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the ancien regime-第15章

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Rousseau; too。  Easy it is to feel disgust; contempt; for the

〃Confessions〃 and the 〃Nouvelle Heloise〃for much; too much; in the

man's own life and character。  One would think the worse of the

young Englishman who did not so feel; and express his feelings

roundly and roughly。  But all young Englishmen should recollect;

that to Rousseau's 〃Emile〃 they owe their deliverance from the

useless pedantries; the degrading brutalities; of the medieval

system of school education; that 〃Emile〃 awakened throughout

civilised Europe a conception of education just; humane; rational;

truly scientific; because founded upon facts; that if it had not

been written by one writhing under the bitter consequences of mis…

education; and feeling their sting and their brand day by day on his

own spirit; Miss Edgeworth might never have reformed our nurseries;

or Dr。 Arnold our public schools。



And so with the rest of the philosophes。  That there were charlatans

among them; vain men; pretentious men; profligate men; selfish;

self…seeking; and hypocritical men; who doubts?  Among what class of

men were there not such in those evil days?  In what class of men

are there not such now; in spite of all social and moral

improvement?  But nothing but the conviction; among the average;

that they were in the rightthat they were fighting a battle for

which it was worth while to dare; and if need be to suffer; could

have enabled them to defy what was then public opinion; backed by

overwhelming physical force。



Their intellectual defects are patent。  No one can deny that their

inductions were hasty and partial:  but then they were inductions as

opposed to the dull pedantry of the schools; which rested on

tradition only half believed; or pretended to be believed。  No one

can deny that their theories were too general and abstract; but then

they were theories as opposed to the no…theory of the Ancien Regime;

which was; 〃Let us eat and drink; for to…morrow we die。〃



Theoriesprinciplesby them if men do not live; by them men are;

at least; stirred into life; at the sight of something more noble

than themselves。  Only by great ideas; right or wrong; could such a

world as that which Le Sage painted; be roused out of its slough of

foul self…satisfaction; and equally foul self…discontent。



For mankind is ruled and guided; in the long run; not by practical

considerations; not by self…interest; not by compromises; but by

theories and principles; and those of the most abstruse; delicate;

supernatural; and literally unspeakable kind; which; whether they be

according to reason or not; are so little according to logicthat

is; to speakable reasonthat they cannot be put into speech。  Men

act; whether singly or in masses; by impulses and instincts for

which they give reasons quite incompetent; often quite irrelevant;

but which they have caught from each other; as they catch fever or

small…pox; as unconsciously; and yet as practically and potently;

just as the nineteenth century has caught from the philosophers of

the eighteenth most practical rules of conduct; without even (in

most cases) having read a word of their works。



And what has this century caught from these philosophers?  One rule

it has learnt; and that a most practical oneto appeal in all

cases; as much as possible; to 〃Reason and the Laws of Nature。〃

That; at least; the philosophers tried to do。  Often they failed。

Their conceptions of reason and of the laws of nature being often

incorrect; they appealed to unreason and to laws which were not

those of nature。  〃The fixed idea of them all was;〃 says M。 de

Tocqueville; 〃to substitute simple and elementary rules; deduced

from reason and natural law; for the complicated traditional customs

which governed the society of their time。〃  They were often rash;

hasty; in the application of their method。  They ignored whole

classes of facts; which; though spiritual and not physical; are just

as much facts; and facts for science; as those which concern a stone

or a fungus。  They mistook for merely complicated traditional

customs; many most sacred institutions which were just as much

founded on reason and natural law; as any theories of their own。

But who shall say that their method was not correct?  That it was

not the only method?  They appealed to reason。  Would you have had

them appeal to unreason?  They appealed to natural law。  Would you

have had them appeal to unnatural law?law according to which God

did not make this world?  Alas! that had been done too often

already。  Solomon saw it done in his time; and called it folly; to

which he prophesied no good end。  Rabelais saw it done in his time;

and wrote his chapters on the 〃Children of Physis and the Children

of Antiphysis。〃  But; born in an evil generation; which was already;

even in 1500; ripening for the revolution of 1789; he was sensual

and; I fear; cowardly enough to hide his light; not under a bushel;

but under a dunghill; till men took him for a jester of jests; and

his great wisdom was lost to the worse and more foolish generations

which followed him; and thought they understood him。



But as for appealing to natural law for that which is good for men;

and to reason for the power of discerning that same goodif man

cannot find truth by that method; by what method shall he find it?



And thus it happened that; though these philosophers and

encyclopaedists were not men of science; they were at least the

heralds and the coadjutors of science。



We may call them; and justly; dreamers; theorists; fanatics。  But we

must recollect that one thing they meant to do; and did。  They

recalled men to facts; they bid them ask of everything they saw

What are the facts of the case?  Till we know the facts; argument is

worse than useless。



Now the habit of asking for the facts of the case must deliver men

more or less from that evil spirit which the old Romans called

〃Fama;〃 from her whom Virgil described in the AEneid as the ugliest;

the falsest; and the cruellest of monsters。



From 〃Fama;〃 from rumours; hearsays; exaggerations; scandals;

superstitions; public opinionswhether from the ancient public

opinion that the sun went round the earth; or the equally public

opinion; that those who dared to differ from public opinion were

hateful to the deity; and therefore worthy of deathfrom all these

blasts of Fame's lying trumpet they helped to deliver men; and they

therefore helped to insure something like peace and personal

security for those quiet; modest; and generally virtuous men; who;

as students of physical science; devoted their lives; during the

eighteenth century; to asking of natureWhat are the facts of the

case?



It was no coincidence; but a connection of cause and effect; that

during the century of philosopher sound physical science throve; as

she had never thriven before; that in zoology and botany; chemistry

and medicine; geology and astronomy; man after man; both of the

middle and the noble classes; laid down on more and more sound;

because more and more extended foundations; that physical science

which will endure as an everlasting heritage to mankind; endure;

even though a second Byzantine period should reduce it to a timid

and traditional pedantry; or a second irruption of barbarians sweep

it away for awhile; to revive again (as classic philosophy revived

in the fifteenth century) among new and more energetic races; when

the kingdom of God shall have been taken away from us; and given to

a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof。



An eternal heritage; I say; for the human race; which once gained;

can never be lost; which stands; and will stand; marches; and will

march; proving its growth; its health; its progressive force; its

certainty of final victory; by those very changes; disputes;

mistakes; which the ignorant and the bigoted hold up to scorn; as

proofs of its uncertainty and its rottenness; because they never

have dared or cared to ask boldlyWhat are the facts of the case?

and have never discovered either the acuteness; the patience; the

calm justice; necessary for ascertaining the facts; or their awful

and divine certainty when once ascertained。



'But these philosophers (it will be said) hated all religion。



Before that question can be fairly discussed; it is surely right to

consider what form of religion that was which they found working

round them in France; and on the greater part of the Continent。  The

quality thereof may have surely had something to do (as they

themselves asserted) with that 〃sort of rage〃 with which (to use M。

de Tocqueville's words) 〃the Christian religion was attacked in

France。〃



M。 de Tocqueville is of opinion (and his opinion is likely to be

just) that 〃the Church was not more open to attack in France than

elsewhere; that the corruptions and abuses which had been allowed to

creep into it were less; on the contrary; there than in most

Catholic cou
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