The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Introduction
• A Thinker For Our Times: Madame De Staël, Her Life and Works
• Life of Madame De Staël
• Works of Madame De Staël
• Madame De Staël and Napoléon
• The Ideas of Considerations
• The Reception of Considerations
• Madame De Staël and America
• Note On the Present Edition
• Considerations On the Principal Events of the French Revolution
• Notice By the Editors 1
• Advertisement of the Author
• Part I
• Chapter I: General Reflections.
• Chapter II: Considerations On the History of France.
• Chapter III: On the State of Public Opinion In France At the Accession of Louis XVI.
• Chapter IV: Of the Character of M. Necker As a Public Man.
• Chapter V: M. Necker’s Plans of Finance.
• Chapter VI: M. Necker’s Plans of Administration.
• Chapter VII: Of the American War.
• Chapter VIII: M. Necker’s Retirement From Office In 1781.
• Chapter IX: The Circumstances That Led to the Assembling of the Estates General.—ministry of M. De Calonne.
• Chapter X: Sequel of the Preceding.—ministry of the Archbishop of Toulouse.
• Chapter XI: Did France Possess a Constitution Before the Revolution? 1
• Chapter XII: On the Recall of M. Necker In 1788.
• Chapter XIII: Conduct of the Last Estates General, Held At Paris In 1614.
• Chapter XIV: The Division of the Estates General Into Orders.
• Chapter XV: What Was the Public Feeling of Europe At the Time of Convening the Estates General?
• Chapter XVI: Opening of the Estates General On the 5th of May, 1789.
• Chapter XVII: Of the Resistance of the Privileged Orders to the Demands of the Third Estate In 1789.
• Chapter XVIII: Conduct of the Third Estate During the First Two Months of the Session of the Estates General.
• Chapter XIX: Means Possessed By the Crown In 1789 of Opposing the Revolution.
• Chapter XX: The Royal Session of 23d June, 1789.
• Chapter XXI: Events Caused By the Royal Session of 23d June, 1789.
• Chapter XXII: Revolution of the 14th of July (1789).
• Chapter XXIII: Return of M. Necker.
• Part Ii
• Chapter I: Mirabeau.
• Chapter II: Of the Constituent Assembly After the 14th of July.
• Chapter III: General La Fayette.
• Chapter IV: Of the Good Effected By the Constituent Assembly.
• Chapter V: Liberty of the Press, and State of the Police, During the Time of the Constituent Assembly.
• Chapter VI: Of the Different Parties Conspicuous In the Constituent Assembly.
• Chapter VII: Of the Errors of the Constituent Assembly In Matters of Administration.
• Chapter VIII: Of the Errors of the National Assembly In Regard to the Constitution.
• Chapter IX: Efforts Made By M. Necker With the Popular Party In the Constituent Assembly to Induce It to Establish the English Constitution In France.
• Chapter X: Did the English Government Give Money to Foment Troubles In France?
• Chapter XI: Events of the 5th and 6th of October, 1789.
• Chapter XII: The Constituent Assembly At Paris.
• Chapter XIII: Of the Decrees of the Constituent Assembly In Regard to the Clergy.
• Chapter XIV: Of the Suppression of Titles of Nobility.
• Chapter XV: Of the Royal Authority As It Was Established By the Constituent Assembly.
• Chapter XVI: Federation of 14th July, 1790.
• Chapter XVII: Of the State of Society In Paris During the Time of the Constituent Assembly.
• Chapter XVIII: The Introduction of Assignats, and Retirement of M. Necker.
• Chapter XIX: State of Affairs and of Political Parties In the Winter of 1790–91.
• Chapter XX: Death of Mirabeau.
• Chapter XXI: Departure of the King On the 21st of June, 1791.
• Chapter XXII: Revision of the Constitution.
• Chapter XXIII: Acceptance of the Constitution, Called the Constitution of 1791.
• Part Iii
• Chapter I: On the Emigration.
• Chapter II: Prediction of M. Necker On the Fate of the Constitution of 1791.
• Chapter III: Of the Different Parties Which Composed the Legislative Assembly.
• Chapter IV: Spirit of the Decrees of the Legislative Assembly.
• Chapter V: Of the First War Between France and Europe.
• Chapter VI: Of the Means Employed In 1792 to Establish the Republic.
• Chapter VII: Anniversary of 14th July Celebrated In 1792.
• Chapter VIII: Manifesto of the Duke of Brunswick.
• Chapter IX: Revolution of the 10th of August, 1792—overthrow of the Monarchy.
• Chapter X: Private Anecdotes.
• Chapter XI: The Foreign Troops Driven From France In 1792.
• Chapter XII: Trial of Louis XVI.
• Chapter XIII: Charles I and Louis XVI.
• Chapter XIV: War Between France and England. Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox.
• Chapter XV: Of Political Fanaticism.
