New Essays in the Political Thought of the Huguenots of the "Refuge"

230 Pages·1995·22.358 MB·English

by  John Christian Laursen (ed.)

BRILL'S STUDIES
IN
INTELLECTUAL HISTORY
General Editor
A.J. VANDERJAGT, University of Groningen
Editonal Board
M. COLISH, Oberlin College
J.I. ISRAEL, University College, London
J.D. NORTH, University of Groningen
H.A. OBERMAN, University of Arizona, Tucson
R.H. POPKIN, Washington University, St. Louis-UCLA
VOLUME 60
NEW ESSAYS ON
THE POLITICAL THOUGHT OF
THE HUGUENOTS OF THE REFUGE
EDITED BY
JOHN CHRISTIAN LAURSEN
EJ. BRILL
LEIDEN · NEW YORK · KÖLN
1995
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the
Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library
Resources.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
New essays on the political thought of the Huguenots of the Refuge /
edited by John Christian Laursen.
p. cm. — (Brill's studies in intellectual history, ISSN
0920-8607 ; v. 60)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 9004099867 (alk. paper)
1. Political science—History. 2. Assimilation (Sociology)
3. Intercultural communication. 4. Huguenots. I. Laursen, John
Christian. II. Series.
JA83.N49 1995
320.5Ό8'8245—dc20 94-24939
CIP
Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP Einheitsaufnahme
New essays on the political thought of the Huguenots of the
"Refuge" / ed. by John Christian Laursen. - Leiden ; New
York ; Köln : Brill, 1995
(Brill's studies in intellectual history ; Vol. 60)
ISBN 90-04-09986-7
NE: Laursen, John Christian [Hrsg.]; GT
ISSN 0920-8607
ISBN 90 04 09986 7
© Copyright 1995 by E.J. Bull, Laden, The Netherlands
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PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS
CONTENTS
Introduction 1
1. The Claims of Conscience: Natural Law Theory, Obligation,
and Resistance in the Huguenot Diaspora 15
T. J. HOCHSTRASSER
2. Natural Law and Early Economic Thought in
Barbeyrac, Burlamaqui, and Vattel 53
DANIEL BRÜHLMEIER
3. Impostors and Liars: Clandestine Manuscripts and the Limits
of Freedom of the Press in the Huguenot Netherlands . . . . 73
JOHN CHRISTIAN LAURSEN
Appendix: English translation of Pierre Ricotier, "Dissertation
sur le mensonge officieux / Dissertation on Beneficial Lying" . .101
4. Politics and Ethics in the Huguenot Diaspora: Isaac
de Beausobre in Berlin 109
BERTRAM E. SCHWARZBACH
5. Antoine Court and Refugee Political Thought (1719-1752) . . . 131
PAULINE HAOUR
6. Jaucourt, Republicanism, and Toleration . . . . . . . . 155
SIMONE ZURBUCHEN
7. Huguenot Critical Theory and "lus Maiestatis" in
Huber and Althusius 171
FABRIZIO LOMONACO
Appendices: Latin and English versions of Johannes Althusius,
1610 Preface to Politica Methodice Di ges ta 193
Acknowledgments 202
Bibliography 203
Index 219

INTRODUCTION
John Christian Laursen, Riverside
Exodus, exile, diaspora, refugee. We know these words from the Bible,
from events of the twentieth century, and from many instances in between.
They are evocative of harrowing experiences. Whole peoples, defined by
religion or race or tribe or language, are uprooted and pushed or dragged
to unfamiliar lands, to start their lives again in places that are not their
own. Blood and tears are ever their lot.
It does not excuse their persecutors, but sometimes the storm clouds of
exodus, exile, and diaspora have a silver lining. These experiences can
challenge people to acts of heroic endurance and achievement. Ideas, art,
and culture indeed owe much to exiles, refugees, and peoples of diaspora.
One cannot say that these peoples would not have produced anything
worthwhile if they had been left in peace, but it may be some consolation
that some individuals are apparently driven to new heights of intellectual
resourcefulness and creativity when their peoples are driven out of their
homelands.
The following essays address the political ideas of the early modern
French Protestants who fled from France after the Revocation of the Edict
of Nantes in 1685. Most of them eventually settled in the Netherlands and
the Dutch colonies of Surinam and the Cape; in many German states,
including especially Prussia; in England, Ireland, and the English colonies
of North America; in Switzerland, Denmark, and Sweden; and in Russia.
They called their exile "the Refuge", the French word for refuge or shelter.
In exile, the Huguenots of the Refuge forged and hammered out many
of the precursors of the basic ideas of what we now know as liberalism.
They wrote about tolerance and liberty of conscience, about democracy in
politics and the church, and about the separation of church and state. They
argued with each other over subversive ideas from the natural right to
resist tyrants to the origin of religion in political manipulation, from the
right to deceive others for their own good to the value of freedom of the
press. All put together, their contribution to late seventeenth century and
eighteenth century intellectual life was enormous.
Nevertheless, the political ideas of these refugees have not received the
attention they deserve in the historiography of modern European ideas and
in contemporary political theory. There are several reasons for this. Some
2 JOHN CHRISTIAN LAURSEN
histories of ideas are organized in terms of the dominant trends in national
cultures. Immigrant thinkers who continue to write in their native language
will almost always be considered marginal to their new countries, even if
their cumulative effect on the history of political ideas is as great or greater
than that of the indigenous thinkers of any one of their new countries as a
whole. Some histories are written in terms of the canonical "great figures"
of the history of philosophy, theology, law, science, or historiography, for
example. Relatively minor figures will be omitted, again even if their
cumulative impact is as great or greater than any particular "great figure".
Related to this point, many historians are concerned with single major
innovations or with the presentation of grand systems of ideas, rather than
with the transmission, piecemeal transformation, and criticism of ideas,
which was apparently the forte of the Huguenots.
Finally, another reason for the relative neglect of the political ideas of
the Huguenots of the Refuge may be the specialization of historians of ideas
and political theorists according to contemporary categories, so that some
are historians of literature, some of philosophy, some of political thought,
and some are theorists of obligation, some of constitutionalism, and some
of revolution, to take only a few categories. Historians of political thought
and political theorists are tempted to concentrate on works of clearly
definable political content, as exclusive of other materials as possible. They
will steer away from writers who mixed theology, philosophy, science,
law, economics, and philology with political thought. Yet this is just what
the Huguenots did. And one will miss much of the content and dynamics
of the history of political ideas and of political theory if one tries to
understand them in isolation from the rest of their literary and cultural
context.
The following essays in this volume contribute to the project of bringing
back the Huguenots. Each, in its own way, offers a fresh perspective or
drives down an unexplored path. The rest of this introduction will situate
the following essays by sketching out the historical context and briefly
reviewing the classics of the available literature. This is followed by an
effort to characterize the contributions of the Huguenots to political thought
under two large rubrics: the mediation of political ideas and the political
theory of assimilation. By mediation is meant the transfer of ideas from
one culture to another, often by means of translations, commentary, and
the absorption of ideas from different cultures into new political theories.
The theory of assimilation refers to the generally neglected area of the
appropriate response of refugee intellectuals to the question of their future:
should they remain apart from their host cultures, or should they plan to