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Voltaire and Montesquieu's Three Principles of Government

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

E. H. Price
E. H. Price*
Affiliation:
Mississippi State College
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Extract

Voltaire criticizes the famous motivating principles of the three forms of government more vigorously than any other theory in the Esprit des lois. In general his criticisms of that great work have been too often discounted because of his known hostility to Montesquieu. The aim of this study is to account for his attitude toward the motivating principles as they are set forth in the Esprit des lois. Here the facts reveal that his criticisms are sincere and in keeping with his own established opinions. They show the impatience of a mind thinking in relativist and human terms with the generalizations of legal theory.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 57 , Issue 4-Part1 , December 1942 , pp. 1046 - 1052
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1942

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References

Note 1 in page 1046 G. Lanson, Histoire de la littérature française (Hachette, 1924), p. 762—In regard to Voltaire's criticism of L'Esprit des lois: “Voltaire eut la petitesse d'être gêné par la grandeur de Montesquieu. L'écrivain était mort, l'œuvre restait. Voltaire s'y cassa les dents.”

Note 2 in page 1046 Pensées sur le gouvernement, Moland, xxiii, p. 530.

Note 3 in page 1046 Commentaire sur l'Esprit des lois, M. xxx, p. 442 et seq.

Note 4 in page 1046 Idées républicaines, M. xxiv, pp. 419–420.

Note 5 in page 1046 Esprit des lois, Liv. iii, Ch. viii, Lab. iii, p. 133.

Note 6 in page 1046 Ibid., Liv. v, Ch. xii, Laboulaye iii, p. 196.

Note 7 in page 1046 Commentaire sur l'Esprit des lois, M. xxx, p. 416.

Note 8 in page 1046 Dictionnaire philosophique, M. xx, p. 3.

Note 9 in page 1046 Ibid., p. 7.

Note 10 in page 1046 Ibid., p. 4.

Note 11 in page 1047 Commentaire sur l'Esprit des lois, M. xxx, p. 416.

Note 12 in page 1047 Pensées sur le gouvernement, M. xxiii, p. 530.

Note 13 in page 1047 Lettre à M. Gin, 20 juin 1777, M. L, p. 236. cf. Commentaire sur l'Esprit des Lois, M. xxx, p. 416.

Note 14 in page 1047 Esprit des lois, Liv. iii, Ch. vi, Lab. iii, p. 131.

Note 15 in page 1047 Ibid., Liv. iii, Ch. v, Lab. iii, p. 130.

Note 16 in page 1047 Ibid.—This statement is not a commendation of vice. Faults corrected in a republic by a sentiment of vertu must be prevented in a monarchy by law.

Note 17 in page 1047 Ibid., p. 132.

Note 18 in page 1047 Dictionnaire philosophique, M. xix, p. 387. He follows this remark with lines from the Pastor fido which describe the intrigue of court life:

“L'ingannare, il mentir, la frode, il furto
E la rapina di pietà vestita,
Crescer col danno et precipizio altrui
E far a se de l'altrui biasmo onore
Son le virtù di quella gente infida.“ Pastor Fido, V

Note 19 in page 1047 Supplément au Siècle de Louis XIV, M. xv, p. 138.

Note 20 in page 1047 Dictionnaire philosophique, M. xix, p. 387.

Note 21 in page 1047 Pensées sur le gouvernement, M. xxiii, p. 531.

Note 22 in page 1048 Dictionnaire philosophique, M. xix, p. 388.

Note 23 in page 1048 Supplément au Siècle de Louis XIV, M. xv, p. 139.

Note 24 in page 1048 Pensées sur le gouvernement, M. xxiii, p. 531.

Note 25 in page 1048 Le Triumvirat, n. vi, pp. 209–210.

Note 26 in page 1048 Le siècle de Louis XIV, M. xiv, p. 394.

Note 27 in page 1048 Esprit des lois, Liv. iv, Ch. v, Lab. iii, p. 151.

