友情提示:如果本网页打开太慢或显示不完整,请尝试鼠标右键“刷新”本网页!阅读过程发现任何错误请告诉我们,谢谢!! 报告错误
飞读中文网 返回本书目录 我的书架 我的书签 TXT全本下载 进入书吧 加入书签

the origins of contemporary france-1-第126章

按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!




with those among the Clergy and the Nobility disposed to join them;

their assistance in providing for the necessities of the State; and

the taxes thus assented to shall be apportioned among all the subjects

of the king without distinction。〃'48'     Do not object that a

people thus mutilated becomes a mere crowd; that leaders cannot be

improvised; that it is difficult to dispense with natural guides;

that; considering all things; this Clergy and this Nobility still form

a select group; that two…fifths of the soil is in their hands; that

one…half of the intelligent and cultivated class of men are in their

ranks; that they are exceedingly well…disposed and that old historic

bodies have always afforded to liberal constitutions their best

supports。  According to the principle enunciated by Rousseau we are

not to value men but to count them。  In politics numbers only are

respectable; neither birth; nor property; nor function; nor capacity;

is a title to be considered; high or low; ignorant or learned; a

general; a soldier; or a hod…carrier; each individual of the social

army is a unit provided with a vote; wherever a majority is found

there is the right。  Hence; the Third…Estate puts forth its right as

incontestable; and; in its turn; it proclaims with Louis XIV; 〃I am

the State。〃



   This principle once admitted or enforced; they thought; all will

go well。



    〃It seemed;〃 says an eye…witness;'49' 〃as if we were about to

be governed by men of the golden age。  This free; just and wise

people; always in harmony with itself; always clear…sighted in

choosing its ministers; moderate in the use of its strength and power;

never could be led away; never deceived; never under the dominion of;

or enslaved by; the authority which it confided。  Its will would

fashion the laws and the law would constitute its happiness。〃



   The nation is to be regenerated; a phrase found in all writings

and in every mouth。  At Nangis; Arthur Young finds this the sub…stance

of political conversation'50'。  The chaplain of a regiment; a curate

in the vicinity; keeps fast hold of it; as to knowing what it means

that is another matter。  It is impossible to find anything out through

explanations of it otherwise than 〃a theoretic perfection of

government; questionable in its origin; hazardous in its progress; and

visionary in its end。〃 On the Englishman proposing to them the British

constitution as a model they 〃hold it cheap in respect of liberty〃 and

greet it with a smile; it is; especially; not in conformity with 〃the

principles。〃 And observe that we are at the residence of a grand

seignior; in a circle of enlightened men。  At Riom; at the election

assemblies;'51' Malouet finds 〃persons of an ordinary stamp;

practitioners; petty lawyers; with no experience of public business;

quoting the 'Contrat Social;' vehemently declaiming against tyranny;

and each proposing his own constitution。〃 Most of them are without any

knowledge whatever; mere traffickers in chicane; the best instructed

entertain mere schoolboy ideas of politics。  In the colleges of the

University no history is taught'52'。  〃The name of Henry IV。; says

Lavalette; was not once uttered during my eight years of study; and;

at seventeen years of age; I was still ignorant of the epoch and the

mode of the establishment of the Bourbons on the throne。〃 The stock

they carry away with them consists wholly; as with Camille Desmoulins;

of scraps of Latin; entering the world with brains stuffed with

〃republican maxims;〃 excited by souvenirs of Rome and Sparta; and

〃penetrated with profound contempt for monarchical governments。〃

Subsequently; at the law school; they learn something about legal

abstractions; or else learn nothing。  In the lecture…courses at Paris

there are no students; the professor delivers his lecture to copyists

who sell their copy…books。  If a pupil should attend himself and take

notes he would be regarded with suspicion; he would be charged with

trying to deprive the copyists of the means of earning their living。

A diploma; consequently; is worthless。  At Bourges one is obtainable

in six months; if the young man succeeds in comprehending the law it

is through later practice and familiarity with it。     Of foreign

laws and institutions there is not the least knowledge; scarcely even

a vague or false notion of them。  Malouet himself entertains a meager

idea of the English Parliament; while many; with respect to

ceremonial; imagine it a copy of the Parliament of France。     The

mechanism of free constitutions; or the conditions of effective

liberty; that is too complicated a question。  Montesquieu; save in the

great magisterial families; is antiquated for twenty years past。  Of

what avail are studies of ancient France? 〃What is the result of so

much and such profound research? Laborious conjecture and reasons for

doubting。〃'53' It is much more convenient to start with the rights of

man and to deduce the consequences。  Schoolboy logic suffices for that

to which collegiate rhetoric supplies the tirades。     In this great

void of enlightenment the vague terms of liberty; equality and the

sovereignty of the people; the glowing expressions of Rousseau and his

successors; all these new axioms; blaze up like burning coals;

discharging clouds of smoke and intoxicating vapor。  High…sounding and

vague language is interposed between the mind and objects around it;

all outlines are confused and the vertigo begins。  Never to the same

extent have men lost the purport of outward things。  Never have they

been at once more blind and more chimerical。  Never has their

disturbed reason rendered them more tranquil concerning real danger

and created more alarm at imaginary danger。  Strangers with cool blood

and who witness the spectacle; Mallet du Pan; Dumont of Geneva; Arthur

Young; Jefferson; Gouverneur Morris; write that the French are insane。

Morris; in this universal delirium; can mention to Washington but one

sane mind; that of Marmontel; and Marmontel speaks in the same style

as Morris。  At the preliminary meetings of the clubs; and at the

assemblies of electors; he is the only one who opposes unreasonable

propositions。  Surrounding him are none but the excited; the exalted

about nothing; even to grotesqueness'54'。  In every act of the

established régime; in every administrative measure; 〃in all police

regulations; in all financial decrees; in all the graduated

authorities on which public order and tranquility depend; there was

naught in which they did not find an aspect of tyranny。  。  。  。  On

the walls and barriers of Paris being referred to; these were

denounced as enclosures for deer and derogatory to man。〃  



    〃I saw;〃 says one of these orators; 〃at the barrier Saint…

Victor; sculptured on one of the pillars    would you believe it?  …

…  an enormous lion's head; with open jaws vomiting forth chains as a

menace to those who passed it。  Could a more horrible emblem of

slavery and of despo
返回目录 上一页 下一页 回到顶部 0 0
未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!
温馨提示: 温看小说的同时发表评论,说出自己的看法和其它小伙伴们分享也不错哦!发表书评还可以获得积分和经验奖励,认真写原创书评 被采纳为精评可以获得大量金币、积分和经验奖励哦!