomies Royales_, vol. iv. p. 134, vol. vi. p. 233;
_Duplessis Mornay_, _Mém. et Corresp._ vol. xi. p. 242; _Benoist_,
_Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes_, vol. ii. pp. 68, 205. These grants
were annual, and were apportioned by the Protestants themselves.
See their own account, in _Quick's Synodicon in Gallia_, vol. i.
pp. 198, 222, 246, 247, 249, 275-277.
[59] Henry IV. banished the Jesuits in 1594; but they were allowed,
later in his reign, to make fresh settlements in France.
_Flassan_, _Hist. de la Diplomatie_, vol. vi. p. 485; _Bazin_,
_Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. i. p. 106; _Monteil_, _Divers Etats_,
vol. v. p. 192 note; _De Thou_, _Hist. Univ._ vol. xiv. p. 298.
Compare the notices of them in _Sully_, _[OE]conomies_, vol. ii.
p. 234, vol. iv. pp. 200, 235, 245. But there can be little doubt
that they owed their recall to the dread entertained of their
intrigues (_Grégoire_, _Hist. des Confesseurs_, p. 316); and Henry
evidently disliked as well as feared them. See two letters from
him in _Duplessis_, _Mém. et Corresp._ vol. vi. pp. 129, 151. It
would appear, from the _Mém. de Richelieu_, vol. v. p. 350, Paris,
1823, that the king never restored to them their former authority
in regard to education.
[60] _Bazin_, _Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. i. pp. 142, 143; _Le Vassor_,
vol. i. p. 156; _Sismondi_, vol. xxii. p. 116; _Duplessis Mornay_,
vol. i. p. 389; _Sully_, _[OE]conomies_, vol. vii. pp. 105, 432,
442.
Thus it was, that in France, as well as in England, toleration was
preceded by scepticism; and thus it was, that out of this scepticism
there arose the humane and enlightened measures of Henry IV. The great
prince, by whom these things were effected, unhappily fell a victim to
that fanatical spirit which he had done much to curb;[61] but the
circumstances which occurred after his death, showed how great an
impetus had been given to the age.
[61] When Ravaillac was examined, he said, 'qu'il y avait été excité par
l'intérêt de la religion, et par une impulsion irrésistible.'
_Bazin_, _Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. i. p. 38. This work contains
the fullest account I have met with of Ravaillac; of whom there
is, moreover, a description in _Les Historiettes de Tallemant des
Réaux_, vol. i. p. 85, Paris, 1840, a very curious book.
On the murder of Henry IV., in 1610, the government fell into the hands
of the queen, who administered it during the minority of her son, Louis
XIII. And it is a remarkable evidence of the direction which the mind
was now taking, that she, though a weak and bigoted woman,[62] refrained
from those persecutions which, only one generation before, had been
considered a necessary proof of religious sincerity. That, indeed, must
have been a movement of no common energy, which could force toleration,
early in the seventeenth century, upon a princess of the house of
Medici, an ignorant and superstitious Catholic, who had been educated
in the midst of her priests, and had been accustomed to look for their
applause as the highest object of earthly ambition.
[62] Le Vassor (_Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. i. p. 279) calls her
'superstitieuse au dernier point;' and, in vol. v. p. 481, 'femme
crédule et superstitieuse.' See also vol. iii. p. 250, vol. vi. p.
628; and _Grégoire_, _Hist. des Confesseurs_, p. 65.
Yet this was what actually occurred. The queen continued the ministers
of Henry IV., and announced, that in every thing she would follow his
example.[63] Her first public act was, a declaration, that the Edict of
Nantes should be inviolably preserved; for, she says, 'experience has
taught our predecessors, that violence, so far from inducing men to
return to the Catholic church, prevents them from doing so.'[64] Indeed,
so anxious was she upon this point, that when Louis, in 1614, attained
his nominal majority, the first act of his government was another
confirmation of the Edict of Nantes.[65] And, in 1615, she caused the
king, who still remained under her tutelage,[66] to issue a
declaration, by which all preceding measures in favour of the
Protestants were publicly confirmed.[67] In the same spirit, she, in
1611, wished to raise to the presidency of parliament the celebrated De
Thou; and it was only by making a formal announcement of his heresy,
that the pope succeeded in frustrating what he considered an impious
design.[68]
[63] 'Elle annonça qu'elle vouloit suivre en tout l'exemple du feu
roi.... Le ministère de Henri IV, que la reine continuoit.'
_Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. xxii. pp. 206, 210; and see
two letters from her, in _Duplessis Mornay_, _Mém. et Corresp._
vol. xi. p. 282, vol. xii. p. 428. Sully had feared that the death
of Henry IV. would cause a change of policy: 'que l'on s'alloit
jeter dans des desseins tous contraires aux règles, ordres et
maximes du feu roy.' _[OE]conomies Royales_, vol. viii. p. 401.
[64] See the declaration in Bazin, _Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. i. pp.
74, 75; and notices of it in _Mém. de Richelieu_, vol. i. p. 58;
_Capefigue's Richelieu_, vol. i. p. 27; _Benoist_, _Hist. de
l'Edit de Nantes_, vol. ii. p. 7; _Le Vassor_, _Hist. de Louis
XIII_, vol. i. p. 58. But none of these writers, nor Sismondi
(vol. xxii. p. 221), appear to be aware that the issuing of this
declaration was determined on, in council, as early as the 17th of
May; that is, only three days after the death of Henry IV. This is
mentioned by Pontchartrain, who was then one of the ministers. See
_Mém. de Pontchartrain_, edit. Petitot, 1822, vol. i. p. 409; a
book little known, but well worthy of being read.
[65] _Bazin_, _Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. i. p. 262; _Benoist_, _Hist.
de l'Edit de Nantes_, vol. ii. p. 140; _Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil_,
vol. i. p. 257; _Le Vassor_, vol. i. p. 604.
[66] 'Laissant néanmoins l'administration du royaume à la reine sa
mère.' _Mém. de Bassompierre_, vol. ii. p. 52. Compare _Sully_,
_[OE]conomies_, vol. ix. p. 177. She possessed complete authority
over the king till 1617. See _Mémoires de Montglat_, vol. i. p.
24: 'avoit été tenu fort bas par la reine sa mère.' See also _Le
Vassor, Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. ii. pp. 640, 677, 716, 764.
[67] _Bazin_, _Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. i. pp. 381, 382.
[68] In 1611, 'le pape le rejeta formellement comme hérétique.' _Bazin_,
vol. i. p. 174. This is glossed over by Pontchartrain (_Mémoires_,
vol. i. p. 450); but the statement of M. Bazin is confirmed in the
preface to _De Thou_, _Histoire Universelle_, vol. i. p. xvi.
The turn which things were now taking, caused no little alarm to the
friends of the hierarchy. The most zealous churchmen loudly censured the
policy of the queen; and a great historian has observed that when,
during the reign of Louis XIII., such alarm was caused in Europe by the
active encroachments of the ecclesiastical power, France was the first
country that ventured to oppose them.[69] The nuncio openly complained
to the queen of her conduct in favouring heretics; and he anxiously
desired that those Protestant works should be suppressed, by which the
consciences of true believers were greatly scandalized.[70] But these,
and similar representations, were no longer listened to with the respect
they would formerly have received; and the affairs of the country
continued to be administered with those purely temporal views, on which
the measures of Henry IV. had been avowedly based.[71]
[69] 'Der erste Einhalt den die kirchliche Restauration erfuhr, geschah
in Frankreich,' _Ranke_, _die Römischen Päpste_, vol. iii. p. 160.
[70] This desire was expressed several times, but in vain: 'Gern hätten
die Nuntien Werke wie von Thou und Richer verboten, aber es war
ihnen nicht möglich,' _Ranke_, _die Päpste_, vol. iii. p. 181,
Anhang. Compare _Mém. de Richelieu_, vol. ii. p. 68; _Mém. de
Pontchartrain_, vol. i. p. 428.
[71] This decline of the ecclesiastical power is noticed by many writers
of the time; but it is sufficient to refer to the very curious
remonstrance of the French clergy, in 1605, in _De Thou_, _Hist.
Univ._ vol. xiv. pp. 446, 447.
Such was now the policy of the government of France; a government
which, not many years before, had considered it the great duty of a
sovereign to punish heretics and extirpate heresy. That this continued
improvement was merely the result of the general intellectual
development, is evident, not only from its success, but also from the
character of the queen-regent and the king. No one who has read the
contemporary memoirs, can deny that Mary de Medici and Louis XIII. were
as superstitious as any of their predecessors; and it is, therefore,
evident, that this disregard of theological prejudices was due, not to
their own personal merits, but to the advancing knowledge of the
country, and to the pressure of an age which, in the rapidity of its
progress, hurried along those who believed themselves to be its rulers.
But these considerations, weighty as they are, will only slightly
diminish the merit of that remarkable man, who now appeared on the stage
of public affairs. During the last eighteen years of the reign of Louis
XIII., France was entirely governed by Richelieu,[72] one of that
extremely small class of statesmen to whom it is given to impress their
own character on the destiny of their country. This great ruler has, in
his knowledge of the political art, probably never been surpassed,
except by that prodigy of genius who, in our time, troubled the fortunes
of Europe. But, in one important view, Richelieu was superior to
Napoleon. The life of Napoleon was a constant effort to oppress the
liberties of mankind; and his unrivalled capacity exhausted its
resources in struggling against the tendencies of a great age.
Richelieu, too, was a despot; but his despotism took a nobler turn. He
displayed, what Napoleon never possessed, a just appreciation of the
spirit of his own time. In one great point, indeed, he failed. His
attempts to destroy the power of the French nobility were altogether
futile;[73] for, owing to a long course of events, the authority of that
insolent class was so deeply rooted in the popular mind, that the
labours of another century were required to efface its ancient
influence. But, though Richelieu could not diminish the social and moral
weight of the French nobles, he curtailed their political privileges;
and he chastised their crimes with a severity which, for a time at
least, repressed their former license.[74] So little, however, can even
the ablest statesman effect, unless he is seconded by the general temper
of the age in which he lives, that these checks, rude as they were,
produced no permanent result. After his death, the French nobles, as we
shall presently see, quickly rallied; and, in the wars of the Fronde,
debased that great struggle into a mere contest of rival families. Nor
was it until the close of the eighteenth century, that France was
finally relieved from the overweening influence of that powerful class,
whose selfishness had long retarded the progress of civilization, by
retaining the people in a thraldom, from the remote effects of which
they have not yet fully recovered.
[72] As M. Monteil says (_Hist. des Français des divers Etats_, vol.
vii. p. 114), 'Richelieu tint le sceptre; Louis XIII. porta la
couronne.' And Campion (_Mémoires_, p. 37) calls him 'plutôt le
maître que le ministre;' and adds, pp. 218, 219, that he 'avoit
gouverné dix-huit ans la France avec un pouvoir absolu et une
gloire sans pareille.' Compare _Mém. du Cardinal de Retz_, vol. i
p. 63.
[73] The common opinion, put forth in _Alison's Hist. of Europe_, vol.
i. pp. 101-104, and in many other books, is that Richelieu did
destroy their influence; but this error arises from confusing
political influence with social influence. What is termed the
political power of a class, is merely the symptom and
manifestation of its real power; and it is no use to attack the
first, unless you can also weaken the second. The real power of
the nobles was social, and that neither Richelieu nor Louis XIV.
could impair; and it remained intact until the middle of the
eighteenth century, when the intellect of France rebelled against
it, overthrew it, and finally effected the French Revolution.
[74] Richelieu appears to have formed the design of humbling the nobles,
at least as early as 1624. See a characteristic passage in his
_Mémoires_, vol. ii. p. 340. In _Swinburne's Courts of Europe_,
vol. ii. pp. 63-65, there is a curious traditional anecdote,
which, though probably false, shows, at all events, the fear and
hatred with which the French nobles regarded the memory of
Richelieu more than a century after his death.
Although in this respect Richelieu failed in achieving his designs, he
in other matters met with signal success. This was owing to the fact,
that his large and comprehensive views harmonized with that sceptical
tendency, of which I have just given some account. For this remarkable
man, though he was a bishop and a cardinal, never for a moment allowed
the claims of his profession to make him forego the superior claims of
his country. He knew, what is too often forgotten, that the governor of
a people should measure affairs solely by a political standard, and
should pay no regard to the pretensions of any sect, or the propagation
of any opinions, except in reference to the present and practical
welfare of men. The consequence was, that, during his administration,
there was seen the marvellous spectacle of supreme authority wielded by
a priest, who took no pains to increase the power of the spiritual
classes. Indeed, so far from this, he often treated them with what was
then considered unexampled rigour. The royal confessors, on account of
the importance of their functions, had always been regarded with a
certain veneration; they were supposed to be men of unspotted piety;
they had hitherto possessed immense influence, and even the most
powerful statesmen had thought it advisable to show them the deference
due to their exalted position.[75] Richelieu, however, was too familiar
with the arts of his profession, to feel much respect for these keepers
of the consciences of kings. Caussin, the confessor of Louis XIII., had,
it seems, followed the example of his predecessors, and endeavoured to
instill his own views of policy into the mind of the royal penitent.[76]
But Richelieu, so soon as he heard of this, dismissed him from office,
and sent him into exile; for, he contemptuously says, 'the little father
Caussin' should not interfere in matters of government, since he is one
of those 'who have always been brought up in the innocence of a
religious life.'[77] Caussin was succeeded by the celebrated Sirmond; but
Richelieu would not allow the new confessor to begin his duties, until
he had solemnly promised never to interfere in state affairs.[78]
[75] On their influence, see _Grégoire_, _Histoire des Confesseurs_; and
compare the remarks of Mr. Grote, a great writer, whose mind is
always ready with historical analogies. _Grote's Hist. of Greece_,
vol. vi. p. 393, 2nd edit. 1851. Many of the French kings had a
strong natural affection for monks; but the most singular instance
I have found of this sort of love is mentioned by no less a man
than De Thou, respecting Henry III. De Thou (_Hist. Univ._ vol. x.
pp. 666, 667) says of that prince: 'Soit tempérament, soit
éducation, la présence d'un moine faisait toujours plaisir à
Henri; et je lui ai moi-même souvent entendu dire, que leur vue
produisoit le même effet sur son âme, que le chatouillement le
plus délicat sur le corps.'
[76] One of his suggestions was, 'sur les dangers que couroit le
catholicisme en Allemagne, par ses liaisons avec les puissances
protestantes.' _Grégoire_, _Histoire des Confesseurs_, p. 342. The
fullest account of Caussin is in _Le Vassor_, _Hist. de Louis
XIII_, vol. ix. pp. 287-299; to which, however, Grégoire never
refers. As I shall have frequent occasion to quote Le Vassor, I
may observe, that he is far more accurate than is generally
supposed, and that he has been very unfairly treated by the
majority of French writers, among whom he is unpopular, on account
of his constant attacks on Louis XIV. Sismondi (_Hist. des
Français_, vol. xxii. pp. 188, 189) speaks highly of his _Hist. of
Louis XIII_; and so far as my own reading extends, I can confirm
his favourable opinion.
[77] 'Le petit père Caussin.' _Mém. de Richelieu_, vol. x. p. 206; and
at p. 217, he is classed among the 'personnes qui avoient toujours
été nourries dans l'innocence d'une vie religieuse;' see also p.
215, on his 'simplicité et ignorance.' Respecting Richelieu's
treatment of Caussin, see _Mém. de Montglat_, vol. i. pp. 173-175;
_Lettres de Patin_, vol. i. p. 49; _Des Réaux, Historiettes_, vol.
ii. p. 182.
[78] _Sismondi, Hist. des Français_, vol. xxiii. p. 332; _Tallemant des
Réaux, Historiettes_, vol. iii. p. 78 note. Le Vassor (_Hist. de
Louis XIII_, vol. x. part ii. p. 761) says, that Sirmond 'se
soutint à la cour sous le ministère de Richelieu, parce qu'il ne
se mêloit point des affaires d'état.' According to the same writer
(vol. viii. p. 156), Richelieu thought at one time of depriving
the Jesuits of their post of confessor to the king.
On another occasion of much more importance, Richelieu displayed a
similar spirit. The French clergy were then possessed of enormous
wealth; and, as they enjoyed the privilege of taxing themselves, they
were careful not to make what they considered unnecessary contributions
towards defraying the expenses of the state. They had cheerfully
advanced money to carry on war against the Protestants, because they
believed it to be their duty to assist in the extirpation of
heresy.[79] But they saw no reason why their revenues should be wasted
in effecting mere temporal benefits; they considered themselves as the
guardians of funds set apart for spiritual purposes, and they thought it
impious that wealth consecrated by the piety of their ancestors should
fall into the profane hands of secular statesmen. Richelieu, who looked
on these scruples as the artifices of interested men, had taken a very
different view of the relation which the clergy bore to the country.[80]
So far from thinking that the interests of the church were superior to
those of the state, he laid it down as a maxim of policy, that 'the
reputation of the state was the first consideration.'[81] With such
fearlessness did he carry out this principle, that having convoked at
Nantes a great assembly of the clergy, he compelled them to aid the
government by an extraordinary supply of 6,000,000 francs; and finding
that some of the highest dignitaries had expressed their discontent at
so unusual a step, he laid hands on them also, and to the amazement of
the church, sent into exile not only four of the bishops, but likewise
the two archbishops of Toulouse and of Sens.[82]
[79] _Lavallée_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. iii. p. 87; _Le Vassor_,
_Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. iv. p. 208; _Bazin_, _Hist. de Louis
XIII_, vol. ii. p. 144; _Benoist_, _Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes_,
vol. ii. pp. 337, 338. Benoist says: 'Le clergé de France,
ignorant et corrompu, croyoit tout son devoir compris dans
l'extirpation des hérétiques; et même il offroit de grandes
sommes, à condition qu'on les employât à cette guerre.'
[80] In which he is fully borne out by the high authority of Vattel,
whose words I shall quote, for the sake of those politicians who
still cleave to the superannuated theory of the sacredness of
church-property: 'Loin que l'exemption appartienne aux biens
d'église parce qu'ils sont consacrés à Dieu, c'est au contraire
par cette raison même, qu'ils doivent être pris les premiers pour
le salut de l'état; car il n'y a rien de plus agréable au Père
commun des hommes, que de garantir une nation de sa ruine. Dieu
n'ayant besoin de rien, lui consacrer des biens, c'est les
destiner à des usages qui lui soient agréables. De plus, les biens
de l'église, de l'aveu du clergé lui-même, sont en grande partie
destinés aux pauvres. Quand l'état est dans le besoin, il est sans
doute le premier pauvre, et le plus digne de secours.' _Vattel_,
_le Droit des Gens_, vol. i. pp. 176, 177.
[81] 'Que la réputation de l'état est préférable à toutes choses.' _Mém.
de Richelieu_, vol. ii. p. 482. This was in 1625, and by way of
refuting the legate.
[82] _Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. xxiii. pp. 477, 478;
_Bazin_, _Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. iv. pp. 325, 326. The
Cardinal de Retz, who knew Richelieu personally, says: 'M. le
cardinal de Richelieu avoit donné une atteinte cruelle à la
dignité et à la liberté du clergé dans l'assemblée de Mante, et il
avoit exilé, avec des circonstances atroces, six de ses prélats
les plus considérables.' _Mém. de Retz_, vol. i. p. 50.
If these things had been done fifty years earlier, they would most
assuredly have proved fatal to the minister who dared to attempt them.
But Richelieu, in these and similar measures, was aided by the spirit of
an age which was beginning to despise its ancient masters. For this
general tendency was now becoming apparent, not only in literature and
in politics, but even in the proceedings of the ordinary tribunals. The
nuncio indignantly complained of the hostility displayed against
ecclesiastics by the French judges; and he said that, among other
shameful things, some clergymen had been hung, without being first
deprived of their spiritual character.[83] On other occasions, the
increasing contempt showed itself in a way well suited to the coarseness
of the prevailing manners. Sourdis, the archbishop of Bourdeaux, was
twice ignominiously beaten; once by the Duke d'Epernon, and afterwards
by the Maréchal de Vitry.[84] Nor did Richelieu, who usually treated the
nobles with such severity, seem anxious to punish this gross outrage.
Indeed, the archbishop not only received no sympathy, but, a few years
later, was peremptorily ordered by Richelieu to retire to his own
diocese; such, however, was his alarm at the state of affairs, that he
fled to Carpentras, and put himself under the protection of the
pope.[85] This happened in 1641 and nine years earlier, the church had
incurred a still greater scandal. For in 1632, serious disturbances
having arisen in Languedoc, Richelieu did not fear to meet the
difficulty by depriving some of the bishops, and seizing the
temporalities of the others.[86]
[83] 'Die Nuntien finden kein Ende der Beschwerden die sie machen zu
müssen glauben, vorzüglich über die Beschränkungen welche die
geistliche Jurisdiction erfahre.... Zuweilen werde ein Geistlicher
hingerichtet ohne erst degradirt zu seyn.' _Ranke_, _die Päpste_,
vol. iii. p. 157: a summary, in 1641, of the complaints of the
then nuncio, and of those of his predecessors. Le Vassor (_Hist.
de Louis XIII_, vol. v. pp. 51 seq.) has given some curious
details respecting the animosity between the clergy and the
secular tribunals of France in 1624.
[84] _Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. xxiii. p. 301; _Mém. de
Bassompierre_, vol. iii. pp. 302, 353. Bazin, who notices this
disgraceful affair, simply says (_Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. iii.
p. 453): 'Le maréchal de Vitry, suivant l'exemple qui lui en avoit
donné le duc d'Epernon, s'emporta jusqu'à le frapper de son
bâton.' In regard to Epernon, the best account is in _Mém. de
Richelieu_, where it is stated (vol. viii. p. 194) that the duke,
just before flogging the archbishop, 'disoit au peuple,
"Rangez-vous, vous verrez comme j'étrillerai votre archevêque."'
This was stated by a witness, who heard the duke utter the words.
Compare, for further information, _Le Vassor_, _Hist. de Louis
XIII_, vol. x. part ii. p. 97, with _Tallemant des Réaux_,
_Historiettes_, vol. iii. p. 116. Des Réaux, who, in his own way,
was somewhat of a philosopher, contentedly says: 'Cet archevêque
se pouvoit vanter d'être le prélat du monde qui avoit été le plus
battu.' His brother was Cardinal Sourdis; a man of some little
reputation in his own time, and concerning whom a curious anecdote
is related in _Mém. de Conrart_, pp. 231-234.
[85] _Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. xxiii. p. 470. Le Vassor
(_Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. x. part ii. p. 149) says: 'Il
s'enfuit donc honteusement à Carpentras sous la protection du
pape.'
[86] 'Les évêques furent punis par la saisie de leur temporel; Alby,
Nimes, Uzés, furent privées de leurs prélats.' _Capefigue's
Richelieu_, Paris, 1844, vol. ii. p. 24. The Protestants were
greatly delighted at the punishment of the bishops of Alby and
Nimes, which 'les ministres regardoient comme une vengeance
divine.' _Benoist_, _Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes_, vol. ii. pp. 528,
529.
The indignation of the clergy may be easily imagined. Such repeated
injuries, even if they had proceeded from a layman, would have been hard
to endure; but they were rendered doubly bitter by being the work of one
of themselves--one who had been nurtured in the profession against which
he turned. This it was which aggravated the offence, because it seemed
to be adding treachery to insult. It was not a war from without, but it
was a treason from within. It was a bishop who humbled the episcopacy,
and a cardinal who affronted the church.[87] Such, however, was the
general temper of men, that the clergy did not venture to strike an
open blow; but, by means of their partisans, they scattered the most
odious libels against the great minister. They said that he was
unchaste, that he was guilty of open debauchery, and that he held
incestuous commerce with his own niece.[88] They declared that he had no
religion; that he was only a Catholic in name; that he was the pontiff
of the Huguenots; that he was the patriarch of atheists;[89] and what
was worse than all, they even accused him of wishing to establish a
schism in the French church.[90] Happily the time was now passing away
in which the national mind could be moved by such artifices as these.
Still the charges are worth recording, because they illustrate the
tendency of public affairs, and the bitterness with which the spiritual
classes saw the reins of power falling from their hands. Indeed, all
this was so manifest, that in the last civil war raised against
Richelieu, only two years before his death, the insurgents stated in
their proclamation, that one of their objects was to revive the respect
with which the clergy and nobles had formerly been treated.[91]
[87] In a short account of Richelieu, which was published immediately
after his death, the writer indignantly says, that 'being a
cardinal, he afflicted the church.' _Somers Tracts_. vol. v. p.
540. Compare _Bazin_, _Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. iv. p. 322.
[88] This scandalous charge in regard to his niece was a favourite one
with the clergy; and among many other instances, the accusation
was brought by the Cardinal de Valençay in the grossest manner.
See _Tallemant des Réaux_, _Historiettes_, vol. iii. p. 201.
[89] 'De là ces petits écrits qui le dénonçaient comme le "pontife des
huguenots" ou "le patriarche des athées."' _Capefigue's
Richelieu_, vol. i. p. 312.
[90] Compare _Des Réaux_, _Historiettes_, vol. ii. p. 233, with _Le
Vassor_, _Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. viii. part ii. pp. 177, 178,
vol. ix. p. 277.
[91] See the manifesto in _Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. xxiii.
pp. 452, 453.
The more we study the career of Richelieu, the more prominent does this
antagonism become. Every thing proves that he was conscious of a great
struggle going on between the old ecclesiastical scheme of government
and the new secular scheme; and that he was determined to put down the
old plan, and uphold the new one. For, not only in his domestic
administration, but also in his foreign policy, do we find the same
unprecedented disregard of theological interests. The House of Austria,
particularly its Spanish branch, had long been respected by all pious
men as the faithful ally of the church; it was looked upon as the
scourge of heresy; and its proceedings against the heretics had won for
it a great name in ecclesiastical history.[92] When, therefore, the
French government, in the reign of Charles IX., made a deliberate
attempt to destroy the Protestants, France naturally established an
intimate connexion with Spain as well as with Rome;[93] and these three
great powers were firmly united, not by a community of temporal
interests, but by the force of a religious compact. This theological
confederacy was afterwards broken up by the personal character of Henry
IV.,[94] and by the growing indifference of the age; but during the
minority of Louis XIII., the queen-regent had in some degree renewed it,
and had attempted to revive the superstitious prejudices upon which it
was based.[95] In all her feelings, she was a zealous Catholic; she was
warmly attached to Spain; and she succeeded in marrying her son, the
young king, to a Spanish princess, and her daughter to a Spanish
prince.[96]
[92] Late in the sixteenth century, 'fils aîné de l'Eglise' was the
recognized and well-merited title of the kings of Spain. _De
Thou_, _Hist. Univ._ vol. xi. p. 280. Compare _Duplessis Mornay_,
_Mém. et Correspond._ vol. xi. p. 21. And on the opinions which
the Catholics, early in the seventeenth century, generally held
respecting Spain, see _Mém. de Fontenay_, _Mareuil_, vol. i. p.
189; _Mém. de Bassompierre_, vol. i. p. 424.
[93] As to the connexion between this foreign policy and the massacre of
Saint Bartholomew, see _Capefigue_, _Hist. de la Réforme_,
vol. iii. pp. 253, 268, 269.
[94] On the policy, and still more on the feelings, of Henry IV. towards
the House of Austria, see _Sully_, _[OE]conomies Royales_, vol.
ii. p. 291, vol. iii. pp. 162, 166, vol. iv. pp. 289, 290, 321,
343, 344, 364, vol. v. p. 123, vol. vi. p. 293, vol. vii. p. 303,
vol. viii. pp. 195, 202, 348.
[95] _Capefigue's Richelieu_, vol. i. pp. 26, 369; _Mém. de Montglat_,
vol. i. pp. 16, 17; _Le Vassor_, _Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol i. p.
268, vol. vi. p. 349; _Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. xxii.
p. 227. Her husband, Henry IV., said that she had 'the soul of a
Spaniard.' _Capefigue_, _Hist. de la Réforme_, vol. viii. p. 150.
[96] This was, in her opinion, a master-stroke of policy: 'Entêtée du
double mariage avec l'Espagne qu'elle avoit ménagé avec tant
d'application, et qu'elle regardoit comme le plus ferme appui de
son autorité.' _Le Vassor_, _Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. i. pp.
453, 454.
It might have been expected that when Richelieu, a great dignitary of
the Romish church, was placed at the head of affairs, he would have
reëstablished a connexion so eagerly desired by the profession to which
he belonged.[97] But his conduct was not regulated by such views as
these. His object was, not to favour the opinions of a sect, but to
promote the interests of a nation. His treaties, his diplomacy, and the
schemes of his foreign alliances, were all directed, not against the
enemies of the church, but against the enemies of France. By erecting
this new standard of action, Richelieu took a great step towards
secularizing the whole system of European politics. For he thus made the
theoretical interests of men subordinate to their practical interests.
Before his time, the rulers of France, in order to punish their
Protestant subjects, had not hesitated to demand the aid of the Catholic
troops of Spain; and in so doing, they merely acted upon the old
opinion, that it was the chief duty of a government to suppress heresy.
This pernicious doctrine was first openly repudiated by Richelieu. As
early as 1617, and before he had established his power, he, in an
instruction to one of the foreign ministers which is still extant, laid
it down as a principle, that, in matters of state, no Catholic ought to
prefer a Spaniard to a French Protestant.[98] To us, indeed, in the
progress of society, such preference of the claims of our country to
those of our creed, has become a matter of course; but in those days it
was a startling novelty.[99] Richelieu, however, did not fear to push
the paradox even to its remotest consequences. The Catholic church
justly considered that its interests were bound up with those of the
House of Austria;[100] but Richelieu, directly he was called to the
council, determined to humble that house in both its branches.[101] To
effect this, he openly supported the bitterest enemies of his own
religion. He aided the Lutherans against the Emperor of Germany; he
aided the Calvinists against the king of Spain. During the eighteen
years he was supreme, he steadily pursued the same undeviating
policy.[102] When Philip attempted to repress the Dutch Protestants,
Richelieu made common cause with them; at first, advancing them large
sums of money, and afterwards inducing the French king to sign a treaty
of intimate alliance with those who, in the opinion of the church, he
ought rather to have chastized as rebellious heretics.[103] In the same
way, when that great war broke out, in which the emperor attempted to
subjugate to the true faith the consciences of German Protestants,
Richelieu stood forward as their protector; he endeavoured from the
beginning to save their leader the Palatine;[104] and, failing in that,
he concluded in their favour an alliance with Gustavus Adolphus,[105]
the ablest military commander the Reformers had then produced. Nor did
he stop there. After the death of Gustavus, he, seeing that the
Protestants were thus deprived of their great leader, made still more
vigorous efforts in their favour.[106] He intrigued for them in foreign
courts; he opened negotiations in their behalf; and eventually he
organized for their protection a public confederacy, in which all
ecclesiastical considerations were set at defiance. This league, which
formed an important precedent in the international polity of Europe, was
not only contracted by Richelieu with the two most powerful enemies of
his own church, but it was, from its tenor, what Sismondi emphatically
calls a 'Protestant confederation'--a Protestant confederation, he says,
between France, England, and Holland.[107]
[97] So late as 1656, the French clergy wished 'to hasten a peace with
Spain, and to curb the heretics in France,' _Letter from Pell to
Thurloe_, written in 1656, and printed in _Vaughan's Protectorate
of Cromwell_, vol. i. p. 436, 8vo, 1839. During the minority of
Louis XIII. we hear of 'les zéléz catholiques, et ceux qui
désiroient, à quelque prix que ce fut, l'union des deux roys, et
des deux couronnes de France et d'Espagne, comme le seul moyen
propre, selon leur advis, pour l'extirpation des hérésies dans la
chrestienté.' _Sully_, _[OE]con. Royales_, vol. ix. p. 181:
compare vol. vii. p. 248, on 'les zéléz catholiques espagnolisez
de France.'
[98] See _Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. xxii. pp. 387-389, where
the importance of this document is noticed, and it is said that
Richelieu had drawn it up 'avec beaucoup de soin.' The language of
it is very peremptory: 'Que nul catholique n'est si aveugle
d'estimer en matière d'état un Espagnol meilleur qu'un Français
huguenot.'
[99] Even in the reign of Henry IV. the French Protestants were not
considered to be Frenchmen: 'The intolerant dogmas of Roman
Catholicism did not recognize them as Frenchmen. They were looked
upon as foreigners, or rather as enemies; and were treated as
such.' _Felice's Hist. of the Protestants of France_, p. 216.
[100] Sismondi says, under the year 1610, 'Toute l'église catholique
croyoit son sort lié à celui de la maison d'Autriche,' _Hist. des
Français_, vol. xxii. p. 180.
[101] 'Sa vue dominante fut l'abaissement de la maison d'Autriche.'
_Flassan_, _Hist. de la Diplomatie Française_, vol. iii. p. 81.
And, on the early formation of this scheme, see _Mém. de la
Rochefoucauld_, vol. i. p. 350. De Retz says, that before
Richelieu, no one had even thought of such a step: 'Celui
d'attaquer la formidable maison d'Autriche n'avoit été imaginé de
personne.' _Mém. de Retz_, vol. i. p. 45. This is rather too
strongly expressed; but the whole paragraph is curious, as
written by a man who possessed great ability, which De Retz
undoubtedly did, and who, though hating Richelieu, could not
refrain from bearing testimony to his immense services.
[102] 'Obwohl Cardinal der römischen Kirche, trug Richelieu kein
Bedenken, mit den Protestanten selbst unverhohlen in Bund zu
treten,' _Ranke_, _die Päpste_, vol. ii. p. 510. Compare, in
_Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil_, vol. ii. pp. 28, 29, the reproach
which the nuncio Spada addressed to Richelieu for treating with
the Protestants, 'de la paix qui se traitoit avec les huguenots.'
See also _Le Vassor_, _Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. v. pp. 236,
354-356, 567; and a good passage in _Lavallée_, _Hist. des
Français_, vol. iii. p. 90,--an able little work, and perhaps the
best small history ever published of a great country.
[103] De Retz mentions a curious illustration of the feelings of the
ecclesiastical party respecting this treaty. He says, that the
Bishop of Beauvais, who, the year after the death of Richelieu,
was for a moment at the head of affairs, began his administration
by giving to the Dutch their choice, either to abandon their
religion, or else forfeit their alliance with France: 'Et il
demanda dès le premier jour aux Hollandois qu'ils se
convertissent à la religion catholique, s'ils vouloient demeurer
dans l'alliance de France.' _Mém. du Cardinal de Retz_, vol. i.
p. 39. This, I suppose, is the original authority for the
statement in the _Biog. Univ._ vol. xiv. p. 440; though, as is
too often the case in that otherwise valuable work, the writer
has omitted to indicate the source of his information.
[104] In 1626, he attempted to form a league 'en faveur du Palatin,'
_Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. xxii. p. 576. Sismondi
seems not quite certain as to the sincerity of his proposal; but
as to this there can, I think, be little doubt; for it appears
from his own memoirs, that even in 1624 he had in view the
recovery of the Palatinate. _Mém. de Richelieu_, vol. ii. p. 405;
and again in 1625, p. 468.
[105] _Sismondi_, vol. xxiii. p. 173; _Capefigue's Richelieu_, vol. i.
p. 415; _Le Vassor_, _Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. vi. pp. 12, 600;
and at p. 489: 'Le roi de Suède qui comptoit uniquement sur le
cardinal.'
[106] Compare _Mém. de Montglat_, vol. i. pp. 74, 75, vol. ii. pp. 92,
93, with _Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil_, vol. ii. p. 198; and
_Howell's Letters_, p. 247. The different views which occurred to
his fertile mind in consequence of the death of Gustavus, are
strikingly summed up in _Mém. de Richelieu_, vol. vii. pp.
272-277. On his subsequent pecuniary advances, see vol. ix.
p. 395.
[107] In 1633, 'les ambassadeurs de France, d'Angleterre et de Hollande
mirent à profit le repos de l'hiver pour resserrer la
confédération protestante,' _Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_,
vol. xxiii. p. 221. Compare, in _Whitelocke's Swedish Embassy_,
vol. i. p. 275, the remark made twenty years later by Christina,
daughter of Gustavus, on the union with 'papists.'
These things alone would have made the administration of Richelieu a
great epoch in the history of European civilization. For his government
affords the first example of an eminent Catholic statesman
systematically disregarding ecclesiastical interests, and showing that
disregard in the whole scheme of his foreign, as well as of his
domestic, policy. Some instances, indeed, approaching to this, may be
found, at an earlier period, among the petty rulers of Italian states;
but, even there, such attempts have never been successful; they had
never been continued for any length of time, nor had they been carried
out on a scale large enough to raise them to the dignity of
international precedents. The peculiar glory of Richelieu is, that his
foreign policy was, not occasionally, but invariably, governed by
temporal considerations; nor do I believe that, during the long tenure
of his power, there is to be found the least proof of his regard for
those theological interests, the promotion of which had long been looked
upon as a matter of paramount importance. By thus steadily subordinating
the church to the state; by enforcing the principle of this
subordination, on a large scale, with great ability, and with unvarying
success, he laid the foundation of that purely secular polity, the
consolidation of which has, since his death, been the aim of all the
best European diplomatists. The result was a most salutary change, which
had been for some time preparing, but which, under him, was first
completed. For, by the introduction of this system, an end was put to
religious wars; and the chances of peace were increased, by thus
removing one of the causes to which the interruption of peace had often
been owing.[108] At the same time, there was prepared the way for that
final separation of theology from politics, which it will be the
business of future generations fully to achieve. How great a step had
been taken in this direction, appears from the facility with which the
operations of Richelieu were continued by men every way his inferiors.
Less than two years after his death, there was assembled the Congress of
Westphalia;[109] the members of which concluded that celebrated peace,
which is remarkable, as being the first comprehensive attempt to adjust
the conflicting interests of the leading European countries.[110] In
this important treaty, ecclesiastical interests were altogether
disregarded;[111] and the contracting parties, instead of, as
heretofore, depriving each other of their possessions, took the bolder
course of indemnifying themselves at the expense of the church, and did
not hesitate to seize her revenues, and secularize several of her
bishoprics.[112] From this grievous insult, which became a precedent in
the public law of Europe, the spiritual power has never recovered; and
it is remarked by a very competent authority that, since that period,
diplomatists have, in their official acts, neglected religious
interests, and have preferred the advocacy of matters relating to the
commerce and colonies of their respective countries.[113] The truth of
this observation is confirmed by the interesting fact, that the Thirty
Years' War, to which this same treaty put an end, is the last great
religious war which has ever been waged;[114] no civilized people,
during two centuries, having thought it worth while to peril their own
safety in order to disturb the belief of their neighbours. This, indeed,
is but a part of that vast secular movement, by which superstition has
been weakened, and the civilization of Europe secured. Without, however,
discussing that subject, I will now endeavour to show how the policy of
Richelieu, in regard to the French Protestant church, corresponded with
his policy in regard to the French Catholic church; so, that, in both
departments, this great statesman, aided by that progress of knowledge
for which his age was remarkable, was able to struggle with prejudices
from which men, slowly and with infinite difficulty, were attempting to
emerge.
[108] This change may be illustrated by comparing the work of Grotius
with that of Vattel. These two eminent men are still respected as
the most authoritative expounders of international law; but there
is this important difference between them, that Vattel wrote more
than a century after Grotius, and when the secular principles
enforced by Richelieu had penetrated the minds even of common
politicians. Therefore, Vattel says (_Le Droit des Gens_, vol. i.
pp. 379, 380): 'On demande s'il est permis de faire alliance avec
une nation qui ne professe pas la même religion? Si les traités
faits avec les ennemis de la foi sont valides? Grotius a traité
la question assez au long. Cette discussion pouvait être
nécessaire dans un temps où la fureur des partis obscurcissait
encore des principes qu'elle avait long-temps fait oublier, osons
croire qu'elle serait superflue dans notre siècle. La loi
naturelle seule régit les traités des nations; la différence de
religion y est absolument étrangère.' See also p. 318, and vol.
ii. p. 151. On the other hand, Grotius opposes alliances between
nations of different religion, and says, that nothing can justify
them except 'une extrême nécessité.... Car il faut chercher
premièrement le règne céleste, c'est à dire penser avant toutes
choses à la propagation de l'évangile.' And he further recommends
that princes should follow the advice given on this subject by
Foulques, Archbishop of Rheims! _Grotius_, _le Droit de la Guerre
et de la Paix_, livre ii. chap. xv. sec. xi. vol. i. pp. 485, 486,
edit. Barbeyrac, Amsterdam, 1724, 4to; a passage the more
instructive, because Grotius was a man of great genius and great
humanity. On religious wars, as naturally recognized in barbarous
times, see the curious and important work, _Institutes of
Timour_, pp. 141, 333, 335.
[109] 'Le Congrès de Westphalie s'ouvrit le 10 avril 1643.' _Lavallée_,
_Hist. des Français_, vol. iii. p. 156. Its two great divisions
at Munster and Osnabruck were formed in March 1644. _Flassan_,
_Hist. de la Diplomatie_, vol. iii. p. 110. Richelieu died in
December, 1642. _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxxviii. p. 28.
[110] 'Les règnes de Charles-Quint et de Henri IV font époque pour
certaines parties du droit international; mais le point de départ
le plus saillant, c'est la paix de Westphalie.' _Eschbach_,
_Introduc. à l'Etude du Droit_, Paris, 1846, p. 92. Compare the
remarks on Mably, in _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxvi. p. 7, and
_Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. xxiv. p. 179: 'base au
droit public de l'Europe.'
[111] Compare the indignation of the pope at this treaty (_Vattel_, _le
Droit des Gens_, vol. ii. p. 28), with _Ranke's Päpste_, vol. ii.
p. 576: 'Das religiöse Element ist zurückgetreten; die
politischen Rücksichten beherrschen die Welt:' a summary of the
general state of affairs.
[112] 'La France obtint par ce traité, en indemnité, la souveraineté des
trois évêchés, Metz, Toul et Verdun, ainsi que celle d'Alsace. La
satisfaction ou indemnité des autres parties intéressées fut
convenue, en grande partie, aux dépens de l'église, et moyennant
la sécularisation de plusieurs évêchés et bénéfices
ecclésiastiques.' _Koch_, _Tableau des Révolutions_, vol. i. p.
328.
[113] Dr. Vaughan (_Protectorate of Cromwell_, vol. i. p. civ.) says:
'It is a leading fact, also, in the history of modern Europe,
that, from the peace of Westphalia, in 1648, religion, as the
great object of negotiation, began everywhere to give place to
questions relating to colonies and commerce.' Charles Butler
observed, that this treaty 'considerably lessened the influence
of religion on politics.' _Butler's Reminiscences_, vol. i. p.
181.
[114] The fact of the Thirty Years' War being a religious contest,
formed the basis of one of the charges which the church party
brought against Richelieu: and an author, who wrote in 1634,
'montroit bien au long que l'alliance du roy de France avec les
protestantes étoit contraire aux intérêts de la religion
catholique; parce que la guerre des Provinces Unies, et celle
d'Allemagne étoient des guerres de religion.' _Benoist_, _Hist.
de l'Edit de Nantes_, vol. ii. p. 536.
The treatment of the French Protestants by Richelieu is, undoubtedly,
one of the most honourable parts of his system; and in it, as in other
liberal measures, he was assisted by the course of preceding events. His
administration, taken in connexion with that of Henry IV. and the
queen-regent, presents the noble spectacle of a toleration far more
complete than any which had then been seen in Catholic Europe. While in
other Christian countries, men were being incessantly persecuted,
simply because they held opinions different from those professed by the
established clergy, France refused to follow the general example, and
protected those heretics whom the church was eager to punish. Indeed,
not only were they protected, but, when they possessed abilities, they
were openly rewarded. In addition to their appointments to civil
offices, many of them were advanced to high military posts; and Europe
beheld, with astonishment, the armies of the king of France led by
heretical generals. Rohan, Lesdiguières, Chatillon, La Force, Bernard de
Weimar, were among the most celebrated of the military leaders employed
by Louis XIII.; and all of them were Protestants, as also were some
younger, but distinguished officers, such as Gassion, Rantzau,
Schomberg, and Turenne. For now, nothing was beyond the reach of men
who, half a century earlier, would, on account of their heresies, have
been persecuted to the death. Shortly before the accession of Louis
XIII., Lesdiguières, the ablest general among the French Protestants,
was made marshal of France.[115] Fourteen years later, the same high
dignity was conferred upon two other Protestants, Chatillon and La
Force; the former of whom is said to have been the most influential of
the schismatics.[116] Both these appointments were in 1622;[117] and, in
1634, still greater scandal was caused by the elevation of Sully, who,
notwithstanding his notorious heresy, also received the staff of marshal
of France.[118] This was the work of Richelieu, and it gave serious
offence to the friends of the church; but the great statesman paid so
little attention to their clamour, that, after the civil war was
concluded, he took another step equally obnoxious. The Duke de Rohan was
the most active of all the enemies of the established church, and was
looked up to by the Protestants as the main support of their party. He
had taken up arms in their favour, and, declining to abandon his
religion, had, by the fate of war, been driven from France. But
Richelieu, who was acquainted with his ability, cared little about his
opinions. He, therefore, recalled him from exile, employed him in a
negotiation with Switzerland, and sent him on foreign service, as
commander of one of the armies of the king of France.[119]
[115] According to a contemporary, he received this appointment without
having asked for it: 'sans être à la cour ni l'avoir demandé.'
_Mém. de Fontenay_, _Mareuil_, vol. i. p. 70. In 1622, even the
lieutenants of Lesdiguières were Protestants: 'ses lieutenants,
qui estant tous huguenots.' _Ibid._ vol. i. p. 538. These memoirs
are very valuable in regard to political and military matters;
their author having played a conspicuous part in the transactions
which he describes.
[116] 'Il n'y avoit personne dans le parti huguenot si considérable que
lui.' _Tallemant des Réaux_, _Historiettes_, vol. v. p. 204.
[117] _Biog. Univ._ vol. xv. p. 247; _Benoist_, _Hist. de l'Edit de
Nantes_, vol. ii. p. 400.
[118] Additions to _Sully_, _[OE]conomies Royales_, vol. viii. p.
496; _Smedley's Hist. of the Reformed Religion in France_,
vol. iii. p. 204.
[119] _Capefigue's Richelieu_, vol. ii. p. 57; _Mém. de Rohan_, vol. i.
pp. 66, 69; _Mém. de Bassompierre_, vol. iii. pp. 324, 348; _Mém.
de Montglat_, vol. i. p. 86; _Le Vassor_, _Hist. de Louis XIII_,
vol. vii. p. 157, vol. viii. p. 284. This great rise in the
fortunes of Rohan took place at different times between 1632 and
1635.
Such were the tendencies which characterized this new state of things.
It is hardly necessary to observe how beneficial this great change must
have been; since by it men were encouraged to look to their country as
the first consideration, and, discarding their old disputes, Catholic
soldiers were taught to obey heretical generals, and follow their
standards to victory. In addition to this, the mere social amalgamation,
arising from the professors of different creeds mixing in the same camp,
and fighting under the same banner, must have still further aided to
disarm the mind, partly by merging theological feuds in a common, and
yet a temporal, object, and partly by showing to each sect, that their
religious opponents were not entirely bereft of human virtue; that they
still retained some of the qualities of men; and that it was even
possible to combine the errors of heresy with all the capabilities of a
good and competent citizen.[120]
[120] Late in the sixteenth century, Duplessis Mornay had to state what
was then considered by the majority of men an incredible paradox,
'que ce n'estoit pas chose incompatible d'estre bon huguenot et
bon Françoys tout ensemble.' _Duplessis_, _Mém. et Correspond._
vol. i. p. 146. Compare p. 213, vol. ii. pp. 45, 46, 77, 677,
vol. vii. p. 294, vol. xi. pp. 31, 68; interesting passages for
the history of opinions in France.
But, while the hateful animosities by which France had long been
distracted, were, under the policy of Richelieu, gradually subsiding, it
is singular to observe that, though the prejudices of the Catholics
obviously diminished, those of the Protestants seemed, for a time, to
retain all their activity. It is, indeed, a striking proof of the
perversity and pertinacity of such feelings, that it was precisely in
the country, and at the period, when the Protestants were best treated,
that they displayed most turbulence. And in this, as in all such cases,
the cause principally at work was the influence of that class to which
circumstances, I will now explain, had secured a temporary ascendency.
For, the diminution of the theological spirit had effected in the
Protestants a remarkable but a very natural result. The increasing
toleration of the French government had laid open to their leaders
prizes which before they could never have obtained. As long as all
offices were refused to the Protestant nobles, it was natural that they
should cling with the greater zeal to their own party, by whom alone
their virtues were acknowledged. But, when the principle was once
recognised, that the state would reward men for their abilities, without
regard to their religion, there was introduced into every sect a new
element of discord. The leaders of the Reformers could not fail to feel
some gratitude, or, at all events, some interest for the government
which employed them; and the influence of temporal considerations being
thus strengthened, the influence of religious ties must have been
weakened. It is impossible that opposite feelings should be paramount,
at the same moment, in the same mind. The further men extend their view,
the less they care for each of the details of which the view is
composed. Patriotism is a corrective of superstition; and the more we
feel for our country, the less we feel for our sect. Thus it is, that
in the progress of civilization, the scope of the intellect is widened;
its horizon is enlarged; its sympathies are multiplied; and, as the
range of its excursions is increased, the tenacity of its grasp is
slackened, until, at length, it begins to perceive that the infinite
variety of circumstances necessarily causes an infinite variety of
opinions; that a creed, which is good and natural for one man, may be
bad and unnatural for another; and that, so far from interfering with
the march of religious convictions, we should be content to look into
ourselves, search our own hearts, purge our own souls, soften the evil
of our own passions, and extirpate that insolent and intolerant spirit,
which is at once the cause and the effect of all theological
controversy.
It was in this direction, that a prodigious step was taken by the French
in the first half of the seventeenth century. Unfortunately, however,
the advantages which arose were accompanied by serious drawbacks. From
the introduction of temporal considerations among the Protestant
leaders, there occurred two results of considerable importance. The
first result was, that many of the Protestants changed their religion.
Before the Edict of Nantes, they had been constantly persecuted, and
had, as constantly, increased.[121] But, under the tolerant policy of
Henry IV. and Louis XIII., they continued to diminish.[122] Indeed, this
was the natural consequence of the growth of that secular spirit which,
in every country, has assuaged religious animosities. For, by the action
of that spirit, the influence of social and political views began to
outweigh those theological views to which the minds of men had long been
confined. As these temporal ties increased in strength, there was, of
course, generated among the rival factions an increased tendency to
assimilate; while, as the Catholics were not only much more numerous,
but in every respect, more influential, than their opponents, they
reaped the benefit of this movement, and gradually drew over to their
side many of their former enemies. That this absorption of the smaller
sect into the larger, is due to the cause I have mentioned, is rendered
still more evident by the interesting fact, that the change began among
the heads of the party; and that it was not the inferior Protestants who
first abandoned their leaders, but it was rather the leaders who
deserted their followers. This was because the leaders, being more
educated than the great body of the people, were more susceptible to the
sceptical movement, and therefore set the example of an indifference to
disputes which still engrossed the popular mind. As soon as this
indifference had reached a certain point, the attractions offered by the
conciliating policy of Louis XIII. became irresistible; and the
Protestant nobles, in particular, being most exposed to political
temptations, began to alienate themselves from their own party, in order
to form an alliance with a court which showed itself ready to reward
their merits.
[121] See _Benoist_, _Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes_, vol. i. pp. 10, 14,
18; _De Thou_, _Hist. Univ._ vol. iii. pp. 181, 242, 357, 358,
543, 558, vol. iv. p. 155; _Relat. des Ambassadeurs Vénitiens_,
vol. i. pp. 412, 536, vol. ii. pp. 66, 74; _Ranke's Civil Wars in
France_, vol. i. pp. 279, 280, vol. ii. p. 94.
[122] Compare _Hallam's Const. Hist._ vol. i. p. 173, with _Ranke_, _die
Römischen Päpste_, vol. ii. pp. 477-479. In spite of the increase
of population, the Protestants diminished absolutely, as well as
relatively, to the Catholics. In 1598 they had 760 churches; in
1619 only 700. _Smedley's Hist. of the Reformed Religion in
France_, vol. iii. pp. 46, 145. De Thou, in the preface to his
History (vol. i. p. 320), observes, that the Protestants had
increased during the wars carried on against them, but
'diminuoient en nombre et en crédit pendant la paix.'
It is, of course, impossible to fix the exact period at which this
important change took place.[123] But we may say with certainty, that
very early in the reign of Louis XIII. many of the Protestant nobles
cared nothing for their religion, while the remainder of them ceased to
feel that interest in it which they had formerly expressed. Indeed, some
of the most eminent of them openly abandoned their creed, and joined
that very church which they had been taught to abhor as the man of sin,
and the whore of Babylon. The Duke de Lesdiguières, the greatest of all
the Protestant generals,[124] became a Catholic, and, as a reward for
his conversion, was made constable of France.[125] The Duke de la
Tremouille adopted the same course;[126] as also did the Duke de la
Meilleraye,[127] the Duke de Bouillon,[128] and a few years later the
Marquis de Montausier.[129] These illustrious nobles were among the most
powerful of the members of the Reformed communion; but they quitted it
without compunction, sacrificing their old associations in favour of
the opinions professed by the state. Among the other men of high rank,
who still remained nominally connected with the French Protestants, we
find a similar spirit. We find them lukewarm respecting matters, for
which, if they had been born fifty years earlier, they would have laid
down their lives. The Maréchal de Bouillon, who professed himself to be
a Protestant, was unwilling to change his religion; but he so comported
himself as to show that he considered its interests as subordinate to
political considerations.[130] A similar remark has been made by the
French historians concerning the Duke de Sully and the Marquis de
Chatillon, both of whom, though they were members of the Reformed
church, displayed a marked indifference to those theological interests
which had formerly been objects of supreme importance.[131] The result
was, that when, in 1621, the Protestants began their civil war against
the government, it was found that of all their great leaders, two only,
Rohan and his brother Soubise, were prepared to risk their lives in
support of their religion.[132]
[123] M. Ranke has noticed how the French Protestant nobles fell off
from their party; but he does not seem aware of the remote causes
of what he deems a sudden apostasy: 'In dem nämlichen Momente
trat nun auch die grosse Wendung der Dinge in Frankreich ein.
Fragen wir, woher im Jahr 1621 die Verluste des Protestantismus
hauptsächlich kamen, so war es die Entzweiung derselben, der
Abfall des Adels.' _Ranke_, _die Päpste_, vol. ii. p. 476.
Compare a curious passage in _Benoist_, _Hist. de l'Edit de
Nantes_, vol. ii. p. 33, from which it appears that in 1611 the
French Protestants were breaking into three parties, one of which
consisted of 'les seigneurs d'éminente qualité.'
[124] 'Le plus illustre guerrier du parti protestant.' _Sismondi_,
_Hist. des Français_, vol. xxii. p. 505. In the contemporary
despatches of the Spanish ambassador, he is called 'l'un des
huguenots les plus marquans, homme d'un grand poids, et d'un
grand crédit.' _Capefigue's Richelieu_, vol. i. p. 60. His
principal influence was in Dauphiné. _Benoist_, _Hist. de l'Edit
de Nantes_, vol. i. p. 236.
[125] _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxiv. p. 293; and a dry remark on his
'conversion' in _Mém. de Richelieu_, vol. ii. p. 215, which may
be compared with _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. xviii. p. 132, and
_Bazin_, _Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. ii. pp. 195-197. Rohan
(_Mém._ vol. i. p. 228) plainly says, 'le duc de Lesdiguières,
ayant hardé sa religion pour la charge de connétable de France.'
See also p. 91, and _Mém. de Montglat_, vol. i. p. 37.
[126] _Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. xxiii. p. 67; _Le Vassor_,
_Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. v. pp. 809, 810, 865.
[127] _Tallemant des Réaux_, _Historiettes_, vol. iii. p. 43. La
Meilleraye was also a duke; and what is far more in his favour,
he was a friend of Descartes. _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxviii. pp. 152,
153.
[128] Sismondi (_Hist. des Français_, vol. xxiii. p. 27) says, 'il
abjura en 1637;' but according to Benoist (_Hist. de l'Edit de
Nantes_, vol. ii. p. 550) it was in 1635.
[129] _Tallemant des Réaux_, _Historiettes_, vol. iii. p. 245. Des
Réaux, who saw these changes constantly happening, simply
observes, 'notre marquis, voyant que sa religion étoit un
obstacle à son dessein, en change.'
[130] 'Mettoit la politique avant la religion.' _Sismondi_, _Hist. des
Français_, vol. xxii. p. 264. This was Henry Bouillon, whom some
writers have confused with Frederick Bouillon. Both of them were
dukes; but Henry, who was the father, and who did not actually
change his religion, was the marshal. The following notices of
him will more than confirm the remark made by Sismondi; _Mém. de
Bassompierre_, vol. i. p. 455; _Smedley's Reformed Religion in
France_, vol. iii. p. 99; _Capefigue's Richelieu_, vol. i. p.
107; _Le Vassor_, _Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. ii. pp. 420, 467,
664, vol. iv. p. 519; _Mém. de Richelieu_, vol. i. p. 104, vol.
ii. p. 259; _Mém. de Duplessis Mornay_, vol. xi. p. 450, vol.
xii. pp. 79, 182, 263, 287, 345, 361, 412, 505.
[131] _Benoist_, _Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes_, vol. i. pp. 121, 298,
vol. ii. pp. 5, 180, 267, 341; _Capefigue's Richelieu_, vol. i.
p. 267; _Felice's Hist. of the Protestants of France_, p. 206.
Sully advised Henry IV., on mere political considerations, to
become a Catholic; and there were strong, but I believe unfounded
rumours, that he himself intended taking the same course. See
_Sully_, _[OE]conomies Royales_, vol. ii. p. 81, vol. vii. pp.
362, 363.
[132] 'There were, among all the leaders, but the Duke de Rohan and his
brother the Duke de Soubise, who showed themselves disposed to
throw their whole fortunes into the new wars of religion.'
_Felice's Hist. of the Protestants of France_, p. 241. For this,
M. Felice, as usual, quotes no authority; but Rohan himself says:
'C'est ce qui s'est passé en cette seconde guerre (1626), où
Rohan et Soubise ont eu pour contraires tous les grands de la
religion de France.' _Mém. de Rohan_, vol. i. p. 278. Rohan
claims great merit for his religious sincerity; though, from a
passage in _Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil_, vol. i. p. 418, and
another in _Benoist_, _Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes_, vol. ii. p.
173, one may be allowed to doubt if he were so single-minded as
is commonly supposed.
Thus it was, that the first great consequence of the tolerating policy
of the French government was to deprive the Protestants of the support
of their former leaders, and, in several instances, even to turn their
sympathies on the side of the Catholic church. But the other
consequence, to which I have alluded, was one of far greater moment. The
growing indifference of the higher classes of Protestants threw the
management of their party into the hands of the clergy. The post, which
was deserted by the secular leaders, was naturally seized by the
spiritual leaders. And as, in every sect, the clergy, as a body, have
always been remarkable for their intolerance of opinions different to
their own, it followed, that this change infused into the now mutilated
ranks of the Protestants an acrimony not inferior to that of the worst
times of the sixteenth century.[133] Hence it was, that by a singular,
but perfectly natural combination, the Protestants, who professed to
take their stand on the right of private judgment, became, early in the
seventeenth century, more intolerant than the Catholics, who based their
religion on the dictates of an infallible church.
[133] Sismondi notices this remarkable change; though he places it a few
years earlier than the contemporary writers do: 'Depuis que les
grands seigneurs s'étoient éloignés deg églises, c'étoient les
ministres qui étoient devenus les chefs, les représentans et les
démagogues des huguenots; et ils apportoient dans leurs
délibérations cette âpreté et cette inflexibilité théologiques
qui semblent caractériser les prêtres de toutes les religions, et
qui donnent à leurs haines une amertume plus offensante.'
_Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. xxii. p. 87. Compare p.
478. In 1621, 'Rohan lui-même voyait continuellement ses
opérations contrariées par le conseil-général des églises.'
_Lavallée_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. iii. p. 88. In the same
year, M. Capefigue (_Richelieu_, vol. i. p. 271) says, 'Le parti
modéré cessa d'avoir action sur le prêche; la direction des
forces huguenotes, était passée dans les mains des ardents,
conduits par les ministres.'
This is one of the many instances which show how superficial is the
opinion of those speculative writers, who believe that the Protestant
religion is necessarily more liberal than the Catholic. If those who
adopt this view had taken the pains to study the history of Europe in
its original sources, they would have learned, that the liberality of
every sect depends, not at all on its avowed tenets, but on the
circumstances in which it is placed, and on the amount of authority
possessed by its priesthood. The Protestant religion is, for the most
part, more tolerant than the Catholic, simply because the events which
have given rise to Protestantism have at the same time increased the
play of the intellect, and therefore lessened the power of the clergy.
But whoever has read the works of the great Calvinist divines, and above
all, whoever has studied their history, must know, that in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, the desire of persecuting their opponents
burnt as hotly among them, as it did among any of the Catholics even in
the worst days of the papal dominion. This is a mere matter of fact, of
which any one may satisfy himself, by consulting the original documents
of those times. And even now, there is more superstition, more bigotry,
and less of the charity of real religion, among the lower order of
Scotch Protestants, than there is among the lower order of French
Catholics. Yet for one intolerant passage in Protestant theology, it
would be easy to point out twenty in Catholic theology. The truth,
however, is, that the actions of men are governed, not by dogmas, and
text-books, and rubrics, but by the opinions and habits of their
contemporaries, by the general spirit of their age, and by the character
of those classes who are in the ascendant. This seems to be the origin
of that difference between religious theory and religious practice, of
which theologians greatly complain as a stumbling-block and an evil.
For, religious theories being preserved in books, in a doctrinal and
dogmatic form, remain a perpetual witness, and, therefore cannot be
changed without incurring the obvious charge of inconsistency, or of
heresy. But the practical part of every religion, its moral, political,
and social workings, embrace such an immense variety of interests, and
have to do with such complicated and shifting agencies, that it is
hopeless to fix them by formularies: they, even in the most rigid
systems, are left, in a great measure, to private discretion; and, being
almost entirely unwritten, they lack those precautions by which the
permanence of dogmas is effectually secured.[134] Hence it is, that
while the religious doctrines professed by a people in their national
creed are no criterion of their civilization, their religious practice
is, on the other hand, so pliant and so capable of adaptation to social
wants, that it forms one of the best standards by which the spirit of
any age can be measured.
[134] The church of Rome has always seen this, and on that account has
been, and still is, very pliant in regard to morals, and very
inflexible in regard to dogmas; a striking proof of the great
sagacity with which her affairs are administered. In _Blanco
White's Evidence against Catholicism_, p. 48, and in _Parr's
Works_, vol. vii. pp. 454, 455, there is an unfavourable and,
indeed, an unjust notice of this peculiarity, which, though
strongly marked in the Romish church, is by no means confined to
it, but is found in every religious sect which is regularly
organized. Locke, in his _Letters on Toleration_, observes, that
the clergy are naturally more eager against error than against
vice (_Works_, vol. v. pp. 6, 7, 241); and their preference of
dogmas to moral truths is also mentioned by M. C. Comte, _Traité
de Législat._ vol. i. p. 245; and is alluded to by Kant in his
comparison of 'ein moralischer Katechismus' with a
'Religionskatechismus.' _Die Metaphysik der Sitten_ (_Ethische
Methodenlehre_), in _Kant's Werke_, vol. v. p. 321. Compare
_Temple's Observations upon the United Provinces_, in _Works of
Sir W. Temple_, vol. i. p. 154, with the strict adhesion to
formularies noticed in _Ward's Ideal Church_, p. 358; and
analogous cases in _Mill's Hist. of India_, vol. i. pp. 399, 400,
and in _Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians_, vol. iii. p. 87; also
_Combe's Notes on the United States_, vol. iii. pp. 256, 257.
It is on account of these things, that we ought not to be surprised
that, during many years, the French Protestants, who affected to appeal
to the right of private judgment, were more intolerant of the exercise
of that judgment by their adversaries than were the Catholics; although
the Catholics, by recognising an infallible church, ought, in
consistency, to be superstitious, and may be said to inherit intolerance
as their natural birthright.[135] Thus, while the Catholics were
theoretically more bigoted than the Protestants, the Protestants became
practically more bigoted than the Catholics. The Protestants continued
to insist upon that right of private judgment in religion, which the
Catholics continued to deny. Yet, such was the force of circumstances,
that each sect, in its practice, contradicted its own dogma, and acted
as if it had embraced the dogma of its opponents. The cause of this
change was very simple. Among the French, the theological spirit, as we
have already seen, was decaying; and the decline of the influence of the
clergy was, as invariably happens, accompanied by an increase of
toleration. But, among the French Protestants, this partial diminution
of the theological spirit had produced different consequences; because
it had brought about a change of leaders, which threw the command into
the hands of the clergy, and, by increasing their power, provoked a
reaction, and revived those very feelings to the decay of which the
reaction owed its origin. This seems to explain how it is, that a
religion, which is not protected by the government, usually displays
greater energy and greater vitality than one which is so protected. In
the progress of society, the theological spirit first declines among the
most educated classes; and then it is that the government can step in,
as it does in England, and, controlling the clergy, make the church a
creature of the state; thus weakening the ecclesiastical element by
tempering it with secular considerations. But, when the state refuses to
do this, the reins of power, as they fall from the hands of the upper
classes, are seized by the clergy, and there arises a state of things
of which the French Protestants in the seventeenth century, and the
Irish Catholics in our own time, form the best illustration. In such
cases, it will always happen, that the religion which is tolerated by
the government, though not fully recognised by it, will the longest
retain its vitality; because its priesthood, neglected by the state,
must cling closer to the people, in whom alone is the source of their
power.[136] On the other hand, in a religion which is favoured and
richly endowed by the state, the union between the priesthood and
inferior laity will be less intimate; the clergy will look to the
government as well as to the people; and the interference of political
views, of considerations of temporal expediency, and, if it may be added
without irreverence, the hopes of promotion will secularize the
ecclesiastical spirit,[137] and, according to the process I have already
traced, will thus hasten the march of toleration.
[135] Blanco White (_Evidence against Catholicism_, p. vi.) harshly
says, '_sincere_ Roman Catholics cannot conscientiously be
tolerant.' But he is certainly mistaken; for the question is one,
not of sincerity, but of consistency. A sincere Roman Catholic
may be, and often is, conscientiously tolerant; a consistent
Roman Catholic, never.
[136] We also see this very clearly in England, where the dissenting
clergy have much more influence among their hearers than the
clergy of the Establishment have among theirs. This has often
been noticed by impartial observers, and we are now possessed of
statistical proof that 'the great body of Protestant dissenters
are more assiduous' in attending religious worship than churchmen
are. See a valuable essay by Mr. Mann _On the Statistical
Position of Religious Bodies in England and Wales_, in _Journal
of Statist. Soc._ vol. xviii. p. 152.
[137] Respecting the working of this in England, there are some shrewd
remarks made by Le Blanc in his _Lettres d'un François_, vol. i.
pp. 267, 268; which may be compared with _Lord Holland's Mem. of
the Whig Party_, vol. ii. p. 253, where it is suggested, that in
the case of complete emancipation of the Catholics, 'eligibility
to worldly honours and profits would somewhat abate the fever of
religious zeal.' On this, there are observations worth attending
to in _Lord Cloncurry's Recollections_, Dublin, 1849, pp. 342,
343.
These generalizations, which account for a great part of the present
superstition of the Irish Catholics, will also account for the former
superstition of the French Protestants. In both cases, the government
disdaining the supervision of an heretical religion, allowed supreme
authority to fall into the hands of the priesthood, who stimulated the
bigotry of men, and encouraged them in a hatred of their opponents.
What the results of this are in Ireland, is best known to those of our
statesmen, who, with unusual candour, have declared Ireland to be their
greatest difficulty. What the results were in France, we will now
endeavour to ascertain.
The conciliating spirit of the French government having drawn over to
its side some of the most eminent of the French Protestants, and having
disarmed the hostility of others, the leadership of the party fell, as
we have already seen, into the hands of those inferior men, who
displayed in their new position the intolerance characteristic of their
order. Without pretending to write a history of the odious feuds that
now arose, I will lay before the reader some evidence of their
increasing bitterness; and I will point out a few of the steps by which
the angry feelings of religious controversy became so inflamed, that at
length they kindled a civil war, which nothing but the improved temper
of the Catholics prevented from being as sanguinary as were the horrible
struggles of the sixteenth century. For, when the French Protestants
became governed by men whose professional habits made them consider
heresy to be the greatest of crimes, there naturally sprung up a
missionary and proselytizing spirit, which induced them to interfere
with the religion of the Catholics, and, under the old pretence of
turning them from the error of their ways, revived those animosities
which the progress of knowledge tended to appease. And as, under such
guidance, these feelings quickly increased, the Protestants soon learned
to despise that great Edict of Nantes, by which their liberties were
secured; and they embarked in a dangerous contest, in which their object
was, not to protect their own religion, but to weaken the religion of
that very party to whom they owed a toleration, which had been
reluctantly conceded by the prejudices of the age.
It was stipulated, in the Edict of Nantes, that the Protestants should
enjoy the full exercise of their religion; and this right they continued
to possess until the reign of Louis XIV. To this there were added
several other privileges, such as no Catholic Government, except that
of France, would then have granted to its heretical subjects. But these
things did not satisfy the desires of the Protestant clergy. They were
not content to exercise their own religion, unless they could also
trouble the religion of others. Their first step was, to call upon the
government to limit the performance of those rites which the French
Catholics had long revered as emblems of the national faith. For this
purpose, directly after the death of Henry IV. they held a great
assembly at Saumur, in which they formally demanded that no Catholic
processions should be allowed in any town, place, or castle occupied by
the Protestants.[138] As the government did not seem inclined to
countenance this monstrous pretension, these intolerant sectaries took
the law into their own hands. They not only attacked the Catholic
processions wherever they met them, but they subjected the priests to
personal insults, and even endeavoured to prevent them from
administering the sacrament to the sick. If a Catholic clergyman was
engaged in burying the dead, the Protestants were sure to be present,
interrupting the funeral, turning the ceremonies into ridicule, and
attempting, by their clamour, to deaden the voice of the minister, so
that the service performed in the church should not be heard.[139] Nor
did they always confine themselves even to such demonstrations as these.
For, certain towns having been, perhaps imprudently, placed under their
control, they exercised their authority in them with the most wanton
insolence. At La Rochelle, which for importance was the second city in
the kingdom, they would not permit the Catholics to have even a single
church in which to celebrate what for centuries had been the sole
religion of France, and was still the religion of an enormous majority
of Frenchmen.[140] This, however, only formed part of a system, by which
the Protestant clergy hoped to trample on the rights of their
fellow-subjects. In 1619, they ordered in their general assembly at
Loudun, that in none of the Protestant towns should there be a sermon
preached by a Jesuit, or indeed by any ecclesiastical person
commissioned by a bishop.[141] In another assembly, they forbade any
Protestant even to be present at a baptism, or at a marriage, or at a
funeral, if the ceremony was performed by a Catholic priest.[142] And,
as if to cut off all hope of reconciliation, they not only vehemently
opposed those intermarriages between the two parties, by which, in every
Christian country, religious animosities have been softened, but they
publicly declared, that they would withhold the sacrament from any
parents whose children were married into a Catholic family.[143] Not,
however, to accumulate unnecessary evidence, there is one other
circumstance worth relating, as a proof of the spirit with which these
and similar regulations were enforced. When Louis XIII., in 1620,
visited Pau, he was not only treated with indignity, as being an
heretical prince, but he found that the Protestants had not left him a
single church, not one place, in which the king of France, in his own
territory, could perform those devotions which he believed necessary
for his future salvation.[144]
[138] 'Les processions catholiques seraient interdites dans toutes les
places, villes et châteaux occupés par ceux de la religion.'
_Capefigue's Richelieu_, vol. i. p. 39.
[139] Of these facts we have the most unequivocal proof; for they were
not only stated by the Catholics in 1623, but they are recorded,
without being denied, by the Protestant historian Benoist: 'On y
accusoit les Réformez d'injurier les prêtres, quand ils les
voyoient passer; d'empêcher les processions des Catholiques;
l'administration des sacremens aux malades; l'enterrement des
morts avec les cérémonies accoutumées; ... que les Réformez
s'étoient emparez des cloches en quelques lieux, et en d'autres
se serroient de celles des Catholiques pour avertir de l'heure du
prêche; qu'ils affectoient de faire du bruit autour des églises
pendant le service; qu'ils tournoient en dérision les cérémonies
de l'église romaine.' _Benoist_, _Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes_,
vol. ii. pp. 433, 434; see also pp. 149, 150.
[140] 'On pouvait dire que La Rochelle était la capitale, le saint
temple du calvinisme; car on ne voyait là aucune église, aucune
cérémonie papiste.' _Capefigue's Richelieu_, vol. i. p. 342.
[141] _Mém. de Richelieu_, vol. ii. p. 100. For other and similar
evidence, see _Duplessis Mornay_, _Mémoires_, vol. xi. p. 244;
_Sully_, _[OE]conomies Royales_, vol. vii. p. 164; _Benoist_,
_Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes_, vol. ii. pp. 70, 233, 279.
[142] _Quick's Synodicon in Gallia_, vol. ii. p. 196.
[143] For a striking instance of the actual enforcement of this
intolerant regulation, see _Quick's Synodicon in Gallia_,
vol. ii. p. 344.
[144] _Bazin_, _Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. ii. p. 124; _Mém. de
Richelieu_, vol. ii. pp. 109, 110; _Felice's Hist. of the
Protestants of France_, p. 238.
This was the way in which the French Protestants, influenced by their
new leaders, treated the first Catholic government which abstained from
persecuting them; the first which not only allowed them the free
exercise of their religion, but even advanced many of them to offices of
trust and of honour.[145] All this, however, was only of a piece with
the rest of their conduct. They, who in numbers and in intellect formed
a miserable minority of the French nation, claimed a power which the
majority had abandoned, and refused to concede to others the toleration
they themselves enjoyed. Several persons, who had joined their party,
now quitted it, and returned to the Catholic church; but for exercising
this undoubted right, they were insulted by the Protestant clergy in the
grossest manner, with every term of opprobrium and abuse.[146] For those
who resisted their authority, no treatment was considered too severe. In
1612, Ferrier, a man of some reputation in his own day, having disobeyed
their injunctions, was ordered to appear before one of their synods. The
gist of his offence was, that he had spoken contemptuously of
ecclesiastical assemblies; and to this there were, of course, added
those accusations against his moral conduct, with which theologians
often attempt to blacken the character of their opponents.[147] Readers
of ecclesiastical history are too familiar with such charges to attach
any importance to them; but as, in this case, the accused was tried by
men who were at once his prosecutors, his enemies, and his judges, the
result was easy to anticipate. In 1613 Ferrier was excommunicated, and
the excommunication was publicly proclaimed in the church of Nîmes. In
this sentence, which is still extant, he is declared by the clergy to be
'a scandalous man, a person incorrigible, impenitent and ungovernable.'
We, therefore, they add, 'in the name and power of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by the conduct of the Holy Ghost, and with authority from the
church, have cast, and do now cast and throw him out of the society of
the faithful, that he may be delivered up unto Satan.'[148]
[145] In 1625, Howell writes that the Protestants had put up an
inscription on the gates of Montauban, 'Roy sans foy, ville sans
peur.' _Howell's Letters_, p. 178.
[146] Sometimes they were called dogs returning to the vomit of popery;
sometimes they were swine wallowing in the mire of idolatry.
_Quick's Synodicon in Gallia_, vol. i. pp. 385, 398.
[147] It is observable, that on the first occasion (_Quick's Synodicon_,
vol. i. p. 362) nothing is said of Ferrier's immorality; and on
the next occasion (p. 449) the synod complains, among other
things, that 'he hath most licentiously inveighed against, and
satirically lampooned, the ecclesiastical assemblies.'
[148] See this frightful and impious document, in _Quick's Synodicon_,
vol. i. pp. 448, 450.
That he may be delivered up unto Satan! This was the penalty which a
handful of clergymen, in a corner of France, thought they could inflict
on a man who dared to despise their authority. In our time such an
anathema would only excite derision;[149] but, early in the seventeenth
century, the open promulgation of it was enough to ruin any private
person against whom it might be directed. And they whose studies have
enabled them to take the measure of the ecclesiastical spirit will
easily believe that, in that age, the threat did not remain a dead
letter. The people, inflamed by their clergy, rose against Ferrier,
attacked his family, destroyed his property, sacked and gutted his
houses, and demanded with loud cries, that the 'traitor Judas' should be
given up to them. The unhappy man, with the greatest difficulty,
effected his escape; but though he saved his life by flying in the dead
of the night, he was obliged to abandon for ever his native town, as he
dared not return to a place where he had provoked so active and so
implacable a party.[150]
[149] The notion of theologians respecting excommunication may be seen
in Mr. Palmer's entertaining book, _Treatise on the Church_, vol.
i. pp. 64, 67, vol. ii. pp. 299, 300; but the opinions of this
engaging writer should be contrasted with the indignant language
of Vattel, _Le Droit des Gens_, vol. i. pp. 177, 178. In England,
the terrors of excommunication fell into contempt towards the end
of the seventeenth century. See _Life of Archbishop Sharpe_,
edited by Newcome, vol. i. p. 216: compare p. 363; and see the
mournful remarks of Dr. Mosheim, in his _Eccles. Hist._ vol. ii.
p. 79; and _Sir Philip Warwick's Memoirs_, pp. 175, 176.
[150] On the treatment of Ferrier, which excited great attention as
indicating the extreme lengths to which the Protestants were
prepared to go, see _Mém. de Richelieu_, vol. i. p. 177; _Mém. de
Pontchartrain_, vol. ii. pp. 5, 6, 12, 29, 32; _Mém. de Duplessis
Mornay_, vol. xii. pp. 317, 333, 341, 350, 389, 399, 430;
_Felice's Hist. of the Protestants of France_, p. 235; _Biog.
Univ._ vol. xiv. p. 440; _Tallemant des Réaux_, _Historiettes_,
vol. v. pp. 48-54. Mr. Smedley, who refers to none of these
authorities, except two passages in Duplessis, has given a
garbled account of this riot. See his _History of the Reformed
Religion in France_, vol. iii. pp. 119, 120.
Into other matters, and even into those connected with the ordinary
functions of government, the Protestants carried the same spirit.
Although they formed so small a section of the people, they attempted to
control the administration of the crown, and, by the use of threats,
turn all its acts to their own favour. They would not allow the state to
determine what ecclesiastical councils it should recognize; they would
not even permit the king to choose his own wife. In 1615, without the
least pretence of complaint, they assembled in large numbers at Grenoble
and at Nîmes.[151] The deputies of Grenoble insisted that government
should refuse to acknowledge the Council of Trent;[152] and both
assemblies ordered that the Protestants should prevent the marriage of
Louis XIII. with a Spanish princess.[153] They laid similar claims to
interfere with the disposal of civil and military offices. Shortly after
the death of Henry IV., they, in an assembly at Saumur, insisted that
Sully should be restored to some posts from which, in their opinion, he
had been unjustly removed.[154] In 1619, another of their assemblies at
London declared, that as one of the Protestant councillors of the
Parliament of Paris had become a Catholic, he must be dismissed; and
they demanded that, for the same reason, the government of Lectoure
should be taken from Fontrailles, he also having adopted the not
infrequent example of abandoning his sect in order to adopt a creed
sanctioned by the state.[155]
[151] _Capefigue's Richelieu_, vol. i. p. 123.
[152] _Capefigue_, vol. i. p. 123; _Bazin_, _Hist. de Louis XIII_,
vol. i. p. 364; _Benoist_, _Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes_, vol. ii.
p. 183; _Mém. de Rohan_, vol. i. p. 130.
[153] _Capefigue's Richelieu_, vol. i. p. 124; _Mém. de Pontchartrain_,
vol. ii. p. 100; _Le Vassor_, _Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. ii. pp.
333, 334. The consequence was, that the king was obliged to send
a powerful escort to protect his bride against his Protestant
subjects. _Mém. de Richelieu_, vol. i. p. 274.
[154] _Capefigue's Richelieu_, vol. i. p. 38; _Benoist_, _Hist. de
l'Edit de Nantes_, vol. ii. pp. 28, 29, 63.
[155] _Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil_, vol. i. p. 450; _Mém. de
Bassompierre_, vol. ii. p. 161. See a similar instance, in the
case of Berger, in _Benoist_, _Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes_, vol.
ii. p. 136, whom the Protestants sought to deprive because 'il
avoit quitté leur religion.'
By way of aiding all this, and with the view of exasperating still
further religious animosities, the principal Protestant clergy put forth
a series of works, which, for bitterness of feeling, have hardly ever
been equalled, and which it would certainly be impossible to surpass.
The intense hatred with which they regarded their Catholic countrymen
can only be fully estimated by those who have looked into the pamphlets
written by the French Protestants during the first half of the
seventeenth century, or who have read the laboured and formal treatises
of such men as Chamier, Drelincourt, Moulin, Thomson, and Vignier.
Without, however, pausing on these, it will perhaps be thought
sufficient if, for the sake of brevity, I follow the mere outline of
political events. Great numbers of the Protestants had joined in the
rebellion which, in 1615, was raised by Condé;[156] and, although they
were then easily defeated, they seemed bent on trying the issue of a
fresh struggle. In Béarn, where they were unusually numerous,[157] they,
even during the reign of Henry IV., had refused to tolerate the Catholic
religion; 'their fanatical clergy,' says the historian of France,
'declaring that it would be a crime to permit the idolatry of the
mass.'[158] This charitable maxim they for many years actively enforced,
seizing the property of the Catholic clergy, and employing it in support
of their own churches;[159] so that, while in one part of the dominions
of the king of France the Protestants were allowed to exercise their
religion, they, in another part of his dominions, prevented the
Catholics from exercising theirs. It was hardly to be expected that any
government would suffer such an anomaly as this; and, in 1618, it was
ordered that the Protestants should restore the plunder, and reinstate
the Catholics in their former possessions. But the reformed clergy,
alarmed at so sacrilegious a proposal, appointed a public fast, and
inspiriting the people to resistance, forced the royal commissioner to
fly from Pau, where he had arrived in the hope of effecting a peaceful
adjustment of the claims of the rival parties.[160]
[156] _Bazin_, _Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. i. p. 381. Sismondi (_Hist.
des Français_, vol. xxii. p. 349) says that they had no good
reason for this; and it is certain that their privileges, so far
from being diminished since the Edict of Nantes, had been
confirmed and extended.
[157] M. Felice (_Hist. of the Protestants of France_, p. 237) says of
Lower Navarre and Béarn, in 1617: 'Three-fourths of the
population, some say nine-tenths, belonged to the reformed
communion.' This is perhaps overestimated; but we know, from De
Thou, that they formed a majority in Béarn in 1566: 'Les
Protestans y fussent en plus grand nombre que les Catholiques.'
_De Thou_, _Hist. Univ._ vol. v. p. 187.
[158] 'Les ministres fanatiques déclaroient qu'ils ne pouvaient sans
crime souffrir dans ce pays régénéré l'idolâtrie de la messe.'
_Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. xxii. p. 415.
[159] _Notice sur les Mémoires de Rohan_, vol. i. p. 26. Compare the
account given by Pontchartrain, who was one of the ministers of
Louis XIII. _Mém. de Pontchartrain_, vol. ii. pp. 248, 264; and
see _Mém. de Richelieu_, vol. i. p. 443.
[160] _Bazin_, _Hist. de France sous Louis XIII_, vol. ii. pp. 62-64.
The pith of the question was, that 'l'édit de Nantes ayant donné
pouvoir, tant aux catholiques qu'aux huguenots, de rentrer
partout dans leurs biens, les ecclésiastiques de Béarn
démanderent aussytôt les leurs.' _Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil_, vol.
i. p. 392.
The rebellion thus raised by the zeal of the Protestants, was soon put
down; but, according to the confession of Rohan, one of the ablest of
their leaders, it was the beginning of all their misfortunes.[161] The
sword had now been drawn; and the only question to be decided was,
whether France should be governed according to the principles of
toleration recently established, or according to the maxims of a
despotic sect, which, while professing to advocate the right of private
judgment, was acting in a way that rendered all private judgment
impossible.
[161] 'L'affaire de Béarn, source de tous nos maux.' _Mém. de Rohan_,
vol. i. p. 156; see also p. 183. And the Protestant Le Vassor
says (_Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. iii. p. 634): 'L'affaire du
Béarn et l'assemblée qui se convoqua ensuite à la Rochelle, sont
la source véritable des malheurs des églises réformées de France
sous le règne dont j'écris l'histoire.'
Scarcely was the war in Béarn brought to an end, when the Protestants
determined on making a great effort in the west of France.[162] The seat
of this new struggle was Rochelle, which was one of the strongest
fortresses in Europe, and was entirely in the hands of the
Protestants,[163] who had grown wealthy, partly by their own industry
and partly by following the occupation of public pirates.[164] In this
city, which they believed to be impregnable,[165] they, in December,
1620, held a Great Assembly, to which their spiritual chiefs flocked
from all parts of France. It was soon evident that their party was now
governed by men who were bent on the most violent measures. Their great
secular leaders were, as we have already seen, gradually falling off;
and, by this time, there only remained two of much ability, Rohan and
Mornay, both of whom saw the inexpediency of their proceedings, and
desired that the assembly should peaceably separate.[166] But the
authority of the clergy was irresistible; and, by their prayers and
exhortations, they easily gained over the ordinary citizens, who were
then a gross and uneducated body.[167] Under their influence, the
Assembly adopted a course which rendered civil war inevitable. Their
first act was an edict, by which they at once confiscated all the
property belonging to Catholic churches.[168] They then caused a great
seal to be struck; under the authority of which they ordered that the
people should be armed, and taxes collected from them for the purpose of
defending their religion.[169] Finally, they drew up the regulations,
and organized the establishment of what they called the Reformed
Churches of France and of Béarn; and, with a view to facilitate the
exercise of their spiritual jurisdiction, they parcelled out France into
eight circles, to each of which there was allotted a separate general,
who, however, was to be accompanied by a clergyman, since the
administration, in all its parts, was held responsible to that
ecclesiastical assembly which called it into existence.[170]
[162] On the connexion between the proceedings of Béarn and those of
Rochelle, compare _Mém. de Montglat_, vol. i. p. 33, with _Mém.
de Richelieu_, vol. ii. p. 113, and _Mém. de Rohan_, vol. i. p.
446.
[163] Their first church was established in 1556 (_Ranke's Civil Wars in
France_, vol. i. p. 360); but, by the reign of Charles IX. the
majority of the inhabitants were Protestants. See _De Thou_,
_Hist. Univ._ vol. iv. p. 263, vol. v. p. 379, ad. ann. 1562 and
1567.
[164] Or, as M. Capefigue courteously puts it, 'les Rochelois ne
respectaient pas toujours les pavillons amis.' _Capefigue's
Richelieu_, vol. i. p. 332. A delicate circumlocution, unknown to
Mezeray who says (_Hist. de France_, vol. iii. p. 426) in 1587:
'et les Rochelois, qui par le moyen du commerce et de la
_piraterie_,' &c.
[165] 'Ceste place, que les huguenots tenoient quasy pour imprenable.'
_Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil_, vol. i. p. 512. 'Cette orgueilleuse
cité, qui se croyoit imprenable.' _Mém. de Montglat_, vol. i. p.
45. Howell, who visited Rochelle in 1620 and 1622, was greatly
struck by its strength. _Howell's Letters_, pp. 46, 47, 108. At
p. 204, he calls it, in his barbarous style, 'the chiefest
propugnacle of the Protestants there.' For a description of the
defences of Rochelle, see _De Thou_, _Hist. Univ._ vol. vi. pp.
615-617; and some details worth consulting in _Mezeray_, _Hist.
de France_, vol. ii. pp. 977-980.
[166] _Bazin_, _Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. ii. p. 139; _Sismondi, Hist.
des Français_, vol. xxii. pp. 480, 481. Rohan himself says
(_Mém._ vol. i. p. 446): 'je m'efforçai de la séparer.' In a
remarkable letter, which Mornay wrote ten years before this, he
shows his apprehensions of the evil that would result from the
increasing violence of his party; and he advises, 'que nostre
zèle soit tempéré de prudence.' _Mém. et Correspond._ vol. xi. p.
122; and as to the divisions this caused among the Protestants,
see pp. 154, 510, vol. xii. pp. 82, 255; and _Sully_,
_[OE]conomies Royales_, vol. ix. pp. 350, 435.
[167] 'Les seigneurs du parti, et surtout le sage Duplessis Mornay,
firent ce qu'ils purent pour engager les réformés à ne pas
provoquer l'autorité royale pour des causes qui ne pouvoient
justifier une guerre civile; mais le pouvoir dans le parti avoit
passé presque absolument aux bourgeois des villes et aux
ministres qui se livroient aveuglement à leur fanatisme, et à
leur orgueil, et qui étoient d'autant plus applaudis qu'ils
montroient plus de violence.' _Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_,
vol. xxii. p. 478.
[168] 'On confisqua les biens des églises catholiques.' _Lavallée des
Français_, vol. iii. p. 85: and see _Capefigue's Richelieu_,
vol. i. p. 258.
[169] 'Ils donnent des commissions d'armer et de faire des impositions
sur le peuple, et ce sous leur grand sceau, qui étoit une
Religion appuyée sur une croix, ayant en la main un livre de
l'évangile, foulant aux pieds un vieux squelette, qu'ils disoient
être l'église romaine.' _Mém. de Richelieu_, vol. ii. p. 120. M.
Capefigue (_Richelieu_, vol. i. p. 259) says that this seal still
exists; but it is not even alluded to by a late writer (_Felice_,
_Hist. of the Protestants of France_, p. 240), who systematically
suppresses every fact unfavourable to his own party.
[170] _Le Vassor_, _Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. iv. p. 157; _Bazin_,
_Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. ii. p. 145; _Benoist_, _Hist. de
l'Edit de Nantes_, vol. ii. pp. 353-355; _Capefigue's Richelieu_,
vol. i. p. 258.
Such were the forms and pomp of authority assumed by the spiritual
leaders of the French Protestants; men by nature destined to obscurity,
and whose abilities were so despicable, that, notwithstanding their
temporary importance, they have left no name in history. These
insignificant priests, who, at the best, were only fit to mount the
pulpit of a country village, now arrogated to themselves the right of
ordering the affairs of France, imposing taxes upon Frenchmen,
confiscating property, raising troops, levying war; and all this for the
sake of propagating a creed, which was scouted by the country at large
as a foul and mischievous heresy.
In the face of these inordinate pretensions, it was evident that the
French government had no choice, except to abdicate its functions, or
else take arms in its own defence.[171] Whatever may be the popular
notion respecting the necessary intolerance of the Catholics, it is an
indisputable fact, that, early in the seventeenth century, they
displayed in France a spirit of forbearance, and a Christian charity, to
which the Protestants could make no pretence. During the twenty-two
years which elapsed between the Edict of Nantes and the Assembly of
Rochelle, the government, notwithstanding repeated provocations, never
attacked the Protestants;[172] nor did they make any attempt to destroy
the privileges of a sect, which they were bound to consider heretical,
and the extirpation of which had been deemed by their fathers to be one
of the first duties of a Christian statesman.
[171] Even Mosheim, who, as a Protestant, was naturally prejudiced in
favour of the Huguenots, says, that they had established
'imperium in imperio;' and he ascribes to the violence of their
rulers the war of 1621. _Mosheim's Eccles. Hist._ vol. ii.
pp. 237, 238.
[172] Compare _Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil_, vol. ii. p. 88, with
_Flassan_, _Hist. de la Diplomatie Française_, vol. ii. p. 351.
The war that now broke out lasted seven years, and was uninterrupted,
except by the short peace, first of Montpelier, and afterwards of
Rochelle; neither of which, however, was very strictly preserved. But
the difference in the views and intentions of the two parties
corresponded to the difference between the classes which governed them.
The Protestants, being influenced mainly by the clergy, made their
object religious domination. The Catholics being led by statesmen, aimed
at temporal advantages. Thus it was, that circumstances had in France so
completely obliterated the original tendency of these two great sects,
that, by a singular metamorphosis, the secular principle was now
represented by the Catholics, and the theological principle by the
Protestants. The authority of the clergy, and therefore the interests of
superstition, were upheld by that very party which owed its origin to
the diminution of both; they were, on the other hand, attacked by a
party whose success had hitherto depended on the increase of both. If
the Catholics triumphed, the ecclesiastical power would be weakened; if
the Protestants triumphed, it would be strengthened. Of this fact, so
far as the Protestants are concerned, I have just given ample proof,
collected from their proceedings, and from the language of their own
synods. And that the opposite, or secular principle, predominated among
the Catholics, is evident, not only from their undeviating policy in the
reigns of Henry IV. and Louis XIII., but also from another circumstance
worthy of note. For, their motives were so obvious, and gave such
scandal to the church, that the pope, as the great protector of
religion, thought himself bound to reprehend that disregard of
theological interests which they displayed, and which he considered to
be a crying and unpardonable offence. In 1622, only one year after the
struggle between the Protestants and Catholics had begun, he strongly
remonstrated with the French government upon the notorious indecency of
which they were guilty, in carrying on war against heretics, not for the
purpose of suppressing the heresy, but merely with a view of procuring
for the state those temporal advantages which, in the opinion of all
pious men, ought to be regarded as of subordinate importance.[173]
[173] See the paper of instructions from Pope Gregory XV. in the
appendix to _Ranke_, _die Röm. Päpste_, vol. iii. pp. 173, 174:
'Die Hauptsache aber ist was er dem Könige von Frankreich
vorstellen soll: 1, dass er ja nicht den Verdacht auf sich laden
werde als verfolge er die Protestanten bloss aus
Staatsinteresse.' Bazin (_Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. ii. p. 320)
says, that Richelieu attacked the Huguenots 'sans aucune idée de
persécution religieuse.' See, to the same effect, _Capefigue's
Richelieu_, vol. i. p. 274; and the candid admissions of the
Protestant Le Vassor, in his _Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. v.
p. 11.
If, at this juncture, the Protestants had carried the day, the loss to
France would have been immense, perhaps irreparable. For no one, who is
acquainted with the temper and character of the French Calvinists, can
doubt, that if they had obtained possession of the government, they
would have revived those religious persecutions which, so far as their
power extended, they had already attempted to enforce. Not only in their
writings, but even in the edicts of their assemblies, we find ample
proof of that meddling and intolerant spirit which, in every age, has
characterized ecclesiastical legislation. Indeed, such a spirit is the
legitimate consequence of the fundamental assumption from which
theological lawgivers usually start. The clergy are taught to consider
that their paramount duty is to preserve the purity of the faith, and
guard it against the invasions of heresy. Whenever, therefore, they rise
to power, it almost invariably happens, that they carry into politics
the habits they have contracted in their profession; and having long
been accustomed to consider religious error as criminal, they now
naturally attempt to make it penal. And as all the European countries
have, in the period of their ignorance, been once ruled by the clergy,
just so do we find in the law-books of every land those traces of their
power which the progress of knowledge is gradually effacing. We find the
professors of the dominant creed enacting laws against the professors of
other creeds: laws sometimes to burn them, sometimes to exile them,
sometimes to take away their civil rights, sometimes only to take away
their political rights. These are the different gradations through which
persecution passes; and by observing which, we may measure, in any
country, the energy of the ecclesiastical spirit. At the same time, the
theory by which such measures are supported generally gives rise to
other measures of a somewhat different, though of an analogous
character. For, by extending the authority of law to opinions as well as
to acts, the basis of legislation becomes dangerously enlarged; the
individuality and independence of each man are invaded; and
encouragement is given to the enactment of intrusive and vexatious
regulations, which are supposed to perform for morals the service that
the other class of laws performs for religion. Under pretence of
favouring the practice of virtue, and maintaining the purity of society,
men are troubled in their most ordinary pursuits, in the commonest
occurrences of life, in their amusements, nay, even in the very dress
they may be inclined to wear. That this is what has actually been done,
must be known to whoever has looked into the writings of the fathers,
into the canons of Christian councils, into the different systems of
ecclesiastical law, or into the sermons of the earlier clergy. Indeed,
all this is so natural, that regulations, conceived in the same spirit,
were drawn up for the government of Geneva by the Calvinist clergy, and
for the government of England by Archbishop Cranmer and his coadjutors;
while a tendency, precisely identical, may be observed in the
legislation of the Puritans, and to give a still later instance, in that
of the Methodists. It is, therefore, not surprising that, in France, the
Protestant clergy, having great power among their own party, should
enforce a similar discipline. Thus, to mention only a few examples,
they forbade any one to go to a theatre, or even to witness the
performance of private theatricals.[174] They looked upon dancing as an
ungodly amusement, and, therefore, they not only strictly prohibited it,
but they ordered that all dancing-masters should be admonished
by the spiritual power, and desired to abandon so unchristian a
profession. If, however, the admonition failed in effecting its
purpose, the dancing-masters, thus remaining obdurate, were to be
excommunicated.[175] With the same pious care did the clergy superintend
other matters equally important. In one of their synods, they ordered
that all persons should abstain from wearing gay apparel, and should
arrange their hair with becoming modesty.[176] In another synod, they
forbade women to paint; and they declared that if, after this
injunction, any woman persisted in painting, she should not be allowed
to receive the sacrament.[177] To their own clergy, as the instructors
and shepherds of the flock, there was paid an attention still more
scrupulous. The ministers of the Word were permitted to teach Hebrew,
because Hebrew is a sacred dialect, uncontaminated by profane writers.
But the Greek language, which contains all the philosophy and nearly all
the wisdom of antiquity, was to be discouraged, its study laid aside,
its professorship suppressed.[178] And, in order that the mind might not
be distracted from spiritual things, the study of chemistry was likewise
forbidden; such a mere earthly pursuit being incompatible with the
habits of the sacred profession.[179] Lest, however, in spite of these
precautions, knowledge should still creep in among the Protestants,
other measures were taken to prevent even its earliest approach. The
clergy, entirely forgetting that right of private judgment upon which
their sect was founded, became so anxious to protect the unwary from
error, that they forbade any person to print or publish a work without
the sanction of the church; in other words, without the sanction of the
clergy themselves.[180] When, by these means, they had destroyed the
possibility of free inquiry, and, so far as they were able, had put a
stop to the acquisition of all real knowledge, they proceeded to guard
against another circumstance to which their measures had given rise.
For, several of the Protestants, seeing that under such a system, it was
impossible to educate their families with advantage, sent their children
to some of those celebrated Catholic colleges, where alone a sound
education could then be obtained. But the clergy, so soon as they heard
of this practice, put an end to it, by excommunicating the offending
parents;[181] and to this there was added an order forbidding them to
admit into their own private houses any tutor who professed the Catholic
religion.[182] Such was the way in which the French Protestants were
watched over and protected by their spiritual masters. Even the minutest
matters were not beneath the notice of these great legislators. They
ordered that no person should go to a ball or masquerade;[183] nor ought
any Christian to look at the tricks of conjurors, or at the famous game
of goblets, or at the puppet-show; neither was he to be present at
morris-dances; for all such amusements should be suppressed by the
magistrates, because they excite curiosity, cause expense, waste
time.[184] Another thing to be attended to, is the names that are
bestowed in baptism. A child may have two christian names, though one is
preferable.[185] Great care, however, is to be observed in their
selection. They ought to be taken from the Bible, but they ought not to
be Baptist or Angel; neither should any infant receive a name which has
been formerly used by the Pagans.[186] When the children are grown up,
there are other regulations to which they must be subject. The clergy
declared that the faithful must by no means let their hair grow long,
lest by so doing they indulge in the luxury of 'lascivious curls.'[187]
They are to make their garments in such a manner as to avoid 'the
new-fangled fashions of the world:' they are to have no tassels to their
dress: their gloves must be without silk and ribbons: they are to
abstain from fardingales: they are to beware of wide sleeves.[188]
[174] _Quick's Synodicon in Gallia_, vol. i. p. 62.
[175] _Ibid._ vol. i. pp. lvii. 17, 131, vol. ii. p. 174.
[176] 'And both sexes are required to keep modesty in their hair,' &c.
_Ibid._ vol. i. p. 119.
[177] _Quick's Synodicon_, vol. i. p. 165.
[178] The synod of Alez, in 1620, says, 'A minister may at the same time
be professor in divinity and of the Hebrew tongue. But it is not
seemly for him to profess the Greek also, because the most of his
employment will be taken up in the exposition of Pagan and
profane authors, unless he be discharged from the ministry.'
_Quick's Synodicon_, vol. ii. p. 57. Three years later, the synod
of Charenton suppressed altogether the Greek professorships, 'as
being superfluous and of small profit.' _Ibid._ vol. ii. p. 115.
[179] The synod of St. Maixant, in 1609, orders that 'colloquies and
synods shall have a watchful eye over those ministers who study
chemistry, and grievously reprove and censure them.' _Ibid._ vol.
i. p. 314.
[180] _Ibid._ vol. i. pp. 140, 194, vol. ii. p. 110.
[181] _Quick's Synodicon_, vol. i. pp. lv. 235, 419, vol. ii. pp. 201,
509, 515. Compare _Benoist_, _Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes_, vol. ii.
p. 473.
[182] _Quick's Synodicon_, vol. ii. p. 81.
[183] _Ibid._ vol. ii. p. 174.
[184] 'All Christian magistrates are advised not in the least to suffer
them, because it feeds foolish curiosity, puts upon unnecessary
expenses, and wastes time,' _Ibid._ vol. i. p. 194.
[185] This was a very knotty question for the theologians; but it was at
length decided in the affirmative by the synod of Saumur: 'On the
13th article of the same chapter, the deputies of Poicton
demanded, whether two names might be given a child at baptism? To
which it was replied: The thing was indifferent; however, parents
were advised to observe herein Christian simplicity.' _Ibid._
vol. i. p. 178.
[186] _Ibid._ vol. i. pp. xlvi. 25.
[187] I quote the language of the synod of Castres, in 1626. _Ibid._
vol. ii. p. 174.
[188] _Quick's Synodicon_, vol. i. p. 165, vol. ii. pp. 7, 174, 574,
583. In the same way, the Spanish clergy, early in the present
century, attempted to regulate the dress of women. See _Doblado's
Letters from Spain_, pp. 202-205: a good illustration of the
identity of the ecclesiastical spirit, whether it be Catholic or
Protestant.
Those readers who have not studied the history of ecclesiastical
legislation, will perhaps be surprised to find, that men of gravity, men
who had reached the years of discretion, and were assembled together in
solemn council, should evince such a prying and puerile spirit; that
they should display such miserable and childish imbecility. But, whoever
will take a wider survey of human affairs, will be inclined to blame,
not so much the legislators, as the system of which the legislators
formed a part. For as to the men themselves, they merely acted after
their kind. They only followed the traditions in which they were bred.
By virtue of their profession, they had been accustomed to hold certain
views, and, when they rose to power, it was natural that they should
carry those views into effect; thus transplanting into the law-book the
maxims they had already preached in the pulpit. Whenever, therefore, we
read of meddling, inquisitive, and vexatious regulations imposed by
ecclesiastical authority, we should remember, that they are but the
legitimate result of the ecclesiastical spirit; and that the way to
remedy such grievances, or to prevent their occurrence, is not by vainly
labouring to change the tendencies of that class from whence they
proceed, but rather by confining the class within its proper limits, by
jealously guarding against its earliest encroachments, by taking every
opportunity of lessening its influence, and finally, when the progress
of society will justify so great a step, by depriving it of that
political and legislative power which, though gradually falling from its
hands, it is, even in the most civilized countries, still allowed in
some degree to retain.
But, setting aside these general considerations, it will, at all events,
be admitted, that I have collected sufficient evidence to indicate what
would have happened to France, if the Protestants had obtained the upper
hand. After the facts which I have brought forward, no one can possibly
doubt, that if such a misfortune had occurred, the liberal, and,
considering the age, the enlightened policy of Henry IV. and Louis XIII.
would have been destroyed, in order to make way for that gloomy and
austere system, which, in every age and in every country, has been found
to be the natural fruit of ecclesiastical power. To put, therefore, the
question in its proper form, instead of saying that there was a war
between hostile creeds, we should rather say that there was a war
between rival classes. It was a contest, not so much between the
Catholic religion and the Protestant religion, as between Catholic
laymen and Protestant clergy. It was a struggle between temporal
interests and theological interests,--between the spirit of the present
and the spirit of the past. And the point now at issue was, whether
France should be governed by the civil power or by the spiritual
power,--whether she should be ruled according to the large views of
secular statesmen, or according to the narrow notions of a factious and
intolerant priesthood.
The Protestants having the great advantage of being the aggressive
party, and being, moreover, inflamed by a religious zeal unknown to
their opponents, might, under ordinary circumstances, have succeeded in
their hazardous attempt; or, at all events, they might have protracted
the struggle for an indefinite period. But, fortunately for France, in
1624, only three years after the war began, Richelieu assumed the
direction of the government. He had for some years been the secret
adviser of the queen-mother, into whose mind he had always inculcated
the necessity of complete toleration.[189] When placed at the head of
affairs, he pursued the same policy, and attempted in every way to
conciliate the Protestants. The clergy of his own party were constantly
urging him to exterminate the heretics, whose presence they thought
polluted France.[190] But Richelieu, having only secular objects,
refused to embitter the contest by turning it into a religious war. He
was determined to chastise the rebellion, but he would not punish the
heresy. Even while the war was raging, he would not revoke those edicts
of toleration by which the full liberty of religious worship was
granted to the Protestants. And when they, in 1626, showed signs of
compunction, or at all events of fear, he publicly confirmed the Edict
of Nantes,[191] and he granted them peace; although, as he says, he knew
that by doing so he should fall under the suspicion of those 'who so
greatly affected the name of zealous Catholics.'[192] A few months
afterwards, war again broke out; and then it was that Richelieu
determined on that celebrated siege of Rochelle, which, if brought to a
successful issue, was sure to be a decisive blow against the French
Protestants. That he was moved to this hazardous undertaking solely by
secular considerations is evident, not only from the general spirit of
his preceding policy, but also from his subsequent conduct. With the
details of this famous siege history is not concerned, as such matters
have no value except to military readers. It is enough to say that, in
1628, Rochelle was taken; and the Protestants, who had been induced by
their clergy[193] to continue to resist long after relief was hopeless,
and who, in consequence, had suffered the most dreadful hardships, were
obliged to surrender at discretion.[194] The privileges of the town were
revoked, and its magistrates removed; but the great minister by whom
these things were effected, still abstained from that religious
persecution to which he was urged.[195] He granted to the Protestants
the toleration which he had offered at an earlier period, and he
formally conceded the free exercise of their public worship.[196] But,
such was their infatuation, that because he likewise restored the
exercise of the Catholic religion, and thus gave to the conquerors the
same liberty that he had granted to the conquered, the Protestants
murmured at the indulgence; they could not bear the idea that their eyes
should be offended by the performance of Popish rites.[197] And their
indignation waxed so high, that in the next year they, in another part
of France, again rose in arms. As, however, they were now stripped of
their principal resources, they were easily defeated; and, their
existence as a political faction being destroyed, they were, in
reference to their religion, treated by Richelieu in the same manner as
before.[198] To the Protestants generally, he confirmed the privilege of
preaching and of performing the other ceremonies of their creed.[199] To
their leader, Rohan, he granted an amnesty, and, a few years afterwards,
employed him in important public services. After this, the hopes of the
party were destroyed; they never again rose in arms, nor do we find any
mention of them until a much later period, when they were barbarously
persecuted by Louis XIV.[200] But from all such intolerance Richelieu
sedulously abstained; and having now cleared the land from rebellion, he
embarked in that vast scheme of foreign policy, of which I have already
given some account, and in which he clearly showed that his proceedings
against the Protestants had not been caused by hatred of their religious
tenets. For, the same party which he attacked at home, he supported
abroad. He put down the French Protestants, because they were a
turbulent faction that troubled the state, and wished to suppress the
exercise of all opinions unfavourable to themselves. But so far from
carrying on a crusade against their religion, he, as I have already
observed, encouraged it in other countries; and, though a bishop of the
Catholic church, he did not hesitate, by treaties, by money, and by
force of arms, to support the Protestants against the House of Austria,
maintain the Lutherans against the Emperor of Germany, and uphold the
Calvinists against the King of Spain.
[189] On his influence over her in and after 1616, see _Le Vassor_,
_Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. ii. p. 508; _Mém. de Pontchartrain_,
vol. ii. p. 240; _Mém. de Montglat_, vol. i. p. 23; and compare,
in _Mém. de Richelieu_, vol. ii. pp. 198-200, the curious
arguments which he put in her mouth respecting the impolicy of
making war on the Protestants.
[190] In 1625, the Archbishop of Lyons wrote to Richelieu, urging him
'assiéger la Rochelle, et châtier ou, pour mieux dire, exterminer
les huguenots, toute autre affaire cessante.' _Bazin_, _Hist. de
Louis XIII_, vol. ii. p. 276. See also, on the anxiety of the
clergy in the reign of Louis XIII. to destroy the Protestants,
_Benoist_, _Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes_, vol. ii. pp. 155, 166,
232, 245, 338, 378, 379, 427; _Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_,
vol. xxii. p. 485.
[191] He confirmed it in March 1626; _Flassan_, _Hist. de la Diplomatie
Française_, vol. ii. p. 399; and also in the preceding January.
See _Benoist_, _Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes_, vol. ii. appendix,
pp. 77, 81.
[192] 'Ceux qui affectent autant le nom de zélés catholiques.' _Mém. de
Richelieu_, vol. iii. p. 16; and at p. 2, he, in the same year
(1626), says, that he was opposed by those who had 'un trop
ardent et précipité désir de ruiner les huguenots.'
[193] _Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. xxiii. p. 66.
[194] On the sufferings of the inhabitants, see extract from the Dupuis
Mss., in _Capefigue's Richelieu_, vol. i. p. 351. Fontenay
Mareuil, who was an eye-witness, says, that the besieged, in some
instances, ate their own children; and that the burial-grounds
were guarded, to prevent the corpses from being dug up and turned
into food. _Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil_, vol. ii. p. 119.
[195] And in which he would most assuredly have been supported by Louis
XIII.; of whom an intelligent writer says 'Il étoit plein de
piété et de zèle pour le service de Dieu et pour la grandeur de
l'église; et sa plus sensible joie, en prenant La Rochelle et les
autres places qu'il prit, fut de penser qu'il chasseroit de son
royaume les hérétiques, et qu'il le purgeroit par cette voie des
différentes religions qui gâtent et infectent l'église de Dieu.'
_Mém. de Motteville_, vol. i. p. 425, edit. Petitot, 1824.
[196] _Bazin_, _Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. ii. p. 423; _Sismondi_,
_Hist. des Français_, vol. xxiii. p. 77; _Capefigue's Richelieu_,
vol. i. p. 357; _Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil_, vol. ii. p. 122.
[197] 'Les huguenots murmuraient de voir le rétablissement de l'église
romaine au sein de leur ville.' _Capefigue's Richelieu_, vol. i.
p. 359.
[198] 'Dès qu'il ne s'agit plus d'un parti politique, il concéda, comme
à la Rochelle, la liberté de conscience et la faculté de prêche.'
_Capefigue's Richelieu_, vol. i. p. 381. Compare _Smedley's Hist.
of the Reformed Religion in France_, vol. iii. p. 201, with
_Mémoires de Richelieu_, vol. iv. p. 484.
[199] The Edict of Nismes, in 1629, an important document, will be
found in _Quick's Synodicon_, vol. i. pp. xcvi.-ciii., and in
_Benoist_, _Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes_, vol. ii. appendix, pp.
92-98; and a commentary on it in _Bazin_, _Hist. de Louis XIII_,
vol. iii. pp. 36-38. M. Bazin, unfortunately for the reputation
of this otherwise valuable work, never quotes his authorities.
[200] In 1633, their own historian says: 'les Réformez ne faisoient plus
de party.' _Benoist_, _Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes_, vol. ii. p.
532. Compare Sir Thomas Hanmer's account of France in 1648, in
_Bunbury's Correspond. of Hanmer_, p. 309, Lond. 1838.
I have thus endeavoured to draw a slight, though, I trust, a clear
outline, of the events which took place in France during the reign of
Louis XIII., and particularly during that part of it which included the
administration of Richelieu. But such occurrences, important as they
are, only formed a single phase of that larger development which was now
displaying itself in nearly every branch of the national intellect. They
were the mere political expression of that bold and sceptical spirit
which cried havoc to the prejudices and superstitions of men. For, the
government of Richelieu was successful, as well as progressive; and no
government can unite these two qualities, unless its measures harmonize
with the feelings and temper of the age. Such an administration, though
it facilitates progress, is not the cause of it, but is rather its
measure and symptom. The cause of the progress lies far deeper, and is
governed by the general tendency of the time. And as the different
tendencies observable in successive generations depend on the difference
in their knowledge, it is evident, that we can only understand the
working of the tendencies, by taking a wide view of the amount and
character of the knowledge. To comprehend, therefore, the real nature of
the great advance made during the reign of Louis XIII., it becomes
necessary that I should lay before the reader some evidence respecting
those higher and more important facts, which historians are apt to
neglect, but without which the study of the past is an idle and trivial
pursuit, and history itself a barren field, which, bearing no fruit, is
unworthy of the labour that is wasted on the cultivation of so
ungrateful a soil.
It is, indeed, a very observable fact, that while Richelieu, with such
extraordinary boldness, was secularizing the whole system of French
politics, and by his disregard of ancient interests, was setting at
naught the most ancient traditions, a course precisely similar was being
pursued, in a still higher department, by a man greater than he; by one,
who, if I may express my own opinion, is the most profound among the
many eminent thinkers France has produced. I speak of Réné Descartes, of
whom the least that can be said is, that he effected a revolution more
decisive than has ever been brought about by any other single mind. With
his mere physical discoveries we are not now concerned, because in this
Introduction I do not pretend to trace the progress of science, except
in those epochs which indicate a new turn in the habits of national
thought. But I may remind the reader, that he was the first who
successfully applied algebra to geometry;[201] that he pointed out the
important law of the sines;[202] that in an age in which optical
instruments were extremely imperfect, he discovered the changes to which
light is subjected in the eye by the crystalline lens;[203] that he
directed attention to the consequences resulting from the weight of the
atmosphere;[204] and that he, moreover, detected the causes of the
rainbow,[205] that singular phenomenon, with which, in the eyes of the
vulgar, some theological superstitions are still connected.[206] At the
same time, and as if to combine the most varied forms of excellence, he
is not only allowed to be the first geometrician of the age,[207] but
by the clearness and admirable precision of his style, he became one of
the founders of French prose.[208] And although he was constantly
engaged in those lofty inquiries into the nature of the human mind,
which can never be studied without wonder, I had almost said can never
be read without awe, he combined with them a long course of laborious
experiment upon the animal frame, which raised him to the highest rank
among the anatomists of his time.[209] The great discovery made by
Harvey of the circulation of the blood, was neglected by most of his
contemporaries;[210] but it was at once recognized by Descartes, who
made it the basis of the physiological part of his work on Man.[211] He
likewise adopted the discovery of the lacteals by Aselli,[212] which,
like every great truth yet laid before the world, was, at its first
appearance, not only disbelieved, but covered with ridicule.[213]
[201] Thomas (_Eloge_, in _[OE]uvres de Descartes_, vol. i. p. 32) says,
'cet instrument, c'est Descartes qui l'a créé; c'est
l'application de l'algèbre à la géométrie.' And this, in the
highest sense, is strictly true; for although Vieta and two or
three others in the sixteenth century had anticipated this step,
we owe entirely to Descartes the magnificent discovery of the
possibility of applying algebra to the geometry of curves, he
being undoubtedly the first who expressed them by algebraic
equations. See _Montucla_, _Hist. des Mathémat._ vol. i. pp. 704,
705, vol. ii. p. 120, vol. iii. p. 64.
[202] The statements of Huygens and of Isaac Vossius to the effect that
Descartes had seen the papers of Snell before publishing his
discovery, are unsupported by any direct evidence; at least none
of the historians of science, so far as I am aware, have brought
forward any. So strong, however, is the disposition of mankind at
large to depreciate great men, and so general is the desire to
convict them of plagiarism, that this charge, improbable in
itself, and only resting on the testimony of two envious rivals,
has been not only revived by modern writers, but has been, even
in our own time, spoken of as a well-established and notorious
fact! The flimsy basis of this accusation is clearly exposed by
M. Bordas Demoulin, in his valuable work _Le Cartesianisme_,
Paris, 1843, vol. ii. pp. 9-12; while, on the other side of the
question, I refer with regret to _Sir D. Brewster on the Progress
of Optics, Second Report of British Association_, pp. 309, 310;
and to _Whewell's Hist. of the Inductive Sciences_, vol. ii. pp.
379, 502, 503.
[203] See the interesting remarks of Sprengel (_Hist. de la Médecine_,
vol. iv. pp. 271, 272), and _[OE]uvres de Descartes_, vol. iv.
pp. 371 seq. What makes this the more observable is this: that
the study of the crystalline lens was neglected long after the
death of Descartes, and no attempt made for more than a hundred
years to complete his views by ascertaining its intimate
structure. Indeed, it is said (_Thomson's Animal Chemistry_, p.
512) that the crystalline lens and the two humours were first
analyzed in 1802. Compare _Simon's Animal Chemistry_, vol. ii.
pp. 419-421; _Henle_, _Traité d'Anatomie_, vol. i. p. 357;
_Lepelletier_, _Physiologie Médicale_, vol. iii. p. 160; _Mayo's
Human Physiol._, p. 279; _Blainville_, _Physiol. comparée_, vol.
iii. pp. 325-328; none of whom refer to any analysis earlier than
the nineteenth century. I notice this partly as a contribution to
the history of our knowledge, and partly as proving how slow men
have been in following Descartes, and in completing his views;
for, as M. Blanville justly observes, the chemical laws of the
lens must be understood, before we can exhaustively generalize
the optical laws of its refraction; so that, in fact, the
researches of Berzelius on the eye are complemental to those of
Descartes. The theory of the limitation of the crystalline lens
according to the descending scale of the animal kingdom, and the
connexion between its development and a general increase of
sensuous perception, seem to have been little studied; but Dr.
Grant (_Comparative Anatomy_, p. 252) thinks that the lens exists
in some of the rotifera; while in regard to its origin, I find a
curious statement in _Müller's Physiology_, vol. i. p. 450, that
after its removal in mammals, it has been reproduced by its
matrix, the capsule. (If this can be relied on, it will tell
against the suggestion of Schwann, who supposes, in his
_Microscopical Researches_, 1847, pp. 87, 88, that its mode of
life is vegetable, and that it is not 'a secretion of its
capsule'). As to its probable existence in the hydrozoa, see
_Rymer Jones's Animal Kingdom_, 1855, p. 96, 'regarded either as
a crystalline lens, or an otolithe;' and as to its embryonic
development, see _Burdach_, _Traité de Physiologie_, vol. iii.
pp. 435-438.
[204] Torricelli first weighed the air in 1643. _Brande's Chemistry_,
vol. i. p. 360; _Leslie's Natural Philosophy_, p. 419: but there
is a letter from Descartes, written as early as 1631, 'où il
explique le phénomène de la suspension du mercure dans un tuyau
fermé par en haut, en l'attribuant au poids de la colonne d'air
élevée jusqu'au delà des nues.' _Bordas Demoulin_, _le
Cartésianisme_, vol. i. p. 311. And Montucla (_Hist. des
Mathémat._ vol. ii. p. 205) says of Descartes, 'nous avons des
preuves que ce philosophe reconnut avant Torricelli la pesanteur
de l'air.' Descartes himself says, that he suggested the
subsequent experiment of Pascal. _[OE]uvres de Descartes_,
vol. x. pp. 344, 351.
[205] Dr. Whewell, who has treated Descartes with marked injustice, does
nevertheless allow that he is 'the genuine author of the
explanation of the rainbow.' _Hist. of the Induc. Sciences_, vol.
ii. pp. 380, 384. See also _Boyle's Works_, vol. iii. p. 189;
_Thomson's Hist. of the Royal Society_, p. 364; _Hallam's Lit. of
Europe_, vol. iii. p. 205; _[OE]uvres de Descartes_, vol. i. pp.
47, 48, vol. v. pp. 265-284. On the theory of the rainbow as
known in the present century, see _Kaemtz_, _Course of
Meteorology_, pp. 440-445; and _Forbes on Meteorology_, pp.
125-130, in _Report of British Association_ for 1840. Compare
_Leslie's Natural Philosophy_, p. 531; _Pouillet_, _Elémens de
Physique_, vol. ii. p. 788.
[206] The Hebrew notion of the rainbow is well known; and for the ideas
of other nations on this subject, see _Prichard's Physical
History of Mankind_, vol. v. pp. 154, 176; _Kame's Sketches of
the History of Man_, vol. iv. p. 252, Edinb. 1788; and
_Burdache's Physiologie_, vol. v. pp. 546, 547, Paris, 1839.
[207] Thomas calls him 'le plus grand géomètre de son siècle.'
_[OE]uvres de Descartes_, vol. i. p. 89. Sir W. Hamilton
(_Discussions on Philosophy_, p. 271) says, 'the greatest
mathematician of the age;' and Montucla can find no one but Plato
to compare with him: 'On ne sauroit donner une idée plus juste de
ce qu'a été l'époque de Descartes dans la géométrie ancienne....
De même enfin que Platon prépara par sa découverte celles des
Archimède, des Apollonius, &c., on peut dire que Descartes a
jetté les fondemens de celles qui illustrent aujourd'hui les
Newton, les Leibnitz, &c.' _Montucla_, _Hist. des Mathémat._
vol. ii. p. 112.
[208] 'Descartes joint encore à ses autres titres, celui d'avoir été un
des créateurs de notre langue.' _Biog. Univ._ vol. xi. p. 154.
Sir James Mackintosh (_Dissert. on Ethical Philos._ p. 186) has
also noticed the influence of Descartes in forming the style of
French writers; and I think that M. Cousin has somewhere made a
similar remark.
[209] Thomas says, 'Descartes eut aussi la gloire d'être un des premiers
anatomistes de son siècle.' _[OE]uvres de Descartes_, vol. i. p.
55; see also p. 101. In 1639, Descartes writes to Mersenne
(_[OE]uvres_, vol. viii. p. 100) that he had been engaged 'depuis
onze ans' in studying comparative anatomy by dissection. Compare
p. 174, and vol. i. pp. 175-184.
[210] Dr. Whewell (_Hist. of the Inductive Sciences_, vol. iii. p. 440)
says: 'It was for the most part readily accepted by his
countrymen; but that abroad it had to encounter considerable
opposition.' For this no authority is quoted; and yet one would
be glad to know who told Dr. Whewell that the discovery was
readily accepted. So far from meeting in England with ready
acceptance, it was during many years most universally denied.
Aubrey was assured by Harvey that, in consequence of his book on
the Circulation of the Blood, he lost much of his practice, was
believed to be crackbrained, and was opposed by 'all the
physicians.' _Aubrey's Letters and Lives_, vol. ii. p. 383. Dr.
Willis (_Life of Harvey_, p. xli., in _Harvey's Works_, edit.
Sydenham Society, 1847) says 'Harvey's views were at first
rejected almost universally.' Dr. Elliotson (_Human Physiology_,
p. 194) says, 'His immediate reward was general ridicule and
abuse, and a great diminution of his practice.' Broussais
(_Examen des Doctrines Médicales_, vol. i. p. vii.) says, 'Harvey
passa pour fou quand il annonça la découverte de la circulation.'
Finally, Sir William Temple, who belongs to the generation
subsequent to Harvey, and who, indeed, was not born until some
years after the discovery was made, mentions it in his works in
such a manner as to show that even then it was not universally
received by educated men. See two curious passages, which have
escaped the notice of the historians of physiology, in _Works of
Sir W. Temple_, vol. iii. pp. 293, 469, 8vo., 1814.
[211] 'Taken by Descartes as the basis of his physiology, in his work on
Man.' _Whewell's Hist. of the Induc. Sciences_, vol. iii. p. 441.
'Réné Descartes se déclara un des premiers en faveur de la
doctrine de la circulation.' _Renourd_, _Hist. de la Médecine_,
vol. ii. p. 163. See also _Bordas Demoulin_, _le Cartésianisme_,
vol. ii. p. 324; and _[OE]uvres de Descartes_, vol. i. pp. 68,
179, vol. iv. pp. 42, 449, vol. ix. pp. 159, 332. Compare
_Willis's Life of Harvey_, p. xlv., in _Harvey's Works_.
[212] 'Les veines blanches, dites lactées, qu'Asellius a découvertes
depuis peu dans le mésentère.' _De la Formation du F[oe]tus_,
sec. 49, in _[OE]uvres de Descartes_, vol. iv. p. 483.
[213] Even Harvey denied it to the last. _Sprengel_, _Hist. de la Méd._
vol. iv. pp. 203, 204. Compare _Harvey's Works_, edit. Sydenham
Soc. pp. 605, 614.
These things might have been sufficient to rescue even the physical
labours of Descartes from the attacks constantly made on them by men who
either have not studied his works, or else, having studied them, are
unable to understand their merit. But the glory of Descartes, and the
influence he exercised over his age, do not depend even on such claims
as these. Putting them aside, he is the author of what is emphatically
called Modern Philosophy.[214] He is the originator of that great
system and method of metaphysics, which, notwithstanding its errors, has
the undoubted merit of having given a wonderful impulse to the European
mind, and communicated to it an activity which has been made available
for other purposes of a different character. Besides this, and superior
to it, there is another obligation which we are under to the memory of
Descartes. He deserves the gratitude of posterity, not so much on
account of what he built up, as on account of what he pulled down. His
life was one great and successful warfare against the prejudices and
traditions of men. He was great as a creator, but he was far greater as
a destroyer. In this respect he was the true successor of Luther, to
whose labours his own were the fitting supplement. He completed what the
great German reformer had left undone.[215] He bore to the old systems
of philosophy precisely the same relation that Luther bore to the old
systems of religion. He was the great reformer and liberator of the
European intellect. To prefer, therefore, even the most successful
discoverers of physical laws to this great innovator and disturber of
tradition, is just as if we should prefer knowledge to freedom, and
believe that science is better than liberty. We must, indeed, always be
grateful to those eminent thinkers, to whose labours we are indebted for
that vast body of physical truths which we now possess. But, let us
reserve the full measure of our homage for those far greater men, who
have not hesitated to attack and destroy the most inveterate prejudices:
men who, by removing the pressure of tradition, have purified the very
source and fountain of our knowledge, and secured its future progress,
by casting off obstacles in the presence of which progress was
impossible.[216]
[214] M. Cousin (_Hist. de la Philos._ II. série, vol. i. p. 39) says of
Descartes, 'Son premier ouvrage écrit en français est de 1637.
C'est donc de 1637 que date la philosophie moderne.' See the same
work, I. série, vol. iii. p. 77; and compare _Stewart's Philos.
of the Mind_, vol. i. pp. 14, 529, with _Eloge de Parent_, in
_[OE]uvres de Fontenelle_, Paris, 1766, vol. v. p. 444, and vol.
vi. p. 318: 'Cartésien, ou, si l'on veut, philosophe moderne.'
[215] 'Descartes avait établi dans le domaine de la pensée
l'indépendance absolue de la raison; il avait déclaré à la
scholastique et à la théologie que l'esprit de l'homme ne pouvait
plus relever que de l'évidence qu'il aurait obtenue par lui-même.
Ce que Luther avait commencé dans la religion, le génie français
si actif et si prompt l'importait dans la philosophie, et l'on
peut dire à la double gloire de l'Allemagne et de la France que
Descartes est le fils aîné de Luther.' _Lerminier_, _Philos. du
Droit_, vol. ii. p. 141. See also, on the philosophy of Descartes
as a product of the Reformation. _Ward's Ideal of a Christian
Church_, p. 498.
[216] For, as Turgot finely says, 'ce n'est pas l'erreur qui s'oppose
aux progrès de la vérité. Ce sont la mollesse, l'entêtement,
l'esprit de routine, tout ce qui porte à l'inaction,' _Pensées_
in _[OE]uvres de Turgot_, vol. ii. p. 343.
It will not be expected, perhaps it will hardly be desired, that I
should enter into a complete detail of the philosophy of Descartes: a
philosophy which, in England at least, is rarely studied, and therefore,
is often attacked. But it will be necessary to give such an account of
it as will show its analogy with the anti-theological policy of
Richelieu, and will thus enable us to see the full extent of that vast
movement which took place in France before the accession of Louis XIV.
By this means, we shall be able to understand how the daring innovations
of the great minister were so successful, since they were accompanied
and reinforced by corresponding innovations in the national intellect;
thus affording an additional instance of the way in which the political
history of every country is to be explained by the history of its
intellectual progress.
In 1637, when Richelieu was at the height of his power, Descartes
published that great work which he had long been meditating, and which
was the first open announcement of the new tendencies of the French
mind. To this work he gave the name of a 'Method;' and, assuredly, the
method is the most alien to what is commonly called theology that can
possibly be conceived. Indeed, so far from being theological, it is
essentially and exclusively psychological. The theological method rests
on ancient records, on tradition, on the voice of antiquity. The method
of Descartes rests solely on the consciousness each man has of the
operations of his own mind, and lest anyone should mistake the meaning
of this, he, in subsequent works, developed it at great length, and with
unrivalled clearness. For his main object was to popularize the views
which he put forward. Therefore, says Descartes, 'I write in French
rather than in Latin, because I trust that they who only employ their
simple and native reason will estimate my opinions more fairly than they
who only believe in ancient books.'[217] So strongly does he insist upon
this, that, almost at the beginning of his first work, he cautions his
readers against the common error of looking to antiquity for knowledge;
and he reminds them that 'when men are too curious to know the practices
of past ages, they generally remain very ignorant of their own.'[218]
[217] 'Et si j'écris en français, qui est la langue de mon pays, plutôt
qu'en latin, qui est celle de mes précepteurs, c'est à cause que
j'espère que ceux qui ne se servent que de leur raison naturelle
toute pure, jugeront mieux de mes opinions que ceux qui ne
croient qu'aux livres anciens.' _Discours de la Méthode_, in
_[OE]uvres de Descartes_, vol. i. pp. 210, 211.
[218] _Ibid._ vol. i. p. 127.
Indeed, so far from following the old plan of searching for truths in
the records of the past, the great essential of this new philosophy is
to wean ourselves from all such associations, and, beginning the
acquisition of knowledge by the work of destruction, first pull down, in
order that afterwards we may build up.[219] When I, says Descartes, set
forth in the pursuit of truth, I found that the best way was to reject
every thing I had hitherto received, and pluck out all my old opinions,
in order that I might lay the foundation of them afresh: believing that,
by this means, I should more easily accomplish the great scheme of life,
than by building on an old basis, and supporting myself by principles
which I had learned in my youth, without examining if they were really
true.[220] 'I, therefore, will occupy myself freely and earnestly in
effecting a general destruction of all my old opinions.'[221] For, if we
would know all the truths that can be known, we must, in the first
place, free ourselves from our prejudices, and make a point of
rejecting those things which we have received, until we have subjected
them to a new examination.[222] We, therefore, must derive our opinions,
not from tradition, but from ourselves. We must not pass judgment upon
any subject which we do not clearly and distinctly understand; for, even
if such a judgment is correct, it can only be so by accident, not having
solid ground on which to support itself.[223] But, so far are we from
this state of indifference, that our memory is full of prejudices:[224]
we pay attention to words rather than to things;[225] and being thus
slaves to form, there are too many of us 'who believe themselves
religious, when, in fact, they are bigoted and superstitious; who think
themselves perfect because they go much to church, because they often
repeat prayers, because they wear short hair, because they fast, because
they give alms. These are the men who imagine themselves such friends of
God, that nothing they do displeases Him; men who, under pretence of
zeal, gratify their passions by committing the greatest crimes, such as
betraying towns, killing princes, exterminating nations: and all this
they do to those who will not change their opinions.'[226]
[219] 'Er fing also vom Zweifel an, und ging durch denselben zur
Gewissheit über.' _Tennemann_, _Gesch. der Philos._ vol. x. p.
218. Compare _Second Discours en Sorbonne_, in _[OE]uvres de
Turgot_, vol. ii. p. 89.
[220] _Disc. de la Méthode_, in _[OE]uvres de Descartes_, vol. i.
p. 136.
[221] 'Je m'appliquerai sérieusement et avec liberté à détruire
généralement toutes mes anciennes opinions.' _Méditations_ in
_[OE]uvres de Descartes_, vol. i. p. 236.
[222] _Principes de la Philosophie_, part i. sec. 75, in _[OE]uvres de
Descartes_, vol. iii. pp. 117, 118; and compare vol. ii. p. 417,
where he gives a striking illustration of this view.
[223] _Méditations_, in _[OE]uvres de Descartes_, vol. i. pp. 303, 304.
[224] 'Nous avons rempli notre mémoire de beaucoup de préjugés.'
_Principes de la Philos._ part i. sec. 47, in _[OE]uvres_,
vol. iii. p. 91.
[225] _[OE]uvres_, vol. iii. p. 117.
[226] 'Ce qu'on peut particulièrement remarquer en ceux qui, croyant
être dévots, sont seulement bigots et superstitieux, c'est à dire
qui, sous ombre qu'ils vont souvent à l'église, qu'ils récitent
force prières, qu'ils portent les cheveux courts, qu'ils jeûnent,
qu'ils donnent l'aumône, pensent être entièrement parfaits, et
s'imaginent qu'ils sont si grands amis de Dieu, qu'ils ne
sauroient rien faire qui lui déplaise, et que tout ce que leur
dicte leur passion est un bon zèle, bien qu'elle leur dicte
quelquefois les plus grands crimes qui puissent être commis par
des hommes, comme de trahir des villes, de tuer des princes,
d'exterminer des peuples entiers, pour cela seul qu'ils ne
suivent pas leurs opinions.' _Les Passions de l'Ame_, in
_[OE]uvres de Descartes_, vol. iv. pp. 194, 195.
These were the words of wisdom which this great teacher addressed to his
countrymen only a few years after they had brought to a close the last
religious war that has ever been waged in France. The similarity of
those views to those which, about the same time, were put forth by
Chillingworth, must strike every reader, but ought not to excite
surprise; for they were but the natural products of a state of society
in which the right of private judgment, and the independence of the
human reason, were first solidly established. If we examine this matter
a little closer, we shall find still further proof of the analogy
between France and England. So identical are the steps of the progress,
that the relation which Montaigne bears to Descartes is just the same as
that which Hooker bears to Chillingworth; the same in reference to the
difference of time, and also in reference to the difference of opinions.
The mind of Hooker was essentially sceptical; but his genius was so
restrained by the prejudices of his age, that, unable to discern the
supreme authority of private judgment, he hampered it by appeals to
councils and to the general voice of ecclesiastical antiquity:
impediments which Chillingworth, thirty years later, effectually
removed. In precisely the same way, Montaigne, like Hooker, was
sceptical; but, like him, he lived at a period when the spirit of doubt
was yet young, and when the mind still trembled before the authority of
the Church. It is, therefore, no wonder that even Montaigne, who did so
much for his age, should have hesitated respecting the capacity of men
to work out for themselves great truths; and that, pausing in the course
that lay before him, his scepticism should often have assumed the form
of a distrust of the human faculties.[227] Such shortcomings, and such
imperfections, are merely an evidence of the slow growth of society, and
of the impossibility for even the greatest thinkers to outstrip their
contemporaries beyond a certain point. But, with the advance of
knowledge, this deficiency was at length supplied; and, as the
generation after Hooker brought forth Chillingworth, just so did the
generation after Montaigne bring forth Descartes. Both Chillingworth and
Descartes were eminently sceptical; but their scepticism was directed,
not against the human intellect, but against those appeals to authority
and tradition without which it had hitherto been supposed that the
intellect could not safely proceed. That this was the case with
Chillingworth, we have already seen. That it was likewise the case with
Descartes, is, if possible, still more apparent; for that profound
thinker believed, not only that the mind, by its own efforts, could root
out its most ancient opinions, but that it could, without fresh aid,
build up a new and solid system in place of the one which it had thrown
down.[228]
[227] As is particularly evident in his long chapter, headed 'Apologie
de Raimond Sebond.' _Essais de Montaigne_, livre ii. chap. xii.
Paris, 1843, pp. 270-382, and see _Tennemann_, _Gesch. der
Philos._ vol. ix. p. 455.
[228] He very clearly separates himself from men like Montaigne: 'Non
que j'imitasse pour cela les sceptiques, qui ne doutent que pour
douter, et affectent d'être toujours irrésolus; car, au
contraire, tout mon dessein ne tendoit qu'à m'assurer, et à
rejeter la terre mouvante et le sable pour trouver le roc ou
l'argile.' _Discours de la Méthode_, in _[OE]uvres de Descartes_,
vol. i. pp. 153, 154.
It is this extraordinary confidence in the power of the human intellect,
which eminently characterizes Descartes, and has given to his philosophy
that peculiar sublimity which distinguishes it from all other systems.
So far from thinking that a knowledge of the external world is essential
to the discovery of truth, he laid it down as a fundamental principle,
that we must begin by ignoring such knowledge;[229] that the first step
is to separate ourselves from the delusions of nature, and reject the
evidence presented to our senses.[230] For, says Descartes, nothing is
certain but thought; nor are there any truths except those which
necessarily follow from the operation of our own consciousness. We have
no knowledge of our soul except as a thinking substance:[231] and it
were easier for us to believe that the soul should cease to exist, than
that it should cease to think.[232] And, as to man himself, what is he
but the incarnation of thought? For that which constitutes the man, is
not his bones, nor his flesh, nor his blood. These are the accidents,
the incumbrances, the impediments of his nature. But the man himself is
the thought. The invisible me, the ultimate fact of existence, the
mystery of life, is this: 'I am a thing that thinks.' This, therefore,
is the beginning and the basis of our knowledge. The thought of each man
is the last element to which analysis can carry us; it is the supreme
judge of every doubt; it is the starting-point for all wisdom.[233]
[229] According to the view of Descartes, it was to be ignored, not
denied. There is no instance to be found in his works of a denial
of the existence of the external world; nor does the passage
quoted from him by Mr. Jobert (_New System of Philos._ vol. ii.
pp. 161, 162, Lond. 1849) at all justify the interpretation of
that ingenious writer, who confuses certainty in the ordinary
sense of the word with certainty in the Cartesian sense. A
similar error is made by those who suppose that his 'Je pense,
donc je suis,' is an enthymeme; and having taken this for
granted, they turn on the great philosopher, and accuse him of
begging the question! Such critics overlook the difference
between a logical process and a psychological one; and therefore
they do not see that this famous sentence was the description of
a mental fact, and not the statement of a mutilated syllogism.
The student of the philosophy of Descartes must always
distinguish between these two processes, and remember that each
process has an order of proof peculiar to itself; or at all
events he must remember that such was the opinion of Descartes.
Compare, on the Cartesian enthymeme, _Cousin_, _Hist. de la
Philos._ I. série, vol. iv. pp. 512, 513, with a note in _Kritik
der reinen Vernunft, Kant's Werke_, vol. ii. pp. 323, 324.
[230] _Méditations_, in _[OE]uvres de Descartes_, vol. i. pp. 220, 226;
and again in the _Objections et Réponses_, _[OE]uvres_, vol. ii.
pp. 245, 246.
[231] 'Au lieu que, lorsque nous tâchons à connoître plus distinctement
notre nature, nous pouvons voir que notre âme, en tant qu'elle
est une substance distincte du corps, ne nous est connue que par
cela seul qu'elle pense.' _[OE]uvres de Descartes_, vol. iv. p.
432. Compare vol. iii. p. 96, _Principes de la Philosophie_, part
i. sec. 53.
[232] 'En sorte qu'il me seroit bien plus aisé de croire que l'âme
cesseroit d'être quand on dit qu'elle cesse de penser, que non
pas de concevoir qu'elle soit sans pensée.' _[OE]uvres de
Descartes_, vol. viii. p. 574. That 'the soul always thinks,' is
a conclusion also arrived at by Berkeley by a different process.
See his subtle argument, _Principles of Human Knowledge_, part i.
sec. 98, in _Berkeley's Works_, vol. i. p. 123; and for a curious
application of this to the theory of dreaming, see _Burdach_,
_Physiologie comme Science d'Observation_, vol. v. pp. 205, 230.
[233] _[OE]uvres de Descartes_, vol. i. pp. 251, 252, 279, 293, vol. ii.
pp. 252, 283.
Taking our stand on this ground, we rise, says Descartes, to the
perception of the existence of the Deity. For, our belief in His
existence is an irrefragable proof that He exists. Otherwise, whence
does the belief arise? Since nothing can come out of nothing, and since
no effect can be without a cause, it follows that the idea we have of
God must have an origin; and this origin, whatever name we give it, is
no other than God.[234] Thus, the ultimate proof of His existence is our
idea of it. Instead, therefore, of saying that we know ourselves because
we believe in God, we should rather say that we believe in God because
we know ourselves.[235] This is the order and precedence of things. The
thought of each man is sufficient to prove His existence, and it is the
only proof we can ever possess. Such, therefore, is the dignity and
supremacy of the human intellect, that even this, the highest of all
matters, flows from it, as from its sole source.[236] Hence, our
religion should not be acquired by the teaching of others, but should be
worked out by ourselves: it is not to be borrowed from antiquity, but it
is to be discovered by each man's mind; it is not traditional, but
personal. It is because this great truth has been neglected, that
impiety has arisen. If each man were to content himself with that idea
of God which is suggested by his own mind, he would attain to a true
knowledge of the Divine Nature. But when, instead of confining himself
to this, he mixes up with it the notions of others, his ideas become
perplexed; they contradict themselves; and the composition being thus
confused, he often ends by denying the existence, not, indeed, of God,
but of such a God as that in whom he has been taught to believe.[237]
[234] _Ibid._ vol. i. p. 419; and at p. 420: 'Or de tout cela on conclut
très-manifestement que Dieu existe.' See also pp. 159-162, 280,
290, 291. But the simplest statement is in a letter to Mersenne
(vol. viii. p. 529): 'J'ai tiré la preuve de l'existence de Dieu
de l'idée que je trouve en moi d'un être souverainement parfait.'
[235] 'Ainsi, quoique, de ce que je suis, je conclue avec certitude que
Dieu est, je ne puis réciproquement affirmer, de ce que Dieu est,
que j'existe.' _Règles pour la Direction de l'Esprit_, in
_[OE]uvres_, vol. xi. p. 274. See also _Principes de la
Philosophie_, part i. sec. 7, vol. iii. p. 66.
[236] On this famous argument, which it is said was also broached by
Anselm, see _King's Life of Locke_, vol. ii. p. 133; the
Benedictine _Hist. Lit. de la France_, vol. ix. pp. 417, 418;
_Mosheim's Eccles. Hist._ vol. i. p. 239; and _Cudworth's
Intellect. Syst._ vol. iii. p. 383.
[237] 'Et certes jamais les hommes ne pourroient s'éloigner de la vraie
connoissance de cette nature divine, s'ils vouloient seulement
porter leur attention sur l'idée qu'ils ont de l'être
souverainement parfait. Mais ceux qui mêlent quelques autres
idées avec celle-là composent par ce moyen un dieu chimérique, en
la nature duquel il y a des choses qui se contrarient; et, après
l'avoir ainsi composé, ce n'est pas merveille s'ils nient qu'un
tel dieu, qui leur est représenté par une fausse idée, existe.'
_[OE]uvres de Descartes_, vol. i. pp. 423, 424.
The mischief which these principles must have done to the old theology
is very obvious.[238] Not only were they fatal, in the minds of those
who received them, to many of the common dogmas--such, for instance, as
that of transubstantiation,[239]--but they were likewise directly
opposed to other opinions, equally indefensible, and far more dangerous.
For Descartes, by founding a philosophy which rejected all authority
except that of the human reason,[240] was, of course, led to abandon
the study of final causes,[241]--an old and natural superstition, by
which, as we shall hereafter see, the German philosophers were long
impeded, and which still hangs, though somewhat loosely, about the minds
of men.[242] At the same time, by superseding the geometry of the
ancients, he aided in weakening that inordinate respect with which
antiquity was then regarded. In another matter, still more important, he
displayed the same spirit, and met with the same success. With such
energy did he attack the influence, or rather the tyranny of Aristotle,
that although the opinions of that philosopher were intimately
interwoven with the Christian theology,[243] his authority was entirely
overthrown by Descartes; and with it there perished those scholastic
prejudices, for which Aristotle, indeed, was not responsible, but which,
under the shelter of his mighty name, had, during several centuries,
perplexed the understandings of men, and retarded the progress of their
knowledge.[244]
[238] This is delicately but clearly indicated in an able letter from
Arnaud, printed in _[OE]uvres de Descartes_, vol. ii. pp. 1-36:
see in particular pp. 31, 34. And Duclos bluntly says: 'Si,
depuis la révolution que Descartes a commencée, les théologiens
se sont éloignés des philosophes, c'est que ceux-ci ont paru ne
pas respecter infiniment les théologiens. Une philosophie qui
prenoit pour base le doute et l'examen devoit les effaroucher.'
_Duclos_, _Mémoires_, vol. i. p. 109.
[239] On the relation of the Cartesian philosophy to the doctrine of
transubstantiation, compare _Palmer's Treatise on the Church_,
vol. ii. pp. 169, 170, with _Hallam's Lit. of Europe_, vol. ii.
p. 453; and the remark ascribed to Hobbes, in _Aubrey's Letters
and Lives_, vol. ii. p. 626. But Hobbes, if he really made this
observation, had no right to expect Descartes to become a martyr.
[240] 'Le caractère de la philosophie du moyen âge est la soumission à
une autorité autre que la raison. La philosophie moderne ne
reconnaît que l'autorité de la raison. C'est le cartésianisme qui
a opéré cette révolution décisive.' _Cousin_, _Hist. de la
Philos._ II. série, vol. i. pp. 258, 259.
[241] 'Nous rejetterons entièrement de notre philosophie la recherche
des causes finales.' _Principes de la Philos._, part i. sec. 28,
in _[OE]uvres de Descartes_, vol. iii. p. 81. See also part iii.
sec. 3, p. 182; and his reply to Gassendi, in _[OE]uvres_, vol.
ii. pp. 280, 281. Compare _Cousin_, _Hist. de la Philosophie_,
II. série, vol. ii. p. 71, with _Sprengel_, _Hist. de la
Médecine_, vol. v. p. 203.
[242] Dr. Whewell, for instance, says, that we must reject final causes
in the inorganic sciences, but must recognize them in the organic
ones; which, in other words, simply means, that we know less of
the organic world than of the inorganic, and that because we know
less, we are to believe more; for here, as everywhere else, the
smaller the science the greater the superstition. _Whewell's
Philos. of the Inductive Sciences_, 8vo., 1847, vol. i. pp. 620,
627, 628; and his _Hist. of the Induc. Sciences_, vol. iii. pp.
430, 431. If the question were to be decided by authority, it
would be enough to appeal to Bacon and Descartes, the two
greatest writers on the philosophy of method in the seventeenth
century; and to Auguste Comte, who is admitted by the few persons
who have mastered his _Philosophie Positive_, to be the greatest
in our own time. These profound and comprehensive thinkers have
all rejected the study of final causes, which, as they have
clearly seen, is a theological invasion of scientific rights. On
the injury which this study has wrought, and on the check it has
given to the advance of our knowledge, see _Robin et Verdeil_,
_Chimie Anat._ Paris, 1853, vol. i. pp. 489, 493, 494, vol. ii.
p. 555; _Renouard_, _Hist. de la Médecine_, vol. i. pp. 232, 237;
_Sprengel_, _Hist. de la Médecine_, vol. ii. p. 220; _Geoffroy
Saint-Hilaire_, _Hist. des Anomalies de l'Organisation_, vol.
iii. pp. 435, 436; _Herder_, _Ideen zur Gesch. der Menschheit_,
vol. iii. p. 270; _Lawrence's Lectures on Man_, p. 36; and
_Burdach_, _Traité de Physiologie_, vol. i. p. 190.
[243] 'Auf das innigste verbunden mit der Theologie, nicht allein in den
katholischen, sondern selbst auch in den protestantischen
Ländern.' _Tennemann_, _Gesch. der Philos._ vol. ix. p. 516.
Descartes, in a letter to Mersenne (_[OE]uvres_, vol. vi. p. 73),
writes, in 1629, 'La théologie, laquelle on a tellement
assujettie à Aristote, qu'il est impossible d'expliquer une autre
philosophie qu'il ne semble d'abord qu'elle soit contre la foi.'
Compare vol. vii. p. 344, vol. viii. pp. 281, 497.
[244] Dr. Brown (_Philosophy of the Mind_, Edinburgh, 1838, p. 172)
calls Descartes 'that illustrious rebel, who, in overthrowing the
authority of Aristotle,' &c. See also _Duvernet_, _Hist. de la
Sorbonne_, vol. ii. p. 192; _Cuvier_, _Hist. des Sciences_, part
ii. p. 532; and _Locke's Works_, vol. iii. p. 48. This, I need
hardly say, refers to the habit of appealing to Aristotle, as if
he were infallible, and is very different from that respect which
is naturally felt for a man who was probably the greatest of all
the ancient thinkers. The difference between the Aristotelian and
Cartesian systems is touched on rather hastily in _Cudworth's
Intellect. Syst._ vol. i. pp. 170, 171.
These were the principal services rendered to civilization by one of the
greatest men Europe has ever produced. The analogy between him and
Richelieu is very striking, and is as complete as their relative
positions would allow. The same disregard of ancient notions, the same
contempt for theological interests, the same indifference to tradition,
the same determination to prefer the present to the past: in a word, the
same essentially modern spirit, is seen alike in the writings of
Descartes, and in the actions of Richelieu. What the first was to
philosophy, that was the other to politics. But, while acknowledging the
merits of these eminent men, it behoves us to remember that their
success was the result, not only of their own abilities, but likewise of
the general temper of their time. The nature of their labours depended
on themselves; the way in which their labours were received, depended on
their contemporaries. Had they lived in a more superstitious age, their
views would have been disregarded, or, if noticed, would have been
execrated as impious novelties. In the fifteenth, or early in the
sixteenth century, the genius of Descartes and of Richelieu would have
lacked the materials necessary to their work; their comprehensive minds
would, in that state of society, have found no play; they would have
awakened no sympathies; their bread would have been cast upon those
waters which return it not again. And it would have been well for them
if, in such a case, indifference were the only penalty with which they
would be visited. It would have been well if they had not paid the
forfeit incurred by many of those illustrious thinkers who have vainly
attempted to stem the torrent of human credulity. It would have been
well if the church had not risen in her wrath--if Richelieu had not been
executed as a traitor, and Descartes burned as a heretic.
Indeed, the mere fact that two such men, occupying so conspicuous a
place before the public eye, and enforcing views so obnoxious to the
interests of superstition, should have lived without serious danger, and
then have died peaceably in their beds--the mere fact that this should
have happened, is a decisive proof of the progress which, during fifty
years, had been made by the French nation. With such rapidity were the
prejudices of that great people dying away, that opinions utterly
subversive of theological traditions, and fatal to the whole scheme of
ecclesiastical power, were with impunity advocated by Descartes, and put
in practice by Richelieu. It was now clearly seen, that the two foremost
men of their time could, with little or no risk, openly propagate ideas
which, half a century before, it would have been accounted dangerous
even for the most obscure man to whisper in the privacy of his own
chamber.
Nor are the causes of this impunity difficult to understand. They are to
be found in the diffusion of that sceptical spirit, by which, in France
as well as in England, toleration was preceded. For, without entering
into details which would be too long for the limits of this
Introduction, it is enough to say, that French literature generally was,
at this period, distinguished by a freedom and a boldness of inquiry,
of which, England alone excepted, no example had then been seen in
Europe. The generation which had listened to the teachings of Montaigne
and of Charron, was now succeeded by another generation, the disciples,
indeed, of those eminent men, but disciples who far outstripped their
masters. The result was, that, during the thirty or forty years which
preceded the power of Louis XIV.,[245] there was not to be found a
single Frenchman of note who did not share in the general feeling--not
one who did not attack some ancient dogma, or sap the foundation of some
old opinion. This fearless temper was the characteristic of the ablest
writers of that time;[246] but what is still more observable is, that
the movement spread with such rapidity as to include in its action even
those parts of society which are invariably the last to be affected by
it. That spirit of doubt, which is the necessary precursor of all
inquiry, and therefore of all solid improvement, owes its origin to the
most thinking and intellectual parts of society, and is naturally
opposed by the other parts: opposed by the nobles, because it is
dangerous to their interests; opposed by the uneducated, because it
attacks their prejudices. This is one of the reasons why neither the
highest nor the lowest ranks are fit to conduct the government of a
civilized country; since both of them, notwithstanding individual
exceptions, are, in the aggregate, averse to those reforms which the
exigencies of an advancing nation constantly require. But, in France,
before the middle of the seventeenth century, even these classes began
to participate in the great progress; so that, not only among thoughtful
men, but likewise among the ignorant and the frivolous, there was seen
that inquisitive and incredulous disposition, which, whatever may be
said against it, has at least this peculiarity, that, in its absence,
there is no instance to be found of the establishment of those
principles of toleration and of liberty, which have only been recognized
with infinite difficulty, and after many a hard-fought battle against
prejudices whose inveterate tenacity might almost cause them to be
deemed a part of the original constitution of the human mind.[247]
[245] That is in 1661, when Louis XIV. first assumed the government.
[246] M. Barante (_Tableau de la Littérature Française_, pp. 26, 27)
notices 'cette indépendance dans les idées, ce jugement audacieux
de toutes choses, qu'on remarque dans Corneille, dans Mézéray,
dans Balzac, dans Saint-Réal, dans Lamothe-Levayer.' To these may
be added Naudé, Patin, and probably Gassendi. Compare _Hallam's
Literat. of Europe_, vol. ii. pp. 364, 365, with _Mackintosh's
Ethical Philos._ p. 116, and _Lettres de Patin_, vol. i. p. 297,
vol. ii. pp. 33, 186, 191, 242, 342, 498, 508, vol. iii. p. 87.
[247] The increase of incredulity was so remarkable, as to give rise to
a ridiculous assertion, 'qu'il y avoit plus de 50,000 athées dans
Paris vers l'an 1623.' _Baillet_, _Jugemens des Savans_, Paris,
1722, 4to. vol. i. p. 185. Baillet has no difficulty in rejecting
this preposterous statement (which is also noticed in
_Coleridge's Literary Remains_, vol. i. p. 305; where, however,
there is apparently a confusion between two different periods);
but the spread of scepticism among the upper ranks and courtiers,
during the reign of Louis XIII. and the minority of Louis XIV.,
is attested by a great variety of evidence. See _Mém. de Madame
de Motteville_, vol. iii. p. 52; _Mém. de Retz_, vol. i. p. 266;
_Conrart_, _Mém._ p. 235 note; _Des Réaux_, _Historiettes_, vol.
vii. p. 143; _Mém. de Brienne_, vol. ii. p. 107 note.
It is no wonder if, under these circumstances, the speculations of
Descartes and the actions of Richelieu should have met with great
success. The system of Descartes exercised immense influence, and soon
pervaded nearly every branch of knowledge.[248] The policy of Richelieu
was so firmly established, that it was continued without the slightest
difficulty by his immediate successor: nor was any attempt made to
reverse it until that forcible and artificial reaction which, under
Louis XIV., was fatal, for a time, to every sort of civil and religious
liberty. The history of that reaction, and the way in which, by a
counter-reaction, the French Revolution was prepared, will be related in
the subsequent chapters of this volume; at present we will resume the
thread of those events which took place in France before Louis XIV.
assumed the government.
[248] Volumes might be written on the influence of Descartes, which was
seen, not only in subjects immediately connected with his
philosophy, but even in those apparently remote from it. Compare
_Broussais_, _Examen des Doctrines Médicales_, vol. ii. pp. 55
seq.; _Lettres de Patin_, vol. iii. p. 153; _Sprengel_, _Hist. de
la Médecine_, vol. iv. p. 238; _Cuvier_, _Hist. des Sciences_,
part ii. pp. 327, 332, 352, 363; _Stäudlin_, _Geschichte der
theologischen Wissenschaften_, vol. i. p. 263; _Tennemann_,
_Gesch. der Philos._ vol. x. pp. 285 seq.; _Huetius de Rebus ad
eum pertinentibus_, pp. 35, 295, 296, 385-389; _Mosheim's Eccles.
Hist._ vol. ii. p. 258; _Dacier_, _Rapport Historique_, p. 334;
_Leslie's Nat. Philos._ p. 121; _Eloges_, in _[OE]uvres de
Fontenelle_, Paris, 1766, vol. v. pp. 94, 106, 137, 197, 234,
392, vol. vi. pp. 157, 318, 449; _Thomson's Hist. of Chemistry_,
vol. i. p. 195; _Quérard_, _France Lit._ vol. iii. p. 273.
A few months after the death of Richelieu, Louis XIII. also died, and
the crown was inherited by Louis XIV., who was then a child, and who for
many years had no influence in public affairs. During his minority, the
government was administered, avowedly by his mother, but in reality by
Mazarin: a man who, though in every point inferior to Richelieu, had
imbibed something of his spirit, and who, so far as he was able, adopted
the policy of that great statesman, to whom he owed his promotion.[249]
He, influenced partly by the example of his predecessor, partly by his
own character, and partly by the spirit of his age, showed no desire to
persecute the Protestants, or to disturb them in any of the rights they
then exercised.[250] His first act was to confirm the Edict of
Nantes;[251] and, towards the close of his life, he even allowed the
Protestants again to hold those synods which their own violence had
been the means of interrupting.[252] Between the death of Richelieu and
the accession to power of Louis XIV., there elapsed a period of nearly
twenty years, during which Mazarin, with the exception of a few
intervals, was at the head of the state; and in the whole of that time,
I have found no instance of any Frenchman being punished for his
religion. Indeed, the new government, so far from protecting the church
by repressing heresy, displayed that indifference to ecclesiastical
interests which was now becoming a settled maxim of French policy.
