Constant: Political Writings

by Benjamin Constant , Edited and translated by Biancamaria Fontana

• ISBN13: 9780521316323
• ISBN10: 0521316324
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1988-11-25
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This is the first English translation of the major political works of Benjamin Constant, one of the most important of modern French political theorists and writers. A Swiss protestant by birth, Constant was a prominent figure in French political life in the aftermath of the revolution of 1789, and a leading member of the liberal opposition to Napoleon and, subsequently, to the restored Bourbon monarchy. His writings are widely regarded as one of the classical formulations of modern liberal doctrine, and Constant's own closeness to the Anglo-Saxon political tradition renders their translation into English particularly appropriate. The novel Adolphe has hitherto been Constant's only work freely available outside France, emphasising his importance within European Romanticism and his centrality to French literary development in the nineteenth century. This translation of Constant's political writings is replete with full editorial apparatus and bibliographic information that will enable anglophone students of liberal thought to engage at first hand with one of its most durable and influential exponents.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Bibliographical note

Preface to the first edition

Preface to the third edition

Foreword to the fourth edition

Part I. The Spirit of Conquest: 1. The virtues compatible with war at given stages of social development

2. The character of modern nations in relation to war

3. The spirit of conquest in the present condition of Europe

4. Of a military race acting on self-interest alone

5. A further reason for the deterioration of the military class within the system of conquest

6. The influence of this military spirit upon the internal condition of nations

7. A further drawback of the formation of this military spirit

8. The effect of a conquering government upon the mass of the nation

9. Means of coercion necessary to supplement upon the mass of the nation

10. Further drawbacks of the system of warfare for enlightenment and the educated class

11. The point of view from which a conquering nation today would regard its own successes

12. Effect of these successes upon the conquered peoples

13. On uniformity

14. The inevitable end to the successes of a conquering nation

15. Results of the system of warfare in the present age

Part II. Usurpation: The specific aim of the comparison between usurpation and monarchy

Differences between usurpation and monarchy

One respect in which usurpation is more hateful than absolute despotism

Usurpation cannot survive in this period of our civilisation

Can usurpation not be maintained by force?

The kind of liberty offered to men at the end of the last century

The modern imitators of the republics of antiquity

The means employed to give to the moderns the liberty of the ancients

Does the aversion of the moderns for this pretended liberty imply that they love despotism?

A sophism in favour of arbitrary power excercised by one man

The effects of arbitrary power upon intellectual progress

Religion under arbitrary power

Men's inability to resign themselves voluntarily to arbitrary power in any form

Despotism as a means of preserving usurpation

The effect of illegal and despotism measures on regular governments themselves

Implications of the preceding considerations in relation to despotism

Causes which make despotism particularly impossible at this age of our civilisation

As usurpation cannot be maintained through despotism, since in our days despotism itself cannot last, usurpation has no chance of enduring

Additions to The spirit of conquest and usurpation

Bibliographical note

Bibliography

Index.