To Secure the Blessings of Liberty: Selected Writings of Gouverneur Morris

17 • Observations on Government, Applicable to the Political State of France (1789)

231 Reprinted from Jared Sparks, The Life of Gouverneur Morris, with Selections from his Correspondence and Miscellaneous Papers (Boston: Gray & Bowen, 1832), 2:463–71. The title is Sparks’s. 1. Morris, Diary of the French Revolution, 1:68. 2. Morris, Diary of the French Revolution, 1:161. 17 • Observations on Government, Applicable to the Political State of France (1789) The Estates-General convened on May 5, 1789, amid royal pageantry and unrealistic expectations. Morris attended the opening session with Thomas Jefferson and later commented to Mrs. Robert Morris: Here drops the Curtain on the first great Act of this Drama in which Bourbon gives Freedom. His Courtiers seem to feel what he seems to be insensible of, the Pang of Greatness going off.1 Throughout that summer Morris was frequently asked his advice on constitutional issues, since it was well known he had a part in writing the new American Constitution. His initial reluctance to give advice to the French (see the headnote to chapter 13) faded as he became convinced that the French were about to replace one despotism with another. Around the end of July, as Morris was preparing to travel to England on some more of Robert Morris’s business, a member of the EstatesGeneral asked him “to throw together some Thoughts respecting the Constitution of this Country.”2 This is probably that document, although the original apparently has not survived. Morris wrote it on July 25 and spent the next few days alternately translating it and consummating his relationship with Adele de Flahaut. That translation also does not seem to have survived; the version here is Sparks’s back-translation from an unknown French original. 232 chaPtEr 17 3. Cowardly courtiers but courageous warriors. 4. Despicable courtiers and cowardly warriors. •• That the French have not those manners, which are suited to a free constitution , is a reflection by no means dishonorable to that nation. It applies with equal force to all others, whose political situation is similar. Voltaire has called his countrymen, lâches courtisans mais braves guerriers.3 Had the despotism been more complete, that moral painter would perhaps have said vils courtisans et lâches guerriers.4 But whence this deprivation of morals in arbitrary governments? The Almighty, for wise purposes, has formed man in such manner, that he lives not in himself, but in the opinion of others. In monarchies he looks upwards , and each contrives how best to gain the good opinion of his immediate superior. Begin then at the point of the pyramid, where the crown is placed, and in each degree of descent you will find that, to flatter the prevailing folly or the ruling vice, obtains the good opinion of the superior, and opens the way to fortune. The vulgar, who are at the base of the pyramid , dazzled by the splendor of the great, suffer their opinion to be captivated by show, and adore the idol that is raised for their devotion. With them a golden calf commands the respect, which is due to the Lord of Hosts. In a republican government, those who wish to be great must begin by obtaining the good opinion of their equals. For this purpose they must be virtuous, or appear so; and the appearance has, generally speaking, the same advantages, as to the community, with the reality; because the example is the same, and because the opportunities of ruining the nation, by vices long concealed, are not frequent. But remark, that the possession or appearance of virtue will not alone suffice. In this kind of government, as in the other, the prevailing follies and vices must be flattered. The Roman must be brave, the Athenian polite, the monk devout; and each must prefer the interest of his society to those of mankind, and the rules of his Order to the principles of justice. In pursuing these reflections, we shall find the source of an important maxim, which Montesquieu has advanced; That laws and manners have a mutual influence on each other. To fit us for a republic, as for any other form of government, a previous education is necessary. But what is education? Let us not confound things. Education of the head, learning, pedantry, superstition; these are what the college confers. Education of the heart, manners, these we derive from the society around us. Political State of France 233 Hence the Dutchman is avaricious, the Englishman proud, the Frenchman...