When it shall be proved
that the earthly interests of a nation may be
promoted by an act of meanness or of injus-
tice, we shall still be equally vile and criminal
in committing it; for the integrity of moral
principles is of more consequence than the
interests of nations.
that the earthly interests of a nation may be
promoted by an act of meanness or of injus-
tice, we shall still be equally vile and criminal
in committing it; for the integrity of moral
principles is of more consequence than the
interests of nations.
Madame de Stael - Germany
i?
?
CHAPTER XII.
Of the moral System, founded upon personal
Interest.
The French writers have been perfectly right
in considering morality founded upon in-
terest, as the consequence of that metaphy-
sical system which attributed all our ideas
to our sensations. If there is nothing in the
soul but what sensation has introduced, the
agreeable, or the disagreeable, ought to be
the sole motive of our volitions. Helvetius,
Didelot, Saint-Lambert, have not deviated
from this direction; and they have explained
all actions (including the devotion of mar-
tyrs) by self-love. The English, who for
the most part profess the experimental phi-
losophy in metaphysics, have yet never
brought themselves to support a moral sys-
tem founded upon interest. Shaftesbury,
Hutcheson, Smith, &c. have declared the
moral sense and sympathy to be"the source
of all virtue. Hume himself, the most
sceptical of the English philosophers,' could
1
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? 176 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
not read without disgust this theory of self-
love, which deformed the beauty of the soul.
Nothing is more opposite than this system
to the whole of their opinions in Germany:
their philosophical and moral writers, in
consequence (at the head of whom we must
place Kant, Fichte, and Jacobi), have com-
bated it with success.
As the tendency of man towards happi-
ness is the most universal and active of all
his inclinations, some have believed that
they built morality on the most solid basis,
when they said it consisted in the right un-
derstanding of our personal interest. This
? idea has misled men of integrity, and others
have purposely abused it, and have only too
well succeeded in that abuse. Doubtless,
the general laws of nature and society make
happiness and virtue harmonize; but their
laws are subject to very numerous exceptions,
and which appear to be more numerous than
they really are.
. By making happiness consist in a quiet
conscience, we elude the arguments drawn
from the prosperity of vice and the misfor-
tunes of virtue; but this inward joy, which
is entirely of a religious kind, has no relation
to that which we designate upon earth by
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? OP THE MORAL SYSTEM, &C. 177
the name of happiness. To call self-devotion
or selfishness, guilt or innocence, our personal
interest, well or ill understood, is to aim at
filling . up that abyss which separates the cri-
minal from the virtuous; is to destroy re-
spect; is to weaken indignation:--for if
morality is nothing but right calculation, he
who wants it can only be accused of a flaw
in his understanding. It is impossible to feel
the noble sentiment of esteem for any one
because he is an accurate accountant; nor an
energetic contempt for him who errs in his
arithmetic. Men have arrived, therefore, by
means of this system, at the principal end of
all the profligate, who wish to put justice
and injustice upon a-le? el,or, at least, to con-
sider both as a game well or ill played:--
the philosophers of this school, accordingly,
more frequently use the word Fault than
Crime; for, in their mode of thinking, there
is nothing in the conduct of life but skilful
or unskilful combinations.
We can form no better conception how
remorse can be admitted into such a system:
-<-the criminal, when he is punished, ought
to feel that sort of regret which is occasioned
by the failure of a speculation; for if our
individual happiness is our principal object,
VOL. III. w
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? 178 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
if we are the only end of ourselves, peace
must soon be restored between these two
near allies--he who has done wrong, and he
who suffers from it. It is a proverb almost
universally admitted, that every one is free
in all that concerns himself alone: now, as
in the moral system, founded upon interest,
self is the only question, I know not what
answer could be returned to such a speech
as the following :--" You give me, as the
11 motive for my actions, my own individual
"benefit--I am much obliged: but the man-
"ner of conceiving what this benefit is,
"necessarily depends upon the variety of
"character. I am courageous; I can there-
"fore risk the dangers attached to an infrac-
"tion of the laws better than another:--I
"am ingenious; therefore I trust to more
"means of escaping punishment:--lastly, if
"it turns out ill, I have sufficient fortitude
"to endure the consequences of having de-
"ceived myself; and I prefer the pleasures
"and the chances of high play to the mo-
"notony of a regular existence. "
How many French works, in the last age,
have commented upon these arguments,
which cannot be completely refuted; for,in
a matter of chance, one out of a thousand is
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? OF THE MORAL SYSTEM, &C. 179
sufficient to rouse the imagination to every
effort for obtaining it ; and, certainly, the
odds are not a thousand to one against the
success of vice. "But" (many of the ho-
nest partisans of the moral system founded
upon interest will say) " this morality does
"not exclude the influence of religion over
"the soul. " How weak and melancholy a
part is left for it! When all the acknow-
ledged philosophical and moral systems are *
contrary to religion--when metaphysics an-
nihilate the belief of what is invisible, and
morals the sacrifice of ourselves, religion re-
mains, in our ideas, as the King remained in
that constitution which was decreed by the
Constituent Assembly; it was a Republic,
with a King; and I say the same of all these
systems of metaphysical materialism and
selfish morality--they are Atheism, with a
God. It is easy, then, to foresee what will
be sacrificed in the construction of out
thoughts, when we only assign a super-
fluous place to the central idea of the world
and of ourselves. . ,
The conduct of man is not truly moral,
excepting when he esteems as nothing the
happy or unhappy consequences of. those
actions which his duty has enjoined him. --
n2
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? 180 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
In directing the affairs of the world, we
must always keep in our minds the con-
nexion of causes and effects, of the means
and the end; but this prudence is to virtue
what good sense is to genius :--all that is
truly beautiful is inspired: all that is dis-
interested is religious. Calculation is the
labourer of genius, the servant of the soul;
but if it becomes the master, there is no
longer any thing grand or noble in man.
Calculation, in the conduct of life, ought
always to be admitted a3 the guide, but
never as the motive of our actions. It is a
good instrument of execution ; but the source
of the will ought to be of a more elevated
nature, and to contain in itself an internal
sentiment which compels us to the sacrifice
of our personal interests.
When an attempt was made to prevent
St. Vincent de Paul from exposing himself
to too great danger, in order to succour the
unfortunate, he replied, "Do you think me
"so base as to prefer my life to myself? "--
If the advocates of the moral system founded
upon interest would retrench from this in-
terest all that concerns earthly existence,
they would then agree with the most reli-
gious men; but still we might reproach them
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? OF THE MORAL SYSTEM, &C. 181
with the faulty expressions in which they
convey their meaning.