Richelieu, as we have already seen, had taken the bold step of placing
Protestants at the head of the royal armies; and this he had done upon
the simple principle, that one of the first duties of a statesman is to
employ for the benefit of the country the ablest men he can find,
without regard to their theological opinions, with which, as he well
knew, no government has any concern. But Louis XIII., whose personal
feelings were always opposed to the enlightened measures of his great
minister, was offended by this magnanimous disregard of ancient
prejudices; his piety was shocked at the idea of Catholic soldiers being
commanded by heretics; and, as we are assured by a well-informed
contemporary, he determined to put an end to this scandal to the church,
and, for the future, allow no Protestant to receive the staff of marshal
of France.[253] Whether the king, if he had lived, would have carried
his point, is doubtful;[254] but what is certain is, that, only four
months after his death, this appointment of marshal was bestowed upon
Turenne, the most able of all the Protestant generals.[255] And in the
very next year, Gassion, another Protestant, was raised to the same
dignity; thus affording the strange spectacle of the highest military
power in a great Catholic country wielded by two men against whose
religion the church was never weary of directing her anathemas.[256] In
a similar spirit, Mazarin, on mere grounds of political expediency,
concluded an intimate alliance with Cromwell; an usurper who, in the
opinion of the theologians, was doomed to perdition, since he was soiled
by the triple crime of rebellion, of heresy, and of regicide.[257]
Finally, one of the last acts of this pupil of Richelieu's[258] was to
sign the celebrated treaty of the Pyrenees, by which ecclesiastical
interests were seriously weakened, and great injury inflicted on him who
was still considered to be the head of the church.[259]
[249] On the connexion between Richelieu and Mazarin, see _Sismondi_,
_Hist. des Français_, vol. xxiii. pp. 400, 530; and a curious,
though perhaps apocryphal anecdote in _Tallemant des Réaux_,
_Historiettes_, vol. ii. pp. 231, 232. In 1636 there was noticed
'l'étroite union' between Richelieu and Mazarin. _Le Vassor_,
_Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. viii. part ii. p. 187.
[250] 'Mazarin n'avoit ni fanatisme ni esprit persécuteur,' _Sismondi_,
_Hist. des Français_, vol. xxiv. p. 531. That he did not
persecute the Protestants is grudgingly confessed in _Felice's
Hist. of the Protestants of France_, p. 292. See also _Smedley's
Reformed Religion in France_, vol. iii. p. 222.
[251] He confirmed it in July, 1643. See _Benoist_, _Hist. de l'Edit de
Nantes_, vol. iii. appendix, p. 3; and _Quick's Synodicon in
Gallia_, vol. i. p. ciii.
[252] In 1659, there was assembled the Synod of Loudon, the moderator of
which said, 'It is now fifteen years since we had a national
synod.' _Quick's Synodicon in Gallia_, vol. ii. p. 517.
[253] Brienne records the determination of the king, 'que cette dignité
ne seroit plus accordée à des Protestans.' _Sismondi_, _Histoire
des Français_, vol. xxiv. p. 65.
[254] He was so uneasy about the sin he had committed, that before his
death he intreated the Protestant marshals to change their creed:
'Il ne voulut pas mourir sans avoir exhorté de sa propre bouche
les maréchaux de la Force et de Chatillon à se faire
Catholiques.' _Benoist_, _Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes_, vol. ii. p.
612. The same circumstance is mentioned by Le Vassor, _Hist. de
Louis XIII_, vol. x. part ii. p. 785.
[255] Louis XIII. died in May 1643; and Turenne was made marshal in the
September following. _Lavallée_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. iii.
pp. 148, 151.
[256] Sismondi (_Hist. des Français_, vol. xxiv. p. 65) makes the
appointment of Gassion in 1644; according to Montglat
(_Mémoires_, vol. i. p. 437) it was at the end of 1643. There are
some singular anecdotes of Gassion in _Les Historiettes de
Tallemant des Réaux_, vol. v. pp. 167-180; and an account of his
death in _Mém. de Motteville_, vol. ii. p. 290, from which it
appears that he remained a Protestant to the last.
[257] The Pope especially was offended by this alliance (_Ranke_, _die
Päpste_, vol. iii. p. 158, compared with _Vaughan's Cromwell_,
vol. i. p. 343, vol. ii. p. 124); and, judging from the language
of Clarendon, the orthodox party in England was irritated by it.
_Clarendon's Hist. of the Rebellion_, pp. 699, 700. Contemporary
notices of this union between the cardinal and the regicide, will
be found in _Mém. de Retz_, vol. i. p. 349; _Mém. de Montglat_,
vol. ii. p. 478, vol. iii. p. 23; _Lettres de Patin_, vol. ii.
pp. 183, 302, 426; _Marchand_, _Dict. Historique_, vol. ii. p.
56; _Mem. of Sir Philip Warwick_, p. 377; _Harris's Lives of the
Stuarts_, vol. iii. p. 393.
[258] De Retz (_Mémoires_, vol. i. p. 59), who knew Richelieu, calls
Mazarin 'son disciple.' And at p. 65 he adds, 'comme il marchoit
sur les pas du cardinal de Richelieu, qui avoit achevé de
détruire toutes les anciennes maximes de l'état.' Compare _Mém.
de Motteville_, vol. ii. p. 18; and _Mém. de la Rochefoucauld_,
vol. i. p. 444.
[259] On the open affront to the Pope by this treaty, see _Ranke_, _die
Päpste_, vol. iii. p. 159: 'An dem pyrenäischen Frieden nahm er
auch nicht einmal mehr einen scheinbaren Antheil: man vermied es
seine Abgeordneten zuzulassen: kaum wurde seiner noch darin
gedacht.' The consequences and the meaning of all this are well
noticed by M. Ranke.
But, the circumstance for which the administration of Mazarin is most
remarkable, is the breaking out of that great civil war called the
Fronde, in which the people attempted to carry into politics the
insubordinate spirit which had already displayed itself in literature
and in religion. Here we cannot fail to note the similarity between this
struggle and that which, at the same time, was taking place in England.
It would, indeed, be far from accurate to say that the two events were
the counterpart of each other; but there can be no doubt that the
analogy between them is very striking. In both countries, the civil war
was the first popular expression of what had hitherto been rather a
speculative, and, so to say, a literary scepticism. In both countries,
incredulity was followed by rebellion, and the abasement of the clergy
preceded the humiliation of the crown; for Richelieu was to the French
church what Elizabeth had been to the English church. In both countries
there now first arose that great product of civilization, a free press,
which showed its liberty by pouring forth those fearless and innumerable
works which mark the activity of the age.[260] In both countries, the
struggle was between retrogression and progress; between those who clung
to tradition, and those who longed for innovation; while, in both, the
contest assumed the external form of a war between king and parliament,
the king being the organ of the past, the parliament the representative
of the present. And, not to mention inferior similarities, there was one
other point of vast importance in which these two great events coincide.
This is, that both of them were eminently secular, and arose from the
desire, not of propagating religious opinions, but of securing civil
liberty. The temporal character of the English rebellion I have already
noticed, and, indeed, it must be obvious to whoever has studied the
evidence in its original sources. In France, not only do we find the
same result, but we can even mark the stages of the progress. In the
middle of the sixteenth century, and immediately after the death of
Henry III., the French civil wars were caused by religious disputes, and
were carried on with the fervour of a crusade. Early in the seventeenth
century, hostilities again broke out; but though the efforts of the
government were directed against the Protestants, this was not because
they were heretics, but because they were rebels: the object being, not
to punish an opinion, but to control a faction. This was the first great
stage in the history of toleration; and it was accomplished, as we have
already seen, during the reign of Louis XIII. That generation passing
away, there arose, in the next age, the wars of the Fronde; and in this,
which may be called the second stage of the French intellect, the
alteration was still more remarkable. For, in the mean time, the
principles of the great sceptical thinkers, from Montaigne to Descartes,
had produced their natural fruit, and, becoming diffused among the
educated classes, had influenced, as they always will do, not only those
by whom they were received, but also those by whom they were rejected.
Indeed, a mere knowledge of the fact, that the most eminent men have
thrown doubt on the popular opinions of an age, can never fail, in some
degree, to disturb the convictions even of those by whom the doubts are
ridiculed.[261] In such cases, none are entirely safe: the firmest
belief is apt to become slightly unsettled; those who outwardly preserve
the appearance of orthodoxy, often unconsciously waver; they cannot
entirely resist the influence of superior minds, nor can they always
avoid an unwelcome suspicion, that when ability is on one side, and
ignorance on the other, it is barely possible that the ability may be
right, and the ignorance may be wrong.
[260] 'La presse jouissait d'une entière liberté pendant les troubles de
la Fronde, et le public prenait un tel intérêt aux débats
politiques, que les pamphlets se débitaient quelquefois au nombre
de huit et dix mille exemplaires.' _Sainte-Aulaire_, _Hist. de la
Fronde_, vol. i. p. 299. Tallemant des Réaux, who wrote
immediately after the Fronde, says (_Historiettes_, vol. iv. p.
74), 'Durant la Fronde, qu'on imprimoit tout.' And Omer Talon,
with the indignation natural to a magistrate, mentions, that in
1649, 'toutes sortes de libelles et de diffamations se publioient
hautement par la ville sans permission du magistrat.' _Mém.
d'Omer Talon_, vol. ii. p. 466. For further evidence of the great
importance of the press in France in the middle of the
seventeenth century, see _Mém. de Lenet_, vol. i. p. 162; _Mém.
de Motteville_, vol. iii. pp. 288, 289; _Lettres de Patin_, vol.
i. p. 432, vol. ii. p. 517; _Monteil_, _Hist. des divers Etats_,
vol. vii. p. 175.
In England, the Long Parliament succeeded to the licensing
authority of the Star-chamber (_Blackstone's Commentaries_, vol.
iv. p. 152); but it is evident from the literature of that time,
that for a considerable period the power was in reality in
abeyance. Both parties attacked each other freely through the
press; and it is said that between the breaking out of the civil
war and the restoration, there were published from 30,000 to
50,000 pamphlets. _Morgan's Ph[oe]nix Britannicus_, 1731, 4to.
pp. iii. 557; _Carlyle's Cromwell_, vol. i. p. 4; _Southey's
Commonplace Book_, third series, p. 449. See also on this great
movement of the press, _Bates's Account of the Late Troubles_,
part i. p. 78; _Bulstrode's Memoirs_, p. 4; _Howell's Letters_,
p. 354; _Hunt's Hist. of Newspapers_, vol. i. p. 45; _Clarendon's
Hist. of the Rebellion_, p. 81; _Nichols's Lit. Anec._ vol. iv.
pp. 86, 102.
[261] Dugald Stewart (_Philos. of the Mind_, vol. i. p. 357) says,
'Nothing can be more just than the observation of Fontenelle,
that "the number of those who believe in a system already
established in the world, does not, in the least, add to its
credibility; but that the number of those who doubt of it, has a
tendency to diminish it."' Compare with this _Newman on
Development_, Lond. 1845, p. 31; and the remark of Hylas in
_Berkeley's Works_, edit. 1843, vol. i. pp. 151, 152, first
dialogue.
Thus it fell out in France. In that country, as in every other, when
theological convictions diminished, theological animosities subsided.
Formerly religion had been the cause of war, and had also been the
pretext under which it was conducted. Then there came a time when it
ceased to be the cause: but so slow is the progress of society, that it
was still found necessary to set it up as the pretext.[262] Finally,
there came the great days of the Fronde, in which it was neither cause
nor pretext,[263] and in which there was seen, for the first time in
France, an arduous struggle by human beings avowedly for human purposes:
a war waged by men who sought, not to enforce their opinions, but to
increase their liberty. And, as if to make this change still more
striking, the most eminent leader of the insurgents was the Cardinal de
Retz; a man of vast ability, but whose contempt for his profession was
notorious,[264] and of whom a great historian has said, 'he is the first
bishop in France who carried on a civil war without making religion the
pretence.'[265]
[262] Compare _Capefigue's Richelieu_, vol. i. p. 293, with a remarkable
passage in _Mém. de Rohan_, vol. i. p. 317; where Rohan contrasts
the religious wars he was engaged in during the administration of
Richelieu, with those very different wars which had been waged in
France a little earlier.
[263] 'L'esprit religieux ne s'était mêlé en aucune manière aux
querelles de la Fronde.' _Capefigue_, vol. ii. p. 434. Lenet, who
had great influence with what was called the party of the
princes, says that he always avoided any attempt 'à faire aboutir
notre parti à une guerre de religion.' _Mém. de Lenet_, vol. i.
p. 619. Even the people said that it was unimportant whether or
not a man died a Protestant; but that if he were a partizan of
Mazarin he was sure to be damned: 'Ils disoient qu'étant mazarin,
il falloit qu'il fût damné.' _Lenet_, vol. i. p. 434.
[264] Indeed he does not conceal this even in his memoirs. He says
(_Mém._ vol. i. p. 3), he had 'l'âme peut-être la moins
ecclésiastique qui fût dans l'univers.' At p. 13, 'le chagrin que
ma profession ne laissoit pas de nourrir toujours dans le fonds
de mon âme.' At p. 21, 'je haïssois ma profession plus que
jamais.' At p. 48, 'le clergé, qui donne toujours l'exemple de la
servitude, la prêchoit aux autres sous le titre d'obéissance.'
See also the remark of his great friend Joly (_Mém. de Joly_, p.
209, edit. Petitot, 1825); and the account given by Tallemant des
Réaux, who knew De Retz well, and had travelled with him,
_Historiettes_, vol. vii. pp. 18-30. The same tendency is
illustrated, though in a much smaller degree, by a conversation
which Charles II., when in exile, held with De Retz, and which is
preserved in _Clarendon's Hist. of the Rebellion_, p. 806, and is
worth consulting merely as an instance of the purely secular view
that De Retz always took of political affairs.
[265] 'Cet homme singulier est le premier évêque en France qui ait fait
une guerre civile sans avoir la religion pour prétexte.' _Siècle
de Louis XIV_, in _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. xix. p. 261.
We have thus seen that, during the seventy years which succeeded the
accession of Henry IV., the French intellect developed itself in a
manner remarkably similar to that which took place in England. We have
seen that, in both countries, the mind, according to the natural
conditions of its growth, first doubted what it had long believed, and
then tolerated what it had long hated. That this was by no means an
accidental or capricious combination, is evident, not only from general
arguments, and from the analogy of the two countries, but also from
another circumstance of great interest. This is, that the order of
events, and as it were their relative proportions, were the same, not
only in reference to the increase of toleration, but also in reference
to the increase of literature and science. In both countries, the
progress of knowledge bore the same ratio to the decline of
ecclesiastical influence, although they manifested that ratio at
different periods. We had begun to throw off our superstitions somewhat
earlier than the French were able to do; and thus, being the first in
the field, we anticipated that great people in producing a secular
literature. Whoever will take the pains to compare the growth of the
French and English minds, will see that, in all the most important
departments, we were the first, I do not say in merit, but in the order
of time. In prose, in poetry, and in every branch of intellectual
excellence, it will be found, on comparison, that we were before the
French nearly a whole generation; and that, chronologically, the same
proportion was preserved as that between Bacon and Descartes, Hooker and
Pascal,[266] Shakespeare and Corneille, Massinger and Racine, Ben Jonson
and Molière, Harvey and Pecquet. These eminent men were all justly
celebrated in their respective countries; and it would perhaps be
invidious to institute a comparison between them. But what we have here
to observe is, that among those who cultivated the same department, the
greatest Englishman, in every instance, preceded the greatest Frenchman
by many years. The difference, running as it does, through all the
leading topics, is far too regular to be considered accidental. And as
few Englishmen of the present day will be so presumptuous as to suppose
that we possess any native and inherent superiority over the French, it
is evident that there must be some marked peculiarity in which the two
countries differed, and which has produced this difference, not in their
knowledge, but in the time at which their knowledge appeared. Nor does
the discovery of this peculiarity require much penetration. For,
notwithstanding that the French were more tardy than the English, still,
when the development had fairly begun, the antecedents of its success
were among both people precisely the same. It is, therefore, clear,
according to the commonest principles of inductive reasoning, that the
lateness of the development must be owing to the lateness of the
antecedent. It is clear that the French knew less because they believed
more.[267] It is clear that their progress was checked by the prevalence
of those feelings which are fatal to all knowledge, because, looking on
antiquity as the sole receptacle of wisdom, they degrade the present in
order that they may exaggerate the past: feelings which destroy the
prospects of man, stifle his hopes, damp his curiosity, chill his
energies, impair his judgment, and, under pretence of humbling the pride
of his reason, seek to throw him back into that more than midnight
darkness from which his reason alone has enabled him to emerge.
[266] Hooker and Pascal may properly be classed together, as the two
most sublime theological writers either country has produced; for
Bossuet is as inferior to Pascal as Jeremy Taylor is inferior to
Hooker.
[267] One of the most remarkable men they have ever possessed notices
this connexion, which he expresses conversely, but with equal
truth: 'moins on sait, moins on doute; moins on a découvert,
moins on voit ce qui reste à découvrir.... Quand les hommes sont
ignorans, il est aisé de tout savoir.' _Discours en Sorbonne_, in
_[OE]uvres de Turgot_, vol. ii. pp. 65, 70.
The analogy thus existing between France and England, is, indeed, very
striking, and, so far as we have yet considered it, seems complete in
all its parts. To sum up the similarities in a few words, it may be
said, that both countries followed the same order of development in
their scepticism, in their knowledge, in their literature, and in their
toleration. In both countries, there broke out a civil war at the same
time, for the same object, and, in many respects, under the same
circumstances. In both, the insurgents, at first triumphant, were
afterwards defeated; and the rebellion being put down, the governments
of the two nations were fully restored almost at the same moment: in
1660 by Charles II.; in 1661, by Louis XIV.[268] But there the
similarity stopped. At this point there began a marked divergence
between the two countries;[269] which continued to increase for more
than a century, until it ended in England by the consolidation of the
national prosperity, in France by a revolution more sanguinary, more
complete, and more destructive, than any the world has ever seen. This
difference between the fortunes of such great and civilized nations is
so remarkable, that a knowledge of its causes becomes essential to a
right understanding of European history, and will be found to throw
considerable light on other events not immediately connected with it.
Besides this, such an inquiry, independently of its scientific interest,
will have a high practical value. It will show, what men seem only
recently to have begun to understand, that, in politics, no certain
principles having yet been discovered, the first conditions of success
are compromise, barter, expediency, and concession. It will show the
utter helplessness even of the ablest rulers, when they try to meet new
emergencies by old maxims. It will show the intimate connexion between
knowledge and liberty; between an increasing civilization and an
advancing democracy. It will show that, for a progressive nation, there
is required a progressive polity; that within certain limits, innovation
is the sole ground of security; that no institution can withstand the
flux and movements of society, unless it not only repairs its structure,
but also widens its entrance; and that, even in a material point of
view, no country can long remain either prosperous or safe, in which the
people are not gradually extending their power, enlarging their
privileges, and, so to say, incorporating themselves with the functions
of the state.
[268] Mazarin, until his death in 1661, exercised complete authority
over Louis. See _Siècle de Louis XIV_, in _[OE]uvres de
Voltaire_, vol. xix. pp. 318, 319; and _Lavallée_, _Hist. des
Français_, vol. iii. p. 195; so that, as Montglat says (_Mém._
vol. iii. p. 111), 'On doit appeler ce temps-là le commencement
du règne de Louis XIV.' The pompous manner in which, directly
after the death of Mazarin, the king assumed the government, is
related by Brienne, who was present. _Mém. de Brienne_, vol. ii.
pp. 154-158.
[269] By this I mean, that the divergence now first became clear to
every observer; but the origin of the divergence dates from a
much earlier period, as we shall see in the next chapter.
The tranquillity of England, and her freedom from civil war, are to be
ascribed to the recognition of these great truths;[270] while the
neglect of them has entailed upon other countries the most woful
calamities. On this account, therefore, if on no other, it becomes
interesting to ascertain how it was that the two nations we have been
comparing should, in regard to these truths, have adopted views
diametrically opposite, although, in other matters, their opinions, as
we have already seen, were very similar. Or, to state the question in
other words, we have to inquire how it was that the French, after
pursuing precisely the same course as the English, in their knowledge,
in their scepticism, and in their toleration, should have stopped short
in their politics; how it was that their minds, which had effected such
great things, should, nevertheless, have been so unprepared for liberty,
that, in spite of the heroic efforts of the Fronde, they not only fell
under the despotism of Louis XIV., but never cared to resist it; and, at
length, becoming slaves in their souls as well as in their bodies, they
grew proud of a condition which the meanest Englishman would have
spurned as an intolerable bondage.
[270] That is to say, their practical recognition; theoretically, they
are still denied by innumerable politicians, who, nevertheless,
assist in carrying them into effect, fondly hoping that each
innovation will be the last, and enticing men into reform under
the pretext that by each change they are returning to the spirit
of the ancient British constitution.
The cause of this difference is to be sought in the existence of that
spirit of protection which is so dangerous and yet so plausible, that it
forms the most serious obstacle with which advancing civilization has to
contend. This, which may truly be called an evil spirit, has always been
far stronger in France than in England. Indeed, among the French, it
continues, even to the present day, to produce the most mischievous
results. It is, as I shall hereafter point out, intimately connected
with that love of centralization which appears in the machinery of their
government, and in the spirit of their literature. It is this which
induces them to retain restrictions by which their trade has long been
troubled, and to preserve monopolies which, in our country, a freer
system has effectually destroyed. It is this which causes them to
interfere with the natural relation between producers and consumers; to
force into existence manufactures which otherwise would never arise, and
which, for that very reason, are not required; to disturb the ordinary
march of industry, and, under pretence of protecting their native
labourers, diminish the produce of labour by diverting it from those
profitable channels into which its own instincts always compel it to
flow.
When the protective principle is carried into trade, these are its
inevitable results. When it is carried into politics, there is formed
what is called a paternal government, in which supreme power is vested
in the sovereign, or in a few privileged classes. When it is carried
into theology, it produces a powerful church, and a numerous clergy, who
are supposed to be the necessary guardians of religion, and every
opposition to whom is resented as an insult to the public morals. These
are the marks by which protection may be recognized; and from a very
early period they have displayed themselves in France much more clearly
than in England. Without pretending to discover their precise origin, I
will, in the next chapter, endeavour to trace them back to a time
sufficiently remote to explain some of the discrepancies which, in this
respect existed between the two countries.
* * * * *
_Note to p. 93._ Descartes died in Sweden on a visit to Christina; so
that, strictly speaking, there is an error in the text. But this does
not affect the argument; because the works of Descartes, being eagerly
read in France, and not being prohibited, we must suppose that his
person would have been safe, had he remained in his own country. To burn
a heretic is a more decisive step than to suppress a book; and as the
French clergy were not strong enough to effect the latter, it is hardly
likely that they could have accomplished the former.
CHAPTER II.
HISTORY OF THE PROTECTIVE SPIRIT, AND COMPARISON OF IT IN FRANCE AND
ENGLAND.
When, towards the end of the fifth century, the Roman empire was broken
up, there followed, as is well known, a long period of ignorance and of
crime, in which even the ablest minds were immersed in the grossest
superstitions. During these, which are rightly called the Dark Ages, the
clergy were supreme: they ruled the consciences of the most despotic
sovereigns, and they were respected as men of vast learning, because
they alone were able to read and write; because they were the sole
depositaries of those idle conceits of which European science then
consisted; and because they preserved the legends of the saints and the
lives of the fathers, from which, as it was believed, the teachings of
divine wisdom might easily be gathered.
Such was the degradation of the European intellect for about five
hundred years, during which the credulity of men reached a height
unparalleled in the annals of ignorance. But at length the human reason,
that divine spark which even the most corrupt society is unable to
extinguish, began to display its power, and disperse the mists by which
it was surrounded. Various circumstances, which it would be tedious here
to discuss, caused this dispersion to take place at different times in
different countries. However, speaking generally, we may say that it
occurred in the tenth and eleventh centuries, and that by the twelfth
century there was no nation now called civilized, upon whom the light
had not begun to dawn.
It is from this point that the first great divergence between the
European nations took its rise. Before this time their superstition was
so great and universal, that it would avail little to measure the degree
of their relative darkness. Indeed, so low had they fallen, that, during
the earlier period, the authority of the clergy was in many respects an
advantage, as forming a barrier between the people and their rulers, and
as supplying the sole instance of a class that even made an approach to
intellectual pursuits. But when the great movement took place, when the
human reason began to rebel, the position of the clergy was suddenly
changed. They had been friendly to reasoning as long as the reasoning
was on their side.[271] While they were the only guardians of knowledge,
they were eager to promote its interests. Now, however, it was falling
from their hands: it was becoming possessed by laymen: it was growing
dangerous: it must be reduced to its proper dimensions. Then it was that
there first became general the inquisitions, the imprisonments, the
torturings, the burnings, and all the other contrivances by which the
church vainly endeavoured to stem the tide that had turned against
her.[272] From that moment there has been an unceasing struggle between
these two great parties,--the advocates of inquiry, and the advocates of
belief: a struggle which, however it may be disguised, and under
whatever forms it may appear, is at bottom always the same, and
represents the opposite interests of reason and faith, of scepticism and
credulity, of progress and reaction, of those who hope for the future,
and of those who cling to the past.
[271] 'Toute influence qu'on accordait à la science ne pouvait, dans les
premiers temps, qu'être favorable au clergé.' _Meyer_, _Institut.
Judic._ vol. i. p. 498.
[272] Early in the eleventh century the clergy first began
systematically to repress independent inquiries by punishing men
who attempted to think for themselves. Compare _Sismondi_, _Hist.
des Français_, vol. iv. pp. 145, 146; _Neander's Hist. of the
Church_, vol. vi. pp. 365, 366; _Prescott's Hist. of Ferdinand
and Isabella_, vol. i. p. 261 note. Before this, such a policy,
as Sismondi justly observes, was not required: 'Pendant plusieurs
siècles, l'église n'avoit été troublée par aucune hérésie;
l'ignorance étoit trop complète la soumission trop servile, la
foi trop aveugle, pour que les questions qui avoient si long-temps
exercé la subtilité des Grecs fussent seulement comprises par les
Latins.' As knowledge advanced, the opposition between inquiry
and belief became more marked: the church redoubled her efforts,
and at the end of the twelfth century the popes first formally
called on the secular power to punish heretics; and the earliest
constitution addressed 'inquisitoribus hæreticæ pravitatis' is
one by Alexander IV. _Meyer_, _Inst. Jud._ vol. ii. pp. 554, 556.
See also on this movement, _Llorente_, _Hist. de l'Inquisition_,
vol. i. p. 125, vol. iv. p. 284. In 1222 a synod assembled at
Oxford caused an apostate to be burned; and this, says Lingard
(_Hist. of England_, vol. ii. p. 148), 'is, I believe, the first
instance of capital punishment in England on the ground of
religion.' Compare _Wright's Biog. Brit. Lit._ vol. ii. p. 444.
This, then, is the great starting point of modern civilization. From the
moment that reason began, however faintly, to assert its supremacy, the
improvement of every people has depended upon their obedience to its
dictates, and upon the success with which they have reduced to its
standard the whole of their actions. To understand, therefore, the
original divergence of France and England, we must seek it in the
circumstances that took place when this, which may be called the great
rebellion of the intellect, was first clearly seen.
If now, with a view to such inquiry, we examine the history of Europe,
we shall find that just at this period there sprung up the feudal
system: a vast scheme of polity, which, clumsy and imperfect as it was,
supplied many of the wants of the rude people among whom it arose.[273]
The connexion between it and the decline of the ecclesiastical spirit
is very obvious. For the feudal system was the first great secular plan
that had been seen in Europe since the formation of the civil law: it
was the first comprehensive attempt which had been made, during more
than four hundred years, to organize society according to temporal, not
according to spiritual circumstances, the basis of the whole arrangement
being merely the possession of land, and the performance of certain
military and pecuniary services.[274]
[273] Sir F. Palgrave (_English Commonwealth_, vol. ii. p. ccvi.) says,
'it is generally admitted, by the best authorities, that from
about the eleventh century benefices acquired the name of fiefs
or feuds;' and Robertson (_State of Europe_, note viii. in
_Works_, p. 393) supposes that the word _feudum_ does not occur
before 1008. But according to M. Guizot (_Civilisation en
France_, vol. iii. p. 238), 'il apparaît, pour la première fois,
dans une charte de Charles le Gros en 884.' This is a question
more curious than important; since whatever the origin of the
word may be, it is certain that the thing did not, and could not,
exist before the tenth century at the earliest: inasmuch as the
extreme disorganisation of society rendered so coercive an
institution impossible. M. Guizot, in another work (_Essais sur
l'Hist. de France_, p. 239), rightly says, 'Au X^e siècle
seulement, les rapports et les pouvoirs sociaux acquirent quelque
fixité.' See also his _Civilisation en Europe_, p. 90.
[274] 'La terre est tout dans ce système.... Le système féodal est comme
une religion de la terre.' _Origines du Droit_, in _[OE]uvres de
Michelet_, vol. ii. p. 302. 'Le caractère de la féodalité,
c'était la prédominance de la _réalité_ sur la _personnalité_, de
la terre sur l'homme.' _Eschbach_, _Etude du Droit_, p. 256.
This was, no doubt, a great step in European civilization, because it
set the first example of a large public polity in which the spiritual
classes as such had no recognized place;[275] and hence there followed
that struggle between feudality and the church, which has been observed
by several writers, but the origin of which has been strangely
overlooked. What, however, we have now to notice is, that by the
establishment of the feudal system, the spirit of protection, far from
being destroyed, was probably not even weakened, but only assumed a new
form. Instead of being spiritual, it became temporal. Instead of men
looking up to the church, they looked up to the nobles. For, as a
necessary consequence of this vast movement, or rather as a part of it,
the great possessors of land were now being organized into an hereditary
aristocracy.[276] In the tenth century, we find the first surnames:[277]
by the eleventh century most of the great offices had become hereditary
in the leading families:[278] and in the twelfth century armorial
bearings were invented, as well as other heraldic devices, which long
nourished the conceit of the nobles, and were valued by their
descendants as marks of that superiority of birth to which, during many
ages, all other superiority was considered subordinate.[279]
[275] According to the social and political arrangements from the fourth
to the tenth century, the clergy were so eminently a class apart,
that they were freed from 'burdens of the state,' and were not
obliged to engage in military services unless they thought proper
to do so. See _Neander's Hist. of the Church_, vol. iii. p. 195,
vol. v. pp. 133, 140; and _Petrie's Ecclesiast. Archit._ p. 382.
But under the feudal system this immunity was lost; and in regard
to performing services no separation of classes was admitted.
'After the feudal polity became established, we do not find that
there was any dispensation for ecclesiastical fiefs.' _Hallam's
Supplemental Notes_, p. 120; and for further proof of the loss of
the old privileges, compare _Grose's Military Antiquities_, vol.
i. pp. 5, 64; _Meyer_, _Instit. Judic._ vol. i. p. 257; _Turner's
Hist. of England_, vol. iv. p. 462; and _Mably's Observations_,
vol. i. pp. 434, 435: so that, as this writer says, p. 215,
'Chaque seigneur laïc avait gagné personnellement à la révolution
qui forma le gouvernement féodal; mais les évêques et les abbés,
en devenant souverains dans leurs terres, perdirent au contraire
beaucoup de leur pouvoir et de leur dignité.'
[276] The great change of turning life-possessions of land into
hereditary possessions, began late in the ninth century, being
initiated in France by a capitulary of Charles the Bald, in 877.
See _Allen on the Prerogative_, p. 210; _Spence's Origin of the
Laws of Europe_, pp. 282, 301; _Meyer_, _Instit. Judiciaires_,
vol. i. p. 206.
[277] That surnames first arose in the tenth century is stated by the
most competent authorities. See _Sismondi_, _Hist. de Français_,
vol. iii. pp. 452-455; _Hallam's Middle Ages_, vol. i. p. 138;
_Monteil_, _Hist. des divers Etats_, vol. iii. p. 268; _Petrie's
Ecclesiast. Archit._ pp. 277, 342. Koch (_Tableau des
Révolutions_, vol. i. p. 138) erroneously says, 'c'est
pareillement aux croisades que l'Europe doit l'usage des surnoms
de famille;' a double mistake, both as to the date and the cause,
since the introduction of surnames being part of a large social
movement, can under no circumstances be ascribed to a single
event.
[278] On this process from the end of the ninth to the twelfth century,
compare _Hallam's Supplemental Notes_, pp. 97, 98; _Dalrymple's
Hist. of Feudal Property_, p. 21; _Klimrath_, _Hist. du Droit_,
vol. i. p. 74.
[279] As to the origin of armorial bearings, which cannot be traced
higher than the twelfth century, see _Hallam's Middle Ages_, vol.
i. pp. 138, 139; _Ledwich_, _Antiquities of Ireland_, pp. 231,
232; _Origines du Droit_, in _[OE]uvres de Michelet_, vol. ii. p.
382.
Such was the beginning of the European aristocracy, in the sense in
which that word is commonly used. With the consolidation of its power,
feudality was made, in reference to the organization of society, the
successor of the church;[280] and the nobles, becoming hereditary,
gradually displaced in government, and in the general functions of
authority, the clergy, among whom the opposite principle of celibacy was
now firmly established.[281] It is, therefore, evident, that an inquiry
into the origin of the modern protective spirit does, in a great
measure, resolve itself into an inquiry into the origin of the
aristocratic power; since that power was the exponent, and, as it were,
the cover under which the spirit displayed itself. This, as we shall
hereafter see, is likewise connected with the great religious rebellion
of the sixteenth century; the success of which mainly depended on the
weakness of the protective principle that opposed it. But, reserving
this for future consideration, I will now endeavour to trace a few of
the circumstances which gave the aristocracy more power in France than
in England, and thus accustomed the French to a closer and more constant
obedience, and infused into them a more reverential spirit than that
which was usual in our country.
[280] For, as Lerminia says (_Philos. du Droit_, vol. i. p. 17), 'la loi
féodale n'est autre chose que la terre élevée à la souveraineté.'
On the decline of the church in consequence of the increased
feudal and secular spirit, see _Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_,
vol. iii. p. 440, vol. iv. p. 88. In our own country, one fact
may be mentioned illustrative of the earliest encroachments of
laymen: namely, that, before the twelfth century, we find no
instance in England of the great seal being entrusted 'to the
keeping of a layman.' _Campbell's Chancellors_, vol. i. p. 61.
[281] Celibacy, on account of its supposed ascetic tendency, was
advocated and in some countries was enforced, at an early period;
but the first general and decisive movement in its favour was in
the middle of the eleventh century, before which time it was a
speculative doctrine, constantly disobeyed. See _Neander's Hist.
of the Church_, vol. vi. pp. 52, 61, 62, 72, 93, 94 note, vol.
vii. pp. 127-131; _Mosheim's Eccles. Hist._ vol. i. pp. 248, 249;
_Eccleston's English Antiq._ p. 95.
Soon after the middle of the eleventh century, and therefore while the
aristocracy was in the process of formation, England was conquered by
the Duke of Normandy, who naturally introduced the polity existing in
his own country.[282] But, in his hands, it underwent a modification
suitable to the new circumstances in which he was placed. He, being in a
foreign country, the general of a successful army composed partly of
mercenaries,[283] was able to dispense with some of those feudal usages
which were customary in France. The great Norman lords, thrown as
strangers into the midst of a hostile population, were glad to accept
estates from the crown on almost any terms that would guarantee their
own security. Of this, William naturally availed himself. For, by
granting baronies on conditions favourable to the crown, he prevented
the barons[284] from possessing that power which they exercised in
France, and which, but for this, they would have exercised in England.
The result was, that the most powerful of our nobles became amenable to
the law, or, at all events, to the authority of the king.[285] Indeed,
to such an extent was this carried, that William, shortly before his
death, obliged all the landowners to render their fealty to him; thus
entirely neglecting that peculiarity of feudalism, according to which
each vassal was separately dependent on his own lord.[286]
[282] Where it was particularly flourishing: 'la féodalité fut organisée
en Normandie plus fortement et plus systématiquement que partout
ailleurs en France.' _Klimrath_, _Travaux sur l'Hist. du Droit_,
vol. i. p. 130. The 'coutume de Normandie' was, at a much later
period, only to be found in the old 'grand coutumier.'
_Klimrath_, vol. ii. p. 160. On the peculiar tenacity with which
the Normans clung to it, see _Lettres d'Aguesseau_, vol. ii. pp.
225, 226: 'accoutumés à respecter leur coutume comme l'évangile.'
[283] _Mills' Hist. of Chivalry_, vol. i. p. 387; _Turner's Hist. of
England_, vol. ii. p. 390, vol. iv. p. 76. Mercenary troops were
also employed by his immediate successors. _Grose's Military
Antiq._ vol. i. p. 55.
[284] On the different meanings attached to the word 'baron,' compare
_Klimrath_, _Hist. du Droit_, vol. ii. p. 40, with _Meyer_,
_Instit. Judiciaires_, vol. i. p. 105. But M. Guizot says, what
seems most likely, 'il est probable que ce nom fut commun
originairement à tous les vassaux immédiats de la couronne, liés
au roi _per servitium militare_, par le service de chevalier.'
_Essais_, p. 265.
[285] _Meyer_, _Instit. Judic._ vol. i. p. 242; _Turner's Hist. of
England_, vol. iii. p. 220. The same policy of reducing the
nobles was followed up by Henry II., who destroyed the baronial
castles. _Turner_, vol. iv. p. 223. Compare _Lingard_, vol. i.
pp. 315, 371.
[286] 'Deinde c[oe]pit homagia hominum totius Angliæ, et juramentum
fidelitatis cujuscumque essent feodi vel tenementi.' _Matthæi
Westmonast. Flores Historiarum_, vol. ii. p. 9.
But in France, the course of affairs was very different. In that country
the great nobles held their lands, not so much by grant, as by
prescription.[287] A character of antiquity was thus thrown over their
rights; which, when added to the weakness of the crown, enabled them to
exercise on their own estates, all the functions of independent
sovereigns.[288] Even when they received their first great check, under
Philip Augustus,[289] they, in his reign, and indeed long after, wielded
a power quite unknown in England. Thus, to give only two instances: the
right of coining money, which has always been regarded as an attribute
of sovereignty, was never allowed in England, even to the greatest
nobles.[290] But in France it was exercised by many persons
independently of the crown, and was not abrogated until the sixteenth
century.[291] A similar remark holds good of what was called the right
of private war; by virtue of which the nobles were allowed to attack
each other, and disturb the peace of the country with the prosecution of
their private feuds. In England the aristocracy were never strong enough
to have this admitted as a right,[292] though they too often exercised
it as a practice. But in France it became a part of the established law;
it was incorporated into the text-books of feudalism, and it is
distinctly recognized by Louis IX. and Philip the Fair,--two kings of
considerable energy, who did every thing in their power to curtail the
enormous authority of the nobles.[293]
[287] See some good remarks on this difference between the French and
English nobles, in _Hallam's Middle Ages_, vol. ii. pp. 99, 100.
Mably (_Observations_, vol. i. p. 60) says: 'en effet, on
négligea, sur la fin de la première race, de conserver les titres
primordiaux de ses possessions.' As to the old customary French
law of prescription, see _Giraud_, _Précis de l'Ancien Droit_,
pp. 79, 80.
[288] _Mably_, _Observations sur l'Hist. de France_, vol. i. pp. 70,
162, 178.
[289] On the policy of Philip Augustus in regard to the nobles, see
_Mably_, _Observations_, vol. i. p. 246; _Lerminier_, _Philos. du
Droit_, vol. i. p. 265; _Boulainvilliers_, _Hist. de l'Ancien
Gouvernement_, vol. iii. pp. 147-150; _Guizot_, _Civilisation en
France_, vol. iv. pp. 134, 135; _Courson_, _Hist. des Peuples
Brétons_, Paris, 1846, vol. ii. p. 350.
[290] 'No subjects ever enjoyed the right of coining silver in England
without the royal stamp and superintendence; a remarkable proof
of the restraint in which the feudal aristocracy was always held
in this country.' _Hallam's Middle Ages_, vol. i. p. 154.
[291] _Brougham's Polit. Philos._ 1849, vol. i. p. 446. In addition to
the evidence there given on the right of coinage, see _Mably's
Observations_, vol. i. p. 424, vol. ii. pp. 296, 297; and
_Turner's Normandy_, vol. ii. p. 261.
[292] _Hallam's Supplemental Notes_, pp. 304, 305.
[293] 'Saint-Louis consacra le droit de guerre.... Philippe le Bel, qui
voulut l'abolir, finit par le rétablir.' _Montlosier_, _Monarchie
Française_, vol. i. pp. 127, 202: see also pp. 434, 435, and vol.
ii. pp. 435, 436. Mably (_Observations_, vol. ii. p. 338)
mentions 'lettres-patentes de Philippe-de-Valois du 8 février
1330, pour permettre dans le duché d'Aquitaine les guerres
privées,' &c.; and he adds, 'le 9 avril 1353 le roi Jean
renouvelle l'ordonnance de S. Louis, nommée la quarantaine du
roi, touchant les guerres privées.'
Out of this difference between the aristocratic power of France and
England, there followed many consequences of great importance. In our
country the nobles, being too feeble to contend with the crown, were
compelled, in self-defence, to ally themselves with the people.[294]
About a hundred years after the Conquest, the Normans and Saxons
amalgamated; and both parties united against the king in order to uphold
their common rights.[295] The Magna Charta, which John was forced to
yield contained concessions to the aristocracy; but its most important
stipulations were those in favour of 'all classes of freemen.'[296]
Within half a century, fresh contests broke out; the barons were again
associated with the people, and again there followed the same
results,--the extension of popular privileges being each time the
condition and the consequence of this singular alliance. In the same
way, when the Earl of Leicester raised a rebellion against Henry III.,
he found his own party too weak to make head against the crown. He,
therefore, applied to the people:[297] and it is to him that our House
of Commons owes its origin; since he, in 1264, set the first example of
issuing writs to cities and boroughs; thus calling upon citizens and
burgesses to take their place in what had hitherto been a parliament
composed entirely of priests and nobles.[298]
[294] Sir Francis Palgrave (in his _Rise and Progress of the English
Commonwealth_, vol. i. pp. 51-55) has attempted to estimate the
results produced by the Norman Conquest; but he omits to notice
this, which was the most important consequence of all.
[295] On this political union between Norman barons and Saxon citizens,
of which the first clear indication is at the end of the twelfth
century, compare _Campbell's Chancellors_, vol. i. p. 113, with
_Brougham's Polit. Philos._ vol. i. p. 339, vol. iii. p. 222.
In regard to the general question of the amalgamation of races, we have
three distinct kinds of evidence:
1st. Towards the end of the twelfth century, a new language began to be
formed by blending Norman with Saxon; and English literature, properly
so called, dates from the commencement of the thirteenth century.
Compare _Madden's Preface to Layamon_, 1847, vol. i. pp. xx. xxi., with
_Turner's Hist. of England_, vol. viii. pp. 214, 217, 436, 437.
2nd. We have the specific statement of a writer in the reign of Henry
II., that 'sic permixtæ sunt nationes ut vix discerni possit hodie, de
liberis loquor, quis Anglicus, quis Normannus sit genere.' _Note in
Hallam's Middle Ages_, vol. ii. p. 106.
3rd. Before the thirteenth century had passed away, the difference of
dress, which in that state of society would survive many other
differences, was no longer observed, and the distinctive peculiarities
of Norman and Saxon attire had disappeared. See _Strutt's View of the
Dress and Habits of the People of England_, vol. ii. p. 67, edit.
Planché, 1842, 4to.
[296] 'An equal distribution of civil rights to all classes of freemen
forms the peculiar beauty of the charter.' _Hallam's Middle
Ages_, vol. ii. p. 108. This is very finely noticed in one of
Lord Chatham's great speeches. _Parl. Hist._ vol. xvi. p. 662.
[297] Compare _Meyer_, _Instit. Judic._ vol. ii. p. 39, with _Lingard's
England_, vol. ii. p. 127, and _Somers Tracts_, vol. vi. p. 92.
[298] 'He is to be honoured as the founder of a representative system of
government in this country.' _Campbell's Chief-Justices_, vol. i.
p. 61. Some writers (see, for instance, _Dalrymple's Hist. of
Feudal Property_, p. 332) suppose that burgesses were summoned
before the reign of Henry III.: but this assertion is not only
unsupported by evidence, but is in itself improbable; because at
an early period the citizens, though rapidly increasing in power,
were hardly important enough to warrant such a step being taken.
The best authorities are now agreed to refer the origin of the
House of Commons to the period mentioned in the text. See
_Hallam's Supplement_, _Notes_, pp. 335-339; _Spence's Origin of
the Laws of Europe_, p. 512; _Campbell's Chancellors_, vol. i. p.
155; _Lingard's England_, vol. ii. p. 138; _Guizot's Essais_, p.
319. The notion of tracing this to the wittenagemot is as absurd
as finding the origin of juries in the system of compurgators;
both of which were favourite errors in the seventeenth, and even
in the eighteenth century. In regard to the wittenagemot, this
idea still lingers among antiquaries: but, in regard to
compurgators, even they have abandoned their old ground, and it
is now well understood that trial by jury did not exist till long
after the Conquest. Compare _Palgrave's English Commonwealth_,
part i. pp. 243 seq., with _Meyer_, _Instit. Judic._ vol. ii. pp.
152-173. There are few things in our history so irrational as the
admiration expressed by a certain class of writers for the
institutions of our barbarous Anglo-Saxon ancestors.
The English aristocracy being thus forced, by their own weakness, to
rely on the people,[299] it naturally followed, that the people imbibed
that tone of independence, and that lofty bearing, of which our civil
and political institutions are the consequence, rather than the cause.
It is to this, and not to any fanciful peculiarity of race, that we owe
the sturdy and enterprising spirit for which the inhabitants of this
island have long been remarkable. It is this which has enabled us to
baffle all the arts of oppression, and to maintain for centuries
liberties which no other nation has ever possessed. And it is this which
has fostered and upheld those great municipal privileges, which,
whatever be their faults, have, at least, the invaluable merit of
accustoming free men to the exercise of power, giving to citizens the
management of their own city, and perpetuating the idea of independence,
by preserving it in a living type, and by enlisting in its support the
interests and affections of individual men.
[299] Montlosier, with the fine spirit of a French noble, taunts the
English aristocracy with this: 'En France la noblesse, attaquée
sans cesse, s'est défendue sans cesse. Elle a subi l'oppression;
elle ne l'a point acceptée. En Angleterre, elle a couru dès la
première commotion, se réfugier dans les rangs des bourgeois, et
sous leur protection. Elle a abdiqué ainsi son existence.'
_Montlosier_, _Monarchie Française_, vol. iii. p. 162. Compare an
instructive passage in _De Staël_, _Consid. sur la Révolution_,
vol. i. p. 421.
But the habits of self-government which, under these circumstances, were
cultivated in England, were, under opposite circumstances, neglected in
France. The great French lords being too powerful to need the people,
were unwilling to seek their alliance.[300] The result was, that, amid a
great variety of forms and names, society was, in reality, only divided
into two classes--the upper and the lower, the protectors and the
protected. And, looking at the ferocity of the prevailing manners, it
is not too much to say, that in France, under the feudal system, every
man was either a tyrant or a slave. Indeed, in most instances, the two
characters were combined in the same person. For, the practice of
subinfeudation, which in our country was actively checked, became in
France almost universal.[301] By this, the great lords having granted
lands on condition of fealty and other services to certain persons,
these last subgranted them; that is, made them over on similar
conditions to other persons, who had likewise the power of bestowing
them on a fourth party, and so on in an endless series;[302] thus
forming a long chain of dependence, and, as it were, organizing
submission into a system.[303] In England, on the other hand, such
arrangements were so unsuited to the general state of affairs, that it
is doubtful if they were ever carried on to any extent; and, at all
events, it is certain that, in the reign of Edward I., they were finally
stopped by the statute known to lawyers as _Quia emptores_.[304]
[300] See some good remarks in _Mably_, _Observations sur l'Hist. de
France_, vol. iii. pp. 114, 115.
[301] _Hallam's Middle Ages_, vol. i. p. 111.
[302] 'Originally there was no limit to subinfeudation.' _Brougham's
Polit. Philos._ vol. i. p. 279.
[303] A living French historian boasts that, in his own country, 'toute
la société féodale formait ainsi une échelle de clientelle et de
patronage.' _Cassagnac_, _Révolution Française_, vol. i. p. 459.
[304] This is 18 Edw. I. c. 1; respecting which, see _Blackstone's
Comment._ vol. ii. p. 91, vol. iv. p. 425; _Reeve's Hist. of
English Law_, vol. ii. p. 223; _Dalrymple's Hist. of Feudal
Property_, pp. 102, 243, 340.
Thus early was there a great social divergence between France and
England. The consequences of this were still more obvious when, in the
fourteenth century, the feudal system rapidly decayed in both countries.
For in England, the principle of protection being feeble, men were in
some degree accustomed to self-government; and they were able to hold
fast by those great institutions which would have been ill adapted to
the more obedient habits of the French people. Our municipal privileges,
the rights of our yeomanry, and the security of our copyholders, were,
from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries, the three most
important guarantees for the liberties of England.[305] In France such
guarantees were impossible. The real division being between those who
were noble, and those who were not noble, no room was left for the
establishment of intervening classes; but all were compelled to fall
into one of these two great ranks.[306] The French have never had any
thing answering to our yeomanry; nor were copyholders recognized by
their laws. And, although they attempted to introduce into their
country municipal institutions, all such efforts were futile; for, while
they copied the forms of liberty, they lacked that bold and sturdy
spirit by which alone liberty can be secured. They had, indeed, its
image and superscription; but they wanted the sacred fire that warms the
image into life. Every thing else they possessed. The show and
appliances of freedom were there. Charters were granted to their towns,
and privileges conceded to their magistrates. All, however, was useless.
For it is not by the wax and parchment of lawyers that the independence
of men can be preserved. Such things are the mere externals; they set
off liberty to advantage; they are as its dress and paraphernalia, its
holiday-suit in times of peace and quiet. But, when the evil days set
in, when the invasions of despotism have begun, liberty will be
retained, not by those who can show the oldest deeds and the largest
charters, but by those who have been most inured to habits of
independence, most accustomed to think and act for themselves, and most
regardless of that insidious protection which the upper classes have
always been so ready to bestow, that, in many countries, they have now
left nothing worth the trouble to protect.
[305] The history of the decay of that once most important class, the
English yeomanry, is an interesting subject, and one for which I
have collected considerable materials; at present, I will only
say, that its decline was first distinctly perceptible in the
latter half of the seventeenth century, and was consummated by
the rapidly-increasing power of the commercial and manufacturing
classes early in the eighteenth century. After losing their
influence, their numbers naturally diminished, and they made way
for other bodies of men, whose habits of mind were less
prejudiced, and therefore better suited to that new state which
society assumed in the last age. I mention this, because some
writers regret the almost total destruction of the yeoman
freeholders; overlooking the fact, that they are disappearing,
not in consequence of any violent revolution or stretch of
arbitrary power, but simply by the general march of affairs;
society doing away with what it no longer requires. Compare
_Kay's Social Condition of the People_, vol. i. pp. 43, 602, with
a letter from Wordsworth in _Bunbury's Correspond. of Hanmer_,
p. 440; a note in _Mill's Polit. Econ._ vol. i. pp. 311, 312;
another in _Nichols's Lit. Anec._ vol. v. p. 323; and _Sinclair's
Correspond._ vol. i. p. 229.
[306] This is stated as an admitted fact by French writers living in
different periods and holding different opinions; but all agreed
as to there being only two divisions: 'comme en France on est
toujours ou noble, ou roturier, et qu'il n'y a pas de milieu.'
_Mém. de Rivarol_, p. 7. 'La grande distinction des nobles et des
roturiers.' _Giraud_, _Précis de l'Ancien Droit_, p. 10. Indeed,
according to the Coutumes, the nobles and roturiers attained
their majority at different ages. _Klimrath_, _Hist. du Droit_,
vol. ii. p. 249 (erroneously stated in _Story's Conflict of
Laws_, pp. 56, 79, 114). See further respecting this capital
distinction, _Mém. de Duplessis Mornay_, vol. ii. p. 230
('agréable à la noblesse et au peuple'); _[OE]uvres de Turgot_,
vol. viii. pp. 222, 232, 237; _Bunbury's Correspond. of Hanmer_,
p. 256; _Mably_, _Observations_, vol. iii. p. 263; and _Mercier
sur Rousseau_, vol. i. p. 38: 'On étoit roturier, vilain, homme
de néant, canaille, dès qu'on ne s'appelloit plus marquis, baron,
comte, chevalier, etc.'
And so it was in France. The towns, with few exceptions, fell at the
first shock; and the citizens lost those municipal privileges which, not
being grafted on the national character, it was found impossible to
preserve. In the same way, in our country, power naturally, and by the
mere force of the democratic movement, fell into the hands of the House
of Commons; whose authority has ever since, notwithstanding occasional
checks, continued to increase at the expense of the more aristocratic
parts of the legislature. The only institution answering to this in
France was the States-General; which, however, had so little influence,
that, in the opinion of native historians, it was hardly to be called an
institution at all.[307] Indeed, the French were, by this time, so
accustomed to the idea of protection, and to the subordination which
that idea involves, that they were little inclined to uphold an
establishment which, in their constitution, was the sole representative
of the popular element. The result was, that, by the fourteenth century,
the liberties of Englishmen were secured;[308] and, since then, their
only concern has been to increase what they have already obtained. But
in that same century, in France, the protective spirit assumed a new
form; the power of the aristocracy was, in a great measure, succeeded by
the power of the crown; and there began that tendency to centralization
which, having been pushed still further, first under Louis XIV., and
afterwards under Napoleon, has become the bane of the French
people.[309] For by it the feudal ideas of superiority and submission
have long survived that barbarous age to which alone they were suited.
Indeed, by their transmigration, they seemed to have gained fresh
strength. In France, every thing is referred to one common centre, in
which all civil functions are absorbed. All improvements of any
importance, all schemes for bettering even the material condition of the
people must receive the sanction of government; the local authorities
not being considered equal to such arduous tasks. In order that inferior
magistrates may not abuse their power, no power is conferred upon them.
The exercise of independent jurisdiction is almost unknown. Every thing
that is done must be done at head quarters.[310] The government is
believed to see every thing, know every thing, and provide for every
thing. To enforce this monstrous monopoly there has been contrived a
machinery well worthy of the design. The entire country is covered by an
immense array of officials;[311] who, in the regularity of their
hierarchy, and in the order of their descending series, form an
admirable emblem of that feudal principle, which ceasing to be
territorial, has now become personal. In fact, the whole business of the
state is conducted on the supposition that no man either knows his own
interest, or is fit to take care of himself. So paternal are the
feelings of government, so eager for the welfare of its subjects, that
it has drawn within its jurisdiction the most rare, as well as the most
ordinary, actions of life. In order that the French may not make
imprudent wills, it has limited the right of bequest; and, for fear that
they should bequeath their property wrongly, it prevents them from
bequeathing the greater part of it at all. In order that society may be
protected by its police, it has directed that no one shall travel
without a passport. And when men are actually travelling, they are met
at every turn by the same interfering spirit, which, under pretence of
protecting their persons, shackles their liberty. Into another matter,
far more serious, the French have carried the same principle. Such is
their anxiety to protect society against criminals, that, when an
offender is placed at the bar of one of their courts, there is exhibited
a spectacle which is no idle boast to say we, in England, could not
tolerate for a single hour. There is seen a great public magistrate, by
whom the prisoner is about to be tried, examining him in order to
ascertain his supposed guilt, re-examining him, cross-examining him,
performing the duties, not of a judge, but of a prosecutor, and bringing
to bear against the unhappy man all the authority of his judicial
position, all his professional subtlety, all his experience, all the
dexterity of his practised understanding. This is, perhaps, the most
alarming of the many instances in which the tendencies of the French
intellect are shown; because it supplies a machinery ready for the
purposes of absolute power; because it brings the administration of
justice into disrepute, by associating with it an idea of unfairness;
and because it injures that calm and equable temper, which it is
impossible fully to maintain under a system that makes a magistrate an
advocate, and turns the judge into a partizan. But this, mischievous as
it is, only forms part of a far larger scheme. For, to the method by
which criminals are discovered, there is added an analogous method, by
which crime is prevented. With this view, the people, even in their
ordinary amusements, are watched and carefully superintended. Lest they
should harm each other by some sudden indiscretion, precautions are
taken similar to those with which a father might surround his children.
In their fairs, at their theatres, their concerts, and their other
places of public resort, there are always present soldiers, who are sent
to see that no mischief is done, that there is no unnecessary crowding,
that no one uses harsh language, that no one quarrels with his
neighbour. Nor does the vigilance of the government stop there. Even the
education of children is brought under the control of the state, instead
of being regulated by the judgment of masters or parents.[312] And the
whole plan is executed with such energy, that, as the French while men
are never let alone, just so while children they are never left
alone.[313] At the same time, it being reasonably supposed that the
adults thus kept in pupilage cannot be proper judges of their own food,
the government has provided for this also. Its prying eye follows the
butcher to the shambles, and the baker to the oven. By its paternal
hand, meat is examined lest it should be bad, and bread is weighed lest
it should be light. In short, without multiplying instances, with which
most readers must be familiar, it is enough to say that in France, as in
every country where the protective principle is active, the government
has established a monopoly of the worst kind; a monopoly which comes
home to the business and bosoms of men, follows them in their daily
avocations, troubles them with its petty, meddling spirit, and, what is
worse than all, diminishes their responsibility to themselves; thus
depriving them of what is the only real education that most minds
receive,--the constant necessity of providing for future contingencies,
and the habit of grappling with the difficulties of life.
[307] 'Les états-généraux sont portés dans la liste de nos institutions.
Je ne sais cependant s'il est permis de donner ce nom à des
rassemblemens aussi irréguliers.' _Montlosier_, _Monarchie
Française_, vol. i. p. 266. 'En France, les états-généraux, au
moment même de leur plus grand éclat, c'est à dire dans le cours
du xiv^e siècle, n'ont guère été que des accidents, un pouvoir
national et souvent invoqué, mais non un établissement
constitutionnel.' _Guizot_, _Essais_, p. 253. See also _Mably_,
_Observations_, vol. iii. p. 147; and _Sismondi_, _Hist. des
Français_, vol. xiv. p. 642.
[308] This is frankly admitted by one of the most candid and enlightened
of all the foreign writers on our history, _Guizot_, _Essais_, p.
297: 'En 1307, les droits qui devaient enfanter en Angleterre un
gouvernement libre étaient définitivement reconnus.'
[309] See an account of the policy of Philip the Fair, in _Mably_,
_Observations_, vol. ii. pp. 25-44; in _Boulainvilliers_, _Ancien
Gouvernement_, vol. i. pp. 292, 314, vol. ii. pp. 37, 38; and in
_Guizot_, _Civilisation en France_, vol. iv. pp. 170-192. M.
Guizot says, perhaps too strongly, that his reign was 'la
métamorphose de la royauté en despotisme,' On the connexion of
this with the centralizing movement, see _Tocqueville's
Démocratie_, vol. i. p. 307: 'Le goût de la centralisation et la
manie réglementaire remontent, en France, à l'époque où les
légistes sont entrés dans le gouvernement; ce qui nous reporte au
temps de Philippe le Bel.' Tennemann also notices, that in his
reign the 'Rechtstheorie' began to exercise influence; but this
learned writer takes a purely metaphysical view, and has
therefore misunderstood the more general social tendency. _Gesch.
der Philos._ vol. viii. p. 823.
[310] As several writers on law notice this system with a lenient eye
_Origines du Droit Français_, in _[OE]uvres de Michelet_, vol. ii.
p. 321; and _Eschbach_, _Etude du Droit_, p. 129: 'le système
énergique de la centralisation', it may be well to state how it
actually works.
Mr. Bulwer, writing twenty years ago, says: 'Not only cannot a
commune determine its own expenses without the consent of the
minister or one of his deputed functionaries, it cannot even
erect a building, the cost of which shall have been sanctioned,
without the plan being adopted by a board of public works
attached to the central authority, and having the supervision and
direction of every public building throughout the Kingdom.'
_Bulwer's Monarchy of the Middle Classes_, 1836, vol. ii. p. 262.
M. Tocqueville, writing in the present year (1856), says, 'Sous
l'ancien régime, _comme de nos jours_, il n'y avait ville, bourg,
village, ni si petit hameau en France, hôpital, fabrique, couvent
ni collège, qui pût avoir une volonté indépendante dans ses
affaires particulières, ni administrer à sa volonté ses propres
biens. Alors, _comme aujourd'hui_, l'administration tenait donc
tous les Français en tutelle, et si l'insolence du mot ne s'était
pas encore produite, on avait du moins déjà la chose.'
_Tocqueville_, _l'Ancien Régime_, 1856, pp. 79, 80.
[311] The number of civil functionaries in France, who are paid by the
government to trouble the people, passes all belief, being
estimated, at different periods during the present century, at
from 138,000 to upwards of 800,000. _Tocqueville_, _de la
Démocratie_, vol. i. p. 220; _Alison's Europe_, vol. xiv. pp. 127,
140; _Kay's Condition of the People_, vol. i. p. 272; _Laing's
Notes_, 2d series, p. 185. Mr. Laing, writing in 1850, says: 'In
France, at the expulsion of Louis Philippe, the civil
functionaries were stated to amount to 807,030 individuals.'
[312] 'The government in France possesses control over all the education
of the country, with the exception of the colleges for the
education of the clergy, which are termed seminaries, and their
subordinate institutions.' _Report on the State of Superior
Education in France in_ 1843, in _Journal of Statist. Soc._ vol.
vi. p. 304. On the steps taken during the power of Napoleon, see
_Alison's Europe_, vol. viii. p. 203: 'Nearly the whole education
of the empire was brought effectually under the direction and
appointment of government.'
[313] Much attention is paid to the _surveillance_ of pupils; it being a
fundamental principle of French education, that children should
never be left alone. _Report on General Education in France in_
1842, in _Journal of Statist. Soc._ vol. v. p. 20.
The consequence of all this has been, that the French, though a great
and splendid people,--a people full of mettle, high-spirited, abounding
in knowledge, and perhaps less oppressed by superstition than any other
in Europe,--have always been found unfit to exercise political power.
Even when they have possessed it, they have never been able to combine
permanence with liberty. One of these two elements has always been
wanting. They have had free governments, which have not been stable.
They have had stable governments, which have not been free. Owing to
their fearless temper, they have rebelled, and no doubt will continue to
rebel, against so evil a condition.[314] But it does not need the tongue
of a prophet to tell that, for at least some generations, all such
efforts must be unsuccessful. For men can never be free, unless they are
educated to freedom. And this is not the education which is to be found
in schools, or gained from books; but it is that which consists in
self-discipline, in self-reliance, and in self-government. These, in
England, are matters of hereditary descent--traditional habits, which we
imbibe in our youth, and which regulate us in the conduct of life. The
old associations of the French all point in another direction. At the
slightest difficulty, they call on the government for support. What with
us is competition, with them is monopoly. That which we effect by
private companies, they effect by public boards. They cannot cut a
canal, or lay down a railroad, without appealing to the government for
aid. With them, the people look to the rulers; with us, the rulers look
to the people. With them, the executive is the centre from which society
radiates;[315] with us, society is the instigator, and the executive the
organ. The difference in the result has corresponded with the difference
in the process. We have been made fit for political power, by the long
exercise of civil rights; they, neglecting the exercise, think they can
at once begin with the power. We have always shown a determination to
uphold our liberties, and, when the times are fitting, to increase them;
and this we have done with a decency and a gravity natural to men to
whom such subjects have long been familiar. But the French, always
treated as children, are, in political matters, children still. And as
they have handled the most weighty concerns in that gay and volatile
spirit which adorns their lighter literature, it is no wonder that they
have failed in matters where the first condition of success is, that men
should have been long accustomed to rely upon their own energies, and
that before they try their skill in a political struggle, their
resources should have been sharpened by that preliminary discipline,
which a contest with the difficulties of civil life can never fail to
impart.
[314] A distinguished French author says: 'La France souffre du mal du
siècle; elle en est plus malade qu'aucun autre pays; ce mal c'est
la haine de l'autorité.' _Custine_, _Russie_, vol. ii. p. 136.
Compare, _Rey_, _Science Sociale_, vol. ii. p. 86 note.
[315] It is to the activity of this protective and centralizing spirit
that we must ascribe, what a very great authority noticed thirty
years ago, as 'le défaut de spontanéité, qui caractérise les
institutions de la France moderne.' _Meyer_, _Instit. Judic._
vol. iv. p. 536. It is also this which, in literature and in
science, makes them favour the establishment of academies; and it
is probably to the same principle that their jurists owe their
love of codification. All these are manifestations of an
unwillingness to rely on the general march of affairs, and show
an undue contempt for the unaided conclusions of private men.
These are among the considerations by which we must be guided, in
estimating the probable destinies of the great countries of Europe. But
what we are now rather concerned with is, to notice how the opposite
tendencies of France and England long continued to be displayed in the
condition and treatment of their aristocracy; and how from this there
naturally followed some striking differences between the war conducted
by the Fronde, and that waged by the Long Parliament.
When, in the fourteenth century, the authority of the French kings began
rapidly to increase, the political influence of the nobility was, of
course, correspondingly diminished. What, however, proves the extent to
which their power had taken root, is the undoubted fact, that,
notwithstanding this to them unfavourable circumstance, the people were
never able to emancipate themselves from their control.[316] The
relation the nobles bore to the throne became entirely changed; that
which they bore to the people remained almost the same. In England,
slavery, or villenage, as it is mildly termed, quickly diminished, and
was extinct by the end of the sixteenth century.[317] In France, it
lingered on two hundred years later, and was only destroyed in that
great Revolution by which the possessors of ill-gotten power were called
to so sharp an account.[318] Thus, too, until the last seventy years,
the nobles were in France exempt from those onerous taxes which
oppressed the people. The taille and corvée were heavy and grievous
exactions, but they fell solely on men of ignoble birth;[319] for the
French aristocracy, being a high and chivalrous race, would have deemed
it an insult to their illustrious descent, if they had been taxed to the
same amount as those whom they despised as their inferiors.[320]
Indeed, every thing tended to nurture this general contempt. Every
thing was contrived to humble one class, and exalt the other. For the
nobles there were reserved the best appointments in the church, and also
the most important military posts.[321] The privilege of entering the
army as officers was confined to them;[322] and they alone possessed a
prescriptive right to belong to the cavalry.[323] At the same time, and
to avoid the least chance of confusion, an equal vigilance was displayed
in the most trifling matters, and care was taken to prevent any
similarity, even in the amusements of the two classes. To such a pitch
was this brought, that, in many parts of France, the right of having an
aviary or a dovecote depended entirely on a man's rank; and no
Frenchman, whatever his wealth might be, could keep pigeons, unless he
were a noble; it being considered that these recreations were too
elevated for persons of plebeian origin.[324]
[316] Mably (_Observations_, vol. iii. pp. 154, 155, 352-362) has
collected some striking evidence of the tyranny of the French
nobles in the sixteenth century; and as to the wanton cruelty
with which they exercised their power in the seventeenth century,
see _Des Réaux_, _Historiettes_, vol. vii. p. 155, vol. viii. p.
79, vol. ix. pp. 40, 61, 62, vol. x. pp. 255-257. In the
eighteenth century, matters were somewhat better; but still the
subordination was excessive, and the people were poor,
ill-treated, and miserable. Compare _[OE]uvres de Turgot_, vol.
iv. p. 139; _Letter from the Earl of Cork_, dated Lyons, 1754, in
_Burton's Diary_, vol. iv. p. 80; the statement of Fox, in _Parl.
Hist._ vol. xxxi. p. 406; _Jefferson's Correspond._ vol. ii. p.
45; and _Smith's Tour on the Continent_, edit. 1793, vol. iii.
pp. 201, 202.
[317] Mr. Eccleston (_English Antiq._ p. 138) says, that in 1450
'villenage had almost passed away;' and according to Mr. Thornton
(_Over-Population_, p. 182), 'Sir Thomas Smith, who wrote about
the year 1550, declares that he had never met with any personal
or domestic slaves; and that the villains, or predial slaves,
still to be found, were so few, as to be scarcely worth
mentioning.' Mr. Hallam can find no 'unequivocal testimony to the
existence of villenage' later than 1574. _Middle Ages_, vol. ii.
p. 312; see, to the same effect, _Barrington on the Statutes_,
pp. 308, 309. If, however, my memory does not deceive me, I have
met with evidence of it in the reign of James I., but I cannot
recall the passage.
[318] M. Cassagnac (_Causes de la Révolution_, vol. iii. p. 11) says:
'Chose surprenante, il y avait encore, au 4 août 1789, _un
million cinq cent mille serfs de corps_;' and M. Giraud (_Précis
de l'Ancien Droit_, Paris, 1852, p. 3), 'jusqu'à la révolution
une division fondamentale partageait les personnes en personnes
libres et personnes sujettes à condition servile.' A few years
before the Revolution, this shameful distinction was abolished by
Louis XVI. in his own domains. Compare _Eschbach_, _Etude du
Droit_, pp. 271, 272, with _Du Mesnil_, _Mém. sur le Prince le
Brun_, p. 94. I notice this particularly, because M. Monteil, a
learned and generally accurate writer, supposes that the
abolition took place earlier than it really did. _Hist. des
divers Etats_, vol. vi. p. 101.
[319] _Cassagnac_, _de la Révolution_, vol. i. pp. 122, 173; _Giraud_,
_Ancien Droit_, p. 11; _Soulavie_, _Mém. de Louis XVI_, vol. vi.
p. 156; _Mém. au Roi sur les Municipalités_, in _[OE]uvres de
Turgot_, vol. vii. p. 423; _Mém. de Genlis_, vol. i. p. 200.
Further information respecting the amount and nature of these
vexatious impositions will be found in _De Thou_, _Hist. Univ._
vol. xiii. p. 24, vol. xiv. p. 118; _Sainte-Aulaire_, _Hist. de
la Fronde_, vol. i. p. 125; _Tocqueville_, _Ancien Régime_, pp.
135, 191, 420, 440; _Sully_, _[OE]conomies Royales_, vol. ii. p.
412, vol. iii. p. 226, vol. iv. p. 199, vol. v. pp. 339, 410,
vol. vi. p. 94; _Relat. des Ambassad. Vénit._ vol. i. p. 96;
_Mably_, _Observations_, vol. iii. pp. 355, 356;
_Boulainvilliers_, _Ancien Gouvernement_, vol. iii. p. 109; _Le
Vassor_, _Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. ii. p. 29; _Mém. d'Omer
Talon_, vol. ii. pp. 103, 369; _Mém. de Montglat_, vol. i. p. 82;
_Tocqueville_, _Règne de Louis XV_, vol. i. pp. 87, 332;
_[OE]uvres de Turgot_, vol. i. p. 372, vol. iv. pp. 58, 59, 74,
75, 242, 278, vol. v. pp. 226, 242, vol. vi. p. 144, vol. viii.
pp. 152, 280.
[320] So deeply rooted were these feelings, that, even in 1789, the very
year the Revolution broke out, it was deemed a great concession
that the nobles 'will consent, indeed, to equal taxation.' See a
letter from Jefferson to Jay, dated Paris, May 9th, 1789, in
_Jefferson's Corresp._ vol. ii. pp. 462, 463. Compare _Mercier
sur Rousseau_, vol. i. p. 136.
[321] 'Les nobles, qui avaient le privilége exclusif des grandes
dignités et des gros bénéfices.' _Mém. de Rivarol_, p. 97: see
also _Mém. de Bouillé_, vol. i. p. 56; _Lemontey_,
_Etablissement Monarchique_, p. 337; _Daniel_, _Hist. de la
Milice Françoise_, vol. ii. p. 556; _Campan_, _Mém. sur
Marie-Antoinette_, vol. i. pp. 238, 239.
[322] 'L'ancien régime n'avait admis que des nobles pour officiers.'
_Mém. de Roland_, vol. i. p. 398. Ségur mentions that, early in
the reign of Louis XVI., 'les nobles seuls avaient le droit
d'entrer au service comme sous-lieutenans.' _Mém. de Ségur_, vol.
i. p. 65. Compare pp. 117, 265-271, with _Mém. de Genlis_,
vol. iii. p. 74, and _De Staël_, _Consid. sur la Rév._ vol. i.
p. 123.
[323] Thus, De Thou says of Henry III., 'il remet sous l'ancien pied la
cavalerie ordinaire, qui n'étoit composée que de la noblesse.'
_Hist. Univ._ vol. ix. pp. 202, 203; and see vol. x. pp. 504,
505, vol. xiii. p. 22; and an imperfect statement of the same
fact in _Boullier_, _Hist. des divers Corps de la Maison
Militaire des Rois de France_, Paris, 1818, p. 58, a superficial
work on an uninteresting subject.
[324] M. Tocqueville (_L'Ancien Régime_, p. 448) mentions, among other
regulations still in force late in the eighteenth century, that
'en Dauphiné, en Bretagne, en Normandie, il est prohibé à tout
roturier d'avoir des colombiers, fuies et volière; il n'y a que
les nobles qui puissent avoir des pigeons.'
Circumstances like these are valuable, as evidence of the state of
society to which they belong; and their importance will become
peculiarly obvious, when we compare them with the opposite condition of
England.
For in England, neither these nor any similar distinctions have ever
been known. The spirit of which our yeomanry, copyholders, and free
burgesses were the representatives, proved far too strong for those
protective and monopolizing principles of which the aristocracy are the
guardians in politics, and the clergy in religion. And it is to the
successful opposition made by these feelings of individual independence
that we owe our two greatest national acts--our Reformation in the
sixteenth, and our Rebellion in the seventeenth century. Before,
however, tracing the steps taken in these matters, there is one other
point of view to which I wish to call attention, as a further
illustration of the early and radical difference between France and
England.
In the eleventh century there arose the celebrated institution of
chivalry,[325] which was to manners what feudalism was to politics. This
connexion is clear, not only from the testimony of contemporaries, but
also from two general considerations. In the first place, chivalry was
so highly aristocratic, that no one could even receive knighthood unless
he were of noble birth;[326] and the preliminary education which was
held to be necessary was carried on either in schools appointed by the
nobles, or else in their own baronial castles.[327] In the second place,
it was essentially a protective, and not at all a reforming institution.
It was contrived with a view to remedy certain oppressions as they
successively arose; opposed in this respect to the reforming spirit,
which, being remedial rather than palliative, strikes at the root of an
evil by humbling the class from which the evil proceeds, passing over
individual cases in order to direct its attention to general causes. But
chivalry, so far from doing this, was in fact a fusion of the
aristocratic and the ecclesiastical forms of the protective spirit.[328]
For, by introducing among the nobles the principle of knighthood, which,
being personal, could never be bequeathed, it presented a point at which
the ecclesiastical doctrine of celibacy could coalesce with the
aristocratic doctrine of hereditary descent.[329] Out of this coalition
sprung results of great moment. It is to this that Europe owes those
orders, half aristocratic half religious,[330] the Knights Templars,
the Knights of St. James, the Knights of St. John, the Knights of St.
Michael: establishments which inflicted the greatest evils on society;
and whose members, combining analogous vices, enlivened the superstition
of monks with the debauchery of soldiers. As a natural consequence, an
immense number of noble knights were solemnly pledged to 'defend the
church;' an ominous expression, the meaning of which is too well known
to the readers of ecclesiastical history.[331] Thus it was that
chivalry, uniting the hostile principles of celibacy and noble birth,
became the incarnation of the spirit of the two classes to which those
principles belonged. Whatever benefit, therefore, this institution may
have conferred upon manners,[332] there can be no doubt that it actively
contributed to keep men in a state of pupilage, and stopped the march
of society by prolonging the term of its infancy.[333]
[325] 'Dès la fin du onzième siècle, à l'époque même où commencèrent les
croisades, on trouve la chevalerie établie.' _Koch_, _Tab. des
Révolutions_, vol. i. p. 143; see also _Sainte-Palaye_, _Mém. sur
la Chevalerie_, vol. i. pp. 42, 68. M. Guizot (_Civilis. en
France_, vol. iii. pp. 349-354) has attempted to trace it back to
an earlier period; but he appears to have failed, though of
course its germs may be easily found. According to some writers
it originated in northern Europe; according to others in Arabia!
_Mallet's Northern Antiquities_, p. 202; _Journal of Asiat. Soc._
vol. ii. p. 11.
[326] 'L'ordre de chevalerie n'étoit accordé qu'aux hommes d'un sang
noble.' _Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. iv. p. 204.
Compare _Daniel_, _Hist. de la Milice_, vol. i. p. 97, and
_Mills' Hist. of Chivalry_, vol. i. p. 20.
[327] 'In some places there were schools appointed by the nobles of the
country, but most frequently their own castles served.' _Mills'
Hist. of Chivalry_, vol. i. p. 31; and see _Sainte-Palaye_, _Mém.
sur l'Anc. Chevalerie_, vol. i. pp. 30, 56, 57, on this
education.
[328] This combination of knighthood and religious rites is often
ascribed to the crusades; but there is good evidence that it took
place a little earlier, and must be referred to the latter half
of the eleventh century. Compare _Mills' Hist. of Chivalry_, vol.
i. pp. 10, 11; _Daniel_, _Hist. de la Milice_, vol. i. pp. 101,
102, 108; _Boulainvilliers_, _Ancien Gouv._ vol. i. p. 326.
Sainte-Palaye (_Mém. sur la Chevalerie_, vol. i. pp. 119-123),
who has collected some illustrations of the relation between
chivalry and the church, says, p. 119, 'enfin la chevalerie étoit
regardée comme une ordination, un sacerdoce.' The superior clergy
possessed the right of conferring knighthood, and William Rufus
was actually knighted by Archbishop Lanfranc: 'Archiepiscopus
Lanfrancus, eo quòd eum nutrierat, et militem fecerat.' _Will.
Malmes._ lib. iv., in _Scriptores post Bedam_, p. 67. Compare
_Fosbroke's British Monachism_, 1843, p. 101, on knighting by
abbots.
[329] The influence of this on the nobles is rather exaggerated by Mr.
Mills; who, on the other hand, has not noticed how the
unhereditary element was favourable to the ecclesiastical spirit.
_Mills' Hist. of Chivalry_, vol. i. pp. 15, 389, vol. ii. p. 169;
a work interesting as an assemblage of facts, but almost useless
as a philosophic estimate.
[330] 'In their origin all the military orders, and most of the
religious ones, were entirely aristocratic.' _Mills' Hist. of
Chivalry_, vol. i. p. 336.
[331] _Mills' Hist. of Chivalry_, vol. i. pp. 148, 338. About the year
1127, St. Bernard wrote a discourse in favour of the Knights
Templars, in which 'he extols this order as a combination of
monasticism and knighthood.... He describes the design of it as
being to give the military order and knighthood a serious
Christian direction, and to convert war into something that God
might approve.' _Neander's Hist. of the Church_, vol. vii. p.
358. To this may be added, that, early in the thirteenth century,
a chivalric association was formed, and afterwards merged in the
Dominican order, called the Militia of Christ: 'un nouvel ordre
de chevalerie destiné à poursuivre les hérétiques, sur le modèle
de celui des Templiers, et sous le nom de Milice de Christ.'
_Llorente_, _Hist. de l'Inquisition_, vol. i. pp. 52, 133, 203.
[332] Several writers ascribe to chivalry the merit of softening
manners, and of increasing the influence of women.
_Sainte-Palaye_, _Mém. sur la Chevalerie_, vol. i. pp. 220-223,
282, 284, vol. iii. pp. vi. vii. 159-161; _Helvétius de
l'Esprit_, vol. ii. pp. 50, 51; _Schlegel's Lectures_, vol. i. p.
209. That there was such a tendency is, I think, indisputable;
but it has been greatly exaggerated; and an author of
considerable reading on these subjects says, 'The rigid treatment
shown to prisoners of war in ancient times strongly marks the
ferocity and uncultivated manners of our ancestors, and that even
to ladies of high rank; notwithstanding the homage said to have
been paid to the fair sex in those days of chivalry.' _Grose's
Military Antiquities_, vol. ii. p. 114. Compare _Manning on the
Law of Nations_, 1839, pp. 145, 146.
[333] Mr. Hallam (_Middle Ages_, vol. ii. p. 464) says, 'A third
reproach may be made to the character of knighthood, that it
widened the separation between the different classes of society,
and confirmed that aristocratical spirit of high birth, by which
the large mass of mankind were kept in unjust degradation.'
On this account, it is evident that, whether we look at the immediate or
at the remote tendency of chivalry, its strength and duration become a
measure of the predominance of the protective spirit. If, with this
view, we compare France and England, we shall find fresh proof of the
early divergence of those countries. Tournaments, the first open
expression of chivalry, are of French origin.[334] The greatest and,
indeed, the only two great describers of chivalry are Joinville and
Froissart, both of whom were Frenchmen. Bayard, that famous chevalier,
who is always considered as the last representative of chivalry, was a
Frenchman, and was killed when fighting for Francis I. Nor was it until
nearly forty years after his death that tournaments were finally
abolished in France, the last one having been held in 1560.[335]
[334] _Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. iv. pp. 370, 371, 377;
_Turner's Hist. of England_, vol. iv. p. 478; _Foncemagne_, _De
l'Origine des Armoiries_, in _Mém. de l'Académie des
Inscriptions_, vol. xx. p. 580. Koch also says (_Tableau des
Révolutions_, vol. i. p. 139), 'c'est de la France que l'usage
des tournois se répandit chez les autres nations de l'Europe.'
They were first introduced into England in the reign of Stephen.
_Lingard's England_, vol. ii. p. 27.
[335] Mr. Hallam (_Middle Ages_, vol. ii. p. 470) says they were
'entirely discontinued in France' in consequence of the death of
Henry II.; but according to _Mills' Hist. of Chivalry_, vol. ii.
p. 226, they lasted the next year; when another fatal accident
occurred, and 'tournaments ceased for ever.' Compare
_Sainte-Palaye sur la Chevalerie_, vol. ii. pp. 39, 40.
But in England, the protective spirit being much less active than in
France, we should expect to find that chivalry, as its offspring, had
less influence. And such was really the case. The honours that were paid
to knights, and the social distinctions by which they were separated
from the other classes, were never so great in our country as in
France.[336] As men became more free, the little respect they had for
such matters still further diminished. In the thirteenth century, and
indeed in the very reign in which burgesses were first returned to
parliament, the leading symbol of chivalry fell into such disrepute,
that a law was passed obliging certain persons to accept that rank of
knighthood which in other nations was one of the highest objects of
ambition.[337] In the fourteenth century, this was followed by another
blow, which deprived knighthood of its exclusively military character;
the custom having grown up in the reign of Edward III. of conferring it
on the judges in the courts of law, thus turning a warlike title into a
civil honour.[338] Finally, before the end of the fifteenth century, the
spirit of chivalry, in France still at its height, was in our country
extinct, and this mischievous institution had become a subject for
ridicule even among the people themselves.[339] To these circumstances
we may add two others, which seem worthy of observation. The first is,
that the French, notwithstanding their many admirable qualities, have
always been more remarkable for personal vanity than the English;[340] a
peculiarity partly referable to those chivalric traditions which even
their occasional republics have been unable to destroy, and which makes
them attach undue importance to external distinctions, by which I mean,
not only dress and manners, but also medals, ribbons, stars, crosses,
and the like, which we, a prouder people, have never held in such high
estimation. The other circumstance is, that duelling has from the
beginning been more popular in France than in England; and as this is a
custom which we owe to chivalry, the difference in this respect between
the two countries supplies another link in that long chain of evidence
by which we must estimate their national tendencies.[341]
[336] Mr. Hallam (_Middle Ages_, vol. ii. p. 467) observes, that the
knight, as compared with other classes, 'was addressed by titles
of more respect. _There was not, however, so much distinction in
England as in France._' The great honour paid to knights in
France is noticed by Daniel (_Milice Française_, vol. i. pp. 128,
129) and Herder (Ideen zur Geschichte, vol. iv. pp. 226, 267)
says, that in France chivalry flourished more than in any other
country. The same remark is made by Sismondi (_Hist. des
Français_, vol. iv. p. 198).
[337] The _Statutum de Militibus_, in 1307, was perhaps the first
recognition of this. Compare _Blackstone's Comment._ vol. ii. p.
69; _Barrington on the Statutes_, pp. 192, 193. But we have
positive evidence that compulsory knighthood existed in the reign
of Henry III.; or at least that those who refused it were obliged
to pay a fine. See _Hallam's Const. Hist._ vol. i. p. 421, and
_Lyttleton's Hist. of Henry II._ vol. ii. pp. 238, 239, 2nd edit.
4to. 1767. Lord Lyttleton, evidently puzzled, says, 'Indeed it
seems a deviation from the original principle of this
institution. For one cannot but think it a very great
inconsistency, that a dignity, which was deemed an accession of
honour to kings themselves, should be forced upon any.'
[338] In _Mills' Hist. of Chivalry_, vol. ii. p. 154, it is said, that
'the judges of the courts of law' were first knighted in the
reign of Edward III.
[339] Mr. Mills (_Hist. of Chivalry_, vol. ii. pp. 99, 100) has printed
a curious extract from a lamentation over the destruction of
chivalry, written in the reign of Edward IV.; but he has
overlooked a still more singular instance. This is a popular
ballad, written in the middle of the fifteenth century, and
called the Turnament of Tottenham, in which the follies of
chivalry are admirably ridiculed. See _Warton's Hist. of English
Poetry_, edit. 1840, vol. iii. pp. 98-101; and _Percy's Reliques
of Ancient Poetry_, edit. 1845, pp. 92-95. According to Turner
(_Hist. of England_, vol. vi. p. 363), 'the ancient books of
chivalry were laid aside' about the reign of Henry VI.
[340] This is not a mere popular opinion, but rests upon a large amount
of evidence, supplied by competent and impartial observers.
Addison, who was a lenient as well as an able judge, and who had
lived much among the French, calls them 'the vainest nation in
the world.' _Letter to Bishop Hough_, in _Aikin's Life of
Addison_, vol. i. p. 90. Napoleon says, 'vanity is the ruling
principle of the French.' _Alison's Hist. of Europe_, vol. vi. p.
25. Dumont (_Souvenirs sur Mirabeau_, p. 111) declares, that 'le
trait le plus dominant dans le caractère français, c'est l'amour
propre;' and Ségur (_Souvenirs_, vol. i. pp. 73, 74), 'car en
France l'amour propre, ou, si on le veut, la vanité, est de
toutes les passions la plus irritable.' It is moreover stated,
that phrenological observations prove that the French are vainer
than the English. _Combe's Elements of Phrenology_, 6th edit.
Edinb. 1845, p. 90; and a partial recognition of the same fact in
_Broussais_, _Cours de Phrénologie_, p. 297. For other instances
of writers who have noticed the vanity of the French, see
_Tocqueville_, _l'Ancien Régime_, p. 148; _Barante_, _Lit. Franç.
au XVIII^e. Siècle_, p. 80; _Mém. de Brissot_, vol. i. p. 272;
_Mézéray_, _Hist. de France_, vol. ii. p. 933; _Lemontey_,
_Etablissement Monarchique_, p. 418; _Voltaire_, _Lettres
inédites_, vol. ii. p. 282; _Tocqueville_, _Règne de Louis XV_,
vol. ii. p. 358; _De Staël sur la Révolution_, vol. i. p. 260,
vol. ii. p. 258.
[341] The relation between chivalry and duelling has been noticed by
several writers; and in France, where the chivalric spirit was
not completely destroyed until the Revolution, we find occasional
traces of this connexion even in the reign of Louis XVI. See, for
instance, in _Mém. de Lafayette_, vol. i. p. 86, a curious letter
in regard to chivalry and duelling in 1778. In England there is,
I believe, no evidence of even a single private duel being fought
earlier than the sixteenth century, and there were not many till
the latter half of Elizabeth's reign; but in France the custom
arose early in the fifteenth century, and in the sixteenth it
became usual for the seconds to fight as well as the principals.
Compare _Montlosier_, _Monarc. Franç._ vol. ii. p. 436, with
_Monteil_, _Hist. des divers Etats_, vol. vi. p. 48. From that
time the love of the French for duelling became quite a passion
until the end of the eighteenth century, when the Revolution, or
rather the circumstances which led to the Revolution, caused its
comparative cessation. Some idea may be formed of the enormous
extent of this practice formerly in France, by comparing the
following passages, which I have the more pleasure in bringing
together, as no one has written even a tolerable history of
duelling, notwithstanding the great part it once played in
European society. _De Thou_, _Hist. Univ._ vol. ix. pp. 592, 593,
vol. xv. p. 57; _Daniel_, _Milice Française_, vol. ii. p. 582;
_Sully_, _[OE]conomies_, vol. i. p. 301, vol. iii. p. 406, vol.
vi. p. 122, vol. viii. p. 41, vol. ix. p. 408; _Carew's State of
France under Henry IV._, in _Birch's Historical Negotiations_, p.
467; _Ben Jonson's Works_, edit. Gifford, vol. vi. p. 69;
_Dulaure_, _Hist. de Paris_ (1825 3rd edit.), vol. iv. p. 567,
vol. v. pp. 300, 301; _Le Clerc_, _Bibliothèque Univ._ vol. xx.
p. 242; _Lettres de Patin_, vol. iii. p. 536; _Capefigue_, _Hist.
de la Réforme_, vol. viii. p. 98; _Capefigue's Richelieu_, vol.
i. p. 63; _Des Réaux_, _Historiettes_, vol. x. p. 13; _Mém. de
Genlis_, vol. ii. p. 191, vol. vii. p. 215, vol. ix. p. 351;
_Mem. of the Baroness d'Oberkirch_, vol. i. p. 71, edit. Lond.
1852; _Lettres inédites d'Aguesseau_, vol. i. p. 211; _Lettres de
Dudeffand à Walpole_, vol. iii. p. 249, vol. iv. pp. 27, 28, 152;
_Boullier_, _Maison Militaire des Rois de France_, pp. 87, 88;
_Biog. Univ._ vol. v. pp. 402, 403, vol. xxiii. p. 411, vol.
xliv. pp. 127, 401, vol. xlviii. p. 522, vol. xlix. p. 130.
The old associations, of which these facts are but the external
expression, now continued to act with increasing vigour. In France, the
protective spirit, carried into religion, was strong enough to resist
the Reformation, and preserve to the clergy the forms, at least, of
their ancient supremacy. In England, the pride of men, and their habits
of self-reliance, enabled them to mature into a system what is called
the right of private judgment, by which some of the most cherished
traditions were eradicated; and this, as we have already seen, being
quickly succeeded, first by scepticism, and then by toleration, prepared
the way for that subordination of the church to the state, for which we
are pre-eminent, and without a rival, among the nations of Europe. The
very same tendency, acting in politics, displayed analogous results. Our
ancestors found no difficulty in humbling the nobles, and reducing them
to comparative insignificance. The wars of the Roses, by breaking up the
leading families into two hostile factions, aided this movement;[342]
and, after the reign of Edward IV., there is no instance of any
Englishman, even of the highest rank, venturing to carry on those
private wars, by which, in other countries, the great lords still
disturbed the peace of society.[343] When the civil contests subsided,
the same spirit displayed itself in the policy of Henry VII. and Henry
VIII. For, those princes, despots as they were, mainly oppressed the
highest classes; and even Henry VIII., notwithstanding his barbarous
cruelties, was loved by the people, to whom his reign was, on the whole,
decidedly beneficial. Then there came the Reformation; which, being an
uprising of the human mind, was essentially a rebellious movement, and
thus increasing the insubordination of men, sowed, in the sixteenth
century, the seeds of those great political revolutions which, in the
seventeenth century, broke out in nearly every part of Europe. The
connexion between these two revolutionary epochs is a subject full of
interest; but, for the purpose of the present chapter, it will be
sufficient to notice such events, during the latter half of the
sixteenth century, as explain the sympathy between the ecclesiastical
and aristocratic classes, and prove how the same circumstances that were
fatal to the one, also prepared the way for the downfall of the other.
[342] On the effect of the wars of the Roses upon the nobles, compare
_Hallam's Const. Hist._ vol. i. p. 10; _Lingard's Hist. of
England_, vol. iii. p. 340; _Eccleston's English Antiq._ pp. 224,
320: and on their immense pecuniary, or rather territorial,
losses, _Sinclair's Hist. of the Revenue_, vol. i. p. 155.
[343] 'The last instance of a pitched battle between two powerful
noblemen in England occurs in the reign of Edward IV.' _Allen on
the Prerogative_, p. 123.
When Elizabeth ascended the throne of England, a large majority of the
nobility were opposed to the Protestant religion. This we know from the
most decisive evidence; and, even if we had no such evidence, a general
acquaintance with human nature would induce us to suspect that such was
the case. For, the aristocracy, by the very conditions of their
existence, must, as a body, always be averse to innovation. And this,
not only because by a change they have much to lose and little to gain,
but because some of their most pleasurable emotions are connected with
the past rather than with the present. In the collision of actual life,
their vanity is sometimes offended by the assumptions of inferior men;
it is frequently wounded by the successful competition of able men.
These are mortifications to which, in the progress of society, their
liability is constantly increasing. But the moment they turn to the
past, they see in those good old times which are now gone by, many
sources of consolation. There they find a period in which their glory is
without a rival. When they look at their pedigrees, their quarterings,
their escutcheons; when they think of the purity of their blood, and the
antiquity of their ancestors--they experience a comfort which ought
amply to atone for any present inconvenience. The tendency of this is
very obvious, and has shown itself in the history of every aristocracy
the world has yet seen. Men who have worked themselves to so extravagant
a pitch as to believe that it is an honour to have had one ancestor who
came over with the Normans, and another ancestor who was present at the
first invasion of Ireland--men who have reached this ecstacy of the
fancy are not disposed to stop there, but, by a process with which most
minds are familiar, they generalize their view; and, even on matters not
immediately connected with their fame, they acquire a habit of
associating grandeur with antiquity, and of measuring value by age;
thus transferring to the past an admiration which otherwise they might
reserve for the present.
The connexion between these feelings and those which animate the clergy
is very evident. What the nobles are to politics, that are the priests
to religion. Both classes, constantly appealing to the voice of
antiquity, rely much on tradition, and make great account of upholding
established customs. Both take for granted that what is old is better
than what is new; and that in former times there were means of
discovering truths respecting government and theology which we, in these
degenerate ages, no longer possess. And it may be added, that the
similarity of their functions follows from the similarity of their
principles. Both are eminently protective, stationary, or, as they are
sometimes called, conservative. It is believed that the aristocracy
guard the state against revolution, and that the clergy keep the church
from error. The first are the enemies of reformers; the others are the
scourge of heretics.
It does not enter into the province of this Introduction to examine how
far these principles are reasonable, or to inquire into the propriety of
notions which suppose that, on certain subjects of immense importance,
men are to remain stationary, while on all other subjects they are
constantly advancing. But what I now rather wish to point out, is the
manner in which, in the reign of Elizabeth, the two great conservative
and protective classes were weakened by that vast movement, the
Reformation, which, though completed in the sixteenth century, had been
prepared by a long chain of intellectual antecedents.
Whatever the prejudices of some may suggest, it will be admitted, by all
unbiassed judges, that the Protestant Reformation was neither more nor
less than an open rebellion. Indeed, the mere mention of private
judgment, on which it was avowedly based, is enough to substantiate this
fact. To establish the right of private judgment, was to appeal from the
church to individuals; it was to increase the play of each man's
intellect; it was to test the opinions of the priesthood by the
opinions of laymen; it was, in fact, a rising of the scholars against
their teachers, of the ruled against their rulers. And although the
reformed clergy, as soon as they had organised themselves into a
hierarchy, did undoubtedly abandon the great principle with which they
started, and attempt to impose articles and canons of their own
contrivance, still, this ought not to blind us to the merits of the
Reformation itself. The tyranny of the Church of England, during the
reign of Elizabeth, and still more during the reigns of her two
successors, was but the natural consequence of that corruption which
power always begets in those who wield it, and does not lessen the
importance of the movement by which the power was originally obtained.
For men could not forget that, tried by the old theological theory, the
church of England was a schismatic establishment, and could only defend
itself from the charge of heresy by appealing to that private judgment,
to the exercise of which it owed its existence, but of the rights of
which its own proceedings were a constant infraction. It was evident
that if, in religious matters, private judgment were supreme, it became
a high spiritual crime to issue any articles, or to take any measure, by
which that judgment could be tied up; while, on the other hand, if the
right of private judgment were not supreme, the church of England was
guilty of apostacy, inasmuch as its founders did, by virtue of the
interpretation which their own private judgment made of the Bible,
abandon tenets which they had hitherto held, stigmatize those tenets as
idolatrous, and openly renounce their allegiance to what had for
centuries been venerated as the catholic and apostolic church.
This was a simple alternative; which might, indeed, be kept out of
sight, but could not be refined away, and most assuredly has never been
forgotten. The memory of the great truth it conveys was preserved by the
writings and teachings of the Puritans, and by those habits of thought
natural to an inquisitive age. And when the fulness of time had come, it
did not fail to bear its fruit. It continued slowly to fructify; and
before the middle of the seventeenth century, its seed had quickened
into a life, the energy of which nothing could withstand. That same
right of private judgment which the early Reformers had loudly
proclaimed, was now pushed to an extent fatal to those who opposed it.
This it was which, carried into politics, overturned the government,
and, carried into religion, upset the church.[344] For, rebellion and
heresy are but different forms of the same disregard of tradition, the
same bold and independent spirit. Both are of the nature of a protest
made by modern ideas against old associations. They are as a struggle
between the feelings of the present and the memory of the past. Without
the exercise of private judgment, such a contest could never take place;
the mere conception of it could not enter the minds of men, nor would
they even dream of controlling, by their individual energy, those abuses
to which all great societies are liable. It is, therefore, in the
highest degree natural that the exercise of this judgment should be
opposed by those two powerful classes who, from their position, their
interests, and the habits of their mind, are more prone than any other
to cherish antiquity, cleave to superannuated customs, and uphold
institutions which, to use their favourite language, have been
consecrated by the wisdom of their fathers.
[344] Clarendon (_Hist. of the Rebellion_, p. 80), in a very angry
spirit, but with perfect truth, notices (under the year 1640) the
connexion between 'a proud and venomous dislike against the
discipline of the church of England, and so by degrees (as the
progress is very natural) an equal irreverence to the government
of the state too.' The Spanish government, perhaps more than any
other in Europe, has understood this relation; and even so late
as 1789, an edict of Charles IV. declared, 'qu'il y a crime
d'hérésie dans tout ce qui tend, ou contribue, à propager les
idées révolutionnaires.' _Llorente_, _Hist. de l'Inquisition_,
vol. ii. p. 130.
From this point of view we are able to see with great clearness the
intimate connexion which, at the accession of Elizabeth, existed between
the English nobles and the Catholic clergy. Notwithstanding many
exceptions, an immense majority of both classes opposed the Reformation,
because it was based on that right of private judgment of which they,
as the protectors of old opinions, were the natural antagonists. All
this can excite no surprise; it was in the order of things, and strictly
accordant with the spirit of those two great sections of society.
Fortunately, however, for our country, the throne was now occupied by a
sovereign who was equal to the emergency, and who, instead of yielding
to the two classes, availed herself of the temper of the age to humble
them. The manner in which this was effected by Elizabeth, in respect,
first to the Catholic clergy, and afterwards to the Protestant
clergy,[345] forms one of the most interesting parts of our history; and
in an account of the reign of the great queen, I hope to examine it at
considerable length. At present, it will be sufficient to glance at her
policy towards the nobles--that other class with which the priesthood,
by their interests, opinions, and associations, have always much in
common.
[345] The general character of her policy towards the Protestant English
bishops is summed up very fairly by Collier; though he, as a
professional writer, is naturally displeased with her disregard
for the heads of the church. _Collier's Eccles. Hist. of Great
Britain_, vol. vii. pp. 257, 258, edit. Barham, 1840.
Elizabeth, at her accession to the throne, finding that the ancient
families adhered to the ancient religion, naturally called to her
councils advisers who were more likely to uphold the novelties on which
the age was bent. She selected men who, being little burdened by past
associations, were more inclined to favour present interests. The two
Bacons, the two Cecils, Knollys, Sadler, Smith, Throgmorton, Walsingham,
were the most eminent statesmen and diplomatists in her reign; but all
of them were commoners; only one did she raise to the peerage; and they
were certainly nowise remarkable, either for the rank of their immediate
connexions, or for the celebrity of their remote ancestors. They,
however, were recommended to Elizabeth by their great abilities, and by
their determination to uphold a religion which the ancient aristocracy
naturally opposed. And it is observable that, among the accusations
which the Catholics brought against the queen, they taunted her, not
only with forsaking the old religion, but also with neglecting the old
nobility.[346]
[346] One of the charges which, in 1588, Sixtus V. publicly brought
against Elizabeth, was, that 'she hath rejected and excluded the
ancient nobility, and promoted to honour obscure people.'
_Butler's Mem. of the Catholics_, vol. ii. p. 4. Persons also
reproaches her with her low-born ministers, and says that she was
influenced 'by five persons in particular--all of them sprung
from the earth--Bacon, Cecil, Dudley, Hatton, and Walsingham.'
_Butler_, vol. ii. p. 31. Cardinal Allen taunted her with
'disgracing the ancient nobility, erecting base and unworthy
persons to all the civil and ecclesiastical dignities.' _Dodd's
Church History_, edit. Tierney, 1840, vol. iii. appendix no. xii.
p. xlvi. The same influential writer, in his _Admonition_, said
that she had injured England, 'by great contempt and abasing of
the ancient nobility, repelling them from due government,
offices, and places of honour.' _Allen's Admonition to the
Nobility and People of England and Ireland_, 1588 (reprinted
London, 1842), p. xv. Compare the account of the Bull of 1588, in
_De Thou_, _Hist. Univ._ vol. x. p. 175: 'On accusoit Elisabeth
d'avoir au préjudice de la noblesse angloise élevé aux dignités,
tant civiles qu'ecclésiastiques, des hommes nouveaux, sans
naissance, et indignes de les posséder.'
Nor does it require much acquaintance with the history of the time to
see the justice of this charge. Whatever explanation we may choose to
give of the fact, it cannot be denied that, during the reign of
Elizabeth, there was an open and constant opposition between the nobles
and the executive government. The rebellion of 1569 was essentially an
aristocratic movement; it was a rising of the great families of the
north against what they considered the upstart and plebeian
administration of the queen.[347] The bitterest enemy of Elizabeth was
certainly Mary of Scotland; and the interests of Mary were publicly
defended by the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Northumberland, the Earl of
Westmoreland, and the Earl of Arundel; while there is reason to believe
that her cause was secretly favoured by the Marquis of Northampton, the
Earl of Pembroke, the Earl of Derby, the Earl of Cumberland, the Earl of
Shrewsbury, and the Earl of Sussex.[348]
[347] To the philosophic historian this rebellion, though not
sufficiently appreciated by ordinary writers, is a very important
study, because it is the last attempt ever made by the great
English families to establish their authority by force of arms.
Mr. Wright says, that probably all those who took a leading part
in it 'were allied by blood or intermarriage with the two
families of the Percies and Neviles.' _Wright's Elizabeth_, 1838,
vol. i. p. xxxiv.; a valuable work. See also, in _Parl. Hist._
vol. i. p. 730, a list of some of those who, in 1571, were
attainted on account of this rebellion, and who are said to be
'all of the best families in the north of England.'
But the most complete evidence we have respecting this struggle,
consists of the collection of original documents published in
1840 by Sir C. Sharpe, under the title of _Memorials of the
Rebellion of 1569_. They show very clearly the real nature of the
outbreak. On 17th November 1569, Sir George Bowes writes, that
the complaint of the insurgents was that 'there was certaine
counsellors cropen' (_i.e._ crept) 'in aboute the prince, which
had excluded the nobility from the prince,' &c., _Memorials_, p.
42; and the editor's note says that this is one of the charges
made in all the proclamations by the earls. Perhaps the most
curious proof of how notorious the policy of Elizabeth had
become, is contained in a friendly letter from Sussex to Cecil,
dated 5th January 1569 (_Memorials_, p. 137), one paragraph of
which begins, 'Of late years few young noblemen have been
employed in service.'
[348] _Hallam_, i. p. 130; _Lingard_, v. pp. 97, 102; _Turner_, xii.
pp. 245, 247.
The existence of this antagonism of interests could not escape the
sagacity of the English government. Cecil, who was the most powerful of
the ministers of Elizabeth, and who was at the head of affairs for forty
years, made it part of his business to study the genealogies and
material resources of the great families; and this he did, not out of
idle curiosity, but in order to increase his control over them, or, as a
great historian says, to let them know 'that his eye was upon
them.'[349] The queen herself, though too fond of power, was by no means
of a cruel disposition; but she seemed to delight in humbling the
nobles. On them her hand fell heavily; and there is hardly to be found a
single instance of her pardoning their offences, while she punished
several of them for acts which would now be considered no offences at
all. She was always unwilling to admit them to authority; and it is
unquestionably true that, taking them as a class, they were, during her
long and prosperous reign, treated with unusual disrespect. Indeed, so
clearly marked was her policy, that when the ducal order became extinct,
she refused to renew it; and a whole generation passed away to whom the
name of duke was a mere matter of history, a point to be mooted by
antiquaries, but with which the business of practical life had no
concern.[350] Whatever may be her other faults, she was on this subject
always consistent. Although she evinced the greatest anxiety to surround
the throne with men of ability, she cared little for those conventional
distinctions by which the minds of ordinary sovereigns are greatly
moved. She made no account of dignity of rank; she did not even care for
purity of blood. She valued men neither for the splendour of their
ancestry, nor for the length of their pedigrees, nor for the grandeur of
their titles. Such questions she left for her degenerate successors, to
the size of whose understandings they were admirably fitted. Our great
queen regulated her conduct by another standard. Her large and powerful
intellect, cultivated to its highest point by reflection and study,
taught her the true measure of affairs, and enabled her to see, that to
make a government flourish, its councillors must be men of ability and
of virtue; but that if these two conditions are fulfilled, the nobles
may be left to repose in the enjoyment of their leisure, unoppressed by
those cares of the state for which, with a few brilliant exceptions,
they are naturally disqualified by the number of their prejudices and by
the frivolity of their pursuits.
[349] _Hallam's Const. Hist._ vol. i. p. 241; an interesting passage.
Turner (_Hist. of England_, vol. xii. p. 237) says, that Cecil
'knew the tendency of the great lords to combine against the
crown, that they might reinstate the peerage in the power from
which the house of Tudor had depressed it.'
[350] In 1572 the order of dukes became extinct; and was not revived
till fifty years afterwards, when James I. made the miserable
Villiers, duke of Buckingham. _Blackstone's Commentaries_, vol.
i. p. 397. This evidently attracted attention; for Ben Jonson, in
one of his comedies in 1616, mentions 'the received heresy that
England bears no dukes.' _Jonson's Works_, edit. Gifford, 1816,
vol. v. p. 47, where Gifford, not being aware of the extinction
in 1572, has made an unsatisfactory note.
After the death of Elizabeth, an attempt was made, first by James, and
then by Charles, to revive the power of the two great protective
classes, the nobles and the clergy. But so admirably had the policy of
Elizabeth been supported by the general temper of the age, that it was
found impossible for the Stuarts to execute their mischievous plans. The
exercise of private judgment, both in religion and in politics, had
become so habitual, that these princes were unable to subjugate it to
their will. And as Charles I., with inconceivable blindness, and with an
obstinacy even greater than that of his father, persisted in adopting in
their worst forms the superannuated theories of protection, and
attempted to enforce a scheme of government which men from their
increasing independence were determined to reject, there inevitably
arose that memorable collision which is well termed The Great Rebellion
of England.[351] The analogy between this and the Protestant
Reformation, I have already noticed; but what we have now to consider,
and what, in the next chapter, I will endeavour to trace, is the nature
of the difference between our Rebellion, and those contemporary wars of
the Fronde, to which it was in some respects very similar.
[351] Clarendon (_Hist. of the Rebellion_, p. 216) truly calls it 'the
most prodigious and the boldest rebellion, that any age or
country ever brought forth.' See also some striking remarks in
_Warwick's Memoirs_, p. 207.
CHAPTER III.
THE ENERGY OF THE PROTECTIVE SPIRIT IN FRANCE EXPLAINS THE FAILURE OF
THE FRONDE. COMPARISON BETWEEN THE FRONDE AND THE CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH
REBELLION.
The object of the last chapter was to enquire into the origin of the
protective spirit. From the evidence there collected, it appears that
this spirit was first organized into a distinct secular form at the
close of the dark ages; but that, owing to circumstances which then
arose, it was, from the beginning, much less powerful in England than in
France. It has likewise appeared that, in our country, it continued to
lose ground; while in France, it early in the fourteenth century assumed
a new shape, and gave rise to a centralizing movement, manifested not
only in the civil and political institutions, but also in the social and
literary habits of the French nation. Thus far we seem to have cleared
the way for a proper understanding of the history of the two countries;
and I now purpose to follow this up a little further, and point out how
this difference explains the discrepancy between the civil wars of
England, and those which at the same time broke out in France.
Among the obvious circumstances connected with the Great English
Rebellion, the most remarkable is, that it was a war of classes as well
as of factions. From the beginning of the contest, the yeomanry and
traders adhered to the parliament;[352] the nobles and the clergy
rallied round the throne.[353] And the name given to the two parties, of
Roundheads[354] and Cavaliers,[355] proves that the true nature of this
opposition was generally known. It proves that men were aware that a
question was at issue, upon which England was divided, not so much by
the particular interests of individuals, as by the general interests of
the classes to which those individuals belonged.
[352] 'From the beginning it may be said that the yeomanry and trading
classes of towns were generally hostile to the king's side, even
in those counties which were in his military occupation; except
in a few, such as Cornwall, Worcester, Salop, and most of Wales,
where the prevailing sentiment was chiefly royalist.' _Hallam's
Const. Hist._ vol. i. p. 578. See also _Lingard's Hist. of
England_, vol. vi. p. 304; and _Alison's Hist. of Europe_,
vol. i. p. 49.
[353] On this division of classes, which, notwithstanding a few
exceptions, is undoubtedly true as a general fact, compare
_Memoirs of Sir P. Warwick_, p. 217; _Carlyle's Cromwell_, vol.
iii. p. 347; _Clarendon's Hist. of the Rebellion_, pp. 294, 297,
345, 346, 401, 476; _May's Hist. of the Long Parliament_, book i.
pp. 22, 64, book ii. p. 63, book iii. p. 78; _Hutchinson's
Memoirs_, p. 100; _Ludlow's Memoirs_, vol. i. p. 104, vol. iii.
p. 258; _Bulstrode's Memoirs_, p. 86.
[354] Lord Clarendon says, in his grand style, 'the rabble contemned and
despised under the name of roundheads.' _Hist. of the Rebellion_,
p. 136. This was in 1641, when the title appears to have been
first bestowed. See _Fairfax Corresp._ vol. ii. pp. 185, 320.
[355] Just before the battle of Edgehill, in 1642, Charles said to his
troops, 'You are called cavaliers in a reproachful
signification.' See the king's speech, in _Somers Tracts_, vol.
iv. p. 478. Directly after the battle, he accused his opponents
of 'rendering all persons of honour odious to the common people,
under the style of cavaliers.' _May's Hist. of the Long
Parliament_, book iii. p. 25.
But in the history of the French rebellion, there is no trace of so
large a division. The objects of the war were in both countries
precisely the same: the machinery by which those objects were attained
was very different. The Fronde was like our Rebellion, insomuch that it
was a struggle of the parliament against the crown; an attempt to secure
liberty, and raise up a barrier against the despotism of
government.[356] So far, and so long, as we merely take a view of
political objects, the parallel is complete. But the social and
intellectual antecedents of the French being very different from those
of the English, it necessarily followed that the shape which the
rebellion took should likewise be different, even though the motives
were the same. If we examine this divergence a little nearer, we shall
find that it is connected with the circumstance I have already
noticed--namely, that in England a war for liberty was accompanied by a
war of classes, while in France there was no war of classes at all. From
this it resulted, that in France the rebellion, being merely political,
and not, as with us, also social, took less hold of the public mind: it
was unaccompanied by those feelings of insubordination, in the absence
of which freedom has always been impossible; and, striking no root into
the national character, it could not save the country from that servile
state into which, a few years later, it, under the government of Louis
XIV. rapidly fell.
[356] M. Saint-Aulaire (_Hist. de la Fronde_, vol. i. p. v.) says, that
the object of the Frondeurs was, 'limiter l'autorité royale,
consacrer les principes de la liberté civile et en confier la
garde aux compagnies souveraines;' and at p. vi. he calls the
declaration of 1648, 'une véritable charte constitutionnelle.'
See also, at vol. i. p. 128, the concluding paragraph of the
speech of Omer Talon. Joly, who was much displeased at this
tendency, complains that in 1648, 'le peuple tomboit
imperceptiblement dans le sentiment dangereux, qu'il est naturel
et permis de se défendre et de s'armer contre la violence des
supérieurs.' _Mém. de Joly_, p. 15. Of the immediate objects
proposed by the Fronde, one was to diminish the taille, and
another was to obtain a law that no one should be kept in prison
more than twenty-four hours, 'sans être remis entre les mains du
parlement pour lui faire son procès s'il se trouvoit criminel ou
l'élargir s'il étoit innocent.' _Mém. de Montglat_, vol. ii. p.
135; _Mém. de Motteville_, vol. ii. p. 398; _Mém. de Retz_, vol.
i. p. 265; _Mém. d'Omer Talon_, vol. ii. pp. 224, 225, 240, 328.
That our Great Rebellion was, in its external form, a war of classes, is
one of those palpable facts which lie on the surface of history. At
first, the parliament[357] did indeed attempt to draw over to their side
some of the nobles; and in this they for a time succeeded. But as the
struggle advanced, the futility of this policy became evident. In the
natural order of the great movement, the nobles grew more loyal;[358]
the parliament grew more democratic.[359] And when it was clearly seen
that both parties were determined either to conquer or to die, this
antagonism of classes was too clearly marked to be misunderstood; the
perception which each had of its own interests being sharpened by the
magnitude of the stake for which they contended.
[357] I use the word 'parliament' in the sense given to it by writers of
that time, and not in the legal sense.
[358] In May 1642, there remained at Westminster forty-two peers,
_Hallam's Const. Hist._ vol. i. p. 559; but they gradually
abandoned the popular cause; and, according to _Parl. Hist._ vol.
iii. p. 1282, so dwindled, that eventually 'seldom more than five
or six' were present.
[359] These increasing democratic tendencies are most clearly indicated
in Walker's curious work, _The History of Independency_. See
among other passages, book i. p. 59. And Clarendon, under the
year 1644, says (_Hist. of the Rebellion_, p. 514): 'That violent
party, which had at first cozened the rest into the war, and
afterwards obstructed all the approaches towards peace, found now
that they had finished as much of their work as the tools which
they had wrought with could be applied to, and what remained to
be done must be despatched by new workmen.' What these new
workmen were, he afterwards explains, p. 641, to be 'the most
inferior people preferred to all places of trust and profit.'
Book xi. under the year 1648. Compare some good remarks by Mr.
Bell, in _Fairfax Correspond._ vol. iii. pp. 115, 116.
For, without burdening this Introduction with what may be read in our
common histories, it will be sufficient to remind the reader of a few of
the conspicuous events of that time. Just before the war began, the Earl
of Essex was appointed general of the parliamentary forces, with the
Earl of Bedford as his lieutenant. A commission to raise troops was
likewise given to the Earl of Manchester,[360] the only man of high rank
against whom Charles had displayed open enmity.[361] Notwithstanding
these marks of confidence, the nobles, in whom parliament was at first
disposed to trust, could not avoid showing the old leaven of their
order.[362] The Earl of Essex so conducted himself, as to inspire the
popular party with the greatest apprehensions of his treachery;[363] and
when the defence of London was intrusted to Waller, he so obstinately
refused to enter the name of that able officer in the commission, that
the Commons were obliged to insert it by virtue of their own authority,
and in spite of their own general.[364] The Earl of Bedford, though he
had received a military command, did not hesitate to abandon those who
conferred it. This apostate noble fled from Westminster to Oxford: but
finding that the king, who never forgave his enemies, did not receive
him with the favour he expected, he returned to London; where, though he
was allowed to remain in safety, it could not be supposed that he should
again experience the confidence of parliament.[365]
[360] This was after the appointments of Essex and Bedford, and was in
1643. _Ludlow's Mem._ vol. i. p. 58; _Carlyle's Cromwell_,
vol. i. p. 189.
[361] 'When the king attempted to arrest the five members, Manchester,
at that time Lord Kymbolton, was the only peer whom he impeached.
This circumstance endeared Kymbolton to the party; his own safety
bound him more closely to its interests.' _Lingard's England_,
vol. vi. p. 337. Compare _Clarendon_, p. 375; _Ludlow_, vol. i.
p. 20. It is also said that Lord Essex joined the popular party
from personal pique against the king. _Fairfax Corresp._
vol. iii. p. 37.
[362] Mr. Carlyle has made some very characteristic, but very just,
observations on the 'high Essexes and Manchesters of limited
notions and large estates.' _Carlyle's Cromwell_, vol. i. p. 215.
[363] _Ludlow's Memoirs_, vol. iii. p. 110; _Hutchinson's Memoirs_,
pp. 230, 231; _Harris's Lives of the Stuarts_, vol. iii. p. 106;
_Bulstrode's Memoirs_, pp. 112, 113, 119; _Clarendon's
Rebellion_, pp. 486, 514; or, as Lord North puts it, 'for General
Essex began now to appear to the private cabalists somewhat
wresty.' _North's Narrative of Passages relating to the Long
Parliament_, published in 1670, in _Somers Tracts_, vol. vi. p.
578. At p. 584, the same elegant writer says of Essex, 'being the
first person and last of the nobility employed by the parliament
in military affairs, which soon brought him to the period of his
life. And may he be an example to all future ages, to deter all
persons of like dignity from being instrumental in setting up a
democratical power, whose interest it is to keep down all persons
of his condition.' The 'Letter of Admonition' addressed to him by
parliament in 1644, is printed in _Parl. Hist._ vol. iii. p. 274.
[364] _Lingard's Hist. of England_, vol. vi. p. 318. See also, on the
hostility between Essex and Waller, _Walker's Hist. of
Independency_, part i. pp. 28, 29; and _Parl. Hist._ vol. iii. p.
177. Sir Philip Warwick (_Memoirs_, p. 254) contemptuously calls
Waller 'favourite-general of the city of London.'
[365] Compare _Hallam's Const. Hist._ vol. i. pp. 569, 570, with
_Bulstrode's Memoirs_, p. 96, and Lord Bedford's letter, in
_Parl. Hist._ vol. iii. pp. 189, 190. This shuffling letter
confirms the unfavourable account of the writer, which is given
in _Clarendon's Rebellion_, p. 422.
Such examples as these were not likely to lessen the distrust which both
parties felt for each other. It soon became evident that a war of
classes was unavoidable, and that the rebellion of the parliament
against the king must be reinforced by a rebellion of the people against
the nobles.[366] To this the popular party, whatever may have been their
first intention, now willingly agreed. In 1645 they enacted a law, by
which not only the Earl of Essex and the Earl of Manchester lost their
command, but all members of either house were made incapable of military
service.[367] And, only a week after the execution of the king, they
formally took away the legislative power of the peers; putting at the
same time on record their memorable opinion, that the House of Lords is
'useless, dangerous, and ought to be abolished.'[368]
[366] Dr. Bates, who had been physician to Cromwell, intimates that this
was foreseen from the beginning. He says, that the popular party
offered command to some of the nobles, 'not that they had any
respect for the lords, whom shortly they intended to turn out and
to level with the commoners, but that they might poison them with
their own venom, and rise to greater authority by drawing more
over to their side.' _Bates's Account of the late Troubles in
England_, part i. p. 76. Lord North too supposes, that almost
immediately after the war began, it was determined to dissolve
the House of Lords. See _Somers Tracts_, vol. vi. p. 582. Beyond
this, I am not aware of any direct early evidence; except that,
in 1644, Cromwell is alleged to have stated that 'there would
never be a good time in England till we had done with lords.'
_Carlyle's Cromwell_, vol. i. p. 217; and, what is evidently the
same circumstance, in _Holles's Memoirs_, p. 18.
[367] This was the 'Self-denying Ordinance,' which was introduced in
December, 1644; but, owing to the resistance of the peers, was
not carried until the subsequent April. _Parl. Hist._ vol. iii.
pp. 326-337, 340-343, 354, 355. See also _Mem. of Lord Holles_,
p. 30; _Mem. of Sir P. Warwick_, p. 283.
[368] On this great Epoch in the history of England, see _Parl. Hist._
vol. iii. p. 1284; _Hallam's Const. Hist._ vol. i. p. 643;
_Campbell's Chief-Justices_, vol. i. p. 424; _Ludlow's Mem._ vol.
i. p. 246; _Warwick's Mem._ pp. 182, 336, 352.
But we may find proofs still more convincing of the true character of
the English rebellion, if we consider who those were by whom it was
accomplished. This will show us the democratic nature of a movement
which lawyers and antiquaries have vainly attempted to shelter under the
form of constitutional precedent. Our great rebellion was the work, not
of men who looked behind, but of men who looked before. To attempt to
trace it to personal and temporary causes; to ascribe this unparalleled
outbreak to a dispute respecting ship-money, or to a quarrel about the
privileges of parliament, can only suit the habits of those historians
who see no further than the preamble of a statute, or the decision of a
judge. Such writers forget that the trial of Hampden, and the
impeachment of the five members, could have produced no effect on the
country, unless the people had already been prepared, and unless the
spirit of inquiry and insubordination had so increased the discontents
of men, as to put them in a state, where, the train being laid, the
slightest spark sufficed to kindle a conflagration.
The truth is, that the rebellion was an outbreak of the democratic
spirit. It was the political form of a movement, of which the
Reformation was the religious form. As the Reformation was aided, not by
men in high ecclesiastical offices, not by great cardinals or wealthy
bishops, but by men filling the lowest and most subordinate posts, just
so was the English rebellion a movement from below, an uprising from the
foundations, or as some will have it, the dregs of society. The few
persons of high rank who adhered to the popular cause were quickly
discarded, and the ease and rapidity with which they fell off was a
clear indication of the turn that things were taking. Directly the army
was freed from its noble leaders, and supplied with officers drawn from
the lower classes, the fortune of war changed, the royalists were every
where defeated, and the king made prisoner by his own subjects. Between
his capture and execution, the two most important political events were
his abduction by Joyce, and the forcible expulsion from the House of
Commons of those members who were thought likely to interfere in his
favour. Both these decisive steps were taken, and indeed only could have
been taken, by men of great personal influence, and of a bold and
resolute spirit. Joyce, who carried off the king, and who was highly
respected in the army, had, however, been recently a common working
tailor;[369] while Colonel Pride, whose name is preserved in history as
having purged the House of Commons of the malignants, was about on a
level with Joyce, since his original occupation was that of a
drayman.[370] The tailor and the drayman were, in that age, strong
enough to direct the course of public affairs, and to win for themselves
a conspicuous position in the state. After the execution of Charles, the
same tendency was displayed, the old monarchy being destroyed, that
small but active party known as the fifth-monarchy men increased in
importance, and for a time exercised considerable influence. Their three
principal and most distinguished members were Venner, Tuffnel, and Okey.
Venner, who was the leader, was a wine-cooper;[371] Tuffnel, who was
second in command, was a carpenter;[372] and Okey, though he became a
colonel, had filled the menial office of stoker in an Islington
brewery.[373]
[369] 'Cornet Joyce, who was one of the agitators in the army, a tailor,
a fellow who had two or three years before served in a very
inferior employment in Mr. Hollis's house.' _Clarendon's
Rebellion_, p. 612. 'A shrewd tailor-man.' _D'Israeli's
Commentaries on the Reign of Charles I._, 1851, vol. ii. p. 466.
[370] Ludlow (_Memoirs_, vol. ii. p. 139); Noble (_Memoirs of the House
of Cromwell_, vol. ii. p. 470); and Winstanley (_Loyal
Martyrology_, edit. 1665, p. 108), mention that Pride had been a
drayman. It is said that Cromwell, in ridicule of the old
distinctions, conferred knighthood on him 'with a faggot.'
_Orme's Life of Owen_, p. 164; _Harris's Lives of the Stuarts_,
vol. iii. p. 478.
[371] 'The fifth-monarchy, headed mainly by one Venner, a wine-cooper.'
_Carlyle's Cromwell_, vol. iii. p. 282. 'Venner, a wine-cooper.'
_Lister's Life and Corresp. of Clarendon_, vol. ii. p. 62.
[372] 'The second to Venner was one Tuffnel a carpenter living in Gray's
Inn Lane.' _Winstanley's Martyrology_, p. 163.
[373] 'He was stoaker in a brewhouse at Islington, and next a most poor
chandler near Lion-Key, in Thames Street.' _Parl. Hist._ vol.
iii. p. 1605. See also _Winstanley's Martyrology_, p. 122.
Nor are these to be regarded as exceptional cases. In that period,
promotion depended solely on merit; and if a man had ability he was sure
to rise, no matter what his birth or former avocations might have been.
Cromwell himself was a brewer;[374] and Colonel Jones, his
brother-in-law, had been servant to a private gentleman.[375] Deane was
the servant of a tradesman; but he became an admiral, and was made one
of the commissioners of the navy.[376] Colonel Goffe had been apprentice
to a drysalter;[377] Major-general Whalley had been apprentice to a
draper.[378] Skippon, a common soldier who had received no
education,[379] was appointed commander of the London militia; he was
raised to the office of sergeant-major-general of the army; he was
declared commander-in-chief in Ireland; and he became one of the
fourteen members of Cromwell's council.[380] Two of the lieutenants of
the Tower were Berkstead and Tichborne. Berkstead was a pedlar, or at
all events a hawker of small wares;[381] and Tichborne, who was a
linendraper, not only received the lieutenancy of the Tower, but became
a colonel, and a member of the committee of state in 1655, and of the
council of state in 1659.[382] Other trades were equally successful; the
highest prizes being open to all men, provided they displayed the
requisite capacity. Colonel Harvey was a silk-mercer;[383] so was
Colonel Rowe;[384] so also was Colonel Venn.[385] Salway had been
apprentice to a grocer, but, being an able man, he rose to the rank of
major in the army; he received the king's remembrancer's office; and in
1659 he was appointed by parliament a member of the council of
state.[386] Around that council-board were also gathered Bond the
draper,[387] and Cawley the brewer;[388] while by their side we find
John Berners, who is said to have been a private servant,[389] and
Cornelius Holland, who is known to have been a servant, and who was,
indeed, formerly a link-boy.[390] Among others who were now favoured and
promoted to offices of trust, were Packe the woollen-draper,[391] Pury
the weaver,[392] and Pemble the tailor.[393] The parliament which was
summoned in 1653 is still remembered as Barebone's parliament, being so
called after one of its most active members, whose name was Barebone,
and who was a leather-seller in Fleet Street.[394] Thus too, Downing,
though a poor charity-boy,[395] became teller of the exchequer, and
representative of England at the Hague.[396] To these we may add, that
Colonel Horton had been a gentleman's servant;[397] Colonel Berry had
been a woodmonger;[398] Colonel Cooper a haberdasher;[399] Major Rolfe
a shoemaker;[400] Colonel Fox a tinker;[401] and Colonel Hewson a
cobbler.[402]
[374] Some of the clumsy eulogists of Cromwell wish to suppress the fact
of his being a brewer; but that he really practised that useful
trade is attested by a variety of evidence, and is distinctly
stated by his own physician, Dr. Bates. _Bates's Troubles in
England_, vol. ii. p. 238. See also _Walker's History of
Independency_, part i. p. 32, part ii. p. 25, part iii. p. 37;
_Noble's House of Cromwell_, vol. i. pp. 328-331. Other passages,
which I cannot now call to mind, will occur to those who have
studied the literature of the time.
[375] 'John Jones, at first a serving-man, then a colonel of the Long
Parliament, ... married the Protector's sister.' _Parl. Hist._
vol. iii. p. 1600. 'A serving-man; ... in process of time married
one of Cromwell's sisters.' _Winstanley's Martyrology_, p. 125.
[376] 'Richard Deane, Esq., is said to have been a servant to one
Button, a toyman in Ipswich, and to have himself been the son of
a person in the same employment; ... was appointed one of the
commissioners of the navy with Popham and Blake, and in April
(1649) he became an admiral and general at sea.' _Noble's Lives
of the Regicides_, vol. i. pp. 172, 173. Winstanley (_Martyrol._
p. 121) also says that Deane was 'servant in Ipswich.'
[377] 'Apprentice to one Vaughan a dry-salter.' _Noble's House of
Cromwell_, vol. ii. p. 507: and see his _Regicides_, vol. i.
p. 255.
[378] 'Bound apprentice to a woollen-draper.' _Winstanley's Martyr._
p. 108. He afterwards set up in the same trade for himself; but
with little success, for Dr. Bates (_Troubles in England_, vol.
ii. p. 222) calls him 'a broken clothier.'
[379] 'Altogether illiterate.' _Clarendon's Rebellion_, p. 152. Two
extraordinary speeches by him are preserved in _Burton's Diary_,
vol. i. pp. 24, 25, 48-50.
[380] _Holles's Mem._ p. 82; _Ludlow's Mem._ vol. ii. p. 39; and a
letter from Fairfax in _Cary's Memorials of the Civil War_, 1842,
vol. i. p. 413.
[381] 'Berkstead, who heretofore sold needles, bodkins, and thimbles,
and would have run on an errand any where for a little money; but
who now by Cromwell was preferred to the honourable charge of
lieutenant of the Tower of London.' _Bates's Account of the
Troubles_, part ii. p. 222.
[382] _Noble's Regicides_, vol. ii. pp. 272, 273. Lord Holles
(_Memoirs_, p. 174) also mentions that he was 'a linen-draper.'
[383] 'Edward Harvy, late a poor silk-man, now colonel, and hath got the
Bishop of London's house and manor of Fulham.' _Walker's
Independency_, part i. p. 170. 'One Harvey, a decayed silk-man,'
_Clarendon's Rebellion_, p. 418.
[384] Owen Rowe, 'put to the trade of a silk-mercer, ... went into the
parliament army, and became a colonel.' _Noble's Regicides_,
vol. ii. p. 150.
[385] 'A silkman in London; ... went into the army, and rose to the rank
of colonel.' _Noble's Regicides_, vol. ii. p. 283. 'A broken
silk-man in Cheapside.' _Winstanley's Martyrol._ p. 130.
[386] _Walker's Independency_, part i. p. 143; _Parl. Hist._ vol. iii.
p. 1608; _Ludlow's Mem._ vol. ii. pp. 241, 259; _Noble's
Regicides_, vol. ii. pp. 158, 162.
[387] He was 'a woollen-draper at Dorchester,' and was 'one of the
council of state in 1649 and 1651.' _Noble's Regicides_, vol. i.
p. 99: see also _Parl. Hist._ vol. iii. p. 1594.
[388] 'A brewer in Chichester; ... in 1650-1 he was appointed one of the
council of state.' _Noble's Regicides_, vol. i. p. 136. 'William
Cawley, a brewer of Chichester.' _Winstanley's Martyrol._ p. 138.
[389] John Berners, 'supposed to have been originally a serving-man,'
was 'one of the council of state in 1659,' _Noble's Regicides_,
vol. i. p. 90.
[390] 'Holland the link-boy,' _Walker's Independency_, part iii. p. 37.
'He was originally nothing more than a servant to Sir Henry Vane;
... upon the establishment of the Commonwealth, he was made one
of the council of state in 1649, and again in 1650.' _Noble's
Regicides_, vol. i. pp. 357, 358.
[391] _Noble's Mem. of Cromwell_, vol. ii. p. 502.
[392] _Walker's Hist. of Independency_, part i. p. 167.
[393] _Ellis's Original Letters illustrative of English History_, third
series, vol. iv. p. 219, Lond. 1846.
[394] _Parl. Hist._ vol. iii. p. 1407; _Rose's Biog. Dict._ vol. iii.
p. 172; _Clarendon's Rebellion_, p. 794.
[395] 'A poor child bred upon charity.' _Harris's Stuarts_, vol. v. p.
281. 'A man of an obscure birth, and more obscure education.'
_Clarendon's Life of Himself_, p. 1116.
[396] See _Vaughan's Cromwell_, vol. i. pp. 227, 228, vol. ii. pp. 299,
302, 433; _Lister's Life and Corresp. of Clarendon_, vol. ii. p.
231, vol. iii. p. 134. The common opinion is, that he was the son
of a clergyman at Hackney; but if so, he was probably
illegitimate, considering the way he was brought up. However, his
Hackney origin is very doubtful, and no one appears to know who
his father was. See _Notes and Queries_, vol. iii. pp. 69, 213.
[397] _Noble's Regicides_, vol. i. p. 362. Cromwell had a great regard
for this remarkable man, who not only distinguished himself as a
soldier, but, judging from a letter of his recently published,
appears to have repaired the deficiencies of his early education.
See _Fairfax Correspond._ vol. iv. pp. 22-25, 108. There never
has been a period in the history of England in which so many men
of natural ability were employed in the public service as during
the Commonwealth.
[398] _Noble's House of Cromwell_, vol. ii. p. 507.
[399] _Noble's Cromwell_, vol. ii. p. 518; _Bates's Troubles_, vol. ii.
p. 222.
[400] _Bates's Late Troubles_, vol. i. p. 87; _Ludlow's Mem._ vol. i.
p. 220.
[401] _Walker's Hist. of Independency_, part ii. p. 87.
[402] Ludlow who was well acquainted with Colonel Hewson, says that he
'had been a shoemaker.' _Ludlow's Memoirs_, vol. ii. p. 139. But
this is the amiable partiality of a friend; and there is no doubt
that the gallant colonel was neither more nor less than a
cobbler. See _Walker's Independency_, part ii. p. 39;
_Winstanley's Martyrol._ p. 123; _Bates's Late Troubles_, vol.
ii. p. 222; _Noble's Cromwell_, vol. ii. pp. 251, 345, 470.
Such were the leaders of the English rebellion, or to speak more
properly, such were the instruments by which the rebellion was
consummated.[403] If we now turn to France, we shall clearly see the
difference between the feelings and temper of the two nations. In that
country, the old protective spirit still retained its activity; and the
people, being kept in a state of pupilage, had not acquired those habits
of self-command and self-reliance, by which alone great things can be
effected. They had been so long accustomed to look with timid reverence
to the upper classes, that, even when they rose in arms, they could not
throw off the ideas of submission which were quickly discarded by our
ancestors. The influence of the higher ranks was, in England,
constantly diminishing; in France, it was scarcely impaired. Hence it
happened that, although the English and French rebellions were
contemporary, and, in their origin, aimed at precisely the same objects,
they were distinguished by one most important difference. This was, that
the English rebels were headed by popular leaders; the French rebels by
noble leaders. The bold and sturdy habits which had long been cultivated
in England, enabled the middle and lower classes to supply their own
chiefs out of their own ranks. In France such chiefs were not to be
found; simply because, owing to the protective spirit, such habits had
not been cultivated. While, therefore, in our island, the functions of
civil government, and of war, were conducted with conspicuous ability,
and complete success, by butchers, by bakers, by brewers, by cobblers,
and by tinkers, the struggle which, at the same moment, was going on in
France, presented an appearance totally different. In that country, the
rebellion was headed by men of a far higher standing; men, indeed, of
the longest and most illustrious lineage. There, to be sure, was a
display of unexampled splendour; a galaxy of rank, a noble assemblage of
aristocratic insurgents and titled demagogues. There was the Prince de
Condé, the Prince de Conti, the Prince de Marsillac, the Duke de
Bouillon, the Duke de Beaufort, the Duke de Longueville, the Duke de
Chevreuse, the Duke de Nemours, the Duke de Luynes, the Duke de Brissac,
the Duke d'Elb[oe]uf, the Duke de Candale, the Duke de la Tremouille,
the Marquis de la Boulaye, the Marquis de Laigues, the Marquis de
Noirmoutier, the Marquis de Vitry, the Marquis de Fosseuse, the Marquis
de Sillery, the Marquis d'Estissac, the Marquis d'Hocquincourt, the
Count de Rantzau, the Count de Montresor.
[403] Walker, who relates what he himself witnessed, says, that, about
1649, the army was commanded by 'colonels and superior officers,
who lord it in their gilt coaches, rich apparel, costly
feastings; though some of them led dray-horses, wore
leather-pelts, and were never able to name their own fathers or
mothers.' _Hist. of Independ._ part ii. p. 244. The _Mercurius
Rusticus_, 1647, says, 'Chelmsford was governed by a tinker, two
cobblers, two tailors, two pedlars.' _Southey's Commonplace
Book_, third series, 1850, p. 430. And, at p. 434, another work,
in 1647, makes a similar statement in regard to Cambridge; while
Lord Holles assures us, that 'most of the colonels and officers
(were) mean tradesmen, brewers, taylors, goldsmiths, shoe-makers,
and the like.' _Holles's Memoirs_, p. 149. When Whitelocke was in
Sweden in 1653, the prætor of one of the towns abused the
parliament, saying, 'that they killed their king, and were a
company of taylors and cobblers.' _Whitelocke's Swedish Embassy_,
vol. i. p. 205. See also note in _Carwithen's Hist. of the Church
of England_, vol. ii. p. 156.
These were the leaders of the Fronde;[404] and the mere announcement of
their names indicate the difference between the French and English
rebellions. And, in consequence of this difference, there followed some
results, which are well worth the attention of those writers who, in
their ignorance of the progress of human affairs, seek to uphold that
aristocratic power, which, fortunately for the interests of mankind, has
long been waning; and which, during the last seventy years has, in the
most civilized countries, received such severe and repeated shocks, that
its ultimate fate is hardly a matter respecting which much doubt can now
be entertained.
[404] Even De Retz, who vainly attempted to organise a popular party,
found that it was impossible to take any step without the nobles;
and, notwithstanding his democratic tendencies, he, in 1648,
thought it advisable 'tâcher d'engager dans les intérêts publics
les personnes de qualité.' _Mém. de Joly_, p. 31.
The English rebellion was headed by men, whose tastes, habits, and
associations, being altogether popular, formed a bond of sympathy
between them and the people, and preserved the union of the whole party.
In France the sympathy was very weak, and therefore, the union was very
precarious. What sort of sympathy could there be between the mechanic
and the peasant, toiling for their daily bread, and the rich and
dissolute noble, whose life was passed in those idle and frivolous
pursuits which debased his mind, and made his order a byword and a
reproach among the nations? To talk of sympathy existing between the two
classes is a manifest absurdity, and most assuredly would have been
deemed an insult by those high-born men, who treated their inferiors
with habitual and insolent contempt. It is true, that, from causes which
have been already stated, the people did, unhappily for themselves, look
up to those above them with the greatest veneration;[405] but every page
of French history proves how unworthily this feeling was reciprocated,
and in how complete a thraldom the lower classes were kept. While,
therefore, the French, from their long-established habits of dependence,
were become incapable of conducting their own rebellion, and, on that
account, were obliged to place themselves under the command of their
nobles, this very necessity confirmed the servility which caused it; and
thus stunting the growth of freedom, prevented the nation from
effecting, by their civil wars, those great things which we, in England,
were able to bring about by ours.
[405] Mably (_Observations sur l'Hist. de France_, vol. i. p. 357)
frankly says, 'L'exemple d'un grand a toujours été plus
contagieux chez les Français que partout ailleurs.' See also vol.
ii. p. 267: 'Jamais l'exemple des grands n'a été aussi contagieux
ailleurs qu'en France; on dirait qu'ils ont le malheureux
privilège de tout justifier.' Rivarol, though his opinions on
other points were entirely opposed to those of Mably, says, that,
in France, 'la noblesse est aux yeux du peuple une espèce de
religion, dont les gentilshommes sont les prêtres.' _Mém. de
Rivarol_, p. 94. Happily, the French Revolution, or rather the
circumstances which caused the French Revolution, have utterly
destroyed this ignominious homage.
Indeed, it is only necessary to read the French literature of the
seventeenth century, to see the incompatibility of the two classes, and
the utter hopelessness of fusing into one party the popular and
aristocratic spirit. While the object of the people was to free
themselves from the yoke, the object of the nobles was merely to find
new sources of excitement,[406] and minister to that personal vanity for
which, as a body, they have always been notorious. As this is a
department of history that has been little studied, it will be
interesting to collect a few instances, which will illustrate the temper
of the French aristocracy, and will show what sort of honours, and what
manner of distinctions, those were which this powerful class was most
anxious to obtain.
[406] The Duke de la Rochefoucauld candidly admits that, in 1649, the
nobles raised a civil war, 'avec d'autant plus de haleur que
c'était une nouveauté.' _Mém. de Rochefoucauld_, vol. i. p. 406.
Thus too Lemontey (_Etablissement de Louis XIV_, p. 368): 'La
vieille noblesse, qui ne savait que combattre, faisait la guerre
par goût, par besoin, par vanité, par ennui.' Compare, in _Mém.
d'Omer Talon_, vol. ii. pp. 467, 468, a summary of the reasons
which, in 1649, induced the nobles to go to war; and on the way
in which their frivolity debased the Fronde, see _Lavallée_,
_Hist. des Français_, vol. iii. pp. 169, 170.
That the objects chiefly coveted were of a very trifling description,
will be anticipated by whoever has studied the effect which, in an
immense majority of minds, hereditary distinctions produce upon personal
character. How pernicious such distinctions are, may be clearly seen in
the history of all the European aristocracies; and in the notorious
fact, that none of them have preserved even a mediocrity of talent,
except in countries where they are frequently invigorated by the
infusion of plebeian blood, and their order strengthened by the
accession of those masculine energies which are natural to men who make
their own position, but cannot be looked for in men whose position is
made for them. For, when the notion is once firmly implanted in the
mind, that the source of honour is from without, rather than from
within, it must invariably happen that the possession of external
distinction will be preferred to the sense of internal power. In such
cases, the majesty of the human intellect, and the dignity of human
knowledge, are considered subordinate to those mock and spurious
gradations by which weak men measure the degrees of their own
littleness. Hence it is, that the real precedence of things becomes
altogether reversed; that which is trifling is valued more than that
which is great; and the mind is enervated by conforming to a false
standard of merit, which its own prejudices have raised. On this
account, they are evidently in the wrong who reproach the nobles with
their pride, as if it were a characteristic of their order. The truth
is, that if pride were once established among them, their extinction
would rapidly follow. To talk of the pride of hereditary rank, is a
contradiction in terms. Pride depends on the consciousness of
self-applause; vanity is fed by the applause of others. Pride is a
reserved and lofty passion, which disdains those external distinctions
that vanity eagerly grasps. The proud man sees in his own mind, the
source of his own dignity; which, as he well knows, can be neither
increased or diminished by any acts except those which proceed solely
from himself. The vain man, restless, insatiable, and always craving
after the admiration of his contemporaries, must naturally make great
account of those external marks, those visible tokens, which, whether
they be decorations or titles, strike directly on the senses, and thus
captivate the vulgar, to whose understandings they are immediately
obvious. This, therefore, being the great distinction, that pride looks
within, while vanity looks without, it is clear that when a man values
himself for a rank which he inherited by chance, without exertion, and
without merit, it is a proof, not of pride, but of vanity, and of vanity
of the most despicable kind. It is a proof that such a man has no sense
of real dignity, no idea of what that is in which alone all greatness
consists. What marvel if, to minds of this sort, the most insignificant
trifles should swell into matters of the highest importance? What marvel
if such empty understandings should be busied with ribbons, and stars,
and crosses; if this noble should yearn after the Garter, and that noble
pine for the Golden Fleece; if one man should long to carry a wand in
the precincts of the court, and another man to fill an office in the
royal household; while the ambition of a third is to make his daughter a
maid-of-honour, or to raise his wife to be mistress of the robes?
We, seeing these things, ought not to be surprised that the French
nobles, in the seventeenth century, displayed, in their intrigues and
disputes, a frivolity, which, though redeemed by occasional exceptions,
is the natural characteristic of every hereditary aristocracy. A few
examples of this will suffice to give the reader some idea of the tastes
and temper of that powerful class which, during several centuries,
retarded the progress of French civilization.
Of all the questions on which the French nobles were divided, the most
important was that touching the right of sitting in the royal presence.
This was considered to be a matter of such gravity, that, in comparison
with it, a mere struggle for liberty faded into insignificance. And what
made it still more exciting to the minds of the nobles was, the extreme
difficulty with which this great social problem was beset. According to
the ancient etiquette of the French court, if a man were a duke, his
wife might sit in the presence of the queen; but if his rank were
inferior, even if he were a marquis, no such liberty could be
allowed.[407] So far, the rule was very simple, and, to the duchesses
themselves, highly agreeable. But the marquises, the counts, and the
other illustrious nobles, were uneasy at this invidious distinction, and
exerted all their energies to procure for their own wives the same
honour. This the dukes strenuously resisted; but, owing to circumstances
which unfortunately are not fully understood, an innovation was made in
the reign of Louis XIII., and the privilege of sitting in the same room
with the queen was conceded to the female members of the Bouillon
family.[408] In consequence of this evil precedent, the question became
seriously complicated, since other members of the aristocracy considered
that the purity of their descent gave them claims nowise inferior to
those of the house of Bouillon, whose antiquity, they said, had been
grossly exaggerated. The contest which ensued, had the effect of
breaking up the nobles into two hostile parties, one of which sought to
preserve that exclusive privilege in which the other wished to
participate. To reconcile these rival pretensions, various expedients
were suggested; but all were in vain, and the court, during the
administration of Mazarin, being pressed by the fear of a rebellion,
showed symptoms of giving way, and of yielding to the inferior nobles
the point they so ardently desired. In 1648 and 1649, the queen-regent,
acting under the advice of her council, formally conceded the right of
sitting in the royal presence to the three most distinguished members of
the lower aristocracy, namely, the Countess de Fleix, Madame de Pons,
and the Princess de Marsillac.[409] Scarcely had this decision been
promulgated, when the princes of the blood and the peers of the realm
were thrown into the greatest agitation.[410] They immediately summoned
to the capital those members of their own order who were interested in
repelling this daring aggression, and, forming themselves into an
assembly, they at once adopted measures to vindicate their ancient
rights.[411] On the other hand, the inferior nobles, flushed by their
recent success, insisted that the concession just made should be raised
into a precedent; and that, as the honour of being seated in the
presence of majesty had been conceded to the house of Foix, in the
person of the Countess de Fleix, it should likewise be granted to all
those who could prove that their ancestry was equally illustrious.[412]
The greatest confusion now arose; and both sides urgently insisting on
their own claims, there was, for many months, imminent danger lest the
question should be decided by an appeal to the sword.[413] But as the
higher nobles, though less numerous than their opponents, were more
powerful, the dispute was finally settled in their favour. The queen
sent to their assembly a formal message, which was conveyed by four of
the marshals of France, and in which she promised to revoke those
privileges, the concession of which had given such offence to the most
illustrious members of the French aristocracy. At the same time, the
marshals not only pledged themselves as responsible for the promise of
the queen, but undertook to sign an agreement that they would personally
superintend its execution.[414] The nobles, however, who felt that they
had been aggrieved in their most tender point, were not yet satisfied,
and, to appease them, it was necessary that the atonement should be as
public as the injury. It was found necessary, before they would
peaceably disperse, that government should issue a document, signed by
the queen-regent, and by the four secretaries of state,[415] in which
the favours granted to the unprivileged nobility were withdrawn, and the
much-cherished honour of sitting in the royal presence was taken away
from the Princess de Marsillac, from Madame de Pons, and from the
Countess de Fleix.[416]
[407] Hence the duchesses were called 'femmes assises;' those of lower
rank 'non assises.' _Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil_, vol. i. p. 111.
The Count de Ségur tells us that 'les duchesses jouissaient de la
prérogative d'être assises sur un tabouret chez la reine.' _Mém.
de Ségur_, vol. i. p. 79. The importance attached to this is
amusingly illustrated in _Mém. de Saint-Simon_, vol. iii. pp.
215-218, Paris, 1842; which should be compared with _De
Tocqueville_, _Règne de Louis XV_, vol. ii. p. 116, and _Mém. de
Genlis_, vol. x. p. 383.
[408] 'Survint incontinent une autre difficulté à la cour sur le sujet
des tabourets, que doivent avoir les dames dans la chambre de la
reine; car encore que cela ne s'accorde régulièrement qu'aux
duchesses, néanmoins le feu roi Louis XIII l'avoit accordé aux
filles de la maison de Bouillon,' &c. _Mém. d'Omer Talon_, vol.
iii. p. 5. See also, on this encroachment on the rights of the
duchesses under Louis XIII., the case of Séguier, in _Duclos_,
_Mémoires Secrets_, vol. i. pp. 360, 361. The consequences of the
innovation were very serious; and Tallemant des Réaux
(_Historiettes_, vol. iii. pp. 223, 224) mentions a distinguished
lady, of whom he says, 'Pour satisfaire son ambition, il lui
falloit un tabouret: elle cabale pour épouser le vieux Bouillon
La Marck veuf pour la seconde fois.' In this she failed; but,
determined not to be baffled, 'elle ne se rebute point, et
voulant à toute force avoir un tabouret, elle épouse le fils aîné
du duc de Villars: c'est un ridicule de corps et d'esprit, car il
est bossu et quasi imbécile, et gueux par-dessus cela.' This
melancholy event happened in 1649.
[409] As to the Countess de Fleix and Madame de Pons, see _Mém. de
Motteville_, vol. iii. pp. 116, 369. According to the same high
authority (vol. iii. p. 367), the inferiority of the Princess de
Marsillac consisted in the painful fact, that her husband was
merely the son of a duke, and the duke himself was still alive
'il n'étoit que gentilhomme, et son père le duc de la
Rochefoucauld n'étoit pas mort.'
[410] The long account of these proceedings in _Mém. de Motteville_,
vol. iii. pp. 367-393, shows the importance attached to them by
contemporary opinion.
[411] In October 1649, 'la noblesse s'assembla à Paris sur le fait des
tabourets,' _Mém. de Lenet_, vol. i. p. 184.
[412] 'Tous ceux donc qui par leurs aïeux avoient dans leurs maisons de
la grandeur, par des alliances des femmes descendues de ceux qui
étoient autrefois maîtres et souverains des provinces de France,
demandèrent la même prérogative que celle qui venoit d'être
accordée au sang de Foix.' _Mém. de Motteville_, vol. iii. p.
117. Another contemporary says: 'Cette prétention émut toutes les
maisons de la cour sur cette différence et inégalité.' _Mém.
d'Omer Talon_, vol. iii. p. 6; and vol. ii. p. 437: 'le marquis
de Noirmoutier et celui de Vitry demandoient le tabouret pour
leurs femmes.'
[413] Indeed, at one moment, it was determined that a
counter-demonstration should be made on the part of the inferior
nobles; a proceeding which, if adopted, must have caused civil
war: 'Nous résolûmes une contre-assemblée de noblesse pour
soutenir le tabouret de la maison de Rohan.' _De Retz_,
_Mémoires_, vol. i. p. 284.
[414] _Mém. de Motteville_, vol. iii. p. 389.
[415] 'Signé d'elle et des quatre secrétaires d'état.' _Ibid._ vol. iii.
p. 391.
[416] The best accounts of this great struggle will be found in the
_Memoirs of Madame de Motteville_, and in those of Omer Talon;
two writers of very different minds, but both of them deeply
impressed with the magnitude of the contest.
These were the subjects which occupied the minds and wasted the
energies, of the French nobles, while their country was distracted by
civil war, and while questions were at issue of the greatest
importance--questions concerning the liberty of the nation, and the
reconstruction of the government.[417] It is hardly necessary to point
out how unfit such men must have been to head the people in their
arduous struggle, and how immense was the difference between them and
the leaders of the great English Rebellion. The causes of the failure of
the Fronde are, indeed, obvious, when we consider that its chiefs were
drawn from that very class respecting whose tastes and feelings some
evidence has just been given.[418] How that evidence might be almost
indefinitely extended, is well known to readers of the French memoirs of
the seventeenth century--a class of works which, being mostly written
either by the nobles or their adherents, supplies the best materials
from which an opinion may be formed. In looking into these authorities,
where such matters are related with a becoming sense of their
importance, we find the greatest difficulties and disputes arising as to
who was to have an arm-chair at court;[419] who was to be invited to
the royal dinners, and who was to be excluded from them;[420] who was to
be kissed by the queen, and who was not to be kissed by her;[421] who
should have the first seat in church;[422] what the proper proportion
was between the rank of different persons, and the length of the cloth
on which they were allowed to stand;[423] what was the dignity a noble
must have attained, in order to justify his entering the Louvre in a
coach;[424] who was to have precedence at coronations;[425] whether all
dukes were equal, or whether, as some thought, the Duke de Bouillon,
having once possessed the sovereignty of Sedan, was superior to the Duke
de la Rochefoucauld, who had never possessed any sovereignty at
all;[426] whether the Duke de Beaufort ought or ought not to enter the
council-chamber before the Duke de Nemours, and whether, being there, he
ought to sit above him.[427] These were the great questions of the day:
while, as if to exhaust every form of absurdity, the most serious
misunderstandings arose as to who should have the honour of giving the
king his napkin as he ate his meals[428] and who was to enjoy the
inestimable privilege of helping on the queen with her shift.[429]
[417] Saint-Aulaire (_Hist. de la Fronde_, vol. i. p. 317) says, that in
this same year (1649), 'l'esprit de discussion fermentait dans
toutes les têtes, et chacun à cette époque soumettait les actes
de l'autorité à un examen raisonné.' Thus, too, in _Mém. de
Montglat_, under 1649, 'on ne parlait publiquement dans Paris que
de république et de liberté,' vol. ii. p. 186. In 1648, 'effusa
est contemptio super principes.' _Mém. d'Omer Talon_, vol. ii.
p. 271.
[418] That the failure of the Fronde is not to be ascribed to the
inconstancy of the people, is admitted by De Retz, by far the
ablest observer of his time: 'Vous vous étonnerez peut-être de ce
que je dis plus sûr, à cause de l'instabilité du peuple: mais il
faut avouer que celui de Paris se fixe plus aisément qu'aucun
autre; et M. de Villeroi, qui a été le plus habile homme de son
siècle, et qui en a parfaitement connu le naturel dans tout le
cours de la ligue, où il le gouverna sous M. du Maine, a été de
ce sentiment. Ce que j'en éprouvois moi-même me le persuadoit.'
_Mém. de Retz_, vol. i. p. 348; a remarkable passage, and forming
a striking contrast to the declamation of those ignorant writers
who are always reproaching the people with their fickleness.
[419] This knotty point was decided in favour of the Duke of York, to
whom, in 1649, 'la reine fit de grands honneurs, et lui donna une
chaise à bras.' _Mém. de Motteville_, vol. iii. p. 275. In the
chamber of the king, the matter seems to have been differently
arranged; for Omer Talon (_Mém._ vol. ii. p. 332) tells us that
'le duc d'Orléans n'avoit point de fauteuil, mais un simple siège
pliant, à cause que nous étions dans la chambre du roi.' In the
subsequent year, the scene not being in the king's room, the same
writer describes 'M. le duc d'Orléans assis dans un fauteuil.'
_Ibid._ vol. iii. p. 95. Compare _Le Vassor_, _Hist. de Louis
XIII_, vol. viii. p. 310. Voltaire (_Dict. Philos._ art.
_Cérémonies_) says: 'Le fauteuil à bras, la chaise à dos, le
tabouret, la main droite et la main gauche, ont été pendant
plusieurs siècles d'importants objets de politique, et
d'illustres sujets de querelles.' _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol.
xxxvii. p. 486. The etiquette of the 'fauteuil' and 'chaise' is
explained in _Mém. de Genlis_, vol. x. p. 287.
[420] See _Mém. de Motteville_, vol. iii. pp. 309, 310.
[421] See a list of those it was proper for the queen to kiss, in _Mém.
de Motteville_, vol. iii. p. 318.
[422] _Mém. de Omer Talon_, vol. i. pp. 217-219. The Prince de Condé
hotly asserted, that at a _Te Deum_ 'il ne pouvait être assis en
autre place que dans la première chaire.' This was in 1642.
[423] For a quarrel respecting the 'drap de pied,' see _Mém. de
Motteville_, vol. ii. p. 249.
[424] A very serious dispute was caused by the claim of the Prince de
Marsillac, for 'permission d'entrer dans le Louvre en carrosse.'
_Mém. de Motteville_, vol. iii. pp. 367-389.
[425] _Mém. de Pontchartrain_, vol. i. pp. 422, 423, at the coronation
of Louis XIII. Other instances of difficulties caused by
questions of precedence, will be found in _Mém. d'Omer Talon_,
vol. iii. pp. 23, 24, 437; and even in the grave work of Sully,
_[OE]conomies Royales_, vol. vii. p. 126, vol. viii. p. 395;
which should be compared with _De Thou_, _Hist. Univ._ vol. ix.
pp. 86, 87.
[426] _Mém. de Lenet_, vol. i. pp. 378, 379. Lenet, who was a great
admirer of the nobles, relates all this without the faintest
perception of its absurdity. I ought not to omit a terrible
dispute, in 1652, respecting the recognition of the claims of the
Duke de Rohan (_Mém. de Conrart_, pp. 151, 152); nor another
dispute, in the reign of Henry IV., as to whether a duke ought to
sign his name before a marshal, or whether a marshal should sign
first. _De Thou_, _Hist. Univ._ vol. xi. p. 11.
