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Subject Area: Political Theory
Debate: The Debate about the French Revolution

TRANSLATION. - Richard Price, A Discourse on the Love of Our Country [1789]

Edition used:

A Discourse on the Love of Our Country, delivered on Nov. 4, 1789, at the Meeting-House in the Old Jewry, to the Society for Commemorating the Revolution in Britain. With an Appendix. Second edition (London: T. Cadell, 1789).

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TRANSLATION.

Gentlemen,

AS nothing is more flattering to the National Assembly of France than your approbation of its proceedings, so nothing at the same time is more proper than your judgment to secure the success of them. It must be owned, Gentlemen, that in politics as in philosophy, you are the instructors and examples of the whole world. It is among you, yes, it is in your favoured isle, that liberty every where attacked and trampled upon by despotism has found a sacred asylum, and if France should obtain that invaluable blessing, she will perhaps be more indebted for it to your nation than to herself; for if we had not been encouraged by your example, and enlightened by your experience, we might yet perhaps have been unable to break those chains under which we were bowed down, and we should still have groaned under that odious yoke (the empire of prejudices and superstition) which tyrannizes over and cramps the faculties of man, enslaves his mind, and degrades his nature.

Your noble conduct towards the French nation demands both our respect and gratitude, and at the same time demonstrates to all Europe, that jealousy, unjust rivalship, and base passions are incapable of finding access to the exalted minds of philosophers, friends of liberty.

Accept the particular thanks of an association of men, admirers of your generosity; and be persuaded of the sentiments of respect with which we have the honour to be,

Gentlemen,
Your very humble and very obedient servants,
The Members of the Patriotic Union of the
Town and Castle Ward of Lille.

C. Jacquerye,
Secretary.

Lille, 26 Nov. 1789.

It will be astonishing if any person, who has within him a spark of zeal for liberty and human happiness, should be able to read these papers without delight. They prove the truth of the observation in the note, p. 30. We see in them (to use the language of the excellent Duke de Rochefoucauld) the dawn of a glorious day—of a day when (should sentiments congenial to those in France prevail in Britain) two nations at the head of the world, convinced of the folly of wars and laying aside all jealousies, shall embrace one another, and form a fraternal and intimate union, not for the vile purposes of avarice and conquest, but to spread the knowledge of human rights, to extend the blessings of justice and liberty, and to promote peace on earth and good will among men.

The following answers to these communications have been ordered by the Revolution Society:

Note in answer to the Archbishop ofAix’sLetter.

The members of the Revolution Society in London request the Archbishop of Aix’s acceptance of their best thanks for the letter which he has directed to Earl Stanhope their Chairman, and for conveying to them the Vote of the National Assembly of France. They could scarcely have received a higher satisfaction than has been given them by the Archbishop’s letter, and the condescending notice with which the National Assembly has been pleased to honour their Congratulatory Address. They feel particularly the justice which this august assembly has done them, by imputing their address to the influence of those principles of universal benevolence which ought in all countries to bind together the friends of human liberty and happiness. Their hearts are warmed with these principles; and they desire nothing so earnestly as that the time may soon come when they shall so possess every human heart as to put an end to all jealousies between nations, exterminate oppression and slavery, and cause wars, those dreadful errors of governments, to cease in all the earth. They exult in the prospect of such a time, which seems to be opening, and with which the proceedings of the National Assembly of France promise to bless mankind.

The Revolution Society cannot avoid taking this occasion to add, that among the important benefits of the Revolution in France, they reckon its tendency to afford a salutary instruction to Kings. They learn with pleasure that the People of France are happy in a King who has encouraged them by his virtues in recovering their rights, and been on this account justly crowned with the title of the Restorer of French Liberty. This elevates him to the highest pinnacle of glory. The despots of the world must now see their folly. This example must shew them that they can never be so great or happy, or truly powerful, as by renouncing despotic power, and being placed (like the Kings of France and England) at the head of an enlightened people and free constitutions of government?

Signed by Earl Stanhope, in the name of the Society.

Letter in answer to the Letter from the Patriotic Society at Dijon.

To Mr. l’AbbéVolfius,President of the Patriotic Society atDijon.

SIR,

THE Revolution Society in London have received with the highest pleasure the Resolution of Thanks which you have transmitted to them from the Patriotic Club at Dijon. They are delighted with the Speech of Mr. Navier; and they concur heartily in the wishes expressed by him, and the other members of the Patriotic Club, of a Fraternal Union between this country and theirs. Among the benefits of the revolution in France they reckon its tendency to produce such an union, founded on a common participation in the blessings of liberty, and an extension of those principles of justice and reverence for human rights which are now guiding the proceedings of the National Assembly of France, and making them a glorious example to the world.

Such without doubt will be the issue of this revolution, should that ardor of universal benevolence which the members of the Revolution Society in London feel in their own hearts, possess the hearts of all their countrymen.

May Heaven bless the world with an union so desirable, and suffer no partial interests or popular violences to prevent the citizens of France from enjoying all the blessings that can be derived from a wise, and equitable, and free constitution of government!

Under a grateful sense of the attention with which the Society of which you are President has honoured the Revolution Society, and with the greatest respect, I am, Sir, &c.

Signed by Earl Stanhope, Chairman,
in the name of the Society.

Letter in answer to the Letter from the Members of the Patriotic Union of the Town ofLisle.

To the Members of the Patriotic Union of the Town of Liste.

Gentlemen,

ACCEPT our gratitude for the very obliging letter with which you have honoured us. Our Congratulatory Address to the National Assembly of France was derived from the warmest zeal in the general cause of liberty and human happiness; and we have been highly gratified by the favourable manner in which it has been received. Considering ourselves more as citizens of the world than as members of any particular community, we cannot but rejoice in every event by which this sacred cause gains a triumph over arbitrary power and oppression. The late revolution in your country is an event of this kind wonderful and unparalleled. It was not possible we should hear of it without the liveliest feelings of delight and exultation; nor could we, without doing violence to ourselves, avoid expressing these feelings, and aspiring to the honour of being known to the people of France, and acquainting them with our admiration of them as an enlightened people, who with a spirit and unanimity never before known in so vast a kingdom, and that seemed like an inspiration from heaven, had shaken off the odious yoke of despotism, asserted and recovered the rights of men, and made themselves joint partakers with us in the invaluable blessings of civil and religious liberty.

We cannot help adding on this occasion, that we admire the liberality of the members of the Patriotic Union of Lisle in ascribing the deliverance of France to the example of England; and that it is with pleasure we reflect that an acknowledgment so candid and generous is not altogether without foundation. Britain has undoubtedly ever since the æra of its own Revolution been a most distinguished and favoured kingdom, and held out to the world an example of national dignity and happiness derived from the possession of liberty, which has instructed other kingdoms. But our regard to truth requires us, at the same time that we thus boast, to acknowledge that now the time seems to be arrived when we shall lose this honourable distinction. France is taking the lead; and Britain will be left behind, if not provoked by the example of France to correct abuses that are every day growing more palpable; and, in particular, to substitute for its present partial and imperfect representation such an equal and pure representation as our brethren in France are likely to enjoy.

With sentiments of the warmest esteem, we are,
Gentlemen,
Your most obedient and humble Servants,

The Members of the
Revolution Society in London.