II. disarming the vigilance, and paralysing the strength of the church. The Jansenists, delivered from their oppressors, no longer exerted their talents: the Molinists slumbered in fancied security amidst the pomp of their palaces; the inferior clergy forgot alike their zeal and their fanaticism. The age of toleration commenced-it speedily turned into one of indifference; and such an age is in general but the precursor of one of incredulity. The spirit of the times ran violently in favour of the new opinions, the liberal ideas of enlarged philosophy, the entrancing speculations of social perfectibility. The clergy, sensible of their weakness both in intellectual and political strength, slumbered on in philosophic tolerance of the dissolution, alike of morals and opinions, which was going forward. 1 Soulavie, They recovered their dignity, and stood forth with the i. 99, 200. grandeur of ancient martyrs, during the storms of the Revolution.1 VII. In the great philosophic efforts of the eighteenth century, which in their ultimate effects convulsed the world, a prodigious phalanx of ability was engaged. But three men appeared as giants in the fight, and contributed in a signal manner, by the originality and force of their talents, to stamp the impress of their genius upon the opinions of their own, and the events of the succeeding age. These were Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau. character Charles De la Brede, Baron of MONTESQUIEU, was 37. born at the chateau of La Brede, near Bordeaux, on the Life and 18th January 1689. From his earliest years he gave of Monevidence of the great talents for which he afterwards tesquieu. became celebrated; and he was educated with care for the magistracy, to which his father's influence near Bordeaux promised him an early entrance. His thirst for knowledge, even in early youth, was unbounded, and continued without abatement through life-insomuch that he frequently used to say, that he had never felt a chagrin which an hour's reading did not dissipate. History, antiquities, travels, were his favourite study; with the classics he was familiar ; II. CHAP. and these interludes of employment formed his recreation amidst the dry details of legal acquirement. But he possessed from the first the rare faculty-the distinctive mark of genius of extracting from this infinity of details a few ruling principles. His collections were as numerous as the eighty thousand observations of Kepler; but he knew, like the immortal astronomer, how to deduce the few laws of social order from these observations. In 1716, at the early age of twenty-seven, he was appointed president of the parliament of Bordeaux; and the laborious efforts of that dignified and responsible office, happily for himself, kept him far removed from the vices and attractions of Parisian society. Twenty years were employed in the collection of materials for the composition of his greatest work-the "Esprit des Lois." His life thus afforded few materials for biography-fewer still for scandal. He travelled much, and surveyed with the eye of a philosopher all the principal countries of Europe, on which he wrote notes, which unhappily were not left in so complete a state as to be fit for publication. Like Corneille, Boileau, Pascal, and all the great men of his age-and in truth of every age-he lived the greater part of his life in retirement, and found in the converse of the great of former times, and in reflection on their thoughts, a compensation, and more than a compensation, for all the attractions of present society. Meanxxix. 501, while his great work advanced, as he himself said, "à pas de géant," and after twenty years of labour, bert's Eloge the immortal" Esprit des Lois" appeared. 1 Biog. Univ, 520. D'Alem de Montes cyclopédie, His dispoquieu. En- sition was generous, his temper gentle, his life unruffled : vol. v., and wrapt up in great objects, and the contemplation of prefixed to his works. eternal truth, he felt none of the ordinary crosses of mortality, and terminated a life of more than ordinary * "I have hardly ever," he said, "experienced a chagrin, still less an hour of ennui, in my life. I waken in the morning with a secret joy at beholding the light; the whole of the rest of the day I am pleased. I sleep at night without wakening; and in the evening, before I close my eyelids, a sort of delicious trance prevents me from making reflections." Part, doubtless, of this rare 66 II. happiness, serene and thankful, after a short illness, on CHAP. the 10th February 1755. Voltaire pronounced his epitaph in this magnificent eulogium :—“ The human race had lost its titles: Montesquieu rediscovered them, and restored them to the owner." 38. of his writ ings. Montesquieu was one of the greatest thinkers that the world ever produced; he is to be placed on a level in that Character respect with Bacon and Machiavel, and above either Cicero or Tacitus. Less eloquent and ornate than the first of the Roman writers, less condensed and caustic than the last, he took a wider view of human affairs than either, and deduced general conclusions with more wisdom, from a vast variety of detached and apparently insulated particulars. He is greater than the Roman historian as a philosopher, but inferior to him as a writer and a delineator of events. Though his principal work, and that which has chiefly given him his colossal reputation, is the "Esprit des Lois," yet it may be doubted whether the "Grandeur et Décadence des Romains" is not more profound, and does not contain a greater number of just philosophic conclusions. It has not the practical sagacity which an extensive experience of human wickedness gave to the Florentine sage, nor the incomparable wisdom which secured to the English statesman so deep an insight into the secret springs of human action; but in philosophic generalisation and luminous deduction, it is perhaps superior to the work either of Machiavel or Bacon.