Benjamin Constant and the Birth of French Liberalism

287 Pages·2011·2.964 MB·English

by  K. Steven Vincent (auth.)

PALGRAVE STUDIES IN CULTURAL AND INTELLECTUAL HISTORY
Series Editors
Anthony J. La Vopa, North Carolina State University.
Suzanne Marchand, Louisiana State University.
Javed Majeed, Queen Mary, University of London.
The Palgrave Studies in Cultural and Intellectual History series has
three primary aims: to close divides between intellectual and cul-
tural approaches, thus bringing them into mutually enriching inter-
actions; to encourage interdisciplinarity in intellectual and cultural
history; and to globalize the field, both in geographical scope and
in subjects and methods. This series is open to work on a range of
modes of intellectual inquiry, including social theory and the social
sciences; the natural sciences; economic thought; literature; religion;
gender and sexuality; philosophy; political and legal thought; psych-
ology; and music and the arts. It encompasses not just North America
but Africa, Asia, Eurasia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.
It includes both nationally focused studies and studies of intellec-
tual and cultural exchanges between different nations and regions of
the world, and encompasses research monographs, synthetic studies,
edited collections, and broad works of reinterpretation. Regardless of
methodology or geography, all books in the series are historical in
the fundamental sense of undertaking rigorous contextual analysis.
Published by Palgrave Macmillan:
Indian Mobilities in the West, 1900–1947: Gender, Performance,
Embodiment
By Shompa Lahiri
The Shelley-Byron Circle and the Idea of Europe
By Paul Stock
Culture and Hegemony in the Colonial Middle East
By Yaseen Noorani
Recovering Bishop Berkeley: Virtue and Society in the Anglo-Irish Context
By Scott Breuninger
The Reading of Russian Literature in China: A Moral Example and
Manual of Practice
By Mark Gamsa
Rammohun Roy and the Making of Victorian Britain
By Lynn Zastoupil
Carl Gustav Jung: Avant-Garde Conservative
By Jay Sherry
Law and Politics in British Colonial Thought: Transpositions of Empire
By Shaunnagh Dorsett and Ian Hunter, eds.
Sir John Malcolm and the Creation of British India
By Jack Harrington
The American Bourgeoisie: Distinction and Identity in the Nineteenth
Century
By Sven Beckert and Julia Rosenbaum, eds.
Benjamin Constant and the Birth of French Liberalism
By K. Steven Vincent
The Emergence of the Russian Liberalism: Alexander Kunitsyn in
Context, 1783–1840 (forthcoming)
By Julia Berest
The Gospel of Beauty in the Progressive Era: Reforming American Verse
and Values (forthcoming)
By Lisa Szefel
Knowledge Production, Pedagogy, and Institutions in Colonial India
(forthcoming)
By Indra Sengupta and Daud Ali, eds.
Character, Self, and Sociability in the Scottish Enlightenment
(forthcoming)
By Thomas Ahnert and Susan Manning, eds.
Nature Engaged: Science in Practice from the Renaissance to the Present
(forthcoming)
By Jessica Riskin and Mario Biagioli, eds.
Benjamin Constant and
the Birth of French
Liberalism
K. Steven Vincent
BENJAMIN CONSTANT AND THE BIRTH OF FRENCH LIBERALISM
Copyright © K. Steven Vincent, 2011.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2011 978-0-230-11009-0
All rights reserved.
First published in 2011 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the
world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers
Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-29239-4 ISBN 978-0-230-11710-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230117105
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Vincent, K. Steven.
Benjamin Constant and the birth of French liberalism / K. Steven
Vincent.
p. cm.—(Palgrave studies in cultural and intellectual history)
1. Constant, Benjamin, 1767–1830—Political and social views.
2. Liberalism—France—History—19th century. I. Title.
PQ2211.C24Z93 2010
320.591094409034—dc22 2010030931
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: February 2011
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Transferred to Digital Printing in 2011
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
Benjamin Constant and Germaine de Staël 5
The Revolutionary Context 6
Thermidor and the Directory 10
Organization of the Book 14
1 Benjamin Constant: The Early Years (1767–95) 17
Constant’s Family and Education: The Making of
a Cosmopolitan 18
Early Infatuations and the Issue of Constant’s “Character” 20
Isabelle de Charrière, Minna von Cramm, and
the Court of Brunswick 26
Early Political Ruminations 30
Reactions to the French Revolution 32
Germaine de Staël 36
2 The Emergence of Liberalism (1795–97) 39
Constant and Staël in Paris 39
“Ending the Revolution” and the Constitution of 1795 45
Constant’s Political Writings, 1796–97 52
Moeurs: Between Vengeance and Fatigue/Between
Rebelliousness and Resignation 57
Liberal Opposition to Revenge and Exclusion 63
Germaine de Staël’s Politics 67
Salons 71
Liberalism 76
3 Liberal Dilemmas (1797–1802) 81
The Coup of 18 Fructidor, an V (4 September 1797) 81
The Consequences of Counter-Revolution 90
v
vi Contents
Liberalism Confronts Anarchism: William Godwin 95
The Possibility of a Republic in a Large Country 105
Between Immanuel Kant and Edmund Burke 120
Constant in the Tribunat 124
4 Liberal Culture: Sensibilité and Sociability 129
Constant, Staël, and Charlotte von Hardenberg 129
Delphine, Corinne, and Adolphe 131
Sensibilité 140
Religion 147
Sociability 155
5 Liberal Pluralism and the Napoleonic Empire (1802–15) 163
Pluralism 167
Political Sovereignty 178
Religious Toleration 190
The Danger of Fanaticism 192
Ancient versus Modern Liberty 194
Conclusion: Une Philosophie Engagée 197
