Recollections of My Youth | Page 3

uncompromising reactionist. I
love the past, but I envy the future. It would have been very pleasant to
have lived upon this planet at as late a period as possible. Descartes
would be delighted if he could read some trivial work on natural
philosophy and cosmography written in the present day. The fourth
form school boy of our age is acquainted with truths to know which
Archimedes would have laid down his life. What would we not give to
be able to get a glimpse of some book which will be used as a
school-primer a hundred years hence?
We must not, because of our personal tastes, our prejudices perhaps, set

ourselves to oppose the action of our time. This action goes on without
regard to us, and probably it is right. The world is moving in the
direction of what I may call a kind of Americanism, which shocks our
refined ideas, but which, when once the crisis of the present hour is
over, may very possibly not be more inimical than the ancient _régime_
to the only thing which is of any real importance; viz. the emancipation
and progress of the human mind. A society in which personal
distinction is of little account, in which talent and wit are not
marketable commodities, in which exalted functions do not ennoble, in
which politics are left to men devoid of standing or ability, in which the
recompenses of life are accorded by preference to intrigue, to vulgarity,
to the charlatans who cultivate the art of puffing, and to the smart
people who just keep without the clutches of the law, would never suit
us. We have been accustomed to a more protective system, and to the
government patronizing what is noble and worthy. But we have not
secured this patronage for nothing. Richelieu and Louis XIV. looked
upon it as their duty to provide pensions for men of merit all the world
over; how much better it would have been, if the spirit of the time had
admitted of it, that they should have left the men of merit to themselves!
The period of the Restoration has the credit of being a liberal one; yet
we should certainly not like to live now under a _régime_ which
warped such a genius as Cuvier, stifled with paltry compromises the
keen mind of M. Cousin, and retarded the growth of criticism by half a
century. The concessions which had to be made to the court, to society,
and to the clergy, were far worse than the petty annoyances which a
democracy can inflict upon us.
The eighteen years of the monarchy of July were in reality a period of
liberty, but the official direction given to things of the mind was often
superficial and no better than would be expected of the average
shopkeeper. With regard to the second empire, if the ten last years of its
duration in some measure repaired the mischief done in the first eight,
it must never be forgotten how strong this government was when it was
a question of crushing the intelligence, and how feeble when it came to
raising it up. The present hour is a gloomy one, and the immediate
outlook is not cheerful. Our unfortunate country is ever threatened with
heart disease, and all Europe is a prey to some deep-rooted malady. But

by way of consolation, let us reflect upon what we have suffered. The
evil to come must be grevious indeed if we cannot say:
"O passi graviora, dabit deus his quoque finem."
The one object in life is the development of the mind, and the first
condition for the development of the mind is that it should have liberty.
The worst social state, from this point of view, is the theocratic state,
like Islamism or the ancient Pontifical state, in which dogma reigns
supreme. Nations with an exclusive state religion, like Spain, are not
much better off. Nations in which a religion of the majority is
recognized are also exposed to serious drawbacks. In behalf of the real
or assumed beliefs of the greatest number, the state considers itself
bound to impose upon thought terms which it cannot accept. The belief
or the opinion of the one side should not be a fetter upon the other side.
As long as the masses were believers, that is to say, as long as the same
sentiments were almost universally professed by a people, freedom of
research and discussion was impossible. A colossal weight of stupidity
pressed down upon the human mind. The terrible catastrophe of the
middle ages, that break of a thousand years in the history of civilization,
is due less to the barbarians than to the triumph of the dogmatic spirit
among the masses.
This is a state of things which is