Extract

Enlightenment philosophers on revolutionary regeneration The year was 1758. France was embroiled in the murderous Seven Years War and was experiencing a short but severe political crisis. Criticism of the despotic rule of Louis XV was growing louder. In this very year the aristocrat and former diplomat, Gabriel Mably, wrote a treatise entitled Concerning the Rights & Du- ties of the Citizen, which, for the time being, would remain in his desk drawer. It is a report based on confidential conversations between a Frenchman and an English Lord, who argues that the French need not live in fear of revolution (al- ternatively, the term civil war is used). At first the Frenchman resists the Eng- lishman’s arguments, but eventually he is convinced. Revolution – Mably wrote – shakes the soul of man, but it also builds courage. “The People are never stronger, never happier, never more serious than they are after the shock of civil war. The Corsicans seem to have risen up as a new nation since their love of liberty dictated that they take up arms.” As a result of such revo- lutionary shocks, “the horizon expands, talents multiply, and dignity and pride grow in the souls of man.” Mably continued: “Absolute authority emboldens scoundrels and morons; it is so easy to achieve success by not thinking or doing anything good. If only the scene would change, then we could easily become a people of great spirit and integrity, or at least our efforts to achieve those traits, rather than being...