André Morellet: Texts and Contexts (review)

For a long time, the rediscovery of Morellet (the last survivor among the Philosophes, and their defender in the early nineteenth century) has essentially been the work of Dorothy Medlin. The volume, which transmits his views on the principle of order, England, economics, the intellectual as a moulder of opinion and that disturbing phenomenon, Chateaubriand, strengthens his importance. The collection is completed by an analysis of the compilation and publication of his Mélanges de littérature (1818), and a considerable Appendix containing additions and corrections to the Lettres (see FS, XLVI (1992), 456-57; XLIX (1995), 456-57; LII (1998), 208). Much of the material presented here, which is annotated and elucidated in the most helpful way, is either inédit, or not readily available. Jeffrey Merrick presents Morellet's unpublished 'Mélanges sur l'Angleterre' (1772) which not only exemplify conventional enthusiasm for that land of liberty but also express principled reservations about it. Here — nil a me alienum puto — the subjects of analysis are numerous: the English language; education; doctors; religion; English gardens; government; individual politicians; civil and political liberty; freedom of the press; religion; customs; the role of women; charity. Christophe Salvat's contribution on Morellet and economics is even more engrossing. Political economy (then in its infancy) had early become one of Morellet's passions. Entrusted (1762) with producing a Dictionnaire de commerce, he was fated to see the project ultimately founder, leaving as flotsam the Prospectus and the article 'Économie politique', which together — as Salvat establishes — constituted a major advance in the analysis of the phenomenon. Hostile to Rousseau (Discours sur l'œconomie politique, 1758), Morellet prefers a minimalist state which, shunning protectionism and vested interest, will seek the happiness of the greatest number by favouring a 'système concurrentiel' which, scorning legislation or occult intervention, will repose upon respect for the simple principles of Natural Law. His object? To teach the privileged that the principles of good government required their own self-immolation to the public good! Small wonder that the dictionary project came to nought. We see later (for much of the volume demonstrates continuity of principles) that one of his longest, disapproving letters to the press (1800) concerned the proposal, submitted to the House of Commons, to set up a privileged corporation for the sale and manufacture of flour and bread; and what of that compassionate letter, 'Les Marchandes de prunes' (Mémoires, 1821, II, 306-09) which concerned four peasant women (and their donkeys) who had been arrested for undercutting the exclusive rights of the Parisian guild of fruit-sellers!

It is the same humanity that we find in the section (for which Medlin is responsible), which gathers together twenty-three letters to newspaper editors (1770-1808) They all show the essentially combative nature of a man who had a clear understanding of justice and right, and whose fidelity both to the Enlightenment, to its adepts and to its values was complete. The same Morellet, the rearguard of the Enlightenment — criticizing Atala (1801), Les Martyrs (1809), then finally (1811) Le Génie du christianisme — is shown engaged in an inevitable clash with the first of a new breed of writers with different values, who were quite literally speaking a different language. Yet this was no dialogue de sourds. Medlin and Kathleen Hardesty Doig show how Morellet was capable of empathizing with Chateaubriand, even though he was hostile — with his views on reason and taste — to such exuberance and lack of self-discipline. The sheer attention paid to this rising star is testimony to Morellet's apprehension regarding the impact that Chateaubriand might have on young(er) writers. It is still visible in the Mélanges (1818) where he accounts for 45% of the second volume. This was not, however, a fruitless confrontation: the author of Atala did, in important respects, take heed of Morellet's many strictures. These diverse sections, the product of diverse pens, are all linked by the very personality of...