• Chapter XVI: Of the Government Called the Reign of Terror.
• Chapter XVII: The French Army During the Reign of Terror; the Federalists and La Vendée.
• Chapter XVIII: Of the Situation of the Friends of Liberty Out of France During the Reign of Terror.
• Chapter XIX: Fall of Robespierre, and Change of System In the Government.
• Chapter XX: Of the State of Minds At the Moment When the Directorial Republic Was Established In France.
• Chapter XXI: Of the Twenty Months During Which the Republic Existed In France, From November 1795 to the 18th of Fructidor (4th of September) 1797.
• Chapter XXII: Two Singular Predictions Drawn From the History of the Revolution, By M. Necker.
• Chapter XXIII: Of the Army of Italy.
• Chapter XXIV: Of the Introduction of Military Government Into France By the Occurrences of the 18th of Fructidor.
• Chapter XXV: Private Anecdotes.
• Chapter XXVI: Treaty of Campo Formio In 1797. Arrival of General Bonaparte At Paris.
• Chapter XXVII: Preparations of General Bonaparte For Proceeding to Egypt. His Opinion On the Invasion of Switzerland.
• Chapter XXVIII: The Invasion of Switzerland.
• Chapter XXIX: Of the Termination of the Directory.
• Part Iv
• Chapter I: News From Egypt: Return of Bonaparte.
• Chapter II: Revolution of the 18th of Brumaire.
• Chapter III: Of the Establishment of the Consular Constitution.
• Chapter IV: Progress of Bonaparte to Absolute Power.
• Chapter V: Should England Have Made Peace With Bonaparte At His Accession to the Consulate?
• Chapter VI: Of the Solemn Celebration of the Concordat At Nôtre-dame.
• Chapter VII: M. Necker’s Last Work Under the Consulship of Bonaparte.
• Chapter VIII: Of Exile.
• Chapter IX: Of the Last Days of M. Necker.
• Chapter X: Abstract of M. Necker’s Principles On Government.
• Chapter XI: Bonaparte Emperor. the Counter-revolution Effected By Him.
• Chapter XII: Of the Conduct of Napoléon Toward the Continent of Europe.
• Chapter XIII: Of the Means Employed By Bonaparte to Attack England.
• Chapter XIV: On the Spirit of the French Army.
• Chapter XV: Of the Legislation and Administration Under Bonaparte.
• Chapter XVI: Of Literature Under Bonaparte.
• Chapter XVII: A Saying of Bonaparte Printed In the Moniteur.
• Chapter XVIII: On the Political Doctrine of Bonaparte.
• Chapter XIX: Intoxication of Power; Reverses and Abdication of Bonaparte.
• Part V *
• Chapter I: Of What Constitutes Legitimate Royalty.
• Chapter II: Of the Political Doctrine of Some French Emigrants and Their Adherents.
• Chapter III: Of the Circumstances That Render the Representative Government At This Time More Necessary In France Than In Any Other Country.
• Chapter IV: Of the Entry of the Allies Into Paris, and the Different Parties Which Then Existed In France.
• Chapter V: Of the Circumstances Which Accompanied the First Return of the House of Bourbon In 1814.
• Chapter VI: Of the Aspect of France and of Paris During Its First Occupation By the Allies.
• Chapter VII: Of the Constitutional Charter Granted By the King In 1814.
• Chapter VIII: Of the Conduct of the Ministry During the First Year of the Restoration.
• Chapter IX: Of the Obstacles Which Government Encountered During the First Year of the Restoration.
• Chapter X: Of the Influence of Society On Political Affairs In France.
• Chapter XI: Of the System Which Ought to Have Been Followed In 1814, to Maintain the House of Bourbon On the Throne of France.
• Chapter XII: What Should Have Been the Conduct of the Friends of Liberty In 1814?
• Chapter XIII: Return of Bonaparte.
• Chapter XIV: Of the Conduct of Bonaparte On His Return.
• Chapter XV: Of the Fall of Bonaparte.
• Chapter XVI: Of the Declaration of Rights Proclaimed By the Chamber of Representatives, 5th of July, 1815.
• Part Vi
• Chapter I: Are Frenchmen Made to Be Free?
• Chapter II: Cursory View of the History of England.
• Chapter III: Of the Prosperity of England, and the Causes By Which It Has Been Hitherto Promoted.
• Chapter IV: Of Liberty and Public Spirit Among the English.
• Chapter V: Of Knowledge, Religion, and Morals Among the English.
• Chapter VI: Of Society In England, and of Its Connection With Social Order.
• Chapter VII: Of the Conduct of the English Government Outside of England.
• Chapter VIII: Will Not the English Hereafter Lose Their Liberty?
• Chapter IX: Can a Limited Monarchy Have Other Foundations Than That of the English Constitution?
• Chapter X: Of the Influence of Arbitrary Power On the Spirit and Character of a Nation.
• Chapter XI: Of the Mixture of Religion With Politics.
• Chapter XII: Of the Love of Liberty.