"In fact/' it may be said, " this is only
"a dispute about words ; we call useful what
"you call virtuous, but we also place the
"well-understood interest of men in the
"sacrifice of their passions to their duties. "
Disputes about words are always disputes
about things; for every man of honesty will
confess, that he only uses this or that word
from preference for this or that idea. How
should expressions,habitually employed upon
the most vulgar matters, be capable of in-
spiring generous sentiments? When we pro-
nounce the words Interest and Utility, shall
we excite the same thoughts in our hearts, as
when we adjure each other in the name of
Devotion, and of Virtue?
When Sir Thomas More preferred perish-
ing on the scaffold to re-ascending the sum-
mit of greatness, by the sacrifice of a scruple
of conscience; when, after a year's impri-
sonment, enfeebled by suffering, he refused
to return to the wife and children whom he
loved, and to give himself up again to those
mental occupations which confer so much
vivacity, and at the same time so much tran-
quillity upon existence; when honour alone,
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? 182 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
that worldly religion, made an aged King of
France return to an English prison, because
his son had not kept the promises by means
of which he obtained his liberty; when
Christians lived in catacombs, renounced the
light of day, and felt the heavens only in
their souls; if any one had said, " they had
"a right understanding of their interest,"
what an icy chill would have run through
the veins at hearing such a speech, and how
much better would a compassionate look
have revealed to us all that is sublime in
such characters!
No, assuredly, life is not such a withered
thing as selfishness has made it; all is not
prudence, all is not calculation; and when
a sublime action agitates all the powers of
our nature, we do not consider whether the
generous man, who sacrifices himself for a
manifest good purpose, judiciously calculated
his personal interest; we think that he sa-
crifices all the pleasures, all the advantages
of this world ; but that a celestial ray de-
scends into his heart, and excites a happiness
within him, which has no more resemblance
to what we usually adorn with that name,
than immortality has to life.
It was not, however, without a motive,
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? OF THE MORAL SYSTEM, &C. 183
that so much importance has been attached
to this system of morals founded upon per-
sonal interest. Those who support it have
the air of supporting a theory only; and it
is, in fact, a very ingenious contrivance, for
the purpose of rivetting the yoke of every
species. No man, however depraved he may
be, will deny the necessity of morality; for
the very being who is most decidedly defi-
cient in it, would wish to be concerned with
those dupes who maintain it. But what
address was there in fixing upon prudence
as the basis of morality; what an opening it
makes for the ascendency of power over the
transactions of conscience, over all the springs
in the human mind by which events are
regulated!
If calculation ought to preside over every
thing, the actions of men will be judged
according to their success; the man whose
good feelings have been the cause of mis-
fortune, will be justly condemned; the cor-
rupt, but adroit manager, will be justfy
commended. In a word, individuals, only
considering each other as obstacles or instru-
ments, will hate those who impede them,
and will esteem those who serve them, only
as means of their success. Guilt itself has
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? 184 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
more grandeur when it arises from the dis-
order of inflamed passion, than when per-
sonal interest is its object; how then allege
that to be the principle of virtue which
would dishonour vice itself*!
* la Bentham's work on Legislation, published, or rather
illustrated, by M. Dumont, there are several arguments on
the principle of utility, which agree in many respects with the
system of morals founded upon personal interest. The well-
known anecdote of Aristides making the Athenians reject a
project of Themistocles, by simply telling them it was advan-
tageous but unjust, is quoted by M. Dumont; but he refers
the consequences which may be drawn from this trait of
character, as well as many others, to the general utility
admitted by Benthara as the basis of all our duties. The
advantage of each individual, he says, ought to be sacrificed to
the advantage of the whole; and that of the present moment to
futurity, by taking one step in advance: we may confess, that
virtue consists in the sacrifice of time to eternity, and this
sort of calculation will certainly not be condemned by the
advocates for enthusiasm; but whatever effort so superior a
man as M. Dumont may make, he never will be able to render
utility and self-devotion synonymous. He asserts, that plea-
sure and pain are the first motives of human actions; and he
then supposes that the pleasure of noble mind* consists in
voluntarily exposing themselves to the sufferings of real life,
in order to obtain eujoyments of a higher nature. Doubtless,
we may make out of every word a mirror to reflect all ideas;
but, if we are pleased to adhere to the natural signification of
each term, we shall perceive, that the man who is told that his
own happiness ought to be the end of all his actions, will not
be prevented from doing the evil which is expedient for him,
except by the fear or the danger of punishment;--fear, that
passion braves; danger, that ingenuity hopes to escape. Upon
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? OP THE MORAL SYSTEM, &C. 185
what will you found the idea of justice or injustice, it may be
said, if not upon what is useful or hurtful to the greater
number? Justice, as to individual! :, consists in the sacrifice
of themselves to their families; as to families, in their sacrifice
to the state; as to the state, in the respect for certain un-
changeable principles which constitute the happiness and the
safety of the human species. Doubtless, the majority of the
generations of men, in the course of ages, will find their
account in having followed the path of justice; but, in order
to be truly and religiously honest, we ought always to keep in
view the worship of moral beauty, independently of all the
circumstances which may result from it. Utility is neces-
sarily modified by events; virtue ought never to be liable to
this influence.
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? 186 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
CHAPTER XIII.
Of the moral System, founded upon national
Interest.
Not only does the moral system founded upon
personal interest introduce into the mutual
relations of individuals calculations of pru-
dence and selfishness, which banish sympathy,
confidence, and generosity ; but the morals of
public men, of those who act in the name
of nations, must necessarily be perverted by
this system. If it is true that the morals of
individuals may be founded upon their in-
terest, it is because the entire society tends
to order, and punishes those who violate it;
but a nation, and especially a powerful state,
is an isolated existence, to which the laws of
reciprocity cannot be applied. It may be said,
with truth, that at the end of a certain num-
ber of years unjust nations yield to the ha-
tred which their injustice inspires; but se-
veral generations may pass away before these
great crimes are punished; and I know
not how we could convince a statesman,
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? OF THE MOEA1 SYSTEM, &C. 187
under all circumstances, that an action,
blameable in itself, is not useful, and that
political wisdom and morality are ever in ac-
cord :--this point, therefore, is not proved;
and, on the contrary, it is almost a received
axiom, that the two objects cannot be
united.
Nevertheless, what would become of the
human race if morality was nothing but an
old woman's tale, invented to console the
weak, until they become stronger? How
should it be honoured in the private relations
of life, if the government, upon which all
turn their eyes, is allowed to dispense with
it? and how should this not be allowed, if
interest is the foundation of morals? No-
body can deny that there are contingencies,
in which those great masses called empires
(those great masses which are in a state of
nature with relation to each other) find a mo-
mentary advantage in committing an act of
injustice; and what is momentary with re-
gard to nations, is often a whole age.