[427] This difficulty, in 1652, caused a violent quarrel between the two
dukes, and ended in a duel in which the Duke de Nemours was
killed, as is mentioned by most of the contemporary writers. See
_Mém. de Montglat_, vol. ii. p. 357; _Mém. de la Rochefoucauld_,
vol. ii. p. 172; _Mém. de Conrart_, pp. 172-175; _Mém. de Retz_,
vol. ii. p. 203; _Mém. d'Omer Talon_, vol. iii. p. 437.
[428] Pontchartrain, one of the ministers of state, writes, under the
year 1620: 'En ce même temps s'étoit mû un très-grand différend
entre M. le prince de Condé et M. le comte de Soissons, sur le
sujet de la serviette que chacun d'eux prétendoit devoir
présenter au roi quand ils se rencontreroient tous deux près sa
majesté.' _Mém. de Pontchartrain_, vol. ii. p. 295. Le Vassor,
who gives a fuller account (_Règne de Louis XIII_, vol. iii. pp.
536, 537), says, 'Chacun des deux princes du sang, fort échauffez
à qui feroit une fonction de maître d'hôtel, tiroit la serviette
de son côté, et la contestation augmentoit d'une manière dont les
suites pouvoient devenir fâcheuses.' But the king interposing,
'ils furent donc obligez de céder: mais ce ne fut pas sans se
dire l'un à l'autre des paroles hautes et menaçantes.'
[429] According to some authorities, a man ought to be a duke before his
wife could be allowed to meddle with the queen's shift; according
to other authorities, the lady-in-waiting, whoever she might be,
had the right, unless a princess happened to be present. On these
alternatives, and on the difficulties caused by them, compare
_Mém. de Saint-Simon_, 1842, vol. vii. p. 125, with _Mém. de
Motteville_, vol. ii. pp. 28, 276, 277.
It may, perhaps, be thought that I owe some apology to the reader for
obtruding upon his notice these miserable disputes respecting matters
which, however despicable they now appear, were once valued by men not
wholly devoid of understanding. But, it should be remembered that their
occurrence, and above all, the importance formerly attached to them, is
part of the history of the French mind; and they are therefore to be
estimated, not according to their intrinsic dignity, but according to
the information they supply respecting a state of things which has now
passed away. Events of this sort, though neglected by ordinary
historians, are among the staff and staple of history. Not only do they
assist in bringing before our minds the age to which they refer, but in
a philosophic point of view they are highly important. They are part of
the materials from which we may generalize the laws of that great
protective spirit, which in different periods assumes different shapes;
but which, whatever its form may be, always owes its power to the
feeling of veneration as opposed to the feeling of independence. How
natural this power is, in certain stages of society, becomes evident if
we examine the basis on which veneration is itself supported. The origin
of veneration is wonder and fear. These two passions, either alone or
combined, are the ordinary source of veneration; and the way in which
they arise is obvious. We wonder because we are ignorant, and we fear
because we are weak. It is therefore natural, that in former times, when
men were more ignorant and more weak than they now are, they should
likewise have been more given to veneration, more inclined to those
habits of reverence, which if carried into religion, cause superstition,
and if carried into politics, cause despotism. In the ordinary march of
society, those evils are remedied by that progress of knowledge, which
at once lessens our ignorance and increases our resources: in other
words, which diminishes our proneness to wonder and to fear, and thus
weakening our feelings of veneration, strengthens, in the same
proportion, our feelings of independence. But in France, this natural
tendency was, as we have already seen, counteracted by an opposite
tendency; so that while, on the one hand, the protective spirit was
enfeebled by the advance of knowledge, it was, on the other hand,
invigorated by those social and political circumstances which I have
attempted to trace; and by virtue of which, each class exercising great
power over the one below it, the subordination and subserviency of the
whole were completely maintained. Hence the mind became accustomed to
look upwards, and to rely, not on its own resources, but on the
resources of others. Hence that pliant and submissive disposition, for
which the French, until the eighteenth century, were always remarkable.
Hence, too, that inordinate respect for the opinions of others, on which
vanity, as one of their national characteristics, is founded.[430] For,
the feelings of vanity and of veneration have evidently this in common,
that they induce each man to measure his actions by a standard external
to himself; while the opposite feelings of pride and of independence
would make him prefer that internal standard which his own mind alone
can supply. The result of all this was, that when, in the middle of the
seventeenth century, the intellectual movement stimulated the French to
rebellion, its effect was neutralized by that social tendency which,
even in the midst of the struggle, kept alive the habits of their old
subservience. Thus it was that, while the war went on, there still
remained a constant inclination on the part of the people to look up to
the nobles, on the part of the nobles to look up to the crown. Both
classes relied upon what they saw immediately above them. The people
believed that without the nobles there was no safety; the nobles
believed that without the crown there was no honour. In the case of the
nobles, this opinion can hardly be blamed; for as their distinctions
proceed from the crown, they have a direct interest in upholding the
ancient notion that the sovereign is the fountain of honour. They have a
direct interest in that preposterous doctrine, according to which, the
true source of honour being overlooked, our attention is directed to an
imaginary source, by whose operation it is believed, that in a moment,
and at the mere will of a prince, the highest honours may be conferred
upon the meanest men. This, indeed, is but part of the old scheme to
create distinctions for which nature has given no warrant; to substitute
a superiority which is conventional for that which is real; and thus try
to raise little minds above the level of great ones. The utter failure,
and, as society advances, the eventual cessation of all such attempts,
is certain; but it is evident, that as long as the attempts are made,
they who profit by them must be inclined to value those from whom they
proceed. Unless counteracting circumstances interpose, there must be
between the two parties that sympathy which is caused by the memory of
past favours, and the hope of future ones. In France, this natural
feeling being strengthened by that protective spirit which induced men
to cling to those above them, it is not strange that the nobles, even in
the midst of their turbulence, should seek the slightest favours of the
crown with an eagerness of which some examples have just been given.
They had been so long accustomed to look up to the sovereign as the
source of their own dignity, that they believed there was some hidden
dignity even in his commonest actions; so that, to their minds, it was a
matter of the greatest importance which of them should hand him his
napkin, which of them should hold his basin, and which of them should
put on his shirt.[431] It is not, however, for the sake of casting
ridicule upon these idle and frivolous men, that I have collected
evidence respecting the disputes with which they were engrossed. So far
from this, they are rather to be pitied than blamed: they acted
according to their instincts; they even exerted such slender abilities
as nature had given to them. But we may well feel for that great country
whose interests depended on their care. And it is solely in reference to
the fate of the French people that the historian need trouble himself
with the history of the French nobles. At the same time, evidence of
this sort, by disclosing the tendencies of the old nobility, displays in
one of its most active forms that protective and aristocratic spirit, of
which they know little who only know it in its present reduced and
waning condition. Such facts are to be regarded as the symptoms of a
cruel disease, by which Europe is indeed still afflicted, but which we
now see only in a very mitigated form, and of whose native virulence no
one can have an idea, unless he has studied it in those early stages,
when, raging uncontrolled, it obtained such a mastery as to check the
growth of liberty, stop the progress of nations, and dwarf the energies
of the human mind.
[430] Also connected with the institution of chivalry, both being
cognate symptoms of the same spirit.
[431] Even just before the French Revolution, these feelings still
existed. See, for instance the extraordinary details in _Campan_,
_Mém. sur Marie-Antoinette_, vol. i. pp. 98, 99; which should be
compared with an extract from _Prudhomme's Mirror de Paris_, in
_Southey's Commonplace Book_, third series, 1850, p. 251,
no. 165.
It is hardly necessary to trace at greater length the way in which
France and England diverged from each other, or to point out what I hope
will henceforth be considered the obvious difference between the civil
wars in the two countries. It is evident that the low-born and plebeian
leaders of our rebellion could have no sympathy with those matters which
perplexed the understanding of the great French nobles. Men like
Cromwell and his co-adjutors were not much versed in the mysteries of
genealogy, or in the subtleties of heraldic lore. They had paid small
attention to the etiquette of courts; they had not even studied the
rules of precedence. All this was foreign to their design. On the other
hand, what they did was done thoroughly. They knew that they had a great
work to perform; and they performed it well.[432] They had risen in arms
against a corrupt and despotic government, and they would not stay
their hands until they had pulled down those who were in high places;
until they had not only removed the evil, but had likewise chastised
those bad men by whom the evil was committed. And although in this,
their glorious undertaking, they did undoubtedly display some of the
infirmities to which even the highest minds are subject; we, at least,
ought never to speak of them but with that unfeigned respect which is
due to those who taught the first great lesson to the kings of Europe,
and who, in language not to be mistaken, proclaimed to them that the
impunity which they had long enjoyed was now come to an end, and that
against their transgressions the people possessed a remedy, sharper, and
more decisive, than any they had hitherto ventured to use.
[432] Ludlow thus expresses the sentiments which induced him to make war
upon the crown: 'The question in dispute between the king's party
and us being, as I apprehend, whether the king should govern as a
god by his will, and the nation be governed by force like beasts?
or whether the people should be governed by laws made by
themselves, and live under a government derived from their own
consent? being fully persuaded, that an accommodation with the
king was unsafe to the people of England, and unjust and wicked
in the nature of it.' _Ludlow's Memoirs_, vol. i. p. 230. Compare
Whitelocke's spirited speech to Christina, in _Journal of the
Swedish Embassy_, vol. i. p. 238; and see pp. 390, 391.
CHAPTER IV.
THE PROTECTIVE SPIRIT CARRIED BY LOUIS XIV. INTO LITERATURE. EXAMINATION
OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF THIS ALLIANCE BETWEEN THE INTELLECTUAL CLASSES
AND THE GOVERNING CLASSES.
The reader will now be able to understand how it was that the protective
system, and the notions of subordination connected with it, gained in
France a strength unknown in England, and caused an essential divergence
between the two countries. To complete the comparison, it seems
necessary to examine how this same spirit influenced the purely
intellectual history of France as well as its social and political
history. For the ideas of dependence upon which the protective scheme is
based, encouraged a belief that the subordination which existed in
politics and in society ought also to exist in literature; and that the
paternal, inquisitive, and centralizing system which regulated the
material interests of the country, should likewise regulate the
interests of its knowledge. When, therefore, the Fronde was finally
overthrown, everything was prepared for that singular intellectual
polity which, during fifty years characterised the reign of Louis XIV.,
and which was to French literature what feudalism was to French
politics. In both cases, homage was paid by one party, and protection
and favour accorded by the other. Every man of letters became a vassal
of the French crown. Every book was written with a view to the royal
favour; and to obtain the patronage of the king was considered the most
decisive proof of intellectual eminence. The effects produced by this
system will be examined in the present chapter. The apparent cause of
the system was the personal character of Louis XIV.; but the real and
overruling causes were those circumstances which I have already pointed
out, and which established in the French mind associations that remained
undisturbed until the eighteenth century. To invigorate those
associations, and to carry them into every department of life, was the
great aim of Louis XIV.; and in that he was completely successful. It is
on this account that the history of his reign becomes highly
instructive, because we see in it the most remarkable instance of
despotism which has ever occurred; a despotism of the largest and most
comprehensive kind; a despotism of fifty years over one of the most
civilized people in Europe, who not only bore the yoke without repining,
but submitted with cheerfulness, and even with gratitude, to him by whom
it was imposed.[433]
[433] On the disgraceful subserviency of the most eminent men of
letters, see _Capefigue's Louis XIV._, vol. i. pp. 41, 42, 116;
and on the feeling of the people, Le Vassor, who wrote late in
the reign of Louis XIV., bitterly says, 'mais les Français,
accoutumés à l'esclavage, ne sentent plus la pesanteur de leurs
chaînes.' _Le Vassor_, _Hist. de Louis XIII_, vol. vi. p. 670.
Foreigners were equally amazed at the general, and still more, at
the willing servility. Lord Shaftesbury, in a letter dated
February 1704-5, passes a glowing eulogy upon liberty; but he
adds, that in France 'you will hardly find this argument
understood; for whatever flashes may now and then appear, I never
yet knew one single Frenchman a free man.' _Forster's Original
Letters of Locke, Sidney, and Shaftesbury_, 1830, p. 205. In the
same year, De Foe makes a similar remark in regard to the French
nobles, _Wilson's Life of De Foe_, vol. ii. p. 209; and, in 1699,
Addison writes from Blois a letter which strikingly illustrates
the degradation of the French. _Aikin's Life of Addison_, vol. i.
p. 80. Compare _Burnet's Own Time_, vol. iv. p. 365, on 'the
gross excess of flattery to which the French have run, beyond the
examples of former ages, in honour of their king.'
What makes this the more strange is, that the reign of Louis XIV. must
be utterly condemned if it is tried even by the lowest standard of
morals, of honour, or of interest. A coarse and unbridled profligacy,
followed by the meanest and most grovelling superstition, characterized
his private life, while in his public career he displayed an arrogance
and a systematic perfidy which eventually roused the anger of all
Europe, and brought upon France sharp and signal retribution. As to his
domestic policy, he formed a strict alliance with the church; and
although he resisted the authority of the Pope, he willingly left his
subjects to be oppressed by the tyranny of the clergy.[434] To them he
abandoned everything except the exercise of his own prerogative.[435]
Led on by them, he, from the moment he assumed the Government, began to
encroach upon those religious liberties of which Henry IV. had laid the
foundation, and which down to this period had been preserved
intact.[436] It was at the instigation of the clergy that he revoked the
Edict of Nantes, by which the principle of toleration had for nearly a
century been incorporated with the law of the land.[437] It was at their
instigation that, just before this outrage upon the most sacred rights
of his subjects, he, in order to terrify the Protestants into
conversion, suddenly let loose upon them whole troops of dissolute
soldiers, who were allowed to practise the most revolting cruelties. The
frightful barbarities which followed are related by authentic
writers;[438] and of the effect produced on the material interests of
the nation, some idea may be formed from the fact, that these religious
persecutions cost France half a million of her most industrious
inhabitants, who fled to different parts, taking with them those habits
of labour, and that knowledge and experience in their respective trades,
which had hitherto been employed in enriching their own country.[439]
These things are notorious, they are incontestable, and they lie on the
surface of history. Yet, in the face of them there are still found men
who hold up for admiration the age of Louis XIV. Although it is well
known that in his reign every vestige of liberty was destroyed; that the
people were weighed down by an insufferable taxation; that their
children were torn from them by tens of thousands to swell the royal
armies; that the resources of the country were squandered to an
unprecedented extent; that a despotism of the worst kind was firmly
established;--although all this is universally admitted, yet there are
writers, even in our own day, who are so infatuated with the glories of
literature, as to balance them against the most enormous crimes, and who
will forgive every injury inflicted by a prince during whose life there
were produced the Letters of Pascal, the orations of Bossuet, the
Comedies of Molière, and the Tragedies of Racine.
[434] The terms of this compact between the crown and the church are
fairly stated by M. Ranke: 'Wir sehen, die beiden Gewalten
unterstützten einander. Der König ward von den Einwirkungen der
weltlichen, der Clerus von der unbedingten Autorität der
geistlichen Gewalt des Papstthums freigesprochen.' _Die Päpste_,
vol. iii. p. 168.
[435] This part of his character is skilfully drawn by Sismondi, _Hist.
des Français_, vol. xxv. p. 43.
[436] Flasson supposes that the first persecuting laws were in 1679:
'Des l'année 1679 les concessions faites aux protestans avaient
été graduellement restreintes.' _Diplomatie Française_, vol. iv.
p. 92. But the fact is, that these laws began in 1662, the year
after the death of Mazarin. See _Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_,
vol. xxv. p. 167; _Benoist_, _Edit. de Nantes_, vol. iii. pp.
460-462, 481. In 1667, a letter from Thynne to Lord Clarendon
(_Lister's Life of Clarendon_, vol. iii. p. 446) mentions 'the
horrid persecutions the reformed religion undergoes in France;'
and Locke, who travelled in France in 1675 and 1676, states in
his Journal (_King's Life of Locke_, vol. i. p. 110) that the
Protestants were losing 'every day some privilege or other.'
[437] An account of the revocation will be found in all the French
historians; but I do not remember that any of them have noticed
that there was a rumour of it in Paris twenty years before it
occurred. In March 1665 Patin writes, 'On dit que, pour miner les
huguenots, le roi veut supprimer les chambres de l'édit, et
abolir l'édit de Nantes.' _Lettres de Patin_, vol. iii. p. 516.
[438] Compare _Burnet's Own Time_, vol. iii. pp. 73-76, with _Siècle de
Louis XIV_, in _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. xx. pp. 377, 378.
Voltaire says that the Protestants who persisted in their
religion 'étaient livrés aux soldats, qui eurent toute licence,
excepté celle de tuer. Il y eut pourtant plusieurs personnes si
cruellement maltraitées qu'elles en moururent.' And Burnet, who
was in France in 1685, says, 'all men set their thoughts on work
to invent new methods of cruelty.' What some of those methods
were, I shall now relate; because the evidence, however painful
it may be, is necessary to enable us to understand the reign of
Louis XIV. It is necessary that the veil should be rent; and that
the squeamish delicacy which would hide such facts, should give
way before the obligation which the historian is under of holding
up to public opprobrium, and branding with public infamy, the
church by which the measures were instigated, the sovereign by
whom they were enforced, and the age in which they were
permitted.
The two original sources for our knowledge of these events are,
_Quick's Synodicon in Gallia_, 1692, folio; and _Benoist_,
_Histoire de l'Edit de Nantes_, 1695, 4to. From these works I
extract the following accounts of what happened in France in
1685. 'Afterwards they fall upon the persons of the Protestants;
and there was no wickedness, though never so horrid, which they
did not put in practice, that they might enforce them to change
their religion.... They bound them as criminals are when they be
put to the rack; and in that posture, putting a funnel into their
mouths, they poured wine down their throats till its fumes had
deprived them of their reason, and they had in that condition
made them consent to become Catholics. Some they stripped stark
naked, and after they had offered them a thousand indignities,
they stuck them with pins from head to foot; they cut them with
pen-knives, tear them by the noses with red-hot pincers, and
dragged them about the rooms till they promised to become Roman
Catholics, or that the doleful outcries of these poor tormented
creatures, calling upon God for mercy, constrained them to let
them go.... In some places they tied fathers and husbands to the
bed-posts, and ravished their wives and daughters before their
eyes.... From others they pluck off the nails of their hands and
toes, which must needs cause an intolerable pain. They burnt the
feet of others. They blew up men and women with bellows, till
they were ready to burst in pieces. If these horrid usages could
not prevail upon them to violate their consciences, and abandon
their religion, they did then imprison them in close and noisome
dungeons, in which they exercised all kinds of inhumanities upon
them.' _Quick's Synodicon_, vol. i. pp. cxxx. cxxxi. 'Cependant
les troupes exerçoient partout de cruautez inouies. Tout leur
étoit permis, pourveu qu'ils ne fissent pas mourir. Ils faisoient
danser quelquefois leurs hôtes, jusqu'à ce qu'ils tombassent en
défaillance. Ils bernoient les autres jusqu'à ce qu'ils n'en
pouvoient plus.... Il y en eut quelques-uns à qui on versa de
l'eau bouillante dans la bouche.... Il y en eut plusieurs à qui
on donna des coups de bâton sous les pieds, pour éprouver si ce
supplice est aussi cruel que les relations le publient. On
arrachoit à d'autres le poil de la barbe.... D'autres brûloient à
la chandelle le poil des bras et des jambes de leurs hôtes.
D'autres faisoient brûler de la poudre, si près du visage de ceux
qui leur resistoient, qu'elle leur grilloit toute la peau. Ils
mettoient à d'autres des charbons allumez dans les mains, et les
contraignoient de les tenir fermées, jusqu'à ce que les charbons
fussent éteints.... On brûla les pieds à plusieurs, tenant les
uns long-tems devant un grand feu; appliquant aux autres une
pelle ardente sous les pieds; liant les pieds des autres dans des
bottines pleines de graisse, qu'on faisoit fondre et chauffer peu
à peu devant un brasier ardent.' _Benoist_, _Hist. de l'Edit de
Nantes_, vol. v. pp. 887-889. One of the Protestants, named Ryau,
they 'lièrent fort étroitement; lui sevrèrent les doigts des
mains; lui fichèrent des épingles sous les ongles; lui firent
brûler de la poudre dans les oreilles; lui percèrent les cuisses
en plusieurs lieux, et versèrent du vinaigre et du sel dans ses
blessures. _Par ce tourment ils épuisèrent sa patience en deux
jours; et le forcèrent à changer de religion_,' p. 890. 'Ses
dragons étoient les mêmes en tous lieux. Ils battoient, ils
étourdissoient, ils brûloient en Bourgogne comme en Poitou, en
Champagne comme en Guyenne, en Normandie comme en Languedoc. Mais
ils n'avoient pour les femmes ni plus de respect, ni plus de
pitié que pour les hommes. Au contraire, ils abusoient de la
tendre pudeur qui est une des propriétez de leur sexe; et ils
s'en prevaloient pour leur faire de plus sensibles outrages. On
leur levoit quelquefois leurs juppes par dessus la tête, et on
leur jetoit des seaux d'eau sur le corps. Il y en eut plusieurs
que les soldats mirent en chemise, et qu'ils forcèrent de danser
avec eux dans cet état.... Deux filles de Calais, nommées le
Noble, furent mises toutes nuës sur le pavé, et furent ainsi
exposées à la mocquerie et aux outrages des passans.... Des
dragons ayant lié la dame de Vezençai à la quenouille de son lit,
lui crachoient dans la bouche quand elle l'ouvroit pour parler ou
pour soupirer.' pp. 891, 892. At p. 917 are other details, far
more horrible, respecting the treatment of women, and which
indignation rather than shame prevents me from transcribing.
Indeed, the shame can only light on the church and the government
under whose united authority such scandalous outrages could be
openly perpetrated, merely for the sake of compelling men to
change their religious opinions.
[439] M. Blanqui (_Hist. de l'Economie Politique_, vol. ii. p. 10) says,
that the revocation of the Edict of Nantes cost France 'cinq cent
mille de ses enfants les plus industrieux,' who carried into
other countries 'les habitudes d'ordre et de travail dont ils
étaient imbus.' See also _Siècle de Louis XIV_, chap. xxxvi., in
_[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. xx. pp. 380, 381. Several of them
emigrated to North America. Compare _Godwin on Population_, pp.
388, 389, with _Benoist_, _l'Edit de Nantes_, vol. v. pp. 973,
974, and _Lyell's Second Visit to the United States_, edit. 1849,
vol. ii. p. 159. See also, on the effects of the Revocation,
_Lettres inédites de Voltaire_, vol. ii. p. 473.
This method of estimating the merits of a sovereign is, indeed, so
rapidly dying away, that I shall not spend any words in refuting it.
But it is connected with a more widely diffused error respecting the
influence of royal patronage upon national literature. This is a
delusion which men of letters have themselves been the first to
propagate. From the language too many of them are in the habit of
employing, we might be led to believe that there is some magical power
in the smiles of a king which stimulates the intellect of the fortunate
individual whose heart they are permitted to gladden. Nor must this be
despised as one of those harmless prejudices that still linger round the
person of the sovereign. It is not only founded on a misconception of
the nature of things, but it is in its practical consequences very
injurious. It is injurious to the independent spirit which literature
should always possess; and it is injurious to princes themselves,
because it strengthens that vanity of which they generally have too
large a share. Indeed, if we consider the position they now occupy in
the most civilized countries, we shall at once see the absurdity of an
opinion which, in the present state of knowledge, is unfit to be held by
educated men.
From the moment that there was finally abandoned the theological fiction
of the divine right of kings, it necessarily followed that the respect
felt for them should suffer a corresponding diminution.[440] The
superstitious reverence with which they were formerly regarded is
extinct, and at the present day we are no longer awed by that divinity
with which their persons were once supposed to be hedged.[441] The
standard, therefore, by which we should measure them is obvious. We
should applaud their conduct in proportion as they contribute towards
the happiness of the nation over which they are intrusted with power;
but we ought to remember that, from the manner in which they are
educated, and from the childish homage always paid to them, their
information must be very inaccurate, and their prejudices very
numerous.[442] On this account, so far from expecting that they should
be judicious patrons of literature, or should in any way head their age,
we ought to be satisfied if they do not obstinately oppose the spirit of
their time, and if they do not attempt to stop the march of society.
For, unless the sovereign, in spite of the intellectual disadvantages of
his position, is a man of very enlarged mind, it must usually happen
that he will reward, not those who are most able, but those who are most
compliant; and that while he refuses his patronage to a profound and
independent thinker, he will grant it to an author who cherishes ancient
prejudices and defends ancient abuses. In this way, the practice of
conferring on men of letters either honorary or pecuniary rewards, is
agreeable, no doubt, to those who receive them; but has a manifest
tendency to weaken the boldness and energy of their sentiments, and
therefore to impair the value of their works. This might be made evident
by publishing a list of those literary pensions which have been granted
by European princes. If this were done, the mischief produced by these
and similar rewards would be clearly seen. After a careful study of the
history of literature, I think myself authorised to say, that for one
instance in which a sovereign has recompensed a man who is before his
age, there are at least twenty instances of his recompensing one who is
behind his age. The result is, that in every country where royal
patronage has been long and generally bestowed, the spirit of
literature, instead of being progressive, has become reactionary. An
alliance has been struck up between those who give and those who
receive. By a system of bounties, there has been artificially engendered
a greedy and necessitous class; who, eager for pensions, and offices,
and titles, have made the pursuit of truth subordinate to the desire of
gain, and have infused into their writings the prejudices of the court
to which they cling. Hence it is, that the marks of favour have become
the badge of servitude. Hence it is, that the acquisition of knowledge,
by far the noblest of all occupations, an occupation which of all others
raises the dignity of man, has been debased to the level of a common
profession, where the chances of success are measured by the number of
rewards, and where the highest honours are in the gift of whoever
happens to be the minister or sovereign of the day.
[440] On the diminished respect for kings, caused by the abandonment of
divine right, see _Spencer's Social Statics_, pp. 423, 424; and
on the influence of the clergy in propagating the old doctrine,
see Allen's learned work on the _Royal Prerogative_, edit. 1849,
p. 156. See also some striking remarks by Locke, in _King's Life
of Locke_, vol ii. p. 90.
[441] 'Qu'est devenu, en effet, le droit divin, cette pensée, autrefois
acceptée par les masses, que les rois étaient les représentants
de Dieu sur la terre, que la racine de leur pouvoir était dans le
ciel? Elle s'est évanouie devant cette autre pensée, qu'aucun
nuage, aucun mysticisme n'obscurcit; devant cette pensée si
naturelle et brillant d'une clarté si nette et si vive, que la
souveraine puissance, sur la terre, appartient au peuple entier,
et non à une fraction, et moins encore à un seul homme.' _Rey_,
_Science Sociale_, vol. iii. p. 308. Compare _Manning on the Law
of Nations_, p. 101; _Laing's Sweden_, p. 408; _Laing's Denmark_,
p. 196; _Burke's Works_, vol. i. p. 391.
[442] In this, as in all instances, the language of respect long
survives the feeling to which the language owed its origin. Lord
Brougham (_Political Philosophy_, vol. i. p. 42, Lond. 1849)
observes, that 'all their titles are derived from a divine
original--all refer to them as representing the Deity on earth.
They are called "_Grace_," "_Majesty_." They are termed "_The
Lord's anointed_," "_The Vicegerent of God upon earth_;" with
many other names which are either nonsensical or blasphemous, but
which are outdone in absurdity by the kings of the East.' True
enough: but if Lord Brougham had written thus three centuries
ago, he would have had his ears cut off for his pains.
This tendency forms of itself a decisive objection to the views of those
who wish to entrust the executive government with the means of rewarding
literary men. But there is also another objection, in some respects
still more serious. Every nation which is allowed to pursue its course
uncontrolled, will easily satisfy the wants of its own intellect, and
will produce such a literature as is best suited to its actual
condition. And it is evidently for the interest of all classes that the
production shall not be greater than the want; that the supply shall not
exceed the demand. It is, moreover, necessary to the well-being of
society that a healthy proportion should be kept up between the
intellectual classes and the practical classes. It is necessary that
there should be a certain ratio between those who are most inclined to
think, and those who are most inclined to act. If we were all authors,
our material interests would suffer; if we were all men of business, our
mental pleasures would be abridged. In the first case, we should be
famished philosophers; in the other case, we should be wealthy fools.
Now, it is obvious that, according to the commonest principles of human
action the relative numbers of these two classes will be adjusted,
without effort, by the natural, or, as we call it, the spontaneous
movement of society. But if a government takes upon itself to pension
literary men, it disturbs this movement; it troubles the harmony of
things. This is the unavoidable result of that spirit of interference,
or, as it is termed, protection, by which every country has been greatly
injured. If, for instance, a fund were set apart by the state for
rewarding butchers and tailors, it is certain that the number of those
useful men would be needlessly augmented. If another fund is
appropriated for the literary classes, it is as certain that men of
letters will increase more rapidly than the exigencies of the country
require. In both cases, an artificial stimulus will produce an unhealthy
action. Surely, food and clothes are as necessary for the body as
literature is for the mind. Why, then, should we call upon government to
encourage those who write our books, any more than to encourage those
who kill our mutton and mend our garments? The truth is, that the
intellectual march of society is, in this respect, exactly analogous to
its physical march. In some instances a forced supply may, indeed,
create an unnatural want. But this is an artificial state of things,
which indicates a diseased action. In a healthy condition, it is not the
supply which causes the want, but it is the want which gives rise to the
supply. To suppose, therefore, that an increase of authors would
necessarily be followed by a diffusion of knowledge, is as if we were to
suppose that an increase of butchers must be followed by a diffusion of
food. This is not the way in which things are ordered. Men must have
appetite before they will eat; they must have money before they can buy;
they must be inquisitive before they will read. The two great principles
which move the world are, the love of wealth and the love of knowledge.
These two principles respectively represent and govern the two most
important classes into which every civilized country is divided. What a
government gives to one of these classes, it must take from the other.
What it gives to literature, it must take from wealth. This can never be
done to any great extent, without entailing the most ruinous
consequences. For, the natural proportions of society being destroyed,
society itself will be thrown into confusion. While men of letters are
protected, men of industry will be depressed. The lower classes can
count for little in the eyes of those to whom literature is the first
consideration. The idea of the liberty of the people will be
discouraged; their persons will be oppressed; their labour will be
taxed. The arts necessary to life will be despised, in order that those
which embellish life may be favoured. The many will be ruined, that the
few may be pleased. While every thing is splendid above, all will be
rotten below. Fine pictures, noble palaces, touching dramas--these may
for a time be produced in profusion, but it will be at the cost of the
heart and strength of the nation. Even the class for whom the sacrifice
has been made, will soon decay. Poets may continue to sing the praises
of the prince who has bought them with his gold. It is, however, certain
that men who begin by losing their independence, will end by losing
their energy. Their intellect must be robust indeed, if it does not
wither in the sickly atmosphere of a court. Their attention being
concentrated on their master, they insensibly contract those habits of
servility which are suited to their position; and, as the range of their
sympathies is diminished, the use and action of their genius become
impaired. To them submission is a custom, and servitude a pleasure. In
their hands, literature soon loses its boldness, tradition is appealed
to as the ground of truth, and the spirit of inquiry is extinguished.
Then it is, that there comes one of those sad moments in which, no
outlet being left for public opinion, the minds of men are unable to
find a vent; their discontents, having no voice, slowly rankle into a
deadly hatred; their passions accumulate in silence, until at length,
losing all patience, they are goaded into one of those terrible
revolutions, by which they humble the pride of their rulers, and carry
retribution even into the heart of the palace.
The truth of this picture is well known to those who have studied the
history of Louis XIV., and the connection between it and the French
Revolution. That prince adopted, during his long reign, the mischievous
practice of rewarding literary men with large sums of money, and of
conferring on them numerous marks of personal favour. As this was done
for more than half a century; and as the wealth which he thus
unscrupulously employed was of course taken from his other subjects, we
can find no better illustration of the results which such patronage is
likely to produce. He, indeed, has the merit of organizing into a system
that protection of literature which some are so anxious to restore. What
the effect of this was upon the general interests of knowledge, we shall
presently see. But its effect upon authors themselves should be
particularly attended to by those men of letters who, with little regard
to their own dignity, are constantly reproaching the English government
for neglecting the profession of which they themselves are members. In
no age have literary men been awarded with such profuseness as in the
reign of Louis XIV.; and in no age have they been so mean-spirited, so
servile, so utterly unfit to fulfil their great vocation as the apostles
of knowledge and the missionaries of truth. The history of the most
celebrated authors of that time proves that, notwithstanding their
acquirements, and the power of their minds, they were unable to resist
the surrounding corruption. To gain the favour of the king, they
sacrificed that independent spirit which should have been dearer to them
than life. They gave away the inheritance of genius; they sold their
birthright for a mess of pottage. What happened then, would under the
same circumstances happen now. A few eminent thinkers may be able for a
certain time to resist the pressure of their age. But, looking at
mankind generally, society can have no hold on any class except through
the medium of their interests. It behoves, therefore, every people to
take heed, that the interests of literary men are on their side rather
than on the side of their rulers. For, literature is the representative
of intellect, which is progressive; government is the representative of
order, which is stationary. As long as these two great powers are
separate, they will correct and react upon each other, and the people
may hold the balance. If, however, these powers coalesce, if the
government can corrupt the intellect, and if the intellect will yield to
the government, the inevitable result must be, despotism in politics,
and servility in literature. This was the history of France under Louis
XIV.: and this, we may rest assured, will be the history of every
country that shall be tempted to follow so attractive but so fatal an
example.
The reputation of Louis XIV. originated in the gratitude of men of
letters; but it is now supported by a popular notion that the celebrated
literature of his age is mainly to be ascribed to his fostering care.
If, however, we examine this opinion, we shall find that, like many of
the traditions of which history is full, it is entirely devoid of truth.
We shall find two leading circumstances, which will prove that the
literary splendour of his reign was not the result of his efforts, but
was the work of that great generation which preceded him; and that the
intellect of France, so far from being benefited by his munificence, was
hampered by his protection.
I. The first circumstance is, that the immense impulse which, during the
administrations of Richelieu and of Mazarin, had been given to the
highest branches of knowledge, was suddenly stopped. In 1661 Louis XIV.
assumed the government;[443] and from that moment until his death, in
1715, the history of France, so far as great discoveries are concerned,
is a blank in the annals of Europe. If, putting aside all preconceived
notions respecting the supposed glory of that age, we examine the matter
fairly, it will be seen that in every department there was a manifest
dearth of original thinkers. There was much that was elegant, much that
was attractive. The senses of men were soothed and flattered by the
creations of art, by paintings, by palaces, by poems; but scarcely any
thing of moment was added to the sum of human knowledge. If we take the
mathematics, and those mixed sciences to which they are applicable, it
will be universally admitted that their most successful cultivators in
France during the seventeenth century were Descartes, Pascal, Fermat,
Gassendi, and Mersenne. But, so far from Louis XIV. having any share in
the honour due to them, these eminent men were engaged in their
investigations while the king was still in his cradle, and completed
them before he assumed the government, and therefore before his system
of protection came into play. Descartes died in 1650,[444] when the king
was twelve years old. Pascal, whose name, like that of Descartes, is
commonly associated with the age of Louis XIV., had gained an European
reputation while Louis, occupied in the nursery with his toys, was not
aware that any such man existed. His treatise on conic sections was
written in 1639;[445] his decisive experiments on the weight of air were
made in 1648;[446] and his researches on the cycloid, the last great
inquiry he ever undertook, were in 1658,[447] when Louis, still under
the tutelage of Mazarin, had no sort of authority. Fermat was one of the
most profound thinkers of the seventeenth century, particularly as a
geometrician, in which respect he was second only to Descartes.[448] The
most important steps he took are those concerning the geometry of
infinites, applied to the ordinates and tangents of curves; which,
however, he completed in or before 1636.[449] As to Gassendi and
Mersenne, it is enough to say that Gassendi died in 1655,[450] six years
before Louis was at the head of affairs; while Mersenne died in
1648,[451] when the great king was ten years old.
[443] 'La première période du gouvernement de Louis XIV commence donc en
1661.' _Capefigue's Louis XIV._, vol. i. p. 4.
[444] _Biog. Univ._ vol. xi. p. 157.
[445] In _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxxiii. p. 50, he is said to have composed
it 'à l'âge de seize ans;' and at p. 46, to have been born
in 1623.
[446] _Leslie's Natural Philosophy_, p. 201; _Bordas Demoulin_, _Le
Cartésianisme_, vol. i. p. 310. Sir John Herschel (_Disc. on Nat.
Philos._ pp. 229, 230) calls this 'one of the first, if not the
very first,' crucial instance recorded in physics; and he thinks
that it 'tended, more powerfully than any thing which had
previously been done in science, to confirm in the minds of men
that disposition to experimental verification which had scarcely
yet taken full and secure root.' In this point of view, the
addition it actually made to knowledge is the smallest part of
its merit.
[447] Montucla (_Hist. des Mathématiques_, vol. ii. p. 61) says, 'vers
1658;' and at p. 65, 'il se mit, vers le commencement de 1658, à
considérer plus profondément les propriétés de cette courbe.'
[448] Montucla (_Hist. des Mathémat._ vol. ii. p. 136) enthusiastically
declares that 'si Descartes eût manqué à l'esprit humain, Fermat
l'eût remplacé en géométrie.' Simson, the celebrated restorer of
Greek geometry, said that Fermat was the only modern who
understood porisms. See _Trail's Account of Simson_, 1812, 4to.
pp. 18, 41. On the connexion between his views and the subsequent
discovery of the differential calculus, see _Brewster's Life of
Newton_, vol. ii. pp. 7, 8; and compare _Comte_, _Philosophie
Positive_, vol. i. pp. 228, 229, 726, 727.
[449] See extracts from two letters written by Fermat to Roberval, in
1636, in _Montucla_, _Hist. des Mathématiques_, vol. ii. pp. 136,
137; respecting which there is no notice in the meagre article on
Fermat, in _Hutton's Mathematical Dictionary_, vol. i. p. 510,
4to. 1815. It is a disgrace to English mathematicians that this
unsatisfactory work of Hutton's should still remain the best they
have produced on the history of their own science. The same
disregard of dates is shown in the hasty remarks on Fermat by
Playfair. See _Playfair's Dissertation on the Progress of
Mathematical Science_, _Encyclop. Brit._ vol. i. p. 440, 7th
edition.
[450] _Hutton's Mathemat. Dict._ vol. i. p. 572.
[451] _Ibid._ vol. ii. p. 46.
These were the men who flourished in France just before the system of
Louis XIV. came into operation. Shortly after their death the patronage
of the king began to tell upon the national intellect; and during the
next fifty years no addition of importance was made to either branch of
the mathematics, or, with the single exception of acoustics,[452] to any
of the sciences to which the mathematics are applied.[453] The further
the seventeenth century advanced, the more evident did the decline
become, and the more clearly can we trace the connexion between the
waning powers of the French, and that protective spirit which enfeebled
the energies it wished to strengthen. Louis had heard that astronomy is
a noble study; he was therefore anxious, by encouraging its cultivation
in France, to add to the glories of his own name.[454] With this view,
he rewarded its professors with unexampled profusion; he built the
splendid Observatory of Paris; he invited to his court the most eminent
foreign astronomers, Cassini from Italy, Römer from Denmark, Huygens
from Holland. But, as to native ability, France did not produce a single
man who made even one of those various discoveries which mark the epochs
of astronomical science. In other countries vast progress was made; and
Newton in particular, by his immense generalizations, reformed nearly
every branch of physics, and remodelled astronomy by carrying the laws
of gravitation to the extremity of the solar system. On the other hand,
France had fallen into such a torpor, that these wonderful discoveries,
which changed the face of knowledge, were entirely neglected, there
being no instance of any French astronomer adopting them until 1732,
that is, forty-five years after they had been published by their
immortal author.[455] Even in matters of detail, the most valuable
improvement made by French astronomers during the power of Louis XIV.
was not original. They laid claim to the invention of the micrometer; an
admirable resource, which, as they supposed, was first contrived by
Picard and Auzout.[456] The truth, however, is, that here again they
were anticipated by the activity of a freer and less protected people;
since the micrometer was invented by Gascoigne in or just before 1639,
when the English monarch, so far from having leisure to patronize
science, was about to embark in that struggle which, ten years later,
cost him his crown and his life.[457]
[452] Of which Sauveur may be considered the creator. Compare _Eloge de
Sauveur_, in _[OE]uvres de Fontenelle_, Paris, 1766, vol. v. p.
435, with _Whewell's Hist. of the Induc. Sciences_, vol. ii. p.
334; _Comte_, _Philos. Pos._ vol. ii. pp. 627, 628.
[453] In the report presented to Napoleon by the French Institute, it is
said of the reign of Louis XIV., 'les sciences exactes et les
sciences physiques peu cultivées en France dans un siècle qui
paroissoit ne trouver de charmes que dans la littérature.'
_Dacier_, _Rapport Historique_, p. 24. Or, as Lacretelle
expresses it (_Dix-huitième Siècle_, vol. ii. p. 10), 'La France,
après avoir fourni Descartes et Pascal, eut pendant quelque temps
à envier aux nations étrangères la gloire de produire des génies
créateurs dans les sciences.'
[454] A writer late in the seventeenth century says, with some
simplicity, 'the present king of France is reputed an encourager
of choice and able men, in all faculties, who can attribute to
his greatness.' _Aubrey's Letters_, vol. ii. p. 624.
[455] The _Principia_ of Newton appeared in 1687; and Maupertuis, in
1732, 'was the first astronomer of France who undertook a
critical defence of the theory of gravitation.' _Grant's Hist. of
Physical Astronomy_, pp. 31, 43. In 1738, Voltaire writes, 'La
France est jusqu'à présent le seul pays où les théories de Newton
en physique, et de Boerhaave en médecine, soient combattues. Nous
n'avons pas encore de bons éléments de physique; nous avons pour
toute astronomie le livre de Bion, qui n'est qu'un ramas informe
de quelques mémoires de l'académie.' _Correspond._ in _[OE]uvres
de Voltaire_, vol. xlvii. p. 340. On the tardy reception of
Newton's discoveries in France, compare _Eloge de Lacaille_, in
_[OE]uvres de Bailly_, Paris, 1790, vol. i. pp. 175, 176. All
this is the more remarkable, because several of the conclusions
at which Newton had arrived were divulged before they were
embodied in the _Principia_; and it appears from _Brewster's Life
of Newton_ (vol. i. pp. 25, 26, 290), that his speculations
concerning gravity began in 1666, or perhaps in the autumn of
1665.
[456] 'L'abbé Picard fut en société avec Auzout, l'inventeur du
micromètre.' _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxxiv. p. 253. See also _Préface
de l'Hist. de l'Acad. des Sciences_, in _[OE]uvres de
Fontenelle_, Paris, 1766, vol. x. p. 20.
[457] The best account I have seen of the invention of the micrometer,
is in Mr. Grant's recent work, _History of Physical Astronomy_,
pp. 428, 450-453, where it is proved that Gascoigne invented it
in 1639, or possibly a year or two earlier. Compare _Humboldt's
Cosmos_, vol. iii. p. 52; who also ascribes it to Gascoigne, but
erroneously dates it in 1640. Montucla (_Hist. des Mathémat._
vol. ii. pp. 570, 571) admits the priority of Gascoigne; but
underrates his merit, being apparently unacquainted with the
evidence which Mr. Grant subsequently adduced.
The absence in France, during this period, not only of great
discoveries, but also of mere practical ingenuity, is certainly very
striking. In investigations requiring minute accuracy, the necessary
tools, if at all complicated, were made by foreigners, the native
workmen being too unskilled to construct them; and Dr. Lister, who was a
very competent judge,[458] and who was in Paris at the end of the
seventeenth century, supplies evidence that the best mathematical
instruments sold in that city were made, not by a Frenchman, but by
Butterfield, an Englishman residing there.[459] Nor did they succeed
better in matters of immediate and obvious utility. The improvements
effected in manufactures were few and insignificant, and were
calculated, not for the comfort of the people, but for the luxury of the
idle classes.[460] What was really valuable was neglected; no great
invention was made; and by the end of the reign of Louis XIV. scarcely
anything had been done in machinery, or in those other contrivances
which, by economising national labour, increase national wealth.[461]
[458] For a short account of this able man, see _Lankester's Mem. of
Ray_, p. 17.
[459] Notwithstanding the strong prejudice then existing against
Englishmen, Butterfield was employed by 'the king and all the
princes.' _Lister's Account of Paris at the close of the
Seventeenth Century, edited by Dr. Henning_, p. 85. Fontenelle
mentions 'M. Hubin,' as one of the most celebrated makers in
Paris in 1687 (_Eloge d'Amoltons_, in _[OE]uvres de Fontenelle_,
Paris, 1766, vol. v. p. 113); but has forgotten to state that he
too was an Englishman. 'Lutetiæ sedem posuerat ante aliquod
tempus _Anglus quidam nomine Hubinus_, vir ingeniosus, atque
hujusmodi machinationum peritus opifex et industrius. Hominem
adii,' &c. _Huetii Commentarius de Rebus ad eum pertinentibus_,
p. 346. Thus, again, in regard to time-keepers, the vast
superiority of the English makers, late in the reign of Louis
XIV., was equally incontestable. Compare _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxiv.
pp. 242, 243, with _Brewster's Life of Newton_, vol. ii. p. 262;
and as to the middle of the reign of Louis XIV., see _Eloge de
Sebastien_, in _[OE]uvres de Fontenelle_, vol. vi. pp. 332, 333.
[460] 'Les manufactures étaient plutôt dirigées vers le brillant que
vers l'utile. On s'efforça, par un arrêt du mois de mars 1700,
d'extirper, ou du moins de réduire beaucoup les fabriques de bas
au métier. Malgré cette fausse direction, les objets d'un luxe
très-recherché faisaient des progrès bien lents. En 1687, après
la mort de Colbert, la cour soldait encore l'industrie des
barbares, et faisait fabriquer et broder ses plus beaux habits à
Constantinople.' _Lemontey_, _Etablissement de Louis XIV_, p.
364. Lacretelle (_Dix-huitième Siècle_, vol. ii. p. 5) says, that
during the last thirty years of the reign of Louis XIV. 'les
manufactures tombaient.'
[461] Cuvier (_Biog. Univ._ vol. xxxvii. p. 199) thus describes the
condition of France only seven years after the death of Louis
XIV.: 'Nos forges étaient alors presque dans l'enfance; et nous
ne faisions point d'acier: tout celui qu'exigeaient les
différents métiers nous venait de l'étranger.... Nous ne
faisions point non plus alors de fer-blanc, et il ne nous venait
que de l'Allemagne.'
While such was the state, not only of mathematical and astronomical
science, but also of mechanical and inventive arts, corresponding
symptoms of declining power were seen in other departments. In
physiology, in anatomy and in medicine, we look in vain for any men
equal to those by whom France had once been honoured. The greatest
discovery of this kind ever made by a Frenchman, was that of the
receptacle of the chyle; a discovery which, in the opinion of a high
authority, is not inferior to that of the circulation of the blood by
Harvey.[462] This important step in our knowledge is constantly assigned
to the age of Louis XIV., as if it were one of the results of his
gracious bounty; but it would be difficult to tell what Louis had to do
with it, since the discovery was made by Pecquet in 1647,[463] when the
great king was nine years old. After Pecquet, the most eminent of the
French anatomists in the seventeenth century was Riolan; and his name we
also find among the illustrious men who adorned the reign of Louis XIV.
But the principal works of Riolan were written before Louis XIV. was
born; his last work was published in 1652; and he himself died in
1657.[464] Then there came a pause, and, during three generations, the
French did nothing for these great subjects: they wrote no work upon
them which is now read, they made no discoveries, and they seemed to
have lost all heart, until that revival of knowledge, which, as we shall
presently see, took place in France about the middle of the eighteenth
century. In the practical parts of medicine, in its speculative parts,
and in the arts connected with surgery, the same law prevails. The
French, in these, as in other matters, had formerly produced men of
great eminence, who had won for themselves an European reputation, and
whose works are still remembered. Thus, only to mention two or three
instances, they had a long line of illustrious physicians, among whom
Fernel and Joubert were the earliest;[465] they had, in surgery,
Ambroise Paré, who not only introduced important practical
improvements,[466] but who has the still rarer merit of being one of the
founders of comparative osteology;[467] and they had Baillou, who late
in the sixteenth and early in the seventeenth century, advanced
pathology, by connecting it with the study of morbid anatomy.[468] Under
Louis XIV. all this was changed. Under him, surgery was neglected,
though in other countries its progress was rapid.[469] The English, by
the middle of the seventeenth century, had taken considerable steps in
medicine: its therapeutical branch being reformed chiefly by Sydenham,
its physiological branch by Glisson.[470] But the age of Louis XIV.
cannot boast of a single medical writer who can be compared to these;
not even one whose name is now known as having made any specific
addition to our knowledge. In Paris, the practice of medicine was
notoriously inferior to that in the capitals of Germany, Italy, and
England; while in the French provinces, the ignorance, even of the best
physicians, was scandalous.[471] Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say
that, during the whole of this long period, the French in these matters
effected comparatively nothing; they made no contributions to clinical
literature,[472] and scarcely any to therapeutics, to pathology, to
physiology, or to anatomy.[473]
[462] 'Certainement la découverte de Pecquet ne brille pas moins dans
l'histoire de notre art que la vérité démontrée pour la première
fois par Harvey.' _Sprengel_, _Hist. de la Médecine_, vol. iv. p.
208.
[463] Henle (_Anatomie Générale_, vol. ii. p. 106) says, that the
discovery was made in 1649; but the historians of medicine assign
it to 1647. _Sprengel_, _Hist. de la Médecine_, vol. iv. pp. 207,
405; _Renouard_, _Hist. de la Médecine_, vol. ii. p. 173.
[464] _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxxviii. pp. 123, 124.
[465] Some of the great steps taken by Joubert are concisely stated in
_Broussais_, _Examen des Doctrines Médicales_, vol. i. pp. 293,
294, vol. iii. p. 361. Compare _Sprengel_, _Hist. de la
Médecine_, vol. iii. p. 210. Fernel, though enthusiastically
praised by Patin, was probably hardly equal to Joubert. _Lettres
de Patin_, vol. iii. pp. 59, 199, 648. At p. 106, Patin calls
Fernel 'le premier médecin de son temps, et peut-être le plus
grand qui sera jamais.'
[466] See a summary of them in _Sprengel_, _Hist. de la Médecine_, vol.
iii. pp. 405, 406, vol. vii. pp. 14, 15. Sir Benjamin Brodie
(_Lectures on Surgery_, p. 21) says, 'Few greater benefits have
been conferred on mankind than that for which we are indebted to
Ambrose Parey--the application of a ligature to a bleeding
artery.'
[467] 'C'était là une vue très-ingénieuse et très-juste qu'Ambroise Paré
donnait pour la première fois. C'était un commencement
d'ostéologie comparée.' _Cuvier_, _Hist. des Sciences_, part. ii.
p. 42. To this I may add, that he is the first French writer on
medical jurisprudence. See _Paris and Fonblanque's Medical
Jurisprudence_, 1823, vol. i. p. xviii.
[468] 'L'un des premiers auteurs à qui l'on doit des observations
cadavériques sur les maladies, est le fameux Baillou.'
_Broussais_, _Examen des Doctrines Médicales_, vol. ii. p. 218.
See also vol. iii. p. 362; and _Renouard_, _Hist. de la
Médecine_, vol. ii. p. 89. The value of his services is
recognized in a recent able work, _Phillips on Scrofula_, 1846,
p. 16.
[469] 'The most celebrated surgeon of the sixteenth century was Ambroise
Paré.... From the time of Paré until the commencement of the
eighteenth century, surgery was but little cultivated in France.
Mauriceau, Saviard, and Belloste, were the only French surgeons
of note who could be contrasted with so many eminent men of other
nations. During the eighteenth century, France produced two
surgeons of extraordinary genius; these are Petit and Desault.'
_Bowman's Surgery_, in _Encyclop. of Medical Sciences_, 1847,
4to. pp. 829, 830.
[470] It is unnecessary to adduce evidence respecting the services
rendered by Sydenham, as they are universally admitted; but what,
perhaps, is less generally known, is, that Glisson anticipated
those important views concerning irritability, which were
afterwards developed by Haller and Gorter. Compare _Renouard_,
_Hist. de le Médecine_, vol. ii. p. 192; _Elliotson's Human
Physiol_. p. 471; _Bordas Demoulin_, _Cartésianisme_, vol. i. p.
170; In _Wagner's Physiol._ 1841, p. 655, the theory is too
exclusively ascribed to Haller.
[471] Of this we have numerous complaints from foreigners who visited
France. I will quote the testimony of one celebrated man. In
1699, Addison writes from Blois: 'I made use of one of the
physicians of this place, who are as cheap as our English
farriers, and generally as ignorant.' _Aikin's Life of Addison_,
vol. i. p. 74.
[472] Indeed, France was the last great country in Europe in which a
chair of clinical medicine was established. See _Renouard_,
_Hist. de la Médecine_, vol. ii. p. 312; and _Bouillaud_,
_Philos. Médicale_, p. 114.
[473] M. Bouillaud, in his account of the state of medicine in the
seventeenth century, does not mention a single Frenchman during
this period. See _Bouillaud_, _Philosophie Médicale_, pp. 13 seq.
During many years of the power of Louis XIV., the French Academy
only possessed one anatomist; and of him, few students of
physiology have ever heard: 'M. du Verney fut assez long-temps le
seul anatomiste de l'académie, et ce ne fut qu'en 1684 qu'on lui
joignit M. Mery.' _Eloge de Du Verney_, in _[OE]uvres de
Fontenelle_, vol. vi. p. 392.
In what are called the natural sciences, we also find the French now
brought to a stand. In zoology, they had formerly possessed remarkable
men, among whom Belon and Rondelet were the most conspicuous:[474] but,
under Louis XIV., they did not produce one original observer in this
great field of inquiry.[475] In chemistry, again, Rey had, in the reign
of Louis XIII., struck out views of such vast importance, that he
anticipated some of those generalizations which formed the glory of the
French intellect in the eighteenth century.[476] During the corrupt and
frivolous age of Louis XIV., all this was forgotten; the labours of Rey
were neglected; and so complete was the indifference, that even the
celebrated experiments of Boyle remained unknown in France for more than
forty years after they were published.[477]
[474] _Cuvier_, _Hist. des Sciences_, part ii. pp. 64-73, 76-80.
[475] After Belon, nothing was done in France for the natural history of
animals until 1734, when there appeared the first volume of
Reaumur's great work. See _Swainson on the Study of Nat. Hist._
pp. 24, 43.
[476] On this remarkable man, who was the first philosophic chemist
Europe produced, and who, so early as 1630, anticipated some of
the generalizations made a hundred and fifty years later by
Lavoisier, see _Liebig's Letters on Chemistry_, pp. 46, 47;
_Thomson's Hist. of Chemistry_, vol. ii. pp. 95, 96; _Humboldt's
Cosmos_, vol. ii. p. 729; _Cuvier_, _Progrès des Sciences_,
vol. i. p. 30.
[477] Cuvier (_Progrès des Sciences_, vol. i. p. 30) says of Rey, 'son
écrit était tombé dans l'oubli le plus profond;' and, in another
work, the same great authority writes (_Hist. des Sciences_, part
ii. p. 333): 'Il y avait plus de quarante ans que Becker avait
présenté sa nouvelle théorie, développée par Stahl; il y avait
encore plus long-temps que les expériences de Boyle sur la chimie
pneumatique avaient été publiées, et cependant, rien de tout cela
n'entrait encore dans l'enseignement général de la chimie, du
moins en France.'
Connected with zoology, and, to a philosophic mind, inseparable from it,
is botany: which, occupying a middle place between the animal and
mineral world, indicates their relation to each other, and at different
points touches the confines of both. It also throws great light on the
functions of nutrition,[478] and on the laws of development; while, from
the marked analogy between animals and vegetables, we have every reason
to hope that its further progress, assisted by that of electricity, will
prepare the way for a comprehensive theory of life, to which the
resources of our knowledge are still unequal, but towards which the
movements of modern science are manifestly tending. On these grounds,
far more than for the sake of practical advantages, botany will always
attract the attention of thinking men; who, neglecting views of
immediate utility, look to large and ultimate results, and only value
particular facts in so far as they facilitate the discovery of general
truths. The first step in this noble study was taken towards the middle
of the sixteenth century, when authors, instead of copying what previous
writers had said, began to observe nature for themselves.[479] The next
step was, to add experiment to observation: but it required another
hundred years before this could be done with accuracy; because the
microscope, which is essential to such inquiries, was only invented
about 1620, and the labour of a whole generation was needed to make it
available for minute investigations.[480] So soon, however, as this
resource was sufficiently matured to be applied to plants, the march of
botany became rapid, at least as far as details are concerned; for it
was not until the eighteenth century that the facts were actually
generalized. But, in the preliminary work of accumulating the facts,
great energy was shown; and, for reasons stated in an earlier part of
the Introduction, this, like other studies relating to the external
world, advanced with peculiar speed during the reign of Charles II. The
tracheæ of plants were discovered by Henshaw in 1661;[481] and their
cellular tissue by Hooke in 1667.[482] These were considerable
approaches towards establishing the analogy between plants and animals;
and, within a few years, Grew effected still more of the same kind. He
made such minute and extensive dissections, as to raise the anatomy of
vegetables to a separate study, and prove that their organization is
scarcely less complicated than that possessed by animals.[483] His first
work was written in 1670;[484] and, in 1676, another Englishman,
Millington, ascertained the existence of a distinction of sexes;[485]
thus supplying further evidence of the harmony between the animal and
vegetable kingdoms, and of the unity of idea which regulates their
composition.
[478] The highest present generalizations of the laws of nutrition are
those by M. Chevreul; which are thus summed up by MM. Robin et
Verdeil, in their admirable work, _Chimie Anatomique_, vol. i. p.
203, Paris, 1853: 'En passant des plantes aux animaux, nous
voyons que plus l'organisation de ces derniers est compliquée,
plus les aliments dont ils se nourrissent sont complexes et
analogues par leurs principes immédiats aux principes des organes
qu'ils doivent entretenir.
'En définitive, on voit que les végétaux se nourrissent d'eau,
d'acide carbonique, d'autres gaz et de matières organiques à
l'état d'engrais, ou en d'autres termes altérées, c'est-à-dire
ramenées à l'état de principes plus simples, plus solubles. Au
contraire, les animaux plus élevés dans l'échelle organique ont
besoin de matières bien plus complexes quant aux principes
immédiats qui les composent, et plus variées dans leurs
propriétés.'
[479] Brunfels in 1530, and Fuchs in 1542, were the two first writers
who observed the vegetable kingdom for themselves, instead of
copying what the ancients had said. Compare _Whewell's Hist. of
the Sciences_, vol. iii. pp. 305, 306, with _Pulteney's Hist. of
Botany_, vol. i. p. 38.
[480] The microscope was exhibited in London, by Drebbel, about 1620;
and this appears to be the earliest unquestionable notice of its
use, though some writers assert that it was invented at the
beginning of the seventeenth century, or even in 1590. Compare
the different statements, in _Pouillet_, _Elémens de Physique_,
vol. ii. p. 357; _Humboldt's Cosmos_, vol. ii. pp. 699, 700;
_Sprengel_, _Hist. de la Médecine_, vol. iv. p. 337; _Winckler_,
_Gesch. der Botanik_, p. 136; _Quekett's Treatise on the
Microscope_, 1848, p. 2; _Cuvier_, _Hist. des Sciences_, part ii.
p. 470; _Hallam's Lit. of Europe_, vol. iii. p. 202; _Leslie's
Nat. Philos._ p. 52. On the subsequent improvement of the
microscope during the seventeenth century, see _Brewster's Life
of Newton_, vol. i. pp. 29, 242, 243.
[481] See _Balfour's Botany_, p. 15. In Pulteney's _Progress of Botany
in England_, this beautiful discovery is, if I rightly remember,
not even alluded to; but it appears, from a letter written in
1672, that it was then becoming generally known, and had been
confirmed by Grew and Malpighi. _Ray's Correspond._ edit. 1848,
p. 98. Compare _Richard_, _Eléments de Botanique_, p. 46; where,
however, M. Richard erroneously supposes that Grew did not know
of the tracheæ till 1682.
[482] Compare _Cuvier_, _Hist. des Sciences_, part ii. p. 471, with
_Thomson's Vegetable Chemistry_, p. 950.
[483] Dr. Thomson (_Vegetable Chemistry_, p. 950) says: 'But the person
to whom we are indebted for the first attempt to ascertain the
structure of plants by dissection and microscopical observations,
was Dr. Nathaniel Grew.' The character of Grew's inquiries, as
'viewing the internal, as well as external parts of plants,' is
also noticed in _Ray's Correspond._ p. 188; and M. Winckler
(_Gesch. der Botanik_, p. 382) ascribes to him and Malpighi the
'neuen Aufschwung' taken by vegetable physiology late in the
seventeenth century. See also, on Grew, _Lindley's Botany_, vol.
i. p. 93; and _Third Report of Brit. Assoc._ p. 27.
[484] The first book of his Anatomy of Plants was laid before the Royal
Society in 1670, and printed in 1671. _Hallam's Lit. of Europe_,
vol. iii. p. 580; and _Thomson's Hist. of the Royal Society_, p.
44.
[485] 'The presence of sexual organs in plants was first shown in 1676,
by Sir Thomas Millington; and it was afterwards confirmed by
Grew, Malpighi, and Ray.' _Balfour's Botany_, p. 236. See also
_Pulteney's Progress of Botany_, vol. i. pp. 336, 337; and
_Lindley's Botany_, vol. ii. p. 217: and, as to Ray, who was
rather slow in admitting the discovery, see _Lankester's Mem. of
Ray_, p. 100. Before this, the sexual system of vegetables had
been empirically known to several of the ancients, but never
raised to a scientific truth. Compare _Richard_, _Eléments de
Botanique_, pp. 353, 427, 428, with _Matter_, _Hist. de l'Ecole
d'Alexandrie_, vol. ii. p. 9.
This is what was effected in England during the reign of Charles II.;
and we now ask what was done in France, during the same period, under
the munificent patronage of Louis XIV. The answer is, nothing; no
discovery, no idea, which forms an epoch in this important department of
natural science. The son of the celebrated Sir Thomas Brown visited
Paris in the hope of making some additions to his knowledge of botany,
which he thought he could not fail to do in a country where science was
held in such honour, its professors so caressed by the court, and its
researches so bountifully encouraged. To his surprise, he, in 1665,
found in that great city no one capable of teaching his favourite
pursuit, and even the public lectures on it miserably meagre and
unsatisfactory.[486] Neither then, nor at a much later period, did the
French possess a good popular treatise on botany: still less did they
make any improvement in it. Indeed, so completely was the philosophy of
the subject misunderstood, that Tournefort, the only French botanist of
repute in the reign of Louis, actually rejected that discovery of the
sexes of plants, which had been made before he began to write, and which
afterwards became the corner-stone of the Linnæan system.[487] This
showed his incapacity for those large views respecting the unity of the
organic world, which alone give to botany a scientific value; and we
find, accordingly, that he did nothing for the physiology of plants, and
that his only merit was as a collector and classifier of them.[488] And
even in his classification he was guided, not by a comprehensive
comparison of their various parts, but by considerations drawn from the
mere appearance of the flower:[489] thus depriving botany of its real
grandeur, degrading it into an arrangement of beautiful objects, and
supplying another instance of the way in which the Frenchmen of that
generation impoverished what they sought to enrich, and dwarfed every
topic, until they suited the intellect and pleased the eye of that
ignorant and luxurious court, to whose favour they looked for reward,
and whose applause it was the business of their life to gain.
[486] In July 1665 he writes from Paris to his father, 'The lecture of
plants here is only the naming of them, their degrees in heat and
cold, and sometimes their use in physick; scarce a word more than
may be seen in every herball.' _Browne's Works_, vol. i. p. 108.
[487] Cuvier mentioning the inferiority of Tournefort's views to those
of his predecessors, gives as an instance, 'puisqu'il a rejeté
les sexes des plantes.' _Hist. des Sciences_, part ii. p. 496.
Hence he held that the farina was ex-crementitious. _Pulteney's
Progress of Botany_, vol. i. p. 340.
[488] This is admitted even by his eulogist Duvau. _Biog. Univ._
vol. xlvi. p. 363.
[489] On the method of Tournefort, which was that of a corrollist,
compare _Richard_, _Eléments de Botanique_, p. 547; _Jussieu's
Botany_, edit. Wilson, 1849, p. 516; _Ray's Correspond._ pp. 381,
382; _Lankester's Mem. of Ray_, p. 49; _Winckler_, _Gesch. der
Botanik_, p. 142. Cuvier (_Hist. des Sciences_, part ii. p. 496),
with quiet irony, says of it, 'vous voyez, messieurs, que cette
méthode a le mérite d'une grande clarté; qu'elle est fondée sur
la forme de la fleur, et par conséquent sur des considérations
agréables à saisir.... Ce qui en fit le succès, c'est que
Tournefort joignit à son ouvrage une figure de fleur et de fruit
appartenant à chacun de ses genres.' Even in this, he appears to
have been careless, and is said to have described 'a great many
plants he never examined nor saw.' _Letter from Dr. Sherard_, in
_Nichols's Illustrations of the Eighteenth Century_, vol. i.
p. 356.
The truth is, that in these, as in all matters of real importance, in
questions requiring independent thought, and in questions of practical
utility, the age of Louis XIV. was an age of decay: it was an age of
misery, of intolerance, and oppression; it was an age of bondage, of
ignominy, of incompetence. This would long since have been universally
admitted, if those who have written the history of that period had taken
the trouble to study subjects without which no history can be
understood; or, I should rather say, without which no history can exist.
If this had been done, the reputation of Louis XIV. would at once have
shrunk to its natural size. Even at the risk of exposing myself to the
charge of unduly estimating my own labours, I cannot avoid saying, that
the facts which I have just pointed out have never before been
collected, but have remained isolated in the text-books and repertories
of the sciences to which they belong. Yet without them it is impossible
to study the age of Louis XIV. It is impossible to estimate the
character of any period except by tracing its development; in other
words, by measuring the extent of its knowledge. Therefore it is, that
to write the history of a country without regard to its intellectual
progress, is as if an astronomer should compose a planetary system
without regard to the sun, by whose light alone the planets can be seen,
and by whose attraction they are held in their course, and compelled to
run in the path of their appointed orbits. For the great luminary, even
as it shines in the heaven, is not a more noble or a more powerful
object than is the intellect of man in this nether world. It is to the
human intellect, and to that alone, that every country owes its
knowledge. And what is it but the progress and diffusion of knowledge
which has given us our arts, our sciences, our manufactures, our laws,
our opinions, our manners, our comforts, our luxuries, our civilization;
in short, everything that raises us above the savages, who by their
ignorance are degraded to the level of the brutes with which they herd?
Surely, then, the time has now arrived when they who undertake to write
the history of a great nation should occupy themselves with those
matters by which alone the destiny of men is regulated, and should
abandon the petty and insignificant details by which we have too long
been wearied; details respecting the lives of kings, the intrigues of
ministers, the vices and the gossip of courts.
It is precisely these higher considerations which furnish the key to the
history of the reign of Louis XIV. In that time, as in all others, the
misery of the people and the degradation of the country followed the
decline of the national intellect; while this last was, in its turn, the
result of the protective spirit--that mischievous spirit which weakens
whatever it touches. If in the long course and compass of history there
is one thing more clear than another, it is, that whenever a government
undertakes to protect intellectual pursuits, it will almost always
protect them in the wrong place, and reward the wrong men. Nor is it
surprising that this should be the case. What can kings and ministers
know about those immense branches of knowledge, to cultivate which with
success is often the business of an entire life? How can they,
constantly occupied with their lofty pursuits, have leisure for such
inferior matters? Is it to be supposed that such acquirements will be
found among statesmen, who are always engaged in the most weighty
concerns; sometimes writing despatches, sometimes making speeches,
sometimes organising a party in the parliament, sometimes baffling an
intrigue in the privy-chamber? Or if the sovereign should graciously
bestow his patronage according to his own judgment, are we to expect
that mere philosophy and science should be familiar to high and mighty
princes, who have their own peculiar and arduous studies, and who have
to learn the mysteries of heraldry, the nature and dignities of rank,
the comparative value of the different orders, decorations, and titles,
the laws of precedence, the prerogatives of noble birth, the names and
powers of ribbons, stars, and garters, the various modes of conferring
an honour or installing into an office, the adjustment of ceremonies,
the subtleties of etiquette, and all those other courtly accomplishments
necessary to the exalted functions which they perform?
The mere statement of such questions proves the absurdity of the
principle which they involve. For, unless we believe that kings are
omniscient as well as immaculate, it is evident that in the bestowal of
rewards they must be guided either by personal caprice or by the
testimony of competent judges. And since no one is a competent judge of
scientific excellence unless he is himself scientific, we are driven to
this monstrous alternative, that the rewards of intellectual labour must
be conferred injudiciously, or else that they must be given according to
the verdict of that very class by whom they are received. In the first
case, the reward will be ridiculous; in the latter case, it will be
disgraceful. In the former case, weak men will be benefited by wealth
which is taken from industry to be lavished on idleness. But in the
latter case, those men of real genius, those great and illustrious
thinkers, who are the masters and teachers of the human race, are to be
tricked out with trumpery titles; and after scrambling in miserable
rivalry for the sordid favours of a court, they are then to be turned
into beggars of the state, who not only clamour for their share of the
spoil, but even regulate the proportions into which the shares are to be
divided.
Under such a system, the natural results are, first, the impoverishment
and servility of genius: then the decay of knowledge; then the decline
of the country. Three times in the history of the world has this
experiment been tried. In the ages of Augustus, of Leo X., and of Louis
XIV., the same method was adopted, and the same result ensued. In each
of these ages, there was much apparent splendour, immediately succeeded
by sudden ruin. In each instance, the brilliancy survived the
independence; and in each instance, the national spirit sank under that
pernicious alliance between government and literature, by virtue of
which the political classes become very powerful, and the intellectual
classes very weak, simply because they who dispense the patronage will,
of course, receive the homage; and if, on the one hand, government is
always ready to reward literature, so on the other hand, will literature
be always ready to succumb to government.
Of these three ages, that of Louis XIV. was incomparably the worst; and
nothing but the amazing energy of the French people could have enabled
them to rally, as they afterwards did, from the effects of so enfeebling
a system. But though they rallied, the effort cost them dear. The
struggle, as we shall presently see, lasted two generations, and was
only ended by that frightful Revolution which formed its natural climax.
What the real history of that struggle was, I shall endeavour to
ascertain towards the conclusion of this volume. Without, however,
anticipating the course of affairs, we will now proceed to what I have
already mentioned as the second great characteristic of the reign of
Louis XIV.
II. The second intellectual characteristic of the reign of Louis XIV.
is, in importance, hardly inferior to the first. We have already seen
that the national intellect, stunted by the protection of the court, was
so diverted from the noblest branches of knowledge, that in none of them
did it produce anything worthy of being recorded. As a natural
consequence, the minds of men, driven from the higher departments, took
refuge in the lower, and concentrated themselves upon those inferior
subjects, where the discovery of truth is not the main object, but where
beauty of form and expression are the things chiefly pursued. Thus, the
first consequence of the patronage of Louis XIV. was, to diminish the
field for genius, and to sacrifice science to art. The second
consequence was, that, even in art itself, there was soon seen a marked
decay. For a short time, the stimulus produced its effect; but was
followed by that collapse which is its natural result. So essentially
vicious is the whole system of patronage and reward, that after the
death of those writers and artists, whose works form the only redeeming
point in the reign of Louis, there was found no one capable of even
imitating their excellences. The poets, dramatists, painters, musicians,
sculptors, architects, were, with hardly an exception, not only born,
but educated under that freer policy, which existed before his time.
When they began their labours, they benefited by a munificence which
encouraged the activity of their genius. But in a few years, that
generation having died off, the hollowness of the whole system was
clearly exposed. More than a quarter of a century before the death of
Louis XIV., most of these eminent men had ceased to live; and then it
was seen to how miserable a plight the country was reduced under the
boasted patronage of the great king. At the moment when Louis XIV. died,
there was scarcely a writer or an artist in France who enjoyed an
European reputation. This is a circumstance well worth our notice. If we
compare the different classes of literature, we shall find that sacred
oratory, being the least influenced by the king, was able the longest to
bear up against his system. Massillon belongs partly to the subsequent
reign; but even of the other great divines, Bossuet and Bourdaloue both
lived to 1704,[490] Mascaron to 1703,[491] and Flechier to 1710.[492]
As, however, the king, particularly in his latter years, was very
fearful of meddling with the church, it is in profane matters that we
can best trace the workings of his policy, because it is there that his
interference was most active. With a view to this, the simplest plan
will be, to look, in the first place, into the history of the fine arts;
and after ascertaining who the greatest artists were, observe the year
in which they died, remembering that the government of Louis XIV. began
in 1661, and ended in 1715.
[490] _Biog. Univ._ vol. v. pp. 236, 358.
[491] _Ibid._ xxvii. p. 351.
[492] _Ibid._ xv. p. 35.
If, now, we examine this period of fifty-four years, we shall be struck
by the remarkable fact, that everything which is celebrated was effected
in the first half of it; while more than twenty years before its close,
the most eminent masters all died without leaving any successors. The
six greatest painters in the reign of Louis XIV. were Poussin, Lesueur,
Claude Lorraine, Le Brun, and the two Mignards. Of these, Le Brun died
in 1690;[493] the elder Mignard in 1668;[494] the younger in 1695;[495]
Claude Lorraine in 1682;[496] Lesueur in 1655;[497] and Poussin, perhaps
the most distinguished of all the French school, died in 1665.[498] The
two greatest architects were, Claude Perrault and Francis Mansart; but
Perrault died in 1688;[499] Mansart in 1666;[500] and Blondel, the next
in fame, died in 1686.[501] The greatest of all the sculptors was Puget,
who died in 1694.[502] Lulli, the founder of French music, died in
1687.[503] Quinault, the greatest poet of French music, died in
1688.[504] Under these eminent men, the fine arts, in the reign of
Louis XIV., reached their zenith; and during the last thirty years of
his life, their decline was portentously rapid. This was the case, not
only in architecture and music, but even in painting, which, being more
subservient than they are to personal vanity, is more likely to flourish
under a rich and despotic government. The genius, however, of painters
fell so low, that long before the death of Louis XIV., France ceased to
possess one of any merit; and when his successor came to the throne,
this beautiful art was, in that great country, almost extinct.[505]
[493] _Ibid._ xxiii. p. 496.
[494] _Ibid._ xxix. p. 17.
[495] _Ibid._ xxix. p. 19.
[496] 'His best pictures were painted from about 1640 to 1660; he died
in 1682.' _Wornum's Epochs of Painting_, Lond. 1847. p. 399.
Voltaire (_Siècle de Louis XIV_, in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xix. p.
205) says that he died in 1678.
[497] _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxiv. p. 327; _Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds_,
vol. ii. pp. 454, 455.
[498] _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxxv. p. 579. Poussin was Barry's 'favourite'
painter. _Letter from Barry_, in _Burke's Correspond._ vol. i. p.
88. Compare _Otter's Life of Clarke_, vol. ii. p. 55. Sir Joshua
Reynolds (_Works_, vol. i. pp. 97, 351, 376) appears to have
preferred him to any of the French school; and in the report
presented to Napoleon by the Institute, he is the only French
painter mentioned by the side of the Greek and Italian artists.
_Dacier_, _Rapport Historique_, p. 23.
[499] _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxxiii. p. 411; _Siècle de Louis XIV_, in
_[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. xix. p. 158.
[500] _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxvi. p. 503.
[501] _Ibid._ vol. iv. p. 593.
[502] _Ibid._ vol. xxxvi. p. 300. Respecting him, see _Lady Morgan's
France_, vol. ii. pp. 30, 31.
[503] M. Capefigue (_Louis XIV_, vol. ii. p. 79) says, 'Lulli mourut en
1689;' but 1687 is the date assigned in _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxv.
p. 425; in _Chalmer's Biog. Dict._ vol. xx. p. 483; in _Rose's
Biog. Dict._ vol. ix. p. 350; and in _Monteil_, _Divers Etats_,
vol. vii p. 63. In _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. xix. p. 200, he
is called 'le père de la vraie musique en France.' He was admired
by Louis XIV. _Lettres de Sévigné_, vol. ii. pp. 162, 163.
[504] _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxxvi. p. 42. Voltaire (_[OE]uvres_, vol. xix.
p. 162) says, 'personne n'a jamais égalé Quinault;' and Mr.
Hallam (_Lit. of Europe_, vol. iii. p. 507), 'the unrivalled poet
of French music.' See also _Lettres de Dudeffand à Walpole_, vol.
ii. p. 432.
[505] When Louis XV. ascended the throne, painting in France was in the
lowest state of degradation. _Lady Morgan's France_, vol. ii. p.
31. Lacretelle (_Dix-huitième Siècle_, vol. ii. p. 11) says 'Les
beaux arts dégénérèrent plus sensiblement que les lettres pendant
la seconde partie du siècle de Louis XIV.... Il est certain que
les vingt-cinq dernières années du règne de Louis XIV n'offrirent
que des productions très-inférieures,' &c. Thus too Barrington
(_Observations on the Statutes_, p. 377), 'It is very remarkable
that the French school hath not produced any very capital
painters since the expensive establishment by Louis XIV. of the
academies at Rome and Paris.'
These are startling facts; not matters of opinion, which may be
disputed, but stubborn dates, supported by irrefragable testimony. And
if we examine in the same manner the literature of the age of Louis
XIV., we shall arrive at similar conclusions. If we ascertain the dates
of those masterpieces which adorn his reign, we shall find that during
the last five-and-twenty years of his life, when his patronage had been
the longest in operation, it was entirely barren of results; in other
words, that when the French had been most habituated to his protection,
they were least able to effect great things. Louis XIV. died in 1715.
Racine produced _Phedre_ in 1677; _Andromaque_ in 1667; _Athelie_ in
1691.[506] Molière published the _Misanthrope_ in 1666; _Tartuffe_ in
1667; the _Avare_ in 1668.[507] The _Lutrin_ of Boileau was written in
1674; his best Satires in 1666.[508] The last Fables of La Fontaine
appeared in 1678, and his last Tales in 1671.[509] The _Inquiry
respecting Truth_, by Malebranche, was published in 1674;[510] the
_Caractères_ of La Bruyère in 1687;[511] the Maximes of Rochefoucauld in
1665.[512] The _Provincial Letters_ of Pascal were written 1656, and he
himself died in 1662.[513] As to Corneille, his great Tragedies were
composed, some while Louis was still a boy, and the others before the
king was born.[514] Such were the dates of the masterpieces of the age
of Louis XIV. The authors of these immortal works all ceased to write,
and nearly all ceased to live, before the close of the seventeenth
century; and we may fairly ask the admirers of Louis XIV. who those men
were that succeeded them. Where have their names been registered? Where
are their works to be found? Who is there that now reads the books of
those obscure hirelings, who for so many years thronged the court of the
great king? Who has heard anything of Campistron, La Chapelle, Genest,
Ducerceau, Dancourt, Danchet, Vergier, Catrou, Chaulieu, Legendre,
Valincour, Lamotte, and the other ignoble compilers, who long remained
the brightest ornaments of France? Was this, then, the consequence of
the royal bounty? Was this the fruit of the royal patronage? If the
system of reward and protection is really advantageous to literature and
to art, how is it that it should have produced the meanest results when
it had been the longest in operation? If the favour of kings is, as
their flatterers tell us, of such importance, how comes it that the more
the favour was displayed, the more the effects were contemptible?
[506] _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxxvi. pp. 499, 502; _Hallam's Lit._ vol. iii.
p. 493.
[507] _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxix. pp. 306, 308.
[508] _Rose's Biog. Dict._ vol. iv. p. 376; and _Biog. Univ._ vol. v.
pp. 7, 8, where it is said that 'ses meilleures satires' were
those published in 1666.
[509] _Ibid._ vol. xxiii. p. 127.
[510] _Tennemann_, _Gesch. der Philos._ vol. x. p. 322.
[511] _Biog. Univ._ vol. vi. p. 175.
[512] _Brunet_, _Manuel du Libraire_, vol. iv. p. 105, Paris 1843; and
note in _Lettres de Patin_, vol. i. p. 421.
[513] _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxxiii. pp. 64, 71; _Palissot_, _Mém. pour
l'Hist. de Lit._ vol. ii. pp. 239, 241.
[514] _Polyeucte_, which is probably his greatest work, appeared in
1640; _Médée_ in 1635; _The Cid_ in 1636; _Horace and Cinna_ both
in 1639. _Biog. Univ._ vol. ix. pp. 609-613.
Nor was this almost inconceivable penury compensated by superiority in
any other department. The simple fact is that Louis XIV. survived the
entire intellect of the French nation, except that small part of it
which grew up in opposition to his principles, and afterwards shook the
throne of his successor.[515] Several years before his death, and when
his protective system had been in full force for nearly half a century,
there was not to be found in the whole of France a statesman who could
develop the resources of the country, or a general who could defend it
against its enemies. Both in the civil service and in the military
service, every thing had fallen into disorder. At home there was nothing
but confusion; abroad there was nothing but disaster. The spirit of
France succumbed, and was laid prostrate. The men of letters, pensioned
and decorated by the court, had degenerated into a fawning and
hypocritical race, who, to meet the wishes of their masters, opposed all
improvement, and exerted themselves in support of every old abuse. The
end of all this was, a corruption, a servility, and a loss of power more
complete than has ever been witnessed in any of the great countries of
Europe. There was no popular liberty; there were no great men; there was
no science; there was no literature; there were no arts. Within, there
was a discontented people, a rapacious government, and a beggared
exchequer. Without, there were foreign armies, which pressed upon all
the frontiers, and which nothing but their mutual jealousies, and a
change in the English cabinet, prevented from dismembering the monarchy
of France.[516]
[515] Voltaire (_Siècle de Louis XIV_, in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xx. pp.
319-322) reluctantly confesses the decline of the French
intellect in the latter part of the reign of Louis; and Flassan
(_Diplomat. Franç._ vol. iv. p. 400) calls it 'remarquable.' See
also _Barante_, _Littérature Française_, p. 28; _Sismondi_,
_Hist. des Français_, vol. xxvi. p. 217.
[516] Oppressed by defeats abroad, and by famine and misery at home,
Louis was laid at the mercy of his enemies; and 'was only saved by
a party revolution in the English ministry.' _Arnold's Lectures
on Modern History_, p. 137. Compare _Fragments sur l'Histoire_,
article xxiii. in _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. xxvii. p. 345,
with _De Tocqueville_, _Règne de Louis XV_, vol. i. p. 86.
Such was the forlorn position of that noble country towards the close of
the reign of Louis XIV.[517] The misfortunes which embittered the
declining years of the king were, indeed, so serious, that they could
not fail to excite our sympathy, if we did not know that they were the
result of his own turbulent ambition, of his insufferable arrogance,
but, above all, of a grasping and restless vanity, which, making him
eager to concentrate on his single person all the glory of France, gave
rise to that insidious policy, which, with gifts, with honours, and with
honied words, began by gaining the admiration of the intellectual
classes, then made them courtly and time-serving, and ended by
destroying all their boldness, stifling every effort of original
thought, and thus postponing for an indefinite period the progress of
national civilization.
[517] For evidence of the depression and, indeed, utter exhaustion of
France during the latter years of Louis XIV., compare _Duclos_,
_Mémoires_, vol. i. pp. 11-18, with _Marmontel_, _Hist. de la
Régence_, Paris, 1826, pp. 79-97. The _Lettres inédites de Madame
de Maintenon_ (vol. i. pp. 263, 284, 358, 389, 393, 408, 414,
422, 426, 447, 457, 463, vol. ii. pp. 19, 23, 33, 46, 56, and
numerous other passages) fully confirm this, and, moreover, prove
that in Paris, early in the eighteenth century, the resources,
even of the wealthy classes, were beginning to fail; while both
public and private credit were so shaken, that it was hardly
possible to obtain money on any terms. In 1710, she, the wife of
Louis XIV., complains of her inability to borrow 500 livres:
'Tout mon crédit échoue souvent auprès de M. Desmaretz pour une
somme de cinq cents livres.' _Ibid._ vol. ii. p. 33. In 1709, she
writes (vol. i. p. 447): 'Le jeu devient insipide, parce qu'il
n'y a presque plus d'argent.' See also vol. ii. p. 112; and in
February 1711 (p. 151): 'Ce n'est pas l'abondance mais l'avarice
qui fait jouer nos courtisans; on met le tout pour le tout pour
avoir quelque argent, et les tables de lansquenet ont plus l'air
d'un triste commerce que d'un divertissement.'
In regard to the people generally, the French writers supply us
with little information, because in that age they were too much
occupied with their great king and their showy literature, to pay
attention to mere popular interests. But I have collected from
other sources some information which I will now put together, and
which I recommend to the notice of the next French author who
undertakes to compose a history of Louis XIV.
Locke, who was travelling in France in 1676 and 1677, writes in
his journal, 'The rent of land in France fallen one-half in these
few years, by reason of the poverty of the people.' _King's Life
of Locke_, vol. i. p. 139. About the same time, Sir William
Temple says (_Works_, vol. ii. p. 268), 'The French peasantry are
wholly dispirited by labour and want.' In 1691, another observer,
proceeding from Calais, writes, 'From hence, travelling to Paris,
there was opportunity enough to observe what a prodigious state
of poverty the ambition and absoluteness of a tyrant can reduce
an opulent and fertile country to. There were visible all the
marks and signs of a growing misfortune; all the dismal
indications of an overwhelming calamity. The fields were
uncultivated, the villages unpeopled, the houses dropping to
decay.' _Burton's Diary_, note by Rutt, vol. iv. p. 79. In a
tract published in 1689, the author says (_Somers Tracts_, vol.
x. p. 264), 'I have known in France poor people sell their beds,
and lie upon straw; sell their pots, kettles, and all their
necessary household goods, to content the unmerciful collectors
of the king's taxes.' Dr. Lister, who visited Paris in 1698,
says, 'Such is the vast multitude of poor wretches in all parts
of this city, that whether a person is in a carriage or on foot,
in the street, or even in a shop, he is alike unable to transact
business, on account of the importunities of mendicants.'
_Lister's Account of Paris_, p. 46. Compare a _Letter from
Prior_, in _Ellis's Letters of Literary Men_, p. 213. In 1708,
Addison, who, from personal observation, was well acquainted with
France, writes: 'We think here as you do in the country, that
France is on her last legs.' _Aikin's Life of Addison_, vol. i.
p. 233. Finally, in 1718--that is, three years after the death of
Louis--Lady Mary Montagu gives the following account of the
result of his reign, in a letter to Lady Rich, dated Paris, 10th
October, 1718: 'I think nothing so terrible as objects of misery,
except one had the god-like attribute of being able to redress
them; and all the country villages of France show nothing else.
While the post-horses are changed, the whole town comes out to
beg, with such miserable starved faces, and thin, tattered
clothes, they need no other eloquence to persuade one of the
wretchedness of their condition.' _Works of Lady Mary Wortley
Montague_, vol. iii. p. 74, edit. 1803.
CHAPTER V.
DEATH OF LOUIS XIV. REACTION AGAINST THE PROTECTIVE SPIRIT, AND
PREPARATIONS FOR THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
At length Louis XIV. died. When it was positively known that the old
king had ceased to breathe, the people went almost mad with joy.[518]
The tyranny which had weighed them down was removed; and there at once
followed a reaction which, for sudden violence, has no parallel in
modern history.[519] The great majority indemnified themselves for their
forced hypocrisy by indulging in the grossest licentiousness. But among
the generation then forming, there were some high-spirited youths, who
had far higher views, and whose notions of liberty were not confined to
the license of the gaming-house and the brothel. Devoted to the great
idea of restoring to France that freedom of utterance which it had lost,
they naturally turned their eyes towards the only country where the
freedom was practised. Their determination to search for liberty in the
place where alone it could be found, gave rise to that junction of the
French and English intellects, which, looking at the immense chain of
its effects, is by far the most important fact in the history of the
eighteenth century.
[518] 'L'annonce de la mort du grand roi ne produisit chez le peuple
français qu'une explosion de joie.' _Sismondi_, _Hist. des
Français_, vol. xxvii. p. 220. 'Le jour des obsèques de Louis
XIV, on établit des guinguettes sur le chemin de Saint-Denis.
Voltaire, que la curiosité avoit mené aux funérailles du
souverain, vit dans ces guinguettes le peuple ivre de vin et de
joie de la mort de Louis XIV.' _Duvernet_, _Vie de Voltaire_, p.
29: see also _Condorcet_, _Vie de Voltaire_, p. 118; _De
Tocqueville_, _Règne de Louis XV_, vol. i. p. 18; _Duclos_,
_Mémoires_, vol. i. p. 221; _Lemontey_, _Etablissement de Louis
XIV_, pp. 311, 388.
[519] 'Kaum hatte er aber die Augen geschlossen, als alles umschlug. Der
reprimirte Geist warf sich in eine zügellose Bewegung.' _Ranke_,
_die Päpste_, vol. iii. p. 192.
During the reign of Louis XIV., the French, puffed up by national
vanity, despised the barbarism of a people who were so uncivilized as to
be always turning on their rulers, and who, within the space of forty
years, had executed one king, and deposed another.[520] They could not
believe that such a restless horde possessed anything worthy the
attention of enlightened men. Our laws, our literature, and our manners,
were perfectly unknown to them; and I doubt if at the end of the
seventeenth century there were, either in literature or in science, five
persons in France acquainted with the English language.[521] But a long
experience of the reign of Louis XIV. induced the French to reconsider
many of their opinions. It induced them to suspect that despotism may
have its disadvantages, and that a government composed of princes and
bishops is not necessarily the best for a civilized country. They began
to look, first with complacency, and then with respect, upon that
strange and outlandish people, who, though only separated from
themselves by a narrow sea, appeared to be of an altogether different
kind; and who, having punished their oppressors, had carried their
liberties and their prosperity to a height of which the world had seen
no example. These feelings, which before the Revolution broke out, were
entertained by the whole of the educated classes in France, were in the
beginning, confined to those men whose intellects placed them at the
head of their age. During the two generations which elapsed between the
death of Louis XIV. and the outbreak of the Revolution, there was hardly
a Frenchman of eminence who did not either visit England or learn
English; while many of them did both. Buffon, Brissot, Broussonnet,
Condamine, Delisle, Elie de Beaumont, Gournay, Helvétius, Jussieu,
Lalande, Lafayette, Larcher, L'Héritier, Montesquieu, Maupertuis,
Morellet, Mirabeau, Nollet, Raynal, the celebrated Roland, and his still
more celebrated wife, Rousseau, Ségur, Suard, Voltaire--all these
remarkable persons flocked to London, as also did others of inferior
ability, but of considerable influence, such as Brequiny, Bordes,
Calonne, Coyer, Cormatin, Dufay, Dumarest, Dezallier, Favier, Girod,
Grosley, Godin, D'Hancarville, Hunauld, Jars, Le Blanc, Ledru,
Lescallier, Linguet, Lesuire, Lemonnier, Levesque de Pouilly,
Montgolfier, Morand, Patu, Poissonier, Reveillon, Septchènes,
Silhouette, Siret, Soulavie, Soulès, and Valmont de Brienne.
[520] The shock which these events gave to the delicacy of the French
mind was very serious. The learned Saumaise declared that the
English are 'more savage than their own mastiffs.' _Carlyle's
Cromwell_, vol. i. p. 444. Another writer said that we were
'barbares révoltés;' and 'les barbares sujets du roi.' _Mém. de
Motteville_, vol. ii. pp. 105, 362. Patin likened us to the
Turks; and said, that having executed one king, we should
probably hang the next. _Lettres de Patin_, vol. i. p. 261, vol.
ii. p. 518, vol. iii. p. 148. Compare _Mém. de Campion_, p. 213.
After we had sent away James II., the indignation of the French
rose still higher, and even the amiable Madame Sévigné, having
occasion to mention Mary the wife of William III., could find no
better name for her than Tullia: 'la joie est universelle de la
déroute de ce prince, dont la femme est une Tullie.' _Lettres de
Sévigné_, vol. v. p. 179. Another influential French lady
mentions 'la férocité des anglais.' _Lettres inédites de
Maintenon_, vol. i. p. 303; and elsewhere (p. 109), 'je hais les
anglais comme le peuple.... Véritablement je ne les puis
souffrir.'
I will only give two more illustrations of the wide diffusion of
such feelings. In 1679, an attempt was made to bring bark into
discredit as a 'remède anglais' (_Sprengel_, _Hist. de la
Médecine_, vol. v. p. 430): and at the end of the seventeenth
century, one of the arguments in Paris against coffee was that
the English liked it. _Monteil_, _Divers Etats_, vol. vii.
p. 216.
[521] 'Au temps de Boileau, personne en France n'apprenait l'anglais.'
_[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. xxxviii. p. 337, and see vol. xix.
p. 159. 'Parmi nos grands écrivains du xvii^e siècle, il n'en est
aucun, je crois, ou l'on puisse reconnaître un souvenir, une
impression de l'esprit anglais.' _Villemain_, _Lit. au XVIII^e
Siècle_, vol. iii. p. 324. Compare _Barante_, _XVIII^e Siècle_,
p. 47, _Grimm_, and _Correspond._ vol. v. p. 135, vol. xvii.
p. 2.
The French, during the reign of Louis XIV., principally knew us
from the accounts given by two of their countrymen, Monconys and
Sorbière; both of whom published their travels in England, but
neither of whom were acquainted with the English language. For
proof of this, see _Monconys_, _Voyages_, vol. iii. pp. 34, 69,
70, 96; and _Sorbière_, _Voyage_, pp. 45, 70.
When Prior arrived at the court of Louis XIV. as plenipotentiary,
no one in Paris was aware that he had written poetry (_Lettres
sur les Anglais_, in _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. xxvi. p. 130);
and when Addison, being in Paris, presented Boileau with a copy
of the _Musæ Anglicanæ_, the Frenchman learnt for the first time
that we had any good poets: 'first conceived an opinion of the
English genius for poetry.' Tickell's statement, in _Aikin's Life
of Addison_, vol. i. p. 65. Finally, it is said that Milton's
_Paradise Lost_ was not even by report in France until after the
death of Louis XIV., though the poem was published in 1667, and
the king died in 1715; 'Nous n'avions jamais entendu parler de ce
poëme en France, avant que l'auteur de la Henriade nous en eût
donné une idée dans le neuvième chapitre de son Essai sur la
poésie épique. _Dict. Philos._ article _Epopée_, in _[OE]uvres de
Voltaire_, vol. xxxix. p. 175; see also vol. lxvi. p. 249.
Nearly all of these carefully studied our language, and most of them
seized the spirit of our literature. Voltaire, in particular, devoted
himself with his usual ardour to the new pursuit, and acquired in
England a knowledge of those doctrines, the promulgation of which,
afterwards won for him so great a reputation.[522] He was the first who
popularized in France the philosophy of Newton, where it rapidly
superseded that of Descartes.[523] He recommended to his countrymen the
writings of Locke;[524] which soon gained immense popularity, and which
supplied materials to Condillac for his system of metaphysics,[525] and
to Rousseau for his theory of education.[526] Besides this, Voltaire was
the first Frenchman who studied Shakespeare; to whose works he was
greatly indebted, though he afterwards wished to lessen what he
considered the exorbitant respect paid to them in France.[527] Indeed,
so intimate was his knowledge of the English language,[528] that we can
trace his obligations to Butler,[529] one of the most difficult of our
poets, and to Tillotson,[530] one of the dullest of our theologians. He
was acquainted with the speculations of Berkeley,[531] the most subtle
metaphysician who has ever written in English; and he had read the
works, not only of Shaftesbury,[532] but even of Chubb,[533]
Garth,[534] Mandeville,[535] and Woolston.[536] Montesquieu imbibed in
our country many of his principles; he studied our language; and he
always expressed admiration for England, not only in his writings, but
also in his private conversation.[537] Buffon learnt English, and his
first appearance as an author was as the translator of Newton and of
Hales.[538] Diderot, following in the same course, was an enthusiastic
admirer of the novels of Richardson;[539] he took the idea of several of
his plays from the English dramatists, particularly from Lillo; he
borrowed many of his arguments from Shaftesbury and Collins, and his
earliest publication was a translation of Stanyan's _History of
Greece_.[540] Helvétius, who visited London, was never weary of praising
the people; many of the views in his great work on the Mind are drawn
from Mandeville; and he constantly refers to the authority of Locke,
whose principles hardly any Frenchman would at an earlier period have
dared to recommend.[541] The works of Bacon, previously little known,
were now translated into French; and his classification of the human
faculties was made the basis of that celebrated Encyclopædia, which is
justly regarded as one of the greatest productions of the eighteenth
century.[542] The _Theory of Moral Sentiments_, by Adam Smith, was
during thirty-four years translated three different times, by three
different French authors.[543] And such was the general eagerness, that
directly the _Wealth of Nations_, by the same great writer, appeared,
Morellet, who was then high in reputation, began to turn it into French;
and was only prevented from printing his translation by the
circumstance, that before it could be completed, another version of it
was published in a French periodical.[544] Coyer, who is still
remembered for his _Life of Sobieski_, visited England; and after
returning to his own country, showed the direction of his studies by
rendering into French the Commentaries of Blackstone.[545] Le Blanc
travelled in England, wrote a work expressly upon the English, and
translated into French the Political Discourses of Hume.[546] Holbach
was certainly one of the most active leaders of the liberal party in
Paris; but a large part of his very numerous writings consists solely in
translations of English authors.[547] Indeed, it may be broadly stated,
that while, at the end of the seventeenth century, it would have been
difficult to find, even among the most educated Frenchmen, a single
person acquainted with English, it would, in the eighteenth century,
have been nearly as difficult to find in the same class one who was
ignorant of it. Men of all tastes, and of the most opposite pursuits,
were on this point united as by a common bond. Poets, geometricians,
historians, naturalists, all seemed to agree as to the necessity of
studying a literature on which no one before had wasted a thought. In
the course of general reading, I have met with proofs that the English
language was known, not only to those eminent Frenchmen whom I have
already mentioned, but also to mathematicians, as D'Alembert,[548]
Darquier,[549] Du Val le Roy,[550] Jurain,[551] Lachapelle,[552]
Lalande,[553] Le Cozic,[554] Montucla,[555] Pezenas,[556] Prony,[557]
Romme,[558] and Roger Martin;[559] to anatomists, physiologists, and
writers on medicine, as Barthèz,[560] Bichat,[561] Bordeu,[562] Barbeu
Dubourg,[563] Bosquillon,[564] Bourru,[565] Begue de Presle,[566]
Cabanis,[567] Demours,[568] Duplanil,[569] Fouquet,[570] Goulin,[571]
Lavirotte,[572] Lassus,[573] Petit Radel,[574] Pinel,[575] Roux,[576]
Sauvages,[577] and Sue;[578] to naturalists, as Alyon,[579]
Brémond,[580] Brisson,[581] Broussonnet,[582] Dalibard,[583] Haüy,[584]
Latapie,[585] Richard,[586] Rigaud,[587] and Romé de Lisle;[588] to
historians, philologists, and antiquaries, as Barthélemy,[589] Butel
Dumont,[590] De Brosses,[591] Foucher,[592] Freret,[593] Larcher,[594]
Le Coc de Villeray,[595] Millot,[596] Targe,[597] Velly,[598]
Volney,[599] and Wailly;[600] to poets and dramatists, as Chéron,[601]
Colardeau,[602] Delille,[603] Desforges,[604] Ducis,[605] Florian,[606]
Laborde,[607] Lefèvre de Beauvray,[608] Mercier,[609] Patu,[610]
Pompignan,[611] Quétant,[612] Roucher,[613] and Saint Ange;[614] to
miscellaneous writers, as Bassinet,[615] Baudeau,[616] Beaulaton,[617]
Benoist,[618] Bergier,[619] Blavet,[620] Bouchaud,[621]
Bougainville,[622] Bruté,[623] Castera,[624] Chantreau,[625]
Charpentier,[626] Chastellux,[627] Contant d'Orville,[628] De
Bissy,[629] Demeunier,[630] Desfontaines,[631] Devienne,[632]
Dubocage,[633] Dupré,[634] Duresnel,[635] Eidous,[636] Estienne,[637]
Favier,[638] Flavigny,[639] Fontanelle,[640] Fontenay,[641]
Framery,[642] Fresnais,[643] Fréville,[644] Frossard,[645] Galtier,[646]
Garsault,[647] Goddard,[648] Goudar,[649] Guénée,[650] Guillemard,[651]
Guyard,[652] Jault,[653] Imbert,[654] Joncourt,[655] Kéralio,[656]
Laboreau,[657] Lacombe,[658] Lafargue,[659] La Montagne,[660]
Lanjuinais,[661] Lasalle,[662] Lasteyrie,[663] Le Breton,[664]
Lécuy,[665] Léonard des Malpeines,[666] Letourneur,[667] Linguet,[668]
Lottin,[669] Luneau,[670] Maillet Duclairon,[671] Mandrillon,[672]
Marsy,[673] Moet,[674] Monod,[675] Mosneron,[676] Nagot,[677]
Peyron,[678] Prévost,[679] Puisieux,[680] Rivoire,[681] Robinet,[682]
Roger,[683] Roubaud,[684] Salaville,[685] Sauseuil,[686] Secondat,[687]
Septchènes,[688] Simon,[689] Soulès,[690] Suard,[691] Tannevot,[692]
Thurot,[693] Toussaint,[694] Tressan,[695] Trochereau,[696] Turpin,[697]
Ussieux,[698] Vaugeois,[699] Verlac,[700] and Virloys.[701] Indeed, Le
Blanc, who wrote shortly before the middle of the eighteenth century,
says: 'We have placed English in the rank of the learned languages; our
women study it, and have abandoned Italian in order to study the
language of this philosophic people; nor is there to be found among us
any one who does not desire to learn it.'[702]
[522] 'Le vrai roi du xviii^e siècle, c'est Voltaire; mais Voltaire à
son tour est un écolier de l'Angleterre. Avant que Voltaire eût
connu l'Angleterre, soit par ses voyages, soit part ses amitiés,
il n'était pas Voltaire, et le xviii^e siècle se cherchait
encore.' _Cousin_, _Hist. de la Philos._ I^{re} série, vol. iii.
pp. 38, 39. Compare _Damiron_, _Hist. de la Philos. en France_,
Paris, 1828, vol. i. p. 34.
[523] 'J'avais été le premier qui eût osé développer à ma nation les
découvertes de Newton, en langage intelligible.' _[OE]uvres de
Voltaire_, vol. i. p. 315; see also vol. xix. p. 87, vol. xxvi.
p. 71; _Whewell's Hist. of Induc. Sciences_, vol. ii. p. 206;
_Weld's Hist. of the Royal Society_, vol. i. p. 441. After this,
the Cartesian physics lost ground every day; and in _Grimm's
Correspondence_, vol. ii. p. 148, there is a letter, dated Paris,
1757, which says, 'Il n'y a guère plus ici de partisans de
Descartes que M. de Mairan.' Compare _Observations et Pensées_,
in _[OE]uvres de Turgot_, vol. iii. p. 298.
[524] Which he was never weary of praising; so that, as M. Cousin says
(_Hist. de la Philos._ II. série, vol. ii. pp. 311, 312), 'Locke
est le vrai maître de Voltaire.' Locke was one of the authors he
put into the hands of Madame du Châtelet. _Condorcet_, _Vie de
Voltaire_, p. 296.
[525] _Morell's Hist. of Philos._ 1846, vol. i. p. 134; _Hamilton's
Discuss._ p. 3.
[526] 'Rousseau tira des ouvrages de Locke une grande partie de ses
idées sur la politique et l'éducation; Condillac toute sa
philosophie.' _Villemain_, _Lit. au XVIII^e Siècle_, vol. i. p.
83. See also, on the obligations of Rousseau to Locke, _Grimm_,
_Correspond._ vol. v. p. 97; _Musset Pathay_, _Vie de Rousseau_,
vol. i. p. 38, vol. ii. p. 394; _Mém. de Morellet_, vol. i. p.
113; _Romilly's Memoirs_, vol. i. pp. 211, 212.
[527] In 1768, Voltaire (_[OE]uvres_, vol. lxvi. p. 249) writes to
Horace Walpole, 'Je suie le premier qui ait fait connaître
Shakespeare aux français.' See also his _Lettres inédites_, vol.
ii. p. 500; _Villemain_, _Lit. au XVIII^e Siècle_, vol. iii. p.
325; and _Grimm_, _Correspond._ vol. xii. pp. 124, 125, 133.
[528] There are extant many English letters written by Voltaire, which,
though of course containing several errors, also contain abundant
evidence of the spirit with which he seized our idiomatic
expressions. In addition to his _Lettres inédites_, published at
Paris in the present year (1856), see _Chatham Correspond._ vol.
ii. pp. 131-133; and _Phillimore's Mém. of Lyttelton_, vol. i.
pp. 323-325, vol. ii. pp. 555, 556, 558.
[529] _Grimm_, _Correspond._ vol. i. p. 332; _Voltaire_, _Lettres
inédites_, vol. ii. p. 258; and the account of Hudibras, with
translations from it, in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xxvi. pp. 132-137;
also a conversation between Voltaire and Townley, in _Nichols's
Illustrations of the Eighteenth Century_, vol. iii. p. 722.
[530] Compare _Mackintosh's Memoirs_, vol. i. p. 341, with _[OE]uvres de
Voltaire_, vol. xxxix. p. 259, vol. xlvii. p. 85.
[531] _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. xxxviii. pp. 216-218, vol. xlvi.
p. 282, vol. xlvii. p. 439, vol. lvii. p. 178.
[532] _Ibid._ vol. xxxvii. p. 353, vol. lvii. p. 66; _Correspond.
inédite de Dudeffand_, vol. ii. p. 230.
[533] _[OE]uvres_, vol. xxxiv. p. 294, vol. lvii. p. 121.
[534] _Ibid._ vol. xxxvii. pp. 407, 441.
[535] _Ibid._ vol. xxxvi. p. 46.
[536] _Ibid._ vol. xxxiv. p. 288, vol. xli. pp. 212-217; _Biog. Univ._
vol. li. pp. 199, 200.
[537] _Lerminier_, _Philos. du Droit_, vol. i. p. 221; _Klimrath_,
_Hist. du Droit_, vol. ii. p. 502; _Harris's Life of Hardwicke_,
vol. ii. p. 398, vol. iii. pp. 432-434; _Mém. de Diderot_, vol.
ii. pp. 193, 194; _Lacretelle_, _XVIII^e Siècle_, vol. ii. p. 24.
[538] _Villemain_, _Lit. au XVIII^e Siècle_, vol. ii. p. 182; _Biog.
Univ._ vol. vi. p. 235; _Le Blanc_, _Lettres_, vol. i. p. 93,
vol. ii. pp. 159, 160.
[539] 'Admirateur passionné du romancier anglais.' _Biog. Univ._
vol. xxxvii. p. 581. Compare _Diderot_, _Corresp._ vol. i. p.
352, vol. ii. pp. 44, 52, 53; _Mercier sur Rousseau_, vol. i.
p. 44.
[540] _Villemain_, _Lit._ vol. ii. p. 115; _Schlosser's Eighteenth
Century_, vol. i. pp. 34, 42; _Tennemann_, _Gesch. der Philos._
vol. xi. p. 314; _Biog. Univ._ vol. xi. p. 314; _Grimm_,
_Correspond._ vol. xv. p. 81. Stanyan's _History of Greece_ was
once famous, and even so late as 1804, I find Dr. Parr
recommending it. Parr's _Works_, vol. viii. p. 422. Diderot told
Sir Samuel Romilly that he had collected materials for a history
of the trial of Charles I. _Life of Romilly_, vol. i. p. 46.
[541] _Diderot_, _Mém._ vol. ii. p. 286; _Cousin_, _Hist. de la Philos._
II^e série, vol. ii. p. 331; _Helvétius de l'Esprit_, vol. i. pp.
31, 38, 46, 65, 114, 169, 193, 266, 268, vol. ii. pp. 144, 163,
165, 195, 212; _Letters addressed to Hume_, Edinb. 1849, pp. 9,
10.
[542] This is the arrangement of our knowledge under the heads of
Memory, Reason, and Imagination, which D'Alembert took from
Bacon. Compare _Whewell's Philos. of the Sciences_, vol. ii. p.
306; _Cuvier_, _Hist. des Sciences_, part ii. p. 276; _Georgel_,
_Mém._ vol. ii. p. 241; _Bordas Demoulin_, _Cartésianisme_,
vol. i. p. 18.
[543] _Quérard_, _France Lit._ ix. 193.
[544] _Mém de. Morellet_, i. 236, 237.
[545] _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, lxv. 161, 190, 212; _Biog. Univ._ x. 158,
159.
[546] _Burton's Life of Hume_, vol. i. pp. 365, 366, 406.
[547] See the list, in _Biog. Univ._ vol. xx. pp. 463-466; and compare
_Mém. de Diderot_, vol. iii. p. 49, from which it seems that
Holbach was indebted to Toland, though Diderot speaks rather
doubtingly. In _Almon's Mem. of Wilkes_ 1805, vol. iv. pp. 176,
177, there is an English letter, tolerably well written, from
Holbach to Wilkes.
[548] _Musset Pathay_, _Vie de Rousseau_, ii. 10, 175; _[OE]uvres de
Voltaire_, liv. 207.
[549] _Biog. Univ._ x. 556.
[550] _Ibid._ xii. 418.
[551] _Quérard_, _France Lit._ iv. 34, 272.
[552] _Ibid._ iv. 361.
[553] _Biog. Univ._ xxiii. 226.
[554] _Montucla_, _Hist. des Mathém._ ii. 170.
[555] _Montucla_, ii. 120, iv. 662, 665, 670.
[556] _Biog. Univ._ iii. 253, xxxiii. 564.
[557] _Quérard_, _France Lit._ vii. 353.
[558] _Biog. Univ._ xxxviii. 530.
[559] _Ibid._ xxxviii. 411.
[560] _Ibid._ iii. 450.
[561] _Bichat sur la Vie_, 244.
[562] _Quérard_, i. 416.
[563] _Biog. Univ._ iii. 345.
[564] _Quérard_, i. 260, 425, ii. 354.
[565] _Ibid._ i. 476.
[566] _Biog. Univ._ iv. 55, 56.
[567] _Notice sur Cabanis_, p. viii. in his _Physique et Moral._
[568] _Biog. Univ._ xi. 65, 66.
[569] _Ibid._ xii. 276.
[570] _Ibid._ xv. 359.
[571] _Ibid._ xviii. 187.
[572] _Quérard_, iv. 641, vi. 9, 398.
[573] _Cuvier_, _Eloges_, i. 354.
[574] _Quérard_, vii. 95.
[575] _Cuvier_, _Eloges_, iii. 382.
[576] _Biog. Univ._ xxxix. 174.
[577] _Le Blanc_, _Lettres_, i. 93.
[578] _Quérard_, ix. 286.
[579] _Robin et Verdeil_, _Chim. Anat._ ii. 416.
[580] _Biog. Univ._ v. 530, 531.
[581] _Cuvier_, _Eloges_, i. 196.
[582] _Biog. Univ._ vi. 47.
[583] _Quérard_, ii. 372.
[584] _Haüy_, _Minéralogie_, ii. 247, 267, 295, 327, 529, 609, iii. 75,
293, 307, 447, 575, iv. 45, 280, 292, 362.
[585] _Quérard_, iv. 598.
[586] _Ibid._ viii. 22.
[587] _Swainson_, _Disc. on Nat. Hist._ 52; _Cuvier_, _Règne Animal_,
iii. 415.
[588] _De Lisle_, _Cristallographie_, 1772, xviii. xx. xxiii. xxv.
xxvii. 78, 206, 254.
[589] _Albemarle's Rockingham_, ii. 156; _Campbell's Chancellors_,
v. 365.
[590] _Biog. Univ._ vi. 386.
[591] _Letters to Hume_, Edin. 1849, 276, 278.
[592] _Biog. Univ._ xv. 332.
[593] _Brewster's Life of Newton_, ii. 302.
[594] _Palissot_, _Mém._ ii. 56.
[595] _Biog. Univ._ ix. 549.
[596] _Ibid._ xxix. 51, 53.
[597] _Ibid._ xliv. 534.
[598] _Ibid._ xlviii. 93.
[599] _Volney_, _Syrie et Egypte_, ii. 100, 157; _Quérard_, x. 271, 273.
[600] _Biog. Univ._ i. 42.
[601] _Ibid._ viii. 340, 341.
[602] _Mém. de Genlis_, i. 276.
[603] _Palissot_, _Mém._ i. 243.
[604] _Biog. Univ._ xi. 281, xi. 172, 173.
[605] _Quérard_, ii. 626, 627.
[606] _Ibid._ iii. 141.
[607] _Quérard_, iv. 342.
[608] _Ibid._ v. 83.
[609] _Ibid._ vi. 62.
[610] _Garrick Correspond._ 4to, 1832, ii. 385, 395, 416.
[611] _Biog. Univ._ xxxv. 314.
[612] _Quérard_, vii. 399.
[613] _Biog. Univ._ xxxix. 93.
[614] _Ibid._ xxxix. 530.
[615] _Quérard_, i. 209.
[616] _Biog. Univ._ iii. 533.
[617] _Ibid._ iii. 631.
[618] _Cuvier_, _Règne Animal_, iii. 334.
[619] _Quérard_, i. 284, vii. 287.
[620] _Mém. de Morellet_, i. 237.
[621] _Biog. Univ._ v. 264.
[622] _Dutens_, _Mém._ iii. 32.
[623] _Biog. Univ._ vi. 165.
[624] _Murray's Life of Bruce_, 121; _Biog. Univ._ vi. 79.
[625] _Ibid._ viii. 46.
[626] _Ibid._ viii. 246.
[627] _Ibid._ viii. 266.
[628] _Ibid._ ix. 497.
[629] _Ibid._ xlv. 394.
[630] _Lettres de Dudeffand à Walpole_, iii. 184.
[631] _[OE]uvres de Voltaire._ lvi. 527.
[632] _Biog. Univ._ xi. 264.
[633] _Quérard_, ii. 598.
[634] _Biog. Univ._ xii. 313, 314.
[635] _Nichols's Lit. Anec._ ii. 154; _Palissot_, _Mém._ ii. 311.
[636] _Biog. Univ._ iv. 547, xii. 595.
[637] _Ibid._ xiii. 399.
[638] _Quérard_, iii. 79.
[639] _Biog. Univ._ xv. 29.
[640] _Ibid._ xv. 203.
[641] _Ibid._ 218.
[642] _Quérard_, i. 525.
[643] _Biog. Univ._ xvi. 48.
[644] _Ibid._ li. 508.
[645] _Smith's Tour on the Continent in 1786_, i. 143.
[646] _Biog. Univ._ xvi. 388.
[647] _Ibid._ xvi. 502.
[648] _Sinclair's Correspond._ i. 157.
[649] _Quérard_, iii. 418.
[650] _Biog. Univ._ xix. 13.
[651] _Quérard_, i. 10, iii. 536.
[652] _Ibid._ iii. 469.
[653] _Biog. Univ._ xxi. 419.
[654] _Ibid._ xxi. 200.
[655] _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, xxxviii. 244.
[656] _Palissot_, _Mém._ i. 425.
[657] _Biog. Univ._ xxiii. 34.
[658] _Ibid._ xxiii. 56.
[659] _Ibid._ xxiii. 111.
[660] _Quérard_, iv. 503.
[661] _Biog. Univ._ xxiii. 373.
[662] _Quérard_, iv. 579.
[663] _Sinclair's Correspond._ ii. 139.
[664] _Mem. and Correspond. of Sir. J. E. Smith_, i. 163.
[665] _Biog. des Hommes Vivants_, iv. 164.
[666] _Quérard_, v. 177.
[667] _Nichols's Lit. Anec._ iv. 583; _Longchamp et Wagnière_, _Mém._
i. 395.
[668] _Quérard_, v. 316.
[669] _Biog. Univ._ xxv. 87.
[670] _Ibid._ xxv. 432.
[671] _Ibid._ xxvi. 244.
[672] _Ibid._ xxvi. 468.
[673] _Ibid._ xxvii. 269.
[674] _Ibid._ xxix. 208.
[675] _Lettres de Dudeffand à Walpole_, i. 222.
[676] _Quérard_, vi. 330.
[677] _Biog. Univ._ xxx. 539.
[678] _Ibid._ xxxiii. 553.
[679] _Lettres de Dudeffand à Walpole_, i. 22, iii. 307, iv. 207.
[680] _Biog. Univ._ xxxvi. 305, 306.
[681] _Ibid._ xxxviii. 174.
[682] _Peignot_, _Dict. des Livres_, ii. 233.
[683] _Quérard_, viii. 111.
[684] _Biog. Univ._ xxxix. 84.
[685] _Biog. des Hommes Vivants_, v. 294.
[686] _Quérard_, viii. 474.
[687] _Biog. Univ._ xli. 426.
[688] _Ibid._ xlii. 45, 46.
[689] _Ibid._ xlii. 389.
[690] _Ibid._ xliii. 181.
[691] _Garrick Correspond._ ii. 604; _Mém. de Genlis_, vi. 205.
[692] _Biog. Univ._ xliv. 512.
[693] _Life of Roscoe_, _by his Son_, i. 200.
[694] _Biog. Univ._ xlvi. 398, 399.
[695] _Ibid._ xlvi. 497.
[696] _Quérard_, iv. 45, ix. 558.
[697] _Biog. Univ._ xlvii. 98.
[698] _Ibid._ xlvii. 232.
[699] _Mém. de Brissot_, i. 78.
[700] _Biog. Univ._ xlviii. 217, 218.
[701] _Ibid._ xlix. 223.
[702] 'Nous avons mis depuis peu leur langue au rang des langues
savantes; les femmes même l'apprennent, et ont renoncé à
l'italien pour étudier celle de ce peuple philosophe. Il n'est
point dans la province d'Armande et de Belise qui ne veuille
savoir l'anglois.' _Le Blanc_, _Lettres_, vol. ii. p. 465.
Compare _Grimm_, _Corresp._ vol. xiv. p. 484; and _Nichols's Lit.
Anec._ vol. iii. pp. 460, 461.
Such was the eagerness with which the French imbibed the literature of a
people whom but a few years before they had heartily despised. The truth
is, that in this new state of things they had no alternative. For where
but in England was a literature to be found that could satisfy those
bold and inquisitive thinkers who arose in France after the death of
Louis XIV.? In their own country there had no doubt been great displays
of eloquence, of fine dramas, and of poetry, which, though never
reaching the highest point of excellence, is of finished and admirable
beauty. But it is an unquestionable fact, and one melancholy to
contemplate, that during the sixty years which succeeded the death of
Descartes, France had not possessed a single man who dared to think for
himself. Metaphysicians, moralists, historians, all had become tainted
by the servility of that bad age. During two generations, no Frenchman
had been allowed to discuss with freedom any question, either of
politics or of religion. The consequence was, that the largest
intellects, excluded from their legitimate field, lost their energy; the
national spirit died away; the very materials and nutriment of thought
seemed to be wanting. No wonder then, if the great Frenchmen of the
eighteenth century sought that aliment abroad which they were unable to
find at home. No wonder if they turned from their own land, and gazed
with admiration at the only people who, pushing their inquiries into the
highest departments, had shown the same fearlessness in politics as in
religion; a people who, having punished their kings and controlled their
clergy, were storing the treasures of their experience in that noble
literature which never can perish, and of which it may be said in sober
truth, that it has stimulated the intellect of the most distant races,
and that, planted in America and in India, it has already fertilized the
two extremities of the world.
There are, in fact, few things in history so instructive as the extent
to which France was influenced by this new pursuit. Even those who took
part in actually consummating the Revolution, were moved by the
prevailing spirit. The English language was familiar to Carra,[703]
Dumouriez,[704] Lafayette,[705] and Lanthénas.[706] Camille Desmoulins
had cultivated his mind from the same source.[707] Marat travelled in
Scotland as well as in England, and was so profoundly versed in our
language that he wrote two works in it; one of which, called _The Chains
of Slavery_, was afterwards translated into French.[708] Mirabeau is
declared by a high authority to have owed part of his power to a careful
study of the English constitution;[709] he translated not only Watson's
_History of Philip II._, but also some parts of Milton;[710] and it is
said that when he was in the National Assembly, he delivered, as his
own, passages from the speeches of Burke.[711] Mounier was well
acquainted with our language, and with our political institutions both
in theory and in practice;[712] and in a work, which exercised
considerable influence, he proposed for his own country the
establishment of two chambers, to form that balance of power of which
England supplied the example.[713] The same idea, derived from the same
source, was advocated by Le Brun, who was a friend of Mounier's, and
who, like him, had paid attention to the literature and government of
the English people.[714] Brissot knew English; he had studied in London
the working of the English institutions, and he himself mentions that,
in his treatise on criminal law, he was mainly guided by the course of
English legislation.[715] Condorcet also proposed as a model our system
of criminal jurisprudence,[716] which, bad as it was, certainly
surpassed that possessed by France. Madame Roland, whose position, as
well as ability, made her one of the leaders of the democratic party,
was an ardent student of the language and literature of the English
people.[717] She too, moved by the universal curiosity, came to our
country; and, as if to show that persons of every shade and of every
rank were actuated by the same spirit, the Duke of Orleans likewise
visited England; nor did his visit fail to produce its natural results.
'It was,' says a celebrated writer, 'in the society of London that he
acquired a taste for liberty; and it was on his return from there that
he brought into France a love of popular agitation, a contempt for his
own rank, and a familiarity with those beneath him.'[718]
[703] _Williams's Letters from France_, vol. iii. p. 68, 2nd edit. 1796;
_Biog. Univ._ vol. vii. p. 192.
[704] _Adolphus's Biog. Mem._ 1799, vol. i. p. 352.
[705] _Lady Morgan's France_, vol. ii. p. 304; _Mém. de Lafayette_,
vol. i. pp. 41, 49, 70, vol. ii. pp. 26, 74, 83, 89.
[706] _Quérard_, _France Littéraire_, vol. iv. p. 540.
[707] The last authors he read, shortly before his execution, were Young
and Hervey. _Lamartine_, _Hist. des Girondins_, vol. viii. p. 45.
In 1769 Madame Riccoboni writes from Paris, that Young's _Night
Thoughts_ had become very popular there; and she justly adds,
'c'est une preuve sans réplique du changement de l'esprit
français.' _Garrick Correspondence_, vol. ii. p. 566, 4to. 1832.
[708] _Lamartine_, _Hist. des Girondins_, vol. iv. p. 119; _Mém. de
Brissot_, vol. i. pp. 336, 337, vol. ii. p. 3.
[709] 'Une des supériorités secondaires, une des supériorités d'étude
qui appartenaient à Mirabeau, c'était la profonde connaissance,
la vive intelligence de la constitution anglaise, de ses ressorts
publics et de ses ressorts cachés.' _Villemain_, _Lit. au XVIII^e
Siècle_, vol. iv. p. 153.
[710] Particularly the democratic passages, 'un corps de doctrine de
tous ses écrits républicains.' _Dumont_, _Souvenirs sur
Mirabeau_, p. 119. As to his translation of Watson, see _Alison's
Europe_, vol. i. p. 452. He also intended to translate Sinclair's
History of the Revenue. _Correspond. of Sir J. Sinclair_,
vol. ii. p. 119.
[711] _Prior's Life of Burke_, p. 546, 3rd edit. 1839.
[712] 'Il étudiait leur langue, la théorie et plus encore la pratique de
leurs institutions.' _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxx. p. 310.
[713] _Continuation de Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. xxx.
p. 434. Montlosier (_Monarchie Française_, vol. ii. p. 340) says
that this idea was borrowed from England; but he does not mention
who suggested it.
[714] _Du Mesnil_, _Mém. sur Le Brun_, pp. 10, 14, 29, 82, 180, 182.
[715] _Mém. de Brissot_, vol. i. pp. 63, 64, vol. ii. pp. 25, 40, 188,
206, 260, 313.
[716] Dupont de Nemours (_Mém. sur Turgot_, p. 117) says of criminal
jurisprudence, 'M. de Condorcet proposait en modèle celle des
Anglais.'
[717] _Mém. de Roland_, vol. i. pp. 27, 55, 89, 136, vol. ii. pp. 99,
135, 253.
[718] 'Le duc d'Orléans puisa ainsi le goût de la liberté dans la vie de
Londres. Il en rapporta en France les habitudes d'insolence
contre la cour, l'appétit des agitations populaires, le mépris
pour son propre rang, la familiarité avec la foule,' &c.
_Lamartine_, _Hist. des Girondins_, vol. ii. p. 102.
This language, strong as it is, will not appear exaggerated to any one
who has carefully studied the history of the eighteenth century. It is
no doubt certain, that the French Revolution was essentially a reaction
against that protective and interfering spirit which reached its zenith
under Louis XIV., but which, centuries before his reign, had exercised a
most injurious influence over the national prosperity. While, however,
this must be fully conceded, it is equally certain that the impetus to
which the reaction owed its strength, proceeded from England; and that
it was English literature which taught the lessons of political liberty,
first to France, and through France to the rest of Europe.[719] On this
account, and not at all from mere literary curiosity, I have traced with
some minuteness that union between the French and English minds, which,
though often noticed, has never been examined with the care its
importance deserves. The circumstances which reinforced this vast
movement will be related towards the end of the volume; at present I
will confine myself to its first great consequence, namely, the
establishment of a complete schism between the literary men of France,
and the classes who exclusively governed the country.
[719] M. Lerminier (_Philos. du Droit_, vol. i. p. 19) says of England,
'cette île célèbre donne à l'Europe l'enseignement de la liberté
politique; elle en fut l'école au dix-huitième siècle pour tout
ce que l'Europe eut de penseurs.' See also _Soulavie_, _Règne de
Louis XVI_, vol. iii. p. 161; _Mém. de Marmontel_, vol. iv. pp.
38, 39; _Stäudlin_, _Gesch. der theolog. Wissenschaften_,
vol. ii. p. 291.
Those eminent Frenchmen who now turned their attention to England, found
in its literature, in the structure of its society, and in its
government, many peculiarities of which their own country furnished no
example. They heard political and religious questions of the greatest
moment debated with a boldness unknown in any other part of Europe. They
heard dissenters and churchmen, whigs and tories, handling the most
dangerous topics, and treating them with unlimited freedom. They heard
public disputes respecting matters which no one in France dared to
discuss; mysteries of state and mysteries of creed unfolded and rudely
exposed to the popular gaze. And, what to Frenchmen of that age must
have been equally amazing, they not only found a public press possessing
some degree of freedom, but they found that within the very walls of
parliament the administration of the crown was assailed with complete
impunity, the character of its chosen servants constantly aspersed, and,
strange to say, even the management of its revenues effectually
controlled.[720]
[720] Hume, who was acquainted with several eminent Frenchmen who
visited England, says (_Philosophical Works_, vol. iii. p. 8),
'nothing is more apt to surprise a foreigner than the extreme
liberty which we enjoy in this country, of communicating whatever
we please to the public, and of openly censuring every measure
entered into by the king or his ministers.'
The successors of the age of Louis XIV., seeing these things, and
seeing, moreover, that the civilization of the country increased as the
authority of the upper classes and of the crown diminished, were unable
to restrain their wonder at so novel and exciting a spectacle. 'The
English nation,' says Voltaire, 'is the only one on the earth, which, by
resisting its kings, has succeeded in lessening their power.[721] How I
love the boldness of the English! how I love men who say what they
think!'[722] The English, says Le Blanc, are willing to have a king,
provided they are not obliged to obey him.[723] The immediate object of
their government, says Montesquieu, is political liberty;[724] they
possess more freedom than any republic;[725] and their system is in fact
a republic disguised as a monarchy.[726] Grosley, struck with amazement,
exclaims, 'Property is in England a thing sacred, which the laws protect
from all encroachment, not only from engineers, inspectors, and other
people of that stamp, but even from the king himself.'[727] Mably, in the
most celebrated of all his works, says, 'The Hanoverians are only able
to reign in England because the people are free, and believe they have a
right to dispose of the crown. But if the kings were to claim the same
powers as the Stuarts, if they were to believe that the crown belonged
to them by divine right, they would be condemning themselves and
confessing that they were occupying a place which is not their
own.'[728] In England, says Helvétius, the people are respected; every
citizen can take some part in the management of affairs; and authors are
allowed to enlighten the public respecting its own interests.[729] And
Brissot, who had made these matters his especial study, cries out,
'Admirable constitution! which can only be disparaged either by men who
know it not, or else by those whose tongues are bridled by
slavery.'[730]
[721] 'La nation anglaise est la seule de la terre qui soit parvenue à
régler le pouvoir des rois en leur résistant.' _Lettre VIII sur
les Anglais_, in _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. xxvi. p. 37.
[722] 'Que j'aime la hardiesse anglaise! que j'aime les gens qui disent
ce qu'ils pensent!' _Letter from Voltaire_, in _Correspond. de
Dudeffand_, vol. ii. p. 263. For other instances of his
admiration of England, see _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. xl. pp.
105-109; vol. li. pp. 137, 390; vol. liv. pp. 298, 392; vol. lvi.
pp. 162, 163, 195, 196, 270; vol. lvii. p. 500; vol. lviii. pp.
128, 267; vol. lix. pp. 265, 361; vol. lx. p. 501; vol. lxi. pp.
43, 73, 129, 140, 474, 475; vol. lxii. pp. 343, 379, 392; vol.
lxiii. pp. 128, 146, 190, 196, 226, 237, 415; vol. lxiv. pp. 36,
96, 269; vol. lxvi. pp. 93, 159; vol. lxvii. pp. 353, 484.
[723] 'Ils veulent un roi, aux conditions, pour ainsi dire, de ne lui
point obéir.' _Le Blanc_, _Lettres d'un François_, vol. i.
p. 210.
[724] 'Il y a aussi une nation dans le monde qui a pour objet direct de
sa constitution la liberté politique.' _Esprit des Lois_, livre
xi. chap. v. in _[OE]uvres de Montesquieu_, p. 264. Conversely De
Staël (_Consid. sur la Rév._ vol. iii. p. 261), 'la liberté
politique est le moyen suprême.'
[725] 'L'Angleterre est à présent le plus libre pays qui soit au monde,
je n'en excepte aucune république.' _Notes sur l'Angleterre_, in
_[OE]uvres de Montesquieu_, p. 632.
[726] 'Une nation où la république se cache sous la forme de la
monarchie.' _Esprit des Lois_, livre v. chap. xix. in _[OE]uvres
de Montesquieu_, page 225; also quoted in _Bancroft's American
Revolution_, vol. ii. p. 36.
[727] _Grosley's Tour to London_, vol. i. pp. 16, 17.
[728] _Mably_, _Observ. sur l'Hist. de France_, vol. ii. p. 185.
[729] _Helvétius de l'Esprit._ vol. i. pp. 102, 199: 'un pays où le
peuple est respecté comme en Angleterre; ... un pays où chaque
citoyen a part au maniement des affaires générales, où tout homme
d'esprit peut éclairer le public sur ses véritables intérêts.'
[730] _Mém. de Brissot_, vol. ii. p. 25.
Such were the opinions of some of the most celebrated Frenchmen of that
time; and it would be easy to fill a volume with similar extracts. But,
what I now rather wish to do, is, to point out the first great
consequence of this new and sudden admiration for a country which, in
the preceding age, had been held in profound contempt. The events which
followed are, indeed, of an importance impossible to exaggerate; since
they brought about that rupture between the intellectual and governing
classes, of which the revolution itself was but a temporary episode.
The great Frenchmen of the eighteenth century being stimulated by the
example of England into a love of progress, naturally came into
collision with the governing classes, among whom the old stationary
spirit still prevailed. This opposition was a wholesome reaction against
that disgraceful servility for which, in the reign of Louis XIV.,
literary men had been remarkable; and if the contest which ensued had
been conducted with anything approaching to moderation, the ultimate
result would have been highly beneficial; since it would have secured
that divergence between the speculative and practical classes which, as
we have already seen, is essential to maintain the balance of
civilization, and to prevent either side from acquiring a dangerous
predominance. But, unfortunately, the nobles and clergy had been so long
accustomed to power, that they could not brook the slightest
contradiction from those great writers, whom they ignorantly despised as
their inferiors. Hence it was, that when the most illustrious Frenchmen
of the eighteenth century attempted to infuse into the literature of
their country a spirit of inquiry similar to that which existed in
England, the ruling classes became roused into a hatred and jealousy
which broke all bounds, and gave rise to that crusade against knowledge
which forms the second principal precursor of the French Revolution.
The extent of that cruel persecution to which literature was now
exposed, can only be fully appreciated by those who have minutely
studied the history of France in the eighteenth century. For it was not
a stray case of oppression, which occurred here and there; but it was a
prolonged and systematic attempt to stifle all inquiry, and punish all
inquirers. If a list were drawn up of all the literary men who wrote
during the seventy years succeeding the death of Louis XIV., it would be
found, that at least nine out of every ten had suffered from the
government some grievous injury; and that a majority of them had been
actually thrown into prison. Indeed, in saying thus much, I am
understating the real facts of the case; for I question if one literary
man out of fifty escaped with entire impunity. Certainly, my own
knowledge of those times, though carefully collected, is not so complete
as I could have wished; but, among those authors who were punished, I
find the name of nearly every Frenchman whose writings have survived the
age in which they were produced. Among those who suffered either
confiscation, or imprisonment, or exile, or fines, or the suppression of
their works, or the ignominy of being forced to recant what they had
written, I find, besides a host of inferior writers, the names of
Beaumarchais, Berruyer, Bougeant, Buffon, D'Alembert, Diderot, Duclos,
Freret, Helvétius, La Harpe, Linguet, Mably, Marmontel, Montesquieu,
Mercier, Morellet, Raynal, Rousseau, Suard, Thomas, and Voltaire.
The mere recital of this list is pregnant with instruction. To suppose
that all these eminent men deserved the treatment they received, would,
even in the absence of direct evidence, be a manifest absurdity; since
it would involve the supposition, that a schism having taken place
between two classes, the weaker class was altogether wrong, and the
stronger altogether right. Fortunately, however, there is no necessity
for resorting to any merely speculative argument respecting the probable
merits of the two parties. The accusations brought against these great
men are before the world; the penalties inflicted are equally well
known; and, by putting these together, we may form some idea of the
state of society, in which such things could be openly practised.
Voltaire, almost immediately after the death of Louis XIV., was falsely
charged with having composed a libel on that prince; and, for this
imaginary offence, he, without the pretence of a trial, and without even
the shadow of a proof, was thrown into the Bastille, where he was
confined more than twelve months.[731] Shortly after he was released,
there was put upon him a still more grievous insult; the occurrence,
and, above all, the impunity of which, supply striking evidence as to
the state of society in which such things were permitted. Voltaire, at
the table of the Duke de Sully, was deliberately insulted by the
Chevalier de Rohan Chabot, one of those impudent and dissolute nobles
who then abounded in Paris. The duke, though the outrage was committed
in his own house, in his own presence, and upon his own guest, would not
interfere; but seemed to consider that a poor poet was honoured by being
in any way noticed by a man of rank. But, as Voltaire, in the heat of
the moment, let fall one of those stinging retorts which were the terror
of his enemies, the chevalier determined to visit him with further
punishment. The course he adopted was characteristic of the man, and of
the class to which he belonged. He caused Voltaire to be seized in the
streets of Paris, and in his presence ignominiously beaten, he himself
regulating the number of blows of which the chastisement was to consist.
Voltaire, smarting under the insult, demanded that satisfaction which it
was customary to give. This, however, did not enter into the plan of his
noble assailer, who not only refused to meet him in the field, but
actually obtained an order, by which he was confined in the Bastille for
six months, and at the end of that time was directed to quit the
country.[732]
[731] _Condorcet_, _Vie de Voltaire_, pp. 118, 119; _Duvernet_, _Vie de
Voltaire_, pp. 30, 32; _Longchamp et Wagnière_, _Mém. sur
Voltaire_, vol. i. p. 22.
[732] _Duvernet_, _Vie de Voltaire_, pp. 46-48; _Condorcet_, _Vie de
Voltaire_, pp. 125, 126. Compare vol. lvi. p. 162; _Lepan_, _Vie
de Voltaire_, 1837, pp. 70, 71; and _Biog. Univ._ vol. xlix. p.
468. Duvernet, who, writing from materials supplied by Voltaire,
had the best means of information, gives a specimen of the fine
feeling of a French duke in the eighteenth century. He says,
that, directly after Rohan had inflicted this public
chastisement, 'Voltaire rentre dans l'hôtel, demande au duc de
Sully de regarder cet outrage fait à l'un de ses convives, comme
fait à lui-même: il le sollicite de se joindre à lui pour en
poursuivre la vengeance, et de venir chez un commissaire en
certifier la déposition. _Le duc de Sully se refuse à tout._'
Thus it was that Voltaire, having first been imprisoned for a libel
which he never wrote, and having then been publicly beaten because he
retorted an insult wantonly put upon him, was now sentenced to another
imprisonment, through the influence of the very man by whom he had been
attacked. The exile which followed the imprisonment seems to have been
soon remitted; as, shortly after these events, we find Voltaire again in
France, preparing for publication his first historical work, a life of
Charles XII. In this, there are none of those attacks on Christianity
which gave offence in his subsequent writings; nor does it contain the
least reflection upon the arbitrary government under which he had
suffered. The French authorities at first granted that permission,
without which no book could then be published; but as soon as it was
actually printed, the license was withdrawn, and the history forbidden
to be circulated.[733] The next attempt of Voltaire was one of much
greater value: it was therefore repulsed still more sharply. During his
residence in England, his inquisitive mind had been deeply interested by
a state of things so different from any he had hitherto seen; and he now
published an account of that remarkable people, from whose literature he
had learned many important truths. His work, which he called
_Philosophic Letters_, was received with general applause; but,
unfortunately for himself, he adopted in it the arguments of Locke
against innate ideas. The rulers of France, though not likely to know
much about innate ideas, had a suspicion that the doctrine of Locke was
in some way dangerous; and, as they were told that it was a novelty,
they felt themselves bound to prevent its promulgation. Their remedy was
very simple. They ordered that Voltaire should be again arrested and
that his work should be burned by the common hangman.[734]
[733] 'L'Histoire de Charles XII, dont on avait arrêté une première
édition après l'avoir autorisée.' _Biog. Univ._ vol. xlix. p.
470. Comp. _Nichols's Lit. Anec._ vol. i. p. 388.
[734] _Duvernet_, _Vie de Voltaire_, pp. 63-65; _Condorcet_, _Vie de
Voltaire_, pp. 138-140; _Lepan_,_ Vie de Voltaire_, pp. 93, 381.
These repeated injuries might well have moved a more patient spirit than
that of Voltaire.[735] Certainly, those who reproach this illustrious
man, as if he were the instigator of unprovoked attacks upon the
existing state of things, must know very little of the age in which it
was his misfortune to live. Even on what has been always considered the
neutral ground of physical science, there was displayed the same
despotic and persecuting spirit. Voltaire, among other schemes for
benefiting France, wished to make known to his countrymen the wonderful
discoveries of Newton, of which they were completely ignorant. With this
view, he drew up an account of the labours of that extraordinary
thinker; but here again the authorities interposed, and forbade the work
to be printed.[736] Indeed, the rulers of France, as if sensible that
their only security was the ignorance of the people, obstinately set
their face against every description of knowledge. Several eminent
authors had undertaken to execute, on a magnificent scale, an
Encyclopædia, which should contain a summary of all the branches of
science and of art. This, undoubtedly the most splendid enterprise ever
started by a body of literary men, was at first discouraged by the
government, and afterwards entirely prohibited.[737] On other occasions,
the same tendency was shown in matters so trifling that nothing but the
gravity of their ultimate results prevents them from being ridiculous.
In 1770, Imbert translated Clarke's _Letters on Spain_: one of the best
works then existing on that country. This book, however, was suppressed
as soon as it appeared; and the only reason assigned for such a stretch
of power is, that it contained some remarks respecting the passion of
Charles III. for hunting, which were considered disrespectful to the
French crown, because Louis XV. was himself a great hunter.[738] Several
years before this, La Bletterie, who was favourably known in France by
his works, was elected a member of the French Academy. But he, it seems,
was a Jansenist, and had, moreover, ventured to assert that the Emperor
Julian, notwithstanding his apostacy, was not entirely devoid of good
qualities. Such offences could not be overlooked in so pure an age; and
the king obliged the Academy to exclude La Bletterie from their
society.[739] That the punishment extended no further, was an instance
of remarkable leniency; for Fréret, an eminent critic and scholar,[740]
was confined in the Bastille, because he stated in one of his memoirs,
that the earliest Frankish chiefs had received their titles from the
Romans.[741] The same penalty was inflicted four different times upon
Lenglet du Fresnoy.[742] In the case of this amiable and accomplished
man, there seems to have been hardly the shadow of a pretext for the
cruelty with which he was treated; though, on one occasion, the alleged
offence was, that he had published a supplement to the History of De
Thou.[743]
[735] The indignation of Voltaire appears in many of his letters; and he
often announced to his friends his intention of quitting for ever
a country where he was liable to such treatment. See _[OE]uvres
de Voltaire_, vol. liv. pp. 58, 335, 336, vol. lv. p. 229, vol.
lvi. pp. 162, 163, 358, 447, 464, 465, vol. lvii. pp. 144, 145,
155, 156, vol. lviii. pp. 36, 222, 223, 516, 517, 519, 520, 525,
526, 563, vol. lix. pp. 107, 116, 188, 208.
[736] _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. i. pp. 147, 315, vol. lvii. pp. 211,
215, 219, 247, 295; _Villemain_, _Lit. au XVIII^e Siècle_,
vol. i. p. 14; _Brougham's Men of Letters_, vol. i. pp. 53, 60.
[737] _Grimm_, _Correspond._ vol. i. pp. 90-95, vol. ii. p. 399; _Biog.
Univ._ vol. xi. p. 316; _Brougham's Men of Letters_, vol. ii.
p. 439.
[738] _Boucher de la Richarderie_, _Bibliothèque des Voyages_, vol. iii.
pp. 390-393, Paris, 1808: 'La distribution en France de la
traduction de ce voyage fut arrêtée pendant quelque temps par des
ordres supérieurs du gouvernement.... Il y a tout lieu de croire
que les ministres de France crurent, ou feignirent de croire, que
le passage en question pouvoit donner lieu à des applications sur
le goût effréné de Louis XV pour la chasse, et inspirèrent
aisément cette prévention à un prince très-sensible, comme on
sait, aux censures les plus indirectes de sa passion pour ce
genre d'amusement.' See also the account of Imbert, the
translator, in _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxi. p. 200.
[739] _Grimm_, _Correspond._ vol. vi. pp. 161, 162; the crime being,
'qu'un janséniste avait osé imprimer que Julien, apostat
exécrable aux yeux d'un bon chrétien, n'était pourtant pas un
homme sans quelques bonnes qualités à en juger mondainement.'
[740] M. Bunsen (_Egypt_, vol. i. p. 14) refers to Fréret's 'acute
treatise on the Babylonian year;' and Turgot, in his
_Etymologie_, says (_[OE]uvres de Turgot_, vol. iii. p. 83),
'l'illustre Fréret, un des savans qui ont su le mieux appliquer
la philosophie à l'érudition.'
[741] This was at the very outset of his career: 'En 1715, l'homme qui
devait illustrer l'érudition française au xviii^e siècle, Fréret,
était mis à la Bastille pour avoir avancé, dans un mémoire sur
l'origine des Français, que les Francs ne formaient pas une
nation à part, et que leurs premiers chefs avaient reçu de
l'empire romain le titre de _patrices_.' _Villemain_, _Lit. au
XVIII^e Siècle_, vol. ii. p. 30: see also _Nichols's Lit. Anec._
vol. ii. p. 510.
[742] He was imprisoned in the Bastille, for the first time, in 1725;
then in 1743, in 1750, and finally in 1751. _Biographie
Universelle_, vol. xxiv. p. 85.
[743] In 1743, Voltaire writes: 'On vient de mettre à la Bastille l'abbé
Lenglet, pour avoir publié des mémoires déjà très-connus, qui
servent de supplément à l'histoire de notre célèbre De Thou.
L'infatigable et malheureux Lenglet rendait un signalé service
aux bons citoyens, et aux amateurs des recherches historiques. Il
méritait des récompenses; on l'emprisonne cruellement à l'âge de
soixante-huit ans.' _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. i. pp. 400,
401, vol. lviii. pp. 207, 208.
Indeed, we have only to open the biographies and correspondence of that
time, to find instances crowding upon us from all quarters. Rousseau was
threatened with imprisonment, was driven from France, and his works were
publicly burned.[744] The celebrated treatise of Helvétius on the mind
was suppressed by an order from the royal council: it was burned by the
common hangman, and the author was compelled to write two letters,
retracting his opinions.[745] Some of the geological views of Buffon
having offended the clergy, that illustrious naturalist was obliged to
publish a formal recantation of doctrines which are now known to be
perfectly accurate.[746] The learned Observations on the History of
France, by Mably, were suppressed as soon as they appeared;[747] for
what reason it would be hard to say, since M. Guizot, certainly no
friend either to anarchy or to irreligion, has thought it worth while to
republish them, and thus stamp them with the authority of his own great
name. The History of the Indies, by Raynal, was condemned to the flames,
and the author ordered to be arrested.[748] Lanjuinais, in his
well-known work on Joseph II., advocated not only religious toleration,
but even the abolition of slavery; his book, therefore, was declared to
be 'seditious;' it was pronounced 'destructive of all subordination,'
and was sentenced to be burned.[749] The Analysis of Bayle, by Marsy,
was suppressed, and the author was imprisoned.[750] The History of the
Jesuits, by Linguet, was delivered to the flames; eight years later his
_Journal_ was suppressed; and, three years after that, as he still
persisted in writing, his Political Annals were suppressed, and he
himself was thrown into the Bastille.[751] Delisle de Sales was
sentenced to perpetual exile, and confiscation of all his property, on
account of his work on the Philosophy of Nature.[752] The treatise by
Mey, on French Law, was suppressed;[753] that by Boncerf, on Feudal Law,
was burned.[754] The Memoirs of Beaumarchais were likewise burned;[755]
the Eloge on Fénelon by La Harpe was merely suppressed.[756] Duvernet
having written a History of the Sorbonne, which was still unpublished,
was seized and thrown into the Bastille, while the manuscript was yet in
his own possession.[757] The celebrated work of De Lolme on the English
constitution was suppressed by edict directly it appeared.[758] The fate
of being suppressed, or prohibited, also awaited the Letters of
Gervaise, in 1724;[759] the Dissertations of Courayer, in 1727;[760] the
Letters of Montgon, in 1732;[761] the History of Tamerlane, by Margat,
also in 1732;[762] the Essay on Taste, by Cartaud, in 1736;[763] the
Life of Domat, by Prévost de la Jannès, in 1742;[764] the History of
Louis XI., by Duclos, in 1745;[765] the Letters of Bargeton, in
1750;[766] the Memoirs on Troyes, by Grosley, in the same year;[767] the
History of Clement XI., by Reboulet, in 1752;[768] the School of Man, by
Génard, also in 1752;[769] the Therapeutics of Garlon, in 1756;[770] the
celebrated thesis of Louis, on Generation, in 1754;[771] the Treatise on
Presidial Jurisdiction, by Jousse, in 1755;[772] the Ericie of
Fontanelle, in 1768;[773] the Thoughts of Jamin, in 1769;[774] the
History of Siam, by Turpin, and the Eloge of Marcus Aurelius, by Thomas,
both in 1770;[775] the works on Finance by Darigrand in 1764; and by Le
Trosne, in 1779;[776] the Essay on Military Tactics, by Guibert, in
1772; the Letters of Boucquet, in the same year;[777] and the Memoirs of
Terrai, by Coquereau, in 1776.[778] Such wanton destruction of property
was, however, mercy itself, compared to the treatment experienced by
other literary men in France. Desforges, for example, having written
against the arrest of the Pretender to the English throne, was, solely
on that account, buried in a dungeon eight feet square, and confined
there for three years.[779] This happened in 1749; and in 1770, Audra,
professor at the college of Toulouse, and a man of some reputation,
published the first volume of his Abridgment of General History. Beyond
this, the work never proceeded; it was at once condemned by the
archbishop of the diocese, and the author was deprived of his office.
Audra, held up to public opprobrium, the whole of his labours rendered
useless, and the prospects of his life suddenly blighted, was unable to
survive the shock. He was struck with apoplexy, and within twenty-four
hours was lying a corpse in his own house.[780]
[744] _Musset Pathay_, _Vie de Rousseau_, vol. i. pp. 68, 99, 296, 377,
vol. ii. pp. 111, 385, 390; _Mercier sur Rousseau_, vol. i. p.
14, vol. ii. pp. 179, 314.
[745] _Grimm_, _Corresp._ vol. ii. p. 349; _Walpole's Letters_, 1840,
vol. iii. p. 418.
[746] _Lyell's Principles of Geology_, pp. 39, 40; _Mém. of Mallet du
Pan_, vol. i. p. 125.
[747] _Soulavie_, _Règne de Louis XVI_, vol. ii. p. 214; _Williams's
Letters from France_, vol. ii. p. 86, 3rd edit. 1796.
[748] _Mém. de Ségur_, vol. i. p. 253; _Mém. de Lafayette_, vol. ii.
p. 34 note; _Lettres de Dudeffand à Walpole_, vol. ii. p. 365. On
Raynal's flight, compare a letter from Marseilles, written in
1786, and printed in _Mem. and Correspond. of Sir J. E. Smith_,
vol. i. p. 194.
[749] See the proceedings of the avocat-général, in _Peignot_, _Livres
condamnés_, vol. i. pp. 230, 231; and in _Soulavie_, _Règne de
Louis XVI_, vol. iii. pp. 93-97.
[750] _Quérard_, _France Lit._ vol. v. p. 565.
[751] _Peignot_, _Livres condamnés_, vol. i. pp. 241, 242.
[752] _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxiv. p. 561; _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_,
vol. lxix. pp. 374, 375; _Lettres inédites de Voltaire_, vol. ii.
p. 528; _Duvernet_, _Vie de Voltaire_, pp. 202, 203. According to
some of these authorities, parliament afterwards revoked this
sentence; but there is no doubt that the sentence was passed, and
De Sales imprisoned, if not banished.
[753] _Peignot_, _Livres condamnés_, vol. i. pp. 314, 316.
[754] _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. lxix. p. 204;_ Lettres de Dudeffand
à Walpole_, vol. iii. p. 260.
[755] 'Quatre mémoires ... condamnés à être lacérés et brûlés par la
main du bourreau.' _Peignot_, vol. i. p. 24.
[756] _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxiii. p. 187.
[757] _Duvernet_, _Hist. de la Sorbonne_, vol. i. p. vi.
[758] 'Supprimée par arrêt du conseil' in 1771, which was the year of
its publication. Compare _Cassagnac's Révolution_, vol. i. p. 33;
_Biog. Univ._ vol. xxiv. p. 634.
[759] _Quérard_, _France Lit._ vol. iii. p. 337.
[760] _Biog. Univ._ vol. x. p. 97.
[761] _Peignot_, vol. i. p. 328.
[762] _ibid._ vol. i. p. 289.
[763] _Biog. Univ._ vol. vii. p. 227.
[764] _Lettres d'Aguesseau_, vol. ii. pp. 320, 321.
[765] _Cassagnac_, _Causes de la Rév._ vol. i. p. 32.
[766] _Biog. Univ._ vol. iii. p. 375.
[767] _Quérard_, vol. iii. p. 489.
[768] _Ibid._ vol. vii. pp. 483, 484.
[769] _Ibid._ vol. iii. p. 302.
[770] _Ibid._ vol. iii. p. 261.
[771] On the importance of this remarkable thesis, and on its
prohibition, see _Saint-Hilaire_, _Anomalies de l'Organisation_,
vol. i. p. 355.
[772] _Quérard_, vol. iv. p. 255.
[773] _Biog. Univ._ vol. xv. p. 203.
[774] _Ibid._ vol. xxi. p. 391.
[775] _Ibid._ vol. xlv. p. 462, vol. xlvii. p. 98.
[776] _Peignot_, vol. i. pp. 90, 91, vol. ii. p. 164.
[777] _Ibid._ vol. i. p. 170, vol. ii. p. 57.
[778] _Ibid._ vol. ii. p. 214.
[779] 'Il resta trois ans dans la cage; c'est un caveau creusé dans le
roc, de huit pieds en carré, où le prisonnier ne reçoit le jour
que par les crevasses des marches de l'église.' _Biog. Univ._
vol. xi. p. 171.
[780] _Peignot_, _Livres condamnés_, vol. i. pp. 14, 15.
It will probably be allowed that I have collected sufficient evidence to
substantiate my assertion respecting the persecutions directed against
every description of literature; but the carelessness with which the
antecedents of the French Revolution have been studied, has given rise
to such erroneous opinions on this subject, that I am anxious to add a
few more instances, so as to put beyond the possibility of doubt the
nature of the provocations habitually received by the most eminent
Frenchmen of the eighteenth century.
Among the many celebrated authors who, though, inferior to Voltaire,
Montesquieu, Buffon, and Rousseau, were second only to them, three of
the most remarkable were Diderot, Marmontel, and Morellet. The first two
are known to every reader; while Morellet, though comparatively
forgotten, had in his own time considerable influence, and had,
moreover, the distinguished merit of being the first who popularized in
France those great truths which had been recently discovered in
political economy by Adam Smith, and in jurisprudence by Beccaria.
A certain M. Cury wrote a satire upon the Duke d'Aumont, which he showed
to his friend Marmontel, who, struck by its power, repeated it to a
small circle of his acquaintance. The duke, hearing of this, was full of
indignation, and insisted upon the name of the author being given up.
This, of course, was impossible without a gross breach of confidence;
but Marmontel, to do everything in his power, wrote to the duke,
stating, what was really the fact, that the lines in question had not
been printed, that there was no intention of making them public, and
that they had only been communicated to a few of his own particular
friends. It might have been supposed that this would have satisfied even
a French noble; but Marmontel, still doubting the result, sought an
audience of the minister, in the hope of procuring the protection of the
crown. All, however, was in vain. It will hardly be believed, that
Marmontel, who was then at the height of his reputation, was seized in
the middle of Paris, and because he refused to betray his friend, was
thrown into the Bastille. Nay, so implacable were his persecutors, that
after his liberation from prison they, in the hope of reducing him to
beggary, deprived him of the right of publishing the _Mercure_, upon
which nearly the whole of his income depended.[781]
[781] _Mémoires de Marmontel_, vol. ii. pp. 143-176; and see vol. iii.
pp. 30-46, 95, for the treatment he afterwards received from the
Sorbonne, because he advocated religious toleration. See also
_[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. liv. p. 258; and _Letters of
Eminent Persons addressed to Hume_, pp. 207, 212, 213.
To the Abbé Morellet a somewhat similar circumstance occurred. A
miserable scribbler, named Palissot, had written a comedy ridiculing
some of the ablest Frenchmen then living. To this Morellet replied by a
pleasant little satire, in which he made a very harmless allusion to the
Princess de Robeck, one of Palissot's patrons. She, amazed at such
presumption, complained to the minister, who immediately ordered the
abbé to be confined in the Bastille, where he remained for some months,
although he had not only been guilty of no scandal, but had not even
mentioned the name of the princess.[782]
[782] _Mém. de Morellet_, vol. i. pp. 86-89; _Mélanges par Morellet_,
vol. ii. pp. 3-12; _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. liv. pp. 106,
111, 114, 122, 183.
The treatment of Diderot was still more severe. This remarkable man owed
his influence chiefly to his immense correspondence, and to the
brilliancy of a conversation for which, even in Paris, he was
unrivalled, and which he used to display with considerable effect at
those celebrated dinners where, during a quarter of a century, Holbach
assembled the most illustrious thinkers in France.[783] Besides this, he
is the author of several works of interest, most of which are well
known to the students of French literature.[784] His independent spirit,
and the reputation he obtained, earned for him a share in the general
persecution. The first work he wrote was ordered to be publicly burned
by the common hangman.[785] This, indeed, was the fate of nearly all the
best literary productions of that time; and Diderot might esteem himself
fortunate in merely losing his property, provided he saved himself from
imprisonment. But, a few years later, he wrote another work, in which he
said that people who are born blind have some ideas different from those
who are possessed of their eyesight. This assertion is by no means
improbable,[786] and it contains nothing by which any one need be
startled. The men, however, who then governed France discovered in it
some hidden danger. Whether they suspected that the mention of blindness
was an allusion to themselves, or whether they were merely instigated by
the perversity of their temper, is uncertain; at all events, the
unfortunate Diderot, for having hazarded this opinion, was arrested, and
without even the form of a trial, was confined in the dungeon of
Vincennes.[787] The natural results followed. The works of Diderot rose
in popularity;[788] and he, burning with hatred against his persecutors,
redoubled his efforts to overthrow those institutions, under shelter of
which such monstrous tyranny could be safely practised.
[783] Marmontel (_Mém._ vol. ii. p. 313) says, 'qui n'a connu Diderot
que dans ses écrits ne l'a point connu:' meaning that his works
were inferior to his talk. His conversational powers are noticed
by Ségur, who disliked him, and by Georgel, who hated him.
_Ségur_, _Souvenirs_, vol. iii. p. 34; _Georgel_, _Mém._ vol. ii.
p. 246. Compare _Forster's Life of Goldsmith_, vol. i. p. 69;
_Musset Pathay_, _Vie de Rousseau_, vol. i. p. 95, vol. ii. p.
227; _Mémoires d'Epinay_, vol. ii. pp. 73, 74, 88; _Grimm_,
_Corresp._ vol. xv. pp. 79-90; _Morellet_, _Mém._ vol. i. p. 28;
_Villemain_, _Lit. au XVIII^e Siècle_, vol. i. p. 82.
