Letter to Beaumont, Letters Written from the Mountain, and Related Writings

FIRST PART

LETTER TO BEAUMONT, LETTERS WRITTEN FROM THE MOUNTAIN, AND RELATED WRITINGS JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU LETTER TO BEAUMONT, LETTERS WRITTEN FROM THE MOUNTAIN, and RELATED WRITINGS THE COLLECTED WRITINGS OF ROUSSEAU Vol. 9 EDITED BY CHRISTOPHER KELLY AND EVE GRACE TRANSLATED BY CHRISTOPHER KELLY AND JUDITH R. BUSH ROGER D. MASTERS AND CHRISTOPHER KELLY, SERIES EDITORS DARTMOUTH COLLEGE PUBLISHED BY UNIVERSITY PRESS OF NEW ENGLAND HANOVER AND LONDON DARTMOUTH COLLEGE Published by University Press of new England, Hanover, NH 03755© 2001 by the Trustees of Dartmouth College All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 5 4 3 2 1 cip data appear at the end of the book This project has received support from the French Ministry of Culture—Direction du Livre et de la Lecture, the Florence gould Foundation, and Pro Helvetia. Cet ouvrage, publié dans le cadre d’un programme d’aide à la publication, bénéWcie du soutien du Ministère des AVaires Etrangères et du Service Culturel de l’Ambassade de France aux Etats-Unis. This work, published as part of a program of aid for publication, received support from the French Ministry of Foreign AVairs and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States. Contents Preface vii Chronology of Works in Volume 9 ix Note on the Text xi Introduction xiii Pastoral Letter of His Grace the Archbishop of Paris 1 Translated by Christopher Kelly Letter to Beaumont 17 Translated by Judith R. Bush and Christopher Kelly Fragments of the Letter to Christophe de Beaumont 84 Translated by Christopher Kelly History of the Government of Geneva 102 Translated by Christopher Kelly Letters Written from the Mountain 131 Translated by Judith R. Bush and Christopher Kelly FIRST PART First Letter 134 State of the question in relation to the Author. Whether it is within the competence of the civil Tribunals. Unjust manner of resolving it. Second Letter 153 On the Religion of Geneva. Principles of the Reformation. The Author opens the discussion of miracles. Third Letter 169 Continuation of the same Subject. Short examination of some other accusations. v Fourth Letter 188 The Author assumes himself to be guilty; he compares the proceedings to the Law. Fifth Letter 200 Continuation of the same Subject. Jurisprudence drawn from proceedings done in similar cases. Goal of the Author in publishing the profession of faith. Sixth Letter 229 Whether it is true that the Author attacks Governments. Short analysis of his Book. The proceeding done in Geneva is without precedent, and has not been followed in any country. SECOND PART Seventh Letter 237 Present State of the Government of Geneva, settled by the Edict of the Mediation. Eighth Letter 256 Spirit of that Edict. Counterweight that it gives to the Aristocratic Power. Undertaking of the small Council to annihilate this counterweight by means of deeds. Conclusion. Ninth Letter 283 Manner of reasoning of the Author of the Letters Written from the Country. His true goal in this Writing. Choice of these examples. Character of the Bourgeoisie of Geneva. Proof by facts. Conclusion. The Vision of Pierre of the Mountain, Called the Seer 307 Translated by Christopher Kelly Notes 315 Index 331 vi Contents Preface Although Jean-Jacques Rousseau is a signiWcant Wgure in the Western tradition, there is no standard edition of his major writings available in English. Moreover, unlike those of other thinkers of comparable stature , many of Rousseau’s important works have never been translated or have become unavailable. The present edition of the Collected Writings of Rousseau is intended to meet this need. Our goal is to produce a series that can provide a standard reference for scholarship that is accessible to all those wishing to read broadly in the corpus of Rousseau’s work. To this end, the translations seek to combine care and faithfulness to the original French text with readability in English . Although, as every translator knows, there are often passages where it is impossible to meet this criterion, readers of a thinker and writer of Rousseau’s stature deserve texts that have not been deformed by the interpretive bias of the translators or editors. Wherever possible, existing translations of high quality have been used, although in some cases the editors have felt that minor revisions were necessary to maintain the accuracy and consistency of the English versions. Where there was no English translation (or none of suYcient quality), a new translation has been prepared...