Kant, in his writings on political morality,
shows, with the greatest force, that no ex-
ception can be admitted in the code of duty.
In short, when we rely upon circumstances
for the justification of an immoral action,
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? 188 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
upon what principle can we stop at this or
that point? Would. not the more impetuous
of our natural passions be of much greater
power than the calculations of reason, if we
admitted public or private interest as an ex-
cuse for injustice?
When, at the most bloody era of the Re-
volution, they wished to authorize all crimes,
they gave their government the name of the
Committee of Public Safety--this was to il-
lustrate the received maxim, that the safety
of the people is the supreme law--the su-
preme law is justice.
When it shall be proved
that the earthly interests of a nation may be
promoted by an act of meanness or of injus-
tice, we shall still be equally vile and criminal
in committing it; for the integrity of moral
principles is of more consequence than the
interests of nations. Individuals, and so-
cieties, are answerable, in the first place,
for that divine inheritance which ought to be
transmitted to the successive generations of
mankind. Loftiness of mind, generosity,
equity, every magnanimous sentiment, in a
word, ought first to be preserved, at our
own expense, and even at the expense of
others; since they, as well as we, are bound
to sacrifice themselves to their sentiments.
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? OF THE MORAL SYSTEM, &C. 189
Injustice always sacrifices one portion of
society to another. According to what
arithmetical calculation is this sacrifice en-
joined? Can the majority dispose of the
minority, if the former only exceeds the
latter by a few voices? The members of one
and the same family, a company of mer-
chants, nobles, ecclesiastics, whatever may
be their numbers, have not the right of
saying that every thing ought to yield to
their several interests: but when any as-
sembly of men, let it be as inconsiderable as
that of the Romans in their origin; when this
assembly, I say, calls itself a nation, then
it should be allowed to do any thing for its
own advantage! This term Nation would
thus become synonymous with that of Legion,
which the devil assumes in the Gospel; but
there is no more reason for giving up the ob-
ligations of duty for the sake of a nation,
than for that of any other collective body of
men. It is not the number of individuals
which constitutes their importance in a moral
point of view. When an innocent person
dies on the scaffold, whole generations attend
to his misfortune; while thousands perish
in a battle without any inquiry after their
fate. Whence arises this astonishing dif-
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? 190 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
ference which men make between an act of
injustice committed against an individual,
and the death of numbers? The cause is, the
importance which all attach to the moral
law; it is of a thousand times more con-
sequence than physical life in the universe,
and in the soul of each of us, which also is
itself an universe.
If we make morality only a calculation of
prudence and wisdom, a species of econo-
mical management, there is something like
energy in not wishing to possess it. A sort
of ridicule attaches to persons of condition,
who still maintain what are called romantic
maxims, fidelity in our engagements, respect
for the rights of individuals, &c. We forgive
these scruples in the case of individuals who
are independent enough to be dupes at their
own expense; but when we consider those
who direct the affairs of nations, there are
circumstances in which they may be blamed
for being just, and have their integrity ob-
jected to them; for if private morals are
founded upon personal interest, there is much
more reason for public morals to be founded
upon national interest; and these morals,
upon occasion, may make a duty of the
greatest crimes: so easy is it to reduce to an
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? OF THE MORAL SYSTEM, &C. 191
absurdity whatever wanders from the simple
grounds of truth. Rousseau said, "that it
44 was not allowable for a nation to purchase
"the most desirable revolution with the
"blood of one innocent person:" these
simple words comprehend all that is true,
sacred, divine, in the destiny of man.
It assuredly was not for the advantages of
this life, to secure some additional enjoyments
to some days of existence, and to delay a
little the death of some dying creatures, that
conscience and religion were bestowed upon
man. It was for this; that beings in posses-
sion of free will might choose justice, and
sacrifice utility; might prefer the future to
the present, the invisible to the visible, and
the dignity of the human species to the mere
preservation of individuals.
Individuals are virtuous when they sacri-
fice their private interest to the general good;
but governments, in their turn, are indivi-
duals, who ought to sacrifice their personal
advantages to the law of duty: if the morals
of statesmen were only founded on the
public good, their morals might lead them
into sin, if not always, at least sometimes;
and a single justified exception would be
sufficient to annihilate all the morality in
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? 192 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
the world; for all true principles are absolute:
if two and two do not make four, the deepest
algebraic computations are absurd; and if,
in theory, there is a single case in which a
man ought not to do his duty, every philoso-
phical and religious maxim is overturned,
and nothing remains but prudence or hy-
pocrisy.
Let me be permitted to adduce the example
of my father, since it is directly applicable
to the point in question. It has been often
repeated, that M. Necker was ignorant of
human nature, because on many occasions
he refused to avail himself of means of cor-
ruption or violence, the advantages of which
were believed to be certain. I may venture
to say, that nobody can read the works of
M. Necker, entitled, "The History of the
<< French Revolution," --" The Executive
"Power in great Governments," &c. without
finding in them enlightened views of the hu-
man heart; and I shall not be contradicted
by any of those who have lived in intimacy
with M. Necker, when I assert, that, not-
withstanding his admirable goodness of dis-
position, he had to guard himself against
a too lively tailent for ridicule, and rather
a severe mode of estimating mediocrity
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? OF THE MORAL SYSTEM, &C. 193
of mind and soul: what he has written
upon the "Happiness of Fools" appears to
me enough to prove it. In a word, as, in
addition to all these qualities, he was emi-
nently a man of wit, nobody surpassed him
in the delicate and profound knowledge of
those with whom he was connected; but he
was determined, by a decision of his con-
science, never to shrink from any conse-
quences whatever, which might result from
an obedience to the commands of duty. We
may judge differently concerning the events
of the French Revolution; but I believe it to
be impossible for an impartial observer to
deny that such a principle, generally adopted,
would have saved France from the misfor-
tunes under which she has groaned, and from,
what is still worse, the example which she
has displayed.
During the most fatal epochs of the reign
of terror, many honest men accepted offices
in the administration, and even in the cri-
minal tribunals, either to do good, or to dimi-
nish the evil which was committed in them;
and all defended themselves by a mode of
reasoning very generally received--that they
prevented a villain from occupying the place
they filled, and thus rendered service to the
vol. in. o
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? 194 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
oppressed. To allow ourselves the use of
bad means for an end which we believe to be
good, is a maxim of conduct singularly vi-
cious in its principle. Men know nothing of
the future, nothing of themselves with re-
spect to the morrow; in every circumstance,
and at every moment, duty is imperative,
and the calculations of wisdom, as to conse-
quences which it may foresee, ought to be
of no account in the estimate of duty. --
What right have those who were the instru-
ments of a seditious authority to keep the
title of honest men, because they committed
unjust actions in a gentle manner? Rude-
ness in the execution of injustice would have
been much better, for the difficulty of sup-
porting it would have increased; and the
most mischievous of all alliances is that of a
sanguinary decree and a polite executioner.