Note 28 in page 1048 “Examen critique de l'Esprit des lois,” Nouvelles ecclésiastiques, 9 octobre 1749 in Lab. vi, p. 122 et seq. Cf. Préface de l'Editeur, Lab. vi, p. 99, where the above article is attributed to a certain Abbé La Roche.

Note 29 in page 1048 Esprit des lois,—“Avertissement de l'auteur,” Lab. iii, p. 87.

Note 30 in page 1048 Eclaircissements sur l'Esprit des lois, Lab. vi, p. 205.

Note 31 in page 1049 Esprit des lois,—“Avertissement de l'auteur,” M. xxx, p. 88.

Note 32 in page 1049 Commentaire sur l'Esprit des lois, M. xxx, p. 426.

Note 33 in page 1049 Supplément au Siècle de Louis XIV, M. xiv, pp. 138–139.

Note 34 in page 1049 E. Faguet, Dix-huitième siècle (Paris, 1901), p. 156. Cf. Levi-Malvano, Montesquieu e Machiavelli (Paris, 1912), p. 42, where the conclusion reached is: “Per lui dunque, malgrado le sottili distinzioni che si studia de stabilire per far inghiottire l'amara pillola, la virtù, base necessaria alla repubblica, è purezza, austerità di costumi, è la virtù tutta intera.”

Note 35 in page 1049 Esprit des lois, Liv. vi, Ch. xvi, Lab. iii, p. 258.

Note 36 in page 1049 Commentaire sur l'Esprit des lois, M. xxx, p. 429.

Note 37 in page 1049 Esprit des lois, Liv. v, Ch. xix, Lab. iii, p. 218.

Note 38 in page 1049 Ibid.

Note 39 in page 1050 Commentaire sur l'Esprit des lois, M. xxx, p. 426.

Note 40 in page 1050 Esprit des lois, Liv. iv, Ch. vi, Lab. iii, p. 153.

Note 41 in page 1050 Ibid., n.

Note 42 in page 1050 Commentaire sur l'Esprit des lois, M. xxx, pp. 418–419.

Note 43 in page 1050 G. R. Havens, “The Nature Doctrine of Voltaire,” PMLA, xl, 854–855.

Note 44 in page 1050 Dictionnaire philosophique, M. xix, p. 387.

Note 45 in page 1050 Esprit des lois, Liv. iii, Ch. iv, Lab. iii, p. 127.

Note 46 in page 1050 Ibid.

Note 47 in page 1050 Commentaire sur l'Esprit des lois, M. xxx, p. 419.

Note 48 in page 1050 Esprit des lois, Liv. v, Ch. xix, Lab. iii, p. 218.

Note 49 in page 1051 Commentaire sur l'Esprit des lois, M. xxx, p. 427.

Note 50 in page 1051 Epsrit des lois, Liv. v, Ch. xix, Lab. iii, p. 218.

Note 51 in page 1051 Ibid., Liv. iv, Ch. ii, Lab. vi, p. 155.

Note 52 in page 1051 Commentaire sur l'Esprit des lois, M. xxx, p. 419.

Note 53 in page 1051 J. J. Rousseau, Le Contrat social, Oeuvres complètes de J. J. Rousseau (Hachette, 1913), iii, 388.

Note 54 in page 1051 G. R. Havens, Voltaire's Marginalia on the Pages of Rousseau (Ohio State University Press, Columbus, 1933); citing marginal note of Voltaire in his copy of the Contrat social, Rey, 1762, p. 313 in the Voltaire Library at Leningrad.

Note 55 in page 1051 Lettre à Monsieur Gin, 20 juin 1777; M. L., p. 236.

Note 56 in page 1051 Pensées sur le gouvernement, M. xxiii, p. 531.

Note 57 in page 1052 Dictionnaire philosophique, M. xix, p. 387.

Note 58 in page 1052 Pensées sur le gouvernement, M. xxiii, p. 531.

Note 59 in page 1052 Ferdinand Brunetière, Etudes critiques sur l'histoire de la littérature française, 4e série, (Paris, 1894), p. 262.