Policing Public Opinion in the French Revolution: The Culture of Calumny and the Problem of Free Speech (review)

Freedom of speech is one of the most highly prized, as well as fragile and contested, values of modern democratic society. In this book, Walton explores why successive French governments in the old regime and French Revolution either encouraged or restricted freedom of speech and the press. After examining debates and judicial decisions from the Enlightenment through the Terror, he concludes that by 1789, and thereafter, most French citizens wanted some degree of these freedoms. However, even the most liberal among them were aware that freedom of speech, if used in inappropriate ways, could harm a stable, democratic order. Walton explores how various groups tried to square the desire for free speech with a concomitant commitment to deeply rooted values from the old regime, such as respect for authority, honor, and religion.

Unfortunately, there were simply too many conflicting views on how to define France's core values to allow a smooth transition from the old to new regime. In the old regime, honor was hierarchical in nature, validating the dignity of the elite but not the common person. Catholicism was regarded as the foundation of the moral and political order, and supreme authority was embodied in the monarch. A complex, and not always coherent, network of censorship tried to ensure that these central values would not be attacked through the printed or spoken word. At the same time, reform-minded intellectuals and government officials began to realize that the free circulation of ideas could create a more enlightened and productive citizenry, which would enhance French strength.

During the Revolution, core values were transformed. Honor was democratized, conferring a new sense of legitimacy on the actions of the common person. Religion was still regarded as essential to the political order, but revolutionaries envisioned a patriotic, tolerant religion rather than exclusive Catholic doctrines. Sovereignty was now to be shared between the king and people. When the revolutionary government began to free the press, the result was usually not enlightenment, however, but conflict. Different groups used speeches and publications to make the case for their vision of how France should be reconstructed, and soon insults were flying.

The National and Constituent Assemblies wanted to find a way to define freedom of speech that would maintain respect for national authority, but it proved extremely difficult to do so, particularly when crowds in the street demanded vengeance for perceived indignities. Walton argues that the high point of repression, the Terror, grew less out of Jacobin fanaticism than a cycle of vengeance that had deep roots in old ideas of honor and religion that could not easily accommodate compromise. Swearing civic oaths and creating programs to foster public spirit were attempts to avert violence through consensus, but they had virtually no chance of success.

It becomes clear from Walton's research that freedom of the press and speech is extremely difficult to maintain in a weak state with conflicting notions of legitimacy. Walton also shows that France was not uniquely illiberal, as recent manipulation of the press by the United States government illustrates. All in all, Walton's analysis offers a thoughtful perspective on the complexity of defining and institutionalizing core democratic freedoms, and a salutary reminder that we should not take them for granted.