The benevolence we may exercise in de-
tail is no compensation for the evil which we
cause by lending the support of our names to
the party that uses them. We ought to pro-
fess the worship of virtue upon earth, in
order that not only our contemporaries, but
our posterity, may feel its influence. The
ascendency of a brave example endures many
years after the objects of a transitory charity
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? OF THE MORAL SYSTEM, &C. 195
have ceased to exist. The most important
lesson that we can inculcate into man in this
world, and particularly with relation to pub-
lic affairs, is, not . to compromise duty for any
consideration. ?
"When we set about bargaining with cir-
M cumstances, all is lost; for there is nobody
"who cannot plead this excuse. One has a
"wife, childre n, or nephews, who are in need
M of fortunes; others want active employ-
"ment; or allege I know not what virtuous
"pretexts, which all lead to the necessity of
"their having a place, to which money and
"power are attached. Are we not weary of
"these subterfuges, of which the Revolution
"furnished incessant examples? We met
"none but persons who complained of
"having been forced to quit the repose they
"preferred to every thing--that domestic life
"into which they were impatient to return;
"and we were well aware, that these very
"persons had employed their days and nights
"in praying that they might be obliged to
"devote their days and nights to public
"affairs, which could have entirely dispensed
"with their services
* This is the passage which gave the greatest offenck to th<<
Literary Police.
O2
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? 196 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
The ancient lawgivers made it a duty for
the citizens to be concerned in political in-
terests. The Christian religion ought to in-
spire a disposition of entirely another nature;
that of obeying authority, but of keeping
ourselves detached from the affairs of state,
when they may compromise our conscience.
The difference which exists between the an-
cient and modern governments explains this
opposite manner of considering the relations
of men towards their country.
The political science of the ancients was
intimately united with their religion and
morals; the social state Avas a body full of
life. Every individual considered himself as
one of its members. The smallness of states,
the number of slaves, which still further
contracted that of the citizens, all made it a
duty to act for a country which had need of
every one of its children. Magistrates, war-
riors, artists, philosophers, almost the gods
themselves, mingled together upon the pub-
lic arena; and the same men by turns gained
a battle, exhibited a masterpiece of art, gave
laws to their country, or endeavoured to dis-
cover the laws of the universe.
If we make an exception of the very small
number of free governments, the greatness
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? OF THE MORAL SYSTEM, &C. 197
of modern states, and the concentration of
monarchical power, have rendered politics
entirely negative, if we may so express our-
selves. The business is, to prevent one per-
son from annoying another ; and government
is charged with the high 3ort of police, which
permits every one to enjoy the advantages of
peace and social order, while he purchases
this security by reasonable sacrifices. The
divine Lawgiver of mankind, therefore, en-
joined that morality which was most adapted
to the situation of the world under the Roman
empire, when he laid down as a law the pay-
ment of tributes, and submission to govern-
ment in all that duty does not forbid; but
he also recommended a life of privacy in the
strongest manner.
Men who are ever desirous of theorizing
their peculiar inclinations, adroitly confound
ancient and Christian morals. It is neces-
sary, they say (like the ancients), to serve
our country, and to be useful citizens in the
state; it is necessary, they say (like the
Christians), to submit ourselves to power
established by the will of God. It is thus
that a mixture of the system of quietness
with that of action produces a double im-
morality; when, taken singly, they bad
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? 198 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
both claims to respect. The activity of the
Greek and Roman citizens, such as it could
be exercised in a republic, was a noble virtue.
The force of Christian quietness is also a
virtue, and one of great power; for Chris-
tianity, which is accused of weakness, is in-
vincible in its own spirit, that is to say, in
the energy of refusal. But the tricking self-
ishness of ambitious men teaches them the
art of combining opposite arguments; so
that they can meddle with every thing like
Pagans, and submit to every thing like
Christians.
"The universe, my friend, regards not thee,"
is, however, what we may say to all the
universe, phenomena excepted. It would
be a truly ridiculous vanity to assign as a
motive for political activity in all cases, the
pretext of that service which we may render
our country, This sort of usefulness is hardly
ever more than a pompous name, which
covers personal interest.
The art of sophists has always been to
oppose one duty to another. We inces-
santly imagine circumstances in which this
frightful perplexity may exist. The greater
part of dramatic fictions are founded upon it.
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? Of THE MORAL SYSTEM, &C. 199
Yet real life is more simple; we there fre-
quently see virtues opposed to interests - but
perhaps it is true, that no honest man could
ever doubt, on any occasion, what his duty
enjoined. The voice of conscience is so
delicate, that it is easy to stifle it; but
it is so clear, that it is impossible to mis-
take it:
A known maxim contains, under a simple
form, all the theory of morals. "Do what
"you ought, happen what will. " When we
decide, on the contrary, that the probity of
a public man consists in sacrificing every
thing to the temporal advantages of his
nation, then many occasions may be found,
in which we may become immoral by our
morality. This sophism is as contradictory
in its substance as in its form: this would be
to treat virtue as a ^conjectural science,
and as entirely submitted to circumstances
in its application. May God guard the hu-
man heart from such a responsibility! the
light of our understanding is too uncertain,
to enable us to judge of the moment when
the eternal laws of duty may be suspended;
or, rather, this moment does not exist.
If it was once generally acknowledged,
that national interest itself ought to be
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? 200 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
subordinate to those nobler thoughts which
constitute virtue, how would the conscien-
tious man be at his ease! how would every
thing in politics appear clear to him, when,
before, a continual hesitation made him
tremble at every step! It is this very hesi-.
tation which has caused honest men to be
thought incapable of state-affairs; they have
been accused of pusillanimity, of weakness,
of fear; and, on the contrary, those who
have carelessly sacrificed the weak to the
powerful, and their scruples to their interests,
have been called men of an energetic nature.
It is, however, an easy energy which tends
to our own advantage; or, at least, to that
of the ruling faction; for every thing that
is done according to the sense of the multi-
tude invariably partakes of weakness, let it
appear ever so violent.
The race of men, with a loud voice,
demand the sacrifice of every thing to their
interest; and finish by compromising this
interest from the very wish for such a sacri-
fice: but it should now be inculcated into
them, that their happiness itself, which has
been made so general a pretext, is not
sacred, excepting in its compatibility with
morals; for, without morals, of what conse-
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? OF THE MORAL SYSTEM, &C. 201
quence would the whole body be to each
individual? When once we have said that
morals ought to be sacrificed to national in-
terest, we are very liable to contract the
sense of the word Nation from day to day,
and to make it signify at first our own par-
tisans, then our friends, and then our fa-
mily; which is but a decent synonyme for
ourselves.
