the origins of contemporary france-4-第36节
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produce the rest。 The object then; is to fashion men capable of
physical; mental or moral labor; the most energetic; the most
persistent; the most skillful and most productive; now; we already
know the conditions of their formation。 It is essential and
sufficient; that the vivacious sources; described above; should flow
there; on the spot; each through its natural outlet; and under the
control of the owner。 On this condition the jet becomes more
vigorous; for the acquired impetus increases the original outflow; the
producer becomes more and more skillful; since 'practice makes
perfect。' Those around him likewise become better workmen; inasmuch as
they find encouragement in his success and avail themselves of his
discoveries。 … Thus; simply because the State respects; and enforces
respect; for these individual sources in private hands; it develops in
individuals; as well as in those around them; the will and the talent
for producing much and well; the faculty for; and desire to; keep on
producing more and better; in other words; all sorts of energies and
capacities; each of its own kind and in its own place; with all
compatible fullness and efficiency。 Such is the office; and the sole
office; of the State; first in relation to the turbid and frigid
springs issuing from selfishness and self…conceit; whose operations
demand its oversight; and next for still stronger reasons; in relation
to the warm and pure springs whose beneficence is unalloyed; as in the
family affections and private friendships; again; in relation to those
rarer and higher springs; such as the love of beauty; the yearning for
truth; the spirit of association; patriotism and love of mankind; and;
finally; for still stronger reasons; in relation to the two most
sacred and salutary of all springs; conscience which renders will
subject to duty; and honor which makes will the support of justice。
Let the State prevent; as well as abstain from; any interference with
either; let this be its object and nothing more; its abstention is as
necessary as its vigilance。 Let it guard both; and it will see
everywhere growing spontaneously; hourly; each in degree according to
conditions of time and place; the most diligent and most competent
workmen; the agriculturist; the manufacturer; the merchant; the
savant; the artist; the inventor; the propagandist; the husband and
wife; the father and mother; the patriot; the philanthropist and the
sister of charity。
On the contrary; if; like our Jacobins; the State seeks to confiscate
every natural force to its own profit; it seeks to make affection for
itself paramount; if it strives to suppress all other passions and
interests; if it tolerates no other preoccupation than that which
concerns the common weal; if it tries to forcibly convert every member
of society into a Spartan or Jesuit; then; at enormous cost; will it
not only destroy private fountains; and spread devastation over the
entire territory; but it will destroy its own fountain…head。 We honor
the State only for the services it renders to us; and proportionately
to these services and the security it affords us; and to the liberty
which it ensures us under the title of universal benefactor; when it
deliberately wounds us through our dearest interests and most tender
affections; when it goes so far as to attack our honor and conscience;
when it becomes the universal wrong…doer; our affection for it; in the
course of time; turns into hatred。 Let this system be maintained; and
patriotism; exhausted; dries up; and; one by one; all other beneficent
springs; until; finally; nothing is visible over the whole country;
but stagnant pools or overwhelming torrents; inhabited by passive
subjects or depredators。 As in the Roman empire in the fourth
century; in Italy in the seventeenth century; in the Turkish provinces
in our own day; naught remains but an ill…conducted herd of stunted;
torpid creatures; limited to their daily wants and animal instincts;
indifferent to the public welfare and to their own prospective
interests; so degenerate as to have lost sight of their own
discoveries; unlearned their own sciences; arts and industries; and;
in short; and worse than all; base; false; corrupted souls entirely
wanting in honor and conscience。 Nothing is more destructive than the
unrestricted meddling of the State; even when wise and paternal; in
Paraguay; under the discipline of Jesuits; so minute in its details;
〃Indian physiognomy appeared like that of animals taken in a trap。〃
They worked; ate; drank and gave birth by sound of bells; under watch
and ward; correctly and mechanically; but showing no liking for
anything; not even for their own existence; being transformed into so
may automatons; at least it may be said is that the means employed to
produce this result were gentle and that they; before their
transformation were mere brutes。 But those who the revolutionary…
Jesuit now undertakes to transform into robots; and by harsh means;
are human beings。
VIII。
Comparison between despotisms。 … Philip II and Louis XIV。 … Cromwell
and Frederick the Great。 … Peter the Great and the Sultans。 …
Relationship between the tasks the Jacobins are to carry out and the
assets at their disposal。 … Disproportion between the burdens they
are to carry and the forces at their disposal。 … Folly of their
undertaking。 … Physical force the only governmental force they
possess。 … They are compelled to exercise it。 … They are compelled
to abuse it。 … Character of their government。 … Character requisite
of their leaders。
Several times; in European history; despotism almost equally harsh
have born down heavily on human effort; but never have any of them
been so thoroughly inept; for none have ever attempted to raise so
heavy a mass with so short a lever。
And to start with; no matter how authoritative the despot might have
been; his intervention was limited。 … Philip II。 burned heretics;
persecuted Moors and drove out Jews; Louis XIV。 forcibly converted
the Protestants; but both used violence only against dissenters; about
a fifteenth or a twentieth of their subjects。 If Cromwell; on
becoming Protector; remained sectarian; and the compulsory servant of
an army of sectarians; he took good care not to impose on other
churches the theology; rites and discipline of his own church;'18' on
the contrary; he repressed fanatical outrages; protected the
Anabaptists as well as his Independents。 He granted paid curates to
the Presbyterians as well as the public exercise of their worship; he
showed the Episcopalians a large tolerance and gave them the right to
worship in private; he maintained the two great Anglican universities
and allowed the Jews to erect a synagogue。 … Frederick II。 drafted
into his army every able…bodied peasant that he could feed; he kept
every man twenty years in the service; under a discipline worse than
slavery; with almost certain prospect of death; and in his last war;
he sacrificed about one sixth of his male subjects;'19' but they were
serfs; and his conscription did not touch the bourgeois class。 He put
his hands in the pockets of the bourgeois and of every other man; and
took every crown they had; when driven to it; he adulterated coin and
stopped paying his functionaries; but; under the scrutiny of his eyes;
always open; the administration was honest; the police effective;
justice exact; toleration unlimited; and the freedom of the press
complete; the king allowed the publication of the most cutting
pamphlets against himself; and their public sale; even at Berlin。 … A
little earlier; in the great empire of the east; Peter the Great;'20'
with whip in hand; lashed his Muscovite bears and made them drill and
dance in European fashion; but were bears accustomed from father to
son to the whip and chain; moreover; he stood as the orthodox head of
their faith; and left their mir (the village commune) untouched。 …
Finally; at the other extremity of Europe; and even outside of Europe;
in the seventh century the caliph; in the fifteenth century a sultan;
a Mahomet or an Omar; a fanatical Arab or brutal Turk; who had just
overcome Christians with the sword; himself assigned the limits of his
own absolutism: if the vanquished were reduced to the condition of
heavily ransomed tributaries and of inferiors daily humiliated; he
allowed them their worship; civil laws and domestic usages; he left
them their institutions; their convents and their schools; he allowed
them to administer the affairs of their own community as they pleased
under the jurisdiction of their patriarch; or other natural
chieftains。 … Thus whatever the tyrant may have been; he did not
attempt to entirely recast Man; nor to subject all his subjects to the
recasting。 However penetrating the tyranny; it stopped in the soul at
a certain point; that point reached; the sentiments were left free。
No matter how co