As to Holbach's dinners, on which Madame de Genlis wrote a
well-known libel, see _Schlosser's Eighteenth Century_, vol. i.
p. 166; _Biog. Univ._ vol. xx. p. 462; _Jesse's Selwyn_, vol. ii.
p. 9; _Walpole's Letters to Mann_, vol. iv. p. 283; _Gibbon's
Miscellaneous Works_, p. 73.
[784] It is also stated by the editor of his correspondence, that he
wrote a great deal for authors, which they published under their
name. _Mém. et Corresp. de Diderot_, vol. iii. p. 102.
[785] This was the _Pensées Philosophiques_, in 1746, his first original
work; the previous ones being translations from English. _Biog.
Univ._ xi. p. 314. Duvernet (_Vie de Voltaire_, p. 240) says,
that he was imprisoned for writing it, but this I believe is a
mistake; at least I do not remember to have met with the
statement elsewhere, and Duvernet is frequently careless.
[786] Dugald Stewart, who has collected some important evidence on this
subject, has confirmed several of the views put forward by
Diderot. _Philos. of the Mind_, vol. iii. pp. 401 seq.; comp. pp.
57, 407, 435. Since then still greater attention has been paid to
the education of the blind, and it has been remarked that 'it is
an exceedingly difficult task to teach them to think accurately.'
_M. Alister's Essay on the Blind_, in _Jour. of Stat. Soc._ vol.
i. p. 378: see also Dr. Fowler, in _Report of Brit. Assoc._ for
1847; _Transac. of Sec._ pp. 92, 93, and for 1848, p. 88. These
passages unconsciously testify to the sagacity of Diderot; and
they also testify to the stupid ignorance of a government, which
sought to put an end to such inquiries by punishing their author.
[787] _Mém. et Corresp. de Diderot_, vol. i. pp. 26-29; _Musset Pathay_,
_Vie de Rousseu_, vol. i. p. 47, vol. ii. p. 276; _Letter to
d'Argental_ in _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. lviii. p. 454;
_Lacretelle_, _Dix-huitième Siècle_, vol. ii. p. 54.
[788] A happy arrangement, by which curiosity baffles despotism. In
1767, an acute observer wrote, 'Il n'y a plus de livres qu'on
imprime plusieurs fois, que les livres condamnés. Il faut
aujourd'hui qu'un libraire prie les magistrate de brûler son
livre pour le faire vendre.' _Grimm_, _Corresp._ vol. v. p. 498.
To the same effect, _Mém. de Ségur_, vol. i. pp. 15, 16; _Mém. de
Georgel_, vol. ii. p. 256.
It seems hardly necessary to say more respecting the incredible folly
with which the rulers of France, by turning every able man into a
personal enemy,[789] at length arrayed against the government all the
intellect of the country, and made the Revolution a matter not of choice
but of necessity. I will, however, as a fitting sequel to the preceding
facts, give one instance of the way in which, to gratify the caprice of
the higher classes, even the most private affections of domestic life,
could be publicly outraged. In the middle of the eighteenth century,
there was an actress on the French stage of the name of Chantilly. She,
though beloved by Maurice de Saxe, preferred a more honourable
attachment, and married Favart, the well-known writer of songs and of
comic operas. Maurice, amazed at her boldness, applied for aid to the
French crown. That he should have made such an application is
sufficiently strange; but the result of it is hardly to be paralleled
except in some Eastern despotism. The government of France, on hearing
the circumstance, had the inconceivable baseness to issue an order
directing Favart to abandon his wife, and intrust her to the charge of
Maurice, to whose embraces she was compelled to submit.[790]
[789] 'Quel est aujourd'hui parmi nous l'homme de lettres de quelque
mérite qui n'ait éprouvé plus ou moins les fureurs de la calomnie
et de la persécution?' etc. _Grimm_, _Corresp._ vol. v. p. 451.
This was written in 1767, and during more than forty years
previously we find similar expressions; the earliest I have met
with being in a letter to Thiriot, in 1723, in which Voltaire
says _([OE]uvres_, vol. lvi. p. 94), 'la sévérité devient plus
grande de jour en jour dans l'inquisition de la librairie.' For
other instances, see his letter to De Formont, pp. 423-425, also
vol. lvii. pp. 144, 351, vol. lviii. p. 222; his _Lettres
inédites_, vol. i. p. 547; _Mém. de Diderot_, vol. ii. p. 215;
_Letters of Eminent Persons to Hume_, pp. 14, 15.
[790] Part of this is related, rather inaccurately, in _Schlosser's
Eighteenth Century_, vol. iii. p. 483. The fullest account is in
_Grimm_, _Corresp. Lit._ vol. viii. pp. 231-233: 'Le grand
Maurice, irrité d'une résistance qu'il n'avait jamais éprouvée
nulle part, eut la faiblesse de demander une lettre de cachet
pour enlever à un mari sa femme, et pour la contraindre d'être sa
concubine; et, chose remarquable, cette lettre de cachet fut
accordée et exécutée. Les deux époux plièrent sous le joug de la
nécessité, et la petite Chantilly fut à la fois femme de Favart
et maîtresse de Maurice de Saxe.'
These are among the insufferable provocations, by which the blood of men
is made to boil in their veins. Who can wonder that the greatest and
noblest minds in France were filled with loathing at the government by
whom such things were done? If we, notwithstanding the distance of time
and country, are moved to indignation by the mere mention of them, what
must have been felt by those before whose eyes they actually occurred?
And when, to the horror they naturally inspired, there was added that
apprehension of being the next victim which every one might personally
feel; when, moreover, we remember that the authors of these persecutions
had none of the abilities by which even vice itself is sometimes
ennobled;--when we thus contrast the poverty of their understandings
with the greatness of their crimes, we, instead of being astonished that
there was a revolution, by which all the machinery of the state was
swept away, should rather be amazed at that unexampled patience by which
alone the revolution was so long deferred.
To me, indeed, it has always appeared, that the delay of the Revolution
is one of the most striking proofs history affords of the force of
established habits, and of the tenacity with which the human mind clings
to old associations. For, if ever there existed a government inherently
and radically bad, it was the government of France in the eighteenth
century. If ever there existed a state of society likely, by its crying
and accumulated evils, to madden men to desperation, France was in that
state. The people, despised and enslaved, were sunk in abject poverty,
and were curbed by laws of stringent cruelty, enforced with merciless
barbarism. A supreme and irresponsible control was exercised over the
whole country by the clergy, the nobles, and the crown. The intellect of
France was placed under the ban of a ruthless proscription, its
literature prohibited and burned, its authors plundered and imprisoned.
Nor was there the least symptom that these evils were likely to be
remedied. The upper classes, whose arrogance was increased by the long
tenure of their power, only thought of present enjoyment: they took no
heed of the future: they saw not that day of reckoning, the bitterness
of which they were soon to experience. The people remained in slavery
until the Revolution actually occurred; while as to the literature,
nearly every year witnessed some new effort to deprive it of that share
of liberty which it still retained. Having, in 1764, issued a decree
forbidding any work to be published in which questions of government
were discussed;[791] having, in 1767, made it a capital offence to
write a book likely to excite the public mind;[792] and having,
moreover, denounced the same penalty of death against any one who
attacked religion,[793] as also against any one who spoke of matters of
finance;[794]--having taken these steps, the rulers of France, very
shortly before their final fall, contemplated another measure still more
comprehensive. It is, indeed, a singular fact, that only nine years
before the Revolution, and when no power on earth could have saved the
institutions of the country, the government was so ignorant of the real
state of affairs, and so confident that it could quell the spirit which
its own despotism had raised, that a proposal was made by an officer of
the crown to do away with all the publishers, and not allow any books to
be printed except those which were issued from a press paid, appointed,
and controlled by the executive magistrate.[795] This monstrous
proposition, if carried into effect, would of course have invested the
king with all the influence which literature can command; it would have
been as fatal to the national intellect as the other measures were to
national liberty; and it would have consummated the ruin of France,
either by reducing its greatest men to complete silence, or else by
degrading them into mere advocates of those opinions which the
government might wish to propagate.
[791] 'L'Averdy was no sooner named controller of finance than he
published a decree, in 1764 (_arrêt du conseil_),--which,
according to the state of the then existing constitution, had the
force of a law,--by which every man was forbidden to print, or
cause to be printed, anything whatever upon administrative
affairs, or government regulations in general, under the penalty
of a breach of the police laws; by which the man was liable to be
punished without defence, and not as was the case before the law
courts, where he might defend himself, and could only be judged
according to law.' _Schlosser's Eighteenth Century_, vol. ii. p.
166: see also _Mém. de Morellet_, vol. i. p. 141, vol. ii. p. 75,
'un arrêt du conseil, qui défendait d'imprimer sur les matières
d'administration.'
[792] 'L'ordonnance de 1767, rendue sous le ministère du chancelier
Maupeou, portait la peine de mort contre tout auteur d'écrits
tendant à émouvoir les esprits.' _Cassagnac_, _Causes de la
Révolution_, vol. i. p. 313.
[793] In April 1757, D'Alembert writes from Paris, 'on vient de publier
une déclaration qui inflige la peine de mort à tous ceux qui
auront publié des écrits tendants à attaquer la religion.'
_[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. liv. p. 34. This, I suppose, is the
same edict as that mentioned by M. Amédée Renée, in his
continuation of _Sismondi_, _Histoire des Français_, vol. xxx. p.
247.
[794] 'Il avait été défendu, sous peine de mort, aux écrivains de parler
de finances.' _Lavallée_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. iii. p. 490.
[795] This was the suggestion of the avocat-général in 1780. See the
proposal, in his own words, in _Grimm_, _Correspond._ vol. xi.
pp. 143, 144. On the important functions of the avocats-généraux
in the eighteenth century, see a note in _Lettres d'Aguesseau_,
vol. i. p. 264.
For these are by no means to be considered as trifling matters, merely
interesting to men of letters. In France, in the eighteenth century,
literature was the last resource of liberty. In England, if our great
authors should prostitute their abilities by inculcating servile
opinions, the danger would no doubt be considerable, because other parts
of society might find it difficult to escape the contagion. Still,
before the corruption had spread, there would be time to stop its
course, so long as we possessed those free political institutions, by
the mere mention of which the generous imagination of a bold people is
easily fired. And although such institutions are the consequence, not
the cause, of liberty, they do unquestionably react upon it, and from
the force of habit they could for a while survive that from which they
originally sprung. So long as a country retains its political freedom,
there will always remain associations by which, even in the midst of
mental degradation, and out of the depths of the lowest superstition,
the minds of men may be recalled to better things. But in France such
associations had no existence. In France everything was for the
governors and nothing for the governed. There was neither free press,
nor free parliament, nor free debates. There were no public meetings;
there was no popular suffrage; there was no discussion on the hustings;
there was no habeas-corpus act; there was no trial by jury. The voice of
liberty, thus silenced in every department of the state, could only be
heard in the appeals of those great men, who, by their writings,
inspirited the people to resistance. This is the point of view from
which we ought to estimate the character of those who are often accused
of having wantonly disturbed the ancient fabric.[796] They, as well as
the people at large, were cruelly oppressed by the crown, the nobles,
and the church; and they used their abilities to retaliate the injury.
There can be no doubt that this was the best course open to them. There
can be no doubt that rebellion is the last remedy against tyranny, and
that a despotic system should be encountered by a revolutionary
literature. The upper classes were to blame, because they struck the
first blow; but we must by no means censure those great men, who, having
defended themselves from aggression, eventually succeeded in smiting the
government by whom the aggression was originally made.
[796] And we should also remember what the circumstances were under
which the accusation was first heard in France. 'Les reproches
d'avoir tout détruit, adressés aux philosophes du dix-huitième
siècle, ont commencé le jour où il s'est trouvé en France un
gouvernement qui a voulu rétablir les abus dont les écrivains de
cette époque avaient accéléré la destruction.' _Comte_, _Traité
de Législation_, vol. i. p. 72.
Without, however, stopping to vindicate their conduct, we have now to
consider what is much more important, namely, the origin of that crusade
against Christianity, in which, unhappily for France, they were
compelled to embark, and the occurrence of which forms the third great
antecedent of the French Revolution. A knowledge of the causes of this
hostility against Christianity is essential to a right understanding of
the philosophy of the eighteenth century, and it will throw some light
on the general theory of ecclesiastical power.
It is a circumstance well worthy of remark, that the revolutionary
literature which eventually overturned all the institutions of France,
was at first directed against those which were religious, rather than
against those which were political. The great writers who rose into
notice soon after the death of Louis XIV., exerted themselves against
spiritual despotism; while the overthrow of secular despotism was left
to their immediate successors.[797] This is not the course which would
be pursued in a healthy state of society; and there is no doubt, that
to this peculiarity the crimes and the lawless violence of the French
Revolution are in no small degree to be ascribed. It is evident, that in
the legitimate progress of a nation, political innovations should keep
pace with religious innovations, so that the people may increase their
liberty while they diminish their superstition. In France, on the
contrary, during nearly forty years, the church was attacked, and the
government was spared. The consequence was, that the order and balance
of the country were destroyed; the minds of men became habituated to the
most daring speculations, while their acts were controlled by the most
oppressive despotism; and they felt themselves possessed of capacities
which their rulers would not allow them to employ. When, therefore, the
French Revolution broke out, it was not a mere rising of ignorant slaves
against educated masters, but it was a rising of men in whom the despair
caused by slavery was quickened by the resources of advancing knowledge;
men who were in that frightful condition when the progress of intellect
outstrips the progress of liberty, and when a desire is felt, not only
to remove a tyranny, but also to avenge an insult.
[797] The nature of this change, and the circumstances under which it
happened, will be examined in the last chapter of the present
volume; but that the revolutionary movement, while headed by
Voltaire and his coadjutors, was directed against the church, and
not against the state, is noticed by many writers; some of whom
have also observed, that soon after the middle of the reign of
Louis XV. the ground began to be shifted, and a disposition was
first shown to attack political abuses. On this remarkable fact,
indicated by several authors, but explained by none, compare
_Lacretelle_, _XVIII^e Siècle_, vol. ii. p. 305; _Barruel_, _Mém.
pour l'Hist. du Jacobinisme_, vol. i. p. xviii., vol. ii. p. 113;
_Tocqueville_, _L'Ancien Régime_, p. 241; _Alison's Europe_, vol.
i. p. 165, vol. xiv. p. 286; _Mém. de Rivarol_, p. 35;
_Soulavie_, _Règne de Louis XVI_, vol. iv. p. 397; _Lamartine_,
_Hist. des Girondins_, vol. i. p. 183; _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_,
vol. lx. p. 307, vol. lxvi. p. 34.
There can be no doubt that to this we must ascribe some of the most
hideous peculiarities of the French Revolution. It, therefore, becomes a
matter of great interest to inquire how it was, that while in England
political freedom and religious sceptism have accompanied and aided each
other, there should, on the other hand, have taken place in France a
vast movement, in which, during nearly forty years, the ablest men
neglected the freedom, while they encouraged the scepticism, and
diminished the power of the church, without increasing the liberties of
the people.
The first reason of this appears to be, the nature of those ideas out
of which the French had long constructed the traditions of their glory.
A train of circumstances which, when treating of the protective spirit,
I attempted to indicate, had secured to the French kings an authority
which, by making all classes subordinate to the crown, flattered the
popular vanity.[798] Hence it was, that in France the feelings of
loyalty worked into the national mind deeper than in any other country
of Europe, Spain alone excepted.[799] The difference between this spirit
and that observable in England has been already noticed, and may be
still further illustrated by the different ways in which the two nations
have dealt with the posthumous reputation of their sovereigns. With the
exception of Alfred, who is sometimes called the Great,[800] we in
England have not sufficiently loved any of our princes to bestow upon
them titles expressive of personal admiration. But the French have
decorated their kings with every variety of panegyric. Thus, to take
only a single name, one king is Louis the Mild, another is Louis the
Saint, another is Louis the Just, another is Louis the Great, and the
most hopelessly vicious of all was called Louis the Beloved.
[798] See some striking remarks in M. Tocqueville's great work, _De la
Démocratie_, vol. i. p. 5; which should be compared with the
observation of Horace Walpole, who was well acquainted with
French society, and who says, happily enough, that the French
'love themselves in their kings.' _Walpole's Mem. of George III_,
vol. ii. p. 240.
[799] Not only the political history of Spain, but also its literature,
contains melancholy evidence of the extraordinary loyalty of the
Spaniards, and of the injurious results produced by it. See, on
this, some useful reflections in _Ticknor's Hist. of Spanish
Literature_, vol. i. pp. 95, 96, 133, vol. iii. pp. 191-193.
[800] Our admiration of Alfred is greatly increased by the fact, that we
know very little about him. The principal authority referred to
for his reign is Asser, whose work, there is reason to believe,
is not genuine. See the arguments in _Wright's Biog. Brit. Lit._
vol. i. pp. 408-412. It moreover appears, that some of the
institutions popularly ascribed to him, existed before his time.
_Kemble's Saxons in England_, vol. i. pp. 247, 248.
These are facts which, insignificant as they seem, form most important
materials for real history, since they are unequivocal symptoms of the
state of the country in which they exist.[801] Their relation to the
subject before us is obvious. For, by them, and by the circumstances
from which they sprung, an intimate and hereditary association was
engendered in the minds of Frenchmen, between the glory of their nation
and the personal reputation of their sovereign. The consequence was,
that the political conduct of the rulers of France was protected against
censure by a fence far more impassable than any that could be erected by
the most stringent laws. It was protected by those prejudices which each
generation bequeathed to its successor. It was protected by that halo
which time had thrown round the oldest monarchy in Europe.[802] And
above all, it was protected by that miserable national vanity, which
made men submit to taxation and to slavery, in order that foreign
princes might be dazzled by the splendour of their sovereign, and
foreign countries intimidated by the greatness of his victories.
[801] The French writers, under the old régime, constantly boast that
loyalty was the characteristic of their nation, and taunt the
English with their opposite and insubordinate spirit. 'Il n'est
pas ici question des François, qui se sont toujours distingués
des autres nations par leur amour pour leurs rois.' _Le Blanc_,
_Lettres d'un François_, vol. iii. p. 523. 'The English do not
love their sovereigns as much as could be desired.' _Sorbière's
Voyage to England_, p. 58. 'Le respect de la majesté royale,
caractère distinctif des Français.' _Mém. de Montbarey_, vol. ii.
p. 54. 'L'amour et la fidélité que les Français ont naturellement
pour leurs princes.' _Mém. de Motteville_, vol. ii. p. 3. 'Les
Français, qui aiment leurs princes.' _De Thou_, _Hist. Univ._
vol. iii. p. 381; and see vol. xi. p. 729. For further evidence,
see _Sully_, _[OE]conomies_, vol. iv. p. 346; _Monteil_, _Divers
Etats_, vol. vii. p. 105; _Ségur_, _Mémoires_, vol. i. p. 32;
_Lamartine_, _Hist. des Girondins_, vol. iv. p. 58.
Now, contrast with all this the sentiments contained in one of
the most celebrated histories in the English language: 'There is
not any one thing more certain and more evident, than that
princes are made for the people, and not the people for them; and
perhaps there is no nation under heaven that is more entirely
possessed with this notion of princes than the English nation is
in this age; so that they will soon be uneasy to a prince who
does not govern himself by this maxim, and in time grow very
unkind to him.' _Burnet's History of his Own Time_, vol. vi. p.
223. This manly and wholesome passage was written while the
French were licking the dust from the feet of Louis XIV.
[802] 'La race des rois la plus ancienne.' _Mém. de Genlis_, vol. ix.
p. 281. 'Nos rois, issus de la plus grande race du monde, et
devant qui les Césars, et la plus grande partie des princes qui
jadis ont commandé tant de nations, ne sont que des roturiers.'
_Mém. de Motteville_, vol. ii. p. 417. And a Venetian ambassador,
in the sixteenth century, says, that France is 'il regno più
antico d'ogn' altro che sia in essere al presente.' _Relat. des
Ambassad._ vol. i. p. 470. Compare _Boullier_, _Maison Militaire
des Rois de France_, p. 360.
The upshot of all this was, that when, early in the eighteenth century,
the intellect of France began to be roused into action, the idea of
attacking the abuses of the monarchy never occurred even to the boldest
thinker. But, under the protection of the crown, there had grown up
another institution, about which less delicacy was felt. The clergy, who
for so long a period had been allowed to oppress the consciences of men,
were not sheltered by those national associations which surrounded the
person of the sovereign; nor had any of them, with the single exception
of Bossuet, done much to increase the general reputation of France.
Indeed, the French church, though during the reign of Louis XIV. it
possessed immense authority, had always exercised it in subordination to
the crown, at whose bidding it had not feared to oppose even the pope
himself.[803] It was, therefore, natural, that in France the
ecclesiastical power should be attacked before the temporal power;
because, while it was as despotic, it was less influential, and because
it was unprotected by those popular traditions which form the principal
support of every ancient institution.
[803] _Capefigue's Louis XIV_, vol. i. pp. 204, 301; _Koch_, _Tableau
des Révolutions_, vol. ii. p. 16. M. Ranke (_Die Päpste_, vol.
ii. p. 257) ascribes this to the circumstances attending the
apostasy of Henry IV.; but the cause lies much deeper, being
connected with that triumph of the secular interests over the
spiritual, of which the policy of Henry IV. was itself a
consequence.
These considerations are sufficient to explain why it was that, in this
respect, the French and English intellects adopted courses so entirely
different. In England, the minds of men, being less hampered with the
prejudices of an indiscriminate loyalty, have been able at each
successive step in the great progress to direct their doubts and
inquiries on politics as well as on religion; and thus establishing
their freedom as they diminished their superstition, they have
maintained the balance of the national intellect, without allowing to
either of its divisions an excessive preponderance. But in France the
admiration for royalty had become so great, that this balance was
disturbed; the inquiries of men not daring to settle on politics, were
fixed on religion, and gave rise to the singular phenomenon of a rich
and powerful literature, in which unanimous hostility to the church was
unaccompanied by a single voice against the enormous abuses of the
state.
There was likewise another circumstance which increased this peculiar
tendency. During the reign of Louis XIV. the personal character of the
hierarchy had done much to secure their dominion. All the leaders of the
church were men of virtue, and many were men of ability. Their conduct,
tyrannical as it was, seems to have been conscientious; and the evils
which it produced are merely to be ascribed to the gross impolicy of
entrusting ecclesiastics with power. But after the death of Louis XIV. a
great change took place. The Clergy, from causes which it would be
tedious to investigate, became extremely dissolute, and often very
ignorant. This made their tyranny more oppressive, because to submit to
it was more disgraceful. The great abilities and unblemished morals of
men like Bossuet, Fénélon, Bourdaloue, Fléchier, and Mascaron,
diminished in some degree the ignominy which is always connected with
blind obedience. But when they were succeeded by such bishops and
cardinals as Dubois, Lafiteau, Tencin, and others who flourished under
the regency, it became difficult to respect the heads of the church,
tainted as they were with open and notorious depravity.[804] At the same
time that there occurred this unfavourable change among the
ecclesiastical rulers, there also occurred that immense reaction of
which I have endeavoured to trace the early workings. It was therefore,
at the very moment when the spirit of inquiry became stronger that the
character of the Clergy became more contemptible.[805] The great writers
who were now rising in France, were moved to indignation when they saw
that those who usurped unlimited power over consciences had themselves
no consciences at all. It is evident, that every argument which they
borrowed from England against ecclesiastical power, would gain
additional force when directed against men whose personal unfitness was
universally acknowledged.[806]
[804] _Lavallée_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. iii. p. 408; _Flassan_,
_Hist. de la Diplomatie_, vol. v. p. 3; _Tocqueville_, _Règne de
Louis XV_, vol. i. pp. 35, 347; _Duclos_, _Mémoires_, vol. ii.
pp. 42, 43, 154, 155, 223, 224. What was, if possible, still more
scandalous, was, that in 1723 the assembly of the clergy elected
as their president, unanimously ('d'une voix unanime'), the
infamous Dubois, the most notoriously immoral man of his time.
_Duclos_, _Mém._ vol. ii. p. 262.
[805] On this decline of the French clergy, see _Villemain_, _XVIII^e
Siècle_, vol. iii. pp. 178, 179; _Cousin_, _Hist. de la Philos._
II^e série, vol. i. p. 301. _Tocqueville_ (_Règne de Louis XV_,
vol. i. pp. 35-38, 365) says, 'le clergé prêchait une morale
qu'il compromettait par sa conduite;' a noticeable remark, when
made by an opponent of the sceptical philosophy, like the elder
M. Tocqueville. Among this profligate crew, Massillon stood
alone; he being the last French bishop who was remarkable for
virtue as well as for ability.
[806] Voltaire says of the English, 'quand ils apprennent qu'en France
de jeunes gens connus par leurs débauches, et élevés à la
prélature par des intrigues de femmes, font publiquement l'amour,
s'égaient à composer des chansons tendres, donnent tous les jours
des soupers délicats et longs, et de là vont implorer les
lumières du Saint-Esprit, et se nomment hardiment les
successeures des apôtres ils remercient Dieu d'être protestants.'
_Lettres sur les Anglais_, in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xxvi. p. 29.
Such was the position of the rival parties, when, almost immediately
after the death of Louis XIV., there began that great struggle between
authority and reason, which is still unfinished, although in the present
state of knowledge its result is no longer doubtful. On the one side
there was a compact and numerous priesthood, supported by the
prescription of centuries and by the authority of the crown. On the
other side there was a small body of men, without rank, without wealth,
and as yet without reputation, but animated by a love of liberty, and by
a just confidence in their own abilities. Unfortunately, they at the
very outset committed a serious error. In attacking the clergy, they
lost their respect for religion. In their determination to weaken
ecclesiastical power, they attempted to undermine the foundations of
Christianity. This is deeply to be regretted for their own sake, as well
as for its ultimate effects in France; but it must not be imputed to
them as a crime, since it was forced on them by the exigencies of their
position. They saw the frightful evils which their country was suffering
from the institution of priesthood as it then existed; and yet they were
told that the preservation of that institution in its actual form was
essential to the very being of Christianity. They had always been taught
that the interests of the clergy were identical with the interests of
religion; how then could they avoid including both clergy and religion
in the same hostility? The alternative was cruel; but it was one from
which, in common honesty, they had no escape. We, judging these things
by another standard, possess a measure which they could not possibly
have. We should not now commit such an error, because we know that there
is no connexion between any one particular form of priesthood and the
interests of Christianity. We know that the clergy are made for the
people, and not the people for the clergy. We know that all questions of
church government are matters, not of religion, but of policy, and
should be settled, not according to traditional dogmas, but according to
large views of general expediency. It is because these propositions are
now admitted by all enlightened men, that in our country the truths of
religion are rarely attacked except by superficial thinkers. If, for
instance, we were to find that the existence of our bishops, with their
privileges and their wealth, is unfavourable to the progress of society,
we should not on that account feel enmity against Christianity; because
we should remember that episcopacy is its accident, and not its
essential, and that we could do away with the institution and yet retain
the religion. In the same way, if we should ever find, what was formerly
found in France, that the clergy were tyrannical, this would excite in
us an opposition, not to Christianity, but merely to the external form
which Christianity assumed. So long as our clergy confine themselves to
the beneficent duties of their calling, to the alleviation of pain and
distress, either bodily or mental, so long will we respect them as the
ministers of peace and of charity. But if they should ever again
entrench on the rights of the laity,--if they should ever again
interfere with an authoritative voice in the government of the
state,--it will then be for the people to inquire, whether the time has
not come to effect a revision of the ecclesiastical constitution of the
country. This, therefore, is the manner in which we now view these
things. What we think of the clergy will depend upon themselves; but
will have no connection with what we think of Christianity. We look on
the clergy as a body of men who, notwithstanding their disposition to
intolerance, and notwithstanding a certain narrowness incidental to
their profession, do undoubtedly form part of a vast and noble
institution, by which the manners of men have been softened, their
sufferings assuaged, their distresses relieved. As long as this
institution performs its functions, we are well content to let it stand.
If, however, it should be out of repair, or if it should be found
inadequate to the shifting circumstances of an advancing society, we
retain both the power and the right of remedying its faults; we may, if
need be, remove some of its parts; but we would not, we dare not, tamper
with those great religious truths which are altogether independent of
it; truths which comfort the mind of man, raise him above the instincts
of the hour, and infuse into him those lofty aspirations which,
revealing to him his own immortality, are the measure and the symptom of
a future life.
Unfortunately, this was not the way in which these matters were
considered in France. The government of that country, by investing the
clergy with great immunities, by treating them as if there were
something sacred about their persons, and by punishing as heresy the
attacks which were made on them, had established in the national mind an
indissoluble connexion between their interests and the interests of
Christianity. The consequence was, that when the struggle began, the
ministers of religion, and religion itself, were both assailed with
equal zeal. The ridicule, and even the abuse, heaped on the clergy, will
surprise no one who is acquainted with the provocation that had been
received. And although, in the indiscriminate onslaught which soon
followed, Christianity was, for a time, subjected to a fate which ought
to have been reserved for those who called themselves her ministers;
this, while it moves us to regret, ought by no means to excite our
astonishment. The destruction of Christianity in France was the
necessary result of those opinions which bound up the destiny of the
national priesthood with the destiny of the national religion. If both
were connected by the same origin, both should fall in the same ruin. If
that which is the tree of life, were, in reality, so corrupt that it
could only bear poisonous fruits, then it availed little to lop off the
boughs and cut down the branches; but it were better, by one mighty
effort, to root it up from the ground, and secure the health of society
by stopping the very source of the contagion.
These are reflections which must make us pause before we censure the
deistical writers of the eighteenth century. So perverted, however, are
the reasonings to which some minds are accustomed, that those who judge
them most uncharitably are precisely those whose conduct forms their
best excuse. Such are the men who, by putting forth the most extravagant
claims in favour of the clergy, are seeking to establish the principle,
by the operation of which the clergy were destroyed. Their scheme for
restoring the old system of ecclesiastical authority depends on the
supposition of its divine origin: a supposition which, if inseparable
from Christianity, will at once justify the infidelity which they hotly
attack. The increase of the power of the clergy is incompatible with the
interests of civilization. If, therefore, any religion adopts as its
creed the necessity of such an increase, it becomes the bounden duty of
every friend to humanity to do his utmost, either to destroy the creed,
or failing in that, to overturn the religion. If pretensions of this
sort are an essential part of Christianity, it behoves us at once to
make our choice; since the only option can be, between abjuring our
faith or sacrificing our liberty. Fortunately, we are not driven to so
hard a strait; and we know that these claims are as false in theory, as
they would be pernicious in practice. It is, indeed, certain, that if
they were put into execution, the clergy, though they might enjoy a
momentary triumph, would have consummated their own ruin, by preparing
the way among us for scenes as disastrous as those which occurred in
France.
The truth is, that what is most blamed in the great French writers, was
the natural consequence of the development of their age. Never was there
a more striking illustration of the social law already noticed, that, if
government will allow religious scepticism to run its course, it will
issue in great things, and will hasten the march of civilization; but
that, if an attempt is made to put it down with a strong hand, it may,
no doubt, be repressed for a time, but eventually will rise with such
force as to endanger the foundation of society. In England, we adopted
the first of these courses; in France, they adopted the second. In
England, men were allowed to exercise their own judgment on the most
sacred subjects; and, as soon as the diminution of their credulity had
made them set bounds to the power of the clergy, toleration immediately
followed, and the national prosperity has never been disturbed. In
France, the authority of the clergy was increased by a superstitious
king; faith usurped the place of reason, not a whisper of doubt was
allowed to be heard, and the spirit of inquiry was stifled, until the
country fell to the brink of ruin. If Louis XIV. had not interfered with
the natural progress, France, like England, would have continued to
advance. After his death, it was, indeed, too late to save the clergy,
against whom all the intellect of the nation was soon arrayed. But the
force of the storm might still have been broken, if the government of
Louis XV. had conciliated what it was impossible to resist; and,
instead of madly attempting to restrain opinions by laws, had altered
the laws to suit the opinions. If the rulers of France, instead of
exerting themselves to silence the national literature, had yielded to
its suggestions, and had receded before the pressure of advancing
knowledge, the fatal collision would have been avoided; because the
passions which caused the collision would have been appeased. In such
case, the church would have fallen somewhat earlier; but the state
itself would have been saved. In such case, France would, in all
probability, have secured her liberties, without increasing her crimes;
and that great country, which, from her position and resources, ought to
be the pattern of European civilization, might have escaped the ordeal
of those terrible atrocities, through which she was compelled to pass,
and from the effects of which she has not yet recovered.
It must, I think, be admitted that, during, at all events, the first
half of the reign of Louis XV., it was possible, by timely concessions,
still to preserve the political institutions of France. Reforms there
must have been; and reforms too of a large and uncompromising character.
So far, however, as I am able to understand the real history of that
period, I make no doubt that, if these had been granted in a frank and
ungrudging spirit, everything could have been retained necessary for the
only two objects at which government ought to aim, namely, the
preservation of order, and the prevention of crime. But, by the middle
of the reign of Louis XV., or, at all events, immediately afterwards,
the state of affairs began to alter; and, in the course of a few years,
the spirit of France became so democratic, that it was impossible even
to delay a revolution, which, in the preceding generation, might have
been altogether averted. This remarkable change is connected with that
other change already noticed, by virtue of which, the French intellect
began, about the same period, to direct its hostility against the state,
rather than, as heretofore, against the church. As soon as this, which
may be called the second epoch of the eighteenth century, had been
fairly entered, the movement became irresistible. Event after event
followed each other in rapid succession; each one linked to its
antecedent, and the whole forming a tendency impossible to withstand. It
was in vain that the government, yielding some points of real
importance, adopted measures by which the church was controlled, the
power of the clergy diminished, and even the order of the jesuits
suppressed. It was in vain that the crown now called to its councils,
for the first time, men imbued with the spirit of reform; men, like
Turgot and Necker, whose wise and liberal proposals would, in calmer
days, have stilled the agitation of the popular mind. It was in vain
that promises were made to equalize the taxes, to redress some of the
most crying grievances, to repeal some of the most obnoxious laws. It
was even in vain that the states-general were summoned; and that thus,
after the lapse of a hundred and seventy years, the people were again
admitted to take part in the management of their own affairs. All these
things were in vain; because the time for treaty had gone by, and the
time for battle had come. The most liberal concessions that could
possibly have been devised would have failed to avert that deadly
struggle, which the course of preceding events made inevitable. For the
measure of that age was now full. The upper classes, intoxicated by the
long possession of power, had provoked the crisis; and it was needful
that they should abide the issue. There was no time for mercy; there was
no pause, no compassion, no sympathy. The only question that remained
was, to see whether they who had raised the storm could ride the
whirlwind; or, whether it was not rather likely that they should be the
first victims of that frightful hurricane, in which, for a moment, laws,
religion, morals, all perished, the lowest vestiges of humanity were
effaced, and the civilization of France not only submerged, but, as it
then appeared, irretrievably ruined.
To ascertain the successive changes of this, the second epoch of the
eighteenth century, is an undertaking full of difficulty; not only on
account of the rapidity with which the events occurred, but also on
account of their extreme complication, and of the way in which they
acted and reacted upon each other. The materials, however, for such an
inquiry are very numerous; and, as they consist of evidence supplied by
all classes and all interests, it has appeared to me possible to
reconstruct the history of that time, according to the only manner in
which history deserves to be studied; that is to say, according to the
order of its social and intellectual development. In the seventh chapter
of the present volume, I shall, therefore, attempt to trace the
antecedents of the French Revolution during that remarkable period, in
which the hostility of men, slackening in regard to the abuses of the
church, was, for the first time, turned against the abuses of the state.
But, before entering into this, which may be distinguished as the
political epoch of the eighteenth century, it will be necessary,
according to the plan which I have sketched, to examine the changes that
occurred in the method of writing history, and to indicate the way in
which those changes were affected by the tendencies of the earlier, or,
as it may be termed, the ecclesiastical epoch. In this manner, we shall
the more easily understand the activity of that prodigious movement
which led to the French Revolution; because we shall see that it not
only affected the opinions of men in regard to what was passing under
their eyes, but that it also biased their speculative views in regard to
the events of preceding ages; and thus gave rise to that new school of
historical literature, the formation of which is by no means the least
of the many benefits which we owe to the great thinkers of the
eighteenth century.
CHAPTER VI.
STATE OF HISTORICAL LITERATURE IN FRANCE FROM THE END OF THE SIXTEENTH
TO THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
It may be easily supposed, that those vast movements in the intellect of
France, which I have just traced, could not fail to produce a great
change in the method of writing history. That bold spirit with which men
were beginning to estimate the transactions of their own time, was sure
to influence their opinions respecting those of a former age. In this,
as in every branch of knowledge, the first innovation consisted in
recognizing the necessity of doubting what had hitherto been believed;
and this feeling, when once established, went on increasing, destroying
at each step some of those monstrous absurdities by which, as we have
seen, even the best histories were disfigured. The germs of the reform
may be discerned in the fourteenth century, though the reform itself did
not begin until late in the sixteenth century. During the seventeenth
century, it advanced somewhat slowly; but in the eighteenth century it
received a sudden accession of strength, and, in France in particular,
it was hastened by that fearless and inquisitive spirit which
characterized the age, and which, purging history of innumerable
follies, raised its standard, and conferred on it a dignity hitherto
unknown. The rise of historical scepticism, and the extent to which it
spread, do indeed form such curious features in the annals of the
European intellect, as to make it surprising that no one should have
attempted to examine a movement to which a great department of modern
literature owes its most valuable peculiarities. In the present chapter,
I hope to supply this deficiency so far as France is concerned; and I
shall endeavour to mark the different steps by which the progress was
effected, in order that, by knowing the circumstances most favourable to
the study of history, we may with the greater ease inquire into the
probability of its future improvement.
There is, in reference to this subject, a preliminary consideration well
worthy of notice. This is, that men seem always to have begun to doubt
in matters of religion, before they ventured to do so in matters of
history. It might have been expected that the reproaches, and, in a
superstitious age, the dangers, to which heresy is exposed, would have
intimidated inquirers, and would have induced them to prefer the safer
path of directing their scepticism upon questions of literary
speculation. Such, however, is by no means the course which the human
mind has adopted. In an early stage of society, when the clergy had
universal influence, a belief in the unpardonable criminality of
religious error is so deeply rooted, that it engrosses the attention of
all; it forces every one who thinks, to concentrate upon theology his
reflections and his doubts, and it leaves no leisure for topics which
are conceived to be of inferior importance.[807] Hence, during many
centuries, the subtlest intellects of Europe exhausted their strength on
the rights and dogmas of Christianity; and while upon these matters they
often showed the greatest ability, they, upon other subjects, and
especially upon history, displayed that infantine credulity, of which I
have already given several examples.
[807] See some very just remarks in _Whewell's Philos. of the Induc.
Sciences_, vol. ii. p. 143. In _Neander's Hist. of the Church_,
vol. iv. pp. 41, 128, there are two curious illustrations of the
universal interest which theological discussions once inspired in
Europe; and on the former subservience of philosophy to theology,
compare _Hamilton's Discussions on Philosophy_, p. 197. But no
one has treated this subject so ably as M. Auguste Comte, in his
great work, _Philosophie Positive_. The service which the
metaphysicians rendered to the church by their development of the
doctrine of transubstantiation (_Blánco White's Evidence against
Catholicism_, pp. 256-258) is a striking instance of this
subordination of the intellect to ecclesiastical dogmas.
But when, in the progress of society, its theological element begins to
decay, the ardour with which religious disputes were once conducted
becomes sensibly weakened. The most advanced intellects are the first to
feel the growing indifference, and, therefore, they are also the first
to scrutinize real events with that inquisitive eye which their
predecessors had reserved for religious speculations. This is a great
turning-point in the history of every civilized nation. From this moment
theological heresies become less frequent,[808] and literary heresies
become more common. From this moment the spirit of inquiry and of doubt
fastens itself upon every department of knowledge, and begins that great
career of conquest, in which by every succeeding discovery the power and
dignity of man are increased, while at the same time most of his
opinions are disturbed, and many of them are destroyed: until, in the
march of this vast but noiseless revolution, the stream of tradition is,
as it were, interrupted, the influence of ancient authority is
subverted, and the human mind, waxing in strength, learns to rely upon
its own resources, and to throw off incumbrances by which the freedom of
its movements had long been impaired.
[808] M. Tocqueville says, what I am inclined to think is true, that an
increasing spirit of equality lessens the disposition to form new
religious creeds. _Démocratie en Amérique_, vol. iv. pp. 16, 17.
At all events, it is certain that increasing knowledge has this
effect; for those great men whose turn of mind would formerly
have made them heretics, are now content to confine their
innovations to other fields of thought. If St. Augustin had lived
in the seventeenth century, he would have reformed or created the
physical sciences. If Sir Isaac Newton had lived in the fourth
century, he would have organized a new sect, and have troubled
the church with his originality.
The application of these remarks to the history of France, will enable
us to explain some interesting phenomena in the literature of that
country. During the whole of the Middle Ages, and I may say till the end
of the sixteenth century, France, though fertile in annalists and
chroniclers, had not produced a single historian, because she had not
produced a single man who presumed to doubt what was generally believed.
Indeed, until the publication of Du Haillan's history of the kings of
France, no one had even attempted a critical digest of the materials
which were known to be extant. This work appeared in 1576;[809] and the
author, at the conclusion of his labours, could not disguise the pride
which he felt at having accomplished so great an undertaking. In his
dedication to the king he says, 'I am, sire, the first of all the French
who have written the history of France, and, in a polite language, shown
the grandeur and dignity of our kings; for before there was nothing but
the old rubbish of chronicles which spoke of them.' He adds in the
preface: 'Only I will say, without presumption and boasting, that I have
done a thing which had not been done before, or seen by any of our
nation, and have given to the history of France a dress it never
appeared in before.'[810] Nor were these the idle boasts of an obscure
man. His work went through numerous editions; was translated into Latin,
and was reprinted in foreign countries. He himself was looked upon as
one of the glories of the French nation, and was rewarded by the favour
of the king, who conferred on him the office of secretary of
finance.[811] From his work, we may, therefore, gain some notion of what
was then the received standard of historical literature; and with this
view, it is natural to inquire what the materials were which he chiefly
employed. About sixty years earlier, an Italian named Paulus Emilius had
published a gossiping compilation on the 'Actions of the French.'[812]
This book, which is full of extravagant fables, was taken by Du Haillan
as the basis of his famous history of the kings of France; and from it
he unhesitatingly copies those idle stories which Emilius loved to
relate. This will give us some idea of the credulity of a writer, who
was reckoned by his contemporaries to be, beyond all comparison, the
greatest historian France had produced. But this is not all. Du Haillan,
not content with borrowing from his predecessor everything that was most
incredible, gratifies his passion for the marvellous by some
circumstances of his own invention. He begins his history with a long
account of a council which, he says, was held by the celebrated
Pharamond, in order to determine whether the French should be governed
by a monarchy or by an aristocracy. It is, indeed, doubtful if any such
person as Pharamond ever existed; and it is certain that, if he did
exist, all the materials had long perished from which an opinion could
be formed respecting him.[813] But Du Haillan, regardless of these
little difficulties, gives us the fullest information touching the great
chieftain; and, as if determined to tax to the utmost the credulity of
his readers, mentions, as members of the council of Pharamond, two
persons, Charamond and Quadrek, whose very names are invented by the
historian.[814]
[809] _Biog. Univ._ vol. xix. pp. 315, 316; where it is said, 'l'ouvrage
de Du Haillan est remarquable en ce que c'est le premier corps
d'histoire de France qui ait paru dans notre langue.' See also
_Dacier_, _Rapport sur les Progrès de l'Histoire_, p. 170; and
_Des Réaux_, _Historiettes_, vol. x. p. 185.
[810] _Bayle_, article _Haillan_, note L.
[811] _Mercure François_, in _Bayle_, article _Haillan_, note D.
[812] _De Rebus gestis Francorum_, which appeared about 1516. _Biog.
Univ._ vol. xiii. p. 119. Compare, respecting the author,
_Mézéray_, _Hist. de France_, vol. ii. p. 363, with _Audigier_,
_l'Origine des François_, vol. ii. p. 118, who complains of his
opinion about Clovis, 'quoy qu'il fasse profession de relever la
gloire des François.' Even the superficial Boulainvilliers
(_Hist. de l'Ancien Gouvernement_, vol. ii. p. 166)
contemptuously notices 'les rétoriciens postérieurs, tels que
Paul Emile.'
[813] Compare _Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. i. pp. 176, 177,
with _Montlosier_, _Monarchie Française_, vol. i. pp. 43, 44.
Philippe de Comines, though superior to Sismondi and Montlosier
in point of ability, lived in the middle ages, and therefore had
no idea of doubting, but simply says, 'Pharamond fut esleu roy,
l'an 420, et régna dix ans,' _Mém. de Comines_, livre viii. chap.
xxvii. vol. iii. p. 232. But De Thou, coming a hundred years
after Comines, evidently suspected that it was not all quite
right, and therefore puts it on the authority of others.
'Pharamond, qui _selon nos historiens_ a porté le premier la
couronne des François.' _De Thou_, _Hist. Univ._ vol. x. p. 530.
See a singular passage on Pharamond in _Mém. de Duplessis
Mornay_, vol. ii. p. 405.
[814] Sorel (_La Bibliothèque Françoise_, Paris, 1667, p. 373) says of
Du Haillan, 'On lui peut reprocher d'avoir donné un commencement
fabuleux à son histoire, qui est entièrement de son invention,
ayant fait tenir un conseil entre Pharamond et ses plus fidelles
conseillers, pour sçavoir si ayant la puissance en main il deuoit
réduire les François au gouvernement aristocratique ou
monarchique, et faisant faire une harangue à chacun d'eux pour
soustenir son opinion. On y voit les noms de Charamond et de
Quadrek, personnages imaginaires.' Sorel, who had a glimmering
notion that this was not exactly the way to write history, adds,
'C'est une chose fort surprenante. On est fort peu asseuré si
Pharamond fut jamais au monde, et quoy qu'on sçache qu'il y ait
esté, c'est une terrible hardiesse d'en raconter des choses qui
n'ont aucun appuy.'
Such was the state of historical literature in France early in the reign
of Henry III. A great change was, however, at hand. The remarkable
intellectual progress made by the French towards the close of the
sixteenth century was, as I have shown, preceded by that scepticism
which appears to be its necessary precursor. The spirit of doubt, which
had begun with religion, was communicated to literature. The impulse was
immediately felt in every department of knowledge, and now it was that
history first emerged from a debasement in which it had for centuries
been sunk. On this subject a mere statement of dates may be of service
to those persons who, from a dislike to general reasoning, would
otherwise deny the connexion which I wish to establish. In 1588 was
published the first sceptical book ever written in the French
language.[815] In 1598, the French government, for the first time,
ventured upon a great public act of religious toleration. In 1604, De
Thou published that celebrated work, which is allowed by all critics to
be the first great history composed by a Frenchman.[816] And at the very
moment when these things were passing, another eminent Frenchman, the
illustrious Sully,[817] was collecting the materials for his historical
work, which, though hardly equal to that of De Thou, comes immediately
after it in ability, in importance, and in reputation. Nor can we fail
to remark, that both these great historians, who left all their
predecessors immeasurably behind them, were the confidential ministers
and intimate friends of Henry IV., the first king of France whose memory
is stained by the imputation of heresy, and the first who dared to
change his religion, not in consequence of any theological arguments,
but on the broad and notorious ground of political expediency.[818]
[815] 'Die erste Regung des skeptischen Geistes finden wir in den
Versuchen des Michael von Montaigne.' _Tennemann_, _Gesch. der
Philos._ vol. ix. p. 443.
[816] The first volume appeared in 1604. See _Le Long_, _Bibliothèque
Historique de la France_, vol. ii. p. 375; and preface to _De
Thou_, _Hist. Univ._ vol. i. p. iv.
[817] Sismondi has scarcely done justice to Sully; but the reader will
find a fuller account of him in _Capefigue_, _Hist. de la
Réforme_, vol. viii. pp. 101-117; and a still better one in
_Blanqui_, _Histoire de l'Economie Politique_, vol. i. pp.
347-361.
[818] According to D'Aubigné, the king, on his conversion, said, 'Je
ferai voir à tout le monde que je n'ai esté persuadé par autre
théologie que la nécessité de l'estat.' _Smedley's Reformed
Religion in France_, vol. ii. p. 362. That Henry felt this is
certain; and that he expressed it to his friends is probable; but
he had a difficult game to play with the Catholic church; and in
one of his edicts we find 'une grande joye de son retour à
l'église, dont il attribuoit la cause à la grâce du
Tout-Puissant, et aux prières de ses fidèles sujets.' _De Thou_,
_Hist. Univ._ vol. xii. pp. 105, 106. Compare, at pp. 468, 469,
the message he sent to the pope.
But it was not merely over such eminent historians as these that the
sceptical spirit displayed its influence. The movement was now becoming
sufficiently active to leave its marks in the writings of far inferior
men. There were two particulars in which the credulity of the earlier
historians was very striking. These consisted in the uncritical manner
in which, by blindly copying their predecessors, they confused the dates
of different events; and in the readiness with which they believed the
most improbable statements, upon imperfect evidence, and often upon no
evidence at all. It is surely a singular proof of that intellectual
progress which I am endeavouring to trace, that, within a very few
years, both these sources of error were removed. In 1597, Serres was
appointed historiographer of France; and, in the same year, he published
his history of that country.[819] In this work, he insists upon the
necessity of carefully recording the date of each event; and the
example, which he first set, has, since his time, been generally
followed.[820] The importance of this change will be willingly
acknowledged by those who are aware of the confusion into which history
has been thrown by the earlier writers having neglected, what now seems,
so obvious a precaution. Scarcely had this innovation been established,
when it was followed, in the same country, by another of still greater
moment. This was the appearance, in 1621, of a history of France, by
Scipio Dupleix; in which, for the first time, the evidence for
historical facts was published with the facts themselves.[821] It is
needless to insist upon the utility of a step which, more than any
other, has taught historians to be industrious in collecting their
authorities, and careful in scrutinizing them.[822] To this may be
added, that Dupleix was also the first Frenchman who ventured to
publish a system of philosophy in his own language.[823] It is true,
that the system itself is intrinsically of little value;[824] but, at
the time it appeared, it was an unprecedented, and, on that account, a
profane attempt, to unfold the mysteries of philosophy in the vulgar
speech; and, in this point of view, supplies evidence of the increasing
diffusion of a spirit bolder and more inquisitive than any formerly
known. It is not, therefore, surprising, that, almost at the same
moment, there should be made, in the same country, the first systematic
attempt at historical scepticism. The system of philosophy by Dupleix
appeared in 1602; and in 1599, La Popelinière published at Paris what he
calls the _History of Histories_, in which he criticizes historians
themselves, and examines their works with that sceptical spirit, to
which his own age was deeply indebted.[825] This able man was also the
author of a _Sketch of the New History of the French_; containing a
formal refutation of that fable, so dear to the early historians,
according to which the monarchy of France was founded by Francus, who
arrived in Gaul after the conclusion of the siege of Troy.[826]
[819] _Marchand_, _Dictionnaire Historique_, vol. ii. pp. 205, 209, La
Haye, 1758, folio. This curious and learned work, which is much
less read than it deserves, contains the only good account of
Serres I have been able to meet with; vol. ii. pp. 197-213.
[820] 'On ne prenoit presque aucun soin de marquer les dates des
événemens dans les ouvrages historiques.... De Serres reconnut ce
défaut; et pour y remédier, il rechercha avec beaucoup de soin
les dates des événemens qu'il avoit à employer, et les marqua
dans son histoire le plus exactement qu'il lui fut possible. Cet
exemple a été imité depuis par la plupart de ceux qui l'ont
suivi; et c'est à lui qu'on est redevable de l'avantage qu'on
tire d'une pratique si nécessaire et si utile.' _Marchand_,
_Dict. Historique_, vol. ii. p. 206.
[821] 'Il est le premier historien qui ait cité en marge ses autorités;
précaution absolument nécessaire quand on n'écrit pas l'histoire
de son temps, à moins qu'on ne s'en tienne aux faits connus.'
_[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. xix. p. 95. And the _Biog. Univ._
vol. xii. p. 277, says, 'On doit lui faire honneur d'avoir cité
en marge les auteurs dont il s'est servi; précaution
indispensable, que l'on connaissait peu avant lui, et que les
historiens modernes négligent trop aujourd'hui.' Bassompierre,
who had a quarrel with Dupleix, has given some curious details
respecting him and his History; but they are, of course, not to
be relied on. _Mém. de Bassompierre_, vol. iii. pp. 356, 357.
Patin speaks favourably of his history of Henry IV. _Lettres de
Patin_, vol. i. p. 17: but compare _Sully_, _[OE]conomies
Royales_, vol. ix. pp. 121, 249.
[822] The ancients, as is well known, rarely took this trouble. _Mure's
Hist. of Greek Literature_, vol. iv. pp. 197, 306, 307. But what
is much more curious is, that, even in scientific works, there
was an equal looseness; and Cuvier says, that, in the sixteenth
century, 'on se bornait à dire, d'une manière générale, Aristote
a dit telle chose, sans indiquer ni le passage ni le livre dans
lequel la citation se trouvait.' _Cuvier_, _Hist. des Sciences_,
part ii. p. 63; and at p. 88, 'suivant l'usage de son temps,
Gessner n'indique pas avec précision les endroits d'où il a tiré
ses citations:' see also p. 214.
[823] 'Le premier ouvrage de philosophie publié dans cette langue.'
_Biog. Univ._ vol. xii. p. 277.
[824] So it seemed to me, when I turned over its leaves a few years ago.
However, Patin says, 'sa philosophie françoise n'est pas
mauvaise.' _Lettres de Patin_, vol. iii. p. 357. On the dialectic
powers of Dupleix, see a favourable judgment in _Hamilton's
Discuss. on Philos._ p. 119.
[825] _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxxv. p. 402. Sorel (_Bibliothèque Françoise_,
p. 165), who is evidently displeased at the unprecedented
boldness of La Popelinière, says, 'il dit ses sentimens en bref
des historiens de toutes les nations, et de plusieurs langues, et
particulièrement des historiens françois, dont il parle avec
beaucoup d'asseurance.'
[826] 'Il réfute l'opinion, alors fort accréditée, de l'arrivée dans les
Gaules de Francus et des Troyens.' _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxxv. p.
402. Compare _Le Long_, _Bibliothèque Historique de la France_,
vol. ii. p. 39. Patin says that De Thou was much indebted to him:
'M. de Thou a pris hardiment de la Popelinière.' _Lettres de
Patin_, vol. i. p. 222. There is a notice of Popelinière, in
connexion with Richer, in _Mém. de Richelieu_, vol. v. p. 349.
It would be useless to collect all the instances in which this advancing
spirit of scepticism now began to purge history of its falsehoods. I
will only mention two or three more of those which have occurred in my
reading. In 1614, De Rubis published at Lyons a work on the European
monarchies; in which he not only attacks the long-established belief
respecting the descent from Francus, but boldly asserts, that the Franks
owe their name to their ancient liberties.[827] In 1620, Gomberville, in
a dissertation on history, refutes many of those idle stories respecting
the antiquity of the French, which had been universally received until
his time.[828] And, in 1630, Berthault published at Paris the 'French
Floras,' in which he completely upsets the old method; since he lays it
down as a fundamental principle, that the origin of the French must only
be sought for in those countries where they were found by the
Romans.[829]
[827] 'Il réfute les fables qu'on avançoit sur l'origine des François,
appuyées sur le témoignage au faux Bérose. Il dit que leur nom
vient de leur ancienne franchise.' _Le Long_, _Bibliothèque
Historique_, vol. ii. p. 750.
[828] Compare _Sorel_, _Bibliothèque Françoise_, p. 298, with _Du
Fresnoy_, _Méthode pour étudier l'Histoire_, vol. x. p. 4, Parie,
1772. There is an account of Gomberville in _Les Historiettes de
Tallemant des Réaux_, vol. viii. pp. 15-19; a singularly curious
book, which is, for the seventeenth century, what Brantome is for
the sixteenth. I ought to have mentioned earlier the inimitable
ridicule with which Rabelais treats the habit historians had of
tracing the genealogies of their heroes back to Noah. _[OE]uvres
de Rabelais_, vol. i. pp. 1-3, and vol. ii. pp. 10-17: see also,
at vol. v. pp. 171, 172, his defence of the antiquity of Chinon.
[829] 'L'auteur croit qu'il ne faut pas la chercher ailleurs que dans le
pays où ils out été connus des Romains, c'est-à-dire entre l'Elbe
et le Rhin,' _Le Long_, _Bibliothèque Historique_, vol. ii. p.
56. This work of Berthault's was, for many years, a text-book in
the French colleges. _Biog. Univ._ vol. iv. p. 347.
All these, and similar productions, were, however, entirely eclipsed by
Mezeray's History of France; the first volume of which was published in
1643, and the last in 1651.[830] It is, perhaps, hardly fair to his
predecessors, to call him the first general historian of France;[831]
but there can be no doubt that his work is greatly superior to any that
had yet been seen. The style of Mezeray is admirably clear and vigorous,
rising, at times, to considerable eloquence. Besides this, he has two
other merits much more important. These are, an indisposition to believe
strange things, merely because they have hitherto been believed; and an
inclination to take the side of the people, rather than that of their
rulers.[832] Of these principles, the first was too common among the
ablest Frenchmen of that time to excite much attention.[833] But the
other principle enabled Mezeray to advance an important step before all
his contemporaries. He was the first Frenchman who, in a great
historical work, threw off that superstitious reverence for royalty
which had long troubled the minds of his countrymen, and which, indeed,
continued to haunt them for another century. As a necessary consequence,
he was also the first who saw that a history, to be of real value, must
be a history, not only of kings, but of nations. A steady perception of
this principle led him to incorporate into his book matters which,
before his time, no one cared to study. He communicates all the
information he could collect respecting the taxes which the people had
paid; the sufferings they had undergone from the gripping hands of their
governors; their manners, their comforts, even the state of the towns
which they inhabited; in a word, what affected the interests of the
French people, as well as what affected the interests of the French
monarchy.[834] These were the subjects which Mezeray preferred to
insignificant details respecting the pomp of courts and the lives of
kings. These were the large and comprehensive matters on which he loved
to dwell, and on which he expatiated; not, indeed, with so much fulness
as we could desire, but still with a spirit and an accuracy which
entitles him to the honour of being the greatest historian France
produced before the eighteenth century.
[830] The first volume in 1643; the second in 1646; and the last in
1651. _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxviii. p. 510.
[831] 'The French have now their first general historian, Mezeray.'
_Hallam's Literature of Europe_, vol. iii. p. 228; and see
_Stephen's Lectures on the History of France_, 1851, vol. i. p.
10.
[832] Bayle says, that Mezeray is, 'de tous les historiens celui qui
favorise le plus les peuples contre la cour.' _Le Long_,
_Bibliothèque Historique_, vol. iii. p. lxxxvi.
[833] Though it did not prevent him from believing that sudden tempests,
and unusual appearances in the heavens, were aberrations, due to
supernatural interference, and, as such, were the prognosticators
of political change. _Mézéray_, _Hist. de France_, vol. i. pp.
202, 228, 238, 241, 317, 792, vol. ii. pp. 485, 573, 1120, vol.
iii. pp. 31, 167, 894; instructive passages, as proving that,
even in powerful minds, the scientific and secular method was
still feeble.
[834] What he did on these subjects is most remarkable, considering that
some of the best materials were unknown, and in manuscript, and
that even De Thou gives scarcely any information respecting them;
so that Mezeray had no model. See, among other passages which
have struck me in the first volume, pp. 145-147, 204, 353, 356,
362-365, 530, 531, 581, 812, 946, 1039. Compare his indignant
expressions at vol. ii. p. 721.
This was, in many respects, the most important change which had yet been
effected in the manner of writing history. If the plan begun by Mezeray
had been completed by his successors, we should possess materials, the
absence of which no modern researches can possibly compensate. Some
things, indeed, we should, in that case, have lost. We should know less
than we now know of courts and of camps. We should have heard less of
the peerless beauty of French queens, and of the dignified presence of
French kings. We might even have missed some of the links of that
evidence by which the genealogies of princes and nobles are ascertained,
and the study of which delights the curiosity of antiquaries and
heralds. But, on the other hand, we should have been able to examine the
state of the French people during the latter half of the seventeenth
century; while, as things now stand, our knowledge of them, in that most
important period, is inferior in accuracy and in extent to the knowledge
we possess of some of the most barbarous tribes of the earth.[835] If
the example of Mezeray had been followed, with such additional resources
as the progress of affairs would have supplied, we should not only have
the means of minutely tracing the growth of a great and civilised
nation, but we should have materials that would suggest or verify those
original principles, the discovery of which constitutes the real use of
history.
[835] Those who have studied the French memoirs of the seventeenth
century, know how little can be found in them respecting the
condition of the people; while the fullest private
correspondence, such as the letters of Sévigné and De Maintenon,
are equally unsatisfactory. The greater part of the evidence now
extant has been collected by M. Monteil, in his valuable work,
_Histoire des divers Etats_: but whoever will put all this
together must admit, that we are better informed as to the
condition of many savage tribes than we are concerning the lower
classes of France during the reign of Louis XIV.
But this was not to be. Unhappily for the interests of knowledge, the
march of French civilization was, at this period, suddenly checked. Soon
after the middle of the seventeenth century, that lamentable change took
place in France, which gave a new turn to the destinies of the nation.
The reaction which the spirit of inquiry underwent, and the social and
intellectual circumstances which, by bringing the Fronde to a premature
close, prepared the way for Louis XIV., have been described in a former
part of this volume, where I have attempted to indicate the general
effects of the disastrous movement. It now remains for me to point out
how this retrogressive tendency opposed obstacles to the improvement of
historical literature, and prevented authors, not only from relating
with honesty what was passing around them, but also from understanding
events which had occurred before their time.
The most superficial students of French literature must be struck by the
dearth of historians during that long period in which Louis XIV. held
the reins of government.[836] To this, the personal peculiarities of the
king greatly contributed. His education had been shamefully neglected;
and as he never had the energy to repair its deficiencies, he all his
life remained ignorant of many things with which even princes are
usually familiar.[837] Of the course of past events he knew literally
nothing, and he took no interest in any history except the history of
his own exploits. Among a free people, this indifference on the part of
the sovereign could never have produced injurious results; indeed, as we
have already seen, the absence of royal patronage is, in a highly
civilized country, the most favourable condition of literature. But at
the accession of Louis XIV. the liberties of the French were still too
young, and the habits of independent thought too recent, to enable them
to bear up against that combination of the crown and the church, which
was directed against them. The French, becoming every day more servile,
at length sunk so low, that, by the end of the seventeenth century, they
seemed to have lost even the wish of resistance. The king, meeting no
opposition, endeavoured to exercise over the intellect of the country an
authority equal to that with which he conducted its government.[838] In
all the great questions of religion and of politics, the spirit of
inquiry was stifled, and no man was allowed to express an opinion
unfavourable to the existing state of things. As the king was willing to
endow literature, he naturally thought that he had a right to its
services. Authors, who were fed by his hand, were not to raise their
voices against his policy. They received his wages, and they were bound
to do the bidding of him who paid them. When Louis assumed the
government, Mezeray was still living; though I need hardly say that his
great work was published before this system of protection and patronage
came into play. The treatment to which he, the great historian of
France, was now subjected, was a specimen of the new arrangement. He
received from the crown a pension of four thousand francs; but when he,
in 1668, published an abridgment of his History,[839] it was intimated
to him that some remarks upon the tendency of taxation were likely to
cause offence in high quarters. As, however, it was soon found that
Mezeray was too honest and too fearless to retract what he had written,
it was determined to have recourse to intimidation, and half of his
pension was taken from him.[840] But as this did not produce a proper
effect, another order was issued, which deprived him of the remaining
half; and thus early, in this bad reign, there was set an example of
punishing a man for writing with honesty upon a subject in which, of all
others, honesty is the first essential.[841]
[836] This is noticed in _Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. xxvii.
pp. 181, 182; also in _Villemain_, _Littérature Française_, vol.
ii. pp. 29, 30. Compare _D'Argenson_, _Réflexions sur les
Historiens François_, in _Mémoires de l'Académie des
Inscriptions_, vol. xxviii. p. 627, with _Boulainvilliers_,
_Ancien Gouvernement de la France_, vol. i. p. 174.
[837] 'Le jeune Louis XIV n'avait reçu aucune éducation intellectuelle.'
_Capefigue's Richelieu, Mazarin et la Fronde_, vol. ii. p. 245.
On the education of Louis XIV., which was as shamefully neglected
as that of our George III., see _Lettres inédites de Maintenon_,
vol. ii. p. 369; _Duclos_, _Mém. Secrets_, vol. i. pp. 167, 168;
_Mém. de Brienne_, vol. i. pp. 391-393.
[838] On his political maxims, see _Lemontey_, _Etablissement de
Louis XIV_, pp. 325-327, 407, 408. The eloquent remarks made by
M. Ranke upon an Italian despotism, are admirably applicable to
his whole system: 'Sonderbare Gestalt menschlichen Dinge! Die
Kräfte des Landes bringen den Hof hervor, der Mittelpunkt des
Hofes ist der Fürst, das letzte Product des gesammten Lebens ist
zuletzt das Selbstgefühl des Fürsten.' _Die Päpste_, vol. ii. p.
266.
[839] His _Abrégé Chronologique_ was published in 1668, in three volumes
quarto. _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxviii. p. 510. Le Long (_Bibliothèque
Historique_, vol. iii. p. lxxxv.) says, that it was only allowed
to be published in consequence of a 'privilège' which Mezeray had
formerly obtained. But there seems to have been some difficulty,
of which these writers are not aware: for Patin, in a letter
dated Paris, 23 December 1664, speaks of it as being then in the
press: 'on imprime ici en _grand-in-quarto_ un Abrégé de
l'Histoire de France, par M. Mezeray.' _Lettres de Patin_, vol.
iii. p. 503: compare p. 665. It long remained an established
school-book: see D'Argenson's Essay, in _Mém. de l'Académie_,
vol. xxviii. p. 635; and _Works of Sir William Temple_, vol. iii.
p. 70.
[840] _Barrière_, _Essai sur les M[oe]urs du Dix-septième Siècle_,
prefixed to _Mém. de Brienne_, vol. i. pp. 129, 130, where
reference is made to his original correspondence with Colbert.
This treatment of Mezeray is noticed, but imperfectly, in
_Boulainvilliers_, _Hist. de l'Ancien Gouvernement_, vol. i. p.
196; in _Lemontey_, _Etablissement de Louis XIV_, p. 331; and in
_Palissot_, _Mém. pour l'Hist. de Lit._ vol. ii. p. 161.
[841] In 1685 was published at Paris what was called an improved edition
of Mezeray's History; that is, an edition from which the honest
remarks were expunged. See _Le Long_, _Bibliothèque Historique_,
vol. ii. p. 53, vol. iv. p. 381; and _Brunet_, _Manuel du
Libraire_, vol. iii. p. 383, Paris, 1843. Hampden, who knew
Mezeray, has recorded an interesting interview he had with him in
Paris, when the great historian lamented the loss of the
liberties of France. See _Calamy's Life of Himself_, vol. i. pp.
392, 393.
Such conduct as this showed what historians were to expect from the
government of Louis XIV. Several years later, the king took another
opportunity of displaying the same spirit. Fénelon had been appointed
preceptor to the grandson of Louis, whose early vices his firmness and
judgment did much to repress.[842] But a single circumstance was thought
sufficient to outweigh the immense service which Fénelon thus rendered
to the royal family, and, if his pupil had come to the throne, would
have rendered prospectively to the whole of France. His celebrated
romance, _Telemachus_, was published in 1699, as it appears, without his
consent.[843] The king suspected that, under the guise of a fiction,
Fénelon intended to reflect on the conduct of government. It was in vain
that the author denied so dangerous an imputation. The indignation of
the king was not to be appeased. He banished Fénelon from the court; and
would never again admit to his presence a man whom he suspected of even
insinuating a criticism upon the measures adopted by the administration
of the country.[844]
[842] _Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. xxvi. pp. 240, 241.
[843] 'Par l'infidélité d'un domestique chargé de transcrire le
manuscrit.' _Biog. Univ._ vol. xiv. p. 289; and see _Peignot_,
_Dict. des Livres condamnés_, vol. i. pp. 134, 135. It was
suppressed in France, and appeared in Holland in the same year,
1699. _Lettres de Sévigné_, vol. vi. pp. 434, 435 note.
[844] 'Louis XIV prit le Télémaque pour une personnalité.... Comme il
(Fénelon) avait déplu au roi, il mourut dans l'exil.'
_Lerminier_, _Philos. du Droit_, vol. ii. pp. 219, 220; and see
_Siècle de Louis XIV_, chap. xxxii., in _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_,
vol. xx. p. 307.
If the king could, on mere suspicion, thus treat a great writer, who had
the rank of an archbishop and the reputation of a saint, it was not
likely that he would deal more tenderly with inferior men. In 1681, the
Abbé Primi, an Italian, then residing at Paris, was induced to write a
history of Louis XIV. The king, delighted with the idea of perpetuating
his own fame, conferred several rewards upon the author: and
arrangements were made that the work should be composed in Italian, and
immediately translated into French. But when the history appeared, there
were found in it some circumstances which it was thought ought not to
have been disclosed. On this account, Louis caused the book to be
suppressed, the papers of the author to be seized, and the author
himself to be thrown into the Bastille.[845]
[845] These circumstances are related in a letter from Lord Preston,
dated Paris, 22 July 1682, and printed in _Dalrymple's Memoirs_,
pp. 141, 142, appendix to vol. i. The account given by M. Peignot
(_Livres condamnés_, vol. ii. pp. 52, 53) is incomplete, he being
evidently ignorant of the existence of Lord Preston's letter.
Those, indeed, were dangerous times for independent men; times when no
writer on politics or religion was safe, unless he followed the fashion
of the day, and defended the opinions of the court and the church. The
king, who had an insatiable thirst for what he called glory,[846]
laboured to degrade contemporary historians into mere chroniclers of his
own achievements. He ordered Racine and Boileau to write an account of
his reign; he settled a pension upon them, and he promised to supply
them with the necessary materials.[847] But even Racine and Boileau,
poets though they were, knew that they would fail in satisfying his
morbid vanity; they, therefore, received the pension, but omitted to
compose the work for which the pension was conferred. So notorious was
the unwillingness of able men to meddle with history, that it was
thought advisable to beat up literary recruits from foreign countries.
The case of the Abbé Primi has just been mentioned; he was an Italian,
and only one year later a similar offer was made to an Englishman. In
1683, Burnet visited France, and was given to understand that he might
receive a pension, and that he might even enjoy the honour of conversing
with Louis himself, provided he would write a history of the royal
affairs; such history, it was carefully added, being on the 'side' of
the French king.[848]
[846] An able writer has well called him 'glorieux plutôt
qu'appréciateur de la vraie gloire.' _Flassan_, _Histoire de la
Diplomatie Française_, vol. iv. p. 399.
[847] In 1677, Madame de Sévigné writes from Paris respecting the king:
'Vous savez bien qu'il a donné deux mille écus de pension à
Racine et à Despréaux, en leur commandant de travailler à son
histoire, dont il aura soin de donner des Mémoires.' _Lettres de
Sévigné_, vol. iii. p. 362. Compare _Eloge de Valincourt_, in
_[OE]uvres de Fontenelle_, vol. vi. p. 383; and _Hughes's
Letters_, edit. 1773, vol. ii. pp. 74, 75.
[848] Burnet relates this with delightful simplicity: 'Others more
probably thought that the king, hearing I was a writer of
history, had a mind to engage me to write on his side. I was told
a pension would be offered me. But I made no steps towards it;
for though I was offered an audience of the king, I excused it,
since I could not have the honour to be presented to that king by
the minister of England.' _Burnet's Own Time_, vol. ii. p. 385.
Under such circumstances as these, it is no wonder that history, so far
as its great essentials are concerned, should have rapidly declined
during the power of Louis XIV. It became, as some think, more elegant;
but it certainly became more feeble. The language in which it was
composed was worked with great care, the periods neatly arranged, the
epithets soft and harmonious. For that was a polite and obsequious age,
full of reverence, of duty, and of admiration. In history, as it was
then written, every king was a hero, and every bishop was a saint. All
unpleasant truths were suppressed; nothing harsh or unkind was to be
told. These docile and submissive sentiments being expressed in an easy
and flowing style, gave to history that air of refinement, that gentle,
unobtrusive gait, which made it popular with the classes that it
flattered. But even so, while its form was polished, its life was
extinct. All its independence was gone, all its honesty, all its
boldness. The noblest and the most difficult department of knowledge,
the study of the movements of the human race, was abandoned to every
timid and creeping intellect that cared to cultivate it. There was
Boulainvilliers, and Daniel, and Maimburg, and Varillas, and Vertot, and
numerous others, who in the reign of Louis XIV. were believed to be
historians; but whose histories have scarcely any merit, except that of
enabling us to appreciate the period in which such productions were
admired, and the system of which they were the representatives.
To give a complete view of the decline of historical literature in
France, from the time of Mezeray until early in the eighteenth century,
would require a summary of every history which was written; for all of
them were pervaded by the same spirit. But, as this would occupy much
too large a space, it will probably be thought sufficient if I confine
myself to such illustrations as will bring the tendency of the age most
clearly before the reader; and for this purpose, I will notice the works
of two historians I have not yet mentioned; one of whom was celebrated
as an antiquary, the other as a theologian. Both possessed considerable
learning, and one was a man of undoubted genius; their works are,
therefore, worth attention, as symptoms of the state of the French
intellect late in the seventeenth century. The name of the antiquary was
Audigier; the name of the theologian was Bossuet: and from them we may
learn something respecting the way in which, during the reign of Louis
XIV., it was usual to contemplate the transactions of past ages.
The celebrated work of Audigier, on the Origin of the French, was
published at Paris in 1676.[849] It would be unjust to deny that the
author was a man of great and careful reading. But his credulity, his
prejudices, his reverence for antiquity, and his dutiful admiration for
everything established by the church and the court, warped his judgment
to an extent which, in our time, seems incredible; and, as there are
probably few persons in England who have read his once famous book, I
will give an outline of its leading views.
[849] During many years it enjoyed great reputation; and there is no
history written in that period respecting which Le Long gives so
many details. See his _Bibliothèque Historique de la France_,
vol. ii. pp. 13, 14. Compare _La Bibliothèque de Leber_, vol. ii.
p. 110, Paris, 1839.
In this great history we are told, that 3464 years after the creation of
the world, and 590 years before the birth of Christ, was the exact
period at which Sigovese, nephew to the king of the Celts, was first
sent into Germany.[850] Those who accompanied him were necessarily
travellers; and as, in the German language, _wandeln_ means _to go_, we
have here the origin of the Vandals.[851] But the antiquity of the
Vandals is far surpassed by that of the French. Jupiter, Pluto, and
Neptune, who are sometimes supposed to be gods, were in reality kings of
Gaul.[852] And, if we look back a little further, it becomes certain
that Gallus, the founder of Gaul, was no other than Noah himself; for in
those days the same man frequently had two names.[853] As to the
subsequent history of the French, it was fully equal to the dignity of
their origin. Alexander the Great, even in all the pride of his
victories, never dared to attack the Scythians, who were a colony sent
from France.[854] It is from these great occupiers of France that there
have proceeded all the gods of Europe, all the fine arts, and all the
sciences.[855] The English themselves are merely a colony of the French,
as must be evident to whoever considers the similarity of the words
Angles and Anjou;[856] and to this fortunate descent the natives of the
British islands are indebted for such bravery and politeness as they
still possess.[857] Several other points are cleared up by this great
critic with equal faculty. The Salian Franks were so called from the
rapidity of their flight;[858] the Bretons were evidently Saxons;[859]
and even the Scotch, about whose independence so much has been said,
were vassals to the kings of France.[860] Indeed, it is impossible to
exaggerate the dignity of the crown of France; it is difficult even to
conceive its splendour. Some have supposed that the emperors are
superior to the kings of France, but this is the mistake of ignorant
men; for an emperor means a mere military ruler, while the title of king
includes all the functions of supreme power.[861] To put the question,
therefore, on its real footing, the great king Louis XIV. is an emperor,
as have been all his predecessors, the illustrious rulers of France, for
fifteen centuries.[862] And it is an undoubted fact, that Antichrist,
about whom so much anxiety is felt, will never be allowed to appear in
the world until the French empire has been destroyed. This, says
Audigier, it would be idle to deny; for it is asserted by many of the
saints, and it is distinctly foreshadowed by St. Paul, in his second
epistle to the Thessalonians.[863]
[850] _Audigier_, _L'Origine des François_, Paris, 1676, vol. i. p. 5.
See also p. 45, where he congratulates himself on being the first
to clear up the history of Sigovese.
[851] _Audigier_, vol. i. p. 7. Other antiquaries have adopted the same
preposterous etymology. See a note in _Kemble's Saxons in
England_, vol. i. p. 41.
[852] 'Or le plus ancien Jupiter, le plus ancien Neptune, et le plus
ancien Pluton, sont ceux de Gaule; ils la divisèrent les premiers
en Celtique, Aquitaine et Belgique, et obtinrent chacun une de
ces parties en partage. Jupiter, qu'on fait régner au ciel, eut
la Celtique.... Neptune, qu'on fait régner sur les eaux, et sur
les mers, eut l'Aquitaine, qui n'est appelée de la sorte qu'à
cause de l'abondance de ses eaux, et de la situation sur
l'océan.' _Audigier_, _L'Origine des François_, vol. i. pp. 223,
224.
[853] See his argument, vol. i. pp. 216, 217, beginning, 'le nom de Noé,
que portèrent les Galates, est Gallus;' and compare vol. ii. p.
109, where he expresses surprise that so little should have been
done by previous writers towards establishing this obvious origin
of the French.
[854] _Audigier_, vol. i. pp. 196, 197, 255, 256.
[855] 'Voilà donc les anciennes divinitez d'Europe, originaires de
Gaule, aussi bien que les beaux arts et les hautes sciences.'
_Audigier_, vol. i. p. 234.
[856] _Ibid._ vol. i. pp. 73, 74. He sums up, 'c'en est assez pour
relever l'Anjou, à qui cette gloire appartient légitimement.'
[857] Vol. i. pp. 265, 266.
[858] Vol. i. p. 149.
[859] Vol. ii. pp. 179, 180.
[860] Vol. ii. p. 269.
[861] Vol. ii. p. 124.
[862] Vol. ii. pp. 451-454.
[863] 'A quoy nous pourrions joindre un autre monument fort authentique,
c'est le résultat de certains pères, et de certains docteurs de
l'église, qui tiennent que l'Ante-christ ne viendra point au
monde qu'après la dissection, c'est-à-dire après la dissipation
de nostre empire. Leur fondement est dans la seconde épistre de
saint Paul aux Thessaloniciens.' _Audigier_, vol. ii. p. 462.
Strange as all this appears, there was nothing in it to revolt the
enlightened age of Louis XIV. Indeed, the French, dazzled by the
brilliancy of their prince, must have felt great interest in learning
how superior he was to all other potentates, and how he had not only
been preceded by a long line of emperors, but was in fact an emperor
himself. They must have been struck with awe at the information
communicated by Audigier respecting the arrival of Antichrist, and the
connexion between that important event and the fate of the French
monarchy. They must have listened with pious wonder to the illustration
of these matters from the writings of the fathers, and from the epistle
to the Thessalonians. All this they would easily receive; because to
worship the king, and venerate the church, were the two cardinal maxims
of that age. To obey, and to believe, were the fundamental ideas of a
period, in which the fine arts did for a time flourish,--in which the
perception of beauty, though too fastidious, was undoubtedly keen,--in
which taste and the imagination, in its lower departments, were
zealously cultivated,--but in which, on the other hand, originality and
independence of thought were extinguished, the greatest and the largest
topics were forbidden to be discussed, the sciences were almost
deserted, reforms and innovations were hated, new opinions were
despised, and their authors punished, until at length, the exuberance of
genius being tamed into sterility, the national intellect was reduced to
that dull and monotonous level which characterizes the last twenty years
of the reign of Louis XIV.
In no instance can we find a better example of this reactionary
movement, than in the case of Bossuet, bishop of Meaux. The success, and
indeed the mere existence, of his work on Universal History, becomes,
from this point of view, highly instructive. Considered by itself, the
book is a painful exhibition of a great genius cramped by a
superstitious age. But considered in reference to the time in which it
appeared, it is invaluable as a symptom of the French intellect; since
it proves, that towards the end of the seventeenth century, one of the
most eminent men, in one of the first countries of Europe, could
willingly submit to a prostration of judgment, and could display a blind
credulity, of which, in our day, even the feeblest minds would be
ashamed; and that this, so far from causing scandal, or bringing a
rebuke on the head of the author, was received with universal and
unqualified applause. Bossuet was a great orator, a consummate
dialectician, and an accomplished master of those vague sublimities by
which most men are easily affected. All these qualities he, a few years
later, employed in the production of what is probably the most
formidable work ever directed against Protestantism.[864] But when he,
leaving these matters, entered the vast field of history, he could
think of no better way of treating his new subject, than by following
the arbitrary rules peculiar to his own profession.[865] His work is an
audacious attempt to degrade history to a mere handmaid of
theology.[866] As if, on such matters, doubt were synonymous with crime,
he, without the slightest hesitation, takes everything for granted which
the church had been accustomed to believe. This enables him to speak
with perfect confidence respecting events which are lost in the remotest
antiquity. He knows the exact number of years which have elapsed since
the moment when Cain murdered his brother; when the deluge overwhelmed
the world; and when Abraham was summoned to his mission.[867] The dates
of these, and similar occurrences, he fixes with a precision, which
might almost make us believe that they had taken place in his own time,
if not under his own eyes.[868] It is true, that the Hebrew books on
which he willingly relied, supply no evidence of the slightest value
concerning the chronology even of their own people; while the
information they contain respecting other countries is notoriously
meagre and unsatisfactory.[869] But so narrow were the views of Bossuet
upon history, that with all this he, in his own opinion, had no concern.
The text of the Vulgate declared, that these things had happened at a
particular time; and a number of holy men, calling themselves the
council of the church, had, in the middle of the sixteenth century,
pronounced the Vulgate to be authentic, and had taken upon themselves to
place it above all other versions.[870] This theological opinion was
accepted by Bossuet as an historical law; and thus the decision of a
handful of cardinals and bishops, in a superstitious and uncritical age,
is the sole authority for that early chronology, the precision of which
is, to an uninformed reader, a matter of great admiration.[871]
[864] This is the opinion of Mr. Hallam respecting Bossuet's History of
the Variations of Protestant Churches. _Const. Hist._ vol. i. p.
486: compare _Lerminier_, _Philos. du Droit_, vol. ii. p. 86.
Attempts have been made by Protestant theologians to retort
against the Catholics the arguments of Bossuet, on the ground
that religious variations are a necessary consequence of the
honest pursuit of religious truth. See _Blanco White's Evidence
against Catholicism_, pp. 109-112; and his _Letters from Spain_,
_by Doblado_, p. 127. With this I fully agree; but it would be
easy to show that the argument is fatal to all ecclesiastical
systems with strictly defined creeds, and, therefore, strikes as
heavily against the Protestant churches as against the Catholic.
Beausobre, in his acute and learned work on Manichæism, seems to
have felt this; and he makes the dangerous admission, 'que si
l'argument de M. de Meaux vaut quelque chose contre la
Réformation, il a la même force contre le Christianisme.' _Hist.
de Manichée_, vol. i. p. 526. On Bossuet as a controversialist,
see _Stäudlin_, _Geschichte der theologischen Wissenschaften_,
vol. ii. pp. 43-45; and for a contemporary opinion of his great
work, see a characteristic passage in _Lettres de Sévigné_,
vol. v. p. 409.
[865] His method is fairly stated by _Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_,
vol. xxv. p. 427.
[866] See, on this attempt of Bossuet's, some good remarks in
_Stäudlin_, _Geschichte der theologischen Wissenschaften_, vol.
ii. p. 198: 'Kirche und Christenthum sind für diesen Bischoff der
Mittelpunct der ganzen Geschichte. Aus diesem Gesichtspuncte
betrachtet er nicht nur die Patriarchen und Propheten, das
Judenthum und die alten Weissagungen, sondern auch die Reiche der
Welt.'
[867] _Bossuet_, _Discours sur l'Histoire Universelle_, pp. 10, 11, 16,
17; see also, at p. 90, a curious specimen of his chronological
calculations.
[868] He says, that if the ordinarily received dates of the Pentateuch
and the Prophets are not true, then the miracles must fall, and
the writings themselves are not inspired. _Hist. Univ._ p. 360.
It would be hard to find, even in the works of Bossuet a more
rash assertion than this.
[869] Indeed the Jews have no consecutive chronology before
Solomon. See _Bunsen's Egypt_, vol. i. pp. viii. xxv. 170, 178,
185, vol. ii. p. 399.
[870] Doing this, as they did everything else, on account, not of
reason, but of dogma; for, as a learned writer says, 'l'Église a
bien distingué certains livres en apocryphes et en orthodoxes;
elle s'est prononcée d'une manière formelle sur le choix des
ouvrages canoniques; néanmoins sa critique n'a jamais été fondée
sur un examen raisonné, mais seulement sur la question de savoir
si tel ou tel écrit était d'accord avec les dogmes qu'elle
enseignait.' _Maury_, _Légendes Pieuses_, p. 224.
[871] Theologians have always been remarkable for the exactness of their
knowledge on subjects respecting which nothing is known; but none
of them have surpassed the learned Dr. Stukeley. In 1730, this
eminent divine writes: 'But according to the calculations I have
made of this matter, I find God Almighty ordered Noah to get the
creatures into the ark on Sunday the 12th of October, the very
day of the autumnal equinox that year; and on this present day,
on the Sunday se'nnight following (the 19th of October), that
terrible catastrophe began, the moon being past her third
quarter.' _Nichols's Illustrations of the Eighteenth Century_,
vol. ii. p. 792.
In the same way, because Bossuet had been taught that the Jews are the
chosen people of God, he, under the title of Universal History, almost
confines his attention to them, and treats this obstinate and ignorant
race as if they formed the pivot upon which the affairs of the universe
had been made to turn.[872] His idea of an universal history excludes
those nations who were the first to reach civilization, and to some of
whom the Hebrews owed the scanty knowledge which they subsequently
acquired.[873] He says little of the Persians, and less of the
Egyptians; nor does he even mention that far greater people between the
Indus and the Ganges, whose philosophy formed one of the elements of the
school of Alexandria, whose subtle speculations anticipated all the
efforts of European metaphysics, and whose sublime inquiries, conducted
in their own exquisite language, date from a period when the Jews,
stained with every variety of crime, were a plundering and vagabond
tribe, wandering on the face of the earth, raising their hand against
every man and every man raising his hand against them.
[872] 'Premièrement, ces empires ont pour la plupart une liaison
nécessaire avec l'histoire du peuple de Dieu. Dieu s'est servi
des Assyriens et des Babyloniens pour châtier ce peuple; des
Perses pour le rétablir; d'Alexandre et de ses premiers
successeurs pour le protéger; d'Antiochus l'Illustre et de ses
successeurs pour l'exercer; des Romains pour soutenir sa liberté
contre les rois de Syrie, que ne songeaient qu'à le détruire.'
_Bossuet_, _Hist. Univ._ p. 382. Well may M. Lerminier say
(_Philos. du Droit_, vol. ii. p. 87), that Bossuet 'a sacrifié
toutes les nations au peuple juif.'
[873] On the extraordinary and prolonged ignorance of the Jews, even to
the time of the Apostles, see _Mackay's Progress of the
Intellect_, vol. i. pp. 13 seq.; a work of profound learning.
When he enters the more modern period, he allows himself to be governed
by the same theological prejudices. So contracted is his view, that he
considers the whole history of the church as the history of providential
interference; and he takes no notice of the manner in which, contrary to
the original scheme, it has been affected by foreign events.[874] Thus,
for example, the most important fact relating to the early changes in
Christianity, is the extent to which its doctrines have been influenced
by the African form of the Platonic philosophy.[875] But this, Bossuet
never mentions; nor does he even hint that any such thing had occurred.
It suited his views to look upon the church as a perpetual miracle, and
he therefore omits the most important event in its early history.[876]
To descend a little later: every one acquainted with the progress of
civilization will allow, that no small share of it is due to those
gleams of light, which, in the midst of surrounding darkness, shot from
the great centres of Cordova and Bagdad. These, however, were the work
of Mohammedanism; and as Bossuet had been taught that Mohammedanism is a
pestilential heresy, he could not bring himself to believe that
Christian nations had derived anything from so corrupt a source. The
consequence is, that he says nothing of that great religion, the noise
of which has filled the world;[877] and having occasion to mention its
founder, he treats him with scorn, as an impudent impostor, whose
pretensions it is hardly fitting to notice.[878] The great apostle, who
diffused among millions of idolaters the sublime verity of one God, is
spoken of by Bossuet with supreme contempt; because Bossuet, with the
true spirit of his profession, could see nothing to admire in those
whose opinions differed from his own.[879] But when he has occasion to
mention some obscure member of that class to which he himself belonged,
then it is that he scatters his praises with boundless profusion. In his
scheme of universal history, Mohammed is not worthy to play a part. He
is passed by; but the truly great man, the man to whom the human race is
really indebted, is--Martin, bishop of Tours. He it is, says Bossuet,
whose unrivalled actions filled the universe with his fame, both during
his lifetime and after his death.[880] It is true, that not one educated
man in fifty has ever heard the name of Martin, bishop of Tours. But
Martin performed miracles, and the church had made him a saint; his
claims, therefore, to the attention of historians must be far superior
to the claims of one who, like Mohammed, was without these advantages.
Thus it is that, in the opinion of the only eminent writer on history
during the power of Louis XIV., the greatest man Asia has ever produced,
and one of the greatest the world has ever seen, is considered in every
way inferior to a mean and ignorant monk, whose most important
achievement was the erection of a monastery, and who spent the best part
of his life in useless solitude, trembling before the superstitious
fancies of his weak and ignoble nature.[881]
[874] The original scheme of Christianity, as stated by its Great Author
(_Matthew_ x. 6, and xv. 24), was merely to convert the Jews; and
if the doctrines of Christ had never extended beyond that
ignorant people, they could not have received those modifications
which philosophy imposed upon them. The whole of this subject is
admirably discussed in _Mackay's Progress of the Intellect in
Religious Development_, vol. ii. pp. 382 seq.; and on the
'universalism,' first clearly announced 'by the Hellenist
Stephen,' see p. 484. Neander makes a noticeable attempt to evade
the difficulty caused by the changes in Christianity from
'various outward causes:' see his _History of the Church_,
vol. iii. p. 125.
[875] Neander (_Hist. of the Church_, vol. ii. p. 42) even thinks that
Cerinthus whose views are remarkable as being the point where
Gnosticism and Judaism touch each other, borrowed his system from
Alexandria. But this, though not unlikely, seems only to rest on
the authority of Theodoret. On the influence of the Platonism of
Alexandria in developing the idea of the Logos, see _Neander_,
vol. ii. pp. 304, 306-314. Compare _Sharpe's Hist. of Egypt_,
vol. ii. pp. 152 seq.
[876] And having to mention Clemens Alexandrinus, who was more deeply
versed in the philosophy of Alexandria than were any of the other
fathers, Bossuet merely says, p. 98, 'à peu près dans le même
temps, le saint prêtre Clément Alexandrin déterra les antiquités
du paganisme pour le confondre.'
[877] About the time that Bossuet wrote, a very learned writer
calculated that the area of the countries which professed
Mohammedanism, exceeded, by one fifth, those where Christianity
was believed. See _Brerewood's Inquiries touching the Diversity
of Languages and Religions_, Lond. 1674, pp. 144, 145. The
estimate of Southey (_Vindiciæ Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ_, London, 1826,
p. 48), is very vague; but it is much easier to judge of the
extent of Mohammedan countries than of the extent of their
population. On this latter point we have the most conflicting
statements. In the nineteenth century, there are, according to
Sharon Turner (_Hist. of England_, vol. iii. p. 485, edit. 1839),
eighty million Mohammedans; according to Dr. Elliotson (_Human
Physiology_, p. 1055, edit. 1840), more than a hundred and
twenty-two million; while, according to Mr. Wilkin (note in _Sir
Thomas Browne's Works_, vol. ii. p. 37, edit. 1835), there are a
hundred and eighty-eight million.
[878] 'Le faux prophète donna ses victoires pour toute marque de sa
mission.' _Bossuet_, p. 125.
[879] The greatest Mohammedan writers have always expressed ideas
regarding the Deity more lofty than those possessed by the
majority of Christians. The Koran contains noble passages on the
oneness of God; and for the views of their ordinary theologians,
I may refer to an interesting Mohammedan sermon, in _Transactions
of the Bombay Society_, vol. i. pp. 146-158. See also, in vol.
iii. pp. 398-448, an Essay by Vans Kennedy; and compare a
remarkable passage, considering the quarter from which it comes,
in _Autobiography of the Emperor Jehangueir_, p. 44. Those who
are so thoughtless as to believe that Mohammed was a hypocrite,
had better study the admirable remarks of M. Comte (_Philos.
Pos._ vol. v. pp. 76, 77), who truly says, 'qu'un homme vraiment
supérieur n'a jamais pu exercer aucune grande action sur ses
semblables sans être d'abord lui-même intimement convaincu.'
[880] 'Saint Martin fut fait évêque de Tours, et remplit tout l'univers
du bruit de sa sainteté et de ses miracles, durant sa vie, et
après sa mort.' _Bossuet_, _Hist. Univ._ p. 111.
[881] The Benedictines have written the life of Martin in their _Hist.
Lit. de la France_, vol. i. part ii. pp. 413-417, Paris, 1733,
4to. They say that he erected the first monastery in Gaul:
'Martin, toujours passionné pour la solitude, érigea un monastère
qui fut le premier que l'on eût encore vû dans les Gaules,' p.
414. At p. 415, they make the unnecessary admission, that the
saint 'n'avoit point étudié les sciences profanes.' I may add,
that the miracles of Martin are related by Fleury, who evidently
believes that they were really performed. _Fleury_, _Hist.
Ecclésiastique_, livre xvi. no. 31, vol. iv. pp. 215-217, Paris,
1758, 12mo. Neander, having the advantage of living a hundred
years later than Fleury, is content to say, 'the veneration of
his period denominated him a worker of miracles.' _Hist. of the
Church_, vol. iv. p. 494. There is a characteristic anecdote of
him, from Sulpitius Severus, in _Mosheim's Eccles. Hist._ vol. i.
p. 123.
Such was the narrow spirit with which the great facts of history were
contemplated by a writer, who, when he was confined to his own
department, displayed the most towering genius. This contracted view was
the inevitable consequence of his attempt to explain the complicated
movements of the human race by principles which he had generalized from
his own inferior studies.[882] Nor need any one be offended, that, from
a scientific point of view, I assign to the pursuits of Bossuet a rank
lower than that in which they are sometimes placed. It is certain that
religious dogmas do, in many cases, influence the affairs of men. But it
is equally certain, that as civilization advances, such influence
decreases, and that even when the power of those dogmas was at its
height, there were many other motives by which the actions of mankind
were also governed. And since the study of history is the study of the
aggregate of these motives, it is evident that history must be superior
to theology; just as the whole is superior to a part. A neglect of this
simple consideration has, with a few eminent exceptions, led all
ecclesiastical authors into serious errors. It has induced in them a
disposition to disregard the immense variety of external events, and to
suppose that the course of affairs is regulated by some principles which
theology alone can detect. This, indeed, is only the result of a general
law of the mind, by which those who have any favourite profession, are
apt to exaggerate its capacity; to explain events by its maxims, and as
it were, to refract through its medium the occurrences of life.[883]
Among theologians, however, such prejudices are more dangerous than in
any other profession, because among them alone are they fortified by
that bold assumption of supernatural authority on which many of the
clergy willingly rely.
[882] At pp. 479, 480, Bossuet gives a sort of summary of his historical
principles; and if they are true, history is evidently impossible
to be written. On this account, though fully recognizing the
genius of Bossuet, I cannot agree with the remarks made upon him
by M. Comte, _Philos. Pos._ vol. iv. p. 280, vol. vi. pp. 316,
317.
[883] And then, as M. Charles Comte well says, they call this prejudice
their moral sense, or their moral instinct. _Comte_, _Traité de
Législation_, vol. i. p. 116.
These professional prejudices, when supported by theological dogmas, in
a reign like that of Louis XIV.,[884] are sufficient to account for the
peculiarities which mark the historical work of Bossuet. Besides this,
in his case, the general tendency was aggravated by personal
characteristics. His mind was remarkable for a haughtiness, which we
find constantly breaking out into a general contempt for mankind.[885]
At the same time his amazing eloquence, and the effects which it never
failed to produce, seemed to justify the overweening confidence that he
felt in his own powers. There is, indeed, in some of his greatest
efforts, so much of the fire and majesty of genius, that we are reminded
of those lofty and burning words with which the prophets of antiquity
thrilled their hearers. Bossuet, thus standing, as he supposed, on an
eminence which raised him above the ordinary weaknesses of men, loved to
taunt them with their follies, and to deride every aspiration of their
genius. Every thing like intellectual boldness seemed to gall his own
superiority.[886] It was this boundless arrogance with which he was
filled, which gives to his works some of their most marked
peculiarities. It was this, that made him strain every nerve to abase
and vilify those prodigious resources of the human understanding, which
are often despised by men who are ignorant of them; but which in reality
are so great, that no one has yet arisen able to scan them in the whole
of their gigantic dimensions. It was this same contempt for the human
intellect, that made him deny its capacity to work out for itself the
epochs through which it has passed; and, consequently, made him recur to
the dogma of supernatural interference. It was this, again, that, in
those magnificent orations which are among the greatest wonders of
modern art, caused him to exhaust the language of eulogy, not upon
intellectual eminence, but upon mere military achievements, upon great
conquerors, those pests and destroyers of men, who pass their lives in
discovering new ways of slaying their enemies, and in devising new means
of aggravating the miseries of the world. And, to descend still lower,
it was this same contempt for the dearest interests of mankind, which
made him look with reverence upon a king, who considered all those
interests as nothing; but who had the merit of enslaving the mind of
France, and of increasing the power of that body of men, among whom
Bossuet himself was the most distinguished.
[884] The connection between the opinions of Bossuet and the despotism
of Louis XIV. is touched on by Montlosier, who, however, has
probably laid too much stress on the influence which the civil
law exercised over both. _Montlosier_, _Monarchie Française_,
vol. ii. p. 90.
[885] He belonged to a class of historians, described by a celebrated
writer in a single sentence: 'dans leurs écrits l'auteur paraît
souvent grand, mais l'humanité est toujours petite.'
_Tocqueville_, _Démocratie_, vol. iv. p. 139.
[886] Hardly any one acquainted with the writings and the history of
Bossuet will require evidence of his singular arrogance. But the
reader may consult _Sismondi_, _Hist. des Franç._ vol. xxvi. p.
247; and on his treatment of Fénelon, which was the most shameful
transaction of his life, compare _Burnet's Own Time_, vol. iv. p.
384, with _Capefigue's Louis XIV_, vol. ii. p. 58; where there is
printed one of the many epigrams to which the conduct of Bossuet
gave rise.
In the absence of sufficient evidence respecting the general state of
the French at the end of the seventeenth century, it is impossible to
ascertain to what extent such notions as these had penetrated the
popular mind. But, looking at the manner in which government had broken
the spirit of the country, I should be inclined to suppose that the
opinions of Bossuet were very acceptable to his own generation. This,
however, is a question rather of curiosity than of importance; for only
a few years later there appeared the first symptoms of that
unprecedented movement, which not merely destroyed the political
institutions of France, but effected a greater and more permanent
revolution in every department of the national intellect. At the death
of Louis XIV., in literature, as well as in politics, in religion, and
in morals, everything was ripe for reaction. The materials still
existing are so ample, that it would be possible to trace with
considerable minuteness the steps of this great process; but it will, I
think, be more agreeable to the general scheme of this Introduction, if
I pass over some of the intermediate links, and confine myself to those
salient instances in which the spirit of the age is most strikingly
portrayed.
There is, indeed, something extraordinary in the change which, in
France, one generation was able to effect in the method of writing
history. The best way, perhaps, to form an idea of this, will be to
compare the works of Voltaire with those of Bossuet; because these
great authors were probably the most able, and were certainly the most
influential, Frenchmen during the period they respectively represented.
The first great improvement which we find in Voltaire, as compared with
Bossuet, is an increased perception of the dignity of the human
intellect. In addition to the circumstances already noticed, we must
remember that the reading of Bossuet lay in a direction which prevented
him from feeling this. He had not studied those branches of knowledge
where great things have been achieved; but he was very conversant with
the writings of the saints and fathers, whose speculations are by no
means calculated to give us a high opinion of the resources of their own
understanding. Thus accustomed to contemplate the workings of the mind
in what is, on the whole, the most puerile literature Europe has ever
produced, the contempt which Bossuet felt for mankind went on
increasing; until it reached that inordinate degree which, in his later
works, is painfully conspicuous. But Voltaire, who paid no attention to
such things as these, passed his long life in the constant accumulation
of real and available knowledge. His mind was essentially modern.
Despising unsupported authority, and heedless of tradition, he devoted
himself to subjects in which the triumph of the human reason is too
apparent to be mistaken. The more his knowledge advanced, the more he
admired those vast powers by which the knowledge had been created. Hence
his admiration for the intellect of man, so far from diminishing, grew
with his growth; and, just in the same proportion, there was
strengthened his love of humanity, and his dislike to the prejudices
which had long obscured its history. That this, in the march of his
mind, was the course it actually followed, will be evident to any one
who considers the different spirit of his works, in reference to the
different periods of life in which they were produced.
The first historical work of Voltaire was a life of Charles XII., in
1728.[887] At this time his knowledge was still scanty, and he was
still influenced by the servile traditions of the preceding generation.
It is not, therefore, wonderful, that he should express the greatest
respect for Charles, who, among the admirers of military fame, will
always preserve a certain reputation; though his only merits are, that
he ravaged many countries and killed many men. But we find little
sympathy with his unfortunate subjects, the accumulations of whose
industry supported the royal armies;[888] nor is there much pity for
those nations who were oppressed by this great robber in the immense
line of his conquests from Sweden to Turkey. Indeed, the admiration of
Voltaire for Charles is unbounded. He calls him the most extraordinary
man the world had ever seen;[889] he declares him to be a prince full of
honour;[890] and while he scarcely blames his infamous murder of
Patkul,[891] he relates with evident emotion how the royal lunatic, at
the head of forty servants, resisted an entire army.[892] In the same
way, he says, that after the battle of Narva, all the attempts of
Charles were unable to prevent medals from being struck at Stockholm in
celebration of that event;[893] although Voltaire well knew that a man
of such extravagant vanity must have been pleased by so durable a
homage, and although it is quite certain that if he had not been
pleased, the medals would never have been struck: for who would venture,
without an object, to offend, in his own capital, one of the most
arbitrary and revengeful of princes?
[887] He says that he wrote it in 1728. _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_,
vol. xxii. p. 5, but, according to M. Lepan (_Vie de Voltaire_,
p. 382), 'il parut en 1731.' Both statements may be accurate, as
Voltaire frequently kept his works for some time in manuscript.
[888] Sir A. Alison, who certainly cannot be accused of want of respect
for military conquerors, says of Sweden, 'the attempt which
Charles XII. made to engage her in long and arduous wars, so
completely drained the resources of the country, that they did
not recover the loss for half a century.' _Hist. of Europe_, vol.
x. p. 504. See also, on the effects produced by the conscriptions
of Charles XII., _Laing's Sweden_, p. 59; _Koch_, _Tableau des
Révolutions_, vol. ii. p. 63; and above all, a curious passage in
_Duclos_, _Mém. Secrets_, vol. i. p. 448. Several of the soldiers
of Charles XII. who were taken prisoners, were sent into Siberia,
where Bell fell in with them early in the eighteenth century.
_Bell's Travels in Asia_, edit. Edinb. 1788, vol. i. pp. 223-224.
[889] 'Charles XII, l'homme le plus extraordinaire peut-être qui ait
jamais été sur la terre, qui a réuni en lui toutes les grandes
qualités de ses aïeux, et qui n'a eu d'autre défaut ni d'autre
malheur que de les avoir toutes outrées.' _Hist. de Charles XII_,
livre i., in _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. xxii. p. 30.
[890] 'Plein d'honneur.' _Ibid._ in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xxii. p. 63.
[891] Which Burke, not without justice, compares to the murder of
Monaldeschi by Christina. _Burke's Works_, vol. i. p. 412. See
some remarks on the murder of Patkul, in _Vattel_, _Droit des
Gens_, vol. i. p. 230; and an account of it, from Swedish
authorities, in _Somers Tracts_, vol. xiii. pp. 879-881. For
Voltaire's version see his _[OE]uvres_, vol. xxii. pp. 136, 137;
which may be contrasted with _Crichton and Wheaton's History of
Scandinavia_, Edinb. 1838, vol. ii. p. 127.
[892] _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. xxii. pp. 250-260. It may interest
some persons to hear, that the litter in which this madman 'was
borne from the battle of Pultava' is still preserved at Moscow.
_Kohl's Russia_, p. 220. It was also seen by M. Custine.
_Custine's Russia_, vol. iii. p. 263.
[893] 'Sa modestie ne put empêcher qu'on ne frappât à Stockholm
plusieurs médailles pour perpétuer la mémoire de ces événements.'
_Charles XII_, livre ii., in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xxii. p. 70.
So far, it might appear that little had been gained in the method of
writing history.[894] But, even thus early, we find one vast
improvement. In Voltaire's Life of Charles XII., faulty as it is, there
are none of those assumptions of supernatural interference in which
Bossuet delighted, and which were natural to the reign of Louis XIV. The
absence of this marks the first great stage in the French school of
history in the eighteenth century; and we find the same peculiarity in
all the subsequent historians, none of whom recurred to a method, which,
though suitable for the purposes of theologians, is fatal to all
independent inquiries, since it not only prescribes the course the
inquirer is bound to take, but actually sets up a limit beyond which he
is forbidden to proceed.
[894] Even some of its geographical details are said to be inaccurate.
Compare _Villemain_, _Littérature au XVIII^e Siècle_, vol. ii. p.
33, with _Kohl's Russia_, p. 505. However, as M. Villemain says,
this must always be the case, when writers, who only know a
country from maps, attempt to enter into details respecting
military geography. In regard to style, it cannot be too highly
praised; and a well-known critic, Lacratelle, calls it 'le modèle
le plus accompli de narration qui existe dans notre langue.'
_Lacretelle_, _Dix-huitième Siècle_, vol. ii. p. 42. In 1843 it
was still used as a text book in the French royal colleges. See
_Report on Education in France_, in _Journal of Stat. Soc._ vol.
vi. p. 308. Further information respecting this work may be found
in _Longchamp et Wagnière_, _Mém. sur Voltaire_, vol. ii. p. 494;
and in _Mém. de Genlis_, vol. viii. p. 224, vol. x. p. 304.
That Voltaire should have infringed upon this ancient method only
thirteen years after the death of Louis XIV., and that he should have
done this in a popular work, abounding with such dangerous adventures as
are always found to tempt the mind to an opposite course, is a step of
no common merit, and becomes still more worthy of remark, if taken in
connexion with another fact of considerable interest. This is, that the
life of Charles XII. represents the first epoch, not only in the
eighteenth century, but also in the intellect of Voltaire himself.[895]
After it was published, this great man turned awhile from history, and
directed his attention to some of the noblest subjects: to mathematics,
to physics, to jurisprudence, to the discoveries of Newton, and to the
speculations of Locke. In these things he perceived those capabilities
of the human mind, which his own country had formerly witnessed, but of
which during the authority of Louis XIV. the memory had been almost
lost. Then it was that, with extended knowledge and sharpened intellect,
he returned to the great field of history.[896] The manner in which he
now treated his old subject, showed the change that had come over him.
In 1752, appeared his celebrated work on Louis XIV.,[897] the very title
of which is suggestive of the process through which his mind had passed.
His former history was an account of a king; this is an account of an
age. To the production of his youth he gave the title of a _History of
Charles XII._; this he called the _Age of Louis XIV._ Before, he had
detailed the peculiarities of a prince; now, he considered the movements
of a people. Indeed, in the introduction to the work, he announces his
intention to describe, 'not the actions of a single man, but the
character of men.'[898] Nor, in this point of view, is the execution
inferior to the design. While he is contented with giving a summary of
military achievements, on which Bossuet hung with delight, he enters at
great length into those really important matters which, before his time,
found no place in the history of France. He has one chapter on commerce
and internal government;[899] another chapter on finances;[900] another
on the history of science;[901] and three chapters on the progress of
the fine arts.[902] And though Voltaire did not attach much value to
theological disputes, still he knew that they have often played a great
part in the affairs of men; he therefore gives several distinct
chapters to a relation of ecclesiastical matters during the reign of
Louis.[903] It is hardly necessary to observe the immense superiority
which a scheme like this possessed, not only over the narrow views of
Bossuet, but even over his own earlier history. Still it cannot be
denied, that we find in it prejudices from which it was difficult for a
Frenchman, educated in the reign of Louis XIV., to be entirely free. Not
only does Voltaire dwell at needless length upon those amusements and
debaucheries of Louis, with which history can have little concern, but
he displays an evident disposition to favour the king himself, and to
protect his name from the infamy with which it ought to be covered.[904]
[895] It is evident, from Voltaire's correspondence, that he afterwards
became somewhat ashamed of the praises he had bestowed on Charles
XII. In 1735, he writes to De Formont, 'si Charles XII n'avait
pas été excessivement grand, malheureux, et fou, je me serais
bien donné de garde de parler de lui.' _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_,
vol. lvi. p. 462. In 1758, advancing still further, he says of
Charles, 'voilà, monsieur, ce que les hommes de tous les temps et
de tous les pays appellent un héros; mais c'est le vulgaire de
tous les temps et de tous les pays qui donne ce nom à la soif du
carnage.' _Ibid._ vol. lx. p. 411. In 1759, he writes, that he
was then engaged on the history of Peter the Great: 'mais je
doute que cela soit aussi amusant que la vie de Charles XII; car
ce Pierre n'était qu'un sage extraordinaire, et Charles un fou
extraordinaire, qui se battait, comme Don Quichotte, contre des
moulins à vent.' Vol. lxi. p. 23: see also p. 350. These passages
prove the constant progress Voltaire was making in his conception
of what history ought to be, and what its uses were.
[896] In 1741, he mentions his increasing love of history. _Corresp._ in
_[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. li. p. 96.
[897] Lord Brougham, in his life of Voltaire, says that it appeared in
1751. _Lives of Men of Letters_, vol. i p. 106. But 1752 is the
date given in _Biog. Univ._ xlix. 478; in _Quérard_, _France
Lit._ vol. x. p. 355; and in _Lepan_, _Vie de Voltaire_, p. 382.
[898] 'On veut essayer de peindre à la postérité, non les actions d'un
seul homme, mais l'esprit des hommes dans le siècle le plus
éclairé qui fut jamais.' _Siècle de Louis XIV_, in _[OE]uvres de
Voltaire_, vol. xix. p. 213. And in his correspondence respecting
his work on Louis XIV., he carefully makes the same distinction.
See vol. lvi. pp. 453, 488, 489, 500, vol. lvii. pp. 337,
342-344, vol. lix. p. 103.
[899] Chap. xxix., in _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. xx. pp. 234-267.
[900] Chap. xxx., in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xx. pp. 267-291. This chapter is
praised in _Sinclair's History of the Public Revenue_, vol. iii.
appendix, p. 77; an indifferent work, but the best we have on the
important subject to which it refers.
[901] Chap. xxxi., in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xx. pp. 291-299; necessarily a
very short chapter, because of the paucity of materials.
[902] Chapters xxxii. to xxxiv., in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xx. pp. 299-338.
[903] _[OE]uvres_, vol. xx. pp. 338-464.
[904] This disposition to favour Louis XIV. is noticed by Condorcet, who
says it was the only early prejudice which Voltaire was unable to
shake off: 'c'est le seul préjugé de sa jeunesse qu'il ait
conservé.' _Condorcet_, _Vie de Voltaire_, in _[OE]uvres de
Voltaire_, vol. i. p. 286. See also, on this defect, _Grimm et
Diderot_, _Corresp. Lit._ vol. ii. p. 182; _Lemontey_,
_Etablissement Monarchique_, pp. 451, 452; _Mém. de Brissot_,
vol. ii. pp. 88, 89. It is interesting to observe, that
Voltaire's earlier opinions were still more favourable to Louis
XIV. than those which he afterwards expressed in his history. See
a letter which he wrote in 1740 to Lord Harvey, printed in
_[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. lviii. pp. 57-63.
But the next work of Voltaire showed that this was a mere personal
feeling, and did not affect his general views as to the part which the
acts of princes ought to occupy in history. Four years after the
appearance of the _Age of Louis XIV._, he published his important
treatise on the _Morals, Manners, and Character of Nations_.[905] This
is not only one of the greatest books which appeared during the
eighteenth century, but it still remains the best on the subject to
which it refers. The mere reading it displays is immense;[906] what,
however, is far more admirable, is the skill with which the author
connects the various facts, and makes them illustrate each other,
sometimes by a single remark, sometimes only by the order and position
in which they are placed. Indeed, considered solely as a work of art, it
would be difficult to praise it too highly; while, as a symptom of the
times, it is important to observe, that it contains no traces of that
adulation of royalty which characterized Voltaire in the period of his
youth, and which is found in all the best writers during the power of
Louis XIV. In the whole of this long and important work, the great
historian takes little notice of the intrigues of courts, or of the
changes of ministers, or of the fate of kings; but he endeavours to
discover and develop the different epochs through which Man has
successively passed. 'I wish,' he says, 'to write a history, not of
wars, but of society; and to ascertain how men lived in the interior of
their families, and what were the arts which they commonly
cultivated.'[907] For, he adds, 'my object is the history of the human
mind, and not a mere detail of petty facts; nor am I concerned with the
history of great lords, who made war upon French kings; but I want to
know what were the steps by which men passed from barbarism to
civilization.'[908]
[905] Mr. Burton, in his interesting work, _Life and Correspondence of
Hume_, vol. ii. p. 129, says it was 'first published in 1756;'
and the same date is given by Quérard (_France Littéraire_, vol.
x. p. 359), who is a very accurate bibliographer; so that
Condorcet (_Vie de Voltaire_, p. 199) and Lord Brougham (_Men of
Letters_, vol. i. p. 98) are probably in error in assigning it to
1757. In regard to its title, I translate 'M[oe]urs' as 'morals
and manners;' for M. Tocqueville uses 'm[oe]urs' as equivalent to
the Latin word 'mores.' _Tocqueville_, _Démocratie en Amérique_,
vol. iii. pp. 50, 84.
[906] Superficial writers are so much in the habit of calling Voltaire
superficial, that it may be well to observe, that his accuracy
has been praised, not only by his own countrymen, but by several
English authors of admitted learning. For three remarkable
instances of this, from men whom no one will accuse of leaning
towards his other opinions, see _notes to Charles V._, in
_Robertson's Works_, pp. 431, 432; _Barrington's Observations on
the Statutes_, p. 293; and _Warton's History of English Poetry_,
vol. i. p. xvi. Even Sir W. Jones, in his preface to the _Life of
Nader Shah_, says, that Voltaire is 'the best historian' the
French have produced. _Works of Sir William Jones_, vol. v. p.
542; and compare the preface to his _Persian Grammar_, in
_Works_, vol. ii. p. 123.
[907] 'Je voudrais découvrir quelle était alors la société des hommes,
comment on vivait dans l'intérieur des familles, quels arts
étaient cultivés, plutôt que de répéter tant de malheurs et tant
de combats, funestes objets de l'histoire, et lieux communs de la
méchanceté humaine.' _Essai sur les M[oe]urs_, chap. lxxxi., in
_[OE]uvres_, vol. xvi. p. 381.
[908] 'L'objet était l'histoire de l'esprit humain, et non pas le détail
des faits presque toujours défigurés; il ne s'agissait pas de
rechercher, par exemple, de quelle famille était le seigneur de
Puiset, ou le seigneur de Montlheri, qui firent la guerre à des
rois de France; mais de voir par quels degrés on est parvenu de
la rusticité barbare de ces temps à la politesse du nôtre.'
Supplement to _Essai sur les M[oe]urs_, in _[OE]uvres_, vol.
xviii. p. 435. Compare _Fragments sur l'Histoire_, vol. xxvii. p.
214, with two letters in vol. lx. pp. 153, 154, vol. lxv. p. 370.
It was in this way that Voltaire taught historians to concentrate their
attention on matters of real importance, and to neglect those idle
details with which history had formerly been filled. But what proves
this to be a movement arising as much from the spirit of the age as from
the individual author, is, that we find precisely the same tendency in
the works of Montesquieu and Turgot, who were certainly the two most
eminent of the contemporaries of Voltaire; and both of whom followed a
method similar to his, in so far as, omitting descriptions of kings,
courts, and battles, they confined themselves to points which illustrate
the character of mankind, and the general march of civilization. And
such was the popularity of this change in the old routine, that its
influence was felt by other historians of inferior, but still of
considerable, ability. In 1755, Mallet[909] published his interesting,
and, at the time it was written, most valuable work, on the history of
Denmark;[910] in which he professes himself a pupil of the new school.
'For why,' he says, 'should history be only a recital of battles,
sieges, intrigues, and negotiations? And why should it contain merely a
heap of petty facts and dates, rather than a great picture of the
opinions, customs, and even inclinations of a people?'[911] Thus too, in
1765, Mably published the first part of his celebrated work on the
history of France;[912] in the preface to which, he complains that
historians 'have neglected the origin of laws and customs, in favour of
sieges and battles.'[913] In the same spirit, Velly and Villaret, in
their voluminous history of France, express regret that historians
should usually relate what happens to the sovereign, in preference to
what happens to the people, and should omit the manners and
characteristics of a nation, in order to study the acts of a single
man.[914] Duclos, again, announces that his history is not of war, nor
of politics, but of men and manners:[915] while, strange to say, even
the courtly Hénault declares that his object was to describe laws and
manners, which he calls the soul of history, or rather history
itself.[916]
[909] Mallet, though born in Geneva, was a Frenchman in the habits of
his mind: he wrote in French, and is classed among French
historians, in the report presented to Napoleon by the Institut.
_Dacier_, _Rapport sur les Progrès de l'Histoire_, p. 173.
[910] Göthe, in his Autobiography, mentions his obligations to this
work, which, I suspect, exercised considerable influence over the
early associations of his mind: 'Ich hatte die Fabeln der Edda
schon längst aus der Vorrede zu Mallet's Dänischer Geschichte
kennen gelernt, und mich derselben sogleich bemächtigt; sie
gehörten unter diejenigen Mährchen, die ich, von einer
Gesellschaft aufgefordert, am liebsten erzählte.' _Wahrheit u.
Dichtung_, in _Goethe's Werke_, vol. ii. part ii. p. 169. Percy,
a very fair judge, thought highly of Mallet's history, part of
which, indeed, he translated. See a letter from him, in
_Nichols's Illustrations of the Eighteenth Century_, vol. vii.
p. 719.
[911] _Mallet's Northern Antiquities_, edit. Blackell, 1847, p. 78.
[912] The first two volumes were published in 1765; the other two in
1790. _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxvi. pp. 9, 12.
[913] _Mably_, _Observ. sur l'Hist. de France_, vol. i. p. ii.; and
compare vol. iii. p. 289: but this latter passage was written
several years later.
[914] 'Bornés à nous apprendre les victoires ou les défaites du
souverain, ils ne nous disent rien ou presque rien des peuples
qu'il a rendus heureux ou malheureux. On ne trouve dans leurs
écrits que longues descriptions de sièges et de batailles; nulle
mention des m[oe]urs et de l'esprit de la nation. Elle y est
presque toujours sacrifiée à un seul homme.' _Histoire de France
par Velly_, Paris, 1770, 4to, vol. i. p. 6; and see, to the same
effect, the _Continuation by Villaret_, vol. v. p. vi.
[915] 'Si l'histoire que j'écris n'est ni militaire, ni politique, ni
économique, du moins dans le sens que je conçois pour ces
différentes parties, on me demandera quelle est donc celle que je
me propose d'écrire. C'est l'histoire des hommes et des
m[oe]urs.' _Duclos_, _Louis XIV et Louis XV_, vol. i. p. xxv.
[916] 'Je voulois connoître nos loix, nos m[oe]urs, et tout ce qui est
l'âme de l'histoire, ou plutôt l'histoire même.' _Hénault_,
_Nouvel Abrégé chronologique de l'Histoire de France_, edit.
Paris, 1775, vol. i. p. i.
Thus it was, that historians began to shift, as it were, the scene of
their labours, and to study subjects connected with those popular
interests, on which the great writers under Louis XIV. disdained to
waste a thought. I need hardly observe, how agreeable such views were
to the general spirit of the eighteenth century, and how well they
harmonized with the temper of men who were striving to lay aside their
former prejudices, and despise what had once been universally admired.
All this was but part of that vast movement, which prepared the way for
the Revolution, by unsettling ancient opinions, by encouraging a certain
mobility and restlessness of mind, and, above all, by the disrespect it
showed for those powerful individuals, hitherto regarded as gods rather
than as men, but who now, for the first time, were neglected by the
greatest and most popular historians, who passed over even their
prominent actions, in order to dwell upon the welfare of nations, and
the interests of the people at large.
To return, however, to what was actually effected by Voltaire, there is
no doubt that, in his case, this tendency of the time was strengthened
by a natural comprehensiveness of mind, which predisposed him to large
views, and made him dissatisfied with that narrow range to which history
had been hitherto confined.[917] Whatever may be thought of the other
qualities of Voltaire, it must be allowed that, in his intellect,
everything was on a great scale.[918] Always prepared for thought, and
always ready to generalize, he was averse to the study of individual
actions, unless they could be made available for the establishment of
some broad and permanent principle. Hence his habit of looking at
history with a view to the stages through which the country had passed,
rather than with a view to the character of the men by whom the country
had been governed. The same tendency appears in his lighter works; and
it has been well observed,[919] that, even in his dramas, he endeavours
to portray, not so much the passions of individuals, as the spirit of
epochs. In _Mahomet_, his subject is a great religion; in _Alzire_, the
conquest of America; in _Brutus_, the formation of the Roman power; in
the _Death of Cæsar_, the rise of the empire upon the ruins of that
power.[920]
[917] In 1763, he writes to D'Argental: 'il y a environ douze batailles
dont je n'ai point parlé, Dieu merci, parceque j'écris l'histoire
de l'esprit humain, et non une gazette.' _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_,
vol. lxiii. p. 51. See also his letter to Tabareau (_Lettres
inédites de Voltaire_, vol. ii. p. 585): 'Personne ne lit les
détails des combats et des sièges; rien n'est plus ennuyeux que
la droite et la gauche, les bastions et la contrescarpe.'
[918] M. Lamartine characterizes him as 'ce génie non pas le plus haut,
mais le plus vaste de la France.' _Hist. des Girondins_, vol. i.
p. 180.
[919] _Biog. Univ._ vol. xlix. p. 493. His _Orphelin de la Chine_ is
taken from Chinese sources: see _Davis's China_, vol. ii. p. 258.
[920] The surprising versatility of Voltaire's mind is shown by the
fact, unparalleled in literature, that he was equally great as a
dramatic writer and as an historian. Mr. Forster, in his
admirable _Life of Goldsmith_, 1854, says (vol. i. p. 119),
'Gray's high opinion of Voltaire's tragedies is shared by one of
our greatest authorities on such a matter now living, Sir Edward
Bulwer Lytton, whom I have often heard maintain the marked
superiority of Voltaire over all his countrymen in the knowledge
of dramatic art, and the power of producing theatrical effects.'
Compare _Correspondence of Gray and Mason_, edit. Mitford, 1855,
p. 44.
By this determination to look upon the course of events as a great and
connected whole, Voltaire was led to several results, which have been
complacently adopted by many authors, who, even while using them, revile
him from whom they were taken. He was the first historian who, rejecting
the ordinary method of investigation, endeavoured, by large general
views, to explain the origin of feudality; and, by indicating some of
the causes of its decline in the fourteenth century,[921] he laid the
foundation for a philosophic estimate of that important
institution.[922] He was the author of a profound remark, afterwards
adopted by Constant, to the effect, that licentious religious
ceremonies have no connexion with licentious national morals.[923]
Another observation of his, which has been only partly used by writers
on ecclesiastical history, is pregnant with instruction. He says, that
one of the reasons why the bishops of Rome acquired an authority so
superior to that of the eastern patriarchs, was the greater subtlety of
the Greek mind. Nearly all the heresies proceeded from the east; and,
with the exception of Honorius I., not a single pope adopted a system
condemned by the church. This gave to the papal power an unity and
consolidation, which the patriarchal power was unable to reach; and thus
the Holy See owes part of its authority to the early dulness of the
European fancy.[924]
[921] _Essai sur les M[oe]urs_, chap. lxxxv., in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xvi.
p. 412, and elsewhere.
[922] During the eighteenth century, and, I may say, until the
publication in 1818 of Hallam's Middle Ages, there was in the
English language no comprehensive account of the feudal system;
unless, perhaps, we except that given by Robertson, who in this,
as in many other matters of history, was a pupil of Voltaire. Not
only Dalrymple, and writers of his kind, but even Blackstone,
took so narrow a view of this great institution, that they were
unable to connect it with the general state of society to which
it belonged. Some of our historians gravely traced it back to
Moses, in whose laws they found the origin of allodial lands. See
a charming passage in _Barry's History of the Orkney Islands_, p.
219. On the spirit of feudality, there are some remarks well
worth reading in _Comtés Philos. Posit._ vol. v. pp. 393-413.
[923] Constant, in his work on Roman polytheism, says, 'des rites
indécens peuvent être pratiqués par un peuple religieux avec une
grande pureté de c[oe]ur. Mais quand l'incrédulité atteint ces
peuples, ces rites sont pour lui la cause et le prétexte de la
plus révoltante corruption.' This passage is quoted by Mr.
Milman, who calls it 'extremely profound and just.' _Milman's
History of Christianity_, 1840, vol. i. p. 28. And so it
is--extremely profound and just. But it happens that precisely
the same remark was made by Voltaire, just about the time that
Constant was born. Speaking of the worship of Priapus, he says
(_Essai sur les M[oe]urs_, chap. cxliii. in _[OE]uvres de
Voltaire_, vol. xvii. p. 341), 'nos idées de bienséance nous
portent à croire qu'un cérémonie qui nous paraît si infâme n'a
été inventée que par la débauche; mais il n'est guère croyable
que la dépravation des m[oe]urs ait jamais chez aucun peuple
établi des cérémonies religieuses. Il est probable, au contraire,
que cette coutume fut d'abord introduite dans les temps de
simplicité, et qu'on ne pensa d'abord qu'à honorer la Divinité
dans le symbole de la vie qu'elle nous a donnée. Une telle
cérémonie a dû inspirer la licence à la jeunesse, et paraître
ridicule aux esprits sages, dans les temps plus raffinés, plus
corrompus, et plus éclairés.' Compare the remarks on the
indecency of the Spartan customs, in _Thirlwall's Hist. of
Greece_, vol. i. pp. 326, 327.
[924] _Essai sur les M[oe]urs_, chaps. xiv. and xxxi., in _[OE]uvres_,
vol. xv. pp. 391, 514. Neander observes, that in the Greek church
there were more heresies than in the Latin church, because the
Greeks thought more; but he has failed to perceive how this
favoured the authority of the popes. _Neander's History of the
Church_, vol. ii. pp. 198, 199, vol. iii. pp. 191, 492, vol. iv.
p. 90, vol. vi. p. 293, vol. viii. p. 257.
It would be impossible to relate all the original remarks of Voltaire,
which, when he made them, were attacked as dangerous paradoxes, and are
now valued as sober truths. He was the first historian who recommended
universal freedom of trade; and, although he expresses himself with
great caution,[925] still the mere announcement of the idea in a popular
history forms an epoch in the progress of the French mind. He is the
originator of that important distinction between the increase of
population and the increase of food, to which political economy has been
greatly indebted;[926] a principle adopted several years later by
Townsend, and then used by Malthus as the basis of his celebrated
work.[927] He has, moreover, the merit of being the first who dispelled
the childish admiration with which the Middle Ages had been hitherto
regarded, and which they owed to those dull and learned writers, who, in
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, were the principal
investigators of the early history of Europe. These industrious
compilers had collected extensive materials, which Voltaire turned to
good account, and by their aid overthrew the conclusions at which the
authors had themselves arrived. In his works, the Middle Ages are, for
the first time, represented as what they really were,--a period of
ignorance, ferocity, and licentiousness; a period when injuries were
unredressed, crime unpunished, and superstition unrebuked. It may be
said, with some show of justice, that Voltaire, in the picture he drew,
fell into the opposite extreme, and did not sufficiently recognize the
merit of those truly great men, who, at long intervals, stood here and
there, like solitary beacons, whose light only made the surrounding
darkness more visible. Still, after every allowance for that
exaggeration which a reaction of opinions always causes, it is certain
that his view of the Middle Ages is not only far more accurate than that
of any preceding writer, but conveys a much juster idea of the time than
can be found in those subsequent compilations which we owe to the
industry of modern antiquaries; a simple and plodding race, who admire
the past because they are ignorant of the present, and who, spending
their lives amid the dust of forgotten manuscripts, think themselves
able, with the resources of their little learning, to speculate on the
affairs of men, to trace the history of different periods, and even to
assign to each the praise it ought to receive.
[925] In his account of the trade of Archangel, he says, 'les Anglais
obtinrent le privilége d'y commercer sans payer aucun droit; et
c'est ainsi que toutes les nations devraient peut-être négocier
ensemble.' _Hist. de Russie_, part i. chap. i., in _[OE]uvres_,
vol. xxiii. p. 35. Remarkable words to have been written by a
Frenchman, born at the end of the seventeenth century; and yet
they have, so far as I am aware, escaped the attention of all the
historians of political economy. Indeed, on this, as on most
matters, sufficient justice has not been done to Voltaire, whose
opinions were more accurate than those of Quesnay and his
followers. However, Mr. M'Culloch, in noticing one of the
economical errors of Voltaire, honestly admits that his 'opinions
on such subjects are, for the most part, very correct.'
_M'Culloch's Principles of Political Economy_, p. 530. For proof
of his sympathy with Turgot's efforts to establish free trade,
compare _Lettres inédites de Voltaire_, vol. ii. pp. 367, 403,
423, with _Longchamp_, _Mém. sur Voltaire_, vol. i. pp. 376, 378.
[926] 'The idea of the different ratios by which population and food
increase, was originally thrown out by Voltaire; and was picked
up and expanded into many a goodly volume by our English
political economists in the present century.' _Laing's Notes_,
second series, p. 42.
[927] It is often said that Malthus was indebted to Townsend's writings
for his views on population; but this obligation has been too
strongly stated, as, indeed, is always the case when charges of
plagiarism are brought against great works. Still, Townsend is to
be considered as the precursor of Malthus; and if the reader is
interested in tracing the paternity of ideas, he will find some
interesting economical remarks in _Townsend's Journey through
Spain_, vol. i. pp. 379, 383, vol. ii. pp. 85, 337, 387-393;
which must be compared with _M'Culloch's Literature of Political
Economy_, pp. 259, 281-3. Voltaire having preceded these authors,
has, of course, fallen into errors which they avoided; but
nothing can be better than the way in which he opposes the
ignorant belief of his own time, that every thing should be done
to increase population. 'Le point principal n'est pas d'avoir du
superflu en hommes, mais de rendre ce que nous en avons le moins
malheureux qu'il est possible,' is the summing-up of his able
remarks, in _Dict. Philos._, article _Population_, sect. 2, in
_[OE]uvres_, vol. xli. p. 466. Godwin, in his notice of the
history of these opinions, is evidently ignorant of what was done
by Voltaire. _Sinclair's Corresp._ vol. i. p. 396.
With such writers as these, Voltaire was always at war; and no one has
done so much to lessen the influence they once exercised over even the
highest branches of knowledge. There was also another class of
dictators, whose authority this great man was equally successful in
reducing, namely, the old class of classical scholars and commentators,
who, from the middle of the fourteenth till early in the eighteenth
century, were the chief dispensers of fame, and were respected as being
by far the most distinguished men Europe had ever produced. The first
great assaults made upon them were late in the seventeenth century, when
two controversies sprung up, of which I shall hereafter give an
account,--one in France, and one in England,--by both of which their
power was considerably damaged. But their two most formidable opponents
were, undoubtedly, Locke and Voltaire. The immense services rendered by
Locke in lessening the reputation of the old classical school, will be
examined in another part of this work; at present we are only concerned
with the steps taken by Voltaire.
The authority wielded by the great classical scholars rested not only on
their abilities, which are undeniable, but also on the supposed dignity
of their pursuits. It was generally believed that ancient history
possessed some inherent superiority over modern history; and this being
taken for granted, the inference naturally followed, that the
cultivators of the one were more praiseworthy than the cultivators of
the other; and that a Frenchman, for instance, who should write the
history of some Greek republic, displayed a nobler turn of mind than if
he had written the history of his own country. This singular prejudice
had for centuries been a traditional notion; which men accepted, because
they had received it from their fathers, and which it would have been
almost an impiety to dispute. The result was, that the few really able
writers on history devoted themselves chiefly to that of the ancients;
or, if they published an account of modern times, they handled their
theme, not according to modern ideas, but according to ideas gathered
from their more favourite pursuit. This confusion of the standard of
one age with the standard of another, caused a double evil. Historians,
by adopting this plan, injured the originality of their own minds; and,
what was far worse, they set a bad example to the literature of their
country. For every great nation has a mode of expression, and of
thought, peculiar to itself, and with which its sympathies are
intimately connected. To introduce any foreign model, however admirable
it may be, is to violate this connexion, and to impair the value of
literature by limiting the scope of its action. By such a course, the
taste may possibly be refined, but the vigour will certainly be
weakened. Indeed, the refinement of the taste may well be doubted, when
we see what has taken place in our country, where our great scholars
have corrupted the English language by a jargon so uncouth, that a plain
man can hardly discern the real lack of ideas which their barbarous and
mottled dialect strives to hide.[928] At all events, it is certain, that
every people worthy of being called a nation, possess in their own
language ample resources for expressing the highest ideas they are able
to form; and although, in matters of science, it may be convenient to
coin such words as are more easily understood in foreign countries, it
is a grave offence to depart on other subjects from the vernacular
speech; and it is a still graver one, to introduce notions and
standards for action, suited perhaps to former times, but which the
march of society has left far behind, and with which we have no real
sympathy, though they may excite that sickly and artificial interest
which the classical prejudices of early education still contrive to
create.
[928] With the single exception of Porson, not one of the great English
scholars has shown an appreciation of the beauties of his native
language; and many of them, such as Parr (in all his works) and
Bentley (in his mad edition of Milton), have done every thing in
their power to corrupt it. And there can be little doubt, that
the principal reason why well-educated women write and converse
in a purer style than well-educated men, is because they have not
formed their taste according to those ancient classical
standards, which, admirable as they are in themselves, should
never be introduced into a state of society unfitted for them. To
this may be added, that Cobbett, the most racy and idiomatic of
all our writers, and Erskine, by far the greatest of our forensic
orators, knew little or nothing of any ancient language; and the
same observation applies to Shakespeare. On the supposed
connexion between the improvement of taste and the study of
classical models, there are some remarks worth attending to in
_Rey's Théorie et Pratique de la Science Sociale_, vol. i.
pp. 98-101.
It was against these evils that Voltaire entered the field. The wit and
the ridicule with which he attacked the dreaming scholars of his own
time, can only be appreciated by those who have studied his works. Not,
as some have supposed, that he used these weapons as a substitute for
argument, still less that he fell into the error of making ridicule a
test for truth. No one could reason more closely than Voltaire, when
reasoning suited his purpose. But he had to deal with men impervious to
argument; men whose inordinate reverence for antiquity had only left
them two ideas, namely, that every thing old is right, and that every
thing new is wrong. To argue against these opinions would be idle
indeed; the only other resource was, to make them ridiculous, and weaken
their influence, by holding up their authors to contempt. This was one
of the tasks Voltaire set himself to perform; and he did it well.[929]
He, therefore, used ridicule, not as the test of truth, but as the
scourge of folly. And with such effect was the punishment administered,
that not only did the pedants and theologians of his own time wince
under the lash, but even their successors feel their ears tingle when
they read his biting words; and they revenge themselves by reviling the
memory of that great writer, whose works are as a thorn in their side,
and whose very name they hold in undisguised abhorrence.
[929] 'We can best judge, from the Jesuitical rage with which he was
persecuted, how admirably he had delineated the weaknesses and
presumption of the interpreters of the ancients, who shone in the
schools and academies, and had acquired great reputation by their
various and copiously exhibited learning.' _Schlosser's
Eighteenth Century_, vol. i. p. 120. At p. 270, M. Schlosser
says, 'And it was only a man of Voltaire's wit and talents, who
could throw the light of an entirely new criticism upon the
darkness of those grabbing and collecting pedants.'
These two classes have, indeed, reasons enough for the hatred with
which they still regard the greatest Frenchman of the eighteenth
century. For, Voltaire did more than any other man to sap the foundation
of ecclesiastical power, and to destroy the supremacy of classical
studies. This is not the place for discussing the theological opinions
which he attacked; but of the state of classical opinions an idea may be
formed, by considering some of those circumstances which were recorded
by the ancients respecting their history, and which, until the
appearance of Voltaire, were implicitly believed by modern scholars, and
through them by the people at large.
It was believed that, in ancient times, Mars ravished a virgin, and that
the offspring of the intrigue were no other than Romulus and Remus, both
of whom it was intended to put to death; but they were fortunately saved
by the attentions of a she-wolf and a woodpecker; the wolf giving them
suck, and the woodpecker protecting them from insects. It was, moreover,
believed that Romulus and Remus, when grown up to man's estate,
determined to build a city, and that, being joined by the descendants of
the Trojan warriors, they succeeded in erecting Rome. It was believed
that both brothers came to an untimely end; Remus being murdered, and
Romulus being taken up to heaven by his father, who descended for that
purpose in the midst of a tempest. The great scholars then proceeded to
relate the succession of several other kings; the most remarkable of
whom was Numa, whose only communications with his wife were carried on
in a sacred grove. Another of the sovereigns of Rome was Tullus
Hostilius, who, having offended the clergy, perished from the effects of
their anger; his death being caused by lightning, and preceded by
pestilence. Then again, there was one Servius Tullius, who was also a
king, and whose greatness was prognosticated by the appearance of flames
round his head as he was sleeping in his cradle. After this, it was but
a slight matter that the ordinary laws of mortality should be suspended;
we were, therefore, assured that those ignorant barbarians, the early
Romans, passed two hundred and forty-five years under the government of
only seven kings, all of whom were elected in the prime of life, one of
whom was expelled the city, and three of whom were put to death.
These are a few of the idle stories in which the great scholars took
intense delight, and which, during many centuries, were supposed to form
a necessary part of the annals of the Latin empire. Indeed, so universal
was the credulity, that, until they were destroyed by Voltaire, there
were only four writers who had ventured openly to attack them.
Cluverius, Perizonius, Pouilly, and Beaufort were the names of these
bold innovators; but by none of them was any impression made on the
public mind. The works of Cluverius and Perizonius, being composed in
Latin, were addressed entirely to a class of readers who, infatuated
with a love of antiquity, would listen to nothing that diminished the
reputation of its history. Pouilly and Beaufort wrote in French; both of
them, and especially Beaufort, were men of considerable ability; but
their powers were not versatile enough to enable them to extirpate
prejudices which were so strongly protected, and which had been fostered
by the education of many successive generations.
The service, therefore, rendered by Voltaire in purging history of these
foolish conceits, is, not that he was the first by whom they were
attacked, but that he was the first to attack them with success; and
this because he was also the first who mingled ridicule with argument,
thus not only assailing the system, but also weakening the authority of
those by whom the system was supported. His irony, his wit, his pungent
and telling sarcasms, produced more effect than the gravest arguments
could have done; and there can be no doubt that he was fully justified
in using those great resources with which nature had endowed him, since
by their aid he advanced the interests of truth, and relieved men from
some of their most inveterate prejudices.
It is not, however, to be supposed that ridicule was the only means
employed by Voltaire in effecting this important object. So far from
that, I can say with confidence, after a careful comparison of both
writers, that the most decisive arguments advanced by Niebuhr against
the early history of Rome, had all been anticipated by Voltaire; in
whose works they may be found, by whoever will take the trouble of
reading what this great man has written, instead of ignorantly railing
against him. Without entering into needless detail, it is enough to
mention that, amidst a great variety of very ingenious and very learned
discussion, Niebuhr has put forward several views with which later
critics have been dissatisfied; but that there are three, and only
three, principles which are fundamental to his history, and which it is
impossible to refute. These are:--I. That, on account of the inevitable
intermixture of fable essential to a rude people, no nation can possess
trustworthy details respecting its own origin. II. That even such early
documents as the Romans might have possessed, had been destroyed before
they were incorporated into a regular history. III. That ceremonies
established in honour of certain events alleged to have taken place in
former times, were a proof, not that the events had happened, but that
they were believed to have happened. The whole fabric of the early
history of Rome at once fell to pieces, as soon as these three
principles were applied to it. What, however, is most remarkable, is,
that not only are all three laid down by Voltaire, but their bearing
upon Roman history is distinctly shown. He says that no nation is
acquainted with its own origin; so that all primitive history is
necessarily an invention.[930] He remarks, that since even such
historical works as the Romans once possessed, were all destroyed when
their city was burned, no confidence can be placed in the accounts
which, at a much later period, are given by Livy and other
compilers.[931] And, as innumerable scholars busied themselves in
collecting evidence respecting ceremonies instituted in celebration of
certain events, and then appealed to the evidence in order to prove the
events, Voltaire makes a reflection which now seems very obvious, but
which these learned men had entirely overlooked. He notices, that their
labour is bootless, because the date of the evidence is, with extremely
few exceptions, much later than the date of the event to which it
refers. In such cases, the existence of a festival, or of a monument,
proves, indeed, the belief which men entertain, but by no means proves
the reality of the occurrence concerning which the belief is held.[932]
This simple, but important maxim, is, even in our own days, constantly
lost sight of, while before the eighteenth century it was universally
neglected. Hence it was that historians were able to accumulate fables
which were believed without examination;[933] it being altogether
forgotten, that fables, as Voltaire says, begin to be current in one
generation, are established in the second, become respectable in the
third, while in the fourth generation temples are raised in honour of
them.[934]
[930] 'C'est l'imagination seule qui a écrit les premières histoires.
Non seulement chaque peuple inventa son origine, mais il inventa
aussi l'origine du monde entier.' _Dict. Philos._ article
_Histoire_, sec. 2, in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xl. p. 195. See also his
article on Chronology, vol. xxxviii. p. 77, for the application
of this to the history of Rome, where he says, 'Tite Live n'a
garde de dire en quelle année Romulus commença son prétendu
règne.' And at vol. xxxvi. p. 86, 'tous les peuples se sont
attribués des origines imaginaires; et aucun n'a touché à la
véritable.'
[931] 'Qu'on fasse attention que la république romaine a été cinq cents
ans sans historiens; que Tite Live lui-même déplore la perte des
autres monuments qui périrent presque tous dans l'incendie de
Rome,' &c. _Dict. Philos._ in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xl. p. 202. At p.
188, 'ce peuple, si récent en comparaison des nations asiatiques,
a été cinq cents années sans historiens. Ainsi, il n'est pas
surprenant que Romulus ait été le fils de Mars, qu'une louve ait
été sa nourrice, qu'il ait marché avec mille hommes de son
village de Rome contre vingt-cinq mille combattants du village
des Sabins.'
[932] 'Par quel excès de démence, par quel opiniâtreté absurde, tant de
compilateurs ont-ils voulu prouver dans tant de volumes énormes,
qu'une fête publique établie en mémoire d'un événement était une
démonstration de la vérité de cet événement?' _Essai sur les
M[oe]urs_, in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xv. p. 109. See also the same
remark applied to monuments, in chap. cxcvii., _[OE]uvres_, vol.
xviii. pp. 412-414; and again, in vol. xl. pp. 203, 204.
[933] 'La plupart des histoires out été crues sans examen, et cette
créance est un préjugé. Fabius Pictor raconte que, plusieurs
siècles avant lui, une vestale de la ville d'Albe, allant puiser
de l'eau dans sa cruche, fut violée, qu'elle accoucha de Romulus
et de Rémus, qu'ils furent nourris par une louve, etc. Le peuple
romain crut cette fable; il n'examina point si dans ce temps-là
il y avait des vestales dans le Latium, s'il était vraisemblable
que la fille d'un roi sortît de son couvent avec sa cruche, s'il
était probable qu'une louve allaitât deux enfants au lieu de les
manger; le préjugé s'établit.' _Dict. Philos._ article
_Préjugés_, in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xli. pp. 488, 489.
[934] 'Les amateurs du merveilleux disaient: Il faut bien que ces faits
soient vrais, puisque tant de monuments en sont la preuve. Et
nous disions: Il faut bien qu'ils soient faux, puisque le
vulgaire les a crus. Une fable a quelque cours dans une
génération; elle s'établit dans la seconde; elle devient
respectable dans la troisième; la quatrième lui élève des
temples.' _Fragments sur l'Histoire_, article i. in _[OE]uvres_,
vol. xxvii. pp. 158, 159.
I have been the more particular in stating the immense obligations
history is under to Voltaire, because in England there exists against
him a prejudice, which nothing but ignorance, or something worse than
ignorance, can excuse;[935] and because, taking him on the whole, he is
probably the greatest historian Europe has yet produced. In reference,
however, to the mental habits of the eighteenth century, it is important
to show, that in the same period similar comprehensiveness was being
displayed by other French historians; so that in this case, as in all
others, we shall find that a large share of what is effected, even by
the most eminent men, is due to the character of the age in which they
live.
[935] In this case, as in many others, ignorance has been fortified by
bigotry; for, as Lord Campbell truly says of Voltaire, 'since the
French Revolution, an indiscriminate abuse of this author has
been in England the test of orthodoxy and loyalty.' _Campbell's
Chief Justices_, vol. ii. p. 335. Indeed, so extensively has the
public mind been prejudiced against this great man, that, until a
very few years ago, when Lord Brougham published a life of him,
there was no book in the English language containing even a
tolerable account of one of the most influential writers France
has produced. This work of Lord Brougham's, though a middling
performance, is at least an honest one, and, as it harmonizes
with the general spirit of our time, it has probably had
considerable weight. In it he says of Voltaire, 'nor can any one
since the days of Luther be named, to whom the spirit of free
inquiry, nay, the emancipation of the human mind from spiritual
tyranny, owes a more lasting debt of gratitude.' _Brougham's Life
of Voltaire_, p. 132. It is certain, that the better the history
of the eighteenth century is understood, the more the reputation
of Voltaire will increase; as was clearly foreseen by a
celebrated writer nearly a generation ago. In 1831, Lerminier
wrote these remarkable, and, as the result has proved, prophetic
words: 'Il est temps de revenir à des sentimens plus respectueux
pour la mémoire de Voltaire.... Voltaire a fait pour la France ce
que Leibnitz a fait pour l'Allemagne; pendant trois-quarts de
siècle il a représenté son pays, puissant à la manière de Luther
et de Napoléon; il est destiné à survivre à bien des gloires, et
je plains ceux qui se sont oubliés jusqu'à laisser tomber des
paroles dédaigneuses sur le génie de cet homme.' _Lerminier_,
_Philosophie du Droit_, vol. i. p. 199. Compare the glowing
eulogy in _Longchamp et Wagnière_, _Mémoires sur Voltaire_, vol.
ii. pp. 388, 389, with the remarks of Saint-Lambert, in _Mém.
d'Epinay_, vol. i. p. 263.
The vast labours of Voltaire towards reforming the old method of writing
history, were greatly aided by those important works which Montesquieu
put forward during the same period. In 1734,[936] this remarkable man
published what may be truly called the first book in which there can be
found any information concerning the real history of Rome; because it is
also the first in which the affairs of the ancient world are treated in
a large and comprehensive spirit.[937] Fourteen years later, there
appeared, by the same author, the _Spirit of Laws_; a more famous
production, but, as it seems to me, not a greater one. The immense merit
of the _Spirit of Laws_ is, indeed, incontestable, and cannot be
affected by the captious attempts made to diminish it by those minute
critics, who seem to think that when they detect the occasional errors
of a great man, they in some degree reduce him to their own level. It is
not such petty cavilling which can destroy an European reputation; and
the noble work of Montesquieu will long survive all attacks of this
kind, because its large and suggestive generalizations would retain
their value even if the particular facts of which the illustrations
consist were all unfounded.[938] Still, I am inclined to believe, that
in point of original thought it is barely equal to his earlier work,
though it is unquestionably the fruit of much greater reading. Without,
however, instituting a comparison between them, our present object is
merely to consider the contributions they jointly contain towards a
right understanding of history, and the way in which those contributions
are connected with the general spirit of the eighteenth century.
[936] _Vie de Montesquieu_, p. xiv., prefixed to his works.
[937] Before Montesquieu, the only two great thinkers who had really
studied Roman history were Macchiavelli and Vico: but
Macchiavelli did not attempt any thing approaching the
generalizations of Montesquieu, and he suffered, moreover, from
the serious deficiency of being too much occupied with the
practical utility of his subject. Vico, whose genius was perhaps
even more vast than that of Montesquieu, can hardly be considered
his rival; for, though his _Scienza Nova_ contains the most
profound views on ancient history, they are rather glimpses of
truth, than a systematic investigation of any one period.
[938] Which M. Guizot (_Civilisation en France_, vol. iv. p. 36), in
his remarks on the _Esprit des Lois_, does not take sufficiently
into consideration. A juster appreciation of Montesquieu will be
found in _Cousin_, _Hist. de la Philosophie_, part ii. vol. i. p.
182; and in _Comte_, _Philosophie Positive_, vol. iv. pp.
243-252, 261. Compare _Charles Comte_, _Traité de Législation_,
vol. i. p. 125, with _Meyer_, _Esprit des Institutions
Judiciaires_, vol. i. p. lxi., respecting the vast innovations he
introduced.
In this point of view, there are, in the works of Montesquieu, two
leading peculiarities. The first is, the complete rejection of those
personal anecdotes, and those trivial details respecting individuals,
which belong to biography, but with which, as Montesquieu clearly saw,
history has no concern. The other peculiarity is, the very remarkable
attempt which he first made to effect an union between the history of
man and those sciences which deal with the external world. As these are
the two great characteristics of the method adopted by Montesquieu, it
will be necessary to give some account of them, before we can understand
the place he really occupies, as one of the founders of the philosophy
of history.
We have already seen that Voltaire had strongly insisted on the
necessity of reforming history, by paying more attention to the history
of the people, and less attention to that of their political and
military rulers. We have also seen, that this great improvement was so
agreeable to the spirit of the time, that it was generally and quickly
adopted, and thus became an indication of those democratic tendencies,
of which it was in reality a result. It is not, therefore, surprising
that Montesquieu should have taken the same course, even before the
movement had been clearly declared; since he, like most great thinkers,
was a representative of the intellectual condition, and a satisfier of
the intellectual wants, of the age in which he lived.
But, what constitutes the peculiarity of Montesquieu in this matter, is,
that with him a contempt for those details respecting courts, ministers,
and princes, in which ordinary compilers take great delight, was
accompanied by an equal contempt for other details which are really
interesting, because they concern the mental habits of the few truly
eminent men who, from time to time, have appeared on the stage of public
life. This was because Montesquieu perceived that, though these things
are very interesting, they are also very unimportant. He knew, what no
historian before him had even suspected, that in the great march of
human affairs, individual peculiarities count for nothing; and that,
therefore, the historian has no business with them, but should leave
them to the biographer, to whose province they properly belong. The
consequence is, that not only does he treat the most powerful princes
with such disregard as to relate the reigns of six emperors in two
lines,[939] but he constantly enforces the necessity, even in the case
of eminent men, of subordinating their special influence to the more
general influence of the surrounding society. Thus, many writers had
ascribed the ruin of the Roman Republic to the ambition of Cæsar and
Pompey, and particularly to the deep schemes of Cæsar. This, Montesquieu
totally denies. According to his view of history, no great alteration
can be effected, except by virtue of a long train of antecedents, where
alone we are to seek the cause of what to a superficial eye is the work
of individuals. The republic, therefore, was overthrown, not by Cæsar
and Pompey, but by that state of things which made the success of Cæsar
and Pompey possible.[940] It is thus that the events which ordinary
historians relate are utterly valueless. Such events, instead of being
causes, are merely the occasions on which the real causes act.[941] They
may be called the accidents of history; and they must be treated as
subservient to those vast and comprehensive conditions, by which alone
the rise and fall of nations are ultimately governed.[942]
[939] He says of the emperor Maximin, 'il fut tué avec son fils par ses
soldats. Les deux premiers Gordiens périrent en Afrique. Maxime,
Balbin, et le troisième Gordien furent massacrés.' _Grandeur et
Décadence des Romains_, chap. xvi., in _[OE]uvres de
Montesquieu_, p. 167.
[940] _Ibid._ chap. xi., in _[OE]uvres de Montesquieu_, pp. 149-153.
Compare a similar remark, respecting Charles XII., in _Esprit des
Lois_, livre x. chap. xiii. _[OE]uvres_, p. 260.
[941] On the difference between cause and occasion, see _Grandeur et
Décad._ chap. i. p. 126.
[942] 'Il y a des causes générales, soit morales, soit physiques, qui
agissent dans chaque monarchie, l'élèvent, la maintiennent, ou la
précipitent; tous les accidents sont soumis à ces causes; et si
le hasard d'une bataille, c'est-à-dire une cause particulière, a
ruiné un état, il y avoit une cause générale qui faisoit que cet
état devoit périr par une seule bataille. En un mot, l'allure
principale entraîne avec elle tous les accidente particuliers.'
_Grand. et Décad. des Romains_, chap. xviii. p. 172.
This, then, was the first great merit of Montesquieu, that he effected a
complete separation between biography and history, and taught historians
to study, not the pecularities of individual character, but the general
aspect of the society in which the peculiarities appeared. If this
remarkable man had accomplished nothing further, he would have rendered
an incalculable service to history, by pointing out how one of its most
fertile sources of error might be safely removed. And although,
unhappily, we have not yet reaped the full benefit of his example, this
is because his successors have really had the capacity of rising to so
high a generalization: it is, however, certain, that since his time, an
approximation towards such elevated views may be noticed, even among
those inferior writers who, for want of sufficient grasp, are unable to
adopt them to their full extent.
In addition to this, Montesquieu made another great advance in the
method of treating history. He was the first who, in an inquiry into the
relations between the social conditions of a country and its
jurisprudence, called in the aid of physical knowledge, in order to
ascertain how the character of any given civilization is modified by the
action of the external world. In his work on the _Spirit of Laws_, he
studies the way in which both the civil and political legislation of a
people are naturally connected with their climate, soil, and food.[943]
It is true, that in this vast enterprise he almost entirely failed; but
this was because meteorology, chemistry, and physiology, were still too
backward to admit of such an undertaking. This, however, affects the
value only of his conclusions, not of his method; and here, as
elsewhere, we see the great thinker tracing the outline of a plan,
which, in the then state of knowledge, it was impossible to fill up, and
the completion of which he was obliged to leave to the riper experience
and more powerful resources of a later age. Thus to anticipate the march
of the human intellect, and, as it were, forestal its subsequent
acquisitions, is the peculiar prerogative of minds of the highest order;
and it is this which gives to the writings of Montesquieu a certain
fragmentary and provisional appearance, which was the necessary
consequence of a profoundly speculative genius dealing with materials
that were intractable, simply because science had not yet reduced them
to order by generalizing the laws of their phenomena. Hence it is, that
many of the inferences drawn by Montesquieu are untenable; such, for
instance, as those regarding the effect of diet in stimulating
population by increasing the fecundity of women,[944] and the effect of
climate in altering the proportion between the births of the sexes.[945]
In other cases, an increased acquaintance with barbarous nations has
sufficed to correct his conclusions, particularly those concerning the
effect which he supposed climate to produce on individual character; for
we have now the most decisive evidence, that he was wrong in
asserting[946] that hot climates make people unchaste and cowardly,
while cold climates make them virtuous and brave.
[943] _De l'Esprit des Lois_, books xiv. to xviii. inclusive; in
_[OE]uvres_, pp. 300-336.
[944] _Ibid._ livre xxiii. chap. xiii. p. 395. Compare _Burdach_,
_Traité de Physiologie_, vol. ii. p. 116.
[945] _Ibid._ livre xvi. chap. iv., and livre xxiii. chap. xii.
pp. 317, 395.
[946] _Ibid._ livre xiv. chap. ii., livre xvii. chap. ii., and
elsewhere.
These, indeed, are comparatively trifling objections, because, in all
the highest branches of knowledge, the main difficulty is, not to
discover facts, but to discover the true method according to which the
laws of the facts may be ascertained.[947] In this, Montesquieu
performed a double service, since he not only enriched history, but also
strengthened its foundation. He enriched history by incorporating with
it physical inquiries; and he strengthened history by separating it from
biography, and thus freeing it from details which are always
unimportant, and often unauthentic. And although he committed the error
of studying the influence of nature over men considered as
individuals,[948] rather than over men considered as an aggregate
society, this arose principally from the fact that, in his time, the
resources necessary for the more complicated study had not yet been
created. Those resources, as I have shown, are political economy and
statistics; political economy supplying the means of connecting the laws
of physical agents with the laws of the inequality of wealth, and,
therefore, with a great variety of social disturbances; while statistics
enable us to verify those laws in their widest extent, and to prove how
completely the volition of individual men is controlled by their
antecedents, and by the circumstances in which they are placed. It was,
therefore, not only natural, but inevitable, that Montesquieu should
fail in his magnificent attempt to unite the laws of the human mind with
the laws of external nature. He failed, partly because the sciences of
external nature were too backward, and partly because those other
branches of knowledge which connect nature with men were still unformed.