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CHAPTER XII.
Of the moral System, founded upon personal
Interest.
The French writers have been perfectly right
in considering morality founded upon in-
terest, as the consequence of that metaphy-
sical system which attributed all our ideas
to our sensations. If there is nothing in the
soul but what sensation has introduced, the
agreeable, or the disagreeable, ought to be
the sole motive of our volitions. Helvetius,
Didelot, Saint-Lambert, have not deviated
from this direction; and they have explained
all actions (including the devotion of mar-
tyrs) by self-love. The English, who for
the most part profess the experimental phi-
losophy in metaphysics, have yet never
brought themselves to support a moral sys-
tem founded upon interest. Shaftesbury,
Hutcheson, Smith, &c. have declared the
moral sense and sympathy to be"the source
of all virtue. Hume himself, the most
sceptical of the English philosophers,' could
1
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? 176 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
not read without disgust this theory of self-
love, which deformed the beauty of the soul.
Nothing is more opposite than this system
to the whole of their opinions in Germany:
their philosophical and moral writers, in
consequence (at the head of whom we must
place Kant, Fichte, and Jacobi), have com-
bated it with success.
As the tendency of man towards happi-
ness is the most universal and active of all
his inclinations, some have believed that
they built morality on the most solid basis,
when they said it consisted in the right un-
derstanding of our personal interest. This
? idea has misled men of integrity, and others
have purposely abused it, and have only too
well succeeded in that abuse. Doubtless,
the general laws of nature and society make
happiness and virtue harmonize; but their
laws are subject to very numerous exceptions,
and which appear to be more numerous than
they really are.
. By making happiness consist in a quiet
conscience, we elude the arguments drawn
from the prosperity of vice and the misfor-
tunes of virtue; but this inward joy, which
is entirely of a religious kind, has no relation
to that which we designate upon earth by
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? OP THE MORAL SYSTEM, &C. 177
the name of happiness. To call self-devotion
or selfishness, guilt or innocence, our personal
interest, well or ill understood, is to aim at
filling . up that abyss which separates the cri-
minal from the virtuous; is to destroy re-
spect; is to weaken indignation:--for if
morality is nothing but right calculation, he
who wants it can only be accused of a flaw
in his understanding. It is impossible to feel
the noble sentiment of esteem for any one
because he is an accurate accountant; nor an
energetic contempt for him who errs in his
arithmetic. Men have arrived, therefore, by
means of this system, at the principal end of
all the profligate, who wish to put justice
and injustice upon a-le? el,or, at least, to con-
sider both as a game well or ill played:--
the philosophers of this school, accordingly,
more frequently use the word Fault than
Crime; for, in their mode of thinking, there
is nothing in the conduct of life but skilful
or unskilful combinations.
We can form no better conception how
remorse can be admitted into such a system:
-<-the criminal, when he is punished, ought
to feel that sort of regret which is occasioned
by the failure of a speculation; for if our
individual happiness is our principal object,
VOL. III. w
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? 178 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
if we are the only end of ourselves, peace
must soon be restored between these two
near allies--he who has done wrong, and he
who suffers from it. It is a proverb almost
universally admitted, that every one is free
in all that concerns himself alone: now, as
in the moral system, founded upon interest,
self is the only question, I know not what
answer could be returned to such a speech
as the following :--" You give me, as the
11 motive for my actions, my own individual
"benefit--I am much obliged: but the man-
"ner of conceiving what this benefit is,
"necessarily depends upon the variety of
"character. I am courageous; I can there-
"fore risk the dangers attached to an infrac-
"tion of the laws better than another:--I
"am ingenious; therefore I trust to more
"means of escaping punishment:--lastly, if
"it turns out ill, I have sufficient fortitude
"to endure the consequences of having de-
"ceived myself; and I prefer the pleasures
"and the chances of high play to the mo-
"notony of a regular existence. "
How many French works, in the last age,
have commented upon these arguments,
which cannot be completely refuted; for,in
a matter of chance, one out of a thousand is
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? OF THE MORAL SYSTEM, &C. 179
sufficient to rouse the imagination to every
effort for obtaining it ; and, certainly, the
odds are not a thousand to one against the
success of vice. "But" (many of the ho-
nest partisans of the moral system founded
upon interest will say) " this morality does
"not exclude the influence of religion over
"the soul. " How weak and melancholy a
part is left for it! When all the acknow-
ledged philosophical and moral systems are *
contrary to religion--when metaphysics an-
nihilate the belief of what is invisible, and
morals the sacrifice of ourselves, religion re-
mains, in our ideas, as the King remained in
that constitution which was decreed by the
Constituent Assembly; it was a Republic,
with a King; and I say the same of all these
systems of metaphysical materialism and
selfish morality--they are Atheism, with a
God. It is easy, then, to foresee what will
be sacrificed in the construction of out
thoughts, when we only assign a super-
fluous place to the central idea of the world
and of ourselves. . ,
The conduct of man is not truly moral,
excepting when he esteems as nothing the
happy or unhappy consequences of. those
actions which his duty has enjoined him. --
n2
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? 180 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
In directing the affairs of the world, we
must always keep in our minds the con-
nexion of causes and effects, of the means
and the end; but this prudence is to virtue
what good sense is to genius :--all that is
truly beautiful is inspired: all that is dis-
interested is religious. Calculation is the
labourer of genius, the servant of the soul;
but if it becomes the master, there is no
longer any thing grand or noble in man.
Calculation, in the conduct of life, ought
always to be admitted a3 the guide, but
never as the motive of our actions. It is a
good instrument of execution ; but the source
of the will ought to be of a more elevated
nature, and to contain in itself an internal
sentiment which compels us to the sacrifice
of our personal interests.
When an attempt was made to prevent
St. Vincent de Paul from exposing himself
to too great danger, in order to succour the
unfortunate, he replied, "Do you think me
"so base as to prefer my life to myself? "--
If the advocates of the moral system founded
upon interest would retrench from this in-
terest all that concerns earthly existence,
they would then agree with the most reli-
gious men; but still we might reproach them
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? OF THE MORAL SYSTEM, &C. 181
with the faulty expressions in which they
convey their meaning.
"In fact/' it may be said, " this is only
"a dispute about words ; we call useful what
"you call virtuous, but we also place the
"well-understood interest of men in the
"sacrifice of their passions to their duties. "
Disputes about words are always disputes
about things; for every man of honesty will
confess, that he only uses this or that word
from preference for this or that idea. How
should expressions,habitually employed upon
the most vulgar matters, be capable of in-
spiring generous sentiments? When we pro-
nounce the words Interest and Utility, shall
we excite the same thoughts in our hearts, as
when we adjure each other in the name of
Devotion, and of Virtue?
