Alexis de Tocqueville - The State of Society in France Before the Revolution of 1789

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THE STATE OF
SOCIETY IN FRANCE
BEFORE THE
REVOLUTION OF 1789

AND THE

CAUSES WHICH LED TO THAT EVENT

By ALEXIS de TOCQUEVILLE

MEMBER OF THE FRENCH ACADEMY

TRANSLATED BY HENRY REEVE, D.C.L.

THIRD EDITION

LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET
1888

PRINTED BY
SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
LONDON

CONTENTS.

PAGE
Translators Preface to the Second Edition	[]
Preliminary Notice	[]
BOOK I.
CHAPTER
I.	Opposing Judgments passed on the French Revolution at its Origin
II.	The Fundamental and Final Object of the Revolution was not, as has been supposed, the destruction of Religious Authority and the weakening of Political Power
III.	Showing that the French Revolution was a Political Revolution which followed the course of Religious Revolutions, and for what Reasons
IV.	Showing that nearly the whole of Europe had had precisely the same Institutions, and that these Institutions were everywhere falling to pieces
V.	What was the peculiar scope of the French Revolution
BOOK II.
I.	Why Feudal Rights had become more odious to the People in France than in any other country
II.	Showing that Administrative Centralisation is an Institution anterior in France to the Revolution of 1789, and not the product of the Revolution or of the Empire, as is commonly said
III.	Showing that what is now called Administrative Tutelage was an Institution in France anterior to the Revolution
IV.	Administrative Jurisdiction and the Immunity of Public Officers are Institutions of France anterior to the Revolution
V.	Showing how Centralisation had been able to introduce itself among the ancient Institutions of France, and to supplant without destroying them
VI.	The Administrative Habits of France before the Revolution
VII.	Of all European Nations France was already that in which the Metropolis had acquired the greatest preponderance over the Provinces, and had most completely absorbed the whole Empire
VIII.	France was the Country in which Men had become the most alike
IX.	Showing how Men thus similar were more divided than ever into small Groups, estranged from and indifferent to each other
X.	The Destruction of Political Liberty and the Estrangement of Classes were the causes of almost all the disorders which led to the Dissolution of the Old Society of France
XI.	Of the Species of Liberty which existed under the Old Monarchy, and of the Influence of that Liberty on the Revolution
XII.	Showing that the Condition of the French Peasantry, notwithstanding the progress of Civilisation, was sometimes worse in the Eighteenth Century than it had been in the Thirteenth
XIII.	Showing that towards the Middle of the Eighteenth Century Men of Letters became the leading Political Men of France, and of the effects of this occurrence
XIV.	Showing how Irreligion had become a general and dominant passion amongst the French of the Eighteenth Century, and what influence this fact had on the character of the Revolution
XV.	That the French aimed at Reform before Liberty
XVI.	Showing that the Reign of Louis XVI. was the most prosperous epoch of the old French Monarchy, and how this very prosperity accelerated the Revolution
XVII.	Showing that the French People were excited to revolt by the means taken to relieve them
XVIII.	Concerning some practices by which the Government completed the Revolutionary Education of the People of France
XIX.	Showing that a great Administrative Revolution had preceded the Political Revolution, and what were the consequences it produced
XX.	Showing that the Revolution proceeded naturally from the existing State of France
SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER.
On the Pays dtats, and especially on the Constitutions of Languedoc
BOOK III.
I.	Of the violent and undefined Agitation of the Human Mind at the moment when the French Revolution broke out
II.	How this vague perturbation of the Human Mind suddenly became in France a positive passion, and what form this passion at first assumed
III.	How the Parliaments of France, following precedent, overthrew the Monarchy
IV.	The Parliaments discover that they have lost all Authority, just when they thought themselves masters of the Kingdom
V.	Absolute Power being subdued, the true spirit of the Revolution forthwith became manifest
VI.	The preparation of the instructions to the Members of the States-General drove the conception of a Radical Revolution home to the mind of the People
VII.	How, on the Eve of the Convocation of the National Assembly, the mind of the Nation was more enlarged, and its spirit raised
Notes and Illustrations

TRANSLATORS PREFACE

TO THE SECOND EDITION.

An interval of about seventeen years has elapsed since the first publication of this book in France, and of the translation of it, which appeared simultaneously, in England. The English version has not been republished, and has long been out of print. But the work itself has retained a lasting place in the political literature of Europe.

The historical events which have occurred since the date of its first publication have again riveted the attention of every thinking man on the astonishing phenomena of the French Revolution, which has resumed in these later days its mysterious and destructive course; and a deeper interest than ever seems to attach itself to the first causes of this long series of political and social convulsions, which appear to be as far as ever from their termination.

Nor is this interest confined to the state of France alone; for at each succeeding period of our contemporary annals the operation and effects of the same causes may be traced in other countries, and the principles which the author of this book discerned with unerring sagacity derive fresh illustrations every day from the course of events both abroad and at home.

For this reason, mainly, this translation is republished at the present time, in the hope that it may be read by men of the younger generation, who were not in being when it first appeared, and that some of those who read it before may be led by the light of passing events to read it again. For I venture to say that in no other work on the French Revolution has the art of scientific analysis been applied with equal skill to the genesis of these great changes: no other writer has so skilfully traced the continuous operation of the causes, long anterior to the Revolution itself, which have gradually reduced one of the greatest monarchies of Europe to its present condition.

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