XXIV. But at this moment, what
penetrating words can make us heard by an age infatuated with Scripture and so
greatly at variance with the Word as to believe that men can make
constitutions, languages, and even sovereignties? By an age for which reality
is lies, and lies reality; which cannot even see what happens before its eyes;
which feasts on books, seeking the equivocal lessons of Livy or Thucydides,
while closing its eyes to the truth which shines forth in the newspapers?
If a humble mortal's prayers could obtain from Providence one of those memorable decrees which form history's great eras, I would ask it to inspire some powerful nation which had gravely offended it with the proud idea of constituting itself politically, starting at the bases. And if the ancient familiarity of a Patriarch were permitted me, despite my unworthiness, I would say: "Grant this people everything! Give them genius, knowledge, wealth, esteem, and, especially, an overweening self-assurance and that spirit, both supple and enterprising, which nothing can hinder, nothing intimidate. Extinguish their former government; obliterate their memories; destroy their affections; spread terror around them; blind or paralyze their enemies; set victory to guard all their frontiers so that none of their neighbors could intervene in their affairs or disturb their progress. Let this nation be illustrious in the sciences, rich in philosophy, intoxicated with human power, free from prejudice, from every tie and all higher influence. Supply all her wants, lest in time she should say, I lacked this or that restrained me. In short, let her act freely with this immensity of means, that at length under Thy relentless protection she may become an eternal warning to the human race."
XXV. It is true we cannot expect such a combination of circumstances, which would literally constitute a miracle. But similar though less startling events reveal themselves here and there in history, even in our times. Although they may not all have that ideal force, for example, which I wished for, they can still teach us valuable lessons.
Less than twenty-five years ago, we witnessed a solemn attempt to regenerate a great nation which was mortally ill. It was the first experiment of the great work and the preface, if I may so express it, of the frightful book which we have since been made to read. Every precaution was taken. The country's sages even believed it was their duty to consult the modern deity in its foreign sanctuary. They wrote toDelphi ,
and two famous Pontiffs solemnly replied. The prophecies they announced on this
occasion were not, as formerly, delicate leaves, the sport of breezes; they are
bound.
XXVII. I believe I have read somewhere that very few sovereignties are able to justify the legitimacy of their origin. Let us allow the reasonableness of this assertion. Even so, objectionable acts which a chief may have committed will not tarnish his successors. The mists which would more or less conceal the origin of his authority would only be a disadvantage, the necessary consequence of a law of the moral order. Otherwise, it would follow that the sovereign could only rule legitimately by virtue of a deliberation of all the people - that is to say, by the grace of the people. This will never happen, for there are no truer words than those of the author of the Considerations onFrance
XXVIII. Everything brings us back to the general rule. Man cannot create a constitution, and no legitimate constitution can be written. The collection of fundamental laws which necessarily constitute a civil or religious society never has been or will be written a priori. Only when society discovers itself already constituted, not knowing how, can certain particular articles be made known or explained in writing. But almost invariably, these declarations are the effect or the cause of very great evils, and they always cost the people more than they are worth.
XXIX. To this general rule, that no constitution may be written or made a priori, we know. but one exception: the legislation of Moses. This alone was cast, so to speak, like a statue and written even to the smallest details by an extraordinary man who said, FIAT! without this work ever after needing corrections, additions, or modifications by himself or anyone else. This alone has withstood time, from which it borrowed and expected nothing. It survived fifteen hundred years, and even after eighteen more centuries have passed since the great anathema which struck it on the fated day, we see it enjoying a second life and still binding, with some nameless and mysterious bond, the various scattered families of a people dispersed but not disunited. Like magnetism, and with a similar force, it operates at a distance, making one whole of many widely separated parts. Evidently, to intelligent minds, this legislation surpasses the limits of human capability and is a magnificent exception to a general law which has only yielded once, and then to its Author. And it singlehandedly manifests the divine mission of the great Hebrew law-giver much better than the entire work of that English Prelate, who, with the strongest mental powers and immense erudition, nevertheless had the misfortune to support a great truth by a miserable fallacy.
XXX. Since the principle of every constitution is divine, it follows that a man can do nothing with one unless he seeks the aid of God, Whose instrument he then becomes.* Now this is a truth to which the whole human race has always strikingly witnessed. Examine history, which is experimental politics - there we shall inevitably find the Divinity always called to the aid of human frailty.** Fable, much truer than ancient history for those who are ready to understand it, further corroborates this demonstration. Always, it is an Oracle who founds cities. Always, this Oracle affirms heavenly protection and the heroic founder's success. Kings especially, heads of rising empires, are very often designated, almost branded, by Heaven in some extraordinary manner.*** How many frivolous people have mocked the Saint-Ampoule without ever dreaming that it is a hieroglyphic which one need only read to understand.