When Sir Thomas More preferred perish-
ing on the scaffold to re-ascending the sum-
mit of greatness, by the sacrifice of a scruple
of conscience; when, after a year's impri-
sonment, enfeebled by suffering, he refused
to return to the wife and children whom he
loved, and to give himself up again to those
mental occupations which confer so much
vivacity, and at the same time so much tran-
quillity upon existence; when honour alone,
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? 182 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
that worldly religion, made an aged King of
France return to an English prison, because
his son had not kept the promises by means
of which he obtained his liberty; when
Christians lived in catacombs, renounced the
light of day, and felt the heavens only in
their souls; if any one had said, " they had
"a right understanding of their interest,"
what an icy chill would have run through
the veins at hearing such a speech, and how
much better would a compassionate look
have revealed to us all that is sublime in
such characters!
No, assuredly, life is not such a withered
thing as selfishness has made it; all is not
prudence, all is not calculation; and when
a sublime action agitates all the powers of
our nature, we do not consider whether the
generous man, who sacrifices himself for a
manifest good purpose, judiciously calculated
his personal interest; we think that he sa-
crifices all the pleasures, all the advantages
of this world ; but that a celestial ray de-
scends into his heart, and excites a happiness
within him, which has no more resemblance
to what we usually adorn with that name,
than immortality has to life.
It was not, however, without a motive,
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? OF THE MORAL SYSTEM, &C. 183
that so much importance has been attached
to this system of morals founded upon per-
sonal interest. Those who support it have
the air of supporting a theory only; and it
is, in fact, a very ingenious contrivance, for
the purpose of rivetting the yoke of every
species. No man, however depraved he may
be, will deny the necessity of morality; for
the very being who is most decidedly defi-
cient in it, would wish to be concerned with
those dupes who maintain it. But what
address was there in fixing upon prudence
as the basis of morality; what an opening it
makes for the ascendency of power over the
transactions of conscience, over all the springs
in the human mind by which events are
regulated!
If calculation ought to preside over every
thing, the actions of men will be judged
according to their success; the man whose
good feelings have been the cause of mis-
fortune, will be justly condemned; the cor-
rupt, but adroit manager, will be justfy
commended. In a word, individuals, only
considering each other as obstacles or instru-
ments, will hate those who impede them,
and will esteem those who serve them, only
as means of their success. Guilt itself has
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? 184 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
more grandeur when it arises from the dis-
order of inflamed passion, than when per-
sonal interest is its object; how then allege
that to be the principle of virtue which
would dishonour vice itself*!
* la Bentham's work on Legislation, published, or rather
illustrated, by M. Dumont, there are several arguments on
the principle of utility, which agree in many respects with the
system of morals founded upon personal interest. The well-
known anecdote of Aristides making the Athenians reject a
project of Themistocles, by simply telling them it was advan-
tageous but unjust, is quoted by M. Dumont; but he refers
the consequences which may be drawn from this trait of
character, as well as many others, to the general utility
admitted by Benthara as the basis of all our duties. The
advantage of each individual, he says, ought to be sacrificed to
the advantage of the whole; and that of the present moment to
futurity, by taking one step in advance: we may confess, that
virtue consists in the sacrifice of time to eternity, and this
sort of calculation will certainly not be condemned by the
advocates for enthusiasm; but whatever effort so superior a
man as M. Dumont may make, he never will be able to render
utility and self-devotion synonymous. He asserts, that plea-
sure and pain are the first motives of human actions; and he
then supposes that the pleasure of noble mind* consists in
voluntarily exposing themselves to the sufferings of real life,
in order to obtain eujoyments of a higher nature. Doubtless,
we may make out of every word a mirror to reflect all ideas;
but, if we are pleased to adhere to the natural signification of
each term, we shall perceive, that the man who is told that his
own happiness ought to be the end of all his actions, will not
be prevented from doing the evil which is expedient for him,
except by the fear or the danger of punishment;--fear, that
passion braves; danger, that ingenuity hopes to escape. Upon
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? OP THE MORAL SYSTEM, &C. 185
what will you found the idea of justice or injustice, it may be
said, if not upon what is useful or hurtful to the greater
number? Justice, as to individual! :, consists in the sacrifice
of themselves to their families; as to families, in their sacrifice
to the state; as to the state, in the respect for certain un-
changeable principles which constitute the happiness and the
safety of the human species. Doubtless, the majority of the
generations of men, in the course of ages, will find their
account in having followed the path of justice; but, in order
to be truly and religiously honest, we ought always to keep in
view the worship of moral beauty, independently of all the
circumstances which may result from it. Utility is neces-
sarily modified by events; virtue ought never to be liable to
this influence.
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? 186 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
CHAPTER XIII.
Of the moral System, founded upon national
Interest.
Not only does the moral system founded upon
personal interest introduce into the mutual
relations of individuals calculations of pru-
dence and selfishness, which banish sympathy,
confidence, and generosity ; but the morals of
public men, of those who act in the name
of nations, must necessarily be perverted by
this system. If it is true that the morals of
individuals may be founded upon their in-
terest, it is because the entire society tends
to order, and punishes those who violate it;
but a nation, and especially a powerful state,
is an isolated existence, to which the laws of
reciprocity cannot be applied. It may be said,
with truth, that at the end of a certain num-
ber of years unjust nations yield to the ha-
tred which their injustice inspires; but se-
veral generations may pass away before these
great crimes are punished; and I know
not how we could convince a statesman,
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? OF THE MOEA1 SYSTEM, &C. 187
under all circumstances, that an action,
blameable in itself, is not useful, and that
political wisdom and morality are ever in ac-
cord :--this point, therefore, is not proved;
and, on the contrary, it is almost a received
axiom, that the two objects cannot be
united.
Nevertheless, what would become of the
human race if morality was nothing but an
old woman's tale, invented to console the
weak, until they become stronger? How
should it be honoured in the private relations
of life, if the government, upon which all
turn their eyes, is allowed to dispense with
it? and how should this not be allowed, if
interest is the foundation of morals? No-
body can deny that there are contingencies,
in which those great masses called empires
(those great masses which are in a state of
nature with relation to each other) find a mo-
mentary advantage in committing an act of
injustice; and what is momentary with re-
gard to nations, is often a whole age.
Kant, in his writings on political morality,
shows, with the greatest force, that no ex-
ception can be admitted in the code of duty.
