114 



CONDORCET. 



Condorcet. the establishment of tribunals, to the forms of elections, 

 and to the decision of numerous assemblies. 



Condorcet was at this time employed, in conjunc- 

 tion with M. Sejour, and M. de la Place, in estimating 

 the population of France ; and the results of their la- 

 bours were successively laid before the public in six 

 memoirs, which were published in the Memoirs of the 

 Academy, between the years 1784 and 1788. 



About this time Condorcet had suggested the idea of 

 a dictionary, in which objects are to be found by then- 

 properties, instead of by their respective names ; and 

 he at the same time gave notice of a scheme for con- 

 structing Tables, by means of which ten milliards of 

 objects might be classed together by only ten different 

 modifications. . 



Condorcet took an active part in the various politi- 

 cal events which preceded and accompanied the French 

 revolution, and his numerous writings on philosophical 

 and political subjects are supposed to have accelerated 

 that awful event. He conducted a work entitled La 

 Bibliolhequc de I' Homme Public, containing analyses 

 of the works of the most eminent political writers; and 

 a newspaper called La Chronique de Paris, which was 

 filled with the most petulant declamation against roy- 

 altv. 



When the king of France fled to Varennes, Condor- 

 cet united himself with Brissot and Thomas Paine, two 

 of the most determined republicans, and none of whom 

 were members of the constituent assembly ; and they 

 commenced a periodical paper, called Rcpublicain, ou 

 leDefenseur du Gouvernment Representatij) which was 

 filled with the most detestable principles. The papers 

 written by Thomas Paine were translated by the Mar- 

 chioness de Condorcet ; but Condorcet was the principal 

 contributor to this disgraceful publication. In one of 

 the papers which he published in the Republicain 

 Condorcet attempts to refute the argument in favour f 

 a monarchical government, that a legal king is the best 

 security against a tyrant, since a power limited by the 

 constitution is less formidable than the undefined power 

 of an ambitious usurper ; and after adducing a variety 

 of arguments to prove, that there is now less danger of 

 usurpation than there was in the days of Sylla, Caesar, 

 Guise, and Cromwell, he maintains, that, in future, the 

 art of printing, the liberty of the press, and the free 

 communication of knowledge by means of newspapers, 

 will infallibly preserve the human race from similar 

 usurpations.* Condorcet lived long enough to see this 

 contemptible reasoning completely refuted by the usur- 

 pation of Robespierre; and those who survived him 

 have witnessed another refutation of it still more tri- 

 umphant. It is thus that the great events of life are 

 constantly putting to shame the speculations of that 

 school of philosophy, which, ignorant of the true cha- 

 racter and destiny of man, represents him as hastening 

 to a state of perfection of which his nature is unsus- 

 ceptible. 



Condorcet was a staunch member of the Jacobin 

 club, and he spoke frequently at its meetings. He 

 was elected one of the representatives for Paris, at the 

 dissolution of the Constituent Assembly ; and his poli- 

 tical" views accorded, in general, with those of the Bris- 

 sotine faction. He was called upon to digest a plan 

 of public instruction, which he completed in two me- 

 moirs, replete with exalted and enlarged sentiments, 



though tinged with the peculiar views of then 1 author. Condorcet. 

 He was selected as the most fit person to draw up the *— "V— ' 

 manifesto which was addressed by the people of France 

 to the powers of Europe at the commencement of the 

 war; and he wrote a letter of expostulation to the king, 

 as president of the assembly, which was marked by 

 an unnecessary and an unceremonious severity. Con- 

 dorcet is said to have vindicated the proceedings of the 

 mob when they insulted the king at the Thuilleries ; 

 and when he was thus forgetful of his duty as a sub- 

 ject, he is reported to have been secretly soliciting the 

 situation of tutor to the dauphin, which, on account of 

 his open infidelity, the Icing refused to confer upon 

 him. The enemies of Condorcet have accused him of 

 being accessory to the murder of the Duke de la Roche- 

 foucault, who was the near relation of his wife, and to 

 whom he owed the most substantial obligations ; but it 

 is difficult to discover, from the total want of informa- 

 tion on the subject, whether he was innocent or guilty 

 of this heinous crime. 



When the trial of Louis XVI. was the subject of 

 discussion, Condorcet maintained that he could not le- 

 gally be brought to judgment; yet, when sentence 

 of death was pronounced upon him, he had not the 

 courage either to defend or avow his former senti- 

 ments. 



After the death of the king, the Gironde party em- 

 ployed Condorcet to frame a new constitution, which 

 had the honour of obtaining the approbation of the 

 convention ; but it did not accord with the views of 

 those whom it was intended to govern ; and, in the opi- 

 nion of others, who Avere less interested in the decision, 

 it was filled with a series of those politico-metaphysi- 

 cal absurdities, which had been long dazzling the ine- 

 briated minds of the republicans. The Mountain Par- 

 ty now began to gain an ascendency over Brissot and 

 his friends. During the violent struggle for power 

 which ensued, Condorcet had the prudence to decline 

 an active part ; and, in consequence of his moderation, 

 he was not included in the number who were sacrifi- 

 ced along with Brissot in 1793, when the arrest of the 

 Girondists was decreed. He continued, however, to 

 support his party by his writings, and on this account 

 he incurred the displeasure of Robespierre, who order- 

 ed him to be arrested in 1793. Having contrived, how- 

 ever, to evade the vigilance of the officers under whose 

 charge he was placed, he effected his escape, and re- 

 mained in concealment at Paris during the space of 

 nine months. Alarmed, however, lest a domiciliary 

 visit should be instituted for the purpose of apprehend- 

 ing him, he escaped unobserved through the barriers, 

 and sought refuge on the plain of Mont Rouge, in the 

 house of a friend, who happened unfortunately to be 

 at Paris. He was therefore compelled to spend two 

 nights in the open fields, the victim of cold and hun- 

 ger ; and on the third day, when his friend arrived, he 

 had the mortification of finding that he durst not ven- 

 ture to afford him shelter. Again driven for safety to 

 the v/oods and fields, Condorcet was at last exhausted 

 with fatigue and hunger, and was forced to apply at a 

 public inn for an omelette, which he greedily devour- 

 ed. His ghastly appearance and keen appetite having 

 roused the suspicions of a municipal officer who hap- 

 pened to be present, and these suspicions being con- 

 firmed by the ambiguity and hesitation of Ins answers, 



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