For, as to political economy, it had no existence as a science until the
publication of the _Wealth of Nations_ in 1776, twenty-one years after
the death of Montesquieu. As to statistics, their philosophy is a still
more recent creation, since it is only during the last thirty years
that they have been systematically applied to social phenomena; the
earlier statisticians being merely a body of industrious collectors,
groping in the dark, bringing together facts of every kind without
selection or method, and whose labours were consequently unavailable for
those important purposes to which they have been successfully applied
during the present generation.
[947] On the supreme importance of method, see my defence of Bichat in
the next chapter.
[948] How completely futile this was, as regards results, is evident
from the fact, that a hundred years after he wrote, we, with all
our increased knowledge, can affirm nothing positively respecting
the direct action of climate, food, and soil, in modifying
individual character; though it has, I trust, appeared in the
second chapter of this Introduction, that something can be
ascertained respecting their indirect action, that is, their
action on individual minds through the medium of social and
economical organisation.
Only two years after the publication of the _Spirit of Laws_, Turgot
delivered those celebrated lectures, of which it has been said, that in
them he created the philosophy of history.[949] This praise is somewhat
exaggerated; for in the most important matters relating to the
philosophy of his subject, he takes the same view as Montesquieu; and
Montesquieu, besides preceding him in point of time, was his superior
certainly in learning, perhaps in genius. Still, the merit of Turgot is
immense; and he belongs to that extremely small class of men who have
looked at history comprehensively, and have recognized the almost
boundless knowledge needed for its investigation. In this respect, his
method is identical with that of Montesquieu, since both of these great
men excluded from their scheme the personal details which ordinary
historians accumulate, and concentrated their attention upon those large
general causes, by the operation of which the destinies of nations are
permanently affected. Turgot clearly perceived, that, notwithstanding
the variety of events produced by the play of human passions, there is
amid this apparent confusion a principle of order, and a regularity of
march, not to be mistaken by those whose grasp is firm enough to seize
the history of man as a complete and single whole.[950] It is true that
Turgot, subsequently engaged in political life, never possessed
sufficient leisure to fill up the splendid outline of what he so
successfully sketched: but though in the execution of his plan he fell
short of Montesquieu, still the analogy between the two men is obvious,
as also is their relation to the age in which they lived. They, as well
as Voltaire, were the unconscious advocates of the democratic movement,
inasmuch as they discountenanced the homage which historians had
formerly paid to individuals, and rescued history from being a mere
recital of the deeds of political and ecclesiastical rulers. At the same
time, Turgot, by the captivating prospects which he held out of future
progress,[951] and by the picture which he drew of the capacity of
society to improve itself, increased the impatience which his countrymen
were beginning to feel against that despotic government, in whose
presence amelioration seemed to be hopeless. These, and similar
speculations, which now for the first time appeared in French
literature, stimulated the activity of the intellectual classes, cheered
them under the persecutions to which they were exposed, and emboldened
them to the arduous enterprise of leading on the people to attack the
institutions of their native land. Thus it was, that in France every
thing tended to the same result. Every thing indicated the approach of
some sharp and terrible struggle, in which the spirit of the present
should war with the spirit of the past; and in which it should be
finally settled, whether the people of France could free themselves from
the chains in which they had long been held, or whether, missing their
aim, they were doomed to sink still lower in that ignominious vassalage,
which makes even the most splendid periods of their political history a
warning and a lesson to the civilized world.
[949] 'Il a créé en 1750 la philosophie de l'histoire dans ses deux
discours prononcés en Sorbonne.' _Cousin_, _Hist. de la
Philosophie_, I. série, vol. i. p. 147. There is a short notice
of these striking productions in _Condorcet_, _Vie de Turgot_,
pp. 11-16.
[950] Nothing can be better than his summary of this vast conception:
'Tous les ages sont enchaînés par une suite de causes et d'effets
qui lient l'état du monde à tous ceux qui l'ont précédé.' _Second
Discours en Sorbonne_, in _[OE]uvres de Turgot_, vol. ii. p. 52.
Every thing Turgot wrote on history is a development of this
pregnant sentence. That he understood the necessity of an
historian being acquainted with physical science, and with the
laws of the configuration of the earth, climate, soil, and the
like, is evident in his fragment, _La Géographie Politique_, in
_[OE]uvres_, vol. ii. pp. 166-208. It is no slight proof of his
political sagacity, that in 1750 he distinctly foretold the
freedom of the American colonies. Compare _[OE]uvres de Turgot_,
vol. ii. p. 66, with _Mém. sur Turgot_, vol. i. p. 139.
[951] A confidence which is apparent in his economical as well as in his
historical works. In 1811, Sir James Mackintosh writes, that
Turgot 'had more comprehensive views of the progress of society
than any man since Bacon:' _Mem. of Mackintosh_, vol. ii. p. 133;
and see a similar remark by Dugald Stewart, in his _Philos. of
the Mind_, vol. i. p. 246.
CHAPTER VII.
PROXIMATE CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AFTER THE MIDDLE OF THE
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
In the last chapter but one, I have attempted to ascertain what those
circumstances were which, almost immediately after the death of Louis
XIV., prepared the way for the French Revolution. The result of the
inquiry has been, that the French intellect was stimulated into activity
by the examples and teachings of England; and that this stimulus caused,
or at all events encouraged, a great breach between the government of
France and its literature;--a breach the more remarkable, because during
the reign of Louis XIV. the literature, notwithstanding its temporary
brilliancy, had been invariably submissive, and had intimately allied
itself with the government, which was always ready to reward its
services. We have also seen that, this rupture having arisen between the
governing classes and the intellectual classes, it followed, that the
former, true to their ancient instincts, began to chastise that spirit
of inquiry to which they were unaccustomed: hence those persecutions
which, with hardly a single exception, were directed against every man
of letters, and hence too those systematic attempts to reduce literature
to a subserviency similar to that in which it had been held under Louis
XIV. It has, moreover, appeared, that the great Frenchmen of the
eighteenth century, though smarting from the injuries constantly
inflicted on them by the government and the church, abstained from
attacking the government, but directed all their hostility against the
church. This apparent anomaly, of the religious institutions being
assailed, and the political institutions being spared, has been shown to
be a perfectly natural circumstance, arising out of the antecedents of
the French nation; and an attempt has been made to explain what those
antecedents were, and how they acted. In the present chapter, I purpose
to complete this inquiry by examining the next great stage in the
history of the French mind. It was needful that, before both church and
state could fall, men should change the ground of their hostility, and
should attack political abuses with the zeal they had hitherto reserved
for religious ones. The question, therefore, now arises, as to the
circumstances under which this change took place, and the period when it
actually occurred.
The circumstances which accompanied this great change are, as we shall
presently see, very complicated; and, as they have never yet been
studied in connexion with each other, I shall, in the remaining part of
this volume, examine them at considerable length. On this point it will,
I think, be practicable to arrive at some precise and well-defined
results respecting the history of the French Revolution. But the other
point, namely, the time at which the change took place, is not only much
more obscure, but by its nature will never admit of complete precision.
This, however, is a deficiency it possesses in common with every other
change in the history of man. The circumstances of each change may
always be known, provided the evidence is ample and authentic. But no
amount of evidence can enable us to fix the date of the change itself.
That to which attention is usually drawn by the compilers of history is,
not the change, but is merely the external result which follows the
change. The real history of the human race is the history of tendencies
which are perceived by the mind, and not of events which are discerned
by the senses. It is on this account that no historical epoch will ever
admit of that chronological precision familiar to antiquaries and
genealogists. The death of a prince, the loss of a battle, and the
change of a dynasty, are matters which fall entirely within the province
of the senses; and the moment in which they happen can be recorded by
the most ordinary observers. But those great intellectual revolutions
upon which all other revolutions are based, cannot be measured by so
simple a standard. To trace the movements of the human mind, it is
necessary to contemplate it under several aspects, and then coördinate
the results of what we have separately studied. By this means we arrive
at certain general conclusions, which, like the ordinary estimate of
averages, increase in value in proportion as we increase the number of
instances from which they are collected. That this is a safe and
available method, appears not only from the history of physical
knowledge,[952] but also from the fact, that it is the basis of the
empirical maxims by which all men of sound understanding are guided in
those ordinary transactions of life to which the generalizations of
science have not yet been applied. Indeed such maxims, which are highly
valuable, and which in their aggregate form what is called common sense,
are never collected with any thing like the precautions that the
philosophic historian ought to feel himself bound to employ.
[952] For a popular but able view of the value of averages in scientific
inquiries, see _Herschel's Disc. on Nat. Philos._ pp. 215-219.
The real objection, therefore, to generalizations respecting the
development of the intellect of a nation is, not that they want
certainty, but that they lack precision. This is just the point at which
the historian diverges from the annalist. That the English intellect,
for example, is gradually becoming more democratic, or, as it is termed,
more liberal, is as certain as that the crown of this country is worn by
Queen Victoria. But though both these statements are equally certain,
the latter statement is more precise. We can tell the very day on which
the Queen ascended the throne; the moment of her death will be known
with equal precision; and there can be no doubt that many other
particulars respecting her will be minutely and accurately preserved. In
tracing, however, the growth of English liberalism, all such exactness
deserts us. We can point out the year in which the Reform Bill was
passed; but who can point out the year in which the Reform Bill first
became necessary? In the same way, that the Jews will be admitted into
parliament, is as certain as that the Catholics have been admitted. Both
these measures are the inevitable result of that increasing indifference
to theological disputes, which must now be obvious to every man who does
not wilfully shut his eyes. But while we know the hour in which the bill
for Catholic emancipation received the assent of the crown, there is no
one now living who can tell even the year in which similar justice will
be granted to the Jews. Both events are equally certain, but both events
are not equally precise.
This distinction between certainty and precision I have stated at some
length, because it seems to be little understood,[953] and because it is
intimately connected with the subject now before us. The fact of the
French intellect having, during the eighteenth century, passed through
two totally distinct epochs, can be proved by every description of
evidence; but it is impossible to ascertain the precise time when one
epoch succeeded the other. All that we can do is, to compare the
different indications which the history of that age presents, and arrive
at an approximation which may guide future inquirers. It would perhaps
be more prudent to avoid making any particular statement; but as the
employment of dates seems necessary to bring such matters clearly before
the mind, I will, by way of provisional hypothesis, fix on the year
1750, as the period when those agitations of society which caused the
French Revolution entered into their second and political stage.
[953] As we see in the pretensions set forth by mathematicians, who
often suppose that an amount of certainty can be attained in
their own pursuits not to be found in any other. This error has
probably arisen, as Locke suggests, from confusing clearness with
certainty. _Essay on Human Understanding_, book iv. chap. ii.
secs. 9 and 10, in _Works_, vol. ii. pp. 73, 74. See also
_Comte_, _Philos. Pos._ vol. i. p. 103, where it is justly
observed, that all branches of knowledge capable of being
generalized into sciences admit of equal certainty, but not of
equal precision: 'si d'après l'explication précédente, les
diverses sciences doivent nécessairement présenter une précision
très-inégale, il n'en est nullement ainsi de leur certitude.'
This is handled unsatisfactorily by Montucla (_Hist. des
Mathémat._ vol. i. p. 33), who says, that the principal cause of
the peculiar certainty reached by the mathematician is, that
'd'une idée claire il ne déduit que des conséquences claires et
incontestables.' Similarly, Cudworth (_Intellect. System_, vol.
iii. p. 377): 'nay the very essence of truth here is this clear
perceptibility, or intelligibility.' On the other hand, Kant, a
far deeper thinker, avoided this confusion, by making
mathematical clearness the mark of a _kind_ of certainty rather
than of a _degree_ of it: 'Die mathematische Gewissheit heisst
auch Evidenz, weil ein intuitives Erkenntniss klarer ist, als ein
discursives. Obgleich also beides, das mathematische und das
philosophische Vernunfterkenntniss an sich gleich gewiss ist, so
ist doch die Art der Gewissheit in beiden verschieden.' _Logik_,
_Einleitung_, sec. 9, in _Kant's Werke_, vol. i. p. 399. On the
opinions of the ancients respecting certainty, compare _Matter_,
_Hist. de l'Ecole d'Alexandrie_, vol. i. p. 195, with _Ritter's
Hist. of Ancient Philos._ vol. ii. p. 46, vol. iii. pp. 74, 426,
427, 484, 614.
That this was about the period when the great movement, hitherto
directed against the church, began to be turned against the state, is an
inference which many circumstances seem to warrant. We know on the best
authority, that towards the year 1750, the French began their celebrated
inquiries respecting political economy,[954] and that, in their attempt
to raise it to a science, they were led to perceive the immense injury
which the interference of government had produced on the material
interests of the country.[955] Hence a conviction arose that, even in
regard to the accumulation of wealth, the authority possessed by the
rulers of France was mischievous, since it enabled them, under the
notion of protecting commerce, to trouble the freedom of individual
action, and to prevent trade from running into those profitable channels
which traders are best able to select for themselves. Scarcely had a
knowledge of this important truth been diffused, when its consequences
were quickly seen in the national literature, and in the habits of
national thought. The sudden increase in France of works relating to
finance and to other questions of government, is, indeed, one of the
most remarkable features of that age. With such rapidity did the
movement spread, that we are told that, soon after 1755, the economists
effected a schism between the nation and the government;[956] and
Voltaire, writing in 1759, complains that the charms of lighter
literature were entirely neglected amidst the general zeal for these new
studies.[957] It is not necessary to follow the subsequent history of
this great change; nor need I trace the influence exercised shortly
before the Revolution by the later economists, and particularly by
Turgot, the most eminent of their leaders.[958] It is enough to say,
that within about twenty years after the movement was first clearly
seen, the taste for economical and financial inquiries became so common,
that it penetrated those parts of society where habits of thought are
not very frequent; since we find that, even in fashionable life, the
conversation no longer turned upon new poems and new plays, but upon
political questions, and subjects immediately connected with them.[959]
Indeed, when Necker, in 1781, published his celebrated Report on the
Finances of France, the eagerness to obtain it was beyond all bounds;
six thousand copies were sold the first day; and the demand still
increasing, two presses were kept constantly at work in order to satisfy
the universal curiosity.[960] And what makes the democratic tendency of
all this the more obvious is, that Necker was at that time one of the
servants of the crown; so that his work, looking at its general spirit,
has been truly called an appeal to the people against the king by one of
the ministers of the king himself.[961]
[954] 'Vers 1750, deux hommes de génie, observateurs judicieux et
profonds, conduits par une force d'attention très-soutenue à une
logique rigoureuse, animés d'un noble amour pour la patrie et
pour l'humanité, M. Quesnay et M. de Gournay, s'occupèrent avec
suite de savoir si la nature des choses n'indiquerait pas une
science de l'économie politique, et quels seraient les principes
de cette science.' _Additions aux [OE]uvres de Turgot_, vol. iii.
p. 310. M. Blanqui (_Hist. de l'Economie Politique_, vol. ii. p.
78) also says, 'vers l'année 1750;' and Voltaire (_Dict. Philos._
article _Blé_, in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xxxvii. p. 384) says, 'vers
l'an 1750, la nation, rassasiée de vers, de tragédies, de
comédies, d'opéra, de romans, d'histoires romanesques, de
réflexions morales plus romanesques encore, et de disputes
théologiques sur la grâce et sur les convulsions, se mit enfin a
raisonner sur les blés.'
[955] The revolutionary tendency of this economical movement is noticed
in _Alison's Europe_, vol. i. pp. 184, 185; where, however, its
commencement is erroneously assigned to 'about the year 1761.'
See also, on the hostility this caused against government, _Mém.
de Campan_, vol. i. pp. 7, 8; _Mem. of Mallet du Pan_, vol. i. p.
32; and _Barruel_, _Hist. du Jacobinisme_, vol. i. p. 193,
vol. ii. p. 152.
[956] 'D'ailleurs la nation s'étoit accoutumée à se séparer toujours de
plus en plus de son gouvernement, en raison même de ce que ses
écrivains avoient commencé à aborder les études politiques.
C'étoit l'époque où la secte des économistes se donnoit le plus
de mouvement, depuis que le marquis de Mirabeau avoit publié, en
1755, son _Ami des Hommes_.' _Sismondi_, _Hist. des Franç._ vol.
xxix. p. 269. Compare _Tocqueville_, _Règne de Louis XV_, vol.
ii. p. 58. In this same year, 1755, Goldsmith was in Paris, and
was so struck by the progress of insubordination, that he
foretold the freedom of the people; though I need hardly say that
he was not a man to understand the movement of the economists.
_Prior's Life of Goldsmith_, vol. i. pp. 198, 199; _Forster's
Life of Goldsmith_, vol. i. p. 66.
[957] In February 1759, he writes to Madame du Boccage: 'Il me paraît
que les grâces et le bon goût sont bannis de France, et ont cédé
la place à la métaphysique embrouillée, à la politique des
cerveaux creux, à des discussions énormes sur les finances, sur
le commerce, sur la population, qui ne mettront jamais dans
l'état ni un écu, ni un homme de plus.' _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_,
vol. lx. p. 485. In 1763 (vol. lxiii. p. 204): 'Adieu, nos beaux
arts, si les choses continuent comme elles sont. La rage des
remontrances et des projets sur les finances a saisi la nation.'
Many of the ablest men being thus drawn off from mere literary
pursuits, there began, about twenty years before the Revolution,
a marked deterioration in style, particularly among prose
writers. Compare _Lettres de Dudeffand à Walpole_, vol. ii. p.
358, vol. iii. pp. 163, 299; _Mém. de Genlis_, vol. ii. p. 374,
vol. v. p. 123, vol. viii. pp. 180, 275; _Mercier sur Rousseau_,
vol. ii. p. 151.
[958] Georgel, who hated Turgot, says of him: 'son cabinet et ses
bureaux se transformèrent en ateliers où les économistes
forgeoient leur système et leurs spéculations.' _Mém. de
Georgel_, vol. i. p. 406: see also _Blanqui_, _Hist. de l'Écon.
Politique_, vol. ii. pp. 96-112; _Condorcet_, _Vie de Turgot_,
pp. 32-35; _Twiss_, _Progress of Political Econ._ pp. 142 seq.
[959] Sismondi, under the year 1774, notices 'les écrits innombrables
que chaque jour voyoit éclore sur la politique, et qui avoient
désormais remplacé dans l'intérêt des salons ces nouveautés
littéraires, ces vers, ces anecdotes galantes, dont peu d'années
auparavant le public étoit uniquement occupé.' _Hist. des
Français_, vol. xxix. p. 495; and a similar remark in
_Schlosser's Eighteenth Century_, vol. ii. p. 126.
[960] See the account, written in Feb. 1781, in _Grimm_, _Corr. Lit._
vol. xi. 260, where it is said of Necker's _Compte Rendu_, 'La
sensation qu'a faite cet ouvrage est, je crois, sans exemple; il
s'en est débité plus de six mille exemplaires le jour même qu'il
a paru, et depuis, le travail continuel de deux imprimeries n'a
pu suffire encore aux demandes multipliées de la capitale, des
provinces, et des pays étrangers.' Ségur (_Souvenirs_, vol. i. p.
138) mentions, that Necker's work was 'dans la poche de tous les
abbés, et sur la toilette de toutes les dames.' The daughter of
Necker, Madame de Staël, says of her father's work,
_Administration des Finances_, 'on en vendit quatre-vingt mille
exemplaires.' _De Staël sur la Révolution_, vol. i. p. 111.
[961] The expression of the Baron de Montyon: see _Adolphus's History of
George III._ vol. iv. p. 290; and on the revolutionary tendency
of Necker's financial works, _Soulavie_, _Règne de Louis XVI_,
vol. ii. pp. xxxvii. xxxviii., vol. iv. pp. 18, 143. Necker
published a justification of his book, 'malgré la défense du
roi.' _Du Mesnil_, _Mém. sur Le Brun_, p. 108.
This evidence of the remarkable change which, in or about 1750, the
French mind underwent, and which formed what I term the second epoch of
the eighteenth century, might be easily strengthened by a wider survey
of the literature of that time. Immediately after the middle of the
century, Rousseau published those eloquent works, which exercised
immense influence, and in which the rise of the new epoch is very
observable; for this most powerful writer abstained from those attacks
on Christianity,[962] which unhappily had been too frequent, and exerted
himself almost exclusively against the civil and political abuses of the
existing society.[963] To trace the effects which this wonderful, but in
some instances misguided, man produced on the mind of his own and of the
succeeding generation, would occupy too large a share of this
Introduction; though the inquiry is full of interest, and is one which
it were to be wished some competent historian would undertake.[964]
Inasmuch, however, as the philosophy of Rousseau was itself only a
single phase of a far larger movement, I shall at present pass over the
individual, in order to consider the general spirit of an age in which
he played a vast, but still a subsidiary part.
[962] So far as I remember, there is not a single instance in any of
his works; and those who assail him on this ground should adduce
the passages on which they rely, instead of bringing vague
general charges. Compare _Life of Rousseau_, in _Brougham's Men
of Letters_, vol. i. p. 189; _Stäudlin_, _Gesch. der theolog.
Wissenschaften_, vol. ii. p. 442; _Mercier sur Rousseau_, 1791,
vol. i. pp. 27-32, vol. ii. pp. 279, 280.
[963] 'Rousseau, qui déjà en 1753 avoit touché aux bases mêmes de la
société humaine, dans son _Discours sur l'origine de l'inégalité
parmi les hommes_.' _Sismondi_, vol. xxix. p. 270. Schlosser
(_Hist. of the Eighteenth Century_, vol. i. p. 138) notices 'the
entirely new system of absolute democracy which was brought
forward by J. J. Rousseau;' see also p. 289, and _Soulavie_,
_Règne de Louis XVI_, vol. v. p. 208.
[964] Napoleon said to Stanislas Girardin respecting Rousseau, 'sans lui
la France n'auroit pas eu de révolution.' _Holland's Foreign
Reminiscences_, Lond. 1850, p. 261. This is certainly an
exaggeration; but the influence of Rousseau was, during the
latter half of the eighteenth century, most extraordinary. In
1765, Hume writes from Paris: 'It is impossible to express or
imagine the enthusiasm of this nation in his favour; ... no
person ever so much engaged their attention as Rousseau. Voltaire
and every body else are quite eclipsed by him.' _Burton's Life of
Hume_, vol. ii. p. 299. A letter written in 1754 (in _Grimm_,
_Correspond._ vol. i. p. 122) says that his Dijon Discourse 'fit
une espèce de révolution à Paris.' The circulation of his works
was unprecedented; and when _La Nouvelle Héloïse_ appeared, 'les
libraires ne pouvaient suffire aux demandes de toutes les
classes. On louait l'ouvrage à tant par jour, ou par heure. Quand
il parut, on exigeait douze sous par volume, en n'accordant que
soixante minutes pour le lire.' _Musset Pathay_, _Vie de
Rousseau_, vol. ii. p. 361. For further evidence of the effect
produced by his works, see _Lerminier_, _Philos. du Droit_, vol.
ii. p. 251; _Mém. de Roland_, vol. i. p. 196, vol. ii. pp. 337,
359; _Mém. de Genlis_, vol. v. p. 193, vol. vi. p. 14; _Alison's
Europe_, vol. i. p. 170, vol. iii. p. 369, vol. iv. p. 376; _Mém.
de Morellet_, vol. i. p. 116; _Longchamp_, _Mém. sur Voltaire_,
vol. ii. p. 50; _Life of Romilly_, vol. i. p. 267; _Mem. of
Mallet du Pan_, vol. i. p. 127; _Burke's Works_, vol. i. p. 482;
_Cassagnac_, _Causes de la Rév._ vol. iii. p. 549; _Lamartine_,
_Hist. des Girondins_, vol. ii. p. 38, vol. iv. p. 93, vol. viii.
p. 125; _Wahrheit und Dichtung_, in _Göthe's Werke_, Stuttgart,
1837, vol. ii. part ii. pp. 83, 104; _Grimm_, _Correspond. Lit._
vol. xii. p. 222; _De Staël_, _Consid. sur la Rév._ vol. ii. p.
371.
The formation of a new epoch in France, about the year 1750, may be
further illustrated by three circumstances of considerable interest, all
pointing in the same direction. The first circumstance is, that not a
single great French writer attacked the political institutions of the
country before the middle of the century; while, after that period, the
attacks of the ablest men were incessant. The second circumstance is,
that the only eminent Frenchmen who continued to assail the clergy, and
yet refused to interfere in politics, were those who, like Voltaire,
had already reached an advanced age, and had, therefore, drawn their
ideas from the preceding generation, in which the church had been the
sole object of hostility. The third circumstance, which is even more
striking than the other two, is, that almost at the same moment there
was seen a change in the policy of the government; since, singularly
enough, the ministers of the crown displayed for the first time an open
enmity against the church, just as the intellect of the country was
preparing for its decisive onslaught on the government itself. Of these
three propositions, the first two will probably be admitted by every
student of French literature: at all events, if they are false, they are
so exact and peremptory, that it will be easy to refute them by giving
examples to the contrary. But the third proposition, being more general,
is less susceptible of a negative, and will therefore require the
support of that special evidence which I will now adduce.
The great French writers having by the middle of the eighteenth century
succeeded in sapping the foundations of the church, it was natural that
the government should step in and plunder an establishment which the
course of events had weakened. This, which took place in France under
Louis XV., was similar to what occurred in England under Henry VIII.;
for in both cases a remarkable intellectual movement, directed against
the clergy, preceded and facilitated the attacks made on them by the
crown. It was in 1749 that the French government took the first decisive
step against the church. And what proves the hitherto backward state of
the country in such matters is, that this consisted of an edict against
mortmain, a simple contrivance for weakening the ecclesiastical power,
which we in England had adopted long before. Machault, who had recently
been raised to the office of controller-general, has the glory of being
the originator of this new policy. In August 1749,[965] he issued that
celebrated edict which forbade the formation of any religious
establishment without the consent of the crown, duly expressed in
letters-patent, and registered in parliament; effective precautions,
which, says the great historian of France, show that Machault
'considered not only the increase, but even the existence of these
ecclesiastical properties, as a mischief to the kingdom.'[966]
[965] Sismondi (xxix. p. 20), Lacretelle (_XVIII^e Siècle_, vol. ii. p.
110), and Tocqueville (_Règne de Louis XV_, vol. ii. p. 103),
give the date 1749; so that 1747, in _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxvi.
p. 46, is apparently a misprint.
[966] 'Laissant voir dans toute cette loi, qui est assez longue, qu'il
regardoit non-seulement l'accroissement, mais l'existence de ces
propriétés ecclésiastiques, comme un mal pour le royaume.'
_Sismondi_, _Hist. des Franç._ vol. xxix. p. 21. This, I suppose,
is the edict mentioned by Turgot, who wished to push the
principle still further. _[OE]uvres de Turgot_, vol. iii. pp.
254, 255; a bold and striking passage.
This was an extraordinary step on the part of the French government; but
what followed showed that it was only the beginning of a much larger
design.[967] Machault, so far from being discountenanced, was, the year
after he had issued this edict, intrusted with the seals in addition to
the controllership;[968] for, as Lacretelle observes, the court 'thought
the time had now come to tax the property of the clergy.'[969] During
the forty years which elapsed between this period and the beginning of
the Revolution, the same anti-ecclesiastical policy prevailed. Among the
successors of Machault, the only three of much ability were Choiseul,
Necker, and Turgot, all of whom were strenuous opponents of that
spiritual body, which no minister would have assailed in the preceding
generation. Not only these eminent statesmen, but even such inferior men
as Calonne, Malesherbes, and Terray, looked on it as a stroke of policy
to attack privileges which superstition had consecrated, and which the
clergy had hitherto reserved, partly to extend their own influence, and
partly to minister to those luxurious and profligate habits, which in
the eighteenth century were a scandal to the ecclesiastical order.
[967] Mably mentions the excitement caused by this proceeding of
Machault, _Observations sur l'Histoire de France_, vol. ii. p.
415: 'On attaqua alors, dans plusieurs écrits, les immunités du
clergé.' On the dislike felt by the clergy against the minister,
see _Ségur_, _Souvenirs_, vol. i. p. 35; _Soulavie_, _Règne de
Louis XVI_, vol. i. pp. 283, 310, vol. ii. p. 146.
[968] In 1750, 'Machault obtint les sceaux en conservant le
contrôle-général.' _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxvi. p. 46.
[969] 'Croyait surtout que le temps était venu d'imposer les biens du
clergé.' _Lacretelle_, _XVIII^e Siècle_, vol. ii. p. 107. Nearly
the same words are used in _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxvi. p. 46.
While these measures were being adopted against the clergy, another
important step was taken in precisely the same direction. Now it was
that the government began to favour that great doctrine of religious
liberty, the mere defence of which it had hitherto punished as a
dangerous speculation. The connexion between the attacks on the clergy
and the subsequent progress of toleration, may be illustrated, not only
by the rapidity with which one event succeeded the other, but also by
the fact, that both of them emanated from the same quarter. Machault,
who was the author of the edict of mortmain, was also the first minister
who showed a wish to protect the Protestants against the persecutions of
the Catholic priesthood.[970] In this he only partly succeeded; but the
impetus thus given soon became irresistible. In 1760, that is only nine
years later, there was seen a marked change in the administration of the
laws; and the edicts against heresy, though not yet repealed, were
enforced with unprecedented mildness.[971] The movement quickly spread
from the capital to the remoter parts of the kingdom; and we are assured
that, after the year 1762, the reaction was felt even in those
provinces, which, from their backward condition, had always been most
remarkable for religious bigotry.[972] At the same time, as we shall
presently see, a great schism arose in the church itself, which
lessened the power of the clergy, by dividing them into two hostile
parties. Of these factions, one made common cause with the state, still
further aiding the overthrow of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. Indeed,
the dissensions became so violent, that the last great blow dealt to
spiritual ascendency by the government of Louis XVI. proceeded not from
the hands of a layman, but from one of the leaders of the church; a man
who, from his standing, would, under ordinary circumstances, have
protected the interests which he now eagerly attacked. In 1787, only two
years before the Revolution, Brienne, archbishop of Toulouse,[973] who
was then minister, laid before the parliament of Paris a royal edict, by
which the discouragement hitherto thrown upon heresy was suddenly
removed. By this law, the Protestants were invested with all those civil
rights which the Catholic clergy had long held out as the reward of
adherence to their own opinions.[974] It was, therefore, natural that
the more orthodox party should condemn, as an impious innovation,[975] a
measure which, by placing the two sects, in some degree, on the same
footing, seemed to sanction the progress of error; and which certainly
deprived the French church of one of the chief attractions by which men
had hitherto been induced to join her communion. Now, however, all these
considerations were set at nought. Such was the prevailing temper, that
the parliament, though then in a mood very refractory to the royal
authority, did not hesitate to register the edict of the king; and this
great measure became law; the dominant party being astonished, we are
told, how any doubt could be entertained as to the wisdom of the
principles on which it was based.[976]
[970] On which account, he still further provoked the indignation of the
Catholic clergy. See _Felice_, _Hist. of the Protest. of France_,
pp. 401, 402; a letter written in 1751.
[971] 'The approach of the year 1760 witnessed a sensible relaxation of
persecution.... The clergy perceived this with dismay; and, in
their general assembly of 1760, they addressed urgent
remonstrances to the king against this remission of the laws.'
_Felice_, _Protest. of France_, p. 422. Comp. an interesting
letter from Nismes in 1776, in _Thicknesse's Journey through
France_, London, 1777, vol. i. p. 66.
[972] Sismondi says of 1762, 'Dès lors, la réaction de l'opinion
publique contre l'intolérance pénétra jusque dans les provinces
les plus fanatiques.' _Hist. des Franç._ vol. xxix. p. 296. See
also a letter to Damilaville, dated 6th of May, 1765, in _Lettres
inédites de Voltaire_, vol. i. p. 412; and two other letters in
_[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. lxiv. p. 225, vol. lxvi. p. 417.
[973] Of whom Hume, several years before, had formed a very high
opinion. See _Burton's Life of Hume_, vol. ii. p. 497; a too
favourable judgment, which should be contrasted with the opposite
exaggerations, in _Mém. de Genlis_, vol. ix. pp. 360-363, and
_Barruel_, _Hist. du Jacobinisme_, vol. i. pp. 87, 199.
[974] _Lavallée_, _Hist. des Franç._ iii. 516; _Biog. Univ._ xxiv.
p. 656.
[975] _Georgel_, _Mémoires_, vol. ii. pp. 293, 294; a violent outbreak
against 'l'irréligieux édit ... qui autorise tous les cultes.'
[976] 'Le parlement de Paris discutait l'édit sur les protestans. Vingt
ans plus tôt, combien une telle résolution n'eût-elle pas agité
et divisé les esprits? En 1787, on ne s'étonnait que d'une chose:
c'était qu'il pût y avoir une discussion sur des principes
évidens.' _Lacretelle_, _XVIII^e Siècle_, vol. iii. pp. 342, 343.
In 1776, Malesherbes, who was then minister, wished to secure
nearly the same privileges for the Protestants, but was prevented
from doing so. _Dutens_, _Mémoires_, vol. ii. pp. 56-58. Dutens
was himself concerned in the negotiation.
These were omens of the coming storm; signs of the time, which those who
run may read. Nor are there wanting other marks, by which the true
complexion of that age may be clearly seen. In addition to what has been
just related, the government, soon after the middle of the eighteenth
century, inflicted a direct and fatal injury upon the spiritual
authority. This consisted in the expulsion of the Jesuits; which is an
event, important not only for its ultimate effects, but also as an
evidence of the feelings of men, and of what could be peaceably
accomplished by the government of him who was called 'the most Christian
king.'[977]
[977] Henry II. used to refer to this title, by way of justifying his
persecution of the Protestants (_Ranke's Civil Wars in France_,
vol. i. p. 241); and great account was made of it by that
exemplary prince, Louis XV. _Soulavie_, _Règne de Louis XVI_,
vol. i. p. 155. The French antiquaries trace it back to Pepin,
the father of Charlemagne. _Barrington's Observations on the
Statutes_, p. 168.
The Jesuits, for at least fifty years after their institution, rendered
immense services to civilization, partly by tempering with a secular
element the more superstitious views of their great predecessors, the
Dominicans and Franciscans, and partly by organizing a system of
education far superior to any yet seen in Europe. In no university could
there be found a scheme of instruction so comprehensive as theirs; and
certainly no where was displayed such skill in the management of youth,
or such insight into the general operations of the human mind. It must,
in justice, be added, that this illustrious society, notwithstanding
its eager, and often unprincipled, ambition, was, during a considerable
period, the steady friend of science, as well as of literature; and that
it allowed to its members a freedom and a boldness of speculation which
had never been permitted by any other monastic order.
As, however, civilization advanced, the Jesuits, like every spiritual
hierarchy the world has yet seen, began to lose ground; and this not so
much from their own decay, as from a change in the spirit of those who
surrounded them. An institution admirably adapted to an early form of
society, was ill suited to the same society in its maturer state. In the
sixteenth century, the Jesuits were before their age; in the eighteenth
century, they were behind it. In the sixteenth century, they were the
great missionaries of knowledge; because they believed that, by its aid,
they could subjugate the consciences of men. But, in the eighteenth
century, their materials were more refractory; they had to deal with a
perverse and stiff-necked generation; they saw in every country the
ecclesiastical authority rapidly declining; and they clearly perceived
that their only chance of retaining their old dominion was, by checking
that knowledge, the progress of which they had formerly done much to
accelerate.[978]
[978] The Prince de Montbarey, who was educated by the Jesuits about
1740, says, that, in their schools, the greatest attention was
paid to pupils intended for the church; while the abilities of
those destined for secular professions were neglected. See this
statement, which, coming from such a quarter, is very remarkable,
in _Mémoires de Montbarey_, vol. i. pp. 12, 13. Montbarey, so far
from being prejudiced against the Jesuits, ascribes the
Revolution to their overthrow. _Ibid._ vol. iii. p. 94. For other
evidence of the exclusive and unsecular character of their
education in the eighteenth century, see _Schlosser's Eighteenth
Century_, vol. iv. pp. 29, 30, 245.
Under these circumstances, the statesmen of France, almost immediately
after the middle of the eighteenth century, determined to ruin an order
which had long ruled the world, and which was still the greatest bulwark
of the church. In this design they were aided by a curious movement
which had taken place in the church itself, and which, being connected
with views of much wider import, deserves the attention even of those
for whom theological controversies have no interest.
Among the many points on which metaphysicians have wasted their
strength, that of free-will has provoked the hottest disputes. And what
has increased the acerbity of their language, is, that this, which is
eminently a metaphysical question, has been taken up by theologians, who
have treated it with that warmth for which they are remarkable.[979]
From the time of Pelagius, if not earlier,[980] Christianity has been
divided into two great sects, which, though in some respects uniting by
insensible shades, have always preserved the broad features of their
original difference. By one sect, the freedom of the will is virtually,
and often expressly, denied; for it is asserted, not only that we cannot
of our own will effect anything meritorious, but that whatever good we
may do will be useless, since the Deity has predestined some men to
perdition, others to salvation. By the other sect, the freedom of the
will is as strongly upheld; good works are declared essential to
salvation; and the opposite party is accused of exaggerating that state
of grace of which faith is a necessary accompaniment.[981]
[979] See some singular observations in Parr's first sermon on faith and
morals (_Parr's Works_, vol. vi. p. 598), where we are told that,
in the management of the feud between Calvinists and Arminians,
'the steadiness of defence should be proportionate to the
impetuosity of assault;' unnecessary advice, so far as his own
profession is concerned. However, the Mohammedan theologians are
said to have been even keener than the Christians on the subject.
See _Troyer's Discourse on the Dabistan_, vol. i. p. cxxxv.; an
important work on the Asiatic religions.
[980] Neander (_Hist. of the Church_, vol. iv. p. 105) finds the germ of
the Pelagian controversy in the dispute between Athanasius and
Apollinaris. Compare, respecting its origin, a note in _Milman's
Hist. of Christianity_, 1840, vol. iii. pp. 270, 271.
[981] No writer I have met with, has stated so fairly and clearly the
theological boundaries of these doctrines, as Göthe. _Wahrheit
und Dichtung_, in _Werke_, vol. ii. part ii. p. 200, Stuttgart,
1837.
These opposite principles, when pushed to their logical consequences,
must lead the first sect into antinomianism,[982] and the second sect
into the doctrine of supererogatory works.[983] But since on such
subjects, men feel far more than they reason, it usually happens that
they prefer following some common and accredited standard, or appealing
to some ancient name:[984] and they, therefore, generally class
themselves on the one side under Augustin, Calvin, and Jansenius; on the
other side under Pelagius, Arminius, and Molina.
[982] Compare _Butler's Mem. of the Catholics_, vol. iii. p. 224;
_Copleston on Necessity and Predestination_, pp. 25, 26;
_Mosheim's Eccles. History_, vol. ii. p. 254.
[983] Hence the theory of indulgences, constructed by the Church of Rome
with perfect consistency, and against which most of the
Protestant arguments are illogical.
[984] This seems to be the natural tendency, and has been observed by
Neander in his instructive account of the Gnostics, _History of
the Church_, vol. ii. p. 121: 'The custom with such sects to
attach themselves to some celebrated name or other of antiquity.'
Now, it is an interesting fact, that the doctrines which in England are
called Calvinistic, have been always connected with a democratic spirit;
while those of Arminianism have found most favour among the aristocratic
or protective party. In the republics of Switzerland, of North America,
and of Holland, Calvinism was always the popular creed.[985] On the
other hand, in those evil days, immediately after the death of
Elizabeth, when our liberties were in imminent peril; when the Church of
England, aided by the crown, attempted to subjugate the consciences of
men; and when the monstrous claim of the divine right of episcopacy was
first put forward;[986]--then it was that Arminianism became the
cherished doctrine of the ablest and most ambitious of the
ecclesiastical party.[987] And in that sharp retribution which followed,
the Puritans and Independents, by whom the punishment was inflicted,
were, with scarcely an exception, Calvinists:[988] nor should we forget,
that the first open movement against Charles proceeded from Scotland,
where the principles of Calvin had long been in the ascendant.
[985] The Dutch church was the first which adopted, as an article of
faith, the doctrine of election held at Geneva. _Mosheim's
Eccles. History_, vol. ii. p. 112. See also, on this doctrine in
the Netherlands, _Sinclair's Corresp._ vol. ii. p. 199;
_Coventry's Speech in_ 1672, in _Parl. Hist._ vol. iv. p. 537;
and _Stäudlin_, _Gesch. der theolog. Wissenschaften_, vol. i. p.
262: 'In den Niederlanden wurde der Calvinische Lehrbegriff
zuerst in eine scholastische Form gebracht.'
As to the Calvinism of North America, compare _Bancroft's
American Revolution_, vol. i. pp. 165, 173, 174, vol. ii. pp.
329, 363, vol. iii. p. 213; _Lyell's Second Visit to the United
States_, 1849, vol. i. p. 51; and _Combe's Notes on the United
States_, vol. i. pp. 35, 99, 223, vol. iii. pp. 88, 118, 210,
226.
[986] It is sometimes said that this was advocated by Bancroft as early
as 1588; but this assertion appears to be erroneous, and Mr.
Hallam can find no instance before the reign of James I. _Const.
Hist._ vol. i. p. 390. The dogma, though new in the Church of
England, was of great antiquity. See, on its origin among the
early Christians, _Klimrath_, _Hist. du Droit_, vol. i. p. 253.
[987] The spread of Arminianism was frequently noticed in Parliament
during the reign of Charles I. _Parl. Hist._ vol. ii. pp. 444,
452, 455, 470, 484, 487, 491, 660, 947, 1368. On the decline of
Calvinism at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge early in
the seventeenth century, see a curious letter from Beale, in
_Boyle's Works_, vol. v. p. 483; and on this movement in the
church after Elizabeth, compare _Yonge's Diary_, p. 93, edit.
Camden Soc. 1848; _Orme's Life of Owen_, p. 32; _Harris's Lives
of the Stuarts_, vol. i. pp. 154-156, vol. ii. pp. 208, 213, 214;
_Hutchinson's Mem._ pp. 66, 77; _Hallam's Const. Hist._ vol. i.
p. 466; _Des Maizeaux's Life of Chillingworth_, p. 112.
[988] Respecting the Calvinism of the opponents of the king, see
_Clarendon's Rebellion_, pp. 36, 37; _Bulstrode's Memoirs_, pp.
8, 9; _Burton's Diary_, vol. iii. p. 206; _Carlyle's Cromwell_,
vol. i. p. 68; and on its influence in the House of Commons in
1628, _Carwithen's Hist. of the Church of England_, vol. ii.
p. 64.
This different tendency of these two creeds is so clearly marked, that
an inquiry into its causes becomes a necessary part of general history,
and as we shall presently see, is intimately connected with the history
of the French Revolution.
The first circumstance by which we must be struck is, that Calvinism is
a doctrine for the poor, and Arminianism for the rich. A creed which
insists upon the necessity of faith, must be less costly than one which
insists upon the necessity of works. In the former case, the sinner
seeks salvation by the strength of his belief; in the latter case, he
seeks it by the fullness of his contributions. And as those
contributions, wherever the clergy have much power, always flow in the
same direction, we find that in countries which favour the Arminian
doctrine of works, the priests are better paid, and the churches more
richly ornamented, than they are where Calvinism has the upper hand.
Indeed it is evident to the most vulgar calculation, that a religion
which concentrates our charity upon ourselves, is less expensive than
one which directs our charity to others.
This is the first great practical divergence of the two creeds: a
divergence which may be verified by any one who is acquainted with the
histories of different Christian nations, or who has even travelled in
countries where the different tenets are professed. It is also
observable, that the Church of Rome, whose worship is addressed mainly
to the senses, and who delights in splendid cathedrals and pompous
ceremonies, has always displayed against the Calvinists an animosity far
greater than she has done against any other Protestant sect.[989]
[989] M Heber (_Life of Jeremy Taylor_, p. cxx.) says, that Calvinism is
'a system of all others the least attractive to the feelings of a
Roman Catholic.' Philip II., the great Catholic champion,
especially hated the Calvinists, and in one of his edicts called
their sect 'détestable,' _De Thou_, _Hist._ vol. x. p. 705:
compare vol. xi. p. 458. To give an earlier instance; when the
Roman inquisition was revived in 1542, it was ordered that
heretics, and in particular Calvinists, should not be tolerated:
'besonders Calvinisten.' _Ranke_, _Die Päpste_, vol. i. p. 211.
Out of these circumstances, inevitably arose the aristocratic tendency
of Arminianism, and the democratic tendency of Calvinism. The people
love pomp and pageantry as much as the nobles do, but they do not love
to pay for them. Their untutored minds are easily captivated by the
array of a numerous priesthood, and by the gorgeousness of a
well-appointed temple. Still, they know full well that these things
absorb a large part of that wealth which would otherwise flow into their
own cottages. On the other hand, the aristocracy, by their standing,
their habits, and the traditions of their education, naturally contract
a taste for expense, which makes them unite splendour with religion, and
connect pomp with piety. Besides this, they have an intuitive and
well-founded belief that their own interests are associated with the
interests of the priesthood, and that whatever weakens the one will
hasten the downfall of the other. Hence it is, that every Christian
democracy has simplified its external worship; every Christian
aristocracy has embellished it. By a parity of reasoning, the more any
society tends to equality, the more likely it is that its theological
opinions will be Calvinistic; while the more a society tends towards
inequality, the greater the probability of those opinions being
Arminian.
It would be easy to push this contrast still further, and to show that
Calvinism is more favourable to the sciences, Arminianism to the
arts;[990] and that, on the same principle, the first is better suited
to thinkers, the other to scholars.[991] But without pretending to trace
the whole of this divergence, it is very important to observe, that the
professors of the former religion are more likely to acquire habits of
independent thinking than those of the latter. And this on two distinct
grounds. In the first place, even the most ordinary of the Calvinistic
party are, by the very terms of their creed, led, in religious matters,
to fix their attention on their own minds rather than on the minds of
others. They, therefore, as a body, are intellectually more narrow than
their opponents, but less servile; their views, though generalized from
a smaller field, are more independent; they are less attached to
antiquity, and more heedless of those traditions to which the Arminian
scholars attach great importance. In the second place, those who
associate metaphysics with their religion are led by Calvinism into the
doctrine of necessity;[992] a theory which, though often misunderstood,
is pregnant with great truths, and is better calculated than any other
system to develop the intellect, because it involves that clear
conception of law, the attainment of which is the highest point the
human understanding can reach.
[990] By way of illustrating this, I may mention, that an intelligent
observer, who travelled all through Germany, remarked, in 1780,
that the Calvinists, though richer than their opponents, had less
taste for the arts. _Riesbeck's Travels through Germany_, London,
1787, vol. ii. p. 240. An interesting passage; in which, however,
the author has shown himself unable to generalize the facts which
he indicates.
[991] The Arminians have had among them many men of great learning,
particularly of patristic learning; but the most profound
thinkers have been on the other side, as in the instances of
Augustin, Pascal, and Jonathan Edwards. To these Calvinistic
metaphysicians the Arminian party can oppose no one of equal
ability; and it is remarkable, that the Jesuits, by far the most
zealous Arminians in the Romish Church, have always been
celebrated for their erudition, but have paid so little attention
to the study of the mind, that, as Sir James Mackintosh says
(_Dissert. on Ethical Philos._ p. 185), Buffier is 'the only
Jesuit whose name has a place in the history of abstract
philosophy.' And it is interesting to observe, that this
superiority of thought on the part of the Calvinists, accompanied
by an inferiority of learning, existed from the beginning; for
Neander (_History of the Church_, vol. iv. p. 299) remarks, that
Pelagius 'was not possessed of the profound speculative spirit
which we find in Augustin,' but that 'in learning he was
Augustin's superior.'
[992] 'A philosophical necessity, grounded on the idea of God's
foreknowledge, has been supported by theologians of the
Calvinistic school, more or less rigidly, throughout the whole of
the present century.' _Morell's Speculative Philosophy of
Europe_, 1846, vol. i. p. 366. Indeed, this tendency is so
natural, that we find the doctrine of necessity, or something
extremely like it, laid down by Augustin. See the interesting
extracts in _Neander's History of the Church_, vol. vi. pp. 424,
425; where, however, a loophole is left to let in the idea of
interference, or at all events of superintendence.
These considerations will enable the reader to see the immense
importance of that revival of Jansenism, which took place in the French
church during the eighteenth century. For, Jansenism being essentially
Calvinistic,[993] those tendencies appeared in France by which Calvinism
is marked. There appeared the inquisitive, democratic, and insubordinate
spirit, which has always accompanied that creed. A further confirmation
of the truth of the principles just laid down is, that Jansenism
originated with a native of the Dutch Republic;[994] that it was
introduced into France during the glimpse of freedom which preceded the
power of Louis XIV.;[995] that it was forcibly repressed in his
arbitrary reign;[996] and that before the middle of the eighteenth
century, it again arose, as the natural product of a state of society by
which the French Revolution was brought about.
[993] 'The five principal tenets of Jansenism, which amount in fact to
the doctrine of Calvin.' _Palmer on the Church_, vol. i. p. 320;
and see the remarks of Mackintosh in his _Memoirs_, vol. i. p.
411. According to the Jesuits, 'Paulus genuit Augustinum,
Augustinus Calvinum, Calvinus Jansenium, Jansenius Sancryanum,
Sancryanus Arnaldum et fratres ejus.' _Des Réaux_,
_Historiettes_, vol. iv. pp. 71, 72. Compare _Huetius de Rebus ad
eum pertinentibus_, p. 64: 'Jansenium dogmata sua ex Calvinianis
fontibus derivasse.'
[994] Jansenius was born in a village near Leerdam, and was educated, if
I mistake not, in Utrecht.
[995] The introduction of Jansenism into France is superficially related
by Duvernet (_Hist. de la Sorbonne_, vol. ii. pp. 170-175); but
the reader will find a contemporary and highly characteristic
account in _Mém. de Motteville_, vol. ii. pp. 224-227. The
connexion between it and the spirit of insubordination was
remarked at the time; and Des Réaux, who wrote in the middle of
the seventeenth century, mentions an opinion that the Fronde
'étoit venue du Jansénisme.' _Historiettes_, vol. iv. p. 72. Omer
Talon too says that, in 1648, 'il se trouvoit que tous ceux qui
étoient de cette opinion n'aimoient pas le gouvernement présent
de l'état,' _Mém. d'Omer Talon_, vol. ii. pp. 280, 281.
[996] Brienne, who knew Louis XIV. personally, says, 'Jansénisme,
l'horreur du roi.' _Mém. de Brienne_, vol. ii. p. 240. Compare
_Duclos_, _Mém. Secrets_, vol. i. p. 112. At the end of his reign
he promoted a bishop on the avowed ground of his opposition to
the Jansenists; this was in 1713. _Lettres inédites de
Maintenon_, vol. ii. pp. 396, 406; and see further vol. i. pp.
220, 222.
The connexion between the revival of Jansenism and the destruction of
the Jesuits, is obvious. After the death of Louis XIV., the Jansenists
rapidly gained ground, even in the Sorbonne;[997] and by the middle of
the eighteenth century, they had organized a powerful party in the
French parliament.[998] About the same period, their influence began to
show itself in the executive government, and among the officers of the
crown. Machault, who held the important post of controller-general, was
known to favour their opinions;[999] and a few years after his
retirement, Choiseul was called to the head of affairs; a man of
considerable ability, by whom they were openly protected.[1000] Their
views were likewise supported by Laverdy, controller-general in 1764,
and by Terray, controller of finances in 1769.[1001] The
procureur-general, Gilbert des Voisins, was a Jansenist;[1002] so also
was one of his successors, Chauvelin;[1003] and so was the
advocate-general Pelletier de Saint-Fargeau;[1004] and so too was Camus,
the well-known advocate of the clergy.[1005] Turgot, the greatest
statesman of the age, is said to have embraced the same opinions;[1006]
while Necker, who on two different occasions possessed almost supreme
power, was notoriously a rigid Calvinist. To this may be added, that not
only Necker, but also Rousseau, to whom a large share in causing the
Revolution is justly ascribed, were born in Geneva, and drew their
earliest ideas from that great nursery of the Calvinistic theology.
[997] 'La Sorbonne, moliniste sous Louis XIV, fut janséniste sous le
régent, et toujours divisée.' _Duvernet_, _Hist. de la Sorbonne_,
vol. ii. p. 225.
[998] On the strength of the Jansenists in the parliament of Paris, see
_Tocqueville_, _Règne de Louis XV_, vol. i. p. 352, vol. ii. p.
176; _Flassan_, _Diplomatie_, vol. vi. p. 486; _Mém. de Georgel_,
vol. ii. p. 262; _Mém. de Bouillé_, vol. i. p. 67; _Palmer's
Treatise on the Church_, vol. i. pp. 327, 328.
[999] _Lavallée_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. iii. p. 439.
[1000] _Soulavie_, _Règne de Louis XVI_, vol. i. pp. 31, 145.
[1001] _Tocqueville_, _Règne de Louis XV_, vol. ii. p. 385; _[OE]uvres
de Voltaire_, vol. liv. p. 275; _Mém. de Georgel_, vol. i.
pp. 49-51.
[1002] _Duvernet_, _Vie de Voltaire_, p. 90.
[1003] _Lacretelle_, _XVIII^e Siècle_, vol. ii. p. 119; _Lavallée_,
vol. iii. p. 477.
[1004] _Mém. de Georgel_, vol. i. p. 57.
[1005] _La Fayette_, _Mém._ vol. ii. p. 53; _Dumont_, _Souvenirs_,
p. 154; _Georgel_, vol. ii. p. 353, vol. iii. p. 10.
[1006] _Soulavie_, _Règne de Louis XVI_, vol. iii. p. 137.
In such a state of things as this, it was impossible that a body like
the Jesuits should hold their ground. They were the last defenders of
authority and tradition, and it was natural that they should fall in an
age when statesmen were sceptics, and theologians were Calvinists. Even
the people had already marked them for destruction; and when Damiens, in
1757, attempted to assassinate the king, it was generally believed that
they were the instigators of the act.[1007] This we now know to be
false; but the existence of such a rumour is evidence of the state of
the popular mind. At all events, the doom of the Jesuits was fixed. In
April 1761, parliament ordered their constitutions to be laid before
them.[1008] In August, they were forbidden to receive novices, their
colleges were closed, and a number of their most celebrated works were
publicly burned by the common hangman.[1009] Finally, in 1762, another
edict appeared, by which the Jesuits were condemned without even being
heard in their own defence;[1010] their property was directed to be
sold, and their order secularized; they were declared 'unfit to be
admitted into a well-governed country,' and their institute and society
were formally abolished.[1011]
[1007] 'The Jesuits are charged by the vulgar as promoters of that
attempt.' Letter from Stanley, written in 1761, in _Chatham
Correspond._ vol. ii. p. 127. Compare _Campan_, _Mém. de Marie
Antoinette_, vol. iii. pp. 19, 21; _Sismondi_, _Hist. des
Franç._ vol. xxix. pp. 111, 227.
[1008] _Lavallée_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. iii. p. 476.
[1009] _Flassan_, _Diplomatie Franç._ vol. vi. p. 491.
[1010] 'Sans que les accusés eussent été entendus.' _Lavallée_, vol.
iii. p. 477. 'Pas un seul n'a été entendu dans leur cause.'
_Barruel sur l'Hist. du Jacobinisme_, vol. ii. p. 264.
[1011] _Lavallée_, iii. p. 477; _Flassan_, vi. pp. 504, 505; _Sismondi_,
xxix. p. 234; and the letters written by Diderot, who, though he
was in Paris at the time, gives rather an incomplete account,
_Mém. de Diderot_, vol. ii. pp. 127, 130-132.
Such was the way in which this great society, long the terror of the
world, fell before the pressure of public opinion. What makes its fall
the more remarkable, is, that the pretext which was alleged to justify
the examination of its constitutions, was one so slight, that no former
government would have listened to it for a single moment. This immense
spiritual corporation was actually tried by a temporal court for ill
faith in a mercantile transaction, and for refusing to pay a sum of
money said to be due![1012] The most important body in the Catholic
church, the spiritual leaders of France, the educators of her youth, and
the confessors of her kings, were brought to the bar, and sued in their
collective capacity, for the fraudulent repudiation of a common
debt![1013] So marked was the predisposition of affairs, that it was
not found necessary to employ for the destruction of the Jesuits any of
those arts by which the popular mind is commonly inflamed. The charge
upon which they were sentenced, was not that they had plotted against
the state; nor that they had corrupted the public morals; nor that they
wished to subvert religion. These were the accusations which were
brought in the seventeenth century, and which suited the genius of that
age. But in the eighteenth century, all that was required was some
trifling accident, that might serve as a pretence to justify what the
nation had already determined. To ascribe, therefore, this great event
to the bankruptcy of a trader, or the intrigues of a mistress,[1014] is
to confuse the cause of an act with the pretext under which the act is
committed. In the eyes of the men of the eighteenth century, the real
crime of the Jesuits was, that they belonged to the past rather than to
the present, and that by defending the abuses of ancient establishments,
they obstructed the progress of mankind. They stood in the way of the
age, and the age swept them from its path. This was the real cause of
their abolition: a cause not likely to be perceived by those writers,
who, under the guise of historians, are only collectors of the prattle
and gossip of courts; and who believe that the destinies of great
nations can be settled in the ante-chambers of ministers, and in the
councils of kings.
[1012] _Flassan_, _Hist. de la Diplomatie_, vol. vi. pp. 486-488.
[1013] 'Enfin ils furent mis en cause, et le parlement de Paris eut
l'étonnement et la joie de voir les jésuites amenés devant lui
comme de vils banqueroutiers.' _Lacretelle_, _XVIII^e Siècle_,
vol. ii. p. 252. 'Condemned in France as fraudulent traders.'
_Schlosser's Eighteenth Century_, vol. iv. p. 451.
[1014] Several writers attribute the destruction of the Jesuits to the
exertions of Madame de Pompadour!
After the fall of the Jesuits, there seemed to be nothing remaining
which could save the French church from immediate destruction.[1015] The
old theological spirit had been for some time declining, and the clergy
were suffering from their own decay even more than from the attacks made
upon them. The advance of knowledge was producing in France the same
results as those which I have pointed out in England; and the
increasing attractions of science drew off many illustrious men, who in
a preceding age would have been active members of the spiritual
profession. That splendid eloquence, for which the French clergy had
been remarkable, was now dying away, and there were no longer heard the
voices of those great orators, at whose bidding the temples had formerly
been filled.[1016] Massillon was the last of that celebrated race who
had so enthralled the mind, and the magic of whose fascination it is
even now hard to withstand. He died in 1742; and after him the French
clergy possessed no eminent men of any kind, neither thinkers, nor
orators, nor writers.[1017] Nor did there seem the least possibility of
their recovering their lost position. While society was advancing they
were receding. All the sources of their power were dried up. They had no
active leaders; they had lost the confidence of government; they had
forfeited the respect of the people; they had become a mark for the
gibes of the age.[1018]
[1015] Choiseul is reported to have said of the Jesuits: 'leur éducation
détruite, tous les autres corps religieux tomberont
d'eux-mêmes.' _Barruel_, _Hist. du Jacobinisme_, vol. i. p. 63.
[1016] In 1771, Horace Walpole writes from Paris that the churches and
convents were become so empty, as to 'appear like abandoned
theatres destined to destruction;' and this he contrasts with
his former experience of a different state of things. _Walpole's
Letters_, vol. v. p. 310, edit. 1840.
[1017] 'So low had the talents of the once illustrious church of France
fallen, that in the latter part of the eighteenth century, when
Christianity itself was assailed, not one champion of note
appeared in its ranks; and when the convocation of the clergy,
in 1770, published their famous anathema against the dangers of
unbelief, and offered rewards for the best essays in defence of
the Christian faith, the productions called forth were so
despicable that they sensibly injured the cause of religion.'
_Alison's Hist. of Europe_, vol. i. pp. 180, 181.
[1018] In 1766, the Rev. William Cole writes to Alban Butler: 'I
travelled to Paris through Lille and Cambray in their public
voitures, and was greatly scandalized and amazed at the open and
unreserved disrespect, both of the trading and military people,
for their clergy and religious establishment. When I got to
Paris, it was much worse.' _Ellis's Original Letters_, second
series, vol. iv. p. 485. See also _Walpole's Letters to Lady
Ossory_, vol. ii. p. 513, edit. 1848; and the complaint made at
Besançon in 1761, in _Lepan_, _Vie de Voltaire_, p. 113.
It does, at first sight, seem strange that, under these circumstances,
the French clergy should have been able, for nearly thirty years after
the abolition of the Jesuits, to maintain their standing, so as to
interfere with impunity in public affairs.[1019] The truth, however, is,
that this temporary reprieve of the ecclesiastical order was owing to
that movement which I have already noticed, and by virtue of which the
French intellect, during the latter half of the eighteenth century,
changed the ground of its attack, and, directing its energies against
political abuses, neglected in some degree those spiritual abuses to
which its attention had been hitherto confined. The result was, that in
France the government enforced a policy which the great thinkers had
indeed originated, but respecting which they were becoming less eager.
The most eminent Frenchmen were beginning their attacks upon the state,
and in the heat of their new warfare they slackened their opposition to
the church. But in the mean time, the seeds they had sown germinated in
the state itself. So rapid was the march of affairs, that those
anti-ecclesiastical opinions which, a few years earlier, were punished
as the paradoxes of designing men, were now taken up and put into
execution by senators and ministers. The rulers of France carried into
effect principles which had hitherto been simply a matter of theory; and
thus it happened, as is always the case, that practical statesmen only
apply and work out ideas which have long before been suggested by more
advanced thinkers.
[1019] And also to retain their immense property, which, when the
Revolution occurred, was estimated at 80,000,000_l._ English
money, bringing in a yearly revenue of 'somewhat under
75,000,000 francs.' _Alison's Europe_, vol. i. p. 183, vol. ii.
p. 20, vol. xiv. pp. 122, 123.
Hence it followed, that at no period during the eighteenth century did
the speculative classes and practical classes thoroughly combine against
the church: since, in the first half of the century, the clergy were
principally assailed by the literature, and not by the government; in
the latter half of the century, by the government, and not by the
literature. Some of the circumstances of this singular transition have
been already stated, and I hope clearly brought before the mind of the
reader. I now purpose to complete the generalization, by proving that a
corresponding change was taking place in all other branches of inquiry;
and that, while in the first period attention was chiefly directed
towards mental phenomena, it was in the second period more directed
towards physical phenomena. From this, the political movement received a
vast accession of strength. For the French intellect, shifting the scene
of its labours, diverted the thoughts of men from the internal to the
external, and concentrating attention upon their material rather than
upon their spiritual wants, turned against the encroachments of the
state an hostility formerly reserved for the encroachments of the
church. Whenever a tendency arises to prefer what comes from without to
what comes from within, and thus to aggrandize matter at the expense of
mind, there will also be a tendency to believe that an institution which
hampers our opinions is less hurtful than one which controls our acts.
Precisely in the same way, men who reject the fundamental truths of
religion, will care little for the extent to which those truths are
perverted. Men who deny the existence of the Deity and the immortality
of the soul, will take no heed of the way in which a gross and formal
worship obscures those sublime doctrines. All the idolatry, all the
ceremonials, all the pomp, all the dogmas, and all the traditions by
which religion is retarded, will give them no disquietude, because they
consider the opinions that are checked to be equally false with those
that are favoured. Why should they, to whom transcendental truths are
unknown, labour to remove the superstitions which darken the truths?
Such a generation, so far from attacking ecclesiastical usurpations,
would rather look on the clergy as convenient tools to ensnare the
ignorant and control the vulgar. Therefore it is that we rarely hear of
a sincere atheist being a zealous polemic. But if that should occur,
which a century ago occurred in France; if it should happen that men of
great energy, and actuated by the feelings I have described, were to
find themselves in the presence of a political despotism,--they would
direct against it the whole of their powers; and they would act with the
more determined vigour, because, believing that their all was at stake,
temporal happiness would be to them not only the first, but also the
sole consideration.
It is from this point of view that the progress of those atheistical
opinions, which now rose in France, becomes a matter of great though
painful interest. And the date at which they appeared, fully
corroborates what I have just said respecting the change that took place
in the middle of the eighteenth century. The first great work in which
they were openly promulgated, was the celebrated Encyclopædia, published
in 1751.[1020] Before that time such degrading opinions, though
occasionally broached, were not held by any men of ability; nor could
they in the preceding state of society have made much impression upon
the age. But during the latter half of the eighteenth century, they
affected every department of French literature. Between 1758 and 1770,
atheistical tenets rapidly gained ground;[1021] and in 1770 was
published the famous work, called the _System of Nature_; the success,
and, unhappily, the ability of which, makes its appearance an important
epoch in the history of France. Its popularity was immense;[1022] and
the views it contains are so clearly and methodically arranged, as to
have earned for it the name of the code of atheism.[1023] Five years
later, the Archbishop of Toulouse, in a formal address to the king on
behalf of the clergy, declared that atheism had now become the
prevailing opinion.[1024] This, like all similar assertions, must have
been an exaggeration; but that there was a large amount of truth in it,
is known to whoever has studied the mental habits of the generation
immediately preceding the Revolution. Among the inferior class of
writers, Damilaville, Deleyre, Maréchal, Naigeon, Toussaint, were active
supporters of that cold and gloomy dogma, which, in order to extinguish
the hope of a future life, blots out from the mind of man the glorious
instincts of his own immortality.[1025] And, strange to say, several
even of the higher intellects were unable to escape the contagion.
Atheism was openly advocated by Condorcet, by D'Alembert, by Diderot, by
Helvétius, by Lalande, by Laplace, by Mirabeau, and by Saint
Lambert.[1026] Indeed, so thoroughly did all this harmonize with the
general temper, that in society men boasted of what, in other countries,
and in other days, has been a rare and singular error, an eccentric
taint, which those affected by it were willing to conceal. In 1764 Hume
met, at the house of Baron d'Holbach, a party of the most celebrated
Frenchmen then residing in Paris. The great Scotchman, who was no doubt
aware of the prevailing opinion, took occasion to raise an argument as
to the existence of an atheist, properly so called; for his own part, he
said, he had never chanced to meet with one. 'You have been somewhat
unfortunate,' replied Holbach; 'but at the present moment you are
sitting at table with seventeen of them.'[1027]
[1020] M. Barante (_Littérature Française au XVIII^e Siècle_, p. 94)
says, 'On arriva bientôt à tout nier; déjà l'incrédulité avait
rejeté les preuves divines de la révélation, et avait abjuré les
devoirs et les souvenirs chrétiens; on vit alors l'athéisme
lever un front plus hardi, et proclamer que tout sentiment
religieux était une rêverie et un désordre de l'esprit humain.
C'est de l'époque de l'Encyclopédie que datent les écrits où
cette opinion est le plus expressément professée. Ils furent peu
imités.' This last sentence is erroneous, I am sorry to say.
[1021] 'Dans un intervalle de douze années, de 1758 à 1770, la
littérature française fut souillée par un grand nombre
d'ouvrages où l'athéisme étoit ouvertement professé.'
_Lacretelle_, _XVIII^e Siècle_, vol. ii. p. 310.
[1022] Voltaire, who wrote against it, mentions its diffusion among all
classes, and says it was read by 'des savants, des ignorants,
des femmes.' _Dict. Philos._ article _Dieu_, section iv., in
_[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. xxxviii. p. 366: see also vol.
lxvii. p. 260; _Longchamp et Wagnière_, _Mém. sur Voltaire_,
vol. i. pp. 13, 334; _Lettres inédites de Voltaire_, vol. ii.
pp. 210, 216; and a letter from him in _Correspond. de
Dudeffand_, vol. ii. p. 329. Compare _Tennemann_, _Gesch. der
Philos._ vol. xi. p. 320: 'mit ungetheiltem Beifalle aufgenommen
worden und grossen Einfluss gehabt hat.'
[1023] 'Le code monstrueux d'athéisme.' _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxix. p. 88.
Morellet, who in such matters was by no means a harsh judge,
says, '_Le Système de la Nature_, surtout, est un catéchisme
d'athéisme complet.' _Mém. de Morellet_, vol. i. p. 133.
Stäudlin (_Gesch. der theolog. Wissenschaften_, vol. ii. p. 440)
calls it 'ein System des entschiedenen Atheismus:' while
Tennemann, who has given by far the best account of it I have
met with, says, 'Es machte bei seinem Erscheinen gewaltiges
Aufsehen, und ist fast immer als das Handbuch des Atheismus
betrachtet worden.' _Gesch. der Philos._ vol. xi. p. 349.
[1024] 'Le monstrueux athéisme est devenu l'opinion dominante.'
_Soulavie_, _Règne de Louis XVI_, vol. iii. p. 16: the address
of the archbishop with a deputation, 'muni des pouvoirs de
l'assemblée générale du clergé,' in September 1775.
[1025] _Biog. Univ._ vol. x. pp. 471, 669, vol. xxvii. p. 8, vol. xxx.
p. 542; _Mém. de Brissot_, vol. i. p. 305; _Tocqueville_, _Règne
de Louis XV_, vol. ii. p. 77.
[1026] _Mem. of Mallet du Pan_, vol. i. p. 50; _Soulavie_, _Règne de
Louis XVI_, vol. v. p. 127; _Barruel_, _Hist. du Jacobin._, vol.
i. pp. 104, 135, 225, vol. ii. p. 23, vol. iii. p. 200; _Life of
Romilly_, vol. i. pp. 46, 145; _Stäudlin_, _Theolog.
Wissenschaften_, vol. ii. p. 440; _Georgel_, _Mém._ vol. ii. pp.
250, 350; _Grimm_, _Correspond._ vol. xv. p. 87; _Mém. de
Morellet_, vol. i. p. 130; _Lepan_, _Vie de Voltaire_, p. 369;
_Tennemann_, _Gesch. der Philos._ vol. xi. p. 350; _Musset
Pathay_, _Vie de Rousseau_, vol. ii. pp. 177, 297; _Mém. de
Genlis_, vol. v. p. 180; _Hitchcock's Geol._ p. 263; _Mém.
d'Epinay_, vol. ii. pp. 63, 66, 76.
[1027] This was related to Romilly by Diderot. _Life of Romilly_,
vol. i. pp. 131, 132: see also _Burton's Life of Hume_, vol. ii.
pp. 220. Priestley, who visited France in 1774, says, that 'all
the philosophical persons to whom I was introduced at Paris
(were) unbelievers in Christianity, and even professed
atheists.' _Priestley's Memoirs_, vol. i. p. 74. See also a
letter by Horace Walpole, written from Paris in 1765 (_Walpole's
Letters_, edit. 1840, vol. v. p. 96): 'their avowed doctrine is
atheism.'
This, sad as it is, only forms a single aspect of that immense movement,
by which, during the latter half of the eighteenth century, the French
intellect was withdrawn from the study of the internal, and concentrated
upon that of the external world. Of this tendency, we find an
interesting instance in the celebrated work of Helvétius, unquestionably
the ablest and most influential treatise on morals which France produced
at this period. It was published in 1758;[1028] and, although it bears
the title of an essay on 'the Mind,' it does not contain a single
passage from which we could infer that the mind, in the sense in which
the word is commonly used, has any existence. In this work, which,
during fifty years, was the code of French morals, principles are laid
down which bear exactly the same relation to ethics that atheism bears
to theology. Helvétius, at the beginning of his inquiry, assumes, as an
incontestable fact, that the difference between man and other animals is
the result of a difference in their external form; and that if, for
example, our wrists, instead of ending with hands and flexible fingers,
had merely ended like a horse's foot, we should have always remained
wanderers on the face of the earth, ignorant of every art, entirely
defenceless, and having no other concern but to avoid the attacks of
wild beasts, and find the needful supply of our daily food.[1029] That
the structure of our bodies is the sole cause of our boasted
superiority, becomes evident, when we consider that our thoughts are
simply the product of two faculties, which we have in common with all
other animals; namely, the faculty of receiving impressions from
external objects, and the faculty of remembering those impressions after
they are received.[1030] From this, says Helvétius, it follows, that the
internal powers of man being the same as those of all other animals, our
sensibility and our memory would be useless, if it were not for those
external peculiarities by which we are eminently distinguished, and to
which we owe every thing that is most valuable.[1031] These positions
being laid down, it is easy to deduce all the essential principles of
moral actions. For, memory being merely one of the organs of physical
sensibility,[1032] and judgment being only a sensation,[1033] all
notions of duty and of virtue must be tested by their relation to the
senses; in other words, by the gross amount of physical enjoyment to
which they give rise. This is the true basis of moral philosophy. To
take any other view, is to allow ourselves to be deceived by
conventional expressions, which have no foundation except in the
prejudices of ignorant men. Our vices and our virtues are solely the
result of our passions; and our passions are caused by our physical
sensibility to pain and to pleasure.[1034] It was in this way that the
sense of justice first arose. To physical sensibility men owe pleasure
and pain; hence the feeling of their own interests, and hence the desire
of living together in societies. Being assembled in society, there grew
up the notion of a general interest, since, without it, society could
not hold together; and, as actions are only just or unjust in proportion
as they minister to this general interest, a measure was established, by
which justice is discriminated from injustice.[1035] With the same
inflexible spirit, and with great fullness of illustration, Helvétius
examines the origin of those other feelings which regulate human
actions. Thus, he says that both ambition and friendship are entirely
the work of physical sensibility. Men yearn after fame, on account
either of the pleasure which they expect the mere possession of it will
give, or else as the means of subsequently procuring other
pleasures.[1036] As to friendship, the only use of it is to increase our
pleasures or mitigate our pains; and it is with this object that a man
longs to hold communion with his friend.[1037] Beyond this, life has
nothing to offer. To love what is good for the sake of the goodness, is
as impossible as to love what is bad for the sake of the evil.[1038] The
mother who weeps for the loss of her child, is solely actuated by
selfishness; she mourns because a pleasure is taken from her, and
because she sees a void difficult to fill up.[1039] So it is, that the
loftiest virtues, as well as the meanest vices, are equally caused by
the pleasure we find in the exercise of them.[1040] This is the great
mover and originator of all. Every thing that we have, and every thing
that we are, we owe to the external world; nor is Man himself aught else
except what he is made by the objects which surround him.[1041]
[1028] _Biog. Univ._ vol. xx. p. 29.
[1029] 'Si la nature, au lieu de mains et de doigts flexibles, eût
terminé nos poignets par un pied de cheval; qui doute que les
hommes, sans art, sans habitations, sans défense contre les
animaux, tout occupés du soin de pourvoir à leur nourriture et
d'éviter les bêtes féroces, ne fussent encore errants dans les
forêts comme des troupeaux fugitifs?' _Helvétius_, _De
l'Esprit_, vol. i. p. 2. Had Helvétius ever read the attack of
Aristotle against Anaxagoras for asserting that [Greek: dia to
cheiroas echein, phronimôtaton einai tôn zôôn ton anthrôpon]?
_Cudworth_, _Intellect. Syst._ vol. iii. p. 311.
[1030] _De l'Esprit_, vol. i. p. 2.
[1031] _Ibid._ vol. i. p. 4.
[1032] 'En effet la mémoire ne peut être qu'un des organes de la
sensibilité physique.' vol. i. p. 6. Compare what M. Lepelletier
says on this, in his _Physiologie Médicale_, vol. iii. p. 272.
[1033] 'D'où je conclus que tout jugement n'est qu'une sensation.' _De
l'Esprit_, vol. i. p. 10; '_juger_, comme je l'ai déjà prouvé,
n'est proprement que _sentir_.' p. 41.
[1034] 'Né sensible à la douleur et au plaisir, c'est à la sensibilité
physique que l'homme doit ses passions; et à ses passions, qu'il
doit tous ses vices et toutes ses vertus.' _Ibid._ vol. ii. p.
53; and see vol. i. p. 239.
[1035] 'Une fois parvenu à cette vérité, je découvre facilement la
source des vertus humaines; je voie que sans la sensibilité à la
douleur et au plaisir physique, les hommes, sans désirs, sans
passions, également indifférents à tout, n'eussent point connu
d'intérêt personnel; que sans intérêt personnel ils ne se
fussent point rassemblés en société, n'eussent point fait
entr'eux de conventions, qu'il n'y eût point eu d'intérêt
général, par conséquent point d'actions justes ou injustes; et
qu'ainsi la sensibilité physique et l'intérêt personnel ont été
les auteurs de toute justice.' _Ibid._ vol. i. p. 278.
[1036] _De l'Esprit_, vol. ii. pp. 19, 20, 30, 34, 293, 294, 318.
Compare Epicurus, in _Diog. Laert. de Vit. Philos._ lib. x. seg.
120, vol. i. p. 654.
[1037] _De l'Esprit_, vol. ii. p. 45. He sums up: 'il s'ensuit que
l'amitié, ainsi que l'avarice, l'orgueil, l'ambition et les
autres passions, est l'effet immédiat de la sensibilité
physique.'
[1038] 'Il lui est aussi impossible d'aimer le bien pour le bien, que
d'aimer le mal pour le mal.' _Ibid._ vol. i. p. 73.
[1039] _Ibid._ vol. ii. p. 249.
[1040] _Ibid._ vol. ii. p. 58.
[1041] 'Nous sommes uniquement ce que nous font les objets qui nous
environnent.' _Ibid._ vol. ii. p. 306.
The views put forward in this celebrated work I have stated at some
length; not so much on account of the ability with which they are
advocated, as on account of the clue they furnish to the movements of a
most remarkable age. Indeed, so completely did they harmonize with the
prevailing tendencies, that they not only quickly obtained for their
author a vast European reputation,[1042] but, during many years, they
continued to increase in influence, and, in France in particular, they
exercised great sway.[1043] As that was the country in which they
arose, so also was it the country to which they were best adapted.
Madame Dudeffand, who passed her long life in the midst of French
society, and was one of the keenest observers of her time, has expressed
this with great happiness. The work of Helvétius, she says, is popular,
since he is the man who has told to all their own secret.[1044]
[1042] Saint Surin, a zealous opponent of Helvétius, admits that 'les
étrangers les plus éminents par leurs dignités ou par leurs
lumières, désiraient d'être introduits chez un philosophe dont
le nom retentissait dans toute l'Europe.' _Biog. Univ._ vol. xx.
p. 33.
[1043] Brissot (_Mémoires_, vol. i. p. 339) says, that in 1775, 'le
système d'Helvétius avait alors la plus grande vogue.' Turgot,
who wrote against it, complains that it was praised 'avec une
sorte de fureur' (_[OE]uvres de Turgot_, vol. ix. p. 297); and
Georgel (_Mémoires_, vol. ii. p. 256) says, 'ce livre, écrit
avec un style plein de chaleur et d'images, se trouvoit sur
toutes les toilettes.'
[1044] 'D'ailleurs le siècle de Louis XV se reconnut dans l'ouvrage
d'Helvétius, et on prête à Mme. Dudeffand ce mot fin et profond:
"C'est un homme qui a dit le secret de tout le monde."'
_Cousin_, _Hist. de la Philos._ I. série, vol. iii. p. 201.
Compare _Corresp. de Dudeffand_, vol. i. p. xxii.; and a similar
sentiment in _Mém. de Roland_, vol. i. p. 104. The relation of
Helvétius's work to the prevailing philosophy is noticed in
_Comte's Philos. Pos._ vol. iii. pp. 791, 792. vol. v.
pp. 744, 745.
True it was, that, to the contemporaries of Helvétius, his views,
notwithstanding their immense popularity, bore the appearance of a
secret; because the connexion between them and the general march of
events was, as yet, but dimly perceived. To us, however, who, after this
interval of time, can examine the question with the resources of a
larger experience, it is obvious how such a system met the wants of an
age of which it was the exponent and the mouthpiece. That Helvétius must
have carried with him the sympathies of his countrymen, is clear, not
only from the evidence we have of his success, but also from a more
comprehensive view of the general complexion of those times. Even while
he was still pursuing his labours, and only four years before he
published them, a work appeared in France, which, though displaying
greater ability, and possessing a higher influence than that of
Helvétius, did, nevertheless, point in exactly the same direction. I
allude to the great metaphysical treatise by Condillac, in many respects
one of the most remarkable productions of the eighteenth century; and
the authority of which, during two generations, was so irresistible,
that, without some acquaintance with it, we cannot possibly understand
the nature of those complicated movements by which the French Revolution
was brought about.
In 1754,[1045] Condillac put forth his celebrated work on the mind; the
very title of which was a proof of the bias with which it was written.
Although this profound thinker aimed at nothing less than an exhaustive
analysis of the human faculties, and although he is pronounced by a very
able, but hostile critic, to be the only metaphysician France produced
during the eighteenth century,[1046] still he found it utterly
impossible to escape from those tendencies towards the external which
governed his own age. The consequence was, that he called his work a
'Treatise on Sensations;'[1047] and in it he peremptorily asserts, that
every thing we know is the result of sensation; by which he means the
effect produced on us by the action of the external world. Whatever may
be thought of the accuracy of this opinion, there can be no doubt that
it is enforced with a closeness and severity of reasoning which deserves
the highest praise. To examine, however, the arguments by which his view
is supported, would lead to a discussion foreign to my present object,
which is, merely to point out the relation between his philosophy and
the general temper of his contemporaries. Without, therefore, pretending
to anything like a critical examination of this celebrated book, I will
simply bring together the essential positions on which it is based, in
order to illustrate the harmony between it and the intellectual habits
of the age in which it appeared.[1048]
[1045] _Biog. Univ._ vol. ix. p. 399.
[1046] 'Condillac est le métaphysicien français du XVIII^e siècle.'
_Cousin_, _Hist. de la Philos._ I. série, vol. iii. p. 83.
[1047] 'Traité des Sensations,' which, as M. Cousin says, is, 'sans
comparaison, le chef-d'[oe]uvre de Condillac.' _Hist. de la
Philos._ II. série, vol. ii. p. 77.
[1048] On the immense influence of Condillac, compare _Renouard_, _Hist.
de la Médecine_, vol. ii. p. 355; _Cuvier_, _Eloges_, vol. iii.
p. 387; _Broussais_, _Cours de Phrénologie_, pp. 45, 68-71, 829;
_Pinel_, _Alién. Mentale_, p. 94; _Brown's Philos. of the Mind_,
p. 212.
The materials from which the philosophy of Condillac was originally
drawn, were contained in the great work published by Locke about sixty
years before this time. But though much of what was most essential was
borrowed from the English philosopher, there was one very important
point in which the disciple differed from his master. And this
difference is strikingly characteristic of the direction which the
French intellect was now taking. Locke, with some looseness of
expression, and possibly with some looseness of thought, had asserted
the separate existence of a power of reflection, and had maintained that
by means of that power the products of sensation became available.[1049]
Condillac, moved by the prevailing temper of his own time, would not
hear of such a distinction. He, like most of his contemporaries, was
jealous of any claim which increased the authority of the internal, and
weakened that of the external. He, therefore, altogether rejects the
faculty of reflection as a source of our ideas; and this partly because
it is but the channel through which ideas run from the senses, and
partly because in its origin it is itself a sensation.[1050] Therefore,
according to him, the only question is as to the way in which our
contact with nature supplies us with ideas. For in this scheme, the
faculties of man are solely caused by the operation of his senses. The
judgments which we form are, says Condillac, often ascribed to the hand
of the Deity; a convenient mode of reasoning, which has only arisen from
the difficulty of analyzing them.[1051] By considering how our judgments
actually arise, we can alone remove these obscurities. The fact is, that
the attention we give to an object is nothing but the sensation which
that object excites;[1052] and what we call abstract ideas are merely
different ways of being attentive.[1053] Ideas being thus generated, the
subsequent process is very simple. To attend to two ideas at the same
time, is to compare them; so that comparison is not a result of
attention, but is rather the attention itself.[1054] This at once gives
us the faculty of judging, because directly we institute a comparison,
we do of necessity form a judgment.[1055] Thus, too, memory is a
transformed sensation;[1056] while the imagination is nothing but
memory, which, being carried to its highest possible vivacity, makes
what is absent appear to be present.[1057] The impressions we receive
from the external world being, therefore, not the cause of our
faculties, but being the faculties themselves, the conclusion to which
we are driven is inevitable. It follows, says Condillac, that in man
nature is the beginning of all; that to nature we owe the whole of our
knowledge; that we only instruct ourselves according to her lessons; and
that the entire art of reasoning consists in continuing the work which
she has appointed us to perform.[1058]
[1049] Whether or not Locke held that reflection is an independent as
well as a separate faculty, is uncertain; because passages could
be quoted from his writings to prove either the affirmative or
the negative. Dr. Whewell justly remarks, that Locke uses the
word so vaguely as to 'allow his disciples to make of his
doctrines what they please.' _History of Moral Philosophy_,
1852, p. 71.
[1050] 'Locke distingue deux sources de nos idées, les sens et la
réflexion. Il seroit plus exact de n'en reconnoître qu'une, soit
parceque la réflexion n'est dans son principe que la sensation
même, soit parce qu'elle est moins la source des idées que le
canal par lequel elles découlent des sens.' _Condillac_, _Traité
des Sensations_, p. 13: see also, at pp. 19, 216, the way in
which sensation becomes reflection; and the summing up, at p.
416, 'que toutes nos connoissances viennent des sens, et
particulièrement du toucher.'
[1051] He says of Mallebranche (_Traité des Sensations_, p. 312), 'ne
pouvant comprendre comment nous formerions nous-mêmes ces
jugemens, il les attribue à Dieu; manière de raisonner fort
commode, et presque toujours la ressource des philosophes.'
[1052] 'Mais à peine j'arrête la vue sur un objet, que les sensations
particulières que j'en reçois sont l'attention même que je lui
donne.' _Traité des Sensations_, p. 16.
[1053] 'Ne sont que différentes manières d'être attentif.' p. 122.
[1054] 'Dès qu'il y a double attention, il y a comparaison; car être
attentif à deux idées ou les comparer, c'est la même chose.'
p. 17.
[1055] 'Dès qu'il y a comparaison, il y a jugement.' p. 65.
[1056] 'La mémoire n'est donc que la sensation transformée.' p. 17.
Compare p. 61.
[1057] 'L'imagination est la mémoire même, parvenue à toute la vivacité
dont elle est susceptible.' p. 78. 'Or j'ai appelé imagination
cette mémoire vive qui fait paroître présent ce qui est absent.'
p. 245.
[1058] 'Il résulte de cette vérité, que la nature commence tout en nous:
aussi ai-je démontré que, dans le principe ou dans le
commencement, nos connoissances sont uniquement son ouvrage, que
nous ne nous instruisons que d'après ses leçons, et que tout
l'art de raisonner consisté à continuer comme elle nous a fait
commencer.' p. 178.
It is so impossible to mistake the tendency of these views, that I need
not attempt to estimate their result otherwise than by measuring the
extent to which they were adopted. Indeed, the zeal with which they were
now carried into every department of knowledge, can only surprise those
who, being led by their habits of mind to study history in its separate
fragments, have not accustomed themselves to consider it as an united
whole, and who, therefore, do not perceive that in every great epoch
there is some one idea at work, which is more powerful than any other,
and which shapes the events of the time and determines their ultimate
issue. In France, during the latter half of the eighteenth century, this
idea was, the inferiority of the internal to the external. It was this
dangerous but plausible principle which drew the attention of men from
the church to the state; which was seen in Helvétius the most celebrated
of the French moralists, and in Condillac the most celebrated of the
French metaphysicians. It was this same principle which, by increasing,
if I may so say, the reputation of Nature, induced the ablest thinkers
to devote themselves to a study of her laws, and to abandon those other
pursuits which had been popular in the preceding age. In consequence of
this movement, such wonderful additions were made to every branch of
physical science, that more new truths concerning the external world
were discovered in France during the latter half of the eighteenth
century than during all the previous periods put together. The details
of these discoveries, so far as they have been subservient to the
general purposes of civilization, will be related in another place; at
present I will indicate only the most prominent, in order that the
reader may understand the course of the subsequent argument, and may see
the connexion between them and the French Revolution.
Taking a general view of the external world, we may say, that the three
most important forces by which the operations of nature are effected,
are heat, light, and electricity; including under this last magnetic and
galvanic phenomena. On all these subjects, the French, for the first
time, now exerted themselves with signal success. In regard to heat, not
only were the materials for subsequent induction collected with
indefatigable industry, but before that generation passed away, the
induction was actually made; for while the laws of its radiation were
worked out by Prevost,[1059] those of its conduction were established by
Fourier, who, just before the Revolution, employed himself in raising
thermotics to a science by the deductive application of that celebrated
mathematical theory which he contrived, and which still bears his
name.[1060] In regard to electricity, it is enough to notice, during the
same period, the important experiments of D'Alibard, followed by those
vast labours of Coulomb, which brought electrical phenomena under the
jurisdiction of the mathematics, and thus completed what [OE]pinus had
already prepared.[1061] As to the laws of light, those ideas were now
accumulating which rendered possible the great steps that, at the close
of the century, were taken by Malus, and still later by Fresnel.[1062]
Both of these eminent Frenchmen not only made important additions to
our knowledge of double refraction, but Malus discovered the
polarization of light, undoubtedly the most splendid contribution
received by optical science since the analysis of the solar rays.[1063]
It was also in consequence of this, that Fresnel began those profound
researches which placed on a solid basis that great undulatory theory of
which Hooke, Huygens, and above all Young, are to be deemed the
founders, and by which the corpuscular theory of Newton was finally
overthrown.[1064]
[1059] Compare _Powell on Radiant Heat_, p. 261, in _Second Rep. of
Brit. Assoc._; _Whewell's History of Sciences_, vol. ii. p. 526;
and his _Philosophy_, vol. i. pp. 339, 340. Prevost was
professor at Geneva; but his great views were followed up in
France by Dulong and Petit; and the celebrated theory of dew by
Dr. Wells is merely an application of them. _Herschel's Nat.
Philosophy_, pp. 163, 315, 316. Respecting the further
prosecution of these inquiries, and our present knowledge of
radiant heat, see _Liebig and Kopp's Reports_, vol. i. p. 79,
vol. iii. p. 30, vol. iv. p. 45.
[1060] On Fourier's mathematical theory of conduction, see _Comte_,
_Philos. Positive_, vol. i. pp. 142, 175, 345, 346, 351, vol.
ii. pp. 453, 551; _Prout's Bridgewater Treatise_, pp. 203, 204;
_Kelland on Heat_, p. 6, in _Brit. Assoc. for_ 1841; _Erman's
Siberia_, vol. i. p. 243; _Humboldt's Cosmos_, vol. i. p. 169;
_Hitchcock's Geology_, p. 198; _Pouillet_, _Elémens de
Physique_, ii. 696, 697.
[1061] Coulomb's memoirs on electricity and magnetism were published
from 1782 to 1789. _Fifth Report of Brit. Assoc._ p. 4. Compare
_Liebig and Kopp's Reports_, vol. iii. p. 128; and on his
relation to [OE]pinus, who wrote in 1759, see _Whewell's Induc.
Sciences_, vol. iii. pp. 24-26, 35, 36, and _Haüy_, _Traité de
Minéralogie_, vol. iii. p. 44, vol. iv. p. 14. There is a still
fuller account of what was effected by Coulomb in M. Pouillet's
able work, _Elémens de Physique_, vol. i. part ii. pp. 63-79,
130-135.
[1062] Fresnel belongs to the present century; but M. Biot says that the
researches of Malus began before the passage of the Rhine in
1797. _Biot's Life of Malus_, in _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxvi. p.
412.
[1063] _Pouillet_, _Elémens de Physique_, vol. ii. part ii. pp. 484,
514; _Report of Brit. Assoc. for 1832_, p. 314; _Leslie's Nat.
Philos._ p. 83; _Whewell's Hist. of Sciences_, vol. ii. pp.
408-410; _Philos. of Sciences_, vol. i. p. 350, vol. ii. p. 25;
_Herschel's Nat. Philos._ p. 258.
[1064] The struggle between these rival theories, and the ease with
which a man of such immense powers as Young was put down, and,
as it were, suppressed, by those ignorant pretenders who
presumed to criticize him, will be related in another part of
this work, as a valuable illustration of the history and habits
of the English mind. At present the controversy is finished, so
far as the advocates of emission are concerned; but there are
still difficulties on the other side, which should have
prevented Dr. Whewell from expressing himself with such extreme
positiveness on an unexhausted subject. This able writer says:
'The undulatory theory of light; the only discovery which can
stand by the side of the theory of universal gravitation, as a
doctrine belonging to the same order, for its generality, its
fertility, and its certainty.' _Whewell's Hist. of the Induc.
Sciences_, vol. ii. p. 425; see also p. 508.
Thus much as to the progress of French knowledge respecting those parts
of nature which are in themselves invisible, and of which we cannot tell
whether they have a material existence, or whether they are mere
conditions and properties of other bodies.[1065] The immense value of
these discoveries, as increasing the number of known truths, is
incontestable: but, at the same time, another class of discoveries was
made, which, dealing more palpably with the visible world, and being
also more easily understood, produced more immediate results, and, as I
shall presently show, exercised a remarkable influence in strengthening
that democratic tendency which accompanied the French Revolution. It is
impossible, within the limits I have assigned to myself, to give
anything like an adequate notion of the marvellous activity with which
the French now pushed their researches into every department of the
organic and inorganic world; still it is, I think, practicable to
compress into a few pages such a summary of the more salient points as
will afford the reader some idea of what was done by that generation of
great thinkers which flourished in France during the latter half of the
eighteenth century.
[1065] As to the supposed impossibility of conceiving the existence of
matter without properties which give rise to forces (note in
_Paget's Lectures on Pathology_, 1853, vol. i. p. 61), there are
two reasons which prevent me from attaching much weight to it.
First, a conception which, in one stage of knowledge, is called
impossible, becomes, in a later stage, perfectly easy, and so
natural as to be often termed necessary. Secondly, however
indissoluble the connexion may appear between force and matter,
it was not found fatal to the dynamical theory of Leibnitz; it
has not prevented other eminent thinkers from holding similar
views; and the arguments of Berkeley, though constantly
attacked, have never been refuted.
If we confine our view to the globe we inhabit, it must be allowed that
chemistry and geology are the two sciences which not only offer the
fairest promise, but already contain the largest generalizations. The
reason of this will become clear, if we attend to the ideas on which
these two great subjects are based. The idea of chemistry, is the study
of composition;[1066] the idea of geology, is the study of position. The
object of the first is, to learn the laws which govern the properties of
matter; the object of the second is, to learn the laws which govern its
locality. In chemistry, we experiment; in geology, we observe. In
chemistry, we deal with the molecular arrangement of the smallest
atoms;[1067] in geology, with the cosmological arrangement of the
largest masses. Hence it is that the chemist by his minuteness, and the
geologist by his grandeur, touch the two extremes of the material
universe; and, starting from these opposite points, have, as I could
easily prove, a constantly increasing tendency to bring under their own
authority sciences which have at present an independent existence, and
which, for the sake of a division of labour, it is still convenient to
study separately; though it must be the business of philosophy, properly
so called, to integrate them into a complete and effective whole. Indeed
it is obvious, that if we knew all the laws of the composition of
matter, and likewise all the laws of its position, we should likewise
know all the changes of which matter is capable spontaneously, that is,
when uninterrupted by the mind of man. Every phenomenon which any given
substance presents must be caused either by something taking place in
the substance, or else by something taking place out of it, but acting
upon it; while what occurs within must be explicable by its own
composition, and what occurs without must be due to its position in
relation to the objects by which it is affected. This is an exhaustive
statement of every possible contingency, and to one of these two classes
of laws every thing must be referrible; even those mysterious forces
which, whether they be emanations from matter, or whether they be merely
properties of matter, must in an ultimate analysis depend either on the
internal arrangement, or else on the external locality of their physical
antecedents. However convenient, therefore, it may be, in the present
state of our knowledge, to speak of vital principles, imponderable
fluids, and elastic æthers, such terms can only be provisional, and are
to be considered as mere names for that residue of unexplained facts,
which it will be the business of future ages to bring under
generalizations wide enough to cover and include the whole.
[1066] Every chemical decomposition being only a new form of
composition. _Robin et Verdeil_, _Chimie Anatomique_, vol. i.
pp. 455, 456, 498: 'de tout cela il résulte, que la dissolution
est un cas particulier des combinaisons.'
[1067] What is erroneously called the atomic theory, is, properly
speaking, an hypothesis, and not a theory: but hypothesis though
it be, it is by its aid that we wield the doctrine of definite
proportions, the corner stone of chemistry.
These ideas of composition and of position being thus the basis of all
natural science, it is not surprising that chemistry and geology, which
are their best, but still their insufficient representatives, should in
modern times have made more progress than any other of the great
branches of human knowledge. Although the chemists and geologists have
not yet risen to the full height of their respective subjects,[1068]
there are few things more curious than to note the way in which, during
the last two generations, they have been rapidly expanding their
views--encroaching on topics with which, at first sight, they appeared
to have no concern--making other branches of inquiry tributary to their
own--and collecting from every quarter that intellectual wealth which,
long hidden in obscure corners, had been wasted in the cultivation of
special and inferior pursuits. This, as being one of the great
intellectual characteristics of the present age, I shall hereafter
examine at considerable length; but what I have now to show is, that in
these two vast sciences, which, though still very imperfect, must
eventually be superior to all others, the first important steps were
made by Frenchmen during the latter half of the eighteenth century.
[1068] Many of them being still fettered, in geology, by the hypothesis
of catastrophes; in chemistry, by the hypothesis of vital
forces.
That we owe to France the existence of chemistry as a science, will be
admitted by everyone who uses the word science in the sense in which
alone it ought to be understood, namely, as a body of generalizations so
irrefragably true, that, though they may be subsequently covered by
higher generalizations, they cannot be overthrown by them; in other
words, generalizations which may be absorbed, but not refuted. In this
point of view, there are in the history of chemistry only three great
stages. The first stage was the destruction of the phlogistic theory,
and the establishment, upon its ruins, of the doctrines of oxidation,
combustion, and respiration. The second stage was the establishment of
the principle of definite proportions, and the application to it of the
atomic hypothesis. The third stage, above which we have not yet risen,
consists in the union of chemical and electrical laws, and in the
progress we are making towards fusing into one generalization their
separate phenomena. Which of these three stages was in its own age the
most valuable, is not now the question; but it is certain that the first
of them was the work of Lavoisier, by far the greatest of the French
chemists. Before him several important points had been cleared up by the
English chemists, whose experiments ascertained the existence of bodies
formerly unknown. The links, however, to connect the facts, were still
wanting; and until Lavoisier entered the field, there were no
generalizations wide enough to entitle chemistry to be called a science;
or, to speak more properly, the only large generalization commonly
received was that by Stahl, which the great Frenchman proved to be not
only imperfect, but altogether inaccurate. A notice of the vast
discoveries of Lavoisier will be found in many well-known books:[1069]
it is enough to say, that he not only worked out the laws of the
oxidation of bodies and of their combustion, but that he is the author
of the true theory of respiration, the purely chemical character of
which he first demonstrated; thus laying the foundation of those views
respecting the functions of food, which the German chemists subsequently
developed, and which, as I have proved in the second chapter of this
Introduction, may be applied to solve some great problems in the history
of Man. The merit of this was so obviously due to France, that though
the system now established was quickly adopted in other countries,[1070]
it received the name of the French chemistry.[1071] At the same time,
the old nomenclature being full of old errors, a new one was required,
and here again France took the initiative; since this great reformation
was begun by four of her most eminent chemists, who flourished only a
few years before the Revolution.[1072]
[1069] See, for instance, _Cuvier_, _Progrès des Sciences_, vol. i.
pp. 32-34, 40; _Liebig's Letters on Chemistry_, p. 282;
_Turner's Chemistry_, vol. i. pp. 184, 185; _Brande's
Chemistry_, vol. i. pp. lxxxv.-lxxxix. 302; _Thomson's Animal
Chemistry_, pp. 520, 634, and a great part of the second volume
of his _History of Chemistry_; also _Müller's Physiol._ vol. i.
pp. 90, 323.
[1070] According to Mr. Harcourt (_Brit. Assoc. Report for 1839_,
p. 10), Cavendish has this merit, so far as England is
concerned: 'He, first of all his contemporaries, did justice to
the rival theory recently proposed by Lavoisier.'
[1071] La chimie française. _Thomson's Hist. of Chemistry_, vol. ii.
pp. 101, 130. On the excitement caused by Lavoisier's views, see
a letter which Jefferson wrote in Paris, in 1789, printed partly
in _Tucker's Life of Jefferson_, vol. i. pp. 314, 315; and at
length in _Jefferson's Correspond._ vol. ii. pp. 453-455.
[1072] 'The first attempt to form a systematic chemical nomenclature was
made by Lavoisier, Berthollet, G. de Morveau, and Fourcroy, soon
after the discovery of oxygen gas.' _Turner's Chemistry_, vol.
i. p. 127. Cuvier (_Progrès des Sciences_, vol. i. p. 39) and
Robin et Verdeil (_Chimie Anatomique_, vol. i. pp. 602, 603)
ascribe the chief merit to De Morveau. Thomson says (_Hist. of
Chemistry_, vol. ii. p. 133): 'This new nomenclature very soon
made its way into every part of Europe, and became the common
language of chemists, in spite of the prejudices entertained
against it, and the opposition which it every where met with.'
While one division of the French thinkers was reducing to order the
apparent irregularities of chemical phenomena, another division of them
was performing precisely the same service for geology. The first step
towards popularizing this noble study was taken by Buffon, who, in the
middle of the eighteenth century, broached a geological theory, which,
though not quite original, excited attention by its eloquence, and by
the lofty speculations with which he connected it.[1073] This was
followed by the more special but still important labours of Rouelle,
Desmarest, Dolomieu, and Montlosier, who, in less than forty years,
effected a complete revolution in the ideas of Frenchmen, by
familiarizing them with the strange conception, that the surface of our
planet, even where it appears perfectly stable, is constantly undergoing
most extensive changes. It began to be understood, that this perpetual
flux takes place not only in those parts of nature which are obviously
feeble and evanescent, but also in those which seem to possess every
element of strength and permanence, such as the mountains of granite
which wall the globe, and are the shell and encasement in which it is
held. As soon as the mind became habituated to this notion of universal
change, the time was ripe for the appearance of some great thinker, who
should generalize the scattered observations, and form them into a
science, by connecting them with some other department of knowledge, of
which the laws, or, at all events, the empirical uniformities, had been
already ascertained.
[1073] The famous central heat of Buffon is often supposed to have been
taken from Leibnitz; but, though vaguely taught by the ancients,
the real founder of the doctrine appears to have been Descartes.
See _Bordas Demoulin_, _Cartésianisme_, Paris, 1843, vol. i. p.
312. There is an unsatisfactory note on this in _Prichard's
Physical Hist._ vol. i. p. 100. Compare _Experimental Hist. of
Cold_, tit. 17, in _Boyle's Works_, vol. ii. p. 308; _Brewster's
Life of Newton_, vol. ii. p. 100. On the central heat of the
Pythagoreans, see _Tennemann_, _Gesch. der Philos._ vol. i. p.
149; and as to the central fire mentioned in the so-called
Oracles of Zoroaster, see _Beausobre_, _Hist. de Manichée_, vol.
ii. p. 152. But the complete ignorance of the ancients
respecting geology made these views nothing but guesses. Compare
some sensible remarks in _Matter's Hist. de l'Ecole
d'Alexandrie_, vol. ii. p. 282.
It was at this point, and while the inquiries of geologists,
notwithstanding their value, were still crude and unsettled, that the
subject was taken up by Cuvier, one of the greatest naturalists Europe
has ever produced. A few others there are who have surpassed him in
depth; but in comprehensiveness it would be hard to find his superior;
and the immense range of his studies gave him a peculiar advantage in
surveying the operations and dependencies of the external world.[1074]
This remarkable man is unquestionably the founder of geology as a
science, since he is not only the first who saw the necessity of
bringing to bear upon it the generalizations of comparative anatomy, but
he is also the first who actually, executing this great idea, succeeded
in coördinating the study of the strata of the earth with the study of
the fossil animals found in them.[1075] Shortly before his researches
were published, many valuable facts had indeed been collected respecting
the separate strata; the primary formations being investigated by the
Germans, the secondary ones by the English.[1076] But these
observations, notwithstanding their merit, were isolated; and they
lacked that vast conception which gave unity and grandeur to the whole,
by connecting inquiries concerning the inorganic changes of the surface
of the globe with other inquiries concerning the organic changes of the
animals the surface contained.
[1074] This comprehensiveness of Cuvier is justly remarked by M.
Flourens as the leading characteristic of his mind. _Flourens_,
_Hist. des Travaux de Cuvier_, pp. 76, 142, 306: 'ce qui
caractérise partout M. Cuvier, c'est l'esprit vaste.'
[1075] Hence he is called by Mr. Owen, 'the founder of palæontological
science.' _Owen on Fossil Mammalia_, in _Report of Brit. Assoc.
for 1843_, p. 208. It was in 1796 that there were thus 'opened
to him entirely new views of the theory of the earth.' p. 209.
See also _Bakewell's Geology_, p. 368; and _Milne Edwards_,
_Zoologie_, part ii. p. 279. The importance of this step is
becoming more evident every year; and it has been justly
remarked, that without palæontology there would be, properly
speaking, no geology. _Balfour's Botany_, 1849, p. 591. Sir R.
Murchison (_Siluria_, 1854, p. 366) says, 'it is essentially the
study of organic remains which has led to the clear subdivision
of the vast mass of older rocks, which were there formerly
merged under the unmeaning term "Grauwacke."' In the same able
work, p. 465, we are told that, 'in surveying the whole series
of formations, the practical geologist is fully impressed with
the conviction that there has, at all periods, subsisted a very
intimate connexion between the existence, or, at all events, the
preservation of animals, and the media in which they have been
fossilized.' For an instance of this in the old red sandstone,
see p. 329.
[1076] _Whewell's Hist. of Sciences_, vol. iii. p. 679; _Lyell's Geol._
p. 59. Indeed gneiss received its name from the Germans.
_Bakewell's Geol._ p. 108.
How completely this immense step is due to France, is evident not only
from the part played by Cuvier, but also from the admitted fact, that to
the French we owe our knowledge respecting tertiary strata,[1077] in
which the organic remains are most numerous, and the general analogy to
our present state is most intimate.[1078] Another circumstance may
likewise be added, as pointing to the same conclusion. This is, that
the first application of the principles of comparative anatomy to the
study of fossil bones was also the work of a Frenchman, the celebrated
Daubenton. Hitherto these bones had been the object of stupid wonder;
some saying that they were rained from heaven, others saying that they
were the gigantic limbs of the ancient patriarchs, men who were believed
to be tall because they were known to be old.[1079] Such idle conceits
were for ever destroyed by Daubenton, in a Memoir he published in
1762;[1080] with which, however, we are not now concerned, except that
it is evidence of the state of the French mind, and is worth noting as a
precursor of the discoveries of Cuvier.
[1077] Compare _Conybeare's Report on Geology_, p. 371 (_Brit. Assoc.
for_ 1832), with _Bakewell's Geol._ pp. 367, 368, 419, and
_Lyell's Geol._ p. 59.
[1078] In the older half of the secondary rocks, mammals are hardly to
be found, and they do not become common until the tertiary.
_Murchison's Siluria_, pp. 466, 467; and _Strickland on
Ornithology_, p. 210 (_Brit. Assoc. for_ 1844). So, too, in the
vegetable kingdom, many of the plants in the tertiary strata
belong to genera still existing; but this is rarely the case
with the secondary strata; while in the primary strata, even the
families are different to those now found on the earth.
_Balfour's Botany_, pp. 592, 593. Compare Wilson's additions to
_Jussieu's Botany_, 1849, p. 746; and for further illustration
of this remarkable law of the relation between advancing time
and diminished similarity, a law suggesting the most curious
speculations, see _Hitchcock's Geology_, p. 21; _Lyell's
Geology_, p. 183; and _Owen's Lectures on the Invertebrata_,
1855, pp. 38, 576.
[1079] Mr. Geoffroy Saint Hilaire (_Anomalies de l'Organisation_,
vol. i. pp. 121-127) has collected some evidence respecting the
opinions formerly held on these subjects. Among other instances,
he mentions a learned man named Henrion, an academician, and, I
suppose, a theologian, who in 1718 published a work, in which
'il assignait à Adam cent vingt-trois pieds neuf pouces;' Noah
being twenty feet shorter, and so on. The bones of elephants
were sometimes taken for giants: see a pleasant circumstance in
_Cuvier_, _Hist. des Sciences_, part ii. p. 43.
[1080] 'Daubenton a le premier détruit toutes ces idées; il a le premier
appliqué l'anatomie comparée à la détermination de ces os.... Le
mémoire où Daubenton a tenté, pour la première fois, la solution
de ce problème important est de 1762.' _Flourens_, _Travaux de
Cuvier_, pp. 36, 37. Agassiz (_Report on Fossil Fishes_, p. 82,
_Brit. Assoc. for_ 1842) claims this merit too exclusively for
Cuvier, overlooking the earlier researches of Daubenton; and the
same mistake is made in _Hitchcock's Geol._ p. 249, and in
_Bakewell's Geol._ p. 384.
By this union of geology and anatomy, there was first introduced into
the study of nature a clear conception of the magnificent doctrine of
universal change; while at the same time there grew up by its side a
conception equally steady of the regularity with which the changes are
accomplished, and of the undeviating laws by which they are governed.
Similar ideas had no doubt been occasionally held in preceding ages; but
the great Frenchmen of the eighteenth century were the first who applied
them to the entire structure of the globe, and who thus prepared the way
for that still higher view for which their minds were not yet
ripe,[1081] but to which in our own time the most advanced thinkers are
rapidly rising. For it is now beginning to be understood, that since
every addition to knowledge affords fresh proof of the regularity with
which all the changes of nature are conducted, we are bound to believe
that the same regularity existed long before our little planet assumed
its present form, and long before man trod the surface of the earth. We
have the most abundant evidence that the movements incessantly occurring
in the material world have a character of uniformity; and this
uniformity is so clearly marked, that in astronomy, the most perfect of
all the sciences, we are able to predict events many years before they
actually happen; nor can any one doubt, that if on other subjects our
science were equally advanced, our predictions would be equally
accurate. It is, therefore, clear, that the burden of proof lies not on
those who assert the eternal regularity of nature, but rather on those
who deny it; and who set up an imaginary period, to which they assign an
imaginary catastrophe, during which they say new laws were introduced
and a new order established. Such gratuitous assumptions, even if they
eventually turn out to be true, are in the present state of knowledge
unwarrantable, and ought to be rejected, as the last remains of those
theological prejudices by which the march of every science has in its
turn been hindered. These and all analagous notions work a double
mischief. They are mischievous, because they cripple the human mind by
imposing limits to its inquiries; and above all they are mischievous,
because they weaken that vast conception of continuous and uninterrupted
law, which few indeed are able firmly to seize, but on which the highest
generalizations of future science must ultimately depend.
[1081] Even Cuvier held the doctrine of catastrophes; but, as Sir
Charles Lyell says (_Principles of Geology_, p. 60), his own
discoveries supplied the means of overthrowing it, and of
familiarizing us with the idea of continuity. Indeed it was one
of the fossil observations of Cuvier which first supplied the
link between reptiles, fishes, and cetaceous mammals. See _Owen
on Fossil Reptiles_, pp. 60, 198, _Brit. Assoc. for_ 1841; and
compare _Carus's Comparative Anatomy_, vol. i. p. 155. To this I
may add, that Cuvier unconsciously prepared the way for
disturbing the old dogma of fixity of species, though he himself
clung to it to the last. See some observations, which are very
remarkable, considering the period when they were written, in
_Cabanis_, _Rapports du Physique et du Moral_, pp. 427, 428:
conclusions drawn from Cuvier, which Cuvier would have himself
rejected.
It is this deep conviction, that changing phenomena have unchanging
laws, and that there are principles of order to which all apparent
disorder may be referred,--it is this, which, in the seventeenth
century, guided in a limited field Bacon, Descartes, and Newton; which
in the eighteenth century was applied to every part of the material
universe; and which it is the business of the nineteenth century to
extend to the history of the human intellect. This last department of
inquiry we owe chiefly to Germany; for, with the single exception of
Vico, no one even suspected the possibility of arriving at complete
generalizations respecting the progress of man, until shortly before the
French Revolution, when the great German thinkers began to cultivate
this, the highest and most difficult of all studies. But the French
themselves were too much occupied with physical science to pay attention
to such matters;[1082] and speaking generally, we may say that, in the
eighteenth century, each of the three leading nations of Europe had a
separate part to play. England diffused a love of freedom; France, a
knowledge of physical science; while Germany, aided in some degree by
Scotland, revived the study of metaphysics, and created the study of
philosophic history. To this classification some exceptions may of
course be made; but that these were the marked characteristics of the
three countries, is certain. After the death of Locke in 1704, and that
of Newton in 1727, there was in England a singular dearth of great
speculative thinkers; and this not because the ability was wanting, but
because it was turned partly into practical pursuits, partly into
political contests. I shall hereafter examine the causes of this
peculiarity, and endeavour to ascertain the extent to which it has
influenced the fortunes of the country. That the results were, on the
whole, beneficial, I entertain no doubt; but they were unquestionably
injurious to the progress of science, because they tended to divert it
from all new truths, except those likely to produce obvious and
practical benefit. The consequence was, that though the English made
several great discoveries, they did not possess, during seventy years, a
single man who took a really comprehensive view of the phenomena of
nature; not one who could be compared with those illustrious thinkers
who in France reformed every branch of physical knowledge. Nor was it
until more than two generations after the death of Newton, that the
first symptoms appeared of a remarkable reaction, which quickly
displayed itself in nearly every department of the national intellect.
In physics, it is enough to mention Dalton, Davy, and Young, each of
whom was in his own field the founder of a new epoch; while on other
subjects I can only just refer, first, to the influence of the Scotch
school; and, secondly, to that sudden and well-deserved admiration for
the German literature of which Coleridge was the principal exponent, and
which infused into the English mind a taste for generalizations higher
and more fearless than any hitherto known. The history of this vast
movement, which began early in the nineteenth century, will be traced
in the future volumes of this work: at present I merely notice it, as
illustrating the fact, that until the movement began, the English,
though superior to the French in several matters of extreme importance,
were for many years inferior to them in those large and philosophic
views, without which not only is the most patient industry of no avail,
but even real discoveries lose their proper value, for want of such
habits of generalization as would trace their connexion with each other,
and consolidate their severed fragments into one vast system of complete
and harmonious truth.
[1082] Neither Montesquieu nor Turgot appear to have believed in the
possibility of generalizing the past, so as to predict the
future; while as to Voltaire, the weakest point in his otherwise
profound view of history was his love of the old saying, that
great events spring from little causes; a singular error for so
comprehensive a mind, because it depended on confusing causes
with conditions. That a man like Voltaire should have committed
what now seems so gross a blunder, is a mortifying reflection
for those who are able to appreciate his vast and penetrating
genius, and it may teach the best of us a wholesome lesson. This
fallacy was avoided by Montesquieu and Turgot; and the former
writer, in particular, displayed such extraordinary ability,
that there can be little doubt, that had he lived at a later
period, and thus had the means of employing in their full extent
the resources of political economy and physical science, he
would have had the honour not only of laying the basis, but also
of rearing the structure of the philosophy of the history of
Man. As it was, he failed in conceiving what is the final object
of every scientific inquiry, namely, the power of foretelling
the future: and after his death, in 1755, all the finest
intellects in France, Voltaire alone excepted, concentrated
their attention upon the study of natural phenomena.
The interest attached to these inquiries has induced me to treat them at
greater length than I had intended; perhaps at greater length than is
suitable to the suggestive and preparatory character of this
Introduction. But the extraordinary success with which the French now
cultivated physical knowledge is so curious, on account of its connexion
with the Revolution, that I must mention a few more of its most
prominent instances: though, for the sake of brevity, I will confine
myself to those three great divisions which, when put together, form
what is called Natural History, and in all of which we shall see that
the most important steps were taken in France during the latter half of
the eighteenth century.
In the first of these divisions, namely, the department of zoology, we
owe to the Frenchmen of the eighteenth century those generalizations
which are still the highest this branch of knowledge has reached. Taking
zoology in the proper sense of the term, it consists only of two parts,
the anatomical part, which is its statics, and the physiological part,
which is its dynamics: the first referring to the structure of animals;
the other, to their functions.[1083] Both of these were worked out,
nearly at the same time, by Cuvier and Bichat; and the leading
conclusions at which they arrived, remain, after the lapse of sixty
years, undisturbed in their essential points. In 1795, Cuvier laid down
the great principle, that the study and classification of animals was to
be, not as heretofore, with a view to external peculiarities, but with a
view to internal organization; and that, therefore, no real advance
could be made in our knowledge except by extending the boundaries of
comparative anatomy.[1084] This step, simple as it now appears, was of
immense importance, since by it zoology was at once rescued from the
hands of the observer, and thrown into those of the experimenter: the
consequence of which has been the attainment of that precision and
accuracy of detail, which experiment alone can give, and which is every
way superior to such popular facts as observation supplies. By thus
indicating to naturalists the true path of inquiry, by accustoming them
to a close and severe method, and by teaching them to despise those
vague descriptions in which they had formerly delighted, Cuvier laid the
foundation of a progress which, during the last sixty years, has
surpassed the most sanguine expectations. This, then, is the real
service rendered by Cuvier, that he overthrew the artificial system
which the genius of Linnæus had raised up,[1085] and substituted in its
place that far superior scheme which gave the freest scope to future
inquiry; since, according to it, all systems are to be deemed imperfect
and provisional so long as any thing remains to be learned respecting
the comparative anatomy of the animal kingdom. The influence exercised
by this great view was increased by the extraordinary skill and industry
with which its proposer followed it out, and proved the practicability
of his own precepts. His additions to our knowledge of comparative
anatomy are probably more numerous than those made by any other man; but
what has gained him most celebrity is, the comprehensive spirit with
which he used what he acquired. Independently of other generalizations,
he is the author of that vast classification of the whole animal kingdom
into vertebrata, mollusca, articulata, and radiata;[1086] a
classification which keeps its ground, and is one of the most remarkable
instances of that large and philosophic spirit which France brought to
bear upon the phenomena of the material world.[1087]
[1083] The line of demarcation between anatomy as statical, and
physiology as dynamical, is clearly drawn by M. Comte (_Philos.
Positive_, vol. iii. p. 303) and by MM. Robin et Verdeil
(_Chimie Anatomique_, vol. i. pp. 11, 12, 40, 102, 188, 434).
What is said by Carus (_Comparative Anatomy_, vol. ii. p. 356)
and by Sir Benjamin Brodie (_Lectures on Pathology and Surgery_,
p. 6) comes nearly to the same thing, though expressed with less
precision. On the other hand, M. Milne Edwards (_Zoologie_, part
i. p. 9) calls physiology 'la science de la vie;' which, if
true, would simply prove that there is no physiology at all, for
there certainly is at present no science of life.
[1084] In his _Règne Animal_, vol. i. pp. vi. vii., he says that
preceding naturalists 'n'avaient guère considéré que les
rapports extérieurs de ces espèces, et personne ne s'était
occupé de coördonner les classes et les ordres d'après
l'ensemble de la structure.... Je dus donc, et cette obligation
me prit un temps considérable, je dus faire marcher de front
l'anatomie et la zoologie, les dissections et le classement....
Les premiers résultats de ce double travail parurent en 1795,
dans un mémoire spécial sur une nouvelle division des animaux à
sang blanc.'
[1085] On the opposition between the methods of Linnæus and of Cuvier,
see _Jenyns' Report on Zoology_, pp. 144, 145, in _Brit. Assoc.
for_ 1834.
[1086] The foundations of this celebrated arrangement was laid by
Cuvier, in a paper read in 1795. _Whewell's History of the
Induc. Sciences_, vol. iii. p. 494. It appears, however
(_Flourens_, _Travaux de Cuvier_, pp. 69, 70), that it was in,
or just after, 1791, that the dissection of some mollusca
suggested to him the idea of reforming the classification of the
whole animal kingdom. Compare _Cuvier_, _Règne Animal_, vol. i.
pp. 51, 52 note.
[1087] The only formidable opposition made to Cuvier's arrangement has
proceeded from the advocates of the doctrine of circular
progression: a remarkable theory, of which Lamarck and Macleay
are the real originators, and which is certainly supported by a
considerable amount of evidence. Still, among the great majority
of competent zoologists, the fourfold division holds its ground,
although the constantly-increasing accuracy of microscopical
observations has detected a nervous system much lower in the
scale than was formerly suspected, and has thereby induced some
anatomists to divide the radiata into acrita and nematoneura.
_Owen's Invertebrata_, 1855, pp. 14, 15; and _Rymer Jones's
Animal Kingdom_, 1855, p. 4. As, however, it seems probable that
all animals have a distinct nervous system, this subdivision is
only provisional; and it is very likely that when our
microscopes are more improved, we shall have to return to
Cuvier's arrangement. Some of Cuvier's successors have removed
the apodous echinoderms from the radiata; but in this Mr. Rymer
Jones (_Animal Kingdom_, p. 211) vindicates the Cuverian
classification.
Great, however, as is the name of Cuvier, a greater still remains
behind. I allude, of course, to Bichat, whose reputation is steadily
increasing as our knowledge advances, and who, if we compare the
shortness of his life with the reach and depth of his views, must be
pronounced the most profound thinker and the most consummate observer by
whom the organization of the animal frame has yet been studied.[1088] He
wanted, indeed, that comprehensive knowledge for which Cuvier was
remarkable; but though, on this account, his generalizations were drawn
from a smaller surface, they were, on the other hand, less provisional:
they were, I think, more complete, and certainly they dealt with more
momentous topics. For the attention of Bichat was preëminently directed
to the human frame[1089] in the largest sense of the word; his object
being so to investigate the organization of man, as to rise, if
possible, to some knowledge concerning the causes and nature of life. In
this magnificent enterprise, considered as a whole, he failed; but what
he effected in certain parts of it is so extraordinary, and has given
such an impetus to some of the highest branches of inquiry, that I will
briefly indicate his method, in order to compare it with that other
method which, at the same moment, Cuvier adopted with immense success.
[1088] We may except Aristotle; but between Aristotle and Bichat I can
find no middle man.
[1089] But not exclusively. Mr. Blainville (_Physiol. comparée_, vol.
ii. p. 304) says, 'celui qui, comme Bichat, bornait ses études à
l'anatomie humaine;' and at p. 350, 'quand on ne considère que
ce qui se passe chez l'homme, ainsi que l'a fait Bichat.' This,
however, is much too positively stated. Bichat mentions 'les
expériences nombreuses que j'ai faites sur les animaux vivans.'
_Bichat_, _Anatomie Générale_, vol. i. p. 332; and for other
instances of his experiments on animals below man, see the same
work, vol. i. pp. 164, 284, 311, 312, 326, vol. ii. pp. 13, 25,
69, 73, 107, 133, 135, 225, 264, 423, vol. iii. pp. 151, 218,
242, 262, 363, 364, 400, 478, 501, vol. iv. pp. 27, 28, 34, 46,
229, 247, 471: see also _Bichat_, _Recherches sur la Vie_, pp.
262, 265, 277, 312, 336, 356, 358, 360, 368, 384, 400, 411, 439,
455, 476, 482, 494, 512: and his _Traité des Membranes_, pp. 48,
64, 67, 130, 158, 196, 201, 224. These are all experiments on
inferior animals, which aided this great physiologist in
establishing those vast generalizations, which, though applied
to man, were by no means collected merely from human anatomy.
The impossibility of understanding physiology without studying
comparative anatomy, is well pointed out in Mr. Rymer Jones's
work, _Organization of the Animal Kingdom_, 1855, pp. 601, 791.
The important step taken by Cuvier was, that he insisted on the
necessity of a comprehensive study of the organs of animals, instead of
following the old plan of merely describing their habits and external
peculiarities. This was a vast improvement, since, in the place of loose
and popular observations, he substituted direct experiment, and hence
introduced into zoology a precision formerly unknown.[1090] But Bichat,
with a still keener insight, saw that even this was not enough. He saw
that, each organ being composed of different tissues, it was requisite
to study the tissues themselves, before we could learn the way in which,
by their combinations, the organs are produced. This, like all really
great ideas, was not entirely struck out by a single man; for the
physiological value of the tissues had been recognized by three or four
of the immediate predecessors of Bichat, such as Carmichael, Smyth,
Bonn, Bordeu, and Fallopius. These inquirers, however, notwithstanding
their industry, had effected nothing of much moment, since, though they
collected several special facts, there was in their observations that
want of harmony and that general incompleteness always characteristic of
the labours of men who do not rise to a commanding view of the subject
with which they deal.[1091]
[1090] Mr. Swainson (_Geography and Classification of Animals_, p. 170)
complains, strangely enough, that Cuvier 'rejects the more plain
and obvious characters which every one can see, and which had
been so happily employed by Linnæus, and makes the differences
between these groups to depend upon circumstances which no one
but an anatomist can understand.' See also p. 173: 'characters
which, however good, are not always comprehensible, except to
the anatomist.' (Compare _Hodgson on the Ornithology of Nepal_,
in _Asiatic Researches_, vol. xix. p. 179, Calcutta, 1836.) In
other words, this is a complaint that Cuvier attempted to raise
zoology to a science, and, therefore, of course, deprived it of
some of its popular attractions, in order to invest it with
other attractions of a far higher character. The errors
introduced into the natural sciences by relying upon observation
instead of experiment, have been noticed by many writers; and by
none more judiciously than M. Saint Hilaire in his _Anomalies de
l'Organisation_, vol. i. p. 98.
[1091] It is very doubtful if Bichat was acquainted with the works of
Smyth, Bonn, or Fallopius, and I do not remember that he any
where even mentions their names. He had, however, certainly
studied Bordeu; but I suspect that the author by whom he was
most influenced was Pinel, whose pathological generalizations
were put forward just about the time when Bichat began to write.
Compare _Bichat_, _Traité des Membranes_, pp. 3, 4, 107, 191;
_Béclard_, _Anat. Gén._ pp. 65, 66; _Bouillaud_, _Philos.
Médicale_, p. 26; _Blainville_, _Physiol. comparée_, vol. i. p.
284, vol. ii. pp. 19, 252; _Henle_, _Anat. Gén._ vol. i.
pp. 119, 120.
It was under these circumstances that Bichat began those researches,
which, looking at their actual and still more at their prospective
results, are probably the most valuable contribution ever made to
physiology by a single mind. In 1801, only a year before his
death,[1092] he published his great work on anatomy, in which the study
of the organs is made altogether subservient to the study of the tissues
composing them. He lays it down, that the body of man consists of
twenty-one distinct tissues, all of which, though essentially different,
have in common the two great properties of extensibility and
contractility.[1093] These tissues he, with indefatigable
industry,[1094] subjected to every sort of examination; he examined
them in different ages and diseases, with a view to ascertain the laws
of their normal and pathological development.[1095] He studied the way
each tissue is affected by moisture, air, and temperature; also the way
in which their properties are altered by various chemical
substances,[1096] and even their effect on the taste.[1097] By these
means, and by many other experiments tending in the same direction, he
took so great and sudden a step, that he is to be regarded not merely as
an innovator on an old science, but rather as the creator of a new
one.[1098] And although subsequent observers have corrected some of his
conclusions, this has only been done by following his method; the value
of which is now so generally recognized, that it is adopted by nearly
all the best anatomists, who, differing in other points, are agreed as
to the necessity of basing the future progress of anatomy on a knowledge
of the tissues, the supreme importance of which Bichat was the first to
perceive.[1099]
[1092] _Biog. Univ._ vol. iv. pp. 468, 469.
[1093] For a list of the tissues, see _Bichat_, _Anat. Gén._ vol. i.
p. 49. At p. 50 he says, 'en effet, quel que soit le point de
vue sous lequel on considère ces tissus, ils ne se ressemblent
nullement: c'est la nature, et non la science, qui a tiré une
ligne de démarcation entre eux.' There is, however, now reason
to think, that both animal and vegetable tissues are, in all
their varieties, referrible to a cellular origin. This great
view, which M. Schwann principally worked out, will, if fully
established, be the largest generalization we possess respecting
the organic world, and it would be difficult to overrate its
value. Still there is danger lest, in prematurely reaching at so
vast a law, we should neglect the subordinate, but
strongly-marked differences between the tissues as they actually
exist. Burdach (_Traité de Physiologie_, vol. vi. pp. 195, 196)
has made some good remarks on the confusion introduced into the
study of tissues, by neglecting those salient characteristics
which were indicated by Bichat.
[1094] Pinel says, 'dans on seul hiver il ouvrit plus de six cents
cadavres.' _Notice sur Bichat_, p. xiii., in vol. i of _Anat.
Gén._ By such enormous labour, and by working day and night in a
necessarily polluted atmosphere, he laid the foundation for that
diseased habit which caused a slight accident to prove fatal,
and carried him off at the age of thirty-one. 'L'esprit a peine
à concevoir que la vie d'un seul homme puisse suffire à tant de
travaux, à tant de découvertes, faites ou indiquées: Bichat est
mort avant d'avoir accompli sa trente-deuxième année!' _Pinel_,
p. xvi.
[1095] To this sort of comparative anatomy (if it may be so called),
which before his time scarcely existed, Bichat attached great
importance, and clearly saw that it would eventually become of
the utmost value for pathology. _Anat. Gén._ vol. i. pp. 331,
332, vol. ii. pp. 234-241, vol. iv. p. 417, &c. Unfortunately
these investigations were not properly followed up by his
immediate successors; and Müller, writing long after his death,
was obliged to refer chiefly to Bichat for 'the true principles
of general pathology.' _Müller's Physiology_, 1840, vol. i. p.
808. M. Vogel too, in his _Pathological Anatomy_, 1847, pp. 398,
413, notices the error committed by the earlier pathologists, in
looking at changes in the organs, and neglecting those in the
tissues; and the same remark is made in _Robin et Verdeil_,
_Chimie Anatomique_, 1853, vol. i. p. 45; and in _Henle_,
_Traité d'Anatomie_, vol. i. p. vii., Paris, 1843. That
'structural anatomy,' and 'structural development,' are to be
made the foundations of pathology, is, moreover, observed in
_Simon's Pathology_, 1850, p. 115 (compare _Williams's
Principles of Medicine_, 1848, p. 67), who ascribes the chief
merit of this 'rational pathology' to Henle and Schwann:
omitting to mention that they only executed Bichat's scheme and
(be it said with every respect for these eminent men) executed
it with a comprehensiveness much inferior to that displayed by
their great predecessor. In _Broussais_, _Examen des Doctrines
Médicales_, vol. iv. pp. 106, 107, there are some just and
liberal observations on the immense service which Bichat
rendered to pathology. See also _Béclard_, _Anatomie_, Paris,
1852, p. 184.
[1096] _Bichat_, _Anat. Gén._ vol. i. pp. 51, 160, 161, 259, 372, vol.
ii. pp. 47, 448, 449, vol. iii. pp. 33, 168, 208, 309, 406, 435,
vol. iv. pp. 21, 52, 455-461, 517.
[1097] According to M. Comte (_Philos. Pos._ vol. iii. p. 319), no one
had thought of this before Bichat. MM. Robin et Verdeil, in
their recent great work, fully admit the necessity of employing
this singular resource. _Chimie Anatomique_, 1853, vol. i.
pp. 18, 125, 182, 357, 531.
[1098] 'Dès-lors il créa une science nouvelle, l'anatomie générale.'
_Pinel sur Bichat_, p. xii. 'A Bichat appartient véritablement
la gloire d'avoir conçu et surtout exécuté, le premier, le plan
d'une anatomie nouvelle.' _Bouillaud_, _Philos. Médicale_, p.
27. 'Bichat fut le créateur de l'histologie en assignant des
caractères précis à chaque classe de tissus.' _Burdach_,
_Physiologie_, vol. vii. p. 111. 'Le créateur de l'anatomie
générale fut Bichat.' _Henle_, _Anatomie_, vol. i. p. 120.
Similar remarks will be found in _Saint-Hilaire_, _Anomalies de
l'Organisation_, vol. i. p. 10; and in _Robin et Verdeil_,
_Chimie Anat._ vol. i. p. xviii., vol. iii. p. 405.
[1099] In _Béclard_, _Anat. Gén. 1852_, p. 61, it is said that 'la
recherche de ces tissus élémentaires, ou éléments organiques,
est devenue la préoccupation presque exclusive des anatomistes
de nos jours.' Compare _Blainville_, _Physiol. Gén. et Comp._
vol. i. p. 93: 'Aujourd'hui nous allons plus avant, nous
pénétrons dans la structure intime, non seulement de ces
organes, mais encore des tissus qui concourent à leur
composition; nous faisons en un mot de la véritable anatomie, de
l'anatomie proprement dite.' And at p. 105: 'c'est un genre de
recherches qui a été cultivé avec beaucoup d'activité, et qui a
reçu une grande extension depuis la publication du bel ouvrage
de Bichat.' See also vol. ii. p. 303.
In consequence of this movement, there has sprung up, under the
name of _Degenerations of Tissues_, an entirely new branch of
morbid anatomy, of which, I believe, no instance will be found
before the time of Bichat, but the value of which is now
recognized by most pathologists. Compare _Paget's Surgical
Pathology_, vol. i. pp. 98-112; _Williams's Principles of
Medicine_, pp. 369-376; _Burdach's Physiologie_, vol. viii. p.
367; _Reports of Brit. Assoc._ vol. vi. p. 147; _Jones's and
Sieveking's Pathological Anatomy_, 1854, pp. 154-156, 302-304,
555-558. 'They are,' say these last writers, 'of extremely
frequent occurrence; but their nature has scarcely been
recognized until of late.'
The methods of Bichat and of Cuvier, when put together, exhaust the
actual resources of zoological science; so that all subsequent
naturalists have been compelled to follow one of these two schemes; that
is, either to follow Cuvier in comparing the organs of animals, or else
to follow Bichat in comparing the tissues which compose the
organs.[1100] And inasmuch as one comparison is chiefly suggestive of
function, and the other comparison of structure, it is evident, that to
raise the study of the animal world to the highest point of which it is
capable, both these great plans are necessary; but if we ask which of
the two plans, unaided by the other, is more likely to produce important
results, the palm must, I think, be yielded to that proposed by Bichat.
Certainly, if we look at the question as one to be decided by authority,
a majority of the most eminent anatomists and physiologists now incline
to the side of Bichat, rather than to that of Cuvier; while, as a matter
of history, it may be proved that the reputation of Bichat has, with the
advance of knowledge, increased more rapidly than that of his great
rival. What, however, appears to me still more decisive, is, that the
two most important discoveries made in our time respecting the
classification of animals, are entirely the result of the method which
Bichat suggested. The first discovery is that made by Agassiz, who, in
the course of his ichthyological researches, was led to perceive that
the arrangement by Cuvier according to organs, did not fulfil its
purpose in regard to fossil fishes, because in the lapse of ages the
characteristics of their structure were destroyed.[1101] He, therefore,
adopted the only other remaining plan, and studied the tissues, which,
being less complex than the organs, are oftener found intact. The result
was the very remarkable discovery, that the tegumentary membrane of
fishes is so intimately connected with their organization, that if the
whole of a fish has perished except this membrane, it is practicable, by
noting its characteristics, to reconstruct the animal in its most
essential parts. Of the value of this principle of harmony, some idea
may be formed from the circumstance, that on it Agassiz has based the
whole of that celebrated classification, of which he is the sole author,
and by which fossil ichthyology has for the first time assumed a precise
and definite shape.[1102]
[1100] Cuvier completely neglected the study of tissues; and in the very
few instances in which he mentions them, his language is
extremely vague. Thus, in his _Règne Animal_, vol. i. p. 12, he
says of living bodies, 'leur tissu est donc composé de réseaux
et de mailles, ou de fibres et de lames solides, qui renferment
des liquides dans leurs intervalles.'
[1101] A well-known ornithologist makes the same complaint respecting
the classification of birds. _Strickland on Ornithology_, _Brit.
Assoc. for_ 1844, pp. 209, 210. Even in regard to living
species, Cuvier (_Règne Animal_, vol. ii. p. 126) says: 'La
classe des poissons est de toutes celle qui offre le plus de
difficultés quand on veut la subdiviser en ordres d'après des
caractères fixes et sensibles.'
[1102] The discoveries of M. Agassiz are embodied in his great work,
_Recherches sur les Poissons fossiles_: but the reader who may
not have an opportunity of consulting that costly publication,
will find two essays by this eminent naturalist, which will give
an idea of his treatment of the subject, in _Reports of Brit.
Assoc. for 1842_, pp. 80-88, and for 1844, pp. 279-310. How
essential this study is to the geologist, appears from the
remark of Sir R. Murchison (_Siluria_, 1854, p. 417), that
'fossil fishes have everywhere proved the most exact
chronometers of the age of rocks.'
The other discovery, of which the application is much more extensive,
was made in exactly the same way. It consists of the striking fact, that
the teeth of each animal have a necessary connexion with the entire
organization of its frame; so that, within certain limits, we can
predict the organization by examining the tooth. This beautiful instance
of the regularity of the operations of nature was not known until more
than thirty years after the death of Bichat, and it is evidently due to
the prosecution of that method which he sedulously inculcated. For the
teeth never having been properly examined in regard to their separate
tissues, it was believed that they were essentially devoid of structure,
or, as some thought, were simply a fibrous texture.[1103] But by minute
microscopic investigations, it has been recently ascertained that the
tissues of the teeth are strictly analogous to those of other parts of
the body;[1104] and that the ivory, or dentine, as it is now
called,[1105] is highly organized; that it, as well as the enamel, is
cellular, and is, in fact, a development of the living pulp. This
discovery, which, to the philosophic anatomist, is pregnant with
meaning, was made about 1838; and though the preliminary steps were
taken by Purkinjé, Retzius, and Schwann, the principal merit is due to
Nasmyth and Owen,[1106] between whom it is disputed, but whose rival
claims we are not here called upon to adjust.[1107] What I wish to
observe is, that the discovery is similar to that which we owe to
Agassiz; similar in the method by which it was worked out, and also in
the results which have followed from it. Both are due to a recognition
of the fundamental maxim of Bichat, that the study of organs must be
subordinate to the study of tissues, and both have supplied the most
valuable aid to zoological classification. On this point, the service
rendered by Owen is incontestable, whatever may be thought of his
original claims. This eminent naturalist has, with immense industry,
applied the discovery to all vertebrate animals; and in an elaborate
work, specially devoted to the subject, he has placed beyond dispute the
astonishing fact, that the structure of a single tooth is a criterion of
the nature and organization of the species to which it belongs.[1108]
[1103] That they were composed of fibres, was the prevailing doctrine,
until the discovery of their tubes, in 1835, by Purkinjé. Before
Purkinjé, only one observer, Leeuwenh[oe]k, had announced their
tubular structure; but no one believed what he said, and
Purkinjé was unacquainted with his researches. Compare
_Nasmyth's Researches on the Teeth_, 1839, p. 159; _Owen's
Odontography_, 1840-1845, vol. i. pp. ix. x.; _Henle_, _Anat.
Gén._ vol. ii. p. 457; _Reports of Brit. Assoc._ vol. vii. pp.
135, 136 (_Transac. of Sections_).
[1104] Mr. Nasmyth, in his valuable, but, I regret to add, posthumous
work, notices, as the result of these discoveries, 'the close
affinity subsisting between the dental and other organized
tissues of the animal frame.' _Researches on the Development,
&c. of the Teeth_, 1849, p. 198. This is, properly speaking, a
continuation of Mr. Nasmyth's former book, which bore the same
title, and was published in 1839.
[1105] This name, which Mr. Owen appears to have first suggested, has
been objected to, though, as it seems to me, on insufficient
grounds. Compare _Owen's Odontography_, vol. i. p. iii., with
_Nasmyth's Researches_, 1849, pp. 3, 4. It is adopted in
_Carpenter's Human Physiol._ 1846, p. 154; and in _Jones and
Sieveking's Patholog. Anat._ 1854, pp. 483, 486.
[1106] See the correspondence in _Brit. Assoc. for_ 1841, Sec.,
pp. 2-23.
[1107] In the notice of it in _Whewell's Hist. of Sciences_, vol. iii.
p. 678, nothing is said about Mr. Nasmyth; while in that in
_Wilson's Human Anatomy_, p. 65, edit. 1851, nothing is said
about Mr. Owen. A specimen of the justice with which men treat
their contemporaries. Dr. Grant (_Supplement to Hooper's Medical
Dict._ 1848, p. 1390) says, 'the researches of Mr. Owen tend to
confirm those of Mr. Nasmyth.' Nasmyth, in his last work
(_Researches on the Teeth_, 1849, p. 81), only refers to Owen to
point out an error; while Owen (_Odontography_, vol. i.
pp. xlvi.-lvi.) treats Nasmyth as an impudent plagiarist.
[1108] Dr. Whewell (_Hist. of Induc. Sciences_, vol. iii. p. 678) says,
that 'he has carried into every part of the animal kingdom an
examination, founded upon this discovery, and has published the
results of this in his _Odontography_.' If this able, but rather
hasty writer, had read the _Odontography_, he would have found
that Mr. Owen, so far from carrying the examination 'into every
part of the animal kingdom,' distinctly confines himself to 'one
of the primary divisions of the animal kingdom' (I quote his own
words from _Odontography_, vol. i. p. lxvii.), and appears to
think, that below the vertebrata, the inquiry would furnish
little or no aid for the purposes of classification.
Whoever has reflected much on the different stages through which our
knowledge has successively passed, must, I think, be led to the
conclusion, that while fully recognizing the great merit of these
investigators of the animal frame, our highest admiration ought to be
reserved not for those who make the discoveries, but rather for those
who point out how the discoveries are to be made.[1109] When the true
path of inquiry has once been indicated, the rest is comparatively easy.
The beaten highway is always open; and the difficulty is, not to find
those who will travel the old road, but those who will make a fresh one.
Every age produces in abundance men of sagacity and of considerable
industry, who, while perfectly competent to increase the details of a
science, are unable to extend its distant boundaries. This is because
such extension must be accompanied by a new method,[1110] which, to be
valuable as well as new, supposes on the part of its suggester, not only
a complete mastery over the resources of his subject, but also the
possession of originality and comprehensiveness,--the two rarest forms
of human genius. In this consists the real difficulty of every great
pursuit. As soon as any department of knowledge has been generalized
into laws, it contains, either in itself or in its applications, three
distinct branches; namely, inventions, discoveries, and method. Of
these, the first corresponds to art; the second to science; and the
third to philosophy. In this scale, inventions have by far the lowest
place, and minds of the highest order are rarely occupied by them. Next
in the series come discoveries; and here the province of intellect
really begins, since here the first attempt is made to search after
truth on its own account, and to discard those practical considerations
to which inventions are of necessity referred. This is science properly
so called; and how difficult it is to reach this stage, is evident from
the fact, that all half-civilized nations have made many great
inventions, but no great discoveries. The highest, however, of all the
three stages, is the philosophy of method, which bears the same relation
to science that science bears to art. Of its immense, and indeed supreme
importance, the annals of knowledge supply abundant evidence; and for
want of it, some very great men have effected absolutely nothing,
consuming their lives in fruitless industry, not because their labour
was slack, but because their method was sterile. The progress of every
science is affected more by the scheme according to which it is
cultivated, than by the actual ability of the cultivators themselves. If
they who travel in an unknown country, spend their force in running on
the wrong road, they will miss the point at which they aim, and
perchance may faint and fall by the way. In that long and difficult
journey after truth, which the human mind has yet to perform, and of
which we in our generation can only see the distant prospect, it is
certain that success will depend not on the speed with which men hasten
in the path of inquiry, but rather on the skill with which that path is
selected for them by those great and comprehensive thinkers, who are as
the lawgivers and founders of knowledge; because they supply its
deficiencies, not by investigating particular difficulties, but by
establishing some large and sweeping innovation, which opens up a new
vein of thought, and creates fresh resources, which it is left for their
posterity to work out and apply.
[1109] But in comparing the merits of discoverers themselves, we must
praise him who proves rather than him who suggests. See some
sensible remarks in _Owen's Odontography_, vol. i. p. xlix.;
which, however, do not affect my observations on the superiority
of method.
[1110] By a new method of inquiring into a subject, I mean an
application to it of generalizations from some other subject, so
as to widen the field of thought. To call this a new method, is
rather vague; but there is no other word to express the process.
Properly speaking, there are only two methods, the inductive and
the deductive; which, though essentially different, are so mixed
together, as to make it impossible wholly to separate them. The
discussion of the real nature of this difference I reserve for
my comparison, in the next volume, of the German and American
civilizations.
It is from this point of view that we are to rate the value of Bichat,
whose works, like those of all men of the highest eminence,--like those
of Aristotle, Bacon, and Descartes,--mark an epoch in the history of the
human mind; and as such, can only be fairly estimated by connecting them
with the social and intellectual condition of the age in which they
appeared. This gives an importance and a meaning to the writings of
Bichat, of which few indeed are fully aware. The two greatest recent
discoveries respecting the classification of animals are, as we have
just seen, the result of his teaching; but his influence has produced
other effects still more momentous. He, aided by Cabanis, rendered to
physiology the incalculable service, of preventing it from participating
in that melancholy reaction to which France was exposed early in the
nineteenth century. This is too large a subject to discuss at present;
but I may mention, that when Napoleon, not from feelings of conviction,
but for selfish purposes of his own, attempted to restore the power of
ecclesiastical principles, the men of letters, with disgraceful
subserviency, fell into his view; and there began a marked decline in
that independent and innovating spirit, with which during fifty years
the French had cultivated the highest departments of knowledge. Hence
that metaphysical school arose, which, though professing to hold aloof
from theology, was intimately allied with it; and whose showy conceits
form, in their ephemeral splendour, a striking contrast to the severer
methods followed in the preceding generation.[1111] Against this
movement, the French physiologists have, as a body, always protested;
and it may be clearly proved that their opposition, which even the great
abilities of Cuvier were unable to win over, is partly due to the
impetus given by Bichat, in enforcing in his own pursuit the necessity
of rejecting those assumptions by which metaphysicians and theologians
seek to control every science. As an illustration of this I may mention
two facts worthy of note. The first is, that in England, where during a
considerable period the influence of Bichat was scarcely felt, many,
even of our eminent physiologists, have shown a marked disposition to
ally themselves with the reactionary party; and have not only opposed
such novelties as they could not immediately explain, but have degraded
their own noble science by making it a handmaid to serve the purposes of
natural theology. The other fact is, that in France the disciples of
Bichat have, with scarcely an exception, rejected the study of final
causes, to which the school of Cuvier still adheres: while as a natural
consequence, the followers of Bichat are associated in geology with the
doctrine of uniformity; in zoology, with that of the transmutation of
species; and in astronomy, with the nebular hypothesis: vast and
magnificent schemes, under whose shelter the human mind seeks an escape
from that dogma of interference, which the march of knowledge every
where reduces, and the existence of which is incompatible with those
conceptions of eternal order, towards which, during the last two
centuries, we have been constantly tending.
[1111] In literature and in theology, Chateaubriand and De Maistre were
certainly the most eloquent, and were probably the most
influential leaders of this reaction. Neither of them liked
induction, but preferred reasoning deductively from premises
which they assumed, and which they called first principles. De
Maistre, however, was a powerful dialectician, and on that
account his works are read by many who care nothing for the
gorgeous declamation of Chateaubriand. In metaphysics, a
precisely similar movement occurred; and Laromiguière, Royer
Collard, and Maine de Biran, founded that celebrated school
which culminated in M. Cousin, and which is equally
characterized by an ignorance of the philosophy of induction,
and by a want of sympathy with physical science.
These great phenomena, which the French intellect presents, and of which
I have only sketched a rapid outline, will be related with suitable
detail in the latter part of this work, when I shall examine the present
condition of the European mind, and endeavour to estimate its future
prospects. To complete, however, our appreciation of Bichat, it will be
necessary to take notice of what some consider the most valuable of all
his productions, in which he aimed at nothing less than an exhaustive
generalization of the functions of life. It appears, indeed, to me, that
in many important points Bichat here fell short; but the work itself
still stands alone, and is so striking an instance of the genius of the
author, that I will give a short account of its fundamental views.
Life considered as a whole has two distinct branches;[1112] one branch
being characteristic of animals, the other of vegetables. That which is
confined to animals is called animal life; that which is common both to
animals and vegetables is called organic life. While, therefore, plants
have only one life, man has two distinct lives, which are governed by
entirely different laws, and which, though intimately connected,
constantly oppose each other. In the organic life, man exists solely for
himself; in the animal life he comes in contact with others. The
functions of the first are purely internal, those of the second are
external. His organic life is limited to the double process of creation
and destruction: the creative process being that of assimilation, as
digestion, circulation, and nutrition; the destructive process being
that of excretion, such as exhalation and the like. This is what man has
in common with plants; and of this life he, when in a natural state, is
unconscious. But the characteristic of his animal life is consciousness,
since by it he is made capable of moving, of feeling, of judging. By
virtue of the first life he is merely a vegetable; by the addition of
the second he becomes an animal.
[1112] _Bichat_, _Recherches sur la Vie et la Mort_, pp. 5-9, 226; and
his _Anat. Gén._ vol. i. p. 72.
If now we look at the organs by which in man the functions of these two
lives are carried on, we shall be struck by the remarkable fact, that
the organs of his vegetable life are very irregular, those of his animal
life very symmetrical. His vegetative, or organic, life is conducted by
the stomach, the intestines, and the glandular system in general, such
as the liver and the pancreas; all of which are irregular, and admit of
the greatest variety of form and development, without their functions
being seriously disturbed. But in his animal life the organs are so
essentially symmetrical, that a very slight departure from the ordinary
type impairs their action.[1113] Not only the brain, but also the
organs of sense, as the eyes, the nose, the ears, are perfectly
symmetrical; and they as well as the other organs of animal life, as the
feet and hands, are double, presenting on each side of the body two
separate parts which correspond with each other, and produce a symmetry
unknown to our vegetative life, the organs of which are, for the most
part, merely single, as in the stomach, liver, pancreas, and
spleen.[1114]
[1113] 'C'est de là, sans doute, que naît cette autre différence entre
les organes des deux vies, savoir, que la nature se livre bien
plus rarement à des écarts de conformation dans la vie animale
que dans la vie organique.... C'est une remarque qui n'a pu
échapper à celui dont les dissections ont été un peu
multipliées, que les fréquentes variations de formes, de
grandeur, de position, de direction des organes internes, comme
la rate, le foie, l'estomac, les reins, les organes salivaires,
etc.... Jetons maintenant les yeux sur les organes de la vie
animale, sur les sens, les nerfs, le cerveau, les muscles
volontaires, le larynx; tout y est exact, précis, rigoureusement
déterminé dans la forme, la grandeur et la position. On n'y voit
presque jamais de variétés, de conformation; s'il en existe, les
fonctions sont troublées, anéanties; tandis qu'elles restent les
mêmes dans la vie organique, au milieu des altérations diverses
des parties.' _Bichat sur la Vie_, pp. 23-25. Part of this view
is corroborated by the evidence collected by Saint Hilaire
(_Anomalies de l'Organisation_, vol. i. pp. 248 seq.) of the
extraordinary aberrations to which the vegetative organs are
liable; and he mentions (vol. ii. p. 8) the case of a man, in
whose body, on dissection, 'on reconnut que tous les viscères
étaient transposés.' Comparative anatomy supplies another
illustration. The bodies of mollusca are less symmetrical than
those of articulata; and in the former, the 'vegetal series of
organs,' says Mr. Owen, are more developed than the animal
series; while in the articulata, 'the advance is most
conspicuous in the organs peculiar to animal life.' _Owen's
Invertebrata_, p. 470. Compare _Burdach's Physiologie_, vol. i.
pp. 153, 189; and a confirmation of the 'unsymmetrical' organs
of the gasterpoda, in _Grant's Comparative Anatomy_, p. 461.
This curious antagonism is still further seen in the
circumstance, that idiots, whose functions of nutrition and of
excretion are often very active, are at the same time remarkable
for a want of symmetry in the organs of sensation. _Esquirol_,
_Maladies Mentales_, vol. ii. pp. 331, 332.
A result, though perhaps an unconscious one, of the application
and extension of these ideas, is, that within the last few years
there has arisen a pathological theory of what are called
'symmetrical diseases,' the leading facts of which have been
long known, but are now only beginning to be generalized. See
_Paget's Pathology_, vol. i. pp. 18-22, vol. ii. pp. 244, 245;
_Simon's Pathology_, pp. 210, 211; _Carpenter's Human Physiol._
pp. 607, 608.
[1114] _Bichat sur la Vie_, pp. 15-21.
From this fundamental difference between the organs of the two lives,
there have arisen several other differences of great interest. Our
animal life being double, while our organic life is single, it becomes
possible for the former life to take rest, that is, stop part of its
functions for a time, and afterwards renew them. But in organic life, to
stop is to die. The life, which we have in common with vegetables, never
sleeps; and if its movements entirely cease only for a single instant,
they cease for ever. That process by which our bodies receive some
substances and give out others, admits of no interruption; it is, by its
nature, incessant, because, being single, it can never receive
supplementary aid. The other life we may refresh, not only in sleep, but
even when we are awake. Thus we can exercise the organs of movement
while we rest the organs of thought; and it is even possible to relieve
a function while we continue to employ it, because, our animal life
being double, we are able for a short time, in case of one of its parts
being fatigued, to avail ourselves of the corresponding part; using, for
instance, a single eye or a single arm, in order to rest the one which
circumstances may have exhausted; an expedient which the single nature
of organic life entirely prevents.[1115]
[1115] _Ibid._ pp. 21-50.
Our animal life being thus essentially intermittent, and our organic
life being essentially continuous,[1116] it has necessarily followed
that the first is capable of an improvement of which the second is
incapable. There can be no improvement without comparison, since it is
only by comparing one state with another that we can rectify previous
errors, and avoid future ones. Now, our organic life does not admit of
such comparison, because, being uninterrupted, it is not broken into
stages, but when unchequered by disease, runs on in dull monotony. On
the other hand, the functions of our animal life, such as thought,
speech, sight, and motion, cannot be long exercised without rest; and as
they are constantly suspended, it becomes practicable to compare them,
and, therefore, to improve them. It is by possessing this resource that
the first cry of the infant gradually rises into the perfect speech of
the man, and the unformed habits of early thought are ripened into that
maturity which nothing can give but a long series of successive
efforts.[1117] But our organic life, which we have in common with
vegetables, admits of no interruption, and consequently of no
improvement. It obeys its own laws; but it derives no benefit from that
repetition to which animal life is exclusively indebted. Its functions,
such as nutrition and the like, exist in man several months before he is
born, and while, his animal life not having yet begun, the faculty of
comparison, which is the basis of improvement, is impossible.[1118] And
although, as the human frame increases in size, its vegetative organs
become larger, it cannot be supposed that their functions really
improve, since, in ordinary cases, their duties are performed as
regularly and as completely in childhood as in middle age.[1119]
[1116] On intermittence as a quality of animal life, see _Holland's
Medical Notes_, pp. 313, 314, where Bichat is mentioned as its
great expounder. As to the essential continuity of organic life,
see _Burdach's Physiologie_, vol. vii. p. 420. M. Comte has made
some interesting remarks on Bichat's law of intermittence.
_Philos. Positive_, vol. iii. pp. 300, 395, 744, 745, 750, 751.
[1117] On the development arising from practice, see _Bichat sur la
Vie_, pp. 207-225.
[1118] _Ibid._ pp. 189-203, 225-230. M. Broussais also (in his able
work, _Cours de Phrénologie_, p. 487) says, that comparison only
begins after birth; but surely this must be very doubtful. Few
physiologists will deny that embryological phenomena, though
neglected by metaphysicians, play a great part in shaping the
future character; and I do not see how any system of psychology
can be complete which ignores considerations, probable in
themselves, and not refuted by special evidence. So carelessly,
however, has this subject been investigated, that we have the
most conflicting statements respecting even the _vagitus
uterinus_, which, if it exists to the extent alleged by some
physiologists, would be a decisive proof that animal life (in
the sense of Bichat) does begin during the f[oe]tal period.
Compare _Burdach_, _Physiol._ vol. iv. pp. 113, 114, with
_Wagner's Physiol._ p. 182.
[1119] 'Les organes internes qui entrent alors en exercice, ou qui
accroissent beaucoup leur action, n'ont besoin d'aucune
éducation; ils atteignent tout à coup une perfection à laquelle
ceux de la vie animale ne parviennent que par habitude d'agir
souvent.' _Bichat sur la Vie_, p. 231.
Thus it is, that although other causes conspire, it may be said that the
progressiveness of animal life is due to its intermittence; the
unprogressiveness of organic life to its continuity. It may, moreover,
be said, that the intermittence of the first life results from the
symmetry of its organs, while the continuity of the second life results
from their irregularity. To this wide and striking generalization, many
objections may be made, some of them apparently insuperable; but that it
contains the germs of great truths I entertain little doubt, and, at all
events, it is certain that the method cannot be too highly praised, for
it unites the study of function and structure with that of embryology,
of vegetable physiology, of the theory of comparison, and of the
influence of habit; a vast and magnificent field, which the genius of
Bichat was able to cover, but of which, since him, neither physiologists
nor metaphysicians have even attempted a general survey.
This stationary condition, during the present century, of a subject of
such intense interest, is a decisive proof of the extraordinary genius
of Bichat; since, notwithstanding the additions made to physiology, and
to every branch of physics connected with it, nothing has been done at
all comparable to that theory of life which he, with far inferior
resources, was able to construct. This stupendous work he left, indeed,
very imperfect; but even in its deficiencies we see the hand of the
great master, whom, on his own subject, no one has yet approached. His
essay on life may well be likened to those broken fragments of ancient
art, which, imperfect as they are, still bear the impress of the
inspiration which gave them birth, and present in each separate part
that unity of conception which to us makes them a complete and living
whole.
