Section 7 - The Law - Frederic Bastiat

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Episode Transcript

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Section seven. Saint just the legislatorcommands the future, and is for him
to will for the good of mankind. It is for him to make men
what he wishes them to be.Perhaps Pierre, the function of government is
to direct the physical and moral powersof the nation towards the object of its

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institution below varennes A. People whoare to be restored to liberty must be
formed anew. Ancient prejudices must bedestroyed, antiquated customs changed, depraved affections
corrected, and venerate vices eradicated.For this, a strong force, in

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a vehement impulse will be necessary.Citizens. The inflexible austerity of Lycurgus created
the firm basis of the Spartan republic. The feeble and trusting disposition of Salon
plunged Athens into slavery. This parallelcontains the whole science of government. Le

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Pelletier, considering the extent of humandegradation, I am convinced of the necessity
of affecting an entire regeneration of therace, and if I may so express
myself, of creating a new people. Men therefore are nothing but raw material.
It is not for them to willtheir own improvement, they are not

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capable of it. According to Saintjust it is only the legislator who is
man or merely to be what hewills that they should be. According to
Robespierre, who copies her so literally, the legislator is to begin by assigning
the aim of the institutions of thenation. After this, the government has
only to direct all its physical andmoral forces towards this end. All this

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time, the nation itself is toremain perfectly passive, and Blovaraine would teach
us that it ought to have noprejudices, affections, nor wants, but
such as are authorized by the legislator. He even goes so far as to
say that the inflexible austerity of aman is the basis of a republic.

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We have seen that in cases wherethe evil is so great that the ordinary
magistrates are unable to remedy, itmably recommends a dictatorship to promote virtue have
recourse, says he, to anextraordinary magistracy, whose time shall be short
and his power considerable. The imaginationof the people requires to be impressed.

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This doctrine has not been neglected.Listen to Robespierre. The principle of the
republican government is a virtue, andthe means to be adopted during its establishment
as terror. We want to substitutein our country morality for self indulgence,
probity for honor, principles for customs, duties for decorum, the empire of

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reason for the tyranny of fashion,contempt of vice for contempt of misfortune,
pride for insolence, greatness of soulfor vanity, love of glory for love
of money, good people for goodcompany, merit for intrigue, genius for
wit, truth for glitter, thecharm of happiness for the weariness of pleasure,

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the greatness of man for the littlenessof the great, a magnanimous,
powerful, happy people for one thatis easy, frivolous, degraded. That
is to say, we would substituteall the virtues and miracles of a republic
for all the vices and absurdities ofmonarchy. Has what a vast height above

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the rest of mankind? Does Robespierreplace himself here? Observe the arrogance with
which he speaks. He is notcontent with expressing a desire for a great
renovation of the human heart. Hedoes not even expect such a result from
a regular government. No, heintends to effect it himself, and by

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means of terror. The object ofthe discourse from which this puerile and laborious
mass of antithesis is extracted, wasto exhibit the principles of morality that ought
to direct a revolutionary government. Moreover, when Robespierre asks for a dictatorship,
is not merely for the purpose ofrepelling a foreign enemy or of putting down

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factions, and is that he mayestablish, by means of terror, and
as a preliminary to the operation ofthe Constitution, his own principles of morality.
He pretends to nothing short of extirpatingfrom the country by means of terror,
self interest, honor, customs,a chorum, fashion, vanity,

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the love of money, good company, intrigue, wit, luxury, and
misery. It is not until afterhe rose Pierre shall have accomplished these miracles,
as he rightly calls them, thathe will allow the law to regain
her empire. Truly, it wouldbe well if these visionaries, who think

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so much of themselves and so littleof mankind, who want to renew everything,
would only be content with trying toreform themselves the task would be arduous
enough for them. In general,However, these gentlemen, the reformers,
legislators and politicians, do not desireto exercise an immediate despotism over mankind.

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No, they are too moderate andtoo philanthropic for that. They only contend
for the despotism, the absolutism,the omnipotence of the law. They aspire
only to make the law. Toshow how universal this strange disposition has been
in France, I had need notonly to have copied the whole of the

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works of Maybli, raynal Rousseau Fenelon, and to have made long extracts from
Boussouiy and Montesquieu, but to havegiven the entire transactions of the sittings of
the Convention. I shall do nosuch thing, however, but merely refer
the reader to them. No wonder, this idea suited Buonaparte so well.

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He embraced it with ardor and putit in practice with energy, playing the
part of a chemist. Europe wasto him the material for his experiments,
but this material reacted against him morethan half undeceived. Bonaparte at Saint Helena
seemed to admit that there is aninitiative in every people, and he became

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less hostile to liberty. Yet thisdid not prevent him from giving this lesson
to his son. In his willto govern is to diffuse morality, education
and well being. After all thisI hardly need show by fastidious quotations the
opinions of Morelli, babeuf Owen,Saint Simon and Fourier. I shall confine

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myself to a few extracts from LouisBlanc's book on the Organization of labor.
In our project, society receives theimpulse of power. In what does the
impulse that power gives to society consistsin imposing upon it the project of mister
Louis Blanc. On the other hand, society is the human race. The

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human race, then, is toreceive its impulse from mister Louis Blanc.
It is at liberty to do soor not. It will be said,
of course, the human race isat liberty to take advice from anybody,
whoever it may be. But thisis not the way in which mister Louis
Blanc understands a thing. He meansthat his project should be converted into law,

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and consequently forcibly imposed by power.In our project, the state has
only to give a legislation to labor, by means of which the industrial movement
may and ought to be accomplished.In all liberty it the state merely places
society on an incline. That isall that it may descend when once it

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is placed there by the mere forceof things and by the natural course of
the established mechanism. But what isthis incline one indicated by mister Louis Blanc.
Does it not lead to an abyss? No, it leads to happiness.
Why then does not society go thereof itself? Because it does not

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know what it wants, and itrequires an impulse. What is to give
it this impulse power? And whois to give the impulse to power?
The inventor of the machine, misterLouis Blanc. We shall never get out
of this circle mankind passive, anda great man moving it by the intervention

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of the law. Once on thisincline will society enjoy something like liberty without
a doubt? And what is liberty? Once? For all? Liberty consists
not only in the right granted,but in the power given to man to
exercise, to develop his faculties underthe empire of justice and under the protection

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of the law. And this isno vain distinction. There is a deep
meaning in it, and its consequencepences are imponderable. For when once it
is admitted that man, to betruly free must have the power to exercise
and develop his faculties, it followsthat every member of society has a claim

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upon it for such education as shallenable his faculties to display themselves, and
for the tools of labor, withoutwhich human activity can find no scope.
Now by whose intervention is society togive to each of its members the requisite
education and the necessary tools of labor? Unless by that of the state.

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Thus liberty is power. In whatdoes this power consist in possessing education and
tools of labor? Who is togive education and tools of labor society?
Who owes them? By whose interventionis society to give tools of labor to

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those who do not possess them bythe intervention of the state. From whom
is a state to obtain them?It is for the reader to answer this
question, and to notice whither allthis tends. End of Section seven