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in it the arguments of Locke against innate ideas. The ruler 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 hang

man.217

These repeated injuries might well have moved a more patient spirit than that of Voltaire. 218 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.219 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. 220 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

217 Duvernet, Vie de Voltaire, pp. 63-65; Condorcet, Vie de Voltaire, pp. 138-140; Lepan, Vie de Voltaire, pp. 93, 381.

218 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 Œuvres 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. Iviii. pp. 36, 222, 223, 516, 517, 519, 520, 525, 526, 563, vol. lix. pp. 107, 116, 188, 208.

219 (Euvres de Voltaire, vol. i. pp. 147, 315, vol. lvii. pp. 211, 215, 219, 247, 295; Villemain, Lit. au XVIII Siècle, vol. i. p. 14; Brougham's Men of Letters, vol. i

pp. 53, 60.

20 Grimm, Correspond. vol. i. pp. 90-95, vol. ii. p. 399; Biog. Univ. vol. xi. p. 816; Brougham's Men of Letters, vol. ii. p. 439.

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. 221 Several years before this, La Bletterie, who was favourably know 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 apostasy, 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.222 That the punishment extended no further, was an instance of remarkable leniency; for Fréret, an eminent critic and scholar,223 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. 224 The same penalty was inflicted four different times upon Lenglet du Fresnoy.225 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. 226

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

221 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 chassee, et inspirèrent aisément cette prévention à un prince trèssensible, 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.

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 mondaine

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223 M. Bunsen (Egypt, vol. i. p. 14) refers to Fréret's "acute treatise on the Babylonian year;" and Turgot, in his Etymologie, says (Euvres de Turgot, vol. iii. p. 83), "l'illustre Fréret, un des savans qui ont su le mieux appliquer la philosophie à l'érudition."

224 This was at the very outset of his career: "En 1715, l'homme qui devait illustrer l'érudition française au xviiie 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 Siècle, vol. ii. p. 30: see also Nichols's Lit. Anec. vol. ii. p. 510.

225 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.

226 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. II méritait des récompenses; on l'emprisonne cruellement à l'âge de soixante-huit ans." Euvres de Voltaire, vol. i. pp. 400, 401, vol. lviii. pp. 207, 208.

driven from France, and his works were publicly burned. 227 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, 228 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.229 The learned observations on the History of France, by Mably, were suppressed as soon as they appeared 230 for what reason it would be hard to say, since M. Guizot, certainly no friend to either 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. 231, 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.232 The analysis of Bayle, by Marsy, was suppressed, and the author was imprisoned. 233 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.234 Delisle de Sales was sentenced to perpetual exile, and confiscation of all his property, on account of his work on the Philosophy of Nature.235 The treatise by Mey, on French law, was suppressed; that by Boncerf, on feudal law, was burned.237 The

227 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, 814.

125.

228 Grimm, Corresp. vol. ii. p. 349; Walpole's Letters, 1840, vol. iii. p. 418. 229 Lyell's Principles of Geology, pp. 39, 40; Mem. of Mallet du Pan, vol. i. p.

230 Soulavie, Règne de Louis XVI, vol. ii. p. 214; William's Letters from France, vol. ii. p. 86, 3d edit. 1796.

231 Mem. 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.

992 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.

233

Quérard, France Lit. vol. v. p. 565.

234 Peignot, Livres condamnés, vol. i. pp. 241, 242.

235 Biog. Univ. vol. xxiv. p. 561; Œuvres 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 sen tence; but there is no doubt that the sentence was passed, and De Sales imprisoned,

if not banished.

238 Peignot, Livres condamnés, vol. i. pp. 314, 315.

237 Euvres de Voltaire, vol. lxix. p. 204; Lettres de Dudeffand à Walpole, vol

iii. p. 260.

241

Memoirs of Beaumarchais were likewise burned ;239 the Eloge on Fénélon by La Harpe was merely suppressed.239 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.240 The celebrated work of De Lolme on the English constitution was suppressed by edict directly it appeared. The fate of being suppressed, or prohibited, also awaited the Letters of Gervaise, in 1724;242 the Dissertations of Courayer, in 1727;243 the Letters of Montgon, in 1732;244 the History of Tamerlane, by Margat, also in 1732;245 the Essay on Taste, by Cartaud, in 1736;246 the Life of Domat, by Prévost de la Jannès, in 1742 ;247 the History of Louis XI., by Duclos, in 1745;249 the Letters of Bargeton, in 1750;24 the Memoirs on Troyes, by Grosley, in the same year;25 the History of Clement XI., by Reboulet, in 1752;251 the School of Man, by Génard, also in 1752;252 the Therapeutics of Garlon, in 1756;253 the celebrated thesis of Louis, on Generation, in 1754;254 the Treatise on Presidial Jurisdiction, by Jousse, in 1755;255 the Ericie of Fontanelle, in 1768;256 the Thoughts of Jamin, in 1769;257 the History of Siam, by Turpin, and the Eloge of Marcus Aurelius, by Thomas, both in 1770;259 the works on finance, by Darigrand in 1764, and by Le Trosne, in 1779;259 the Essay on Military Tactics, by Guibert, in 1772; the Letters of Boucquet, in the same year;260 and the Memoirs of Terrai, by Coquereau, in 1776;251 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 dun

239 Quatre mémoires... condamnés à être lacérés et brûlés par la main du bourreau." Peignot, vol. i. p. 24.

230

210

Biog. Univ. vol. xxiii. p. 187.

Duvernet, Hist. de la Sorbonne, vol. i. p. vi.

241 "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.

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Ibid. vol. iii. p. 302.

243 Biog. Univ. vol. x. p. 97. 245 Ibid. vol. i. p. 289.

249 Biog. Univ. vol. iii. p. 375. 261 Ibid. vol. vii. pp. 483, 484. 253 Ibid. vol. iii. p. 261.

On the importance of this remarkable thesis, and on its prohibition, see Sain. Hilaire, Anomalies de l'Organisation, vol. i. p. 355.

Quérard, vol. iv. p. 255.

Ibid. vol. xxi. p. 391.

266 Biog. Univ. vol. xv. p. 203.

268 Ibid. vol. xlv. p. 462, vol. xlvii. p. 98.

Peignot, vol. i. pp. 90, 91, vol. ii. p. 164. 260 Ibid. vol. i. p. 170, vol. ii. p. 57.

261 Ibid. vol. ii. p. 214.

geon eight feet square, and confined there for three years.26 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 labour 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.263

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 every thing 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

203 "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.

263 Peignot, Livres condamnés, vol. i. pp. 14, 15.

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