The History of the Origins of Representative Government in Europe

Editor's Note

EDITOR'S NOTE This edition reproduces the original English translation of Frans:ois Guizot's History ofthe Origin ofRepresentative Government in Europe by Andrew R. Scoble (London: Henry G. Bohn, r86r). Guizot gave these lectures on the history ofrepresentative government in Paris in r82o-r822. They were published in French three decades later as Histoire des origines du gouvernement representatif en Europe (Paris, Didier, rSsr, 2vols.). Andrew Scoble's translation is reprinted here without any substantive changes. The only important change is the one operated in the title that was incorrectly printed in the original edition ("History ofthe Origin of Representative Government in Europe" instead of"History ofthe Origins of Representative Government in Europe"). In addition to being accurate, Scoble's translation has the unique advantage of being an elegant nineteenth-century English version of a well-written nineteenth-century French text. As editor, I was responsible for writing the introduction and preparing a set of explanatory notes that shed light on Guizot's theoretical and historical background. The footnotes that appeared in the original English translation are marked with symbols and are reprinted here unchanged. The editor's footnotes (marked with numbers) are the explanatory notes mentioned above, plus translations of the Latin phrases used by Guizot in his text. The translations were made by Christine Clarkson, to whom I would like to extend special thanks. Finally , we have created a new index for this Liberty Fund edition. Liberty Fund welcomed with enthusiasm my proposal and was extremely supportive of the entire project. Special thanks to the Liberty Fund staff for their dedicated work and genuine commitment to retrieving from oblivion this classic work ofGuizot. Liberty Fund also sponsored a colloquium on Guizot's political thought in which we used excerpts ofthis important book. We hope that this new edition ofGuizot's History ofthe Origins ofRepresentative Government in Europe, that has been out ofprint for more than a century , will be an opportunity for many readers to rediscover a major thinker and historian whose writings are essential to understanding the evolution ofliberal democracy. XVII ...