I genuinely believe that the current danger does not come from the government, nor from the parliament; it lies within the errors of the popular opinion.
Category: Democracy
LETTERS TO MR. DOMENGER – 11
The stupid impudence of ********* is beyond belief…… These people entertain themselves by riding roughshod over all rules of representative government, be it the constitution, the laws or the decrees;
LETTERS TO MR. DOMENGER – 10
What makes the future frightening, is ignorance.
LETTERS TO MR. DOMENGER – 9
The poor asks for more than what is just while the rich does not even accept to grant what is just.
LETTERS TO MR. DOMENGER – 8
It would have been better to stick to the principles, to grant every possible repressive power but not to prohibit freedom.
LETTERS TO MR. DOMENGER – 7
Having my conscience clear that I have performed my duty, a failure could be upsetting at first. I shall get over it quickly, I hope.
LETTERS TO MR. DOMENGER – 6
Those who genuinely love the Republic should understand that it is necessary to make it loveable.
LETTERS TO MR. DOMENGER – 5
What appears to me as the most common prudence is considered there as insane recklessness.
LETTERS TO MR. DOMENGER – 4
The country has missed a splendid opportunity to move on, and it will not find it back because I fear that many more thunderstorms are brewing to meet the next assembly.
LETTERS TO MR. DOMENGER – 3
If there were only one candidate, a revolution (god forbid) would deal with it. However, as there are several, a civil war is on the horizon.
LETTERS TO MR. DOMENGER – 2
And here I am again, voting alongside the red republic. However, this is not my fault.
LETTERS TO MR. HORACE SAY – 4
The following thought must be submitted to the public: that the State guarantees security to each and everyone but does not meddle in anything else.
LETTERS TO MR. HORACE SAY – 3
How will industry be able to resume, when it is accepted in principle that the scope of decrees is unlimited?
THE THREE ADVICES
Things would work marvellously if everybody would think as I do. This can be summed up as follows: if we agreed, we would have an agreement.
ABOUT THE SEPARATION OF THE TEMPORAL AND THE SPIRITUAL SPHERE
We consider that the right to legislate actions is already a very strong one and that it should not be added to this the right to regulate people’s thoughts.
UNTITLED
There are fifty-thousand people in France who are all very influential thanks to their character and have sworn steady and blind obedience to their spiritual leader who is at the same time a foreign king.
LETTER TO A CLERIC
I am not trying, and shall never try, to impose my systems. I expound them, I explain them, and for their implementation, I wait until public opinion tell their mind.
LETTER TO MR. DAMPIERRE
With a parliament populated by creatures from the executive, the country, its fortune and its liberty are left defenceless – and this is where lie the roots of a revolution.
LETTER TO MR. ***, IN RESPONSE TO HIS LETTER DATED JANUARY 12TH
Favours are not granted to the public but to the detriment of the public, otherwise, these would not be favours.
PARLIAMENTARY REFORM
Don’t we look like this cook who, upon going out, said to the cat: “Look after the ortolans properly and, if the dog came, show your claws”.
(UNTITLED)
Each year, he proceeds to new capital calls, increases the number of his employees, and the works do not evolve.
ELECTIONS
The interest of the minister is to increase its power and its wealth. However, it can increase its power only by restricting my freedom and its wealth by reaching into my pockets.
ELECTION SOPHISMS
I do not believe that there can be any stronger presumption against a candidate than his eagerness to look for votes.
REPORT TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE LANDES IN 1849 PERTAINING TO THE QUESTION OF COLLECTIVE PROPERTY
It is dangerous to believe that this right should be removed in the face of the legislator’s wishes.
APRIL 1849 MANIFESTO
Researching the causes of suffering, tending to it with all remedies that are compatible with justice, this is a duty that is as sacred as maintaining order.
THE STATE
The state having nothing that was not first taken from the people, cannot give lavishly to the people.
PARLIAMENT
The nature of things denies that nine hundred people can govern with a firm, logical and fast willpower.
LAISSEZ-FAIRE
Laissez-faire is hereby applicable to honest behaviour because the State has been instituted to hinder dishonesty.
UNDER THE REPUBLIC – XIV – SCHOOLING FREEDOM
The tide is carrying us towards the unlimited development of government action, towards an unlimited compression of true freedoms.
UNDER THE REPUBLIC – XII – THE PARISIAN PRESS
Mr. Cabet reminds his followers that they should not seek the triumph of their ideas anywhere else but in debating and convincing the public.
UNDER THE REPUBLIC – XI
The following phrase is from a diplomat, pertaining to diplomacy: Speech has been granted to man in order to disguise his thoughts.
UNDER THE REPUBLIC – III
Two systems confront each other – both exude from sincere convictions, both aim at the general good.
SECOND ARTICLE
A great cause has never failed by the want of a great man.
SOME MORE QUESTIONS ASKED TO THE LOCAL GOVERNMENTS FOR AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURES AND TRADE
Once the State will be the owner of everything, what will matter will be to become the owner of the State.
TRADE FREEDOM
Will the public eventually not open their eyes upon this shameful myth they are fooled by?
LARGE MEETING IN MANCHESTER
It is a glorious era, the one when thousands of citizens can meet up freely.
COBDEN AND THE LEAGUE
When considering exchanges, what is simpler than liberty?
COBDEN AND THE LEAGUE
Assuming that the mission of the legislator is to ensure that people have work, or failing that, have bread, I ask “Why start by taxing the bread itself?”
COBDEN AND THE LEAGUE
Party bias is the greatest scourge of constitutional nations.
SIXTH SPEECH
What is a privilege to some is a servitude to others.
LAZINESS AND RESTRICTION
It may well work. However, is this part of the mission of governments?
ABOUT ARMING GREAT BRITAIN AGAIN
When supporting a bad cause, what needs to be prevented the most, is that light be shed.
LIMITS THAT THE FREE-TRADE ASSOCIATION SETS TO ITSELF
The word “freedom” implies in itself the absence of fraud and violence. Because fraud and violence infringe freedom.
LETTER TO A GROUP OF SUPPORTERS
Now, the poor demand more than what is just and the rich refuse even that which is just.
TO THE ELECTORS OF THE LANDES
A people bound by the ties of privilege, bureaucracy, and taxes is like a tree eaten away by parasite plants.
ON PARLIAMENTARY REFORM
And whatever good opinion you have of the virtue of Council members, do you think that they will avoid succumbing to this test?
TO THE ELECTORS OF THE DISTRICT OF SAINT-SEVER
There would no longer be any limit to the expansion of the powers that be, apart from riot, or to increase in the budget, apart from bankruptcy.
TO THE ELECTORS OF THE DISTRICT OF SAINT-SEVER
The best policy for a candidate is to hide his opinions, or, for even greater security, not to have any.
TO THE ELECTORS OF THE DEPARTEMENT OF THE LANDES
Left to itself, it soon exceeds the limits which circumscribe its mission. It increases beyond all reason the number and wealth of its agents. It no longer administers, it exploits. It no longer judges, it persecutes or takes revenge. It no longer protects, it oppresses.
LETTERS TO RICHARD COBDEN
Begone the laws that precede the progress of opinion!