From the preceding summary of the progress of physical knowledge, the
reader may form some idea of the ability of those eminent men who arose
in France during the latter half of the eighteenth century. To complete
the picture, it is only necessary to examine what was done in the two
remaining branches of natural history, namely, botany and mineralogy, in
both of which the first great steps towards raising each study to a
science were taken by Frenchmen a few years before the Revolution.
In botany, although our knowledge of particular facts has, during the
last hundred years, rapidly increased,[1120] we are only possessed of
two generalizations wide enough to be called laws of nature. The first
generalization concerns the structure of plants; the other concerns
their physiology. That concerning their physiology is the beautiful
morphological law, according to which the different appearance of the
various organs arises from arrested development: the stamens, pistils,
corolla, calyx, and bracts being simple modifications or successive
stages of the leaf. This is one of many valuable discoveries we owe to
Germany; it being made by Göthe late in the eighteenth century.[1121]
With its importance every botanist is familiar; while to the historian
of the human mind it is peculiarly interesting, as strengthening that
great doctrine of development, towards which the highest branches of
knowledge are now hastening, and which, in the present century, has been
also carried into one of the most difficult departments of animal
physiology.[1122]
[1120] Dioscorides and Galen knew from 450 to 600 plants (_Winckler_,
_Geschichte der Botanik_, 1854, pp. 34, 40); but, according to
Cuvier (_Eloges_, vol. iii. p. 468), Linnæus, in 1778, 'en
indiquait environ huit mille espèces;' and Meyen (_Geog. of
Plants_, p. 4) says, at the time of Linnæus's death, 'about
8,000 species were known.' (Dr. Whewell, in his _Bridgewater
Treatise_, p. 247, says, 'about 10,000.') Since then the
progress has been uninterrupted; and in _Henslow's Botany_,
1837, p. 136, we are told that 'the number of species already
known and classified in works of botany amounts to about
60,000.' Ten years later, Dr. Lindley (_Vegetable Kingdom_,
1847, p. 800) states them at 92,930; and two years afterwards,
Mr. Balfour says 'about 100,000.' _Balfour's Botany_, 1849, p.
560. Such is the rate at which our knowledge of nature is
advancing. To complete this historical note, I ought to have
mentioned, that in 1812, Dr. Thomson says 'nearly 30,000 species
of plants have been examined and described.' _Thomson's Hist. of
the Royal Society_, p. 21.
[1121] It was published in 1790. _Winckler_, _Gesch. der Botanik_, p.
389. But the historians of botany have overlooked a short
passage in Göthe's works, which proves that he had glimpses of
the discovery in or before 1786. See _Italiänische Reise_, in
_Göthe's Werke_, vol. ii. part ii. p. 286, Stuttgart, 1837,
where he writes from Padua, in September 1786, 'Hier in dieser
neu mir entgegen tretenden Mannigfaltigkeit wird jener Gedanke
immer lebendiger: dass man sich alle Pflanzengestalten
vielleicht aus Einer entwickeln könne.' There are some
interesting remarks on this brilliant generalization in _Owen's
Parthenogenesis_, 1849, pp. 53 seq.
[1122] That is, into the study of animal monstrosities, which, however
capricious they may appear, are now understood to be the
necessary result of preceding events. Within the last thirty
years several of the laws of these unnatural births, as they
used to be called, have been discovered; and it has been proved
that, so far from being unnatural, they are strictly natural. A
fresh science has thus been created, under the name of
Teratology, which is destroying the old _lusus naturæ_ in one of
its last and favourite strongholds.
But the most comprehensive truth with which we are acquainted respecting
plants, is that which includes the whole of their general structure; and
this we learnt from those great Frenchmen who, in the latter half of the
eighteenth century, began to study the external world. The first steps
were taken directly after the middle of the century, by Adanson, Duhamel
de Monceau, and, above all, Desfontaines; three eminent thinkers, who
proved the practicability of a natural method hitherto unknown, and of
which even Ray himself had only a faint perception.[1123] This, by
weakening the influence of the artificial system of Linnæus,[1124]
prepared the way for an innovation more complete than has been effected
in any other branch of knowledge. In the very year in which the
Revolution occurred, Jussieu put forward a series of botanical
generalizations, of which the most important are all intimately
connected, and still remain the highest this department of inquiry has
reached.[1125] Among these, I need only mention the three vast
propositions which are now admitted to form the basis of vegetable
anatomy. The first is, that the vegetable kingdom, in its whole extent,
is composed of plants either with one cotyledon, or with two cotyledons,
or else with no cotyledon at all. The second proposition is, that this
classification, so far from being artificial, is strictly natural; since
it is a law of nature, that plants having one cotyledon are endogenous,
and grow by additions made to the centre of their stems, while, on the
other hand, plants having two cotyledons are exogenous, and are
compelled to grow by additions made, not to the centre of their stems,
but to the circumference.[1126] The third proposition is, that when
plants grow at their centre, the arrangement of the fruit and leaves is
threefold; when, however, they grow at the circumference, it is nearly
always fivefold.[1127]
[1123] Dr. Lindley (_Third Report of Brit. Assoc._ p. 33) says, that
Desfontaines was the first who demonstrated the opposite modes
of increase in dicotyledonous and monocotyledonous stems. See
also _Richard_, _Eléments de Botanique_, p. 131; and _Cuvier_,
_Eloges_, vol. i. p. 64. In regard to the steps taken by Adanson
and De Monceau, see _Winckler_, _Gesch. der Botanik_, pp. 204,
205; _Thomson's Chemistry of Vegetables_, p. 951; _Lindley's
Introduc. to Botany_, vol. ii. p. 132.
[1124] It is curious to observe how even good botanists clung to the
Linnæan system long after the superiority of a natural system
was proved. This is the more noticeable, because Linnæus, who
was a man of undoubted genius, and who possessed extraordinary
powers of combination, always allowed that his own system was
merely provisional, and that the great object to be attained was
a classification according to natural families. See _Winckler_,
_Geschichte der Botanik_, p. 202; and _Richard_, _Eléments de
Botanique_, p. 570. Indeed, what could be thought of the
permanent value of a scheme which put together the reed and the
barberry, because they were both hexandria; and forced sorrel to
associate with saffron, because both were trigynia? _Jussieu's
Botany_, 1849, p. 524.
[1125] _The Genera Plantarum_ of Antoine Jussieu was printed at Paris in
1789; and, though it is known to have been the result of many
years of continued labour, some writers have asserted that the
ideas in it were borrowed from his uncle, Bernard Jussieu. But
assertions of this kind rarely deserve attention; and as Bernard
did not choose to publish anything of his own, his reputation
ought to suffer for his uncommunicativeness. Compare _Winckler_,
_Gesch. der Botanik_, pp. 261-272, with _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxii.
pp. 162-166. I will only add the following remarks from a work
of authority, _Richard_, _Eléments de Botanique_, Paris, 1846,
p. 572: 'Mais ce ne fut qu'en 1789 que l'on eut véritablement un
ouvrage complet sur la méthode des familles naturelles. Le
_Genera Plantarum_ d'A. L. de Jussieu présenta la science des
végétaux sous un point de vue si nouveau, par la précision et
l'élégance qui y règnent, par la profondeur et la justesse des
principes généraux qui y sont exposés pour la première fois, que
c'est depuis cette époque seulement que la méthode des familles
naturelles a été véritablement créée, et que date la nouvelle
ère de la science des végétaux.... L'auteur du _Genera
Plantarum_ posa le premier les bases de la science, en faisant
voir quelle était l'importance relative des différents organes
entre eux, et par conséquent leur valeur dans la
classification.... Il a fait, selon la remarque de Cuvier, la
même révolution dans les sciences d'observation que la chimie de
Lavoisier dans les sciences d'expérience. En effet, il a non
seulement changé la face de la botanique; mais son influence
s'est également exercée sur les autres branches de l'histoire
naturelle, et y a introduit cet esprit de recherches, de
comparaison, et cette méthode philosophique et naturelle, vers
le perfectionnement de laquelle tendent désormais les efforts de
tous les naturalistes.'
[1126] Hence the removal of a great source of error; since it is now
understood that in dicotyledons alone can age be known with
certainty. _Henslow's Botany_, p. 243: compare _Richard_,
_Eléments de Botanique_, p. 159, aphorisme xxiv. On the stems of
endogenous plants, which, being mostly tropical, have been less
studied than the exogenous, see _Lindley's Botany_, vol. i. pp.
221-236; where there is also an account, pp. 229 seq., of the
views which Schleiden advanced on this subject in 1839.
[1127] On the arrangement of the leaves, now called phyllotaxis, see
_Balfour's Botany_, p. 92; _Burdach's Physiologie_, vol. v.
p. 518.
This is what was effected by the Frenchmen of the eighteenth century for
the vegetable kingdom:[1128] and if we now turn to the mineral kingdom,
we shall find that our obligations to them are equally great. The study
of minerals is the most imperfect of the three branches of natural
history, because, notwithstanding its apparent simplicity, and the
immense number of experiments which have been made, the true method of
investigation has not yet been ascertained; it being doubtful whether
mineralogy ought to be subordinated to the laws of chemistry, or to
those of crystallography, or whether both sets of laws will have to be
considered.[1129] At all events it is certain that, down to the present
time, chemistry has shown itself unable to reduce mineralogical
phenomena; nor has any chemist, possessing sufficient powers of
generalization, attempted the task except Berzelius; and most of his
conclusions were overthrown by the splendid discovery of isomorphism,
for which, as is well known, we are indebted to Mitscherlich, one of the
many great thinkers Germany has produced.[1130]
[1128] The classification by cotyledons has been so successful, that,
'with very few exceptions, however, nearly all plants may be
referred by any botanist, at a single glance, and with unerring
certainty, to their proper class; and a mere fragment even of
the stem, leaf, or some other part, is often quite sufficient to
enable him to decide this question.' _Henslow's Botany_, p. 30.
In regard to some difficulties still remaining in the way of the
threefold cotyledonous division of the whole vegetable world,
see _Lindley's Botany_, vol. ii. pp. 61 seq.
[1129] Mr. Swainson (_Study of Natural History_, p. 356) says
'mineralogy, indeed, which forms but a part of chemistry.' This
is deciding the question very rapidly; but in the meantime, what
becomes of the geometrical laws of minerals? and what are we to
do with that relation between their structure and optical
phenomena, which Sir David Brewster has worked out with signal
ability?
[1130] The difficulties introduced into the study of minerals by the
discovery of isomorphism and polymorphism, are no doubt
considerable; but M. Beudant (_Minéralogie_, Paris, 1841, p. 37)
seems to me to exaggerate their effect upon 'l'importance des
formes crystallines.' They are much more damaging to the purely
chemical arrangement, because our implements for measuring the
minute angles of crystals are still very imperfect, and the
goniometer may fail in detecting differences which really exist;
and, therefore, many alleged cases of isomorphism are probably
not so in reality. Wollaston's reflecting goniometer has been
long considered the best instrument possessed by
crystallographers; but I learn from _Liebig and Kopp's Reports_,
vol. i. pp. 19, 20, that Frankenheim has recently invented one
for measuring the angles of 'microscopic crystals.' On the
amount of error in the measurement of angles, see _Phillips's
Mineralogy_, 1837, p. viii.
Although the chemical department of mineralogy is in an unformed and
indeed anarchical condition, its other department, namely,
crystallography, has made great progress; and here again the earliest
steps were taken by two Frenchmen, who lived in the latter half of the
eighteenth century. About 1760, Romé De Lisle[1131] set the first
example of studying crystals, according to a scheme so large as to
include all the varieties of their primary forms, and to account for
their irregularities, and the apparent caprice with which they were
arranged. In this investigation he was guided by the fundamental
assumption, that what is called an irregularity, is in truth perfectly
regular, and that the operations of nature are invariable.[1132]
Scarcely had this great idea been applied to the almost innumerable
forms into which minerals crystallize, when it was followed up with
still larger resources by Haüy, another eminent Frenchman.[1133] This
remarkable man achieved a complete union between mineralogy and
geometry; and, bringing the laws of space to bear on the molecular
arrangements of matter, he was able to penetrate into the intimate
structure of crystals.[1134] By this means, he succeeded in proving that
the secondary forms of all crystals are derived from their primary forms
by a regular process of decrement;[1135] and that, when a substance is
passing from a liquid to a solid state, its particles are compelled to
cohere, according to a scheme which provides for every possible change,
since it includes even those subsequent layers which alter the ordinary
type of the crystal, by disturbing its natural symmetry.[1136] To
ascertain that such violations of symmetry are susceptible of
mathematical calculation, was to make a vast addition to our knowledge;
but what seems to me still more important is, that it indicates an
approach to the magnificent idea, that every thing which occurs is
regulated by law, and that confusion and disorder are impossible.[1137]
For, by proving that even the most uncouth and singular forms of
minerals are the natural results of their antecedents, Haüy laid the
foundation of what may be called the pathology of the inorganic world.
However paradoxical such a notion may seem, it is certain that symmetry
is to crystals what health is to animals; so that an irregularity of
shape in the first, corresponds with an appearance of disease in the
second.[1138] When, therefore, the minds of men became familiarized with
the great truth, that in the mineral kingdom there is, properly
speaking, no irregularity, it became more easy for them to grasp the
still higher truth, that the same principle holds good of the animal
kingdom, although, from the superior complexity of the phenomena, it
will be long before we can arrive at an equal demonstration. But, that
such a demonstration is possible, is the principle upon which the future
progress of all organic, and indeed of all mental science, depends. And
it is very observable, that the same generation which established the
fact, that the apparent aberrations presented by minerals are strictly
regular, also took the first steps towards establishing the far higher
fact, that the aberrations of the human mind are governed by laws as
unfailing as those which determine the condition of inert matter. The
examination of this would lead to a digression foreign to my present
design; but I may mention that, at the end of the century, there was
written in France the celebrated treatise on insanity, by Pinel; a work
remarkable in many respects, but chiefly in this, that in it the old
notions respecting the mysterious and inscrutable character of mental
disease are altogether discarded:[1139] the disease itself is considered
as a phenomenon inevitably occurring under certain given conditions, and
the foundation laid for supplying another link in that vast chain of
evidence which connects the material with the immaterial, and thus
uniting mind and matter into a single study, is now preparing the way
for some generalization, which, being common to both, shall serve as a
centre round which the disjointed fragments of our knowledge may safely
rally.
[1131] He says, 'depuis plus de vingt ans que je m'occupe de cet objet.'
_Romé de Lisle_, _Cristallographie, ou Description des Formes
propres à tous les Corps du Règne Minéral_, Paris, 1783, vol. i.
p. 91.
[1132] See his _Essai de Cristallographie_, Paris, 1772, p. x.: 'un de
ceux qui m'a le plus frappé ce sont les formes régulières et
constantes que prennent naturellement certains corps que nous
désignons par le nom de cristaux.' In the same work, p. 13: 'il
faut nécessairement supposer que les molécules intégrantes des
corps ont chacune, suivant qui lui est propre, une figure
constante et déterminée.' In his later treatise
(_Cristallographie_, 1783, vol. i. p. 70), after giving some
instances of the extraordinary complications presented by
minerals, he adds: 'Il n'est donc pas étonnant que d'habiles
chimistes n'aient rien vu de constant ni de déterminé dans les
formes cristallines, tandis qu'il n'en est aucune qu'on ne
puisse, avec un peu d'attention rapporter à la figure
élémentaire et primordiale dont elle dérive.' Even Buffon,
notwithstanding his fine perception of law, had just declared,
'qu'en général la forme de cristallisation n'est pas un
caractère constant, mais plus équivoque et plus variable
qu'aucun autre des caractères par lesquels on doit distinguer
les minéraux.' _De Lisle_, vol. i. p. xviii. Compare, on this
great achievement of De Lisle's, _Herschel's Nat. Philos._ p.
239: 'he first ascertained the important fact of the constancy
of the angles at which their faces meet.'
[1133] The first work of Haüy appeared in 1784 (_Quérard_, _France
Littéraire_, vol. iv. p. 41); but he had read two special
memoirs in 1781. _Cuvier_, _Eloges_, vol. iii. p. 138. The
intellectual relation between his views and those of his
predecessor must be obvious to every mineralogist; but Dr.
Whewell, who has noticed this judiciously enough, adds (_Hist.
of the Induc. Sciences_, vol. iii. pp. 229, 230): 'Unfortunately
Romé de Lisle and Haüy were not only rivals, but in some measure
enemies.... Haüy revenged himself by rarely mentioning Romé in
his works, though it was manifest that his obligations to him
were immense; and by recording his errors while he corrected
them.' The truth, however, is, that so far from rarely
mentioning De Lisle, he mentions him incessantly; and I have
counted upwards of three hundred instances in Haüy's great work,
in which he is named, and his writings are referred to. On one
occasion he says of De Lisle, 'En un mot, sa cristallographie
est le fruit d'un travail immense par son étendue, presque
entièrement neuf par son objet, et très-précieux par son
utilité.' _Haüy_, _Traité de Minéralogie_, Paris, 1801, vol. i.
p. 17. Elsewhere he calls him, 'cet habile naturaliste; ce
savant célèbre,' vol. ii. p. 323; 'ce célèbre naturaliste,' vol.
iii. p. 442; see also vol. iv. pp. 51, &c. In a work of so much
merit as Dr. Whewell's, it is important that these errors should
be indicated, because we have no other book of value on the
general history of the sciences; and many authors have deceived
themselves and their readers, by implicitly adopting the
statements of this able and industrious writer. I would
particularly caution the student in regard to the physiological
part of Dr. Whewell's History, where, for instance, the
antagonism between the methods of Cuvier and Bichat is entirely
lost sight of, and while whole pages are devoted to Cuvier,
Bichat is disposed of in four lines.
[1134] 'Haüy est donc le seul véritable auteur de la science
mathématique des cristaux.' _Cuvier_, _Progrès des Sciences_,
vol. i. p. 8; see also p. 317. Dr. Clarke, whose celebrated
lectures on mineralogy excited much attention among his hearers,
was indebted for some of his principal views to his
conversations with Haüy: see _Otter's Life of Clarke_, vol. ii.
p. 192.
[1135] See an admirable statement of the three forms of decrement, in
_Haüy_, _Traité de Minéralogie_, vol. i. pp. 285, 286. Compare
_Whewell's Hist. of the Induc. Sciences_, vol. iii. pp. 224,
225; who, however, does not mention Haüy's classification of
'décroissemens sur les bords,' 'décroissemens sur les angles,'
and 'décroissemens intermédiaires.'
[1136] And, as he clearly saw, the proper method was to study the laws
of symmetry, and then apply them deductively to minerals,
instead of rising inductively from the aberrations actually
presented by minerals. This is interesting to observe, because
it is analogous to the method of the best pathologists, who seek
the philosophy of their subject in physiological phenomena,
rather than in pathological ones; striking downwards from the
normal to the abnormal. '_La symétrie des formes_ sous
lesquelles se présentent les solides que nous avons considérés
jusqu'ici, _nous a fourni des données_ pour exprimer les lois de
décroissemens dont ces solides sont susceptibles.' _Haüy_,
_Traité de Minéralogie_, vol. i. p. 442; compare vol. ii.
p. 192.
[1137] 'Un coup d'[oe]il peu attentif, jeté sur les cristaux, les fit
appeler d'abord de _purs jeux de la nature_, ce qui n'étoit
qu'une manière plus élégante de faire l'aveu de son ignorance.
Un examen réfléchi nous y découvre des lois d'arrangement, à
l'aide desquelles le calcul représente et enchaîne l'un à
l'autre les résultats observés; lois si variables et en même
temps si précises et si régulières; ordinairement très-simples,
sans rien perdre de leur fécondité.' _Haüy_, _Minéralogie_, vol.
i. pp. xiii. xiv. Again, vol. ii. p. 57, 'notre but, qui est de
prouver que les lois d'où dépend la structure du cristal sont
les plus simples possibles dans leur ensemble.'
[1138] On the remarkable power possessed by crystals, in common with
animals, of repairing their own injuries, see _Paget's
Pathology_, 1853, vol. i. pp. 152, 153, confirming the
experiments of Jordan on this curious subject: 'The ability to
repair the damages sustained by injury ... is not an exclusive
property of living beings; for even crystals will repair
themselves when, after pieces have been broken from them, they
are placed in the same conditions in which they were first
formed.'
[1139] 'M. Pinel a imprimé une marche nouvelle à l'étude de la folie....
En la rangeant simplement, et sans différences aucunes, au
nombre des autres dérangemens de nos organes, en lui assignant
une place dans le cadre nosographique, il fit faire un pas
immense à son histoire.' _Georget_, _de la Folie_, Paris, 1820,
p. 69. In the same work, p. 295, 'M. Pinel, le premier en
France, on pourrait dire en Europe, jeta les fondemens d'un
traitement vraiment rationnel en rangeant la folie au nombre des
autres affections organiques.' M. Esquirol, who expresses the
modern and purely scientific view, says in his great work (_Des
Maladies Mentaes_, Paris, 1838, vol. i. p. 336), 'L'aliénation
mentale, que les anciens peuples regardaient comme une
inspiration ou une punition des dieux, qui dans la suite fut
prise pour la possession des démons, qui dans d'autres temps
passa pour une [oe]uvre de la magie; l'aliénation mentale,
dis-je, avec toutes ses espèces et ses variétés innombrables, ne
diffère en rien des autres maladies.' The recognition of this he
expressly ascribes to his predecessor: 'grâce aux principes
exposés par Pinel.' p. 340. Pinel himself clearly saw the
connexion between his own opinions and the spirit of the age:
see _Pinel_, _Traité Médico-Philosophique sur l'Aliénation
Mentale_, p. xxxii.: 'Un ouvrage de médecine, publié en France à
la fin du dix-huitième siècle, doit avoir un autre caractère que
s'il avoit été écrit à une époque antérieure.'
These were the views which, during the latter half of the eighteenth
century, began to dawn upon French thinkers. The extraordinary ability
and success with which these eminent men cultivated their respective
sciences, I have traced at a length greater that I had intended, but
still very inadequate to the importance of the subject. Enough, however,
has been brought forward, to convince the reader of the truth of the
proposition I wished to prove; namely, that the intellect of France was,
during the latter half of the eighteenth century, concentrated upon the
external world with unprecedented zeal, and thus aided that vast
movement, of which the Revolution itself was merely a single
consequence. The intimate connexion between scientific progress and
social rebellion, is evident from the fact, that both are suggested by
the same yearning after improvement, the same dissatisfaction with what
has been previously done, the same restless, prying, insubordinate, and
audacious spirit. But in France this general analogy was strengthened by
the curious circumstances I have already noticed, by virtue of which,
the activity of the country was, during the first half of the century,
directed against the church rather than against the state; so that in
order to complete the antecedents of the Revolution, it was necessary
that, in the latter half of the century, the ground of attack should be
shifted. This is precisely what was done by the wonderful impetus given
to every branch of natural science. For, the attention of men being thus
steadily fixed upon the external world, the internal fell into neglect;
while, as the external corresponds to the state, and the internal to the
church, it was part of the same intellectual development, that the
assailers of the existing fabric should turn against political abuses
the energy which the preceding generation had reserved for religious
ones.
Thus it was that the French Revolution, like every great revolution the
world has yet seen, was preceded by a complete change in the habits and
associations of the national intellect. But besides this, there was also
taking place, precisely at the same time, a vast social movement, which
was intimately connected with the intellectual movement, and indeed
formed part of it, in so far as it was followed by similar results and
produced by similar causes. The nature of this social revolution I
shall examine only very briefly, because in a future volume it will be
necessary to trace its history minutely, in order to illustrate the
slighter but still remarkable changes which in the same period were
going on in English society.
In France, before the Revolution, the people, though always very social,
were also very exclusive. The upper classes, protected by an imaginary
superiority, looked with scorn upon those whose birth or titles were
unequal to their own. The class immediately below them copied and
communicated their example, and every order in society endeavoured to
find some fanciful distinction which should guard them from the
contamination of their inferiors. The only three real sources of
superiority,--the superiority of morals, of intellect, and of
knowledge,--were entirely overlooked in this absurd scheme; and men
became accustomed to pride themselves not on any essential difference,
but on those inferior matters, which, with extremely few exceptions, are
the result of accident, and therefore no test of merit.[1140]
[1140] Comp. _Mém. de Ségur_, vol. i. p. 23, with the Introduction to
_Des Réaux_, _Historiettes_, vol. i. p. 34. A good illustration
of this is, that the Prince de Montbarey, in his Memoirs, gently
censures Louis XV., not for his scandalous profligacy, but
because he selected for his mistresses some women who were not
of high birth. _Mém. de Montbarey_, vol. i. p. 341, and see
vol. iii. p. 117.
The first great blow to this state of things, was the unprecedented
impulse given to the cultivation of physical science. Those vast
discoveries which were being made, not only stimulated the intellect of
thinking men, but even roused the curiosity of the more thoughtless
parts of society. The lectures of chemists, of geologists, of
mineralogists, and of physiologists, were attended by those who came to
wonder, as well as by those who came to learn. In Paris, the scientific
assemblages were crowded to overflowing.[1141] The halls and
amphitheatres in which the great truths of nature were expounded, were
no longer able to hold their audience, and in several instances it was
found necessary to enlarge them.[1142] The sittings of the Academy,
instead of being confined to a few solitary scholars, were frequented by
every one whose rank or influence enabled them to secure a place.[1143]
Even women of fashion, forgetting their usual frivolity, hastened to
hear discussions on the composition of a mineral, on the discovery of a
new salt, on the structure of plants, on the organization of animals, on
the properties of the electric fluid.[1144] A sudden craving after
knowledge seemed to have smitten every rank. The largest and the most
difficult inquiries found favour in the eyes of those whose fathers had
hardly heard the names of the sciences to which they belonged. The
brilliant imagination of Buffon made geology suddenly popular; the same
thing was effected for chemistry by the eloquence of Fourcroy, and for
electricity by Nollet; while the admirable expositions of Lalande caused
astronomy itself to be generally cultivated. In a word, it is enough to
say, that during the thirty years preceding the Revolution, the spread
of physical science was so rapid, that in its favour the old classical
studies were despised;[1145] it was considered the essential basis of a
good education, and some slight acquaintance with it was deemed
necessary for every class, except those who were obliged to support
themselves by their daily labour.[1146]
[1141] And that too even on such a subject as anatomy. In 1768, Antoine
Petit began his anatomical lectures in the great amphitheatre of
the Jardin du Roi; and the press to hear him was so great, that
not only all the seats were occupied, but the very window-ledges
were crowded. See the animated description in _Biog. Univ._
vol. xxxiii. p. 494.
[1142] Dr. Thomson (_History of Chemistry_, vol. ii. p. 169) says of
Fourcroy's lectures on chemistry, which began in 1784: 'Such
were the crowds, both of men and women, who flocked to hear him,
that it was twice necessary to enlarge the size of the
lecture-room.' This circumstance is also mentioned in _Cuvier_,
_Eloges_, vol. ii. p. 19.
[1143] In 1779, it was remarked that 'les séances publiques de
l'Académie Française sont devenues une espèce de spectacle fort
à la mode:' and as this continued to increase, the throng became
at length so great, that in 1785 it was found necessary to
diminish the number of tickets of admission, and it was even
proposed that ladies should be excluded, in consequence of some
uproarious scenes which had happened. _Grimm et Diderot_,
_Correspond. Lit._ vol. x. p. 341, vol. xiv. pp. 148, 149, 185,
251.
[1144] Goldsmith, who was in Paris in 1755, says with surprise, 'I have
seen as bright a circle of beauty at the chemical lectures of
Rouelle, as gracing the court of Versailles.' _Prior's Life of
Goldsmith_, vol. i. p. 180; _Forster's Life of Goldsmith_, vol.
i. p. 65. In the middle of the century, electricity was very
popular among the Parisian ladies; and the interest felt in it
was revived several years later by Franklin. Compare _Grimm_,
_Correspondance_, vol. vii. p. 122, with _Tucker's Life of
Jefferson_, vol. i. pp. 190, 191. Cuvier (_Eloges_, vol. i. p.
56) tells us that even the anatomical descriptions which
Daubenton wrote for Buffon were to be found 'sur la toilette des
femmes.' This change of taste is also noticed, though in a
jeering spirit, in _Mém. de Genlis_, vol. vi. p. 32. Compare the
account given by Townsend, who visited France in 1786, on his
way to Spain: 'A numerous society of gentlemen and ladies of the
first fashion meet to hear lectures on the sciences, delivered
by men of the highest rank in their profession.... I was much
struck with the fluency and elegance of language with which the
anatomical professor spoke, and not a little so with the deep
attention of his auditors.' _Townsend's Journey through Spain_,
vol. i. p. 41: see also _Smith's Tour on the Continent in 1786_,
vol. i. p. 117.
[1145] In a letter written in 1756, it is said, 'Mais c'est peine perdue
aujourd'hui que de plaisanter les érudits; il n'y en a plus en
France.' _Grimm_, _Correspond._ vol. ii. p. 15. In 1764, 'Il est
honteux et incroyable à quel point l'étude des anciens est
négligée.' vol. iv. p. 97. In 1768, 'Une autre raison qui rendra
les traductions des auteurs anciens de plus en plus rares en
France, c'est que depuis long temps on n'y sait plus le Grec, et
qu'on néglige l'étude du Latin tous les jours davantage.' vol.
vi. p. 140. Sherlock (_New Letters from an English Traveller_,
London, 1781, p. 86) says, 'It is very rare to meet a man in
France that understands Greek.' In 1785, Jefferson writes from
Paris to Madison, 'Greek and Roman authors are dearer here than,
I believe, any where in the world; nobody here reads them,
wherefore they are not reprinted.' _Jefferson's Correspond._
vol. i. p. 301. See further, on this neglect of the ancients, a
significant precursor of the Revolution, _Mém. de Montbarey_,
vol. iii. p. 181; _Villemain_, _Littérature au XVIII^e Siècle_,
vol. iii. pp. 243-248; _Schlosser's Eighteenth Century_, vol. i.
p. 344.
[1146] For further evidence of the popularity of physical knowledge, and
of its study, even by those who might have been expected to
neglect it, see _Mém. de Roland_, vol. i. pp. 115, 268, 324,
343; _Mém. de Morellet_, vol. i. p. 16; _Dupont de Nemours_,
_Mém. sur Turgot_, pp. 45, 52, 53, 411; _Mém. de Brissot_, vol.
i. pp. 62, 151, 319, 336, 338, 357; _Cuvier_, _Progrès des
Sciences_, vol. i. p. 89.
The results produced by this remarkable change are very curious, and
from their energy and rapidity were very decisive. As long as the
different classes confined themselves to pursuits peculiar to their own
sphere, they were encouraged to preserve their separate habits; and the
subordination, or, as it were, the hierarchy, of society was easily
maintained. But when the members of the various orders met in the same
place with the same object, they became knit together by a new sympathy.
The highest and most durable of all pleasures, the pleasure caused by
the perception of fresh truths, was now a great link, which banded
together those social elements that were formerly wrapped up in the
pride of their own isolation. Besides this, there was also given to them
not only a new pursuit, but also a new standard of merit. In the
amphitheatre and the lecture-room, the first object of attention is the
professor and the lecturer. The division is between those who teach and
those who learn. The subordination of ranks makes way for the
subordination of knowledge.[1147] The petty and conventional
distinctions of fashionable life are succeeded by those large and
genuine distinctions, by which alone man is really separated from man.
The progress of the intellect supplies a new object of veneration; the
old worship of rank is rudely disturbed, and its superstitious devotees
are taught to bow the knee before what to them is the shrine of a
strange god. The hall of science is the temple of democracy. Those who
come to learn, confess their own ignorance, abrogate in some degree
their own superiority, and begin to perceive that the greatness of men
has no connexion with the splendour of their titles, or the dignity of
their birth; that it is not concerned with their quarterings, their
escutcheons, their descents, their dexter-chiefs, their sinister-chiefs,
their chevrons, their bends, their azures, their gules, and the other
trumperies of their heraldry; but that it depends upon the largeness of
their minds, the powers of their intellect, and the fullness of their
knowledge.
[1147] A celebrated writer has well said, though in a somewhat different
point of view, 'Il ne peut y avoir dans les sciences morales,
pas plus que dans les sciences physiques, ni maîtres, ni
esclaves, ni rois, ni sujets, ni citoyens, ni étrangers.'
_Comte_, _Traité de Législation_, vol. i. p. 43.
These were the views which, in the latter half of the eighteenth
century, began to influence those classes which had long been the
undisputed masters of society.[1148] And what shows the strength of this
great movement is, that it was accompanied by other social changes,
which, though in themselves apparently trifling, become full of meaning
when taken in connexion with the general history of the time.
[1148] The remarks which Thomas made upon Descartes in 1765, in an
_éloge_ crowned by the Academy, illustrate the opinions which,
in the latter half of the eighteenth century, were becoming
rapidly diffused in France. See the passage beginning 'O
préjugés! ô ridicule fierté des places et du rang!' &c.
_[OE]uvres de Descartes_, vol. i. p. 74. Certainly no one would
have used such language, on such an occasion, thirty years
earlier. So, too, the Count de Ségur says of the younger nobles
before the Revolution, 'nous préférions un mot d'éloges de
D'Alembert, de Diderot, à la faveur la plus signalée d'un
prince.' _Mém. de Ségur_, vol. i. p. 142: see also vol. ii. p.
46.
While the immense progress of physical knowledge was revolutionizing
society, by inspiring the different classes with an object common to
all, and thus raising a new standard of merit, a more trivial, but
equally democratic tendency was observable even in the conventional
forms of social life. To describe the whole of these changes would
occupy a space disproportioned to the other parts of this Introduction;
but it is certain that, until the changes have been carefully examined,
it will be impossible for any one to write a history of the French
Revolution. As a specimen of what I mean, I will notice two of these
innovations which are very conspicuous, and are also interesting on
account of their analogy with what has happened in English society.
The first of these changes was an alteration in dress, and a marked
contempt for those external appearances hitherto valued as one of the
most important of all matters. During the reign of Louis XIV., and
indeed during the first half of the reign of Louis XV., not only men of
frivolous tastes, but even those distinguished for their knowledge,
displayed in their attire a dainty precision, a nice and studied
adjustment, a pomp of gold, of silver, and of ruffles, such as in our
days can nowhere be seen, except in the courts of European princes,
where a certain barbarian splendour is still retained. So far was this
carried, that in the seventeenth century the rank of a person might be
immediately known by his appearance; no one presuming to usurp a garb
worn by the class immediately above his own.[1149] But in that
democratic movement which preceded the French Revolution, the minds of
men became too earnest, too intent upon higher matters, to busy
themselves with those idle devices which engrossed the attention of
their fathers. A contemptuous disregard of such distinctions became
general. In Paris the innovation was seen even in those gay assemblies,
where a certain amount of personal decoration is still considered
natural. At dinners, suppers, and balls, it is noticed by contemporary
observers, that the dress usually worn was becoming so simple as to
cause a confusion of ranks, until at length every distinction was
abandoned by both sexes; the men, on such occasions, coming in a common
frock-coat, the women in their ordinary morning gowns.[1150] Nay, to
such a pitch was this carried, that we are assured by the Prince de
Montbarey, who was in Paris at the time, that shortly before the
Revolution, even those who had stars and orders were careful to hide
them by buttoning their coats, so that these marks of superiority might
no longer be seen.[1151]
[1149] Among many other illustrations which might be given of this
distinction of classes by dress, see _Monteil_, _Hist. des
divers Etats_, vol. vii. pp. 7-10; and _Tallemant des Réaux_,
_Historiettes_, vol. i. p. 36 note.
[1150] In August 1787, Jefferson writes from Paris (_Correspondence_,
vol. ii. p. 224): 'In society, the _habit habillé_ is almost
banished, and they begin to go even to great suppers in frock:
the court and diplomatic corps, however, must always be
excepted. They are too high to be reached by any improvement.
They are the last refuge from which etiquette, formality, and
folly will be driven. Take away these, and they would be on a
level with other people.' Jefferson was a statesman and a
diplomatist, and was well acquainted with his profession. The
change, however, which he noticed, had been coming on some years
earlier. In a letter written in May 1786, it is said: 'Il est
rare aujourd'hui de rencontrer dans le monde des personnes qui
soient ce qu'on appelle habillées. Lee femmes sont en chemise et
en chapeau, les hommes en froc et en gilet.' _Grimm_,
_Correspond._ vol. xiv. p. 485; and on the increased simplicity
of attire in 1780, see vol. xi. pp. 141, 142. Ségur, who
witnessed these changes, and was much displeased by them, says
of their advocates, 'ils ne voyaient pas que les frocs,
remplaçant les amples et imposans vêtemens de l'ancienne cour,
présagaient un penchant général pour l'égalité.' _Mém. de
Ségur_, vol. i. p. 131. Soulavie (_Règne de Louis XVI_, vol. vi.
p. 38) observes, that 'les grands, vers les approches de la
révolution, n'avoient plus que des habits simples et peu
coûteux;' and that 'on ne distingua plus une duchesse d'une
actrice,' p. 43: see also an extract from Montjoye, in _Alison's
History_, vol. i. pp. 352, 353. Compare _Mém. sur
Marie-Antoinette_, vol. i. pp. 226, 372, vol. ii. p. 174, and
_Mém. de Madame au Hausset_, introduc. p. 17.
[1151] 'Les personnes du premier rang et même d'un âge mûr, qui avaient
travaillé toute leur vie pour obtenir les ordres du roi, preuve
de la plus haute faveur, s'habituèrent à en cacher les marques
distinctives sous le froc le plus simple, qui leur permettait de
courir à pied dans les rues et de se confondre dans la foule.'
_Mém. de Montbarey_, vol. iii. pp. 161, 162. Another alteration
of the same tendency is worth recording. The Baroness
d'Oberkirch, who revisited Paris in 1784, remarked, on her
arrival, that 'gentlemen began about this time to go about
unarmed, and wore swords only in full dress.... And thus the
French nobility laid aside a usage which the example of their
fathers had consecrated through centuries.' _D'Oberkirch's
Memoirs_, Lond. 1852, vol. ii. p. 211.
The other innovation to which I have referred is equally interesting as
characteristic of the spirit of the time. This is, that the tendency to
amalgamate the different orders of society[1152] was shown in the
institution of clubs; a remarkable contrivance, which to us seems
perfectly natural because we are accustomed to it, but of which it may
be truly said, that until the eighteenth century its existence was
impossible. Before the eighteenth century, each class was so jealous of
its superiority over the one below it, that to meet together on equal
terms was impracticable; and although a certain patronizing familiarity
towards one's inferiors might be safely indulged in, this only marked
the immense interval of separation, since the great man had no fear of
his condescension being abused. In those good old times a proper respect
was paid to rank and birth; and he who could count his twenty ancestors
was venerated to an extent of which we, in these degenerate days, can
hardly form an idea. As to any thing like social equality, that was a
notion too preposterous to be conceived; nor was it possible that any
institution should exist which placed mere ordinary men on a level with
those illustrious characters, whose veins were filled with the purest
blood, and the quarterings of whose arms none could hope to rival.
[1152] A striking instance of which was, moreover, seen in the number of
_mésalliances_, which first became frequent about the middle of
the reign of Louis XV. Compare _Mém. de Montbarey_, vol. iii.
pp. 116, 156, 157; _Lacretelle_, _Dix-huitième Siècle_,
vol. iii. p. 220.
But in the eighteenth century the progress of knowledge became so
remarkable, that the new principle of intellectual superiority made
rapid encroachments on the old principle of aristocratic superiority. As
soon as these encroachments had reached a certain point, they gave rise
to an institution suited to them; and thus it was that there were first
established clubs, in which all the educated classes could assemble,
without regard to those other differences which, in the preceding
period, kept them separate. The peculiarity of this was, that, for mere
purposes of social enjoyment, men were brought into contact, who,
according to the aristocratic scheme, had nothing in common, but who
were now placed on the same footing in so far as they belonged to the
same establishment, conformed to the same rules, and reaped the same
advantages. It was, however, expected that the members, though varying
in many other respects, were to be all, in some degree, educated; and in
this way society first distinctly recognized a classification previously
unknown; the division between noble and ignoble being succeeded by
another division between educated and uneducated.
The rise and growth of clubs is, therefore, to the philosophic observer,
a question of immense importance; and it is one which, as I shall
hereafter prove, played a great part in the history of England during
the latter half of the eighteenth century. In reference to our present
subject, it is interesting to observe, that the first clubs, in the
modern sense of the word, which ever existed in Paris, were formed about
1782, only seven years before the French Revolution. At the beginning
they were merely intended to be social assemblages; but they quickly
assumed a democratic character, conformable to the spirit of the age.
Their first result, as was noticed by a keen observer of what was then
passing, was to make the manners of the upper classes more simple than
they had hitherto been, and to weaken that love of form and ceremony
suitable to their earlier habits. These clubs likewise effected a
remarkable separation between the sexes; and it is recorded, that after
their establishment, women associated more with each other, and were
oftener seen in public unaccompanied by men.[1153] This had the effect
of encouraging among men a republican roughness, which the influence of
the other sex would have tended to keep down. All these things effaced
the old lines of demarcation between the different ranks, and by
merging the various classes into one, made the force of their united
opposition irresistible, and speedily overthrew both the church and the
state. The exact period at which the clubs became political cannot, of
course, be ascertained, but the change seems to have taken place about
1784.[1154] From this moment all was over; and although the government,
in 1787, issued orders to close the leading club, in which all classes
discussed political questions, it was found impossible to stem the
current. The order, therefore, was rescinded; the club re-assembled, and
no further attempt was made to interrupt that course of affairs which a
long train of preceding events had rendered inevitable.[1155]
[1153] 'Nous commençâmes aussi à avoir des clubs: les hommes s'y
réunissaient, non encore pour discuter, mais pour dîner, jouer
au wisk, et lire tous les ouvrages nouveaux. Ce premier pas,
alors presque inaperçu, eut dans la suite de grandes, et
momentanément de funestes conséquences. Dans le commencement,
son premier résultat fut de séparer les hommes des femmes, et
d'apporter ainsi un notable changement dans nos m[oe]urs: elles
devinrent moins frivoles, mais moins polies; plus fortes, mais
moins aimables: la politique y gagna, la société y perdit.'
_Mém. de Ségur_, vol. ii. p. 28. By the spring of 1786, this
separation of the sexes had become still more marked; and it was
a common complaint, that ladies were obliged to go to the
theatre alone, men being at their clubs. See the very curious
observations in _Grimm_, _Correspond._ vol. xiv. pp. 486-489,
where there is also a notice of 'le prodigieux succès qu'a eu
l'établissement des clubs à l'anglaise.' See also, on the
diminished attention paid to women, _Williams's Letters from
France_, vol. ii. p. 80; 3rd edit. 1796.
[1154] The remarks of Georgel appear to apply to the political clubs
only: 'A Paris les assemblées de nouvellistes, les clubs qui
s'étoient formés à l'instar de ceux des Anglais, s'expliquaient
hautement et sans retenue sur les droits de l'homme, sur les
avantages de la liberté, sur les grands abus de l'inégalité des
conditions. Ces clubs, trop accrédités, avoient commencé à se
former en 1784.' _Mém. de Georgel_, vol. ii. p. 310.
[1155] 'Le lieutenant de police fit fermer le club nommé _Club du
Salon_; ordre arbitraire et inutile: ce club alors était composé
de personnes distinguées de la noblesse ou de la haute
bourgeoisie, ainsi que des artistes et des hommes de lettres les
plus considérés. Cette réunion offrait, pour la première fois,
l'image d'une égalité qui devient bientôt, plus que la liberté
même, le v[oe]u le plus ardent de la plus grande partie de la
nation. Aussi le mécontentement produit par la clôture de ce
club fut si vif, que l'autorité se crut obligée de la rouvrir.'
_Mém. de Ségur_, vol. iii. pp. 258, 259. On the increase of
these clubs from 1787 to 1789, compare _Du Mesnil_, _Mém. sur Le
Brun_, p. 148; _Mém. de Lafayette_, vol. i. pp. 312, 322, 391,
434, vol. ii. p. 9; _Barruel_, _Hist. du Jacob._ vol. i. p. 40,
vol. ii. p. 310, vol. v. pp. 101, 168; _Thiers_, _Hist. de la
Révolution_, vol. i. p. 36, Paris, 1834.
While all these things were conspiring to overthrow the old
institutions, an event suddenly occurred which produced the most
remarkable effects in France, and is itself strikingly characteristic of
the spirit of the eighteenth century. On the other side of the Atlantic,
a great people, provoked by the intolerable injustice of the English
government, rose in arms, turned on their oppressors, and, after a
desperate struggle, gloriously obtained their independence. In 1776,
the Americans laid before Europe that noble Declaration, which ought to
be hung up in the nursery of every king, and blazoned on the porch of
every royal palace. In words, the memory of which can never die, they
declared, that the object of the institution of government is to secure
the rights of the people; that from the people alone it derives its
powers; and 'that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of
these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to
institute a new government, laying its foundations on such principles,
and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most
likely to effect their safety and happiness.'[1156]
[1156] _Mem. of Franklin_, vol. ii. pp. 14 seq.; and _Mem. of
Jefferson_, vol. i. pp. 17-22, where the passages are given
which Congress altered.
If this declaration had been made only one generation earlier, the whole
of France, with the exception of a few advanced thinkers, would have
rejected it with horror and with scorn. Such, however, was now the
temper of the public mind, that the doctrines it contained were not
merely welcomed by a majority of the French nation, but even the
government itself was unable to withstand the general feeling.[1157] In
1776, Franklin arrived in France, as envoy from the American people. He
met with the warmest reception from all classes,[1158] and succeeded in
inducing the government to sign a treaty, engaging to defend the young
republic in the rights it had gloriously won.[1159] In Paris, the
enthusiasm was irresistible.[1160] From every quarter large bodies of
men came forward, volunteering to cross the Atlantic and to fight for
the liberties of America. The heroism with which these auxiliaries aided
the noble struggle, forms a cheering passage in the history of that
time; but is foreign to my present purpose, which is merely to notice
its effect in hastening the approach of the French Revolution. And this
effect was indeed most remarkable. Besides the indirect result produced
by the example of a successful rebellion, the French were still further
stimulated by actual contact with their new allies. The French officers
and soldiers who served in America, introduced into their own country,
on their return, those democratic opinions which they had imbibed in the
infant republic.[1161] By this means, fresh strength was given to the
revolutionary tendencies already prevalent; and it is worthy of remark,
that Lafayette borrowed from the same source one of his most celebrated
acts. He drew his sword on behalf of the Americans; and they, in their
turn, communicated to him that famous doctrine respecting the rights of
man, which, at his instigation, was formally adopted by the National
Assembly.[1162] Indeed, there is reason to believe, that the final blow
the French government received was actually dealt by the hand of an
American; for it is said that it was in consequence of the advice of
Jefferson, that the popular part of the legislative body proclaimed
itself the National Assembly, and thus set the crown at open
defiance.[1163]
[1157] Ségur (_Mém._ vol. i. p. 111) says that his father had been
frequently told by Maurepas that public opinion forced the
government, against its own wishes, to side with America.
Compare _Mém. de Georgel_, vol. iv. p. 370; and _Flassan_,
_Diplomatie Française_, vol. vii. p. 166.
[1158] The news of which soon reached England. In January 1777, Burke
writes (_Works_, vol. ii. p. 394), 'I hear that Dr. Franklin has
had a most extraordinary reception at Paris from all ranks of
people.' Soulavie (_Règne de Louis XVI_, vol. ii. p. 50) says,
'J'ai vu Francklin devenir un objet de culte.' See also, on his
popularity, _Mém. d'Epinay_, vol. iii. p. 419.
[1159] _Flassan_, _Diplomatie Française_, vol. vii. p. 159; _Life of
Franklin_, _by Himself_, vol. ii. pp. 60, 61; _Mahon's Hist. of
England_, vol. vii. pp. 197, 198.
[1160] The sneering letter written from Paris by Lord Stormont, as early
as December 1774 (_Adolphus's George III._ vol. ii. p. 316),
should be compared with _Lafayette_, _Mémoires_, vol. i. pp. 24,
169, 229; _Dutens_, _Mém. d'un Voyageur_, vol. ii. p. 317; _Mém.
de Ségur_, vol. i. p. 149; and _Schlosser's Eighteenth Century_,
vol. v. p. 175.
[1161] _De Staël sur la Révolution_, vol. i. p. 88; _Mém. de Montbarey_,
vol. iii. pp. 134, 186; _Mém. de Ségur_, vol. i. p. 277;
_Campan_, _Mém. de Marie Antoinette_, vol. i. p. 233, vol. iii.
pp. 96, 116; _Soulavie_, _Règne de Louis XVI_, vol. ii. pp.
xxiv. li. iii.; _Dumont_, _Souvenirs sur Mirabeau_, p. 176;
_Mém. de Du Hausset_, introduc. p. 40; _Mém. de Genlis_, vol.
vi. p. 57; _Jefferson's Mem. and Correspond._ vol. i. p. 59; and
Maitland's speech, in _Parl. Hist._ vol. xxx. pp. 198, 199; also
the remarks of the Duke of Bedford, vol. xxxi. p. 663.
[1162] _Lamartine_, _Hist. des Girondins_, vol. i. p. 46. Dumont
(_Souvenirs_, p. 97) calls this 'une idée américaine;' and see
to the same effect, _Mém. de Lafayette_, vol. i. pp. 193, 268,
269, 416, vol. ii. pp. 139, 140; _Jefferson's Correspond._ vol.
i. p. 90; _Barruel_, _Hist. du Jacobinisme_, vol. v. p. 311. The
influence which the American Revolution exercised over the mind
of Lafayette is noticed by Bouillé, his cousin and his enemy.
_Mém. de Bouillé_, vol. i. p. 102, vol. ii. pp. 131, 183.
[1163] 'The Duke of Dorset, the English ambassador, writing to Mr. Pitt
from Paris, July 9th, 1789, said, "Mr. Jefferson, the American
minister at this court, has been a great deal consulted by the
principal leaders of the _tiers état_; and I have great reason
to think that it was owing to his advice that order called
itself _L'Assemblée Nationale_."' _Tomline's Life of Pitt_,
vol. ii. p. 266.
I have now brought to a close my examination of the causes of the French
Revolution; but before concluding the present chapter, it appears to me
that the variety of topics which have been discussed, makes it advisable
that I should sum up their leading points; and should state, as briefly
as possible, the steps of that long and complicated argument, by which I
have attempted to prove, that the Revolution was an event inevitably
arising out of preceding circumstances. Such a summary, by recalling the
entire subject before the reader, will remedy any confusion which the
fullness of detail may have produced, and will simplify an investigation
which many will consider to have been needlessly protracted; but which
could not have been abridged without weakening, in some essential part,
the support of those general principles that I seek to establish.
Looking at the state of France immediately after the death of Louis
XIV., we have seen that, his policy having reduced the country to the
brink of ruin, and having destroyed every vestige of free inquiry, a
reaction became necessary; but that the materials for the reaction could
not be found among a nation, which for fifty years had been exposed to
so debilitating a system. This deficiency at home, caused the most
eminent Frenchmen to turn their attention abroad, and gave rise to a
sudden admiration for the English literature, and for those habits of
thought which were then peculiar to the English people. New life being
thus breathed into the wasted frame of French society, an eager and
inquisitive spirit was generated, such as had not been seen since the
time of Descartes. The upper classes, taking offence at this unexpected
movement, attempted to stifle it, and made strenuous efforts to destroy
that love of inquiry which was daily gaining ground. To effect their
object, they persecuted literary men with such bitterness, as to make it
evident that the intellect of France must either relapse into its former
servility, or else boldly assume the offensive. Happily for the
interests of civilization, the latter alternative was adopted; and, in
or about 1750, a deadly struggle began, in which those principles of
liberty which France borrowed from England, and which had hitherto been
supposed only applicable to the church, were for the first time applied
to the state. Coinciding with this movement, and indeed forming part of
it, other circumstances occurred of the same character. Now it was that
the political economists succeeded in proving that the interference of
the governing classes had inflicted great mischief even upon the
material interests of the country; and had, by their protective
measures, injured what they were believed to have benefited. This
remarkable discovery in favour of general freedom, put a fresh weapon
into the hands of the democratic party; whose strength was still further
increased by the unrivalled eloquence with which Rousseau assailed the
existing fabric. Precisely the same tendency was exhibited in the
extraordinary impulse given to every branch of physical science, which
familiarized men with ideas of progress, and brought them into collision
with the stationary and conservative ideas natural to government. The
discoveries made respecting the external world, encouraged a
restlessness and excitement of mind hostile to the spirit of routine,
and therefore full of danger for institutions only recommended by their
antiquity. This eagerness for physical knowledge also effected a change
in education; and the ancient languages being neglected, another link
was severed which connected the present with the past. The church, the
legitimate protector of old opinions, was unable to resist the passion
for novelty, because she was weakened by treason in her own camp. For by
this time, Calvinism had spread so much among the French clergy, as to
break them into two hostile parties, and render it impossible to rally
them against their common foe. The growth of this heresy was also
important, because Calvinism being essentially democratic, a
revolutionary spirit appeared even in the ecclesiastical profession, so
that the feud in the church was accompanied by another feud between the
government and the church. These were the leading symptoms of that vast
movement which culminated in the French Revolution; and all of them
indicated a state of society so anarchical and so thoroughly
disorganized, as to make it certain that some great catastrophe was
impending. At length, and when everything was ready for explosion, the
news of the American Rebellion fell like a spark on the inflammatory
mass, and ignited a flame which never ceased its ravages until it had
destroyed all that Frenchmen once held dear, and had left for the
instruction of mankind an awful lesson of the crimes into which
continued oppression may hurry a generous and long-suffering people.
Such is a rapid outline of the view which my studies have led me to take
of the causes of the French Revolution. That I have ascertained all the
causes, I do not for a moment suppose; but it will, I believe, be found
that none of importance have been omitted. It is, indeed, true, that
among the materials of which the evidence consists, many deficiencies
will be seen; and a more protracted labour would have been rewarded by a
greater success. Of these shortcomings I am deeply sensible; and I can
only regret that the necessity of passing on to a still larger field has
compelled me to leave so much for future inquirers to gather in. At the
same time, it ought to be remembered, that this is the first attempt
which has ever been made to study the antecedents of the French
Revolution according to a scheme wide enough to include the whole of
their intellectual bearings. In defiance of sound philosophy, and, I
may say, in defiance of common understanding, historians obstinately
persist in neglecting those great branches of physical knowledge, in
which in every civilized country the operations of the human mind may be
most clearly seen, and therefore the mental habits most easily
ascertained. The result is, that the French Revolution, unquestionably
the most important, the most complicated, and the most glorious event in
history, has been given over to authors, many of whom have displayed
considerable ability, but all of whom have shown themselves destitute of
that preliminary scientific education, in the absence of which it is
impossible to seize the spirit of any period, or to take a comprehensive
survey of its various parts. Thus, to mention only a single instance: we
have seen that the extraordinary impulse given to the study of the
external world was intimately connected with that democratic movement
which overthrew the institutions of France. But this connexion
historians have been unable to trace; because they were unacquainted
with the progress of the various branches of natural philosophy and of
natural history. Hence it is that they have exhibited their great
subject maimed and mutilated, shorn of those fair proportions which it
ought to possess. According to this scheme, the historian sinks into the
annalist; so that, instead of solving a problem, he merely paints a
picture. Without, therefore, disparaging the labours of those
industrious men who have collected materials for a history of the French
Revolution, we may assuredly say, that the history itself has never been
written; since they who have attempted the task have not possessed such
resources as would enable them to consider it as merely a single part of
that far larger movement which was seen in every department of science,
of philosophy, of religion, and of politics.
Whether or not I have effected anything of real value towards remedying
this deficiency, is a question for competent judges to decide. Of this,
at least, I feel certain, that whatever imperfections may be observed,
the fault consists, not in the method proposed, but in the extreme
difficulty of any single man putting into full operation all the parts
of so vast a scheme. It is on this point, and on this alone, that I feel
the need of great indulgence. But, as to the plan itself, I have no
misgivings; because I am deeply convinced that the time is fast
approaching when the history of Man will be placed on its proper
footing; when its study will be recognized as the noblest and most
arduous of all pursuits; and when it will be clearly seen, that, to
cultivate it with success, there is wanted a wide and comprehensive
mind, richly furnished with the highest branches of human knowledge.
When this is fully admitted, history will be written only by those whose
habits fit them for the task; and it will be rescued from the hands of
biographers, genealogists, collectors of anecdotes, chroniclers of
courts, of princes, and of nobles,--those babblers of vain things, who
lie in wait at every corner, and infest this the public highway of our
national literature. That such compilers should trespass on a province
so far above their own, and should think that by these means they can
throw light on the affairs of men, is one of many proofs of the still
backward condition of our knowledge, and of the indistinctness with
which its boundaries have been mapped out. If I have done anything
towards bringing these intrusions into discredit, and inspiring
historians themselves with a sense of the dignity of their own calling,
I shall have rendered in my time some little service, and I shall be
well content to have it said, that in many cases I have failed in
executing what I originally proposed. Indeed, that there are in this
volume several instances of such failure, I willingly allow; and I can
only plead the immensity of the subject, the shortness of a single life,
and the imperfection of every single enterprise. I, therefore, wish this
work to be estimated, not according to the finish of its separate parts,
but according to the way in which those parts have been fused into a
complete and symmetrical whole. This, in an undertaking of such novelty
and magnitude, I have a right to expect. And I would, moreover, add,
that if the reader has met with opinions adverse to his own, he should
remember that his views are, perchance, the same as those which I too
once held, and which I have abandoned, because, after a wider range of
study, I found them unsupported by solid proof, subversive of the
interests of Man, and fatal to the progress of his knowledge. To examine
the notions in which we have been educated, and to turn aside from those
which will not bear the test, is a task so painful, that they who shrink
from the suffering should pause before they reproach those by whom the
suffering is undergone. What I have put forward may, no doubt, be
erroneous; but it is, at all events, the result of an honest searching
after truth, of unsparing labour, of patient and anxious reflection.
Conclusions arrived at in this way, are not to be overturned by stating
that they endanger some other conclusions; nor can they be even affected
by allegations against their supposed tendency. The principles which I
advocate, are based upon distinct arguments, supported by
well-ascertained facts. The only points, therefore, to be ascertained,
are, whether the arguments are fair, and whether the facts are certain.
If these two conditions have been obeyed, the principles follow by an
inevitable inference. Their demonstration is, in the present volume,
necessarily incomplete; and the reader must suspend his final judgment
until the close of this Introduction, when the subject in all its
bearings will be laid before him. The remaining part of the Introduction
will be occupied, as I have already intimated, with an investigation of
the civilizations of Germany, America, Scotland, and Spain; each of
which presents a different type of intellectual development, and has,
therefore, followed a different direction in its religious, scientific,
social, and political history. The causes of these differences I shall
attempt to ascertain. The next step will be to generalize the causes
themselves; and having thus referred them to certain principles common
to all, we shall be possessed of what may be called the fundamental laws
of European thought; the divergence of the different countries being
regulated either by the direction those laws take, or else by their
comparative energy. To discover these fundamental laws will be the
business of the Introduction; while, in the body of the work, I shall
apply them to the history of England, and endeavour by their aid to work
out the epochs through which we have successively passed, fix the basis
of our present civilization, and indicate the path of our future
progress.
CHAPTER VIII.
OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF THE SPANISH INTELLECT FROM THE FIFTH TO THE
MIDDLE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
In the preceding chapters, I have endeavoured to establish four leading
propositions, which, according to my view, are to be deemed the basis of
the history of civilization. They are: 1st, That the progress of mankind
depends on the success with which the laws of phenomena are
investigated, and on the extent to which a knowledge of those laws is
diffused. 2nd, That before such investigation can begin, a spirit of
scepticism must arise, which, at first aiding the investigation, is
afterwards aided by it. 3rd, That the discoveries thus made, increase
the influence of intellectual truths, and diminish, relatively not
absolutely, the influence of moral truths; moral truths being more
stationary than intellectual truths, and receiving fewer additions. 4th,
That the great enemy of this movement, and therefore the great enemy of
civilization, is the protective spirit; by which I mean the notion that
society cannot prosper, unless the affairs of life are watched over and
protected at nearly every turn by the state and the church; the state
teaching men what they are to do, and the church teaching them what they
are to believe. Such are the propositions which I hold to be the most
essential for a right understanding of history, and which I have
defended in the only two ways any proposition can be defended; namely,
inductively and deductively. The inductive defence comprises a
collection of historical and scientific facts, which suggest and
authorize the conclusions drawn from them; while the deductive defence
consists of a verification of those conclusions, by showing how they
explain the history of different countries and their various fortunes.
To the former, or inductive method of defence, I am at present unable to
add anything new; but the deductive defence I hope to strengthen
considerably, and by the aid of the following chapters, confirm not only
the four cardinal propositions just stated, but also several minor
propositions, which, though strictly speaking flowing from them, will
require separate verification. According to the plan already sketched,
the remaining part of the introduction will contain an examination of
the history of Spain, of Scotland, of Germany, and of the United States
of America, with the object of elucidating principles on which the
history of England supplies inadequate information. And as Spain is the
country where what I conceive to be the fundamental conditions of
national improvement have been most flagrantly violated, so also shall
we find that it is the country where the penalty paid for the violation
has been most heavy, and where, therefore, it is most instructive to
ascertain how the prevalence of certain opinions causes the decay of the
people among whom they predominate.
We have seen that the old tropical civilizations were accompanied by
remarkable features which I have termed Aspects of Nature, and which, by
inflaming the imagination, encouraged superstition, and prevented men
from daring to analyze such threatening physical phenomena; in other
words, prevented the creation of the physical sciences. Now, it is an
interesting fact that, in these respects, no European country is so
analogous to the tropics as Spain. No other part of Europe is so clearly
designated by nature as the seat and refuge of superstition. Recurring
to what has been already proved,[1164] it will be remembered that among
the most important physical causes of superstition are famines,
epidemics, earthquakes, and that general unhealthiness of climate,
which, by shortening the average duration of life, increases the
frequency and earnestness with which supernatural aid is invoked. These
peculiarities, taken together, are more prominent in Spain than
anywhere else in Europe; it will therefore be useful to give such a
summary of them as will exhibit the mischievous effects they have
produced in shaping the national character.
[1164] In the second chapter of the first volume of _Buckle's History
of Civilization_.
If we except the northern extremity of Spain, we may say that the two
principal characteristics of the climate are heat and dryness, both of
which are favoured by the extreme difficulty which nature has interposed
in regard to irrigation. For, the rivers which intersect the land, run
mostly in beds too deep to be made available for watering the soil,
which consequently is, and always has been, remarkably arid.[1165] Owing
to this, and to the infrequency of rain, there is no European country as
richly endowed in other respects, where droughts and therefore famines
have been so frequent and serious.[1166] At the same time the
vicissitudes of climate, particularly in the central parts, make Spain
habitually unhealthy; and this general tendency being strengthened in
the middle ages by the constant occurrence of famine, caused the ravages
of pestilence to be unusually fatal.[1167] When we moreover add that in
the Peninsula, including Portugal, earthquakes have been extremely
disastrous,[1168] and have excited all those superstitious feelings
which they naturally provoke, we may form some idea of the insecurity of
life, and of the ease with which an artful and ambitious priesthood
could turn such insecurity into an engine for the advancement of their
own power.[1169]
[1165] 'The low state of agriculture in Spain may be ascribed partly to
physical and partly to moral causes. At the head of the former
must be placed the heat of the climate and the aridity of the
soil. Most part of the rivers with which the country is
intersected run in deep beds, and are but little available
except in a few favoured localities, for purposes of
irrigation.' _M'Culloch's Geographical and Statistical
Dictionary_, London, 1849, vol. ii. p. 708. See also _Laborde's
Spain_, London, 1809, vol. iv. p. 284, vol. v. p. 261. The
relative aridity of the different parts is stated in _Cook's
Spain_, London, 1834, vol. ii. pp. 216-219.
[1166] On these droughts and famines, see _Mariana_, _Historia de
España_, Madrid, 1794, vol. ii. p. 270, vol. iii. p. 225, vol.
iv. p. 32. _Conde_, _Historia de la Dominacion de los Arabes en
España_, Paris, 1840, pp. 142, 149, 154, 170. _Davila_,
_Historia de la Vida de Felipe Tercero_, Madrid, 1771, folio,
lib. ii. p. 114. _Clarke's Letters concerning the Spanish
Nation_, London, 1763, 4to. p. 282. _Udal ap Rhys' Tour through
Spain_, London, 1760, pp. 292, 293. _Spain by an American_,
London, 1831, vol. ii. p. 282. _Hoskins' Spain_, London, 1851,
vol. i. pp. 127, 132, 152. 'España es castigada frecuentemente
con las sequedades y faltas de lluvias.' _Muriel_, _Gobierno de
Carlos III._, Madrid, 1839, p. 193.
[1167] 'Añádase á todo esto las repetidas pestes, y mortales epidemias
que han afligido á las provincias de España, mayormente á las
meridionales que han sido las mas sujetas á estas plagas. De
estas se hace mencion en los anales é historias muy
freqüentemente; y en su confirmacion se puede leer el tratado
histórico, ó _epidemiológia_ que sobre ellas ha publicado Don
Joachîn de Villalba, donde se verá con dolor y espanto con
quanta freqüencia se repetian estos azotes desde mediados del
siglo décimoquarto.' ... 'Dos exemplos bien recientes y
dolorosos hemos visto, y conservaremos en la memoria, en los
formidables estragos que acaban de padecer gran parte del reyno
de Sevilla, Cádiz, y sus contornos, Málaga, Cartagena, y
Alicante; sin contar la mortandad con que han afligido á la
mayor parte de los pueblos de ámbas Castillas las epidemias de
calenturas pútridas en el año pasado de 1805.' ... 'Por otra
parte la fundacion de tantas capillas y procesiones á San Roque,
y á San Sebastian, como abogados contre la peste, que todavía se
conservan en la mayor parte de nuestras ciudades de España, son
otro testimonio de los grandes y repetidos estragos que habian
padecido sus pueblos de este azote. Y el gran número de médicos
españoles que publicáron tratados preservativos y curativos de
la peste en los reynados de Cárlos V., Felipe II., Felipe III.,
y Felipe IV., confirman mas la verdad de los hechos.' _Capmany_,
_Qüestiones Criticas_, Madrid, 1807, pp. 51, 52; see also pp.
66, 67; and _Janer_, _Condicion Social de los Moriscos de
España_, Madrid, 1857, pp. 106, 107; and the notice of Malaga in
_Bourgoing_, _Tableau de l'Espagne_, Paris, 1808, vol. iii.
p. 242.
[1168] 'Earthquakes are still often felt at Granada and along the coast
of the province of Alicante, where their effects have been very
disastrous. Much further in the interior, in the small Sierra
del Tremédal, or district of Albarracia, in the province of
Terruel, eruptions and shocks have been very frequent since the
most remote periods; the black porphyry is there seen traversing
the altered strata of the oolitic formation. The old inhabitants
of the country speak of sinking of the ground and of the escape
of sulphureous gases when they were young; these same phenomena
have occurred during four consecutive months of the preceding
winter, accompanied by earthquakes, which have caused
considerable mischief to the buildings of seven villages
situated within a radius of two leagues. They have not, however,
been attended with any loss of life, on account of the
inhabitants hastening to abandon their dwellings at the first
indications of danger.' _Ezquerra on the Geology of Spain_, in
the _Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London_,
vol. vi. pp. 412, 413, London, 1850. 'The provinces of Malaga,
Murcia, and Granada, and, in Portugal, the country round Lisbon,
are recorded at several periods to have been devastated, by
great earthquakes.' _Lyell's Principles of Geology_, London,
1853, p. 358. 'Los terremotos son tan sensibles y freqüentes en
lo alto de las montañas, como en lo llano, pues Sevilla está
sujeta á ellos hallándose situada sobre una llanura tan igual y
baxa como Holanda.' _Bowles_, _Introduccion à la Historia
Natural de España_, Madrid, 1789, 4to, pp. 90, 91. 'The littoral
plains, especially about Cartagena and Alicante, are much
subject to earthquakes.' _Ford's Spain_, 1847, p. 168. 'This
corner of Spain is the chief volcanic district of the Peninsula,
which stretches from Cabo de Gata to near Cartagena; the
earthquakes are very frequent.' _Ford_, p. 174. 'Spain,
including Portugal, in its external configuration, with its vast
tableland of the two Castiles, rising nearly 2,000 feet above
the sea, is perhaps the most interesting portion of Europe, not
only in this respect, but as a region of earthquake disturbance,
where the energy and destroying power of this agency have been
more than once displayed upon the most tremendous scale.'
_Mallet's Earthquake Catalogue of the British Association_,
Report for 1858, p. 9, London, 1858.
I quote these passages at length, partly on account of their
interest as physical truths, and partly because the facts stated
in them are essential for a right understanding of the history
of Spain. Their influence on the Spanish character was pointed
out, for I believe the first time, in my _History of
Civilization_, vol. i. pp. 123, 124. On that occasion, I adduced
no evidence to prove the frequency of earthquakes in the
Peninsula, because I supposed that all persons moderately
acquainted with the physical history of the earth were aware of
the circumstance. But, in April 1858, a criticism of my book
appeared in the _Edinburgh Review_, in which the serious
blunders which I am said to have committed are unsparingly
exposed. In p. 468 of that Review, the critic, after warning his
readers against my 'inaccuracies,' observes, 'But Mr. Buckle
goes on to state that "earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are
more frequent and more destructive in Italy, and in the Spanish
and Portuguese peninsula, than in any other of the great
countries." Whence he infers, by a singular process of
reasoning, that superstition is more rife, and the clergy more
powerful; but that the fine arts flourish, poetry is cultivated,
and the sciences neglected. Every link in this chain is more or
less faulty. There is no volcano in the Spanish peninsula, and
the only earthquake known to have occurred there was that of
Lisbon.' Now, I have certainly no right to expect that a
reviewer, composing a popular article for an immediate purpose,
and knowing that when his article is read, it will be thrown
aside and forgotten, should, under such unfavourable
circumstances, be at the pains of mastering all the details of
his subject. To look for this would be the height of injustice.
He has no interest in being accurate; his name being concealed,
his reputation, if he have any, is not at stake; and the errors
into which he falls ought to be regarded with leniency, inasmuch
as their vehicle being an ephemeral publication, they are not
likely to be remembered, and they are therefore not likely to
work much mischief.
These considerations have always prevented me from offering any
reply to anonymous criticisms. But the passage in the _Edinburgh
Review_, to which I have called attention, displays such
marvellous ignorance, that I wish to rescue it from oblivion,
and to put it on record as a literary curiosity. The other
charges brought against me could, I need hardly say, be refuted
with equal ease. Indeed, no reasonable person can possibly
suppose that, after years of arduous and uninterrupted study, I
should have committed those childish blunders with which my
opponents unscrupulously taunt me. Once for all, I may say that
I have made no assertion for the truth of which I do not possess
ample and irrefragable evidence. But it is impossible for me to
arrange and adduce all the proofs at the same time; and, in so
vast an enterprise, I must in some degree rely, not on the
generosity of the reader, but on his candour. I do not think
that I am asking too much in requesting him, if on any future
occasion his judgment should be in suspense between me and my
critics, to give me the benefit of the doubt, and to bear in
mind that statements embodied in a deliberate and
slowly-concocted work, authenticated by the author's name, are,
as a mere matter of antecedent probability, more likely to be
accurate than statements made in reviews and newspapers, which,
besides being written hastily, and often at very short notice,
are unsigned, and by which, consequently, their promulgators
evade all responsibility, avoid all risk, and can, in their own
persons, neither gain fame nor incur obloquy.
The simple fact is, that in Spain there have been more
earthquakes than in all other parts of Europe put together,
Italy excepted. If the destruction of property and of life
produced by this one cause were summed up, the results would be
appalling. When we moreover add those alarming shocks, which,
though less destructive, are far more frequent, and of which not
scores, nor hundreds, but thousands have occurred, and which by
increasing the total amount of fear, have to an incalculable
extent promoted the growth of superstition, it is evident that
such phenomena must have played an important part in forming the
national character of the Spaniards. Whoever will take the
trouble of consulting the following passages will find decisive
proofs of the frightful ravages committed by earthquakes in
Spain alone; Portugal being excluded. They all refer to a period
of less than two hundred years; the first being in 1639, and the
last in 1829. _Lettres de Madame de Villars, Ambassadrice en
Espagne_, Amsterdam, 1759, p. 205. _Laborde's Spain_, London,
1809, vol. i. p. 169. _Dunlop's Memoirs of Spain_, Edinburgh,
1834, vol. ii. pp. 226, 227. _Boisel_, _Journal du Voyage
d'Espagne_, Paris, 1669, 4to, p. 243. _Mallet's Earthquake
Catalogue of the British Association_, London, 1858; Report for
1853, p. 146; for 1854, pp. 26, 27, 54, 55, 57, 58, 65, 110,
140, 173, 196, 202. _Swinburne's Travels through Spain_, London,
1787, vol. i. p. 166. _Ford's Spain_, London, 1847, p. 178.
_Bacon's Six Years in Biscay_, London, 1838, p. 32, compared
with _Inglis' Spain_, London, 1831, vol. i. p. 393, vol. ii. p.
289-291.
These authorities narrate the ravages committed during a hundred
and ninety years. From their account it is manifest, that in
Spain hardly a generation passed by without castles, villages,
and towns being destroyed, and men, women, or children killed by
earthquakes. But according to our anonymous instructor, it is
doubtful if there ever was an earthquake in Spain; for he says
of the whole Peninsula, including Portugal, 'the only earthquake
known to have occurred there was that of Lisbon.'
[1169] On the superstitious fears caused by earthquakes in Spain, see a
good passage in _Conde_, _Historia de la Dominacion de los
Arabes_, p. 155. 'En el año 267, dia jeuves, 22 de la luna de
Xawâl, tembló la tierra con tan espantoso ruido y
estremecimiento, que cayeron muchos alcazares y magnificos
edificios, y otros quedaron muy quebrantados, se hundieron
montes, se abrieron peñascos, y la tierra se hundió y tragó
pueblos y alturas, el mar se retrajo y apartó de las costas, y
desaparecieron islas y escollos en el mar. Las gentes
abandonaban los pueblos y huian á los campos, las aves salian de
sus nidos, y las fieras espantadas dejaban sus grutas y
madrigueras con general turbacion y trastorno; nunca los hombres
vieron ni oyeron cosa semejante; se arruinaron muchos pueblos de
la costa meridional y occidental de España. Todas estas cosas
influyeron tanto en los animos de los hombres, y en especial en
la ignorante multitud, que no pudo Almondhir persuadirles que
eran cosas naturales, aunque poco frecüentes, que no tenían
influjo ni relacion con las obras de los hombres, ni con sus
empresas, sino por su ignorancia y vanos temores, que lo mismo
temblaba la tierra para los muslimes que para los cristianos,
para las fieras que para las inocentes criaturas.' Compare
_Geddes' Tracts concerning Spain_, London, 1730, vol. i. p. 89;
and Mariana, who, under the year 1395, says (_Historia de
España_, vol. v. p. 27): 'Tembló la tierra en Valencia mediado
el mes de Diciembre, con que muchos edificios cayéron por
tierra, otros quedaron desplomados; que era maravilla y lástima.
El pueblo, _como agorero que es, pensaba eran señales del cielo_
y pronosticos de los daños que temian .' The history of Spain
abounds with similar instances far too numerous to quote or even
to refer to. But the subject is so important and has been so
misrepresented, that, even at the risk of wearying the reader, I
will give one more illustration of the use of earthquakes in
fostering Spanish superstition. In 1504 'an earthquake,
accompanied by a tremendous hurricane, such as the oldest men
did not remember, had visited Andalusia, and especially Carmona,
a place belonging to the Queen, and occasioned frightful
desolation there.' The superstitious Spaniards now read in these
portents _the prophetic signs by which Heaven announces some
great calamity. Prayers were put up in every temple,_ &c. &c.
_Prescott's History of Ferdinand and Isabella_, Paris, 1842,
vol. iii. p. 174.
Another feature of this singular country is the prevalence of a pastoral
life, mainly caused by the difficulty of establishing regular habits of
agricultural industry. In most parts of Spain, the climate renders it
impossible for the labourer to work the whole of the day;[1170] and this
forced interruption encourages among the people an irregularity and
instability of purpose, which makes them choose the wandering
avocations of a shepherd, rather than the more fixed pursuits of
agriculture.[1171] And during the long and arduous war which they waged
against their Mohammedan invaders, they were subject to such incessant
surprises and forays on the part of the enemy, as to make it advisable
that their means of subsistence should be easily removed; hence they
preferred the produce of their flocks to that of their lands, and were
shepherds instead of agriculturists, simply because by that means they
would suffer less in case of an unfavourable issue. Even after the
capture of Toledo, late in the eleventh century, the inhabitants of the
frontier in Estramadura, La Mancha, and New Castile, were almost
entirely herdsmen, and their cattle were pastured not in private meadows
but in the open fields.[1172] All this increased the uncertainty of
life, and strengthened that love of adventure, and that spirit of
romance, which, at a later period, gave a tone to the popular
literature. Under such circumstances, everything grew precarious,
restless, and unsettled; thought and inquiry were impossible; doubt was
unknown; and the way was prepared for those superstitious habits, and
for that deep-rooted and tenacious belief, which have always formed a
principal feature in the history of the Spanish nation.
[1170] _Buckle's History of Civilization_, vol. i. p. 43. See also
_Laborde's Spain_, vol. iv. p. 42.
[1171] A writer early in the eighteenth century notices 'el gran numero
de pastores que hay.' _Uztariz_, _Theorica y Practica de
Comercio_, 3rd ed. Madrid, 1757, folio p. 20. As to the Arabic
period, see _Conde_, _Historia de la Dominacion_, p. 244:
'Muchos pueblos, siguiendo su natural inclinacion, se entregaron
á la ganaderia .' Hence 'the wandering life so congenial to the
habits of the Spanish peasantry,' noticed in _Cook's Spain_,
vol. i. p. 85, where, however, the connexion between this and
the physical constitution of the country is not indicated. The
solution is given by Mr. Ticknor with his usual accuracy and
penetration: 'The climate and condition of the Peninsula, which
from a very remote period had favoured the shepherd's life and
his pursuits, facilitated, no doubt, if they did not occasion,
the first introduction into Spanish poetry of a pastoral tone,
whose echoes are heard far back among the old ballads.' ...
'From the Middle Ages the occupations of a shepherd's life had
prevailed in Spain and Portugal to a greater extent than
elsewhere in Europe; and, probably, in consequence of this
circumstance, eclogues and bucolics were early known in the
poetry of both countries, and became connected in both with the
origin of the popular drama.' _Ticknor's History of Spanish
Literature_, London, 1849, vol. iii. pp. 9, 36. On the pastoral
literature of Spain, see _Bouterwek's History of Spanish
Literature_, London, 1823, vol. i. pp. 123-129; and on the great
number of pastoral romances, _Southey's Letters from Spain_,
Bristol, 1799, p. 336. But these writers, not seizing the whole
question, have failed to observe the relation between the
literary, physical, and social phenomena.
[1172] See the memoir by Jovellanos, in _Laborde's Spain_, vol. iv.
p. 127. This was the necessary consequence of those vindictive
attacks by which, for several centuries, both Mohammedans and
Christians seemed resolved to turn Spain into a desert; ravaging
each other's fields, and destroying every crop they could meet
with. _Conde_, _Dominacion de los Arabes_, pp. 75, 188, 278,
346, 396, 417, 418, 471, 499, 500, 505, 523, 539, 544, 551, 578,
645, 651, 658. To quote one of these instances, late in the
eleventh century: 'La constancia de Alfonso ben Ferdeland en
hacer entradas y talas en tierra de Toledo dos veces cada año,
fué tanta que empobreció y apuró los pueblos;' ... 'el tirano
Alfonso taló y quemó los campos y los pueblos.' _Conde_, p. 346.
As such havoc, which was continued with few interruptions for
about seven hundred years, has done much towards forming the
national character of the Spaniards, it may be worth while to
refer to _Mariana_, _Historia de España_, vol. iii. p. 438, vol.
iv. pp. 193, 314, vol. v. pp. 92, 317, 337; and to _Circourt_,
_Histoire des Arabes d'Espagne_, Paris, 1846, vol. i. p. 99.
To what extent these circumstances would, if they stood by themselves,
have affected the ultimate destiny of Spain, is a question hardly
possible to answer; but there can be no doubt that their effects must
always have been important, though, from the paucity of evidence, we are
unable to measure them with precision. In regard, however, to the actual
result, this point is of little moment, because a long chain of other
and still more influential events became interwoven with those just
mentioned, and, tending in precisely the same direction, produced a
combination which nothing could resist, and from which we may trace with
unerring certainty the steps by which the nation subsequently declined.
The history of the causes of the degradation of Spain will indeed become
too clear to be mistaken, if studied in reference to those general
principles which I have enunciated, and which will themselves be
confirmed by the light they throw on this instructive though melancholy
subject.
After the subversion of the Roman Empire, the first leading fact in the
history of Spain is the settlement of the Visigoths, and the
establishment of their opinions in the Peninsula. They, as well as the
Suevi, who immediately preceded them, were Arians, and Spain during a
hundred and fifty years became the rallying point of that famous
heresy,[1173] to which indeed most of the Gothic tribes then adhered.
But, at the end of the fifth century, the Franks, on their conversion
from Paganism, adopted the opposite and orthodox creed, and were
encouraged by their clergy to make war upon their heretical neighbours.
Clovis, who was then king of the Franks, was regarded by the church as
the champion of the faith, in whose behalf he attacked the unbelieving
Visigoths.[1174] His successors, moved by the same motives, pursued the
same policy;[1175] and, during nearly a century, there was a war of
opinions between France and Spain, by which the Visigothic Empire was
seriously endangered, and was more than once on the verge of
dissolution. Hence, in Spain, a war for national independence became
also a war for national religion,[1176] and an intimate alliance was
formed between the Arian kings and the Arian clergy. The latter class
were, in those ages of ignorance, sure to gain by such a compact,[1177]
and they received considerable temporal advantages in return for the
prayers which they offered up against the enemy, as also for the
miracles which they occasionally performed. Thus early a foundation was
laid for the immense influence which the Spanish priesthood have
possessed ever since, and which was strengthened by subsequent events.
For, late in the sixth century, the Latin clergy converted their
Visigothic masters, and the Spanish government, becoming orthodox,
naturally conferred upon its teachers an authority equal to that wielded
by the Arian hierarchy.[1178] Indeed, the rulers of Spain, grateful to
those who had shown them the error of their ways, were willing rather to
increase the power of the church than to diminish it. The clergy took
advantage of this disposition; and the result was, that before the
middle of the seventh century the spiritual classes possessed more
influence in Spain than in any other part of Europe.[1179] The
ecclesiastical synods became not only councils of the church, but also
parliaments of the realm.[1180] At Toledo, which was then the capital of
Spain, the power of the clergy was immense, and was so ostentatiously
displayed, that in a council they held there in the year 633, we find
the king literally prostrating himself on the ground before the
bishops;[1181] and half a century later, the ecclesiastical historian
mentions that this humiliating practice was repeated by another king,
having become, he says, an established custom.[1182] That this was not a
mere meaningless ceremony, is moreover evident from other and analogous
facts. Exactly the same tendency is seen in their jurisprudence; since,
by the Visigothic code, any layman, whether plaintiff or defendant,
might insist on his cause being tried not by the temporal magistrate,
but by the bishop of the diocese. Nay, even if both parties to the suit
were agreed in preferring the civil tribunal, the bishop still retained
the power of revoking the decision, if in his opinion it was incorrect;
and it was his especial business to watch over the administration of
justice, and to instruct the magistrates how to perform their
duty.[1183] Another, and more painful proof of the ascendency of the
clergy, is that the laws against heretics were harsher in Spain than in
any other country; the Jews in particular being persecuted with
unrelenting rigour.[1184] Indeed, the desire of upholding the faith was
strong enough to produce a formal declaration that no sovereign should
be acknowledged, unless he promised to preserve its purity; the judges
of the purity being of course the bishops themselves, to whose suffrage
the king owed his throne.[1185]
[1173] The unsettled chronology of the early history of Spain appears
from the different statements of various writers respecting the
duration of Arianism, a point of much more importance than the
death and accession of kings. Antequera (_Historia de la
Legislacion Española_, Madrid, 1849, p. 37) says, 'La secta
Arriana, pues, segun las epocas fijadas, permaneció en España
125 años;' Fleury (_Histoire Ecclésiastique_, vol. vii. p. 586,
Paris, 1758) says 'environ 180 ans;' and M'Crie, generally well
informed, says in his _History of the Reformation in Spain_,
Edinburgh, 1829, p. 7, 'Arianism was the prevailing and
established creed of the country for nearly two centuries:' for
this, he refers to Gregory of Tours. With good reason,
therefore, does M. Fauriel term it 'une question qui souffre des
difficultés.' See his able work, _Histoire de la Gaule
Méridionale_, Paris, 1836, vol. i. p. 10.
[1174] In 496, the orthodox clergy looked on Clovis as 'un champion
qu'il peut opposer aux hérétiques visigoths et burgondes.'
_Fauriel_, _Histoire de la Gaule Méridionale_, vol. ii. p. 41.
They also likened him to Gideon, p. 66. Compare _Fleury_,
_Histoire Ecclésiastique_, vol. vii. pp. 89, 90. Ortiz is so
enthusiastic that he forgets his patriotism, and warmly praises
the ferocious barbarian who made war, indeed, on his country,
but still whose speculative opinions were supposed to be sound.
'Mientras Alarico desfogaba su encono contra los Católicos, tuvo
la Iglesia Galicana el consuelo de ver Católico á su gran Rey
Clodoveo. Era el único Monarca del mundo que á la sazón
profesaba la Religion verdadera.' _Ortiz_, _Compendio de la
Historia de España_, vol. ii. p. 96, Madrid, 1796.
[1175] Thus, in 531, Childebert marched against the Visigoths, because
they were Arians. _Fauriel_, _Histoire de la Gaule Méridionale_,
vol. ii. p. 131; and in 542, Childebert and Clotaire made
another attack, and laid siege to Saragossa, p. 142. 'No
advertian los Godos lo que su falsa creencia les perjudicaba, y
si lo advertian, su obcecacion les hacia no poner remedio. Los
reyes francos, que eran católicos, les movian guerras en las
Galias por arrianos, y los obispos católicos de la misma Galia
gótica deseaban la dominacion de los francos.' _Lafuente_,
_Historia de España_, vol. ii. p. 380, Madrid, 1850.
[1176] 'Los Francos por el amor que tenian á la Religion Cathólica, que
poco antes abrazaran, aborrecian á los Visigodos como gente
inficionada de la secta Arriana.' _Mariana_, _Historia de
España_, vol. ii. p. 43. And of one of their great battles he
says, p. 46, 'vulgarmente se llamó el campo Arriano por causa de
la religion que los Godos seguian.'
[1177] 'En religion et en croyance, comme en toute chose, les Visigoths
se montrèrent plus sérieux, plus profonds, plus tenaces que les
Burgondes. J'ai dit ailleurs comment ils étaient devenus presque
en même temps chrétiens et ariens. Transplantés en Gaule et en
Espagne, non-seulement ils avaient persévéré dans leur hérésie;
ils s'y étaient affermis, affectionnés, et dans le peu que
l'histoire laisse apercevoir de leur clergé, on s'assure qu'il
était austère, zélé, et qu'il exerçait un grand empire sur les
chefs comme sur la masse de la nation visigothe.' ... 'Les rois
visigoths se croyaient obligés à de grandes démonstrations de
respect pour leur clergé arien.' _Fauriel_, _Histoire de la
Gaule Méridionale_, vol. i. pp. 577, 578.
[1178] The abjuration of Recared took place between the years 586 and
589. _Dunham's History of Spain and Portugal_, London, 1832,
vol. i. pp. 126-128. _Mariana_, _Historia de España_, vol. ii.
pp. 99-101. _Ortiz_, _Compendio de la Historia de España_, vol.
ii. p. 120. _Lafuente_, _Historia de España_, vol. ii. pp.
360-363; and says Lafuente, p. 384, 'Recaredo fué el primero que
con todo el ardor de un neófito, comenzó en el tercer concilio
toledano à dar a estas asambleas conocimiento y decision en
negocios pertenecientes al gobierno temporal de los pueblos.'
Similarly, Antequera (_Historia de la Legislación_, p. 31) is
happy to observe that 'Recaredo abjuró la heregia arriana,
abrazó decididamente la religion de Jesu-Cristo, _y concedió à
los ministros de la Iglesia una influencia en el gobierno del
Estado, que vino à ser en adelante, ilimitada y absoluta_.'
[1179] 'As for the councils held under the Visigoth kings of Spain
during the seventh century, it is not easy to determine whether
they are to be considered as ecclesiastical or temporal
assemblies. No kingdom was so thoroughly under the bondage of
the hierarchy as Spain.' _Hallam's Middle Ages_, edit. 1846,
vol. i. p. 511. 'Les prêtres étaient les seuls qui avaient
conservé et même augmenté leur influence dans la monarchie
goth-espagnole.' _Sempere_, _Histoire des Cortès d'Espagne_,
Bordeaux, 1815, p. 19. Compare _Lafuente_, _Historia de España_,
vol. ii. p. 368, on 'la influencia y preponderancia del clero,
no ya solo en los negocios eclesiásticos, sino tambien en los
políticos y de estado.'
[1180] 'But it is in Spain, after the Visigoths had cast off their
Arianism, that the bishops more manifestly influence the whole
character of the legislation. The synods of Toledo were not
merely national councils, but parliaments of the realm.'
_Milman's History of Latin Christianity_, London, 1854, vol. i.
p. 380. See also _Antequera_, _Historia de la Legislación
Española_, pp. 41, 42.
[1181] In 633, at a council of Toledo, the king 's'étant prosterné á
terre devant les évêques.' _Fleury_, _Histoire Ecclésiastique_,
vol. viii. p. 308, Paris, 1758.
[1182] In 688, at a council of Toledo, 'le roi Egica y étoit en
personne; et après s'être prosterné devant les évêques, _suivant
la coutume_, il fit lire un mémoire où il leur demandoit
conseil,' &c. _Fleury_, _Histoire Ecclésiastique_, vol. ix.
p. 89, Paris, 1758.
[1183] See a short but admirable summary of this part of the Visigothic
code in _Dunham's History of Spain_, vol. iv. pp. 77, 78;
perhaps the best history in the English language of a foreign
modern country. 'In Spain, the bishops had a special charge to
keep continual watch over the administration of justice, and
were summoned on all great occasions to instruct the judges to
act with piety and justice.' _Milman's History of Latin
Christianity_, 1854, vol. i. p. 386. The council of Toledo, in
633, directs bishops to admonish judges. _Fleury_, _Histoire
Ecclésiastique_, vol. viii. p. 313; and a learned Spanish
lawyer, Sempere, says of the bishops, 'Le code du _Fuero Juzgo_
fut leur ouvrage; les juges étaient sujets à leur juridiction;
les plaideurs, grevés par la sentence des juges, pouvaient se
plaindre aux évêques, et ceux-ci évoquer ainsi leurs arrêts, les
réformer, et châtier les magistrats. Les procureurs du roi,
comme les juges, étaient obligés de se présenter aux synodes
diocésains annuels, pour apprendre des ecclésiastiques
l'administration de la justice; enfin le gouvernement des Goths
n'était qu'une monarchie théocratique.' _Sempere_, _Monarchie
Espagnole_, Paris, 1826, vol. i. p. 6, vol. ii. pp. 212-214.
[1184] 'The terrible laws against heresy, and the atrocious juridical
persecutions of the Jews, already designate Spain as the throne
and centre of merciless bigotry.' _Milman's History of Latin
Christianity_, vol. i. p. 381. 'Tan luego como la religion
católica se halló dominando en el trono y en el pueblo,
comenzaron los concilianos toledanos á dictar disposiciones
canónicas y á prescribir castigos contra los idolatras, contra
los judios, y contra los hereges.' _Lafuente_, _Historia de
España_, vol. ix. pp. 199-200. See also p. 214, and vol. ii. pp.
406, 407, 451. _Prescott's History of Ferdinand and Isabella_,
vol. i. pp. 235, 236. _Johnston's Institutes of the Civil Law of
Spain_, p. 262. _Circourt_, _Histoire des Arabes d'Espagne_,
vol. i. pp. 260, 261; and _Southey's Chronicle of the Cid_, p.
18. I particularly indicate these passages, on account of the
extraordinary assertion of Dr. M'Crie, that 'on a review of
criminal proceedings in Spain anterior to the establishment of
the court of Inquisition, it appears in general that heretics
were more mildly treated there than in other countries.'
_M'Crie's_ _History of the Reformation in Spain_, p. 83, the
best book on the Spanish Protestants.
[1185] A council of Toledo in 638 orders, 'qu'à l'avenir aucun roi ne
montera sur le trône qu'il ne promette de conserver la foi
catholique;' and at another council in 681, 'le roi y présenta
un écrit par lequel il prioit les évêques de lui assurer le
royaume, qu'il tenoit de leurs suffrages.' _Fleury_, _Histoire
Ecclésiastique_, vol. viii. p. 339, vol. ix. p. 70.
Such were the circumstances which, in and before the seventh century,
secured to the Spanish Church an influence unequalled in any other part
of Europe.[1186] Early in the eighth century, an event occurred which
apparently broke up and dispersed the hierarchy, but which in reality
was extremely favourable to them. In 711 the Mohammedans sailed from
Africa, landed in the south of Spain, and in the space of three years
conquered the whole country, except the almost inaccessible regions of
the north-west. The Spaniards, secure in their native mountains,[1187]
soon recovered heart, rallied their forces, and began in their turn to
assail the invaders. A desperate struggle ensued, which lasted nearly
eight centuries, and in which, a second time in the history of Spain, a
war for independence was also a war for religion; the contest between
Arabian Infidels and Spanish Christians, succeeding that formerly
carried on between the Trinitarians of France and the Arians of Spain.
Slowly, and with infinite difficulty, the Christians fought their way.
By the middle of the ninth century, they reached the line of the
Douro.[1188] Before the close of the eleventh century, they conquered as
far as the Tagus, and Toledo, their ancient capital, fell into their
hands in 1085.[1189] Even then much remained to be done. In the south,
the struggle assumed its deadliest form, and there it was prolonged with
such obstinacy, that it was not until the capture of Malaga in 1487, and
of Granada in 1492, that the Christian empire was re-established, and
the old Spanish monarchy finally restored.[1190]
[1186] Those happy times have received the warm applause of a modern
theologian, because in them the church, 'ha opuesto un muro de
bronce al error;' and because there existed 'la mas estrecha
concordia entre el imperio y el sacerdocio, por cuyo inestimable
beneficio debemos hacer incesantes votos.' _Observaciones sobre
El Presente y El Porvenir de la Iglesia en España_, _por Domingo
Costa y Borras_, _Obispo de Barcelona_, Barcelona, 1857, pp. 73,
75.
[1187] To which they fled with a speed which caused their great enemy,
Muza, to pass upon them a somewhat ambiguous eulogy. 'Dijo, son
leones en sus castillos, aguilas en sus caballos, y mugeres en
sus escuadrones de á pié; pero si ven la ocasion la saben
aprovechar, y cuando quedan vencidos son cabras en escapar á los
montes, que no ven la tierra que pisan.' _Conde_, _Historia de
la Dominacion de los Arabes_, p. 30.
[1188] _Prescott's History of Ferdinand and Isabella_, vol. i.
pp. xxxviii. 287. Lafuente (_Historia de España_, vol. iii.
p. 363) marks the epoch rather indistinctly, 'basta ya el
Duero.' Compare _Florez_, _Memorias de las Reynas Catholicas_,
Madrid, 4to, 1761, vol. i. p. 68.
[1189] There is a spirited account of its capture in _Mariana's Historia
de España_, vol. ii. pp. 506-513; after which Ortiz (_Compendio
de la Historia_, vol. iii. p. 156) and Lafuente (_Historia
General_, vol. iv. pp. 236-242) are rather tame. The Mohammedan
view of this, the first decisive blow to their cause, will be
found in _Conde_, _Historia de la Dominacion de los Arabes_, p.
347. 'Asi se perdió aquella ínclita ciudad, y acabó el reino de
Toledo con grave pérdida del Islam.' The Christian view is that
'concedió Dios al Rey la conquista de aquella capital.'
_Florez_, _Reynas Catholicas_, vol. i. p. 165.
[1190] _Circourt_, _Histoire des Arabes_, vol. i. pp. 313, 349. _Conde_,
_Dominacion de los Arabes_, pp. 656, 664. _Ortiz_, _Compendio_,
vol. v. pp. 509, 561. _Lafuente_, _Historia_, vol. ix. pp. 341,
399.
The effect of all this on the Spanish character was most remarkable.
During eight successive centuries, the whole country was engaged in a
religious crusade; and those holy wars which other nations occasionally
waged, were, in Spain, prolonged and continued for more than twenty
generations.[1191] The object being not only to regain a territory, but
also to re-establish a creed, it naturally happened that the expounders
of that creed assumed a prominent and important position. In the camp,
and in the council-chamber, the voice of ecclesiastics was heard and
obeyed; for as the war aimed at the propagation of Christianity, it
seemed right that her ministers should play a conspicuous part in a
matter which particularly concerned them.[1192] The danger to which the
country was exposed being moreover very imminent, those superstitious
feelings were excited which danger is apt to provoke, and to which, as I
have elsewhere shown,[1193] the tropical civilizations owed some of
their leading peculiarities. Scarcely were the Spanish Christians driven
from their homes and forced to take refuge in the north, when this great
principle began to operate. In their mountainous retreat, they preserved
a chest filled with relics of the saints, the possession of which they
valued as their greatest security.[1194] This was to them a national
standard, round which they rallied, and by the aid of which they gained
miraculous victories over their infidel opponents. Looking upon
themselves as soldiers of the cross, their minds became habituated to
supernatural considerations to an extent which we can now hardly
believe, and which distinguished them in this respect from every other
European nation.[1195] Their young men saw visions, and their old men
dreamed dreams.[1196] Strange sights were vouchsafed to them from
heaven; on the eve of a battle mysterious portents appeared; and it was
observed that whenever the Mohammedans violated the tomb of a Christian
saint, thunder and lightning were sent to rebuke the misbelievers, and,
if need be, to punish their audacious invasion.[1197]
[1191] 'According to the magnificent style of the Spanish historians,
eight centuries of almost uninterrupted warfare elapsed, and
three thousand seven hundred battles were fought, before the
last of the Moorish kingdoms in Spain submitted to the Christian
arms.' _Robertson's Charles V._ by Prescott, London, 1857, p.
65. 'En nuestra misma España, en Leon y Castilla, en esta nueva
Tierra Santa, donde se sostenia una cruzada perpétua y constante
contra los infieles, donde se mantenía en todo su fervor el
espiritu á la vez religioso y guerrero.' _Lafuente_, _Historia
de España_, vol. v. p. 293. 'Era España theatro de una continua
guerra contra los enemigos de la Fe.' _Florez_, _Reynas
Catholicas_, vol. i. p. 226. 'El glorioso empeño de exterminar á
los enemigos de la Fe.' p. 453. 'Esta guerra sagrada.' Vol. ii.
p. 800. 'Se armaron nuestros Reyes Cathólicos, con zelo y animo
alentado del cielo; y como la causa era de Religion para
ensanchar los Dominios de la Fe, sacrificaron todas las fuerzas
del Reyno, y sus mismas personas.' p. 801. What was called the
Indulgence of the Crusade was granted by the Popes 'aux
Espagnols qui combattoient contre les Mores.' _Fleury_,
_Histoire Ecclésiastique_, vol. xviii. p. xxi., vol. xix. pp.
158, 458, vol. xxi. p. 171.
[1192] 'En aquellos tiempos [y duró hasta todo el siglo xv. y toma de
Granada] eran los obispos los primeros capitanes de los
exércitos.' _Ortiz_, _Compendio_, vol. iii. p. 189. 'Los
prelados habían sido siempre los primeros no solo en promover la
guerra contra Moros, sino á presentarse en campaña con todo su
poder y esfuerzo, animando á los demas con las palabras y el
exemplo.' Vol. v. pp. 507, 508.
[1193] _History of Civilization_, vol. i. pp. 121-130.
[1194] 'Les chrétiens avoient apporté dans les Asturies une arche ou
coffre plein de reliques, qu'ils regardèrent depuis comme la
sauve-garde de leur état.' ... 'Elle fut emportée et mise enfin
à Oviedo, comme le lieu le plus sûr entre ces montagnes, Père
773, l'an 775.' _Fleury_, _Histoire Ecclésiastique_, vol. ix. p.
190. This 'arca llena de reliquias' was taken to the Asturias in
714. _Mariana_, _Historia de España_, vol. ii. p. 227; and,
according to Ortiz (_Compendio_, vol. ii. p. 182), it was 'un
tesoro inestimable de sagradas reliquias.' See also _Geddes'
Tracts concerning Spain_, vol. ii. p. 237, London, 1730; and
_Ford's Spain_, 1847, p. 388.
[1195] 'But no people ever felt themselves to be so absolutely soldiers
of the cross as the Spaniards did, from the time of their
Moorish wars; no people ever trusted so constantly to the
recurrence of miracles in the affairs of their daily life; and
therefore no people ever talked of Divine things as of matters
in their nature so familiar and common-place. Traces of this
state of feeling and character are to be found in Spanish
literature on all sides.' _Ticknor's History of Spanish
Literature_, vol. ii. p. 333. Compare _Bouterwek's History of
Spanish Literature_, vol. i. pp. 105, 106; and the account of
the battle of las Navas in _Circourt_, _Histoire des Arabes
d'Espagne_, vol. i. p. 153: 'On voulait trouver partout des
miracles.' Some of the most startling of these miracles may be
found in _Lafuente_, _Historia de España_, vol. v. p. 227; in
_Mariana_, _Historia de España_, vol. ii. pp. 378, 395, vol.
iii. p. 338; and in _Ortiz_, _Compendio_, vol. iii. p. 248,
vol. iv. p. 22.
[1196] One of the most curious of these prophetic dreams is preserved in
_Conde_, _Dominación de los Arabes_, pp. 378, 379, with its
interpretation by the theologians. They were for the most part
fulfilled. In 844 'El Apóstol Santiago, según que lo prometiera
al Rey, fué visto en un caballo blanco, y con una bandera blanca
y en medio della una cruz roxa, que capitaneaba nuestra gente.'
_Mariana_, _Historia de España_, vol. ii. pp. 310, 311. In 957
'El Apóstol Santiago fué visto entre las hacas dar la victoria à
los fieles,' p. 382. In 1236 'Publicóse por cierto que San Jorge
ayudó á los Christianos, y que se halló en la pelea.' Vol. iii.
p. 323. On the dreams which foreshadowed these appearances, see
_Mariana_, vol. ii. pp. 309, 446, vol. iii. pp. 15, 108.
[1197] 'Priests mingle in the council and the camp, and, arrayed in
their sacerdotal robes, not unfrequently led the armies to
battle. They interpreted the will of Heaven as mysteriously
revealed in dreams and visions. Miracles were a familiar
occurrence. The violated tombs of the saints sent forth thunders
and lightnings to consume the invaders.' _Prescott's History of
Ferdinand and Isabella_, vol. i. p. 39. In the middle of the
ninth century, there happened the following event: 'En lo mas
cruel de los tormentos' [to which the Christians were exposed]
'subió Abderramen un dia á las azuteas ó galerias de su Palacio.
Descubrió desde alli los cuerpos de los Santos martirizados en
los patíbulos y atravesados con los palos, mandó los quemasen
todos para que no quedase reliquia. Cumplióse luego la órden:
pero aquel impio probó bien presto los rigores de la venganza
divina que volvía por la sangre derramada de sus Santos.
Improvisamente se le pegó la lengua al paladar y fauces;
cerrósele la boca, y no pudo pronunciar una palabra, ni dar un
gemido. Conduxeronle, sus criados á la cama, murió aquella misma
noche, y antes de apagarse las hoguerasen que ardian los santos
cuerpos, entró la infeliz alma de Abderramen en los eternos
fuegos del infierno.' _Ortiz_, _Compendio_, vol. iii. p. 52.
Under circumstances like these, the clergy could not fail to extend
their influence; or, we may rather say, the course of events extended it
for them. The Spanish Christians, pent up for a considerable time in the
mountains of Asturias, and deprived of their former resources, quickly
degenerated, and soon lost the scanty civilization to which they had
attained. Stripped of all their wealth, and confined to what was
comparatively a barren region, they relapsed into barbarism, and
remained, for at least a century, without arts, or commerce, or
literature.[1198] As their ignorance increased, so also did their
superstition; while this last, in its turn, strengthened the authority
of their priests. The order of affairs, therefore, was very natural. The
Mohammedan invasion made the Christians poor; poverty caused ignorance;
ignorance caused credulity; and credulity, depriving men both of the
power and of the desire to investigate for themselves, encouraged a
reverential spirit, and confirmed those submissive habits, and that
blind obedience to the Church, which form the leading and most
unfortunate peculiarity of Spanish history.
[1198] Circourt (_Histoire des Arabes_, vol. i. p. 5) says, 'Les
chrétiens qui ne voulurent pas se soumettre furent rejetés dans
les incultes ravins des Pyrénées, où ils purent se maintenir
comme les bêtes fauves se maintiennent dans les forêts.' But the
most curious account of the state of the Spanish Christians in
the last half of the eighth century, and in the first half of
the ninth, will be found in _Conde_, _Historia de la
Dominacion_, pp. 95, 125. 'Referian de estos pueblos de Galicia
que son cristianos, y de los mas bravos de Afranc; pero que
viven como fieras, que nunca lavan sus cuerpos ni vestidos, que
no se los mudan, y los llevan puestos hasta que se los caen
despedazados en andrajos, que entran unos en las casas de otros
sin pedir licencia.' ... In A.D. 815, 'no habia guerra sino
contra cristianos por mantener frontera, y no con deseo de
ampliar y extender los limites del reino, ni por esperanza de
sacar grandes riquezas, por ser los cristianos gente pobre de
montaña, sin saber nada de comercio ni de buenas artes.'
From this it appears, that there were three ways in which the Mohammedan
invasion strengthened the devotional feelings of the Spanish people. The
first way was by promoting a long and obstinate religious war; the
second was by the presence of constant and imminent dangers; and the
third way was by the poverty, and therefore the ignorance, which it
produced among the Christians.
These events being preceded by the great Arian war, and being
accompanied and perpetually reinforced by those physical phenomena which
I have indicated as tending in the same direction, worked with such
combined and accumulative energy, that in Spain the theological element
became not so much a component of the national character, but rather the
character itself. The ablest and most ambitious of the Spanish kings
were compelled to follow in the general wake; and, despots though they
were, they succumbed to that pressure of opinions which they believed
they were controlling. The war with Granada, late in the fifteenth
century, was theological far more than temporal; and Isabella, who made
the greatest sacrifices in order to conduct it, and who in capacity as
well as in honesty was superior to Ferdinand, had for her object not so
much the acquisition of territory as the propagation of the Christian
faith.[1199] Indeed, any doubts which could be entertained respecting
the purpose of the contest must have been dissipated by subsequent
events. For, scarcely was the war brought to a close, when Ferdinand and
Isabella issued a decree expelling from the country every Jew who
refused to deny his faith; so that the soil of Spain might be no longer
polluted by the presence of unbelievers.[1200] To make them Christians,
or, failing in that, to exterminate them, was the business of the
Inquisition, which was established in the same reign, and which before
the end of the fifteenth century was in full operation.[1201] During the
sixteenth century, the throne was occupied by two princes of eminent
ability, who pursued a similar course. Charles V., who succeeded
Ferdinand in 1516, governed Spain for forty years, and the general
character of his administration was the same as that of his
predecessors. In regard to his foreign policy, his three principal wars
were against France, against the German princes, and against Turkey. Of
these, the first was secular; but the two last were essentially
religious. In the German war, he defended the church against innovation;
and at the battle of Muhlberg, he so completely humbled the Protestant
princes, as to retard for some time the progress of the
Reformation.[1202] In his other great war, he, as the champion of
Christianity against Mohammedanism, consummated what his grandfather
Ferdinand had begun. Charles defeated and dislodged the Mohammedans in
the east, just as Ferdinand had done in the west; the repulse of the
Turks before Vienna being to the sixteenth century what the conquest of
the Arabs of Granada was to the fifteenth.[1203] It was, therefore, with
reason that Charles, at the close of his career, could boast that he had
always preferred his creed to his country, and that the first object of
his ambition had been to maintain the interests of Christianity.[1204]
The zeal with which he struggled for the faith, also appears in his
exertions against heresy in the Low Countries. According to contemporary
and competent authorities, from fifty thousand to a hundred thousand
persons were put to death in the Netherlands during his reign on account
of their religious opinions.[1205] Later inquirers have doubted the
accuracy of this statement,[1206] which is probably exaggerated; but we
know that, between 1520 and 1550, he published a series of laws, to the
effect that those who were convicted of heresy should be beheaded, or
burned alive, or buried alive. The penalties were thus various, to meet
the circumstances of each case. Capital punishment, however, was always
to be inflicted on whoever bought an heretical book, or sold it, or even
copied it for his own use.[1207] His last advice to his son, well
accorded with these measures. Only a few days before his death, he
signed a codicil to his will, recommending that no favour should ever be
shown to heretics; that they should all be put to death; and that care
should be taken to uphold the Inquisition, as the best means of
accomplishing so desirable an end.[1208]
[1199] 'Isabella may be regarded as the soul of this war. She engaged in
it with the most exalted views, less to acquire territory than
to reëstablish the empire of the Cross over the ancient domain
of Christendom.' _Prescott's History of Ferdinand and Isabella_,
vol. i. p. 392. Compare _Fleury_, _Histoire Ecclésiastique_,
vol. xxiii. p. 583, 'bannir de toute l'Espagne la secte de
Mahomet;' and _Circourt_, _Histoire des Arabes d'Espagne_,
vol. ii. pp. 99, 109, 'pour elle une seule chose avait de
l'importance; extirper de ses royaumes le nom et la secte de
Mahomet.' ... 'Sa vie fut presque exclusivement consacrée à
faire triompher la croix sur le croissant.' Mariana (_Historia
de España_, vol. v. p. 344, and vol. vii. pp. 51, 52) has warmly
eulogized her character, which indeed, from the Spanish point of
view, was perfect. See also _Florez_, _Reynas Catholicas_,
vol. ii. pp. 774, 788, 829.
[1200] 'En España los Reyes Don Fernando y Doña Isabel luego que se
viéron desembarazados de la guerra de los Moros, acordáron de
echar de todo su reyno á los Judíos.' _Mariana_, _Historia de
España_, vol. vi. p. 303. A Spanish historian, writing less than
seventy years ago, expresses his approbation in the following
terms: 'Arrancado de nuestra peninsula el imperio Mahometano,
quedaba todavía la secta Judayca, peste acaso mas perniciosa, y
sin duda mas peligrosa y extendida, por estar los Judíos
establecidos en todos los pueblos de ella. Pero los Catolicos
Monarcas, cuyo mayor afan era desarraigar de sus reynos toda
planta y raiz infecta y contraria á la fé de Jesu-Cristo, dieron
decreto en Granada dia 30 de Marzo del año mismo de 1492,
mandando saliesen de sus dominios los Judíos que no se
bautizasen dentro de 4 meses.' _Ortiz_, _Compendio_, Madrid,
1798, vol. v. p. 564. The importance of knowing how these and
similar events are judged by Spaniards, induces me to give their
own words at a length which otherwise would be needlessly
prolix. Historians, generally, are too apt to pay more attention
to public transactions than to the opinions which those
transactions evoke; though, in point of fact, the opinions form
the most valuable part of history, since they are the result of
more general causes, while political actions are often due to
the peculiarities of powerful individuals.
Of the number of Jews actually expelled, I can find no
trustworthy account. They are differently estimated at from
160,000 to 800,000. _Prescott's History of Ferdinand and
Isabella_, vol. ii. p. 148. _Mariana_, _Historia de España_,
vol. vi. p. 304. _Ortiz_, _Compendio_, vol. v. p. 564.
_Lafuente_, _Historia de España_, vol. ix. pp. 412, 413.
_Llorente_, _Histoire de l'Inquisition_, Paris, 1817, vol. i. p.
261. _Mata_, _Dos Discursos_, Madrid, 1794, pp. 64, 65.
_Castro_, _Decadencia de España_, Cadiz, 1852, p. 19.
[1201] It had been introduced into Aragon in 1242; but, according to M.
Tapia, 'sin embargo la persecucion se limitó entónces á la secta
de los albigenses; y como de ellos hubo tan pocos en Castilla,
no se consideró sin duda necesario en ella el establecimiento de
aquel tribunal.' _Tapia_, _Historia de la Civilizacion
Española_, Madrid, 1840, vol. ii. p. 302. Indeed, Llorente says
(_Histoire de l'Inquisition d'Espagne_, Paris, 1817, vol. i. p.
88), 'Il est incertain si au commencement du 15^e siècle
l'Inquisition existait en Castille.' In the recent work by M.
Lafuente, 1232 is given as its earliest date; but, 'á fines del
siglos xiv. y principios del xv. apenas puede saberse si existia
tribunal de Inquisicion en Castilla.' _Lafuente_, _Historia de
España_, vol. ix. pp. 204-206, Madrid, 1852. It seems therefore
with good reason that Mariana (_Historia_, vol. vi. p. 171)
terms the Inquisition of Ferdinand and Isabella 'un _nuevo_ y
santo tribunal.' See also _Florez_, _Memorias de las Reynas
Catholicas_, vol. ii. p. 799.
[1202] _Prescott's History of Philip II._, vol. i. p. 23, London, 1857.
_Davies' History of Holland_, vol. i. p. 447, London, 1841. On
the religious character of his German policy, compare _Mariana_,
_Historia de España_, vol. vii. p. 330; _Ortiz_, _Compendio_,
vol. vi. pp. 195, 196.
[1203] _Prescott's Philip II._, vol. i. p. 3; and the continuation of
_Fleury_, _Histoire Ecclésiastique_, vol. xxvii. p. 280.
Robertson, though praising Charles V. for this achievement,
seems rather inclined to underrate its magnitude; _History of
Charles V._, p. 246.
[1204] In the speech he made at his abdication, he said that 'he had
been ever mindful of the interests of the dear land of his
birth, but above all of the great interests of Christianity. His
first object had been to maintain these inviolate against the
infidel.' _Prescott's Philip II._, vol. i. p. 8. Miñana boasts
that 'el César con piadoso y noble ánimo exponia su vida á los
peligros para extender los limites del Imperio Christiano.'
_Continuación de Mariana_, vol. viii. p. 352. Compare the
continuation of _Fleury_, _Histoire Ecclésiastique_, vol. xxxi.
p. 19.
[1205] Grotius says, 100,000; Bor, Meteren, and Paul say 50,000.
_Watson's History of Philip II._, London, 1839, pp. 45, 51.
_Davies' History of Holland_, London, 1841, vol. i. pp. 498,
499. _Motley's Dutch Republic_, London, 1858, vol. i. pp. 103,
104.
[1206] It is doubted, if I rightly remember, by Mr. Prescott. But the
opinion of that able historian is entitled to less weight from
his want of acquaintance with Dutch literature, where the
principal evidence must be sought for. On this, as on many other
matters, the valuable work of Mr. Motley leaves little to
desire.
[1207] _Prescott's Philip II._, vol. i. pp. 196, 197. In 1523, the first
persons were burned. _Motley's Dutch Republic_, vol. i. p. 69.
The mode of burying alive is described in _Davies' History of
Holland_, vol. i. p. 383, vol. ii. pp. 311, 312.
[1208] He died on the 21st September; and on the 9th he signed a
codicil, in which he 'enjoined upon his son to follow up and
bring to justice every heretic in his dominions, and this
without exception, and without favour or mercy to any one. He
conjured Philip to cherish the holy inquisition as the best
means of accomplishing this good work.' _Prescott's Additions to
Robertson's Charles V._, p. 576. See also his instructions to
Philip in _Raumer's History of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth
Centuries_, vol. i. p. 91; and on his opinion of the
Inquisition, see his conversation with Sir Thomas Wyatt, printed
from the State Papers in _Froude's History of England_, vol.
iii. p. 456, London, 1858. This may have been mere declamation;
but in _Tapia's Civilizacion Española_, Madrid, 1840, vol. iii.
pp. 76, 77, will be found a deliberate and official letter, in
which Charles does not hesitate to say, 'La santa inquisicion
como oficio santo y puesto por los reyes católicos, nuestros
señores y abuelos á honra de Dios nuestro señor y de nuestra
santa fé católica, tengo firme é entrañablemente asentado y
fijado en mi corazon, para la mandar favorecer y honrar, como
principe justo y temeroso de Dios es obligado y debe hacer.'
The codicil to the will of Charles still exists, or did very
recently, among the archives at Simancas. _Ford's Spain_, 1847,
p. 334. In M. Lafuente's great work, _Historia de España_, vol.
xii. pp. 494, 495, Madrid, 1853, it is referred to in language
which, in more senses than one, is perfectly Spanish: 'Su
testamento y codicilo respiran las ideas cristianas y religiosas
en que habia vivido y la piedad que señaló su muerte.' ... 'Es
muy de notar en primera cláusula [i.e.] of the codicil por la
cual deja muy encarecidamente recomendado al rey Don Felipe que
use de todo rigor en el castigo de los hereges luteranos que
habian sido presos y se hubieren de prender en España.' ...
'"Sin escepcion de persona alguna, ni admitir ruegos, ni tener
respeto á persona alguna; porque para el efecto de ello
favorezca y mande favorecer al Santo Oficio de la
Inquisición,"' &c.
This barbarous policy is to be ascribed, not to the vices, nor to the
temperament of the individual ruler, but to the operation of large
general causes, which acted upon the individual, and impelled him to the
course he pursued. Charles was by no means a vindictive man; his natural
disposition was to mercy rather than to rigour; his sincerity is
unquestionable; he performed what he believed to be his duty; and he was
so kind a friend, that those who knew him best were precisely those who
loved him most.[1209] Little, however, could all that avail in shaping
his public conduct. He was obliged to obey the tendencies of the age and
country in which he lived. And what those tendencies were, appeared
still more clearly after his death, when the throne of Spain was
occupied upwards of forty years by a prince who inherited it in the
prime of life, and whose reign is particularly interesting as a symptom
and a consequence of the disposition of the people over whom he ruled.
[1209] Native testimony may perhaps be accused of being partial; but, on
the other hand, Raumer, in his valuable _History of the
Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries_, vol. i. p. 22, justly
observes, that his character has been misrepresented 'by reason
that historians have availed themselves by preference of the
inimical narratives of French and Protestant writers.' To steer
between these extremes, I will transcribe the summing up of
Charles's reign as it is given by a learned and singularly
unprejudiced writer. 'Tortuous as was sometimes the policy of
the emperor, he never, like Francis, acted with treachery; his
mind had too much of native grandeur for such baseness. Sincere
in religion and friendship, faithful to his word, clement beyond
example, liberal towards his servants, indefatigable in his
regal duties, anxious for the welfare of his subjects, and
generally blameless in private life, his character will not
suffer by a comparison with that of any monarch of his times.'
_Dunham's History of Spain_, vol. v. p. 41. 'Clemency was the
basis of his character.' p. 30.
Philip II., who succeeded Charles V. in 1555, was indeed eminently a
creature of the time, and the ablest of his biographers aptly terms him
the most perfect type of the national character.[1210] His favourite
maxim, which forms the key to his policy, was, 'That it is better not to
reign at all than to reign over heretics.'[1211] Armed with supreme
power, he bent all his energies towards carrying this principle into
effect. Directly that he heard that the Protestants were making converts
in Spain, he strained every nerve to stifle the heresy;[1212] and so
admirably was he seconded by the general temper of the people, that he
was able without risk to suppress opinions which convulsed every other
part of Europe. In Spain, the Reformation, after a short struggle, died
completely away, and in about ten years the last vestige of it
disappeared.[1213] The Dutch wished to adopt, and in many instances did
adopt, the reformed doctrine; therefore Philip waged against them a
cruel war, which lasted thirty years, and which he continued till his
death, because he was resolved to extirpate the new creed.[1214] He
ordered that every heretic who refused to recant should be burned. If
the heretic did recant, some indulgence was granted; but having once
been tainted, he must die. Instead of being burned, he was therefore to
be executed.[1215] Of the number of those who actually suffered in the
Low Countries, we have no precise information;[1216] but Alva
triumphantly boasted that, in the five or six years of his
administration, he had put to death in cold blood more than eighteen
thousand, besides a still greater number whom he had slain on the field
of battle.[1217] This, even during his short tenure of power, would make
about forty thousand victims; an estimate probably not far from the
truth, since we know, from other sources, that in one year more than
eight thousand were either executed or burned.[1218] Such measures were
the result of instructions issued by Philip, and formed a necessary part
of his general scheme.[1219] The desire paramount in his mind, and to
which he sacrificed all other considerations, was to put down the new
creed, and to reinstate the old one. To this, even his immense ambition
and his inordinate love of power were subordinate. He aimed at the
empire of Europe, because he longed to restore the authority of the
Church.[1220] All his policy, all his negotiations, all his wars,
pointed to this one end. Soon after his accession, he concluded an
ignominious treaty with the Pope, that it might not be said that he bore
arms against the head of the Christian world.[1221] And his last great
enterprise, in some respects the most important of all, was to fit out,
at an incredible cost, that famous Armada with which he hoped to humble
England, and to nip the heresy of Europe in its bud, by depriving the
Protestants of their principal support, and of the only asylum where
they were sure to find safe and honourable refuge.[1222]
[1210] 'The Spaniards, as he grew in years, beheld, with pride and
satisfaction, in their future sovereign, the most perfect type
of the national character.' _Prescott's History of Philip II._
vol. i. p. 39. So, too, in _Motley's Dutch Republic_, vol. i. p.
128, 'he was entirely a Spaniard;' and in _Lafuente_, _Historia
de España_, vol. i. p. 155, 'pero el reinado de Felipe fué todo
Español.'
[1211] _Prescott's Philip II._ vol. i. pp. 68, 210, vol. ii. p. 26.
_Watson's Philip II._ p. 55. Compare _Fleury_, _Histoire
Ecclésiastique_, vol. xxxiv. p. 273.
[1212] 'Como era tan zeloso en la extirpación de la heregía, uno de sus
primeros cuidados fué el castigo de los Luteranos; y á presencia
suya, se executó en Valladolid el dia ocho de Octubre el
suplicio de muchos reos de este delito.' _Miñana_, _Continuacion
de Mariana_, vol. ix. p. 212.
[1213] 'The contest with Protestantism in Spain, under such auspices,
was short. It began in earnest and in blood about 1559, and was
substantially ended in 1570.' _Ticknor's History of Spanish
Literature_, vol. i. p. 425. See also _M'Crie's History of the
Reformation in Spain_, pp. 336, 346. Thus it was that 'España se
preservó del contagio. Hizolo con las armas Carlos V., y con las
hogueras los inquisidores. España se aisló del movimiento
europeo.' _Lafuente_, _Historia de España_, vol. i. p. 144,
Madrid, 1850. M. Lafuente adds, that, in his opinion, all
Christendom is about to follow the good example set by Spain of
rejecting Protestantism. 'Si no nos equivocamos, en nuestra
misma edad se notan sintomas de ir marchando este problema hácia
su resolucion. El catolicismo gana prosélitos; los protestantes
de hoy no son lo que antes fueron, y creemos que la unidad
católica se realizará.'
[1214] Before the arrival of Alva, 'Philip's commands to Margaret were
imperative, to use her utmost efforts to extirpate the
heretics.' _Davies' History of Holland_, vol. i. p. 551; and in
1563 he wrote, 'The example and calamities of France prove how
wholesome it is to punish heretics with rigour.' _Raumer's
History of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries_, vol. i. p.
171. The Spaniards deemed the Dutch guilty of a double crime;
being rebels against God and the king: 'Rebeldes á Dios por la
heregía, y á su Principe á quien debian obedecer.' _Mariana_,
_Historia de España_, vol. vii. p. 410. 'Tratauan de secreto de
quitar la obediencia á Dios y á su Principe.' _Vanderhammen's
Don Filipe el Prudente Segundo deste Nombre_, Madrid, 1632, p.
44 rev. Or, as Miñana phrases it, Philip 'tenia los mismos
enemigos que Dios.' _Continuacion de Mariana_, vol. x. p. 139.
[1215] _Motley's Dutch Republic_, vol. i. p. 229. _Watson's Philip II._
pp. 51, 52, 177.
[1216] Mr. Motley, under the year 1566, says, 'The Prince of Orange
estimated that up to this period fifty thousand persons in the
provinces had been put to death in obedience to the edicts. He
was a moderate man, and accustomed to weigh his words.'
_Motley's Dutch Republic_, vol. i. pp. 424, 425.
[1217] _Watson's Philip II._ pp. 248, 249. Tapia (_Civilizacion
Española_, vol. iii. p. 95) says, 'quitó la vida á mas de diez y
ocho mil protestantes con diversos géneros de suplicios.'
Compare _Motley's Dutch Republic_, vol. ii. p. 423, and _Davies'
History of Holland_, vol. i. p. 608.
[1218] _Davies' History of Holland_, vol. i. p. 567. Vanderhammen (_Don
Filipe el Prudente_, Madrid, 1632, p. 52 rev.), with tranquil
pleasure, assures us that 'muriessen mil y setecientas personas
en pocos dias con fuego, cordel y cuchillo en diuersos lugares.'
[1219] 'El duque de Alba, obrando en conformidad á las instrucciones de
su soberano, y apoyado en la aprobacion que merecian al rey
todas sus medidas.' _Lafuente_, _Historia de España_, vol. xiii.
p. 221.
[1220] 'It was to restore the Catholic Church that he desired to obtain
the empire of Europe.' _Davies' History of Holland_, vol. ii. p.
329. 'El protestó siempre "que sus desinios en la guerra, y sus
exercitos no se encaminauan á otra cosa, que el ensalçamiento de
la Religion Christiana."' _Vanderhammen's Don Filipe el
Prudente_, p. 125. 'El que aspiraba á someter todas las naciones
de la tierra á su credo religioso.' _Lafuente_, _Historia de
España_, vol. xv. p. 203. The bishop of Salamanca in 1563 openly
boasted 'que son roi ne s'étoit marié avec la reine d'Angleterre
que pour ramener cette isle à l'obéissance de l'église.'
_Continuation de Fleury_, _Histoire Ecclésiastique_, vol.
xxxiii. p. 331. Compare _Ortiz_, _Compendio_, vol. vi. p. 204.
'Este casamiento no debió de tener otras miras que el de la
religion.'
[1221] On this treaty, the only humiliating one which he ever concluded,
see _Prescott's Philip II._ vol. i. p. 104. His dying advice to
his son was, 'Siempre estareis en la obediencia de la Santa
Iglesia Romana, y del Sumo Pontifice, teniendole por vuestro
Padre espiritual.' _Davila_, _Historia de la Vida de Felipe
Tercero_, Madrid, 1771, folio, lib. i. p. 29. According to
another writer, 'La ultima palabra que le salió con el espiritu,
fue: "Yo muero como Catolico Christiano en la Fe y obediencia de
la Iglesia Romana, y respeto al Papa, como á quien trae en sus
manos las llaues del Cielo, como á Principe de la Iglesia, y
Teniente de Dios sobre el imperio de las almas."'
_Vanderhammen_, _Don Filipe el Prudente_, p. 124.
[1222] Elizabeth, uniting the three terrible qualities of heresy, power,
and ability, was obnoxious to the Spaniards to an almost
incredible degree, and there never was a more thoroughly
national enterprise than the fitting out of the Armada against
her. One or two passages from a grave historian, will illustrate
the feelings with which she was regarded even after her death,
and will assist the reader in forming an opinion respecting the
state of the Spanish mind. 'Isabel, ó Jezabel, Reyna de
Inglaterra, heretica Calvinista, y la mayor perseguidora que ha
tenido la sangre de Jesu-Christo y los hijos de la Iglesia.'
_Davila_, _Historia de Felipe Tercero_, p. 74. 'Los sucesos de
fuera causaron admiracion; y el mayor y muy esperado de toda la
Christiandad fue la muerte de Isabela, Reyna de Inglaterra,
heretica Calvinista, que hizo su nombre famoso con la infamia de
su vida, y perseguir á la Iglesia, derramando la sangre de los
Santos, que defendian la verdadera Religion Catolica, dexando
registradas sus maldades en las historias públicas del mundo,
pasando su alma á coger el desdichado fruto de su obstinada
soberbia en las penas del Infierno, donde conoce con el castigo
perpetuo el engaño de su vida.' pp. 83, 84.
While Philip, following the course of his predecessors, was wasting the
blood and treasure of Spain in order to propagate religious
opinions,[1223] the people, instead of rebelling against so monstrous a
system, acquiesced in it, and cordially sanctioned it. Indeed, they not
only sanctioned it, but they almost worshipped the man by whom it was
enforced. There probably never lived a prince who, during so long a
period, and amid so many vicissitudes of fortune, was adored by his
subjects as Philip II. was. In evil report, and in good report, the
Spaniards clung to him with unshaken loyalty. Their affection was not
lessened, either by his reverses, or by his forbidding deportment, or by
his cruelty, or by his grievous exactions. In spite of all, they loved
him to the last. Such was his absurd arrogance, that he allowed none,
not even the most powerful nobles, to address him, except on their
knees, and, in return, he only spoke in half sentences, leaving them to
guess the rest, and to fulfil his commands as best they might.[1224] And
ready enough they were to obey his slightest wishes. A contemporary of
Philip, struck by the universal homage which he received, says that the
Spanish did 'not merely love, not merely reverence, but absolutely adore
him, and deem his commands so sacred, that they could not be violated
without offence to God.'[1225]
[1223] One of the most eminent of living historians well says, 'It was
Philip's enthusiasm to embody the wrath of God against
heretics.' _Motley's Dutch Republic_, vol. ii. p. 155. 'Philip
lived but to enforce what he chose to consider the will of God.'
p. 285.
[1224] 'Personne vivante ne parloit à lui qu'à genoux, et disoit pour
son excuse à cela qu'estant petit de corps, chacun eust paru
plus eslevé que lui, outre qu'il sçavoit que les Espagnols
estoient d'humeur si altiere et hautaine, qu'il estoit besoin
qu'il les traittast de cette façon; et pour ce mesme ne se
laissoit voir que peu souvent du peuple, n'y mesme des grands,
sinon aux jours solemnels, et action necessaire, en cette façon?
il faisoit ses commandemens à demy mot, et falloit que l'on
devinast le reste, et que l'on ne manquast à bien accomplir
toutes ses intentions; mesmes les gentilshommes de sa chambre,
et autres qui approchoient plus près de sa personne, n'eussent
osé parler devant luy s'il ne leur eust commandé, se tenant un
tout seul à la fois près de la porte du lieu où il estoit, et
demeurant nud teste incessamment, et appuyé contra une
tapisserie, pour attendre et recevoir ses commandemens.'
_Mémoires de Cheverny_, pp. 352, 353, in _Petitot's Collection
des Mémoires_, vol. xxxvi. Paris, 1823.
[1225] These are the words of Contarini, as given in _Ranke's Ottoman
and Spanish Empires_, London, 1843, p. 33. Sismondi, though
unacquainted with this passage, observes in his _Literature of
the South of Europe_, vol. ii. p. 273, London, 1846, that
Philip, though 'little entitled to praise, has yet been always
regarded with enthusiasm by the Spaniards.' About half a century
after his death, Sommerdyck visited Spain, and in his curious
account of that country he tells us that Philip was called 'le
Salomon de son siècle.' _Aarsens de Sommerdyck_, _Voyage
d'Espagne_, Paris, 1665, 4to, pp. 63, 95. See also _Yañez_,
_Memorias para la Historia de Felipe III._, Madrid, 1723, p.
294. 'El gran Felipe, aquel Sabio Salomon.' Another writer
likens him to Numa. 'Hacia grandes progresos la piedad, á la
qual se dedicaba tanto el Rey Don Felipe, que parecia su reynado
en España lo que en Roma el de Numa, despues de Rómulo.' _Miñana
Continuacion de Mariana_, vol. ix. p. 241. When he died,
'celebradas sus exêquias entre lágrimas y gemidos.' vol. x. pp.
259, 260. We further learn from _Vanderhammen's Filipe Segundo_,
Madrid, 1632, p. 120 rev., that the people ascribed to him 'una
grandeza adorable, y alguna cosa mas que las ordinarias á los
demas hombres.'
That a man like Philip II., who never possessed a friend, and whose
usual demeanour was of the most repulsive kind, a harsh master, a brutal
parent, a bloody and remorseless ruler,--that he should be thus
reverenced by a nation among whom he lived, and who had their eyes
constantly on his actions; that this should have happened, is surely one
of the most surprising, and, at first sight, one of the most
inexplicable facts in modern history. Here we have a king who, though
afflicted by every quality most calculated to excite terror and disgust,
is loved far more than he is feared, and is the idol of a very great
people during a very long reign. This is so remarkable as to deserve our
serious attention; and in order to clear up the difficulty, it will be
necessary to inquire into the causes of that spirit of loyalty which,
during several centuries, has distinguished the Spaniards above every
other European people.
One of the leading causes was undoubtedly the immense influence
possessed by the clergy. For the maxims inculcated by that powerful body
have a natural tendency to make the people reverence their princes more
than they would otherwise do. And that there is a real and practical
connexion between loyalty and superstition, appears from the historical
fact that the two feelings have nearly always flourished together and
decayed together. Indeed, this is what we should expect on mere
speculative grounds, seeing that both feelings are the product of those
habits of veneration which make men submissive in their conduct and
credulous in their belief.[1226] Experience, therefore, as well as
reason, points to this as a general law of the mind, which, in its
operation, may be occasionally disturbed, but which holds good in a
large majority of cases. Probably the only instance in which the
principle fails is, when a despotic government so misunderstands its own
interests as to offend the clergy, and separate itself from them.
Whenever this is done, a struggle will arise between loyalty and
superstition; the first being upheld by the political classes, the other
by the spiritual classes. Such a warfare was exhibited in Scotland; but
history does not afford many examples of it, and certainly it never took
place in Spain, where, on the contrary, several circumstances occurred
to cement the union between the Crown and the Church, and to accustom
the people to look up to both with almost equal reverence.
[1226] 'Habits of reverence, which, if carried into religion, cause
superstition, and if carried into politics, cause despotism.'
_Buckle's Hist. of Civilization_, vol. ii. p. 117.
By far the most important of these circumstances was the great Arab
invasion, which drove the Christians into a corner of Spain, and reduced
them to such extremities, that nothing but the strictest discipline, and
the most unhesitating obedience to their leaders, could have enabled
them to make head against their enemies. Loyalty to their princes became
not merely expedient, but necessary; for if the Spaniards had been
disunited, they would, in the face of the fearful odds against which
they fought, have had no chance of preserving their national existence.
The long war which ensued, being both political and religious, caused an
intimate alliance between the political and religious classes, since the
kings and the clergy had an equal interest in driving the Mohammedans
from Spain. During nearly eight centuries, this compact between Church
and State was a necessity forced upon the Spaniards by the peculiarities
of their position; and, after the necessity had subsided, it naturally
happened that the association of ideas survived the original danger, and
that an impression had been made upon the popular mind which it was
hardly possible to efface.
Evidence of this impression, and of the unrivalled loyalty it produced,
crowds upon us at every turn. In no other country are the old ballads so
numerous and so intimately connected with the national history. It has,
however, been observed, that their leading characteristic is the zeal
with which they inculcate obedience and devotion to princes, and that
from this source, even more than from military achievements, they draw
their most favourite examples of virtue.[1227] In literature the first
great manifestation of the Spanish mind was the poem of _The Cid_,
written at the end of the twelfth century, in which we find fresh proof
of that extraordinary loyalty which circumstances had forced upon the
people.[1228] The ecclesiastical councils display a similar tendency;
for, notwithstanding a few exceptions, no other church has been equally
eager in upholding the rights of kings.[1229] In civil legislation, we
see the same principle at work; it being asserted, on high authority,
that in no system of laws is loyalty carried to such extreme height as
in the Spanish codes.[1230] Even their dramatic writers were unwilling
to represent an act of rebellion on the stage, lest they should appear
to countenance what, in the eyes of every good Spaniard, was one of the
most heinous of all offences.[1231] Whatever the king came in contact
with, was in some degree hallowed by his touch. No one might mount a
horse which he had ridden;[1232] no one might marry a mistress whom he
had deserted.[1233] Horse and mistress alike were sacred, and it would
have been impious for any subject to meddle with what had been honoured
by the Lord's anointed. Nor were such rules confined to the prince
actually reigning. On the contrary, they survived him, and, working with
a sort of posthumous force, forbade any woman whom he had taken as a
wife, to marry, even after he was dead. She had been chosen by the king;
such choice had already raised her above the rest of mortals; and the
least she could do was to retire to a convent, and spend her life
mourning over her irreparable loss. These regulations were enforced by
custom rather than by law.[1234] They were upheld by the popular will,
and were the result of the excessive loyalty of the Spanish nation. Of
that loyalty their writers often boast, and with good reason, since it
was certainly matchless, and nothing seemed able to shake it. To bad
kings and to good kings it equally applied. It was in full strength amid
the glory of Spain in the sixteenth century; it was conspicuous when the
nation was decaying in the seventeenth century; and it survived the
shock of civil wars early in the eighteenth.[1235] Indeed, the feeling
had so worked itself into the traditions of the country, as to become
not only a national passion, but almost an article of national faith.
Clarendon, in his History of that great English Rebellion, the like of
which, as he well knew, could never have happened in Spain, makes on
this subject a just and pertinent remark. He says that a want of respect
for kings is regarded by the Spaniards as a 'monstrous crime;'
'submissive reverence to their princes being a vital part of their
religion.'[1236]
[1227] 'More ballads are connected with Spanish history than with any
other, and, in general, they are better. The most striking
peculiarity of the whole mass is, perhaps, to be found in the
degree in which it expresses the national character. Loyalty is
constantly prominent. The Lord of Butrago sacrifices his own
life to save that of his sovereign,' &c. _Ticknor's History of
Spanish Literature_, vol. i. p. 133. 'In the implicit obedience
of the old Spanish knight, the order of the king was paramount
to every consideration, even in the case of friendship and love.
This code of obedience has passed into a proverb--"mas pesa el
Rey que la sangre,"' _Ford's Spain_, p. 183. Compare the
admirable little work of Mr. Lewes, _The Spanish Drama_, London,
1846, p. 120, 'ballads full of war, loyalty, and love.'
[1228] See some interesting remarks in M. Tapia's _Civilizacion
Española_, vol. i. He observes that, though cruelly persecuted
by Alfonso, the first thing done by the Cid, after gaining a
great victory, was to order one of his captains 'para que lleve
al rey Alfonso treinta caballos árabes bien ensillados, con
sendas espadas pendientes de los arzones en señal de homenage, á
_pesar del agravio que habia recibido_.' p. 274. And at p. 280,
'comedido y obediente súbdito á un rey que tan mal le habia
tratado.' Southey (_Chronicle of the Cid_, p. 268) notices with
surprise that the Cid is represented in the old chronicles as
'offering to kiss the feet of the king.'
[1229] 'Le xvi^e Concile de Tolède appelait les rois "vicaires de Dieu
et du Christ;" et rien n'est plus fréquent dans les conciles de
cette époque que leurs exhortations aux peuples pour
l'observation du serment de fidélité á leur roi, et leurs
anathêmes contre les séditieux.' _Sempere_, _Monarchie
Espagnole_, vol. i. p. 41. 'Aparte de los asuntos de derecho
civil y canonico y de otros varios que dicen relacion al
gobierno de la iglesia, sobre los cuales se contienen en todos
ellos disposiciones muy útiles y acertadas, la mayor parte de
las leyes dictadas en estas asambleas tuvieron por objeto dar
fuerza y estabilidad al poder real, proclamando su
inviolabilidad y estableciendo graves penas contra los
infractores; condenar las heregías,' &c. _Antequera_, _Historia
de la Legislacion Española_, p. 47.
[1230] 'Loyalty to a superior is carried to a more atrocious length by
the Spanish law than I have seen it elsewhere.' ... 'The
_Partidas_ (P. 2, T. 13, L. 1) speaks of an old law whereby any
man who openly wished to see the King dead, was condemned to
death, and the loss of all that he had. The utmost mercy to be
shown him was to spare his life and pluck out his eyes, that he
might never see with them what he had desired. To defame the
King is declared as great a crime as to kill him, and in like
manner to be punished. The utmost mercy that could be allowed
was to cut out the offender's tongue. P. 2, T. 13, L. 4.'
_Southey's Chronicle of the Cid_, p. 442. Compare _Johnston's
Civil Law of Spain_, London, 1825, p. 269, on 'Blasphemers of
the King.'
[1231] Thus, Montalvan, the eminent poet and dramatist, who was born in
1602, 'avoided, we are told, representing rebellion on the
stage, lest he should seem to encourage it.' _Ticknor's History
of Spanish Literature_, vol. ii. p. 283. A similar spirit is
exhibited in the plays of Calderon and of Lope de Vega. On the
'Castilian loyalty' evinced in one of Calderon's comedies, see
_Hallam's Literature of Europe_, 2d edit. London, 1843, vol.
iii. p. 63; and as to Lope, see _Lewes on the Spanish Drama_,
p. 78.
[1232] 'His Majesty's horses could never be used by any other person.
One day, while Philip IV. was going in procession to the church
of Our Lady of Atocha, the Duke of Medina-de-las-Torres offered
to present him with a beautiful steed which belonged to him, and
which was accounted the finest in Madrid; but the King declined
the gift, because he should regret to render so noble an animal
ever after useless.' _Dunlop's Memoirs_, vol. ii. p. 372. Madame
d'Aulnoy, who travelled in Spain in 1679, and who, from her
position, had access to the best sources of information, was
told of this piece of etiquette. 'L'on m'a dit que lors que le
Roy s'est servy d'un cheval, personne par respect ne le monte
jamais.' _D'Aulnoy_, _Relation du Voyage d'Espagne_, Lyon, 1693,
vol. ii. p. 40. In the middle of the eighteenth century, I find
another notice of this loyal custom, which, likely enough, is
still a tradition in the Spanish stables. 'If the king has once
honoured a Pad so much as to cross his back, it is never to be
used again by anybody else.' _A Tour through Spain_, _by Udal ap
Rhys_, 2d edit. London, 1760, p. 15.
[1233] Madame d'Aulnoy, who was very inquisitive respecting these
matters, says (_Relation du Voyage d'Espagne_, vol. ii. p. 411),
'Il y a une autre étiquette, c'est qu'après que le Roi a eu une
Maitresse, s'il vient à la quitter, il faut qu'elle se fasse
Religieuse, comme je vous l'ai déjà écrit; et l'on m'a conté que
le feu Roi s'estant amoureux d'une Dame du Palais, il fut un
soir fraper doucement à la porte de sa chambre. Comme elle
comprit que c'estoit lui, elle ne voulut pas lui ouvrir, et elle
se contenta de lui dire au travers de la porte, _Baya, baya, con
Dios, no quiero ser monja_; c'est à dire, "Allez allez, Dieu
vous conduise, je n'ai pas envie d'estre Religieuse."' So too
Henry IV. of Castile, who came to the throne in the year 1454,
made one of his mistresses 'abbess of a convent in Toledo;' in
this case to the general scandal, because, says Mr. Prescott, he
first expelled 'her predecessor, a lady of noble rank and
irreproachable character.' _Prescott's Ferdinand and Isabella_,
vol. i. p. 68.
[1234] There is, however, one very remarkable old law, in the form of a
canon enacted by the third Council of Saragossa, which orders
that the royal widows 'seront obligées à prendre l'habit de
religieuses, et à s'enfermer dans un monastère pour le reste de
leur vie.' _Fleury_, _Histoire Ecclésiastique_, vol. ix. p. 104.
In 1065 Ferdinand I. died; and, says the biographer of the
Spanish Queens, 'La Reyna sobrevivió: y parece, que muerto su
marido, entró en algun Monasterio; lo que expressamos no tanto
por _la costumbre antigua_, quanto por constar en la Memoria
referida de la Iglesia de Leon, el dictado de 'Consagrada á
Dios,' frasse que denota estado Religioso.' _Florez_, _Memorias
de las Reynas Catholicas_, Madrid, 1761, 4to, vol. i. p. 148. In
1667 it was a settled principle that 'les reines d'Espagne n'en
sortent point. Le couvent de _las Señoras descalças reales_ est
fondé afin que les reines veuves s'y enferment.' _Discours du
Comte de Castrillo à la Reine d'Espagne_, in _Mignet's
Négociations relatives à la Succession d'Espagne_, vol. ii. p.
604, Paris, 1835, 4to. This valuable work consists for the most
part of documents previously unpublished, many of which are
taken from the archives at Simancas. To the critical historian,
it would have been more useful if the original Spanish had been
given.
[1235] See some good remarks on San Phelipe, in _Ticknor's History of
Spanish Literature_, vol. iii. pp. 213, 214, which might easily
be corroborated by other testimony; as, for instance, Lafuente
under the year 1710: 'Ni el abandono de la Francia, ni la
prolongacion y los azares de la guerra, ni los sacrificios
pecuniarios y personales de tantos años, nada bastaba á entibiar
el amor de los castellanos á su rey Felipe V.' (_Historia de
España_, vol. xviii. p. 258); and Berwick (_Mémoires_, vol. ii.
p. 114, edit. Paris, 1778): 'La fidélité inouie des Espagnols;'
and, nine years earlier, a letter from Louville to Torcy: 'Le
mot révolte, pris dans une acception rigoureuse, n'a pas de sens
en Espagne.' _Louville_, _Mémoires sur l'établissement de la
Maison de Bourbon en Espagne_, edit. Paris, 1818, vol. i. p.
128. See also _Memoirs of Ripperda_, London, 1740, p. 58; and
_Mémoires de Gramont_, vol. ii. p. 77, edit. Petitot, Paris,
1827. All these passages illustrate Spanish loyalty in the
eighteenth century, except the reference to Gramont, which
concerns the seventeenth, and which should be compared with the
following observations of Madame D'Aulnoy, who writes from
Madrid in 1679: 'Quelques richesses qu'ayent les grands
Seigneurs, quelque grande que soit leur fierté ou leur
présomption, ils obéïssent aux moindres ordres du Roy, avec une
exactitude et un respect que l'on ne peut assez loüer. Sur le
premier ordre ils partent, ils reviennent, ils vont en prison,
ou en exil, sans se plaindre. Il ne se peut trouver une
soûmission, et une obéïssance plus parfaite, ni un amour plus
sincère, que celui des Espagnols pour leur Roi. Ce nom leur est
sacré, et pour réduire le peuple à tout ce que l'on souhaite, il
suffit de dire, "Le Roi le veut."' _D'Aulnoy_, _Voyage_,
vol. ii. pp. 256, 257.
[1236] 'And Olivarez had been heard to censure very severely the duke's
(Buckingham's) familiarity and want of respect towards the
prince, a crime monstrous to the Spaniard.' ... 'Their
submissive reverence to their princes being a vital part of
their religion.' _Clarendon's History of the Rebellion_, ed.
Oxford, 1843, p. 15. For the religion of loyalty, in an earlier
period, see _Florez_, _Reynas Catholicas_, vol. i. p. 421: 'La
persona del Rey fue mirada de sus fieles vassallos con respeto
tan sagrado,' that resistance was 'una especie de sacrilegio.'
These, then, were the two great elements of which the Spanish character
was compounded. Loyalty and superstition; reverence for their kings and
reverence for their clergy were the leading principles which influenced
the Spanish mind, and governed the march of Spanish history. The
peculiar and unexampled circumstances under which they arose, have been
just indicated; and having seen their origin, we will now endeavour to
trace their consequences. Such an examination of results will be the
more important, not only because nowhere else in Europe have these
feelings been so strong, so permanent, and so unmixed, but also because
Spain, being seated at the further extremity of the Continent, from
which it is cut off by the Pyrenees, has, from physical causes, as well
as from moral ones, come little into contact with other nations.[1237]
The course of affairs being, therefore, undisturbed by foreign habits,
it becomes easier to discover the pure and natural consequences of
superstition and loyalty, two of the most powerful and disinterested
feelings which have ever occupied the human heart, and to whose united
action we may clearly trace the leading events in the history of Spain.
[1237] These impediments to intercourse were once deemed almost
invincible. Fontenay-Mareuil, who visited Spain in 1612, and was
not a little proud of the achievement, says, 'Au reste,
parcequ'on ne va pas aussy ordinairement en Espagne qu'en
France, en Italie et ailleurs; et qu'estant comme en un coin, et
séparée du reste du monde par la mer ou par les Pyrénées, on
n'en a, ce me semble, guere de connoissance, j'ay pense que je
devois faire icy une petite digression pour dire ce que j'en ay
appris dans ce voyage et despuis.' _Mémoires de
Fontenay-Mareuil_, in _Collection des Mémoires par Petitot_,
vol. i. p. 169, 1^e Série, Paris, 1826. Seventy years later,
another writer on Spain says of the Pyrenees, 'Ces montagnes
sont à nos voyageurs modernes, ce qu'étoit aux anciens mariniers
le _Non plus ultra_ et les colomnes du grand Hercule.' _L'Estat
de l'Espagne_, Geneve, 1681 Epistre, p. ii. This work, little
known and not much worth knowing, forms the third volume of _Le
Prudent Voyageur_.
The results of this combination were, during a considerable period,
apparently beneficial, and certainly magnificent. For, the church and
the crown making common cause with each other, and being inspirited by
the cordial support of the people, threw their whole soul into their
enterprises, and displayed an ardour which could hardly fail to insure
success. Gradually advancing from the north of Spain, the Christians,
fighting their way inch by inch, pressed on till they reached the
southern extremity, completely subdued the Mohammedans, and brought the
whole country under one rule and one creed. This great result was
achieved late in the fifteenth century, and it cast an extraordinary
lustre on the Spanish name.[1238] Spain, long occupied by her own
religious wars, had hitherto been little noticed by foreign powers, and
had possessed little leisure to notice them. Now, however, she formed a
compact and undivided monarchy, and at once assumed an important
position in European affairs.[1239] During the next hundred years, her
power advanced with a speed of which the world had seen no example since
the days of the Roman Empire. So late as 1478 Spain was still broken up
into independent and often hostile states; Granada was possessed by the
Mohammedans; the throne of Castile was occupied by one prince, the
throne of Aragon by another. Before the year 1590, not only were these
fragments firmly consolidated into one kingdom, but acquisitions were
made abroad so rapidly as to endanger the independence of Europe. The
history of Spain, during this period, is the history of one long and
uninterrupted success. That country, recently torn by civil wars, and
distracted by hostile creeds, was able in three generations to annex to
her territory the whole of Portugal, Navarre, and Roussillon. By
diplomacy, or by force of arms, she acquired Artois and Franche Comté,
and the Netherlands; also the Milanese, Naples, Sicily, Sardinia, the
Balearic Islands, and the Canaries. One of her kings was emperor of
Germany; while his son influenced the councils of England, whose queen
he married. The Turkish power, then one of the most formidable in the
world, was broken and beaten back on every side. The French monarchy was
humbled. French armies were constantly worsted; Paris was once in
imminent jeopardy; and a king of France, after being defeated on the
field, was taken captive, and led prisoner to Madrid. Out of Europe, the
deeds of Spain were equally wonderful. In America, the Spaniards became
possessed of territories which covered sixty degrees of latitude, and
included both the tropics. Besides Mexico, Central America, Venezuela,
New Granada, Peru, and Chili, they conquered Cuba, San Domingo, Jamaica,
and other islands. In Africa, they obtained Ceuta, Melilla, Oran,
Bougiah, and Tunis, and overawed the whole coast of Barbary. In Asia,
they had settlements on each side of the Deccan; they held part of
Malacca; and they established themselves in the Spice Islands. Finally,
by the conquest of the noble archipelago of the Philippines, they
connected their most distant acquisitions, and secured a communication
between every part of that enormous empire which girdled the world.
[1238] 'Con razon se miró la conquista de Granada, no como un
acontecimiento puramente español, sino como un suceso que
interesaba al mundo. Con razon tambien se regocijó toda la
cristiandad. Hacia medio siglo que otros mahometanos se habian
apoderado de Constantinopla; la caida de la capital y del
imperio bizantino en poder de los turcos habia llenado de terror
á la Europa; pero la Europa se consoló al saber que en España
habia concluido la dominacion de los musulmanes.' _Lafuente_,
_Historia de España_, vol. xi. p. 15.
[1239] 'L'Espagne, long-temps partagée en plusieurs états, et comme
étrangère au reste de l'Europe, devint tout-à-coup une puissance
redoutable, faisant pencher pour elle la balance de la
politique.' _Koch_, _Tableau des Révolutions de l'Europe_,
Paris, 1823, vol. i. p. 362. On the relation between this and
some changes in literature which corresponded to it, see
_Bouterwek's History of Spanish Literature_, vol. i. pp.
148-152, where there are some ingenious, though perhaps scarcely
tenable, speculations.
In connexion with this, a great military spirit arose, such as no other
modern nation has ever exhibited. All the intellect of the country which
was not employed in the service of the Church was devoted to the
profession of arms. Indeed, the two pursuits were often united; and it
is said that the custom of ecclesiastics going to war was practised in
Spain long after it was abandoned in other parts of Europe.[1240] At all
events, the general tendency is obvious. A mere list of successful
battles and sieges in the sixteenth and part of the fifteenth century,
would prove the vast superiority of the Spaniards, in this respect, over
their contemporaries, and would show how much genius they had expended
in maturing the arts of destruction. Another illustration, if another
were required, might be drawn from the singular fact that since the time
of ancient Greece, no country has produced so many eminent literary men
who were also soldiers. Calderon, Cervantes, and Lope de Vega risked
their lives in fighting for their country. The military profession was
also adopted by many other celebrated authors, among whom may be
mentioned, Argote de Molina, Acuña, Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Boscan,
Carrillo, Cetina, Ercilla, Espinel, Francisco de Figueroa, Garcilasso de
la Vega, Guillen de Castro, Hita, Hurtado de Mendoza, Marmol Carvajal,
Perez de Guzman, Pulgar, Rebolledo, Roxas, and Virues; all of whom bore,
in this manner, unconscious testimony to the spirit by which Spain was
universally pervaded.
[1240] 'The holy war with the infidels' (Mohammedans) 'perpetuated the
unbecoming spectacle of militant ecclesiastics among the
Spaniards, to a still later period, and long after it had
disappeared from the rest of civilized Europe.' _Prescott's
History of Ferdinand and Isabella_, vol. i. p. 162.
Here, then, we have a combination which many readers will still consider
with favour, and which, at the time it occurred, excited the admiration,
albeit the terror, of Europe. We have a great people glowing with
military, patriotic, and religious ardour, whose fiery zeal was
heightened, rather than softened, by a respectful obedience to their
clergy, and by a chivalrous devotion to their kings. The energy of
Spain, being thus both animated and controlled, became wary as well as
eager; and to this rare union of conflicting qualities we must ascribe
the great deeds which have just been related. But the unsound part of a
progress of this sort is, that it depends too much upon individuals, and
therefore cannot be permanent. Such a movement can only last as long as
it is headed by able men. When, however, competent leaders are succeeded
by incompetent ones, the system immediately falls to the ground, simply
because the people have been accustomed to supply to every undertaking
the necessary zeal, but have not been accustomed to supply the skill by
which the zeal is guided. A country in this state, if governed by
hereditary princes, is sure to decay; inasmuch as, in the ordinary
course of affairs, incapable rulers must sometimes arise. Directly this
happens, the deterioration begins; for the people, habituated to
indiscriminate loyalty, will follow wherever they are led, and will
yield to foolish counsels the same obedience that they had before paid
to wise ones. This leads us to perceive the essential difference between
the civilization of Spain and the civilization of England. We, in
England, are a critical, dissatisfied, and captious people, constantly
complaining of our rulers, suspecting their schemes, discussing their
measures in a hostile spirit, allowing very little power either to the
Church or to the Crown, managing our own affairs in our own way, and
ready, on the slightest provocation, to renounce that conventional,
lip-deep loyalty, which, having never really touched our hearts, is a
habit lying on the surface, but not a passion rooted in the mind. The
loyalty of Englishmen is not of that sort which would induce them to
sacrifice their liberties to please their prince, nor does it ever, for
a moment, blind them to a keen sense of their own interests. The
consequence is, that our progress is uninterrupted, whether our kings
are good or whether they are bad. Under either condition, the great
movement goes on. Our sovereigns have had their full share of imbecility
and of crime. Still, even men like Henry III. and Charles II. were
unable to do us harm. In the same way, during the eighteenth and many
years of the nineteenth century, when our improvement was very
conspicuous, our rulers were very incompetent. Anne and the first two
Georges were grossly ignorant; they were wretchedly educated, and nature
had made them at once weak and obstinate. Their united reigns lasted
nearly sixty years; and after they had passed away, we, for another
period of sixty years, were governed by a prince who was long
incapacitated by disease, but of whom we must honestly say that, looking
at his general policy, he was least mischievous when he was most
incapable. This is not the place to expose the monstrous principles
advocated by George III., and to which posterity will do that justice
from which contemporary writers are apt to shrink; but it is certain
that neither his contracted understanding, nor his despotic temper, nor
his miserable superstition, nor the incredible baseness of that ignoble
voluptuary who succeeded him on the throne, could do aught to stop the
march of English civilization, or to stem the tide of English
prosperity. We went on our way rejoicing, caring for none of these
things. We were not to be turned aside from our path by the folly of our
rulers, because we know full well that we hold our own fate in our own
hands, and that the English people possess within themselves those
resources and that fertility of contrivance by which alone men can be
made great, and happy, and wise.