CHAPTER X

Abstract of M. Necker’s Principles on Government.

It has been often said that religion is necessary for the people; and I think it easy to prove that men of an exalted rank have still more need of it. The same is true of morality in its connections with politics. Men have never been weary of repeating that it suits individuals, and not nations; the truth, on the contrary, is that it is to the government of states that fixed principles are especially applicable. As the existence of this or that individual is fleeting and transitory, it sometimes happens that a bad action is useful to him for the moment in a conjuncture where his personal interest is compromised; but as nations are durable, they cannot disregard the general and permanent laws of intellectual order without proceeding to their ruin. The injustice which may be advantageous to one man by way of exception is always injurious to successions of men, whose lot must necessarily fall under the general rule. But the circumstance which has given some currency to the infernal maxim which places politics above morality is that the leaders of the state have been confounded with the state itself. These chiefs have often experienced that it was more convenient and advantageous for them to extricate themselves at any price from a present difficulty; and they have drawn out into principles the measures to which their selfishness or their incapacity induced them to have recourse. A man embarrassed in his affairs would willingly establish the theory that borrowing at interest is the best financial system which can be adopted. Now immorality of every kind is also borrowing at interest; it saves for the moment and ruins later.

M. Necker, during his first ministry, was not in a situation to think of the establishment of a representative government. In proposing courts of provincial administration, he wished to set a limit to the power of ministers and to give influence to enlightened men and rich proprietors in all parts of France. M. Necker’s first maxim in government was to avoid arbitrary power and to limit the action of the ministry in everything that was not necessary to the maintenance of order. A minister who wishes to do everything, to order everything, and who is jealous of power as a personal enjoyment, is fit for courts but not for nations. A man of genius, when such a man finds himself by chance at the head of public affairs, should try to render himself useless. Good institutions embody and establish those lofty ideas which no individual, whoever he may be, can put in action for more than a short time.

