The Days of a Man 1:1913 



The essay I prepared was printed in Brussels as a 

 pamphlet entitled "C^ que V Amerique peut enseigner 

 a I'Europe." A little later, in combination with 

 "World Peace and the Treaty of Ghent,"it appeared in 

 Boston in a booklet, "America's Conquest of Europe." 



In my discussion I undertook to explain the nature of the 

 federal democracy, the relation of the individual to the state, 

 and the ideals of liberty, order, justice, and voluntary coopera- 

 tion — the function of the state being not "power" but "juris- 

 diction." I dwelt also on the separation of schools from church 

 control, as one of La Fontaine's purposes was to forward Ros- 

 signol's efforts to secure autonomy for the national school system 

 of which the latter was the head. 



As a salient feature of my argument I referred to the re- 

 markable book of Edouard Laboulaye of the University of 

 Paris, "Paris en Amerique," published in 1863. In this Labou- 

 laye tried to show how a populous city like Paris might become 

 really great in an atmosphere of freedom. In his time the official 

 Napoleonic view had been thus expressed: 



"A society without firm control, without army, without 

 police — each person writing, speaking, worshiping in his own 

 fashion — would not last a quarter of an hour. It is the negation 

 of all these principles, of all the conditions of this civilization, 

 which makes the unity of our French nation. In constituting 

 our administration, hierarchical and centralized, the wisdom of 

 our fathers has long since raised France to the first rank and 

 shown to the French people that liberty is obedience. That is 

 our glory and our strength." 



In criticism of such pronouncements, Laboulaye imagined a 

 new Paris located in the interior of America where no such 

 limitations held; where a man could do as he pleased provided 

 he did not interfere with others; where he could say what he 

 liked, write as fancy dictated, worship as he chose — in short, 

 live entirely free from any bias of tradition. According to the 

 story, the new community held its own, its very freedom giving 

 elements of strength wanting in the actual French capital. 

 National safety and sobriety were thus achieved not by holding 

 anybody down, but by giving everybody a chance to rise. 



C 494 3 



