5 - Sentimentalism and idéologie

Summary

In thermidor and fructidor Year 3, the Décade philosophique carried an anecdote entitled ‘Le Bourg et le hameau’, which it placed under the heading ‘Morale appliquée à la législation’. The context of the story is the law of 17 nivôse Year 2 establishing the equal division of inheritances, and more specifically the decision to cancel the retroactive application of the legislation to cover all inheritances established since 14 July 1789. The anecdote is recounted by a primary narrator on his return from a botanical tour of the Auvergne, during which he was accommodated in a small town (the ‘bourg’ of the title) under the roof of one Dennet. The citoyen Dennet is the eldest sibling who, in the face of opposition from his ambitious and avaricious wife, has been obliged by the law to share his inheritance with his younger brothers and sisters. The contrast articulated by the title is between the self-interest of the townsfolk and the humanity and generosity of the inhabitants of the country, exemplified by Jacques Pinard, an inhabitant of one of the outlying hamlets. Before the law of 17 nivôse even came onto the statute book, he had refused to accept his legal rights as elder brother, and had shared out his inheritance with his siblings. This shining example, predictably enough, prevails: when the retroactivity of the law is cancelled, Dennet refuses to go back on the equal division of the inheritance, which had provided his sister with a precious dowry.