To hatred of arbitrary power M. Necker joined great respect for opinion and a deep interest for that abstract, yet real being called the people, which has not ceased to be the object of pity, though it has shown itself to be formidable. He believed it was necessary to secure to the people knowledge and comfort, two inseparable blessings. He did not wish to sacrifice the nation to privileged casts; but he was at the same time of the opinion that ancient customs should be dealt with gently on account of new circumstances. He believed in the necessity of distinctions in society, that the rudeness of power might be diminished by the voluntary ascendancy of consideration; but aristocracy, according to his conception, was an institution intended to excite the emulation of all men of merit.

M. Necker hated wars of ambition, estimated very highly the resources of France, and believed that such a country, governed by the wisdom of a true national representation and not by the intrigues of courtiers, had nothing to desire or fear in the middle of Europe.

However beautiful, it will be said, the doctrine of M. Necker might be, it has not succeeded, and therefore was not adapted to men as they are. An individual may not obtain from heaven the favor of aiding the triumph of the truths which he proclaims; but are they the less truths on that account? Though Galileo was thrown into prison, have not the laws of nature discovered by him been since universally acknowledged? Morality and freedom are as certainly the only bases of the happiness and dignity of the human race as the system of Galileo is the true theory of the celestial motions.

Consider the power of England: whence does it proceed? from her virtues and her constitution. Suppose for a moment that this island, now so prosperous, were all at once deprived of her laws, of her public spirit, of the freedom of the press, of her parliament, which derives its strength from the people and gives them back its own in return, how her fields would be dried up! How her harbors would be forsaken! The very agents of arbitrary power, unable any longer to obtain their subsidies from a country without credit and without patriotism, would regret the liberty which for so long a time had at least supplied them with treasures.

The misfortunes of the Revolution resulted from the unreflecting resistance of the privileged ranks to what reason and force demanded; this question is still debated after twenty-seven years. The dangers of the struggle are lessened because the parties are weaker, but its issue will be the same.1 M. Necker disdained Machiavellianism in politics, quackery in finances, and arbitrary power in government. He thought that the highest talent consisted in bringing society into harmony with the immutable though silent laws to which the Divinity has subjected human nature. On this ground he may be attacked: for it is the ground on which, if he were alive, he would still place himself.

He did not plume himself on that kind of talent which is requisite to constitute the leader of a faction or a despot; he had too much order in his understanding, and too much peace in his soul, to be fit for those great irregularities of nature which swallow up the age and the country in which they appear. But if he had been born an Englishman, I say with pride that no minister would ever have surpassed him; for he was a firmer friend to liberty than Mr. Pitt, more austere than Mr. Fox, and not less eloquent, not less energetic, nor less penetrated with the dignity of the state than Lord Chatham. Ah! why was he not permitted, like that nobleman, to utter his last words in the senate of his country, in the midst of a nation which can judge, which can be grateful, and whose enthusiasm, far from being the presage of slavery, is the recompense of virtue!

In the meantime, let us return to the examination of that political personage who forms the most complete contrast to the principles which we have just sketched; and let us see whether Bonaparte himself does not help to prove the truth of those principles, which alone could have maintained him in power and preserved the glory of the French name.

[1. ] The political context of the first years of the Bourbon Restoration (1814–16) was marked by heated controversies in the (in)famous Chambre introuvable, dominated by the ultraconservatives. The newly elected chamber provided an open arena for vigorous political debates among partisans of the Old Regime, supporters of constitutional monarchy and representative government, and those who wanted to continue the Revolution. The legacy of the French Revolution made the entire situation extremely complex, for the country had witnessed not only the “noble” moment of 1789 that marked the fall of absolute monarchy of divine right, but also the dark moment of the Terror of 1793–94. Hence, in reopening the debate over the legitimacy of the principles of 1789, the Restoration had to come to terms with the violent episodes of the French Revolution. For more information, see Craiutu, Liberalism Under Siege, chaps. 2–3, 7–9; and Berthier de Sauvigny, The Bourbon Restoration, pt. I, chaps. 1–5; part II, chaps. 2–6; pt. III, chaps. 3, 5.