Constant and the Liberal Opposition 197
Commentaire sur l’ouvrage de Filangieri 201
Liberal Pluralism 205
Notes 217
Index 273
Acknowledgments
A work so long in the making (I count twelve years) inevitably means
that its author has burdened many of his friends, colleagues, and
students with discussions of its various themes. I thank them all for
their patience, their encouragement, their assistance, their critical
acumen, and their c ollegiality.
Portions of the argument have been presented at the Western Society
for French History (1998 and 2007), the Triangle French Studies
Seminar (1998 and 2008), the Triangle Intellectual History Seminar
(1999 and 2009), the Stanford French Culture Workshop (2002), the
Society for French Historical Studies (2002, 2003, and 2005), the sem-
inar at Durham University on “Pluralism and the Idea of the Republic
in France, 1789–2006” (2007), and the NCSU Department of History
Works-In-Progress Seminar (2010). I’d like to thank the organizers
and participants in all of these forums, and especially Susan Ashley,
James Banker, Jonathan Beecher, Michael Behrent, Bob Blackman,
Melissa Bullard, Aurelian Craiutu, David Gilmartin, Doris Goldstein,
John Headley, Malachi Hacohen, Christine Haynes, Gerald Izenberg,
Andrew Jainchill, Jeremy Jennings, Mimi Kim, Lloyd Kramer, John
Christian Laursen, Keith Luria, Julie Mell, John Merriman, Martin
Miller, Linda Orr, Thomas Ort, Don Reid, Joel Revill, Lou Roberts,
Jerrold Seigel, Jay Smith, Anoush Terjanian, Ken Vickery, Cheryl
Welch, Jim Winders, Mary-Ann Witt, Ron Witt, and Julian Wright.
I have a much deeper debt of gratitude to those who read, corrected,
criticized, and sometimes reread major portions of the manuscript in
its near-final form. Especially important here are Paul Hanson, Tony
LaVopa, Helena Rosenblatt, Bernard Wishy, and the anonymous
readers of the press. All of this reminds me, yet again, of how much
I rely upon friendships and vibrant intellectual communities. They
are what make scholarly work rewarding and, for me personally, pos-
sible. Thank you all.
vii
viii Acknowledgments
Finally, my wife, companion, and colleague, Kimberly Bowler, took
time off from her own scholarly endeavors to provide manuscript
feedback, but more importantly has sustained me with her warm
support and joie de vivre.
I wish to dedicate this book, however, to the scholars of a pre-
vious generation who, through their influence and example, have
provided the greatest source of inspiration for my own work. I have
had the immense good fortune to count them my mentors, support-
ers, interlocutors, and friends:
Richard Herr
Martin Malia (deceased 2004)
Stanley Mellon (deceased 2008)
Bernard Wishy
Early versions of the argument presented in this book, and selected
paragraphs, appeared in the following publications:
“Benjamin Constant, the French Revolution, and the Origins of
French Romantic Liberalism,” French Historical Studies, 23.4.
Copyright 2000, Society for French Historical Studies. Reprinted
by permission of the publisher, Duke University Press.
“Character, Sensibilité, Sociability, and Politics in Benjamin Constant’s
Adolphe,” Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques, 28.3 (2002):
361–83. Reprinted by permission.
“Benjamin Constant, the French Revolution, and the Problem of
Modern Character,” History of European Ideas, 30 (2004): 5–21.
Reprinted by permission of the publisher, Elsevier.
Cover image: Benjamin Constant (1767–1830). Crayon, avec rehauts
de craie blanche, attribué à Firmin Massot. Collection du château de
Coppet. Photo: Alrège S.A., Lausanne/Impression: Filanosa, Nyon.
Introduction
Liberalism has never been a unified movement following a common
path. Liberals have defended different ideals, have based these ide-
als on incompatible epistemological foundations, and have defended
these ideals with widely divergent arguments. Indeed, the central
motifs of liberalism have often been in conflict. Does liberalism mean
the unfettered market or the constitutional protection of rights? Is
the core value individual liberty, or is this subordinate to providing
equal opportunity for individual development? Is the center of liber-
alism legal, or is it rather political or economic?
Traditional scholarship on French liberalism frequently proceeded
by defining the core issues and telling a story of their emergence and
development. Kingsley Martin’s book French Liberal Thought in the
Eighteenth Century in 1929 hoped to provide “a better appreciation
of the historical genesis” of his own liberal creed, one centered in
beliefs in science, organization, and the popularization of knowl-
edge. These, he claimed, were the “secular religion” at the center of
“French liberal thought in the eighteenth century.”1 André Jardin
also looked to the eighteenth century for the roots of French politi-
cal liberalism, though he insisted on a broader relation among ideas,
society, and institutions. He focused on “the common program of
liberals”—respect for “rights” (freedoms of conscience, speech, press,
and property); a judicial order that mediates the disputes between
the individual and the state; government institutions that represent
the will of the nation; and social pluralism. He traced how this “lib-
eral program” developed in France from the 1680s to 1875.2 More
recently, Pierre Manent traced the origins of liberal thought to the
endeavor of thinkers like Machiavelli and Hobbes to free political
thought from the cosmology and pervasive influence of the Catholic
Church.3
This book takes a different approach. Rather than apply the term
liberal retrospectively to doctrines and historical eras before the
word existed, it focuses on what self- proclaimed “liberal” thinkers
1