In Spain, however, directly the government slackened its hold, the
nation fell to pieces.[1241] During that prosperous career which has
just been noticed, the Spanish throne was invariably filled by very able
and intelligent princes. Ferdinand and Isabella, Charles V. and Philip
II., formed a line of sovereigns not to be matched in any other country
for a period of equal length. By them, the great things were effected,
and by their care, Spain apparently flourished. But, what followed when
they were withdrawn from the scene, showed how artificial all this was,
and how rotten, even to the core, is that system of government which
must be fostered before it can thrive, and which, being based on the
loyalty and reverence of the people, depends for success not on the
ability of the nation, but on the skill of those to whom the interests
of the nation are entrusted.
[1241] A learned Spanish lawyer has made some remarks which are worth
quoting, and which contain a curious mixture of truth and error:
'Comment la monarchie espagnole fut-elle déchue de tant de
grandeur et de gloire? Comment perdit-elle les Pays-Bas et le
Portugal dans le dix-septième siècle, et s'y trouva-t-elle
réduite à n'être qu'un squelette de ce qu'elle avait été
auparavant? Comment vit-elle disparaître plus d'une moitié de sa
population? Comment, possédant les mines inépuisables du Nouveau
Monde, les revenus de l'état n'étaient à peine que de six
millions de ducats sous le règne de Philippe III? Comment son
agriculture et son industrie furent-elles ruinées? et comment
presque tout son commerce passa-t-il dans les mains de ses plus
grands ennemis? Ce n'est point ici le lieu d'examiner les
véritables causes d'une métamorphose si triste; il suffira
d'indiquer _que tous les grands empires contiennent en euxmêmes
le germe de leur dissolution_,' &c. 'D'ailleurs les successeurs
de ces deux monarques' (Charles V. and Philip II.) 'n'eurent
point les mêmes talens, ni les ducs de Lerme et d'Olivarès,
leurs ministres, ceux du cardinal Cisneros; et il est difficile
de calculer l'influence de la bonne ou de la mauvaise direction
des affaires sur la prospérité ou les malheurs des nations. Sous
une même forme de gouvernement, quel qu'il puisse être, _elles
tombent ou se relèvent suivant la capacité des hommes qui les
dirigent_, et d'après les circonstances où ils agissent.'
_Sempère_, _Histoire des Cortès_, Bordeaux, 1815, pp. 265-267.
Of the two passages which I have marked with italics, the first
is a clumsy, though common, attempt to explain complicated
phenomena by a metaphor which saves the trouble of generalizing
their laws. The other passage, though perfectly true as regards
Spain, does not admit of that universal application which M.
Sempere supposes; inasmuch as in England, and in the United
States of America, national prosperity has steadily advanced,
even when the rulers have been very incapable men.
Philip II., the last of the great kings of Spain, died in 1598, and
after his death the decline was portentously rapid.[1242] From 1598 to
1700, the throne was occupied by Philip III., Philip IV., and Charles
II. The contrast between them and their predecessors was most
striking.[1243] Philip III. and Philip IV. were idle, ignorant, infirm
of purpose, and passed their lives in the lowest and most sordid
pleasures. Charles II., the last of that Austrian dynasty which had
formerly been so distinguished, possessed nearly every defect which can
make a man ridiculous and contemptible. His mind and his person were
such as, in any nation less loyal than Spain, would have exposed him to
universal derision. Although his death took place while he was still in
the prime of life, he looked like an old and worn-out debauchee. At the
age of thirty-five, he was completely bald; he had lost his eyebrows; he
was paralyzed; he was epileptic; and he was notoriously impotent.[1244]
His general appearance was absolutely revolting, and was that of a
drivelling idiot. To an enormous mouth, he added a nether jaw protruding
so hideously that his teeth could never meet, and he was unable to
masticate his food.[1245] His ignorance would be incredible, if it were
not substantiated by unimpeachable evidence. He did not know the names
of the large towns, or even of the provinces, in his dominions; and
during the war with France he was heard to pity England for losing
cities which in fact formed part of his own territory.[1246] Finally, he
was immersed in the most grovelling superstition; he believed himself
to be constantly tempted by the devil; he allowed himself to be
exorcised as one possessed by evil spirits; and he would not retire to
rest, except with his confessor and two friars, who had to lie by his
side during the night.[1247]
[1242] 'With Philip II. ends the greatness of the kingdom, which from
that period declined with fearful rapidity.' _Dunham's History
of Spain_, vol. v. p. 87. And Ortiz (_Compendio_, vol. vii.,
Prologo, p. 6) classes together 'la muerte de Felipe II. y
principios de nuestra decadencia.' The same judicious historian
elsewhere observes (vol. vi. p. 211), that if Philip III. had
been equal to his father, Spain would have continued to
flourish. Several of the more recent Spanish writers, looking at
the heavy expenses caused by the policy of Philip II., and at
the debts which he incurred, have supposed that the decline of
the country began in the latter years of his reign. But the
truth is, that no great nation ever was, or ever will be, ruined
by the prodigality of its government. Such extravagance causes
general discomfort, and therefore ought not to be tolerated; but
if this were the place for so long an argument, I could easily
show that its other and more permanent inconveniences are
nothing like what they are commonly supposed to be.
[1243] 'Abstraido Felipe III. en devociones, amante Felipe IV. de
regocijos, mortificado Carlos II. por padecimientos, cuidáronse
poco ó nada de la gobernacion del Estado, y confiaronla á
validos altaneros, codiciosos, incapaces, y de muy funesta
memoria.' _Rio_, _Historia del Reinado de Carlos III._, Madrid,
1856, vol. i. p. 33.
[1244] 'Sans espérance de postérité.' _Millot_, _Mémoires de Noailles_,
vol. i. p. 419. 'Incapaz de tener hijos.' _Ortiz_, _Compendio_,
vol. vi. p. 560. See also _Mémoires de Louville_, vol. i. p. 82;
and the allusions in _Lettres de Madame de Villars_, edit.
Amsterdam, 1759, pp. 53, 120, 164. She was ambassadress in Spain
in the reign of Charles II. M. Lafuente, who, if I rightly
remember, never quotes these interesting letters, and who
indeed, with very few exceptions, has used none but Spanish
authorities, ventures nevertheless to observe that 'La
circunstancia de no haber tenido sucesion, falta que en general
se achabaca mas al rey que á la reina,' &c. _Historia de
España_, vol. xvii. pp. 198, 199, Madrid, 1856. According to the
biographer of the Spanish Queens, some persons imputed this to
sorcery, 'y aun se dijo si intervenia maleficio.' _Florez_,
_Memorias de las Reynas Catholicas_, vol. ii. p. 973, Madrid,
1761, 4to.
[1245] In 1696, Stanhope, the English minister at Madrid, writes: 'He
has a ravenous stomach, and swallows all he eats whole, for his
nether jaw stands so much out that his two rows of teeth cannot
meet; to compensate which, he has a prodigious wide throat, so
that a gizzard or liver of a hen passes down whole, and his weak
stomach not being able to digest it, he voids it in the same
manner.' _Mahon's Spain under Charles II._, London, 1840, p. 79;
a very valuable collection of original documents, utterly
unknown to any Spanish historian I have met with. Some curious
notices of the appearance of Charles II. in his childhood may be
seen published for the first time in _Mignet's Négociations
relatives à la Succession d'Espagne_, Paris, 1835-1842, 4to.
vol. i. pp. 294, 295, 310, 396, 404, 410, vol. ii. p. 130, vol.
iii. pp. 418, 419, 423. See also vol. iv. p. 636, for an
instance of his taciturnity, which was almost the only mark of
sense he ever gave, 'Le roi l'écouta, et ne lui répondit rien.'
[1246] 'Le Roy demeuroit dans une profonde ignorance et de ses affaires
et même des Etats de sa couronne; à peine connoissoit-il quelles
étoient les places qui lui appartenoient hors du continent
d'Espagne.' ... 'La perte de Barcelone lui fut plus sensible
qu'aucune autre, parce que cette ville, capitale de la
Catalogne, et située dans le continent de l'Espagne, lui étoit
plus connue que les villes de Flandre, dont il ignoroit
l'importance au point de croire que Mons appartenoit au roi
d'Angleterre, et de le plaindre lorsque le Roi fit la conquête
de cette province.' _Mémoires du Marquis de Torcy_, vol. i. pp.
19, 23, edit. Petitot, Paris, 1828.
[1247] 'Fancying everything that is said or done to be a temptation of
the devil, and never thinking himself safe but with his
confessor, and two friars by his side, whom he makes lie in his
chamber every night.' _Mahon's Spain under Charles II._, p. 102.
On account, no doubt, of this affection for monks, he is
declared by a Spanish historian to have possessed a 'corazon pio
y religioso.' _Bacallar_, _Comentarios de la Guerra de España_,
vol. i. p. 20. The best notice of the exorcism will be found in
_Lafuente's Historia de España_, vol. xvii. pp. 294-309, where
there is an entire chapter, headed 'Los Hechizos del Rey.'
Now it was that men might clearly see on how sandy a foundation the
grandeur of Spain was built. When there were able sovereigns, the
country prospered; when there were weak ones, it declined. Nearly
everything that had been done by the great princes of the sixteenth
century, was undone by the little princes of the seventeenth. So rapid
was the fall of Spain, that in only three reigns after the death of
Philip II., the most powerful monarchy existing in the world was
depressed to the lowest point of debasement, was insulted with impunity
by foreign nations, was reduced more than once to bankruptcy, was
stripped of her fairest possessions, was held up to public opprobrium,
was made a theme on which school-boys and moralists loved to declaim
respecting the uncertainty of human affairs, and, at length, was exposed
to the bitter humiliation of seeing her territories mapped out and
divided by a treaty in which she took no share, but the provisions of
which she was unable to resent.[1248] Then, truly, did she drink to the
dregs the cup of her own shame. Her glory had departed from her, she was
smitten down and humbled. Well might a Spaniard of that time who
compared the present with the past, mourn over his country, the chosen
abode of chivalry and romance, of valour and of loyalty. The mistress of
the world, the queen of the ocean, the terror of nations, was gone; her
power was gone, no more to return. To her might be applied that bitter
lamentation, which, on a much slighter occasion, the greatest of the
sons of men has put into the mouth of a dying statesman. Good reason,
indeed, had the sorrowing patriot to weep, as one who refused to be
comforted, for the fate of his earth, his realm, his land of dear souls,
his dear, dear land, long dear for her reputation through the world, but
now leased out like to a tenement or pelting farm.[1249]
[1248] 'La foiblesse de l'Espagne ne permettoit pas à son roi de se
ressentir du traitement dont il croyoit à propos de se
plaindre.' _Mémoires de Torcy_, vol. i. p. 81. Or, as an eminent
native writer bitterly says, 'Las naciones estrangeras
disponiendo de la monarquia española como de bienes sin dueño.'
_Tapia_, _Civilizacion Española_, vol. iii. p. 187.
[1249] 'This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise;
This fortress, built by nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war;
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands;
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England,
This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings,
Fear'd by their breed and famous by their birth,
Renowned for their deeds as far from home,
For Christian service and true chivalry,
As is the sepulchre in stubborn Jewry
Of the world's ransom, blessed Mary's son:
This land of such dear souls, this dear, dear land,
Dear for her reputation through the world,
Is now leas'd out, I die pronouncing it,
Like to a tenement or pelting farm.'
It would be a weary and unprofitable task to relate the losses and
disasters of Spain during the seventeenth century. The immediate cause
of them was undoubtedly bad government and unskilful rulers; but the
real and overriding cause, which determined the whole march and tone of
affairs, was the existence of that loyal and reverential spirit which
made the people submit to what any other country would have spurned,
and, by accustoming them to place extreme confidence in individual men
reduced the nation to that precarious position in which a succession of
incompetent princes was sure to overthrow the edifice which competent
ones had built up.[1250]
[1250] The Spanish theory of government is well stated in the following
passage in Davila's Life of Philip III. The remarks apply to
Philip II. 'Que solo havia gobernado sin Validos ni Privados,
tomando para sí solo, como primera causa de su gobierno, el
mandar, prohibir, premiar, castigar, hacer mercedes, conocer
sugetos, elegir Ministros, dar oficios, y tener como espiritu
que andaba sobre las aguas, ciencia y providencia de todo, para
que nada se hiciese sin su saber y querer: no serviendo los
Ministros mas que de poner por obra (obedeciendo) lo que su
Señor mandaba, velando sobre cada uno, como pastor de sus
ovejas, para ver la verdad con que executan sus mandamientos y
acuerdos.' _Davila_, _Historia de Felipe Tercero_, lib. i.
pp. 22, 23.
The increasing influence of the Spanish Church was the first and most
conspicuous consequence of the declining energy of the Spanish
government. For, loyalty and superstition being the main ingredients of
the national character, and both of them being the result of habits of
reverence, it was to be expected that, unless the reverence could be
weakened, what was taken from one ingredient would be given to the
other. As, therefore, the Spanish government, during the seventeenth
century, did, owing to its extreme imbecility, undoubtedly lose some
part of the hold it possessed over the affections of the people, it
naturally happened that the Church stepped in, and occupying the vacant
place, received what the crown had forfeited. Besides this, the weakness
of the executive government encouraged the pretensions of the
priesthood, and emboldened the clergy to acts of usurpation, which the
Spanish sovereigns of the sixteenth century, superstitious though they
were, would not have allowed for a single moment.[1251] Hence the very
striking fact, that, while in every other great country, Scotland alone
excepted, the power of the Church diminished during the seventeenth
century, it, in Spain, actually increased. The results of this are well
worth the attention, not only of philosophic students of history, but
also of every one who cares for the welfare of his own country, or feels
an interest in the practical management of public affairs.
[1251] Even Philip II. always retained a certain ascendency over the
ecclesiastical hierarchy, though he was completely subjugated by
ecclesiastical prejudices. 'While Philip was thus willing to
exalt the religious order, already far too powerful, he was
careful that it should never gain such a height as would enable
it to overtop the royal authority.' _Prescott's History of
Philip II._, vol. iii. p. 235. 'Pero este monarca tan afecto á
la Inquisicion mientras le servia para sus fines, sabia bien
tener á raya al Santo Oficio cuando intentaba invadir ó usurpar
las preeminencias de la autoridad real, ó arrogarse un poder
desmedido.' _Lafuente_, _Historia de España_, vol. xv. p. 114.
For twenty-three years after the death of Philip II., the throne was
occupied by Philip III., a prince as distinguished by his weakness as
his predecessors had been by their ability. During more than a century
the Spaniards had been accustomed to be entirely ruled by their kings,
who, with indefatigable industry, personally superintended the most
important transactions, and in other matters exercised the strictest
supervision over their ministers. But Philip III., whose listlessness
almost amounted to fatuity, was unequal to such labour, and delegated
the powers of government to Lerma, who wielded supreme authority for
twenty years.[1252] Among a people so loyal as the Spaniards, this
unusual proceeding could not fail to weaken the executive; since, in
their eyes, the immediate and irresistible interference of the sovereign
was essential to the management of affairs, and to the well-being of the
nation. Lerma, well aware of this feeling, and conscious that his own
position was very precarious, naturally desired to strengthen himself by
additional support, so that he might not entirely depend on the favour
of the king. He therefore formed a strict alliance with the clergy, and,
from the beginning to the end of his long administration did everything
in his power to increase their authority.[1253] Thus the influence lost
by the crown was gained by the Church, to whose advice a deference was
paid even greater than had been accorded by the superstitious princes of
the sixteenth century. In this arrangement, the interests of the people
were of course unheeded. Their welfare formed no part of the general
scheme. On the contrary, the clergy, grateful to a government so
sensible of their merits, and so religiously disposed, used all their
influence in its favour; and the yoke of a double despotism was riveted
more firmly than ever upon the neck of that miserable nation, which was
now about to reap the bitter fruit of a long and ignominious
submission.[1254]
[1252] 'Por cuyo absoluto poderío se executaba todo.' _Yañez_, _Memorias
para la Historia de Felipe III._, Prologo, p. 150. 'An
absoluteness in power over king and kingdom.' Letter from Sir
Charles Cornwallis to the Lords of the Council in England, dated
Valladolid, May 31, 1605, in _Winwood's Memorials_, vol. ii. p.
73, London, 1725, folio. 'Porque no era fácil imaginar entónces,
ni por fortuna se ha repetido el ejemplo después, que hubiera un
monarca tan pródigo de autoridad, y al propio tiempo tan
indolente, que por no tomarse siquiera el trabajo de firmar los
documentos de Estado, quisiera dar á la firma de un vasalla suyo
la misma autoridad que á la suya propia, y que advirtiera y
ordenára, como ordenó Felipe III. á todos sus consejos,
tribunales, y súbditos, que dieran á los despachos firmados por
el duque de Lerma el mismo cumplimiento y obediencia, y los
ejecutáran y guardáran con el mismo respeto que si fueran
firmados por él.' _Lafuente_, _Historia de España_, vol. xv. pp.
449, 450. 'El duque de Lerma, su valído, era el que gobernaba el
reino solo.' vol. xvii. p. 332. His power lasted from 1598 to
1618. _Ortiz_, _Compendio_, vol. vi. pp. 290, 325.
[1253] Davila (_Historia de Felipe Tercero_, lib. ii. p. 41), after
eulogizing the personal qualities of Lerma, adds, 'Y sin estas
grandes partes tuvo demostraciones christianas, manifestandolo
en los conventos, iglesias, colegiatas, hospitales, ermitas y
catedras, que dejó fundadas, en que gastó, como me consta de los
libros de su Contaduría, un millon ciento cincuenta y dos mil
doscientos ochenta y tres ducados.' After such monstrous
prodigality, Watson might well say, in his rather superficial,
but, on the whole, well-executed History, that Lerma showed 'the
most devoted attachment to the church,' and 'conciliated the
favour of ecclesiastics.' _Watson's History of Philip III._,
London, 1839, pp. 4, 8, 46, 224.
[1254] The only energy Philip III. ever displayed, was in seconding the
efforts of his minister to extend the influence of the Church;
and hence, according to a Spanish historian, he was 'monarque le
plus pieux parmi tous ceux qui out occupé le trône d'Espagne
depuis saint Ferdinand.' _Sempère_, _Monarchie Espagnole_, vol.
i. p. 245. 'El principal cuidado de nuestro Rey era tener á Dios
por amigo, grangear y beneficiar su gracia, para que le
asistiese propicio en quanto obrase y dixese. De aqui tuvieron
principio tantos dones ofrecidos á Dios, tanta fundacion de
Conventos, y favores hechos á Iglesias y Religiones.' _Davila_,
_Historia de Felipe Tercero_, lib. ii. p. 170. His wife,
Margaret, was equally active. See _Florez_, _Reynas Catholicas_,
vol. ii. pp. 915, 916. 'Demas de los frutos que dió para el
Cielo y para la tierra nuestra Reyna, tuvo otros de ambas lineas
en fundaciones de Templos y obras de piedad para bien del Reyno
y de la Iglesia. En Valladolid fundó el Convento de las
Franciscas Descalzas. En Madrid trasladó á las Agustinas
Recoletas de Santa Isabel desde la calle del Principe al sitio
en que hoy estan. Protegió con sus limosnas la fundacion de la
Iglesia de Carmelitas Descalzas de Santa Ana; y empezó á fundar
el Real Convento de las Agustinas Recoletas con titulo de la
Encarnacion en este misma Corte, cuya primera piedra se puso á
10 de Junio del 1611. En la parroquia de S. Gil junto al Palacio
introdujo los Religiosos Franciscos, cuyo Convento persevera hoy
con la misma advocacion.' How the country fared, while all this
was going on, we shall presently see.
The increasing power of the Spanish Church during the seventeenth
century, may be proved by nearly every description of evidence. The
convents and churches multiplied with such alarming speed, and their
wealth became so prodigious, that even the Cortes, broken and humbled
though they were, ventured on a public remonstrance. In 1626, only five
years after the death of Philip III., they requested that some means
might be taken to prevent what they described as a constant invasion on
the part of the Church. In this remarkable document, the Cortes,
assembled at Madrid, declared that never a day passed in which laymen
were not deprived of their property to enrich ecclesiastics; and the
evil, they said, had grown to such a height, that there were then in
Spain upwards of nine thousand monasteries, besides nunneries.[1255]
This extraordinary statement has, I believe, never been contradicted,
and its probability is enhanced by several other circumstances. Davila,
who lived in the reign of Philip III., affirms that in 1623, the two
orders of Dominicans and Franciscans alone amounted to thirty-two
thousand.[1256] The other clergy increased in proportion. Before the
death of Philip III., the number of ministers performing in the
Cathedral of Seville had swelled to one hundred; and in the diocese of
Seville, there were fourteen thousand chaplains; in the diocese of
Calahorra, eighteen thousand.[1257] Nor did there seem any prospect of
remedying this frightful condition. The richer the Church became, the
greater was the inducement for laymen to enter it; so that there
appeared to be no limit to the extent to which the sacrifice of temporal
interests might be carried.[1258] Indeed, the movement, notwithstanding
its suddenness, was perfectly regular, and was facilitated by a long
train of preceding circumstances. Since the fifth century, the course
of events, as we have already seen, invariably tended in this direction,
and insured to the clergy a dominion which no other nation would have
tolerated. The minds of the people being thus prepared, the people
themselves looked on in silence at what it would have been impious to
oppose; for, as a Spanish historian observes, every proposition was
deemed heretical which tended to lessen the amount, or even to check the
growth of that enormous wealth which was now possessed by the Spanish
Church.[1259]
[1255] The burden of the petition was, 'Que se tratasse con mas veras de
poner limite á los bienes, que se sacauan cada dia del braço
Seglar al Eclesiastico, enflaqueciendo no tan solo el patrimonio
Real, mas el comun, pues siendo aquel libre de pechos,
contribuciones, y gauelas, alojamientos, huespedes, y otros
grauamenes mayores, presidios, guerras, y soldados.' ... 'Que
las Religiones eran muchas, las Mendicantes en excesso, y el
Clero en grande multitud. Que auia en España 9088 monasterios,
aun no cõtando los de Monjas. Que yuan meti[~e]do poco á poco,
con dotaciones, cofradias, capellanias, o con cõpras, á todo el
Reyno en su poder. Que se atajasse tanto mal. Que huuiesse
numero en los frayles, moderacion en los Cõuentos, y aun en los
Clerigos seglares.' _Cespedes_, _Historia de Don Felipe IV._,
Barcelona, 1634, fol. lib. vii. cap. 9, p. 272 rev. This is the
only noticeable passage in an unusually dull chronicle, which,
though professing to be a history of Philip IV., is confined to
the first few years of his reign.
[1256] 'En este año, que iba escribiendo esta Historia, tenian las
Ordenes de Santo Domingo, y S. Francisco en España, treinta y
dos mil Religiosos, y los Obispados de Calahorra y Pamplona
veinte y quatro mil clerigos; pues qué tendran las demas
Religiones, y los demas Obispados?' _Davila_, _Historia de
Felipe Tercere_, lib. ii. p. 215. See also cap. xcvii. pp. 248,
249; and, on the increase of convents, see _Yañez_, _Memorias
para la Historia de Felipe III._, pp. 240, 268, 304, 305.
[1257] 'The reign of Philip III., surnamed from his piety the Good, was
the golden age of Churchmen. Though religious foundations were
already too numerous, great additions were made to them; and in
those which already existed, new altars or chancels were
erected. Thus, the duke of Lerma founded seven monasteries and
two collegiate churches; thus, also, the diocese of Calahorra
numbered 18,000 chaplains, Seville 14,000. How uselessly the
ministers of religion were multiplied, will appear still more
clearly from the fact that the cathedral of Seville alone had a
hundred, when half-a-dozen would assuredly have been sufficient
for the public offices of devotion.' _Dunham's History of
Spain_, vol. v. p. 274. According to the passage quoted in note
93, from Davila, there were twenty-four thousand 'clerigos' in
the two dioceses of Calahorra and Pamplona.
[1258] 'Entre tanto crecia por instantes y se aumentaba prodigiosamente
el poder y la autoridad de la Iglesia. Sus pingües riquezas
desmembraban de una manera considerable las rentas de la corona;
y el estado eclesiástico, que muchos abrazaron en un principio á
consecuencia de las desgracias y calamidades de la época, fué
despues el mas solicitado por las inmensas ventajas que ofrecia
su condicion comparada con la de las clases restantes.'
_Antequera_, _Historia de la Legislacion_, pp. 223, 224. See
also in _Campomanes_, _Apendice á la Educacion_, Madrid,
1775-1777, vol. i. p. 465, and vol. iv. p. 219, a statement made
by the University of Toledo in 1619, or 1620, that 'hay doblados
religiosos, clerigos y estudiantes; porque ya _no hallan otro
modo de vivir_, _ni de poder sustentarse_.' If the eye of M.
Lafuente had lighted upon this and other passages, which I shall
shortly quote from contemporary observers, he would, I think,
have expressed himself much more strongly than he has done
respecting this period, in his recent brilliant, but
unsatisfactory, History of Spain. On the great wealth of the
convents in 1679, when the rest of the country was steeped in
poverty, see a letter dated Madrid, July 25, 1679, in
_D'Aulnoy_, _Relation du Voyage d'Espagne_, Lyon, 1693, vol. ii.
p. 251. But the earliest evidence I have met with is in a
letter, written in 1609, to Prince Henry of England, by Sir
Charles Cornwallis, the English ambassador at Madrid. 'The
furniture of their churches here, and the riches and lustre of
their sepulchres made in every monasterie (the general povertye
of this kingdome considered), are almost incredible. The laity
of this nation may say with Davyde (though in another sense),
"Zelus domus tuæ comedit me:" for, assuredly, the riches of the
Temporall hath in a manner all fallen into the mouthes and
devouring throates of the Spiritual.' _Winwood's Memorials of
Affairs of State_, vol. iii. p. 10, London, 1725, folio.
[1259] 'Deux millions de ducats, que le clergé possédait sous le règne
de Charles V, étaient réputés comme un revenu exorbitant; et, un
demi-siècle plus tard, lorsque ces revenus s'élevaient à huit
millions, on qualifiat d'hérétique, toute proposition tendant à
opérer quelque modification dans leur accroissement.' _Sempère_,
_Monarchie Espagnole_, vol. ii. p. 16.
How natural all this was, appears also from another fact of considerable
interest. In Europe generally, the seventeenth century was distinguished
by the rise of a secular literature in which ecclesiastical theories
were disregarded; the most influential writers, such as Bacon and
Descartes, being laymen, rather hostile to the Church than friendly to
it, and composing their works with views purely temporal. But in Spain,
no change of this sort occurred.[1260] In that country, the Church
retained her hold over the highest as well as over the lowest
intellects. Such was the pressure of public opinion, that authors of
every grade were proud to count themselves members of the ecclesiastical
profession, the interests of which they advocated with a zeal worthy of
the Dark Ages. Cervantes, three years before his death, became a
Franciscan monk.[1261] Lope de Vega was a priest; he was an officer of
the Inquisition; and in 1623 he assisted at an auto da fé, in which,
amid an immense concourse of people, a heretic was burned outside the
gate of Alcalá at Madrid.[1262] Moreto, one of the three greatest
dramatists Spain has produced, assumed the monastic habit during the
last twelve years of his life.[1263] Montalvan, whose plays are still
remembered, was a priest, and held office in the Inquisition.[1264]
Tarrega, Mira de Mescua, and Tirso de Molina, were all successful
writers for the stage, and were all clergymen.[1265] Solis, the
celebrated historian of Mexico, was also a clergyman.[1266] Sandoval,
whom Philip III. appointed historiographer, and who is the principal
authority for the reign of Charles V., was at first a Benedictine monk,
afterwards became bishop of Tuy, and later still, was raised to the see
of Pampeluna.[1267] Davila, the biographer of Philip III., was a
priest.[1268] Mariana was a Jesuit;[1269] and Miñana, who continued his
History, was superior of a convent in Valencia.[1270] Martin Carrillo
was a jurisconsult as well as an historian, but, not satisfied with his
double employment, he too entered the Church, and became canon of
Saragossa.[1271] Antonio, the most learned bibliographer Spain ever
possessed, was a canon of Seville.[1272] Gracian, whose prose works have
been much read, and who was formerly deemed a great writer, was a
Jesuit.[1273] Among the poets, the same tendency was exhibited.
Paravicino was for sixteen years a popular preacher at the courts of
Philip III. and Philip IV.[1274] Zamora was a monk.[1275] Argensola was
a canon of Saragossa.[1276] Gongora was a priest;[1277] and Rioja
received a high post[1278] in the Inquisition. Calderon was chaplain to
Philip IV.;[1279] and so fanatical are the sentiments which tarnish his
brilliant genius, that he has been termed the poet of the
Inquisition.[1280] His love for the Church was a passion, and he
scrupled at nothing which could advance its interests. In Spain, such
feelings were natural; though to other nations they seem so strange,
that an eminent critic has declared that it is hardly possible to read
his works without indignation.[1281] If this be so, the indignation
should be extended to nearly all his contemporary countrymen, great or
small. There was hardly a Spaniard of that period who did not entertain
similar sentiments. Even Villaviciosa, author of one of the very best
mock-heroic poems Spain has produced, was not only an officer in the
Inquisition, but, in his last will, he strongly urged upon his family
and all his descendants, that they too should, if possible, enter the
service of that noble institution, taking whatever place in it they
could obtain, since all its offices were, he said, worthy of
veneration.[1282] In such a state of society, anything approaching to a
secular or scientific spirit was, of course, impossible. Every one
believed; no one inquired. Among the better classes, all were engaged in
war or theology, and most were occupied with both. Those who made
literature a profession, ministered, as professional men too often do,
to the prevailing prejudice. Whatever concerned the Church was treated
not only with respect, but with timid veneration. Skill and industry
worthy of a far better cause, were expended in eulogizing every folly
which superstition had invented. The more cruel and preposterous a
custom was, the greater the number of persons who wrote in its favour,
albeit no one had ventured to assail it. The quantity of Spanish works
to prove the necessity of religious persecution is incalculable; and
this took place in a country where not one man in a thousand doubted the
propriety of burning heretics. As to miracles, which form the other
capital resource of theologians, they, in the seventeenth century, were
constantly happening, and as constantly being recorded. All literary men
were anxious to say something on that important subject. Saints, too,
being in great repute, their biographies were written in profusion, and
with an indifference to truth which usually characterizes that species
of composition. With these and kindred topics, the mind of Spain was
chiefly busied. Monasteries, nunneries, religious orders, and cathedrals
received equal attention, and huge books were written about them, in
order that every particular might be preserved. Indeed, it often
happened that a single convent, or a single cathedral, would have more
than one historian; each seeking to distance his immediate competitor,
and all striving which could do most to honour the Church and to uphold
the interests of which the Church was the guardian.[1283]
[1260] In a work on Spanish literature which was published about seventy
years ago, and which, at the time of its appearance, made
considerable noise, this peculiarity is frankly admitted, but is
deemed rather an honour to Spain than otherwise, inasmuch as
that country, we are told, has produced philosophers who have
gone much deeper into things than Bacon, Descartes, and Newton,
who, no doubt, were clever men, but were nowise comparable to
the great thinkers of the Peninsula. Such assertions,
proceeding, not from some ignorant despiser of physical science,
who contemns what he has never been at the pains to study, but
from a really able and, in some respects, competent judge, are
important for the history of opinion; and as the book is not
very common, I will give two or three extracts. 'Confiesan los
Franceses con ingenuidad que Descartes fué un novelista: y con
todo eso quieren hacerle pasar por el promotor de la filosofía
en Europa, como si su filosofía se desemejase mucho de la que
dominaba en las sectas de la antigüedad. Su tratádo "Del Metodo"
es nada en comparacion de los libros "De la Corrupcion de las
Artes" de Juan Luis Vives, que le antecedió buen número de
años.' _Oracion Apologética por la España y su Mérito Literario
por D. J. P. Forner_, Madrid, 1786, p. xi. 'No hemos tenido en
los efectos un Cartesio, no un Neuton: démoslo de barato: pero
hemos tenido justísimos legisladores y excelentes filósofos
prácticos, que han preferido el inefable gusto de trabajar en
beneficio de la humanidad á la ociosa ocupacion de edificar
mundos imaginarios en la soledad y silencio de un gabinete.' p.
12. 'Nada se disputaba en España.' p. 61. At p. 143 a comparison
between Bacon and Vives; and the final decision, p. 146, that
Vives enjoys 'una gloriosa superioridad sobre todos los sabios
de todos los siglos.'
[1261] The final profession was not made till 1616; but he began to wear
the clothes in 1613. 'Tal era su situacion el sábado santo 2 de
abril' [1616] 'que por no poder salir de su casa hubieron de
darle en ella la profesion de la venerable órden tercera de San
Francisco, cuyo hábito habia tomado en Alcalá, el dia 2 de julio
de 1613.' _Navarrete_, _Vida de Cervantes_, p. cii. prefixed to
_Don Quijote_, Barcelona, 1839. Even in 1609, says Navarrete,
(p. lxii.), 'Se ha creido que entónces se incorporó tambien
Cervantes, como lo hizo Lope de Vega, en la congregacion del
oratorio del Caballero de Gracia, mientras que su muger y su
hermana doña Andrea se dedicaban á semejantes ejercicios de
piedad en la venerable órden tercera de San Francisco, cuyo
hábito recibieron en 8 de junio del mismo año.'
[1262] _Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature_, vol. ii. pp. 125, 126,
137, 147, 148.
[1263] _Ibid._ vol. ii. p. 374. _Biographie Universelle_, vol. xxx.
pp. 149, 150.
[1264] _Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature_, vol. ii. pp. 276, 327.
[1265] _Ticknor_, vol. ii. p. 327.
[1266] _Bouterwek's History of Spanish Literature_, vol. i. p. 525. But
the best account is that given by his biographer, who assures us
of two facts; that he received 'todas las órdenes sagradas,' and
that he was 'devotísimo de María santísima.' _Vida de Solis_, p.
15, prefixed to _Solis_, _Historia de la Conquista de Mejico_,
edit. Paris, 1844.
[1267] _Biographie Universelle_, vol. xl. p. 319.
[1268] 'Sacerdote soy.' _Davila_, _Historia de la Vida de Felipe
Tercero_, lib. ii. p. 215.
[1269] _Biographie Universelle_, vol. xxvii. p. 42.
[1270] _Ibid._ vol. xxix. p. 80.
[1271] _Ibid._ vol. vii. p. 219.
[1272] _Ibid._ vol. ii. p. 293.
[1273] _Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature_, vol. iii. p. 177.
[1274] _Ibid._ vol. ii. p. 491, vol. iii. pp. 117, 118.
[1275] _Sismondi's Literature of the South of Europe_, vol. ii. p. 348,
London, 1846.
[1276] 'Pero en fin murio Don Andres Martinez, y sucediole en la
Canongia nuestro Bartholome.' _Pellicer_, _Ensayo de una
Bibliotheca_, Madrid, 1778, 4to. p. 94. This was the younger
Argensola.
[1277] _Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature_, vol. ii. p. 486.
[1278] 'Occupied a high place in the Inquisition.' _Ticknor_, vol. ii.
p. 507. 'Prit les ordres, et obtint un canonicat.' _Biographie
Univ._ vol. xxxviii. p. 120.
[1279] In 1663 Philip IV. 'le honró con otra Capellanía de honor en su
real Capilla.' _Vida de Calderon_, p. iv., prefixed to _Las
Comedias de Calderon_, edit. Keil, Leipsique, 1827.
[1280] 'Calderon is, in fact, the true poet of the Inquisition. Animated
by a religious feeling, which is too visible in all his pieces,
he inspires me only with horror for the faith which he
professes.' _Sismondi's Literature of the South of Europe_, vol.
ii. p. 379. Compare _Lewes on the Spanish Drama_, pp. 176-179.
[1281] Salfi says, 'Calderon de la Barca excite encore plus une sorte
d'indignation, malgré son génie dramatique, qui le mit audessus
de Vega, son prédécesseur. En lisant ses drames sans prévention,
vous diriez qu'il a voulu faire servir son talent uniquement à
confirmer les préjugés et les superstitions les plus ridicules
de sa nation.' _Ginguenè_, _Histoire Littéraire d'Italie_, vol.
xii. p. 499, Paris, 1834.
[1282] 'Entró en el año de 1622 á ser _Relator del Consejo de la General
Inquisicion_, cuyo empleo servió y desempeñó con todo honor
muchos años.' And he declared, 'en esta clausula de su
Testamento: "Y por quanto yo y mis hermanos y toda nuestra
familia nos hemos sustentado, autorizado y puesto en estado con
las honras y mercedes, que nos ha hecho el santo Oficio de la
Inquisicion, á quien hemos servido como nuestros antepassados;
encargo afectuosissimamente á todos mis successores le sean para
siempre los mas respetuosos servidores y criados, viviendo en
ocupacion de su santo servido, procurando adelantarse y
señalarse en él, quanto les fuere possible, en qualquiera de sus
ministerios; pues todos son tan dignos de estimacion y
veneracion."' _La Mosquea, por Villaviciosa_, Prologo,
pp. x.-xii., edit. Madrid, 1777.
[1283] 'Hardly a convent or a saint of any note in Spain, during the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, failed of especial
commemoration; and each of the religious orders and great
cathedrals had at least one historian, and most of them several.
The number of books on Spanish ecclesiastical history, is,
therefore, one that may well be called enormous.' _Ticknor's
History of Spanish Literature_, vol. iii. p. 132. Forner assures
us, somewhat needlessly, of what no one ever doubted, that 'los
estudios sagrados jamas decayéron en España.' _Forner_, _Oracion
Apologética_, Madrid, 1786, p. 141.
Such, was the preponderance of the ecclesiastical profession, and such
was the homage paid to ecclesiastical interests by the Spaniards during
the seventeenth century.[1284] They did everything to strengthen the
Church in that very age when other nations first set themselves in
earnest to weaken it. This unhappy peculiarity was undoubtedly the
effect of preceding events; but it was the immediate cause of the
decline of Spain, since, whatever may have been the case in former
periods, it is certain that, in modern times, the prosperity of nations
depends on principles to which the clergy, as a body, are invariably
opposed. Under Philip III. they gained an immense accession of strength;
and in that very reign they signalized this new epoch of their power by
obtaining, with circumstances of horrible barbarity, the expulsion of
the whole Moorish nation. This was an act so atrocious in itself,[1285]
and so terrible in its consequences, that some writers have ascribed to
it alone, the subsequent ruin of Spain; forgetting that other causes,
far more potent, were also at work, and that this stupendous crime could
never have been perpetrated, except in a country which, being long
accustomed to regard heresy as the most heinous of all offences, was
ready, at any cost, to purge the land and to free itself from men whose
mere presence was regarded as an insult to the Christian faith.
[1284] In 1623, Howell writes from Madrid: 'Such is the reverence they
bear to the church here, and so holy a conceit they have of all
ecclesiastics, that the greatest Don in Spain will tremble to
offer the meanest of them any outrage or affront.' _Howell's
Letters_, edit. London, 1754, p. 138. 'The reverence they show
to the holy function of the church is wonderful; Princes and
Queens will not disdain to kiss a Capuchin's sleeve, or the
surplice of a priest.' ... 'There are no such sceptics and
cavillers there, as in other places.' p. 496. In 1669, another
observer writes: 'En Espagne les Religieux sont les maîtres, et
l'emportent partout où ils se trouvent.' _Voyages faits en
divers Temps en Espagne_, Amsterdam, 1700, p. 35. And, to quote
one more authority, the following picture is given of Spanish
society in the reign of Philip IV.: 'No habia familia con quien
no estuvieran entroncados los frailes por amistad ó parentesco;
ni casa que les cerrara sus puertas; ni conversacion en que no
se les cediera la palabra; ni mesa en que no se les obligara á
ocupar la primera silla; ni resolucion grave entre ricos ó
pobres que se adoptara sin su consejo; y si no tomaban parte en
ellas, las satisfacciones domésticas no eran cabales.' _Rio_,
_Historia del Reinado de Carlos III._, vol. i. p. 94.
[1285] 'Le cardinal de Richelieu, qui n'étoit pas très-susceptible de
pitié, l'appelle "le plus hardi et le plus barbare conseil dont
l'histoire de tous les siècles précédens fasse mention."'
_Sismondi_, _Histoire des Français_, vol. xxii. p. 163, Paris,
1839.
After the reduction, late in the fifteenth century, of the last
Mohammedan kingdom in Spain, the great object of the Spaniards became to
convert those whom they had conquered.[1286] They believed that the
future welfare of a whole people was at stake; and finding that the
exhortations of their clergy had no effect, they had recourse to other
means, and persecuted the men they were unable to persuade. By torturing
some, by burning others, and by threatening all, they at length
succeeded; and we are assured that, after the year 1526, there was no
Mohammedan in Spain, who had not been converted to Christianity.[1287]
Immense numbers of them were baptized by force; but being baptized, it
was held that they belonged to the Church, and were amenable to her
discipline.[1288] That discipline was administered by the Inquisition,
which, during the rest of the sixteenth century, subjected these new
Christians, or Moriscoes, as they were now called,[1289] to the most
barbarous treatment. The genuineness of their forced conversion was
doubted; it therefore became the business of the Church to inquire into
their sincerity.[1290] The civil government lent its aid; and among
other enactments, an edict was issued by Philip II. in 1566, ordering
the Moriscoes to abandon everything which by the slightest possibility
could remind them of their former religion. They were commanded, under
severe penalties, to learn Spanish, and to give up all their Arabic
books. They were forbidden to read their native language, or to write
it, or even to speak it in their own houses. Their ceremonies and their
very games were strictly prohibited. They were to indulge in no
amusements which had been practised by their fathers; neither were they
to wear such clothes as they had been accustomed to. Their women were to
go unveiled; and as bathing was a heathenish custom, all public baths
were to be destroyed, and even all baths in private houses.[1291]
[1286] 'Porque los Reyes queriendo, que en todo el Reino fuesen
Christianos, embiaron á Frai Francisco Ximenez, que fue
Arzobispo de Toledo i Cardenal, para que los persuadiese. Mas
ellos, gente dura, pertinaz, nuevamente conquistada, estuvieron
recios,' _Mendoza_, _Guerra de Granada que hizo Felipe II.
contra los Moriscos_, Valencia, 1776, 4to. p. 10. The author of
this book was born early in the sixteenth century, at Granada,
where he lived for a considerable period.
[1287] 'L'année 1526 vit donc disparaître dans toutes les parties de
l'Espagne les signes extérieurs de l'islamisme.' _Circourt_,
_Hist. des Arabes d'Espagne_, Paris, 1846, vol. ii. p. 220. M.
Lafuente (_Historia de España_, vol. x. p. 132) says of 1502,
that 'desde entónces, por primera vez al cabo de ocho siglos, no
quedo un solo habitante en España que esteriormente diera culto
á Mahoma:' but in vol. xi. p. 447, he says that, in 1524,
'volvieron inmediatamente á sus ritos y ceremonias muslímicas.'
As M. de Circourt was well acquainted with all the materials
used by M. Lafuente, and is, moreover, a much more critical
writer, it seems likely that his statement is the correct one.
[1288] 'Ces malheureux auraient tous été exterminés, s'ils n'avaient
consenti à recevoir le baptême. Au milieu des décombres de leurs
maisons, sur les cadavres fumans de leurs femmes, ils
s'agenouillèrent. Les germanos, ivres de sang, firent l'office
de prêtres; l'un d'eux prit un balai, aspergea la foule des
musulmans, en prononçant les paroles sacramentelles, et crut
avoir fait des chrétiens. L'armée des germanos se répandit
ensuite dans le pays environnant, saccageant d'abord, baptisant
après.' _Circourt_, _Histoire des Arabes d'Espagne_, vol. ii.
p. 175. See also p. 202.
[1289] That was their general name; but, in Aragon, they were termed
'"tornadizos," en lenguage insultante.' _Janer_, _Condición de
los Moriscos de España_, Madrid, 1857, p. 26.
[1290] 'Recibieron el Sacramento por comodidad, no de voluntad, y asi
encubrian todo lo possible el viuir y morir en la secta de
Mahoma, siendo infieles apostatas.' _Vanderhammen's Filipe
Segundo_, p. 12. 'Porque la Inquisicion los comenzó á apretar
mas de lo ordinario.' _Mendoza_, _Guerra de Granada_, p. 20.
'Poner nuevo cuidado i diligencia en descubrir los motivos
destos hombres,' p. 26. And yet this very writer has the
impudence to declaim against Mohammedanism as a cruel religion.
'Cruel i abominable religion aplacar á Dios con vida i sangre
innocente!' pp. 107, 108.
[1291] Vanderhammen (_Filipe Segundo_, p. 12, Madrid, 1632) merely tells
us that 'Por cedula el año sesenta y seis les mandó dexassen el
habito, lengua y costumbres de Moros, y fuessen Christianos y lo
pareciessen.' But the exact provisions were, 'Que dentro de tres
años aprendiesen los moriscos á hablar la lengua castellana, y
de allí adelante ninguno pudiese hablar, leer ni escriber
arábigo en publico ni en secreto: que todos los contratos que se
hiciesen en arábigo fuesen nulos: que todos los libros así
escritos los llevasen en término de treinta dias al presidente
de la audiencia de Granada para que los mandase examinar,
devolviendoseles aquellos que no ofrecieran inconveniente para
que los pudiesen guardar solo durante los tres años: que no se
hicieran de nuevo marlotas, almalafas, calzas ni otra suerte de
vestidos de los que se usaban en tiempos de moros; que durante
este tiempo, las mujeres vestidas á la morisca llevarian la cara
descubierta; que no usasen de las ceremonias ni de los regocijos
moros en las bodas, sino conforme al uso de la Santa Madre
Iglesia, abriendo las puertas de sus casas en tales dias, y
tambien en los de fiesta, no haciendo zambras ni leylas con
instrumentos ni cantares moriscos, aunque no dijesen en ellos
cosas contraria á la religion cristiana,' &c. _Janer_,
_Condicion de los Moriscos_, pp. 31, 32, where other particulars
will be found, which should be compared with _Circourt_,
_Histoire des Arabes d'Espagne_, vol. ii. pp. 278, 283, 459-463.
By these and similar measures,[1292] these unhappy people were at length
goaded into rebellion; and in 1568 they took the desperate step of
measuring their force against that of the whole Spanish monarchy. The
result could hardly be doubted; but the Moriscoes maddened by their
sufferings, and fighting for their all, protracted the contest till
1571, when the insurrection was finally put down.[1293] By this
unsuccessful effort, they were greatly reduced in numbers and in
strength; and, during the remaining twenty-seven years of the reign of
Philip II. we hear comparatively little of them. Notwithstanding an
occasional outbreak, the old animosities were subsiding, and in the
course of time would probably have disappeared. At all events, there was
no pretence for violence on the part of the Spaniards, since it was
absurd to suppose that the Moriscoes, weakened in every way, humbled,
broken, and scattered through the kingdom, could, even if they desired
it, effect any thing against the resources of the executive government.
[1292] Some of the other steps which were taken, before 1566, to affront
the Moriscoes are enumerated in _Prescott's History of Philip
II._, vol. iii. p. 10, and elsewhere. In the reign of Charles
V., there were many acts of local tyranny which escape the
general historian. One of them, on the part of the Bishop of
Guadix, is worth quoting. 'On le vit pousser l'intolérance
jusqu'à faire raser les femmes et les obliger à racler leurs
ongles pour en faire disparaître les traces du henné, cosmétique
inoffensif dont il abhorrait l'usage, en raison de ce que les
Arabes l'avaient introduit.' _Circourt_, _Histoire des Arabes
d'Espagne_, vol. ii. p. 226.
[1293] Its concluding scene, in March, 1571, is skilfully depicted in
_Prescott's History of Philip III._, vol. iii. pp. 148-151. The
splendid courage of the Moriscoes is attested by Mendoza in his
contemporary history of the war; but, in narrating the horrible
outrages which they undoubtedly committed, he makes no allowance
for the long-continued and insufferable provocations which they
had received from the Spanish Christians. What he mentions of
one of the battles is curious, and I do not remember to have
seen it elsewhere recorded. 'Fue porfiado por ambas partes el
combate hasta venir á las espadas, de que los Moros se
aprovechan menos que nosotros, por tener las suyas un filo i no
herir ellos de punta.' _Mendoza_, _Guerra de Granada_, edit.
4to. Valencia, 1776, p. 168.
But, after the death of Philip II., that movement began which I have
just described, and which, contrary to the course of affairs in other
nations, secured to the Spanish clergy in the seventeenth century, more
power than they had possessed in the sixteenth. The consequences of this
were immediately apparent. The clergy did not think that the steps taken
by Philip II. against the Moriscoes were sufficiently decisive; and even
during his lifetime they looked forward to a new reign, in which these
Christians of doubtful sincerity should be either destroyed or driven
from Spain.[1294] While he was on the throne, the prudence of the
government restrained in some degree the eagerness of the Church; and
the king, following the advice of his ablest ministers, refused to adopt
the measures to which he was urged, and to which his own disposition
prompted him.[1295] But, under his successor, the clergy, as we have
already seen, gained fresh strength, and they soon felt themselves
sufficiently powerful to begin another and final crusade against the
miserable remains of the Moorish nation.[1296]
[1294] An instance of this was exhibited in 1578, on the very day in
which Philip III. was born. 'Predicando en un lugar de Aragon,
todo de Moriscos, llamado Ricla, ó Torrellas, un religioso,
llamado Vargas, el mismo dia que nació su Magestad, viendo el
poco fruto que hacia con sus sermones, dixo, como en Profecia, á
aquella gente rebelde: Pues no quereis despedir de vuestros
pechos esta infernal secta, sabed, que ha nacido en Castilla vn
Principe que os ha de echar de España.' _Porreño_, _Dichos y
Hechos de Phelipe III._, in _Yañez_, _Memorias_, Madrid, 1723,
p. 224; and nearly the same words in _Janer_, _Condicion de los
Moriscos_, p. 60. Mr. Prescott, in his _History of Philip II._,
vol. iii. p. 139, quotes a Ms. letter from Don John of Austria
to Philip II., written in 1570, and stating that the Spanish
monks were openly preaching against the leniency with which the
king treated the Moriscoes. 'Predicando en los púlpitos
publicamente contra la benignidad y clemencia que V. M. ha
mandado usar con esta gente.'
[1295] In a recent work of considerable authority, it is denied that
Philip II. entertained the desire of expelling the Moriscoes.
'El carácter austero y la severidad de Felipe II. redundaban en
favor de los moriscos, porque no daba oidos á las instigaciones
de algunos personajes que señalaban la expulsion general como
unico remedio eficaz para los males que ofrecia al pais aquella
desventurada raza. Acababa el monarca de tocar los tristes
resultados de una emigracion por las funestas consecuencias de
la despoblacion del reino granadino, y preferia continuar en la
_senda de la conciliacion_, procurando de nuevo la enseñanza de
los conversos.' _Janer_, _Condicion de los Moriscos_, Madrid,
1857, p. 59. But to say nothing of the fact that this is
contrary to all we know of the character of Philip, we have, on
the other side of the question, the testimony of Archbishop
Ribera, who had often communicated with the King on the subject,
and who distinctly states that Philip desired the expulsion of
the Moors from Spain, 'El hechar los Moros deste Reyno, ha sido
cosa muy desseada, y procurada por los Reyes Predecessores del
Rey nuestro Señor, aunque no executada.' ... 'El Rey Don Felipe
Segundo, nuestro Señor, despues de suceder en estos Reynos,
_tuvo el mismo desseo_; y assi mandó, que se juntassen los
Prelados deste Reyno para buscar remedio el año de 1568; siendo
Arçobispo desta Metropoli el Reverendissimo Don Hernando de
Lloazes. Hizieronse en aquella Junta algunas Constituciones de
consideracion. Visto que no aprovechaban, mandó el año 1587 que
se hiziesse otra Junta, _en la qual me hallé yo_: añadimos
tambien algunas nuevas Constituciones. Y constando á su Magestad
que no eran bastantes las diligencias passadas, y que siempre
perseveraban en su heregia, se resolvio de mandarlos hechar del
Reyno, ó por lo menos meterlos dentro de la tierra.' _Ximenez_,
_Vida de Ribera_, Roma, 1734, 4to. pp. 419, 420. This important
passage is decisive as to the real feelings of Philip, unless we
assume that Ribera has stated a deliberate falsehood. But,
strange to say, even the book in which so remarkable a passage
is contained, appears to be unknown either to M. Janer or to M.
Lafuente.
[1296] 'El rey Felipe III., hombre de rudo ingenio, se dejaba gobernar
con facilidad por aquellos que sabiendo los temores de su
conciencia, se aprovechaban de su imbecilidad para conseguir
cuanto querian. Muchos eclesiásticos, recordando las espulsiones
de judios y moros ejecutadas de órden de Fernando é Isabel, y
conociendo que á Felipe III. seria agradable imitar á estos
monarcas, le aconsejaron que condenase al destierro á todos los
moriscos que vivian en sus reynos; pues no solo se obstinaban en
seguir la ley mahometana, sino que tenían tratos con los turcos
y entre sí para buscar sus libertades por medio del rigor de las
armas.' _Castro_, _Decadencia de España_, Cadiz, 1852,
pp. 101, 102.
The Archbishop of Valencia was the first to take the field. In 1602,
this eminent prelate presented a memorial to Philip III. against the
Moriscoes; and finding that his views were cordially supported by the
clergy, and not discouraged by the crown, he followed up the blow by
another memorial having the same object.[1297] The Archbishop, who spoke
as one having authority, and who from his rank and position was a
natural representative of the Spanish Church, assured the king that all
the disasters which had befallen the monarchy, had been caused by the
presence of these unbelievers, whom it was now necessary to root out,
even as David had done to the Philistines, and Saul to the
Amalekites.[1298] He declared that the Armada, which Philip II. sent
against England in 1588, had been destroyed, because God would not allow
even that pious enterprise to succeed, while those who undertook it,
left heretics undisturbed at home. For the same reason, the late
expedition to Algiers had failed; it being evidently the will of Heaven
that nothing should prosper while Spain was inhabited by
apostates.[1299] He, therefore, exhorted the king to exile all the
Moriscoes, except some whom he might condemn to work in the galleys, and
others who could become slaves, and labour in the mines of
America.[1300] This, he added, would make the reign of Philip glorious
to all posterity, and would raise his fame far above that of his
predecessors, who in this matter had neglected their obvious duty.[1301]
[1297] These memorials are printed in the Appendix to his Life by
Ximenez. See the very curious book, entitled _Vida y Virtudes
del Venerable Siervo de Dios D. Juan de Ribera_, _por el R. P.
Fr. Juan Ximenez_, Roma, 1734, 4to. pp. 367-374, 376-393. This
work is, I believe, extremely rare; at all events, I endeavoured
in vain to obtain a copy from Spain or Italy, and, after some
years' unsuccessful search, I met with the one I now have, on a
London book-stall. M. de Circourt, in his learned History of the
Spanish Arabs, does not appear to have been aware of its
existence, and he complains that he could not procure the works
of Ribera, whose Memorials he consequently quotes second-hand.
_Circourt_, _Histoire des Arabes d'Espagne_, Paris, 1846, vol.
iii. pp. 168, 351. Nor does Watson seem to have known it; though
both he and M. de Circourt refer to Escriva's Life of Ribera.
_Watson's Philip III._, London, 1839, pp. 214-221. An abstract
of these Memorials is given by Geddes, who, though a learned and
accurate writer, had the mischievous habit of not indicating the
sources of his information. _Geddes' Tracts_, London, 1730,
vol. i. pp. 60-71.
[1298] 'Por lo qual se puede creer, que nuestro Señor ha querido
reservar esta obra tan digna de pecho Real para Vuestra
Magestad, como reservó la libertad e su pueblo para Moyses, la
entrada de la Tierra de Promission para Josue, la vengança de la
injuria antigua de los Amalequitas para Saul, y la victoria de
los Filisteos para David.' _Ximenez_, _Vida de Ribera_, p. 370.
Again, p. 377: 'Y al primer Rey que tuvo el Mundo, en siendo
elegido por Dios, y confirmado en su Reyno, le embia á mandar
por un Propheta que destruya á los Amalequitas, sin dexar
hombres, ni mugeres, ni niños, aunque sean de leche, en fin que
no quede rastro de ellos, ni des sus haziendas. Y porque no
cumplió exactamente su mandamiento, cayó en indignacion de Dios,
y fue privado del Reyno. Al segundo Rey, que fue David, le mandó
Dios en siendo jurado, que destruyesse los Philisteos, como lo
hizo.'
[1299] 'El año quando se perdio la poderosa Armada, que iba á
Inglaterra, confiado de la benignidad del Rey nuestro Señor, que
está en el Cielo, me atreví con el zelo de fiel vassallo y
Capellán, á dezir á Su Magestad; que aviendo gastado mucho
tiempo en discurrir, que causa podia aver para que Dios, nuestro
Señor, permitiesse aquel mal sucesso se me havia ofrecido una
cosa de mucha consideracion, y era, querer dezir la Magestad
Divina á Su Magestad Catolica; que mientras no ponia remedio en
estas Heregias de España, cuyos Reynos le avia encomendado, no
se debía ocupar en remediar las de los Beynos agenos. Y ahora
confiando en la misma benignidad, y clemencia de Vuestra
Magestad, me atrevo tambien á dezir, que aviendo considerado la
causa, porque Dios nos ha quitado de las manos la toma de Argel,
aviendose dispuesto todas las prevenciones para ella con la
mayor prudencia, y sagacidad, que hemos visto en nuestros
tiempos, y sirviendonos el mar, y los ayres, y las ocasiones, de
la manera, que podiamos dessear, tengo por sin duda, que ha
sido, querer nuestro Señor dar á Vuestra Magestad el ultimo
recuerdo de la obligacion, que tiene, de resolver esta platica.'
_Ximenez_, _Vida de Ribera_, p. 373. It would be a pity if such
admirable specimens of theological reasoning were to remain
buried in an old Roman quarto. I congratulate myself and the
reader on my acquisition of this volume, which is a vast
repertory of powerful, though obsolete, weapons.
[1300] 'Todas estas cosas, y otras muchas, que dexo de dezir, por no ser
prolixo, me hazen evidencia, de que conviene para el servicio de
Dios nuestro Señor, y que Vuestra Magestad está obligado en
conciencia, como Rey, y Supremo Señor, á quien toca de justicia
defender, y conservar sus Reynos, mandar desterrar de España
todos estos Moriscos, sin que quede hombre, ni muger grande, ni
pequeño; reservando tan solamente los niños, y niñas, que no
llegaren á siete años, para que se guarden entre nosotros,
repartien dolos por las casas particulares de Christianos
viejos. Y aun hay opinion de personas doctas, que estos tales
niños y niñas, los puede Vuestra Magestad dar por esclavos, y lo
fundan con razones probables.' _Ximenez_, _Vida de Ribera_, pp.
379, 380. 'Destos que se han de desterrar, podra Vuestra
Magestad tomarlos que fuere servido por esclavos, para proveer
sus Galeras, ó para embiar á las minas de las Indias, sin
escrupulo alguno de conciencia, lo que tambien será de no poca
utilidad.' p. 384. To do this, was to be merciful; for they all
deserved capital punishment, 'merecian pena capital.' p. 381.
[1301] 'Aora, Catolica Magestad, vemos que Dios nuestro Señor ha
reservado para Vuestra Magestad, y para su Real Corona, el
nombre, y hechos de Rey Catholico: permitiendo por sus secretos
juizios, que los que han sido siempre enemigos de su Iglesia se
conserven, y que los que antes eran Catholicos, ayan degenerado,
y apostatado de su santa ley y assi va la honra de Dios nuestro
Señor, y el exemplo, y confusion de los otros Reyes, en que
Vuestra Magestad tenga sus Reynos limpios de Hereges, y
principalmente á España. Y quando esto huviesse de costar
grandes trabajos, y todo el oro, y plata, que hay en las Indias,
estaria muy bien empleado: pues se atraviessa la honra de Dios,
la de su Santa Iglesia, el antiguo renombre desta Corona,' &c.
_Ximenez_, _Vida de Ribera_, p. 382. And on the neglect of duty
by Charles V. and Philip II., see p. 370.
These remonstrances, besides being in accordance with the known views of
the Spanish Church, were warmly supported by the personal influence of
the Archbishop of Toledo, the primate of Spain. In only one respect did
he differ from the views advocated by the Archbishop of Valencia. The
Archbishop of Valencia thought that children under seven years of age
need not share in the general banishment, but might, without danger to
the faith, be separated from their parents, and kept in Spain. To this,
the Archbishop of Toledo strongly objected. He was unwilling, he said,
to run the risk of pure Christian blood being polluted by infidels; and
he declared that sooner than leave one of these unbelievers to corrupt
the land, he would have the whole of them, men, women, and children, at
once put to the sword.[1302]
[1302] 'The most powerful promoter of their expulsion was Don Bernardo
de Roias y Sandoval, Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo, and
Inquisitor-General and Chancellor of Spain. This great prelate,
who was brother to the Duke of Lerma, by whom the king for some
years before, and for some years after the expulsion was
absolutely governed, was so zealous to have the whole race of
the Moriscoes extinguished, that he opposed the detaining of
their children who were under seven years of age, affirming that
of the two he judged it more advisable to cut the throats of all
the Moriscoes, men, women, and children, than to have any of
their children left in Spain, to defile the true Spanish blood
with a mixture of the Moorish.' _Geddes' Tracts_, vol. i. pp.
85, 86. Navarrete has pronounced a glowing eulogy upon the piety
and other noble qualities of this prelate; and says that
'llenando de esplendor con su virtud tres sillas episcopales,
mereció que Clemente VIII. le honrase con el capelo, y fué
elevado á la primada de Toledo y al empleo de inquisidor
general.' _Vida de Cervantes_, pp. xcvii., xcviii., Barcelona,
1839.
That they should all be slain, instead of being banished, was the desire
of a powerful party in the Church, who thought that such signal
punishment would work good by striking terror into the heretics of every
nation. Bleda, the celebrated Dominican, one of the most influential men
of his time, wished this to be done, and to be done thoroughly. He
said, that, for the sake of example, every Morisco in Spain should have
his throat cut, because it was impossible to tell which of them were
Christians at heart, and it was enough to leave the matter to God, who
knew his own, and who would reward in the next world those who were
really Catholics.[1303]
[1303] 'He did assure all the old Christian laity, that whenever the
king should give the word, they might, without any scruple of
conscience, cut the throats of all the Moriscoes, and not spare
any of them upon their professing themselves Christians; but to
follow the holy and laudable example of the Croisado that was
raised against the Albigenses, who, upon their having made
themselves masters of the city of Bezeir; wherein were two
hundred thousand Catholics and hereticks, did ask Father Arnold,
a Cistercian monk, who was their chief preacher, "Whether they
should put any to the sword that pretended to be Catholics;" and
were answered by the holy Abbot, "That they should kill all
without distinction, and leave it to God, who knew his own, to
reward them for being true Catholics in the next world;" which
was accordingly executed.' _Geddes_, vol. i. p. 84.
It was evident that the fate of the wretched remnant of a once splendid
nation was now sealed. The religious scruples of Philip III. forbade him
to struggle with the Church; and his minister Lerma would not risk his
own authority by even the show of opposition. In 1609, he announced to
the king, that the expulsion of the Moriscoes had become necessary. 'The
resolution,' replied Philip, 'is a great one; let it be executed.'[1304]
And executed it was, with unflinching barbarity. About one million of
the most industrious inhabitants of Spain were hunted out like wild
beasts, because the sincerity of their religious opinions was
doubtful.[1305] Many were slain, as they approached the coast; others
were beaten and plundered; and the majority, in the most wretched
plight, sailed for Africa. During the passage, the crew, in many of the
ships, rose upon them, butchered the men, ravished the women, and threw
the children into the sea. Those who escaped this fate, landed on the
coast of Barbary, where they were attacked by the Bedouins, and many of
them put to the sword. Others made their way into the desert, and
perished from famine. Of the number of lives actually sacrificed, we
have no authentic account; but it is said, on very good authority, that
in one expedition, in which 140,000 were carried to Africa, upwards of
100,000 suffered death in its most frightful forms within a few months
after their expulsion from Spain.[1306]
[1304] '"Grande resolucion!" contestó el débil monarca al ministro
favorito: "hacedlo vos, duque."' _Lafuente_, _Historia de
España_, vol. xv. p. 375. But this reply, so far from being a
mark of weakness on the part of Philip, was a strictly logical
application of the principles which he entertained, and which,
indeed, were almost universal in Spain. We know from his
contemporary biographer, that 'Determinó el Rey en los
principios de su Reynado, como Rey tan poderoso y Catolico, de
consagrar y dedicar à Dios la potencia de sus Consejos y Armas
para extinguir y acabar los enemigos de la Iglesia Santa.'
_Davila_, _Historia de la Vida de Felipe Tercero_, lib. i.
p. 44.
[1305] This is the average estimate. Some authors make it less, and some
more; while one writer says, 'The numbers expelled have been
estimated at four hundred thousand families, or two millions of
souls.' _Clarke's Internal State of Spain_, London, 1818, p. 33.
But this is incredible. M. Castro (_Decadencia de España_,
Cadiz, 1852, p. 105) says, 'España perdió en los moriscos un
millon de habitantes;' and M. Janer (_Condicion de los
Moriscos_, Madrid, 1857, p. 93), 'Sin entrar en cálculos sobre
los que habia cuando se expidio el edicto de Valencia en 1609,
ni sobre los que fenecieron en las rebeliones, de mano armada,
de sed, de hambre ó ahogados, creemos poder fijar,
aproximadamente, en novecientos mil los que llegaron á poner el
pie fuera de la península, despidiéndose para siempre de las
costas y fronteras de España, cuya cifra deducimos del exámen y
contexto de unos y otros escritores, de las listas que nos han
quedado de los expulsos, de los datos de diversas relaciones,
estados y documentos examinados con este solo intento;' and
further on, p. 105, 'la expulsion de un millon, ó novecientos
mil de sus habitantes.' Llorente (_Histoire de l'Inquisition_,
vol. iii. p. 430, Paris, 1818) says, 'un million d'habitans
utiles et laborieux;' Ximenez (_Vida de Ribera_, Roma, 1734,
4to. p. 70), 'novecientos mil;' and Boisel, who was in Spain,
fifty years after the expulsion, and collected the traditionary
evidence, says, 'Il sortit neuf cens tant de mille hommes de
compte fait, de Valence, d'Andalousie, et de Castille.'
_Boisel_, _Journal du Voyage d'Espagne_, Paris, 1669, 4to. p.
275.
[1306] _Watson's Philip III._, pp. 234-235. _Davila_, _Vida de Felipe
III._, p. 146. _Yañez_, _Memorias para la Historia de Felipe
III._, pp. 281, 290. _Janer_, _Condicion de los Moriscos_, pp.
83, 84, 90. Some particulars respecting their expulsion may also
be seen in Cottington's Letters from Madrid, which were written
in 1609, but are of very little value. _Winwood's Memorials of
Affairs of State_, vol. iii. pp. 73, 91, 103, 118, London,
folio, 1725.
Now, for the first time, the Church was really triumphant.[1307] For the
first time, there was not a heretic to be seen between the Pyrenees and
the Straits of Gibraltar. All were orthodox, and all were loyal. Every
inhabitant of that great country obeyed the Church, and feared the king.
And from this happy combination, it was believed that the prosperity and
grandeur of Spain were sure to follow. The name of Philip III. was to be
immortal, and posterity would never weary of admiring that heroic act by
which the last remains of an infidel race were cast out from the land.
Those who had even remotely participated in the glorious consummation,
were to be rewarded by the choicest blessings. Themselves, and their
families, were under the immediate protection of Heaven. The earth
should bear more fruit, and the trees should clap their hands. Instead
of the thorn should come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier, the
myrtle. A new era was now inaugurated, in which Spain, purged of her
heresy, was to be at ease, and men, living in safety, were to sleep
under the shade of their own vineyards, sow their gardens in peace, and
eat of the fruit of the trees they had planted.[1308]
[1307] In a contemporary sermon in commemoration of their expulsion, the
preacher joyfully exclaims, 'Pues, que mayor honra podemos tener
en este Reyno, que ser todos los que vivimos en el, fieles á
Dios, y al Rey, sin compañia de estos Hereges y traydores?'
_Ximenez_, _Vida de Ribera_, p. 423. Another clergyman cries
out, 'Al fin salieron estos, y quedó la tierra libre de la
infamia de este gente.' _Davila_, _Vida de Felipe Tercero_, p.
149. See also p. 151. 'Y es digno de poner en consideracion el
zelo que los Reyes de España tuvieron en todo tiempo de
sustentar la Fé Catolica; pues en diferentes expulsiones que han
hecho, han sacado de sus Reynos tres millones de Moros, y dos
millones de Judios, enemigos de nuestra Iglesia.'
[1308] See the sermon by the Archbishop of Valencia, printed at length
in the Appendix to _Ximenez_, _Vida de Ribera_, pp. 411-428. I
would fain quote it all, but the reader must be content with
part of the peroration, pp. 426, 427. 'Entre las felizidades,
que cuenta el Espiritu Santo que tuvieron los hijos de Israel en
el govierno del Rey Salomon, es una; que vivian los hombres
seguros, durmiendo á la sombra de su parra, y de su higuera, sin
tener de quien temer. _Assi estaremos en este Reyno de aqui
adelante_, por la misericordia de nuestro Señor, y paternal
providencia de Su Magestad, todo nos sobrará, y la misma tierra
se fertilizará y dará fruto de bendicion. Brocardico es, de que
todos usabades, diziendo que despues, que estos se bautizaron,
no se avia visto un año fertil; _aora todos lo seran_, porque
las heregias y blasfemias de estos tenian esterilizada,
abrasada, y inficionada la tierra, como dixo el Real Propheta
David, con tantos pecados y abominaciones.' ... 'Y edificarán en
las tierras, que antes eran desiertas, plantando viñas, y
bebiendo el vino de ellas, y sembrarán huertas, y comeran del
fruto de los arboles, que han plantado, y nunca seran hechados
de sus casas, dize Dios. Todo esto promete nuestro Señor por dos
Prophetas suyos. _Todo (digo otra vez) nos sobrará._' All this
was to happen to the people; while, as to the king, he, in the
same sermon, p. 416, is likened to David; and it was declared by
another high authority, that his expulsion of the Moriscoes was
so great an exploit ('hazaña'), that 'durára su memoria por los
venideros siglos.' _Porreño_, in _Yañez_, _Memorias para Felipe
III._, p. 281.
These were the promises held out by the Church, and believed by the
people. It is our business to inquire how far the expectations were
fulfilled, and what the consequences were of an act which was instigated
by the clergy, welcomed by the nation, and eagerly applauded by some of
the greatest men of genius Spain has produced.[1309]
[1309] 'Amidst the devout exultation of the whole kingdom,--Cervantes,
Lope de Vega, and others of the principal men of genius then
alive, joining in the general jubilee.' _Ticknor's History of
Spanish Literature_, vol. i. pp. 428, 429. Compare _Dunlop's
Memoirs_, vol. i. p. 16. Porreño says that it may be placed
among the seven wonders of the world; 'la podemos poner entre
las siete maravillas del mundo.' _Yañez_, _Memorias_, p. 297:
and Davila (_Vida de Felipe Tercero_, lib. ii. cap. 41, p. 139)
pronounces it to be the most glorious achievement which had been
seen since the days of Pelayo. All this is natural enough; but
what is really curious is, to trace the modern remains of this
feeling. Campomanes (_Apendice á la Educacion Popular_, vol. iv.
p. 130, Madrid, 1777), a very able man, and far more liberal
than most of his countrymen, is not ashamed to speak of 'la
justa expulsion de los moriscos desde 1610 á 1613.' Ortiz, in
1801, expresses himself with more hesitation, but is evidently
in favour of a measure which liberated Spain from 'la perniciosa
semilla de Mahoma que restaba en ella.' _Compendio de la
Historia de España_, vol. vi. pp. 304, 305. Nay, even in 1856,
the great modern historian of Spain, while admitting the serious
material injury which this horrible crime inflicted on the
country, assures us that it had the 'immense advantage' of
producing religious unity; unable to perceive that the very
unity of which he boasts, generates an acquiescence and
stagnation of mind fatal to all real improvement, because it
prevents that play and collision of opinions by which the wits
of men are sharpened and made ready for use, 'Con la expulsion
se completó el principio de la unidad religiosa en España, que
fué un bien inmenso, pero se consumó la ruina de la agricultura,
que fué un inmenso mal.' _Lafuente_, _Historia de España_, vol.
xvii. p. 340, Madrid, 1856. And, the year after this sagacious
sentiment had been given to the world, another eminent Spaniard,
in a work crowned by the Royal Academy of History, went still
further, and declared, that not only did the expulsion of the
Moriscoes cause great benefit by securing unity of creed, but
that such unity was 'necessary on the Spanish soil.' 'Y si bajo
el aspecto económico reprobamos semejante medida por la
influencia perniciosa que tuvo desde el momento de dictarse, la
imparcialidad de historiadores nos obliga á respetarla por los
inmensos bienes que produjo en el órden religioso y en el órden
político.' ... 'La unidad religiosa era necesaria en el suelo
español.' _Janer_, _Condicion Social de los Moriscos de España_,
Madrid, 1857, pp. 110, 114. What are we to think of a country in
which these opinions are expressed, not by some obscure fanatic,
from the platform or the pulpit, but by able and learned men,
who promulgate them with all the authority of their position,
being themselves deemed, if anything, rather too bold and too
liberal for the people to whom they address their works?
The effects upon the material prosperity of Spain may be stated in a few
words. From nearly every part of the country, large bodies of
industrious agriculturists and expert artificers were suddenly
withdrawn. The best systems of husbandry then known, were practised by
the Moriscoes, who tilled and irrigated with indefatigable labour.[1310]
The cultivation of rice, cotton, and sugar, and the manufacture of silk
and paper, were almost confined to them.[1311] By their expulsion, all
this was destroyed at a blow, and most of it was destroyed for ever.
For, the Spanish Christians considered such pursuits beneath their
dignity. In their judgment, war and religion were the only two
avocations worthy of being followed. To fight for the king, or to enter
the Church was honourable; but everything else was mean and
sordid.[1312] When, therefore, the Moriscoes were thrust out of Spain,
there was no one to fill their place; arts and manufactures either
degenerated, or were entirely lost, and immense regions of arable land
were left uncultivated. Some of the richest parts of Valencia and
Granada were so neglected, that means were wanting to feed even the
scanty population which remained there.[1313] Whole districts were
suddenly deserted, and down to the present day have never been
repeopled. These solitudes gave refuge to smugglers and brigands, who
succeeded the industrious inhabitants formerly occupying them; and it is
said, that from the expulsion of the Moriscoes is to be dated the
existence of those organized bands of robbers, which, after this period,
became the scourge of Spain, and which no subsequent government has been
able entirely to extirpate.[1314]
[1310] 'Los moros eran muy diestros en todo lo que mira á obras de
agua.' _Campomanes_, _Apendice á la Educacion Popular_, vol.
iii. p. cvii. 'The Moors were the most intelligent
agriculturists Spain ever had.' _Laborde's Spain_, vol. ii. p.
216. Even Jovellanos admits that 'except in the parts occupied
by the Moors, the Spaniards were almost totally unacquainted
with the art of irrigation.' _Clarke's Internal State of Spain_,
p. 116. See also _Circourt_, _Arabes d'Espagne_, vol. i. p. 255,
vol. ii. p. 12, vol. iii. pp. 162, 222; _Bourgoing_, _Tableau de
l'Espagne_, vol. ii. pp. 170, 171; and _Townsend's Spain_, vol.
iii. p. 74. Remains of their splendid aqueducts still exist.
_Hoskins' Spain_, vol. i. pp. 120, 125, 291, 292. Compare _Spain
by an American_, vol. ii. p. 112 with _L'Estat de l'Espagne_,
Genève, 1681, p. 399.
[1311] Compare _Janer_, _Condicion de los Moriscos_, pp. 47, 48, with
_Campomanes_, _Apendice á la Educacion Popular_, vol. iii.
p. xxii., and _Dunlop's Memoirs_, vol. i. p. 13.
[1312] The more sensible among the Spaniards notice, with regret, this
national contempt for every form of useful industry. See
_Campomanes_, _Educacion Popular_, p. 128, and _Sempere_,
_Monarchie Espagnole_, vol. ii. pp. 277, 278. A traveller in
Spain in 1669, says of the people, 'ils méprisent tellement le
travail, que la plûpart des artisans sont étrangers.' _Voyages
faits en divers Temps par M. M****_, Amsterdam, 1700, p. 80.
Another traveller, between 1693 and 1695, says, they 'think it
below the dignity of a Spaniard to labour and provide for the
future.' _Travels by a Gentleman_ (by Bromley?), London, 1702,
p. 35. A third observer, in 1679, assures us that 'ils souffrent
plus aisément la faim et les autres nécessitez de la vie, que de
travailler, disent-ils, comme des mercenaires, ce qui
n'appartient qu'à des esclaves.' _D'Aulnoy_, _Relation du Voyage
d'Espagne_, Lyon, 1693, vol. ii. pp. 369, 370. For further
illustrations of this, see _Labat_, _Voyages en Espagne_, Paris,
1730, vol. i. pp. 285, 286. _Capmany_, _Qüestiones Criticas_,
pp. 43, 49, 50. _Laborde's Spain_, vol. i. p. i. _Ranke's
Spanish Empire_, p. 103. _Townsend's Journey through Spain_,
vol. ii. pp. 240, 241.
[1313] 'Pudo, pues, decirse con razon de nuestra patria, que de Arabia
Feliz se habia convertido en Arabia Desierta, y de Valencia en
particular, que el bello jardin de España se habia convertido en
páramo seco y deslucido. Dejóse en breve sentir en todas partes
el azote del hambre; y al alegre bullicio de las poblaciones
sucedió el melancólico silencio de los despoblados, y al
frecuente cruzar de los labradores y trajineros por los caminos
siguió el peligroso encuentro de los salteadores que los
infestaban, abrigándose en las ruinas de los pueblos desiertos.'
_Janer_, _Condicion de los Moriscos_, p. 100. See also _Dunlop's
Memoirs_, vol. i. p. 16. Campomanes says, 'El gran número de
artesanos, que salieron con la expulsion de los moriscos, causó
un golpe mortal á las manufacturas, y á la labranza.' _Apendice
á la Educacion Popular_, vol. i. p. 13. And p. 268, 'El punto de
decadencia de nuestras manufacturas, puede fixarse desde el año
de 1609, en que tubo principio la expulsion de los Moriscos.'
[1314] 'Sur la carte d'Espagne, en mille endroits est inscrit ce funeste
mot, _despoblado_; en mille endroits la nature sauvage a repris
la place des cultures. Étudiez la direction des despoblados, et
consultez les registres des commissaires de l'expulsion, vous
verrez presque toujours que les familles morisques couvraient
ces solitudes. Leur patrimoine abandonné forma le domaine des
voleurs, qui établirent avec une sorte de sécurité leurs
correspondances effrontées à travers toute l'Espagne. Le
brigandage s'organisa comme une profession ordinaire; et la
contrebande, sa compagne, leva le front avec autant d'audace,
autant de succès.' _Circourt_, _Histoire des Arabes d'Espagne_,
vol. iii. pp. 227, 228.
To these disastrous consequences, others were added, of a different,
and, if possible, of a still more serious kind. The victory gained by
the Church increased both her power and her reputation. During the rest
of the seventeenth century, not only were the interests of the clergy
deemed superior to the interests of laymen, but the interests of laymen
were scarcely thought of. The greatest men, with hardly an exception,
became ecclesiastics, and all temporal considerations, all views of
earthly policy, were despised and set at nought. No one inquired; no one
doubted; no one presumed to ask if all this was right. The minds of men
succumbed and were prostrate. While every other country was advancing,
Spain alone was receding. Every other country was making some addition
to knowledge, creating some art, or enlarging some science. Spain,
numbed into a death-like torpor, spellbound and entranced by the
accursed superstition which preyed on her strength, presented to Europe
a solitary instance of constant decay. For her, no hope remained; and,
before the close of the seventeenth century, the only question was, by
whose hands the blow should be struck, which would dismember that once
mighty empire, whose shadow had covered the world, and whose vast
remains were imposing even in their ruin.
To indicate the different steps which mark the decline of Spain would be
hardly possible, since even the Spaniards, who, when it was too late,
were stung with shame, have abstained from writing what would only be
the history of their own humiliation; so that there is no detailed
account of the wretched reigns of Philip IV. and Charles II., which
together comprise a period of nearly eighty years.[1315] Some facts,
however, I have been able to collect, and they are very significant. At
the beginning of the seventeenth century, the population of Madrid was
estimated to be 400,000; at the beginning of the eighteenth century,
less than 200,000.[1316] Seville, one of the richest cities in Spain,
possessed in the sixteenth century upwards of sixteen thousand looms,
which gave employment to a hundred and thirty thousand persons.[1317] By
the reign of Philip V., these sixteen thousand looms had dwindled away
to less than three hundred;[1318] and, in a report which the Cortes made
to Philip IV., in 1662, it is stated that the city contained only a
quarter of its former number of inhabitants, and that even the vines and
olives cultivated in its neighbourhood, and which comprised a
considerable part of its wealth, were almost entirely neglected.[1319]
Toledo, in the middle of the sixteenth century, had upwards of fifty
woollen manufactories; in 1665, it had only thirteen, almost the whole
of the trade having been carried away by the Moriscoes, and established
at Tunis.[1320] Owing to the same cause, the art of manufacturing silk,
for which Toledo was celebrated, was entirely lost, and nearly forty
thousand persons, who depended on it, were deprived of their means of
support.[1321] Other branches of industry shared the same fate. In the
sixteenth century, and early in the seventeenth, Spain enjoyed great
repute for the manufacture of gloves, which were made in enormous
quantities, and shipped to many parts, being particularly valued in
England and France, and being also exported to the Indies. But Martinez
de Mata, who wrote in the year 1655, assures us that at that time this
source of wealth had disappeared; the manufacture of gloves having quite
ceased, though formerly, he says, it had existed in every city in
Spain.[1322] In the once-flourishing province of Castile, every thing
was going to ruin. Even Segovia lost its manufactures, and retained
nothing but the memory of its former wealth.[1323] The decay of Burgos
was equally rapid; the trade of that famous city perished; and the
deserted streets and empty houses formed such a picture of desolation,
that a contemporary, struck by the havoc, emphatically declared that
Burgos had lost every thing except its name.[1324] In other districts,
the results were equally fatal. The beautiful provinces of the south,
richly endowed by nature, had formerly been so wealthy, that their
contributions alone sufficed, in time of need, to replenish the imperial
treasury; but they now deteriorated with such rapidity, that, by the
year 1640, it was found hardly possible to impose a tax on them which
would be productive.[1325] During the latter half of the seventeenth
century, matters became still worse, and the poverty and wretchedness of
the people surpass all description. In the villages near Madrid, the
inhabitants were literally famishing; and those farmers who had a stock
of food refused to sell it, because, much as they needed money, they
were apprehensive of seeing their families perish around them. The
consequence was, that the capital was in danger of being starved; and
ordinary threats producing no effect, it was found necessary, in 1664,
that the President of Castile, with an armed force, and accompanied by
the public executioner, should visit the adjacent villages, and compel
the inhabitants to bring their supplies to the markets of Madrid.[1326]
All over Spain, the same destitution prevailed. That once rich and
prosperous country was covered with a rabble of monks and clergy, whose
insatiate rapacity absorbed the little wealth yet to be found. Hence it
happened, that the government, though almost penniless, could obtain no
supplies. The tax-gatherers, urged to make up the deficiency, adopted
the most desperate expedients. They not only seized the beds and all the
furniture, but they unroofed the houses, and sold the materials of the
roof, for whatever they would fetch. The inhabitants were forced to fly;
the fields were left uncultivated; vast multitudes died from want and
exposure; entire villages were deserted; and in many of the towns,
upwards of two-thirds of the houses were, by the end of the seventeenth
century, utterly destroyed.[1327]
[1315] 'Declinó pues muy sensiblemente la vasta monarquía, y callaron
atonitos los historiadores, como huyendo la necesidad de traer á
la memoria lo que veian y apenas creian. Enmudeció pues la
historia de España en los dos reynados de Felipe IV. y Carlos
II. viendo continuaba nuestra decadencia, hasta quedar España al
nivel de los menos poderosos Estados de Europa. Este silencio
nos ha privado de saber no solo las causas de nuestra
decadencia, sino tambien de los acontecimientos civiles y
militares del siglo xvii.' _Ortiz_, _Compendio de la Historia de
España_, vol. vi., Prologo, p. i. No attempt was made to supply
the deficiency complained of by Ortiz, until 1856, when M.
Lafuente published, in Madrid, the sixteenth and seventeenth
volumes of his History of Spain, which contain the reigns of
Philip IV. and Charles II. Of this work, I have no desire to
speak disrespectfully; on the contrary, it is impossible to read
it without interest, on account of the admirable clearness with
which the different topics are arranged, and also on account of
its beautiful style, which reminds us of the best days of
Castilian prose. But I feel constrained to say, that, as a
history, and especially as a history which undertakes to
investigate the causes of the decline of Spain, it is a complete
failure. In the first place, M. Lafuente has not emancipated
himself from those very prejudices to which the decline of his
country is owing. And, in the second place, he has, particularly
in the reigns of Philip IV. and Charles II., not used sufficient
diligence in searching for materials for studying the economical
changes through which Spain has passed. Looking too intently at
the surface, he mistakes symptoms for causes; so that the real
history of the Spanish people every where escapes his grasp. As
the object to which my studies are directed, compels me to
contemplate affairs from a larger and more general point of view
than he has done, it naturally happens that the conclusions at
which we arrive are very different; but I wish to bear my
testimony, whatever it may be worth, to the great merit of his
book as a work of art, though, as a work of science, it appears
to me that he has effected nothing, and has thrown no new light
on the real history of that unfortunate, albeit once splendid,
nation, of which his eloquence, his learning, and his taste,
make him one of the chiefest ornaments.
[1316] See _Dunlop's Memoirs_, vol. ii. p. 320; and the interesting
calculations in _Uztariz_, _Theorica y Practica de Comercio_,
Madrid, 1757, folio, pp. 35, 36. Owing to the ignorance which
formerly prevailed respecting statistics, such estimates are
necessarily imperfect; but, after the desolation of Spain in the
seventeenth century, an extraordinary diminution in the
population of the capital was inevitable. Indeed, a contemporary
of Charles II. states that in 1699, Madrid had only 150,000
inhabitants. _Mémoires de Louville_, Paris, 1818, vol. i. p. 72.
This account is taken from 'un mémoire manuscrit, en langue
espagnole, trouvé dans les papiers du marquis de Louville.'
p. 67.
[1317] Capmany (_Qüestiones Criticas_, p. 30), who seems to have written
his able, but not very accurate, work for the express purpose of
concealing the decline of his country, has given these figures
erroneously. My information is derived from an official report
made in 1701, by the trade-corporations ('gremios') of Seville.
'Fijan la época de la ruina de nuestras fábricas desde el
reynado de Felipe II. y añaden "haber llegado á tener solo en
esta ciudad al arte mayor, y menor de la sede, el número de mas
de diez y seis mil telares, y se ocupaban en los exercicios
adherentes á él, mas de ciento treinta mil personas de ambos
sexos."' _Campomanes_, _Apendice á la Educacion Popular_, vol.
i. p. 473, Madrid, 1775. See also _Uztariz_, _Theorica y
Practica de Comercio_, p. 14, 'diez y seis mil telares;' where,
however, no authority is quoted.
[1318] 'El principal origen y causa de que los 16,000 telares de seda,
lana, oro y plata, que se contaban en Sevilla, se hallen oy
reducidos á menos de 300.' _Uztariz_, _Theorica de Comercio_, p.
243.
[1319] _Sempere_, _Monarchie Espagnole_, vol. ii. p. 52, who refers to
the report of the Cortes published by Alonso Nuñez de Castro.
[1320] _Laborde's Spain_, vol. iv. p. 338, where it is also said, that
Tunis became, in consequence of the expulsion of the Moriscoes,
famous for the manufacture of caps, which 'were subsequently
imitated at Orleans.' Compare, on the cap-manufactories of
Tunis, a note in _Campomanes_, _Apendice, á la Educacion
Popular_, vol. iv. p. 249.
[1321] 'Tolède, où se mettaient en [oe]uvre 435,000 livres de soie,
avait déjà perdu ce travail, qui suffisait autrefois à
l'existence de 38,484 personnes. La population de cette ville
avait éprouvé un tiers de diminution, et vingt-cinq maisons de
ses familles les plus illustres étaient passées dans le domaine
de divers couvens.' _Sempere_, _Monarchie Espagnole_, vol. ii.
p. 50.
[1322] See his interesting essay, reprinted in the appendix to
_Campomanes_, vol. iv. p. 251. He says, 'La fábrica de los
guantes, que tenian pocos años ha todas las ciudades de estos
reynos para el consumo de España y las Indias, era muy
considerable; y se ha destruido, despues que se dió entrada al
consumo de guantes estrangeros.' Such a statement, made by a
contemporary, is unimpeachable; but the reason he assigns is
inadequate.
[1323] Segovia, as it appeared in 1659, is thus described in _Boisel_,
_Journal du Voyage d'Espagne_, Paris, 1669, 4to. p. 186:
'Autresfois, cette ville qui paroist assez grande, estoit fort
riche, tant à cause que les rois de Castille y demeuroient, qu'à
cause du grand commerce des laines et des beaux draps qui s'y
faisoient; mais à présent le trafic n'y est plus, et on n'y fait
plus que fort peu de draps, de sorte que la ville est presque
désert et fort pauvre. Une marque de sa pauvreté, du mauvais
ordre d'Espagne, et du peu de prévoyance des Espagnols (quoy
qu'on dise de leur flegme), c'est que le jour que j'y arrivay
jusques à deux heures après midy il n'y avoit point eu de pain
en toute la ville, et ils ne s'en étonnoient point.' The decline
of the silk and wool manufactures of Segovia is also noticed by
Martinez de la Mata, who wrote in 1650. See his _Dos Discursos_,
edited by Canga, Madrid, 1794, p. 8. Saint Simon, who was there
in 1722, says, 'A l'égard de leurs laines, j'en vis les
manufactures à Ségovie qui me parurent peu de chose et fort
tombées de leur ancienne réputation.' _Mémoires du Duc de Saint
Simon_, vol. xxxvii. p. 230, Paris, 1841. Segovia used to be
famous for the beautiful colour of its cloth, the dye of which
was taken from a shell-fish found in the West Indies, and is
supposed to be the same as the purpura of the ancients. See a
note in _Dillon's Spain_, Dublin, 1781, pp. 19, 20.
[1324] Such is the language of a Spaniard in the middle of the
seventeenth century. 'Porque á la ciudad de Burgos, cabeza de
Castilla, no le ha quedado sino el nombre, ni aun vestigios de
sus ruinas; reducida la grandeza de sus tratos, Prior, y
Cónsules, y ordenanzas para la conservacion de ellos, á 600
vecinos, que conservanel nombre y lustre de aquella antigua y
noble cuidad, que encerró en si mas de seis mil, sin la gente
suelta, natural, y forastera.' _Campomanes_, _Apendice á la
Educacion_, vol. i. p. 453, Madrid, 1765. An intelligent
Dutchman, who visited Spain in 1665, says of Burgos, 'elle a
esté autrefois fort marchande, mais depuis peu, elle a presque
perdu tout son commerce.' _Aarsens de Sommerdyck_, _Voyage
d'Espagne_, Paris, 1665, 4to. p. 16. To me, it certainly appears
that facts of this sort have more to do with the real history of
Spain than the details of kings, and treaties, and battles,
which the Spanish historians love to accumulate.
[1325] 'Could contribute little to the exigencies of the state.'
_Dunlop's Memoirs_, vol. i. p. 285. Compare _Lamentos
Apologéticos_, in _Dos Discursos_, edit. Canga, Madrid, 1794, p.
82, on the state of things in 'lo mas fértil de Andalucia.' The
government first became alive to all this when it found that no
more money could be wrung from the people. In May 1667, a
council of state, convoked by the queen, reported that 'quant
aux ressources qu'on voudrait tirer de l'Espagne, sous forme de
dons volontaires ou autrement, le conseil estime qu'il est bien
difficile d'imposer aux peuples des charges nouvelles;' and in
November of that same year, at another meeting of the council, a
memoir was drawn up, stating that 'depuis le règne de Don
Ferdinand le Catholique jusqu'à ce jour, la monarchie d'Espagne
ne s'est pas encore vue si près de sa ruine, si épuisée, si
dénuée des ressources nécessaires pour faire face à un grand
péril.' See extracts from the proceedings of the Councils,
published, for, I believe, the first time, by M. Mignet, in his
_Négociations relatives à la Succession d'Espagne_, vol. ii. pp.
124, 601, Paris, 1835, 4to. See also, in the same valuable work,
vol. ii. p. 127, a letter to Louis XIV., from his ambassador at
Madrid, dated 2nd June, 1667, and stating that 'l'extrémité est
ici si grande qu'il se fait une contribution volontaire de tous
les particuliers que l'on appelle _donativo_, pour fournir
quelque argent présent pour les nécessitée publiques.'
[1326] In 1664, Sir Richard Fanshawe writes from Madrid to Secretary
Bennet, 'Since my last to you, of yesterday, the President of
Castile, having, by the king's special and angry command, gone
forth to the neighbouring villages, attended with the hangman,
and whatsoever else of terror incident to his place and
derogatory to his person, the markets in this town begin to be
furnished again plentifully enough.' _Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe_,
_written by herself_, edit. London, 1830, p. 291.
[1327] Nothing but the precise and uncontradicted evidence of a
contemporary witness could make such things credible. In 1686,
Alvarez Osorio y Redin wrote his _Discursos_. They were
published in 1687 and 1688; they were reprinted at Madrid in
1775; and from the reprint, pp. 345-348, I extract the following
particulars: 'Es preciso decir con la mayor brevedad, que pide
el asunto, en la forma que los comisionantes continuamente están
saqueando todos los lugares, con capa de servir á V.M. Entran en
ellos, intíman sus comisiones á las justicias, y ellas les
suplican, tengan misericordia de los moradores, que estan con
mucha necesidad. Y luego que toman el uso, dicen: que á ellos no
les toca dispensar en hacer gracias: que traen orden de cobrar
con todo rigor las cantidades, que deben los lugares; y tambien
dicen han de cobrar sus salarios. Y se van entrando por las
casas de los pobres labradores, y demás vecinos; y con mucha
cuenta y razon, les quitan el poco dinero, que tienen: y á los
que no tienen, les sacan prendas: y donde no las hallan, les
quitan las pobres camas, en que duermen: y se detienen en vender
las prendas, todo el tiempo que pueden.' ... 'Los saquéos
referidos van continuando, obligando á los mas vecinos de los
lugares, á que se vayan huyendo de sus casas, dexando baldías
sus haciendas de campo; y los cobradores no tienen lástima de
todas estas miserias, y asolaciones, como si entráran en lugares
de enemigos. Las casas, que hallan vacías, si hay quien se las
compre, las venden: y quando no pueden venderlas, las quitan los
texados; y venden la texa, y madera por qualquier dinero. Con
esta destruicion general, no han quedado en pie en los lugares
la tercera parte de casas, y han muerto de necesidad gran
multitud de personas. Con lo qual los lugares no tienen la mitad
de familias, que antiguamente habia en España. Y si no se pone
remedio á todo referido, será preciso, que la vengan á poblar de
otros Reynos.'
In the midst of these calamities, the spirit and energy of Spain were
extinguished. In every department, all power and life disappeared. The
Spanish troops were defeated at Rocroy in 1643; and several writers
ascribe to that battle the destruction of the military reputation of
Spain.[1328] This, however, was only one of many symptoms.[1329] In
1656, it was proposed to fit out a small fleet; but the fisheries on
the coast had so declined, that it was found impossible to procure
sailors enough to man even the few ships which were required.[1330] The
charts which had been made, were either lost or neglected; and the
ignorance of the Spanish pilots became so notorious, that no one was
willing to trust them.[1331] As to the military service, it is stated,
in an account of Spain, late in the seventeenth century, that most of
the troops had deserted their colours, and that the few who were
faithful were clothed in rags, received no pay, and were dying of
hunger.[1332] Another account describes this once mighty kingdom as
utterly unprotected; the frontier towns ungarrisoned; the fortifications
dilapidated and crumbling away; the magazines without ammunition; the
arsenals empty; the workshops unemployed; and even the art of building
ships entirely lost.[1333]
[1328] 'Allí acabó aquella antigua milicia española que desde el tiempo
de los reyes católicos habia ganado tan gloriosos triunfos,
siendo el terror de sus enemigos.' _Tapia_, _Civilizacion
Española_, vol. iii. p. 150, Madrid, 1840. 'La batalla de
Rocroy, en que el jóven Condé recogió los laureles con que
engalanó la dorado cuna del niño Luis XIV., acabó con la
reputacion que aun habian podido ir conservando los viejos
tercios españoles de Flandres.' _Lafuente_, _Historia de
España_, vol. xvii. p. 368, Madrid, 1856.
[1329] In the _Clarendon State Papers_, vol. i. p. 275, Oxford, 1767,
folio, I find a letter written by Hopton to Secretary Windebank,
dated Madrid, 31st May, 1635. The author of this official
communication gives an account of the Spanish troops just
raised, and says, 'I have observed these levies, and I find the
horses are so weak, as the most of them will never be able to go
to the rendezvous, and those very hardly gotten, the infantry so
unwilling to serve, as they are carried like galley-slaves, in
chains, which serves not the turn, and so far short of the
number that was proposed, as they come not to one of three.'
This was eight years before the battle of Rocroy; after it,
matters became rapidly worse. A letter from Sir Edward Hyde to
Secretary Nicholas, dated Madrid, 18th March, 1649-50, states,
that Spanish 'affairs are really in huge disorder, and capable
of being rendered almost desperate;' and another letter, on 14th
April, 1650, 'if some miracle do not preserve them, this crown
must be speedily destroyed,' _Clarendon State Papers_, vol. iii.
pp. 13, 17, Oxford, 1786. An official Report on the Netherlands,
presented to Louis XIV. in 1665, declares that the Dutch
'considered Spain so weakened, as to be out of condition to
renew the war within the next one hundred years.' _Raumer's
History of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries_,
_illustrated by Original Documents_, London, 1835, vol. i. p.
237. See also _Mignet_, _Négociations relatives à la Succession
d'Espagne_, Paris, 1835-1842, 4to. vol. i. pp. 37, 38, 314, 315,
vol. iii. p. 684, vol. iv. p. 218; and _L'Estat de l'Espagne_,
Genève, 1681, pp. 83, 271. 'L'Espagne faisant en nos jours plus
de pitié que de peur à ceux qu'elle a tenus long-tems dans une
crainte perpétuelle, et dans une respectueuse vénération.' ...
'Aussi peut-on dire que les Espagnols qui étoient autrefois des
lions, ou des véritables hommes et incomparables en valeur, sont
maintenant des cerfs, ou des femmes, et enfin des personnes peu
propres à la guerre.' And finally, the Spanish explanation of
all this in _Yañez_, _Memorias_, Prologo, pp. 148, 149, Madrid,
1723. 'La Monarquia de España, cuya decadencia la avia yá Dios
decretado desde el año de 1621,' &c.; blasphemously ascribing to
the Almighty, what was the result of their own folly, and
obstinately shutting their eyes to the real cause of their ruin.
[1330] 'A century ago, Spain had been as supreme at sea as on land; her
ordinary naval force was 140 galleys, which were the terror both
of the Mediterranean and Atlantic. But now' (1656), 'in
consequence of the decline of commerce and fisheries on the
coast, instead of the numerous squadrons of the Dorias and
Mendozas, which were wont to attend the movements of the first
great John of Austria and the Emperor Charles, the present
High-Admiral of Spain, and favourite son of its monarch, put to
sea with three wretched gallies, which, with difficulty, escaped
from some Algerine corsairs, and were afterwards nearly
shipwrecked on the coast of Africa.' _Dunlop's Memoirs_, vol. i.
p. 549. In 1663, 'Il n'y avait à Cadix ni vaisseaux ni galères
en état d'aller en mer. Les Maures insultaient audacieusement
les côtes de l'Andalousie, et prenaient impunément les barques
qui se hasardaient à une lieue de la rade. Le duc d'Albuquerque,
qui commandait les forces navales, se plaignait hautement de la
position humiliante dans laquelle on le laissait. Il avait
demandé avec instance qu'on lui donnât des matelots et des
soldats pour mettre sur les vaisseaux; mais le Comte de
Castrillo, président du Conseil de Finances (de la _hacienda_)
avait déclaré qu'il n'avait ni argent, ni la possibilité d'en
trouver, et conseillait de renoncer à l'armée navale.' _Mignet_,
_Négociations relatives à la Succession d'Espagne_, vol. i. pp.
315, 316, Paris, 1835, 4to. from contemporary manuscripts. Even
in 1648, Spain had 'become so feeble in point of naval affairs
as to be obliged to hire Dutch vessels for carrying on her
American commerce.' _Macpherson's Annals of Commerce_, vol. ii.
p. 435, London, 1805, 4to. And, to complete the chain of
evidence, there is a letter in the _Clarendon State Papers_,
vol. ii. p. 86, Oxford, 1773, folio, written from Madrid in June
1640, stating that, 'For ships they have few, mariners fewer,
landsmen not so many as they need, and, by all signs, money not
at all that can be spared.' The history of Spain during this
period never having been written, I am compelled, in my own
justification, to give these and similar passages with a fulness
which I fear will weary some readers.
[1331] And when they did, it was to their own cost, as Stanhope found,
at the beginning of his career as British minister to the court
of Madrid, in 1690. See his letter to Lord Shrewsbury, in
_Mahon's Spain under Charles II._, London, 1840, p. 3. 'We were
forced into a small port, called Ferrol, three leagues short of
the Groyne, and, by the ignorance of a Spanish pilot, our ships
fell foul one with another, and the admiral's ship was on ground
for some hours, but got off clear without any damage.' Indeed,
the Spanish seamen, once the boldest and most skilful navigators
in the world, so degenerated, that, early in the eighteenth
century, we find it stated as a matter of course, that 'to form
the Spaniard to marine affairs, is transporting them into
unknown countries.' _The History of Cardinal Alberoni_, London,
1719, p. 257.
[1332] 'Le peu de soldats qui résistaient à la désertion, étaient vêtus
de haillons, sans solde, sans pain,' _Mémoires de Louville_,
edit. Paris, 1818, vol. i. p. 72. 'Dans l'état le plus
misérable.' p. 43. Compare Lefuente, in the reign of Philip IV.
(_Historia_, vol. xvi. p. 519), 'los soldados peleaban
andrajosos y medio desnudos;' and D'Aulnoy, in 1679 (_Relation
du Voyage d'Espagne_, vol. i. p. 168), 'Il est rare que dans
tout un régiment, il se trouve deux soldats qui ayent plus d'une
chemise.'
[1333] 'Ruinosos los muros de sus fortalezas, aun tenía Barcelona
abiertas las brechas, que hizo el duque de Vendoma; y desde
Rosas hasta Cadiz, no habia Alcazar, ni Castillo, no solo
presidiado, pero ni montada su artillería. La misma negligencia
se admiraba en los puertos de Vizcaya, y Galicia; no tenian los
almazenes sus provisiones, faltaban fundidores de armas, y las
que habia, eran de ningun uso. Vacios los arsenales y
artilleros, se habia olvidado el arte de construir naves, y no
tenia el Rey mas que las destinadas al comercio de Indias, y
algunos galeones; seis galeras, consumidas del tiempo, y del
ocio, se ancoraban en Cartagena.' _Bacallar_, _Comentarios de la
Guerra de España_, vol. i. p. 43. Another eye-witness describes
'the best fortresses consisting of ruined walls, mounted with
here and there a rusty cannon, and the man thought an able
engineer who knew how to fire them.' _Ripperda's Memoirs_,
second edition, London, 1740, p. 227.
While the country at large was thus languishing, as if it had been
stricken by some mortal distemper, the most horrible scenes were
occurring in the capital, under the eyes of the sovereign. The
inhabitants of Madrid were starving; and the arbitrary measures which
had been adopted to supply them with food, could only produce temporary
relief. Many persons fell down in the streets exhausted, and died where
they fell; others were seen in the public highway evidently dying, but
no one had wherewithal to feed them. At length the people became
desperate, and threw off all control. In 1680, not only the workmen of
Madrid, but large numbers of the tradesmen, organized themselves into
bands, broke open private houses, and robbed and murdered the
inhabitants in the face of day.[1334] During the remaining twenty years
of the seventeenth century, the capital was in a state, not of
insurrection, but of anarchy. Society was loosened, and seemed to be
resolving itself into its elements. To use the emphatic language of a
contemporary, liberty and restraint were equally unknown.[1335] The
ordinary functions of the executive government were suspended. The
police of Madrid, unable to obtain the arrears of their pay, disbanded,
and gave themselves up to rapine. Nor did there seem any means of
remedying these evils. The exchequer was empty, and it was impossible to
replenish it. Such was the poverty of the court, that money was wanting
to pay the wages of the king's private servants, and to meet the daily
expenses of his household.[1336] In 1693, payment was suspended of
every life-pension; and all officers and ministers of the crown were
mulcted of one-third of their salaries.[1337] Nothing, however, could
arrest the mischief. Famine and poverty continued to increase;[1338]
and, in 1699, Stanhope, the British minister then residing in Madrid,
writes, that never a day passed in which people were not killed in the
streets scuffling for bread; that his own secretary had seen five women
stifled to death by the crowd before a bakehouse; and that, to swell the
catalogue of misery, upwards of twenty thousand additional beggars from
the country had recently flocked into the capital.[1339]
[1334] _Dunlop's Memoirs_, vol. ii. pp. 224, 225. In 1680, Madame de
Villars, the wife of the French Ambassador, writes from Madrid,
that such was the state of affairs there, that her husband
thought it advisable that she should return home. _Lettres de
Madame de Villars_, Amsterdam, 1769, p. 169. A letter written by
the Danish ambassador in 1677, describes every house in Madrid
as regularly armed from top to bottom; 'de haut en bas.'
_Mignet_, _Négociations relatives à la Succession_, vol. iv. p.
638, Paris, 1842, 4to. The deaths from starvation are said to
have been particularly numerous in Andalusia. See _Tapia_,
_Civilizacion Española_, vol. iii. p. 167. 'En Andalucia
especialmente moria mucha gente de hambre, y el consulado de
Sevilla envió una diputacion para representar que aquella ciudad
habia quedado reducida á la cuarta parte de la poblacion que
habia tenido cincuenta años antes.' On the state of the people
generally, in 1680, compare _Lettres de Villars_, pp. 145, 152,
161.
[1335] 'Point de libertés et point de frein.' _Mém. de Louville_,
vol. i. p. 68.
[1336] In 1681, the French ambassadress writes from Madrid, 'Je ne vous
parle point de la misère de ce royaume. La faim est jusques dans
le palais. J'étois hier avec huit ou dix camaristes, et La
Moline, qui disoient qu'il y avoit fort long-tems qu'on ne leur
donnoit plus ni pain ni viande. Aux écuries du roi et de la
reine, de même.' _Lettres de Madame la Marquise de Villars_,
Amsterdam, 1759, pp. 216, 217. The year after Charles II. died:
'II n'y avoit pas de fonds pour les choses les plus nécessaires,
pour la cuisine, l'écurie, les valets de pied,' &c. _Millot_,
_Mémoires du Duc de Noailles_, vol. ii. p. 26, ed. Petitot,
Paris, 1828. Among other reckless expedients, the currency was
so depreciated, that, in a letter from Martin to Dr. Frazer,
dated Madrid, March 6th, 1680, we hear of 'the fall of money to
one fourth part of its former value.' _Miscellany of the
Spalding Club_, vol. v. p. 187, Aberdeen, 4to. 1852.
[1337] 'The king has taken away, by a late decree, a third part of all
wages and salaries of all officers and ministers without
exception, and suspended for the ensuing year, 1694, all
pensions for life granted either by himself or his father.'
Letter from the English Ambassador, dated Madrid, November 18th,
1693, in _Mahon's Spain under Charles II._, London, 1840, p. 40.
This is also stated in _Millot_, _Mémoires de Noailles_, vol. i.
p. 359, Paris, 1828; 'retranchant le tiers des dépenses de sa
maison, et des appointemens de ses officiers tant militaires que
civils.' In the preceding reign, the pension had been stopped,
at all events for a time. In 1650, Sir Edward Hyde, writes from
Madrid, 'there is an universal stop of all pensions which have
been granted formerly.' _Clarendon State Papers_, vol. ii. p.
538, Oxford, 1773. The next step which was taken was a proposal,
in 1667, to tax the salaries of the members of the Council of
Castile, Arragon, &c.; but this idea was abandoned, until at
length, they, like all other public servants, came under the
comprehensive edict of 1693. See the letter from the French
Ambassador to Louis XIV., dated Madrid, June 2nd, 1667, in
_Mignet_, _Négociations_, vol. ii. p. 128, Paris, 1835, 4to. The
only chance of recovering the history of Spain in the
seventeenth century, is by collating these and similar documents
with the meagre notices to be found in Spanish writers.
[1338] In 1695, 'the miserable poverty in this country.' _Travels
through Spain_, _performed by a Gentleman_, London, 1702, p. 62.
And, in the same year, 'L'Espagne, manquant de tout d'hommes, et
d'argent.' _Mémoires de Noailles_, vol. i. p. 402. 'L'Espagne,
presque anéantie.' p. 424.
[1339] See the letters in _Mahon's Spain under Charles II._,
pp. 138-140. On the 21st of May, 'We have an addition of above
20,000 beggars, flocked from the country round, to share in that
little here is, who were starving at home, and look like
ghosts.' On the 27th of May, 'The scarcity of bread is growing
on apace towards a famine, which increases, by vast multitudes
of poor that swarm in upon us from the countries round about. I
shifted the best I could till this day, but the difficulty of
getting any without authority, has made me recur to the
Corregidor, as most of the foreign Ministers had done before;
he, very courteously, after inquiring what my family was, gave
me an order for twenty loaves every day: but I must send two
leagues, to Vallejas, to fetch it, as I have done this night,
and my servants with long guns to secure it when they have it,
otherwise it would be taken from them, for several people are
killed every day in the streets, in scuffles for bread, all
being lawful prize that any body can catch.' ... 'My secretary,
Don Francisco, saw yesterday five poor women stifled to death by
the crowd before a bakehouse.'
If this state of things had continued for another generation, the
wildest anarchy must have ensued, and the whole frame of society been
broken up.[1340] The only chance of saving Spain from a relapse into
barbarism, was that it should fall, and fall quickly, under foreign
dominion. Such a change was indispensable; and there was reason to fear
that it might come in a form which would have been inexpressibly odious
to the nation. For, late in the seventeenth century, Ceuta was besieged
by the Mohammedans; and as the Spanish Government had neither troops nor
ships, the greatest apprehensions were entertained respecting the fate
of this important fortress; there being little doubt, that if it fell,
Spain would be again overrun by the infidels, who, this time, at least,
would have found little difficulty in dealing with a people weakened by
suffering, half famished, and almost worn out.[1341]
[1340] Even M. Lafuente, who having used scarcely any of the authorities
which I have quoted in the last few pages, can have no adequate
idea of the utter wretchedness of Spain, confesses that 'Jamás
monarca ni pueblo alguno se vieron en tan lastimosa situacion y
en tan mísero trance como se hallaron en este tiempo' (1699).
'Carlos II. y la España.' _Lafuente_, _Historia de España_,
vol. xvii. p. 426, Madrid, 1856.
[1341] 'Les Maures d'Afrique assiégeoient Ceuta. Le roi d'Espagne
manquait non seulement de troupes, mais de vaisseaux pour
transporter le peu de secours qu'il pouvoit y envoyer: Louis XIV
lui fit offrir les troupes et les vaisseaux dont il auroit
besoin. Il s'agissoit non seulement de conserver Ceuta, mais de
plus Oran; par conséquent d'empêcher la prise de deux places
dont la conquête facilitoit aux Maures un retour en Espagne.'
_Mémoires du Marquis de Torcy_, vol. i. p. 46, ed. Paris, 1828.
Respecting the attacks made on Ceuta, from 1696 to 1698, see
_Ortiz_, _Compendio de la Historia de España_, vol. vi. pp. 556,
567, 561.
Fortunately, in the year 1700, when affairs were at their worst, Charles
II., the idiot king, died; and Spain fell into the hands of Philip V.,
the grandson of Louis XIV. This change from the Austrian dynasty to the
Bourbon,[1342] brought with it many other changes. Philip, who reigned
from 1700 to 1746,[1343] was a Frenchman, not only by birth and
education, but also in feelings and habits.[1344] Just before he entered
Spain, Louis charged him never to forget that he was a native of France,
the throne of which he might some day ascend.[1345] After he became
king, he neglected the Spaniards, despised their advice, and threw all
the power he could command into the hands of his own countrymen.[1346]
The affairs of Spain were now administered by subjects of Louis XIV.,
whose ambassador at Madrid frequently performed the functions of prime
minister.[1347] What had once been the most powerful monarchy in the
world, became little else than a province of France; all important
matters being decided in Paris, from whence Philip himself received his
instructions.[1348]
[1342] A celebrated modern writer has made some remarks upon this, which
are too apposite to be omitted. 'Con el siglo xvii. acabó
tambien la dinastía austriaca en España, dejando á esta nacion
pobre, despoblada, sin fuerzas marítimas ni terrestres, y por
consiguiente á merced de las demas potencias que intentaron
repartir entre sí sus colonias y provincias. Así habia
desparecido en poco mas de un siglo aquella grandeza y poderío,
aquella fuerza y heroismo, aquella cultura é ilustracion con que
habia descollado entre todas las naciones.' _Biografia de
Ensenada_, in _Navarrete_, _Opúsculos_, vol. ii. p. 5, Madrid,
1848.
[1343] Except during the short interregnum of Louis, in 1724, which only
lasted a few months, and during which, the boy, though called
king, exercised no real power, and Philip remained the actual
ruler. 'Aun el nuevo rey no resolvia negocio de consideracion
sin asenso de su padre.' _Ortiz_, _Compendio_, vol. vii. p. 374.
[1344] Saint Simon, who knew Philip well, and who was in Spain in 1721
and 1722, says of him, 'L'amour de la France lui sortait de
partout.' _Mémoires du Duc de Saint Simon_, vol. xxxvii. p. 3,
Paris, 1841. And, in 1746, shortly before his death, Noailles
writes from Aranjuez, 'Ce prince a le c[oe]ur tout français.'
_Millot_, _Mémoires de Noailles_, vol. iv. p. 191, Paris, 1829.
[1345] 'N'oubliez jamais que vous êtes Français, et ce qui peut vous
arriver.' _Millot_, _Mémoires de Noailles_, vol. ii. p. 6.
Compare _Coxe's Memoirs of the Bourbon Kings of Spain_, London,
1815, vol. i. p. 103.
[1346] In 1702, Philip 'parlait moins que jamais, et seulement aux
Français, comme s'ils eussent été les seuls êtres de son
espèce.' _Mémoires de Louville_, vol. i. p. 276. 'Le dégoût que
Philippe laissait voir pour sa cour espagnole.' p. 333. A
Spanish statesman, celebrated, or, I would rather say,
notorious, at the close of the century, indignantly exclaims,
'It was on the accession of the Bourbon dynasty, that foreigners
came to govern us on our native soil.' _Godoy's Memoirs_, ed.
London, 1836, vol. ii. p. 271.
[1347] In 1701, it was the duty of the French ambassador, 'qu'il pût au
besoin être premier ministre d'Espagne.' _Millot_, _Mémoires de
Noailles_, vol. ii. p. 31; 'que l'ambassadeur de sa Majesté soit
ministre du roi Catholique; que, sans en avoir le titre, il en
exerce les fonctions; qu'il aide au roi d'Espagne à connoître
l'état de ses affaires, et à gouverner par lui-même.' p. 55. In
1702, Marsin writes to Louis XIV., 'Comme il est absolument
nécessaire que l'ambassadeur de Votre Majesté en Espagne ait un
crédit sans bornes auprès du Roy son petit-fils.' p. 183. In
1705, Amelot, the French ambassador, 'décidoit de tout en
Espagne.' _Mémoires de Louville_, vol. ii. p. 165; and in 1706,
'étant à la tête des affaires, et joignant presque les fonctions
de premier ministre à celles d'ambassadeur.' _Noailles_,
vol. ii. p. 398.
[1348] In 1703, 'Il est clair que l'embarras de Philippe venoit surtout
de la crainte que ses décisions ne fussent point approuvées en
France, où toutes les affaires importantes se décidoient.'
_Millot_, _Mémoires de Noailles_, vol. ii. p. 244. 'The King of
France had always certain persons at Madrid, which compos'd a
Council, of which that of Versailles was the soul; and whose
members were all creatures of the French Court, and sent to
Madrid from time to time to direct all affairs there, according
to the views of the Most Christian King, and to give him an
account of every thing that pass'd in the Councils of the
Escurial. Alberoni got to be initiated in the mysteries of this
cabal.' _History of Cardinal Alberoni_, London, 1719, p. 70.
The Spanish historians are not very fond of admitting this
unquestionable fact; but Bacallar, after mentioning the
influence of the French Ambassador, frankly adds: 'Desde
entonces tomaron tanta mano sobre los de España los ministros
franceses, que dieron mas zelos á los Principes, viendo
estrechar la union á un grado, que todo se ponía al arbitrio de
Luis XIV.' _Bacallar_, _Comentarios de la Guerra de España_,
vol. i. p. 33.
The truth is, that Spain, broken and prostrate, was unable to supply
ability of any kind; and if the government of the country was to be
carried on, it was absolutely necessary that foreigners should be
called in.[1349] Even in 1682, that is, eighteen years before the
accession of Philip V., there was not to be found a single native well
acquainted with the art of war; so that Charles II. was obliged to
intrust the military defence of the Spanish Netherlands to De Grana, the
Austrian ambassador at Madrid.[1350] When, therefore, the War of the
Succession broke out, in 1702, even the Spaniards themselves desired
that their troops should be commanded by a foreigner.[1351] In 1704, the
extraordinary spectacle was exhibited of the Duke of Berwick, an
Englishman, leading Spanish soldiers against the enemy, and being in
fact generalissimo of the Spanish army.[1352] The King of Spain,
dissatisfied with his proceedings, determined to remove him; but,
instead of filling his place with a native, he applied to Louis XIV. for
another general; and this important post was confided to Marshal Tessé,
a Frenchman.[1353] A little later, Berwick was again summoned to Madrid,
and ordered to put himself at the head of the Spanish troops, and defend
Estremadura and Castile.[1354] This he effected with complete success;
and, in the battle of Almansa, which he fought in 1707, he overthrew the
invaders, ruined the party of the pretender Charles,[1355] and secured
the seat of Philip on the throne.[1356] As the war, however, still
continued, Philip, in 1710, wrote to Paris for another general, and
requested that the Duke de Vendôme might be sent to him.[1357] This able
commander, on his arrival, infused new vigour into the Spanish counsels,
and utterly defeated the allies;[1358] so that the war by which the
independence of Spain was established, owed its success to the ability
of foreigners, and to the fact that the campaigns were planned and
conducted, not by natives, but by French and English generals.
[1349] Even the veteran diplomatist was so struck by the escape of Spain
from complete ruin, that he ascribes its change of masters to
the direct interference of the Deity. 'Sa seule puissance avait
placé Philippe V sur le trône d'Espagne; elle seule pouvait l'y
maintenir; les hommes n'avaient pas conduit ce grand événement.'
_Mémoires de Torcy_, vol. i. p. 333. 'Le trône où Dieu l'avait
placé.' p. 401. See also vol. ii. pp. 3, 227. 'The Spanish
people received him with unhesitating obedience to the deceased
king's will, and rejoiced at the prospect of a rule that would
at least have the merit of being different from that under which
they had so long withered.' _Memoirs of Peterborough_, London,
1853, vol. i. p. 102. 'Muchos españoles recibieron por su
soberano á Felipe V., cansados de la dominacion de la casa de
Austria. Esperaban de la mudanza de la dinastia la felicidad y
el buen gobierno.' _Castro_, _Decadencia de España_, Cadiz,
1852, p. 131. To the same effect, _Millot_, _Mémoires de
Noailles_, vol. i. pp. 420, 426, vol. ii. p. 9.
[1350] He 'committed the military defence of these provinces to the
Marquis of Grana, the Austrian ambassador at Madrid, from the
want of any Spanish commander whose courage or military
endowments qualified him to repel such an enemy as the king of
France.' _Dunlop's Memoirs_, vol. ii. p. 232. Compare, on the
want of Spanish generals, _Mémoires du Maréchal de Gramont_,
vol. ii. p. 82, edit. Paris, 1827. The opinion which Grana
himself formed of the Spanish government, may be learned from a
conversation which he held at Madrid, in 1680, with the French
ambassadress, and which is preserved in her correspondence.
_Lettres de Madame la Marquise de Villars_, Amsterdam, 1759, pp.
118, 119.
[1351] See the letter of Philip V. to Louis XIV., dated June 22, 1702,
in _Mémoires de Noailles_, vol. ii. pp. 256, 257, Paris, 1828,
edit. Petitot.
[1352] See _Bacallar_, _Comentarios de la Guerra de España_, vol. i.
pp. 137, 166, where he is called 'el Duque de Bervich.' His own
account is, 'J'arrivai à Madrid le 15 février' (1704), 'où
d'abord S. M. Catholique me fit Capitaine-Général de ses
armées.' _Mémoires de Berwick_, Paris, 1778, vol. i. p. 227; and
see p. xxv. No one would suppose this, from the observations of
M. Lafuente, in his _Historia de España_, vol. xviii. p. 80,
Madrid, 1857.
[1353] 'Philippe n'étoit pas content de Berwick, ou plutôt il témoigna
ne le pas être, et il demanda un autre général à Louis XIV. On
lui envoya le maréchal de Tessé, pour qui il avoit montré du
penchant.' _Millot_, _Mémoires de Noailles_, vol. ii. p. 331.
Berwick himself ascribes his dismissal to the influence of
Gramont and of the Queen of Spain. _Mémoires de Berwick_, vol.
i. pp. 269-273. At all events, the new general became supreme.
In December 1705, the Princess des Ursins writes from Madrid to
Madame de Maintenon, 'M. le maréchal de Tessé, quand il est à
Madrid, est consulté, et décide sur toutes les affaires,
_autant, pour le moins, que M. l'ambassadeur_; et lorsqu'il est
à l'armée, il est le maître absolu non seulement des troupes de
France, mais encore de celles d'Espagne, commandant aux
capitaines-généraux, ses anciens, contre l'usage du pays.'
_Lettres inédites de Madame de Maintenon et de Madame la
Princesse des Ursins_, vol. iii. p. 259, Paris, 1826.
[1354] In 1706, 'Le duc de Berwick, redemandé par Philippe V., arrivé à
Madrid le 11 mars, avec le titre de maréchal de France, pour
défendre l'Estramadure et la Castille, ayant rassemblé ce qu'il
peut de troupes espagnoles, empêcha les ennemis d'entreprendre
le siège de Badajoz.' _Millot_, _Mémoires de Noailles_, vol. ii.
p. 387. Philip 'pria le Roi, son grand-père, d'envoyer un
général pour commander sur les frontières de Portugal. Ce fut
donc sur moi que le choix tomba.' _Mémoires de Berwick_, vol. i.
p. 305.
[1355] In a recently published work (_Memoirs of Peterborough_, London,
1853, vol. i. pp. 148, 155, 161, 206, 210, vol. ii. pp. 34, 93),
Charles is not only called King of Spain, which he never was, as
Spain always refused to accept him, but, in the teeth of all
history, he is actually termed Charles III.; while Philip V. is
merely 'Philip of Anjou.' If this were allowed, the consequence
would be, that the king whom the Spaniards now call Charles
III., would have to change his appellation, and become Charles
IV.; and Charles IV. would be changed into Charles V. It is
really too much when mere biographers obtrude, in this way,
their own little prepossessions into the vast field of history,
and seek to efface its established nomenclature, because they
are enamoured of the hero whose life they write.
[1356] 'This victory established the throne of Philip.' _Dunham's
History of Spain_, vol. v. p. 136. 'A victory which may be
justly said to have saved Spain.' _Coxe's Bourbon Kings of
Spain_, vol. i. p. 408. Even Ortiz allows that if Berwick had
failed, Philip would have been ruined. 'Esta batalla de Almansa,
que las circunstancias hicieron ruidosa, comenzó á poner mejor
la corona de España en la cabeza de Felipe V.; y se tuvo por
indubitable que si la hubiera perdido, tambien hubiera perdido
la corona.' _Ortiz_, _Compendio_, vol. vii. p. 116. See also
_Lafuente_, _Historia de España_, vol. xviii. p. 185. 'Berwick,
á quien, sin duda, debió su salvación la España.'
[1357] 'Sa réputation étoit grande et bien établie; le roi d'Espagne
avoit été témoin de sa conduite en Lombardie; il demanda au Roi
un général si capable de commander ses armées.' _Mémoires de
Torcy_, vol. i. p. 386. See also _History of Alberoni_, London,
1719, p. 45. 'Le duc de Vendôme alloit enfin commander les
troupes d'Espagne.' _Mémoires de Noailles_, vol. iii. p. 12.
According to Berwick, the offer was first made to himself.
_Mémoires de Berwick_, vol. ii. pp. 106, 109. M. Lafuente,
without quoting any authority, says (_Historia de España_, vol.
xviii. p. 279), 'Luego que se perdió la batalla de Zaragoza
escribió Felipe al rey Cristianísimo, su abuelo, rogándole que,
ya que no pudiera socorrerle con tropas, le enviára al menos _al
duque de Berwick ó al de Vendome_.' But, as Berwick must have
had the means of knowing the real state of the case, he is
probably correct in saying that the first application was in his
own favour.
[1358] 'Vendôme arrived at this moment to call into action the spirit of
the monarch and the zeal of his subjects.' _Coxe's Bourbon Kings
of Spain_, vol. ii. p. 41. 'The arrival of the Duke de Vendôme
again changed the fate of Spain.' _Memoirs of Peterborough_,
vol. ii. p. 130.
In the same way, the finances were, by the end of the seventeenth
century, in such deplorable confusion, that Portocarrero, who at the
accession of Philip V. was the nominal minister of Spain, expressed a
desire that they should be administered by some one sent from Paris, who
could restore them.[1359] He felt that no one in Spain was equal to the
task, and he was by no means singular in this opinion. In 1701, Louville
wrote to Torcy, that if a financier did not soon arrive from France,
there would shortly be no finances to administer.[1360] The choice fell
upon Orry, who reached Madrid in the summer of 1701.[1361] He found
everything in the most miserable condition; and the incompetence of the
Spaniards was so obvious, that he was soon forced to undertake the
management, not only of the finances, but also of the war-department. To
save appearances, Canalez became the ostensible minister at war; but he,
being completely ignorant of affairs, merely performed the drudgery of
that office, the real duties of which were fulfilled by Orry
himself.[1362]
[1359] 'Portocarrero, abrumado con las dificultades de la gobernacion,
que excedian en mucho á sus escasas luces, no contento con haber
inducido al rey á que aumentára su consejo de gabinete con dos
ministros más, que fueron el marqués de Mancera, presidente del
de Aragon, y el duque de Montalto, del de Italia, pidió á Luis
XIV. le enviára una persona que pudiera establecer un plan de
hacienda en España, y corregir y reformar los abusos de la
administracion.' _Lafuente_, _Historia de España_, vol. xviii.
p. 15. On 22nd June 1701, Louis XIV. writes to the Duc
d'Harcourt, 'Qu'enfin le cardinal Porto-Carrero m'a fait
demander quelqu'un intelligent en matière de finances pour voir
et connoître l'état de celles du roi d'Espagne, pour examiner
les moyens les plus propres de soulager ses sujets, et de
pourvoir aux plus pressans besoins du public; qu'il m'assure que
_toute l'Espagne le désire en général_: toutes ces raisons m'ont
déterminé à choisir le sieur Orry, pour l'envoyer à Madrid.'
_Millot_, _Mémoires de Noailles_, vol. ii. p. 44.
[1360] 'Il faudra que l'homme que vous enverrez pour les finances (car
vous aurez la bonté d'en envoyer un, ou bien nous n'aurons plus
de finances).' _Mémoires de Louville_, vol. i. p. 149.
[1361] _Ibid._ vol. i. p. 181.
[1362] 'Canalez, qu'on a substitué à Rivas pour le département de la
guerre, n'a aucun talent pour cet emploi, selon l'instruction;
et toute l'Espagne voit clairement qu'Orry ne le lui a procuré
qu'afin d'en exercer les fonctions sous le nom d'un Espagnol.'
_Millot_, _Mémoires de Noailles_, vol. ii. p. 305; under the
year 1704. See also, on the power of Orry in the war-department,
_Mémoires de Berwick_, vol. i. pp. 226, 227, 306, 316, vol. ii.
p. 166. Berwick, who hated Orry, says of him (vol. i. p. 232),
'il se mêloit de tout et faisoit tout,' But there can be no
doubt of his being a man of very considerable ability; and M.
Lafuente (_Historia de España_, vol. xix. p. 253, Madrid, 1857)
candidly says, 'Es lo cierto que hizo abrir mucho los ojos de
los españoles en materia de administracion,' Compare vol. xviii.
p. 369; _Mémoires du Duc de Saint Simon_, vol. vii. pp. 102,
195, Paris, 1842; and _Bacallar_, _Comentarios de la Guerra de
España_, vol. i. pp. 82, 83, 99, 168, vol. ii. pp. 95, 107.
Bacallar treats him harshly.
This dominion of the French continued, without interruption, until the
second marriage of Philip V., in 1714, and the death of Louis XIV., in
1715, both of which events weakened their influence, and for a time
almost destroyed it. The authority, however, which they lost, was
transferred, not to Spaniards, but to other foreigners. Between 1714 and
1726, the two most powerful and conspicuous men in Spain were Alberoni,
an Italian, and Ripperda, a Dutchman. Ripperda was dismissed in
1726;[1363] and after his fall, the affairs of Spain were controlled by
Konigseg, who was a German, and who, indeed, was the Austrian ambassador
residing at Madrid.[1364] Even Grimaldo, who held office before and
after the dismissal of Ripperda, was a disciple of the French school,
and had been brought up under Orry.[1365] All this was not the result of
accident, nor is it to be ascribed to the caprice of the court. In
Spain, the national spirit had so died away, that none but foreigners,
or men imbued with foreign ideas, were equal to the duties of
government. To the evidence already quoted on this point, I will add two
other testimonies. Noailles, a very fair judge, and by no means
prejudiced against the Spaniards, emphatically stated, in 1710, that,
notwithstanding their loyalty, they were incapable of ruling, inasmuch
as they were ignorant both of war and of politics.[1366] In 1711, Bonnac
mentions that a resolution had been formed to place no Spaniard at the
head of affairs, because those hitherto employed had proved to be either
unfortunate or unfaithful.[1367]
[1363] _Ripperda's Memoirs_, London, 1740, second edition, pp. 117, 118.
Saint Simon (_Mémoires_, vol. xxxvi. p. 246) says, that Ripperda
was 'premier ministre aussi absolu que le fut jamais son
prédécesseur, Alberoni.' The English pamphleteers and
politicians of the last century were very unjust to Alberoni,
who, notwithstanding the dangerous boldness of his nature, was
one of the best ministers who ever governed Spain. M. Lafuente,
while admitting his faults, says (_Historia de España_, vol.
xix. pp. 437, 438), 'Negarle gran capacidad seria una gran
injusticia. Tampoco puede desconocerse que reanimó y regeneró la
España, levantándola á un grado de esplendor y de grandeza en
que nunca se habia vuelto á ver desde los mejores tiempos de
Felipe II.' See also a good summary of what he did for Spain, in
_Tapia_, _Historia de la Civilizacion Española_, Madrid, 1840,
vol. iv. pp. 50, 51.
[1364] 'The all-powerful Konigseg.' _Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain_,
vol. iii. p. 154; 'the prime mover of the Spanish counsels,' p.
159; in 1727-8, 'Konigseg usurped the control over every
operation of government,' p. 190; and see p. 235. His great
power is likewise noticed in _Lafuente_, _Historia de España_,
vol. xix. p. 71: 'el hombre de mas influjo y valimiento en la
córte.'
[1365] 'Originally a clerk under Orry, he gained the favour of his
employer,' &c. _Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain_, vol. iii. p. 39.
Coxe had access to a large mass of letters, which were written
in the eighteenth century, by persons connected with Spain, and
many of which are still unpublished. This makes his book very
valuable; and, as a recital of political events, it is superior
to anything the Spaniards have produced, though the author is, I
need hardly say, far inferior to M. Lafuente as a writer, and
also as an artistic arranger of facts.
[1366] 'Que les Espagnols depuis longtemps ignoroient la guerre et la
politique; qu'on devoit être sensible à leurs démonstrations
d'attachement et de zèle, sans les croire, suffisantes pour
soutenir un État' ... 'l'incapacité des sujets pour le
gouvernement.' _Millot_, _Mémoires de Noailles_, vol. iii. pp.
24, 25.
[1367] 'C'étoit un parti pris, comme l'observe Bonnac, de ne plus mettre
le gouvernement entre leurs mains. On avoit trouvé parmi eux peu
d'hommes capables des grands emplois: ceux à qui on les avoit
confiés, malheureux ou infidèles, avoient inspiré de
l'éloignement pour les autres.' _Millot_, _Mémoires de
Noailles_, vol. iii. p. 81.
The government of Spain being taken from the Spaniards, now began to
show some signs of vigour. The change was slight, but it was in the
right direction, though, as we shall presently see, it could not
regenerate Spain, owing to the unfavourable operation of general causes.
Still, the intention was good. For the first time, attempts were made to
vindicate the rights of laymen, and to diminish the authority of
ecclesiastics. Scarcely had the French established their dominion, when
they suggested that it might be advisable to relieve the necessities of
the state, by compelling the clergy to give up some of the wealth which
they had accumulated in their churches.[1368] Even Louis XIV. insisted
that the important office of President of Castile should not be
conferred on an ecclesiastic, because, he said, in Spain the priests and
monks had already too much power.[1369] Orry, who for several years
possessed immense influence, exerted it in the same direction. He
endeavoured to lessen the immunities possessed by the clergy, in regard
to taxation, and also in regard to their exemption from lay
jurisdiction. He opposed the privilege of sanctuary; he sought to
deprive churches of their right of asylum. He even attacked the
Inquisition, and worked so powerfully on the mind of the king, that
Philip, at one time, determined to suspend that dreadful tribunal, and
abolish the office of grand inquisitor.[1370] This intention was very
properly abandoned; for there can be no doubt that if it had been
enforced, it would have caused a revolution, in which Philip would
probably have lost his crown.[1371] In such case, a reaction would have
set in, which would have left the Church stronger than ever. Many
things, however, were done for Spain in spite of the Spaniards.[1372] In
1707, the clergy were forced to contribute to the state a small part of
their enormous wealth; the tax being disguised under the name of a
loan.[1373] Ten years later, during the administration of Alberoni, this
disguise was thrown off; and not only did government exact what was now
called 'the ecclesiastical tax,' but it imprisoned or exiled those
priests who, refusing to pay, stood up for the privileges of their
order.[1374] This was a bold step to be taken in Spain, and it was one
on which, at that time, no Spaniard would have ventured. Alberoni,
however, as a foreigner, was unversed in the traditions of the country,
which, indeed, on another memorable occasion, he set at defiance. The
government of Madrid, acting in complete unison with public opinion, had
always been unwilling to negotiate with infidels; meaning by infidels
every people whose religious notions differed from their own. Sometimes,
such negotiations were unavoidable, but they were entered into with fear
and trembling, lest the pure Spanish faith should be tainted by too
close a contact with unbelievers. Even in 1698, when it was evident that
the monarchy was at its last gasp, and that nothing could save it from
the hands of the spoiler, the prejudice was so strong, that the
Spaniards refused to receive aid from the Dutch, because the Dutch were
heretics. At that time, Holland was in the most intimate relation with
England, whose interest it was to secure the independence of Spain
against the machinations of France. Obvious, however, as this was, the
Spanish theologians, being consulted respecting the proposal, declared
that it was inadmissible, since it would enable the Dutch to propagate
their religious opinions; so that, according to this view, it was better
to be subjugated by a Catholic enemy, than to be assisted by a
Protestant friend.[1375]
[1368] In 1701, 'Les églises d'Espagne ont des richesses immenses en or
et en argenterie, qui augmentent tous les jours par le crédit
des religieux; et cela rend l'espèce très-rare dans le commerce.
On propose d'obliger le clergé à vendre une partie de cette
argenterie. Avant que de prendre ce parti, il en faudroit bien
examiner non seulement l'utilité, que l'on connoît, mais aussi
les inconvéniens qu'un pareil ordre pourroit produire.'
_Millot_, _Mémoires de Noailles_, vol. ii. p. 60.
[1369] 'Il insistoit sur la nécessité de ne pas donner à un
ecclésiastique, ni à une créature du cardinal, la présidence de
Castille, quand on rempliroit cette importante place; les
prêtres et les moines n'avoient déjà que trop de pouvoir.'
_Millot_, _Mémoires de Noailles_, vol. ii. p. 77. Compare pp.
71, 72; a letter from Louville to Torcy, dated August 5th, 1701.
[1370] _Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain_, vol. ii. pp. 163-165. _Mémoires
de Noailles_, vol. iii. p. 143.
[1371] In 1714, it was thought necessary, that Philip V., not having had
the benefit of a Spanish education, should be enlightened on the
subject of the Inquisition. He was, therefore, informed, 'que la
pureza de la religion Catolica en estos reynos se debia á la
vigilancia de la Inquisicion y sus ministros, todos justos,
clementes y circunspectos, no rigidos, violentos ni crueles,
como por error ó malicia los pintan comunmente los Franceses. Y
que _la conservacion de la Monarquia dependia en gran parte de
mantener ilibata la religion Catolica_.' _Ortiz_, _Compendio_,
vol. vii. p. 286. Bacallar (_Comentarios_, vol. ii. pp. 122-125)
gives an interesting account of the attacks made on the rights
of the Church, and which, he says, p. 122, were 'poco ajustados
á la doctrina de los Santos Padres, á la Inmunidad de la
Iglesia, y que sonaban á heregía.' He significantly adds, p.
125, 'Los pueblos de España, que son tan religiosos, y professan
la mayor veneracion á la Iglesia, creían que esta se
atropellaba, _y huvo alguna interna inquietud, no sin fomento de
los adversos al Rey, cuyo puro, y sincero corazon podia ser
engañado_; pero no inducido á un evidente error contra los
Sagrados Canones,' &c. Such passages, proceeding, in the
eighteenth century, from a man like the Marquis de San Phelipe,
are of no slight importance in the history of the Spanish mind.
[1372] So early as May 1702, Philip V., in a letter to Louis XIV.,
complained that the Spaniards opposed him in every thing. 'Je
crois être obligé de vous dire que je m'aperçois de plus en plus
du peu de zèle que les Espagnols out pour mon service, dans les
petites choses comme dans les grandes, et qu'ils s'opposent à
tout ce que je désire.' _Millot_, _Mémoires de Noailles_, vol.
ii. p. 136. The dislike which the Spaniards felt for the liberal
reforms advocated by the French, went on increasing, until, in
1709, 'se renovaron los antiguos odios entre las dos naciones,
con tanto ardor, que deseaban las tropas españolas el haber de
combatir con los Franceses.' _Bacallar_, _Comentarios_, vol. i.
p. 360.
[1373] 'L'opulence de l'Église devoit évidemment fournir des secours à
la patrie. Un emprunt de quatre millions, fait sur le clergé
l'année précédente, 1707, avoit cependant fort déplu au Pape ou
à ses ministres.' _Millot_, _Mémoires de Noaulès_, vol. ii. p.
412.
[1374] 'He' (Alberoni) 'continued also the exaction of the
ecclesiastical tax, in spite of the papal prohibitions,
imprisoning or banishing the refractory priests who defended the
privileges of their order.' _Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain_,
vol. ii. p. 288.
[1375] On January 2nd, 1698, Stanhope, the British Minister at Madrid,
writes from that capital: 'This Court is not at all inclined to
admit the offer of the Dutch troops to garrison their places in
Flanders. They have consulted their theologians, who declare
against it as a matter of conscience, since it would give great
opportunities to the spreading of heresy. They have not yet sent
their answer but it is believed it will be in the negative, and
that they will rather choose to lie at the mercy of the French,
as being Catholics.' _Mahon's Spain under Charles II._,
pp. 98, 99.
Still, much as the Spaniards hated Protestants, they hated Mohammedans
yet more.[1376] They could never forget how the followers of that creed
had once conquered nearly the whole of Spain, and had, during several
centuries, possessed the fairest portion of it. The remembrance of this
strengthened their religious animosity, and caused them to be the chief
supporters of nearly every war which was waged against the Mohammedans,
both of Turkey and of Africa.[1377] But Alberoni, being a foreigner, was
unmoved by these considerations, and, to the astonishment of all Spain,
he, on the mere ground of political expediency, set at naught the
principles of the Church, and not only concluded an alliance with the
Mohammedans, but supplied them with arms and with money.[1378] It is,
indeed, true, that, in these and similar measures, Alberoni opposed
himself to the national will, and that he lived to repent of his
boldness. It is, however, also true, that his policy was part of a great
secular and anti-theological movement, which, during the eighteenth
century, was felt all over Europe. The effects of that movement were
seen in the government of Spain, but not in the people. This was because
the government for many years was wielded by foreigners, or by natives
imbued with a foreign spirit. Hence we find that, during the greater
part of the eighteenth century, the politicians of Spain formed a class
more isolated, and, if I may so say, more living on their own
intellectual resources, than the politicians of any other country during
the same period. That this indicated a state of disease, and that no
political improvement can produce real good, unless it is desired by the
people before being conferred on them, will be admitted by whoever has
mastered the lessons which history contains. The results actually
produced in Spain, we shall presently see. But it will first be
advisable that I should give some further evidence of the extent to
which the influence of the Church had prostrated the national
intellect, and by discouraging all inquiry, and fettering all freedom of
thought, had at length reduced the country to such a plight, that the
faculties of men, rusted by disuse, were no longer equal to fulfil the
functions required from them; so that in every department, whether of
political life, or of speculative philosophy, or even of mechanical
industry, it was necessary that foreigners should be called in, to do
that work, which the natives had become unable to perform.
[1376] 'Entre el catolicismo y las diferentes sectas que brotaron en las
imaginaciones de Calvino y de Lutero podia mediar tolerancia, y
aun transaccion, si bien, como dice un escritor político, cuando
se comienza á transigir sobre un principio, ese principio
comienza á perder su imperio sobre las sociedades humanas. Pero
entre el cristianismo de los españoles y el mahometismo de los
moriscos era imposible todo avenimiento.' _Janer_, _Condicion
Social de los Moriscos_, Madrid, 1857, p. 112.
[1377] The Marquis of San Phelipe, who wrote in 1725, says, 'Es ley
fundamental de los Reyes Catholicos, nunca hacer la paz con los
Mahometanos; y esta guerra permanece desde el Rey Don Pelayo,
por mas de siete siglos, sin hacer jamás paces, ni treguas con
ellos, como cada dia las hacen el Emperador, y otros Principes
Catholicos.' _Bacallar_, _Comentarios de la Guerra de España_,
vol. ii. p. 169. And, in the most influential work on commerce
which the reign of Philip V. produced, I find the following
instructive passage: 'Aunque en los Puertos de las dilatadas
Costas, que de Europa, Asia y Africa baña el Mediterraneo, se
hace comercio muy considerable, y util por diversas naciones, no
podrá España tener gran parte en él, mientras se observare la
maxima de hacer continua guerra á todos los Moros y Turcos, en
cuyo dominio se hallan la mayor parte de aquellas Provincias;
sin embargo de ser constante, que _en esta guerra, aunque
procedida de zelo Christiano, es mayor el daño que recibimos,
que el que ocasionamos á los Infieles_' (the way the mercantile
spirit peeps out here, is extremely curious) 'á lo menos de
muchos años á esta parte, como lo he explicado en diversos
capitulos.' _Uztariz_, _Theorica y Practica de Comercio_,
Madrid, 1757, p. 399. This is the third edition of a book,
which, considering the circumstances under which it was written,
is a very remarkable production.
[1378] Compare _Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain_, London, 1815, vol. ii.
p. 314, with _The History of Alberoni_, London, 1719, pp. 119,
253; and _Bacallar_, _Comentarios de la Guerra de España_, vol.
ii. pp. 168, 169. The outcry which this caused, may be easily
imagined; and Alberoni, finding himself in great peril, took
advantage of the secrecy of the negotiations, to deny part, at
least, of the charges made against him. See his indignant, but
yet cautious, letter to the Pope, in _History of Alberoni_,
1719, p. 124. Ortiz, who had evidently not looked into the
evidence, is so ill-informed as to suppose that this was a
calumnious accusation brought against Alberoni after his fall.
'Caido ya por entonces Alberoni de su grandeza, expelido
ignominiosamente de España, y aun perseguido por el Rey en
Italia, preso en Roma por orden del Papa, etc., no era dificil
atribuirle culpas agenas ó no cometidas.' _Note in Ortiz_,
_Compendio_, vol. vii. p. 321.
The ignorance in which the force of adverse circumstances had sunk the
Spaniards, and their inactivity, both bodily and mental, would be
utterly incredible, if it were not attested by every variety of
evidence. Gramont, writing from personal knowledge of the state of
Spain, during the latter half of the seventeenth century, describes the
upper classes as not only unacquainted with science or literature, but
as knowing scarcely any thing even of the commonest events which
occurred out of their own country. The lower ranks, he adds, are equally
idle, and rely upon foreigners to reap their wheat, to cut their hay,
and to build their houses.[1379] Another observer of society, as it
existed in Madrid in 1679, assures us that men, even of the highest
position, never thought it necessary that their sons should study; and
that those who were destined for the army could not learn mathematics,
if they desired to do so, inasmuch as there were neither schools nor
masters to teach them.[1380] Books, unless they were books of devotion,
were deemed utterly useless; no one consulted them; no one collected
them; and, until the eighteenth century, Madrid did not possess a single
public library.[1381] In other cities professedly devoted to purposes of
education, similar ignorance prevailed. Salamanca was the seat of the
most ancient and most famous university in Spain, and there, if
anywhere, we might look for the encouragement of science.[1382] But De
Torres, who was himself a Spaniard, and was educated at Salamanca,
early in the eighteenth century, declares that he had studied at that
university for five years before he had heard that such things as the
mathematical sciences existed.[1383] So late as the year 1771, the same
university publicly refused to allow the discoveries of Newton to be
taught; and assigned as a reason, that the system of Newton was not so
consonant with revealed religion as the system of Aristotle.[1384] All
over Spain, a similar plan was adopted. Everywhere, knowledge was
spurned, and inquiry discouraged. Feijoo, who, notwithstanding his
superstition, and a certain slavishness of mind, from which no Spaniard
of that age could escape, did, on matters of science, seek to enlighten
his countrymen, has left upon record his deliberate opinion, that
whoever had acquired all that was taught in his time under the name of
philosophy, would, as the reward of his labour, be more ignorant than he
was before he began.[1385] And there can be no doubt that he was right.
There can be no doubt that, in Spain, the more a man was taught, the
less he would know. For, he was taught that inquiry was sinful, that
intellect must be repressed, and that credulity and submission were the
first of human attributes. The Duke de Saint Simon, who, in 1721 and
1722, was the French ambassador at Madrid, sums up his observations by
the remark, that, in Spain, science is a crime, and ignorance a
virtue.[1386] Fifty years later, another shrewd observer, struck with
amazement at the condition of the national mind, expresses his opinion
in a sentence equally pithy and almost equally severe. Searching for an
illustration to convey his sense of the general darkness, he
emphatically says, that the common education of an English gentleman
would, in Spain, constitute a man of learning.[1387]
[1379] 'Leur paresse, et l'ignorance non seulement des sciences et des
arts, mais quasi généralement de tout ce qui se passe hors de
l'Espagne, et on peut dire même hors du lieu où ils habitent,
vont presque de pair, et sont inconcevables. La pauvreté est
grande parmi eux, ce qui provient de leur extrême paresse; car
si nombre de nos Français n'alloient faucher leurs foins, couper
leurs blés et faire leurs briques, je crois qu'ils courroient
fortune de se laisser mourir de faim, et de se tenir sous des
tentes pour ne se pas donner la peine de bâtir des maisons.' ...
'L'éducation de leurs enfans est semblable à celle qu'ils ont eu
de leurs pères, c'est-à-dire sans qu'ils apprennent ni sciences
ni exercices; et je ne crois par que parmi tous les grands que
j'ay pratiqués, il s'en trouvât un seul qui sût décliner son
nom.' ... 'Ils n'ont nulle curiosité de voir les pays
étrangers, et encore moins de s'enquérir de ce qui s'y passe.'
_Mémoires du Maréchal de Gramont_, vol. ii. pp. 77, 78, 82, 83,
in _Collection des Mémoires par Petitot et Monmerqué_, vol.
lvii. See also _Aarsens de Sommerdyck_, _Voyage d'Espagne_,
Paris, 1665, 4to. p. 124. 'La terré mesme n'y est pas toute
cultiuée par des gens du pays: au tempe du labourage, des
semailles et de la recolte, il leur vient quantité de paysans du
Bearn et d'autres endroits de France, qui gagnent beaucoup
d'argent, pour leur mettre leurs bleds en terre et pour les
recueillir. Les architectes et charpentiers y sont aussi pour la
plûpart estrangers, qui se font payer au triple de ce qu'ils
gagneroient en leur pays. Dans Madrid on ne voit pas un porteur
d'eau qui ne soit estranger, et la plûpart des cordonniers et
tailleurs le sont aussi.'
[1380] 'Mais aussi de quelle manière les élève-t-on? Ils n'étudient
point; on néglige de leur donner d'habiles précepteurs; dès
qu'on les destine à l'épée, on ne se soucie plus qu'ils
apprennent le latin ni l'histoire. On devroit au moins leur
enseigner ce qui est de leur mestier, les mathématiques, à faire
des armes et à monter à cheval. Ils n'y pensent seulement pas.
Il n'y a point ici d'Académie ni de maîtres qui montrent ces
sortes de choses. Les jeunes hommes passent le tems qu'ils
devroient emploïer à s'instruire dans un oisiveté pitoïable.'
Letter from Madrid, dated 27th June 1679, in _D'Aulnoy_,
_Relation du Voyage d'Espagne_, Lyon, 1693, vol. ii. pp. 232,
233.
[1381] 'Madrid étant la capitale d'une monarchie aussi vaste, il n'y eut
dans cette ville jusqu'à l'époque du règne de Philippe V aucune
bibliothèque publique.' _Sempere_, _De la Monarchie Espagnole_,
Paris, 1826, vol. ii. p. 79.
[1382] The university was transferred from Palencia to Salamanca, early
in the thirteenth century. _Forner_, _Oracion Apologética por la
España_, Madrid, 1786, p. 170. By the beginning of the fifteenth
century, it had become very prosperous (_Sempere_, _De la
Monarchie Espagnole_, vol. i. p. 65); and in 1535, it is
described as 'a great Universitie, conteyning seven or eight
thowsand students.' See a letter from John Mason, dated
Valladolid, 3rd July, 1635, in _Ellis's Original Letters_, second
series, vol. ii. p. 56, London, 1827. But, like every thing else
which was valuable in Spain, it declined in the seventeenth
century; and Monconys, who carefully examined it in 1628, and
praises some of its arrangements which were still in force,
adds, 'Mais je suis aussi contraint de dire après tant de
loüanges, que les écoliers qui étudient dans cette université
sont des vrais ignorans.' _Les Voyages de Monsieur de Monconys_,
Quatrième Partie, vol. v. p. 22, Paris, 1695. However, their
ignorance, of which Monconys gives some curious instances, did
not prevent Spanish writers, then, and long afterwards, from
deeming the University of Salamanca to be the greatest
institution of its kind in the world. 'La mayor del orbe, madre
gloriosísima de todas las ciencias y de los mas vehementes
ingenios, que han ilustrado las edades.' _Vida de Calderon de la
Barca_, pp. iii. iv., reprinted in Keil's edition of _Calderon_,
Leipsique, 1827. Compare Davila (_Felipe Tercero_, p. 81),
'Salamanca, madre de ciencias y letras;' Yañez (_Memorias_, p.
228), 'Universidad insigne, y Oficina de las buenas Letras de
España;' Bacallar (_Comentarios_, vol. i. p. 238), 'El emporio
de las ciencias;' and Ximenez (_Vida de Ribera_, p. 6),
'Salamanca, cathedra universal de las artes, y emporio de todas
ciencias.'
[1383] 'Says, that, after he had been five years in one of the schools
of the university there, it was by accident he learned the
existence of the mathematical sciences.' _Ticknor's History of
Spanish Literature_, vol. iii. p. 223. A celebrated Spanish
writer of the eighteenth century, actually boasts of the
ignorance of his countrymen concerning mathematics, and
discerns, in their neglect of that foolish pursuit, a decisive
proof of their superiority over other nations. 'No se dexe
deslumbrar con los ásperos calculos é intrincadas demostraciones
geométricas, con que, astuto el entendimiento, disimula el
engaño con los disfraces de la verdad. El uso de las matemáticas
es la alquimia en la fisica, que da apariencias de oro á lo que
no lo es.' _Forner_, _Oracion Apologética por la España y su
Mérito Literario_, Madrid, 1786, p. 38. Compare his contemptuous
notice (p. 66) of those insignificant persons, who 'con título
de filósofos han dado algun aumento á las matemáticas;' and his
comparison (p. 222) of Mercado with Newton.
[1384] 'L'université de Salamanque, excitée par le Conseil, à réformer
ses études, en l'année 1771, lui répondit "qu'elle ne pouvait se
séparer du péripatétisme, parce que les systèmes de Newton,
Gassendi et Descartes, ne concordent pas autant avec les vérités
révélées que ceux d'Aristote."' _Sempere_, _Monarchie
Espagnole_, vol. ii. p. 152. This reply, says M. Sempere, p.
153, may be found 'dans la collection des ordonnances royales.'
In _Letters from Spain by an English Officer_, London, 1788,
vol. ii. p. 256, it is stated, that, in all the Spanish
universities, 'Newton, and modern philosophy, is still
prohibited. Nothing can supplant Aristotle, and the
superstitious fathers and doctors of the Church.'
[1385] Or, as he, in one place, expresses himself, would know 'very
little more than nothing.' 'El que estudió Logica, y
Metaphysica, con lo demás que, debaxo del nombre de Philosofia,
se enseña en las Escuelas, por bien que sepa todo, sabe muy poco
mas que nada; pero suena mucho. Dicese, que es un gran
Philosofo; y no es Philosofo grande, ni chico,' _Feijoo_,
_Theatro Critico Universal_, vol. ii. p. 187, quinta impression,
Madrid, 1741.
[1386] 'La science est un crime, l'ignorance et la stupidité la première
vertu.' _Mémoires du Duc de Saint Simon_, vol. xxxv. p. 209,
Paris, 1840. Elsewhere (vol. xxxvi. p. 252) he says, 'Les
jésuites savants partout et en tout genre de science, ce qu ne
leur est pas même disputé par leurs ennemis, les jésuites,
dis-je, sont ignorants en Espagne, mais d'une ignorance à
surprendre.'
[1387] 'The common education of an English gentleman would constitute a
man of learning here; and, should he understand Greek, he would
be quite a phenomenon.' _Swinburne's Travels through Spain in
1775 and 1776_, vol. ii. pp. 212, 213, 2d edit., London, 1787.
Those who know what the common education of an English gentleman was
eighty years ago, will appreciate the force of this comparison, and will
understand how benighted a country must have been, to which such a taunt
was applicable. To expect that, under such a state of things, the
Spaniards should make any of the discoveries which accelerate the march
of nations, would be idle indeed; for they would not even receive the
discoveries, which other nations had made for them, and had cast into
the common lap. So loyal and orthodox a people had nothing to do with
novelties, which, being innovations on ancient opinions, were fraught
with danger. The Spaniards desired to walk in the ways of their
ancestors, and not have their faith in the past rudely disturbed. In the
inorganic world, the magnificent discoveries of Newton were
contumeliously rejected; and, in the organic world, the circulation of
the blood was denied, more than a hundred and fifty years after Harvey
had proved it.[1388] These things were new, and it was better to pause
a little, and not receive them too hastily. On the same principle, when,
in the year 1760, some bold men in the government proposed that the
streets of Madrid should be cleansed, so daring a suggestion excited
general anger. Not only the vulgar, but even those who were called
educated, were loud in their censure. The medical profession, as the
guardians of the public health, were desired, by the government, to give
their opinion. This, they had no difficulty in doing. They had no doubt
that the dirt ought to remain. To remove it, was a new experiment; and
of new experiments, it was impossible to foresee the issue. Their
fathers having lived in the midst of it, why should not they do the
same? Their fathers were wise men, and must have had good reasons for
their conduct. Even the smell, of which some persons complained, was
most likely wholesome. For, the air being sharp and piercing, it was
extremely probable that bad smells made the atmosphere heavy, and in
that way deprived it of some of its injurious properties. The physicians
of Madrid were, therefore, of opinion that matters had better remain as
their ancestors had left them, and that no attempts should be made to
purify the capital by removing the filth which lay scattered on every
side.[1389]
[1388] So late as 1787, Townsend, a very accomplished man, who travelled
through Spain with the express object of noting the state of
knowledge, as well as the economical condition of the country,
and who, by previous study, had well qualified himself for such
an undertaking, says, 'I have observed in general, that the
physicians with whom I have had occasion to converse, are
disciples of their favourite doctor Piquer, who denied, or at
least doubted of, the circulation of the blood.' _Townsend's
Journey through Spain_, 2d ed., London, 1792, vol. iii. p. 281.