* In the "Esprit des Lois," though deep thought felicity was owing to unbroken domestic happiness; his rank was high, his situation distinguished, his fortune affluent, his reputation uncontested, his marriage happy, his children affectionate. More still was to be ascribed to the serenity of mind, springing from the constant contemplation of abstract truth, and the never-failing enjoyment which he derived from the study of the great works of former days. But most of all is to be considered owing to the inward satisfaction derived from the consciousness of a well-spent life, of great powers nobly applied, and the calm conviction that he had raised for himself a monument destined to be as enduring as the human race. See Biographie Universelle, xxix. 518, 519. * It is a curious circumstance, which has been demonstrated by a careful examination of the numerous manuscripts which Montesquieu has left, that II. CHAP. is frequently to be met with, and vast erudition is every where conspicuous, yet there is often too great a disposition to trace fanciful analogies, and ascribe remarkable differences in national institutions, rather to accidental or trivial causes, than to great and permanent moving powers of human action-the usual fault of ingenious and philosophic minds, which carry to excess the spirit of generalisation, the foundation of all true political wisdom. Yet, such as it is, this noble work was a prodigious step in the progress of knowledge; it gave birth to a new science, the philosophy of history, of which antiquity had obtained only a few detached glimpses; and to its influence, more perhaps than that of any work of the eighteenth century, is the subsequent direction of human thought and the course of public events to be ascribed.* 39. Influence of Montes quieu on It may seem ungenerous to say of so great a man, that his labours were conducive, along with those of others, in bringing about the French Revolution; and tion. unjust to affirm, that by leading men to think on political subjects, they were instrumental in producing that convulsion yet nothing is more certain than that both effects took place. True it is, indeed, that revolutions are carried into execution, not by those who think, but many of his most profound and original thoughts were suggested by passages in works of imagination, and light and frivolous compositions. Whoever has reflected much on individual or national events, will probably not be surprised at this circumstance, for it is in such productions that the secret springs of the heart, the moving power in all human affairs, unconsciously are brought to light. See Biographie Universelle, xxix. 520. * D'Alembert, in his admirable eulogium on Montesquieu, prefixed to the fifth volume of the Encyclopædia, and since transferred to all the complete editions of his works, has given the following interesting picture of the private character and habits of this great man :-" Il était sensible à la gloire; mais il ne voulait y parvenir qu'en le méritant. Jamais il n'a cherché à augmenter la sienne par ces manœuvres sourdes, par ces voies obscures et honteuses, qui déshonorent la personne sans ajouter au nom de l'auteur. Digne de toutes les distinctions et de toutes les récompenses, il ne demandait rien, et ne s'étonnait point d'être oublié; mais il a osé, dans les circonstances les plus délicates, protéger à la cour des hommes de lettres persécutés, célèbres, et malheureux, et leur obtenir des grâces. Quoiqu'il vécût avec les grands-soit par nécessité, soit par convenance, soit par goût-leur société n'était pas nécessaire à son bonheur. Il fuyait dès qu'il pouvait à sa terre; il y retrouvait avec joie sa philosophie, ses livres, et le repos. Entouré des gens de la campagne, dans ses II. by those who do not think on human affairs; but the CHAP. physical strength of the greatest number is ever directed by the intellect of a few; and the spring of the ideas of those few is to be found in the recesses of individual thought. Montesquieu's celebrated doctrine, that the principle of government in a monarchy is honour-in a despotism, fear-and in a republic, virtue, though not destitute of foundation, was far too broadly expressed, and proceeded on a most erroneous view of the tendency of unrestrained human conduct. It spread abroad the idea that virtue would be the ruling principle in republics, whereas what Montesquieu meant was, that virtue was its safeguard, its preserving principle and that is undoubtedly true; but he forgot to add what was equally true, that in an advanced state of society, selfishness is its demon, corruption its destroyer, and that, though virtue may be its theory, vice is too often its practice. But that was the great error of the philosophers of the eighteenth century; an error which religion had foretold, and which the French Revolution demonstrated-an undue estimate of the virtue of mankind. It was the error of noble and generous minds, who judge of others by themselves, and are unable to form a conception of that general preva heures de loisir, après avoir étudié l'homme dans le commerce du monde, et dans l'histoire des nations, il l'étudiait encore dans ces âmes simples que la nature seule a instruites, et il y trouvait à apprendre; il conversait gaiement avec eux; il leur trouvait de l'esprit comme Socrate; il paraissait se plaire autant dans leurs entretien que dans les sociétés les plus brillantes, surtout quand il terminait leurs différends, et soulageait leurs peines par ses bienfaits."See Euvres de MONTESQUIEU, vol. i. p. 109, Introduction. What a picture of the greatest man of his age, enjoying retirement, asking nothing, noways surprised at being forgot! He knew courts and ministers well who acted thus after having written the "Esprit des Lois."-Carlyle has well observed, that all governments have a jealousy of their teachers. Many traits in this exquisite portrait will remind the reader of the corresponding features of Sir Walter Scott in Mr Lockhart's admirable Life. But it would have been well for the illustrious novelist if he had practised that economy in his desires and habits, which, without diminishing his numerous deeds of generosity and charity, and leaving him funds sufficient for his numerous travels, enabled Montesquieu to transmit his paternal estate undiminished to his children.-See D'ALEMBERT'S Eloge, p. 111. |