If a humble mortal's prayers could obtain from Providence one of those memorable decrees which form history's great eras, I would ask it to inspire some powerful nation which had gravely offended it with the proud idea of constituting itself politically, starting at the bases. And if the ancient familiarity of a Patriarch were permitted me, despite my unworthiness, I would say: "Grant this people everything! Give them genius, knowledge, wealth, esteem, and, especially, an overweening self-assurance and that spirit, both supple and enterprising, which nothing can hinder, nothing intimidate. Extinguish their former government; obliterate their memories; destroy their affections; spread terror around them; blind or paralyze their enemies; set victory to guard all their frontiers so that none of their neighbors could intervene in their affairs or disturb their progress. Let this nation be illustrious in the sciences, rich in philosophy, intoxicated with human power, free from prejudice, from every tie and all higher influence. Supply all her wants, lest in time she should say, I lacked this or that restrained me. In short, let her act freely with this immensity of means, that at length under Thy relentless protection she may become an eternal warning to the human race."
XXV. It is true we cannot expect such a combination of circumstances, which would literally constitute a miracle. But similar though less startling events reveal themselves here and there in history, even in our times. Although they may not all have that ideal force, for example, which I wished for, they can still teach us valuable lessons.
Less than twenty-five years ago, we witnessed a solemn attempt to regenerate a great nation which was mortally ill. It was the first experiment of the great work and the preface, if I may so express it, of the frightful book which we have since been made to read. Every precaution was taken. The country's sages even believed it was their duty to consult the modern deity in its foreign sanctuary. They wrote to
... Quidque haec
Sapientia possit,
Tunc patuit ....
Tunc patuit ....
It is only fair
to acknowledge that in whatever the nation owed merely to its own good sense,
there are elements we can still admire today. Certainly every qualification was
united in the head of that wise and august person called upon to take the reins of government. Those
chiefly interested in maintaining the old laws voluntarily made a noble
sacrifice to the public, and in order to strengthen the supreme authority, they
consented to a slightly different description of sovereignty. Alas! All this human wisdom was at
fault, and everything ended in death.
XXVI. Someone will say:
"But we know what caused the failure of the enterprise." How, then?
Must God send angels in human form, commissioned to destroy a constitution? Secondary causes
will always be necessary. What matter which they are? All instruments are
effective in the Great Artificer's hands. But people are so blind that if
tomorrow some constitution-monger should come to organize a nation and
constitute them with a little black fluid, the crowd
would hasten once again to believe in the miracle announced. Again they would
say, Nothing is missing, all is foreseen, all written down, while
precisely because everything could be seen, written, and discussed, it would be
shown that the constitution was empty, offering only an ephemeral appearance.XXVII. I believe I have read somewhere that very few sovereignties are able to justify the legitimacy of their origin. Let us allow the reasonableness of this assertion. Even so, objectionable acts which a chief may have committed will not tarnish his successors. The mists which would more or less conceal the origin of his authority would only be a disadvantage, the necessary consequence of a law of the moral order. Otherwise, it would follow that the sovereign could only rule legitimately by virtue of a deliberation of all the people - that is to say, by the grace of the people. This will never happen, for there are no truer words than those of the author of the Considerations on
XXVIII. Everything brings us back to the general rule. Man cannot create a constitution, and no legitimate constitution can be written. The collection of fundamental laws which necessarily constitute a civil or religious society never has been or will be written a priori. Only when society discovers itself already constituted, not knowing how, can certain particular articles be made known or explained in writing. But almost invariably, these declarations are the effect or the cause of very great evils, and they always cost the people more than they are worth.
XXIX. To this general rule, that no constitution may be written or made a priori, we know. but one exception: the legislation of Moses. This alone was cast, so to speak, like a statue and written even to the smallest details by an extraordinary man who said, FIAT! without this work ever after needing corrections, additions, or modifications by himself or anyone else. This alone has withstood time, from which it borrowed and expected nothing. It survived fifteen hundred years, and even after eighteen more centuries have passed since the great anathema which struck it on the fated day, we see it enjoying a second life and still binding, with some nameless and mysterious bond, the various scattered families of a people dispersed but not disunited. Like magnetism, and with a similar force, it operates at a distance, making one whole of many widely separated parts. Evidently, to intelligent minds, this legislation surpasses the limits of human capability and is a magnificent exception to a general law which has only yielded once, and then to its Author. And it singlehandedly manifests the divine mission of the great Hebrew law-giver much better than the entire work of that English Prelate, who, with the strongest mental powers and immense erudition, nevertheless had the misfortune to support a great truth by a miserable fallacy.
XXX. Since the principle of every constitution is divine, it follows that a man can do nothing with one unless he seeks the aid of God, Whose instrument he then becomes.* Now this is a truth to which the whole human race has always strikingly witnessed. Examine history, which is experimental politics - there we shall inevitably find the Divinity always called to the aid of human frailty.** Fable, much truer than ancient history for those who are ready to understand it, further corroborates this demonstration. Always, it is an Oracle who founds cities. Always, this Oracle affirms heavenly protection and the heroic founder's success. Kings especially, heads of rising empires, are very often designated, almost branded, by Heaven in some extraordinary manner.*** How many frivolous people have mocked the Saint-Ampoule without ever dreaming that it is a hieroglyphic which one need only read to understand.
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