DOItCET, MAHQU1S DE. 



CONFUCIUS. 



Ih.t bi fame chiefly reeU. The friend of D'Alemliert tad of his 

 illu.i 10 i. cooUraporariea, Condorcet wu one of the warmest nd 

 OKMi distinguished of VolUira'i disciples. Ha cannot, it it true, be 

 placed in the first rank, either as deep thinker or origin*! writer ; 

 nevertheless) hi. mrdiutive and lofty mind, his unabated seal in the 

 pur-nit of truth, his generous ardour, which never cooled or shrunk 

 from the difficulties which it bad to encounter, bis perseverance in 

 applying bimaelf to all aorte of uaeful pursuits, and the multiplicity 

 of bia labours, hT all contributed to assign him a conspicuous place 

 among tboae wbo hare exercised an influence orer the destinies of bis 

 country* 



Hia philosophical views hare been widely circulated, and the 

 prc<icxl rff ct of them U still visible. The main doctrine which he 

 ought to inculcate, and which is contained in his ' Eaquiase des 

 Progret de TKsprit humsin,' was the perfectibility of mnn, considered 

 both in his individusl and social capacity. According to him, the 

 human frame aad intellect, by the aid of time and education, would 

 infallibly attain to perfection. This was the erred which be proposed 

 to substitute in the place of the sanctions of morality and religion. 

 This tingnUr notion, with which he was so deeply imbued, hai given 

 to his philosophy a peculiar and special character, which distinguishes 

 it alike from the sceptical fatalism of Voltaire and the gloomy dog- 

 matism of Diderot. In the philanthropic mind of Condorcet philo- 

 sophical speculations were blended with the doepeit sympathy for his 

 fellow-men, and the most unwearied activity in promoting all such 

 reforms as he thought useful. Of his magnanimity and elevation of 

 oul he gave ample proof in the heroic conduct which he pursued in 

 the hour of difficulty and danger. Proscribed by the Convention as a 

 ' Girondin,' he voluntarily quitted the house of his friend Madame 

 Verney, which had afforded him an asylum during eight months of 

 the fint revolution, rather than expose her to the consequences of a 

 decree which might have made it a capital crime to harbour or conceal 

 an outlawed deputy. Houseless, and wandering about the country 

 round Paris, he endeavoured to conceal himself in the numerous 

 quarri'-s with which its neighbourhood abounds. At last the pressure 

 of hunger drove him into a small inu in the village of Cluoiart. v.h- r.- 

 be inca itiou-ly betrayed himself by exhibiting a pocket-book obviously 

 too elegant for one in so destitute a condition. He was arrested, and 

 though exhausted by want and fatigue, and with sore foot occasioned 

 by rxcewive walking, he was conveyed to Bourg-la-Reine, and thrown 

 into a dungeon. On the morrow (28th of March 1794), he was found 

 dead in his cell, having put a period to his existence by swallowing 

 poi'on, which be always carried about him in order to avoid the 

 ignominy of the scaffold. 



Tha m ithetuitical works of Condorcet are numerous, consisting in 

 great part of memoirs in the ' Transactions' of the academy. In pure 

 mathematics he devoted himself mostly to the development of the 

 differential and integral calculus : be lived during the time when the 

 higher parts of that science began to a-sume their present powerful 

 form : and hit labours on the subject of differential equations must 

 preserve bit name in connection with their history. Hi? applications 

 of mathematics are,!, the problem of three bodies, in which he bad 

 no particular success; 2, the application of the mathematical theory 

 of probabilities to judicial decisions, at that time a new acd ingenious 

 . the ground* of which are generally misunderstood, l.ut 

 which was treated by Condorcet with a degree of power which entitles 

 bis work to no mean rank among those which have led the way to a 

 percept KM, ,.( t D , extensive bearings of the integral calculus. Con- 

 dorcet is not in the very first rank of mathematicians, but very high 

 in th second. A a literary author, his ' filoges dea Academicians 

 inorta depuis 1699. 1 procured for him the perpetual secretaryship of 

 the Academy of Sciences, and furthered his election to the French 

 Academy. Though decidedly inferior to Fontenelle's fcloges Acadc- 

 miuues,' both in point and simplicity, they nevertheless show Coudorcet 

 to be a pure and elegant writer, as well as a good judge of the merit 

 of others. His Lives of Voltaire and Turgot,' in which these 

 qualitiea are mot apparent, are moreover distinguished by the 

 ned philanthropy, the philoophical zeal, and that desire for 

 improvement, which was always the strongest fooling in the author's 

 heart The ttyle in which they are written is clear, and if some- 

 what monotonous, is not altogether devoid of force and spirit. Beside* 

 DM numerous works (of which he bad not time to undertake a regular 

 and careful rovUinn), he contributed several articles to the papen 

 eotiUed the Feuille Villageoise,' and the ' Chronique de Paris/ But 

 the grand work of Condorcet was his Eiiquisse du Progrc. du IK.prit 

 liuinain.' which he wrote while he was seeking refuge from proscription, 

 r which U U.| uo other material* except such as he bad 

 tre .Mirvd up in his own vast and capacious memory : it is a work 

 ore renarkabl' for depth of thought than brilliancy of style. 



her of bis moat remarkable productions wan hi* ' Plan for a 

 Constitution.' which he presented to the Convention, at whose request 



i bad undertaken to draw up a report on public instruction His 

 trmtiM on thi. lubjeet abounds in enlarged and lofty views, and 

 oouUine I be justeat notions on the art of expanding the faculties and 

 foi u. ing tbe ciiaruct- r. 



