22 Fred Morroiv Fling 



lished that tlie indiuidnal must be free^ and that he can be free 

 only under a government based upon hiw and not upon the 

 arbitrary wishes of an individual.^ Mirabeau saw this clearly 

 and saw too that the form of this legal government was a sec- 

 ondary matter,^ Here he was more truly representative of the 

 real spirit of the time than was either Montesquieu or Rousseau. 

 He saw more clearly than either jiist what was needed.^ 



He refuted Rosseau's theory of a social contract^ and to the 

 proposal that man betake himself again to his primitive state, 

 fleeing civilization and all the ills that it brings in its train, 

 Mirabeau facetiously responded that he could not persuade 

 himself that men had made such a bad move when they drew 

 near to one another.^ Moreover, men were not likely to take 

 to the woods again until a new Timon appeared, "as eloquent 

 as M. Rousseau, to convert them to this sad kind of life."" 

 Would it not be more to the point, he asked, to enlighten man 

 instead of showing him that he ought not to exist. '^ Mirabeau 



1 "Or la liberie des particuliers est la base de la liberie publique et la 

 principale fin de tout gouvernement Equitable." Ibid, p. 122. 



2 "En principe, il pose que si Tarbitraire est dans certains cas necessaire, 

 ce n'est pas au roi qu'il faut le permettre." Decrue, Revue historique, 

 XXII, p. 64. 



3 "Le regime n'est que la forme du gouvernment; peu importe qu'il soit 

 monarchiqvie ou republicain pourvu qu'il soitbon." Decrue, Revue his- 

 torique, XXII, p. 44. 



* "Le plus grand inter6t des hommes est done de garantir leur liberty 

 par des loix dont I'ex^cution ne puisse etre ^lud^e ni le cours interverti." 

 Des lettres de cachet, p. 168. 



s "L'^tude approfondie de Thistoire prouve que le contrat originel est 

 une chimere." Ibid, 72. 



® "Pour moi, je ne saurais me persuader que I'homme ait fait un mauvais 

 march^ quand il s'est rapprochd de ses semblables." Essai sur la des - 

 potisme, p. 34. 



7 Ibid, p. 34. 



" " II vaut done mieux s'efforcer de I'^clairer, que lui montrer qu'elle a 

 tort d'exister." Ibid, p. 33. 



66 