In short, when we rely upon circumstances
for the justification of an immoral action,
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? 188 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
upon what principle can we stop at this or
that point? Would. not the more impetuous
of our natural passions be of much greater
power than the calculations of reason, if we
admitted public or private interest as an ex-
cuse for injustice?
When, at the most bloody era of the Re-
volution, they wished to authorize all crimes,
they gave their government the name of the
Committee of Public Safety--this was to il-
lustrate the received maxim, that the safety
of the people is the supreme law--the su-
preme law is justice.
When it shall be proved
that the earthly interests of a nation may be
promoted by an act of meanness or of injus-
tice, we shall still be equally vile and criminal
in committing it; for the integrity of moral
principles is of more consequence than the
interests of nations. Individuals, and so-
cieties, are answerable, in the first place,
for that divine inheritance which ought to be
transmitted to the successive generations of
mankind. Loftiness of mind, generosity,
equity, every magnanimous sentiment, in a
word, ought first to be preserved, at our
own expense, and even at the expense of
others; since they, as well as we, are bound
to sacrifice themselves to their sentiments.
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? OF THE MORAL SYSTEM, &C. 189
Injustice always sacrifices one portion of
society to another. According to what
arithmetical calculation is this sacrifice en-
joined? Can the majority dispose of the
minority, if the former only exceeds the
latter by a few voices? The members of one
and the same family, a company of mer-
chants, nobles, ecclesiastics, whatever may
be their numbers, have not the right of
saying that every thing ought to yield to
their several interests: but when any as-
sembly of men, let it be as inconsiderable as
that of the Romans in their origin; when this
assembly, I say, calls itself a nation, then
it should be allowed to do any thing for its
own advantage! This term Nation would
thus become synonymous with that of Legion,
which the devil assumes in the Gospel; but
there is no more reason for giving up the ob-
ligations of duty for the sake of a nation,
than for that of any other collective body of
men. It is not the number of individuals
which constitutes their importance in a moral
point of view. When an innocent person
dies on the scaffold, whole generations attend
to his misfortune; while thousands perish
in a battle without any inquiry after their
fate. Whence arises this astonishing dif-
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? 190 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
ference which men make between an act of
injustice committed against an individual,
and the death of numbers? The cause is, the
importance which all attach to the moral
law; it is of a thousand times more con-
sequence than physical life in the universe,
and in the soul of each of us, which also is
itself an universe.
If we make morality only a calculation of
prudence and wisdom, a species of econo-
mical management, there is something like
energy in not wishing to possess it. A sort
of ridicule attaches to persons of condition,
who still maintain what are called romantic
maxims, fidelity in our engagements, respect
for the rights of individuals, &c. We forgive
these scruples in the case of individuals who
are independent enough to be dupes at their
own expense; but when we consider those
who direct the affairs of nations, there are
circumstances in which they may be blamed
for being just, and have their integrity ob-
jected to them; for if private morals are
founded upon personal interest, there is much
more reason for public morals to be founded
upon national interest; and these morals,
upon occasion, may make a duty of the
greatest crimes: so easy is it to reduce to an
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? OF THE MORAL SYSTEM, &C. 191
absurdity whatever wanders from the simple
grounds of truth. Rousseau said, "that it
44 was not allowable for a nation to purchase
"the most desirable revolution with the
"blood of one innocent person:" these
simple words comprehend all that is true,
sacred, divine, in the destiny of man.
It assuredly was not for the advantages of
this life, to secure some additional enjoyments
to some days of existence, and to delay a
little the death of some dying creatures, that
conscience and religion were bestowed upon
man. It was for this; that beings in posses-
sion of free will might choose justice, and
sacrifice utility; might prefer the future to
the present, the invisible to the visible, and
the dignity of the human species to the mere
preservation of individuals.
Individuals are virtuous when they sacri-
fice their private interest to the general good;
but governments, in their turn, are indivi-
duals, who ought to sacrifice their personal
advantages to the law of duty: if the morals
of statesmen were only founded on the
public good, their morals might lead them
into sin, if not always, at least sometimes;
and a single justified exception would be
sufficient to annihilate all the morality in
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? 192 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
the world; for all true principles are absolute:
if two and two do not make four, the deepest
algebraic computations are absurd; and if,
in theory, there is a single case in which a
man ought not to do his duty, every philoso-
phical and religious maxim is overturned,
and nothing remains but prudence or hy-
pocrisy.
Let me be permitted to adduce the example
of my father, since it is directly applicable
to the point in question. It has been often
repeated, that M. Necker was ignorant of
human nature, because on many occasions
he refused to avail himself of means of cor-
ruption or violence, the advantages of which
were believed to be certain. I may venture
to say, that nobody can read the works of
M. Necker, entitled, "The History of the
<< French Revolution," --" The Executive
"Power in great Governments," &c. without
finding in them enlightened views of the hu-
man heart; and I shall not be contradicted
by any of those who have lived in intimacy
with M. Necker, when I assert, that, not-
withstanding his admirable goodness of dis-
position, he had to guard himself against
a too lively tailent for ridicule, and rather
a severe mode of estimating mediocrity
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? OF THE MORAL SYSTEM, &C. 193
of mind and soul: what he has written
upon the "Happiness of Fools" appears to
me enough to prove it. In a word, as, in
addition to all these qualities, he was emi-
nently a man of wit, nobody surpassed him
in the delicate and profound knowledge of
those with whom he was connected; but he
was determined, by a decision of his con-
science, never to shrink from any conse-
quences whatever, which might result from
an obedience to the commands of duty. We
may judge differently concerning the events
of the French Revolution; but I believe it to
be impossible for an impartial observer to
deny that such a principle, generally adopted,
would have saved France from the misfor-
tunes under which she has groaned, and from,
what is still worse, the example which she
has displayed.
During the most fatal epochs of the reign
of terror, many honest men accepted offices
in the administration, and even in the cri-
minal tribunals, either to do good, or to dimi-
nish the evil which was committed in them;
and all defended themselves by a mode of
reasoning very generally received--that they
prevented a villain from occupying the place
they filled, and thus rendered service to the
vol. in. o
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? 194 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
oppressed. To allow ourselves the use of
bad means for an end which we believe to be
good, is a maxim of conduct singularly vi-
cious in its principle. Men know nothing of
the future, nothing of themselves with re-
spect to the morrow; in every circumstance,
and at every moment, duty is imperative,
and the calculations of wisdom, as to conse-
quences which it may foresee, ought to be
of no account in the estimate of duty. --
What right have those who were the instru-
ments of a seditious authority to keep the
title of honest men, because they committed
unjust actions in a gentle manner? Rude-
ness in the execution of injustice would have
been much better, for the difficulty of sup-
porting it would have increased; and the
most mischievous of all alliances is that of a
sanguinary decree and a polite executioner.