Cood-nature and kindn'ss were the foundation of his dispositions. 



was deficient in anything, it was in imagination. His outward 



deportment WM cold and reserved, and characterised by a certain 



degree of awkwardness and timidity. Nevertheless he poeaeued more 

 real warmth of feeling and greatness of soul than those unacquainted 

 with him would have suspected. D'Alembert used to characterise him 

 as a volcano covered with snow. HU private a* well as public conduct 

 wu firm, disinterested, and straightforward ; and being fully satisfied, 

 that a system of equality was the only one compatible with the happi- 

 ness and real interest) of mankind, he made no account of his own rank, 

 title, or fortune, but was willing to mcrifico them all to promote the 

 d irling object of his hopes and wishes. 



Under the old regime he refused the request of the Academy in 

 1777 to pronounce an <5loge on the Duo de la Vril!i<n>. minister of 

 Louts XV. He subsequently resigned the place which he held under 

 the administration that be might avoid being brought into contact 

 with M. Necker, whom he suspected <( hiving intrigued against bis 

 friend Turgot In the earlier period of the revolution, Condorcet used 

 every effort to bring about those changes which he bad BO often desired 

 to see accomplished for the good of his country, and became an active 

 member of the Comi <5 des Subsistanoes. 



Being culled to the Convention after the fall of the monarchy, he 

 rallied round the Qirondius in otder to oppose that portion of the 

 assembly known by the name of Montagnards from their occupying the 

 highest seats in the Convention. In his efforts to found a republic 

 in France upon a philosophical basis, Condorcet sacri6ced his life to 

 his opinions. The purity and benevolence of liis intentions, and his 

 magnanimous devotion of himself to the cause in which he had 

 embarked, are the imperishable r cords of bis fame. His wife, wbo 

 ws of the family of Grouchy, and one of the most beautiful 

 of her day, distinguished herself by a correct and elegant translation 

 of Adam Smith's ' Theory of Moral Sentiments.' Condorcei's works 

 have been collected and published in 21 volumes 8vo. 



CONFUCIUS. Ttie real name of Confucius was Koong-foo-tse : the 

 Jesuit missionaries gave it the latinised form in which we use it. 



According to some authorities, Confucius lived five centuries and a 

 half, and, according to others, only four centuries and a Imlf. before 

 the Christian era. There is a difference of opinion as to the place of 

 his birth, but that honour is now gent-rally given to the state- of Loo, 

 within the district now called K-o-fow Hieu, a little to the eastward 

 of the great cinal in Slian-tung province, where he was educated, and 

 where he married in the nineteenth year of his .i_"s Hu was the only 

 son of a woman of illustrious birth. His father, who had several 

 other sons by another wife, held a high government office, but dying 

 some three years after bis birth, seems to have left the future philo- 

 sopher very indifferently provided for. Marvellous stories are told of 

 bis love of study when a child, and of his early proficiency in learning 

 and philosophy. The Chiuese also record a little fact that may interest 

 phreuulogi-ts, namely, that Confuoius's head was remarkable for the 

 elevation of its crown. His object in acquiring knowledge was to turn 

 it practically to the purposes of good government, avd he accordingly 

 devoted hmis-If exclusively to moral ami political science. He 

 divorced bis wife alter she had borne him a son, " in order," say the 

 Jesuits, who excuse this part of his conduct, " that he migh', att-nd to 

 bis studies with greater application." When be thought himself 

 sufficiently qualified to instruct the barbarous ge in which ho lived, 

 ho quitted his solitude for the courts of princes. China was not then 

 united under one emperor : this union did not take plac- until two or 

 three centuries after the philosopher's death. But when Confucius 

 began his mission there seeui to have been as many independent kings 

 in China as there were in England under the Saxon heptarchy. From 

 the vast extent of the country, each of these states or kingdoms was 

 probably as Urge as all England put together. The Chinese were not 

 then more pacilic than the rest of maukiud : the neighbouring states 

 made war upon each other, and every part of the Celestial empire was 

 in its turn deluged with blood. Not long before the birth of Confucius 

 the horrors of internal warfare had been augmented by some of the 

 belligerents calling in the foreign aid of the Tartars; but when the 

 philosopher commenced his travels a powerful intorna' ioual confederacy 

 bad beeu formed, under which the whole of China was comparatively 

 tranquil. II- journeyed through these various states in a condition of 

 simplicity and poverty, devoting hiuseelf to the instruction of all ranks 

 in his precepts of virtue and social order. His proselytes gradually 

 increased, and he at length reckoned as many as 3000 disciples, of 

 whom seventy-two were more particularly distinguished by their 

 devotion to their master, and ten were so well grounded in all sorts of 

 knowledge that they were called, by way of excellence, ' the ten ui.se 

 men.' In his visits to the different priuces be endeavoured to prevail 

 upon them to establish a wise and peaceful administration. His 

 wisdom, bis birth, his popularity, recommended him to the patronage 

 of the kings, but his laudable do-i ::.<qu'iitly thwarted by 



envy and interest. After many wanderings and disappointment* hu 

 became prime minister, with a recognised authority to carry his 

 theories into practice in his native country Loo. At this time he was 

 fifty-five years old. lu threo years he is said to have effected a 

 thorough change in the moral condition of the kingdom. The happi- 

 ness and prosperity created by the philosophic prime minister excited 

 the jealousy of th neighbouring kings ; the sovereign of Loo was soon 

 induced to abandon bis benefactor, and Confucius was obliged to fly 

 to the northern part* of China. Ho was subsequently repulsed at 

 thres different courts, to which ho applied for office in order that he 