At that time, the Spanish physicians were, however, beginning to
read Hoffmann, Cullen, and other heretical speculators, in whose
works they would find, to their astonishment, that the
circulation of the blood was assumed, and was not even treated
as a debatable question. But the students were obliged to take
such matters on trust; for, adds Townsend, p. 282, 'In their
medical classes, they had no dissections.' Compare _Laborde's
Spain_, vol. i. p. 76, vol. iii. p. 315, London, 1809, and
_Godoy's Memoirs_, London, 1836, vol. ii. p. 157. Godoy,
speaking of the three colleges of surgery at Madrid, Barcelona,
and Cadiz, says that until his administration in 1793, 'In the
capital, even that of San Carlos had not a lecture-room for
practical instruction.'
[1389] This little episode is noticed by Cabarrus, in his _Elogio de
Carlos III._, Madrid, 1789, 4to. p. xiv. 'La salubridad del
ayre, la limpieza y seguridad de las calles,' ... 'Pero ¿quién
creerá que este noble empeño produxo las mas vivas quejas: que
se conmovió el vulgo de todas clases; y que tuvo varias
autoridades á su favor la extraña doctrina de que los vapores
mefiticos eran un correctivo saludable de la rigidez del clima?'
But the fullest detail will be found in the recently published
and very elaborate History of Charles III. by M. Rio, from which
I will give one or two extracts. 'Para la limpieza de las calles
poseia mayores ó menores fondos el ayuntamiento, y cuando el Rey
quiso poner la mano en este ramo de policía, le presentaron
dictámenes de médicos en que se defendia el absurdo de ser
elemento de salubridad la basura.' _Rio_, _Historia del Reinado
de Carlos III._, Madrid, 1856, vol. iv. p. 54. See also vol. i.
pp. 267, 268, where it is mentioned, that when the minister,
Esquilache, persevered in his attempts to have the streets of
Madrid cleaned, the opponents of the scheme made inquiries into
the opinions of their fathers on that subject; and the result
was, 'que le presentaron cierta originalísima consulta hecha por
los médicos bajo el reinado de uno de los Felipes de Austria, y
reducida á demostrar que, siendo sumamente sutil el aire de la
poblacion á causa de estar próxima la sierra de Guadarrama,
ocasionaria los mayores estragos si no se impregnara en los
vapores de las inmundicias desparramadas por las calles.' That
this idea had long been entertained by the physicians of Madrid,
we also know from another testimony, with which none of the
Spanish historians are acquainted. Sir Richard Wynne, who
visited that capital in 1623, describes a disgusting practice of
the inhabitants, and adds, 'Being desirous to know why so
beastly a custom is suffered, they say it's a thing prescribed
by their physicians; for they hold the air to be so piercing and
subtle, that this kind of corrupting it with these ill vapours
keeps it in good temper.' _The Autobiography and Correspondence
of Sir Simonds D'Ewes_, edited by J. O. Halliwell, London, 1845,
vol. ii. p. 446.
While such notions prevailed respecting the preservation of
health,[1390] it is hardly to be supposed that the treatment of disease
should be very successful. To bleed and to purge, were the only remedies
prescribed by the Spanish physicians.[1391] Their ignorance of the
commonest functions of the human body was altogether surprising, and can
only be explained on the supposition, that in medicine, as in other
departments, the Spaniards of the eighteenth century knew no more than
their progenitors of the sixteenth. Indeed, in some respects, they
appeared to know less. For, their treatment was so violent, that it was
almost certain death to submit to it for any length of time.[1392] Their
own king, Philip V., did not dare to trust himself in their hands, but
preferred having an Irishman for his physician.[1393] Though the Irish
had no great medical reputation, anything was better than a Spanish
doctor.[1394] The arts incidental to medicine and surgery, were equally
backward. The instruments were rudely made, and the drugs badly
prepared. Pharmacy being unknown, the apothecaries' shops, in the
largest towns, were entirely supplied from abroad; while, in the smaller
towns, and in districts remote from the capital, the medicines were of
such a quality, that the best which could be hoped of them was, that
they might be innocuous. For, in the middle of the eighteenth century,
Spain did not possess one practical chemist. Indeed, we are assured by
Campomanes himself, that, so late as the year 1776, there was not to be
found in the whole country a single man who knew how to make the
commonest drugs, such as magnesia, Glauber's salts, and the ordinary
preparations of mercury and antimony. This eminent statesman adds,
however, that a chemical laboratory was about to be established in
Madrid; and although the enterprise, being without a precedent, would
surely be regarded as a portentous novelty, he expresses a confident
expectation, that, by its aid, the universal ignorance of his countrymen
would in time be remedied.[1395]
[1390] Even thirty years later, it was said, with good reason, that 'es
menester _deshacer todo lo que se ha hecho_,' and 'confiar
exclusivamente el precioso depósito de la sanidad pública á las
manos capaces de conservarlo y mejorarlo.' _Cartas por el Conde
de Cabarrus_, Madrid, 1813, p. 280. These letters, which, though
little known, contain some interesting statements, were written
in 1792 and 1793. See p. 34, and Prologo, p. i.
[1391] Bleeding, however, had the preference. See the curious evidence
in _Townsend's Journey through Spain in 1786 and 1787_, vol. ii.
pp. 37-39. Townsend, who had some knowledge of medicine, was
amazed at the ignorance and recklessness of the Spanish
physicians. He says, 'The science and practice of medicine are
at the lowest ebb in Spain, but more especially in the
Asturias.' Compare _Sprengel_, _Histoire de la Médecine_, vol.
iii. p. 217, Paris, 1815, with _Winwood's Memorials_, London,
1725, folio, vol. ii. p. 219. The last reference shows the
terrible 'purging and letting blood,' to which the unfortunate
Spaniards were exposed in the reign of Philip III. Another
observer, much later, states that 'La saignée leur est assez
familière. Ils se la font faire hors du lit tant que leurs
forces le permettent, et _lorsqu'ils en usent par précaution,
ils se font tirer du sang deux jours de suite du bras droit et
du gauche, disant qu'il faut égaliser le sang_. On peut juger de
là, si la circulation leur est connue.' _Voyages faits en
Espagne, par Monsieur M****_, Amsterdam, 1700, p. 112. See
further _Clarke's Letters concerning the Spanish Nation_,
London, 4to. 1763, p. 55, and _Spain by an American_, London,
1831, vol. ii. p. 321.
[1392] In 1790, poor Cumberland, when in Madrid, was as nearly as
possible murdered by three of their surgeons in a very few days;
the most dangerous of his assailants being no less a man than
the 'chief surgeon of the Gardes de Corps,' who, says the
unfortunate sufferer, was 'sent to me by authority.' See
_Memoirs of Richard Cumberland, written by himself_, London,
1807, vol. ii. pp. 67, 68.
[1393] Duclos says of Philip V., 'Il étoit fort attentif sur sa santé;
son médecin, s'il eût été intriguant, auroit pu jouer un grand
rôle. Hyghens, Irlandois, qui occupoit cette première place,
fort éloigné de l'intrigue et de la cupidité, instruit dans son
art, s'en occupoit uniquement. Après sa mort, la reine fit
donner la place à Servi, son médecin particulier.' _Mémoires par
Duclos_, 2^e édit. Paris, 1791, vol. ii. pp. 200, 201. 'Hyghens,
premier médecin, était Irlandais.' _Mémoires du Duc de Saint
Simon_, vol. xxxvi. p. 215, ed. Paris, 1841.
[1394] In the eighteenth century, the Spaniards, generally, began to
admit this; since they could not shut their eyes to the fact
that their friends and relations succumbed so rapidly under
professional treatment, that sickness and death were almost
synonymous. Hence, notwithstanding their hatred of the French
nation, they availed themselves of the services of French
physicians and French surgeons, whenever they had an opportunity
of doing so. In 1707, the Princess des Ursins writes from Madrid
to Madame de Maintenon, 'Les chirurgiens espagnols sont
mésestimés même de ceux de leur nation;' and, in another letter,
'Les Espagnols conviennent que les médecins français sont
beaucoup plus savants que les leurs; ils s'en servent même
très-volontiers, mais ils sont persuadés que ceux de la faculté
de Montpellier l'emportent sur les autres.' _Lettres inédites de
Madame de Maintenon et de la Princesse des Ursins_, vol. iii. p.
412, vol. iv. p. 90.
[1395] Campomanes (_Apendice á la Educacion Popular_, Madrid, 1776,
vol. iii. pp. 74, 75), speaking of a work on distillation, says,
'La tercera (parte) describe la preparacion de los productos
químicos sólidos: esto es la preparacion de varias sustancias
terreas, como argamasa, magnesia blanca, ojos de cangrejo, etc.,
la de varios sales, como sal de glaubero, amoniaco, cristal
mineral, borax refinado, etc., y la del antimonio, mercurio,
plomo, litargirio, etc., comunicando sobre todo lo expresado
varias noticias, que demuestran lo mucho que conducen á los
progresos del arte, las observaciones del fisico reflexivo:
unidas á la práctica de un profesor experimentado. _Este arte en
toda su extension falta en España._ Solo le tenemos para
aguardientes, rosolis, y mistelas. _La salud pública es
demasiado importante, para depender de los estraños en cosas
esenciales_; quando no estimulase nuestra industria la
manutencion de muchas familias.' ... 'Gran parte de estas cosas
se introducen de fuera, por no conocerse bien las operaciones
químicas. No son dificultosas en la execucion; pero _es
necesario enseñarlas, y conocer los instrumentos que son
aproposito_. Un laboratorio químico, que _se va á establecer en
Madrid_, producirá maestros para las capitales del reyno.'
Whatever was useful in practice, or whatever subserved the purposes of
knowledge, had to come from abroad. Ensenada, the well-known minister of
Ferdinand VI., was appalled by the darkness and apathy of the nation,
which he tried, but tried in vain, to remove. When he was at the head of
affairs, in the middle of the eighteenth century, he publicly declared
that in Spain there was no professorship of public law, or of physics,
or of anatomy, or of botany. He further added, that there were no good
maps of Spain, and that there was no person who knew how to construct
them. All the maps which they had, came from France and Holland. They
were, he said, very inaccurate; but the Spaniards, being unable to make
any, had nothing else to rely on. Such a state of things he pronounced
to be shameful. For, as he bitterly complained, if it were not for the
exertions of Frenchmen and Dutchmen, it would be impossible for any
Spaniard to know either the position of his own town, or the distance
from one place to another.[1396]
[1396] 'Su ministro el célebre Ensenada, que tenia grandes miras en
todos los ramos de la administracion pública, deseaba
ardientemente mejorar la enseñanza, lamentándose del atraso en
que esta se hallaba. "Es menester, decia hablando de las
universidades, reglar sus cátedras, reformar las superfluas y
establecer las que faltan con nuevas ordenanzas para asegurar el
mejor método de estudios. No sé que haya cátedra alguna de
derecho público, de física esperimental, de anatomía y botánica.
No hay puntuales cartas geográficas del reino y de sus
provincias, _ni quien las sepa grabar, ni tenemos otras que las
imperfectas que vienen de Francia y Holanda_. De esto proviene
que ignoramos la verdadera situacion de los pueblos y sus
distancias, que es una vergüenza."' _Tapia_, _Civilizacion
Española_, Madrid, 1840, vol. iv. pp. 268, 269. See also
_Biografia de Ensenada_, in _Navarrete_, _Coleccion de
Opúsculos_, Madrid, 1848, vol. ii. pp. 21, 22. 'Le parecia
vergonzoso que para conocer la situacion y distancias
respectivas de nuestros mismos pueblos y lugares, dependiésemos
de los franceses y holandeses, quienes por sus mapas imperfectas
de la península extraían de ella sumas considerables.' Eighty
years after this complaint was made by Ensenada, we find a
traveller in Spain stating that 'a decent map of any part, even
of the country round the gates of the capital, cannot be found.'
_Cook's Spain from 1829 to 1832_, London, 1834, vol. i. p. 322.
Compare _Notices of Geological Memoirs_, p. 1, at the end of the
_Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society_, vol. vi., London,
1850; 'even a good geographical map of the Peninsula does not
exist.'
The only remedy for all this, seemed to be foreign aid; and Spain being
now ruled by a foreign dynasty, that aid was called in. Cervi
established the Medical Societies of Madrid and of Seville; Virgili
founded the College of Surgery at Cadiz; and Bowles endeavoured to
promote among the Spaniards the study of mineralogy.[1397] Professors
were sought for, far and wide; and application was made to Linnæus to
send a person from Sweden who could impart some idea of botany to
physiological students.[1398] Many other and similar steps were taken by
the government, whose indefatigable exertions would deserve our warmest
praise, if we did not know how impossible it is for any government to
enlighten a nation, and how absolutely essential it is that the desire
for improvement should, in the first place, proceed from the people
themselves. No progress is real, unless it is spontaneous. The movement,
to be effective, must emanate from within, and not from without; it must
be due to general causes acting on the whole country, and not to the
mere will of a few powerful individuals. During the eighteenth century,
all the means of improvement were lavishly supplied to the Spaniards;
but the Spaniards did not want to improve. They were satisfied with
themselves; they were sure of the accuracy of their own opinions; they
were proud of the notions which they inherited, and which they did not
wish either to increase or to diminish. Being unable to doubt, they
were, therefore, unwilling to inquire. New and beautiful truths,
conveyed in the clearest and most attractive language, could produce no
effect upon men whose minds were thus hardened and enslaved.[1399] An
unhappy combination of events, working without interruption since the
fifth century, had predetermined the national character in a particular
direction, and neither statesmen, nor kings, nor legislators, could
effect aught against it. The seventeenth century was, however, the
climax of all. In that age, the Spanish nation fell into a sleep, from
which, as a nation, it has never since awakened. It was a sleep, not of
repose, but of death. It was a sleep, in which the faculties, instead of
being rested, were paralyzed, and in which a cold and universal torpor
succeeded that glorious, though partial, activity, which, while it made
the name of Spain terrible in the world, had insured the respect even of
her bitterest enemies.
[1397] M. Rio (_Historia del Reinado de Carlos III._, vol. i. p. 185)
mentions this in a very characteristic manner. 'Varios
extranjeros distinguidos _hallaron fraternidad entre los
españoles, y correspondieron hidalgamente al hospedaje_: Cervi
dió vida á las sociedades médicas de Madrid y Sevilla; Virgili
al colegio de Cirugía de Cádiz; Quer trabajó sin descanso para
que el Jardin Botánico no fuera un simple lugar de recreo, sino
principalmente de estudio; Bowles comunicó grande impulso á la
mineralogía,' &c.
[1398] I have mislaid the evidence of this fact; but the reader may rely
on its accuracy.
[1399] Townsend (_Journey through Spain in 1786 and 1787_, vol. ii.
p. 275) says, 'Don Antonio Solano, professor of experimental
philosophy, merits attention for the clearness and precision of
his demonstrations: but, unfortunately, although his lectures
are delivered gratis, such is the want of taste for science in
Madrid, that nobody attends them.'
Even the fine arts, in which the Spaniards had formerly excelled,
partook of the general degeneracy, and, according to the confession of
their own writers, had, by the beginning of the eighteenth century,
fallen into complete decay.[1400] The arts which secure national
safety, were in the same predicament as those which minister to national
pleasure. There was no one in Spain who could build a ship; there was no
one who knew how to rig it, after it was built. The consequence was,
that, by the close of the seventeenth century, the few ships which Spain
possessed, were so rotten, that, says an historian, they could hardly
support the fire of their own guns.[1401] In 1752, the government, being
determined to restore the navy, found it necessary to send to England
for shipwrights; and they were also obliged to apply to the same quarter
for persons who could make ropes and canvass; the skill of the natives
being unequal to such arduous achievements.[1402] In this way, the
ministers of the Crown, whose ability and vigour, considering the
difficult circumstances in which the incapacity of the people placed
them, were extremely remarkable, contrived to raise a fleet superior to
any which had been seen in Spain for more than a century.[1403] They
also took many other steps towards putting the national defences into a
satisfactory condition; though in every instance, they were forced to
rely on the aid of foreigners. Both the military and the naval service
were in utter confusion, and had to be organized afresh. The discipline
of the infantry was remodelled by O'Reilly, an Irishman, to whose
superintendence the military schools of Spain were intrusted.[1404] At
Cadiz, a great naval academy was formed, but the head of it was Colonel
Godin, a French officer.[1405] The artillery, which like everything
else, had become almost useless, was improved by Maritz, the Frenchman;
while the same service was rendered to the arsenals by Gazola, the
Italian.[1406]
[1400] 'La ignorancia reinante en los últimos años del siglo xvii.
depravó en tal manera el buen gusto, que á principios del xviii.
las artes se hallaban en la mas lastimosa decadencia.' _Tapia_,
_Civilizacion Española_, Madrid, 1840, vol. iv. p. 346. See
also, on this decline, or rather destruction, of taste,
_Valasquez_, _Origines de la Poesia Castellana_, Malaga, 1754,
4to. 'Un siglo, corrompido, en que las letras estaban
abandonadas, y el buen gusto casi desterrado de toda la nacion.'
p. 70. 'Al passo que la nacion perdia el buen gusto, y las
letras iban caminando á su total decadencia.' p. 107. 'Los
caminos por donde nuestros poetas en el siglo pasado se
apartaron del buen gusto en esta parte.' p. 170.
[1401] 'Solo cuatro navíos de línea y seis de poco porte dejaron los
reyes de orígen austriaco, y todos tan podridos que apenas
podian aguantar el fuego de sus propias baterias.' _Rio_,
_Historia del Reinado de Carlos III._, Madrid, 1856, vol. i.
p. 184.
[1402] 'Se mandaron construir 12 navíos á la vez, y se contrataron
otros. Por medio de D. Jorge Juan se trajeron de Inglaterra los
mas hábiles constructores y maestros para las fábricas de
jarcia, lona y otras.' _Biografía de Ensenada_, in _Navarrete_,
_Coleccion de Opúsculos_, Madrid, 1848, vol. ii. p. 18. M. Rio,
taking all this as a matter of course, quietly says, 'D. Jorge
Juan fue á Lóndres para estudiar la construccion de navíos.'
_Historia del Reinado de Carlos III._, Madrid, 1856, vol. iv. p.
485.
[1403] M. Lafuente says that Ensenada was the restorer, and almost the
creator, of the Spanish navy; 'de la cual fué el restaurador, y
casi pudiera decirse el creador.' _Lafuente_, _Historia de
España_, vol. xix. p. 344, Madrid, 1857.
[1404] 'C'est par un Irlandais aussi, Oreilly, que la discipline de
l'infanterie est réformée.' _Bourgoing_, _Tableau de l'Espagne
Moderne_, Paris, 1808, vol. ii. p. 142. 'Las escuelas militares
del puerto de Sta. Maria para la infanteria, que dirigió con
tanto acierto el general Ofarril bajo las ordenes del conde de
O'Reilly.' _Tapia_, _Civilizacion Española_, vol. iv. p. 128.
[1405] 'Vino á dirigir la academia de guardias marinas de Cadiz.'
_Tapia_, _Civilizacion Española_, vol. iv. p. 79. 'Godin figuró
como director del colegio de Guardias marinas.' _Rio_, _Historia
de Carlos III._, vol. i. p. 186. Compare _Biographie
Universelle_, vol. xvii. p. 564, Paris, 1816.
[1406] See the interesting remarks in _Bourgoing_, _Tableau de l'Espagne
Moderne_, Paris, 1808, vol. ii. pp. 96, 142. With good reason,
therefore, was it stated, some years afterwards, that 'c'est à
des étrangers que l'Espagne doit presque tous les plans, les
réformes utiles, et les connoissances dont elle a eu besoin.'
_Voyage en Espagne par le Marquis de Langle_, 1785, vol. ii.
p. 159.
The mines, which form one of the greatest natural sources of the wealth
of Spain, had likewise suffered from that ignorance and apathy into
which the force of circumstances had plunged the country. They were
either completely neglected, or if worked, they were worked by other
nations. The celebrated cobalt-mine, situated in the valley of Gistan,
in Aragon, was entirely in the hands of the Germans, who, during the
first half of the eighteenth century, derived immense profit from
it.[1407] In the same way, the silver-mines of Guadalcanal, the richest
in Spain, were undertaken, not by natives, but by foreigners. Though
they had been discovered in the sixteenth century, they, as well as
other matters of importance, had been forgotten in the seventeenth, and
were reopened, in 1728, by English adventurers; the enterprise, the
tools, the capital, and even the miners, all coming from England.[1408]
Another, and still more famous, mine is that of Almaden in La Mancha,
which produces mercury of the finest quality, and in great profusion.
This metal, besides being indispensable for many of the commonest arts,
was of peculiar value to Spain, because without it the gold and silver
of the New World could not be extracted from their ores. From Almaden,
where every natural facility exists for collecting it, and where the
cinnibar in which it is found is unusually rich, vast supplies had
formerly been drawn; but they had for some time been diminishing,
although the demand, especially from foreign countries, was on the
increase. Under these circumstances, the Spanish government, fearing
that so important a source of wealth might altogether perish, determined
to institute an inquiry into the manner in which the mine was worked.
As, however, no Spaniard possessed the knowledge requisite for such an
investigation, the advisers of the Crown were obliged to call on
foreigners to help them. In 1752, an Irish naturalist, named Bowles, was
commissioned to visit Almaden, and ascertain the cause of the failure.
He found that the miners had acquired a habit of sinking their shafts
perpendicularly, instead of following the direction of the vein.[1409]
So absurd a process was quite sufficient to account for their want of
success; and Bowles reported to the government, that if a shaft were to
be sunk obliquely, the mine would, no doubt, again be productive. The
government approved of the suggestion, and ordered it to be carried into
effect. But the Spanish miners were too tenacious of their old customs
to give way. They sank their shafts in the same manner as their fathers
had done; and what their fathers had done must be right. The result was,
that the mine had to be taken out of their hands; but as Spain could
supply no other labourers, it was necessary to send to Germany for fresh
ones.[1410] After their arrival, matters rapidly improved. The mine,
being superintended by an Irishman, and worked by Germans, assumed quite
a different appearance; and, notwithstanding the disadvantages with
which new comers always have to contend, the immediate consequence of
the change was, that the yield of mercury was doubled, and its cost to
the consumer correspondingly lowered.[1411]
[1407] 'Como los del pais entendian poco de trabajar minas, vinieron de
Alemania algunos prácticos para enseñarlos.' ... 'Los Alemanes
sacaron de dicha mina por largo tiempo cosa de 500 á 600
quintales de cobalto al año.' _Bowles_, _Historia Natural de
España_, Madrid, 1789, 4to. pp. 418, 419. See also _Dillon's
Spain_, Dublin, 1781, pp. 227-229.
[1408] 'In 1728, a new adventurer undertook the work of opening the
mines of Guadalcanal. This was Lady Mary Herbert, daughter of
the Marquis of Powis.' ... 'Lady Mary departed from Madrid for
Guadalcanal, to which miners and engines had been sent from
England at her expense, and at that of her relation, Mr. Gage,
who accompanied her, and of her father, the marquis.' _Jacob's
Historical Inquiry into the Production and Consumption of the
Precious Metals_, London, 1831, vol. i. pp. 278, 279.
[1409] 'Los mineros de Almaden nunca hicieron los socavones siguiendo la
inclinacion de las betas, sino perpendiculares, y baxaban á
ellos puestos en una especie de cubos atados desde arriba con
cuerdas. De este mal método se originó todo al desórden de la
mina, porque al paso que los operarios penetraban dentro de
tierra, era forzoso que se apartasen de las betas y las
perdiesen.' _Bowles_, _Historía Natural de España_, Madrid,
1789, 4to. p. 14.
[1410] 'Fué mi proyecto bien recibido del Ministerio, y _habiendo hecho
venir mineros Alemanes_, le han executado en gran parte con
mucha habilidad. Los mineros Españoles de Almaden son atrevidos
y tienen robustez, maña y penetracion quanta es menester, de
suerte que _con el tiempo serán excelentes mineros, pues no les
falta otra cosa que la verdadera ciencia de las minas_.'
_Historia Natural de España_, p. 16. The latter part of this
sentence is an evident struggle between the interests of truth,
and the exigencies of a book printed at the Royal Press of
Madrid, and licensed by the Spanish authorities.
[1411] 'Encargado por el gobierno el laborioso extrangero Bowles de
proponer los medios convenientes para beneficiar con mas acierto
las famosas minas de azogue del Almaden, descubrió algunos
nuevos procedimientos por medio de los cuales casi se duplicaron
los productos de aquellas, y bajó una mitad el precio de los
azogues.' _Tapia_, _Civilizacion Española_, vol. iv. p. 117.
Such ignorance, pervading the whole nation, and extending to every
department of life, is hardly conceivable, considering the immense
advantages which the Spaniards had formerly enjoyed. It is particularly
striking, when contrasted with the ability of the government, which, for
more than eighty years, constantly laboured to improve the condition of
the country. Early in the eighteenth century, Ripperda, in the hopes of
stimulating Spanish industry, established a large woollen manufactory at
Segovia, which had once been a busy and prosperous city. But the
commonest processes had now been forgotten; and he was obliged to import
manufacturers from Holland, to teach the Spaniards how to make up the
wool, though that was an art for which in better days they had been
especially famous.[1412] In 1757, Wall, who was then minister,
constructed, upon a still larger scale, a similar manufactory at
Guadalajara in New Castile. Soon, however, something went wrong with the
machinery; and as the Spaniards neither knew nor cared anything about
these matters, it was necessary to send to England for a workman to put
it right.[1413] At length the advisers of Charles III., despairing of
rousing the people by ordinary means, devised a more comprehensive
scheme, and invited thousands of foreign artisans to settle in Spain;
trusting that their example, and the suddenness of their influx might
invigorate this jaded nation.[1414] All was in vain. The spirit of the
country was broken, and nothing could retrieve it. Among other attempts
which were made, the formation of a National Bank was a favourite idea
of politicians, who expected great things from an institution which was
to extend credit, and make advances to persons engaged in business.
But, though the design was executed, it entirely failed in effecting its
purpose. When the people are not enterprising, no effort of government
can make them so. In a country like Spain, a great bank was an exotic,
which might live with art, but could never thrive by nature. Indeed,
both in its origin and in its completion, it was altogether foreign,
having been first proposed by the Dutchman Ripperda,[1415] and owing its
final organization to the Frenchman Cabarrus.[1416]
[1412] _Memoirs of Ripperda_, 2d ed., London, 1740, pp. 23, 62, 91, 104.
'A ship arrived at Cadiz with fifty manufacturers on board, whom
the Baron de Ripperda had drawn together in Holland.' ... 'The
new manufactures at Segovia, which, though at this time wholly
managed by foreigners, he wished, in the next age, might be
carried on by the Spaniards themselves, and by them only.'
[1413] 'The minister, Wall, an Irishman, contrived to decoy over one
Thomas Bevan, from Melksham, in Wiltshire, to set the machinery
and matters to rights.' _Ford's Spain_, London, 1847, p. 525.
[1414] 'Ademas de la invitacion que se hizo á millares de operarios
extrangeros para venir á establecerse en España,' &c. _Tapia_,
_Civilizacion Española_, vol. iv. pp. 112, 113. In 1768, Harris,
who travelled from Pampeluna to Madrid, writes, 'I did not
observe a dozen men either at plough or any other kind of
labour, on the road.' _Diaries and Correspondence of James
Harris, Earl of Malmesbury_, London, 1844, vol. i. p. 38.
[1415] 'A national bank, a design originally suggested by Ripperda.'
_Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain_, vol. v. p. 202.
[1416] Bourgoing, not aware of Ripperda's priority, says (_Tableau de
l'Espagne Moderne_, vol. ii. p. 49), 'L'idée de la banque
nationale fut donnée au gouvernement par un banquier français,
M. Cabarrus.' Compare _Rio_, _Historia del Reinado de Carlos
III._, vol. iv. pp. 122, 123: 'Banco nacional de San Cárlos;
propúsolo Cabarrús, apoyólo Floridablanca, y sancionólo el
Soberano por Real cedula de 2 de junio de 1782.' This sounds
well; but the inevitable catastrophe soon came. 'Charles IV.,'
says the Prince of the Peace, 'had just ascended the throne; the
bank of St. Carlos was rapidly falling, and on the verge of
bankruptcy.' _Godoy's Memoirs_, London, 1836, vol. i. p. 124.
In everything, the same law prevailed. In diplomacy, the ablest men were
not Spaniards, but foreigners; and during the eighteenth century the
strange spectacle was frequently exhibited, of Spain being represented
by French, Italian, and even Irish ambassadors.[1417] Nothing was
indigenous; nothing was done by Spain herself. Philip V., who reigned
from 1700 to 1746, and possessed immense power, always clung to the
ideas of his own country, and was a Frenchman to the last. For thirty
years after his death, the three most prominent names in Spanish
politics were, Wall, who was born in France, of Irish parents;[1418]
Grimaldi, who was a native of Genoa; [1419] and Esquilache, who was a
native of Sicily.[1420] Esquilache administered the finances for several
years; and, after enjoying the confidence of Charles III. to an extent
rarely possessed by any minister, was only dismissed, in 1766, in
consequence of the discontents of the people at the innovations
introduced by this bold foreigner.[1421] Wall, a much more remarkable
man, was, in the absence of any good Spanish diplomatist, sent envoy to
London in 1747; and after exercising great influence in matters of
state, he was placed at the head of affairs in 1754, and remained
supreme till 1763.[1422] When this eminent Irishman relinquished office,
he was succeeded by the Genoese, Grimaldi, who ruled Spain from 1763 to
1777, and was entirely devoted to the French views of policy.[1423] His
principal patron was Choiseul, who had imbued him with his own notions,
and by whose advice he was chiefly guided.[1424] Indeed, Choiseul, who
was then the first minister in France, used to boast, with exaggeration,
but not without a considerable amount of truth, that his influence in
Madrid was even greater than it was in Versailles.[1425]
[1417] 'A Londres, à Stockholm, à Paris, à Vienne et à Venise, le
souverain est réprésenté par des étrangers. Le prince de
Masserano, Italien, ambassadeur en Angleterre; le comte de Lacy
Irlandais, ministre à Stockholm; le marquis de Grimaldi,
ambassadeur en France, avant de parvenir au ministère; le comte
de Mahoni, Irlandais, ambassadeur à Vienne; le marquis de
Squilaci, ambassadeur à Venise, après sa retraite du ministère.'
_Bourgoing_, _Tableau de l'Espagne_, vol. ii. pp. 142, 143. To
this, I may add that, in the reign of Philip V., an Italian, the
Marquis de Beretti Landi, was the representative of Spain in
Switzerland, and afterwards at the Hague (_Ripperda's Memoirs_,
1740, pp. 37, 38); and that in, or just before, 1779, Lacy
filled the same post at St. Petersburg. _Malmesbury's Diaries
and Correspondence_, 1844, vol. i. p. 261. So, too, M. Rio
(_Historia de Carlos III._, vol. i. pp. 288, 289) says of the
important negotiations which took place in 1761, between Spain,
England, and France, 'Y así de las negociaciones en que Luis XV.
trataba de enredar á Carlos III. quedaron absolutamente
excluidos los españoles, como que por una parte las iban á
seguir el duque de Choiseul y el marques de Ossun, franceses, y
por otra el irlandés D. Ricardo Wall, y el genovés marques de
Grimaldi.' About the same time, Clarke writes (in his _Letters
concerning the Spanish Nation_, London, 1763, 4to. p. 331),
'Spain has, for many years past, been under the direction of
foreign ministers. Whether this hath been owing to want of
capacity in the natives, or disinclination in the sovereign, I
will not take upon me to say; such as it is, the native nobility
lament it as a great calamity.'
[1418] Lord Stanhope, generally well informed on Spanish affairs, says
that Wall was 'a native of Ireland.' _Mahon's History of
England_, vol. iv. p. 182, 3d edit., London, 1853; but in
_Mémoires de Noailles_, vol. iv. p. 47, edit. Paris, 1829, he is
called 'irlandais d'origine, né en France.' See also _Biografía
de Ensenada_, in _Navarrete_, _Opúsculos_, Madrid, 1848, vol.
ii. p. 26, 'D. Ricardo Wall, irlandés de orígen, nacido en
Francia.' Swinburne, who knew him personally, and has given some
account of him, does not mention where he was born. _Swinburne's
Travels through Spain_, second edition, London, 1787, vol. i.
pp. 314-318.
[1419] 'A Genoese, and a creature of France.' _Dunham's History of
Spain_, vol. v. p. 170.
[1420] 'Era siciliano.' _Rio_, _Historia del Reinado de Carlos III._,
vol. i. p. 244.
[1421] The fullest account of his dismissal is given by M. Rio, in the
first chapter of the second volume of his _Historia del Reinado
de Carlos III._, which should, however, be compared with _Coxe's
Bourbon Kings of Spain_, vol. iv. pp. 340-346. Coxe terms him
Squilaci; but I follow the orthography of the Spanish writers,
who always call him Esquilache. Such was his influence over the
King, that, according to Coxe (vol. iv. p. 347), Charles III.
'publicly said that, "if he was reduced to a morsel of bread, he
would divide it with Squilaci."'
[1422] _Coxe's Kings of Spain_, vol. iv. pp. 15, 135. _Rio_, _Historia
de Carlos III._, vol. i. pp. 246, 247, 400, 401. _Navarrete_,
_Biografía de Ensenada_, pp. 26-28.
[1423] He resigned in 1776, but held office till the arrival of his
successor, Florida Blanca, in 1777. _Rio_, _Historia de Carlos
III._, vol. iii. pp. 171, 174. In reference to his appointment,
in 1763, M. Rio observes (vol. i. p. 402), 'De que Grimaldi
creciera en fortuna se pudo congratular no Roma, sino Francia.'
In 1770, Harris, the diplomatist, who was then in Spain, writes,
'His doctrine is absolutely French; guided in everything by the
French closet,' &c. _Malmesbury's Diaries and Correspondence_,
vol. i. p. 56, London, 1844.
[1424] 'Guided in his operations by the counsels of Choiseul.' _Coxe's
Bourbon Kings of Spain_, vol. iv. p. 339. 'The prosecution of
the schemes which he had concerted with Choiseul.' p. 373. 'His
friend and patron.' p. 391, and vol. v. p. 6.
[1425] 'Personne n'ignoroit le crédit prodigieux que M. de Choiseul
avoit sur le roi d'Espagne, dont il se vantoit lui-même, au
point que je lui ai ouï dire, qu'il étoit plus sûr de sa
prépondérance dans le cabinet de Madrid, que dans celui de
Versailles.' _Mémoires du Baron de Besenval_, _écrits par
lui-même_, vol. ii. pp. 14, 15, Paris, 1805.
However this may be, it is certain that four years after Grimaldi took
office, the ascendency of France was exhibited in a remarkable way.
Choiseul, who hated the Jesuits, and had just expelled them from France,
endeavoured also to expel them from Spain.[1426] The execution of the
plan was confided to Aranda, who, though a Spaniard by birth, derived
his intellectual culture from France, and had contracted, in the society
of Paris, an intense hatred of every form of ecclesiastical power.[1427]
The scheme, secretly prepared, was skilfully accomplished.[1428] In
1767, the Spanish government, without hearing what the Jesuits had to
say in their defence, and indeed, without giving them the least notice,
suddenly ordered their expulsion; and with such animosity were they
driven from the country, in which they sprung up, and had long been
cherished, that not only was their wealth confiscated, and they
themselves reduced to a wretched pittance, but even that was directed to
be taken from them, if they published anything in their own vindication;
while it was also declared that whoever ventured to write respecting
them, should, if we were a subject of Spain, be put to death, as one
guilty of high treason.[1429]
[1426] M. Muriel (_Gobierno del Rey Don Carlos III._, Madrid, 1839,
pp. 44, 45) terms their expulsion from Spain 'este acto de
violencia hecho meramente por complacer al duque de Choiseul,
ministro de Francia y protector del partido filosófico.' See
also _Crétineau-Joly_, _Histoire de la Compagnie de Jésus_, vol.
v. p. 291, Paris, 1845; and _Georgel_, _Mémoires pour servir à
l'Histoire des Évènemens depuis 1760_, vol. ii. p. 95, Paris,
1817.
[1427] Archdeacon Coxe, in a somewhat professional tone, says of Aranda,
'In France he had acquired the graces of polished society, and
_imbibed that freedom of sentiment_ which then began to be
fashionable, _and has since been carried to such a dangerous
excess_.' _Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain_, vol. iv. p. 402. His
great enemy, the Prince of the Peace, wishing to be severe,
unintentionally praises him; and observes, that he was
'connected with the most distinguished literary Frenchmen of the
middle of the last century,' and that he was 'divested of
religious prejudices, though swayed by philosophical
enthusiasm.' _Godoy's Memoirs_, London, 1836, vol. i. p. 319.
The hostility of some men is extremely valuable. The Prince
further adds, that Aranda 'could only lay claim to the inferior
merit of a sectarian attachment,' forgetting that, in a country
like Spain, every enlightened person must belong to a miserably
small sect.
[1428] Cabarrus (_Elogio de Carlos III._, Madrid, 1789, 4to. p. xxiv.)
says, rather magniloquently, 'El acierto de la execucion que
correspondió al pulso y prudencia con que se habia deliberado
esta providencia importante, pasará á la ultima posteridad.'
[1429] _Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain_, vol. iv. p. 362. M. Rio, in the
second volume of his _History of Charles III._, Madrid, 1856,
has given a long, but not very philosophical, nor very accurate,
account of the expulsion of the Jesuits, which he considers
solely from the Spanish point of view; overlooking the fact,
that it was part of an European movement headed by France. He
denies the influence of Choiseul, p. 125; censures the perfectly
correct statement of Coxe, p. 123; and finally ascribes this
great event to the operation of causes confined to the
Peninsula. 'De ser los jesuitas adversarios del regalismo emanó
su ruina en España, cuando triunfaban las opiniones sostenidas
con heróico teson desde mucho ántes por doctísimos
jurisconsultos.' p. 519.
Such boldness on the part of the government[1430] caused even the
Inquisition to tremble. That once omnipotent tribunal, threatened and
suspected by the civil authorities, became more wary in its proceedings,
and more tender in its treatment of heretics. Instead of extirpating
unbelievers by hundreds or by thousands, it was reduced to such pitiful
straits, that between 1746 and 1759, it was only able to burn ten
persons; and between 1759 and 1788, only four persons.[1431] The
extraordinary diminution during the latter period, was partly owing to
the great authority wielded by Aranda, the friend of the encyclopædists
and of other French sceptics. This remarkable man was President of
Castile till 1773,[1432] and he issued an order forbidding the
Inquisition to interfere with the civil courts.[1433] He also formed a
scheme for entirely abolishing it; but his plan was frustrated, owing to
its premature announcement by his friends in Paris, to whom it had been
confided.[1434] His views, however, were so far successful, that after
1781, there is no instance in Spain of a heretic being burned; the
Inquisition being too terrified by the proceedings of government
to do anything which might compromise the safety of the Holy
Institution.[1435]
[1430] One of the most recent historians of the Jesuits indignantly
observes, 'Depuis deux cent vingt ans les Jésuites vivent et
prêchent en Espagne. Ils sont comblés de bienfaits par des
monarques dont ils étendent la souveraineté. Le clergé et les
masses acceptent avec bonheur leur intervention. Tout à coup
l'Ordre se voit déclaré coupable d'un crime de lèse-majesté,
d'un attentat public que personne ne peut spécifier. La sentence
prononce la peine sans énoncer le délit.' _Crétineau-Joly_,
_Histoire de la Compagnie de Jésus_, vol. v. p. 295, Paris,
1845.
[1431] _Dunham's History of Spain_, vol. v. p. 285, where the facts are
well brought together. The valuable _History of the
Inquisition_, by Llorente, is not quite precise enough in these
matters; though it is a very accurate, and, what is still more
surprising, a very honest book.
[1432] _Rio_, _Historia de Carlos III._, vol. iii. pp. 103-107, which
must be compared with the account of Coxe, who derived some of
his information from a friend of Aranda's. _Coxe's Bourbon Kings
of Spain_, vol. iv. pp. 401-415. A good life of Aranda would be
very interesting. That contained in the _Biographie Universelle_
is extremely meagre, and carelessly written.
[1433] _Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain_, vol. iv. p. 407.
[1434] 'When at Paris, in 1786, I received the following anecdote from a
person connected with the encyclopædists. During his residence
in that capital, D'Aranda had frequently testified to the
literati with whom he associated, his resolution to obtain the
abolition of the Inquisition, should he ever be called to power.
His appointment was, therefore, exultingly hailed by the party,
particularly by D'Alembert; and he had scarcely begun his
reforms before an article was inserted in the Encyclopædia, then
printing, in which this event was confidently anticipated, from
the liberal principles of the minister. D'Aranda was struck on
reading this article, and said, "This imprudent disclosure will
raise such a ferment against me, that my plans will be foiled."
He was not mistaken in his conjecture.' _Coxe's Bourbon Kings of
Spain_, vol. iv. p. 408.
[1435] Even the case in 1781 appears to have been for witchcraft rather
than for heresy. 'La dernière victime qui périt dans les flammes
fut une _béate_: on la brûla à Séville, le 7 novembre 1781,
comme ayant fait un pacte, et entretenu un commerce charnel avec
le Démon, et pour avoir été impénitente négative. Elle eût pu
éviter la mort en s'avouant coupable du crime dont on
l'accusait.' _Llorente_, _Histoire de l'Inquisition d'Espagne_,
Paris, 1818, vol. iv. p. 270. About this time, torture began to
be disused in Spain. See an interesting note in _Johnston's
Institutes of the Civil Law of Spain_, London, 1825, p. 263.
In 1777, Grimaldi, one of the chief supporters of that anti-theological
policy which France introduced into Spain, ceased to be Minister; but he
was succeeded by Florida Blanca, who was his creature, and to whom he
transmitted his policy as well as his power.[1436] The progress,
therefore, of political affairs continued in the same direction. Under
the new minister, as under his immediate predecessors, a determination
was shown to abridge the authority of the Church, and to vindicate the
rights of laymen. In everything, the ecclesiastical interests were
treated as subordinate to the secular. Of this, many instances might be
given; but one is too important to be omitted. We have seen, that early
in the eighteenth century, Alberoni, when at the head of affairs, was
guilty of what in Spain was deemed the enormous offence of contracting
an alliance with Mohammedans; and there can be no doubt that this was
one of the chief causes of his fall, since it was held, that no prospect
of mere temporal advantages could justify an union, or even a peace,
between a Christian nation and a nation of unbelievers.[1437] But the
Spanish government, which, owing to the causes I have related, was far
in advance of Spain itself, was gradually becoming bolder, and growing
more and more disposed to force upon the country, views, which,
abstractedly considered, where extremely enlightened, but which the
popular mind was unable to receive. The result was, that, in 1782,
Florida Blanca concluded a treaty with Turkey, which put an end to the
war of religious opinions; to the astonishment, as we are told, of the
other European powers, who could hardly believe that the Spaniards would
thus abandon their long-continued efforts to destroy the infidels.[1438]
Before, however, Europe had time to recover from its amazement, other
and similar events occurred equally startling. In 1784, Spain signed a
peace with Tripoli; and in 1785, one with Algiers.[1439] And scarcely
had these been ratified, when, in 1786, a treaty was also concluded with
Tunis.[1440] So that the Spanish people to their no small surprise,
found themselves on terms of amity with nations, whom for more than ten
centuries they had been taught to abhor, and whom, in the opinion of the
Spanish Church, it was the first duty of a Christian government to make
war upon, and, if possible, to extirpate.
[1436] 'Menesteres decir que el marqués de Grimaldi cayó venciendo á sus
enemigos, pues, léjos de legarles el poder, á que aspiraban con
anhelo, trasmitiólo á una de sus más legítimas hechuras; que tal
era y por tal se reconocia el conde de Floridablanca.' _Rio_,
_Historia del Reinado de Carlos III._, vol. iii. pp. 151, 152.
[1437] In 1690, it was stated that 'since the expulsion of the Moors,'
there was no precedent for the King of Spain ever sending an
envoy to a Mohammedan prince. See _Mahon's Spain under Charles
II._, p. 5. In that year an envoy was sent to Morocco; but this
was merely concerning the redemption of prisoners, and certainly
without the remotest intention of concluding a peace.
[1438] 'The other European courts, with surprise and regret, witnessed
the conclusion of a treaty which terminated the political and
religious rivalry so long subsisting between Spain and the
Porte.' _Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain_, vol. v. pp. 152, 153.
'Une des maximes de la politique espagnole avait été celle de
maintenir une guerre perpétuelle contre les mahométans, même
après la conquête de Grenade. Ni les pertes incalculables
éprouvées par suite de ce système, ni l'exemple de la France et
d'autres puissances catholiques qui ne se faisaient point
scrupule d'être en paix avec les Turcs, n'avaient suffi pour
détromper l'Espagne sur l'inconvenance d'une telle politique. Le
génie éclairé de Charles III corrigea un préjugé aussi
dangereux; dicta la paix avec les empereurs de Turquie et
d'autres potentats mahométans; délivra ses sujets de la terrible
piraterie des corsaires, et ouvrit à leur commerce de nouvelles
voies pour spéculer avec de plus grands avantages.' _Sempere_,
_La Monarchie Espagnole_, vol. ii. p. 160.
[1439] _Rio_, _Historia del Reinado de Carlos III._, vol. iv. pp. 11-13.
[1440] _Ibid._ vol. iv. pp. 16, 17.
Putting aside, for a moment, the remote and intellectual consequences of
these transactions, there can be no doubt that the immediate and
material consequences were very salutary; though, as we shall presently
see, they produced no lasting benefit, because they were opposed by the
unfavourable operation of more powerful and more general causes. Still,
it must be confessed that the direct results were extremely
advantageous; and to those who take only a short view of human affairs,
it might well appear that the advantages would be permanent. The immense
line of coast from the kingdoms of Fez and Morocco to the furthest
extremity of the Turkish empire was no longer allowed to pour forth
those innumerable pirates who, heretofore, swept the seas, captured
Spanish ships, and made slaves of Spanish subjects. Formerly, vast sums
of money were annually consumed in ransoming these unhappy
prisoners;[1441] but now all such evils were ended. At the same time,
great impetus was given to the commerce of Spain; a new trade was thrown
open, and her ships could safely appear in the rich countries of the
Levant. This increased her wealth; which was moreover aided by another
circumstance growing out of these events. For, the most fertile parts of
Spain are those which are washed by the Mediterranean, and which had for
centuries been the prey of Mohammedan corsairs, who frequently landing
by surprise, had at length caused such constant fear, that the
inhabitants gradually retired towards the interior, and abstained from
cultivating the richest soil in their country. But, by the treaties just
concluded, such dangers were at once removed; the people returned to
their former abodes; the earth again gave forth its fruits; regular
industry reappeared; villages sprung up; even manufactures were
established; and the foundation seemed to be laid for a prosperity, the
like of which had not been known since the Mohammedans were driven out
of Granada.[1442]
[1441] 'Ha sido notable el número de cautivos, que los piratas de
Berbería han hecho sobre nuestras costas por tres centurias. En
el siglo pasado se solian calcular exístentes á la vez en Argel,
treinta mil personas españolas. Su rescate á razon de mil pesos
por cada persona á lo menos, ascendia á 30 millones de pesos.'
_Campomanes_, _Apendice á la Educacion Popular_, vol. i. p. 373,
Madrid, 1775. On the precautions which had to be used to guard
the coasts of Spain against the Mohammedan corsairs, see
_Uztariz_, _Theorica y Practica de Comercio_, Madrid, 1757,
folio, pp. 172, 173, 222-226; and _Lafuente_, _Historia de
España_, vol. xv. p. 476, Madrid, 1855. In the middle of the
eighteenth century, a regular watch had to be kept along the
Mediterranean coast of Spain, 'in order to give the alarm upon
the appearance of the enemy.' See _A Tour through Spain by Udal
ap Rhys_, 2d edit., London, 1760, p. 170. As to the state of
things in the seventeenth century, see _Janer_, _Condicion de
los Moriscos_, Madrid, 1857, p. 63.
[1442] 'De esta suerte quedaron los mares limpios de piratas desde los
reinos de Fez y Marruecos hasta los últimos dominios del
emperador Turco, por el Mediterráneo todo; vióse á menudo la
bandera española en Levante, y las mismas naciones mercantiles
que la persiguieron indirectamente, preferíanla ahora,
resultando el aumento del comercio y de la Real marina, y la
pericia de sus tripulaciones, y el mayor brillo de España y de
su augusto Soberano: termino hubo la esclavitud de tantos
millares de infelices con abandono de sus familias é indelebles
perjuicios de la religion y el Estado, cesando tambien la
continua extraccion de enormes sumas para los rescates que, al
paso que nos empobrecian, pasaban á enriquecer á nuestros
contrarios, y á facilitar sus armamentos para ofendernos; y se
empezaban á cultivar rápidamente en las costas del Mediterráneo
leguas de terrenos los más fertiles del mundo, desamparados y
eriales hasta entónces por miedo á los piratas, y donde se
formaban ya pueblos enteros para dar salida á los frutos y las
manufacturas.' _Rio_, _Historia del Reinado de Carlos III._,
vol. iv. pp. 17, 18.
I have now laid before the reader a view of the most important steps
which were taken by those able and vigorous politicians, who ruled Spain
during the greater part of the eighteenth century. In considering how
these reforms were effected, we must not forget the personal character
of Charles III., who occupied the throne from 1759 to 1788.[1443] He was
a man of great energy, and though born in Spain, had little in common
with it. When he became king, he had been long absent from his native
country, and had contracted a taste for customs, and, above all, for
opinions, totally dissimilar to those natural to the Spaniards.[1444]
Comparing him with his subjects, he was enlightened indeed. They
cherished in their hearts, the most complete, and therefore the worst,
form of spiritual power which has ever been exhibited in Europe. That
very power, he made it his business to restrain. In this, as in other
respects, he far surpassed Ferdinand VI. and Philip V., though they,
under the influence of French ideas, had proceeded to what was deemed a
dangerous length.[1445] The clergy, indignant at such proceedings,
murmured, and even threatened.[1446] They declared that Charles was
despoiling the Church, taking away her rights, insulting her ministers,
and thus ruining Spain beyond human remedy.[1447] The king, however,
whose disposition was firm, and somewhat obstinate, persevered in his
policy; and as he and his ministers were men of undoubted ability, they,
notwithstanding the opposition they encountered, succeeded in
accomplishing most of their plans. Mistaken and short-sighted though
they were, it is impossible to refrain from admiring the honesty, the
courage, and the disinterestedness, which they displayed in endeavouring
to alter the destiny of that superstitions and half barbarous country
over which they ruled. We must not, however, conceal from ourselves,
that in this, as in all similar cases, they, by attacking evils which
the people were resolved to love, increased the affection which the
evils inspired. To seek to change opinions by laws is worse than futile.
It not only fails, but it causes a reaction, which leaves the opinions
stronger than ever. First alter the opinion, and then you may alter the
law. As soon as you have convinced men that superstition is mischievous,
you may with advantage take active steps against those classes who
promote superstition and live by it. But, however pernicious any
interest or any great body may be, beware of using force against it,
unless the progress of knowledge has previously sapped it at its base,
and loosened its hold over the national mind. This has always been the
error of the most ardent reformers, who, in their eagerness to effect
their purpose, let the political movement outstrip the intellectual one,
and, thus inverting the natural order, secure misery either to
themselves or to their descendants. They touch the altar, and fire
springs forth to consume them. Then comes another period of superstition
and of despotism; another dark epoch in the annals of the human race.
And this happens merely because men will not bide their time, but will
insist on precipitating the march of affairs. Thus, for instance, in
France and Germany, it is the friends of freedom who have strengthened
tyranny; it is the enemies of superstition who have made superstition
more permanent. In those countries, it is still believed that government
can regenerate society; and therefore, directly they who hold liberal
opinions get possession of the government, they use their power too
lavishly, thinking that by doing so, they will best secure the end at
which they aim. In England, the same delusion, though less general, is
far too prevalent; but as, with us, public opinion controls politicians,
we escape from evils which have happened abroad, because we will not
allow any government to enact laws which the nation disapproves. In
Spain, however, the habits of the people were so slavish, and their
necks had so long been bowed under the yoke, that though the
government, in the eighteenth century, opposed their dearest prejudices,
they rarely ventured to resist, and they had no legal means of making
their voice heard. But not the less did they feel. The materials for
reaction were silently accumulating; and before that century had passed
away the reaction itself was manifest. As long as Charles III. lived, it
was kept under; and this was owing partly to the fear which his active
and vigorous government inspired, and partly to the fact that many of
the reforms which he introduced were so obviously beneficial as to shed
a lustre on his reign, which all classes could perceive. Besides the
exemption which his policy insured from the incessant ravages of
pirates, he also succeeded in obtaining for Spain the most honourable
peace which any Spanish government had signed for two centuries; thus
recalling to the popular mind the brightest and most glorious days of
Philip II.[1448] When Charles came to the throne, Spain was hardly a
third-rate power; when he died, she might fairly claim to be a
first-rate one, since she had for some years negotiated on equal terms
with France, England, and Austria, and had taken a leading part in the
councils of Europe. To this, the personal character of Charles greatly
contributed; he being respected for his honesty, as well as feared for
his vigour.[1449] Merely as a man, he bore high repute; while, as a
sovereign, none of his contemporaries were in any way equal to him,
except Frederick of Prussia, whose vast abilities, were, however,
tarnished by a base rapacity, and by an incessant desire to overreach
his neighbours. Charles III. had nothing of this; but he carefully
increased the defences of Spain, and, raising her establishments to a
war-footing, he made her more formidable than she had been since the
sixteenth century. Instead of being liable to insult from every petty
potentate who chose to triumph over her weakness, the country had now
the means of resisting, and if need be, of attacking. While the army was
greatly improved in the quality of the troops, in their discipline, and
in the attention paid to their comforts, the navy was nearly doubled in
number, and more than doubled in efficiency.[1450] And this was done
without imposing fresh burdens on the people. Indeed, the national
resources were becoming so developed, that, in the reign of Charles
III., a large amount of taxation could have been easier paid than a
small one under his predecessors. A regularity, hitherto unknown, was
introduced into the method both of assessing imposts, and of collecting
them.[1451] The laws of mortmain were relaxed, and steps were taken
towards diminishing the rigidity of entails.[1452] The industry of the
country was liberated from many of the trammels which had long been
imposed upon it, and the principles of free trade were so far
recognized, that, in 1765, the old laws respecting corn were repealed;
its exportation was allowed, and also its transit from one part of Spain
to another, uninterrupted by those absurd precautions, which preceding
governments had thought it advisable to invent.[1453]
[1443] M. Rio, whose voluminous History of the reign of Charles III. is,
notwithstanding its numerous omissions, a work of considerable
value, has appreciated the personal influence of the king more
justly than any previous writer; he having had access to
unpublished papers, which show the great energy and activity of
Charles. 'Entre sus mas notables figuras ninguna aventaja á la
de Cárlos III.; y no por el lugar jerárquico que ocupa, sino por
el brillante papel que representa, ora tome la iniciativa, ora
el consejo, para efectuar las innumerables reformas que le
valieron inextinguible fama. Ya sé que algunos tachan á este
Monarca de cortedad de luces y de estrechez de miras; y que
algunos otros suponen que sus ministros le engañaron ó
sorprendieron para dictar ciertas providencias. Cuarenta y ocho
tomos de cartas semanales y escritas de su puno desde octubre de
1759 hasta marzo de 1783 al marqués de Tanucci, existentes en el
archivo de Simancas, por mí leidas hoja tras hoja, sacando de
ellas largos apuntes, sirven á maravilla para pintarle tal como
era, y penetrar hasta sus más recónditos pensamientos, y
contradecir á los que le juzgan á bulto.' _Rio_, _Historia del
Reinado de Carlos III._, Madrid, 1856, vol. i. pp. xxii. xxiii.
[1444] 'Although born and educated in Spain, Charles had quitted the
country at too early an age to retain a partiality to its
customs, laws, manners, and language; while, from his residence
abroad, and his intercourse with France, he had formed a natural
predilection for the French character and institutions.' _Coxe's
Bourbon Kings of Spain_, vol. iv. p. 337.
[1445] He 'far surpassed his two predecessors in his exertions to reform
the morals, and restrain the power of the clergy.' _Ibid._
vol. v. p. 215.
[1446] His measures 'alarmaron al clero en general, que empezó á
murmurar con impaciencia, y aun algunos de sus individuos se
propasaron á violentos actos.' _Tapia_, _Civilizacion Española_,
vol. iv. p. 98.
[1447] A popular charge against the government was, 'que se despojara á
la Iglesia de sus inmunidades.' _Rio_, _Historia del Reinado de
Carlos III._, vol. ii. p. 54. See also at pp. 201, 202, a
letter, in 1766, from the Bishop of Cuenca to the King's
confessor, in which that prelate stated, 'que España corria á su
ruina que ya no corria, sino que volaba, y que ya estaba perdida
sin remedio humano;' and that the cause of this was the
persecution of the poor Church, which was 'saqueada en sus
bienes, ultrajada en sus ministros, y atropellada en su
inmunidad.'
[1448] Coxe (_Bourbon Kings of Spain_, vol. v. p. 144) calls the peace
of 1783 'the most honourable and advantageous ever concluded by
the crown of Spain since the peace of St. Quintin.' Similarly,
M. Rio (_Historia del Reinado de Carlos III._, vol. iii. p.
397), 'Siglos habian pasado para España de continuas y porfiadas
contiendas, sin llegar nunca, desde la famosa jornada de San
Quintin y al alborear el reinado de Felipe II., tan
gloriosamente al reposo.'
[1449] Towards the close of his reign, we find a contemporary observer,
who was anything but prejudiced in his favour, bearing testimony
to 'the honest and obstinate adherence of his present Catholic
Majesty to all his treaties, principles, and engagements,'
_Letter by an English Officer_, London, 1788, vol. ii. p. 329.
Compare Muriel (_Gobierno del Rey Don Carlos III._, Madrid,
1839, p. 34), 'Tan conocido llegó á ser Cárlos III. en los
reinos estraños por la rectitud de su carácter, que en las
desavenencias que ocurrian entre los gobiernos, todos consentian
en tomarle por árbitro, y se sometian á sus decisiones;' and
Cabarrus (_Elogio de Carlos III._, Madrid, 1789, 4to. p. xl.),
'Esta probidad llega á ser el resorte político de la Europa;
todas las cortes penetradas de respeto á sus virtudes le buscan
por árbitro y mediador.' Evidence of the great respect paid to
Charles III. by foreign powers, will also be found in _Rio_,
_Historia del Reinado de Carlos III._, vol. iv. pp. 41-43, 253.
[1450] On the increase of the navy, compare _Tapia_, _Civilizacion
Española_, vol. iv. p. 127, with _Muriel_, _Gobierno del Rey
Carlos III._, pp. 73, 82.
[1451] These financial improvements were due, in a great measure, to the
Frenchman, Cabarrus. See _Rio_, _Historia del Reinado de Carlos
III._, vol. iv. pp. 122, 123.
[1452] Rio, _ibid._ vol. iv. pp. 164-166, and _Tapia_, _Civilizacion
Española_, vol. iv. pp. 96, 97.
[1453] 'La providencia mas acertada para el fomento de nuestra
agricultura fué sin duda la real pragmática de 11 de julio de
1765, por la cual se abolió la tasa de los granos, y se permitió
el libre comercio de ellos.' _Tapia_, _Civilizacion Española_,
vol. iv. p. 105. See also _Dillon's Spain_, p. 69, and
_Townsend's Spain_, vol. ii. p. 230. The first step towards this
great reform was taken in 1752. See the edict issued in that
year, 'Libertase de Derechos el trigo, cebada, centeno y maiz
que por mar se transportáre de unas provincias á otras de estos
dominios.' This document, which is important for the history of
political economy, is printed in the Appendix to _Campomanes_,
_Educacion Popular_, vol. ii. pp. 16, 17, Madrid, 1775.
It was also in the reign of Charles III. that the American Colonies
were, for the first time, treated according to the maxims of a wise and
liberal policy. The behaviour of the Spanish government in this respect,
contrasts most favourably with the conduct pursued at the same time
towards our great Colonies by that narrow and incompetent man who then
filled the English throne. While the violence of George III. was
fomenting rebellion in the British Colonies, Charles III. was busily
engaged in conciliating the Spanish ones. Towards this end, and with the
object of giving fair play to the growth of their wealth, he did
everything which the knowledge and resources of that age allowed him to
do. In 1764, he accomplished, what was then considered the great feat of
establishing every month a regular communication with America, in order
that the reforms which he projected might be more easily introduced, and
the grievances of the Colonies attended to.[1454] In the very next
year, free trade was conceded to the West Indian Islands, whose
abundant commodities were now, for the first time, allowed to circulate,
to their own benefit, as well as to the benefit of their
neighbours.[1455] Into the Colonies generally, vast improvements were
introduced, many oppressions were removed, the tyranny of officials was
checked, and the burdens of the people were lightened.[1456] Finally, in
1778, the principles of free trade having been successfully tried in the
American Islands, were now extended to the American Continent; the ports
of Peru and of New Spain were thrown open; and by this means an immense
impetus was given to the prosperity of those magnificent colonies, which
nature intended to be rich, but which the meddling folly of man had
forced to be poor.[1457]
[1454] 'Pronto se establecieron los correos marítimos y se comunicaron
con regularidad y frecuencia no vistas hasta entónces la
metrópoli y las colonias. Por efecto del importante decreto de
24 de agosto de 1764, salía el primero de cada mes un paquebot
de la Coruña con toda la correspondencia de las Indias;
desembarcábala en la Habana, y desde allí se distribuia en
balandras y otros bajeles á propósito para puntear los vientos
escasos, á Veracruz, Portobelo, Cartagena, islas de Barlovento y
provincias de la Plata; y aquellos ligeros buques volvian á la
Habana, de donde zarpaba mensualmente y en dia fijo otro
paquebot para la Coruña.' _Rio_, _Historia del Reinado de Carlos
III._, vol. i. p. 452. That part of the plan, however, which
aimed at making Coruña a rival of Cadiz, appears to have been
unsuccessful. See a letter from Coruña, written in 1774, in
_Dalrymple's Travels through Spain_, London, 1777, 4to. p. 99.
[1455] See the edicts in _Campomanes_, _Apendice_, vol. ii. pp. 37-47,
Madrid, 1775. They are both dated October 16th, 1765.
[1456] It was said, with reason, by Alaman, 'que el gobierno de América
llego al colmo de su perfeccion en tiempo de Carlos III.' _Rio_,
_Historia del Reinado de Carlos III._, vol. iv. p. 151. And
Humboldt observes (_Essai Politique sur le Royaume de la
Nouvelle-Espagne_, Paris, 1811, 4to. vol. i. p. 102), 'C'est le
roi Charles III surtout qui, par des mesures aussi sages
qu'énergiques, est devenu le bienfaiteur des indigènes; il a
annulé les _Encomiendas_; il a défendu les _Repartimientos_, par
lesquels les corregidors se constituoient arbitrairement les
créanciers, et par conséquent les maîtres du travail des natifs,
en les pourvoyant, à des prix exagérés, de chevaux, de mulets et
de vêtemens (_ropa_).'
[1457] _Cabarrus_, _Elogio de Carlos III._, Madrid, 1789, p. xlii., and
Canga's note in _Martinez de la Mata_, _Dos Discursos_, Madrid,
1794, p. 31. But these writers were not sufficiently familiar
with political economy, really to appreciate this measure.
All this reacted upon the mother country with such rapidity, that
scarcely was the old system of monopoly broken up, when the trade of
Spain began to advance, and continued to improve, until the exports and
imports had reached a height that even the authors of the reform could
hardly have expected; it being said that the export of foreign
commodities was tripled, that the export of home-produce was multiplied
fivefold, and the returns from America ninefold.[1458]
[1458] 'Early in the reign of Charles, steps had been taken towards the
adoption of more liberal principles in the commerce with
America; but, in the year 1778, a complete and radical change
was introduced. The establishment of a free trade rapidly
produced the most beneficial consequences. The export of foreign
goods was tripled, of home-produce quintupled; and the returns
from America augmented in the astonishing proportion of nine to
one. The produce of the customs increased with equal rapidity.'
_Clarke's Examination of the Internal State of Spain_, London,
1818, p. 72.
Many of the taxes, which bore heavily on the lower ranks, were repealed,
and the industrious classes, being relieved of their principal burdens,
it was hoped that their condition would speedily improve.[1459] And to
benefit them still more, such alterations were effected in the
administration of the law, as might enable them to receive justice from
the public tribunals, when they had occasion to complain of their
superiors. Hitherto, a poor man had not the least chance of succeeding
against a rich one; but in the reign of Charles III., government
introduced various regulations, by which labourers and mechanics could
obtain redress, if their masters defrauded them of their wages, or broke
the contracts made with them.[1460]
[1459] _Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain_, vol. v. pp. 197, 317, 318.
[1460] See Florida Blanca's statement in _Coxe's Bourbon Kings of
Spain_, vol. v. p. 331; 'to facilitate to artisans and
journeymen the scanty payment of their labours, in spite of the
privileges and interest of the powerful.'
Not only the labouring classes, but also the literary and scientific
classes, were encouraged and protected. One source of danger, to which
they had long been exposed, was considerably lessened by the steps which
Charles took to curtail the power of the Inquisition. The king, was,
moreover, always ready to reward them; he was a man of cultivated
tastes, and he delighted in being thought the patron of learning.[1461]
Soon after his accession, he issued an order, exempting from military
service all printers, and all persons immediately connected with
printing, such as casters of type, and the like.[1462] He, also, as far
as he was able, infused new life into the old universities, and did all
that was possible towards restoring their discipline and
reputation.[1463] He founded schools, endowed colleges, rewarded
professors, and granted pensions. In these matters his munificence
seemed inexhaustible, and is of itself sufficient to account for the
veneration with which literary Spaniards regard his memory. They have
reason to regret that, instead of living now, they had not lived when he
was king. In his reign, it was supposed that their interests must be
identical with the interests of knowledge; and these last were rated so
highly, that, in 1771, it was laid down as a settled principle of
government, that of all the branches of public policy, the care of
education is the most important.[1464]
[1461] _Rio_, _Historia del Reinado de Carlos III._, vol. iv. pp. 317,
318, and elsewhere.
[1462] '"Desde mi feliz advenimiento al trono" (dijo el Rey en la
ordenanza de reemplazos) "ha merecido mi Real proteccion el arte
de la imprenta, y, para que pueda arraigarse sólidamente en
estos reinos, vengo en declarar la exencion del sorteo y
servicio militar, no solo á los impresores, sino tambien á los
fundidores que se empleen de continuo en este ejercicio, y á los
abridores de punzones y matrices."' _Rio_, _Historia del Reinado
de Carlos III._, vol. iii. p. 213.
[1463] On the steps taken to reform the universities between 1768 and
1774, see _Rio_, _Historia del Reinado de Carlos III._, vol.
iii. pp. 185-210. Compare vol. iv. pp. 296-299.
[1464] 'La educacion de la juventud por los maestros de primeras letras
es uno y aun el más principal ramo de la policía y buen gobierno
del Estado.' _Real Provision de 11 de julio de 1771_, printed in
Rio, vol. iii. p. 182.
But this is not all. It is no exaggeration to say, that in the reign of
Charles III., the face of Spain underwent greater changes than it had
done during the hundred and fifty years which had elapsed since the
final expulsion of the Mohammedans. At his accession, in 1759, the wise
and pacific policy of his predecessor, Ferdinand VI., had enabled that
prince not only to pay many of the debts owed by the crown, but also to
accumulate and leave behind him a considerable treasure.[1465] Of this
Charles availed himself, to begin those works of public splendour,
which, more than any other part of his administration, was sure to
strike the senses, and to give popularity to his reign. And when, by the
increase of wealth, rather than by the imposition of fresh burdens,
still larger resources were placed at his command, he devoted a
considerable part of them to completing his designs. He so beautified
Madrid, that forty years after his death, it was stated, that, as it
then stood, all its magnificence was owing to him. The public buildings
and the public gardens, the beautiful walks round the capital, its noble
gates, its institutions, and the very roads leading from it to the
adjacent country, are all the work of Charles III., and are among the
most conspicuous trophies which attest his genius and the sumptuousness
of his taste.[1466]
[1465] M. Lafuente, who has justly praised the love of peace displayed
by Ferdinand VI. (_Historia de España_, vol. i. p. 202, vol.
xix. pp. 286, 378), adds (vol. xix. p. 384), 'De modo que con
razon se admira, y es el testimonio más honroso de la buena
administracion económica de este reinado, que al morir este buen
monarca dejára, no diremos nosotros repletas y apuntaladas las
arcas públicas, como hiperbólicamente suele decirse, pero sí con
el considerable sobrante de trescientos millones de reales,
despues de cubiertas todas las atenciones del Estado: fenómeno
que puede decirse se veia por primera vez en España, y resultado
satisfactorio, que aun supuesta una buena administracion, solo
pudo obtenerse á favor de su prudente política de neutralidad y
de paz.'
[1466] 'But it is to Charles III. that Madrid owes all its present
magnificence. Under his care, the royal palace was finished, the
noble gates of Alcalá and San Vincente were raised; the
custom-house, the post-office, the museum, and royal
printing-office, were constructed; the academy of the three
noble arts improved; the cabinet of natural history, the botanic
garden, the national bank of San Carlos, and many gratuitous
schools established; while convenient roads leading from the
city, and delightful walks planted within and without it, and
adorned by statues and fountains, combine to announce the
solicitude of this paternal king.' _Spain by an American_,
London, 1831, vol. i. p. 206; see also p. 297.
In other parts of the country, roads were laid down, and canals were
dug, with the view of increasing trade by opening up communications
through tracts previously impassable. At the accession of Charles III.,
the whole of the Sierra Morena was unoccupied, except by wild beasts
and banditti, who took refuge there.[1467] No peaceful traveller would
venture into such a place; and commerce was thus excluded from what
nature had marked as one of the greatest highways in Spain, standing as
it does between the basins of the Guadiana and Guadalquivir, and in the
direct course between the ports on the Mediterranean and those on the
Atlantic. The active government of Charles III. determined to remedy
this evil; but the Spanish people not having the energy to do what was
required, six thousand Dutch and Flemish were, in 1767, invited to
settle in the Sierra Morena. On their arrival, lands were allotted to
them, roads were cut through the whole of the district, villages were
built; and that which had just been an impervious desert, was suddenly
turned into a smiling and fruitful territory.[1468]
[1467] The following passage describes its state so late as the year
1766: 'Por temor ó por connivencia de los venteros, dentro de
sus casas concertaban frecuentemente los ladrones sus robos, y
los ejecutaban á mansalva, ocultándose en guaridas de que
ahuyentaban á las fieras. Acaso á muy largas distancias se
descubrian entre contados caseríos algunos pastores como los que
allí hizo encontrar el ilustre manco de Lepanto al ingenioso
hidalgo de la Mancha. Parte de la Sierra estuvo poblada en
tiempo de moros; actualmente ya no habia más que espesos
matorrales hasta en torno de la ermita de Santa Elena, donde
resonaron cánticos de gracias al Cielo por el magnífico triunfo
de las Navas.' _Rio_, _Historia del Reinado de Carlos III._,
vol. iii. p. 9. On the condition of the Sierra Morena a hundred
years before this, see _Boisel_, _Journal du Voyage d'Espagne_,
Paris, 1669, 4to. pp. 62, 296; where it is termed 'le lieu le
plus désert, et où il n'y a que quelques _ventas_ sans
villages.'
[1468] _Rio_, _Historia del Reinado de Carlos III._, vol. iii. pp. 9-11,
35. By 1771, 'sin auxilio de la Real hacienda pudieron
mantenerse al fin los colonos.' p. 42. See also vol. iv. pp.
114, 115. On the subsequent history of this settlement, see
_Inglis' Spain_, vol. ii. pp. 29-31, London, 1831.
Nearly all over Spain, the roads were repaired; a fund having been, so
early as 1760, specially set apart for that purpose.[1469] Many new
works were begun; and such improvements were introduced, while at the
same time, such vigilance was employed to prevent peculation on the part
of officials, that in a very few years the cost of making public
highways was reduced to less than half of what it used to be.[1470] Of
the undertakings which were brought to a successful issue, the most
important were, a road now first constructed from Malaga to
Antequera,[1471] and another from Aquilas to Lorca.[1472] In this way,
means of intercourse were supplied between the Mediterranean and the
interior of Andalusia and of Mercia. While these communications were
established in the south and south-east of Spain, others were opened up
in the north and north-west. In 1769, a road was begun between Bilbao
and Osma;[1473] and soon after, one was completed between Galicia and
Astorga.[1474] These and similar works were so skilfully executed, that
the Spanish highways, formerly among the worst in Europe, were now
classed among the best. Indeed, a competent, and by no means
over-friendly, judge gives it as his opinion, that at the death of
Charles III. better roads were to be found in Spain than in any other
country.[1475]
[1469] 'En 1760 se destinó por primera vez un fondo especial para la
construccion de caminos.' _Tapia_, _Civilizacion Española_,
vol. iv. p. 123.
[1470] Indeed, M. Rio says, that the expense was reduced by two-thirds,
and, in some parts, by three-fourths. 'Antes se regulaba en un
millon de reales la construccion de cada legua; ahora solo
ascendia á la tercera ó cuarta parte de esta suma.' _Rio_,
_Historia del Reinado de Carlos III._, vol. iv. p. 117.
[1471] A note in _Bowles_, _Historia Natural de España_, Madrid, 1789,
4to. p. 158, terms this 'un camino alineado y sólido.' In
_Cook's Spain_, London, 1834, vol. i. p. 209, it is called 'a
magnificent road.'
[1472] 'Para dar salida á los frutos, que regaban los pantanos de Lorca,
ejecutóse una bien trazada via al puerto de las Aguilas.' _Rio_,
_Historia del Reinado de Carlos III._, vol. iv. pp. 115, 116.
[1473] In 1769, Baretti writes, in great surprise, 'the Biscayans are
actually making a noble road, which is to go from Bilbao to
Osma.' _Baretti's Journey through England, Portugal, Spain, and
France_, London, 1770, vol. iv. p. 311.
[1474] 'Otras diferentes carreteras, construidas de nuevo ó
rehabilitadas, multiplicaron las comunicaciones durante los
nueve primeros años de estar á cargo de Floridablanca la
superintendencia general de caminos, haciéndose de fácil y
cómodo tránsito puntos escabrosos como el del Puerto de la
Cadena y los que médian entre Astorga y Galicia, y Málaga y
Antequera.' _Rio_, _Historia del Reinado de Carlos III._,
vol. iv. p. 115.
[1475] 'The reigns of Ferdinand the Sixth and Charles the Third produced
the most beneficial changes in this important branch of
political economy. New roads were opened, which were carefully
levelled, and constructed with solidity. There are at the
present time in Spain several superb roads, such as may vie with
the finest in Europe; indeed, they have been made with superior
judgment, and upon a grander scale.' _Laborde's Spain_, edit.
London, 1809, vol. iv. p. 427.
In the interior, rivers were made navigable, and canals were formed to
connect them with each other. The Ebro runs through the heart of Aragon
and part of Old Castile, and is available for purposes of traffic as
high up as Logroño, and from thence down to Tudela. But between Tudela
and Saragossa, the navigation is interrupted by its great speed, and by
the rocks in its bed. Consequently, Navarre is deprived of its natural
communication with the Mediterranean. In the enterprising reign of
Charles V., an attempt was made to remedy this evil; but the plan
failed, was laid aside, and was forgotten, until it was revived, more
than two hundred years later, by Charles III. Under his auspices, the
great canal of Aragon was projected, with the magnificent idea of
uniting the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. This, however, was one of
many instances in which the government of Spain was too far in advance
of Spain itself; and it was necessary to abandon a scheme, to which the
resources of the country were unequal. But what was really effected, was
of immense value. A canal was actually carried to Saragossa, and the
waters of the Ebro were made available not only for transport, but also
for irrigating the soil. The means of a safe and profitable trade were
now supplied even to the western extremity of Aragon. The old land,
becoming more productive, rose in value, and new land was brought under
the plough. From this, other parts of Spain also benefited. Castile, for
example, had in seasons of scarcity always depended for supplies on
Aragon, though that province could, under the former system, only
produce enough for its own consumption. But by this great canal, to
which, about the same time, that of Tauste was also added,[1476] the
soil of Aragon became far more productive than it had ever yet been; and
the rich plains of the Ebro yielded so abundantly, that they were able
to supply wheat and other food to the Castilians, as well as to the
Aragonese.[1477]
[1476] _Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain_, vol. v. p. 287.
[1477] _Ibid._ vol. v. pp. 198, 199, 286, 287. _Townsend's Spain_, vol.
i. pp. 212-215. _Laborde's Spain_, vol. ii. p. 271. This canal,
which was intended to establish a free communication between the
Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean, is slightly noticed in
_Macpherson's Annals of Commerce_, vol. iv. pp. 95, 96: a
learned and valuable work, but very imperfect as regards Spain.
The economical value of this great enterprise, and the extent to
which it succeeded, are seriously under-estimated in _Ford's
Spain_, p. 587; a book which, notwithstanding the praise that
has been conferred upon it, is carelessly composed, and is sure
to mislead readers who have not the means of comparing it with
other authorities. M. Rio's History of Charles III. contains
some interesting information on the subject; but, unfortunately,
I omitted to mark the passages.
The government of Charles III., moreover, constructed a canal between
Amposta and Alfaques,[1478] which irrigated the southern extremity of
Catalonia, and brought into cultivation a large district, which, from
the constant lack of rain, had hitherto been untilled. Another and still
greater enterprise belonging to the same reign, was an attempt, only
partly successful, to establish a water-communication between the
capital and the Atlantic, by running a canal from Madrid to Toledo,
whence the Tagus would have conveyed goods to Lisbon, and all the trade
of the west would have been opened up.[1479] But this and many other
noble projects were nipped in the bud by the death of Charles III., with
whom every thing vanished. When he passed away, the country relapsed
into its former inactivity, and it was clearly seen that these great
works were not national, but political; in other words that they were
due merely to individuals, whose most strenuous exertions always come to
naught, if they are opposed by the operation of those general causes,
which are often undiscerned, but to which even the strongest of us, do,
in our own despite, pay implicit obedience.
[1478] _Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain_, vol. v. pp. 288, 289, on the
authority or Florida Blanca himself.
[1479] _Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain_, vol. v. p. 199. _Townsend's
Spain_, vol. i. p. 304.
Still for a time much was done; and Charles, reasoning according to the
ordinary maxims of politicians, might well indulge the hope, that what
he had effected would permanently change the destiny of Spain. For these
and other works which he not only planned but executed,[1480] were not
paid for, as is too often the case, by taxes which oppressed the people,
and trammelled their industry. At his side, and constantly advising him,
there were men who really aimed at the public good, and who never would
have committed so fatal an error. Under his rule the wealth of the
country greatly increased, and the comforts of the lower classes,
instead of being abridged, were multiplied. The imposts were more fairly
assessed than they had ever been before. Taxes, which, in the
seventeenth century, all the power of the executive could not wring from
the people, were now regularly paid, and, owing to the development of
the national resources, they became at once more productive and less
onerous. In the management of the public finances, an economy was
practised, the first example of which had been set in the preceding
reign, when the cautious and pacific policy of Ferdinand VI. laid a
foundation for many of the improvements just narrated. Ferdinand
bequeathed to Charles III. a treasure which he had not extorted, but
saved. Among the reforms which he introduced, and which an unwillingness
to accumulate details has compelled me to omit, there is one very
important, and also very characteristic of his policy. Before his reign,
Spain had annually been drained of an immense amount of money, on
account of the right which the Pope claimed of presenting to certain
rich benefices, and of receiving part of their produce; probably as a
recompense for the trouble he had taken. Of this duty the Pope was
relieved by Ferdinand VI., who secured to the Spanish crown the right of
conferring such preferment, and thus saved to the country those enormous
sums on which the Roman Court had been wont to revel.[1481] This was
just the sort of measure which would be hailed with delight by Charles
III., as harmonizing with his own views; and we accordingly find, that,
in his reign, it was not only acted upon, but extended still further.
For, perceiving that, in spite of his efforts, the feeling of the
Spaniards on these matters was so strong as to impel them to make
offerings to him whom they venerated as the Head of the Church, the
king determined to exercise control over even these voluntary gifts. To
accomplish this end, various devices were suggested; and at length one
was hit upon, which was thought sure to be effectual. A royal order was
issued, directing that no person should send money to Rome, but that if
he had occasion to make remittances there, they should pass not through
the ordinary channels, but through the ambassadors, ministers, or other
agents of the Spanish crown.[1482]
[1480] See Florida Blanca's statement in _Coxe's Bourbon Kings of
Spain_, vol. v. p. 289. 'In many other parts similar works have
been promoted, for canals of irrigation, and for encouraging
agriculture and traffic. The canals of Manzanares and Guadarrama
are continued by means of the national bank, which has
appropriated one-half of the profits derived from the export of
silver to this end.' ... 'The town of Almuradiel, formed in the
middle of the _campo nuevo_ of Andalusia, for the rugged pass of
Despeña Perros, is another example of agriculture for the
neighbouring places; since, instead of woods and frightful
deserts, we have seen in a few years public buildings, houses,
plantations, and cultivated lands, producing every species of
grain and fruits, which border the road, and banish the danger
of robbers and banditti.' See also _Muriel_, _Gobierno del Rey
Don Carlos III._, p. 5. 'Habiendo sido el reinado de Carlos III.
una serie continua de mejoras en todos ramos;' and the striking
picture (p. 15), 'Agricultura, artes mecánicas, comercio,
enseñanza, milicia, navegacion, ciencias, letras, legislacion,
en una palabra, todo cuanto puede influir en la prosperidad del
Estado, todo llamó la atencion de los ministros, y en todo
hicieron las mejoras que permitian las circunstancias.' On the
improvements in internal communications, see the same valuable
work, pp. 187-192.
[1481] Respecting this step, which as effected in 1754, see _Tapia_,
_Civilizacion Española_, Madrid, 1840, vol. iv. pp. 81, 82. 'Fué
este tratado utilísimo para la España, pues por él se libertó
del pago de enormes sumas que hasta entonces habian pasado á los
estados pontificos. En el informe canónico-legal escrito á
virtud de real órden en 1746 por el fiscal de la cámara de
Castilla Don Blas de Jover, se decia; que según el testimonio
del historiador Cabrera, en el espacio de 30 años el solo
renglon de las coadjutorías y dispensas habia hecho pasar á Roma
de la corona de Castilla millon y medio de ducados romanos. Y
añade el mismo Jover que á principios del siglo xviii. subia aun
esta contribucion cada año en todos los estados de la monarquia
española á 500,000 escudos romanos, que era _un tercio poco mas
ó menos de lo que Roma percibia de toda la cristiandad_.'
[1482] See Appendix I. to _Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain_, vol. v.
p. 334.
If we now review the transactions which I have narrated, and consider
them as a whole, extending from the accession of Philip V. to the death
of Charles III., over a period of nearly ninety years, we shall be
struck with wonder at their unity, at the regularity of their march, and
at their apparent success. Looking at them merely in a political point
of view, it may be doubted if such vast and uninterrupted progress has
ever been seen in any country either before or since. For three
generations, there was no pause on the part of the government; not one
reaction, not one sign of halting. Improvement upon improvement, and
reform upon reform, followed each other in swift succession. The power
of the Church, which has always been the crying evil of Spain, and which
hitherto none of the boldest politicians had dared to touch, was
restricted in every possible way, by a series of statesmen, from Orry to
Florida Blanca, whose efforts were latterly, and for nearly thirty
years, zealously aided by Charles III., the ablest monarch who has sat
on the throne since the death of Philip II. Even the Inquisition was
taught to tremble, and made to loosen its hold over its victims. The
burning of heretics was stopped. Torture was disused. Prosecutions for
heresy were discouraged. Instead of punishing men for imaginary
offences, a disposition was shown to attend to their real interests, to
alleviate their burdens, to increase their comforts, and to check the
tyranny of those who were set over them. Attempts were made to restrain
the cupidity of the clergy, and prevent them from preying at will upon
the national wealth. With this view, the laws of mortmain were revised,
and various measures taken to interpose obstacles in the way of persons
who desired to waste their property by bequeathing it for ecclesiastical
purposes. In this, as in other matters, the true interests of society
were preferred to the fictitious ones. To raise the secular classes
above the spiritual; to discountenance the exclusive attention hitherto
paid to questions respecting which nothing is known, and which it is
impossible to solve; to do this, and, in the place of such barren
speculations, to substitute a taste for science, or for literature,
became the object of the Spanish government for the first time since
Spain had possessed a government at all. As part of the same scheme, the
Jesuits were expelled, the right of sanctuary was infringed, and the
whole hierarchy, from the highest bishop down to the lowest monk, were
taught to fear the law, to curb their passions, and to restrain the
insolence with which they had formerly treated every rank except their
own. These would have been great deeds in any country; in such a country
as Spain, they were marvellous. Of them I have given an abridged, and
therefore an imperfect, account, but still sufficient to show how the
government laboured to diminish superstition, to check bigotry, to
stimulate intellect, to promote industry, and to rouse the people from
their death-like slumber. I have omitted many measures of considerable
interest, and which tended in the same direction; because, here, as
elsewhere, I seek to confine myself to those salient points which most
distinctly mark the general movement. Whoever will minutely study the
history of Spain during this period, will find additional proof of the
skill and vigour of those who were at the head of affairs, and who
devoted their best energies to regenerating the country which they
ruled. But, for these special studies, special men are required; and I
shall be satisfied, if I have firmly grasped the great march and outline
of the whole. It is enough for my purpose, if I have substantiated the
general proposition, and have convinced the reader of the clearness
with which the statesmen of Spain discerned the evils under which their
country was groaning, and of the zeal with which they set themselves to
remedy the mischief, and to resuscitate the fortunes of what had once
not only been the chief of European monarchies, but had borne sway over
the most splendid and extensive territory that had been united under a
single rule since the fall of the Roman Empire.
They who believe that a government can civilize a nation, and that
legislators are the cause of social progress, will naturally expect that
Spain reaped permanent benefit from those liberal maxims, which now, for
the first time, were put into execution. The fact, however, is, that
such a policy, wise as it appeared, was of no avail, simply because it
ran counter to the whole train of preceding circumstances. It was
opposed to the habits of the national mind, and was introduced into a
state of society not yet ripe for it. No reform can produce real good,
unless it is the work of public opinion, and unless the people
themselves take the initiative. In Spain, during the eighteenth century,
foreign influence, and the complications of foreign politics, bestowed
enlightened rulers upon an unenlightened country.[1483] The consequence
was, that, for a time, great things were done. Evils were removed,
grievances were redressed, many important improvements were introduced;
and a spirit of toleration was exhibited, such as had never before been
seen in that priest-ridden and superstitious land. But the mind of Spain
was untouched. While the surface, and as it were the symptoms, of
affairs were ameliorated, affairs themselves remained unchanged. Below
that surface, and far out of reach of any political remedy, large
general causes were at work, which had been operating for many
centuries, and which were sure, sooner or later, to force politicians to
retrace their steps, and compel them to inaugurate a policy which would
suit the traditions of the country, and harmonize with the circumstances
under which those traditions had been formed.
[1483] It is important to observe, that the Cortes, where alone the
voice of the people had a chance of being heard, was assembled
but three times during the whole of the eighteenth century, and
then merely for the sake of form. 'Les Cortès ne se réunirent
que trois fois pendant le dix-huitième siècle, et plutôt encore
comme des solennités formulaires pour la prestation du serment
aux princes héritiers de la couronne, que comme étant
nécessaires pour de nouvelles lois et des contributions.'
_Sempere_, _Histoire des Cortès d'Espagne_, Bordeaux, 1815,
p. 270.
At length the reaction came. In 1788, Charles III. died; and was
succeeded by Charles IV., a king of the true Spanish breed, devout,
orthodox, and ignorant.[1484] It was now seen how insecure everything
was, and how little reliance can be placed on reforms, which, instead of
being suggested by the people, are bestowed on them by the political
classes. Charles IV., though a weak and contemptible prince,[1485] was
so supported in his general views by the feelings of the Spanish nation,
that, in less than five years, he was able completely to reverse that
liberal policy which it had taken three generations of statesmen to
build up. In less than five years everything was changed. The power of
the Church was restored; the slightest approach towards free discussion
was forbidden; old and arbitrary principles, which had not been heard of
since the seventeenth century, were revived; the priests re-assumed
their former importance; literary men were intimidated, and literature
was discouraged; while the Inquisition, suddenly starting up afresh,
displayed an energy, which caused its enemies to tremble, and proved
that all the attempts which had been made to weaken it, had been unable
to impair its vigour, or to daunt its ancient spirit.
[1484] By combining these three qualities, he has deserved and received
the cordial approbation of the present Bishop of Barcelona, who,
in his recent work on the Spanish Church, styles him 'un monarca
tan piadoso.' _Observaciones sobre El Presente y El Porvenir de
la Iglesia en España_, _por Domingo Costa y Borras_, Barcelona,
1857, p. 80.
[1485] Even in _Alison's History of Europe_, where men of his character
are usually made much of, he is treated with moderate disdain.
'Charles IV. was not destitute of good qualities, but he was a
weak, incapable prince.' Vol. viii. p. 382, Edinburgh, 1849.
The ministers of Charles III., and the authors of those great reforms
which signalized his reign, were dismissed, to make way for other
advisers, better suited to this new state of things. Charles IV. loved
the Church too well to tolerate the presence of enlightened statesmen.
Aranda and Florida Blanca were both removed from office, and both were
placed in confinement.[1486] Jovellanos was banished from court, and
Cabarrus was thrown into prison.[1487] For, now, work had to be done, to
which these eminent men would not put their hands. A policy which had
been followed with undeviating consistency for nearly ninety years, was
about to be rescinded, in order that the old empire of the seventeenth
century, which was the empire of ignorance, of tyranny, and of
superstition, might be resuscitated, and, if possible, restored to its
pristine vigour.
[1486] _Sempere_, _Monarchie Espagnole_, vol. ii. p. 167. I need hardly
say, that not the slightest credit is to be attached to the
account given in Godoy's Memoirs. Every one tolerably acquainted
with Spanish history, will see that his book is an attempt to
raise his own reputation, by defaming the character of some of
the ablest and most high-minded of his contemporaries.
[1487] _Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature_, vol. iii. pp. 277,
278.
Once more was Spain covered with darkness; once more did the shadows of
night overtake that wretched land. The worst forms of oppression, says a
distinguished writer, seemed to be settling on the country with a new
and portentous weight.[1488] At the same time, and indeed as a natural
part of the scheme, every investigation likely to stimulate the mind,
was prohibited, and an order was actually sent to all the universities,
forbidding the study of moral philosophy; the minister, who issued the
order, justly observing, that the king did not want to have
philosophers.[1489] There was, however, little fear of Spain producing
anything so dangerous. The nation not daring, and, what was still worse,
not wishing, to resist, gave way, and let the king do as he liked.
Within a very few years, he neutralized the most valuable reforms which
his predecessors had introduced. Having discarded the able advisers of
his father, he conferred the highest posts upon men as narrow and
incompetent as himself; he reduced the country to the verge of
bankruptcy; and, according to the remark of a Spanish historian, he
exhausted all the resources of the state.[1490]
[1488] 'In all its worst forms, therefore, oppression, civil, political,
and religious, appeared to be settling down, with a new and
portentous weight, on the whole country.' _Ticknor's History of
Spanish Literature_, vol. iii. p. 318.
[1489] 'Caballero, fearing the progress of all learning, which might
disturb the peace of the Court, sent, not long since, a circular
order to the universities, forbidding the study of moral
philosophy. "His Majesty," it was said in the order, "was not in
want of philosophers, but of good and obedient subjects."'
_Doblado's Letters from Spain_, p. 358.
[1490] 'Le gouvernement de Charles IV avait épuisé toutes les ressources
de l'État.' _Sempere_, _Histoire des Cortès d'Espagne_, p. 323.
Such was the condition of Spain, late in the eighteenth century. The
French invasion quickly followed; and that unhappy country underwent
every form of calamity and of degradation. Herein, however, lies a
difference. Calamities may be inflicted by others; but no people can be
degraded except by their own acts. The foreign spoiler works mischief;
he cannot cause shame. With nations, as with individuals, none are
dishonoured if they are true to themselves. Spain, during the present
century, has been plundered and oppressed, and the opprobrium lights on
the robbers, not on the robbed. She has been overrun by a brutal and
licentious soldiery; her fields laid waste, her towns sacked, her
villages burned. It is to the criminal, rather than to the victim, that
the ignominy of these acts must belong. And, even in a material point of
view, such losses are sure to be retrieved, if the people who incur them
are inured to those habits of self-government, and to that feeling of
self-reliance, which are the spring and the source of all real
greatness. With the aid of these, every damage may be repaired, and
every evil remedied. Without them, the slightest blow may be fatal. In
Spain, they are unknown; and it seems impossible to establish them. In
that country, men have so long been accustomed to pay implicit
deference to the Crown and the Church, that loyalty and superstition
have usurped the place of those nobler emotions, to which all freedom is
owing, and in the absence of which, the true idea of independence can
never be attained.
More than once, indeed, during the nineteenth century, a spirit has
appeared, from which better things might have been augured. In 1812, in
1820, and in 1836, a few ardent and enthusiastic reformers attempted to
secure liberty to the Spanish people, by endowing Spain with a free
constitution. They succeeded for a moment, and that was all. The forms
of constitutional government they could bestow; but they could not find
the traditions and the habits, by which the forms are worked. They
mimicked the voice of liberty; they copied her institutions; they aped
her very gestures. And what then? At the first stroke of adverse
fortune, their idol fell to pieces. Their constitutions were broken up,
their assemblies dissolved, their enactments rescinded. The inevitable
reaction quickly followed. After each disturbance, the hands of the
government were strengthened, the principles of despotism were
confirmed, and the Spanish liberals were taught to rue the day, in which
they vainly endeavoured to impart freedom to their unhappy and
ill-starred country.[1491]
[1491] In Spain, the voice of the people has always been opposed to the
liberal party, as many writers have observed, without being
aware of the reason. Mr. Walton (_Revolutions of Spain_, London,
1837, vol. i. pp. 322, 323) says of the Cortes, 'Public
indignation hurled them from their seats in 1814; and in 1823
they were overpowered, not by the arms of France, but by the
displeasure of their own countrymen,' &c. See also p. 290; and
_Quin's Memoirs of Ferdinand the Seventh_, London, 1824, p. 121,
where it is mentioned, that 'in all the towns through which the
King passed, the multitude, excited by the friars and clergy,
overturned the constitutional stone, and uttered the most
atrocious insults against the Constitution, the Cortes, and the
Liberals.' Compare _Sempere_, _Histoire des Cortès_, p. 335, and
_Bacon's Six Years in Biscay_, p. 40. Indeed, a very intelligent
writer on Spanish affairs in 1855, asserts, with, I believe,
perfect truth, that Spain is 'un pays où les populations sont
toujours, à coup sûr moins libérales que les gouvernemens.'
_Annuaire des Deux Mondes_, 1854, 1855, Paris, 1855, p. 266.
What makes these failures the more worthy of observation is, that the
Spaniards did possess, at a very early period, municipal privileges and
franchises, similar to those which we had in England, and to which our
greatness is often ascribed. But such institutions, though they preserve
freedom, can never create it. Spain had the form of liberty without its
spirit; hence the form, promising as it was, soon died away. In England,
the spirit preceded the form, and therefore the form was durable. Thus
it is, that though the Spaniards could boast of free institutions a
century before ourselves, they were unable to retain them, simply
because they had the institutions and nothing more. We had no popular
representation till 1264;[1492] but in Castile they had it in
1169,[1493] and in Aragon in 1133.[1494] So, too, while the earliest
charter was granted to an English town in the twelfth century,[1495] we
find, in Spain, a charter conferred on Leon as early as 1020; and in the
course of the eleventh century the enfranchisement of towns was as
secure as laws could make it.[1496]
[1492] _Buckle's History of Civilization_, vol. ii. p. 117.
[1493] _Prescott's History of Ferdinand and Isabella_, vol. i.
p. xlviii.
[1494] _Ibid._ vol. i. p. xcvi.
[1495] _Hallam's Middle Ages_, ninth edition, London, 1846, vol. ii.
pp. 153-157, which must be compared with _Hallam's Supplemental
Notes_, London, 1848, pp. 323-327.
[1496] _Ibid._ vol. i. p. 373. _Prescott's Ferdinand and Isabella_,
vol. i. pp. xlv. xlvi.
The fact, however, is, that in Spain these institutions, instead of
growing out of the wants of the people originated in a stroke of policy
on the part of their rulers. They were conceded to the citizens, rather
than desired by them. For, during the war with the Mohammedans, the
Christian kings of Spain, as they advanced southwards, were naturally
anxious to induce their subjects to settle in the frontier towns, where
they might face and repel the enemy. With this object they granted
charters to the towns, and privileges to the inhabitants.[1497] And as
the Mohammedans were gradually beaten back from the Asturias to Granada,
the frontiers changed, and the franchises were extended to the new
conquests, in order that what was the post of danger, might also be the
place of reward. But, meanwhile, those general causes, which I have
indicated, were predetermining the nation to habits of loyalty and of
superstition, which grew to a height fatal to the spirit of liberty.
That being the case the institutions were of no avail. They took no
root; and as they were originated by one political combination, they
were destroyed by another. Before the close of the fourteenth century,
the Spaniards were so firmly seated in the territories they had lately
acquired that there was little danger of their being again
expelled[1498] while, on the other hand, there was no immediate prospect
of their being able to push their conquests further, and drive the
Mohammedans from the strongholds of Granada. The circumstances,
therefore, which gave rise to the municipal privileges had changed; and
as soon as this was apparent, the privileges began to perish. Being
unsuited to the habits of the people, they were sure to fall, on the
first opportunity.[1499] Late in the fourteenth century, their decline
was perceptible; by the close of the fifteenth century, they were almost
extinct; and, early in the sixteenth century, they were finally
overthrown.[1500]
[1497] 'Ce fut alors que les successeurs de Pélage descendirent de leurs
montagnes dans les plaines, de leurs forteresses perchées sur
des rocs inaccessibles dans les villes populeuses, le long des
fleuves, dans de fertiles vallées et sur les côtes de la mer; ce
fut alors que la ville d'Astorgue revint du pouvoir des Arabes à
celui des Asturiens et chassa toute la partie musulmane de ces
habitants; ce fut alors, enfin, que commencèrent en Espagne ces
concessions de franchises municipales par lesquelles les rois et
les seigneurs chrétiens cherchèrent à attirer des populations
chrétiennes dans les lieux d'où ils avaient chassé les
Musulmans.' _Fauriel_, _Histoire de la Gaule Méridionale_,
Paris, 1836, vol. iii. p. 215. See also _Sempere_, _Monarchie
Espagnole_, vol. ii. pp. 256, 257.
[1498] On the increasing confidence of the Spaniards in the middle of
the fourteenth century, see an interesting passage in _Mariana_,
_Historia de España_, vol. iv. pp. 172, 173.
[1499] The deputies of the towns did, in fact, eventually overthrow
their own liberties, as a Spanish historian truly remarks. 'Il
n'est pas étonnant que les monarques espagnols tâchassent
d'affermir leur autorité autant que possible, et encore moins
que leurs conseillers et leurs, ministres coopérassent à leurs
desseins. L'histoire de toutes les nations nous offre de
nombreux exemples de cette politique; mais _ce qu'il y a de plus
remarquable dans celle d'Espagne, c'est que les députés des
villes qui auraient dû être les plus zélés défenseurs de leurs
droits, conspirèrent ouvertement contre le tiers-état_, et
tentèrent d'anéantir les restes de l'ancienne représentation
nationale.' _Sempere_, _Histoire des Cortès d'Espagne_, p. 213.
It strikes one as singular, that M. Sempere should never have
inquired, why this happened in Spain, and not elsewhere. A later
writer, reflecting on the destruction of the municipal element
by the royal authority, gives a solution, which, like many other
so-called solutions, is merely a statement of the same fact in
different words. 'Al fin la autoridad real logró alcanzar un
gran predominio en el gobierno municipal de los pueblos,
_porque_ los corregidores y alcaldes mayores llegaron á eclipsar
la influencia de los adelantados y alcaldes elegidos por los
pueblos.' _Antequera_, _Historia de la Legislacion Española_,
Madrid, 1849, p. 287. This, instead of explaining the event, is
simply narrating it afresh.
[1500] The final destruction of popular liberty is ascribed by many
writers to the battle of Villalar, in 1521; though it is quite
certain that, if the royalists had lost that battle, instead of
gaining it, the ultimate result would have been the same. At one
time, I had purposed tracing the history of the municipal and
representative elements during the fifteenth century; and the
materials which I then collected, convinced me that the spirit
of freedom never really existed in Spain, and that therefore the
marks and forms of freedom were sure, sooner or later, to be
effaced.
It is thus that general causes eventually triumph over every obstacle.
In the average of affairs, and on a comparison of long periods, they are
irresistible. Their operation is often attacked, and occasionally, for a
little time, stopped by politicians, who are always ready with their
empirical and short-sighted remedies. But when the spirit of the age is
against those remedies, they can at best only succeed for a moment; and
after that moment has passed, a reaction sets in, and the penalty for
violence has to be paid. Evidence of this will be found in the annals of
every civilized country, by whoever will confront the history of
legislation with the history of opinion. The fate of the Spanish towns
has afforded us one good proof; the fate of the Spanish Church will
supply us with another. For more than eighty years after the death of
Charles II. the rulers of Spain attempted to weaken the ecclesiastical
power; and the end of all their efforts was, that even such an
insignificant and incompetent king as Charles IV. was able, with the
greatest ease, rapidly to undo what they had done. This is because,
during the eighteenth century, while the clergy were assailed by law,
they were favoured by opinion. The opinions of a people invariably
depend on large general causes, which influence the whole country; but
their laws are too often the work of a few powerful individuals, in
opposition to the national will. When the legislators die, or lose
office, there is always a chance of their successors holding opposite
views, and subverting their plans. In the midst, however, of this play
and fluctuation of political life, the general causes remain steady,
though they are often kept out of sight, and do not become visible,
until politicians, inclining to their side, bring them to the surface,
and invest them with open and public authority.
This is what Charles IV. did in Spain; and when he took measures to
favour the Church, and to discourage free inquiry, he merely sanctioned
those national habits which his predecessors had disregarded. The hold
which the hierarchy of that country possess over public opinion has
always been proverbial; but it is even greater than is commonly
supposed. What it was in the seventeenth century, we have already seen;
and in the eighteenth century, there were no signs of its diminution,
except among a few bold men, who could effect nothing, while the popular
voice was so strong against them. Early in the reign of Philip V.,
Labat, who travelled in Spain, informs us, that when a priest performed
mass, nobles of the highest rank deemed it an honour to help him to
dress, and that they would go down on their knees to him, and kiss his
hands.[1501] When this was done by the proudest aristocracy in Europe,
we may suppose what the general feeling must have been. Indeed, Labat
assures us, that a Spaniard would hardly be considered of sound faith,
if he did not leave some portion of his property to the Church; so
completely had respect for the hierarchy become an essential part of the
national character.[1502]
[1501] 'Ceux qui servent la Messe en Espagne, soit Religieux, ou
Séculiers, ne manquent jamais d'aider le Prêtre à s'habiller, et
le font avec beaucoup de respect. Les plus grande Seigneurs s'en
font honneur, et à mesure qu'ils présentent au Prêtre quelque
partie des ornemens, ils lui baisent la main. On se met à genoux
pour donner à laver au Prêtre pendant la Messe, et après qu'il a
essuyé ses doigts, celui qui lui a donné l'eau demeurant à
genoux lui présente le bassin retourné, sur lequel le Prêtre met
sa main pour la lui laisser baiser. Au retour à la Sacristie, il
ne manque pas d'aider le Prêtre à se déshabiller, après quoi il
se met à genoux pour recevoir sa bénédiction et baiser sa main.'
_Labat_, _Voyages en Espagne et en Italie_, Paris, 1730, vol. i.
p. 36.
[1502] 'Telle est la coûtume du Païs, on s'exposeroit à laisser douter
de sa foi, et passer au moins pour Maran, ou Chrétien nouveau,
si on ne laissoit pas le tiers de ses biens mobiliers à
l'Eglise.' _Labat_, _Voyages en Espagne_, vol. i. p. 268.
A still more curious instance was exhibited on the occasion of the
expulsion of the Jesuits. That once useful, but now troublesome, body
was, during the eighteenth century, what it is in the nineteenth--the
obstinate enemy of progress and of toleration. The rulers of Spain,
observing that it opposed all their schemes of reform, resolved to get
rid of an obstacle, which met them at every turn. In France, the Jesuits
had just been treated as a public nuisance, and suppressed at a blow,
and without difficulty. The advisers of Charles III. saw no reason why
so salutary a measure should not be imitated in their country; and, in
1767, they, following the example which had been set by the French in
1764, abolished this great mainstay of the Church.[1503] Having done
this, the government supposed that it had taken a decisive step towards
weakening ecclesiastical power, particularly as the sovereign cordially
approved of the proceeding. The year after this occurred, Charles III.,
according to his custom, appeared in the balcony of the palace, on the
festival of St. Charles, ready to grant any request which the people
might make to him, and which usually consisted of a prayer for the
dismissal of a minister, or for the repeal of a tax. On this occasion,
however, the citizens of Madrid, instead of occupying themselves with
such worldly matters, felt that still dearer interests were in peril;
and, to the surprise and terror of the court, they demanded, with one
voice, that the Jesuits should be allowed to return, and wear their
usual dress, in order that Spain might be gladdened by the sight of
these holy men.[1504]
[1503] It was the opinion of the Pope, that Charles, by this act, had
endangered his own soul. 'Dans un bref adressé à Charles III; il
déclara: "Que les actes du Roi contre les Jésuites mettaient
évidemment son salut en danger."' _Crétineau-Joly_, _Histoire de
la Compagnie de Jésus_, Paris, 1845, vol. v. p. 302.
[1504] As this circumstance, which is noticed by Crétineau-Joly
(_Histoire de la Compagnie de Jésus_, vol. v. p. 311) and other
writers (_Dunham's History of Spain_, vol. v. p. 180), has been
much misrepresented, and has even been doubted by one author, I
will transcribe the statement of Coxe, whose information
respecting the reign of Charles III. was derived from
eye-witnesses. 'A remarkable and alarming proof of their
influence was given at Madrid, the year after their expulsion.
At the festival of St. Charles, when the monarch showed himself
to the people from the balcony of the palace, and was accustomed
to grant their general request; to the surprise and confusion of
the whole court, the voice of the immense multitude, with one
accord, demanded the return of the Jesuits, and the permission
for them to wear the habit of the secular clergy. This
unexpected incident alarmed and mortified the King; and, after a
vigilant inquiry, he thought proper to banish the Cardinal
Archbishop of Toledo, and his Grand Vicar, as the secret
instigators of this tumultuary petition.' _Coxe's Bourbon Kings
of Spain_, 2nd edit., London, 1815, vol. iv. pp. 368, 369. The
remarks made on this event by M. Rio (_Historia del Reinado de
Carlos III._, Madrid, 1856, vol. ii. pp. 197-199) are not very
creditable, either to his criticism or to his candour. It is
uncritical to doubt the statement of a contemporary, when that
statement relates what is probable in itself, and what those who
lived nearest to the period never denied. Indeed, so far from
denying it, M. Muriel, the learned translator of Coxe's work
into Spanish, gave it the sanction of his name. And, it is
surely, to say the least, very uncandid on the part of M. Rio to
impute to Coxe the error of placing this occurrence in 1767, and
then proving that, owing to circumstances connected with the
Archbishop of Toledo, it could not have happened in that year.
For, Coxe distinctly asserts, that it was in 1768; 'the year
_after_ their expulsion.'
What can you do with a nation like this? What is the use of laws when
the current of public opinion thus sets in against them? In the face of
such obstacles, the government of Charles III., notwithstanding its good
intentions, was powerless. Indeed, it was worse than powerless: it did
harm; for, by rousing popular sympathy in favour of the Church, it
strengthened what it sought to weaken. On that cruel and persecuting
Church, stained as it was with every sort of crime, the Spanish nation
continued to bestow marks of affection, which, instead of being
diminished, were increased. Gifts and legacies flowed in freely and from
every side; men being willing to beggar themselves and their families,
in order to swell the general contribution. And to such a height was
this carried, that, in 1788, Florida Blanca, minister of the crown,
stated that, within the last fifty years, the ecclesiastical revenues
had increased so rapidly, that many of them had doubled in value.[1505]
[1505] See the statement of Florida Blanca, in Appendix I. to _Coxe's
Bourbon Kings of Spain_, vol. v. p. 282. Another Spaniard, the
Prince of the Peace, says, that at the accession of Charles IV.,
in 1788, 'the cloisters were encumbered with an ever-increasing
number of monks of all orders and of all ages.' _Godoy's
Memoirs_, edit. London, 1836, vol. i. p. 126. See also, on the
state of ecclesiastical establishments in the same year, some
interesting remarks in the Letters of Cabarrus; 'con qué
horrible desproporcion superabundan los individuos estériles á
los operarios útiles y preciosos.' _Cartas escritas por el Conde
de Cabarrus_, Madrid, 1813, p. 133.
Even the Inquisition, the most barbarous institution which the wit of
man has ever devised, was upheld by public opinion against the attacks
of the crown. The Spanish government wished to overthrow it, and did
everything to weaken it; but the Spanish people loved it as of old, and
cherished it as their best protection against the inroads of
heresy.[1506] An illustration of this was exhibited in 1778, when, on
occasion of a heretic being sentenced by the Inquisition, several of the
leading nobles attended as servants, being glad to have an opportunity
of publicly displaying their obedience and docility to the Church.[1507]
[1506] Of it, a celebrated writer in the reign of Philip V. boastfully
says, 'Su exacta vigilancia comprehende igualmente á Naturales y
Estrangeros.' _Uztariz_, _Theorica y Practica de Comercio_,
tercera impression, Madrid, 1757, folio, p. 27. When such a man
as Uztariz could pen a sentence like this, we may imagine what
was felt by the people, who were far more ignorant than he, and
far more orthodox. M. Tapia, in a remarkable and unusually bold
passage, frankly admits that it was the pressure of public
opinion which prevented Charles III. from abolishing the
Inquisition. 'Estraño pareceria que habiéndose hecho tanto en
aquel reinado para limitar el poder escesivo del clero, y acabar
con absurdas preocupaciones, no se suprimiese el monstruoso
tribunal de la inquisicion; pero es necesario tener presente que
el rey despues del motin de Madrid procedia con timidez en toda
providencia que pudiese contrariar la opinion pública; y él
creia que los españoles querian la inquisicion, como se lo
manifestó al ministro Roda y al conde de Aranda, añadiendo que
en nada coartaba su autoridad.' _Tapia_, _Civilizacion
Española_, vol. iv. p. 98, Madrid, 1840. To us, the Inquisition
seems rather a singular object for men to set their affections
on; but of the existence of the passion there can be no doubt.
'L'Inquisition si révérée en Espagne.' _Mémoires de Louville_,
vol. i. p. 36. And Geddes (_Tracts_, London, 1730, vol. i. p.
400) tells us that 'the Inquisition is not only established by
law, but by a wonderful fascination is so fixed in the hearts
and affections of the people, that one that should offer the
least affront to another, for having been an informer or witness
in the Inquisition, would be torn in a thousand pieces.'
[1507] 'The familiars of the Inquisition, Abrantes, Mora, and others,
grandees of Spain, attended as servants, without hats or
swords.' _Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain_, vol. iv. pp. 418, 419.
This was in the great case of Olavide.
All these things were natural, and in order. They were the result of a
long train of causes, the operation of which I have endeavoured to
trace, during thirteen centuries, since the outbreak of the Arian war.
Those causes forced the Spaniards to be superstitious, and it was idle
mockery to seek to change their nature by legislation. The only remedy
for superstition is knowledge. Nothing else can wipe out that
plague-spot of the human mind. Without it, the leper remains unwashed,
and the slave unfreed. It is to a knowledge of the laws and relations of
things, that European civilization is owing; but it is precisely this in
which Spain has always been deficient. And until that deficiency is
remedied, until science, with her bold and inquisitive spirit, has
established her right to investigate all subjects, after her own
fashion, and according to her own method, we may be assured that, in
Spain, neither literature, nor universities, nor legislators, nor
reformers of any kind, will ever be able to rescue the people from that
helpless and benighted condition into which the course of affairs has
plunged them.
That no great political improvement, however plausible or attractive it
may appear, can be productive of lasting benefit, unless it is preceded
by a change in public opinion, and that every change of public opinion
is preceded by changes in knowledge, are propositions which all history
verifies, but which are particularly obvious in the history of Spain.
The Spaniards have had everything except knowledge. They have had
immense wealth, and fertile and well-peopled territories, in all parts
of the globe. Their own country, washed by the Atlantic and the
Mediterranean, and possessed of excellent harbours, is admirably
situated for the purposes of trade between Europe and America, being so
placed as to command the commerce of both hemispheres.[1508] They had,
at a very early period, ample municipal privileges; they had independent
parliaments; they had the right of choosing their own magistrates, and
managing their own cities. They have had rich and flourishing towns,
abundant manufactures, and skilful artizans, whose choice productions
could secure a ready sale in every market in the world. They have
cultivated the fine arts with eminent success; their noble and exquisite
paintings, and their magnificent churches, being justly ranked among the
most wonderful efforts of the human hand. They speak a beautiful,
sonorous, and flexible language, and their literature is not unworthy of
their language. Their soil yields treasures of every kind. It overflows
with wine and oil, and produces the choicest fruits in an almost
tropical exuberance.[1509] It contains the most valuable minerals, in a
profuse variety unexampled in any other part of Europe. No where else do
we find such rare and costly marbles, so easily accessible, and in such
close communication with the sea, where they might safely be shipped,
and sent to countries which require them.[1510] As to the metals, there
is hardly one which Spain does not possess in large quantities. Her
mines of silver and of quicksilver are well known. She abounds in
copper,[1511] and her supply of lead is enormous.[1512] Iron and coal,
the two most useful of all the productions of the inorganic
world,[1513] are also abundant in that highly favoured country. Iron is
said to exist in every part of Spain, and to be of the best
quality;[1514] while the coal-mines of Asturias are described as
inexhaustible.[1515] In short, nature has been so prodigal of her
bounty, that it has been observed, with hardly an hyperbole, that the
Spanish nation possesses within itself nearly every natural production
which can satisfy either the necessity or the curiosity of
mankind.[1516]
[1508] An accomplished modern geographer says: 'From the extent of its
coast-line, its numerous ports, its geographical position, and
natural products, Spain possesses greater commercial advantages
than any other country of Europe.' _Johnston's Dictionary of
Physical, Statistical, and Historical Geography_, London, 1850,
p. 1213.
[1509] 'No quiero hablar de los frutos de España, no obstante que los
produzca tan exquisitos de todas especies. Solo diré que sus
naranjas dulces las traxeron de la China los Portugueses, y que
de Portugal se ha difundido su planta por lo restante de Europa.
En fin, España es celebrada entre otras cosas por sus limones,
por la fragrancia de sus cidras, por sus limas dulces, por sus
granadas, por sus azeytunas, que merecieron ser alabadas hasta
del gran Ciceron, y sus almendras, sus higos, sus uvas, etc.'
_Bowles_, _Historia Natural de España_, Madrid, 1789, 4to.
p. 236.
[1510] 'The marbles of Spain are in greater variety and beauty than
those of any country in Europe, and most valuable kinds of them
are in situations of easy access and communication with the sea;
but they have long been entirely neglected, the greater part
being unknown, even to the more intelligent of the natives.'
_Cook's Spain_, London, 1834, vol. ii. p. 51. In the Cabinet of
Natural History at Madrid, 'the specimens of marbles are
splendid, and show what treasures yet remain buried in the
Peninsula.' _Ford's Spain_, London, 1847, p. 413.
[1511] 'Hay infinitas minas de cobre en España las quales nunca se han
tocado.' _Bowles_, _Historia Natural de España_, Discurso
Preliminar, p. 34.
[1512] In 1832, Cook writes, 'The lead-mines of the Sierra de Gador are
in a state of repletion at present from the enormous quantity of
the mineral, and the facility of raising it.' ... 'Lead abounds
in other parts of the same chain, nearer to Almeria.' _Cook's
Spain_, vol. ii. p. 75. 'The most valuable of the existing
Spanish mines are those of lead in Granada; and the supplies
obtained from them during the last twenty years have been so
large, that they have occasioned the abandonment of several less
productive mines in other countries, and a considerable fall in
the price of lead.' _M'Culloch's Geographical and Statistical
Dictionary_, London, 1849, vol. ii. p. 705.
[1513] I use the popular language in referring coal to the inorganic
world, despite its cellular tissue and vegetable origin.
[1514] 'The most valuable of the whole mineral riches of Spain will be,
in all probability, in a few years, the iron, which is found
every where, and of the best qualities.' _Cook's Spain_, vol.
ii. p. 78. See also _Bowles_, _Historia Natural de España_,
pp. 56, 67, 106, 273, 346, 415, and _Ford's Spain_, pp. 565, 618.
[1515] 'The quantity is inexhaustible, the quality excellent, the
working of extraordinary facility, and they possess an easy
communication with the sea; yet they are practically useless,
and afford only a miserable existence to a few labourers and
mules used in conveying the mineral to Gijon.' _Cook's Spain_,
vol. ii. pp. 79, 80. 'In the immediate neighbourhood of Oviedo
are some of the largest coal-fields in Europe.' _Ford's Spain_,
p. 381; compare pp. 392, 606.
[1516] 'La nacion española posee casi quantas producciones naturales
puede apetecer la necesidad, ó curiosidad de los hombres.'
_Campomanes_, _Apendice á la Educacion Popular_, vol. iv. p. vi.
Madrid, 1777.
These are splendid gifts; it is for the historian to tell how they have
been used. Certainly, the people who possess them have never been
deficient in natural endowments. They have had their full share of great
statesmen, great kings, great magistrates, and great legislators. They
have had many able and vigorous rulers; and their history is ennobled by
the frequent appearance of courageous and disinterested patriots, who
have sacrificed their all, that they might help their country. The
bravery of the people has never been disputed; while, as to the upper
classes, the punctilious honour of a Spanish gentleman has passed into a
bye-word, and circulated through the world. Of the nation generally, the
best observers pronounce them to be high-minded, generous, truthful,
full of integrity, warm and zealous friends, affectionate in all the
private relations of life, frank, charitable, and humane.[1517] Their
sincerity in religious matters is unquestionable;[1518] they are,
moreover, eminently temperate and frugal.[1519] Yet, all these great
qualities have availed them nothing, and will avail them nothing, so
long as they remain ignorant. What the end of all this will be, and
whether in their unhappy country the right path will ever be taken, is
impossible for any one to say.[1520] But if it is not taken, no
amelioration which can possibly be effected will penetrate below the
surface. The sole course is, to weaken the superstition of the people;
and this can only be done by that march of physical science, which,
familiarizing men with conceptions of order and of regularity, gradually
encroaches on the old notions of perturbation, of prodigy, and of
miracle, and by this means accustoms the mind to explain the
vicissitudes of affairs by natural considerations, instead of, as
heretofore, by those which are purely supernatural.
[1517] 'Ils sont fort charitables, tant à cause du mérite que l'on
s'acquiert par les aumônes, que par l'inclination naturelle
qu'ils ont à donner, et la peine effective qu'ils souffrent
lorsqu'ils sont obligés, soit par leur pauvreté, soit par
quelqu'autre raison, de refuser ce qu'on leur demande. Ils ont
encore la bonne qualité de ne point abandonner leurs amis
pendant qu'ils sont malades.' ... 'De manière que des personnes
qui ne se voyent point quatre fois en un an, se voyent tous les
jours deux ou trois fois, dès qu'ils souffrent.' _D'Aulnoy_,
_Relation du Voyage d'Espagne_, Lyon, 1693, vol. ii. p. 374.
'They are grave, temperate, and sober; firm and warm in their
friendships, though cautious and slow in contracting them.' _A
Tour through Spain by Udal ap Rhys_, second edition, London,
1760, p. 3. 'When they have once professed it, none are more
faithful friends.' ... 'They have great probity and integrity of
principle.' _Clarke's Letters concerning the Spanish Nation_,
London, 1763, 4to. p. 334. 'To express all that I feel, on the
recollection of their goodness, would appear like adulation; but
I may venture at least to say, that simplicity, sincerity,
generosity, a high sense of dignity, and strong principles of
honour, are the most prominent and striking features of the
Spanish character.' _Townsend's Journey through Spain_, second
edition, London, 1792, vol. iii. p. 353. 'The Spaniards, though
naturally deep and artful politicians, have still something so
nobly frank and honest in their disposition.' _Letters from
Spain by an English Officer_, London, 1788, vol. ii. p. 171.
'The Spaniards have fewer bad qualities than any other people
that I have had the opportunity to know.' _Croker's Travels
through Spain_, London, 1799, pp. 237, 238. 'Spanish probity is
proverbial, and it conspicuously shines in commercial
relations.' _Laborde's Spain_, London, 1809, vol. iv. p. 423.
'Certainly, if it be taken in the mass, no people are more
humane than the Spaniards, or more compassionate and kind in
their feelings to others. They probably excel other nations,
rather than fall below them, in this respect.' _Cook's Spain_,
London, 1834, vol. i. p. 189. 'The Spaniards are kind-hearted in
all the relations of life.' _Hoskins' Spain_, London, 1851, vol.
ii. p. 58. Finally, I will adduce the testimony of two
professional politicians, both of whom were well acquainted with
the Spaniards. In 1770 Mr. Harris, afterwards Lord Malmesbury,
writes, 'They are brave, honest, and generous.' _Diaries and
Correspondence of the Earl of Malmesbury_, London, 1844, vol. i.
p. 48. And Lord Holland, according to Moore, deemed 'that the
Spaniards altogether are amongst the best people of Europe.'
_Moore's Memoirs_, _edited by Lord John Russell_, vol. iii.
p. 253, London, 1853.
[1518] This their whole history decisively proves; and as to their more
recent state, the author of _Revelations of Spain in 1845_, vol.
i. p. 340, says: 'But religion is so deeply rooted in the
national character, that the most furious political storms,
which prostrate everything else, blow over this and leave it
unscathed. It is only amongst the educated male population that
any lack of fervour is witnessed.'
[1519] 'The habitual temperance of these people is really astonishing: I
never saw a Spaniard drink a second glass of wine. With the
lower order of people, a piece of bread with an apple, an onion,
or pomegranate, is their usual repast.' _Croker's Travels in
Spain_, London, 1799, p. 116. 'They are temperate, or rather
abstemious, in their living to a great degree: _borracho_ is the
highest term of reproach; and it is rare to see a drunken man,
except it be among the carriers or muleteers.' _Dalrymple's
Travels through Spain_, London, 1777, 4to. p. 174. 'Drunkenness
is a vice almost unknown in Spain among people of a respectable
class, and very uncommon even among the lower orders.'
Esménard's note in _Godoy's Memoirs_, London, 1836, vol. ii. p.
321.
[1520] 'This is the most wonderful country under the sun; for here,
intellect wields no power.' _Inglis' Spain_, London, 1831,
vol. i. p. 101. 'Tandis que l'activité publique, en Espagne, se
porte depuis quelques années dans la sphère des intérêts
pratiques et matériels, il semble, au contraire, qu'il y ait une
sorte de ralentissement dans la vie intellectuelle.' _Annuaire
des Deux Mondes_ for 1850, p. 410. 'La vie intellectuelle n'est
point, malheureusement, la sphère où se manifeste le plus
d'activité en Espagne.' _Ibid._ for 1856-1857, p. 356. Now,
listen to the practical consequences of not giving free and
fearless scope to the intellect. 'It is singular, upon landing
in the Peninsula, and making a short excursion for a few miles
in any direction, to see reproduced the manners of England _five
centuries back_,--to find yourself thrown into the midst of a
society which is a close counterpart of that _extinct
semi-civilization_ of which no trace is to be found in our
history later than the close of the fourteenth century and the
reign of Richard the Second.' _Revelations of Spain in_ 1845 _by
an English Resident_, vol. ii. p. 1.
To this, in the most advanced countries of Europe, every thing has been
tending for nearly three centuries. But in Spain, unfortunately,
education has always remained, and still remains, in the hands of the
clergy, who steadily oppose that progress of knowledge, which they are
well aware would be fatal to their own power.[1521] The people,
therefore, resting ignorant, and the causes which kept them in
ignorance continuing, it avails the country nothing, that, from time to
time, enlightened rulers have come forward, and liberal measures been
adopted. The Spanish reformers have, with rare exceptions, eagerly
attacked the Church, whose authority they clearly saw ought to be
diminished. But what they did not see is, that such diminution can be of
no real use unless it is the result of public opinion urging on
politicians to the work. In Spain, politicians took the initiative, and
the people lagged behind. Hence, in Spain, what was done at one time was
sure to be undone at another. When the liberals were in power, they
suppressed the Inquisition; but Ferdinand VII. easily restored it,
because, though it had been destroyed by Spanish legislators, its
existence was suited to the habits and traditions of the Spanish
nation.[1522] Fresh changes occurring, this odious tribunal was, in
1820, again abolished. Still, though its form is gone, its spirit
lives.[1523] The name, the body, and the visible appearance of the
Inquisition, are no more; but the spirit which generated the Inquisition
is enshrined in the hearts of the people, and, on slight provocation,
would burst forth, and reinstate an institution which is the effect, far
more than the cause, of the intolerant bigotry of the Spanish nation.
[1521] 'That the Spaniards, as a people, are ignorant, supremely
ignorant, it is impossible to dissemble; but this comes from the
control of education being altogether in the hands of the
clergy, who exert themselves to maintain that ignorance to which
they are indebted for their power.' _Spain by an American_, vol.
ii. p. 360. 'The schools in Madrid are all conducted by Jesuits;
and the education received in them, is such as might be expected
from their heads.' _Inglis' Spain_, vol. i. p. 156. 'Private
education here, is almost entirely in the hands of the clergy.'
_Revelations of Spain in 1845_, vol. ii. p. 27. In Spain, as in
all countries, Catholic or Protestant, the clergy, considered as
a body, inculcate belief instead of inquiry, and, by a sort of
conservative instinct, discourage that boldness of investigation
without which there can be no real knowledge, although there may
be much erudition and mere book-learning. In Spain, the clergy
are stronger than in any other country; therefore in Spain they
display this tendency more fearlessly. A good instance of this
may be seen in a work lately published by the Bishop of
Barcelona, in which a violent attack upon all physical and
philosophical knowledge is concluded in the following terms: 'No
intento recriminar á ningun católico de los que se asocian al
nuevo sistema de filosofar y de extender indefinidamente el
imperio de esta ciencia, pero deseo que fijen toda su atencion
en los puntos que no haré sino indicar. Primero, que las
escuelas de Holanda, Alemania, Inglaterra y Francia desafectas
al Catolicismo, han iniciado y promovido con el mayor empeño
ciertas discusiones filosóficas, presentándolas como un triunfo
de la razon sobre la Religion, de la filosofía sobre la
teología, del materialismo sobre el espiritualismo. Segundo, que
sus máximas no son, en gran parte, mas que reproducciones ó
nuevas evoluciones de errores mil veces refutados y condenados
por la sana filosofía y por la Iglesia; bajo cuyo concepto no
tienen por qué felicitarse en razon de su progreso, sino mas
bien avergonzarse por su retroceso.' _Costa y Borras_, _Iglesia
en España_, Barcelona, 1857, p. 150.
[1522] 'Immediately after his arrival in Madrid, Ferdinand
re-established the Inquisition; and his decree for that purpose
was hailed throughout all Spain with illuminations,
thanksgivings, and other rejoicings. '_Quin's Memoirs of
Ferdinand VII._, London, 1824, pp. 189, 190. This and similar
acts gave such delight to the Church as well as to the people,
that, according to a great divine, the return of Ferdinand to
Spain is to be deemed the immediate act of Divine Providence,
watching over the interests of Spain. 'La divina Providencia
abrevió los dias de prueba, y la católica España respiró ceñida
con los laureles del triunfo, recobrando luego á su tan deseado
monarca, el señor rey don Fernando VII.' _Costa y Borras_,
_Observaciones sobre la Iglesia en España_, Barcelona, 1857,
p. 91.
[1523] 'The spirit of the Inquisition is still alive; for no king,
cortes, or constitution, ever permits in Spain any approach to
any religious toleration.' _Ford's Spain_, London, 1847, p. 60.
'Les cortès auraient beau permettre l'exercice du culte
protestant ou juif, il n'est point certain que cela ne suscitât
de périlleux conflits.' _Annuaire des Deux Mondes_, _ou Histoire
Générale des Divers Etats_, 1854-1855, vol. v. p. 272, Paris,
1855; a work of considerable ability, planned on the same scheme
as the _Annual Register_, but far superior to it. Respecting the
chance of the Inquisition being again restored, compare two
interesting passages in _Spain by an American_, 1831, vol. ii.
p. 330, and _Inglis' Spain_, 1831, vol. i. p. 85. Since then,
the balance of affairs has, on the whole, been in favour of the
Church, which received a further accession of strength by the
success of the essentially religious war recently waged against
the Moors. Hence, if any fresh political catastrophe were to
occur in Spain, I should not be at all surprised to hear that
the Inquisition was re-established.
In the same way, other and more systematic attacks which were made on
the Church, during the present century, succeeded at first, but were
sure to be eventually baffled.[1524] Under Joseph, in 1809, the monastic
orders were suppressed, and their property was confiscated.[1525]
Little, however, did Spain gain by this. The nation was on their
side;[1526] and as soon as the storm passed away, they were restored. In
1836, there was another political movement, and the liberals being at
the head of affairs, Mendizabal secularized all the Church property, and
deprived the clergy of nearly the whole of their enormous and ill-gotten
wealth.[1527] He did not know how foolish it is to attack an
institution, unless you can first lessen its influence. Overrating the
power of legislation, he underrated the power of opinion. This, the
result clearly showed. Within a very few years, the reaction began. In
1845, was enacted what was called the law of devolution, by which the
first step was taken towards the re-endowment of the clergy.[1528] In
1851, their position was still further improved by the celebrated
Concordat, in which the right of acquiring, as well as of possessing,
was solemnly confirmed to them.[1529] With all this, the nation heartily
concurred.[1530] Such, however, was the madness of the liberal party,
that, only four years afterwards, when they for a moment obtained power,
they forcibly annulled these arrangements, and revoked concessions which
had been made to the Church, and which, unhappily for Spain, public
opinion had ratified.[1531] The results might have been easily foreseen.
In Aragon and in other parts of Spain, the people flew to arms; a
Carlist insurrection broke out, and a cry ran through the country, that
religion was in danger.[1532] It is impossible to benefit such a nation
as this. The reformers were, of course, overthrown, and by the autumn of
1856 their party was broken up. The political reaction now began, and
advanced so rapidly, that, by the spring of 1857, the policy of the two
preceding years was completely reversed. Those who idly thought that
they could regenerate their country by laws, saw all their hopes
confounded. A ministry was formed, whose measures were more in
accordance with the national mind. In May 1857, Cortes assembled. The
representatives of the people sanctioned the proceedings of the
executive government, and, by their united authority, the worst
provisions of the Concordat of 1851 were amply confirmed, the sale of
Church property was forbidden, and all the limitations which had been
set to the power of the bishops were at once removed.[1533]
[1524] Compare some very sensible remarks in _Bacon's Six Years in
Biscay_, London, 1838, pp. 40, 41, 50, with _Quin's Memoirs of
Ferdinand the Seventh_, pp. 192, 193.
[1525] _Walton's Revolutions of Spain_, London, 1837, vol. ii. p. 343.
[1526] Very shortly before the suppression of the monastic orders, 'Le
respect pour le froc en général est poussé si loin, qu'on lui
attribue une vertu préservative, même au-delà de la vie, quelque
peu régulière qu'elle ait été. Aussi n'y a-t-il rien de si
commun que de voir les morts ensevelis en robe de moines, et
conduits ainsi à leur dernière demeure à visage découvert.' ...
'De même que le froc accompagne les Espagnols au tombeau, de
même il en saisit quelques-uns au sortir du berceau. Il n'est
pas rare de rencontrer de petits moines de quatre à cinq ans
polissonnant dans la rue.' _Bourgoing_, _Tableau de l'Espagne_,
Paris, 1808, vol. ii. pp. 330, 331.
[1527] The confiscation took place at different periods between 1835 and
1841. Compare _Ford's Spain_, p. 48. _Revelations of Spain by an
English Resident_, vol. i. p. 366. _Costa y Borras_, _Iglesia en
España_, p. 95. _Annuaire des Deux Mondes for 1850_, Paris,
1851, p. 369. I have sought in vain for any detailed history of
these transactions.
[1528] 'Dès 1845, une loi dite de _dévolution_, en attendant un
règlement définitif, applique à la dotation du clergé une
portion des biens ecclésiastiques non vendus.' _Annuaire des
Deux Mondes_, 1851-2, Paris, 1852, p. 318.
[1529] 'Il y a ici un règlement solennel, sous la forme d'un traité, de
toutes les affaires relatives à l'église; c'est le concordat de
1851. Le concordat reconnaît à l'église le droit d'acquérir et
de posséder.' _Ibid._ 1854, 1855, p. 273, Paris, 1855.
[1530] The very year in which the Concordat became law, Mr. Hoskins, the
well-known traveller in Africa, a gentleman evidently of
considerable intelligence, published, on his return from Spain,
an account of that country. His work is valuable, as showing the
state of public feeling just before the Concordat, and while the
Spanish clergy were still suffering from the well-intentioned,
but grossly injudicious acts of the liberal party. 'We visited
these churches on a Sunday, and were surprised to find them all
crowded to excess. The incomes of the clergy are greatly
reduced, but their fortunes are gradually reviving.' _Hoskins'
Spain_, London, 1851, vol. i. p. 25. 'The priests are slowly
re-establishing their power in Spain,' vol. ii. p. 201. 'The
crowded churches, and, notwithstanding the appropriation of
their revenues, the absence of all appearance of anything like
poverty in the chapels and services, prove that the Spaniards
are now as devout worshippers, and as zealous friends of the
Church, as they were in her palmy days,' vol. ii. p. 281.
[1531] 'La loi de désamortissement promulguée le 1^{er} mai, 1855,
ordonne, comme on sait, la mise en vente de tous les biens de
main-morte, et en particulier des biens qui restent encore à
l'église.' _Annuaire des Deux Mondes_, 1855, 1856, p. 310. See
also _Annuaire_, 1854, 1855, p. 274. For an account of other
steps taken against the Church in the spring and summer of 1855,
see _Costa y Borras_, _Observaciones sobre la Iglesia en
España_, Barcelona, 1857, pp. 119, 286, 292; and respecting the
law of the 1st of May, see p. 247.
[1532] 'Aussi le premier mot d'ordre de l'insurrection a été la défense
de la religion.' _Annuaire des Deux Mondes_, 1854, 1855, p. 275.
[1533] _Annuaire des Deux Mondes_, 1856, 1857, pp. 315-317, 324-331,
336.
The reader will now be able to understand the real nature of Spanish
civilization. He will see how, under the high-sounding names of loyalty
and religion, lurk the deadly evils which those names have always
concealed, but which it is the business of the historian to drag to
light and expose. A blind spirit of reverence, taking the form of an
unworthy and ignominious submission to the Crown and the Church, is the
capital and essential vice of the Spanish people. It is their sole
national vice, and it has sufficed to ruin them. From it all nations
have grievously suffered, and many still suffer. But nowhere in Europe,
has this principle been so long supreme as in Spain. Therefore, nowhere
else in Europe are the consequences so manifest and so fatal. The idea
of liberty is extinct, if, indeed, in the true sense of the word, it
ever can be said to have existed. Outbreaks, no doubt, there have been,
and will be; but they are bursts of lawlessness, rather than of liberty.
In the most civilized countries, the tendency always is, to obey even
unjust laws, but while obeying them, to insist on their repeal. This is
because we perceive that it is better to remove grievances than to
resist them. While we submit to the particular hardship, we assail the
system from which the hardship flows. For a nation to take this view,
requires a certain reach of mind, which, in the darker periods of
European history, was unattainable. Hence we find, that, in the middle
ages, though tumults were incessant, rebellions were rare. But, since
the sixteenth century, local insurrections, provoked by immediate
injustice, are diminishing, and are being superseded by revolutions,
which strike at once at the source from whence the injustice proceeds.
There can be no doubt that this change is beneficial; partly because it
is always good to rise from effects to causes, and partly because
revolutions being less frequent than insurrections, the peace of society
would be more rarely disturbed, if men confined themselves entirely to
the larger remedy. At the same time, insurrections are generally wrong;
revolutions are always right. An insurrection is too often the mad and
passionate effort of ignorant persons, who are impatient under some
immediate injury, and never stop to investigate its remote and general
causes. But a revolution, when it is the work of the nation itself, is a
splendid and imposing spectacle, because to the moral quality of
indignation produced by the presence of evil, it adds the intellectual
qualities of foresight and combination; and, uniting in the same act
some of the highest properties of our nature, it achieves a double
purpose, not only punishing the oppressor, but also relieving the
oppressed.
In Spain, however, there never has been a revolution, properly so
called; there never has even been one grand national rebellion. The
people, though often lawless, are never free. Among them, we find still
preserved that peculiar taint of barbarism, which makes men prefer
occasional disobedience to systematic liberty. Certain feelings there
are of our common nature, which even their slavish loyalty cannot
eradicate, and which, from time to time, urge them to resist injustice.
Such instincts are happily the inalienable lot of humanity, which we
cannot forfeit, if we would, and which are too often the last resource
against the extravagances of tyranny. And this is all that Spain now
possesses. The Spaniards, therefore, resist, not because they are
Spaniards, but because they are men. Still, even while they resist, they
revere. While they will rise up against a vexatious impost, they crouch
before a system, of which the impost is the smallest evil. They smite
the tax-gatherer, but fall prostrate at the feet of the contemptible
prince for whom the tax-gatherer plies his craft. They will even revile
the troublesome and importunate monk, or sometimes they will scoff at
the sleek and arrogant priest; while such is their infatuation, that
they would risk their lives in defence of that cruel Church, which has
inflicted on them hideous calamities, but to which they still cling, as
if it were the dearest object of their affections.
Connected with these habits of mind, and in sooth forming part of them,
we find a reverence for antiquity, and an inordinate tenacity of old
opinions, old beliefs, and old habits, which remind us of those tropical
civilizations which formerly flourished. Such prejudices were once
universal even in Europe; but they began to die out in the sixteenth
century, and are now, comparatively speaking, extinct, except in Spain,
where they have always been welcomed. In that country, they retain their
original force, and produce their natural results. By encouraging the
notion, that all the truths most important to know are already known,
they repress those aspirations, and dull that generous confidence in the
future, without which nothing really great can be achieved. A people who
regard the past with too wistful an eye, will never bestir themselves to
help the onward progress; they will hardly believe that progress is
possible. To them, antiquity is synonymous with wisdom, and every
improvement is a dangerous innovation. In this state, Europe lingered
for many centuries; in this state, Spain still lingers. Hence the
Spaniards are remarkable for an inertness, a want of buoyancy, and an
absence of hope, which, in our busy and enterprizing age, isolate them
from the rest of the civilized world. Believing that little can be done,
they are in no hurry to do it. Believing that the knowledge they have
inherited, is far greater than any they can obtain, they wish to
preserve their intellectual possessions whole and unimpaired; inasmuch
as the least alteration in them might lessen their value. Content with
what has been already bequeathed, they are excluded from that great
European movement, which, first clearly perceptible in the sixteenth
century, has ever since been steadily advancing, unsettling old
opinions, destroying old follies, reforming and improving on every side,
influencing even such barbarous countries as Russia and Turkey; but
leaving Spain unscathed. While the human intellect has been making the
most prodigious and unheard-of strides, while discoveries in every
quarter are simultaneously pressing upon us, and coming in such rapid
and bewildering succession, that the strongest sight, dazzled by the
glare of their splendour, is unable to contemplate them as a whole;
while other discoveries still more important, and still more remote from
ordinary experience, are manifestly approaching, and may be seen looming
in the distance, whence they are now obscurely working on the advanced
thinkers who are nearest to them, filling their minds with those
ill-defined, restless, and almost uneasy, feelings, which are the
invariable harbingers of future triumph; while the veil is being rudely
torn, and nature, violated at all points, is forced to disclose her
secrets, and reveal her structure, her economy, and her laws, to the
indomitable energy of man; while Europe is ringing with the noise of
intellectual achievements, with which even despotic governments affect
to sympathize, in order that they may divert them from their natural
course, and use them as new instruments whereby to oppress yet more the
liberties of the people; while, amidst this general din and excitement,
the public mind, swayed to and fro, is tossed and agitated,--Spain
sleeps on, untroubled, unheeding, impassive, receiving no impressions
from the rest of the world, and making no impressions upon it. There she
lies, at the further extremity of the Continent, a huge and torpid mass,
the sole representative now remaining of the feelings and knowledge of
the Middle Ages. And, what is the worst symptom of all, she is satisfied
with her own condition. Though she is the most backward country in
Europe, she believes herself to be the foremost. She is proud of every
thing of which she should be ashamed. She is proud of the antiquity of
her opinions; proud of her orthodoxy; proud of the strength of her
faith; proud of her immeasurable and childish credulity; proud of her
unwillingness to amend either her creed or her customs; proud of her
hatred of heretics, and proud of the undying vigilance with which she
has baffled their efforts to obtain a full and legal establishment on
her soil.
All these things conspiring together, produce, in their aggregate, that
melancholy exhibition to which we give the collective name of Spain. The
history of that single word is the history of nearly every vicissitude
of which the human species is capable. It comprises the extremes of
strength and of weakness, of unbounded wealth and of abject poverty. It
is the history of the mixture of different races, languages, and bloods.
It includes almost every political combination which the wit of man can
devise; laws infinite in variety, as well as in number; constitutions of
all kinds, from the most stringent to the most liberal. Democracy,
monarchy, government by priests, government by municipalities,
government by nobles, government by representative bodies, government by
natives, government by foreigners, have been tried, and tried in vain.
Material appliances have been lavishly used; arts, inventions, and
machines introduced from abroad, manufactures set up, communications
opened, roads made, canals dug, mines worked, harbours formed. In a
word, there has been every sort of alteration, except alterations of
opinion; there has been every possible change, except changes in
knowledge. And the result is, that in spite of the efforts of successive
governments, in spite of the influence of foreign customs, and in spite
of those physical ameliorations, which just touch the surface of
society, but are unable to penetrate beneath, there are no signs of
national progress; the priests are rather gaining ground than losing it;
the slightest attack on the Church rouses the people; while, even the
dissoluteness of the clergy, and the odious vices which, in the present
century, have stained the throne, can do naught to lessen either the
superstition or the loyalty which the accumulated force of many
centuries has graven on the minds, and eaten into the hearts of the
Spanish nation.
* * * * *
END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.
LONDON: PRINTED BY
SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
AND PARLIAMENT STREET
Transcriber's Notes:
The original spelling and minor inconsistencies in the spelling and
formatting have been maintained.
Inconsistent hyphenation and accents are as in the original if not marked
as a misprint.
Text in italics has been marked with underscores (_text_).
The ligature oe has been marked as [oe] and the tilde above e as [~e]
The sign ^ has been used as a superscript.
The table below lists all corrections applied to the original text.
p. v: minority of Louis XIII -> XIII.
p. 3: _Geoffroy Saint Hilaire_ -> _Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire_
p. 6: vol. iv. p. 511, 4to. -> 4to,
p. 10: vol. xviii. pp. 431-436: -> 431-436;
p. 10: _Hist. de la Sorbonne_ -> _Hist. de la Sorbonne_,
p. 11: _Benoist_ -> _Benoist_,
p. 12: vol. xi. pp. 30, 77, 131. -> 131;
p. 23: _Mably's Observations_, vol. iii. p. 220: -> 220;
p. 24: humane and enlightend -> enlightened
p. 24: Historiettes de Tallement -> Tallemant
p. 25: prevents them from doing so. - > so.'
p. 27: read the contemporay -> contemporary
p. 29: endeavoured to instil -> instill
p. 30: innocence of a religious life. -> life.'
p. 30: Hist. of Louis XIII. -> XIII
p. 31: convoked at Mantes -> Nantes
p. 32: _Mém. de Retz_, vol -> vol.
p. 32: vol. v. pp. 51, seq. -> 51 seq.
p. 34: Tallemant des Reaux -> Réaux
p. 35: fils aîné de l'Eglise -> l'Eglise'
p. 35: _[OE]conomies Royales_ -> _[OE]conomies Royales_,
p. 36: prix que ce fust -> fut
p. 37: 'Sismondi says, under -> Sismondi
p. 37: Felice Hist. -> Felice's Hist.
p. 40: livre ii. chap -> chap.
p. 41: interests were alogether -> altogether
p. 41: Element ist zurückge reten -> zurückgetreten
p. 42: with infinte -> infinite
p. 49: vol. xi. p. 450, vol. xii. p. -> pp.
p. 53: conscientiously be tolerant. -> tolerant.'
p. 54: Lettres d'un Français -> François
p. 56: processions whorever -> wherever
p. 60: Tallement des Réaux -> Tallemant des Réaux
p. 62: Béarn démanderent aussytost -> aussytôt
p. 63: Mem. de Montglat -> Mém. de Montglat
p. 63: Mém de Montglat -> Mém. de Montglat
p. 75: 'The Edict of Nismes -> The
p. 78: Hist. des Mathemat. -> Mathémat.
p. 78: vol. ii. pp. 419-421 -> pp. 419-421;
p. 79: _Thomson's Hist. of the Royal Society_, p. 364: -> p. 364;
p. 80: greatest mathemetician -> mathematician
p. 83: tout ce qu -> qui
p. 88: p. 432. Compare vol -> vol.
p. 88: _Berkeley's Works_, vol -> vol.
p. 90: _[OE]uvres de Descartes_, vol. ii -> vol. ii.
p. 91: _[OE]uvres_, vol -> vol.
p. 91: 8vo. 1847 -> 8vo., 1847
p. 91: _Hist. de la Médecine_, vol. ii, pp. 220 -> vol. ii. p. 220
p. 91: Auf das innigste verbunden -> 'Auf
p. 94: 242, 342, 498 -> 242, 342, 498,
p. 95: _Lettres de Patin_, vol. iii. p. 153: -> p. 153;
p. 95: _Mosheim's Eccles. Hist._ vol. ii. p. 258: -> p. 258;
p. 95: _Leslie's Nat. Philos._ p. 121: -> p. 121;
p. 97: Hist de l'Edit de Nantes -> Hist.
p. 100: _Hunt's Hist. of Newspapers_, vol. 1. -> vol. i.
p. 110: faith, of sceptism -> scepticism
p. 111: vol. i. pp. 5, 64: -> 64;
p. 114: Mills's Hist. of Chivalry -> Mills' Hist. of Chivalry
p. 115: Brougham's Polit. Philos -> Philos.
p. 117: Compare, _Meyer_ -> Compare _Meyer_
p. 120: canaille, dès qu on -> qu'on
p. 121: Les états-généraux -> 'Les états-généraux
p. 122: began to excercise -> exercise
p. 123: énergique de la centralisation') -> centralisation'
p. 123: couvent ni collége -> collège
p. 125: 1843, _in_ -> in
p. 125: _Journal of Statist. Soc._ vol, -> vol.
p. 129: p. 118: _Saint Aulaire_ -> p. 118; _Sainte-Aulaire_
p. 135: which deprived knightnood -> knighthood
p. 136: _Hist. de France_ -> _Hist. de France_,
p. 137: _Milice Françoise_ -> _Milice Française_
p. 137: vol. ii. p. 582; _Sully_ -> _Sully_,
p. 137: vol. iv. pp. 27, 28, 152, -> 152;
p. 143: Collier's Eccles. Hist -> Hist.
p. 144: (reprinted London, 1842), p -> p.
p. 149: 401, 476: -> 476;
p. 149: p. 78; Hutchison's -> Hutchinson's
p. 150: Mem. de Retz -> Mém. de Retz
p. 152: part. i. pp. 28, 29 -> part i. pp. 28, 29
p. 153: _Carlyle's Cromwell_, vol. 1. -> vol. i.
p. 154: laid, the slighest -> slightest
p. 158: Holland the linke-boy -> link-boy
p. 158: part. i. p. 167. -> part i. p. 167.
p. 166: _Mém. d'Omer Talon_, vol. iii. p. 6.; -> p. 6;
p. 168: Saint Aulaire -> Saint-Aulaire
p. 168: _Mém. de Retz_ vol. 1. -> vol. i.
p. 169: _Mém. de Motteville_ -> _Mém. de Motteville_,
p. 170: vol ii. p. 357 -> vol. ii. p. 357
p. 178: Capefigue's Louis XIV -> XIV.
p. 178: tyranny of the clergy -> clergy.
p. 179: the feet of others -> others.
p. 180: vol. v. pp 887-889 -> vol. v. pp. 887-889
p. 181: _Hist. de l'Economie Politique_, vol. ii, -> vol.
p. 181: les plus industrieux," -> industrieux,'
p. 182: brillant d'une clarte -> clarté
p. 187: apostles of knowlege -> knowledge
p. 190: _Philos Pos._ -> _Philos. Pos._
p. 190: vol. ii. pp. 627, 628 -> vol. ii. pp. 627, 628.
p. 191: _Aubrey's Letters_. -> _Aubrey's Letters_,
p. 191: vol ii. p. 624. -> vol. ii. p. 624.
p. 192: et de Boörhaave -> Boerhaave
p. 195: part. ii. p 42 -> part. ii. p. 42
p. 199: _Hist. de la Médecine_, vol -> vol.
p. 200: _Royal Society_. -> _Royal Society_,
p. 201: corner-stone of the Linnean -> Linnæan
p. 201: Gesch der Botanik -> Gesch. der Botanik
p. 207: _Ibid._ xxiii. p, 496. -> p. 496.
p. 207: vol. xxxvi p. 42 -> vol. xxxvi p. 42.
p. 208: state of degradation.' -> degradation.
p. 209: both in 1639. _Biog. Univ_ -> _Biog. Univ._
p. 211: was only saved by -> 'was only saved by
p. 211: Lock, who was -> Locke, who was
p. 212: Lady Mary Wortley Montague -> Montagu
p. 213: Hist. des Francais -> Français
p. 213: _Duclos_, _Mémoires_, vol -> vol.
p. 214: Lettres de Sevigné -> Sévigné
p. 215: sur la poésie épique. -> épique.'
p. 216: ses amitiés, il n'etait -> n'était
p. 217: vol. i. 341 -> vol. i. p. 341
p. 218: _Le Blanc_, _Lettres_, vol. 1. -> vol. i.
p. 218: _Corresp._ vol. 1. p. 352; -> vol. i. p. 352,
p. 219: Mém de Morellet -> Mém. de Morellet
p. 220: _Biog Univ._ iii. 253 -> _Biog. Univ._ iii. 253
p. 221: _Biog. Univ._ l. 42. -> _Biog. Univ._ i. 42.
p. 221: _Murray's Life of Bruce_, 121, -> 121;
p. 223: _Biog. Univ._ xlviii. 217. 218. -> 217, 218.
p. 227: vol. ii. p. 291.' -> 291.
p. 228: even from the king himself. -> himself.'
p. 234: croire que les ministrès -> ministres
p. 238: by Reboulet, in 1752: -> in 1752;
p. 238: Anomalies, de l'Organisation -> Anomalies de l'Organisation
p. 241: _Biog. Univ._ xi. 314 -> xi. p. 314
p. 242: Vie de Rosseau -> Rousseu
p. 242: Quel est aujourd'hui -> 'Quel est aujourd'hui
p. 242: _Grimm_. _Corresp._ -> _Grimm_, _Corresp._
p. 243: de cachet pour enleve -> enlever
p. 245: vol. i. p. 141, vol -> vol.
p. 246: Les reproches d'avoir -> 'Les
p. 248: first heard in France -> France.
p. 253: vol. iii. pp. 178, 179: -> 179;
p. 253: Dieu d'être protestants. -> protestants.'
p. 259: the most obnoxious laws -> laws.
p. 262: to ecclesiastical dogmas, -> dogmas.
p. 265: et regna dix ans -> et régna dix ans,'
p. 265: conseillers, pour sçauoir -> sçavoir
p. 266: vol. viii. p. 101-117 -> vol. viii. pp. 101-117
p. 270: _Méthode pour étudier l'Histoire_ -> _l'Histoire_,
p. 271: undergone from the griping -> gripping
p. 271: la cour.' _Le Long_ -> _Le Long_,
p. 273: _François, in Mémoires_ -> _François_, in _Mémoires_
p. 275: _Etablissement de Louis_ -> _Etablissement de Louis XIV_
p. 276: Lettres de Sevigné -> Sévigné
p. 277: Madame de Sevigné -> Sévigné
p. 277: Lettres de Sevigné -> Sévigné
p. 283: Lettres de Sevigné -> Sévigné
p. 283: _Lettres de Sévigné_, vol -> vol.
p. 283: stated by Sismondi -> _Sismondi_
p. 293: Charles XII, l'homme -> 'Charles
p. 300: descriptions de siéges -> sièges
p. 301: combats et des siéges -> sièges
p. 303: _Milman's History of Christianity_, 1840, vol -> vol.
p. 303: _in [OE]uvres de Voltaire_ -> in _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_
p. 303: History of the Church. -> Church
p. 311: article on Chronology, vol -> vol.
p. 318: livre xiv. chap. ii, -> chap. ii.,
p. 320: _[OE]uvres de Turgot_, vol -> vol.
p. 326: intuitives Erkenntniss klärer -> klarer
p. 326: an sichgleich -> an sich gleich
p. 330: Mém. sur Lebrun -> Le Brun
p. 330: _Brougham's Men of Letters_, vol, -> vol.
p. 334: letter written in 1751 -> 1751.
p. 335: Lavallé -> Lavallée
p. 339: Staüdlin -> Stäudlin
p. 352: Hist. du Jacobin -> Jacobin.
p. 352: vol. ii. pp. 250 350 -> 250, 350
p. 353: their awowed -> avowed
p. 360: L'imagination est la -> 'L'imagination
p. 391: _Bichat sur la Vie_, pp. 23-25 -> 23-25.
p. 391: (vol. ii p. 8) -> (vol. ii. p. 8)
p. 395: environ huit mille espèces; -> espèces;'
p. 398: Hence the remóval -> removal
p. 404: à son histoire.' _Georget_ -> _Georget_,
p. 407: vol. x. p. 341, vol -> vol.
p. 412: Mém. sur Marie Antoinette -> Mém. sur Marie-Antoinette
p. 416: _Mahon's Hist. of England_, vol -> vol.
p. 432: frightful desolation there. -> there.'
p. 440: 509, 561. _Lafuente_ -> _Lafuente_,
p. 445: Isabella may be -> 'Isabella may be
p. 446: vol. i. p. 23, London, 1857 -> 1857.
p. 450: vol. xxxiv, p. 273. -> vol. xxxiv. p. 273.
p. 453: One of the most -> [60] One of the most
p. 454: et action necessaire. -> necessaire,
p. 454: devinast le reste. -> reste,
p. 459: je vous l'ai déja -> déjà
p. 459: vous conduise, je na'i -> n'ai?
p. 471: tenement or pelting farm. -> farm.'
p. 472: _Historia de Felipe Tercero_ -> _Historia de Felipe Tercero_,
p. 473: desmedido.' _Lafuente_ -> _Lafuente_,
p. 480: _Ibid._ vol. ii, -> vol. ii.
p. 481: de su santo servido. -> servido,
p. 483: decayéron en España. -> España.'
p. 489: M. Janer or to M. Lafuente.' -> Lafuente.
p. 494: evidence, says, "Il -> says, 'Il
p. 496: people. It is ou -> our
p. 496: expectations were ulfilled -> fulfilled
p. 502: _Theorica de Comercio_. -> _Theorica de Comercio_,
p. 510: et point de frein. -> frein.'
p. 510: 'In 1681, the French -> In
p. 510: de la reine, de même. -> même.'
p. 512: _Historia de España_ -> _Historia de España_,
p. 520: a clerk under Orri -> Orry
p. 520: l'incapacité des sujets -> 'l'incapacité
p. 527: Ellis' Original Letters -> Ellis's Original Letters
p. 529: parce que les systémes -> systèmes
p. 533: London, 1831, vol -> vol.
p. 533: son médecin particulier, -> particulier.'
p. 539: Dublin, 1781, pp. 227-229 -> 227-229.
p. 546: ecclesiastical power[26] -> power[264]
p. 547: vol. v. p. 295. Paris -> 295, Paris
p. 553: Civilizacion, Española -> Civilizacion Española
p. 553: atropellada en su inmunidad. -> inmunidad.'
p. 556: Historia de -> del
p. 560: Reinado de Carlos III -> III.
p. 568: the regularity of them -> their
p. 568: Looking at their -> them
p. 574: que les gouvernemens. -> gouvernemens.'
p. 575: Prescott's History of Ferdidinand -> Ferdinand
p. 587: order of people, a peace -> piece
p. 590: De même que le froc -> 'De même que le froc
p. 591: vol. ii. p. 281 -> 281.
p. 595: but leaving Spain unscathed -> unscathed.
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