OF SOCIETY. 451 



Combined with this doctrine of the sovereignty of 

 the People there is, with Eousseau, a patriotic senti- 

 ment and, even more than that, a humanitarian spirit, 

 a love of the common people in their country homes, 

 their interests, their pleasures, as well as their suffer- 

 ings and their sorrows. This latter was thoroughly 

 genuine with its author, who had himself risen from 

 the lower ranks, and loved the free air and charms of 

 country life as opposed to the life of large and congested 

 cities. Through insisting upon these, among many 

 other points, the teaching of Eousseau had a beneficial 

 literary influence in other European countries, especially 

 Switzerland and Germany, but was dangerously em- 

 ployed in France itself by those who led the way 

 towards an overthrow, but not towards a reconstitution 

 and reform, of contemporary society. 



The teaching of Eousseau acted as a great ferment 

 thrown into the seething mass of the thought of con- 

 tinental Europe, then striving to liberate itself and 

 develop in many new ways. These ways were not 

 clearly indicated by Eousseau himself, but suggested 

 themselves spontaneously to those original minds who 

 felt themselves liberated, stimulated, and elevated by 

 his teaching. Accordingly, this influence was chiefly 

 individual and temporary, and is now except for the 

 literary qualities and elegance of Eousseau's style to 

 a great extent forgotten. The case is quite different 

 with the other and opposite school of social philosophy 

 which flourished in France at the same time. It has 

 left its mark upon the subsequent development of 

 systematic thought on social problems. In this already 



