Econlib

The Library

Other Sites

 Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow TO THE COMTE DE CIRCOURT. - Memoir, Letters, and Remains of Alexis de Tocqueville, vol. 2

Return to Title Page for Memoir, Letters, and Remains of Alexis de Tocqueville, vol. 2

Search this Title:

Also in the Library:

Subject Area: Political Theory

TO THE COMTE DE CIRCOURT. - Alexis de Tocqueville, Memoir, Letters, and Remains of Alexis de Tocqueville, vol. 2 [1861]

Edition used:

Memoir, Letters, and Remains of Alexis de Tocqueville. Translated from the French by the translator of Napoleon’s Correspondence with King Joseph. With large Additions. In Two Volumes (London: Macamillan, 1861). 2 vols.

Part of: Memoir, Letters, and Remains of Alexis de Tocqueville, 2 vols.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


TO THE COMTE DE CIRCOURT.

Tocqueville, November 8, 1855.

In the midst of many petty vexations, I was agreeably interrupted, dear M. de Circourt, by your letter telling me of Madame de Circourt’s convalescence. We had been alarmed by the one before. Pray remember us very particularly to the dear invalid, and tell her that we are sincerely anxious for her speedy recovery. I venture to advise her to remain in the country till her strength is completely restored, and even then to resume her Parisian life with moderation. Her real friends will go to see her, and what do the others signify? What are called the duties of society are strange enough. They may be defined as the mutual obligation of civilized beings to tease each other. Who has not one hundred times gone to see a person who wearied you, and whom you wearied, for the purpose of obliging him to come to weary you and himself at your house? Is not this a picture of the world, with the exception of the chosen few whom one cannot meet too often?

Your letters always interest us extremely, and you cannot write too often or too much. What you told me about the bad relations between the allied armies in the Crimea was confirmed to me by a very intelligent young officer, who had just come back.

It seems that neither army can bear the other. Such a result was inevitable. France and England are like two men with incompatible tempers, who, not satisfied with living on good terms with each other, determine to sail round the world in the same vessel. They will be lucky if they return to harbour without a serious quarrel.

Tell me a little about yourself, dear M. de Circourt. Your health seems to me to be bad, and your mind ill at ease; the one leads to the other, as I know but too well. I find it more difficult to recover my spirits than to cure my body—but I often succeed; and I find, on the whole, that as I grow older they become more even. It is true that the world seems to me to fall more and more short of the greatness which once filled my imagination. We are not, however, responsible for its faults or its vices, and for people who have only a short time to spend at the play, the piece is interesting enough.