The benevolence we may exercise in de-
tail is no compensation for the evil which we
cause by lending the support of our names to
the party that uses them. We ought to pro-
fess the worship of virtue upon earth, in
order that not only our contemporaries, but
our posterity, may feel its influence. The
ascendency of a brave example endures many
years after the objects of a transitory charity
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? OF THE MORAL SYSTEM, &C. 195
have ceased to exist. The most important
lesson that we can inculcate into man in this
world, and particularly with relation to pub-
lic affairs, is, not . to compromise duty for any
consideration. ?
"When we set about bargaining with cir-
M cumstances, all is lost; for there is nobody
"who cannot plead this excuse. One has a
"wife, childre n, or nephews, who are in need
M of fortunes; others want active employ-
"ment; or allege I know not what virtuous
"pretexts, which all lead to the necessity of
"their having a place, to which money and
"power are attached. Are we not weary of
"these subterfuges, of which the Revolution
"furnished incessant examples? We met
"none but persons who complained of
"having been forced to quit the repose they
"preferred to every thing--that domestic life
"into which they were impatient to return;
"and we were well aware, that these very
"persons had employed their days and nights
"in praying that they might be obliged to
"devote their days and nights to public
"affairs, which could have entirely dispensed
"with their services
* This is the passage which gave the greatest offenck to th<<
Literary Police.
O2
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? 196 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
The ancient lawgivers made it a duty for
the citizens to be concerned in political in-
terests. The Christian religion ought to in-
spire a disposition of entirely another nature;
that of obeying authority, but of keeping
ourselves detached from the affairs of state,
when they may compromise our conscience.
The difference which exists between the an-
cient and modern governments explains this
opposite manner of considering the relations
of men towards their country.
The political science of the ancients was
intimately united with their religion and
morals; the social state Avas a body full of
life. Every individual considered himself as
one of its members. The smallness of states,
the number of slaves, which still further
contracted that of the citizens, all made it a
duty to act for a country which had need of
every one of its children. Magistrates, war-
riors, artists, philosophers, almost the gods
themselves, mingled together upon the pub-
lic arena; and the same men by turns gained
a battle, exhibited a masterpiece of art, gave
laws to their country, or endeavoured to dis-
cover the laws of the universe.
If we make an exception of the very small
number of free governments, the greatness
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? OF THE MORAL SYSTEM, &C. 197
of modern states, and the concentration of
monarchical power, have rendered politics
entirely negative, if we may so express our-
selves. The business is, to prevent one per-
son from annoying another ; and government
is charged with the high 3ort of police, which
permits every one to enjoy the advantages of
peace and social order, while he purchases
this security by reasonable sacrifices. The
divine Lawgiver of mankind, therefore, en-
joined that morality which was most adapted
to the situation of the world under the Roman
empire, when he laid down as a law the pay-
ment of tributes, and submission to govern-
ment in all that duty does not forbid; but
he also recommended a life of privacy in the
strongest manner.
Men who are ever desirous of theorizing
their peculiar inclinations, adroitly confound
ancient and Christian morals. It is neces-
sary, they say (like the ancients), to serve
our country, and to be useful citizens in the
state; it is necessary, they say (like the
Christians), to submit ourselves to power
established by the will of God. It is thus
that a mixture of the system of quietness
with that of action produces a double im-
morality; when, taken singly, they bad
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? 198 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
both claims to respect. The activity of the
Greek and Roman citizens, such as it could
be exercised in a republic, was a noble virtue.
The force of Christian quietness is also a
virtue, and one of great power; for Chris-
tianity, which is accused of weakness, is in-
vincible in its own spirit, that is to say, in
the energy of refusal. But the tricking self-
ishness of ambitious men teaches them the
art of combining opposite arguments; so
that they can meddle with every thing like
Pagans, and submit to every thing like
Christians.
"The universe, my friend, regards not thee,"
is, however, what we may say to all the
universe, phenomena excepted. It would
be a truly ridiculous vanity to assign as a
motive for political activity in all cases, the
pretext of that service which we may render
our country, This sort of usefulness is hardly
ever more than a pompous name, which
covers personal interest.
The art of sophists has always been to
oppose one duty to another. We inces-
santly imagine circumstances in which this
frightful perplexity may exist. The greater
part of dramatic fictions are founded upon it.
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? Of THE MORAL SYSTEM, &C. 199
Yet real life is more simple; we there fre-
quently see virtues opposed to interests - but
perhaps it is true, that no honest man could
ever doubt, on any occasion, what his duty
enjoined. The voice of conscience is so
delicate, that it is easy to stifle it; but
it is so clear, that it is impossible to mis-
take it:
A known maxim contains, under a simple
form, all the theory of morals. "Do what
"you ought, happen what will. " When we
decide, on the contrary, that the probity of
a public man consists in sacrificing every
thing to the temporal advantages of his
nation, then many occasions may be found,
in which we may become immoral by our
morality. This sophism is as contradictory
in its substance as in its form: this would be
to treat virtue as a ^conjectural science,
and as entirely submitted to circumstances
in its application. May God guard the hu-
man heart from such a responsibility! the
light of our understanding is too uncertain,
to enable us to judge of the moment when
the eternal laws of duty may be suspended;
or, rather, this moment does not exist.
If it was once generally acknowledged,
that national interest itself ought to be
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? 200 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
subordinate to those nobler thoughts which
constitute virtue, how would the conscien-
tious man be at his ease! how would every
thing in politics appear clear to him, when,
before, a continual hesitation made him
tremble at every step! It is this very hesi-.
tation which has caused honest men to be
thought incapable of state-affairs; they have
been accused of pusillanimity, of weakness,
of fear; and, on the contrary, those who
have carelessly sacrificed the weak to the
powerful, and their scruples to their interests,
have been called men of an energetic nature.
It is, however, an easy energy which tends
to our own advantage; or, at least, to that
of the ruling faction; for every thing that
is done according to the sense of the multi-
tude invariably partakes of weakness, let it
appear ever so violent.
The race of men, with a loud voice,
demand the sacrifice of every thing to their
interest; and finish by compromising this
interest from the very wish for such a sacri-
fice: but it should now be inculcated into
them, that their happiness itself, which has
been made so general a pretext, is not
sacred, excepting in its compatibility with
morals; for, without morals, of what conse-
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? OF THE MORAL SYSTEM, &C. 201
quence would the whole body be to each
individual? When once we have said that
morals ought to be sacrificed to national in-
terest, we are very liable to contract the
sense of the word Nation from day to day,
and to make it signify at first our own par-
tisans, then our friends, and then our fa-
mily; which is but a decent synonyme for
ourselves.
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