Pnewtext-04. qxd

Rousseau literally, the legislator begins by decreeing the end for
which the commonwealth has come into being.  Once this is
determined, the government has only to direct the physical and
moral forces of the nation toward that end. Meanwhile, the
inhabitants of the nation are to remain completely passive. And
according to the teachings of Billaud-Varennes, the people
should have no prejudices, no affections, and no desires except
those authorized by the legislator. He even goes so far as to say
that the inflexible austerity of one man is the foundation of a
republic.
In cases where the alleged evil is so great that ordinary gov-
ernmental procedures cannot cure it, Mably recommends a dic-
tatorship to promote virtue: “Resort,” he says, “to an extraordi-
nary tribunal with considerable powers for a short time. The
imagination of the citizens needs to be struck a hard blow.” This
doctrine has not been forgotten. Listen to Robespierre:
The principle of the republican government is
virtue, and the means required to establish virtue is
terror. In our country we desire to substitute morality
for selfishness, honesty for honor, principles for cus-
toms, duties for manners, the empire of reason for
the tyranny of fashion, contempt of vice for contempt
of poverty, pride for insolence, greatness of soul for
vanity, love of glory for love of money, good people
for good companions, merit for intrigue, genius for
wit, truth for glitter, the charm of happiness for the
54
pNEWTEXT-04.qxd  7/13/2004  11:35 AM  Page 54

---

boredom of pleasure, the greatness of man for the lit-
tleness of the great, a generous, strong, happy people
for a good-natured, frivolous, degraded people; in
short, we desire to substitute all the virtues and mir-
acles of a republic for all the vices and absurdities of
a monarchy. 
Dictatorial Arrogance
At what a tremendous height above the rest of mankind
does Robespierre here place himself! And note the arrogance
with which he speaks. He is not content to pray for a great
reawakening of the human spirit. Nor does he expect such a
result from a well-ordered government. No, he himself will
remake mankind, and by means of terror.
This mass of rotten and contradictory statements is
extracted from a discourse by Robespierre in which he aims to
explain the principles of morality which ought to guide a revolu-
tionary government. Note that Robespierre’s request for dicta-
torship is not made merely for the purpose of repelling a foreign
invasion or putting down the opposing groups. Rather he wants
a dictatorship in order that he may use terror to force upon the
country his own principles of morality. He says that this act is
only to be a temporary measure preceding a new constitution.
But in reality, he desires nothing short of using terror to extin-
guish from France selfishness, honor, customs, manners, fashion,
vanity, love of money, good companionship, intrigue, wit, sensu-
55
pNEWTEXT-04.qxd  7/13/2004  11:35 AM  Page 55

---

ousness, and poverty. Not until he, Robespierre, shall have
accomplished these miracles, as he so rightly calls them, will he
permit the law to reign again.*
The Indirect Approach to Despotism
Usually, however, these gentlemen—the reformers, the
legislators, and the writers on public affairs do not desire to
impose direct despotism upon mankind. Oh no, they are too
moderate and philanthropic for such direct action.  Instead, they
turn to the law for this despotism, this absolutism, this omnipo-
tence. They desire only to make the laws.
To show the prevalence of this queer idea in France, I
would need to copy not only the entire works of Mably, Raynal,
Rousseau, and Fenelon—plus long extracts from Bossuet and
Montesquieu—but also the entire proceedings of the Conven-
tion. I shall do no such thing; I merely refer the reader to them.
Napoleon Wanted Passive Mankind
It is, of course, not at all surprising that this same idea
should have greatly appealed to Napoleon. He embraced it
56
*At this point in the original French text, Mr. Bastiat pauses and speaks
thusly to all do- gooders and would-be rulers of mankind: “Ah, you miserable
creatures! You who think that you are so great! You who judge humanity to be
so small! You who wish to reform everything! Why don’t you reform your-
selves? That task would be sufficient enough.”
pNEWTEXT-04.qxd  7/13/2004  11:35 AM  Page 56

---

ardently and used it with vigor. Like a chemist, Napoleon con-
sidered all Europe to be material for his experiments. But, in
due course, this material reacted against him.
At St. Helena, Napoleon—greatly disillusioned—seemed
to recognize some initiative in mankind. Recognizing this, he
became less hostile to liberty. Nevertheless, this did not prevent
him from leaving this lesson to his son in his will: “To govern is
to increase and spread morality, education, and happiness.”
After all this, it is hardly necessary to quote the same opin-
ions from Morelly, Babeuf, Owen, Saint-Simon, and Fourier.
Here are, however, a few extracts from Louis Blanc’s book on
the organization of labor: “In our plan, society receives its
momentum from power.”
Now consider this: The impulse behind this momentum is
to be supplied by the plan of Louis Blanc; his plan is to be forced
upon society; the Society referred to is the human race. Thus the
human race is to receive its momentum from Louis Blanc.
Now it will be said that the people are free to accept or to
reject this plan. Admittedly, people are free to accept or to reject
advice from whomever they wish. But this is not the way in
which Mr. Louis Blanc understands the matter. He expects that
his plan will be legalized, and thus forcibly imposed upon the
people by the power of the law:
In our plan, the state has only to pass labor laws
(nothing else?) by means of which industrial progress
can and must proceed in complete liberty. The state
merely places society on an incline (that is all?). Then
57
pNEWTEXT-04.qxd  7/13/2004  11:35 AM  Page 57

---